Saturday, August 11, 2018

Wolfheart by Richard A Knaak


Wolfheart
Written by Richard A. Knaak
World of Warcraft
$7.99 in Kindle Format

I'm a fan of Richard A. Knaak from way back in the 80's. I read his Legend of Huma and Kaz the Minotaur as well as his numerous Dragonrealm series. In those days Dark Horse and the Gryphon were some unique characters although the Farmboy who saves the world cliche was in full bloom.

Since then Richard A. Knaak has done work for a variety of properties including Diablo and World of Warcraft.

The last time I knew anything about Warcraft, Thrall was warchief, Night Elves were an almost unknowable immortal force and there were many stories to yet to be told.

So licensed settings change quick yeah?

Thrall is apparently dead. There's a brand new warchief in play and he isn't a fan of "can't we all get along." Instead, he's an aggressor. He leads the Horde on a mission against the Night Elves and the Alliance.

The Night Elves? No longer immortal. They are aging and susceptible to disease. One of the characters introduced in the book, Jarod Shadowsong, is brought in trying to save his lover, Shalasyr, whose once immortal frame cannot resist the lure of death anymore.

Mind you, much like many older characters, the pains and aches of these Night Elves are for storytelling purposes only. Few of them are ever hindered by these aches. There's not a "Malfurion staggered and fell to the ground clutching his chest knowing that the foe would get away this time..." No, it's purely a storytelling device used here.

The Alliance? Well, it's got members I don't recall hearing about before, including some dark dwarves whose portrayal as being paranoid of others up to the point of bringing their own food to large gatherings, such as that of the alliance, is entertaining and gives us a different take of the dwarf.

The gnomes and goblins of the Warcraft setting, always playing with technology that is resource intensive and dangerous to both user and enemy, are in full force here as well.

In terms of readability, I enjoyed Richard's work even though so much had changed. If you like the World of Warcraft and are a regular reader, the changes might be normal for you or you might already be passed these. This is a done in one book that ties into the other books and history of the setting so it's a fixed point in time in a setting that keeps moving forward.

Made me glad that I wasn't playing a game in the setting. I get mad enough when events like the Spellplague happen and give us a massive time skip in a setting to 'shake it up'. All of the changes described in this volume would make me leery of ever playing in such a setting again.

In terms of gaming, if you're looking to shake things up, this novel has enough inspiration to last for numerous campaign settings:

1. The Old Order Changes: Take your pick. The orcs have a new leader. The Night Elves are no longer immortal. The spirit of one of the ancients chooses a new champion in the modern era. The landscape itself is shaken up. Forces that were once enemies are now potential allies.

2. Sowing Dissension: Being a long-lived race, the Night Elves have had a few splits. But what happens when some of those errant children wish to return home? What happens if during those negotiations some of those elves are murdered? There are always numerous factions within the factions. Just because some Night Elves rever the druids and priests doesn't mean they all do.

3. The Enemy of My Enemy: The wolfkin in this series, worgen, werewolves who have control over their own shapeshifting, are lead by a man who once quit the alliance. In doing so, he created a rift among the human kingdoms. That rift is not easily mended but under threat of destruction by the orcs, well, giving someone another chance as opposed to being wiped out? Let's take a roll of those dice eh?

4. Competent Enemies: One of the nice changes of pace here is that the Horde are dangerous. They are cunning. They are competent warriors in the field. They have strategies in place for dealing with things like scouts and reconnaissance. In some aspects, the orcs as portrayed by Richard A. Knaak should have wiped out all resistance in this book. With their numbers and abilities, they had too much of a head start against the opposition. Divine resistance indeed. Where Thrall might have been a sympathetic hero, Garrosh is strong, cunning, and has powerful alliances and allies on his own side. His failure to take a complete victory here is a hand waved situation.

5. Relationships: In a campaign that involves characters, and there's nothing wrong with beer and pretzels Dungeons and Dragons, but in one that involves the relationships between characters, there are lovers, friends, family and rivals and frienemies. Use them all. Some will be poisoned by the actions the characters take. Will they seek to make them better? Some will be cast aside as the characters experience their own growth and their own wants and needs change.

