The Lords of the Night: Liches

[Messageboard Golem]

For millennia, vampires believed they were the true lords of the night. But they were wrong. Older than mountains with goals both alien and unfathomable, Lords of the Night: Liches opens the vault on the most terrifying of the undead - the Arcane Lich.

Sourcebook and the continuation of the Darkness Rising series, the Lords of the Night: Liches details the ancient sorcerers and their magic Arcane. Players can obtain some of their incredible magics, or even quest to become liches themselves.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Lords of the Night Liches is the second book by Bottled Imp Games. This one takes the lich and expands it in numerous ways, adding new ideas, locations and game mechanics to overlay almost any standard D20 fantasy game.

There are somethings right off the bat I didn't like. The previous book Vampires, had some fancy fonts but most was standard type. Not so with this book. The book has a light feel to it, like it's been padded. That may not be true at all, but it looks it. I'm used to books like Call of Cthulhu with densely packed pages that are often hard to read. Not so here.

My second problem is a personal one but one that effected my reading of the whole book. The names. The names used for different things are far too standard and should've been made more exotic. For example, there is a group of beings older than the gods who use power called the Arcana. They are the organization known as the Guild of Wizards. Some have the power to alter reality through thoughts using Sorcerae. See what I mean?

It sounds like standard D&D terms but because they're not, it has the potential to cause a lot of confusion, just like some of the generic names of NPC classes do. “He appears to be a stout warrior.” “Now is that warrior as a fighter type or warrior as a warrior?”

The book uses a lot of templates. Liches go through different stages and have different specialties. Now the standard for almost any template these days is an example. Because the templates here may stack on top of one another and are ranked, examples would've made this section easier to use. The perfect thing would've been one character taken through several stages of lich hood with changes noted in each stat block.

The last problem I had is similar to the previous one in that the details are light. Sure, the story is great, the ideas are sound, but there aren't enough examples and game stats for important characters to make the book more useful. The d20 system isn't Vampire. I want stats for the powerful characters. In some ways, I need those stats. Just as I noted on Anger of Angels that it's nice to have some background and roleplaying information on the higher powered angels, without the stats, it's really difficult to picture how they fit into your own setting. How would they far against Orcus? How would they handle fighting a god's avatar? No help on that front.

Outsider of those issues, the book is a strong offering. To me, there book has values in three areas. The first is that it's good campaign material. There is a war taking place on a higher plane between two vast powers, the Guild of Wizards, members of the Arcane, ancient entities from a higher reality who represent reality, and the Void, a thing of darkness and despair. Those work out perfectly in almost any campaign as they can be layered onto a standard campaign with hardly any change. It's a secret war for the most part so players shouldn't know about it but when introduced to it, will they be able to influence once side or the other? The ideas are there ripe for the taking and range from high fantasy to horror.

The next thing I've been using is the locations. Because the Guild of Mages originated from a primal or truer reality, they come from the Spectral Plane. This place is no longer the safe haven it once was and has fallen into disrepair. In many ways, it reminded me of the mini-plane in The Wheel of Time that the spellcasters used to travel from point A to point B, fraught with danger and darkness. The plane isn't all fallen though and there are special places where those touched by the Arcane can go and empower themselves or simply hide from the enemy.

Now since they had to leave their home behind, they have another, the City of Lost Souls or Kethak, located deep in the Ash Plane. The city was designed by Ed Bourelle and done by Jason Sawyer. In other words, it looks great. The inhabitants of the city range from the long dead, to those undead which make the place their home. One thing I thought of instantly that this city would be good for is finding an dead inhabitant that worships some forgotten god whose lore is needed again.

On the down side, there are not enough details are made of the city in individual terms. All of the major locations have been covered so people can go to the Fortress of Ash or the Home of the Keepers. The ash plane also has details and even has inhabitants like the Ash Born, known as the Valiari. Their special abilities are mainly of use on the Ash Plane as it is a dangerous location but should be useful for those games that need a guide to that bleak land.

The last thing the book offers is a new system of magic that is layered onto standard magic. This reminded me of Primal Order with it's Primal Energy. You still have all of your standard things, but you get this in addition to that. These systems range form special abilities and feats needed to manipulate the powers to the various templates that are touched by the power.

For the templates, there are numerous options to examine. The whole concept of these 'Arcane' Liches is that they strive to protect reality. This doesn't make them good so much as it makes them neutral, trying to save themselves and the world. The liches start off as Death Touched and progress through four more stats until they get to Spectral. Each type is a template with powers sometimes stacking except for armor class, damage reduction and turn resistance bonuses. The start of the path, as Death Touched, isn't your standard in that the character is still alive, and even lives a bit through the Living Dead phase, but soon goes into death.

Now as they go through the various stages, they have specialties they can choose. These range from Mors Lich, who master knowledge of the undead, to Artifex Liches, masters of crafting a specialized golem.

That's what part of the problem is though. It would require a lot of work to separate the material that uses Arcane magic from the various templates, spells, feats, and arcane rituals themselves, and still keep the balance and flavor or the material. In some ways, I wonder if with the emphasis on showing how things can be done via class as opposed to template, if prestige classes might not have been a better route?

Thankfully, there are some limits on what the casters can do with their advanced powers. Part of that is based on the fact that the Arcane points they get are limited. Part of it is based on insanity you risk when using such power. See the human mind can only take so much power and the very transformation into a lich gives you some insanity and using such power frivolously will give you even more. The system here works well with the material, but could've been expanded to work with standard d20 rules. Each insanity is ranked on a scale of 1 to 5 with descriptions of what the character is like when plagued with such dark delusions.

One thing that Lords of the Night does well is presentation. The text is easy to read and looks good on the page. The art is done by some of the industry's heavy hitters and looks great. It's too bad that game mechanics aren't included along with that material, but for the GM looking for ambiance and visual cues, this book delivers. It is missing a table of contents but does have a glossary and a brief index. About the only thing that looks off internally is the use of the outside name holder for chapter headers as it's big and in black and white scale, ugly. The book runs for $21.95 and at 128 pages, is now a standard in the d20 industry.

The Lords of the Night Liches provides another layer to your campaign in almost every way. You have new locations to explore, you have new entities to interact with, and you have new foes to face. For those GMs interested in making their games more epic in scope and doing the work on the Arcane side, the book is well worth the investment.

 

[Psion]

Lords of the Night: Liches

Lords of the Night: Liches is a resource adding additional details to liches in d20 fantasy game. But that's not entirely accurate. It doesn't really do much to the existing lich so much as create a new sort of lich, with various types and stages of development, and some politics, history, and magic behind them. Much of the material appears to be written with potential uses as PCs in mind.

Lords of the Night: Liches is published by Bottled Imp Games, and written by Stuart "Karis" Renton.

A First Look

Lords of the Night: Liches is a 128 page perfect-bound softcover book priced at $21.99.

The cover has a low gloss finish and has a nice illustration by Ralph Horsely depicting a number of liches surrounding an orb who appear to be startled by some shadowy figures descending the stairs towards them.

