Roleplaying Books

Those not familiar with Exalted, please seek out the Core Rulebook first.

The Second Edition update of the Sidereals is a superb book, made much more readable, understandable, and enjoyable by the removal of information on Yu-Shan to the Compass of Celestial Directions book of the same name. A few of the charm mechanics need fixing, but errata can be found on the White Wolf Exalted Forums or the White-Wolf Wiki.

It is what I was looking for, and what I wanted. No problems in it's shipping, and it arrived in excelent condition.

So far I have read half the book and it is amazing!

Lots of new stuff, amazing intrigues and even more paranoia for the Viziers of Creation, Charms have been adapted to new rules and that leaves em pretty ok, Many of them have been powered down and more of them defined, and the Exalted Curse laid upon them has been redefined and reviewed as to have now a system.

I like the way that now Siderials are not as powerful as in the first edition where they could best a solar with no trouble. Now they are more like a celestial-type Exalted with pros and cons. Lots of stuff to do, YuShan and all Creation at their fingertips. New ideas about the Loom of Fate and a Sixth Maiden.

Just have to finish it soon and I can tell it is a good supplement for a good Exalted chronicle. The only Siderial Martial Art is the Violet Bier of Sorrows. Just one Celestial Sorcery spell. Plenty of names of new gods that work on Yu-Shan (that I guess will be stat-defined in the upcoming book of Sorcery IV)

So far... great book!

I've been playing Stormbringer 4th edition for many years by now, and have recently changed to 5th edition. The combat rules in 5th edition are far superior to 4th edition, and for this reason alone 5th edition is a welcome change. However the new character generation bugs me. Each player has 250 points to distribute between skills, and the rulebook even recommends using 101 of these points for the primary weapon. However none of the examples in the book feature beginner characters with 101% weapon skill for a good reason: I bring you my own transscript of a playtest where two beginner characters each armed with 101% broadswords fight between themselves:

P1: I roll 50, a HIT
P2: I roll 40, I parry
P2: I roll 40, I Hit
P1: I roll 83, I parry
P1: I roll 45, I hit
P2: I roll 39, I parry
P2: I roll 06, a CRITICAL hit
P1: I roll 37, I parry, but my weapon takes 4 points damage
P1: I roll 82, I hit
...

And so on. Sooner or later a broadsword breaks. The winner is the player who brought the highest number of broadswords to the match...

This is the reason why my players are not allowed to generate their own characters. Giving me as the GM some extra work (And causes my players to bicker for good reason that I give them [weak] characters)

If you are a roleplayer and a follower of Moorcok's epic novels, than look no further. The book uses same rules (which are easy to digest) as does "Call of Cthulhu" and the two books can accompany each other. Detailed information on Moorcok's world, spells, bestiary and stats for well known heroes and characters.
This game has something that other roleplaying games ,in my experience, lack. You are not restricted by alignment, nor do you have to pick a strict character class. So you can end up with a skilled warrior-sorcerer (Elric style) or any other occupation and still be able to cast magic spells. Another great feature (in tradition with Elric novels) is character's abilities to summon and bind demons, elementals and other supernatural creatures, depending on the character's following of eather Law, Chaos or Balance... There are no levels so any spell can be cast or creature summoned even by novice sorcerers, only if the adventurer has enough resources for the deed. This, of course, you do at your own risk for it is a high price to pay for disturbing the Lords of the Higher Worlds...
The game has the dark and brutal feel about it and is not recommended for those that prefer high fantasy and happy endings. In my opinion, those that enjoy "Call of Cthulhu" or "Vampire" will like this as well. If you know what I am talking about, go forth and get your hands on this classic piece. You will not regret it, this I swear by Arioch...

The step from 4th to 5th edition is incredible. There are a lot of graphics available including weapons and homeland characters. The new character creation is also excelent and lets you focus a little bit more your adventurer abilities. A must-have rpg.

Are you a Gaming Master or Dungeon Master who runs regular role playing game sessions? If so, then you may want to get a copy of this booklet. It's filled with monsters (though why they call them minions is beyond me) that you can use in virtually any fantasy setting. None of them are all that difficult to dispatch but some are way rougher than others. The Puppet Master is one example and he's a pretty bad, bad tough guy to beat. He makes a great over all boss for an ongoing campaign.

Easy to read. Easy to find the monster type you want. Easily adaptable to any fantasy RPG session. Plus it's got monsters your PC's never seen before - you know the guys/gals who have meta-game knowledge? This book offers monsters they never heard of before! Hah!

Fearsome Foes is a well written addition to the d20 catalog. All of the monsters are well thought out and are intentionally not campaign specific. The best feature of the monster listings is that each one has hints and tips on how to successfully integrate it into an existing world.

