Vampire: The Masquerade — Night Road Reviews

[h1]Introduction[/h1] Night Road is an excellent Choice of Games book that delivers a very RPG-feeling adventure set in the Vampire: The Masquerade (V5) world. It strikes a really enjoyable tone where things can get a bit smarmy and humorous while generally keeping things reigned in a bit and believable. Having played the rest of the WoD CoG games released as of 2024 I would say Kyle Marquis's writing is the most evenly paced, which together with the expert character voicing and very enjoyable tone makes for a really fun and satisfying read in this book. This is an excellent place to start if you're interested in the Choice of Games books and/or the World of Darkness in my opinion. Oh, and if you enjoyed Night Road, check out The Book of Hungry Names; same author, similar structure and tone, but bigger, bolder and improves on the weaknessess of Night Road. [h1]Strengths[/h1] The writing in Night Road is great. Marquis is able to instill a sense of agency that I haven't got from any other author, and I don't really know how he does it. Instead of feeling like I am brought along for a ride, Night Road feels like it's giving me the wheel. Together with an excellent and brisk pacing that always feels like it is delivering what is needed to be told without skipping anything, makes for a super immersive read from start to finish. Tone and characters are also excellent in this book. I've seen people compare this book to Bloodlines and I absolutely agree that there are some big similarities. While it never reaches quite Bloodlines levels of smarmy silliness, Night Road really does capture that sensibility where humor and a (lighter) ironic detachment successfully mix with more sincere and "serious" storytelling. Furthermore, just like you get in Bloodlines, Marquis delivers excellently voiced characters where even minor ones manage to distinguish themselves and burn themselves into your memory. It really does feel like some of the better qualities of Bloodlines echo throughout Night Road. ...And thankfully the less flattering aspects like Bloodlines inexcusably racist stereotyping are nowhere to be found in this book. Make sure to try to get a ghoul, they're great. I also really like the story layout. In Night Road you're given a set of quests and a quest hub that you return to inbetween missions. (Think BioWare-style RPGs.) As a courier these delivery quests take you to a widely varied set of locales that give you insight into many different aspects of Vampire unlife, and the quest hub structure helps bookend these quests in a way that makes them completely coherrent and very satisfying to check off. There are also a bunch of curveballs thrown to spice things up a bit, which makes the story feel more dynamic than a big checklist. Oh, and mechanically I think Marquis implementation of the WoD skill system works the best amongst different implementations amongst the Choice of Games books. You have pips in stats and skills, skill checks take the sum of a stat and a skill and possibly optional boosts, checks if it is higher than a number (could be a 3, could be a 7) and you succeed if your sum is greater than the check. Some skill checks have degrees of failure/success as well. While all of this is obscured from the reader (*cough*) I feel a lot more comfortable guesstimating what my 3 dex + 2 firearms is going to contribute compared to like a 64% athletics stat. It just feels better is all. [h1]Weaknessess[/h1] Personally I think the main weakness of this book is the main plot that is tying everything together isn't very interesting in itself. While being a delivery gal gives you an excellent excuse to see all sorts of cool and diverse places and characters, I never really found myself caring as to why I was doing what I was doing. The writing still makes it a very exciting read, Night Road is a page turner, but if it could have been done with an (emotionally engaging) overarching goal I think the overall experience would have been elevated. Further I think that the characters driving the story forward (Lettow and Julian) could have benefitted from, and been used to make a more emotionally engaging overarching story overall. They feel a bit like mediocre bosses whose main purpose in life is to delegate things to you. [h1]Parting words[/h1] I strongly recommend Night Road, it's a great interactive novel, and a great Vampire: The Masquerade novel, and an excellent starting point for all of this Choice of Games and/or World of Darkness stuff. And if you like this one, check out Werewolf: The Apocalypse - The Book of Hungry Names, it's an even stronger book.

How could you make me fall so deeply in love with a character like that as I was teetering to try to keep a healthy balance, only to barrel into this love filled mayhem right at the end and be confused and consumed??? I cried at the ending I received, it was a happy ending with him. I cried when I went to bed that night, then hours later as I woke up and remembered the moment I thought I nearly lost him and saved him, then again in the morning right as I was nearly late for work and sobbed during my lunch as I reread from my screenshots I saved. 12/10, great storytelling and while I understand if you're not into text-based games or TTRPGs this won't be your thing, if you purchase the total set (with the extras) it might break your heart in multiple ways. There were points that I just wanted to follow what I felt was right, and do good by my own moral compass but had to question what was right. And then for a brief moment what I felt was right wasn't and I faltered, but then I had a "reality check" where my mind was consumed and I got so into it that the prior paragraph then ensued. Absolutely recommend this game for fans of VtM, it's silly at times with its descriptions and helps keep itself light so that you don't rip yourself to shreds but when it wants to hurt it HURTS.