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First Impressions: The Marches, Revelations II is a 128 page softcover supplement that describes the ethereal realm of In Nomine. The book has a solid feel with tight binding as well as a fairly comprehensive index.

Unfortunately, the brightly colored inside art has been reduced to black and white, and reduced is the correct word. While there is nothing inherently wrong with the art, much of the flavor of In Nomine is the look and feel of the art. The In Nomine design team did bring in some new artists that worked fairly well in black and white, but The Marches still has a bland feeling in comparison to the main book.

Marches had a cluttered feel due to the quantity of quarter page graphics and inset text boxes. Every page has a graphic, and most have two smaller ones. I pulled out my copy of In Nomine for comparison and realized that Marches has more than twice the amount of art per page. The art was made more distracting than necessary by placement. While In Nomine tended to use a tall, narrow border graphic every other page, The Marches has art along the top, bottom, and sometimes right in the middle of the page. My rough estimate is that almost a third of this book is taken up by art.

On the plus side, the writing is clear and follows the semi-narrative style used in other In Nomine products. It is a quick read and far superior to the dry, 1950 text-book feel of some game systems. I did get the feeling that some of the material was thrown together in a hurry to fill out the book. The sorcery section has a hasty feel compared to the Songs in the main book.

The total feel of the book is that it could've used another two weeks on the editing board to cut out some extraneous graphics and square up the text.

Content: The Marches is the second part of the Revelations cycle. It chronicles the Ethereal Realm; the land of mortal dreams; simply, the Marches. The two main figures of the Marches are the Archangel of Dreams Blandine and the Demon Princess Beleth. Their towers bound the Vale; the area of the Marches where most dreamers arive. It is in the Vale of Dreams that Blandine and Beleth's agents do their behind the scenes work.

From the Vale a Celestial can enter a mortal's dreams and change their outlook on life. Repeat dreams of hope can invigorate and energize a person while chronic nightmares can turn them into knife wielding psychotics or quivering vegetables. Many factions and Word-bound Celestials have agents enter the Marches in the hopes of acquiring information or influencing a mortal in ways not possible in the Corporeal Realm.

Both Blandine and Beleth have their own dedicated group of angels and demons. These separate Choirs and Bands are distinct groups from the existing Celestials in more than mindset, a welcome change from other games that merely tweak the description. These Celestials have special powers that work on both the Ethereal and Corporeal Realms, which make the suitable as PC's. Their abilities are no more powerful than that of the standard Bands and Choirs and should not give them any unfair advantages.

In an odd twist, Blandine and Beleth are not the only greater Celestials described in The Marches. Gabriel and Belial, the Archangel and Demon Prince of Fire, also garner a significant portion of this book. While I agree that the forces of Fire both embody burning desire as well as inspire it, I find the constant fascination with Gabriel's unstable mental state to border on obsession. But then, perhaps that's the point.

The Marches are more than just the stopover point for the mental ramblings of the human subconscious. When Uriel, the Archangel of Purity, went on his crusade to slaughter all the pagan gods and their allies, many of the legendary beings fled to the Marches. Beleth offered them sanctuary in return for their assistance in torturing the sleep of man; and because it would irritate Uriel.

Today the pagan gods, fae creatures, nature spirits, and the living remnants of dreams hide in the Far Marches. They venture out rarely, but could make interesting plot twists when a group of players find themselves up against worshipers of Loki (or even Loki himself). There are details on several pantheons, from the remnants of the Greek and Norse gods to the nature spirits of the Native Americans. Even the dreams of particularly powerful mortals may break free and become independent spirits meddling in the affairs of mortals or Celestials.

Marches does include more material for use in the Corporeal Realm. Mortal sorcerors can Focus their Essence, Summon ethereal spirits and demons and Command those same spirits. In classic form, the ability to work magic is granted by the Infernal, but it in no way requires damnation. It's just that bargaining with sneaky otherworldly spirits can lead even the most well intentioned sorceror onto the road to Hell.

Sorcerors make good mortal Soldiers. They not only have the ability to learn Songs but can command the lesser ethereal spirits. Their abilities let them work in ways that are less inclined to detection than the outright Disturbances induced by Songs. Minor spirits give a sorceror spies to track their foes in the physical or dream realms.

