I was leery of this book ever since I read the first Palladium advertisement that there would be two RIFTS books based around the post-apocalyptic ruins of Mother Russia -- Warlords of Russia (RIFTS World Book 17) and this one, Mystic Russia. In general, I don't like any RPG book that can be considered Part One or Part Two of anything. Granted, I liked Warlords of Russia, but what was the new book going to contain that couldn't have been contained in the previous book? Why not just print one book about the Russian campaign setting? Would Mystic Russia contain so much new material that it couldn't have been incorporated into Warlords of Russia?
Unfortunately, the answer is no.
While Warlords of Russia focused on the politicial situation and the technology of RIFTS Russia, Mystic Russia was to focus on the magic and spellcasters of the area. The book begins with a look at some of the spirits and magical creatures of Russia -- it's done very nicely, and adds some real flavor of Russian fairy tales and folklore. Trouble is, this section also takes up the first third of the book. It's nice, but it's also overkill.
The second major section of Mystic Russia deals with the actual spellcasters of RIFTS Russia. New spells, new character classes, and so on. Unfortunately, I didn't really find much in here that didn't seem like it had already been included in previous RIFTS world books and sourcebooks. The Russian Necromancer, for example, is almost identical to the Necromancer class in RIFTS World Book Four: Africa. Some new spells were unique and did have a distinct Russian flavor, but the entire section could have been greatly condensed.
The artwork in the book ranged from excellent to so-so. John Zeleznik's cover was very nice, but a lot of the interior artwork was just there -- it was fine, but it didn't seem to add much to the surrounding text.
The most aggravating part of the book was its constant references to other RIFTS books, particularly Warlords of Russia. Maybe it's just me, but I like my RPG books --for any RPG -- to be relatively self-contained. I'd like to be able to buy a supplement for a RPG that does not require buying any other books except the core gaming rules to use that book succesfully. Well, forget about it with Mystic Russia. If you haven't bought Warlords of Russia, you're sunk. This was what I was afraid of when I first saw that there would be two RIFTS Russia books. You don't need Mystic Russia to use Warlords of Russia. Unfortunately, if you're stanidn on line to buy Mystic Russia, you might as well pick up a copy of Warlords of Russia. Mystic Russia doesn't make a whole lot of sense without it.
Palladium Books should have done its fans a favor and combined these two books into one big book. In terms of price and quality, they would have given their fans the best of both worlds. Instead, there's one good, solid book and one book that feels like an afterthought. If you're planning on running a new RIFTS campaign based on Warlords of Russia, then I'd recommend MYstic Russia as a nice supplement for that campaign. If not, then I'd probably pass on it. There's a few nice new features, such as some of the Russian spells, but a campaign could certainly live without them.
Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 3 (Average)
