The Inside Scoop on Gaming

The Walking Dead is thus far my favorite book for the Hunter side of the World of Darkness. Instead of using numerous fonts that confuse the eyes, White Wolf uses one font type. Instead of the narrow focus that a creed book requires, the reader can view the Walking Dead through the eyes of many different hunters and their creeds. Broken up into seven chapters, The Walking dead starts with a prologue and works through an introduction before the first chapter starts. Unlike most postings to hunter.list@hunter-net.org, some of the authors here are not hunters of any creed, nor even bystanders, but members of the walking dead themselves. There's a nice sense of interplay between the two different fiends, Ichmail and carpenter169. They read like an online version of the Odd Couple. Of course these creatures don't always tell the truth and the way the story progresses through most of the book tends to resemble banter more than useful information many times, but the GM should come away from this book with a sense of not only what types of walking dead are out there, but how to effectively use them in his campaign. One of the problems with The Walking Dead is that some of it reads like a rehash of the Wraith line stuffed into the Hunter line. For example, most people familiar with the World of Darkness, even if they haven't played Ends of Empire, know that something was up at the end of the Wraith line. The turbulence suffered by the wraiths at the end of that storyline is indeed why so many of the walking dead lurk about. Not a big surprise there. The real meat of this book is in Chapter Seven with more information that doest not take place in the form of an e-mail posting, but is clearly marked for the GM alone. The information here is solid enough that a GM without access to the Wraith line of books shouldn't feel left out in the cold. It doesn't fully replace Wraith, and since Wraith is sold in wrapped packets, it might not be a bad idea to pick up a few, but it is now even less necessary to buy such. There is no doubt that this is a GM's book. Oh sure, players may read it for ideas on how to role play their encounters with the living dead, but there should be few who argue that this book is up there with the creed books in terms of necessity for a player to own. Having said that, I have to feel that all those e-mail posting formats are a waste of space. If everything had been done in the format that chapter seven is, the book would've been about half the size. Then again, as I understand it, many prefer the feel that these books convey with the computerized format. Far be it from me to stand in their way. The art is strong in the Walking Dead and full page illustrations between chapters really showcases the variety of looks and powers that these monsters can draw on. As always, art is a personal taste, but Byrd does most of the illustrations great save for women's legs. I don't get it. The illo on page 12 is a great example. Hungry dead, lone hunter, cow like legs. Should she be model perfect? Not my point. He does it with all women regardless of body type. The illo on 24 shows a female flying through the air. I feel that if it's his signature style, no problem, but I don't know if I want to see it. In addition, I still fail to see how using profanity strengthens the product. Sure, the book represents the 'gothic punk' world, but it is necessarily something that we want children to have access to? I've heard arguments pro and con against it. "Profanity is everywhere." "What difference can it make." And so on. I tell these people that I remember a time in the not too distant past when video games did not have ratings. The Walking Dead is a strong GM book that in another game system or setting might be considered weak.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)

The Walking Dead
Author: Richard E Dansky, Ed Hall, Michael Lee and Adam Tinworth Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Hunter Cost: 15.95 Page count: 120 ISBN: 1565047419 SKU: 51595 Capsule Review by Joe G Kushner on 06/27/00. Genre tags: Modern day Horror	The Walking Dead is thus far my favorite book for the Hunter side of the World of Darkness. Instead of using numerous fonts that confuse the eyes, White Wolf uses one font type. Instead of the narrow focus that a creed book requires, the reader can view the Walking Dead through the eyes of many different hunters and their creeds. Broken up into seven chapters, The Walking dead starts with a prologue and works through an introduction before the first chapter starts. Unlike most postings to hunter.list@hunter-net.org, some of the authors here are not hunters of any creed, nor even bystanders, but members of the walking dead themselves. There's a nice sense of interplay between the two different fiends, Ichmail and carpenter169. They read like an online version of the Odd Couple. Of course these creatures don't always tell the truth and the way the story progresses through most of the book tends to resemble banter more than useful information many times, but the GM should come away from this book with a sense of not only what types of walking dead are out there, but how to effectively use them in his campaign. One of the problems with The Walking Dead is that some of it reads like a rehash of the Wraith line stuffed into the Hunter line. For example, most people familiar with the World of Darkness, even if they haven't played Ends of Empire, know that something was up at the end of the Wraith line. The turbulence suffered by the wraiths at the end of that storyline is indeed why so many of the walking dead lurk about. Not a big surprise there. The real meat of this book is in Chapter Seven with more information that doest not take place in the form of an e-mail posting, but is clearly marked for the GM alone. The information here is solid enough that a GM without access to the Wraith line of books shouldn't feel left out in the cold. It doesn't fully replace Wraith, and since Wraith is sold in wrapped packets, it might not be a bad idea to pick up a few, but it is now even less necessary to buy such. There is no doubt that this is a GM's book. Oh sure, players may read it for ideas on how to role play their encounters with the living dead, but there should be few who argue that this book is up there with the creed books in terms of necessity for a player to own. Having said that, I have to feel that all those e-mail posting formats are a waste of space. If everything had been done in the format that chapter seven is, the book would've been about half the size. Then again, as I understand it, many prefer the feel that these books convey with the computerized format. Far be it from me to stand in their way. The art is strong in the Walking Dead and full page illustrations between chapters really showcases the variety of looks and powers that these monsters can draw on. As always, art is a personal taste, but Byrd does most of the illustrations great save for women's legs. I don't get it. The illo on page 12 is a great example. Hungry dead, lone hunter, cow like legs. Should she be model perfect? Not my point. He does it with all women regardless of body type. The illo on 24 shows a female flying through the air. I feel that if it's his signature style, no problem, but I don't know if I want to see it. In addition, I still fail to see how using profanity strengthens the product. Sure, the book represents the 'gothic punk' world, but it is necessarily something that we want children to have access to? I've heard arguments pro and con against it. "Profanity is everywhere." "What difference can it make." And so on. I tell these people that I remember a time in the not too distant past when video games did not have ratings. The Walking Dead is a strong GM book that in another game system or setting might be considered weak. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)