Minireview: Extreme Paranoia (Paranoia)
Extreme Paranoia expands the new edition of Paranoia (“Paranoia XP”) to cover higher security clearances. While there is a new(er!) edition out just now which separates the game line into distinct sets (Troubleshooters, Internal Security, High Programmers), this book is for the previous edition and gives you a chapter on each higher security clearance. It’s almost certainly usable with the newest version, too, since (as far as I know) that’s only a slight revision, ruleswise.
Anyway, to this book. It’s good. It’s also a bit of a mishmash, since it contains a huge pile of… well, stuff to help you promote (and then destroy) your PCs. There’s some general discussion first, on how a higher security clearance is no highway to power and happiness (though the PCs may imagine it to be). Each clearance level is given guidelines on what new stuff is now available, what the PCs can (and cannot) now do, and other helpful stuff like that. I found the clarification on the living quarters at various levels especially helpful in giving me a picture of what changes at what level.
Among the bits and pieces given here are some small adventures (suitable for certain clearance levels) and plot seeds, and a few leftover pages and chapters from other books in the game line. There’s also a bit from an older Paranoia edition, adapted for this one: some chapters from the old HIL Sector Blues book. There is no strict structure here, each clearance level gets a different treatment. At one level, you’re finally given the rules for making the PCs… Assistant Retail Managers! And in another, the PCs become stars in a TV video show. Many of these portions feature mini-games, where the PC actions determine various things like show popularity rating, sales quota performance, or whatever.
With a lack of strict internal chapter structure, this book could be a mess… but it isn’t. It’s a huge pile of ideas, guidelines and plot hooks. Some are better than others, but even the not-that-hot ones are either somewhat amusing or at least a bit different.
If you want to push your Paranoia PCs a bit outside the normal Red-clearance Troubleshooter envelope, this is the book to get.
Minireview: The Last Wish, by Andrzej Sapkowski
Here is something of a rarity, a relatively unknown (outside Poland, that is) fantasy book which gave birth to a fantastic PC game (The Witcher) – so most people will encounter this book via influence from the game, even though the book (written around 1996) is the basis for the game. For once, both the original book and the game it’s based on are very good; usually one or the other (or both) suck in cases like this.
I gather Andrzej Sapkowski is quite well known in Poland nowadays, but I admit to never having heard of the guy before this. The Last Wish is a collection of short stories, some of which were originally published in a Polish fantasy magazine. They feature his trademark protagonist, Geralt of Rivia, and are loosely connected in places though mostly standalone.
Geralt is a “witcher”, a mutant solo monster-slayer, who makes his living traveling the countryside looking for monsters to kill for money. It’s not an easy life, and people have a mixed opinion on Witchers – they are seen as necessary (at times), but also shunned. The world is a fantasy version of old Eastern Europe; lots of traditional folk tale monsters abound, though the writer gives most of then new twists. Few things here are quite what they seem, and many of the stories here are actually very twisted versions of old fairy tales. It’s not aimed at children, though; like the computer game, this is written for adults and contains sex, violence and difficult shades of gray in the moral arena.
I liked it quite a bit. The stories vary in quality, but all are at least readable and the best of them are great. Some few characters (aside from Geralt himself) from the computer game make an appearance, but mostly this book is separate from the plot of the game; this fleshes out Geralt as a person, gives him a history. The first story is actually featured in the game’s initial cutscene (the one with the ruined castle and the striga), but otherwise I didn’t find any direct plot connections – I haven’t completed the game yet, though, so some more connections may exist.
Quite ignoring the fact that it’s the basis for a game, this is a good collection of sword & sorcery -type Polish fantasy… and there’s not much of that going around, generally. Geralt is a complex character, and the Eastern Europe tone of the world is a nice change from the usual bland Tolkienesque surroundings.
Minireview: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running is a nonfiction book, a memoir of sorts in which Murakami talks about his hobby/obsession with long-distance running, also lightly mentioning other events in his life, starting with his sudden decision to quit running a jazz bar in Tokyo and take up writing. It’s interesting stuff; even though I’m no runner – I have absolutely zero experience with that, something I guess I should fix – it’s always interesting to read about people’s major interests. For Murakami, running is clearly a major component in his life, something he gets strength from even though (or maybe because) it’s sometimes quite a painful exercise.
He’s quite honest about the difficulties he’s faced over the years, and talks about how he must run pretty much every day, otherwise he’d be giving himself permission to skip another day, then another. I can relate; even though my sports are only on the one-or-two-times-a-week level, the inertia thing is a familiar beast. It’s just so easy to skip training when you’re feeling a bit tired… and then skip some more, until suddenly you haven’t done anything for many weeks.
The main focus in this book is running marathons. The writer tries to run a marathon each year, which (to me) is quite in the crazy zone… but sure, if you’re in shape for it, why not.
I found the book an interesting read, even though (as I noted) I’m no runner. I’ve read a couple of Murakami’s fiction books and he’s a good writer. The tone here is conversational and informal, and the book is actually a collection of essays (on running), written over the span of many years. This results in some duplication, but also gives insight into someone dealing with becoming older and still wanting to stay in good shape. He’s aware that he won’t be able to keep up the pace forever, but intends to do it as long as possible.
Minireview: The Radical's Handbook (Dark Heresy)
The Radical’s Handbook is an expansion for FFG’s Dark Heresy (Warhammer 40k) game, detailing various “radical” factions within the Inquisition. Some of these are still (barely) within the accepted limits and can be followed openly (though not without risk), while others go outside that zone – some are a direct express train to excommunication and execution if discovered.
Organization-wise, it’s fairly straightforward. We’re given details on a number of Radical factions, with notes on their beliefs, organization, goals, views and some notable NPCs. That is followed by some game crunch, i.e. what game mechanics benefits characters can get from belonging to one of these factions. There is a short chapter on aliens and alien equipment, and some details on other “nonstandard” (and “unsafe”) gear. The book wraps up with a discussion of how to use all this in a game.
It’s a very solid and useful expansion book. While it doesn’t bring anything critical to the game table, the extra options it gives are fun. As the end section details, you can use this stuff in quite a variety of ways. First of all, you can just use this to spice up NPCs and NPC factions; a couple of the factions here are definitely in the “evil bastards” ballpark and the others aren’t exactly “nice guys” either – not that much anyone is, in this game universe. Second, you can use this book to give your PCs extra options. The Inquisitor and the Acolytes might all belong to one of these factions. Or the Inquisitor might be a secret member, and slowly lure his underlings towards a “deviant” path. Or, most risky of all, the Acolytes (PCs) might start to harbor Radical beliefs, even though their boss is still orthodox. And, of course, you might well have a case where different PCs within the same group belong to different Radical orders (though that’s tricky to pull off without things descending into Paranoia mayhem).
The whole thing is quite well-written, and the factions themselves mostly quite interesting and not too one-dimensional. I got the feel that many “crunch” things here up the power level a bit – but on the other hand, membership in any of these factions brings large amounts of risk, so some decent benefit from it all makes sense. Risk vs reward, and all that.
Minireview: Hollow's Last Hope (Pathfinder)
Hollow’s Last Hope (written by Jason Bulmahn and F. Wesley Schneider & graced with the code “D0”) is the first published Pathfinder adventure – or more exactly is the first adventure in the line that later became “Pathfinder”, at this point it was just a line of adventures for D&D3.5 under Paizo’s “GameMastery” label.
This module was originally given out for free as part of “Free RGP Day” in 2007, and thus distributed in print form to some participating rpg stores. It was also available (and still is) as a free PDF download, so getting hold of it is easy… but getting hold of the print version is anything but. It took me almost 2 years of on-and-off eBay hunting to track down my print version.
