[WIR] Let the Streets Run Red (COMPLETE!)

[Nicolas Milioni]

Possibly.

I admit I have my own theories about the Ministry/Church of Set. Specifically, I had my view that the Church of Set utterly misunderstands Set as well as his goals. Basically, the God of Chaos is utterly anti-dogma and is much more a warrior than theologian. His doctrine could be read to be instead of being about corruption and devotion to be about simply waging war against God/The God who Cursed Caine/Ra versus anything metaphorical.

The original Anarch.

Freedom.

Breaking one's chains.

Which means that he probably doesn't a give a shit about the religious elements of the faith or cult versus the literal, "What are you doing to fight the Heavens?" angle.

No wonder he massacres the Followers of Set in the main Gehenna campaign.

I actually i was re-reading the four gehenna scenarios recently. let me see if i recall correctly what he does in all of them.

in Wormwood,he doesn't show up
In Fair is Foul,i believe he also doesn't show up.
In Nighshade,he of course is awaken by his followers but he for unclear reasons deems them unworthy and destroys them.
In The Crucibe of god,he is not awakened and also destroys his followers,again for unclear reasons.

[CTPhipps]

I actually i was re-reading the four gehenna scenarios recently. let me see if i recall correctly what he does in all of them.

in Wormwood,he doesn't show up
In Fair is Foul,i believe he also doesn't show up.
In Nighshade,he of course is awaken by his followers but he for unclear reasons deems them unworthy and destroys them.
In The Crucibe of god,he is not awakened and also destroys his followers,again for unclear reasons.

It's interesting as we actually have more on Set than any other Antediluvian in terms of personality due to the original 1st Edition Mummy book and Set's write-up in Kemintiri's write-up.

In them he's kind of a meathead.

[Nicolas Milioni]

It's interesting as we actually have more on Set than any other Antediluvian in terms of personality due to the original 1st Edition Mummy book and Set's write-up in Kemintiri's write-up.

In them he's kind of a meathead.

I mean,the mummies were his enemy. And kemintiri does have faulty memories. I wouldn't trust them
But I'd trust set even less

[CTPhipps]

NEXT UP - RUSTED JUNGLE a.k.a GARY BY NIGHT!

[The Gentleman Gamer]

Innocence in Blood part 3 [NPC] The Ministry part 4

I'm inclined to handle all of the Ministry members in one post since they're kind of a trinity of evil. Also, I'm itching to get to RUSTED JUNGLE.

Surprise, surprise, I know.

Keisha Phelps

Synopsis: Sensual Gospel singer and temptress who seduces the righteous then punishes them.

Keisha Phelps is an interesting character that I think can best be summarized as, "halfway to becoming a proper Follower of Set but halfway to becoming a revival of the Road of Heaven" too. Melvyn Ramsay took upon Aluc's bastard childe and began her proper education with the idea of replacing God with Set. Except, Melvyn hasn't really sold Keisha on the idea of God being Set (or Satan) so she's become like a proper Setite tempting mortals to sin so she can justify feeding on them instead. Which is really the exact OPPOSITE of the Followers of Set's goals even its similar in methodology.

Keisha looks like a Setite being beautiful, seductive, sinful, and dangerous. Probably carries a python around her neck at times too. However, she's really got a very strong and screwed up faith that is incompatible with proper Church of Set dogma. I'm inclined to think that she could EASILY be recruited into the Church of Caine at this point and maybe even the Church of Mithras before becoming a proper orthodox Setite. As is, she's going to probably VERY slowly journey to wightdom as is. I really love this character, she's got oodles of atmosphere and seems like she'd be incredibly fun to play. A little Aaliyah's Akasha in tude and that's not a bad thing at all.

Tyrone "Coach" Soros

Synopsis: Ex-football player turned life coach that believes God is Set as well as vice versa.

I have an interesting take on Tyrone Soros and that's that he's what happens when you embrace someone perfectly normal and try to shove them into something as counter-intuitive, if not outright batshit, as the Ministry. He's a guy struggling to make sense of an impossible situation and the mumbo-jumbo he spouts is basically because he doesn't really have any answers but is parroting what he's heard. I find the fact that he has Humanity 7 to be very interesting and having survived 20 years as a vampire, I'm inclined to think that he's largely gone out of his way to hurt anyone as well as keeps to a mostly Judeao-Christian worldview.

