City of the Fallen Sky [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

What a great book!  I've read several novels in the Pathfinder Tales line, and City of the Fallen Sky is the best of the lot so far.  I'm a big fan of Tim Pratt from his Marla Mason urban noir fantasy series, but I wasn't sure whether he would "get" Golarion and a more traditional fantasy setting.  He does, absolutely.  There's a real verve to Pratt's writing, an exciting energy that keeps the pages turning as the story builds.  His characters avoid being of the cliche "stock" type, there's plot twists when you least expect them, and a surprising (and appreciated) amount of world-lore that helps develop the setting further.

SPOILERS

The protagonist of City of the Fallen Sky is an alchemist named Alaeron.  Alaeron lives in Almas (in Andoran), having recently returned from a dangerous escapade in Numeria where he discovered several strange devices from the ancient crashed starship known as Silver Mount.  Alaeron is well-rounded, three-dimensional character: fascinated by mysteries and technology, but with just enough common sense to keep him ahead of the threats he has to face in order to delve deeper into the secrets he hopes to uncover.  In trying to help out a woman Jaya, Alaeron angers a local crimelord and both he and Jaya are sent under the watchful eye of a murderous street thug named Skiver to travel to the ruins of Kho (in western Osirion), an ancient crashed "sky city" from the legendary empire of Shory.

The adventure takes the three from Andoran to Absalom and from Absalom through various parts of Osirion.  There are also well-integrated flashbacks of Alaeron's time in Numeria.  The description of these places is fantastic, and I'll refer back to this book for an "eye-level" view the next time I run games that visit these locations.

The three main characters are all well-drawn, with Skiver being particularly memorable.  Yes, he's a murderer, but he has this strange, alluring charisma which makes it hard for the reader not to somehow cheer for him anyway.  And he's gay, and I always appreciate it when authors recognize that not everyone, even in a fantasy setting, is heterosexual.  The major villains of the piece are also really good, with a Numerian bounty hunter named Kormak reminding one of the Terminator in his utter determination (and indestructibility), while a crazed Shory noble is hilarious and creepy at the same time.  The book is very faithful to the game, so Alaeron (the alchemist) uses things like bombs, mutagens, and extracts just like a character from that class would in the RPG.

If the book drags for just a touch in the middle, it makes up for it with a fantastic final quarter.  The ending is cinematic and exciting, and would make the basis for a great movie.  Even the epilogue has a couple of nice twists, and sets things up for another book perfectly.  If you can only read one Pathfinder Tales book, I'd suggest picking this one.

Faiths of Purity [RPG]

Faiths of Purity is a well-conceived entry in the Pathfinder Player Companion line, with a stated premise to showcase the "good" gods to adventurers and laypeople of all stripes, not just clerics and paladins.  I really like the idea, as religion can and should be part of a campaign setting that affects far more than just a couple of PC classes.  Starting off with what you have to admit is a pretty awesome cover (repeated as the inside back cover), the inside front cover summarizes (including portfolios, alignment, domains, favored weapons, centers of worship, and nationality) the seven good-aligned "core" faiths in the Pathfinder setting:  Desna, Iomedae, Shelyn, Cayden Cailean, Erastil, Sarenrae, and Torag.

After a brief introduction that summarizes the theme well, the bulk of the bulk is devoted to two-page entries on each of these seven faiths.  Each entry is divided into a one-paragraph summary of the god and then one to two paragraph long sections titled "Adventurers" (what adventurers who worship the god tend to be like), "Classes" (how different classes do or do not tend to fit in with the faith), "Goals" (what a worshipper of the god wants), "Identifiers" (clothing, symbols, or other markers commonly associated with the faith), "Devotion" (how lay worshippers act and demonstrate their allegiance), "Other Faiths" (how worshippers see and are seen by those of other faiths), "Taboos" (what worshippers *won't* do); "Traits" (two different Religion traits, most of which are bland and unimpressive), and finally, "The Church" (the longest section, with an overview of holy sites, church rules, holy texts, symbols, etc.).

The important thing to remember about these entries is that they explain things from the view of what everyday worshippers (and most PCs) would know.  These entries are not "high-level" church theory or geopolitical roles, but are instead insights into how worshippers behave and see the world.  They're thus perfect for players wanting to run a worshipper of one of these gods, and far more useful than material in most other books or on a Wiki.  I'd strongly suggest passing this book around during character creation if someone is interested in the "good" gods of Golarion.  Before moving on, I should also call out the artwork, which is really good!

