The Gaming Den

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[/img]

Promethean is now seven years old, so we can make an OSSR out of it. Vampire: the Masquerade was a huge surprise hit, and their followup project was Werewolf: the Apocalypse in 1992. Since then, people have been expecting a Frankenstein's Monster game, because if you asked people to name a monster “like a vampire”, most people would say “Werewolf”, but if you asked them to name four such monsters, there isn't a man alive who wouldn't get to Frankenstein's Monster somewhere in their list. And so it was that just fourteen years and fifteen games later, White Wolf finally delivered on fan expectations and produced a game about Frankenstein's Monster. Creature From the Black Lagoon is still outstanding. There's a fan product on rpg.net called Leviathan: the Tempest, but I think it's permanently stuck in development hell.

Why did it take so fucking long? Well, the most obvious answer is that how you would go about reproducing the winning Vampire formula with Frankenstein is not at all obvious. Adam's true horror is that he is alone, and when you serve it up as a cooperative storytelling game with multiple protagonists, that is already out the window. Also, while Dracula has other vampires to talk to and dominate, and Lestat has a whole vampire hierarchy to overthrow, there is no society of monsters for Frankenstein's Monster to interact with. If Adam had even a second monster to talk to, none of the story's events would have unfolded. The primary conflict is between Viktor and Adam, where Adam wants more monsters so he can have a monster society and peers to talk to, and Viktor won't do it because he is a dick.

There is a reason that when Frankenstein's Monster is introduced in movies along side other monsters, that those are usually different monsters. Whether we're talking about classics like Monster Squad or Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein or... less classic... movies like Van Helsing, we still get Frankenstein's Monster along side Vampires and Werewolves and Mad Scientists. No one has ever made a “Frankenstein's Monster Society” because that is an oxymoron.

But in 2006, White Wolf had already doubled down on their New World of Darkness and shat out 3 games for it (nVampire, nWerewolf, and nMage). Doing things that were bad ideas that probably shouldn't be done was old hat at that point. So they crammed together thirteen designers and nine authors (yes, really) to work up a Frankenstein's Monster game, and Promethean: the Created was born.

Weighing in at 284 pages and over two hundred thousand words (and requiring the basic World of Darkness book to play), Promethean is a hefty tome. It also doesn't make a lot of sense. The book reads like the authors and designers weren't really talking to each other, and this was probably exactly what happened. It has most of the same design staff as made nMage, and also nWerewolf, both of which came out the previous year. So this entire book is very much a shovelware production – it certainly looks from the calendar that primary writing for this baby was done in a few months at most. There simply wasn't time for the different writers and designers to actually discuss design directions with each other. This isn't obvious in every part of the book, nWoD splat books are incredibly formulaic, and where it keeps to the formula you sometimes forget that there are nine authors and thirteen designers working at a frantic pace with little oversight (and that provided by Bill Bridges and Justin Achilli and thus probably worse than not having the Eye of Sauron pointed at the workers at all). But whenever it veers away from the formula, the fractured incoherence of it all is front and center. But we'll burn those bridges when we come to them, because a much bigger problem is that the game is essentially unplayable as designed. The main overarching themes of Promethean are largely incompatible with cooperative storytelling.

