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'There is a danger in speaking true names,' she said, 'for names have a power which might be wasted in repetition, and might be heard in other worlds by things whose attention is better not caught.'

Plague Daemon is set in the Warhammer world, the Border Princes to be precise; a rough and ready frontier land where youngest sons, outlaw chiefs, and heroic adventurers can clear a few hexes and set up their own petty kingdoms with ease. The Princes are an area only sparsely described by Games Workshop, perhaps because they realise that it's the kind of place best left unknown, a Here Be Dragons blank on the map which players of their various games can make their own. Apart from Plague Daemon, it's been the setting for one or two Gotrek and Felix stories, the Shadow of the Horned Rat computer game and a campaign set, Idol of Mork, arguably none of which is canon. Then again, canon is a sticky subject with the Warhammer line of games and I've always ruled that whatever doesn't suck is official enough for my games.

Plague Daemon is the second in Brian Craig's Orfeo series. Orfeo is a storyteller captured by a bandit lord in the land of Araby, where he is forced to tell stories to ensure his freedom. This little homage to the Thousand and One Nights serves as a framing device, with each novel in the series a tale told by Orfeo to his captor. This tale features Harmis Detz, a man-at-arms from the kingdom of Khypris, one of the more stable of the Border Princes despite being under constant threat from a barbarian tribe called the Zani. The Zani aren't the only threat though, and Harmis finds himself caught up in a struggle against followers of Nurgle, the dark god of pestilence, after they murder someone close to him.

Ah yes, the vengeance quest. Not the most original of plots, but this is game fiction we're talking about and a degree of cliché is only to be expected. The action sequences are filled with last-minute saves and blows into unconsciousness from which Harmis 'knows no more' at the end of chapters. The secondary villains, the Zani, are the blandest culture you could imagine, faceless barbarian hordes who may as well have been called Orcs. Though told in Orfeo's words, it frequently reads like typical omniscient third person, complete with inner monologues of the protagonist. Harmis' status as a man-at-arms is harped upon constantly by Craig as a substitute for giving him a personality.

Because he was a man-at-arms, a certain stoicism was required of him.

He was a man-at-arms, and courage was his trade.

He was a man-at-arms, and knew the ways of the world.

So yeah, there's all of that. The worst thing Craig does though, is to depict the obligatory battles with little or no sense of urgency. The overall swing of the conflict is described, then we see Harmis do this, then a few more paragraphs of the big picture, then Harmis does that. Other authors of Warhammer fiction, notably William King, stop the battles from sounding like bland summaries of a tabletop game by incorporating interesting characters into the vital and decisive actions at the heart of the combat, giving them a chance to shine, to have a disproportionate effect on the battle as a whole. It's not realistic, but these books aren't about realism. Craig's way of depicting his central character as someone who just happens to be there removes a degree of the interest. His presence is so tangential that he goes through an entire fight with the Zani slaying many, not receiving a scratch in return and still having no discernible effect on the fight.

All that aside Plague Daemon is neither an awful book nor a great one. Maybe I'm mellowing in my age, or maybe it's because I have lower standards for game fiction -- not because it typically stinks, but because it can be useful for GMs independent of whether it's especially well written. Plague Daemon is useful to WFRP players seeking information on the Border Princes or the machinations of Nurgle (and contains a few tidbits of random background like the ones I've quoted), but it can be easily skipped by those simply after ripping yarns set in the Warhammer world, lacking the pulpy action of William King's books or the well-constructed characterisation of Jack Yeovil's to set it apart. It's no waste of paper but nothing special either.

Paper was even rarer in the Border Princes than parchment, for want of factories where discarded linen might be collected and pulped; all the paper which made its way to Khypris had originated in Tilea. Harmis folded his prize very carefully, fearful of its fragility. In all likelihood, no one to whom he showed it would be able to read it, but the mere fact that he possessed a written order would compel belief in his story.

