Excellent and worth every penny you dish out. Vampire (both the Masquerade and now the Requiem) have not only revolutionized the roleplaying game industry (the first game where you could play the "monster"), but has become a hallmark of quality production and has won major gaming awards. In order to play this RPG game you also need the Core Mechanics rulebook World of Darkness. Vampire (and subsequently Werewolf and Mage) are the core supernatural games of White Wolf (they are now releasing one time splats such as Promethean and Changeling: the Lost). Definitely of a mature nature, these games will offer you the opportunity to adopt the role of one of the undead.
You get to belong to one of five Great Clans (that define your powers) and join one of five great Covenants (that establish your role in the world of the undead). This is a vast improvement to the 27 clans from Masquerade that were never clearly indistinguishable from each other. The Clans take the iconic archetype of the vampire and make them into playable templates. You can be a sensual Daeva or a lordly Ventrue, a hideous Nosferatu, animalistic Gangrel or a mystical Mekhet. This new game is a must for any who want to experience X-files type investigative horror or tell stories in the World of Darkness. Many currently published supplements further allow you to personalize and add unique traits through the innovative use of "bloodlines" which are variations on the 5 clans. This is not a game of global conspiracies, it is all about personal horror, so dont expect contrived Meta plot elements from the Masquerade version. This game has thankfully eliminated those.
Again, this is a game of Gothic Horror, where you experience personal themes, the focus of the story is on what happens to the characters in their own city or domain, not wide and far reaching global conspiracies.
This game is followed by Werewolf the Forsaken and Mage the Awakening. Of the three Vampire the Requiem is considered the flagship game of White Wolf - CCP. It lends itself best for small intimate groups of 2-6 players due to the personal horror aspects of the characters. It also, due to vast improvements in the rules from pervious editions, allows for much better integration and cross over playability with the other supernatural monsters (prometheans, changelings, mages and werewolves). This game is a gem, beautifully illustrated and with highly evocative full color art. Even if you are not a roleplayer it is a unique exploration of the Vampire myth.
There are many game supplements out for this game, however, all you need to play the game is this book and the World of Darkness blue book.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |