Storytellers Vault

Style Guide
 Credits Special Thanks
Written by: Christoper Allen Justin Achilli
Developer: Shane DeFreest Will Hindmarch
Art by: Mark Kelly Rose Bailey
Layout & Design: Katie McCaskill and Marcos M.
Peral Villaverde
Storytellers Vault Development Team: Shane De-
Freest, Dhaunae DeVir, & Matt McElroy
Original Concept and Design: Justin Achilli,
Philippe Boulle, Carl Bowen, Bill Bridges, Dean
Burnham, John Chambers, Ken Cliffe, Conrad
Hubbard, Mike Lee, Chris McDonough, Matthew
McFarland, Ethan Skemp, Richard Thomas, Mike
Tinney, Stephan Wieck, Stewart Wieck , Aaron
Voss, Frederick Yelk, and Frederick Yelk

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2 Vampire: the Requiem

 Storytellers Vault
Style Guide

Table of Contents
Themes & Inspirations 5
Vampire: The Requiem First Edition 5
Vampire: The Requiem Second Edition 6

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 Vampire: the Requiem
Themes & Inspirations
Vampire: the Requiem is a game of gothic horror; vampire willing to commit to get ahead of her rivals?
the default player characters are vampires who must The covenants in Vampire are, therefore, founded
struggle with their craving for blood, the beast within not on notions of worldwide plots but, instead, on
them, and their isolation from humanity The obvious the basis of how they present the different ways that
inspiration is the heavyweight of the genre, Bram Kindred grapple with giving meaning and purpose to
Stoker’s Dracula, along with other significant titles such their nightly existence.
as Carmilla, and the plethora of vampire fiction that has Vampire is often a game about scheming, mani-
exploded onto the scene in recent decades. The world pulation, and politics; vampires, caught in an endless
in which these vampires dwell is one of deep shadows, parade of blood-soaked nights, maneuver and clash with
baroque cities, and hungrier things yet that wait in the each other to sate their hungers, to pursue their goals, or
darkness to prey on the mistakes of the Kindred. simply to entertain themselves and hold back the ennui
A major focus in Vampire is on personal horror of immortality. They compete over blood, power, and
— the internal struggles between the vampire’s fa- the supremacy of their philosophies. Many chronicles
ding humanity and the ravenous urges of the Beast. will feature clever attempts to frame, blackmail, or be-
A vampire is a parasite and a predator, forced to prey tray characters; vampires often use pawns and catspaws
on her former peers simply to survive — and armed rather than direct confrontation; and violence, when it
with a panoply of dark powers that make it ever-so- happens, is usually sudden, brutal, and shocking.
easy to toy with mortals, to stop thinking of them as Some suggested media inspiration for both editions
peers and instead just as a herd from which she can of Vampire includes the aforementioned Dracula and
draw sustenance. What crimes will a vampire commit Carmilla, the film Near Dark, the book and movie versions
just to wake to another night? What transgressions is a of The Hunger, and The Lost Boys.

Vampire: the Requiem First Edition

The First Edition of Vampire: The Requiem pre- Within this setting, vampires are a divided com-
sents an open approach where Storytellers are encou- munity. Theirs is a timeless curse, but they have no
raged to build their game from the pieces on offer. The overarching or single explanation or understanding for
game assumes a local, focused, street-level view; rather it. Instead, a profusion of interpretations and ideologies
than grand conspiracies or occult histories, it looks arise; the Covenants carve vampiric society up among
closely at the personal horror of being a blood-drinking themselves in a struggle for power. The fallible memory
monster among the human herd. of elder Kindred and the isolated nature of vampires
The setting of Vampire draws from gothic literature; draws the focus onto the nightly existence of individuals
it is our world seen through the looking glass darkly, a and coteries.
place of violence, corruption, and medieval imagery. The In the First Edition of the game, the assumed
streets are dangerous, the rich jealous and fearful, and viewpoint is a narrow one, limited to a particular city
authority is abused. It’s hard for people to look beyond the or locale and the Kindred who dwell there. Cities are
immediacy of their situation. The backdrop is of crum- isolated bastions; the Covenants may compete for con-
bling buildings, faded grandeur, and grubby immorality. trol within one, but few stories reach farther abroad. The

