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These Mean Streets $5.00
Average Rating:4.8 / 5
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These Mean Streets
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These Mean Streets
Publisher: White Wolf
by Scott B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/26/2019 15:43:12

This book is GOLDEN. Much needed rules for BNS MET Vampire games. A must for for any storyteller!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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These Mean Streets
Publisher: White Wolf
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/21/2018 18:58:16

Extremely well put together book to help with LARP games (Mind's Eye Theater), returning play to the scope of a few blocks or a city with the idea that drama of reconciling who you were with what you are, or the drama of trying to live an authentic life in a noir world of conspiracies and cloaks of respectability, can be just as grand as world-spanning tales of blood sorceries.

Needed another editing pass, admittedly, but the book is slick. Fonts are quite readable, structure of the book is to the point and a Storyteller or LARP participant or runner can easily find what they need for planning their game. But I'm a noir fan to begin with and the blend of reminding players about the noir and punk possibilities inherent in Vampire the Masquerade works well.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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These Mean Streets
Publisher: White Wolf
by Shannon H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/30/2018 10:07:40

First off, I think that it's important to state that when it comes to Mind's Eye Theatre, I am NO EXPERT. But in all fairness, I don't think that you'd have to be an expert with the rules or the variations of the systems from tabletop to MET to see the germane utility of this book.

Written and developed by Drew Stevens, These Mean Streets takes a Vampire adventure back down from a massive mythology and returns it to a more intimate venue: a game that focuses on a Troupe and their interactions with their own, street-level politics, intrigue and concerns. From the opening of the book, I was - quite honestly - enthralled with the beauty of it. It is quite possibly THE MOST BEAUTIFUL Storytellers Vault Publication that I have ever seen to date. The photographs evoke a sort of quiet, first-person voyeuristic emotion and really add to the content and overall "feel" of the book's work. To be completely honest, I think that there's a part of me that would recommend These Mean Streets for no other reason than to work as a MODEL for other authors and layout/designers for the Storytellers Vault to sort of set the standard. The artwork and layout are literally without peer.

The book focuses not so much on the overarching intricacies of Kindred/Cainite lore and legend, but on how a younger vampire - generally, a newly Embraced vampire in the past two decades or so - would handle themselves and how they would view unlife in the modern setting of the current World of Darkness. There is an enormous amount of care taken not only to explain why the author is writing the book the way he is, but to explain why it is that his book is an asset to both players and Storytellers. He explains the use of the "Street Level" game, which is the human experience of the inhuman monster within the setting of Vampire: the Masquerade.

The architecture of the book is arranged so that the author takes the time in each section to actually TROUBLESHOOT your adventures with your players for you in anticipation of snags that could (and often times do) come up when you're dealing with intelligent people playing an intelligent game. Sometimes, players forget that their characters do not necessarily know what THEY know, and that their characters are not necessarily going to spend a whole lot of time learning what the players know. This is a very important distinction in play, from my standpoint, and I dig it. The author also takes time to explain that, while you may be playing an inhuman monster, you ARE STILL a human being doing so, and that you should be aware of the fact that the fellow members of your Troupe are human beings as well and deserve he respect - at all times - that human beings deserve because they're human beings. I find it SAD that he had to waste words SAYING this... but this is the world we find ourselves in: we seem to have to remind adults that they are adults and should adult... even when they're having fun.

The Setting Specific Mechanics are exceptionally cool. Unaccepted is, essentially, the PITCH of this setting in that NO VAMPIRE society is going to accept the Troupe yet. They have to rely on themselves and each other to get through the Modern Nights of the World of Darkness. This strengthens the individual character as well as her ties to her Troupe's characters and makes for a dynamic that is unimpeded by the somewhat tiresome concept of entering the city, being accepted by a Prince, finding Elysium, blah blah blah. There are simply more pressing matters for the Coterie to concern themselves with than Camarilla or Sabbat politik at this time.

