Original plastic-like cover. The Encyclopedia Magica, Volume Two (1995), compiled and developed by Dale "slade" Henson and designed by an absurd number of authors and game designers, covers every magic item published between 1974 and 1994. Yes, EVERY ONE. Well, at least every one between decoy dust and phylactery of righteousness, at least; this volume handles the alphabetical index from D-P, starting where Encyclopedia Magica, Volume One left off (it was left in the "dust"...) up to most of the various "phylacteries."In between those two sections, the book takes us on a 412-page tour of some of the most creative and obscure work that D&D has to offer.Don't Wait for the Novelization. It's worth remembering that, despite being loaded down with flavor text, this is a reference book and not a supplement - i.e., it's not a book meant to be read from start to finish. None of the item descriptions have been edited, their rules haven't been adjusted to fit a particular rules set, and items might possibly be under- or (more likely) over-powered.And you know what? It doesn't matter a bit.These volumes are a remarkable and marvelous thing. They are a snapshot of the design and love that went into 20 years of D&D. If you wrote up a single magic item for the RPGA's Polyhedron or Dragon magazine, it'll be in one of these four books.The Best Part of the Game (Other Than All the Other Good Bits). There's almost nothing more well loved about D&D (except perhaps spells) than magic items, each of which deliberately breaks the normal rules in all sorts of cool and fun ways. Magic items let your fighter stand apart from any other bulky guy with a sword; what would King Arthur be without Excalibur, for example, or Elric without Stormbringer? The Encyclopedia Magica books are designed both for players who want to go shopping (and by "shopping," I mean "beg their DM for cool loot") and for DMs who seek inspiration for items that might catch their players off-guard.A Sample of Interesting Items. The egg of distraction, a spinning stone curio that mesmerizes the unwary. The golden bell of blasting, which sounds lovely yet has a very nasty surprise. The needle of lively tattoos, famed for its art as much as for the living tattoos it can produce. The monkey fist of Ha'chao, an artifact of the Lord of Karma. Four different versions of the famous mace of Saint Cuthbert, a relic of impatient priests. And the Libram of Twelve Seals, each with a different entity trapped beneath the binding.With well over a thousand magic items in this volume alone, you'll be awash in good ideas. All four books in the series are as good as this. They're worth picking up.
