The book contains chronicles about Vampire the Masquerade in the V3/V20 era. The content is useful for players and STs alike who are searching for inspirations for plots, character and scenario building, especially if you want to play a setting in San Francisco, CA. If you just want a casual read in the World of Darkness setting, while you commute or sit by your bed or couch during a lazy sunday, that is also a good choice, and how I enjoyed it.

The Beast Within - Revised Edition

The original anthology The Beast Within was published back in the early days of Vampire and originally presented 13 stories - fittingly introduced with the 13 clan illustrations. The new edition contains ten stories, two of which were not included in the original book. The setting is Vampire's version of San Francisco. The individual short stories cover very different topics: e.g., a desperate poet stumbling into the world of the kindred, a clanless vampire who is forced to search for his sire, an ancient South American vampire who awakens in a completely alien world.

The individual stories are varied and introduce interesting facets of the game world. However, San Francisco's kindred society plays only a limited role - at least in some stories. Nevertheless, this anthology is still good for learning about various aspects of the kindred of the World of Darkness - e.g., ancient vampires, the social order of clans, intrigues, and so on. From my perspective, the new edition is also an entertaining book in the world of Vampire.

(Björn Lippold)

If you want fiction on the world of the Kindred, this is the book for you! Each author showed a different aspect of that world from a Kindred point of view. They were interesting and some were truly thought provoking. I wanted more when it was done. Definitely a must buy!