The final section of The Marches is based on a pair of diametrically opposed twins born as Siamese Twins separated at birth. The two run circuses, mobile enough to show up in any chronicle without staying so long as to be an overriding facet of the game. While I can't fathom the recent obsession with mystical circusses in both games and television, I will say that this is a fairly well constructed view of circuses. It may not be accurate, and I can't say I would know if it was, but it does provide a game-ready view of carnival life that doesn't come across as overly stereotypical.

Conclusions: The Marches provides a lot of useful material for game masters and players. The power of dreams is often overlooked or underdeveloped in most other games. Even Shattered Dreams, a game dedicated to nightmares and ethereal invaders, did not develop the world of dreams as well. (Of course, that could be why it disappeared into obscurity.) The sorcery is a useful tool for developing powerful mortal opponents and the ethereal spirits can be developed as reoccuring foes, "enemies of my enemies," or as pawns of desperate characters.

But despite the sheer utility of this book there are some definite flaws. There's an excess of art that seems oddly amateur given the quality of the other books. The rules seem to be somewhat of an afterthought; the unrecognized potential of Sorcery indicates this.

I got the feeling that this book was handed off to a team of talented, but unexperienced, writers and editors. This is incredibly puzzling as Sam Chupp, an experienced White Wolf writer, and Steve Kenson, one of FASA's talented Shadowrun writers, both contributed significant portions of this book. I can only conclude that either the editor wasn't quite on the same wavelength as the rest of the In Nomine staff, or that there was pressure to bring this book to market.

