When SHADIS sent me a copy of Spherewalker for review, my initial response was an unqualified "blah." The first sourcebook for Everway, WotC's disastrous effort at a role-playing game, had nothing about it that would inspire excitement. A dull-looking layout, a cinderblock-grey cover, a new publishing company at the helm... to say nothing of the fact that the system itself is living on borrowed time. Why on earth would anybody be interested in a book like this?

Then I started reading it.

The book is organized around a series of alphabetical entries, a sort of encyclopedia for Everway. Everything from magic to monsters to the myriad civilizations of the Everway universe is included, all extensively covered and easy to find. Putting it in that light, however, fails to exemplify the astonishing imagination present on these pages.

Author Greg Stolze seems to have a great deal of knowledge on myth and religion, which he takes as underlying concepts for the work. Then he applies his own ideas to their format, twisting common stereotypes into fresh formats. All of the standard trappings of fantasy gaming are present in Spherewalker Sourcebook; there just presented in an entirely different light.

Example: One of the largest entries in the book is "dragon," a fantasy cliché if there ever was one. They're big, they're scaly, they breathe fire. Major yawner, right? But what if they were the original creations of the gods, predating man by millennia? And one day they revolted against heaven and were cast down for their insolence? And the gods made another attempt to create intelligent beings and came up with humanity as a second effort? Suddenly, there's a whole new reason for dragons to be so crabby, and new sense of tragedy added to their existence.

Spherewalker is chock full of this, ordinary fantasy concepts approached from a unique new way. A combination of flexibility and detail allows the reader to access its perspective without being constrained to it. It evokes the reader's imagination perfectly, giving one's own ideas a foundation to grow from. In addition, there is an amazing amount of interconnectedness between the entries. Every essay links up with every other, but in subtle and quiet ways. One gets a sense of completeness from Spherewalker, of an entire universe spread out before you. Yet it doesn't drown the reader in trivialities. Detail is everywhere, but just enough to convey how this world is put together.

The versatility of Spherewalker Sourcebook is also impressive. While numerous references are made to elements of the Everway universe, there are no stats provided. The entries can be used by any fantasy GM for almost any role-playing game in existence. If you don't play Everway (and God knows, there's lots of us out here), there is is scads of useful material in Spherewalker. It's enraging to think that a book like this has almost no hope of commercial success, while other companies continue to crank out flaccid crap to enormous sales. No fantasy RPG product in the last decade has had a fraction of the wit, splendor and imagination that Spherewalker Sourcebook contains. It is a richly detailed, highly original piece of fantasy that no gamer should be without. Its dull packaging might cause you to dismiss it out of hand. But between its covers lies a truly breathtaking piece of work.

More Reviews:

Marshal Law (Deadlands GM kit)
Requiem: The Grim Harvest (AD&D)
Diablo (Computer Game Dungeon Adventure)
Battletech Explorer Corps
Spherewalker Sourcebook
Star Wars Live Action Roleplaying
Casting Call: Miniatures
Lost Treasures: Slave Lords and Dungeon!