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Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition
Chicago by Night
"Chicago lies at the center of the web that is the American heartland. Tendrils of power, wealth, and reward stretch outward, ensnaring the selfish, greedy, and unwary.
Yet, Chicago attracts its predators, too.
There are creatures that would have the city for their own, spinning their own webs of malice and intrigue. But among the city’s towering skyscrapers and wind-swept streets, who is the spider and who is the fly?"
Chicago By Night, an updated edition of White Wolf’s bestselling city book, will be Onyx Path Publishing’s first supplement for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition.
In this hardcover supplement, you will find descriptions of most of the Kindred inhabitants of Chicago, complete with 5th Edition writeups; the secret history of Chicago with detailed maps and geographical details; relationship details and factions; and dozens of encounters organized by theme, which provide Storytellers a means to make the setting come alive for the players.
Yet, Chicago attracts its predators, too.
There are creatures that would have the city for their own, spinning their own webs of malice and intrigue. But among the city’s towering skyscrapers and wind-swept streets, who is the spider and who is the fly?"
Chicago By Night, an updated edition of White Wolf’s bestselling city book, will be Onyx Path Publishing’s first supplement for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition.
In this hardcover supplement, you will find descriptions of most of the Kindred inhabitants of Chicago, complete with 5th Edition writeups; the secret history of Chicago with detailed maps and geographical details; relationship details and factions; and dozens of encounters organized by theme, which provide Storytellers a means to make the setting come alive for the players.
357 pages, Hardcover
Published November 1, 2019
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December 17, 2023
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CHICAGO BY NIGHT 5TH EDITION is technically the third edition of the seminal Chicago by Night city book supplement for Vampire: The Masquerade. Way back in 1991, the book was released for the then-new series about playing tragic misunderstood creatures of the night a decade before Twilight made it uncool. The book was a shocking change the kind of books present from Dungeons and Dragons or even Call of Cthulhu. It was adult, edgy, racially diverse, sexually diverse, and full of complicated politics your player characters were meant to involve themselves in without shooting up the place. Well, yeah, they'd probably shoot up the place anyway but it wasn't advised.
The premise is the same for Vampire: The Masquerade as a whole. The World of Darkness is one where immortals walk among humanity, feasting on their blood and forming complicated societies that continually jockey for power like a vampire Game of Thrones. The young rebel against the old, the poor against the rich, and the powerful pull the strings of the weak(er).
As awesome as the original CbN was, it's almost thirty years old now. It was updated in 1993 for Second Edition but even that was part of an era's end. City books have never been the best selling products of Vampire: The Masquerade and the setting ended with lots of potential ways for the main characters to affect the city. Any further updates would be immaterial as the city would be unrecognizable.
Nostalgia has a powerful effect on the aging gamer, though, and Onyx Path Publishing revived the V:TM gameline with the Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition. We're now on the 5th Edition of that game and they've created a similar update to the Chicago setting. It was successfully Kickstarted in 2018 and only now has been released to the public.
The new Chicago is secretly ruled by Kevin Jackson, a former Cabrini Green gangster turned respectable undead businessman. He has successfully seized control over the city in the chaos of the recent events in the setting and set down a brutal set of laws designed to make him the most revered Prince in America. He has recruited some of the Anarchs (rebellious young vampires) who opposed the former Prince and turned them against their fellows.
The book updates the setting to 2019 from its early Nineties roots. A lot of social, government, and economic changes have happened both to Chicago as well as the nation as a whole. The history of Chicago incorporates such things as the failed Chicago Olympics bid, gentrification (including the destruction of Cabrini Green), and the collapse of Gary, Indiana from a dying town to a dead one. It also incorporates some facts about society ranging from segregation to violence in order to better roleplay the city's inhabitants.
This is a gorgeous book and one that was made with every possible attention to detail. The art is different from both the classic black and white V:TM art as well as the V5 photoshopped pictures. Every vampire in the book has a portrait and while not all of them match their original appearances, most are just beautiful. The layout is also extremely well done, drawing attention to the little sidebars and tidbits designed to make the lore evocative.
