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I think it's just a bit overwrought - really channeling that deliberately obtuse style Stoker uses (drug as a past tense for drag, rather than dragged, really struck me, as did maniac used as an adjective; maniacal being rather more clear and common).
This style is not only a bit overwhelming in and of itself but also slows the plot right down. So little happens in the second chapter, and I don't just mean that in a crash-bang-wallop sense, even the character development and sense of place is very slowly produced.
I know that ornate fiction can work for PF (Paizo's unofficial poet-laureate has pulled it off) but this one isn't grabbing me.
Is it just me?
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Fortunately I never read the fiction...
...but unfortunately it still sits there and eats up space better used for the adventure or support articles.
In general, I like the fiction, all part of building a sense of place.
Given the choice I would choose the fiction over the bestiary.
It's just the the Carrion Crown stuff is a bit flat. Maybe it's trying to hard to be gothic... I'm not sure though, Frankenstein isn't like this.
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I'm a long-standing opponent of fiction in APs. Almost nobody shares my sentiment and James Jacobs slaps me with a rainbow-colored trout for this regularly, but I don't give up. We killed Set Pieces, we killed Pregens, some day Fiction will fall! Ahem.
Anyway, I didn't read the subject matter, but I see that it's written by Wes. Wes tends to write in somewhat over-the-top neoromantic inspired style. Sometimes it works (Rule of Fear), sometimes it doesn't (Book of Damned vol. 1).
I'm a long-standing opponent of fiction in APs."Edge of Anarchy" has a bit where the protagonist wanders into a Shoanti manhood ritual, thinks the kid is going to die, and "saves" him. Result: protagonist ends up tied to a stake with the Shoanti discussing the finer points of skinning alive vs. staking to an anthill. He eventually gets the option of going through the ritual himself, but with the ticked-off local shaman determined to make sure he doesn't survive it.
I liked this idea so much that I shamelessly stole it. While my PCs were travelling through the Cinderlands, I presented them with what seemed to be a boy in mortal danger... and sure enough, they bit down hard.
So, in this case, the fiction was effectively a bonus scenario. Pure plot with no stats, but that's fine, I can work with that.
Doug M.
I too recalled this one and a few of the others describing the Cinderlands and the Hold of Belkzen. I quite liked these as they expanded on the setting and provided inspiration and flavour in a way that a gazeetteer description cannot. Also, to boot they were enjoyable reads. I only subscribed to the APs for Crimson Throne and now Carrion Crown so I can't comment on what has been presented for the others.
As for Carrion Crown have only read the first installment and thought it had potential. Will have to see. To my mind, the fiction is worth keeping as long as it is somewhat connected and of use to someone GMing that specific AP (e.g. a campaign set in Ustalav shouldn't have fiction about fighting space monsters in Qadira).
I'm a long-standing opponent of fiction in APs. Almost nobody shares my sentiment and James Jacobs slaps me with a rainbow-colored trout for this regularly, but I don't give up. We killed Set Pieces, we killed Pregens, some day Fiction will fall! Ahem.
I'll join your crusade if for no other reason than to have James Jacobs slap me with a rainbow-colored trout!
Seriously, though, I have zero interest in the fiction featured in the adevnture paths and I'd be overjoyed to see those pages put to better use as either extra pages in the adventure or the articles.
Of course, "better use" is subjective, and it seems a lot of people like having the fiction in the adventure paths.
Sometimes it works (Rule of Fear), sometimes it doesn't (Book of Damned vol. 1).
I thought it worked quite well in Princes of Darkness, personally.
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I'm a long-standing opponent of fiction in APs. Almost nobody shares my sentiment and James Jacobs slaps me with a rainbow-colored trout for this regularly, but I don't give up. We killed Set Pieces, we killed Pregens, some day Fiction will fall! Ahem.I'll join your crusade if for no other reason than to have James Jacobs slap me with a rainbow-colored trout!
Seriously, though, I have zero interest in the fiction featured in the adevnture paths and I'd be overjoyed to see those pages put to better use as either extra pages in the adventure or the articles.
Of course, "better use" is subjective, and it seems a lot of people like having the fiction in the adventure paths.
Sometimes it works (Rule of Fear), sometimes it doesn't (Book of Damned vol. 1).I thought it worked quite well in Princes of Darkness, personally.
Oh, by all means Princes of Darkness is a great read. It's so Dante/Milton that I almost wondered why Wes didn't write it in more archaic language :)
The problem is, while a piece of great prose, the book isn't that hot as an RPG sourcebook, because most of it is abut the philosophical finer points of being an archdevil - which isn't that hot when you are looking for something to interact with the PCs.
I liked the Eando Kline fiction.
I detested the majority of the fiction in Kingmaker. Chapter 1 was kind of over-the-top silly, I thought - and then chapter 2 comes out, and its completely unbelievable slapstick - and utterly useless as material for anyone trying to run a serious game or to get a real understanding of how the River Kingdoms work. On the other hand, whichever chapter it was that had the puppet show - that alone probably made up for the entire rest of the set.
I liked the fiction from Serpent's Skull. It worked extremely well as fiction - although I don't think it added anything to my understanding of the region or my ability to run adventures there (unlike the Eando Kline stuff.)
I started to read the fiction in Carrion Crown, was irritated by something about the way it started (too much work to figure out some of the initial references? I honestly don't recall) and haven't looked back at it since.
I liked this idea so much that I shamelessly stole it. While my PCs were travelling through the Cinderlands, I presented them with what seemed to be a boy in mortal danger... and sure enough, they bit down hard.Love it!
"Burn Runners: being inappropriately rescued by adventurers since 4702 A.R."
Glad to hear Eando's scene inspired an encounter.
I'm actually getting a lot of mood/scene inspiration from the current fiction storyline in Carrion Crown. I love the atmosphere and look forward to seeing where it will go from here.
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Read the fiction for Rise and Curse and thought it was decent. I don't mind having the fiction in the APs as long as it is tied to the AP in some clear way.
I think it would be fun and useful for the AP fiction to include NPCs from the AP. For instance the AP fiction in "Skeletons of Scarwall" could have been a story from when Sergeant Lashton was alive and served under Kazavon. Or the AP fiction from "Escape From old Korvosa" could have been about one of the adventures Vencarlo had in his youth. Basically something that ties directly into the AP adventure.
I don't think this could happen, While the adventure author is still penning the adventure, the fiction author is already working on the fiction for the AP. While they may know the names of the characters, they arn't going to know the classes to use to represent each as. They also don't want to portray the characters personalities in totally different ways due to the parallel development missing a reference to attitude or something.