Mind's Eye Theatre - Vampire The Requiem.pdf - RoseRed

theme and mood • how to use this book
THEME AND MOOD
While each story you and your troupe tells will have its own unique theme and mood,
The Requiem itself has a certain theme and mood built into it. While you can certainly
play against type or push the overarching themes and moods into the background, they are
present nevertheless.
THEME
Many Kindred defi ne their existence as an unanswerable riddle: “A Beast I am, lest a Beast
I become.” This idea makes morality the core theme of Requiem. What will a vampire do
now that she’s become a vampire? Will she exult in the Beast’s passions? Will she fi ght to
retain her ties to what she knew in her mortal life? Is her unlife a lie, played out falsely under
the pretense that she never became a vampire? Is her unlife a hellish maraud through the
dark side of evil wiles indulged? Most Kindred’s unlives fall somewhere in between. That’s
the crux of the riddle, however. How much leeway does a vampire allow her Beast in order
to acknowledge it and yet keep it from overwhelming her?
MOOD
In some senses, The Requiem’s mood corresponds to key elements of the setting. The
world is grim and brooding, with shadows hiding ugly secrets and terrible threats. Play this up
as much as you wish — make the game a fount of boundless angst if you choose. Secrets and
espionage are part of the setting too, though, so a conspiratorial mood is also very appropriate.
A blend of the two serves the game best. A certain amount of woe regarding the Kindred
condition highlights the game’s personal horror and gothic roots, while schemes and secrets
give the world a degree of creeping horror above the personal level, revealing the true depth
of its malignance bit by bit, much like a darkening sky blanketing the world in night.
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
This book is broken up into numerous chapters, each covering a certain set of topics that relate
to the information as it will be used over the course of the game and in your chronicle.
This Introduction exists to give you a quick bit of exposure to the world of The Requiem’s
Kindred, as well as a few ideas on what the game is designed to do.
Chapter One concerns itself with Kindred society and the world in which the Kindred hide.
It examines everything from covenants and customs to domain politics and hoary secrets of
the Danse Macabre, the never-ending struggle between Kindred for supremacy.
Aspects of character are the focus of Chapter Two, from details regarding creation of an
alternate persona to the characteristics of the clans to the mechanics of the Kindred’s unholy
powers themselves.
The game’s systems and card-drawing concerns make up Chapter Three. These mechanics
govern all of the aspects of chance that occur during the course of a story, handling everything
from characters threatened by frenzies spawned by the Beast to suffering physical damage to
losing one’s Morality and sanity, and even more.
Advice is offered to the Storyteller in Chapter Four. This includes everything from suggestions
on how to handle the setting to considerations to make when structuring a chronicle.
The chapter includes a variety of pre-made antagonists for use in stories as well.
The Appendix comprises bloodlines and new Disciplines. One of the features of The
Requiem is a customizable lineage system by which characters can create their own unique
broods and families of vampires, as well as the unique powers to which they lay claim. This
chapter includes systems by which players and Storytellers can generate new ones.
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