Comic Review: Legion of Super-Heroes #270 (Dec. 1980)

As a lad, I didn't read DC comics. I grew up with Adam West as Batman and Christopher Reeves as Superman, what more did I need to know about the two DC main characters? 

I have been revisiting DC and vintage Justice League and actually prefer the Justice Society. So, I picked up this issue of Legion of Super-Heroes which should be named Legion of Whining Brats. We have a bunch of super powered teenagers and twenty-somethings who are paired into couples. What, am I reading an Archie comic? I shouldn't complain, the cover price of the comic was fifty cents

The Legionnaries seem generic, Lightning Lad, Light Las, Shadaow Lass (are they sisters?), Colossal Boy and Timberwolf (who does that sound like). I did like their enemies, the Fatal Five who always work in pairs minus their boss Tharok who is half man, half cyborg. I also like Mano who wears a fish bowl style helmet which adds an element of mystery. Why does he were that thing, who is he?

While this comic had a lot of potential, overall, it's just a disorganized mess like a soap opera with an infinite string of plot but on plot resolution. While the 1980s Legion of Super-Heroes isn't for me, other readers may fall in love with it. 

2.5 of 5 Stars

Sturgeon vs. Bradbury

I would be hard pressed to define classic Sci-fi Lit. any better than simply referencing Theodore (Ted) Sturgeon who was a Pulp Era Sci-fi writer and early television and film writer. Besides his pulp contributions, Sturgeon is probably best known as a writer for the Original Star Trek series. Sturgeon in Orbit is a collection of five stores published originally from 1951 to 1955 in Fantastic Adventure, Planet Stories, Fantastic, Startling and Other Worlds magazines.

These five tales which transcend most Pulp Sci-Fi,  are more than adventure stories. Sturgeon explores the nature of humanity and the essential function of human relations through this collection. The first example, Extrapolation (Fantastic, 1953), begins as a tale of loneliness. Wolf Reger was a man so intelligent that he is almost prophetic. He "had so many talents that they were past enumerating."  Reger could master science, math and engineering. He could predict actions and reactions, or extrapolate, for every invention he created.  Reger's weakness was his relationship with humanity.  In fact, their ignorance and lack of foresight  would occasionally drive Reger into a rage. For this reason he could not work or live near his fellow humans. He lived alone until discovering a women who had attempted suicide who he nursed back to health and married. Reger's reformed attitude of humanity, based on his new romantic love, leads him to save humanity from an alien invasion. Isn't that the basis for most pulp era Sci-fi tales?

In the introduction to Sturgeon's novel Godbody, Robert Heinlein wrote that  Sturgeon's message was that he loved us all. The same can be said of Sturgeon in Orbit as each of the stories is about humanity and science. I believe that few would argue that Ray Bradbury loved us too. Anyone who would write a novel in defense of artistic expression and preservation of knowledge and creativity like Fahrenheit 451 obviously cares.

I have just finished reading The Martian Chronicles which also is an expression of Bradbury's concern for humanity. As well as, his concern for unbridled bureaucracy and technology and the failure of the use of basic common sense. This concern is no less relevant sixty-five years after The Martian Chronicles began to be published.

When I begin to read the work's of Sturgeon or Bradbury, I am not seeking an investigation into the nature of human civilization but this is how these men approached their art. I  would choose Fahrenheit 451 over The Martian Chronicles if reading for pleasure. I will add, about The Martian Chronicles, it is a bizarre book when the passages I enjoy most are an homage to The Fall of the House of Usher and a piece about the opening of the first Hot Dog Stand on Mars.

Catching up with Gardner Fox.

As usual, I have shelves full of old Sci-Fi and Fantasy novels and, in the interest of Spring Cleaning, I have been thinning the herd. I have most recently read these two books by Gardner Fox.

Kyrik: Warlock Warrior; This one is pretty racy, sexy for a tale that was first published in the 1950s. It is "in the tradition of Conan" but I've never read anything this sexy from R.E.H. Perhaps De Camp edited all the sex out? Oh, it appears Kyrik was published in 1975, thus the sexually liberated nature of the content.

The Hunter Out of Time is Pulp Sci-Fi at it's, often disjointed and illogical best. This twisted time travel tale reminded me of the writing style of Lionel Fanthorpe. Which certainly is not meant as an insult to Gardner Fox, whose literary achievements speak for themselves. 
                                

Both books were great fun and true testaments to sunny days and the simple pleasure and relaxation of reading.

Bizarre Books by Ashe & Lake

This is not some lost list of role playing tomes. Rather, it is a compilation of of awkward titles of published books. Most of the titles listed are publications from Great Britain, the edition which I have just read, the first U.S. publication, is from 2006. Bizarre, comical, intriguing or just plan wrong, Ashe and Lake have included book titles that will capture the interest of anyone brave enough to investigate their compendium.

How does this fit into a blog which is usually about Weird Fantasy Role Playing Games? Let me start with The Planet of the Knob Heads by Stanton Coblentz which appears to have been printed in the old pulp Science Fiction in 1939. The internet has a hand full of references to what was potentially Mr. Coblentz's masterpiece, but there is no archival existence of this piece that I could find. I did, however, find six results for Coblentz on the Internet Archive. Three of these documents are publications of Amazing Stories, there we are sure to find some fodder for any Weird Science RpG we're working on.