We'll start at the beginning of the book. Well, we'll start at the table of contents. The books actually starts with a seventeen page mini-story, but we can't read it so we won't. I know that I read and discussed the story at the beginning of Scion for its drunken review, but in this case it just can't be done. See, it's all written in a font called “p22 Da Vinci Forward Regular”, which is supposed to look handwritten or something, but instead just looks like the typesetter is shitting on the book in your hands while you are trying to read it. There is a time and a place for fonts that have weird shit on the letters, and that is titles and headers. You don't use that shit for text bodies because they are too much work to read, and because when you have the same letter with the same curlycue several times in one page it doesn't look anything like an organic hand written anything and just looks like the typesetter is shitting on the manuscript in your hands.
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OMrGkbJbQyGbMhLSXU55MsmeSqntu5LAHACIWZXtAZVkHDBWQ/vAkHn7iMj7z71PRQFUor9zcyQmPCpFFIsm7O4sZAVK4yuNgOc87vlV2kpPFyWVzcpfRzIXmLxzLE8qSR4AQAxq2CoGCpxyc+tAx6XFtmuh+1Msn5xRL/VKx9G+jyG1v3u0llO4SbIGbMcRlYNIUHpuYZx8z34xraFedfqTBXVJCvT3qUZlVR5irAMoLFsZAOBn1qPxhdTRWFw9tnqrExTau8g+4X9YgZIHriqF3UtBeXTpNPiCySiRnL5KxxEzmdNzYyXwV8gGe2doYGmJ/DcbLK0gEs0sbRtIwGcEMNqgcKvmIwOeeSTzXvh6/tjDGlqxdAo5wx+ZLswzvJOTuO4kknJrXoEb6M7tZIoSDlhp9pFICeVaNpkIb2bcH4PNMfiDw4l2Ebc0U0JLQzx43xkjBxkEMrDhkOQePYES6T4et7VpmgjCGeQyyEZ8zH157DucDjk+9aNQYVu2pqQrraSjjMokkhJ+fS6bjP8A8n5VLd6Zdy5HxfRHGOhEuR2zkzdQHnP6orYooE7/ANFXiTtPDqUnUdEjbr28UgZULlRiMR4wXfkftc54qey8HzvMkuoXhuuk4kjiWJYYlcdmIBZnZe4ycA84pqooCiiigKKKKAooqKG8jc4R1YjuFYHH5GglriaFXUq6hlPBVgCD94Nd14GBJGeR3+VBXstMhhBEMUcYPcRoqZ/hAqzVZ9ThBwZYwfm6j/rUsNwjjKMrD3Ug/wBKCSiq99qMUAVppFjDOsaljjLMcKoz3J9qsUBRRUc9wiDLsqjtliB/WgkooooCiuUkDZ2kHBIODnBHccetQyalCpw0sYI9C4H/AFoLFFRw3KP9hlb/AESD/SpKAorlJA32SDyRwc8juOPWuqAooJqOC5R+UZWx32kH+lBJRRRQFFctIBjJAycDJxk+w9zXVAUVxNOqDLsFHuxAH868huEcZRlYe6kH+lBJRRUU92iY3uq57bmAz+dBLRXgOeRXpNAUVDDexucI6MfZWB/oamoCiivCw/Pt86D2iiigKKKKAooooCiuUkB7EHkjg55HBromgKK8VgQCDkHkEete0BRRRQFFFcySquNxAycDJxk+3PrQdUUUUCxYj9IyyvLzawyyQRw/qyshKSSSD9dQ4ZVQ+Xyljk7dtS+skcTziNTLJMltbMBho9pMQZTkbdryXDkqeUz37V14Mv8A4ee4sJ8LKs888OeOtDK7Shlz3Ks7KwGcYre/Ryq0RbAjt0ZgW/bIK78nsQhkBPr1TVVhSeIZEkCPLhrW7hgnG0fXpcAJC/AyvndckYG6OQduyn4ghkns0QMy/pTV3SUg7T0VaSNQD7GKBOOx/GtKOR7qHVr+MExyCIWwxjqLaBnDg+zSlsH2WvdasRd6LZXAhEohaC8aAqH3pz1F2nhjsdiB6kUDfpPg2wtVAgtYUwAN2xSxA93ILN95Jq1c6avDRww7x2dlHl+YwMn7gR94rMsvCOkzRrJFZWTo6hlZYIiCD2I8tXLLwlYwuJIbS2jkXO10hRWXIIOCq5HBI/GiFTxdpN1cXenwPcrkzyXIMduoEfRjbD4lZ8kPIi4P7efTjQ0vVL2DU1srqVLiOWB5o5QgjdSjAFXVfKR5hggCl+20C/GpttnElxb2qt1ZJZCr9aRjgxEFY9ywbSqFQNwYcgYdPDunIzG7Yl7iVBG7MADGEJzEqgkIquWyMkk8kniir+u3csVtLJBF1pVRikfbc3oKSNO1+wjhMl8lxLcFGM8k9jOcAjLooMRWOEYxtBxxk5OSfotYfjr/ACVff3O5/wDqeojK8C+JYX06BXLqyoYipWQkbCyYyUBJAXGTz781HoniVYNGMhdpHgglPnyWbYXC8tjcThRRoGiQ39g8U+5ovjLh9quVDYmdsNtPKkk5FLtt4Vsl0e0kW2hWWSexUyiNd43XMQYhiMglcj8aqqfjLwILS1tWtpZYZrl7ayuDG2BOZDlnk45fdu83zr6No3gbT7RVEFrCpUbd5RWc9u7sCxzj3qn9JOiG5sTtjErQyxXAiI3CTptlkweG3JuGPXNe6R4b0e6gSeCzsnjkXcrC3j/EHy8EHIIPIIINBvtpcJIJijJHIOxcj7uOKs1kWnhCwidXis7aN1OVdII1ZT7ghcg1r1EKfgS06UupRj7I1B3A9upFDKf5uTVb6V9blgsilscTSB3znbtihXqytxz2Cpx6yCtPwx/jWpf3xP8AlbWk7x/HPcTalJDIix2enNA4eMvuMqtLKEIddrbFh5O7GRxyaqvoWqaRFeQqk4LIWSQoDgPjnaw/WQnup4NLXi7w3Zq6SRROl5LlIltJGtnlxjPUaLGI1GCzsDgYAySqnZtLhrWBp7u56iFI8BYwirxgBAu53dywAG5iTtCjnmTQdPcs11cKVnmAAQkHoxDlIxjjP6zkZy5PJAXAK+jeBSJGt5553VY45p3WaRWuJHMgCl93UEMSodqbuS+TyK4vdNl0SeO4hmmksJJEhuIJnMvQ3nYkkbOcgByoYc53evG36B0Bv3/rbdp+YzkZ+45x9596peI9NFzZ3EJ7SwyJ+akD+eKDJ8X2/UutMA5xel/uCwTt/UD+VMVzAXGAzL77cAn5ZI4+8c/MUp+GL742a2mBJW3sU3H0MtwsTkH