Beta review notice
This review is based on the Beta PDF of Vaesen: Mythic Carpathia distributed to Kickstarter supporters. The final release may differ in small or significant ways. I have read the text in full but have not yet run any of the scenarios in play, so my comments on them are based purely on reading, not table experience. This also means that as usual I will be more enthusiastic after playing it. :)
(I have reviewed most published Vaesen mysteries after play, Beta-reviewed City of My Nightmares and run its first mystery, Scent of a Killer, as well as some community content scenarios)
What is in it
A new geographic setting for Vaesen, defining a new society in Prague, a new character profession (vampire hunter), several new vaesen with an emphasis on vampire variants, and three scenarios set in the region, each using the local vaesen.
How good is it
The art
Vaesen started with the art of Egercranz, and this book shows him in great form. Most of the illustrations are beautiful and a pleasure to look at. However, there is a harshness in the themes that makes them evoke something very different from the original Vaesen books. The caricatural, whimsical expressionism of Egercranz’s style interacts differently with these creatures than it did with the Scandinavian ones. What was once fairy-like and almost endearing, even if sometimes horrific and scary, now feels harsher, more violent, and more sarcastic. Beautiful, yes, but also harsh and disturbing.
There is less sense of setting in these images. The original Vaesen art was strongly evocative of the landscapes of Scandinavia, but here that sense of place is much weaker. I believe Egercranz was the great inspiration for all that Vaesen is, and in this case his art seems to have shaped the contents of the book for good and for bad in a different direction than in the core book.
Setting
The information about the setting is sadly flat and lacking in inspirational power. It reads like the sort of material you could get by checking Wikipedia or by asking ChatGPT. It does not spark anything. There is no real “Mythic Carpathia” here, only historical and geographic facts. Unlike the original Vaesen, there is no big thematic idea framing the setting, such as “modernity versus the old ways” or the interplay between science and myth that animated Mythic Scandinavia.
In my view, this is the great failure of the book. Given the wealth of natural beauty, mystery, and legend surrounding the Carpathians, the result is deeply disappointing.
The new society
Unlike the Society of Artemis, the Pravda Society is much more hierarchical, yet paradoxically feels flat in how uninspiring it is. We get explanations of how it is organized and how its structure developed, but only from a dry, institutional-history perspective. There are no legendary members, no big secrets, no mysteries, no rituals, no life. It is hard to see what the point of this society is. And unlike the original society in Vaesen, it is not up to the characters to reinvent it. There is continuity with the past, but that past seems to lack any real purpose.
The new profession
The vampire hunter is cool, especially the illustration. One of the possible dark secrets is that the character is a dhampir, a child of a vampire, which is hardly surprising. After all, Blade is one of the most famous vampire hunters. I expect the dhampir vampire hunter will be so overused in play that the real surprise will be when a vampire hunter is not a dhampir. No mechanics are provided to reflect the dhampir heritage.
The talents are decent, but they are not particularly original or inspiring.
The vaesen
The illustrations are excellent, there are some nice ideas, and there is a lot of effort in making the different vampire variants feel distinct from one another.
As in the original Vaesen, the font used for the mood text is practically unreadable for me, although I have never seen anyone else complain about it.
Some descriptions are difficult to use because the creatures’ powers and weaknesses are left vague. This can help with variety when creating mysteries, but it does not assist the Game Master as much as it should.
Overall, there are beautiful Egercranz drawings and a few cool ideas, but much of the rest feels like paint-by-numbers Vaesen material.
The scenarios
There are three scenarios in the book. Without spoilers, I can say they all have the potential to be very good. In my opinion they share the same structural flaws. Several clues are unique and easy to miss, and a couple of important details about NPC actions are kept vague or glossed over.
They are also markedly darker and harsher in tone than the originals.
On the plus side, some NPCs are really interesting, and the vaesen are used well.
I am also starting to get tired of diary and book pages being conveniently ripped out and left in just the right place to be found. Then again, I have used the same device myself, so perhaps I cannot complain.
There is clearly some polish missing, and given how close this draft seems to the final version, I doubt that polish is still coming.
Verdict
The Egercranz drawings are the biggest attraction in this book. Beautiful as usual. The new set of vaesen is a welcome addition. The scenarios are quite good and can be made excellent with just a little work (and I always like them better after running them). However, this book will not inspire you as much as the original, and several sections are of little use m(those first 30 pages). The Pravda Society is flat in spirit, so the simplest approach may be to bring your characters from Uppsala to solve mysteries in Carpathia.
Buy it for the illustrations, the Vaesen, and the mysteries. But you will have to search elsewhere for the heart of Mythic Carpathia.
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