The Disfavored Hero (The Tomoe Gozen Saga Book 1) by Jessica Amanda Salmonson

The Disfavored Hero
The Tomoe Gozen Saga Book 1
Jessica Amanda Salmonson
$6.15 Kindle format or free on Kindle Unlimited

While I'm pleased with the selection of graphic novels available on Kindle Unlimited, I'm less so with actual novels. I'm also on the lookout for interesting stories about non-western fantasy as it's a field ripe for exploration. I was pleased to discover The Disfavored Hero where the whole trilogy is available in the Kindle Unlimited library.

I will say though, that the publishers of the kindle book have gone the 'classic' yet cheap route on the cover. Look at the original from 1981:

That looks like it came right out of the 80s and it's glorious.

That's also something going for it. Jierl of Joiry gets a lot of credit for being one of, if not the first female heroes in the fantasy field and one of the first by a female author. But Jierl was not a great hero in her own tales. That might have been an artifact of the time but her sword skills and actual abilities always seemed to get the beat down being saved by the weird even more so than the original Conan tales.

Tomoe suffers defeat herself but her abilities are on a far superior level.

The book itself?

Less so.

It's hard to describe the writing. At first, I thought this was a translation because it moves between telling the reader what happened and actually having some dialog between characters. It's more of a style thing that didn't gel with me. Heck, may be an 80's thing. In some ways, it reminds me of old fairy tales or legends.

It's also a bit rough in places in terms of transition.

The cast of charactes is not wide. There are a handful introduced throughout the series with a few originally introduced making their way back towards the end but it's not a huge cast, no Game of Thrones. 

But the meat of the story itself?

A lot of fantasy goodness there.

Tomoe herself is almost too powerful. When she's first introduced, she's a samurai who's already been on an important mission to the mainland of fantasy China to kill a traitorous swordsmith who was making weapons for the mainland.

She kept two of those swords for herself and along with three of her friends, grew into a legend. Again, this is before the book starts. When the book gets moving though, we see Tomoe use her two Chinese longswords against an army and win. Mind you the author notes that it's not that unusual for a highly trained, heavily armored and armed individual, to be able to cut through poorly trained chattel but Tomoe takes it to a new level.

In the doing so, Tomoe is injured unto death and is only saved through dark magic that temporarily enslaves her. During that magical enslavement, she commits acts of treason under a Chinese mystic but is restored by her Samurai honor being tested. Her honor proves stronger than the binds put upon her.

Now free, she wanders as a Ronin and encounters the people of fantasy Japan, which here the author calls Naippon, a slight change of wording to indicate it's relationship with the real world. Other authors, especially Gary Gygax, would do this with Oerth, Aerth, etc...

In this tale we get to see ghouls that when hacked apart, put themselves back together again with whatever is available. We get to see ogres and oni. We get to see kappa and dragon queens. We get quasi-planes and transportation through strange dimensions. The author does a solid job of bringing the fantasy and the unusual to her version of Naippon.

The tale and test set in the first section of the book come full circle in the end when Tomoe gets to met the only one to easily beat her but did so only because of the 'unpure' style she initially was using. It's mythical in the cyclic nature it takes.

As a side note, there's also several black and white illustrations in the novel. It's a nice change of pace for the standard walls of text and I enjoy seeing how an artist interpets the scenes and characters.

I recommend the novel to anyone who's looking for something outside the standard westernized elves and dwarves. To anyone looking to run a game of Legends of the Five Rings or old school Oriental Adventurers.

The most difficult time I had with those settings when younger, was looking for inspirational material. The Tomoe Gozen Saga has it.

Asian Spell Compendium

Asian Spell Compendium
Published by Legendary Games
For Pathfinder
36 Full-Color Pages
$14.99

Over on Twitter, a discussion moved to products enjoyed for gaming, and one of my interactors mentioned Legendary Games did some solid Pathfinder compatible work.

Looking them over, I decided to pick up the Asian Spell Compendium from Amazon. With my Prime shipping, it arrived in no time.

So initial observations. It says it's 36 pages, but that's the PDF bit talking. It stops being numbered at 32 pages and includes a few white pages. Probably there for printing purposes as it's easier to print X number of pages than Y.

Next observation, is that it's a little "talky." The back cover gives a solid breakdown of what's in the book. I don't need another internal page dedicated to repeating the almost exact same information.

I also don't need the cover reproduced on the first page.

A full page for the credits.

Another page for the OGL.

A page talking about the idea of Adventure Path Plug-Ins. It's an interesting bit, take an adventure path and provide opportunities to expand upon it. I especially don't need to hear about the electronic bonus features that are obviously missing from the paper edition.

But it doesn't actually mention what Path this is for. Is it for the Jade Regent out some time ago or something else? Is it just an all-purpose book? If so, why waste a page on something that doesn't matter?

The breakdown by spell levels, spells by class, and spells by school, is necessary and useful.

The two pages of ads in the back? Perhaps not quite as useful or necessary.

So in a $14.99 '36' page book, you get from page 6 to page 30 of actual spells.

The aesthetics of the book?

Top notch.With the advances in graphics and design in terms of programs and access to talent with the web, not every company takes advantage of that. Legendary Games does. If you saw it on a shelf, while the pages aren't glossy, but are instead matte, the layout and design would stand right up there with Paizo and others.

Interior artists include William Hendershot, Michael Jaecks, James Krause, Matthew Manghi, Daniel  Robinett, and Steve Wood.  While you can go pages without seeing art, the art that is here is top notch. It's often very thematically appropriate to the book providing jade objects or characters that would have an 'Asian' theme to them in appearance.

The game mechanics? Like anything, including 'official' books, you've got some hits and misses. For example, Spirit Ward "This spell functions like protection from evil, but it wards against any of the following types of creatures. The protection of a spirit ward extends 5 feet in all directions from the target creature's space and moves with the target."

That's it. That's the spell. "wards against any of the following types of creatures... I know I'm dense sometimes but WHAT types of creatures exactly?

Many of the spells seem a bit underpowered in some instances, but the author attaches secondary effects which may either kick it up to the too powerful level or make it more paperwork than some appreciate.

For example, Lizard Scales. At first, you're like, "Oh man, a nifty first level spell that gives you a bonus to natural armor class. Up to +5 natural armor class at 12th level. Then the "Also" kicks in as the armor gives you spiny scales that inflict 1d3 points of slashing and piercing damage to anyone that grapples you... Not bad as it specifically calls out grapple as opposed to touch.

Another example would be Hail of Needles. Another first level spell, this one deals 1d4 per level, up to 5d4 to as many targets as you have dice, which cause bleed damage. This is one point per die for a number of rounds equal to your caster level. So a 5th level caster is going to cause up to 5 points of bleed damage to one target for 5 rounds so up to 25 points of damage, not counting the initial 5d4, with a 1st level spell?

Don't let what I'm saying throw you off, though. I get that everyone's game runs differently and that even the core spells have their winners and losers. With over one hundred spells, you may even find a favorite in there.

With top notch art and layout, I can see why Legendary Games has fans. I'll pick up a few more products before I make any final decisions about them, but the professional stylings definitely have my attention.

Master of Devils by Dave Gross

Master of Devils
Pathfinder Tales
Written by Dave Gross
400 pages
Published by Paizo

Master of Devils is the second book I've read by Dave Gross that takes place in the Pathfinder setting. The Pathfinder setting is high fantasy with a wide array of character types of various nationalities and racial origins. For those not in the know, it's based on a role-playing game with modified Dungeons and Dragons rules.

The heroes of the tale, Count Varian Jeggare and Radovan, tell their tale in first person prose, along with a little help from their dog. Count Varian Jeggare is half-human and half-elf. He has some swordplay skill and a bit of magic on his side, while his bodyguard, Radovan, is half human and half fiend. In game terms, a tiefling. He's a burly sort who goes in with the fists and the swords and the punching and the stabbing.

The fun thing about this novel, is it takes place in Tian Xia. This would be a 'Far East' style setting similiar to that used by the game system Legend of the Five Rings. The Count and his bodyguard are our "eyes" to this exotic local.

Initially, I was worried that Dave Gross was going overboard with the Kung Fu super names. For example, Radovan and his boss, Jeggare, become separated.

Radovan winds up trapped in his "devil" body. Much like Mike Mignola's Hellboy, Radovan has a 'normal' fiendish look and then there's the 'super fiend' look. In this intimidating form, Radovan winds up working with Burning Cloud Devil, who is out to avenge his dead wife, Spring Snow.

While on the opposite end, Jeggare winds up fleeing the Falcon Clan bandits and working with Jade Tiger.

At first, Dave was naming numerous kung fu attacks and stances and other bits common to such lore. But when the characters names themselves are up there with the other super hero sounding names, it can get confusing. Fortunately, most of the other characters have "normal" sounding names so it doesn't become too ridiculous.

In many ways, Master of Devils would make a great limited series anime. Radovan's training under Burning Cloud Devil is much like a "villain of the week" where Radovan continues to gain in knowledge and use his abilities to prepare for a 'boss' attack.

The parts where Jeggare comes in, also include a lot of training and exploration of the exotic, but more so on the subtle side. He trains in a monastery and undergoes numerous trials and tribulation as well as getting a glimpse of court life.

Even the dog and his adventures with Judge Fang and their gathering of animals and kami to fight the upheavals of Heaven itself provide entertainment.

Master of Devils doesn't go into a ton of setting detail. Radovan spends much of his time fighting and Jeggare is confined to his training while the dog is visiting odd spots. But what we do get provides a brief glimpse into things on this far away setting.  I hope that Paizo expands it with a "Tian Xia" anthology or something along those lines.

If you're looking for some light and fun popcorn reading, Master of Devils is fast paced and action packed.

Kundo: Age of the Rampant

I knew about Kundo from previews,  I had seen on Hulu back when it was first show in theaters in America. It looked like a solid action film but I did not get the chance to see it in the movies. While looking at various martial arts action films, I stumbled upon this on Netflix. 

Kundo is a South Korean martial arts film. The costumes and weapons are great but it feels a little long in the tooth. There are several characters but really only one main one, Dolchi, a former butcher who uses two massive clever style weapons.

Part of the problem is that the movie is too long clocking in over two hours time. In some movies that can be nothing and it can flash by in a minute. In this one, you keep waiting for the inevitable duel between Dolchi and Jo Yoon, his nemesis. 

I give Kundo, as an action film, three stars and its worth watching if you want to see all the different costumes and unique weapons.

For those who often wonder how to run a Oriental Adventurers game or Legend of the Five Rings, this would be a good 'introduction' film in that many of the issues the 'heroes', a group of bandits have with the legitimate rulers, are issues that could be common to almost any setting and almost any time period.

Here's a summary by Wiki: "it is about a power struggle between the unjust wealthy noblemen who run society and a group of righteous outlaws who steal from corrupt officials to give to the downtrodden and starving"  Is it about Robin Hood? Is it about some Solos and Net Runners in the future? It's an easy, almost too generic plot piece but it is a prime example of how people can sometimes get too involved in the 'culture' of a foreign land and forget about the basics.

In terms of gaming, it has several things going for it that make it more interesting than if you were only watching it for the action sequences.

1. Environment: One of my old favorite fight scenes is from Ninja Scroll. Our main hero, Jubei, is outfought by a blind swordsman but in a bamboo forest, the hero is able to use the forest to his advantage and claim victory.

In this movie, Jo Yoon is such a bad ass that he beats Dolchi easily several times. Even in the 'heroic' end game rematch, Jo Yoon holds the upper hand until Dolchi leads him into a bamboo forest that hinders his movements. The bamboo though, isn't brick or steel and it makes for a great sequence as they both slash through the trees and have to dodge the falling debris. 

Note that it appears that fighting in a bamboo forest is a bit of 'old school' itself for such action movies.  

2. Non-Player Character Motivation: I'm going to sound a little rambling here. Jo Yoon is the illegitimate son of a noble. He is taken out of his mother's house, a house of prostitution, and raised at home because the noble has no male heirs. Then the wife sees this and uses a variety of methods to become pregnant and gives birth to a male heir. Bad news for Jo Yoon in many ways.

First, his parents treat him as a second class citizen which causes him to act out, which causes the parents to discipline him even worse.

Then he decides, "Well, I know how to take care of this problem" and goes to suffocate his baby half brother. But when he starts to, he looks at his baby brother and realizes that he cannot do it. This could have been a turning point for him.

But he's caught by his mother-in-law and well, the punishment is sever including his birth mother killed and his personal valet crippled. These acts help explain why he's such a vile bastard and even still loyal to his own father.

His main motivation is to be the heir to the family, and it appears that when his half-brother is killed by the 'heroic bandits', that his time may have come. But the wife was pregnant. This leads to all sorts of things ranging from hiring a butcher to kill the wife, to destroying the village of the heroes, including slaughter of women and children.

At this point, Jo Yoon for some reason, brings home the rightful heir instead of just killing him. Bad idea as now his father sees the true heir and doesn't appoint Jo Yoon the position. Anyone remember the Russel Crowe movie Gladiator? Anyone remember the discussion on the Four Virtues and the claims that "I have other virtues." 

The son so wanting, so needing to be loved by his father, finally does the unthinkable and committed patricide. 

But when he turns to the child, again, Jo Yoon cannot find it in him to kill a baby. He's older now. More wicked now. More capable of even the foulest deeds. But for whatever reason, even when it puts his own life in danger, he protects the child. 

These elements make for great bits. They make Jo Yoon more 'complete' as a character if you will than the hero Dolchi who is essentially Batman looking for vengeance.

My own problem comes in in that we, the audience, known this. But no one else does. In a role playing game, the depth of the non-player characters isn't' known by the characters, or isn't accessible to the characters, say from friends of Jo Yoon, or from journals, or from some other sort of records like punishment records, then it doesn't exist anywhere but in the Game Master's Mind.

The greatest stories in the world that aren't known arent' great stories, they're not great motivations, and their not all the useful to the players.

They can cement the character for the Game Master though, and in that aspect at least, still have value.

Themes are often times universal. I've mentioned several Western films, and other forms of medium, like anime, that use the themes and scenarios painted in Kundo. When you're watching a wide variety of material, see what's cycling over and over again. See what works when it's used over and over again and pluck it out for your own use when you can.

Now I have to find another movie to kill some time! Anyone have any recommendations?

The Guillotines (2012)

So at Best Buy the other day looking over computers. My desktop has always been a piece of crap. Second Dell I've had that has been plagued by issues and well, it'll be the last Dell I have outside of those provided by corporate.

After deciding I'm too old and stupid to know what any of the new computers actually mean in terms of horsepower and monitor resolution, I wander over to the movie section. Man, it's been a while. The movie selection is terrible and takes up a small footprint in the store. Probably for the best though as people have Netflix, Hulu, Youtube, and Amazon Prime among other bits.

I saw this cover for the Guillotines and was like, "Man, that looks bad ass."

I then went home and watched it on Netflix.

Overall it has some nice scenery, a few good fight scenes, some fantastic costumes but what starts off with a tremendous high energy ass kicking winds up a morality tale about the Emperor of China. In that aspect it reminded me of Hero. Yes, I'm the Emperor and I've done all these terrible things but hell, it'll be worse without me so let me kill you now. Ugh.

If you enjoy movies for the fighting and other bits I've mentioned, enjoy the first say, thirty minutes and then take a nap or something. After seeing this, I want to see Rise of the Guillotines or something where we get two hours of awesome flying guillotine action!

Below I'll be discussing some of the things I enjoyed about the movie.

1. Style. When the Guillotines are first introduced, it's like a super hero team. They have unique weapons that launch flying weapons that resemble something between Krull's flying weapon and Xena's chakram. Their uniforms are also very stylishly designed. This gives them a unique and powerful look.

2. Obsolescence: Time marches on. The ability of the Guillotines to kill someone at ten paces is nothing compared to the new firearms that China has started using. In a role playing game, I would expect that the players would be some of the top notch users and that the average rifle user would be a mook. Here though, because it's about China and the Empire and it's rise to modernity, well, the Guillotines who were so viciously bad ass at the start of the movie are completely punk'd.

In a role playing game, playing against type, playing against the rise of technology, is a part and parcel of the game. For example, one Osprey book I'm reading, English Longbowman 1330-1515 put the decline, but still in use and still dangerous longbowman, in an era where guns are, if not common, at least on use alongside cannons. It's the skill set that the characters bring to the game that make it interesting. One of the more popular shows on television right now is Arrow and that's a guy with a fancy longbow in the modern era of automatic weapons showing he can make a difference.

There is also the role of the individual. Military is great for well, military action but not necessarily as useful in going into tombs and fighting against weird monsters. Specialists are useful for those types of things.

4. Specialized Group: The Guillotines are the fist of the emperor and his private assassins. The movie wavers a little in why they have to die. In most places you'd figure, "Hey, we've got these new weapons so we're going to upgrade you." or at the very least retire you. Giving the government the going to kill you to cover up your existence while sending out even better trained killers is a bit silly but sending them out because the players know something and are somehow dangerous to the government? Now that's something that can easily be done.

This can happen in a few ways. The players could be prophesied to kill the emperor. They could be local heroes and the emperor is jealous. They could have failed some subtle test that another power group that wants the character's spot put into place.

