Mairkurion {tm}'s page

Note: This review covers only 3.5, Pf, and pan-system material.

If you haven't treated yourself to the newest issue of the ENnie award-winning Kobold Quarterly (or better, yet, a subscription to the small magazine that has only gotten fiercer), now is a good time to do so. There's lots awaiting the fan of 3.5 and Pathfinder gaming in this issue. It's especially apropos for its October release: from the glowing orange charge of death knights that threaten from the cover to the lycanthrope and vampire articles.

There's an interesting new take on dwarves that continues the Wick-ed reexamination of the core fantasy races. Wick takes seriously the development of a real coherence of racial culture that will stoke the imagination of those who value verisimilitude in world-building. The real problems of satisfactorily integrating lycanthrope PCs into the game are tackled with sensitivity by John Ling. The family Connors sinks their teeth into vampires in the ecology article, juicy with research into the historical mythos. The GM roundtable is cluttered with bits of wisdom, and when these fall from the lips of luminaries such as Monte Cook, Bulmahn, and Chief Jacobs, one will want to return to scuttle across the table more than once to search for precious crumbs. Cook returns with a further, empowering meditation on GMing that draws on his rich history with the game. A team of Paizo regulars put together a selection of weapons for monsters that add the kind of distinctiveness I value for making monsters stand out from a blur of abstract opponents. Further articles offer unusual treasure items, a demented city that would offer an unnerving urban setting for a non-drow Underdark adventure, and further fleshing out of the award-winning Zobeck setting. (Blast you Baur! I don't need another great setting. Well...maybe just one more.)

So what was my favorite? It's really hard to choose between Hank Woon's torture article and Marc Radle's spell-less revision of the ranger, and I still don't think I can choose between these two gems. These were the two articles that made me want to play right away. If the ranger is one of your favorite classes, but like me, you've always wanted to tinker with it, and were never completely happy with the place of magic in the class, then this strong re-imagination of the Pathfinder class will call to you with a siren's power—hopefully you will have chosen your favored enemies and terrains wisely. (PDF Only Bonus: contains two addenda pages for your ranger character sheet.) And what GM hasn't experienced the frustration of no crunchy mechanical crackers to support the delicious flavor of PC torture that needs to be spread onto the game on special occasions? This is a case were flavor has been calling out for supporting crunch and Woon gives you what you need to make your players swoon. It's enough to make me forgive him for finding a paying job. These two articles really make #11 stand out as a special issue.

Now to the small stuff: I find the ads and reviews great for keeping me informed about things I would otherwise miss, but the “small” thing that is fiercest for me is Baur's ongoing production of a publication that pulls together such a diverse visual style into a unique, attractive, somehow coherent, look. I love that he continues to bring in new art and old art, color and black-and-white art that feeds the eye, complements the text, and somehow feels right in spite of great diversity among the individual works. How does he bring such heterogeneity together in a way that doesn't disintegrate into hodge-podge? There's got to be a devious kobold secret here that should keep us all checking over our shoulders. I hope that this aspect is always a part of KQ.

Happy gorging on this gaming treat-bag! Tuck in before the hungry ghosts!

While this may not be the most inspiring mini ever made, I'm actually kind of excited about it. How many times do you need a mini of a hooded, cloaked figure? Or of Cultist #5? If you're like me and the answer is, "pretty regularly," this mini's got you covered.

Like the aboleth, we had to wait a long time to get a remorhaz. Unlike the aboleth, this mini blows my socks off. I love the detail on this mini, and can't find anything to criticize.

Sculpt...pose...paint. Wizards' mixed record on quality of minis unfortunately extends to the most iconic of all of their monsters, but for my money, this is one of the best. Clearly better than the elder green.

I knew exactly what I was going to use this mini for when it was announced, and was thrilled to get one. Paint job is a little uninspiring, but a I like the sculpt.

