CHAPTER 6: LIBER UMBRARUM (THE RE-CONTINUING)


Having detailed the various Spells that can be gained, at one's own peril, from consorting with Daemons, Chapter 6 moves on to Rituals. Rituals, you may remember, are a form of Magick that can be performed by anyone with the knowledge, material, time and courage. That is to say, one need not possess the Incantation Skill to perform a Ritual. The Core Rulebook had 7 rituals. Main Gauche adds a handful more, offering new ways for non-Magick using characters to suffer from the effects of Chaos alter the fabric of reality. These Rituals will allow adventurers to do anything from Bond Mithril to armor, to Create Golem, to Fortune Telling (7 different kinds!). Some of these rituals bring nuance to the Professions within the pages of Zweihander and Main Gauche. Sigils, for example, are used by Hexers to effect combatants, entrance creatures or focus and use various Magickal energies, among other things. An Oath of Peerage allows non-Magick using Characters to gain the patronage of Gods (or are they really Daemons?) to use their Alignment (Order or Chaos, depending upon which Peerage they select) to spend Fortune Points in ways not normally allowed (Zweihander is, after all, an "exception based" system). The Sigils used by Hexers, a kind of Magickal language that can be traced in the air, are detailed here as well. The Oath of Peerage and Sigils, like much of the Magick in Zweihander, are jealously guarded, and difficult to come by. All of the Rituals in this Chapter follow the same format as those in the Core Book. Which is, perhaps, one of the great strengths of this book IMO. I've said this before, but I like the way Main GAuche has added options while adhering to the same rules format. In doing so, it avoids not only rules bloast, but power creep. Well done. This chapter was a fun read.


This concludes Chapter 6. Next, we will learn how to build friends and murder people create monsters and NPCs. The next Chapter is the second-longest in the book, and probably the longest set of NPC creation rules I've seen in any game. Does that pique your interest? Because it damn sure does mine.


Be seeing you.