[WIR] Chicago by Night 5th Edition

[CTPhipps]

Sylvia Roanhorse

Type: NPC

Synopsis: Kinfolk turned to Anarch revolutionary.

Review: Sylvia is a character that isn't among my favorites in the book but has a solid and interesting character as well as mark. She's a Thin Blood Native American woman who was Embraced from what was obviously a Garou Kinfolk family (of vampire hunters no less). However, she was kept ignorant to it until it destroyed her life.

There's a problem with almost any new edition of the game that you can't really mention the information of previous editions of the games, let alone the other gamelines due to the fact you're expected to be able to introduce new gamers to an edition. As far as 5th Edition is concerned, Werewolf: The Apocalypse might as well not exist. Indeed, this is seen with the complaints about the Sabbat and Independent Clans as the idea of adapting them to 5th Edition is a kind of taboo.

Despite this, that's part of the charm of Sylvia's character as she was left out of the loop as both a woman and Kinfolk. She doesn't even know that her family was a group of werewolves (unlike many Kinfolk but certainly not all). Instead, she was simply used as a driver and resource for them until it got her "killed." Honestly, to show how I'm very tasteless, I might have at least alluded to the fact werewolves very often use their Kinfolk as breeding stock with her brother talking about "marrying" her off without bothering to consult her.

I'm not really sold on Sylvia's opening quote as introducing a character by having them talk about "blood quantum, social hierarchies, and coloniziers" makes her come off as someone talking about her liberal arts thesis more than her described background as a hard working woman who has been putting up with shit from every side of her life for her entire life. I'm not saying the sentiment wouldn't be there but I suspect if I were to write her dialogue, it would be a bit saltier and more direct. Say, flat out say, "What is it about white people, blood, and status?"

Mind you, my Native American characters sometimes do make the occasional stereotype joke (My Yaryan from CBN 2nd edition kept hand sanitizer to put on after shaking hands. "You know, because you people carry diseases.") so I'm not one to talk.

It'd be interesting to stick Anita, Talley, Rosa, and her together in a werewolf hunting group. At the very least, it would humanize Kinfolk to Anita to a large extent.

[Baaldam]

The purpose of this piece of fiction is to introduce the "new" nightclub for the player characters to explore as vampires. Previously, there was just the Blue Velvet and the Succubus Club with the latter actually getting shut down for decades in-universe. There was also the Cave but that was a 1st Edition location which more or less got forgotten in 2nd Edition. This despite the fact Harry Houdini would often perform there for his Kindred friends.

I like Red No. 5 because the club is clearly designed to be a more hip hop and R&B orientated club than the Succubus Club. Which, not to put too fine a point on it, means that it's probably got a bit more color to the clientele than the lily white Goth crowd as portrayed in previous editions. More Drake and Rhianna than the, well, Chainsmokers and Coldplay. The fiction is clearly aware of this with the two white girls depicted in the book engaging in fairly constant non-stop race fetishism.

Well, the kindred owner of the Cave met Final Death in Under a Blood Red Moon and even before that in 1e the place was implied to be a minor, niche place Horace kept for the company more than anything.

And about the "color to the clientele" subject, i'm pretty certain the Succubus Club appealed to a far more varied range of people than goths & punks, blood dolls notwithstanding. Parts of the text and one or two encounters in the Labyrinth mention both rappers and a jamaican/reggae crowd too, if memory tricks me not.

But yeah, having things clearer in style & clientele differences between the clubs is nice indeed.



As an aside, the thing about Chicago's Chinatown was... complex. The reference about a magician known as Lo Pan is from 1e Chicago itself, of that i'm reasonably sure though i would have to check the actual book pages to cite. That said, it was very much a tongue in check nickname implying some kindred in the Lodin's court enjoyed Big Trouble in Little China (not sure if it was Nicolai, but could be) and leave at that, giving us no actual info on whoever this figure might be, except for the nickname and some loose contacts with Pham Hong.

Book of Chantries gives us the Jade Demon, a powerful rogue akashic barabbi, that is identified as the mystery magician behind Chicago's Chinatown and master of a labyrinth of sorts. Again, at first brush, no relation background-wise to the film per se. Then comes its minions, the Wing Kong triad and that mugshot.... so terribly on the nose, what for.

Yeah, everything is better by cutting it and letting STs do their own thing indeed.

[False Epiphany]

Before I get into my review I'm going to mention I'm going to miss Khalid while also thinking it's kind of a good thing he's dead. Part of what I liked about Khalid was the fact he was a parody of the "wise mysterious elder" that Inyanga embodied and Critias sometimes was. He was a rampaging homicidal psychopath who embraced a pair of incestuous abused children because he was really impressed by their suffering.

Versus, you know, eating their evil parents and getting them some therapy. A lot of Storytellers wanted him to join the Inconnu or find Golconda but the simple fact is that I think he was best used as a sign that sometimes you just lose the fight against the Beast. Also, there's just an inherently awesome scenario when the Prince says, "Listen, Anarchs, I hate you and will kill you but I'll dial that back if you can help deal with the thousand year old invisible super-predator stalking the streets. Yes, Khalid hit wassail."

While vampire doesn't shy away from controversy, it's also probably a good thing that the Nosferatu lost Khalid and Tammy given their pasts too.

Man, Khalid.

Hands-down one of my favorite characters in CbN, and one of the best "monster who doesn't want to be a monster" characters the game has produced. I wrote this somewhere else about him:

"The Humanity 2 Golconda seeker, anyway, is largely a failure at achieving Golconda. He has a truly black temper that his Beast’s influence makes even worse. (He’s not a Brujah.) He's tried and tried over the years but never been able to rein it in. He keeps getting angry and succumbing to frenzy. He keeps making the same mistakes, committing the same atrocities under the Beast’s influence, even when he knows what a cancer his lack of self-control is to his soul. He knows he can’t simply blame his Beast and he fervently believes what he’s doing is wrong. His guilt, despair, and conviction that he’s a monster is what keeps him at such a low Humanity level. Eventually, that despair will probably overtake him, and he will completely succumb to the Beast. That is why he seeks Golconda, because he believes he can’t keep doing what he’s doing. Some readers have (IMO) mischaracterized him and said he should have a higher Humanity level (probably fixating on the “morality is very important to him” sentence in his description), but I found him a fascinating example of the sort of moral complexity the game can allow. To give him a higher Humanity level would whitewash his struggles and eliminate the tragedy of the character: how he probably isn’t ever going to find Golconda (without help from PCs)."

I don't think Khalid really gets (or at least got) how to behave in a humane manner, either. He knows killing people is wrong and wants to stop succumbing to his temper and failing those frenzy rolls. But he'll still Embrace an incestuous pair of preteen abuse victims and think he's doing them a favor. To him, finding Golconda is more about pursuing esoteric lore and not succumbing to frenzy than it actually is about behaving in a humane manner. That's why he'll never find it on his own.

There's a lot of ways STs could use Khalid. Archetypal secret-dealing Nosferatu primogen. Wight the PCs have to hunt down. Initially wise-seeming mentor a humanistic PC can confront and outgrow. An especially humanistic PC could even try to help him along the right path to Golconda. I think on some level he actually is redeemable. He really does value morality, versus "only" attaining Golconda, and doesn't want to be a monster. He just doesn't get how to do it. Whether he can overcome the inertia of a thousand years of bad habits is up for debate, but it's the sort of thing I'd want to attempt with a Golconda-seeking PC. Helping another vampire down the Unmapped Road is a great way to make progress along it yourself.

Whether killing off/Beckoning away most of the setting's super-old elders was a good thing is a bigger topic than I'm going to go into here. But Chicago is less for his, Menele's, Inyanga's, et al's absences.

[CTPhipps]

Toreador

We're getting into the final stretch of Chicago by Night 5E's clans now with the High Clans of the Toreador, Tremere, and Ventrue being all that's left. From this point on, we won't be talking about Anarchs but instead the snootiest of the snooty.

Do I have anything to say about the Toreador and their changes in 5E? Not really, the Toreador are easily the most note-perfect of clans in previous editions and remain so. One of the best decisions I ever made was forcing an All-Toreador game of my players once. None of them wanted to play the "sexy brooding socialite" or the more stereotypical vampire in previous games but it led to some of my favorite campaign moments later on.