The real appeal of the book, though is it's immense attention to detail as well as its usefulness for making the controversial 5th Edition make sense. While a fan of 5E, I feel it made numerous missteps and may have changed too much for the average player. This is not the case here as we see a seamless blend of the old with the new. Things like the Beckoning, Second Inquisition, and Anarch/Camarilla War are all integrated in an organic fashion that allows what was good about the old to be kept while advancing the plots of characters in new directions.
I absolutely love the method of handling NPCs in this book with every one of them detailed with mortal history, vampire history, their current plots, mortal retainers, and what their public identities are. It's everything you could possibly need to know how to do serious roleplaying as well as any number of adventure hooks with practically any character. Characters I loved in this book were Anita Wainwright, Critias, Maldavis, Bennet Steadman, Flyboy, and a dozen others.
The book continues the original CbN's conflict between the Anarchs and the Elders. V5 was criticized for returning to this conflict over the Camarilla vs. Sabbat but I love it. Kevin Jackson is ruthlessly purging the Anarchs but doing it in a subtle backhanded way. The conflict has multiple leaders and partipants that mean, however the PCs choose to fight the war (if at all), they have strong personalities to work off of. The treason of Damien, a long-beloved Anarch hero, worked surprisingly well in illustrating how the years can wear down even the most noble soul.
Diversity-wise, this is one of the strongest books in V:TM for any edition. There are gay, straight, transgender, black, white, Native American, rich, and poor characters that help illustrate Chicago from multiple perspectives. As a better author than me said, "reality has a diversity bias." One thing that I shouldn't be happy about but am is the fact that with only one or two exceptions, almost every vampire in the book has a horrifying side to go along with their more likable qualities. Even decent-ish folk like Anita Wainwright crave bloodthirsty (ha!) revenge on their enemies or plan to use other Kindred as dupes.
A lot of gamers don't buy books for the storybeats and world-building, though. How is the crunch of the book? Well, the biggest thing the book provides is the rules and material for the Lasombra. One of the biggest criticisms of V5 was it didn't provide rules for popular clans the Assamites, Giovanni, Followers of Set, Tzimisce, Lasombra, and Ravnos. The Lasombra get a full write-up here with roughly half the clan defecting to the Camarilla as well as rules for their new discipline of Oblivion.
The authors of the book have the hard job of explaining why the Lasombra, a fanatical and snooty clan that hates all things Camarilla, would join with their ancient rivals. I think they did a pretty good job of making it justifiable. The fact that only half the Clan joins also makes it believable to me. I won't spoil their reasoning but it's spelled out in their Clan section.
If I had to pick a favorite part of the book out, it would probably be "The Sacrifice" which is a chronicle at the end of the book that could easily fill out an entire campaign for Storytellers. The player characters are assigned by Prince Jackson (willingly or not) to serve as bodyguards as well as tourguides for a visiting Lasombra delegation. If the negotiations go well, they can make the Lasombra a part of the Camarilla (something the player characters may wish to prevent). While published adventures are always a bit of hit and miss, I feel this did an amazing job. It also showed why some Lasombra would probably fit in well to the Camarilla while others would just make it worse. Kudos to the creators.
Stats-wise, in addition to the write-up for Oblivion, we also have plenty of adventure hooks and Loresheets. The book provides the rules for creating your own cities and adventures plus also making coteries for vampires to interact with. It's not my cup of tea but I think people wanting to expand their city-write ups will find the book more than worth its cost. I think my favorite of the Loresheets has to be the Book of Nod and Malkavian Madness Network. Both of which will help my current characters.
Are there any criticisms? Well, die-hard fans of V20 will note that this book isn't metaplot agnostic by any means. The Second Inquisition plays a huge role, large numbers of characters have succumbed to the Beckoning, and many old characters have been knocked off by the random hand of fate. A few characters like Joshua, Al Capone, Juggler, Dickie, and Doctor Genet also get mentioned but aren't detailed in the book. They were detailed in previous supplements but new gamers could be confused by their inclusion.
In conclusion, Chicago by Night 5th Edition is an amazing book. I loved every single V20 book and I'm probably not the person to criticize any work by Onyx Path. However, I think this is easily the best of 5th Edition and shows exactly what can be accomplished in that setting if you give it a chance. A lot of old favorites return and are made better, deeper, and more intense by their updates. The new characters also include what I'm sure will be classics to come. It's not the best V:TM book of all time but it is probably in the top five.
CHICAGO BY NIGHT 5TH EDITION is technically the third edition of the seminal Chicago by Night city book supplement for Vampire: The Masquerade. Way back in 1991, the book was released for the then-new series about playing tragic misunderstood creatures of the night a decade before Twilight made it uncool. The book was a shocking change the kind of books present from Dungeons and Dragons or even Call of Cthulhu. It was adult, edgy, racially diverse, sexually diverse, and full of complicated politics your player characters were meant to involve themselves in without shooting up the place. Well, yeah, they'd probably shoot up the place anyway but it wasn't advised.
The premise is the same for Vampire: The Masquerade as a whole. The World of Darkness is one where immortals walk among humanity, feasting on their blood and forming complicated societies that continually jockey for power like a vampire Game of Thrones. The young rebel against the old, the poor against the rich, and the powerful pull the strings of the weak(er).
As awesome as the original CbN was, it's almost thirty years old now. It was updated in 1993 for Second Edition but even that was part of an era's end. City books have never been the best selling products of Vampire: The Masquerade and the setting ended with lots of potential ways for the main characters to affect the city. Any further updates would be immaterial as the city would be unrecognizable.
Nostalgia has a powerful effect on the aging gamer, though, and Onyx Path Publishing revived the V:TM gameline with the Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition. We're now on the 5th Edition of that game and they've created a similar update to the Chicago setting. It was successfully Kickstarted in 2018 and only now has been released to the public.
The new Chicago is secretly ruled by Kevin Jackson, a former Cabrini Green gangster turned respectable undead businessman. He has successfully seized control over the city in the chaos of the recent events in the setting and set down a brutal set of laws designed to make him the most revered Prince in America. He has recruited some of the Anarchs (rebellious young vampires) who opposed the former Prince and turned them against their fellows.
The book updates the setting to 2019 from its early Nineties roots. A lot of social, government, and economic changes have happened both to Chicago as well as the nation as a whole. The history of Chicago incorporates such things as the failed Chicago Olympics bid, gentrification (including the destruction of Cabrini Green), and the collapse of Gary, Indiana from a dying town to a dead one. It also incorporates some facts about society ranging from segregation to violence in order to better roleplay the city's inhabitants.
This is a gorgeous book and one that was made with every possible attention to detail. The art is different from both the classic black and white V:TM art as well as the V5 photoshopped pictures. Every vampire in the book has a portrait and while not all of them match their original appearances, most are just beautiful. The layout is also extremely well done, drawing attention to the little sidebars and tidbits designed to make the lore evocative.
The real appeal of the book, though is it's immense attention to detail as well as its usefulness for making the controversial 5th Edition make sense. While a fan of 5E, I feel it made numerous missteps and may have changed too much for the average player. This is not the case here as we see a seamless blend of the old with the new. Things like the Beckoning, Second Inquisition, and Anarch/Camarilla War are all integrated in an organic fashion that allows what was good about the old to be kept while advancing the plots of characters in new directions.
I absolutely love the method of handling NPCs in this book with every one of them detailed with mortal history, vampire history, their current plots, mortal retainers, and what their public identities are. It's everything you could possibly need to know how to do serious roleplaying as well as any number of adventure hooks with practically any character. Characters I loved in this book were Anita Wainwright, Critias, Maldavis, Bennet Steadman, Flyboy, and a dozen others.
The book continues the original CbN's conflict between the Anarchs and the Elders. V5 was criticized for returning to this conflict over the Camarilla vs. Sabbat but I love it. Kevin Jackson is ruthlessly purging the Anarchs but doing it in a subtle backhanded way. The conflict has multiple leaders and partipants that mean, however the PCs choose to fight the war (if at all), they have strong personalities to work off of. The treason of Damien, a long-beloved Anarch hero, worked surprisingly well in illustrating how the years can wear down even the most noble soul.
Diversity-wise, this is one of the strongest books in V:TM for any edition. There are gay, straight, transgender, black, white, Native American, rich, and poor characters that help illustrate Chicago from multiple perspectives. As a better author than me said, "reality has a diversity bias." One thing that I shouldn't be happy about but am is the fact that with only one or two exceptions, almost every vampire in the book has a horrifying side to go along with their more likable qualities. Even decent-ish folk like Anita Wainwright crave bloodthirsty (ha!) revenge on their enemies or plan to use other Kindred as dupes.