The next section of the book is "Minor Deities" (4 pages).  This is a bit of a hodgepodge section, with "lesser gods of goodness" like Apsu the Waybringer, Kurgess the Strong Man, and Milani the Everbloom receiving a few paragraphs of description and one trait each.  Next, there are a few paragraphs (and a trait) devoted to each of the racial pantheons: Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, and Halfling.  These sections were odd, in that it's not just the good deities from each of these pantheons that are covered (thus confusing the theme of the book), and there's far too little space to do each pantheon justice.  The traits for gnomes and halflings aren't bad though.  Last, there's just over a page on the Empyreal Lords (sort of demigods), with about a paragraph each on Andoletta, Ragathiel, Arshea, Korada, Valani, and Sinashakti.  There's a single "catch-all" trait for worshippers of any Empyreal Lord.  Again, there's just not enough room to make the coverage of these faiths satisfactory, and I wonder if it would have been better to save it for a separate book later on.

"Organizations" (2 pages) provides an introduction to organized groups that are outside of a faith's official clergy.  Coverage includes the Banner of the Stag (Erastil), Deepdelvers (Torag), Glory of the Risen Rose (Shelyn), The Halo of Blades (Sarenrae), Knights of Ozem (Iomedae), Starstone Brewers (Cayden Cailean), and The Whispered Song (Desna).  Two of the organizations really stuck out to me as fantastic.  First, the Glory of the Risen Rose is all about spreading beauty and artwork, and one can imagine so many original adventures that could stem from it.  Second, the Starstone Brewers are all about helping the orphans that are inevitably left near battlefields, the sites of natural disasters, etc.  Entire campaigns could be themed around either of these two organizations, and offer something very different to the norm.

"Combat: Righteous Warfare" (2 pages) introduces one or two new feats for each of the major faiths covered in the book.  I have to commend the writers for coming up with feats that are tied, flavour-wise to the corresponding faith.  Substance-wise, the feats are hit or miss, with some potentially really useful (Desna's Butterfly's Sting or Erastil's Bullseye Shot, for example) and others so underwhelming as to be forgettable (Torag's Stone Read and Undermining Exploit).  There is a drawing of a classic "bikini armor" woman on page 26 that is regrettable.

I really liked "Faith: Paladin Codes" (2 pages), which offers customized Paladin codes for several faiths that supplement what's in the Core Rulebook.  These new codes really help to distinguish Paladins from one another, and are well-tailored to emphasize the particular themes of different deities.  Erastil's code contains several elements relating to community and tradition, for example, while Shelyn's code incorporates concepts of beauty and love.

"Magic: Spells of the Faithful" (2 pages) introduces at least one new divine spell for worshippers of each of the major faiths in the book.  Overall, I found them flavourful but rather weak in a mechanical sense.  They're also all very low-level spells, an area in which clerics, paladins, and druids aren't exactly hurting for choices.

Finally, there's "Social: Religious Holidays" (2 pages).  This is the sort of thing that's really important for adding depth to a campaign setting, even if most players will overlook it (because the odds of a day "in game" falling on one of these holidays is slim).

Overall, this book is exactly what a Player Companion should be.  It provides a clear, readable, and interesting introduction to an important element of the campaign setting, it gives useful advice on how to portray and interact with that element, and it introduces some "crunch" options that aren't unbalancing.  Apart from the "too fast to be good" problem in relation to racial pantheons and Empyreal Lords, Faiths of Purity is a winner.

SFS # 1-01 "The Commencement" [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

The Commencement is the first "regular" scenario released for the launch of the Starfinder Society organized play program.  As a replayable "evergreen", it's designed to have some randomly-determined elements so each play-through is at least a little bit different.  Its premise is that the PCs are the first batch of trainees to graduate since the Scoured Stars incident left the Society in ruin.  As part of their commencement, new graduates are expected to meet with the heads of the various factions that make up the Society.  Thus, the theme of the scenario is factions, and players should leave the session with a better idea of what the different factions are all about.  Structurally, the scenario is made-up of our four missions that the PCs can tackle in any order.  Although starship combat is absent, there's otherwise a lot of variety in the tasks--with an emphasis on role-playing.  I ran this for five Level 1 PCs (3 Iconics and 2 originals).

