WGRE Review
ENWorld makes it too much of a problem to review an AM release, at least too much for me this late at night. Here is the review I have written before I realized I won't be able to post it... sigh...
The Wizard’s Grimoire Revised Edition (WGRE) is a 176 page softcover supplement for the
Ars Magica Fourth Edition game. This is
not a d20 or OGL game, not even close. There is soon to be a fifth edition for Ars Magica so this may be a strange time to write this review, but I thought it might help a player decide whether to purchase it and, hey, I like doing reviews.
This review will be written for those not familiar with Ars Magica, so don’t be afraid to read on. None of this will be of much use however, save for inspiration, without a copy of the Ars Magica Fourth Edition core rules (which can be downloaded for free from
RPGNow.
Wikipedia said:
A Grimoire (SAMPA: [grI'mwAr]), is a book of magical knowledge written between the late-Medieval period and the 18th Century. Such books contain astrological correspondences, lists of angels and demons, directions on casting charms and spells, on mixing medicines, summoning unearthly entities, and making talismans.
The WGRE provides magical knowledge and techniques for the (faux) secret Hermetic society of wizards in 13th century Europe. It provides new spells, a comprehensive extension of faerie magic, and means to improve and specialize wizard’s laboratories, conduct original research, animate automations, and other tidbits. It also provides an extended treatment on Hermetic society itself, and such peculiarities as the makeup of medieval ink.
It is a grab-bag of items, some of them great and some not so. Instead of detailing the exact makeup of the work, let me linger on some highlights.
The book opens with 9 “missives”, in-character speeches or letters that present “contemporary” views on the burning-issues amongst magi [wizards in ArM-speak] – such as the proper way to see the Church, issues of the power of secrets vs. the power of sharing knowledge, and so on. An excellent way to get into the setting. It follows through with an excellent depiction of politics in Hermetic society, and its legal procedures and customs. The information on legalities, etiquette, and customs is excellent, and provides a wonderful base to build a political campaign or adventure on.
The work also details rules for specializing laboratories, making each unique valuable, while providing a better understanding of what the lab work entails. Rules are also provided for conducting research to do what is generally impossible under AM rules, such as bringing the dead to life or escaping death – rules that encourage roleplaying and adventure, not just lab work. An extended table of Form and Effect bonuses also adds variety in choosing materials and shapes for magic items.
It also provides an excellent primer to bookcrafting in the middle ages, complete with a system of physical book quality for those interested in more versimilitude at the expense of bookkeeping. Rules for apparent aging and a clarification of rules on Magic Resistance and Ritual Magic are also good sections.
There are many flaws to the WGRE. I particularly disliked the Archetypes chapter, which I consider mostly filler and some of them just plain inconsistent with the setting. The Faerie Magic system it presents is unbalanced and munchkin. The rules on creating automatons or magic items with skills best be forgotten, and the new types of books presented are a munchikn’s wet dream, catapulting the characters into heretofore unknown levels of power. Many of the virtues and flaws [feats, kind-of] are simply not usable without the books they refer to, and superfluous with them. And I
can go on.
But for the most part, the WGRE is just a mixed bag. Take the new spells, for example.
Beautiful as the Day is Long is a first-magnitude faerie spell that makes the target beautiful until sunrise, and then ugly until the sunset. Lovely. Compare with
Fart of the Stentorous Bugle, a spell that needs no explanation, and you should get a sniff of the problem. Or
Encase in Ice, a (very!) low-level save-or-die spell with a difficult save, or
Revenge of the Slaughtered Lamb, that awakens a cooked corpse to mete vengeance upon the dinner party. Arrggh. Yet also, spells like
Blessing of Anateus’ Fortitude (gain the “fortitude of a megalith” as long as you touch ground) or
The Traitorous Hand (making the target attack itself) are excellent. A mixed bag.
The book contains a lot of options and additions, and I won’t detail them all. The most valuable, for me, were the political and legalese information, the laboratory specialization rules, some of the new virtues and flaws and spells, some ideas on faerie magic and spells, rules for apparent aging, the extended Form and Effect table, and the original research rules. The magic items and faerie familiars looked usable too.
The price tag says 22.95$. Is it worth it?
Well, setting 5th edition issues aside, I think this book is a valuable addition to an AM game. It presents several good ideas, both in the realm of the setting (politics) and of the crunch (Form & Effect example: virgin sacrifice for +6 to summon demon…. Errg… maybe this particular crunchy bit is better left as flavor). It has to be taken with a grain of salt, though – nothing can be entered without letting the group consider it, as many things are not balanced or well thought out. Whether or not it is worth the money, is a question of budget more than anything else.
Final Socre: 2 (Poor). Useful, but too much is sub-par to be worthy of being average.
Any idea when AM5 is coming out? I'd probably just spring for the WGRE myself, but figured it would be republished as one of the first books for 5th edition.
