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Rating: 
Summary: A Conspiracy of Magicians
Review: I really like the concept of this book. It creates a world where life seems "as normal" but behind the scenes is a group called the Cabal that are full of sorcerors and mythical creatures. It also includes planar travel and ancient Gods. This book also provides a recounting of history starting from Ancient Eygpt, with what "really" happened and to what extent the Cabal was involved. Another nice feature of this book is the detail of Hermetic magic, which helps to make ritualistic magic more focused in the game. This book also gives several campaign options whether to be with or against the Cabal.
Rating:
Summary: A Conspiracy of Magicians
Review: I really like the concept of this book. It creates a world where life seems "as normal" but behind the scenes is a group called the Cabal that are full of sorcerors and mythical creatures. It also includes planar travel and ancient Gods. This book also provides a recounting of history starting from Ancient Eygpt, with what "really" happened and to what extent the Cabal was involved. Another nice feature of this book is the detail of Hermetic magic, which helps to make ritualistic magic more focused in the game. This book also gives several campaign options whether to be with or against the Cabal.
Rating: 
Summary: The conspiracy of occultism
Review: The worst parts of this book are at the beginning. The first chapter has a history of the Cabal that bored me to tears. I don't know what the author was talking about. Then, at the end of the first chapter, he mentions a guy named Dr. Selden Graves, and that was interesting.It gets better as you go along. The next chapter covers the structure of the Cabal. That was a little too dry. It's basically just as you imagine it, with concentric circles of higher power, ranks, and lodges that work together and sometimes against each other. I could have written that part myself without research; so could anyone else interested in the subject. Then he goes on to cover hermetic magic, which is nothing more than a series of spell-casting skill modifiers based on conditions. It's simple and effective, but not creative. The chapter on other planes has the same problem. On the one hand, it's just right. It fits the Cabal and hermetic magic. On the other, it's predictable. You can travel to the astral plane where you'll see astral beings, some of which are analogues for things in reality. Okay. I've seen that before. When the author gets to the characters, campaigns, and monsters, you get the goodies. The new advantages and disadvantages are good. The creatures are good. The set of defining characteristics for the campaign is good, too. This is a professional, predictable GURPS book. It describes what I expected. I didn't get anything new from it, but I don't feel ripped off because the author wrote exactly what he was supposed to. I would've given this book two stars, but . . . well . . . believe it or not, I was originally contracted to write this book years ago. But I just couldn't do it; I couldn't figure out how to write it. Kenneth Hite did something I couldn't do, so he gets an extra star.
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