The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Dead Magic promises a lot of things, even for a Mage product it is quite ambitious. Unfortunately, it falls more than a little short of the target.

General Layout Dead Magic is broken into seven sections; chapter one contains the obligatory flavor fiction, and chapter two provides an overview of the book along with the standard "This is just a game" disclaimers. The remaining five chapters provide information on different hot-spots of ancient magical activity. Sub-Saharan Africa, Mesopotamia, Mesoamerica, Greece and Rome, and the Arctic Circle are the locales covered, all areas rich with the promise of interesting secrets and traditions.

Weighing in at 136 pages, Dead Magic feels substantial, but the page count is misleading because of the way individual chapters are set up. The regional chapters are all fronted by a full-page illustration, only two of which are evocative enough to warrant an entire page. The Africa and Mesoamerica pieces capture the feel of the culture, but the other three are bland and rather crudely done.

Immediately following the main illustrations for each chapter are subjective, 'handwritten' introductions to each culture. Unfortunately, these are often difficult to read due to the combination of unclear script fonts and distracting backgrounds. While I appreciate this in player hand-outs or props, it gets tiresome when 40 pages of the book are hard to decipher. Imaginative layout is good, hard-to-read, page-consuming layout is bad.

On the surface, Dead Magic looks decent, but it loses a lot of points for the large number of pages which are cumbersome to read.

Sub-Saharan Africa The potential for this chapter is enormous, but largely unexplored. It is here that the book's most immediate failing can be seen: the author attempts to capture the essence of extremely rich cultures in just a few pages. The introductory letter is 12 pages long, and spends most of its time insisting that Africa is vitally important to the the Awakened due to its long history of magical study and historical significance as the birthplace of humanity. Unfortunately, the rest of the chapter does little to convey the truth of this sentiment as the explanation of the area's magical secrets leaves much to be desire.

This chapter contains 14 rotes, four of which are only useful in extremely limited circumstances, one of which is an interesting use of sympathetic magic, and the other nine are fairly typical rotes that help to capture the feel of African magic. Unfortunately, not one of these rotes is of such interest or import that I would classify it an 'ancient secret.'

The rest of this chapter contains a list of mildly interesting artifacts, a short selection of creatures from African mythology, and a pair of mystic locations. Unfortunately, all of these end up feeling very bland due to the brevity of their descriptions. The nagloper, particularly, warranted much more space – as it stands, this vile creature ends up being little more than a different flavor of vampire.

Unfortunately, more information about ancient African magic can be gleaned from a few minutes on the internet than is provided in this chapter. Though there are some hooks to the historical World of Darkness here that might be of interest to some mages, I can't imagine many players being terribly excited that they've discovered an ancient rote that lets them oversee coming-of-age ceremonies.

Mesopotamia Anyone who spends a few minutes studying the cultures that flourished in this area in ancient times will find the area to be the fountain of knowledge from which demonology sprang. The myths of this ancient region are bloody and filled with tales of the battles between gods and men and demons, and the ancient religions were dark and potent.

While the introductory letter for this chapter is a bit absurd (it involves an old mage summoning up the ancient god Ea) and does little to establish the flavor of the region's magic, the rest of the chapter is quite good. There is a necessarily brief history of the region, which manages to deliver enough information to be useful while still leaving the Storyteller plenty of room for improvisation.

The sections detailing the Tower of Babel and Etemenanki are interesting, with the latter section ripe for expansion by ambitious Storytellers into a far-reaching and thoroughly evil set of villains. Because the use of demons and beneficent spirits were so central to these ancient peoples, a clever Storyteller could significantly alter his chronicle to encompass a battle between ancient powers and their servitors. There is a lot of good stuff here, much of which bears deeper exploration. The drawback is that you will need to do a lot of work to use what you find here.

Astrology and omens were important to the Babylonians, so it is appropriate that a discussion of these elements of their culture is included in this chapter. Unfortunately, portents and omens are tricky for even the best Storytellers to use appropriately, and there is not a lot of practical information on their use included here. A larger collection of example omina is much needed to flesh out this section, but it appears that space constraints did not allow its inclusion.

The rotes included in this chapter are the most interesting and the most problematic of the entire book. Entire chronicles could revolve around the use of these rotes to change history, but a Storyteller will have his hands full in keeping power-hungry players from abusing the various divinatory rituals.

Players will certainly find the rotes to be used against demons quite useful, but there is a frustrating lack of 'evil' rotes to be found. It is mentioned several times throughout this chapter that Mesopotamia was the spawning ground of the Nephandi, but there is very little information about these villains. Storytellers expecting a presentation of these intriguing antagonists will be sorely disappointed.

