Clanbook: Tzimisce (Vampire) [Paperback]

Thus far I've read the Giovanni, Lasombra, Nosferatu, Setite and Tzimisce Clanbooks, I am eagerly anticipating the Baali book (if amazon ever sends the thing), and I think that this one has been the best yet. The only one that compares is MAYBE the Nosferatu. This thing is packed with useful info. Everything you wanted (or didn't want to know) about the Tzimisce is in here, from the szlachta (guardian ghouls) to thier living rooms and gardens of flesh to thier 20-foot monsters (vozhd). The thing that gets me is that the Tzimisce say they started the Sabbat, and the Lasombra say the Tzimisce started the Sabbat (sort of), but the Lasombra still think they run it! Herein are the truths to alot of rumors about just who the Sabbat answers to. Great reading for the whole family!

Well. Here it is fifteen years later and I'm reviewing a Vampire clanbook. Time is a funny thing. My wife was going through the boxes in the garage and discovered all the old Storyteller books (and there were a lot of them). She decided to "check it all out". Hoo boy.

I needed a villain for the Halloween session I was putting together. Guess who popped into my mind first. Unfortunately I couldn't find my clanbook, so I bought the revised one (mine was the older version). I was surprised how disappointed I was with this book.

Alright. First of all, let's get the obvious out of the way. This book is about monsters. It's disturbing. It's gory. They torture people and make the morally vulnerable write long self-righteous reviews. Look, if you can't separate your own beliefs from the things you read, change your diaper and leave it alone. Beyond that, I think the other reviews say enough, so I'll leave it at that.

Now, let me say this as well. I am a religious studies major who used to be a philosophy major. I really put these books through the wringer when I read them and I don't pull any punches in being critical of them in terms of the pseudo-beliefs and psuedo-philosophies they present. I don't expect them to coincide with MY beliefs (that would be narcissistic), but I do expect them to be believable in theirs.

I read this Tzimisce clanbook and said "you know, something crucial is missing from what I remember. It's not adding up this time", so I ordered a copy of the older one and had it overnighted to me. I compared the two. I was right.

I have various theories of WHY (which I will spare you), but this book's philosophy has been hollowed out. It explains WHAT the Tzimisce do with a decent amount of detail, but it doesn't really REALLY explain WHY. Sure, it covers the Darwinian idea, but the Tzimisce are obviously a lot older than that. The 'why' I remembered is in the first book; it's rolled out with the clan's history. Without understanding the Eldest, and what he sought, and why, you won't ever really "get" the Tzimisce. Bold statement, I know, but there it is.

Maybe that's for the best. Maybe the designers decided the players and Storytellers were better off seeing the fiends the way they're presented here. Maybe it was due to the content they presented in the Gehenna book. It's about fifteen years too late to really find out for sure. I think it was a bad move either way.

If you still play the "real" Storyteller games (and bravo if you do; the new stuff is all crap), get your hands on the original Tzimisce clanbook. It will really expand and explain this macabre and monstrous clan for you. If you're going to use the Tzimisce a lot (or play one), get this book too and consider it an expansion. Just don't skip the first one; it's a lot better.

While being one of the shortest World of Darkness books at a whopping 68 pages (72 if you count the character sheet), this book gives you every bit of knowledge you ever need about the Tzimisce. They are not so much evil as they are ammoral. Rather than bloodthirsty savages like others, the Tzi are like scientitists studying how Vampires are far different from humans and maybe the next evolutionary step. The pictures and illustrations were rather lame, as if the entire Tzimisce clan were designed by Clive Barker. Truthfully however, it is pretty cheap too ($10?). For those Storytellers looking for great villians, or players looking to release steam and be evil for once. This book is cool.