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Since I recently reviewed The Everlasting: Book of the Light, which shares the same rules and setting with Book of the Unliving, for the purposes of this review I'll be focusing largely on the unique aspects of this book.

THE SETTING

Book of the Unliving deals with the darker side of the world of the Everlasting. Ironically, the presence of a clear-cut "light" side - the angels and questers, not to mention God - make the darkness seem all the more horrid by casting it into sharp relief. Certainly, characters may balm their consciences with belief in moral relativity - indeed, many members of the darker races see angels as nothing more than holier-than-thou immortals - but unlike in the World of Darkness, the players will know that world view doesn't wash here. For the Unliving, every day presents a new set of choices between Good and Evil; and, unfortunately, to obey their true natures means giving in to the latter.

The three main races of Eldritch (supernaturals) presented in this book are the Ghuls, Revenants, and Vampires, each with their own fascinating societies, abilities, and (for PCs, anyway) moral dilemmas.

Ghuls are truly repulsive and pathetic creatures, duped into imbibing an elixir that grants immortality at a terrible price: an eternity of feeding on the dead marked by a slow but inevitable physical and/or mental degeneration. Most become the traditional disgusting undead horror, although some unfortunates transform into even more nightmarish forms. A lucky few maintain a human-like form and degenerate only mentally, while some even become physical and mental superhuman beings that may eat only long-decayed flesh.

These beings present an interesting roleplaying challenge - playing a "dark" character is hard enough, but Ghuls are both dark and extremely revolting. On the other hand, they could easily serve as a source of dark humor if played properly - they are perhaps the ultimate cynics, to whom even the Underworld is just another place to do business. And, unlike many other Undead, they need not harm the living to survive.

The same cannot be said of the Revenants, ghosts who have escaped the Underworld to inhabit physical bodies once more. These bodies may be their own corpses or the living or dead bodies of others. (In a particularly horrific twist, certain Ghuls bring captured humans into the underworld, eject their souls, and sell their still-living bodies to other souls seeking to become Revenants.)

The Revenants survive by draining life itself from the living, and they maintain a vast "Kingdom of the Night" to manipulate mortal society and provide themselves with a steady supply of victims. In this they more strongly resemble the vampires of the World of Darkness than do the vampires of the Everlasting, although some of the latter do participate in these machinations. They cannot rule with impunity, however: aside from constant opposition from the forces of light, Death itself sends its own servants into the world of the Living as Revenants to slay these Underworld escapees and restore the (super)natural order of things.

I particularly like the contrast that the Revenants present with the Vampires. Both exist in a state of undeath, but while the Revenants are the deceased trying to return to some semblance of life, the Vampires are the living exchanging damnation for eternal unlife.

And speaking of Vampires, I have mixed feelings about the way in which they're presented in this game. Like their cousins from Vampire: the Masquerade, they are grouped along bloodlines. In this case, however, the Vampires are much more in line with actual vampire legends from around the world. This is both good and bad: good, because this makes them much less classlike than the V:tM clans; bad, because rather than giving them the feel of fighters, magic-users, and thieves, they can seem a bit like international Street Fighter opponents. (Some of their more flashy abilities add to this effect as well.)

The different abilities of the bloodlines are also a bit problematic. Like the Angelic orders and individual Daevas from Book of the Light, the different bloodlines of Vampires have varying affinities for such things as darkness, cold, necromancy, etc.; again, these affinities have no use as of yet, since the rules for applying them haven't been published. However, these affinities aren't quite as vital to the nature of the bloodlines as they are to the Daevas, as certainly bloodlines also have access to powers only they may purchase.

In addition to dividing Vampires into bloodlines, the game also presents the innovation of categorizing the Vampires of each bloodline as genitors, scions, or damphirs. The scions are the Vampires we're all used to seeing - Vampires created by other Vampires through seduction or force. Damphirs, on the other hand, are living Vampires, sustaining eternal life by feeding on the blood of other vampires as well as on humans; in this, they are similar to the ghouls of Vampire: the Masquerade. And genitors are the actual founders of a bloodline - humans who committed some atrocity so great that they damned themselves with living death.

