Shoutout to /u/popgirlie420 for the idea! They posted a story about taylor hooking up with a girl & (anecdotal) kaylor confirmation that all came from a podcast I’d never heard. It got me thinking: what else have I/we missed? Any stories from friends? Rumors/stories you’ve heard from podcasts, online, & irl?
I've been on a real 'intelligent villains are the heroes here' binge, and was curious if people had any recommendations
I've recently torn through:
-- A Practical Guide to Evil (only just finished book 3, if any of you comment a spoiler I will gut you)
Just looking for villains who had the poor fortune of being stuck fitting the barest definition of heroic. Not, 'well, I know my whole schtick for the past century was eating babies, but what if I... don't?' or 'I'm an anti-hero, which means I talk about how awful life is, like that somehow makes this more realistic, and only realize in the third act that believing in something actually isn't for suckers'. Especially not, 'I was betrayed FOR NO REASON, and will now engage in FUN WAR CRIMES'.
I grasp those sell better than, 'I started this adventure wanting to consume the flesh of mankind, and now that I've done something arguably in the service of others, I would like to return to consuming that good good human meat', but what can I say, I have my niche.
My friend Ed and I are launching a new weekly stream where each week we review a pack, talk about its impact on Netrunner, and do a little bit of deckbuilding. We are targeting an audience that is getting familiar with Startup, and may be a little intimidated by the Standard card pool.
Today we are going to be looking at the oldest standard legal datapack, one very dear to my heart: Kala Ghoda.
In addition to reviewing the pack, we'll do some deckbuilding (today with Jesminder Sareen!), as well as take a look at some of the cool Startup lists we've seen on NetrunnerDB lately.
We'll be starting at 4 PM EDT, 9 PM GMT, and 2:30 AM IST. Here's the link: https://www.twitch.tv/cook_ed
Hope you can join us.
A Picture of Ed (an egg) and me (a stick figure) superimposed on the art for Exploratory Romp.
I just finished this book last night and knew that I would have to write a full review once I was done. The premise of this book really hooked me and was something I hadn't seen before--a magic system where people seek out cards which grant mystical powers and buffs sounded WAY up my alley. I've been into TCGs and such for over twenty years now, and to this day I still have my Rain Dance Blastoise deck from Pokemon, so I'm absolutely the target audience for this book.
To give a quick overview of the book, Jake's Magical Market is the debut novel by JR Mathews. In it, protagonist Jake is essentially a deadbeat working a dead end job at an unnamed store when suddenly the entire world is turned upside down in a cataclysmic transition which completely rewrites the geography of Earth, as well as fundamentally shifts the world to now contain dungeons, monsters, other races like Elves and most importantly, magical cards which grant their holders various powers and buffs.
The cards are really the main hook of this book. Every time Jake obtains a new card that goes into his active deck, it's beautifully illustrated on the page and even has a bit of flavor text to entice the reader, as well as a more "gamey" description of the card's effects and abilities. Many other typical progression fantasy elements are present in the book as well; the main drive of many characters is to get stronger, and there is a large emphasis on Jake himself training and leveling both his cards and his body to get better at everything. In addition to this, the reader can tell pretty quickly that there is a large power delta in the abilities and skills of those who are more accustomed to the new world order as we meet travelers and individuals of other races on Earth. This is really one of the book's strongest points in my opinion--the progression is fast (without necessarily feeling unearned, although faster than I'm sure some are comfortable with), and in the general case, things are moving. In just about every chapter Jake is acquiring a new card or learning some new way to utilize his cards, or he's diving into some dungeon and learning something new about the world. Time progresses relatively quickly as well, and some chapters have "montage"-esque segments where we'll see a bit of a jump over a few weeks or months. Personally I liked this given the story that Mathews is trying to tell here, but it might turn off other readers.
On the other side of things, this is a debut
... keep reading on reddit ➡
The night of September 22, 1827 was a moonless night, the last night of summer. Joe and Emma were staying at the Smith farm, a tiny crowded home with zero privacy. Joseph Knight was also a guest that evening at the tiny Smith homestead.
