Vaginas Are Magic! Review

I'm in love with this promo art.

Today my signed copy of  Vaginas are Magic! arrived. Though I just got a physical copy, I've read through the pdf several times. Once again, +James Raggi has blown me away with his Free RPG Day offering. The book is a 48 or so page hardcover that's in a delightful purple. Like all LotFP releases the book is in a digest size and does a great job of making the most of all space. All inside covers are full. The front inside covers present new weird magic rules. They are presented for magic-users only (which I've read might be because the next version of LotFP might not include the cleric as a basic class). Whether the next edition does or not have clerics, the magic rules presented still make arcane magic a reality warping and dangerous force. The spell's power is determined by the caster and have potentially dangerous consequences if miscast. The Author's Notes discuss the LotFP approach to Free RPG Day (which is the best hands down btw and you can find links to past offerings below). After the author's note we're given a three page Magic Primer that further expounds on weird magic and what magic should be. While it isn't long, it's a wonderful treatise on the arcane. It also discusses that while these spells can only be cast by women (in this definition those that can have children), the core rules contain magic research rules which could make versions of these spells access able to other casters.

Then we get into the meat of the book: 20 weird spells. These spells are brutal, which makes sense because they're all named after metal tracks. Each spell is also accompanied by a beautiful/disturbing/funny full page illustration. One of the things that really draws me to these spells is the story behind them. These bits of exposition give the spells some sort of logic (whether they're true in your game or not). My favourites are probably Mistress of the Bleeding Sorrow, Transylvanian Hunger, (and because I'm pretty fucked up) Goat Perversion. Please note that the spells in this book can, will, and should affect your game. That's the point of magic. It warps reality. Because magic, that's why.

The book also contains a list of people (like me) that helped crowdfund it and the back inside cover is a list of metal tracks that would make good spells.

A final note about the book, I love the cover and the model, Riina Himanen. There are a few pictures of her in the book and it's cool to see some fantasy modeling.

If you haven't downloaded Vaginas are Magic! do it asap. You won't regret it (unless you're easily offended or squeamish).

Also, if you haven't picked up the past Free RPG Day Lamentations of the Flame Princess pdfs you really need to. Here are the links:

Slügs!
The Doom-Cave of the Crystal-Headed Children
Better Than Any Man

Oh yeah and if for some strange reason you haven't checked out Lamentations of the Flame Princess you can snag the no-art version of the core book here. You can also get the older version of the GM guide here. Both of these are free.