This Crooked Way by James Enge

Since I already own the first three books by James Enge that feature his character Morlock, I figure I'd delve right into the next one; This Crooked Way.

Unlike the first book, this one isn't told from a single viewpoint by a single character. We get several first personal views of what Morlock is like, as wel las numerous interludes and a few of the standard third person chapters. Overall it works but doesn't work as well as I've seen in other places including Usagi Yojimbo.

Below I'll be pulling some quotes out of the book and there will probably be spoilers. Read no further if you'd care to avoid that sort of thing.

"My name is Vost. I was Lord Urdhven's right-hand man. His cloest friend. You killed him. Destroyed him. And now you come here." pg. 17

When players are fighting the good fight, their foes may be more than just the ones that are immediately in front of them. In a military based battle, there are numerous chains of command and if the players are focused on one level, the highest level, those below the military commanders the players slay, could one day seek vengance.

"They called it the winterwood. The trees stood on high rocky ground; it was cold there, even in summer. the trees there, of a kind that grew nowhere else, flowered in fall and faded in spring. They resembled dark oaks, except their leaves were a dim blue and their bark had a bluish cast." pg .54

Providing the local forest with some unique color goes a long way in establishing the players need to pay attention to things going on around them. Providing unique elements to the campaign severs to provide some unique game play options to the setting. The standard of classic fantasy are that way for a reason, but that very ample soil leaves plenty of room for customization.


"Yet you wander from place to place... like some kind of magical tinker, when you might command fear and respect the way a general commands an army."
Morlock shrugged irritably. "Why?" pg. 71

One of the things that's interesting about Morlock is that his ability as a maker allows him to manufacture a wide vareity of devices. If he so choose, he could set up shop in a major city and become a world reknown power. But those things doen't interest him. He's an adventurer you see.

When you have players who are interested in the actual adventuring process, of going forward for the experience itself as opposed to the gold and glory, you're able to throw a little more into the campaign. Gold and glory are great motivators in and of themselves and can be useful carrot and stick approaches, but when the players want to adventure on their own in the first place, this makes the GM's job easier.


"That's the one law the Riders carry with them through the lawless hours: bring the bodies out. For every body left in the woods after dark became the subject and sustenance of our enemy, the Boneless One, the Whisperer in the woods." pg 109

When possible, think about the long term effects of the magical and other unnatural elements of the campaign. For example, if there are undead in the campaign, either zombies or skeletons, those that can be crafted from the dead, or ghouls or those that feast on the dead, why are there corpses?


"The crowd's horror burst into panic. I wasn't the first person to rush for the door, but i wasn't thel ast one either." pg. 131

This one is a simple one. Not everyone in the setting is hard core ready to fight to the death and ready to kill for whoever tells them to. When things from beyond creep into the game, try to recall that the players are a step above most of those they encounter and that whats normal for them, may seem especially strange to the 'normal' people in the setting.


"A shape flew between Besk and me- a darkly luminous green bird whose form would not quite come into focus as if it were wrapped in a dark mist. It flew around Besk's head three times. With the first pass his eyes closed; with the second his head slumped; after the thrid he fell to the ground. The green bird flew back to where it came from: the door of the smith. Morlock, standing there, caught it in a glass bottle and closed the bottle with a stopper.
"What is that?" I asked.
"Sleep," Morlock said. Pg. 138

One of the things I like about 4th ed is that it's all about 'reskinning'. Its all about providing your own flavor and your own description to abilities. I've seen this done in the past as well where Dragon articles would encourage you to customize your character by describing special effects that your spells had about them. For example, elves using magic missles that were living wood or frost mages using frost missles. The problem happens when players try to take the extra step and throw in some other abilities that the core ability they're reskinning doesn't have. Allow description to run free but don't allow it to provide additional game mechanics unless you're doing some stunting like found in Exalted.


Morlock shook his head. "You go on," he said. "I have to find Tyrfing." pg. 153

A character with a unique signature weapon isn't going to leave it behind unless he absolutely has to. On the other hand, as Morlock revoers his weapon less than a page latter, he shouldn't have too do that too often. It's an abuse of the character concept and if the GM is dead set against that type of character with that type of weapon, he shouldn't allow it in the first place.

There are few thing more angry than a player told he can use X, Y, and Z and watching as X, Y, and Z are nerfed to whatever the GM prefers. Take the high road and just disallow it in the first place.

"May I offer you something, my boy? A glass of wine, or perhaps something stronger?" pg. 288

One of the thigns I haven't really touched on is that Morlock is the son of Merlin. And they're not really on good friendly terms with his father trying to kill him and all. Family can provide many a useful plot hook to the campaign and is of far greater use to the GM than some loner with no family and a mysterious past.

