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Gilded Cage
 
$9.99
Average Rating:4.1 / 5
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Gilded Cage
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Gilded Cage
Publisher: White Wolf
by Kyle B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/02/2020 01:30:29

I found this to be a very dry read, compared to the other nine or so VtM books I've read. It repeats itself often and makes vague excuses why it can't provide more information/flavor on the topic at hand. That being said, it does cover the many ways vampires obtain influence in the mortal world. I especially liked how it empathesizes how differently the Sabbat operate from the Camarilla. I don't think it mentioned the Anarchs at all. There are quick snippets in most sections stating which clan(s) is most interested in which area of influence.

The two sections I found most useful: 1)How to run a business. It's just a quick snippet, but has super simple mechanics. 2)Political Landscape. Again it's just a quick few pages. Provides simple step by step instructions on how to create a web of intrigue. Ties everything together to make an interesting chronicle. Wish the whole book would have been like this!

So overall this book did not have to be 113 pages, half that would have been fine to get the main points across. I would have appreciated some lore tie ins, new mechanics, or just any flavor to spice things up. I would only recommend this if you're a completionist or are desparately trying to run a very political chronicle.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Gilded Cage
Publisher: White Wolf
by Flames R. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 02/04/2016 20:03:24

Gilded Cage, a sourcebook for Vampire: The Masquerade, takes a look at the opportunity for players to control their ability to use politics and influence. The book is a fairly easy read at 111 pages and its layout is pretty easy to follow. Focusing on one’s personal influence, Gilded Cage exhibits how anyone can become influential, whether you are in janitorial services or the leader of a multibillion-dollar corporation. Not only can you learn to become more influential, but the book also covers some strategy behind climbing the social ladder. What player doesn’t want to become the highest on the social food chain in their local game? Learn how to pull all the strings needed to rules the streets or the business world; it’s your choice.

The key to using Gilded Cage isn’t the exact words on the pages, but instead how one uses the information given to enhance the story they have created. My favorite aspect of role-playing is the opportunity to take any story or concept and make it your own. The ability to make a character a “social butterfly” in the World of Darkness is just as important as how many enemies he/she can take down with a punch or a gunshot.

I like to keep myself aware that Gilded Cage is a sourcebook. Personally, I found it a bit difficult to finish in one sitting. Nonetheless, I also look at that as a good thing, for taking in all that information at once may have been a bit overwhelming. I suggest if you have a tendency of browsing through books for details, that you take a few days to look over the information in detail and then go back and try to read it in a shorter span of time. I found that the second time around, I gathered more from the source than I would reading it only once.

You don’t have to be into Vampire: The Masquerade to understand the information Gilded Cage displays. The book brings up the various social issues that we see in every day life, yet incorporates them nicely in the World of Darkness. All gamers should at least keep in mind that there are many ways to play a character. So if you think you have what it takes to be your clan’s leader or you just want to swindle your way to the top, Gilded Cage could be your guide to being the leader of your Vampire community.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Gilded Cage
Publisher: White Wolf
by Sam M. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/11/2015 14:33:18

Gilded Cage, while fluff-heavy, is a solid book. It delivers exactly what it promises, that is, a guide to influencing mortal society from a vampiric perspective. It has a few broad pieces of advice - mainly that subtlety is key, that it's best to have your finger in several pies, and that the use of Disciplines is a blunt-force option and a last resort - and reinforces them in its more in-depth looks at how a smart neonate can exploit and thrive within different areas of society. The main four looked at are: the business world, in particular major corporations; the upper-crust of society; the branches of government, local and federal; and 'the streets', the domain of blue-collar workers, street gangs and the destitute. Each of these gets a chapter to itself, while a fifth chapter examines several less central ones such as academia, the media, and organized religion. Finally chapter six (barely longer than an appendix) provides advice for working the socio-political structure of a city into storytelling and character creation, as well as a section on how to flesh out Backgrounds and logically tie them together rather than leaving them as just vague and abstract numbers on a sheet.

Where the book really shines is its wide utility. It is useful to both players and storytellers, essentially giving the same advice to both - it reminds us that anything the neonates can do, the elders can often do better. Its tone, which is in-universe though not deeply so, speaks equally to a player and storyteller reader in such a way that it is cogent, useful information, but also manages captures the feel for how Kindred generally view mortals and mortal society from a political angle. As well as a broad look at how each level of urban society can be harnessed, specific examples are provided which paint how its advice would practically work within a chronicle.

The book isn't perfect, of course. It definitely has a bias - though not an overwhelming one - towards American-set, Camarilla, neonate-led chronicles. The Sabbat does get a look-in, though the Anarchs don't to any significant degree. This is not too much of a problem since its tone and mood are geared towards these sorts of chronicles, and most of the advice given is fairly general. This applies also to geographic setting - while it is American in tone, much of the content is equally applicable to most of the Western world. In games set outside of Europe or North America it might be less useful, though not useless by any means.

Being just under 15 years old, the book is understandably somewhat out of date, particularly when it comes to technology and the Internet; if Gilded Cage were published today it would likely devote a whole chapter to these. More recent V20 sourcebooks have done so however, and it's really the only area the book is lacking in from today's viewpoint - though of course it came out in 2001, so this really isn't a mark against the book itself. If you are planning to run or play in a political, city-based Vampire chronicle, this book is well worth the money.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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