User blog:SensibleCenobite/Product Review: World of Darkness: Hong Kong

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'''WARNING: Suitable for all Acolytes and Mages. This is just fiction, duh. NOT FOR SLEEPERS. If my blog offends you at any point, you have the option to not read it. MONITOR YOUR SLEEPERS.'''

Thank you very much for your patience my fabulous creatures of the night. After my two week break I feel so much better. I'm still reading a little slow, but managed to get through with a smile. As promised, I'll use Kit and Bun for indirect pro nouns this book review. Next book review will be He/Him/His.

World of Darkness: Hong Kong: 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, StrangerThings for the Kindred of the East campaign, Ebakunin for working diligently everyday of the year it seems, FANDOM, and lastly my Chantry for liking my chromatic orbs.

World of Darkness: Hong Kong: Credits: Authors: Jackie Cassada, Nicky Rea; Additional Material and Accuracy Consultation: Chris Parsons and Sarah Clark; Editor: Allison Sturms Art; Director: Lawrence Snelly; Layout and Typesetting: Robby Poore; Front Cover: Jay Geldhof; Back Cover: Jason Felix; Interior Art: Jason Felix, Michael Gaydos, Karl Kerchell, Robby Poore, Matthew Roach, Ron Spencer, Melissa Uran.

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

TheBeardedDragon's overall opinion of World of Darkness: Hong Kong: White Wolf you just blew my mind, now blow me. This is my new favorite product by White Wolf hands down. All the "complaints" I had about the World of Darkness creatures' lack of awareness for one another just flew out the window. I thought that might happen and I recall saying I would hesitate on that opinion. I'm glad I did. It says on the back cover that THIS PRODUCT is the one that bridges the gap between most of the creatures in World of Darkness. The best part is that it was done along political lines, not species :). Yup, it matters which ideology you are a part of, not if you are a Lick, Garou, Wraith, Mummy, Changeling, Hengeyokai, or mortal. Mixed Coteries happen everywhere in and around Hong Kong and Kowloon. The art work is honestly a little weak compared to other products, but it's quality is still good overall. Like my Ananasi review I really want to see ALL White Wolf products have a nice ten to fifteen page comic to start us off, which THIS DIDN'T. StrangerThings, you picked the perfect book to run a multi product campaign from. I'm glad you chose to study in Hong Kong for a year as a foreign exchange student.

Chapter One: In the Dragons’ Wake pg 4: Welcome my creatures of the night to "Fragrant Harbor." From what I read, the only sweet sweet aromas anyone will be smelling is pollution that doesn't get washed away anymore. It's 1997 and the Chinese government just made Hong Kong and Kowloon SARs [Special Administrative Regions]. Many factions are concerned about the coming political upheaval and for the independents is all business as usual. This chapter breaks down what the product is about and some basic history of the area and it's attitude compared to main land China. As mentioned above, political parties are more important in Hong Kong and there is no Masquerade. Citizens are aware of the night time activities in Hong Kong, but keep their heads down and accept it's not their "business". The Lexicon is a useful role playing aid and it's been a while since I've heard the word "joss" used so much [Movie - Taipan].

Chapter Two: The Turning of the Wheel pg 10: This chapter begins by going over the first four ages of The Wheel of Ages before the current fifth age. Everything has only degraded since the first age, but things will be on an up swing after age six. All major religions are represented in Hong Kong with Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism being the top three. One of my favorite parts in this chapter are the descriptions of the festivals. I learned about these when I took first semester Chinese back in junior college, and was good to see them used in game. Since you all know I'm a history buff if you've been keeping up with me, the next section was an easy read for me and goes from ancient China six thousand years back to 1997. I'll need to do modern historical research to get StrangerThing's campaign ready for 2012, but this should prove fairly easy. It goes over some cultural specific things like the Common Law given to Hong Kong citizens by Beijing and the origin of the Triads. Lastly, it ends with some observations on the political tensions between Hong Kong and Beijing and how Hong Kong is the golden goose that can't be directly controlled... yet.

Chapter Three: Atop the Dragon’s Back pg 28: Location, location, location. Maps and geology are a funny thing, especially when you live on the back of dying five fingered dragons. You need just enough of them [maps/dragons] or you're pooched. This chapter was short and sweet and focused on the political locations and how they are used by whom instead of raw data dumps. Every major Character mentioned in chapter 4 has their location(s) detailed where appropriate. There are plenty of interesting spots to check out in and around Hong Kong and Kowloon. Everything from motorized walk ways, expensive shopping cities, cheap shopping malls, boat communities that don't set foot on dry land, feng shui skyscrapers, back water towns, monasteries, zoos, wild preserves, jossless blue rooms [snuff studios], movie studios, museums, high tech research facilities, Chantries, crazy airports that would make JFK look tame, and yadda yadda. On the dark side of things, one can quite easily score drugs, prostitutes, child porn, snuff videos, stolen media, slaves, and Cthulhu knows what else for the all mighty dollar. Horse racing and Mahjong are the two legal and most popular methods to gamble a month's wage away. I've heard from others in real life and this product that the Chinese will bet on anything. I mean anything.

