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Liber Ka is a rule supplement for Chaosium's Nephilim role-playing game. The rule set given for sorcery in Nephilim is one of the more interesting magic systems in publication, so it's curious that Chaosium would come out with this, a complete replacement for (not addition to) that system. The subtitle of the book is Authentic Western Ceremonial Sorcery for the Nephilim Roleplaying Game, and that is darn close to what Liber Ka delivers. Within the limitations presented by the Nephilim game's framework, John Snead has done an excellent job of translating western occultism into role-playing game mechanics. In direct contrast to most game supplements, the more familiar you are with the subject matter, the more you will appreciate what a fine job he has done.

The goal of Liber Ka is to introduce an alternate magic system that adheres externally to the "real world": in other words, magic cast according to the Liber Ka rules is indistinguishable from coincidence. Car crashes, winning lottery tickets, even a sea change in the political landscape are possible using the Liber Ka sorcery rules, but none of these are obviously caused by magic. To the mundane observer, the effects of Liber Ka style sorcery are so subtle they are unprovable.

Therein lies the main drawback to using Liber Ka sorcery in a role-playing game: its subtlety. If you want magic that is flashy, or easy, or impressive, Liber Ka is not what you are looking for. If you want a heavy fantasy element to your Nephilim game, Liber Ka is not what you are looking for. Liber Ka is as realistic as a set of rules for magic can be and still be a set of rules for magic. As fine a piece of work as Liber Ka is, I do not think it will be appropriate for most campaigns. For the rare campaigns where you want magic to be extremely subtle (whether using Nephilim or some other game system, such as Kult or even Noir), Liber Ka would be tremendously helpful.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)