Plague Daemon
Plague Daemon Capsule Review by Jody Macgregor on 21/11/02 Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 2 (Sparse) Neither an awful book nor a great one. Product: Plague Daemon Author: Brian Craig Category: Novel Company/Publisher: Black Library Line: Warhammer Cost: Page count: 242 Year published: 1990/2002 ISBN: 0-7434-4317-9 SKU: Comp copy?: yes Capsule Review by Jody Macgregor on 21/11/02 Genre tags: Fantasy Horror	'There is a danger in speaking true names,' she said, 'for names have a power which might be wasted in repetition, and might be heard in other worlds by things whose attention is better not caught.' Plague Daemon is set in the Warhammer world, the Border Princes to be precise; a rough and ready frontier land where youngest sons, outlaw chiefs, and heroic adventurers can clear a few hexes and set up their own petty kingdoms with ease. The Princes are an area only sparsely described by Games Workshop, perhaps because they realise that it's the kind of place best left unknown, a Here Be Dragons blank on the map which players of their various games can make their own. Apart from Plague Daemon, it's been the setting for one or two Gotrek and Felix stories, the Shadow of the Horned Rat computer game and a campaign set, Idol of Mork, arguably none of which is canon. Then again, canon is a sticky subject with the Warhammer line of games and I've always ruled that whatever doesn't suck is official enough for my games. Plague Daemon is the second in Brian Craig's Orfeo series. Orfeo is a storyteller captured by a bandit lord in the land of Araby, where he is forced to tell stories to ensure his freedom. This little homage to the Thousand and One Nights serves as a framing device, with each novel in the series a tale told by Orfeo to his captor. This tale features Harmis Detz, a man-at-arms from the kingdom of Khypris, one of the more stable of the Border Princes despite being under constant threat from a barbarian tribe called the Zani. The Zani aren't the only threat though, and Harmis finds himself caught up in a struggle against followers of Nurgle, the dark god of pestilence, after they murder someone close to him. Ah yes, the vengeance quest. Not the most original of plots, but this is game fiction we're talking about and a degree of cliché is only to be expected. The action sequences are filled with last-minute saves and blows into unconsciousness from which Harmis 'knows no more' at the end of chapters. The secondary villains, the Zani, are the blandest culture you could imagine, faceless barbarian hordes who may as well have been called Orcs. Though told in Orfeo's words, it frequently reads like typical omniscient third person, complete with inner monologues of the protagonist. Harmis' status as a man-at-arms is harped upon constantly by Craig as a substitute for giving him a personality. Because he was a man-at-arms, a certain stoicism was required of him. He was a man-at-arms, and courage was his trade. He was a man-at-arms, and knew the ways of the world. So yeah, there's all of that. The worst thing Craig does though, is to depict the obligatory battles with little or no sense of urgency. The overall swing of the conflict is described, then we see Harmis do this, then a few more paragraphs of the big picture, then Harmis does that. Other authors of Warhammer fiction, notably William King, stop the battles from sounding like bland summaries of a tabletop game by incorporating interesting characters into the vital and decisive actions at the heart of the combat, giving them a chance to shine, to have a disproportionate effect on the battle as a whole. It's not realistic, but these books aren't about realism. Craig's way of depicting his central character as someone who just happens to be there removes a degree of the interest. His presence is so tangential that he goes through an entire fight with the Zani slaying many, not receiving a scratch in return and still having no discernible effect on the fight. All that aside Plague Daemon is neither an awful book nor a great one. Maybe I'm mellowing in my age, or maybe it's because I have lower standards for game fiction -- not because it typically stinks, but because it can be useful for GMs independent of whether it's especially well written. Plague Daemon is useful to WFRP players seeking information on the Border Princes or the machinations of Nurgle (and contains a few tidbits of random background like the ones I've quoted), but it can be easily skipped by those simply after ripping yarns set in the Warhammer world, lacking the pulpy action of William King's books or the well-constructed characterisation of Jack Yeovil's to set it apart. It's no waste of paper but nothing special either. Paper was even rarer in the Border Princes than parchment, for want of factories where discarded linen might be collected and pulped; all the paper which made its way to Khypris had originated in Tilea. Harmis folded his prize very carefully, fearful of its fragility. In all likelihood, no one to whom he showed it would be able to read it, but the mere fact that he possessed a written order would compel belief in his story.