Each of these varieties of Vampire present a very different and intriguing spin on undeath. The scions, for example, may have chosen their fate or may have had it thrust upon them. The damphirs could regain their humanity at any by ceasing to feed on vampiric blood, so long as they are willing to loose their immortality as a result. And the genitors- well, they literally have only themselves to blame for their state. (One minor problem here is the fact that all genitors are by definition members of a new bloodline, and the book provides no solid rules for the creation of bloodlines and their associated abilities. This is nothing a good GM couldn't dream up, however.)

Like the Book of the Light, the Book of the Unliving details two other "gentes" (races) of Eldritch that exist on the fringes of Everlasting society. Here, they are the Reanimates and the Dead Souls.

Reanimates are divided into three general categories: Fleshfreaks (Frankenstein's monsters), Deathmechs (undead cyborgs), and Golems. All vary in the manner and materials used in their creation and sustenance, as well as in their powers, making each of these creations the unique outcasts they should be. The Fleshfreaks and Golems are very well done, but I had a bit of a problem with the Deathmechs.

For one thing, the text indicates that living cyborgs are possible as well, but doesn't explain the advantage (if any) of creating undead ones. In addition, the optional powers of the Deathmechs are largely identical to those of the Fleshfreaks - they basically have access to the same powers with different rationales (i.e., infrared vision due to cybernetics rather than magic, etc.). The text mentions various gizmos frequently found in Deathmechs, such as hand razors and pop-out guns, but these are not detailed, nor is it suggested whether these would be bought as supernatural powers.

The book truly shines in its description of the Dead Souls - the ghosts - and their home, the Underworld. Without going into too much detail, the author manages to incorporate practically every ghostly manifestation from the "real world" as well as from classic literature into one coherent mythos. And I can imagine setting entire adventures in the dark wonderland that is the Underworld. It offers everything from a frighteningly deserted (or IS it?) shadow-Earth, to a Road Warrior-like wasteland haunted by the monstrous First Brood of Lilith and dotted with Gothic cities out of Tim Burton's nightmares, to a clever take on Dante's Divine Comedy. Unfortunately, Dead Souls would not make very effective PCs in most games, since the closest they can come to the lands of the living is the Reverie - the multilayered magic reality that overlays the "real world".

THE RULES

I really don't have much to add here beyond what I wrote in my Book of the Light review; as with White Wolf's games, the same rules are reprinted in each book in the series.

I did, however, discover one minor problem with the combat system since writing that review: the damage rules for hand-to-hand weapons need some work. Hand weapons do damage based on Strength divided by two with a positive or negative modifier for anything larger or smaller than a short sword. Since maximum strength for a normal human is 6, damage in melee combat relies almost solely on skill. While some might consider this a good thing, I find it hard to believe that Arnold Schwartzenegger (easily Strength 6) could do no more damage with a club (damage Str/2 - 2) than could I with the same weapon. Fortunately, this one's an easy fix: just base damage off of Strength rather than Strength/2 and double all other damage- and healing-related numbers.

THE BOOK

The aesthetic strengths and weaknesses of the Book of the Unliving are largely the same as those of the Book of the Light, only more so.

The art is largely even better in this book. This is not so much a matter of quality as it is context - the illustrations generally depict the supernatural in a modern setting rather than an ancient or medieval one, giving the book a more appropriate feel for the urban fantasy/horror genre. In addition, the book features several appropriately creepy black-and-white photos; it's been my experience that photos in RPG books tend to look unprofessional and jarring - see the cover of the RPG Witchcraft - but here they are well done.

I was perturbed to see the binding of the book give out before I'd even made it through three chapters; however, Visionary promptly sent me a new copy while allowing me to keep the damaged one. This kind of excellent service is, they assured me, company policy.

