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The Book of Rituals [ Librogame ] | Review

by Francesca Viganò | Jun 13, 2023 | Reviews | 0 comments

Before going into The Book of Rituals review, I want to thanks Board & Dice for sending us a physical copy of this product for us to tell you about.

The Book of Rituals is part of the Escape Tales series of games and is presented as a book full of puzzles on whose pages important characters presented in other games have studied or worked; for example Samuel of The Awakening or the heroes of Children of Wyrmwoods. There are footnotes, digressions, corrections and improvements as if someone else had physically put their hand to the book before us.

You can find it directly at the publisher’s store for around 14 euros if you want to buy it.

I want to specify that it is not necessary to know the series or have played one of the other books to approach The Book of Rituals. The prerequisite for approaching this gamebook is to imagine yourself as an alchemy scholar. The goal is to learn the secrets of alchemical elements and ingredients to be able to perform powerful rituals.

A Look at the Whole The Book of Rituals

The Book of Rituals is a volume of about 120 pages essentially divided into three chapters, each specific to a specific topic. Each of them contains several specific puzzles that must be solved in order, even if the sequence of resolutions is not always linear. Overall, 45 puzzles are presented, each different from the others; many are based primarily on logic.

Solving the puzzles of the ingredients is necessary to deal with the 13 rituals found in the last pages of the book.

Each puzzle has its own level of difficulty linked to the illustration proposed. In my opinion, it is interesting to analyze the structure of the pages of this first section because it helps to understand the subsequent ones.

Each puzzle takes up two pages. In the upper left corner, there is the symbol of the element whose alchemical name and value you need to find out. In the upper right-hand corner, with a lighter stroke, are signed which elements must be addressed before to solve the puzzle. For example, to solve the riddle of the element gold you must have already solved the riddles of the elements: water, mercury, lead, ether and philosopher’s stone.

The central part of the two pages consists of the actual enigma. It is always an illustration accompanied by indications and suggestions. The puzzles are meant to be solved right on the book, so I suggest using a pencil and eraser; this also and above all because many of the puzzles are not immediate and require some reflection.

Three Chapters Divided by Topics

The first chapter is dedicated to the basic elements: Air, Water, Fire, Earth and Soul. In the second chapter, you find puzzles related to the ingredients themselves, like gold or mushrooms. The third chapter involves all the solutions from the previous chapters in thirteen rituals that must be solved to complete the gamebook.

As I said at the beginning of this review, The Book of Rituals features puzzles of varying difficulty. To give a more precise idea, I can say that about a third I solved them with a certain immediacy; some instead required a more prolonged effort and for others I was forced to make use of the suggestions.

A Puzzle Solving App

To solve the puzzles, The Book of Rituals uses a completely free application that can be accessed through a QR code on the introduction page. The solutions must be inserted into it in order to be able to progress; at the same time, it also provides a space with hints to help players. The hints are numerous and in any case, it is possible to get the answer to the riddle directly from the app. This way you don’t risk getting stuck when a puzzle gets frustrating, which, as I said, can happen.

The hints are offered in sequence and there are at least 4 hints for each puzzle before the answer is directly selectable. Using the hints does not penalize the game experience in any way; in fact, there is no scoring system, it is a challenge with oneself. However, I advise against immediately resorting to the suggestions offered by the application, after all the aim is to play.

A Challenging Game?

The Book of Rituals is a gamebook that requires effort. In general, it takes about twenty hours to complete it; the help of the suggestions may be necessary even if not fundamental if you want to rack your brain a bit. Certainly these are excellent puzzles, proposed in a particularly interesting way, which certainly offer a good dose of fun to those who love challenges.

The Book of Rituals, as can be seen from this review, is a game that once solved cannot be replayed. However, I believe that some of the puzzles can easily be exported to be used in other contexts or that they can be taken as a starting point to insert puzzles into any RPG campaign.

Review of the Aesthetics of The Book of Rituals

The Book of Rituals is presented as a hardcover book with a rough feel to the touch. The title is slightly raised and the chosen font recalls the ancient tomes. All the pages are made of thick, rough paper and, consistent with the context of the game, are not numbered in any way.

The quality of the drawings is undoubted: there are thematic images which are all particularly significant within the puzzles. Magdalena Klepacz’s ability to transform an image into an enigma is equally commendable.

Perhaps the only aesthetic flaw of the project is the visibility of some of the “comments” of previous users which, at times, are not very recognizable.

Final Thoughts of The Book of Rituals Review

To conclude, I can say that The Book of Rituals is an interesting and aesthetically very beautiful book; guarantees a good number of hours of entertainment without ever being banal or boring. The absolutely affordable price also makes it an original gift and a good complement if you want to add a touch of mystery to a more traditional RPG campaign.

If you love solving riddles and puzzles and are familiar with the Escape Tales series of games, then The Book of Rituals can’t escape you!

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Abyss of Hallucinations – Volume 1 [ Mörk Borg ] | Review

by Andy Lingua | Jun 12, 2023 | Reviews | 0 comments

First of all, I want to thank Max Moon Games for sending us a review copy of Abyss of Hallucinations – Volume 1. This is a setting compatible with the old-school RPG Mörk Borg.

This work is inspired by and based on the Book of Lies by the English occultist and writer Aleister Crowley; within this text from over a hundred years ago, there are cryptograms, poems, questions, rituals, ambiguous allusions and philosophical instructions. Max Moon has taken inspiration in content and tone, without the pretension of revealing an analytical reading of Crowley’s work. This also allows you to appreciate the manual I’m about to review without ever having read the Book of Lies.

If you are interested in buying Abyss of Hallucinations – Volume 1, keep in mind that it is available in the official store for the price of $25 (currently around €22.70).

The Structure of the Abyss

First, I’ll try to give some context. The Abyss represents Hell, or rather an interpretation of it; an absurd, distorted interpretation of it, full of temptations, desire, fornications, shocking ideas and symbolism. Some say that the greatest sages can even come out of it but, of course, there are no certainties about it.

The manual contains a map of the Abyss. Its hexagons represent the main structure and places of interest, which I report below:

Unicursal Heptagram: centre (and symbol) of the Abyss, anyone who enters it must pass this test (more information later).
City of Pyramids: glass settlement with perennial flames.
The Southern Cross: desolate expanse with a huge inverted cross in black stone in the centre.
Desert of the Slouching Beast: desert where strange rites take place.
V.V.V.V.V.: vvvvv vvvvv vvvvv vvvvv
The Wound of Amfortas: rift created by a huge spear, from which the False God is said to have come.
The Skidoo Inn: no one can enter, but the place is always crowded and leaving is permitted (and welcome).

How to Enter the Abyss

A big doubt that the manual took away from me was: how do you enter this Abyss? For this purpose, we find a short introductory adventure: Unicursal Heptagram.

After some pages of introduction and explanation of the few necessary mechanics, we find a random table that gives us various ways in which the characters can be knocked unconscious; this is the pretext for introducing them to this place (later described room by room).

In this review I will now analyze the plot of Abyss of Hallucinations – Volume 1; as usual, I will do it without spoilers that could affect the gaming experience. The characters wake up in a seven-sided room, with irregular engravings on the floor; in addition to the central structure from which they came out, they notice that on each of the walls, there is a door with a symbol on it. Interacting with a strange figure submerged in filaments and exploring what lies behind the doors, they will be faced with puzzles and esotericism. Combat can be an option in some cases, but it plays a marginal role and above all, it’s not what makes this adventure special. After all the characters will have to figure out just how to get out of this area, and doing so will require acumen.

Reviews of Mechanical Options Proposed by Abyss of Hallucinations – Volume 1

The new options for players are not so many, but they manage to be very thematic.

We find three new classes. The Mountaineer is very robust and used to surviving in difficult territories. The Offspring of Pan is the chosen one of the deities of this setting and embodies its power. Finally, the Seeker of the Left Hand Path is instead a sorcerer who owes their power to a deity.

The other important element that has been introduced in this manual are some specific divinities. These are six new beings with dark and dangerous powers who pour their influence over these lands and their inhabitants. Each of them manages to be unique and fascinating, outlining a bleak aspect of the setting. I really enjoyed The Stag Beetle, the god of midnight and the end; when invoked, he devours corpses and leaves only the skeletons, ready to serve his worshiper. Also very interesting is Our Lady of the Stars, the companion of chaos and infinite space; she grants her worshippers the ability to fly and breathe any atmosphere.

Abyss of Hallucinations Volume 1 Recensione

Conclusions of the Review of Abyss of Hallucinations – Volume 1

In addition to these intriguing contents, the 44 pages of this manual also contain black and white illustrations. They are very simple, yet deeply themed; they manage to raise the level of immersion further (thanks also to very high legibility due to a classic layout).

As the title of the protagonist of this review says, Abyss of Hallucinations – Volume 1 suggests that there will be other manuals that will expand the setting; I’m very much in favour of this idea because the material included is already enough to start sessions with strong elements that can easily make an impact, but I’d be very happy to see more variety and depth added. For this purpose, the reference work, the Book of Lies, can be an excellent source of inspiration.

To conclude, I can say with certainty that lovers of esotericism and OSR will love this manual!