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Vampire: the Masquerade
*OP Guide to the Anarchs by Justin Achilli
Break the Walls Down! Kindred society is stagnant, and it favors the privileged. Elders claim domain over rights that, by their nature, belong to all of Caine's childer. Princes and archbishops alike abuse the very social contract that gives them the power they wield. What's the answer? Open revolution. Bring down the system! Guide to the Anarchs A look at the phenomenon of the Anarch Movement worldwide* Advice for introducing the anarchs to an existing chronicle or creating an all-anarch chronicle* A handy appendix on nomadic unlife
Unknown Binding
First published February 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 15, 2017
When I played Vampire: the Masquerade: Bloodlines, I was confused by the opening where Nines shouts down LaCroix's speech. Why would the Prince of Los Angeles allow anarchs at a formal Camarilla meeting? Books like Nights of Prophecy and the mention of the Anarch Free State had given me the impression that anarchs were a third faction outside the Camarilla and Sabbat, but it turns out that was wrong. Guide to the Anarchs set me straight, and laid out all the fundamentals of the anarch philosophy and now I truly understand that you can't tell me what to do, dad.
I kid, I kid. But I never really understand before now that the anarchs were a part of the Camarilla, and that their goals are not anarchy--as might be implied in their name--but rather reform. And it makes sense. I've mentioned before that being Embraced into the Camarilla is like joining a Wall Street banking firm, with all the long hours and hard work it entails, but its a firm where all the employees are immortal, promotion is only possible if higher-ranking employees die, and everyone is literally a blood-sucking monster instead of just metaphorically one. Anarchs generally don't want to overthrow this structure, because they recognize the need for some kind of organizing principles of vampiric society, the importance of the Masquerade, and the need to fight off the crazed religious fanatics in the Sabbat. They just want more input into the process and maybe not to be used as pawns in the elders' endless feuds.
The book is thus mostly about what the anarchs want and how they go about trying to achieve it, which often involves violence but doesn't necessarily have to. The anarchs of the original Anarch Revolt were big on libertas, which is just the Latin word for liberty, but which is conceived as some kind of innate property that all sapient beings have and that can never truly be suppressed. There is no explanation about how they reconcile this with the existence of Dominate, so I think they just hope no one asks. That also fits in with their revolt, because as the book points out, the complaints of the anarchs are obvious and uncontroversial. The elders do treat their childer as pawns in their schemes, they do crush dissent with an iron hand except when it suits their purposes to allow a safety valve for younger vampires to blow off steam before they age into power and responsibility--a repeated problem in the anarch movement, as a anarchs gain political power and realize what it is that the elders are defending--and they do hog all the power for themselves. But when the anarchs are asked what system they would replace the current system with, they stammer and change the subject. This is not a problem with the book; it's a problem with the anarch movement itself that the book points out. How does one form a equal society with a group of beings who are fundamentally unequal due to their innate capabilities?
Good question.
Much of Guide to the Anarchs is a catalogue of anarch activities in various parts of the world. This recapitulates one of the problems with Vampire: the Masquerade as a whole, since Africa is depicted as a dark and dangerous continent filled with mysterious ancient horrors who hate vampires, and of course Asia has the 鬼人 killing everyone who isn't a native for reasons that Western vampires don't understand. These are basically racist stereotypes turned into supernatural peculiarities, a continuing problem in Revised even as it cleaned up some of the more blatant garbage from previous editions. However, I really liked the presentation of Europe. As befits a place where vampires have lived for millennia, Europe is a patchwork of domains that are Camarilla, domains that are Sabbat, and places that have been ruled by the same vampire since before there were sects and they aren't going to give up their lands to some outsider no matter what they call themselves. Guide to the Anarchs is the first Revised book that really gives an overview of the vampiric landscape of Europe, and is worth reading just for that.
There's nothing really new mechanically in the book, because other than a few holdouts from the original revolt, Anarchs are Camarilla members who don't buy into all of its principles. There's some notes about how the ST should be lenient about them learning out-of-Clan Disciplines because anarchs are likely to share knowledge as one of the few advantages they have over The Man, and a few examples of combo Disciplines that they've developed due to this widespread knowledge sharing, but some of them are reprints--I recognized Retain the Quick Blood from the Dark Ages books, for example. Otherwise, it's all fluff.
I could have done without the typos, though. There were several per chapter and they really leapt out of the page.
Reading Guide to the Anarchs, I understand why the basic conflict back in first edition was between the staid elders and their rambunctious descendants with the Sabbat as the creepy villains. Anarch chronicles have the potential to have the best of both worlds, containing both the mortal interactions and closeness to humanity of Camarilla games with the freedom of the open road and the tight-knit group dynamics of Sabbat games. I never really got reason for anarchs before now, but now I think it'd be a fun game premise.
