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Night Horrors: Shunned by the Moon
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Justin S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/13/2019 04:07:03

tl;dr It's a great book, and a must have for Werewolf storytellers as well as Shadow Gifts players will want to have access to. Most of the antagonists can fit well into other games, and there's links to Hunter, Beast, Contagion Chronicles, Mummy and other settings.

As a reminder you can check the preview link under the image of the book and see the first few pages (it usually starts at the table of contents, but the first page of that doesn't show).

Shunned by the Moon is part of the Night Horrors line, offering a variety of interesting antagonists and obstacles for Werewolf: the Forsaken. With a dash of Vampire's 'Wicked Dead' it doesn't just offer example NPCs but a lot of 'variant' antagonists that deviate from the standard (like spirits from outer space, Bale Hounds, and ghost wolf mutants or claimed), and a good-sized last chapter offering a ton of advice about running werewolf and specifically running it with the dominating theme of the hunt. Each of the tribal Sacred Prey are covered, as well as out of context threats like idigam and geryo. It's a surprisingly big book, too, 205 pages is about 40 more pages than the previous biggest books, and it is pretty packed with content. So at the least, you get a lot of material for the price.

The first chapter is really kicked off by the intro fiction, which depicts a Forsaken raid on a Pure facility with a lot of surprises coming from every werewolf involved. And the chapter expands and explains, we get the upgraded Pure ready for second edition, backed by their Firstborn totems and able to fight Forsaken on even ground through new Aspects, Rites, and Merits. Five new Gifts are made available (not limited to the Pure and really useful for Forsaken), those of Agony, Blood, Disease, Fervor, and Hunger. There's 3 example Pure, each turning the stereotype of their tribe on their head, I particularly liked the celebrity party girl Predator King who drives others of the idle rich and famous to obscene acts of savagery. The next part updates the Bale Hounds to 2e, with 5 Maeljin disassociated from the 7 Deadly Sins and instead focused on subverting werewolf culture (though they can be targeted towards other enemies), these guys are pretty nasty, and develop physical mutations as they grow in power, complete with 3 example NPCs of different levels of corruption, ranging from prospective recruit to Envoy of Soulless Wolf. Lastly there's a group of sort of ghost wolf 'mutants,' which show some of the downsides of not being anchored to a Firstborn, including the Tyrants who become sort of a domineering pack totem for the herd of humans they oversee, Devourers who get obscene powers via the consumption of werewolf flesh, Void Reivers who are infected by spirits from the dark reaches of space, and Mimics, arguably an evolution that doubles down on the shapeshifting of werewolves to create predators without codes or honor or restraint. There's also the titular Moon-Shunned, who through quirks of fate are born without Auspice and invisible to Luna's light.

The next chapter focuses on Spirits and the Shadow. The first spirits we get lean towards the more powerful and high ranked, but all have good reasons to run into werewolves, whether because they hate them or because their normal activities might upset territories. There's even a Lune, a Maeltinet, and a Secondborn (their backstory ties in to that of Task Force Valkyrie, from Hunter). The middle of this chapter focuses on oddities of the Shadow, specifically Wounds (offering many options for how they might hinder those inside, but also how werewolves can heal them) and void spirits, alien spirits from beyond Earth's atmosphere, like the aggressive Urinsahi from Mars, or the near-apocalyptic Skybreaker void leviathan. 'What about spirits from space' has been a popular question the last few years and this section does a lot to explore the answer and give some nasty surprises. The rest of the chapter is made up of Ridden and Claimed, ranging from outright destructive entities to those who are much more manipulative that may not even seem harmful at first glance.

Chapter three is all about the hosts. While it doesn't delve into the specific biology of them, there's four new types of host and each has a fleshed out example that can easily act as a jumping-off point for those who want to make their own Toad, Wasp, Termite or Lamprey hosts. Here we also see an established member of the Spider-hosts, and a Locust-host who has their own cult and wide area of influence. It would be great to have a lot more about the hosts I'm particularly happy with this chapter, each antagonist is fully fleshed out with their own abilities and motives that show what their hosts are like, and they offer a much more dangerous set of antagonists than the new hosts in the last Night Horrors for the game, Wolfsbane.

