Customer Reviews

Geist: The Sin-Eaters

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Geist should be great but unfortunately it's only good. Reading it is frustrating because you can see how brilliant it could have been. It's a great concept but there's just so much about it that seems half baked. The game doesn't supply you with enough strong examples, with some sections being maddeningly vague. The x-axis splats, Thresholds, don't hold up as different enough from each other. With all the other game lines there are big philosophical, physical differences you can get your teeth into to create characters, but here the only big difference is the manner of death, and it's pathetically obvious that the writers simply didn't know what to do. The Torn (victims of violence) are the strongest in their write-up, but then you have the victims of nature who apparently all try to see the "patterns" of death, the victims of disease who stand up to the universe and the Silent, victims of being sad who really want to see the underworld apparently. ("Ok, seen it. Now what?") It's all a bit weak. The worst are the Forgotten, victims of random chance. The developers gave up on them altogether and their entire write-up is a collection of increasingly stupid examples; no discussion at all.

The y-axis splats are interesting but poorly written, again with not enough strong examples. White Wolf have great difficulty in convincing us of the difference between Advocates and Gatekeepers, for example. Both seem to do the same job. The Mourners seem entirely pointless.

The writer of the section on founding krewes does not seem to have received the memo on the fact that the magic section had changed radically and writes happily away about the dot cost of Keys, clearly from the point in development when they had a dot cost. Several someones seem also to not have read the World of Darkness core book section on ghosts because the game appears to constantly think that a manifested ghost is physical and can be hurt by weapons. Ghosts are always intangible, and very often invisible, even when manifested. Seems like an oversight.

On the plus side the Underworld chapter brims with creative and atmospheric writing. It's by far the best bit and genuinely original and clever.

This is a lot of criticism but actually I do like this game, it's just that it should have been so much BETTER. It's not all beyond redemption and will be fun to play. White Wolf just didn't seem to care about this game as much as others.

Death. Goth stylings or not, everyone is afraid of it to a point. This book explores those that have gone right to the edge of the Abyss and stared long into Its blackness. Some have even fallen over the side. But they all stared too long, because not only did something look back, but it wanted to make a deal. Geist is an amalgamation of Wraith: the Oblivion, Mummy: the Resurrection, and even some parts of Demon: the Fallen. But be aware, this game isn't about Death. It's about what happens when you come back.

For those that aren't familiar with the above games, this supplement is a self contained game system within the new World of Darkness from White Wolf. You play a Sin-Eater, someone who either died or had a near-death experience and made a bargain with a very powerful ghost. The ghost gets to merge with the person, and the person gets to come back to life. What makes this a proper horror/fantasy (or whatever genre they want to call it now) isn't the bleakness of Death, that's just the background. The heart of the game is simply Hope.

My only complaint about the book was that the editing blades cut too deeply. There are a few places where important information was cut for space because this is a single book game. At least in one case (Krewe Binding), the author of the section has promised Errata to fill the information gaps. Otherwise, this is my favorite White Wolf game set in the new World of Darkness.

Geist is not a Wraith re-make, so don't go in looking for similarities if you were a fan of that game.

I've never played Wraith and have yet to play Geist (although I've read this book). That said, this game has a good amount of potential and I look forward to starting it in this fall's gaming season with my troupe. The game's central theme is death, and players portray mortals who have died and been given a second chance at life (not unlife) by ghost-like creatures called Geists. These Geists form a symbiosis with the revitalized mortal, creating a Sin-Eater - a person who serves as liaison to the dead.

Ethan Skemp is a good writer in my opinion, and the story elements of this book/game are cool. I do, however, understand the confusion a lot of Geist players and critics seem to have about how the game's systems and concepts should be interpreted. There are a wide variety of powers to deal with, such as Manifestations (with various Keys) and rituals, which creates a greater amount of game-specific jargon than usual (at least in my opinion). The Krewe (troupe) systems struck me as over-wrought, and my Storyteller and I quickly decided to abandon them altogether; this game seems best suited to small, personal stories about individual characters and deaths, rather than influential political or ideological units.

The powers are pretty cool if you can get past the volume of note-taking that seems necessary, and the Underworld is pretty cool (particularly as outlined in the "Book of the Dead" WoD supplement). Given the pervasiveness of death, this game has a lot of crossover potential for other WoD games, and our Vampire games have seen no shortage of cool Sin-Eater cameos. I will note that the creators were pretty liberal in terms to giving Sin-Eaters powers well beyond the scope of death, and I see the potential for power-hungry players to abuse the toughness of Sin-Eaters if not carefully reigned in by the Storyteller. Thankfully, the Storyteller-controlled Geist gives you the means to do this if you're savvy.

Overall, I gave it 3 stars because this game strikes me as love-it-or-leave-it. Personally, I'm lukewarm on the material itself, but my friend/Storyteller is so enthusiastic about it that I'm interested in playing on faith. As I said, there's definitely potential here if you're interested in death and second chances as themes (and have a lot of faith in the Storyteller). If that's the case, you may yet enjoy this game. (It should be noted that to date, Book of the Dead is the closest thing to a Geist supplement available. To my knowledge, no more Geist sourcebooks are forthcoming. This leaves it up to you to flesh out and expand the universe if this book's not enough, for better or worse).