  Overall, I'd have to rate the scenario as average.  It does serve to introduce players to the concept of the Starfinder Society, its factions, and its home (Absalom Station).  But although a couple of the missions have memorable aspects, it falls a little flat as a whole.  These Starfinder Society scenarios are the best way Paizo currently has to showcase the "feel" of the universe it's creating, and unfortunately that "feel" comes across as rather generic and (surprisingly) silly at times.  As family-friendly, relatively straightforward entertainment, The Commencement is fine; anyone looking for edgy, thought-provoking, or original adventure elements will probably be disappointed.

SPOILERS

The Commencement starts with the PCs being summoned to the office of Guidance, "the Starfinder Society's compiled intelligence of Starfinder personalities."  From the very get-go, we have a really cool concept--an artificial composite of Starfinders!--that is let down in the execution.  There's no details provided about Guidance, such as what it sounds like, how Starfinders are selected for inclusion (is it when they die, or can the living be included?), how it resolves arguments amongst its personalities, etc.  Because of the lack of detail, a great idea comes across rather flat.  Anyway, Guidance congratulates the PCs on graduating and tells them the next stage of their membership in the Society is to meet with the heads of the Society's four factions.  Each faction head will have a task for them to complete--in the past, this was mostly ceremonial, but given how short-handed the Society is, these tasks are now anything but.  When the PCs are done, they're to report back to Guidance.  I thought this was a solid explanation for why the PCs should meet the various faction heads, and a good way for them to learn more about them.  The one thing that struck me as curious is that only four factions are represented: the Acquisitives, the Exo-Guardians, the Dataphiles, and the Wayfinders.  This leaves the Second Seekers faction out, and Guidance makes no mention as to why.  Since this mission is intended to teach players about the factions for organized play, it's an odd omission.  Anyway, the PCs are told they can meet with the faction heads in any order.  This is fine from a replayability standpoint, but it does create some odd timeline discrepancies because some of the missions themselves are time-sensitive once started.  My players figured this out, and they had to suspend some disbelief because of it.

Mission # 1 is for the Acquisitives faction, and it's a Phantom Menace style pod race!  Technically it's called a "junk race", but the idea is exactly the same.  The premise is that a young Starfinder Society mechanic named Laboni bragged publicly that she could beat the reigning champion (a Ysoki named Ratrod), and Ratrod has told her to put up or shut up.  The challenge is all over the infosphere, and the Society will face major embarrassment if Laboni doesn't do well.  The problem is that Laboni is only an average mechanic and not skilled at all with racing, so the PCs are dispatched to help her out.  I really like the pre-race part of the mission, as the PCs are given several options around trying to improve Laboni's vehicle, finding out the strengths and weaknesses of the other racers, trying to make allies or psych them out through trash-talking, etc.  PCs with a wide variety of skill sets are useful, and the advantages are all cumulative (but quite important) for the race to come.  The competitors are all given distinct personalities and racing styles, which adds a lot to the fun.  For the race itself, one PC pilots Laboni's racer via remote control, while the others operate its guns (shooting at other vehicles is okay by the rules of the race).  The rules for the race were very well balanced and made for a tight, exciting finish (my PCs finished third).  It's not easy to create a quality rules sub-system, but the author of the scenario really hit it out of the park here and it's something I could see being reused in the future.  I only have two qualms.  First, the GM is rolling a *lot* of dice during the race (Pilot and Gunnery checks for each of the several NPC racers), while some of the players end up just watching because there's not enough for them to do with Laboni's vehicle.  Next time around, a mechanism that put each of the PCs in control of their own junk racer would go over better.  Second, the scenario doesn't make it clear enough to the players that the goal isn't just to beat Ratrod, but to win the entire race.  If they (understandably) focus on the former, they have a good chance of missing out on the latter and losing the mission through a mistaken impression of its victory conditions.

