5 comments about Nuwisha: Changing Breed Book 2 (Werewolf - the Apocalypse).

1. White-Wolf really did justice to every ones most loved and hated shape-shifters, the nuwisha. I really loved the art and information presented in whole! This book is a must for any white-Wolf RPer who enjoys to play a wild character!



2. These are the ultimate Ragabash of the Changing Breeds. Everything you possibly need to know about them is in this book, including ideas on how to sneak them into a werewolf pack.

   It's a little skinny, and could use an update.

   If nothing else, ask your GM to borrow Nuwisha gifts and traits for use with your Ragabash werewolf; they should mesh well.




3. This book is loads of fun, But is a little sketchy on charter creation.

   Even if you don't play a Nuwisha, I recomend this book for pure entertainment value.




4. This could have been so much better...I like the humor element, but there isn't enough depth to the book, or the nuwisha. I'll stick with the Kitsune and Ananasi as my changing breeds.



5. Nuwisha are a blast to play, but if you're hoping for all you need to play them, this book is Necessary, but not sufficient. You're also going to need the players guide to Werewolf, since the Nuwisha book doe NOT contain all of their gifts. NOR does it contain creation rules. It does however, list their Totems, a few gifts, and Nuwisha Only merits and flaws. It also has their creation mythos, and a few secrets. AND AS AN ADDED BONUS, It has Old-man-manyskins in it. Yay, huh?

5 comments about Clanbook: Assamite.

1. Clanbook Assamite revised Is very Informative on the children of Haqim their struggles with the infernal Baali and their uprise in the first city..also the history on Mount Alamut and how the clan founder came to discover it along with his disciples makin it their homebase ,and then started their teachings more in depth there away from the other children of cain,Also other levels of the quietus discipline and obfuscate, the rituals presented are also very helpful.. overall this is a exellent book to build a assamite character or give more depth to an existing one..



2. The new CLANBOOK ASSAMITE offers a wealth of information about this often misunderstood clan, challenging many long standing assumptions. It backs off things (like the duty to destroy other vampires) that made Assamites difficult to play with non-Assamite characters. Changes from the original CLANBOOK ASSAMITE include expanded roles for female and non-Middle Eastern Assamites.

   The Assamite belief that they may judge (and punish) other vampires receives a noble explanation here along with the Laws of Haqim which codify such duties. The ranks and factions of Assamite society are examined (antitribu included). The three basic Assamite castes (warrior, scholar and sorcerer) receive full treatment as sub-classes with their own discipline specialties etc. The book describes the ramifications of the Schism between Ur-Shulgi's followers and those of Al-Ashrad. The features are great: MET statistics, notable Assamites, character templates, discussion of clan disciplines, new discipline variations including an Assamite Sorcery path.

   Now the bad news: IMO this is the hardest book in the new CLANBOOK series so far. It constantly assumes prior knowledge. For example, a summary of the Schism and explanations of terms like "Web of Knives" and "dispossessed" are only provided toward the end although they are mentioned throughout the book as if they're already familiar. Unexplained, specialized terms ("kalif") sometimes appear. (The original CLANBOOK ASSAMITE had a glossary at the beginning- an unfortunate omission here.) Ur-Shulgi and Al-Ashrad, meanwhile, are omitted from the notable Assamite section- despite mention throughout the book and despite the fact that an update of the character profiles in CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT was needed in light of the Schism. (You'd need familiarity with other books to recognize the picture of them on pg. 30.) Less scattered discussion of issues related to the Path of Blood (outlined in VtM's basic rules) would have been helpful.

   Some advice if this book overwhelms you: There's a shorter, more concise, (clearer) treatment of many of the main points in LIBELLUS SANGUINIS III: WOLVES AT THE DOOR (for VAMPIRE: DARK AGES) as well as an Assamite Sorcery path. (The new CLANBOOK ASSAMITE seems to be a needed update of that material for a modern setting.) There's background on the characters of Ur-Shulgi and Al-Ashrad in CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT but little about their roles in the Schism. NIGHTS OF PROPHECY has a good summary of the Schism (including Ur-Shulgi and Al-Ashrad) and other recent Assamite developments. BLOOD MAGIC: SECRETS OF THAUMATURGY has more paths for Assamite sorcery. Material about Islam and vampire characters in Muslim settings is provided in WORLD OF DARKNESS: SECOND EDITION (chapter on Arabia) and in the V:DA supplement JERUSALEM BY NIGHT . The original CLANBOOK: ASSAMITE also has a list of selected reading on the Middle East.

   Don't get me wrong. I recommend this book highly. It changed the way I viewed this clan. (I used to HATE Assamites, actually.) It's essential for Assamite character players and for Storytellers. It may take extra effort for those new to VtM but it's worth it.




3. The first edition is definitely still worth reading. Unlike the second it contains a short description of the very beginning. The First City makes the foundation for our Jyhad. It is vital to understand the crucial role of Assamites in the world of vampires. The book includes the Khabar - essential rules for every Assamite's life. Unfortunately both had been skipped in the second edition. You also find aiming rules, special weapons, new merits&flaws and more.

   I won't consider the books to editions, rather they are two volumes of the Clanbook. If you have access to it, you should read it.




4. The Assamites, a clan of assassins hailing from Persia and Arabia, have long been characterized by negative stereotypes in the World of Darkness gamelines. The first edition clan book was filled with offensive remarks and stereotypes about Islamic culture and the Middle East. Clayton Oliver's revision of the clan was a very welcome change from all of that. The Assamites are detailed as being more or less like any other clan.
   The first chapter opens with telling us everything that we have been told about the clan is a lie, created in part by the western clans, and in part by the Assamites need to remain secret. We are given an extensive history of the Assamite's role in Middle Eastern history, from ancient Mesopotamia, Persia, Babylon, Carthage, Greece and Assyria to Byzantine era. Great detail is given to the Crusades, the back story being that the Crusades shattered the Assamite's relation to the west. From then on, we get some brief views of Assamite activities during the Ottoman Empire, the British invasion of India, the formation of the Arab States, and finally the modern era.
   The next chapter goes into detail concerning the Assamite's social structre. The main body of the clan, following an ancient Mesopotamian God-King Ur-Shulgi, is given great detail. With social ranks going from the Du'at (three leaders of the clan) to the Silsila (elder priest types) to the Fida'i (initiates to the clan). We also learn that there are three Assamite castes. The main caste, the warriors, are not the assassins that are always presented as Assamites. Indeed, the warriors were once judges and law enforcers, but slowly changed to warriors over time. And not all, or even most, are assassins. Indeed, they are body gaurds, soldiers, straegists, communications experts, technicians, smugglers, martial artists and bedouin lords. There are also two other castes. The sorcerers are blood magicians, drawing from ancient Hebrew, Mesopotamian, Egyptian, Arabian, Persian and Indian magics. They are just as potent and deadly as the Tremere. The other caste are Viziers, the scholars and artisans of the clan. Not only are they record keepers, scholars and historians, but also scientists, linguists, religious experts, artists, jewellers, calligraphers, storytellers, legal expets, journaliss, Bollywood producers, politicians and so forth. Each gets a write up, complete with advantages, weaknesses, clan disciplines and bloodlines, and even specific ranks and offices.
   We are then presented with the Laws of Haqim, which unit the Assamite clan and guide them towards their goals. Political factions, from the loyalists, to those who want to break with the clan, to the Sabbat and Camarilla members, to those who follow other paths (like the Israeli Leopards of Zion, all female Furies of Erinyes and the elite hashashyin of the Web of Knives) are explored. We are also treated with steroetypes about the "foreign" clans and other creatures of the night. The chapter closes out with some details on unique Assamite disciplines and merits and flaws. Not only do we get unique multi-discipline powers, but also higher level Quietus powers, unique Celerity and Obfuscate powers, a vizier-specific Auspex power and the all new Assamite sorcery disicpline which draws on Mesopotamian and Persian blood magics.
   And of course, the book closes out with nine ready made Assamite templates (three for each caste, and one for each faction), several signature characters (some with stats) and an Assamite specific character sheet. Some of the more interesting templates included the archaeologist, character assassin, prophet of caine and witch-hunter (cool). Naturally, the signature characters included Fatima al-Faqadi (the Assamite signature character), but it also includes some really neat ones like Mata Hari (THE Mata Hari), Janni (an Israeli Assamite), Tegyrius (leader of the Schism who once rode with Alexander the Great) and Nar-Sheptha (a Babylonian sorceress bound into a series of CD-ROMS filled with magic lore), amongst others.
   All in all, I think this book has been extremley useful for the vampire setting, getting rid of some extremely offensive and prejudiced views from earlier editions and making vampire games fit better into a Middle Eastern setting. If you want to be able to play an Assamite with any depth, this book is a much needed supplement. Easily the best of the Clan books.



