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Vampire: The Masquerade Clanbooks
Clanbook: Ravnos Revised
The End Is the Beginning Is the End
Long held in ill regard by other Kindred, the Deceivers nonetheless claim one of the oldest legacies of all the race of Caine. A young, vibrant clan, the Ravnos adapt, making the most of a hostile world and turning it to their advantage as best they can. To that end, was their near-total annihilation a Biblical punishment or a rebirth from the ashes of the impending Gehenna?
Blasphemies and Debasement
As the next entry in the revised lineup of clanbooks, Ravnos takes one of the classic Vampire sourcebooks and brings it into a modern context. All-new information accompanies revised material, inviting you to add as much depth to your character as you like. The sheer volume of information contained in the new clanbooks (each with 32 more pages than the first-edition books) permits Storytellers to round out their chronicles.
Long held in ill regard by other Kindred, the Deceivers nonetheless claim one of the oldest legacies of all the race of Caine. A young, vibrant clan, the Ravnos adapt, making the most of a hostile world and turning it to their advantage as best they can. To that end, was their near-total annihilation a Biblical punishment or a rebirth from the ashes of the impending Gehenna?
Blasphemies and Debasement
As the next entry in the revised lineup of clanbooks, Ravnos takes one of the classic Vampire sourcebooks and brings it into a modern context. All-new information accompanies revised material, inviting you to add as much depth to your character as you like. The sheer volume of information contained in the new clanbooks (each with 32 more pages than the first-edition books) permits Storytellers to round out their chronicles.
100 pages, Paperback
First published May 14, 2001
53 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 29, 2018
This was the Clanbook I was most worried about reading because the Ravnos had the most work needed to make them acceptable. Originally, they were literally the thieving G***y Clan with the power of D&D illusions based on a brief scene in Lost Boys. Even in a game with fleshwarping monster vampires or three-eyed suicide messiahs, they were weird and out of place. So how could they possibly be given a more grounded place in the world?
Well, they pulled it off. Clanbook: Ravnos Revised lays out the Clan's history as the vampires of the Indian subcontinent, either because the Ravnos founder went east with Saulot seeking redemption after Caine cursed the Clans, or because they were created by the gods after the fall of the 万仙 to oppose the 鬼人, as is written in the Karavalanisha Vrana. Chimerstry is thus not D&D illusions, it is the power to manipulate maya due to an understanding that perceptible reality is an illusion. The Ravnos developed (or more probably, emulated) a caste system and devoted their existence to fighting the asuratizayya, as they called the 鬼人. Over time, many Ravnos went west because they disagreed with an existence that was Only War or because being at the bottom of the social order for eternity was not appealing, so there were Ravnos in Europe during the Classical period. But since so many Ravnos came with the Roma during their travels, the Ravnos were associated with them afterwards in most vampires' minds.
The Ravnos's Clan weakness is to commit crimes, but this just means defying established rules. Some Ravnos steal and some murder, but there's one example Ravnos who's predilection toward vice is defying authority, with an example given of sheltering a Caitiff under a blood hunt, and another one who compulsively commits plagarism. This is still obviously disruptive and inconvenient, but not obviously immoral. There's no reason all Ravnos have to be monsters even if some feel an overpowering urge to murder.
There's also one bit of metaplot-relevant commentary in one of the character archetypes that I really liked. The Sabbat Heretic, who after the Week of Nightmares starts asking questions and realizes that nothing like the widespread madness that struck the Ravnos ever happened to the Lasombra and the Tzimisce. That being the case, they must be lying, their Antediluvians must still be alive, and the Ravnos Antitribu should be in charge of the Sabbat because they are the only Clan who provably does not have an Antediluvian progenitor remaining.
With that said, there's one part that stuck out to me because it was so wrong-headed. When talking about the reputation of the Roma, the book suggests that they got their bad reputation because of the Ravnos in their midst. I find that insulting, since it's saying that the prejudice against the Roma is justified, just that it was very slightly misaimed. It'd be like publishing a book with a bloodline of Jewish vampires--lets call them the Shedim--who kidnapped Christians to drink their blood because they didn't want to prey on fellow Jews, and therefore the blood libel was factual, it's just that it only applied to vampires. That's not an improvement and there was no reason to include it. The fact that there's also text about how a lot of Roma aren't happy about having blood-drinking monsters in their midst doesn't help.
Fortunately, while that was a surprise to see, it's really the only bad note in the book. Much to my surprise, Clanbook: Ravnos Revised somehow manages to rehabilitate the Clan that was chosen for the axe in Time of Thin Blood because they were so problematic. Essential reading to actually playing a Ravnos.
Well, they pulled it off. Clanbook: Ravnos Revised lays out the Clan's history as the vampires of the Indian subcontinent, either because the Ravnos founder went east with Saulot seeking redemption after Caine cursed the Clans, or because they were created by the gods after the fall of the 万仙 to oppose the 鬼人, as is written in the Karavalanisha Vrana. Chimerstry is thus not D&D illusions, it is the power to manipulate maya due to an understanding that perceptible reality is an illusion. The Ravnos developed (or more probably, emulated) a caste system and devoted their existence to fighting the asuratizayya, as they called the 鬼人. Over time, many Ravnos went west because they disagreed with an existence that was Only War or because being at the bottom of the social order for eternity was not appealing, so there were Ravnos in Europe during the Classical period. But since so many Ravnos came with the Roma during their travels, the Ravnos were associated with them afterwards in most vampires' minds.
