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The Good: Dozens of ways to customize your own game wrapped up in interesting short fiction. Lots of just downright cool stories and myths to add more spice to existing games.
The Bad: Some of the myths are simplistic and uninspiring, either borrowing from pop culture with little alteration or providing ideas you’ve likely already had. Chapter Three is particularly weak.
The Physical Thing
This 144 page black and white hardcover showcases above average production values for its $26.99 price tag. The art is often linked to the text, which helps bring the myths and legends to life. The formatting results in an easy to read product, and while there are occasional editing mistakes they’re uncommon and not particularly notable.The Ideas
To say that Mythologies is about myths doesn’t tell you very much. The myths here are vampire myths, split generally into three major types. Some of the myths, if true, suggest strange and unusual abilities vampires may be able to learn. These myths concern themselves with the properties of being a vampire: where vampires come from, why they exist, and what they can do. Other myths suggest creatures and things that vampires whisper about in the shadows, dark and terrible things that lurk just beyond a vampire’s understanding. These aren’t monsters to fight (most can’t be fought, they’re too tough) so much as boogeymen for vampires. Finally, some myths suggest radical alterations in the current Requiem game assumptions. God cursed the vampires, vampires are made from fear, that sort of stuff. These ideas, and the support mechanics, will especially appeal to fans of the game who want to use it for something a little different.Under the Cover
As with other White Wolf products, Mythologies begins with an appropriate piece of short fiction and a general Introduction.Chapter One Damnation 38 pages.
The Blood of the Bull presents a creation myth involving Mithras, an ancient god who may have been responsible for the creation of vampires. Several different hints of myth and legend are presented, painting Mithra as a good and noble figure who was a friend of the Sun originally. What happened later is unclear, but various texts and legends speak of worshippers of Mithras meeting in darkness to carry out blood rites – especially in ancient Rome. If you want to add a lot of dark blood rituals to your game, or perhaps more Roman elements, then this is an excellent creation myth to play up.
The mechanics support different levels of initiation into the Cult of Mithras, with each level providing a variety of potent, flavorful powers generally superior to those of a Discipline. Throwing balefire made of lies and always doing aggravated damage with a bladed weapon are pretty nice abilities to have, and clearly show that the vampire is favored by Mithras.
Sons of the Serpent suggests that Eve knew the serpent carnally and that she had children that are not mentioned in the Bible. These wicked beings caused all manner of trouble until the Angels of God intervened, bestowing a curse on the vampires and the knowledge to slay them to the people. Seth, Adam’s third son, uses a limb sharpened into a spear from the tree of knowledge to piece the heart of one of the evil children and drag her out into the sun to die.
In addition to this very flavorful backstory, a few mechanical changes are provided. Protean turns a vampire into an asp and python instead of a bat and wolf. Vampires are immune to snake venom. Vampires can lock eyes with mortals and hypnotize them. Snakes are easier to ghoul than any other animal. Simple changes, yes, but they still do a good job of driving home the serpentine origins of the vampires.
Embraced by Fear was without a doubt my favorite. The assumption here is that vampires originated when some mortals were too afraid to die and stay dead. One was afraid that her beauty would fade one day, so when she finally died the fear of worms eating her corpse roused her from the grave. Another was afraid of sin, so much so that she kept committing more and more terrible acts to cover up past transgressions. Eventually she lay dying and feared being judged by God so much that she, somehow, managed to keep going after death. Short stories for the founder of each of the five Clans are presented, and they’re all neat. Many variants are provided, allowing for plenty of options for Storytellers that want to customize this myth in various ways. One of the most interesting parts, for me, is that vampires may embrace only by carefully cultivating fear in their chosen childe. It’s a chilling thought, and would lead to a very dark game.
The mechanical changes here are light. Fear may be the only way to embrace. Auspex can detect a mortal’s fear level (which makes it even more useful).
The Blood Gods suggests that some vampires believe blood gods, powerful and ancient spirits, are responsible for their condition. With Cults dating back before Rome, these believers engage in dark rites that involve ritual blood letting in order to please the spirits and gain power. While there are many different myths and suggestions surrounding this option, it feels less detailed than the rest.