Mission # 2 is for the Dataphiles faction.  The faction's leader, an android named Historia-7, has discovered that a hacker has stolen (annoyingly unspecified) information from an (annoying unspecified) corporation, and that the PCs should find the hacker and bring them and the data in before the corporation gets there.  The mission's premise puts the PCs into shady territory immediately, and one of my players, running a Lawful Good character, understandably balked.  This is another part of the scenario where more explanation is needed about a) why that information is so important; b) why the Stewards can't be called in protect that person; c) why/whether/how corporations really have complete autonomy to carry out vigilante justice on Absalom Station, etc.  It all goes to how this new world "operates", and the scenario just hand waves it.  Anyway, the PCs discover that the hacker is actually an old woman with a degenerative brain condition which makes it so she doesn't even remember doing the hacking!  It's a reasonably clever twist.  The next part is a bit harder: the old lady insists on going on the run, and the PCs are supposed to come to the idea of faking her death and setting her up with a new identity.  The scenario then assumes they'll let the old lady go off on her own and meet the PCs later so they can arrive just in time to stop an ambush from corporate thugs.  For my players at least, that was definitely not their first inclination--they wanted to take the old woman directly back Historia-7, as instructed.  A good GM can bend things to make it (mostly) work, but it would have been better if this part of the scenario was play-tested more so there was a "What if the PCs . . ." sidebar.

Mission # 3 is for the Exo-Guardians, and their leader, a surprisingly perky Shirren named Zigvigix.  Zigvigix has two things he wants the PCs to do: 1) oust a dangerous alien predator from a warehouse that will be the new HQ of the faction; and 2) stand in line to buy a hard copy of a limited release musical album named "Star Sugar Heartlove!!" performed by a group called Strawberry Machine Cake (Zigvigix wants the album as a gift for Historia-7 to cheer her up).  The first task is classic adventurer stuff, and the predator is pretty cool (with randomized abilities).  I especially liked the map of the warehouse.  The second task is amazingly popular in the forums, though I thought it was all too silly.  I may be entering grumpy middle-age, but again, I like my fiction more Nine Inch Nails than Aqua.

The final mission is for the Wayfinders, and has the PCs investigating strange power outages aboard the faction's massive vessel, The Master of Stars.  There's a subplot involving a couple of kids who have sneaked away from their daycare, and their "pet", an alien who is unintentionally causing trouble by eating bits of the ship.  The PCs can capture the alien with a few successful skill rolls, and apparently they can keep trying without penalty so there's very little tension in the mission.  The only way they can fail is by killing it.  I like the moral of the mission (Wayfinders are all about finding strange, new life, after all), but again it was all a bit saccharine for my tastes.

As a replayable scenario, I think The Commencement is not in the league of The Confirmation.  Although the missions can be done in any order and there are a few minor spots where the GM can randomly determine things, there aren't entirely randomly-determined encounters or story beats.  As an introduction to the concept of factions, I think it's okay.  The goals of each faction are reflected well in the tasks that the PCs are asked to perform, and the faction heads are definitely unique--although in surprisingly upbeat moods given the whole "Scoured Stars" backdrop to the season.  All in all, I would say it's an okay, though certainly not spectacular, debut.

Rise of the Runelords Recap # 27 [RPG]

[7 Neth 4707 continued]

Inside the ominous confines of Foxglove Manor, the adventurers pause to let a disturbing revelation sink in: with the sun setting and thousands of skeletal ravens outside, they may have to spend the night in the house!  Artemis is especially concerned and even raises the idea of mounting the horses and making a run for it.  Bey and Briza, however, are more inclined to risk staying.  The discussion continues for some time, but an even more pressing concern exists: what to do about Arnald, now securely bound, who remains convinced he is Kasandra Foxglove!  After raising and discarding various plans, the adventurers finally settle on trusting in a particular incantation revealed to Bey during her last mystery-trance: a spell to hide the group from undead.  The plan is for Bey to mystically shield the adventurers from the gaze of the undead ravens so that she and Arnald can step outside to see if fulfilling the object of “Kasandra’s” desire ends the spiritual possession.  The group decides, however, that the experiment shouldn’t be made at the front door but at the other entrance noticed on their approach to The Misgivings.

Briza shoulders open a door to a hallway and notices a pile of dead flies in a dusty corner.  As she watches, some of them twitch and then their wings start to move, and they lazily wind their way into the air!  The group is worried enough that Kang decides to deal with the problem in a startling way: he takes a small vial from his belt, shakes it, and hurls it into the hallway.  Suddenly a large blast of green flame shakes the house!  The flies are disintegrated, but the horses, still tethered nearby in the entrance hall, begin to buck and kick.  Fortunately, no one is hurt and the horses are eventually calmed down.

