Parsantium city at the crossroads Richard Green

Parsantium: city at the crossroads is written by +Richard Green for the Pathfinder system. The PDF runs $11.99, the print book, in black and white, runs $19.99, and the combo pack of PDF and print runs for $22.99 The book weighs in at a meaty 178 pages in PDF terms.

The cover boasts an excellent look at the city in the background while in the foreground various inhabitants from different parts of the world look out on the dock ward. In terms of book break down, we then get a blank page, followed by a title page, followed by a credits page, which even lists what is product id and what is closed content.

Much of the book is devoted to the city and its background. All of the art and proper names are closed off and in terms of game mechanics, the book comes up a short which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you look at it.

After the credits, we get a single page table of contents that does an excellent job of breaking down the book into broad chapters. Of more use to those who want pinpoint accuracy on where anything is, after the meat of the book, is an eight page index. It's a fantastic resource if you have the physical copy and does a better job of pointing out where things are then the electronic bookmarks.

The two page introduction does a nice job of bringing the reasons how Parsantium came to be from a homegrown city in a campaign of the author to a full rpg product. It's a nice break down and more information can be found on the Parsantium blog.

The full color map of the city by Johnathan Roberts, maps featured several times on +Fantastic Maps,  is two pages of awesome. I would love to have a larger fold out of the map. Something along the lines of one of the old Waterdeep maps from back in the day. The colors are nice and crisp and show a city divided by it's waterway and an island in the middle of said river. Bad thing? The map is cut in half of course, and part of that is the text and the island in the middle. It's not a huge problem or anything but it is another reason I'd like a separate big ass map.

The city is designed to allow a variety of cultures by having a feel similar to say, Byzantium. It's also an old fantasy city so it has a wide range of races that fit into its borders, outside of the different human ethnicities. We have the following major ethnicities:

Bathuran: Roman/Greek influence.
Sampurans: Heavily influenced by India.
Aqhrani: Heavily influenced by the Middle East and bravely goes with a pantheon of one god.
Tiangaons: Heavily influenced by China including it's own 'Silk Road'


In terms of other cities like it in fantasy games? Maybe the old GURPS book Tredroy, which is available for a laughable $2.99 from Steve Jackson Games Warehouse 23 website. The only bad thing is it's been decades since I've run Tredroy, the City of Three Laws, so there will be no comparison outside of this mention.

Despite its length, the book has some weaknesses. The biggest of these would be lack of art. There are so many different cultures and characters referenced in this weighty text, that illustrations of the various characters, sigils, symbols, and say, house icons, would only benefit the material.

The good news is that the two column layout doesn't suffer from that lack of break up because the author doesn't ram every inch of space with text. There are also no annoying back ground images behind the text. Things that look awesome and premium in print products like some of the Forgotten Realms products look horrific in electronic medium. The author avoids that problem here by keeping it clean and simple with a nice border on the top of the page and chapter identification and page number at the bottom.

The other potential problem is game mechanics. An order of wizards, the Esoteric Order of the Blue Lotus, is noted as being founded so that the magics of all these different cultures can be studied and collated so that knowledge isn't lost. Having so many different opportunities to bring unique magics to the Pathfinder system, which easily supports numerous alternative classes, should have allowed many bits of crunch to shine through.

Nope. Not happening. Most of the 'game' mechanics fall into noting the class and level of the NPCs. For example, among the members of the evil Brotherhood of Spite, Posy is described in game mechanic terms thusly: (CE female gnome rogue 5/assassin 2).

So in a city of multiple cultures with some places designed specifically to catalog those, we get nothing. No prestige classes, no magic items, no spells, no monsters, no templates or other crunchy bits. Heck, I think the deepest crunch we get are the various character backgrounds, which are extremely light on crunch, being more like Kits from Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition, where there's a small bonus, often to a specific set of skills, and role playing and background information.

On one hand, that's great for people who have a heavily customized mod of the Pathfinder or d20 system going and want to create their own game mechanics. It's also great for people who don't actually play Pathfinder and instead play say, Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd edition or some other variant or OSR game. While the multi-class bit isn't going to transfer over seamlessly, the lack of game mechanics means more information on the city and its inhabitants is in the material.

The naming conventions are a little off to me. For example, in honor of the old Byzantium history, we have the 'Axe Bearing Guard', a group of elite warriors who protect the emperor. If these guys aren't based directly on the Varangian Guard I'd be shocked. So why not just call them that? Is Varangian so entwined with gaming that people who instantly know them? But not too far after them we have Janissaries, who were another historical fighting force and they're called, yeah, Janissaries. Either fake names for everyone or no one! Nah, it's not that serious, just struck me as odd to go all generic with one and kept that very specific name for the other.

The eleven wards of the city cover a lot of ground. We have not only the standards of the dock ward and poor ward, but also a 'floating' ward and a 'hidden ward' that allow for a bit of variety that can be missing from some cities. The variety of wards allow for clustering of different cultures and ethnicities so you can find things like gnolls and half orcs with no difficult in the city.

In terms of playability, for Game Master's willing to roll up their sleeves, the book has you covered. There are numerous factions in the modern city. The history of the city lends itself to numerous adventurers in and of itself. For example, the city was only recently controlled by hobgoblins. There are ideas for routing growing bands of various humanoids or for retrieving treasures taken from the city during those looting days. This doesn't count the gnolls of centaurs that are raiders either.

The city is built atop numerous old ruins which are built atop numerous old caverns. The ruins are perfect for those who want the standard dungeon crawl.

There are hidden cults and evil gods with deceptions within deceptions. This includes nods to the old favorite, the serpent people if you want to get some of that 'Mythos' flavor up in there.

In terms of the past, many who are exiled are maimed when they are forced out, such as by being blinded. Those who survive and thrive in exile? They might wait a long time before coming to take revenge on the city and do so with some magical peepers after all that time.

Now note, I said Game Master's willing to roll up their sleeves right? While there are all sorts of adventure seeds and ideas strewn about the book, actual gaming material is again, scarce. Some of the material might have been better off being cut to provide a brief adventure or something along those lines to get players immediately into the game. Being that it's a Pathfinder book though, any adventure with maps and game mechanics would eat up a lot of room due to the difference in size between an OSR and a 3.5 stat block.

Having said that, there are numerous random encounters tables and some locations, that would be better with maps, that easily lend themselves out to adventure with a minimum of effort. For example, there are teams of gladiators that fight in a large arena. There are were rats in the sewers. There is a fallen guild of paladins that did not thrive in the city and so raid and attack boats. The adventure seeds are then but will require the Game Master to fully stat out everything if he's using the numerous NPCs from the book.

Those going a 'softer' route and wanting to just grab their Monster Manual still have a lot of options. In terms of low level foes we have the standard goblins, hobgoblins and those can be worked up to gnolls, centaurs and minotaurs. At different spectrums, due to the different grave sites, there are undead and possibly wild summoned creatures from the various spellcasters about. There is also a large body of water that the city utilizes so all manner of creatures can be found within those murky depths.

Parsantium needs some polish. While it has massive potential, the dearth of art and game mechanics make it more of a fixed upper than run straight out of the box. If we ever see a 'deluxe' edition I'd love to see more art, maps and closer illustrations of the city with the locations called out in the various ward descriptions.

For those already running it, what resources are you using for game mechanics? Have you busted out some standards in Pathfinder or switched over to a favorite OSR book? Due to the wealth of political opportunities here, I can easily see this being a solid fit for the Adventurer Conqueror King System but given how many game stats I have for things like gnolls via 4th edition and it's many monster entries for the same monster, I can see myself using that and it's 'quest' awards for XP to make characters rise in level fairly standard while exploring ruins, guarding caravans, and fighting epic rakashas.

For those reading this review, I haven't hit a 'regular' game review in a while. Are there some things you'd like me to hit more in the future if I do more? Hit less? Provide more examples of material from the book? More links to outside material like the Varangian for example?

If you think anyone else would want to read, please +1 and share along the old circles.

Captain Midnight Volume 1: On the Run

Not too long ago, +Dark Horse Comics had the first nine issues of Captain Midnight on sale for $2.99 in digital format. Written by Joshua Williamson and illustrated by Victor Ibanez, Pere Perez and Fernando Dagnino. The first few issues are very self contained and hint at a larger world while not overwhelming new readers.

Now me? I personally knew nothing about Captain Midnight. I was completely unaware of his vast swathes of history which are summed up much better on the Wiki over here than I could hope to do.

The art reminds me of Neal Adams. It's not a comparison I make lightly as Neal is a treasure for the comic book world. Thankfully +Dark Horse Comics does a lot of preview material on their website so you don't have to take my word for it. For example, if you wanted to see some pages from the first issue, go here. The colors are vivid and eye catching being easy to read and view on a computer. Hell, I read mine on my Gateway monitor. They don't even make Gateway monitors anymore!

The Dark Horse take on Captain Midnight is part homage to Captain America and part nod to the old serials. His introduction is straight from the fields of World War 2 and in that aspect, he finds himself a man out of time whose nemesis, I kid you not, Fury Shark, has taken his technology and is corrupting its original purpose and use.

There is a bit of a spy and mystery element to the series as well. Black Sky is introduced as little more than a name and a rumor but turns out to have old ties to Captain Midnight himself.

The first nine issues break off into self contained stories that don't tag much into the larger super hero world that Dark Horse is building. This is a good thing because it keeps things nice and simple for new readers.

The run is a bit rough for me though. Captain Midnight fits too well into the new world. It's like he's so far ahead of his own time that his acclimation to modern times is near instant. The problem though turns out in how that's portrayed. For example, when discussing the internet, he 'doesn't trust it' and instead relies on newsprint. Eh? That's not man out of time, that's just an old person.

The authors had some real opportunity to take a man out of time, his clothing, his outlook on race relations, his outlook on the opposite sex, pollution, environmentalist issues, and hell, even the borders of the world compared to WWII, heck, the  various results of WWII and run with it.

Instead we get a person whose dedication to good and justice is only slightly flawed through his unwillignness to 'follow orders' such as when he's initially introduced to modern times and he MUST go out and see the modern world.

On one hand, I'll admit that I'm tired of seeing 'heroes with mud' on their feet so to speak. Not every take on a character has to involve them being some homophobic, woman hating racist. On the other hand, it's such a wash that it leaves Captain Midnight very little to distinguish himself from other heroes. It's a problem that even DC has faced with many of its own characters who were often too powerful for their own good.

The good news is that the action is fast and furious. In a matter of nine issues Captain Midnight battles numerous foes, including Skyman, an inheritor of the Captain's own technology. Apparently there is a new Skyman who has his own comic but I haven't delved into that character yet. The battle though, between Captain Midnight and Skyman, is reminiscent of Captain America, the 'original', fighting against the 50's Captain America whose outlook and attitudes did not translated well to the modern world. It's a good scene and isn't afraid to blow things up real nice.

Another benefit for potential future stories involving Captain Midnight, outside of any 'dream' or alternative reality takes of Captain Midnight meeting some of Mike Magnolia's World War II creations, is that because he is an established character from that time, there are all sorts of 'flashbacks' that the company can use to introduce all sorts of crazy stuff to the story.

The first volume of Captain Midnight is available from Dark Horse comics at the link earlier here, as well as Amazon.com for $11.32 in paperback format. Note that Dark Horse has also published a lot of the older material in various omnibus editions in hardcover so collectors of the older material can hunt down Volume 1: Battles the Nazis, for $34.10 or Volume 2: Captain Midnight Saves the World for $38.99.

For those who follow comics closer, any readers of Captain Midnight? Any other favorites out there that stand out among the crowd? For me, if it's an inexpensive trip, like this collection initially was when I purchased it, I've got no problem plunking down the funds for it.

