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Werewolf Blasphemies *OP
"Is there some sort of appeal to being ignorant? Do you sleep better without the knowledge of things outside your tiny boundaries? Perhaps it suits you not knowing why you should be afraid. If you die having only known a single beautiful lie, perhaps you'll be happier. Or perhaps that will be the worst regret to haunt you in hell."
-- Olivia Citysmith
Blasphemies is a 144-page hardcover supplement for The Forsaken
This book
* Multiple alternate creation myths and the lodges who exemplify their heretic ideas
* Human cults formed around werewolves and the denizens of Shadow
* The secrets of the Bale Hounds, from scattered cults to the rumor of the ninth tribe
-- Olivia Citysmith
Blasphemies is a 144-page hardcover supplement for The Forsaken
This book
* Multiple alternate creation myths and the lodges who exemplify their heretic ideas
* Human cults formed around werewolves and the denizens of Shadow
* The secrets of the Bale Hounds, from scattered cults to the rumor of the ninth tribe
144 pages, Hardcover
First published January 30, 2006
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October 23, 2013
This was a decent book to read and overall the makers did a good job in terms of writing, structuring, ideas and artwork. Especially certain alternative creation myths, some lodges and monsters, as well as cults hold promise for storytelling no matter whether for a Werewolf game or any other. Of course the Bale Hounds are a good portion of horror, so good and promising that it is a shame that there isn't some more about them.
And sadly with this we are at one of the major drawbacks of this book. I think it’s a bit too short. The section on the cults should have had some more depth in my eyes, maybe not in case of the general rules but maybe for the examples given. The cult section overall has its strengths and weaknesses, the strength in its concepts and the weakness in its artwork, it simply doesn't come along as that threatening, while the ones on the creation myths and lodges is quite good and fitting, the one in the chapter on the bale hounds… sometimes they overdid it and so it comes along a bit goofy in my eyes.
But they managed to balance that out. For instance while the short story at the start was nice in all its disgusting glory and set a good tone for the Bale Hounds I think it was misplaced , and a story on a cult or alternative creation story might have been better. Or while the Quetzal lodge does lead to some questions regarding world-building, its jaguar-monsters make good adversaries.
The alternative creation stories were all well done and thought through, and the rules or better guidelines set for creating new myths were easy to follow and surely can be used for other game lines or world building in fiction in general, when you get past the werewolf specific language. But I admit that I could have done without the Lycaon myth, but that is only because everyone does him, the story itself is ok. Some of these stories are directly tied to some human cultures while others seem somewhat global albeit still using obvious European names (Gaea, Luna, Helios etc.).
The section on the cults and gangs had its major drawback: the artwork, which sometimes had the gangs look like freakshows, but how such cults can be formed and influenced by the supernatural centers was very inspiring in my eyes (e.g. when humans and spirits actually manage to form a direct connection it always ends bad for the humans and they start mutating). Sometimes the humans do not even know that the beings they serve are spirits, they think it's an angel, ghost, alien or an actual urban legend figure and sometimes the supernaturals themselves believe that they are beings of legend of folklore (e.g. some Spider Monster that actually thinks that its "Miss Nancy" [aka Anansi]), thereby adding even more mystery to the story and maybe even creating good stuff for a sort of supernatural detective story.
The lodges and the mots had the best artwork and while I did like them, as well as the portrayed jaguar-monsters, I do wonder why all lodges and mots based on real world myths and culture are so European. The mots all sound as though they are cliche neonazis to be honest, downright to simplification of everything and the two lodges based on real world myths are of a Greek/Arcadian nature. Sure it somehow fits since despite all claims to the contrary, werewolves are in the majority a European/Western phenomenon, however this game line claims them to be universal and so I would have preferred if the lodges reflected that.
While I like the lodges, the two South American ones have a problem: how do they remain hidden in wolf form? Sure they have powers for disguise but how did older lines of Uratha remain undetected? Also that one character was described as having "round features" giving away his "native heritage". Apparently someone did not tell the artists, because that picture looks nothing like that.
The last chapter on the Bale Hound and there spirit masters had the strongest horror potential and I think they did it well, although their spirit masters could have had a bit more creative names and the spirit of lust should not be female in this concept, since it embodies more than just sexual lust and as such it surely embodies "passions" usually associated with men.
What I also like is that the book doesn't downplay these werewolves. Unlike with many pieces of fiction, this one does not condemn people for not wanting to associate with "reformed" Bale Hounds but states that some people are not "loners" because they are "cool" but because there is something deeply wrong with them and someone like a Bale Hound did things that would cause any sane person to mistrust them.
Sadly, while for the most part they balance it out, there are some major drawbacks in this book, that makes me not want to give it more than 3 stars, which is good, but not as good as a book with such a theme could have been:
1) The book is rather American centric, and with that I mean the USA, sure you have lodges and myths from other places but sadly these are the ones that would directly speak to US-American audience.
2) There are cases of false political correctness, e.g. speaking of "ethnic" names as opposed to english ones, as if Anglo-American is not an ethnicity and basically lumping all non-Anglo names in one pot.
3) The biggest flaw of the book is when it refers to real world people and events. It seems to suggest that the legendary Cuchulainn could be fitting for a werewolf in this game line. Which I do not agree with in any way. There is some sort of battle-fit for him in his legends but he had them already as a child and according to the game rules Uratha (as the werewolves are called here) awaken their powers not before puberty. And Cuchulainn died at age 18 as far as I know.
