"Starriors" (Marvel) (Ltd. 1984) # 1-4 [COMICS]

I had a whole introduction about comics based on toy lines, but it was crap.  The gist of what I was trying to say was that Marvel, in the 1980s, was willing to put some real talent into toy-based series.  G.I. Joe still holds up on re-reading (and was my first ever comic, to boot!).  The company was even willing to integrate some toy lines into the Marvel Universe, as exemplified by Rom the Spaceknight, a title that was far more successful than the toy that inspired it.  Today I'm writing about another surprisingly good toy tie-in series, Starriors, a four issue limited series from 1984 that featured beautiful covers by Bill Sienkiewicz and surprisingly dense scripts by Louise Simonson.

Starriors, the toy line, were apparently an uninspired series of robots that didn't really do anything cool like transform.  They didn't sell well and didn't last long, according to Wikipedia.  I would have been around 7 or 8 at the time, and have absolutely no recollection of them whatsoever. (aside: for just $ 1,499 you could own www.starriors.com!).  Each toy came with a Marvel mini comic (an interesting curiosity which I don't have), but apparently one day in the oughts in Toronto's Beguiling I spent $ 2.00 for the complete four issue limited series.  So now, as the cover to Issue # 1 indicates, "The Quest Begins!"

Issue # 1 throws you right in, and it took me a while to figure out who was who (the interior art is a bit fuzzy at times) and what the heck was going on.  The premise of the series turns out to be a good , classic SF one: the human inhabitants of earth, knowing a global natural disaster (solar flares) was looming, put themselves in suspended animation but created a race of robots to awaken them when the planet was habitable again.  Those robots were (intentionally?) created into two types: the Protectors and the Destructors.  You can guess from that who our good guys and bad guys will be.  As the issue starts, generations have passed and the Destructors have enslaved the Protectors, with the evil leader of the Destructors ("Slaughter Steelgrave") telling everyone that mankind is only a myth.  But the Protectors, with little to lose, start a civil war and decide to strike out for the desert to see if there really is an ancient complex that can be used to awaken man.  It's not fantastic, but it's not half bad either, and you definitely get a lot of story for your money.

In Issue # 2, the Destructors follow the Protectors into the desert.  Good vs. evil becomes a bit more complex, as it turns out that one of the Destructors is sympathetic to the Protectors' cause, but that one of the Protectors is secretly a spy for the Destructors.  Also . . . lava spiders! (great cover)  

A lot happens in Issue # 3.  Slaughter Steelgrave orders the execution of the Protector sympathsizer, Steeljaws, and the poor robot is literally torn apart and its pieces scattered.  Meanwhile, a Protector scout named Runabout finds a complex in the desert.  But the the Destructor spy in the Protector camp alerts Slaughter Steelgrave, and he orders an attack.  It's all-out war, with robots getting wrecked left to right.  Runabout, the scout, makes it inside the complex and finds another robotic guardian there who discloses that Slaughter Steelgrave knew about the facility's existence and intentionally destroyed the timer that would have awakened mankind!  Don't ask me why, but it works!

I swear the dude on the cover to Issue # 4 could be the Beyonder, but that's neither here nor there.  Conflict between the Destructors and Protectors over the complex intensifies, with some Destructors shifting sides when they learn about Slaughter Steelgrave's deception.  A Protector named Hotshot gets into the complex and activates its defensive weaponry, including a "laser-ram", and that's enough to turn the tide and force the Destructors to retreat.  Mankind is awakened, with unknown ramifications.  

It's a big, satisfying storyline for a mini series and I found myself thinking of it as a real comic and not a cheap toy tie-in.  I can't pretend it's the best thing ever, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Pathfinder Pawns: "NPC Codex Box" [RPG]

The NPC Codex Box has become, next to the Bestiary set and an adventure path set, the collection of Pathfinder pawns I actually use the most frequently at the gaming table.  The reasons why will become clear in a moment, but first I'll go over the usual rigmarole for those who aren't familiar with Paizo pawns.

Each pawn is a thick cardboard token with the name and artwork of a particular character or monster on both sides.  The pawns fit into plastic bases that match the size the creature should take up on a regular 1" grid.  The pawns are quite durable and they're a much more cost-effective and manageable way to get a wide variety of tokens than trying to collect individual plastic miniatures.  An index on the back of the box matches the numbering of the tokens, so it's easy to find what you're looking for.  The NPC Codex Box comes with over 300 pawns; many are unique, but there are multiples of some (for example, there are six "Beggar" pawns and two "Cautious Mages").  The box also comes with a couple of dozen of small/medium-sized bases and five large bases.  There aren't any Huge-sized or larger creatures in the box.  The collection matches the entries in the NPC Codex, a Pathfinder book that contains full stat-blocks for NPCs from levels 1-20 of each core class.  With the book and the pawn box together, finding an appropriate NPC in the middle of a session becomes a snap.

I would guess roughly two-thirds of the pawns in the box are devoted to the core classes, with each class receiving twenty distinct pawns.  The artwork is high quality, but I'm not convinced it always matches the description.  The "War Priest" pawn, for example, just looks to me like a standard dwarf warrior, and there's nothing particularly flame-related in the image of the "Fire Cleric."  The "Charlatan" looks like your typical back-alley rogue and the "Masked Lord" isn't even wearing a mask!  There are a lot of little problems like this, so I wouldn't take the descriptions too literally when trying to pick a pawn for a particular purpose.

