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Rating: 
Summary: Something of a Travelogue
Review: The World of Darkness setting is highly useful for the player of any of the White Wolf games (Vampire, Werewolf, Changeling, Mage, Wraith, or even Hunter) who wants to know more about the world in which he finds himself. In that respect, this work is almost like a travel brochure, although it is a bit sparse on some details. It's useful for those who need to know where NOT to go. I find it most useful for Vampire, but that seems to be a general bias in the WoD line.
Rating: 
Summary: Much Mystery in the World
Review: This is a pretty decent book if you want to run a non-western Vampire game. Most other gamelines like Mage, Werewolf and Changeling only get brief mentions (if that), and some like Hunter and Mummy came out WAY later than this book so aren't even covered at all. But still, the setting information in this book is pretty decent. I skipped over the first part of the book, North America, and went into the Latin America part. Some pretty good stuff, talking about the Lasomba powerbase, Setite influence in voudon and candomble, Brujah revolutionaries, Gangrel in the Amazon, Ananasi werespiders, Mayan and Incan Dreamspeakers and so forth. All Clans, bloodlines and the like get covered (which pretty much lays out the framework for the next chapters). Then we get the British Isles and Europe. For the most part, we get a lay out of which Clans have influence where. For instance, the Lasombra in Spain and Italy, Tzimisce in Eastern Europe, Toreador in France, Malkavians in the Low Countries, Tremere and Ventrue in Britain, Assamites in Turkey, etc. A little of each country is given with some info on the power structures. Then we got to the stuff I really liked. The chapters on Africa, Arabia and Egypt. The Arabia section gives a real quick overveiw of the Ashirra in the modern nights, not much new (and unfortunately only a little Assamite material), but the Egypt section is great. Lots of Egyptian history, stuff on the Vampire power structures of Cairo and Alexandria. And of course the battles between the Setites, Assamites and Camarilla. Then the Africa section, which was really nice. Its pre-Ebony Kingdom, but gives write ups of each Clan in the region. Again, stereotypical stuff like Assamite assassins, Moorish Lasombra, bestial Nosferatu and Gangrel, Setites everywhere, Malkavian dervishes, etc. Some stuff on the Dreamspeakers, Mokole, Ananasi and Garou too, but not much. Then some (real) brief teasers of Asia, and the western vampires, and finally some stuff on Australia (which was regrettably shorter than I'd have liked).
Overall, its a good, cheap book for running non-western games, but its pretty broad and stereotypical so you could just as easily come up with stuff on your own by reading about the region's politics and history. Plus, new books like Kindred of the East, Kindred of the Ebony Kingdoms, Blood Sacrifice and Veil of Night (plus the new Assamite and Setite clanbooks) have really fleshed out much of Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America, so this book is sort of dated. Still, its a pretty decent book for the facts contained in it, if nothing else.
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