 |
Gordon F. at Xenagia writes this review:
The Upside:
Of Dice & Pen is a collection of short stories written by game designers. Being game designers means they spend their lives thinking up new ideas for other people to play around with. Making this an interesting collection of various genres. Indeed the stories in the book are literally all over the place as far as genre is concerned. Twenty five solid stories grace the pages of this book.
E. Gary Gygax & K.R. Bourgoine - A Wizard's Thief. One of Gygax's last works, the last tale of Gord The Thief. Gord, his barbarian friend Chert, and their newly found companion the lovely thief Andryll are caught in a wizard's trap in a classic Fantasy story. With the kind of traps only Gygax could imagine.
Chris Clark - A Christmas Story. A lone mechanic keeps the spirit of christmas alive in a cold, standoffish future. Bad Day At The Office is a great little science fiction piece about trying to find out too much, this one reminds me of reading all the great sci-fi stories from the 50s and 60s. Beaurocracy is a cautionary tail of covering your own tracks for personal profit and the aftermath of bad paperwork. The Sweet Silence Of Solitude, another science-fiction piece, this one with a slightly odd and humorous twist at the end. All four of these stories have a sense of wonder in them that a lot of modern fiction seems to have lost.
Lisa Steenson - Space 28. Sometimes you can get a little too entrenched in your research for authenticity. A humorous tale of a game designer getting in over her head.
Matt Forbeck - Prometheus Unwound. The only Superhero story in the book. Sometimes, just sometimes, the burden of great power and great responsibility can be a little too much, especially when coupled with great tragedy.
Carey Grayson - The Vegiterian. This piece of fiction is hard to classify, a tale of a young man's dedication to his cause and the final shock of the afterlife that awaits him.
Andrew Looney - Message In A Bottle. This is one of my personal favorites in the book, because every once in a while I wonder if maybe I'm not in someone else's dream. Delusions Of Hunger, a humorous story about a quest to get something to eat in the wee hours. The Emperor Must Die! is another favorite, a story about the emperor of the universe, his assassination, and the real powers behind the throne.
Graeme Thomson - Under The Tuscan Snow. I'm not sure this one is actually fiction, either way it's certainly the most humorous story in the book.
James L. Cambias - Murder In Messidor. A murder mystery set in a religiously oppressive future, that seems an oddly dark reflection of the present times. Mysteries can be hard to do in short form, this one holds up admirably.
Thomas Rafalski - A Taint Upon The Kingdom. Another rather classic fantasy story, a group of adventurer's happen upon a small village being terrorized by a werewolf. Well, the very first werewolf in existence it seems, a rather good origin story for the monster, not to mention an amazing level of character depth for multiple protagonists in such a short piece.
Tim Pelzel - The Sweetness Of Suffering. A science-fiction offering, sci-nauts who manipulate the raw elements are pitted against a nefarious enemy who wish to control them. Mostly it's about a couple of kids looking for a place to swim though. The only complaint on this story is it feels oddly like reading the novelization of a video or card game in parts.
Elizabeth T. Danforth - Imp Possible Situations. A sworn hero, a mage with a nasty temper, and an imp that wants out of hell, permanently. Another solid entry in the Fantasy genre, sword and sorcery mixed with a good solid bit of humor.
Andy Vetromile - Fear Of Success. A short story about a short story author, and a bit of a murder mystery twisted into it. After reading this I will not being angering any short story authors any time soon.
Jason Walters - Lefty Sanchez Reporting. A good solid dose of Pulp Action. Reporter Lefty Sanchez teams up with the costumed adventurer The Grey Guardian as they fight the newly arrived Yakuza in San Fransisco's seedy underbelly.
David Waino - Homecoming. This first story is a solid military sci-fi story involving a single Scout and a deadly game of cat and mouse with an assassin in his now bombed out hometown. The Legend Of Santa Claus, this piece adds a whole new twist to the (not so) jolly old fellow and his origins.
Patrick Matthews - The Queens Gambit. A noir mystery complete with the femme fatale, the persistent gumshoe and the blackmailing of an old jeweler with a hidden past.
Curt Covery - PSY_JACK. Another science fiction entry, this one involving a secret so deadly that every psionic espionage agent in the world invades the mind of one crafty scientist to get it.
Rick Loomis - Xavier & The Genie. The last fantasy entry in the book is, appropriately enough, about starting on a grand adventure for riches, power and fame. One of the more creative twists on the Genie In The Lamp themes I've ever read.
Lee Kamberos - The Darkside Of Choice. A good solid Cyberpunk story about mercenaries and revenge. The only complaint here is that the story isn't just written with an RPG in mind, it seems to be written half in RPG Mechanical Terms, which leaves a bad aftertaste to what it otherwise a really good story.
Catherine G Thomson - The Book Sorter. This is another hard to place story, it's part exposition, part tragedy. We get a glimpse into the life of a woman who spends her saturday mornings sorting books for an annual sale all summer and fall imagining the lives of those who donated them. We get a glimpse of a past tragedy of bad choices and some regret.
Overall, the collection of stories in this volume are diverse, well written and give us another look at how game designers think.
The Downside:
Only two of the stories sounded a little less like stories and little more like the an fictional introduction piece to a gaming book. And even those were at least well written.
The biggest complaint one could possibly have is that since the collections theme is Stories By Gamer Designers there's no genre or theme to follow through the book. Making it feel a bit all over the place if you try and sit down and read it all straight through.
The Otherside:
The books sole real downside is also its greatest asset, there's such a good diversity of genres that there is bound to be at least three or four stories anyone would really enjoy. It's almost the perfect airplane book, since you do get that variety that prevents the book from becoming a bit monotonous as some single genre collections can do.
Link: http://www.xenagia.net/reviews/archive/0/55.phtml
Rating:  [4 of 5 Stars!] |
|
|