This is one of those monsters that we had to wait forever to get a mini for it...too bad 4e changed the size. Still, a decent mini, if a little bit like a mutant catfish. I'll definitely pick up another for use as younger aboleths.

Goblins, like orcs, are something I have coming out of my ears. But in spite of that, there hasn't been a lot of variety among them. Nice to see a goblin mini that stands out from the ordinary. This mini would work great as someone's grunt, a burglar, goblin baggage train...

When I first saw this mini online, I had a similar negative reaction to the face with the gaping smile and the severe underbite. Then I saw it in person and it looked not as bad...out of the packaging it looked better. I'd say his face looks more like a vicious malabranche who enjoyes his work...a lot. Now my main complaint about the sculpt are the little wings, but it's certainly a serviceable devil.

We finally get a hippogriff, and it ends up blowing away every griffon mini that was previously made. Initially put off by the electric blue feather-ear-horns, this was the first Dangerous Delves mini I picked up and it sank its talons deep into me, demanding that I buy more. Great detail and great pose -- the picture does not do it justice. The blue things actually grew on me. The only thing that keeps this mini from pure perfection is the annoying lean, which I am consistently trying to work out of the plastic. It seems like WotC's packaging is encouraging a couple of the minis to acquire an annoying lean.

Everything on the surface of The Anubis Murders demanded that I read it: a fantasy and mystery novel, set in an alternative Earth in the analogues of (personal favorites) ancient Egypt and medieval Britain, with a wizard for a protagonist, and written by Gary Gygax, one of the mentors of my youth – one of the most important mythopomps to lead me, as so many of us, here. But it was this latter fact that held me back. Having never read any of Gygax's novels, I harbored a fear that the master behind beloved adventure modules, and above all, the epochal Dungeon Master's Guide, would embarrass himself and discomfort me the admiring reader when he ventured beyond gaming prose into sustained fiction narrative.

I need not have worried.

The Anubis Murders did more than banish these specters—it put them to flight with an entertaining invocation of mystery and magic. If you know Gygax's writing from gaming materials, your stylistic expectations are met: descriptions of color, arresting scenes, interesting detail, choosing (or making) the right word. But beyond his taking his trademarks and putting them to use in a novel, Gygax pulls you on through plot while proving himself capable of surprising the reader with more than the appeal of the strange and arcane. I was not prepared for how much I enjoyed Gygax as a character writer. While I admit my prejudice for the wizard-priest* and his nubile bodyguard, Gygax takes the proven formula of the duo and uses it both to drive plot and to bring out the character of his protagonist with subtlety and verisimilitude. By story's end, one has been treated to a fleshing out of how Gygax imagined magic, an intelligent action story, a villain worthy of the protagonists and promising them challenging future careers. I'm tempted to say more about this villain, but it is too easy to be a spoiler. I will simply not that finding out more about the villain was particularly satisfying.**

What might interfere with a reader's enjoyment of an otherwise fun yarn? If one is a constant mystery reader, one might figure out the plot rather too quickly. If one is an occasional reader of mystery, it might be best to read the book during a down mystery period, when one's plot detectors are a little flabby. If one's love of partner fiction leads one to desire or expect an equal partnership (Holmes and Watson, Farhrd and the Gray Mouser, Aubrey and Maturin), one will likely be disappointed. At this point in the arc at least, Setne is much more developed a character than Rachelle.*** Finally, certain kinds of students of history may well balk at the willful chronological naiveté of the tale. Gygax happily mashes Ancient Egypt and the matter of Britain (technically, it appears to just be pre-Arthurian), which is the low end of testing such tolerances – the reader should brace herself for the mention of the Bow Street runners! However, if one's predilections run as close to Gygax's as mine admittedly do, one is likely to wave such disjunctions away in the name of a good time. And with these caveats, that is exactly what The Anubis Murders will provide you.

I have KaeYoss and Lisa Stevens to thank for the sale that helped me risk my fears, but I hope that reviews and word of mouth will help banish these from any minds where they might yet linger. If you missed the sale, consider this: the foreboding cover illustration by Andrew Hou is worth the price alone.

