V20 Anarchs Unbound

Title: V20 Anarchs Unbound

Price: $14.99 (PDF), $42.99 (Premium Hardcover)

Publisher/Year: Onyx Path Publishing, 2014

Author(s): Justin Achilli, Alan Alexander, Jason Andrew, Bill Bodden, Sarah Roark, Matthew Sanderson

DriveThruRPG Link

Rating: 3.5/5

As one might guess from the title, Anarchs Unbound is dedicated to the Anarch Movement – it’s history, philosophy, reality, and technology. It was originally released through Kickstarter, but remains available on DriveThruRPG.

The usual more detailed stuff will follow, but the short review is that Anarchs Unbound is great. I can’t say that Anarchs Unbound is the best V20 supplement, because Beckett’s Jyhad Diary exists, but that seems like a really unfair comparison, given the massive size of the love-letter to the pre-V5 metaplot that was the Diary. So I’ll just say that Anarchs Unbound is the best ‘normal’ supplement for V20.

Anarchs Unbound opens with a ~15 history of the movement (from a strident Anarch point of view, of course). Maybe a third of this is the ‘ancient history’ part of the tale (the Anarch Revolt, the Convention of Thorns, and onto the relative disappointment of Anarch activity in the New World) one third on the 20th century up until about 1990 (the not-really-anarch Soviet vampires and the rise of the Anarch Free States), and then a third beyond that. The material in the modern era primarily focuses on some terrorism and technology-related matters – the effect of the security state after 9/11, the internet, the distribution of the digital manifesto Anarchs Unbound (“WHY DO YOU OBEY?”), and the use of economic warfare by the Red Question collective to force the Camarilla to call of their hounds. It’s a good presentation, with sharp writing and enough detail to weave an interesting tale without so much that it gets bogged down.

The second chapter, “The City Upon the Hill,” talks generally about how Anarch domains are run in modern nights – their aspirations and how they often fail to live up to them (as they quote from the Devil’s Dictionary, “REBEL, n. A proponent of a new misrule who has failed to establish it.”). It’s mostly told from the point of view of what passes for an older vampire among the anarchs, speaking to her childe. She knows that her childe hates her for being the sort of controlling “I know better than you” sort of vampire the anarchs are supposed to be against. And she believes that her childe is generally right in concluding this. Although at least, she thinks, she is aware of it and isn’t as far gone as most of the ‘anarchs’ who have been around for decades. Her commentary is entertaining and biting. The difficulties of supposedly treating mortals better and giving vampires freedom while still having to maintain the Masquerade. How to keep order in a society that reflexively objects to central authority. The failings of community voting and communal responsibility. How the way Anarchs cultivate favors and political goodwill is shaped by the need to avoid the appearance of elder-style prestation games. The general tendency of it all to fall into autocracy anyway. And, in my favorite bit in the book, a rather self-aware discussion of members of the various clans are seen in the Anarch Movement, despite the Movement’s supposedly post-clan ideology. That broad survey is followed by a rundown of particular territories either in the hands of the Movement, or with a significant presence – Boston, California, Madison, Saskatchewan, Venezuela, Krakow, Scandinavia, Liverpool/Manchester, Perth, and Mombasa.

Turning back to the Red Question and Anarchs Unbound, there’s a bit of a strategy guide for how to succeed as an Anarch (or is it all just a trap to prompt elders into overreaction in order to increase support for the Movement?). Strong, violent prince? Provoke them to overreact. Weak Prince? Set the Primogen (the real power) against each other. In Sabbat territory? Good luck with that. All with tongue planted very firmly in cheek. After this POV presentation, there is the usual switch to third-person, this time for a more detailed history of vampires and technology – iterating Shrecknet, Fangster/Fangbook (encoding Thaumaturgy rituals into software to let those with Auspex see vampires-only messages on social media), and then Bloodspot, which let used unknown magic to let any vampire create websites only vampires could read (all of this presumably blown away in the post-V5 metaplot).

Finally, there’s the usual crunch in the back. New backgrounds mostly include links to Anarch social structures, although there’s also one for always having guns on hand (isn’t that what Resources and/or Streetwise are for?). Similarly, the merits and flaws focus on having a good or bad reputation in the Anarchs, although you can also pick up a Sugar Daddy in another sect. More space, however, is dedicated to Disciplines, with 11 combination Disciplines and 6 Elder Disciplines (*insert snide comment about what kind of ST lets players run around as 7th generation ‘anarchs’*). I apparently like Combination Disciplines with witty names, as some of my favorites are Internet Famous (a combo Presence/Thaumaturgy power that issues commands to everyone who follows the vampire on social media) and Suck It Up (a combo Animalism/Protean power that allows the vampire to draw a pool of blood into themself without doing something so crass as crouching down to lick it off the ground).

In addition to the really fun contents, if you’re lucky you might still find around one of the deluxe versions, with ‘stickers’ (“my sire was at Thorns and all I got was this blood bond”) and blood spatter (“Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité ou la mort“) on the back. But the part I got the biggest kick out of was the bookmark which, instead of the usual satin ribbon affair, is a rope – keeping it real, Anarchs.

But whatever the details, I just really liked reading Anarchs Unbound. It had a great mix of hope and humor and pathos. It had characters and situations that were interesting and ideas that could readily spark ideas on how to use Anarchs in a game. I highly recommend it to anyone looking into V20.

V20 Beckett's Jyhad Diary

Title: V20 Beckett's Jyhad Diary

Price: $24.99 (PDF), $62.99 (Standard Hardcover)

Publisher/Year: Onyx Path Publishing, 2018

Author(s): Alan Alexander, Matthew Dawkins, Steffie de Vaan, Joshua Doetsch, Renee Knipe, Neall Raemonn Price, Myranda Sarro, Malcolm Sheppard, Monica Valentinelli

DriveThruRPG Link

Rating: 3.5/5

I have long expressed my love for the backstory/metaplot side of Vampire: the Masquerade, such as how the Book of Nod and Revelations of the Dark Mother are two of my favorite Vampire: the Masquerade books and The Fragile Path and The Erciyes Fragments are two of my favorite books from the rest of the World of Darkness. So you can imagine I was more than a little excited when I got around to reading the super-fancy deluxe version of Beckett’s World Tour and Metaplot Update Jyhad Diary, which has more pages (~550) of world-building than all four of those put together.

