Arcana: Societies of Magic

[Messageboard Golem]

Sorcerers and wizards are not the only practitioners of the magical arts. Esoteric orders of arcane initiates push the boundaries of magic beyond the limits of tomes and blood. The Abbey of Green Steel trains monks that pack a magical punch, the Servants of Decay subvert civilization with dark rites, and The School Behind the Veil teaches warriors to use divination to best their opponents.

Arcana: Societies of Magic details six different organizations that employ unique styles of magic to achieve their ends. The description of each society includes information of the group's history, goals, hierarchy, and leaders, as well as a map of its headquarters. New skills, feats, spells and prestige classes make it a complete package. Like Green Ronin's award-winning Freeport series, Arcana: Societies of Magic can be used in any fantasy campaign.

 

[Simon Collins]

Beware! This review contains major spoilers.
This is not a playtest review.

Price: $14.95
Page Count: 64
Price Per Page: About 23 cents per page, fairly average.

External Artwork: A good piece of colour artwork depicting a mage in the process of casting a spell.

Additional Page Use: The back page contains a good piece of art depicting the ritual burning of some bodies, and an overview of the contents of the sourcebook. The inside covers are both blank. The first page contains credits and contents, the last two pages the OGL and an advert.

Internal Art: The black and white internal art is generally poor to average, with a few good pieces.

Maps: Maps are clear and well-depicted but have differing scales, with squares representing 10 feet on some maps and 20 feet on another.

Text Layout: Font and margins are both average, and there is little white space.

Style: The writing style is clear and concise, yet evocative.

Whats Inside:

A brief introduction to the sourcebook includes reference to a free web enhancement.

The sourcebook details six arcane organisations:

The Abbey Of Green Steel (12 pages): A cult of subtly evil monks who try to ascend to demonhood. The section deals with the hierarchy, activities, objectives and teachings of the order. It also includes a lengthy sidebar on 'Outsider Weapons' - evil intelligent weapons which have demons bound into them - with rules for creation and some examples. There is also a sidebar giving description and stats for the Green Steel Monk Prestige Class and a new feat, Unarmed Sunder, is introduced. The major NPCs of the order are described and statted out, there is a short description and map of the main HQ of the order. The section ends with ideas for integrating the order into your campaign, some sample scenario ideas, and a couple of ideas on making the order a touch less evil.

The Dragon Gang (10 pages): A criminal gang led by a dragon and made up of members who are mostly half-dragons or have dragon blood running through their veins. This section deals with the background of the gang, working for the dragon gang, and rackets (drugs, gambling, dodgy magic, assassination, and corruption). A new feat (Draconic Bloodline) is introduced, and there are substantial sidebars on drugs (including 7 new drugs with poison-like stats) and 'Magic and the Law'. A new spell (Locate Owner) is introduced, several major NPCs are detailed, and a new race (Drakeling) is introduced that has draconic features in its genetic makeup. The section ends with ideas for campaign integration, some sample scenario ideas, and tips for twisting some of the basic ideas portrayed in the main text.

Servants Of Decay (9 pages): A mad cult that seeks the destruction of civilisation and the return of raw, destructive nature. The section deals with the background of the cult and their relationship with another dimension (the Preternatural World) which allows fast travel in much the same way as Shadow does, but also leads to temporary insanity whilst in the dimension. It then discusses the war against civilisation, alignment issues, the power of civilisation to resist the arcane abilities of the Servants of Decay, and the means by which the cult wages war (conversion of others, and building portals to the preternatural world in cities). A couple of personalities are detailed, and the section ends with campaign integration advice (particularly in regard to the Preternatural World dimension), some sample scenario ideas and an alternative idea which negates the need for including the Preternatural World dimension. There are also sidebars covering the Servant Of Decay Prestige Class, and the Preternatural template (energy resistance, DR, SR, incorporeal, natural invisibility, and outsider type to be added to any corporeal creature).

Temple Of The Living God (9 pages): A small priesthood attempts to resurrect the worship of a nearly forgotten god, who has fused himself into the High Priest. The section details the history and hierarchy of the temple, as well as the plot of one of the priests to offer a construct as the new housing for the god as the High Priest nears death. Three NPCs are detailed, there are ideas for campaign integration, sample scenario ideas, and a couple of alternative ideas to put a twist to the information provided. There are sidebars on fusing gods into mortals to create divine avatars (and a Divine Avatar template), a new feat Secret of Spellcraft (which gives bonuses to researching original spells), and Viraxis, god of secrets and hidden lore (plus the domain of Secrets).

Tribunal Of Arcane Law (10 pages): An organisation that seeks to stop any magical action that would create a wide-scale catastrophe, and therefore bring the name of magic into disrepute. Kind of like the FBI of Magic Police. The section deals with the history and activities of the organisation, working for the tribunal and the type of crimes they investigate. Some NPCs are detailed (including one NPCs theory of magic) and the headquarters of the tribunal are described and mapped. The section ends with campaign integration advice, sample scenario ideas, and alternative twists as per theother sections.
Sidebars are given on two new magic items (antimagic ring, amulet of speech), the Wizard Slayer Prestige Class, and a new spell (Mists of Undeath - moving mist turns victims into zombies).

The School Beyond The Veil (10 pages): This is on the surface a group of schools teaching battle magic to elite warriors but is actually a front for a necromantic sect (the Moon Wraiths) seeking world domination. The section deals with the history and hierarchy of the cult, its activities (infiltrating government and raising private humanoid armies), objectives (including ascendance to undead state), and teachings (three fighting styles - defensive, precognitive, and negative energy use). NPCs, a typical school, campaign integration advice, sample scenario ideas, and alternative twists are detailed. Sidebars include three new combat feats (Improved Subdual Damage, Minor Combat Magic, and Opportunity Knocks (allows AoO against feat, skill, or ability that would normally prevent an AoO - e.g. Spring Attack)), the Moon Wraith Adept Prestige Class, and Moon Wraith template (a humanoid who has ascended to undeath).

High Points: In a similar way to Atlas Games' Touched By The Gods, Arcana: Societies Of Magic provides some original and interesting cults and organisations to introduce into your campaign. The campaign integration ideas and alternative twists are very useful sections for each organisation. The NPCs are rounded characters with interesting roleplaying hooks for the most part. The information is presented attractively and the style is suited to the subject matter.

Low Points: As should be expected in a tome of this type, not all the organisations are likely to fit into your campaign, or will be of interest to you. In my personal opinion, the Servants of Decay, Dragon Gang and Temple of the Living God are weaker than the other three, but this opinion rests mainly on my interests and their ease of integration into my own campaign world. Some of the details in different sections can be a bit sketchy at times (for example, the Drakeling race seems to require some further expansion to be fully rounded).

Conclusion: Very similar in tone and style to Atlas Games' Touched By The Gods. If you liked that, you'll probably like this. My guess is that only some or one of the organisations in this sourcebook are likely to be useful to any one individual and some (such as the Tribunal of Arcane Law) have wider potential use for the GM than others, but all the organisations are interesting and have plenty of advice for those GMs who do want to integrate one or more into their own campaigns.

 

[Psion]

Arcana: Societies of Magic

Arcana: Societies of Magic is a d20 system sourcebook by Green Ronin Publishing, the publishers of the much lauded Legions of Hell. Arcana: Societies of Magic describes 6 organizations with unique goals, and unique styles of magic to achieve those goals.

A First Look

Arcana: Societies of Magic is 64 page perfect-bound softcover book priced at $14.95. This is a fairly typical price for a book of this size.

The cover is blue, with a darker hue near the bottom of the book, fading to white at the top. The front cover picture is by Jason Engle (whose work you may recognize from the pages of Dungeon magazine), depicting some manner of spellcaster in front of a brazier, with one hand surrounded by purple glowing motes and the other grasping a staff. (This just happens to be the same picture I use for my avatar on the Realms of Evil boards.)

The interior is black and white. The interior illustrations are of average quality; none struck me as being especially good or bad, with one exception. There is one picture of a gnome wizard that looked like a characture, entirely out of place for a serious product. There are a few maps, and the cartography is excellent; the maps are clear, attractive, and functional. The layout is also attractive and functional.

The typeface is of moderate size, the margins about average in size. Combined with the price per page, I would say that this product delivers an average value based on quantity of content alone.

A Deeper Look
(Warning: There are many secrets to these societies that could be considered spoilers in a game using them.)

Arcana: Societies of Magic is organized into six sections, one for each of the included socities. The sections have a similar layout. Rules material like prestige classes, spells, feats, and magic items (but not stat blocks) are offset in grey sidebars. Each society is broken down into at least three section, one entitled inside the [society], one describing personalities of the society, plus a campaigning section describing how the use the society in your particular campaign. Three of the societies also include a sample locale used by the society, complete with a map.

The Inside the [Society] sections vary in structure, but each basically outlines the nature of the society, including goals, modes of operation, and what life is like inside the society. The Personalities section has statistic blocks and descriptions for a few of the figures within each society, though not always the highest level figures. The Campaigning section includes some suggestions on what role the society might play in your campaign, and a few alternative "truths" that you can use to alter the basic concept of the society (which I thought was a rather useful feature.)

The Abbey of Green Steel

The first society presented is the Abbey of Green Steel. The abbey is a martial monastic order with the ultimate goal of transforming its members into devils. Though they have no overt plans for world domination or somesuch, my impression is that this cannot be good. The new rules devised for the Abbey of the Green Steel are probably the most clever in the book. First is a monkish prestige class (with arcane spellcasting ability) that allows the character to combine arcane spells with unarmed attacks.

The more interesting mechanical bit introduced by the Abbey of Green Steel is the mechanics for outsider weapons. This concept is similar to that of binding demons to items as described in Dragonlords of Melnibone and Demonology: The Dark Road. However, unlike those two books, the outsider weapon rules work well in conjunction with the existing rules. The cost of creating such weapons is similar to standard magic weapons with the same capabilities, but reduced by a time depending on the specified time of the binding. The item requires spells to summon and bind the creature into the weapon (such as the planar binding spells) but can have abilities depending on the creature's abilities.

The campaigning section paints the green steel monks as a secret evil that strikes from their hidden base. The scenario's section includes scenarios that cast them as hidden partners in a rebellion, or as a force that the players may have to parley with to defeat another fiendish foe.

The Dragon Gang

The second group is the Dragon Gang. The dragon gang is essentially a somewhat racist criminal gang; the race that they favor is Drakeling. Drakeling is a new race introduced in the book. They are descendants of dragon cross-breeds, but not so close to dragons that they qualify as half-dragons.

The other major mechanical item that the chapter adds is a set of rules for drugs. Drugs are very much like poisons in that they have both a primary and secondary effects. Further, the duration between the primary and secondary effects varies. However, the primary effect is not necessarily detrimental... but the secondary effect is. There is also another save for addiction, and some simple rules for handling addiction.

The central personality in the dragon gang is somewhat impressive. There is a reason that there are so many members of the gang with dragon blood – the gang is headed by a dragon. The campaigning suggestions present some ways to exploit this fact in interesting ways, theorizing on why a dragon would engage in such an endeavor and deriving some interesting scenarios from it, such as the possibility that the dragon is only in it to attract a mate, or to reshape human society.

Servants of Decay

The third society if the Servants of Decay. The Servants of Decay believe that the universe once existed in a much simpler, chaotic state, and the current reality is only transitory. In these times dwelled creatures called preternaturals, that did not care for the trappings of society but strived for greater things. As such, they believe that the proper course of action is to act to break down societies and help return the world to the simpler primal chaotic state. There is a preternatural state that still exists in a parallel plane that is something of a warped reflection of the physical world.

The mechanics introduced in the section include a new prestige class (the servant of decay), the preternatural template, and rules for handling the effects of society against the magic of the servants of decay. The servant of decay is a divine spellcaster who gains the ability to travel in the preternatural world safely, and eventually allow others to do so. Eventually the servant of decay becomes a preternatural creature, becoming an outsider and gaining damage reduction and cold resistance.

The preternatural creature template is the represent creatures of the preternatural world. They are incorporeal outsiders with many defensive qualities.

There was one aspect of the Servants of Decay section that I didn't care for. It makes intimations that a DM should treat them as having no alignment. I found that rather silly. If the DM uses alignment, they are not likely to discard the moral realist system for the convenience of on group; if they don't use alignment, it isn't an issue in the first place.

Temple of the Living God

The central concept behind the temple of the living god is that there was once a deity named Viraxis whose portfolio was mysteries and secrets. He was once very powerful, appealed to by nations to hide their secrets, and by arcane spellcasters to reveal arcane secrets. However, the followers of Viraxis began to rely on their own devices and turned away from the deity. Eventually Viraxis fell from his divine position. Before fading entirely away, Viraxis invested his last bit of divine power in his last high priest. He now strives to regain his power as a deity, and the temple is the last vestige of his worshippers.

The Temple of the Living God section include a new template, a new feat, and a new domain. The new template is divine avatar, which in this section is applied to the priest who holds the last splinter of Viraxis' power, but could be used for anyone in a similar situation. The new feat is secret of spellcraft, which grants a bonus when researching spells. The new domain is secrets, which was the chief area of interest of Viraxis.

Tribunal of Arcane Justice

The Tribunal of Arcane Justice is a body that exists to enforce its own set of laws regarding the use of magic. The Tribunal does not worry much about petty crimes using magic such as charming a peasant or murdering a rival using magic. Their concern is the use of magic in wantonly hazardous or destructive fashions, such as opening permanent gates to the infernal realms and using magic to enslave others.

The Tribunal is housed in a citadel whose location is not specified in the book (it is left up to the GM), but is not accessible by normal means. For example, it may exist on a demiplane or an isolated cavern.

The Tribunal sends out agents to enforce its agenda. This brings about the presented prestige class, the wizard slayer. They are fighting type characters with class abilities that focus on detecting magic as well as attacking and defending against arcane spellcasters.

The School Beyond the Veil

The last society is called the School Beyond the Veil. It is a martial school that appeals to warrior types across the land. They teach fighting styles that make use of divination magic to enhance their capabilities.

The School Beyond the Veil features a few fighting styles very close in concept to Oriental Adventures, i.e., they grant a special ability once you have obtained the requisite feats.

The epitome of the school's fighting training is the moon wraith adept prestige class. This is a class with good fighting abilities as well as its own spell list and advancement. The spells available to it include effects that aid in detection, evasion of detection, and combat.

There is a dark secret to the school, though. Though they recruit fighting men far and wide, they are actually agents of a conspiracy. They have a secret agenda revolving around dominating the world and reshaping society into a rigid hierarchy. Initiates of the highest circle are doomed to become a new type of undead called moon wraiths.

Conclusion

When I first heard about this book, I assumed that it was a book with detailed backgrounds of arcane orders and prestige classes to go with them, something like a subset of Tome & Blood. The book is actually a bit more like Atlas Games' Touched by the Gods, which features a variety of secret societies to add to your game.

That said, I think in a lot of ways Arcana: Societies of Magic outclasses Touched by the Gods. The societies in Arcana: Societies of Magic fewer and better developed, and more consistent in scope. Additionally, it has much better supporting rules material and the alternative takes make it much easier to fit these societies into a game. Some of the mechanics, like outsider weapons, beg to be used even outside of the context that they are presented in.

-Alan D. Kohler

 

[Messageboard Golem]

By Steve Creech, Exec. Chairman, d20 Magazine Rack

My review is for Arcana:­ Societies of Magic by Kevin Brennan and James Maliszewski. Published by Green Ronin Publishing (www.greenronin.com), this 64-page book details six different organizations suitable for any campaign. It retails for $14.95.

Arcana:­ Societies of Magic focuses on semi-secret societies that employ magic in very non-traditional ways. The first one listed, The Abbey of Green Steel, is an organization of evil monks who strive to become devils. If this weren’t bad enough, they also forge devil (outsider) weapons and acquire dark, forbidden lore. The second group addressed is The Dragon Gang, a criminal gang run by a dragon. The Dragon Gang represents your stereotypical organized crime behaviors ­ drugs, protection rackets, murder, etc. The Servants of Decay come next. These are individuals who wish to bring the world back to its original preternatural order by encouraging the collapse of civilizations.

What if a fallen deity was trying to exist inside a living mortal while building a power base that will allow him to return to the Heavens? This is the premise for Temple of the Living God. How about a tribunal that regulates the use of magic? The Tribunal of Arcane Law doesn’t involve itself with all crimes committed by magic users, only those that “transcend national interests or threaten to turn people against magic.” Its purpose is safeguarding the practice of magic. The last organization, The School Beyond the Veil, trains fighters and warriors in the rudiments of battle magic. They learn how to use magic to enhance their fighting skills and how to use it in battle.

Each of these societies has a specific purpose and goal. With each organization, a new prestige class and at least one other additional new quality is included such as a feat, spell, domain, or template. Each is balanced and can fit into any campaign with little work. Out of the many choices available, my choice goes to the Wizard Slayer prestige class as my favorite.

Overall, Arcana:­ Societies of Magic is a good supplement if you are looking for material to add to your existing campaign world. I like the book and think it would be a worthy addition to any DM’s collection. The catch is, this is a book that needs to be used in order to get your money’s worth out of it. If you are only playing the baseline campaign rules (i.e. using only the three core rulebooks) then you are probably not going to get a lot of use out of this book. But if you’re looking for a way to add a new villain or NPC that is totally cool, then by all means, buy this book!

To see the graded evaluation of this product, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.