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This
massive hardcover clocks in at 372 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page inside of
front cover, 2 pages of editorial/backer-lists, 4 pages detailed ToC, 1 page
inside of back cover, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 362 (!!!) pages of raw
content, so let's take a look!
This book
was moved up in my review-queue due to me receiving a print copy in exchange
for a critical, unbiased review.
So, what is
this book? Well, first of all, this is the companion tome to the Dracula Unredacted-tome, which is perhaps the most detailed, massive handout ever
crafted for a roleplaying game. I'd like to urge you to read my review of this
book first before taking a gander at this review here, if only so we're all on
the same page. I'll wait here.
*whistles
badly*
*tries to
look inconspicuous*
Okay, back?
I know I'd be a sucky agent. Anyways, this is, in a nut-shell, the Director's
book for the campaign. Surprise. If you were btw. thinking how you, as a GM,
can keep tabs of the intentional inconsistencies, vaguenesses and hooks
contained in the glorious tome called Dracula Unredacted...well, remember me
mentioning the numbers in the review of Dracula Unredacted? You have an index
of those here, one that supplement the massive index provided for this book and
helps you stay one step ahead of the players. Properly depicted workname-lists
and checklists further enhance the options of running this campaign.
Still,
structure-wise, this book very much differs from the classic
mega-adventure/AP/what-have-you-not. Why? Well, this campaign understands
itself as an improvisational campaign
-which, I can see, already has some of you roll your eyes. Well, wait a
second - basically, this book can be considered to be the single most massively
free-form campaign I have ever read...but it doesn't feel like it - at all.
What do I
mean by this? Well, the book is meticulously structured. At this point, we are
already familiar with the structuring elements of the Conspyramid and
Vampyramid as established structuring
elements in Night's Black Agents-games - but the level of detail that has been
provided herein is...well, staggering. If you take one of these and the
respective levels inside, you'll notice detailed, crunch-supported responses to
what is happening. From basic information-gathering to burning agents, the
response/assault structure of the adversaries in this book, ultimately, is
exceedingly, stunningly detailed and sensible - and yes, the stakes are high.
Wait, stakes...good note: The book does offer advice on different playstyles -
from stakes to burn and dust and mirror, different takes on the subject matter
and advice for thematic modifications can be found in this tome.
Another
simple reason why this does not feel like a typical
free-form-GM-does-all-the-work-campaign is simply the staggering level of
detail that has been provided in order to make running this massive campaign
easier on the GM: Over 60 location, over 60 NPCs, almost30 strange objects -
basically, even if you are not interested AT ALL in running a Dracula-themed campaign,
this still remains a superb toolkit for your perusal.
But all
those details don't sound very improvisational, right? Well, here a genius
element of this book comes into play. Everything, and I mean friggin'
everything, is utterly and completely customizable. The NPCs? They represent,
in many cases, archetypes - but they also are characters: The Icelandic
Diplomat, for example, is a fully developed character, with quirky mannerisms,
history, ideology - true. But there are alternate names and looks, for one.
Secondly, the entries focus on different options - generally, you get at least
3 options out of each character depicted - as an innocent, as a member of the
conspiracy and as a direct minion of Dracula - and no, these are not the same,
but more on that in the SPOILER-section, Similarly, from photos to jeweled
daggers or Báthory's journals, the artifacts and objects have multiple
iterations - they can be major items, often with rules-relevant repercussions
upon being used, less important items, fraudulent -and all has been carefully
laid out for the director's perusal.
Players
stumble over item xyz too early? Okay, so you change it on the fly to a
different iteration of its own, thus retaining control over this part of the
campaign. This attention to detail btw. also extends to organizations and
locales - from the Archdiocese of
Mechelen-Brussels to the Echipa Mortii or the al-Qaeda in Rûm, the respective
organizations can have wildly different roles from campaign to campaign and
this vast arsenal of different interpretations, ultimately, also lets you
maintain control - and easily switch-bait one iteration into another:
"While these guys have been made to look like Dracula's minions, your
painstakingly gathered intel now shows..." Similarly, the Rumanian
government's branches have undergone a treatment just as detailed - which,
alongside the locations themselves, does show one thing: Authors Kenneth Hite
and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan are history buffs and not only excel at the research
of literature and its conventions as depicted in the Dracula Unredacted book -
they also did their research here. Admirably so.
