The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Okay - it's not a polished gem by any means. And obviously looks like someone scaped together some tax refund money and plopped out their game. However, if you pay more attention to the game as less attention to typos (not as easy as it sounds), this is a pretty cool little game.

If taken on a surface level, it's very combat heavy. The book paints Vampires as wolves: basically solitary creatures forced to co-exist for hunting and safety reasons. Conflict is definately going to arise: it's up to the players to set the tone for whether that get's aimed outward or against other members of the "Coven."

Once players get through the mind numbing 370+ powers to choose from, they'll do one of two things: give up, or focus on roleplaying their characters. The system is deadly: as long as you aren't stopped, anything you try succeeds. Want to rip someone open with Ice Claws? Go ahead, unless he's fast enough to move out of the way, he's gonna take damage. Why is this a good thing? Well, you can only have screaming slugfest so many times before it just gets old. Everyone knows that everyone else is packing some heavy duty damage, so it might just pay off to NOT resort to combat right away...

I know there used to be a player's organization that ran some pretty long, involved campaigns and involved something over 200 players. Haven't heard of them lately, so I don't know what's going on. I do know that they said only 1000 copies or so were printed, so finding it could be a hassle.

No - it's not professional by any stretch of the imagination. But it can be fun.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Shades of Nightfall
Author: Patrick Ellison Category: game Company/Publisher: Silver Shadows Line: CovenMaster Cost: 17.95 Page count: 137 Capsule Review by Steve C. on 01/07/00. Genre tags: Vampire Gothic Live-action	Okay - it's not a polished gem by any means. And obviously looks like someone scaped together some tax refund money and plopped out their game. However, if you pay more attention to the game as less attention to typos (not as easy as it sounds), this is a pretty cool little game. If taken on a surface level, it's very combat heavy. The book paints Vampires as wolves: basically solitary creatures forced to co-exist for hunting and safety reasons. Conflict is definately going to arise: it's up to the players to set the tone for whether that get's aimed outward or against other members of the "Coven." Once players get through the mind numbing 370+ powers to choose from, they'll do one of two things: give up, or focus on roleplaying their characters. The system is deadly: as long as you aren't stopped, anything you try succeeds. Want to rip someone open with Ice Claws? Go ahead, unless he's fast enough to move out of the way, he's gonna take damage. Why is this a good thing? Well, you can only have screaming slugfest so many times before it just gets old. Everyone knows that everyone else is packing some heavy duty damage, so it might just pay off to NOT resort to combat right away... I know there used to be a player's organization that ran some pretty long, involved campaigns and involved something over 200 players. Haven't heard of them lately, so I don't know what's going on. I do know that they said only 1000 copies or so were printed, so finding it could be a hassle. No - it's not professional by any stretch of the imagination. But it can be fun. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 3 (Average)

Shades of Nightfall