The Warded Man by Peter V Brett

I'm one of those people that's got the sale syndrome. You know, if its a good sale and something I might be interested in later, I'll pick it up.

So it was with The Warded Man and the Desert Spear, both by Peter V. Brett, whose website can be visited here. I'd never heard of the author or either book before and was in no hurry to read them, but see, this was during the time period that Borders Bookstores were closing and were essentially throwing stuff at the customers begging them to take it off their hands. Sadly enough, these are only two of the books I bought that in the interval I still haven't read.

At least that's no longer true for the Warded Man! Apparently Peter did this overseas as the Painted Man, with the cover image I've put up top. It's a solid cover and in my opinion far better than the one used in America even though I do prefer the name The Warded Man. Hell, if you have the chance, look at the one in Japan. Hell with it, I'll snag it here.

That's a damn great cover in my opinion and the red cape makes it pop for me.

Anyway...Peter V. Brett does a great job of bringing a 'small' fantasy world to life. It's a heavy character focused setting with enough unique bits and pieces in terms of magic and monsters to keep me interested. The world is plagued by demons that rise up every night from the core to kill, well, everything.

This has a few effects on the people. In the north, a generic 'dark ages' if you will, the people hide behind 'wards' or runes that are inscribed on walls and posts and other surfaces. These wards prevent the demons from attacking. But they don't always work. Time erodes them, the posts break, a demon the ward isn't meant for shows up, natural fires happen, and other things of that nature.

The people in the north believe the best way to deal with the horror is to live their life the best they can and stay behind the wards and hope for a better tomorrow.

The people of the south? They fight. They use the wards to entrap the demons who cannot stand the light of day and die in it. The downside of this is that their population is shrinking.

Peter V Brett's novel The warded Man, brings us three main characters. The first of these I'll mention is Arlen. He admires the Messengers, specially trained individuals who move from city to city and hamlet to village in order to bring news and information. He admires them because they dare to travel, they dare to go into the night even when the demons are out and about.

Arlen's skill set and mentality make him an ideal agent of change. It is his ability to trust his fellow man, even when sometimes they have not earned it, that makes him more than just another Messenger, and eventually turns him into the Warded Man.

The second character is Rojer, an entertainer who finds himself on the road often. His own childhood one of great suffering but one that put him on a path that others have never enjoyed. He finds that his ability with music gives him power over the demons.

The last is Leesha, a healer whose mentor hints at secrets of the old world. This includes the ability to craft a 'demonfire' of sorts that is similar to alchemist fire and capable of killing wood demons. Turns out the 'wise women' were given their own set of secrets and things to carry forward until the time was right to use them in saving mankind.

Peter does a great job of bringing these characters together through the years of each of their individual lives until their lives intersect in a great battle that sets the course of future conflict with the demons.

The writing was a bit more 'on' that I'd consider most books that I'd call 'popcorn'. It was enthralling and made me want to read further. There were some bits that are a bit old hat. After all, three young people each having their coming of age isn't anything new but it's always been about how well told the tale is for me.

I'll be discussing some specifics below so if you don't want any spoilers, read no further.

1. World Building: As I mentioned up thread, the world seems small. There are essentially two cultures and one magic system that has a lot of room to expand as more is discovered about it. This narrow focus though, allows the author to focus on the characters as opposed to dragging analogs of dozens of real world historical archetypes into the setting.  When designing your own setting, put the focus where you want it at the start and build from there. If it's a Viking focused world, throwing too many other elements into the stew may ruin the flavor.

2. Character Abilities: The three main characters of this book all have special knowledge or abilities that set them outside of others. Not only that, but they have different ways of approaching things. For example, Arlen wants to kill demons. He wants to kill them so much, that when he discovers that some of the wards that were common among his town folk aren't known in the city, he decides that in order to increase everyone's knowledge, instead of selling them, they'll only be available for trade. Sounds like a wizard in a D&D campaign to me. Players are notorious for finding the 'weak' points in a game wither that's the knowledge base that they can draw from or stupid assumptions of the setting. Their own goals and ambitions may be so different that they could potentially break the setting. Run with it and see where it goes.

3. Unique words: Demon is a pretty standard word, but because they come from 'the core', the word 'core' gets used for all manner of meanings ranging from hell, to being killed by demons or cored. Having a few unique words to set the stage can be a useful thing. The old TSR/WoTC setting Planescape was notorious for it's 'chant and Thieves Tongue and pirate speak are all 'languages' that have flavor to them that can increase the mood or theme of a campaign.

The Warded Man is a solid book and I've already started The Desert Spear and am enjoying it. There's no doubt I'll be looking for the third book in the series.

The Warded Man is available from Amazon in paperback for $7.19 in mass market paperback, prime eligible, or in kindle format for $5.99.

Skull Kickers

Over on Comixology, the Image fantasy comic series Skull Kickers is on sale. What is Skull Kickers? From the site, "In Skullkickers, two hard-headed mercenaries kill monsters and cause havoc in their search for money, fame and adventure. Along the way, they'll gore goblins, smash skeletons, punch plant people and whomp werewolves. This gorgeous oversized edition, loaded with extras and rarities, follows the SKULLKICKERS through the first 12 issues of their cult hit comic series. MTV Geek names SKULLKICKERS one of their Top 10 'Best Series of 2011', Ain't It Cool News raves that 'Everyone who loves comics should buy SKULLKICKERS' and Bleeding Cool calls SKULLKICKERS 'the next CHEW.'"

I admit to being unhip with comics these days. My capacity to physically own comics is way down and I don't buy many, with the exception of say Usagi Yojimbo in trades and a few others, and rely on digital media like Comixology and Dark Horse to buy graphic novels and individual issues when they go on sale.

But Twitter was pepped about it including the artist/author of IAMARG, a webcomic I enjoy (which is running its own Kickstarter at this moment).

So I plunked down the funds for the two collected editions.

Well worth the money.

The art is fairly nice, lots of bright colors in the palette there making it remind me of Battle Chasers for some reason.

Storylines aren't bad and are quick reads for the most part following the dreaded pattern of meant for collection but broken up with some 'tavern tales' where there are multiple short stories between the longer arcs. As a comic, its a lot of fun.

The author also has some fun with it. The last few issues are all number ones and all spoofs of well loved covers and they are funny as all out. Its good to see a medium where the author 'gorks' it so to speak.

I was going to post about the Warded Man by Peter V Brett but as Skull Kickers is still on sale, though I'd point this one out first.

Heck, in terms of Appendix N, in one issue the writer talks about his enjoyment of Dungeons and Dragons and how he liked to be the guy who made everyone else around the table laugh and have a good time.

But below will be some specifics from the book and spoilers will be forthcoming so read no further if you would wish to avoid spoilers.

1. Things Don't Always Work as Planned: Early on in the series, the group encounters a necromancer controlling legions of undead with a gem. The two guys think, "Hey, destroy the gem!" and for a second, the undead drop as if their strings were cut. But then they come back stronger then before under no one's control.

2. Funny Works: In a game that is directed at 'funny', allow it to work. In one of the tales in the second volume, an ancient eldrich horror calls forth assistance that comes in the form of a kraken, because you know, they both have tentacles. But the heroes pick up the unconscious eldrich horror and bluff the kraken out in a scene that could have come from family guy so blatantly obvious is it that the horror is not the one doing the actual talking, but it works because its funny. This may require you to give the characters something like hero points or beenies that they can only use to cash in for automatic successes on funny bits.

3. Some villains are incompetent. Along the early travels, the duo encounter a caravan under attack by goblins and come to its aid but only because the goblins were doing what the duo were going to do in the first place. As a reward, the duo take a horse and some provisions. Turns out the people they saved were poisoners but not very good ones. This causes the dwarf to experience a 'bad trip' so to speak which leads to some interesting visions for the dwarf who apparently has something of a naked rampage through the night.

4. Change of Costume: One of the things I enjoy about the series is while the characters are pretty unique in their looks, their 'costumes' change. In the second collected arc for example, they are dressed up as nobles in very fine suits and the big guy gets a wig that looks hilarious. Fitting into place may mean temporarily leaving behind your own weapons and toys, but make sure you look good while you do it.

5. The Frame Job: During that time when dining with nobles, the duo are framed for murder thanks to their own quick reactions against an almost unseen enemy who is busy assassinating the nobles right in front of the duo. When the party thinks things are going to well, set up 'em and knock 'em down.

6. Strange Gifts: While fighting to prevent a city from being devoured by an ancient plant sucks blood, the big bald guy gets the ability to speak with spirits and animals and discovers this with a squirrel who he has a furious argument about which no one else understands. The ability to speak to different species has its uses later on but its initial application, such as when hearing fish taken out of water and suffocating has its draw backs as well.

I could go on and on and perhaps at a later point I'll talk some more about Skull Kickers but while it's on sale, I wanted to point it out.

For those who have the space though and want the hardcovers, oversized editions even that collect numerous graphic novels, you might want to check out Amazon.com where Treasure Trove 1 is $24.08 and prime eligible and Treasure Trove 2 is $22.98 and also prime eligible. If I had the space, that would've been my preference but the digital editions will do for now.

Kindle Sales redux or Amazon please stop putting stuff on sale

Sorry to spam my blog again with sales, but for some reason, Amazon.com has been putting a lot of kindle stuff on sale and while I'm not going too pop $8 or $10 bones down for most electronic books, when they go on sale, hey, it's go time. This time around though it's not a monthly thing or special sale, just the Gold Box Deal of the Day so act quick or they'll be gone.

The Stockholm Octavo by Karen Engelmann is one I'll pick up for the madre and take a look at it when she's done. She has a Kindle and I have a Toshiba Thrive so it's not a big deal. Historical with a touch of this and that in 18th century Sweden with a lot of high reviews for $1.99? Done.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller is another one that gets a lot of praise. I've read the Odyssey and the Iliad several times so this looks like a variant on it for $1.99.

The Crusades: The Authoritative History of the War for the Holy Land I've read some material on the Crusades and have some Osprey books to work on in the subject so for $1.99 I'll take some more reference work.

There are something like 80 books there and the rest of them look like they cover a wide range of topics. Does anyone have any recommendations based on the Gold Box Deal of the Day or should those three cover it?

Storage 24

So with the death of the Legends of the Five Rings game, I'm doing some reading on my own. I like Lorefinder for the Pathfinder game engine (essentially 3.5+) but I'm so pressed for time these days, I know that the chances of me actually running something straight out of the mind are slim to none. I need some prewritten adventurers to at least germinate and steal maps and other good stuff from.

Now mind you, I may still never run anything but...

I recalled the Grey Citadel, an old Necromancer Games adventure that had some mystery, some urban exploration, and some dungeon crawling. The author put a lot of stuff in there that I enjoyed, and the old Dark Loch website still has a lot of fun free stuff on it.

While reading through the Grey Citadel and thinking of how I'd 'convert' it or add some of that Lorefinder stuff to it, I decided to flip on Netflix and watch Storage 24, Wikipedia link here. It's essentially one of those alien hunting people through dark and twisted corridor type deals. You know, like Alien, Aliens, Creature, Abyss, Leviathan, and I'm sure a ton of other movies that I'm missing.

I was surprised in that it wasn't terrible. I was expecting something to just listen to in the background while I took some campaign notes but there were a few things that that I noted that are used time and time again in horror films so thought I'd point a few of them out in case you're wanting to run some horror scenarios or at least some 'bug hunt' style games.

1. Visibility is terrible. This can range from visibility being cut off by there being no light, to visibility being blocked because there are obstacles, like say spider webs or other opaque yet light objects in the way.

2. Previous Victims: The party should find previous victims of the creature. The wounds they suffered shouldn't be noticible at first. For example, the party approaches the victim from the side or from behind and when they tap them on the shoulder, the victim falls over dead or the party member pulls a blood soaked hand back. Sometimes these victims are hidden in say, the vents or closets or some feeding area that the party may find later. The victims conditions might provide the party an idea of how large a creature their facing, how it's bite is (mandibles versus fangs for example) as well as if the creature has talons like a bear or claws like a crab.

3. Extra Characters: If it's a bug hunt, be sure to put a few munchable NPCs in the mix. Give them a little personality so that when the beast eats them, the party members are motivated to stop the creature more than they might normally be.

4. Red Herring Characters: When the party first comes across the situation, perhaps they are completely unaware that there are monsters at all and think that the murders are being caused by a madman. This can lead to some interesting scenarios and potentially the party killing an innocent person.

5.Sound Effects: Many monsters, like say Godzilla, have their own unique roar. You know when you hear the enormous roar of Godzillia well before he's seen on the screen that he's around. Have some special sound effect you can use when the players are deciding their next course of action just to let them know that the monster isn't waiting for them.

6.Larger Implications. In the movie Storage 24, even as the characters inside are fighting for their lives, there are hints of something much larger going on in the background. When the plane carrying the alien first fails, there are special agents on the scene. There are a lot of military on the scene. When the characters catch news of the plane crash, they see that the city is filled with military and more is incoming. When the movie finally ends? The city is under attack by aliens in spaceships. Yeah, the movie went there. But in other movies, like Alien or Aliens, there are other things afoot that the characters may not initially realize. After all, Ripley didn't know about the Corporate uses for the alien until later, after the android on the ship almost killed her, and of course in the sequel when she's betrayed again to the corporation's needs.

7. Creature abilities. One of the reasons why you want to throw the lights out on the characters is that often, the creature has much better senses than those it hunts. It may see in the dark, it may not have eyes at all. It may have movement abilities that make it so that it can easily outrun any person or even car.

8. The Roof! In many of these style movies, the first thing that happens is someone is looking down at some blood dripping from... somewhere and then they get it into their heads to look up and wham! That sucker can stick to the walls and move through the vents like they were going out of style.  Giving the creature movement abilities means more than just making it faster than the characters.

9. Limited Room to Maneuver. In some games, characters can become powerful very fast. In some situations though, your ability to navigate is negated by not being able to move. For example, if you have to crawl through sewer pipes or through air ducts or vents or narrow hallways. The standard might be limited the types of weapons the characters can use as well as giving them the same penalty they might suffer as if they were prone.

Storage 24 isn't going to win any movie awards but its not a bad movie and hits all of the 'standard' bug hunt features tackled above as well as some interpersonal drama that if you can't figure out in the first few moments of the movie, aren't really paying attention.

And Thus Dieth Legend of the Five RIngs

One of the things I've tried to do more in 2014 is play more.


My friends at the end of 2013 had just seen the movie 47 Ronin and loved the visuals, sound, action, and other bits.


This lead them to play Legend of the Five Rings.


I got in one game as a Scorpion Samurai and was promptly killed, but life is hard in the Empire so I took it in stride. In honor or a recently deceased director of the kung fu genre, I made my next character a Dragon Monk and was anxious to play again.


Then the weather turned against me after driving my mom all around the city so I didn't go that week.


Then my sister was in town and...


And then we had some more crappy weather in Chicago...


So long story short, I've missed three games and during that time +Tom Wright , the GM of the game decided that the awesome bits of 47 Ronin weren't translating well to the game.


Thankfully I only have the electronic version of Legend of the Five Rings as if I'd purchased the physical copy specifically for the game I'd be a little peeved. It's an expensive book after all and space at the old apartment is still at a premium.


Now they're going with a combo New World of Darkness bit. Sigh.


The perils of modern gaming.

The Gathering Dark: Ice Age Cycle Book I by Jeff Grub

Another victory form Half Priced Books, The Gathering Dark is a Magic the Gathering Novel that kicks off the Ice Age Cycle and is written by Jeff Grub. This falls firmly into what I call the 'popcorn' novels. Note I do not say this with disdain. I've read many of the Magic the Gathering novels and enjoyed quite a few of them. Another factor in this book's favor, is it's Jeff Grubb.