99I41PPpOKcaIWde0aCCJJo0USpLbJ1XHUkZDNGjIzyZdgysw8xPLZ71PqvhOMlprQJb3Q8yzIu3eR2WULjqRnsQ2cdxggEcePf8AEx/erD/mremJjjk8Ac5opWufFrPaW7QKFuLuToIr+YQyDf1dwB56XTk49SoGRnNdal4fiSBYADI9y6xSyyed5F8zy729jGsigDCruAUAYFLMlwy2sV/AheG31O6uCF5JgkaaKSRAoO4edpB7rk0/xTxzKlxCwlHTbplTlW3bT92fKBn0yaBekvvhJZpo12WiTRQPGoAXc5HUnXHbEkqh+2enISCcGq2qw/pLVXs5C3wtnFHLNEDtE8kmSivjkxqozt7EnntXHjiMCzj0yI7p7xwhCgZCs++4mYeg5c5Pdm9aNYkOm6ub2QH4S7iSGaQDIhkQ4jZ/aNlO3djAPcig37zwVZvD0kgihxnY8MaxvET+tGygFH+YrcrB8ZaY17ps8du5DvHuieNsZZSHTDL6FlAyPQ1X8DXUPwUDLPK3xHKi5l3uGwS0YLckpsbjk+UmiN3U79YIJJn+zFG8jfcoJP8ASlBbuWddEnnwJZJi7KgKqN9rcNjBJPAwO/vW545hL6XeqoyxtZwAPU7GpQ8TaV8A1hPapcXcxuNiRyTu+c21wAF6jbUUZySB2Bor6XRSRD49uJ1Q2trvb4W3uXjJ5PVLjYrZAUjpv5mHPHApt0y9aWMO8MkJJP1cu3cMHuemzLz371EWqKUdd8cCK5jhj2/45BaybuSxkjMhCj0ChoiX5HOMetQ6b9IDNNFBNGkc5vZrSRQ+QNkbSo6epVh0xz6saBvt7pJATGyuAzISpBwykqw49QwII9xVfXNQ+HtZ5j2ihll4/cUt/wBKWtF8QxpZB4I4hJLeyQFFOxRK0zoWfuQcAMR3ORjuKteMDMNO1AStEQbG5K7Ayt/ZPuyGY8du1VVrwP4aWwsY4QzO2OpI7HJaR8Fz8ufT+veu/GNqZrRrcOU+IeOAsO4R2HUxn9bph8e3f0qHwrr1xcvOs8cSiJlUPC5dd3O+M71U7kOMsBtOeOxo8WSlZLAggH4wgbs7cm2uwm7HpvKj8qI2dPsUgijiiG1I0VEHfCqAAOfkKsUl3Pi+9EFl0reF5rzyDMhWNXUM7HIBJQojMpHPyq5N4vdZI4zGu5Z7e3uQGJ6bzIGXYcDeAWTJIHDe4IqBoor59q30h3FsbmN4laW1njdyikr8IxRt5y3DhWK45yVJAwDjR1XxXMIEuILd5Wmcx2kB8hkOyR+pJuI2qUjdgp5C4yNxwoOFKHjDRo7u+s4p13QmG9Y5OArgQBGB9HUM5DDkc1seE/EC39lDcqNvUXLLnO1gSrLn5MCKxvEnhm0n1C0E0CSBxclg43A4VCOD8zVU02L5iQlgxKLllOQxwMkH1Bqek6x8TuzrBYwRCMwzm3UnpjNtP0JEIQEIrAqUIBxk5HGK90fxxJd3nQgiUdJW+KSVtslu44VRtLCUMfVeAByckCiGPVdEgulC3ESyBSGUsOUYdmVhyrfMEGs2XwRauoWXryoP/bluZpEP+kjyFW/1ga36KgjFuuzYFATbt2gYGMYxjtjFVdD0pbW2ht1JZYY1jBPchRgZx61eooMEeEEjkZ7Waa23tvdIirRsecnpyqyoSTklApJ71p2diycvNJKf3toA/CNVH55q3RQUrXSlSeaYElphGD8hGCFA/iY/jUVyRbuZe0b46v7pGAJD8sAKx9gp4CmtKgjPegKjmRXBRuQykEfI8UtXOkajbtjT5bcwE/2V0HPR/wD5tGcsg9I27dgwGANzSrBok+tkMsrHLyY2gn2VR9lF7Bcn3JJJJCp4X8NJYWUdrExKxqw3nuSxLM3y8zE4rE1nRfhNMtIQxcW9zp4LsMEhbiHLH275pzqvqFik8TxSAlJFZGwcHBGOCOQfYjtQWKwX8IRrK0trJLavI2+QQldkjepaORWTcfVgAx964h1+S2HTvIpiV4WeGJ50lHODthVnR8AFlZQATwzCtexvxMNypIq4BBkQxk5/dfDj/WUd6Dm0sGQ5eaSU/vbVA/CNV/nmvL3VVjYLskdiu7bGhbA7cn7IyewJycHHY4u1BcWSuQxyGHZlJU/dx3HyORQIemeMlhuNRxb3LO10jKvw8xC/4PbqOo0cb7BlT6E4wQDmpLOWBrSe1eO+d7vrGeZbKePc0o2sV6keFCrhVBzgKM5p1sdNjh3lAd0j9R2JyWbCrkk/uqoA7AAVaqhMv9AtbiG3imgvXFsqrGwLxkFVChj03UF8DvjjJxjNZLWl9p7iWw+MuoSfrLS685xxlopWOVYY+ycg5Pyr6TRRShpf0p2Fw+yMzZBKtuhdQhHcMSMBh7ZzVq68VGUBLZSnUbpLPdKYY9xGQESXbJM2MkKo2nafMKtahoBEpuLMrHOcb1PEdwAMYlABIbHAkALLgcMMqaGuwS38Rt3spI8uh60rwlE2sPPH05Wk3gZK5Rfnt5oNnw/oUVlbpBCMKmck4yzHlmbAA3E81ZvbFZV2uXA/cdoyfxQg4/GrFFRCzd/RrpkpJktUZj+sS277927OfnmopPoxsGwHE7oMYjkuZ3Tj91pCCPkeKa6KCO3tkjRUjVURFCqqjAUDgAAcAAelZH/o61Ds8avCWJZhBLJArE4yWWJ1UtwOSM1t0UGXpHhm2tWZ4U+sf7crs0sj47BpJCXIHsTWmygjB5B4IPrXtFAvz+ArFgQsRiDElhBJJbhie+RC6g/jVrT/AApaQRQxRQqEt2LxA5OxjuyQWJOTubk+9a1FB46AggjIIwQfUUvaxax2ttFFawqZUylnH6I5Vk3ZPZFV2LN7Z7kgFiqGO0UOX7seCx5OPYew+Q+/vQZOleD7eBLUbN0lpEIo5eQ2Nu1s4PIPJweM1uUUUCd420S3TZcrEgnkvNPR5Qo3souIBgnvjAH5D2FMB8O2vWabox9V2R2k2+Ysgwhz7gHFVvFunSTwxrEu4rdWcpGQPLHPG7nkjsqk478cVtUFBdAtgsiiCLbM/UkGwYd+DuYYwWyAc+/Ndy6PC0UkRjXZKrJIAMbwwKnJHJyDjNXKKBZ1XSfhGiurVHYwosU0aku80AGPU5kkjOHXOWI3qOXrQdrLUYGjJiuIicMhIbBUg4Yd1YH0OCK1qrzadE7bnjRm92UE/mRQefouL6r6tfqDmIAYEflKeUDt5GK/carTeGrV7pbpoUNwg2rLjzAcj88EjPzq7BaomdiKue+1QM/lUtBVl0qF+pujRusAsuVB6gAwA2e4wSMH3qzj+XavaKCppmlRW0fThXYm932gk8uxdsZ7AsxOOw9K6n02N5Y5WGXi37DkjG8ANwDg5AHerNQ3UTOu0NtB7kd8euPYntn0++gWoPD9u1xObSMQ9RitzcRgo0hzlkjYdjk+eRexyAd4JTdh0O3QxMkMamBSkRVQDGpGCFx2BHpVuGFUUKoCqoAAHAAFd0BRRRQFFFFAUUVV1PVIbaIyzyLHGuMu5wBkgD8yQKC1RRRQFFFFAUUUUBRUL3aCRYywDursq+rBdoYj5Dev8QqagKKKrHUousIN69UoZOnnzbAQpbHtkgUFmiiigKKKiu7tIo2kkYIiKWZmOAoHJJ+WKCWiorW6SVFkjYMjqHVhyGUjII+RBqWgKKKKAooooCiiigKKKKAooooCiiigKKKKAooooCiiigKKKKAooooCiiigKKKKAooooKlnq0UskscbZeBlSRcEbSyhx3HOVYcjjv7VbpQvLrUPjeh1IIRcW120RjQuyPGYVR3Z8B/7XO3aBxjmsnw545nv3igVxFK1pOJWEeencxSRI2A3GdrFtp7BlJHNUfRaK+b2n0k39xN07bTywaAvHJIxRC8ZKzZIzld+EUDnOCeGyNHxB4muIpLdopViW7t3dY54S7IyCJwqxxlZHlYSMpQk8qMAYIaB3pN+lK0D2sDSDdBHdwPcA8jpeZCWHqqs6ufkpNUJ9d1N5ooQ0Fvc/CwTdF2VVllYydVfMjuyIEHEbAruySRiruseM5bV447xYoi0E8vTjZpTOysqRwwllTdI24EjGeQAO5FU0aNIGtoSCGzEnIOc+UetXKz9B0iO1t0ijjSMBQWVAFXdgbjgccmlxfGLvqiW6OgCzz28kHd9ogSZJzxuVQ4aMY8p6g5zwIhzopL0TxFeyXUljMgMsEgeW4RSkZgYBo9isT52YmPGSAI3OcjBreF9c1O5CzIbaVH4mheUK1s+Qdg6cO4FVJDJIS2cHI7UD7WH431prPTridPtpGRHxnzsQicevnZeKzPD9zqE19cdS4i+HtpfhzEIfNJ9WsgffuyrYkQEcqdp4GaufSFZrLp0yvjYDDI+7tsjljkfPy2I1BT27dT05Hk6kqWV2sjEjcT/AIHywGMZO49hTfXy7xNZfCXNk+iQ2qGS3vpN+AIygFq+7Mf2sgAD08/tWhF4ovrq4xatCjKltKlvK6p1o5I45JHP1TSYBcxhkIAZDkHtVV9BpFs7fqazNcdmjuI7QHuTGLSSZl7cKZJFbj1QU52LSGNTMqLIR5lRi6g/Jiqk/fgUm2N38LNq11PnZBK0qxjBYj4e3y3fB3BAq9sZbJ54B5or5/4Q8XXcuoz2126FXjLwtEoCI6bOrEjnPVKdRMsR3V+BjFS3Wr3q2t5mZlls5Fl3PEpZoR5yrGL6ou6q32ACAy5AJBoh7pY+ku0eXSrlY1LEKjlR3dEdHdRjuWRWGPXNV/o78WyaiLuRgRGtztgUrtIiMcbIewJ3g7+c/b74xV/xV4mFm1uHkjhjlkZXml+yoVGfA5A3tjAz8+CcCoLPhKSI2cfw5VohvEezttDNtAx2G3HFa9fOdS19LGzDxJHZS3kNzdh5EVPrF2yJG4PBlcSbccnytjJArd1jxgY2ijDQQuYkuJnuX2JFGSFwBkFnZtygcAbSSewaqaaranqUdvDJNMdscSM7HvgAZPA7n5VHba1BJK0UbhpFjjlKjP2JN2wg4wQdp7duM9xWB9KNuX01/KXRZIJJUXktEkiNIP4QT9wNRGRca5qULQajMVWyk2LLabcNbxufJKznkuu5S4wAoyMHG6mYXk0uotHG+2C3h+sGAepLJgoMnkBEUscEZ6i1T8TahBe23wkEiyteIFHTYNtibG+UkAhVVM4J4LbV7mpPCko+L1NfUXcZI+RtrcD/AITVVNreiXkik21/JA+3gdGB48/MPGX/AN6ufAWvS3thHNOqrKWkR9n2SY3ZCRn0O3NUJvHVnOZI/jbe3RWeJmeZElYqSrbVYjYMjhzknuAOGq5Y+LdJgiSKG8s1RAqIizxnAHAHDZ/Ggp+NdWe2kR7a4ZrgY22AAkFwMgEYVTJGef7TO0euRxVzxt4xSwtywG6dkdo489goyzt3wiDv3ycKMkgVnxa5p1jfTIJIxNc3EYlQn61ZHWNUwCNzRN5TxnaXJ7E7e/FfhK0urqFXhSSWaRZJHfzssMG1iqb87VZ+mhVcAiVz3JyFPwd4ttbfT4llufiLkp1ZkiJuZeo53MCIdxyGbb7AL7CrniXxNOJNPit2Fs92ZJHNxGH6aJFuYOocANuZF4Yc+vu2HZEhIAVVBJCjHAGew+QpVbVdLvEhvgI55ArpbqxBcs3dFjY46hKY7ZAB5AzQMumxyLGOtKsrHksqdNf9VdzED15Y1i2LSX0yzrK8dpE56SRnb8SRwZHbGejuyFQcMF3EsGAHmsae8OkNDEDlIEjIiBztG0SdMLznZv2gc9sVT8P+I0l1Do2k8M1n8GrIkO3/AAdkZUCkryN6twp7dPsPUKcml3xlu7u9uHggAYJb27EuYk7DcOEZzknpjqEsoDrjFaD3U9la2FqHBuJ2SBppSXVSEaSQ+Zssx2sqgnuRnOMHQ1GQXN2lsOVh2XM/HGQcwJ95dep8ukM/aFZXj2+V5bexl2Rw3RYyTyYAGzBVIi3lE7MRtY8qASvmxgLGm6jcJPeRCVrtbeGN1d1RW6zCQmLMKIp8qxNjG4dTk8isbSNQnWK2vlvpbpJpooZ4mRFQGRhGRGoQOhjkYZBJ4Vs1N4Lk6epXNtZyGWwiiDElup0rlnJZFkOWbI3MwYsQ2O3atW3f4+8Dr/itm7BT6T3GNpYe6RAsuexdm/YoGiiiiogooooCiiigKKKKAooooCiiigXNS/yvZ/3W+/47OmBYlHYAdz29+/51nXWkM99BcAjbFDcRlfUmQwEEemB0jn7xXuv2Us0aJEU2mRTKrkrvjGdygqDgk7c8YK7hxnIo8+Neby22FQd5yMr90a/rn94+UZGN3IGV+i44tWtmUEu1pe75GO53xJZEZY84G5sKMKNxwBTHAH43BFA9FJb+oXH5VSuNMdr2GcFdkUFzERzuLSNbMMcYwBC2efUd/Qq/JbqzKzKpZCSpIBKkjBwT2444rpkBxkA4ORkdvurqiogqMW67t+1d2MbsDOPbPfHyqSigMVHFbopYqqqXO5iAAWOMZOO5wAMn2qSig8VAM4AGeT86GUEEEZB4IPrXtFBgeJIzOvwcHlaRdsrr/wCzCcBsEdncDao+9uy1sR2Ua7CEUFF2IcDKrxwD3A4HHyqSKFVGFAGSScepPcn3PzrugKrfo2LqtL006jII2faNxQEnaT+zk5xVmigVr5zNqKWaHpRRW/xEhTCu+9mjRFI8yL5XZiuD9gZwTlkhtURdiKqrz5QMDnvx8/WoLzSY5JEkOVkj3BJFOGAb7Sn0ZDgEqwIyFOMgEd6dp6QRLHHnaucZOTySx7/MngcDsMAUGL4aGL3UwO3xMH/K21MLoCMEAj5jNZmkaS8VxeSuVxcTRyIFySFWGGLzZA5JjJwM8Y59tWgjuIUYfWKpAO7zAEAj157Ee9ZniDRVvbYorBS4Qhyu4EAhtrqcFo2xhkyMqSPWrmraeLi3lhLFRNFJEWXuodSuR8xnNJF19LcdtcLZXELm78qZiI6JJ4B3MQ6g98bDj50DTompO0skNwiJcRLGzGPJWSNy4R1yMjlHBU52kdyCCdmsPw9o8qSS3NyytPcBARHnZFGm7ZGpbBbBdyWIGS3YAADcoI4rdUztVVz3wAM/lXYUDJxye/zr2igheyjY5ZEJ9yoP/Suf0dF/m0/gH/arFFBx0V3bto3YxuwM/n3qIWY6xlPJ6YjA9vMzNj7/AC/wirFFAVFHaRqdyooPuFAP5gVLRQFcJCoJIUAnuQMZ+/3ruigpabo8VuZTECDNK80hJJLM3fk+gAAA7AAAVbkjDDDAEH0IyP511RQcRwqowoAHsBgfyrm0tEijWOJQiIAq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Seriously, there's a whole chapter written in this shit

