Recent content by Ralif Redhammer

Even in a player-driven game, it's okay to have external events that they have to react to now and then. That's life, and it shows that the world is in motion beyond just what they do. In my experience, some players are good at pursuing their goals and some look for the GM to serve their goal...

This is only the third of his novels that I've read, and I've enjoyed them. But I've read a bunch of his short stories, and I'll agree, they are really good. Second Variety, The Defenders, and Vulcan's Hammer in particular stand out to me.

I finished reading Somers' The Electric Church. Mixed feelings on it. Great ending, fast-moving and engaging plot, solidly garbage world, but the main character just didn't click with me until towards the end. Now I'm reading PKD's The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch.

There's the D&D 3e Ghostwalk sourcebook, as well as The Skeletons, where you play the undead guardians of a tomb.

I think I only read The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe when I was a kid, but I was an adult when I read the entire series from start to finish. Some of it seems a bit heavy-handed to me, but generally doesn't bother me. Would agree on Songs & Swords. Elaine Cunningham is one of the better...

There's a lot going on with The Silver Chair, to be sure. The irony of Puddleglum, the most pessimistic character, articulating against the Green Lady at the end is not lost on me. Nor is the irony of how much pagan symbolism and imagery is present in the Chronicles.

Even as late as 2017, there was the Confederate series that the GoT showrunners proposed as their follow-up.

The Basic Red Box remains one of the finest D&D products to date, in my opinion. I know part of that is nostalgia talking, but when you look at quality of art, presentation, accessibility, the tools it gives you to play and run the game, I think it rates high even outside of that. It packs a...

The Shadow of the Vulture is a solid story. I could see it making for a good film adaptation. I've seen the first two of the BBC adaptations, but not the Silver Chair. Tom Baker playing Puddleglum sounds awesome. There's a whole lot to unpack in the novel, and I think it likely that bits of it...

The art in those books has a...crudeness isn't the right word, but a style that feels primal and old while still being (at the time) modern. It's bold and suitably mythic:

One Who Walked Alone does drive home the tragedy of Robert E. Howard's young death. He desperately needed therapy, maybe medication, yet grew up in a time and place where getting that help would've been a long shot.

Also got hooked on D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths when I was a kid, somewhere in the range of 7-8 years old. Soon followed by the Book of Norse Myths. To this day, I adore those two books.

Same. There was very much a "if it doesn't work for you, toss it or mod it" attitude. People have been hacking D&D since its beginning, even those that you might think would be invested in a more orthodox approach.

Hmm, maybe the late James Holloway or Andy Hopp of Low-Life fame.

From what I know of Tim Kask, yeah, he would've been the first to have words about Bledsaw II's post. If he gave a warning, it was likely a "knock it off and clean up your act" message to Bledsaw II, not any sort of endorsement, as Bledsaw II implies.