Basically, my theory is that Tyrone pretty much is the rare case of a "Iip service" Ministry member. He accepts the view of Set being God, the Aeons are all evil, and so on but has pretty much changed absolutely none of his behavior. Someone who pretty much went with the flow and doesn't really even understand the implications of Setite orthodoxy. It's not that he's stupid, it's just the fact that his mindset remains distressingly human. It's probably what allows him to actually fall in love with Marion Davies in a non-horrifying, non-possessive, non-evil manner.
Melvyn apparently didn't have ANY time to really indoctrinate him. It's an interesting take for a Setite that he's all for the group but probably is teaching things like, "Don't kill" and "Set is good!" versus "Set is evil and evil is good!"

He's really like, THE WORST, for the Ministry and would be very much better off getting the hell away with his girlfriend.

Kudos also for making his haven the local YMCA.

Reggie Montgomery

Synopsis: A survivalist cult member who has since killed her master.

Reggie is a character that doesn't actually make an appearance in LET THE STREETS RUN RED and you have to consult the newly-released CHILDREN OF THE BLOOD to get her write-up. Which is a shame because she's kind of central to this story. It might have been a better idea to have a ghoul of Keisha's to do the blackmailing while she's the mastermind of it all because, as is, Reggie is kind of a character we know nothing about. It might make Keisha a bit more Machiavellian and corrupt but it makes the adventure complete versus missing a few pieces. As such, Reggie is a minor character with no personality other than they REALLY want to recruit Honor.

Reggie WITH Children of Blood is an interesting third member to this triumvirate as she's also not into the Followers of Set's traditional dogma but a fanatical apocalypse prepper. The End of the World is coming and she's determined to survive it with her closest nearest and dearest. If she has to blackmail, murder, and bribe to do it then that is what she's going to do. Given Gehenna almost happened 20 years earlier and may be happening now, it's easy to understand this mindset.

Interestingly, her attitude may actually mean that she thinks she's doing a favor blackmailing Honor as a way to scare her into coming to Indianapolis. It's certainly "tough love" to burn all her bridges in Milwaukee but it's understandable if she thinks that she needed to be the one to push her out of Mark's smothering "care." I do think having these two have a romantic relationship adds an interesting layer to things. I would suggest to put Reggie in Tessa's place at the lesbian bar and have her be the ones to inform the player characters of her location. Not because she's betraying Honor but because she wants to get the PCs to have a chance of surviving the apocalypse too.

Which will only happen in Indianapolis, City of Faith.

Freddie (not Reggie) does get a micro write-up in LtSRR, but yes, she's reserved for a full bio in CotB. She was a late addition to that book, who I juggled with Djedfre when it came to Ministry inclusion. Djedfre may appear again elsewhere.

[CTPhipps]

Freddie (not Reggie) does get a micro write-up in LtSRR, but yes, she's reserved for a full bio in CotB. She was a late addition to that book, who I juggled with Djedfre when it came to Ministry inclusion. Djedfre may appear again elsewhere.

I really need to double check these things because I am terrible with names, like when I called Decker 'Matt" for years. Thanks for the correction!

And in honor being named Fred, I choose a young Amy Acker for Freddie.

Who would suspect her of EVIL?



Edit:

Oh, The Gentleman Gamer, I would like to thank Onyx Path Publishing for something I've noticed across CHICAGO BY NIGHT 5th Edition and CULTS OF THE BLOOD GODS with its supplements. I really like how you are taking the time to make little connections between them all like the Night's Cross, Freddie Montogomery, and other characters. These sorts of litlte tidbits being gradually filled in really tickles both my inner lore geek as well as my players who love making these sorts of jigsaw puzzle-esque connections.

