written by Christian Aldridge
Published by Hubris Games
96 pages
$15

"The cold morning mist hung in the air like the unsavory words I spoke the night before. Now I found myself preparing for a duel with a man I who was far more than my equal. So, I wrote my will out this morning and did a lot of praying. Oh why couldn't I have chosen pistols instead of foils? At least with those there was a chance of missing, but with swords, I could see him skewering me easily. That's it, if I survive this, I'm swearing off alcohol, and jazz bar hopping... for at least a month or two."

I was greatly impressed with Malestrom Storytelling when it landed in my lap over a month ago, and now with it's first supplement, that excitement hasn't dwindled. Tales from the Empire discusses the city of Diodet, the last inheritor of the mantle of the Grand Empire of Humanity.

Before I tell you about this, let me refresh you on what Malestrom Storytelling is all about. It is a game about the growth of humanity, in a world that is the embodiment of Chaos. The malestrom surrounds the lands of the old Empire, constantly shifting and changing the terrain to new times and locales.

Players are either locals to the region, or (in probably the fastest character creation system I've seen) are humans drawn out of a time period on Earth, to use their human ingenuity to save the dying Empire world. Note that this is my interpretation of what the story is, since it is rather loosely defined in the main game book.

Since it is written like a travelogue, I found Tales rather easy to read. It would be as if I went to New York for a year, and kept a really good journal (complete with sketches) about who I met, and what I saw. There is a personal touch that the author gives to each and every person, place or event described that Diodet almost feels real. The city is a rather interesting blend of high fantasy, Paris just after World War 1, and the Victorian England's quest for science. Each of the location descriptions is very well written, in the sense that all of the senses are accounted for, and that after you read the passage, (or during it) you can easily envision what the author saw.

The fourteen artists who worked on this book did an excellent job as well. From the well executed, and easily readable maps, to the simple charcoal sketches, a lot of talent shines through in this book - I don't know if the three artists coordinated their efforts so their sketches would look as if they were all drawn by a single person (the writer of this travelogue), but the resemblances are striking!

Now I've seen some sourcebooks (I'm not going to slam anyone directly here, but you know who you are) lately that lead us to believe that they have a lot of information for the players, when in actuality they don't. Tales from the Empire, not only gives important information that GMs and players can use, but goes above and beyond to add a lot of color and flavor to the city - here is an excerpt about the Empire Cafe:

"Gathric Andolovich took over when his two brothers were lost at sea. His father was a master of tinkering and is the man responsible for the functionality of the Distiller." You see, for GMs who are short on ideas on the spot, can pull from statements like those to create adventure hooks. It is the little details like this that make this book fully worthwhile reading, even if you aren't playing Malestrom.

But the best part of the book for me was one of the smaller chapters - the one on dueling. First, the art form of duelling is discussed at great length. There is a section on how and who to challenge, how to initiate the challenge (nothing like a glove in the face, eh?), weaseling your way out of it, and what makes up the essence of a duel. Since duels are essential to the lifestyle in Diodet, the section is invaluable. I personally just loved the details here - I've always wanted to make dueling an important part of my campaigns.

Lastly, you may be asking yourself, "there has to be something wrong with this book, right?" Well, there is and there isn't. It is not very well organized. If you're going to write a travelogue, even from a player's point of view, you need to have an index so information can be found quickly. Granted the idea of the book is a mental sketch of a city, it is also a sourcebook. Regardless of its organization however, Tales is a great find for any GM who loves the feel of Revolutionary France, the jazz bars from the 1920's, and the austere and romanticism of great flying machines...