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A few weeks ago, I posted a new thread on the RPG.net open forum requesting information about what books one would need to start up a Warhammer Fantasy campaign. Although quite a number of people responded with “The Enemy Within” campaign, the book that seemed to cause the most heated debate was Realms of Sorcery. It seemed that people either praised the glory of the text or proclaimed it as a horrid tome that must be banished to the darkest reaches of the Realms of Chaos. As a result of such conflicting information, I bought the damnable thing and decided to post my own review. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I have mixed feelings about Realms of Sorcery. Overall, any book for which gamers have been waiting over fifteen years for a glimpse of is going to be a disappointment. The level of expectation is just too high. However, Realms of Sorcery is a mixed bag in that it appears to be an excellent supplement for GMs, and an almost useless sourcebook for players. Within the following breakdown of the book, I will attempt to demonstrate why this is the case. Please note that I did not breakdown the book into chapters, but into sections. Interestingly enough, This 256 page book maintains 22 chapters, many of which are only 2-3 pages. As a result, I have broken the book down into more generalized sections.

The Style

In general, this is an impressive book. It is quite large with a beautiful cover painting featuring a cabal of spell casters involved in some sort of ritual. The internal artwork, in true Games Workshop fashion, is also distinctly impressive, covering a wide range of styles from realistic to cartoonish. (sorry, I’m not an art major  ) Although perhaps a bit sparse, each piece of artwork is a full-page picture in black and white. The pages of the book are printed in the standard two column form of most RPG books with the margins represented by an interesting ornately carved staff with human skulls on both ends. Obviously, the book’s appearance is much better than average. The only complaint I have for the book, however, is its layout. Why the editor chose to divide the book into a huge number of very short chapters is beyond me. While reading the text, I constantly felt like I was being rushed to the next section. Still, this is a relatively minor problem in an otherwise aesthetically pleasing book.

Section 1 - History of Magic and Life as a Mage:

Realms of Sorcery actually begins off on the right foot with a well written initial two chapters. This section goes through the history of magic in the Old World and discusses how wizards are treated and thought of within the setting. Magic in Warhammer has always been a somewhat mysterious force that is not entirely trustworthy, and this section of the book reinforces that very concept. According to the history, all magic derives from the powers of Chaos, a theme repeated throughout the work, and is therefore inherently unstable. Those who practice this art constantly place themselves in danger of corruption and death. Still, it was the force of magic that actually ended up halting the first and second incursions of Chaos. From this, it is safe to conclude that although magic is unstable, it can be controlled somewhat. It is because of this instability and chaotic nature that wizards are both respected and feared within the Old World. In fact, the average Old Worlder will most likely flee when magic is performed within his or her presence. This fear of wizards going out of control has lead to a licensing system within the Empire. Only a licensed wizard may legally cast spells, and it must be renewed annually. Obviously, this can lead to all sorts of interesting adventures within a Warhammer campaign. If a wizard’s license has expired and only a particular spell will help solve the crime of a murder in a city, will he or she risk casting it and getting caught? Unfortunately, the license concept can also limit play if it is only used as an annoying factor that keeps game balance. However, just like any story thread, a concept is only as good as the GM who is using it.

Section 2- The Schools of Magic:

