“Dark Ages is a world lit only by firelight” [V20: Dark Ages Companion]

Open Development, Vampire: The Masquerade

In an interview I hosted several years ago with Richard Dansky as my guest, he said to me “Dark Ages is a world lit only be firelight.” It’s a phrase that’s always stuck with me. In Masquerade, vampires walk the cold city streets illuminated by flickering street lights, neon from shop windows, and the occasional gleam of a car’s headlights as it rushes by at speed, to get out of the dreadful neighbourhood.

In Dark Ages, the only light is fire.

What brave mortal will extinguish her candle? Who would be so foolish to travel between villages at night? What of pious kine, holding torches aloft in one hand, their faith brandished in the other? The darkness is the vampire’s friend, just as much as it’s the mortal’s enemy. The darkness hides a multitude of monsters the world over. This is something I want to explore with V20: Dark Ages Companion. The plans of vampires dwelling the shadows, from different regions, with different beliefs. The societies they form for their own protection, and philosophical furtherance they pursue to give meaning to lives without light. The domains they build, designed to keep out the intruding flame of life. The horror of combat, fought only by the embers of a bonfire, every sword slash a shadow, every clash of metal even more deafening for the lack of illumination. V20: Dark Ages Companion explores the literal and philosophical cut and thrust of a life lived in the dark. Inverted and subverted beliefs, rotting kingdoms, and dedication to blood – both its procurement and spillage. Our Dark Ages are a time even harsher than the real Middle Ages, not just for mortals, but also the vampires preying on them. It is difficult to find meaning when all you know is darkness.

Over the past month or two, both myself and the team on V20: Dark Ages Companion have been hard at work, producing a book for you that I’m hoping you’ll find rather enjoyable. I’ve not spoken much about what the V20: Dark Ages Companion is due to include, so in this blog post, I intend to provide some illumination. Setites and Lasombra are therefore urged to don shades, hoods, or wide-brimmed hats.

I wanted Companion to expand on V20: Dark Ages, and the Dark Ages lines of the previous two decades (and saying that makes me feel old.) I asked my gaming groups what they wanted to see in a Dark Ages book. I read forum posts and reviews of V20: Dark Ages. I also researched what readers loved about the historic Dark Ages material. I’m a massive fan of Dark Ages: Vampire myself (you may have seen some of my YouTube videos on the subject) so I even looked into the chronicles for which I’ve been Storyteller, to analyse what material was particularly well received by players. I thought about what a Companion should offer to both players and Storytellers.

V20: Dark Ages Companion explores the geography of the World of Darkness. It explores it in a way designed to evoke the mood of the places we visit. We examine domains of varying sizes, to see how chronicles may be different from one to another. If you wish to set your chronicle in intimate surroundings, where schemes are small and every Cainite knows her neighbour, the small Norwegian island of Bjarkarey or the provincial British town of Bath receive in-depth coverage, complete with plots, characters, and ways to make those domains – or domains like them – your own. The same options are present, should you desire somewhere untouched by established lore. The cosmopolitan domain of Mangalore on India’s west coast, as a popular route to China, may hold appeal. Alternatively, if you seek a chronicle set in a domain wracked with internal conflict, conflicting faith, and new takes on established Clans, Mogadishu receives a spotlight. For those seeking examination of epic domains, where multiple chronicles can be set without your ever having to see the same Cainite twice, and grand schemes take place that your vampires may wish to become embroiled in or desperately avoid, both Rome and Constantinople also receive chapters.

This book isn’t only a travelogue. Knowing how well-received the Clan apocrypha chapter was in V20: Dark Ages, and knowing players love options, we once again have apocrypha for every Clan, and at least one “bloodline.” These sections contain new Roads, new rules, new orders, new myths and history – new ways to play your favourite lines, tying into the lore presented in V20: Dark Ages, its predecessors, the upcoming V20: Dark Ages Tome of Secrets, and this book as well.

