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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Simon Collins" data-source="post: 2010243" data-attributes="member: 9860">This is not a playtest review.Pocket Magica is an OGL collection of magic items including those from Core Rulebook II.Pocket Magica is a mono softcover product costing $14.95. Page size is non-standard, being slightly larger than A5 and is 240 of these pages in length. Three of these pages are taken up with ads. Margin, font and space use are all fairly standard. There is no art as such (just i-ching-like designs at the end of each chapter). The writing style fits the subject matter - clear and concise, but evocative (obviously varies with source). Editing seems good.The first 26 pages of Pocket Magica are taken up with an index of prices, giving market price for each of the items offered in the book, providing easy reference all in one place. The items are arranged by section (potions, rings, rods, etc.) in alphabetical order. There is no facility for random generation of an item in this section, nor are there page references for the items, but various special qualities of weapons, armour, and shields, are marked with the bonuses to apply to their market price.The remainder of the book provides the detailed information on these items. It is split into sections:Armour And Shields - 15 pages, including special qualities and specific items.Cursed Items - 13 pages, including generic curse effects as well as specific examples.Potions - 8 pages.Rings - 13 pages.Rods - 14 pages.Staffs - 7 pages.Wands - 1 page - simply gives the one-use Rune Wand from the Witch's Handbook.Weapons - 33 pages, including special abilities, and specific weapons.Wondrous Items - 92 pages.There is also an appendix of twenty referenced spells - i.e. spells referenced within item descriptions that are not available in the Core Rulebook. A second appendix gives the Iron-Souled creature template referenced in the Talisman Of The Wild item.As well as containing all the items from the DMG, various other OGL sources are plundered for magical items, particularly those from Bastion Press (e.g. Arms & Armor, Spells & Magic), FFG (e.g. Spells & Spellcraft), Thunderhead/MEG (e.g. Bluffside, Interludes), and Green Ronin's own products (Freeport COA and Hammer & Helm amongst others). Material from Relics & Rituals was also included. A rough guess would be that approximately 50% of this material is taken from the DMG, with the rest from the aforementioned OGL sources.ConclusionThe usefulness of this book to you should be easily divined - if you want a reference book for a lot of magic items, and are pleased by the idea of tables with market prices all in one place, then Pocket Magica is for you. If you are disappointed by a lack of random generation facility and page number references it may not be. Personally, I can't enthuse about a book full of magic items, irrelevant of its pros and cons, and my grading reflects this bias.</blockquote>

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