Book: The Anti-Code

Codex by Lev Grossman, Harcourt, 2004.

There are no albino holy assassins in this book. No cryptographers who resemble Harrison Ford. No convenient Land Rovers parked in the barn, no private planes for hopping the Channel surreptitiously, no grand tour of famous sites, no conspiracy theory cribbed from decades-old paperbacks. In short, this is no Da Vinci Code, and those that enjoyed Dan Brown’s book will be angry at this one. After my own experience with Da Vinci, though, I found this book to be a tonic.

I came to this book roundabout – I read a review on Salon, then saw another mention in the Seattle Times, and then a friend in New York mentioned he had read it in manuscript form, and scored me a copy. And now I’m seeing Codex being offered from the Quality Paperback Book Club in the “If you enjoyed the Da Vinci Code, you will like this” category. That statement is understandable but wildly incorrect.

And at first blush, you see the similarities: Edward Wozny is an investment banker taking his first vacation in years. He is rooked into sorting out the library of one of his firm’s powerful clients, the Duke and Duchess of Bowmry. Oh, and if you find an old book by the medieval author Gervase of Langford, tell us, would you? This old book is the codex of the title, a lost text hunted by rival factions.

Now, in the genre-universe that Da Vinci Code belongs to, this initial event would be immediately followed by threats against Wozny’s life, a frame-up, a desperate flight, a beautiful assistant, intricate clues, random killings, and the realization that this is a quest the protagonist has lived his life for, which challenges and transforms him. Instead, we see Wozny trying to get out of the assignment, and slowly being seduced into participating. Instead of action following action in a page-turning extravaganza, Wozny starts, stops, changes his mind, despairs, gets sick, recovers, and generally stumbles his way through the mystery, in much the manner that most mere mortals would.

Indeed, if anything, Wozny seems a little denser than most mere mortals. He misses clues, he reacts from emotion as opposed to logic, and often chooses the less-heroic but more-pragmatic path. While Da Vinci’s hero is four steps ahead of the reader (and won’t share the information with you), Wozny bumbles his way through, and his motivations are altogether human. Grossman stays grounded in a real-world, to the degree that his protagonist is flawed, his journey is personal, and his quest is ultimately doomed.

One weakness in the book is the description of MOMUS, a MMORG that Wozny starts playing, which turns out to have connections back with his experiences in the real world. Just like when the media shows a lack of knowledge when it reports on something you know about, the description of the online game sounds off, and seems to switch from one type of game to another without consideration, throwing me out of the book at times. The purpose of MOMUS within the novel, of course, is not to be a game, but a counterpoint for Wozny’s own life (and the fact that he screws up the game form the onset is both a reflection of that life and a big plot point for the future), but the lack of accuracy works against the book.

In the end, we are not granted full answers – there is no cosmic reveal, no “Will Gibson Phone Call” that explains what’s been happening behind the scenes, no revelation of why individuals did what they did – only hints and statements of relative truth, which the reader has to weigh and determine as to their worth.

In the end, I enjoyed this book, though I’m not sure if others would. Particularly if they came into the book thinking it was another Da Vinci Code. Its better than that.

More later,

Novel: Four Color in Black and White

Soon I Will Be Invincible by Austin Grossman, Pantheon, 2007

This is a bit weird - not the book itself, it is pretty traditional pop lit that attempts to straddle the domain between Real Literature and Comic Book Heroes, but the way that it has heaved up on my horizon, and all the pieces that fit into it.

So first I saw this book on Scalzi's site. Literally saw it - he posted a picture of books he is reading at the moment. Then Bill and Mi'ko had a copy, and I borrowed it from them. Then when preparing this review, I discovered the author was the brother of Lev Grossman, who wrote Codex, which I reviewed here. And Lev Grossman's name popped up in a comment from Sacnoth for an article he wrote on Harry Potter.

Small world, eh?

OK, the book. I have seen it pitched as a "funny" take on funny book heroes, but it is not, despite a relatively light tone. I mean, you're competing with FUNNY funny books, and mere text ain't going to be able to surpass the physical humor of a Plastic Man comic. Soon... a little wry, a little learned, and a little mocking of the tropes and traditions of the comic book universes. You know, origins (everyone has one), arch enemies, secret IDs, Headquarters and super teams. The chapter headings pull from the full plethora of catch phrases in use. I wouldn't say it was funny, but I would say it amuses.

