From: JENKINS@agvax2.ag.ohio-state.edu (Kent Jenkins)
Subject: Re: Werewolf-the Apocalypse
Organization: Ohio State Cyberpsycho Rehab Clinic
Date: Tue, 22 Dec 1992 23:29:29 GMT
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In <BzG7wB.49u@news.cso.uiuc.edu> tgt33358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>
>	My main problem is merely setting.  I've worked hard to create a 
>Machiavellian atmosphere, perfectly condusive for V:TM, but very bad in W:TA.
>I suppose the intent of the two games comes into play.  VTM is a game of
>_personal_ horror, with humans giving in to basest desires, and becoming
>a monster, and WTA is a game of _Savage_ horror, with the horror conferred
>by genes, and not by moral judgement.
>	Make no mistake:  I LOVE the way garou are displayed, but only find
>them useful in relation to other creatures, such as how they deal with
>the other four World of Darkness areas.  But as a stand alone, it just doesn't
>run very well. 

And now for the Other Side of the Coin:

I have to admit that I really liked the idea of running a Vampires game.  "Time
to really screw with the Player's brains," I thought.  "But no!" they said. 
"We really would rather play Werewolf."  "You don't want to risk your sanity
and morality in a difficult-to-win situation?" I asked, a little pleadingly. 
"But no!" they replied.  "We want to kick some corperate butt."  This is what I
get for living with two environmentalists.

So my anti-Gothic friends and I, all of us being able to understand the
Vampire's first edition (dispite the complaints about it), started on the path
to garouistics.

I was surprised, however.  The I couldn't find a /thing/ in the Werewolf book. 
I read it cover to cover and had to /highlight/ things in order to find them
again.  It's poorly organized and the Tellurian is simply not described well at
all.  If you want to work with the Astral, play Shadowrun.

"You guys are sure about this?"  "Yeah!" they said, still high on the idea of
beating up BP and DuPont.

The first two sessions, a badly-run Moot (but a learning time), went very well. 
Again, in the face of a really confusing Rulebook, I was surprised.  It was a
lot of fun, with my tossing the rules to the Wind with the battlecry, "/You/
find it."  ("It's not in the index.  I could have /sworn/ I saw that chart
somewhere!")  Those times we did use the Rules, play was bogged down and I felt
like a Rules Lawyer.  But we got through those and we remembered how the system
was supposed to go.

The party is much more disillusioned, now, consisting of a Black Fury, a Sivler
Fang, a Child of Gaia, a Fionna Lawyer and an Uktena.  They know now what Rank
0 /really/ means.  And they understand the problems that Garou must always face
-- human society imposing upon their own.  ("Clothes?  Oh, shit, I didn't think
of that." -- "What do you mean, you didn't take English?!")  The Uktena refuses
to enter Homid form.  Cubs.  Cubs all.

This makes my review quite the oposite of Brent's -- I think the book needs a
serious re-write but the world is quite fine.  White Wolf is going to need a
/serious/ think-over to combine all their 'game worlds' properly.  May they get
lots of help.

>-- 
>I don't mind being the smartest    / Thanatos, DeathUrge, Master of Unknown
>man in the world...I just wish it  \ Time and Space tgt33358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu 
>wasn't this one...	       	    / It's a Zen thing... 
>	-Ozymandias 		    \	 you wouldn't understand...  


---
Kent Jenkins	|	I don't want the world,
("Thenomain")	|	I just want your half.
		|
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