The City Stained Red (Bring Down Heaven) by Sam Sykes

The City Stained Red (Bring Down Heaven)
640 Pages
Published by Orbit
Written by Sam Sykes
$16.00/$14.37 at Amazon

I'm a book hoarder. If it goes on sale and I have some extra money, it goes on the shelf. This is especially true of digital books as the digital shelf has a lot more room.

Many moons ago I picked up book one of Bring Down Heaven, The City Stained Red, and thought no more of it.

A mistake I'm rectifying now. I'm still reading it, but it's highly enjoyable and very much fits into a classic Appendix N read fit for roleplaying inspiration.

The tone is highly sarcastic, a touch dark, and not shy. There is more than a little profanity and amusement to be found in Sam Sykes anti-heroes. The world is also not a pleasant one as some of his fantasy race analogs tend to be more than rough around the edges.

So what did I like about the writing? What makes it fit into some role playing modes? Here's a nice bit from the start.

"You're an adventurer." He spat the word. "Too cowardly to be a mercenary, too greedy to be a soldier, too dense to be a thief. Your profession is wedged neatly between whores and grave robbers in terms of respectability, your trade is death and carnage, and your main asset is that you're completely expendable."

There's a lot of things like that.

Now if you're looking for Lord of the Rings, Conan, or even Elric type heroics, then no, The City Stained Red is just not going to do it for you. While there are great battles and numerous factions to watch for, these characters are not necessarily cut from the same cloth as say the Twain or Hawkmoon.

But if you've enjoyed some Parker novels like The Folding Knife or the Hammer, or some Prince of Thorns... it's right up there.

In terms of little seeds you can steal and use in a RPG right away, consider the following:

1. Gang War: Often used in Samurai movies and remakes of those samurai movies, there's nothing quite like walking through town and finding yourself in the middle of a gang war as strange but distinct individuals from two clans are gunning for each other and whoever gets in their way.

2. Access Denied: The quote about adventurers occurs when one of the heroes is trying to get access to "the city" and denied. Often it's assumed that characters have free reign to go where they want. In today's highly political world, in today's highly untrusting world, in today's world looking for easy scapegoats, that might not be the case. Perhaps one of the demi-humans like elves or dwarves are wanted for crimes against the kingdom. Perhaps all Northern Men are distrusted. Whatever the cause, getting to the city in the standard fashion just isn't going to cut it.

3. Media Res: Start the campaign off after the adventure while the characters are looking to get paid. They agreed to take on a job and now their benefactor has wandered off. Was it intentional? Was it a kidnapping? Is he trying to stiff the party on the bill?

4.City Sights: There are two noted things that the reader gets to experience through the characters. One is a statue of "The Hound Mistress", a well loved figure who defeated, at least temporarily, a guild of rogues and assassins known as the Jackals. The other is a massive tower structure that looks like it couldn't have been made by humans because it wasn't. Try to give your cities their own unique personalities, especially in longer term campaigns. 

Same Sykes does a great job of bringing a lot of classic fantasy elements to the table with a modern sarcastic tone and I'm highly enjoying it and may have more to say after I finish off the novel.

Anyone else read The City Stained Red? Any favorite parts?

Is Sam Sykes follow up a solid read? His other works?

Hit me up in the comments with similar recommendations!

Marco Polo: Season 2

Marco Polo is a fictional series on Netflix that gives its own spin to the time the "Latin" Explorer Marco Polo spent in the courts of Kublai Khan.



Below I'll be discussing some of the finer and lower points of the series and there will be plenty of spoilers so if you're the type of person whose enjoyment of a series, episode, life itself, is ruined by spoilers, turn away now! You shall not pass.

For everyone else, read on.

Marco Polo's first season, finished off with Kublai Khan in a great victory, in the defeating of the Southern China faction. In the dreaded real world, it was the Mongols who actually managed to unite China which had been divided for hundreds of years prior to their take over.

So what remains to be done?

In many ways, the second season of Marco Polo does smaller character work. Oh, there are still external threats but for the most part, the threats are brought on by internal strife. Some of these are well done and well rounded by others seem painfully obvious.