The interior is black and white. Interior artists include Dave Allsop, Elliot Christian, Ralph Horsely, Brad McDevitt, John McSweeny, Scott Purdy, and Thom Scott. There are some excellent peices by many of the artists. Some good peiced are unsigned and I could not identify the artists, but of those that were signed, I found Purdy's and Horsely's the most interesting and tone-setting in the book. Purdy has done work in various ENPublishing and Mystic Eye games books such as Necromancer's Legacy, and it carries the same dark feel here.

Oddly, the interior body text font stands out. Instead of using a standard serif font, a stylized font is used. The choice isn't too bad, and I did not find that readability was greatly impaired, but you can tell the font uses up a little more space than the standard type... space that could have been used on some missing elements (see below.)

A Deeper Look

Lords of the Night: Liches presents several variations of liches for use in a game. But it does more than that. It establishes a whole new mythology for their existence. The mythology is strong enough that you may find it hard to fit into an existing game, but for its efforts it does create an interesting mythology that you may just want to make room for.

The assumption is that when the universe was born, there was a primordial creative force called "Arcane" which at that time could be used to reshape the world at a whim. Now it is a pale shadow of what it once was. The liches introduced in this book acheive their transformation into undeath by supplanting their vital force (i.e., constitution) with this "Arcane" energy, eventually supplanting it entirely.

Notice the captilized "Acrcane" there? Let's talk about that for a second; It's well enough having it part of the backstory, but it also makes its way to the rules section, and is part of a pattern of bad choices for terminology in the book. A lich created under this system has an Arcane score, wields "Arcane" magic (which is different from spells cast by wizards, bards, an sorcerers, which are merely arcane magic, no capitilization) and also has "Arcana points" which are a different thing entirely. Also, the author uses the term "temporary insanities" to describe an accumulation of points that aren't distinct mental disorders at all, but rather a figure that determines how fast the lich acquires permanent insanities. And permanent insanities, well, may not describe distinct insanities at all, but each "insanity" that the lich gains may only be a single step in a five step progression of an insanity. Finally, many common D&D terms (particularly undead types) are used in a rather specific context in the setting description. I think that in most cases, the author would have been better off striving for less well worn terms (frex, calling "Arcane" energy "Primordial" energy instead.)

But being established that you are in for some confusion when reading this book if you try to figure it out, let's move on to the (oft times excellent) content itself.

Under the system described, there are various stages or "states" of lichhood. Each state is a distinct template, and are usually progresssed through in order. The first two states aren't undead at all. In the first two states, the would be lich (called Death Touched and Liivng Dead, collectively called Arcane Touched) only replaces a portion of their constitution with Arcane energy. This grants them some of the benefits of the full lich template. Liches eventually progress (either deliberately by means of rituals, or simply though age) into undead lich states, being sunken (which merely looks whithered), necrotic, skeletal, and spectral.

The Arcane energy the lich acquires drives many of their lich abilities; many lich abilities are lost if their Arcane score ever goes to zero. Arcane can also be spent to power a number of specific abilities. To discuss the latter, we must first discuss the lich orders. There are seven lich types, each created specifically under one of seven lich orders, each slightly different in appearance and provides abilities (which are usually driven by Arcane point).

The seven lich types and their emphasis are:
-Artifex Lich: As the name implies, artifex liches are craftsmen. One universal ability is the ability to create a golem spontaneously (much like Astral Constructs from the psionics handbook, or even like the Necromancer in Diablo II).
-Darke Lich: Specialists in stealth and concealment, with a battery of stealth related magical abilities.
-Dirge Lich: Perhaps the most traditional of all lich archetypes, the Dirge lich have abilities that allow them to better animate and utilize undead servitors.
-Frost Lich: As the name should imply, frost liches are masters of elemental magic, particularly cold magic.
-Mors Lich: Where Dirge Liches are masters at controlling the undead, Mors liches are masters at defending against them.
-Prime Lich: These are sagely liches, with abilities that allow them to better sense others and manipulate "mundage" magic and defend against it.
-Umbral Lich: Umbral liches have the ability somewhat like that of the "shadow monsters" type spells, creating creatures out of darkness.

In addition to these common abilities that all liches get, liches have access to two other potent resources: arcana and sorcerae.

Arcana are selections of abilities, each containing six distinct levels of powers. Arcana are divided into Minor and Major Arcana. Most minor arcana can be used by any lich type (though each type starts out with a few specific ones by default). Each major Arcana is specific to a specific lich type, but some may on occasion be learned by advanced liches of other orders.

In addition to access to the various arcana (which is restricted according to the liches state), each individual power must be purchased by an allotment of Arcana points that the lich gets, also according to their state. In essence, the Arcana system is a distinct character creation subsystem. As with other lich abilities, these are driven by the liches Arcane score. Arcana points are accumulated as the lich gains arcane spellcasting levels, but higher state liches gain them faster.

The various arcana include the ability to craft special items, create golems, improve spellcasting, and so forth. It seems to me that the addition of Arcana to liches adds a very "World of Darkness" dimension to the lich characters. That said, not all Arcana selections appear to be created equal. Some appear clearly more powerful and enticing than others, and the balance may be a little questionable.

Sorcerae (n.b., another ambiguous term in this book that I hate) is the ability to use the primal Arcane energy the way it was originally intended. In essence, Sorcerae allows the lich to attempt almost any magical effect. The lich must spend Arcane points and make a check based on the liches intelligence, wiht modifiers due to state and (if the desired effect falls within the lich type's specialty) type. Failure has potentially devastating consequences, primarily in the form of insanity and corruption.

All liches accumulate insanities... some just from being a lich, but a lich has the potential to accumulate additional insanities by risking sorcerae or simply expending too much Arcane in a day. These sorts of actions have a chance of giving the lich "insanity points" (called "temporary insanities" in some places). Once this total goes over a threshold defined by the lich state, the lich gains a rank in an insanity and the threshold is reset to zero.

Each insanity is graded in five ranks. At the first or second rank, insanities are fairly harmless (and in many cases, resemble the personalities of some PCs anyways). At rank 4 or 5 is where the trouble lies. Though there are many rules devoted to gaining ranks of insanities, for the most part implementing them is left up to roleplay; each insanities has what ammounts to roleplaying guidelines for each of several mental disorders. (Note that this is no DSM-IV*, and many of these insanities bear only the faintest resemblance to their namesake clinical disorders.)

* - Look it up. You have google.

Corruption is described much later in the book, and is a concept intracately tied to the backstory. In the backstory, the Void is described as a desctructive primal force that the orders of liches strive against... but liches can fall to its influence and become void liches. Oddly, this puts liches in a somewhat more sympathetic position than I am used to, as they are one of the only things striving against this force that would destroy everything. Vampires, as discussed in Bottled Imps book on vampires, are also servants of this force, which creates an emnity between the orders of liches and vampires.

The corruption system is well codified. Several acts such as misusing sorcerae or destroying another Arcane lich have the potential to give the lich void points. Too many of these and you become a servant of the void. Void liches and their powers, on the other hand, are only sketchily codified, more details being promised "in a future release."