Unfortunately, this is the section that brings down the substance score of the entire text. The 14 chapters that make up this section detail various new types of magic or revisit the ones presented in the main Warhammer book. Although well written and interesting, each of the new schools of magic contain either one of two problems (except Rune magic, see below): a) the magic school is only for exceptionally high-powered characters that have been in-game for a long period of time (and I mean REALLY long) or b) the magic school is limited to a particular area within the Old World. For example, the various Imperial Colleges require a wizard to be level 3 to transfer in, and that’s only after completing the level 3 career. As a result, very few characters are ever likely to join one of these colleges. In the case of the Ice Magic Shamans of Kislev, if they leave the frozen tundra of the Northlands, they begin to suffer from “ice sickness” and go quite bonkers. Obviously, this makes these magic types of limited use to players. GMs, on the other hand, will find these chapters to be extremely useful in the creation of interesting magic-using NPCs. Are the PCs going up against a Chaos Cult? Take a look at the Chaos Sorcerer. Is a large pack of Skaven in the party’s future, create a Grey Seer. All in all, these chapters make an excellent source for GMs wishing to make some powerful spell casting antagonists that the PCs would never expect. Plus, within each school of magic, there seems to be a conscious effort on the part of the writers to give multiple adventure possibilities, even if they are not explicitly stated. There are, however, two schools of magic that do seem to stand out as not only quite fascinating, but useful to players and GMs alike: Dwarven Runesmiths and Human Rune Masters. Without a doubt, dwarven rune magic is one of the most original systems I have ever witnessed in an RPG. Dwarves are able to create both temporary (one use) runes and permanent runes on items as long as they have access to the approriate materials. (a personal anvil or an Anvil of Doom, respectively) This career can even be studied at character creation, as the runesmith rules start at Runesmith Apprentice and works up to Rune Lord. As a result, this is a new magic type that players can immediately sink their teeth into. Rune Mastery is also useful to players. Although one must be at least a level 1 wizard to learn this art, it is not nearly as out of reach as say the colour magic of the Imperial Colleges is. In fact, Rune Masters have a very intriguing storyline. Effectively, these are humans who have begun to learn the art of Dwarven rune magic, although it is no where near as reliable. Although not rooted in evil like Necromancy and Daemonology, rune masters are still hunted across the Old World by not only Witch-Hunters, but dwarves as well. I personally find the rune masters to be tragic characters, hopelessly believing that humans should study this art in order to help further humanity’s understanding of magic. Truly, this would be a character worth playing!

Section 3 - Spell and Magic Item Creation:

The next three chapters deal with the creation of new spells and magic items. Plus, there are few new magic items thrown in as well. Unfortunately, these new magic items are a severe disappointment. The vast majority of these new items are unique artifacts; items that should never really be allowed into the average campaign unless it is quite high-powered. The only exception to this is the section on potions which provides a staggering number of new liquids for characters to imbibe. Still, this does not make up for the entire chapter. The section of spell and magic item creation is quite original and seems to be well thought out. Staying true to the “magic as unstable and mysterious” theme, the creation of new items and spells is an extremely time consuming process. Researching into a new item or weapon takes months and requires an enormous amount of XP. As a result, if a character does manage to create a new spell or magic item, he or she has done something extraordinary, and can truly be proud of such an accomplishment. It is because of the difficulty and length of this process that magic items are so rare in the Warhammer world. The average leader of the City Watch or Orc warboss is not going to have a magical weapon or armor. Therefore, magic items are things to be treasured highly. Perhaps the only complaint that I have of this section is also its greatest strength: the sheer enormity of the task in creating a new spell or item. Unless the campaign features quite a bit of downtime, the spell and item creation system will probably never get used by the average PC wizard. While many might see this as a strength, I believe that it only detracts from the utility of the book for players.

Section 4 - The Spell List: The only long chapter within this book consists of plenty of new spells. Undoubtedly, this is the section that will see the most use by players. While it does contain a large number of spells for the new high level magic styles, there is still plenty here for the average PC wizard. Scores of new battle magic spells are presented within this chapter. In fact, it even has a few new petty magic spells! As a result, many players of Warhammer wizards will probably find the book worth buying for this section alone. Plus, in the back of the book there is an appendix which features the entire spell list for the Warhammer line with both spells from Realms of Sorcery and the main book indexed for quick find.

Section 5 - A few odd bits

The final two chapters within the book contain information and rules for familiars and a short section of GM advice. The familiar rules are some of the best I have seen for any fantasy RPG. Instead of being mere animals that are somehow highly intelligent and receptive to a wizard’s demands, familiars in Warhammer are created beings by their masters. Although these creatures often have the appearance of an animal, they are actually crafted into the desired form my their wizard masters. In this respect, they are basically really small golems. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of familiars is that there are four different types: assistants (helpful cleaners with up to 3 skills), power familiars (able to store MPs), spell casting familiars (able to cast three spells using master’s MPs), and warrior familiars. Not only do each of these types of familiars have their own abilities and powers, they also have their own distinct personalities. For example, assitants are very fussy over their masters and are always grooming and organizing things. On other hand, warrior familiars are downright mean and nasty, always ready to start a fight. Overall, these little creatures have the potential to cause great role-playing possibilities even if they do sort of lean towards the more humorous side of things. The final chapter, Arcane Secrets, provides a bit of advice for GMs who wish to include magic as an important part of their campaigns. Basically, this chapter reiterates the theme of magic in Warhammer as being untrustworthy and dangerous. According to the text, magic should be used sparingly in the game in order to maintain its sense of majesty and mystery. It also gives some advice on how to better utilize NPC antagonists so they help further along this standard magical theme and gives some recommendations on how to keep things interesting.

Conclusion:

Overall, Realms of Sorcery is a good supplement. In all truth, the 3 I gave it for substance does not truly do the book justice. Effectively, if the book was advertised as a guide for GMs, the book would deserve a 4 (if not a 5!) rather than the average rating it got. Still, as the book was advertised as THE source on magic in Warhammer, I felt that its lack of utility for players reduced its overall substance rating. Nevertheless, this book remains as a worthwhile purchase if magic is going to feature strongly in an upcoming campaign. While it does not exactly live up to everything that it promised, Realms of Sorcery is not a bad book by any means.

Realms of Sorcery
Realms of Sorcery Capsule Review by Garrett R. Henke on 21/05/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 3 (Average) Although a great resource for GMs, it falls apart on the Player's end. Product: Realms of Sorcery Author: Ken and Jo Walton Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Hogshead Publishing Line: Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Cost: 26.95 Page count: 256 Year published: 2001 ISBN: 1 899749 13 6 SKU: HOG207S Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Garrett R. Henke on 21/05/02 Genre tags: Fantasy	A few weeks ago, I posted a new thread on the RPG.net open forum requesting information about what books one would need to start up a Warhammer Fantasy campaign. Although quite a number of people responded with “The Enemy Within” campaign, the book that seemed to cause the most heated debate was Realms of Sorcery. It seemed that people either praised the glory of the text or proclaimed it as a horrid tome that must be banished to the darkest reaches of the Realms of Chaos. As a result of such conflicting information, I bought the damnable thing and decided to post my own review. Perhaps unsurprisingly, I have mixed feelings about Realms of Sorcery. Overall, any book for which gamers have been waiting over fifteen years for a glimpse of is going to be a disappointment. The level of expectation is just too high. However, Realms of Sorcery is a mixed bag in that it appears to be an excellent supplement for GMs, and an almost useless sourcebook for players. Within the following breakdown of the book, I will attempt to demonstrate why this is the case. Please note that I did not breakdown the book into chapters, but into sections. Interestingly enough, This 256 page book maintains 22 chapters, many of which are only 2-3 pages. As a result, I have broken the book down into more generalized sections. The Style In general, this is an impressive book. It is quite large with a beautiful cover painting featuring a cabal of spell casters involved in some sort of ritual. The internal artwork, in true Games Workshop fashion, is also distinctly impressive, covering a wide range of styles from realistic to cartoonish. (sorry, I’m not an art major  ) Although perhaps a bit sparse, each piece of artwork is a full-page picture in black and white. The pages of the book are printed in the standard two column form of most RPG books with the margins represented by an interesting ornately carved staff with human skulls on both ends. Obviously, the book’s appearance is much better than average. The only complaint I have for the book, however, is its layout. Why the editor chose to divide the book into a huge number of very short chapters is beyond me. While reading the text, I constantly felt like I was being rushed to the next section. Still, this is a relatively minor problem in an otherwise aesthetically pleasing book. Section 1 - History of Magic and Life as a Mage: Realms of Sorcery actually begins off on the right foot with a well written initial two chapters. This section goes through the history of magic in the Old World and discusses how wizards are treated and thought of within the setting. Magic in Warhammer has always been a somewhat mysterious force that is not entirely trustworthy, and this section of the book reinforces that very concept. According to the history, all magic derives from the powers of Chaos, a theme repeated throughout the work, and is therefore inherently unstable. Those who practice this art constantly place themselves in danger of corruption and death. Still, it was the force of magic that actually ended up halting the first and second incursions of Chaos. From this, it is safe to conclude that although magic is unstable, it can be controlled somewhat. It is because of this instability and chaotic nature that wizards are both respected and feared within the Old World. In fact, the average Old Worlder will most likely flee when magic is performed within his or her presence. This fear of wizards going out of control has lead to a licensing system within the Empire. Only a licensed wizard may legally cast spells, and it must be renewed annually. Obviously, this can lead to all sorts of interesting adventures within a Warhammer campaign. If a wizard’s license has expired and only a particular spell will help solve the crime of a murder in a city, will he or she risk casting it and getting caught? Unfortunately, the license concept can also limit play if it is only used as an annoying factor that keeps game balance. However, just like any story thread, a concept is only as good as the GM who is using it. Section 2- The Schools of Magic: Unfortunately, this is the section that brings down the substance score of the entire text. The 14 chapters that make up this section detail various new types of magic or revisit the ones presented in the main Warhammer book. Although well written and interesting, each of the new schools of magic contain either one of two problems (except Rune magic, see below): a) the magic school is only for exceptionally high-powered characters that have been in-game for a long period of time (and I mean REALLY long) or b) the magic school is limited to a particular area within the Old World. For example, the various Imperial Colleges require a wizard to be level 3 to transfer in, and that’s only after completing the level 3 career. As a result, very few characters are ever likely to join one of these colleges. In the case of the Ice Magic Shamans of Kislev, if they leave the frozen tundra of the Northlands, they begin to suffer from “ice sickness” and go quite bonkers. Obviously, this makes these magic types of limited use to players. GMs, on the other hand, will find these chapters to be extremely useful in the creation of interesting magic-using NPCs. Are the PCs going up against a Chaos Cult? Take a look at the Chaos Sorcerer. Is a large pack of Skaven in the party’s future, create a Grey Seer. All in all, these chapters make an excellent source for GMs wishing to make some powerful spell casting antagonists that the PCs would never expect. Plus, within each school of magic, there seems to be a conscious effort on the part of the writers to give multiple adventure possibilities, even if they are not explicitly stated. There are, however, two schools of magic that do seem to stand out as not only quite fascinating, but