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I bought Voodoo when it first came out a couple years back. At the time I bought it out of curiousity about the alternate magic system Carella developed for GURPS.

I wasn't then and still really am not a big fan of the Horror genre, particularly the kewl hip variety of horror.

I liked what I saw, but found the new system a little unsuitable for the Eurocentric Fantasy campaign I was running at the time. Worse, the new system would cost characters more points and generally produce weaker mages, not the the best incentive in getting a group of players who played a fair number of magician characters.

But I've been going back to it over the last few months, in part because I was running an online character in a generic kewl horror game and the more I read and read it for info and/or inspiration, the better I liked what I read.

The Shadow War tells of a setting where magic is secret and thing seem to be coming to a head in modern day life.

There are many unknowns secretly preying on everyday humanity. It sounds like most WoD games and all WoD imitators and Voodoo certainly owes some debt of inspiration to the worlds Rein Dot Hagen and company produced.

But it's a less pretensious world, dealing more in the realm of personal survival than in personal anguish.

It's fairly easy to adapt the system to other styles of magic: In theory, Ritual Magic of one type is supposed to be markedly different from another type and the paths and rituals of one type difficult to learn as a result.

Paths are akin to spell colleges, except they have a skill level a path cannot be known better than the Ritual Magic skill it's based on. Rituals (unfortunate similarity in name to Ritual Magic but they differ) are skills that default off of a path. They can be bought up to the Path's level and no further. Since Ritual Magic, Paths and Rituals are all mental very hard skills, this quickly eats up character points in the design stage.

However, unlike the standard magic system in GURPS, you don't HAVE to invest points in a ritual to work it. There are some other limits but a character with a good Ritual Magic skill score can do a LOT of magic without spending any other points with a fair chance of success.

And this is the case when the GM decides to restrict some paths or rituals to specific types of magic. The rules themselves make no such demands. A character with Ritual Magic (Santaria) at 17 would know Ritual Magic (Roman Lodge) at 12 and that -5 penalty should carry over in any 'translation" of magic being cast.

However game mechanically, someone who knew Ritual Magic at 17 would be able to improvise (cast from default) the same spell off of his own skill and lose the -5. There is a 0 to -10 penalty (totally at the GM's discretion) for improvising a ritual and often a player will find that -5 waiting for the character anyway, but it's a potential abuse nonetheless.

Where GURPS Magic is spell list heavy, Voodoo is a bit lacking in actual Rituals to pick from. There are some additional sources of Rituals on the net, starting with the GURPSnet ftp site: http://www.io.com/~ftp/GURPSnet/Magic/Rituals

The atmosphere of the book is another of it's strong points. You get much of the sense of history of the peoples involved in Voodoo type beliefs systems, enough actual history to make a workable game world, a fictious Eastern City called New Cambridge is provided as are a workable list of monsters and evil spirits.

I'd like a more extended list for both rituals and various loas, monsters and spirit entities. In a sense I have one. Carella's most recent projects have been to produce two games for Mymirrdon Press, 'Witchcraft' and 'Armageddon'. The world of Witchcraft appears quite compatible with that of Voodoo. Armageddon is set a slight bit ahead in time of Witchcraft and PCs there are usually MUCH MORE POWERFUL. Armageddon might not be that compatible.

However, Witchcraft does seem to be the European counterpart to the African based magicks described in Voodoo. The game mechanics differ, and at least one class of 'Witch' is psionic based, but many of the Witch 'types' make good substitutes for the European Lodges. Certainly the Voodoo description of 'The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn' matches the Witchcraft description of 'The Rosicrucians', while Voodoo's 'Servants of Hecate' resemble the 'Wicce' of Witchcraft to a remarkable degree, and the Witchcraft descriptions are better detailed.