The book alternates between narration by Doctor Impossible (archcriminal and perennial punching bag for the good guys) and Fatale (Cyborg without a past and newbie on the Justice League-ish super team). Doctor Impossible seeks to take over the world while ruminating on why he does what he does. Fatale goes behind the looking glass to see that her heroes (Batman-clone, Superman-Clone, Wonder Woman-clone. etc ...) are not what they appear to be to the common man.

It is all very neatly done, but it has been done before, in the comic books, in the 80s and 90s. Astro City is probably the best example of the "grounding" of the supermen, but even in print with have Wild Cards, and both of these go deeper into the psyches of their targets. Soon ... embraces without question many of the tropes that it purportedly satirizes (all the superpowers seem to have gone to the same high school, evil geniuses are evil geniuses because ... they are evil geniuses (following along the idea that "knowledge is bad")).

The book bounces along nicely though, except for two chapters where the author seems to say magic is a fraud, and with it the magic of comic books, but these moments pass and we move to a four-color conclusion. I guessed the second-act reveal but not the third-act, which makes sense if you think about it, but only if you stop and think about it. But style works, and works best when Doctor Impossible has the podium, both recognizing his weaknesses and lockstepping his way to his next defeat.

Its amusing, lacking the hard edges of Watchmen or the deep background of Cavalier and Clay, but its something to curl up with on the back porch and read while drinking a frozen rum punch.

More later,

Origins Nominations

Ah, the Origins Nominations are making their way through the Internet this morning. I'm very pleased to that a) it is a strong year for design and writing, b) I have a lot of friends up for awards, and c) I've actually got something that I wrote in the list (well, 1% of something - Hobby Games: The 100 Best).

Miniature Or Miniatures Line
Skarrd Raze #2 by Dark Age Games
George R.R. Martin Masterworks - Premium Miniature Line by Dark Sword Miniatures, Inc.
Titanius Fury by Dragonfire Laser Crafts Inc.
Bronzeback Titan, HORDES: Evolution Miniatures Line by Privateer Press
Dark Heaven Legends Fantasy Miniatures by Reaper Miniatures

Miniatures Rules
Classic Battletech Published by Catalyst GameLabs, Created by Jordan Weisman, Edited by Michelle Lyons, Diane Piron-Gelman
Saganami Island Tactical Simulator, Second Edition Published by Ad Astra Games, Created by Ken Burnside and Thomas Pope
Forces of WARMACHINE: Pirates of the Broken Coast, Published by Privateer Press, Created by Brian Snoddy and Matt Wilson
AT-43, Published by Rackham, Created by Arnaud Cuidet, Jean-Baptiste Lullien, Nicolas Raoult, and Jerome Rigal
Song of Blades and Heroes, Published by Andrea Sfiligoi, Created by Andrea Sfiligoi

Publication, Fiction
Astounding Hero Tales, Published by Hero Games, Edited by James Lowder
Dragons of the Highlord Skies, Published by Wizards of the Coast, Written by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
Frontier Cthulhu, Published by Chaosium, Edited by William Jones
The Orc King, Published by Wizards of the Coast, Written by R.A. Salvatore
The Time Curse, Published by Margaret Weis Productions, Written by James M. Ward

Publication, Non-fiction
40 Years of Gen Con, Published by Atlas Games, Written by Robin D. Laws
Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress: A Girl’s Guide to the Dungeons & Dragons Game, Published by Wizards of the Coast, Written by Shelly Mazzanoble
Grand History of the Realms, Published by Wizards of the Coast, Written by Brian R. James and Ed Greenwood
Hobby Games: The 100 Best, Published by Green Ronin, Edited by James Lowder
No Quarter Magazine Published by Privateer Press, Nathan Letsinger, editor-in-chief; Eric Cagle, editor; Josh Manderville, art
director