A lot of gamers don't buy books for the storybeats and world-building, though. How is the crunch of the book? Well, the biggest thing the book provides is the rules and material for the Lasombra. One of the biggest criticisms of V5 was it didn't provide rules for popular clans the Assamites, Giovanni, Followers of Set, Tzimisce, Lasombra, and Ravnos. The Lasombra get a full write-up here with roughly half the clan defecting to the Camarilla as well as rules for their new discipline of Oblivion.
The authors of the book have the hard job of explaining why the Lasombra, a fanatical and snooty clan that hates all things Camarilla, would join with their ancient rivals. I think they did a pretty good job of making it justifiable. The fact that only half the Clan joins also makes it believable to me. I won't spoil their reasoning but it's spelled out in their Clan section.
If I had to pick a favorite part of the book out, it would probably be "The Sacrifice" which is a chronicle at the end of the book that could easily fill out an entire campaign for Storytellers. The player characters are assigned by Prince Jackson (willingly or not) to serve as bodyguards as well as tourguides for a visiting Lasombra delegation. If the negotiations go well, they can make the Lasombra a part of the Camarilla (something the player characters may wish to prevent). While published adventures are always a bit of hit and miss, I feel this did an amazing job. It also showed why some Lasombra would probably fit in well to the Camarilla while others would just make it worse. Kudos to the creators.
Stats-wise, in addition to the write-up for Oblivion, we also have plenty of adventure hooks and Loresheets. The book provides the rules for creating your own cities and adventures plus also making coteries for vampires to interact with. It's not my cup of tea but I think people wanting to expand their city-write ups will find the book more than worth its cost. I think my favorite of the Loresheets has to be the Book of Nod and Malkavian Madness Network. Both of which will help my current characters.
Are there any criticisms? Well, die-hard fans of V20 will note that this book isn't metaplot agnostic by any means. The Second Inquisition plays a huge role, large numbers of characters have succumbed to the Beckoning, and many old characters have been knocked off by the random hand of fate. A few characters like Joshua, Al Capone, Juggler, Dickie, and Doctor Genet also get mentioned but aren't detailed in the book. They were detailed in previous supplements but new gamers could be confused by their inclusion.
In conclusion, Chicago by Night 5th Edition is an amazing book. I loved every single V20 book and I'm probably not the person to criticize any work by Onyx Path. However, I think this is easily the best of 5th Edition and shows exactly what can be accomplished in that setting if you give it a chance. A lot of old favorites return and are made better, deeper, and more intense by their updates. The new characters also include what I'm sure will be classics to come. It's not the best V:TM book of all time but it is probably in the top five.
February 10, 2019
Dado que es el documento de playtesting finalizado, no es una opinión final y definitiva. Pero desde luego, lo que se lee es muy prometedor.
El manual tiene dos objetivos claros: uno, enlazar con la clásica campaña de Vampiro y actualizarla a la 5ª edición, así como proporcionar un ejemplo de cómo uno puede diseñar su propia ciudad. Dos, introducir un nuevo clan, el Lasombra, no sólo en cuanto a mecánica y posible opción para los jugadores, sino en cuanto a su nuevo papel en la ambientación cuando deciden abandonar al Sabbat y solicitar acceso a la Camarilla.
En ambos aspectos, el libro parece cumplir su cometido con éxito.
A pesar de su extensión, el libro hace un uso excelente del espacio. Nada sobra, y no tengo sensación de estar leyendo relleno. La única pega en cuanto al reparto es que hay algunas inconsistencias, dado que el manual presenta algunos vampiros nuevos que, supuestamente, llevan siendo parte de la ciudad décadas, han tenido conflictos y alianzas con otros vampiros, y sin embargo es la primera vez que leemos sobre ellos (especialmente problemático en cuanto a continuidad es la secta llamada The Blood Disco). No es nada muy grave ni nada que no se pueda solucionar con un pequeño esfuerzo, pero el árbitro debe estar atento. Eso sí, el esfuerzo vale la pena. Los nuevos personajes son frescos e interesantes, y los antiguos personajes que siguen presentes han recibido un tratamiento aún más interesante.
