The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Another of White Wolf's many formulaic books is the location book. Vampire tops the list here with its many citybooks, including the two new ones published as part of the Year of the Lotus. Werewolf has its region books- the infamous Rage series. Both Wraith and Changeling have their own versions of these types, but Mage eschewed these for a wholy different approach.

Mage decided to make chantry books. The first of these was the Book of Chantries. Like most First Edition books, this one slips all about the quality scale. Part of it chill the bone, while others cause you to gag and a few make you wonder why the attack lawyers haven't ripped White Wolf to shreds. All of them follow the same model; take a chantry, describe it and its members, then place it on the map- and not always in that order. The result is a book with plenty of crossover potential, if a Storyteller bothered to puzzle through the hows and whys of the chantry's involvement.

The best entry is the Euthanatos chantry. This one returned in the Euthanatos Tradition book, but only to update the politics surrounding the mages who live therein. It has all of the ingrediants to run a thrilling horror story, yet keep it wholy contained within Mage- no crossover needed. The others, especially Doisstep- oh, how the Hermetics have fallen- don't reach this level of quality.

The worst, and by this I mean "We Should've Been Sued!", is the Nephandi chantry in Chicago. This entry is so obviously plagerized that it's only a matter of time before some sort of legal action arises. The source plagerized is John Carpenter's "Big Trouble in Little China", and all that's missing is a mention of how the Jade Demon suppossedly died about 8-10 years before the book's publication. (They call him Lo Pan, have him look the same, runs the same Tong, and does the same thing- all that's changed is the location!)

It is worth getting? Not really, unless you get it used or as part of a package deal. This book needs a new edition; right now a lot of twiddling must be done to make it comply with the current edition. However, if you make the effort you'll get back plenty of good gaming- even (and especially) with the wacky Nephandi in Chicago. (That, good reader, is a golden opportunity to do some less-than-serious cinematic gaming.)

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Book of Chantries<
Author: Steven C. Brown, Phil Brucato, Robert Hatch and others Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Game Studio Cost: $18 (US) Page count: 184 pages ISBN: 1-56504-084-8 Capsule Review by Bradford C. Walker on 08/05/98. Genre tags: none	Another of White Wolf's many formulaic books is the location book. Vampire tops the list here with its many citybooks, including the two new ones published as part of the Year of the Lotus. Werewolf has its region books- the infamous Rage series. Both Wraith and Changeling have their own versions of these types, but Mage eschewed these for a wholy different approach. Mage decided to make chantry books. The first of these was the Book of Chantries. Like most First Edition books, this one slips all about the quality scale. Part of it chill the bone, while others cause you to gag and a few make you wonder why the attack lawyers haven't ripped White Wolf to shreds. All of them follow the same model; take a chantry, describe it and its members, then place it on the map- and not always in that order. The result is a book with plenty of crossover potential, if a Storyteller bothered to puzzle through the hows and whys of the chantry's involvement. The best entry is the Euthanatos chantry. This one returned in the Euthanatos Tradition book, but only to update the politics surrounding the mages who live therein. It has all of the ingrediants to run a thrilling horror story, yet keep it wholy contained within Mage- no crossover needed. The others, especially Doisstep- oh, how the Hermetics have fallen- don't reach this level of quality. The worst, and by this I mean "We Should've Been Sued!", is the Nephandi chantry in Chicago. This entry is so obviously plagerized that it's only a matter of time before some sort of legal action arises. The source plagerized is John Carpenter's "Big Trouble in Little China", and all that's missing is a mention of how the Jade Demon suppossedly died about 8-10 years before the book's publication. (They call him Lo Pan, have him look the same, runs the same Tong, and does the same thing- all that's changed is the location!) It is worth getting? Not really, unless you get it used or as part of a package deal. This book needs a new edition; right now a lot of twiddling must be done to make it comply with the current edition. However, if you make the effort you'll get back plenty of good gaming- even (and especially) with the wacky Nephandi in Chicago. (That, good reader, is a golden opportunity to do some less-than-serious cinematic gaming.) Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Book of Chantries<