The Bronze Grimoire (1994) is my favorite of the Elric! supplements despite having perhaps the least inspiring cover. This was a moment in time when Chaosium was putting out a number of books with black and white covers (Ye Booke of Monsters comes immediately to mind). I didn’t like it then, and I don’t like it now, but it is better than some of the stuff that came out in the late ’90s.
Anyway, this brief book (80 pages!) is dedicated the expanding the game’s magic. First up is rune magic as derived from the Moorcock stories; these provide ongoing buffs or single use effects. Necromancy brings, well, necromancy into the game, which function basically as expected but with some aesthetic darkening. Much space is devoted to moving souls around in order to protect them. This section has an Earl Geier illustration of a Melnibonéan mummy that is maybe my favorite in the whole book. There’s also a selection of undead monsters, which is nice to have on hand.
There’s an expanded spell list. Most of them are a bit meh, others have narrative components that are compelling. I particularly enjoy the various spells for communing with great powers, as they are lengthy and seem to naturally lead to scenarios. There’s a selection of enchantments I would probably never use (they don’t have the right vibe to me, more D&D than I want, and I’m still salty about the lack of demon items). The tomes chapter has some Call of Cthulhu-esque grimoires that are interesting and probably good adventure fodder. Finally, a new batch of demons. They’re mostly generic and, I dunno, like I keep saying demons in the original game were unique, intelligent and interesting. These are mostly just targets for swords. Underwhelming.
Earl Geier and Mark Ryberg are the illustrators and they do a good job of making me overlook the shortcomings. End of the day, it’s a grab bag sort of book and it’s got some cool monsters, I can’t complain too much!
Very nice that you review this old Elric! rpg supplement. I generally like the dark and “old and battered ruins from even older empires”-feelings of the Young Kingdoms of Michael Moorcock’s creation in Chaosium’s vision. For me though, the “flash bang nonsense” (Greg Stafford’s words) of spells and spell components have never really gripped me, and is probably the reason that I never played more than one single magician during our campaigns in both the beginnings of D&D and through Stormbringer and every other fantasy game I partook in. So therefore, for me, the 1st to 3rd edition of Stormbringer by Chaosium with their summoning and binding-system for handling magics, is the best version. I still GM Stormbringer from time to time, and my favorite scenario from the named versions is “Sorcerer’s Isle”. I heartily recommend it as a starter for new players of the musty atmosphere of Moorcock’s world(s).