The Inside Scoop on Gaming

First things first: This is, as you can probably piece together, a collection of tribebooks for Werewolf, much like the compiled Tradition books for Mage. Specifically, LOTT4 deals with the Silver Fangs, Stargazers, Uktena, and Wendigo.

This is not a Werewolf Revised product; one or more of the tribebooks may have been written before Werewolf 2nd edition, but I don't believe that's the case. As a result, some of the information presented is in some ways out of date, although I don't think there's anything drastic of that nature.

I have mixed feelings about splatbooks. Some of them are very, very good -- the Revised Clanbook line in general, and particularly the Malkavian and Assamite entries in that line. Some of them are utter crap, and were a waste of my money -- the Verbena and Akashic Brotherhood Tradbooks, the original Malkavian Clanbook (most of the earliest CBs, come to think of it).

I also have mixed feelings about Werewolf. I think what those feelings come down to is this: it's a pretty decent game which I rarely see played the way I'd like to play it. The whole "eco-terrorists for Gaia" thing gets old, but the game certainly doesn't force you to make that your theme ...

... however, the best place to offer variety and really milk a game for every variant it's worth is in places like the Tribebooks, and for the most part, WWGS drops the ball here. In other words, if you're happy with traditional WtA games -- this will probably reinforce your opinion and help you out. If you're not -- you may not want to pick this up. I should say, though, that it's a good buy -- four ten-dollar tribebooks for twenty-three bucks, that's nearly half off. Or, put another way, if you like half the book and kinda like some of the rest, you got your money's worth.

Pretty hard to go wrong with that.

So, let's take these bad boys down in order.

Silver Fangs. One of my favorite tribes (along with the Shadow Lords), and certainly my favorite in this collection. To me, werewolves just fit in really well with Russian myth and folklore -- particularly the Fangs, these purebred, noble, haughty, but a bit on the mad side Garou. Chris Howard does a good job of presenting a Fang-centric view of Garou and Russian history and culture, although the bits on Silver Fangs in Asia read oddly after the publication of Hengeyokai -- Asia's fairly overcrowded when it comes to supernaturals, if they get both hemispheres' reps.

The Silver Fangs are in part a microcosm of the Garou in general -- proud and nutty, with thirteen houses (instead of thirteen tribes), of which some are lost (in this case, six houses). The templates and NPCs are ... well, I rarely see Werewolf templates that I like, but these are no worse than usual.

Stargazers is the tribe which seems out of place to me now -- I half-expected them to be retconned away like the Bushi bloodline in Vampire. Eastern Garou who exist independently of the Hengeyokai? Granted, you certainly can't fairly judge the book on that merit -- it was written first. But LOTT4 was published after the Eastern material came out, I believe ... so it's certainly being marketed at people who have access to Hengeyokai.

Hengeyokai just plain works better than the Stargazers book. It isn't bad, but the Garou are really a western myth -- tossing some RPG-level Buddhism at them doesn't work, because the base assumptions are still the same. THIS is the book where it would have been great to see some alternate cosmologies -- Garou who don't believe in Gaia, who have a different origin myth altogether, like the variant Vampire creation myth in Wolves of the Sea. I think a good deal could have been done with that, and I think it's a shame and a missed opportunity that nothing was.

However, for some perverse reason, I love the "Dharma Bum" template, and have used it as an NPC in Mage games ...

Uktena and Wendigo. Uck. I've always disliked the Native American Garou. I just think it's a bad idea, this New Age melding of European myth with crystal-shop Jersey Shore mall bangs Americanized Native religion. Again, an alternate creation myth would be good here, and a completely different paradigm (Nuwisha came close, but didn't go far enough -- and I know I'm mixing my distance-related idiom there). The Uktena comic is the worst in the book -- it reminds me a lot of the crap high school kids draw during math class after reading way too many Image books. Jackie Cassada and Nicky Rea (the Uktena authors) really have done much better work in the Changeling line -- this is half-claptrap sprinkled with a few good moments. And the curiosity tribal flaw always struck me as pandering -- it's so much like the "cute savages" in movies and novels who are fascinated by everything because they've only recently discovered fire.

Oh, one other note about the book in general: the comics. Yeah, there are these brief cheesy comic stories prefacing each of the tribebooks, and ... well, they're bad. I've never understood why WWGS does that, but I've often felt like I'm somehow out of sync with the typical Werewolf customer, because they KEEP doing it, so people must not be complaining ...

