The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Let's face it. While it's great fun to play the monsters in White Wolf games, you really have to sympathize with the hunters. While there might be a good monster here or there, in general they're self-absorbed boors, vicious killers, or dangerously backward in their thinking. Monster hunters, though, don't tend to have much on their side but a heap of attitude. At least not in the Western Hemisphere.

Demon Hunter X is another book in White Wolf's "Year of the Lotus" series, this time detailing two groups of monster hunters unique to Asia: the Shih and Japan's Strike Force Zero. I'm sure there are lots of independent, Hunters Hunted-style monster hunters in Asia, too, but they aren't detailed here. This book is about people going out and kicking monster butt with high tech gadgets or martial arts.

The first group detailed, the Shih, aren't really monster hunters. They hunt monsters, and they usually have a burning passion for revenge, but they don't hunt all monsters. Only the ones that have gone beyond the bounds necessary to fulfill their role in the world. They're warrior-monks, trained from childhood in martial arts techniques that could flatten a frenzying Garou.

The second group, Strike Force Zero, are fanatical monster-killers. Loaded up with the highest of high tech by the Japanese government and other, more shadowy benefactors they seek out the supernatural and blow it into messy, meaty chunks. Where the Shih are single people, using their minds and bodies as weapons against the night's predators, SF0 is a group of people who have big, big guns and almost no idea what they're doing. The policy of killing anything that can be killed has led to SF0 having precious little knowledge about what they're hunting.

Near the end, there's obligatory information on crossover chronicles, and how a Shih and a team of Strike Force Zero agents would work together. The book also details how to put together an anime-style team of heroes for Strike Force Zero teams.

This book will appeal to people who like Hong Kong movies or action- or supernatural-oriented anime. To the average World of Darkness gamer, it may not offer as much. For those who don't play White Wolf games, but might like a sourcebook on Asian monster hunters for their other games (I can imagine using this as a sourcebook for Feng Shui or an anime-styled GURPS game), the $15 price tag might be a bit pricey but it's still worth a look.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Demon Hunter X<
Author: Jim Moore Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Game Studio Cost: $15.00 US Page count: 110 ISBN: 1-56504-202-6 Capsule Review by Kevin Mowery on 07/01/98. Genre tags: none	Let's face it. While it's great fun to play the monsters in White Wolf games, you really have to sympathize with the hunters. While there might be a good monster here or there, in general they're self-absorbed boors, vicious killers, or dangerously backward in their thinking. Monster hunters, though, don't tend to have much on their side but a heap of attitude. At least not in the Western Hemisphere. Demon Hunter X is another book in White Wolf's "Year of the Lotus" series, this time detailing two groups of monster hunters unique to Asia: the Shih and Japan's Strike Force Zero. I'm sure there are lots of independent, Hunters Hunted-style monster hunters in Asia, too, but they aren't detailed here. This book is about people going out and kicking monster butt with high tech gadgets or martial arts. The first group detailed, the Shih, aren't really monster hunters. They hunt monsters, and they usually have a burning passion for revenge, but they don't hunt all monsters. Only the ones that have gone beyond the bounds necessary to fulfill their role in the world. They're warrior-monks, trained from childhood in martial arts techniques that could flatten a frenzying Garou. The second group, Strike Force Zero, are fanatical monster-killers. Loaded up with the highest of high tech by the Japanese government and other, more shadowy benefactors they seek out the supernatural and blow it into messy, meaty chunks. Where the Shih are single people, using their minds and bodies as weapons against the night's predators, SF0 is a group of people who have big, big guns and almost no idea what they're doing. The policy of killing anything that can be killed has led to SF0 having precious little knowledge about what they're hunting. Near the end, there's obligatory information on crossover chronicles, and how a Shih and a team of Strike Force Zero agents would work together. The book also details how to put together an anime-style team of heroes for Strike Force Zero teams. This book will appeal to people who like Hong Kong movies or action- or supernatural-oriented anime. To the average World of Darkness gamer, it may not offer as much. For those who don't play White Wolf games, but might like a sourcebook on Asian monster hunters for their other games (I can imagine using this as a sourcebook for Feng Shui or an anime-styled GURPS game), the $15 price tag might be a bit pricey but it's still worth a look. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

Demon Hunter X<