Elantris Appendix N Musings

When you read a beefy tome like Elantris, many elements may start to swirl around your brain and demand a place at your gaming table.

1. Take the most popular city in your setting and destroy it. Forgotten Realms? Waterdeep sent into the plane of Shadow. Eberron? Sharn collapses and is surrounded by a psionic energy barrier that flares with runes similar to the various house marks. Greyhawk? Well, of course, Greyhawk city!

You can either have it happen right at the start of the campaign or as something that has happened in the recent past. No one knows how or why it happened but it gives the players the chance to explore the ruins of a freshly destroyed city. They can hunt for survivors. They can hunt for lost lore. They can try and return the city to its former glory. The options are almost limitless when you're dealing with a subject as big as a lost city in a magical setting.

Players may also get caught up in the changes that are wrought by a major city falling. For example, if Waterdeep itself falls, what about the various farms outside of Waterdeep? What about the various towns outside the city? Will they rise and take over the maintenance of the roads leading north? Will they be destroyed by raids from nearby towns looking for plunder?

What about the political situation? Waterdeep, as a large city, an old city, as a trading city, has many alliances and enemies. Will those in the South use this as an excuse to invade their northern neighbors and become the new "Gateway to the North"? Will those in the north use this as an excuse to start an extermination of evil in order to safeguard their own lands and ensure that the same thing that happened to Waterdeep does not happen to them?

2. NPC Motivations: Some characters aren't necessarily evil but they have a goal. That goal can range in time and tune with the evolution of the campaign. In Elantris, Roial and Ahan are merchants that compete with one another. Roial always getting the better of Ahan. Under the promise that Roial would be imprisioned, Ahan betrays Roail and their friends. Thing spin rapidly out of that as the one Ahan betrayed the group to decides not to imprison Roail and the others, but to kill them. An event completely against the wishes of Ahan but outside his control once the ball started rolling. Things move as motivation directs them for a character, but when that motivation encounters other character's motivation, it can spin in a completely different fashion.

Are there secrets that friends of the characters know? Are there things that might make others jealous? Have the players learned something that is of vital consequence to others in the region but they themselves don't see it that way?

And motivation doesn't have to be used against the players. One of the main characters of Elantris, Hrathen, is the high priest of Fjordell and is in Arelon to convert the people. This is his goal. To convert the people.

When he learns that his church never had that as an intention, he turns against them. This is the classic case of organized religion versus a man's own interpretation of that religion and the organization fell short.

3. Secrets. During the course of the novel, prince Raoden uses two different aliases in order to move forward with his own plans. During the course of the novel, we learn that Raoden's father was a member of a cult that engaged in ritual sacrifice. As the novel unfolds, we learn of a hidden cult of killers within the religion that Krathen seeks to bring to the people of Arelon. At the end of the novel, there are still mysteries left to ponder. Keep some things hidden from the characters. Keep enough elements of the campaign that the characters may choose to follow a few of them without ever knowing what the others lead to.

Now mind you in a multi-year campaign where the players are playing the same characters and growing in tune with the campaign itself, that's a little harder to do but in many campaigns, especially shorter-lived ones, it gives the players something to look forward to the next time they come back to the campaign.

4. Minor Characters: In a dungeon crawl that's packed with monsters, Non-Player Characters aren't necessarily that important. Oh sure there might be a 'Meepo' in the waiting or something of that nature, but mainly, it's about the crawl.

In a city-based campaign, in a campaign that interacts with civilization, it's in part about the people. A Game of Thrones, one of the most popular of novel series, has dozens of characters. While Elantris in one book does not boast quite so many, it does have numerous individuals. For example, Sarene is married to Raoden. Raoden and Sarene both have fathers. Sarene also has an uncle. That uncle has children. Some of those children are married. Many of these characters have their own little niches about them.

The depth and details of the campaign can shine much greater when the players have an actual attachment to the campaign. Some of these can serve as mentors, as friends, as allies, as rivals, as enemies. The amount of swordplay or violence directly in a mirror to what the player's do.

5. Social Combat: One of the most interesting aspects of Elantris to me, from a gaming point, is the lack of fighting.

Hrathen vs Sarene: As a high priest, Hrathen is out and about preaching. He is intent on bringing the people into the fold. Sarene has seen the works of the church in other countries, sometimes resulting in bloody revolutions and is determined to stop it. So when Hrathen is out preaching, Sarene is there asking questions that undermine the church.

Sarene vs King Iadon: The King has no use for women in the court. He feels them useless and out of place among the political games that go on. Sarene is having none of that and at first, plays off as if she were too dumb to understand the problems that Iadon has with her being in the court. She does this once by pretending to paint and claiming it's part of her own courtly duties.

Raoden vs Sarene: During part of the novel, Raoden is in exile in Elantris and Sarene is bringing food to the people of the city. Raoden is in many ways the default ruler of the city but doesnt' control all of it and seeks to keep things are while at the same time trying to get more supplies to improve the lot of the people of Elantris. This leads to a list of goods needed by Raoden while Sarene not trusting him, provides corrupted versions of them. For example, instead of blocks of iron, bent nails or near transparent sheets of metal.

The use of social combat and the gaining and losing of status is often underlooked in roleplaying games. Most of the rules in games like Dungeons and Dragons are for spells and combat but social combat can be a little more involved and allows the players to occassionally lose without dying on the spot.

Are there any other parts of Elantris that you'd bring to your campaign or thought would make for some interesting bits in a game?

Liar's Blade by Tim Pratt (Appendix N Edition)

Below I'll be talking about some of the things I found in Liar's Blade that I think would make for good gaming material.

First off, you've got Rodrick and his talking sword, Hrym to start with. They could make dubious allies or the players could be looking to learn something from them. In Liar's Blade itself, the duo initially thinks they've been hired to be bodyguards but their employer knows right off the bat that they are thieves and con men. No reason why the players wouldn't know either.

Next, you've got Hrym, a talking sword with numerous magical abilities. One of the problems with gaming is the need to codify everything. It's a natural need as in playing a game, rules are handy to have around.

At the same time, they can kill the fun. You don't want something that the players can abuse left and right with minutia, which they tend to, but by tying the abilities into a separate entity, in this case, an intelligent sword, you've got the fun stuff that can make ice bridges and spare the Rodrick from extreme cold, as well as something that doesn't just go, "Yeah, freeze the blood in everything around us."

Another benefit of a magic sword that talks, is that it allows the Game Master to have a presence in the game that he can feed the players useful and not-so-useful information. After all, there's nothing to say that an intelligent sword doesn't have its own agenda or can't be wrong just because it's an intelligent sword.

Third, don't overprepare. Rodrick and his talking sword cover a lot of ground in this novel. They meet Sword Lords, travel through the River Kingdoms, and do some deep lake exploration. If you as the Game Master has spent a long time making numerous encounters in each location and place that the characters have stopped, you might be upset that they haven't had all of the encounters you've mapped out.

It's a rock and a hard place situation. I've been in games where it was clear that the game master had no idea what was supposed to happen next. They had no monsters ready. They had no NPC's ready. It was a sit-down and well, we'll figure something out.

If you're sharp on your feet and can quickly change up the pace, this is not a problem.

Most people won't admit it, but they are generally not that guy. Have your stat blocks, have a flow chart of how you're expecting the adventure to go, have some 'generic' encounters that you can slide into the campaign at any time, but don't plan each and every second out of the game because it's not all going to be used. Make sure you've left yourself enough wiggle room to handle something that happens in the campaign.

Fourth, use false employers. Most players are not self-directed. They don't decide, "Hey, today we're going to do X." Mind you that might just be a scenario that happens because they don't have the information themselves to go do X. Player's usually have plenty of motivation.

But false employers are those who hire the players for X and instead, it's actually Y that the players are doing.

And when you use this little gem, the double cross, don't be afraid to switch it up. Have the characters guarding some shady individuals who are actually up to good. Perhaps the players have been hired to guard a few halflings who happen to have a magical cure for the disease rampaging across the region but need guards because they are being hunted down.

Liar's Blade provides a lot of entertainment and is a quick read for those looking to explore the Pathfinder setting proper.

Savage Sword of Conan Volume Eight

The Savage Sword of Conan Volume Eight brings further adventures of Conan's time at Marvel as a magazine back into print thanks to the efforts of Dark Horse Comics.

The physical version clocks in at 500 pages. Yeah, it's a lot of barbarian in black and white for the money. We get art from many of the classic masters of the time including Gil Kane, John Buscema, and Ernie Chan among others.

Speaking of Ernie:

Ernie captures Conan quite well and I wish he'd been able to do more work in the main body of work itself. Still, I'm not going to look down on John or the others for their fantastic efforts.

This volume has a little something extra to it for me. On one hand, it's Conan. You know that it's going to have a lot of the standard features:

1. Conan is going to get sucker punched and knocked out at least once.

2. Conan is going to get captured and escape, at least once.

3. Conan is going to have many amorous companions.

But push past all that, and we actually have a thing rare for Conan. Enemies who survive more than one encounter with the barbarian.

This volume introduces us to the Devourer of Souls. This is one character that Marvel thought so impressive, that they brought a major storyline around him in the regular comic. He's also one of the few people to simply beat Conan down.

The bad news here? Is Conan is saved by outside agency. This to me defeats the purpose of Conan being overwhelmed by his foe because he is not responsible for saving himself. He doesn't have a trick. He doesn't have a plot. He doesn't use brain or strategy. Instead he essentially gets lucky.

It's like if the Game Master was like, "Man, I've rolled a lot of 20's here... The villain decides to move on and finish you off later!"

This is quite the contrast to Conan's encounter with Darius. With Conan's assistance, Darius finds three magical items, Gauntlets, Armor, and a Bow. All are vastly powerful. With them, Darius turns on Conan and almost kills the barbarian. In the rematch, Conan does use wit and maneuvering to finish off Darius. That's a nice change of pace.

Another new foe introduced, who we will see again, is Konar. The 'flip' to Konar is that he's Conan, or at least, a Conan or another world. The 'real' Conan finds himself dragged through the multiverse through a gap and when he arrives in his new world, much like one of the old Planetary Romances, is under a world with different suns. The country this Konar rules? Aquiloria. Sound familiar?

Conan fits in well but his counter eventually returns and the two battle. Conan sees no profit in fighting Konar to the death and retreats.

It's another case where the authors use outside influence to make things easier for the barbarian. I can see the player's and GM going, "Is this getting lame or is it just me? Alright, let's get back to the standard setting."

Surprisingly another villain returns. THis time it's Captain Bor'aqh Sharaq, a barachian corsair. Last seen being dragged into hell. He manages to escape and bring with him a powerful weapon but this being the Savage Sword of Conan not the Savage Sword of Sharaq, while it proves useful, it does not grant him that victory. Still, it was nice to see a foe make a series of returns. It gives a little more sense of continuity to the series.

One of the things I enjoy about this mammoth volumes, is that they often have a lot of ideas that would make for great adventurers.

The Gamesmen of Asgalun: Two 'brothers' are addicted to gambling and set the barbarian off on a wild goose chase to see if he'll succeed or die on their bet. Much like Trading Places in its simplicity.

Isle of the Hunter: Conan is taken to an isle guarded by a monstrous defender and is then hunted by the lord of that island for sport. Another commonly used theme seen in such as The Most Dangerous Game. This adaptation is made more complicated by those who hunt Conan from the mainland in addition to twins. Nothing is ever easy for the barbarian.

Savage Sword of Conan Volume Five

Just an FYI, I'm probably going to hit all the volumes of the Savage Sword of Conan compilations. I own the first six physically and all of them electronically. Dark Horse did a sale not too long ago on the whole bundle where you got the entire run for under $100 bones. Personally I'd rather have the physical copies, but due to the sheer size of the books, I stopped at volume six. Just no where to put them. As a matter of fact, as I've been reviewing them now, I've been putting them into a box to take to storage. Ah, if only I had massive wealth to spoil myself with a massive house with massive basement for physical storage of such products.

