[st_gulik]

This whole book is bumpkiss and a perfect example of how White Wolf has always over-promised and under-delivered.

A role playing game about playing little children in the World of Darkness.

My first thought was that they had ripped off, Little Fears, a fabulous game that does exactly what it promises - lets you play little children in a world where the monsters are real and mom and dad can't help.

Then I laughed after reading through the book. My first thought after reading it was, "Typical White Wolf."

My reasons for lambasting the game? First, they are making a game for you - but they don't actually make a game! They tell you to use their regular old system and have adults, "always win" when in conflict with a child. That's not a system that's a napkin with scribbles taped to their system.

A system for playing childhood horror should have stats for how close a kid is to wetting the bed, how imaginative they are, and how much willpower they can exert over their own imagination, and how much or little control they have over their own lives (some kids can run free while others HAVE to go to Violin Practice ForEVER). I didn't even see an inkling of that in this book.

Sure there was great fluff, production values, and layout - but what is that if you're not even given the rules to run a great game that clinches the spirit of childhood horror? It'd be like having a beautiful custom design Ferrari and no engine inside of it. Or an in genre example - Being given keys to the Adams Family House, only to walk inside and see that it was nothing more than a set facade.

As for my typical complaint against White Wolf? Where is the Horror Stat in the game where you role-play Vampiric Horror? There was a Rage stat, at least, in Werewolf, but seriously. Vampire told everyone that it was a game about dark intrigue, vampire court and culture, and all the regular vampire stuff, and what rules do you get? How to shoot, dodge, punch, and powers that let you shoot faster, not be seen so you don't have to dodge, and punch hard enough to crush someone's skull. Yes, there were a few minor powers that dealt with mind-control, etc., but where was the creepy stat, or all the other rules that should have gone with being a vampire?

They promise to make games about these great ideas, but then fail to actually incorporate those ideas into their rule system - in any meaningful way. What would Monopoly be if all you got were rules on how to shoot at the other game pieces and how to buy property - but nothing involving getting the sets, buying houses (or hotels), and certainly not any rules about going broke. It wouldn't be a game about monopolies, or even the game we all know. It'd be a shoot-em up game set on a funky map of Atlantic City. It may claim the Title of Monopoly, but it wouldn't deserve it.