By far the longest chapter of the book, Magical Industry covers new spells, equipment used in the breeding and design of new spells, purchasing magical services from NPCs, charts and tables for various goods and services magical and otherwise, and an explanation on the Principia Arcana and Endon’s prevailing magical laws and theories. It covers practically everything save for proper Magic Items, which have a chapter of their own. Material from previous chapters is repeated and expanded upon for convenience’s sake, and we also have tables for magic item prices both limited-use and permanent. Generally speaking, magic becomes cheaper across the board as the Tempo Increases, sometimes dropping to a third or a quarter of their Tempo 1 price.

The Paradigm is the unified theory of magic of which most of Endon’s spellcasters follow. In keeping with the rule of eight, wizards recognize eight metals and eight gems to have particular magical attunement. Gold is ideal for channeling magic associated with the sun, iron best channels spells of harm and violence, lead is a magical absorbent/reflector, etc. A fictional metal known as Occultum is pure condensed magic which can be used to transmute metals one step “higher” on the d8 table via the proper tools. Beyond such basic matter, there’s a Periodic Table of Spells which groups known magic by level and by school. Said Table is still a matter of conjecture and various entries are subject to debate; there was a desire to put spells into eight Grand Schools but more discoveries turned this on its head. Light magic turned out to be Illusion and not Evocation, mages are loath to place curative magic as Necromancy for both legal and social reasons, and what was once considered Evocation was a myriad array of Elemental spells.



Magical Accumulators and Magical Batteries can be used to refill and store a magic item’s charges respectively. The amount of charges they can store/generate is based on both the device’s size and the setting Tempo. Spell Breeding Reactors can be used to create spells which are collected into scrolls and spellbooks, and spells beyond 2nd level require reactors of increasingly prohibitive costs. Reactors that can breed level 9 spells are too rare to be sold on the open market but cost 100,000 gp to build. Finally, Enchantment Engravers can bind spells to objects, which I presume cover both wands and potions as well as permanent items although the text does not specify. It’s surprisingly cheap, with 300 gp for 0 to 2nd level spells and 1,000 for 6th to 8th level spells.

The prices of these 3 kinds of devices are set in stone regardless of Tempo, ranging anywhere from 2,000 to 20,000 gp. As such they are something out of the hands of low-level parties, but a group of sufficient level can afford one to a few with a significant investment.

There’s guidelines for both the GM and PCs in designing new Magical Equipment via checking prices of existing material in this book. Inventing new Magical Equipment has the side effect of the GM creating a new Innovation and apocalyptic Terminal Event regardless of the inventor’s intentions. Building magical items are one thing, but making a profit by selling them is another: first off, a new device must be able to give something to society not already filled by a common thing. If non-magical items can do it then there’s not a market for it beyond some novel collectors, and most 0 to 2nd level spells have already been commercialized by big businesses who more or less cornered the market and can set prices low enough to drive away competition.

We have 3 tables for Magical Explosions, Spell Mutations, and Spell Cross-Breeds. Magical explosions can happen with risky use of the above items (overcharging a charged item, for instance), while the latter two are the result of spell breeding reactors. Mutations are alterations to an existing spell both positive and negative represented by a d20 table and have a 10% chance of happening. They range in effect from rolling less dice for the spell, changing its energy type, having it be cast as the next fastest action, or granting targets a bonus/penalty to their saves against it among other things. Spell Cross-Breeds are what happens when you add two different spells to a spell reactor, and is a highly risky science. There’s a chance of Causing a Magical Explosion which increases every day, but the d10 crossbreed results have varying effects. A lot of them are negative (base metals ooze out and damage nearby creatures and objects, the spell is a harmless dud cantrip, etc) but some can create a random Low-Level or Discount Spell, while a result of 10 is a success as the spell is successfully crossbred and is a perfect blend of the two original spells.

1d50 Generic Low-Level Spells and 1d50 Unique Low-Level Spells provide a series of new magic for one’s OSR games. They are without exception 0 to 2nd level, and quite a few of the Generic spells are from newer D&D Editions (Grease, Mending, Shocking Grasp, etc) converted back to a B/X framework. Some of the interesting generic spells include Control Element (alter up to a 30 foot cube of said element), Deflect Spell (deflect a spell within 10 feet of caster to a new point 1d10x10 feet away), False Teleport (caster turns into gas, flies up to 100 feet away, then reforms), Hex (target takes double damage from magical attacks and -2 to attack rolls), and Warding Mark (caster marks a surface area and contingent condition; when activated nearby targets must save or be stunned and caster knows it was activated).