The prestige classes get a full forty distinct pawns, and I have to admit there are some awesome images with the set.  I think if I were stuck for a character concept, I could just browse the pawns in the box and instantly get a couple of cool ideas.  I should also mention that, with a few exception, the vast majority of images used are of the core races.

My biggest beef with the set is the fifty distinct pawns devoted to the NPC classes.  These cover a variety of mundane professions, like beggar, diplomat, barmaid, mayor, guard, etc.  The problem I have is that the artwork makes them all take dramatic poses, most look quite athletic, and several are armed.  In short, many look more like adventurers than the sort of everyday-folk you would come across in a normal town.  The barmaid is suddenly a supermodel wearing a revealing outfit with a "come hither" look, the diplomat has a sword on his belt and a cape blowing dramatically in the wind, the "recruit" has full-plate armor and a magic glowing axe, and even the "village elder" is a half-orc with a spear.  Not every single pawn falls into this category, but there just isn't much in the way of variety in terms of body-type (no one's fat), social class (almost everyone is stylishly dressed), or posture (everyone looks like they're ready for something dramatic to happen in the next moment).  I don't want to make a mountain out of a molehill, but I wish there were more that could easily blend into the background (just like in cinema, directors don't want to hire extras who are too distinctive and noticeable because it draws the viewers away from the actors).

The next eleven tokens are incredibly useful: each of the Iconics for the Core Rulebook classes.  If you play PFS, you can imagine how often these would come out.

Finally, there's a collection of about twenty-five animal companions.  Animals aren't really what one thinks about when it comes to NPCs, but it's really handy to have tokens for cats, dogs, horses, birds, camels, and more exotic things like constrictor snakes and even dinosaurs.  I'm not a fan of the "pet" classes, but when people at my table do play them, it's good that they can find the token they need.

This is the box that I bring out when I'm running a game and someone has a new character and needs a pawn.  It's easy to sort through and find something that fits the bill.  As I said, I wish some of the artwork fitted the label better and that some of it was more "normal" instead of high-adventure, but all in all this set has become indispensable.  It's well-worth the purchase, whether you have the accompanying book or not.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 61 [RPG]

[17 Abadius 4708 continued]

Longtooth was a proud and arrogant
dragon that preferred to kill his
enemies up close.

The Battle of Sandpoint continues!  Irritated by Salma’s magical attack, the juvenile red dragon Longtooth swoops down at full speed and lands inches from the wizard.  “You have made your last mistake!” the dragon snarls.  But before it can unleash the full fury of its might, Salma tries a desperate trick: an enchantment that somehow convinces Longtooth that the giants are his enemies!  Longtooth leaps and bites one of the stone giants instead, as fate smiles on the defenders of the beleaguered town.  Meanwhile, Nerissa’s blades and Kang’s bombs combine to kill one of the massive bears, while Jinkatsyu’s darting rapier dispatches another.  Ava mostly manages to stay out of harm’s way and uses her magic to heal her injured allies. 

From somewhere to the south, the shouts of stone giants can be heard: “If you don’t give us all the beer, we’ll smash you flat!  Beer or death! Your choice!”  But the adventurers are too hard pressed at Tanner’s Bridge to respond.  Nerissa’s uncanny ability to look like she’s in multiple places at once helps keep her safe from the increasingly frustrated swings of a stone giant.  Another massive explosion of ice evoked by Salma eviscerates the remaining giants and Longtooth while somehow leaving her companions untouched! 

 As the adventurers start to run for the Town Square (where they heard shouts of alarm earlier), the long, low wail of a war horn echoes from all around—the invaders’ signal to retreat!  All over town, the giants drop their prisoners and booty and flee in groups of twos and threes for the nearby tors.  The adventurers are treated as heroes by the grateful townspeople, but the question on everyone’s lips are the same: why did the stone giant army attack Sandpoint?  A balding, bespectacled man named Broddert Quink claims to have the answer: he says the giants were digging for something at Old Light before they were scared away!  The adventurers are intrigued by the cantankerous old man’s theories that Old Light is actually the remnants of an ancient Thassilonian weapon called a Hellstorm Flume and, when Quink mentions that a previous group of adventurers discovered catacombs under the town, the present group seize on the notion that perhaps the giants were after something hidden down there!  Speculation turns to whether the giants will come again, with Nerissa suggesting the fleeing giants could be followed.  Salma says that she could teleport everyone to Hook Mountain and use the mountain cave as a staging area for a search for the giants’ fortress of Jorgenfist.  No decisions are reached, and Sandpoint’s newest crop of heroes decide to enjoy the free drinks and accommodation provided at the Rusty Dragon.

Brodert Quink spent decades studying
history and engineering at great libraries in
Magnimar, but most scholars scoff
at his theories.

[18 Abadius 4808]

Rain is falling steadily when the adventurers awaken from a night of celebrating their victory.  Jinkatsyu and Nerissa, in particular, imbibed far too much and suffer the effects of a hangover until Kang brews a concoction to help them.  The group decides they had better consult with the mayor about their next steps.  They find Mayor Deverin in the Town Square giving an impromptu speech to honour those who fought in defence of Sandpoint and to remember that, despite the victory, several lives were lost—including town tanner Larz Rovanki and Varisian elder Madame M’vashti.  After the speech, Ava helps Father Zantus care for the wounded while the others walk with Mayor Deverin back to the Town Hall.  Deverin thanks them sincerely for their assistance.  When asked about the catacombs under Sandpoint, she explains that, during last year’s Swallowtail Festival, a small army of goblins sneaked into Sandpoint using tunnels that none of the residents knew about.  After a group of adventurers entered the tunnels, they found chambers dating back thousands of years—some with still-thriving demonic residents!  The adventurers prevailed, Deverin explains, but not without the loss of life.  In order to ensure that no further threats could emerge from the tunnels, she had the local blacksmith erect a steel barrier to seal off the entrance to the tunnels in the basement of the old Glassworks building.  When the adventurers press her on the idea of entering the catacombs to discover what the giants were looking for, she seems sceptical and reluctant, noting that she can’t fathom why stone giants from the center of Varisia would be interested in ancient ruins along the Lost Coast.  She says she’ll authorize their entry if they’re sure, but the adventurers leave without having decided on a course of action.

The adventurers split up for the afternoon.  While the others run errands or drink, Salma stays focussed on the stone giants.  Having discerned the name of the leader of the raid from the mammoth-hide message found in the Kreeg Clanhold throne room, Salma is able to cast a spell to scry on the stone giant Teraktinus.  The impressive figure can be discerned moving roughly eastward in the rain accompanied by at least two others of his kind.  Salma hurries to find the others and suggests the possibility of teleporting directly to Teraktinus tomorrow for a surprise attack!  Kang and Ava, however, are worried that the limited “viewing window” of the divination spell might conceal the fact that an entire army of stone giants could be around Teraktinus.  By asking around local watering holes, the adventurers are able to surmise that as many as ten giants might have fled Sandpoint when the signal horn blew.  As the night continues on, the others realize that, despite her unceasingly good nature, Ava gets whiny when she’s tired.

[19 Abadius 4708]

Teraktinus is the rare giant
who fights with two weapons.

In the morning, the adventurers meet for breakfast in the common room of the Rusty Dragon to settle on a plan.  The group leans towards Salma’s idea of attacking the fleeing stone giants, but the plan falters when a new attempt to scry Teraktinus fails.  A scouting mission to the catacombs is then agreed upon.  From Brodert Quink, the adventurers learn that, in addition to the entrance in the Glassworks, fissures in the alleyway between Junker’s Way and Tower Street bring air to the surface from the catacombs.  Brodert insists on coming along on the expedition but is surprised when the group chooses to visit the fissures.  Suddenly, Nerissa turns intangible and sinks through the ground for a firsthand look at what all the talk is about.

Having turned aside a heavily-armed scouting party of giants, bears, and even a red dragon, the adventurers have kept Sandpoint safe for now.  But have they made the right choice in prioritising the catacombs over taking the fight to Jorgenfist?

--------------------------------

Director's Commentary (February 24, 2019)

The first half of the battle for Sandpoint (last session) was really exciting.  Unfortunately, this second half was rather anti-climactic.  The dragon failed a save against mind-affecting magic and didn't turn out to be much of a threat, and when it and a certain number of bears and stone giants were killed, the rest of the invasion force automatically flees.  I wish the army's morale threshold had been higher, as there was still a lot of exciting encounters throughout Sandpoint left that I never got to use.

There were a lot of possibilities about what to do next, and you can gather from the recap that there was a lot of discussion and debate.  The decision to return to the catacombs was a logical one, but secretly not one I was thrilled about before I knew a) It was a dead-end and b) there was stuff down there not met to be encountered until the start of Chapter 5, and I wasn't prepped for any of it!  Fortunately, things worked out okay, as we'll see next session.

Starfinder Society Scenario # 1-22: "The Protectorate Petition" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I ran this at high-tier using the four-player adjustment.  It's a solid, standalone scenario that captures the sort of mission one would expect the Starfinder Society to go on.  It's not particularly challenging, and would be suitable for a non-optimized or new group.

SPOILERS

The general plot of The Protectorate Petition is that the PCs are sent to a planet in Near Space on a contract mission to evaluate whether it's ready to become a protectorate of the Pact Worlds.  While there, they can investigate several sites of interest in any order, and (probably) come to realise that the planet's government has covered up a disturbing history of violence and genocide.  But the decision isn't an easy one, as the events happened centuries ago and the current leaders aren't directly responsible.  The PCs are faced with an interesting moral decision on whether or not to recommend that protectorate status be granted.

The scenario starts with a briefing from the always-forgettable Venture-Captain Arvin and a much more memorable presence: an eight-foot-tall android officer of the Stewards, Major Tower-9.  Together, the two explain that the PCs are being sent to a planet called Tabrid Minor, a planet whose native inhabitants, the copaxis, are humanoids composed of sentient colonies of coral-like organisms.    The Stewards are considering an application from Tabrid Minor for protectorate status (which is like being a full member of the Pact Worlds but without voting rights) and have contracted the Starfinder Society to undertake an evaluation and issue a recommendation on whether the petition should be granted (each member of the survey team will be lodging an independent "yes" or "no").  It's an excellent premise for an adventure and a plausible use of the Society.  I really liked Major Tower-9, and hope to see her again soon.

The journey to Tabrid Minor is uneventful and the PCs land on one of the planet's abandoned floating cities, which the copaxis only recently re-developed the technology to explore.  A copaxi archaeological team is waiting.  Most of the members of the team are legit scientists, but one, Therseis, is really a government agent whose mission is to steer the PCs away from discovering anything potentially damaging to the petition.  Based on some hints in the text, I had a lot of fun role-playing him as someone who describes everything in too many words.  The initial meet-and-greet has a fun little bit of testing the Starfinders' ability to adapt to new customs, and it's the first opportunity to gain a point in an Influence score that is tracked throughout the scenario.  So far, so good.

At this point, the PCs are presented with a map of the floating city with potential locations of interest marked, some with warnings that the archaeological team found them too dangerous to approach.  There  are seven different locations, and the PCs can explore any or all of them in any order.

Three of the locations are perfectly safe (a market, a university campus, and a transport station).  Each allows the PCs to make a skill check or two to start to get the sense that they're being manipulated (such as by finding "ancient" coins that were minted recently, or books on magic written by a poseur, etc.).

Each of the other four locations, however, leads to an encounter.

1) At memorial gardens, the PCs realize that there was a massive war in the city about three hundred years ago, and that, despite the government claiming to have only recently deciphered it, the copaxis understood the Signal that gave the secret of Drift travel at least since then.  The encounter is against a couple of undead (skeleton) copaxis and is pretty forgettable.

2) In a gaping hole in an otherwise residential neighbourhood, the PCs may start to realize that the coral-like substance that composes the copaxis' body was the subject of extensive mining because it has innate magical properties.  Entering the hole leads to a battle against a "corchaaz" (essentially, a giant crab-like monster with huge pincers).  Past that, the PCs find a shrine to Triune occupied by several defunct robots.  They might manage to reactivate one in order to learn that, in the past, the copaxi used robots widely as servants but when they started to develop sentience, they were, to a one, destroyed or deactivated.  Robo-genocide!

3) An old observation tower is currently occupied by a couple of stowaway drifter copaxis.  There's a fair opportunity for the PCs to bribe them into leaving peacefully, or (as my group did) behave like jerks and go in guns-blazing.  I think I actually liked this combat encounter the best, as the copaxis have some abilities to negate gravity and (especially with the Jet Dash feat) can jump all over the place in cool, cinematic ways.  One way or another, the PCs will likely recover a journal written by a member of the city's magical aristocracy and read about how they were slaughtered after receiving the revelation of Drift travel.

4) Above, I casually dropped in the fact that the copaxis can partially negate gravity!  This was used in their past to play a sport called Parabolas.  If the PCs explore an old stadium, they'll see some useful items (like books and weapons) floating in the center of the arena which has had its gravitation field permanently altered.  Retrieving the items requires successful completion of a skills challenge, and I liked how there was some flexibility in the acceptable means used and real consequences (destruction of everything in a chain-reaction) for too many failures.

None of the encounters are particularly difficult (the PCs always drastically outnumber their foes), and since there's no looming deadline, the PCs can fully rest and heal between them.  I guess since this is more of an exploration-themed scenario than a survival-themed one it's okay, but I think more attention needs to be given to the role of the presence or absence of time-pressure in adjusting encounter difficulty (especially in Starfinder with the 10 minute rest option).

After each encounter, Therseis checks in and the PCs have a chance to gain an Influence point.  I found the Influence mechanic a bit weird, as it's still not clear to me how/why the PCs (in-character) know that they should be trying to influence him (whereas his interest in influencing them is obvious).  In any event, the more Influence points they accumulate, the more likely Therseis is to confess his role in misleading the investigators.  It becomes clear that he's not really evil and doesn't even fully understand himself what has transpired in Tabrid Minor's past.

After the PCs have explored as much as they want, they'll probably have won Therseis over.  He'll basically go along with the PCs' decision, expressing a desire to join the Starfinder Society someday.  It's a bit anti-climactic of an ending, so I took the advice in the forums to really play up the significance of the PCs' decision and encouraging the role-playing of their deliberations on whether to recommend entry or not (the actual voting was done by secret ballot and then I revealed the results after the scenario was over).  If at least half of the PCs approve of protectorate status, the players earn a boon allowing them to play copaxis in the future, which is cool but means that those groups who voted the other way get kind of shafted (unless they earn a certain number of Influence points).

On the whole, I like the premise and structure of the scenario a lot.  It feels open-ended, there's enough combat to keep things interesting, and the PCs have a good moral decision to make at the end.  My criticisms are twofold: 1) it's really easy (that is, the combats are pushovers and it'd be *really* hard for a team not to get the requisite amount of Influence) and 2) the history of Tabrid Minor is overwritten with too much going on (a failed coup, a successful coup, a robot apocalypse, Signal/Drift drama, the coral-stuff is magical!, a cover-up, etc.) to be digested by most players in a single session.  I'd suggest a better plan would have been one or two big revelations, but more carefully seeded via gradually-building clues throughout the scenario.  Still, Tabrid Minor and the copaxis are an excellent piece of world-building, and I'd gladly go back there someday on a follow-up mission.  The Protectorate Petition isn't perfect, but it's a solid, enjoyable scenario.

Starfinder Logo T-Shirt [RPG]

Of the shirts the game has available, the Starfinder Logo T-Shirt is probably the blandest.  The front is the Starfinder logo, which is not nearly as evocative or colourful as the Starfinder Society logo.  The back does have the reasonably cool winged-solar system symbol. Still, I don't think the combination works because the front is so boring and on-the-nose it takes away any mystique the back could have.  It's too much in the "that thing you like, here's a shirt with the name of it on it in block letters."  It could as well be "PIZZA" or "SLEEP."  Do I spend too much time thinking about RPG-shirt aesthetics?  Yes, yes I do.  But that's why you're reading my review!

