Plague of Shadows by Howard Andrew Jones

Plague of Shadows
Written by Howard Andrew Jones
Pathfinder Tales
350 pages

I've never read any of Howard Andrew Jones work before. After this book, I'll be sure to keep an eye out. The author's own website can be found here: http://www.howardandrewjones.com/

Plague of Shadows is well written high fantasy. It includes numerous nods to old favorites, such as showing the otherworldly nature of the elves as Tolkien might as well as villain redemption and other good bits. If you're looking for a fast-paced fantasy, Howard Andrew Jones delivers.

One thing I enjoyed about Plague of Shadows more than most of the other Pathfinder Tales books I've read, is that there is an actual group of characters to follow. There's also a bit more history here than I'm used to seeing.

In terms of the party of adventurers, we have the following:

Elyana: An elf ranger raised by human parents. I like how the author brings in the Pathfinder Tales specific naming for such an event, a 'Forlorn'. Howard's description of how Elyana's magic, that of a ranger, differs from other types of magic, is also a nice touch.

Drelm: A half-orc warrior, a captain of the guard for the small barony that Elyana works at.

Renar: The son of one of Elyana's old adventuring companions, a warrior by trade and a noble son by birth.

Vallyn: A bard who's also an old adventuring companion of Elyana.

Kellius: A young court wizard comfortable in his own skin and not afraid to throw the magic around.

The nice thing is that while these are the main characters, there are numerous flashbacks to the "good old days" showing Elyana, Vallyn, and their other comrades, including Renar's father. It works well and allows the setting to feel more than it's just a duo or three people wandering a huge setting.

Howard Andrew Jones also makes good use of the Pathfinder setting itself. The setting is a huge one and Howard shifts us through enough of the region to understand the local politics and the effects that actions in the past have on the present. His nod to the deities of the setting and the power of piety, even when it keeps those who love each other apart, is also handled well.

The mix of Pathfinder setting specifics, the party of adventurers, the nod to classic fantasy tropes, and the done in one approach, make Plague of Shadows one of the stronger entries in the Pathfinder Tales line.

The Wizard's Mask by Ed Greenwood (Book Review)

The Wizard's Mask
Written by Ed Greenwood
Pathfinder Tales
400 pages
$9.99


Ed Greenwood should need no introduction to any role players of Dungeons and Dragons nor anyone whose read fantasy fiction in the last 25 years. My own introduction to Ed comes from Dragon Magazine and his numerous articles for the Forgotten Realms, leading up to the publication of the original 1st edition boxed set of the Forgotten Realms and many books beyond.

For those who don't know Ed, he's got his own website over there: http://edverse.officeedgreenwood.com/ and he's got a Wiki entry as well: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Greenwood

Ed's writing isn't for everyone. While I've highly enjoyed his gaming material, his fiction often is hit or miss for me.

This book is both.

On the negative side is the believability of the story. It's not that a fantasy tale needs a high level of such a factor, but if the characters are given to X, then they should be able to accomplish it. If they are given to X and all of the sudden they are doing things that require the whole X, Y, Z, and a hand on from the higher powers, it stretches the enjoyment of the story.

The other thing is probably just me. As I get older, I'm more aware of how writers handle their female characters. In this novel, we are introduced to two characters, the "man known only as The Masked" and "an escaped halfling slave named Tantaerra."

"So...a halfling woman, probably in her thirties and with the lined face of someone who'd known hunger often enough, despite the fact that she still had plenty of chest and hip on an otherwise scrawny frame."

This doesn't count the numerous times' she's made naked or that she's actually shorter than a regular halfling. It's just a weird thing. This extra short child sized individual clearly suffering from hunger with big tits and ass.

Okay...

The other problem I had with the book is Ed needs to know when to let a villain go. The villain that the duo tangles with most isn't even the 'big bad' but Ed keeps using him and as a reader I didn't find him interesting at all and was just waiting for him to die. It's like, "Okay, we know the author likes this bad guy for some reason, but really? He sucks. Let him die this second time, this third time..."

In terms of popcorn reading though?

Top notch.

The story starts with action. The action easily goes across one hundred pages. If you dig chase scenes like those you'd find at the start of the newer James Bond movies, you'll enjoy those parts. Ed has a great way of moving the action from left to right with the action dancing across the page.

Ed also keeps the action flowing.

