The Time of Thin Blood

In theory, this book is a powerful tool for any Storyteller with a mature troope. The thin-blooded are a force to be reckoned with; their power is small but they numbers are unimaginable. Are these the Final Nights? The Book of Nod would seem to suggest so (according to this book), but what of it? There are Cainites so weak that the Sun no longer burns their flesh, vampires so far removed that they can bear breathing children.In this book are excellent rules for designing a discipline (or powers within a discipline), a subject rarely touched before. I have odd feelings about the subject of Dhampirs, the children of the thin-blooded, but this book portrays them marvelously. So much thought is put into these systems that I can hardly restrain my chronicles from overusing thin-blooded plots.Why just four stars then? That draws upon the overall readability. The grammar style of the authors is different from that of most other White Wolf publications. It's choppier and harder to read. Entire pages are written like notebooks, cutting up their readability factor. And the notes are, in some ways, no less than cheasy. The authors have reached out on a limb, which subsequently broke.Still, don't be discouraged. The thin-blooded are a wonderful plot point and excellent chronicle focus. They have fatal flaws counterbalanced by powerful assets that strike fear into the hearts of Elders. The Final Nights are here, embrace them.

I really liked the idea of "thin blooded" vampires, for two reasons. One, they are weaker (but they can shine) than everyone else. This is good for me from a StoryTellers point of view. One thing I can't stand is power-gamers. Since the Thin-blooded can make thier own disiplines, this gives me (the story teller) a measure of control, but can make them good characters. Second with Thin-blooded ones, they ARE weaker, so that makes them a challenge to play, and I love a challenge. Also this supplement was necesary. With some players being 13th Generation Vampire make their own childer, and this goes into detail on the information of 14th and 15th Gen Vampires. Finally Dhampirs... If I understand how Dhampirs work, they are essentally masterless ghouls, right? Now I'll admit that I don't know much about Ghouls, but that seems a bit weak for the childREN of Vampires.

This isn't the book for the gamers who want a supplement to contain more bitchin' powers and the (apparent) answers to some of the great mysteries of the game setting.Instead, this is jumping in at the deep end of the desperation, confusion and madness of the end of the world, as the vampires see it. Fourteen and fifteen generations later, the power of Caine's curse is wearing off, and vampires are being created who are more human and less vampire than those who have come before them. They aren't masters of the night, they aren't capable of living as humans. They're pathetic creatures living in fear and ignorance, not even knowing that there's an entire World of Darkness ready to do them in for reasons they won't live long enough to learn.Instead of the high Gothic opera of most "Vampire: The Masquerade" games, "Time of the Thin Blood" is a squalid, brutish and brutal game supplement that stinks of fear sweat and, along the way, gives reasons for the rest of the vampires to be sweating blood along with the thin-blooded.And, of course, there are some bitchin' new powers: The thin-blooded can't do much of what more potent vampires can do, but they can do some things that none of their elders (and betters) can do, including make babies. The rules for these half-human/half-vampire dhampires are also given. Would a player want to play one? Not most players in most games. But "Time of the Thin Blood" works best on its own (with the core rulebook, of course) or for the rare player who doesn't want to be a Lestat-like master of the night.And there's also some answers to the big questions, or at least an apparent answer that poses some bigger questions. The game master-only section at the back tells a brief tale: Something very old and very nasty wakes up in India, the supernatural world rises against it, and the world of VtM changes, getting more desperate and somewhat less populated ...This is the stuff of nightmares and urban legends. Good stuff. Pick it up.

I think it was a great idea to make the dhampires, and it was just a good book

This is a great book, the content is great with few exceptions. Layout could be improved however, having something like a rules/character creation/background arrangment with each in a seperate section would be better I think. As for content, if they could have written a new discipline to demonstrate step by step how the process goes, it would be better. Plus some more info on day to day(or night to night) lives of the thin blooded vamps and their dhampir children, sort of a "Thin-Blooded survival guide" like Mage: The Asscensions "Orphans Survival Guide" but the book is still a great resource and details pivotal WOD events. Salubri are no longer the rarest of the clans... you'll have to read it to find out why.