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Recent Ars Magica books have had, perhaps, something of a tendency to focus on the mundane side of the game. Nobles, peasants, clergy, more peasants, fascinating details of crop rotation and medieval French public holidays, that kind of thing.

On one level, this adds colour and depth to the game. On another, there's only so much a man can take when he finds three-quarters of a book dedicated to stuff he could pull out of the library. (Some of the recent stuff has cried out for a Knights of the Dinner Table episode -

"As you watch the peasants work in the fields, singing their traditional folk song, you marvel at the organisation of the system, the way each one is divided into his own -"

"I waste 'em with my Ball of Abysmal Flame!")

So, it's good to see a supplement chock-full of mystical goodness. Ars Magica has always had something of a difficulty; it tries, to some degree, to recapture the feel of medieval myth, and it does so with a magic system (and a damn nifty one, I add) that Johnathan Tweet and Mark Rein*Hagen pretty much made up off the top of their hat, and then added some Latin.

What THE MYSTERIES does, then, is add great doses of the 'authentic' Western occult tradition to the Ars Magica system. Much of this stuff, of course, is really Renaissance in spirit rather than medieval, but Ars Magica's magi have always been Renaissance figures cast back in time, and it's much niftier anyway.

We've got the Art of Memory, theurgy, astrology, microcosms, macrocosms, alchemy, and all kinds of wonderful stuff. Particularly noteworthy is Imaginatio Magica, a form of divination through visions and dreams - including the ability to travel inside people's dreams and find entire worlds within, which is just so damn cool.

In fact, that's my overall feeling about the book. Never mind the research, authenticity, and so forth, this is damn cool stuff. It made me want to go out and run a game using it, which is always a good sign.

Every mystery has four levels of ability within it, which can either be purchased as Virtues or attained in game through going through Initiation Rituals (which tend to involve sacrifice of one kind or another.) All of these come with lots of new rules and 'crunchy bits', things which make players go 'Ooooohhhh!' Astrologers, for instance, can have spells which activate for one month in a year, or a magical affinity with a star sign, or alter their Parma Magica so that their spellcasting is influenced by the hours of the day. Alchemists can make powerful immortality elixirs which exceed the normal longevity potion, and bind spells into amulets. Theurgists can treat other magi's spells as spirits to be bound and conjured.

Although I haven't thought through the effects of all of them, I suspect that various GMs and players will find some or many of them either useless or overpowered or unbalancing, simply because that tends to be the case with new Ars rules. They are all very, very neat, though, and inspired a childlike 'new character classes!' joy within me. Lots of new spells, too - with, I was especially pleased to see, details on how their magnitude was determined.

Each of the mysteries also comes with a bunch of secret societies based around it, one of which you generally have to join to attain the Secret Wisdom of the Ancients. These are left fairly vague, and GMs are encouraged to use only a few of them - there's some good hints as to how to work them into various styles of campaign, from dark conspiracy to high fantasy. More well-developed are the bloodlines; individual lineages of magi with certain traditions of their own - like sub-Houses.

So. Lots and lots of good stuff (including a reasonable bibliography, though sadly lacking in modern day novels that play off these ideas - an obvious example being John Crowley's wonderful AEGYPT.) My one big problem with the book is that it feels - crammed. Some things aren't explained clearly, terms are used before they're properly introduced, there's a general feeling of too much to say in too few words. Especially for matters mysterious and esoterical, a little more flavour text, to get one into the spirit of things, would have been nice. But, overall, it's a great book, and one well worth picking up to add a little bit more of the mythic and mystical into your saga.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

The Mysteries
Author: Adam Bank and Jeremiah Genest Category: game Company/Publisher: Atlas Games Line: Ars Magica Cost: $21.95 Page count: 176 ISBN: 1-887801-89-8 SKU: ag0625 Capsule Review by James Palmer on 11/04/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Historical	Recent Ars Magica books have had, perhaps, something of a tendency to focus on the mundane side of the game. Nobles, peasants, clergy, more peasants, fascinating details of crop rotation and medieval French public holidays, that kind of thing. On one level, this adds colour and depth to the game. On another, there's only so much a man can take when he finds three-quarters of a book dedicated to stuff he could pull out of the library. (Some of the recent stuff has cried out for a Knights of the Dinner Table episode - "As you watch the peasants work in the fields, singing their traditional folk song, you marvel at the organisation of the system, the way each one is divided into his own -" "I waste 'em with my Ball of Abysmal Flame!") So, it's good to see a supplement chock-full of mystical goodness. Ars Magica has always had something of a difficulty; it tries, to some degree, to recapture the feel of medieval myth, and it does so with a magic system (and a damn nifty one, I add) that Johnathan Tweet and Mark Rein*Hagen pretty much made up off the top of their hat, and then added some Latin. What THE MYSTERIES does, then, is add great doses of the 'authentic' Western occult tradition to the Ars Magica system. Much of this stuff, of course, is really Renaissance in spirit rather than medieval, but Ars Magica's magi have always been Renaissance figures cast back in time, and it's much niftier anyway. We've got the Art of Memory, theurgy, astrology, microcosms, macrocosms, alchemy, and all kinds of wonderful stuff. Particularly noteworthy is Imaginatio Magica, a form of divination through visions and dreams - including the ability to travel inside people's dreams and find entire worlds within, which is just so damn cool. In fact, that's my overall feeling about the book. Never mind the research, authenticity, and so forth, this is damn cool stuff. It made me want to go out and run a game using it, which is always a good sign. Every mystery has four levels of ability within it, which can either be purchased as Virtues or attained in game through going through Initiation Rituals (which tend to involve sacrifice of one kind or another.) All of these come with lots of new rules and 'crunchy bits', things which make players go 'Ooooohhhh!' Astrologers, for instance, can have spells which activate for one month in a year, or a magical affinity with a star sign, or alter their Parma Magica so that their spellcasting is influenced by the hours of the day. Alchemists can make powerful immortality elixirs which exceed the normal longevity potion, and bind spells into amulets. Theurgists can treat other magi's spells as spirits to be bound and conjured. Although I haven't thought through the effects of all of them, I suspect that various GMs and players will find some or many of them either useless or overpowered or unbalancing, simply because that tends to be the case with new Ars rules. They are all very, very neat, though, and inspired a childlike 'new character classes!' joy within me. Lots of new spells, too - with, I was especially pleased to see, details on how their magnitude was determined. Each of the mysteries also comes with a bunch of secret societies based around it, one of which you generally have to join to attain the Secret Wisdom of the Ancients. These are left fairly vague, and GMs are encouraged to use only a few of them - there's some good hints as to how to work them into various styles of campaign, from dark conspiracy to high fantasy. More well-developed are the bloodlines; individual lineages of magi with certain traditions of their own - like sub-Houses. So. Lots and lots of good stuff (including a reasonable bibliography, though sadly lacking in modern day novels that play off these ideas - an obvious example being John Crowley's wonderful AEGYPT.) My one big problem with the book is that it feels - crammed. Some things aren't explained clearly, terms are used before they're properly introduced, there's a general feeling of too much to say in too few words. Especially for matters mysterious and esoterical, a little more flavour text, to get one into the spirit of things, would have been nice. But, overall, it's a great book, and one well worth picking up to add a little bit more of the mythic and mystical into your saga. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

The Mysteries