[CTPhipps]

Introduction to Gary



As people will note by the fact I did a WIR of Forged in Steel, I'm a huge fan of Gary. This is partially nostalgia because it's where I cut my teeth on as a Vampire: The Masquerade player. The write-up for the city by Mark Rein Hagen was a place that gave a very bare bones but not inaccurate description of the Anarchs, Camarilla, and various other factions that would go on to define Vampire: The Masquerade.

Baptism by Fire was a adventure that was unlike any other at that point because the entirety of it consisted of talking. There was no combat, save possibly a fight with Sullivan Dane that should have been avoided at all costs, and had a moment where Modius will attempt to send his childe to seduce one of the players in hopes of getting them 2/3rds the way to a Blood Bond. It was really Act I of Ashes to Ashes but that wasn't published yet and it would be something like a decade until I got my hands on that book.

It's hard to say how important Gary, Indiana was to my games because the characters hold a special place in my heart due to being ones that have returned many times in my games. Modius is a bit like Elminster, Drizzt Do'Urden, Strahd, or others in that they are characters that have grown with me tabletop wise. Just as many people have their intense love of comic book characters, so is the Gary group something of "my" favorite ones.

Stories that are from Gary, Indiana at my table include:

* My inexperience as a ST being shown when I had no idea how to deal with a player saying he was shooting him in the face during a conversation with a hidden sawed off shotgun at point blank range.
* Modius killing one of my characters during a prelude with a jerkish gamemaster.
* Modius buying Black Dog games and hosting Satanic LARPs to try to make deals with demons.
* Juggler's massive party at the Succubus Club that involved music, glitter, and RL props that my players still cite.
* The players slow realization that the Anarchs under Juggler were actually all agents of the Camarilla due to his being a Elder catspaw (comparing it to Command and Conquer).
* A player loving Allicia's character so much that they asked to run her as a PC.

I liked when the city was revisited in Dust to Dust but was somewhat saddened it lacked the characters of Allicia and Evelyn among others. I also note that the adventure was a trifle...silly, involving a zombie movie and a plot to DESTROY GARY AND RAISE IT AS AN UNDEAD CITY! Which is a bit out there even for vampire (a gameline with an enormous city-sized flesh shoggoth under NYC).

But I was REALLY entertained by the Convention adventure Rusted Veins which I am saddened is not available as a actual supplement online. It was an adventure where Modius is attempting to buy a human being with special blood that bestows Obfuscate-like powers to escape the Second Inquisition. The PCs must decide whether to let him have a literal slave, possibly in exchange for Gary, or to turn him over to Sullivan Dane in a betrayal of their kind to a Hunter. I especially loved the pregenerated PCs of this game and regret that they're not easily available either. They actually get write-ups in [b]The Sacrifice[b], though in a cute little homage.

In any case, I was VERY annoying during the Kickstarter at the prospect of a Gary update and am going to undoubtedly be so again during my review here.

[CTPhipps]

Innocence in Blood part 3 [NPC] Dawn Nakada part 5



Type: NPC

Synopsis: A survivor of the Japanese internment turned into a Justicar's pet enforcer.

Analysis: Whoops, I almost forgot this part of the book. I also need to do the analysis of Innocence in Blood. I suppose I got a little excited at the prospect of finally getting to the Gary bits because GARY. GARY, GARY, GARY. *Ahem*

Dawn is a great character with a tragic true-to-life backstory of racism, systemic exploitation, and sexual assault handled in a tasteful way. A character from Clanbook: Malkavian Revised she's been updated well even if I'm not sure what her Derangement is. Given the way she immediately jumps to "murder Honor despite how bad an idea this is" I'm inclined to think it relates to her own trauma of the camps that means she becomes irrational at things about what reminds her of her tragedy.

Part of what I like about 5th Edition is divorced of the "have to be related to real life mental illnesses", the Malkavians now have a whole bunch of other wild and unusual traits that can substitute for their derangement. If you want a Malkavian who is pathologically forced to speak in Shakespearian verse, it's probably not good for personal horror but is fine for Malkavians because they don't have to correspond to RL mental illness. Something akin to PTSD but not actually PTSD seems appropriate here.