Unsurprisingly, Beckett’s Jyhad Diary is primarily told from Beckett’s perspective, as the Gangrel hops from country to country, first chasing down the Book of the Grave-War and then generally getting sucked into trouble (and, wow, does Beckett get in a lot of trouble … seriously, if he ever invites your character along, running in the other direction is almost certainly the safe thing to do). Other vampires who appear with some frequency (either directly appearing or making notes on Beckett’s writings) include old favorites Vykos (with the appreciated “they” replacing “it” as a pronoun), Lucita, Anatole, Jan Pieterzoon, Aisling Sturbridge, and Hesha Ruhadze.

Each chapter in the diary presents a variety of in-character snippets. The most common content is transcripts of Beckett’s audio recordings of his conversations, followed by more literal diary entries, and printed out emails and chat room logs (the book makes a long-running jest out of Beckett’s lack of understanding of electronic communications). This content includes a decent amount of ‘hand-written’ script material, but not as much as there might have been, because so much of the material is transcripts or emails. Out of that, there were only a couple of places that I had difficulty figuring out the contents of the script – for almost all of it the text was still sufficiently clear, had enough contrast, etc. so that I could read without problem (alas, these eyes are not always the best, and sometimes I have trouble when there’s something like overly-flowery black script on a grey background, as some of the White Wolf books have done over the years).

This is followed by a (much) briefer out-of-character presentation that presents a bit of a god’s-eye view on the situation, along with some suggested ways that a coterie could get involved. There’s also some alternative twists on the metaplot. The former mostly have a “this is stuff that actually happens” vibe, while the latter explicitly are not things that actually happen.

I’m not even going to try to summarize all of the updates (read the book!), but the various locations/plot elements visited include:

• Carna’s Rebellion/Milwaukee;
• Chicago/Helena/Menele/Xavier;
• Washington, D.C./the departure of Vykos and return of Marcus Vitel as an independent;
• The American South/Camarilla reconquest (and maybe losing New Orleans)/Banu Haqim start to join;
• London/Mithras-Coven;
• Jordan/France/The rise of Ur-Shulgi/fragmentation of the Banu Haqim;
• California/crumbling of the Anarch Free States;
• Thin Bloods (including V20 character creation rules, the only ‘crunch’ in the Diary);
• Mexico City/civil war and the general fracturing of the Sabbat/Blood Brothers;
• Montreal;
• Haiti/Egypt/Michigan/Followers of Set/Serpents of the Light/Clan of Death (Samedi, Cappadocians);
• Libertatia (note: not a real place)/East Africa;
• South Africa/Laibon (note: no real rules for playing Laibon, as the V20 Dark Ages-based suggestions don’t line up with Kindred of the Ebony Kingdoms);
• Transylvania/Dracula/Kapula;
• Russia/Death of Baba Yaga;
• Hong Kong/The Usual Tremere/Saulot Craziness/weakening of the Tremere;
• Carthage Must Be Destroyed/Tunisia/True Brujah/Brujah/Baali;
• Macau/India/Eye of Hazimel/Actual Hazimel/wow there are still a lot of Ravnos left;
• Switzerland/Romania/Italy/Giovanni Chronicles V (just pretend IV didn’t happen)/spirits of the Conspiracy of Isaac/Endless Night;
• Romania/Salubri/Golconda/Inconnu;
• New York City/Tzimisce (the Antediluvian, not the Clan)/Well of Souls;
• Jerusalem/Malkav;
• Germany/”The False Caine”/Dylan Bruce/Red Listers;
• Cayman Islands/Constantinople/The Dream;
• Italy/Egypt/Clan of Death (Giovanni/Cappadocians/Samedi/Harbingers of Skulls/Impundulu)/some Followers of Set to join the Camarilla (and we all know how well that will go);
• A Brief History of Beckett/A really, really awkward part where Beckett analyzes vampiric stages of life in terms of Freudian psychosexual development;
• South America/Rasputin/Drowned Legacies (like the Laibon, even more vampires who may or may not be related to the thirteen clans/Caine; note that there are no rules for them);
• Libya/France/Egypt/Italy/all of the bloodlines all at once at a big party/Keminitriri/Castle d’Ombro/Red List/True Black Hand.

In addition to the individual stops, there is a running them throughout the Jyhad Diary about Gehenna being cyclical – there isn’t one Gehenna, there are many, time after time. The overall quality was top-notch, with a decent narrative and good dialogue running through most of the book, but some of my favorite stops were the intertwining content about all of the aspects of the Clan of Death, Dracula, learning more about Carna, the revisiting of Chicago (even if not a lot has changed), the first trip to Mexico City and the crumbling of the Sabbat, and anything that touched on Tremere/Saulot/the Salubri (disclaimer: I pretty much always love anything about that stuff).

As you can tell from my commentary in the list, I thought that the weakest part of the Jyhad Diary (by far) was “A Brief History of Beckett.” It’s … not good. It’s mostly gibberish, in the way that one might expect when trying to apply a nonsensical real-world psychological theory to a bunch of fictional monsters. It also doesn’t seem to really contribute to the book – there isn’t really any history of Beckett, and the smidge about his childe Marie could have appeared in the prior chapter where she appeared. The other weak chapter was the immediately-following one on Rasputin and the Drowned Legacies … possibly because Rasputin isn’t interesting and I have zero need to introduce new, mysterious ‘they’ve been there all along but you just didn’t know it’ kinds of vampire for every continent. It almost felt like the main part of the book wrapped up, and then they added a few more chapters on.

Note that, while there is a table of contents, it isn’t always terribly helpful, because titles like “The Spark of Civil War” or “Azhi Dahaka” may not be useful unless you’ve already read the book and/or have really good recall of the existing metaplot.

Overall, the Jyhad Diary serves as something of a bridge from V20 to V5. It isn’t entirely a bridge, as there’s inconsistency between the Diary and V5 (beyond the usual ‘inconsistent narrator’ question). For example, Stanford Warwick is dead in the Jyhad Diary but seems to be referenced in the V5 Anarch supplement. While the Jyhad Diary’s section on London focuses on Mithras/Coven, that notion seems to have been blown up in V5. Hardestadt is missing, but Theo Bell is still an archon. There are there are big themes of V5 that don’t show up here (like the Second Inquisition and the new version of thin-bloods). I suspect that the Jyhad Diary will feel more connected as more V5 supplements come out, especially the Onyx Path ones (for example, the section in the Diary on the various Cappadocian variants seems to feed right into the Hecate for not-even-on-Kickstarter-yet Cults of the Blood Gods).