I kid, I kid. But I never really understand before now that the anarchs were a part of the Camarilla, and that their goals are not anarchy--as might be implied in their name--but rather reform. And it makes sense. I've mentioned before that being Embraced into the Camarilla is like joining a Wall Street banking firm, with all the long hours and hard work it entails, but its a firm where all the employees are immortal, promotion is only possible if higher-ranking employees die, and everyone is literally a blood-sucking monster instead of just metaphorically one. Anarchs generally don't want to overthrow this structure, because they recognize the need for some kind of organizing principles of vampiric society, the importance of the Masquerade, and the need to fight off the crazed religious fanatics in the Sabbat. They just want more input into the process and maybe not to be used as pawns in the elders' endless feuds.
The book is thus mostly about what the anarchs want and how they go about trying to achieve it, which often involves violence but doesn't necessarily have to. The anarchs of the original Anarch Revolt were big on libertas, which is just the Latin word for liberty, but which is conceived as some kind of innate property that all sapient beings have and that can never truly be suppressed. There is no explanation about how they reconcile this with the existence of Dominate, so I think they just hope no one asks. That also fits in with their revolt, because as the book points out, the complaints of the anarchs are obvious and uncontroversial. The elders do treat their childer as pawns in their schemes, they do crush dissent with an iron hand except when it suits their purposes to allow a safety valve for younger vampires to blow off steam before they age into power and responsibility--a repeated problem in the anarch movement, as a anarchs gain political power and realize what it is that the elders are defending--and they do hog all the power for themselves. But when the anarchs are asked what system they would replace the current system with, they stammer and change the subject. This is not a problem with the book; it's a problem with the anarch movement itself that the book points out. How does one form a equal society with a group of beings who are fundamentally unequal due to their innate capabilities?
Good question.
Much of Guide to the Anarchs is a catalogue of anarch activities in various parts of the world. This recapitulates one of the problems with Vampire: the Masquerade as a whole, since Africa is depicted as a dark and dangerous continent filled with mysterious ancient horrors who hate vampires, and of course Asia has the 鬼人 killing everyone who isn't a native for reasons that Western vampires don't understand. These are basically racist stereotypes turned into supernatural peculiarities, a continuing problem in Revised even as it cleaned up some of the more blatant garbage from previous editions. However, I really liked the presentation of Europe. As befits a place where vampires have lived for millennia, Europe is a patchwork of domains that are Camarilla, domains that are Sabbat, and places that have been ruled by the same vampire since before there were sects and they aren't going to give up their lands to some outsider no matter what they call themselves. Guide to the Anarchs is the first Revised book that really gives an overview of the vampiric landscape of Europe, and is worth reading just for that.
There's nothing really new mechanically in the book, because other than a few holdouts from the original revolt, Anarchs are Camarilla members who don't buy into all of its principles. There's some notes about how the ST should be lenient about them learning out-of-Clan Disciplines because anarchs are likely to share knowledge as one of the few advantages they have over The Man, and a few examples of combo Disciplines that they've developed due to this widespread knowledge sharing, but some of them are reprints--I recognized Retain the Quick Blood from the Dark Ages books, for example. Otherwise, it's all fluff.
I could have done without the typos, though. There were several per chapter and they really leapt out of the page.
Reading Guide to the Anarchs, I understand why the basic conflict back in first edition was between the staid elders and their rambunctious descendants with the Sabbat as the creepy villains. Anarch chronicles have the potential to have the best of both worlds, containing both the mortal interactions and closeness to humanity of Camarilla games with the freedom of the open road and the tight-knit group dynamics of Sabbat games. I never really got reason for anarchs before now, but now I think it'd be a fun game premise.
December 18, 2022
Spends too much time talking about all the stuff you can't do in an Anarch-focused game rather than unpacking the stuff you *can* do. Full review: https://refereeingandreflection.wordp...
April 26, 2016
Still preparing for my upcoming Anarch-chronicle, and this is the second book I'm reading while preparing, the first being the Anarch Cookbook.
I like some of the direction. They've taken the Anarch - I enjoy how they aren't in open war with the Camarilla; previously they seemed like the Sabbat Light, and now they are much less evil.
I dislike that they've lost their home to Kindred of the East, however.
But enough of that - what does the book offer? It has loads of ideas for storytellers, and tips for Anarch players on how to survive. It's exactly what I'd been looking for, so I'm a happy camper, all in all. Loads of stuff for both storyteller and players to use.
I like some of the direction. They've taken the Anarch - I enjoy how they aren't in open war with the Camarilla; previously they seemed like the Sabbat Light, and now they are much less evil.
I dislike that they've lost their home to Kindred of the East, however.
But enough of that - what does the book offer? It has loads of ideas for storytellers, and tips for Anarch players on how to survive. It's exactly what I'd been looking for, so I'm a happy camper, all in all. Loads of stuff for both storyteller and players to use.
November 10, 2020
People without a grasp of political science or sociology should not write (source)books about political communities.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews