Vampire: The Requiem—Bloodlines 1: The Hidden (based on
1
review)
White Wolf Publishing
List Price:
$24.99
Our
Price:
$22.49
Foul Ancestry
"In the dark corners we dwell, still-born Kindred for whom your clans have
no meaning. Our blood is your blood, yet different. It has been willed,
strained and afflicted until it has taken a different course in our veins. We are
your worst nightmare, childer who defy your designs to forge our own veiled
destinies. Placate us, serve us and we might give you a taste of our secrets."
Horrors of the Modern Night
Bloodlines: The Hidden is the first in a new Vampire series that focuses on
the refinements and abuses of undead blood. Drawn from the shadows are
12 bloodlines from all five clans, lineages that diverge from the clans and
that have dedicated the ages to keeping their existence secret, or to lurking
on the edges of discovery, devising their own inscrutable machinations. And
now you can play them.
I bought this book because I always thought only having the 5 core clans was a bit restrictive and wanted some more character and Discipline diversity available. I have to say that I'm not exactly disappointed in this book, but it does leave a bit to be desired. Not every one of the bloodlines within has it's own signature Discipline, but most of them do. While several of the new Disciplines are very creative and exciting, several of them are rather gimmicky and poorly conceived in my opinion. I was very happy to see that Obtenebration (the old Lasombra clan Discipline from the old WoD) has made a comeback, though slightly altered, and I was also pleased with some of the creative concepts behind the bloodlines. However, there are a few glaring disappointments. Namely, there is a Nosferatu bloodline that focuses entirely on appearing like 'spooky doctors' and they have a signature discipline that revolves around maintaining a secure building (supposedly related to these vampires' connection to hospitals and whatnot). The discipline is called 'Institutionalize.' Silly, imo. There are a couple of other disappointments, but that was the biggest one.
Still, there are several cool things to be found in here. I would highly recommend that any Storyteller go over it with a fine-toothed comb to determine what is and is not appropriate for his game before allowing players to have free reign at what's inside. Overall, a useful book, but it could have been MUCH better.