5. My second favorite clan...

   This clanbook is very informative and really helped me to flesh out my Assamite character. This book helps one to understand the rigors of what it means to be an assamite.

   I highly recomend this book to players and storytellers alike.

2 comments about Tatters of the King: Hastur's Gaze Gains Brief Focus Upon the Earth (Call of Cthulhu Horror Roleplaying).

1. I run a Living Arcanis campaign, which also contains Freeport. With a wealth of material at my disposal, I decided to pick up Tatters of the King (TOK) to see how I could fit it into my campaign. I should point out that this is a long playtest review that contains spoilers galore. To help clarify what I did differently in my campaign, I will use a PLAYTEST tag.
   
   Tatters of the King is a massive Call of Cthulhu adventure that details the invasion of Hastur on Earth. It's Hastur's grand oeuvre, presenting him as a Cthulhu-like entity, as the King in Yellow, and as a husband deity to Shub-Niggurath. Four cultists, each participating in a different path to bring about Hastur, attempt to contact him, only to go their separate ways. It's up to the player characters (PCs) to stop them.
   
   Montague Edwards and Lawrence Bacon made an Unspeakable Oath with Hastur. Edwards regenerates, Bacon never sleeps. Alexander Roby is inexorably tied to Carcosa and the Yellow Sign, and only he can summon it to Earth. Malcom Quarrie is the most dangerous and the most committed to bringing the King in Yellow to Earth. The four unknowingly have a rival cultist in their mist, one Wilfred Gresty, who worships Shub-Niggurath and doesn't buy any of this "bride of Hastur" stuff.
   
   The adventure begins with an opening night of the play, The King in Yellow, that drives people mad who witness it. There's an after-party held in celebration of the success of the event, wherein the PCs get to meet the author, Talbot Estus, and his players. A great introduction to the insanity to follow.
   
   [PLAYTEST: I placed the events in Freeport. Two of the PCs were present and ultimately escaped the madness that ensued. They returned in time to attend the opening night reception. There, one PC (Sebastian the sorcerer) decided Talbot Estus, was too dangerous to live and murdered him in cold blood.]
   
   In the mean time, the PCs are tasked with getting their friend, Alexander Roby, out of an insane asylum at the behest of Doctor Trollope. There were murders in the prison blamed on Roby, although how he committed them is impossible to tell. In reality, Edwards, who posed as a guard in the prison, committed the murders. The PCs are encouraged to interview Roby, who provides a telling prophecy both for the end of the campaign and of Doctor Trollope's death.
   
   [PLAYTEST: I changed Doctor Trollpe to be Kham the psychic warrior/rogue's father. I made Roby a childhood friend of Kham to provide more relevance. I also inserted a few adventures here involving finding Kham's father and a side jaunt into a "The Thing"-like adventure. The PCs witnessed a strange summoning involving nine monoliths and were attacked by byakhee. It also started to snow, unheard of in tropical Freeport. I made it a point of having an incarnation of the King in Yellow tell Kham that "he was the key."]
   
   With Trollope knowing too much, Edwards' chief henchman, Michael Coombs, assassinates him. The PCs receive a posthumous note from Trollope indicating that Roby predicted his death with a spell. Wilfred Gresty, a rival cultist of Shub-Niggurath, slips one of the PCs a note about Lawrence Bacon's whereabouts with the intent of catching him in the act of draining the homeless of their lifeofce.
   
   [PLAYTEST: Having Trollope be Kham's dad infused the adventure with a lot of emotional energy. Once he connected Bacon to his father's murderer, Kham tracked down the cultist and a showdown ensued, resulting in Bacon falling off a bridge into icy water. One cultist down, three to go!]
   
   A subsequent search of Bacon's home reveals a group of ghoul living in Bacon's basement.
   
   [PLAYTEST: In my campaign, ghouls were created through an addictive drug called ghoul juice. It wasn't too much of a stretch that Bacon was both a drug dealer as well as a dealer in antiquities. Kham, with no regard for his own safety, barely escaped with his life.]
   
   Determined to summon Hastur, Edwards breaks Roby out of prison. The next connection is an obituary for Bacon, written by none other than Aleister Crowley. The PCs are expected to visit Crowley and wheedle information out of him about Montague Edwards.
   