The author is hit or miss on the names. For example, one of the magic weapons in the novel, the Whispering Blade? It's a blade that telepathically communicates with those it's seeking to dismember and does so in an ominous voice that Ed captures perfectly. The name fits it.

And then there's the magic item that the duo are sent out to seek in the Shattered Tomb to begin with. The Gauntlet of Fear or the Fear Gauntlet. Really? Ugh.

Ed also uses some odd choices in his monsters. The creature on the cover is a particular type of monster native to the Pathfinder Tales region and Ed puts it to good use. Little nods like that are great.

If you're looking for some light reading heavy on the action than the Wizard's Mask is going to do you right. Ed's not building up a setting like some authors in the Wheel of Time or A Game of Thrones but the Pathfinder Tales are not about that.

There's enough character development that another book is possible but all of the main plots and threads of this novel are done in one and that in and of itself is a refresher.

Master of Devils Appendix N Edition

Note this is my 'gaming muse' edition of Master of Devils. There will be spoilers below.

The Pathfinder setting is vast. In Master of Devils, Dave Gross takes his two main characters,  Count Varian Jeggare and bodyguard Radovan, to Tian Xia.

Tian Xia is the Pathfinder equivalent to Kara-Tur from the Forgotten Realms or Rogukan from Legend of the Five Rings.



In terms of gaming ideas, a few things hit me:

Missing Players: You ever play with someone on military leave due to being a reserve or someone who got a new job? In this novel, Radovan and his boss, Jeggare are separated at the start of the novel. Radovan goes through intense training and multiple encounters that in most situations would be far too dangerous for him.

At the end of the novel, Radovan goes back to his normal form and his normal abilities.

In such a situation, it would seem to me that the GM decided to run Radovan as an NPC and have him in the action even if he wasn't in the direct action. This allows the character to keep moving and doing things even if the player isn't there.

Chaosium way back in the day used to have a Runequest Cities book with a catch-up table that provided some fun stuff.

If you're looking to keep the group together, running one of the characters as an NPC for a brief time, even if you go ahead and make them into something a bit different can be one way to do it.

Mundane Encounters: One thing I see people post about running Kara-Tur or other 'Oriental Adventure' style games, is what type of adventurers should they have?

Normal ones.

Ancient China has numerous ruins. It'd be hard to believe that the fantasy versions of said settings don't.

Heck, even mundane encounters like bandits are acceptable. The very first thing we see in Master of Devils is that the duo and their wagon and guards are under attack by bandits! Sure, they have a funky name and my be using weird attacks or a different strategy, but at the end of the day, they're bandits!

This doesn't count that in a side quest going on later, there is an introduction to a goblin possessed of a kami. But mind you, this goblin has been kicked out of his clan. Numerous companies have a lot of great visuals if you're looking for ideas on how such goblins might look. The miniature game, Confrontation for example, has numerous goblins and ogres donned in Samurai and Ashigaru. 

The Exotic: So one of the things you can do when characters move to another setting, is bring out the strange things. There are numerous named characters here ranging from Jade Tiger to Judge Fang. Play around with appropriate names to the new setting but dont' go overboard with it because if every character name, every item name, every magic item, every spell, every combat maneuver starts sounding like an episode of Samurai Sunday, it'll become harder for the players to remember what all of that means.

But if you want to introduce the 'Shadowless Sword' a blade that moves so fast the sun cannot give it a shadow, or a few unique spells to the region, now's the time do to so.

Secrets: Along the telling of the story, there is a certain criteria that must be met in order for the characters to gain access to a dragon's 'heart pearl' and to use that to make a wish. (Dragon Ball Z in the house!). One of the characters that the readers, or at least most readers, assume is X, turns out to be Y and has that very criteria needed!

Another character appears initially to be merely a humble farmer but has too much skill and dedication and knowledge to be merely a farmer and turns out, he's actually a prince!

Characters that are more than one dimensional provide a great opportunity to add to the player's role-playing experiences. It can be boring in a campaign that's not focused on merely hack-and-slash, if all of the non-player-characters are one-dimensional pieces. Give them patrons that the characters might not appreciate. Give them hobbies that the players do appreciate. Give them outlooks that challenge the player's out outlooks.

The Big Dogs: Being the 'Oriental Adventurers' of the Pathfinder setting, it's great to see famous characters used. In this case, we get to see both the avatar and the Monkey King himself. The Monkey King is a famous religious/legendary character from various parts of China, similar to say, Thor or other more familiar deities.