Starfinder Space Goblin T-Shirt [RPG]

Because of the popularity of skittermanders, space goblins don't get much love in Starfinder.  That might be for the best, but this shirt is still pretty cool.  From the classic dogslicer to the junk laser to the helmet held together with a (generic)
band-aid, everything about this picture says "Goblin . . . in Space!"  That, and the Starfinder logo at the top, makes for a simple, straightforward design.  There's nothing on the back, it only comes in black, and that's about it.  It has seemed to fade more than I might expect after not that many washings, but all in all it's a quality shirt with fun artwork.

Pathfinder Player Companion: "Champions of Purity" [RPG]

Champions of Purity is a sort of sequel to the earlier Faiths of Purity.  Whereas the previous book was primarily about the gods and their devotees (clerics and paladins), Champions of Purity has a broader theme: characters of good alignment generally.  Since PCs of any class can be on the side of good, a book designed for those characters makes sense.  But although there are certainly some useful class options here and there, the book as a whole adopts the scattergun approach of throwing a lot of stuff out there and seeing what sticks.  Written mostly by a crop of freelancers, the book is a loose collection of shallow two-page entries on vaguely-related topics.  It doesn't really have much in the way of depth, but that seems to be the norm for many of the books in the Player Companion line.

Still, to give credit where it's due, we have to admire the great cover of Seelah cutting through a horde of monsters.  The inside front cover is a table of good-aligned deities in Golarion that includes the usual suspects from the Core Rulebook along with some that are lesser-known, including several from the Asian-themed Dragon Empires.  The inside back cover does an odd thing and introduces a new feat, "Summon Good Monster," that allows good-aligned spellcasters to substitute a good-aligned creature from the accompanying table in place of what the spell would normally allow, and to give them Diehard to boot. Not too shabby!

The book proper starts with a two-page introduction, "Why Be Good?", that talks about some more specific motivations for PCs, like freedom, honor, justice, mercy, order, and more.  It then goes on to give some suggestions as to where characters with those goals might hail from geographically.

Next, each of the three good alignments (Lawful Good, Neutral Good, and Chaotic Good) are  discussed in a separate two-page entry which is divided into Philosophies (Lawful Good PCs might be seen as Crusaders or Guardians, for example, while Neutral Good PCs might be seen as Mediators or Redeemers), Advantages & Challenges (in terms of role-playing), Opportunities & Allies (ways those PCs might fit into Golarion specifically), and finally Traits (three new ones each).  One of the criticisms I have of the book is that its treatment of alignment issues only barely skims the surface: there's no mention, for example, of how hard it is to play a truly good character when the lowest common denominator is lazy players with a "kill things and take their stuff" mentality.  Characters of good alignment face hard decisions and restrictions that other alignments don't, and this can create problems for groups.  These are some of the issues that would be worth discussing.

The remaining two-page sections consist of the following:

"Paragons of Virtue" has a line or two on good-aligned races (Aasimars, Catfolk, Elves, and Samsarans), good-aligned organisations (like knightly orders), and good-aligned homelands (like Andoran), but it's a very cursory treatment and of very little use to those familiar with Golarion.  Four new traits are included.

"Good Characters in Bad Situations" raises the classic "what do you do with goblin babies" quandary and then suggests (in a sentence or two each) some "bad places" that good characters could come from.  Again, the book has identified an interesting issue but has a shallow and wishy-washy treatment of it.  Don't look for any deep insights into alignment and RPGs here. (I do love the artwork of the samurai with the goblin babies!)

"Heavenly Virtues" presents one new feat called "Virtuous Creed" that has different effects depending on which specific virtue the PC identifies with (such as humility, courage, freedom, etc.). In a way, it's like six feats in one, which is interesting, but the different virtues have very different power levels in a mechanical sense.

 "Redemption" presents a rules sub-system for tracking an evil creature's progress towards becoming good, along with a variety of penances they can do to help atone.  I'm skeptical of these little sub-systems that I know will never be referenced again or expanded upon.  This one looks a bit rough, but I guess it does add some content and perhaps guidance to a GM dealing with the issue.  I wouldn't follow it too strictly, however.

"Divine Influence" introduces seven new clerical subdomains: Cooperation, Dragon, Imagination, Judgment, Redemption, Revelation, and Revelry.  Each subdomain replaces the domain spells and granted power of a specific Core Rulebook domain.  It looks like there are some good options.

"Fighting the Good Fight" is a miscellany: a new barbarian rage power (Celestial Totem), two new inquisitor inquisitions (Final Rest and Recovery), six new feats (including one very useful one to keep you from accidentally killing enemies outright and a silly one that adds a single point of damage when you hit with a good-aligned weapon), and a sidebar on subduing and binding opponents (no new rules, but it's useful to have the material all in one place).

"Grace and Guile" has a handful of new alchemist discoveries, a couple of bardic masterpieces, and three new rogue talents.  The book really is trying to have something for everyone!  The alchemist discoveries seem reasonable, one of the bardic masterpieces seems crazily overpowered (blinding and deafening, or even stunning, all evil creatures that hear the performance and fail a save), and I really like the rogue talent Sacrifice Self that allows a rogue to ignore the effects of their evasion ability to help shield an ally from harm.

"Sublime Spellcraft" has a couple of new summoner evolutions (I wouldn't touch summoners with a ten-foot-pole, so I have no opinion of these), three new witch patrons (which are apparently just bland lists of replacement spells), a few new hexes, and two new wizard arcane discoveries.  I mostly liked what I saw here.