Know how
impressed I was about Dracula Unredacted making use of the Icelandic Jack the
Ripper-note? Well guess what? Their meticulously researched take on the
locations and organization and history suffuses this book. I feel obliged to
explicitly comment on this due to several facts: For one, a large part of
Night's Black Agent's appeal lies in the realism of the setting, of it being
"our" world. Particularly in research-heavy scenarios with historical
figures, there is nothing that demotivates extremely involved players that do
research in their spare time more than botching facts, dates, knowing nothing
about structure xyz -it breaks the
suspension of disbelief and is highly destructive and unpleasant when
encountered. You'll find no such instance herein - the respective locations,
with handy maps of both dilapidated oil platforms (that may be prisons or not),
cities and castles is precise and steeped deeply in real world lore - both
historic and fantastic. Living a short drive away from Munich, I know about
quite a few locales; similarly, as someone who had the chance to visit a lot of
Rumanian castles, London and Iceland, I can verify that the depiction of these
locations is downright uncanny in its presentation. I grossly, grossly
underestimated the amount of work the Dracula Dossier would require for a fair
assessment - I did research. A lot of it.
And the
intriguing component is this: These real-life locations, organizations, etc. -
they are fictional...and they are not. While the horrific threat obviously
suffuses these places, they also remain grounded in reality - it's almost to
the point at which I'd consider this book's depiction of places a form of
augmented reality. If history is a grand narrative, a conventionalized
consensus, then the accomplishment of this book lies in being almost too
feasible, like an unredacted version of the things that could be, were vampires
real. I may be too cerebral, I don't know - but to me, this vastly enhanced the
overall fear and tension while playing this book - and it enhances the sense of
immersion of the players.
More
important, should you not care (or care less) about accuracy, will be that,
even in this level of detail, the game-play elements are never lost - each
entry and locale, everything is simply chockfull with things to do, stability
to lose, traps, responses and, ultimately, fun. Have I btw. mentioned that this
modularity also extends to the very identity of Dracula and his castle? There
are multiple, thoroughly compelling candidates - which you can actually
research. Yep. Lunch-break, thinking about the week-end's campaign? Interested
in who the hell this one guy was? Research...and bam, you have meta-game and
game generate a cohesive whole. Oh, have I mentioned maps for them? There is a
second customization option for Dracula I consider very interesting -but that is, frankly, SPOILER-material and
will feature in that section of the review.
But
perhaps, just perhaps, all of these tools, all of these details, in spite of
the thorough indexing and massive amount of ideas, still feels like it's not
enough to you. Perhaps, you want to have a bit more handholding, a skeleton to put your plot-meat on, if you
will? Well, fret notes - beyond the spines depicting how to craft a scenario
from Dracula Unredacted annotations, the book also offers alternate ends,
campaign frames (think of them as massive templates for the campaign) and an
exceedingly-detailed looking glass chapter on Bucharest....but this is where
I'm at an end regarding the SPOILER-free territory - I'll now go into the nit
and grit of this tome.
Highly
classified! Agents reading further will get BURNED and lose all stability!
Agents should, at any cost, refrain from reading on and instead jump to the
conclusion. Only Directors are classified to read further. CLASSIFIED. SPOILERS
ABOUND.
...
..
.
Okay, so
you're a director and know how to handle this precarious information. Good.
What I intentionally failed to mention above pertains to the nature of Dracula.
