Customer Reviews:
Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?.......2007-04-01
I run a Living Arcanis campaign, which also contains Freeport. With a wealth of material at my disposal, I decided to pick up Tatters of the King (TOK) to see how I could fit it into my campaign. I should point out that this is a long playtest review that contains spoilers galore. To help clarify what I did differently in my campaign, I will use a PLAYTEST tag.
Tatters of the King is a massive Call of Cthulhu adventure that details the invasion of Hastur on Earth. It's Hastur's grand oeuvre, presenting him as a Cthulhu-like entity, as the King in Yellow, and as a husband deity to Shub-Niggurath. Four cultists, each participating in a different path to bring about Hastur, attempt to contact him, only to go their separate ways. It's up to the player characters (PCs) to stop them.
Montague Edwards and Lawrence Bacon made an Unspeakable Oath with Hastur. Edwards regenerates, Bacon never sleeps. Alexander Roby is inexorably tied to Carcosa and the Yellow Sign, and only he can summon it to Earth. Malcom Quarrie is the most dangerous and the most committed to bringing the King in Yellow to Earth. The four unknowingly have a rival cultist in their mist, one Wilfred Gresty, who worships Shub-Niggurath and doesn't buy any of this "bride of Hastur" stuff.
The adventure begins with an opening night of the play, The King in Yellow, that drives people mad who witness it. There's an after-party held in celebration of the success of the event, wherein the PCs get to meet the author, Talbot Estus, and his players. A great introduction to the insanity to follow.
[PLAYTEST: I placed the events in Freeport. Two of the PCs were present and ultimately escaped the madness that ensued. They returned in time to attend the opening night reception. There, one PC (Sebastian the sorcerer) decided Talbot Estus, was too dangerous to live and murdered him in cold blood.]
In the mean time, the PCs are tasked with getting their friend, Alexander Roby, out of an insane asylum at the behest of Doctor Trollope. There were murders in the prison blamed on Roby, although how he committed them is impossible to tell. In reality, Edwards, who posed as a guard in the prison, committed the murders. The PCs are encouraged to interview Roby, who provides a telling prophecy both for the end of the campaign and of Doctor Trollope's death.
[PLAYTEST: I changed Doctor Trollpe to be Kham the psychic warrior/rogue's father. I made Roby a childhood friend of Kham to provide more relevance. I also inserted a few adventures here involving finding Kham's father and a side jaunt into a "The Thing"-like adventure. The PCs witnessed a strange summoning involving nine monoliths and were attacked by byakhee. It also started to snow, unheard of in tropical Freeport. I made it a point of having an incarnation of the King in Yellow tell Kham that "he was the key."]
With Trollope knowing too much, Edwards' chief henchman, Michael Coombs, assassinates him. The PCs receive a posthumous note from Trollope indicating that Roby predicted his death with a spell. Wilfred Gresty, a rival cultist of Shub-Niggurath, slips one of the PCs a note about Lawrence Bacon's whereabouts with the intent of catching him in the act of draining the homeless of their lifeofce.
[PLAYTEST: Having Trollope be Kham's dad infused the adventure with a lot of emotional energy. Once he connected Bacon to his father's murderer, Kham tracked down the cultist and a showdown ensued, resulting in Bacon falling off a bridge into icy water. One cultist down, three to go!]
A subsequent search of Bacon's home reveals a group of ghoul living in Bacon's basement.
[PLAYTEST: In my campaign, ghouls were created through an addictive drug called ghoul juice. It wasn't too much of a stretch that Bacon was both a drug dealer as well as a dealer in antiquities. Kham, with no regard for his own safety, barely escaped with his life.]
Determined to summon Hastur, Edwards breaks Roby out of prison. The next connection is an obituary for Bacon, written by none other than Aleister Crowley. The PCs are expected to visit Crowley and wheedle information out of him about Montague Edwards.
[PLAYTEST: As a real-life analogue, Crowley had no place in Arcanis. So I went all out, turning him into the front man for a sadistic cult. They kidnapped one of the female PCs. This culminated in a battle in Crowley's basement, who eventually gave up the information they sought but escaped penalty due to his social and political connections.]
Hot on the trail of Edwards, the PCs journey north only to discover that Roby succeeded: Carcosa has been summoned to Earth. Coombs plays a cat-and-mouse game with the PCs until they finally kill him. They then track down Roby and Edwards just in time to see Edwards summon thousands of byakhee and Hastur himself.
