Back before Christmas, I was sent a copy of
The Complete Griselda by
Issaries, Inc. Issaries, Inc. to review. This is a 224 pg volume, with the same shape as other
Hero Wars releases. The exterior looks decent, with a nice B&W line art picture of Griselda (one assumes) on it. The interior font is san-serif and decently sized, so there's no squinting. Being only 224 pgs, the book seems to hold up better than some of the thicker
Hero Wars rules books I own. It's an okay design, but not particularly flashy.
The contents of The Complete Griselda are short stories about Griselda, a capable red headed adventurer in the ruined city of Pavis. They're about her, but told from the point of view of a street-level, small time operator. We aren't shown Griselda in action, so much as we're told about the outcome of her actions. As the book itself points out, and as was clearly the author's intention, the effect is Runyon-esque. This includes the language, which has a modern and urban rhythm. These are not tales filled with 'thee' and 'thou' and other Old English affectations. Instead, the stories snap with wit and patter. It's an interesting effect; there's almost a dissonance between the topic (sword swinging heroine deals with fantasy dangers) and the delivery ('40s rapid fire patter).
The stories are a great deal of fun to read. While I'm familiar with Glorantha, I think there's enough humor and wit in them to appeal to anyone. They're also full of little ideas and bits that would be fun to include in any fantasy (or even non-fantasy) game. For example, the following bit immediately struck me as a perfect way to write up NPCs my players might meet:
"This Carver Donan is a big, muscular guy from away down south and west, where folks aren't very civilized, and because he want's more action than he can get stealing the next tribe's sheep he goes a-wandering and fetches up in Pavis. He is still a young guy, but aleady he has quite a reputation for mayhem, and few citizens want part of him, for he carries a great big blade like an overgrown butcher's knife, and he gets his nickname from what he likes to do with the blade when he gets excited, and Carver Donan can get excited very easily." -- Carving Up Carver
I think it would be fairly easy to loot character and story ideas out of each story. This turns the book into a decent to good source for gaming. The Runyon pastiche is very good, which just adds to the fun. As an added bonus, Issaries has included a short introduction to Glorantha. I found this introduction very effective in getting across the basics of the world and I'm tempted to use it when I run a game of Hero Wars.
I'm not recommending The Complete Griselda as a paragon of literature, or even as a stellar example of gaming fiction. However, it is easy to read and full of enough bits and ideas that its worth a read.
As an introduction to Glorantha, I think its a bit weak. The Runyon-esque writing obscures some of the more Classical qualities of the world and does undermine the notion of the epic struggle presented in the main rule books. That is a minor disappointment, however (and I expect Robin Laws novels set in the world to possibly go to the other extreme), and shouldn't detract too much from the enjoyment of the book.
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