You may not like the idea of supernatural, classic vampires, satanic
adversaries of the like - the full book contains a massive selection of items
and story-hooks that are based on a scientific interpretation of vampirism,
tying Dracula to tellurgic energies, electromagnetism and thus manages to add a
new and evocative potential twist to the subject matter - yes, including
potentially an experimental rifle with a LONG recharge duration. More
importantly, though, this does allow you to mix and match the classic and the
unconventional ideas to create your own, unique take on Dracula and his spawn.
The book
also has a vast selection of supernatural threats that brim with creativity
and, combined with Drac's stats, make this worth it for the stats alone. But
what do we get exactly? Well, beyond the obvious Báthory (who is a capital
threat in her own right) to Lilith (an ancient vampire posing as the
goddess...) we also cover more exotic characters: - from Abhartach, the
blood-drinking dwarf of Irish myth to the Chinese Jin-Gui to Orlok, Jack the
Ripper (in a classic, interesting take) and various national vampire programs,
we also get some truly exotic beings: Alraune, a plant-like
Übermensch-experiment gone rogue or Queen Tera, the supernatural cast of
optional characters is glorious. Similarly, EDOM's forces and the cast of the
novel and their descendants in different epochs are covered.
EDOM? Yep,
for now things get VERY spoilery - basically, the central focus of the campaign
can be summed up as that this branch of MI6, which is btw. also the
"conspiracy" beyond Dracula's own, seeks to recruit vampires for
Britain as super-agents. This nefarious cabal operates in the shadows beyond
even mainstream espionage and conspiracies and thus is a lethal foe indeed -
and reading the unredacted file...well, puts the agents in danger by this force
and Dracula - pincered between two truly lethal forces. More intriguing, by the
way - the organization's handlers, potential for double-agents among the
player, organization-responses and facilities - all of these can be found within the superbly detailed
pages contained herein. Similarly, the cast of characters of Stoker's novel and
their descendants may still be around, may be working for EDOM, Dracula, both
or neither - the possibilities, literally, are almost endless and up to the
creativity of the director and the responses of the players.
Now I
mentioned alternate capstones, right? The expected one, no surprise there, is
the showdown with nigh-demi-god Dracula in his own castle. But the alternatives
are no less compelling: Whether Dracula's endgame is becoming a god by
ferreting out Zalmoxis, hijacking Russia by subduing Vladimir Putin or a
showdown in the remote caverns beyond the inhospitable, exceedingly lethal
wilderness beyond the Dracula's Mill-water fall or bringing final death at his
unique, original tomb - the capstones, once again, can be mixed and matched to
suit your individual campaign and resonate with diverse, unique ideas and
leitmotifs as well as metaphorical charges. And yes, with ample unique
challenges and even new characters, these are no mere sketches - they are distinct
and lend a unique flair to the respective finales.
I did
mention campaign frames, right? Well, the first of these allows you to run a
Mythos-version of the whole campaign, completely compatible with Trail of
Cthulhu, including a wide array of potential servants, threats and similar
mythos-themed notions - AWESOME...and yes, this means that this should be in
the library of any self-respecting ToC-keeper, complete with star-spawn and
black monoliths. The second frame would be a stakes-frame, wherein a third
faction enters the game - the Fourth Reich. Basically, here we have a less
realistic blend of Nazi-super-science, pulpy aesthetics and the Dracula myth -
including underground cities, powerful super-Nazi-bosses and the like...and
yes, emphasis on the occult or the scientific both are possible in equal
measure. Finally, the "Onto the Fourth Generation"-frame takes the
generation-spanning plot and begins with 1894, then proceeds to 1940, then 1977
and then to the present day, weaving an epic yarn that begins with players
directly involved in the incident that actually generated the Dracula-novel in
the first place. These alternatives, obviously, can be extensively scavenged by
the director to create a thoroughly unique vision of an individual campaign.
