Oath of Blood

Details

Cover of Blood Brothers

Pages:15-24

Author(s): Sam Shirley

Artist(s): Earl Geier, Carol Triplett-Smith

Editor(s): John B. Monroe, Lynn Willis

Setting: 1920s

Appears in: Blood Brothers

Summary

A group of New York mobsters (the Investigators) are ordered to look into the grisly murders of two fellows, with orders to carry out fitting retribution.

Links

Link to outside reviews or helpful pages.

• RPGnet review by Darren MacLennan
• RPGnet review by Brandi Weed

Spoilers - Keepers Eyes Only

Players should not read any further.

Synopsis

The mob's territory is under threat from a group of Romanian vampires who've recently moved into the city, aiming to stake out a claim on a rich territory where their feeding and killing will go unnoticed.

The two murdered mobsters are liable to rise as undead and be sent to attack the Investigators. A priest, the relative of one Investigator, will seek them out and advise them about vampires.

This is largely a sandbox scenario concerned with finding a way to kill off Teppes, the mob leader.

References

Locations: New York

Creatures: Vampire

Comments

1. Hotel plan
2. Image of priest

Keeper Comments

This scenario begins with a few planned scenes, but branches out into a sandbox mob war. The Keeper will need to be comfortable improvising a series of encounters between the two mobs and trying to create a satisfying climax.

The vampire stats and rules are designed for an earlier edition. In particular, the vampires are assigned the ability to drain 1d4 POW with a touch; this seems to equate to 1d3 MP drain in later editions, though that requires an opposed MP roll. They also lack the hypnotic powers of later editions. "Regenerative powers" are also mentioned, but it's not clear whether these are the same as those of the later editions, as the scenario mentions the need for POW. A Keeper without access to the 4th edition rulebooks (and thus the expected vampire rules) should carefully weigh up how powerful the vampires of later editions are.

In particular, the requirement for actually killing a vampire in 6th edition is to first reduce it to exactly zero hit points, then stake it; the randomness of damage and the large number of vampires will make this a difficult and potentially very frustrating requirement. How does this tie in with the 4th edition rules? All of the vampires all have much higher attack skills than is usual in newer editions.

The scenario describes how the priest's brother was killed by a vampire called Drake. However, this backstory has no relation whatsoever to the ongoing plot, and no further information is provided. This loose end may cause considerable confusion for players.