Clanbook: Brujah
By
Steve Crow
1992,
66 pages
Violent Revolution! Since their birth in the Second City, the
Brujah have embodied change and struggle against the system. The Brujah are the first Anarchs, the first
to turn against their Antediluvian founder when Troile diablerized the Brujah
progenitor. While the Lasombra and the
Tzimisce later destroyed their own Antediluvian founders during the Dark Ages,
they are both late-comers to the struggle against the Elders that the Brujah
began millennia ago. This revolutionary
ideal continued from that first act of diablerie and into the modern nights
typified by three revolutions: the
American Revolutionary War, the Russian Revolution, and the creation of the
Anarch Free State.
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| 2nd Edition Brujah |
As glorious as this history sounds,
Clanbook Brujah falls flat with its presentation of the clan and its
ideals. Themes of struggle and
revolution run through this book because it was written from the perspective of
the Anarch movement, and according to this book, the primary conflict of the
Kindred world is not Sabbat versus the Camarilla but the Anarachs against the
entrenched power of the Prince and Primogen, what the book calls the
Toreador/Tremere/Ventrue triangle of power.
However, by limiting the perspective to just the Anarch’s voice, many of
the deeper themes of the Brujah fall by the wayside. They are reduced to being just rabble
rousers. For example, when discussing
the three types of meetings that the clan has, the Rant, the Rave and the
Debate, the Rant and Rave are described as exciting and intriguing events, but
the Debate is a mind-numbingly boring affair for Elders. A Rant is the most common meeting of Clan
Brujah where clan members argue and fight, shouting at each other and even
getting into fights. Rants are where the
Brujah hand internal crimes and resolve clan issues. A Rave begins with a scavenger hunt where
clan members have to hunt down a series of clues to find the location of a
massive party or even a Rant. A Debate
is best summed up as a House subcommittee meeting where point after sub-point after
sub-sub-point is discussed endlessly about an unimportant issue but is never
resolved.
The Brujah, according to this
clanbook, are divided into three groups.
The largest group is the Iconoclasts who are typically Anarchs that
fight against the entrenched power of the Princes and Camarilla. The second group is the Idealists who are the
Elders of the clan and represent the more academic minded. Finally, the smallest group is the
Individualists who act as mediators between these two groups. However, because this clanbook has a strong
Anarch bias, the Idealists and Individualists aren’t all that interesting and
aren’t really given much depth.
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| How many of these people sleep with their eyes open? |
Chapter 2, Legends of the Brujah
which discusses Troile’s overthrow and murder of Brujah (or Ilyes) in the
Second City, the American Revolution, and the Russian Revolution is blandly
written. The text is matter of fact and
reads like a history book. Carthage is
mentioned, but not much depth is given other than to say it was an attempt to
recreate the “paradise” of the Second City where vampires could roam openly
amongst mortals and ruled the city directly.
The
inclusion of vampires into the history of the American Revolution and the
Russian Revolution is almost comical at times.
Benjamin Franklin is mentioned, but he was so popular that several clans
wanted to embrace him. None did because
he was more useful as a mortal. The
birth and fall of the Soviet Union is a comedy of errors perpetrated by and on
a council of Brujah Elders who can’t make up their minds about Lenin, Stalin or
their plans to turn the Soviet Union into a new Carthage in the 20th
century. Rather than being indirectly
involved in world history, Clanbook:
Brujah suggests that Kindred are actually the real movers and shakers of
the world but can’t accomplish anything because they are too busy stabbing each
other in the back. Finally the Nosferatu
Elder Baba Yaga awoke from torpor and destroyed the Brujah Council’s hold on
the Soviet Union and most of the council members as well leading to the Soviet
Union’s destruction and the creation of the Russian Federation. The whole section on Russia is a comedy of
errors and the Brujah are the punch line.
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| A Brujah that's not an Anarch? Say it isn't so! |
As for new mechanics, only the
Debate resolved by rolling the Secondary Ability Debate, (In V20 this would be
Performance or Expression) and the introduction of Combination Disciplines are
added. The Combination Disciplines are
for Brujah only, and generally interesting.
However, the lack of an experience point cost attached to these new
Disciplines could encourage power gaming.
The only requirement is that the character must learn these abilities
from a mentor, and the required time could take months. Burning Wrath, for example, makes all
brawling attacks do aggravated damage. Although
no mechanics are introduced for the True Brujah, these direct descendents of
the Brujah Antideluvian (not Troile), are included in a side panel. Their discipline, Temporus, is briefly
mentioned as well, but again, no actual mechanics. These are left to the Storyteller to explore,
but the seed is there for the mystery of these strange Kindred, much like the
Nictuku in the Nosferatu book. Although
unlike the Nictuku, the True Brujah are detailed later in Dirty Secrets of the
Black Hand and in Vampire the Masquerade 20th Anniversary
Edition.
Chapter 4: Brujah Templates provides a large variety of
stereotypical Brujah for players to use.
The only templates that go beyond the basic stereotypes are the Fake
Rapper and the Rapper. Because this book
was published in 1992, Vanilla Ice and Ice Cube are the obvious origins of
these templates. This pair of templates
best represent how to draw inspiration from real world celebrities and bring
them into the World of Darkness without being too cheesy. The Rogue Cop/Vigilante Template is a great
twist to the classic Brujah. This
character was once a cop who went rogue and became a vigilante after seeing too
many criminals set free by corrupt cops.
She/He hates the typical Brujah because they have a complete disregard
for Mortal and Kindred laws and are no different than the criminals she/he
hated when she/he was a mortal.
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| Smilin' Jack from VtM Bloodlines |
Of all the clanbooks, this one is
the weakest, but it is also the first.
Clanbook: Brujah does offer some
information on the mysterious Baba Yaga and the events happening in Russia
which has always been a great mystery.
However, even those morsels are not enough to make this book a good
investment except for fans of Vampire the Masquerade who want to complete their
collection or fans of clan Brujah who absolutely must know every little detail
of the clan. Groups that have
transitioned to V20 will have to make changes to make templates fit in the new
system because of changes to some of the skills and abilities. Finally if you’re a fan of Vampire: The
Masquerade Bloodlines, then you’ll recognize Anarch Smilin’ Jack who has a
short write up in the Appendix of famous Brujah.
Clanbook
Brujah is available at DriveThruRPG as PDF or you can purchase the original
book from Amazon.
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