Annabelle

Type: NPC

Preview

Annabelle

Synopsis: The Queen of the Toreador is just another playing piece.

Review: Annabelle is someone that I, honestly, tend to think of as the best representative character for Vampire: The Masquerade. Annabelle, Modius, Lodin, Juggler, Evelyn, and Allicia are pretty much the six characters I would select if you ever wanted to give a person an idea what the game was all about. Mind you, that basically just marks me as a 1st Edition edition fan since the only one of them absent from Baptism by Fire is Lodin.

I'm hoping we can get that updated for 5th Edition someday even if it's just Modiphus or Onyx Path Publishing doing it as a free downloadable PDF. Some modules are classics and should remain in print like Ravenloft and Call of Cthulhu's The Haunting. V:TM cemented its status as a cult classic when it created its first adventure and it was nothing but a bunch of weirdos having a New Years Eve party in a crumbling mansion.

Annabelle is a great character because she's one of the first ones that doesn't neatly fit into the category of black or white among vampires. Depending on your day and week, Annabelle can be your friend or your enemy. She's one of the more humane-ish vampires (Humanity 6) but not so much that she won't throw you under the bus if it means benefiting her situation. In one campaign, Annabelle was a firm ally of the players, in another she was a personal hell for them because they put photos of her feeding on other Kindred (non-lethally) on Anarch boards. Even then, her revenge was brutal but catty like blacklisting the singer PC from every venue in Chicago and having all of her music done up as cheesy bubblegum covers by more esablished singers.
(The Toreador Punk HATED HER FOREVER for that)

Annabelle is also a character that has a heavy romantic history with our protagonists. I'm a storyteller who has always loved the romantic (and tragic) element of the game. Annabelle has seduced, betrayed, abandoned, and been betrayed by many of the PCs throughout the game. If anyone remembers the old Kindred: The Embraced show, I often played her very similar to Lily Langtree in that she was easy to fall in love and in love with but quick to fall out of it. Because that's what Toreador do.

So, what does 5E do with Annabelle? It does something very interesting by putting Annabelle in the position of a Neonate to their elders. Poor Annabelle is still publicly one of the most powerful Elders in the city. Unfortunately, the War of Ages doesn't actually ever go away, you simply move into a different tier of being fucked over by your Elders. Just as Annabelle is pulling strings, she is having her string's pulled.

Just as I have my Annabelle feeding on a Thin Blood harem, so is Annabelle spending her nights at the Succubus Club being misused by Helena. Since we're all adults at my table, I'm going to make it clear it's to be used for blood and sex by Helena who has a very ancient Greek way of looking at consent (i.e. it's not terribly important). It makes Annabelle an interesting potential ally for Neonates if they want to do the absolutely stupid thing and go after Helena. Mind you, 4th generation Methuselahs aren't as invulnerable as they used to be in a time of Drone Strikes, Hellfire missles, car bombs, and other material that might mean the Second Inquisition or some sufficiently determined Sabbat or even Anarchs might take over.

There's also the fact Annanelle is scared deathless of the discovery that she was the secret patron of Maldavis during the Council Wars. What might have been a typical Elder move when the Anarchs were part of the Camarilla is now actual blackmail material. Except, I'm not certain that anyone would actually care in the city. Mind you, the Justicars could possibly object but then they'd be intruding on Helena's territory--interesting problem.

Really, what makes Annabelle such an interesting character is she's at the center of a web of fascinating characters. Her relationship with so many NPCs means she can be used for dozens of potential plot hooks and never really run out of them. Barring the PCs being diablerie hungry Sabbat or Toreador who have been snubbed one too many times, no one really wants to KILL Annabelle among my history of player characters. That makes her an ever useful source of intrigue.

Also, her parties are TO DIE FOR.

To show how I treat them in my games, I present the music video Danse Macabre by Ghost. For some reason, Jeanette Voorman showed up.

