Encyclopedia Arcana Vol I – Treasures by Andrew Wright is a role playing game supplement published by Arion Games for use with Advanced Fighting Fantasy 2nd Edition.
The supplement is available from DriveThruRPG as a PDF for $14, as a softcover print on demand book for $29, as a hardcover print on demand book for $25, as PDF and softcover for $29 or as PDF and hardcover for $35. The PDF is the version reviewed, although it was purchased at a reduced price during a sale, and has 202 pages with two being the front and rear covers, four the front matter, one the Contents and one the Kickstarter backers.
The Introduction is a word from the author about the creation of the book and some comments on the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks that the items come from.
There Are Fortunes to be Found! is a brief page on the items in the book.
Chapter 1 – Rules, Skills, Spells and Talents looks at different ways of handling treasure quantities in a game and explains this goes back to consider Special Skills from previous rulebooks and how they relate to treasure. It then moves onto new skills and spells, with combat skills, magical skills, spells and magic masks, all new. Then it revisits Special Skills, Talents and Rules from other books, referencing which they are from. Finally, there are seven Hero sheets for seven new Hero Archetypes, all somehow related to the theme of the book. The new Archetypes are Bandit, Burglar, Demi-Sorcerer, Merchant, Priest of Verlang, Sage and Tomb Robber.
Chapter 2 – A Treasure Generation System starts by explaining that Advanced Fighting Fantasy has two random treasure generators for treasure, the first appearing in Out of the Pit and sequels and the second being in the main rulebook, and that this book combines the two systems. The Creature Treasure Table follows, with a 1d6 table and different categories; rich, average and poor humanoids, mighty, beast and minion monsters, greater, standard and lesser undead and all others. Results may be nothing and there are categories of coins, gear, treasure and magic. All the terms used in the table are then explained. Following this are tables for determining the location of the treasure and explanations as to what these mean; this includes descriptions of various traps, guardian monsters and haunted monsters.
Chapter 3 – Coins and Gear looks at these two components of treasures. There are various tables for determining coins, in more depth than just their metal, including curses, counterfeit and “coins” made of other materials. Gear is divided into random junk, useful equipment, food and drink and herbs. Some of the consumables have game effects and there are references to The Titan Herbal.
Chapter 4 – Treasure! covers items of value, which may be a range of different objects collected together. There is a table that can be used to determine how much individual items of treasure are worth. Treasures are divided into monster parts, trade goods, furs and skins, objects d’art, gems and jewels, jewellery, spices and incense, ivory and eggs. These are all divided into different things, some specific to Advanced Fighting Fantasy, others more general, and there are multiple tables and descriptions of different things in each category, including book references for such as monsters, as well as some game uses for things.
Chapter 5 – Magical Items explains the categories included in this section, how prices have been given, that rules on their creation can be found in the Heroes Companion and a table to randomly roll the type. The six types are scrolls, curiosities (relatively minor items), components (magical objects used in casting many Sorcery and Naval Sorcery spells), potions, trinkets (similar to curiosities but more powerful, and enchanted items (the most powerful magic items that are not artefacts, and divided into multiple subtypes). There are tables for each type of item, which can be used to roll randomly. All bar Enchanted Items have references to other books and each table is followed by more detailed descriptions of the individual items, which also state which are not available to buy.
Chapter 6 – Artefacts and More covers the most powerful items. These are singular and never found randomly, and which can be the basis of an entire campaign. These are divided into two categories; Artefacts and Holy, Unholy and Demonic Items. All the items have extensive descriptions and, being unique, histories.
Chapter 7 – Putting it All Together looks at how to use the book in game. There are three methods, fully random hoards, partially random hoards and chosen hoards, and the advantages and disadvantages of each are looked at. This is then followed by tables for generating treasure randomly, covering treasure hoards, magic shop wares, random magic item prices, random sorcery components and random sorcerer’s shop wares, with finally an example of a dungeon being stocked using the partially random method so that the Director can see this in action.
Fare Thee Well! is the closing text, which explains that there are more planned and which gamebooks were included, as well as which system books were included.
Appendix I – A Titan Fantasy Name Generator has a multi column table for creating names.
Abbreviations explains what the abbreviations used in the book mean.
The Ultimate Equipment List is a list of all equipment available for sale listed in every book up to the Combat Companion, but excluding herbs and potions from The Titan Herbal, with references to which book they came from.
The Ultimate Magical Item Index covers all magic items up to the Citadel of Chaos, again including sources.
The Ultimate Spell Index does the same for spells up to Citadel of Chaos, with sources.
Reference Tables has the major Treasure Generation System tables.
Encyclopedia Arcana Vol I – Treasures in Review
The PDF is bookmarked with major sections and subsections linked. The Contents only covers the major sections. Navigation is adequate. The text maintains a two-column format and appeared to be free of errors. There are a variety of black and white illustrations. Presentation is okay.
This is what it sets out to be; a resource for treasures of all different kinds. There are a wealth of treasures collated into a single place with this supplement, organised into types with detailed explanations of what they are, their availability and with methods of using them in game. Though many other supplements are referenced in this one, the information needed to use the treasures in this book is collated in it, so it’s not necessary to use different sources in order to use this book; the ultimate indices at the back are intended as a way of finding existing material that’s not treasure more easily. Encyclopedia Arcana Vol I – Treasures is a useful supplement and it can be found by clicking here.
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