Geist the Sin-Eaters suffers from poor editing, poor grammar, and a somewhat difficult to follow layout. Unfortunately many products from White Wolf suffer from poor editing (letters are missing, page references do not correspond, etc) or hard to follow unconventional grammar (really poor uses of gender pronouns). The basic premise of a ghost hunter or ghost story type game is fairly appealing. Unfortunately, I don't feel Geist really delivers. In reading this book I often wondered if it was rushed or fully evaluated. This is certainly not one of the better WoD books. Several of the free standing WoD books that were released in the last year or so (Immortals, Inferno, Innocents) are actually better written and probably better thought out for good storytelling and could have been expanded into full production lines while Geist would make a decent free standing book with little to no follow up. I don't give Geist a 1 or 0 star ranking because it is not a total failure but it is thus far one of the least well conceived games from White Wolf.

Finally if you were hoping for a revamp of Wraith: the Oblivion this is not your book.

One of the best World of Darkness games to date. Ghost stories and journeys to the Underworld mixed with a Carnival atmosphere and a morbid sensibility. You play mediums with a foot in the lands of the living and the dead, using your unique perspective and gifts to protect, study, or even prey upon the denizens of both worlds. Your constant companion, your Geist, is a powerful ghost which has evolved to embody an archetype of death: the Drowned Priest, the Forgotten Child, the Burning Widow. You gather into cults with others of your kind, bound by common cause and a shared mythology of death, drawing power by the symbols and rituals you practice. Gather enough members and you might become a faction, dominating a city or region, or even a world-spanning conspiracy the likes of which are only rumored in ancient codices.

If you enjoy the new World of Darkness line, it's a pretty safe bet you'll enjoy Geist.
If you enjoyed Changeling: The Lost, it's an even better bet that Geist is a good buy for you.
If you are a Mage from Mage: The Awakening in your very SOUL, you might cry a little over the fluff (the story elements as opposed to the mechanics which are called 'crunch'). But I'm pretty sure you'll think it's worth a few tears.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read on. The rest of you should understand pretty well where I stand on this.

Now, nit picks first:
There are a few errors here and there, but you're going to get that with almost any RPG book you'll ever buy. If you're really that worried that you won't understand, the White Wolf forums and the nice people there are there to help you. You not only have fan boys, but also some of the free lancers that worked on the book. How nice is that? The people that actually worked on it are willing and available to help your gaming experience.
The few errors that are in the book are spread out enough to where it's pretty much negligible and it's well within reading tolerance. They're not going to interrupt your train of thought.

Some passages are better written than others and this creates some inconsistency in clarity. Some sections are crystal clear. Some are more subtle with story hooks abound! Some sections could be clearer, but going over the relevant passages a second time will usually make whatever was obscure clear.

Good things:
This is a labor of love.
It really is and it really shows.
This book practically makes scenarios and campaigns all by itself. There are story hooks EVERYWHERE. The player has lots of new shiny toys to play with from character design to Manifestations, your powers. The storyteller has a vast wealth of material to work from -- settings, antagonists, tons of story fixtures like possible NPCs and rumors, possible situations -- every page has something to build a story on. There are examples abound. You will not want for inspiration with this book.

Reading the book becomes really interesting when you keep in mind that it was being developed at the same time as the Core Rulebook. Just little things here and there.

I believe that the krewes are quite possibly the vanguard of future character troupe mechanics. In the world of fluff, Geist has what other templates except for Hunter don't have. Sin-Eaters (you) can form new groups called a krewe, and unlike, say, a werewolf pack, it details going from a local scale to a global conspiracy. This is one of those things thats breaking ground for the rest of the world of darkness.

I agree with Will Reeves, in that the book had promise, but formatting errors, poor grammar, and all around bad writing kept this from being a fun read. I typically read new WOD books from front to back with no problem, but I found myself skipping around in this book because I became frustrated at how poorly it was designed. Even aside from the techinal issues of the book itself, the concept and gameplay elements came off as amateurish and didn't seem to mesh very well with the rest of the WOD universe.

I hope White Wolf takes a break, and really thinks out their next stand-alone before rushing it out like this one.

I received the book, it was very nicely packaged and great care was taken so that the binding wouldn't be damaged and the cover wouldn't be ruined. It's in great shape and I'm very happy with this seller's service.

Invariably this game is going to draw similarities (and allusions) to that other defunct game called Wraith the Oblivion. While this is inevitable, both games are as distinct as apples and oranges. There are numerous reviews that go in depth into this game and I dont pretend to delve into it here, other than to say that this game is a gem. The themes are unique and the concept of character creation and play are very distinct from the other settings like Vampire the Requiem or Mage the Awakening. You play a Bound, a creature possessed (or cajoled, manipulated, inspired) by a Geist. You are the Sin Eater, the one who tries to balance this supernatural being into your will, forcing a union that creates balance.

Not surprising this is yet another hit table top RPG game by White Wolf, a game designer known for producing top quality work. This book is a beauty, as is typical of White Wolf's extremely high production values. This game is also developed by White Wolf's prize winning Ethan Skemp, the creator of Changeling the Lost, which won numerous awards a few years ago.

The system is amazing.

If you're looking for a new game to play, get this one.

The art is great, too.