The Inside Scoop on Gaming

While I like Mage a great deal, I've found that I like its historical version, Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade much more, for reasons I've enumerated in a previous review. Consequently, I've been looking forward to the release of The Sorcerers Crusade Companion for several months now. Thankfully, it was worth the wait.

The Companion is an attractive tome of 192 pages. The book is very well laid out, like everything for this line. The interior art, especially that of Mark Jackson and Larry MacDougal, is quite nice and really helps to set the mood of the game. The cover, by Barb Armata, is nice enough, but a little too colorful and animated for my tastes. I prefer something a bit more subtle.

Those small quibbles aside, the meat of the book is substantial. Chapter One contains a very useful primer on life during the Renaissance. Covering such diverse topics as food, fashion, social customs, and economics, it'll prove very useful to Storytellers and players alike. One of the biggest problems anyone has in running a historical game is getting the details right. This chapter should go a long way toward alleviating that problem.

Chapter Two is another generally good chapter, this time covering the religious beliefs of the period. Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Islam, and Paganism all get treated in its pages. I liked this chapter and found it worthwhile, but have a few qualms about it. I realize that the World of Darkness is not clearly not our own world. It's similar, but not quite identical. That said, I guess it's to be expected that Catholicism would be treated badly (given the corruption of the time period). Still, I thought I'd sensed a more nuanced approach to the Church in previous supplements, something I found refreshing. Nevertheless, most of the details here are correct (well, except for the rampant Paganism) for the time period and it is good to see religion being taken seriously in a roleplaying game.

Chapter Three is a very useful chapter for Storytellers wishing to expand their chronicles beyond Europe. This chapter describes briefly several lands "beyond the sun": West Africa, Central America, China, and the Ottoman Empire, all of which have a place of significance in the Renaissance. Each land is given about six pages in which to describe social customs, history, and, of course, the supernatural. Naturally, the chapter barely does justice to any of these lands, but it's still good to see White Wolf expanding beyond the European arena in ways like this.

In conjunction with Chapter Four, you might even be able to play entire non-European chronicles. This chapter gives us a few more disparate mages from other lands. These include the Madzimbabwe, Ngoma, Taftâni, Lions of Zion, and Wu Lung. I'm particularly fond of the Lions of Zion, as they'll add spice to my Iberian chronicle. One of the truly attractive things about all of these disparates is that, in The Sorcerers Crusade, they're on almost equal footing with the familiar Traditions, something that's not true in the modern day game. Playing one of these other mages is a viable alternative and makes the Renaissance era even more enjoyable as a setting.

Chapter Five provides us a plenitude of new Merits and Flaws, as well as new Abilities. These are always appreciated. However, I do have a big beef with White Wolf. All of those present in the Crusade Lore supplement are included here as well, which is fine. However, doing so leaves only a small number of things in Crusade Lore that are not reproduced somewhere else. Indeed, if you're not interested in cross-over chronicles with the other games (as many rightly are not), there's almost no need to buy Crusade Lore, except for the Storyteller Screen, which, let's be honest, isn't all that worthwhile. My advice, then: buy this book instead of Crusade Lore, if you don't have it already.

Chapter Six gives us a large number of Scourgelings with which to bless or torment mages. In general, these are well-done and worthy additions to the game. They'll certainly help out a Storyteller caught without any idea of how to afflict a mage who's incurred the Scourge. While a good many of the Scourgelings are of European origin, several are not, in keeping with the book's general tenor. This is worthwhile and well-considered. I think players will find the variety a refreshing change.

The book is rounded out with a grab-bag Appendix. This section deals with three rather unrelated topics: fencing, medicinal herbs, and historical figures. The portion on fencing is quite enjoyable, as it introduces almost no new rules. Instead, it simply discusses fencing and how to use it in a chronicle. I am particularly pleased that there's a mention of Spanish Hermetics using the thin blade, as this is precisely the idea I had for my own chronicle. Perhaps great minds do think alike. . .

The medicinal herbs are nice enough, I suppose, for the purposes of authenticity, but I see little likelihood of using what seems to be filler text to me. However, the listing of historical personages and families is very useful. I am quite pleased that very few of these figures is identified as having been a mage, a nice change of pace from the conspiracy-minded temperament too often in evidence these days.

In the end, I cannot recommend The Sorcerers Crusade Companion enough –– if you intend to run a Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade game. It has limited usefulness for modern day Mage players, as there's little backstory to the book. Likewise, I can't imagine non-Mage players finding it useful for anything other than its descriptions of the Renaissance world, but there are plenty of non-gaming books that do that job as well or better.