Wolfheart is a novel that thanks to it being done in one, is an interesting look at a setting in motion that has probably already left the actions and elements of this novel in the distant past. Richard's writing allows one to see how the various conflicts of the world happen as the battle for resources and the need to redeem ancient actions shapes the modern world.



Tuesday, July 31, 2018

The West is Dying: Book 1 Fall of the First World



The West is Dying
Book 1 Fall of the First World
Written by David C. Smith
$2,99 Kindle
$19.99 Paperback


I read a few of David C. Smith's books back in the 80's. I read one Oron book and the six volumes he penned for the Red Sonja series. I had never heard of The Fall Of the First World though.

I found this one in the clearance section of Half-Price Books Skokie. After looking it over, turns out Davids revisited it with a more modern cover and name. Originally it was The Master of Evil with some weird I don't even know if I'd call it an 80's cover, but the new one is kind of 'grimdark' generic so take your pick and poison.


The border around the book certainly reminds me of the 80's. "Don't let the art full bleed damn you!"

I remembered enjoying the books from back in the day but if you asked me why I don't remember. I think they were violent for the time. Maybe 'proto-grimdark' if you will. You know, before every genre was sliced and diced for advanced marketing.

The Fall of the First World harkens back to the likes of Kull and Conan. While Conan is well known to be in the Hyborian Age, Kull takes place well before Conan. In similar fashion, the 'First World' takes place before the modern eras.

The West is Dying sounds like it could have been written today. While I'm sure at the time it was probably based more on the collapse of the Roman Empire, due to things like being a vast empire with numerous other emerging empires rising and starting to nibble, due to corruption and devaluation of wealth, due to incompetent leaders and leaders who betray their people, I'm sure that some reading it in 2018 would think it was just written as opposed to being first publishing in 1983.

There are some things that David does that sit well with me. He introduces a large cast of characters and much like a well known 'modern' author, he kills some you think would be favorites with no warning. If the script says, well, telling the 'bad guy' you're going to try to fuck his plans now means you die, and you're stupid enough to tell the bad guy your plans... well, there is no mystery savior popping out of the shadows to save you.

David also has a good descriptive voice. I could easily use some of his descriptions in a role-playing game and players would know what I'm talking about. "Cyrodian the second prince of the empire, was indeed a man to inspire fear: Huge - taller by a head than the tallest soldier in the Khamar palace guard - he was broad-shouldered, buffalo chested, with arms and legs the size of oaks. His beard and mustache were coarse, and he wore his hair in a modified soldier's cut far from the forehead, unkempt at shoulders." (pg. 24 trade paperback)

David also described death in its many forms exceedingly well.  "On the floor, the fat man groaned and rolled back and forth, holding his hands over his belly. Long rolls of intestines moved out of him like fat brown worms, and he sobbed as he attempted to push his bowels back inside." (pg. 332 e-version)

The only place I'd offer a warning, is that because this is the first part of a trilogy, and because it has a wide scope, much like modern sagas, it has a lot of characters and a lot of locations and a lot of things going on that are barely touched on in this book. Wizards, for example, are low fantasy, but their might cannot be denied. And there are several of them and you're left wondering, "Well, how is that going to play out."

New kingdoms and their players are introduced quickly and their stance against 'Rome' made clear. New plots and perils come to fruition at the end, but the author leaves us on a cliffhanger.

The Kindle versions are affordable at $2.99. And their all done. If you're looking for low fantasy sword and sorcery stylings, David C. Smith is an author whose is probably very unrecognized by modern readers. Check him out and let me know what you think.



Monday, July 30, 2018

Stealing From Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom for your RPGs

Dinosaurs have been a part of the Dungeons and Dragons experience for decades. this wiki stub provides a brief breakdown but falls to include the new 5e product Tomb of Annihilation which features more dinos in the jungle.

But what does that have to do with the new summer blockbuster Fallen Kingdom? Let's see what you can easily steal from it:

1. Fallen Kingdom: Have the players or the people in the campaign run through an area that has now fallen into ruin? Did an old campaign fail with the players not saving Waterdeep? With Shadowdale being destroyed? Have the new players go through those ruins. Have them see the price of failure.

2. The environment as a challenge: While 4e may be hated for many reasons, it's skill challenge system had some potential. It allowed your characters to try and succeed at something with a certain number of successes needed before hitting a certain number of failures. Need to jump onto a crumbling spiral stairwell while lava burns through the roof? Need to dodge falling boulders while driving a carriage unto a boat that's leaving dock? Set some skill checks and devise some penalties for each failure. Maybe you get splashed with acid. Maybe you get jostled on the vehicle. Maybe a nearby monster gets to take a bite at you.

3. Minions: While it's great to give players equal opposition and sometimes even have them go against stronger foes, giving them numerous opportunities to knock out weaker foes gives them a chance to flex their own physical prowess.

4. New Enemies: In a game like Dungeons and Dragons, one of the most iconic monsters is the owlbear. Fallen Kingdom introduces the much cooler indoraptor, a super raptor.



In a game like dungeons and dragons where half-orcs, half-elves, half-dragons and more often hit the standards as a player race, well, seeing some new and unique type of dinosaurs is an almost assured thing. More importantly, though, it should serve as an example of making your own mark on a campaign. Has a new wizard decided to follow through with owlbear variants? Has a new dragon cult determined that dragons crossed with demons are stronger than those crossed with devils? Many many moons ago, Mongoose Publishing created a book dedicated to this type of monster creation, Crossbreeding. Well worth a look for ideas.

5. Random Events: The biggest failing for me of Fallen Kingdom is the surprise savior bit that keeps getting played out over and over. Hero comes to save kid! Blue comes to save hero! Love interest comes to save both! But from that idea, comes the idea that if the heroes and villains are fighting in a wilderness-based area, perhaps there are other things out there that will gladly take turns and bites out of both groups?

6. Unique Features: The inoraptor has a distinct feature, outside of its own unique look. It taps one of its talons on the ground. It's something that instantly gives it personality and character. The raptor blue has enough features that it's no longer 'just' a raptor, it's a character. The big old T-Rex that's been around forever? It's now scarred but still standing and still doing its iconic poses and roars. Try to remember when the party isn't fighting nightless hordes to give them something to remember about the encounter.

7. Feature Expansion: At the end of the movie, the 'genie' is out of the bottle. Even though, you know, as technology progressess it would've been out of the bottle years ago. Dinosaurs are hinted to be at a much more involved state of the world. What if in most fantasy setting with a demon infestation that infestation explodes outwards? Overall perhaps smaller but in more 'mundane' areas? What if that magical desert starts spiking out in odd growth patterns and intrudes in other rareas? What if an outer planar feature that was just a portal becomes a city or opens up for much longer? Some huge ramifications and some serious thought should be given to such an event.

Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom isn't perfect but it's a fun summer film and can provide numerous opportunities to add fun elements to your own campaign.

Sunday, December 17, 2017

Wulf the Saxon by G. A. Henty

Wulf the Saxon
A Story of Norman Conquest
Written by G. A. Henty
$6.99 Paperback

I've mentioned shopping at the Half-Priced Books in Skokie Il before and perusing their dollar rack. This book is another captured from that shelf.

It's not going to win any modern awards, but it is a book over one hundred years old! I didn't realize that when I first picked it up. My cover is so out of date that I couldn't find the right image to put up on my blog so I had to scan it. I've also never read anything by G. A. Henty and was surprised that he had written so many books that I might be interested in as their historical eras are ones that have long fascinated me.

It's the story of 1066 and the battle of Hastings as told through the eyes of Wulf the Saxon.

