Geist: The Sin-Eaters review is complete!

[pwvogt]

Hey all, now sure if there's crazy big excitement for Geist here at the RPPR boards, but in case there's interest, I've started my Geist review at The Hopeless Gamer and you can check it out here: http://thehopelessgamer.blogspot.com/2009/08/geist-sin-eaters-first-glance-review.html

Feel free to post questions about the game, but realize that it may be a while before I get to the part of the book where I can answer them.

[ArtfulShrapnel]

I saw this game in my FLGS late last night, and it would probably have been an impulse buy if the register hadn't already closed for the evening. The cover and design, as mentioned in your article, were gorgeous. By far the best-looking WW book I've ever seen.

I picked it up thinking it might be the NWOD Wraith analogue. I've always wanted to run Wraith. I've heard from some pretty reliable and knowledgeable gaming folks that it was one of the must-experience RPGs in the world.   

Glancing through it, I found it really interesting. Subtle powers, second chances, some cool ideas for story hooks. It seems like a lot of the concepts behind Wraith were there but some of the more definitive roleplaying ideas, like having another player act as your "Shadow" and whisper evil suggestions in your ear, seem to be missing.

I guess my question is: Does the book end up including those more iconic "Wraith" ideas? Are there any other unique elements going on roleplay-wise to set it apart from the other WoD settings? That's really what tends to draw me in with the WW stuff.

[pwvogt]

Two caveats to what I'm about to say: 1. I'm a recent convert to White Wolf and thus don't know much about Wraith as I've really only been looking into nWoD, that being said I can't speak to anything specifically to wraith and 2. I haven't finished the book yet.

With those in mind, I can say that it seems to offer some nice unique options for RP. There is the present of a "shadow" in the form of the Geist, but I think it'll be likely that people end up playing both their Sin-Eater and their Geist. Still provides its own kinds of fun, and who doesn't like to play a PC that hears voices telling them to do the craziest stuff?

One thing that seems to be fairly unique to the nWoD at least is that most Sin-Eaters are actually pretty happy fellows. They're celebrating life and have a job to do that they enjoy.

I haven't gotten to the Krewe building chapter yet, but from what little I know about Mage: The Awakening, Geist seems to be a much more fun version of a group of magic-users. For all intents and purposes, that's what Sin-Eaters are, they just all focus on undead activities.

I'm really enjoying what I've read so far, only about 40 pages in, and the flavor's really nice so far.

[pwvogt]

Hey all, just finished the second part of my review series for Geist where I review chapter 1 in pretty great detail. You can find it on the Hopeless Gamer blog here: http://thehopelessgamer.blogspot.com/2009/08/geist-sin-eaters-chatper-1-at-cemetery.html

Hope that can help fill in some holes for some of you that still have questions. If you've read the first chapter and disagree with me on something, I'm more than happy to discuss it over there as well, just feel free to leave a comment.

[pwvogt]

Part 3 of my Geist review is up here: http://thehopelessgamer.blogspot.com/2009/08/geist-sin-eaters-review-part-3_25.html

In this part, I review the character chapter by building my very own Sin-Eater, Damien Tucci, a Necromancer with a feudal-Japan warlord Geist!

[pwvogt]

My comprehensive Geist review is done. Check it out now, or else!

[Tadanori Oyama]

This game is proving to be a read pain to try and get ahold of. None of my local shops are carrying it and the major bookstores have it back ordered.

[pwvogt]

Really? Honestly I haven't been following that end of it, but that sucks! I picked mine up at Gencon, so I lucked out. Do we think it's because of a shortage or just annoying store politics/delivery issues?

[Tadanori Oyama]

Hard to say. I've checked five pure gaming shops and two major book sellers. Only one of the game shops had gotten a copy and that had sold already. I guess most places just aren't stocking it. Amazon has it got it ready to ship so I'll just get it from there.

Though in my searching I did find a shop that stock Cthulhu Tech books and that's a first. Going back to that one.

[pwvogt]

Sweet, I have to say I'm jealous that you have a local shop that stocks Ctech, that's truly unique. I do remember seeing a copy of Geist at my local shop, so maybe just those who are stocking it aren't going out on a limb to get more than one or two copies? That would explain the difficulty a little better.

Of course I can't complain about being able to pick up books or games in town, considering I live about 10 minutes away from Noble Knight Games and can just order for them with an in-store pickup.

[ArtfulShrapnel]

Yeah, my FLGS had a copy, which is what sold me on it. SHINY looking book.

I've actually started running a homebrew NWoD Wraith game using modified Geist powers crossed with the Ghost rules in the NWoD blue book and some of the old Wraith concepts. It seems to be going well. I will post the homebrew stuff here if the game manages to not implode later.