The Ultimate Mystic

Written by Dean Shomshak. A 232-page trade paperback, perfect bound book with black and white interior. This is a comp copy and was not playtested.

This is an unusual book for the Hero System and reminds me more of a GURPs source book. That is not a bad thing. The Ultimate Mystic delves deeply into the what, where, why and how of mysticism around the world. From the introduction:

A fireball spell? It’s just a rocket launcher you don’t have to carry. There’s no sense of awe or mystery; no sense that the magician touches secrets and dares to claim power denied to lesser men – but that is what the Ultimate Mystic is about.

From here we proceed into a discussion of magic in generalized terms that would be useful to any game system. Hero specific discussion is primarily handled in a 40-page section, the rest of the book is peppered with system information but that takes a back seat to the development of styles and traditions.

The author has a candid, sometimes humorous style that meshes well with the studious nature of the book.

Overview: The Ultimate Mystic, like nearly all Hero books, does not tell you how to do something but it comes much closer than many other releases. Inside the covers is a lifetimes worth of research into religion, the occult, and mysticism. Major themes presented range from defining what types of mystics inhabit RPGs, what kind of world(s) and/or universes that they come from and how to build your own multiverse, to real world magic societies and what they might look like in a game. Much of the book is devoted to the development of historically ‘real’ arcane styles – with the caveat that the better you understand how those developed the better you can design your own mystic reality.

The Ultimate Mystic is a solid reference book with scads of obscure information useful to both GMs and players with a bent towards arcane characters.

Layout & Design: The cover is done in a cartoon-ish style that is at odds with the contents. It does not float my boat but I am sure that others will find it acceptable. Inside is the standard Hero layout without major gaffs. Art ranges across the spectrum. The inclusion of multiple magical styles and cultures was addressed in the selection of art – many different styles were used in the book.

Chapter by Chapter

Mystical Character Creation – This is a large chapter, sections of which could have been chapters on their own. The book starts by breaking down mystics into three categories – Scholar-Mages, Wild Talents, and Priests or Pacters. Each type gets a through treatment covering not only the basics but also branching out into subspecialties. Following the types of characters is a section on power origins for mystics. This includes nearly every source of mystic power; enchanted people, undead, gods or their avatars, shapeshifters, spirits, and angels – fallen or otherwise. Next to appear are the tropes of mystic character design; origins and events that shape the lives of those who dabble.

Remember that 40 pages devoted to Hero System? Well, here it comes. This huge block goes over everything from start to finish and how it interacts with mystics. There are guidelines for skills, talants, perks, powers, and disadvantages.

Mystic Dimensions – Twenty Two pages devoted to the geography of dimensional physics. Design, structure, travel, and plots are all included but not before a strong section on the ‘Why’ of Dimensions. It isn’t enough to just slap a wild name and funky terrain on a piece of inter-dimensional real estate. The decisions made by the 'Why' of dimension construction set the guidelines for development.

Chapter 2 includes a sample dimension based on ‘real’ occultism. It was well done and made me want to run it.

Arcane Arts – The meat and potatoes of any magic book is the discussion of spellcasting and that is exactly what this chapter does. A great big kudos to Hero for including notes in each style by campaign type. Each style has a small section of notes on what to include or exclude based on genre: heroic, superheroic, and realistic. While not as through as other genres, notes on fantasy are also common. The notes go into which combination of powers, advantages, limitations, and disads mesh with the genre.

Magic is broken down into classes – high magic, natural magic, ritual magic, and an explanation of witchcraft. In addition to classes, magic is further divided into styles. The styles covered are Hermetic Theurgy, Shamanism, Sadhana, Voodoo, Alchemy, and Necromancy. Minor styles mentioned are the Evil Eye, Kabbalism, Mantra-Vidya, Rune Magic, and Taoist Theurgy.

Each style has an overview, magic theory, style notes, game mechanics, and a few sample spells. Overview covers odd notes and historical origins - sometimes whacky, sometimes cool, and at other times they are just plain deranged.

A strange note but this chapter is not for the reading impaired. Strange concepts, unusual terms, and occult history are casually referenced. By this point in the book the reader should be well versed in many of these but…

Magic, Genre by Genre – Most Hero readers expect to see the Genre-by-Genre section by now. The topical matter is evaluated and tweaked to fit each RPG genre, if possible. A new inclusion on the list is Juvenile Fantasy.

The Mystic World – This chapter covers all the weird stuff that has not yet been covered: cults real and imagined, lost civilizations goes way beyond Atlantis, and mystic tomes. The author’s knowledge of the obscure but interesting tidbits of history and legend shines here.

Several pages are devoted to societies interaction with magic. Following that is a lengthy section on the denizens of the mystic world everything from cosmic entities to werewolves.

The final notes in the chapter goes over reputedly real world mystics, items of power, and mystical societies like the Golden Dawn.

Summation

The Ultimate Mystic is a fantastic book. It is well written, well researched, and as diverse as the real world. Nary a magic stone was left unturned.

The Negative – Ok, one stone was left unturned. Fantasy. It is understandable since the inclusion could easily double or more the size of an already large book but it just feels like fantasy magic was left out. I would have loved to see the treatment of Potter Magic, the True Power, and the magic of the Ishtari. Understandably, those tread on perilous grounds but many will delve into the book expecting exactly those things.

The Good – Clone that man’s brain! Dean Shomshak’s knowledge of esoteric religious or mystical bits is insane. He brings to the book the weight of an authority. Magical details and minutia fly from his fingers onto the page to baffle and bemuse the reader.