The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Warlock: Black Spiral is a game available for download or perusal on the Black Gate Publishing website. This appears to be the companion to Legacy: War of the Ages in a vein similar to White Wolf's World of Darkness line. The copy of Warlock that I am using for the review is the one available from the website, I printed it out and read it, so I'm not familiar with whatever published look Black Gate will be giving to the game, but I have to say that what I've seen of Legacy is not promising. Supposedly set in 2015, Legacy's art consisted of badly scanned-in pictures of men with swords running around castles fighting.

Warlock has the somewhat standard "modern occult game" background. Warlocks have existed since time immemorial, when they ruled the kingdom of Atlantis. That fell, and warlocks spread out across the world, taking their magick with them. They were largely insular, independent people until the Big Nasty Inquisition, when they were forced to work together to survive. They went underground and survived in the occult-filled shadows until the "modern" day, 2015, where the game is set.

The most interesting things in the setting include making the Tunguska comet crashing in Siberia in the early part of the century a central element of the setting. In Warlock, the "comet crash" was actually the resulting magickal backlash from a ritual that many self-sacrificing warlocks performed to keep Lovecraftian beings out of reality and stuck in their own "Barren Lands." There is also a very interesting incident involving England's attempts to use an AI to control the countries nuclear missiles. Unfortunately, they had to bomb the computer to prevent the AI from destroying the world with those nukes. Apparently some intelligent warlock had installed the intelligence of one of those Lovecraftian entities into the AI's structure, making a monstrosity with too much power.

As you can tell, Warlock's setting is a mixture between Mage, GURPS Cthulupunk, and any other dark modern occult game. In some ways it seems like Shadowrun with magick resigned to the shadows. In some ways, it pulls it off well, in other ways it doesn't.

Everyone is familiar with the basic cyberpunk setting, of course. Right? All of you out there have played so many years of Cyberpunk or Shadowrun that you can whip out megacorps and oppressive governments and net systems and cybernetics at the drop of a hat, right? Well, no matter if you do or not, because Black Gate assumed that you do when they wrote up Warlock. Don't go looking for specific history or setting information. There is no mention of what the superpowers are, or what companies rule the markets, or who's in space. There isn't even a very good list of cyberware. There is not setting in Warlock, plenty of interesting history and mood, but no setting. It is almost like Black Gate forgot that the game was set in 2015 for some reason.

The system and character creation system are so bland and forgettable that I won't bother talking about them. Suffice to say that it is a one-die mechanic, which is startlingly linear and non-representational to me. I like "loads o' dice" systems, myself. They give me nice probability curves. Characters do have some nice elements, like Introvert/Extrovert. Oddly enough, your Will trait (what you use to do magick) is derived from adding both Psyche and Madness, which I found interesting. Also, the insanity rules are relatively well done. Not on par with Unknown Armies, but better than most.

The magick in Warlock is interesting though. Like Mage: the Ascension, there are no spell lists or defined powers, there are only elements or reality and degrees of control. Unlike Mage, however, Warlock's elements are skills, and they have no varying definition according to level. That is to say that having rank 1 in a magickal skill allows you to attempt any of the effects under that element of reality, it is just difficult. The "elements of reality" are 13: Air, Earth, Water, Fire, Light, Motion, Flesh, Thought, Wood, Meaning, Space, Time, and Chaos. Largely self-explanatory, I think. Each skill covers the magick within its "domain." There are some interesting mechanics to determining spell Power (and so determining the drain on Psychic Reserve) and possible "catastrophic" success and failure. Sometimes the magick works too well.

The end of the chapter also includes a brief description of a few of the spiritual realms in Warlock. Nothing staggering, but worth a look for those who run "otherworldly" games like Werewolf, Mage or Changeling. Oddly enough, it is Wraith: the Oblivion that is listed as a source for inspiration into the spiritual realms and the feel of the game.

Then there is a chapter on the rules, which I've mentioned are functional if not elegant, not my cup of tea at all. There is a game master's chapter on running chronicles, including descriptions of various beasties to through at players. Vampires are called nosferatu, and I was infinitely amused to find that they actually describe the point spread for an "Antediluvian" are provided. Some of the monsters are interesting, but most are the standard rank-and-file of magickal games. I was expecting something new and fresh for the world in 2015, but I didn't get it.

There is also a brief local setting described, but I glossed over it because by this time I had gotten the feeling that the interesting stuff was over, and I've never been a big fan of the settings in base books anyway. I want a description of the world, not a town, in my books. White Wolf has the same problem, wasting space describing Central Park or Haight-Ashbury when the space could have been used to fill the world out more.