I was really happy with the Jyhad Diary. As noted above, there’s some bridging from V20 to V5, but there’s enough of a break that it isn’t really reliable as a guide to how things are now – oddly, we’ll have to see how the forthcoming Onyx Path and Modiphius books shape up before we can look back and see how ‘accurate’ the Diary is. But mostly I just enjoyed the whirlwind tour of all the familiar people, places, and concepts, with a bit of moving the metaplot forward. And I enjoyed it whether or not there ends up being a break in “continuity” with V5. I think it will be a good read for anyone who’s a long-time Vampire fan.

Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition

Title: Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition

Price: $29.99 (PDF), $134.99 (Hardcover)

Publisher/Year: Onyx Path Publishing, 2018

Author(s): Charlie Bates, Bruce Baugh, Steve Burnett, Jackie Cassada, Lillian Cohen-Moore, Richard Dansky, Matthew Dawkins, Edwin Huang, Courtney King, Michael B. Lee, Steven S. Long, Clayton Oliver, Neall Raemonn Price, Nicky Rea, Elsa Sjunneson-Henry, Lucien Soulb

DriveThruRPG Link

Rating: 3.5/5

Once upon a time, many years ago in the closing months of the 20th Century, one of my best friends said to me “We’re going to do something new.  Something different.  We’re going to play Wraith.”  being in a group of players that was consistently made up of myself, the significant other of my best friend, and my best friend-as-Storyteller, I was immediately intimidated.  I had no idea how to play Wraith, and – truth be told – had no idea how the rules worked or how the setting would be laid out, etc.

Let’s be clear here; Vampire is easy.  You’re a vampire and you live in a city and you blah blah blah all night long until the sun comes up.  And let’s also be clear that with Werewolf, you’re a werewolf and you live in the near-city or wilderness – or, as I’ve proven in MY OWN games of Werewolf that I’ve run – in the city proper and you blah blah blah all day and night long until your phase of the moon hits and you’re rocking at full-tilt Gnosis and Rage…

But Wraith was different.

Wraith was PERSONAL.

“Here’s what I want you to do, Shannon” he said.  “I want you to think about death.  I want you to think about the worst possible death that you could die.  I want you to think about drowning or dying unexpectedly while you’re going out to get something to eat.  I want you to hold onto the feeling of that… of the emotion of that… and when you’ve got THAT locked down?  THAT’S when we’ll create your character, and I’ll help you to do it.”

Wraith was about as supernatural and frightening to me as the World of Darkness – at least, the World of Darkness that we knew at the time – ever got.

It was story-driven drama.  It was character-driven conflict.  It was cogs within gears within transmissions of the great machinations of Stygian politics.  It was endless, sunless day-to-day survival against the forces of Oblivion who were, to me, MUCH MORE ferocious and malnourished than any of the Wyrm’s minions because, in the end, they were – effectively – the “Great Nothing” that “The Neverending Story” painted as its primary antagonist.

The Wyrm… the Weaver… if it could be said that “they” want anything, it most certainly isn’t a LACK of ANYTHING.  “They” want “something.”  Something IS NOT nothing.

And Malfeans and their countless armies of spectres?  It’s not that they want to watch the Underworld burn.  They want Oblivion.

They want NOTHING to exist in the place of EVERYTHING.

So we created my ghost for this game… and when we were done, I felt drained to be honest.  And my best friend said “Okay.  That’s that.  Now, we make your Shadow.”  

“My what?”

“Your Shadow.  The part of you that WANTS to be dead.  The part of you that wants the madness of the Underworld to end.  The part of you that wants to move on into the Great Nothing… because all of this?  HURTS.  The Shadow doesn’t like it.”

“That’s… fucked up.”

“He’ll help you at times.  Not always, but sometimes.  I mean, he IS YOU.  Think of him as Rage Points in Werewolf, after a fashion.  He’s your enemy, but he can be useful, too.”

Suffice to say we didn’t play those characters much, and the game didn’t last long.  In all honesty, it was too stressful to me at the time, which is a funny thing for me to say now twenty some-odd years down the road after having a son, being widowed at 35, buying a house, and charging ahead through it all.  But at the time, thinking about the depth of Wraith – about the darkness of it – wasn’t how I wanted to spend my game time.

Fast forward twenty years into the future into the middle of 2018.

I’m much older, I’d like to think that I’m much wiser, definitely more mature, a little beat up from wear and tear, but my heart – or a part of it, anyway – still lives in the gothic-punk World of Darkness, and a little piece of that part of my heart is hidden across the Shroud on the Isle of Sorrows in Stygia.

Benevolent psychopathology is a term I use for things that I find myself both terrified by and, simultaneously, obsessed with.  Wraith: the Oblivion falls into the category of benevolent psychopathology for me.

When I heard that there would be a release of a 20th Anniversary Edition of the game, I was overjoyed with expectation.  Having not read ANY of the Geist books and having been completely out of the loop with White Wolf Games Studios – and Onyx Path Publishing, for that matter – I started watching from afar to make sure I didn’t miss the initial release of the book.

Suffice to say, I am in no way, shape or form disappointed in what I have received.

The Prologue: The Face of Death is, quite simply, a graphic novella that takes some absolutely stunning Wraith: the Oblivion artwork superimposed with text blocs that explain the fundamental concepts of the game.  Had this been something 1st or 2nd Edition contained, my best friend would not have had to spend the time that he did explaining to me what Wraith was and what it was all about.  It is beautiful, it is chilling, it is darkly poetic, and it is also very emotionally driven while remaining matter-of-fact and succinct.  This is your Ghost Story.  This is your beginning.

Chapter One: The Introduction is just that, and it serves as a syllabus for what you can expect throughout the course of your reading while working with the Table of Contents as a map.  You’re given a basic Lexicon – and my only complaint here is that there are a couple of “What is that?” terms you’ll run across later that aren’t immediately identified (for example, “Labyrinth, the” even though there are a couple of terms directly related to the Labyrinth or that coincide directly with it) – but aside from that, it’s a concise little thing.

Chapter Two: Setting is where things get down and dirty, but in all fairness, is also where things get a little sketchy.  Sketchy isn’t necessarily a bad thing, mind you… but there are times where contradictions are made that can leave the reader saying “…and whaaaaaaa?”

A good example is the issue of the Fishers and the Treaty of Paradise.  Be careful with this part and know that what you’re reading is not necessarily what happened.  Another would be the narrative explaining the Dark Kingdom of Obsidian.  Another would be “Okay… wait… are ALL of the Ferrymen on their own in the City of Dis now?  Did they ALL turn away from Charon?  Or was it just the Shining Ones?  Or was it the Ancients who existed pre-Rite of Severance?”

