The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I'll get it out of the way now. With a few exceptions, Hengeyokai is one of the best supplements ever put out for Werewolf.

I'll also point out that I'm doing some work for White Wolf now, in the interests of full disclosure. I dislike being in this situation; if I don't do the review, then I lose free books from rpg.net, but if I do it, I risk sounding like a sycophant. However, I've got enough of a reputation as a freelance reviewer to overcome any perceived bias, and my current employers are of a sensitive and understanding nature, when they're not threatening to kung-fu my throat for using the word "control" in my submission.

That aside, Hengeyokai is one of those supplements that's purely fun just to read, never mind playing. Broken down to its basics, it's the Werewolf Player's Guide, with the bulk of the material within devoted to the Animal Courts of the East. Here, the war between the various breeds of shapechangers never happened - or, more specifically, it happened between the Kuei-Jin and the shapechangers, rather than between the werewolves and the other changing breeds. The assorted Changing Breeds form war packs, both temporary and permanent, composed of many different Breeds and fight against the Wyrm and its minions - as well as against the Kuei-Jin, their traditional enemies. And if you're looking for another Changing Breed - although I don't know why anybody would - the Kistune, were-foxes, are described in great detail in an appendix.

The opening comic is actually one of the least successful parts of the entire book. It's essentially a manga in the World of Darkness, detailing a quintet of noble bete who are fighting a corrupted Anansi in his lair. It's broadly drawn, goofy, features characters yelling out the names of the Gifts they're using, and generally conforms to the tenets of the particular genre of Japanese anime that has five people fighting against a supernatural threat - Power Rangers, Bubblegum Crisis, and so on. There's an actual name for this genre, although it escapes me at the moment. In any case, if you're a fan of anime and/or manga, you'll enjoy this...

...right up until the last four pages, in which events occur in a completely baffling manner. It has something to do with the girlfriend of one of the heroes, and the Goblin Spider that's holding her captive, and somebody's face getting cut in half - but the continuity is so poor, the art so busy, that any trace of the story gets lost. For the life of me, I can't understand what's going on, and if anybody wants to clue me in, feel free. For the moment, though, I consider the comic a pretty-looking failure.

The bitter taste of that unfilled promise almost follows through in the subsequent fiction. The primary problem is the "Stupid Westerner, Trix are for us perfect Easterners !" attitudes that the characters spout. A Stargazer werewolf is treated with disrespect by a sentai he meets, as well as acting baffled by things that his mentor should have told him about years ago. The attitude only pops up here and there in the book, but it feels obnoxious; at some point, White Wolf's going to have to present us with a Westerner who not only gets it, but transcends it, something like Sean Connery in Rising Sun. (Although the undercurrent of seething racism in Rising Sun didn't exactly do anybody involved any credit.)

The rest of the book is practically pure gold. The introduction explains the Hengeyokai as much more social as the paranoia that exists between the Western Changing Breeds. That's been replaced with the paranoia that comes from knowing that the other Breeds, while nominally with you in your struggle against the Wyrm, are also interested in gaining political power. And while they're aware of the coming Apocalypse, they see it as the Sixth Age - a time of great destruction which will eventually be recovered from, rather than the crushing hammer blow that ends it all. But the Wyrm - personified as a centipede - wants to knock the Wheel of Ages off of its hinges entirely, meaning that it's up to the Changing Breeds to prevent this from occurring.

The first chapter explains the Wheel of Ages in great details, and repeats a lot of information from Kindred of the East; if you have that, I can't see you spending a lot of time here. There are some wonderful sidebars here, dealing with the language barriers between the Changing Breeds - which is great - and the tripartite nature of the Changing Breeds, which has been covered in Werewolf: 2nd Edition to everybody's satisfaction. There's a lot of information on the lands of the Orient, and how the Changing Breeds are getting along, and there's some neat stuff here. China's one-baby-per-family policy is injuring the ability of the shapeshifters to breed. Cambodia and Vietnam are swarming with angry ghosts - but not the victims of the Great Leap Forward or the Rape of Nanking, although I'll leave that debate for another day. Japan is submerged under the threads of the Weaver...there's endless opportunities for adventure just given the details of the land alone.