Roleplaying Game
Grimm, Published by Fantasy Flight Games, Written by Robert Vaughn and Christian T. Petersen
The Savage World of Solomon Kane, Published by Great White Games/Pinnacle Entertainment Group, Written by Paul “Wiggy” Wade-Williams (with Shane Lacy Hensley)
CthulhuTech, Published by Mongoose Publishing, Written by Matthew Grau and Fraser McKay
Battlestar Galactica, Published by Margaret Weis Productions, Written by Jamie Chambers
Faery’s Tale Deluxe, Published by Firefly Games, Written by Patrick Sweeney, Sandy Antunes, Christina Stiles, and Robin D. Laws
Aces & Eights, Published by Kenzer & Co., Written by Jolly R. Blackburn, Brian Jelke, Steve Johansson, Dave Kenzer,
Jennifer Kenzer and Mark Plemmons

Roleplaying Game Supplement
Legend of the Five Rings: Emerald Empire
Published by Alderac Entertainment Group, Written by Shawn Carman, Richard Farrese, Douglas Sun and Brian Yoon
Pirate’s Guide to Freeport, Published by Green Ronin, Written by Chris Pramas, Robert J. Schwalb, and Patrick O’Duffy
Delta Green: Eyes Only, Published by Pagan Publishing, Written by Dennis Detwiller, Adam Scott Glancy and Shane Ivey
Pathfinder: Rise of the Runelords, Published by Paizo Publishing, Edited by James Jacobs, Art by Wayne Reynolds
Ruins of the Wild: Dungeon Tiles 4, Published by Wizards of the Coast, Written by Bruce R. Cordell
Codex Arcanis, Published by Paradigm Concepts, Written by Team Paradigm

Game Support
Dungeon Life: Bendy Walls Published by by Z-Man Publishing
Gamemastery Flip Mat: Tavern, Published by Paizo Publishing
Crystalline Counters, Published by Three Sages Games
Hollow Earth Expedition GM Screen, Published by Exile Game Studio
Dr. Wizard’s Patented Elevation Indicator, Published by Stratus Artworks
Call Of Cthulhu Dice Set Published by Q-Workshop

Collectible Card Game
Bleach Published by Score Entertainment&nb sp;Aik Tongtharadol (lead designer), William Harper (rules editor)
Legend of the Five RingsPublished by Alderac Entertainment Group, Mark Wootton (lead designer), Charles Urbach (cover artist)
The Spoils, by Tenacious Games, Inc., Josh Lytle (lead designer), Patrick Meehan (lead artist)

Board Game Or Expansion
Pillars of the Earth, Published by Mayfair Games, Created by Michael Rieneck and Stefan Stadler
Kingsburg, Published by Elfin Werks, Created by Andrea Chiarvesio and Luca Iennaco
StarCraft: The Board Game, Published by Fantasy Flight Games, Created by Corey Konieczka and Christian Petersen
Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game Published by Flying Frog Productions, Created by Jason Hill
Battue: Storm of the Horse Lords Published by Red Juggernaut Created by Jim Long

Traditional Card Game
Lifeboat Published by Gorilla Games, Created by Jeff Siadek
Cutthroat Caverns Published by Smirk and Dagger Games, Created by Curt Covert and Justin Brunetto
Bankruptcy Published by Tangent Games, Created by Geoff Habiger and Coy Kissee
Zombie Fluxx, Published by Looney Labs, Created by Andrew Looney
Infernal Contraption Published by Privateer Press, Created by Matt Wilson, Jason Soles, Kevin Clark, Erik Breidenstein
Race for the Galaxy Published by Rio Grande Games, Created by Thomas Lehmann

Hmmm, is it possible to split a trophy 100 ways?

More later,

Recent Arrivals: The Odd Lot

 So it has been a while, but new games continue to accumulate here at Grubb Street. Some are Kickstarters, but others are from various stores in the area. And I have to say, it's a good thing. There are more game stores operating in the Puget Sound region now than there were 10 years ago, and I am pleased to see brick-and-mortars even as I take advantage of funding new products in advance. 