Chapter Four: The Spirits’ Children pg 54: This chapter is seventy pages of in depth character development which you creatures of the night are gonna go Lady Gaga over. I like driving my stories with interesting personalities over goal completion any day. Memorable characters are the ones that keep coming back to make the Coterie laugh and cry. All sides and organizations have been fleshed out along with each character's motivation(s) and role playing suggestions. Some are down right disturbed individuals and I walked away with a bit of shock. Gan Shuo, Qian Shi and Melody Trelawny's stories hit me the hardest since they deal with snuff films and child pornography, but we're in the World of Darkness are we not? The Interesting thing about Qian Shi is kits's involvement in the story at the end of the book. Even though Qian Shi is pretty "evil", kit wants to destroy a disruptive artifact that recently smuggled into Hong Kong. Sure it's for an evil ritual to extend kit's life, but the artifact is also evil. Qian Shi is embodiment of the Wyrm for the Triat and is tasked with destruction. Is Qian Shi "evil" or an "effective" Kumo? I don't know. From real life documentaries I've watched, people who sell their kids into child pornography rings probably didn't care about their kids, are dumb as dog shit, or are starved to the bone. They needed money or something stupid and the market wants their children. Does blame fall on the Kumo for natural talents tapped, the markets and parents for greed, or the coming of the bloody Sixth Age? The system has been imbalanced since age two and is going through a natural cycle back toward age one. Besides gang, the seventh age is sun rise for the system. Winter is coming, then it's Spring as usual if the wheel doesn't break apart in the process. I don't believe in infinity symbols and everything wears out eventually. Maybe the "death" of this Wheel of Ages is just another "rebirth" of a different Wheel of Ages?

Chapter Five: Dragon of the Night: A Story for Hong Kong pg 124: Get prepared to go through hell and back to get a sword. This story sees the Characters all over the place, working for just about every creature of the night possible. I like cursed artifacts and how they "force" the Players into tricky role playing situations. I'm not going to flesh this out, that's what your Story Teller is for.

Appendix: Whispered Wisdom pg 148: A quick run down of both the Yang [positive] and Yin [negative] spirit realms. It sums up this short chapter with a stats break down of the cursed katana "Dragon of the Night". As with most artifacts, it "ruins" the lives of anyone who wields it and everyone around them.

Final Grades and Opinions:

Reading [Was the book a fun read]: AAA+++ content and fun were both there. No part ever felt "boring" to me personally.

Writing [Spelling errors and what not, typography, appeal]: A+, I didn't run into any errors, but I didn't actually spell check the book either.

Artwork [Context immersion, quality, length spent staring at pictures]: A-, I don't think White Wolf will get anything less than an A- on artwork, but this one is A- for sure. It was the quality that felt a bit lacking, but the context immersion was there for sure. I didn't stare at the pictures as much as I did reading Ananasi. I spent HOURS just staring at those pictures.

Cultural Accuracy [Vocabulary, culture, events, religion, context]: A+, I feel like it was Asian themed for sure, Hong Kong at that. Like I said earlier, I took first semester Chinese with my Chinese friend along with her dad that spoke fluent Chinese. I went to their house and always asked my friend's mother for Bok Choy and home made fried rice [they used to own one of the best Chinese restaurant in town]. I grew up on Bruce Lee movies and had Asian buddies that invited me over for diner and what not. I've never had the opportunity to visit Hong Kong yet, so we'll let our Hong Kong Chantry and StrangerThings tell us know what they think in the comments below.

Characters [Amount, quality, context immersion]: AAAAA+++++, I've never given a AAAAA+++++ before. When I originally saw the length of this title at 157 pages, I thought is was all back history or something. Nope. Most of this book is Character development and they went all out in this area.

Locations [Amount, quality, context immersion]: AAA+++, I didn't feel over or underwhelmed with the options given. Learning about all the political rivalries and how they express themselves in story is one of my favorite parts about being a Story Teller. In this supplement there are plenty of types of locations to choose from. No Coterie should feel left out of Hong Kong. It's pretty cosmopolitan.

Story [Dragon of the Night Katana]: A+, Some of my favorite sessions to run are a few paragraphs of text and nothing more. I've tried to run twenty to thirty page pre-made Sessions before and they felt overwhelming. I liked this story and it seemed to flow fast enough. It isn't linear by any means and gives the Players and their Characters many options and avenues to solve problems. Most of the Characters from chapter 4 are used as antagonists, protagonists, and neutral parties.

Triangles are immutable. Hallelujah, Hail Cthulhu, Praise Evolution,

TheBeardedDragon