Followers of Set Revised Clanbook (Vampire: The Masquerade Clanbooks) [Paperback]

Lets face it. The previous clan books were pretty [bad], so the Revised clan books have a lot to make up for. Well this one certainly does an excellent job of making the Followers of Set actually playable. After you read this book, you will actually be able to incorporate Setites into your games without disrupting it.
The opening fiction gives us plenty of hints that what we think about them might not be so accurate after all. And then we get the kicker. The first chapter about history is written by a skeptical Setite! Theres a heavy focus on Egypt, and it looks like the authors really did some homework here. It starts off in pre-dynastic times, with the conflict between Osiris and Set and continues throughout dynastic Egypt into the Persian invasion and Alexander's liberation of Egypt. From then on, we get some stuff on Carthage, Cleopatra, Roman north Africa, the Coptic period and Set's disappearence. Byzantine and Muslim Egypt, along with the Crusades in the Holy Land, are then explored, with lots of juicy little tidbits. It goes on to the Ottoman era and the slow spread into Europe (the "Dark Continent"). We finally get into the modern era, along with some hints at non-Egyptian Setites! And then we are left with a disturbing ending.
The next chapter is the meat, explaining the role of the Setites, Egyptian mythology and the Pah of Typhon-Set. We learn that the Setites are not base corrupters, but religious fanatics, servants of a dark and terrible god who offers freedom and scholars who seek to preserve forbidden lore. Definately a better motivation than undead pimps and drug lords. We get some hints for "Playing a God", a revision of the Path of Typhon (and the new Path of Sutekh), cult structure and some sample temples (mainly in northern Africa). Aside from the stereotypes of other clans and supernaturals, we also get to learn that the Setites are indeed not exclusively Egyptian. Aside from the orthodox cults, other ones exist, drawing from other cultures. We learn of the Norse Setites who revere the great serpent, the African Children of Damballah, the Sabbat's Serpents of Light who follow Voodoo and Santeria, the Shaivite Daitya of India and the Tlacique, ancient Aztec, Mayan and Incan vampires who now challenge the Sabbat.
The chapter closes out with some mechanical stuff. New knowledge called Setite Lore, which draws upon the forbidden lore from ancient Egypt, and some new discipline powers. We get higher level Serpentis powers, along with some Obfuscate, Presence and multi-discipline powers. Plus we finally get a look at the hoary magics of ancient Egypt. The Setites can boast blood magicians just as potent as the Tremere. And not only are there Egyptian blood magics, but also Hindu magics of the Daitya, voodoo and santeria magics from Serpents of Light and the sacrificial magics of Mesoamerica used by the Tlacique.
And of course, it closes out with the standard character templates, signature characters and a Setite specific character sheets. Surprisingly, the character templates are all pretty unique and original, a rarity for a clan book. Things like prophetic artist, business man who sells cheap Egyptian-style art, psychology, techno-mystic and gladiator. Plus we get the non-standard ones: Native rights activist Tlacique, voodoo queen Serpent of Light and debunking scientist Daitya. Pretty cool actually. The signature characters include a brood of Setites who repair other's reputations, as well as the signature character Hesha Ruhadze. More interesting, for me anyway, was the Daitya "devil-Brahmin" Sundervere. From what I've been told, he's going to become a major signature character in the upcoming Victorian Era Vampire. Regardless, hes a cool character.
Check out this book if you want to make Setites with any real depth to them. Its an excellent clan book, and well worth the buy. Afterwards, you will actually be able to run them in your chronicles. The section on Egyptian history was extremely well written, even without the Setites, plus the new non-western bloodlines like the Children of Damballah, Daita and Tlacique were all neat additions too. Check out Blood Sacrifice for more on non-western blood magicians (especially Setites).

I picked up CB: FoS to help round out a character I was playing in a Vampire LARP, in large part because I had never actually tried to play a real Settite before. All clans are hobbled by excessive stereotyping, but the infrequency of the minor clans and bloodlines makes such stereotypes even more difficult to break out of successfully. The Clanbook helps bust through the "traditional" view of the Followers of Set, barely even mentioning the base pandering that most people would associate with the Clan.

The Revised V:tM books as a whole are a major improvement over the stumbling in first and second edition, and this clanbook is no exception. An updated Path, while less strenuous in it's hierarchy of sins than some, gives much more character to the Followers of Set, while a review of history and pre-history of the world through the eyes of the cult provides a depth that suits so ancient a following.

The updating of the dogma of the Followers of Set does a great job of transforming them from a group of fundamentalists into a vital if dark religion. The style of writing also keeps the message fluid enough that one finds it hard to get locked in to a single interpretation of the message of the Followers of Set, empahiszing once again that their faith is one to be experienced, not simply one of words.

What I would have liked to see more of:
examples of the founding of a temple
more on akhu and specific ritualistic practices

This book is a cultural and historical study of one of the darkest of clans. The focus is one the culture and the mindset of the "snakes." This book discards the worn out stereotype of "Servants of Set" and gives them more depth. They are still his servants, but the are more... main stream. They still have thier dark goals, but they are protrayed with more human motivations. They are seen as religious, not mindless fanatical worshipers who cant think about anything beyond Set and snakes. Set colors everything they do, but he no longer appears to dictate everything that they do. If you read the clan novel, you will see that this clan book better describes Hesha, the previous work made it hard for me to imagine how a clan of fanatics could create such subtle schemeing sellers of secrets. This work paints a picture that makes it clear.

The down side is that the list of disciplines is weak.