There is
one more fact: The Dracula Dossier's Director's Handbook is not simply a
free-form espionage campaign. It also has tie-ins. Particularly novice
directors that are a bit out of their league with the free-form structure of
this campaign will certainly appreciate that the book ties in with the superb
Zalozhniy Quartet campaign and, obviously, The EDOM files. Though,
unfortunately, I do not own the latter adventure-collection, I have tried the
transition from the former to the Dossier and it worked seamlessly,
smooth.
It should
also be noted that a list of recommend reading has been included for your
convenience!
Conclusion:
Editing and
formatting are top-notch - I only noticed a handful of glitches in a book of
this impressive size, making this one of the most refined books you can find.
Layout adheres to Pelgrane Press' superb 3-column full-color standard for
Night's Black Agents and the book is chockfull with awesome full-color artwork
- if there is an NPC, he or she will have a great artwork. Add to that great
establishing shots and a high art-density in general and we have a gorgeous
book. The pdf comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks, while the print
copy (which you *should* get) is a high-quality hardcover with glossy, thick
paper - a book made to last. My copy
also featured a gorgeous cardboard 1-page-sized rendition of the glorious
artwork of a potential castle of Dracula.
Kenneth
Hite and Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan, with support from Heather Albano, Paul Baldowski,
Kennon Bauman, Walt Ciechenowski, Justin Farquhar, Elsa S. Henry, Carol
Johnson, Marissa Kelly, Shoshana Kessock, Shawn Merwin, James Palmer, Nathan
Paoletta, Will Plant, Wes Schneider, Christopher Sniezak and Paul Veccione have
created a book that can only be described as a master-piece...and then, it
still doesn't doe the experience of the Dracula Dossier justice.
If you read
my reviews of Esoterrorists, Eyes of the Stone Thief or similar books, you'll
notice a tendency: Pelgrane Press is actually becoming rapidly one of my
favorite publishers. Much like these absolutely superb tomes, the Dracula
Dossier can be considered to be a book that pushes the envelope by means of its
depth, customization options and the vast, ridiculous array of unique options
herein. Suffused by truly unique ideas and historic accuracy, a humbling amount
of unique details and more material than you can shake a stick at, the Dracula
Dossier as a whole is an experience that not only ranks among my favorites in
my whole reviewer-career, it is also simply superb in just about every way. Its
careful research and level of detail, its interaction with Dracula Unredacted -
both conspire to basically render this book a nigh unprecedented experience:
The fact that Dracula Unredacted generates a real-world experience supported by
research undertaken by players enhances the immersion in unprecedented ways.
Better yet, this colossal tome's genius organization renders actually running
the campaign a feasible task, even for directors that are new to the
GUMSHOE-rules-set: The tie-ins with the Zalozhniy Quartet allow for easier,
more structured beginnings to get used to the themes of the game, while also
planting the seeds for the highly modular campaign-smörgåsbord contained within
these pages.
This book
cannot only be considered to be excellence in game-design, it is also
educational and pretty much the pinnacle of careful, deliberate and capable
research. I honestly sat down with my own copy of Dracula and compared texts. I
did research...and ended up being more impressed rather than less by the
attention to detail and care that went into this book. Note that most texts,
whether academic or otherwise, tend to elicit the opposite response from me.
This is,
pretty much, a system-seller experience unlike any other you may have
encountered during your experiences with investigative RPGs. It's, in one
sentence, a milestone for our hobby as a whole. Obviously, my rating cannot be
anything but a full 5 stars + seal of approval for this masterpiece. And yes,
this is obviously a candidate for my Top Ten of this year; in fact, it is a hot
contender for the number 1 spot! Seriously - even if you aren't interested in
Night's Black Agent's - at least get the Dracula Unredacted book...though, if
my prediction holds up, that book will make you get this Director's Handbook as
well. They are simply too good to pass up. And yes, I hope I'll be able to
review more of these absolutely superb GUMSHOE-books in the future!
You can get this superb book here on OBS!
A discounted Night's Black Agents starter kit with these legendary books can be found here!
The print of this superb tome can be found on Pelgrane Press' store here!
Endzeitgeist
out.
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