It’s an intro adventure for 1st level (D&D) characters, and is quite decent at that. The town of Falcon’s Hollow (the target of multiple calamities in later Paizo modules) is suffering from a plague, and (surprise!) it’s up to a group of intrepid young adventurers to venture into the wilds in search of components for a cure. There are some ok wilderness encounters, and then a showdown at an old temple. What makes this adventure nice is that it ties in directly with Crown of the Kobold King (D1), which in turn can be followed up with both Revenge of the Kobold King (D1.5) (also a free download) and Hungry are the Dead (D4). So this can easily kick off a mini-campaign, with a unified plot and locale. Quite nice.
As a standalone, the adventure is ok but nothing really all that spectacular; it’s a straightforward “find some medicine ingredients and save the town” thingy.
Minireview: Realm of the Fellnight Queen (Pathfinder)
Realm of the Fellnight Queen (written by Neil Spicer) is a mid-level standalone Pathfinder adventure – and a pretty good one, to boot.
The setup isn’t the most original of things: the PCs arrive in a small town for a wedding, and (surprise surprise) the town promptly comes under attack. To be fair, the module does suggest giving at least one of the PCs a tie to the town and a real reason to be there for the wedding, so it’s not as cliched as it could be. Anyway, naturally enough it’s up to the brave adventurers to save the day (isn’t it always), and off they go to figure out the strange mist that now surrounds the town.
The actual “meat” of the adventure is quite good stuff. There is a lot of forest to explore, and as a bonus not all of the encounters are combat ones. If the PCs play their cards right they’ll get information on who the actual Bad Guy here is, and how to get to her… which results in a raid to another dimension.
The author manages to pack quite a lot of stuff into a small page count, and I liked the varied nature of this adventure. There’s relaxed social stuff, some combat, some negotiation, and some exploration – something for all. I would have preferred for the Bag Guy to be a somewhat less “evil” character, some possible compromise in that direction would have made this even better… but of course, the GM can add that if needed. It’s also a page count issue, I guess, there’s a limit to how much you can cram into a 32-page module.
Not bad at all.
Yakuza
Boing Boing is running a series of short Q&A sessions with Jake Adelstein, a writer and crime reporter in Japan who has both reported on and had run-ins with the Yakuza extensively. Pretty fascinating stuff, especially the bits about how openly entrenched organized crime is in the Japanese infrastructure (entertainment industry, politics, etc).
So far we have part 1 and part 2.
Minireview: The Twice-Damned Prince (Pathfinder #30)
The Twice-Damned Prince, written by Brian Cortijo and James Jacobs, forms the finale of the Council of Thieves adventure path. The plans of the Bad Guys are fully set in motion (though in much-reduced form, thanks to probable PC interference), and the city of Westcrown is thrown into total chaos. If the PCs act smartly they may be able to turn the situation around, otherwise the Council of Thieves is the likely new ruling faction in the city.
Like the previous installment, this one also uses the city environment to good effect. The action is separated into various locales, and the whole thing is an event-based sandbox where the PCs can fairly freely decide what to do. Though there is a default sequence of events and most likely end scenario, the whole thing is quite flexible and the end result could be anything. As before, PC motivation depends strongly on their having close ties to the city, this is not an adventure path suitable for the usual “wandering hero” type (those would have left town long ago).
I like the fact that here, even if the PCs fail, the end result is just “a bunch of nasty guys take charge of a city”, instead of the all-too-often-seen “the world is doomed!” or “Evil Ancient Overlord enslaves everyone”. Those “save the world” things get old, after a while.
On the whole, the Council of Thieves did not quite live up to my expectations, but it still is a very good adventure path, easily among the better ones Paizo has done. It has some brilliant bits (the opera section is especially cool), but those are marred by lots of intervening mundane sections. Of course, everything depends on the GM and the group. Also, I’ve only read these things, not played them, so the actual in-play reality may be quite different to my impressions.
My favorite Paizo adventure path remains “Curse of the Crimson Throne”. We’ll see how the next one (Kingmaker) pans out; it looks promising based on what we know of it so far.
