Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Promotions/Press
[Chaosium] As Authentic as Thaumaturgy can get… : 'Out of the Suitcase' with Chaosium President Rick Meints
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Michael O'Brien" data-source="post: 8449351" data-attributes="member: 6807727"><p><h4><em><strong>Chaosium President <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/rick-meints" target="_blank">Rick Meints</a> shares stories from a life-time as a collector of all things Chaosium.</strong></em></h4><p><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/authentic-thaumaturgy.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><h4 style="text-align: center"><strong>BEFORE </strong><a href="https://www.chaosium.com/the-grand-grimoire-of-cthulhu-mythos-magic-hardcover" target="_blank">THE GRAND GRIMOIRE</a><strong> THERE WAS... AUTHENTIC THAUMATURGY</strong></h4><p>In the late 1970s Chaosium founder Greg Stafford sometimes helped other individuals get their projects published. The eclectic mix of these included Mel Laybourne’s <em>Dragon Tales</em> art book, <em>Wyrd</em> the magazine of fantasy, and perhaps the most gonzo of them all, <em>Authentic Thaumaturgy</em> by P.E.I. Bonewits.</p><p></p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Bonewits" target="_blank">Philip Emmons Isaac Bonewits</a> described himself as "the world’s only academically accredited occultist", with a B.A. in Magic from the University of California, Berkeley. Bonewits also was an Archdruid of the Berkeley Grove of the New Reformed Druids of North America. I can easily imagine that Stafford’s shamanic interests overlapped with Bonewits’ druidic ones because that’s just how San Francisco in the 1970s worked. On November 7th, 1977 they signed a contract wherein Chaosium would publish <em>Authentic Thaumaturgy</em> in early 1978. It would be Chaosium’s third RPG-related product, after the first two volumes of <a href="https://www.chaosium.com/search.php?search_query=all+the+world%27s+monsters" target="_blank">All the World’s Monsters</a>.</p><p></p><p>The book’s hundred pages cover a wide range of topics. They included: the essence of magic, psychic talents, the laws of magic, trivial things that can blow you away, spell types, and how "The Gods are Are Alive" (an epic chapter heading typo there).</p><p></p><p><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/253297862-10160036630922743-556237136218386865-n.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p><em>Authentic Thaumaturgy</em> is far more a collection of concepts than a rules system, with the nineteen tables at the end of the book being the main exception. In some ways it reads like a collection of all of Bonewits’ term papers written while he was at Berkeley. I can only imagine how his professors would have reacted if he had submitted a paper that quoted Sherlock Holmes and Shakespeare while discussing the psionic abilities of Saint George and the common use of devils and demons in games.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/252861691-10160036629837743-7528113918691695436-n.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>Along with the writing, the art is also worth mentioning. <em>Authentic Thaumaturgy</em> was illustrated by Carole Rode. In short, the black and white line art epitomizes all that was the 1970s. See for yourself. I must confess the author portraits on the back covers are wonderfully of their time, and it’s interesting that the puff of smoke and his glasses grew over the span of but a year.</p><p></p><p><img src="https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/bonewits.jpeg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " style="" /></p><p></p><p>The first printing sold out in a few months. It remained out of print for the last half of 1978 due to the west coast paper strike. In 1979, the second edition debuted in a slightly edited and reworked format. I don’t understand why the second edition was done in a 6 by 7.5 inch size, but I’m sure there was a reason now lost to the mists of time. Unfortunately, Bonewits passed away in 2010 and I never had a chance to speak with him about the book.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Michael O'Brien, post: 8449351, member: 6807727"] [HEADING=3][I][B]Chaosium President [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/rick-meints']Rick Meints[/URL] shares stories from a life-time as a collector of all things Chaosium.[/B][/I][/HEADING] [IMG]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/authentic-thaumaturgy.jpeg[/IMG] [HEADING=3][CENTER][B]BEFORE [/B][URL='https://www.chaosium.com/the-grand-grimoire-of-cthulhu-mythos-magic-hardcover']THE GRAND GRIMOIRE[/URL][B] THERE WAS... AUTHENTIC THAUMATURGY[/B][/CENTER][/HEADING] In the late 1970s Chaosium founder Greg Stafford sometimes helped other individuals get their projects published. The eclectic mix of these included Mel Laybourne’s [I]Dragon Tales[/I] art book, [I]Wyrd[/I] the magazine of fantasy, and perhaps the most gonzo of them all, [I]Authentic Thaumaturgy[/I] by P.E.I. Bonewits. [URL='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Bonewits']Philip Emmons Isaac Bonewits[/URL] described himself as "the world’s only academically accredited occultist", with a B.A. in Magic from the University of California, Berkeley. Bonewits also was an Archdruid of the Berkeley Grove of the New Reformed Druids of North America. I can easily imagine that Stafford’s shamanic interests overlapped with Bonewits’ druidic ones because that’s just how San Francisco in the 1970s worked. On November 7th, 1977 they signed a contract wherein Chaosium would publish [I]Authentic Thaumaturgy[/I] in early 1978. It would be Chaosium’s third RPG-related product, after the first two volumes of [URL='https://www.chaosium.com/search.php?search_query=all+the+world%27s+monsters']All the World’s Monsters[/URL]. The book’s hundred pages cover a wide range of topics. They included: the essence of magic, psychic talents, the laws of magic, trivial things that can blow you away, spell types, and how "The Gods are Are Alive" (an epic chapter heading typo there). [IMG]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/253297862-10160036630922743-556237136218386865-n.jpeg[/IMG] [I]Authentic Thaumaturgy[/I] is far more a collection of concepts than a rules system, with the nineteen tables at the end of the book being the main exception. In some ways it reads like a collection of all of Bonewits’ term papers written while he was at Berkeley. I can only imagine how his professors would have reacted if he had submitted a paper that quoted Sherlock Holmes and Shakespeare while discussing the psionic abilities of Saint George and the common use of devils and demons in games. [IMG]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/252861691-10160036629837743-7528113918691695436-n.jpeg[/IMG] Along with the writing, the art is also worth mentioning. [I]Authentic Thaumaturgy[/I] was illustrated by Carole Rode. In short, the black and white line art epitomizes all that was the 1970s. See for yourself. I must confess the author portraits on the back covers are wonderfully of their time, and it’s interesting that the puff of smoke and his glasses grew over the span of but a year. [IMG]https://www.chaosium.com/product_images/uploaded_images/bonewits.jpeg[/IMG] The first printing sold out in a few months. It remained out of print for the last half of 1978 due to the west coast paper strike. In 1979, the second edition debuted in a slightly edited and reworked format. I don’t understand why the second edition was done in a 6 by 7.5 inch size, but I’m sure there was a reason now lost to the mists of time. Unfortunately, Bonewits passed away in 2010 and I never had a chance to speak with him about the book. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
Promotions/Press
[Chaosium] As Authentic as Thaumaturgy can get… : 'Out of the Suitcase' with Chaosium President Rick Meints
Top