awesomelies | Reading

Alien invasion and the local Nazis complicate Pelham "Rat" Garfield's simple dream of being a successful pimp.

A Sweet Sweet Summer by Jane Gaskell

james_davis_nicoll

Outgunned's task resolution system involves rolling six-sided dice and looking for sets.

Some explanation behind a cut.

( Read more... )

james_davis_nicoll

A speculative fiction collection from Vanessa Fogg.

The House of Illusionists: and Other Stories by Vanessa Fogg

james_davis_nicoll

Experience the trip of a lifetime — without having to deal with planes, passports, or other tourists...

RPG Tourism: Five Games To Help You Travel Vicariously

james_davis_nicoll

Bold conspirators conceal a serious crime by committing a far more serious one.

Testimony of Mute Things (Penric & Desdemona, volume 15) by Lois McMaster Bujold

ffutures

This is a big bundle of small supplements by Ken Hite for the Gumshoe system games from Pelgrane Press:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/KenWrites

About two-thirds of this material has been in previous bundles, the rest is new.

While I'm a fan of Hite's writing, I'm not a huge fan of the Gumshoe system, so mainly use these things as a source of ideas for other games. Right now I'm trying to get a LOT done before the end of the week, month, and year, and can't give them much time, but the price is pretty good and it looks like you're getting a lot for your money. I think it's worth a look.

james_davis_nicoll

39 Mythos-history-fringe-weird treatises from Pelgrane Press.

Bundle of Holding: Ken Writes About Stuff

james_davis_nicoll

The 1997 Second Edition of Over the Edge, the acclaimed Atlas Games tabletop roleplaying game of surreal danger on the conspiracy-ridden, reality-bending Mediterranean island of Al Amarja, and more.

Bundle of Holding: Over the Edge 2E (From 2014)

james_davis_nicoll

Ryudo Konosuke wakes in a fog, covered in wounds whose cause he does not recall and a haunting feeling he forgot something else very important.

Steel of the Celestial Shadows, volume 2 by Daruma Matsuura (Translated by Caleb D. Cook)

james_davis_nicoll

BEIJING, Nov 5 (Reuters) - China's Shenzhou-20 crewed spacecraft has delayed its return mission to Earth after the vessel was possibly hit by tiny bits of space debris, the country's human spaceflight agency said on Wednesday, an unusual situation that could disrupt the operation of the country's space station Tiangong.

ffutures

At the request of (apparently) a lot of people who got Monday's Over the Edge 3E bundle, there's now an extra bundle, the third repeat of the Over the Edge 2nd Edition bundle from 2014. It contains more or less everything published for the classic weird conspiracy RPG Over the Edge, one of my favourites - and if you don't believe me, just ask Tiffany Trilobite!

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025OTE2E

I wasn't on the mailing list for reviewing this stuff in 2014, but when it was repeated in 2017 I said "As may be obvious from my introduction, I like this game - it's strange, weird, and wonderful, and there really isn't anything like it that's anywhere near as good. I already own a lot of this in dead tree format, but I'll certainly be downloading everything I don't have. Considering the original prices this is extremely good value for money - but as usual I have to point out that I get this stuff free if I want it, if you don't your mileage may vary.

Strongly recommended!"

I should also mention that the last two times this was offered the books weren't added to buyers' Drivethru RPG account, because that part of the Bundle of Holding offers hadn't been set up yet. It has now, so buying the bundle will give you access to any updates etc. later offered via Drivethru, as well as making it easy to get them again if your files go blooey...

james_davis_nicoll

Thoughts on hateable, problematic, and morally bankrupt characters.

Five Ways to Build a Story Around an Unlikeable Protagonist

james_davis_nicoll

Humanity caught in the crossfire of a cosmic war.

The World at the End of Time by Frederik Pohl

ffutures

This is an offer of the very popular action/adventure RPG Outgunned from Two Little Mice, an Italian RPG company. All of the material is in English and Italian versions, with high standards of art and design. Many of the characters illustrated are female, and seem to have reasonable amounts of common sense in their costumes, which is usually a good sign.