Pavia 1525: The Climax of the Italian Wars (Campaign)

So after watching the Borgias and the Borgia series on Netflix, I was still in the mood for more information on the various issues in Italy. Well, the area around which the series took place as Italy as a unified state didn't exist at that time and the whole area was rife with warfare from French and Spanish, as well as numerous Italian, French, and German mercenaries.

Pavia 1525, The Climax of the Italian Wars, is written by Angus Konstam, and outside of the numerous illustrations from historical sources, utilizes the modern day talents of Graham Turner to bring to life the battles in the Italian Wars the cumulated at Pavia in 1525. Note that the cover I used here is not the latest one, but rather, the cover of the edition I personally own that at its time of publishing, ran for $19.99, but not runs for $21.95.

There are a number of interesting factors at work when looking at history.

Never Ending War: When looking at the Italian Wars, such as over on the Wiki, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_campaign_of_1524%E2%80%9325, you'll see that there are various 'wars'. LIke the Italian War of 1521-1526. The sack of Rome happens in 1527. War is a part of the landscape.

Names: I sometimes laugh at some of the names I see in fantasy novels, my own characters, friend's characters or other media. Historically though, such names like 'the Bastard of Savoy' or Saint-Severin (Master of the King's Horse) among others, such as Bande nere, the Black Band mercenary group.

Weather: One of the things that happen with canons and hand canons, is that they are vulnerable for a wide range of weaknesses. For example, once the canons are in place, they don't move. Mobility is not a key factor. Another thing is fog. If you can't see the enemy, you can't shoot the enemy. Another problem is rain. Wet guns and wet gunpowder do not make for good weapons.

Reversals: The French lose the battle at Pavia. The Imperials though, don't have time to take advantage of it due to the quick thinking of the mother of the French King.

Mercenaires: The Italians were known for their mercenaries. The Germans, such as the Landsknechts, and the Swiss, are all employed here. The payment, or lack of payment for these forces, provide fooder in and of itself for how things could work.

Large Campaigns, Small Campaigns: Despite the book being titles Pavia, it covers many of the other events that happened, such as 'The Storming of Mirabello", where the Imperialist troops attacked the French at the hunting lodge. This hunting lodge is described as a small castle with its own drawbridge. This would be a perfect fortification to hold back a larger group. For example, a group of players fighting against larger numbers to slow them down. Another example is when a group of French soldiers fight a group of Spanish infantry outside the small town of Binasco.

Pavia is an interesting look at a small slice of a terrible time in history and has enough odd bits between its pages to provide readers with many bits for their own games.

Shadow Chaser: The Chronicles of Siala by Alexey Pehov

I bought this book about a month ago in paperback for $3.40 from Amazon after reading the first book in the series, Shadow Prowler. It's not that the first book blew me away with its awesomeness or anything but with Amazon Prime I don't pay s&h and it gets here quick so why not.

M'eh.

I don't know if it's the translator or just the short clipped names but I had a hard time "getting into" the book. With the main character Shadow Harold, I can see it being a 'jab' at fantasy names by going with something more normal, but there are a lot of characters with three letter names like Eel, and Ell which make keeping track of some of them difficult. Others have names like For which is a pretty commonly used word in and of itself.

The mythology of the world has a nice difference in that elves are second cousins if you will to Orcs who are the oldest race in the setting. The author also uses dreams to provide the reader with more information.

The characters are also very 'player character' like in that for the most part, they don't come across as stupid but rather competent and use all their advantages when possible.

The author also doesn't have a problem killing characters or throwing them into terrible situations. Alexey Pehov does a good job in providing the characters additional hardships, like losing their special key that is required to get into the Ogre's grave, to which they must take it back.

In terms of gaming, there are a few things that resound here that hail from historic times as well as in popular culture about those times.

The Judgment of Sagra: In the Game of Thrones series, on at least two separate occasions, the 'truth' of a matter or charge is determined not through a court of laws, but rather through trial by combat. In the Chronicles of Siala, the Judgement of Sagra is that trial by combat. When accusing a group, the lot draws straws to determine who will fight the accuser. An interesting way to handle it. The other thing is that only 'knights' or nobility or warriors if you will, can draw lots because it is a warrior's code.