[Edit: It's actually "disassociative blood spending" according to her Wiki page but I didn't notice that on her LTSRR sheet]

I think Dawn is a good example of using a RL tragedy without getting too exploitative or sensational about what happened about it. It lists the events happened, makes it clear that they were the result of awful human beings, and shows the long term effect of it on the character's psyche. George Takei, a survivor of the Japanese internment camps, helped make his own horror series about it called THE TERROR: INFAMY that I feel is a good way of bringing attention to events despite its fictionalized context.

Dawn is a bit unnecessary for a more intimate story of Mark Decker, his childer, and the Ministry luring them away. You could replace her with Julia Calvin and give her the motivation of wanting to eliminate Honor out of jealousy or a misguided attempt to protect Decker. However, I think that Dawn adds another dimension to the chase fo Honor. The Camarilla authority is now against saving her and if the PCs want to help Decker or Honor, they run the risk of bringing down the wrath of the vampire Feds. However, she's "just" an Archon and not a politically powerful one so its possible they can get away with opposing her as this "busy work" imposed on her rather than an actual threat to the Camarilla she cares about.

An interesting angle to explore is the fact that Dawn is a remnant of when the Camarilla had vast power over Federal agencies and local law enforcement before the Second Inquisition rolled around. So you can definitely play with the idea that Hunters are after Honor Mercer rather than the Camarilla. You can also theoretically have Dawn have unknowingly compromised herself by her actions too. She could be unwittingly tagged and the Camarilla would never know it because they think they're the ones pulling the strings.

Roleplaying Hints: I think that Dawn should actually be an aversion of most psychotic Camarilla agents. If not warm and personable then put-upon and friendly with an overworked persona. It's just that her train of "logic" is not very good: 1. Decker has lost his child and that distracts him from his duties. 2. Honor is a Masquerade breach waiting to happen. 3. This is probably a plot by someone but I don't have time to investigate. 4. Kill most people involved.

Possible Fates:

* Depending on how much bang you want for an adventure, you could have Decker show up personally (having tracked the PCs to Indianapolis) and then confront her about trying to kill Honor and end up killing her. The event will either drive him to wightdom or for the PCs to kill him, leaving Honor or Milwaukee free.

* Dawn could end up being the one to kill Decker with her bonded law enforcement agents and then need the PCs to hush it all up for her.

* Dawn could simply be convinced of the plot by the PCs doing the heavy lifting for her and take down Freddie Montgomery.

[CTPhipps]

Innocence in Blood part 4 [Analysis]

Type: Review

Analysis: Overall, I like Innocence in Blood a great deal but I also think that the story doesn't initially have much of a way to get the player characters' attention. They need a stronger motivation to go after Honor than the book presents and that probably should be done with Mark Decker rather than Keisha Phelps even if the player characters are Anarchs.

My suggestions for rectifying that is to give Mark something the PCs care about, vitl information for their cause, to give them or hostages that they're trying to get free. As mentioned, in my game I had the PCs have Mark know the person who hired Assamite assassins against them as well as an NPC they liked as a hostage (Lily from Bloodlines in this case). It provided a sense of urgency and pressure for them to betray Honor too.

I think that Freddie Montgomery isn't a strictly necessary character in the story as her role can be handled by Keisha Phelps. However, if you do have Children of the Blood then she could be an interesting addition to the story. I really do think that Freddie attempting to manipulate her by being her girlfriend/rescuer by driving her to the Ministry is an interesting angle to pursue as well. I just like adding romance to vampire stories. What can I say?

Dawn Nakada adds a bit of a looming Sword of Damocles to the events even as her desire to "save" Honor by killing her is something that I think is worth checking out. She's a bit removed from the events but also escalates things as the PCs suddenly have Feds and Camarilla authority involved in what should already be a personable matter.

Eletria is a contact that the PCs can make but I don't see her becoming too involved in events or possibly Marion Davies (who I will cover in the NPC section). It's interesting enough to just have the players meet a Methuselah hanging out and chilling. If Honor had ANY artistic talents, she might have someone who could actually protect her but that's not happening.

