Stefano Buonocore
Today we want to thank the award-winning company Bertini and Fossati for sending us a digital review copy of one of their latest works, When Magic Goes Wrong … . These authors already created many other manuald for D&D5e. So, You Walk Into a Tavern, Born to Be Kobold e Quest Spells & Other Divine Magic are just some of their works that we have already covered. Specializing in accessory material for the fifth edition of the most famous roleplaying game in the world, they have now focused on magical items with… manufacturing defects.
When Magic Goes Wrong … can be purchased in PDF format on DMsguild priced at $ 2.99. For those who prefer remote gaming, the version already integrated with Fantasy Grounds is available at a price of 4.50 dollars.
Review of the Handbook of When Magic Goes Wrong …
The manual is 16 pages long, a fair foliation for its price. Like everything for sale on DMsguild, this is an hanbook published under Community Content Agreement, therefore licensed to an original publication that contains material under Wizards of the Coast copyright. The layout was done with Homebrewery, the online platform that guarantees the fifth edition standard.
This handbook cover and the internal artwork are of the highest level, again thanks to the DMsguild formula, which allows you to use the work of professionals in the sector while keeping the costs of the manuals accessible. The result would not disfigure in any digital archive, not even in that of the most demanding Dungeon Master.
Quirks
The manual focuses on “quirks”, literally the oddities of magic items. The assumption is as simple as it is intriguing: as the title of the volume says, when creating a magic item not everything necessarily goes smoothly. There can be a whole series of drawbacks that can alter its magical properties, with unexpected effects. Using the additional rules outlined in the manual, this happens at about one in ten magic items.
The handbook is mainly composed of tables, which are used by the Dungeon Master to create a magic item with quirks in a few steps. In the first chapter are the tools to determine the cause of this error and the way to analyze it. Some quirks are in fact obvious, others require specific investigations. Others can only be noticed by actively using the object in question.
It is important to note that an object with a quirk “compensates” for the random component by reducing its rarity by one step. All this contributes to making the effect in play more balanced, without sacrificing the unpredictability that distinguishes this supplement.
Review of the Items of When Magic Goes Wrong …
As expected, much of the manual is made up of tables that allow you to randomly assign a quirk to an object. A clarification of the authors: a quirk is not always fitting to the selected object. In that case the suggestion is simply to roll again one of the 20 possibilities offered by the table.
Armor, potions, rings, scrolls, weapons and shields. And then wands, staves and rods. Concluding of course with more generic wondrous items: even the most demanding Dungeon Master has plenty of choices, in case the die result doesn’t satisfy her. Keep in mind that quirks do not have exclusively negative effects; of course, since these are unpredictable they are mostly impediments. But some can also have effects that enhance an item unexpectedly.
Remedies and Complications
The final chapter of When Magic Goes Wrong … is about the consequences of owning a magical item created with a quirk. A character can in fact try to remove it, facing expenses and a specific ritual, but the result is not guaranteed. In case of failure, in fact, it could permanently destroy the properties of the object.
Or even get a specific complication. Trying to get a quirk removed something can go wrong, and the last table in the manual indicates random events that can happen in 10% of cases. The object can be stolen, arouse unwanted attention from a spellcaster, be considered a relic by some cult or, more classically, attract the interest of an extraplanar creature.
Conclusions of the Review of When Magic Goes Wrong …
Bertini and Fossati’s supplement is rather compact and extremely focused. Like many of the works of the two Italian authors, it is not a universal manual, but it introduces extremely interesting options into the game. Any campaign, regardless of its duration, would certainly benefit from it for variety.
The quality of the work is very high; its price / quality ratio also, because for any Dungeon Master it is always interesting to have the possibility of adding new options at such a low cost. This is another highly recommended supplement for anyone who wants to introduce a new variable to her game, the effects of which can be extremely rich in plot hooks.
