Books

Minireview: City of Golden Death (Pathfinder)

City of Golden Death (written by Joshua J. Frost) is the finale of the three-part mini-campaign begun with Crypt of the Everflame and Masks of the Living God. I really liked those two, and this one does not disappoint either – all three are very different from each other in plot and tone, but still have links to each other and are designed to be run in sequence. It’s sort of like some the 1st edition AD&D series of modules, where the adventures were standalone but also a part of a series. In a way, this is something between a solo module and a larger “adventure path” series.

Of course, none of that matters is the adventures themselves are no good, or contain extremely weak links. No such problem here, City of Golden Death is a very nice finale to the series. Again, it’s quite different in tone to the previous two; here we have the PCs venturing into dangerous ancient ruins, trying to stop the plans of the main Bad Guy before it’s too late. It’s quite cinematic and “pulpy” in places, but in a good way. After the sneaky previous episode, the more straightforward plot here is probably a welcome change of pace. It’s assumed that the PCs will want to do their bit just because they are heroic, so the GM might need to dangle some additional carrots (or a big stick) to starts things off here. On the other hand, the previous adventure already assumed that the PCs had reason to act against the Cult of Razmir, so that motivation will probably just carry over to this one.

As for the “pulpy” bit… well, here the main locale is a place called (I kid you not) “Isle of Terror”. Subtle it’s not, and it’s also a bit cheesy… but hey, old D&D had the “Isle of Doom” (later also used in the Savage Tide adventure path), so it’s in good company.

If you’re looking for a nice mini-campaign for Pathfinder (or other D&D variant), you might want to check out this series of three adventures. […]

Minireview: Rivers Run Red (Pathfinder #32)

Rivers Run Red is part two of the Kingmaker adventure path, the first Paizo adventure path where they try for a more “sandbox” play style instead of the more linear traditional model. So far, so good; this part adds more pieces to the toolkit. Where part one saw the PCs enter the Stolen Lands with writs authorizing them to “tame the land”, and saw them pitted against local bandits and other small-scale dangers, here they are faced with the beginnings of a kingdom – and need to make lots of decisions concerning that. So that things aren’t too easy, some of the more heavyweight monster tribes in the region are getting set up to raise some trouble.

In addition to the adventure itself, the book also contains rules for kingdom building; it’s a sort of simplified medieval Sim City ruleset, where the players decide who gets put in charge of what (choosing which NPCs to give power to is very important) and what gets built where. The intention here is that there is lots of downtime between events in this adventure path. Months, maybe even years. This means that the PCs get to start building their kingdom and they also get to see the results.

While most of the stuff here (the kingdom rules, the event-based adventure main plot itself, etc) would need actual play to see how it works in practice, at least on paper it looks good. Paizo is going for something a bit different here, and some of the mechanics here have an almost “indie” feel. Oh, it’s still D&D, but it’s a bit of an unusual variant – usually the PCs don’t actually become rulers, and if they do, they don’t need to make actual long-term decisions.[…]

Minireview: Best New SF 22, edited by Gardner Dozois

Best New SF 22 is the UK edition of Gardner Dozois’ long-running yearly “best of” anthology, also published (confusingly enough) in the US as “The Year’s Best Science Fiction” with a different numbering scheme. They are the same anthology though, and as always quite brilliant – Dozois has an excellent taste in short stories (or at least one that’s very compatible with mine), and his picks tend to really contain the “best of” for a certain year.

This anthology documents the year 2008 in science fiction. Highlights for me were “The Six Directions of Space” (Alastair Reynolds), “The Political Prisoner” (Charles Coleman Finlay), “The Hero” (Karl Schroeder), “His Master’s Voice” (Hannu Rajaniemi) and “The Voyage Out” (Gwyneth Jones)… but really, pretty much all of the stories here deserve mention, the quality is extremely high. This is the first time that I’ve noticed a Finnish writer in this collection, and to top that his story was quite excellent. So… grats, Hannu, seems I need to read more of your stuff.

If you’re looking for excellent science fiction short stories, you really can’t go wrong with this series (or the alternate US printing). […]

Minireview: Ordo Dracul (Vampire: the Requiem)

The new Vampire (Vampire: the Requiem) gets rid of the old clan-based approach; there still are clans, but they no longer dictate your behavior to the old extent. More important are the groups the vampire belongs to… and here the Covenants step in. The Ordo Dracul book describes one of them, the insular and secretive Ordo Dracul.

When I read the Vampire core book I wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Ordo. They seemed a weird mix of the old Tremere and a random secret society (and/or the Freemasons), which claims to be founded by Dracula himself. This book describes what they really are and what they want to do – and it’s good stuff. The Ordo is actually a quite fascinating group.

At the core, it’s a vampiric transcendentalist group, with heavy influences from Freemasonism and suchlike. It has a strict hierarchy and chain of command (like the old Tremere), and the lowest-level applicants are actually called “Slaves”. However, it actually does strive for great things: the Ordo concentrates on rising above the vampiric condition, instead of trying to deny it they try to control it and reduce the negative effects. Most shockingly… they seem to be succeeding, at least to a point. A mental/body-control regimen called “The Coils” lets some of them bypass some very fundamental vampiric flaws. They can ignore (very limited amounts of) sunlight. They can control their frenzy reflex. They can stay awake during the day. Naturally enough, many other groups want to know how the hell they do it, but the Dragons (as they call themselves) aren’t talking.

The influences from Freemasonism are all over the place, though the scientific method largely replaces the reliance on mysticism. The Ordo consists of scholars and scientists, first and foremost. They have an elaborate system of coded names, with a certain scholar perhaps having the title “Invisible Philosopher of the Subtle Terror”. To another Dragon, this title tells a lot of important information. To an outsider, it’s nonsense. To add to the deliberate confusion, some titles are only used to mark spies and spread misinformation; using some certain code words in your title tells elder Dragons that “I’m a spy, and cannot be trusted”.

At the core, the Ordo is a group of transcendentalist (or “transhumanist”) amoral vampiric scientists, searching for a (semi) scientific solution to vampirism. Not to cure it, but to use it as the stepping stone in the next step of evolution. They use any and all means available. They do mass murder just because they want to see how the survivors react. They save random people from death, and then observe the cause-and-effect ripples that causes. They observe everything (especially themselves), endlessly. They are far from being “good guys” – but like the Tremere of old, they are quite fascinating.

The book is extremely well written and readable, and really brings a very weird group to life. This is an especially noteworthy feat since the Ordo and its goals are so very… strange. They have a method to their madness, and their layers upon layers of secrecy are mostly there for functional purposes. Yes, they are hard on the applicants who want to join, but they also offer (in their own mind) power that nobody else can offer. Once (and if) you’re accepted into the Ordo proper, you’re on the path to becoming a superbeing.

Or so they claim. […]

Minireview: Paranoia Black Missions (Paranoia)

Black Missions is a limited-run special edition of the newest base Paranoia game core rules (the “Paranoia Troubleshooters” edition). It’s extremely close to the previous “Paranoia XP” ruleset – the rules have been polished a bit, and the “classic” play style is now the only one covered by the main rules – the “Zap” and “Straight” styles have been moved to appendix options in the back of the book. While I don’t miss Zap, I really liked Straight so I think this is a bit of a pity… but on the other hand, the rules tweaks still exist (in the appendix) and the Classic mode is, of course, the most popular one. In any case, this is just a small revision of the rules; if you already own the previous version, you don’t really need this “Paranoia Troubleshooters” version.

…except that this edition contains an very cool extra, a CD-ROM containing a ton of stuff:

• Paranoia sound effects (laser zaps, warning sirens, etc)
• Various sound clips from the Computer, in both male and female voices.
• A Paranoia screen saver. Very amusing, I have it running on my netbook.
• Short video clip interviews with some of the designers.
• Almost the entire 2004- 2008 Paranoia XP support line, as PDFs. Missing are the reprint mission collections “Flashbacks” & “Flashbacks 2”, the equipment books “STUFF” and “STUFF 2”, and “The Little RED Book”, but otherwise you get pretty much the entire game line in PDF form. This is an awesome value, we’re talking well over 10 books here (don’t remember the exact count). Buying them separately would cost a lot.

So… should you get this? If you already have the previous version and don’t feel like the CD has stuff that interests you too much, there’s little reason to. However, if you don’t have the new Paranoia edition and are interested in it, this book gives you the latest core ruleset plus almost the whole earlier game line in PDF form; this is probably the best Paranoia core rules edition to pick up in that case.

Also, if you’re like me and have most of the earlier game line already, but still want the extra CD-ROM goodies: off to the game store you go. It’s Mandatory Bonus Fun Duty. This limited edition may be a bit tricky to get hold off nowadays, but some quality game stores (Fantasiapelit Helsinki, for example) still have copies available.

I personally think the CD-ROM is almost worth the price by itself. Having (almost) all the books in PDF form is fantastic, makes it easy to print out player handouts etc if needed.

[…]

Minireview: Trail of Tsathogghua (Call of Cthulhu)

Trail of Tsathogghua is the original 1984 edition, later published in compacted (and revised) form as “The Compact Trail of Tsathogghua”. This first edition contains three scenarios: two interlinked ones set in Greenland & Canada, and one unrelated scenario. Unsurprisingly, the later edition left out the unconnected one, and also (as far as I know) slightly revised the two others. Don’t know the exact details there, I’ve only read this original one.

The scenarios are all quite good, though the first one feel a bit too abbreviated, especially near the end; some expansion there might be nice. That scenario, titled “The Trail of Tsathoggua”, concerns an expedition to examine some mysterious ancient glyphs found written on a cliff wall in Greenland. The main plot is interesting enough, and the fact that the PCs need to deal with Greenland Inuit culture is a nice plus. Unsurprisingly, the PCs will need to venture out on the ice at some point, and things might well take a very grim turn. Normal CoC scenario, in other words.

The second one is “The Curse of Tsathoggua”, which has the PCs venture into Canada to trace… a certain development from the previous scenario. I don’t want to give away spoilers here, suffice it to say that this adventure is a bit unusual and isn’t strictly speaking a “Cthulhu” tale. It’s a nice change of pace, and is quite free-form.

The last scenario is, as noted, totally unrelated. Titled “The Haunted House”, it concerns an investigation into a supposedly haunted house. While there is a lot for the GM to keep track of here, it reads like a very fun and atmospheric scenario – especially since it’s absolutely packed with red herrings. Actually figuring out what is going on is probably a very difficult feat, even though this scenario isn’t especially deadly as far as CoC scenarios go. Good stuff, and again slightly unusual. I think this scenario has also been published elsewhere (either in a CoC core book or some other scenario collection), but I’m not totally sure.

All three scenarios were written by Keith Herber. The haunted house scenario is arguably the best of the lot, but the Greenland/Canada “Tsathogghua” duo also seems fun – nothing spectacular, but very decent adventuring in slightly unusual locales. […]

Minireview: Turn Coat, by Jim Butcher

Turn Coat is the 11th book in the Dresden Files series… and it also ranks among the best in my opinion. The series has been getting gradually darker and more complex, and here several plot lines start to really move. It this were a TV-series, this would be preparation for a series finale (yes, I know there was an actual Dresden Files tv-series, let’s not talk about that crapfest).

The story begins when Morgan, Harry’s old nemesis, turns up at his door, wounded and chased by… the Wardens. Seems that Morgan has murdered a White Council member and is a wanted man, but Harry (despite his personal dislike of Morgan) doesn’t buy that story despite the quite clear evidence implicating Morgan. If hiding his own actions from the Wardens (Harry being a Warden himself) wasn’t tricky enough, there’s also something extremely nasty out there, hunting Harry. It may or may not be connected to the Morgan affair, and Harry has limited time and resources to deal with it; an especially spectacular showdown, with White Court vampire assistance, leaves Harry convinced that this time, he’s really out of his league in the raw power department.