Destroyed Villages: One of the terrible things most published settings do is fail to show how dark and dangerous their settings are. Often there are very powerful creatures that just happen to wait for the players to show up and stop them from doing bad things. Here, as the companions are in the Borderlands, one of the villages they come across has been destroyed by an advanced scouting party of orcs. If you put towns and forts in areas where they should be sacked and raided, have them sacked and raided when the players aren't around. It provides the setting more feeling of movement, that things are happening when the characters aren't around.

Alexey Pehov's website can be found here for further information and details about the Chronicles of Siala which appears to already have two more books ready for reading. As my own library has continued to grow after buying this book, unless I spot them on sale, I'll probably hold off for now and work on some of my other material.

For those who've read his other books, any particular one you'd care to mention? Any other particular Russian authors that stand out and are easily available in English?

Amazon's Kindle books does another up to 85% off

Touchstone (Glass Thorns) by Melanie Rawn : I don't remember too much of Melanie Rawn but recognized the name. Solid cover.


Spider Man: Spider Island: Ah, more work from Dan Slott. Good stuff and a decent collection for $3.99.


The Death of Captain America, Vol. 1: The Death of the Dream  This was a fantastic arc. I have it and the other parts in the big ass omnibus edition. $3.99


Captain America Reborn: This is part of the same series by Ed Brubaker. Again, I have the omnibus collection. A solid part of the Marvel comic setting.


Anyone have any recommendations based on what else is out there? There were a few Thor collections but the reviews were... unkind to say the least.


Outside of reading comics, Shazam Volume One, which was on sale, was very good. A nice change with a lot of nods to the old comics. There are still others I'm catching up on including some Avatar the Last Airbender from Dark Horse that was on sale last weekend.


I've also been reading Parsantium, a Pathfinder based RPG. It's got a nice simple layout and is a beefy size and reads well. Needs a lot more art though.


What's everyone else up to?

Game of Thrones: The Wall & The Night Watch

I believe there is an old saying that goes "Late to the Party" or something along those lines. When it comes to watching the series based on the George R. R. Martin books, Game of Thrones, I'm well behind. I just finished watching season two of Game of Thrones and while normally I'd babble on about this or that, I just wanted to touch on a moment on 'The Wall.'

History and role playing games in particular touch on the symbolic if not actual importance of fantastic monuments designed to keep enemies out, to act as fortifications, and as a symbol of power. One of history's most famous is probably the Great Wall of China but there are others like Hadrian's Wall for example. Heck, even the comedy South Park got to make fun of the whole Wall bit with their own wall keeping out the Mongol hordes.

In terms of Game of Thrones though, George R. R. Martain may have taken inspiration form the later, but his own creation, The Wall has its own bits.

Green Ronin, and others before them, have already done role playing games based on the series, which includes a free quick start rule set found here. Strangely enough, Amazon seems to show that everything is sold out and only available from second hand sellers.

I just wanted to point out how handy something like the Wall would be in a role playing game with a low powered set of rules like 1st or 2nd Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, especially if emulating low magic settings.

1. Character Origin Points: The characters can come from a wide variety of backgrounds. The Wall includes murderers, sons that are bastards, and a wide variety of other types that essentially go into exile. In a game system where characters are killed frequently, its great to have a quick way and reason why characters can come and go into the game.

2. The Wall is Not Independent. While the Wall has a singular purity of purpose, it has to interact with the whole of the setting. It is not nearly as self sufficient as it needs to be. They need supplies, they need men, they need information. All of these things require them interact with the world.

3. The Wall is Not The End: There are whole swathes of land to the North of the Wall and to those who live there, all those South of the wall are Southerners. This isolation allows a lot of variety to be thrown into what should normally be a barren and isolated wasteland.  Depending on how far characters search in those areas, there are all manner of ruins to explore and clear out and all manner of 'Wildlings' to encounter, some which may be friendly and some foes.

4. Uniformity: Depending on which run of say, X-Men you've read, there was a point where the X-Men decided to ditch the costumes and go with almost uniforms. In the Night Watch, they all have similar clothes, supplies and teachings. Everything however, is not so ingrained that there is no room for individual styles or options. For example, Rob uses a sword. Others uses axes. Most can use a bow, but not necessarily all are skilled with them.

In terms of art, there's a nice job over here: http://riceandeggs.blogspot.com/2012/02/nights-watch.html

I'm looking forward to watching season three and seeing the dreaded 'Red Wedding'. Yeah, I read up to book four I think and then, like I did with the Wheel of Time, stopped. I'm waiting till George R. R. Martin finishes the series so I suspect by season five or so of the HBO series, which I hear they hope to get eight seasons out of, that I'll start to be surprised.

I myself haven't played in Westros but seeing the shows and the great character work, especially on the imp, does inspire me. Anyone else picked up the RPGs based on watching the show or are you just using Fate or whatever other RPG you've got lying around to do it?

Clone Wars: Season Six on Netflix

One of the interesting things about Netflix, is that it has evolved and continues to evolve as time goes on. Their streaming is so intensive that Comcast, and I'm sure others, have gone directly after them. Their use of original media, like House of Cards, has also taken a little twist in that they premiered Clone Wars season six. Imagine a time when say a company like Showtime decides, "This Borgias isn't cutting it" and Netflix steps in and completes the series? That would be awesome.

In terms of the Clone Wars, I've always found Star Wars a mixed bag for a variety of reasons. I really, and I mean really, have to turn my brain off. The powers of the Jedi, as well as just their general perceptions of whats going on, are so poorly done, that in one scene they'll be smashing through dozens of droids and in the next getting stomped by some lone character for 'pacing' and 'story' purposes.

The Clone Wars also doesn't end with closure on all subjects or all maters. Some of the delves are interesting in "Oh, so that's how he learned that" but pointless in that I don't recall people screaming to learn every nook and cranny in the setting.

Overall I think that the Clone Wars is well done. It shows that should they ever choose, they could do a series in the Star Wars setting without Jedi and do it quite well. As a matter of fact, I believe that there is a new series already on the horizons.

For role playing purposes, there are a few things to keep in mind.

1. Consistency: Player's are not writers forced to pull their punches and not act in a consistent manner at all times. Players are not going to suddenly forget that they have access to abilities A, B, and C just because it would be 'cool' if Y happened at that particular time. Know the difference between what your characters have been shown to do when planning traps and hired encounters against them.

2. Closure: Sometimes there may be a player who does a great job with a character but then real life gets in the way and they have to leave. In the Clone Wars, Ahsoka Tano may have come into the series a little annoyingly but she left it on a high point and we have very little closure as to what actually happens to her during say, "Order 66".

3. Villains React: One of the things I've commonly seen blasted about Star Wars, is that the Emperor was just too clever. That he had too many controls in place. If you watch the show, the Emperor is a great villain because he has agents that can react to things as they happen. For example, when it's discovered that "Order 66" may be found out ahead of time? Oh yeah, the Emperor is all over that with multiple agents from different sides covering the issue. If your villains are just sitting around waiting for the characters to show up, they deserve to have their asses kicked. 

4. Unique to Common: Many genres and media share this particular bit. A new enemy appears, like say a Sentinel. At first it's such a vicious foe that it takes multiple times to beat it, or it takes a wide spread group effort that costs tremendous resources. Soon though the characters are taking on five or ten or more of them at a time. We see that with the 'Commando' droids, 'Destroyer' droids and the other leadership style droids that initially seem to be unstoppable and then come up short every time they're encountered after that. Combat changes and when something doesn't work, it will be augmented or changed. How many 'Marks' or generations of Sentinels are we up to now?

While I think Clone Wars could've been better, I think it did a fantastic job of providing a look into the Star Wars setting and look forward to seeing what else they can do.