This was a leap of faith purchase because I'm such a fan of the True Hand Tal'mahe'Ra and like other products in storyteller's vault covering the subject, I was dissapointed. Lackluster, brief and utterly disappointing synopsis of the sect and the True Hand bloodline was made a Lore Sheet as were other less well known bloodlines. Some of the Loresheets were interesting but not worth this. Sorry.

I was very disappointed by this product. The descriptions of the Loresheet dots are barebones and overly mechanical, sometimes lacking enough flavor text to actually understand the line of thinking behind the mechanics. The same is true of the Discipline powers, some of which needed at least another paragraph of description.

The real reason I gave this such a low rating, however, is that many of the mechanics are incoherent with V5's systems. For example, one of the Discipline powers allows you to "gain a dot of Willpower." Willpower does not have dots in V5; Willpower is a Tracker, and it can have Superficial or Aggravated damage. This wording makes it sound as though you permanently increase the size of your Willpower Tracker. Another example is an effect that grants "2 bonus dice to unarmed damage." You could say "gain a 2 dice bonus to Brawl tests" or "the damage modifier of your Brawl attacks increases by +2," but the current wording is extremely unclear.

I know what it feels like to get a low review and I don't like giving one, but the bare minimum of what I expect from a product is for it to have mechanics that are coherent with V5's rules. I feel that if I were to actually use this in my Chronicle, I would have to supplement half the mechanics with my own clarifications.

The Bloodline flavor writeups are entertaining, and the authors clearly come from a place of knowledge about VtM lore. BTW - I would not have bothered leaving a negative review if you had Full Size Preview on, but I think people should have some idea of what they're getting into. Best of luck with your next product!

This volume presents an option for playing the True Black Hand and some Bloodlines associated with that sect.

The first chapter of the sourcebook is a brief summary of the history of the sect and the changes brought to it due to Fifth Edition metaplot, if you want a more in depth history of the Sect, we recommend the book The Black Hand A Guide to the Tal’Mahe’Ra for V20.

The second chapter details the Bloodlines (some new, some old favorites), presented as a series of Loresheets with the standard of a brief description, abilities obtained by purchasing dots on the loresheet, disciplines and finally Bane and Clan Compulsion. All the bloodlines are interesting and well written, even if some feel a little out of place in the Sect or present other problems due to the challenge inherent in adapting them to Fifth Edition.

Finally chapter three gives us new discipline powers and amalgams common within the bloodlines from the previous chapter, even if some of the amalgams feel a little weird due to the nature of the disciplines /abilities that are being converted to the mechanics of V5.

Overall this product is solid and useful. Check it out.