 Goto [ Index ] |
This is it. This is what people have been waiting for. A battle between the Vampires; the monster vs. monster melee at midnight.
Two games enter, one game leaves…
In this corner, weighing in at 312 pages for $29.95, printed in Canada, the champion, Vampire: the Masquerade (VtM)!
And in this corner, weighing in at 303 pages for $34.99 (Technically 525 pages for $54.98 with system manual), Also printed in Canada, the challenger, Vampire: the Requiem (VtR)!
Let's get it on!
Just kidding around. I've been sitting here for about four hours trying to figure out a way to get this review started. I've had a green, red, and blue book on my floor opened and closed at different times for the last few weeks, wondering whether I was just going to make a regular old VtR review, a VtR + World of Darkness system book (WoD), or do something we all knew was coming… A comparison between the two versions of the game. I can tell you, with only one review under my belt, I held out for another week just praying that someone more worthy would come along and put me out of my misery. Well, no use lamenting, on with the comparison.
And like any comparison, it’s time for Disclaimer-palooza that's relatively pointless.
DISCLAIMER: I am and have almost always have been a rabid hater of VtM. I like VtR, and thus you probably already know how this review is going to turn out. Let me tell you, every time I decided to write anything about VtM, I desperately tried to cover my bias and be impartial. I bit my tongue so many times that I'm unsure if I still have the ability to speak. With that in mind, I still may have failed. Sorry in advance.
DISCLAIMER 2: CRUISE CONTROL: My style of review often throws numbers and statistics at the audience. I often put my RPG books through rigorous calculations and torture. Some of these numbers may be off, because I have judgments as to what exactly IS art, etc. I am only human and am prone to mistakes like everyone else. All "I" statements in the review are my opinion, and very well may be incorrect, flawed, biased, and/or insane as I see fit. I could have stripped it of this, but then writing it wouldn't have been any fun. For the most part, I know what I'm talking about, so I might use terms that the general reader doesn't understand. I tried to compensate by defining what I'm talking about, but it is possible that what follows is gibberish if you aren't familiar with Vampire the Masquerade.
DISCLAIMER 3: RISE OF THE DISCLAIMERS: This is very much a review of Vampire: the Requiem. While the VtM side was supported, the VtR side has been further highlighted in order to show people who really want to know what VtR is like. It is the edition currently in print, the version I like, and thus the logical choice of this review.
Round 1
Cost Analysis: I used Vampire: The Masquerade Revised core book (ISBN 1-56504-249-2) to do this review. I got mine for the above price. It and many other games made up the old World of Darkness (oWoD).
In order to play VtR, you need a copy of Vampire: The Requiem setting book (ISBN used for review) and the World of Darkness system book (ISBN 1-58846-476-8). If you just get the Requiem, you will not have the rules for things like skills and Willpower, so you'll be relatively out of luck. This may seem like a shafting until one takes into account that the VtR book is mostly setting material, meaning you actually do get more game with VtR than VtM. Both games require pencils and paper (staples of the RPG world) as well as more 10 sided dice than you know what to do with (I'd say a good count is about 10 for each player and 10-15 for the Storyteller, which happens to be the term for the Game Moderator or Referee), and of course one or more friends to play the game with.
So if you're into number crunching, you could say I paid 9.6 cents per page for VtM and 10.1 cents per page for VtR. VtM is a self-contained game. The one book is all you need to play it. The new World of Darkness (nWoD) is a modular game now, and the WoD book will be used for the future supplements of Werewolf: The Forsaken and Mage: The Awakening. I think it's a nifty trick to have all the different settings use the same system, which was an issue with VtM and it's oWoD counterparts (which had a bunch of skills that were non-existent or incompatible in different settings), but it seems to be in the spirit of utility, not gimmick. I suppose when they all come out, it will be easier to have a multi-genre game with nWoD than oWoD. This technically remains to be seen, so I will not rule in favor of one game or the other. Even if there wasn't a separate core book, nWoD will cost more than oWoD did. VtM wins this round.
