Book of the City

Although they are supposed to be the defenders of the Earth's spirit, I think it's a fair assessment to say that most Werewolf: The Apocalypse games spend a fair bit of time in an urban setting.

Book of the City is one of the later books in the whole Werewolf: The Apocalypse line. It proves its worth by providing a strong analysis of what it means to be in the city. It’s neither just a denser population of humans nor a proliferation of enemies. The city is a central battlefield where the Weaver and Wyrm head each other off and the Wyld barely has a toehold.

That should seem obvious, shouldn’t it? And yet, why do so many Garou live there? Sure, it’s largely due to player familiarity. But the characters that live there need a reason to restrain themselves from endless bloodshed while continuing with a clandestine crusade.

I am a long-time fan of Werewolf: The Apocalypse. I’ve enjoyed its’ evolution ever since first edition. I have several pet peeves, but this book minimised those issues for me and brought out a kind of wonder that made me sit up and smile as I started integrating several of its’ ideas into my own campaign. And that, after all, is why I bought the book.

Book of the City follows the traditional format for most other sourcebooks. It opens with fiction, then goes into the standard what-is-this-book-about and spends time laying the groundwork by giving you everybody’s opinions on whatever topic is at hand. Then you get into the blood and spirit of the city setting with information on the denizens of the city, both friend, foe and bystanders. These sections are summed up as follows:

Legends of the Garou

The opening fiction is better than most, focussing on a wandering pack--the Mystic Raptors--who stumble into Toledo, Ohio with a pregnant Alpha, looking for help... But finding an urban caern and sept isn't always easy. So much of Werewolf sets itself up in a rigid culture of how-to-do-things so as to appease the spirits and the elders. More often than naught, they end up facing the That's-the-Way-It's-Always-Been-Done wall. I had to laugh through some of the fiction as I've played in and run groups through similar gaffes, and it was nice to see different ways and traditions acknowledged.

Introduction: City Limits

The obligatory "What is a City" chapter. There’s a little bit of history, but what it really boils down to is that nome of us really knows how cities came into being. Of course, the Garou blame themselves for easing up on the Impergium and letting those pesky humans gather in larger groups. My irritation with this was exacerbated by the need to get an opinion from every tribe... I know the tribal opinions are part of the structural template of most Werewolf books, but it still feels like unneeded page-filler to me. Besides, much of the opinions are repeated later on.

Chapter One: Writing on the Wall

More history about the origins of the first city, and the outgrowth of the current manifestations of the city. One thing White Wolf is real good about is giving so many opinions that one is forced to acknowledge that there probably is no one truth.

This chapter also talks about the triatic influences in a city. One of the beautiful things about this book is that it not only gives lip service to the standard triatic elements (Weaver, Wyrm, Wyld), but also provides some ideas on how things would be with alternate influences. How would things be if the Weaver were stronger? How about weaker?

Chapter Two: The Grind

This chapter starts off with another seemingly standard Werewolf mainstay when dealing with any specific setting or element—the Litany. At least there are some differing elements, here. Usually, I skim this section, but some of them caught my eye…. Like, Combat the Wyrm wherever it dwells and whenever it breeds becomes Choose your battles, don't let them choose you. It’s nice to see some sense and self-preservation by the Garou who are living in an environment that seems more predisposed to favour their enemies.

Following this is a quick run down of the natural and supernatural threats—all the usual suspects. Still, there’s some entertaining commentary here. There's some info on some more Pentex corporations and some Wyrm-type folks like the creepy Burgermen Fomori. To mirror this, there are Weaver-corporations like the big-box store, Starmart. Finally, there are some entertaining takes on the creatures of urban myths and horror movies.

Chapter Three: The Neon Web

This is the meat of the book, really. I don't know how many GM's out there portray the umbral side of the city as similar to the meat-side. Reading this really helped cement how I present the spirit-side of things. Little rules of thumb make a big difference--like: Things only appear in the Umbra if they have spiritual significance. This means that there may only be one or two rooms in an entire building that may appear in a house... There may be only one or two buildings that manifest on a spiritual block... And everything—EVERYTHING--that manifests on the spirit side of things is covered in webs, a testament to the Weaver's obsession. There's talk about how to deal with the weaver spirits. It’s nice to see it isn’t all combat-oriented. Information Geomids, for instance, aren't going to start a fight, but might call Pattern Spiders if the Garou do something out of the Geomid's understanding of normal.

City Mothers and City Fathers

This chapter also looks at City Mothers and city Fathers—spirits of the city itself that have taken on a self-awareness and seeks to protect its existence. The City Mother or City Father can become a valuable ally but could also become an implacable enemy of the Garou, depending on what the spirit sees as necessary to preserve itself.

There’s more talk about chiminage and how to deal with spirits... There's some eye-opening stuff here for dealing with spirits. It may seem like old-ground, but much of what's written here specifically for urban spirits should apply to all spirits. For that matter, a couple of new (or old-but-adapted) urban spirits are introduced: Urban Will-O-Wisp, Ambulance Chasers and Law-Spirits are among my favourites...

Chapter Four: Urban Legends

Didn't get enough in Chapter Two? In reality, this chapter talks about designing your own city. It talks about city-planning, structure, spiritual elements and where to place certain neighbourhoods. It also gives you guidelines for developing your own city via a historical or thematic methodology.

Appendix: Riot Gear

This is the typical back-of-the-book section with new Gifts, Rites (I particularly liked "Appease the Traffic Gods"), Fetishes, Totems and Merits/Flaws.

Bottom Line

Although I bash some of the templatic structural formatting of the book, Book of the City is a valuable resource. There are a lot of ideas presented here that show that White Wolf wasn't tapping the bottom of the well as they prepared to wrap up the line. This is one of a handful of books for Werewolf that I'm going to hold onto because it doesn't play to metaplot and it gives good, solid suggestions for making the environment engaging and exciting.

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