Creepy piano in The Misgivings

A door on the opposite side of the hallway leads to an oak-panelled chamber that, once upon a time, must have been a beautiful oak-panelled parlour for entertaining guests.  But the warped floorboards, mold-covered panelling, and long-dormant grand piano in the corner testify to how difficult it would be to restore Foxglove Manor to its former glories.  The explorers feel a brief, gut-wrenching sensation of impending apocalypse as Bey draws upon her mysterious powers to shield them from the animate dead, and they put their plan into motion.  It works perfectly: the creatures outside see the outer door being opened, but are unable to detect the presence of Arnald and Bey.  Arnald immediately comes to his senses, and, once back safely inside, is set free of his restraints.

With at least that problem solved, the adventurers hurry to continue their explorations before night truly falls.  They continue down the hallway and, behind Briza’s strong shoulder, burst into a simple washroom.  Strange, furtive scratching sounds can be heard coming from an ancient metal washtub in the room, but no one is anxious to see what’s causing it.  The adventurers shut the door and agree to head for the basement since “Kasandra”, while seemingly possessing Arnald, was worried about her husband Vorel’s activities there.  As they cross the entrance hall and check on the mounts, the subject of past encounters with horrific sights arises.  Without hesitation, Kang shares that he once turned someone inside out.  From the looks the others give him, they’re not sure whether or not he’s joking.  The fact that he continually refers to Briza as his “assistant” lends support to the notion that he’s certainly an unusual addition to the group.  For his part, Artemis talks about once seeing someone trapped in a burning building, and how the memory continues to haunt him to this day.

Rats!  Why'd it have to be rats?

The stairs to the basement lead to a large kitchen dominated by a massive oaken table, its surface covered with mold and rat droppings.  An oversized fireplace, cupboards, and shelves line the walls, but Briza notices wide cracks in one wall near the floor.  The adventurers discuss what could have caused the cracks and soon hear the swelling sound of squeaking getting louder and louder.  Suddenly, from out of the cracks, hundreds of oily, diseased looking rats pour out!  Kang reacts instantly, however, tossing another explosive vial that decimates most of the swarm!  Artemis cleans up the few survivors with his archery skills.  Although the air is pungent with the sickening smell of smouldering rat corpses, no one was hurt in the sudden eruption of violence.

The explorations continue.  A room adjacent to the kitchen turns out to be servants’ quarters, while another doorway leads to a long hallway that winds around to stop at a strong, locked iron door.  Artemis tries out a skeleton key he’d brought along for obstacles like this, and finds that it fits the lock perfectly!  The door had barred access to what, in the eyes of anyone with a smattering of training in the area, was obviously once the personal workshop of a devotee of arcane spellcraft.  A row of soggy books sits on one end of a long workbench, while, on the other end, are three iron birdcages each containing a dead, diseased-looking rat.  Two stained-glass windows on one curved wall testify that the house was cleverly built to take advantage of being built on the edge of a cliff.  One of the windows depicts a thin man with gaunt features drinking a foul-looking brew of green fluid, while the other shows the same man but in an advanced state of decay, as if dead for weeks, but also, somehow, simultaneously alive and exuberant in triumph.

Artemis examines the books and can tell they’re all on the forbidden art of necromancy.  Arnald enters and scoops up one of the birdcages.  Out of the corner of their eyes, Artemis and Briza notice that the figures in the glass seem to almost be moving and sneering at them.  Artemis fires an arrow, shattering one of the windows.  Briza runs for the hallway, but suddenly receives an overwhelming urge to examine the books on the workbench and rushes back into the room.  She then freezes in place as visions pour through her mind.  She experiences Vorel Foxglove’s quest to become immortal by existing beyond death in the blasphemous form of a lich.  She witnesses him researching for years before finding a way; hiding his own soul away in a seven-sided box; and finally consuming a final concoction before double over in agony as his body begins to rot away.  But then she experiences his burning rage that he’s been stopped before the ritual could be fully completed!  And then she’s no longer Vorel, but someone who thought she loved him, filled with shame that someone she’s committed herself to could do something so unthinkable to himself.  Briza starts to race out of the room, fully convinced she has to find her child and get out of the house before her husband can stop her!

The others rush out of the room and shut the door behind them, aware that the flapping of thousands of wings means the ghastly ravens have taken flight and are headed towards the broken window.  Kang steps in front of Briza on the staircase to the main floor, intending to try to calm her down, but she thinks he’s Vorel Foxglove and lashes out with her greatsword!  Kang staggers out of her way, bleeding.  Someone shouts to stop Briza before she can hurt herself, so Artemis tries to trip her but fails and narrowly avoids losing his head from the return strike.  Briza is by far the fastest member of the group, and she takes the stairs two at a time until she reaches the main floor, and then she races up to the second floor.  She rounds a corner and chops down the door to a mold-infested bedroom none of the adventurers have been in before. 

For a brief moment, Briza is herself again—she realizes there is no child here, and that she’s been under the effect of some kind of delusion.  But then she hears a child’s voice, quivering with fear, asking her “What’s on your face, mommy?”  Briza can feel her face erupt in a tangled mass of tumours and boils and can’t help but claw at herself.  When the others arrive, they see only the damage that Briza is doing by literally clawing the skin off her own face!  Kang instantly sets to work formulating an alchemical extract to partially repair the damage, while Arnald tries to pin Briza’s arms but is violently repulsed.  Bey and Artemis try to reason with her, and Artemis seems to be getting through, when another sudden fit of hysteria leads to Briza collapsing entirely.  Her face is in utter, disfiguring shambles and her hands are covered in her own blood and bits of flesh.  Kang pours his special concoction down Briza’s throat, and she stirs.  Between his and Bey’s spellcasting, much of the damage Briza has done to herself is repaired and she realizes just how strange she’d been acting.

Just a scant few hours within the walls of Foxglove Manor has brought terror and madness to the would-be saviours of Sandpoint.  Although yet another crisis is over, night has truly fallen.  Will the evils within The Misgivings become even stronger in the darkness?

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

Another great session inside the very-haunted Foxglove Manor.  I think the bit with the clouds of dead flies reanimating was something I added just for background effect, but seeing them blown up with an alchemist's bomb was fun.  The use of hide from undead in order to get Arnald outside safely was quite clever, and worked perfectly.

The big sequence to end the session, with Briza getting possessed, racing (and fighting) past her allies to run upstairs, and then clawing her face off because it was "covered with mold" was fantastic.  I couldn't have scripted it better, and I think it added to the memorable ghastliness of Foxglove Manor.  Once again, the idea of "haunts" as a game concept were a great way to impart backstory without slowing the session to a crawl of exposition.

XSE (Marvel) (Ltd. 1996) [COMICS]

Ah, the mid-1990s.  My high school years, when I stepped away from comics for a hiatus and didn't come back until college.  Think of how many convoluted story lines, ridiculously large guns, and skintight suits with pockets everywhere that I missed!  But although I wasn't present for that glorious era in comics, I can revisit it now to see what I missed.

XSE was a four-issue limited series written by John Ostrander that rode the long (and still enduring) popularity of all things X-Men related.  The initials stand for "Xavier's Security Enforcers", which is a group of mutants in a future timeline that help keep the peace in the post-Sentinel world where mutants and humans largely get along.  The series stars Bishop, a mutant capable of absorbing and unleashing energy, and his dead sister Shard who is now a hologram.  Hey, comics!

Issue # 1 starts things off immediately with an appropriately confusing sequence.  Bishop is in the "present-day" Danger Room showing holo-Shard holograms from the future of an evil mutant named Virago fighting XSE.  We then have a sequence of what are best described as "future flashbacks" that provide some backstory to Bishop's and Shard's lives in the future.  It's all a very disjointed and poorly plotted framing story that makes a lot more sense now than it did when I was reading it.  The artwork is classic 1990s terrible, with even the coloring inconsistent.  I really hope something like XSE wasn't someone's first exposure to comics, as that person would have no clue what these strangely distorted, vaguely human-like figures were talking about.

Issue # 2 starts with another "future flashback" to when young Bishop and Shard were cadets at the XSE and attacked by mutant vampires called Emplates.  Shard's mutant powers are triggered and Bishop rallies the other kids until help arrives.  The incident leads to Bishop becoming the youngest XSE officer in (future) history.  We then get a new scene: Bishop's first meeting with other XSE officers, Malcolm and Randall, whom he apparently led into battle where they died.  It's starting to make *slightly* more sense, but it's not more enjoyable.

In Issue # 3, present-day Bishop and holo-Shard watch a hologram of them capturing a dangerous mutant named Mountjoy, and how it led to Shard's promotion.  In the future timeline, she uses the opportunity to develop a hologram-based prototype field agent, but the technology fails and she and Bishop argue about it.  We then have another future flashback to Shard dating someone named Fitzroy.  Again, it's all very disjointed--maybe it's filling in continuity gaps that hardcore X-Men fans would appreciate?  You have to commit to the X-Men like a Talmudic scholar during the late 80s and 90s in order to figure out what's going on, so it's possible.  Anyway, the issue ends with the big explanation of how Shard dies: Fitzroy was evil and betrayed her to the vampiric Emplates.