The Ravnos's Clan weakness is to commit crimes, but this just means defying established rules. Some Ravnos steal and some murder, but there's one example Ravnos who's predilection toward vice is defying authority, with an example given of sheltering a Caitiff under a blood hunt, and another one who compulsively commits plagarism. This is still obviously disruptive and inconvenient, but not obviously immoral. There's no reason all Ravnos have to be monsters even if some feel an overpowering urge to murder.
There's also one bit of metaplot-relevant commentary in one of the character archetypes that I really liked. The Sabbat Heretic, who after the Week of Nightmares starts asking questions and realizes that nothing like the widespread madness that struck the Ravnos ever happened to the Lasombra and the Tzimisce. That being the case, they must be lying, their Antediluvians must still be alive, and the Ravnos Antitribu should be in charge of the Sabbat because they are the only Clan who provably does not have an Antediluvian progenitor remaining.
With that said, there's one part that stuck out to me because it was so wrong-headed. When talking about the reputation of the Roma, the book suggests that they got their bad reputation because of the Ravnos in their midst. I find that insulting, since it's saying that the prejudice against the Roma is justified, just that it was very slightly misaimed. It'd be like publishing a book with a bloodline of Jewish vampires--lets call them the Shedim--who kidnapped Christians to drink their blood because they didn't want to prey on fellow Jews, and therefore the blood libel was factual, it's just that it only applied to vampires. That's not an improvement and there was no reason to include it. The fact that there's also text about how a lot of Roma aren't happy about having blood-drinking monsters in their midst doesn't help.
Fortunately, while that was a surprise to see, it's really the only bad note in the book. Much to my surprise, Clanbook: Ravnos Revised somehow manages to rehabilitate the Clan that was chosen for the axe in Time of Thin Blood because they were so problematic. Essential reading to actually playing a Ravnos.
December 23, 2018
Yeah… another book that wasn’t memorable. After all this time I mostly remember that it did delve into gypsy stereotypes and made the Ravnos Indian in origin but that is kind of it. For the rest I needed my notes to get my memory going at least a little bit. When reading it I was apparently thinking that in the first quarter the most interesting element was how the war of the Ravnos against the Kue-Jin is interpreted as a war between Cainites instead of two different species of vampires. Especially considered how the text itself states that the ones that Gwen suspected to be Gangrel cannot make other vampires and are not described to have animal features (the latter is the Gangrel trait).
What I still can remember is that not only does this still have several gypsy stereotypes but its portrayal of the Romani Holocaust is garbage. Such garbage that I thought I would need to address it in my review. However, I have troubles remembering it. I am pretty sure it was the old “it never really affected them until suddenly it did”, which is garbage for the reason alone that the death squads started shooting “gypsies” the moment the invasion of the Soviet Union began.
And, better than with the first version of this clan, they do say that Rroma Ravnos may not have a good relationship with their Rroma families and many have been killed by the humans because they did not want to see any more family killed, but if the norms of Sinti are anything to go by for all Rromani, then they probably would kill a vampire outright because anything that has to do with death and (at least human) blood is considered impure by them by default, even midwives and doctors.
While there is some effort here to make the whole Ravnos and gypsies thing work, it cannot be denied in my mind that the makers still thought in stereotypes as they have the European Ravnos that are Rroma travel with Rroma with no mentioning of sedentary Rroma or the Rroma slums, which would make for better haven for a Ravnos if you ask me. And they do know a deal about actual Rroma customs and lifestyles, they chose to follow stereotypes. Or otherwise they would have at least some Ravnos reside among those few Rroma families who got rich via crime and don't give a shit to help those in the slums around them.
The character templates towards the end of the book weren’t any good either. Of course the grandparents of the only Rroma vampire died in Nazi death camps, why would it be any different with the only Rroma character here…. it's not as if any "gypsies" already came to America in the 19th century or immigrated from regions the Porajmos never reached.
The Sabbat heretic was the only actually interesting character template in this. And the Thuggee made me realize that despite all the talk of Indian origin this here seems to be pretty damn US-American.
So in the end, the book is pretty non-descript in positive ways and slightly annoying in the negative department.
What I still can remember is that not only does this still have several gypsy stereotypes but its portrayal of the Romani Holocaust is garbage. Such garbage that I thought I would need to address it in my review. However, I have troubles remembering it. I am pretty sure it was the old “it never really affected them until suddenly it did”, which is garbage for the reason alone that the death squads started shooting “gypsies” the moment the invasion of the Soviet Union began.
And, better than with the first version of this clan, they do say that Rroma Ravnos may not have a good relationship with their Rroma families and many have been killed by the humans because they did not want to see any more family killed, but if the norms of Sinti are anything to go by for all Rromani, then they probably would kill a vampire outright because anything that has to do with death and (at least human) blood is considered impure by them by default, even midwives and doctors.
While there is some effort here to make the whole Ravnos and gypsies thing work, it cannot be denied in my mind that the makers still thought in stereotypes as they have the European Ravnos that are Rroma travel with Rroma with no mentioning of sedentary Rroma or the Rroma slums, which would make for better haven for a Ravnos if you ask me. And they do know a deal about actual Rroma customs and lifestyles, they chose to follow stereotypes. Or otherwise they would have at least some Ravnos reside among those few Rroma families who got rich via crime and don't give a shit to help those in the slums around them.
The character templates towards the end of the book weren’t any good either. Of course the grandparents of the only Rroma vampire died in Nazi death camps, why would it be any different with the only Rroma character here…. it's not as if any "gypsies" already came to America in the 19th century or immigrated from regions the Porajmos never reached.
The Sabbat heretic was the only actually interesting character template in this. And the Thuggee made me realize that despite all the talk of Indian origin this here seems to be pretty damn US-American.
So in the end, the book is pretty non-descript in positive ways and slightly annoying in the negative department.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews