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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-16 11:19 am
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-16 10:07 am
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-16 09:09 am
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ffutures ([personal profile] ffutures) wrote2025-09-15 06:51 pm
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Another RPF Bundle - Laironomicon

This is a bundle of the Dread Laironomicon, a system-neutral sourcebook from Raging Swan Press, with "the dread companion", a guide to sources for things in this supplement in other books from the same publisher. Basically, it describes a hundred locations for monsters, with surroundings etc., via a LOT of tables.

https://bundleofholding.com/promo/list/key/Hideaways

  


This REALLY isn't something I would want to use - it's basically aimed at dungeon-bashing and not much else - and to be honest I don't think I'd be very interested even if I was still playing these games. It's cheap and worth having if you really have no time to prepare for a game, but even when I was playing a lot of D&D I made very little use of this sort of thing, individual design works better for me.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-15 02:17 pm
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Bundle of Holding: Dread Laironomicon



100 lair entries in two succinct pages apiece, from Aboleth's Sunken Lair to Wyvern's Nest.

Bundle of Holding: Dread Laironomicon
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-15 10:17 am
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Clarke Award Finalists 2014

2014: Creationism is banned in British schools, the first same sex marriages in the UK are conducted, and Canadian Mark Carney helps the UK navigate challenging times. What ever happened to Carney, anyway?

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 69


Which 2014 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
66 (95.7%)

God's War by Kameron Hurley
24 (34.8%)

Nexus by Ramez Naam
10 (14.5%)

The Adjacent by Christopher Priest
5 (7.2%)

The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann
1 (1.4%)

The Machine by James Smythe
3 (4.3%)



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

Which 2014 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie
God's War by Kameron Hurley

Nexus by Ramez Naam
The Adjacent by Christopher Priest
The Disestablishment of Paradise by Phillip Mann
The Machine by James Smythe
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-14 06:38 pm

Transit

So, yesterday, the wheelchair ramp on the Rt 8 bus I was on developed a bug. Or the system that detects if it is deployed did. The ramp retracted correctly but the bus thought it had not, and would not move.

Ha ha! I pick my routes to maximize alternatives in case of break-downs. I just disembarked and talked over to the LRT. Which, I discovered, was having a minor service delay.

My contingency plans can handle two delays, but not three. Good for me there were just the two. It did mean I was only a little early for work.

On the way home, just after I disembarked from the LRT, an SUV cut the LRT off so the SUV could reach the parking lot ten seconds earlier. If the train had not stopped, I'd have had to stick around, both as a witness and because the accident would blocked the sidewalk between me and the stop I needed to get to.

Less than five minutes after the LRT near-miss, three SUVs tried to turn into the same lane at the same time. I don't think they hit each other but there was a short discussion between the drivers before they all left. I'd have had to stick around for that as well, because it would have blocked the route my bus uses.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-14 08:57 am

The Dosadi Experiment (ConSentiency, volume 2) by Frank Herbert



Bureau of Sabotage agent Jorj X. McKie is assigned a legal and ethical trap: a planet of victims, who, whether rescued or left to their impending doom, present a danger to the ConSentiency.

The Dosadi Experiment (ConSentiency, volume 2) by Frank Herbert
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-13 09:06 am
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Books Received, September 6 — September 12



Six works new to me: two fantasy (one a roleplaying game), four science fiction. The roleplaying game is part of a series but otherwise, they all seem to be stand-alone.

Books Received, September 6 — September 12


Poll #33608 Books Received, September 6 — September 12
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 46


Which of these look interesting?

View Answers

Daughter of No Worlds by Carissa Broadbent (October 2025)
8 (17.4%)

Outlaw Planet by M.R. Carey (November 2025)
20 (43.5%)

Champions of Chaos by Calum Colins, et al
1 (2.2%)

Slow Gods by Claire North (November 2025)
24 (52.2%)

The Divine Gardener’s Handbook: Or What to Do if Your Girlfriend Accidentally Turns Off the Sun by Eli Snow (August 2026)
22 (47.8%)

Death Engine Protocol: Better Dying Through Science by Margret A. Treiber (April 2025)
13 (28.3%)

Some other option (see comments)
0 (0.0%)

Cats!
30 (65.2%)

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ffutures ([personal profile] ffutures) wrote2025-09-12 06:22 pm

Coincidentally...

I've been thinking about the "Dad's Dragons" RPG thing, and by chance I found a pack of cards in a charity shop today - each card has a teeny reproduction of a WW2 poster on it, e.g. the classic "Be like dad - keep mum". About 40 are relevant to Britain at the beginning of WW2, the rest are on similar American themes.

My idea is to give each player three cards, and let them play one if the situation seems relevant, with a -1 or -2 modifier on the difficulty of whatever they're doing; -1 for a bit relevant, -2 for very relevant.

I paid a couple of pounds for them - if anyone else wants a set they were sold by British Heritage ltd. - looks like they're no longer in production, but there is someone selling them on eBay (for a lot more) if anyone wants to know what they're like:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145239451112

There are probably other ways to get similar images e.g. from art books such as these:

https://www.tgjonesonline.co.uk/Product/Slocombe-Richard/British-Posters-of-the-Second-World-War/8659133

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/365369778921

Just bought the second of these since it's pretty cheap.

Update 15th September - the second book has arrived and is VERY good and remarkably cheap, new A4-format paperback with 20 pages of intro and 45 pages of colour posters for £3.67, definitely worth having for scene setting for anything set in WW2 Britain.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-12 09:12 am

Happy 11th Birthday, James Nicoll Reviews!



I'd been posting reviews to LiveJournal since April of 2014 but on September 12, 2014, James Nicoll Reviews went live, with a review of Robert A. Heinlein's Between Planets.
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-12 08:57 am

Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan



It's time for Bo to leave doomed San Francisco behind... just as soon as she completes one final task.

Awake in the Floating City by Susanna Kwan
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-11 03:35 pm
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Bundle of Holding: Rifts Worlds 1 (from 2018) & Rifts Land and Sea (from 2022)



11 sourcebooks that range across the shattered Earth of the Rifts tabletop roleplaying game from Palladium Books.

Bundle of Holding: Rifts Worlds 1




More World Books for the cross-dimensional tabletop roleplaying game

Bundle of Holding: Rifts Land and Sea (from 2022)
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ffutures ([personal profile] ffutures) wrote2025-09-11 06:08 pm
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And the Last Rifts Bundle - Coalition Wars

The final Rifts bundle this week, completing the run of all of the world books etc. for the system. This is another repeated bundle, previously offered last year.

COALITION WARS
   https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025Coalition



last time I said "The new collection is material that was originally published in 2000-2002 - at a quick glance it looks like the interdimensional war that's at the core of this system hotted up to 11, and possibly mainly of interest to players who like a LOT of combat in their adventures." Not really much I can add to that.

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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-11 08:56 am
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SideQuested by K B Spangler & Ale Presser



A woodcarver's foster daughter sets out to free a maiden from a magical tower prison, just the sort of thing that always works out exactly according to plan, without unforeseen geopolitical complications.

SideQuested by K B Spangler & Ale Presser
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ffutures ([personal profile] ffutures) wrote2025-09-10 06:09 pm

Another Repeat Rifts Bundle - Land and Sea

This is another big bundle of material for Palladium's Rifts RPG, this time concentrating on different geographical areas including England, Atlantis, etc. etc., previously in a bundle in December 2022.

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

  

In 2022 I said "This appears to include some new material, but I don't know if it's new or new editions. Rifts fans can probably judge for themselves." In fact the copyright dates are mostly in the 1990s, but at a quick glance the bundle does include books from 2012 and 2017.

