Ventrue: Lords Over the Damned (Vampire the Requiem) by Will Hindmarch, Chuck Wendig, Russell Bailey
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Book Reviews of Ventrue: Lords Over the Damned (Vampire the Requiem)
Book Review: Could have been better.
Summary: 3 Stars
I find myself wondering where I should start the review for this product. Do I talk about the amazing art and the sudden change to color or do I discuss the mechanics or lack thereof? The book has great qualities but they seem to be obfuscated by an alarming number of bad qualities.
The art is simply beautiful. Many of the pictures really bring to life the imagery of what is being discussed in the text. I found myself looking at the art like it was a coffee table book.
Like older white-wolf clan books, nothing in this book is in stone. The book is masterfully put together to create an illusion that the book you are reading is a compilation of a vampires years of investigative work. If this is the design that white -wolf was going for, it worked. The book does feel like a collection of works from a historian. Even the art and page layout gives the impression of a work is progress.
The writing is top notch and completely consistent throughout the paperback tome (an odd change from the normal hardcover) however the story seems to suffer from a major problem; it's unnecessarily contradictory to other white-wolf products and is in many places simply pedantic. Rather than having a clear cut story or an easy to understand account, we are given a rather boring ancient text that suggests that divine forces did not like a king and cursed him. After you get through page after page of this, you begin to wonder why you just did not make up your own history.
If you have read Requiem for Rome, you most likely had questions on the Julii. After all they looked just like the Ventrue, minus the flaw. Are they Ventrue? Are they a new clan? Where did they come from? The Ventrue books slaps together some short hypothesis on the issue but does little more than what your gaming group could come up with in fifteen minutes. Yet another mystery unsolved.
One of the new things added to this book is the Malkavians of the old game. Are they a new clan? No. Why? I don't know. Instead, they feel more like a "D&D template" that you apply to your vampire. It's a disease that can be spread and it is causing fear throughout the vampire community. I'm not going to lie, the Malkavians seem interesting and they have many plot devices, however, they would have been much more appealing as a bloodline or (heaven forbid) a new clan. Having them be a "D&D Template" that you apply to your vampire seemed a little forced, even in the text. (More on their Discipline later)
If you have been wondering why the Ventrue are considered the lords of men and Vampires and why they have not been consistently overthrown by the Daeva, then unfortunately (to my great surprise) this book does not help. This leads me to Game Mechanics. I was hoping that after all these years; we would see some interesting Bloodlines and devotions for the Ventrue who consistently get little of both in all of white-wolfs books. This does not happen here.
The first thing we are introduced to in the "crunch" section is the new bloodline called the Adrestio. They are without a doubt the most uninteresting bloodline I have ever read. With over 2000 years of the Ventrue history, we get a 20 year old bloodline that is an unprofessional (sex, drugs and rock n'roll) Ventrue that gets protean. At the very least, they could have tossed in a few other Ventrue bloodlines from the different ages. Very disappointing.
Next we get Merits. The merits are both interesting and seem to add flavor to the Lords. Rather than going through all the different Merits that are here, I will say this. The merits are the best additions to this book. Not only are they easy to implement into your game, they also add many role play opportunities.
The Devotions are fascinating but nothing that you would write home about. By the time you're done reading them you are not sure if you like them or you don't. The Devotions are not bad, but they seem like an afterthought. I can see using any of them but not necessarily going out of my way to put them on my character sheet.
The new Discipline is for the Malkavians. If you played the old game then you know what this power is. Dementation, is a mixture of Nightmare and Dominate with a unique flare to it. If your PC's aren't crazy yet, they will be.
Summery:
Is the book bad? No. Ventrue Lords over the Damned does what it set out to do. It has unknown history mixed with fun vampire interviews with eccentric elders and unique individuals. The problem with the book is that really there isn't much more there. Where amazing opportunities could have been grasped by the writer in describing the Ventrue, I continuously wondered why other vampire did not simply wipe the Ventrue out. They were weak and really have not proved that they are Lords of anything.
Then when we get to the "crunch" section, I find nothing but cobwebs and an "IOU". I understand that this book is supposed to be an information supplement but...really? Nothing at all to distinguish the Ventrue from other clans? Wow.