A destacar la utilidad y eficacia del formato de presentación de los personajes, que detalla en una manera accesible alianzas, metas, rumores acerca del mismo, y en definitiva, todo lo necesario para integrarlos en la ciudad. De todas las maneras de presentar un personaje que he visto en este juego, debe ser mi favorita. A destacar también la bajada de poder que han recibido todos: ningún personaje ahora tiene Disciplinas y Rasgos a más de 5.
El formato para presentar las cuadrillas, sus metas y relaciones es así mismo un enorme acierto, y se introducen nuevas reglas para reflejar en términos mecánicos cómo un barrio facilita o dificulta determinadas acciones. Todo muy interesante.
Sobre los Lasombra, le han dado un giro muy interesante que me gusta mucho, al cambiar cómo se conceptualiza la fuente de su poder (que ahora los relaciona con los Giovanni, por ejemplo), y el por qué han decidido abandonar el Sabbat. Hay que testear a nivel mecánico, claro, pero tiene buen aspecto.
El libro termina con una aventura introductoria que, la verdad, me ha gustado. En esta aventura los jugadores juegan un papel esencial en la decisión de si la Camarilla de Chicago acepta o no a los Lasombra, y lo mejor que tiene la historia es que hace todos los esfuerzos para evitar el encarrilamiento que ha hecho famosas a las aventuras de White Wolf.
En resumen: si esta va a ser la tónica de la nueva edición de Vampiro, póngame 15. Absolutamente recomendable, y una magnífica forma de iniciarse en la nueva edición. Sólo necesito más tiempo para probarla.
El manual tiene dos objetivos claros: uno, enlazar con la clásica campaña de Vampiro y actualizarla a la 5ª edición, así como proporcionar un ejemplo de cómo uno puede diseñar su propia ciudad. Dos, introducir un nuevo clan, el Lasombra, no sólo en cuanto a mecánica y posible opción para los jugadores, sino en cuanto a su nuevo papel en la ambientación cuando deciden abandonar al Sabbat y solicitar acceso a la Camarilla.
En ambos aspectos, el libro parece cumplir su cometido con éxito.
A pesar de su extensión, el libro hace un uso excelente del espacio. Nada sobra, y no tengo sensación de estar leyendo relleno. La única pega en cuanto al reparto es que hay algunas inconsistencias, dado que el manual presenta algunos vampiros nuevos que, supuestamente, llevan siendo parte de la ciudad décadas, han tenido conflictos y alianzas con otros vampiros, y sin embargo es la primera vez que leemos sobre ellos (especialmente problemático en cuanto a continuidad es la secta llamada The Blood Disco). No es nada muy grave ni nada que no se pueda solucionar con un pequeño esfuerzo, pero el árbitro debe estar atento. Eso sí, el esfuerzo vale la pena. Los nuevos personajes son frescos e interesantes, y los antiguos personajes que siguen presentes han recibido un tratamiento aún más interesante.
A destacar la utilidad y eficacia del formato de presentación de los personajes, que detalla en una manera accesible alianzas, metas, rumores acerca del mismo, y en definitiva, todo lo necesario para integrarlos en la ciudad. De todas las maneras de presentar un personaje que he visto en este juego, debe ser mi favorita. A destacar también la bajada de poder que han recibido todos: ningún personaje ahora tiene Disciplinas y Rasgos a más de 5.
El formato para presentar las cuadrillas, sus metas y relaciones es así mismo un enorme acierto, y se introducen nuevas reglas para reflejar en términos mecánicos cómo un barrio facilita o dificulta determinadas acciones. Todo muy interesante.
Sobre los Lasombra, le han dado un giro muy interesante que me gusta mucho, al cambiar cómo se conceptualiza la fuente de su poder (que ahora los relaciona con los Giovanni, por ejemplo), y el por qué han decidido abandonar el Sabbat. Hay que testear a nivel mecánico, claro, pero tiene buen aspecto.
