Pyramid: Pyramid Review: Blood & Silk (for Kindred of the East & Vampire: The Dark Ages)

Pyramid Review

Blood & Silk (for Kindred of the East and Vampire: The Dark Ages)

Published by White Wolf Publishing

Written by Bruce Baugh, Geoffrey C. Grabowski, Ellen P. Kiley & James Kiley

176 pages, $21.95

Here's a book that's got "tough to use" written all over it.

First off, it's a supplement for Kindred of the East and Vampire: The Dark Ages. No big whoop, except that KotE is a supplement for Vampire: The Masquerade.

This isn't really a huge detraction from the utility of the gamebook. The V:tDA rules book combined with the KotE contain most of the info you'd need to run a game of B&S. There's at least one missing rule; neither Kindred of the East nor Vampire: The Dark Ages contains the rules for Fame. Admittedly, a minor quibble, but if you're gonna nit pick, you may as well grab something and hang onto it.

So, in order to use Blood & Silk you'll need Kindred of the East and one of the main rulebooks (Dark Ages or Masquerade). Since most users of the game (nay, all?) will have KotE, and thus a Vampire rulebook, this shouldn't be a problem. The cover does tell us that it is a sourcebook for KotE and V: tDA, but should have mentioned you'd need them both on the back cover, say, rather than in the "How to Use This Book" section. Aside from having to wing the rules for Fame, however, Dark Ages should give you all the rules you need.

The book describes the setting of Kindred of the East in 1197, when the Middle Kingdom is on the brink of the fifth age. (As . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.

Article publication date: July 7, 2000

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