In closing, I will say this. If you like the Venture you may be disappointed in this book. It just doesn't have the kick that was really needed for them. If on the other hand, you are indifferent about the Ventrue, you may like this book. There is a lot of usable material that can be placed in your game right now. I for one am going to use very little from this book.
Book Review: For Vampires, by Vampires
Summary: 4 Stars
The White Wolf writers are fond of pointing out the characters haven't read the books. With this, that is no longer true. Apart from the appendix, this is written completely in-game. There is no prologue fiction. There is a brief introduction from the in-game author to the mysterious person who decided to compile it. The first chapter is on the origins of the Ventrue. On the one hand, it gives essentially one, clear explanation for the origin of the Clan, how it differed and separated from Rome and the Julii, and the origin of the name Ventrue. On the other hand, the origin is firmly encased in human mythology. It is an explanation the Ventrue can and do believe, teach their neonates, and use to explain various aspects of the Clan. But gamers that wanted an explanation that can stand without mythology don't get one.
The second, much larger chapter is about the culture of the Clan, from a wide variety of angles and without exactly clear and concise descriptions. It is a collection of stories from Ventrue about the Clan, interviews with Ventrue that do, do not and really do not fit the stereotype of Lords. There are a couple of mad conspiracy theories and a contribution from a would-be saboteur dealing with Ventrue that drag the nickname Lord in the mud. There is an excellent essay on how the Ventrue manipulate the mortal world. The arrogance and madness of the Clan really comes through. They claim to have stood behind every successful ruler in Europe. It also explains Malkavia, which takes the idea of a sub-group of Ventrue that are mad but still operational and gives it a unique spin.
The technical stuff is covered in a short appendix. It introduces a new Bloodline and provides rules for using the Discipline that Malkavia allows access to. There are also some new merits and Devotions that fit the Ventrue. You don't need any book besides Requiem to understand this, but reading Damnation City's Lexicon and description of the neo-feudal system do come close to being required. There are references to many other Vampire books. Outside Vampire, World of Darkness: Asylum is a great fit with this book. The final technical aspect is the artwork. A White Wolf staffer commented on their forum that the artwork is the same, just in colour. He's wrong. Colour allows things that cannot be done in black and white, and the artists have taken full advantage.
From a Storyteller perspective, I think the contents are mostly for roleplaying and character providing. It should provide more depth no matter how well the Ventrue have been played. Also, there are stacks of in-game characters that the PCs now know by reputation. In fact, there are several systems explained in the book for Ventrue being known by various aliases, so the PCs may later learn that their allies or mentors are mentioned or even interviewed in it. Obviously, as an in-game document, there are no plot hook sidebars. Personally the information seems too vague to use as plot hooks without considerable development.
It's the book itself, as an in-game artifact, that provides stacks of options for the improvising Storyteller. After a player mentions it at the table, have his character dragged before some notable city figure. "This was distributed exclusively for Ventrue elders, how did YOU get it?" This book really emphasises the paranoid nature of vampires and specifically Ventrue, and what better way to bring in that theme than by the in-game reactions to the book? The political firestorm in the city should be massive - and probably way out of proportion to whatever was said about or by a prominent city figure in the book.
Book Review: Amazing book!
Summary: 5 Stars
Maybe it's because it's a paperback that I thought this would be some cool text maybe a black and white drawing or two inside, but mostly just something interesting to have. I was totally blown away with the product. The premise is that's a journal of someone trying to put down some history of the Clan Venture. What they get is a lot of interviews from various vampires, including a very, very old one, very young ones, trailer park Ventrue and a dominatrix. Each has a different story to tell and all these stories end up painting a fascinating picture of the clan. And there's a murder mystery wove through the book to keep it feeling fresh, like you're reading something that is happening now. And I can't say enough about the artwork. All full color, beautiful paintings of old and young vampires. My only complaint is that it should be hard cover! I think I'll buy another one, so I use the heck out of this one and keep the other one pristine!Book Review: Awesome Production Values!
Summary: 4 Stars
I just got Ventrue: Lords Over the Damned in the mail. I haven't had time to read it yet, but I have flipped through it and the production values for the book are out of sight. It's very nice. I'm glad I pre-ordered the others in the series.