Confusion can set in, and while it isn’t fair to write the entirety of the chapter off as bullshit – because it isn’t by a longshot and there’s some amazing information offered up here from the dawn of Stygia to the formation of the Stygian Republic to the founding of the Ferrymen to the building of the Necropoli, to all of the Great Maelstroms, etc. – there are some parts here and there that simply do not jibe well with other parts here and there.

In the end, an intelligent Storyteller and his or her Circle will be able to use and clarify any confusions that they come across.

This chapter has the most “player meat” of the book.  This is the chapter, other than the mechanics-related chapters that the players will sit and devour for hours.

I’ll say this as a fan of the game as well as an objective reviewer: The MAP of Stygia is freakin’ AMAZING.  It’s something that I can’t ever remember having been provided with before.  It harkens back to a sort of Forgotten Realms look at Waterdeep or a setting like that with commercial and military districts, Hierarchical and municipal management districts, Guild speakeasies… it’s an awesome resource that works very well with the written imagery of what is presented in the book.  Pull it all together into a black bouquet with the history of the Guilds, the Legions, where they live, how they think, what they want, how they endeavor to achieve their ends, and you’re PROVIDED with a solid few nights-worth of game time without even mentioning the words “Skinlands” or “Spectres.”

Need to know how to buy and sell?  Done.

Need a weapon forged?  Done. 

Need to know where to head to find work?  Done.

Need to know this or that about the history of this faction or that faction?  Done.

Need to know how to get to a specific Necropolis tonight (hint: The Midnight Express)?  Done.

Unsure about the politics of a Legion or their views on being a wraith? Done.

It’s all here.  While there are a few hiccups, Chapter Two leaves no room for disappointment in just the sheer scope of information that it provides.  As a Storyteller, you can spend your first night of gaming with an open Q&A, or you can print out this chapter of the .pdf for your players to review a night or two before character creation and be in front of the eight ball for time-management’s sake.

Special note should be paid to the final entry in the chapter: The Mnemoi.  Basically, if there’s a “bad guy among good guys,” it’s the Mnemoi Guild.  See, if a ghost is anything, really… if anything gives a ghost “power” or “substance” outside of the Shadowloands, it’s memories.  Guess what the Mnemoi manipulate? 

I’m not saying they’re new, or even new and improved.  I’m just saying that they’re THERE… and they’re waiting for you.

For better or for worse.

Chapter Four: Character, and Chapter Five: Traits serves as a Player’s Guide for the 20th Anniversary Edition of Wraith: the Oblivion, but it is just as useful to Storytellers as to players in regards to NPC generation.  The Three A’s of Attributes, Abilities and Advantages are presented for players to work with, as are finishing touches and ideas on how to create a pre-death situation for the character as well as a death concept, which of course will leave a “Deathmark” on the subsequent Wraith PC when they pass into the Shadowlands.

All of your Guildbooks are here, as is the meat for the Magick of the Dead, aka, Arcanoi.  Now, I’m not saying that a ghost can just up and start some heavyweight spellthrowing with the likes of a Technocratic Magi or even a high-level Thaumaturgist… but let’s give a little respect where it’s due here.  If you go about messing around in the affairs of the Dead, or the Shadowlands, or with ghosts who have Haunts that they don’t want you messing around in, or corpse-bothering when you have no business or right to do so, you’d better get ready.

The Mnemoi, as an example, may not be able to throw a fireball at you or use direct “Pattern Magick” to rend you crippled… but they can make you disappear.

From everything.  Everywhere.  Forever.  As if you never existed.  And no one will know you’re gone except for the Mnemoi who initiated the “spell,” because NO ONE REMEMBERS YOU EVER EXISTED.

And they are able, conversely, to do the same thing to themselves if they are threatened or hunted.

That’s no small amount of HEAVY, in my opinion.

Chapter Six: The Shadow is the Shadow Player’s Guide for the 20th Anniversary Edition of Wraith: the Oblivion.  It covers everything you need to know about the “dark half” of every ghost.  Shadows can be bargained with, they can be sated temporarily, but they will never stop crying out for what they want, which is to bring the wraith closer to Oblivion.  Even the Ferrymen, who have been separated from their Shadow STILL have to deal with the Pasiphae that their Shadow has become at every turn.

This chapter takes a nice, long look at each and every aspect of Shadow character generation including Thorns that the Shadow can use (that are SORT of like sub-Arcanoi in a sense), Angst (the “fuel” that “powers” a Shadow) and Harrowings… which are always a little scary because you never really know if your character is going to make it out of one or if they’re going to be consumed by their Shadow and become a spectre.

If you’re not sure what a Harrowing IS, got watch the movie “Jacob’s Ladder.”  THAT is a Harrowing.

I really like the idea of Shadowguiding.  I think it is ingenious.  A special pat on the back should go to whomever invented it and implemented it into the rules system.  I think that it solves a lot of mechanical problems with Shadows, and I think it REALLY has the potential of bringing a group of players closer together as a functional “family” unit.

Chapters Seven through Nine are the Storyteller’s Handbook to the 20th Anniversary Edition of Wraith: the Oblivion.  While these chapters focus predominately on the Storyteller and in helping the Storyteller tell an amazing Chronicle’s-worth of stories, I think that they are also vitally important for players to skim over.

Special note should be paid by players to Chapter Nine that explains things like the Fog, Maelstroms, the Tempest, Fetters, Passions, Resolution, damage and combat in the Shadowlands, as I really think it helps someone new to Wraith understand how combat with a Corpus made of Plasm is a bit different from flesh and bone.  These things are all explained better – or more importantly, in MORE DETAIL – than in previous chapters.

Chapter Ten: Spectres is where we get into the “bad guys” of Wraith: the Oblivion.

You may be a Thrall to a nastier-than-average Freewraith… but he/she is not a spectre.

Consider yourself lucky.

If there is ANYTHING in the World of Darkness that could be classified as “evil,” it is the servants of Oblivion, or spectres.  They are not like your Shadow.  They are not like to Haunter in the opposing Guild.  They are not the Renegade who harasses you every time you try to catch the one Ferryman’s attention.

They want DESTRUCTION.  Of everything.  Everywhere.