The entire section is pretty neat, truth be told. For example, there's a section involving mages that casually tells about how mages got their power. It's perfectly fitted to the way the tone of the supplement, the cosmology of the East, and makes for a darned good story. Instead of mages having access to a completely subjective reality, or whatever, we have a cavalier who sleeps with a minor deity, raids her library while she's conked out, learns Namebreaking, and winds up later boiled in his own skin once the Weaver finds out. It's told with much more style than that, but it's interesting enough to stand on its own as a viable myth for Mage: The Ascension. That's how good the book is. In the same chapter are descriptions of the various laws that the Hengeyokai follow, which include some neat laws that you wouldn't find elsewhere - for example, one of them counsels against instructing your cousin in his tasks, a far cry from the state of near-war elsewhere.

The spirit realm section of the book varies. Ron Spencer's typically brilliant artwork rules the day, especially his depiction of the Realm of Fighting Spirits. The description of the Penumbra is vague - yes, it's a mirror of the real world, but how much so? I've never been able to get a good grip on it myself, although that's more of a fault of the original game than this book. Some of the realms, unfortunately, tend to come off as filler. They're seperated into Yin and Yang categorie, with places like the Realm of Fighting Spirits and the Goblin Jungle - and Prescott has a beautifully illustrated monster here - while the Yin realms get the Desert of Visions, the Cave of Centipedes and the Forbidden Lands. Some of them, like the Forbidden Lands - a vision of life after the Apocalypse - and the Dragon Kingdom of the Sea - an undersea kingdom ruled by the Dragon King's seneschal - are interesting. Others, like the Realm of Fighting Spirits, or the Desert of Visions, seem either pointless or too hooked into the whole New-Age love-yourself accept-your-enemies quest that doesn't do justice to the real thing - or even to the fake. On the positive side, though, there's the spitting image of Godzilla - presumably a Zhong Lung - rising out of the ocean near a volcano, eyeing a nearby sailboat and probably thinking that Tokyo has gone without stomping for much too long. You have to love White Wolf, sometimes.

Especially useful, though - downright fascinating - is the concept of the sentai. The sentai are essentially the game's excuse to create five-member teams of different Changing Breeds. It's a remarkably neat concept, especially since it ties into the anime tradition. There's even specific roles within the five - a combat man, a spiritual communicator, a spy - built in for whoever wants to take them. Added into the situation is quite a bit of discussion of the astrological and mystical significance of the various roles. And instead of breed-specific Renown system, there's a single Renown system for all that adheres to the norms of the Animal Courts.

The writeups for the shapeshifter breeds are excellent. There's a nice description of why the writers chose - or didn't choose to - reproduce material from the Werewolf Player's Guide, which is a nice little human touch for disgruntled fanboys. Each of the shapeshifters has their own little writeup, a fiction piece that describes their place in the Middle Kingdom. The Hakken are Shadow Lord werewolves who have kept the old ways of the samurai alive, to the point where the leader of their local family is the Damiyo, and demands unquestioned obedience. If you've been looking to play a samurai in the World of Darkness, the Hakken don't get much closer - but they're losing touch with their wolven sides, resulting the loss of their true nature.

The others are just as notable. The Anansi in the Middle Kingdom have become uniformly corrupt - goblin spiders, whose metis chew their way out of the womb. The Tengu's opening story is a classic example of excellent storytelling, as well as being funny as hell. Essentially, you can buy this book and use it as the Werewolf Storyteller's Guide; there's enough Gifts listed for each Changing Breed that you could play as any one of them without much fudging. The only problem that I have is with their takes on the Sunset People - I.E Westerners - which are generally dismissive, similar to the "stupid white boy" syndrome of Kindred of the East. Then again, they are stereotypes. There's quite a few interesting communal Gifts and rites listed in the next chapter, which can be learned by anybody - one of the stronger punishment rites literally turns your bones into silver, gold, or rare rosewood, depending on who you are. That means that you can pretty much count on your flesh melting off of your bones. Not a pleasant fate. The totems and artifacts are nice, although nothing really stirring; the same goes for the Fomori of the Middle Kingdom, here called bakemono, and there's a particularly nasty breed called Face-Jackets that's going to leave an impression on your players for a while.

Rounding out the book is the Kitsune Changing Breed book. Coming straight out of Japanese myth, they're the aberration among the Changing Breeds. Rather than having been assigned a task from their creation, they were created, later met Gaia, and will eventually get their appointed task later on. Just to make sure that they've got the standard level of angst, the birth of a Kitsune means that one of her parents will die; nothing's perfect in the World of Darkness.

