Originally Published in Games Unplugged Webzine – May 1st, 2001

Warning: This review will contain spoilers for Into the Dragon’s Lair. Players who may end up playing in this module are encouraged to stop reading now. Proceed at your own risk.

Into the Dragon’s Lair is a 96-page module, written by Sean K. Reynolds and Steve Miller, inspired by and designed around the events detailed in the Forgotten Realms novel Death of the Dragon by Ed Greenwood and Troy Denning.

The plot goes something like this: Cormyr was laid waste and her king slain by a dragon who has an ancient blood grudge against the royal line. During the fighting which followed the dragon was killed. (That’s what happened in the novel – and it’s all summarized for the DM at the front of the module.) The PCs are asked to track down the dragon’s lair and liberate the treasure to be found there for the good of Cormyr. (I would have liked to see a few alternate adventure hooks, including the self-obvious: “We’re adventurers, we’ve heard about abandoned treasure, and we’re off to get it.”) Of course, the PCs are not alone in their hunt for the treasure – they’re in a race against time against a half dozen other adventurers and adventuring parties (although it would have been nice if the adventure had been designed so that they could actually lose the race).

The adventure basically breaks into three major sections at this point: First, the PCs need to travel cross country to the dragon’s lair. When they penetrate the lair they will discover its secret: The dragon’s orcish thralls are actually the inhabitants of a demi-plane and the dragon herself exists in a pocket dimension outside of that pocket dimension. The PCs need to work or fight their way through the demi-plane of orcs in order to find the entrance to the dragon’s pocket dimension. The dragon’s pocket dimension is inhabited by evil elves who had sworn loyalty to the dragon. Once they’ve liberated the treasure (if they can do successfully), they have to find some way to transport it back to Cormyr.

There are a couple of really nice features to this product: First, Reynolds and Miller have made sure that it remains accessible – even for those Forgotten Realms players who aren’t familiar with the novel which provides the background out of which this adventure is constructed. (Including me.) Second, the whole structure of competing with other adventuring parties for the deserted dragon’s horde is really cool – and carried out with relatively few flaws. Finally, the entire adventure has an epic quality – which is not only nice to see, but surprising given that the adventure has a novel as its basis for existence: All too often, novel-based adventures are just linear railroads where the players are forced to pantomime the actions of the original protagonists.

There are also some rather unfortunate flaws in this product: First, the map on page 26 (which shows how the PCs get to the dragon’s lair) has misplaced the location of the ambush so that it doesn’t match the description in the text. Second, there are quite a few elements in Into the Dragon’s Lair which are brought up and then never capitalized on – orcish politics, a mysterious valley of fog, some of the interactions with the other parties. In other areas, plot threads are simply left dangling without resolution or explanation. Executing on these would have made the difference between a good module and an excellent one.

If the premise of Into the Dragon’s Lair has you interested, you should definitely check it out – it delivers. If the only reason you’ve been holding back on it is because you’re (understandably) leery of novel tie-ins, then definitely check it out because they’ve avoided all the pitfalls with this one.

But there’s nothing here which is going to make this a “must-have, instant classic”. It’s a good idea, with above average execution, and its definitely worth the cover charge. Beyond that, your own judgment must reign.

Grade: B

Writers: Sean K. Reynolds and Steve Miller
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Price: $17.95
Page Count: 96
ISBN: 0-7869-1634-6
Product Code: TSR11634

This is an oft-overlooked adventure from the very earliest days of D&D 3rd Edition. If I recall correctly, it was actually the second official adventure published by Wizards of the Coast, actually predating The Forge of Fury, but no one really paid any attention to it for some reason. I only ended up reading it because I got a review copy, and I’ve just discovered that it’s actually missing from the Wikipedia article listing all official D&D adventures (although I’m sure someone will fix that shortly).

Part of the problem was likely that it was a 10th-level adventure released within just a few weeks of D&D 3rd Edition being released, so it’s unlikely anyone had a group leveled up and ready to play this when it released.

In truth, though, I also have no memory of the adventure itself at this point. I wonder if, in light of of the Race to the Prize scenario structure, I would still be impressed by its handling of the rival adventuring teams?

Originally Published in Games Unplugged – March 2001

The latest release of Cosmic Encounter by Avalon Hill marks roughly the third incarnation of this game (depending on how one counts such things). Originally developed by Eon Games it was subsequently distributed briefly by West End Games and Games Workshop before ending up with Mayfair Games, and then disappearing with that company’s demise a few years back.

Despite its somewhat rocky history, the game has established itself as a classic – arguably the best boardgame ever designed.

The concept: You play an alien race which is attempting to invade the home worlds of the other players and establish colonies there. You do so by sending ships from your homeworlds to attack the homeworlds of other players. You can also ally (and have other players ally with you) during these attacks. The more ships you risk on attacks, the fewer you have to defend your own planets.

The catch: Each alien race has a special power – allowing them to break the rules of the game in a specific fashion. This simple twist gives rise to a complex variety in the strategic and tactical gameplay of Cosmic Encounter – all arising out of a simple, elegant set of rules. Cosmic Encounter is easy to learn, but you will most likely never discover all of its subtleties.

The beauty: This latest version of Cosmic Encounter is simply beautiful. The gameplay, which has always been rock solid, has been coupled with some absolutely gorgeous physical design.

Some reservations: This basic set only supports four players and twenty alien powers (compared with the Mayfair version, which supported six players out of the box and forty-eight alien powers). That being said, Cosmic Encounter has always been a game which invites the possibility of expansion – not just for including more players, but also new aliens, new powers, and new rules. Indeed, the original Eon Games version had nine expansion sets, while the Mayfair Games version had two. Based on my conversations with Peter Olotke and his son at GenCon this year, it is apparent that Avalon Hill has plans to release expansion sets in the future. So keep an eye out for those.

My only other reservation as far as Cosmic Encounter goes is this: There is a large piece of plastic in this game called the Mothership which you use to transport your offensive ships. After some reflection, I concluded that this large piece of plastic is not only unnecessary – it’s cumbersome. You are far better off leaving it in the box and simply using your Carriers – which are designed for carrying your allying ships – for both attacks and allying. Doing so simplified and sped up gameplay in my experience. As complaints go, of course, this one is fairly minor.

The verdict: Cosmic Encounter is a classic, and this version could easily become its greatest incarnation. Whether you’re a new player or old, you should definitely check this one out.

Grade: A+

Authors: Bill Eberle, Jack Kittredge, Bill Norton, and Peter Olotka
Company: Avalon Hill/Hasbro
Price: $40.00

The current edition of Cosmic Encounters is published by Fantasy Flight Games. It remains a classic. I still love the aesthetics of the Avalon Hill edition, although a haze of nostalgia and the memories of many great game nights with friends and family may be coloring that assessment, but there’s little question that the FFG version is superior, including more alien options out of the box, plus a plethora of expansions.

Truth be told, though, I haven’t played Cosmic Encounters in years. I still think it’s a ton of fun, but it seems to be pretty easily get edged out by other options these days.

Originally Published in Games Unplugged Webzine – December 27th, 2000

Spookshow is one of those games which has a really great concept – ghosts are real and they’re working as spies – which then utterly fails to develop that concept in any appreciable way.

Adding to its sin, Spookshow seems eerily aware of its limitations: An oversized, double-spaced font dominates the entire presentation. A number of interesting elements which could have taken this sketchy concept and given its real legs are, instead, presented into a section of two paragraph “wouldn’t it be nifty if we’d developed any of these ideas?” grab bags.

In general, I think Spookshow’s overriding problem – of which the pervasive lack of development is merely a symptom – is that it is a sloppy job carried out in a lazy fashion. For example, the game’s system is based around the Bearing mechanic: Each ghostly character is assigned a d6 that represents their mortal nature and a d10 which represents their “ghostly” nature. When entering any new situation, and at the beginning of every round of combat, these dice are rolled for the character to “get their bearings”. So long as neither side is a 1 or a max for that side, you can use both sides without penalty. If both dice roll the same number, then you can only use one side (which you choose). If you roll a maximum number on one die, then that side of you is at a +1 bonus to actions on that side. If you roll a 1 on one of the dice, you can’t use that side. And if you roll a 1 on both dice you freeze up completely.

It’s a good idea… totally screwed up because they didn’t spend three seconds thinking the probabilities through. Instead of fulfilling the stated intention (with the ghostly side having a greater importance because, after all, they’re ghosts), it’s the physical side which dominates the situation. Think it through: 1/6^th of the time your physical side is going to be dominant (receiving a +1 bonus); while the supernatural side will only be dominant 1/10^th of the time. Plus, its the physical die which has the most impact on almost every other element of this system – from when you freeze up, to when you need to decide on one side or the other, and so forth.

But then they make it even worse: Your Bearings roll is also added as a modifier to your action resolution attempts (creating a confusing situation in which “terrestial” and “noncorporeal” – for some reason they can never settle on just one set of terms to distinguish between the physical and ghostly worlds in the system – tasks have a completely different difficulty scale). You then take the “free die” and roll it (so if you’re doing something noncorporeal you add your ghostly Bearing modifier, and then roll your physical die). This grainy, inconsistent mess again emphasizes the physical existence over the noncorporeal existence.

The designers of Spookshow are also guilty of one of the cardinal sins of game design: They let their game terminology constantly leak over into the game world. For example, all the intelligence organizations in the world – apparently – use the names of the Spookshow archetypes (hitter, hacker, etc.) to describe their agents. They also engage in the unpleasant phenomenon of “needless binding” – in which, for example, all the ghosts who share a similar philosophy also have the same mystic abilities. For example, a Will o’ Wisp is a ghost who believes that the afterlife affords them a chance to visit all the places and do all the things they never could during life. According to Spookshow all Will o’ Wisps have the ability to Levitate (because it “enables them to travel more freely and quickly”). But why couldn’t a ghost with this philosophy develop (or possess) the Morphology ability (which would allow them to easily pass themselves off as a wide variety of different people)? It’s the classic D&D “only thieves can learn how to pick a lock”, without even the excuse of game balance lying behind it. It’s rules for the sake of rules, and restriction where there doesn’t need to be restriction.

Don’t get me wrong, there are some interesting things to be found between these covers: A fairly solid first level primer on the intelligence organizations of the real world. An interesting breakdown of character creation into Relic/Specter/Persona (who you were, what you are, and who you’re pretending to be).

Ultimately, though, Spookshow is a game which should’ve gone in one of two directions: Either all of the non-essential fluff and endless expanses of empty space in this rulebook should have been stripped away to create a tight package that could’ve have marketed around $10; or the current material should’ve been radically expanded to give us something more than “a neat concept which we’ll develop in the supplements”. Unfortunately, Spookshow does neither of these things – and is inexorably trapped in a middle ground of questionable design and nebulous worth.

Grade: C+

Writers: Aaron Rosenberg
Price: $25.00
Page Count: 208
ISBN: 1-892544-10-5
Product Code: CLK0020

This was a strange review to come back and re-read for the first time in twenty-five years.

I suspect my overall assessment of the mechanics and underdeveloped premise were likely correct, but the primary thing I’ve thought about when looking at this book over the years is, “That had a really great primer on intelligence operations!” In fact, there have been numerous occasions when I’ve cracked the cover to review that material. As a result, when I cracked open this file I was honestly expecting to read a positive review and was surprised to find a pretty harsh judgment.

Aaron Rosenberg has gone on to do a lot of great stuff, in both fiction and roleplaying.

I think I should revisit this one. It would also be interesting to compare it now with Night’s Black Agents, which is kind of playing in the same ballpark.

Originally Published March 24th, 2004

REVIEWING THE NOVELS

I think a very strong argument can be made that George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire is the finest work of epic fantasy since J.R.R. Tolkien first defined the genre with The Lord of the Rings.

And that’s pretty much the only comparison which can be made between Martin’s emerging masterpiece and Tolkien’s classic.

Where Tolkien is a romantic, Martin is a realist. Where Tolkien is evocatively poetic, Martin is powerfully blunt. Where Tolkien is mythic, Martin is historical.

This review covers the first three books in the series: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, and A Storm of Swords. The fourth book, titled A Feast of Crows, is scheduled to come out later this year. (Of course, it was also scheduled to come out last year. So don’t hold your breath.) The series is not done, and so it would be premature to judge it as a whole. But I will say this: If Martin finishes as he has begun, he will have crafted the first work to truly redefine what epic fantasy is capable of since Frodo passed out of Middle Earth.

(I’ve also heard this series described as “a fantasy version of the Wars of the Rose.” Having read the books, I feel compelled to report that this is only true in the vaguest of all possible senses. It would be roughly equivalent to saying that The Lord of the Rings is “a fantasy version of The Sting”.)

Here’s what I like:

First, the series is simply not predictable. Based on a long experience with extruded fantasy products, you may think you know where the plot is going from page one… but you don’t. (No, really. You don’t.) And the effect never ends: As you read on, you’ll be wrong in your guesses more often than not. And Martin isn’t so foolish as to have nothing turn out the way you would expect: Just enough threads carry themselves out in a traditional fashion that you cannot even rest assured in the unexpected.

Second, the depth and breadth of worldbuilding is staggering. Martin’s Westeros is no pale copy of Middle Earth with the names scratched off and written over. Nor is it a poorly disguised historical analogue. Nor a paper-thin construction whose scope is wholly spent with the first revelation. No, with Westeros Martin has made an onion: And with each chapter and volume he peels back a new layer.

Third, injuries have meaningful, long-lasting effects. Scars linger, old wounds ache, and even bruises make their presence felt. And when people die, the death is tangible and real, with the least trace of romanticism. (The only seeming exception here are missing teeth: Martin seems to have a fetish for knocking teeth out of his characters during fights, yet the lack never seems to be commented upon again. Perhaps there is a magical orthodontist running around backstage.)

Fourth, Martin does a very good job of putting you inside the heads of many different characters, each of whom has a unique outlook on the world.

Finally, these are just damn fine books. If you’ve been thinking to yourself, “I’d like to read a really good book,” then this is what you’re looking for.

There are two minor complaints I would lay against the series as a whole:

First, the timeline is a little vague and seems to be very flexible. Travel times, in particular, seem to elongate for effect when necessary, throwing off the relationship between various plot streams.

Second, Martin falls into the trap of recapping information and plot from previous volumes in each new volume. I’m not sure why authors of series like this feel a need to do this. The recaps would seem to suggest that each book could be read independently. But they can’t and they won’t, so why pretend? It’s only frustrating to those of us who start with the first book and read from there. In other words, it’s frustrating to all of us.

To elaborate on these general thoughts a little more:

The first two volumes are of a piece in my mind: The first is a crafty mystery and the second is a powerful war story, both set against a backdrop of byzantine intrigue and feudal politics. Both are excellent and nearly flawless.

The third volume, on the other hand, seems to tail off a bit. It’s not an exceptional decline by any stretch of the imagination – indeed, if this book were not preceded by the other two, it would be barely mentionable. But weaknesses do begin to appear here which were not previously present in the series: Crudity which was once an effective evocation of Martin’s world begins slipping into simple shock value and occasional titillation. The violence and pain suffered by his characters becomes arbitrary, rather than arising naturally from their circumstances. A weird running “joke” appears. A mandatory rule of “a character must piss their pants once every fifteen pages” is instituted. (I wish I was kidding.) Several characters become mired at the beginning of the book and their plot threads begin to drag. An increasing proportion of the action begins slipping into flashbacks, being told instead of shown. Chapters begin ending with false, melodramatic cliffhangers.