Once again, much of the text is on the pretentious side. However, because most of this pretension falls in the essays at the beginning and (especially) the end of the book rather than in the background or rules sections, it can be ignored easily enough. Unfortunately, the "Legendmaking" section, with its discussions of opening and closing ceremonies for game sessions, color-coded candles, lucid dreaming, and the like is even larger than that of the Book of the Light, taking up even more valuable pages.

Pretensions aside, the text is literate and engaging, although it could use some tightening up and spell checking in places. I found that much of the material regarding the Underworld in particular was repeated in the sections on Ghuls, Revenants, and Dead Souls.

Unlike the Book of the Light, the Book of the Unliving features the outline of an introductory adventure in the back involving conflicts between multiple races and factions of the Everlasting, offering a solid idea of how an Everlasting session might run. However, it is of limited use to a gamemaster who owns only this book - it features daevas and dark elves, both of which are covered only in generalities, as well as demons and werewolves, which aren't covered at all.

I think this points up a flaw in the general approach of the Everlasting series. Like the World of Darkness books, the Everlasting is being presented as a series of "complete games", each focusing on a different aspect of the setting. However, while the PC races of the World of Darkness all have their own antagonists and internal conflicts, the Everlasting plays up interaction and conflict between the races and is much more likely to involve multiracial groups. Therefore, each individual book in the series is less of a complete game. True, each book does offer some information on the major races not covered, but it's not really enough to do them any kind of justice.

I would recommend that Visionary publish more information on each of the races on their website; not so much to make the books less desirable, but enough to make these races more playable without having to purchase each book - rules for the breath weapons of the dragons, the shapeshifting abilities of the manitous, etc.

