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Clanbook: Cappadocian
Dark Ages: Vampire takes you to the nights before the Camarilla, when kine truly had reason to be afraid of the dark. The vampires of this bygone age ride the dark as lords, play their games with the crowned heads of Europe, and travel to the mysterious lands of the East as they wage their ages-old war.The diablerie of saulot, the waking of Mithras, the destruction of Michael the patriarch, the return of the Dracon -- it all means the time of reflection is over. The Inquisition stirs and the time to act is now. Across Europe, monarchs of the night set princes and barons at each other's undying throats. Young vampires take to the field ready to claim their domain and become powerful lords in their own right. Blood calls to blood.
Clanbooks contain vital character information for players and Storytellers.
Clanbooks contain vital character information for players and Storytellers.
72 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
March 22, 2025
"Oh, Death..."
Giovanni is one of my three favourite clans in VtM. As I'm currently playing one, I wanted to dive into the origins of the clan, which of course were the Cappadocian *cough cough to Augustus*
Such an interesting clan! Creepy AF but also kind of...nice, I might say, in a human kind of way if that's even possible?
In any case, this tiny book helps you get to know the clan better, has lots of "default" characters with their sheets to help you create yours and all the "how to"s.
Giovanni is one of my three favourite clans in VtM. As I'm currently playing one, I wanted to dive into the origins of the clan, which of course were the Cappadocian *cough cough to Augustus*
Such an interesting clan! Creepy AF but also kind of...nice, I might say, in a human kind of way if that's even possible?
In any case, this tiny book helps you get to know the clan better, has lots of "default" characters with their sheets to help you create yours and all the "how to"s.
December 6, 2018
my favorite clan I think
November 18, 2019
A rare day to myself so losing myself in words.
January 23, 2022
Un placer oculto: un libro lleno de ilustraciones y conceptos acerca de la muerte que exceden lo que uno espera de un juego de rol. Hermosas descripciones. Conceptos que se graban en la mente.
December 26, 2018
Throw out pretty much everything regarding the founder of this clan and use that space to flesh out the nature of the clan more and this would be a really good book.
The story of the founder of clan Cappdocian is written well enough when it comes to style but the story is seriously lacking. From the vagueness of his study of death (no idea what that study entailed except talking to people) to the idiocy of one Jew's statement how God protects him making the founder realize he is a fool (no one from another religion stated something similar?), to the confusing timeline. And it is not very engaging to be honest.
And to move the story forward they have one revelation (probably divine) after another. They come in to make Cappadocius choose a different path without actual explanation, first something made him entomb most of his clan (no idea how the later ones acted any differently so why weren't they entombed as well?) and then a revelation suddenly made him want to become God to save humanity from vampires (btw.no idea whether this is before or after the rise of Christianity; the text is confusing in that regard).
At least with these factions inside the clain they finally made the Cappadocians a bit interesting (Christians using their blood for eucharist celebration, warriors etc.) instead off the usual vague statements. Based on Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom I would have expected necromancers (as one of their legacies is clearly an offshot of the Cappadocians) but they only talk to ghosts, not summoning them. In fact what is their "study of death" anyway? How does that fit with their roles as scholars and advisors?
And how can the book talk of “Reincarnated as coelacanths”? Not only are these vampires from an Abrahamic background but the existence of coelacanths was not even known back then; nor did the word even exist. This and others are examples of how weird this book is written, so many anachronisms and at the same time being so vague.
In addition it took this book until the Thanatology trait to give a bit of actual information on how exactly these vampires study death. They study philosophy, culture, religion and the supernatural. Albeit nothing like necromancy apart from the Giovanni, which boggles the mind even more regarding what on earth their founder was doing before.
Speaking of the Giovanni: Why can’t Giovanni start with a generation lower than 11th? Augustus Giovanni is 4th generation and the Giovanni only recruit from among themselves. Are they not allowed yet to create progeny of their own? The outbook explanation is of course the power level, but as typical for this book they do not spend much time on explaining anything inside of it.
Among the character templates, this lost crusader template is interesting with the renewed faith due to vampirism but it could do without this hypocritical "didn't Muslims allow Christian pilgrims into the holy land but not the other way around?" routine. Salhadin was not as tolerant as this here depicts him and for a long time every Christian entering Muslim lands was killed.
And not only do several of these templates have nothing to do with scholarship (so how is the clan any different from that prior to the culling?) but considered how obsessed this clan actually is with death, shouldn't there be a few among them that willingly spread disease? And if they research so much, shouldn't their knowledge of anatomy be more advanced than that of humans?
The end was quick and vague even for this book. It was basically "well, maybe the Samedi are descended from the Cappacodians but who knows…"
The story of the founder of clan Cappdocian is written well enough when it comes to style but the story is seriously lacking. From the vagueness of his study of death (no idea what that study entailed except talking to people) to the idiocy of one Jew's statement how God protects him making the founder realize he is a fool (no one from another religion stated something similar?), to the confusing timeline. And it is not very engaging to be honest.
And to move the story forward they have one revelation (probably divine) after another. They come in to make Cappadocius choose a different path without actual explanation, first something made him entomb most of his clan (no idea how the later ones acted any differently so why weren't they entombed as well?) and then a revelation suddenly made him want to become God to save humanity from vampires (btw.no idea whether this is before or after the rise of Christianity; the text is confusing in that regard).
At least with these factions inside the clain they finally made the Cappadocians a bit interesting (Christians using their blood for eucharist celebration, warriors etc.) instead off the usual vague statements. Based on Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom I would have expected necromancers (as one of their legacies is clearly an offshot of the Cappadocians) but they only talk to ghosts, not summoning them. In fact what is their "study of death" anyway? How does that fit with their roles as scholars and advisors?
And how can the book talk of “Reincarnated as coelacanths”? Not only are these vampires from an Abrahamic background but the existence of coelacanths was not even known back then; nor did the word even exist. This and others are examples of how weird this book is written, so many anachronisms and at the same time being so vague.
In addition it took this book until the Thanatology trait to give a bit of actual information on how exactly these vampires study death. They study philosophy, culture, religion and the supernatural. Albeit nothing like necromancy apart from the Giovanni, which boggles the mind even more regarding what on earth their founder was doing before.
Speaking of the Giovanni: Why can’t Giovanni start with a generation lower than 11th? Augustus Giovanni is 4th generation and the Giovanni only recruit from among themselves. Are they not allowed yet to create progeny of their own? The outbook explanation is of course the power level, but as typical for this book they do not spend much time on explaining anything inside of it.
Among the character templates, this lost crusader template is interesting with the renewed faith due to vampirism but it could do without this hypocritical "didn't Muslims allow Christian pilgrims into the holy land but not the other way around?" routine. Salhadin was not as tolerant as this here depicts him and for a long time every Christian entering Muslim lands was killed.
And not only do several of these templates have nothing to do with scholarship (so how is the clan any different from that prior to the culling?) but considered how obsessed this clan actually is with death, shouldn't there be a few among them that willingly spread disease? And if they research so much, shouldn't their knowledge of anatomy be more advanced than that of humans?
The end was quick and vague even for this book. It was basically "well, maybe the Samedi are descended from the Cappacodians but who knows…"
May 27, 2014
One of my favorite clans though I don't particularly like the story of their progenitor, it is crappy writing.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews