Progressive TTRPGer searching for a cosmopolitan, equitable society with trains.
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This is a fun and enlightening read about Lindsey from her own point of view. It has some interesting insights into the callousness and cruelty of industry insiders as well as the kindness an compassion of other industry insiders. I guess people are people no matter what. More importantly it has commentary on life lessons and how much depends on our own horizon.
This is a good read in the science-fantasy vein of ERB’s Barsoom series. There are themes of slavery, exploitation, sexual and otherwise, and caste consciousness that may offend 21st century sensibilities however I find them presented in a way by the main character that, even nearly a half-century ago questioned those practices and the attitudes that sustained them.
This is a nicely written biography that in some ways appears more like a print version of a bio-pic than an old-fashioned biography. There are interludes of imagined game sessions between Gary and his children that effectively recreate the sidebar “fluff” that is a common method for giving readers a feel for the mechanics about which they are reading. The text itself is both descriptive and creative sometimes recounting events in Gary’s life as any typical biography would and other times using the information from interviews, history, and corporate lore, to dramatize the events in the way a bio-pic would.
The conclusions of the book could further be extended today as the success of Dungeons & Dragons and it’s acceptance into mainstream culture has only increased since Witwer published his book. Unfortunately that success has also encouraged lawsuits, jealousy, and mismanagement of Gary’s estate which Witwer carefully avoided addressing.
Highly …
This is a nicely written biography that in some ways appears more like a print version of a bio-pic than an old-fashioned biography. There are interludes of imagined game sessions between Gary and his children that effectively recreate the sidebar “fluff” that is a common method for giving readers a feel for the mechanics about which they are reading. The text itself is both descriptive and creative sometimes recounting events in Gary’s life as any typical biography would and other times using the information from interviews, history, and corporate lore, to dramatize the events in the way a bio-pic would.
The conclusions of the book could further be extended today as the success of Dungeons & Dragons and it’s acceptance into mainstream culture has only increased since Witwer published his book. Unfortunately that success has also encouraged lawsuits, jealousy, and mismanagement of Gary’s estate which Witwer carefully avoided addressing.
Highly recommended not only for those who want to know about the man, the game, and the business but also see, especially today when it is all too obvious that Gary’s legacy is every bit as important and present in today’s globalized world as Roddenberry, or Lucas, or Tolkien.
Twenty-five years ago, New York Times bestselling author Terry Brooks wrote a novel that brought …
An entertaining series though geared more for young adults than LotR or WoT. It bears very little resemblance to the MTV series though, so if you’re looking for more of that you won’t find it in the books. If you are a role-playing gamer there is a lot of inspiration in there.
A fun little side adventure that’s also appropriate for the holidays because who doesn’t want to get trapped in a snow globe for the holidays?
Originally published in 1932, this outstanding work of literature is more crucial and relevant today …
There is much to be learned from reading this book and it is easy to forget that it was written early in the last century, not this one. Sadly, the warnings Huxley offers about what society was becoming were largely ignored and we've come to a society that so closely mirrors his "civilization" that it could have been a metaphor about our current state of affairs written by a contemporary author.
It is a very short novel but full of warnings and lessons that are as applicable, or even more so, today as they were in 1930. It is a lesson in mass manipulation by the media and big pharma. It is a lesson in treating people ultimately as mere resource rather than persons. And it is a lesson in extremes, extreme pain v. extreme pleasure and the wrongheadedness in submitting to either.
This is a fun romp with a southern biker chick through her return to an alien world in a very ERB-esque fashion. It has elements of fantasy, sci-fi, steampunk, historical fiction and porn all rolled into a philosophical social critique that is unmistakable yet not taking itself too seriously to distract from a plane fun read.
Waar would be a fun world to explore in an RPG!
An easily read narrative of the rise and influence of Norman power in Europe. It tells a tale of the great figures of the Norman world and their contribution to the eventual unity of Europe centuries later. The story of the greatest of the Normans is the story of Europe in the Middle Ages that eventually led to the Renaissance and the forging of the democratic nation-state ruled by a system of laws.
Ready Player One is a 2011 science fiction novel, and the debut novel of American …
A great nostalgic romp through the past, the present and, perhaps a not too distant future. It points out what's wrong with our global culture today in a way that brings back the hope we had growing up in the 70's and 80's. It reinvigorates a faith in the goodness of humanity in spite of our current mistakes and failings. And it points out the absolute value of charity towards one another. And it shows how we know all this; we learned it all growing up but forgot it being part of the rat race or being run over by it.
It's full of Easter eggs from pop culture and the best ones are those he brings up without pointing them out, leaving the reader to notice them.
For anyone who is nostalgic about the late 70's and 80's and the tabletop role-playing game that spawned many others and computer …
A great nostalgic romp through the past, the present and, perhaps a not too distant future. It points out what's wrong with our global culture today in a way that brings back the hope we had growing up in the 70's and 80's. It reinvigorates a faith in the goodness of humanity in spite of our current mistakes and failings. And it points out the absolute value of charity towards one another. And it shows how we know all this; we learned it all growing up but forgot it being part of the rat race or being run over by it.
It's full of Easter eggs from pop culture and the best ones are those he brings up without pointing them out, leaving the reader to notice them.
For anyone who is nostalgic about the late 70's and 80's and the tabletop role-playing game that spawned many others and computer games and movies to follow, you'll see just how deeply Dungeons and Dragons has shaped our culture.
The adventure starts by railroading the PCs into the adventure and I think a good GM can, and should, alter this. The encounters are fairly sparsely populated but the PCs shouldn't necessarily resort to combat; allies will be useful when battling powerful elementals.
There are, however, a lot of good ideas and a premise adaptable to a variety of settings and not limited to Oriental Adventures. In fact, the elemental theme makes it a good module to adapt to the Dark Sun or Dragon Kings settings.
This is a great resource for expanding the more metaphysical aspects of your gaming world particularly in the OSR games. This gives an alternative means for divine magic spells that doesn’t depend on the beneficence of divine beings.
