In Short
Every so often a product comes along so full of imagination that the reader feels inspired. The reader leaves the product wanting to play it immediately, the ideas wind up in other games, and the reader can’t stop talking about the product to others.
Dictionary of Mu is such a product.
A supplement for the Sorcerer RPG, Dictionary of Mu presents the world of Marr’d, a blasted wasteland of a planet set in a distant future where refugees from dying worlds make pacts with demons to survive in the brutal wastes. The entire setting is presented from the perspective of Oghma the Scribe, the author of the Dictionary, and the book is designed to feel like an ancient dictionary covering varied parts of the setting. Demons and Sorcerers are supported with full stat blocks, and a few Marr’d specific rules are sprinkled through the Dictionary to provide a unique feel.
If you’re looking for an expertly done supplement that will take your Sorcerer roleplaying in an entirely new direction, or if you just want a highly imaginative and entertaining read, then be sure to pick up Dictionary of Mu!
The Physical Thing
This 170 page black and white softcover showcases above average production values for its $20 price tag. The art is extremely flavorful, the editing is well done, and the general layout and formatting of the product make it fun and easy to read. While smaller in size than a traditional RPG book,
Dictionary of Mu packs an incredible amount of flavorful and inspiring content into its pages.
There are, however, two problems here. First, sometimes the product makes use of text that represents notes in the margin. Some of these notes move too close to the inner binding and become difficult to read. Second, the text density is low in this product. Entire pages are dedicated to presenting a single letter, and some of the entries are very short. This is necessary to produce the incredible flavor found in Dictionary of Mu, but while every idea is interesting and creative some readers may object to the text density. This is a product you can read in just a few hours.
The Ideas
The Dictionary of Mu is a dictionary and most pages present a single entry. The fictional author writes notes in the margins, and in a given campaign players are strongly encouraged to write in the book and add their own entries. In fact, it’s required for characters to advance and grow stronger over time. I think this is an incredibly neat idea, and it takes an already wonderful product and turns it into the collected ideas of a gaming group.
The Dictionary spins out a variety of tales occurring on the world of Marr’d, a blighted wasteland of a world covered in blood stained sand and dark ambitions. The setting has elements of science fiction. Great ships, powered by blood, exist on Marr’d and could conceivably be used to take people away from this world. The classic alien Grays were brought to Marr’d as slaves and assist in building pyramids and other wonders. Stories are told of a people who, long ago, fled another world and sought out a new place to live.
Marr’d is also a fantasy setting. Sorcerers command the power of demons and gain strange abilities. Emperors, kings, messiahs, and others raise armies of warriors who fight with spears and bone knives in the wastes over ancient pyramids filled with unknowable power. Information is kept in books, not computers, and even books are rare and precious commodities. Dragons, great spirits filled with the fire of the great death they once suffered so far away, roam the land. If you enjoy Dune and like the idea of adding some Dark Sun and horror elements to the mix then you’re going to love this setting.
In Sorcerer demons may represent a variety of different entities and concepts depending on the campaign. They may be demons, aliens, abstract concepts, the sorcerer’s subconscious will, or dozens of other things. In Dictionary of Mu demons are the dead. Dead concepts, dead people, dead worlds, demons are everything that has come and died. Even the planet is a demon, as Marr’d is very much a dead world with just a few parasites still living on it. This is extremely cool and leads to two nifty ways to solve problems. If an opponent has a powerful demon, and you want to defeat them, consider learning more about the demon and destroying it by bringing it back into the world. If it’s a demon of orchids, for instance, and you found a pyramid with the power to reproduce ancient plants then, over the centuries, you may be able to crush that demon through cultivation. Similarly, if you want to seek out a new demon that no one has ever heard legends of before then find something to destroy. Once that thing is dead and gone it will become a demon, which you may attempt to summon and bind.
This is one of the few products I’ve encountered that is a little difficult to review because of its unique presentation, so let me share with you my three favorite entries from the Dictionary. Note that coming up with three favorites was difficult. Every entry here is incredibly cool.
1. Black Rock. Both a demon and a place, onlookers see Black Rock as a great basalt monolith which has been hollowed out to create a great arena. Gladitorial matches and blood games are found here, and people come from far and wide to see exotic events. By far the favorite event here is genocide, where the last surviving member of a tribe, race, or species is slaughtered on arena floor. The demon craves genocide, you see, and revels in the bloodshed on its floor.
2. Oceans. The humble writer of the Dictionary maintains that Oceans are myths and faded from Marr’d long ago. This means that they’re a demon, however, and one of my very favorites in the book. Ocean needs those who don’t bow before it to be drowned in salt water and desires mayhem above all else. It knows everything about everything that once was under the sea, can transport sea vehicles across any place the oceans once ruled, and manifests in the world as a strong smell of salt in the air. It’s difficult for me to say exactly why I think dead oceans become powerful demon is so cool, but I love this idea.
3. Damsel Messiah (and related entries). This entry borrows heavily from The Bible. A group of gift bearing sorcerers follow portents to find where the king of kings is being born. Instead of a young boy, a girl is born and the sorcerers leave in disgust. The father sees to it that they are later killed for their arrogance, and the story of the damsel plays out. At an early age she repairs a broken pentacle used to protect a village, a complex action requiring wisdom far beyond her years. At one point the Serpent takes her to a great cliff and shows her the world. It offers her the entire world if she will but take a bite of a fruit and know terrible truths. She declines and instead binds the Serpent to her will, and it serves her still today. Now she is a powerful force in the world and has generals, scholars, and others flocking to her side every day.
The rules support here is excellent. First off, the example sorcerers introduced in this product could easily be used as pre-gens in order to get a game off the ground at a moment’s notice. At the very least they show a variety of ways to realize character concepts with Sorcerer. The demons are works of art, some of the most flavorful and interesting NPCs I’ve seen. The write ups are well done and everything meshes well with Sorcerer.
Several new, simple, flavorful rules are added. Whenever a summoning attempt is cross referenced with the Dictionary of Mu the character gains a bonus to their summoning roll. Gaining Friends, performing Heroic Deeds, and Falling in Love can all result in humanity gains when properly done. A few other minor but flavorful rules are added as well, but the one that really stands out is “the.” The idea is that there’s a huge difference between trying to summon “a dog demon” and “the dog demon.” The first could represent any dead dog, while the later can only mean a single entity – the god of dogs, the penultimate dog, all dog demons combined, or something of that nature. Since the whole game is based on a dictionary, wording is important. I think that’s really fun, though some GMs may want to cut their players slack the first time or two with this rule as it could result in player frustration.
My Take
Sometimes I’ll get an RPG I enjoy so much I can’t stop talking about it to my friends. I share bits of fiction, discuss mechanics, suggest characters, and generally get all psyched up about that game. That’s where I am with
Dictionary of Mu, and for good reason. I loved reading every entry in the Dictionary. The writing is great, the formatting and layout fantastic, and the art really brings the work to life. My only complaint is that there’s not enough of it. What I wouldn’t give for a Dictionary four times the size of this one with even more content.
If you enjoy Sorcerer then I strongly recommend this product. It provides excellent support for the game and I can’t imagine a better way to use a system I already love. If you don’t own or don’t like Sorcerer then I still recommend this product. Sometimes supplements for games we don’t even use are so good we’ll pull a dozen different ideas out of them and use them in our other games. That is most definitely the case here, and the fun I’ve gotten from the product just from reading it has been substantial.
Review Summary