The Gangrel's themes are focused on the bestial nature of the vampire: they have the ability to communicate with and control animals, shapeshift into bats and wolves, and generally have an animalistic rage and predatory wanderlust.
The Clanbook jumps straight in with a crazy biblical backstory for the Gangrel. It turns out that Lilith, Adam's wife before Eve, was sent away from Eden while pregnant with four children. (She is also described here as unusually hairy.) After she gives birth, Lilith entrusts each of her infants to a different animal. The daughter entrusted to the wolves eventually reaches maturity and starts fucking wolves (!).
Some of the children born from these instances of beastiality look human, others look like wolves, but each carries the "seed" of both man and wolf. Later, she travels to Enoch and stirs up a bunch of trouble with her good looks and licentious ways; the product of her couplings in the ancient city are the ancestors of the Romani people (!!).
Even later, she encounters one of Caine's progeny. He "couldn't satisfy her" (!!!) but he did turn her into a vampire as a consolation prize. The Gangrel vampires are descended from her after she became undead. What this means that this woman is responsible for no less than three lines of supernatural beings: werewolves, the Romani (who are magical people according to the World of Darkness), and the Gangrel clan of vampires.
Since the Gangrel don't keep a recorded history, we only get snippets of what they've been up to over the centuries. Apparently the Vikings encountered a Gangrel and noted it in their sagas. Jesus may have healed a Gangrel, at least according to a Gnostic tradition. Gangrel aided in the sack of Rome! When European colonists came to North America, they found Gangrel among the native populace!
Here's the wildest bit: apparently the Nazis made a huge mistake in putting a Gangrel into a concentration camp along with his Romani friends. While in the camp, he turned his fellow prisoners into vampires and ghouls so they could take over and feast on Nazi blood! Now that's a b-movie Eurohorror flick I would watch, no question about it.
Remember how people were upset that the new Vampire rpg tied its World of Darkness to the real-life horrors of Chechnya? Well, it turns out that Vampire has a long tradition of that. In this book the ethnic purges in Yugoslavia are vampire-related.
Here's a very funny tidbit: Euro-Disney was built on a favored Gangrel hunting ground! Apparently the French Gangrel are so upset by this development that they have turned to violence, drugs, and feeding off the insane as coping mechanisms.
Remember when I said above that Gangrel don't keep written records of their history? Well, this is because they prefer to rely on oral traditions instead. Unfortunately, given that this was the 90s, this means that when two Gangrels meet up they might rap at each other to divulge their backstories. If the sample included in the book is any indication, the Gangrel have zero flow. They do not spit hot bars.
Aside from these chance rap battles no one asked for, the Gangrel congregate in "Gathers" that are held at solstices and equinoxes. These Gathers feature storytelling events, boasting competitions, shape-changing challenges, and--according to the book--often culminate is a lot of wrestling.
Since the Gangrel are the most likely of the clans to interact with werewolves--either by fighting them or befriending them--the Clanbook sets aside some space to detail the various werewolf tribes found in the setting. It sort of feels like an editor wanted to find a place to squeeze in some cross-promotional lore and this was where the dart landed.
The Gangrel share a connection with the Romani, so they get a section here too; it's delivered via fiction and it is not great, being mainly constructed from negative stereotypes. The narrator laments that the Romani keep lying to him and trying to steal from him. They only begin to respect him when they see him committing crimes. Then they teach him how to steal chickens and pigs.
Time for my favorite bit: the rundown of the included ready-to-play templates! Clanbook: Gangrel has the following:
- Archon-in-Training: I gather that Archons are basically the Camarilla's equivalent of "military police." This one got into the game solely because they like getting into fights.
- Babe in the Woods: A doe-eyed ingénue who doesn't realize they've been turned into a vampire, despite the mounting evidence of what they are.
- Biologist: A vampire scientist who plans on using the vast expanse of eternity to look down the barrel of a microscope.
- Bold Urban Commando: Basically, a Gangrel playing at being a Brujah.
- Eco-guerilla: A vampire who's really into Earth Crisis. This is a great archetype that really resonates with the Gangrel clan's themes.
- Explorer: A vampire Indiana Jones or Lara Croft. I question how well this one would fit most Chronicles.
- Great White Hunter: Does what it says on the tin; fun note here about how this template views the Camarilla as a gentleman's club of sorts.
- Lupine Impersonator: When your Gangrel becomes an otaku for werewolves. This is clearly for the player who wishes they were in a Werewolf campaign instead.
- Stuntman: Since a vampire's body can take a supernatural amount of punishment, stuntman seems like a natural enough job for one. However, it's not noted how they get around daytime shoots.
- Survivalist: A perfect archetype for a Gangrel! The idea of vampirism as just another tool for personal survival is a nice note.
The Clanbook ends with some notable Gangrel NPCs. They're a mixed bag, but I like the Vampira analog who was turned into a vampire by a fanboy and the Norse women who think they've awakened just in time for Ragnarok.
RPG Player: I'd like to play as Liz Fraser from Cocteau Twins, but as a vampire.
Vampire: The Masquerade: Not a problem.
Next time we'll take a look at Clanbook: Malkavians, which I am sure will offer a sensitive and nuanced treatment of mental illness.
