Book Review: White Wolf Vampire Clan

Written by Harry

I mentioned a little while back that Hunter: The Vigil would be released this month. I figured I would wait for the release before ordering some other White Wolf source books I had my eye on, namely two of the new Clan books for Vampire: The Requiem.

A few days ago, I realized that GenCon was now in full swing. No doubt, many a World of Darkness fan now had Hunter in their hot little hands, so I toddled on over to Amazon to see the reviews.

Why did I choose Amazon and not the White Wolf store? White Wolf and I have a love/hate relationship.

I love the World of Darkness system. Always have; always will. But White Wolf doesn’t treat their fan-base very well. I’ve had quite a few bones to pick with them over the years, and so has James. Their customer service is terrible. Their books are less expensive on Amazon, and if I have to buy books to support my habit, I’m certainly not going to give anyone more money than I have to.

But that’s for another post on another day. I digress.

Of Ventrues and Daevas

Back to our regularly scheduled program:

I enjoy when the Vampire or Forsaken books go into detail on tribes, clans, lodges, and covenants. It’s a peek behind the curtain and helps me flesh out other aspects of my characters with a little bit of supernatural history.

In the past, these source books have been very well done. The Werewolf tribe books were great. They all followed the formula of a history of the tribe, new gifts and merits for each auspice, and a few more interesting goodies at the end of each book.

Last night my Ventrue and Daeva clan books arrived.

The covers were impressive. Both were a nice combination of sleek gloss and silky matte finish. (I’m a sucker for that matte finish). The stock they used for the paperback covers was impressive; it was nice, thick cardstock to withstand the rigors of LARP or tabletop gaming.

Visual Overload

This is where tranquility ended. I opened Daeva: Kiss of the Succubus and my brain nearly exploded.

White Wolf often offers a few pages of short fiction stories at the beginning of many of their source books highlighting the content of the book. As I began flipping through the pages, I wondered where the story ended and the source material began.

It was much the same as Scion: Hero. White Wolf’s source books used to only have about six pages of prelude. Scion broke that rule with over twice that number. Many people felt as if White Wolf was pushing their signature characters for that particular system rather than leaving creative doors open for players to create their own characters.

It was the same with my new books. In addition to the 112 pages of clan information interwoven with story, there was enough graphic bling to make even Liberace roll his eyes. Some pages looked like a graphic novel; others looked like handwritten notes with paperclips holding them to the page. Still more were written in the dreaded Courier font, one that looks like it came from a typewriter to simulate that… Well, that the page came from a typewriter.

It gets worse. Other pages had four or five different fonts all on the same page and still more pages written with mock handwriting.

Make It Stop, Please!

I’m sorry. I would love to give you a review of the actual contents of the book as far as mechanics and my opinion, but I can’t get past the graphic chaos.

In the past, the clan and tribe books used some of the graphic elements here and there. The designers sprinkled them like spice. It was just enough to make the books beautiful.

I feel like someone in the White Wolf art department ran in and said, “Okay, boys! We’ve got an order for one with everything on it. The works!”

No. No. I repeat, no. I like pretty, but I like information too. I don’t want to read page after page of a Ventrue’s personal diary or be blasted with horrible graphics. I mean, sheesh, if the writers at White Wolf are so hard up on putting out fiction novels, then do it already!

(Yes, that was sarcasm. White Wolf has fiction novels based on the games. We won’t go there today.)

But That’s Not The Worst Part

The worst part is that I’m an obsessive collector of series. When I have one, I must have all. Like a train wreck, I’ll eventually dive back into these books simply because they’re there, taunting me and egging me on to discover the information within.

So, I have to buy the next book, Savage and Macabre: Gangrel, slated for release in September only because my beloved Cole Morrison has the clan roots in his bloodline.

What’s a fan to do, I ask you? Maybe someone out there has been brave enough to read these books. If so, I’d like to hear your take on them.

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