Rough Magicks is a Trail of Cthulhu supplement written by Kenneth Hite and published by Pelgrane Press. It is available in both printed and PDF versions, with the print version retailing for $9.95 and the PDF priced at $5.95. I am reviewing the print version.

The Physical Details The book is a 40-page (though only 38 pages have content), saddle-stapled soft cover. The covers are out of a heavy, gloss stock, while the interior is printed in black and white, with a gray-scale textured background on a high quality paper. The artwork, all done by Jérôme Huguenin, is top-notch in my opinion - it's highly evocative of the setting and well done. There also happens to be quite a bit of it, something that is unusual amongst most lower page count supplements. Overall, this is a very nicely made book and you're getting terrific value for the price.

The book's layout follows the ToC standard, using a highly functional, three-column format. The sections are laid out logically and are generally easy to follow, although on occasion sidebars or illustrations seem aren't placed optimally. The book also suffers from some layout and editing gaffs, including repeated occurrences of "See page 00"*, a few typos (including in the word Gumshoe on the back cover), and some poorly spaced words and floating punctuation marks. However, these are relatively rare and hardly ruin the overall experience. A very nice feature is the inclusion of page references to the ToC core rulebook which makes looking up information a snap.

The Contents Rough Magicks contains a collection of optional rules and further details on adding magic to any Trail of Cthulhu campaign. Magic in the Cthluhu Mythos is something that's only vaguely defined and often takes many forms, something which the book stays faithful to by providing a variety of ways of defining and interpreting magic into game terms. Needless to say, many of these are unusual or even weird, which means they really honor the source material. The inclusion of numerous quotes from Lovecraft's stories also really brings things to life and makes it clear Hite worked very hard to stay faithful to HPL's vision.

The book opens with a brief introduction followed by a two-page discourse on the various ways magic can be defined in a ToC game. These range from it being a hyper-scientific discipline, to biologically-based technology, to the toxic leftovers of the great elemental gods. The reason so many possible explanations are given is that Lovecraft (and those that followed including R.E. Howard) described the nature of magic in different, and often contradictory, ways across the various Mythos stories - thus Hite presents a large number of possibilities and leaves it to the individual Keeper to decide what best suits his or her preferences.

The book then moves on to rules covering a new, optional general ability - Magic. This allows a group that wants to feature spell-casting more prominently in their game the chance to offer a slightly more refined set of rules. The explanation of the rules is fairly brief - they are not a radical departure from the core ToC rules - with plenty of examples of how they would be used in play. This includes an examination of the magical abilities of the various monsters presented in the ToC core book.

The next section provides a dozen new spells, including spells to call and/or dismiss various entities. Perhaps my favorite is the ritual Call/Dismiss Azathoth which ends with this ominous warning: "Also, it will probably kill everyone there, too.” Each spell gets detailed information on how it can be used, stability test difficulty, opposition, cost and time. The section also provides some variations on spells that first appeared in the ToC core book, allowing a Keeper to keep her players on their toes or offer some interesting variations over the course of a long campaign. Two sidebars, each of which takes up an entire page, provide a scholarly look at exactly what an Elder Sign looks like (something HPL contradicted himself repeatedly about), and some cool names & brief histories of legendary sorcerers of the Mythos.

This section finishes off with a detailed look at the traces that magic use leaves behind that various ToC investigative skills can detect, and a brief look at some of the things powerful sorcerers can do, addressing issues like immortality and time travel. The investigative skill list is particularly good because it provides some very colorful and interesting examples of how a variety of skills might interact with magical clues - all of these are in terms of actual narrative examples, rather than a dry set of rules, and so make for much more interesting reading and, at least for me, more practical use at the table. For example, here's what's listed for Cop Talk: "The detective says these designs look just like the drawings on the wall by the Riverside Killer's victims, back in '07.”

Of all the material in the book, the Idiosyncratic Magic Expanded section is perhaps my favorite. These rules, which originally appear in the Book Hounds of London campaign frame in the core book, are expanded upon, providing numerous colorful examples of how Mythos magic can be disguised in terms of weird rituals, and how these can be used in conjunction with general skills to provide some additional tactical "oomph" as well as color to characters' actions. Like the previous section, this section includes a variety of narrative examples of how magic might interface with general skills at the table. For example, here's what's part of what is provided for the Conceal skill: "I laid some loose planking on the body in the shape of the Rune Unwatchable, you know, the one we puzzled out the description of from the Pnakotic Fragments."

The book's contents conclude with an analysis of Lovecraftian Magick theory, which is a succinct scholarly analysis of how magic is explained in the real world and how Lovecraft described it over the span of more than 50 stories, written over a span of a couple decades. While this information isn't terribly useful at the game table, it does provide some interesting background material and would be of interest to most fans of the HPL stories.

The Verdict Rough Magicks is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in expanding the role of magic plays in their game or wanting inspiration on how spells and magic might be described at the table. While I would not consider it a "must have", it certainly deserves consideration for fans of ToC, especially given the quality of the product in relation to its low cover price. I would thoroughly recommend Rough Magicks and look forward to reading more of the recent supplements Pelgrane has released for the game.

*Ironically, Robin Laws, designer of the Gumshoe system upon which ToC is based, has a long-running column for Pelgrane Press entitled "See Page XX."

I found this to be an excellent expansion to the rules for Trail of Cthulhu. As usual Megan did an exemplary job or explaining the contents of the volume, so I'll confine myself to a few additional remarks.

I found the multiplicity of magical explanations and procedures really useful -- especially noteworthy is the idea that all, some or none of them could be the correct explanation/procedure and that "magic" may work for some entirely different reason. The concept of the Magic ability is another useful rule addition and makes the entire idea of magic in the game flow a good deal more smoothly. The examples liberally scattered throughout help to clarify the author's intent very effectively. Finally, the system is simple, effective, and mysterious enough to keep the players guessing even when they are "experts" on the system.

DriveThru did their usual excellent job reproducing this one. Overall, I give it a "5" for its excellence and the quality of the reproduction.

The Introduction lays out the intention of this work: to provide an optional systematic approach to magic that can be used within a Trail of Cthulhu game by the characters and/or their antagonists as the Keeper so chooses. Well, the antagonists probably will be using magic at times, but not necessarily according to a set of rules; their spells may be created as appropriate for the needs of the adventure being played.

The first chapter - Which Magic? - goes into greater detail about sources. Naturally, Mythos literature looms large, but Lovecraft was by and large unclear about the underlying mechanics of his magic, using it to create the desired effect without much regard to what was going on. Certainly if characters are to have access to magic they'll need to understand the cause and effect of their spellcasting, and so will the more logical Keepers wishing to run NPC adepts effectively. And yet a lot of the fun is in the not knowing... inconsistency may be the hobgoblin of petty minds, but it's central to making your alternate reality really weird. Even in the real world, some people deny the existance of magic completely, while of those who believe that it is real, there are as many theories as there are mages and scholars presenting them! A range of theories are presented as to how magic might 'work' in your game world: pick any or all of them as you please... and even the ones you decide are false may be believed by the protagonists who study or practice magic, of course. Yes, their spells may work, but not due to the theory that they expound!

Next comes The Magic Ability, a proposed game mechanic to codify spellcasting within Trail of Cthulhu. The neat thing is that it does not depend on any of the previously-mentioned theories being 'right' - if you have it, you can cast spells whatever you think is going on when you do so. It can also be used to understand what someone else is doing. You cannot start the game with it, you must acquire it through play - suggestions include the traditional reading of tomes, contact with Mythos creatures or asking an established practioner. Or the scary thought of having to ask Yog-Sothoth for the 'gift' of magic! Once you've awakened the potential, you can use build points to increase the ability provided you have the appropriate resources like a occult library or a Mythos tome, or visit suitable locations (apparently the chamber under the Great Pyramid is worth a couple of points, can't say I noticed when there!). When casting a spell, you can spend Magic points rather than Stability ones although you still need to make any required Stability tests. The chapter ends with an allocation of the Magic Ability to a range of Mythos monsters.

This is followed by Cast A Deadly Spell, which presents a collection of spells characters can learn (or might be on the receiving end of, of course!). True to the style of this game and its literary heritage, the focus is on what the spell does and how it appears to a bystander than on mechanical details. There's also a list of legendary Mythos sorcerers whose names you can throw around to add a touch of verisimiltude. To add a wierd twist, there are ideas for changing things even during the course of a campaign, and certainly to guard against players who think they know what's in the rulebook! Remember too that Mythos spellcasting leaves traces, tracks that the knowledgeable can read and even the ignorant may notice something's awry!

The next chapter, Idiosyncratic Magic Expanded, looks at the rules from the Trail of Cthulhu core rulebook. It's all flavour and wierdness, superstition to some and vital preparation for others. Examples are given for each skill you might care to practise it on. Finally, Magic In Theory and Lovecraft explores some ideas of magical theory based on Lovecraft's writings, delightful concepts for the more intense in-character philosophical discussions, something to play with in quiet times...

The whole work is a fascinating delve through ideas, making the concept of 'magic' work in an appropriate way within the world of Trail of Cthulhu. The rules for a Magic Ability work well and are consistent with the rest of the system, but the real joy are the underlying ideas that make it all come to life.

Probably this will prove most useful as a toolkit of different concepts and descriptive snippets of Mythos magic, and for what looks like a sensible and needful revision of spellcasting. Includes a few more Contact spells, benefits for visiting strange places or maintaining a place of power which were new and useful to me, and an inspired extended example.