New Release: Blood and Smoke: The Strix Chronicle

Blood and Smoke: The Strix Chronicle

Blood and Smoke: The Strix Chronicle, the new standalone rulebook for Vampire: The Requiem, is now available as a PDF!

The new Chronicle Core book for Vampire: The Requiem.

Tonight, you become one of the Kindred, the beautiful and the damned who hide behind our ordinary world. Driven by a hunger like fire, you will struggle to maintain your humanity while immersed in a vicious society of monsters.

But the sharks you swim with aren’t the only ones out there. Your Kindred are the smart, sexy vampires of pop culture, but you are haunted by the Strix — the grisly, demon-possessed corpses of folklore. They slaughtered the Night-Senate of Rome, drowned the tombs of the Princes of Alexandria, and warred with the Plague Lords of Transylvania.

Tonight, they’re loose on the streets of your city. Time for the sinners to become the saints, and the hunters to become the prey.

Blood and Smoke: The Strix Chronicle contains:

  • A complete guide to playing a vampire in the World of Darkness. No other rulebooks are required, and the rules are fully compatible with The God-Machine Chronicle.
  • Reimagined clans, covenants, and supernatural powers to create your perfect monster… and her friends and foes.
  • A first-ever look at vampire domains around the world, from Tokyo to Berlin.
  • Twenty unique Strix, as well as complete rules for building your own.

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32 responses to “New Release: Blood and Smoke: The Strix Chronicle”

  1. Nico Avatar
    Nico

    at last! buying now! wooo! 😀

  2. Nox Ascensa Avatar
    Nox Ascensa

    Hurrah! Congratulations to all the team for the long way from conception to release! Looking forward to enjoying your new, updated version of our favourite denizens of the night!

  3. Nekosluagh Avatar
    Nekosluagh

    Just wondering if this one is going to be PoD from DriveThru. PDF is great, but I would love to get a physical copy of this to go with my GMC book.

    1. IanW Avatar
      IanW

      All our releases are made available in print.

      1. Nicholas Avatar
        Nicholas

        Do we know the time scale for the PoD copy? The pdf is great for research, but I really like having a physical copy of the book and I’d like to order them at the same time. Awesome news though!

        1. Matt Avatar

          Standard process is to let folks comment on the PDF and give the devs a chance to look over it for any typos, odd layout bugs, etc. before prepping the PoD version.

          1. Nicholas Avatar
            Nicholas

            That makes sense. What about that coupon Peter was talking about? Sorry, I’m not used to buying things on release day, but me and my girlfriend have been eagerly awaiting this one.

          2. Matt Avatar

            Exactly what he said. Once the Print version is ready to go live discount links for the Print book go out to folks who bought the PDF. However, this only works if people have their account on DTRPG set to accept e-mails from White Wolf:

            https://www.drivethrustuff.com/account_contact_options.php?site=dtrpg

  4. Octavo Avatar
    Octavo

    Mmm, I love that one of the opening quotes is from The Princess and Curdie. This is going to be great.

  5. Alisson Avatar
    Alisson

    OMG, unfortunately I’ll have to wait for the PoD option and I’m dying of curiosity 🙁 🙁 🙁

    1. Peter Avatar
      Peter

      If your planning to get the PDF/POD combo you might as well grab the PDF now. If you do drive thru will send you a coupon for the PDF/POD combo(you’ll pay the same if you wait for it to be available)

  6. Victor Avatar
    Victor

    Does the “free” bane that the Mekhet get also force them to take -1 to Detachment rolls? It’s not clear from the text, and if it does then that clan weakness seems to me to be a lot harsher than the rest.

    1. Victor Avatar
      Victor

      Actually, is there a thread or other central location for noting down issues that need resolving before PoD? I’m reading through as fast as I can, and I want to inform you of issues as I spot them.

      Anyway, the Dependent Condition (p 302) refers you to p302 for the effects of second stage Blood Bond. It should redirect to p99 or p100.

