Review: Apocalypse
I'm cheating here - this is actually a review I wrote shortly after the book was released (albeit slightly edited for better sense).
While I would love to do a proper review of Apocalypse RPG-Net style, I really don't feel up to that. But now I have read the whole thing I can at
least do what I can to sum up the good and bad points about each scenario.
"I firmly believe [in] ending Werewolf with an apocalyptic bang." - Ethan Skemp
The first chapter - The End Times - recaps, clarifies and updates on previous events, prophesies and factions - Wyrm, Fera and other
supernaturals. This is a good section, with solid information for those without access to relevant books and yet enough new information for
experienced readers. It also sets the mood for the whole book.
______________
Scenario one - The Last Battleground - is one of the two complete scenarios. Both A Tribe Falls and Ragnorak make frequent reference to this chapter so it is essential to read it first. The Last Battleground takes up the tale largely where Rage Across the Heavens left off and almost makes you want to run the "adventure" in that book. This scenario may be "fought largely in the Umbra" but the Umbra is a very large place and the chapter covers most of it.
Summary: the Wyrm has decided that It Is Time and sets events in motion that will inevitably lead to one giant battle on the last battleground. Can the garou work out the Wyrm's plan before it happens? Can they do enough to stop it?
The Last Battleground gives the Storyteller a strong and cohesive picture of what is happening and where. With so many factions and places involved this is no mean feat. The Storyteller is then left the task of working out which of the events described the PCs should become involved in. This is the easiest scenario to run as-written.
______________
The second scenario - A Tribe Falls - is the weakest of the chapters. This is understandable considering that the author is trying to write 13 (or even 26) stories in one, and does not have the space to expand any of them. Neither is it helped, however, by the author's confusion whether he is writing a complete story or supplementary material for the other scenarios. None of this chapter convinced me that it could stand alone in a chronicle of the Apocalypse.
Having said that, this chapter contains some of the best standalone material in the book: the Totem Symbolism sidebar, the Silver Fang and Uktena stories and the Principles of a Garou Civil War for example.
Summary: a tribe of garou or the hengeyokai fall to the Wyrm and the Weaver, potentially taking the rest of the garou nation by storm. How do the PCs cope with this betrayal? Can the garou pull together against the new threat?
______________
Scenario 3 - Weaver Ascendant - is the second complete scenario. Unlike The Last Battleground this is not one cohesive story. Rather the Weaver seems to get tremendous powers all of a sudden which it never had before.
Summary: the rise of the machine and, seperately, Shinzui Industries give the Weaver the edge it needs to take on the Garou nation. Although the garou are not as badly hit as they are in other scenarios, this new enemy causes confusion with its new tactics.
Despite the anomalies presented - how can Shinzui take down enemies that the Garou have been trying to defeat for half a century? - this was one of my favourite chapters. Why? Like the Lilith scenario in Gehenna, this is a good idea that was not executed as good as it could have been. However, this chapter is chock full of ideas that could be used in any apocalyptic chronicle - in particular ideas for the Fera (and a small note on the fate of the Tzimisce *cackle*). The Ananasi, Bastet, Corax Gurahl and Rokea all get substantial chunks, as (unfortunately for me) do the Nuwisha. Many clans get their 5 minutes of fame in this scenario, albeit summarised so
briefly in many cases that impressive triumphs sound like walks in the park. And of course there is Operation: Full Disclosure which is so cool that everyone will be saying, "Why didn't we do this before?".
______________
Scenario 4 - Ragnorak - is the scenario of global destruction. Meteorites head towards the Earth and - unless someone can pull a big rabbit out of a very small hat - Luna is destined to sacrifice herself to save Gaia. Fragments of moon and meteorite hit sea and land, the sky is covered with darkness and all sides (well, two of them anyway) prepare for war.
Ragnorak draws on many of the scenes in The Last Battleground, and yet creates many of its own. It introduces the Fera but plays up the Fera's distrust of the Garou. Ragnorak gives a very solid basis of a plot and a possible story to tell, but gives huge numbers of other ways of involving the PCs. It is almost as full of ideas as the previous scenario but with a more coherent story.
Ragnorak starts with a bang and ends with a bang. Whichever of the cool ideas that you decide to use, you are going to end up with the final battle. The huge epic battle is in The Final Battleground, while Ragnorak's is made to feel a lot more personal. Ragnorak, however, is also the most likely scenario to include the kindred prophecies of Gehenna (the proper ones, not the fudged stuff from the book of the same name).
______________
Chapter 6 - The Last Tale - is the storyteller section that seems to be universal in White Wolf books. While nothing stunning, it does contain
sensible advice and is worth flicking through as you consider your apocalypse.
______________
Appendix - Rules and Dramatis Persona. Most of the information here is relevant to specific scenarios. By tucking the stats at the back they do not clutter up the stories. The characters, rites, gifts and fetishes are well written and clear.
______________
Art: Each chapter is mainly populated with the art of one person: Jeff Rebner gets the introduction, Ron Spencer chapter one, then Larry
MacDougall, Steve Prescott*, Alex Sheikman, Steve Ellis and Brian LeBlanc, and assorted artists in the Appendix. Ron Spencer as usual blows away most of the competition, but Brian LeBlanc's ruinscape on page 179 took my breath away and thumbs up to Steve Prescott for his corrupted Hengeyokai on page 111.
My only complaint with the art is that of Larry MacDougall. His garou seem to be more in the style of Kevin and Kell (is furries the right word?) which *does* give a different take on them, but makes the ultimate fight between Albrecht and Zhyzak look ridiculous.
* This is the only artist I was not 100% confident I correctly identified.
______________
Fiction: like Gehenna (the equivalent end-of-line/world book for Vampire: the Masquerade), the fiction starts a really good story that is not
truly developed anywhere else. However, with so little room to develop so many of the ideas mentioned I like to think of them (there is an additional tale at the end) as undeveloped chronicles for the Storyteller to use should they see fit.
______________
Overall this is the best Werewolf book that has been out for years, and there has been some decent stuff produced (edit: on reflection, this includes the books in the Forsaken line). The only WoD book I can think of that beats it for plot hooks per square inch is Time of Thin Blood, but this is a much bigger book. In addition, it is playable.
There are some weak sections, and the book has a habit of going through some scenes in depth and others not at all. I also found a couple of trivial editing bugs! The only scenario I think is "missing" is the Explosion of the Wyld, but with only four slots available I really am glad that was the one not included.
Inevitably I am going to compare this to Gehenna, although I apologise now for oversimplification. Gehenna's focus on personal redemption meant that a lot more time was spent describing individual scenes, and I think that very few of those scenes benefitted from such detailed attention. Apocalypse tries to fit the fate of so much into a fantastically small space - it creates a world and allows room for the PCs rather than the other way around.
I rate Apocalypse 9/10 - and I don't give 10s.
While I would love to do a proper review of Apocalypse RPG-Net style, I really don't feel up to that. But now I have read the whole thing I can at
least do what I can to sum up the good and bad points about each scenario.
"I firmly believe [in] ending Werewolf with an apocalyptic bang." - Ethan Skemp
The first chapter - The End Times - recaps, clarifies and updates on previous events, prophesies and factions - Wyrm, Fera and other
supernaturals. This is a good section, with solid information for those without access to relevant books and yet enough new information for
experienced readers. It also sets the mood for the whole book.
______________
Scenario one - The Last Battleground - is one of the two complete scenarios. Both A Tribe Falls and Ragnorak make frequent reference to this chapter so it is essential to read it first. The Last Battleground takes up the tale largely where Rage Across the Heavens left off and almost makes you want to run the "adventure" in that book. This scenario may be "fought largely in the Umbra" but the Umbra is a very large place and the chapter covers most of it.
Summary: the Wyrm has decided that It Is Time and sets events in motion that will inevitably lead to one giant battle on the last battleground. Can the garou work out the Wyrm's plan before it happens? Can they do enough to stop it?
The Last Battleground gives the Storyteller a strong and cohesive picture of what is happening and where. With so many factions and places involved this is no mean feat. The Storyteller is then left the task of working out which of the events described the PCs should become involved in. This is the easiest scenario to run as-written.
______________
The second scenario - A Tribe Falls - is the weakest of the chapters. This is understandable considering that the author is trying to write 13 (or even 26) stories in one, and does not have the space to expand any of them. Neither is it helped, however, by the author's confusion whether he is writing a complete story or supplementary material for the other scenarios. None of this chapter convinced me that it could stand alone in a chronicle of the Apocalypse.
Having said that, this chapter contains some of the best standalone material in the book: the Totem Symbolism sidebar, the Silver Fang and Uktena stories and the Principles of a Garou Civil War for example.
Summary: a tribe of garou or the hengeyokai fall to the Wyrm and the Weaver, potentially taking the rest of the garou nation by storm. How do the PCs cope with this betrayal? Can the garou pull together against the new threat?
