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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nellisir" data-source="post: 8185863" data-attributes="member: 70">Seriously, you like what you like and that's cool. My mother and I have learned not to give each other recommendations, because I can't stand what she loves and vice versa.But otherwise, you're dead to me and off my Christmas card list, you heathen. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> I have a rule regarding lists of Best Fantasy Novels: if they don't contain at least one of Tigana; Bridge of Birds; or Little, Big, it's a shite list. (And yes, all three rightfully make regular appearances on said lists, and yes, my formative years were 1985-1995; Gen X all the way).(If you found Tigana slow, I do not recommend Little, Big. Maybe A Song for Arbonne though.)An excellent choice.I read Three Stations by Martin Cruz Smith, and have started Tatiana (same). I realized after she bought these that I already had Tatiana, and I'm finding that I read it fairly recently but cannot for the life of me remember if I finished it or not. It's agonizing, because every sentence feels like a retread but I have to keep going. A reminder of why I so rarely reread books.Found TWO decent used book stores yesterday; one only took cash and we were rushed for time at the other, but return trips are planned. I need more books like I need a hole in the head, but at least it's not drugs? I think that's what I'm supposed to say. (Note: One had quite a collection of TSR books - Dragonlance, FR, and the like. I might pick up a few for nostalgia and kicks & giggles. Recommendations?)In gaming stuff, I've gotten Blackmarsh and The Majestic Fantasy RPG (both from Rob Conley) in print; something called Wardlings Campaign Guide, which is a 5e campaign rules/setting where only kids are magical; Old School Essentials by Normal Gavin (6/5 for layout, though it's a both amazing and potentially visually overwhelming in presentation); and delivered yesterday, My Dad's Monster Manual (5/5 straight up), by James Introcaso (based on material by Lucian Introcaso); The Green Witch for Swords & Wizardry and The Warlock for Swords & Wizardry, both by Timothy S. Brannan; Filling in the Blanks - A Guide to Populating Hexcrawls by Todd Leback; The Grand History of the Realms, by Brian R. James and Ed Greenwood; and Elminster's Forgotten Realms, by Ed Greenwood.My Dad's Monster Manual deserves a special mention because it does what I've really only seen one, maybe two other D&D products do before, which is present a fairly complete set of monsters that sketch out a really different sort of campaign world. Brief backstory: James showed his dad pictures from the 5e Monster Manual; his dad made up names and details of the creatures. Beholders become tiny creatures that move by rolling; ankhegs are friendly-ish humanoids; bulettes are small pink humanoids that grow armor to protect themselves.Quite a few of the creatures become intelligent and, if not always friendly, at least not overtly hostile. There is also a network of relationships and history: potentlings create scorpdillos as servants (missed opportunities too; why aren't ugoths immature potentlings?); granino are birthed from stratonians who hurl pieces of themselves at trespassers; gordaans are genie empowered by angels; Donafur is a rebel archdevil.Pars Fortuna achieved something similar, creating a ecosystem of monsters that bypassed the Old Standards in a convincing manner, but otherwise nearly every book since the mid-80s leans on the assumed presence of goblins, orcs, dragons, and so forth. (Yes, Dark Sun is the potential exception to the rule...).</blockquote>

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