There are a few bits readers should draw out for their own games:

1. Water is powerful: There are two separate occasions Wulf has trials and tribulations due to the waves he rides upon. One time casting him and his liege at the prisoners of William the Conqueror, the other dashing the boats of the English navy to pieces. This is a common trope in many stories though. If you've seen Frank Miller's 300, there is a scene where the Persian Fleet is destroyed.

Don't be afraid to showcase how wild, powerful, unpredictable and uncontrollable elements are outside of the characters and even their patrons.

2. Death is not to be feared: When the former king of England is ready to die, he's speaking of rejoicing. If the belief in the afterlife is firm, death should not be a trial. It should not be a tribulation. It should be a time of earnest celebration.

3. A celebration of Victories: If the party is in town and the GM needs to give the town some local color, have the players come upon the village while it is in the midsts of celebrating a victory over some regional foe. Orcs, bandits, ogres, trolls, and even hill giants all may be threats to such townships but having claimed a victory over a great force, say perhaps at a ford or river or pass, the town celebrates that victory every year to remind themselves of the cost and the valor of those who died to achieve that victory.

4. Names. There are many ways to go about naming a character. For example, we have William. He's sometimes referred to as William of London or even as Bishop William of London. The main character, Wulf, is known as Wulf of Steyning and eventually takes the last name of the family he's adopted into.

5. Hostages: George R. R. Martin's fantasy series, A Game of Thrones, has 'Reek' who was raised by the Starks only to betray them. Being raised by an enemy is a common feature of history. Your children go as hostages to another lord and are raised under that lord's banner and learn that lord's ways and methods. It can lead to high drama if years down the road those loyalties are tested.

A name can come from a variety of places. Adding the 'of XXX" is a frequent use. We have such individuals of Edwin of Mercia in this book. In fantasy, we have Elric of Melnibone for example. Instead of 'of XXX,' sometimes it's a descriptor, Conan the Cimmerian.

Names can also be of a profession or of a rank. Many nobles may go by Lord or Lady, for example, Lady Agnes. In religious factions, the rankings of the Church should be in full play. Is there a difference between a Bishop and a Cardinal? If you have four or five characters call Harold, you need a way to distinguish them.

They can be descriptive. Elric is also known as the White Wolf as is the most popular of Witchers. In this book, we have Edith of the Swan Neck.

Names can denote heritage such as Harkon the Son of Sweyn.

Names can also be of the House. For example, the House of Leofric. The House of Jor-El.

A character's name can say a lot about him without the character ever saying anything. Use it wisely.



Monday, December 4, 2017

Focal Point: The Complete Game Master's Guide To Running Extraordinary Sessions

Focal Point
The Complete Game Master's Guide To Running Extraordinary Sessions
Written by Phil Vecchione, Walt Ciechanowski, and John Arcadian
Published by Gnome Stew
$24.95
EGP42006
234 b & w pages

Dusts off blog.

Been busy with work, painting miniatures and day to day living. Been reading a lot of work-related non-fiction and short story anthologies like House of Fear. I bought House in October for Halloween themed horror and am still reading it.

Shame!

Anyway, in between the mundane, I did manage to finish off Focal Point, a book on game mastering by Gnome Stew by a trio of authors who've done some work for Gnome Stew before.

First off, I hope one day to never see a non-standard gaming book size again. I get that there's some weird small press creed or it's easier to stock or they can be thrown farther or what have you but man I hate the way they look on my shelf.

Layout is simple one column format with different varieties in type to set off special sidebars. Art is solid and goes well with the material. I'd say the cover art is one of the weakest pieces in the book. They might have been better just going with the die and the lighting as opposed to the art there is there. Then again, everyone's an art critic right?

I've been playing since the mid-80's.

I generally play with the same group of people.

Some things in the book will not apply to me.

That doesn't make it any less useful to read thought.

When running a game, there are many chainsaws to keep in the air. Any book the helps remind you of things you may have missed, that provides you with ideas on game elements that could be enhanced, that's told in an entertaining way, is worth reading.