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 night is dark and full of shadows, and even vampires Requiem content should focus on its characters, par-
know only a little of what lies in the gloom. ticularly their social or political machinations, and
Themes: A Beast I am, lest a Beast I become, the how these might entangle or lure the player characters
horror of becoming a predator, hidden sins and ugly into events.
vices, personal conspiracies and the struggle for power, Influences: Nosferatu, Shadow of the Vampire,
alienation and isolation. Interview with the Vampire, Beethoven, Mozart,
Setting Advice: Requiem has a ‘toolbox’ approach the Sex Pistols, Black Flag, Sisters of Mercy, This
which provides both opportunities and obstacles for a Mortal Coil, Faith and the Muse, Switchblade Sym-
writer. Content intended to be dropped into a variety phony, Bauhaus
of Chronicles has to take account of the fact that the Game Design Advice: In First Edition, vampires
political and social set-up can vary wildly between are considerably more powerful than humans, but their
tables; one group might play in a city where the In- capabilities are still relatively constrained and modest.
victus rule with the support of the Lancea Sanctum in Internal balance is a meaningful consideration when
an organized, stifling pyramid of power, but another creating new Disciplines and the like; new Bloodlines
might see a city torn apart by feuding factions with no offer freedom to explore wilder ideas. The overall
meaningful community between them. As there is no focus is very personal and often subtle, with vampires
overarching, global Kindred culture, the game offers often working through influence rather than crazy or
a lot of freedom on how its vampires can be depicted. extravagant powers.

Vampire: the Requiem Second Edition

The Second Edition of Vampire: The Requiem Vampire: The Requiem Second Edition was
keeps the core of Vampire’s personal horror and flexible previously published as Blood and Smoke: The Strix
presentation of options for the Storyteller to use, but Chronicle, and it features the Strix Chronicle. This is a
shakes it up with a renewed emphasis on the vampire suggested chronicle setting wherein the terrifying Strix
as a monster and on visceral drama. It’s about sex and are abroad, monstrous shadow-owls and grisly possessed
murder, power and wild defiance, thrilling action and corpses of folklore made disturbingly real, and who now
nail-biting paranoia. pursue the Kindred. The Strix Chronicle provides the
This edition pushes the focus onto what each in- set-up for a game wherein hunters become hunted, with
dividual vampire is willing to do to survive the night, an alien threat that can attack vampire society from
how they’ll live with themselves for their crimes, and within or without and tear the whole thing down in
what dark drives could give them the strength to survive an orgy of blood and paranoia.
this damnation. It looks at the vampire’s connection Themes: Requiem and masquerade, the old and the
to humanity, and how they struggle to keep hold of it new, piety and blasphemy, sex and murder.
even as it slips away. It’s still personal horror, but it’s Setting Advice: Second Edition keeps the ‘tool-
pitched in terms of guilt, hunger, and lies, rather than box’ approach and opens it up further; plenty of exam-
as a sense of existential angst. ple locations show how vampire society can wildly
The passage of the ages plays a greater role in Se- vary from place to place. The setting is sharper, often
cond Edition chronicles. Most Chronicles still play out weirder, and draws some sharper distinctions between
through the modern nights, but the fog of ages that clou- the different Clans. Storytellers are encouraged to
ded vampiric records in First Edition no longer exists; be flexible and inventive with how they depict the
stories often draw on the unique history of the region Covenants in their game.
or city, tying the current situation for vampires into The Strix are a powerful setting element in this
what has gone before. Rather than being anachronistic edition; vampires’ understanding of the world is no
relics, elders swiftly adapt to new changes; the Kindred longer clouded by the fog of ages or a myopic focus on
struggle with the clash between old and new. immediate, street-level issues, but the night remains a

6 Vampire: the Requiem

dangerous place to go astray, and the Strix are part of gerous or conflicting situations by offering a reward
the reason why. These vampiric entities are powerful for risk and loss. New content that hooks onto these
antagonists in their own right, but they work well as mechanical levers can help play up the feel of vam-
part of a story about history and the occult mysteries pires driven by dark urges and powerful ambitions.
of Kindred origins. Second Edition has a flexible approach to
Influences: Already Dead, The Hunger, Night implementing vampires’ traditional and folkloric
Junkies, Katja from the Punk Band, The Big Sleep, Go. weaknesses and aspects. Don’t assume that the player
Game Design Advice: Vampires in Second Edi- characters will be unable to act during the day; low
tion are considerably more potent, with Disciplines Blood Potency and high Humanity Kindred can get
offering a serious boost in their impact on the game. away with limited activity. Clan Banes don’t kick in
Touchstones are a new and significant part of the until a vampire has first dropped to Humanity 6, but
Humanity system, emphasizing human connections. vampires can also take on additional thematic Banes
The Beat system helps drive vampires towards dan- to firm up their degeneration against similar acts.

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