The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I don't expect much from these kinds of books, especially anything with the word "complete" in it. The Fantasy genre is already ill-defined, there's nothing complete about it. To create a book, and a slim one at 277 pages, that adequately covers the integral components of fantasy, seemed highly unrealistic.

But that's precisely because the Fantasy genre is so ill-defined. This book doesn't pretend to cover it all, but it does do an excellent job of classifying and categorizing just what Fantasy is, what it could be, and what it should be. It's divided into ten chapters.

Traditional Fantasy Cultures

This includes your typical medieval stuff: knights, castles, feudalism. A list of terms are provided in alphabetical, encylopedic fashion accompanied by clean black-and-white artwork. This is standard fare for most Fantasy Game Masters.

World Cultures

This is where things get interesting. Whenever there is a word with a unique definition, it is listed in bold. If you tend to scan more than read, this makes the text very accessible. The world cultures aren't covered in great depth, but they provide enough hooks to get Game Masters interested in doing their own research. Each culture's Art/Science, Government, Military, Economy, and Religion are described.

Magic

This section takes an unflinching look at magic, not from a fantasy perspective but from a very serious modern one. Types of magic are explored, forms of magic are explained, and secret societies that practiced magic are detailed. This provides a healthy dose of magical culture into campaigns that often seem strangely devoid of belief systems because magic is considered a science rather than a spiritual belief system.

Witchcraft and Pagan Paths

This is one of the most entertaining parts of the book. A bunch of New Age groups are admittedly generalized (several seem to have sprung up as college jokes and transformed into religions, go figure), and the variety of withcraft traditions are examined, old and new. It's a refreshing and comprehensive approach to the typical presentation of witchcraft in a fantasy setting -- usually witchcraft is portrayed as either holy and good, or evil and sinful. Witchcraft is presented as all of these things and none of them, letting the reader decide.

Commerce, Trade and Law In Contemporary Fantasy

A lot of professions are detailed here, which covers the Commerce section. This is most of the chapter. Trade gets two pages, and "Law", if you can call it that, is a list of tortures and punishments. It is exceptionally difficult to get a good description of what a medieval town's legal system was like, such as ranks and the process of prosecution. In light of space considerations, this chapter should have been renamed "Commerce, Trade and Torture In Contemporary Fantasy."

Fantasy Races

This is the section every gamer worth his or her dice knows about. It's a good introduction for new role-players who have never played in a fantasy setting. It also tries to provide some general frameworks for the non-traditional but ever-present non-humanoid races, like trolls, fairies, merfolk, etc. As always, it provides some tantalizing possibilities for new races.

Creatures of Myth and Legend

An alphabetical listing of creatures? Sheeyah right! A whole twenty pages with a few lines on each creature. Standard fare for fantasy overviews, but hardly comprehensive. While Manticore is in there (a fairly exotic beast), Cockatrice and Basilisk are not.

Dress and Costume

Ever wonder what clothing your character is really wearing? Well he'd better be from Medieval times, because that's all this section details. Even so, there's a lot of material to cover, conveniently presented in alphabetical entries according to materials, colors, women's, men's, etc. It's not nearly as useful as "The Writer's Guid to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages," but it's a start.

Arms, Armor and Armies

The Arms section leaves much to be desired, because again, there's simply too much to adequately cover. The Armor section is superb, with detailing of the armor locations and diagrams to match. Finally! Is it so hard for any medieval fantasy game to have a diagram of full plate armor explaining what each piece is? Then there's the Armies section, which gives an excellent overview of army types and terms. Weirdly enough, although most of the terms are from Roman and Macedonian armies, I was quite pleased to see the "real Amazons" listed under bluderbuss woman as the elite female corps commanded by the king of Dahomey, Africa. These kinds of informational gems are what make this book so much fun to read as well as a goldmine of adventure ideas. Okay, so they called the Amazon swordswomen "Razor Women" instead of "Nyek-ple-nen-toh Women," but the glossed-over treatment is pardonable in a compendium of this size.

Anatomy of a Castle

Similar to the previous chapter, castles are addressed in encyclopedic fashion. Which isn't a bad thing, as this is a particularly spartan area in TWGTELITMA (see above, I'm not spelling that monstrosity out again). It's enough information to at least give a Game Master an idea of what a castle's made of.

The cover advertises this book as "indispensible." Is it indispensible to gamers? It depends on who you are. I've gamed long enough to have low expectations for these kinds of introductory books, but it really does cover the basics. In fact, I'd go so far as to suggest this book would be an excellent companion to the rulebook of any fantasy role-playing game for both player and Game Master alike. Game Masters can get a jillion ideas from all that bolded text, and players will be able to fill in gaps in role-playing their characters. It provides the important, yet often overlooked, information that many fantasy games simply can't afford to print. All that, and it's an entertaining read for experienced gamers and those new to fantasy.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference
Author: Introduction by Terry Brooks Category: Book Company/Publisher: Writer's Digest Books Line: Writer's Guides Cost: $18.99 Page count: 277 ISBN: 0-89879-866-3 Capsule Review by Michael Tresca on 06/05/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Historical	I don't expect much from these kinds of books, especially anything with the word "complete" in it. The Fantasy genre is already ill-defined, there's nothing complete about it. To create a book, and a slim one at 277 pages, that adequately covers the integral components of fantasy, seemed highly unrealistic. But that's precisely because the Fantasy genre is so ill-defined. This book doesn't pretend to cover it all, but it does do an excellent job of classifying and categorizing just what Fantasy is, what it could be, and what it should be. It's divided into ten chapters. Traditional Fantasy Cultures This includes your typical medieval stuff: knights, castles, feudalism. A list of terms are provided in alphabetical, encylopedic fashion accompanied by clean black-and-white artwork. This is standard fare for most Fantasy Game Masters. World Cultures This is where things get interesting. Whenever there is a word with a unique definition, it is listed in bold. If you tend to scan more than read, this makes the text very accessible. The world cultures aren't covered in great depth, but they provide enough hooks to get Game Masters interested in doing their own research. Each culture's Art/Science, Government, Military, Economy, and Religion are described. Magic This section takes an unflinching look at magic, not from a fantasy perspective but from a very serious modern one. Types of magic are explored, forms of magic are explained, and secret societies that practiced magic are detailed. This provides a healthy dose of magical culture into campaigns that often seem strangely devoid of belief systems because magic is considered a science rather than a spiritual belief system. Witchcraft and Pagan Paths This is one of the most entertaining parts of the book. A bunch of New Age groups are admittedly generalized (several seem to have sprung up as college jokes and transformed into religions, go figure), and the variety of withcraft traditions are examined, old and new. It's a refreshing and comprehensive approach to the typical presentation of witchcraft in a fantasy setting -- usually witchcraft is portrayed as either holy and good, or evil and sinful. Witchcraft is presented as all of these things and none of them, letting the reader decide. Commerce, Trade and Law In Contemporary Fantasy A lot of professions are detailed here, which covers the Commerce section. This is most of the chapter. Trade gets two pages, and "Law", if you can call it that, is a list of tortures and punishments. It is exceptionally difficult to get a good description of what a medieval town's legal system was like, such as ranks and the process of prosecution. In light of space considerations, this chapter should have been renamed "Commerce, Trade and Torture In Contemporary Fantasy." Fantasy Races This is the section every gamer worth his or her dice knows about. It's a good introduction for new role-players who have never played in a fantasy setting. It also tries to provide some general frameworks for the non-traditional but ever-present non-humanoid races, like trolls, fairies, merfolk, etc. As always, it provides some tantalizing possibilities for new races. Creatures of Myth and Legend An alphabetical listing of creatures? Sheeyah right! A whole twenty pages with a few lines on each creature. Standard fare for fantasy overviews, but hardly comprehensive. While Manticore is in there (a fairly exotic beast), Cockatrice and Basilisk are not. Dress and Costume Ever wonder what clothing your character is really wearing? Well he'd better be from Medieval times, because that's all this section details. Even so, there's a lot of material to cover, conveniently presented in alphabetical entries according to materials, colors, women's, men's, etc. It's not nearly as useful as "The Writer's Guid to Everyday Life in the Middle Ages," but it's a start. Arms, Armor and Armies The Arms section leaves much to be desired, because again, there's simply too much to adequately cover. The Armor section is superb, with detailing of the armor locations and diagrams to match. Finally! Is it so hard for any medieval fantasy game to have a diagram of full plate armor explaining what each piece is? Then there's the Armies section, which gives an excellent overview of army types and terms. Weirdly enough, although most of the terms are from Roman and Macedonian armies, I was quite pleased to see the "real Amazons" listed under bluderbuss woman as the elite female corps commanded by the king of Dahomey, Africa. These kinds of informational gems are what make this book so much fun to read as well as a goldmine of adventure ideas. Okay, so they called the Amazon swordswomen "Razor Women" instead of "Nyek-ple-nen-toh Women," but the glossed-over treatment is pardonable in a compendium of this size. Anatomy of a Castle Similar to the previous chapter, castles are addressed in encyclopedic fashion. Which isn't a bad thing, as this is a particularly spartan area in TWGTELITMA (see above, I'm not spelling that monstrosity out again). It's enough information to at least give a Game Master an idea of what a castle's made of. The cover advertises this book as "indispensible." Is it indispensible to gamers? It depends on who you are. I've gamed long enough to have low expectations for these kinds of introductory books, but it really does cover the basics. In fact, I'd go so far as to suggest this book would be an excellent companion to the rulebook of any fantasy role-playing game for both player and Game Master alike. Game Masters can get a jillion ideas from all that bolded text, and players will be able to fill in gaps in role-playing their characters. It provides the important, yet often overlooked, information that many fantasy games simply can't afford to print. All that, and it's an entertaining read for experienced gamers and those new to fantasy. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Writer's Complete Fantasy Reference