Category Archives: Book Review

Book Review: “Live from the Succubus Club:

image: Renegade Game Studios

“Fame calls. Damn the Masquerade.”

That’s the central premise to this new sourcebook for Vampire: the Masquerade fifth edition. Given the focus on maintaining the Masquerade (that’s the idea that humans can never find out that vampires exist and walk amongst them that the entire game hinges on), this might seem like the antithesis of the setting and system. So let’s dive into why this sourcebook is a great addition to your VtM games.

But first, some history…

The Succubus Club is a well-known feature of Vampire the Masquerade. It first landed in front of Vampire fans in 1991 with it’s own sourcebook, aptly titled “The Succubus Club”, for first edition. It detailed the Kindred-run night club in Chicago. It offered maps for each level, an overview of the services on offer to other vampires, the types of kine or humans the venue attracts, where Elysium lies within its walls, and no less than 7 scenarios featuring the venue, completed with character sheets for key figures the coteries might meet. In short, it is an incredible source of game material in its own right.

It was then followed in 2003 by “The Succubus Club: Dead Man’s Party” for revised edition. This work built on the previous book, adding more social machinations within the venue, and detailed breakdowns of what each clan might utilise the space for. It went to great lengths to detail appropriate behaviour in the location, what was or was not considered appropriate, and offered some ideas to incorporate into your running chronicles before delving in to secrets from behind the curtain that a Storyteller might want to pull on when using the setting. It didn’t specifically offer a story to run using the setting though, which is why it is not perhaps as frequently reached for when modern storytellers look to add the Succubus Club into the chronicles.

The Succubus Club in modern nights

image: Renegade Game Studios

“Live from the Succubus Club” brings the beloved location into a more modern setting, and offers guidelines on how to utilise its many rooms, services and secrets. Most notably, it also incorporates guidelines and rules on how “Lestat”-ify your kindred character. If you’ve been watching, or are an existing fan of, Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, you will be familiar with the Brat Prince himself, Lestat de Lioncourt and his musical career. Well, if you’re intent on giving your kindred character a moment in the spotlight like Lestat, then this book will be a must-have. Not only does it give guides on how to run a business for both kindred and kine, it also gives incredible insights on how to build a band of musical vampires. It shares the trials and tribulations you might face when touring, and how to navigate building a coterie of musicians, including how you might want to spend coterie XP.

The book details how The Succubus Club has syndicated across the globe – now a franchise of sorts, with clubs in locations all over the world. Each is a little different, due to the culture and society is resides in, but all still feel familiar enough to a travelling kindred looking to party with friends, both fanged and free of Caine’s curse.

It also sheds some light on how the Second Inquisition, the name given by vampires to the collective hunters who hunt them, might track and intercept them, interrupting shows, tours and even attempting to take them down with a stake to the chest.

Location information for settings across the world really helps to bring the idea of a touring band of kindred to life. The retinue of NPCs (or SPCs as they are known in this setting), is a gold mine for any Storyteller.

Chapter six gives us an incredibly well thought out chronicle we can use for our talented and fanged musicians, with Appendix 1 offering charts and tables for any storyteller to add elements into existing stories they may wish to spin. The Loresheets at the back of the book provide ties to the wider World of Darkness for characters looking to delve into this setting.

Fancy five minutes of fame?

“Live from the Succubus Club” is a great addition to your book collection if you’re a player or storyteller of fifth edition Vampire:” the Masquerade, and looking to add some fame, fortune and fickleness to your chronicle. I would highly recommend it is you are looking to add some ambition, international travel, music and cutthroat business in to your Vampire: the Masquerade chronicle.

You can get “Live from the Succubus Club” from Renegade Game Studios (affiliate link), your local friendly game store, or digital platforms like Roll 20 and Demiplane.

Book Review – “Buzzing Communities” by Richard Millington.

Disclaimer: This book was included as an addition to the attendee bags for the swarm conference held during September in Sydney, which I was the blogger for. I was not paid to review this book, and have decided to do so to spread knowledge about it under no reciprocal agreement.

 

"Buzzing Communities" by Rich Millington

“Buzzing Communities” by Rich Millington

This book is subtitled “How to build Bigger, Better, and More Active Online Communities” and boy does it teach that.

Having heard Rich speak at the swarm conference a few weeks ago, I was pretty excited when I finally got a chance to read this book. Since returning to Perth from Sydney, I have started a new full time position, as well as continuing my study, so “free time” is a mythical unicorn that frolics in pastures unknown to me at the moment. I tried to make a start of it on the plane home, but sleep was apparently more important as far as my brain and eyes were concerned.

Rich is the founder of the company Feverbee and The Pillar Summit. They run courses for professionals teaching community managers best practices for their groups. Should I get a few moments to take a better look into it, I would like to attend one. Oh free time, you special luxury you. ahem, but I digress.

This book is split up into clear sections, starting with how to manage your community, and what you need to know about your members. Within each of these sections are very straight forward chapters that describe in moderate detail the elements a community manager needs to understand in order to really get a community moving and building. There is also a good amount of information on how to properly sell the idea of building a community to higher management.

Perhaps the best section, from my view point at least, is how to really measure the return on investment for your community. We sometimes gets blinded by the warm fuzzies of community building and management that we forget that there’s only really worth and value to a company if you can show, on a chart or graph, what the community is giving back to the business. Rich manages to clear away the warm fuzzies, without hurting anyone’s feelings, and get down to the nitty gritty of it all.

He also does a great job of helping community managers define what success looks like. After all, if you don’t know what success looks like to you, or your management team, how are you going to know when you’ve achieved it?

He also includes a couple of great appendices at the end of the book. There is one describing some great online communities to go and have a look at, as examples of the principles he describes in the book. There is also a recommended reading guide, giving the reader a chance to go and build on what has been learned in his book. I particularly like when instructional books do this because it show a degree of humility on the part of the author, or that they want the reader to get more than what they can just offer them in the book they have penned.

I would recommend this book to community managers of all levels of experience, as well as marketing and PR teams who think they might like to develop a community for their brand. If both sides of the field know what is what when it comes to starting, redesigning or building a community online, then the outcomes can be much clearer and everyone knows where they stand.

 

Rich Millington’s book “Buzzing Communities: How to Build Bigger, Better, and More Active Online Communities” is printed by FeverBee and can be purchased through Amazon.com in paper form or for the Kindle.