This is the kind of material that should be in a VSH. This chapter consists of a short Vampire FAQ that serves its purpose just fine. The Introduction is supposed to prime you for the rest of the book and it does this, stating the "goals" of the rest of the book. The writers establish the pattern of contradiction and confusion that will color the rest of the book in this section. Would it have been too hard to include a couple of drawings of Kuei-jin if you were going to devote several pages of space to describing changes to their rules? The art is relatively sparse and at times doesn't seem to fit the text. I could understand this kind of art in a game with a more clear-cut morality, like Werewolf, but Vampire deserves more detailed, nuanced art. Most of the art is either simplistic or rough. While the production values of the physical book (binding, quality of materials) is excellent, the art inside is a major step back for White Wolf. It is filled with a hypocritical, condescending, just plain "bitchy" tone that does little to dispel the "pretentious" label that is sometimes affixed to Vampire and the World of Darkness in general. It is filled with strident declarations of how a Vampire game should be run. The 1st Edition of the VSH, published in 1992, actually followed this formula with great success. Similar "GM Guides" in other RPG systems usually offer some unique factions or setting information that is meant to be "secret", some new game mechanics in the form of advanced combat rules or something similar, and some practical information for keeping a game going. The Vampire Storytellers Handbook (VSH) is the first time that I've ever seen a game company really try to force people to play a game a certain way. 10 years later, White Wolf knows this isn't the case. I suppose that in the early years of White Wolf, there was a certain naivete that their audience played Vampire exactly the same way as the staff did. When the staffers of White Wolf get together to Role-Play in their personal games, they fuse elements of drama, history, philosophy, religion, literature, and myth. All of their sourcebooks plumb the depths of characterization, theme, and setting. In the Quixotic worldview that White Wolf-ers labor under, role-playing games are a perfect mix of imagination, creativity, cooperative talespinning, and cathartic release. The talented men and women who labor at White Wolf represent a huge minority of gamers and judging from the tone and style of the Vampire Storytellers Handbook, they aren't happy about it. Continued abuse of our services will cause your IP address to be blocked indefinitely.Being a writer for White Wolf must be the hardest job in gaming. Please fill out the CAPTCHA below and then click the button to indicate that you agree to these terms. If you wish to be unblocked, you must agree that you will take immediate steps to rectify this issue. If you do not understand what is causing this behavior, please contact us here. If you promise to stop (by clicking the Agree button below), we'll unblock your connection for now, but we will immediately re-block it if we detect additional bad behavior.
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