   [PLAYTEST: As a real-life analogue, Crowley had no place in Arcanis. So I went all out, turning him into the front man for a sadistic cult. They kidnapped one of the female PCs. This culminated in a battle in Crowley's basement, who eventually gave up the information they sought but escaped penalty due to his social and political connections.]
   
   Hot on the trail of Edwards, the PCs journey north only to discover that Roby succeeded: Carcosa has been summoned to Earth. Coombs plays a cat-and-mouse game with the PCs until they finally kill him. They then track down Roby and Edwards just in time to see Edwards summon thousands of byakhee and Hastur himself.
   
   [PLAYTEST: Kham killed Edwards easily, but was unable to stop the summoning. There are several ways to stop it, but I went for the dramatic approach. Roby demanded Kham throw him a pistol in self-defense--in reality, Roby knew he was the key to closing Carcosa. So he shoots himself. Ilmare and Kham barely escaped with their lives. The town left behind was utterly obliterated by Carcosa and Hastur's appearance. Three cultists down, one to go!]
   
   Time passes. The PCs meet Gresty, presumably when he's in prison. He reveals information about Shug-Niggurath and its rivalry with the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign. He also provides a link to events happening at Nug's Farm.
   
   There, Hillary Quarrie, the wife of Malcolm, is in fact the heir-apparent to the Shub-Niggurath priesthood. Only Gresty lusts for her power, creating an inevitable showdown. This is the single-most exciting part of the campaign, with the PCs going toe-to-toe with a Dark Young. Only a ritual cast by Hillary saves them.
   
   Using information gleaned from Hillary, the PCs travel to Milan. There, they met up with Thomas Villiers, who ultimately betrays them with another byakhee. This in turn reveals where Malcolm disappeared to: Drakmar, in Tibet.
   
   [PLAYTEST: Fortunately, Arcanis has portals that span the planet, so I skipped what I consider to be the most boring part of the adventure: long overland travel. The PCs resumed the adventure at the Monastery at Te, wherein they met Carlo Schippone, a crack shot. They made short work of him and journeyed onward to meet the Horror from the Hills.
   
   And that horror is Chaugnar Faugn. The PCs didn't do anything stupid, although the adventure makes much of what happens if they do. Surrounded by Tcho-Tchos, the PCs were dutifully ushered past Chaugnar Faugn into the Plateau of Leng, where they met Malcolm Quarrie at last.
   
   Only Quarrie is a pacifist. Bound and determined to summon the King in Yellow, Sebastian convinced Quarrie that they are aligned in their goals. This worked for a little while until Shantaks attack. That's when Sebastian used the opportunity to kill Quarrie in cold blood. See a pattern here?]
   
   Finally, the PCs meet the King in Yellow. He simply asks who will lead him to Earth. PCs who hesitate...DIE.
   
   [PLAYTEST: Kham, convinced that this was his burden to bear, agreed at first...then changed his mind. The King slit his throat. Sebastian was up next. He planned to lead the King astray. And so he did, leading him back to Carcosa and taking Sebastian (at least temporarily) out of play. The adventure left the PCs feeling like they had lost even though they had saved the world.]
   
   TOK is an excellent series of adventures, marred occasionally by the usual Cthulhu foils: assuming investigators will be naive or helpless (these days, most investigators carry guns and in my D&D game, they carry really heavy firepower in the form of spells), spending way too much time on overland travel, and an overemphasis on how PCs can avoid going insane by closing their eyes...a decidedly unheroic thing to do that shouldn't work anyway.
   
   But when TOK hits its mark, it really makes for memorable sessions. The moral quandaries that the PCs regularly faced made for exciting play, and the fever pitch of the Dark Young showdown is magnificent...unfortunately it has very little to do with the main plot (it's essentially internecine squabbling with a completely unrelated cult).
   
   There are plenty of notes and props, all of them useful. Especially intriguing are the nightmares that the PCs experience and the means of conveying the King in Yellow's telepathy (it involves cue cards). All of this made for evocative scenes that kept my PCs guessing.
   
   Best of all, TOK plays for keeps. While the sacrifice of two PCs was a serious blow, it FELT like the conclusion to a series. And given the grand tour of Hastur and his ilk, we all appreciated the ending.



2. I used to detest the Yellow King. Now I seek him out wherever his gaze falls. If you like the disturbing and unwrit world of Robert Chambers' classic and its literary progeny, this is the adventure for you. Call of Cthulhu is a great game and this is a great, multi-part, multi-year adventure.

