Kindred of the East

The new Kindred of the East book has proven to be a great use for me and my friends. The all new ways of Dharma and the different kuei jin disciplines prove to be a nice taste of something different than just V:tm. The option of being a kindred of the east or just the flavor it adds to the chronicle is more than enough to make me feel that purchasing this book was well worth the money.

White Wolf has captured the mysticism and uniqueness of the Orient in KotE, and describe an imaginative race of vampires that in no way are a copy of western vampires. In fact, after reading KotE, I think western vampires are quite boring and without purpose. Together with the rest of WW's Asia-oriented books, like Hengeyokai, KotE is a masterpiece. The only downside is that maybe it's not very easy to play KotE compared to Vampire, and it's definitely harder to find the right Asian atmosphere. But other than that, it's perfect.

I thought that KoE was one of the best books that I have read from White Wolf. It takes and enforces the original intention of Vampire: the Masquerade, the struggle between keeping your Humanity and succumbing to your Beast. It is designed to keep players from becoming ungodly strong power characters really quickly and simply ignoring the enlightenment part. In my opinion that alone makes it a very worthwhile game since it focuses on roleplaying more than how much power you can grab. And yes the Kuei-jin are strong, but they also have disadvantages that equal them out so they have no more of an advantage than any other group does. All in all, an extremely excellent book.

When I first read this book, I was skepitcal: I had heard that the vamps of the east used chi instead of blood. That sort of turned me of...till I read deeper into the book. In short, the being inside are both uggly and beautiful, malignant and bengin. They have a goal some what like that of the Hengeyokai...that is, when it comes to preserving places of high chi. Their true quest is one of enlightenment and redemtion...unlike their western counterparts, who are often turned into vamps against their will, the Kuei-jin, as they call themsleves, are souls who have fallen out of sinc with the Great Wheel due to bad Karma. This book is a must have for any Vampire player.

Congratulations to White Wolf on this book. It offers a good view of a new type of supernatural to add to the World of Darkness (but, carefully.) I like the openness of the players moral decisions; they're much closer to Sabbat Paths than Humanity, yet they're not evil- they just have a different world view than the Western Kindred are used to. The book does a good job describing it and setting the feel for it. Contrary to the other reviews, I find the Eastern and Western Kindred to be fairly balanced power-wise. If you're interested in extending your World of Darkness setting into the East, this book is a must.