Reviewing Vampire: The Masquerade Rule Books Part 3: V20 — Lore of the Clans & Bloodlines
Let’s review 2 vampire books that really should be 1…
Introduction
At the time of typing, the tabletop RPG game ‘Vampire: The Masquerade’ (VtM) has been around about 25 years and has collected many fans and embraced many a storyteller. It is a game filled with extensive lore and metaplot for players to sink their teeth into, which furthers their own knowledge and provides more ways for players to have fun in their games. The immediate downside with something like this is that players may feel a bit overwhelmed by it all, with newer players feeling pressured to memorise 25 years of inconsistent lore and clan rules and motivations.
I believe the most accessible of the VtM editions (at the time of typing), is V20, otherwise known as the 20th Anniversary Edition. This edition basically resets a lot of prior lore, informing the reader/player everything they need to know in order play a game of VtM with other people, either online or with a group of people around a table. It explains it’s mechanics clearly and precisely for all types of players. I will leave a link to my review blog about V20 in the link below.
Of course, there are those who want to learn more about the lore, as all the established development of the clans, the breed of vampire, is not covered in the massive V20 rulebook. This led to the spawning of two sourcebooks, Lore of the Clans, and Lore of the Bloodlines, the latter consisting of rarer, nearly extinct smaller clans that stalk in the modern nights, which I have recently obtained and been reading through. After a good three months since the last VtM book review (see above link), now would be a good time to return to the series.
The Blog Proper
Presentation
The texture and materials found within these two books are very similar to that of its sire, V20. It’s a slightly squishing hardback, made out of some form of cardboard(?) which means it will mark easily. The pages themselves are filled with a combination of artwork that has been used in older versions of VtM, and the popular revised clan books, which are novels focused around a particular member of a given clan.
The artwork and photos, which can take up most of a page, are in colour, which was a pleasant surprise, given that V20 charged extra for their colour option. You can purchase a PDF version of these books, should you wish to forgo the archaic device in favour of a bright shining, soulless screen. The PDF version is also in colour.
For those who are familiar with V5 (Fifth Edition), the pages, like the covers, are much lighter and thinner to that of V5. They are also smaller than the main V20 rulebook, which leads to my first complaint about these books. I believe they should only exist as one, given that all the clans and bloodlines are immediately available to play in V20. As you should see by the above picture, this book is tiny and had I only received that book on its own at that size, I would be a little bit disappointed. Fortunately, my copy was a gift and came with Lore of The Clans, so I needn’t have to worry about which one can I afford at a moment of time, as the VtM books can be rather expensive, some more so than others.
Content & Mechanics
For the most part, Lore of the Clans and Lore of the Bloodlines are not rulebooks like other V20 materials. The titles are rather clear-cut about what they are, but just in case you have a hint of doubt, most of the content found within these books give extensive lore of each clan and bloodlines in each respective book, but through the eyes of a member of that clan, which I think is a very interesting way of providing the lore, as it is not only far more interesting to read it as if you are reading a more traditional fictional book, but also provides players with a natural of understanding how a particular Kindred (VtM’s word for vampire) would behave, which showcases excellent writing for the authors involved, in addition to their understanding of vampires who live in the World of Darkness, the universe in which VtM is set.
The Malkavian ‘author’ is understandably unhinged, for Clan of The Moon range from a little kooky to bat-shit crazy. The Nosferatu is aggressively confrontational, for their clan are hideously deformed upon their embrace, and knows that he/she are only ever wanted when someone needs something, whilst the Ventrue character rather uptight and regal, arrogantly so, reflecting their beliefs that they should be the rulers of mortal and Kindred society
Each clan/bloodlines has their own chapter, each section of their lore from as old as the Roman period, up until today, is sectioned off by titled paragraphs, some being easier to read than others due to each clan/bloodline have their own font style to reflect their natures.
Towards the end of each clan/bloodline chapter, the reader/player is presented with archetypes that would best fit stereotypical clans/bloodlines, which is a helpful item to include with newer unfamiliar players of VtM. It was something that was included in the V5 corebook, a feature that made me think ‘why isn’t this in V20?’ when I would eventually purchase it. That said, V20 does include a brief overview of the sort of mortals the clans embrace, so its nice that this was developed further in these books and stuck during the development process of V5.
Following this are 3 headings that add to the character creation process in V20.
- Both books contain additional unique merits and flaws for each clan/bloodlines, which the player would need to purchase during character creation.
- The books also contain additional unique powers found within the disciplines for each clan/bloodline, exploring an idea not found in many of the VtM books, which is the fact that each clan would use a shared discipline differently to others. For example, both clan Lasombra and Ventrue own the discipline ‘Dominate’, which allows the Kindred to entice mortals to perform tasks as if it were their own will. What separates both of these clans is their attachment to humanity (or lack of thereof in the case of most Lasombra). Both clans in the Lore of The Clans book have additional Level 6 Elder Dominate Disciplines which revolve around loyalty. Lasombra has ‘Memory Block’ which forces the victim to not reveal a specific piece of information without forgetting it, even when undergoing torture. Clan Venture can choose ‘Fealty’, which makes the victim swear an oath that they won’t do <<insert instruction here>>. Both these disciplines can have the same effect and whilst both are more malicious in their nature, one could be arguably more ‘inhumane’ than the other.
- The most interesting feature to me is the book’s unique Combo Disciplines, which can be purchased for a large amount of exp (usually between 12–18 points) that can only be used when a player has reached a certain level in two (occasionally three) disciplines, most of which use in-clan disciplines, whilst some have more exotic and inspiring combinations. To use an in-clan example, should a Malkavian character with 12 experience points have two points in both Dementation and Obfuscate, they can purchase and use combo discipline ‘Rando’, which allows them to communicate with someone while protecting their identity with a random face. For a more exotic Combo Discipline, Toreador characters can purchase the ‘Devil’s Mark’ Combo Discipline if they have 9 experience points to spare and own the disciplines Presence (one of the three standard Toreador disciplines) and Vicissitude, an out-of-clan discipline, one usually unique to clan Tzimisce. To give a very brief summary, it allows Toreadors (usually those of the antitribu variant) to tattoo a Presence power onto someone.
These Combo Disciplines are extremely creative and I applaud the authors tenfold with the imagination of those responsible. This being said, I have one complaint, one that revolves around how they are each of these bullet-pointed sections is bestowed for the reader. In Lore of the Clans book, they present archetypes, merits and flaws, Elder Disciplines and Combo Disciplines, in that order. In Lore of the Bloodlines, this formation is not so rigid and thus not so easy to find disciplines for certain bloodlines. Why this is the case I am not sure. It is not a huge flaw in its overall presentation, but one that annoyed me so I felt it was worth addressing.
The last section was not terribly important to me, but one that would be of great importance to those who supported the Kickstart funding process, as it is essentially a credits section of the book, naming all the users who donated various sums of money to allow the books to be published and distributed in stores. Lore of the Clans also has a few pages with mostly Elder Kindred members, who I could only presume were based on some of the top-tier backers for the Lore of the Clans book.
Coda
Fans of Vampire: The Masquerade, both new and old will most certainly find both texts, Lore of the Clans and Lore of the Bloodlines insightful and engaging reads, granting well-established lore and metaplot in a fashion easily mentally digestible. The addition of Combo Disciplines and new Elder Disciplines provide even more endless possibilities to a game that is already endless in narrative and gameplay. The biggest downfall, in my opinion, would be the size of the Lore of the Bloodlines book, as I felt there was lots of opportunity to either pad out the Bloodlines, or add the Dark Ages bloodlines (Cappadocians, Lamia, Noiad etc.) for they are included in the main V20 scorebook. That said, the little information in that book is just as engaging in the Lore of the Clans book. It just a shame that there isn’t more!
I mentioned V5 a couple of times during this blog, and I wrote up a review about that corebook. If you are interested, I will leave a link to said review below.
If you are hungry for more Vampire: The Masquerade related blogs, needn’t you worry, for I have more waiting to be read by you in the links below!
Do you have these books? If so, which one do you prefer? Are you one of the backers? If so, was it money well spent? Which is your favourite clan and bloodlines?
Let’s start a conversation, people!
