Tribebook: Get of Fenris is part of White Wolf’s line of Tribebooks that describe the various Garou Tribes in Werewolf the Apocalypse. The Tribebooks give information on each tribe’s history and society, and information for character creation. This one covers the Get of Fenris.
Physically, the book is a standard softcover rpg supplement. The cover has one of the standardly cheesy pictures that adorn World of Darkness books. The interior artwork comes in two varieties. The first are the pencil-shaded pictures, which are a full page, appear before each chapter and are quite excellent. Then there are pencil-outline pictures, which vary from good to cheesy. These are the pictures that are interspersed with the text inside the chapters. They layout is simple with a background legend, three chapters of information, and a fourth chapter of character templates and NPCs.
Legend: The Weakness of Uli Brightjaws
This legend is a well-written short story that really lays bear the ‘heart’ of the Get of Fenris. It’s not a great story, but it sets the tone well for the rest of the book.
Chapter 1: Voices of Thunder
This chapter covers the history of the Fenrir. Actually, it covers the history of Man, as we know it, interwoven with the history of the Get of Fenris. It’s written as if told by various Skalds. For all that, it’s more a lecture than a fireside tale. But I suppose that doesn’t matter that much, since it made it better than reading a textbook. And to truly tell the history of the ages in tales would take a series of novels. This chapter tells the rise of Fenris and of the tribe. It covers Norse mythology and weaves the tale of the struggle between Fenris and Wotan through the ages. It covers the spread of man through Europe, strife with the Roman Empire, even modern times. For the most part, where it covered history that I knew, it matched with it. I assume that the other real history that’s included was also accurate. Overall, the chapter does a good job of spinning the history of the Tribe through the ages, winding it in and around historical events. Sometimes, there’s just a snapshot of history and a comment. I was most interested in following the mythical storyline. I hadn’t more than a stereotypical view of the Fenrir before reading this chapter. It did a good job of adding background to that view, but didn’t add any real depth to the Tribe. They’re just plain based on strength. I was hoping for more depth.
Chapter 2: Fenris’ Children
This chapter covers the Fenrir society. The first part of the chapter isn’t very useful, as it regurgitates general information: Wyld, Weaver, Wyrm, Fenris, the Auspices, though with Nordic terms, and the breeds. The next part was better. It covers various extremist groups within the Get of Fenris. While I didn’t find them viable for a player, they spark ideas for plot twists. The Litany as seen through the eyes of the Get was pretty obvious too, not much meat in there for a storyteller. Then it lists locations around the world, and how populated that is by Get. Nothing too surprising here either, having read the history. But this part of the chapter is better as a quick reference. The chapter ends with comments on the other tribes and other were-breeds. Again, nothing surprising. I think the largest failing is to really add any depth to the Tribe. Everything shores up the fact that they’re just about strength, and that strength just supports the stereotype. The history chapter had an offhand comment about telling the tales being as important as fighting the battles for the Get, but that’s as far as the depth went. And it wasn’t even reiterated here. I was disappointed.
Chapter 3: Blood-Magic and Stone-Might
This is the chapter on character creation. It guides someone making a Fenrir garou, in either the Werewolf system or Mind’s Eye Theater. The Gifts, Rites, and Totems sections include rules for both. It’s good source material for character creation, and so far, the only part of the book I found useful.
Chapter 4: Warriors Born
This chapter gives character templates and NPC characters. Finally, some depth! The 5 character templates show variety, and by seeing it, I could see other ways to take a Get character. The NPCs are legends, both those past and present. The 2 living legends have stat blocks and roleplaying notes for use in campaigns. This chapter tweaked my interest, as it started giving me ideas about playing and ideas for NPCs. I wish this chapter was two to three times longer, though.
Overall, this Tribebook comes in below average. I’ve thought the Fenrir were an interesting tribe, with more to them than meets the eye, but I saw very little of that here. They were treated very stereotypically, and having read this book wouldn’t change how most people would play them. The character creation portion is useful, especially with its dual-rules information. But it’s not worth the entire book. Maybe my expectations were high. In the end, I was disappointed, and sad that I was.
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