Some of these new projects that have shown up push back the standard limits of what is a role-playing game, and reflect the wide diversity found in the hobby. Some cleave closely to one version of D&D or the other, or have that heady whiff of nostalgia to them, while others challenge a lot of basic assumptions and tropes in the play-style. So this is a mix of old and new 

Let' see what's here: 

Elder Mythos Deluxe Edition by Michele Paroli and Marta Palvarini, Mana Project Studios, Boxed RPG containing a 240-page digest-sized hardbound, 2 Card Decks, 9 dice, GM Screen, and 10 scenario maps, 2025, Kickstarter. This is a Lovecraftian game where you play. not a cultist or an investigator, but a Mythos Entity itself, both competing with and collaborating with other (player) Mythos entities. It is listed as using the Year Zero engine, but that is pretty much just using that system's dice pools and a card-based initiative session. As an Elder God, you use your turn to manipulate lesser entities (including mere mortals) in the play field, and to mess up the manipulations of the other players, then describing those manipulations in detail. There is a GM/Eldritch Master who is supposed to corral the whole thing. The game play feels like a brain-storming session where there are no bad ideas, but there are bad ideas. The entities you represent stand outside of time, space, and traditional role-playing tropes. The book itself has variable fonts, white on black printing, and a lack of index to help you navigate. So this one would be a learning experience.  

Pendragon Gamemaster's Handbook by Greg Stafford et. al, Chaosium, 238-page hardbound, 2024, Wizard's Keep Games. I mentioned there's been a rising tide of game stores in the area, and I was happy to see one of the locals, Wizard's Keep Games, carrying a deeper level of Chaosium products. This Gamemaster's book is a toolkit-style of book on diverse subjects, supporting the core book -- court life, religions, and the supernatural, as well as new rules for running large battles, plus a goodly collection of NPCs and creatures. The presentation on parchment-ish paper is as solid and the art styles are appropriate for the period, and should become a browsable book in my collection.. 

Call of Cthulhu The Sutra of Pale Leaves: Twin Suns Rising, by Damon Lang, Andrew Logan Montgomery, Jason Sheets, Yukihiro Trada, et al, Chaosium, 192-page hardbound, 2025, Wizard's Keep Games. The past is another country. Japan is another country. An adventure set in Japan in the go-go eighties (40 years ago) is several countries removed. This particular adventure establishes a new manifestation of the King In Yellow and its infiltration into Japanese society. The book deals with Japanese mythology, manga, and the Yakuza, and sets up for a SECOND volume of adventures, Carcosa Manifest. The primary designers come out of the Sons of Singularity, who did The Sassoon Files, and The Blessed and the Blasphemous, and the design here shows a lot of their approach in the form of flowcharts to guide the adventure and confidants to use as plot hooks to bring the players in. 

Orbital Blues by Sam Sleney (writing) Josh Clark (art) and Zachary Cox (more writing), Soul Muppet Publishing, 206-page digest-sized hardbound, 2021, Mox Boarding House. An impulse buy, as I note that Mox has slowly be growing its RPG selection over the years, and bringing in some more esoteric titles. Orbital Blues has been out a few years. It is a pretty straightforward game system - a character has three stats (Muscle, Grit, and Savvy) and uses d6s to resolve tasks and combat. Its genre is "Space Western", which includes Firefly, Mos Eisley, and in particular Cowboy Bebop. It's a dystopian setting, where the future has passed through the planets and satellite settlements and then moved on, leaving poverty and oppression in its wake. You're outlaws on the fringe of society, trying to make a dishonest credit by smuggling, bounty hunting, and heists. Also picked up a copy of A Starborne Resistance,  a slender 48-page squarebound, which provides a planetary setting of a dying colony ignored and oppressed by a once-mighty Confederacy. The books have that art-book look, in that no two-page spread looks like any others. Lack of an index means you're going to have to remember where you read that particular useful rule. Looks interesting. 

Orders of Inquisition by the RPG Professor, Self-published,  120-page softbound, 2025, Kickstarter. This is the sort of product I enjoy, and one that kickstarter excels at bringing to a wider audience. It takes the traditional tropes of gaming fantasy and turns them on their heads. As opposed to the gods (of all alignments) being player-supporting forces, the gods are distant and cruel, and their agents in the world fanatics. The book rolls through the alignment godheads presenting the negative side of faith, followed by specific orders, new classes, spells, and relics. In general, its crammed with some really nice, non-standard ideas. It would be an excellent addition to the more grimdarkish campaigns.

(And as an aside, I always wanted to develop a Good-aligned cult that believes fanatically that the dead should stay dead. Which is a really good thing when talking about vampires, and a really bad thing when you're talking about your fighter who has just been resurrected.)