[CTPhipps]

Well, the kindred owner of the Cave met Final Death in Under a Blood Red Moon and even before that in 1e the place was implied to be a minor, niche place Horace kept for the company more than anything. And about the "color to the clientele" subject, i'm pretty certain the Succubus Club appealed to a far more varied range of people than goths & punks, blood dolls notwithstanding. Parts of the text and one or two encounters in the Labyrinth mention both rappers and a jamaican/reggae crowd too, if memory tricks me not.

But yeah, having things clearer in style & clientele differences between the clubs is nice indeed.

True, I wasn't trying to divide the Succubus Club's clientele up but one thing I've always believed while Storytelling is the more you limit something, the more you define it. In any case, that's just how I would divide the two. The Succubus Club is very Goth, techno, and perpetually Halloween with blacks as well as whites. Very much Ghost and for more classic Goth rock, Sisters of Mercy. Red No. 5 is very much golds, brown, and hardwood reds. Very much Drake and Rhianna.

As an aside, the thing about Chicago's Chinatown was... complex. The reference about a magician known as Lo Pan is from 1e Chicago itself, of that i'm reasonably sure though i would have to check the actual book pages to cite. That said, it was very much a tongue in check nickname implying some kindred in the Lodin's court enjoyed Big Trouble in Little China (not sure if it was Nicolai, but could be) and leave at that, giving us no actual info on whoever this figure might be, except for the nickname and some loose contacts with Pham Hong.

Book of Chantries gives us the Jade Demon, a powerful rogue akashic barabbi, that is identified as the mystery magician behind Chicago's Chinatown and master of a labyrinth of sorts. Again, at first brush, no relation background-wise to the film per se. Then comes its minions, the Wing Kong triad and that mugshot.... so terribly on the nose, what for.

Yeah, everything is better by cutting it and letting STs do their own thing indeed.

I don't recall Lo Pan being in the original Chicago by Night. I do own the Book of Chantries, though, and still find it one of my most useful books. I've actually always had a lot of fun with Lo Pan and think he can be played as an anti-racist figure while keeping all of the cheesy wuxia and Big Trouble in Little China fun. He strikes me as a character that could have been included as "Other" with Sullivan Dane and maybe other characters.

Then again, I'm with Ben Kingsley in the belief that removing all problematic representation (like the Mandarin) can often lead to no representation if you're not being careful. I've used Lo Pan in my games and often focus on the fact that he's a figure who is both a bad person as well as multifaceted and complex. Yes, he's a Chinese wizard and centuries old but he's also the guy who is both protector and enemy of Chicago's Chinatown.

I also changed his name.

There's a lot of ways STs could use Khalid. Archetypal secret-dealing Nosferatu primogen. Wight the PCs have to hunt down. Initially wise-seeming mentor a humanistic PC can confront and outgrow. An especially humanistic PC could even try to help him along the right path to Golconda. I think on some level he actually is redeemable. He really does value morality, versus "only" attaining Golconda, and doesn't want to be a monster. He just doesn't get how to do it. Whether he can overcome the inertia of a thousand years of bad habits is up for debate, but it's the sort of thing I'd want to attempt with a Golconda-seeking PC. Helping another vampire down the Unmapped Road is a great way to make progress along it yourself.

Whether killing off/Beckoning away most of the setting's super-old elders was a good thing is a bigger topic than I'm going to go into here. But Chicago is less for his, Menele's, Inyanga's, et al's absences.

I always liked Khalid if I never could use him but his disappearance I think is also something that could serve as a source of all the interesting things that could be done with him. His return from the Beckoning or possibly having gone into hiding among the caverns beneath the city. Mind you, I'm hoping we get to see some of the "missing" characters potentially in future supplements or THE CHICAGO FOLIO and LTSRR

[CTPhipps]

Note: An element which I should note about Annabelle's stats is that she's got Portraiture and Sculpture at 3, Dancing, Harp, and Singing at 3. Which combined with Dexterity 5 and Charisma 5 means that Annabelle is actually a very talented multi-faceted artist. We usually only take characters seriously if they have 4 or a 5 in a Skill but those are the "best in the world." Annabelle was originally considered to be the archetypal Toreador poseur but it seems she's actually quite talented at creating art or at least displaying it.

It changes a great deal of her character as in previous editions.

Plus, she has Academics (Art) 4 so she's really every bit as good at discerning art as a Toreador SHOULD be.

