And now we get to hear the sounds of stretching and creaking as Mage comes under the direction of John Woo.
Yes, that's the whole idea behind this book: rather than let people think that Mage is a philosophy novel disguised as a game system, the authors decided to show how to inject some life into the works. It's an attempt to put Focault's Pendulum on speed. How well does it work?
Let's see.
Artwork:
Not banal, but not overly inspired. They could've used Frank Miller in a big way.
Info:
Good ideas abound, but the problem is: how does a person put them together? What's a good way to find plots without ripping them off? How do the authors retrofit an action film so that it works for them? They *tell* us a lot of neat things and make a lot of suggestions. In fact, there's at least a hundred good ideas in the book! But they don't *show* us how the process of coming up with a good chronicle works. Even an example of some poor creatively-challenged Storyteller trying to string a chronicle together would have been helpful. What brainstorming methods work best? *How* do you assemble a good villain? "Keep him three-dimensional." How, and what methods and/or examples have they done, or seen, that worked?
In sum:
"Tales of Magick" is good at what it does, but it's nowhere near as useful as, say, The Book of Mirrors. It doesn't give Storytellers who aren't that blessed with time, imagination, or the skills of pacing which are necessary to run "dark adventure" stories. Those who have the basics down pat will love this book. Those who aren't that polished will find one more reason to think that running Mage is simply too daunting a task. A few examples of designing a chronicle or adventure would have added much to this book.
Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)
