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Apocryphal
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I'm usually worried that nobody will like the monthly pick except for the person who picked the book, and that person will feel jilted, or at least gun-shy about picking another. This month it's the opposite LOL.
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(Quote) I cringe at it a bit, too. Not because it's corporate - businesses will exploit anything, and role-playing game writers have been exploiting gamers for decades. That's why people are always asking when such-and-such a franchise is going to b…
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(Quote) The gaming table is central. Nobody else is needed. Writers are people who generate tools for the table to use. Publishers help bring those tools to market. But those tools aren't necessary - gamers can have great freeform games with no rule…
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Quite an interesting reference to Babylonian myth in this section in the figure of Oannes - a greek version of the name of one of the Mesopotamian seven sages or Apkallu - perhaps the one nick-named 'Adapa' ('wise') who was said to have 'finished th…
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Is the cop character a cipher for the author? http://sboydtaylor.com/2010/10/05/a-new-on-writing-one-of-my-best-o/
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I seldom start a game with an ending in mind since I like to play sandbox style, but agree that its very much more satisfying to bring a campaign to a close with a tidy or poignant end. I think my 13 Wives campaign, that I once posted in its entiret…
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I generally avoid the corporate and, apart from The One Ring line for Middle Earth, I avoid RPG conversions of franchises that were developed for other media. I like my RPG settings to have been created for the purpose of playing RPGs. And again, he…
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What's Mythic Babylon about? I don't always do big themes, but when I run a campaign my core beliefs (mainly about how all people, deep down, are worthwhile and similar, and even bad guys are salvageable, and good guys flawed) so my NPCs are often …
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I mostly run linear timelines, but @NeilNjae 's post is really interesting and I should try to use flashbacks more often. As for time travel, it's actually never been something that has interested me much, even in novels. Every time travel story see…
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Overall, I quite enjoyed the book. I read it over the course of a week while on vacation in Portugal, so I fairly zipped through it, considering I had other things going on. I thought the writing was lively enough, the story intriguing and there was…
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Very few episodes in this book made sense when they first happened, and their import was made clear later. So why was Typhon introduced? Why little Severian died? Why we climbed up a mountain in the shape of Typhon? I can say. I assume there’s a met…
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I'm thinking of voting for the new #2 - they're more of a git 'er done kind of candidate, in my experience. Plus there's enough of them to form a party.
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Any comments on the story of Frog? I had trouble parsing it, but may re-read it. Definitely evokes Mowgli's story, and a quick search reveals the following from the Kipling Society: (Quote) I noticed Frog is called a 'Son of Meschia', and if you'll…
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Readinated!
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Never head of Halo Jones, but Dr Moreau springs to mind, though these are sort of like his animalian men in reverse. It’s the voluntary nature I find creepy.
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TTRPBC NEWSLETTER - ISSUE 3 September 13, Porto, Portugal * Welcome to the September newsletter. If you're just catching up, our September Pick is Recursion by Blake Crouch, nominated by @BarnerCobblewood , a sci-fi thriller. Read this book before…
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> @clash_bowley said: > Have we not sufficiently established that Severian thinks solely with the brain between his legs? What I don't get is why Agia cares so very very much. I think it's odd. Go question. Is she out for revenge, or is …
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Great example, @NeilNjae . Perhaps the most concrete example of applying a novel to RPG play we've had. I might just yoink it if I ever play Sorcerers of Ur-Turuk.
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We could also ask people to post a note in the announcement thread for their book. That thread is in the Nominations category, which can be followed. And speaking of which, when you have time, could you start a thread in Nominations to introduce yo…
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OK. Possibly it will only grab threads directly in the catergory, but not in the sub-categories, which would explain why it wouldn't work. I'll try to do a better job keeping the newsletter updated - that's its intended purpose, afterall. In any c…
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You can check the mother category, Monthly Selections. I assume that would work to catch all monthly selections.
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I've just finished the sequel, The Unforsaken Hiero. I decided to read a bunch of book-club follow-ups that have been sitting on my shelf for a while. Before this I read Axis and Vortex, the two remaining books in the Spin trilogy (satisfying reads,…
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Speaking of style, the dialogue is very wry. Is this what makes an investigator like Lew Archer 'hard boiled'? Is it his thick skin, or what is it. He's not especially one for fisticuffs, I didn't think. But he does doggedly stick his nose in. His c…
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@NeilNjae I agree with Barner - great questions, very appropriate to gaming, and some insightful views, so yes, thanks very much. I definitely believe in giving the clues away rather than discovery, though I have to say that as a player, it's a ver…
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Yeah, I've also not used maps as a tool, though I've nothing against them and would like to run something to give it a go - mostly because I'm curious to see how it would pan out. I've developed a bit of an idea that @dr_mitch is something of an exp…
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@BarnerCobblewood In other words "You can't handle the truth of your puny, ineffectual, lives" and the publishing/movie/TV industries are exploiting us? @NeilNjae - great summary, thanks. I do find the who story to be far-fetched, to be h…
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I do think Archer is the protagonist. He discovers a mystery, and seeks to solve it, so he has a goal. Even though he's technically for hire, for part of the novel he really isn't for hire - he's working for himself, because he's interested, and bec…
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Well, clearly not in the Sherlock Holmes or Poirot sense of detective, but he's definitely an investigator and fits the Private I model. I think it is very much a 'whodunnit' because, even after the initial problem is solved, there's still a tangled…
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I did notice the reference to philosophy, and one reference in particular clicked with me, though unfortunately I didn't make a note of it at the time. I'm not as well up on Greek philosophy as I'd like to be, so for the most part they go over my he…
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I really liked the style, I have to say. Normally I feel a little let down by terse description, but they key here is that though the descriptions are short, they are never dull. They are quite evocative, and the snap off the page, as if they were f…