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Note that ownership of Dark Ages: Vampire is technically needed to play this game, but it could be adapted to any version of the White Wolf core rules with some work. However combat, weapons, armour, ability descriptions and core rules are not featured in this book – it is not meant to be a stand alone system.
This is going to be by my standards a fairly short review. My previous review of Dark Ages: Britain http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10023.phtml states my personal preferences and biases, which may well be worth bearing in mind while reading this review - I like history, like my supernatural fantasy to be modelled on the beliefs of the time, and am not a great fan of the Storyteller system. It was however while reviewing that book that I found intriguing references to Dark Ages: Inquisitor, and this led me to go out and buy it. I was not disappointed!
This is a capsule review. I have owned DA: Inquisitor for a little over two months, and have read it thoroughly, and created characters with my Ars Magica group for a one off session of this game, to get the feel - that is all. Unfortunately time pressures have not yet allowed me to run this game properly, so I may make glaring errors of omission, etc. I apologise for any mistakes – the lack of a review was disappointing, so I set out to redress it.
BACKGROUND
The game is set in 1230, not in the Dark Ages. I state this as always, as it really should be stated. The time setting does have the advantage that Storytellers can draw on the excellent line of Ars Magica sourcebooks which deal with history and cultures of Europe, and whose default setting is 1220. I would recommend Ordo Nobilis in particular for this game, as a useful introduction to Medieval Politics and Kingdoms.
The game is set in what appears to be a very close parallel to our own historical 13th century, and uses the Languedoc as a default setting for background. I have a passing knowledge of Foix, Toulouse and the Albigensian Crusade, and the historical fiction and background examples are generally very correct to period indeed. There are a few niggling historical issues, mainly ones of interpretation and historiography - but generally first rate - far better in fact than the only other rpg supplement I can think of set here, Mistridge for Ars Magica.
So what is it about? Well, the games central premise is that there exists within the Church a shadowy group of monster hunters and knowledgeable types, who on discovering that the beasties of the World of Darkness are real, have set out to do something about it. The details of the set up of this Shadow Inquisition, which presages the real Inquisition by decades, is lovingly detailed, by letters, by accounts and by background text. This in turn no doubt eventually leads in to the real world Inquisition, but at the time of this game the Church is largely unaware of this hidden war.
The historical inquisition had it's roots in the attempts to stamp out the Cathar heresy and other dualists across Europe in the early 13th Century. The Inquisition in our times has a very bad reputation, but in fact there has been a considerable literature in recent years pointing out how much our modern view of the Inquisition is shaped by Protestant Elizabethan propaganda, and in fact in most countries the Inquisition was fairly benign - in Italy for example, I believe less then one hundred people were executed for 'witchcraft' throughout the entire history of the organisation, and most heretics simply recanted. However we must face the facts - the genocide of the Albigensian Crusade - I am reminded of the attribution to Papal Legate Arnauld Armaury of the famous 'Kill them all, God will know his own!' when asked how to differentiate between good catholic and heretic in the fall of Beziers in 1209. 15,000 died as a result, and probably only a few hundred were actually Cathari. Later, huge numbers of Jews and Muslims were killed after they lapsed back in to their faith following 'conversion' in Spain, and hence the Spanish Inquisition's notoriety. To be fair, what I have read of heresy trials in the Protestant United Provinces and elsewhere in the 16th century were no more enlightened than the Inquisition.
So why would anyone wish to play a game which deals with the Inquisition? Partly, because in this world the supernatural menace is real. If the threat is real and terrible, then one must answer it, and the Shadow Inquisition faces the dilemma every day that innocents may be victims of supernatural forces, but may have to suffer so evil can be smited. This is very much part of the core rules of the game, as will be revealed later in this review - one must never allow fanaticism and zeal to combat evil to cause evil, by killing the very innocents one is sworn to protect. The game mechanics may make us feel better about this - it is a deeply moral game. Also, the Shadow Inquisition is not primarily concerned with Heresy - it is concerned with smiting very real evil. the evil of a demon or vampire is not questionable - this is a game where shades of grey are really restricted to the player characters, who are both saints and sinners, and deeply morally ambiguous, and to the humans who fall victims to the wiles of the supernatural forces of the Adversary...
