(Against, this is a review of two out-of-print books for Kult that I thought worth posting since there seem to be a number of people trying to track down supplements for the game on eBay or in their local store’s used bin and they might want a clearer idea of what to expect.)
The second edition of Kult (at http://www.rpg.net/news reviews/reviews/rev_5407.html) had very little information on the detailed workings of magic. It had general guidelines that might work well for people familiar with highly subjective games like Mage: the Ascension, but it was very bare and a great departure from the first edition (http://www.rpg.net/news reviews/reviews/rev_2833.html). None of the intricate spells or detailed explanation of the Lores were included – that was saved for the visually stunning but nigh-unreadable Conjurer Guides.
Heart, Mind and Soul covers the Lores of Dreams, Passion and Madness while Beyond the Boundaries lays bare the Lores of Death and Time and Space. Each provide an explanation for each, a number of spells as well as their place in the overall cosmology of Kult. There is also an explanation of magic in general, including overall rules for the practice, necessary tools and spells common to all Lores. Anyone intending to make player-wielded magic a large part of the game should find the rules and guidelines presented invaluable, especially in light of the scarce information in the core book.
Each Lore itself starts out with an explanation of some of its basic tenets (the preeminence of emotion and desire for the Lore of Passion, for example) and a look at how the worldview of a practicing magician changes as they advance in their path. You don’t learn secrets and wield their power in the world of Kult without having them change you as well. There are also a couple of ready-made archetypes for each Lore, giving statistics and brief histories for students of the various magics. Following that are several pages of the very details, time-consuming and often gruesome spells that typify the magic in the game. Each section ends with some explanation the Occult Science that is associated with it and how the Lore and Science interact, to some extent.
I was never really sold on the Occult Science with their introduction in the second edition, and their more lengthy explanations here don’t really serve to reduce their redundancy or feeling of being out of place. If anything, it makes it all the most clear, as the book attempts to explain how Symbology ties to Passion, the Tarot to Dreams and the Cabbalah to Madness. Alchemy and Voodoo are associated with the Lore of Death, while Astrology and Numerology are linked with the Lore of Time and Space. While connecting those six is relatively easy, it’s the exclusive or unique connection that I find harder to accept. What’s more is that the fact that both the Tarot and the Cabbalah are systems of Symbology is not even addressed, so “one of these things is not like the other.” It’s like trying to argue that the alphabet and War and Peace are really about the same kind of thing.
Additionally, as Beyond the Boundaries only had two Lores while Heart, Mind and Soul had three, it contained a short section with broad guidelines for designing new spells and some sample artifacts. These are not hard and fast or comprehensive rules, but they do give a foundation from which to build up from.
The rest of the book is generally quite good, however. The spells are detailed, abundant and varied, providing a nice arsenal of magical power for each of the Lores presented therein. People like myself who just can’t stop speculating on the nature of the Illusion and man’s divine nature will also find plenty of fodder for crazy theories and half-baked Truths to scatter about their games. I found Beyond the Boundaries particularly useful in this regard, as both of the Lores therein are of central importance to the Illusion.
The books’ flaws, however, are two-fold. First, they are really rather short. I would guestimate each to be around 64 pages, rather slim to be divided into two volumes instead of one book on magic. These two books really contain all of the information on the occult in the game (since there was little information in the core book and no other supplements on the topic), and they barely seem to scratch the surface. More information on the Lores themselves, more theories, more spells, some NPCs, organizations and magical creatures could have easily swell the book’s size to more respectable levels.
By far their largest problem, however, is the “experimental” layout. While Kult second edition was certainly adventurous in its visual design, it was still readable. The Conjurer Guides simple stepped over the edge and plunged into near total illegibility. They lack page numbers, an index, a table of contents, clear section headers, clear chapter headers, sometimes even clear paragraph separators, and that’s not even talking about the often conflicting backgrounds which served to drown the text as much as they did to set the mood for the book. It’s undeniable that the books are really visually stunning, but while the photographs serving as illustrations and the lush backgrounds do add up to an almost tangible mood and atmosphere, that is all nearly worthless when you can read the book. You buy a book to read, not to look at wistfully, wishing that you knew what it said. It is possible to decipher and digest them, but it is not easy or comfortable, especially for people who have problems reading text on a prominent background. Anyone who has ever groaned about White Wolf’s excesses shouldn’t even bother trying. It’s really too bad too, as the information in the books is very useful.
If you’re running a Kult game with a heavy emphasis on magic itself, whoever commands it, the Conjurer Guides are a superb resource with a enough spells and philosophy to get any gamer worth their salt up and running. The spells and mechanics of magic are also so richly detailed that they are easily ported into other dark and horrific games of the occult, such as Unknown Armies or Delta Gree. Just be advised that reading them may be a bit more difficult than you had expected.
Regarding the scores for the books, I’m forced to give them a 1 in Style and only a 3 in Substance. As I’ve said, the books are pretty and stylish, but not in any sort of functional manner – the layout goes against the book, not with it. As for substance, while I do like the information each book provides, neither of them really provide enough information by themselves. Even together they remain small. So the material that is there is meaty, but there is only enough of it to provide an average offering.
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