Those that have read more than a few of my reviews might recall that magic systems are not my strong point in gaming.  Normally they get a gloss over read. For reviews I read the magic chapters over and over again in the hope of presenting an accurate, detailed review.

So why am I covering a book entirely about magic? Because I am a glutton for punishment.  

Actually, I've been a Shadowrun fan since before it was released. I remember seeing the old poster months prior to the day it hit the shelf going 'That looks Awesome!!!!'... it wasn't, of course.  The old first edition rules were just this side of unplayable. Later editions made changes to make it work. Regardless, I loved it and played it, only venturing into the uncharted waters of magedome for short spans before it was back to the guns and more guns for me.

Ring in the new era, and a new edition to breath life back into a flagging game.  While the rules are clearer than ever before, its not without it's warts...   And finally, a book hit the shelves that belongs exclusively to this new edition and I feel duty bound to discuss it. Presto! We are here.  

Lets start at the beginning. A two page table of contents (complete with sidebar contents!) leads to a 'virtual screen' page that suggests the reader is downloading the book. Evocative, but largely isolated, the rest of the book is fairly normal.  Each chapter has a reasonably short intro fiction bit with a single page artwork to go with.  To be honest I've never really liked the new artwork direction... then again, I've always had mixed opinions about SR artwork, so that's nothing new.

Chapter One: All about being awakened in the world of Shadowrun. Mostly fluff, background and shades of metaplot, but loaded with adventure ideas for your mage type characters.  THis is fairly standard Shadowrun fare, all written 'in character' by various shadowrunners and research types.  

Chapter Two: This leads us to the Awakened Character... in other words, tweaks to making your character, stuff added to what is in the main book. Instinct makes my skin crawl. Rules creep, I smell it in the air...
Actually it's not too bad. There is a whole page rule on 'latent mages'... when looked at seriously is a sort of 'non-advantage'.  There are spell knacks, so non-awakened types can toss spells... erph?  Then there are aspected mages... disguised as disadvantages. There is a new skill for designing spells and one for enchanting. Given that there is almost nothing new here, in terms of Shadowrun things, you have to wonder why they didn't stick at least some of this into the main book? Enchanting? Sure, it's damn near it's own chapter... makes sense that it's here... but the Arcana skill? Basic stuff.  

Then there are rules for Geasa and ritual magics, nothing too fancy and again, stuff that feels like it could have gone into the core book.

Chapter three: It used to be that if you knew magic you were a hermetic or a shamanistic type. Nothing too hard to swallow. I don't know when exactly the concept of Path's exploded exactly, I think it was in the third edition, but here they are again. You've got dozens of traditions now, christian theurgy, zorarsterism, hedge magic... black magic.  Other than a new rule for possessing spirits vs. materialize spirits I don't see much 'value added' here. Really, is there that much wrong with declaring that Shinto-ism uses shamanistic rules? Theurgy uses Hermetic?  Seriously... but you have pages of samples (three types of wiccan really!), followed by rules to make more. And they are opaque to me. This chapter stumped me, honestly.  There is a nod to Adepts in the Paths of the Adept... but this is pure fluff. Pure. Like saying 'you can use a gun, and make gun character OR you could sneak around and be a sneaky character'. Nothing more... Bah.

Chapter Four: Traditionally, Initiation rules, that is... becoming a cooler mage, has always fallen into the add on books. Later editions included very stripped down versions in the core. So we find ourself with the full version of 4e intiate rules here.  Not to much has changed really. The ordeals are about the same with a change or two for the new edition, the groups are the same as they've always been.  There is a lot more metamagic to learn, and even advanced metamagic.  Lots of cool stuff here.

Chapter Five: of course, the groups are actually in this chapter.  Leads off with the generic take on groups, what they look and act like, then you get a list of the normal, traditional groups, some new some old.  

Chapter Six: This is your magic goodies chapter, your info on talismongering and enchanting. There is enough here to focus an entire game on, but it is streamlined from previous editions. Of course, in addition to streamlining it a little bit, the added rules for Zombies (spirit possessing corpses) and homonoculae (spirits possessing manikins). There is a glitch in the layout when they talk about 'unique' world shattering enchants then move instead to more mundane magical compounds.  Oops... I think something got left out, guys. Not a huge loss, as this is mcguffin stuff anyway, based on what is in the book.

Chapter Seven: This is all about spirits, their nature and more. Plenty of fluff and background text to lead off, some spirit rules that don't seem overly rule like, guidelines on spirit usage and appearence then some incredibly generic 'new spirit' before getting into serious crunch. This is a heavy chapter

Chapter Eight: This is a chapter on the Astral part of the game. This one jumps right into the meat, less time spent on fluff text and background, but a lot of it seems repeated from the core rules. At least at first. It quickly moves into how astral space can affect the the 'real world', real bermuda triangle stuff. Then you have backgroudn counts, mana storms and more. After that you have information on wards, including the tried and true 'living barrier' metaplants.
Eventually it moves to the metaplanes, complete with reasons to go there.

Chapter Nine: This is the requisite 'threats' chapter, that outlines all the various badguys that you can encounter. Magical bad guys of course. There is a strong lead off with reasons why these are bad guys, and you could theoretically make most of your magical threats just like characters. You have lists of types of

Ah... Chapter Ten: The grimoire.  This chapter begins with the fundamentals of designing your own spells.  There are rules, guidelines, a long step by step process to follow (four pages) to making your own. There are drain modifier tables, a long list of new spells... A LONG list of new spells. Some are rehashes from previous editions of the book, others look new and shiny.  
There are also new adept powers. Now your adepts are not merely combat monkeys and junkies, now they are truely stealth maniacs and social monsters... in short, Adepts got the greatest boost I've ever seen.  They get three pages of abilities to choose from. You'll never get them all.
The chapter ends with an overview of Mentor Spirits, including guidance on applying them to other cultures.

Then you have the appendix charts, costs and reference page numbers, and finally a three page index.  This is a seriously user freindly book.  If you can't find it, it's likely not in here.

So, there ya go. Hope it helps
 

It's a common misconception, but Magical Compounds, True Vessels, and Unique Radicals are actually all considered different types of Unique Enchantments.

Welcome! :highfive:

Quote from: Ancient HistoryIt's a common misconception, but Magical Compounds, True Vessels, and Unique Radicals are actually all considered different types of Unique Enchantments.

Well, I don't have my copy handy, but I noticed a disconnect in that part of the chapter. On one page they are talking about unique enchantments, and on the next it leapt straight into magical compounds with apparently no break from the one topic to the other.  Maybe I was tired and missed something, but I believe I stated it appeared to be an editorial problem.

Am I wrong?

Quote from: SpikeWell, I don't have my copy handy, but I noticed a disconnect in that part of the chapter. On one page they are talking about unique enchantments, and on the next it leapt straight into magical compounds with apparently no break from the one topic to the other.  Maybe I was tired and missed something, but I believe I stated it appeared to be an editorial problem.

Am I wrong?

It's not an editorial problem, it's just the progression of the chapter. There's no break because it's the same topic.

Quote from: Ancient HistoryIt's not an editorial problem, it's just the progression of the chapter. There's no break because it's the same topic.

I see. I'll take a look at it this weekend. If I owe an apology, I'll post it here.


EDIT:::: I double checked the book. Ancient History is correct in that it isn't an editing problem, meaning there is no missing text. However, the way the page and topic breaks is somewhat confusing. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.