Kickstarter Other Magic #3: The Ancient World

[woodcutgames]

The latest issue of the Other Magic zine is coming to ZineQuest 3 on Kickstarter on Monday, February 1!

Other Magic #3: The Ancient World

The “Other Magic” zine covers magical spells, rituals, and beliefs from real world cultures. The first issue focused on folk magic of the Americas. The second issue was a bestiary of obscure creatures from Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean. This new issue is similar to the first one, but goes back in time to cover the magic of the ancient Mediterranean, Near East, and Middle East (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, etc.).

In addition to the translated text of actual spells and magic items, it includes information for GMs on how to create original ones in the same styles. It is system neutral, so there are no spell blocks or specific game mechanics included, but they can easily be adapted to any rpg that uses magic.

The topics covered in Other Magic #3: The Ancient World include:

• the Greek Magical Papyri, magic spells from Greco-Egyptian Alexandria
• amulets, effigies, ostraca, incantation bowls, magical gems, phylacteries, and other magic items
• charakteres, the Ephesia Grammata, onomata barbara, voces magicae, and other magic words and symbols
• binding spells to influence and address legal concerns, control emotions, influence sports events, and control other aspects of mundane life
• curse magic, including the use of defixiones ("curse tablets") and "funerary imprecations" (grave curses)
• spells to control demons and ghosts
• and more!

I’m not reprinting the first two issues for ZineQuest 2021, but am including the PDFs for them for free to anyone who backs the PDF or Print+PDF levels of the new issue. Backers are always free to print their own copies of any of the issues of the zine for personal use.

If someone wants a print copy of the first two issues, #1 has been available on DriveThruRPG for a while now, and #2 will be on there later this year.

 

[woodcutgames]

Other Magic #3: The Ancient World is now live! The Kickstarter campaign runs from February 8 - 21. The zine is a system neutral toolkit/supplement designed to help GMs incorporate real world ancient magic into their games. It focuses on the magic of the ancient Near East, Middle East, Mediterranean, and surrounding areas.

In addition to providing the translated text of spells and rituals used in the ancient world, it includes tips for creating original ones with the same internal logic and style for use in your game. It includes instructions for making historically accurate props for those who enjoy using physical items in their games.

Backers at all levels get free PDFs of the first two issues of the zine, as well.

I have a new blog at woodcutgames.com set up to pass along interesting tidbits that didn't make it into the zine, links to additional materials and resources, and other things related to the use of real world magic systems in rpgs.