[PLAYTEST: Kham killed Edwards easily, but was unable to stop the summoning. There are several ways to stop it, but I went for the dramatic approach. Roby demanded Kham throw him a pistol in self-defense--in reality, Roby knew he was the key to closing Carcosa. So he shoots himself. Ilmare and Kham barely escaped with their lives. The town left behind was utterly obliterated by Carcosa and Hastur's appearance. Three cultists down, one to go!]
Time passes. The PCs meet Gresty, presumably when he's in prison. He reveals information about Shug-Niggurath and its rivalry with the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign. He also provides a link to events happening at Nug's Farm.
There, Hillary Quarrie, the wife of Malcolm, is in fact the heir-apparent to the Shub-Niggurath priesthood. Only Gresty lusts for her power, creating an inevitable showdown. This is the single-most exciting part of the campaign, with the PCs going toe-to-toe with a Dark Young. Only a ritual cast by Hillary saves them.
Using information gleaned from Hillary, the PCs travel to Milan. There, they met up with Thomas Villiers, who ultimately betrays them with another byakhee. This in turn reveals where Malcolm disappeared to: Drakmar, in Tibet.
[PLAYTEST: Fortunately, Arcanis has portals that span the planet, so I skipped what I consider to be the most boring part of the adventure: long overland travel. The PCs resumed the adventure at the Monastery at Te, wherein they met Carlo Schippone, a crack shot. They made short work of him and journeyed onward to meet the Horror from the Hills.
And that horror is Chaugnar Faugn. The PCs didn't do anything stupid, although the adventure makes much of what happens if they do. Surrounded by Tcho-Tchos, the PCs were dutifully ushered past Chaugnar Faugn into the Plateau of Leng, where they met Malcolm Quarrie at last.
Only Quarrie is a pacifist. Bound and determined to summon the King in Yellow, Sebastian convinced Quarrie that they are aligned in their goals. This worked for a little while until Shantaks attack. That's when Sebastian used the opportunity to kill Quarrie in cold blood. See a pattern here?]
Finally, the PCs meet the King in Yellow. He simply asks who will lead him to Earth. PCs who hesitate...DIE.
[PLAYTEST: Kham, convinced that this was his burden to bear, agreed at first...then changed his mind. The King slit his throat. Sebastian was up next. He planned to lead the King astray. And so he did, leading him back to Carcosa and taking Sebastian (at least temporarily) out of play. The adventure left the PCs feeling like they had lost even though they had saved the world.]
TOK is an excellent series of adventures, marred occasionally by the usual Cthulhu foils: assuming investigators will be naive or helpless (these days, most investigators carry guns and in my D&D game, they carry really heavy firepower in the form of spells), spending way too much time on overland travel, and an overemphasis on how PCs can avoid going insane by closing their eyes...a decidedly unheroic thing to do that shouldn't work anyway.
But when TOK hits its mark, it really makes for memorable sessions. The moral quandaries that the PCs regularly faced made for exciting play, and the fever pitch of the Dark Young showdown is magnificent...unfortunately it has very little to do with the main plot (it's essentially internecine squabbling with a completely unrelated cult).
There are plenty of notes and props, all of them useful. Especially intriguing are the nightmares that the PCs experience and the means of conveying the King in Yellow's telepathy (it involves cue cards). All of this made for evocative scenes that kept my PCs guessing.
Best of all, TOK plays for keeps. While the sacrifice of two PCs was a serious blow, it FELT like the conclusion to a series. And given the grand tour of Hastur and his ilk, we all appreciated the ending.
Book Description
Based on Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner's classic book The Leadership Challenge, this Workbook will be your hands-on guide for improving your ability to put into action the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® model and become a leader who Models the Way, Inspires a Shared Vision, Challenges the Process, Enables Others to Act, and Encourages the Heart.
The Workbook's easy-to-use worksheets make efficient planning simple and practical and supports your success in three ways:
-
Reflection: Think about your approach to leadership and become more conscious about how well you engage in each of the Practices.
-
Application: Apply the Practices and commitments to all your projects.
-
Implications: Record what you've learned about yourself, your team, your organization, and your project.
Develop your leadership potential with The Leadership Challenge Workbook!