SUMMARY

As was the case with the Book of the Light, I can't really give the Book of the Unliving a "five" in substance; it, too, really isn't as complete a game on its own as it should or could be. However, what it does cover, it covers very well indeed: the wonderfully dark side of the fascinating, multifaceted world of the Everlasting. So, if you like dark urban fantasy, it doesn't come much darker or fantastic than this one.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Everlasting: Book of the Unliving
Author: Steven Brown Category: game Company/Publisher: Visionary Entertainment Cost: $29.95 Page count: 316 ISBN: 1-887358-00-5 Playtest Review by Dan Davenport on 02/22/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Modern_day Historical Horror Conspiracy Vampire Gothic	Since I recently reviewed The Everlasting: Book of the Light, which shares the same rules and setting with Book of the Unliving, for the purposes of this review I'll be focusing largely on the unique aspects of this book. THE SETTING Book of the Unliving deals with the darker side of the world of the Everlasting. Ironically, the presence of a clear-cut "light" side - the angels and questers, not to mention God - make the darkness seem all the more horrid by casting it into sharp relief. Certainly, characters may balm their consciences with belief in moral relativity - indeed, many members of the darker races see angels as nothing more than holier-than-thou immortals - but unlike in the World of Darkness, the players will know that world view doesn't wash here. For the Unliving, every day presents a new set of choices between Good and Evil; and, unfortunately, to obey their true natures means giving in to the latter. The three main races of Eldritch (supernaturals) presented in this book are the Ghuls, Revenants, and Vampires, each with their own fascinating societies, abilities, and (for PCs, anyway) moral dilemmas. Ghuls are truly repulsive and pathetic creatures, duped into imbibing an elixir that grants immortality at a terrible price: an eternity of feeding on the dead marked by a slow but inevitable physical and/or mental degeneration. Most become the traditional disgusting undead horror, although some unfortunates transform into even more nightmarish forms. A lucky few maintain a human-like form and degenerate only mentally, while some even become physical and mental superhuman beings that may eat only long-decayed flesh. These beings present an interesting roleplaying challenge - playing a "dark" character is hard enough, but Ghuls are both dark and extremely revolting. On the other hand, they could easily serve as a source of dark humor if played properly - they are perhaps the ultimate cynics, to whom even the Underworld is just another place to do business. And, unlike many other Undead, they need not harm the living to survive. The same cannot be said of the Revenants, ghosts who have escaped the Underworld to inhabit physical bodies once more. These bodies may be their own corpses or the living or dead bodies of others. (In a particularly horrific twist, certain Ghuls bring captured humans into the underworld, eject their souls, and sell their still-living bodies to other souls seeking to become Revenants.) The Revenants survive by draining life itself from the living, and they maintain a vast "Kingdom of the Night" to manipulate mortal society and provide themselves with a steady supply of victims. In this they more strongly resemble the vampires of the World of Darkness than do the vampires of the Everlasting, although some of the latter do participate in these machinations. They cannot rule with impunity, however: aside from constant opposition from the forces of light, Death itself sends its own servants into the world of the Living as Revenants to slay these Underworld escapees and restore the (super)natural order of things. I particularly like the contrast that the Revenants present with the Vampires. Both exist in a state of undeath, but while the Revenants are the deceased trying to return to some semblance of life, the Vampires are the living exchanging damnation for eternal unlife. And speaking of Vampires, I have mixed feelings about the way in which they're presented in this game. Like their cousins from Vampire: the Masquerade, they are grouped along bloodlines. In this case, however, the Vampires are much more in line with actual vampire legends from around the world. This is both good and bad: good, because this makes them much less classlike than the V:tM clans; bad, because rather than giving them the feel of fighters, magic-users, and thieves, they can seem a bit like international Street Fighter opponents. (Some of their more flashy abilities add to this effect as well.) The different abilities of the bloodlines are also a bit problematic. Like the Angelic orders and individual Daevas from Book of the Light, the different bloodlines of Vampires have varying affinities for such things as darkness, cold, necromancy, etc.; again, these affinities have no use as of yet, since the rules for applying them haven't been published. However, these affinities aren't quite as vital to the nature of the bloodlines as they are to the Daevas, as certainly bloodlines also have access to powers only they may purchase. In addition to dividing Vampires into bloodlines, the game also presents the innovation of categorizing the Vampires of each bloodline as genitors, scions, or damphirs. The scions are the Vampires we're all used to seeing - Vampires created by other Vampires through seduction or force. Damphirs, on the other hand, are living Vampires, sustaining eternal life by feeding on the blood of other vampires as well as on humans; in this, they are similar to the ghouls of Vampire: the Masquerade. And genitors are the actual founders of a bloodline - humans who committed some atrocity so great that they damned themselves with living death. Each of these varieties of Vampire present a very different and intriguing spin on undeath. The scions, for example, may have chosen their fate or may have had it thrust upon them. The damphirs could regain their humanity at any by ceasing to feed on vampiric blood, so long as they are willing to loose their immortality as a result. And the genitors- well, they literally have only themselves to blame for their state. (One minor problem here is the fact that all genitors are by definition members of a new bloodline, and the book provides no solid rules for the creation of bloodlines and their associated abilities. This is nothing a good GM couldn't dream up, however.) Like the Book of the Light, the Book