Facades: Masks of Magic

[Messageboard Golem]

Masks serve one, or more, of three functions. They hide an identity. They enhance an identity. They allow you to take on a different identity. Sometimes the effect is literal and physical, such as a burglar who hides who they are or an actor in le comedie. Sometimes it is metaphoric and the inner face is obscured as well as the outer one, such as war mask that is meant to drive fear into an enemy and help its wearer feel strong. And they can enhance an identity, such as the jeweled mask of a nobility worn at a costume gala, meant to point out the prestige of its wearer.

Masks serve a mythic purpose, reminding us of the fragility of identity. They are an exception to the social order. They remind us how much power is engraved in an image. And we are fascinated with them because myths and images hold power. And that is merely in our world.

Think about a fantasy world, a world where our ids and egos have literal manifestations in the forms of creatures such as orcs or elves. Worlds exist where metaphor takes on the roles of mystical beasts and prophecy. And worlds where perception and myth become dangerous in the hands of every spellcaster. In these worlds metaphors don’t simply have power through our actions but often regardless of them.

Imagine the power of those masks.

16 pages. Full color cover and interior.
20 unique magical masks - each with its own history & image.

 

[Vanuslux]

Facades - Masks of Magic is a 17 page PDF detailing 20 magical masks. I actually picked this up quite some time ago but it kind of got buried amidst other PDFs I bought at the same time. I pretty much bought it only because it was cheap and sounded somewhat interesting. It recently caught my curiosity again and I finally gave it a good read through.

Appearances - I remember one of the things that put me off this product when I first opened it way back when was the fact that instead of artistic representations of the masks described the book uses photographs of real world masks. While not a bad idea in theory, the execution comes off a little poor because most of the images are too large and too close up. I imagine such images were thought to be more dramatic, but really it just makes each page seem gaudy and clashing. Then again, most of the masks themselves are pretty tacky looking so maybe that was unavoidable. I get the impression, since the photos aren't credited, that the writer just downloaded some pictures of masks off the net and wrote stats for them. I don't know if that is actually the case, but that's the way it comes across.

On the plus side, the layout and editing seem competent enough.

Content - After being turned off by the photographs...one of the rare instances in which I felt compelled to hold a products "art" against it...I had to remind myself that content is the really important measure of a products worth. The descriptions of the masks are a little long winded for my taste, but not too bad and what they described was interesting enough. The abilities granted by the masks were also generally imaginative, though there were a few that were just a little too obvious, such as the Wealth of Station mask that gives a +6 enhancement to Charisma...essentially being a Cloak of Charisma that you wear on your face. Still, that sort of thing is the exception rather than the rule.

In Conclusion - While the product grates on me a bit, it does what it sets out to do. Here are 20 magical masks, with horrid photographs and decent abilities and descriptions. If I look past the quality of the photos used, this book feels pretty average to me. Nothing really jumped out at me and made me want to use it, but I can imagine scenarios where a magical mask might be interesting treasure. A rating of three feels right to me.