Vampires: Requiem

Vampire: Requiem (Vampire: The Requiem)
publication
Original publisher	White wolf
Original publication	2004
original language	English
German publisher	Pen and sword
German publication	2004
World and system
genre	horror
Game world	World of darkness
Basic system	Storytelling system
Ascent	Experience point purchase system
cube	W10 (storytelling system)

Vampire: Requiem (in the English original: Vampire: The Requiem ) is a pen & paper role-playing game by the White Wolf publishing house , which was translated into German by Feder & Schwert from 2003 and distributed before the German publisher did the translation in 2006 for economic reasons Reasons set. Like its forerunner Vampire: The Masquerade , the game is based on the ideas of game designer Mark Rein Hagen and is a main component of the game world " World of Darkness ".

Vampire: Requiem is a narrative role play. Like its predecessor role-playing game Vampire: The Masquerade, it is characterized by the fact that less emphasis is placed on dice and game mechanics than on a well-designed story and the personal horror of the characters, who are usually vampires in this game .

origin

If, according to legend, the vampires in the game Vampire: The Masquerade descended from the first murderer , Cain , and were therefore called "Cainites", the origin of the "Children of the Night" in Vampire: Requiem is completely unclear - and the subject of heated debates and arguments among the vampires.

Most vampires assume that their kind has always existed. Supporters of the Church of the Damned Lancea Sancta (originally Lancea Sanctum ), which is based on Catholicism and Judaism , consider Longinus , the Roman legionnaire and dark messiah of vampires, to be the first "real" vampire before whom only spiritless monsters would have existed. In contrast, the members of the pagan circle of the mother argue that the children of the night are natural beings in this world of darkness, whose origin lies much more in the realm of the ancient, pre-Christian gods.

society

Frets

In general, different from vampires: the masquerade, the descent of a vampire from one of the clans plays a far less important role than the covenant to which he is committed. The vampire leagues are not firmly established, internationally organized sects like Camarilla and Sabbat in the predecessor. Rather, there are political, religious or spiritual "currents" within the Danse Macabre , the society of vampires in the Requiem game. These frets are of course in contradiction and competition with one another. They form the basis of the intrigue network of the domain (the city in which the vampires live) and are therefore mostly the source of the adventures that the narrator develops for the players. The following major frets exist in Requiem:

Carthians : The Carthian Movement or The Carthians is the youngest of the great leagues. His supporters propagate the active inclusion of current intellectual, political and social currents of the people for the society of the vampires. They often advocate democratic principles when designing domain politics. They are therefore considered a direct opposition to the Invictus Bund.
Invictus : The so-called "first date" (engl. The First Estate ) of the Vampires is revered, feared and despised aristocracy of the vampires. The Invictus stands for the rule of the able and the immutability of tradition. The covenant traces its origins back to ancient Rome and likes to consider itself the first of all covenants .
Lancea Sancta : The Lancea Sancta (English Lancea Sanctum or The Sanctum ) is the dark church of the damned. She teaches that the vampire is a being cursed by God because of his sins, but also touched by him. The vampire is “God's wrath on earth”, who shows people the darkness so that they fearfully turn to God for protection from the horrors of the night. The Lancea Sancta is one of the oldest leagues and in many domains in Europe it is considered a firm ally of Invictus, although not everywhere.
Ordo Dracul : The Ordo Dracul actually traces its history back to the historical Vlad Țepeș ( Dracula ). He was actually cursed by God to exist as a vampire and founded the "Order of the Dragon" as a community of scholars who try to overcome the condition and limitations of being a vampire by studying together ( transcendence ). According to its own legend, the Ordo Dracul was founded in the Middle Ages, but did not flourish until the Victorian era, whose way of thinking also strongly influenced the order.
Circle of Mother : Even the circle of the nut (. English Circle of the Crone .., D h circle of Vettel or old woman) will lay claim to be the oldest of all societies. This pagan religious community assumes that all truth was already there at the beginning of time and was merely "buried" by Christianity and science. The movement actually consists of an infinite number of small (witch) circles that pay homage to pre-Christian idols, spirits and bloody gods.

In addition to these large fraternities, which are present in one way or another in almost every domain, there is a theoretically unlimited number of local cabals, broods, groups, clans and cults, including above all the mysterious group of VII and the devil worshipers of Belials Brut (English Belial's Brood ).

Clans

The vampires of the Requiem system differ in addition to their membership in a particular blood family, called a clan:

Daeva : The Clan of Seducers. Most Daevas are victims of lust and suffer like no other clan from the feeling of numbness and habituation that grips every vampire at some point. Many Daevas are therefore looking for ever more extreme sensory impressions and ways to live out their lust. The clan's gifts to awaken feelings of friendship and love in their counterpart are legendary.

Gangrel : The clan of the beast that is closest of all vampires to the inner beast. With increasing strength you can also control and change your body. In contrast to Vampire: The Masquerade , where there is also a clan of this name, the gangrel of the Requiem system do not physically transform more and more into animals over time. Instead, they increasingly adopt animal thinking, making it more difficult for them to show human ways of thinking and social behavior.

Mekhet : The Shadow Clan are keepers of secrets. Mekhet seek the dark and prefer to go about their business in silence. Due to their gift of being invisible, of reading the thoughts of others and of being able to move incredibly quickly, they are considered to be almost omniscient and very dangerous.

Nosferatu : The Mahre clan is the incarnated force of horror. Every representative of the clan exudes something nightmarish, but it doesn't have to be of a physical nature. Unlike the clan of the same name at Vampire: The masquerade , the Nosferatu are by no means the hidden and reserved "underdogs" of the vampire society, but self-confident, often mercilessly cruel horrors who defend their social status with the most brutal means.