"Spells of the Just"  includes ten new spells, most of which are for both divine and arcane spellcasters.  I really liked the little story in the sidebar about how these spells came to be known, and I wish there were more attempts like this to explain the appearance of new spells and magic items.

"Tools for Good" introduces several new magic items.  Although damned expensive, I really liked the Devil's Key (allowing you to follow an outsider to its home plane to kill it for good) and the Equalizer Shield (creating an antimagic field to stymie those pesky spellcasters!).

I think books like this have little enduring value because there's hardly any interesting setting lore or discussion, and readers will just cherry-pick a new spell or class option from an online database.  Buy this one if you need to for PFS, but otherwise you can safely give it a pass.

Starfinder Pawns: Base Assortment [RPG]

I don’t imagine being the guy who has to write the blurbs for Paizo products is always an easy job: how do you sell something like a bag of little circle bits of plastic to hold pawns upright?  Well, I have to appreciate anything that starts with a good pun like “Base Invaders.”  The Starfinder Pawns: Base Assortment bag includes 18 Medium bases, 5 Large bases, and 2 Huge bases.  All of the bases are black, except for one that comes in a random color.  I already have a ton of bases floating around so initially bought this just for collection purposes, but I’ve actually come to use it a lot.  Often the Starfinder pawns I have out for a game don’t come with their own bases, so I can just grab this and know that it has enough bases for everything that’s realistically likely to come up in the session.  The one thing that would make this product better is if the bag was resealable so I wouldn’t have to worry about them spilling out all over the place.  All in all though, this will take care of your base-related needs.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Jonathan # 1 [COMICS]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Jonathan # 1
(Dark Horse, one-shot 2001)

Creators: Jane Espenson (writer), Cliff Richards (penciler), Andy Owens (inker), Clem Robins (letterer), Guy Major (colorist)

Setting:  "This story does not take place during Buffy the Vampire Slayer's fourth season."

T.V./Movie Character Appearances: Jonathan, Buffy, Xander, Anya, Giles, Spike, Willow, Riley,

Major Original Characters: None.

Summary

Jonathan Levinson, international movie star, philanthropist, inventor, and vampire-slaying protector of Sunnydale rescues a kidnapped European princess.  In the process, he discovers the Zada, a secret Soviet counterpart to the Initiative (the American project to harness the power of demons).  The Zada subjects have escaped the Soviet Union and, now well-organised, have come to Sunnydale to seek the power of the Hellmouth.  Jonathan gathers his crew—the self-doubting Buffy, the enamoured Anya and Xander, Riley, Willow, Giles, and Spike—to accompany him to the tunnels beneath Sunnydale high in search of the Zada.  Jonathan single-handedly slays several of the vampires, with the rest of his crew watching his back.  When Giles gets shot, though, it’s lucky that Jonathan’s expert medical knowledge can save the older man’s life.  With the Zada destroyed and everything right with the world, Jonathan retires to his mansion accompanied by a pair of super-models.

Review

Written by Jane Espenson, the writer of the Season Four episode “Superstar,” this story is great fun.  It’s set in the same vein of that episode where Jonathan has made an occult bargain to gain fame and respect.  The story itself is interesting (a Soviet counterpart to the Zada is a cool idea), and there are a lot of great little humorous touches scattered throughout.  The action scenes are gloriously over-the-top.  There’s also, though the narration, enough self-awareness on Jonathan’s part for him to realize that he doesn’t really deserve everything that’s happening and that he’s going to have to pay a price for it someday.  All in all, a really enjoyable little one-shot.

Notes

·       *  I liked the opening scene, with Jonathan falling out of a burning plane without a parachute only to somehow dive back into the cockpit and land it before it crashes.  It’s exactly the opening stunt to a James Bond movie.

·       *  A line I didn’t even realize the significance of the first couple of times I read the issue: when Jonathan and the gang return to the ruins of old Sunnydale High, Buffy says “Even the clock tower is gone.”  Jonathan says “Good.”  It’s a reference, of course, to the famous episode where Jonathan is about to commit suicide.

·         * Jonathan’s pseudo-Batman narration is great: “Mayhem.  I was in my element.  I unleashed my fists of fury.”

* My favourite narrative passage: "I am a man with a lot to be grateful for: my home, the patent I hold on velcro, my looks."

* Movie marquee:  "Jonathan Levinson in . . . The Matrix"

* Apparently, there are also "gold-foil" and "silver-foil" versions of the photo cover.

Pathfinder Map Pack: "Ruined Village" [RPG]

I’ve used the Ruined Village Map Pack in a couple of scenarios now.  I think it offers a nice array of detailed locations that all fit on the theme of an abandoned village.  There’s a nice little cemetery (I’m surprised Paizo hasn’t made flip-mats for graveyards, considering how often adventurers go to them), a weed-choked fountain, and several houses and buildings of various sizes with broken furniture, cracked flooring, and debris everywhere.  It’s definitely much more interesting and evocative than someone could draw with a marker.  Most of the tiles could fit together to make one large village, with the exception being the two broken bridge spans crossing a river.  I can envision a lot of uses for this Map Pack: a campsite the PCs come across just at sunset, an old hermit’s hut, a bandit hideout, a ghost-infested ruin, or even just an ordinary village that has fallen on (really) hard times.  Its versatility and design quality makes it a solid product worth purchasing.

