Book Review: Night Watch/Day Watch

[JCD]

This is a series of four books written by Sergei Lukyanenko. It is translated from Russian.

It has many elements which mimic In Nomine, which is why I bring it up.

In it, there are creatures called 'Others'. Others were born human, but at some point, transition into supernatural beings, from vampires to shape shifters to magicians. This change occurs when one enters 'Twilight' which is a multi layered version of reality somewhat analogous to going Celestial. For example, it allows you to walk through walls.

But the most important part of the transition is the selection of which side one belongs to: The Light and the Dark, which essentially translates to selflessness and selfishness.

Because this is a Russian book, a great deal of emphasis is put on bureaucracy. The Night Watch are the Light policemen, who work at night so they can keep their eye on the Dark ones. Likewise the Day Watch keeps an eye on the Light ones. This was arranged by a Treaty between the two sides.

Curtis the Impudite says: The main character is Anton Gorodetsky, a Light Magician. He is the perfect Russian hero, being by turns whiny, philosophical, drunk and his greatest actions in the series have him doing absolutely nothing!

Ahem! Back to the review. One of the best parts of the book ARE the philosophical discussions, something which is sometimes overlooked by the cartoony aspects. The two sides work to influence the mortal world and rigorously control things. If a Dark One murders a human, then a Light one would get a license to heal someone.

There are varying levels of ability, with the greatest being similar to Superiors.

Because they are human, it is not a perfect match, but some of the examples and philosophy might inspire your IN game.

[malachi666]

hmm this looks very interesting. The philosophical side of IN, and apparently these novels, is what draws me to this RPG. I will definitely check them out.

[sir_pudding]

The films are fairly good as well, the author was very closely involved in making them. The English subtitled version of Nightwatch has the absolute best use of subtitles that I've ever seen in a film.