In this case though, the father is pushing the envelope by offering Morlock wine. One thing I may not have mentioned is that Morlock is an alcoholic. While it doesn't feature prominently in this book and didn't overall effect the previous book in the series, it's part of Morlock's character. Unless you're using a point system that has the characters roll to resist vices or be rewarded for falling into them, in games like Dungeons and Dragons and Rolemaster, this should be trapping or surface flavor.


"Morlock walled away quickly. He had the feeling that Trannon was intent on doing something that would wreck everything Morlock had done." pg. 352

One of the things about the real world is that you can't save everyone. Some people don't want to be saved. Depending on how the GM introduces such concepts to the game, this could involve alcohol like Morlock himself, drug use, or enuii. People may struggle to overcome their base instincts but cannot do so. In some instances, if the players are heroes higher than Morlock whose involvement is almost more of an honor thing, such as good friends of such a character down in the dark, they may be able to acheive a true intervention. But as Hollywood celeberties prove time and time again, having all the money, wealth, and adoration of millions might not be enough and the dark roads may be calling.

This Crooked Way continues the adventurers of Morlock with James Enge providing some solid humor and a stoic character that is at once heroic and self contained. His unique weapon and James take on the magic of that setting provide solid twist and turns along with a unique bestiary.

Those looking for fantasy entertainment that's not too high strung and isn't thousands of pages long with dozens of carefully created NPCs will enjoy it.

Blood Of Ambrose by James Enge

In between working like a slave for a company currently under sale, I also game, paint, and read numerous forums and blogs.

On one of ye old blogs, I stumbled across a book called This Crooked Way by James Enge.  Sounded right up my alley but didnt' sound like the first book in the series. After a trip to Half Priced books, as well as a visit to Borders with a 40% off coupon and Amazon, I was the proud owner of Blood of Ambrose, This Crooked Way and The Wolf Age by James Enge.

Good enough and time to start on the series.

Blood of Ambrose isn't as gritty as any of The First Law series or the books that come after it. It is not a ground breaking series like the Wheel of Time was thought at one point or A Game of Thrones currently is (thank you HBO).

However, that doesn't stop it from being a fun read. Taking some cues form Arthurian mythos and bits of fantasy, James Enge provides some interesting characters in interesting enough situations that Blood of Ambrose is well worth a read.

Below I'll be talking about some of the bits that I found interesting. If you wish to avoid spoilers, read no further.

"In all his life he had one friend, and now that friend was dead. What was an empire compared to that?" pg. 136.

Okay, a cheap start I know, but perhaps I'm reading too many blogs and forums where the basic question of why do characters fight and die for each other. It's not a question I gave much thought to when I first started gaming. My first role playing experiences were with Marvel Super Heroes. It was pretty much the standard that you'd rather die than abandon your friends in the middle of combat with the Red Skull or Thanos.

As I moved into fantasy games, that wasn't always the case. As I played with more and more people though, it seemed to fall into the category of 'dick players'. If everyone in the game but you dies, you're not a hero, you're a dick.

Sorry, but whose going to travel with you once its known that you've left other player's characters die, especially if the new characters are made by those same player's? Sure, you can say its the players being dicks in and of themselves, daring to use that foul meta-knowledge that your character values his own life so much that he'd abandoned them but hey, the other players are going to make their decisions based on what you've already done and meta-knowledge be damned.

I'm not saying that if you as a player had your character say, "Hey, this is crazy. We can't go in there and expect to live." and then stayed behind and didn't do everything in your power to help others out. But if you're the mage or other high level caster and your combat spells consist mainly of those which get you and you alone out of a tight situation? Yeah, good luck with that next group of adventurers wanting to travel with you.


"But no one knows him as well as I do. And I know not only that he's breakable, but that he's broken." pg. 145.

In making characters, one of the standards seems to be that everyone has feet of clay. Morlock ,one of the main characters of the novel, and the hero in many ways, has a lot of faults. But those days of being inactive and doing nothing are behind him. When players are designing their characters, I encourage the GM not only to point out the obvious faults with them, but to note how those might come back into the came to haunt her. If the player is dead set on making a drunk whose will is so weak that even in a game with no penalties for doing so, that they fall to alcoholism when drink is merely mentioned, they might be taking it too far. The clay should be something that the characters are working against as they start the game, not something that they are so rigidly defined by that any NPC with a roll of 15 or less on 3d6 knows that weakness.

"The sunkillers had taken an interest in our world and intended to conquer it." pg. 149

The whole thing here of another race deciding to take over the world is one that bears some mentioning not necessarily because you want to start the players off against such seemingly epic foes, but rather because it indicates that the width of the campaign is larger than the pond they're currently in. They should want to fight their own Sunkillers some day and to take their own steps "beyond their world" so to speak.



