Review of Vimary Burns

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INTRODUCTION Vimary Burns is a Cycle book for Tribe 8, part three of the Conquest story arc. It lays out the events leading up to, and the aftermath of, the Z'bri invasion of Vimary. Needless to say, this is a huge change to the setting of Tribe 8.

This is not a book for those that are new to Tribe 8. There have been numerous Cycle books that built up the events that lead to this shocking state of affairs. Its usefulness as a stand-alone Cycle suffers because of this, although any enterprising Weaver can mine it for ideas. Without giving too much away, the plot is the end product of growing dissension among the ranks of the Z'bri, particularly the Koleris and the Baron. Koleris-controlled Capal, as detailed in Word from the North, has a hand in this impending civil war. The machinations within the ranks of the Z'bri (as well as the actions of the Fallen and the Fatimas Joan and Agnes during Warrior Unbound and Trial by Fire) result in the Z'bri invasion of Tribal lands, and all of the wholesome pain and suffering that would logically accompany it. We get to see Fatimas fighting, important characters dying, and the End of the World as We Know It.

THE BOOK The book itself is up to the usual Dream Pod 9 standards, with a couple notable exceptions.

The cover, as all Tribe 8 covers are, is beautiful - depicting the "medallion" representing Vimary filled with abstract stained glass symbols, surrounded by a flame-like glow. However, someone went a little overboard with the images of the screws and nuts scattered around the cover, resulting in a few of them overlapping with one another - these are usually partly transparent. It clutters the cover, where a much more austere design would have been just as impressive.

On the inside, the art and layout are once again up to Dream Pod 9 standards. The artwork is good (if you like the sketchy style that Ghislain Barbe has developed for the game), and it is refreshing to see a departure from some of the plain silly illustrations that plagued one of Tribe 8's previous books, Warrior Unbound. Grammatical errors are fairly few, and the writing is crisp and straightforward. The book does lack an index, instead offering a revised map of Vimary after the events of the book occur - although both would have been better.

On second thought, at 64 pages an index isn't all that necessary. At nearly $20 after tax, Vimary Burns is simply too thin. For both price and content this book could have done nothing but benefit from being larger. Companies from FASA to White Wolf to Palladium have capitalized on changes to their settings at this scale by producing reams of material. While Dream Pod 9's reserved stance on this issue is commendable, such a small book simply can't convey the details necessary to effectively paint these sweeping changes to Vimary (more on this in a minute).

THE CONTENT Like nearly all Tribe 8 books, Vimary Burns is written as a series of individual narratives and experiences, tying together the whole storyline. These are well-written and there are some moving scenes. Many of the events depicted are at least pleasant surprises, and a few of them are downright shocking. Some of the narrative dealing with Z'bri is rather graphic, but squeamish people shouldn't play Tribe 8 unless they want to be made uncomfortable.

Unlike a traditional adventure, and even previous Tribe 8 Cycle books, these narratives are the adventure for all intents and purposes; there is no objective accounting of the events that occur. This makes it much more like The Book of Legends or Word From the North. While this can be a boon to Weavers who are tasked with fitting the Cycle into an existing campaign, the fact that the setting is changed so dramatically requires more additional support. This is something that Vimary Burns fails to deliver.

The precious ten pages on actually running the Cycle contain some good information and advice, but there simply is not enough of it. Barely six pages is dedicated to outlining the motivations and goals of various factions, and nary a word is spoken about the aftermath or what the Weaver has to look forward to in the next book (just in case, say, that he completes this Cycle and has to keep playing). Previous books have outlined what is to come and gave advice on how to fill in the time before the next release, but Vimary Burns seems the culmination of a trend in recent books for that advice to disappear. It is almost, but not quite, like anecdotes I've heard about other companies deliberately withholding important future story information and then saying, "we have a big secret, we know what it is, but we're not going to tell you yet." I can only hope that Dream Pod 9 does not completely stray down this path. Just a few more pages would have been adequate, and making this book the next size up for Dream Pod 9 (96 pages) wouldn't have been overkill. This is, afterall, nearly a complete rewite of the dynamics of the setting.

The sparse half-page section entitled "Casualty List and Geographical Notes" is another area that could have been greatly expanded - especially the Geographical Notes. While every portion of Vimary is touched on briefly as to what changes occurred, the information on the changes probably needed to be a couple paragraphs each. Once again, for the experienced and knowledgeable Tribe 8 Weaver this won't be much of a problem, but it will be for newcomers to the game.

Conclusion While a little shaky, Vimary Burns is a good addition for the die hard Tribe 8 fan's library. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that those who only pick up a few Tribe 8 products would find it worth the price.