A good part of the book is background and setting info. A major edifice of the book is Karathis: The City of Lost Souls. This city is located an an otherworldly ashen plane that resides amidst the elemental planes. It is called the City of Lost Souls because those Arcane Touch who have not yet become true liches who are destroyed are cursed to reside here, most of the time reliving their former lives, though powerful emotions can make them aware of their true state. The city is also the home to a powerful and mysterious Guild of Wizards (another all-too-generic term) which presides over the lich orders. The city is an enemy of the void and allows no servant of the void within its walls.

Conclusions

This book is very much not what I expected. If you, like me, came here primarily looking for enhancements to existing liches, you may be surprised that this book is not quite as generic as you had hoped. That said, the concepts are intriguing nonetheless, and many buyers will doubtlessly appreciate the variety that this book lends to liches as well as the additional depth the backstory adds. Now the lich who dominates the nearby tower can be more than just a made mage with dreams of world conquest. He can be part of an ancient order than stands between reality and oblivion.

Of course a semi-heroic role may be precisely what some buyers aren't looking for. That said, there are possibilities here for PCs in a rather interesting roles.

I see two major problems with this book. The first, as I mentioned, is the use of terminology. The author frequently uses terms that already have a well established meaning, and in other places, use two different terms to refer to the same principle (e.g., Mors Liches and Crypt Liches, Temporary Insanities and Insanity Points). This stands to make a somewhat complex set of subsystems introduced in the book even harder to understand.

The second major point is the subsystems themselves. As mentioned, the arcana system which grants liches special powers is a whole new character point subsystems, with many intracacies and implications. I don't have any prescriptions, but in many ways, it seems like it could have been simpler. If you couple that with the fact that part of the intent of this book seems to be targeted at players (who IME often aren't as up to speed on grasping rules as the DM), this can be a real problem.

OVerall, I liked the concepts in this book a lot and am intrigued at the depth that it adds. But if you find a little complexity of extra tracking in creating the sort of detailed liches as outlined in this book a bit offputting, you may want to look elsewhere.

Overall Grade: B-

 

[Mr_Nox]

The Lords of the Night: Liches by Bottled Imp Games

So we come to it at last the second outing from Bottled Imp Games, last years’ excellent and quite chilling The Lords of the Night: Vampires which introduced us to the coming darkness and now the story is continued in this volume. So what can you expect from the night this time around? Happily I can announce that the reader can expect quite a bit.

The treatment of Liches in the D&D game has always left a little to be desired by myself and the recent slew of D20 products pro-offering information on Vampires, Liches and all manner of undead beasties has, in my opinion, done nothing to push forward new ideas or indeed add anything new to the established idea. Thankfully the same cannot be said for Bottled Imp’s The Lords of the Night: Liches, new ideas, concepts and a quite brilliant and compelling back story, abound.

It takes the approach that the road to lichdom is a hard and particular arduous one, with a character going through many different stages before finally reaching their elusive goal, and this quite simply works like a dream in the level based D&D system. Imagine if you will taking your weak and feeble 1st level Wizard or Sorcerer to the pinnacle of lichdom at the heady heights of 9th level, and even that is just the end of the beginning for the character. The story that introduced the terrible Children of Vangual now brings us the Servant of the Arcane and their battle with the all consuming Void. But luckily your character with his new-found abilities can give the powers of oblivion a run for their money.

Arcane as it is described is the very essence of creation and the universe, and Lords of the Night: Liches handles such high-brow concepts like this in its stride, skilfully incorporating the rules into the back-story, enabling players and DM’s alike to consume themselves within the milieu.

The introduction describing the history of Arcane and Void, sets the scene perfectly, then the book goes onto describe the varying stages of lichdom, some mighty fine piece of art in this section too, then swiftly onto the differing types of liches, I won’t spoil the fun here, but check out the Umbral Liches and their Shadow Puppetry. A lengthily rules section follows, as not to disappoint most D20 fans, new powers and abilities run rampant. Then perhaps one of the most original and ambitious chapters of the book, Sorcerae, the very power to shape reality itself, a handclap and pause has to be given here, full marks. But some of my favourite sections of the book are the ones that focus on pure role-playing, chapters on how the power of a lich gnaws away at their mind and a fantastic exposition of the Lich City of Kethak, and the ash-born Valiari, brilliant.

In summary this book is much more than what it seems, at first glance a simple sourcebook on the lich of old, but under the surface lies a great story and some simply quite original rules variations.

5/5

 

[Necropolis]

The Lords of the Night: Liches is the second book from Bottled Imp Games that also gave us The Lords of the Night: Vampires. This book is 128 packed pages filled with information on Arcane Liches, the mysterious guardians of the powers of Creation.

I?d like to say off the bat that I?m not a reviewer. I?m writing this review simply because this book is very special to me. Hopefully my review will give this book the recognition it deserves.

One of the best things about this book is the art; it?s just awesome, really stands out from other d20 books out there. From the great looking lich types to the City of Lost Souls: every picture seems to have a little spark of life in it that make her to stand out.

The book contains 16 chapters. I won?t detail them all, only my favorite:

Chapter One: A History of the Arcane. In this chapter you will understand more about the history of the Arcane, the ancient race of beings that created the Arcane Liches.

Chapter Four: The Rituals of Arcane Transference. This chapter gives you information on the rituals like what you need to do to acquire them and what is the minimum abilities and requirements that you need to have before trying to cast those rituals, you will also find information about what happens if you fail a ritual and about getting help to cast them.

Chapter Five: Character Creation. Here you will read about the rituals of the Arcane Liches. You have 6 templates of arcane liches (that are the six states of lichdom) including: Death Touched, Living Dead, Sunken Lich, Necrotic Lich, Skeletal Lich and Spectral Lich. Each one of those states drives you deeper into the powers or the arcane.

There are seven 7 types of Arcane Liches (called States). Every Lich type gets unique powers that only members of his Type can use (and also some quite severe restrictions).

Artifex Liches: the artificers of the arcane liches, they can project a golem from their very thoughts that grows more powerful as they gain levels.

Darke Liches: the assassins and spies of the Arcane Liches. They have a better understanding of their enemy, the void.

Dirge Liches: Dirge Liches are good at controlling and creating undead creatures.

Frost Liches: Elementalists of ice and frost.

Mors Liches: Mors Liches are more like guardians against other undead, they have powers to damage the undead and to even destroy them.

Prime Liches: Are the sages and masters of mundane magic, they guard the arcane. They glow in sliver because of all the arcane energy they master.

Umbral Liches: Those Liches are the hardest to create. They control (warrior) puppets made from shadow.

Chapter Six: The Arcana. This chapter details the unique magical powers of the Arcane Liches. There are two types:

Minor Arcana: the weakest Arcana can be used by any type of lich, these powers range from the Servitor Arcana that gives you the ability to create different kinds of undead to Mastery of the Mundane - a power that allows you to enhance mundane spells.

