The Old World Character Generation

Aug. 7th, 2025 09:30 pm
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More details later but it seems the group is essentially Don Quixote in the form of a Brettonian knight's bastard who has completely bought into chivalric ideals despite the fact no true knight considers him worthy to have such ideals, and an assortment of hangers-on who see him as a meal ticket.

Which is to say, the group is centred on someone who will seek out adventure.
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Climate change provides a tribal leader a pretext to dispatch his least favourite tribe members on an ill-fated expedition from which none will return.


The Integral Trees (Integral Trees, volume 1) by Larry Niven

Bundle of Holding: Fight With Spirit

Aug. 6th, 2025 02:06 pm
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Fight With Spirit, the sports drama tabletop roleplaying game from Storybrewers Roleplaying (Good Society).

Bundle of Holding: Fight With Spirit
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This is a short-term offer of the RPG Fight With Spirit from Storybrewers (Good Society), an RPG about competitive sports teams:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/FightWithSpirit



As anyone who knows me could tell you, this isn't really my sort of subject - I'm REALLY not a fan of sports of any sort, unless someone comes up with rules for competitive sloth - I went to great lengths to get out of them when I was at school. Having said that, the rules are nicely presented and (amazingly considered the topic) there is virtually no semi-nudity in the illustrations - the nearest thing to cheesecake is a (male) member of a swimming(?) team illustrated in the index and on one of the game cards. It's cheap and if you want to try something a little different from your usual RPG it may be worth a look. Meanwhile, I'll be skiving off in the library complaining about how my flat feet keep me from playing...

(no subject)

Aug. 6th, 2025 06:40 pm
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With her brother/husband Seti off crushing Egypt's enemies, future Pharaoh Hatshepsut expands her power at home by freeing slaves, alienating priests, and inconveniencing a homicidal concubine. Results are mixed.

Blue Eye of Horus, volume 2 by Chie Inudou
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This is a repeat offer of the Modern AGE / Expanse bundle from Green Ronin Publishing, containing the Modern AGE version of their Adventure Game Engine rules and sourcebooks and adventures for the popular Expanse books and TV series;

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025Expanse




In 2020 I said "I'm slightly hampered here by lack of familiarity with the AGE system, but my impression on a quick look is a fairly playable game that for once doesn't need a huge variety of dice - everything is rolled with 6-siders. The combat rules don't seem to take up a ludicrously large portion of the system, and explanations seem to work reasonably well without going into impenetrable gamespeak. Presentation is good too, with nice artwork and a reasonable balance of male and female characters represented. I found that the font used for the rules is a little hard to read on screen - I had to up the magnification more than usual - but otherwise have no particular problems. The font size may be a consequence of the fairly high word count for these rules, and I suspect that it was the best compromise for the printed version - larger text would have upped the page count considerably. Unfortunately I don't feel that it's a particularly good font from a legibility viewpoint, which isn't helping.

My visual problems aside, this looks to be a pretty good bundle, and is probably a must-buy for anyone liking The Expanse. Recommended!"

I don't see any reason to change any of that.

Happy Civil Holiday!

Aug. 4th, 2025 09:59 am
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Living as I do in Ontario, a province run for and by assholes, the Civic Holiday is an "optional" holiday that employers may either observe or spend beating their employees with a stick no thicker than Andre the Giant's thumb.

Clarke Award Finalists 2008

Aug. 4th, 2025 09:42 am
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2008: Norovirus is a smash hit with three million-plus Britons, an avoidable market collapse relieves boredom, and Boris Johnson’s election as mayor of London surely is not a harbinger of dark days to come.

Poll #33463 Clarke Award Finalists 2008
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 22


Which 2008 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Black Man by Richard Morgan
10 (45.5%)

The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall
7 (31.8%)

The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod
9 (40.9%)

The H-Bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter
0 (0.0%)

The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
4 (18.2%)

The Red Men by Matthew De Abaitua
1 (4.5%)



Bold for have read, italic for intend to read, underline for never heard of it.

Which 2008 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Black Man by Richard Morgan
The Carhullan Army by Sarah Hall
The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod
The H-Bomb Girl by Stephen Baxter
The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall
The Red Men by Matthew De Abaitua
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Poll #33455 Books Received, July 26 to July 31
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 49


Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

The Laundry Roleplaying Game: Operative’s Handbook by by David F Chapman, Calum Collins, Christopher Colston, Alister Davison, Michael Duxbury, Warren Frey, Gareth Hanrahan, and Elaine Lithgow et al (Q4, 2025)
21 (42.9%)

The Laundry Roleplaying Game: Supervisor’s Guide by Anthony Boyd, Greg Buchanan, David F Chapman, Calum Collins, Christopher Colston, Alister Davison, Michael Duxbury, Warren Frey, Gareth Hanrahan, Derek Johnston, and Elaine Lithgow et al (Q4, 2025)
21 (42.9%)

You do know at least one person in the group needs both books, right?
25 (51.0%)

Some other option (see comments)
2 (4.1%)

Cats!
43 (87.8%)

Books Received, July 26 to July 31

Aug. 2nd, 2025 09:18 am
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Just two items this week (although maybe two halves of one thing). Both cosmic horror, both part of (or related to) a series.


Books Received, July 26 to July 31

Empath by Hoa Pham

Aug. 1st, 2025 08:49 am
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Many people spend their lives wondering if there's a point to their existence. Vuong and her clone sisters have a purpose. With a little investigation, they might find out what it is.

Empath by Hoa Pham

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