Mario Podeschi's page

Team Jeggare. Granted, both Prince of Wolves and the serialized web fiction have been more Radovan's stories than the Count's, but there've been two scenes that I and the friends I've thrust this book upon keep coming back to:

"Looks clear."

Just finished reading after buying it from Dave Gross at Gen-Con. A few responses:

Re first person: The voices are distinctive. They're at their most delightful when Radovan and Jeggare are commenting on the same person or event through their unique lenses. The hardest leap is from chapter 1 to chapter 2 as we first get used to the convention, but it's not so much an obstacle to enjoyment as part of being pulled into Gross's narrative.

Re classes: I think Ari2/Wiz5 might be underselling Jeggare. For one, he comes across as a highly skilled swordsman through the Lepidstadt scar (a high point in the book, IMHO). For two, I think Pathfinder Chronicler is a prestige class well within reason for him.

Religion: What a great primer on Pathfinder religion. Radovan prays to Desna, the goddess of luck, and he has a variety of clever axioms to describe her reactions to his various plights.

Re what else I took away: It feels like a good D&D novel should, with a few moments that seem to come straight from a gaming table. Horribly debilitating wounds are made okay by the presence of a cleric. The rogue tells the wizard to fireball him. Search checks are conducted in libraries. That it's a mystery novel as well only adds to the fun.

Wild conjecture: I recall that Joshua Frost has specifically requested mystery adventures for the Paizo open call adventure submissions. Combined with Prince of Wolves, I'm left thinking that Pathfinder is trying to cultivate mystery-themed D&D adventure as part of its product identity.

(Thanks for the autograph, Dave.)

All this advice is well and good, but a few scripted events and personality traits can go a long way toward establishing a personality. Here's some scenery taken from various fictions and my own games.

1) Every night in his grand hall, the king invites a different person to sit at his side and speaks with them about what they do for his kingdom. One night he might get a crash course in wagonmaking--the next, a ghost story from the oldest woman in his city.

2) He conducts his own executions. Not out of sadism, but because, if he's going to take a man's life, he should have the cahones to do it himself. In that way, he'll always understand how the people view his justice.

3) He is not a great fighter. Sure, he can defend himself reasonably well, but the man is past his prime, perhaps sporting an injured arm or an empty lung. Doing this both establishes sympathy and keeps him from overshadowing your PCs.

4) His soldiers are fiercely loyal, shouting "Long Live King _____!" before entering battle. He seems forever at odds with his retainers, denying them their warnings that he stay where it's safe when there's s+&% that needs inspecting.

5) His children are intelligent, well-behaved, and mature for their ages.

6) He disguises himself as a commoner and wanders among his people to learn what they say when he's not around. This is easy to do, because most people know him more by his crown than his face. Rumor has it that he was once imprisoned on one of these ventures, and that he spent an entire day in the prison before revealing his identity, at which point he gave his justice system a significant overhaul. Of course, the bards have a tendency to exaggerate.

7) He has plenty of advisers, but asks them all to leave the room so that he can speak candidly with the PCs. They are the only people he can confess his weaknesses too, and he demands that they speak truthfully to him about everything, regardless of how he feels.

8) If they're interested, he'll give the PCs titles in his court: "Master of Assassins" for the rogue, "Lord Marshal" to the ranger, "Knight Captain" to the paladin, "First Wizard" to the wizard, "Archbishop of the Stolen" to the cleric, and so on.

9) He passes stark, just laws in response to campaign events. If there's religious disputes, he asks for the PCs help in drafting a law to keep them from fighting.

10) He reads.