User blog:SensibleCenobite/Product Review: Killing Streets.

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This will be the final product review I'll do for Year of the Dragon, and it's a perfect fit since Year of the Dragon is all about gang wars, a Midnight War to be exact, and Killing Street is all about gang wars.

Killing Streets: Pg 2 says I can do a review, thank you very much White Wolf.

Minor Credits: His Majesty Mr. Russel Hammond for protecting my freedom of speech all the way from Brazil, IanWatson for creating the wiki, StrangerThings for the Year of the Dragon Chronicle, the top contributors for the week [Narm00, Russel Hammond, Chainsaw Addict, IanWatson, Pastelkittyqq], new contributors [Pastelkittyqq, Gpgnt, Palmtres, Crumble11, CyrusB1411, Aidenthejoker, Ardemil, Memaxx, JC10169, Samitscherning], FANDOM, and lastly my Chantry for liking the chromatic orbs.

Major Credits: Authors: Michael Butler, Guy-Francis Vella; Developer: Philippe R. Boulle; Developer: Diane M. Piron-Gelman; Art Director: Brian Glass; Layout and Typesetting: Brian Glass; Interior Art: Steve Ellis, Fred Hooper, Christopher Shy, Shane White; Front Cover Art: Christopher Shy; Front and Back Cover Design Brian Glass

'''WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILER ALERT. IF YOU ARE NOT A STORY TELLER THIS COULD RUIN SOME IMPORTANT SECRETS FOR YOU.'''

TheBeardedDragon's overall opinion of Killing Streets: C+ as a stand alone product / A+ as a secondary product: I loved this title since I was about to do a gangster segment for Year of the Dragon, and I own three books that mesh well with Killing Streets; World of Darkness: Hong Kong, World of Darkness: Tokyo, and The 1000 Hells, but as a stand a lone product, it would probably be mediocre. The production team says that in the introduction, so as long as you know what you're about to jump into, you should be fine.

Prelude: Revenge pg 4: A+, I prefer a comic, but this was a nice five page story about a Kuei-Jin gangster with a score to settle. I like how the author uses what graphic novel artists call "the gutter", breaks in between frames of the comic or story that make the reader infer what just happened, which is like an invisible information dump.

Introduction: On the Killing Streets pg 10: A+, This was an excellent introduction and goes in detail on how to use the book, and how not to use this book, by itself namely, and ends with underworld lingo from around Asia [Overall one of the nicer introductions I've read].

Chapter One: To Live and Die pg 18: A+, Chapter one goes over the cultural history of Asia since the age of modernization, with flash backs to how piracy, The Triads, and The Yakuza developed into the modern era. White Wolf explains some effects modernization has had on Asia like a shift from farms to factories, the fight against tradition, the drug trade in and out of the golden triangle, religion, racism [I didn't know this, but the Chinese are considered the Jews of Asia], the role women have in society, the horror that is the sex trade, and various forms of government, mostly pretty strict except for Japan [This product has a copyright date of 2001, so it's a bit moded]. Chapter one is a bit on the academic side, which is fine for nerds like me with BC glasses [Birth control], but it may be a bit dry for you young cats that love bush, blood, and bullets.

Chapter Two: Streets of Blood pg 48: A+, Just like World of Darkness: Hong Kong, this title has a lot of NPCs and a few companies to choose from all over Asia such as China, Japan, Korea, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Burma, and Singapore. That's ironically one of the draw backs to this section, and one of the many reasons this book needs to be used as a secondary novel, there are few NPCs from one area to make a solid contribution to a lengthy Chronicle, just a few sessions.

Chapter Three: Story Telling pg 80: A+, Instead of a pre made story to run, White Wolf has gone out of it's way to make certain you know how use this product correctly, with a emphasis on internal morality conflicts [I'm a good cop, but this bribe could feed my family for a month], external morality conflicts that involve innocent by standers like children, and different themes that crime thrillers usually dwell on like ultra violence and betrayal. One theme that won't fly in most Killing Street Chronicles would be pacifists that refuse to use any violence, even defensive, as most sectors of the underworld use violence and murder to solve their problems.

Appendix: Road Rules for the Dark Metropolis pg 96: A+, Whether you believe it or not my dearest Chantry members, people in Asia respond differently to things than we do in the West, and this chapter makes sure you know it. The appendix expands the rules for various Abilities and Backgrounds like Etiquette, Investigation, Law, Streetwise, Allies, Contacts, Fame, Herds, and Influence. White Wolf ends the book with Broken Mirrors, which are places in the Middle Kingdom that have fused together with Yomi-Wan. Theoretically any of The 1000 Hells can fuse with the Middle Kingdom and become a Broken Mirror, but right now there are two major competitors, Mikaboshi and his Wicked City, and Ragdna with her Hell of Burrowing Maggots. I was surprised to hear it, but there are many more Broken Mirrors in the form of garbage dumps, toxic zones, and plague infested jungles, than there are awful slums, corporate hell jobs, and ad infested porn sites, which makes Ragdna a good candidate for Yama King of the Sixth Age, if Broken Mirrors are a direct measure of success.

Final Grades and Opinions: I bought the pdf version off of DriveThruRPG and I don't own the hard copy. I don't get paid by DriveThruRPG or anyone else for product reviews.

Reading [Was the book a fun read, clarity of text]: A, Killing Streets was a fun read, and there were a few blurry pages, but the text was clear enough to read.

Writing [Spelling errors, typography, Cohesion]: A+, A noticed a few spelling errors, but other than that the Killing Streets is laid out well. I bumped the grade up to A+ for the five page story at the start.

Characters [Amount, quality, context, immersion]: A+, Just like World of Darkness: Hong Kong, this title has a metric butt ton of characters to insert into a Chronicle, but since they're spread out all over Asia, it may be harder to insert them all into one Chronicle logically.

Locations [Amount, quality, context, immersion]: A+, Every major Asian country is represented in Killing Streets and there will be plenty to do.

Artwork [Context immersion, quality, length spent staring at pictures]: B+, The art is fair, but not spectacular, and I didn't spend as much time on these pics as I do on Werewolf and Changing Breeds. There are many hints of supernatural entities in this title, but just like Shadow War, it seemed more like Shaodowrun than Vampire.

Circles are complete; Triangles are immutable. Hallelujah, Hail Cthulhu, Praise Evolution,

TheBeardedDragon