How people review game streaming??? Is it even a thing?! Well, it doesn't matter: the important thing is to have an excuse to ramble about Vampire content! So let's start with the evil, Camarilla-approved, bloody review of Blood on the Thames! Or was it Tamesis?! Blood on... something!
First of all, let's introduce the game group in random order.
-TST (a super cool and clever acronym that I just invented and stands for Thames ST. Yes, he probably has a name): he seems an ordinary human being but he's a monster. This is spoiler for Book 2 though. In Book 1 he is still redeemable.
-Katia Stern (Tremere): her status on FB could be "in a complicated relationship with her clan".
-Benjamin Green (Malkavian): a Malkavian painter, he is the hero of every freelance. Go, Ben!! We believe in you.
-Moses (Nosferatu): sweet on the inside but also not so much, he plays the good guy but we all know he keeps many secrets to himself.
-Jim Roy Woods (Gangrel): speaks little, quick to react, he is the classic Gangrel. He could hide more than a secret though.
First of all, I'm not a fan of comparisons, but some will be unavoidable. I know LA by Night well, so every now and then I'll compare them in term of style and mood. Give me time to watch other streamings, and things will get a lot more like a ralationships board in a V5 game! XD
Don't ask me about technical quality. I don't know anything about streaming yet. I just watch a streaming, see if I find story and characters engaging - and that's about all. Expensive equipment is wasted on me! XD
Without spoilers about the game plot, I can say that BotT is very different from LA by Night under many point of views. It's a Camarilla game, so the coterie face very different challenges; the PCs are also much more "average" as for their connections and allies - a thing that makes the game less "epic" but more similar to an actual V5 game you can play with your friends at home. This is much more about surviving and trying to find a way to work together than fighting a war: both games are extremely interesting to watch and the preference (if there is any - I personally like them both) it depends very much on what do you like to watch on a streaming.
A good idea would be in the future to involve the coterie more in Camarilla politics. Katia and Ben have, during Book 1, some glimpses of the terrifying games Camarilla Kindred play, but it would be great to involve the whole coterie. They are a young coterie, so it makes sense they don't get invited at the cool kids parties yet :P But seeing they interact more with theri Primogens (to make an example) and seeing their loyalty to the clan clashing with their loyalty to the coterie is one of the most interesting thing in Camarilla games. So I hope to see a lot more of that in the future.
A few words about something very important to me: Malkavian clan. I'm so happy to finally see a Malkavian who isn't the comic relief or the mascotte of the coterie. The interactions of Benjamin with his Sire Edmund are a much needed good potrayal of one of the most difficult clan to play. Avoiding the cliché of the uptenth Jeanette/Therese or Joker wannabe, Ben's madness is subtle and Edmund's one is unpredictable. Every time they act, it's hard to tell if they will be a help for the coterie - or its ultimate doom. And this is exactly how Malkavians are meant to be played: they are not funny, they are unnerving. Other Kindred are scared of them - and with good reason.
Well, enough for now! But I'll be back very soon on the topic!
Remember the hashtag of this winter: #TeamEdmund
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