As in previous volumes, there are a plethora of artistic giants in this volume. Many of the tales are illustrated by the master of all things comic Conan, John Buscema, but we also have some by Kerry Gammill and Tony de Zuniga among others.

This is another massive volume that collects the Savage Sword of Conan, at least the Conan tales, from 49 to 60. It clocks in at 544 pages, but the last few are ads for various comics and busts and other bits of Conan miscellanea. Amazon has this one for under $15, clocking in at $14.96.

One of the longest tales, lasting several issues, is an adaptation of Conan the Liberator and a few more issues dedicated to Sword of Skelos. These were comics I read back in the Frank Fazetta cover days of Ace Publications. Well, let me amend that. I bought them second hand in the early eighties as I think the original covers were well before my time.

I know that historically that the add ons to the Conan mythos get a lot of flack but for my original reading? It fit like a glove and worked well. It keeps the whole series together up to the twelfth volume, at which point future volumes dropped the Fazetta covers and wandered all over the place despite having the same numbering. Like looking at my shelf, I can see The Sword of Skeleos is Volume 15.

In terms of inspiration, well, the art in black and white, is very powerful and very old school. It's also very ancient in terms of how it depicts everything. Most buildings appear to be rough cut from rock and barely made habitable. The time it takes people to learn things from afar is weeks, months, or never. Reputations may follow a character from town to town, but nation to nation? Perhaps...

For the cover? Dark Horse, in my opinion, dropped the ball here. If you flip it over, you see the back cover which has part of the cover where Conan has bloodied sword in one hand and crown in that other. It's very powerful and would've been a better choice for this volume.

Like many other compilations of Conan, the chronology only follows the current story. There's no guarantee that the next issue in the volume will continue on with that pattern. Instead it reads like some broken account of Conan's life but usually they'll preface it with something along the lines of, "And here's a tale from Conan's days as a XXXXX."

In terms of my bullet point lists?

1. The Wheel of Destiny is not kind: During the adaptation of Conan the Liberator, Conan suffers many setbacks and loses his army, yeah, an army of ten thousand strong, to traps and magic and spying and betrayal. It's a good look at how even someone as powerful, well known, and respected as Conan can suffer setback after setback and still move forward. If you're players are so sensitive to defeat and temporary setbacks, you have to ask yourself if that's the group for you.

Mind you, the game system has to take part of that blame too. For example, I've been playing a lot of Warhammer FRPG and I've mentioned that it's got a lot of swing in it's combat. I've mentioned that it's a little easier in second edition as opposed to first edition due to the use of Fortune Points. Part of that is counted because xp doesn't buy as much as it used to and the ultimate safety net of Fate points is still around.

If Conan were in Warhammer FRPG, he'd have burnt through several Fate points. For example, there is one scene where he's poisoned by Alcina, a 'wench' he picks up at a local tavern, and left for dead. Poisoned and left for dead. Only magic and a skilled healer manage to save him but it's a perfect example of Fate points in use in the comics medium.

But why mention that it's a matter of game system? Again, all my opinion here mind you. In basic, first, and second edition of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, magic items didn't necessarily come by the level to assure that the players had power levels of X, Y, and Z. This built the expectation in 3rd and 4th that the characters have to have such items and means at their use. It was so ingrained that there were optional systems to strip the magic out by making the characters MORE inherently powerful. This is the expectation.

Mind you, in a group of friends and close acquaintances, you can do whatever you want, but if you don't let people know that expectations X, Y, and Z don't apply to your world, being captured and sold into slavery even if only for a brief time and stripped of their items, especially for say the Mages, as opposed to the Monks? Grumbling may be heard around the table.

2. Know Your Setting: One thing I didn't like about the whole Liberator thing? The full blown introduction of Satyrs as a race, harvested for their 'magical' blood. In say, the world of Elric, Corum, or any of the numerous Dungeons and Dragons setting, I would't have batted an eye. In the Conan setting? It jars. If you're skilled enough as a game master or have a group open enough not to care that much about cannon, then run with whatever you want. The interesting thing? I don't recall any reference to the Satyrs in any other Conan story, even those after his crown is achieved.

3. Big Stakes Big Risks: Conan notes that if he fails in his whole liberation thing, he's done. Too many people at this point have heard of Conan whose been everything from a general in several armies, to a pirate, to a leader of numerous bandit groups both in the desert and in the city. By taking up arms and leadership against a king, Conan is putting his name out there in such a big way that failure will result in him, even if he fails but survives, having no where to run when its over.

4. Flawed Villains: Right now I'm reading the first book in the Dragon King Saga by Stephen Lawhead, in the Halls of the Dragon King. One of the villains is actually laughing at his own evil plots. Oh the inhumanity of the cheese there. Here, we have several skilled villains in opposition to Conan but they are not perfect. For example, the assassin who tries to poison Conan didn't bother to check to see if he was dead? That assassin's master doesn't count on Conan's long history with magic and a trap designed to kill Conan fails. It's okay to have formidable foes, but make sure that they have their own failings.

5. Satisfying Conclusion: Now this could just be a result of where this adaption ends and that it takes off not into the life of King Conan, but the wizard whose working behind the throne, Thulandra Thuu, after several issues and attempts on Conan's life, runs away with magic. It's like if the players were using Teleportation to escape a battle and then next adventure was just into a completely random dungeon. "Man, glad we escape the lich and his minions. Oh well, into the dragon's lair!" It was entirely unsatisfying to me as a reader to see the build up of Conan and the gathering of his allies only to have the pinnacle fight end on, at best a draw.

6. Respectable Reputations: One of the reasons Conan is able to do so much as a general against a king, is that he has a reputation that stretches back decades at this point. Those in the army who may look at him and initially see 'a barbarian' then recall that oh yeah, this guy has done A, B, and C. It's said that he's fought against sorcerers many times so if he says there's something wrong in the pass up ahead, I'm not arguing with him. Having the Non-Player Characters respect the profession of the players and the reputation that they've built up in game is a great way to showcase the player's impact on the world. Sure, when they started off it may have been brawls in the tavern when someone questioned their competency, but now? People are listening to them and adjusting their own plans based on what the players are saying.

7. Crazy Town: In an old Warhammer FRPG adventure, I think it's Night at the Three Feathers, the characters are at an Inn and there are a random number of things that the characters can get involved in and it can be played several different ways and manners. In the Sorcerer and the Soul, adapted from Conan and the Sorcery by Andrew J. Offutt, Conan, after one of those bar brawls, is on a ledge and hears of a planned robbery of an item of great importance, the Eye of Erlick, and thinks to go ahead of them.

But as he leaves, he doesn't hear them change the time and date that they're going, and Conan runs into them, and other thieves as well. It makes for a nice chaotic mess and winds up more chaotic then initially thought possible for a 'simple' job. It also winds up with Conan tasting Fate's harsh lash again as he loses his soul to a wizard who then uses this leverage to get Conan to do his dirty work.  Try to mix it up when the players think that they have all the answers.

8. Non-Player Characters are people too: Conan is joined in his rebellion against the king by the king's own elite personal guard, the Black Dragons, because the King is insane and has sacrificed the captain's daughter to try and gain immortality but hey, no harm no foul right? Not quite. Giving NPC's family members that they will seek to avenge, their own passions and their own goals, allows the players to have more of an insight into the world and more options to interact with it. Allied with some henchmen and cast fireball into a crowd at market time and kill those henchmen's family members? Yeah... sleep with one eye open!

Again, while I know that black and white comics, and non-canonical tales of everyone's favorite barbarian aren't for everyone, the low price point, the massive page count, and the 'romp' of different eras and takes on Conan make it well worth reading.

Soul Stealers by Andy Remic

One of the things I love about Half Priced books is that you never know what you’ll find there. For example, I ran across Kell’s Legend by Andy Remic in the dollar spinner rack. I’d never heard of Any Remic before and didn’t know if I’d enjoy it, but for $1 I was willing to take the chance.