Then we get to the Herd, human threats. There's only three groups here but they offer some sideways looks at humans as prey, in that they are not out to actively ruin werewolf lives, but do the kind of things that can require werewolf attention. The first group, RD-13, has found some method to make gateways to other worlds, one of which is the Shadow. Unfortunately their understanding of these worlds is incomplete and there's a lot of seepage, leading to mutations of their workforce and 'things' running loose in territories. The second group is the Church of the Wolf, a modern religion created by people whose minds have been shattered by the effects of Lunacy, and seek out the entities they see as the descendants of gods (werewolves). Aside from seeking out werewolves they seem to be favored by Luna, and have some interesting tricks up their sleeves in the form of rites, the one we have mechanics for lets them force a werewolf to go on a sacred hunt on a target of the congregation's choice. The last group is one that's been wanted for a while as well, Shadow occultists, human shamans who gain the ability to use Influences and often pick up a patron in the form of Shadow entities.

The penultimate chapter, appropriately titled 'Nightmares' is where things get really nasty. This focuses on the things called out-of-context antagonists in the wave of second edition Chronicles, and things that hunt werewolves. It starts with idigam, offering a bunch of new powers for them (Forge Undead is a new add to Essence shaping that satisfies my idigam-as-zombie apocalypse yearning) and four new ones, including a particularly nasty and gigantic one that exists in the Gauntlet itself (along with some rules for how to enter it). Then enter the Geryo, a mostly new antagonist that debut in the Contagion Chronicle, they see themselves as alpha version examples of werewolves, and superior despite being sealed away by their creators. There's some crossover with Beast here, as while the Uratha were believed to be created by Father Wolf and Luna, Father Wolf is thought to have partnered with Beast's Dark Mother to create the Geryo, and there's some mechanical feedback that reinforces this. Ancient horrors that offer a more personal threat to the werewolves than the world-changing idigam, they are still hugely nasty entities, capable of infecting packs with their transmogrifying body horror contagion.

The last chapter, Commencing Your Hunt, is all about running the game. It offers a lot of ideas and advice to help storytellers focus their game on the predatory world of werewolves and get that mood across to their players. It starts with six different and customizable pitches that encompass the big events of werewolf life, from turf wars to the rebirth of Pangaea, including references to entities within the rest of the book that can be used for stories about these kinds of things. The next part of the chapter focuses on the setting, neatly encapsulating a lot of first edition's Territories in a series of easy to crib charts that can help storytellers flesh out their setting while also offering ideas for how to portray it to their players. As a long time Werewolf storyteller and player I've seen a lot of people struggle with how to get started and this chapter really helps people along with that, it's good for those new to the game as well as more experienced storytellers. It's easily worthy of being in the core book.

All in all, it's a great book. Mixing the flavors of the two kinds of Night Horrors books, by offering 'types' of antagonist as well as specific examples lets people plug and play antagonists as well as offers a bit of blue prints for those who want to build things themselves. All the sacred prey are covered, and often range in 'difficulty' from annoyances that aren't quite threat enough to be killed to Final Boss, as well as out-of-context threats for just about every one of those used to their 'standard' sacred prey. Players aren't left out, with new Gifts and enough mechanics and ideas to offer options for those who want to play Pure or Bale Hounds or mortal Shadow Shamans, while still expanding options for regular Forsaken. Even for those who primarily run other lines there's plot hooks and antagonists that can easily fit in (nearly every game is susceptible to claiming, or is going to be upset by the presence of some of the creatures within), with some even being fitting for mid-to-high end Hunter the Vigil targets. The only real negative thing I can say about the book is that it doesn't spend a lot of chapters detailing the intricacies of monster culture and society, though the telling glimpses seen through the antagonists, story hooks and rumors go a long way.