Mythic Bastionland by  Christ McDowall, Bastionland Press, 208-page hardbound, 2025, purchase at PAX. This is the weirdest book of a weird lot. It looks great, but you really need to bore into it to understand what is going on. It's a fantasy Pendragonish setting, where you are a knight with powers and a mentor. You travel the land (hex-crawling to create the Realm) and encounter stuff, until you are powerful enough to go to the City and join the Round Table. I think. The presentation is the challenge - a collection of  one-page summarized followed by detailed descriptions of the various knights you can be. It wraps up with a series of dialogues between DM and players which to make some sense of it all.. The is beautiful, the presentation is compact, but it requires a lot of engagement just to wrap your head around. 

Random Jottings 22 Omnibus by Michael Dobson, Canal Press, 202-page softbound, 2025, gift of the author. Mike Dobson was my boss for several years at TSR, and following his tenure there he continued to write histories, books, articles, and commentary. A lot of that can be found here. This is a personal fanzine in which he talks about his travels, Wikipedia, and most relevant to this audience, his time at TSR and other gaming companies, and includes an article in the Comics Journal. Good bits of history. 

The Planar Codex by Cody Faulk et al, Daggerwood Games, 200-page hardbound, 2025, Kickstarter. Coming from my Manual of the Planes background, I always find planar books interesting. And this is a 5E (2014) product and is Great Wheel adjacent, and you'll recognize versions of the Feywild the Nine Hells, the Seven Heavens, and Mechanus (formerly Limbo). That means that they can be supplement old-school and Planescape-style settings, or be used to create a new planar arrangement. The approach is nice and very player-centered - new subclasses for all the original classes, new spells, and new races. My only gripe is that the fiction that headers each section is printed in an italic script font, which makes it slow going for these old eyes. 

The Medieval Fortress by J.E.Kaufman, H.W.Kaufman, Illustrated by Robert M. Jurga, Da Capo Press (Perseus Books Group), 320-page softbound, 2001, from the collection of Sacnoth, but actually purchased from Barnes & Noble in Tukwilla in 2005 (The receipt was being used as a bookmark). OK, NOT a gaming book per se, but the type of book I really like - a comprehensive reference work on medieval fortresses and walled cities. So this is browser's book for me, to be picked up and leafed through, and a reference if I'm doing any serious historical castle design. Good illustrations, though the photos are a bit muddy in black and white.

Draw Steel Heroes Book One: Heroes by Matthew Colville, James Introcaso, Willy Abeel, and Robert Djordjevich,  MCDM Productions, 402-page hardbound, 2025, Kickstarter; Book Two: Monsters, 378-page hardbound. This one demands a LOT more attention that this brief write-up can provide. This is a deeply impressive re-imagining of the D&D-style of game, reconfigured from the ground up, showing origins in 4E in its crunchiness. It is quite specific in its goal - it is about combat encounters, and the rules reflect that at every turn. No base assumption of D&D is left unchallenged - use of 2d10s instead of a d20, you always do SOME damage in combat (the only question is how much), Characteristics are refashioned with a small spread of scores. The archetypical classes are rethought, as well and while recognizable, function in different fashions. Spell are are rethought as abilities. Everything has shorthand box. 

The game is more than combat, but will function best at a table with a battlemap or online, as opposed to everyone in comfortable chairs scattered across the living room. The monster book contains new versions the reliable and recognizable foes, along with high level baddies that do some world-building for us, and rethought alternates for the TMed creatures like the Mind Flayer and the Beholder. There is a lot of lore in the game, but most of it is parked in descriptive text of the character classes and creatures, so it bears a complete reading. My one nit in presentation is that the excellent art for the monsters needs to be labeled, so I know which of four stat blocks on the page is applicable.

In short, Draw Steel is an adventurous reincarnation of the traditional TTRPG, and if you bemoan the lack of crunch in a lot of modern incarnations, this is one to check out. Its the one I'm going to be moving through in the next few weeks. 

And that's it for this bag of stuff, mixed though it be. I really like the spectrum of projects that come out of roleplaying, and while not all of them are my particular pipe of tea, I am glad they're available, and if they strike your fancy, you should hunt them down.

More later,