I admit, when I first heard about Beast, I was apprehending. I felt like the concept was a bit too vague, too all over the place compared to previous gamelines. The opinions I read weren't really encouraging either, as a lot of people described it as too mean-spirited, among other things. A friend of mine, however, absolutely loved it, and convinced me to at least check it. Now, after reading both the preview and the finished rulebook, I am glad to say that while the game isn't without his problem, it doesn't deserve the hate it gets.
While it is true that the premise of a creature who has to hurt people in order to survive is too far even for the World of Darkness, it's not quite as bad as people make it out to be; Beasts are actually capable of minimizing the harm they cause by feeding only on bad people, or even better, by using Kinship with other supernaturals.
Speaking of which, Kinship was, for me, one of the major highlight of the book; I am a sucker for crossover stuff, and the potential offered here is amazing, both for mechanics (Beasts can essentially form a symbiotic relationship with other supernaturals) and lore (the idea of Beasts sharing life with other creatures, or disguising as one of them). Adding a Beast to your campaign, either as a player, npc or antagonist, offer tons of possibilities.
Sadly, this is also at the source of the book's biggest weakness. Because it is so focused on crossovers, Beast has very little to stand on its own merit, and seems rather weak when taken alone. Most books in the WoD have several different antagonists and possibilities of stories. Werewolves have the Pure, the Spirits, and the Balehounds. Vampires have Belial's Brood, VII and the Strix. Hunters have... well, pretty much all the other gamelines. Even fan-made Princess has the Darkness, the Amanojaku and the Twilight Princesses. Beasts, on the other hand, have... just Heroes. Worse, the preview despicted them as awfully one-dimensional, Unintentionally Sympathetic strawmen. The final book thanksfully fixes this by giving them more nuance, making them less victims and more Worthy Opponents to Beasts and clarifying that yes, there are such things as good Heroes, which does make them more compelling and offer more possibilities. But still, there's only so many type of stories you can make with the premise "some racist jackass wants you dead just because you are a monster".
Overall, with good customizing mechanics, interesting ideas and neat concepts, Beast makes for a great book if combined with another gameline, but is a bit too limited when taken of its own. I think it would REALLY benefit from a few supplements to add new stories, characters and antagonists. A book about these briefly mentionned Good Heroes, in particular, would be nice.
A rather unfairly maligned game
I admit, when I first heard about Beast, I was apprehending. I felt like the concept was a bit too vague, too all over the place compared to previous gamelines. The opinions I read weren't really encouraging either, as a lot of people described it as too mean-spirited, among other things. A friend of mine, however, absolutely loved it, and convinced me to at least check it. Now, after reading both the preview and the finished rulebook, I am glad to say that while the game isn't without his problem, it doesn't deserve the hate it gets.
While it is true that the premise of a creature who has to hurt people in order to survive is too far even for the World of Darkness, it's not quite as bad as people make it out to be; Beasts are actually capable of minimizing the harm they cause by feeding only on bad people, or even better, by using Kinship with other supernaturals.
Speaking of which, Kinship was, for me, one of the major highlight of the book; I am a sucker for crossover stuff, and the potential offered here is amazing, both for mechanics (Beasts can essentially form a symbiotic relationship with other supernaturals) and lore (the idea of Beasts sharing life with other creatures, or disguising as one of them). Adding a Beast to your campaign, either as a player, npc or antagonist, offer tons of possibilities.
Sadly, this is also at the source of the book's biggest weakness. Because it is so focused on crossovers, Beast has very little to stand on its own merit, and seems rather weak when taken alone. Most books in the WoD have several different antagonists and possibilities of stories. Werewolves have the Pure, the Spirits, and the Balehounds. Vampires have Belial's Brood, VII and the Strix. Hunters have... well, pretty much all the other gamelines. Even fan-made Princess has the Darkness, the Amanojaku and the Twilight Princesses. Beasts, on the other hand, have... just Heroes. Worse, the preview despicted them as awfully one-dimensional, Unintentionally Sympathetic strawmen. The final book thanksfully fixes this by giving them more nuance, making them less victims and more Worthy Opponents to Beasts and clarifying that yes, there are such things as good Heroes, which does make them more compelling and offer more possibilities. But still, there's only so many type of stories you can make with the premise "some racist jackass wants you dead just because you are a monster".
Overall, with good customizing mechanics, interesting ideas and neat concepts, Beast makes for a great book if combined with another gameline, but is a bit too limited when taken of its own. I think it would REALLY benefit from a few supplements to add new stories, characters and antagonists. A book about these briefly mentionned Good Heroes, in particular, would be nice.