Secondly, the Inquisition bring scientific learning and scepticism to the whole area of the supernatural. We forget often how much the Church helped to roll back the darkness of superstition, and this is very much a game of Scholar-Scientists unfolding the terrible truth to protect the innocent. In tone it reminds me most of Call of Cthulhu...
However, and the reason some people may feel unhappy about this game - the historical Inquisition was responsible for death, torture and wiping out of dissent. It acted as a model for many later political inquisitions, and even in our times there are no doubt similar things going on. If you are sensitive to political violence, the idea of torture in your game, or you find the idea of playing in a world where religion and demons are real and which looks a lot like our world, our Church, and Christianity - don't buy this book. I happen to be a Christian - not a Catholic, but certainly sympathetic to Catholicism - and I was not offended by the game. I'm not sure I would ever run it, not because it is not an excellent game, but because I personally may have some moral issues with it - players using torture, and representing God's power by dice rolls - but hey, I still think it is handled with taste and fairly well. If you think it might be a problem for you or your players, don't pick it up.
OK, I will know briefly look at the book chapter by chapter...
COVER & ARTWORK
The cover f the book is elegant and restrained, though perhaps a little unexciting. The dagger with the crucifix handle sums up the themes well - intrigue and faith. I liked the cover. The interior art is variable, but includes many excellent pieces, and is of a much higher standard than I associate with White Wolf products. The range of styles is very very wide, but something for all tastes, and some of the pieces were outstanding, while others had no impact on me. However as I tend to fail to notice art at all unless writing a review, my opinions on this may not be worthwhile... :)
PRELUDE: FINAL ABSOLUTION
I hate rpg fiction. This piece was surprisingly readable, and I enjoyed it, though I was confused by who was who. :) Better than the similar fiction in other books in the line, and enjoyable.
INTRODUCTION
Outlines the idea of the Shadow Inquisition, and the core themes of the book - Faith - are we on the right side, are we doing evil that good may come?, are we strong enough to face both horror and temptation - and Desperation - Inquisitor characters know their lives will be short and violent. Introduces the idea of the danger of callousness - becoming so hardened to horror that the monster hunter becomes a monster himself, which is the fate all Inquisitors must constantly guard against. Explains how the characters are 'touched by God'. This has implications for the modern roleplayer, who may have very little understanding of how religious people think. It would be easy to make your representation of faith a shallow parody of the vibrancy of real religious faith.
However, I can foresee problems. All Inquisitors are concerned with questions of theology (and get the skill) and their relationship to Church and the Trinity. Ask yourself, do you understand Church hierarchy in the Middle Ages? It may well be every important. Are you willing to at least read Thomas Aquinas, or try to understand the central theological issues of the era? And do you understand the Sacraments, and how they work in your life in the medieval understanding? A contemporary Protestant understanding of these things, or even a post Vatican Two Catholic one will not help you here - it might well actually confuse you, and lead to problems. And if all the above are true, are you comfortable playing this game?
Well written, succinct, with a great bibliography.
Chapter One: AGAINST ALL DEMONS
A thirty page piece of in character fiction, acting as an introduction to the Orders and the enemies of the Shadow Inquisition. I hate rpg fiction, but I enjoyed reading this - evocative stuff. There is a strong tendency in modern WW products to use this various 'primary sources' approach rather than a 'Here are the facts' approach. Sometimes it works well, and here is it good, but if you skip this chapter as I initially did you might have problems later.
Chapter Two: CALL TO ARMS
Details the history of the Shadow Inquisition, skillfully weaving history with the games fictional Shadow Inquisition. It has a fairly complicated background history, which I will not discuss here - you will either like it or you will not, but it struck me as interesting and with good potential for gaming. Briefly touches on medieval Christianity's relations with other religions, the idea of Heresy, and points out that the Shadow Inquisition has no power at all or authority, obviously enough, in Orthodox territories. This really limits Inquisitor campaigns to Western Europe, or the Levant. Very well written, in the spirit of the age, with excellent notes on motivations and central philosophical theological tenets. The game certainly is among the best scholarship to date from White Wolf, reminding me of the excellent stuff in the Dark Ages: Mage book.