5 comments about Clanbook: Toreador (Vampire: The Masquerade).

1. This book provides more than just the flavor and attitudes of what it means to be Toreador but provides substance as well. You will find in here thier history and attidues. Beyond that you will find new merits and flaws, an excellent system for creating and critiquing art, high level disciplines. The sample characters show that there's more to a Toreador than prissy artiste and possuers with thier noses in the air.



2. Wanna see a truly useless vampire ? Wanna see someone so self-loving and blind they won't even notice when you diablerize'em ? Wanna have a good laugh ? Look at a Toreador vampire ! Useless creatures, forever lost in their pride and love for art. I can see a good picture and enjoy it - for a second or two. I won't sit in the Louvre for nights and nights looking at the same painting, eventually either masturbating on it or stealing it (and then do the former). the Marquis, vampire hunter and leech himself



3. This book is a must by for all you Vampire the Masquerade players out there who just enjoy annoying the other players with cruel comments about thier taste in clothing and such!



4. Do you know what it means to be an outstanding artist? Do you REALLY know what Vampire means?Well, take a look at this book and let their passion dance in your mind. Piece of art, I tell you. I love it. GC.



5. Sadly, too many people can't begin to imagine where the power of the Toreador clan comes from. This book is not helpful to those unable to see how this underestimated clan could grow to be one of the most powerful among all of them. Instead, it discusses the art world and invents a way to create art through dice rolls. They even forgot to include Clan Attitudes towards other clans. All in all, a sad attempt to clarify the clan, not helpful to those who already enjoy the Toreador and uninteresting to those not bright enough to appreciate them without aid.

5 comments about Ghouls (Vampire The Requiem - World Of Darkness - WOD).

1. This book is a great supliment for Vampire: The Requiem. It includes creation rules for starting ghoul characters in a World of Darkness chronicle.
   
   This book is a must for V:tR fans. There are many interesting supliments to ghoul characters, including ghoul family lines (much like vampire bloodlines), and even ghouled flora and fauna.



2. This is a very interesting, informative and entertaining read on ghouls. Especially good are the sections on ghoul families (expanded upon in the covenant books) and how to create/maintain a ghoul character.
   
   Recommended, even if it's a pretty specific subject matter.



3. Ghouls is a supplement for playing the daylight servitors, bodyguards, street informers, thugs and muscle of immortal vampires. Usually a vampire needs servants that can operate during the day, providing eyes and ears to the goings on of the mortal daylight world. However, being that vampire blood is highly addictive and carries with it mystical properties, playing these characters poses great role playing challenges to any troupe or chronicle. Overall, I'm glad to say that Ghouls is an excellent sourcebook on including ghouls in a chronicle that addresses most of the aspects of ghouls that Storytellers might be concerned with, and a few they might not have thought of before.
   
   The introduction of the book, as you might expect, gives an overview of what Ghouls contains. I found it odd that two paragraphs are devoted to explaining the World of Darkness, as though Ghouls might be someone's first WoD book. Also, in a section entitled "Ghoul Myth and Fact," which is said to be a "summary of the basic facts of ghouls existence," the author appears to be working from notes from the original WoD, as according to this section drinking three times from a vampire automatically makes someone a thrall, making no mention of how it is still possible (with good dice rolls) for someone to resist the Vinculum. Being in the primer on what it is to be a ghoul this mistake stands out quite a bit.
   
   The first chapter of the book discusses how it is a person becomes a ghoul, how disciplines work for ghouls, the way the various clans and covenants look at ghouls, and gives a look at animal ghouls, plant ghouls, and ghoul families. Consisting of 50 pages, this chapter is very, very good-except for the first 11 pages, which were so bad I had to put the book down every page or two, and seriously considered asking someone else to review the book, fearing the rest of the book would be like this.
   
   These 11 pages, covering what it is like to become a ghoul, how disciplines work for them, and how the clans see ghouls, do have a few nice bits. Mention is made of how ghouls feel real emotions, unlike the hollow echos that vampires have-a nice idea from the rulebook that I haven't seen addressed in any other supplement. And the threat of disease being transferred to a ghoul from a master is handled well, and little bits (such as how the temperature of a vampire's blood is cooler than a human's) can easily add to a chronicle's atmosphere.
   