However, playing a Kitsune is going to be a lot of fun for players who are fond of Tengu, or the Nuwisha - they're tricksters, and magicians, and sly fighters, and generally act like foxes. In a neat touch, they gain extra tails whenever they advance in Rank - but only the mother of werefoxes, Bai Mianxi, has nine. There's nothing here than immediately grabs attention, but the gaming fiction included here is some of the best that I've ever seen. For example, here's a conversation between the Triat and Gaia:

"WYRM! WEAVER! WYLD!" she shotued. "What have you been doing? Who are these thieves that wield the powers of your offices?" The Three came running. "What thieves?" they asked. "These!" Gaia trembled beneath the monkey's feet. "Oh," said the Wyrm. "Those are not thieves. They are Man." "You made them yourself," said Weaver, "just after Mammoth and before Manatee. We have found them extremely adaptable, and use them in our work." "Man!" roared Wyld. "Man-Man-Man-Man-WOMAN!" "I made nothing that small and weak with the power to destroy, to order, or to make new things. What is that around its neck? Who thought of that? If I had wanted monkeys with shiny, bony necks I would have made them." She paused. "I did make some. Golden Bone-Hummers. Where are they?" "Ah...They were old-fashioned. _These_ monkeys can do all of that and more - now that we have taught them what we know," said Weaver. "Their time had passed. I take things when their time is done," said Wyrm. "I had Man get them out of the way."

And that's just one part of the whole thing. Besides the brilliant characterization and subtle humor, it gives you the impression that you're actually reading a story about how this happens. The tale of how Bianxi-Mai met Gaia for the first time is just as cool, and has its own subtle sense of humor. I found myself wanting to read the rest of it as soon as I could, which is high praise for game fiction. While it's not as focused as, say, Ratkin, it is a worthy addition to the Changing Breed bookline.

So, ultimately, is Hengeyokai worth buying? Yes, without question. The art is superb, the writing tight, the tone and setting beautiful, and it's one of the best additions to the Werewolf line that I've seen. Without question, I recommend buying it.