So the book is divided into 8 chapters, and only four of them deign to be named “chapters”. The first two chapters are the “prologue” and the “introduction”, while the last two chapters are the “appendix” and the “epilogue”. So chapters 1 to 4 are really chapters 3 to 6. Such is life.

Anyway, at first you think that Introduction is also a thing you have to skip, because the first page of it is in p22 Da Vinci Forward Regular again. That thankfully goes away at the end of the page. I can only assume that the typesetter simply fucked up when selecting text. The typesetter by the way is “matt milberger” (all lowercase), so seriously fuck that guy.

The introduction doesn't do a really great job of explaining what the fuck is going on, primarily because (surprisingly enough) it's a sprawling overwritten chunk of ramble text. But in no small part it is because the intro tries to get you on board with the weird metaphysics before it bothers to tell you what the game is about. I believe this is because Bill Bridges (of oMage and nMage fame) was the nominal developer for this title and presumably handed out writing assignments and set the pace for the book.

The actual bottom line is that you play synthetic people called “Prometheans” and you have magic powers, but a consequence of those magic powers is that people around you gradually go crazy and if you stay in any one place for very long the effect gets both bigger and worse. Meanwhile there are similar creatures called Pandorans that are trying to murder you. That didn't take very much text at all, and while it's incredibly problematic (as we'll discuss in later chapters), it's not like it's a difficult set of concepts to convey. However, the way they actually attempt to introduce this is like so:

Promethean Introduction wrote:Prometheans are monsters created by monsters. They are incomplete souls inhabiting bodies that have been dismembered and reassembled, then animated, not by life, but a cruel imitation of life: a mysterious, alchemical force — the Divine Fire stolen from the gods by Prometheus. They are beings fueled by a transformative power, with capabilities far greater than those of mortals.

Myths and legends tell of the creation of the Prometheans, although mortals are unaware that these diverse tales reveal that monsters actually walk among them. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is considered a work of fi ction, but it tells of the creation of a Promethean by a mortal alchemist who wielded the Divine Fire. Was Shelley aware of the truth behind her fantastic story, or did she believe she made it all up? Some Prometheans say that the monster himself, Frankenstein’s creation, revealed the story to her, whispering to her as she slept in fevered dreams, unaware of his presence. He desperately needed to communicate his tragedy to a world in which he could not himself participate. Others say that it was the monster’s bride who told the tale to Shelley, deliberately warping it to make the monster seem worse.

Older legends also hint at other Prometheans. Osiris was killed and dismembered, and then Isis recovered his limbs and gave him new life as the lord of the Underworld. Pygmalion made Galatea, a woman “carved from marble,” given life by his need and the breath of the gods. Siberian shamans suffered terrible initiations in trances where they were torn to pieces by demons and then reassembled, with powers unknown to other men. And, of course, there is the legend of the Golem, the being of clay animated by magic to deliver vengeance.

Although the details of these stories are half-truths colored by human ignorance, they reveal the existence of the Prometheans and the force that animates them. They tell of mortals who kindled the Divine Fire within a lifeless body. What they don’t tell is that such an act of Promethean generation by mortals is extremely rare — it has been accomplished only a handful of times throughout recorded history. Each act of creation produced a single Promethean. These lonely Prometheans later sought to create others of their own kind for themselves, producing lineages of monsters. The successive creations are unknown to humans, yet it is those successors who stalk the world still, desperate for an acceptance and belonging that their misbegotten nature denies them.

Then it gets down to the nitty gritty of explaining how you have Pyros, which is their “Divine Fire”, but you won't be able to figure that out from this because it talks about it as “Inner Fire” for a couple of paragraphs and then starts talking about “Pyros”, which is the same damn thing, in the next paragraph with no indication that the same thing is being discussed. And you have Azoth, which is your inner furnace of purified Pyros that makes your Pyros. Yes, really. But the Pandorans don't have their own Azoth, but they still have Pyros, and that's why they want to kill you – so they can drink your sweet Pyros that you got from your Azoth made of Pyros.


There's actually a lot of terminology in here. The thing where you drive humans and animals crazy is called “disquiet”, and the area you do it in is called your “wasteland”. But the slow trickle of new words isn't really going to stop. The last part of the introduction is a lexicon that goes on for four pages and has more than eighty entries. Obviously we can't go through these terms one by one, so I'm going to pour myself another glass of whiskey and power through.

The basic themes of this game are at once a kick in the face and a terrible misunderstanding of their market. You're supposed to be on an isolated and deeply personal pilgrimage to attain mortality and stop being a supernatural creature. Really. That is not a joke. The hook is that you don't and can't interact meaningfully with mortal or supernatural society and that you think your super powers are so shitty that you want to get rid of them. And the win condition doesn't really even have rules.

I don't know who this game was supposed to appeal to. If you agree with the central premise that you don't want to be a Promethean, wouldn't you just not play the game? And how the fuck are you supposed to mix these characters into already going World of Darkness games, when they can't stay in one town (while everything else in the nWoD is supposed to sit in one city and never ever leave) and get penalized for interacting with the same people over an extended period of time (even if they are also PCs)? Seriously, what the fuck?

Well, it wouldn't be a World of Darkness product if there weren't a bunch of new symbols to learn. These symbols are based on Alchemy, which means that they are completely abstract series of lines. Here are three:


Someone needs to stab that graphic designer, because those symbols convey zero information.

Next up: Chapter 1: Setting. Because we aren't to chapter 1 yet.

Oh man, Prometheus is so stupid, it makes me giddy to read this OSSR.

You know, Vampire and Prometheus were the only WoD games I was even interested in playing.

I thought it would be really cool to do something like play an artificial creature that had to be nurtured and taught by friends with benign or not-so-benign intentions -- and you were especially sensitive to deprivation and atrocity and had to fight constantly against insanity and misanthropy. You know, like the actual Adam.

But no. The central mechanic is unworkable for a cooperative roleplaying game. Like I said, what the rules should have done was make it so that your character has a really low tolerance for emotional distress. So seeing things like little ladies being mugged or people laughing at you in the streets or reading about the Holocaust caused you to flip out and require something to relieve the stress. Which of course could cause you to descend into a death spiral if no one was there to intervene. You know, like in actual stories about non-human humanoids learning about human nature, like Fifth Element and Star Trek and of course Frankenstein.

I think the closest you get in fiction is Roger the Homunculus from the Hellboy/B.P.R.D. comics or Commander Data from Star Trek, and they're both interesting characters specifically because they develop human relationships.

That would have been a way better premise and also much better humanity/morality/whatever mechanic. Something the character himself is actually aware of kinda and not some win/lose bar the player has to watch some time or other.

Instead we got "nobody can ever love you, even if they wanted to. Frankenstein saaaaad" bullcrap. I even kinda liked the flavors of Frankensteins and how the never appeared quite right in human guise.

Forever Alone: the Gamening.

The archetype is way more broad and common than that.

The whole 'artificial being leans about human nature and either becomes benevolent or depraved -- either way we learn something about human nature' is one of the most basic monster fiction plots imaginable.

Seriously, just a short list off of the top of my head:

[*] Hal9000 from 2001: Space Odyssey.
[*] Tio from Grandia II.
[*] Adam from Frankenstein.
[*] Data and Lore from Star Trek.
[*] Allied Master Computer from IHNMAIMS.
[*] Vash and Knives from Trigun.
[*] Leelo from Fifth Element.
[*] Agent Smith from the Matrix sequels. Done poorly, but still an example.

So on. The basic plot is that the AI starts out as a blank slate and the turning point is some kind of emotional trauma. Sometimes the AI rises and overcomes it, becoming an even better person than humans; othertimes the AI falters and becomes wicked.

For them to have fucked up a basic story trope so bad is pretty much inexcusable. The whole 'you hang around people and animals and they become hateful and insane against your will no matter what you do' is not only bad for a storytelling game but it's entirely against genre conventions. I can think of a lot of Frankensteinesque stories in which an AI does or is perceived to do something bad and it feeds a recursive loop of misanthrophy; I can't recall any story in which the triggering event happened as a 'just because' thing and where it was viewed as inevitable. It's out-of-genre, depressing, and just plain stupid.

but it is soooo tragic. I think it had a tagline like that... Frank would have to check that, I' not touching this book with a ten foot pole. Teen angst like this offends me.

I remember this game as achieving the difficult goal of being less playable than nChangeling. nChangeling was the old title holder because quite literally there was no point to the game.

Promethean actually makes it impossible to play RAW.

I don't hate the idea that your presence changes the people around you so that persecution is an inevitable fact of life for you.

I mean, I wouldn't actually want to play that game, but I don't hate that it exists.

The persecution isn't really the problem element, being a cooperative supers game where the goal is to be not-super AND alone is.

Playing X-men is fine with a lot of people. Forcing everyone to play Rogue: the solo adventures is not.

At this point, I'm pretty sure most nWoD books should have come with "SURGEON GENERAL'S WARNING: This product contains materials known to cause liver disease."

more like "spontaneous brain melting"

It's the details that really do the game in. Being the clingy naif works fine in an ensemble of different motivations, which is why Animates make the cut in AS. Wearing your lack of a father figure on your sleeve and looking for purpose in life has obvious, built-in dynamics with nurturing or cult-of-personality type characters. But if you create a game in which there is only 5 splats who all default to the Forever Alone shtick AND suffer from penalties to socializing together? You're gonna have a bad time.

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[/img]

The first official chapter starts with a page in unreadable p22 Da Vinci Forward Regular font. In fact, all the chapters do. That includes the four chapters that aren't part of the chapter numbering system. Just in case you believed even for a moment that they weren't really chapters. I don't fucking know why this happens. I believe it to be because the guy they have designing the book (as opposed to the thirteen people they have designing the contents of that book) is and was an asshat.

The chapter text bodies all begin with quite extensive quotes from public domain sources. These quotes appear to have been chosen at random. The first chapter begins with a quote from Frankenstein, but it doesn't really have anything to do with “setting” or “this setting” or anything. It's a quote from Adam about how he is angry that his creator made him in the first place. You might think this would go better in the “Character” chapter, but considering that this is one of the first page results when you google search “Frankenstein Quotes” (and begins and ends in this book exactly where the web citation begins and ends), I'm pretty sure this was literally grabbed at random. Indeed, I don't have a time machine but I highly suspect that this quote was simply the first hit for “Frankenstein Quotes” in 2006, and it was more half assed than you can imagine.

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[/img]

You might think we're done with the introductions, since we just had two actual chapters of introduction, and this chapter has had both an intro story and an intro quote. You'd be wrong. We now have three more intro stories, which are written in italics because long blocks of italicized text are hard to read and written entirely in the second person (yes, second). Possibly as a writing exercise? I couldn't tell you. In any case, these stories are about normal mundane people being total cocks to people on the fringes of society. Kind of sad, but robbed of most of its emotional impact by being completely context free and written into a long block of italicized text.

Then and only then do we get a rambling diatribe about how the reason we are dicks to homeless people is that they aren't human. Yes, really. That's the first part that actually has anything to do with “setting” and is in any way contextualized into the game it is supposedly talking about. The part where it goes off on a frankly fairly offensive rant about it isn't your fault that you cuss out janitors, prostitues, and homeless dudes – it's because they are less than human.

Promethean: the Created wrote:Even a saint couldn’t help but spit on the particular individuals they encountered. These aren’t just any bums, janitors or prostitutes — they aren’t even human.

To the extent that any information is actually imparted in this section, it is to tell you about how being a Promethean means being part of a multilevel marketing scam. See, your goal as a Promethean is to become a real boy, but along the way to doing that you need to make one or more new Prometheans and leave them to wander off and try to become a real boy on their own. This is all interspersed with half-assed literary criticism of Mary Shelley's book and weird introspection about whether or not sexual reproduction is sacred and special somehow. None of that shit matters, but we've managed to edit fucking Doctor Frankenstein out of our Frankenstein story, leaving only a lineage of broken Pinocchios with no purpose other than to try to break free of the wheel and achieve true death. Which um... they could also do by simply killing themselves. But these lineages number five because five is the number of arbitrary groups that arbitrarily all nWoD titles happen to have. And all of these lineages have their own alchemical humor (based on the four humors theory of disease, plus ectoplasm, because fuck you), their own alchemical symbol, and some other stuff you already don't care about.