I wanted to add this. I'm not an art guy. Most of the time I don't look at it much unless it stands out (I have a couple of the posters). I don't have an easy way to read these pdfs beyond my desktop, my e-reader doesn't do pdfs well and I usually end up just copying the text so when I re-read it its without images. But I do do my first readthrough via the pdf itself and I really liked the images. I think some of the artists are new (the photorealistic Shadow Occultist art seems different from the realistic figures of the Pure characters). Regardless, I like it, and especially with the alien and monstrous things I think they did a good job.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Night Horrors: Shunned by the Moon
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Reign of the Exarchs Poster
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Justin S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/20/2019 02:46:29

Great poster, great art.

But it's folded in half, rather than rolled up. I'll let the people know.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Reign of the Exarchs Poster
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The Pack
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/13/2016 12:12:36

Great book, just the thing Werewolf the Forsaken needed. Fleshes out some of what needed to be fleshed out, gives some interesting new options. If I had a real complaint it would be the shortness of the book. It's only 105 pages long including the front and rear cover, the margins are a little thick and it seems like there could have been more. But alternatively it is nicely priced for its brevity.

First Chapter has four sample packs and shows what the pack is like and how it operates from inside and out, including things like recruitment, solving disputes and duties through these four packs so you get a rounded out picture of the average pack that can then be used in games. One thing missing that I'd have liked to have seen is how they react to the death of a member. It follows this up with advice for an 'origin story' where you can start a game by playing the First Hunt of the pack, a nice touch that can help you put games together without handwaving how they all got started. It ends with optional rules for Troupe Play, a new aspect called Hunting Nature, and Pack Merits.

Second Chapter goes from macrocosm to microcosm, showing the individuals in the pack, what they do at rest, at task, and on the hunt as well as elsewhere. It does this for Werewolves, Wolf-Blooded and Humans, then the Totem, who as of second edition is a full member of the pack and not a distant patron. It also introduces advice for two other possible packmates, 'real' wolves and spirits, along with some neat quirks they might bring to a pack upon membership. Then it covers the Other, including members of the pack from every other gameline. I think the vampire and mage sections were a little biased against and for, and the mood changes from the aggressive to the timid, but it's just a few paragraphs that seem at odd with the setting described. The chapter finishes up with some pack tactics and a rule system to create new ones, some expanded rules for totems and a trio of sample totems.

Third Chapter stole a lot of the show for me. It starts expanding on protectorates, 'packs of packs' shown in second edition core and a dream back in first edition. Then it follows up with long-awaited rules for Lodges, a series of strange almost heretical sub-tribes that offers a lot to the game in terms of depth and validating the mood and themes of Werewolf. There's a loose guide to creating your own lodges, as well as five lodges that show off various aspects of the game from different angles. The Thousand Steel Teeth focus on how the Sacred Hunt is performed, the Eaters of the Dead as a lodge that might become a Tribe, the Lodge of Garm the God-Eater as a tribal pillar, the Lodge of the Screaming Moon, showing a lodge ruled by a lune that delves heavily into auspice, and lastly the bizarre and blasphemous Temple of Apollo. Pillars are a new thing brought in that adds some depth and hierarchy to tribes.

Last Chapter brings us three new Hunting Grounds. Nicely fleshed out and intriguing, they show wolves all over the world. Dubai is currently struggling under the manipulations of a powerful supernatural mastermind and enslaver. Malta acts as a Casablanca of the supernatural world, with everyone allowed providing they follow the rules of the tribe there that guards the world from its End. And Bangkok, sort of the Werewolf Myth in modern age, with a far more recent paradise lost that all the tribes are trying to recreate, under their control.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
The Pack
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V20 The Black Hand: A Guide to the Tal’Mahe’Ra
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/09/2016 00:20:42

There's a few things a book on antagonists needs to have to really sell me on it. 1: They have to be playable, unless it's a monster manual I don't want to see a list of bad guys and their groups that don't allow for play. 2: They have to make you want to play them, this is very important, as it's common (though blessedly less so lately) to have bad guys be 'stupid evil,' somehow working off of an obviously wrong idea that even an insane person might realize doesn't make sense. And 3: They still have to be antagonists. This last one is hard, too, as when it comes to part 2, a lot of companies seem to go too far in the other direction, where it turns out they weren't bad guys at all, they were just misunderstood, or the bad guys are only a small faction of them and everyone is really heroic.