My only issue is with layout. It would have been nice if the book had listed one monster per page; rather than following the MM format of putting one monster after another with no breaks. But that hardly detracts from the book's value.

The artwork is reminiscent of 1st and 2nd edition AD&D monster books. It gives the book an almost retro feel.

All in all, I'm very happy with my purchase.

Of all the D20 products out so far, this has got to be the best I've seen. Not only is the content excellent, but the artwork and layout is also of the highest quality. Many of the other D20 items out there are good enough in content to use, but aesthetically fall short. Not so with Minions. If this is any indication to the quality we will continue to see out of Bastion Press, everyone else should pay attention. Buy this for your D&D campaign, you won't be sorry.

One of the best things about Mythologies is the fact that it's purely a background book. It provides a number of origin stories for vampires in the Vampire: The Requiem setting. None of the origins are exclusive of one another, ambitious storytellers can easily make all of the origin myths part of their chronicle. Each of the origin stories includes sample organizations surrounding that story.

Mythologies also includes modern myths or urban legends about vampires such as dream drinking, breath stealing, and drugs that make the damned feel human, if only for a brief time. Stats and rules are kept to a minimum, players and storytellers looking for new vampiric disciplines or rituals would be better served by many of the other books in the Requiem line.

The third and final chapter of Mythologies focuses on threats to Vampires both mundane and supernatural. Whispered legends of ghouls bent on destroying vampires, frenzy-inducing plagues allow storytellers to inject an even healthier dose of paranoia into their chronicle.

Mythologies is exactly as my title describes it - a fantastic idea mine for storytellers or enterprising players who wish to start their own rumours into their chronicle. This book is simply to help storytellers and players alike expand the scope of their chronicles by taking advantage of the mysteries of the vampiric condition and the open origin story in the Requiem setting.

The core book of Vampire the Requiem kept the origin of the Kindred totally open, not even giving one story of their beginnings. This book fills in the past of the Kindred with various optional stories- that the Kindred are the descendants of traitorous blood gods, that they come from people who were too afraid to die, that they were meant to be the faithful servants of gods of light and fire but betrayed them and earned their curse..... All in all, very fascinating reading.

My only real problem with this book was the Antagonists section. Because I skipped the above section and went straight to the Antagonists section, I initially considered this supplement a waste of money. Honestly, the only thing I liked in that section was the Frenzy Plague, and I had a downright hatred of Smiling Jack or whatever his name is. It's this section that brings the whole book down for me, and that which caused the Four Star rating.

So, in short- Most of the sections, 5 out of 5.
The Antagonists section, 2 out of 5.

I just got this in the mail from amazon and Im impressed. This book has guidelines on how to tailor the origin myths of vampires in your setting. YOu can be as detailed or as vague as you want. There are rules for bloodgods, roman cults, and vampires as curses. The best part is the chapter on breath stealing, a great mechanic and very thematic of old vampire legends from the East. Basically its rules and guidelines for vampires who reach certain blood potency to steal the breath (or life force) of their victims. I certainly like it!

This is a great supplement for settings where exploring the origins of vampires is a key elelment of the game. It certainly adds depth and mood to any game but the best part is that it lets YOU the storyteller decide where vampires come from.

I purchased this book to learn more about vampires and the vampire hunters in the Warhammer FRP setting.
The book covers a lot of vampire history, clans, motivation and special characters. For GMs planning on introducing a vampire this is a must, and all players who either want to play a vampire or vampire hunter should know this information as well.
Some new hunter careers together with vampire careers, skills, spells and so on.

The negative issue I have with this book is how they have given a lot of the old vampires stats. These stats are way underpowered and looks designed so that playing parties have a chance killing them. von Carstein, a vampire who has defeated whole armies and is the most intelligent entity in the empire has a an int of 70%.
Also the book has little vampire hunter information, apart from a small chapter and some new careers.

So if you are tired of the old "defeat chaos" routine (Vampires are interestingly enough opposed to chaos) or cant take another "greenskin" attack get this book for ideas and material. All in all this book is good value.

I'm not going to write a long essay on the greatness of this book, it's not for everyone though since it's only about vampires and their bloodlines as it pertains to WFRP... Top notch stuff here though for those of you who love vampires this book is for you. Great extra rules, Necromantic spells and the Careers are terrific, great fluff as well highly recommended. On a side note the Vampires here are not WOD type vampires these are pretty cool and in many cases Hammer filmish..