Major Arcana: Major Arcana can only be used if you are from one of the lich Orders. Each Order gains one Major Arcana (so only Dirge Liches can use the Death Mastery Major Arcana (a power that lets you to empower your undead minions with incredible powers). Mors Liches gain the Undeath's Reigns Major Arcana that focuses on destroying the undead.

Chapter Nine: Insanities. This is the best part of the book for me. Arcane energy was not supposed to be used by mortal creatures and when a Lich overuses their Arcane powers, the strain causes them to risk gaining insanities. Insanities range from delusions to schizophrenia, each one made up of five ranks. As you gain insanities, it gives you so many role-playing possibilities, really awesome.

Chapter Sixteen: The Void. Here you will find information on the enemies of the Arcane Liches, the terrible bringers of madness. While this chapter doesn?t give any hard and fast information away, it does give some juicy insights into their terrible enemy. There is a section on Corruption that details how Arcane Liches can be corrupted by the Void (and become Void Liches).

Negativity: My one gripe about this book is that it doesn?t reach the highest levels of play (only up to about 12th level), but I?m hoping they?ll release another book for higher level Liches in the future. This book is purely designed for characters that begin play at 1st level and it?s very heavy on role playing. There?s not much battle magic here (but lots of very cool powers and mysterious abilities).

In Summary: There?s so much about this book that I didn?t mention, from Kethak: the City of Lost Souls that is filled with creepy atmosphere and brimming with cool locations like the River Mnemos and the Bridge of Restless Dreams. Every location is special in its own way.

This book is really something special and every player or GM that wants something unique to add to their world should buy this book. It's even a good read for people that won't use Liches in their campaign because the ideas are so fresh and new. I heartily recommend this book to anyone that plays D&D.

 

[oracle]

The Lords of the Night: Liches is the second offering from Bottled Imp Games after their excellent The Lords of the Night: Vampires. TLOTN: Liches is a 128 page sourcebook which can be used to extend the information provided in TLOTN: Vampires or as a stand-alone product.

TLOTN: Liches presents an alternate look at the evolution of a mortal spellcaster into a Lich, moving from varying stages of mortality into undeath, and then into the mystery of Eternity. The progression through each stage of development is instigated by a powerful Arcane Ritual which effectively adds a new template to the character, providing them with new powers and insanities, and forcing them further into undeath. New abilities are found in Minor and Major Arcana, progressive sets of powers linked in many cases to specific Lich Orders, each of which are infused with imagination and interest. Along with a collection of new feats and spells, a Lich also gains access to powerful new magic in the form of Sorcerae, granted by the power of Creation and fraught with danger if misused. In addition to these positive advancements, Liches find themselves subject to dangerous insanities as their minds are ravaged by their unnatural transformation.

While the mechanics of TLOTN: Liches are interesting and effective, speaking as a DM the real strength of this product lies in the way it translates into the game environment. The first standout feature of TLOTN: Liches is its impressive artwork. The iconic illustrations of each Lich State and Order by Ralph Horsley are filled with mood and character, and will inspire PC's and NPC's alike. Similarly, the map of Kethak and the corresponding description of the Lich's city on the Ash Plane provide enough information to inspire a DM without removing from them the ability to customise the city to their needs.

Whether you intend to use Liches as NPC's, as either a benefactor or villain, or to offer them as PC options, the descriptions of Lich States and Orders, as well as the insanities they develop as they progress through their transformation provide a mass of inspiration for character creation. In fact, virtually every chapter of the book is filled with ideas aimed at heightening the role-playing experience.

Following on from TLOTN: Vampires, this product continues the story of a great war brewing far removed from the understanding of mortals. As this war sets to break upon the mortal worlds, Vampires and Liches have taken their sides, as the Void, a bastion of devouring evil, and the Arcane, the fading force of creation prepare to fight for supremacy. Filled with history, game information and locations relevant to this impending conflict, the product allows the gradual integration of this over-arching storyline in a campaign world, as well as the possibility of beginning a new campaign with knowledge of these terrible events which are about to unfold.

The Lords of the Night: Liches is another excellent product from Bottled Imp Games, offering imaginative material of both the crunch and non-crunch variety. It is filled with information to add background, mood and role-playing options to your campaign....and Liches....you definitely won't forget to add Liches.

 

[andrew_kenrick]

Introduction

Lords of the Night: Liches is the second book by Bottled Imp Games in the Darkness Rising series, following on from the critically acclaimed Lords of the Night: Vampires. Written by Stuart Renton, Liches is a 128 page softcover retailing for $21.95. For the record, I received a review copy of Liches, and have met and spoken with Stuart in the past, but write this review as impartially as is humanly possible.

Appearance

Liches is an altogether more polished affair than Vampires, sporting a more striking cover (once again by the wonderful Ralph Horsley), oodles more artwork and a much cleaner and more visually appealing layout; but it is only when you get beyond the surface and into the actual writing that you realise quite how special Liches is.

The black and white interior artwork is all, without exception, wonderful. From Ralph Horsley's front cover; to his depictions of the various Lich Types and States; to the countless pieces by artists including Dave Alsopp and Scott Purdy that ooze atmosphere and beauty. In one or two places the art is a little dark, especially on the graphics used for the chapter heads, although I gather this was a problem with the printing process, rather than with the art itself.

A Closer Look

The second Darkness Rising book is, obviously, all about the lich, and, following the pattern established in book one, turns the lich into several different types. Having read Vampires I was expecting this, as well as a book oozing with atmosphere and story. But, unlike vampires I have never been a fan of the musty old lich - it certainly lacks the folklore/B-movie status of the other undead. So with this in mind I set about exploring the world of Bottled Imp's Liches, and I shall say right now that not only were my expectations met, but they were exceeded by a long, long way indeed.

Liches begins with a monologue by Arikostinaal - a central character to the Darkness Rising series - recounting the history of the Arcane, the first sentient lifeforms and beings of enormous power, and of their creations, the Arcane Liches (about whom this book is all about). Chapter 2 continues the introduction with a Treatise of the Arcane, explaining and describing many of the concepts of the book, rounding off with a comprehensive glossary.

So far so good, the atmosphere is nicely set and a dark tone established, but it is at this point that a problem crops up - that of some of the names of the concepts central to the book: the Arcane (the incorporeal beings mentioned above), Arcane Energy (the energy of Creation itself), Arcana (special abilities bought by lich characters) and the Guild of Wizards (the Arcane that fled from their native plane and created the Arcane Liches). As you can see, the names are awfully generic and indistinguishable when spoken from standard D&D terminology, although the meanings are quite different here. Some people may kick up a big fuss over this, but it is easily surmounted - within the book there is little opportunity for confusion, such is the clarity with which it is written, and the terms are easily replaced if it remains a problem.