My final conclusion is that this is a good supplement for both players and GM's. It introduces a wide variety of material that can be included into almost any game without causing any kind of major upheavals. The inclusion of Sorcery alone almost makes this a must-buy purchase for chronicles that include Soldiers. I find the concepts involved to be well thought out with a constant eye towards game balance. Marches would have been a much superior product had an additional few days been spent on cleaning up the graphical layout and examining the wording of the rules-intensive sections. While I did like the style, the overuse of graphics and somewhat blandness of the art detracted from the overall effect. The material is excellent but the rules are somewhat mediocre as they stand. Only minor adjustments by the GM should be necessary for full playability.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Marches, Revelations II
Author: Samm Chupp, David Edelstein, Steve Kenson, S. John Ross, Category: game Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games Cost: $17.95 Page count: 128 ISBN: 1-5564-331-0 Playtest Review by James McPherson on 10/28/97. Genre tags: none	First Impressions: The Marches, Revelations II is a 128 page softcover supplement that describes the ethereal realm of In Nomine. The book has a solid feel with tight binding as well as a fairly comprehensive index. Unfortunately, the brightly colored inside art has been reduced to black and white, and reduced is the correct word. While there is nothing inherently wrong with the art, much of the flavor of In Nomine is the look and feel of the art. The In Nomine design team did bring in some new artists that worked fairly well in black and white, but *The Marches* still has a bland feeling in comparison to the main book. *Marches* had a cluttered feel due to the quantity of quarter page graphics and inset text boxes. Every page has a graphic, and most have two smaller ones. I pulled out my copy of In Nomine for comparison and realized that *Marches* has more than twice the amount of art per page. The art was made more distracting than necessary by placement. While *In Nomine* tended to use a tall, narrow border graphic every other page, *The Marches* has art along the top, bottom, and sometimes right in the middle of the page. My rough estimate is that almost a third of this book is taken up by art. On the plus side, the writing is clear and follows the semi-narrative style used in other In Nomine products. It is a quick read and far superior to the dry, 1950 text-book feel of some game systems. I did get the feeling that some of the material was thrown together in a hurry to fill out the book. The sorcery section has a hasty feel compared to the Songs in the main book. The total feel of the book is that it could've used another two weeks on the editing board to cut out some extraneous graphics and square up the text. Content: The Marches is the second part of the Revelations cycle. It chronicles the Ethereal Realm; the land of mortal dreams; simply, the Marches. The two main figures of the Marches are the Archangel of Dreams Blandine and the Demon Princess Beleth. Their towers bound the Vale; the area of the Marches where most dreamers arive. It is in the Vale of Dreams that Blandine and Beleth's agents do their behind the scenes work. From the Vale a Celestial can enter a mortal's dreams and change their outlook on life. Repeat dreams of hope can invigorate and energize a person while chronic nightmares can turn them into knife wielding psychotics or quivering vegetables. Many factions and Word-bound Celestials have agents enter the Marches in the hopes of acquiring information or influencing a mortal in ways not possible in the Corporeal Realm. Both Blandine and Beleth have their own dedicated group of angels and demons. These separate Choirs and Bands are distinct groups from the existing Celestials in more than mindset, a welcome change from other games that merely tweak the description. These Celestials have special powers that work on both the Ethereal and Corporeal Realms, which make the suitable as PC's. Their abilities are no more powerful than that of the standard Bands and Choirs and should not give them any unfair advantages. In an odd twist, Blandine and Beleth are not the only greater Celestials described in *The Marches.* Gabriel and Belial, the Archangel and Demon Prince of Fire, also garner a significant portion of this book. While I agree that the forces of Fire both embody burning desire as well as inspire it, I find the constant fascination with Gabriel's unstable mental state to border on obsession. But then, perhaps that's the point. The Marches are more than just the stopover point for the mental ramblings of the human subconscious. When Uriel, the Archangel of Purity, went on his crusade to slaughter all the pagan gods and their allies, many of the legendary beings fled to the Marches. Beleth offered them sanctuary in return for their assistance in torturing the sleep of man; and because it would irritate Uriel. Today the pagan gods, fae creatures, nature spirits, and the living remnants of dreams hide in the Far Marches. They venture out rarely, but could make interesting plot twists when a group of players find themselves up against worshipers of Loki (or even Loki himself). There are details on several pantheons, from the remnants of the Greek and Norse gods to the nature spirits of the Native Americans. Even the dreams of particularly powerful mortals may break free and become independent spirits meddling in the affairs of mortals or Celestials. *Marches* does include more material for use in the Corporeal Realm. Mortal sorcerors can Focus their Essence, Summon ethereal spirits and demons and Command those same spirits. In classic form, the ability to work magic is granted by the Infernal, but it in no way requires damnation. It's just that bargaining with sneaky otherworldly spirits can lead even the most well intentioned sorceror onto the road to Hell. Sorcerors make good mortal Soldiers. They not only have the ability to learn Songs but can command the lesser ethereal spirits. Their abilities let them work in ways that are less inclined to detection than the outright Disturbances induced by Songs. Minor spirits give a sorceror spies to track their foes in the physical or dream realms. The final section of *The Marches* is based on a pair of diametrically opposed twins born as Siamese Twins separated at birth. The two run circuses, mobile enough to show up in any chronicle without staying so long as to be an overriding facet of the game. While I can't fathom the recent obsession with mystical circusses in both games and television, I will say that this is a fairly well constructed view of circuses. It may not be accurate, and I can't say I would know if it was, but it does provide a game-ready view of carnival life that doesn't come across as overly stereotypical. Conclusions: The Marches provides a lot of useful material for game masters and players. The power of dreams is often overlooked or underdeveloped in most other games. Even *Shattered Dreams,* a game dedicated to nightmares and ethereal invaders, did not develop the world of dreams as well. (Of course, that could be why it disappeared into obscurity.) The sorcery is a useful tool for developing powerful mortal opponents and the ethereal spirits can be developed as reoccuring foes, "enemies of my enemies," or as pawns of desperate characters. But despite the sheer utility of this book there are some definite flaws. There's an excess of art that seems oddly amateur given the quality of the other books. The rules seem to be somewhat of an afterthought; the unrecognized potential of Sorcery indicates this. I got the feeling that this book was handed off to a team of talented, but unexperienced, writers and editors. This is incredibly puzzling as Sam Chupp, an experienced White Wolf writer, and Steve Kenson, one of FASA's talented *Shadowrun* writers, both contributed significant portions of this book. I can only conclude that either the editor wasn't quite on the same wavelength as the rest of the In Nomine staff, or that there was pressure to bring this book to market. My final conclusion is that this is a good supplement for both players and GM's. It introduces a wide variety of material that can be included into almost any game without causing any kind of major upheavals. The inclusion of Sorcery alone almost makes this a must-buy purchase for chronicles that include Soldiers. I find the concepts involved to be well thought out with a constant eye towards game balance. *Marches* would have been a much superior product had an additional few days been spent on cleaning up the graphical layout and examining the wording of the rules-intensive sections. While I did like the style, the overuse of graphics and somewhat blandness of the art detracted from the overall effect. The material is excellent but the rules are somewhat mediocre as they stand. Only minor adjustments by the GM should be necessary for full playability. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 4 (Meaty)