Review of The Werewolf Storyteller'sScreen, Second Edition

Werewolf, like all of White Wolf's RPGs, has its own game screen. Unlike the Vampire screen (and most of the first edition screens), this is a nicely-made four-panel affair. The extra panel gives the GM plenty of room to place his notes and roll his dice. It also allows the screen to pack more data on the inside, place it well and make it easy to reference.

Because there's plenty of conflict- mostly of the "rip-them-a-new-oriface" nature- the GM will find this screen vital to maintaining a timely pace. All of the important charts are on the inside, including the outline for character generation, so the rulebook gets used only to check the specifics of something not usually used: caern building rites, high-ranking Gifts, fetish-making, etc.

This screen is also contains a short booklet. Unlike the second edition Vampire screen (and like the first edition), it functions as an adventure module. This booklet has three adventures within its covers. It includes a battle map for each and some pictures that are intended to be photocopied and used as counters. The modules are sketchy, but it's not so hard to fill them out sufficiently; it's easy to drop them into a campaign, and that is how they're meant to be. Don't dismiss them out of hand due to their lightweight appearance.

The only bad thing about this is the artwork. While there is no John Cobb polluting either half of the product, SCAR does make an appearance. Their presence in early second edition products detracts from them like Kryptonite saps away at Superman; thankfully, they've been kicked to the curb. May no one else allow this duo to sully their work.

Speaking of artwork, the outside cover of the screen is beautiful. It's by Tony DiTerlizzi and it's got all of the characters from the Werewolf rulebook fighting a Nexus Crawler. I find this to be a damned good choice, since that picture never gets old and a good picture helps to get and keep the players attention.

If you're a Werewolf GM, you need this screen- unless you have an eidetic memory- but I caution you to get it used. Now that Vampire is in its 3rd Edition, Werewolf's revision isn't far behind- no matter what White Wolf says- and it's not worth paying full price if the screen becomes obsolete within a year or so.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)