The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Disclaimer I: I have seen in reviews that the content had "spoiler" ascribed to it. I feel that if you are reading a review, you invite that upon yourself. If you don't want "spoilers," why would you read a review of a product you do not own? I will not use the phrase of "Contains Spoilers" in my reviews, if you want a non-biased review that doesn't reveal content-look elsewhere.

Disclaimer II: The majority of this review is opinion; your actual enjoyment of this product should vary accordingly.

"... It seems like only a few years ago you were a struggling journalist, fresh from covering the atrocities of the Civil War, moving out to California to make a fresh start. Your stories about frontier life, death and the weirdness in between didn't impress too many editors. They did, however, catch the eye of someone... or something... just as influential. Your sire declared that you migth someday write "the Iliad of the 20th century," so he Embraced you, totored you, and taught you how to make money by turning stories of vampires and werewolves into safe titillation instead of terrifying fact... " (pg. 80, "The Reclusive Author.")

WARNING SHOT:

Hmm.. Clanbooks. Sounds a bit like "cookbooks." This book is to be an addition to a greatly revised game. Like most revisions, the core game's revision led to a sourcebook revision: the Revised Clanbook series for Vampire: the Masquerade. I enjoyed the core book's revision, so does that enjoyment lead to enjoying the clanbook? Or will the taste of the V1/2 supplement still remain in my mouth?

It's a lot harder to use a sarcastic approach to reviewing sourcebooks for game lines. Sometimes it's difficult just to understand the approach that a designer sets out to do with their supplement.

That's my problem with the majority of White Wolf supplements that they manufacture for their various game lines: what's the point of the book, what's the feel that this product is trying to get to, etc.

The revised clanbook series kicked off shortly after the revision of its parent game line, makes sense. And like all supplements that I've come across, it seeks to add more "stuff" to its core line. Stuff here has many connotations, mostly bad. The more "stuff" designers add the more it comes out like "fluff." And yes, I'm guilty of the "fluff" syndrome myself at times.

BEGINNING

Note to those visual designers of this book, fonts kill. The intro font had my head hurting more then the beginning of A Clockwork Orange. Not a good thing to do with your "flavor" text.

I skip that which hurts my eyes, folks. Like an overly "fancy" font used for a story. I like the style of font, but it was well over used in the intro. I good example of "special font" use was in the following chapter, that scrawling font didn't kill... because it was used sparingly.

MIDDLE

Okay, so in the rough chapter break down, the book is the following: a story, more story of Toreador history, a colorful worldview, archetypes and characters, ending with a four page character sheet.

More examined (ignoring the intro piece of fiction):
· A Toreador's view of Kindred history, their claws in world politics, and their view on the current way of things. Written in a sort of Socratic dialogue, it provides color a little to the details of the Toreador way of viewing the "State of the Kindred."
· The worldview, I guess is misleading, since it basically covers how Toreador react to the other vampires (embracing, being Toreador, the Camarilla, the Sabbat, Anarchs, etc.) and the "others" of the World of Darkness (Werewolves, Hunters, the Hunters, Mages, Fey, etc.). Included at the end of the chapter are new disciplines and their MET equivalents.
· The Vampire standard of templates to build your character from. Mixed bag, par the norm. Includes the MET sheets for the same templates for use in live-action. Chapter concludes with Toreador of note.
· The last thing in the book is a four-page character sheet.

END

While I don't think I'd need the full four-page sheet for my games, it has merits. It shows us that designers can add a character to their layout program to get a full four pages taken up.

Clanbook: Toreador is okay as a supplement; a mixed bag for your Vampire games.

PERSONALITY

The book is alright; not great, not poor either. Certainly the earlier, rushed through the designers' table, books supporting the Vampire revision, suffer with performance anxiety. It could have been much worse, like the first clanbook. Overall, a good book, okay delivery.