"When was the last time any of you guys heard any news from Invarna?" pg. 156

One of the hardest things for me to remember as a GM, and something I have to enforce with that same authority, is how little modern communications played in the settings we're often playing in. In order to enforce some of that feeling, it's good to have news come in from outside via caravans and other travelers. But sometimes, especially when the players are seeking to stir up trouble, they might ask, "Hey, when was the last time anyone heard anything about X." and because modern communication standards aren't in effect, they should get the benefit of the doubt. The opposite is also true of course...


"All that is left of that once was Urdhven is a slender thread of ego trapped inside that slab of meat." pg. 181.

The main villain at this point is the Protector to the king. He's a man obsessed with taking over the lands and ruling. He appears normal enough at first until his head is cut from his body and he still lives. When such things happen, well, there has to be something else behind it no? It's a good way to set up the otherness behind some of the villains in the campaign and to hint at things to come down the road.

In the same vein,

"He says there is a danger we aren't facing-"
"Yes, I know: the Protector's Shadow, Urdhven's magical patron." pg. 208.

When the players do manage to take out one villain, they may discover that he was just a puppet of a stronger villain. When you face cultist, their leader is a necromancer, who gains strength from demons, who gain strength from their patron Orcus, and in between the cultist and Orcus are numerous encounters and challenges ranging from champions and servants to unique monsters and environmental issues that require more than just brawn and power to overcome.


"...among the crystalline shards was one_ long, swordlike, and dark_ which fell into Morlock's outstretched hand. It was tyrfing, the accursed sword, its blade like dark basaltic glass glimmering in the fitful light of the stormy evening." pg. 182

Not every game models every genre or even every weapon within a particular genre well. The first thing I thought of when I read about the "veins of glowing white crystal within the dark blade" wasn't D&D, it was Rolemaster. The blade has more of a magical nature than a mere bonus and that made me think of an essence multiplier or addition to the power points a character would gain from holding it. Keep the game you're playing in mind as you read, but don't be afraid to let bits you read find their appropriate place among other game you might enjoy.


"this time I got there in time," pg. 190.

Players fail. It happens in almost every game and every genre. In fiction, the writer has the ability to give the characters a second chance at doing what they failed to do. When possible, take a nod from this and allow the players to enjoy success at something they failed at before.


"that satisfied some of the Protector's Men; others, who knew or had heard a truer version of the fight in the Great Market, quietly deserted." pg. 206.

You've got this awesome villain but he's such a scum bag that if people truly knew what a vile source of scum he is, they would quickly leave him but yet the players have found him out and proven his vileness! What to do. Depending on the nature of the outing, have some loss of power occur. If you don't you're taking away from the player's victory. Why bother exposing the villain if there's no effect of doing so?


"You don't sign peace treaties with your friends, Wyrth; you sing them with your enemies." pg. 212

Wow. What a piece of advice for a game that may have too many foes for a typical party to overcome. when dealing with things like war, as I mentioned in my ramblings of the Heroes, there may be too many foes for the players to overcome. In order to cut back on sheer bloodthirst and rampage, hinting that the players may want to capture enemies and resources so that they may barter with their foes for terms of peace may be a way around the death toil that could otherwise come around.


"It looks as if you're going to have to continue those lessons in the Sight." pg. 249

One of the things that always brings out my Internet fighting form, is talking about game design versus game play. I've seen Champions characters built with 350 points that look nothing like Champions characters that were played from 250 to that 350 point total. Game play in and of itself indicates a LOT of what will happen in the game. Worried that wizards and clerics and druids are just too damn powerful? Allow them in the campaign and see what happens through, you know, actual game play. Sure, they may want spell X, Y, and Z, but the campaign may call for them to use A, B, and C. The theory of game design and optimal choices may be vastly different that what's useful for your own campaign.

I'm not saying ignore advice and bits of wisdom you come across when seeing how people deal with a particular issue, but understand what your own campaign issues are prior to adapting someone else's solution. It may not be a problem in your campaign if Clerics are the most powerful class in your campaign and they don't need nerfing at all.


"Suppose that the magical adept is not, in fact, Urdhven's patron. Suppose that Urdhven is merely the dupe or pawn of this adept, who uses him to distract us from some under taking of the adept's own." pg. 250

There may be times when the foes of today's game are the allies of tomorrow's game. There may be times when the depth of the characters you've developed to interact with the players go beyond merely killing them. The motivations of some of the cast may clash against the motivations of others of the cast. In those times, allow the characters to grow through the actions of the player's characters and the world they inhabit.

There are a few others bits within Blood of Ambrose that are worth quoting and thinking about, but the Patron is flowing  strongly and it's well past the old sleepy time form me.