of the Unliving details two other "gentes" (races) of Eldritch that exist on the fringes of Everlasting society. Here, they are the Reanimates and the Dead Souls. Reanimates are divided into three general categories: Fleshfreaks (Frankenstein's monsters), Deathmechs (undead cyborgs), and Golems. All vary in the manner and materials used in their creation and sustenance, as well as in their powers, making each of these creations the unique outcasts they should be. The Fleshfreaks and Golems are very well done, but I had a bit of a problem with the Deathmechs. For one thing, the text indicates that living cyborgs are possible as well, but doesn't explain the advantage (if any) of creating undead ones. In addition, the optional powers of the Deathmechs are largely identical to those of the Fleshfreaks - they basically have access to the same powers with different rationales (i.e., infrared vision due to cybernetics rather than magic, etc.). The text mentions various gizmos frequently found in Deathmechs, such as hand razors and pop-out guns, but these are not detailed, nor is it suggested whether these would be bought as supernatural powers. The book truly shines in its description of the Dead Souls - the ghosts - and their home, the Underworld. Without going into too much detail, the author manages to incorporate practically every ghostly manifestation from the "real world" as well as from classic literature into one coherent mythos. And I can imagine setting entire adventures in the dark wonderland that is the Underworld. It offers everything from a frighteningly deserted (or IS it?) shadow-Earth, to a Road Warrior-like wasteland haunted by the monstrous First Brood of Lilith and dotted with Gothic cities out of Tim Burton's nightmares, to a clever take on Dante's Divine Comedy. Unfortunately, Dead Souls would not make very effective PCs in most games, since the closest they can come to the lands of the living is the Reverie - the multilayered magic reality that overlays the "real world". THE RULES I really don't have much to add here beyond what I wrote in my Book of the Light review; as with White Wolf's games, the same rules are reprinted in each book in the series. I did, however, discover one minor problem with the combat system since writing that review: the damage rules for hand-to-hand weapons need some work. Hand weapons do damage based on Strength divided by two with a positive or negative modifier for anything larger or smaller than a short sword. Since maximum strength for a normal human is 6, damage in melee combat relies almost solely on skill. While some might consider this a good thing, I find it hard to believe that Arnold Schwartzenegger (easily Strength 6) could do no more damage with a club (damage Str/2 - 2) than could I with the same weapon. Fortunately, this one's an easy fix: just base damage off of Strength rather than Strength/2 and double all other damage- and healing-related numbers. THE BOOK The aesthetic strengths and weaknesses of the Book of the Unliving are largely the same as those of the Book of the Light, only more so. The art is largely even better in this book. This is not so much a matter of quality as it is context - the illustrations generally depict the supernatural in a modern setting rather than an ancient or medieval one, giving the book a more appropriate feel for the urban fantasy/horror genre. In addition, the book features several appropriately creepy black-and-white photos; it's been my experience that photos in RPG books tend to look unprofessional and jarring - see the cover of the RPG Witchcraft - but here they are well done. I was perturbed to see the binding of the book give out before I'd even made it through three chapters; however, Visionary promptly sent me a new copy while allowing me to keep the damaged one. This kind of excellent service is, they assured me, company policy. Once again, much of the text is on the pretentious side. However, because most of this pretension falls in the essays at the beginning and (especially) the end of the book rather than in the background or rules sections, it can be ignored easily enough. Unfortunately, the "Legendmaking" section, with its discussions of opening and closing ceremonies for game sessions, color-coded candles, lucid dreaming, and the like is even larger than that of the Book of the Light, taking up even more valuable pages. Pretensions aside, the text is literate and engaging, although it could use some tightening up and spell checking in places. I found that much of the material regarding the Underworld in particular was repeated in the sections on Ghuls, Revenants, and Dead Souls. Unlike the Book of the Light, the Book of the Unliving features the outline of an introductory adventure in the back involving conflicts between multiple races and factions of the Everlasting, offering a solid idea of how an Everlasting session might run. However, it is of limited use to a gamemaster who owns only this book - it features daevas and dark elves, both of which are covered only in generalities, as well as demons and werewolves, which aren't covered at all. I think this points up a flaw in the general approach of the Everlasting series. Like the World of Darkness books, the Everlasting is being presented as a series of "complete games", each focusing on a different aspect of the setting. However, while the PC races of the World of Darkness all have their own antagonists and internal conflicts, the Everlasting plays up interaction and conflict between the races and is much more likely to involve multiracial groups. Therefore, each individual book in the series is less of a complete game. True, each book does offer some information on the major races not covered, but it's not really enough to do them any kind of justice. I would recommend that Visionary publish more information on each of the races on their website; not so much to make the books less desirable, but enough to make these races more playable without having to purchase each book - rules for the breath weapons of the dragons, the shapeshifting abilities of the manitous, etc. SUMMARY As was the case with the Book of the Light, I can't really give the Book of the Unliving a "five" in substance; it, too, really isn't as complete a game on its own as it should or could be. However, what it does cover, it covers very well indeed: the wonderfully dark side of the fascinating, multifaceted world of the Everlasting. So, if you like dark urban fantasy, it doesn't come much darker or fantastic than this one. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Everlasting: Book of the Unliving