 Goto [ Index ] |
If you want a completely spoiler free review (which is nearly impossible considering what Crusade of Ashes covers), here it is:
This book advances the meta-plot of Orpheus in surprising ways and does a good job of keeping the characters at the center of things. There are not many crunchy bits for players, but there are many many useful (and often requisite) tools for Storytellers. I highly recommend this book if you liked the main Orpheus book and want to follow along with the limited series concept.
So, with that said, I'm going to start my review.
Crusade of Ashes is book two in the Orpheus limited series. The main book sets up the scene, and then each subsequent book is going to advance the meta-plot of Orpheus, which is designed so that your players' characters are at the center of the events.
Crusade of Ashes deals with Orpheus Group being completely destroyed, and the trouble that causes for the players. I was completely surprised by this turn of events, and I think that if it is GMed well, it will come as a complete shock to the players as well. They'll be going on more and more dangerous and secretive Orpheus missions, figuring out some secrets while unearthing many others, and then in the midst of this, Orpheus will be completely destroyed, leaving them with nothing and turning them into fugitives from not only supernatural enemies, but also the U.S. Government by way of the F.B.I..
This changes the game from being what I saw as an espionage flavored conspiracy-type ghost game to being a much more simple fugitive style game. There is no Orpheus Group to get intel on monsters from. There is no Orpheus Group to project from in safety, there are no paychecks and superiors who take care of things; in short, all the security the Orpheus Group provided characters with is completely gone. Even the Orpheus building is gone. On top of that, the characters are hounded at every turn, mostly by the FBI, who make it impossible for them to use their bank accounts, contact their loved ones, have a job, or stay in one place for more than a few days.
Despite how grave the circumstances sound (and they are), White Wolf still gives the characters plenty to do and gives the Storyteller plenty of help running this sort of game while still keeping it interesting. So your game shouldn't get too monotonous.
Now that I've given a sort of summary of what happens, I'm going to go through the book chapter by chapter.
Prologue: Crusade of Ashes This is a story involving some of the Orpheus signature characters that describes the destruction of Orpheus. It grabbed me and I thought it was just as good as the opening fiction from the main book. It gives you a good taste of things to come.
Introduction This is a very short section which summarizes the Orpheus Group's story up until the events of Crusade of Ashes. It also discusses the theme of Crusade of Ashes, has the usual "How To Use This Book" section, Chapter breakdowns, and some teasers about what the later books in the series are going to be about. I could find nothing wrong with this section, except for I personally thought the Recommended Viewing section was worthless, but it only takes up a quarter of a page.
Chapter One: Orpheus in Wane This is the chapter where the attack on Orpheus is described in detail. It's presented so that the characters can either be present at the attack, or they can simply hear about it or find out about it later. Although the attack is described with great detail, down to the minute by minute timeline of what happens, there is a sense across the whole chapter that the authors recommend the characters are not present. I agree with this, and my only problem then is that there is no need to have such intimate details on the attack. If you do decide to have the characters present during the attack, the information in this chapter will be very useful, and although it's not as useful if you don't, it's nice that the Storyteller knows exactly what happened.
One nice thing in this chapter is a description of Orpheus Group's building complete with some floorplans.
Chapter Two: Dead Men Running This chapter deals with how to survive while on the run, and how to run an Orpheus game with the characters on the run. It's definately extremely useful, and also drives home just how devestating the situation is. The way it's laid out, there's a player section and a storyteller section, but I personally don't recommend letting your players read their section.
The player's section is a description of what it's like to be on the run and how to deal with it. Everything from finding a place to stay to various (mostly illegal) ways of getting money to where to find equipment is covered, along with the problems inherent with doing any of those things. I think this information is useful to any players who are unsure how to act and how to get stuff done with the FBI hounding them, but I think it's information best given to the players by the Storyteller, probably through some in-game method. The pros of just handing them the book are that it will make them grasp immediately the gravity of their plight, while giving them some information on how to deal. The cons are that they then cannot find out all this information for themselves through trial and error, and a great deal of subtlety is removed.
It is a very useful section though, and however the Storyteller chooses to reveal the information, I know my players would be lost without it.
The next section, the Storyteller's section, gives in-depth detail on the antagonsits and possible allies the players are likely to encounter, as well as giving quite a few useful tips on running a fugitive Orpheus campaign. It also reveals some of Orpheus Group's secrets, though the method by which they can be revealed to the characters isn't written about until the last chapter. I found this section to be infinitely useful and well-written. No problems here.
All in all, Chapter Two does an outstanding job setting up a fugitive style chronicle.
Chapter Three: The Unearthed Player's Guide This is a guide designed to be given to your players after the Orpheus Group has been destroyed and they know about it. It gives them advice on portraying their characters as fugitives, and then gives them individual merits and flaws, crucible merits and flaws, and artifacts, which are like magic items.
Again, I feel like some of the information in this chapter should be kept from the players at first and be given to them in-game. It's still an interesting and useful chapter, but I think some of the things (like artifacts) should be up to the Storyteller to reveal when he feels the time is right.
Saying that, though, it is another very good chapter. I don't know why they didn't include the merits and flaws in the main book, but there you are. They're here, and if you've played a White Wolf game before, I'm sure you're familiar with them. The crucible merits and flaws are a neat idea, though I'm not sure how much I would actually use them.
The artifacts are pretty neat. They're objects with enough emotional resonance attached to them that they linger on after being destroyed. They're basically just magic items, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I see them as a good reward the Storyteller can surprise them with.
This chapter is useful, but is not really specific to Crusade of Ashes and could have just as easily been in the main rulebook.
Chapter Four: Storytelling The Dead The Storytelling chapter, which is very well done and useful. It answered pretty much all of the questions I might have had about making a fugitive game interesting and not just a monotonous, depressing time for the characters. It gives a lot of good advice and covers alternate scenarios, such as if the Orpheus Group survives the attack.
Also in this chapter are a few new antagonists, all of which are very neat and scary.
The end of this chapter is like the missions from the main book, except they're told as stories, and are a lot less open ended. Of everything in the book, I appreciated their inclusion the most. They give you things to have your players do, and they also give very clean ways to reveal some of the Orpheus Group's secrets. I appreciated the missions in the main book, and I appreciate the stories here.
After the stories are actual missions from Orpheus. I guess if you wanted some more mission layouts if Orpheus survives the attack. I really didn't find this section useful, as I wanted to follow the limited series and have Orpheus be destroyed, though I guess if you don't want Orpheus destroyed they could be handy. I just found it strange that they would spend an entire book describing the effects of Orpheus being gone, and then use the final four pages laying out missions from Orpheus.
Overall, another very useful chapter, and I had few problems with it.
Conclusion I really liked Crusade of Ashes. I like the way the limited series' story is going, and I like that the crucible is at the center of things, being some of the only Orpheus employees to survive. The book also hints that they will pretty much save the world later on, so that's cool too.
They give you many good tips on how to run this style of game, and give you many cool stories to run. Everything is designed to have fun.
There isn't a lot of art, and none of it really stood out to me. In fact, a lot of the time I wished it wasn't there, just because I didn't care about it and I wanted the space to be filled with more text.
So, I recommend this book. I found it a quick read and very fascinating. I can't wait to incorporate these events into my own chronicle.
Help support RPGnet by purchasing this item through DriveThruRPG.