Oddly, another possible ending is the PCs inspire her to be more proactive. If they're Camarilla loyalists, Indianapolis could become a Camarilla domain instantly as she'd just declare Praxis and everyone would go along. Even then she'd be underachieving because Indianapolis. Hilariously, I also could see her just casually sitting there with the PCs and telling them the secret of Helena, Menele, and everyone else in her bar that are vital mind-altering secrets in Chicago. Because there's nothing Helena can do to stop it.

I've mentioned I think this ending should probably be a tragedy and that Honor should end up meeting the Final Death or being broken by Mark. That's just my tastes, though. The Jyhad is an unforgiving game and Honor is not playing it, just reacting to it. Even if she survives, the Ministry will destroy who she is and she's not really helping Mark maintain his humanity.

Overall, aside from the fact that this is a story that requires you to CARE about Honor to really work, I think it's a very solid piece of writing and might be my favorite of the four Chronicles. The really best part of it, though, isn't the adventure at all but the fact you have two decent city write-ups that you can run a campaign off of. There's probably not going to be any more By Night books like Chicago but I'd love to see the Chronicle Books used to update older settings like Berlin, Washington D.C., and LA (though LA by Night is already handling that).

A+ work.

AND NOW we can go onto Gary.

[Justycar]

In my opinion, Innocence in Blood is the best chronicle of the four. It is the one who draws a complex moral dilema with no easy answers. And it digs in the dirty aspects of the main sects, the Camarilla and the Anarchs. Furthermore, it is an interesting update of Milwaukee and the description of a new domain, Indianapolis. Even as much I disliked the first Milwaukee by night, I have enjoyed this chronicle and this setting. It needed this update.

[CTPhipps]

In my opinion, Innocence in Blood is the best chronicle of the four. It is the one who draws a complex moral dilema with no easy answers. And it digs in the dirty aspects of the main sects, the Camarilla and the Anarchs. Furthermore, it is an interesting update of Milwaukee and the description of a new domain, Indianapolis. Even as much I disliked the first Milwaukee by night, I have enjoyed this chronicle and this setting. It needed this update.

Agreed.

I think even divorced from Honor that the updated Milwaukee is more interesting and presents its own moral dilemma.

Mark Decker is a tyrant and a murderer of vampires.

Mark Decker's actions make it much nicer for the humans of Milwaukee.

Which is more important to your Kindred?

[Grumpy RPG Reviews]

It makes me want to play a Salubri, who would be pro-Decker. And keep that entire Salubri thing a secret.

[CTPhipps]

Rusted Jungle part 1 [Overview]



Type: Chronicle

Synopsis: A series of attacks rocks Chicago before the Anarch as well as Camarilla leaders send the PCs to investigate.

Analysis: Rusted Jungle is fundamentally a straight up turf war story with the conflict being about how Eric Sharp and his Vanguard are being faced up against Evelyn Stephens and her Anarch brethren. There's hints of Maxwell's involvement that the player characters are allowed to investigate but ultimately will be resolved by the former Prince of Chicago directly confronting them.

Much of the game is a game of cat and mouse where the player characters are forced to infiltrate either the Vanguard or Gary Anarchs on behalf of their side. I think this doesn't quite work as well as it should as while there's a lot of potential tension if your characters are either strongly Anarch or strongly Camarilla, it loses a bit of its punch if they're not explicitly interested in having one side triumph over the other. Indeed, there's a LOT I love about this part of the book but I think the adventure lacks some punch both emotional and dramatic. I admit this is probably due to the fact that I'm a big fan of cinematic horror and my stories tend to be a lot more like movies than the dark creeping dread or personal horror of 1st Edition. So, my suggestions for how to make the conflict more dramatic will not necessarily go over with everyone.

(Translation: I am going to make a LOT of suggestions to change a relatively low-key adventure into one that can serve as the climax to the four Chronicles)

I also feel like the game's ending lacks narrative punch given it's literally resolved with Maxwell offering the players a job and then getting a letter from Sullivan Dane. Since the last we heard of Sullivan Dane was that he was going into Elysium as a suicide bomber, I'm very pleased about this but I do think its entirely possible the game would end with a minimum amount of drama and I think that could be better.

