As discussed in the last few posts, I have spent much of my time listening to “Hamilton!” on repeat over the last few weeks. The musical has captured my mind and imagination in ways that I quite frankly didn’t think were possible. The play ends with the infamous duel in which Hamilton is killed by his long time friend and rival Aaron Burr. As the cast sings the finale, Eliza, his wife sings about how “[he] could have done so much more if [he] only had time.” That line, coupled with the tragic short-sightedness of the duel got me thinking about a game that I had on my shelf that I had bought years ago, read through and promptly forgotten about.
Houses of the Blooded by John Wick was published in 2008. Wick, who was also responsible for games like 7th Sea and Legend of the Five Rings has long been a fan of games that challenge the “traditional style” of games like Dungeons and Dragons. In fact, he was very open that this game was written as a response to games like those.
Through the book he tells the story of the Ven, a pre-Atlantean race of humanoids created long ago by creatures known as the Sorcerer-Kings. While a fictional race, he writes about them like they were a real people that existed in our history. He writes through the lens of a Ven scholar studying what little is known about their history and literature to construct a game about their lives. The Ven are ruled by their emotions. They don’t feel anger or sadness or rage. They feel Anger, Sadness, and Rage. Their language is full of intricacies and dual meanings. Their word for the world around them, “Shanri” is also the word for enemy. “Romance” and “Revenge” are the same word accented differently. Their culture and their law is full of contradiction and hypocrisy. The law is clear, except where it isn’t. Sorcery is specifically against the law, except when it’s not.
Nobles are outlawed from maintaining armies and warring with other nobles, but they are allowed to have extensive personal guards for to protect themselves and their property. And since their property is anything they can hold onto, that means defending their land too. And if someone else takes land that belongs to you? There is no use crying to the Senate. That’s bad form. You accept it. Or you take it back. Or you get even. They do not believe in an afterlife.
There is no concept of a “soul” in Ven culture. As they grow older, they begin to slow down. Their body begins to excrete a thick hairlike substance that eventually cocoons them and they pass into Solace – an eternal slumber joining the ranks of the Suaven, or the spirit ancestors the Ven revere. If a Ven is killed, they are forever denied that slumber. That’s it. The end. Murdering another Ven is one of the most horrendous crimes that one can commit. Except when it isn’t. Wick has constructed an absolutely fascinating race of people that are an absolute joy to read about, and I feel that most gamers would enjoy reading through this book even if it isn’t a game for them. And it definitely isn’t a game for everyone.
Houses of the Blooded is a game about tragedy. You play a member of the Ven Nobility and have all of the power that provides. But you also have all of the ambition that comes from wanting more. You are above the common people, but you are not above being controlled by your emotions. The game is about your character coming to a very bloody end or passing away into Solace before their plans are able to come to fruition.
Yeah. It’s not a game for everyone.
Each Ven has six Virtues that are linked predominantly to one of the six great Noble houses – Strength, Cunning, Courage, Beauty, Wisdom, and Prowess. These six Virtues represent what your Ven is capable of. The higher the Aspects rank, the more dice you get to roll when testing that Virtue. But you only get ranks in five of those Virtues. The sixth one is your weakness – you get to gather no dice when you make a test with that Virtue.
Additionally, each Ven also has a number of Aspects that further define what his character is good at. These Aspects are going to appear very similar to people that have played FATE (or games powered by that engine). But they are more tightly focused – instead of being able to be used for a number of broad things, Aspects in Houses of the Blooded are generally good for a more focused number of things. The Invoke and Compel are very similar. Invoking an Aspect gives you bonus dice in certain tests. And you can be Compelled to act a certain way based on the Aspect. Also unique to this game is the “Tag.” Aspects can be used against you, giving an opponent bonus dice against you in certain situations, provided they know what that situation is. So you can create Aspects that make you better at what you are already good at. Or you can pick up some Aspects to help you shore up that annoying weakness.
The game runs on a rather simple principle. You gather a number of dice equal to the corresponding Virtue plus whatever additional dice you can muster through Aspects or other abilities. If your dice roll results in a 10 or greater, you get what is called “narrative privilege.” Simply put, you get to decide whether you succeed or you fail on your task. Sometimes failing to get your goal is more entertaining than getting it. Or maybe it advances the story in a more interesting direction. That right there is a very large break in the traditional style of roleplaying games. If you fail to meet a 10, the Narrator decides whether or not you succeed or fail on the task. He may decide that you get your goal despite failing the roll.
So what happens if you have enough dice where success is practically guaranteed? You can choose to set a number of dice aside as Wagers. Each Wager lets you add one additional fact to your narration that is true about the scene. You can establish facts about NPCs, about the scene, or about your action. But you cannot negate a fact that was previously established as true. This becomes especially important in the case of competitive checks. Provided both participants beat a result of 10, the winner of the roll gets to keep all of his Wagers and the loser only gets half of his Wagers. The winner decides whether he will spend the first Wager or the second, and then they go back and forth spending their Wagers. Wagers are one of the driving forces of the game – they allow the players to be an active participant in defining the game world. Instead of the Narrator deciding whether or not the player knows a fact about the world or a certain NPC, he can have them make a test and let them narrate the outcome instead.
The other driving force behind the game play is the player resource known as Style. Players accrue Style through play. They accrue Style by doing cool things at the table, by being in character and playing as a Ven. They accrue them by making things harder on themselves with their Wagers. They accrue it when other players or NPCs Tag or Compel their Aspects.
Style can be spent to Invoke your own Aspects. You can use it to assert narrative control for a moment. You can use it to do a lot. There are too many uses to cover to do so here without going on for far too long. Suffice to say you want Style. You want as much of it as you can get.
The other interesting thing about this game that sets it apart is the fact that it takes place at two very different levels. There is the “micro level” game that players are more familiar with. These are the adventures that your character goes on – attending parties, visiting your villages, or even exploring dangerous monster infested ruins if you’re brave or foolish enough. But there is also the “macro level” game. Your characters are nobility. They have holdings to manage and people to take care of. This portion of the game plays very differently, with your characters and their servants taking actions over the course of a season to improve your lands – developing the lands to be more productive, safer, or improving themselves to be a better help to you. You can even use some of your vassals to sabotage your rivals’ lands, either by sowing discord among their peoples or even invading and taking over parts of their lands. It feels very much like a board game, but still has all of the hallmarks of a roleplaying game.
As you develop your lands and secure and expand your power, you grow older. As the year passes through the seasons, so does your character. You age and you grow older. You become more experienced, getting more Aspects and other things, but eventually your age starts to catch up with you. Eventually you (hopefully) pass into Solace. But did you accomplish everything you wanted to? Or, like Alexander Hamilton, are you going to wish for more time when you are facing the end of your life?
All in all, Houses of the Blooded is a very unique roleplaying game. It takes a special kind of group to play it. They need to understand what the game is about and they need to be okay with their characters flaming out before their ambitions are realized. If you are, this can be a very fun game filled with intrigue, romance, ambition, and revenge. The book appears to be out of print, but you can still buy the PDF from DriveThruRPG and RPGNow for $9.99.
Ben Erickson