Litany of the Tribes, Volume 4 Bill Kte'pi
Item type: RPG Product Name: Litany of the Tribes, Volume 4 Author: Chris Howard, Jackie Cassada, Nicky Rea, Bill Bridges; Ethan Skemp, Developer Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Vampire SKU: WWGS3383 Cost: #22.95 Page count: 280 ISBN: 1-56504-305-7 Ratings: Style 3 (Average) Substance 4 (Meaty) Review type: Playtest Review	First things first: This is, as you can probably piece together, a collection of tribebooks for Werewolf, much like the compiled Tradition books for Mage. Specifically, LOTT4 deals with the Silver Fangs, Stargazers, Uktena, and Wendigo. This is not a Werewolf Revised product; one or more of the tribebooks may have been written before Werewolf 2nd edition, but I don't believe that's the case. As a result, some of the information presented is in some ways out of date, although I don't think there's anything drastic of that nature. I have mixed feelings about splatbooks. Some of them are very, very good -- the Revised Clanbook line in general, and particularly the Malkavian and Assamite entries in that line. Some of them are utter crap, and were a waste of my money -- the Verbena and Akashic Brotherhood Tradbooks, the original Malkavian Clanbook (most of the earliest CBs, come to think of it). I also have mixed feelings about Werewolf. I think what those feelings come down to is this: it's a pretty decent game which I rarely see played the way I'd like to play it. The whole "eco-terrorists for Gaia" thing gets old, but the game certainly doesn't force you to make that your theme ... ... however, the best place to offer variety and really milk a game for every variant it's worth is in places like the Tribebooks, and for the most part, WWGS drops the ball here. In other words, if you're happy with traditional WtA games -- this will probably reinforce your opinion and help you out. If you're not -- you may not want to pick this up. I should say, though, that it's a good buy -- four ten-dollar tribebooks for twenty-three bucks, that's nearly half off. Or, put another way, if you like half the book and kinda like some of the rest, you got your money's worth. Pretty hard to go wrong with that. So, let's take these bad boys down in order. Silver Fangs. One of my favorite tribes (along with the Shadow Lords), and certainly my favorite in this collection. To me, werewolves just fit in really well with Russian myth and folklore -- particularly the Fangs, these purebred, noble, haughty, but a bit on the mad side Garou. Chris Howard does a good job of presenting a Fang-centric view of Garou and Russian history and culture, although the bits on Silver Fangs in Asia read oddly after the publication of Hengeyokai -- Asia's fairly overcrowded when it comes to supernaturals, if they get both hemispheres' reps. The Silver Fangs are in part a microcosm of the Garou in general -- proud and nutty, with thirteen houses (instead of thirteen tribes), of which some are lost (in this case, six houses). The templates and NPCs are ... well, I rarely see Werewolf templates that I like, but these are no worse than usual. Stargazers is the tribe which seems out of place to me now -- I half-expected them to be retconned away like the Bushi bloodline in Vampire. Eastern Garou who exist independently of the Hengeyokai? Granted, you certainly can't fairly judge the book on that merit -- it was written first. But LOTT4 was published after the Eastern material came out, I believe ... so it's certainly being marketed at people who have access to Hengeyokai. Hengeyokai just plain works better than the Stargazers book. It isn't bad, but the Garou are really a western myth -- tossing some RPG-level Buddhism at them doesn't work, because the base assumptions are still the same. THIS is the book where it would have been great to see some alternate cosmologies -- Garou who don't believe in Gaia, who have a different origin myth altogether, like the variant Vampire creation myth in Wolves of the Sea. I think a good deal could have been done with that, and I think it's a shame and a missed opportunity that nothing was. However, for some perverse reason, I love the "Dharma Bum" template, and have used it as an NPC in Mage games ... Uktena and Wendigo. Uck. I've always disliked the Native American Garou. I just think it's a bad idea, this New Age melding of European myth with crystal-shop Jersey Shore mall bangs Americanized Native religion. Again, an alternate creation myth would be good here, and a completely different paradigm (Nuwisha came close, but didn't go far enough -- and I know I'm mixing my distance-related idiom there). The Uktena comic is the worst in the book -- it reminds me a lot of the crap high school kids draw during math class after reading way too many Image books. Jackie Cassada and Nicky Rea (the Uktena authors) really have done much better work in the Changeling line -- this is half-claptrap sprinkled with a few good moments. And the curiosity tribal flaw always struck me as pandering -- it's so much like the "cute savages" in movies and novels who are fascinated by everything because they've only recently discovered fire. Oh, one other note about the book in general: the comics. Yeah, there are these brief cheesy comic stories prefacing each of the tribebooks, and ... well, they're bad. I've never understood why WWGS does that, but I've often felt like I'm somehow out of sync with the typical Werewolf customer, because they KEEP doing it, so people must not be complaining ...

Litany of the Tribes, Volume 4