Above all though, the show engages the viewer through the characters. While the scenery and the costumes and the mix of high action and sex do help the sell, if the characters were not worth watching, the whole thing becomes an exercise in futility.

One of the things I enjoyed about a different cable series, Spartacus, was the character interactions. If you could draw out a flow chart of how the characters reacted to each other, you can almost instantly generate stories just by pulling on those connections.

Marco Polo, is much the same.

Kublai Khan: It all starts with the Khan of Khans. He's the centerpoint of the series in many ways. Don't let the view point of the series being named after Marco Polo divert you from who has the power in the series.

The actions of Kublai, reflect out from the center, creating ripples around the world. Sometimes these are not actions that would make a man proud.

For example, at the behest of his adopted son Ahmed, he kills the Southern Chinese Prince. This results in an uprising. He does this with no pleasure. He does this with no illusion as to what he is doing.

But he does it nonetheless.

His adopted son is known to have taken a concubine, Mei Lin. The Khan, to put it mildly, does not like her and ill uses her. The punishment to Mei Lin however, reflects poorly on Ahmed who is powerless before his Khan's actions and acknowledges that when the Khan makes mention of his deeds.

And there is the continued interaction with Marco himself. Despite Marco saving the Khan's life directly and uncovering vast conspiracies against the Khan, when delicate information makes its way to the Khan the the Khan knows Marco also shares? Well, the Khan decides perhaps (again) it's time that "the latin" and his usefulness have ended.

The Khan is a complex character and serving in his court is both boon and bane. His actions shake the land.

Chabi: The wife of Kublai Khan. While she does not wield a sword, she is capable of committing acts that others would consider monstrous. She is capable of making "the hard decisions."

Prince Jingim: The flesh and blood son of the great Khan. Due to the growing influence of China on the lifestyle and culture of the Mongols who live closer to China than Mongolia, Prince Jingim is often called "The Chinese Prince" and it's not a honorific meant to flatter. Rather, it's an insult. Jingim yields little apparent power and is almost too bland or normal. He loves his wife, he pays homage to his father. Initially in the first season, jealous of the attention his father lavished on Marco, he grows to treat Marco as a brother. His only flaw is that he's so honest he can't see the world about him in the negative and the webs that Chabi weaves around him in terms of politics, are not ones he would want himself.

Despite that though, he hints that he knows exactly what's going on when his fourth wife, the Blue Princess, becomes pregnant at just the right time. At a time when the legitimacy of the Khan is in question, the matter of heir becomes vital...

Kokachin, the Blue Princess: An imposter who lacks any power in the true sense of the word. She knows she is in a bad situation but even so, with a forced marriage to the son of the Khan, she strives to make peace with it. She strives to be a good wife.

It is not enough. One of the threads of the series is "the hard choice". Chabi decides that Kokachin will get pregnant and uses a man outside her husband to achieve this. Forced rape and carry of a child and it weights on Chabi.

It weighs more on Kokachin. There is a point in the series where it looks like the actual Blue Princess returns. Where this Blue Princess wants her life back.

But there is no real Blue Princess! It a hallucination and that the stress of rape, carrying an imposter's child, knowing that it's an imposter's child, and the potential consequences to come from that? Too much for her mind to handle.

And in looking at the links between characters, Chabi knows what must happen to keep the Blue Princess quite about the father. She also knows that Prince Jingim must never "officially" know no matter what he hints about.

Hundred Eyes: The mentor for all in the Khan's army in martial arts. He works for the Khan because Kublai put it bluntly. "Do my bidding or I'll destroy all of your art, history, and proof that your people ever existed." He falls into line and at some point even acknowledges the inevitability of serving the Khan because of the corruption of the old Chinese Emperor. He makes a reacquaintance in this second seasons and if you enjoy the old "Samurai Sundays" that included various Chinese Martial Art films, there are some great fight sequences that come out of these meetings.

Byamba: Bastard son of the Khan. He is married to a rival clan. He suffers quite a bit. He is much like Prince Jingim in that he's a relatively simple character to understand. He lives to live. He does not seek status or social improvement. He fights for his father because to him, it is the right thing to do.