______________
Scenario 3 - Weaver Ascendant - is the second complete scenario. Unlike The Last Battleground this is not one cohesive story. Rather the Weaver seems to get tremendous powers all of a sudden which it never had before.
Summary: the rise of the machine and, seperately, Shinzui Industries give the Weaver the edge it needs to take on the Garou nation. Although the garou are not as badly hit as they are in other scenarios, this new enemy causes confusion with its new tactics.
Despite the anomalies presented - how can Shinzui take down enemies that the Garou have been trying to defeat for half a century? - this was one of my favourite chapters. Why? Like the Lilith scenario in Gehenna, this is a good idea that was not executed as good as it could have been. However, this chapter is chock full of ideas that could be used in any apocalyptic chronicle - in particular ideas for the Fera (and a small note on the fate of the Tzimisce *cackle*). The Ananasi, Bastet, Corax Gurahl and Rokea all get substantial chunks, as (unfortunately for me) do the Nuwisha. Many clans get their 5 minutes of fame in this scenario, albeit summarised so
briefly in many cases that impressive triumphs sound like walks in the park. And of course there is Operation: Full Disclosure which is so cool that everyone will be saying, "Why didn't we do this before?".
______________
Scenario 4 - Ragnorak - is the scenario of global destruction. Meteorites head towards the Earth and - unless someone can pull a big rabbit out of a very small hat - Luna is destined to sacrifice herself to save Gaia. Fragments of moon and meteorite hit sea and land, the sky is covered with darkness and all sides (well, two of them anyway) prepare for war.
Ragnorak draws on many of the scenes in The Last Battleground, and yet creates many of its own. It introduces the Fera but plays up the Fera's distrust of the Garou. Ragnorak gives a very solid basis of a plot and a possible story to tell, but gives huge numbers of other ways of involving the PCs. It is almost as full of ideas as the previous scenario but with a more coherent story.
Ragnorak starts with a bang and ends with a bang. Whichever of the cool ideas that you decide to use, you are going to end up with the final battle. The huge epic battle is in The Final Battleground, while Ragnorak's is made to feel a lot more personal. Ragnorak, however, is also the most likely scenario to include the kindred prophecies of Gehenna (the proper ones, not the fudged stuff from the book of the same name).
______________
Chapter 6 - The Last Tale - is the storyteller section that seems to be universal in White Wolf books. While nothing stunning, it does contain
sensible advice and is worth flicking through as you consider your apocalypse.
______________
Appendix - Rules and Dramatis Persona. Most of the information here is relevant to specific scenarios. By tucking the stats at the back they do not clutter up the stories. The characters, rites, gifts and fetishes are well written and clear.
______________
Art: Each chapter is mainly populated with the art of one person: Jeff Rebner gets the introduction, Ron Spencer chapter one, then Larry
MacDougall, Steve Prescott*, Alex Sheikman, Steve Ellis and Brian LeBlanc, and assorted artists in the Appendix. Ron Spencer as usual blows away most of the competition, but Brian LeBlanc's ruinscape on page 179 took my breath away and thumbs up to Steve Prescott for his corrupted Hengeyokai on page 111.
My only complaint with the art is that of Larry MacDougall. His garou seem to be more in the style of Kevin and Kell (is furries the right word?) which *does* give a different take on them, but makes the ultimate fight between Albrecht and Zhyzak look ridiculous.
* This is the only artist I was not 100% confident I correctly identified.
______________
Fiction: like Gehenna (the equivalent end-of-line/world book for Vampire: the Masquerade), the fiction starts a really good story that is not
truly developed anywhere else. However, with so little room to develop so many of the ideas mentioned I like to think of them (there is an additional tale at the end) as undeveloped chronicles for the Storyteller to use should they see fit.
______________
Overall this is the best Werewolf book that has been out for years, and there has been some decent stuff produced (edit: on reflection, this includes the books in the Forsaken line). The only WoD book I can think of that beats it for plot hooks per square inch is Time of Thin Blood, but this is a much bigger book. In addition, it is playable.
There are some weak sections, and the book has a habit of going through some scenes in depth and others not at all. I also found a couple of trivial editing bugs! The only scenario I think is "missing" is the Explosion of the Wyld, but with only four slots available I really am glad that was the one not included.
Inevitably I am going to compare this to Gehenna, although I apologise now for oversimplification. Gehenna's focus on personal redemption meant that a lot more time was spent describing individual scenes, and I think that very few of those scenes benefitted from such detailed attention. Apocalypse tries to fit the fate of so much into a fantastically small space - it creates a world and allows room for the PCs rather than the other way around.
I rate Apocalypse 9/10 - and I don't give 10s.