I'm inclined to think this is a recent development and that it's Helena's influence.

She also has a Negotiation of 5, which means she probably SHOULD be the Prince of Chicago even if Kevin Jackson is immensely talented.

[CTPhipps]

Brett Stryker

Type: NPC

Synopsis: Beautiful exterior, ugly inside.

Review: I've always secretly felt that Brett Stryker was a character made to be a Hate Sink (see TV tropes) for the creators of Chicago by Night 1st Edition. He's an exceptionally attractive asshole who has absolutely nothing underneath his exterior and uses then disposes of those people that fall for him. He's a Toreador stereotype that works well as a beautiful but ugly hearted thing that also I suspect played on a lot of geeky tabletop roleplaying gamer resentments. Gaming is everyone now but back in the 1990s we were not exactly a collection of supermodels and Brett was.

Mind you, everything comes full circle and while a lot of gamers saw a narcissistic bully in Brett Stryker, the misogyny and homophobia that have always been an unfortunate undercurrent to geek culture means that he's not someone I automatically dismiss anymore. I've used Brett Stryker as a thoroughly detestable piece of garbage in many games but 5th Edition's take on him is a more nuanced 3 dimensional character.

*pause*

Who is still an enormous pile of shit.

I really have to applaud whoever did the write-up for Brett Stryker and would love to know which author did it because they manage a humanizing balance that shows us beginning with his troubled upbringing, his struggles with bisexiality, his career as a bodybuilder, his turn to becoming a high class male prostitute, his cocaine addiction, and a lot more stuff that would make an excellent movie akin to Boogie Nights. All of this is before he becomes a vampire Blood Bond by the fickle and controlling Annabelle then Helena.

Here's the thing, though, an explanation is anot an excuse and while we walk a figurative mile in Brett Stryker's shoes--at the end of the day, he's still a guy who kidnaps women (and men) for Helena then turns them into vampires before feeding them to his mistress. Brett Stryker is a serial killer or at least the most Renfield sort of Reinfeld you can be while being a low generation vampire.

It's kind of interesting that the majority of the article glosses over this fact and I'm surprised that he has a humanity of 4 rather than a 3 still. Let's face it, none of the people that Brett Stryker has Embraced are ever going to be seen again and he's been doing this for decades. The fact he teaches dance for underprivileged kids and has a number of Touchstones just makes him a three-dimensional monster and I appreciate that.

Interestingly, Brett is in love with Annabelle and not actually completely enamoured with Helena despite being her slave. You'd think Helena's blood would have overwhelmed Brett's Blood Bond to Annabelle by now. My opinion is that Brett has actual feelings for Annabelle (who while a crappy girlfriend actually bothered to treat him as a person for awhile) while Helena probably treats Brett with about as much affection as your typical Ventrue treats his ghoul. As such, Brett could theoretically turn against Helena even if it's unlikely given she also controls the woman he loves.

Most random moment of the write-up? It's mentioned he's ex-lovers with David Bowie.

I should note Brett Stryker actually played a decent role in my Chicago by Night 5E game. The players think he's dead but he's not. In my game, Brett Stryker's humanity lowered down to 3 due to the constant murder he was forced to perform for Helena and he became sadistic as well as brutal to his herds. As such, Brett Stryker became a human trafficker as a side business that provided vessels for Kindred as permanent slaves or even one-time meals. He also became a good deal sleazier and less kempt but, oddly enough, more competent.

Stat Notes: I think Brett Stryker having a Intelligence 2 and Wits 1 is incorrect for him because while I don't think Brett is necessarily the sharpest tool in the shed, the simple fact is you're going to pick up some basic social predator skills working in dance as well as bartending/stripping let alone being a Toreador for decades. If by no other reason than osmosis. While he has Seduction 2 and Subterfuge 3, I think he'd be a bit better at this and he's underleveled for what should be strengths. I'd give him a Intelligence 3 and Wits 2 at the very least. I also think that while 6 points of Discipline is respectable, I'd give him a Potence 3 as well.

