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Forbidden Religions (Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition)
Publisher: Renegade Game Studios
by Paul D. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/29/2022 05:44:11

I agree, this book is far better than some of the absolute nonsense published for V5 - looking at you Mr. Sabbat. I like the concept of the book and I love the various different cults detailed within.

However, even on a casual glance, there are some issues. Firstly the usual, poor editing, spelling or grammatical errors. Come on people, use a program and spend an afternoon correcting it all and it's done. Hardly expensive or difficult is it?

Secondly, and this is something that marrs a lot of OPP products. Art is bland. None of it is bad, I mean not to the level of the Exalted core, which contains some terrible choices, but nothing stands out as really memorable. I take it back, the poor sod roasting over an open fire was pretty memorable. But the test of Gaydos' work as usual is love or hate. Examples or bad or just terrible choices of art include for the purity - just looks too computerish, the orphans on p57 is horrible, the golden cic on p47 looks lifted from a poorly animated computer game, and the shepard of Ur-shulgi, well, what a wasted opportunity, when they could have shown the boy himself on a pilgrimage or one of the ancient ancilla he chose.

And so on to the next issue. Because of the beckoning, the elders have had their numbers thinned. Methuselahs are now gods when they wake up, because your average cainite in v5 is a thinblood at best or if your ST hasnt yanked the pages from the book in disgust, a daywalker. And so, on to the Shepards. Ur-Shulgi personally hand picked 12 top men for the job of bringing the naughty muslim Assamites back to the fold, and then laying smacks upon all vampirekind for being weakass morons instead of badass diabolarist, lords of the world, who worship his sire instead of any pathetic mortal false god. When you think about it, he has a point. Why would supreme beings, eternal beings, worship gods of the kine? That's for the weak, and the weak do not deserve the blood. I'm with Shulgi, he'd get my vote. He's a top lad, screw that traitor Al-Ashrad, he's not even a good mage, so ner.

I digress, my issue was this. curious, of Shulgi's choices of "ancilla of considerable age", I took to the wonders of the internet to look them up. Now an ancilla of considerable age... a few hundred years old then? Nah, fuck that noise, Elulu, well over 4,000. Naram-Sin, the same. Now both of these ages assume the cainite was embraced in the era the real historical figure lived. They're both ancient kings of Ur, just like the real shulgi, (though as they were kings before him in real life it all gets messy). So because of the beckoning, authors are now writing about ancient ancilla because they can't use the word "elder". Ancilla are typically 1-2 hundred years old, but these clowns are 20-40 times that and the world didn't shake when they rose up to do their master's bidding? DUMB. Pro-tip. If you are going to be kewl and use real world kings etc as throw away names for your ancilla, don't choose ones so old. Kindred beyond 300 years are ELDERS. Please hire writers that know VAMPIRE lore. I would love to know what took down two Ancients, but the opportunity is lost to us now.

Anyway, all that aside, I've given the book 3 stars. Better art, better art choices (why the terrible orphans or bloodless and not something cool for the Withered for example) and just better research/ writers actually knowing Vamp Lore would have raised this book up to at least a 4. It's a decent read, and will add a little spice to a campaign, but I for one look forward to the day Vampire is not under the direction of Dawkins and OPP hire some talented artists. It can be done, smaller companies manage it.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Forbidden Religions (Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition)
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Wanderhome
Publisher: Possum Creek Games
by Paul D. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/27/2021 17:41:15

What an absolute delight.

From start to finish you can feel the sense of community and friendship the author intended for us. A refreshing change from the slew of dungeon crawling monster bashers, gothic scifi and angst filled horror. Jay Dragon provides us with the building blocks to tell our stories in a world full of curious rabbits and messenger moths and wily foxes and dragonfly knights and informative geckos and giant beetle caravans.

A wonderfully written book that encourages those of us who engage with it to use our imaginations! Imagine that? I mean so many RPG's tether you to a limited number of choices and feel so restrictive. Not here. Be what you want. It's your character, explore them together with the friends you make on your journey.

The book is lovingly illustrated throughout and you can tell that a great deal of work from everyone involved has made Wanderhome what it is. I sometimes feel publishers bulk out their products with a tonne of extra art or way too much pointless waffle. None of that here. Full page art breaks up chapters and sub chapters. Everything flows real nice into the next part of building the world you're all going to explore together. Oh and the book has actually been proofed which puts to shame plenty of so called fancy pants publishers of more well known IP.

I'd avoid if you're a crunch lover or a min maxer, Wanderhome is about as rules lite as you're ever going to get in a book and can be played without a traditional GM. But if you're actually interested in character development rather than numbers on a page, check it out. I defy anyone to read this book cover to cover and not smile at something at least once. I want to know who the mysterious stranger is and how he came to have one white eye. But then he could be a they or a she or a god or a daemon or whatever you choose, it's your game afterall.

So, to the author and to everyone involved I say thanks for investing yourselves into producing this game; for me it's the best ttrpg I've bought in over 35 years of gaming (I must own over a hundred). There should be a sixth star on here. Brilliant!



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Wanderhome
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Earthdawn Fourth Edition Elven Nations (ED4)
Publisher: FASA
by Paul D. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/06/2020 10:28:11

No real world politics of any kind found in this book. No gender bashing, no ethnicity shaming and no status shaming. What an absolutely refreshing change to have a product contain none of it in an entertainment medium where one tries to escape from the mundainity or horror of real life.

As for the product itself, top quality pdf as you should have come to expect if you are buying into the Fourth edition of this game much like myself.

The stuff on the Blood Wood elves is pretty horrifying, the various sacrifices made to ensure survival. I eat this up like candy, you really get a feel for what elves as a race are and how one could be portrayed at your table.

Keep up the great work, you have a fan.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Earthdawn Fourth Edition Elven Nations (ED4)
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Manual of Exalted Power: Dragon-Blooded
Publisher: White Wolf
by Paul D. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/17/2020 11:13:43

A million miles away in terms of content compared to 1st and especially compared to 3rd edition. The hardcover book is a beautiful B&W reprint. Honestly, a lot of people think 2nd edition is a bit clunky, but to me it improved on 1st and doesnt contain all the social justice white knighting and gender politicing that OP Exalted does. That for me is not needed in any rpg. The art is in general superior and the book wont break your arm to hold. EAT a load of this Onyx Path, your Exalted sucks, this is the real deal.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
Manual of Exalted Power: Dragon-Blooded
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Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought
Publisher: Onyx Path Publishing
by Paul D. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/15/2019 12:02:16

Decent art, decent gubbins and decent additions and expansions on Terrestrial Exalted in general over previous editions. Just get past the publishers virtue signalling that seems to pervade all of their products these days. Not everyone in your SAGA has to be transexual, homosexual or even asexual. Adding this nonsense to the world setting detracts from its grandeur as an epic of the PAST, not something stuck with millenial taudry gender politicing. But then, where i'm from women have always been accepted in roleplay groups just as much as men and so needed no special treatment. In fact many of my female roleplaying friends find this sort of nonsense more insulting than I do lol. Aside from that and a few retcons that go unexplained, it's a solid 3 star product. Would be more if OPP could keep what's between their legs out of their games. YMMV.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
Dragon-Blooded: What Fire Has Wrought
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