The Setting Specific Merits & Flaws are absolutely awesome. So much so that I truly believe that they should (and could, with little effort at all) be adjusted and added to the tabletop rules for Vampire: the Masquerade. I'm not going to go into any of them here. Buy the book. They're worth it.

That same anti-spoiler ideology applies to the Backgrounds that are presented in These Mean Streets... or rather, the Backgrounds that are AMPLIFIED by the book. The author takes existing Backgrounds and teaches the reader how to best use them for characters and in regards to stories being told in a Street Level/Back Alley game.

Chapter Five explains the pros and cons of being a Vampire in the 21st Century of the Information Age, the Internet of Things, and the All-Seeing Eye - mechanics included - as it reflects on Kindred/Cainite society. To say that it's useful would be an understatement. It affords both players and Storytellers conceptualized ideas they they might not have thought about before where their Vampire games were concerned.

Chapter Six is undeniably the most interesting chapter of the book from my personal perspective: It explains the "Domains" of Blood, Sweat and Tears and affords Troupes the concepts for something very similar to Garou Questing, called Conspiracies in These Mean Streets. Examples of Mundane, Elaborate and Monstrous Conspiracies are provided.

All in all, a VERY SOLID and VERY BEAUTIFUL resource to add to any Mind's Eye Theatre game, and a boon for Storytellers looking to add something intimate and close-knit for their friends to play with.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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These Mean Streets
Publisher: White Wolf
by Josh H. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/26/2018 13:24:16

This book is a fantastic resource to Storytellers and Troupes that use the By Night Studios larp rules. The first segment is an alternative setting focused on younger kindred and the street level games that work best for ensuring you focus on the personal horror of vampire. Later chapters include an in-depth investigation into what backgrounds do, what they mean, and how they can be portrayed in a larp setting. This alone makes this book worth every penny you'd spend on it. The list of suggestions for Alternative Identities, the explanation of Resources, all of this is super valuable and... well... useful. Not everything you'd find out there that talks about larp is useful, and this is.

Then there is Chapter 5, which provides rules for adjusting how well built the Masquerade is in a particular city or setting. I mean... you don't have to have this in your game but now that I've read it and thought about how useful this is for mentally adjusting behavior in a city. Yeah, these rules are helpful for ensuring the right impact to the setting from the behavior of your Kindred/Players.

The Conspiracy rules presented in Ch 7 are an excellent adjustment of the Werewolf quest rules to the Vampire setting. They are well designed, well crafted, well understood as representing the way people play Vampire in troupe or organization play.

Check out this supplement if you plan to run the BNS Larp rules. You will not be disappointed if you choose to bring them into your games.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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These Mean Streets
Publisher: White Wolf
by Sebastian G. L. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/26/2018 10:26:32

I have always been a big fan of the street level, noir feeling and gritty version of the world of darkness. With the focus on the mortal world and the characters interactions with a slightly darker, slightly more corrupt and slightly more sinister world. These mean streets deliver on this in spades.

It is more or less a toolbox for running a punk-noir, human focused playstyle. Something that should be the heart of Vampire but often gets left behind. And the book contains many tools, tips and tricks that add to the arsenal of an experienced storyteller and holds the hand of the beginner. From an entire chapter about how to best use background to sidebars about handling characters that want to use the internet as an excuse to not buy skills.

This book have the best discussion about using the Fame background I have ever seen. It alone is worth the price of the book. It is really that good. The books is also full of concrete examples that can be used for prep or play. Like the best and worst specializations within different types of influences.

The chapter about the masquerade in the modern world is a chapter of alternative rules for keeping the masquerade from the 90s in the modern world that really should have been printed in V5. It is the best take on having the masquerade intact in 2018.

Visually the book is gorgeous with a nice mix of photos and drawn pictures.

If I have any complaints about the book it would be that it is for the Mind's Eye Theatre rules when it easily could have been for both MET and tabletop. But it is still a really great book.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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