The chapter closes out with a description of two mythological creatures, neither of which is described in enough detail to provide a real hook for stories. What drove the selection of these two creatures rather than more interesting spirits or demons is a mystery, but the chapter would not have been weakened by dropping them in favor of more rotes or information about ancient Nephandi.

Mesoamerica Despite an introductory letter that repeats how dangerous the magic of this ancient region is over and over, there is little here that is either shocking or unexpected. An interesting, but overly long, description of the Mayan calendar (and the 'end of times date) is provided following the introduction, though anyone with the slightest interest in the Mayan culture won't find anything new here.

The history of Mesoamerica is covered with painful brevity here, providing little historical context for interested Storytellers. In fact, there is so little history provided that many readers will come away with the idea that the ancient peoples of this region were little more than bloodthirsty maniacs with a penchant for human sacrifice, cannibalism, and perverse self-mutilation.

Sacrificial rotes (including one that will detonate a volcano) further this view of Mesoamerica. There are a handful of more interesting rotes here, but they are overshadowed by the previous rituals which involve heart-ripping, cannibalism, and other unsavory practices. These are stereotypical spells, disappointing in their generic nature. Mesoamerica was home to a number of truly nasty mythological sorcerers, but we are shown here only the most commonly known, hackneyed of their practices.

This chapter closes out with a pair of mystical trinkets and a handful of interesting places for mages to explore. One or two of these places could make for an interesting extended story, but Storytellers will have to do a lot of their own research to make use of them unless they are happy with a stereotypical heart-eater as a villain.

More research and more space would have turned this chapter into a great resource for Storytellers looking for unusual antagonists and bizarre magic. As it is, the chapter has limited utility.

Greece and Rome A long and convoluted introductory piece highlights the information that is delivered in this chapter, and details on how this information ties into the historical World of Darkness can also be found.

There is a lot of discussion about Greek and Roman ideals, along with explanations of how they've contributed to culture and the arts. Historical synopses of the rise and fall of Greece and Rome are interesting and lengthy, and contain yet more hooks to tie the modern and ancient World of Darkness together can be found. Background concerning the Daedalans and the birth of the Traditions and Technocracy is interesting, and Storytellers will find an adventure hook or two buried here.

The rotes found here are useful, but the real gem to be found is the formula for lichedom. While only taking up a couple of pages, this formula provides a massive number of potential stories and antagonists. Liches are potent adversaries, and their state of existence allows Storytellers to draw in vampires, wraiths, werewolves, and, considering the origin of this formula, even changelings, creating a truly epic story.

Unfortunately, the rest of this chapter doesn't hold a candle to the potential of the lich formula – a rehash of the major figures and fantastic beasts of Greek and Roman legend, and a brief look at the Oracle of Delphi and its purpose in the modern world round out the chapter.

While more comprehensive in its exploration of the target cultures than other chapters, much of what is available in this section of the book is available in better, more detailed sources already, and serves only to take up space here.

The Arctic Circle The fiction that introduces this chapter is the strongest to be found in the entire book, showing one mage's exploration far from civilization and his exposure to the magic of survival in a land that is hostile to all life. The rest of the chapter provides tantalizing hints of innu and inuit culture and magic, and its real value lies in giving Storytellers a place to start looking for more detailed information.

The history and mythology sections of this chapter are more brief than I would have liked, but there is enough to get a Storyteller started and then some. There is a good sense of the harsh nature of these cultures, and the immense difficulty of merely surviving is portrayed well by the discussions of their mythology.

Story seeds surrounding the creatures of the arctic (especially the ashten) are numerous, and chronicles not adverse to having alien creatures shambling about will benefit from the inclusion of these beasts.

Rotes and charms are given, but they seemed a bit flat and uninteresting in contrast to the other material provided here. Storytellers will be able to find some use for all the material in this chapter, however, if only to inject some oddness into their characters' lives.

Summary Dead Magic is plagued with problems of focus, most notably that what it says it is on its back-cover copy is not at all what you'll find inside the book. What the reader is promised is an exploration of terrifying, potent magic and superstitions. A discussion of the forbidden rites of ancient cultures is advertised, but not delivered.

As a cursory discussion of ancient cultural magic, Dead Magic is adequate, but unsatisfying. Taken as a Black Dog book to shake up your chronicle, Dead Magic is terribly disappointing.

