Review: Pyramid #3/114 - Mind Over Magic

I noticed for the first time
that the cover art doesn't
cover the entire cover.

This is a relatively new issue. A lot of issues I review with a bit of retrospective behind it, but today, I'm going to review something that isn't even a month old. That's fine. In short, I think this is a pretty take-it-or-leave-it kinda issue with a lot of niche usage stuff, and to be frank, wasn't a big hit for me. Oh well, maybe someone else will like it. Let's take a closer look then.

The Incanter's Grimoire

Table of Contents

An 8 page catalog of spells by Christopher R. Rice for Dungeon Fantasy 19's Incanters. As a special bonus, a small conversion of relevant appropriate spells from Ritual Path Magic is included.

The spells are all right, but the more valuable pieces are the asides for breaking the mold when creating new spells. Certainly useful if you like the Incantation system, and repurposable if you like RPM and want some ideas to build some spells from.

Names have Power

Interestingly, perhaps the best article in the issue, and somehow it isn't highlighted on the cover. 6 pages long, this article by Rory Fansler expands on the ideas introduced in Thaumatology and Magical Styles about "True Names" with examples for several different magic systems. Good detailed discussion, and malleable contents that fit a myriad of situations.

Eidetic Memory - Glass Magic and The Specularii

A six page feature by David L. Pulver covering a new magical college, Glass (a "sub-college" of Earth) which includes a magical style focused on it, and a bit of lore to go with it. It's detailed in how it restructures existing spells, adds new spells, and includes the fixtures you would expect to go along with the GURPS standard Magic system. However written though, the need for a glass college and a coven of wizards that practice it seems like a niche for which I don't particularly have any want.

Artifacts of Evil

A six page article by Paul Stefko that speaks to enchanted gear that is compatible with Ritual Path Magic. Do note, that it does little if anything to update the original Ritual Path Magic enchantment system. The items are interesting and flavorful though.

The Carnie

A Dungeon Fantasy template by Sean Punch. The article is 5 pages long. Interestingly, this article has no statistics for Dungeon Fantasy RPG, but it would probably be easy for anyone that knows GURPS to use it in the spinoff. In flavor, this is about an evil clown character. Mechanically speaking, the template is a little tricky to use, like a Bard, but perhaps a little less thinly spread, making it probably just a smidgen easier to use. The power modifier is somewhat easily neutralized against the kinds of things which you'd probably want to use that power, so that brings it down a few pegs into the challenging, superfluous, I-hope-you-didn't-choose-this-character-knowing-no-one-has-taken-a-cleric-yet realm. I think it is nothing especially to write home about, but it may actually not be the weakest official DF template... I need to think about that a little more.

Summary

In short, It's not my cup of tea. I prefer articles that give me ideas to do something new, and looking at lists of things that someone has already done isn't as inspiring to me. Think carefully before buying this, it might be your thing, it might not be; it isn't mine; oh well!