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Outgunned

The aim of the game is to run fast-moving action adventures in the style of Die Hard, Kingsman, Kill Bill, etc. and it seems to do very well in that respect. I'm led to believe that the superhero rules for the system don't work as well as other aspects, but that's probably just as well, everyone would want to run one...

There's a good recent overview of the system here from James Nicoll, written before this bundle was announced
https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/lights-camera-action

james_davis_nicoll

This Outgunned Bundle presents Two Little Mice's Outgunned, the tabletop roleplaying game of cinematic action by Riccardo "Rico" Sirignano and Simone Formicola, with art by Daniela Giubellini.

Bundle of Holding: Outgunned

james_davis_nicoll

2021: Conservationists are aghast that influenza B/Yamagata lineage may face extinction, the selection of Alan Turing’s image for new £50 notes raises the question of whether other state torture victims will be so honoured, and the Johnson government proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that herd immunity does exist… but only to shame, and only amongst Tories.

Poll #33821 Clarke Award Finalists 2021

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 12

View Respondents

Which 2021 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay
0 (0.0%)

Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes
9 (75.0%)

Edge of Heaven by Rachael Kelly
0 (0.0%)

The Infinite by Patience Agbabi
0 (0.0%)

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
5 (41.7%)

Vagabonds (translation of by Hao Jingfang
3 (25.0%)

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

Which 2021 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
The Animals in That Country by Laura Jean McKay
Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes
Edge of Heaven by Rachael Kelly
The Infinite by Patience Agbabi
The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez
Vagabonds (translation of by Hao Jingfang

(I thought I posted this last Monday...)

james_davis_nicoll

I'm working my way through Outgunned: Adventure. Pulp adventure. Indiana Jones stuff.

So I have an idea for an adventure, in which our brave action archaeologists try to locate and retrieve certain invaluable historical relics so they can be preserved and studied in proper museums.

Not only are the locals curiously reluctant to let the adventurers do this, even though they cannot possibly understand the artifacts on as many levels as civilized people, post-WWIII US is a dangerous place what with the unstable ruins, ancient unstable warheads, and radiation.

But if anyone can find the secret vaults containing the lost Smithsonian loot, dissuade the locals from objecting, get the goods across a hostile continent, and off to Kuching, it's the heroes.

james_davis_nicoll

John Carter of Mars returns... to the valley of no return!

The Gods of Mars (Barsoom, volume 2) by Edgar Rice Burroughs

james_davis_nicoll

Here we infer that LUCA lived ~4.2 Ga (4.09–4.33 Ga) through divergence time analysis of pre-LUCA gene duplicates, calibrated using microbial fossils and isotope records under a new cross-bracing implementation. Phylogenetic reconciliation suggests that LUCA had a genome of at least 2.5 Mb (2.49–2.99 Mb), encoding around 2,600 proteins, comparable to modern prokaryotes. Our results suggest LUCA was a prokaryote-grade anaerobic acetogen that possessed an early immune system. Although LUCA is sometimes perceived as living in isolation, we infer LUCA to have been part of an established ecological system.

james_davis_nicoll

Six books new to me: two fantasy, one science fiction, one that seems to be a mix of both, one horror, and one non-fiction.

Books Received, November 1 - November 7

How is it November already?

Poll #33815 Rings of Fate by Melissa de la Cruz (January 2026)

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 45

View Respondents

Which of these (mostly upcoming) book look interesting?

View Answers

Rings of Fate by Melissa de la Cruz (January 2026)
6 (13.3%)

Foundling Fathers by Meg Elison (June 2026)
16 (35.6%)

Letters From an Imaginary Country by Theodora Goss (November 2025)
22 (48.9%)

The Essential Horror of Joe R. Lansdale by Joe R. Lansdale (October 2025)
8 (17.8%)

Fallen Gods by Rachel van Dyken (December 2025)
12 (26.7%)

The Lost History of the New Madrid Earthquakes by Conevery Bolton Valencius (May 2024)
26 (57.8%)

Some other option (see comments)
1 (2.2%)