Fantasy Hero Grimoire II

[Messageboard Golem]

LOST MAGICS AWAIT!

A Fantasy Hero game can always use more spells for wizards to cast, characters to find in long-lost libraries, and evil sorcerers to wield against heroes. The Fantasy Hero Grimoire II features hundreds of new spells for your campaign, in ten categories:

Arcanomancy, spells pertaining to fundamental magical forces

Arcomancy, spells for us in warfare

Black Magic, spells used by the most evil wizards

Chaos Magic, the wizardry of the force called Chaos

Monster Magic, spells cast by dragons and other monsters

Naming Magic, spells requiring knowledge of the target's True Name

Professional Magic, spells adventurers use to make their lives easier and safer

Rune Magic, the magic of carved and painted runes of power

Shamanism, spells involving spirits and the Spirit World

Song Magic, spells cast through singing, poetry, and jests

All spells are described using a common "spell template" for quick, easy reference, and include multiple options for easy cusomization. Every spellcaster can find some new magics for his spell book in The Fantasy Hero Grimoire II.

 

[Sketchpad]

First off … this isn’t a d20 product, but rather a book of spells built for the Hero System. Though it’s created for another system, I highly recommend any GM running fantasy games (as well as any other game with spells in it) to look at this book for the ideas within it, as they could be easily adapted to any system.
I just received my copy of Fantasy Hero Grimoire II and I have to admit, after reading it twice, that I like the spells in this book more than the ones in FHG I. After the usual dedication/credits page and table of contents, the reader is immediately given a page index for each spell in the book. This is a change from FHG I in that there’s no quick stat list like there was in the previous edition’s index. From here, Mr. Long goes on to explain the spell templates that he used in writing this book, as well as a brief paragraph on what this book is not.
Getting into the spells, each school is treated like the ones in FHG I, that is, they are given separate chapters with sub-sections dependent on defensive, offensive, sensory abilities and the like. Looking through the book, the reader is first treated to Arcanomancy, or spells that deal with magic itself. Here you can find various staple spells like dispel or magomorphosis, which alters spells themselves. Personally, I think this school would be very useful in any magically driven campaign and not just fantasy. Next up is Areomancy, or battle magic. Heavy on the offensive side, this college boasts such useful spells as “Legion of Arrows” and “Unseen Regiment” for your battle mages. These, combined with mass healing spells and various movement powers, could very well make an army unstoppable … especially if combined with Fantasy Hero’s mass combat system.
Perfect for the villainous mages, the Black Magic school concentrates on darker side of fantasy magic, offering spells such as “Agony” and “Coffin Nails”. These, combined with spells from the Necromancy school from FHG I, would make a perfect combo for a master-mage villain to put in any game. With twenty-seven spells in the college, it offers many options for characters or GMs wanting to use said spells in their campaigns. Onto a different axial tilt with the next section: Chaos Magic. Akin to the school that was made popular in gaming books from 2nd edition AD&D, chaos mages are given many options in this chapter. Of the eleven spells given, I have to admit liking the “Unmaking” spell, which transforms a target into the chaotic material it is made from. Good stuff!
Next up is Monster Magic. Broken down into draconic, giant and troll magic, the seventeen spells within this chapter allow both the GM and player to utilize the various spells to make both characters and creatures a bit more powerful. With spells like “Troll-Touch” and “Wyrm’s Breath”, characters can emulate some of their most fearsome foes’ powers and exploit their weaknesses. I actually had to chuckle a bit, as this chapter also reminds me of various video games where you can get spell-based abilities akin to the enemies you battle.
The next two chapters are the two weakest in my opinion. Using the idea that everything has a true name and, by knowing that name, a mage can manipulate its target, Naming Magic falls in a bit frail to me. With only about ten spells, the only useful spells I can see in here are “Slay” (which is reminiscent of Power Word: Kill) and “Weathercalling”, which brings a storm to an area. Next up is Professional Magic with sub-categories such as “Craftsman and Merchant Spells” and “Rogue Spells”. Now, don’t get me wrong, some of these spells could be useful and it’s not as weak as “Naming Magic”, but, with a bit more than twenty spells, there are only about half that are real gems in the mix. Of the spells listed, I have to say that I really liked “Evaluate Goods” and “Song of the Marketplace” if for nothing else than just flavor.
Going along a traditional fantasy path, Rune Magic is the next chapter and one of my personal favorites. I’ve always been a sucker for rune spells and especially like all twenty-three spells in the list, as they are all very descriptive and well written. Kudos to Mr. Long for this chapter and especially for “Spila, The Rune of Ruin” … love the way it rolls off the tongue and the great write-up of it. Following Rune Magic is another favorite of mine: Shamanism. With forty-one spells on shaman spirits and totems, this chapter has some of the most thought-out rules of the book, especially where the summoning spells are listed. With this college your characters cannot only summon spiritual powers, but they may also destroy certain spirits as well as speak to the dead and enter the realm of the spirits. A great resource, not only for fantasy, but also for horror and old west campaigns that you may run or play in. Lastly, there is Song Magic. Like some of the bardic spells in D&D, these sixteen spells not only give you the stereotypical mood-shifters, but also spells like “Song of Springtime”, which changes the season of an area to spring.
Overall, I would say this book is at least on par with FHG I and adds a good mix of spells to the already numerous sorceries listed in the previous tome. Combine the information with a gorgeous cover by Nick Ingeri and John Davenport, and you have an excellent product.

 

[Kichwas]

Review of Fantasy Hero Grimoire II

This is the sort of book you only buy if you're already invested in not only the Hero system, but Fantasy Hero as well. I suppose the question then is whether or not it makes for a good buy on its own, at all, or whether you would want the earlier Grimoire first.

The books makes the claim of giving us hundreds of new spells in ten categories. Those categories, a little about them, and the number of spells found in each are as follows:

• Arcanomancy: spells that deal in magical energy itself, such as the ability to dispel magic, detect it, increase it, alter it, drain it, and so on. The chapter notes the similarity in theme between this and the Wizardry chapter of the first Grimoire, but lists itself as somewhat distinct and more powerful. Overall though, with only two spells above 100 active points this is possibly one of the lowest power chapters in the Grimoire II.
  offensive: 9, defensive: 3, sensory: 1
  
• Areomancy: spells for warfare. The chapter is definitely high power, with spells reminiscent of Champions more so than Fantasy Hero in terms of scale. But then, to get magic that will work on a mass scale you have to do that sort of thing, and your war mage is likely to need a very tight focus in order to be effective on as few points as a Fantasy Hero character gets.
  Many of these spells are by their nature not the sort of things you want in the hands of the average PC, consider a 2 1/2d6 RKA with a 14" radius moving around across the battlefield - now put it in dungeon crawl with otherwise starting characters. The mage with it would probably not be effective otherwise though. Keep this chapter for NPCs and veteran PCs who have moved up to Dragons or greater threats.
  offensive: 19, defensive: 8, movement:4, sensory: 2
  
• Black Magic: This is the chapter for villainous magic, and it begins with a
  section on selling the soul. The chapter features spells on disease, curses, dark rituals, and dealing with evil beings. There's at least one spell in here with over 450 Active Points. As a chapter for major villains however, it works.
  offensive: 16, defensive: 4, movement: 2, sensory: 2, miscellaneous: 3
  
• Chaos Magic: lists itself as manipulating raw chaos. One of the spells confused me a bit - Chaos Infusion makes you super strong but also berserk, yet the side effect for the berserk is listed as a -0 limitation - by my count it would be at least a -1/2 (15 active always happens). As for the other spells many of them are over 100 active points, and they seem to encompass ideas of changing the nature of things, inducing insanity, causing damage, protecting oneself from chaos and order, or finding the order in things as a weak point.
  offensive: 9, defensive: 1, sensory: 1
  
• Monster Magic: This section gives spells designed for three types of monsters. The dragon spells are fitting - allowing to look human, hide their hoards, fly faster, and other effects. The giant spells include one that answers the age old question of where to get that super sized loincloth (an enlarge object spell - and NO, that's not an object and not what we're talking about here), as well as just why nobody saw that castle up there until Jack climbed the beanstalk, and few other handy items. The troll spells are a little odd, perhaps coming from a mythos I'm not familiar with - but are interesting nonetheless. The chapter is high power, but in comparison to some of the rest of book, actually low power.
  dragon: 7, giant: 6, troll: 4
  
