|
Despite being over three hundred pages, the Book of Magic brings little new to the Rifts RPG. This book collections information from other Rifts books and in so doing, becomes a handy reference but without updating the core system, its fit for collectors, lazy people and those who only have the main book.
This book includes all the spells from the standard world books and source books as well as magic theme subjects like Tatto Magic, Naza Line Magic, Herbs, Plants, Weapons, Techno-Wizard Materials, Shamanistic Magic, Fetishes, Talismans and tops it all off with some designer notes.
Hate to put it so simply, but there’s not a lot to explain here. This book is perfect for those who’ve just picked up the Rifts core book because it collects a lot of information into one sourcebook. This allows the reader to see if those other magic systems in different books are worth picking up and looking over.
Those looking for some help in playing spellcasters or GMing them, get a section, roughly ten pages, about trying to keep magic balanced with other elements of the Rifts setting. Some of the material is familiar as it’s been in print before, Rfiter #11. The information is sound, but does little to alleviate the problems some GMs will have when mages continuously wish to build their strongholds and fortresses around ley-lines and ley-line nexuses points or seeking out the most powerful and useful techno-magic items to be on near equal footing with the superior (or at least superiorly detailed), high-tech features of the setting.
In addition to the spells, there’s a master Index of Practitioners of Magic. Need to know where the Harvester O.C.C. is? How about the Ocean Wizard or the Killer Whale Pneum-Biform? All of those spellcasters are covered.
It’s perfect for the person who has all the books and just wants one book to reference them all. Now I’m not that person because there’s usually some material in that book that ties into those notes that I want to use. For example, Tattoo Magic is included here, but it doesn’t include all of the O.C.C.’s that go with the magic nor the information on the society that spawned this type of magic to make the information easier to utilize right away. While there are details on the different minions of Splugorth that do use the tattoos, the information lacks context to make it fully useable. It’s also not for you if you’ve been looking for some definitive changes to the system to increase its overall utility and usability.
For those wondering, I rated this lower than the GM book because it's not as useful in many ways and doesn't cover as much ground with a narrower focus on magic.
Remember kids, Rifts Book of Magic brings together all the bits and pieces from different sourcebooks and tells ya how to play nicely with others, but it doesn’t update the system nor include all the context that the material is taken from. A reference work, but not a definitive work.
|
