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Liber Castellorum: The Book of Tethers

Author: Mark Allen, R. Sean Borgstorm, James Cambias, Genevieve R. Cogman, Alain H. Dawson, Emily Dresner, David Edelstein, Scott Haring, Jo Hart, John Karakash, Elizabeth McCoy and Walter Miliken
Category: game
Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games
Cost: $19.95
Page count: 128
ISBN: 1-55634-365-5
Capsule Review by Elizabeth Bartley on 03/06/99.
Genre tags: Fantasy Modern_day
Liber Castellorum is a good, solid book about Tethers. It's well-done and interesting, if of limited use for people not GMing the game.

Each chapter begins with half a page to a page and a half of 'flavor' text, a vignette concerning the information in the chapter. I'm especially fond of Marc's Auditors. The chapters are:

Theory and Practice of Tethers
This chapter covers the mechanics of Tethers. How a Tether is formed and dies, strong and weak Tethers, unusual features of some Tethers, the Songs of Sanctity (which relate to creating Tethers and are also included in the Songbook), and new Discord.
I thought the game mechanics both worked and were interesting. In particular, the unusual features of Tethers, such as 'quiet' (no noise when someone uses the Tether) and mobile (just what it sounds like) really contribute to making Tethers unique.

The Seneschal
This covers how Seneschals are chosen, which Choirs and Bands are chosen as Seneshals for what types of Tethers, the powers of a Seneschal, what happens to a Seneschal if a Tether dies, and what happens when a Seneschal goes Outcast/Renegade and/or Falls/Redeems.
This information is important if fleshing out a Tether.

Consecrated Ground
This covers attacking and defending Tethers, and what related resources Tethers may have; it also mentions briefly what the Celestial end of a Tether is like for each Superior. It's the chapter with the lovely vignette about Marc's (I presume) Malakim Auditing a (Game?) Tether.
This is all well thought out, but mostly the sort of thing a GM could figure out for himself. Consider it a useful timesaver rather than all that innovative.

Tethers in the Campaign
This covers the usual uses players will have for Tethers in a game. The uses are fairly obvious (transport, bases, equipment, invoking Superiors, etc.) but it's got handy guidelines for limiting abuses. It also has a little interesting information about dealing with Tethers of Superiors who aren't necessarily friendly with yours, and even those on the other side. And it briefly mentions a couple possibilities for Tether-based campaigns, possible rewards and punishments for major Tether expeditions, and the way a Tether affects the area around it.
For the most part, this is solid stuff but pretty obvious if you stop to think about it. Again, it's a useful timesaver, and the hints could be very useful in an ounce of prevention sense.

Castella Mundi: Fortresses of the World
This huge chapter describes Tethers by Superior. Every Superior has a listed major Tether, unusual Tether, generic Tether, and a list of other Tethers, including all previously published Tethers (with cites.) It also describes Notre Dame, which is a Tether to all of the Archangels, the House of the Morning Star, which is a Tether to Lucifer, and three (dead, dying, and small) Ethereal Tethers.
I really liked this chapter. It had flavor. The generic Tethers were obvious, but that's why they're generic Tethers; the unusual Tethers were nicely done, and a help towards giving Tethers more flavor.

Adventure Seeds
This chapter has several short mini-adventures that could be fleshed out or run as they are by a GM who's good at improvising.
For a variety of reasons, I didn't care for these. One would be good if the campaign needed some comedy, however, and people who are less pro-psychiatric drugs than I am might like another of them.

All in all, I thought it was a good solid supplement. It's not vital, but I would recommend it for any In Nomine GM who can afford it, anyone interested in Tethers, and anyone who would just like to own a good In Nomine book.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

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