If you haven't read the RTLB review in the prior addition of The Larper, you may want to; it includes an in-depth discussion of items glossed over here. See Archives .
When Rules To Live By: Supernatural (RTLB) was released, I was really excited. I had played in several games that had "supernatural" elements to them using RTLB, and was disappointed that the original release of RTLB didn't include any supernatural rules. For the most part, I wasn't disappointed in what I found.
This book attempts to cover a broad range of what the authors have deemed "supernatural." From worlds of sword and sorcery, to Lovecraftian horror, to the world of Flash Gordon, and Ming the Merciless, this tries to cover it all. While it doesn't give you an in-depth description of all of these, it does give you a flavor.
RTLB: Supernatural divides the supernatural into five categories (well really three, with some subdivisions): Psionics, Magic, Alchemy, Magical Items and Weird Science. In addition, they've added a section called Sanity, which is designed to cover the psychological impacts of horror.
Psionics can be basically described as the mental abilities we associate with ESP, telekinesis and similar skills. If a GM inserts psionics into his game, players (and cast members) can read minds, cause actual damage with their mental skills, and all sorts of other things.
What I found interesting about Psionics, when comparing it with "Magic" (discussed below), is that there was no apparent cost, similar to what you have with the RTLB magic system. I've seen Psionics used in an RTLB game, and, anyone who introduces them should be aware that they might cause significant imbalance in game, especially if not everyone has Psionics.
Magic is a broad category of all things supernatural that are somehow ritualized, or external in nature. From Voodoo, to sword and sorcery magic, to the supernatural abilities that are often times found in Lovecraftian campaigns, Magic covers it all.
When I read the set of magic skills, it was clear that the writers were focusing on a combination of fantasy magic, and Lovecraftian magic, which isn't surprising, since these were the types of magic that were used during the beta test period of RTLB. There isn't a lot of discussion of alternative magic environments, but the authors do say that the rules can be modified to fit those environments, and they are probably correct.
Magic, unlike Psionics, is a set of skills that require an expenditure of a stat called Mana. Mana is described as your basic innate ability to do magical things. To cause something magical to happen, it generally involves some kind of ritual, and the expenditure of a certain number of points of Mana. The harder something is to accomplish, the more Mana it takes. I got the impression (and for the life of me, I couldn't find it in the book on a second and third reading) that the authors expected typical "Mana" stats to be in the 4-7 range. Personally, I thought this number was a little low for certain campaigns. In particular, if you're involved in a "high fantasy" campaign, where magic is common, a GM should consider either 1) Upping the amount of Mana a player has, or 2) Making certain spells have zero cost. In one campaign I played a character that had over 50 Mana because he was one of the most powerful mages in the game.
Alchemy is really a "add on" for the magic system that involves potion and item creation. It's a complex set of rules that if you implement, would allow you to have alchemical experts in game that actually "do something" based upon the rules, rather than having to have an ad-hoc system of potion creation. I was really impressed with the effort that went into creating a set of rules that would allow a player to have to actually carry around potion creating materials, and to actually combine ingredients to make magical potions. While I haven't seen a demonstration of these rules, they look good on their face, and I look forward to seeing them used in some RTLB game in the future.
The writers go to some length to describe types of magical rituals, and how to stage them in game. Rituals in game are very important, as virtually every game I've been involved in where magic was a significant component had some kind of "group ritual" that helped bring things to a conclusion, or assisted the players in some way. While they do devote two pages to describing rituals, for the "ritually inexperienced" I had wished they added more. If a reader doesn't have a firm background in ritual magic, they may find themselves looking for additional assistance in constructing rituals.
Magical items are also described at length within the book. They give a number of examples of magical items, although I was disappointed to find that the vast majority of them focused on fantasy worlds, and they didn't include many examples of magical items for other types of environments. The system is somewhat complex (though not as difficult as Alchemy), and, as the GM's point out, can cause significant play balance issues.
There are two quick pages devoted to "colleges of magic" that seem a little out of place at their location. It appeared as though the GM's knew that this type of system was common within role playing games, and they wanted to address it. However, they should have put forth more effort into it, or left it out altogether. If you're a GM, and want to have "colleges of magic" you can start here, but it needs a lot of work.
Sanity is, oddly, plugged in between Magic and Weird Science. I wouldn't even classify it as a "supernatural" thing, so much as an added component to the RTLB universe. After all, one can go insane from non-supernatural things just as easily as supernatural things (Just try sitting through a lecture on quantum physics sometime, though some might describe that as supernatural). The Sanity system is a tried and true system, similar to what you've seen in many games, so I won't go into it in depth. Just know that this missing component from the original RTLB book is in this one instead. Perhaps when the 2nd edition of the original RTLB comes out, they'll consider moving this section to the main book.
Weird Science - the land of Ming the merciless, Nikola Tesla, and the like, can be a lot of fun for campaigns. The GM's say that "Weird science doesn't have to be silly. It just has to be disturbing." While I agree with the 1st part (Weird Science doesn't have to be silly), I disagree with the 2nd. I'm not sure that Weird Science has to necessarily be disturbing, just unusual. But that's a relatively minor quibble. The Weird Science section of this book focuses mostly on the creation of "gadgets" that have odd effects. I haven't played many games where weird science was involved, so I can't really speak to the playability of the rules, but they are there and seem to be playable.
Enough of a summary. What do I really think?
The Good
This is a much needed supplement to RTLB. The vast majority of LARP's I've played in have some supernatural component. From horror, to fantasy, to pulp science fiction, these rules will help you creating games in all these environments. They make a valiant effort to give you a set of rules that will help you in almost every environment. The rules are mostly playable, understandable, and can be modified to fit your needs.
The Bad
The GM's don't go to a significant amount of effort to give you examples of universes, and how to fit these in. You will see an occasional example here and there, and they do devote several pages (3-4) to talking about how to fit these rules into a universe where voodoo works. However, I would have liked to see sections with examples on how to fit these rules to other environments. Perhaps the authors are planning on releasing additional supplements that cover specific genres, ala GURPS. I'd certainly be interested in buying them.
The Ugly
Organization. Unlike the previous RTLB book, which was well organized, I found the organization in this book to be somewhat haphazard. For example, the book goes through the magic system then, for some reason, plugs in Sanity, inserts Supernatural creatures, and then jumps to Weird Science. It made it difficult to deal with. Personally, I would have done Psionics, Magic, then Weird Science, followed by additional rules for each system, and then done Sanity, followed by the bestiary. Perhaps this doesn't make any difference when a GM is going to be extracting information, and compiling a unique set of rules, but when reading it cover to cover, it got confusing.
If you are an RTLB GM, this book should definitely be on your shelf. If you're a player, it depends--I'd talk to your GM, and see what they say. I believe it's likely that the GM has extracted and modified the rules to such an extent, that you'll probably not need this particular book.
Scott Mohnkern has been involved in LARP since 1979 - 80 (He actually sat down and figured it out one day) starting with the International Fantasy Gaming Society in Boulder, Colorado. He currently resides in suburban Maryland, where he is the stats GM for the RTLB game 1936: Horror. Previously he's played in three RTLB campaigns, and GM'd Miskatonic Class Reunion at Intercon - A. In his spare time, Scott is President of Millkern Communications, a National Internet Service Provider, and Chief Scientific Officer for MPCI, a hardware development firm.
