Book of the Black Wizards OSR Spellbook Review (w/ bonus playlist!)
Content: Book of the Black Wizards by Tenebrae de Profundis is the bridge between the classic and the Weird. The spells are reduxes of classic spells with power boosts and metal flavor added in. It contains Miscasts for traditional spells by category (Abjuration, Conjuration, etc.), so you can use them for any old spell you want. The rewritten spells in the book have d12 tables with 1-6 being unique and 7+ being referred to the Chaos Magic table, or in the LotFP Miscasts, though it is not included or referenced by name (to avoid any product identity or liability for claiming compatibility? In any case, trivial to implement). Miscast categories for traditional spells have been done before by Tamas Kisbali of Eldritch Fields, available here, and fantastic to further create chaos in your game’s magic. It’s really nice to see the breadth of options growing, since they are so awesome to read, write, and cause anxiety in players afraid to risk it.
The spells within note the spell they’re based on, as well as the band who inspired the title and additional effects, in case you think it sounds cool and want some new music. For an example of what this looks like, take Nekro Spider (Spider Climb, Level 2), which allows climbing on surfaces, bypassing webs and traveling double speed, but makes you sprout a spider’s abdomen and 8 legs, terrifying witnesses. Similarly, Black Wings and Withering Gloom (Fly, Level 3) causes the caster to turn into a bat hybrid with milky eyes, echolocation, and a taste for blood in addition to the 120’ flying speed. Unholy Lightning (Lightning, level 3) is identical except it depowers magic items it hits if they fail a save. Other spells, like Shield of Stone (Shield, level 1) totally negate ranged damage, versus the original giving a +2 AC bonus.
Physical Quality and Layout: Available in hardcover from Amazon (and as far as I know, nowhere else), it will set you back $30. The quality is solid, with a black and white cover (which unfortunately seems to attract smudges like nobody’s business), and appears to be a high-quality POD. The covers, paper and binding are solid. It should be quite durable. There’s plenty of great full-page black and white art throughout. Not quite 1 per spell, but a lot, and very consistent. There are some errors inside. I found a duplicate page, with the spell Cloaked in Death’s Armor on 2 pages side by side. It also lacks an OGL anywhere, which is hopefully not an issue, although as far as I know it does not explicitly claim compatibility to copyrighted systems nor contain any product identity. Given the recent copyright fuckery, this may be a good move, and if so I applaud the author.
Layout wise it is solid, but imperfect, as the table of contents numbers the spells and gives them a d100 table for random spells in character creation, but no page numbers! The introduction claims it was “written by a mad sorcerer who believed that page numbers were a form of numerical magic that could possess the reader”. Uh, ok. I wrote in page numbers myself and added them to the table of contents. I guess I’ll suck it up if this somehow becomes worth a million bucks, because usability is king in my opinion.The endpapers are blank, which is fine and probably related to POD restrictions, but of course we love them when used well. It’s otherwise logically ordered.
How to use it?:The spells are generally boosted with additional effects, often including inflicting bonus damage or physical transformation, with no adjustment to level- mechanically, they are better across the board. How to use these in your game? Here are some ideas:
- Replace standard spells entirely. Probably want to buff up monsters by about ¼ HP in order to keep them alive.
- Allow them only for the Black Wizard class, who can cast spells of any level from the book, even level 9 spells (or regular M-U spells following regular level progression, if you want to do that), which would make that class rather overpowered compared to everything else.
- Make them scroll or ritual-only spells. They are mysterious, eldritch, satanic- dark and powerful secrets.
- They are available to everyone through pacts, potentially making demonic politics and appeasement really important.
Overall: This is a solid book. The production value is impressive, though the cover and page issues are frustrating. Hopefully a second printing will resolve this, but it is a usable and creative product. The art is a particular selling point, and it is definitely consistent in its occult black metal aesthetic. It’s an excellent supplement to Vaginas are Magic and Eldritch Cock, so if you would like slightly more focused spells in your campaign while keeping the chaotic and imbalanced feel of the Weird Magic system, this is a must-buy.
555/666
Bonus Playlist: All the Weird Magic Songs!
All the stuff I could find on Spotify anyway. This is the most complete list I could make of songs from VaM, EC, and Book of the Black Wizards, as well as the spells on Eldritch Fields and my own blog. Some people may want to know that a few artists on here are problematic. Burzum is notoriously a Nazi and convicted murderer. The band Marduk has also espoused Nazi views, and sometimes disavowed them, but are widely considered to be Nazis or Nazi sympathizers. Wrest of Leviathan was convicted of domestic abuse. I am not sure about other bands on the list, but you can definitely copy the playlist and delete those artists should you like to.
I personally usually avoid streaming artists like these but I included them for completion's sake.
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