• Naming Magic: Spells that work around the idea of calling out the 'true name' of something to affect it. Most of the spells look pretty much like stuff you'd see anywhere else, with the incantations limitation added in. In genre, it seems true names usually make a spell more powerful or allow you to summon or control. The chapter does have one animal summoning spell and one Mind Control spell. As for an Aid spell to make magic more powerful if you know the target's true name - that's in the first grimoire and this chapter refers you to that spell as well.
  offensive: 5, defensive: 2, movement: 1, miscellaneous: 2
  
• Professional Magic: Craft, merchant, rogue, and warrior spells. Most of this chapter has very low active points, and it is filled with handy tricks for common people, as well as a few adventurer tools like 'True Aim' (similar to DnD's True Strike) which gives you a boost on your next attack roll.
  craftsman and merchant: 7, rogue: 10, warrior: 4
  
• Rune Magic: Written magic, Either runes left and in effect until destroyed or triggered, or written and working until they fade. They're structured well, and the blood rune option (wherein you must use your own blood to write them) is interesting. A few of them are quite powerful, but there are some reasonable entries. Midway through the chapter seems to end because a page is half blank, but it doesn't, and on the next page you merely have the next type of runes.
  offensive: 11, defensive: 3, movement: 1, sensory: 4, miscellaneous: 4
  
• Shamanism: Seems to be the -BIG- chapter of this book with 41 spells. The chapter starts with a number of spells to summon up 400+ point creatures and spirits of different varieties. That means those creatures will have 250 more points than the average PC or equal challenge NPC. It then moves on to spells designed to deal with hostile spirits, bring forth the spirit in objects, travel among spirits or by spiritual means, and so on. Finally we have the totem spells - which are themed to a specific animal totem and allow you to get your shaman to take on some of the nature of her totem spirit. The most powerful of the totem spells was the mouse, at 40 active points, making it a bit more Fantasy Hero ready than some other sections.
  spirit-summoning: 8, offensive: 4, defensive: 2, movement: 2, sensory: 4, miscellaneous: 5, totem: 16
  
• Song Magic: Performance spells - mostly of a curious combat focused nature rather than charming and entertaining like the DnD Bards do. Most of the spells are reasonable in active points, though one breaks 150, another 240, and a third 330.
  offensive: 12, defensive: 1, miscellaneous: 3

212 spells total.

While I didn't run the numbers for it, each spell has a number of customizing options, as a rough guess they seem to average about 12 to 15 of them per spell. They include things like upping the power, downing the power, modifying the casting roll, silencing, quickening, and so on. Some of those are the kinds of options that seem superfluous - like weaker or stronger versions or noting alternative special effects. Others such as ritual versions or versions with side effects, delayed effects, concentration and so on will genuinely adjust how the spell plays out. Overall the options are the same kinds of adjustments DnD players see in metamagic feats, and if you want that kind of ability in Hero you could do it with Naked Modifiers or Variable Advantages, then use these options as a selection guide.

Grimoires:
There is a wealth of ideas in this book, some of them quite interesting. You could get it without the first Grimoire but it is a look at 'the unusual arcanas' so you would probably do best buying them in order.

Power Level:
Many of the spells in this book have very high active point costs, 60, 70, or 100 or more. Some even several hundred. Limitations bring some of them down, but not all, and a 15d6 Mind Control, no matter how far you bring it down with limitations, is still no laughing matter in a Heroic level game (nor even in a super hero game). A lot of them will simply not work with beginning characters. That's not a bad thing in and of itself, you will want things for when the PCs are up there, but nothing about the book tells you this until you start to read the details.

Generally the offensive magic comes up highest. Sensory and movement spells tend to more reasonable, defensive somewhere in between.

You will definitely need to think twice before letting several of them into the hands of player's PCs. The power level of this book might make it more of an NPC resource or Champions resource than PC Fantasy Hero resource.

Visual / Graphic Design
Grimoire II has my favorite Hero system cover. Yes, I know it's female and I know gamers are so afraid of their own sexuality that they feel an irrational need to attack any art featuring an attractive woman, but I still insist this is a cover to remember.
And not because of the attractiveness of the center character.
There is an amazing level of dynamic energy in this cover, done with impressive skill and attention to mood. The line work in the inking, the lighting, shadowing, coloring, and so on are very evocative of what the book is about. It's a magical cover of a mage in mid casting for a book about spells. And yes, 'sex sells' and if you think there's something wrong with that you need to get out of wonderland or Oz or wherever you've bee lost.
The interior design is standard fair for Hero, more evocative of the Sidekick style of layout than the Hero core rule book style. It's functional but not pretty or anything else. Data is easy to find and easy to deal with, but not unusual or special in any way - not evocative of any mood. The art is good and fitting, but not amazing like the cover. My favorites are pages 2/132, 35, and 115. The last of those has a very interesting shadowy mood to it.

Overall
If you want a book of spells for a Champions game the offensive items in this book will be ideal -though some are high even for that- but for Heroic powered games many of them are just too much. Some of the movement and sensory spells could be used as is, but the combat magic will more than likely need adjustment. When the spells in the game are doing 5d6 killing or more, and the weapons 1 to 2d6, the disparity will be quite unsettling.
With work you can adjust them down, but it might be hard to just open the book and pull from it for ready to play magic. This is not the book you can just hand the players and say 'here; pick your spells.'

The ideas are very good, they just need to be down scaled to Heroic.

Style and Substance - Rating the book
For style I would give the book a 4 out of 5. Largely on the strength of the cover. The design is nothing special, and the interior art is only a little above the usual par.
On substance I rate the book at 3. The ideas are very solid and very interesting, definitely the stuff you want to see, but they're too powerfully built. You can't just open the book and use it for the typical 150 point Fantasy Hero game. To use this book in Fantasy Hero will take a lot of work, which was not what I expected when I bought it. I expected a ready to use list of Heroic power level spells. That problem cuts what would have been a 5 down to a 3.

I recommend the book, but with the note that it is a tool for fantasy development and not a ready to use plug in for a campaign.

 

[Messageboard Golem]

Fantasy Hero Grimoire II: The Book of Lost Magic

This book is not intended for use with the d20 Systems - it is designed for Hero Games. This is a complimentary book.

Author: Steven S. Long
Price: $26.99
Size: 144 pages black & white perfect bound soft back.

This review concerns itself with the Fantasy Hero Grimoire II (FHGII) but the generalities of the review could easily apply to the original Fantasy Hero Grimoire. These two books are closely intertwined and while FHGII stands by itself as a supplement, the original is needed to extract every ounce of spell casting goodness. Finally, this book is not the meat and potatoes of fantasy spell casting in the Hero System – that pedigree belongs to the original Grimoire. This book details the ‘high arcana,’ the less common, but infinitely cooler aspects of spell usage.

Fantasy Hero Grimoire II, like its predecessor, tackles one of Hero Games often sited downfalls, genre definition. Both Grimoires are chalk full of spells that guide both the player and the GM on spell construction, power limits, and in game use. Grimoire II starts off much the same as the original with a curt discussion of what the book is and is not – an important facet given that not all Fantasy Hero games will use exactly the same magical rules. Unlike other systems, the book works to be less binding; instead it gives a yardstick to measure by. So, let us look at the guts and see where it measures up.

FHGII divides the spells into a magical system with various ‘schools’ or ‘arcana’ – the spells within each are thematically related to each other. This is exactly the same as the original Grimoire.

Hero Games is known for their indexes and right up front we are treated to an alphabetized list of every spell within the book with a listed page number. A handy feature during game play.

Artwise - the cover is above par for Hero depicting a black magic ritual complete with undead and tentacles (A sure winner). Once inside the black & white book the art strays toward the bottom of what is acceptable professionally. There are several pieces by Andrew Cremeans that stand out as having a distinctive style that fits the book well.

Arcanomancy – This is a collection of spells that affect magic at its core. These spells allow the creation of a ‘high mage’ type character. This chapter bridges one of the deficiencies of the original Grimoire and does it with elegance and innovative new rules. The most interesting of these for me is Velthune’s Arcanomantic Dismissal and its use of the ‘uncontrolled’ advantage but other creative uses of powers make this arcana a must read for all FH GMs.

Areomancy – The Battle Mage! This arcana dovetails into the mass combat rules provided in the Fantasy Hero genre book. However, it is built to work without those rules. I have not play tested these rules but a scrupulous reading of the limitations and time requirements leads me to believe that the spells abuse potential is somewhat diminished.

Black Magic – this section opens with some nifty discussion of what it really means to sell your soul in Hero Game terms and some of the benefits of doing so. A section on the corrupting nature of black magic follows that ensures these spells are reserved for the blackest hearted villains. The selection of spells for Black Magic is excellent and creepy. Spells like Coffin Nails will terrify your good men everywhere.

Chaos Magic – it seems that most games these days incorporate both a good-evil axis and a law-chaos axis. Once again careful selection of spells helps this arcane stand out, spells like ‘Unmaking’ & ‘Chaos Sight’ add a great deal of flavor to what could be a clichéd arcana.

Monster Magic – an unusual arcana and one that will generally only be of interest to the GM, unless the game allows the creation of monstrous PCs. Dragon and Giant magic struck me as so-so but the section on troll magic draws on some obscure Germanic mythology and comes off as top notch. I especially liked the spell ‘Troll Knot’ for its nod to trollish origins.

Naming Magic – this arcana expands on one of the magical styles mentioned in the Fantasy Hero Genre book appropriately titled ‘Naming Magic.’ This arcana has the potential to come off as very kewl or exceedingly lame – if you are a GM who has trouble saying no to your players these spells will give you fits. If, on the other hand, both you and the players can sustain some tension in the game then this style of magic maybe just what you need. The mad scramble to piece together a demons true name while he hunts you down could provide multiple sessions of fun.

Professional Magic – this was the one section where it felt like the book was stretching for new ground to cover. Additionally, it seems to cover ‘everyday magic’ of the type that is appropriate to only the highest of high magic games – spells like create ice, permanent light, & clean shop. There are a few gems in here but…

Rune Magic – I always cringe when I see Rune Magic in a RPG book. So many predecessors have done Runes in a shoddy fashion that I begin to fear that I will never see them done with any flair. Having said that, Hero System seems to accommodate Rune Magic well and I was very pleasantly surprised. This section goes a long way to establishing a workable magic system all by itself for those gamers who want that magic a little more subtle.
Shamanism – this arcana ties closely with Druidry & Witchcraft from FHG. Shamanism as it is laid out in FHGII deals with those who traffic with spirits of various kinds. There is some redundancy in the spells within this section. In the previous FHG a side bar in the section on raising undead detailed an optional rule to allow the PC/NPC to purchase one spell that had a variable target [FREX: You could raise skeletons or zombies depending on desire.] – it would have been nice to see that option reprinted here for the summoning of spirits.

Song Magic – the final arcana. Song magic is one of my peeves and I am biased against that style in FRPG. Now that I have that out of the way – this section does what it should do. This is arcana is weak by itself and says so right up front. Combined with ‘Naming Magic,’ this arcana could become appealing, even to me

This book scores very high marks for doing exactly what it set out to do – providing examples of a broad range of unusual magical schools. By its nature it deals with a number of unusual magical styles and does the majority of them very well. Most gamers will find sections of this book more useful than others. Shamanism, Rune Magic, Naming Magic, Black Magic, & Arcanomancy were the ticket punchers for me while Professional Magic & Song Magic is the two that will see little air time.

The flavor text for the spells is well done writing as one would expect from industry veteran Steve Long. There are buried nuggests of history and legends for the Turakian Age setting placed throughout the book which always adds to what would otherwise be a dry read.

Finally, this book and FHGI is a 'core book' for Fantasy Hero Gaming. I don't think I could run my game without it. Unlike the Fantasy Hero Genre Book, FH Battlegrounds, or the Turakian Age Setting - the Grimoires by their nature have very little cross over value for d20 players.


Eosin