5. The Enemy of my enemy... When the movie starts, the Guillotines are hunting down a cult. They capture the leader by the name of 'Wolf'' but in a daring escape sequence that involves explosions and an excellent display of throwing knives, he escapes. The Guillotines are sent to recapture him, but during that same time frame, are written off as obsolete so as the Guillotines are punk'd by farmers and riflemen, the two that escape wind up working with Wolf. Roles can change rapidly when the tide moves against the characters.

6. Role Reversal: While I did not like the way the Guillotines were beaten down, I have no problem with the idea of it. Adventurers that have a guild or an actual social standing losing that standing is a long held part of story telling. Characters change roles and positions often. For example, Spider Man has gone from a solo hero who was essentially too broke to own a car to a top rated scientists and well, to other elements that might not be well appreciated but show the character and individual struggle against the elements arranged against him.

For example, when there is a reward put on the Guillotines and the common farming folk turn on them, well, I can't imagine a group of player characters getting butchered like sheep as the movie cast does. However, if there was say a Paladin or other good aligned character in the party, I can't imagine them just chopping and hacking their way free from the crowd either. The challenge of how characters deal with the change is what can propel the game forward.

A useful thing to keep in mind though, is what is the final result? In a role playing game, say in Baldur's Gate during 1st edition, if the players were members of the Flaming Fist and that group was outlawed, would the final goal be to restore the Flaming Fist to legitimacy in Baldur's Gate? To accept that their time there was ended? To fund a new organization somewhere far away and start anew? To tear down the city in a final blaze of glory?

The few action scenes we have, the awesome unique style of the weapons, the costumes and scenery along with the sets provide some great visual inspiration but the movie is not where I would have liked it to wind up in terms of type of movie. Check it out on Netflix and let me know what you think.

Okko The Cycle of Air by Hub

As my unpaid time off is getting ready to come to a close, I thought I should hit on the last book of Okko that is currently available, Okko, the cycle of Air, by Hub, publishing by Archaia.

To me, in terms of direct gaming inspiration, this one is probably the weakest. It's not that there aren't some great battles. It's not that there aren't some great turn arounds. It's not that we don't get to see a little more of the setting and how those in higher positions are probably more tighhtly bound by society than those who are wanderers and ronin like Okko.

Rather, it's that the action takes place because of an individual demon hunter that has come for Okko's giant friend. This brings the action straight to the characters and for once, the characters are completely outmatched. They only win through a bit of luck thanks to their youngest member.

While as a GM you may be tempted to 'ass kick' the players every now and again to put them in their place, there better be a hell of a good reason or story behind it. At almost every level, as the GM, you can always flatten the characters. Going out of the way to do so is pointless. And because this is book three of a five book series, we only get vague hints as to why Okko and his friend were hunted in the first place so it feels very incomplete.

Art, overall story, theme, and background details that pop out all make it worth having in terms of reading the series for itself, but in terms of developing some action around the activities, the previous two volumes probably fill that role better.

Okko the Cycle of Earth by Hub

The second book in the Okko graphic novel series, Okko, the Cycle Of Earth, continues the travels of the demon hunter Okko and his motley band of allies.  The illustrations are strong, crisp whil still having tons of detail. The setting comes alive under the artist here and the feel of the setting is made clear through careful placement of little details.

The story line here works fantastic for a RPG and could be lifted whole cloth. In short, I highly recommend anyone running Oriental Adventurers, Legends of the Five Rings, or other manner of games where a little Samurai Sunday attitude is called for, look it over. This isn't to say that a standard fantasy game of Dungeons and Dragons couldn't swipe the plot by changing a few things.

The book starts off with an introduction to a city. The youngest of their group, Tikku, acts as our outsider. Because he is not well versed or travelled, his mentor must inform him, and through him, the audience of the importance of places and events going on around them.

For example, in the city they are at, it's a celebration for the first day of winter. Floats are carried on the streets, dragons manned by multiple people dance around, masks are worn and "every kind of outlandishness is allowed."  We discover that Bakuyaku's nicnmake is "Black Poweder City" because the seven monastery range has a lot of despotis of the stuff around them.

Okko himself becomes involved in greater events by having a man seek him out and die in front of him from an assassin's attack. His ally, Noburo, seeks to hunt down the assassin, but during the celebration, the tightly wound city with all of its masked inhabitants makes this a difficult task.

In looking at such a set up for your own campaigns, this is one of the reasons its good to have a calendar of the holidays and what those holidays mean. If people are all out celebrating in the streets and the streets are crowded with floats and other obsticales, it can make for a more challenging race against individuals that are seeking to escape. It also makes things more colorful and takes away some of the 'generic' that some settings can suffer from as they all seem so similiar.

Now on the hunt for the assassins and for the person that was identified by the slain courier, Okko begins wandering the Seven Monstary Range looking for the Raven Mon. This allows the characters to learn about the setting and details of background even as they suffer some random encounters.  It also provides some background on the senior monk as he used to be a student at one of the monastaries.

This is another useful trick when a player has information in his background about where he came from and what he did. Some players put it there for active use, some to just have a grounding part of their characters. the players will generally give you a good idea of what they'd like done with that information and pulling a little of it into the game when appropriate is never a back idea.

One of the things the monks encounter is an oracle who provides information, but that information relates to what they are seeking only on the very edges of that mission. This is a fairly standard method of providing some information, to not hand out the exact answers that are sought, but to provide perhaps more details to the overall scheme of what the players may be involved in.

Inthis instance, no search could be complete without visiting all seven monastary's, and only at the end, learning that "An eight exists, perched atop the roof of the world. There dwells an order of illuminators in their hands ap riceless collection of books! nly the powerful and the prvileged few have access to this immense source of knowledge... or even know of its existence..."

That bit right there does a few things. It takes the knowledge that is commonly known, that there are seven schools, and expands it. It then names the location, the location of which, is known to their guide as "oneo f the highest mountaints known to man! I know none fool enough to dare is heights. And I do not know the path." This bit of player knowledge is like having a player talk about a demon inhabited realm or a blasted wasteland. It may add a little more inherent danger in the trip, but overall, it's not going to stop the players from going there.

