The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Before I start in on the review, I'd like you to look up at the pages thingy I wrote up there.

Yeah, I'm a real innovator. White Wolf will tell you it's 128 pages, but I'm saving you the heartbreak of finding out that 3 of those are just ads. And hey, if you'd just buy it for the ads, I'll tell you now that they're for Vampire Revised, the new Camarilla/Sabbat books for Vampire Revised, and Trinity Battleground.

The motto of Trinity Battleground is "you are the weapon!"

Which is kinda funny, cos if your Renegade PC is ever caught, he could very well be smelted into a weapon.

Now that's a segue.

I've noticed that Wraith books are barely looked at on here. So over the next few days, I'll be tossing up reviews of all the Wraith books I recently splurged on after scalping Marilyn Manson tickets for $1000.

This book is a paradox. Oh, you thought that was reserved for Mage, but you're wrong. Renegades is a paradox? Why? Well...

Renegades is dull. The fiction is dull. The nonfiction is dull. Hell, the artwork is dull. I'd use the classic phrase 'it reads like stereo instructions', except my stereo is a crappy Japanese big-brand knockoff, so its instructions are very poorly translated and a real hoot to read. At least compared to this book. Dry, boring and painful.

So where's the paradox?

Well, once you've gotten past the awful writing, the information is great. It requires brain rewiring. Like Alvin Miller Junior walking through the forest with his mind turned off, you must plod through the ghastly text and absorb the ideas behind it. It's not easy. You must reach out with your feelings! YOUR FEELINGS! Uh.

Anyway, when I first thought 'Renegades' I thought 'stupid'. I mean, how could you write a faction book for a faction in which there's zero consolidation? They're all rebelling against everything, including one another. Which is why it was so surprising that they actually handled it pretty well.

There are your expected chapters on the history of Renegades. It's pretty unimportant. One Renegade isn't like another Renegade, so they don't exactly have a unified history. Still, the story of the restless dead saying, "Hey, Stygia sucks!" for the first time is the sort of thing White Wolf feels the need to print.

After that are several chapters on how Renegades tend to organize themselves. Organize themselves? Yeah. Not what you might expect, though. They make no bones about the fact that Renegades don't like other Renegades any more than they like the Heirarchy. Those Renegades who are likeminded, though, they'll get together and form gangs. Its these gangs that tend to have organization, even if its informal.

The last part of the book is taken up with 'storytelling for Renegade characters', which certainly isn't necessary, but offers many ideas. After this bit is, of course, character templates and 'famous renegades'. While the character templates are run of the mill (and most of them are wrong wrong wrong! but I'm told that actually checking the templates for rightness makes me anal, so I won't harp) several of the legendary Renegades gave me ideas for games, if not campaigns, while reading their writeups.

I had to think of something, right? I couldn't just sit there thinking, "Man, this dude is a really crappy writer."

Style: 1 (Unintelligible)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Renegades
Author: Jackie Cassada, Nicky Rea Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Game Studio Cost: $16.00 Page count: 125 plus ads ISBN: 1-56504-636-6 Capsule Review by Adam Schroeder on 11/11/98. Genre tags: Modern_day Horror Gothic	Before I start in on the review, I'd like you to look up at the pages thingy I wrote up there. Yeah, I'm a real innovator. White Wolf will tell you it's 128 pages, but I'm saving you the heartbreak of finding out that 3 of those are just ads. And hey, if you'd just buy it for the ads, I'll tell you now that they're for Vampire Revised, the new Camarilla/Sabbat books for Vampire Revised, and Trinity Battleground. The motto of Trinity Battleground is "you are the weapon!" Which is kinda funny, cos if your Renegade PC is ever caught, he could very well be smelted into a weapon. Now that's a segue. I've noticed that Wraith books are barely looked at on here. So over the next few days, I'll be tossing up reviews of all the Wraith books I recently splurged on after scalping Marilyn Manson tickets for $1000. This book is a paradox. Oh, you thought that was reserved for Mage, but you're wrong. Renegades is a paradox? Why? Well... Renegades is dull. The fiction is dull. The nonfiction is dull. Hell, the artwork is dull. I'd use the classic phrase 'it reads like stereo instructions', except my stereo is a crappy Japanese big-brand knockoff, so its instructions are very poorly translated and a real hoot to read. At least compared to this book. Dry, boring and painful. So where's the paradox? Well, once you've gotten past the awful writing, the information is great. It requires brain rewiring. Like Alvin Miller Junior walking through the forest with his mind turned off, you must plod through the ghastly text and absorb the ideas behind it. It's not easy. You must reach out with your feelings! YOUR FEELINGS! Uh. Anyway, when I first thought 'Renegades' I thought 'stupid'. I mean, how could you write a faction book for a faction in which there's zero consolidation? They're all rebelling against everything, including one another. Which is why it was so surprising that they actually handled it pretty well. There are your expected chapters on the history of Renegades. It's pretty unimportant. One Renegade isn't like another Renegade, so they don't exactly have a unified history. Still, the story of the restless dead saying, "Hey, Stygia sucks!" for the first time is the sort of thing White Wolf feels the need to print. After that are several chapters on how Renegades tend to organize themselves. Organize themselves? Yeah. Not what you might expect, though. They make no bones about the fact that Renegades don't like other Renegades any more than they like the Heirarchy. Those Renegades who are likeminded, though, they'll get together and form gangs. Its these gangs that tend to have organization, even if its informal. The last part of the book is taken up with 'storytelling for Renegade characters', which certainly isn't necessary, but offers many ideas. After this bit is, of course, character templates and 'famous renegades'. While the character templates are run of the mill (and most of them are wrong wrong wrong! but I'm told that actually checking the templates for rightness makes me anal, so I won't harp) several of the legendary Renegades gave me ideas for games, if not campaigns, while reading their writeups. I had to think of something, right? I couldn't just sit there thinking, "Man, this dude is a really crappy writer." Style: 1 (Unintelligible) Substance: 4 (Meaty)