-Darren MacLennan

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

Hengeyokai: Shapeshifters of the East
Author: Brian Campbell, Harry Heckel, Deena McKinney, Ethan Skemp, Kathleen Ryan Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Werewolf: The Apocalypse Cost: $20.00 Page count: 190 ISBN: 1-56504-338-3 SKU: WW 3063 Capsule Review by Darren MacLennan on 09/08/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Modern day Horror Comedy Anime Conspiracy Vampire Gothic Asian/Far East	I'll get it out of the way now. With a few exceptions, Hengeyokai is one of the best supplements ever put out for Werewolf. I'll also point out that I'm doing some work for White Wolf now, in the interests of full disclosure. I dislike being in this situation; if I don't do the review, then I lose free books from rpg.net, but if I do it, I risk sounding like a sycophant. However, I've got enough of a reputation as a freelance reviewer to overcome any perceived bias, and my current employers are of a sensitive and understanding nature, when they're not threatening to kung-fu my throat for using the word "control" in my submission. That aside, Hengeyokai is one of those supplements that's purely fun just to read, never mind playing. Broken down to its basics, it's the Werewolf Player's Guide, with the bulk of the material within devoted to the Animal Courts of the East. Here, the war between the various breeds of shapechangers never happened - or, more specifically, it happened between the Kuei-Jin and the shapechangers, rather than between the werewolves and the other changing breeds. The assorted Changing Breeds form war packs, both temporary and permanent, composed of many different Breeds and fight against the Wyrm and its minions - as well as against the Kuei-Jin, their traditional enemies. And if you're looking for another Changing Breed - although I don't know why anybody would - the Kistune, were-foxes, are described in great detail in an appendix. The opening comic is actually one of the least successful parts of the entire book. It's essentially a manga in the World of Darkness, detailing a quintet of noble bete who are fighting a corrupted Anansi in his lair. It's broadly drawn, goofy, features characters yelling out the names of the Gifts they're using, and generally conforms to the tenets of the particular genre of Japanese anime that has five people fighting against a supernatural threat - Power Rangers, Bubblegum Crisis, and so on. There's an actual name for this genre, although it escapes me at the moment. In any case, if you're a fan of anime and/or manga, you'll enjoy this... ...right up until the last four pages, in which events occur in a completely baffling manner. It has something to do with the girlfriend of one of the heroes, and the Goblin Spider that's holding her captive, and somebody's face getting cut in half - but the continuity is so poor, the art so busy, that any trace of the story gets lost. For the life of me, I can't understand what's going on, and if anybody wants to clue me in, feel free. For the moment, though, I consider the comic a pretty-looking failure. The bitter taste of that unfilled promise almost follows through in the subsequent fiction. The primary problem is the "Stupid Westerner, Trix are for us perfect Easterners !" attitudes that the characters spout. A Stargazer werewolf is treated with disrespect by a sentai he meets, as well as acting baffled by things that his mentor should have told him about years ago. The attitude only pops up here and there in the book, but it feels obnoxious; at some point, White Wolf's going to have to present us with a Westerner who not only gets it, but transcends it, something like Sean Connery in Rising Sun. (Although the undercurrent of seething racism in Rising Sun didn't exactly do anybody involved any credit.) The rest of the book is practically pure gold. The introduction explains the Hengeyokai as much more social as the paranoia that exists between the Western Changing Breeds. That's been replaced with the paranoia that comes from knowing that the other Breeds, while nominally with you in your struggle against the Wyrm, are also interested in gaining political power. And while they're aware of the coming Apocalypse, they see it as the Sixth Age - a time of great destruction which will eventually be recovered from, rather than the crushing hammer blow that ends it all. But the Wyrm - personified as a centipede - wants to knock the Wheel of Ages off of its hinges entirely, meaning that it's up to the Changing Breeds to prevent this from occurring. The first chapter explains the Wheel of Ages in great details, and repeats a lot of information from Kindred of the East; if you have that, I can't see you spending a lot of time here. There are some wonderful sidebars here, dealing with the language barriers between the Changing Breeds - which is great - and the tripartite nature of the Changing Breeds, which has been covered in Werewolf: 2nd Edition to everybody's satisfaction. There's a lot of information on the lands of the Orient, and how the Changing Breeds are getting along, and there's some neat stuff here. China's one-baby-per-family policy is injuring the ability of the shapeshifters to breed. Cambodia and Vietnam are swarming with angry ghosts - but not the victims of the Great Leap Forward or the Rape of Nanking, although I'll leave that debate for another day. Japan is submerged under the threads of the Weaver...there's endless opportunities for adventure just given the details of the land alone. The entire section is pretty neat, truth be told. For example, there's a section involving mages that casually tells about how mages got their power. It's perfectly fitted to the way the tone of the supplement, the cosmology of the East, and makes for a darned good story. Instead of mages having access to a completely subjective reality, or whatever, we have a cavalier who sleeps with a minor deity, raids her library while she's conked out, learns Namebreaking, and winds up later boiled in his own skin once the Weaver finds out. It's told with much more style than that, but it's interesting enough to stand on its own as a viable myth for Mage: The Ascension. That's how good the book is. In the same chapter are descriptions of the various laws that the Hengeyokai follow, which include some neat laws that you wouldn't find elsewhere - for example, one of them counsels against instructing your cousin in his tasks, a far cry from the state of near-war elsewhere. The spirit realm section of the book varies. Ron Spencer's typically brilliant artwork rules the day, especially his depiction of the Realm of Fighting Spirits. The description of the Penumbra is vague - yes, it's