Here though, the author provides some hope in the form of the Sanctuary of the 47 Geysers. By placing these unlikely found but named locations throughout the book, the author is cementing the setting. By allowing the players to visit these locations that are few and out of the way, he is providing color and character to the landscape. This is a useful trick for any game master and not every encounter has to end in a fight. The wonder of the setting should also strike the characters as much as the monsters.

When Okko does meet the samurai that the courier died trying to name, the meeting is like oil and water. Okko, being considered a ronin and an outsider of the standard civilization of his time, is not necessarily respected in the manner that other Samurai are. This happens in role playing games all the time as adventurers are generally not land owners and only have themselves to be responsible to. This allows them to do and say things that might get say, a farmer a trip to the gallows but to which an adventurer might reply, "Do you really want me to kill the garrison and leave you vulnerable to the giants in the area?"

When the whole group comes under attack, the monk is taken out in the first volley of the assault. This is something to remember for the Game Master when playing monsters that have intelligence or tactics. In pre-4th edition games, the wisdom is go for the spellcasters.  Nothing like a group of fire balls or turning efforts on the undead to quickly undermine a horde of minions and monsters. To counter this, don't act like the monsters are stupid. If a lich, an undead spellcaster, is among the villains, he's going to know exactly how powerful an opposing spell caster is and want that creature dead.

Eventually, when they do find the forbidden libraries, they discover that they are there too late. The library has been ransacked and its men killed. What they learn though, is that their enemies started off as healers but seeing the land plunged into such deep war, decided that they should be the ones to rule as they could, using their forbidden studies, control the dead of all the clans. With the land in such a constant state of warefare, they are not left wanting for raw supplies.

This is part of the appeal of running a campaign during a time of trouble. If everything is normal and the characters are merely looters, then their overall impact on the setting, as great as it may be, is one of the outsider. If on the other hand, the setting is alive and thriving with its own series of conflicts, things that no one adventurer will be able to solve, then it allows them to gather into different places and impact the setting in different ways. They are not necessarily merely dungeon crawling, but choosing sides in a multi-angled war. If they choose to do so. After all, with so many dying on the battlefield, that just means more empty castles for looting right?

The whole thing comes to a conclussion as Okko and his allies hold down an old fort against the legions of undead and their spellcasting masters.  It has very much the feel of a Seven Samurai, a group of skilled individuals against a horde of nameless enemies. Okko and his allies are only able to claim victory though the use of a surgecial strike against the leaders of the undead.

Which is something that the Game Master has to look out for. Unless you're dealing with a group of brand new players, the characters will often go after the puppeter, not the puppets. You have to be ready with appropriate challenging counters if the villains are clver enough to have them. If your bad guys aren't expecting a scrying, teleportation, assassination attack, then you're not playing at mid-high levels of D&D with thinking villains. Prepare and defend appropriately, but don't provide everyone the exact same type of defense. Vary things up. Provide differences.

Okko the Cycle of Earth provides investigation, strained alliances, exploration, and combat against dark masters insistant that their rule would be better for the land then those currently ruling.

Okko: the Cycle of Water by Hub

While at Gen Con this year, one of the things I picked up was Okko, the Cycle of Earth and the Cycle of Air, both by Hub, sold through the Archaia both. They had a deal where it was buy one get one free and as these are sturdy hardcovers, the cover price of $19.95 seemed more than fair for two of them. I was so enthralled with them, that I immediately ordered the the Cycle of Water, which was waiting for me by the time I made it back to Chicago.

I'd heard of Okko before. Thinking back on it, it was during my numerous trips to Games Plus where I first saw it, but it was in a miniature game format there. The figures always looked interesting but since I wasn't playing anything that would require them, and I have a ton, perhaps more, or miniatures, I always passed on them.

But reading? Hell, I could read that with no problem, especially in a graphic novel format.

So what is Okko about? A group of, well, they're not all quite friends, but allies in some aspects with Okko, the demon queller, serving as the master of the group, go about Pajan, that is not a misspelling, and take care of demons and other supernatural entities.

After reading the thee graphic novels, I am more fist shaking at the skies then before that I didn't have material such as this to inspire my Oriental Adventurers and Legend of the Five Rings games.

In the first volume, The Cycle of Water, which by the way, I'm going to start spolier alerts now so read no further if you wish to remain unaware of what's coming....

Anyway, in the first collection, Okko and his friend Noburo, an oversized warrior who always has a red demonic mask on, is visiting Little Carp, a young Geisha, who Noburo informs her, is preganent. During the night, the house is attacked and Little Carp taken away. Here we see something resembling a hencheman coming into play as Tikku offers his service to Okko if he will rescue his sister, Little Carp.

This is a standard of some stories where the characters have the action brought to them. If the players are sitting around too much, doing too much role playing with the weapon smith and the tavern keeper, have something happen. Force them to engage the setting.

During the investigation to find Little Carp, we are given some glimpses into the setting. This includes visiting Tagakka Uchi, the port of the hundred Morays, and upon that, a trip to the Red Lotus, "the most infamous and dangerous casino in the city.". We also get to see what sets this setting apart from merely being 'Japan' with some misspellings in the form of a demonic water creature that Okko has killed, a summoning of a water spirit, and a combat 'Bunraku', a so called 'puppet' which is actually similiar to a giant robot piloted from within.

Okko and his allies manage to do a lot of investigating in a little time at the Red Lotus. This involves looking around the massive casino, finding secret passages, and finding an abaitor pit in the heart of the casino. One of the things that happens though, is that their 'stealth' is blown early because Noburo, being a masked giant of a man, is quite easy to spot and quite distinctive.

This is something that the GM should keep in mind with the players in his own game. While some players, especially those of rogues or rangers, prefer to stay out of the limelight with dirty grimy cloaks, the fighters, paladin, clerics, and mages, often have very distinctive clothing, weapons, and reputations. If the players are looking for information by those on the run, and they carry such distinguishing marks with them, make things a little more difficult for them.