Chaos--whether in the form of ravening beastmen or scheming cultists--is the "default" antagonist in WFRP. Skulking skaven are a close second. There are reasons for this; they're both iconic to the Warhammer World. Warhammer's vampires don't have quite the same cachet, but Night's Dark Masters goes quite a ways to fix that.

If you're familiar with the Green Ronin WFRP stuff, you'll know what to expect: "in character" fluff from various authorities, extensive background information, a variety of NPCs (nearly all vampires in this case), and adventure hooks. What's missing is a complete adventure. Personally, I've never been that impressed with the adventures they -do- include in their sourcebooks, and don't miss one here. Green Ronin's proofreading continues to improve, and there aren't nearly as many typos as we've gotten accustomed to.

There's information on all of the major bloodlines, from the Dracula-esque Von Carsteins to the bestial Strigoi. In addition to historical information and fully-statted NPCs, there are sketches of other prominent vampires of each bloodline. The basic tack is one "legendary" type vampire, suitable for an epic game, and one more moderately powered NPC suitable for less world-shaking adventures. It should be noted that pretty much any WFRP vampire is dangerous, and the authors stick to that conception.

There are a slew of magical items to power up vampires or the PCs that fight them. There's a career track for vampires, granting them access to a variety of powers (mostly based on their bloodline). There are also a number of careers for aspiring vampire hunters, including the very cool Raven Knight. Last but not least, are advanced necromancy and the various undead monsters it creates.

There is little of "general interest" in this book. It's really designed as the background for a vampire-oriented campaign. Assuming that's the book's goal, it succeeds admirably. The different bloodlines provide options for very different kinds of vampiric antagonists, and there's no need to restrict a vampire campaign to Sylvania. Just as important as the numerous bits of number-crunchiness are the bits of advice on how to use vampires as long-term enemies for your PCs. With the exception of Mannfred von Carstein, there aren't many vampire NPCs who'd be able to stand up to a party of third-career or better adventurers in a straight-up fight. The key, of course, is that vampires will do everything in their power to avoid that straight-up fight. Night's Dark Masters gives the GM plenty of strategies to delay the climactic confrontation, and plenty of dark fireworks to use when it finally happens.

My number one favorite clan...

This book gives great details on the destruction of the Ravnos antediluvian, the subsequent Week of Nightmares and the restructuring of the clan.

I highly recommend this book to any fans of this clan and anyone interested in the Week of Nightmares meta-plot.

The Ravnos clan has been decimated. The survivors are trying to lift themselves from the ashes of the Week of Nightmares. This is their story.

This clanbook does a great job of actually recreating a clan. One of its key points is showing how the stereotypical Ravnos, a thieving gypsy, is all but extinct. The survivors are plagued with the same curse, but they break the mold. This book looks at the past history and culture of the clan but it also looks at the current culture which is much different. The Ravnos that seemed a little different from the stereotype are now the minority of the clan.

I loved how this book took a clan that has long been portrayed in a fairly two dimensional light and added depth and variety to it.

The flaws, in my opinion, are that the book focuses almost exclusively on culture and role-playing, its a little light on rules and new powers. Dont get me wrong, I loved the powers that are included, I just wanted more. Call me greedy.

If you ever liked the Ravnos before you will love them now.

Starting around 1999, White Wolf began revising their World of Darkness gamelines and pushing towards the Final Nights. Unfortunately, one of the first casualties were the Ravnos, when their Antediluvian woke up in Bangladesh, ran amok and was eventually destroyed, cursing his childer with his dying breath. We learned that the Ravnos were not merely wandering Gypsies, but a clan of demon-princes of India and the Near East, the rakshasa, ghul and djinn who created deadly illusions and fought with the Kuei-jin for control of Asia.

Unfortunately, the Clan's Indian heritage was never fully explored. Still, Clanbook: Ravnos revised was a definate (and much needed) improvement on behalf of the Clan. Beginning with a short fiction that showed Ravnos as tomb robbers, we are presented with some views that are very different from the stereotypes. As the book points out several times, the Ravnos are predators even more so than other vampires; their primal Beast urges them to commit crimes repeatedly. They aren't happy-go-lucky tricksters and kelptomaniacs... no, they are thugs, murderers, terrorists, car jackers... the most vile and decadent of criminals, becuase their very soul tempts them to sin.

The book also explores what is left of the Ravnos' history in India, explaining the story of Zapathasura (the Ravnos antediluvian) and his childer, their war with the Kuei-jin, Ravnos dominance of Harappa and Mohenjodaro, the different castes of Ravnos (Chandala, Sudra, Vaisya, Kshatriya and Brahmin), other Kindred in India, the Ravnos in the west, the British raj, current goings on in India (and the rest of Asia) and the Week of Nightmares. But the book is versitle enough for all Ravnos, mentioning the Clan's history in the west as well (particularly Africa and the Mediterranean, but also the Gypsies, whom the clan followed out of India centuries ago).