      1. Joshua Avatar
        Joshua

        http://forum.theonyxpath.com/forum/main-category/main-forum/the-new-world-of-darkness/vampire-the-requiem/31161-blood-and-smoke-errata

        That is the thread that is handling the Errata… first thread on the Vampire: The Requiem boards actually.

  7. JoeB. Avatar

    Awesome! Congrats to the whole team, you guys deserve major Kudos for a job well done.
    One small, tiny request: could you please extend the discount voucher to the Premium Color POD and not just the standard??

    Thanks gals & guys.

  8. Mara Avatar
    Mara

    I am a little confused: Does this and the God Machine Chronicle books basicly say “Hey..you who bought the books way back when? Those are no longer needed. Buy these new books!” Or do these use the old books as the core, and then have revisions for a Chronicle set using those settings? I.E., does this completely replace Requiem and the World of Darkness Corebook in itself, does this just replace Requiem, or does this act as a supplement to Requiem with rules revisions/additions?

    1. IanW Avatar
      IanW

      GMC requires the WoD Core.

      Blood and Smoke, as pointed out, is a standalone book and doesn’t require anything else to use.

  9. Nick Avatar
    Nick

    Awesome. I’ve been so looking forward to this.
    On the subject of the POD discount codes, I still haven’t received my discount codes for either Guildhalls of the Deathless or Convention Book Void Engineers. I’m still receiving e-mail messages from DTRPG about White Wolf/Onyx Path, and I’ve gone through the bulk/spam folder, just in case, but still nothing. Any advice?

    1. IanW Avatar
      IanW

      Contact DriveThruRPG.

  10. Jeff Crowl Avatar
    Jeff Crowl

    I’m really excited to see this thing hit pdf, guys! And I’d also love to see a thread for tracking corrections. I thought I heard someone at LAbN say that when publishers make editing corrections, they can update the copies we’ve already purchased, correct?

    Also, I’d really like to see clarifications on Touchstones: Do they have any mechanical effect if they’re “detached?” Do Draugr still need Touchstones to not fall into Torpor? And once your last Touchstone is dead, is it just assumed a newly-awakened Kindred has a month to go reestablish the complex, emotional relationship of a Touchstone with *someone* of importance to her or fall asleep again? Finally, if you need connections to a Touchstone to remain active without the Lethargic Condition, the “loner off in the woods” archetype is pretty much impossible for PC’s and NPC’s alike, correct? Thanks!!

    1. IanW Avatar
      IanW

      There’s a thread on our forums for collecting errata.

    2. Victor Avatar
      Victor

      “Finally, if you need connections to a Touchstone to remain active without the Lethargic Condition, the “loner off in the woods” archetype is pretty much impossible for PC’s and NPC’s alike, correct? Thanks!!”

      On the one hand, this is intentional since the “loner off in the woods” doesn’t really interact with much less propel the story and is really rather boring (particularly so for your ST, who loses valuable drama). The problem of having dark and brooding protagonists whose parents were killed by orcs and whose only desire is murder is not exactly a new problem for RPGs, and touchstones are one of many attempts that RPGs have made to avert this in recent years.

      On the other hand, the “loner off in the woods” is still entirely practical – all you need to do is take touchstones that aren’t mere humans. The example given in the book is your gravestone, but others are easy to find. Perhaps you are mostly a loner, but you still go and quench your sorrows at your local bar once a week. Perhaps you have a favorite dog from when you were alive. Or to take an example of this archetype from a popular TV show, perhaps you feel a profound connection to the music of Stevie Nicks.

      1. Jeff Crowl Avatar

        Thank you for the perspective, Victor! I can certainly see where you’re coming from. My thought was mostly for the Kogaion (sp?) of my city, an NPC who, as suggested in the book, is too old to have living ties to her mortal days, and is largely removed from the mortal world (because of, and reinforcing, a low Humanity).

