A Dread Names, Red List Update

Kindred Most Wanted was one of those cool, but a little strange, original Vampire supplements that everyone liked, but didn’t actually get a lot of use at the table. It had these terrifying “bad guys” that made for dangerous villains so bad the entire Camarilla wanted them dead. Admittedly they had pretty good reason because murderers, diablerists, infernalists, and other monsters populated the List. It was an excellent way to show some of the bigger setting elements of the World of Darkness, showing that there were ancient foes creeping around and that the eternal war between Kindred went on beyond the borders of a neonate’s local city. A number of the Anathema predated the Camarilla (and the Sabbat), plus they had agendas that didn’t have anything to do with local sect politics. Still, most of them were not the type of NPCs you just drop into a standard Chronicle. The majority of them were very powerful and well outside the scope of your average 13th Generation Kindred’s night-to-night experiences.

I’ve been running Vampire in both tabletop and LARP for 20 years now and I’ve only used a couple of the Anathema in my games. I’d also seen them used in very cool and very ham-fisted ways in other games at conventions a few times.

Over the years, a few of the Anathema made appearances in different Vampire books. Some of them had interesting stories, offering ideas on how they might still be relevant to the ongoing story of Vampire. Others were written out. Maybe they didn’t offer much beyond the “boss battle” write-up they originally had or perhaps even powerful monsters have something to fear…

I’ve played around with the idea of updating the Red List in my own game for several years. I’ve even posted about on the White Wolf forums a couple of times, tossing ideas back and forth with other Storytellers about who may (or may not) qualify for the List in the Final Nights or who might piss off the Justicars/Inner Circle enough to get placed on the List regardless of their crimes. They were great discussions and definitely helped me while working on this book.

When the Children of the Revolution Kickstarter came along I pitched the idea of an updated Red List to Rich and it was added to the Kickstarter. The original plan was that this would be a small PDF with an updated Red List to highlight the thirteen Most Wanted vampires. The list would incorporate updated backgrounds/stats to match V20 and add a few new outlaws to replace those, like Genina, who had met Final Death, in a prior supplement Children of the Night, for example).

I was filled with ambition and crazy dreams that I’d be able to roll through the 13 very quickly. Of course, this all happened right before Gen Con and, in addition to con planning, we were in the middle of a big push to get a lot of World of Darkness out of print titles added to the print program at DriveThruRPG (my “day job”) and a million other things.

At the time, Justin was the Vampire developer and he was bogged down with working on Hunters Hunted II and Anarchs Unbound. Plus, he was very busy in his own “day job” so it took a while before he could really dive in and give me some developer notes and redlines on my first draft. I needed it. I feel my first draft was pretty terrible… It was full of lots of tell, not show, half-baked ideas of twists and lots of easter eggs from other Vampire books without any context.

That first draft needed some rewrites and a good hard look at the overall concept of what this project was about. Talking to Justin and Rich, a little at Gen Con and a lot at Atlanta by Night, we fleshed this supplement out into something much more than a short PDF of 13 characters. Instead of just a batch of NPCs, we’re taking a look at the Red List, its history in the Camarilla, how it functions and what it looks like in action. We’re going to have the current 13 Most Wanted, but also toss in ideas how to make the List fit your chronicle… For example, think that 13 is too few? Here are some ideas on expanding the List.

In this supplement, we’re also looking at the Alastors, those Kindred tasked with hunting down the Anathema. Alastors got a little bit of mention in a couple of Vampire supplements, but never really went into detail about what it’s like to play one. So, we’re including material on how to play in, and run, an Alastor chronicle. Think of this like an Archon chronicle, but most of your suspects make the average Sabbat Pack look like kittens…

I’ve brought on Monica Valentinelli to help expand these sections of the book. Monica has worked on Vampire: the Requiem and World of Darkness, plus a number of other RPGs like Eclipse Phase, Aletheia, and the upcoming Firefly RPG. Currently, we’re deep into second and, in some cases, third draft rewrites of the Anathema and expanding the Storytelling chapter.

So, how ‘bout that list? Anyone want a peek at the 13 Anathema? No? Ok, thanks for reading…

Just kidding… Please don’t stake me…

Here are the 13 Most Wanted on the Camarilla’s current Red List. Next to each name, I’ve included the Trophy Clan that’s currently offering the prize to anyone who captures or kills the Anathema.

A few names, like Keminitiri, are familiar and have been on the Red List for some time. Others, like Raymond Narcisse, have been a thorn in the side of the Camarilla for a while, but only recently been added to the List as vacancies appeared. There are also a couple of new names…

1. Keminitiri – Trophy Clan: Ventrue

2. Petaniqua – Trophy Clan: Malkavians

3. Rabbat – Trophy Clan: Nosferatu

4. Germaine – Trophy Clan: Toreador

5. Aiysha Jocastian – Trophy Clan: Ventrue

6. Marisa Santos – Trophy Clan: Brujah

7. Karen Anotos – Trophy Clan: Nosferatu

8. Valerius Maior – Trophy Clan: Tremere

9. Alex Swift – Trophy Clan: Gangrel

10. Dylan – Trophy Clan: Tremere

11. Christopher Barrow – Trophy Clan: Gangrel

12. Kyoko Shinsegawa – Trophy Clan: Toreador

13. Raymond Narcisse – Trophy Clan: Brujah

We’ll post more developer notes and a few excerpts from the book as it progresses on a semi-regular basis. Next time, I’m going to ask Monica to do the update. If you have a suggestion about what you’d like to see her write about — let us know!