In Issue # 4, future-flashback Bishop confronts his now dead and now evil sister who has been turned by the Emplates.  He's forced to destroy her, but rushes the body to the lab so he can use the hologram technology she created to replicate her.  The issue then rushes through a bunch of stuff I have no idea about (something about Gambit in the future being "The Witness", and someone called Shackle?).  The mini-series ends with Bishop deciding that Shard should stay with X-Factor instead of joining him on the X-Men.

Wasn't that enlightening for all concerned?

The Buffy Comic Project: "A Stake to the Heart, Act 2" [COMICS]

Buffy the Vampire Slayer # 61
(Dark Horse, Volume 1, 1998-2003)


Creators:  Fabian Nicieza (story); Cliff Richards (pencils); Brian Horton (paints); Will Conrad (inks); Michelle Madsen (colors); Clem Robins (letters)

Setting:  Between Movie & Season 1

T.V./Movie Character Appearances:  Buffy, Angel, Whistler, Joyce, Dawn, Hank Summers, Lilah Morgan, Giles, Principal Flutie, Cordelia, Harmony, Jesse,

Major Original Characters:  Nil.

Summary:  In the aftermath of her parents' split, Dawn tries to cope with feeling that she's blame.  Angel tells Whistler they have to do something to contain the rest of the "malignancy demons", and Whistler says he'll figure something out: which turns out to be making a deal with Lilah Morgan from Wolfram & Hart!  Meanwhile, Giles pulls some strings to land the librarian position at Sunnydale High, Cordelia and Harmony make fun of Jesse for shoplifting (he can't afford a birthday present for his mother), and Buffy overcomes feelings of guilt for not being able to save everyone which leads to the malignancy demon of guilt dissolving into a pool of goo.

Review

The summary doesn't do this issue justice.  It packs a punch--to the gut.  Anyone who's been through a divorce will sympathise with the emotional turbulence in this issue.  I think this is one of the best of the series, and this story arc as a whole is a great way to end the run.  The issue is also chock full of small but effective moments with supporting characters.  It's really good stuff.

Notes

* There's a female vampire who uses Darla's shtick from the opening moments of the very first Buffy episode.  I'm tempted to think it is her, but it's just not clear.

*  I like the clever tie-in with Whistler being the one to set Wolfram & Hart on the path to noticing Angelus.

Next Issue

Vehicles (Pathfinder Map Pack) [RPG]

Vehicles is a very different map pack than the norm.  Instead of tiles that fit together to create a landscape suitable for an encounter, the 18 sheets in this pack are designed to be cut apart and placed on top of other flip-mats or map packs.  Everything from beasts of burden to boats to various carts are included.

Two of the sheets are full of mounts: common mounts like horses and ponies, quite unusual mounts like rhinos and giant geckos, and even a full pack of sled dogs.  Four full sheets are of different chariots, so I guess you'd be all set if you need a classic Ben Hur scene.  One sheet has a couple of sleds for the aforementioned sled dogs, another is a couple of hang gliders (!), and three are devoted to a top down view of what the back describes as a "steam giant" (a gearwork construct of some kind?--it's hard to tell with a top-down interior view).  Of
much more mundane origin (but surely more common use) are a rowboat and then two sheets that can be taped together to make a keelboat/river barge.  Last, and best, are three sheets each containing two different types of wagons, carts, and carriages.

It feels really weird cutting up a product like this, but the results look a lot nicer than I could draw or find on the Internet.  Importantly, they're sized appropriately for a 5" grid so character minis match up.  Things like the carts and mounts are perfect for PCs, but they also serve well as added background colour to urban or road encounters.  As a GM, I used the keelboat for several consecutive sessions when the PCs were making a long river voyage and it was great.

If I had complaints, it's that this was one of the map packs that was released before the line started appearing in boxed-form, so once the pieces are cut out, they're harder to store.  A second criticism is that too many sheets are devoted to weird or off-beat things like the "steam giant", hang gliders, etc.

On the whole though, I was surprised by how useful this product was--it's definitely something I've gotten a lot of use out of in the few months I've owned it, and it's made my encounters clearer and more "professional" looking.  I'd grab one before it goes out of print!