Customer Reviews

*OP Wraith: The Great War (Wraith the Oblivion)

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Although writen in a completely different mood compared to it's precursor, Wraith: The Oblivion, The Great War offers you the possibility of playing in one of the bloodiest scenarios of all times: World War I, the "War to end all wars".

As the afterword states, the 1st World War is usually seen as "just the prelude to World War II; the *good* war". It's a great injustice: World War I saw the first trully global bloodshed of all times, as countries in a decaying Europe fought for supremacy. The aftermath was really depressing, and a perfect theme for Wraith.

It's also worthy of notice the treatment White Wolf gives to this delicate theme. The War isn't presented as "fun". The War was a terrible event in history, and White Wolf gives it the respect it deserves.

I think this out-of-print gem might be the best supplement of White Wolf's Wraith: The Oblivion series. Back in 1997, starting with Vampire: The Dark Ages, White Wolf re-imagined each of their five core game lines in an alternate time setting in which important events to that game's metaplot occurred: the Middle Ages for Vampire, Wild West for Werewolf, and Renaissance for Mage. I'm glad they got to Wraith as the series was cancelled soon afterwards (Changeling: The Dreaming never received this treatment, though it would have been nice to see an Accordance War supplement).

World War I is a clear choice for Wraith; it is a stark time when death and desolation is ever present. The Underworld is forced to assimilate hundreds of thousands of war casualties and Spanish Flu dead over a short time period. There is literally a storm of ghosts wracking the entire Underworld as one of the "Great Maelstroms" mentioned in the Wraith: The Oblivion core rulebook rages. It also was a time of belief amongst the Quick in theosophy and spiritualism, and this book covers that very well.

Wraith: The Great War provides wonderful in-game setting information including alternate rules for surviving the Maelstrom and rules on how it has affected Acroni, as well as information on political and cultural changes amongst the unquiet dead at that time period. It also covers changes to game stats, such as period weaponry and armor, how to handle the "Drive" skill at a time when automobiles and aeroplanes were fairly new, and so on. The alternate rules for mass combat (read "doomed infantry charges") are particularly tantalizing. There is a lot of handy real-life historical information on the time period as well. The Nineteen-Teens and Nineteen-Twenties were a fascinating time period, full of intrigue and political unrest and it is very nice to see what the World of Darkness was like back then. In some ways, you can use this book for other WoD games (there are some tidbits on the Giovanni for instance).

Lastly, the artwork is lush, stark, and fittingly inspired by the Fauvists and Die Brüke expressionist artists of the time period. Illustrators Guy Davis and George Pratt in particular do a fine job.

I Loved it! I thought it was a fantastic book! It had alot of the current politics. Including a Coup by a one of the legions commanders. Its great book with alot of plots to gleam from. I'm DMing/Storytelling currently in a World War One setting and I couldn't have done that well without it! Its a must have........trust me!

I bought this for setting information and ended up liking the Wraith setting so much that I also got the main Wriath book. Great setting for any Stortyteller and it have good artwork also.

I played l5r but a bunch of my friends played vampire and rage so i got this book because i'm into WWI and I wanted to be something different then a werewolf or a vampire the concept was great but the vampire game in general jsut bores me and I only played because my friedns did but this book made the game fun