The next thrust of the adventure takes place on an island. In fantasy role playing games, islands work fantastic to provide some weird things because they are isolated from the main land and can have vastly different rules and structures. In this case, Here, the island is ruled by the Satorror Clan, the rulers of the northern archipelagoes. An ancient, and supposedly dead clan...

The author makes good use of the characters here in providing more challenges and more story.

The drunken monk for example, seeks spiritual guideance, but in exchange, must rebuild the temple left to rot.

The warrior Okko himself, tests out the head samurai here and manages to get a look around the compound.

The giant manages to fit in with the other commoners, finding out details of what else is happening.

Tikku, being new to the whole thing of being an adventurer, does some unofficial scouting of his own and gets a brand upon his forehead of the thief. This brand is a permanent mark and is noted on in later issues. When looking at the cost of failure, I've mentioned before that death does not have to be the only alternative. Having something happen that marks the players, is one way to move the story forward with a complication, but still move the story forward. Perhaps the mark is common and everyone knows it. Perhaps the mark is more obscure and only a select group of people know of it.

In a game like Hero, this would be a distinctive feature and be worth points. In GURPS, or at least the last version I played, while it's still a distinctive feature, earning one during game play provides no points. In class and level based games, such earned scars and marks often do not have any game play mechanics to them but the role playing opportunities can be huge. If nothing else, they are a point of conversation starters for those various nights adventurerers spend at the taverns.

Another twist is that in the battle between the giant and the puppet, our giant masked warrior finds even his strength isn't enough to overcome a giant robot and has to use different tactics. In 4e, some skill checks to provide ideas on how to beat a puppet, even a combat one, might lead to what happens in the comic. In this case, it's a chase to wear the driver down, and then a sneak attack to knock the puppter off a ledge and crush the drivers inside the machine. While 4e skill checks can be some what odious at times, the ability to do things that only combat mechanics would result in failure, is a nice change of pace and does allow the players to use a larger variety of skills.

In the end, it turns out that the enemies Okko faces are a pair of pennagolans (in D&D they're the vampire undead creatures that are just heads with organs) who seek to create a child. To do so, they needed a woman that was already preganent because of their undead nature.

After Okko and his comrades defeat the undead, Okko reads up on the notes of the Lady of the house and discovers their ties to the Red Lotus, and where they originally came from. By putting the details in the back, the author allows the characters to pursue the information at their own leisure. In D&D or other action oriented games, this is a fine possibility, while in a game like Call of Cthulhu, whose nature is mostly centered around investigation, it might be better to have those documents found earlier.

Okko brings together a varied cast of characters in a manner that would work well for any role playing game. By making them demon hunters, the Game Master can avoid a lot of the whole clan and hnor issue that can drag down  certain aspects of OA style games and focus on the demon hunting and exploring a setting different than the standards.

If you're running a fantasy game, especially something like Legend of the Five Rings, Okko is a visual inspiration with a solid story running through it.

Jade Man's Skin by Daniel Fox

Back in the days of first edition of Advanced Dungeon's and Dragons, I loved the idea of Oriental Adventures. The lure of the far east, of martial arts, of exotic looking armor, of weapons that were non-standard was a big influence on me.

But I was always stuck for ideas on how to run the thing. When Legend of the Five Rings came out, it provided a hell of a background and methodology for running such a setting but at the cost of being so heavily involved with the setting, that my attention soon wandered off as events and timeline advancements took it well past where I was comfortable with.

That's not a bash against such events. I'm not too fond of them when they happen to say the Forgotten Realms, and hated Greyhawk Wars, but in those settings, I was so at ease with that style of adventure, that it didn't take much effort on my part to ignore this, or change that. I was never quite so comfortable with L5R to do that without worrying about the 'purist', which I freely ignored for my FR games.

But one thing that would have helped me enjoy making such changes and making the setting fully my own, would be books like Jade Man's Skin by Daniel Fox, the sequel to Dragon in Chains. I'll be discussing some of my thoughts on the book but a quick summary for those who don't want spoilers? It's a fun filled  romp in fantasy ancient China that's well worth a read.

Now onwards!

The book has one thing in common though with L5R right off the bat. The importance of Jade. In this setting, Jade is something that long term exposure to, can make you superhuman. Indeed, Jade is the source of the Emperor's longevity. It's also being used so much here, that you get tired of seeing it. The cover is an powerful illustration of an animal encountered in the book, a jade tiger. In the book its described as massive. There is also a set of jade armor made. Its so heavy that only someone who is already super human can use it because of its weight. While its a great idea and a great visual, the use of jade after jade after jade, apparently all of it the same color, is well, boring. There is nothing that can make the exotic and the far away as boring as overdoing it.

Having said that though, the book provides a reason for things like jade armor, not being used before. The sheet weight of it. Does that strike anyone as familiar? As anyone who played older editions and had to deal with having a very high strength to use certain weapons? And why certain magical items like Gauntlets of Ogre Power and Girdle's of Giant Strength were so highly sought after?

The nice thing though, is that like some of the old artifacts in the game, there is a potential price to pay. In this  case, the jade armor turns the emperor green, unto like jade itself. It is also difficult to remove. This reminds me of those quaint and weird little bits that some of the artifacts in the old edition could have in that you could gain vast power but it might cost you say, your humanity. There might be other costs, worse cost associated with it but that was part of the charm. I hate to bash 4e for this, but that game is so focused on the balance of magic items that most efforts at making quirky magic items or items with personality seem pale shadows of earlier editions.

When making unique items for your own campaign, try to give them something different. Try to give them something that's not standard. Try to give them something that works, perhaps better than promised, but has its own draw backs to it. If the draw backs are too high, the item goes unused. If the drawbacks aren't really drawbacks, then there's no point in including them. Some of the point build games used to be very specific in this, "A disadvantage that is not a disadvantage is not a disadvantage and worth no points." or something along those lines.

