The Inside Scoop on Gaming

No doubt many of you have heard the various jokes and snide comments that have been made regarding White Wolf products for the last several years. "High style, low substance" is the most popular complaint with many comparisons being made to the computer generated romance novels that you find in bookstores these days. Sadly enough, this product does little else than cement those opinions.

"Liege, Lord and Lackey" was read twice for the purpose of this review. No, it wasn't because it was that good, rather it was because I was trying to figure out the purpose behind it being published. With the feel of a theme issue apazine, this product simply does not inspire the reader to actually get involved with mere mortals in Vampire: The Dark Ages as either a player character or as active NPCs. The book does a poor job of explaining why anybody would want to play a mortal in servitude to a vampire, which makes the book useless for players, and gives an uninspiring explanation as to how GMs can use mortals to further their own good. In short, neither a GM or a player will find anything useful in this book. Adding to this feel of incompleteness is a chapter on hedge magic which suspiciously looks like little more than an attempt to bring the page count up. "Liege, Lord and Lackey" is very true to the genre in that it has had the life sucked out of it.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Liege, Lord and Lackey
Author: Jason Carl, Tom deMayo, Michael Lee and Wendy Soss Category: Company/Publisher: White Wolf Reviewed by Tomas J Skucas on 07/01/97. Genre tags: none	No doubt many of you have heard the various jokes and snide comments that have been made regarding White Wolf products for the last several years. "High style, low substance" is the most popular complaint with many comparisons being made to the computer generated romance novels that you find in bookstores these days. Sadly enough, this product does little else than cement those opinions. "Liege, Lord and Lackey" was read twice for the purpose of this review. No, it wasn't because it was that good, rather it was because I was trying to figure out the purpose behind it being published. With the feel of a theme issue apazine, this product simply does not inspire the reader to actually get involved with mere mortals in Vampire: The Dark Ages as either a player character or as active NPCs. The book does a poor job of explaining why anybody would want to play a mortal in servitude to a vampire, which makes the book useless for players, and gives an uninspiring explanation as to how GMs can use mortals to further their own good. In short, neither a GM or a player will find anything useful in this book. Adding to this feel of incompleteness is a chapter on hedge magic which suspiciously looks like little more than an attempt to bring the page count up. "Liege, Lord and Lackey" is very true to the genre in that it has had the life sucked out of it. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 2 (Sparse)