One more bundle to come, completing a run of all of the Rifts worldbooks.
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ffutures ([personal profile] ffutures) wrote2025-09-10 06:01 pm

Forgotten Futures Campaign Idea - Dad's Dragons

This is something I'm thinking of running at Dragonmeet at the end of November, and possibly publishing as a small game supplement with two or three adventures and support material.

Basic idea is a "twenty years later" continuation of Too Many Dragons, one of the adventures from my Nesbit book, Fables and Frolics, possibly adding in some of the Dragon Player Character stuff from the Tooth and Claw setting. The first adventure was set in a Welsh village where a group of meddling kids tried to find a dragon before its eggs hatched and its children devastated the countryside. At the end of the adventure they usually end up helping the dragon deal with the real threat, a meddling dragon wizard who is trying to gain favour in the Dragon Emperor's court (in another dimension) by persuading the dragon to reunite with her husband, the Emperor. The kids aren't going to be a threat if she brings them up properly.

Flash forward say 25 years to 1940-ish. The baby dragons are now teenagers (hatching took a LONG time), and live and work among the humans in the same village (dragon magic includes shape changing). Mum is still around, of course (dragons are VERY tough and live for centuries) and now runs the village pub or something of the sort. But the war is causing a few problems:
  • Meat is rationed, and dragons are obligate carnivores who need a sheep every two weeks or so, or equivalent. Each.
  • They're coming up to conscription age and while their shape changing is good, it isn't perfect and probably won't fool the sort of medical you have to take to join the forces or be medically excused from service.
  • There's now an important and very hush-hush military base in the area - RADAR, mining rare minerals for Britain's beginning nuclear weapons research, or something of the sort - and everyone is being warned to be on the look-out for suspicious activity, aircraft, strange lights, etc. etc.
  • Probably other things I haven't thought of yet.
Although they're dragons, they're patriotic Brits and do want to do their bit for King and Country, and since they're not quite old enough to enlist they've joined the local branch of the Home Guard. Some of the older members are aware that they are dragons and will try to help, others are blissfully ignorant.

I think there would be a mixture of draconic and human player characters. Say two dragon "boys" and a "girl", Mum (probably an NPC), and two or three humans, at least one of whom starts off not knowing anything about dragons. Throw in the usual sort of Dad's Army problems, problems from dear old Dad (the Dragon Emperor) who wants his heirs well away from those horrible violent humans, and so forth.

Any thoughts? Plot ideas? And are there any games / settings I should bear in mind as covering similar ground?

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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-10 10:04 am
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james_davis_nicoll ([personal profile] james_davis_nicoll) wrote2025-09-10 08:58 am

Otaku Vampire's Love Bite, volume 1 By Julietta Suzuki (Translated by Tomo Kimura)



Otaku Hina is delighted that her Japanese neighbour Kyuta looks just like Hina's favourite anime character. Alas, Kyuta dislikes anime almost as much as vampires like Hina.

Otaku Vampire's Love Bite, volume 1 By Julietta Suzuki (Translated by Tomo Kimura)
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ffutures ([personal profile] ffutures) wrote2025-09-09 06:46 pm
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Another Repeat Rifts Bundle - Rifts Worlds 1

This is another repeat bundle for Rifts, containing an assortment of popular worldbooks for the game.

RIFTS WORLDS 1 (July 2018)
   https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025RiftsWorlds1



When this was originally offered along with the core pack in 2018 I said "I might as well be honest - I don't like Rifts. It's an old system and showing its age, and the overarching narrative behind the system doesn't really interest me much. It's fine if you want to run continuing evil invasion plots, not so good for other purposes. But as usual you do get a lot for your money, and if you're already into the system the new items are probably a good investment. But if you don't already own the core material I can't really recommend it - there are simply better alternatives out there."

Having said that, there are still a lot of people out there who like this stuff, and if you're one of them, or want to mine plot ideas for another system, you do get quite a lot for your money.

There will be more Rifts offers in the next couple of days - but I can't say which ones quite yet, my lips are sealed...