“Listen… and understand.  That Terminator is out there.  It can’t be bargained with.  It can’t be reasoned with.  It doesn’t feel pity… or remorse… or fear… and it absolutely WILL NOT STOP until you’re dead.” -Kyle Reese, “The Terminator”

The 20th Anniversary Edition of Wraith: the Oblivion took the Black Dog Game Factory’s release of Spectres and kicked it up a notch, gave it a little bit of a bath, slopped some deodorant on it, and made it something better.  And having both owned and reviewed THAT BOOK back when it was released, I can say that was no easy feat.

Everything that you could possibly need to create spectre NPCs is here – cause, effect, motivation, how they do what they do, how they get where they’re going, how they survive in the Tempest, how they have generally made an artform out of destroying ghosts via Dark Arcanoi and Shadecraft… Hell, there’s even rules on how to let your freak-flag fly and run a game with nothing but specter PCs.

The author turned an oogie-boogie book of scary things into what is, for all intents and purposes, ANOTHER Player’s Guide within the book.  The result is no small amount of impressive and provides for antagonists that are unfathomably complex in their motivations and desires.

Quite possibly one of the more notable chapters of the book as a whole, I sincerely enjoyed reading Chapter Ten from beginning to end and was left, almost, with a sensation that I had taken TOO MUCH in from all of the additional information provided by it.

Chapter Eleven: The Risen.  The Risen is the Player’s Guide to The Crow, sure… that’s ONE WAY to look at it, I guess.  It’s a little short-sighted, but it definitely A WAY.

But if you’re going to say that, then isn’t Jason Voorhees a Shadow-Dominated Risen?

Wouldn’t a Liche be, in many ways, something that caught the ire and eye of what is probably the most AWESOME Player/Storyteller vehicle within this chapter, the Acherontia Styx?

Everything you need is here.  Are you new to Wraith and want to stick to the Skinlands for a time before Helldiving into the Shadowlands?  Try a Risen.  They have their own system, their own special Arcanoi that work in the Skinlands… and there are ghosts that hunt them across the Shroud in an attempt to destroy them or bring them back to where they belong to face the consequences wrought by the violation of Charon’s Law.

It wa a really cool sourcebook, and I’m glad that The Risen didn’t get forgotten in the 20th Anniversary Edition.

Chapter Twelve: The World of Darkness includes everything that you need to know to give you a running start regarding crossovers in the World of Darkness.  How other denizens would react to ghosts, how Arcanoi effects other denizens, how other denizens’ powers effects ghosts, Relics, Fetters, SPECTRAL Relics, Artifacts and Fetters (very cool, thank you!), and basically just serves as a sort of user manual for the incorporation of other supernaturals that exist side-by-side wraiths so that you’re not completely limited to one sunless day after another in your Chronicle.

There’s some REALLY great information in here.  The “magic items” alone make this chapter a hoot.  Lucky’s Mr. Bunny made me think of Child’s Play… because come on… Chucky is essentially a possessed Artifact…

Chapter Thirteen: The Other Dark Kingdoms takes a nice chunk of wordcount to serve as a bit of a travel guide for the Dead in regards to what else is out there beyond the Dark Kingdom of Iron, Stygia, the Tempest, etc.

In short, this chapter sort of expounds upon and condenses, at the same time, the Dark Kingdom of Jade (Asia) sourcebooks for the 2nd Edition of Wraith and adds to the mythos with the Dark Kingdom of Obsidian (parts of the Americas), the Dark Kingdom of Clay (Australia), the Bush of Ghosts (Africa), the Svarga (India and, possibly, Pakistan), and the Mirrorlands (the Caribean).

Whenever I read setting books like these for the World of Darkness, my first thought is “these guys are smoking WAY too much high-grade methamphetamine to do THIS MUCH WORK!”  It pays off.  While I personally don’t have a whole lot of use for too many different settings outside of the Dark Kingdom of Iron, these setting books – and I call them that because, collected, THEY COULD stand SOLIDLY ALONE as a “Book of the Shadowlands” supplement – are ON POINT.  Most of the Dark Kingdom of Jade stuff is stuff I comprehend and understand fairly readily.  I’ve read the original supplements, read the Kuei-Jin stuff for Vampire back in the day, etc., but the opening up of new trade routes and areas in the Shadowlands the way these settings do?

Just the SHEER ATTENTION TO DETAIL is, to me, like nothing that I’ve ever seen in any role-playing supplement before.  And trust me when I say I’ve seen PLENTY of them.

The Bush of Ghosts and the Dark Kingdom of Obsidian write-ups were my favorite, but that’s a completely subjective thing.  I just find it AWESOME that everything that Stygia thinks that they know about Africa is ABSOLUTELY WRONG in every conceivable way, and I was TRULY INTIMIDATED with the manner in which the Americas were handled. In both cases, it was as though I was being taught the DARK SIDE of African and Mesoamerican mythology… in the World of Darkness… none of which I was supposed to EVER know about.

Arcanoi specific to each geographical locale are provided, as are small Lexicons to add a bit of authenticity to your games when your players set sail to dark, distant shores. 

And that’s about that, by God.

All things being equal, I cannot readily remember the last time I had as much fun reading an RPG book.  For my lot, it made me feel young again to see so many ideas I was introduced to so long ago and how they have evolved – some drastically, some only slightly – and that the spirit of the game is still exactly what it needs to be: “Hope.”

Even with the Tempest spitting at you.

Even in the face of Oblivion.

The Tremere had not become a clan

 

The classic World of Darkness (Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Mage: The Ascension, etc.) has a well developed history that is their canon. There are many events throughout its history that help define the entire story, but what if something changed.

For this, I explain my version of what I think would happen had the Tremere not ascended to clanhood. For those who are well versed with the lore of the Tremere know that they used magick in order to become Kindred, but that Tremere himself committed the unthinkable act of diablerie against the antediluvian Saulot in order to cement his bloodline into a fully fledged clan in the eyes of other kindred.

What if something happened to stop Tremere from taking the life and soul of Saulot? This is actually something that my playgroup has put into the canon of our personal World of Darkness history. In our version, character that we were playing in the modern era used some time magick in order to go back to before Tremere was able to finalize his plans of clanhood. While they were successful in stopping him, the consequences of their actions change our version of the World of Darkness history.

Since Tremere never became a full clan, they were never able to gain the full support of other clans to create the Camarilla. As an odd turn of events, this inadvertently had a similar effect when the concept of the Sabbat was proposed. Since there was no Yin of the Camarilla, there wasn't the feeling of creating the Yang of the Sabbat.