Download Description
Based on Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner's classic book The Leadership Challenge, this Workbook will be your hands-on guide for improving your ability to put into action the Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® model and become a leader who Models the Way, Inspires a Shared Vision, Challenges the Process, Enables Others to Act, and Encourages the Heart.
The Workbook's easy-to-use worksheets make efficient planning simple and practical and supports your success in three ways:
-
Reflection: Think about your approach to leadership and become more conscious about how well you engage in each of the Practices.
-
Application: Apply the Practices and commitments to all your projects.
-
Implications: Record what you've learned about yourself, your team, your organization, and your project.
Develop your leadership potential with The Leadership Challenge Workbook!
Customer Reviews:
Maybe good for a beginner, but disappointing overall.......2007-10-03
I had hoped to be able to use this workbook in a teleclass, but it's really not designed for that. It's strictly designed for one person to start on a project and follow the prescribed program in the workbook. While that might be valuable for someone just starting out, it seems unrealistic for most leaders who are multitasking all the time.
"One hop at a time." .......2007-09-08
Although there has been a more recent edition of The Leadership Challenge published (in 2007) since this Workbook appeared (in 2003), the core concepts remain the same, guiding and informing the series of exercises provided in it. Specifically what James Kouzes and Barry Posner characterize as "The Five Practices" of exemplary leadership, requires two commitments. For example, Challenge the Process by searching for opportunities (i.e. seek innovative ways to change, grow, and improve) and experimenting with calculated risks (i.e. constantly generate "small wins" and learn from every mistake). As Kouzes and Posner have by now clearly indicated in their collaborations, they are relentless empiricists and diehard pragmatists. Their observations and suggestions are driven by more then 30 years of rigorous research that includes hundreds of interviews of leaders and several million responses to various surveys. After briefly identifying the "what" of effective leadership, they devote most of their attention to its "how."
How did Don Bennett, the first amputee to climb Mt. Rainier (elevation 14,410 feet), get to the top on one leg and two crutches? "One hop at a time." Kouzes and Posner suggest that the same process be followed by those who aspire to be exemplary leaders.
They note that work tends to be organized in terms of projects because projects "create the context for our goals, determine with whom we work, and set our schedules." That said, on pages 6 and 7, they offer several guidelines for completing this workbook. Depending on the reader's given project or situation,
1. "If you're just starting, we recommend that you begin with Chapter 4...and work your way through Chapter 8."
2. "If your project has been underway for some time, we recommend that your first step be to read through this Workbook quickly, without completing all the activities. Then go back and start with those worksheets that address immediate concerns."
Digression: Why are so few workbooks and field guides based on business bestsellers designed to include space within the narrative on which to complete exercises, record notes, etc.? Credit someone (the authors, their publisher, or both) with enabling the reader to do so in this workbook. As a result, each person who accepts "the leadership challenge" will want to have her or his own copy. Also, many more copies will be sold.
I appreciate the fact that, from the beginning, Kouzes and Posner establish a direct, personal rapport with their reader. The tone is informal, in fact cordially conversational. In effect, they seem to be saying "After all these years of research, here's what we've learned about exemplary leadership. We want you to focus on specific issues and we will explore them with you. We realize that not everything in this workbook is directly relevant to your current or imminent circumstances. That's OK. Let's proceed through the material together and then you decide which activities will be most helpful to you."
Kouzes and Posner devote a separate chapter to each of the five practices of exemplary leadership. In my opinion, the term "exemplary" has at least three separate but related associations: first, with the most effective leaders whom Kouzes and Posner have interviewed over the years; also, with the example that the most effective leaders set for their colleagues; and finally, with initiatives to develop effective leadership in others, at all levels and in all areas of the given enterprise. It may be helpful to think of this workbook's potential value in terms of what it can help to accomplish within these three dimensions organizational transformation.
As I worked through the material, I was again reminded of Peter Drucker's observation: "There is surely nothing quite so useless as doing with great efficiency what should not be done at all." Also, of something Thomas Edison once asserted: "Vision without execution is hallucination" to which I presume to suggest a corollary: "Execution without vision is expediency." This workbook will help those who absorb and digest the material, complete the various exercises, and then apply what they have learned to reach the "summit" of exemplary leadership and then lead others to do so.
James Kouzes and Barry Posner duly acknowledge the difficulty of completing that journey, deferring to Don Bennett to suggest the best approach to take: "One hop at a time."
