This is one of the more daring suppliments that White Wolf Game Studio published prior to the release of Mage's Revised Edition. The reason for this is because
The Spirit Ways attempts to explain one of the major paradigms--shamanism, in this case--in terms that damn near anyone can understand. The problem is that shamanism is very much an experiential thing; it's no different than trying to explain orgasms to someone who's never had one. You can exploit your vocabulary to get as close to the proper term as possible, but you're still not going to miss something because it's impossible for the other party to understand what you mean without that first-hand experience.
With that in mind, let's begin.
This book follows the formula that is common to Second Edition books; a short story that shows off the theme of the book is the Prelude, followed by an Introduction that explains in concrete terms what this book is and how its meant to be used, and then the meat of the book in two or more parts followed by some crunchy bits at the end. There is one big complaint that I can present up-front and it is this: only the text in the shaded boxes is reliable and objective. The vast bulk of the text is in-character, subjective, and therefore unreliable. This is a very bad thing, because I don't need a book of stories; I need a book filled with facts, mythology, and crunchy bits.
(Note on the Prelude: I've said before that I don't care for the fiction pieces in these suppliments, and this one doesn't work for me either. I lost interest in the Prelude within a few paragraphs and thus skipped straight to the Introduction; after all of my exposure to Tribe 8 I am quite spoiled.)
Chapter One is about the shaman's life and existence. Most of the text is a long, meandering narrative interspersed with sidebars that actually deliever the goods. The anecdotes do show some utility in that they show the reader how this or that character deals with the needs of the shamanistic paradigm, but that's as it should be. The stories also illustrate concepts better explained in the sidebars; the commonalities in how a character comes into the shaman's lifepath, the need to (as the book puts it) shamanize, and so forth. The point gets across--being a shaman is not all drumming and running around in the woods, but it needs to be done, and it's not a matter of choice--but it could've been better and in much less time had the story been cut out and the sidebars rewritten into a coherent whole.
Chapter Two deals with spirits and how a shaman relates to them. This chapter isn't quite so subjective, in terms of in-character stories, but it does go into Mage-specific materials such as how spirits are seen by others who are not part of the shamanic way. Other specific sections include cosmologies as seen by some native peoples in the world, and the commonalities between them all. The rest of this piece of the text goes on to go into how to play the shaman character, in terms of portraying the character and playing him in game terms. This includes an overview of how the remaining native nations cope with the contemporary world, and how other Traditions incorporate the shamanic way into their paradigm. Of the four chapters, this one is the most useful because it doesn't descend into half-truths and suspect stories.
Chapter Three is a shaman's take on the Umbra, and thus you ought to get yourself a copy of The Book of Worlds to make full use of it. The sidebars cover some of the more important game-related details of the the shaman's interactions with the Umbra, and I expect that many a GM will find more utility in these sidebars than in the main body of the chapter's text. This is not that the main text is useless, but that the information is buried beneath some unclear words and that is a bad thing.
Chapter Four is about spirit helpers such as totems, allies, and the like. The best analogy I can devise is that this is akin to a cop and his array of snitches, contacts, and "concerned citizen" allies; these allies are not low-maintainence beings, and they require that the shaman spend some amount of time and energy doing what he needs to keep his allies happy. His totem and familiar--they need not be the same--aren't quite so demanding, but if there was a hierarchy in any given shaman's duties, these two are at the top; take care of them first. This chapter goes into enemies and notoriety amongst the world of spirits as well, but not in as much detail. While short, this last chapter does hammer home the remaining aspects of the paradigm: the shaman is a healer and a negotiator, not a pawn or a master, and he is to treat the spirits with the same respect that he would an equivalent mortal.
The crunchy bits are in the appendix. The rotes are appropriate for the shamanic paradigm, and most of them are within the reach of your standard new character. They're also effective, but only in the hands of someone who's able to use subtlety and guile to achieve their ends. (You can justify the usual combat rotes, but damn if your character won't feel more like a bad superhero parody and less like an authentic shaman.) There are rules for various drugs, including one that imparts a temporary boost to the PC's Spirit rating, as well as the usual array of magical items, Merits, Flaws, and totems. (Note: The totem rules here are very different from those for Werewolf; use at your own risk, because I don't.)
And now, the playtesting notes:
I am the GM of an ongoing Mage campaign, and two of my three PCs are some sort of shaman. One of them is a Euthanatoi, and the other is a Dreamspeaker; they're from the same tribe, are related by marriage, and engage in the cliche of being rather intimate with their related Garou. The Dreamspeaker is the one that--obviously--got the most out of this book. She immediately took to using the spirit powder, and to the use of the new shaman-only language. (It's called "ifa", and it's suppossed to be the pure version of Enochian.) The Euthanatoi took to the book as well, for she also shaped her character to be more akin to a death-aspected psychopomp. She's taken to the curse-related powders and rotes, and she's worked towards taking Kali as a totem.
As the GM, I found this book to be less than helpful for me. Most of the material assumes that there is a great deal of Umbral action, and that the shaman character is (to some degree) acting like a werewolf: monkeywrenching the Techies, using spirits to smack foes around and help out friends, hitting the Nephies and Techies when he can, warding Nodes from both, and so forth. This sure as hell ain't everyone's cup of tea, and even I--who does gravitate this way--didn't care for it that much.
Conclusion:
The book, in order to be fully useful, requires that it be read from cover to cover and then cross-referenced with other suppliments as well as with non-gaming books. It's not useful during gameplay, as a suppliment of this sort should be, because there isn't much to look up and reference. In this respect it feels like a comic book; good to read, bad to use. I'm not looking for an entertaining read; I want a well-made supplimental reference that I use during play with aplomb.
In short, I want what Wizards of the Coast puts out for D&D. I can only hope that this book will be replaced with a superior product down the road. This book gets a pass.
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