Mechanically, cultists tend to receive bonuses on degeneration, frenzy, and other roles related to morality and the stresses giving into the Beast involve. Indeed, cultists believe the Beast is the whispering voice of the blood god and go out of their way to heed its wishes. The various Merits and the like here reflect the alien mindset that these cultists have developed, and fans of the older Vampire: The Masquerade may see some resemblance here to the older Paths system that was used to represent different types of Morality. Unfortunately, I don’t think this mechanic meshes well with the way Humanity is being used in Vampire. A few other new mechanics are provided that revolve around gaining information and power through blood drinking.
Emperors of Blood suggests that the first vampire was actually Gaius Julius Caesar. This myth traces back the origin of the vampire people to various emperors and political leaders, including Cleopatra and Caligula among others. Many of them performed dark, mad deeds while serving their people and it is believed that this flagrant violation of the gods, man, and nature is what is truly responsible for the curse of vampirism.
Chapter Two Modern Legendary 46 pages.
Eaters of Sin are vampires who have discovered and honed the secret art of psychically consuming the sin of another person, allowing them to be forgiven of their transgressions while the Sin Eater grows more wicked. These vampires believe that Sin is merely a psychic residue attached to the soul, and that they can alleviate others of this residue by siphoning it off. These aren’t particularly kind vampires, however, but scholars and addicts who feel compelled to consume the sin of others.
A variety of mechanical benefits are available to these vampires, including the simple ability to allow a vampire to make a new Humanity degeneration roll while the vampire eats away some past Sin. Unfortunately, the Sin Eater must also roll and runs a risk of degenerating and going bad from practicing this craft. Other abilities focus around being able to avoid degeneration (of course) and being able to detect Sin and even use it as a weapon.
Breath Drinkers and Liver-Eaters suggests that some (or even all in a campaign variant) vampires have learned to survive on something more than mere blood. Breath drinkers hover over a victim as he sleeps, slowly siphoning breath away in order to preserve themselves. Liver eaters practice a less benign form of feeding (though even breath drinking steals Health levels), consuming a person’s liver to gain even more power.
The mechanics are simple, but well done. Liver eating results in the vampire being able to consume any type of blood for nourishment for 10 days. Breath Drinking has its own Discipline-like chain, going from low levels where the vampire sips breath all night long to high levels where the vampire merely needs to look a person in the eyes for a moment in order to feed off their soul. Very cool stuff, and definitely worth adding to a game that involves mysterious and hidden practices.
Solace is a modern myth focusing on a special narcotic that has been extracted from vampires (or, in a variant, chemically synthesized) and is used to get vampires really, really high. The drug is rare, expensive, and extremely addictive. Unfortunately, there’s nothing more to this myth than it being a drug that vampires like. If you want to introduce drug addiction into your game but put a bit of a mysterious spin on it, then Solace will work just fine. Still, this is the weakest entry in the book and contributes little to the otherwise compelling vampire mythology presented here.
The Sleep of Reason is all about vampires who drink the dreams of mortals around them. My favorite entry in this chapter, the idea of dream drinking vampire is very cool and expertly presented here. Various myths of things that happen to vampires who drink dreams, the suggestion that vampires value their herd based on the quality of their dreams (and so prefer creative people), and other little bits really make this part stand out. The mechanics here are very light, focusing around acquiring information from stray dreams the vampire encounters.
Understanding the Fog of Eternity is, for me, the most terrifying of all the suggestions in Mythologies. The idea here is that when a vampire enters torpor they die, their soul being displaced in the underworld until they wake. There they are subject to a host of different threats, from angry ghosts to stranger things still. Sometimes they perish and something else takes their body for its own uses. This variant strongly ramps up the paranoia level, since characters can never be quite sure that their friends are really their friends. It also includes simple mechanics for converting vampires into ghosts and allowing them to adventure in the underworld. Excellent stuff.
Art in the Blood suggests that a vampire artist, many years ago, learned the secret of painting portraits out of vampire blood that are actually alive in some sort of dark, mystical way. This is the classic haunted painting we’re all familiar with from horror movies and such, but with a bit of a vampire twist. It’s a fine idea, a horror classic, but the entry isn’t particularly inspiring.
Chapter Three What Monsters Fear 44 pages.