Great workbook for MBA leadership class.......2005-09-30
We're using Kouzes & Posner's "The Leadership Challenge" book (among others) in our MBA Leadership and Management Processes class. This workbook, although not required, should be. There are lots of checklists, worksheets, questionaires, etc. that lead you through applying the concepts presented in the book.
Book Description
Thrive on challenge!
Some professionals, feeling overburdened by challenging job tasks, struggle through projects and avoid additional responsibilities that might prove enriching. They often find their careers unsatisfying, and their job performance may suffer as a result. This field-tested profile shows employees how to seek challenge and to develop valuable skills from their professional lives.
Professionals will use their feedback from the JCP to assist them in:
- Handling unfamiliar tasks
- Driving workplace transformation
- Seeking additional responsibilities
- Dealing with external pressure
- Managing group diversity . . . and much more!
The Facilitator's Guide, which includes a sample copy of the Participant's Workbook, details the essential workshop procedures--including setup, administration, and follow-up--and provides you with reproducible overhead and handout masters. You don't need to be a training professional to use this tool in your organization: this guide gives you all the basics.
Your participants will quickly be able to score and interpret the inventory using the practical Participant's Workbook. With the aid of this action guide, they will determine what and how much they are learning, what parts of their jobs hold key challenges, and what strategies they might adopt to derive maximal learning from these experiences. Every participant will need a copy. Use the world-renowned expertise of CCL to create a learning environment where challenge is welcome!
Helps participants:
- Gauge the challenges in their jobs
- Turn challenges into prime learning experience
TIMING: 2 to 4 hours
AUDIENCE: Managers, leaders, and executives at all levels
Book Description
Time to reflect. Space to dream. A place to find inspiration. In our hectic lives, these are often skipped, bumped by the next deadline or our out-of-control to-do list. Reminding us of the importance of personal introspection to leadership development, Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner have created a journal for contemplation a visible reminder of the need for time, space, and place along your leadership adventures.
The authors engage you in an internal dialogue guided by their Five Practices of Exemplary Leadershipâ model (Model the Way, Inspire a Shared Vision, Challenge the Process, Enable Others to Act, Encourage the Heart). They urge you to take notes, make comments, draw pictures, ask questions, contemplate answers, or just mediate.
Book Description
Thrive on challenge!
Some professionals, feeling overburdened by challenging job tasks, struggle through projects and avoid additional responsibilities that might prove enriching. They often find their careers unsatisfying, and their job performance may suffer as a result. This field-tested profile shows employees how to seek challenge and to develop valuable skills from their professional lives.
Professionals will use their feedback from the JCP to assist them in:
- Handling unfamiliar tasks
- Driving workplace transformation
- Seeking additional responsibilities
- Dealing with external pressure
- Managing group diversity . . . and much more!
The Facilitator's Guide, which includes a sample copy of the Participant's Workbook, details the essential workshop procedures--including setup, administration, and follow-up--and provides you with reproducible overhead and handout masters. You don't need to be a training professional to use this tool in your organization: this guide gives you all the basics.
Your participants will quickly be able to score and interpret the inventory using the practical Participant's Workbook. With the aid of this action guide, they will determine what and how much they are learning, what parts of their jobs hold key challenges, and what strategies they might adopt to derive maximal learning from these experiences. Every participant will need a copy. Use the world-renowned expertise of CCL to create a learning environment where challenge is welcome!
Helps participants:
- Gauge the challenges in their jobs
- Turn challenges into prime learning experience
TIMING: 2 to 4 hours
AUDIENCE: Managers, leaders, and executives at all levels
Average customer rating:
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Leadership Challenge 3rd Edition Paper with Workbook and Practice Inventory Set
James M. Kouzes
Manufacturer: Pfeiffer Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Business & Investing
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ASIN: 0787985902 |
Average customer rating:
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The Leadership Challenge Workshop, 3rd Edition, Revised Participant's Workbook (Spanish)
James M. Kouzes , and
Barry Z. Posner
Manufacturer: Pfeiffer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Leadership
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Management
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
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| Books
Spanish
| Foreign Language Nonfiction
| Nonfiction
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General
| Negocios e inversiones
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Liderazgo
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| Negocios e inversiones
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Gestión
| Gestión & Liderazgo
| Negocios e inversiones
| Libros en español
| Formats
| Books
No-Ficción
| Libros en español
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| Automotriz
| Ciencias Sociales
| Crimen y Criminales
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| Planeamiento Urbano y Desarrollo
| Política
| Sucesos de Actualidad
| Transportación
Dirección Comercial
| Profesional y Técnico
| Libros en español
| Formats
| Books
ASIN: 0787998052 |
Book Description
EL LIDERAZGO ES UN ASUNTO DE TODOS
¿Está listo para aprovechar las oportunidades que llevan a obtener resultados extraordinarios?