Unique Spells are found only in Endon because of their relative newness to the world. A few interesting ones include Butterfly Hurricane (can grant immunity to non-area ranged attacks and stun targets inside), Hone (object’s edge becomes razor sharp and deals 1d6 additional damage), Lavin’s Pathclearing Servant (10 foot wide by 100 foot long force blade pushes objects out of the way), Newspaper Trap (enchants up to 10 pounds of paper to fly and cover a nearby target’s face), and the Creature Comforts of Tuttle Wren (creates a large tent that wards outside elements for 8 hours and contains various survival gear, cookware, high-quality furniture, and an erotic novel that is less erotic than expected).

Discount Spells are a d50 table with titles only. They include such entries as Mass Yawning, Stew to Soup, Frighten Ducks, and other such comical things.

Buying and Selling Spells covers what happens when the party looks for magical assistance outside their own capabilities. Mages in Endon rarely sell knowledge of spells directly, instead preferring to sell magic items. Spells of 0 to 2nd level are cheap as dirt regardless of Tempo (10 to 2 gp), while 3rd to 5th level spells are pricier (150 to 20 gp) and have a chance at having a Complication. 6th to 8th level spells are a pretty penny regardless of Tempo (1,000 to 550 gp) and always have a Complication. 9th level spells are too rare and precious to be sold on the open market. Buying the spell in scroll form doubles the cost, while wands increase the price tenfold. Spells can be purchased via a reputable firm, from a university, or via the criminal underworld (likelier chances of duds, misfires, etc). There’s a list of 7 Reputable Firms and 8 Disreputable Wizards along with their locations in Endon, their areas of expertise, and the seller’s quirky personality traits in the case of Disreputable Wizards. Reputable Firms are strongly classist and will bar entry to anyone not obviously Middle or Upper Class. Disreputable Wizards will sell to anyone, and can even dabble in illegal magic and stolen items, but they buy items at 10% market value and can rarely buy more than 100 gold worth of items and spells at any one time. As such, they prefer operating on a favor-based economy.

Complications are a d20 table that represents some flawed process in the spell breeding or in regards to how said spell/item was gained. Sample complications include being less accurate than normal, inflicting damage to the caster, the spell/magic item being used in a crime and can bring police attention, or the seller being paranoid of the prospective buyer.

PCs selling spells works a bit differently. Common spells and those low-level ones you see in just about every Edition are virtually worthless due to high supply, and there’s more money to be had in rare and complicated spells with an alternate effect or novelty feature. Additionally Endon’s economy prioritizes spells which have a clear industrial application. As such, prices PCs can get away with range from 1d10 gp (common) to 1d10x1,000 gp minimum for rare and powerful spells with clear industrial applications. There’s also a d20 Complication table too, ranging from the prospective buyer planning on mugging the PCs to rumours of the party’s financial prosperity attracting all manner of greedy folk.

Our chapter ends with Unsolved Problems unaddressed by the Paradigm. A few problems include the lack of universality of the number 8 and the commonality of 12 as a counterpoint,* whether or not the process used in binding a soul to undead flesh can be used to transfer living souls into golem bodies, why time can be slowed down but not sped up, whether there is anything that can travel faster than the speed of light, and if summoned creatures actually come from somewhere vs being conjured from the spell itself.

*twelve months in a year, twelve hours each in the “day” and the “night.


Thoughts So Far: I really like this chapter, for it emphasises Endon’s high-magic nature. The commodification of spells and “magic item marts” are a rather contentious issue among D&D players, but in the industrial capitalist Weird Wizard Show of Magical Industrial Revolution it is a great fit. Being able to cross-breed and mutate spells, build one’s own magic items, and Complications from acquired spells and magic items really adds to the atmosphere of charting dangerous new horizons and gives ample room for PCs to get in on it beyond GM Fiat. My chief concern is that the relative cheapness of spells and items as the Tempo increases may make spellcasting PCs and those with charged magical items even more powerful. But given that only low-level magic can really be bought in abundance without consequence mutes my concerns a bit. That it’s in line with the setting’s increasing creep towards a golden-age-turned-armageddon makes a bit of thematic sense.

Join us next time as we cover Magic Items, Citizens of Endon, and a Menagerie bestiary!