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A quick note to Adam Schroeder, who wrote a review for this book last week: you're suprised at ads? RPG books have had ads for other books as long as there have BEEN other books.

Now, on with the book. Renegades is a fairly standard Splatbook. It details the history of the Renegades and their organization (use that last term in its ironic sense).

The one flaw with this book is the attempt by the authors to use character annotation on an in-character screed within the book. While that type of thing works wonderfully in the Shadowrun books, here it fails.

I think the problem may have been that the renegades just came off as too harsh and venemous; of course, the fact I'd tend to empathize with the Journalist writing the piece might contribute to that. The characters just come off as the kind of people most folks would join the Hierarchy to stay away from.

The introductory chapter (after a couple pieces of exceptionally bad intoductory fiction) shows us 'a day in the life of a bunch of renegades' after a speech is broken up.

Following that is the aforementioned anotated history of the Renegades. It's interesting, even if the anotaters are dorks.

The book tries to make us understand that there is no such thing as a typical renegade. These are all people who didn't fit in, one way or another. They divvy them up into four basic groups which seem to fit (although one of them IS 'none of the above').

Now, having defined who renegades are, they then tell us what they do. There's a section on Famous Renegade Gangs, listing their activities and some stories about them. The most interesting one is the World Wide Wraiths, who work pretty much entirely within the net.

There's the usual list of "who & how", that tells you how well the Renegades get along with the other groups in their setting & the WoD at large. Then there's tactics for Renegades, as well as a bunch of new toys (new arcanoi, new archetypes, new skills, and new Merits & Flaws). There's hints on building a Renegade character, and hints on building a Renegade game (as well as getting a group of dead revolutionaries to stick together).

The usual templates of new characters and a list of elder statesmen round out the book.

All in all, Renegades is an okay SB. If nothing else, it's an interesting read and a new way to look at Stygia's history.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Renegades
Author: Nicky Rea & Jackie Cassada Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Cost: $16 Page count: 125 ISBN: 1-56504-636-6 Capsule Review by Justin Mohareb on 11/24/98. Genre tags: Horror Espionage Conspiracy	A quick note to Adam Schroeder, who wrote a review for this book last week: you're suprised at ads? RPG books have had ads for other books as long as there have BEEN other books. Now, on with the book. Renegades is a fairly standard Splatbook. It details the history of the Renegades and their organization (use that last term in its ironic sense). The one flaw with this book is the attempt by the authors to use character annotation on an in-character screed within the book. While that type of thing works wonderfully in the Shadowrun books, here it fails. I think the problem may have been that the renegades just came off as too harsh and venemous; of course, the fact I'd tend to empathize with the Journalist writing the piece might contribute to that. The characters just come off as the kind of people most folks would join the Hierarchy to stay away from. The introductory chapter (after a couple pieces of exceptionally bad intoductory fiction) shows us 'a day in the life of a bunch of renegades' after a speech is broken up. Following that is the aforementioned anotated history of the Renegades. It's interesting, even if the anotaters are dorks. The book tries to make us understand that there is no such thing as a typical renegade. These are all people who didn't fit in, one way or another. They divvy them up into four basic groups which seem to fit (although one of them IS 'none of the above'). Now, having defined who renegades are, they then tell us what they do. There's a section on Famous Renegade Gangs, listing their activities and some stories about them. The most interesting one is the World Wide Wraiths, who work pretty much entirely within the net. There's the usual list of "who & how", that tells you how well the Renegades get along with the other groups in their setting & the WoD at large. Then there's tactics for Renegades, as well as a bunch of new toys (new arcanoi, new archetypes, new skills, and new Merits & Flaws). There's hints on building a Renegade character, and hints on building a Renegade game (as well as getting a group of dead revolutionaries to stick together). The usual templates of new characters and a list of elder statesmen round out the book. All in all, Renegades is an okay SB. If nothing else, it's an interesting read and a new way to look at Stygia's history. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)