The Inside Scoop on Gaming

This clanbook focuses, as you might have guessed, on the hideous, secretive and paranoid denizens of the stinky sewers, the Nosferatu.

Now, I liked this clanbook (not loved, mind you, but liked), but if I had read one more reference to bodily waste and/or waste disposal, I was going to puke.

Here's a chapter-by-chapter breakdown...

The required fiction in the book is called Food Chain and it's about as good as most of the fiction in the beginning of the splatbooks is. Which is to say, it's not really anything to write home about. The font they wrote it in got somewhat annoying. But, there is better stuff hiding beneath this pile of refuse.

Chapter One involves itself in the legends and history of the Nosferatu clan. This history is much more intelligent than the history given in the original clanbook, and a nice chunk is devoted to both the Nosferatu of Carthage and those of Africa (which information is sorely needed on). Unfortunately, a large portion of this section talks about the history of human waste recycling. It got a little repetitive after a while. But, if you are willing to sift through it, you can find a few sparkling diamonds among the urine-soaked coal. This chapter ends with a bit of a surprise, as the reader is lead to believe that the entire Nosferatu gathering is killed by traitors of some kind. Speaking of Nikutu, there's a good amount of information on them in here, too.

Chapter Two is Inside Clan Nosferatu. It talks about the Camarilla and Sabbat, and how much the Nosferatu really don't care about sect divisions among themselves. A nice, detailed description of what happens during the Embrace of a mortal is given here, too, and emphasizes the pain the childer goes through. A nice sidebar talks about Nosferatu that are so hideously deformed, they are shunned by even other Nosferatu. These "fetid little creatures" are so deformed they can't function in vampiric society at all, such as having no skeletons or their legs shrivel up and fall off. Interesting. A nice part of this section talks about the subdivisions within the clan, such as the Leatherfaces and Cleopatras. This is discussed and detailed much better than in the previous clanbook, and I love the Bestials. Next we get into the hostings and politics of the clan. Interesting stuff here. Then there's the obligatory section on how the clan feels about "everyone else." Nothing really insightful here.

This section also includes "A festering heap of game mechanics." Here we have a new background, an expansion on the Lore ability, tons of really neat Merits and Flaws, descriptions on how to use clan disciplines to their utmost potential (although few *new* powers) and the section on using Potence in combat. This last part leaves me a little lukewarm. I'm not sure how I feel about potent combat. I guess I'll just have to have a Nosferatu NPC beat my group up to find out if I'm going to allow it or not. The last part of this chapter talks about how Nosferatu hunt. This is far more useful than it may seem...:-)

Next chapter: Nosferatu Characters. Yup, here are your templates, for both V:tm and (annoyingly) MET. Nothing special here, though the artwork is decent. Then there's the venerable Nosferatu, or the big-bad NPCs the players should get kicked around by. :-) Baba Yaga, and how she fits into this whole Nosferatu/Nikutu stuff is given fair treatment here. Most of the Nosferatu in this section must be using Obfuscate to create a false face, because most of 'em are not that ugly, and some of 'em (like Caliban) are almost attractive. I love Christopher Shy's artwork, generally, but I feel it fell flat here.

The book's wrapped up with a 4 page character sheet that is nice and useful.

Overall: If you need a decent read, this book's for you. However, I wouldn't pass up some other gaming book you desperately want for it.

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

Clanbook Nosferatu Revised
Author: Brian Campbell Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Vampire: The Masquerade Cost: 14.95 Page count: 102 ISBN: 1-56504-266-2 SKU: ww2354 Capsule Review by Prince Nightchilde on 10/17/00. Genre tags: Modern day Horror Conspiracy Vampire Gothic	This clanbook focuses, as you might have guessed, on the hideous, secretive and paranoid denizens of the stinky sewers, the Nosferatu. Now, I liked this clanbook (not loved, mind you, but liked), but if I had read one more reference to bodily waste and/or waste disposal, I was going to puke. Here's a chapter-by-chapter breakdown... The required fiction in the book is called Food Chain and it's about as good as most of the fiction in the beginning of the splatbooks is. Which is to say, it's not really anything to write home about. The font they wrote it in got somewhat annoying. But, there is better stuff hiding beneath this pile of refuse. Chapter One involves itself in the legends and history of the Nosferatu clan. This history is much more intelligent than the history given in the original clanbook, and a nice chunk is devoted to both the Nosferatu of Carthage and those of Africa (which information is sorely needed on). Unfortunately, a large portion of this section talks about the history of human waste recycling. It got a little repetitive after a while. But, if you are willing to sift through it, you can find a few sparkling diamonds among the urine-soaked coal. This chapter ends with a bit of a surprise, as the reader is lead to believe that the entire Nosferatu gathering is killed by traitors of some kind. Speaking of Nikutu, there's a good amount of information on them in here, too. Chapter Two is Inside Clan Nosferatu. It talks about the Camarilla and Sabbat, and how much the Nosferatu really don't care about sect divisions among themselves. A nice, detailed description of what happens during the Embrace of a mortal is given here, too, and emphasizes the pain the childer goes through. A nice sidebar talks about Nosferatu that are so hideously deformed, they are shunned by even other Nosferatu. These "fetid little creatures" are so deformed they can't function in vampiric society at all, such as having no skeletons or their legs shrivel up and fall off. Interesting. A nice part of this section talks about the subdivisions within the clan, such as the Leatherfaces and Cleopatras. This is discussed and detailed much better than in the previous clanbook, and I love the Bestials. Next we get into the hostings and politics of the clan. Interesting stuff here. Then there's the obligatory section on how the clan feels about "everyone else." Nothing really insightful here. This section also includes "A festering heap of game mechanics." Here we have a new background, an expansion on the Lore ability, tons of really neat Merits and Flaws, descriptions on how to use clan disciplines to their utmost potential (although few new powers) and the section on using Potence in combat. This last part leaves me a little lukewarm. I'm not sure how I feel about potent combat. I guess I'll just have to have a Nosferatu NPC beat my group up to find out if I'm going to allow it or not. The last part of this chapter talks about how Nosferatu hunt. This is far more useful than it may seem...:-) Next chapter: Nosferatu Characters. Yup, here are your templates, for both V:tm and (annoyingly) MET. Nothing special here, though the artwork is decent. Then there's the venerable Nosferatu, or the big-bad NPCs the players should get kicked around by. :-) Baba Yaga, and how she fits into this whole Nosferatu/Nikutu stuff is given fair treatment here. Most of the Nosferatu in this section must be using Obfuscate to create a false face, because most of 'em are not that ugly, and some of 'em (like Caliban) are almost attractive. I love Christopher Shy's artwork, generally, but I feel it fell flat here. The book's wrapped up with a 4 page character sheet that is nice and useful. Overall: If you need a decent read, this book's for you. However, I wouldn't pass up some other gaming book you desperately want for it. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Clanbook Nosferatu Revised