Other useful sidebars explore their relationship with the Gypsies (which aren't too good, considering most Rroma rightly consider them to be blood sucking parasites), how to avoid contact with Lupines, the Path of Paradox (Mayaparisatya as it's called in India), new applications of Chimerstry and Animalism, the Ravnos relations with their Beast, the war with the Kuei-jin, membership in the Anarchs and Sabbat, reasons for their hatred of the Gangrel, and so forth. A good chunk of the information is meant for the post-Week of Nightmares era. Thats not a bad thing, but this book REALLY pushes metaplot.

Thats probably my biggest problem with the book, actually. Don't get me wrong, the Week of Nightmares is a big thing, but at times it seems the book really tried to push the idea that western Ravnos fared better than their kin in India. To be honest, I found the material about the Ravnos activities in India to be somewhat more interesting. But thats easy enough to ignore. Also, I'm a little uncomfortable with using Bhopal as a backdrop to supernatural events. Over 15,000 people died in the real life Bhopal incident (and Union Carbide has never paid the survivors reparations).... that'd be on par with using 9-11 as a backdrop for supernatural conflicts. It's just bad taste imho. But all in all, this is a pretty good book, barring a few minor details.

I really liked Wraith: The Oblivion, i liked it because it wasa game of real introspection and of not many ways to detour the gameinto a munchkin dream, i liked it because you had to really understand yourself in order to be saved and because your worst enemy was you, i liked it because no other game has scared me silly with something so simple as the "Bang! you are dead" concept. But i also understand that of all the games in the White Wolf line it was the hardest to play. You could not fool your friends posing as a Vampire elder from Slovakia or a raging Werewolf howling for blood, you were alone on the other side surrounded by people who did not like the place a lot and their only pastime was to make your existence more miserable than theirs, you were raw material for coins, chains or armor. To conclude it was a nasty, gut wrenching game that you easilly abandoned playing because it was easier to say that it was boring than recognizing that you were afraidbecause it touched too many nerves to be comfortable. So the line ended in an apocalyptic climax; Charon, ruler of the underworld returns just when Stygia is about to fall to the forces of Oblivion. The Story begins in London where your Wraiths reap (help a poor sod who happens to be Charon reborn to die) the soul of Charon and have to take him to his kingdom all the way besieged by enemies who just want to end you all, when the characters arrive to the Capital, they have to fight against the thoughest badie i have ever seen in a White Wolf supplement, there is no misterious stranger to help you out of this, it is just your party against him and on that fight rests the future of the Underworld. After that comes an ending you would not believe. Is is worth the price? Yes, of course. On a single supplement you can see the direction the whole line of products was directed, and it was a great direction, i don't think any other game line had such a clear path made and at the same time so full of possibilities...Besides the adventure you get for the same price two guildbooks, they are like the Tradition, Clan, Kith, Tribe books that plague the White Wolf system. They are the Mnenoi and Ferrymen Guildbooks, they just wanted to wrap tight the whole thing and not leave a thing upturned I really liked the adventure though it had the feeling of being made in a hurry, they had too many things to say and too few space...Word of advise there, you really need experienced characters in order to survive, so if it is not the ending to your Wraith chronicle then you need to create ancient ghosts to play it safe.

This is how the world ends...sort of. For those that say White Wolf is in it only for money and not for the fans, let me say this: the material in Ends Of Empire could be sold as 4 seperate books, yet the company has decided to put all these loose ends in one place.

Ends of Empire is a bittersweet end to a really creative and unique game line. Name one other role-playing game where your character's death is only the beginning of his adventures. Although Richard Dansky is quite thankful to all those that worked on this book and the ones preceeding it, you can sense a bitter overtone in Afterward.

Still, despite the fact that the book is a testament to a good game being tossed out the window for business reasons, this is a good way to wrap up the world of Wraith: The Oblivion.

This may be the last Wriath book and if it is then the series is ending with one of the best sourcebooks ever written. Keep up the great work Bruce!

The history of the commoner's, new backgrounds, and a new art-metamorphosis. It's time to have the power to turn into the creatures from our own fantasy stories! Yes, you can turn that prince into a frog.