The Thing in the Mirror is a lengthy take on the old Hell Mary / Bloody Mary thing you probably heard as a child, where if you look in a mirror and say some phrase like “Hell Mary” seven times then a spirit is summoned in the mirror. This is pretty much that, but with a vampire twist. The entry generally suggests that there are two beings which may be summoned from a realm of mirrors, Red Jack and Queen Mary, and offers many suggestions as to what these entities could be. My favorite is the idea that Red Jack is actually the reflection of the first vampire and has been existing on its own in some other realm since then. There is an interesting mechanical addition here in the form of a Discipline focused on optics and mirrors that can be taught by Red Jack or Queen Mary. It’s an interesting Discipline that allows for the vampire to see their own reflection, divine things in a mirror, and a few other abilities.
The Just Angel is Raguel, a vampire slayer, or something else altogether. This entry allows Storytellers to either add some religious myth to their game or to add some paranoia and suspicion, depending on how Raguel is handled. For those that do want a Chronicle that takes advantage of Biblical lore this is yet another option that helps the Storyteller achieve that feel. Unfortunately, while it is a neat idea it’s still “just an angel.” The idea to use an avenging angel from heaven, or something masquerading as one, probably isn’t very inspiring to most readers.
Blood Curses suggests that vampires acquire blood curses from their victims, which can do anything from prohibit the vampire from crossing running water to utterly destroy the vampire should she encounter garlic. The curses themselves aren’t terribly exciting in concept, being treated more like a blood disease that can be transferred around than anything else. However, there is good mechanical support here for tweaking how vampires are in your game. If you want vampires to be burned by crosses, forbidden from walking on holy ground, or warded off by garlic then here are some easy tools to make that happen.
My Ghoul, My Master: The Phanariot presents the idea of spirits or unusual mortals who get into a vampire’s good graces and become ghouls… but were all along immune to the vampire’s mental influence. These ghouls actually work to slowly bend the vampire to their will or, in some cases, wait for an opportunity to betray and kill the vampire. Needless to say, using this myth is sure to lead to extremely paranoid vampires and possibly even the mass murder of ghouls within a given domain. Indeed, that’s exactly what historical snippets in this section suggest has happened in the past. Some domains even keep a vigilant watch out for Phanariot, watching ghouls to make certain they don’t have any influence over their vampire masters.
Frenzy Plague is a myth dealing with a plague that… causes frenzy! The whole thing is presented from the perspective of a research institute looking into this danger, which paints a mental image of high security test facilities and horrible experiments. Unfortunately, the entry doesn’t focus on secret vampire research facilities but instead presents a simple communicable disease that is best staved off through… acting moral and maintaining a high humanity. This is another entry that had a good bit of potential, but is unfortunately simplistic in its implementation.
The Black Hounds are strange black dogs that hunt vampires. They may be the hounds of Satan, werewolves, spirits, or something stranger still. The good part of this entry is that is provides a variety of different accounts of the dogs, from the perspective of different witnesses and victims of their attacks. Many options for the hounds and their strange master are presented, giving the Storyteller a good bit of flexibility with implementing the hounds in her game.
The Hunter is another concept that, unfortunately, hasn’t realized its potential. This is a supernatural vampire hunter strongly reminiscent of Blade who uses explosives, swords, guns, and various other tools to kill as many vampires as possible. That’s about it, and with Defense 13 and aggravated damage to all his attacks one wonders what the provided stat block is meant to be used for.
Dreadful Night of the City is, fortunately, a fine entry to end the product on. This myth hints that great vampire spirits inhabit cities where the undead are found, spreading their influence throughout every aspect of life there. It’s the ever lurking Cthonic horror, the dark god of undeath, and an excellent tool for many Storytellers. It can inspire dread, paranoia, or even hope for the vampire mystic who learns of it and hopes to commune – exchanging dark gifts for a powerful failure.
My Take
This is an excellent product and, but for a few myths that just aren’t that interesting, I’d consider it one of the best to be released for Vampire. I intend to make extensive use of it in my next Chronicle. I’ll probably use the “vampires are descendents of the serpent” concept and mix in some of the more interesting myths to keep life interesting for the vampire scholars in the group. If you have a player who is playing a member of the Ordo Dracul, or who is a vampire scholar generally, I highly recommend this product as the myths can easily spice up roleplay and provide constant fodder for those interested in learning more about the vampiric condition. Even for Harpies or average vampires with little interest in the occult, when some of these myths start circulating in a domain everyone had better pay attention before they find themselves swept up in mob panic or a Prince’s inquisition.It’s a product that has something for everyone, but it’s structured such that one Chronicle could use most of, or all of, the content presented. That’s what really makes this one shine compared to other products that have attempted the same thing.
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