Chapters 3 to 9 cover the rules for creating lich characters, and it is here that the book truly departs from the norm. Rather than presenting liches as monsters, Liches sets them up as fully playable characters, right from 1st level. An Arcane Lich is not an aged and evil wizard, but a guardian of Creation against the encroaching darkness. Sacrificing their mortality for knowledge and magical power, a mortal becomes an Arcane Lich by casting the first Ritual of Arcane Transference. But, rather than being a simple, one-step process, there are five such Rituals, each evolving the Arcane Lich into a higher state, and each demanding certain requirements be met. Thus we have the Death Touched (still alive), the Living Dead (not quite undead, but not really alive anymore), Sunken Lich (the first state beyond death), Necrotic Lich (appearing as a rotting corpse) and the Skeletal Lich (appearing as a skeleton). Each Lich State takes the form of a template, each replacing the previous template.

However, the diversity does not end there. Most Arcane Liches belong to one of the 7 Orders, each with its own powers, abilities and outlook on unlife. Each Order adds abilities to the Lich State templates, rather neatly folding state and type into a single package. I wondered if the Orders would not be best represented by Prestige Classes, until I realised that they represented something more akin to sub-races than actual organisations, as belied by their name - Lich Types. The Lich Types are: Artifex Liches, craftsman who can spontaneously manifest a golem to serve them; Darke Liches, spies and assassins tasked with acting against the servants of the Void; Dirge Liches, necromancers able to create, control and enhance undead servants; Frost Liches, evokers of powerful ice magic; Mors Liches, priest-like mages devoted to battling other undead; Prime Liches, scholars with great control over magic; and the Umbral Liches, puppetmasters able to conjure shadowy minions.

Chapter 6 is the best of the rules chapters, detailing the various Arcana available to the Arcane Lich- unique supernatural powers purchased as they advance levels and states. There are 120 individual powers available, although some are restricted to liches of certain Orders, and they are all very distinctive and flavourful. My personal favourite is Spectral Shift, allowing a Darke Lich to slip into another plane for a second to evade spells or attacks, conjuring up a very Matrix-esque feel. If I was playing a lich I would be very hard pushed to choose which Arcana I wanted to purchase next - something that cannot always be said about Feats.

Chapters 7 and 8 I felt to be the weakest of the rules chapters, dealing with Sorcerae (the Arcane Liches key power to alter reality) and Arcane Feats. Perhaps it is only next to the high points of the Arcana, but these chapters felt somewhat light - ultimately Sorcerae boils down to a very simple mechanic, and there is little sense in arguing for needless complexity. In principle it seems to work, although is rather powerful if fitting with the tone and theme.

Arcane Feats are gained alongside mundane feats, which may be a little excessive as Arcane Liches are hardly lacking in power, but they feel somewhat superfluous and unnecessary next to the wondrous Arcana - the latter fit with the established atmosphere, the former feel merely functional and utilitarian. Their presence hardly detracts from the book, but certainly doesn't add anything.

Chapter 9 deals with insanities - the price a lich pays for their transformation. The greater in power a lich gets, the more insanities afflict them. All of the insanities are roleplay based, which fits in with the story-heavy tone of the book.

Chapters 10 to 16 are by far the best third of the book, in which rules are, for the main, put to one side and background is brought to the fore. As proven with Vampires, this is the territory in which Bottled Imp are at their best, ideas for adventures and entire campaigns leaping from the page with every turn.

Chapter 10 introduces the main setting for Liches - Kethak, the City of Lost Souls, which is the home of the Arcane in exile, the Conclave and the Arcane Liches. Sited on the bleak Ash Plane, the city is filled with restless dead of all varieties. Every aspect of life in Kethak is detailed, from the weird and wonderful locales (such as the Spire, the central tower that rises up over the city into the clouds), to the equally weird and wonderful inhabitants (such as the Sleepers, ghost-like creatures trapped in a mockery of life, little more than a memory).

Chapter 11 describes the Conclave, as well as their attitude to the war with the Void. Chapter 12 details the Spectral Plane, the realm of Creation from where everything else originated but which is rapidly being consumed by the Void. Chapter 13 details the Valiari, the Arcane-touched natives of the Ash Plane who aid the Conclave.

Chapter 14 offers advice for both PCs and DMs in roleplaying liches and running a lich based game, offering some rather good ideas and insights into the alien mindset and motivation of a lich. Chapter 15 contains Rituals of Power, powerful spell-like effects with a number of different uses such as alignment restoration or insanity removal.

Chapter 16 ends the book with a closer look at the Void, in particular the terrifying and insane Void Liches. This chapter is, appropriately, the darkest in the book, sending a shiver down my spine at the thought of the Conclave's enemies - creatures more powerful than an Arcane Lich.

In Conclusion

Liches could have quite easily been a book full of new prestige classes, feats, spells and monsters - indeed, in the hands of any other d20 publisher it might well have been. But Bottled Imp Games are quickly making a name for themselves as publishers of the highest calibre, producing beautiful looking books packed full of evocative prose and innovative new directions to take the system in.

If you like liches, or - perhaps more significantly - if you don't, then pick up this book and open your mind to the ideas presented. Ignore everything else that has ever been written on the subject to date - including in the Monster Manual - and pick up this book instead, for everything that you need to create memorable lich characters or run an exciting and dramatic lich-based campaign can be found within these 128 pages.

 

[eed_de]

At first I have to say a few things about myself, because it would be unfair not to do so. I am a regular reviewer on some German boards and I really like The Lords of the Night: Vampires. Stuart, the author of the book contacted me because of a review I have written in German. We have a very nice and friendly contact ever since, so you might call me biased. I like his style and the different take on d20 his products offer, so it might be true. But perhaps you would still like to read my opinion.

My review is also written with the practical use of the book in mind. Please refer to other reviews for a thorough examination of the content.

In case you haven`t noticed, Liches seems to be the most controversial book of the last few months. Not many books have spawned so many reviews in such a short time and the reviewers differ vastly, although everybody says it’s good. But the reviews differ on how good the book really is.

Let`s see. The book is a about liches. A lich in the Monster Manual is something like a very powerful mage who has sacrificed his mortality for power. They are a good adversary but that's about it. Vampire was certainly easier because they have the innate panache and the freudian innuendo that the Liches lack on first thought.

The book "Liches" begins with a basic description of the Arcane, a flavor text describing the history of an ancient order, which existed nearly since the dawn of creation. The Arcane are neither good or bad, merely beyond mortal concerns; and guess what: they`re Liches. The Arcane is also the arcane energy of creation, and both "The Arcane Liches" and the "Energy" are inseparable (no confusing terminology here, as stated by some reviewers). We also learn that there is an age-old enemy "The Void" and its Minions. They are very powerful and endanger all of creation.

The book continues with a summary and dictionary (to avoid confusion) and then with a whole shock of new rules. The Lich goes through several stages of lich transformation, from undead - to an incorporeal, spirit-like "enlightened" lich. It becomes clear that the body is more and more only a vessel for the increasing arcane power of the lich. The body of the lich is therefore something like a cocoon.

Also, the lich is about to join an order that defines his way of lichdom The artifex lich are the craftsmen and they are able to create mystical golems from their thoughts. The darke liche is something of an assassin, the dirge lich a necromancer, the frost lich propelled by absolute cold, the mors lich is a vampire hunter, the prime lich a kind of scholar, the Umbral lich a Shadow puppeteer.