El libro termina con una aventura introductoria que, la verdad, me ha gustado. En esta aventura los jugadores juegan un papel esencial en la decisión de si la Camarilla de Chicago acepta o no a los Lasombra, y lo mejor que tiene la historia es que hace todos los esfuerzos para evitar el encarrilamiento que ha hecho famosas a las aventuras de White Wolf.
En resumen: si esta va a ser la tónica de la nueva edición de Vampiro, póngame 15. Absolutamente recomendable, y una magnífica forma de iniciarse en la nueva edición. Sólo necesito más tiempo para probarla.
December 28, 2022
A setting book for VTM 5th Ed, where they update old Chicago by Night. And as someone who played a lot of Chicago by Night 1 and Chicago by Night 2 chronicles, what do i think about it?
Well first of i loved and hated seeing what had happened with a lot of the characters i grew up with. Many iconic characters that to me defined Roleplaying and got me into enjoying games of intrigue and politics in roleplaying far more, are now gone, or simply drastically reduced. A few are given a cool update, but sadly not i had hoped for. But, as a ST you can make up whatever you want. So eh.
But the book gives a good update to the setting, how the city has changed in the last 20 years, it also adds the Lasombra more properly to the setting as well.
As for Lodin, ye olde Prince. I both love and hate what happened to him. As a player of the setting i love it. As a ST of the setting i sort of hate it. Its complicted. :p
But the book follows the typical trend of VTM 5 of phasing out elders and the more supernatural side aspects of the game. Which is sad. At least Chicago by Night 2 detailed some of the Werewolf issue in the city. And i might be having a mild case of amnesia, but i saw little to no mention of that in this book.
Well first of i loved and hated seeing what had happened with a lot of the characters i grew up with. Many iconic characters that to me defined Roleplaying and got me into enjoying games of intrigue and politics in roleplaying far more, are now gone, or simply drastically reduced. A few are given a cool update, but sadly not i had hoped for. But, as a ST you can make up whatever you want. So eh.
But the book gives a good update to the setting, how the city has changed in the last 20 years, it also adds the Lasombra more properly to the setting as well.
As for Lodin, ye olde Prince. I both love and hate what happened to him. As a player of the setting i love it. As a ST of the setting i sort of hate it. Its complicted. :p
But the book follows the typical trend of VTM 5 of phasing out elders and the more supernatural side aspects of the game. Which is sad. At least Chicago by Night 2 detailed some of the Werewolf issue in the city. And i might be having a mild case of amnesia, but i saw little to no mention of that in this book.
December 7, 2020
The latest edition of this seminal setting for Vampire the Masquerade is not as engaging as its predecessors.
While those oozed history and provided an epic pseudo-mythological background to the City, its events and characters the new book apparently takes knowledge of the previous editions for granted instead of actually providing the relevant information. Too many "classic" characters are gone (though some get referenced in passing), making Chicago a more generic setting than before. I also would have liked character illustrations to more closely resemble previous depictions.
What makes this book actually worth adding to one's collection is that it reintroduces the Lasombra for the new edition, though once again reworking the discipline sytem, mashing up clans' abilities for no truly discernible reason. (Old Obtenebration gets combined with old Necromancy into the new Oblivion discipline.)
While those oozed history and provided an epic pseudo-mythological background to the City, its events and characters the new book apparently takes knowledge of the previous editions for granted instead of actually providing the relevant information. Too many "classic" characters are gone (though some get referenced in passing), making Chicago a more generic setting than before. I also would have liked character illustrations to more closely resemble previous depictions.
What makes this book actually worth adding to one's collection is that it reintroduces the Lasombra for the new edition, though once again reworking the discipline sytem, mashing up clans' abilities for no truly discernible reason. (Old Obtenebration gets combined with old Necromancy into the new Oblivion discipline.)
October 15, 2021
I wish all the VtM sourcebooks were this in depth. The character bios alone have been as helpful as anything I read in the earlier v5 supplements - the way they coax nuance and possibly out of little bits of backstory will definitely inform how I build SPCs. I love that they give a range of schemes and goals to account for a variety of situations.
March 21, 2020
Prolly my favorite vtm v5 book so far. so much good lore and detail. really loved how it built the world even more.
September 23, 2024
Si quieres crear tú propia ciudad de chupasangres este es tu libro! Totalmente fundamental.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews