In the beginning it was a noble effort. In truth
I believe that this type of book has been done
several times in the past (albiet for different
companies/systems) and has been accomplished
successfuly. It is advantageous for every system
to have some form of book that allows the players
to relate to different information that can allow
for much more in-depth character creation. This,
almost always, creates a much greater role-
playing experience. I can honestly say, however,
that as a trained product designer/communication
designer I have found that I personally don't
appreciate the way this book tries to communicate
the vast amount of information they have
accumulated. The layout is poor and information
heirarchy is menial at best. It looks like they took
mass amounts of text and simply filled it into pages
with some pretty pictures. This book could have
been incredible coming from a power such as
White Wolf (with the vast amounts of layout
talent and illustration they have on call *see
Wraith the Oblivion, and the beginning story in
Mage the Ascention*), but they seemed to put
this on the back burner, and that is what leads to
the degredation of systems. The background
information of the system must be clear and
complete. That provides a framework for and
thus much better structure for the game in whole.
Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 3 (Average)
