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Vampire: the Masquerade
Archons & Templars
Vanguards of the Great Titles among the Damned aren't always primogen and prisci. Somebody has to do the dirty work. From fighting Lupines to hunting rogue Cainites,from enforcing the Traditions to leading a crusade, a few bold vampires step to the head of the charge. Those vampires are the unsung champions of the night. Archons & Templars a chance to play high-status characters from both of the prominent sects; new powers and tactics used by the elite guardians of the Kindred; and advice on creating a chronicle exclusively about one sect's champions.
147 pages, Paperback
First published April 15, 2002
1 person is currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Ari Marmell
101 books436 followersWhen Ari Marmell has free time left over between feeding cats and posting on social media, he writes a little bit. His work includes novels, short stories, role-playing games, and video games, all of which he enjoyed in lieu of school work when growing up. He’s the author of the Mick Oberon gangland/urban fantasy series, the Widdershins YA fantasy series, and many others, with publishers such as Del Rey, Titan Books, Pyr Books, Wizards of the Coast, and now Omnium Gatherum.
Ari currently resides in Austin, Texas. He lives in a clutter that has a moderate amount of apartment in it, along with George—his wife—and the aforementioned cats, who probably want something.
Ari currently resides in Austin, Texas. He lives in a clutter that has a moderate amount of apartment in it, along with George—his wife—and the aforementioned cats, who probably want something.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 12, 2018
One of the most enduring complaints about Vampire: the Masquerade is that the characters are pawns of forces beyond their control, brought in on the bottom level of an organization run by and for immortals and so eternally doomed to bow and scrape at the whim of people who took their last breath before the French Revolution, or the Black Death, or the Fall of Rome. And that is true. Even the Sabbat, for all its pretense of freedom, ultimately functions at the whims of its elders.
But, what if the PCs were the law?
That's the premise of Archons & Templars, which is about the enforcers for the Camarilla and Sabbat, respectively. The archons get a larger share of the book, in keeping with the Camarilla as the default mode of play, and I really like the results. Archons work for the justicars investigating violations of the Camarilla traditions and collaboration with the Sabbat, shoring up Camarilla defenses in the sect war, and generally function as spies and intelligence officials. Princes are supposed to be autonomous and so rarely call for help--a prince admitting that they need assistance is a prince admitting that they cannot govern the city on their own--so archons are proactive, moving from city to city conducting their own investigations and pursuing their own goals when they aren't acting on orders from their justicar. While they often work alone, they sometimes work as teams for larger problems.
This produces a mode of Camarilla play very similar to the default play detailed in the Guide to the Sabbat. Archons are autonomous, answering to no one but their direct superiors, and they roam from city to city conducting their business. They sometimes form specific archon coteries, much like Sabbat are organized into packs. They have the authority to investigate princes and punish crimes against the Masquerade, meaning that a game is more self-directed.
I think this is a really appealing premise for a game. The PCs are archons, and the game begins in the middle of an investigation. Once that's resolved, it's up to the PCs to determine what to do. Do they follow up other leads and try to determine if anyone else is resolved? Do they change gears and assist in a Sabbat invasion? Do they attempt reprisals against the target of the investigation, if it failed, or against their allies, if it succeeded? How will they act against elders, since archons have a lot of power but as with all vampire power structures, that power only runs as far as others are willing to accept it and the justicar can't always be nearby. It provides an opportunity for a much more player-driven game that most Camarilla stories and if I ever run a modern-era Vampire game again, it's probably the structure I'll use.
There's also info about the templars and the Inquisition, but this wasn't as interesting to me. Templars have an official position in the Sabbat, but the Sabbat's looser structure means that they function more as the personal assistants of the particular bishop or archbishop that they work for, performing whatever tasks their patron requires of them. In this way, it provides a more Camarilla-style Sabbat game, where the PCs go around upholding the will of the elders on recalcirant packs who think that the Sabbat credo of freedom means they can do whatever they want whenever they want. I do like the parallelism, but it's not as interesting to me.
Four stars for making me think of an entirely new mode of game that I would have never considered before reading it.
But, what if the PCs were the law?
That's the premise of Archons & Templars, which is about the enforcers for the Camarilla and Sabbat, respectively. The archons get a larger share of the book, in keeping with the Camarilla as the default mode of play, and I really like the results. Archons work for the justicars investigating violations of the Camarilla traditions and collaboration with the Sabbat, shoring up Camarilla defenses in the sect war, and generally function as spies and intelligence officials. Princes are supposed to be autonomous and so rarely call for help--a prince admitting that they need assistance is a prince admitting that they cannot govern the city on their own--so archons are proactive, moving from city to city conducting their own investigations and pursuing their own goals when they aren't acting on orders from their justicar. While they often work alone, they sometimes work as teams for larger problems.
This produces a mode of Camarilla play very similar to the default play detailed in the Guide to the Sabbat. Archons are autonomous, answering to no one but their direct superiors, and they roam from city to city conducting their business. They sometimes form specific archon coteries, much like Sabbat are organized into packs. They have the authority to investigate princes and punish crimes against the Masquerade, meaning that a game is more self-directed.
I think this is a really appealing premise for a game. The PCs are archons, and the game begins in the middle of an investigation. Once that's resolved, it's up to the PCs to determine what to do. Do they follow up other leads and try to determine if anyone else is resolved? Do they change gears and assist in a Sabbat invasion? Do they attempt reprisals against the target of the investigation, if it failed, or against their allies, if it succeeded? How will they act against elders, since archons have a lot of power but as with all vampire power structures, that power only runs as far as others are willing to accept it and the justicar can't always be nearby. It provides an opportunity for a much more player-driven game that most Camarilla stories and if I ever run a modern-era Vampire game again, it's probably the structure I'll use.
There's also info about the templars and the Inquisition, but this wasn't as interesting to me. Templars have an official position in the Sabbat, but the Sabbat's looser structure means that they function more as the personal assistants of the particular bishop or archbishop that they work for, performing whatever tasks their patron requires of them. In this way, it provides a more Camarilla-style Sabbat game, where the PCs go around upholding the will of the elders on recalcirant packs who think that the Sabbat credo of freedom means they can do whatever they want whenever they want. I do like the parallelism, but it's not as interesting to me.
Four stars for making me think of an entirely new mode of game that I would have never considered before reading it.
June 3, 2023
old wod scratches an itch for me that nobody else does, i love it so much
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews