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Orpheus
Length: 312 pages
Price: $34.95
Publisher: White Wolf www.white-wolf.com
ISBN: 1-58846-600-0
Frankly, I've been buying less and less White Wolf materials over the years. The metaplot doesn't interest me for a variety of reasons, and the recent turn of events hasn't grabbed my interest.
Plus, I'm increasingly distrustful of the "supplement treadmill", the endless output of product associated with a particular line.
So, when it was announced that Orpheus was going have a finite, limited run of supplements, with a metaplot specific to only that game and unconnected to the rest of the World of Darkness, I became interested.
Combine this with a certain dis-satisfaction with Wraith: The Oblivion combined with an interest in the subject matter -- ghosts -- and it was an easy sell.
The question is: Is it worth it? And the answer is: Would I be talking about it if it weren't?
If you were disappointed with Wraith but interested in ghost stories, buy this book. Hell, if you liked Wraith and are willing to come to the game with an open mind (this IS NOT Revised Wraith, as others have pointed out), you won't be disappointed. And if you'd rather interact with supernatural being rather than be one, this game is for you.
First, let's talk about the basic hook of the setting: Imagine if the kid from The Sixth Sense grew up and founded a corporation. That corporation is the Orpheus Group, which started out as a cryogenics firm but later developed the technology needed to produce "projectors", people who can send their souls outside of their body and interact with ghosts. You can play ghosts, too, but the focus isn't really on that. The focus is on real human ghost stories, on the interaction between the dead and the living. The company will help put ghosts to rest or contact dead relatives for a fee -- as well as slightly less legal activities behind the scenes. In an interesting twist on the typical World of Darkness "everything is a secret" idea, the Orpheus Group publically advertises its services -- which doesn't mean everyone believes they can contact the dead, not unlike how not everyone in the real world believes in, say, John Edward.
That's the hook. Before I get down to the details, let me say that this is the most up-front White Wolf book I've ever read. It tells you what the author is trying to do, and is up-front about how the metaplot is going to work, and encourages you to ignore it if you want. This forthright honesty is maintained throughout the book. This inherent honesty and lack of pretentiousness is quite refreshing in a White Wolf product, and could be profitably emulated by other companies, or even other White Wolf games.
And because Orpheus is a stand-alone cul-de-sac of the World of Darkness, it makes a great introduction to the World of Darkness. Unfortunately, this potential is blunted by some of the usual problems with new White Wolf rulebooks: Odd organization, unclear rules, and errata. Naturally, these are not insurmountable problems or else I wouldn't be highlighting the game -- we're talking worlds better than 1st Edition Werewolf here -- but it does bear mentioning.
So, what do you get?
Well, after the usual opening fiction (which is quite well-written), there is an introduction that sets the forthright tone I referred to followed by a large chapter of setting information. This is equal to or better than White Wolf's standard -- though some might be annoyed that all the information is presented "in character", it's obvious this section is for players, and there's plenty of out-of-character information elsewhere. You get a lot of press clippings, internal emails and reference documents, letters, academic papers -- all relating to the Orpheus Group and its scientific breakthrough, the ability to "project", or send one's mind or soul into the realm of the dead. Everything you could possibly want to know about the corporation, including how it's structured, is here, plus tons of information on the world of the dead, as Orpheus understands it.
Chapter Two is a "here are your options" chapter, complete with White Wolf's specialty: "splats", or class-like character choices. First you have to pick a Shade, the kind of ghost you are when you're out of your body, or the kind of ghost you are all the time if you're a ghost, based on your character's personality, which also determines your supernatural powers. You can be a Banshee (socially-ept people, in a empathetic way, which can affect emotions -- and life -- with sound, and see the future), a Haunter (antisocial people who can possess objects), a Poltergeist (angry people who, as an invisible spirit, can chuck stuff around the room), a Skinrider (domineering people who can possess others), or a Wisp (manipulative con-men types whose spirits can sort of teleport, think "Will o' the Wisp") -- and it's hinted there will me more Shades in later supplements. After that you pick a Lament, which is, in essence, whether you're alive or dead, and how you interact with the land of the dead. There are four Laments, two for live people and two for dead people. If your heart still beats, you can be a Skimmer, someone who can project his soul without any equipment but only for a short while, or a Sleeper, someone who can remain a spirit for a very long time but have to be cryogenically frozen in order to project. If you're dead but still active, you can be a Spirit, which is a standard ghost, with the main disadvantage being you have an evil Spectre doppleganger (I like this a lot more than the Shadow in Wraith -- more plot possibilities), or a Hue -- weak ghosts of people who once took Pigment in life. (Pigment is a heroin-like drug that lets you see ghosts -- it has "metaplot" stamped all over it.)
Now, some people decry the "lack of balance" between the Laments, but to me, that's a feature, not a bug. It's obvious that it's more advantageous to start out living than dead, especially given it's guaranteed a projector will come back as a ghost, so you can change to a "dead" Lament later if circumstances move in that direction. This goes well with the emphasis, in Orpheus, on relatively normal people facing their own mortality as part of a daily job -- and is therefore a good thing, a quiet way to encourage the sort of stories the author is aiming at, system and setting working in lockstep.
The chapter then launches into Horrors, the k3wL p0w3rz for Orpheus. Unlike most World of Darkness games, the powers are not rated on a one to five scale -- instead, all the powers, including innate abilities, are powered off Vitality, with the level of the effect being based on how much Vitality you're willing to spend. (Vitality is, in essence, how strong the character's spirit is.) Either you have a Horror, or not. This is refreshingly simple, even if some of the Horrors, like Wail, are written in a somewhat convoluted fashion.
Chapter Three is character generation -- if you've played a White Wolf game before, this is old hat, but the description of the different traits is refreshingly clear. (For those of you who are not familiar, it's a very easy point-buy system.) Also, unlike most White Wolf games, the personality Archetype you choose has an effect on your game stats. Another addition is that of "role", i.e. your job before becoming an agent for Orpheus.
Also in this section are the default abilities that all projectors and ghosts have -- some people have complained the Horrors aren't powerful enough, but the abilities everyone have more than makes up for it. One of the things I hated about Wraith was how difficult it was to affect the living -- no problem here, anyone can manifest, and how you look when you manifest fits with different folklorish or cinematic depictions of ghosts, depending on your Shade. Also, PCs are part of a "crucible", a team trained to work together, allowing them to share Vitality. (There is a very nice team element to Orpheus -- each Horror has a way it can be used to enhance the abilities of other people in the crucible.)
Some of the rules tweaks introduced in this section -- such as a more sophisticated way of dealing with Specialties, a different way of handling Destiny, and the elimination of the Dodge trait -- make this the best version of vanilla Storyteller I've seen in a long, long time, though not quite the major overhaul seen in, say, Adventure!
The Backgrounds are especially nice, and very down-to-earth for a White Wolf game -- how many White Wolf games care how much health insurance your character has?
This section also talks about Spite, a statistic that goes up and down representing the negativity of the character, and Stains, outward manifestations of Spite upon one's spirit, which can be used for a benefit, but at the risk of more Spite. Too much Spite and one becomes an angry, destructive ghost -- a Spectre. (Yes, Wraith fans, these are very much the Spectres you know and love -- but there's more than enough information in the book for people unfamiliar with Wraith to use Spectres in their games.)
The section ends by talking about experience points and how to spend it -- if you've ever played a skill-based RPG before, this shouldn't be too shocking.
Chapter Four is more about the game system itself -- as I said before, this is one of the better implementations of Storyteller that I've seen. Ideas from, say, Revised Vampire are streamlined and explained here much better than elsewhere. For those not familiar with Storyteller, one rolls a number of d10s equal to a statistic plus skill, trying to beat a certain number on each die, which determines the number of successes. It's the same dice pool system that's served Storyteller so well in the past. This chapter covers using the system in a variety of situations, including combat.
Chapter Five is for the GM, or "Storyteller". Again, there is more of the up-front talk seen in the Introduction, and the Storyteller is given a solid sense of what Orpheus is about and how to run Orpheus missions. Solid advice (including "The Eleven Commandments of Storytelling") is followed by all sorts of possible threats and/or rivals the characters can face, with an "in character" Orpheus Group document on the threat followed by an out-of-character ST's assessment of the situation, i.e. what's really going on. The threats vary from Spectres to rival firms with projecting technology to other kinds of ghosts.
The book ends with an Appendix listing several mission briefings. These are plot seeds -- all there is the briefing, and it's up to the ST to decide what's really going on. Some might be annoyed by this "hands off" approach, but I appreciated the opportunity to be given some starting ideas while keeping the game my own.
(As a quick aside, some of you may be asking if the supplements live up to the main rulebook. Unfortunately, so far the answer is "no". I'll give a quick capsule review of the first supplement, Crusade of Ashes: This book is disorganized and varys widely in quality, and is much less honest and forthright than the main rulebook, coyly holding a lot of information back from the Storyteller. It's only worth picking up if you feel you need Merits and Flaws (think Advantages and Disadvantages), if you're interested in running a game where the characters are "on the run", or, most of all, if you're interested in the metaplot.)
Overall, Orpheus is solidly written and stands well on its own: Years of gaming can come just from the material presented in this single volume, and that's a rare thing nowadays. Protest the "supplement treadmill" today -- buy a copy of Orpheus. You'll be glad you did.
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