The Book of Ebon Bindings (1978) is the only other Petal Throne book I own, but holy wow is it a good one. It sort of defies good photography, too — that gold ink is so thick it is raised. It reminds me quite a bit of little turn of the century occult books you can find in second hand bookstores every so often.
And with good reason, because Ebon Bindings is a book of black magic! Barker presents it as an in-universe document that he has found and translated. The first part is a frankly exhausting conversation with a priest about the nuances of his beliefs and the structures of his rituals. It feels very much like a scholarly work on an obscure religion. The second part reproduces a famous reputed book of rituals that catalogs demons, their powers and how to call them up.
If you’ve ever read modern editions of grimoires, this is almost always how they are presented. A translator’s note, followed by some historical and social context that verges on boring then the reproduced tome, which invariable deals with horrible stuff like “to make the wand, murder a man at the crossroads and use his femur, this is the only way to convince the devil to give you a black hen that lays golden eggs.” (I am paraphrasing, but that is the gist of the real world grimoire, The Black Pullet). The entities and rituals of Ebon Bindings are similarly horrific — there is even a mature readers content warning (which, amusingly, doesn’t admit the book is fiction), a first, I think, for RPGs. Lots of RPG books embrace a “Forbidden Tome” vibe, but none so completely as this.
There isn’t a lick of mechanics in here, by the way, making it one of the first mechanics free sourcebooks for RPGs. I love Barker’s art here. The four armed demon lady gives me the creeps. Black metal album art got nothing on that.