Round 2
Physical Book Quality: VtM is a work of art among gaming books, it still lights up my shelf with its green marble cover and startlingly contrasting red rose. After 6 years of wear in backpacks, on gaming tables as a coaster, in gaming spills, one car crash, and more than one overzealous player with a mighty mechanical menace (pencil), it is still in relatively tip-top shape (except the corners are obliterated and rubbing the back gives one the feeling of battles it has been through). A few of my lesser books didn't survive this abuse, but it held up rather well. The VtR book lives up to its legacy with a beautiful blood red cover, and truly also stands out among my other books, mostly due to the glossy rose petals and lettering in chrome on the book. I've only had VtR for a paltry few months now, most of which spent in my backpack at college (also quite a bit of abuse with pencils, heavy books, and awkward angles), and it has just barely started showing wear on the corners. I'd have to say that VtR just squeaks by with the cool glossy rose petals, and the text on the back of the book is much more elegant. If these kinds of things mean nothing to you, I'd say the physical book quality is about even.
Round 3
Text Clarity: The text for these two works is nearly the same, which makes sense as they were written by nearly the same set of people. The layout is also relatively similar, if not identical except that VtR has no core rules for the system included. This category therefore comes down to one particular section.
I am not particularly fond of massive amounts of Newspeak brought forth by some RPGs. VtM has a 2.5 page Lexicon of terms, while the VtR's comes close to 4 pages. I cross-examined the two to a startling discovery: some things are not covered by VtM's Lexicon! For example, the definition of Blood Hunt completely escapes, although it is an important tradition that many VtM players could tell you all about. VtR's Lexicon also covers numerous other important terms, such as the different Clans/Covenants. The nicknames of the Covenants are covered, but the Clans are left out. While this could be an oversight due to the fact that the Clan representations come 3-8 page flips after the Lexicon in VtM and VtR, I am a stickler for completion when it comes to a list of terms. I am also happy to find that VtR's Lexicon includes a pronunciation guide for those of us who have trouble with "weird" words. This doesn't appear in VtM, and I was actually surprised that my old group and I all said the word "Primogen" incorrectly. I must say that while both Lexicons are not entirely complete, VtR's is quite a bit better.
Round 4
Artwork: VtM has 117 pictures not counting the animal write-ups. VtR has 70 not counting maps, character write ups, and animal write ups, or recycled art chapter headers. I think the new art is much better than the old overall, and a few seem more like pictures than drawings, but that's all up to speculation. I could also say that having much less art adds to text space, but again that depends on if you like more art or less. I'd call this round another stalemate as VtM has more art (VtM: 117/311 pages vs. VtR's 70/303) but VtR has better quality art.
Round 5
Setting: Here's where I've heard all the complaints about the new edition of Vampire. Also where I've heard all the praise. The setting has changed, in my opinion, for the better. Someone on a previous review said that they got the Punk out. I very much agree to that, but I think the main change to the game is that they dropped all the world wide conspiracies, all the extra-Clan conflict and intra-Clan harmony, and made it all about the characters, not the NPC elders in the background. Sure the elders are still in there and they have power, but not in every city.
Ok, here's a quick background: In VtM, you play as a member of one of 13 Clans (I'll spill later), which automatically places you into the Camarilla ("good vampires"), Sabbat ("bad vampires"), or outside these two as an Independent. You can technically choose to be ousted by your Clan and work for the other side, but more than likely you'll be on the side your Clan dictates. Technically the Masquerade (a tradition of hiding the vampire presence from mortals) is only upheld by the Camarilla, so they have the most power out of the three factions and the most Clans within their ranks (7/13). Other than this, the Camarilla is distinguished from the Sabbat by a respect for their elders, the government structure in cities, and more "humane" rituals (most of the time). That's about it, no game mechanical difference.
VtR has 5 Covenants you can choose to be in, or not, as any one of the 5 Clans (I’ll spill this later, too). No Clan is discriminated by any Covenant; they all wish for power and realize that to have power, you must have members. Some do discriminate against neonates (young vampires), some against elders, but all will take anyone. They are all ideologically separate and considered equal in many senses (each city may be ruled by a different Covenant). They are all more like the real world, where no one is good or evil, they sit on their ideology and others can perceive it either way. You will almost certainly find something you don't like about all the Covenants. And more than likely, you'll find something you like about each one too. There are mechanical differences between them, which I will outline later in an appropriate section.
Covenant write-ups for VtR
The Carthian Movement is unhappy with the status quo, and they want to change vampire government into anything but the current aristocracy/monarchy that it is. They are mostly going democratic and socialist, but any other form of government is better in their eyes. They are mostly neonates due to the fact they want to change the government, which mostly benefits elders.
The Circle of the Crone believes in pagan rituals and old ways, and their beliefs and customs show this. They believe vampires are a natural predator of mankind, and have been around since the world began. They have a number of different worshipped Crones, including Baba Yaga and Lilith (Adam's first wife). They are the practitioners of Cruac (Blood Sorcery).
The Invictus are the vampire aristocracy that took over after the fall of the Roman Empire (and the Camarilla in VtR). They actually claim to have coined the phrase "Prince" (generic term for the vampire head of a city) and they all wish to gain more and more power and maintain it. They are not friendly toward their neonates, and when an undying individual takes a position, it makes advancement rather difficult in this Covenant.
The Lancea Sanctum are the vampire church which teaches that Longinus was cursed for prodding Jesus Christ on the cross, and all vampires should now do God's will in an effort to cleanse their "Original Sin". They are inquisitors and self-appointed priests, wanting to spread the good word, even if it sometimes has to be spread with a stake in the heart.
The Ordo Dracul wish to transcend the vampire weaknesses to achieve true power above others. They don't hold on to any particular philosophy or creation myth, they just want to become truly immortal.
One of the main changes I find is that the VtM was set against a war between the Camarilla and Sabbat (I suppose you could equate these to giant Covenants for comparison purposes) while VtR has much more politics involved between the various Covenants, which all have equal power and an equal stake in the Masquerade. This is kept deliberately vague as to say, "If you're the Storyteller, make up a story". The choices of the player actually seem to mean more in VtR than in VtM, and as a Storyteller, I find myself with more options in VtR than in VtM. The government can differ from city to city; elders could be in high power or hiding from those in high power, there can be a war going on between covenants or the absence of all but one. I can see the scenario of two members of the same Clan duking it out, or two politicians from different Covenants but the same Clan arguing about territory, then going out for a snack and reminiscing because they have the same sire (mentor, father). These things didn't happen too often in VtM. I suppose you could say that it supports more individuality as opposed to supporting conformity.
The history for VtM seems like it is laid out to great extent (The first vampire was Caine, he begat three, who in turn begat 13, who created the Clans, etc), the history for VtR is really only a list of suggestions. The vampires who follow Longinus's way may or may not believe he was the first vampire, and there is no evidence either way. If a vampire in VtR grows too old or his blood grows too thick, he will enter Torpor (sort of like a coma) and stay there until his Blood Potency drops to a lower level. During Torpor, the vampire in VtR goes through intense agony, having horrible nightmares, delusions, even sees memories incorrectly from different angles, etc. After the vampire awakens, it more than likely remembers nothing. The past of vampire-kind is shrouded in mystery. Even if a vampire stays awake for centuries, the text clearly states that his mind is still human, and a brain really was made to only store memories for so long, and after such time, it gives up old memories for new ones. I see this as an opportunity to shape the history of the game in ways impossible in VtM, but I've seen some say that the non-description simply forces Storytellers to make up things him/herself. Which is right? Probably both.
Round 6
Game System: Ok, I finally have to crack open the WoD book to compare the systems of the two games.
At core, the rolling method has changed: in VtM players roll 10-siders (usually an amount equal to a Trait+Talent/Skill/Knowledge), and (unless otherwise noted) anything rolled 6 or above is a success. More successes equal a better result. This difficulty can and does go up, and dice pools are also sometime affected. When you roll a "1", it subtracts 1 success (a "10" success first, if you got it). When you roll a "10", you get to roll it again to try to accumulate more successes. VtR jacks up the difficulty to 8, but it is almost never changed. The die pool is what is affected; the difficulty is only changed when the die pool can't be affected. This is such as you will be required to spend Willpower more often in VtR than VtM in order to insure success. They dropped the "1" rule from above, except under specific circumstances, and kept the "10" rule.
With that, on to the Character Sheet: VtM has Nature and Demeanor, how your character is on the inside and perceived on the outside, as a way to further understand your character and mechanically refill his Willpower (inner strength used to put extra oomph into rolls). You choose two from a rather large list, and the Storyteller may make up new ones. VtR uses Virtues and Vices to do the same thing, but differently. Following Nature or Demeanor granted you one point back apiece. Vices give one point back if the Storyteller thinks they were followed during a particular scene (unit of time based on drama, combat, etc), Following a Virtue for a chapter (game session) will completely refill Willpower.
Attributes have changed quite a bit in between the systems, with only the physical Traits remaining intact. I could go through them all, but in truth, they have become much easier to define. Each Attribute had special connotations and purpose in VtM, much like the d20 system's Attributes. VtR has tried to change this, so that all the categories of attributes (Mental, Physical, Social) have three distinct traits (Power, Finesse, and Resistance). Many other games have used this setup; the one that springs to my mind is MEGS. They may have failed in completely implementing this process though, because I believe that the Dexterity trait is s bit too important in VtR (particularly combat). It determines Speed, ½ of Initiative, Defense (partially), attack rolls with a firearm, and is arguably most likely to be used when rolling a skill. More on Dexterity in the Combat Round of this review.
Abilities have gone from 30 Talents/Skills/Knowledges in VtM to 24 Skills in VtR. Lost the VtM Abilities of Alertness, Dodge, Leadership, Performance, Finance, Law, and Linguistics. Security became Larceny, Melee became Weaponry, and Etiquette became Persuasion and a little of it broke off to become Socialize. VtR Skills are now divided up into Mental, Physical, and Social categories: 8 each, and all may be used unskilled at a penalty that is printed on the Character Sheet. Most people in the known gaming universe would think, "Hmm, Traits and Skills are broken into Mental, Physical, and Social. You must roll Social Traits with Social Skills, Mental…" and guess what: this isn't entirely the case. They mention before every skill section that it is possible to cross genre.
There has been some dissention here: the WoD book has 33 pages in the Skills chapter (that’s right, more pages than there are skills). These break down what every skill does and even goes as far as making a guide as to which skills use which attributes for which rolls, and what happens for each measure of success. This seems overly too complicated, until one reads the definition of the Attributes, the definition of Skills, and then realizes that under duress the Storyteller will probably make up the exact same rules on the fly, for example: Drive check? Storyteller thinks this should use Physical Finesse and Drive in this situation, and all rolls have possible equipment bonuses, so Dex + Drive + Handling. It’s the same as in the book. I like that the game covers everything like such, but you don’t really need to memorize 33 pages to use or adjudicate the use of Skills in the game. Adjudicate? Yeah, I said it. Storytelling is all about the fine art of adjudication.
Clans got a makeover, and went from 13 to 5. The thirteen VtM Clans have a lot of different styles of vampires and all have a particular weakness. Some have a Discipline tied to them; others do not. The Clans in the Camarilla are Brujah (Anarchists), Gangrel (Outlanders), Malkavian (Lunatics), Nosferatu (Sewer Rats), Toreador (Degenerates), Tremere (Warlocks), and Ventrue (Blue Bloods). Lasombra (Keepers) and Tzimisce (Fiends) make up the Sabbat, and four Clans are independent: Assamite (Assassins), Followers of Set (Serpents), Giovanni (Necromancers), and Ravnos (Deceivers). These Clans all have a myriad of different backgrounds and abilities, and their two page layout opens themselves up to obvious splatification (splat books occur everywhere in an RPG where the game makers decide to expand on a particular subject of rules, background, or both in subsequent books costing roughly 20-25 bucks a pop. I call this process splatification, and I did not coin the phrase).
VtR has 5 Clans, also in a 2 page layout ripe for splatification: Daeva (Sensual/Lusting Vampires), Gangrel (Beastial Vampires), Mekhet (Creatures of the Night), Nosferatu (Monstrous Vampires), and Ventrue (Noble/Aristocratic Vampires). Each follows a stereotype, each has a unique Discipline/weakness unto itself, and while most of them share a similar name to the VtM Clans, they do not share a similar function. I think that while these (And the aforementioned 5 Covenants) could be splatified, in order to follow with the tradition of the original book, there will be many suggestions, but few concrete facts.
While on the issue of Clans, I must point out that in VtM you could be Caitiff (Clan-less vampires), and I could never find a good rationalization of this in the book. Some believe that Clan was technically taught to a vampire rather than being instilled by the sire of the vampire after the embrace. I only see one fault: each Clan has a specific vampire weakness. Meaning that since a vampire only has one person fathering them, they have absolutely zero chance of losing the weakness he/she had. I also see no reason why this weakness would be taught, so there can't be a Caitiff vampire if this is the case. VtR drops the Caitiff option and state (or at least hint) informally that a Vampire Clan is now ethnicity (born into, not taught), and that no one is born without ethnicity.
