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I bought The Artisan's Handbook before I bought The Sorcerer's Crusade Companion but I decided that I would read the latter first, since it was more generic to the game line. Those of you who have read my review for it know that I was bothered by the degree of subjective reality that had made its way into the book. Yes, yes, I know, Mage is all about subjective reality, right? Kinda, I just like it a little more solid myself. Surprisingly enough, I got a fair amount of feedback happy about that subjectivism. Those of you who like that will not be disappointed by The Artisan's Handbook. Once again I end up holding a great book in my hands that I cannot completely appreciate because it just disagrees with me. Thankfully though, this book had much less of the "history is a conspiracy" feel that The Sorcerer's Crusade Companion gave me.

That is not, of course, to say that you should not buy it. I heartily recommend that you do if you like Mage: the Sorcerer's Crusade, it is well worth it, despite whatever differences of opinion I may have with the author, Phil Masters.

The book is nice and refreshing in that it jumps right into the meat of the content, not dithering around with a story or a lengthy "how to use this book" section. The first chapter is nice and focuses mainly upon the mundane. There is a look at how apprentices are taught, including under what conditions they live. The distinction between High Artisans and Craftmasons is laid out, although I would have liked a more concrete differentiation between their theories later in the book. Another very useful section is a discussion of purely mundane technology, from travel to war. The wheel-lock is also written about to a great extent, largely because Masters uses it as an example of one of the Order of Reasons' first staggered implementation of technology into the consensus. I was also surprised to find that while the book focused almost solely upon the Artisans and Craftmasons, that the Ahl-I-Batin were included in many of the discussions, specifically those about alchemy and mathematics. I certainly hope that we get more information of the sort for Mage: the Sorcerer's Crusade and I was also pleased with the recognition that many paradigms from different Traditions and Conventions share some central elements.

Chapter two, sporting illustrations by Guy Davis that are almost worth the price of the book by themselves, is about the history, culture and relations of Artisans and other technocratically aligned magi. There is a nice but brief history lesson that showed its research clearly, and in a good light. Phil Masters knew his material and was quite adept in writing it into the Artisan viewpoint. In addition, while I was disappointed (but understanding of) by the somewhat more than slight European focus, I was very pleased to get as much information on the East as I did. The chapter continues with a look at current events that occupy the Daedaleans, though again, mainly in Europe. That is followed by a much too brief look at some basic theories of the Artisans, including humanism. Unfortunately, it is ultimately not enough to really build any sort of satisfying and internally consistent paradigm upon. The relations that the Artisans have with others was given in an in-character format, oddly enough, and despite my initial misgivings, I was pleased by their frank and honest nature. Very useful indeed. The chapter closes out with a look at how the Artisans and Craftmasons organize themselves and what the future holds for them as the Renaissance develops into the modern world.

Chapter three delves deeper into the "enlightened science" of the artificers, and it is both the most interesting and most infuriating chapter to me. There is a nice (but once again too brief) look at the various Spheres through the eyes of an artificer, a discussion of how they interact with Daemons, Scourge, the differences between Craftmason and High Artisan views, tools and foci and finally formulations (rotes and procedures in modern-era Mage). This chapter is filled with brilliant ideas about science and mysticism in a time when they were just beginning to diverge, and some of the rotes are amazingly interesting, but this chapter is very much from the "science is vulgar" corner of Mage metaphysics, while I am in the opposite corner, saying that "nothing is vulgar unless made to be so." Hence, while I would likely almost never make a technocratic effect vulgar (except in extreme cases), Masters makes nearly all of them such. That, however, is not my biggest problem with the chapter, because I can easily adapt that. It was length. The chapter was much, much too short. After reading it, I had a much better feel for artificer paradigm, but I did not have the grasp I wanted. I can easily slide into any Tradition paradigm (at least within the era of Mage: the Sorcerer's Crusade), but doing the same within the Order of Reason, and the Artisans and Craftmasons in particular, is much more difficult. Masters gave some outlines of theories and some nice points to work from, but I kept wanting more, another look, a deeper examination, but I didn't get one. I suppose that this is an oddly veiled compliment in many ways, the chapter was written well enough that my biggest problem was that I wanted so much more from it.

The templates and notable chapter was rather interesting, with some unexpected entries. Included among the "artisans" are not only Craftmasons and High Artisans, but also Batini and Hermetic magi. My only real complaint here is that there are not enough Craftmasons, only one is presented. I was also very pleased with the famous artisans included. I am not an expert on obscure historical figures, so I would imagine that most of them are taken from history (da Vinci certainly was), and I was pleased by the apparent lack of fear with which Masters addressed them. Most often, writers are afraid to label historical figures are this or that, but Masters managed to do it without either cheapening them or seeming to fear commitment. Beyond that, all of them were interesting as well, and there is little more you can ask from a notable section in a book. Once again, my complaint is length - I wanted more.

