Geist The Sin Eaters Books
Keri Gamrath
Goto [ Index ]If you've read anything about White Wolf's new game, Geist: The Sin-Eaters, you know by now that it is a "game about second chances." We'll see what exactly White Wolf is planning for Sin-Eaters and the world of Geist.
Picking up the book, you would have to notice the nice key effects on the cover. A quick glance might lead you to think that the book is washed out and just generally not exciting. You've got the title, a nice looking antique key, and lots of black. Pick it up, let the light shift over the cover, and you'll see that the colored key is just one in a large pattern of other keys, all slick to the touch compared to the background, all unique.
If there's a motif other than "second chances" to Geist, it's that of keys. Opening the cover and briefly flipping through the pages, you'll notice the page borders are an endless sea of keys. It's skull insignia on the spine has a key in the center of it. It gives a unique feel to this World of Darkness game.
Whoever was in charge of the production of the actual book must have loved the game and everything it stands for, as it's the nicest fatsplat I've held in my hands. The inside binding on the front and back covers is classy and mesmerizing to stare at. The text is the polar opposite of that found in Mage: The Awakening. It's very readable and offers some nice horrific art work. I can tell I won't need to be gritting my teeth trying to read thin cursive letters or faint golden ink. Much like Hunter: The Vigil, this book does not mess around.
The opening fiction is a welcome change as well. It's only four pages, and shifts focus several times so we end up with a lot of little character ideas and introductions. The only comment I'll make about the opening story is that Sin-Eaters (the characters the players will build and control) can be vicious, and should give the players a lot of freedom with their actions. There is real power there, just hinted at, but it sounds neat and unique from any other RP game (with the possible exception of the pieces I've read about Monsters and Other Childish Things).
Based on the introduction flavor, it looks like the characters may actually be jovial in their activities. Sin-Eaters actually have parties and gatherings that seem to have a Carnivale feel to them with lots of drinking and lots of celebrating. I'm excited by this because WW's game that focuses most strongly on death looks to actually be its most light-hearted and upbeat. The Sin-Eaters gather because they've died once and have been given the trademark second chance. They know what it is to be without life, so they take every opportunity to enjoy simply being alive.
The thing that really caught my eye in the lexicon was the existence of several different types of Sin-Eaters who weren't quite "with-it" compared to the average Sin-Eater. Sacrosancts, Vacants, and Wretcheds all seem to be characters potentially full of conflict and story development potential as they may be able to blend in with other Krewes when in fact they are extremely dangerous. They also seem to be a way to put forth a warning for the Sin-Eaters about what can happen if you're not careful.
This chapter acts as a more complete introduction to the "fluff" or mostly story-related elements of playing a game of Geist. Chapter 1, At the Cemetery Gate, introduces more about the general concepts of Sin-Eaters.
I would summarize the Sin-Eater's concept as two words "secretive" and "disorganized." Secretive because they are a secret society that even other supernaturals don't know about, and disorganized because their culture is, as the author describes it, "cannabilistic." It's a neat concept that SE culture (kulture? sorry) is unique to each krewe and geographic area.
A Sin-Eater is an individual who has had at least a touch with death and pulled back to life with the help of a geist. A geist is a spirit/god/ghost that can be an archetype (like the mad surgeon or the lover scorned) or have more of an individual personality. The geist bonds itself to the actual soul of the SE and the two together have powers neither would have apart. Those powers are only hinted at here, but generally a SE sees ghosts constantly and interacts with them, can enter the underworld freely and interact with the bizarre/terrifying creatures that exist there, and can help a lingering ghost in the mortal world better than any other being of supernatural profession (much better than those pesky Hunters who, the book reminds us, can't even see the ghosts they're trying to battle. what. punks.)
This chapter goes into great detail explaining SE culture including krewes, parties, and the Twilight Network. I felt that, although it was all very informative, it was a little difficult to get through the details. The Twilight Network seemed to go on and on. I'm sure this information will be more valuable once a group began making a krewe and a ST was developing his story, but these sections often came off as thick blocks of text that could have been shortened.
Sin-Eaters love to have parties, it says so right in the book. There are several types of gatherings a SE can attend, but not all are happy. The types are outlined, and I found the idea of a market gathering very interesting. I'm a sucker for Fae markets, and if I do end up running a game of Geist, there will definitely be a death market for my players to visit.
The Twilight Network is a horse of a different color. The name conjures images on an online community, and it is that, in part. As anything with SE culture, it's incredibly disorganized, but universally an aspect of the SE zeitgeist (SO pleased I found a use for that word at least once here). Krewes and SE's use it to pass on messages and important information. It seemed standard stuff until the section that outlined the dangers of the TN. This was one of the best sections of this chapter as I love taking concepts that should be safe, taken for granted by my players, and then flipping them. Without getting too specific, the TN can't always be trusted.
This chapter also sheds some light on the other denizens of Geist as well as where SE's fit into the world of darkness as a whole. Lightning Round explanation of how other supernaturals view sin-eaters!
Vampires?Nuisances that get in the way of my food, hey, wait, they could be food!Werewolves?What's a Sin-Eater? Ghosts = kids' stuff.Kerberoi?I AM THE LAW *Mages?I was using that ghost, thank you very much. Dick.Hunters?Hey, these guys are pretty goo... OHMYGODAGHOST!
*Kerberoi are neat. The picture in the book is terrifying with a bit of a Clive Barker feel to it, but mostly feels like an impossible creature. Basically these are found only in the underworld, and they serve the ancient and arcane laws written for those realms (written by who? great question). They're great because A. they are incredibly powerful and brutal in their enforcement of the law and B. no one (ghost or SE) knows even a small portion of the laws they enforce or if they're even breaking them. A Kerberoi is a ST's best friend and can act as Deus Ex Machina feared by SE's.
I get to pick how my sample character, Damien, died, his archetype, and the ways to access his Geist powers. We get to the fun stuff and real meat of the review to see what sets Sin-Eaters apart from other supernaturals in the World of Darkness.
Archetype - First we look at Damien's outlook on death, the afterlife, and ghosts. This is the archetype and is a role-playing mechanic from what I've gathered. There are many neat options, but I've narrowed down my choices from 8 to 2: Advocate and Necromancer.
Advocates work for ghosts helping them move on and resolve the issues keeping them amongst the living. Necromancers, on the other hand, are seekers of undead secrets and lore. After comparing the two, I'm choosing necromancer. I like the concept that I created for Damien that he would insert himself into the world of Sin-Eaters and the Underworld as soon as possible to put himself into a good position. He wanted to know about his surroundings and those he'd have to play to get by. Necromancer, being a seeker of knowledge, is a good choice.
Threshold - How does the Sin-Eater become a Bound in the first place? How did Damien die exactly? This is one of the things I found most intriguing about Geist in the first place. There are five choices, and all offer specific keys to choose from and may influence how I flesh my Geist out more as well. The effect a threshold has is similar to the type of cell, compact, or conspiracy you chose in Hunter: The Vigil.
Each threshold is unique and determines a lot of how Sin-Eaters interact with the world and underworld around him. I chose The Prey: Death by Nature. Damien had an appetite for the sauce before his death and made enemies as he sometimes clumsily tried his cons on other bar patrons - those not so inebriated as himself. One cold night in NYC he angered some tourists, they took it outside, and it was one quick crack of a pipe to the back of his head that sent him staggering off into the cold night. He never woke up.
It's explained well that one death can fall into many categories and each player has the freedom to choose their own threshold. I chose The Prey because he died from exposure due to the cold. I could have as easily chosen The Torn: Death by Violence since his concussion put him to sleep and was earned through violence. I could have chosen The Forgotten: Death by Chance since it was dumb luck that that pipe was sitting right on the ground next to the fighters and Damien chose the wrong person to harass that night.
Psyche's a trait determining other traits. This acts kind of like an attribute and determines some of your Sin-Eater specific traits. In setting terms, psyche is another description of the relationship between you and your geist.
This part took me 2 or 3 times to read over to understand the interactions. I can put it like this: manifestations are the power behind locked doors that the SE accesses by opening the door with a specific key. The way the manifestations work depends on the key used. Each manifestation is tied to an attribute and each key is tied to a skill. Got it?
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