Authors:
Release Date: 2007-08-15
On Sale: Yes
Price: 26.99
ISBN: 978-1-58846-491-0
Product Type: Core Book
Product Style: Hardcover
Page Count:
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Review by: Sterling Jenson
Rating: 9/10
An excellent product of somewhat limited usefulness.
In some ways, World of Darkness: Asylum could be renamed Mysterious Places II: Bishopsgate Asylum, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Since Mysterious Places was such a good book and Asylum keeps up that tradition. The reason why I compare the two books is because so much of Asylum is about the fictional asylum, Bishopsgate.
The book starts out with the requisite short story, which is called “Diamonds,” and introduction. The short story does a good job of setting the tone and the mood for the book. I was rather surprised that when I went back to reread the story, I discovered that setting for this story is not Bishopsgate since so much of the book is dedicated to that particular setting. As well as giving the overview of the book, the introduction provides three lists which help break down some of the more common medical jargon which would be helpful for any storyteller or player running a character whose profession is in the medical field.
The first two chapters of the book focus on the medical world and the history of asylums and comprise the section of the book which is not about Bishopsgate. The first chapter gives a history of asylums and care for the mentally ill seemed a bit short, but I did not see any gaping holes in this section that needed filling. Perhaps a comparison between how different cultures handled the insane beyond Europe and the United States would have been useful. One detail that I liked in the introduction to the second chapter is the inclusion of the authors' admitting that while they tried to get all of the details of the medical world correct, they acknowledged that they might have shaded of them in interests of creating a better role playing supplement. The second chapter goes into detail about the medical profession in general and describes other professions within the medical world beyond the standbys of doctor or nurse. Which would be immensely helpful for creating both player characters and non-player characters. Also I liked how the new derangement section included a few printed in Ghouls as well as a couple of new ones. Not everyone has access to Ghouls and so reprinting material which was found in one of the line specific supplements, e.g. vampire, werewolf, etc., that could be used in every game line allows more players to have access to the information.
The second section of the book deals with the fictional asylum of Bishopsgate itself. What I like about this setting is that the authors have included so many potential plot hooks and places to hang plot hooks that whole chronicles could be run just at this setting. The history section is so filled with potential plot hooks, that a game set in an abandoned version of Bishopsgate would not be too hard to run. While parts of the history seem a bit clichéd, other parts are not. My hat is off to who ever wrote the case study chapter because not only does the author provide multiple explanations for each case study, but at least one of the explanations given is completely mundane. Another detail I like about the section is that while all of the case studies are supposed to reside in Bishopsgate, the back story presented does not tie them to this particular asylum. Therefore, running a story about a particular case file from this chapter in a different location would be easy and the only details that would change is that the patient is now at another asylum. The last chapter deals with some of the various archetypes players might encounter at an asylum, and some of these would be easily incorporated into any chronicle that dealt with the medical field. The inclusion of some patients who are not a part of one of the case studies is a great idea because it helps the storyteller to portray other patients and thus helps make the setting more colorful.
The appendix deals with insanity and the supernatural lines in the World of Darkness, including Promethean and Changeling. The side bar as when a character should roll for Morality when he or she commits a sin while under mind control or emotion manipulating powers is quite useful.
Overall, I thought that the book was well written and presented. One of the little details that I liked about this book is the authors included some line specific explanations, for example one of the case studies mentions the Beshilu as a possibility, and then proceeded to give a short description of the explanation for those who do not have access to the line in question. I thought this detail was a nice touch. Based on the content, writing, and overall usefulness of the book, I am going to give this book a nine out of ten. I would like to give it a perfect score, but since the book is geared much more towards storytellers than players and is rather corner case I feel that a perfect score is not appropriate.