Marco Polo: And the title character himself, Marco Polo. He seems to have a gift for stating the obvious and that may only be because he is the view point character and seeing things through his eyes gives us the advantage of sometimes seeing things as he sees them. For example, seeing that Ahmed is deliberately making bad decisions? That Ahmed is quickly reacting and threatening when those decisions are called out?

Macro is in a bit of a unique position. His training from the monk Hundred Eyes puts him well above a standard soldier, but he's not trained enough when facing individuals like Lotus, a former lover of Hundred Eyes who makes her introduction this seasons.

Marco is also in a bit of a dangerous position as when his father makes his way with an enemy army sent by the Pope, Marco goes out of his way to insure that his father survives the encounter. A fact that does not go unnoticed by the great Khan who adds it to the list of reasons to kill Marco.

If you enjoy shows like Vikings and have a Netflix account, Marco Polo is worth a watch. If you want to check it out on DVD, season 1 is available from retailers like Amazon for $19.96 right now.

Any fans of the series? Any favorite characters? Hopes for season 3?

Stormbringer

Elric: Stormbringer

Blondel*Cano*Telo*Recht*Poli

Graphic Novel

64 Pages

Titan Publisher

$14.99

$9.74 at Amazon http://amzn.to/29429Xf

I read the reimagining of Michael Moorcock’s Elric novel, The Ruby Throne a while ago and looked forward to the follow up, Stormbringer.

Little baffled by the decisions made here.

Elric is far more bloodthirsty and well, useless than he’s been in different incarnations. This ranges from his crippling obsession with Cymoril to his callousness in wiping out a village.

It’s not that these things aren’t “acceptable” or aren’t suitable for Elric. It’s just such a different exaggerated take of him that I’m not sure I like it.

There are other liberties the series takes. For example, the rune swords Stormbringer and Mournblade are gifted to Elric and his cousin and are the Prince of Sword’s “Daughters” as opposed to being what they originally are.

In the context of the story, it works. In the greater whole? If they ever decided to go on? There would either have to be more liberties taken or it would have to continue to diverge more and more.

On one hand, watching A Game of Thrones, I can easily see this version being adapted for a HBO style 4 part series/movie or something.

On the other? Still digesting it.

The good news though, is that art is fantastic. The visuals are stunning. Much of the setting, especially on Elric's home island, could be straight from a Clive Barker Hellraiser book.

The layout and wording and coloring all work to move the story forward. It’s well done and visually appealing. These version of Elric and his people will stand out in the mind as the modern interpretations.

Further good news? It’s inexpensive. Under $10 for either the digital version or the print version is a good deal for quality art like this.

If you’re a fan of sword and sorcery and want to see what a modern version of Elric is like that doesn’t cleave to the story as rigidly as previous comic adaptions have, this one is for you.

The Geography of Thought by Richard E. Nisbett

The Geography of Thought

How Asians and Westerners Think Differently…and Why

Richard E. Nisbett

Free Press

Published by Simon & Schuster New York

$15.99 

$12.19 from Amazon: http://amzn.to/28ZUfe9

As someone who's been a gamer master and tinkered with writing, the idea of HOW people think and what makes them think that way fascinates me. When I heard of the Geography of Thought, I figured “Hey, now I can know why that dude from Legend of the Five Rings thinks differently than that Paladin in 5^th edition D&D.”

Let me start by saying that I don’t know if I agree with everything that Richard E. Nisbett puts forward. And that’s okay because he makes a lot of allowances. He points out that NOT everyone in the different regions thinks this way. He points out that “Asians” is a huge umbrella and that there are differences within that vast branch, just as there are with Westerners.

Nisbett also points out that things are changing more and more as the world continues to become flat. As more cultures cross pollinate, there are more and more examples of each one’s thinking on the other side.

To get the ball rolling, chapter one, The Syllogism and the Tao, breaks down some of the historical roots as follows:

Westerners: “The Greeks, more than any other ancient peoples, and in fact more tha most people on the planet today, had a remarkable sense of personal agency – the sense that they were in charge of their own lives and free to act as they chose.”