The book continues with different rules and descriptions of how to apply the different powers of the liches in your game. The lich states and orders are templates that can be added to any creature willing to change into a state of lichdom.

The rules and descriptions deviate from your average standard d20 book. That makes the book more difficult to understand, at first. But after a time of reading it opens new possibilities. The Liches change their state through ritual and not through levels or XPs. This offers a more role playing oriented way of changing your character and still playing your PC. This is like enhancing your template by and by.

All arcane rituals and specials are described, too. It takes some time to get used to the sheer amount of possibilities the book offers; staggering but optional. Nobody needs to use everything, but the whole amount of combinations of states and orders offers a whole new range of roleplaying opportunities.

The second part of the book is more like a setting, the "fluff". The city of Kethak lies on the plane of ash and is the central plane for the conclave and other undead. It reminds me of "Ghostwalk" but is more sinister, plane-like. While Ghostwalk somehow tried to be mundane in some aspects, Kethak goes through the roof. Liches abound and their arcane politics cloy this strange place. Mortals have great difficulties surviving in this frigid and lifeless landscape, but it somehow seems to fit the conclave. The last part of the book describes the dark minions of the void, the spectral and also offers some role-playing tips for Liches.

This part is indeed too short, but it contains more information than other 128 pages book. It offers ideas but the GM has to work on them to get a comprehensive setting.

Summary:

There are not many roleplaying books around that are so dense and tightly packed. The sheer amount of possibilities is staggering and the different take on otherwise of-the-hook d20 system is confusing, but also refreshing. In a way Liches is the next step toward a new generation d20 book. Although not completely the next level, it shows the way. I find it hard to understand that some reviewers criticize exactly this.

I don`t know but I am tired of same-old-same-old. I applaud Stuart to dare going a different way, something that looks and reads unique. I don`t like every idea of the book and sometimes I wish it were 256 pages and not so overcrowded and a bit more coherent. So objectively I should rate this book a very strong 4, but because of the creativity and the courage for such a small company to go its own way - against the grain - I reward it with a generous 5.

I know that we can expect much more by BIG in the future. If you like Planescape, Liches or Ghostwalk, try this. If you are into "classic" d20 book you had better pass this one.

 

[GameWyrd]

As I’ll tell anyone who foolishly gets close enough to listen I’m only just shaking off a long and linger sickness. As I’ll point out to any author, publisher or wyrdling who accidentally gets close enough to listen; this means that my whole GameWyrd schedule has been delayed beyond recognition. There have been some advantages to this. Some silver linings.

I first read The Lords of the Night: Liches around about Christmas when my review copy landed on the desk. Back then I was easily able to appreciate most of the book’s strong points and since then I’ve glanced over reviews from reviewers who all think Liches is a highly rated book. The delay between my first read and second read (I always read a book twice before writing anything down about it) was quite long (did I tell you I’d been ill) and in that time the limited edition score to Return of the King arrived on my desk too. Sometimes music and a book just go well together. Oh. Yeah; sure, the score to Return of the King goes best with Lord of the Rings (heard about that? Some fantasy novel they made into a movie, apparently) and memories of The Shire certainly don’t snuggle up against Liches… ah, but the majority of the CD is the perfect partner to the book. We have the sweeping epics, the spooky music, the spooky sweeping epics and the moments of high drama in the music. That’s just what this supplement manages to give to us.

Written by Karis. Ooh. A touch of mystery even on the front page… okay, so Karis returns out to be Stuart Renton, author of Lords of the Night: Vampires, and that’s explained on the very next page but if you were going to judge a book by its cover then Liches is off to a good start.

Vampires didn’t just enjoy the head start of being the first book in the Darkness Rising series as it could be argued that vampires enjoy being the most popular of the undead. There are roleplaying games just about vampires. There are novels where vampires stand tall as villains, anti-heroes and even heroes. The same is true of anime, comics and TV shows. Vampires don’t turn into unattractive skeletons and perhaps this is why they manage to seduce so many with their gothic charm. Liches have none of that. Aren’t Liches simply a powerful evil who take it on themselves to protect/haunt/keep some rather tempting magical artefact? Lords of the Night: Liches is 128 pages long so clearly Karis has found more than my little summary to write down about liches.

Lords of the Night: Liches is a d20 supplement and yes much of the page space is taken up with new spells and feats but no classes. We don’t need classes. We’ve lich types and lich states. Lich states, at their most simple, reflect the age of the lich. Roleplayers might be most familiar with the Necrotic or Skeletal Liches; bags of bones the pair of them, Skeletal Liches moreso. A Lich could age even further though and become a Spectral Lich. There’s a lot of flesh to rot through (especially with their much rate of aging) before a lich becomes Nectroic. The Death Touched are more or less human (less), the Living Dead certainly couldn’t pass off as alive any more and its here we find a lich state that most closely resembles the vampire. The Sunken Lich is caught between the last stages of a full set of flesh and the first stages of grave decay. And don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s just a matter of mundane age to move through these Lich States either, oh no. You’d better read up about The Ritual of the Arcane Displacement. This review mentions the Arcane a little later.

Then there are the different kinds of Liches. You’ve the Artifex Liches, the makers and craftsmen on their kin, the Darke Lich, spies and assassins with a taste for top hats and canes, the Dirge Lich necromancers, the Frost Lich, the Mors Liches, Prime Lich and Umbral Lich. Seven Orders of lich and each one subject to different insanities, with different powers and roleplaying angles.

Oh yes; Lords of the Night: Liches bravely sets off to offer up a d20 supplement where the Lich is a playable and balanced character type. Balance is purely subjective. A game with one halfling, two liches and a troll probably isn’t internally balanced but a game with a Mors Lich, two Dirge Liches and a Frost Lich probably is.

The mechanics in the book certainly offer up all the rules required to play a lich too; you can start of fairly weak (for a lich) and still enjoy being able to advance in power. That’s all well and good… but why would you want to play a Lich? Why would you want to play a lich? Why be tempted by a lich when the same publishers have already produced a shockingly good vampire supplement?

I think it’s here that Lords of the Night: Liches scores its biggest success. Liches are interesting again. Forget the mechanics and sit back to marvel in the epic backdrop to Lichdom.

Why are there liches? Where do they come from? What do they do? It’s easy to get cheeky about the average D&D fantasy Lich too. "Oh, you live in a crypt huh?", "I see, you want to destroy all life. Just like the last one" or even "Poor you, another tragic curse". A sensitive DM can be forgiven for worrying that the average Lich is just too naff to be allowed anywhere near his game. Lords of the Night: Liches answers all these questions and sweeps aside all the naff clichés.

With this supplement you’ve good answers to why so many liches seem to want to destroy life, why they hang around in remote places, protect items of power or engage in century long research.