In terms of working themes into a game, one of the things that book starts off with is corruption. While a messenger is running along, he notes that several soldiers are abusing their position by taking items away from various merchants and family on the road in the name of the emperor. This is not an isolated problem to the realms or fiction, nor to the past. Corruption is an every day occurrence in the modern world and the weight can be costly.

Can you rely on the police if they're under the influence of drug cartels? Mexico seems to be having a lot of problems in that vein and the American movie industry has no shortage of corrupt cop movies. When corruption is present, trust is far and away. People forget things they saw. In some of these movies though, the people are more prone to work with outsiders and are more prone to possibly trusting them and allowing the outsiders to make real changes that couldnt' be made by internal forces. This is an opportunity for players who enjoy the role playing aspect, the challenge of convincing people who are scared for their lives, scared for their families, and scared for their own businesses, that they should trust the heroes.

Another aspect brought up is picking where you fight. One of the few things I think 4th edition tried to do well, that at least brought light to the subject, is making the environment more a part of the game. In previous editions, there might be a small bonus for holding the higher ground (+1 to hit!) but it rarely went beyond that.



Entertainment is far different in this old eras than modern entertainment. In one of the C. J. Sansom books, the author noted bear baiting. Here, Fox brings out fighting crickets. The differences in entertainment are as much a choice of the limits of technology as they are availability of resources. When not fighting for daily survival, what do people do to fill the time? For some like farmers that may be a foolish question as there is no spare time save perhaps to go to church and prepare for the better world that awaits in the next life. For those in the city and those who have the funding, what do they do?

And for those who have power, those who have responsibility, how do they react to it? Bernard Cornwell made no secret that some of the joy that the raiders took, including a Christian Priest, was that there was a savage joy in having no responsibilities to anyone other than yourself. Do such characters run away from their responsibilities when time allows? Do they seek to indulge themselves in their own past times?

And in terms of resources, how does an economy deal with dwindling supplies? Is there an acknowledgement that there is a problem? Is it covered up? Do those in charge send out seekers of new resources and supplies? Does the government prepare itself for when those supplies will run out? Or do they ignore it, pretend that its not a problem and that somehow, and someway, things will work themselves out on their own?

Fox also brings more of the setting's religion into the forefront this time around. A mother and her daughters were told to seek sanctuary at an old temple and now have taken to the temple as their own. And the goddess of that temple speaks through the mute, speaks through the damaged, speaks through those who would not speak on their own, including infants. How do the gods of the setting make contact with the world?

For those who are of noble blood or royalty or prestige, how do they declare it? Here, the Emperor's color is yellow, but a very specific, very pure yellow. Purple seems to be the color of royalty in the standard fantasy settings. The wearing of these colors, especially by those not empowered to do so, can be severer ranging from death and banishment to maiming. It is an obvious sign of challenge to wear the colors that are prohibited to any but the royal family.

On the other hand, it does make for a great method of impersonating members or even soldiers of such a family. After all, if the consequence for doing so is death, who would dare do it?

In terms of the creatures of the setting, what do they think about? How do they think? One part of running a campaign that can be hard to handle, is making non-humans different than humans. In this book, one of the character is tied into a dragon's mind. The view point of the dragon is so vast and different than whenever the link is active, the character feels threatened with drowning and being lost inside that mind.  If you can provide a different mind set to the monsters and provide them with reasons for that difference, you'll provide some interesting times to the players.

When creating NPCs, try to look past the surface. In the story here, the mother of the Emperor notes that she has been trying to poison a general who is advising the emperor falsely to no avail because the man is too well protected in court. It comes off like a not important remark, but it puts the older woman in a whole new light. It showcases a level of ruthlessness that a reader would never find otherwise despite her tough as nails demeanor.

If you're looking for ideas on your next Oriental Adventure's campaign, Jade Man's Skin is well worth al ook.

Dragon in Chains by Daniel Fox

When I was younger, I loved the whole concept of Oriental Adventurers for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. I didn't really know how to use it or run it. A lot of the ideas seemed different than the standard dungeon crawling that normal AD&D used, but I liked the concepts of honor, one of the, if not the very first, appearance of non-weapon proficiencies, and of course, the variety of custom classes for the various settings.

I just didn't know what or how to run it despite seeing a lot of Kung Fu and Samurai movies.

When Legend of the Five Rings came out years latter, I'd suffer some similar problems, but not as bad. There was a lot more source material dedicated to L5R including a fiction line with some real stinkers and some real winners.

When the opportunity presents itself to buy some fantasy that fits into that mode of "inspired by but not necessarily directly tied to" some material of the Oriental Adventurers, I have no problem checking it out.

Dragon in Chains is an enjoyable read that has a large cast and brings with it numerous bits that might make for an excellent setting. Below I'll be pointing out some quotes from the book so beware of spoilers.

"Chains, especially. They were the Forge's fame, even far from the coast where no one cared about the dragon, no one spoke of her, perhaps no one believed in her at all. Chains made here carried anchors for the greatest ships of the empire; they defended harbors up and down the coast; they were traded far inland, along the broad slow rivers, to bring security to mines and mints, to docks and workyards, to prisons and to treasure-houses.

"People forgot, perhaps that they were only symbols; no one forgot that the best chains came from the Forge. Other ironsmiths had lost hands or tongues for claiming that their own were Forge work."

Without getting into any mystic or Far East symbols, without getting into any isolated habits or unique things, Fox brings a trait to the Forge, which is unique in that it makes chains to bind a dragon under the sea, but makes the fact that they sell the chains and that the chains are renown for their mundane worth, their utility in the 'real' world that everyone lives in every day, as opposed to their value in keeping a dragon bound under the sea.

By providing something that can be talked about, by providing some keystone element of the setting that could fit well, into almost any setting, the writer makes the world a little easier to understand. That quality and reputation of an item, serve a purpose. By sprinkling a few such places throughout the world, the GM not only gives the players a check list of whose who and whose the best, he provides details that may come in handy latter on in the game should the players chose to pursue any of those leads.

