Forbidden Arcana

This review is for the 13-page D20 supplement Forbidden Arcana: Magical Diseases, written by Philip Reed, published by Ronin Arts, and currently available as a PDF from RPGnow for $1.85.

Rating: Average. The PDF looks pretty, but it also looks like it is going to cost me to print this up as the overuse of the color green might quickly deplete my color cartridge.

For a supplement on disease this doesn’t really capture the grotesque and hideous, nor are any insights into how to present or role-play real maladies presented. This is really a 12-page pseudo-curse and spells supplement, the lucky 13^th page being primarily taken up by the OGL disclaimer, which has been squeezed into an unreadable 4 columns of less (?) than 8-point font. Essentially this is an sparse article containing page after page of lists of made up magical diseases for use with D20 fantasy games with a few magical “magic disease” spells tossed in for use with the Disease Mage prestige class, which is also included. While this material would probably wreak havoc in a low magic campaign it would probably be an okay addition to any high magic game.

The Setting: None. Best designated as a fantasy supplement.

The Game: D20. Which means it can probably be used with D&D and most OGL fantasy games.

System Mechanics: None. Strictly a list of spells and magic diseases.

Character Creation: None. (One prestige class included.)

I was annoyed by the fact everything that wasn’t text was green. Illustrations, borders, even the darned margins are filled in with green! Do you have any idea how quickly that would deplete my color cartridge if I wanted to print this up myself? Color cartridges aren’t cheap. Oh, sure, just because rich game designers can afford top-notch Elmore illustrations you think we all can. Well we can’t! That said I’ve seen better articles for how to run diseases in the pages of Dragon, albeit intended for use with 1^st Edition. But then again that was material for Necromancers, or subclasses of the Necromancer. The one thing I used to specialize in, back in the day, was undead terrors and the odd cursed magic items. This material, while interesting as presenting an optional mid-range class to use, just doesn’t have the right diabolical edge to it. However what is presented herein would be appropriate to just about any generic fantasy campaign not rooted in historical fact. Alas, and all too sadly, the spell list provided smacks of being incomplete. Where are the plagues? Where are the poxes and blood pestilences? How were infestations overlooked? Not to mention the spells to inflict blight, boils, and blistering disfigurement! The closest this comes is something called “Undesired Wish”. Though, upon reflection, I have to ask why call it that since it is obvious all it really is, in reality, is a curse by a different name. Isn’t it?

Usefulness: This will largely depend on the sort of campaign you are running and how much work you are willing to put into working with the material. If you don’t like to do a lot of work then this material will seem mediocre at best. If you are using classes close to the standard D&D fare then you may feel, at a glance, that this presents a total class mismatch. No, really, diseases as the domain of Magic-Users? That just doesn‘t sound right. Maybe as the domain of a Dark Priest or Evil Hierophant, but a Disease Mage? Sounds wrong, at least until you read the “disease” descriptions. They are almost all about screwing up magical ability, for the most part. Some are gruesome, turning corpses into incendiary devices, which may lead some grognards to view these more as magical curses rather than sickness. Magical curses masquerading as ailments? Sure, why not. Be aware there is a related supplement- which oddly enough happens to be FREE- called Forbidden Arcana: Necromantic Feats. Now that supplement, in my opinion, is far more interesting. Best part, it has no annoying green. Put these two supplements together and, with a little tweaking, you might just have the basis for a hellacious kick-ass character class. Call it something suitably evil sounding, like Diabolos, and you‘re ready to go!

PDF Issues: None immediately discernable. Search works. You can copy and paste to your clipboard for editing. Didn’t test print. (See below.)

Negatives: Did I mention the overuse of the color green? As a document to send to a printer this is great, as a document to be printed on personal printer, it’s probably going to suck ink up like a sponge. Include a vanilla plain text version of such files in the distribution archive next time so the consumer can have a choice of whether to be frugal with their ink or not. Do that and you‘ll have happy customers?

Positives: Looks very professional. Has Elmore illustrations. Every word has been designated as open content so you can do whatever you want with it.