Vampire the Masquerade RPG Supplement: Jerusalem By Night
Written: Aug 04 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Great background, realism
Cons: Sensitive subject
The Bottom Line: This is how a city supplement for RPGs should be designed
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| maza's Full Review: Jennifer Clodius and Todd Satogata - Jerusalem by ... |
Jerusalem by Night
Jerusalem by Night is a supplement for White Wolf’s Vampire: The Dark Ages RPG (which itself is a spin-off of Vampire: The Masquerade. In essence Jerusalem By Night is a city book detailing the Holy City of Jerusalem. Of course given that the Middle Ages are a lot further away than the Holocaust and the general atheistic nature of Western civilisation it probably seems less of difficult task to produce or read such a book. Still anything that takes the beliefs of three of the biggest monotheistic (and monolithic) religions in world and blends them round to form an entertainment requires a certain amount of tact..
Jerusalem By Night seems to be well-rounded, well-researched book (I cannot guarantee this of course) that is also well-written and well-organised. Each chapter takes a good size topic and goes into it to a depth that is neither overwhelming nor insufficient. The first chapters deal with the necessary; namely the history, the culture of the three major religions in the city and the geography of the city itself. Apart from small asides on the relevance of certain passages to playing the game this half of the book is essentially a concise guide to Jerusalem after the conquest of Saladin. I cannot say I have any great authority to stamp the authenticity of this information but speaking as a Game Master I felt that I had received a complete enough version of the history to run a game. I did feel that when it came to the city itself I was not altogether certain of what an average shop or house looked like in the way that I think I know what a farmer's house in Prax (Glorantha) looks like. I think this is because the book focuses on the major sites within the city that survive its various sackings. This means that a Game Master would need to do a bit of extra research in the library for total authenticity.
For the most part the historical sections of the book do not contain much fiction at all apart from occasional "vampiric" interjections. I would agree with the editor that this is a wise move, there is a lot of historical and factual background and it is best done quickly and with a minimum of fuss to help bring the reader "up to speed". With this done though the book's last chapters concentrate fully on the game aspect of the city.
The key chapter is the one that covers the various Non Player Character's that are said to be living in the city. This is followed by a lesser chapter that covers the "Storyteller" aspects of the book. This latter last chapter is quite short but serves as an effective conclusion to the book wrapping up and summarising and re-iterating the themes and ideas behind the city book. I was glad that the authors chose to go for a broad summation rather than repeating the advice that is already in the main rulebooks or including the near ubiquitous "adventure hooks" that always tend to be short on originality and content while wasting valuable content space. In fact I would go further and commend the fact that there is no direct adventure related material in this book and that instead an adventure is to be released separately. Generally I think that such a tactic is nothing more than an attempt to extort more money out of the consumer. Here though it makes sense because there is a lot of background material and the inclusion of any "adventure seeds" would have forced some of that out of the book while the adventure material would have been pitifully small. The bulk of the game related background is the Non Player Character descriptions that I mentioned early. There are quite a few of them, the book describes three to four individuals from roughly every Dark Ages Clan including the Salubri and the Tremere. More than a few of them are involved with individuals from other clans and I can say that even after my third or fourth read I have not yet quite sorted out the tangled web of intrigue that the writers have created. The characters are varied and are all distinctive and fairly original. They vary from a Malkavian who thinks he is Allah to the mad and paranoid Lasombra who lairs on holy ground for security.
I really liked the Non Player Character's and felt that they had been very cleverly designed (unlike the normal powerful White Wolf Non Player Character) so that no individual was overly powerful or entirely in control of any aspect of the city. It was easy to see where a wide variety of potential Player Character's would fit in finding natural allies in some, natural opponents in others. The whole thing had the smack of having been properly playtested for once. Which is all too rare in commercial products and therefore makes me think that that cannot be the answer. There are two small criticisms: firstly that there is yet another brilliant vampire architect here, something that is now a bit cliched in Dark Ages Vampire. The second is a bit more serious in that the Brujah "circle" (of rivalries and alliances) is a little too complete and realistically the Non Player Character's listed do not really need outside help to achieve their goals unlike most of the other characters described. Therefore the player characters are only going to get involved in this sub-plot if they befriend one of the Non Player Character's of their own back. This is perhaps not the worst thing that could be said about a book but everything else is so good this sticks out more than it would if the whole book was rubbish. So now, the book is well-written and sensibly edited and overall is one of the best things in the Dark Ages line. As a result surely you should be clicking for the "buy now" button. Well there are a few obvious things to consider. If you already have a Dark Ages campaign that is working out well but is set elsewhere in Europe, how realistic is it that you will ever need anything in this book? If your campaign is set on the Iberian Peninsula then there is unlikely to be much of any real benefit here - that is not to say that it is impossible for the book's material to be worked in here and there. But surely if your campaign is working out there is no need to add the complication of a far-away city. Even if your game is not to rooted to one location you may find that to get the most out of Jerusalem By Night requires a lengthy stay, so it is not one for a sight-seeing type of campaign either.
What the book is great for is starting a new campaign that is based in the Middle-East and is going to revolve around the Clans and legends based there such as the Assamites, Cappadocians and the countless holy relics in the area. With that said there is still the caveat that this is not necessarily the best book for the novice Game Master to start out on. With the lack of linear scenarios you have to be comfortable with the character lead type of campaign which focuses on interactions between the characters and the Non Player Character's and not everyone starting out is.
So the target market is small, but for those seeking to start a new campaign that is going to be filled with intrigue and the promise of ancient mysteries and hidden secrets there is no other product like it. Not just in the Dark Ages range but in the Vampire product line as well. Personally I think its great and its a good example of how to write up a city.
RPG definition for the uninitiated
When I review RPGs I assume that most readers know what an RPG is. In any case, I have included in my reviews a short definition of RPGs for the uninitiated.
Generally a typical Role Play Game would be an activity satisfying most of the following:
1. It involves persons consciously playing fiction roles (either medieval, contemporary or sci-fi roles)
2. It involves the collective creation of a story
3. Usually one of the participants is responsible for guiding the activity
4. There is no audience besides the participants themselves (unless there is a demonstration of course).
5. The main purpose of the activity is to entertain the participants.
There are published books, often referred to as Rulebooks, containing unique rules regarding how to create a character (role) or how to resolve specific actions. Generally the success of an action is determined with by rolling one or more dice (dice can be funny in RPGs since they tend to have more than 6 surfaces).
Besides the rulebooks, there are books describing settings in which characters can role play. Settings are very diverse and include high or low fantasy worlds, dystopian worlds, contemporary worlds, or alternate reality worlds.
More RPG reviews that I would love to get a few more ratings:
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Referee’s Screen by Games Workshop
Feng Shui Action Roleplay by Atlas Game
Unknown Armies by Atlas Games
Delta Green by Pagan Publishing
Mechwarrior RPG by FASA
Shadowrun 3rd Edition by FanPro
All Flesh Must be Eaten by Eden Studios
Time of Thin Blood by White Wolf
Dark Conspiracy by GWC
7th Sea RPG by AEG
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
maza
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Member: Nick Maza
Location: Greece
Reviews written: 40
Trusted by: 14 members
About Me:
I live in Greece. I hate the summers.
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