The authors use Gemma and her group to frame the 19 chapters. Chapters are organized into wider sections, Lights, Camera, Action. The chapters move and the story of Gemma and her group flows with it. It's a good framing device.

For me? As long as I play with my normal group, things like 'trigger' warnings aren't a problem. Advice on getting people to pay attention to the game? Variable utility depending on who the culprit is. Good to see that I'm not the only one with such problems though.

Advocating game mastery as a way to streamline gaming? Such good advice. I'm tempted to have one of my friends who works with wood put together a sign, "Read the Fucking Book."

I get at conventions or a brand new system, there are going to be things unknown for players who may be dipping a toe into the waters of the game. But four weeks later, few people, especially the Game Master, should be pondering how the skill check system works. Or at least know where it's at.

I'm not sure if it's just me being an older bastich, but watching how some people think that anyone who knows the rules is 'merely' a rule lawyer and they suck, is wrong.

Expertise in a game system is not a problem. Abusing that knowledge over your other players, standing in every effort to move the game forward, arguing with the GM, those are bad elements.

Knowing your game system is not bad.

One of the things that the book hits a few times, is that gaming is a group effort. The gamers need to get along together. They should know how they're going to work in combat. They should have some idea of how things are going to happen once the action starts. They need to have each other's backs.

Now again, as it's important to point these things out least someone go, "But what about..." Yes, if you're playing the Shield or playing some Vampire double betrayal special, then group unitiy in and of itself may not be the end goal of the game.

But even in those instances, system mastery will reward the group as one player is not dominating game time thanks to not knowing the system and having to look up everything over and over again.

Focal Point may read a little dry at times, but it's all solid advice. It'll go on the shelf next to the other books in the series and perhaps one day be updated through a Kickstarter into a big old Hardcover with all three books that can sit alongside the big boy books and leave it's paperback short shame hall.

If you'r a game master, especially a new game master, I recommend not only checking out Gnome Stew's web site, but picking up their books. You may come across bits you already know, but tuck those away and move onto the examples and other bits that may be new territory for you.

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Murder in Lamut: Legends of the Riftwar Book II

Murder in Lamut
Legends of the Riftwar Book II
Written by Raymond E. Feist & Joel Rosenberg
$3.99 Kindle Edition
$6.34 Mass Market Paperback

I picked up my first Raymond E. Feist book from the SFBC, Magician by Raymond E. Feist, many decades ago. One of the fun things about the internet is you can google the image of the book you used to have.


I haven't kept pace with everything but I have bought a few of the old Midkemia Press gaming books like Carse and Tulan. Recently I even had bought a few more, Jonril and Heart of the Sunken Land.  Be sure to check out their website as they even have a few free PDF products.

I never played any of the Betrayal series, but I have friends who did back in the day and they loved it.

In short, Midkemia as a setting has received a lot of love.

In the Legends of the Riftwar series, Raymond E. Feist allows other others to join him in crafting stories set during that time period. In this volume, Joel Rosenberg, best known for his Guardians of the Flame series, to play in the city of Lamut.

The novel starts with three different introductions, one for each of the main characters. Durine, Kethol, and Pirojil, are mercenaries who have fought against the Tsurani invaders, the 'villains' of the Riftware series, as well as the 'bugs' in the mountains. Throw in goblins and other humans and what have you and you'll understand that these are seasoned men.

The characters are given small arcs to showcase their unique talents but as this isn't one of those mega-novels, their development arcs aren't lengthy or intensely detailed. At the end, the characters are much the same as they were at the start.

Durine is a huge ugly individual whose reknown for his strength and size.

Kethol is known for his wilderness lore. He is the closest we have to a 'breakthrough' character in that he starts to care about the job and the people involved.

Pirojil is the brains of the operation. He sees beyond people's everyday facades and it makes him the one best able to determine who may be a murderer in Lamut.

They are hired by the city's Swordmaster to protect one Baron Morray. As outsiders, as skilled outsiders, they are not involved in the many local factions and ongoing issues that the Kingdom itself is going through. Fans of the Riftwar series will enjoy the numerous references to other events in the series as seen from far away and will enjoy the 'guest' appearance of Fantus the drake.

Although some novels in the series are high magic on the order of gods and things older and worse than gods battling, Murder in Lamut is entirely down to earth. None of the main characters are magicians or magic users, and at this point in time, the series hadn't gone to the higher ends involving the magician's guild.

This makes it a good read for those who enjoy a little bit of gritty work in their series but take note when I say gritty, I don't mean the subgenre 'grimdark'. There are people working hard and the characters have an earthy feel to them, but one never reads the novel as if this was a work where anyone could die at any second and that life itself was but the stuff of stardust dreams.

It's been a long time since I've read any Raymond E. Feist work and even longer since I've read any Joel Rosenberg's work so I can't tell you who wrote which section, but I can tell you that it doesn't feel that it was written by two people. It's a smooth flowing book that a dedicated reader with enough time should be able to finish in a day.


Tuesday, September 26, 2017

The Red Knight by Miles Cameron

The Red Knight
Book 1 of the Traitor Son Cycle
Written By Miles Cameron

The internet works in mysterious ways. I bought the Red Knight a while ago when it was on sale with the intention of reading it whenever it fits into my schedule. But as I have a ton of books that fall into that category, the time never seemed right.

Then I was reading on Mark Lawrence's blog about 'grim' fantasy books, and The Red Knight was receiving high rankings in a list. Being a fan of Mark Lawrence's Prince of Thorn's book, I immediately went and downloaded the Red Knight.

Fantastic stuff.

It's a massive tome being well over six hundred pages.

It takes place in its own fantasy medieval Earth or at least medieval style Earth. It retains tropes of real-world religion while throwing magic and divisions of that magic into the mix. The 'Wild' that of nature is green in hue and wild in power. The 'Sun' or religious power, is Gold and pure in power.

The Red Knight is a 'nameless' knight known as The Captain for most of the novel. He leads a ragtag band of mercenaries through the war-torn world, currently in an Arthurian country where a true king leads his knights into glory for his beauteous queen.

The author's writing perhaps isn't the pinnacle of 'grimdark', but people come and go with some frequency. Just when you think, "Ah, this character is important to the plot... oh wait, a spike in the neck, nevermind."

Since the Red Knight has a mercenary group at his command, there are a lot of characters to play with. That not being enough though, the author gives us viewpoint characters for the 'Wild' as well, including 'Thorn', the former royal mage who betrayed humanity itself and now looks more like Groot or Treebeard.

The Red Knight himself is almost typical in his design. A young man blessed with an extraordinary power which is filled with heresy because of his emo origin. He's an excellent swordsman, he's a great magician, he's a great leader. Yet he's not happy. His angst makes him less than perfect and makes those around him want to help him.

As more of his background becomes known, the reader has to wonder how much of his rage is justified and how much of it is wasted. For example, when the Red Knight meets one of his brothers, the two are more or less on the same page and join forces.

There are numerous complexities in the novel and multiple factions. The author does what I thought was a great job in showcasing elements that lead you to believe one thing only to turn out to be an entirely different thing.

One of its overarching themes though was that of love and sacrifice. In some ways, it reminded me of Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman is there to show how love and sacrifice for others can better the world. When the Wild is perhaps closer than its ever been to victory, one of the key players on the Wild side finds that he cannot do what needs to be done to cement that win. I found it ringing true.

But there are also elements that ring about the sacrifice part. The heroes don't just walk away from all holding their heads higher. Many die in the battles, many gain new scars, some scarred in ways they thought themselves immune to.

The Red Knight has a lot of things going for it. The large cast of characters, the numerous factions, the exploration of how magic itself works, the red herrings, all provide hours of entertainment.

Miles Cameron, in addition to his writing chops, is also a gamer, so if you want to support players who write fiction, especially great fiction, you could do worse than the Red Knight.