"Exposed, his body was knotted with muscle and twisted with scars, but more, all his skin was a mass of tattoos. Not the crude scars, images that half his crew favored, nor the intricate designs afforded by a few. They were brute block characters all over his chest and shoulders and belly and back, his thighs and buttocks and calves. Some of them Han could read, even in distant glances. They made words like traitor, renegade, exile. They spoke of disgrace, of banishment; they demanded his death and promised a price for his head if it were delivered to any of the Hidden City's gates, sent as a gift to the emperor.... Castration and tattoos together meant imperial punishment. Hand knew it; so did the soldiers. So did their surviving officers."

There are some crimes that perhaps require death, but due to the person's life or favors owned, that debt cannot be carried out, but some punishment is. Tattoos are a form of marking and while some use them to establish grace, positions of power or other ranks of respect with them, others are used as indicators of crime and criminal lifestyles. In the setting, what do tattoos mean? Are they like those found in Rifts Atlantis and possibly magical in nature, as other game systems including Dungeons and Dragons have taken to heart? Are they maps? Are they symbols?

"No. Well, he's likely the only jade-miner you ever will see. The clans don't leave the valleys. However careful they are, they're still exposed; the least of them is unusually strong, and they tend to live long and not have many children. They live in extended family groups, because individually they can't sustain a holding. Or protect it.

"Nor can they travel far from the source. Jade is addictive; they need to keep it close. Separate a miner from the stone and he'll sicken. All that strength and resilience is only borrowed, not possessed."

Here, Daniel Fox provides a rational for the Jade to belong to the emperor and only the emperor. It also serves to explain why the Emperors of the past lived so long and sired so few children. The Jade is actually a true power source for them giving them long life, strength, endurance and other physical traits like fast healing, and dense bones. For others to partake of the Emperor's gifts? A death sentence but those who mine it do so inadvertently so they have to stay there.

In Dreadstar, there was a mineral that had no practical purpose. But it was mined in vast quantities. Dreadstar himself tried to figure out its purpose but while he never did, it was revealed to the reader's that it was a substance that The Twelve Gods required for their own strength.

Feng Shui where controlling the lines provides in game benefits, then the GM must be prepared for the players to try and game the system.

"She was a fish girl from a fishing village, though she had to pinch herself to remind herself of it sometimes."

In terms of origin, the humble origin is often used for the dreaded farm boy who turns out to be a noble's son or a god's son or something of that nature. Other times he's just a farm boy but by his own deeds and by the chance encounters he has, rises into something greater than his point of origin. Some players prefer the characters start off as a relatively blank slate and engage the world through play. Don't enfold them in their own history if they do so. Allow their character choices dictate where the game for them goes.

"But I want," he said, "I want," and for the first time there was a note of hesitation in his voice, a hint of self-doubt that he shrugged aside physically, a little shift of the shoulders, "I want that dragon revealed, and no other man could see her the way that you do, Guangli."

Dungeons and Dragons has rarely made the focus of the game its skill system. Indeed, I recall the first edition of the game had a chart you could roll on in the Dungeon Master's Guide, that would tell you your skills. Not what you could do with them, how much you could earn with them, etc... 4th edition tries to follow that idea in spirit but with the skill challenge system seems a little weighted down to actually do so with that light touch.

But if a character is to be more than just game mechanics, are they ways in which the things a character might do and enjoy can be part of the game? Are their works of art or other fields of skill, that a player can have his character bring to the game that will have meaning? In the Sword of Truth, the main character creates a massive set of statues that inspire rebellion in the people when they are broken down. Are there works that the players can create to do something similar?

"If Suo Lung should want to take Han with him when he leave the ship, we must forestall him if we can, slip away by ourselves. If not - well, I have a poison..."

People may have different sides to them then they first show. The person speaking here is a dedicated doctor who has saved dozens, if not hundreds of lives in a war torn setting. But he's also a practical man and knows that sometimes hard and harsh decisions have to be made. As the GM, most of the characters you'll run will probably be faceless minions or bold monsters. Rare will be the talking part. When you have it, and it is a recurring one, don't be afraid to make the characters more than just bit actors.


"You two, you're not even breathing hard! You go on, you,"

There's an old joke that goes, I don't have to be faster than the bear, I just have to be faster than you. If they players are ever forced to go on the lamb, as the GM you need to take advantage of that opportunity to dish out some real damage. Now I know that sounds strange as I'm often of the mind that you should give the players room to explore, to utilize background details, to provide depth to the world, but when the fight comes and they lose and they try to flee, unless the enemy has a very compelling reason NOT to, the players should be on the run.

And that means taking advantage of any slow movers there. Will the players stick together and risk another thrashing? Will the slower moving races get left behind? Will those who can use magic, such as fly, take to the skies, and if so, does that make them more of a solitary target or a free ride out of danger?


"And tried to kill Yu Shan, on the instant, without warning. It might have been shocking, to anyone not raised in the mountains. here it was common practice, clan manners."

No matter how superior one assumes their native culture is, that assumption that every other culture shares the same ideas and ideals and standards can prove quite fatal. In some instances, the mere act of trespass, regardless of intention, is enough to sign a death warrant. The mere act of being different, is enough to signal a release of the hounds. The settings that most fantasy games take place in, is often a dark and dangerous time where the illumination of kindness and courtesy, despite the widespread religions and the various good they espouse, often fail to meet with reality's demands. Players should not feel safe on the roads. They should not feel safe with strangers. They should not feel that the world looks upon them as they may look upon the world.

Walk softly and carry a big stick didn't become a common saying because no one was doing it or that it was a bad piece of advice.

Dragon in Chains provides a setting in turmoil that provides a lot of characters and situations that are immediately applicable to most fantasy role playing games. The Jade themes and other bits make it a nice addition to any gamer's library looking for some more Oriental Adventure style in his campaign.