 The potential problem with the spinner rack though, is that you never know what you’ll find. This means that if you find a book in a series you enjoy there is no guarantee that they will have all of the books in the series, and if they do have more than one, they may not have them all in order.

So months after I read Kell’s Legend, I was pleased to see they had the second block in The Clockwork Vampire Chronicles, Soul Stealers. And this too was on the dollar spinner rack. I was glad to pick it up because after reading The Whiskey Rebels, I needed something a little lighter and easier on the brain. Andy Remic did not fail to deliver. It is a quick browsing popcorn style action read.

I enjoyed it enough that when I saw The Clockwork Vampires Chrnoicles Three, The Vampire Warlords I bought it from the actual shelf, instead of waiting to buy from the dollar spinner rack. For that book I paid the princely sum of $3.99.

In terms of gaming there are few things the book would have me keep in mind. These are actually not good things and are behaviors I would try to avoid.

When introducing antagonist that are meant to relay how powerful and devastating the opposition is it helps if that antagonist is actually dangerous. In this instance, the characters on the cover of at least my version, twin vampire sisters who directly serve the vampire general Graal, are supposed to be the fiercest and most dangerous assassins at Graal’s disposal. What winds up happening is that when we first see them in combat is that they are either dispatched in a most gratuitous manner or simply scared off. If there competence is not meant to showcase the strength of the enemy, it should be there to showcase the strength of the heroes.

The second thing I would try to avoid is the introduction of what appeared to me to be nonsense characters that don't know where. We are introduced to some child taken in by poisonous spiders and given background of how the child was maimed and how he recovered in these weird circumstances. Another child was apparently murdered. This happens with a few characters where we get this build up of background information and then they're just casually slaughtered. It's not the type of death that happens in say The Walking Dead or A Game of Thrones because these characters have too much time spent building up their unique powers that never come to play. It would be like watching The Man of Steel and then Lex Luthor shoots him through the head with a Kryptonite bullet at the start of the next movie and it the movie was over.

In terms of things I would try to add or remember to bring into the campaign, is the use of intelligent weapons. Such weapons have a long history in the game and are common themes in use with Michael Moorcock’s The Eternal Champion series. There are numerous articles that discuss in detail the many ways such a weapon can be a certain type of character for the game master.

One use of a weapon that is intelligent is the delivery of information that the players might not normally have access to. This allows the game master to pit challenges and obstacles in front of the characters that they might not normally be able to overcome. One of the issues  in doing this is that the players need to know what subjects and fields that the intelligent weapon might know.

Another use of intelligent weapon is that it can play off of the other characters or players, in having a different viewpoint or outlook that contrast with their own. For example a human, dwarf, elf, or gnome might all be the same to an intelligent weapon. They are all things of the flesh and are all classified as such. In a setting with artificial characters, such as Eberron or Midguard, an intelligent weapon might seek to be used by those more of its liking.

Lastly, an intelligent weapon might have its own agenda. Depending on the power and strength of the weapon it might be able to take over servants, common household pets, and even semi-important characters such as henchmen or hirelings and maneuver them into doing its unique will against their own better judgment. Depending upon how clever such a weapon is, the weapon might not need to outright control the people as much as manipulate them with its own knowledge of things. It could try to get these characters to do things for their “own good” because it knows things that the players or their allies do not.

Other elements of the book that I enjoyed, where the characters having weakness. Outside of his advanced age, Kell is an alcoholic with a preference for good whiskey. Kell also believes himself to be a bad man. This belief colors is outlook and how he approaches every obstacle. His traveling companion has a weakness for all things of comfort: good clothes, wine, women, and shelter. He craves the easy city life of a pampered noble.

Soul Stealers may have wandered around from place to place and brought in characters and complications whose appearance based solely on this novel would seem frivolous but it is a quick furious read that quickly escalates from self survival to survival of the nation. Well worth reading if you can find it at the right price