Pathfinder Campaign Setting: "Inner Sea World Guide" [RPG]

To put it simply, the Inner Sea World Guide is *the* setting book for Pathfinder.  There are several other books (softcovers) that provide more insight into particular areas, but this is the book that introduces the whole shebang.  Weighing in at 318 pages, it provides an overview of everything that makes up Pathfinder's official campaign setting: the Inner Sea region of the planet Golarion.  There are entries on each of the core races and human ethnicities, overviews of each of the nations of the region, a chapter on gods and religion, miscellaneous information like holidays and languages, an introduction to some major organisations that PCs might belong to (or fight against), player-facing material like new equipment and prestige classes, and finally a handful of new monsters for the GM. In short, there is a *lot* of information in the book and I've come to rely on it heavily.

In terms of overall production quality, a reader won't be disappointed.  It's attractively laid out, with tons of maps, artwork (some of it recycled from earlier Paizo products), sidebars, etc.  It's clear that a lot of love and attention to detail went into the book, which makes sense as it's one of the premier products in the Pathfinder line.

An Introduction (4 pages) kicks things off.  One page is a map of the entire Inner Sea region.  The theme of the setting is encapsulated nicely: against all prophecies, the God of Humanity, Aroden, has died suddenly, leading to a world "where nothing is foretold, and anything can happen."  From another perspective, that's really what Golarion is: a kitchen-sink setting where no matter what kind of fantasy game-play your group wants, it can find a place for it--whether it's gothic tales of horror, swashbuckling tales of pirates, barbarians with laser-swords, steampunk gunslingers, or more traditional elves and wizards.  The sum really is greater than the parts, and somehow it all works.  The entire setting has a surprisingly rich and detailed history, which helps to tie everything together into a more coherent whole.  The Introduction also contains a really nice in-game summary of the Pathfinder Society and a short sidebar explaining how the Inner Sea World Guide has expanded upon and updated the two previous overviews of the setting (the Gazetteer and Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, respectively).

Chapter 1 is Races (22 pages).  It starts with a *very* brief overview (a sentence or two each) of where some of the uncommon humanoid races (like tieflings or kobolds) fit into the Inner Sea before devoting a single-page to each of the human ethnicities of Golarion (many with sensitively-handled analogues to real world cultures) and then the other core races like elves, dwarves, etc..  I'm not necessarily a fan of this way of handling things, as it gives the appearance that only humans have different ethnicities while all the other core races are homogeneous.  Still, the chapter does succeed in adding a ton of Golarion-specific lore that is absent from the setting-neutral Core Rulebook.

Chapter 2, "The Inner Sea" (184 pages) is clearly the heart (and, by page-count, a full half) of the book.  It starts by explaining that the Inner Sea consists of the continents of Avistan and (northern) Garund, explaining that the planet of Golarion contains several other continents that are outside the scope of the book.  There's a detailed timeline of the setting's in-game history, which makes for interesting reading once some additional context is provided.  The bulk of the chapter consists of four-page entries on each of the major countries/regions of the Inner Sea.  Each entry starts with a sidebar giving basic information (like notable settlements, rulers, population, etc.) and is then sub-divided by topics: history, government, and a gazetteer of notable locations.  There are 41 of these entries in alphabetical order, so it's pretty hard to cover them adequately in a review like this.  I think the best thing to do is repeat my earlier point that there's a place for almost everything somewhere: revolutionary America has an analogue in Andoran, revolutionary France is Galt, Osiron is ancient Egypt, etc.  But there are also some very original countries, like Razmiran (a theocracy ruled by a con-man), Rahadoum (a country that has turned against the gods and where worship is illegal), the Worldwound (a wasteland devastated by the presence of an open portal to demonic planes), the Mana Wastes (where magic doesn't work, and technology has stepped in), and so much more.  If nothing else, each entry serves as a nice overview to give the area some basic flavour, and then a GM who really wants more detail can look for the matching softcover campaign setting line book for more depth.  I was particularly intrigued by the eight page "Beyond the Inner Sea" section, which is more detailed than I would have thought (and definitely worth expanding someday, Paizo!).

Chapter 3, "Religion" (32 pages), contains a half-page introduction to each of the "Core 20" deities of the setting.  Other gods get a paragraph or two, but there's also space devoted to archdevils, demon lords, elemental lords, dead gods, and philosophies.  It's enough to get started, though serious players and GMs will likely want more detailed information.  In terms of game-play mechanics, two new clerical domains (Scalykind and Void) are introduced here.

Chapter 4, "Life" is sadly just ten pages long.  This is the chapter that covers the calendar, holidays and festivals, languages, weather and climate, and distinctive flora and fauna, among other subjects.  There are some nice samples of things that make Golarion distinctive, but it would be good to someday have an "Inner Sea Almanac" that expanded on the little things that don't seem exciting but help add a major degree of verisimilitude to the setting.

Chapter 5, "Factions" (14 pages) provides a two-page introduction to five different organisations: the Aspis Consortium (an unprincipled group of colonialists & merchants), the Eagle Knights (anti-slavery freedom-fighters), the Hellknights (extremely strict "law and order" types), the Pathfinder Society (explorers and treasure-hunters), and the Red Mantis (assassins).  Several lesser groups also get a one-paragraph overview.  Overall, the chapter again serves nicely as a brief introduction, though more detailed information on each of the groups is available elsewhere.

