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World of Darkness: Time of Judgement was published as part of White Wolf's wrapping-up of the original World of Darkness Setting. Unlike other books in the series, which focussed on several ways one of the particular game lines could come to an end, this one gathers up the endings to no less than five game lines: Changeling: The Dreaming, Demon: The Fallen, Hunter: The Reckoning, Kindred of the East, and Mummy: The Resurrection.
Since, as in the single-game ending books, there was a desire not to dictate the exact form of the end, several alternatives for each game are presented. Further, since each game gets only about 40 pages apiece, this means that no one way to end the world can get more than about a dozen pages, an issue which is a bit exacerbated by the fact that several of the games get very similar essays on general end-of-the-campaign ideas. The expectation seems to have been that a given GM would purchase this book for the sake of only one of the chapters, so there wasn't much concern about duplication of material. As someone reading it for general inspiration, though, it's rather obvious (how many times do you need to read that you should be sure to give closure to individual characters' stories, as well as that of the whole campaign?).
The Prologue and Epilogue are typical game fiction, featuring Lucifer--certainly likely to be the most recognizable of all the minor game lines' characters, admittedly.
The Introduction is standard "what's in the book" and a suggested list of references. The reference list is quite nice for someone looking for general end-of-the-world inspiration, though necessarily limited.
Chapter 1, "Endless Winter," provides endgames for Changeling: The Dreaming. Typically (for this book), it begins with a nice list of ways to foreshadow the impending end, or to show that it's going on right now, ranging from prophetic powers failing to strange variations in the way the rules work. Five specific end-scenarios are presented: "A Crown of Shadows," whereby an Unseelie plot leads to the dwindling of the Dreaming and fae society; "Gods and Monsters," where the Dreaming grows incredibly strong, leading to (or caused by) a showdown with the Fomorians; "Pick Your Poison," where the Dreaming fades on its own accord, due to some aspect of modern society; "The Great Purge," where the return of the Tuatha de Danaan is not a good thing at all; and "Starlight Exodus," where the changelings have to leave Earth behind entirely. In general, these scenarios are nicely apocalyptic; while the player characters may be able to carve out some small victories, the world is changing irrevocably, and the campaign will be at a definite stopping point (though there are a couple of chances for things to go otherwise). The feel is fairly consistent with that I've picked up from other books in the Changeling line.
Chapter 2, "Agents of Apocalypse," provides ways to end the world in Demon: The Fallen. The chapter begins with seven pages of in-world news articles and the like to illustrate signs of the impending apocalypse. There are three specific scenarios covered: "Twilight of the Gods," wherein the Earthbound unite, and the Fallen must unite against them; "Better to Rule on Earth," in which an extremely powerful demon escapes the Abyss and leads a war against the Earthbound; and "Paradise Won," where Lucifer stirs up a crusade against the Earthbound and Fallen alike. These scenarios are definitely world-ending; while you could choose to continue a campaign afterwards, it would be radically different, and few of the possible outcomes leave much of humanity around. An interesting section in this chapter deals with the open questions of the metaplot that were never answered, suggesting different ways to answer them for an individual campaign, and how that affects the endgame.
Chapter 3, "Inherit the Earth," deals with the end of a Hunter: The Reckoning campaign. This time, we get 14 pages of in-world articles and messages. The three ending scenarios are focussed on the game Virtues: "Cleansing Fires" spotlights Zeal, showing a world where the monsters have come into the open and it's time for open warfare; "Glimmer of Hope" assumes the same open chaos, but adds in a limited chance to "cure" some supernatural beings, spotlighting Mercy; and "Winds of Change" lets the normal humans see the monsters, allowing Hunters with Vision to lead the fight against them. These scenarios, while certainly ending the world in a fitting climax to the Hunter: The Reckoning world, are much more sketchily defined than endings for the other games. "Glimmer of Hope" is the most detailed, and of the three, it's the one that is the least apocalyptic--it's more of a scenario that goes on while the world ends, not a scenario that ends the world. The endings here are potentially quite hopeful; it's entirely possible to end with a monster-free world, though the general mood weighs heavily against it.This chapter has probably the longest and most detailed general essay on ending the game.
Chapter 4, "Interesting Times," ends the world of Kindred of the East. The end here is pretty much inevitable, a consequence of the turning of the wheel of the ages; the Sixth Age will come, the question is how. In "The Rising of One Hundred Clouds," the supernatural world draws away from the mortal one, causing the Kuei-jin to dwindle. In "Serpent Bites the Hand," Tremere Oliver Thrace makes a bargain with the Yomi Kings that largely wipes out the Kuei-jiin. In "The Trumpet of Mount Meru," the Shih are empowered to an incredible extent, allowing them to make one last valiant stand, cleansing the world before the Sixth Age begins. Finally, in "Wicked City," Mikaboshi makes a triumphant move to take over the world. Definitely world-ending, these scenarios leave little room for any campaign to continue at all, the question focuses more on how the characters will choose to end their affairs.
Chapter 5, "Armageddon," provides options for ending a Mummy: The Resurrection game except..not really, most of the time. "Apophis Ascends" provides a scenario by which a wraith brings about the end of the world--except the scenario strongly suggests that the Egyptian mummy PCs will be able to stop it. "The World Goes Westward" sets up a scenario by which some South American mummies will bring about the world--unless the PCs stop it, which is entirely possible, even likely. "Dawn of the Age of Sorrow" focusses on Eastern immortals, and features the one scenario in which the end of the world will come, as inevitably as per Kindred of the East, but it strongly allows for a continuation of the campaign into the Age of Sorrow. "Long Day's Journey Into Night" returns to the Egyptian mummies--for another world-ending scenario that can be entirely averted (though this one does come at the cost of the PC's existences). While a couple of these scenarios do provide good ways to end a campaign, none of them will end the world unless the PCs fail at their missions, and some of them won't even end the campaign, making this chapter fit oddly with the rest of the book. The chapter does state that the theme of Mummy is "hope," so perhaps this is fitting.
Applying the Chuq von Rospach test (Does this book make me want to play in such a game?) results in an answer of no. In fact, were I running a game in one of these game lines, I probably still wouldn't feel particularly inclined to follow the suggested endings in this book (though Changeling and Hunter would certainly draw inspiration from here).
In terms of general inspiration, I didn't find too much in the book either. Were I to want to end the world in some other game entirely, I could draw from the foreshadowing ideas and a few nice images, as well as some nice breakdowns in the Hunter chapter, but that would be about it.
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