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Orpheus
takes the World of Darkness and shows us its ghosts. Yes, Wraith did
that already, but seeing a decided lack of new Wraith products hitting
the shelves, this book is a ghost lover's best friend. Or, a World of
Darkness ghost lover's best friend. Orpheus presents a labyrinthine
organization, called Orpheus Group, dealing with the world's ghosts
and their latent problems (hauntings, manifestations, vacation time
and member perks). Yes, this World of Darkness book's ghosts have day
jobs, or at least, the ones you play do.
The character
core of Orpheus has characters working for Orpheus. Orpheus Group makes
money dealing with the mortals, via its ghost agents. People come to
Orpheus to take care of a spook in the house, hire an agent to spy on
their spouse, or even kill a rival. Orpheus doesn't advertise the seedier
side of its business, but as an agent of the company, you're paid to
keep your mouth shut.
Orpheus's
agents take one of several types of ghosts-Laments to borrow a game
term-and work along side others in a team-called a crucible. Laments
are the ghost's "species" so to speak, whether the spook is
or isn't dead, or uses mediation or drugs to help them interact with
the spirit world. Skimmers and sleepers are both living agents that
take spirit form. Skimmers mediate and leave their bodies via astral
projections, while sleepers are given chemicals that effectively kill
the body but keep it in a sort of cryogenic stasis for recovery. Spirits
are vibrant dead agents, while the pigment-using hues are washed out
ghosts that still have enough connection to the world to be used.
With a
lament chosen, still more goes into defining an Orpheus ghost. A Shade
is what type of ghost your lament becomes. Shades define most of the
in-game statistics that Orpheus uses (Willpower, Spite, Vitality). Banshees
(a vocal empowered ghost), Haunters (those ghosts that inhabit objects,
like houses), Poltergeists (those whirl-things-around ghosts), Skinriders
(these ghost possess human hosts) and Wisps (as in will-o-the-wisp,
light embodied ghosts that have mystical alluring powers) are the base
ghosts that this book introduces (while hinting at more in the rest
of the series).
Orpheus
takes a different approach to their setting than other World of Darkness
books, as it is the first of a limited series that details the world
of the restless dead (for a total of seven books, counting fiction).
Several details that Storytellers may have their players investigate
may be overwritten as the "metaplot" develops. Like the substance
of pigment, a "black heroin" drug that, in addition to getting
the subject high, allows the user to see ghosts. (Hues are created from
pigment users that later die.) It's hinted at that while Orpheus created
a drug similar to pigment, the ones to help sleepers project their souls
into the spirit world, the recipe was lost when its created died. (The
story hints that someone visited the creators ghost and harassed the
recipe out of him, thus linking Orpheus to the street drug and a possible
legal stumbling block as police investigate further into pigment's origins.
Other story hints are that most ghosts encountered are not over three
year old...)
Orpheus
takes it's pacing from the cinematic realm, hoping to keep things running
forward, the game can be taken as Sixth Sense kids founds the Ghostbusters
company and then goes public. Orpheus wants to keep the action crisp,
an appendix opens several cases that a crucible may explore during the
first few opening sessions of the game before the other supplements
start arriving and taking the game in other directions. An X-Files type
number system is involved with Orpheus Groups' missions so that continuity
may be maintained over the course of a chronicle.
The core
game rules of Orpheus has a dice pool setup. One has a number of dots
to add to the pool from an ability and a trait. (e.g.: Strength + Occult
for moving the statue in proper alignment with the stars.) The Storyteller
(the gamemaster) will assign a difficulty number for the roll, and let
the player attempt to succeed (e.g.: it's a difficulty of 7 to move
the statue in the proper place at the proper pacing). The dice used
are d10s as opposed the d20 most people are familiar with.
A character's
health rating looks like a checklist that one checks (slashes "/"
or "x"s) as the character is wounded. Depending on your character's
type (lament), the character may shunt temporary Spite points to their
body as damage to heal once they get back. Actual ghosts don't worry
about their health score, but should keep an eye on their Spite ratings.
Spite is the negative emotional impact of being dead. With nothing else
to keep it from you, as there's no boss to blame when your dead, every
little bit of negativity builds inside the character until it appears
as a Stain on their outward appearance. Once your Spite outnumbers your
Vitality (healthy energy), your character begins a negative cycle to
its place among the Spectres. Spectres are bitter, negative ghosts that
hate everything living, dead, or in between.
While
acting as a ghost, or a ghost, as the case may be, characters have access
to innate powers called Horrors. Horrors grant spirit weaponry to fight
other ghosts or spectres, also allow the character to interact with
the physical world while manifested as ghost. Poltergeists use their
horrors to move objects, while skinriders use their horrors to gain
control over a human.
Those
familiar with the rules from the revised Storyteller system may have
some thinking this book is an update of Wraith; it's not. A rough comparison
notes no Angst rating (though some will probably argue that Spite is
it's logical equivalent) and no Shadow creations that have a character's
negative aspect run by another player. Some reoccurring items do include
spectres and hints at spirit world destruction several years ago (that
hint plays out with the entity of Bishop, an older than three-year spook
that hunts down Orpheus agents).
Orpheus
bundles the good items of Wraith and shakes them up, human's acting
as ghosts for one is a good thing. It keeps the ties to the world easier,
instead of dragging into a shell game for ghosts to keep hacking at
living. By having the focus on Orpheus Group, the book presents a tight
vision of the World of Darkness without having any worries for new Storytellers
to include vampires, werewolves or mages to their chronicles.
Orpheus's
problems in its presentation, however, it is more geared for those Storytellers
familiar with the World of Darkness, its themes and subtext. The character
creation section is spread over three chapters, with some creation details
appearing as a new story concept is just introduced, but before the
core "creation" section occurs will alienate some that want
a new roleplaying game to start-new gamers, that is. The illegible fonts
will also put some off of those sections the text written in (is that
a "c" or an "e"?).
Overall,
Orpheus is a solid entry in the World of Darkness and may satisfy those
hunger Wraith fans that want more on ghosts in their games. Though more
designed for World of Darkness fans, more intermediate gamers wanting
a "ground floor" World of Darkness game should give it a look.
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