Covenants: Oh, I should quickly to point out the mechanical differences in Covenants (which are granted if a single point in the Status Merit is bought for the character's Covenant): The Carthians purchase Allies, Contacts, Haven, and Herd Merits at half XP costs throughout their undeath. The Circle of the Crone members may learn the Discipline Cruac (Blood Sorcery). The Invictus may purchase Herd, Mentor, Resources, and Retainer Merits at half XP costs throughout their undeath. The Lancea Sanctum members can learn the Discipline Theban Sorcery. Ordo Dracul members may learn the Discipline Coils of the Dragon.
On to Disciplines, which are the powers vampires acquire throughout their unlives. VtM has a plethora of Disciplines, 17 in total, with 9 Clan specific. VtR has 13 Disciplines, 5 of which are Clan specific and 3 of which are Covenant specific, leaving only 5 generic Disciplines. Some people believed there were too many Disciplines in VtM, and some people now believe that there aren't enough in VtR. My thoughts are that I like the tighter focus of VtR Disciplines, but I can't fathom why I still haven't seen a Discipline regarding flight, other than the telekinesis learned by the Tremere in VtM.
I think this needs to be highlighted: The difference between Celerity, Fortitude, and Potence of VtM and the Celerity, Resilience, and Vigor of VtR. They are very, very different, and a chief concern of mine when I first looked at the book (they also are one of 5 reasons I bought into the nWoD). Here's an outline:
Celerity is described as inhuman speed. VtM's Celerity, when activated, gives an additional action in that turn for every point of Celerity, which could be up to 5 additional actions. These will occur at the end of the turn, unless used up as dodge actions along the way. Celerity in VtR, when activated, subtracts its rank from all attacking character's dice pools, adds its rank to initiative rolls, and multiplies running speed for one turn.
Fortitude and Resilience are described as inhuman toughness. Simply having Fortitude (VtM) allowed you to soak Aggravated damage (damage from fire or sunlight) with your ranks in Fortitude, and added its rank to all damage soaking attempts otherwise. Resilience (VtR), when activated, increases the amount of Stamina the character has by its rank for the entire scene, which in turn adds to his Health and it downgrades a number of Aggravated wounds per scene equal to it's rank to Lethal wounds. This only applies to Aggravated wounds suffered while Resilience is active.
Potence and Vigor are described as inhuman strength. Potence (VtM) simply adds successes to all Strength related tests and damage rolls, equal to ranks in Potence. Vigor (VtR), when activated, adds its rank to the Strength score of the character for the entire scene and gives them extended benefits when jumping.
While many of the other Disciplines are different from their predecessor, and some are just plain new, I find that these show the best of the changes of the new system. How can one revamp the definitions of super-strength, super-dexterity, and super-stamina? There's how they did it.
Willpower gets revamped as well. In VtM, Willpower was used to gain an automatic success on a roll without rolling, due to extra effort put in, and can only be done once per turn. In VtR, expending a Willpower point for Heroic Effort will add 3 dice to any roll. Expending a Willpower point for Resistance will either add 2 to the character's Defense rating for the turn or add 2 to any task to resist something (with Composure, Resolve, or Stamina). VtR also states that Willpower can only be spent once per turn. Willpower is also the key to making another vampire in VtR.
Blood points of VtM have become Vitae in VtR. Other than the name change, the only real difference is that 1 Vitae adds 2 dice to any one physical action pool (as opposed to Blood adding 1), a possible product of raising the normal difficulty of rolls to 8.
Round 7
Character Creation in VtM and VtR are almost the same, yet entirely different. I'll explain: All the steps are nearly the same up until Step 5, near the end. At this point, VtM has a nearly finished vampire, missing only the ratings for the traits Humanity, Willpower, Blood Pool, and the expenditure of Freebie Points to increase ratings. VtR has a nearly complete mortal character (Character Creation of a mortal in its entirety appears in the WoD book), which needs the Vampire template added from the VtR book, thus transforming mortal into a vampire. I like this change, because I can pause for a second and think "Is this mortal who I envisioned this vampire came from?" I believe this is a good side effect of the modular design of nWoD. VtR's Character Creation may take longer as a result of this, but not much longer (expenditure of Freebie Points slows down VtM considerably).
In VtM, Merits and Flaws are listed to round out the character. In VtR, the Merits are stuck in with Backgrounds and become the same system (called Merits). Flaws aren’t around in VtR, and I think this is a good thing: if your character stutters or has another personality quirk, do you really need something mechanical to compensate for it?
Round 8
Playing it/Combat: First, I have never gotten to play VtR. I have played more sessions of VtM than I care to remember, and will try to make as clean a comparison as possible.
