Book Review

Gabriela, Clove and Cinnamon
by Jorge Amado

This chatty, warm novel is set in 1920s Ilheus, a major town of the cacao-growing Bahia region of Brazil. Filled with plenty of colorful characters, the story centers on Nacib, owner of a bar/cafe, and Gabriela, the itinerant peasant he hires as cook for both himself and his bar. The story of their passion for each other provides and illustration of and a lens through which to view Ilheus' move from a lawless place of violence and political bosses to a progressive, modern place. Amado does a great job of interweaving the political and the social changes that go on simultaneously. He also has a very good understanding of human attraction and opposition. I also liked the way Amado surprises the reader with a happy ending.

The Long Dark

One of the best things about Quest is that I get to say things like "We went through a dwarven portal, fell off a cliff, and were imprisoned as mine slaves by serpentines. It was great!" The Long Dark was a terrific game, one of the best I've ever been to. The production values were incredible: the props were great, the sets were wonderful, the new mechanics were interesting and fun to do, and the villain had the most amazing costume ever. The game was also a very immersive, involving experience.

Highlights:

The Friday night role-playing in the dwarven city was lots of fun. It got me well into character and I was able to stay that way throughout most of the the game. Also, Kessalyn, my character, was given a leadership position in the expedition - she got to be chaplain. Even though I was one of the few dwarven PCs and even though I was trying for it, I still wasn't expecting it. It was fun to be able to take charge of certain things.

The mechanics and props for the forge were very cool. If Kessalyn wasn't being forced to perform slave labor, she probably would have enjoyed it as much as I did as a player.

Escaping. My group escaped from the forge by throwing molten metal on the head of the forge and then stabbing the guards with the daggers we'd been making. Then we jumped in the river that ran through the forge and made our way out of the caverns. We managed to excute our plan quickly and with no casualties. Plus, the way the "swimming through the river" part was set up and run was extremely good - it felt real.

Resetting and opening the portal back to the dwarven city. I, as the expedition chaplain, got to be in charge of this part, and it was great fun. There was a lot of dramatic tension as my small group worked on the portal while the rest of the PCs held off the serpentine horde. Which of course made it all the sweeter when we opened the portal to the dwarven swat team.

Opening the portal, letting in the dwarven swat team, and then turning right around to go back into the serpentine lair and kick some snakey ass.

Getting to talk to people I haven't seen in ages. A lot of folks who haven't been at Quest much in the last few years because of distance and life changes were at this game. It was so unbelievably good to see them all.

I give many many thanks to the GMs and game staff for creating such a wonderful game and thus providing me with one of the best weekends I've had in a long time.

Other Kenjari and I stuck around for ConQuest on Sunday. It was quite good. We had a very productive discussion about what we like about Quest and how to make things even better. And my beloved Other Kenjari won a Best PC Performance award at the Fendel Awards.