Clanbook: Toreador (Revised)
Clanbook: Toreador (Revised) Capsule Review by Alex deMorris on 07/03/02 Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average) Clanbook. Cookbook. Case book in an alright supplement for a good game. Product: Clanbook: Toreador (Revised) Author: Heather Grove & Greg Stolze Category: RPG Company/Publisher: White Wolf Publishing, Inc. Line: Vampire: the Masquerade Cost: 14.95 Page count: 104 Year published: 2000 ISBN: 1-56504-269-7 SKU: WW2356 Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Alex deMorris on 07/03/02 Genre tags: Horror Vampire Gothic Live-action	Disclaimer I: I have seen in reviews that the content had "spoiler" ascribed to it. I feel that if you are reading a review, you invite that upon yourself. If you don't want "spoilers," why would you read a review of a product you do not own? I will not use the phrase of "Contains Spoilers" in my reviews, if you want a non-biased review that doesn't reveal content-look elsewhere. Disclaimer II: The majority of this review is opinion; your actual enjoyment of this product should vary accordingly. "... It seems like only a few years ago you were a struggling journalist, fresh from covering the atrocities of the Civil War, moving out to California to make a fresh start. Your stories about frontier life, death and the weirdness in between didn't impress too many editors. They did, however, catch the eye of someone... or something... just as influential. Your sire declared that you migth someday write "the Iliad of the 20th century," so he Embraced you, totored you, and taught you how to make money by turning stories of vampires and werewolves into safe titillation instead of terrifying fact... " (pg. 80, "The Reclusive Author.") WARNING SHOT: Hmm.. Clanbooks. Sounds a bit like "cookbooks." This book is to be an addition to a greatly revised game. Like most revisions, the core game's revision led to a sourcebook revision: the Revised Clanbook series for Vampire: the Masquerade. I enjoyed the core book's revision, so does that enjoyment lead to enjoying the clanbook? Or will the taste of the V1/2 supplement still remain in my mouth? It's a lot harder to use a sarcastic approach to reviewing sourcebooks for game lines. Sometimes it's difficult just to understand the approach that a designer sets out to do with their supplement. That's my problem with the majority of White Wolf supplements that they manufacture for their various game lines: what's the point of the book, what's the feel that this product is trying to get to, etc. The revised clanbook series kicked off shortly after the revision of its parent game line, makes sense. And like all supplements that I've come across, it seeks to add more "stuff" to its core line. Stuff here has many connotations, mostly bad. The more "stuff" designers add the more it comes out like "fluff." And yes, I'm guilty of the "fluff" syndrome myself at times. BEGINNING Note to those visual designers of this book, fonts kill. The intro font had my head hurting more then the beginning of *A Clockwork Orange. Not a good thing to do with your "flavor" text. I skip that which hurts my eyes, folks. Like an overly "fancy" font used for a story. I like the style of font, but it was well over used in the intro. I good example of "special font" use was in the following chapter, that scrawling font didn't kill... because it was used sparingly. MIDDLE* Okay, so in the rough chapter break down, the book is the following: a story, more story of Toreador history, a colorful worldview, archetypes and characters, ending with a four page character sheet. More examined (ignoring the intro piece of fiction): · A Toreador's view of Kindred history, their claws in world politics, and their view on the current way of things. Written in a sort of Socratic dialogue, it provides color a little to the details of the Toreador way of viewing the "State of the Kindred." · The worldview, I guess is misleading, since it basically covers how Toreador react to the other vampires (embracing, being Toreador, the Camarilla, the Sabbat, Anarchs, etc.) and the "others" of the World of Darkness (Werewolves, Hunters, the Hunters, Mages, Fey, etc.). Included at the end of the chapter are new disciplines and their MET equivalents. · The Vampire standard of templates to build your character from. Mixed bag, par the norm. Includes the MET sheets for the same templates for use in live-action. Chapter concludes with Toreador of note. · The last thing in the book is a four-page character sheet. END While I don't think I'd need the full four-page sheet for my games, it has merits. It shows us that designers can add a character to their layout program to get a full four pages taken up. Clanbook: Toreador is okay as a supplement; a mixed bag for your Vampire games. PERSONALITY The book is alright; not great, not poor either. Certainly the earlier, rushed through the designers' table, books supporting the Vampire revision, suffer with performance anxiety. It could have been much worse, like the first clanbook. Overall, a good book, okay delivery.

Clanbook: Toreador (Revised)