[Baaldam]

The idea the Lasombra have been having Humanity 4 and 5 "maybe a little nastier than most Camarilla ancilla but not kicking heads made of soccer moms and their children around the park" goes a long way to explain why this sudden defection might be taking place. There's a lot more Lasombra who aren't in step with the Sabbat as we've been presented them for decades. Lasombra who aren't, for all intents and purposes, soccer hooligans.

I think this feels a bit like a retcon because everything we've seen of the Sabbat from Montreal by Night to Mexico City by Night to the various Player Guides indicate there wasn't a silent majority or even plurality of Sabbat who weren't drinking the Kool-Aid (embodied by the Vaudlerie) and secretly longing to run 5 star hotels and manage business empires versus fostering all the "mortal stuff" off on the Grimaldi. Still, if we're going ti make a retcon then I actually think this is one that makes sense and broadens the Sabbat even if it's only in preparation for said group LEAVING the Sabbat.

In a very real way, Sierra is identical to Kevin Jackson in that the Beckoning and recent troubles have created a power vacuum above her for her to ascend to become a leading figure of vampirism despite her young age. She's a character the PCs will have to watch because, like Jackson, she very much could climb to the top of the Camarilla and become a threat to everyone standing in her way

Not quite. They sound very much in tone like Lasombra in the original/pre-Revised Clanbook, specially those from the Amici Noctis secret society from your description.

[CTPhipps]

Not quite. They sound very much in tone like Lasombra in the original/pre-Revised Clanbook, specially those from the Amici Noctis secret society from your description.

Well it certainly goes a long way of explaining why the Amici Noctis are the guys at the front of leaving.

[chipotlechris]

I mentioned this on a Facebook post during my first read, but I’ll bring it up again as it’s amusing. Two of Brett Strykers Masks are characters from Red Dwarf - the human in the apocalypse episode. This makes me wonder how many other masks, contacts and allies have their names taken from other pop culture. I do love finding little Easter eggs like that and I’ve done similar things in my home brew city. Also, Matthew Dawkins confirmed he wrote that but, so presumably he did Brett in his entirety.

[The Gentleman Gamer]

I mentioned this on a Facebook post during my first read, but I’ll bring it up again as it’s amusing. Two of Brett Strykers Masks are characters from Red Dwarf - the human in the apocalypse episode. This makes me wonder how many other masks, contacts and allies have their names taken from other pop culture. I do love finding little Easter eggs like that and I’ve done similar things in my home brew city. Also, Matthew Dawkins confirmed he wrote that but, so presumably he did Brett in his entirety.

I didn't write Brett in his entirety, but I did write most of the characters' Masks. When it came to Brett, I just thought "Brett... Brett... Brett... Riverboat? Ah yes. The Riviera Kid as well."

[Baaldam]

Well it certainly goes a long way of explaining why the Amici Noctis are the guys at the front of leaving.

Indeed. One might point out, the organization as described back then clearly crossed sect lines and included a number of independent or Camarilla Lasombra too.

In fact, there's an early edition adventure from Succubus Club, Player of Pawns, whose cast of antagonists, with their mix of refined tastes and at the same time role as half-hearted agents of the Sabbat using their "living chess" games to foster abuse & attrition between kindred of different games and generations, works very well as a Amici Noctis-oriented coven, instead of "just an eccentric Malkavian & his minions, that happens to be Sabbat, for reasons", as given in the adventure itself.

[chipotlechris]

I didn't write Brett in his entirety, but I did write most of the characters' Masks. When it came to Brett, I just thought "Brett... Brett... Brett... Riverboat? Ah yes. The Riviera Kid as well."

At least you didn’t approach it from his surname “Striker, Striker, Striker, STRIKER! (Sound of someone getting punched) Ted Striker?”

But seriously, it’s interesting to see a bit behind the process. Whilst I expected a certain amount of dual authorship with editing, I wasn’t sure characters would be split up like that. Could that also be why someone’s Stats don’t match the description?

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

I didn't write Brett in his entirety, but I did write most of the characters' Masks. When it came to Brett, I just thought "Brett... Brett... Brett... Riverboat? Ah yes. The Riviera Kid as well."

So, he's an evil version of Cat? Right.

[Nicolas Milioni]

I just realized Phil Collin's "Easy Lover" kinda describes Helena,don't it?