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I've been coming more and more a fan
of the World of Darkness books that offer an alternative, perhaps a
more grim, vision of the major lines. Before Changing
Breeds only one has been offered (Second Sight) and
that not so much of an alternative as Changing
Breeds is.
Getting this book was pretty much an
impulse purchase for me. Way back when the new World of Darkness was
released my original plans were to merely concentrate on the main
line of books and not branch out to the supplemental games (Vampire:
The Requiem, Werewolf: The
Forsaken, etc) but those plans have since fallen by the
wayside as I have jumped from line to line – some might say
looking for something but not quite finding it. So the
appearance of Changing Breeds on
my local game store's shelves dragged my interest back to the
“mortal” line of the World of Darkness.
chang·ing -
to undergo transformation, transition, or substitution
from the outside
The cover of
Changing Breeds is rather
ordinary, presenting us with a number of beastmen standing (some
might say “posing”) on a pile of wrecked cars. Other than
this the cover is your standard World of Darkness cover, the words
“World of Darkness” emblazoned down one side.
between the covers
The internal format follows the standard World of Darkness format –
black and white/greyscale pages with fiction and a picture dividing
each chapter (I know I may sound bland but I really like the format of the World of Darkness books).
There are 4 Chapters (excluding the Introduction). The fiction is
typical of World of Darkness, trying to instill into the reader the
trials and tribulations of being a Feral (the name given to
non-Uratha shapeshifters).
The Introduction is fairly typical of most World of Darkness
books. It attempts to impart to the reader the themes and moods of
the book.
The Wild Heart (Chapter One) goes over the ins and outs of
being a Feral. It covers information regarding Feral Society, the
First Change and advanatges and disadvantages of being a Feral. There
are no system mechanics in this chapter.
There was a brief setting element mentioned here: that of Regal
Regencies – how there exists exceedingly wealthy dynastic
families of breeds that, if not rule the world, are powerful enough
to affect world affairs. Such dynasties don't necessarily have
members who are actual Ferals themselves.
Building The Pefect Beast (Chapter Two) gives us the meat of
the book: the character creation rules and lists of powers. Here we
find that the Ferals are what Second Sight called a greater
template. They are given the full treatment that Vampires,
Werewolves and Mages are given: a morality trait called Harmony and a
power trait called Feral Heart being the two major differences
between Ferals and the Psychics and Thaumaturges of Second Sight
(actually the Psychics and Thaumaturges were given a “power
trait” called Supernatural Affinity but it can never be
increased over 1 – Feral Heart can range from 1 to 10 just like
Blood Pool, Essence and Gnosis).
Also included are Favors (inborn abilities) and Aspects
(unusual powers). These are the powers that make your Feral character
unique from others. They are all rated in dots (some negative
implying they are more of a problem than advantage) and a few allow
the Feral to perform magic (requiring other WOD resources for
specific spells and powers).
The system of Aspects has been seen in previous books such as
Skinchangers and War Against The
Pure, each of these covering in some part other
shapechangers. In Changing Breeds
this system has been formalised a little more with the explicit
delineation between Favors and Aspects (Favors merely being Aspects
that are inborn powers of the breed in question).
The Breeds Beneath Our Skin (Chapter Three) covers the many
breeds of Ferals: The Bastet, The Land Titans, The
Laughing Strangers, The Pack, The Royal Apes, The
Spinner-Kin, The Ursara, The Wind-Runners, and The
Wing Folk. Each section within this chapter starts with a brief
introduction of the breed, then details a few species - providing
attribute adjustments for the War Form and Primal Beast (if any –
not all Ferals have War Forms and a couple don't even have a Primal
Beast) and also lists a few other species. This is the other main
section of the book, supplying a Player with Ferals to choose from
(specific Favors, common Aspects and attribute adjustments for the
War Form, Primal Beast and, if applicable, Throwback and Dire Beast).
Setting information specific to the Breed is also covered, supplying
story seeds to Storytellers for use in any World of Darkness game.
Not every animal species can be covered so the last section in the
Chapter, Shadow Breeds, covers one Feral breed not covered
earlier: The Cold Kings, The Horned Folk, The Oceanborn, The
Riverkin. Serpentines, The Swarm and The Taurae.
Faces In The Smoke (Chapter Four) lists a few sample
characters. Pretty much your standard, if brief, list.
the good, the bad, and the ugly
Shapeshifters.
Of all kinds. I think this is a nice alternative to Werewolf:
The Forsaken (or even something to complement that game).
I picked up Changing Breeds
looking for an alternative to that game and found what I was looking
for – a book that allows shapeshifters to be introduced to
existing games or enables me to run a game of shapeshifters by
itself. It allows you to use the shapeshifters (by both Storytellers
and Players) in other World of Darkness games or to create a Changing
Breeds chronicle by itself. I like that I don't have to
get Werewolf: The Forsaken and
supplements of that game to get rules for shapshifters.
Also Chapter
three gives a number of story seeds that can be used in a game while
“revealing” a little more of the World of Darkness. I
really liked the C'hi Hsu, vampiric witch spiders who use sacred
alchemies to extend their lives past the 5 or so years allotted to
the rest of the Spinner Kin. Each breed has a similar story that
reveals a little more of the mysteriousness of the World of Darkness.
I didn't really
like the inclusion of “nature versus technology” as part
of the breeds. This was somewhat prevalent in Werewolf:
The Apocalypse and it would have been nice for it to have
been, if not excluded, presented as an option rather than as the
default.
Also the “magic”
Aspects rely on other books. Beast Magic suggests using Spells from
Mage: The Awakening, Spirit Gift
definitely needs Werewolf: The Forsaken
for Gifts and Spirit Secrets needs the Books of Spirits or
Werewolf: The Forsaken for Spirit
Numina. Although I do see the necessity and utility of doing so a
part of me wants the book to be completely stand-alone and so is not
happy with this.
I am also a bit
confused about the divisions between the breeds listed in Chapter 3
and how some qualified as “other species”. Winged Folk,
for example, included raptors, bats and crows under the main breed.
Whereas Bastet was more narrow in field but still classified some
cats as a other species. It appears what is a Breed is very
touchy-feely – I think they should not have bothered at all
with the idea of other species and just included all under the one
classification.
in summary
Changing
Breeds is not going to be a book for all people. Some will
see it as a return to the days of the Fera of Werewolf:
The Apocalypse where focus of that game blurred with all
the support for the changing breeds as opposed to Garou (werewolves).
I thought is was
a bloody good book despite its shortfalls and hope to see similar
treatments done for Vampires (or
all hungry dead) and even Mages
(Second Sight not offering the scope that Changing
Breeds has). It has reinvigorated my interest in the World
of Darkness line.
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