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A Requiem book covering paranormal romance was inevitable. Vampires as a romantic trope are very hot right now so why wouldn't the folks at White Wolf get irate. "We've been doing this vampire thing for twenty years, son! We got this." That must have been in the pitch meeting somewhere. So why not put their own brand on it and show roleplayers how to do love, lust, sex and romance the new World of Darkness way.
Vampires are inherently sensual creatures no matter where characters plot on the bestial-to-seductive sliding scale. In order to exist they need to get close enough to a mortal to sup on their warm pumping blood. Even if this involves a grab from the shadows type of ambush it is a deeply intimate act, not to mention how Requiem describes the effect of The Kiss on the pleasure centers of both feeder and vessel. Romance may be used cynically as a means of feeding. It can be the thing that keeps a vampire from surrendering his humanity by clinging doggedly to the pursuit of winning hearts as a vital part of his Requiem. A game of courtship might be a stable of city politics. It could arise as a result of your characters Virtue and Vice combination or a blood bond. Or you could be playing a Ghoul who loves her regent with all her crooked heart.
Strange, Dead Love gives guidance on how to use paranormal romance as a narrative device in your games wether a liaison crops up organically and unexpectedly in an existing campaign or if you decide to make relationship drama the centerpiece of the campaign. Requiem tries to hard to be a horror title but urban fantasy is it's real strong point so why not explore subgenera of fantasy? Of great use is the analyses of paranormal romance as a genre including the specifics of narrative structure, stock characters and common themes. Much of this book could be use in any White Wolf title. I could find much utility for the new World of Darkness game that centers on courtly romance, Changeling: the Lost. I know that one of the Forsaken Chronicler's Guide segments centered on romance as pack dynamic and Strange, Dead Love could help you make the most of it.
There is a chapter of Shards, taking a cue from World of Darkness: Mirrors these are campaign kits exploring a different aspect of a vampiric paranormal romance. I particularly liked The Prince's Child which is a scenario where a powerful elder is going to slumber and is ceding Princedom of a powerful city to his delicate childer about whom no one knows many details. Because of his inexperience the childe must choose someone as a steward, a lover and protector who likely will hold much of the real power in the city. This shard hits at the core strengths of Requiem and would make fine use of the social combat rules in Dance Macabre. The shards are all versatile enough to appeal to the wide tastes of the paranormal romance fan but sufficiently blood-drenched for Requiem.
Strange, Dead Love is not what I expected. Before it's release FlamesRising had a author Q&A session. I asked if the book would address the specifics of how Requiem vampires approach romance and intimacy particularly as they age. I mean, vampires Embraced in the last ten years can still remember their human emotions. Do they feel yearnings to experience them again lest they become monsters even if they are just aping the experience? The monsters that are the elders possibly undead for hundreds of years have surely forgotten what an honest to God love affair feels like. Has their experience of lust become tainted by literal bloodlust? I came to this book with these questions wanting to be answered and what Strange, Dead Love does is say "Hey! Those are some interesting points; here is what you can do to make explore those themes in your campaign." I forgot where Requiem and the new World of Darkness was at this stage in it's evolution. This is a toolbox release in the style of Mirrors, not a supplement/sourcebook in the vein of The Gilded Cage. You don't have much concrete "canon" about vampiric love that isn't in the Requiem core book but you've got a lot of props and themes to explore. If that lack of detail is going to upset you then Strange, Dead Love might be a waste of your time.
I would have liked a bit more teeth in the section on social contracts. If you are dealing with gaming involving sex or the implication of sex you've really got to nail down boundaries at the start. There are a lot of gems here, such as in the character creation section. I've been rolling up characters and writing often-elaborate backstories for a long time but never would I have considered my characters sexual and romantic history as anything more than grey area a to fill in as applicable. If you are running a romance-centered game though you've got to take first kisses and lost virginity into account. If you've got crushes and ex-lovers and rivals out there in the city then you've got plot hooks, baby.
Even if romance isn't your thing. Even if you think it's girl stuff. You'd be missing out if you're a Requiem fan and didn't give this a read.
Rating: [4 of 5 Stars!] |
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