Jeff Grubb should be familiar to you if you've played 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons. Heck, he should be familiar to you if you've played second edition Dungeons and Dragons. I believe he had more than a hand in writing for DC Comics doing an official Dungeons and Dragons comic with a great cast and crew. One of his oldest books I remember reading, and I want to say it was in high school which puts it in the 'dark ages' is Azure Bonds, which is still available in kindle format but no in any dead tree edition.

I am surprised to note though, that many of the Magic the Gathering novels, are out of print, as are many of the Forgotten Realms novels. Good news though if you have 'new' copies of those books is that they are apparently selling for a small fortune, or at least the Magic the Gathering novels are. Sell 'em if you got 'em!

Anyway, The Gathering Dark was purchased for the princely sum of $1 from the spinner rack at Half Priced Books and I've owned it for several years. As time moves on though and I look at my various piles of books and miscellanea, I'm trying to work my way through it and knew that this was probably going to be a quick and enjoyable read as many of Jeff's books are.

And I was right.

This is more or less a coming of age story for Jodah, who at first appears to be little more than a hedge mage with a hedge mage master.  Like many such tales, it includes its share of loss, exploration, character growth, and an open ending that leads to the next book. Note that the material is fairly self contained and Jeff does a good job explaining how the colors of Magic work as well as how mana is pulled. It even reminds me a little of D&D spellcasting in terms of 'losing' memories until they can charge up again.

Among the cast of characters we have those who fall into potential mentors and betrayers, those who are friends and allies, and those who Jodah meets and moves past as his time in certain chapters of his life is blissfully short.

If you're looking for a quick read, The Gathering Dark is well told and while done in one, leads to other books in the series.

Below I'll be talking about some spoilers so if you'd rather have none of that, read no further.

1. Organizations: The Church of Tal is a religious organization that persecutes those who practice the arts of magic. This organization is large enough to have presence in many cities and villages and serves many functions including peace brokers and teachers. Its main use here though is to act as an antagonist to Jodah and the other mages around him. Organizations in your campaign setting should serve purpose. For example, the Conclave and the City of Shadows are both places where mages go and learn their craft, but each have far different methods about them. Jeff does a great job of noting that most 'mage schools' are 'cults of personalities' and are based and held together by one strong personality. In some ways it reminds me of martial arts in signature moves and things of that nature.

2. Character Drive: One of the things about Jodah is that he is not necessarily setting out to be a hero, but doesn't like not helping people, especially those in dire circumstances, when he has the ability to do something about it. In some role playing games, this knack or compulsion or drive might be something to resist and it's something the GM should use to help build the player's character and provide elements that are beyond the world of hack and slash so to speak.

3. Timing. This one is far more tricky. Jodah is sought after by his friend and mentor and also by the Church which wishes to kill him. As that is going on, he is in the middle of some very difficult issues of his own. Jeff Grubb manages to bring all these elements into play at one point in time and the impact of all the things hitting at once is greater than if they just happened one at a time. If you can arrange it so that things at least appear to flow organically the world will seem larger then just the portion that the players are directly involved in.

Magic the Gathering continues to have a ton of novels and resources dedicated to it and fans are fortunate in that some of them are good.

Attack of the Ghost Ship With Cannibal Rats!

Sometimes you just can't make this stuff up.

A ship that underwent a lot of failure prior to being launched out to sea to die.

A ship that is host to rats that cannibalize each other.

A ship falling apart into the ocean but still in one piece.

A ship that may hit a major land mass and disgorge its contents upon the unsuspecting populace!

While the real life version will be annoying as hell I'm sure, I'm also sure that if they know it's going to hit land that they'll do a lot of clean up.

But that could very well be the whole setup for a movie like say "Alien" where the crew is sent in for a standard clean up and it turns out to be much worse than people initially though.

In fantasy or science fiction campaigns, the amount of things that could be on such a 'dead' or ghost ship is almost limitless. The thing here though, is that unlike say Space Hulk, here the object is threatening to crash into an inhabited area. Imagine a Death Watch setting where for whatever reason, a Space Hulk manages to actually crash into an inhabited area? Yeah, little bit different scenario.

Ah reality, never stop ceasing to amaze us!