C.T. Phipps's Blog

To Sift Through Bitter Ashes (Grails Covenant Trilogy #1) by David Niall Wilson review

    TO SIFT THROUGH BITTER ASHES by David Niall Wilson is the first of the Grails Covenant Trilogy. The Vampire: The Masquerade franchise was once one of the biggest in the tabletop gaming world and in the Nineties and early Two Thousands, they created hundreds of novels set in the World of Darkness. The Grails Covenant trilogy was set during the Vampire: The Dark Ages period, specifically in the aftermath of the First Crusade.

    The premise is that a Lasombra vampire named Montravant ha...

Clan Novel: Malkavian by Stewart Wieck

    CLAN NOVEL: MALKAVIAN by Stewart Wieck is the ninth novel of the Clan Novel series. The Clan Novel series of VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE and the larger World of Darkness was an attempt to do a round robin kind of story that illustrated each of the thirteen clans. Some of the books were great, others so-so, and others still have complicated feelings from me. This is one of the complicated ones as I think it's a great book in some parts and downright incomprehensible in others.

    The premise is A...

Straight outta Fangton is free from Nov 13 to 18th!

FROM THE BEST SELLING AUTHOR OF THE SUPERVILLAINY SAGA:

Peter Stone is a poor black vampire who is wondering where his nightclub, mansion, and sports car are. Instead, he is working a minimum wage job during the night shift as being a vampire isn’t all that impressive in a world where they’ve come out to mortals. Exiled from the rich and powerful undead in New Detroit, he is forced to go back when someone dumps a newly-transformed vampire in the bathroom of his gas station’s sto...

Dispatch (2025) review

     DISPATCH by Adhoc games (in conjunction with Critical Role) is a visual novel video game with an interesting minigame: you are a 911-esque dispatcher who dispatches superheroes to various crises great and small across the greater Los Angeles area. It’s an interesting premise and I was interested in both the Invincible-esque art style as well as the fact it seemed to be a superhero dramedy. As the author of the Supervillainy Saga, I absolutely am the kind of guy who this game is made ...

Crossroad Press has re-released 100+ World of Darkness novels

Crossroad Press has begun re-releasing the original White Wolf fiction produced in the Nineties. They re-released the Dark Age Clan Novels , Clan Novels , and Grail Covenant Trilogy a few of years ago but now have the contract for all of the books. Recently, they’ve started re-releasing the rest! These books were a huge influence on my United States of Monsters series and I thought I’d share what’s now available.

Note: These books are also available on other sites like Barnes and Noble. I jus...

How the Second Inquisition will end

 
V5 Chronicle Tips

1. The Social Satire of Vampire: The Masquerade2.  An analysis of Anarchs in Vampire: The Masquerade
3. Ten Tips to Running the Anarchs in V5 4. Ten Tips to Running the Second Inquisition in V5 5. Ten Tips to Running the Sabbat in V5 6. Ten Chronicles for Sabbat PCs in V5 7. Ten Tips to Running the Camarilla in V5 8. Ten Tips to Running the Thin-Bloods in V5 9. Ten Tips to Running the Tremere in V5  10. Ten Real Life-Inspired Chronicles for V5
11. V5 NPC Update: Sullivan Dane
1...

Vampire: The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2 review

One sequel, uh uh, two sequel, uh uh.

    VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE: BLOODLINES 2 is a game that has been a long time coming. Not only from the original game in 2004 to 2025 but also the fact that the game was initially announced in 2015 and then got cancelled before being taken over by a new developer, leading to a development cycle of five years. The game was also put under an unusually intense microscope by fans due to the original's cult classic status as well as the fact that events included t...

The Rules of Supervillainy is free from September 29th to Oct 2nd

 

Hey guys, I wanted to let you know THE RULES OF SUPERVILLAIY is being given away for FREE from September 29th to October 2nd. 

   "Why save the world when you can rule it?"

Gary Karkofsky is an ordinary guy with an ordinary life living in an extraordinary world. Supervillains, heroes, and monsters are a common part of the world he inhabits. Yet, after the death of his hometown's resident superhero, he gains the amazing gift of the late champion's magical cloak. Deciding he prefers to be rich rathe...

Spider-Man 2 review

 
    MARVEL'S SPIDER-MAN 2 was one of my most highly anticipated games. I was a huge fan of Insomniac's MARVEL'S SPIDER-MAN and it may be my all-time favorite video game alongside VAMPIRE: THE MASQUERADE: BLOODLINES. I also enjoyed SPIDER-MAN: MILES MORALES despite a much weaker story. So, if I was so excited about it, why did it take so long for me to review it? Well, uh, it's because I didn't really like it that much.

    I know! How is that possible? Isn't it just the same game as Spider-Man? ...

Lies of P review

 
    Lies of P by Neowiz, Round8 Studios, and Rough is a Souls-like game in the vein (no pun intended) of Bloodborne. The premise is an odd one that immediately caught my attention: what if Pinocchio was a steampunk dark fantasy? It’s such an out-there premise that I didn’t initially check the game out, which proved to be a mistake. I was a huge fan of Bloodborne and it was one of my all-time favorite games by the time I finished it. 

    I ended up choosing to play Lies of P because I’d hear...