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sGuest Post by Brian Renninger: Running First Edition Oriental Adventures, Session 3 Part 1
Monday , 15, August 2016 Tabletop Games 4 CommentsPlay report 3a: 1st Edition AD&D, and 1st Edition Oriental Adventures. Anchors aweigh! Part 1. After the first session total party kill, and the second session introduction of the barbarian übermensch this third session started to hit a stride. The session began with the two Barbarians and the Shugenja at loose ends in the village […]
There is a new hardback collection of stories by Joe Abercrombie entitled Sharp Ends. The stories all set in the world of The First Law Trilogy, Red Country, The Heroes, and Best Served Cold. The publisher is Orbit Books, $25.00, 287 pages, hardback. Publishing date is listed as April 26, 2016 though I just found […]
Nearly a decade ago, I remember this guy holding forth on rpgs at a friend’s house. I took an instant dislike to him. In the first place, I kind of got the drift that he’d maybe take a dim view of the sort of vintage games I like. He was also threatening to take my […]
Short Reviews – The Raid on the Termites, by Paul Ernst
Friday , 12, August 2016 Book Review Leave a commentThe Raid on the Termites by Paul Ernst (best known for his pulp crime-fighter The Avenger) was the featured cover story of the June 1932 issue of Astounding. You know those stories, you’ve seen them before in countless children’s shows, where the kids go “wouldn’t it be cool to see the inside of the ant-farm?”, […]
I want to point out a very common criticism I get. There’s something off about it and I’ve answered parts of this before… but I find it curious that it crops up from people in entirely different domains and from people on opposite sides of the political spectrum. Here are the two latest examples if […]
WARGAME WEDNESDAY: The Wargamer’s Take on Eurogaming
Wednesday , 10, August 2016 Uncategorized 3 CommentsThe Player’s Aid puts out some of the best wargaming content around. I was glad at first to see that they were branching out into other types of board games, because really… I do want to know what’s going on outside of the hard core wargaming scene. But hey, I don’t mind hearing about that […]
SUPERVERSIVE: Pan, Stone Henge, and the Gods of the Copybook Headings
Tuesday , 9, August 2016 Appendix N, Superversive 7 CommentsIn reading through Appendix N, one of the things that most struck me was how Pan has all but dropped from the literary conversation over time. In Lord Dunsany’s day, that third tier Greek god was something of a rock star. He was so captivating, he was even fundamental to one of the era’s most […]
This is a fascinating piece of fiction for a good half dozen reasons. Certainly, any Traveller fan worth his salt will be hooked by the second page: “I’m glad I never trained as a scout,” remarked Second Officer Walgrave. “Otherwise I might be sent down upon strange and quite possibly horrid planets.” “A scout isn’t […]
Guest Post by Misha Burnett: Vacuum Flowers by Michael Swanwick
Monday , 8, August 2016 Appendix X 4 CommentsA Match Made In Space: Michael Swanwick’s Vacuum Flowers Michael Swanwick’s Vacuum Flowers is has just been re-issued on Kindle by Open Road Media Sci & Fantasy Group. Open Road seems to be in the business of re-issuing out of print classics of genre fiction—a glance at the sample chapter from some of their other […]
Military Fantasy Resources: Part 1- Contemporary Accounts and Histories
Sunday , 7, August 2016 Uncategorized 6 CommentsSo, you have heard about military fantasy and thinking of writing some of it yourself. Hey, all you need to do is write about sword, spears, and spells, right? Yes, but there is more to it. If you are going to write military fantasy, you better put some emphasis on the military part of it. […]
On the Table: Wizard Kings from Columbia Games
Friday , 5, August 2016 Tabletop Games, Wargames 7 CommentsI have gotten a tremendous amount of play out of Wizard Kings since picking it up a couple of weeks ago. As I’ve posted pics of this on social media, I’ve gotten feedback from people that are underwhelmed by it, so let me explain real quick here what’s going on with that and why this […]
Short Reviews – Hellhounds of the Cosmos by Clifford D. Simak
Friday , 5, August 2016 Book Review 8 CommentsHellhounds of the Cosmos by Clifford D. Simak appeared in the June 1932 issue of Astounding Stories. After the first couple pages into Hellhounds of the Cosmos, I did not expect to be as completely blown away by weird the way I was in its second half. Hellhounds starts out with what seems to be […]