Asians: “The Chinese counterpart to Greek agency was harmony. Every Chinese was first and foremost a member of a collective, or rather of several collectives – the clan, the village, and especially the family. The individual was not, as for the Greeks, an encapsulated unit who maintained a unique identify across social settings. “

Nisbett goes into several more differences and his thinking as to why those are vital to understanding and he tries to make his case for it with illustrations, examples, modern testing, and other fun bits over the course of the next few chapters.

For example, comparing Greece and its city states, it’s maritime trading, it’s piracy, it’s connectivity to a greater world, it’s desire to prove something right, to China and it’s huge centrally located empire, it’s farming, it’s connectivity to itself, and its desire to compromise between two opposite.

The good news is that the book is written so that anyone should be able to understand it. The illustrations as testing are a quick way to see which path of thinking you may fall under. The ideas presented testable.

If you’re a fan of creating cultures, the Geography of Thought can force you to think about why those cultures act the way they do and what causes them to evolve.

Usagi Yojimbo: Two Hundred Jizo

Two Hundred Jizo brings the Ronin Rabbit Usagi Yojimbo to his 29th collection of adventures by writer and artist Stan Sakai.

This volume includes the usual assortment of heroics and villains with those who live in this version of Feudal Japan trying their best to get by.

If you haven't read any Usagi Yojimbo in the past, the good news is this volume, like many, is relatively self contained and doesn't rely on following any long standing plot lines or resolutions. While not necessarily "done in one", many of the stores are quickly told.

In some aspects, that is very much like the old Marvel Comics "Conan" where the barbarian would wander from one adventure to the next with the whole issue of continuity becoming more embraced when years later Dark Horse would take over.

The black and white artwork of Stan Sakai is solid. His ability to use minimal amounts of line work does not hold back the flow of action on the page. And let me try to clarify, when I say minimal amount of line work, I'm noting that on the characters, not necessarily on the designs. Some of the clothing he draws has intense amount of detail to it.

If you want to read about samurai fighting bandits and playing detective, this collection has you covered. If your curious but want to know more, Dark Horse Comics has a multi-page preview over here: https://www.darkhorse.com/Books/28-442/Usagi-Yojimbo-Volume-29-Two-Hundred-Jizo-TPB

But what if you're hear for some Appendix N musings?

The Artist: This collection starts off with Usagi meeting  Yoshi, a young man who has had teachings of art styles outside of Japan. Because Japan is very traditional at this time, the artist's own father has decided to have his son killed as opposed to allowing those teachings to spread.

This 'clash of cultures' is not one that occurs with guns and bombs. It is not an exchange of arrows and swords. It is a divergence of styles, teachings, and culture. Perhaps something far more insidious in it's reach.

How far would people go to keep things separate? Sometimes this is used by marketers as a ploy to push merchandise. I can't be the only one who remembers "Freedom Fries".

Other times it can be used to justify murder.

Buntori: Despite the focus on historical accuracy, Stan Sakai has used elements of the supernatural many times. In this instance, Usagi falls asleep outside and has a dream of two samurai fighting, one falling and suffering an unkind fate. When Usagi awakens, he takes care of that business. Stan's use of dreams to convey information is solid.

This isn't just a small time independent publisher thing though. The recent movie Batman v Superman uses several dream sequences to suggest things and to push the characters. Dreams allow the game access to locations that the characters may not physically have access too.

Murder At The Inn: Inspector Ishida makes a pleasant return visit here, fighting against bandits and is assisted by Usagi, who he meets by chance! The two take shelter in an Inn with the bandit leader their prisoner. After exchanging some pleasantries with some of the customers of the Inn, murder happens overnight!

I recently played in a game of Legend of the Five Rings with a similar incident, murder with a group of suspects.

When dealing with multiple non-player characters, it's vital to draw those characters clearly in the player's mind. Just having a name isn't necessarily going to be enough unless there has been some extensive role playing done to determine the nature of the NPC's character.

Cheat sheets of portrait cards can be vital here. Find an image from the vast horde of the Internet and print it out on some nice paper and use it to represent those characters. The visual cues will be a lot more memorable than some hastily done verbal description.

Two Hundred Jizo: Feudal Japan is a land with its own religion and its own mythology. That of Jizo is no exception to the rule. This time period of Japan also seems to be teeming over with bandits.

Despite the vitriol that it received, one of the things 4th edition did well was the "fallen" kingdoms, the "points of light" idea where society as a whole was not empire spanning but rather small clusters of civilization which easily lends itself to having a setting overrun with bandits.

If your setting has a lot of bandits, why? Are they a culture whose homeland is destroyed? Has the warrior class being displaced through peace? Has some calamity befallen a part of the setting creating waves of mass migration?

Ice Runners: Usagi becomes involved in situations by accident. He is often wandering onto a scene of some ongoing action.

In this case, some runners are bringing ice as a tribute to a lord to showcase how great their own lord is. These runners are under attack by "bandits" who are suspected of being hired by another lord who wishes to see the first lord fail and lose honor.

When showcasing the abilities of an organization, there are often those who seek to take the glory away from such an effort and cover themselves with it. When designing an adventure seed, keep in mind those that may not want characters to succeed if it casts themselves in a better light.

Shoyu:  Sometimes you read something that makes you want to share that knowledge. Sometimes you want to incorporate this cool thing you've learned. Stan does this often with his writing. In this case, it's the creation of soy sauce and a feud between two crafters of the seasoning. Stan does so in a way that's organic and grows out of the situation and it works well.

A good way to 'feed' such information into a game is to have an NPC whose passionate about the subject matter and eager to show it off. They want to talk about the thing they love. They want to share that knowledge.

If you're running a Legend of the Five Rings game or an older game like the original Oriental Adventurers, Usagi Yojimbo continues to provide entertainment and inspiration.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

In addition to renting Jurassic World the other day, I also managed to pick up Age of Ultron.

Entertaining but...

To me, Age of Ultron is some well written character drama filled with long fights that probably would've looked better on paper as opposed to the long drawn out mess they were. Sometimes a fight scene is just TOO long.

Now I'm not a purist. In the comics, Hank Pym, the original Ant Man, is the creator of Ultron. Here, it's a combination of Tony Stark and Bruce Banner. In the comics, the Vision is purely the creation of Ultron. Here it's a cross between Ultron, a mad scientist, Bruce and Tony.

Do I think they missed some moments that would have come across fantastic in the movie? Like Thor telling Ultron, "We would have words with thee?" (From Avengers Vol 3 by Kurt and George)

Yup. Understandable though. Ultron has been around for decades.



It's not that the movie lacks and 'quip' moments. Captain America and his whole "language" bit has already been made into numerous memes including a great one with Dead Pool.

And it's not that Ultron voiced by James Spader isn't highly entertaining. He almost steals the show, much like Loki has in whatever movie he's appeared in. He's funny and crass, seemingly hyper intelligent yet way overconfident and unsure how he fits into things.

Perhaps it's just that there are too many characters? Hard to say.

Now for gaming purposes though? Fantastic movie. Hell, I can't tell you how many times a long drawn out fight saved my bacon in Champions using 4th Edition Hero back in the day. The rolling of dice, the calculation of damage, all time sucks that I could then use to hope I did a better job of prepping for the next game.

So what can you steal from the movie for your game? Well, if you've playing a superhero game and it doesn't already have a version of Ultron, there's Ultron. He's a robot who in this version at least, wants mankind to 'evolve' or die. Kind of like a real mean version of the older comic character, the High Evolutionary.

In the comic though? Ultron is all about eliminating mankind. All about the end of organic life. All about being the ultimate bad ass. In Champions, that would be Mechanon. Pretty much a straight motif take save for his origin.

For other bits?

There's the whole "don't show a gun if you're not going to use it." In this instance, Hawkeye is injured early on and is healed with some amazing technology. That technology is then the showcase of how the Vision gets built.

Then there's give the players enough rope. For instance, the Scarlet Witch goes around messing with people's minds in this movie. Thor in particular suffers a bad vision. But in this instance, he seeks out further guidance on that vision. If a player has a background that allows him to incorporate it into his character and into the ongoing game? Take it and run! One of the potential problems with a 'group' session is that the 'group' is too much in the spotlight.

