| A big salon
on fire. Wait, is this the one in the Camarilla’s
cover? Yes… but it has been trashed
and burned! One, maybe more, smashed and broken
statues. A deformed monster with, like, six
mouths and a cyclopean body destroying everything
in sight. One devilish-looking fiend, with
horns and all, its mouth in what seems to
be the form of an evil smile. A charming lady
in black, with fangs in her mouth and soul
in her body, dancing as the fire spreads.
Some trucker-type with fangs, and a look that
seems to say “I could care less about
you”, with beard and a baseball cap.
What team has this strange skull as a logo?
The guy is only dressed in a vest, some dark
pants and a belt with a tasteless bat-like
pin on top. And, let’s not forget the
all-consuming fire. Is this the fearsome Sabbat?
Why, yes of course, this and more! This book
is for those who want to know what “this
and more” means - exactly.
The Guide to the Sabbat is a thorough (well,
as thorough as a White Wolf book can be) explanation
of all the ins and outs of the most aggressive
and mindless vampiric sect in the whole World
of Darkness. The sect is better defined than
in the rule-book. We read about all the Sabbat
“anti-tribu” clans and some info
on some darker types.
I’ll do this review chapter by chapter,
so you are aware of all the books contents
and my opinions on them.
The book opens with “Smart Money’s
on Vegas,” an interesting piece of fiction
that has a counterpart on the Camarilla book.
Here, the same story is viewed from the Sabbat’s
eyes. It all deals about Las Vegas by Night
and the everlasting war of Sabbat against
Camarilla.
“Chapter One: The Sword of Caine”
begins with a very interesting statement.
Who does the Sabbat wage war upon? Everybody
else. Then, we learn of the Sabbat’s
history, its internal wars, the Sabbat’s
Law (the “Code of Milan”), its
areas of influence, and a lot more. There’s
a short description of the many clans that
form the Sabbat, the sect’s organization
and its titles, games, a lexicon, well, a
good piece of general Sabbat information.
“Chapter Two: Around the Fires”
brings a two-page definition of each clan
and bloodline, just like the major clans were
covered in the main book. Of course, Tzimisce
and Lasombra don’t appear here, because
they were already spoken about in the main
book. Most Sabbat clans are “anti-tribu”,
that is, vampires that forsake their own clan’s
agenda and switch to the enemy’s side.
There are some bloodlines indigenous to the
Sabbat, however, like the Blood Brothers,
the Harbingers of Skulls (which smell very
Cappadocian-like to me) and the Kiasyd. A
big palette to choose from. Nicely done.
“Chapter Three: Sons and daughters”
is analogous to the Camarilla book, it’s
the character creation section. This one,
however, brings a difference, since the Sabbat
vampires are created in a different way, which
focuses more on Disciplines and less on Backgrounds
and Virtues, for instance. As within the Camarilla
book, there are new Archetypes, more Secondary
Abilities, the Sabbat’s version of old
Backgrounds, and some new ones, and a couple
of Merits and Flaws for further character
development, or to give munchkins stuff to
“steal” with.
“Chapter Four: The Gifts of Caine”
is this book’s power-gamer’s fantasy
come true. There are Dark Thaumaturgy paths,
and some of the “non-Dark” variety,
high-level Disciplines, and some new ones,
that belong to this Clan or that Bloodline.
We learn about an optional rule on Vicissitude,
that approaches it not as a Discipline, but
as a sort of blood disease Vampires can contract.
“Chapter Five: Codes of the Night”
reveals extra information on the Paths of
Enlightenment. For the uninitiated among you;
the Sabbat vampires rarely follow the Humanity
code of ethics, and have chosen alternate
morals. These are called Paths of Enlightenment.
The major Paths are explained, and we also
learn about Sabbat rituals, conventions and
derangements. It’s not easy being Sabbat.
This information is very useful to tell believable
Sabbat stories, especially because for a Sabbat,
rituals are un-life.
“Chapter Six: Chronicles of Blood”
defines the sect more deeply, and helps the
Storyteller to present Sabbat vampires as
player characters, plus giving interesting
ideas for Sabbat stories or chronicles. It’s
a very interesting read for Sabbat and Camarilla
Storytellers alike.
“Chapter Seven: Building a Sabbat City”
teaches the Storyteller about just that. This
sect’s cities vary greatly from the
Camarilla ones, especially because the Sabbat
does not care much about humans. We learn
that most Sabbat cities are hell-holes when
compared to Camarilla cities, and how the
sects spy on one another.
“Appendix: Allies, Antagonists and
Others” contains Sabbat templates, to
populate your city or highway, or just to
use them as inspiration. There is a very brief
word on Ghouls, and the beasties the Tzimisce
create to use in their war against the Camarilla.
There are also some very short notes on weapons
and combat maneuvers… but I ended up
asking myself where the “antagonists
and others” had hidden themselves among
the pages… It should have been “Templates,
allies and servitors,” maybe. Perhaps
a part was cut for space reasons… I’ll
probably never know. Anyway, this little inconvenience
doesn’t cast too big a shadow over the
whole book, which I loved.
This book is very useful, it deepens the
reader’s knowledge on this strange and
much maligned sect. It reveals the horror,
and on the other hand the inspiring passion
of this vampire faction. I’m still wondering
if I’ll ever run a Sabbat player character
story, as the players should commit ghastly
and horrendous acts to portray their characters
realistically. In a way, these monsters are
admirable, but somehow, the “kine”
part within me fears them more than it idolizes
them. If you want to tell a story that deals
with the Sabbat extensively, this is a must-have.
It’s also very useful when telling Camarilla
stories, obviously. Listen to some Pantera
while you read this book, I did while writing
the review.
Reviewed by Matías Timm |
