I love Victorian era games and I love games with magic in them. So this book was a no brainer for me to pick up. Using the vernacular "magick" this book present magick as seen through the eyes of the Victorian. There are rules to magick and there is heavy reliance of the lieks of Dee and Crowley. But that is what makes this book cool.

Magick is presented in three different styles; the common d20 magic, a skill based magick, and a school based magick where there are many different types of magick being used at the same time. The GM needs to decide how magick works and what level of magick is the game; everything from High (D&D like) Magic to Low or No magic at all.

Plenty of background is given for the various types of magic and the authors really did their homework in terms of reading Dee, Levi and Crowley (among others). d20-wise there are new feats and new uses for skills. All easily adaptable.

There is a section on magickal gear which I would have liked to see more of to be honest.

The chapter on "Running a Magickal Campaign" bears special mention since it is above and beyong the Imperial Age normal game, but it also has plenty of ideas for all Victorian RPGS.

There are some very useful Appendices, including a Hermitic Scholar class (why it wasn't in the main text I am not sure).

This book is not the end-all be-all of magick in the Victorian age or games, but it is a solid resource full of great advice, ideas and tips. My only gripe is there could have been so much more added. But this is balanced with the cover price I guess.

Still a solid piece of work.

All the Imperial Age books are all well written and features art from the age, either public domain art and paintings as well as some original art. In all cases the art is very evocative of the time and very well done.

The books are all easy to read, with clean layout and font sizes. They can be printed with ease without killing your printer cartridge.

Provides a campaign-building resource with several different, sound-looking options for more limited magic, along with historical notes, references, miscellaneous period flavour and campaign suggestions.

This product offers different ways to use magic in a Victorian setting: a quick and easy system that allows traditional (albeit limited) spell casting by non-arcane or divine characters, and a more robust skill-based system. The latter is enhanced by applying the laws of magic to get bonuses the success rolls. Also included are mechanics for drain as well as rules that gain the benefit of natural manna and ley lines. Each subsystem is modular, allowing for a great deal of customization. Several feats tailored to the rules are included, as well as a class designed to use their more innovative features. Finally, some skills with applications for magic (notably Concentration and Spellcraft) are examined in greater detail, as are tarot cards.

A nice touch are the charts that refer to historical magicians and deities to provide some flavor to the spell list. They are supplemented by real-world organizations that would make good additions to a magical themed campaign. Three such campaign models are also presented.

I would have liked to see a bit more flesh on using the Laws of Magic. For example, several other game systems have lists of natural items that have occult significance when used for magic. Something like that, providing bonuses to the skill rolls, would fit perfectly with the rest of the material, as would rules based on zodiacal correspondences. Regardless, this is a product with good ideas for giving a campaign a dash of magical verisimilitude.