Notes

Among the 4e dragon miniatures, this one is among the best looking.
I love the chunky texture of the scales, its sly, toothy face, and its powerful looking body.
Could work almost as well for a silver dragon.

While arguably closer to the original illustrations of the kuo-toa, this figure is exactly what others have already noted: a cheap step backwards from the wonderfully detailed kuo-toa minis from the Night Below set. Crazed indeed is the buyer who pays for these outside of a booster or who buys them individually and not as super cheap multiples.

Having struck at the heart of power on Skaith, Stark spreads revolt, collecting an alien menagerie of allies along the way. This volume is dominated by the great battles, and is more action-packed that the first volume, building to a victorious crescendo. The characters continue to emerge, and more contemporary commentary becomes evident (Farers/Hippies; the worship of charismatic leaders), as does Brackett's latter influence on the Star Wars universe. This has turned into a must-read series for me...in other words, you must read it!

From the beginning this brisk adventure hooked me and kept me hooked, as the main character Stark barrels through all who would block his quest to save the life of the man who had saved his own humanity. The alienness of the world of Skaith and its inhabitants is a palpable bed in which the plot's action swiftly flows. There are no false notes in Brackett's prose, and the dominance of action does not crowd out the carefully placed details that give the narrative its richness. Thence the cultures convey verisimilitude and the characters retain a sense of individuality (the latter seeming to be particularly difficult for many in this genre). On a perhaps less important, though personally valued, detail, Brackett is one of those writers with the knack for making up fantasy names that feel right, thus adding to rather than distracting from the narrative. Further setting it apart from many works in the genre, there is a subtext (the theme of the nature of humanity) that adds a depth of interest, without grating or coming across as special pleading.

Those of us whose introduction to the world of pulp fantasy/sci-fi came even after its silver age, and is therefore spotty at best, owe an ongoing debt of gratitude to Erik Mona for his salvage and rescue operation. He has recovered gems of the past I otherwise would have likely never enjoyed, and Brackett shines among them.

Charge up your heat guns and get ready for other-worldly adventure. Catherine Moore penned most of her moody and edgy space yarns in the thirties. I was not in the mood for space opera when I picked these up, but I got a good deal and the convenience of picking them up together with Black God's Kiss, so I did. I was more than rewarded for the venture. The horror of the unknown and the alien that Moore exhibited in her Jirel of Joiry stories is even more an element in her Northwest Smith stories. This brash interstellar rogue is carried through his adventures by Moore's brisk prose and evocative story-telling. In sum, I must use that most infelicitous but necessary term: unputdownable.

I could talk about how nice Black God's Kiss is physically. I could thank Mona and Planet Stories for bringing this historic piece forward so that I could discover it. I could talk about how Moore's writing saves me from enjoying story only and holding my nose when it comes to quality of writing, as is not uncommon for me when it comes to pulp stories. Instead, I want to focus on her enigmatic heroine.

Moore produces in Jirel, the sword-swinging Lady of Joiry, a character that left me hungering for more. To compare Jirel a moment to Moore's sci-fi hero, Northwest Smith, it is undoubted that with Northwest she achieves a much fuller explicit portrayal. But there is something magical in her characterization of Jirel. By hints, suggestions, and even absence, Moore somehow painted in my mind a picture of a compelling presence: Jirel is subtle, conflicted, and full-blooded. As I indicated, after reading pulp fantasy, I often feel a deep enjoyment of story beyond the quality of the writing. Just as rarely as I have satisfaction in the writing itself, do I feel the presence of the character as compelling and lingering. But in the Jirel stories, I felt as if a shadow passed me, of a powerful heroine, and I regretted that there were not more of them. Still, I am glad for those we have, and I recommend this volume as a must-read for the genre, both in terms of historic importance and—above all—for pure enjoyment.