With neither of the 2 sects of Kindred being developed, a new concept emerged. A group that was lead by 3 representatives of every clan that were voted upon by there clan. This concept was eventually named The Nephtali.

Praefectus:

An individual elected by his or her clan with a two-thirds vote in favor for sovereignty of seat.  Who is no less than Ancilla in status.  Whose duty is to observe complaints brought to the council, deliberate on resolve of the matter, and judgment.   The Praefectus is entitled to serve his or her clan with unfailing loyalty, uphold the Laws of Caine, and protect the children of Seth.  Each Praefectus holds a one-third share of each vote (Three Praefectus per clan).  Each member will run for a three century term with a limit of three consecutive terms of service.  Once every three hundred years a conclave will be held to nominate, elect and swear in the new Praefectus of each clan.  Praefectus may gather to change the needs of the edicts of Caine as times see fit.  Once these laws have passed with again a two-thirds vote in favor by all clans the Magistrates maybe employed to notify the local government of changes.  Each Praefectus may employ a limit of 5 Magistrates to investigate matters that relate to the council.

Magistrates:

Magistrates are employed by their Praefectus as he or she sees fit.  The primary task of each member is determined by said Praefectus and granted powers of estate as needed to complete council business. Magistrates maybe asked to present evidence to the council to conclude an investigation and hearing of the party in questions or inform local governments of changes made to Cainite Law.

Council:

The council will hear out concerns of magnitude, investigate claims and if needed said council with convene to find a verdict.  The Verdict must be found with at least a two-thirds vote with each clan.  Sentence must be reached by the same two-thirds vote.  The council will also amend Cainite Law if needed.

This started as a Kindred only organization, but eventually the idea included werewolves and then the rest of the Fera. The Fera Council was a separate entity that had similar rules, but did not have the same feel of the Nephtali because the Fera didn't live nearly as long. Also, lack of greater forms of communication for the time made it more difficult for the Fera.

While this concept ended up working for several centuries, just as in all forms of politics, corruption came to the forefront and eventually brought down this form of leadership for the Kindred. This developed into a large scale coup or more of an insurgence against the corruption that led to the downfall of the first iteration of the Nephtali.

After the initial fall of the Nephtali, they were reformed with a similar design except that both Kindred and Fera would work together as opposed to being separate entities. So far, this has continued to work well.

MrGone's Character Sheets

 

I've been playing White Wolf's World of Darkness games for over 3 decades now, and if you also play classic or new World of Darkness, you probably already know of this great site for character sheets. If you don't know, or are new to playing World of Darkness, then you should come here for all your character sheet needs.

Back in the late 90's and early 2000's I worked to develop a number of character sheets in Excel, but the sheets that MrGone provides are far superior to anything I've ever made. I highly recommend using these sheets and supporting MrGone.

New Project: Salem By Night

I've been roleplaying for over 30 years now, I've been a fan of White Wolf's World of Darkness settings since Vampire: The Masquerade came out, and off-and-on from 1996 - 2011 I was a member of The Camarilla / Minds Eye Society. I have been a DM, GM and ST for so many years, and many of my non-fantasy or sci-fi based stories have been developed using my home town of Salem, Oregon.



While I was in The Camarilla / Minds Eye Society, all our games were based in Salem since we were a LARP group. I word several ST hats during those years, and I look upon them rather fondly. That's why I want to do this project.



Salem By Night is going to be the title of my next netbook. Several years ago, before Onyx Path started publishing new material for Vampire: The Masquerade, I put together a netbook called The Guide to the Bloodlines. This was my first attempt at compiling the efforts of people online to make a single resource for the various bloodlines at the time. It was very rough, but when I originally posted it, people enjoyed it.



Salem By Night will not be just about the Vampire's of Salem and the surrounding area. It will also include information about Werewolves, Changelings, Mages and Wraiths (primarily) because those are the stories that I remember from my time as an ST. There are so many great elements that I feel would make for wonderful stories, and characters that would add a variety of experiences to any game.



I know that Salem, Oregon is not a metropolitan area like Portland, Seattle of Los Angeles, but there are stories to tell and I would to bring them to you. My hope is to also help inspire other fans of the World of Darkness to make similar netbooks about their local area so we can put together a more robust world to ST in that includes the less affluent areas that are typically used as background settings.



I already put the all-call out to my friends and fellow games in Oregon, and will try and keep you posted on the progress of this project. If you're a gamer from Oregon, I would invite you to add yourself to our group on Facebook: Oregon Roleplayers.

Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition

Title: Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition



ISBN: N/A

Price: $29.99 (PDF), $64.99 (Standard Hardcover)

Publisher/Year: White Wolf 2011

Author(s): Justin Achilli, Rose Bailey, Matthew McFarland, Eddy Webb

System: World of Darkness (Classic)

DriveThruRPG Link



Overall rating (1-10): 8



When White Wolf ended the Classic World of Darkness line in 2004 with the Time of Judgment event (Gehenna, et. al.) and introduced the New World of Darkness, I was upset.  I felt betrayed because my favorite game system and setting was gone and not returning.  I nerd-raged when I saw how different the setting of the New World of Darkness was.  I hated how they had removed the wonderful and complex back story.  I didn’t buy the new books, and as much as I loved playing Vampire the Masquerade, I moved on to other systems.  I played a lot more Dungeons and Dragons, Star Wars D20, and Legend of the Five Rings, but in the back of my mind, I was always thinking about the World of Darkness and especially Vampire the Masquerade.

           

When the 20th Anniversary Edition of Vampire the Masquerade was announced, I had already gotten back into Vampire the Masquerade, running the Revised Edition for a group of gamers who had never played VtM.  I was so excited to hear that my favorite game was coming back, and when the Onyx Path announced their plans to begin publishing the Classic World of Darkness game lines (along with New World of Darkness, Exalted, and Trinity), I felt like a Djinni had granted a wish!  Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to order a copy of the deluxe edition or to attend the Grand Masquerade in New Orleans, but I couldn’t have been happier.  I ordered a copy of V20 as soon as I could afford it from DriveThruRPG and the book I received was beautiful.



V20 is a nearly exhaustive single volume that displays all of the greatness that was Vampire the Masquerade back in the 1990s when I started role playing, and it has also lead to a resurrection of White Wolf products through Onyx Path Publishing and CCP (makers of Eve Online).  However, V20 is not a perfect product.  Because it was conceived as a single book devoted to fans of the Classic World of Darkness and Vampire the Masquerade, several issues exist with the presentation of the material.