¿Está listo para inspirar a los demás a soñar, alentar su participación activa y estar a su lado cuando las cosas se tornen difíciles?
¿Está listo para liderar?
Más que nunca, nuestras familias, nuestras organizaciones, nuestras naciones y nuestro mundo necesitan personas que estén dispuestas a aceptar este duro desafío. El Taller The Leadership Challenge® (El desafío del liderazgo) le brinda la posibilidad de hacerlo—de tomar la iniciativa, aprovechar las oportunidades y marcar la diferencia.
Respaldado por más de 20 años de investigación original, el Taller The Leadership Challenge® es un proceso de descubrimiento único e intenso creado por los autores de éxitos de ventas, Jim Kouzes y Barry Posner. El Taller desmitifica el concepto de liderazgo y lo aborda como un conjunto de comportamientos que pueden aprenderse. En otras palabras, olvídese de los cargos, los puestos, la jerarquía o la experiencia laboral. El liderazgo está relacionado con lo que usted hace.
Este Libro de tareas del participante está diseñado para acompañarlo en un viaje apasionante para el descubrimiento de uno mismo. Basadas en el célebre modelo Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® (Las cinco prácticas de liderazgo ejemplar) de Kouzes y Posner, las páginas interactivas lo ayudan a descubrir el significado más profundo de:
A medida que avance en este Libro de tareas, pronto descubrirá que la experiencia del Taller The Leadership Challenge® es más que una típica sesión de capacitación. Incluso, podría cambiar su vida.
LOS AUTORES
James M. Kouzes y Barry Z. Posner se encuentran entre los especialistas y educadores más buscados en la materia del liderazgo y el desarrollo del liderazgo. Han estado trabajando, escribiendo y enseñando en esta área valiosa por más de treinta años.
Average customer rating:
|
The Leadership Challenge Workshop, Participant's Workbook
James M. Kouzes , and
Barry Z. Posner
Manufacturer: Pfeiffer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Leadership
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Management
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
All Titles
| Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0787981303 |
Book Description
This Participants Workbook is designed to accompany you on an exciting journey of self-discovery. Grounded in Kouzes and Posners celebrated Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership® model, the interactive pages help you to uncover the deeper meanings of:
· Model the Way
· Inspire a Shared Vision
· Challenge the Process
· Enable Others to Act
· Encourage the Heart
Books:
- Texas Hold'em On The Net: How to Maximize Your Winnings
- The Big Book of Presentation Games: Wake-Em-Up Tricks, Icebreakers, and Other Fun Stuff
- The "Daily Telegraph" Big Book of Cryptic Crosswords (Crossword)
- The Draconomicon (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying)
- The Everything Giant Sudoku Book: Over 300 Puzzles with Instructions for Solving (Everything: Sports and Hobbies) (Everything: Sports and Hobbies)
- The Haunted Mansion: From the Magic Kingdom to the Movies
- The King's Gambit (SPQR I)
- The Mathematical Recreations of Lewis Carroll: Pillow Problems and a Tangled Tale
- The Middlegame - Book I : Static Features (Algebraic Edition)
- The Million Word Crossword Dictionary
Books Index
Books Home
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- Before I Wake
- The 2007 Report on Beet Sugar: World Market Segmentation by City
- The Craft of Investing: Growth and Value Stocks, Emerging Markets, Market Timing, Mutual Funds, Alte
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- A Better Globalization: Legitimacy, Governance, and Reform
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Miskatonic University: A Sourcebook (Call of Cthulhu Horror Roleplaying)
Spawn Of Azathoth: Herald of the End Of Time (Call of Cthulhu Horror Roleplaying)
Secrets Of New York: A Mythos Guide to the City That Never Sleeps (Call of Cthulhu Horror Roleplaying)
Shadows of Yog-Sothoth: A Global Campaign to Save Mankind (Call of Cthulhu Horror Roleplaying)
Secrets of San Francisco: A 1920s Sourcebook for the City By the Bay (Call of Cthulhu Horror Roleplaying)
