I wish I could give this product to different star ratings. A 5 for atmosphere and micro-fiction and 1 for everything else.

It really is great micro-fiction. There's not much here beyond that. If the authors had just stated up the fiction pieces this would be a classic. The actually stated "intruders" are, forgive me for being blunt, lame. There is no realm of being where a haunted calculator is going to scare me or anyone else. They do not feel like the subjects of full narratives. There's very little meat on the bone. These are add-ons and one offs that I don't feel I could ever use effectively.

The sheets themselves are fine, but unfortunately they lack the book-like font from his 20th anniversary editions from Demon:: The Fallen.

Great resource, but unfortunately the Earthbound character sheet doesn't feature the Earthbound-unique Lores: Violation, Contamination, and Chaos. Major drawback that really breaks immersion and you need to work on that.

A blast from the distant past of the dire wolf shifters, warts and all.

Love how the book cleverly reminds me that these are NOT Garou and how different they were from both a priorities and social level, compared to their warrior 'cousins' across the pond. I enjoyed looking at a job that is surprisingly neglected throughout all the mandates of the Fera.

We're always told how in the past the Wyld was a great threat before but strangely there was never a Fera who kept an eye on this raw chaos and it was a shared effort to keep it in line without elaborating.

I enjoy this work because it gave me a reason for 'why and how' you could take Fera from the Pure lands and drop them into Eurasia for a story and elaborated on how difficult it was to keep up with the Wyld and the extreme measures one may need to go through to keep things from getting out of control without being totally consumed by it's overwhelming power.

If you want an enjoyable and contained story for Savage Age and want to try something new I highly recommend.

Love the flexibility of these chronicles and the ability to weave them all together

The book was interesting and helpful but I was very disappointed to see AI art in the book since there was no mention that AI art would be used in the description before purchasing. I love to see new and creative fan made content but it's difficult to want to support something that puts artists out of work. I want to read the hard work of what was written but to see AI art taking the place of what could be artists in the vampire community is very disheartening.

In the future, I would like to see content that shares the artistic creativity of our community and not AI which has taken the art from artists without consent. At the very least, a warning on the page so those who care about this issue can make informed donations.

This book is a steal at twice the price and delivers exactly as advertised: a lucid, clear-cut description of the basic building blocks of the Sphere system - no more, no less. For vampires-to-lawnchairs and other advanced applications, see HDYDT ;)

Excellently written and explained. A must-read for those new to this magic sytem, and those that feel they need a better understanding of the fundamentals...

The long and short of it is, This supplement is meant to be read, not played.

If you want to play Mage the Awakening as a Storyteller, this book is not for you. You would be better served mining fiction, comics, video games, or watching movies. Listening to HP Lovecraft audiobooks on YouTube would be better. If you really want to get something 'in lore' you will get better horror and antagonist ideas from other 1st edition core books, such as Werewolf or Hunter than from this supplement.

The whole thing reads like a bunch of frustrated novelists who submitted their ideas and got picked by an editor who has never actually played a roleplaying game. The ideas are either too lethal, unworkable, or would be such a short encounter that the pages of details in the book are superfluous.

And that’s the problem here. If you read the main rulebook (Mage 1st Edition), then there’s nothing here that a reasonably competent storyteller with a passion for nerdy fiction, horror, or otherwise couldn’t come up with on their own. Why bother buying this at all? Oh yes, the main blurb about stuff 'between the stars' is all just marketing, flummery, there's none of that.

There are maybe three or four interesting antagonists, but the rest are basically one-use NPCs or encounters with endless text written about them. Is it well-written? Yes. Is it a damn good read? yes as a coffee table book. Is it fit for purpose as a roleplaying game supplement? No.

If you are a supplement reader or collector, get it. It’s very well-written, and the production values are amazing. If you want ideas for your actual roleplaying game chronicle, I’d look elsewhere.

This supplement provides us with Esoteric Experience and Mysterial Merits, both of which are great additions to both the setting and game system. If used sparing, it can help make the game slightly stranger, with rare anomalous characters that can add more flavour, mystery, and possibility, without needing to upstat the character. These mechanics also make keeping a character diary even more useful. Helpfully, Terry ends the book with some variants, designed to be even simpler. Whilst not an essential book, I’d highly recommend it for anyone wanting to add extra layers to their games.

A Joy To Read and Creative Approach to the Infernalists

You’re Not Just Getting a Clan out of This: You’re Getting Hooks and Inspiration Enough for a Full Chronicle of Content!

Simply put, the fact that the book itself creeped me out multiple times is a testament to it nailing exactly what I wanted from Clanbook: Baali. While most clans are on some spectrum between "Tragic" and "Frightening", the Baali here are perfectly portrayed as Insidious. Each one of the powers feels suitably cruel and malevolent, adding a new level of horror to already twisted powers (however, they do have a level of dependency/prerequisites that makes it difficult to dabble in other appealing options from those Disciplines).

The addition of mechanics revolving around sin, the Outer Dark (which is unfortunately not elaborated on in detail), and the denizens of the Outer Dark add a whole new level of threat to play, making them fun threats and concepts to invite into your game. Thanks to the variety of loresheets representing different paths of the cult, there's also plenty of potential to have the Baali be a threat across multiple chronicles (or even multiple groups in the same chronicle!) and to be fresh each time.

Altogether, I highly recommend Clanbook: Baali. While Pay What You Want will give it to you for free, I'd say paying less than $5-$7 for as much quality and content as you getis even more evil than the Infernalists themselves.

It’ll Save You an Hour or Two of Building a Chronicle Outside the Modern Era, but Won’t Help You Build It.

While the description got my hopes up, what I received was exactly what the "New Rules Include" section addresses. To that extent, the main utility of this book is to save you a bit of time on what would come up immediately in character creation and ends about there, but won't help you build the foundation of a Chronicle or to make it distinct from a contemporary era: that's still up to you. Check it out if you want a few minor pointers on adapting some clans to a different era and a few tweaks to merits, and a few optional features that are fun to consider.

It’ll Save You an Hour or Two of Building a Chronicle Outside the Modern Era, but Won’t Help You Build It.

While the description got my hopes up, what I received was exactly what the "New Rules Include" section addresses. To that extent, the main utility of this book is to save you a bit of time on what would come up immediately in character creation and ends about there, but won't help you build the foundation of a Chronicle or to make it distinct from a contemporary era: that's still up to you. Check it out if you want a few minor pointers on adapting some clans to a different era and a few tweaks to merits, and a few optional features that are fun to consider.

Fits right into Fifth Edition, like a clan that was intended all along and just didn't make the cut.

Some books that try to add-in new clans or reintroduce old ones feel a need to add dozens of pages of lore and systems to them, wheres Clan Morbus fits in perfectly as a fun, and distinct clan that fits-in amongst its peers. As someone who always enjoyed Vampires' origins as folktales around disease, this book was able to scratch that itch.