Having a known element make an appearance can provide the characters a touchstone in the unfamiliar. This can work against you if you as a Game Master if you make those characters the focus of the campaign though so a light touch is needed with them.

Master of Devils looks as a non-standard setting and provides a lot of inspiration for game masters who might normally not appreciate running a non-standard campaign and is worth picking up for that reason alone.

Lair's Blade by Tim Pratt

Liar's Blade
Written  by Tim Pratt
Pathfinder Tales
Published by Paizo
$9.99 paperback
$6.99 Kindle
400 pages

The Pathfinder RPG is fortunate enough to have numerous New York Time Bestsellers writing for it. They've expanded the setting from its original roots with numerous entertaining tales including Liar's Blade, written by Tim Pratt.

You can check out his website here, http://www.timpratt.org/.

This is the first book I've read by Tim so I had no expectations going in. Liar's Blade introduces the reader to Rodrick, a bit of a rogue and con man, and his talking blade, Hrym, a long sword made of ice with command over numerous abilities related to ice.

Unlike two normal characters in a fantasy setting known for its heroes, as Pathfinder is, these two are, well, con men.

It's not that they can't fight. Rodrick is no Conan mind you, but he gets by. And the sword itself is very powerful, almost too powerful as one wonders why the characters often don't just do X or Y, but they'd prefer to take things easy and to do things the easy way.

As I read, I noticed that the titles of the chapters were an homage to Fritz Lieber, one of the founders of the whole sword and sorcery genre. Titles like "Sword and Ice Magic" for example. Several such to be found throughout the novel.

It's a great touch.

The story starts when the duo are hired by Zaqen, a sorcerer of inhuman tainted blood who works for a 'gillman', Obed. Rodrick and his blade find themselves doing a job where the payoff should be fantastic but the odds of successfully getting out alive keep getting worse and worse for them. They explore a lot of the setting that's not normally touched and the only reason I recognized so much of it, was from my time running the Adventure Path that took place in the River Kingdoms.

If you have a wide depth of knowledge on the setting, you'll see those nods as well.

Tim knows the setting well. He uses the historical information of the setting to put various pieces together that fit into how the setting itself was originally designed. He uses things that are a bit off the cuff so to speak, in that many of the characters in the book have their own unique abilities and their own view on things.

He makes the characters, like Zaqen, into believable entities as opposed to just copy paste villains who you'd look eager to see meet their end.

The best thing about the novel? I never felt the characters were stupid. Have you ever watched a movie, especially for some reason a horror movie, and been yelling at the screen? While you may be disappointed in how the characters chose to act, they never do so from a place that would baffle someone who hadn't read the novel.

Rodrick and his blade Hrym manage to pull off several fast ones in the novel and they do it in a way that makes sense for the setting and for them as characters. The other characters also get their moments to shine and even if you don't appreciate where it takes them, none do it leaving the reader scratching her head.

Liar's Blade is a very promising entry for Rodrick and Hrym into the Pathfinder setting and I look forward to reading their further adventures as Tim's already written several more books in the series.

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.

Nightglass by Liane Merciel

I'm somewhat ambivalent about the Pathfinder Tales fiction line. While I enjoyed Heretic of Death, the novels Prince of Wolves and Winter Witch, the latter by an author I normally enjoy, didn't impress. FRP Games was having a blowout sale at the end of the year though, and I picked up Nightglass by Liane Merciel on a lark.

And am pleased to have done so.

Roughly broken into two sections, Nightglass starts with Isiem, a youth raised in a village in the kingdom of Nidal, who shows much promise with magical abilities. Abilities tested initially through a magical device known as a Nightglass.

Taken from his country side village, Isiem is raised to learn magic and faith in the city of Pangolias. In this empire of the shadows, dedicated to an evil god, one who feeds on pain and discipline within that pain, it felt like the author, Liane Merciel, was taking several pages right out of the Elric novels in her descriptions of the training and torture that the students undergo.

For example, there is one chorus that is played when a student inserts a flute pipe into a victim's throat. Done correctly, every breath creates its own note. Done incorrectly, death for the one who did it incorrectly and of course, the person whose throat has been punctured.

Liane's description of how the students are tested again for potential, with the "Joyful Things", inhuman creatures that wrap their tongues around a hopeful student's skull. Those who don't pass their judgement? Not good things. There are other numerous bits that added to the feel of how evil and vile the society was. How difficult it would be to have any hope, to be normal there.