Chapter 6, "Adventuring" (30 pages) is for the players.  It starts with suggestions on where in the Inner Sea various classes might hail from. It then introduces four new prestige classes: the Harrower (a cool fortune-teller with an interesting suite of special abilities), the Hellknight (an armored juggernaut), the Low Templar (a sort of cowardly knight; it's hard to envision this one appealing widely), and the Red Mantis Assassin (maybe more for GMs than players, but with some eye-raising abilities).  The chapter introduces several new feats; most of them are forgettable but a couple (like Rapid Reload and Fey Foundling) have become crucial to some builds and are, frankly, probably overpowered.  The chapter provides updated rules for several pieces of equipment introduced in earlier adventure paths, including goblin weapons like dogslicers, Shoanti weapons like the Earth breaker, and more.  It also briefly covers firearms, which are suitably rare and problematic (until someone plays a Gunslinger).  Finally, there are some new spells (the most famous of which is infernal healing) and magic items (many of which are essential to parts of the campaign setting, like the final blades for Galt, the sun orchid elixir for Thuvia, and wardstones for the Worldwound).  On the whole, I don't think buying the book purely for the "crunch" would be a good idea; the material in this chapter is only a supplement to what's essentially a "flavour/fluff" book.

Chapter 7, "Monsters" (14 pages) starts off with a nice overview of the role that various traditional groups of monsters (like dragons, trolls, ogres, etc.) play in Golarion.  It then goes on to introduce seven new monsters, each with a 1-page Bestiary-style entry.  Potential players will be interested to see that two of them, Gillmen and Strix, are given rules to make them playable races.  Rise of the Runelords GMs may be interested to see full stats for the Sandpoint Devil.

As I write this review, Pathfinder Second Edition is on the horizon and Paizo has said they plan to update the official setting with the "results" of all previous adventure paths.  For now, however, the Inner Sea World Guide is the best one-stop resource to get started on anything involving the Inner Sea.  Lots of books have more on a single given topic, but no book has so much on so many different topics when it comes to the Inner Sea.

Captain Atom (DC, 1987-1991) # 51-57 [COMICS]

Here we go, the final issues of Captain Atom!  This series has never been reprinted, so search out those dollar bins (or, my favourite thing in the world, 25 cent bins) to assemble your own set.  Because you can't have mine!

A well-composed, intriguing cover starts off Issue # 51.  We once again have a different creative team, and it tells a tale where Captain Atom has only a minor part.  Instead, the story revolves around "Pops", a new character with strange powers that he tries to suppress until he's witness to a murder and the kidnapping of his son by gang violence.  It's a good story.  The letters page has a nice goodbye from Weisman and Bates.  I know a series can't always end just because the original creative team has finished, but sometimes I think it's a classy thing for low-to-mid ranking titles to do.

Issue # 52 brings in a different writer, Dan Raspler, for a frankly kinda goofy tale about an alien left over on Earth from the big Invasion! crossover.  The alien, a Dominator, has been "helping" a think-thank but actually using it for a nefarious drug-dealing scheme.  It's original, I 've gotta give it that, but original doesn't always mean good.

The cover art has been pretty good the last few issues, including Issue # 53, even with different writers.  It's hard to beat "Attack of the Zombie Dolphins!" as a cover line, guest-starring Aquaman.  It's a fun, standalone story with a really fun scene involving a battle against a ginormous zombie whale.  Not exactly high-brow literature, but comics don't have to be everything all the time.

Issue # 54 is the series' swan-song (a phrase the origin of which dates back to Plato's Socratic dialogues, says the learned listener of a podcast on philosophy).  It's the first in a four-issue arc called "The Quantum Quest" written by John Ostrander.  The cover art gets ugly again, however.  You might recall the concept in DC comics from this period that different super heroes were actually "elementals"?  Swamp Thing was the plant elemental, Red Tornado the air elemental, Firestorm the fire elemental, etc., with Captain Atom being the "quantum elemental."  This issue dives into that idea as the Phantom Stranger guest stars to lead Captain Atom to meet Rasputin (!), but a battle against an evil villain named "Shadow Storm" gets C.A. blasted into the quantum zone.  He can create and recreate the quantum zone to his wishes, and so makes one where Nathaniel Adam was never convicted of treason and lives happily with his wife and kids.  It's surprisingly good.

Power  is addictive, as C.A. finds in Issue # 55.  With the ability to snap his fingers and retroactively change any unhappy moment in his new life, he more and more reduces his loved ones into mindless automatons.  And every time he changes reality, feeds a dark doppelganger.  Two issues in a row with my note "surprisingly good" scrawled on the backing board.  Hmm!

Captain Atom suffers from severe abdominal abnormalities according to the cover art to Issue # 56.  But worse, he has to fight his evil doppelganger in his quantum world while in the "real" world, Shadow Storm wreaks havoc.  I haven't mentioned that the "real" Rasputin is, for some reason, also in C.A.'s quantum-verse.  Atom tells Rasputin of his family's history, and it's surprisingly dark, involving a father abandoning his family, a mother who's a drunk, and a car-wreck in which his sister was killed.  Ironic that the first real glimpse of Adam's background comes near the very end of his run.  But it's done well here.

It all comes to an end in Issue # 57, which is (unfortunately) a "War of the Gods" crossover issue.  It's a largely incoherent mess that starts with several 1-page pin-ups.  Captain Atom returns to the "real" world and defeats Shadow Storm, the most cliched villain around.  Something else vague and incoherent happens, and C.A. flies off to his (infamously stupid) non-fate in Armageddon 2001 # 2.  It's a really poor, disappointing ending, and makes me think the series should have just ended at # 50 after all.