   The second chapter concerns the creation of a ghoul character. New merits and derangements are included here, as well as rules on exactly how Disciplines use by ghouls differs from that of their vampire masters. One thing different from the Vampire rulebook is that here ghouls start with two points in Disciplines, to reflect characters created with the rules here are to be more experienced beings.
   
   Some space is devoted to explain the ghoul life, combining role-playing advice with the rules system that ghouls work from, and it's entertaining and helpful read. Even such things as the limits to enhanced vitality that come from ghouldom are covered, with explanation of how disease affects a ghoul; those thinking ghouldom is a cure to their physical ailments will be in for a shock.
   
   The subject of ghoul bloodlines is then covered. A portion of the section is devoted to the game system for both conception and maintaining a ghoul pregnancy. On the one hand, I like this being here so that once a Storyteller decides to allow players to try and create a bloodline there is an impartial rules system for these things to occur. On the other hand I crack up every time as I read over the charts and imagine telling a player "Well, you did synchronize your attempts at conception with her ovulation cycle, but she has the Protean discipline, so you end up getting no bonus dice on this conception roll."
   
   Further detail is given on the five ghoul families mentioned earlier, and each family has its own unique weakness and strength, such as reduced experience costs for certain merits or a mandatory derangement. I had a few minor quibbles with these descriptions, such as the Alley Men existing in large numbers as to be found worldwide, given the problems in ghoul procreation, and the Crassus are mentioned to have some choice in who their undead masters are, which goes against their earlier portrayal as slaves without rights to those Kindred who get to own them.
   
   The chapter rounds out with a little more on animal ghouls and lacrima, with rules given on how each clan's plant ghouls produce a different type of lacrima. It's interesting, but still doesn't do enough for me to be impressed by the plant ghouls.
   
   The third chapter of the book is devoted to storytelling ghouls. Covering such topics as the nifty things ghouls can do during the day for their masters and how to properly roleplay the Vinculum, as well as ways Storytellers can work ghouls into their campaign in ways other than having their players' vampires using them, this section is another excellent read, even if the idea does come up at one point that all ghouls voluntarily choose their state.
   
   The fourth chapter of the book has some ghouls a Storyteller can drop into their campaign. The problem of how to assign dots in the Retainer Merit based on how powerful a ghoul is brought up, but sadly is answered with the reader being told that no game mechanic exists to quantify it. You can tell me all the dice pool modifiers that can apply to trying to get a ghoul pregnant, you can't set up a rules system for this?
   
   
   The last chapter covers creating ghoul families, formulating a background to them, their unique flaws, how they might be structured, etc. This section wasn't as interesting to me as the previous chapters in the book, and I found myself flying through it as I read.
   
   I would like to comment on the art of the book. Other than the cover I felt the artwork of the book was of a consistently high standard, keeping in tune with the subject material and being consistently well-done throughout.
   
   All in all, I think Ghouls is an excellent addition to the World of Darkness. It gives a lot of useful advice, both rules-wise and setting-wise, and after reading it I feel very comfortable allowing my players to have ghouls in my chronicle.



4. I have often thought that the VAMPIRE lines can lapse into treating the stars (the vampires) as humans with super abilities and a few tough super vulnerabilities. Ghouls, that is the human blood slaves of vampires (think Renfield serving his master), serve as excellent foils for the inhumanity of vampires. The mistreated ghoul, the mentally abused ghoul, the tortured and mutilated ghoul bring into sharp relief the fact that vampires are no longer part of humanity. Just as people have few qualms about the suffering of lower life, so too vampires use people as servants, blood donors, and as one-sided relationships to staisfy whatever lingering human needs a vampire still experiences.
   
   Make no mistake, there's some really debased content in this book. It describes how vampires interact with and treat their blood-servants, which includes torture, mutilation, emotional sexual and physical abuse, and any other kind of messed up abuse you can imagine. I think the authors successfully portray the ghouls as victims so that the readers identify with the ghoul's suffering rather than the vampire's power trip.
   
   The core-book explains the mechanics of a vampire making a ghoul, but GHOULS also describes how to make ghoul characters. The idea of playing a ghouls game is an interesting one. There's also plenty of information on how the different covenants and clans view and treat ghouls, how to make bloodlines of ghouls, and how to play games using ghoul characters. There is also information on creating ghouls of animals or plants (!)
   