Isiem doesn't escape this unscathed though. His outlook is similar to what the old Fighter's Handbook personalities section would label "Fated Philosopher" He acknowledges the things that are outside of his control, that are outside of his agency to influence. And he plans how to expand his agency to expand his control.

This opportunity comes in what I'd call the second half or part of the book.

If the first half was all vile torture and teachings of dark arts and acceptance of fate, the second part takes a page from various westerns including Deadwood where Isiem winds up in a frontier town where he must lend his arts to the empire that his own country is aligned with. This makes an interesting change of pace and Liane handles the transition well.

From stuffy halls and doom shrouded classes, to rugged outdoorsmen who are fighting for their very survival. From agents of Nidal worshipping their dark god and passing their dark magics onto a corrupt political country that finds it easier to murder a silver mine owner than tax his wealth. It's all very Western in feel and brings those elements home gracefully.

Here though, things take a turn for the worse and Isiem gets what is possibly his first true taste of freedom and then has to decide what to do with it.

I'd never read any work by Liane Merciel before. I will be reading her work again. She doesn't shy away from description but does so in a way that is quick and easy to read. While some may say they were able to see what was coming a mile away, I find that true for most works of fantasy fiction, or indeed, most movies. The telling of the story is what interests me more than having some bright new singular idea that stands out above all others.

One of the things I enjoyed is that while Isiem is competent, he isn't some 'farm boy out to save the universe.' His abilities fall within the realm of possibility for the setting the novel is based in. His growth and things he can do, fit in with the setting. He is not slinging artifacts around, nor able to outfight the many situations he winds up in. He often needs planning, allies, and the willingness to admit that he cannot do everything himself. This makes Isiem, especially for a magic using character, a tremendous breath of fresh air as opposed to Forgotten Realm spell slingers like Blackstaff and Elminster who shrug off demon lords and deity avatars like last week's old soup.

In terms of this being a Pathfinder Tales novel, if you know what you're looking for, it reads as one. The kingdom of Nidal is given four pages of description in the Inner Sea World Guide, and that's not four pages of dense text. There are several illustrations and a map as well. the details that Liane puts into the setting? Puts into the characters? If you have players who read this novel and aren't interested in making a Shadowcaller from this region, or want to liberate this region, or to serve the dark god who rules with an unbreakable claw, they've read a different book then I have.

In terms of gaming information? This book showcases the difference between reading a game setting, and reading a good piece of fiction.

There are several bits that could easily be put to use in game terms here.

1. The Joyful Things. They know something that the players need to discover. Can the players withstand talking to these horrific entities and deal with their dreaded touch long enough to learn what they came for?

2. Dungeons of the Dusk Hall: One source of information that the players need to find is in the dungeons below the Dusk Hall. Have can they navigate to there through the heart of the Midnight Lord's capital city?

3. The Slave Market: Knowledge is such a funny thing. It can be scattered here, there, and even in the most unlikely of places, a slave's mind. The players have to outbid other potential buyers for a slave who has a particular bit of knowledge that they need in their own quest.

4. Shadowbound: One of the players has been cursed to shadow and supposedly the only place to undo this condition is in the kingdom of Nidal.

5. Dubious Allies: In a setting with as many organizations as the Pathfinder one has, even knowing some Hellknights could get the players alliance through proxy to those of Nidal.

6. Freeing the Shadow Lord: While not specifically mentioned here, if you've read the Inner Sea Gods book, you know that the god of Nidal is himself not what he used to be. Can the players free the god from the things that bind him?

Nightglass is the first book in a series that Liane Merciel is working on. Unfortunately, Paizo is, in my opinion, holding back potential sales of any of their fiction line. The electronic versions are only available through Paizo directly, not through Amazon or Google Play. That only makes sense if these books are terrible sellers. While it does provide Paizo with all the funds, it limits their streams of revenue. It also limits the ability for Amazon to put any of these books on their daily deal sales and expand their readership that way. There are many an author I've picked up on a lark because it was inexpensive.

With the Paizo store charging $9.99 for paperbacks and $6.99 for epub versions, I'm afraid their cutting their potential market out quite a bit. The long tail on such sales will potentially suffer.

Still, Paizo has been around a long time and I hope that the line is successful for them. For me? I'll be looking for Nightblade and other books by Liane Merciel next time I'm at the book store.