White Wolf’s Proverbial Monsters Are Actually Quite Literal
If you fix a mirror someone else broke, do you get seven years of good luck?
Proverbial Monsters is a World of Darkness sourcebook from White Wolf that takes nine oft-repeated aphorisms, wives’ tales, sayings — proverbs, by any other name — and constructs nine fiendish creatures out of them, with nine scenarios for storytellers to drop their hapless players into. Just remember to take anything I say in this review with a grain of salt.
This is one of those White Wolf books that isn’t aimed at any specific World of Darkness system. It’s best used with the core World of Darkness rules, Hunter: the Vigil, Changeling, or Innocents, but each scenario has a sidebar with tips on incorporating the beastie into one of the other WoD games. The organization of Proverbial Monsters is clear and simple. Each section begins with a proverb, then explains the origins of the proverb (sometimes drawing on real folklore, sometimes made up from whole cloth). It then extrapolates that origin into some kind of supernatural being, and describes the motivations of said being.
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Finally, a scenario is suggested that would pit the players against the proverbial monster at hand, with tweaks for different systems, plot hooks, and a rough outline of encounters. The creatures are given full stats, with powers and abilities to back up their weird motivations. There’s a set of scenario cards at the back of the book to help move things along, but no printable handouts.
Here’s a rundown of the wicked critters in question (spoilers ahead, if you’re a player and not a storyteller):
The Miraree, a soul-sucking spirit that stalks victims via reflections whenever someone breaks two mirrors within seven years. The scenario involves an angsty, sullen teenager working in concert with a Miraree to commit murders.
The Doliocthon, some kind of earth elemental that devours people when they step on cracks (actually camouflaged parts of its body) in out-of-the-way places. It’s a cool monster, but quite a stretch to connect it to the breaking of mothers’ backs.
The Dreamer, an otherwordly entity that haunts those who walk under ladders and inadvertently open a portal to some strange nether realm. It eventually drives them mad, drains their will and leads to death.
The Goblin Roach is a creepy-crawly creature that marks its turf with a five-leaf clover. Picking such a clover is bad luck because then a swarm of goblin roaches will come after you.
Autumne, the spirit of this time of year, haunts those who wear opal even though they weren’t born in autumn. Seems rather petty, frankly.
Glitra, an amorphous blob creature that glitters like gold, but isn’t. It entraps, suffocates and digests greedy people who get too close.
Ash-Burn, a type of fire elemental that attacks people who let the last coal of the hearth fire burn out.
Domos, house spirits that get mad when you insult them by opening an umbrella indoors. The result is poltergeist-like activity that builds in intensity until the domos appears and attacks.
Thanatanthe, the spirit of a long-dead pharaoh that inhabits grave flowers and poisons those who steal them.
To be honest, this isn’t my favorite recent White Wolf release. The basic concept just feels a bit weak, and the connections between the monsters and the proverbs are tenuous at best. On the other hand, you could ignore the proverb stuff and just use these as weird supernatural creatures to throw into a campaign as a side adventure or a single evening of gaming. The scenarios themselves are fun and place the players into interesting situations, and, well…’tis the season.
You can check out the World of Darkness core rulebook at TrollandToad.com (they don’t have Proverbial Monsters in stock yet), or grab a pdf of Proverbial Monsters at DriveThruRPG.
Related posts:
- Monster Manual 3 Reviewed — A New Look at Some Old Monsters
- Sin-Eaters Walk the Line Between Life and Death in Geist
- Kobold Ecologies Vol. 1 Details a Dozen Monsters In Depth
- Seers of the Throne is a Haunting Blueprint for Immortality
- Horror Recognition Guide Provides Nightmare Fuel for Storytellers
October 29th, 2009 1:38 PM
How are the powers? Like- if I have a mirror-based monster, are there “mirror powers” to steal? Are they like Numina or like Disciplines?
October 29th, 2009 1:45 PM
I’m not really experienced enough with WoD to answer that properly, so I added an excerpt so you can see for yourself.
October 30th, 2009 11:54 AM
Bah– it looks un-ranked, dotless, which means thus harder to port over. I gotta say, sometimes I DO want to look at game balance! Sure, “levels” for monsters are arbitrary & hard, but it is at least a starting point.
I use the WoD system, but I use it to run my own setting. Thus, I really value their framework books, the more abstract the better– concrete books with sample PCs or NPCs or very specific monsters are just not as useful to me.