Search
Review Editing
Review of Halls of the Arcanum
 Goto [ Index ] |
PHYSICAL BOOK
The Halls of the Arcanum is a soft cover perfectbound book with a total page count of 110 pages with the character sheet (and an additional half page of merits left out of Ascensions Right Hand). The supplement starts with a very brief fiction ( a two page diary entry). An average amount of black and white line art pepper the interior of the book. The quality of art varies as with many White Wolf supplements but none of it is bad enough to detract from the written content of the book. The layout is obviously the standard White Wolf format two columns of text surrounded by the graphic boarder. As with the previous Year of the Hunter book, The Halls of the Arcanum is split into different "books". In all there are three "book" division for this supplement.
SETTING
The setting of this book builds a secret society in the World of Darkness. The book fabricates a history walking the line of real history and that of the fictional World of Darkness. The history and even further the actual secret society the Arcanum becomes a real entity. The motives of the actual Arcanum are very different that the groups listed in the other Year of the Hunter books. The Arcanum takes a somewhat passive role as they only collect data on the supernatural. The supplement provides a glimpse of some of the heavy players in the Arcanum society.
CONTENT
Prelude -- A two page diary entry from a long time member of the Arcanum. Saying anything about it would give away too much since the piece is so short.
Introduction -- A very short introduction giving the basic themes and moods of the game and setting.
Book I: The Neophyte's Guidebook
Chapter 1: The Way of the Pilgrim (Joining the Arcanum) -- This chapter starts with the story of a person being asked to join the Arcanum. For the remainder of the first "Book" division the material about the Arcanum is presented "in character" as lessons given by a senior member of the Arcanum. Detailed here is the procedures on recruiting new members and the rough hierarchy of how the Arcanum is divided.
Chapter 2: The Darkling Road (The World Within and Without) -- This chapter tells the history of the Arcanum through journal entries of one of the founding members. The sidebars give more detail on certain elements mentioned in the history, these sidebars are presented as "study notes" written by the same recruit. The chapter goes on to explain what the Arcanum knows about all the other faction in the World of Darkness.
Chapter 3: Through a Glass, Darkly (Politics & Workings) -- This chapter is brief, but is written in the same lesson style. The reader is given information on some internal faction of the Arcanum as well as the areas of geographic influence the Arcanum has.
Book II: The Journeyman's Guidebook
Chapter 4: Character Creation -- Standard White Wolf mortal creation. This chapter gives new skills and new merits along with some new flaws. With the Arcanum being the most likely to have a large body of mortals with Numina, I was surprised that none are listed in the book. Reference is made in a few sidebars but for the mechanics the reader is referred to Hunters Hunted and Ascension's right hand.
Chapter 5: Trav'lers on the Road (Templates and Characters) -- This chapter gives six example characters complete with character sheets. After the sample characters the reader is given some notable people in the Arcanum.
Book III: The Mystagogue's Guidebook
Chapter 6: Behind the Veil -- This chapter is presented for the storyteller. Here the reader is given more secrets about the Arcanum. The possible identity of its founder and some of the earlier members who still pull the strings in the Arcanum.
Appendix One: Alchemy -- The only Numina listed in the book, the hedge magic path of Alchemy. The information covered includes a history and how alchemy was practiced around the world. The mechanics for alchemy have since been updated in the Hedge wizardry book "WOD: Sorcerer".
Appendix Two: Artifacts -- This short appendix gives sample relics for the Relic background.
Suggested Readings -- Also short but worth while. This is also a trademark of the writer, James (Jim) Estes. He always gives a list of inspiration literature so the reader can see where he was coming from.
SYSTEM
This supplement was written under the 2nd edition World of Darkness rules. The supplement itself adds a handful of new skills based on the occult sciences and a short list of merits and flaws. It also mentions the true faith merit but does not cover it at the length that the first Year of the Hunter book , The Inquisition does.
SPRINGER-ESQUE FINAL THOUGHTS
The Arcanum is almost the archetypal secret society. It sits on the edge of society and the occult gathering proof and watching. With its list of internal factions you get people like the scholar or the questing zealot. For the World of Darkness, the Arcanum presents a more believable and very usable threat to supernatural factions.
As a resource for other games I could see this easily being plugged into another horror game or any game that the genre supports secret societies.
Now for those that are saying "yeah but its out of print" no fears. This book along with the year of the Ally book Ascension's right hand were reprinted together in Mage Chronicles 2. This is one of the few "Year of the Hunter" books that was reprinted in this fashion.
Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)
