In this video Sean gives an overview of a wonderful almost unknown rpg "Magic World" Great book of monsters for this game found on the below link basicroleplaying.org/files/fil...
Late getting to this review, but I recently got into the BRP and Call of Cthulhu system and after running my first one shot for it I fell in love. I am currently trying to convert my D&D game into BRP. I saw the Magic World and Advanced Sorcery book for sale up on the Chaosium website and wondered if there were any reviews. I love BRP and your video just made me buy this book as well. BRP is a beautiful system, damn near perfect in my books. I hope more people learn about it. So intuitive to learn to new and veteran roleplayers and allows for much more creativity in creating a character as it is a skill based system. Thanks for the video!
Great review. You are correct in seeing Stormbringer as the primary influence. Chaosium lost the rights to Moorcock's works, so they couldn't continue to make Stormbringer. Creating Magic World allowed them to keep that system alive without the licensed setting.
Nice review. The fan support (hey Tooley) is great even if Chaosium's is lacklustre. I love Magic World, as well as its cousin Runequest 6 and interchange materials from each. In fact, Monster Island is a Runequest 6 book.
+TheOutsiders68 Mostly the same stuff I love about BRP in general. The rules are fast and intuitive and get out of the way of gameplay... AND they're easy to tinker with. Very versatile when you consider all the other BRP-based stuff that's available.
I just got my hands on a PoD copy of this via Drive Thru RPG. I had the original 1981 printing of Stormbringer way back when (until my mother threw it out, along with a lot of other artifacts from the same era) - and I do see some similarities. Given the recent surge in interest for BRP, I am hopeful that they will bring this one back. If you see any interviews with Jason Durall where he mentions Magic World, he says that it wasn't a big seller for them, and he didn't think people really wanted a game called "Magic World." So that said, I would love to see this one come back under a different name. 🍻⚔
I can't help but feel that if the art direction had been a bit more flavorsome along the lines of Dungeon Crawl Classics, then this publication may have had the attention it deserved
I agree. Magic World is terribly lackluster in this regard with wildly varying quality throughout. Also, it could have profited from better editing and proof-reading. For example, on the character creation overview (pages 20-21) the process it broken down into 10 steps but without there being a step 8.
Thank you for this review, Sean! One is hard-pressed to find anything at all about this "diamond in the rough" as you have aptly named it. I am currently re-reading the rules to prepare for an upcoming game. I have always been attracted to Chaosium's D100 systems but strangely enough haven't played them very often, mostly because my player base had other preferences. But I feel that I owe it to the game to break it out once more. Maybe it sticks this time around. :)
Great review. It's Elric, rewritten after they lost the license. With improvements as you say. Brproleplaying.com has ports to game if thrones and loads more. Great resource.
I bought MW (and Advanced Sorcery and Enlightened Magic) based on your review. I've owned Monster Island for some time too. Sad to hear Chaosium decided to quit developing additional materials for it but I read on the official forums they're open to licensing it to another company if there's interested parties that want to do it.
speaking of complete... have u delved into The World of Synnibarr, sometime called "Worldship". very complex, but the most robust I've ever pkayed/dm'd.
