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Ladies, Gentlemen, Roleplayers of all ages... turn your eyes to the center ring, where we present the review of Tradition Book: Order of Hermes (Revised), one of the splat books for White Wolf's Mage: the Ascension game.
The Reviewer:
Just to let you know where this review is coming from, I've been playing Mage since the second week it was on the shelves - I literally went looking for the 1st edition book based on the strength of the ad in the back of Werewolf 1st edition. I own every Tradition Book in the original versions, and every one so far from Revised. I also have most of the Mage line in its entirety, both old and new. I thought the original Order of Hermes Tradbook was the best of that line BY FAR - in fact, it inspired me to make and play my first Hermetic... as well as the 20 or so that followed. It even led me to find a copy of Ars Magica, and do a little research on real-life Hermeticism. After that, the Order has always been my favorite Tradition, bar none.
So, it was pretty much assured I was getting the Revised edition when it came out - in fact, the delay between Hollow Ones and Order of Hermes was pretty damned annoying to me (you'd think White Wolf published other game-lines or something...) I've been waiting, both hoping that this book will be better than the first, fearing that it would simply be mediocre, or worse, appallingly bad. So, take the review with a grain of salt - my opinion is going to be influenced by my prior attitude towards the Order. And I'll quite possibly be cutting the book slack, whereas another reviewer might be ready to tear it a new one.
Prologue - Renegade:
It's become something of a White Wolf Tradition to start off books with a bit of short fiction, and this book is no different. What IS different is the length - whereas most WW fiction is somewhere between 3-5 pages, this one is just one page (two, if you count the full-page picture to the left). Even in that short space, though, it gets its point across - in one light, it can be read as a simple snap-shot of one Hermetic's activities (and a glimpse of Hermetic magic in action), in another sense, it's an allegory of how the Order itself has lost its focus in recent nights... but, even so, there is yet strength of purpose to be found. Not the best intro fiction I've ever read, but it gets the job done.
Introduction - Phoenix from the Flames:
This chapter single-handedly told me the writers had done their research. It also told me the direction White Wolf wanted to take Order in - shaking off their image as power-mad arrogant bastards, in exchange for a model that not only plays up the weight of tradition (small "t"), but also takes into account the fact that Hermes, the God the entire Order reveres, was both Trickster and Messenger, as well as the one who knows the secrets. It even does all this using examples from real life Hermetic alchemy - which really enhances things. In a way, it almost sounds like a member of the Order of Hermes could have written it. Ending with a short list of Hermes-specific terms, the chapter gave me a good feeling about the quality of the rest of the book.
Chapter I - Lightning and Serpents:
Whoever wrote the first Order of Hermes Tradbook did a lot of research. The writers in this one seemingly did more. They also seem to have a knack for taking that arcane and esoteric real-word lore, and turning it into something your average player can understand. Flavor quotes from actual Hermetic works spice up the text, and the book offers a new look at Hermetic history, while not contradicting what has already been written (something White Wolf is notorious for). More to the point, while describing Hermetic history, they're also giving you a taste of Hermetic PHILOSOPHY, showing you how a Hermetic sees the world - a vital understanding, if you plan to play a member of the Order. This book isn't just telling you what a Hermetic is, it's SHOWING you. More importantly, however, is that the book presents all of this information in a way that isn't overwhelming (a fault the first edition had in places).
Another impressive thing is how real-life history is given a context in the Hermetic paradigm - this chapter reads like it might have been taken directly from an actual medieval history text (or from any one of a hundred modern Hermetic web pages), rather than from some fantasy or game. Magic is portrayed more like a religion, philosophy, and civilizing force than as tossing fireballs at your neighbors and fighting dragons. In the same way we can understand that the ancient Greeks BELIEVED in their assumptions about the Gods, we can accept that Hermetics truly believe the history presented here. Is it 100% accurate? Of course not - but nothing ever is in the World of Darkness.
And when the history moves into the times first chronicled in Ars Magica (before it was rendered non-canon), and later in Dark Ages Mage and Sorcerers Crusade, the book succeeds in doing what prior works failed to do - rendering the previously disparate histories and references into one cohesive whole. It goes a step farther, though, telling us more than we knew before, letting us have a glimpse of the time when the Order of Hermes truly ruled Mythic Europe. We are even shown how elements that would eventually become key concepts among the Nine Traditions (such as the Spheres, and the very concept of Ascension itself) stem from the Order.
The idea that history is cyclic, with certain archetypal events occurring again and again in new forms, new seemings, is also emphasized - the councils formed in ancient Egypt resounding with the echoes of the later Greek mystery cults, the foundation of the Order, and later, the foundation of the Great Council of Nine itself. How, time and again, various Towers - Babel, Alexandria, Mistridge, Doissetep - symbols of Hermetic learning and strength, are cast down, destroyed by ignorance and fear. It really gives a mythic feel to the Hermetic world-view.
The final part of this chapter offers a list of Hermetic Houses, both past and present, along with a short blurb describing their role in the Order (or the manner of their destruction).
Overall, I'd say this chapter alone was worth the cost of the book for me.
Chapter II - The Will and the Word:
This is the chapter where we get game-mechanics and the finer details of Hermetic culture - you know, the little bits-and-pieces you have your Hermetic throw into a conversation to sound smart. We start out with the whys and wherefores of Hermetic apprenticeship - in other words, what sorts of people BECOME Hermetics, and why? From there, we move into training in the Order - the mystical equivalent of Boot Camp that all would-be Hermetics must undergo. We follow the training from Initiation to Awakening to Mastery, at each stage learning what it means to be a Hermetic of that rank.
From there we move into Hermetic politics - the "quicksand" that all mages of the Order live and breath. Almost as much as their magical style, the politics of the Order define what it means to be a Hermetic. A quick summary of the system of favors and debts which would make a Ventrue blush, and we're on to the Code of Hermes. The Code, which has been printed in full before, gets a break-down here (as does the Litany in every Werewolf Tribebook, and the Escheat in most Changeling books), detailing how well the Order really lives up to its own by-laws.
Next up is the standard break-down of the Houses - with philosophy, history, and preferred Spheres. This chapter hasn't changed much since the last edition, though Jannisary and Thig are gone, with Solificati and a revived Verditius taking their place. (One quick nit-picking problem I had with this part - whereas the history of most Houses are accurate based on prior works, the Solificati history is wrong. It claims they turned down an offer to join the nascent Order of Reason, but according to Sorcerers Crusade, they were a Convention before betraying the Order and fleeing. Their defection was the cause of the creation of the Ksirafai).
Then come the Spheres - which includes the Hermetic names for them, the way Hermetics see them, and what sort of common foci belong to each Sphere. Then, two new Hermetic-only Abilities (Enochian and Umbrood Protocols). Five Hermetic Rotes, which seem to be low-powered enough for a player-character to actually have a chance of learning them. Balanced by the two Wonders given, the lower of which is level 6 - most definitely more suitable for NPCs. And finally, other Hermes-centric goodies, like the game mechanics for True Names, and the system for making Pacts with summoned spirits (or demons...).
One problem I had with this chapter was that it tends to refer to the Spheres by their Hermetic names - something players who've read Sorcerers Crusade or the original Tradbook will be used to (and which I have always thought was a good idea). Unfortunately, the book uses versions of the Hermetic names which have been recently changed (for instance, Ars Virium instead of Ars Essentiae for Forces). The reasoning is to correct the prior bastardized-Latin versions, and is justifiable (though I argue the likelihood of an Order which has resisted using the common nomenclature of the Traditions for centuries in favor of its own terminology suddenly choosing to correct itself - in many ways, culture and tradition are far more potent than accuracy). What annoyed me, though, was that the book referred to the Spheres by these names before it ever tells the reader what those names MEAN. So, a newer player will read that a Hermetic apprentice must learn the first level of Ars Virium before he can be considered an Initiate - but he won't know what that MEANS for another 20 pages - in other words, 1/5th of the book later.
Speaking of misplaced explanations, the book mentions the dissolution of House Thig a few times, without ever explaining precisely WHAT happened. Even in the Ex Miscellanea write-up of House Xaos, a lot is implied, but nothing is explained. Eventually, we reach the write-up on the newly restored House Verditius, and we get our explanation. But, couldn't we have gotten that explanation earlier - say, in the History chapter, or even in a little side-bar blurb at some point?