Twenty two year old newlywed horn dog Joe stole the wagon and horse of Joseph Knight to take his wife out under the moonless night for a filthy night of end of summer buckboard romping. At dawn Joseph Knight arose and discovered his horse and wagon had been pilfered. Soon a disheveled Emma and Joe returned. To explain their absence they regaled their incredulous family with a tall tale about obtaining the plates. While Joe was supposedly getting the plates Emma stayed and prayed, explaining her muddy knees. No explanation was apparently proffered nor inquiry made about why a trip of a mere three miles by wagon should take more than nine hours, nor why a horse fleeing a mob for three miles was not winded and in need of rest before Knight departed.
When asked where the plates were, Joe said he had hidden them in a log. They told of being harassed by a mob, probably to explain their disheveled appearance. The injection of a mob into the story had the desired effect, for no sooner did they tell it that it was forgotten that they had borrowed a wagon and horse without permission. The tale was shortly being repeated of how Joe hid the plates and ran all the way home pursued by a mob, got struck and knocked down, that he fought back.
>As he was jumping over a log, a man sprang up from behind and gave him a heavy blow with a gun," his mother wrote. "Joseph turned around and knocked him to the ground, and then ran at the top of his speed. About half a mile further, he was attacked again in precisely the same way. He soon brought this one down also and ran on again, but before he got home, he was accosted the third time with a severe stroke with a gun. > >"Joseph struck this third and final attacker with such force that he dislocated his own thumb. He continued running, 'being closely pursued until he came near his father’s house,' at which time his assailants, 'for fear of being detected,' broke off the chase. Reaching a fence corner, he 'threw himself down … to recover his breath,' then rose and continued running until he reached the house." — Lucky Mack Smith.
>Explain that when Joseph was bringing the plates home, there were men hiding in the forest determined to take the plates from him. Although he
... keep reading on reddit ➡
In Summer’s Heat, On Rising Tides
When Freedom Shrinks and Order Presides
Chaos Will Come, Sea, Land, and Skies
To Burn the Map and Topple the High
Where War Begins, May Heroes Rise
To Decide if Law or Anarchy Do Survive
And Bear the Blade that Makes Dragons Die
From the Prophecies of Moira DeGray
The overlay is upon us. The once isolated continent of Menand is now privy to an invasion, not just from across the seas but also from other worlds. The actions of a few foolish heroes have broken an age old barrier between this world and the multiverse in a time of war. Sides are being chosen as we speak. Where will the party find themselves as the very world they know warps and changes around them, increasing distances and creating strange anomalies. Will they bare the blade that makes dragons die?
What You May Enjoy
-Encountering Strange Creatures From Other Worlds, Both Friend and Foe
-A Dreary Backdrop of a Desperate War Between The Forces of Law and Chaos Rather Than Good and Evil.
-A Roleplay Focused Game With Dangerous Combat, A Web of Inter-Planar Intrigue, And Exploration Elements.
-Combining Advanced Technology With Ancient Magic For Weird and Wild Effect.
The Devil is in the Details
We run from 6 PM to 10, 10:30 EST on Fridays, on a private discord server. The medium is voice chat and Theater of the Mind. We use DnD Beyond for player dice rolls, but also have a dice roller bot if someone does not use Beyond. We are an open and inclusive table, but not for intolerance. I am attempting to run an epic campaign and the party is at level 5 at the moment. We use experience points. Warforged are allowed, as are any official or UA race that can't fly. We also use a number of custom rules that will be discussed upon selection. Responses
So it’s no secret I love a romp. It’s hard to explain exactly what I mean by that but I’m looking for really fun books with great characters, and excellent pacing.
For reference, I love Mackenzi Lee’s Montague Siblings trilogy. It’s so fun and feel good, but the writing is strong. I also love Howl’s Moving Castle, which has excellent world building.
Despite these two books both being somewhere in the fantasy vein, I’m really not a huge fan of fantasy unless it’s really good!
And even though these books were both written for younger audiences, I don’t care what age the book is meant for, I just don’t want to read another boring, pretentious book about 29 year olds emailing each other summaries of Wikipedia articles.
I’ve read a LOT of very mediocre books this year and want to finish the year with some enjoyable books that make me want to turn the page (or put down my phone lol).
Go wild!
