The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I've been waiting for this book for a long time, and it was well worth the wait. I haven't seen much Anime in my life, but what I saw, I liked. But I'm rushing things. Let's start with the review, and get to every point in time.

Demon Hunter X is a book about hunters of supernatural creatures. The hunters themselves are supernatural as well, but, as opposed to the hunters in Hunter: The Reckoning, they usualy have no qualms about killing the creatures they meet, which makes them way cooler to play, a lot less tragically hip and vampire like, which is, in my opinion, what hunters should be like.

The books opens with a cool comic about hunters. A group of the hitech hunters (Strike Force Zero) encounters a monster and is saved by one of the more mystic hunters (the Shih). Not as good as the comic in Werewolf: The Apocalypse, though I'm being subjective, since Diterlizzi is one of my favorite artists.

Then comes the good part of the book. The first two chapters deal with the two groups of hunters in the Far East: The Shih, millenia old warriors who learned the ways of the Shen and are fighting to keep a balance between Shen and humanity, not to destroy all Shen, and Strike Force Zero (Hence SFo), a rather new group of hi-tech hunters, trying to destroy every Shen in existence. The chapters tell the histories and ways of action of both groups. Problem is, the chapters are very short (14 pages for the Shih, 12 pages for SF0, and that includes artwork). That's a real pity, since they are the meat of the book, but as short as they are, these two chapters are well worth the book's cost, in my opinion.

The next chapter is also the longest. It is the chapter about character creation, and it is filled with game mechanics, which is something I personaly don't like. There are still a few good points, since this chapter explains rules from the Kindred of the East rulebook, which can save you a lot of money, if you just want to play one of the character types presented in the book in a normal campaign. The other rules are cool too, since they include a lot of good stuff, like Martial Arts and cybernetic implants, as well as new Numinas (A must for every hunter related book). All in all, a good chapter, when compared to other mechanic chapters, yet weaker than the first two.

The book ends with another great chapter, the one about storytelling. This one lets you know what this book is all about, and that is, in one word: Anime. Anime, to those of you who don't know, are Japannese animated movies, much better than Disney both animation-wise and story-wise. They are more violent and... well... Just better movies. Much better. This chapter describes important elements of Anime movies, and how to incorporate them into your game. It gives ideas for chronicles with the character types presented in the book, and it recommends a bunch of movies, of which I have only seen a few, but they are all must sees, especially if you plan to run an Anime campaign.

All in all, I don't know how good this book is as an Anime guide, compared to other books such as Big Eyes, Small Mouth or Feng Shui, but it is a good book for Anime in the World of Darkness, and that's what it tries to be. THe artwork is the only weak spot, as it tries to be Anime artwork, but doesn't stand up to anime standarts.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Demon Hunter X
Author: Jim Moore Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Game Studio Line: World of Darkness Cost: $15.00 US Page count: 112 ISBN: 1-56504-202-6 SKU: ww2227 Playtest Review by Itay Horev on 07/16/00. Genre tags: Modern day Horror Anime Espionage Conspiracy Vampire Gothic Asian/Far East Superhero	I've been waiting for this book for a long time, and it was well worth the wait. I haven't seen much Anime in my life, but what I saw, I liked. But I'm rushing things. Let's start with the review, and get to every point in time. Demon Hunter X is a book about hunters of supernatural creatures. The hunters themselves are supernatural as well, but, as opposed to the hunters in Hunter: The Reckoning, they usualy have no qualms about killing the creatures they meet, which makes them way cooler to play, a lot less tragically hip and vampire like, which is, in my opinion, what hunters should be like. The books opens with a cool comic about hunters. A group of the hitech hunters (Strike Force Zero) encounters a monster and is saved by one of the more mystic hunters (the Shih). Not as good as the comic in Werewolf: The Apocalypse, though I'm being subjective, since Diterlizzi is one of my favorite artists. Then comes the good part of the book. The first two chapters deal with the two groups of hunters in the Far East: The Shih, millenia old warriors who learned the ways of the Shen and are fighting to keep a balance between Shen and humanity, not to destroy all Shen, and Strike Force Zero (Hence SFo), a rather new group of hi-tech hunters, trying to destroy every Shen in existence. The chapters tell the histories and ways of action of both groups. Problem is, the chapters are very short (14 pages for the Shih, 12 pages for SF0, and that includes artwork). That's a real pity, since they are the meat of the book, but as short as they are, these two chapters are well worth the book's cost, in my opinion. The next chapter is also the longest. It is the chapter about character creation, and it is filled with game mechanics, which is something I personaly don't like. There are still a few good points, since this chapter explains rules from the Kindred of the East rulebook, which can save you a lot of money, if you just want to play one of the character types presented in the book in a normal campaign. The other rules are cool too, since they include a lot of good stuff, like Martial Arts and cybernetic implants, as well as new Numinas (A must for every hunter related book). All in all, a good chapter, when compared to other mechanic chapters, yet weaker than the first two. The book ends with another great chapter, the one about storytelling. This one lets you know what this book is all about, and that is, in one word: Anime. Anime, to those of you who don't know, are Japannese animated movies, much better than Disney both animation-wise and story-wise. They are more violent and... well... Just better movies. Much better. This chapter describes important elements of Anime movies, and how to incorporate them into your game. It gives ideas for chronicles with the character types presented in the book, and it recommends a bunch of movies, of which I have only seen a few, but they are all must sees, especially if you plan to run an Anime campaign. All in all, I don't know how good this book is as an Anime guide, compared to other books such as Big Eyes, Small Mouth or Feng Shui, but it is a good book for Anime in the World of Darkness, and that's what it tries to be. THe artwork is the only weak spot, as it tries to be Anime artwork, but doesn't stand up to anime standarts. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)