Six Spells: Monster-Making by Derek Holland is a role playing game supplement published by Skirmisher Publishing. The supplement is intended for use with Labyrinth Lord but should be compatible with other OSR systems. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.
This is a two page PDF that is available from RPGNow for $0.50 but was purchased for the greatly reduced price of $0.01 as part of a special bundle. One page is the front matter and Open Game License.
There is a single page of actual content. A brief introduction explains that the spells are related to studying, altering and creating creatures, and that the GM will have to customise them for their setting. This is because game bonuses for individual spells aren’t defined.
Bloodline allows the caster to gain knowledge of a creature’s ancestry.
Imbue Life I is a year-long spell that allows the caster to create life from non-living creatures. This life is free-willed, lacks magical powers and is at most as intelligent as a dog.
Imbue Life II is a ten year spell that allows the caster to create free-willed life, that may or may not be intelligent, as the caster wishes, and may or may not have magical abilities, again as the caster wishes.
Mutation I is a month-long spell that allows the caster the alter a creature permanently.
Mutation II is a six-month-long spell that allows the caster to add any non-magical trait or magical power up to 4th level to a creature.
Remove Mutation can remove traits and magical powers from the target. The caster’s own creations get no save.
Six Spells: Monster Making in Review
The PDF has no bookmarks and at a single page doesn’t need them. Navigation is fine. The text is single column for the introduction and two columns for the spells and one error was noted; Imbue Life II is called Transfiguration II in the description. The supplement lacks illustrations but doesn’t need them at this length. Presentation is fine.
This is a fairly interesting collection of spells, although, as noted, they will need further development by the GM. The casting times for the more powerful spells may be a bit on the high side; though such processes may be time consuming, spells that take six months to ten years to cast are unlikely to ever be used by characters and perhaps not even by NPCs. The spells are an interesting start for monster manipulation, but could do with some more development or tweaking to use in-game. Six Spells: Monster Making can be found by clicking here.
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