Really, my favorite part of this book is actually the update for Gary, Indiana history wise as it gives us a nice timeline that stretches from Baptism of Fire to Dust to Dust to the present. Gary is not a city you would THINK would be interesting to play in but I've actually used in multiple ways and this book provides a lot of interesting twists and turns for. I actually think its status quo is something that could be used for and has been used for many times as the basis of solid campaigns. Whether during the time of the highest levels of the feud between Modius and Juggler (which seems like a great time as Sullivan Dane is also picking off vampires) or the aftermath, there's a lot of great schemes going on here.

I also am hugely fond of the fact the book does give updates on the various Gary Kindred. Modius and Juggler both. We'll cover that in the Gary by Night section.

So we'll be handling this section a little differently with:

* The updates to Gary from 1st Edition to 5th.
* Discussion of the updated characters.
* A discussion of the actual adventure.
* Ways to improve the adventure.
* NPCs [along with some commentary since I contributed some ideas to this section--ones heavily improved by the writers]
* Suggestions for additional Gary adventure hooks
And other excuses for me to talk about the city.

[CTPhipps]

Is Gary, Indiana actually that bad? [for Kindred at least]



One of the funny things I'd like to note before getting into Gary by Night is the fact that Gary is actually a pretty good territory for a vampire. The city itself has stabilized a bit, accent on a bit, but it's something that is kind of weird to note that I never think vampires would consider the city to be a bad place to live to begin with.

The book successfully brings up the fact that Gary has a small police force, homeless problem, and a history of violence. It's a also a place with I-90 going directly through it to Chicago and a large transient population of people who momentarily stop in Gary before moving on. As a friend who lives nearby said, "Gary is the perfect place for a bunch of Kindred to invest in strip clubs, video gambling, fast food, and gas stations." Whether it's a good idea to crap on an RL city or not, at least if you're not from it, the WOD version is undoubtedly every bad stereotype of Gary put together. It also reminds me of my decaying Rust Belt steel hometown.

In simple terms, Gary is actually prime feeding territory if you're a vampire. In virtually every other city, vampires have to plan extensively their nights around feeding while the undead pretty much can just walk up, grab someone, drink, and erase without any real worries. This was actually noted by Juggler in Dust to Dust but I think a lot of vampires would have it as a decent place to live themselves.

Perhaps a bigger issue is the fact that it doesn't have the kind of population to sustain much in the way of a vampire population (76K as of 2020) but there's a certain level of artificiality to the size of cities and how they are cordoned off to. It is seventeen minutes to Hammond, Indiana, which has roughly the exact same population (86K) as Gary, Indiana and the distance there is pretty much just houses and highway anyway. Nothing is stopping Modius, Juggler, Evelyn, or even Maxwell from simply consolidating the surrounding small cities into one larger domain.

Except, of course, that it eventually reaches East Chicago (26K). Which is hilariously about a third the size of Gary, Indiana so it being the headquarters of the Anarch Center kind of makes them look like the exiles as well as buffoons. It's also a 33 minute drive from Gary to Chicago and 31 to East Chicago to Chicago. So, it's not even like East Chicago is closer to its city namesake. Since it's about a 15 drive from East Chicago to Gary, you might argue that Anita Wainwright should annex it and Hammond instead as the new Anarch domain.

But I suppose that would be admitting defeat.

All I'm saying, though, is that maybe the Anarchs in Gary have a better position than they think.

[CTPhipps]

Rusted Jungle part 2 [Events] Gary by Night

Type: By Night

Analysis: Gary is an interesting city that has gone through multiple changes since it's original depiction in Forged in Steel. The original depiction by MRH seems to have been the "starter area" ala World of Warcraft's Stormwind. You are meant to wander around Gary for awhile and then eventually move to Chicago. Which, of course, required you to purchase Chicago by Night, 1st Edition. I find that to be smart business strategy even if it annoyed other people.

I don't see any problem with actually continuing to adventure in Gary for a full campaign, though, because there's plenty to do there. Admittedly, the adventures there would be low-key versus 2nd Edition but the original Chronicle suggests:

* Help Allicia escape from Modius
* Stop a bunch of slavers
* Protect Michael and the Masquerade both or choose one.
* Deal with Sullivan Dane
* Deal with Evelyn Stephens, Gregory Stephens, and Juggler
* Deal with the many mortal issues of Gary like poverty, violence, homelessness, and the decay of the city.

