Review - Second Inquisition

Second Inquisition is the (wait for it) second antagonist book released for the fifth edition of Vampire: The Masquerade (V5), following closely on the heels of Sabbat: The Black Hand.
You can also find this as Strange Assembly podcast episode 311.
- Content in this Video -
0:00 Intro
1:20 What is the SI?
4:10 - NPCs
7:36 - Gear
11:20 - Running SI Operations
14:25 - Using the SI in a Chronicle
15:35 - Final Thoughts

[@thecounselingcouch68]

Thanks for the review, I think this is a pretty solid book. I'm the type of ST that if you give me the tools I figure out the rest on my own. After all, it's my story to make. Regarding how not to have the SI take over your story. My take on the SI is while these organizations seem massive and appear to have resources out of the butt, they actually don't. These are secret organizations with limited resources. These are the type of organizations that siphon money from other larger organizations. This means the resources aren't as plentiful as we think they are. These resources have to cover states, the entire US, and other places in the world. This also means that the cells doing the leg work are limited in their budget and resources. They aren't spending hundreds of thousands of dollars for John Smith the vampire nobody. They are hunting the movers and shakers of the vampire world. And, once a cell is destroyed it takes time, money, and manpower to recreate these trained soldiers. Resources, in my opinion, is where you place the constraint on the SI.

[@DrDarkEnergyInfinito]

I was wondering what these guys were since I have been seeing them in various games. After years of trying to get into Vampire this edition actually got me. Having an actual reason why the Masquerade has to be upheld I good. It is much easier to RP since the clans and the Camarilla are thing you have to get acostumed as a player and dm. While "secret organization of psycho hunter" clicks almost instantly to most players.

[@AustinKiefer]

When you talk about SI having roll mechanics for operations, I actually thought this was cool. Why I think this is cool because in coterie creation, you have three stats to the domain; Chasse, Lien, Portillon. Portillon being useful as a way to subtract dice from anyone trying to infiltrate the domain. This just gives solid reason to take Portillon in Coterie creation. I personally did not need pre-made rolls for this stuff, but ST that want specific rolls have this now and can test on Portillon better and with more confidence.

[@strangeassembly5595]

Good point. The domain stats other than Chasse are generally harder to bring into play.

[@joserico2223]

Good stuff like awlays man keep up the good work!

[@deltarno7502]

I've been thinking about getting into V5, this helps a lot. Thanks!

[@strangeassembly5595]

Welcome to the fold!

[@Ever_J13]

I've had a blast running V5 and I can't wait to get this delivered. They pdf is great but I just like having the book to use

[@strangeassembly5595]

Yeah, the prevalence of online RPGs has greatly increased the utility of PDFs for me, but there’s still nothing like a book in your hands.

[@zombfish5498]

I imagine they gave the "projects" to use like the clocks (I think that's what they are called) from blades in the dark. I have a series of rolls that happen in game prep that advance an antagonist in the background story, it shifts depending on PC actions. An example might be say the hunter is out on a prowl and the right number comes out, the hunters know about a place the PCs frequent because they were spotted doing what the characters did. That opens it up to other kindred being spotted, maybe a ghoul getting nabbed if the moment is right

[@sld8374]

This was the exact same problem with Technocracy in oWoD. If your gm represented them as they meant to, then one slip-up was enough to doom not just every player characters, but each and every npc around them. On the other hand, if the gm was lenient with the players, then the mood just flushed down.

[@strangeassembly5595]

I am curious how long it will be for M5. They might have to really strip it down to meet current design paradigms.

[@johncmousley]

Parts of this book do read like they were written for protagonists, you are right. But still has a massive Hunter: The Vigil guy this is my fave V5 book

[@alanaspinall7147]

The most dangerous monsters in the world of darkness, Is humanity, and now its waking up😊

[@dorobooya4721]

Seems like the odds are stacked against the vampires when it comes to the SI. I wonder if vampires can leverage mortals to fight against the SI in a sort of PR campaign, to even the tables.

[@strangeassembly5595]

The ST certainly has room to heavily stack the deck against the vampires. It is possible, although risky, to try to leverage mortal institutions against the SI - you have to come out into the light a bit yourself to challenge warrants or organize protests against overzealous agencies.

[@baekyum]

Being able to turn off disciplines and detect obfuscate is a bit much.

[@strangeassembly5595]

There is definitely material in here that would allow a ST to rout a coterie. They’re relying on storyteller discretion for appropriate deployment.

[@briankeys5941]

​@@strangeassembly5595 BRUH, deleting a no curse word, very light, disagree with the state of the game in an informed way, comment. and YES, i got an early copy too, i did read it. if u read the comment you saw it WAS NOT ABOUT YOU OR THE CHANNEL. Wow...

[@strangeassembly5595]

I haven’t deleted any comments, so it’s hard for me to meaningfully respond to this. Sorry.

[@briankeys5941]

@@strangeassembly5595 weird. well, i apologize then, my bad. ive heard of this happening, just never too me, must be some youtube thing. anyway not worth retyping. it was just about how i thought onyx path was doing a much better job, and there seems to be a split in V5 logic going on right now. i appreciate your take. esp understanding u also got a review copy.

[@Blackferret66]

Yeah, that Nullifier just reeks of being what I call a "rust monster", based on the D+D monster. That is, an enemy that has no actual self-referential place in the ecosystem, but was created, and exists, soley for the purpose of screwing the players over. In a reasonably light-hearted game, this can be excused, but in a game whose world is trying to be serious, then the presence of "rust monsters" is just egregiously bad and lazy writing. This along with all the hand-waving that seems to be in the book, as far as Kindred not being able to counteract or fight against the SI, because everything has been arbitrarily rigged against them, just turnes me off on it.

[@Blackferret66]

Most SI combat people running around with 8 or 9 dice in a roll? I'm sorry, but I can't buy the idea that all the people in SI have 4 or 5 dots in all their physical stats. That's just ridiculous.

[@gooddaytoyou5256]

I mean, Gladius Dei is one of the most elite forces on Earth, probably. And besides, they have enhancing tech AND holy relics. No wonder, I think

[@skeletonking4119]

I am dying to get it this one! Hopefully they re add the Muslim and other religious groups

[@simpleevan3583]

Hunter the reckoning expantion?

[@strangeassembly5595]

I guess we’ll find out as the Hunter books hit the shelves. ;) (Yes, I know that PDFs have been out for a couple weeks.)

[@philknecht3598]

What the hell is a senikull

[@pandamanda6422]

Gotta be honest here. With all the stuff about how the Masquerade is incredibly necessary or else you'll draw human attention and vampires and get everyone killed, I'm not really seeing the problem with the SI being incredibly threatening? Like, let's not forget that the First Inquisition tore Vampires down from the height of their powers back in the middle ages, before modern weaponry and technology ever entered the equation, and beat their asses hard enough to be the reason for the Masquerade in the first place. So why shouldn't the Second Inquisition be comparably threatening to vampires who draw its ire?

[@strangeassembly5595]

To the extent it’s an issue it’s about play experience. You’re not wrong in what you’re saying, but all of that’s about what’s ‘realistic’ in the game world. But realistic doesn’t always equal fun. Realistically, most vampires are fairly easily detected by a modern surveillance state and would be wiped out, I think. So, yeah, 2I would realism be terrifying and omnipresent. But to me that just isn’t that fun to play. It’s easier if “fun” and “realistic” lined up. YMMV, of course.

[@pandamanda6422]

@@strangeassembly5595 With that in mind, wouldn't it be easier to set the game after the Second Inquisition died down and funding dried up, as far as lining up realism and fun. Maybe the powers that be found something more important to do with the funding, like blow up another Middle Eastern nation or fund a proxy war with Russia. Puts the SI on a shoestring budget so that, even if they have info, they might not be able to send kill-teams or drone strikes at every vampire sighting, so they save their vitriol for the egregious shit.

[@strangeassembly5595]

I personally tend to just tone it down. There is, for example, no government supercomputer out there running an algorithm that uses digital tracks to identify likely blankbodies, and no portable technology that you can just point at a vampire and go “yup, that’s a vampire.” I like to use independent cells of hunters more than I like to use hunters as representatives of this big organization. But that’s ultimately just my personal preference.

[@johnwalsh4857]

the 2nd inquisition probably has access to nukes. probably has a bunch just in case.