White Wolf’s biggest artistic and critical success, but also a commercial flop. The central (death) concept is very taken with thematic Jungian ideas such as archetypes, complexes and individuation, whilst being very easy to play out ghost stories where the ghosts play the antagonists (such as in The Others or The Sixth Sense).
The rules are largely the same as with previous WoD games, but the central mechanic revolves around the conflict between the persona of the PCs and their (dark side) Shadows, normally played out by other players. The impact of this is to provide a cathartic aspect to the game, which was a very original idea which influenced other games thereafter.
There is some sloppiness in editing (unbelievably Willpower is overlooked for a trait description in both first and second editions), but the interior layout, grayscale art and design are very easy on the eye. The general depth of the setting material and quality of writing are still the main reasons to buy this book. Timeless.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |