The Book of Chantries

Mage: the Ascension

by Steven C. Brown, Robert Hatch, Phil Brucato (Contributor)

Darkness Lives in Lands Beyond

Corridors of Doissetep or the steaming jungles of Moreauvia, mages ply their trade. In custom-built Horizon Relams, these wizards build Chantries, strongholds of their might and monuments to their vanity.

Bearers of the Light Beware!

Intrigue and betrayal, madness and hubris, greet visitors to these hidden lands. The Path to Ascencsion takes many forms, and the temptation to stray from one's chosen Path is strong. A mage is never truly safe, even within the walls of her own Chantry.

The Book of Chantries is a sourcebook for Mage: The Ascension, detailing the mages' places of power.

* Ten coplete strongholds; Tradition Chantries, Technocracy Constucts and Nephandi Labyrinths, including over 40 NPCs.
* A ready-to-run scenario starring Samuel Haight, the werewolf skinner.
* Complete rules for creating your own Chantry.

Genres: Gaming, Role Playing Games, Reference, World Of Darkness

184 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1995

Reviews

[Ines · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, many parts of this book did not age well. Most of them are funny, but I found the descriptions of the Nephandi labyrinths to be somewhat subconsciously racist, so be warned.

The content is a bit too US-centric for my taste. The rules system for chantries is interesting, but I wouldn't adapt it out of the book.
What I like about this book is the massive amount of interesting ideas. I wouldn't adapt any into my games without changes, which is in part because some things didn't age well and in part because they just don't suit my playing style, but I would totally adapt most of the ideas contained in the book in one way or another.

Well, except for Voormas, Grand Harvester of Souls. Seriously.

And don't even get me started on that uber edgy Hollow Ones cabal. That chapter is peak 90s White Wolf. The. edge. is. real.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

How do you even review a book like this? It's a classic. And yet, it just displays so many directions that the game didn't go in, and some that it did and then backtracked later. Porthos and Voormas having spheres at 6, for instance, has been removed finally in the 20th Anniversary Edition, but this is only the most obvious one.

The treatment of the Technocracy is typical of first edition: like they're lying about believing in science and are just barely less evil than the Nephandi.

Oh, and my favorite ridiculous bit was that if the Union took Doissetep they could cut the Taditions off from Forces magick, as though the Traditions could do it to the Union right now.

However, overall, it's a classic for a reason: the book has a ton of flavor, numerous story hooks, and I love the point-buy system for building Chantries.

[Lady Entropy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to give this book a better grade. I swear I wanted. But I bought this book to create a cool chantry, and while I love some of its ideas, they ended up being confusing, contradictory and in some sections, I had to outright make stuff up to complete the gaps.

Such a shame.