useful to players and GMs alike: Dwarven Runesmiths and Human Rune Masters. Without a doubt, dwarven rune magic is one of the most original systems I have ever witnessed in an RPG. Dwarves are able to create both temporary (one use) runes and permanent runes on items as long as they have access to the approriate materials. (a personal anvil or an Anvil of Doom, respectively) This career can even be studied at character creation, as the runesmith rules start at Runesmith Apprentice and works up to Rune Lord. As a result, this is a new magic type that players can immediately sink their teeth into. Rune Mastery is also useful to players. Although one must be at least a level 1 wizard to learn this art, it is not nearly as out of reach as say the colour magic of the Imperial Colleges is. In fact, Rune Masters have a very intriguing storyline. Effectively, these are humans who have begun to learn the art of Dwarven rune magic, although it is no where near as reliable. Although not rooted in evil like Necromancy and Daemonology, rune masters are still hunted across the Old World by not only Witch-Hunters, but dwarves as well. I personally find the rune masters to be tragic characters, hopelessly believing that humans should study this art in order to help further humanity’s understanding of magic. Truly, this would be a character worth playing! Section 3 - Spell and Magic Item Creation: The next three chapters deal with the creation of new spells and magic items. Plus, there are few new magic items thrown in as well. Unfortunately, these new magic items are a severe disappointment. The vast majority of these new items are unique artifacts; items that should never really be allowed into the average campaign unless it is quite high-powered. The only exception to this is the section on potions which provides a staggering number of new liquids for characters to imbibe. Still, this does not make up for the entire chapter. The section of spell and magic item creation is quite original and seems to be well thought out. Staying true to the “magic as unstable and mysterious” theme, the creation of new items and spells is an extremely time consuming process. Researching into a new item or weapon takes months and requires an enormous amount of XP. As a result, if a character does manage to create a new spell or magic item, he or she has done something extraordinary, and can truly be proud of such an accomplishment. It is because of the difficulty and length of this process that magic items are so rare in the Warhammer world. The average leader of the City Watch or Orc warboss is not going to have a magical weapon or armor. Therefore, magic items are things to be treasured highly. Perhaps the only complaint that I have of this section is also its greatest strength: the sheer enormity of the task in creating a new spell or item. Unless the campaign features quite a bit of downtime, the spell and item creation system will probably never get used by the average PC wizard. While many might see this as a strength, I believe that it only detracts from the utility of the book for players. Section 4 - The Spell List: The only long chapter within this book consists of plenty of new spells. Undoubtedly, this is the section that will see the most use by players. While it does contain a large number of spells for the new high level magic styles, there is still plenty here for the average PC wizard. Scores of new battle magic spells are presented within this chapter. In fact, it even has a few new petty magic spells! As a result, many players of Warhammer wizards will probably find the book worth buying for this section alone. Plus, in the back of the book there is an appendix which features the entire spell list for the Warhammer line with both spells from Realms of Sorcery and the main book indexed for quick find. Section 5 - A few odd bits The final two chapters within the book contain information and rules for familiars and a short section of GM advice. The familiar rules are some of the best I have seen for any fantasy RPG. Instead of being mere animals that are somehow highly intelligent and receptive to a wizard’s demands, familiars in Warhammer are created beings by their masters. Although these creatures often have the appearance of an animal, they are actually crafted into the desired form my their wizard masters. In this respect, they are basically really small golems. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of familiars is that there are four different types: assistants (helpful cleaners with up to 3 skills), power familiars (able to store MPs), spell casting familiars (able to cast three spells using master’s MPs), and warrior familiars. Not only do each of these types of familiars have their own abilities and powers, they also have their own distinct personalities. For example, assitants are very fussy over their masters and are always grooming and organizing things. On other hand, warrior familiars are downright mean and nasty, always ready to start a fight. Overall, these little creatures have the potential to cause great role-playing possibilities even if they do sort of lean towards the more humorous side of things. The final chapter, Arcane Secrets, provides a bit of advice for GMs who wish to include magic as an important part of their campaigns. Basically, this chapter reiterates the theme of magic in Warhammer as being untrustworthy and dangerous. According to the text, magic should be used sparingly in the game in order to maintain its sense of majesty and mystery. It also gives some advice on how to better utilize NPC antagonists so they help further along this standard magical theme and gives some recommendations on how to keep things interesting. Conclusion: Overall, Realms of Sorcery is a good supplement. In all truth, the 3 I gave it for substance does not truly do the book justice. Effectively, if the book was advertised as a guide for GMs, the book would deserve a 4 (if not a 5!) rather than the average rating it got. Still, as the book was advertised as THE source on magic in Warhammer, I felt that its lack of utility for players reduced its overall substance rating. Nevertheless, this book remains as a worthwhile purchase if magic is going to feature strongly in an upcoming campaign. While it does not exactly live up to everything that it promised, Realms of Sorcery is not a bad book by any means.