Jerri is one of the 26 Storyteller characters introduced in The Crimson Gutter that can be used in … [+]
There are many famous adventures for Dungeons & Dragons. They are often placed in an evocative location that will bring a smile to any D&D player who has passed by them. Places like Avernus, Sigil, and the Keep on the borderlands have given thousands of players memories they will treasure forever.
Vampire: The Masquerade continued that tradition with a dark twist. They published several By Night books detailing relatives in many cities around the world. Instead of a labyrinthine dungeon full of dangerous traps, the books detail the twisted relationships of the local vampires and the deadly intrigues they pull each night.
Chicago By Night it is the only one of these books that has been updated at this time Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition. Chicago is the iconic city of the game and the book does a great job of showing what was great and what has changed in modern nights. These days, an enterprising storyteller can design a setting for his annals with enough time on the Internet and a few history books checked out from the local library.
The Crimson Aqueduct is built to help Storytellers fill in the details in their first Vampire: The Masquerade Fifth Edition history. Renegade Game Studios sent along with a review copy. Let’s take a look at the stories that can be told with the three main factions in the book.
First steps in the night
The book opens with a discussion of how to start a game chronicle. There is some discussion of factions and how to bring characters together. There’s even a slight throwback here that suggests players play fresh vampires, rather than the established Kindred expected in other fifth edition material.
This section also contains dozens of entries of dozens of characters that can be used as brothers, friends, enemies, allies and rivals in any game. There are also many locations that can slip into almost any city. These elements are very useful: short, tasty and can be incorporated into a story at any time.
The first story brings the relatives together and puts them on the trail of a vampire, who has lost all humanity and returned to a beastly state. The factions within the city take the players into account as they handle this problem for one simple reason: if the players are successful, they don’t have to use their resources to kill the creature. Each of the remaining stories focuses on one of the factions and lets players decide which, if any, they will ally with.
The Camarilla
Camarilla style themselves are the nobility of the night. They are the ones who pride themselves on the traditions that keep the Kindred out of the limelight. But their pitches are also filled with words sharper than fangs and political games that last for centuries.
This story focuses on the social aspects of being related. There are still chances for fights and hunts, but the key to showing you belong in the organization is to show you’re the right kind of monster. The one who watches out for older vampires even when they’re plotting against their betters.
The Anarchs
The Anarchs push back against the chains of the Camarilla. They offer the freedom of rebellion and the more modern notion that vampires can make their own decisions. Of course, when they rise to power, they face many of the same headaches as any governing body.
Anarch’s story leans towards the family crime stories that are at the heart of the game. Players have to prove they’re emotional enough to justify their existence, but also keep a cool that doesn’t turn the streets red with blood. To achieve this story, they need to figure out which of the Anarch gangs are the weakest and replace them.
Kane’s Church
This is a newer faction created from some pieces of older ones. They believe that the biblical figure of Kane is the father of vampires. They provide philosophical answers to the questions of vampire existence, although they are not completely immune to the politics of the night.
Instead of fighting to join the faction, this story opens with the characters being accepted with open arms and plays to gaining power within the Church. It ends with the investigation into the death of a Church official they consider narrow. Will they get revenge or play politics to keep the city’s kin from going into open war?
The Crimson Gutter Impressions
Vampire games have had some stellar city books over the years from seminal works like Chicago By Night in amazing toolkits like Cursed City. Milwaukee By Night it had a profound effect on me as a new player because it brought vampires to my very town. This book is one of the reasons Vampire it became my favorite role playing game.
The Crimson Aqueduct it doesn’t quite rise to those heights, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do. Each part of this book is crafted to fit easily into an ongoing chronicle or inspire a new one. I would consider using all the material here in my current gamr, which I can’t always say for the older adventure books in the series.
The only area where things could use some work is putting all the stories into one game. I feel like they’re written where players commit to a faction after the initial story, and my experiences with the game don’t match that premise. Adventures include some variations that help tailor these stories for the table, but Storytellers should be aware that the further into the chronicle they are, the more likely they are to be on their own.
