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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2011545" data-attributes="member: 18387">Fantasy Hero Grimoire II: The Book of Lost MagicThis 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</blockquote>

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