There’s even more. This book contains a bestiary of creatures of the night, specific to the time, and focused on areas we cover in our various domains. It also holds rules for simplified combat, for those who like their bloodshed quick and brutal. It also also holds an in-depth look at the weaponry and armour of the period, so you know when your Cainite is disemboweling that ghoul, he’s doing it with the right blade. It also also also has what currently ranks as my favourite chapter (though this changes nightly), on how to build a domain. Backgrounds for communal domain building, the maintenance of the manor, staff and servants a vampire may require, disasters and events that may afflict the vampire’s holdings – all are included. This chapter provides you a method of building a domain from scratch, so if your vampire wants to set out on his own and build a town between Paris and Rouen, he will be able to do so.

I want this book filled with at least one thing for every gaming group.

We are currently at final draft stage for this book. I will post below a selection of extracts from first drafts. If there’s anything in particular you wish to preview in the coming weeks, please state in the comments, whether it be in respect of a specific Clan’s apocrypha, a particular domain, or any of the other chapters noted.

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The Grand Bazaar (from the Domain of Constantinople, by Meghan Fitzgerald)

For all the wrack and ruin festering behind Constantinople’s walls, nothing has yet been able to snuff the spark of the Grand Bazaar, the commercial hub where Latin and Byzantine, East and West, mortal and Cainite, all commingle in a glorious urban cacophony. Thanks to centuries of vampiric influence, the Bazaar never sleeps. During daylight hours, merchants from every far-flung corner of the world unpack their wares and sell, sell, sell. Wagons and carts, tents and shacks, mats and carpets, makeshift booths, stands, storefronts, squares, and even the merchants themselves bedecked from head to toe all offer a whirlwind of goods local and foreign.

When the sun sets, the market grows quieter but no less teeming with merchandise. While the Latin Quarter holds the record for common illicit business, oddities and horrors found nowhere else in the known world crawl out from the cracks of these night-brokers’ shops. They have been serving the perverse needs of the Cainite set since Byzar first planted his flag, and each year they get more creative.

That’s the part all Cainites know. What most don’t know is that the Grand Bazaar also hides a grim order of vampire hunting maniacs with dead vitae in their veins and murder in their hearts. These fanatic kine were once starry-eyed ghouls in the company of undead gods, serving the Trinity families loyally for decades before it all came crashing down around them. Left behind when their regnants burned or fled in 1204, they pined and wept for years before the loss of their dark masters drove them to a hateful, bitter rage at their own survival. Taking their own (or each other’s) lives seemed like a waste of the sacred trust bestowed upon them by their lords, so instead they have vowed to cleanse Constantinople of the base filth calling themselves Cainites in these debased nights. The order has no name, communicating only through subtle signs and signals scattered throughout the Bazaar. They work in tandem and in numbers to lure vampires away from the crowd, falling upon them with stakes and fire once they’re alone. The only Cainites safe from their predations are the Nosferatu, known to them as true allies of the vanished Dream.

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Zoroastrian Rituals (from Assamite Apocrypha, by Steffie de Vaan)

The Zoroastrians have their own Dur-an-Ki rituals. While any Assamite can learn these, their reliance on Zoroastrian beliefs and symbolism often puts them out of reach for other vampires. Many of these rituals call for a sacrifice to serve as a conduit between the damned vampire and Ahura Mazda. This is an unfortunate necessity and all sacrifices must be done cleanly, without pain or fear from the sacrifice, lest the ritual offends Ahura Mazda and fails.

The caster may cast all these rituals on herself, or on another beneficiary.

Guardian’s Gaze (•••)

The vampire finds a “four eyed” dog (i.e one with spots above his eyes) and spends an hour or longer bonding with it. She then kills the creature and places its head to oversee her resting place. The dog’s spirit guards her as she sleeps, and it wakes her if she is in danger. The vampire remains awake until the immediate threat is dealt with, though she may still not have any dice pool greater than her Road rating.

Judgment of Ahura Mazda (•••)

The vampire calls on Ahura Mazda to judge her victim and give him a glimpse of the hell that awaits. Her victim relives his three greatest sins, and his player re-rolls any Degeneration the act would cause. These sins are judged on the victim’s Road rather than the caster’s. Creatures with a Road rating (or equivalent) of 10 are immune to this ritual.