VtM's combat turn looks something like this: Roll initiative (Wits + Alertness), determine order (by comparing successes), Character A rolls to hit (Dexterity + Weapon skill), his opponent rolls to dodge (Dexterity + Dodge), if a hit is scored, Character A rolls damage (Firearm or Strength + Weapon), his opponent rolls to soak (Stamina+ armor), which could negate some or all damage. Character B, C, and/or D then go through this process as well, which may be extended by use of the Celerity discipline (as above) and Fortitude discipline (as above). Any damage taken comes off a 7 level Health chart, with varying degrees of penalties.
VtR's combat is faster; Roll initiative (Dexterity # + Composure # + 1d10) to determine order. The Character A rolls to hit with Dexterity + Firearms + Weapon bonus for a firearm, Strength + Weapon skill + Weapon bonus for other weapons. But wait, an opponent's Defense rating (lowest of Dexterity or Wits + Armor) is then subtracted from the number of dice rolled before they are rolled (Firearm attacks don't lose any dice). All successes are immediately set as damage, and come off the defender's Health which is equal to his Size (5 for most adults) + Stamina.
These mechanics are too complicated written out. Let's go with an example turn from a fistfight between two characters in each system (to be fair, no Disciplines will show their ugly heads):
VtM example: Jack has Strength 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3, Wits 3, Alertness 1, Dodge 1, and Brawl 3. Tyler has Strength 3, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3, Wits 2, Alertness 1, Dodge 2, and Brawl 2. Initiative is rolled: Jack rolls 2 successes (9, 6, 2, 5) while Tyler has 1 (9, 3, 2). Jack goes first and attacks with 6 dice for 3 successes (7, 2, 9, 1, 10, 7). Tyler rolls to dodge, 4 dice; 2 successes (3, 7, 2, 7). Jack connects and rolls damage: 1 success (8, 4). Tyler soaks: 1 success (7, 2, 3). No wound caused on this exchange. Tyler then rolls to hit…
VtR example: Jack has Strength of 2, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3, Wits 3, Composure 2, and Brawl 3. Tyler has Strength 3, Dexterity 2, Stamina 3, Wits 2, Composure 2, and Brawl 2. Initiative is rolled: Jack rolls 14 (9 +5), Tyler rolls 13 (9 +4). Jack goes first and attacks with 3 dice for 1 success (7, 2, 9). Tyler takes 1 wound, then rolls to hit…
In other words, VtM is a slow, ungodly mess of combat while VtR is quicker. I, for one, am Jack's complete lack of surprise.
There is one benefit/hindrance of VtR rules, and that is that the Powergamers will only need to bring up Dexterity (Physical), Composure (Social), Wits (Mental), and Weaponry, specialize in a weapon, and buy Fighting Finesse in that weapon to be sexual chocolate at combat. This can all be done at Character Creation. I call it a hindrance because it ups possibility of munchkin; I call it a benefit because it's all too easy to spot. Just a tip to put the Fonts of Putrescence on this: limit Dexterity, by only allowing it to be as high as 3 at Character Creation. I know this is a review, and no place for house rules, but I really feel Dexterity is too powerful in VtR.
Round 9
Storytelling it: I already stated that I found Storytelling VtM a chore. I have Storytold it multiple times, each time with an implausible mish-mash of Clans, working together for very little apparent reason other than "the Elders say so". It really was the only thing I could come up with, unless the players decided to hide their Clan identity from one another. Most of the time, people wanted to play opposing Clans (Lasombra and Ventrue) or Caitiff when I was trying to throw together a game of politics. While those stories never really turned out bad (due to great players), I felt they were weakened by all the conflict between the Clans. One could argue against my ability to Storytell, but then again, no one here has been to a game session of mine.
Now, I'm not going to hammer the system with this, but many of the characters I saw in certain Clans in VtM looked the exact same. I recently moved 2000 miles. I found a Vampire group here, and played 2 sessions. On the second session, I said I was going to quit, and looked at their character sheets. Guess what! Yep, same thing. Don't ask me, I think the game has almost as much customization as VtR. For some reason that lacks definition, I have never seen a Brujah with all Presence (the Clan's social Discipline) and without Celerity or Potence in VtM. This trend continues with other Clans, but I won't detail here because it's just my personal experience and not a flaw with the system.
