Rokea: First-Born of Sea

Rating:
Summary: Not just another fish story
Review: Well I must say Rokea, the Werewolf:The Apocolypse supplement about weresharks, was a much better read than I'd anticipated. The opening story draws one in, and I think it covers it's topic rather well. Their take on the Triat is interesting, if a little too long. That said, I'd gone in terribly skeptical about it. I mean, werewolves are one thing, but weresharks? I wasn't hopeful but ended up pleasantly surprised by it. It's very interesing, and gives the Story Teller good ideas on how to use them in a Chronicle. Might even be fun to run an all-Rokea game!

Per usual though, I was not terribly impressed by the artwork. If you like stiff or over-exaggerated (bad) comic book stuff, you might appreciate it. Being a fan of one or two of the artists in the White Wolf stable (John Cobb and Steve Prescott, to give you an idea on my tastes) I am disappointed that those that get the most play are the poorest. In my opinion of course.

So long as you're not interested in the pictures, I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: Sea's Defenders
Review: Well, this was going to be an interesting read. The brief description of the Rokea (weresharks) in the Werewolf Players Guide sounded intriguing, but problematic. The sharks are the only shapeshifter in the sea, limiting the potential for all-Rokea games, venturing on land is a capital crime amongst them, and weresharks born from humans are virtually non-existant. All of this made them one of the more awkward races to work into a Werewolf game. So does this book solve that problem. In a word, yes.

The Rokean point of view is expanded on. Essentially, the Rokea have one directive: Survive. Until recently, they were happy to let the land-dwellers (pretty much every race in the World of Darkness) take care of themselves until over half their race were wiped out by a nuclear blast in 1955. Since then, they've been split into those who would live with the surface world and those who would live without it.

We also get an insight into the somewhat primal mind of the wereshark. Their directives are simple: Protect the oceans and do whatever you have to to survive. Everything stems from that, and as usual with these books, provide fodder for the method actors among us (how would you see the world if you were born as a tiger shark?)

As usual for the 'Breedbooks', there are a collection of new Gifts, Rites, Merits and Flaws (the funniest of which is 'Tonic Immobility' which means that like normal sharks the Rokea will lapse into a torpor if placed on their back-even if in human form!)

The artwork bears especial mention, capturing the sleek brutality of sharks well (and reminding you why 'Jaws' was so scary) Standouts are the monstrous Black Shark, a horde of Rokea attacking a Soviet submarine and the demonstration of the five Rokea forms (human, muscular, hunchbacked human, the shark-man war-form, the prehistoric giant shark and shark)

At the end, we're given a sample adventure which includes some possibilites for bringing werewolves and weresharks together

Lastly, there is some miscellaneous information on sharks in the real world, the varying perceptions of sharks in mythology and pop-culture and information on the evolutionary role of sharks (they predate even the dinosaurs and the Mokole werereptiles)

Overall, it's an impressive book. Well worth the purchase if you plan to send your Mage / Werewolf / Vampire party near the sea any time soon.