The Inside Scoop on Gaming

I love the initial premise of this Earthdawn sourcebook-- elves in pain. Okay, perhaps I'm a little biased against elves, but far too often in games, they run roughshod over the concept of play balance. So a game that starts with thorny situations is appealing.

The premise is that Queen Alachis converted the Wyrm Wood into the Blood Wood, and the cheery wood elves into hard, thorny Blood Elves, through the Ritual of Thorns and the reNaming. All this in order to avoid the Horrors, who can't stand any pain that they didn't personally inflict.

Unfortuantely (depending on your point of view), the book is heavily ladened with the obligatory fiction. Each chapter (save the last 2) starts with a fiction bit. While a bit is okay for atmosphere, I don't buy RPG sourcebooks for fiction, I tend to go to novels for that. Call me radical.

The strong point of the book is the excellent plot/situation they have set up. The overplot is worthy of Thomas Covenant, and the justification for existence that it suggests is very potent. There is moral schism, corruption, and (for those who are saavy enough) excellent power politics for the Earthdawn universe.

The authors overall do a good job of capturing an essentially alien viewpoint-- one of monk-like self control against a self-inflicted, freely chosen life of pain. Despite the magic advantage this gives, there is a cost, and the book paints that clearly. It also shows some of the social stigma one might face if one tended to drip blood everywhere and shred clothing.

I suppose the most fun would be to use this book in Shadowrun, and have a few Awakened elves suddenly start to sprout thorns. But that depends on what the final fate of the reNaming and the Blood Wood is, and for that, we'll have to wait for the next book. (hopefully with less fiction.)

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 2 (Sparse)

The Blood Wood
Author: lots of people Category: game Company/Publisher: FASA Reviewed by Sandy Antunes on 07/30/97. Genre tags: none	I love the initial premise of this Earthdawn sourcebook-- elves in pain. Okay, perhaps I'm a little biased against elves, but far too often in games, they run roughshod over the concept of play balance. So a game that starts with thorny situations is appealing. The premise is that Queen Alachis converted the Wyrm Wood into the Blood Wood, and the cheery wood elves into hard, thorny Blood Elves, through the Ritual of Thorns and the reNaming. All this in order to avoid the Horrors, who can't stand any pain that they didn't personally inflict. Unfortuantely (depending on your point of view), the book is heavily ladened with the obligatory fiction. Each chapter (save the last 2) starts with a fiction bit. While a bit is okay for atmosphere, I don't buy RPG sourcebooks for fiction, I tend to go to novels for that. Call me radical. The strong point of the book is the excellent plot/situation they have set up. The overplot is worthy of Thomas Covenant, and the justification for existence that it suggests is very potent. There is moral schism, corruption, and (for those who are saavy enough) excellent power politics for the Earthdawn universe. The authors overall do a good job of capturing an essentially alien viewpoint-- one of monk-like self control against a self-inflicted, freely chosen life of pain. Despite the magic advantage this gives, there is a cost, and the book paints that clearly. It also shows some of the social stigma one might face if one tended to drip blood everywhere and shred clothing. I suppose the most fun would be to use this book in Shadowrun, and have a few Awakened elves suddenly start to sprout thorns. But that depends on what the final fate of the reNaming and the Blood Wood is, and for that, we'll have to wait for the next book. (hopefully with less fiction.) Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 2 (Sparse)

The Blood Wood