        Regarding the other parts,
        * Do they have any mechanical effect if they’re “detached?”
        * Do Draugr still need Touchstones to not fall into Torpor?
        * And once your last Touchstone is dead, is it just assumed a newly-awakened Kindred has a month to go reestablish the complex, emotional relationship of a Touchstone with *someone* of importance to her or fall asleep again?
        * (new question) Regarding the “choice” posed to a vampire who just lost her last Touchstone: If it just takes gaining a dot in Humanity to gain a new Touchstone (And, I assume, an open “Slot” left, based on the level you have, if any, of the Merit), wouldn’t it always make sense to take the Languid Condition immediately (save the Humanity Dot, and the hard-earned Experiences to re-buy it), and try to reestablish a new Touchstone before falling to Torpor? After all, if you do fall asleep first, I assume here that you still have to find a new Touchstone when you wake up, anyway (see earlier question).
        * (new question) Though it’s always been a thematic element of Requiem, Touchstones make moving cities remarkably hard. I get the impression that (for reasons of Drama), Touchstones have to be people and things that fall outside of, or lie close to the edge of, your character’s influence. Your thoroughly Blood-Bound Ghoul wouldn’t be a good reminder of your mortal life, for instance. So, if you have cause to leave town, doing so would likely require either truckloads of work arranging for your Touchstone to move with you, or having to buy back a costly Touchstone when you arrive. On the other hand, if your Touchstone moves on her own (as living people are far more oft to do than Kindred), I imagine, for most Kindred, it’s far more practical to leave with her. The Social Merits you leave behind can return to you (Yay, Sanctity of Merits!!) when you arrive in her new hometown, while finding a new Touchstone to replace her in your original city, again, costs Experiences for Humanity.
        * (also new) Should your last Touchstone be killed without our character present, I assume that you suffer the same effects, due to the mystical connection and all that business, right?

        The book gave a lot of good story examples, but I’d *really* appreciate more mechanical examples. Thanks, everyone!!

  11. Bruce Donohue Avatar
    Bruce Donohue

    On some of the Merits, there are listings prerequisites that are not in the book to get a description, and now of the skills have the descriptions of what the definitions are. Will that be changed or do we have to buy the God Machine?

  12. Bruce Donohue Avatar
    Bruce Donohue

    If one has Coils of the Dragon Mystery of the Wyrm at 5 dots does he still need to aquire the Merit Riding The Wave p.105 or he can ride the wave automatically?

    1. Joshua Avatar
      Joshua

      No, Riding The Wave merit is a fighting style, it simply IMPROVES riding the wave. Riding the Wave is simply voluntary frenzy, and has always been part of requiem.

  13. Bruce Donohue Avatar
    Bruce Donohue

    I have a question about Touchtones… Lets say you have an Ex as your touchstone and that Ex becomes Kindred and also a coteriemate, how do you treat that Touchstone now?

  14. JoeB. Avatar
    JoeB.

    Oh how I wish this would have been given the deluxe cover treatment 😉

  15. Brian Goubeaux Avatar
    Brian Goubeaux

    “Twenty unique Strix, as well as complete rules for building your own.”

    Aweaomw. I know that I’m the only one who wants to play in a Strix PC Chronicle.

  16. Brian Goubeaux Avatar
    Brian Goubeaux

    Sorry, I meant “awesome”.

  17. B. Steele Avatar
    B. Steele

    Great job! Truly amazing. Superbly written and a fantastic revision of Requiem. Having played the game since 1994 and having had to implement house rules since the release of Requiem, and now seeing said house rules in print is truly awesome. I hope it isn’t the last book. Greatly looking forward to V20 Dark Ages now.

  18. SpaceChthuloid1999 Avatar
    SpaceChthuloid1999

    Are the original source books (in this case for VtR) still valid or will they be replaced as well?

    Will there be similar updated rules for other pre-amp core books like Werewolf, Mage, Changeling, etc?