   So, I found this to be a very interesting supplement. Beyond the role-playing aspect of creating ghouls in-game, there is also playing a game where some or all are ghouls. I had never given it much thought before, but playing ghoul characters seemed like an interesting twist on the game (and this part is very well documented). All the parts on mistreatment of ghouls seems very useful to me in portraying the vile depths to which vampires regularly sink. Vampires seem much more monstrous to me now than before I read GHOULS.



5. It is not the most necessary book in the V:tR series but it does show Kindred in a much darker light and gives much more details about ghouls.

No comments about The Conan Compendium (Conan Roleplaying Game) (Conan RPG).

No comments about Slaine (RuneQuest) (Runequest).

3 comments about GURPS Grimoire: Tech Magic, Gate Magic, and Hundreds of Spells for All Colleges (GURPS: Generic Universal Role Playing System).

1. Used with GURPS Magic and the GURPS Basic Set it provides a complete, varied and well integrated set of spells for roleplaying. Without being tied to specific genres it still manages to offer a wide range of dramatic possibilies from which many a plot could be spawned.



2. Let me make one thing perfectly clear: This book is a companion volume to GURPS Magic. In order to fully appreciate (and make the best use of) this book, you need GURPS Magic as well. Now that that is out of the way, on to the praises. This is where you will find the odder and more esoteric spells (as well as some of the more powerful ones) that Magic just didn't have room for, or that handn't been thought of yet. Some of these spells are exceptionally powerful, others are just plain sneaky, but all are useful. As I said before, the odder corners and more advanced levels of magic are more fully represented in this book, along with optional rules. Here you will find things like techno-magic, radiation spells, acid spells, spells to literally rain fire down upon your foes, a spells to create an imprisoning circle around your foes, spells to fascinate and control your enemy, shapeshifting spells, elaborate illusions, divination spells, and even a spell to plunge a target into a morass of incapacitating pleasure.

   That little list only scratches the surface, my friends. A few new schools of magic are added, and almost every one of the schools of magic presented in GURPS Magic has additions in this book, and all of them are worth looking at. If you want to be the best magic-user that you can be, this book will help you on your way.




3. This is basically GURPS Magic, book 2. It provides great additional material in the way of new spells for the current colleges of magic such as the Elementals or Necromancy. In addition, the new schools of magic (Gate and Tech magic) are interesting new additions. This gives your characters the advantage of not only having the right spell for the right occasion, but also having a selection of tricks up their sleeves.

2 comments about Hellsing D20.

1. A must have for any fan of the hellsing anime
   the artworks inside is superb and the analysis of each episode is good too
   a section whihch anwser some question about the series
   and for fans of DD charts at the end
   8/10



2. If you are fan of Anime Art and a fan of the Hellsing series, then this book is for you. If you are looking for a book to run a d20 campaign in the Hellsing universe, forget it. The first 47 pages are nothing more than episode summaries. Page 48-66 are character summaries but do not contain any role playing stats or features. Pages 66 - 83 describes the locale and world of Hellsing. Again, there are no maps or RPG stats to help run a game. Pages 84 - 112 are nothing but art from the show. Finally we get to game info on pages 113 to 135. However, instead of the high quality, color, glossy pages, of the previous chapters, we are given standard black & white pages. Sadly, even the last 2 pages of the B&W section are devoted to artwork and a list of the cast of the show.
   
   This is a poor excuse for a role playing supplement and functions better as a coffee table book. I love Anime and especially loved the Hellsing series but I gave this book only one star because it is NOT a role playing supplement!! It is an art book. I'm glad I only paid $5 for it from a bargain table at DragonCon. (And yes, it is on my coffe table.)

2 comments about In Nomine Angelic PG (In Nomine).

1. that's right, i said "ever". this is the most captivating, best illustrated, and most useful book for In Nomine that i have seen. not only does it really let players and GMs figure out angelic life, trials, and tribulations, but it makes anyone wonder what those demons are talkin' 'bout. personally, it made me turn from a GM who never really thought about playing, into a psycho-smart GM who would kill for the chance to use my Ofanite of Creation (in service to Yves, of course). the only other book that has even close to this much to offer to IN enthusiasts is Revelations II: The Marches, for its Sorcerer rules and its Marches info (buy both!).



2. Showing the best of the game, the Angelic players guide gives so many ideas on playing a truly angelic character. But, you really need the core rules book, and the Infernal Players guide. Its also a good idea to have Liber Canticorum, the book of songs. Otherwise your character will only have the few powers in the Angelic Player's Guide. So, while its a good book, you need more than just the book to successfully play In Nomine.