Each promethean is made out of body parts, even the Galateans and Golems, whose entire shtick is being an animated statue. Those guys are made of sewn up body parts too. I can't stress this enough, even fucking Nightlife figured out that people wanted to play animates made of metal, wood, clay, and plastic. And that game came out before oWoD Vampire. There's really no excuse for there to be five flavors of “created” and have none of them be made of anything other than sewn up body parts. I don't know how many flavors of Promethean I would have to write up before I got to actual wooden Pinocchio or stone Galatea or plastic Manakin (After Sundown has 3 flavors: Frankenstein, Golem, and Android), but this is ridiculous. The setting chapter goes on for fifty pages and doesn't much tell you about stuff in the world you might actually want to interact with, so instead you get a lot of text wasted on pointlessly detailed descriptions of how corpses are reanimated in the various lineages.

Page after page is spent describing how the character's life story is supposed to go down, from their creation to their major life events and on to their motivations, goals, and even how their stories are supposed to end. After reading this chapter, there's basically no reason to actually play the game and make a story because the story has already been told in exhaustive detail. It's actually quite puzzling as to why someone would feel the need to make a cooperative storytelling game with so few dials for the participants to actually personalize their story. And that's even before we get to how pointless their story actually is – a Promethean “can stay close enough to see and hear but not take place in the goings-on and personal dramas of the mortals they so dearly wish to be.” Which basically means that the actual story is just them watching completely mundane soap operas about completely mundane people having normal lives and feeling sad and alone about not being invited. Seriously, that's it.

The book takes the Prometheus metaphor way too literally and shits all over everything with it. The name of Mary Shelley's book is “Frankenstein; or The Modern Prometheus”. The “Prometheus” in the book is of course Victor and not Adam. There's actually no fire stealing metaphor in the book, it's really just about how Prometheus made humans out of clay. There's also some stuff about Prometheus being the knowledge Titan, but really the subtitle is seriously just there because Prometheus made humans, and Victor Frankenstein made Adam. But this book goes on for pages about divine fire and shit.

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[/img]
There are three major events in the Promethus myth. Mary Shelley was alluding to the first. Bill Bridges can't shut up about the second.

But fully half of this chapter is taken up by a primer on alchemy. Yes, they made up an entire bullshit set of alchemical rules that have humoric connections to mental traits and metals and shit. There is gibberishized Latin and Greek all over the place. You have to fixio your stannum to refine tin into torment to... ah fuck it. I just don't care. No one cares. This magic system is extremely complicated, not internally consistent, and no one fucking cares. The worst bit is that when they put up that four page lexicon of Promethean-specific terminology, this alchemical terms aren't even in it.

It's not actual alchemy, which while plenty weird would at least be historically interesting. It's not particularly playable. Obviously it isn't real. I have no idea why they felt the need to go into so fucking much detail about burning salt to refine iron into magically pure substances so that you could power your magic by feeding your furnace of purified inner fire. This really seems like it could have been a single sentence “you can regenerate your power points by doing alchemical stuff during down time if you have access to a lab”.

The book ends with more tirades about how your character's life story is supposed to go, including the finale which is supposed to take place “years or even centuries” in the future. I don't even. Primarily though, the whole premise doesn't really seem to make sense. You're allowed to use the internet and have internet friends, and since your wasteland only affects your physical area I don't understand how anything is stopping you from having an active social life. Frankly, it seems like they should just be active on chat rooms, take jobs as forest rangers, and take a brick leaf from Millwall on how to handle direct personal interactions.

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[/img]
The solution to literally all of your problems as a Promethean

Next up: Chapter 2: Character. Because despite having described your character's entire story arc from birth to death over nearly twenty pages, we haven't bothered actually describing any of the characters at all. Because as we know, a good book tells us what happens to the characters before it tells us why we should care about those characters. Oh wait, it doesn't.

Promethean is like Demon: the Fallen in that it's a game completely outside the traditional White Wolf cosmology. There's really no good indication on how these Prometheans are supposed to interact with any of the other supernaturals as I recall, though I think "wasteland" might have been somebody's pet concept that was reused in slightly different contexts in several different nWoD products.

The Nightside books take a cue from Hammer Horror and that "Town Meeting" gag from Young Frankenstein and have an entire extended family of Frankensteins, plus imitators, all trying to make the Great Work.

And now there's an entire clan of Frankenstein's monsters. They get to send a representative to the annual Immortals' Ball because they fit the bill of being immortal (Only dying if you are killed, not of old age). Some of 'em are pretty nice people.

That'd be about the only way I'd do Promethean. Tell the existential angst to go fuck itself and have a support group going.

That font... as soon as I saw it I was reminded of a book I checked out from the library when I was 8 or 9.

I remember that book as being pretty good back then, but the main thing I remember was the wack-ass "handwriting". Considering the subject matter, might not be a coincidence.

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[/img]

So yes, this chapter also begins with a page long piece of illegible garbage written in p22 Da Vinci Forward Regular. I still can't tell you why this would happen.

This chapter is about making a character for Promethean. And frankly, this follows the basic formula of nWoD character creation disturbingly closely. See, in nWoD, every character is made as a normal human and then they have a magical creature template stapled on top. For Promethean, that script is followed exactly, and they don't even bother to explain why or how this happens despite the fact that unlike Werewolves, Vampires, Mages, and Hunters, these guys were never human mortals in the first place. But sure, that's how it works in other nWoD games, so that's how it works in this one too.

As is fairly standard for a nWoD game, the character creation guidelines are overly verbose. Also they include a lot of page citations to things that contradict what they are saying or simply don't bother giving any actual information about the subject the citation is supposed to be about. The mechanics are, at their root, just a thin pastiche of the mechanics for nVampire with some things given numbers just different enough to be irritating. So you have a number that works exactly like Blood Potency, but it's called Azoth, and you have a number that works exactly like Blood Points and it's called Pyros. But these things have been fiddled around a bit, in that for example the rate you can spend your power points is higher from Azoth 2 to 8 than it is for Blood Potency 2 to 8 (though it starts and ends at the same place).

The game still revolves around the three part split of Physical/Mental/Social attributes and skills, which is rather puzzling considering that the game is intended to revolve around you not having any relationships with other people (rather invalidating all the socials), and nWoD has a combat system that is literally less interesting and fair than a game of War or Indian Poker. So while there are a lot of things you can put points into, most of them are invalidated by the mechanics or themes the game is saddled with.

When you finally get to the part of character generation where you actually use this book (Step Five), you get to choose which lineage of animated stitched together corpse you are, and which alchemical metal you are attuned to. There are five of each, and your choice here has profound implications as to what magic powers you get to have, which is “explained” at the end of the chapter. It seems very clear that at some point in the design process, you had powers that came from your lineage that were called “Bestowments”, and powers that came from your alchemical bullshit that were called “Transmutations”, but they decided to lump all of these together and I have absolutely no idea why they kept both pieces of terminology. There's a little tirade about how if you want to pick up specifically the transmutation that every Osiran has to start with, that you have to figure out how to retain more phlegm. Yes, really. It has something to do with how they wanted to use Greek Alchemy and still have five classes of everything instead of just basing all this shit on an alchemical system which actually had five elements to begin with.


If only such a system existed

As is, you have to decide whether you want to refine your Torment with Tin or refine your ability to make peace with Torment with Copper. Because those are different things. TL;DR: this shit is fucked up and complicated. Also a lot of things were written according to design documents that were pretty different from the final product.

Prometheans still have to deal with Humanity, just like mortals and Vampires do. And it works pretty much exactly the same. But it spends a page and a half explaining that you aren't actually human, this number is just virtual humanity that degenerates and causes you to become deranged with remorse not because you actually feel remorse, but for no reason. It's actually pretty bad. It seems to me that rather than spending all those words explaining that they weren't going to bother explaining why you use exactly the same humanity mechanics that Vampires do despite that not making any sense, that perhaps a comparable number of words could have been spent making a subsystem that was more appropriate.

And of course, you have new Merits (which is what nWoD calls “Backgrounds”). Most of these are just Vampiric Merits with different names. So instead of “Haven” you have “Lair”, instead of “Status” you have “Repute”. This is to use up page count and also make the entire nWoD more difficult to talk about or play games in. I can really think of no other reason to do that sort of thing.

The entire chapter is 78 pages, and 18 of them are spent describing the five flavors of animated corpse you can be. Frankly, it's difficult for me to get across how rambling this shit is, so I think I'm just going to quote the “quick reference” sheet verbatim as it describes the five lineages.

Frankenstein — The Wretched: Shambling creatures whose limbs and organs were culled from multiple bodies. They were given life by the element of fire in the form of lightning, and they suffer from an excess of choleric humour. Their Progenitor was the famous Frankenstein’s monster, and their Bestowment is Unholy Strength.
Galatea — Muses: Beautiful creatures made from the most perfect body parts from multiple corpses, Galateids are enlivened by the Breath of Life and animated with an excess of sanguine humour. Their Progenitor was Galatea, the woman created by Pygmalion, and their Bestowment is Mesmerizing Appearance.
Osiris — Nepri: Descendents of their Egyptian Progenitor, Osiris, who was dismembered and remade by Isis by the banks of the Nile, Osirans come to new life amidst water, with an excess of phlegmatic humour. Their Bestowment is Revivification.
Tammuz — Golems: Brutes reborn in the womb of the earth and stricken with an excess of melancholic humour. Their Progenitor was a Babylonian Golem,and their Bestowment is Unholy Stamina.
Ulgan — The Riven: Creatures born in bodies torn apart by spirits, animated by the ectoplasm left in the wounds. Their ectoplasmic humour often overwhelms their sense of reason. Their Progenitor was a Siberian shaman, and their Bestowment is Ephemeral Flesh.

So you get to choose whether you have an Abby Normal Brain or you're Frankenhooker. It's hard to imagine taking any of this shit seriously enough to play a character who isn't based on a comedic retelling of the Frankenstein myth. Also, it's really quite clear that the “Frankensteins” are the only ones the authors actually care about. The other four flavors are just slight variations on the Frankenstein theme and don't really plumb any new conceptual space.

More than half of this chapter is actually the magic powers that you get. I... don't actually care enough to pick these apart. I will harp on the fact that there is a power category called “Electrification”, and you get it most easily by being attuned... to Tin. Yes, fucking Tin. There are people attuned to Iron, Copper, and Gold, but Electrifuckingcation is attuned to Tin. On behalf of all materials scientists everywhere, someone has to get punched in the balls over that.

WHARGARBL!

Next up, Chapter Three: The Promethean Condition. Because we haven't been bitching about being forever alone enough for the last 158 pages.

It's amazing how terrible those lineages are. Particular props to whoever came up with Galateans and decided that whereas Frankensteins were made up of a bunch of body parts from multiple corpses, Galateans were made up of a bunch of REALLY GOOD body parts from multiple corpses.

Also illuminating: The way there's no description other than "Made from X kind of corpse, illuminated by Random Term flavor of divine fire, powered by the following humor, original dude named Blah." It's not just formula, it's formula where almost all the variables you plug in are singularly undescriptive nonsense.

I know they wanted to fill out the five-man-band, but does anybody else think that the Ulgan are really weak? I mean, you could have filled these guys in with Robocop and that would make a lot more sense.

Yeah. The Ulgan sound terrible.

I suppose that there's a kernel of a good idea there, a guy gets murdered by ghosts and otherworldly energies left behind reanimate his corpse as a soulless abomination. But that doesn't fit the Frankenstein concept at all and needs to be part of a different splat.

Ancient History wrote:I know they wanted to fill out the five-man-band, but does anybody else think that the Ulgan are really weak? I mean, you could have filled these guys in with Robocop and that would make a lot more sense.

First thing I thought of was "They're doing Risen again?" with the Ulgan.

I could totally see The Crow being a golem. And his inability to get too close to anyone would make sense- you lose your power that way, but you have to interact somewhat to achieve what you want. And maybe you can't rest until you pass the spark of revenge on to someone (or multiple people) who need revenge in the afterlife.

We're basically talking about a completely separate game at this point, but that idea holds some merit to me as being an interesting "twist".

Actually, the Ulgan/Risen work are a great example of how unfriendly Promethean is with other nWoD systems: they call their juice ectoplasm, but is it the same ectoplasm as ghosts use? Does that mean the umpteen types of nWoD necromancers can use their powers to shape, steal, dismiss, and otherwise manipulate it like they would other types of ectoplasm? I mean, that's not even getting into funky nMage bullshit about the transmutation of metals, that's plain old "we have six different things we call ectoplasm in this game, but we're not going to explain which is which."

So, do they touch on one of the seemingly major issues? That Golems, Osirians and possibly Ulgans have been around for almost all of human history, yet Galatea and the Creature were comparatively created last Tuesday? How many knock-off creatures could they possibly have made?

I love how the Ulgan has "some random dude" as a progenitor. Even the golems are slightly more specific. Almost as if the further they went along with this, the less shits were given.