Love isn’t exactly the first thing people think about when they consider a topic for a supplement for the World of Darkness, but it actually makes perfect sense especially for Vampire: the Requiem. Vampires have long been associated with the forbidden romance, as they were dangerous beings to have as lovers. Add the allure of being mysterious and secretive and you have a powerful combination of traits that could tempt anyone.
Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem is a supplement that plays on this aspect of vampires. While I know some people might complain that this is an unnecessary supplement, I’d argue the opposite. Of all the World of Darkness, Vampire is the one line where player characters are most likely to end up in a romance, and glossing over that fact is a disservice to the genre.
Chapter One goes through a detailed rundown on the various Themes that would fit in a supernatural romance with vampires. Though this is a V:tR supplement, the advice and themes here are applicable across the other types of supernaturals as well (except maybe for Promethean.) The authors don’t give much in terms of hard rules for crunch, but their treatment of story structure and elements in a romance are impressive, and I do think I’ll be revisiting these many times if I plan to implement a romance angle in any game I run.
Chapter Two provides shards, or chronicle ideas that revolve around the theme of Supernatural Romance. Of course, being a V:tR supplement, this is where it starts getting specific. Each of the Shards is given a thorough treatment, with interesting hooks and angles as well as small mechanics that serve to further push the theme of the particular shard.
Chapter Three covers storytelling discussing items such as the social contract in a gaming group. Something that I found as sound advice as not everyone is comfortable with romantic themes in a game. I’ve met many a gamer who would wallow in blood and violence then get very uncomfortable at the topic of intimacy. The chapter also touches on Character Creation, NPCs and pacing for a campaign. But one of the most interesting of the topics discussed would be the overview of one-on-one gaming with one ST and one player as a group for a Supernatural Romance game.
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Overall Strange, Dead Love makes perfect sense in the context of the Vampire: the Requiem line, and I feel that many a group would be missing out on a lot if they were to ignore the way that romance subplots fit in a Vampire Chronicle.
While the supplement itself doesn’t have a lot in terms of crunch, dealing with a topic like this doesn’t need a lot. If anything, the advice in the supplement is vital for people because you can’t codify it with a lot of rules to muddy the emotion in the game.
I would recommend Strange, Dead Love to any V:tR Storyteller interested in adding an extra layer of emotional depth to their campaigns, and at a reasonable price.
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Strange, Dead Love is available from DriveThruRPG for only $9.99 or roughly PHP 450.00
Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer 
Nice review, though I’m kinda disappointed that Promethean supposedly gets the short end of the stick. As far as I know, the original Frankenstein wanted nothing but love and companionship. Although him and Victor disagreed strenuously on Mrs. Frankenstein becoming the monsters main squeeze especially after she was sort of killed by the monster to facilitate said hook-up. Then again Victor wouldn’t have been in that predicament if he played wingman and hadn’t cock-blocked the monster in the first place.
C’est la vie
[…] yesterday, our first Strange, Dead Love review is now live, too! It’s a chapter-by-chapter overview of what’s in the […]
I want your ugly, I want your disease.
I want your drama, the touch of your hand.
I want you leathe-studded kiss in the sand.
I want your loving, and I want your revenge.
You and me could write a bad romance.
At your recommendation, I bought the PDF.
Very good advice. Some of the plot hooks seemed a little obvious(A spurned lover out for vengeance? It’s like every daytime soap I ever missed out on!), but the GM advice on social contract is something ALL Storytellers should read.
Also, some of the Storytelling props/tricks like the Tension Counter are damned good ideas for pretty much any campaign. I’ve made up some excellent stuff for a few Mage games, just off of some of the ideas in the Storytelelr section.
Overall, a fine product. A little more limited than I thought it would be (I was curious how you’d apply some of the ideas about monstrous lovers to a Changeling game, for instance), but for Vampire storytellers, this is a fine product.
Hell, with works like True Blood and Twilight being popular, this might actually be a good way to encourage new players into White Wolf games! Paranormal romance is smoking hot these days, so why not run a campaign catering specifically to its demographics? (though is sparklepires appear, make sure that the Dudes of Legend PDF gets referenced. That expansion needs more love.)
[…] more your game? Strange, Dead Love for Vampire: the Requiem was recently released by White Wolf and PointyMan2000 at Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer gave it a look. Vampire romance seems to be quite popular with Twilight these days, so why wouldn’t the […]