Product Review

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