Chapter III - The Way of Pymander:
This chapter is the required list of notable Hermetics, a sample cabal to use as NPCs (or just to get a feel for character and cabal creation), and Hermetic Template chars. The NPCs are nothing special - no massively horrible ideas, but nothing that really reaches out and grabs me. The cabal is the teaching staff of a Hermetic-run private school for the children of Hermetics and their Consors - something like a cross between Harry Potter and the X-Men mansion (it's even set in upstate New York!), if you will, though generally only one or two students in a generation actually Awaken themselves. The staff themselves are both interesting and diverse - I actually found them more interesting (and useful) than the Hermetic notable characters offered earlier.
The template characters ranges from a Bonisagus who spends her entire life going from one college to another, learning everything she can about everything, to a Flambeau Mafioso concept, to a House Quaesitor composer. While I'm not sure all of them would make for good PCs (or, indeed, if a cabal composed of all of them could even survive), they at least serve as a starting point for generating ideas.
Epilogue - Dance With the Devil:
Did I say the intro fiction was short? Well, the ending fiction is even shorter (by about four paragraphs, but still). It shows a short glimpse of the dangers of arrogance, and how easy it is to rationalize the road to Hell (good intentions and all that). After that, it's all over bar the shouting - or, in this case, bar the References section. I can say from experience that a number of the books suggested for would-be Hermetics are VERY good reading.
Art:
Artwork is very much a subjective thing - one man's treasure is another's trash, as they say. Personally, I didn't like the art... my tastes running more towards the work seen in Tradbook: Celestial Chorus or Convention Book Iteration X... or even the first edition Hermes Tradbook - but it's also not something that affected my enjoyment of the book. Nothing overly bad or nausea-inducing, just not my cup of tea.
Other Random Thoughts:
They changed the Order of Hermes logo in Revised - in both, "Order of" is spelled in a Hebrew-style font, but the new "Hermes" is written in a Greek-style, similar to that used in Changeling for the Satyrs. The original Tradbook used a font which was, in essence, stylized from the actual Enochian language. It was a reference 9 out of 10 people were going to miss, but I always thought it was cool. I'm disappointed they felt the need to change it (but I can see why they did - the new one IS a bit more stylish).
My only other real gripe was the dissolution of House Thig. For whatever reason, in recent years, White Wolf sort of realized they'd painted themselves into a corner by making only two Traditions the paragons of technology (Sons of Ether, Virtual Adepts) while making the other Traditions out to be rampant technophobes (the science bad, magic good image not helped by the usual role of the Technocracy as the big nasties). With Revised, they've begun to imply that each Tradtion has its own unique variants of technomagic, which does indeed make the Trads look a lot less like raving lunatics and luddites (though, unfortunately, takes away a lot of the unique value of the VAdepts and Etherites). But, when it's implied that the Order of Hermes as a whole is comfortable with technology (even going so far as to point out the Hermetic overtones of the Internet), what need is there for a highly-specialized House devoted to technology?
None, it seems.
But, I've never really looked at Thig from that perspective... to me, they've always been something of a cross between Victorian-era wannabes, who's ideas of what Hermetic magic should be come less from the Emerald Tablet, and more from reading too much Harry Potter. They're too intrigued by the occult (and nowhere near arrogant enough) to be Virtual Adepts, too socially awkward to be Hollow Ones, and too chaotic to be Technocrats... but they embody all those elements and more. Worse, the House that theoretically grew out of the ashes of Thig (House Xaos) comes across like nothing more than an annoying reference to Discordia and the Illuminatus Trilogy. In other words, while I can see why they got the chop (seemed redundant), I also think there was more than enough room in the Order for Thig.
I suppose I'll just have to content myself with the restoration of House Verditius as a sort-of replacement/evolution of Thig.
Overview:
For anyone who hates the Order of Hermes, this book isn't going to make you change your mind. Sure, White Wolf's given the Order a fresh coat of paint, tried to make it more "alive" - but even so, it's still the Order - these are still going to be the same arrogant mystic bureaucrats people love to hate. Even if they're more cheerful and energetic now.
For people who enjoyed the first Tradbook, or are simply fans of the Order as is, I think I can safely say this book isn't going to disappoint.
And, for people who've never thought about the Order before, or who've always been middle-of-the-road about them, I think this book provides enough interesting background in a concise, easy-to-understand fashion to make them a viable choice.
In other words, go out and buy the book.
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