And then things get really complicated.

It’s an excellent story, and like most books in this series keeps you turning the pages. I like the fact that increasingly, the world in these books is changing, with previous happenings having real impact. It’s not a static, fishbowl world, and as a result it doesn’t feel safe and boring. It’s not many series where I read 11 linked books and still eagerly wait for more. […]

Minireview: Midnight Roads (World of Darkness)

Midnight Roads is an expansion book for White Wolf’s “World of Darkness” setting. As such, it’s geared for “normal” (i.e. non-supernatural) PCs, though there is a lot here that will find use in a game featuring nomadic supernatural PCs, too. Promethean comes to mind immediately, of course, but nomadic changelings, werewolves or even vampires are quite possible player character group concepts. Frankly, in many ways this book is more useful for a “nomadic vampires” game than the older “Nomads” Vampire book.

It’s a fairly compact book, like many in the basic WoD series. After some (quite decent) initial fiction, the book starts off with a general look at the history and mythology behind the huge U.S. road & highway network, along with some useful hard data. While that network isn’t really all that old in global terms, there is a vast amount of mythology and urban legends surrounding it – largely due to America’s love affair with cars, in general. The book also looks at other ways of road travel (other than by own car, that is). Hitchhiking, bus travel, etc all get some mention along with some plot hooks.

The mid part of the book delves into rules mechanics, and seems quite decent. There are some new skill uses, and mechanics for both tuning up your own car or sabotaging someone else’s. There are also some coverage of things like car chases, offensive driving, smuggling etc (from a rules mechanics viewpoint). Quite useful, assuming you’re using the WoD ruleset of course.

The last parts of the book cover storytelling, along with a bunch of story/plot ideas and some more fleshed-out scenarios. As most things like this, they are a mixed bunch and will appeal to different people. All scenarios that happen “on the road” must of course handle the question of “well, why don’t the characters just drive away when things go bad?”. The solutions range from the railroady “they can’t, because (whatever)” to the more subtle “they won’t want to, because (something else)”…. or even “by they time they realize they should run, it’s way too late”. Some of the scenario ideas are a bit simplistic, but a few are quite good and creepy.

All in all, a good sourcebook for WoD games (supernatural or not) which intend to spend some time “on the road”. The book gives you some history (only useful for U.S. -based games, though), some useful game mechanics, and a pile of plot & scenario seeds. […]

Minireview: The Fungi From Yuggoth (Call of Cthulhu)

The Fungi From Yuggoth is a Call of Cthulhu campaign from 1984 (later reprinted three times, with two renamings). I’ve only read this first version and cannot compare with the later ones, but this one is quite a mess. To start off, it has almost nothing to do with the Fungi from Yuggoth… only one chapter out of eight features them. That’s probably the reason they renamed this later, first to “Curse of Cthulhu” and later “Day of the Beast” (with that last one being the most fitting title). The subtitle here is “Desperate Adventures Against the Brotherhood”, and that one at least has some bearings on the contents.

Utterly inappropriate title aside, the bigger problem here is the contents. The campaign, such as it is, consists of eight chapters loosely linked by dream-visions from a psychic. Now, in a smaller scale this might even work as the main plot driver, but here it’s supposedly the justification for the PCs to suddenly go to places like Peru, Egypt and suchlike. It makes no sense, and would require massive GM railroading in practice. The chapters themselves are a mixed bunch. Some are actually pretty good, while some go way out to the campy/pulp side, with the end chapter being especially pulpy. That’s not a bad thing as such, but I feel the play quality here is very uneven.

The main plot consists of foiling the schemes of a large, global cult called “The Brotherhood”. The cult itself is ok; while not the most original of plots, some of the details are nice.

You’re probably best off treating this as a collection of one-shot scenarios instead of a campaign, as such. As noted, some of the individual scenarios are quite decent. I think some of them were revised and expanded in the later editions, so the campaign thing may work better with those. […]