There's certainly plenty of stuff to deal with. It's also a very grounded setting that you should probably make mortal NPCs to deal with. It is the quintessential 1st Edition setting, really, even if there was a relatively small amount of stuff written about it.

Dust to Dust essentially wrote Gary, Indiana off as a functioning city the statement that Juggler and Modius were the ONLY Kindred in the city. I don't really think of it much as an update so much as a epilogue to the struggle of Juggler and Modius. The game basically ends with the idea the players should abandon Juggler and Modius to Gary. I actually think this is a dumb idea because I have a very different idea about Gary's importance (more on that later).

Rusted Veins updated Gary even more so and is probably what I think of as the "best" write-up for the city. I actually have the original Playtest PDF and know where to download it but I don't know if it's something that Paradox would want shared. Better to ere on the side of caution. Still, I am going to say it was a fantastic adventure and the depiction of Gary within it was really well done as well.

The version of Gary in RV is a war zone with Modius and Juggler having somehow both managed to get significant numbers of followers. This is a very exciting version and gives both of the two vampire Lords a bit of respect. One thing I've always felt is Modius was meant to be a joke but not a very FUNNY one if you happened to be crushed under his boot. After all, a 200 year old vampire is a 200 year old vampire.

The current version of Gary is one where the war was officially "won" with the defeat of Modius by Juggler and seeming peace after the Anarch victory. However, Juggler has since disappeared himself and a new Camarilla leader has arrived. In a way it remains a mirror with both being more competant than their predecessors but making the same mistakes as before. The opening of the chapter is told by a vampire named Bricks who along with Danov provides the rough history of Gary over the past couple of decades. I like Bricks and I hope he's given a full write-up in a future book.

Updated NPCs

* Modius: Is missing, presumed dead. I like how Modius managed to screw up by feeding his fellow vampires to Sullivan Dane. It's kind of hilarious that the original Camarilla Prince made the same mistake that the Camarilla did by trying to use the Second Inquisition. Right now, he's staked and serving as Maxwell's coffee table.

* Allicia: Switched her allegiance to being an Anarch and is now serving as Evelyn Stephen's second in command. I've always liked this character and am interested in seeing whether she'll continue to go up the ranks of the Anarchs or if she's too Toreador/old/out of touch to do so.

* Juggler:Also missing, presumed dead. I think Juggler is a character who gets treated a good deal more sympathetically than Modius himself in this book. At least in the context that Evelyn Stephens is following his legacy rather than rebelling against it.

* Evelyn Stephens: Evelyn has taken over the city of Gary's Anarchs and is trying to do some good by enforcing peace with the local gangs. Her brother is police comissioner and a vampire hunter. This is curiously underdeveloped but it's nice to see the Baron of Gary be a woman of color.

* Lucian: Lucian is more or less stated to have been Beckoned, going "East" by Danov. Even at 8th generation, he's a 2000 year old Methuselah so that makes sense. The rules of Blood Potency/5 dot Limit would have meant the difference between him and someone like Helena or Menele were far smaller too.

* Danov: Danov apparently leaves Gary after the events of this book, according to him, forever.

* Michael: Michael is not mentioned in the book but, strangely, a vampire named "Charlie" that seems to have every single trait of Michael at least in being a Malkavian with a child-like mentality living in Gary. I wonder if they're meant to be the same vampire.

* Gregory Stephens: Now the commissioner of Gary's police department. Which is awesome but he was actually a CHICAGO PD homicide detective. Presumably he transferred at some point to look after his hometown.

* William Shepard: Not mentioned, which is a shame. I hope he shows up in the Second Inquisition book.

* Sullivan Dane: We get three names for the Kindred that Dane killed: Zakariah. Travers. Eloise. I feel kind of weird for saying so but I wish we had some more information on them because it'd be interesting to see what sort of people they were or if he was being indiscriminate.

Is Charlie meant to be a different character, The Gentleman Gamer?