Wondering what the Kithain were doing all those years before the Resurgence? Wanna know what the commoners REALLY think of the ruling minority? Sick of flinching to a bow every time someone says Gwydion? Get this book

After going through the core rule book, a potential Changeling Storyteller would be well advised to thumb through this book. The lion's share is devoted to the Changeling's take on the history of the World of Darkness, with a great deal of material on the Interregnum (when the Sidhe had left) and the Accordance War, which can provide hooks for developing a background for a chronicle's setting. Additionally, secret societies and political viewpoints (conservative, moderate, radical) can provide ideas for bringing intrigue into a story. Finally, a chapter is devoted to assisting the Storyteller in creating a chronicle by suggesting possible themes, moods and story seeds.

Players might be able to draw inspiration from the historical chapter, and they are given a new merit, background and art (Metamorphosis!) and two new kith to try out.

This book is the best Minds Eye theatre book I have read yet. WHile it does have some minor problems in it, overall it is simply beautiful, though i HIGHLY suggest any prospective players or buyers also get a copy of mage Revised, and a copy of the Tradition book they plan to play in. Great work, White Wolf, it was wort the wait.

I started out LARPing with Laws of the Night -- the Vampire game. But after a while, I found Vampire to be too simple for my needs. So I decided to try out Mage and then I was blown away.

Mage has the power, the intrigue, the danger and complexity that Vampire had been missing. Instead of taking the same powers that everyone else has, you can create your own Effects. Sure, as an ST this gives me tons more work to do, but it's all worth it. Now players have more room to create more interesting characters and they have more power to make changes (as opposed to having some centuries old elder boss then around).

I highly recommend this game to anyone who is looking for something more in a LARP game.

A great book. I was intoduced to LARP role playing through Laws of the Acension, and I havn't looked back. The book can be a bit confuseing for new player who hasn't ever played either table top or LARP before. Perticulary if you're a table top player trying to make the switch to LARP. It's not easy. But if you read the book, and have a freind or two near by who can help you out with character creation, then it's a great buy. I wouldn't suggest it for a new player who can't ask his or her freinds about it.

But if you know your stuff, and if you find mages interesting, and you want somthing other then Vampier intruge and Werewolf blood baths, try Mage, it's not only a great mix (if you want a blood bath, then you can have one, if you want a socail game then by all means try it) but the best part about mage is it's flexability. Mage allows player to play almost whatever they choose, and if your into crossover game with other types of supernaturals, then mage is great for that too.

So if your a newbie, I'd try somthing diffrent, however, if you know your LARP and you want a change of pace, try Laws of Ascension. It's fun and truly interesting.

This book contains everything that was cut from the main Trinity sourcebook. Though not required to run a decent Trinity game, it does have some useful information. The sections that contribute most to the game are the parts on the Æon Trinity, daily life in the 22nd century, neutrals and latents, and the merits and flaws.

You will finally get the complete story of the Æon Trinity here, something that should have been in the main book. You'll get info on its role in the world and details on its subdivisions. This section alone is worth the purchase of the book. The Æon Trinity is a good place for psions to go if they don't like the psi orders, governments, or the solitary life.

Many questions regarding daily life were clarified in this book. Though skimpy in substance it is enough to give you a rough idea of the general culture of the world. The sections on neutrals and latents answered a lot of questions regarding their character creation. The merits and flaws sections were basically what you would expect from a White Wolf game though there were a few interesting psion-specific ones.

The other sections elaborated on the psi orders and provided an alternate psi system which is kind of similar to the magic system of Mage the Ascension. It does streamline the system and provide more versatility but I prefer the original psi system from the main book. If you have the other psi order/region books you will not learn a lot of new information from the psi order sections. If you don't than what is in the book should help you out a bit.

This is a good supplement for Trinity. It is a shame that it is out of print since it does fill in a lot of gaps and answers a lot of questions regarding the Trinity universe. There is even information on Quantakinetics.

Trinity is set in the future after the the aberrants(super heroes gone haywire) came back. This RPG combines the white wolf system with a future setting with some of the most unique in rpg player accessable technology and psychic abilitys that make for a very intersting gaming session. I would reccomend this to any white-wolf fan looking for something other than grim dark supernatural of the world of darkness.

The Trinity Players Guide is, IMO, the best Trinity sourcebook relesed so far. It lacks the color section previous Trinity books had, but its contesnt make up for this loss. Among other things, here you'll find: lots of info about the Aeon Trinity, on par with the Order info found in the Order/Region books; additional stuff about the Orders, which is especially useful if you don't own an Order's book or it hasn't been relesed yet; additional character creation material (merits and flaws, new abilities and backgrounds etc.); detailed information on Psi and Psi-related stuff; and a new, alternate Psi system, more flexible and complex than the one found in the main Trinity book (kinda similar to Mage).

Resuming, this book is fantastic: it isn't as pretty-looking as previous Trinity stuff, but it's essential to any serious Trinity player.