The Black Hand: A guide to the Tal'Mahe'Ra, successfully passes those checks. On top of that is a lightly detailed history of the group, allowing you to drop it into a modern or Dark Ages campaign, or a number of other times, a number of Fingers, cults you can drop into your game and advice to tailor new ones to it. The bulk of the rest of the book is in chapters describing various factions within the Hand, including the Bahari, Infernalists, as well as a chapter talking about the oddities one might meet in the Hand, not nearly limited to vampires. New powers are scattered throughout the book, and the last chapter contains a pre-made adventure designed to get you into the sect.

It's a solid book. The writing is great and innovative, even still in its advance stage. While I'm not part of the traditional scene for Vampire the Masquerade, I know people have had problems with the original take on the Black Hand and this should certainly fix them. A problem some die hard fans might have is with the sort of toolbox approach to the setting. It's a great thing to have, in my opinion, but I understand it's a turnoff to others. Still, even the most negative of readers would find things to like in the book.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
V20 The Black Hand: A Guide to the Tal’Mahe’Ra
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Sothis Ascends
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Justin S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/03/2015 13:49:22

Another great output from Onyx Path.

It says in the description it has a wealth of information for Storytellers, and that's important, because the book is mostly for Storytellers. Players can get a lot of ideas for their background for it, and it would be essential if they were playing a game set in one of the books' distant ages but otherwise there isn't much for them.

For Storytellers, however, it's a grand tome. The first three chapters detail the first three Sothic Turns and what the world was like during those times. The Cannibal Hymn, the first turn, is for many Mummies the first time they've awakened without historical 'baggage,' being a time before most of the enmities developed and the diaspora is agreed upon. The second chapter, the Mighty Despair, takes place around 910 BCE with Egypt no longer a place of greatness, at least to the living relics of Irem, and explores the surrounding areas of Africa and the Middle East. At this point the usual Antagonists of Mummy make appearances, along with other enemies like the enigmatic, Life-stealing Strangers. The next chapter, Return to Dusk, expands the areas Mummies and their cults have reached, more in Europe and eastward. I should note that the topics involved in these chapters involve a lot of cultural and religious issues that are handled respectfully by the writers. The fourth chapter gets into the concept of the Sothic Turns, how to plan Chronicles to take advantage of all of them, and a loose overview of what it means for mummies during the fourth one, in the present.

The fifth chapter is the last and longest and is the final episode of the SAS pre-made adventure that has taken place in previous books. The chapter is about 50 pages, more than twice the size of some of the previous chapters. I know some people don't like the Storyteller Adventure System so this can be an issue but even if you aren't using the adventure it offers a lot of characters and challenges that could be slipped into existing games.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Sothis Ascends
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Werewolf: the Forsaken 2nd Edition
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Justin S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 04/01/2015 20:16:27

tl;dr - Great game, great book, it has all the rules you need to play and requires no others (though it has a limited number of 'mortal' merits).

I've been a fan of new World of Darkness since the beginning, and while there's been many to challenge it, Werewolf the Forsaken has been my favorite of the games.

Honestly, it had a lot of flaws. It was aimless, mechanically weak, weird, and expensive. But I liked the setting, and the spirit world.

Second edition has not only fixed all the problems but greatly improved on aspects of the game I and other people didn't like. One of the complaints I heard, though didn't necessarily share, about first edition was that you were relegated to being spirit police, and outside of the occasional 'rage' you didn't really get the feel of being a monster, or even a predator.

With second edition, the Wolf Must Hunt. You don't become a werewolf by being bitten by one (though it is possible), you get to tailor your rages, and either fight for a balance between your flesh and spirit sides or just choose a side and throw yourself at it. All the while, the hunt beckons.

