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BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front): This is a great supplement to enchance the usage of the established lore books (Book of Nod, Revelations of the Dark Mother, etc.). It also really enhances the possiblities of using libraries (in a interesting way) in a chronicle.
An enterprising StoryTeller can use this book to liven up some of those research heavy games (Cappadocians, Blood Sorcerers, etc.) and add some nuances to story.
I have 3 criticisms, but only one is of any note. First, the actual criticism, the book is a little niche. While that is the point of the work, throwing an appendix with a story hook or idea in the book would show how someone can incorporate the info into their table game.
Second, I would have also enjoyed a commentary of the at least one of the lore books by the author, similar to how the Days of Fire (DtF) lore book was done. As a ST, it would enable me to use this book as a sort of reference thesaurus to those other lore books.
Third, James; we're still waitin...
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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VTM: 20th Anniversary is a classical game and should be played by everyone at least once. It hits home hard the "A beast I am, lest a beast I become" feel that it wishes to portray. Yes, you are a beast, but what are you willing to do to contain it and keep hold of your humanity? With amazing writing, little tidbits everywhere, amazing art, it's a complete game in itself without the need of sourcebooks, although I would recommend those as well.
A lot of media tries to portray Vampires as best they can but nothing hits home quite like the world of Vampire the Masquerade does. And with the ruleset, there is not a single skillroll you can't make easily, especially when it's simply up to you and the GM to determine together what skills and attributes are needed for the moment. Would spinning your revolver in a flashy way to woo a girl a Dexterity + Firearms test, or a Charisma + Performance? Everything from regular checks to combat feels easy to get into, and most...
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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Though the material is expansive and has promise, what is frankly poor presentation makes it an unpleasant read and currently unsuited as a product in my opinion. The writing, often one of the main selling points of the WOD universe, feels coarse and rough in many places. As if someone did a first pass to translate a lot of it, but never went back to finish the job. Furthermore, the book is filled with odd syntax, spelling errors, mistranslations (sometimes comically so, substituting "The Hug" for "The Embrace") and here and there entire paragraphs stay untranslated (Page 57, Ravnos for instance). In one or two places entire pages are missing. It feels very much like paying full price for a product that is still in Alpha or early Beta.
Furthermore, the PDF does not come pre-bookmarked, the content table does not provide a hyperlink structure and there is no index. This makes the book fairly useless as a sourcebook during play.
The content of the book, once you get...
Rating: [2 of 5 Stars!] |
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