Every mage has his story of how he Awakened, generally involving an immersive vision of their Watchtower, a mystical and extremely personal experience. In the opening fiction, a group of young mages - who initially think they are facing certain death - share their stories and through them find what they need to save themselves.

Mages use symbols and imagery a lot to describe the Supernal Realms in ways that help them make sense of it. This begins, unknowing, with their dream of Awakening, but as time passes and they learn more about what they have become, their imagery becomes more focussed and they grow in understanding of what they see. This is not a book which a mage could read, but it is one their players should: to understand what their mage character makes of his experiences, what he understands and how he sees it. It's different for everyone, of course, and even people who are of the same Path won't view it in completely the same way, although there may well be similarities. For those who want to revel to the full in the mystical internal development that being an Awakened mage brings for their character, this book will enable them to share something of what their character, in his alternate reality of the game world, feels.

The book is made up of five chapters, each concerning one Supernal Path. Each contains lore, the history of that Path... and also indications of how mages on the Path view those who follow the other Paths. There's history, rites, notes on character creation, all manner of information to help you really get into the skin of your character. It's all legend and supposition - but things that your mage will have heard and read. Whether or not he accepts them as truth is up to you (and him).

The concept of a discipline - a vow taken and kept - is also introduced. In game mechanical terms, it provides the mage who keeps his vow faithfully with extra Mana. But a wise choice of discipline can shape a whole character, mark him out as distinctive. It's a bit like a religious vow or restriction - just like Mormons choose not to drink tea or coffee, or Jews to avoid eating pork. It's voluntary, and can be something that a whole cabal decides to adhere to, or just a single mage who feels the need to impose such a stricture on his life. Once taken on, however, it pervades everything and breaking it can cost a lot more than Mana - loss of relationships, of standing, and more. Take a discipline on with caution... and then role-play it to the hilt.

It's a bit difficult to know just when you should read this book. When creating a Mage: The Awakening character, you choose his Path along with everything else, yet in the alternate reality of the game, the Path chooses him rather than the other way around. The information about his Path will be acquired along with much more during his initial training, something most games do 'off screen' even when intending to start with new and inexperienced mages... mages who know nothing at all are not much fun to play, after all. Best they have acquired at least some knowledge of their new capabilities and learned a few rotes before the game proper begins. So sometime during the early stages of the game, as the character learns, so do you. Of course, that only applies for the first time you play the game. Next character around, you might well pick a different Path so have a whole new lot of stuff to learn... and try to forget some of the old, which a fledgling mage of another Path won't know! The age-old issue of character knowledge and player knowledge.

Yet for those who really want to understand their mage and play him to the full, this is an excellent resource replete with lore and beliefs and suppositions and half-known histories. Revel in it and use it to inform your role-playing!

Tome of the Watchtower, although it would seem to have a modestly good rating in the general community, is an exceptionally well-written book, particularly for those who are either familiar with a breadth of magick lore and history, or who would like to learn "traditional" magick rituals in a natural and unobtrusive way. While the actual content in gaming terms may require a certain amount of gamemaster ingenuity to include in a campaign or gamer background / storytelling to incorporate, the text of the book itself is written similarly to many stories concerning the use of magick and presents the basic structure of several enochian rites (with particular emphasis on group workings) just below the surface in the writing.

With that said, gamemasters might find Tome of the Watchtowers particularly useful in designing awakening stories and background material specific to each of the paths, as well as designing "destiny" links between players' backgrounds that can account for both why members of a cabal joined together and how their separate and individual goals in terms of story progress may have a tendency keep them together, regardless of their path and organizational affiliations. In this sense, the text presents a good balance between general magick principles and storytelling from a unified perspective and the more specific spin/tone/style that tends to go along with different kinds of practices as expressed through various traditional occult groups and solitary methods of attainment.

In a similar manner, gamemasters might find this book useful in designing either full-length campaigns or one-shot adventures that are themed for use in stories regarding seekings, recovering lost codices and spells, solving mysteries, and making peace between warring parties with cross-purposes, for example. Players may find the book useful in further developing character histories and motivations, planning their character's "career", or simply adding to their overall knowledge and background lore.

Being well-written, Tome of the Watchtowers is easy to ready, but it might be worth adding that the text is very idea-rich and content-dense, so for those less familiar with traditional magick rituals, this book may require a second read and considerable thought for best comprehension. That said, for readers who prefer a less active approach, the text is written in a manner likely to inspire your imagination if your focus is less upon game mechanics (which the book includes only lightly and summarily) and more upon game atmosphere.

All around, Tome of the Watchtowers definitely serves as a worthwhile contribution to the Mage legacy.