4) The book fell for the belief that lycanthropy was considered a disease spread via bite. Thereby meaning werewolfism and that it is tied to the moon. However unlike what the book suggests there are no actual legends featuring the bite prior to the Silver Screen and the moon was a seriously underdeveloped feature of legends, the average folkloric werewolf could change at any time by using a pelt or an ointment. That is something they should have known. And there definition of "werewolf" seems to be inconsistent, since they state the Indian film "Jaani Dushman" as a werewolf film even if the monster in the film looks rather like a gorilla and actually possessed people. That they didn't know the controversy behind the silver-bullets story of the Beast of Gevaudan was already suspicious. So I think it' save to say that you should not belief the real world references of this book.
5) The book contradicts other books of the game line. The book states that some human cults take the skin of werewolves and share the pelt/fur among them. That is impossible according to the rules of this game line. It is clearly established that all werewolves return to human form upon death and cut off body parts do so as well even if the werewolf is still alive. But the text doesn't mention this, at all.
And sadly with this we are at one of the major drawbacks of this book. I think it’s a bit too short. The section on the cults should have had some more depth in my eyes, maybe not in case of the general rules but maybe for the examples given. The cult section overall has its strengths and weaknesses, the strength in its concepts and the weakness in its artwork, it simply doesn't come along as that threatening, while the ones on the creation myths and lodges is quite good and fitting, the one in the chapter on the bale hounds… sometimes they overdid it and so it comes along a bit goofy in my eyes.
But they managed to balance that out. For instance while the short story at the start was nice in all its disgusting glory and set a good tone for the Bale Hounds I think it was misplaced , and a story on a cult or alternative creation story might have been better. Or while the Quetzal lodge does lead to some questions regarding world-building, its jaguar-monsters make good adversaries.
The alternative creation stories were all well done and thought through, and the rules or better guidelines set for creating new myths were easy to follow and surely can be used for other game lines or world building in fiction in general, when you get past the werewolf specific language. But I admit that I could have done without the Lycaon myth, but that is only because everyone does him, the story itself is ok. Some of these stories are directly tied to some human cultures while others seem somewhat global albeit still using obvious European names (Gaea, Luna, Helios etc.).
The section on the cults and gangs had its major drawback: the artwork, which sometimes had the gangs look like freakshows, but how such cults can be formed and influenced by the supernatural centers was very inspiring in my eyes (e.g. when humans and spirits actually manage to form a direct connection it always ends bad for the humans and they start mutating). Sometimes the humans do not even know that the beings they serve are spirits, they think it's an angel, ghost, alien or an actual urban legend figure and sometimes the supernaturals themselves believe that they are beings of legend of folklore (e.g. some Spider Monster that actually thinks that its "Miss Nancy" [aka Anansi]), thereby adding even more mystery to the story and maybe even creating good stuff for a sort of supernatural detective story.
The lodges and the mots had the best artwork and while I did like them, as well as the portrayed jaguar-monsters, I do wonder why all lodges and mots based on real world myths and culture are so European. The mots all sound as though they are cliche neonazis to be honest, downright to simplification of everything and the two lodges based on real world myths are of a Greek/Arcadian nature. Sure it somehow fits since despite all claims to the contrary, werewolves are in the majority a European/Western phenomenon, however this game line claims them to be universal and so I would have preferred if the lodges reflected that.
While I like the lodges, the two South American ones have a problem: how do they remain hidden in wolf form? Sure they have powers for disguise but how did older lines of Uratha remain undetected? Also that one character was described as having "round features" giving away his "native heritage". Apparently someone did not tell the artists, because that picture looks nothing like that.
The last chapter on the Bale Hound and there spirit masters had the strongest horror potential and I think they did it well, although their spirit masters could have had a bit more creative names and the spirit of lust should not be female in this concept, since it embodies more than just sexual lust and as such it surely embodies "passions" usually associated with men.
What I also like is that the book doesn't downplay these werewolves. Unlike with many pieces of fiction, this one does not condemn people for not wanting to associate with "reformed" Bale Hounds but states that some people are not "loners" because they are "cool" but because there is something deeply wrong with them and someone like a Bale Hound did things that would cause any sane person to mistrust them.
Sadly, while for the most part they balance it out, there are some major drawbacks in this book, that makes me not want to give it more than 3 stars, which is good, but not as good as a book with such a theme could have been:
1) The book is rather American centric, and with that I mean the USA, sure you have lodges and myths from other places but sadly these are the ones that would directly speak to US-American audience.
2) There are cases of false political correctness, e.g. speaking of "ethnic" names as opposed to english ones, as if Anglo-American is not an ethnicity and basically lumping all non-Anglo names in one pot.
3) The biggest flaw of the book is when it refers to real world people and events. It seems to suggest that the legendary Cuchulainn could be fitting for a werewolf in this game line. Which I do not agree with in any way. There is some sort of battle-fit for him in his legends but he had them already as a child and according to the game rules Uratha (as the werewolves are called here) awaken their powers not before puberty. And Cuchulainn died at age 18 as far as I know.
4) The book fell for the belief that lycanthropy was considered a disease spread via bite. Thereby meaning werewolfism and that it is tied to the moon. However unlike what the book suggests there are no actual legends featuring the bite prior to the Silver Screen and the moon was a seriously underdeveloped feature of legends, the average folkloric werewolf could change at any time by using a pelt or an ointment. That is something they should have known. And there definition of "werewolf" seems to be inconsistent, since they state the Indian film "Jaani Dushman" as a werewolf film even if the monster in the film looks rather like a gorilla and actually possessed people. That they didn't know the controversy behind the silver-bullets story of the Beast of Gevaudan was already suspicious. So I think it' save to say that you should not belief the real world references of this book.
5) The book contradicts other books of the game line. The book states that some human cults take the skin of werewolves and share the pelt/fur among them. That is impossible according to the rules of this game line. It is clearly established that all werewolves return to human form upon death and cut off body parts do so as well even if the werewolf is still alive. But the text doesn't mention this, at all.
Displaying 1 of 1 review