Were it not for the Mesopotamia chapter and the liche formula, a well-read Storyteller would find very little of real value in this book, other than as a springboard for his own research. Thin in places it should have depth, overly informative about well-known or easily found information, Dead Magic isn't a book your collection needs.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

Dead Magic
Author: Dana Habecker, Jess Heinig, James Stewart, and Chris Tang Category: game Company/Publisher: Black Dog Games Factory Line: Mage Cost: $19.95 Page count: 136 ISBN: 1-56504-408-8 SKU: WW4045 Playtest Review by Sam Witt on 07/08/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Modern day Historical Horror	Dead Magic promises a lot of things, even for a Mage product it is quite ambitious. Unfortunately, it falls more than a little short of the target. *General Layout* Dead Magic is broken into seven sections; chapter one contains the obligatory flavor fiction, and chapter two provides an overview of the book along with the standard "This is just a game" disclaimers. The remaining five chapters provide information on different hot-spots of ancient magical activity. Sub-Saharan Africa, Mesopotamia, Mesoamerica, Greece and Rome, and the Arctic Circle are the locales covered, all areas rich with the promise of interesting secrets and traditions. Weighing in at 136 pages, Dead Magic feels substantial, but the page count is misleading because of the way individual chapters are set up. The regional chapters are all fronted by a full-page illustration, only two of which are evocative enough to warrant an entire page. The Africa and Mesoamerica pieces capture the feel of the culture, but the other three are bland and rather crudely done. Immediately following the main illustrations for each chapter are subjective, 'handwritten' introductions to each culture. Unfortunately, these are often difficult to read due to the combination of unclear script fonts and distracting backgrounds. While I appreciate this in player hand-outs or props, it gets tiresome when 40 pages of the book are hard to decipher. Imaginative layout is good, hard-to-read, page-consuming layout is bad. On the surface, Dead Magic looks decent, but it loses a lot of points for the large number of pages which are cumbersome to read. *Sub-Saharan Africa* The potential for this chapter is enormous, but largely unexplored. It is here that the book's most immediate failing can be seen: the author attempts to capture the essence of extremely rich cultures in just a few pages. The introductory letter is 12 pages long, and spends most of its time insisting that Africa is vitally important to the the Awakened due to its long history of magical study and historical significance as the birthplace of humanity. Unfortunately, the rest of the chapter does little to convey the truth of this sentiment as the explanation of the area's magical secrets leaves much to be desire. This chapter contains 14 rotes, four of which are only useful in extremely limited circumstances, one of which is an interesting use of sympathetic magic, and the other nine are fairly typical rotes that help to capture the feel of African magic. Unfortunately, not one of these rotes is of such interest or import that I would classify it an 'ancient secret.' The rest of this chapter contains a list of mildly interesting artifacts, a short selection of creatures from African mythology, and a pair of mystic locations. Unfortunately, all of these end up feeling very bland due to the brevity of their descriptions. The nagloper, particularly, warranted much more space – as it stands, this vile creature ends up being little more than a different flavor of vampire. Unfortunately, more information about ancient African magic can be gleaned from a few minutes on the internet than is provided in this chapter. Though there are some hooks to the historical World of Darkness here that might be of interest to some mages, I can't imagine many players being terribly excited that they've discovered an ancient rote that lets them oversee coming-of-age ceremonies. *Mesopotamia* Anyone who spends a few minutes studying the cultures that flourished in this area in ancient times will find the area to be the fountain of knowledge from which demonology sprang. The myths of this ancient region are bloody and filled with tales of the battles between gods and men and demons, and the ancient religions were dark and potent. While the introductory letter for this chapter is a bit absurd (it involves an old mage summoning up the ancient god Ea) and does little to establish the flavor of the region's magic, the rest of the chapter is quite good. There is a necessarily brief history of the region, which manages to deliver enough information to be useful while still leaving the Storyteller plenty of room for improvisation. The sections detailing the Tower of Babel and Etemenanki are interesting, with the latter section ripe for expansion by ambitious Storytellers into a far-reaching and thoroughly evil set of villains. Because the use of demons and beneficent spirits were so central to these ancient peoples, a clever Storyteller could significantly alter his chronicle to encompass a battle between ancient powers and their servitors. There is a lot of good stuff here, much of which bears deeper exploration. The drawback is that you will need to do a lot of work to use what you find here. Astrology and omens were important to the Babylonians, so it is appropriate that a discussion of these elements of their culture is included in this chapter. Unfortunately, portents and omens are tricky for even the best Storytellers to use appropriately, and there is not a lot of practical information on their use included here. A larger collection of example omina is much needed to flesh out this section, but it appears that space constraints did not allow its inclusion. The rotes included in this chapter are the most interesting and the most problematic of the entire book. Entire chronicles could revolve around the use of these rotes to change history, but a Storyteller will have his hands full in keeping power-hungry players from abusing the various divinatory rituals. Players will certainly find the rotes to be used against demons quite useful, but there is a frustrating lack of 'evil' rotes to be found. It is mentioned several times throughout this chapter that Mesopotamia was the spawning ground of the Nephandi, but there is very little information about these villains. Storytellers expecting a presentation of these intriguing antagonists will be sorely disappointed. The chapter closes out with a description of two mythological creatures, neither of which is described in enough detail to provide a real hook for stories. What drove the selection of these two creatures rather than more interesting spirits or demons is a mystery, but the chapter would not have been weakened by dropping them in favor of more rotes or information about ancient Nephandi. *Mesoamerica* Despite an introductory letter that repeats how dangerous the magic of this ancient region is over and over, there is little here that is either shocking or unexpected. An interesting, but overly long, description of the Mayan calendar (and the 'end of times date) is provided following the introduction, though anyone with the slightest interest in the Mayan culture won't find anything new here. The history of Mesoamerica is covered with painful brevity here, providing little historical context for interested Storytellers. In fact, there is so little history provided that many readers will come away with the idea that the ancient peoples of this region were little more than bloodthirsty maniacs with a penchant for human sacrifice, cannibalism, and perverse self-mutilation. Sacrificial rotes (including one that will detonate a volcano) further this view of Mesoamerica. There are a handful of more interesting rotes here, but they are overshadowed by the previous rituals which involve heart-ripping, cannibalism, and other unsavory practices. These are stereotypical spells, disappointing in their generic nature. Mesoamerica was home to a number of truly nasty mythological sorcerers, but we are shown here only the most commonly known, hackneyed of their practices. This chapter closes out with a pair of mystical trinkets and a handful of interesting places for mages to explore. One or two of these places could make for an interesting extended story, but Storytellers will have to do a lot of their own research to make use of them unless they are happy with a stereotypical heart-eater as a villain. More research and more space would have turned this chapter into a great resource for Storytellers looking for unusual antagonists and bizarre magic. As it is, the chapter has limited utility. *Greece and Rome* A long and convoluted introductory piece highlights the information that is delivered in this chapter, and details on how this information ties into the historical World of Darkness can also be found. There is a lot of discussion about Greek and Roman ideals, along with explanations of how they've contributed to culture and the arts. Historical synopses of the rise and fall of Greece and Rome are interesting and lengthy, and contain yet more hooks to tie the modern and ancient World of Darkness together can be found. Background concerning the Daedalans and the birth of the Traditions and Technocracy is interesting, and Storytellers will find an adventure hook or two buried here. The rotes found here are useful, but the real gem to be found is the formula for lichedom. While only taking up a couple of pages, this formula provides a massive number of potential stories and antagonists. Liches are potent adversaries, and their state of existence allows Storytellers to draw in vampires, wraiths, werewolves, and, considering the origin of this formula, even changelings, creating a truly epic story. Unfortunately, the rest of this chapter doesn't hold a candle to the potential of the lich formula – a rehash of the major figures and fantastic beasts of Greek and Roman legend, and a brief look at the Oracle of Delphi and its purpose in the modern world round out the chapter. While more comprehensive in its exploration of the target cultures than other chapters, much of what is available in this section of the book is available in better, more detailed sources already, and serves only to take up space here. *The Arctic Circle* The fiction that introduces this chapter is the strongest to be found in the entire book, showing one mage's exploration far from civilization and his exposure to the magic of survival in a land that is hostile to all life. The rest of the chapter provides tantalizing hints of innu and inuit culture and magic, and its real value lies in giving Storytellers a place to start looking for more detailed information. The history and mythology sections of this chapter are more brief than I would have liked, but there is enough to get a Storyteller started and then some. There is a good sense of the harsh nature of these cultures, and the immense difficulty of merely surviving is portrayed well by the discussions of their mythology. Story seeds surrounding the creatures of the arctic (especially the ashten) are numerous, and chronicles not adverse to having alien creatures shambling about will benefit from the inclusion of these beasts. Rotes and charms are given, but they seemed a bit flat and uninteresting in contrast to the other material provided here. Storytellers will be able to find some use for all the material in this chapter, however, if only to inject some oddness into their characters' lives. *Summary* Dead Magic is plagued with problems of focus, most notably that what it says it is on its back-cover copy is not at all what you'll find inside the book. What the reader is promised is an exploration of terrifying, potent magic and superstitions. A discussion of the forbidden rites of ancient cultures is advertised, but not delivered. As a cursory discussion of ancient cultural magic, Dead Magic is adequate, but unsatisfying. Taken as a Black Dog book to shake up your chronicle, Dead Magic is terribly disappointing. Were it not for the Mesopotamia chapter and the liche formula, a well-read Storyteller would find very little of real value in this book, other than as a springboard for his own research. Thin in places it should have depth, overly informative about well-known or easily found information, Dead Magic isn't a book your collection needs. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 2 (Sparse)