SFX Skills: Diabolism

[Crothian]

How far will some men go for power? What depths will they plunge for the sake of knowledge?

Diabolism. We are drawn to its classical occult horror traditions: dark-robed cultists, blood-soaked ritual sacrifice, and the ornate trappings of dark magic. Like the fodder for any good fright film, it repulses and entrances us in equal measure. The Diabolist, the master of this infernal science, consorts with demonic beings and traffics in the worst of human depredations and suffering ... He is the most base of men, and yet the most modern: One driven by ambition and amoral self-interest to betray all that is human for influence and wealth.

SFX Skills: Diabolism is the first installment in the SFX Skills series, which details a new highly adaptable system of FX for modern (and fantasy) d20 role playing. Based within the feat and skill structures common to most d20 systems, SFX Skills are easily added to almost any game with a minimum of adjustments. SFX Skills also offer the ability to run both “high” and “low” magic games, even games consisting of elements of each, using the same system. SFX Skills: Diabolism is a self-contained toolkit for adding the dark magical tradition of Diabolism to your game, including rules for using SFX Skills, feats for controlling their access, and a new Background for scholars of occult lore.

SFX Skills: Diabolism was designed to be flexible and scalable for characters of 1st to 20th level, while maintaining a strong thematic focus that keeps Diabolism from becoming “just another magic system”. While particularly apropos for villainous NPCs, SFX Skills: Diabolism is relevant for heroic PCs and includes advice for “fighting fire with fire” and turning the Diabolist’s own dark skills to good ends.

 

[ukgpublishing]

Devilishly good fun!

I have always been a big fan of the occult, and in particular I loved all the old hammer movies such as "The Devil Rides Out", so when I saw this pdf and read the blurb I just had to give it a go.

This pdf is 19 pages long including cover, credits and OGL, so in essence there are 15 pages of actual meat. The download includes two file, a full (non-printer friendly version with graphics and background art) and a printer friendly version (which for some reason does include the cover), both are full bookmarked.

Chapter one introduces SFX Skills, including the mechanics of using a Skill Based FX system. From strain as non-lethal damage to ability damage, Feats thats grant access to SFX Skills and and Occupation (the Arcane Scholar).

The mechanics out of the way, we get to the meat and gravy of the pdf, Chapter 2: Diabolism. The Diabolism discipline concentrates on summoning fiends from their plane of existance, and compelling them to do your bidding. The act of summoning such a fiend however is not lightly undertaken, requiring some form of blood sacrifice (you own or some other) and not inconsiderable risk of being rended limb from limb and devoured.

In keeping with the feel for this dark art however there are a number of things that can help including the sacrifice, a horde of chanting and swaying supplicants and research into the background of the fiend your are to summon (it's true name being the most powerful hold you can have).

The Feats and Skills themselves lend themselves to the imagery of the genre, with skills including Binding (through magic circles, make sure you inscribe it correctly), Bending others Will to yours, dismissal of the fiend, removal of evidence, and of course summoning the fiend in the first place.

The artwork in the book is clear and functional and the layout is in the traditional two column, with only one small layout glitch that I noticed.

Overall, I would say that if your heros are going up against a covern of satanists then this product is ideal. Well written and thought out, with exactly the right flavour for the genre, this is a real bargain at $1.95. They could easily have charged double that and it would have been worth the price. A great first offering from a new publisher.