Actual (reading?)

Okay, so I haven't actually played the game, but I was just sent a comp. copy of "Mummy: The Quirky Subtitle".

I'm reading through this and at first was rather amused/interested by the whole idea of the North African/Middle Eastern basis. I love the Middle East mythology. So, I figure, though White Wolf has been a roller-coaster in terms of quality, I would take a peek at this Year of the Dung Beetle thing (poor Gregor Samsa).

First, setting aside the whole villification of Apophis, which I choose not to take personally :wink:, I was heartened by the intro, which seemed bent upon giving what they called an "accurate portrait of these largely unknown lands". Great. Like I said, I'm into it. There's some heritage here for me, so I'm psyked.

Well, it fell apart. All apart. I'm not sure what they did. I read the bibliography they cite, and I actually own a couple of those books, and have read a few others. So, I'm wondering what they did to my poor mythology (well, not *mine* per se, but you know what I mean).

My problem with a lot of this is as follows: if your game is going to use/qarp existing philosophy/religion/etc, I'm all in for it. Good for you. But if you claim to be using a "purist" slant toward the mythological basis, shouldn't you move away from a lot of the hoo-ha and what-have-you and actually get into the pure aspect of things?

Should I be offended? (To answer my own question: no, why bother?)

But I think games that want to use real stuff should really make sure they have done their homework (lots of it, lots and lots of it). Has anyone noticed similar problems with the WoD line in other cultures or whatever-you-want-to-call-'ems? Is this a rampant problem for RPGs in general? (Aside from that whole Al-Qadim phenomenon, which was a great world (Ron and I discussed this one recently), are there any good Middle Eastern games? I would appreciate any experiences people have heard concerning this area of RPG(ing).

Thanks.

Dav