The villains turn! One of the bits this movie has, is actually rooted in the comics. When first introduced as mutants way back in the day, The Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were minions of Magneto! They later joined the Avengers.

Here, the duo have a hate for Stark because Stark technology was being used to bomb their country and they hold Tony personally responsible for the death of their parents, undergoing intense treatments to become augmented enough to fight against the Avengers.

Their quest is personal. When it turns out Ultron wants an extinction level event... well, they are less than pleased with it.

Minions! One of the things that Mutants & Masterminds did well was the one hit villains and their minions. Sure, you could do the same in Champions if you wanted to really low ball the point creation and character ability and in Dungeons and Dragons 4th edition, they never really used it effectively, but it's can be mighty satisfying to have a lot of villains around that everyone can take out. This can allow characters like Hawkeye, Black Widow and Captain America to be useful while the big guns such as Iron Man, Thor, and Hulk do the heavy lifting.

I enjoyed Age of Ultron more than Jurassic World. It's a bigger setting, it has more characters, it has more going on. It has a feel of continuity that Jurassic World acknowledges was there, but is self contained overall.

Age of Ultron works better when you're familiar with the rest of the characters and their franchises and all of that is going to lead into bigger movies down the road. It's an interesting way of making movies and I'll be curious to see how well it plays out and hopefully continue to mine it for ideas.

Jurassic World

I'm way behind on so much entertainment that it's not even funny.

Take Jurassic World.

Some interesting ideas here that role playing games have been stealing since before the first Jurassic Park book was written. If you need any proof  hunt down a copy of Isle of Dread by TSR from way back in the day.

Gamers have known since day one that dinosaurs are cool even if they have no special abilities.

As far as movies go, it's terrible. It has a few saving graces, most of those being the ever improving amount of technology in the movies that create the world that the dinosaurs are living in.

The people? Utterly stupid. The scenarios they wind up in? Equally stupid. The lack of injury? Amazing.

I'd strongly suggest the guys writing and making future Jurassic Park-World movies watch Die Hard again and take notes on how bloody, injured, and battered the main hero is at the end. It shouldn't be a "Man, I sure did sweat a lot!, I'm going to need a new shirt!"

Outside of things like, you know, heels not breaking regardless of the circumstances. I was surprised she didn't use of of her shoes to smash a raptor's head in, Shoe survived every other catastrophe known to man.

There are many many issues.

It's a semi-futuristic world and the phone service stucks? No one knows how to text?

Military specialists don't realize the time and training needed to enable a small group of semi-trained raptors as opposed to a grand scale?

I could go on and have already gone on too much to not talk about the "fun" parts.

1. Monsters are smarter than you think they are: Jurassic Park made the raptors so smart that it became a running gag cartoon shows like Family Guy. While it's good to have a lot of dumb monsters that are there only to get the beat down, have a few of them be capable of surprising the good guys.

2. Mad Science! Fantasy games already have the owl bear and actual classics of fantasy like the griffon and other beasts that mix multiple animals into one type of animal. When you start throwing dinosaurs and other fantasy monsters into the mix, fun things can happen! 3.5 and Pathfinder with their use of templates can get a lot of the mechanical work done in such instances.

3. Island Mix: One of the fun things about say Jurassic Park, is that it all takes place on an island. Imagine though if you start to mix things up. The characters get home and find out there's some talk of a plague or that over in Europe people are coming down with a 'rage' virus? That monkeys are taking over the cities? Hell, the island might be the last place that's safe from the other stuff out in the wider world at that point. Some versions of the Isle of Dread have it 'float' through various dimensions although it's been pinpointed to both Mystara and Greyhawk and I'm sure that some have pegged it into the Forgotten Realms because you know, why not?

Jurassic World has a lot of things going for it in terms of visuals. In terms of sound. In terms of representation of action. It's not going to win any consistency awards or any awards for best actor but if you want to see a gene spliced super raptor tearing it up across an island of people and prey, or people who are prey, it's a solid movie and can get the 'adventure' blood flowing.