           

The first thing I noticed when opening the book was the artwork, a mixture of black & white and color.  The artwork chosen for V20 is a mixture of the old and the new, bringing together the nostalgia of old sessions sitting with friends I haven’t talked to in a decade and the desire to build new chronicles and share them with new friends and even strangers.  Pulling from the vast amounts of artwork from previous Vampire the Masquerade books, the authors have chosen some gorgeous images that capture the essence of the setting, but they have also carefully avoided artwork that was too ‘90s.  The new color artwork is breathtaking, especially the images of stereotypical members of each clan that grace the pages opposite the start of a new chapter.  The artwork is vivid and beautiful and perfectly reflects the tone and atmosphere of Vampire the Masquerade.



Every major clan is included in V20 along with their bloodlines and disciplines.  The amount of options presented can be overwhelming, and some of these clans and bloodlines should have been left out.  While I understand the authors’ need to include an exhaustive list of every possible clan or bloodline, along with their disciplines, I feel that perhaps they went too far.  Including clans from Dark Ages Vampire (such as the Cappadocians and Lamia) or minor bloodlines (such as the Ahrimanes) or even the especially strange Children of Osiris, was unnecessary except for the sake of completion.  I have no particular dislike of any of those clans or bloodlines but I believe the space spent on these could have been better used.  More on that later.

           

Aside from some minor changes and tweaks, the core mechanics are much the same as they were in Second Edition and Revised.  The most important change to the system is to the Abilities section.  Several new skills have been added, such as Technology (for using electronics that are not computers), Larcey (for picking non electronic locks) and Awareness (for identifying supernatural phenomena).  Dodge has been incorporated into Athletics.  Secondary skills have been completely removed, simplifying character creation, although some hobby abilities remain but only to round out character concepts.  The focus however is on the primary Abilities.  Also, the rules for multiple actions have been tweaked slightly and much improved by simplifying it.  I was never a fan of the way dice pools were split in Revised; in V20 you simply decide on the number of actions, then determine the smallest dice pool, and finally split the smallest dice pool amongst those actions.  Backgrounds have gotten a needed boost through a mechanic that allows players to pool their background points thus binding a coterie together and letting them invest into a shared resource pool.



Certain disciplines have been updated as well.  The biggest changes have been to Celerity and Potence.  However, the changes balance these powers effectively giving both of them a passive ability as well as an activated ability.  Now the player has the option to choose with Celerity whether to roll more dice on attack or spend blood for extra actions. (The amount of blood spent for Celerity can exceed the generational maximum.)  Potence has a similar change.  Other Disciplines have been rebalanced.  The first level of Presence, Awe, now requires the expenditure of a blood point to activate.  Disciplines for all the major clans are present up to their ninth level along with some options for levels six through nine for some disciplines.

Setites are becoming my favorite clan

          

The combat system retains the quirks of the older editions as well as the simplicity that I always loved.  Although it is possible to use grid maps and plot every movement during a battle, that level of detail is unnecessary.  The focus is on fast and loose combat that doesn’t require anything more than the players’ imaginations and a few dice rolls.  The initiative system did receive a minor change.  Now prior to each round of combat the players re-roll initiative.  This can slow down combat rounds slightly but it can be easily changed without affecting the system to rolling initiative once per combat.

           

Overall, V20 preserves the essence of the Classic World of Darkness while updating it for the future.  However, I do have one major gripe with this book.  While I understand that this book was targeted at existing fans of the system as an anniversary edition, the lack of an in depth history of Kindred is a big problem especially with the inclusion of bloodlines like the Ahrimanes and Children of Osiris (are they a bloodline or a sect?) or clans exclusive to the Dark Ages setting.  However, as a book to introduce new players to Vampire the Masquerade, this book fails to deliver needed back story to put these clans and especially the bloodlines into perspective.  I understand that V20 is supposed to be metaplot neutral, meaning that events such as Gehenna or the Gangrel leaving the Camarilla are left to individual storytellers, but the lack of explanation in V20 means that new players lack knowledge that could have been included in this tome by cutting extraneous clans like the Ahrimanes.  The history of the Classic World of Darkness setting has always been complex and often contradictory, but its exclusion from this book is one of two glaring errors on the part of the authors.  The other error is the omission of the Caitiff which was added in the V20 Companion that was released shortly thereafter.

           

The 20th Anniversary Edition of Vampire the Masquerade marks the welcomed rebirth of the Classic World of Darkness and Vampire the Masquerade.  Vampire has long been missed by its fans, and I look forward to introducing more new players to this wonderful game.  I am looking forward to the next Kickstarter for The Onyx Path.  Werewolf’s 20th Anniversary Edition has just been made available at DriveThruRPG and Mage is next up along with plenty of other books representing the rebirth of the Classic World of Darkness.  If you are fan of the World of Darkness this book is a must buy.  However, if you are a new player, you’ll need to do some reading on the history and mythology of the World of Darkness or find a veteran to explain some of the minutiae of lore founded in these pages. In the future I hope that The Onyx Path, CCP and White Wolf publishing publish a book that gives more background information on this very deep setting.

My Experiences as a Member of the Camarilla/Minds Eye Society

I've already written about my time in Live Action Role Playing games, but I wanted to delve a little deeper into it as what I posted was more a brief summary of my experience rather than specific thoughts, feelings and moments.



When I first joined the local Camarilla, I was given my first opportunity to learn about the organization by becoming the Assistant Chapter Coordinator (ACC) for my chapter; Ascending Twilight. This also helped me to progress in the organization by earning "prestige"; the magical number that is followed to show your elevation in the organization by your assigned Member Class or MC. I thought this was great and jumped at the chance to earn as much prestige as possible. That was in 1996. Today, in 2012, the system has changed quite a bit but has also remained the same. I've been waiting for my MC review that has been sitting at the Regional level since about August. There is apparently some problem with the prestige reporting from 1996 - 1998. I'm not entirely sure what's going on right now, but I'm also in a position of not to complain or worry about it too much. I anticipate losing about 1 1/2 years worth of prestige that I earned while I was the Chapter Coordinator (CC) for Ascending Twilight because of this reporting error.



After a few months of being an ACC, I thought that I could do more but also wanted to spread my wings as a creative role players. That's when I first started down the path as a Storyteller (ST) for LARP.



