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In Short

The Good: Many of the stories are quite entertaining. The artwork does a fantastic job of supporting the text.

The Bad: Nosferatu are cast into the role of outsider a little more often than I would like. Some of the Nosferatu seem far more physically monstrous than the core game would suggest.

The Physical Thing

Under the Cover

The short stories often depict the Nosferatu as outsiders among outsiders, confined to sewers and attics with little opportunities to interact with other vampires. The tales do a wonderful job of emphasizing the psychology of creatures always excluded from society. The Nosferatu tend to fall into one of two groups. Some embrace the horror of their existence. They strive to creep other vampires out, to distinguish themselves as true monsters, and to cast aside much of their humanity. Other Nosferatu tend towards ignoring their condition and continuing on, proud vampires who conduct themselves just as any other would. Many supporting tales of both types are included.

Speaking of supporting tales, let's take a look at a few that really stood out for me. Surprisingly, the very first piece of fiction is one of my favorites. It follows the diary of a young girl who lives with her mother in an abusive home. She eventually meets the vampires who live in the attic and takes to their strange ways. Eventually she dies to her abusive mother, is embraced, and then eats her mother. It's a very dark tale and it does a great job of showing a few Nosferatu in a very different light. While the vampires featured here are outcasts, they've also created a little world of their own. They have complete control of this world and can play in it as they wish, something more common among the Nosferatu than other Clans.

Several characters are featured repeatedly in the tales in Nosferatu, with a few even having appeared in other Clan books. The Worm Lord, for example, appears in other books and here is featured as an example of a Nosferatu who has created a political domain all his own. He doesn't participate in the standard politics of the day, instead preferring to manipulate events from the shadows and serve as a sort of rebellious lord who may work counter to the goals of the Prince.

The Worm Lord also serves as an example of a Nosferatu who is completely comfortable with his nature. He's perfectly willing to gross out others if it gives him any advantage, and he revels in the raw inhumanity of his existence. Contrast this with Violet, a woman cruelly embraced at the height of her beauty and power. Violet can not stand her horrid visage, and she spends her time constantly hidden in shadows only rarely leaving to feed. These two tales showcase two fundamentally different approaches Nosferatu have with regard to their existence.

Many other characters and tales are included, all of which paint a comprehensive image of the many different faces a Nosferatu vampire may have. In addition to these wonderful tales, which take up the majority of the book, a few mechanical additions are also included. The Cockscomb Society, one of the new Bloodlines, focuses in on Nosferatu who are trying as hard as possible to appear normal. This grants them Majesty, but because appearing mundane is ultimately a boring thing to do they can no longer regain Willpower from their Virtue.

Another new Bloodline, the Lygos, offers Auspex in return to severe penalties for being in bright light. These Nosferatu truly dwell in shadows and avoid light whenever possible. A few nice Devotions are also included, but the final two major mechanical additions are new Merits and a special system for representing the awful appearance of the Nosfearatu. The Merits are a little odd as three of them are dedicated to ghosts. I never associated Nosferatu with ghost channeling or interaction, but apparently the author here feels differently.

Another group of Merits focuses in on building a portion of a Necropoli under the city. Sewer tunnels, basements, and other locations are connected to create a useful warren for the character to dwell in. These are interesting, as they give a small additional perk in addition to creating a place to use. They require many points to be truly worthwhile, and as with any physical location they can be lost through politics or destruction. That said, I like this new approach to building a home with Merit points as it offers more than just a secure location for the vampire to reside in.

My favorite mechanical addition is easily Deviations of Flesh and Feel. This optional subsystem is very simple, but will work well in play. It asks the player to select from a group of connected Attributes or Skills. As Blood Potency increases one of these goes up while the other goes down. For example, a character with Hungry Eyes gradually gets better at Investigation as she gets worse at Socialize. This mechanical effect likely represents eyes that are simply disturbing to all those who see them, making it very difficult for others to relate to the Nosferatu well enough to engage her socially. While these modifiers are fairly small at first, they do grow with time and I love how such a simple idea can do a great job of better defining what makes a given Nosfearatu horrific.

My Take

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