Knight Owls Review: The Complete Vivimancer

I don’t really know how I missed this great supplement by Gavin Norman when he put it out back in 2014 because this is the precise book that I have needed ever since Meatlandia began to fester and grow within the boiling vat of my mind. In fact, the Vivimancer is essentially the same thing as the Meat Mage that we put in The Chaos Gods Come to Meatlandia, only with way more spells and better rules.

Like usual, Gavin Norman brings a wonderful combination of obsessive attention to detail and a zen-like commitment to cleanliness and simplicity in his writing, layout, and design. The spells are awesome–much better than some of the ones that I came up with in Meatlandia–and written in a way that they basically describe a completely new way to play the game. Rules are succinct and brief, but cover everything you need and give the DM plenty to work with. The artwork, by Cadanse D, works well with the content and helps highlight the weird creepiness off Vivimancy.

I got the print version because you really should buy Gavin Norman’s work in print to appreciate his genius. It’s written for Labyrinth Lord, but works fine for any OSR game. Gavin Norman says he’s planning a version for B/X Essentials, which I hope he makes, because both B/X E and the Vivimancer are awesome!

If you liked Meatlandia, you should DEFINITELY get The Complete Vivimancer–it’s the magic system for that world done right!