Overall, an interesting game that seems to forget that it's 2015. Where is the setting? Warlock definitely feels like the pre-publishing notes for the beta-test version of a game before the 1st Edition is released. I hope that Black Gate fixes some of their problems (namely the lack of a world), because they have a brilliant idea in their hands. Much better and original that Highla… er, I mean Legacy.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Warlock: Black Spiral
Author: Brandon Blackmoor, Susan Blackmoor, Chris Nasipak, David Bolack, Nathan Bordsley, R. Sean Borgstrom Category: game Company/Publisher: Black Gate Publishing Line: Warlock: Black Spiral Page count: my copy is a loose-leaf printout. I don't know the page count. Capsule Review by Derek Guder on 05/06/99. Genre tags: Science_fiction Modern_day Horror	Warlock: Black Spiral is a game available for download or perusal on the Black Gate Publishing website. This appears to be the companion to Legacy: War of the Ages in a vein similar to White Wolf's World of Darkness line. The copy of Warlock that I am using for the review is the one available from the website, I printed it out and read it, so I'm not familiar with whatever published look Black Gate will be giving to the game, but I have to say that what I've seen of Legacy is not promising. Supposedly set in 2015, Legacy's art consisted of badly scanned-in pictures of men with swords running around castles fighting. Warlock has the somewhat standard "modern occult game" background. Warlocks have existed since time immemorial, when they ruled the kingdom of Atlantis. That fell, and warlocks spread out across the world, taking their magick with them. They were largely insular, independent people until the Big Nasty Inquisition, when they were forced to work together to survive. They went underground and survived in the occult-filled shadows until the "modern" day, 2015, where the game is set. The most interesting things in the setting include making the Tunguska comet crashing in Siberia in the early part of the century a central element of the setting. In Warlock, the "comet crash" was actually the resulting magickal backlash from a ritual that many self-sacrificing warlocks performed to keep Lovecraftian beings out of reality and stuck in their own "Barren Lands." There is also a very interesting incident involving England's attempts to use an AI to control the countries nuclear missiles. Unfortunately, they had to bomb the computer to prevent the AI from destroying the world with those nukes. Apparently some intelligent warlock had installed the intelligence of one of those Lovecraftian entities into the AI's structure, making a monstrosity with too much power. As you can tell, Warlock's setting is a mixture between Mage, GURPS Cthulupunk, and any other dark modern occult game. In some ways it seems like Shadowrun with magick resigned to the shadows. In some ways, it pulls it off well, in other ways it doesn't. Everyone is familiar with the basic cyberpunk setting, of course. Right? All of you out there have played so many years of Cyberpunk or Shadowrun that you can whip out megacorps and oppressive governments and net systems and cybernetics at the drop of a hat, right? Well, no matter if you do or not, because Black Gate assumed that you do when they wrote up Warlock. Don't go looking for specific history or setting information. There is no mention of what the superpowers are, or what companies rule the markets, or who's in space. There isn't even a very good list of cyberware. There is not setting in Warlock, plenty of interesting history and mood, but no setting. It is almost like Black Gate forgot that the game was set in 2015 for some reason. The system and character creation system are so bland and forgettable that I won't bother talking about them. Suffice to say that it is a one-die mechanic, which is startlingly linear and non-representational to me. I like "loads o' dice" systems, myself. They give me nice probability curves. Characters do have some nice elements, like Introvert/Extrovert. Oddly enough, your Will trait (what you use to do magick) is derived from adding both Psyche and Madness, which I found interesting. Also, the insanity rules are relatively well done. Not on par with Unknown Armies, but better than most. The magick in Warlock is interesting though. Like Mage: the Ascension, there are no spell lists or defined powers, there are only elements or reality and degrees of control. Unlike Mage, however, Warlock's elements are skills, and they have no varying definition according to level. That is to say that having rank 1 in a magickal skill allows you to attempt any of the effects under that element of reality, it is just difficult. The "elements of reality" are 13: Air, Earth, Water, Fire, Light, Motion, Flesh, Thought, Wood, Meaning, Space, Time, and Chaos. Largely self-explanatory, I think. Each skill covers the magick within its "domain." There are some interesting mechanics to determining spell Power (and so determining the drain on Psychic Reserve) and possible "catastrophic" success and failure. Sometimes the magick works too well. The end of the chapter also includes a brief description of a few of the spiritual realms in Warlock. Nothing staggering, but worth a look for those who run "otherworldly" games like Werewolf, Mage or Changeling. Oddly enough, it is *Wraith: the Oblivion* that is listed as a source for inspiration into the spiritual realms and the feel of the game. Then there is a chapter on the rules, which I've mentioned are functional if not elegant, not my cup of tea at all. There is a game master's chapter on running chronicles, including descriptions of various beasties to through at players. Vampires are called nosferatu, and I was infinitely amused to find that they actually describe the point spread for an "Antediluvian" are provided. Some of the monsters are interesting, but most are the standard rank-and-file of magickal games. I was expecting something new and fresh for the world in 2015, but I didn't get it. There is also a brief local setting described, but I glossed over it because by this time I had gotten the feeling that the interesting stuff was over, and I've never been a big fan of the settings in base books anyway. I want a description of the world, not a town, in my books. White Wolf has the same problem, wasting space describing Central Park or Haight-Ashbury when the space could have been used to fill the world out more. Overall, an interesting game that seems to forget that it's 2015. Where is the setting? Warlock definitely feels like the pre-publishing notes for the beta-test version of a game before the 1st Edition is released. I hope that Black Gate fixes some of their problems (namely the lack of a world), because they have a brilliant idea in their hands. Much better and original that Highla… er, I mean Legacy. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 3 (Average)