Just strange, little stuff. Nothing major. Nothing which cripples the work. But enough minor irritants to consistently distract (particularly during the first third of the book).

On the other hand, the third volume also takes all of the strengths of the series and deepens them: The world becomes richer. The characters become more compelling. The plot grips you even tighter than before.

And here’s the most important thing to understand:

This is a brilliant series. Brilliant and painful and beautiful and stunning. Literally stunning. There are points in reading it when I found my mouth hanging agape, in sheer shock.

If you have not yet found this series, find it now. If you have been avoiding it skeptically as yet another poorly done set of fantasy doorstops, stop cheating yourself. If it is already on your reading list, move it to the top.

In short: Read it. Read it now.

IN THE GAME

Martin’s Westeros is a richly developed world, although – at the moment – there are a lot of places where the innate mystery of the setting will require you to read between the lines to get the depth necessary for a true campaign. That being said, there are several campaigns I could easily see being played in Westeros. For example:

1. The PCs are members of the Night’s Watch. Whether they’re dealing with Wildlings, ancient ruins beyond the Wall, or the Others there are endless possibilities.

2. The PCs take the roles of noble heirs during the last civil war. Instead of Robert, Ned, Jaime, and the others of that generation, it is the PCs who must deal with the final madness of the Targaryens.

Additional resources to consider: Dragon Magazine #307 contained several articles aimed at gaming in Westeros. The Westeros website has a lot of material to chew on – including heraldry, a concordance of world information, and a variety of correspondence from Martin himself.

I also understand that Guardians of Order will be releasing A Song of Ice and Fire roleplaying game some time this year. (Although that release date has already been shoved back from last year. Looks like they’re truly following in the footsteps of the author…)

Style: 5
Subtance: 5

Grade: A+

“If Martin finishes…”

Ah. Well. There’s the rub, isn’t it?

Much has passed since I wrote this review in 2004. The Guardians of Order RPG I mentioned rose and fell, taking the company with it. Another was published by Green Ronin, only to also come to an end. There have been three television series. Spin-offs and graphic novels and even a stage play. 

But, of course, the series itself remains infamously incomplete.

For myself, having started both the Wheel of Time and A Song of Ice and Fire in 1995/96, it was right around the time I wrote this review that I was resolving to never again start reading an ongoing fantasy epic that had not yet been finished. Although this resolution has been, upon occasion, broken by accident (when I started a book not realizing it was an unfinished story), it has meant, for example, dodging the heartbreak of Patrick Rothfuss. I was delighted, a decade later, to be able to come back to Wheel of Time and finish it. I sincerely hope to be able to do so some day with A Song of Ice and Fire, although, sadly, I doubt that this will happen.

Do I still rank it as the “finest work of finest work of epic fantasy since The Lord of the Rings“? Truth be told, I am not as well read in epic fantasy as I once was. I keep various rankings in my personal logs, however, and A Song of Ice and Fire still ranks quite high, although it also still bears the tag “preliminarily” that I’d first placed on it back in 2003. Either way, it may have been edged out by Steven Erikson’s Malazan Empire. Or perhaps Matt Dinniman’s Dungeon Crawler Carl, if that counts as epic fantasy.

This was my final review for RPGNet. It was, as you can see, an experiment in reviewing literature with a slant towards how it could be brought to the gaming table. For better or worse, it didn’t really work. I pitched a similar concept (adapting works from other mediums to RPGs) as a column to a few different places, but it was difficult to chart a clear path through copyright law and licensing, so I was never able to quite make it work.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.

If you actually run a D&D campaign, Backdrops is just the sort of crunchy goodness that the doctor ordered. If you’re looking for reading material, on the other hand, give this one a pass.

Originally Published June 27th, 2002

CONTENTS

The concept behind Penumbra’s Backdrops is simple: Provide professionally designed, ready-to-use maps and descriptions of fourteen generic locations: A bazaar, an athenaeum, baths, a ship, wharfs, stables, a smithy, a toll bridge, a temple, a caravanserai, a tavern, an alleyway, a merchant’s district, and a city dungeon.

Now, unless you run a very out-of-the-ordinary D&D campaign, then you’ve seen at least 90% of these locations crop up in your game before.

“So, what?” you say. “If they’re (a) generic, and (b) I’ve used them before, why would I want to pay the good folks down at Penumbra nine bucks for the privilege of showing me stuff I already know?”

Well, primarily, because John Davis and Scott Reeves are professional cartographers and you probably aren’t. And, even if you can produce high quality maps, then this book is probably still worth the cover charge for the time it will save you.

“So, what?” you say. “Maps are maps. My players never see them, and I don’t care whether I’m looking at scribblings on graph paper or the next Michelangelo behind my GM screen.”

But that’s where you’d be wrong, because every map in Backdrops includes an enlargement ratio. For example, the map of the wharfs has an enlargement ratio of 220%. So you slap the book down on a copier at Kinko’s, boost up the enlargement ratio to 220%, spend a dime, and out pops a ready-made tactical map. Then, when the PCs chase the bad guys out onto the wharfs, you whip out your awesome looking handout, lay out the miniatures, and away you go.

STRENGTHS

And that’s pretty much what sold me on Backdrops. The xerox enlargement ratio is something that nearly every damn map produced should be copying as quickly as possible. There is nothing I like better than taking out some professionally designed visuals and laying them out on the table: Not only do my players enjoy it, but it makes my job just a little bit easier. (And isn’t that what it’s all about?)

WEAKNESSES

The one problem I have with Backdrops is that there are only fourteen locations. In terms of utility, I would have preferred to see a 64 page product retailing in the $15 range. This would have given the product a broader coverage. As it is, you’ll want to make sure that there’s something in here you’ll find useful before you pick it up (check the list of locations, above).

Each of the locations also includes an accompanying page of text. This material works when it’s covering rules or guidelines for handling a location. (For example, the bridge floor trap accompanying the Toll Bridge location. Or the “break it and buy it” combat variant for handling collateral damage to merchandise in the Bazaar.) It tends to go awry, for me, however, when it makes the location specific instead of generic. (For example, the map of the Smithy is perfectly generic. The description of the Smithy, however, describes it being manned by Azers.) I find this latter type of material to be of almost no worth to me. Perhaps in a longer product it would have worked better, but here I would again say the product would be better served with more maps.

CONCLUSION

Backdrops is an excellent resource. It’s filled with the type of crunchy goodness which is the delight of all true DMs: It doesn’t just take care of the details so that we can focus on the big picture, it spices those details up with high production values and professional quality.

Are you going to have a tavern brawl? An ambush in the stables? A chase through darkened alleyways?

Then buying this one’s a no-brainer.

Style: 4
Substance: 4

Author: Will Hindmarch
Cartographer: John Davis with Scott Reeves
Publisher: Atlas Games
Line: Penumbra
Price: $8.95
ISBN: 1-58978-009-4
Product Code: AG3210
Pages: 32
Year Published: 2002

Nobody copied the enlargement factor, which is a pity even in this era of digital options. If you’re okay with black-and-white cartography, though, Backdrops still holds up great in an era of virtual tabletops. On the other hand, the current e-book version doesn’t hold up when physically printed at an enlarged scale.

This was the last RPG review I wrote for RPGnet, appearing alongside my review of Deep Horizons on June 27th, 2002. (There’s one more non-RPG review on its way.) In retrospect, it’s a very strange finale to a rather expansive body of work, but I suppose that is often the way of things: You don’t know that something is ending until it has already passed. I wrote my last review for RPGnet without knowing it would be my last, in much the same way that the day will come when I pick up my daughter for the last time without knowing I will never do it again.

Into eternity all things shall pass. But we’ll preserve it here a little longer; a light shining bulwark against the dark.

For an explanation of where these reviews came from and why you can no longer find them at RPGNet, click here.