Homegrown: The Proliferation
Part 3

Fan-Created Supplements for
The World of Darkness

Introduction

by Nathan Shumate
Artwork by Michelle Carter

Ever wanted to play a Highlander-style Immortal in your Vampire, The Masquerade campaign? How about having the Technocracy run up against Scanners? Just to balance all the evil, have you ever wished for Angels?

You're not alone. For each of these (and other) ideas, there's been a White Wolf devotee who has not only wished for a supplement, but has gone out and designed their own. Some are inspired, some are banal, but they all have one thing in common: They can all be found on the Internet.

The best place to find homegrown White Wolf supplements is at "BJ Zanzibar's World of Darkness" at http://php.indiana.edu/~adashiel/wod/wod.html. BJ has gone out of his way to add to his site just about every unofficial supplement ever created, including a plethora of new clans, paths, disciplines, spells, orders, bloodlines, creatures, tribes, etc. (the mind boggles). Along with these, there are scores of more complex supplements written to add new types of PC or major NPC to the game (or to act as stand-alone games in their own right). Think of the official Mummy supplement, and you'll be getting the idea.

Not all of these supplements work in every chronicle; some of them wouldn't work in any chronicle. These reviews include a rating system, giving up to two stars for each of the following:

Concept: Is it a role-playable idea, sufficiently different from what's already available to justify its existence?

World of Darkness: Does it have a mood or atmosphere in keeping with the standard World of Darkness games, or is it just borrowing the Storyteller system? (Nothing wrong with the latter - the Storyteller system is one of the best roleplaying systems ever devised - but as it's exclusively used by the World of Darkness games, the two are intertwined.)

Background: Is there sufficient detail in the supplement to run a chronicle without extensive outside research on the Storyteller's part? (This might include reference to the standard games, especially of the author of a supplement has combined rules from Wraith: The Oblivion and Werewolf: The Apocalypse and the Hunters Hunted supplement and...

Integration: Would a PC character from this supplement fit well into a standard chronicle (one centering on the standard character types? Would an NPC character work well, as ally or adversary?

Stand-alone: Would it work well as a standalone game (i.e., in a chronicle that doesn't include vampires, mages, werewolves, etc.)?

More Homegrown: The Proliferation

Part 2: Immortals, Superheroes, & Dragons


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