I recently got to Storytell VtR, and must say that I found a lot more adaptability. Two people were in the same Clan and looked completely different. One was a Faithful and Wrathful believer that his new strength came from the Almighty (Lancea Sanctum), and he was here in the world to be a blight upon the wicked (coincidentally, the player had just seen the movie Boondock Saints). The other was a Greedy but Prudent individual that loved hacking and used to love drugs, deciding to go with the Invictus because of the promise of eventual wealth and power. I would tell you what Clan they played, but that would spoil the fun. And I only really mentioned three of the many ways in which they were different.
Lets just say that I've seen VtM have two individuals play the same Clan and be completely different characters, but it seemed so much easier to do with VtR due to all the choices beyond Clan affiliation. As I've already shown in the Combat round, VtR's combat is much lighter, and it feels better to me when Storytelling. Where there were up to 4 die rolls, there is now only one, which is a big convenience, because I usually had to make 2 of those rolls (as the Storyteller) for every player.
Round 10
Online Support: Given time, these will be roughly the same. Both games were produced by the same company, for Pete's sake!
By means of a count out, the Winner is Vampire: the Requiem!
One Bad Thing…: While I’ve already mentioned a few slight issues I see present in the rules of VtR, there are a few other stones in the road of damnation that I might as well point out. Others may think these are great ideas, but the logic in my brain can’t bend around them:
At the end of the Disciplines listed in the VtR book, there is a 4-page list of Devotions (10 in total, 5 of them are Auspex related). These are extra powers purchasable if you have X Discipline at level A and Y Discipline at level B. My only problem with them is that they seem shoehorned into the system, and seem to add a mechanical perk for buying X Discipline with Y Discipline instead of Z Discipline. In order to have rhyme or reason, they would have had to either show possibilities for every Discipline combined with every other Discipline (78 total Devotions), or at least every Discipline combined with every other Discipline save Clan-specific or Covenant-specific boundaries (Which would number 55 in total). Yes, this would be a major waste of page space, and if I had done it, I would have just left them out of the book and brought out a Devotions book later on with more coverage and have had Devotions more rounded out and in tune with the rest of the system. I have a feeling that a book such as this is probably in the works. Until such a book comes out, I’ll be leaving these 4 pages out of my campaigns.
Appendix 1 seems like it is receiving lots of praise, it is where the Bloodlines of the game are stored. Bloodlines aren’t really a bad idea: They allow a character, at some point, to gain another Clan Discipline and Weakness. The only real problem I see with them is they make the character’s Clan held up like VtM (as an organization) rather than VtR (an ethnicity), and the game slightly goes against it’s own logic. The end of this chapter culminates with 2 new Disciplines for specific Bloodlines, rules for Discipline Creation, and a few notes on Devotion creation. This part makes little sense to me, as most vampires desire power, these Bloodlines would more than likely be assimilated or crushed for their special Disciplines by their parent Clans or the Covenants, as these Bloodlines act more like Covenants. As is, it seems almost like “Prestige Classes” for VtR. So it will be a section I will be leaving out of my campaigns also.
Ahhh, done!
Well, that was my second review of all time. Long winded as ever. Hope nobody was bored into prostate cancer, and a hearty thanks to anyone who made it all the way through before deciding to go to the forum and call me a heretic for hating VtM, picking apart VtR, or some other function that reviewers must do to review. Sure, you can call me a heretic for having opinions and expressing them in a review, and biased, and all I can say is all humans are. About everything. Heck, I'll laugh with you at my flawed opinions and faulty logic.
You may or may not like VtR based on past experiences with VtM. Some lovers of VtM don’t like the new changes, some people who hated VtM like VtR based on the changes. All I tried to do is outline the majority so you could figure out which camp you’d be in, liking or hating the changes/game. I also tried to define all my terms to enough of an extent that people who had never played a game with Vampire in it’s title could somewhat follow along.
Style 5: Due to the impressive amount of style the book and setting have, I’m giving it the highest praise in this field. Much versatility and coolness, all mixed together in a couple pretty hardbacks. I couldn't ask for anything more.
Substance 4: It had everything I wanted changed from the original system in VtM, and kept none of the junk. It explains everything clearly. The -1 to max substance only comes from the fact that there is no true history in the book. There are also a few mechanical hiccups that take this game out of perfection as far as I’m concerned. Still, 4 is above average.
Happy gaming to all, and to all a good night.
Help support RPGnet by purchasing this item through DriveThruRPG.
