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.

And as the Sleep of Ages came upon them, they placed a great burden of trust upon the greatest and most loyal among their servants. Nor did the Earthbound Demons fail them. Upon the borders of their vast caverns, they raised a Vault that would stand guard upon the aeons.

This simple volume contains much lore pertaining to the rhodintor, who are described as both “stewards of the Sleepers” and “servitors of the Galchutt”.

The rhodintor were “raised up from the dust of ages, carved from the mountains of faith, and crafted of the rock’s strength”. In a “pact of earth were they forged”, “crafty of wit and brutal of arm”. Their bodies were built for strength, and they were said to possess “veins of silver” which “carried their thought quicker than any mortal man’s” and “gifted them with great affinity for the sorcerous arts”.

THE PATHS OF FAITH

In their pursuit of magic, the rhodintor are said to take one of two paths.

The first is named Kravren, the Path of Silver. The followers of the Kravren path are warrior-mages, possessing magical abilities which enhance them physically.

The second is named Sarycal, the Path of Flame. These rhodintor are possessed of more traditional magical arts and master strange spells.

These paths appear to have been named after greater leaders of the rhodintor. They are also referred to as the Path of the Father and the Path of the Mother, but these references appear confused or perhaps even erroneous, for elsewhere it is said that the “rhodin were made to breed naught; and all the rhodin that were ever faithful or that will ever be faithful were raised up by the hand of the Galchutt”.

SARYCAL STAVES

Many among the followers of Sarycal are said to wield “staves of pure fire”. It seems that the earliest of these staves were “clenched from the Heart of All-Flame” (whatever that may mean), but it appears that most of the staves of a lesser art and craft.

Rhodintor Staves: A staff of solidified fire. These +1 flaming quarterstaffs allow the wielder to cast either fire shield, fireball, or wall of fire once per day. A rhodintor can also use this staff to create a 60-ft. cone of fire that inflicts 6d6 points of fire damage (as cone of cold, but with fire), but doing so expends one of their once-per-day spell-like abilities. If anyone other than a rhodintor attempts to use one of these staves, it will explode in a 20-ft.-radius fireball that deals 6d6 points of damage.

THE STEWARDS OF THE GALCHUTT

When “the minds of the Galchutt stepped forth from this world,” a final charge was laid upon the rhodintor: To guard the Caverns of the Galchutt until “the end of that night when the Sleep would pass and the eyes of the Natharl’nacna would be opened unto the light of the final days.”

To this end, the rhodintor “expanded their rites of territory and fortified their labyrinths of stone”. In this way the Eurl-rhodin Taurik – the “Last Cavern” or “Vault of the Rhodintor” (or, more literally, the “Cavern of the Rhodin’s Demesne”) – was erected upon the “very borders of the Caverns so as to act as the gatekeepers of their masters”. And there “great armaments of chaos were gathered”.

There, in “runed chambers of blood-red”, the rhodintor meditate upon the “scheme of all” and the waking hour of their masters (which they are charged not only to “protect against”, but also to “aid and realize”).

Some material on this page is covered by the Open Gaming License.

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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.

Like an arrow drawn from its quiver, so were the carach sent forth from their towers of dread iron. And like arrows in flight, so are the carach in their pursuit – singular in their purpose, relentless in their aim, and methodical in their doom. To be carach-marked is to be carrion.

Three blood-stained scrolls have been bound together, each describing the carach: Assassins and enforcers who rank among the “servitors of the Galchutt”.

THE PAEAN UNTO DEATH

This scroll is a sequence of dark sonnets, each dedicated to describing one facet of the “glorious imperfection of tentacular destruction” which is the “carach in its grim-deathed leap”. Collectively, they describe a horrible, insectoid monster. Where its head should be, a long, muscular neck extends up to a head covered in tentacles. These tentacles surround a mouth full of teeth, with two small, beady eyes perched to either side. Four of the tentacles are particularly long and end in turgid, razor-sharp spikes.

THE BLOOD OF POISON

This scroll is a triumphant celebration of the carach’s natural weapons. Their venomous bite is described as a necrotic flaying of the flesh, forcing the body to consume itself in massive, cancerous self-destruction.

Their “tendriled mass” is nothing but a “brewing corruption” – such a violent anathema to the natural order of life itself, that its merest touch will leech enervation from the limbs of the living.

Even their very minds are poisonous – with any creature touching the thoughts of carach “damned to eternal madness.”

UNTO THE DEATH OF WORLDS

This scroll begins with a mass of poetry describing the carach hiding within their “iron towers upon the edge of all worlds”. It then describes them emerging from these towers, and the deeds of death they perform.

It appears that the carach, when dispatched upon their dire tasks, are methodical and relentless in their pursuit – surprising traits for such chaotic creatures. But in their homes, they revert to their most primal nature – fighting themselves and plotting down through the long aeons in schemes of byzantine insurrection and betrayal.

The carach are unfailing in their duties, acting without hesitation. In addition to the natural arsenals of their bodies, they will also frequently use chaositech devices.

The scroll builds slowly to greater and greater achievements of the carach, which one can only hope are exaggerated – princes are slain, kingdoms fall, empires are destroyed; even entire worlds are said to have been destroyed… “consumed unto their last mote by the dark swarms of the poisoned assassins”.

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Ego Hunter is amazing one-shot scenario for the equally amazing Eclipse Phase roleplaying game: The PCs are all different forks (copies) of the same person who, upon returning home to be merged back into their alpha, discover that their alpha has instead been killed.

I loved the adventure so much that I remixed it, creating prep notes and maps that expanded the adventure material and also reorganizing material and creating player handouts to make the running the adventure smooth as butter.

The adventure has just been re-released for the second edition of Eclipse Phase as Ego Hunter Resleeved. Although I didn’t work on the book, I have a small credit inside because the writers liked my prep notes so much they used them as inspiration for reorganizing the new version of the adventure.

Which I think is super cool!

At some point I may revisit my original prep notes to make them fully compatible with the new edition, but until then:

Check It Out!