In fact the history to lichdom is so good I’m only going to skirt over it. This is a background a GM can use in almost any d20 setting. It’s one that they can use on top and around plenty of other standard campaign worlds too. The uber plot could keep the players guessing for years. Or, on the other hand, if players read the book (and I think most d20 players feel they’re able to read all but a few d20 supplements) then the GM will be able to enjoy writing and running a game for a set of players who are likely to be enthused by the epic drama. Cue the Return of the King background music.

There are evil liches and they’re at war with… let’s just say other liches. Are these liches the good guys? Not really. They’re just not as destroy-all-life as the other group of liches are. Where did the first liches come from and why? We have answers but I’m not sharing them here.

There’s the Arcane. That’s not the arcane presented in the main rule books either. Bottled Imp Games has no qualms about shuffling around game mechanic terms in favour of flavour. I’ve been in games where players (not stupid people either) did honestly get confused when the same word had two different meanings or usages. Tough. I’d put the ambience of the game, the suspension of disbelief and great roleplaying above any belief that mechanics and game terms are sacrosanct.

There’s the Arcane and it’s not the limp wristed arcane that powers other spells. Oh no. This Arcane is something far more spectacular than that. This Arcane is fundamental to the lich and it is why they have to die. The Arcane is also responsible for a sizable chunk of Lords of the Night: Liches as there are plenty of rituals and spells to associate with it.

Kethak is the City of Lost Souls. Not wanting to give a way too much of the Lich Word and wanting to talk about Kethak, a significant chunk of the book, was always going to be tricky. Suffice to say that Lords of the Night: Liches also has information on pertinent planes. Ash and the Spectral Planes are two important ones. You’ve got two ways (at least) to use this supplement. Simply use it to add some more twists and turns to liches in your campaign setting or use it to add more twists and turns to your campaign setting. Both options are tempting. There is actually a campaign setting here – an adventure setting at least, one on an epic scale. As a bonus everything is entirely compatible with Lords of the Night: Vampires (both books are part of Darkness Rising). However, if you don’t have Lords of the Night: Vampires you might pout slightly at the occasional reference to it in Liches. You don’t need this other supplement but you’ll probably wish you had it.

I’ve barely touched on the new style of spells – Arcane, remember – and matching feats. There is /a lot/ in this supplement. It’s a sign of the book’s strengths that it’s so easy to pick favourite sections out and go on and on about them. Nevertheless, I didn’t quite enjoy Liches as much as I did Vampires. This isn’t a reflection on the writing or ambition of the book, in some respects Liches is an improvement, but a problem with the subject matter. Lords of the Night: Liches succeeds in making a lich into a viable player character. But a whole party of liches? That would take a dedicated GM with a very clear game idea. What about one lich in a mixed party? You could do this to and you’ll certainly need this Lords of the Night but it’s still a tricky option. Liches doesn’t really solve any problems either – until it came along I was content to leave the lich out entirely or save it for a one off encounter. If it doesn’t solve any lingering game problems it certainly opens new possibilities and for many experienced gamers that’s reason enough to buy the book and do a happy dance.

* This Lords of the Night: Liches review was first published at GameWyrd.

 

[trancejeremy]

Lords of the Night: Liches, is the second product from a small UK company Bottled Imp Games. It's a d20 sourcebook for Liches, and is the follow-up to last year's Lords of the Night: Vampires. Due to a variety of problems, this was massively delayed, almost 8-9 months after Vampires came out.

Lords of the Night: Vampires is quite possibly my favorite d20 book. At least d20 sourcebook. But then I have a thing for vampires (I even liked the movie Underworld. Heck, right now (or when I wrote this), I'm listening to the Alucard mix of Robert Nickson's "Spiral", though other than the name, it has nothing to do with vampires).

But Liches, well, Liches just don't do much for me. I mean, when I think of vampires, after seeing Underworld, I now think of Kate Beckinsale in a skintight outfit (though honestly, her face is the most stunning thing about her. Her voice isn't bad, either). When I think of Liches, well, it's more like Kate Moss in a skintight outfit. Ick. I mean, they're basically skeletons, with bits of flesh on their bodies, not very attractive (I tried looking for an appropriate hyperlink for Ms. Moss, but yeesh, one picture and I had to stop).

Honestly, if LOTN: Vampires weren't so great, I probably would have passed on this. Except, I was interested in more of the Lords of the Night metaplot, and figured at the very least, it would have some info that would tie into the vampire book. I'm very glad I didn't pass on it - while it does have some tie in, it's also one brilliant book by itself. Even if you really don't like liches.

In the Lords of the Night universe (which is sort of a meta setting, that can be inserted into the background of your world), there seems to be two basic forces, that of creation or order, apparently called "The Arcane", and that of entropy, or the Void. Liches are largely servants of the Arcane. At least the ones in this book (Arcane Liches, or Liches, as opposed to liches). They turn themselves into liches because it's a way of transcending their living bodies. (Regular D&D liches are called mundane or necromatic liches, and are in this, copies of the proper Arcane Lich detailed in this book.)

Not really the "good" guys, so much as people more concerned with their own ends, which is their own power. The forces of the Void threaten them (the Void really are bad guys). While the book is a bit heavy on background material, it's pretty easy to ignore the Void vs. Arcane meta-plot, and just concentrate on the Liches themselves. Generally speaking, the rules are pretty well separated from the plot stuff. Thankfully, there is a glossary/score-card early on to help you keep track of who is what and the terminology. (I also liked how the terminology has both words that people in a D&D universe would use, and proper names used by the Liches or Arcane themselves. Very clever).

Basically, Liches belong to a different order, and each have a different age or state of decay (the more dead, the more powerful, then they finally fade away. Like with rock stars). Death Touched, Living Dead, Sunken Lich, Necrotic Lich (this is when they start looking skeletal like, as opposed to just Keith Richards like), Skeletal Lich (now complete skeletons, no fleshy bits at all), and finally, Spectral Lich, who are complete disembodied (though they can possess people under some circumstance). Both the age state and order are handled by templates. Some might have preferred monster classes, but I think templates work the best, since it's not like the Liches will be changing the age state all that often.

The order the Lich belongs to can roughly be considered a clan or class, besides their abilities, it mostly determines where their interests. There's the Frost Lich, which really like cold weather. There's the Artifex Lich, who like golems and mechanical constructs.

There's two sorts of Lich that deals with the dead. One is a necromancer sort of a Lich (the Dirge Lich), while the other is a cleric sort of a Lich (The Mors Lich). The Darke Lich is a sneaky sort, they are spies and thieves and rogues. The Umbral Lich is hard to describe, they are sort of puppeteers, they make creatures out of shadows. And there is the Prime Lich, who are hard to describe. They deal with the forces of creation. I think "Prime" is perhaps short of primal or primeval.

None of the Lich orders really appealed to me much, at least, if I were personally looking to become a Lich, I wouldn't want to join any of them. Stretching that to the mindset of the average player character, there are some that are somewhat appealing, but still, who would want to be a Frost Lich? Being cold sucks. There should be a Lich order that involves lying on a beach drinking some sort of fruity drink - that's what I find appealing. But then, like I said, I am not the sort that would want to become a lich. (I've attempted to think of new sorts of Lich Orders, serious ones, but honestly, I can't think of any. So I'm impressed the author came up with 7 of them. Joke ones are easy, though. Like the Lichie Liches, who have more money than they know what to do with. Or the Lichjas, who are masters of Lichjitsu.)