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

The Sorcerers Crusade Companion
Author: Phil Brucato, et al. Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Line: Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade Cost: $22.95 Page count: 192 ISBN: 1-56504-494-0 Playtest Review by James Maliszewski on 06/22/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Historical Conspiracy Gothic	While I like Mage a great deal, I've found that I like its historical version, Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade much more, for reasons I've enumerated in a previous review. Consequently, I've been looking forward to the release of The Sorcerers Crusade Companion for several months now. Thankfully, it was worth the wait. The Companion is an attractive tome of 192 pages. The book is very well laid out, like everything for this line. The interior art, especially that of Mark Jackson and Larry MacDougal, is quite nice and really helps to set the mood of the game. The cover, by Barb Armata, is nice enough, but a little too colorful and animated for my tastes. I prefer something a bit more subtle. Those small quibbles aside, the meat of the book is substantial. Chapter One contains a very useful primer on life during the Renaissance. Covering such diverse topics as food, fashion, social customs, and economics, it'll prove very useful to Storytellers and players alike. One of the biggest problems anyone has in running a historical game is getting the details right. This chapter should go a long way toward alleviating that problem. Chapter Two is another generally good chapter, this time covering the religious beliefs of the period. Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism, Islam, and Paganism all get treated in its pages. I liked this chapter and found it worthwhile, but have a few qualms about it. I realize that the World of Darkness is not clearly not our own world. It's similar, but not quite identical. That said, I guess it's to be expected that Catholicism would be treated badly (given the corruption of the time period). Still, I thought I'd sensed a more nuanced approach to the Church in previous supplements, something I found refreshing. Nevertheless, most of the details here are correct (well, except for the rampant Paganism) for the time period and it is good to see religion being taken seriously in a roleplaying game. Chapter Three is a very useful chapter for Storytellers wishing to expand their chronicles beyond Europe. This chapter describes briefly several lands "beyond the sun": West Africa, Central America, China, and the Ottoman Empire, all of which have a place of significance in the Renaissance. Each land is given about six pages in which to describe social customs, history, and, of course, the supernatural. Naturally, the chapter barely does justice to any of these lands, but it's still good to see White Wolf expanding beyond the European arena in ways like this. In conjunction with Chapter Four, you might even be able to play entire non-European chronicles. This chapter gives us a few more disparate mages from other lands. These include the Madzimbabwe, Ngoma, Taftâni, Lions of Zion, and Wu Lung. I'm particularly fond of the Lions of Zion, as they'll add spice to my Iberian chronicle. One of the truly attractive things about all of these disparates is that, in The Sorcerers Crusade, they're on almost equal footing with the familiar Traditions, something that's not true in the modern day game. Playing one of these other mages is a viable alternative and makes the Renaissance era even more enjoyable as a setting. Chapter Five provides us a plenitude of new Merits and Flaws, as well as new Abilities. These are always appreciated. However, I do have a big beef with White Wolf. All of those present in the Crusade Lore supplement are included here as well, which is fine. However, doing so leaves only a small number of things in Crusade Lore that are not reproduced somewhere else. Indeed, if you're not interested in cross-over chronicles with the other games (as many rightly are not), there's almost no need to buy Crusade Lore, except for the Storyteller Screen, which, let's be honest, isn't all that worthwhile. My advice, then: buy this book instead of Crusade Lore, if you don't have it already. Chapter Six gives us a large number of Scourgelings with which to bless or torment mages. In general, these are well-done and worthy additions to the game. They'll certainly help out a Storyteller caught without any idea of how to afflict a mage who's incurred the Scourge. While a good many of the Scourgelings are of European origin, several are not, in keeping with the book's general tenor. This is worthwhile and well-considered. I think players will find the variety a refreshing change. The book is rounded out with a grab-bag Appendix. This section deals with three rather unrelated topics: fencing, medicinal herbs, and historical figures. The portion on fencing is quite enjoyable, as it introduces almost no new rules. Instead, it simply discusses fencing and how to use it in a chronicle. I am particularly pleased that there's a mention of Spanish Hermetics using the thin blade, as this is precisely the idea I had for my own chronicle. Perhaps great minds do think alike. . . The medicinal herbs are nice enough, I suppose, for the purposes of authenticity, but I see little likelihood of using what seems to be filler text to me. However, the listing of historical personages and families is very useful. I am quite pleased that very few of these figures is identified as having been a mage, a nice change of pace from the conspiracy-minded temperament too often in evidence these days. In the end, I cannot recommend The Sorcerers Crusade Companion enough –– if you intend to run a Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade game. It has limited usefulness for modern day Mage players, as there's little backstory to the book. Likewise, I can't imagine non-Mage players finding it useful for anything other than its descriptions of the Renaissance world, but there are plenty of non-gaming books that do that job as well or better. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)