Ends of Empire

Rating:
Summary: The end of a game line as we know it
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: This is it...
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Great end to a great game.
Review: 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!