A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Malcon’s Tome of Artifacts

Malcon’s Tome of Artifacts by Joseph Mohr is a role playing game supplement published by Old School Role Playing for use with OSRIC. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.

The supplement is available as a 37 page Pay What You Want PDF from DriveThruRPG. Two pages are the front and rear covers, three the front matter and three the Open Game License.

The opening paragraphs are written in character from the point of view of Malcon the Firebringer, a powerful foe from the author’s setting, as indeed a lot of the supplement is. It has an overview of artefacts and explains the existence of some is purely legendary.

Artifacts and Relics Defined explains that these are powerful, one-off items that are always cursed, sometimes in several way. They are the subjects of legends and stories and may still be possessed by powerful creatures.

Destruction of an Artifact or Relic explains that when someone realises the dangers of an item, it may be too late to get rid of it but there is usually a, difficult, way of destroying them.

The Trouble with Artifacts and Relics explains they all have flaws.

A List of Artifacts and Relics of Zanzia starts by explaining that this is just a small sample of them and that they come from a variety of sources. The descriptions then follow. One is not an artefact but an unusual item, but the rest are all such items and follow the same format; name, overview including origin, powers, curses and destruction.

Conclusion explains that there are many more such items.

Malcon’s Tome of Artifacts in Review

The PDF lacks bookmarks and is long enough with enough different sections that these would have been useful. Navigation could be better. The text maintains a single column format and some minor errors were noticed. Bar the covers, there are no illustrations. Presentation is adequate.

This is what it sets out to be; a collection of powerful magical items that can be very useful, but will over time prove to be dangerous. They could be used as hazardous rewards, or as potential hooks for adventures, both to find the artefact in question, then to destroy it when it becomes too dangerous. Malcon’s Tome of Artifacts is a useful collection of items and it can be found by clicking here.