Doc Sammy
White Trash Weeb
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- Apr 25, 2017
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Alright, welcome to the first installment of a new series of "Let's Read" threads titled Doc Sammy Reads The Classics.
As the name implies, I will be doing commentary as I read through old-school RPG books from the 1970's to the early 2000's.
We'll look through different games and supplements released between 1974 (OD&D) and 2008 (D&D 4E) but most of the books I will be doing commentary on were released before 2000, with a few noteworthy exceptions like D&D 3.5, BESM d20, and Vampire: The Requiem.
For the very first installment of this series, we're going back to the halcyon days of the early 1990's with a twofer "Let's Read" of both the original core rulebook and the first volume of the Chicago Chronicles, which was a compilation series of several Vampire 1E books that were released late in the game's second edition run. All the original materials from this compilation series were released between 1991 and 1993, and were out of print by the mid-point of Second Edition.
For a quick reference, these are the different books in each volume.
Chicago Chronicles 1: Chicago by Night (1991) and The Succubus Club (1991)
Chicago Chronicles 2: Under a Blood Red Moon (1993) and Chicago by Night Second Edition (1993)
Chicago Chronicles 3: Ashes to Ashes (1991), Blood Bond (1992), and Milwaukee by Night (1992)
Why the second volume is composed of the last of the original Chicago books instead of the third volume is beyond me, but I digress.
Side Note: There were also The City Chronicles which contained other early sourcebooks and modules that were set outside of Chicago, such as Alien Hunger and Dark Colony, the two Diablerie adventure modules, as well as the supplementary books The Anarch Cookbook and Elysium: The Elder Wars.
Since we are doing a twofer of the First Edition core rulebook and the first volume of the Chicago Chronicles, I will be covering the following books in this thread...
1. Vampire: The Masquerade, First Edition (1991)
2. Chicago by Night (1991)
3. The Succubus Club (1991)
We're going to start with the corebook and then move onto Chicago by Night and then conclude with The Succubus Club.
There is a reason as to why I am starting with a commentary of Vampire 1E before moving onto Chicago by Night (which was the winner of the poll) and it's mainly the fact that the mini-setting of Gary, Indiana that is featured near the end of the core rulebook is intended as a starting point for Chicago by Night. Also, I'd like to get into the feeling of what the game was like when it first came out contrasted against what the game would later become, and I think starting with the corebook and then moving directly into the immensely influential and well-regarded Chicago by Night would help establish that context better.
I also welcome open commentary from all the users in this thread, and since these books were released before I was even born, I would greatly appreciate input and commentary from those at the Pub who were actually there at the time.
The commentary proper will begin later this evening with both the introductory fiction and the first chapter of Vampire 1E.
As the name implies, I will be doing commentary as I read through old-school RPG books from the 1970's to the early 2000's.
We'll look through different games and supplements released between 1974 (OD&D) and 2008 (D&D 4E) but most of the books I will be doing commentary on were released before 2000, with a few noteworthy exceptions like D&D 3.5, BESM d20, and Vampire: The Requiem.
For the very first installment of this series, we're going back to the halcyon days of the early 1990's with a twofer "Let's Read" of both the original core rulebook and the first volume of the Chicago Chronicles, which was a compilation series of several Vampire 1E books that were released late in the game's second edition run. All the original materials from this compilation series were released between 1991 and 1993, and were out of print by the mid-point of Second Edition.
For a quick reference, these are the different books in each volume.
Chicago Chronicles 1: Chicago by Night (1991) and The Succubus Club (1991)
Chicago Chronicles 2: Under a Blood Red Moon (1993) and Chicago by Night Second Edition (1993)
Chicago Chronicles 3: Ashes to Ashes (1991), Blood Bond (1992), and Milwaukee by Night (1992)
Why the second volume is composed of the last of the original Chicago books instead of the third volume is beyond me, but I digress.
Side Note: There were also The City Chronicles which contained other early sourcebooks and modules that were set outside of Chicago, such as Alien Hunger and Dark Colony, the two Diablerie adventure modules, as well as the supplementary books The Anarch Cookbook and Elysium: The Elder Wars.
Since we are doing a twofer of the First Edition core rulebook and the first volume of the Chicago Chronicles, I will be covering the following books in this thread...
1. Vampire: The Masquerade, First Edition (1991)
2. Chicago by Night (1991)
3. The Succubus Club (1991)
We're going to start with the corebook and then move onto Chicago by Night and then conclude with The Succubus Club.
There is a reason as to why I am starting with a commentary of Vampire 1E before moving onto Chicago by Night (which was the winner of the poll) and it's mainly the fact that the mini-setting of Gary, Indiana that is featured near the end of the core rulebook is intended as a starting point for Chicago by Night. Also, I'd like to get into the feeling of what the game was like when it first came out contrasted against what the game would later become, and I think starting with the corebook and then moving directly into the immensely influential and well-regarded Chicago by Night would help establish that context better.
I also welcome open commentary from all the users in this thread, and since these books were released before I was even born, I would greatly appreciate input and commentary from those at the Pub who were actually there at the time.
The commentary proper will begin later this evening with both the introductory fiction and the first chapter of Vampire 1E.