Chapter Three: THE MIND OF THE INQUISITION
This chapter introduces the five orders in great detail, and starts off with a very good description of how the Order works, lines of communication, hierarchy and the obvious 'who inquisits the inquisition?'. This is all good stuff. We now move on to the actual Orders themselves, which is perhaps the heart of the game...
Order of the Poor Knights of the Passion of the Cross of Acre
Owners of a fragment of the True Cross (see what I mean about this game having religious ideas which might cause upset to some people?) the Knights of Acre are a Military Order like the Templars and Hospitallers etc, based in a small castle in Cyprus. They follow a strict military heirarchy, which might be a problem for roleplayers who might be tempted to disobey direct orders - not an option, or resent being ordered about by another character. They are active in Provence, Auvergne, France, the Papal States, Castille, Aragon, the Holy Roman Empire and England, though detached members could be assigned anywhere. Collectors of relics, and held to a very strict code of personal piety, these are the shock troops of the Inquisition. There basic Blessing (like disciplines in Vampire) is Investitures, which provide great courage, strength etc.
All members of the Order of Acre are male.
The Order of Acre makes for a good fighter character, but you would have to play up on the individuals personality to differentiate them from other Knights of the Order. Roleplaying as part of a military hierarchy always has certain issues associated with it.
The Red Order
Scholastic Monastic Stigmatics. Seriously. The background to this group is beautifully written, and historically no order of monks could have chosen to wear red robes as the Order does. Colour of robes was set by papal decree - Brown, Black, White, Grey - I think that is it actually. The idea of playing a stigmatic in an rpg rather appalled me, as I know with what veneration stigmatics are regarded, but really it is just one of those things you are comfortable with in a game or not. Contains both Men and Women, and until comparatively recently had double houses, which had both nuns and monks. Following a scandal this practice has been discontinued, but members of the Red Order can be of either gender. However note that both monks and Nuns operating outside of their convents/monasteries are going to face serious problems in this setting, and are also subject to an Ecclesiastical hierarchy. Characters with this background have read deeply in ancient books, and are therefore unfortunately prone to heresy and temptation, but have more knowledge than the other Orders.
They are the Scholars of the order.
Sisters of St. John
An Order of visionary nuns, whose visions provide great insight not just in to the religious content common to real medieval ecstatic revelation, but to the machinations of the forces of darkness. Passive, healers rather than fighters, they may leave their convents to provide healing and shelter to all, or work in those roles with the Shadow Inquisition. Some are driven mad by the visions, and I can see problems with them as a character choice. They are unlikely to be heavily involved in the action, are passive recipients of visions rather than active investigators, and the portrayal of the visionaries of the Church in the game may be offensive to some. All members are female. Playing a healer and a mystic may well be a delightful roleplay challenge, but I can't see it appealing to those who favour katanas and trench coats.
The Orders Healers and Visionaries.
The House of Murnau
I am sure no offence was meant to the real life families which bear this name. The family are German nobility who share a dark secret - I won't describe it here - but are among the most enthusiastic members of the Shadow Inquisition. Lovingly described, the family has branches all over Europe, and family politics bear an important role in this Order's life. Any prosperous to Noble character or either gender could be of this blood line. One of the most interesting of the Orders in this reviewers opinion, very well done.
The Orders Politicians and diverse in role.
Oculi Dei
All of the other Houses have a leaning towards the monastic or the noble. Here we find many of the lower social orders - the innkeepers, beggars, rogues, sailors, anyone really, gathered in to the intelligence network of the Shadow Inquisition. They would actually make for a good campaign on there own, just playing members of this house, investigating possible Evil and then calling in the Knights or others to deal with it. There is however an intrinsic issue with this Order - by my reading they do not usually reveal their identities, not even to the other Orders. While exceptions doubtless occur, generally they operate in the shadows, and avoid actual confrontation with the forces of darkness, merely reporting back the results of their espionage and reconnaissance to others who pass it on to the rest of the Shadow Inquisition. This has obvious in game implications...
Problems with the Orders?
