Jen tak pro zajímavost, otevřel Stryx Chronicle aka update Vampire the Requiem do druhé edice nWoD... a neměl jsem to dělat, protože jsem na posezení hed přečetl padesát stránek. Hrozně se mi líbí, že byť se fluff změnil jen minimálně, to jak je ta knížka napsané je úplně někde jinde a dává to úplně jiný dojem z celého settingu - klany, které jsou v originále zjevnými archetypy najednou člověk nemá chuť nahradit těmi ze starého WoD nebo úplně vyhodit, ale opravdu si je zahrát, místo vyhozeného "celosvětového" metaplotu byla teď už opravdu dodány kokrétní místa (města) a zajímavé problémy, se kterými se můžou postavy potýkat, dokonce covenanty už působí jak něco, co by mohlo vzniknout i ve skutečném světě a nejen ve fantasy. Malé srovnání:
VtR píše:
While vampires give mortals a reason to be afraid of the dark, there exist things that give even vampires reason to fear — creatures like the Gangrel, the predators among the predators, the most savage of beasts. Perhaps the only clan whose mere mention almost always elicits a chilled shudder or a reverent nod, the Gangrel are, in many ways, the “noble savages” of the vampiric race. Upon their Embrace (and sometimes before), the Gangrel seek to sever their ties with everything pertaining to their mortal lives. Many prefer the counsel of animals and other beasts, and some eschew contact with the mortal world entirely. While many retain and even value their humanity, they do so within the bounds and context of their newfound existence, and not as an attempt to hold onto what’s been lost, for no other option is practical to a clan whose very soul is so intimately intertwined with its Beast. While others delude themselves about what the Embrace “truly means,” the Gangrel know what they’ve become, so they strive to make peace with it. On the whole, they spend more time in communion with their bestial side than other vampires do, and though such activity more than accounts for their nickname and reputation, few would disagree that the Gangrel truly benefit from their introspection.
Their special bond with the Beast seems to give many Gangrel a unique insight into the Kindred condition, and some of the wisest vampires to be found in all the world hail from this clan. Whereas other Kindred try to become scholars or philosophers, collecting endless data and positing on the theoretical, the Gangrel are its yogis and medicine men, its bodhisattvas and whirling dervishes. The unequivocal and irreplaceable benefit of first-hand experience flows through them, supplanting the theoretical with the practical, and making the Gangrel widely respected among those who recognize the primeval nature of the Kindred soul. This insight makes the clan invaluable, but also makes it dangerous, and some would just as soon silence the Gangrel as hear their
frank wisdom.
...
Background: Potential Gangrel can come from nearly any former life, but few Savages would choose a mortal who did not possess a strong survival instinct. Beyond this, most are quite particular about those they sire. Gangrel loathe personal weakness and those who are soft of body or mind (especially given their weakness), particularly those with a paper-thin or disconnected sense of being. Clan members most admire those whose greatest strengths are the strengths of the self — self-awareness, self-confidence and self-reliance. While it is not unheard of for a Gangrel to Embrace someone who lacks these qualities (usually as a cruel test to see whether the Embrace will sufficiently toughen the person up), most Gangrel hold to their standards, as not doing so is often more effort than it’s worth.
Blood and Smoke: The Stryx Chronicle píše:
Something dead approaches. It comes from way out, where The End eats the road. It is a brother to owls and a companion to scarecrows. No escape. You’ll try to kill it, but it will not die. You’ll try to outrun it, but it will lope after on four feet. You’ll try to escape, but it goes where other monsters fear to tread. You’ll lock yourself in a tower or a vault, but it will come on nighted wings or as ravenous smoke. You’ll plead to its human face, but it will only grin and say, “He who makes a beast of himself gets rid of the pain of being a man.” You’ll die wondering whom the monster quoted.
The Gangrel are the ultimate survivors. Close to the Beast and close to the bone, they’re primal. No. Feral! They’re tough, shrugging off what should be terrible wounds as the weapons harmlessly thunk in their dead flesh. They’re out there, and you can’t do a damn thing about them. More than any other clan, they are a reminder that the greatest lie the Devil ever told was, “Congratulations, you escaped the food chain!”
Where do they come from? Fuck you! That’s where. Ask the sun where it comes from. Ask the moon. Ask Ekhidna, Baba Yaga, and Enkidu. Their history is the space between sharp teeth and your throat. They are the ripping, barking now-nownow! Still want the stories? Best get rambling. Hit the freeways, highways, rails, trails, and cornfields lovely, dark, and deep. Read the runic rhymes on ancient stone. Riddles written on the walls of moaning alleys. Fragments of epics scratched into condom machines in gas station bathrooms.
Seek out the oral traditions, echoed by the bleating herd. Ask the meth-head trucker about that black dog that harshed his buzz. Ask about the Unholy and her crows. The Gangrel make more bogeymen amongst their Kindred, per capita, and that’s a fact. They are the voice in the bog. They are the thirsty earth. They are the reason men discovered fire. They are all mouths on the devouring road.
...
...See the CEO. They say successful businessmen have personality traits in common with sociopaths and predators. He’s Shere Khan in a three-piece suit. The rules really didn’t change. Eat or be eaten. Greed is good. The skyscraper is just another jungle, and he claimed it, floor to floor, marking with his own blood. He knows everything that goes on in his jungle. Every jackal and leopard bows to him. How they yowl, growl, and howl. Sometimes the primal metaphors cut too literal. He messes up so many suits. But he just sloughs them off like a molting animal. In his penthouse apartment, there is a closet with rows of suits like rotating shark teeth.
Dodám že jsem nijak moc nezkoumal co se změnilo v systému, jen mě prostě nadchlo jak dobře jsou nové fluffové texty napsané.