Thu 03 Jul 2025, 06:24
Overall, I'd say that the language is this book does not flow as well as in previous Vaesen books. I'm not sure if that's the result of a different translator or some other factor. So a lot of the suggestions below are style suggestions, rather than rules.
Page 89: "This year, celebrations start in the evening after theplayer characters’ arrival at the village." "in the evening" reads poorly here, because evening is modified by after the characters' arrive. On its own, yes, celebrations start in the evening. But once you modify "evening," then I'd remove "in" and just have "celebrations start the evening after the player characters' arrival..."
Page 89: "The valley’s residents prepare for the celebration weeks before the day." Style-wise, I'd say, "The valley's residents start preparing for the celebration weeks in advance." "Weeks before they day" sounds... weird.
Page 89: "They also twist red cords and bindthem in tassels that they adorn with small bronzebells, to decorate their costumes with." Again, style-wise, this reads weird because you have "adorn" and "decorate" in the same sentence. Maybe flip it around: "They further decorate those costumes with twisted red cords, bound in tassels adorned with small bronze bells."
Page 92: "This was part of Maria’splan of course (page XXX)." There should be a comma after "plan," so that it reads, "This was part of Maria's plan, of course..."
Page 92: "During the day, thetroupe are busy preparing for their performances..." "Troupe" is a collective noun, so it should read "the troupe is busy..."
Page 92: "The troupe are happyto interact with the player characters..." Same as above, "The troupe is happy..."
Page 92: "She willnot reveal the truth until the final Confrontationhowever (page XXX)." "However" needs to be set off with a comma. The best phrasing would be to move it to the beginning of the sentence: "However, she will not reveal the truth..."
Page 93: "The former director could notrefuse as they all heard rumors that the woman’sfamily was killed in their home by a bear." Should be pluperfect: "...the woman's family had been killed in their home..."
Page 93: "Largely, despitetheir supernatural talents, they are destined toinevitably die in their thirties or forties." This sentence reads very poorly, both because "largely" is set off, and because "destined to" and "inevitably" are used together. Better would be, "Despitetheir supernatural talents, they are mostly destined to die in their thirties or forties."
Page 95: "...may make an OBSERVATION test to spot a very thin, magical thread fromthe beast’s back to Maria’s yarn spindle, wherevershe is..." There needs to be a verb describing the thread, maybe "stretching": "...to spot a very thin, magical thread stretching from the beast's back..."
Page 96: "If they attack Maria, however, Eve will furiously attack them and defendher mother. However, if told the truth about thebeast, Maria and the knez, she may be reasonedwith..." Having "however" in two sentences in a row isn't great. I would delete the first one, so that it reads, "If they attack Maria, Eve will furiously..."
Page 97: "They mightfor example:" This reads poorly. Switch it to, "For example, they might:"
Page 97: "Try to make peace between the knez and Eve. Thisis difficult but not impossible (MANIPULATION rollwith −2 with bonuses for relevant evidence andinformation, such as revealing that Eve is a dhampir destined for unlife). What does this rule describe? What is "-2," the number of dice? How about "Challenging MANIPULATION roll, with extra dice awarded for relevant evidence and information..."
Page 97: "However, if no longer under the control of Maria’s yarn spindle, if the beast is Broken asecond time, it will disappear into the night." Two "if"s in a row like that reads poorly. Best to put an "and" in there. "...if no longer under the control of Maria's yarn spindle and if the beast is Broken a second time..."
Page 100: "The first building erected at the location was amonastery of the Bridgettine order..." I wouldn't use "monastery" interchangeably with "convent." I'd replace all instances of "monastery" in this paragraph with "convent."
Page 100: "The vykhrovyk realized that the murderer was hidden from her sight." I'd add a "meanwhile" to the beginning of the sentence, to help this read more smoothly: "Meanwhile, the vykhrovyk realized..."
Page 107: "With an OBSERVATIONroll, it is evident when a prisoner is lying,perhaps to the point that they have startedto believe their own lies." This doesn't make sense. If they believe their own lies to be true, then how would it be obvious that a prisoner is lying?
Page 108: "If the rest of the prison shows some signs of amodern influence, this place looks as if time omits itentirely." I'm not sure that I'd use "omits" here. Maybe "ignores?"
Page 109: "It ishis interpretation that explains the vykhrovyk’sactions as the Angel of Justice’s warnings tosinners..." The beginning of this sentence reads poorly. Perhaps "He interprets the vykhrovyk's actions as..."
Page 108 and 110: Page 108 says, "There are two entries on OlhaKobzar..." However, on page 110, the second entry doesn't mention Olha by name.
Page 111: "Staying within the belltower for more than a short scene requires a successful FORCE test – otherwise, the player charactergets a Condition (physical or mental) and needsto go down to warm up." In normal Vaesen rules, if the test was a FORCE test, the condition is required to be physical.
Page 111: "...the player characters must pass a MANIPULATION test with a difficulty equal to 1 plus thenumber of countdown steps (page XXX) thathave already passed." What is the "difficulty?" Is that the number of successes needed? If so, it would be better to say, "...characters must test MANIPULATION and get at least one success, plus another success for each countdown step that has already passed."
Page 112: "To temporarilycalm the vaesen and be able to communicate withher, they need to get a mistletoe plant or branchand bring it to Olha’s grave." On page 111, the player characters only need to succeed on a MANIPULATION test. Which is it? Upon further reading, I realize that this can only happen at Olha's grave, not in the bell tower. That should be made more clear here.
Page 112: "...bring a random person – such as thechaplain or some prisoner – to face vykhrovyk’sjustice in the courtyard." It should be "to face the vykhrovyk's justice..."