Gamer’s Library: Mistshore

One of the best things about reading a fantasy novel is being able to take the best parts of a book, whatever they may be, from imaginative plot ideas to fascinating locations, and introducing them into your own D&D games. Mistshore, written by Jaleigh Johnson, is the second installment of the new Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep series, each book detailing a different part of 1479 DR Waterdeep. Mistshore provides us with not only a great story but an excellent and most interesting locale.

Mistshore itself is basically an entire ward of the city of Waterdeep, completely comprised of rotting, half-sunken ships rigged together, more and more over time, within which is home to “the monstrous, the lawless, and the violent.” The sort of place normal folk never see. The sort of place one would go if you wanted to disappear for a while, surviving only through wit and cunning. While reading this book I thought of over a dozen great ideas I’d use if I ever incorporated Mistshore into one of my games. If not playing in Forgotten Realms it’s the prefect type of setting you could easily add to any city of your own to make it much more interesting – there are a lot of adventures to be had in a place like this, obviously. Ed Greenwood describes it as a corner of Waterdeep “much whispered about by the fearful, who believe all manner of sinister half sea-monsters , half humans lurk in its sagging riggings and rotten cabins. Creatures with webbed fingers, gills hidden under high-collared robes, and sly, stealthy tentacles waiting to throttle or snatch. Welcome to Mistshore.“

The plot of the book revolves around Icelin, a beautiful young sorceress and street urchin with a haunted past, some of which she cannot remember and some of which she can. Icelin has been touched with the Spellplaugue, one of it’s symptoms causing her spells to go wild – once causing a boarding house to catch fire, killing many people. Something Icelin has had to live with, and since then she has avoided using magic as much as it is possible for her to do so.

Part of Icelins unrecollected past catches up with her in the form of a scar faced eladrin named Cerest in a chance meeting. Figuring out who he has just stumbled upon Cerest takes it upon himself to abduct Icelin at any cost, including the murdering of Icelin’s great-uncle and caretaker. Not knowing why she is being pursued by Cerest and now wanted by the Watch for the murder of her great-uncle Icelin flees to the shadows of Mistshore, with the help of a few allies along the way.

Ever worried about revealing too much in these posts, I don’t want to give away too much about this book but the bulk of this novel follows the hunted Icelin and her few companions through the darkest corners of Mistshore, all the while dealing with her cloudy past and dealing with her spellscar. There are plenty of unexpected twists and plenty of action. One of the strengths of this book, and Jaleigh Johnson’s writing in general, is most definitely bringing the characters to life. The personalities, the dialogue and the development of characters over the course of the book is done very well, to a point that other writers in the game should take note.

This one is definitely a recommended read.

Gamer’s Library: Black Crusade

Just a heads up to anyone who hasn’t had a chance to sit down and check out Ari Marmell’s serialized Ravenloft tale Black Crusade, featured part-by-part every Friday on DDI. There’s also an ongoing discussion of Black Crusade happening here.

Prologue

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Part Seven

Gamer’s Library: The Prism Pentad

The re-release of The Obsidian Oracle next month by Wizards of the Coast marks the re-release of the fourth of the five books which make up the Prism Pentad. Set in the Dark Sun campaign setting, this series kicks off some important events in the world of Athas, most notably the freeing of the City of Tyr. The first book of the series, The Verdant Passage, was released in October of 1991, the same month as the Dark Sun Campaign Setting box set was released for 2nd Edition.

Ever since I saw The Verdant Passage hit the store shelves last September, and the “Hazards of Dark Sun” article featured in Dragon a couple months before that, I’ve almost been convinced that WotC is purposely trying to torture me by teasing about the upcoming release of the 4th Edition version of Dark Sun. Upcoming meaning I have no idea when, but I’m hoping for 2010. 😉 Those that know me personally know that Dark Sun is my favorite campaign setting, and by favorite I mean I like it to the umpteenth degree more than any other campaign setting. Although Eberron and the 4E implied ‘points of light’ settings are great as well. A couple months ago, home-bound due to a pretty bad snow storm, I pulled out my old Dark Sun Campaign Setting box set from a dusty box up on a closet shelf and cracked it open – but more on that in the future. Let’s get to the book.

The Obsidian Oracle follows Tithian, the perfidious ruler of Tyr, on his search for, well, the obsidian oracle. Now, there is obviously a huge back-story to this built up over the previous 3 books, let’s just say that this artifact is more than important, and Tithian believes he can use it to become a true sorcerer-king, achieving immortality and plunging Tyr under his complete rule – forever. On his trail is Agis, the heroic and just noble of Tyr, who not only wants to keep Tithian from obtaining the obsidian oracle, but also covets the item, hoping he can use it to kill the dragon Borys, the terror of all of Athas.

Tithian’s trail leads Agis to the neighboring city-state of Balic, in which Tithian, using his insidious cunning, acquires a fleet of ships to take him to the location in which he believes the relic lies. Agis follows suit by hiring a pirate ship to pursue his rival. However these are not ordinary ships, this is Dark Sun. The ships do not sail on water, they set sail in an estuary of the Sea of Silt – a ocean composed entirely of, well yes, silt. These ships are powered by “shipfloaters” and Wikipedia explains it pretty clearly: “psionicists who, through use of a large obsidian orb to focus their power, can telekinetically levitate and sail the ship as if it were sailing through water.” I can see where Keith Baker drew some influence for the airship shipwrights of Eberron. Giants also play a very large part in the book, and it is filled with some amazing battles involving them – in the Sea of Silt. Overall, this is a great book in a great series, and if you’ve ever had some inteterest in Dark Sun, or want to re-live these adventures, I definitely recommend picking up the new pressings of these books.

Everything culminates into a pretty epic finale in The Cerulean Storm, in which so much about everything is explained, from the reason why the world of Athas became the savage desert that it is, to the motivations of some antagonists to much, much more. Answers to many questions that arise as you journey through the Prism Pentad. Pick these up!

The Verdant Passage

The Crimson Legion

The Amber Enchantress

The Obsidian Oracle

The Cerulean Storm

Gamer’s Library: Blackstaff Tower

Now that much of the contention has passed regarding the new 4th Edition version of the Forgotten Realms, I really feel that, for those who may have stayed away from checking out the Realms ala 1479 DR, now is a great time to take a fresh look at the new setting.

I will state my personal piece – when I first heard about the shaking up of the Forgotten Realms campaign setting – the Spellplague, that the timeline was being pushed a century ahead etc., – the information was met with an anticipation induced smile. I was happy to see a sweeping-off-the-table of the many high level npc’s, that was one of the factors that turned me off to FR and drew me to the fresh, young setting of Eberron. I think Antioch, along with many many others, can relate to the attempt at running Forgotten Realms games and having players constantly interjecting with things like, “That river isn’t supposed to be there,” or “That inn is in Neverwinter not Silverymoon.” – Well, you get the point. After so many years the Realms basically became just plain overused, and overused means boring.

But why bother completely up-ending a setting that so many people have come to love for decades and just release something completely new? Love for the Forgotten Realms, that’s why. Wizards of the Coast could have easily let the FR game setting fall by the wayside and into the hands of a core group of fans while still making a killing from Salvatore novels. In my opinion they didn’t want to see that happen, they (and many of us) knew that Toril had many more stories to tell – a new, fresh epoch was what was needed to make that happen – even if it took an event as big as the Spellplague to usher it in.

As the novel has long been the companion to the core game, it is still, gladly, the case today. Enter the new Ed Greenwood Presents Waterdeep series, and it’s first installment: Blackstaff Tower. This series is based on the 4E incarnation of what is probably the most famous, (or infamous depending who you ask) grand city in probably all of fantasy (excluding maybe Lankhmar) – Waterdeep. Each book in the series is set to explore a different section of the new Waterdeep.

I picked up Blackstaff Tower the week it came out back in September and plowed through it pretty quick, hungry to soak in all of the new sights and sounds of a city I have come to love myself over the years. While I do think it really helps to have previously read Steven E. Schend’s Blackstaff before picking this one up, it’s not completely necessary. But it does help. Quite a bit.

Overall the plot is pretty simple – BBEG wants to usurp the power of the Blackstaff, for reasons not altogether evil in his mind, killing the current Blackstaff of Waterdeep, Samark. (Yes, Khelben is dead) And in doing so he leaves the young, foreign, exotic lover of Samark, Vajra Safahr true heir to the Blackstaff. This is where your typical, young band of adventurers comes into play. However Schend’s descriptive style of writing really brings these characters to life. You really feel as if your running through the back alleys from the city watch alongside the young upstart Renear, or trudging through the sewers with beautiful Laraelra and the mountainous barbarian Meloon.

In the end this group of friends must come together and yet also face their innermost selves in order to protect their friend Vajra, and help her obtain the Blackstaff. Once the introductions are over and the plot gets going, this book gets pretty fast paced. Throw in a more than interesting battle at the end and you’ve got your self a great, albeit somewhat typical at times, adventure in a new yet familiar setting.

Pick this one up if you haven’t already, especially if you want a taste of the new Forgotten Realms.