a mirror of the real world, but how much so? I've never been able to get a good grip on it myself, although that's more of a fault of the original game than this book. Some of the realms, unfortunately, tend to come off as filler. They're seperated into Yin and Yang categorie, with places like the Realm of Fighting Spirits and the Goblin Jungle - and Prescott has a beautifully illustrated monster here - while the Yin realms get the Desert of Visions, the Cave of Centipedes and the Forbidden Lands. Some of them, like the Forbidden Lands - a vision of life after the Apocalypse - and the Dragon Kingdom of the Sea - an undersea kingdom ruled by the Dragon King's seneschal - are interesting. Others, like the Realm of Fighting Spirits, or the Desert of Visions, seem either pointless or too hooked into the whole New-Age love-yourself accept-your-enemies quest that doesn't do justice to the real thing - or even to the fake. On the positive side, though, there's the spitting image of Godzilla - presumably a Zhong Lung - rising out of the ocean near a volcano, eyeing a nearby sailboat and probably thinking that Tokyo has gone without stomping for much too long. You have to love White Wolf, sometimes. Especially useful, though - downright fascinating - is the concept of the sentai. The sentai are essentially the game's excuse to create five-member teams of different Changing Breeds. It's a remarkably neat concept, especially since it ties into the anime tradition. There's even specific roles within the five - a combat man, a spiritual communicator, a spy - built in for whoever wants to take them. Added into the situation is quite a bit of discussion of the astrological and mystical significance of the various roles. And instead of breed-specific Renown system, there's a single Renown system for all that adheres to the norms of the Animal Courts. The writeups for the shapeshifter breeds are excellent. There's a nice description of why the writers chose - or didn't choose to - reproduce material from the Werewolf Player's Guide, which is a nice little human touch for disgruntled fanboys. Each of the shapeshifters has their own little writeup, a fiction piece that describes their place in the Middle Kingdom. The Hakken are Shadow Lord werewolves who have kept the old ways of the samurai alive, to the point where the leader of their local family is the Damiyo, and demands unquestioned obedience. If you've been looking to play a samurai in the World of Darkness, the Hakken don't get much closer - but they're losing touch with their wolven sides, resulting the loss of their true nature. The others are just as notable. The Anansi in the Middle Kingdom have become uniformly corrupt - goblin spiders, whose metis chew their way out of the womb. The Tengu's opening story is a classic example of excellent storytelling, as well as being funny as hell. Essentially, you can buy this book and use it as the Werewolf Storyteller's Guide; there's enough Gifts listed for each Changing Breed that you could play as any one of them without much fudging. The only problem that I have is with their takes on the Sunset People - I.E Westerners - which are generally dismissive, similar to the "stupid white boy" syndrome of Kindred of the East. Then again, they are stereotypes. There's quite a few interesting communal Gifts and rites listed in the next chapter, which can be learned by anybody - one of the stronger punishment rites literally turns your bones into silver, gold, or rare rosewood, depending on who you are. That means that you can pretty much count on your flesh melting off of your bones. Not a pleasant fate. The totems and artifacts are nice, although nothing really stirring; the same goes for the Fomori of the Middle Kingdom, here called bakemono, and there's a particularly nasty breed called Face-Jackets that's going to leave an impression on your players for a while. Rounding out the book is the Kitsune Changing Breed book. Coming straight out of Japanese myth, they're the aberration among the Changing Breeds. Rather than having been assigned a task from their creation, they were created, later met Gaia, and will eventually get their appointed task later on. Just to make sure that they've got the standard level of angst, the birth of a Kitsune means that one of her parents will die; nothing's perfect in the World of Darkness. However, playing a Kitsune is going to be a lot of fun for players who are fond of Tengu, or the Nuwisha - they're tricksters, and magicians, and sly fighters, and generally act like foxes. In a neat touch, they gain extra tails whenever they advance in Rank - but only the mother of werefoxes, Bai Mianxi, has nine. There's nothing here than immediately grabs attention, but the gaming fiction included here is some of the best that I've ever seen. For example, here's a conversation between the Triat and Gaia: "WYRM! WEAVER! WYLD!" she shotued. "What have you been doing? Who are these thieves that wield the powers of your offices?" The Three came running. "What thieves?" they asked. "These!" Gaia trembled beneath the monkey's feet. "Oh," said the Wyrm. "Those are not thieves. They are Man." "You made them yourself," said Weaver, "just after Mammoth and before Manatee. We have found them extremely adaptable, and use them in our work." "Man!" roared Wyld. "Man-Man-Man-Man-WOMAN!" "I made nothing that small and weak with the power to destroy, to order, or to make new things. What is that around its neck? Who thought of that? If I had wanted monkeys with shiny, bony necks I would have made them." She paused. "I did make some. Golden Bone-Hummers. Where are they?" "Ah...They were old-fashioned. _These_ monkeys can do all of that and more - now that we have taught them what we know," said Weaver. "Their time had passed. I take things when their time is done," said Wyrm. "I had Man get them out of the way." And that's just one part of the whole thing. Besides the brilliant characterization and subtle humor, it gives you the impression that you're actually reading a story about how this happens. The tale of how Bianxi-Mai met Gaia for the first time is just as cool, and has its own subtle sense of humor. I found myself wanting to read the rest of it as soon as I could, which is high praise for game fiction. While it's not as focused as, say, Ratkin, it is a worthy addition to the Changing Breed bookline. So, ultimately, is Hengeyokai worth buying? Yes, without question. The art is superb, the writing tight, the tone and setting beautiful, and it's one of the best additions to the Werewolf line that I've seen. Without question, I recommend buying it. -Darren MacLennan Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Hengeyokai: Shapeshifters of the East