In 1997, the organization decided to make some changes with the rules and reset the current campaign setting, or chronicle. This means that we began with a clean slate and new characters. Everything we had accomplished with our previous characters had no impact on what was going to happen in the new story. This gave me the perfect opportunity to begin as an ST, and we needed a new Domain Storyteller (DST). I won the election and there we were.



I knew that I couldn't handle the games all by myself, so I enlisted the aid of a couple friends, who became my Assistant Domain Storyteller's (ADST's). There were also Chapter Storytellers (CST's) to represent each Chapter in the Domain. We were full of ST's and ideas and this made the Domain a fun place to play. I was DST for about 7 months, and then something happened.



In those days, we didn't have the resources like Google Drive or Wiki's that we do now. I spent the 7 months of my term as DST trying to get answers to so many questions:

• What was the proper format for my monthly reports?


• Was there a report template for these reports?


• Who/where do I send the monthly DST reports?


• What all should I add in my monthly report?

Because I never received answers to these questions, it looked as though I wasn't doing my job. Also, important items that (I learned later) should be on my report were missing, and this became the inevitable downfall to my term as DST.



At one of our normal games, we received a large influx of out-of-town players that we were unfamiliar with. They were signed-in and we played game. (I should note that our games started at around 8pm and could last into the wee early hours of the morning.) At around 11pm, one of the out-of-town players shouted "Time out! Who is the DST? I need to speak with him." I came up to find out what the problem was and was informed that he was the Assistant Regional Storyteller (ARST) and he had some serious items to discuss with me. He, and 2 other ARST's, took me aside and began to berate me about certain item's that I had allowed to happen, such as:

1. I allowed the diablerie of a Player Character (PC) happen without reporting it... even though I was not informed I had to do so. (Please see the definition of diablerie for more information.)


2. I did not take serious action against the PC who committed the diablerie, even though doing so would have taken my out-of-character knowledge and brought it in-character.


3. I did not personally verify characters that were brought into play from the 3 ARST's. Each of the ST's took responsibility for conducting sign-in. This was not a time where it was my responsibility and the ARST's apparently brought in characters that should not have been allowed in play.

I think the biggest mistake I made that evening was not allowing my ADST's to join in the "conversation" I was having with the ARST's. At the end of the very public chastising, I was told that I would no longer be the DST. This was my first instance of dissolution in the organization as I felt very mistreated by members of the Regional Storyteller staff. Life went on.



For the next several years, I would be a Coordinator and I would be an Assistant Storyteller, but until I returned in 2011, I would not hold a primary Domain position again. I think that this benefited me as others helped to define the basis of whatever reports were necessary. I'm thankful that today there is a defined process and even some templates that can be used for reports, and the scope of responsibilities for both the Storyteller and Coordinator offices are easier to understand.



After a personal setback in January 2000, I felt like I didn't fit-in with the people that I had literally grew-up with in the organization. Even though I was given responsibilities, I felt like I was looked down upon for mistakes I had made. I felt betrayed by several of the people I once called friend. This lead to my eventual departure from the Domain of Salem and joining the Domain of Dreams in Eugene.



I thought I could start new in Eugene, and it was working out fine until I was put into the position of Chapter Coordinator. There were decisions that had to be made, and I was not the person who should have been making them at that point in my life. I let people's opinions cloud my better judgement, and through that I made some bad decisions. I think I was CC in Eugene for about 3 months before I had to step away. I kept playing for a while longer until certain people started to bend the rules of the game way too much.



I'll admit that I put in a great deal of work when I create a character for these games. Because of this, I have felt personally slighted when people abuse the rules to manipulate me or (especially) to kill-off character's that are close to me and my character. This happened with my pack in our Sabbat game. Our pack was seemingly causing too much of a problem with certain people, so one of the players played a non-player character (NPC) that was specifically designed to kill our leader.



The way it was handled bent the rules of the discipline (power) called Vicissitude. This power allows the wielder to manipulate flesh and bone, however you need to actually use your hands to do so. The flesh and bone does not simply move to your whim and you cannot make yourself into a pile/pool of flesh with other disciplines or a certain combination discipline. Either way, the NPC could not (by the rules) drape them self over another person, yet this is what happened and our packs leader died. Shortly after this exchange, I decided to take a long sabbatical from the organization.



From 2004 - 2011, I stayed in contact with only a few of the friends that I had made while in the Camarilla. Without social networking sites like MySpace or Facebook, I probably wouldn't be in contact with many of them now... or vice-verse. Of the friends I made during my original tenure within the organization, I only have regular contact with a handful of people. Now that I'm back with the new organization, I occasionally get a chance to meet-up with old friends and reminisce about the old days.



Now it's 2012. The organization has changed quite a bit. It's now called "Mind's Eye Society"... at least in America. I don't feel as much of the camaraderie with other Domains as I once felt. Early on, there were week's where several of us would go to Oregon City, Portland, Vancouver, Corvallis, Eugene and still make it to the Salem games. This helped to breed an air of companionship, friendship and trust. It feels like that aspect has been lost to us. Back then, our core local group would host regular tabletop games and other social activities. Now it feels hard to get anyone motivated to do anything fun.



Maybe it's because I've done a lot of growing-up since those days and now that I feel like a responsible adult (some days), I feel like I don't have much time to take on extra activities. Perhaps this is a feeling that is shared with others. We're responsible adults now and not fun-loving youths able to stay-up until the wee hours of the morning talking, playing games, hanging-out at Denny's and the like. Perhaps what I'm feeling... and perhaps others... is the horrible side-effects of getting old. We are not as young as we were in 1996. Some of us aged more than others during that time.



There's talk about a new chronicle starting in 2013 and how the organization is going to make some major changes to the different games. There's talk about keeping the Camarilla and Sabbat in separate "universes", making a New World of Darkness venue and capping MC for certain venues to try and level the playing field. I'm not actively a participant in these talks so I'm very frustrated when I hear of new changes and I can't express my opinions on the ideas to the proper individual's. While I understand the reasons behind things like MC capping, the games I play are collectively called the "World of Darkness". It's not the World of the Camarilla or the World of the Sabbat. The system was originally setup to incorporate ALL aspects of the various games; from Vampire to Hunter and everything in between. If it's not the World of Darkness, then why am I paying an annual membership fee to be here?



I apologize that this ended in a bit of a rant. In writing this, so many emotions came flooding back to me. I hope you understand that I'm merely stating my opinions and I, just like you, have the right to express them. If you disagree with anything I've written, I welcome your feedback. Fair warning: I took speech and debate in high school, and I was fairly good at it. :)



Thank you for reading.