The final chapter is purely rules for use and creation of artificer work and constructs. The rules work well enough, if you make the same assumptions that Masters did. This chapter was, for the most part, are little use to me, since I come from a rather different direction than Masters does, and I like to be more rules-light anyway. The parts I found most interesting were the categorizations of technology, however. Masters' "spectrum of vulgarity" (my term) is something that has greatly changed my opinion of reality Mage. I think that something similar would be greatly useful in a general sense for all paradigms in Mage. I recommend that anyone trying to pound out their own personal Mage metaphysics consult this book when they turn to the details and the nitty-gritty. It is very thought provoking.

The book rounds out with a few Appendices providing several different sample Devices as well as another look at mundane technology, specifically weapons technology. While again I did not entirely agree with everything the Devices either exemplified or implied, they were all interesting and thought-provoking enough that I enjoyed reading them and spent time asking myself "If I don't like how it was done, how would I have done it?" The last page of the book is a bibliography, including several resources that can be consulted for more information on non-European technology throughout history.

Overall, I really, really enjoyed this book. It was exceedingly well written and illustrated. I have already mentioned Guy Davis' wonderful and amazing work, and Alex Sheikman was as good as ever. Jeff Laubenstein, of Shadowrun and Earthdawn fame, also contributed several excellent pieces, and, surprisingly enough, Omar Rayyan did not annoy me with his art, it was at least okay and in some places actually good.

The Artisans' Handbook is definitely a must-have for any Mage: the Sorcerer's Crusade game that is heavily involved with the Order of Reason or other "artificers." It really does help to flesh the Artisans out a great deal (and they resemble the Sons of Ether more than the Technocracy in many ways). A valuable resource that left me wanting more, and I am hoping that my desire is eventually sated by Phil Brucato as he comes in to take the reins of the game, although I have my worries that I will always be saying "I liked the book a lot, but it was leaning to far into subjectivism."

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Artisan's Handbook
Author: Phil Masters Category: game Company/Publisher: White Wolf Game Studio Line: Mage: the Sorcerer's Crusade Cost: $14.95 Page count: 96 ISBN: 1-56504-493-2 SKU: WW4804 Capsule Review by Derek Guder on 08/16/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Historical	I bought The Artisan's Handbook before I bought The Sorcerer's Crusade Companion but I decided that I would read the latter first, since it was more generic to the game line. Those of you who have read my review for it know that I was bothered by the degree of subjective reality that had made its way into the book. Yes, yes, I know, Mage is all about subjective reality, right? Kinda, I just like it a little more solid myself. Surprisingly enough, I got a fair amount of feedback happy about that subjectivism. Those of you who like that will not be disappointed by The Artisan's Handbook. Once again I end up holding a great book in my hands that I cannot completely appreciate because it just disagrees with me. Thankfully though, this book had much less of the "history is a conspiracy" feel that The Sorcerer's Crusade Companion gave me. That is not, of course, to say that you should not buy it. I heartily recommend that you do if you like Mage: the Sorcerer's Crusade, it is well worth it, despite whatever differences of opinion I may have with the author, Phil Masters. The book is nice and refreshing in that it jumps right into the meat of the content, not dithering around with a story or a lengthy "how to use this book" section. The first chapter is nice and focuses mainly upon the mundane. There is a look at how apprentices are taught, including under what conditions they live. The distinction between High Artisans and Craftmasons is laid out, although I would have liked a more concrete differentiation between their theories later in the book. Another very useful section is a discussion of purely mundane technology, from travel to war. The wheel-lock is also written about to a great extent, largely because Masters uses it as an example of one of the Order of Reasons' first staggered implementation of technology into the consensus. I was also surprised to find that while the book focused almost solely upon the Artisans and Craftmasons, that the Ahl-I-Batin were included in many of the discussions, specifically those about alchemy and mathematics. I certainly hope that we get more information of the sort for Mage: the Sorcerer's Crusade and I was also pleased with the recognition that many paradigms from different Traditions and Conventions share some central elements. Chapter two, sporting illustrations by Guy Davis that are almost worth the price of the book by themselves, is about the history, culture and relations of Artisans and other technocratically aligned magi. There is a nice but brief history lesson that showed its research clearly, and in a good light. Phil Masters knew his material and was quite adept in writing it into the Artisan viewpoint. In addition, while I was disappointed (but understanding of) by the somewhat more than slight European focus, I was very pleased to get as much information on the East as I did. The chapter continues with a look at current events that occupy the Daedaleans, though again, mainly in Europe. That is followed by a much too brief look at some basic theories of the Artisans, including humanism. Unfortunately, it is ultimately not enough to really build any sort of satisfying and internally consistent paradigm upon. The relations that the Artisans have with others was given in an in-character format, oddly enough, and despite my initial misgivings, I was pleased by their frank and honest nature. Very useful indeed. The chapter closes out with a look at how the Artisans and Craftmasons organize themselves and what the future holds for them as the Renaissance develops into the modern world. Chapter three delves deeper into the "enlightened science" of the artificers, and it is both the most interesting and most infuriating chapter to me. There is a nice (but once again too brief) look at the various Spheres through the eyes of an artificer, a discussion of how they interact with Daemons, Scourge, the differences between Craftmason and High Artisan views, tools and foci and finally formulations (rotes and procedures in modern-era Mage). This chapter is filled with brilliant ideas about science and mysticism in a time when they were just beginning to diverge, and some of the rotes are amazingly interesting, but this chapter is very much from the "science is vulgar" corner of Mage metaphysics, while I am in the opposite corner, saying that "nothing is vulgar unless made to be so." Hence, while I would likely almost never make a technocratic effect vulgar (except in extreme cases), Masters makes nearly all of them such. That, however, is not my biggest problem with the chapter, because I can easily adapt that. It was length. The chapter was much, much too short. After reading it, I had a much better feel for artificer paradigm, but I did not have the grasp I wanted. I can easily slide into any Tradition paradigm (at least within the era of Mage: the Sorcerer's Crusade), but doing the same within the Order of Reason, and the Artisans and Craftmasons in particular, is much more difficult. Masters gave some outlines of theories and some nice points to work from, but I kept wanting more, another look, a deeper examination, but I didn't get one. I suppose that this is an oddly veiled compliment in many ways, the chapter was written well enough that my biggest problem was that I wanted so much more from it. The templates and notable chapter was rather interesting, with some unexpected entries. Included among the "artisans" are not only Craftmasons and High Artisans, but also Batini and Hermetic magi. My only real complaint here is that there are not enough Craftmasons, only one is presented. I was also very pleased with the famous artisans included. I am not an expert on obscure historical figures, so I would imagine that most of them are taken from history (da Vinci certainly was), and I was pleased by the apparent lack of fear with which Masters addressed them. Most often, writers are afraid to label historical figures are this or that, but Masters managed to do it without either cheapening them or seeming to fear commitment. Beyond that, all of them were interesting as well, and there is little more you can ask from a notable section in a book. Once again, my complaint is length - I wanted more. The final chapter is purely rules for use and creation of artificer work and constructs. The rules work well enough, if you make the same assumptions that Masters did. This chapter was, for the most part, are little use to me, since I come from a rather different direction than Masters does, and I like to be more rules-light anyway. The parts I found most interesting were the categorizations of technology, however. Masters' "spectrum of vulgarity" (my term) is something that has greatly changed my opinion of reality Mage. I think that something similar would be greatly useful in a general sense for all paradigms in Mage. I recommend that anyone trying to pound out their own personal Mage metaphysics consult this book when they turn to the details and the nitty-gritty. It is very thought provoking. The book rounds out with a few Appendices providing several different sample Devices as well as another look at mundane technology, specifically weapons technology. While again I did not entirely agree with everything the Devices either exemplified or implied, they were all interesting and thought-provoking enough that I enjoyed reading them and spent time asking myself "If I don't like how it was done, how would I have done it?" The last page of the book is a bibliography, including several resources that can be consulted for more information on non-European technology throughout history. Overall, I really, really enjoyed this book. It was exceedingly well written and illustrated. I have already mentioned Guy Davis' wonderful and amazing work, and Alex Sheikman was as good as ever. Jeff Laubenstein, of Shadowrun and Earthdawn fame, also contributed several excellent pieces, and, surprisingly enough, Omar Rayyan did not annoy me with his art, it was at least okay and in some places actually good. The Artisans' Handbook is definitely a must-have for any Mage: the Sorcerer's Crusade game that is heavily involved with the Order of Reason or other "artificers." It really does help to flesh the Artisans out a great deal (and they resemble the Sons of Ether more than the Technocracy in many ways). A valuable resource that left me wanting more, and I am hoping that my desire is eventually sated by Phil Brucato as he comes in to take the reins of the game, although I have my worries that I will always be saying "I liked the book a lot, but it was leaning to far into subjectivism." Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty)