boreders

I have, as usual, started to read multiple books. January 2010 currently looks like a bumper month. Mind, I don’t appear to be reading anything off of my intended reading list for last year.

There’s “Ahistory” by Lance Parkin, which attempts to make some sense of the timeline of the Doctor Who universe. Also Who-related, I’m reading “The Face of the Enemy” by David McIntee, a Doctor Who novel without the Doctor, featuring instead those excellent chaps from UNIT and the Delgado Master.

Aside from Who, there’s the time hopping play “Arcadia” by Tom Stoppard, the various booklets of the new Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying game, and also “The Night Watch“, the first of the vampire triology by Sergei Lukyanenko.

Quite why I need to book hop so much, I’m uncertain. I’m not sure whether it detracts from my reading experience or somehow heightens it. Possibly, if left with only one book to read I would grow bored too quickly. On the other hand, perhaps I dilute the experience by trying to digest so diverse a set of materials.

Whatever the impact, I remain frustrated by my own inability to read at greater pace. I feel like a runner aiming for a goal, and yet I constantly fall short despite my best efforts. I try to speed read by take in only the first sentence of each paragraph and at best glancing at the rest, but almost certainly this has it’s own downside that I don’t actually read evrything. I could so easily miss something using that method that it only seems worthwhile where I read casually and the material involved is just a set of game rules.   

In 1446, Wales perched on the precipice, faced with the prospect of a new rebellion by restless natives. Complacent English nobles, entrusted with expansive domains, stretch themselves all too thin, leaving stewards to run much of their lands and properties. In many instances, these stewards come from the local population, swayed by misplaced loyalties and the corrupting influence of power.

In the midst of this, a simple merchant requests the assistance of travellers in Swansea to drive, and provide escort, to a cartload of goods, bound for Pembroke. It seems a simple enough task, providing payment and transport for a couple of days on the road. However, how often do games present simple tasks that stay simple. Mixing legendary stones, agents of the Crown, bandits and stray sheep, ‘The Sward and The Stone’ is a new adventure for the classic ‘Maelstrom‘ role playing system.

You can download The Sward and the Stone now from Drive Thru Stuff and RPGNow. A 27-page adventure plus two maps, the booklet provides background, NPCs and a gazateer of the character’s route through the craggy, troubled landscape of south Wales in the mid-15th Century.

When I was 12 years old, I had already played ‘Warlock of Firetop Mountain‘ and the other first half dozen Fighting Fantasy books. A year later I would be clutching the purplish box of ‘Middle Earth Role Playing‘ having thoroughly enjoyed several months of D&Ding at school. In that moment, in 1984, I discovered something a bit different… I discovered ‘Maelstrom‘.

I’m not entirely sure whether I would have seen ‘Excalibur‘ at this point or similar fantasy movies that stepped on the boundaries of magic without losing sight of the real world, but that was ‘Maelstrom‘ in a way. The game provided mechanics and a setting that took medieval England and swirled in a touch of magic. Not much… just enough to suit the perceptions of the time that magic existed and was to be feared. The Maelstrom swirled outside of reality, and from there those in the know could harness enough power to bend the world to do their bidding.

The game was simple enough, percentiles mainly with point-allocated character creation. The bulk of the book explained character professions, mechanics of combat, advanced developments, and a solo adventure to guide you through the basics. The book also included a 19-page herbal, which some say went on to influence other games that followed. I certainly referred to it many times over the years when running other fantasy games. All this in a 300-or-so page paperback volume that you could virtually slide into your pocket. Perfect fodder for a quick game with your friends on a rainy afternoon.

Now, 24 years later, ‘Maelstrom‘ has returned. Published by Arion Games under license from Puffin Books, the whole thing can now be yours as a PDF from DriveThruRPG. As if that wasn’t enough, Arion Games also intends to publish adventures and support material, including the entirely free adventure ‘Strange Days in Nayland‘.

Well worth a look… and with the return of ‘Dragon Warriors‘ it almost seems like my childhood has returned once more.

Relevant reading:

I could hardly believe my eyes… Dave Morris and Oliver Johnson are reprinting Dragon Warriors in a hardback volume under the Mongoose Publishing Flaming Cobra imprint. Originally published in the 80s in six separate paperback volumes, ‘Dragon Warriors’ rode the wave of the popularity of ‘Fighting Fantasy’ and ‘Lone Wolf’, bringing fantasy adventures to the shelves of the common bookstore.

I collected ‘Dragon Warriors’ avidly, picking up each new volume the moment it appeared. Heck, I even own a copy of ‘Sword of the Life’ (Chronicles of the Magi) – a novel based in the realms of ‘Dragon Warriors’ written by Dave Morris – and collected a copy or two from the ‘Blood Sword’ series – which provided a sort of party-based ‘Fighting Fantasy’ experience.

I loved the series… seriously loved it. And I played it several times. Great little adventures and a simple system made for a thoroughly enjoyable roleplaying experience for beginners and veterans alike. I’m seriously looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of the whole game in one volume. October cannot come around too soon… though, I suspect this will likely become a Christmas present.

Sometimes I manage to finish reading a book (rather than meandering off on to something else half way through), and I should finish ‘Storm Front‘, the first of the Dresden Files, in the next day (exhaustion permitting).

I like Jim Butcher’s writing and I allowed my imagination to connect names with faces from the TV series (because, by and large, I liked the show). The premise and events were familiar – as this was the pilot show, though TV execs saw fit to schedule it in as the third episode instead. The book allows for a little more hardboiled detective narrative and supernatural encounters… I can’t recall whether the toad-faced demon or the fairy appeared on TV.

Harry Dresden, consultant on matters magical for the Chicago police department, has to solve a grisly murder commited with black magic. Alas, suspicion falls on Harry as his powers could easily stretch to the act and no other suspects are obvious. Morgan, an enforcer for the White Council of wizards, has Harry’s head in his sights for the crime – and the only out is to discover who really did it.

Recommended for those who tire of the ordinary murder mystery/detective series. A light, enjoyable read that kept me turning the pages – with just the right chapter length for my tired eyes just before bedtime. Nothing worse than a book with extremely long chapters or no segmentation at all… I like a natural break in my reading sessions.

France seems to thrive on l’exception culturelle, running against the grain of what the rest of the world might consider commonsense. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has, of late, shown a very different approach to personal relationships while in office, the sort of thing that would see uproar, crazed media assaults and impeachment around the rest of the world. In the UK when a business declares job losses you might expect unrest and a spot of light industrial action from the unions, but in France you can expect riots and acts of arson.

Now, Amazon has raised hackles in France because they offer discounted books and, woe is me, free shipping. The Lang Law of 1981 protects small publishers and booksellers by enforcing tiered discounting – basically making competition nigh on impossible without breaking the law. Amazon’s offer, of combined discounts and free shipping on new titles, exceeded the lawful 5% – and following court action, where they lost, they have now chosen to ignore the law and the decision of the court, while paying off a fine in neat little chunks of $1,000 a day. You have to accept that you can’t rescue everyone by force of law – the smaller retailer either has to find a niche or move on… you can’t coddle them and wrap them in cotton wool.

Expect burning books quite soon, probably lit by enraged book stall owners.

I was saddened to read that George MacDonald Fraser had died, aged 82. Charting the adventures of the dastardly Flashman, Fraser created a character both loved and hated, who has invariably influenced a plethora of fictional (and likely real) cads and bounders ever since. Fraser charted Flashman’s career over twelve books, between 1969 to 2005, and attracted considerable acclaim for his writing talent, though he remained ever humble.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the books I have read so far – as Flashman sits on my ‘Stuff to Read before I go Gaga’ list. While I knew Fraser had a long career in writing – as author and journalist – I didn’t know he also wrote the screenplay for ‘Octopussy’. I freely admit to being both a Bond enthusiast and a fan of the Great Eyebrow, Roger Moore, so the pedigree of the screenplay simply adds to the experience now. Guilty pleasures and all that!

I look forward to many more years of reading pleasure in the hands of Flashman and will do all I can to spread the word.

Nigella Lawson seems to have a lot to answer for. Aside from being a kitchen tease and a bit of a MILF, she has set the country a-racing to try something different with a bit of gammon. There can’t possibly be any other good reason why I found myself wandering past the jam section of Tesco today to find a man weighing up the difference between two jars of Ginger preserve.

I guess it isn’t a surprise that Nigella Express has topped the bestsellers lists at Amazon and Waterstones, beating Jamie at Home by a long shot. I have to admit to buying a copy for my wife and searching round for the best deal on Ginger Beer at the supermarket today. It’ll be gammon for us too in the New Year!

So, whatever will TV cooks come up with next, exciting we home chefs into a giddy frenzy to do something just a little different? They’ve had us conjuring up special things, basic stuff and now we’re doing it in a hurry – next? Rustic style? Everything steamed? All prepared underwater?

Can’t wait.

Now, where did I put my Nigella video and that stainless steel reamer?