The Inside Scoop on Gaming

When you review something, its expected that there will be something negative about the product. In the case of many Dream Pod 9 products, there is often little or nothing negative.

This is the case with the Vimary sourcebook for Tribe 8. With the exception of a few annoying typos, everything about this book is outstanding - the quality and usefulness of the material, the artwork, everything. The price, as with many Dream Pod 9 products, puts many people off - but it is a far better deal than the Weaver's Assistant and Screen or (as sorry as I am to say it, since I respect the author very much) the Book of Legends.

Sitting down to read Vimary for the first time, I found myself completely immersed in it, hanging on every word. It was as if a new world were truly opening up before me. The vast majority of the book is written in narrative form, giving the reader a "first hand" perspective of things. It is set against the backdrop of a Tera Sheban Lorekeeper being tasked by Tera Sheba to create a "Chronicle of the Tribes", and each section deals with different things that she has uncovered. The thing that appeals to me about this method is the information is not concrete - it is based on that person's observations, perception, and opinion. It makes it easy to change something, by simply saying, "That's just what Veruka said about that."

The book is divided into five chapters: an introduction, "Living History", "Vimary Revisited", "Faces in the Mirror", and "Beyond Myth". It concludes a very complete index that proves invaluable to locating material within the book.

The introduction is fairly...introductory, setting the tone for the rest of the book with three short narratives.

"Living History" recounts tales of the coming of the Fatimas, the Fatimas themselves, and the Z'bri.

"Vimary Revisited" details and adds to the setting outlined in the main rulebook, including maps of various locations such as the Emporiums, Mortuary, Sub Terra and many more. I did find the map of Sub Terra (the remains of Montreal's underground Metro system) to be slightly confusing (I think it had to do with the change in orientation between it and the Vimary map), and wish that they had included some kind of markers as to what aboveground landmarks were along the routes.

"Faces in the Mirror" expands the cast of characters in Vimary to nearly unwieldy proportions, and having done away with the "chess piece" system used in Heavy Gear and implemented slightly differently in Jovian Chronicles, it makes it harder to determine who will be important in the overall storyline. On the flip side, the various symbols used in Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles to denote sections, NPCs, etc. would have broken the flow of the Tribe 8 books too much. Nearly each and every NPC offers at least one adventure possibility, and most many more, and the web of relationships between some of them is very complex indeed.

Finally, "Beyond Myth" offers yet more advice on bringing Vimary to life during a Tribe 8 Cycle, including information on Tribal life, the responsibilities of the tribes, politics, economics, the Z'bri houses, and an update as to how this information fits into the overall storyline continued in Children of Lilith.

So far, out of all of the Tribe 8 books to have come out so far, this is the one that shines the brightest. For those of you who are contemplating buying Tribe 8, Vimary (along with the main rulebook!) is a must have. With these two books you can run entire Tribe 8 campaigns without referencing any other books. Everything else is just icing on the cake. Vimary is chock full of information, locations, characters and ideas.

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

Vimary
Author: Joshua Mosqueira Asheim, Lucien Soulban Category: game Company/Publisher: Dream Pod 9 Line: Tribe 8 Cost: $22.95 Page count: 143 ISBN: 1-896776-41-8 SKU: DP9-803 Capsule Review by Wil Hutton on 07/26/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Horror Post-apocalypse	When you review something, its expected that there will be something negative about the product. In the case of many Dream Pod 9 products, there is often little or nothing negative. This is the case with the Vimary sourcebook for Tribe 8. With the exception of a few annoying typos, everything about this book is outstanding - the quality and usefulness of the material, the artwork, everything. The price, as with many Dream Pod 9 products, puts many people off - but it is a far better deal than the Weaver's Assistant and Screen or (as sorry as I am to say it, since I respect the author very much) the Book of Legends. Sitting down to read Vimary for the first time, I found myself completely immersed in it, hanging on every word. It was as if a new world were truly opening up before me. The vast majority of the book is written in narrative form, giving the reader a "first hand" perspective of things. It is set against the backdrop of a Tera Sheban Lorekeeper being tasked by Tera Sheba to create a "Chronicle of the Tribes", and each section deals with different things that she has uncovered. The thing that appeals to me about this method is the information is not concrete - it is based on that person's observations, perception, and opinion. It makes it easy to change something, by simply saying, "That's just what Veruka said about that." The book is divided into five chapters: an introduction, "Living History", "Vimary Revisited", "Faces in the Mirror", and "Beyond Myth". It concludes a very complete index that proves invaluable to locating material within the book. The introduction is fairly...introductory, setting the tone for the rest of the book with three short narratives. "Living History" recounts tales of the coming of the Fatimas, the Fatimas themselves, and the Z'bri. "Vimary Revisited" details and adds to the setting outlined in the main rulebook, including maps of various locations such as the Emporiums, Mortuary, Sub Terra and many more. I did find the map of Sub Terra (the remains of Montreal's underground Metro system) to be slightly confusing (I think it had to do with the change in orientation between it and the Vimary map), and wish that they had included some kind of markers as to what aboveground landmarks were along the routes. "Faces in the Mirror" expands the cast of characters in Vimary to nearly unwieldy proportions, and having done away with the "chess piece" system used in Heavy Gear and implemented slightly differently in Jovian Chronicles, it makes it harder to determine who will be important in the overall storyline. On the flip side, the various symbols used in Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles to denote sections, NPCs, etc. would have broken the flow of the Tribe 8 books too much. Nearly each and every NPC offers at least one adventure possibility, and most many more, and the web of relationships between some of them is very complex indeed. Finally, "Beyond Myth" offers yet more advice on bringing Vimary to life during a Tribe 8 Cycle, including information on Tribal life, the responsibilities of the tribes, politics, economics, the Z'bri houses, and an update as to how this information fits into the overall storyline continued in Children of Lilith. So far, out of all of the Tribe 8 books to have come out so far, this is the one that shines the brightest. For those of you who are contemplating buying Tribe 8, Vimary (along with the main rulebook!) is a must have. With these two books you can run entire Tribe 8 campaigns without referencing any other books. Everything else is just icing on the cake. Vimary is chock full of information, locations, characters and ideas. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)