If you happen to like 'Kewl Horror' settings but don't want to hear players argue whether Gangrel or Ravnos are really the ones who are in tight with the Gypsies because of contradictory material in various worldbooks rushed into print, you might well try giving Voodoo: the Shadow War a shot.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

GURPS: Voodoo the Shadow War <
Author: CJ Carella Category: game Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games Cost: $16.95 Page count: 128 ISBN: 1-55634-300-0 Capsule Review by SD Anderson on 05/18/98. Genre tags: none	I bought Voodoo when it first came out a couple years back. At the time I bought it out of curiousity about the alternate magic system Carella developed for GURPS. I wasn't then and still really am not a big fan of the Horror genre, particularly the kewl hip variety of horror. I liked what I saw, but found the new system a little unsuitable for the Eurocentric Fantasy campaign I was running at the time. Worse, the new system would cost characters more points and generally produce weaker mages, not the the best incentive in getting a group of players who played a fair number of magician characters. But I've been going back to it over the last few months, in part because I was running an online character in a generic kewl horror game and the more I read and read it for info and/or inspiration, the better I liked what I read. The Shadow War tells of a setting where magic is secret and thing seem to be coming to a head in modern day life. There are many unknowns secretly preying on everyday humanity. It sounds like most WoD games and all WoD imitators and Voodoo certainly owes some debt of inspiration to the worlds Rein Dot Hagen and company produced. But it's a less pretensious world, dealing more in the realm of personal survival than in personal anguish. It's fairly easy to adapt the system to other styles of magic: In theory, Ritual Magic of one type is supposed to be markedly different from another type and the paths and rituals of one type difficult to learn as a result. Paths are akin to spell colleges, except they have a skill level a path cannot be known better than the Ritual Magic skill it's based on. Rituals (unfortunate similarity in name to Ritual Magic but they differ) are skills that default off of a path. They can be bought up to the Path's level and no further. Since Ritual Magic, Paths and Rituals are all mental very hard skills, this quickly eats up character points in the design stage. However, unlike the standard magic system in GURPS, you don't HAVE to invest points in a ritual to work it. There are some other limits but a character with a good Ritual Magic skill score can do a LOT of magic without spending any other points with a fair chance of success. And this is the case when the GM decides to restrict some paths or rituals to specific types of magic. The rules themselves make no such demands. A character with Ritual Magic (Santaria) at 17 would know Ritual Magic (Roman Lodge) at 12 and that -5 penalty should carry over in any 'translation" of magic being cast. However game mechanically, someone who knew Ritual Magic at 17 would be able to improvise (cast from default) the same spell off of his own skill and lose the -5. There is a 0 to -10 penalty (totally at the GM's discretion) for improvising a ritual and often a player will find that -5 waiting for the character anyway, but it's a potential abuse nonetheless. Where GURPS Magic is spell list heavy, Voodoo is a bit lacking in actual Rituals to pick from. There are some additional sources of Rituals on the net, starting with the GURPSnet ftp site: http://www.io.com/~ftp/GURPSnet/Magic/Rituals The atmosphere of the book is another of it's strong points. You get much of the sense of history of the peoples involved in Voodoo type beliefs systems, enough actual history to make a workable game world, a fictious Eastern City called New Cambridge is provided as are a workable list of monsters and evil spirits. I'd like a more extended list for both rituals and various loas, monsters and spirit entities. In a sense I have one. Carella's most recent projects have been to produce two games for Mymirrdon Press, 'Witchcraft' and 'Armageddon'. The world of Witchcraft appears quite compatible with that of Voodoo. Armageddon is set a slight bit ahead in time of Witchcraft and PCs there are usually MUCH MORE POWERFUL. Armageddon might not be that compatible. However, Witchcraft does seem to be the European counterpart to the African based magicks described in Voodoo. The game mechanics differ, and at least one class of 'Witch' is psionic based, but many of the Witch 'types' make good substitutes for the European Lodges. Certainly the Voodoo description of 'The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn' matches the Witchcraft description of 'The Rosicrucians', while Voodoo's 'Servants of Hecate' resemble the 'Wicce' of Witchcraft to a remarkable degree, and the Witchcraft descriptions are better detailed. If you happen to like 'Kewl Horror' settings but don't want to hear players argue whether Gangrel or Ravnos are really the ones who are in tight with the Gypsies because of contradictory material in various worldbooks rushed into print, you might well try giving Voodoo: the Shadow War a shot. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

GURPS: Voodoo the Shadow War <