Here I must briefly mention one of the chief issues I had with this game. While the Orders are all superbly written and very atmospheric, and over looking any religious scruples about the depiction of visionaries and stigmatics as characters in an rpg, the Orders do not provide much choice. I mean yes, the number of roles within Oculu Dei is amazing, the potential vast - but they do not actually interact much if at all with the rest of the Shadow Inquisition. If you are not playing one of Oculi Dei, you have four choices remaining - remember their are only five Orders - and depending on your character's gender that will immediately narrow to three. Two of the Orders are primarily monastic, and while they can travel, there will be issues. Add real life medieval misogyny to the mix, and really I think a lot of chronicles are going to run best with the players all being from the same Order, as intra-Order parties are relatively rare from my understanding, unless brought together for a specific purpose. There are certainly good reasons why all the orders would distrust one another.
Chapter Four: CHARACTERS AND DRAMA
The chapter opens with some good notes on 'thinking medieval', before getting down tot eh nitty gritty of Character generation. I found myself flipping back quite a bit to read background history and detail of the Orders. DA: Inquisitor characters start off with the Hunter level of characteristics - (6/4/3) ,lower than the Vampires and Werewolves they face.
Characters also receive Backgrounds, and an Order Benefit and Drawback. It is possible to take a Endowment instead of the Order Benefit, but if you do you must accept a Curse representing the sin which eats at you as well.
All characters have three VIRTUES which are central to the game, which are:- Courage: as it sounds. Fail this and you flee! Self-Control: sort of willpower, the ability to resist temptation. Conscience - Your characters commitment to the Faith.
The Orisons (see below) are based on the VIRTUES.
There are also three SUPERIOR VIRTUES, representing the working of the Holy Spirit in the Characters life. New characters begin with one dot in one of these, determined by their Order...
The SUPERIOR VIRTUES are
Zeal, based on Courage. Wisdom, based on Self-Control. Faith, based on Conscience.
Endowments, greater spiritual gifts, are based on these Superior Virtues.
You also receive The Holy Art the ability to pray for certain blessings or aid in times of danger.
Character generation is significantly more complex to my mind than most World of Darkness game systems, but gives you many options to individualise your character.
The three last traits are Conviction- a measure of how committed you are to the cause of the Shadow Inquisition, and a very important trait in the game; Willpower which allows you to resist temptation; and Piety which represents your devotion to God.
One of the central tenets of the game is that if your Conviction ever becomes higher than your Piety, you become a fanatic, answering to your cause and not to God - you have corrupted your mission. You then suffer from Callousness, reducing all empathy rolls and rendering you impulsive, reducing player control over the character. The Shadow Inquisition looks dimly upon those who succumb to callousness, so characters must make sure their actions no matter how justifiable they seem do not actually turn them away from mercy, forgiveness, and protection of the innocent. The one who fights monsters must be careful, lest they become a monster themselves.
Chapter Five: THE WORD OF GOD
Each character receives one Orison -a gift from God. They run off your virtues.
The Conscience Orisons are Moral Compass - can see the taint of sin, even ones own; Noah's Favour - calms Savage Beasts; The True Innocent - your virtue shines through so others can tell you are Holy and find it hard to harm you. Moral Compass may make investigative games a little too easy, though supernatural beasties do not always show up, and I quote, if 'they consider themselves Christian'. This is odd - sin is otherwise depicted as one would have thought, as an objective quantity, not subject to whether one is sincerely deluded or not.
The Self-Control Orisons are Blessing of Years - gives one maturity and insight, not dependent on ones age - Eye of Vigilance - never truly sleeps, but always keeps an eye half open for supernatural threats, and The Penitent Man which by showing true humility allows the character to sense how Heaven feels about an event that has just taken place - note past tense, not future. If one executes the witch, then find out this causes sorrow in Heaven, the best one can do is learn the lesson for future similar occasions. It is NOT divination.
The Courage Orisons are The Hierophant, who shows incredible courage, the Sanguine Hymn- which makes your blood a terrible poison to those who drink of it, and the Talespinner, which gives one bonuses to Performance and allows incredibly moving depictions of the Truth from Scripture.
As well as Orisons, there are greater Spiritual Gifts called Endowments. You start with one Endowment, determined by your Order. They are divided in to four categories, and you may choose from any Acolyte level in each category . The Red Order does not learn Endowments originally, but uses The Holy Art as it's specialities.
The Endowments are Benedictions (Oculi Dei), Legacies (House of Murnau), Psalms (Sisters of St. John) and Investitures (knights of Acre). I will not detail them here, as they are fairly specific to Orders, but they are potent and interesting. One example: an acolyte level power of Oculi Dei is Gift of Second Sight which gives your character to discern supernatural creatures in his vicinity for what they truly are. Using Faith with this power allows the character to see in total darkness, by the eyes of faith, while the Zeal effect allows you to see through supernatural illusions such as Obfuscate and Chimerstry. All of these are detailed and well though out, and each Order starts with two or three Acolyte level Endowments for starting characters to choose from. However choosing an Endowment automatically saddles the character with a Curse -you may be better off just taking the Order Benefit and Drawback.
Which brings us to The Holy Art. There are three paths of study, being Sophia Patris - which reveals truths about the Enemy and his minions; Sedulitas Filias - which grants powers over ones body to allow the smiting of the foe; and Boni Spiritus - which allow a number of different miraculous effects. All of the paths of The Holy Art are rated from one to five like Disciplines in Vampire, and unlike Endowments must be learned sequentially. which Holy Arts you can learn initially is limited by your Order, and will always be your primary path. Only the Red Order automatically start off with points in the Holy Art.
There are also Holy Ritae, short rites useful in specific circumstances and known throughout the Order. Ability to perform these depends upon your dots in The Holy Art.
The terminology and number of options is definitely confusing if you are used to the simplicity of Vampire. Personally I felt it was at least as complicated as Exalted, but may well become simple enough with practice. The large number of Spiritual powers to choose from actually offsets my earlier criticisms about lack of diversity in character types with the limited range of Orders.
Chapter Five continues to a good discussion of Holy Weapons, Holy Relics and Holy Ground and their effect on supernatural beasties before coming back to Curses. Those who chose to take an Endowment during Character generation automatically get one curse - others can be gained by pride and pushing too hard to learn the secrests of the Divine, and by botches in play. Each Order has peculiar curses which are specific to that Order - a lovely touch I thought. I won't discuss them in detail, as that gives away too much of each Order's secrets and flavour.
Chapter Six: STORYTELLING
I have friends who never read the advice to Storytellers section of any rpg; to do so here would be a great shame. Rather than generic advice reprinted from all the other books in the line, this is very well crafted advice on how to play Dark Ages:Inquisitor to it's strengths. Well worth reading, well written, and enjoyable. There are three sample chronicle ideas, all interesting in their own way and worthy of attention.
The game ends with a decent character sheet.
OVERALL
An excellent little game, which while provoking many feelings of 'can I run this with my religious beliefs?' ultimately manages the difficult task of portraying Churchmen, and specifically Inquisitors, with sensitivity and style. One of the more complex Storyteller systems, with a mixture of very good history, far above average, and occasional lapses, the game is certainly not for everyone. The Shadow Inquisition is not the real one, and the game world not ours. If you can avoid the Monty Python jokes you may well find this game an excellent investment.
As an aside, to maintain the spirit of mystery central to the game I would not let my players read the book, except for the sections on their own Order. Your mileage may vary however. :) Most of the game is not history, but details of the Shadow Inquisition, the Orders, and how they operate. As a system for purist medieval gaming I would say try Ars Magica, but for a high character death toll game of fighting the unknown, I recommend this if you like Storyteller. there are however no statistics for adversaries or details of their powers whatsoever in this game, so you will need some of the other Dark Ages: Whatever books - Dark Ages: Vampire is strictly speaking necessary anyway, as it contains the core rules, weapons, armour, ability descriptions, etc etc.
I am not sure if I will ever run it, and note that I have not played the game - my experience is based entirely on reading it and generating characters. The only reason I submit a review at all is because I fear no one is going to, and that this game may be overlooked by those who prefer to play a more supernatural game. Yet here we see the supernatural in full force, in a game with the atmosphere of Call of Cthulhu crossed with the background of Ars Magica. Intriguing, and if you enjoy Storyteller, worth seeking out!
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