A werewolf is born again, having their First Change under one of the five phases of moon that determines their auspice. This is the kind of person they were and how they hunt. From there a tribe is chosen, this is more about your personal beliefs, what you think is important. Werewolves still operate off an age old oath, following the legends left by their progenitor, Father Wolf, but not through being a policeman as much as being a hunter. Some might think spirits offer the greatest threat and challenge, and join the otherworldly Bone Shadows. Another might think man is more of a threat, and risk their necks picking prey from the biomass as an Iron Master. And even another might be a Blood Talon, hunting other werewolves as their sacred prey. A sixth option is available, the Ghost Wolves. They get a lot more support in this version of the game than they did the other, allowing you to be a lone hunter who plays by their own set of rules or a werewolf who struggles to resist a need decided eons ago that still pulses within them.

Werewolves can shift through five forms, representing the five 'iconic' forms seen throughout legends and movies. Each form has a special job for the hunt, and benefits to fulfill that job. The near-human form reminiscent of the Wolfman is designed for the urban hunt, the near-wolf form like the beast from an American Werewolf in London harries and wears down the prey. The gauru form, the hulking half-wolf half-man, is there to put an end to the prey. The human and wolf forms are there to spot and track, but also to blend in, because it is always possible for the hunter to become the hunted. Werewolves are no longer easily trounced by the common man with a gun, the forms are very powerful. But they have to be, because they often fight terrible monsters.

Their powers are divided into gifts and rites. Gifts are further divided into three groups. Moon Gifts are based on your auspice and work on the Storyteller standard of 1-5, increasing in power. Each auspice has one Moon Gift tree available, but it is implied there will be more with further books. Shadow Gifts, gained by performing the Sacred Hunt on spirits or through bargains, are the meat of werewolf powers. They are in groups of five, but all 'relatively' the same level in power. The trick is each is attuned to one of the five kinds of Renown, an in-game thing that notes great deeds a werewolf has committed in regards to Cunning, Glory, Honor, Purity and Wisdom. You are rewarded with gifts when you increase a corresponding Renown, which affects the dice pool or ability of the gift. The gifts are very interesting in design, with all more or less based around tools a werewolf might use for their hunt, but establishing an all around toolbox. Wolf Gifts are those natural to the shapeshifter, they are the cheapest gifts but by no means weak.

Rites operate most similarly to the older system, but they've cut out a lot of expensive 'atmospheric' rites, like a rite of apology, in exchange for more bang for the experience buck. The most significant change is that they can be customized to your character. While each has some basic concepts that need to be met, an atavistic shaman might enact a rite with their pack dancing around a fire, drinking and chanting, while a werewolf who's been around computers their entire life might organize a LAN party. The dice pools reflect this, allowing you to take advantage of your stronger attributes and skills.

To finish up character creation a totem is made, and each character makes a wolf-blooded character and some humans. Packs are no longer just for werewolves anymore, though more often than not the humans are not aware that they are friends with werewolves as much as they are part of a larger social circle. These characters mostly exist so if an individual werewolf is off-scene, their player can still keep occupied. Wolf-Blooded make a major comeback in this edition, with some very intriguing new powers, including a Tell. Tells are sort of like the old superstitious beliefs people had about werewolves, someone born with extra-long fingers or a unibrow, an evil eye or with a furred caul. But these things offer the Wolf-Blooded some power, such as limited shapeshifting into one form or regeneration. Each tell also comes with a drawback, that shapeshift coming when you're angry or the healer being burnt by silver.

I've written a lot, and still haven't covered all of it, but I wanted to touch on one last thing. Enemy. The last edition mentioned the dreaded idigam from the start, but we didn't see any in action until near the end. This book comes with five with about three pages of writing each, detailing them and their minions. They're very unique. You're told in the introduction you could still use those from Night Horrors: Wolfsbane with minimal mechanical differences. In addition, a series of dread powers are introduced, with the suggestion that when Storytellers are building one of the Claimed or Hosts or the new Hive-Claimed, use what you need. The individual enemies detailed are limited, giving you about two for each of the sacred prey. Humans, hosts, werewolves, claimed and spirits.

There was not that much information on the Pure, which was disappointing, and none on the Bale Hounds, which was moreso, but the book is such a fantastic improvement I am more than willing to wait for a similar effort to be made to improve upon them.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Werewolf: the Forsaken 2nd Edition
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