Ventrue : The clan of rulers represents the archetypal vampire lord in many ways: persevering, coldly calculating, greedy for power and unscrupulous. Unlike the clan members of the same name at Vampire: The Masquerade , the Ventrue at Vampire: Requiem have no restrictions whatsoever when it comes to choosing their prey, but run the risk of falling ill and degenerating in the course of their unlife from a terrible mental breakdown. Also different from the counterpart of the clan at Vampire: The Ventrue can command the masquerade not only humans, but also the animal kingdom.

Bloodlines

In addition to these five major clans - the origins of which are just as unclear as anything in Vampire: Requiem - there is a theoretically unlimited number of bloodlines , smaller lines that at some point emerged from one of the five major clans. In contrast to Vampire: Die Masquerade , where there is also the concept of the bloodline, with Vampire: Requiem it is possible to “join” a bloodline by being initiated into its secrets by a teacher from the lineage. However, you have to belong to the clan from which the bloodline originated. This is particularly interesting because many bloodlines have their own agenda, which sometimes takes on the dimensions of its own "mini-league".

Some bloodlines are (arbitrary selection):

Malkovians - insane descendants of a Victorian psychiatrist
Bruja - a single nomadic motorcycle gang in the United States
Disease - disease-transmitting lepers
Bron - Homeless kings in search of the Grail
Carnival - a roaming freak show of horror
Judas children - where they walk, hope disappears
Galloi - disfigured damned who bathe in blood for beauty
Gulikan - the undead's finest perfume mixer and bloodhound
Kuufukuji - an Asian lineage that aims to gain strength by mastering its hunger
Macellarius - bloated butchers who devour their victims
Melissidae - like insect queens, always surrounded by a mindless swarm of loyal followers
The players - victims of pop culture, try to emulate the vampires of the cinema

Differences from vampires: the masquerade

Vampires: At first glance, Requiem doesn't seem that different from the earlier vampires: The masquerade : It's about vampires, it's about a world of darkness, there are clans, and many terms sound very familiar. But vampires: Requiem is an independent system, clearly recognizable by the following differences:

Vampires don't rule the world. The new world of darkness is not a stage for the superpowers of vampires, werewolves and magicians. The human world is not just an appendage of invisible forces, and the evil in the world does not come from the vampires, but as far as corruption, cold-heartedness, war and misery are concerned, it comes from the people themselves.
There is no Camarilla, no United Nations of Vampires, no established codes of conduct, no umbrella organizations.
The domain is more defining than the superstructure. The only thing that counts among the vampires is what the individual vampires agree on on site or what they enforce by force. You live with what you find on site. A vampire has little choice either.
There is a risk on first contact. Vampires recognize each other in Vampires: Requiem at first sight. Whenever two vampires meet for the first time, they instinctively feel the impulse to attack each other.
Alliances instead of clans are crucial. There are also clans, but these are more like collections of people with randomly the same last name, less like closed cadres. Disciplines from other clans can be learned. There are hardly any clan secrets and structures. Instead, vampires band together in cabals and leagues. What unites are common ideas and goals, less fortuitous distant relationships.
Family relationships are more important than clans. The less important the clan as such is, the more important is the direct relationship: great creator and creator, child and grandchildren, they form a blood clan that is interwoven by a mystical bond.
The origin of the vampires is unknown. The beginning of these beasts is forever hidden in the darkness of the past. Not a thousand years of jihad spanned the world. No godlike ancestors lurk in their sleep to eat the world.
Potestas (blood power) decides, not the generation. The basic power of the vampire is not measured by the power of the creator, but by the experience of the individual vampire. The older he gets, the more powerful he becomes, but the harder it is for him to stay awake and find suitable food. Finally he has to sleep, his memories mingling with dream images to a feverish fantasy while the power burns out of his blood until the eternal cycle begins again.
Beyond the candlelight, darkness reigns. There is no canon in Vampire: Requiem , i. H. no ultimate truths: Even with a knowledge of all source volumes, one knows nothing about this world. Local cabals can develop their own rites. Unknown bloodlines lurk in the darkness of the night. Every narrator is free to define his own local expression of the world of darkness. What is true with him does not have to be true everywhere.

literature

Rules of the game

German by Feder & Schwert (discontinued 2006)

The world of darkness basic rules [FS40000]
Vampires: Requiem [FS40100]
Vampires: Klüngel [FS40101]
Vampires: Requiem Character Sheet Block [FS40102]
Rites of the Dragon [FS40103]
Lancea Sancta [FS40104]

English by White Wolf (further books planned)

World of Darkness Rulebook [WW55002]
Vampires: The Requiem [WW25000]
City of the Damned: New Orleans [WW25200]
Bloodlines: The Chosen
Bloodlines: The Hidden [WW25102]
Bloodlines: The Legendary [WW25103]
Lancae Sanctum [WW25001]
Ordo Dracul [WW25120]
Invictus [WW25121]
Coteries [WW25100]
Ghouls [WW25110]
Nomads [WW25101]
Rites of the Dragon [WW25300]
VII [WW25301]
Requiem Chronicler's Guide [WW25302]
Carthians [WW25303]
Mythologies [WW55304]
Circle of the Crone [WW25305]
Requiem for Rome [WW25140]
Fall of the Camarilla [WW25307]

Novels

English from White Wolf

I: A Hunger Like Fire [WW11235]
II: Blood In, Blood Out [WW11235]
III: Marriage of Virtue and Viciousness [WW11238]
Chicago: Three Shades of Night [WW11720]