Beyond the whole immortality thing, Liches gain several powers.

The most notable is "Arcana". Basically, they spend spell points to perform certain magical acts. The effects are basically like spells, though it can also create things (like golems) and emulate other special abilities (like turning other undead). There are 13 types of Minor Arcana, which any Lich can learn (and each of these have 6 different powers), and 1 Major Arcana for each order of Lich (though the can also learn ones of an order they aren't affiliated with, if they are granted permission and find a teacher).

Liches can also impose their will on the fabric of reality itself (this is called "Sorcerae"). And so, do just about anything they want. However, this is not as easy as it sounds. In fact, it's quite difficult. And it also poses some risks, from attracting followers of the void, to insanity.

In fact, insanity is one of the main hazards of Lichdom.There are basically two types of insanities, "temporary" and "permanent". Temporary insanities are not insanities that suddenly get better, they are just brief spells of craziness that generally happen when a Lich uses too much Arcane magic. But if a Lich gets too many of them, they pick up a rank in a permanent insanity. There are several categories of permanent insanity they can pick up, with differing levels in each category (from one to five). For instance, the "Apotheosis" insanity, the first rank is "Arrogance", which is not too bad, the Lich just thinks they are better than everyone else. But at the fifth rank, they actually think they are gods. Like skills, when a Lich gains a rank in permanent insanity, they can increase an existing insanity, or take a new one. I thought this was pretty clever, actually.

They also get a rank of permanent insanity when a Lich jumps to a higher (or deader) state using a ritual, rather than evolving naturally. This is akin to 'roid rage, I guess.

All in all, the rules for Liches is quite extensive, and seem to work pretty well. I haven't playtested them extensively, but I have played with them some, and they seem solid. They also seem to be pretty flexible in terms of power. The younger types of Lich aren't terribly powerful, and seem to be okay for lower level characters, while the older ones are fearsome indeed.

The last third of the book or so details the city the Liches live in, Kethak, the City of Lost Souls. Frankly, it's an overwhelming place. Reading about it gives me a feeling similar to what the Greeks must have felt when picturing Olympus.

It's located on the Plane of Ash (adjacent to the Plane of Cigarette Butts), a very inhospitable place to the living. I can't really do justice to the sights in the city, so I'll just give some of the names of places mentioned: The Bridge of Restless Dreams, The Gardens of Jaded Memory, Senetar Glacius, Aedes Singularis, the Ancora Cursus.

In D&D power terms, it makes Elinster, Drizzt and the Forgotten Realms look like wind-up monkeys playing in a cat's litterbox. Besides the high level Liches themselves, there is the Guild of Wizards. Despite the name (which was apparently conferred on it by mortals), they are not wizards, but closer to gods. Except they're more powerful than gods. They were the first inhabitants of the universe, born moments after creation. Wisely, they are not statted.

Of course, they are not without their equals. In this case, the Dark Vertex. Who are actually the same sort of beings as the Guild of Wizards (the Arcane), only devoted to the void.

The backstory is actually somewhat reminiscent of Michael Moorcock's stuff, in that there are 3 major forces fighting for the fate of the universe. In his work, it was the forces of Law vs. Chaos. vs. the Balance (or Neutrality), which is where the standard D&D alignment comes from. In this, it's the forces of Creation (the Arcane) vs. Destruction (the Void) vs. Good (the Powers of Light, which will apparently be detailed in the 4th book from Bottled Imp, the next being a book on zombies).

It's a very beautiful book. Almost a bit too beautiful in the case of the font used. While it's easy to read, the capital letter used is much larger than the regular letters. This becomes a problem at times because there are a lot of proper names in the book. "Arcane", "Spectral", "Lich", etc. But this actually grows on you after a while, and it does make it easy to differentiate between proper and common names.

The art is absolutely fantastic. Admittedly, I never thought of liches wearing top hats. But it really really works. Now I can't imagine a lich wearing anything else (I do like that lich wearing lots and lots of gold chains on the Lost City of Barakus cover, from Necromancer Games, but clearly it's a Mr. T reference, and not a dress code or something that most liches follow). There's one piece in particular that is very haunting. It features a living dead lich, presumably. His face is just really droopy, it's creepy.

In stark contrast to the other d20 company from the UK, you'd be hard pressed to find a editing problem or typo in this book. Probably more in this review than the book.

This is really a wonderful book. Much like Lords of the Night: Vampires, it has a certain magic to it. The sheer imagination of it is astounding, especially the part on Kethak, the City of Lost Souls - every page drips with marvels and amazements. In a way, it returns to the game the awe and majesty that was in D&D in the very early days - the sort of thing you'd feel when you'd look at the cover of the DMG, and see the City of Brass and the giant Efreet.

For some, there might be too much background material. I'm not sure how much of the background I'll actually use, other than for sight-seeing purposes (so to speak). But it's a joy to read, the meta-plot can be ignored easily, and the book is chock full of crunchy stuff. And indeed, the book has little to no padding or white space, so it's a very good value.

Also, it is possible that some may find the books use of terminology close to standard D&D terminology confusing: Arcane vs arcane vs. Arcane Energy vs Arcana, Sorcerae vs. sorcery, Lich vs. lich. But this was done for reasons of the backstory - arcane magic is supposed to be a pale shadow and a copy of the Arcane magic of the Liches. Same with sorcery and "Sorcerae". It's like how capital is derived from or related to Capitol, or coliseum vs. Colosseum- one is done in imitation of the other. Confusing upon first read, maybe, but quick to pick up, especially as I mentioned, there is a glossary on page 9, right after the introductory prose.

Similarly, while the terminology of the insanity rules might be a bit confusing at first, in practice it's pretty simple, and they do work. And unless you're a psychiatrist, then I doubt whether or not the disorders mentioned are clinically correct or not. Though I do think they missed a great angle by omitting "Nympomania/Satyriasis" from the insanity list (talk about an itch that you can't scratch...heh).

I would definitely say this is not a "fluffy" book. To get the most out of it, you're going to have to pore over it and read it fully. It's well written, but is just a very deep book. I've read it from cover to cover at least a dozen times, yet it seems every time I open it, I find something new (the same can be said of Bottled Imp' s previous book, Lords of the Night: Vampires).

So, if you want a book on liches, this is quite a novel take on them, and suitable for both players and DMs alike. If you want an RPG book to just read and wonder over, this is also great. If you're looking for a more standard D&D take on the lich, this might not be for you. But even then, you could probably ignore the meta-plot, and still just use crunchy bits (and in fact, I just had a thought about using them somehow the next time I run a Stargate SG-1 game - they'd make great, and very weird and spooky aliens). I still like Lords of the Night: Vampires better, but this is a very solid follow up (and better style-wise). A+