Some of the book titles listed could easily be fictional titles from Weird Science lit;

• The Skeleton Edition of the Book of Comprehension No. 1, The Preparation X.13: The Rose Color Reference for Technical, Kindergarten and Nature Teachers
• To Lake Tanganyika in a Bath Chair by  Annie Boyle Hore
• In Dwarf Land and Cannibal Country by Albert Bushnell Lloyd
• Was Oderic of Pordenone Ever in Tibet? by Berthold Laufer
• The Trapping and Destruction of Executive Armoured Cars by John A. Minnery 

There is 215 pages of this stuff. As the following examples from the first two letters of the alphabet will illustrate, possibly the most useful info for an rpg is the list of authors' names.

• Istvan Apathy
• Gaspar Griswold Bacon
• Ludwig Von Baldass
• Jean Baptiste Banal
• Otto Banga
• Rudyard Kipling Bent
• Juana Bignozzi
• Rene Palapart de Bigot
• Bishop Boguphalus II
• Nancy Hess Omaha Boy
• Melt Brink

I'll consider that the names of the city council members for my latest Encounter Critical  burg, Nuevo Brussels. I also consider this further proof that wacky ideas and inspiration can come from anywhere. Inspiration doesn't have to be limited to High Lit. or the latest episode of Teen Titans Go!

Lastly, enjoy this phasic tune which I'm sure Hank and Jim listened to during the composition and play testing of Encounter Critical.

Lin Carter's Year's Best Fantasy Stories Vol. 1

I am a sucker for these old Lin Carter anthologies. They contain the best of, at least, three generations of Fantasy Fiction. The first two volumes both contain tales by Robert E. Howard and Clark Ashton Smith. Both volumes have new or rare material from Fritz Leiber, L. Sprague de Camp, Jack Vance and Carter. The tales which I often enjoy most are from the young writers of the time. Vol. 1 of The Year's Best Fantasy Stories features newcomers Pat McIntosh and Charles R Saunders. There is also a piece of lost history of Middle Earth as told by Marrion Zimmer Bradley, The Sword of Dyrnwyn by Lloyd Alexander and a posthumous work by Hans Bok. Every sentence is classic, enduring fantasy enjoyment and most of these folks are listed as inspirational reading in Appendix N of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Dungeon Master's Guide.

2014 was a quest of personal accomplishment for me which I have completed with success. I am now free of the literal and proverbial text books, free to read any smut, pulp or trash that I may like. And free to wonder the wastelands of fantasy role playing enthusiasts, a journey I hope to renew and share the travels of the polyhedral dice bag. 

Upon Reading Chapman's Homer

Or, rather, some things I have learned from George R. R. Martin's A Storm of Swords.

1. How to name nonplayer charters or, names for the average Joes of medieval fantasy:

Alyn of Winterfell, Josh Quick-Bow, Little Matt, Anvil Ryn, Ser Ormomd, Ser Dudley, Pate of Mory, Pate of Lancewood, Old Pate, Pate of Shermer's Grove, Blind Wyl the Whittler, Goodwife Maerie, Maerie the Whore, Becca the Backer, Ser Raymond Darry, Lord Darry, Young Lord Darry, the Bastard of Bracken, Fletcher Will, Harsley, Goodwife Nolla....

This list is from page 465. Those who have read he book may recall it as a list of folks murdered by Sador Clegane, "The Dog."

2. How many plot seeds can one location contain?

"The Nightfort had figured in some of Old Nan's scariest stories. It was here that Night's King had reigned, before his name was wiped from the memory of man. This was where the Rat King had served the Andal king his prince-and-bacon pie, where brave young Danny Flint had been raped and murdered. This was the castle where King Sherrit had called down his curse on the Andals of old, where the 'prentice boys had faced the thing that came in the night, where Blind Symeon Star-Eyes had seen  the hellhounds fighting.  Mad Axe had once walked these yards and climbed these towers, butchering his brothers in the dark." (p. 756)

3. No surprise, G. R. R. Martin fashions a very authentic medieval folk song.

"My featherbed is deep and soft,

and there I'll lay you down.

I'll dress you in yellow silk,

and on your head a crown.

For you shall be my lady love, 

and I shall be your lord.

I'll always keep you warm and safe,

and guard you with my sword."

"And she smiled and how she laughed,

the maiden of the tree.

She spun away and said to him,

no featherbed for me.

I'll wear a gown of golden leaves,

and bind my hear with grass.

But you can be my forest love,

and I your forest lass." (p. 309)

I read this book over a year ago and it has been lying around while I've intended to post these comments. Now  off to Paperback Swap with you.

Maliszewski Meme and Martin

And you guys thought you were late to the party...
Mr. Maliszewski started the meme of photos of our current RPG reference material. So, here's what I use the most; Labyrinth Lord and Encounter Critical. I keep telling myself that I'm going to use the AD&D DMG but it doesn't get referenced very often. My use of the Encounter Critical rulebook hasn't been up to par this year. Dang real life getting in the way of Role Playing Games!

I did leave one book out of the photo, the Holmes Basic rulebook which I look at more often then the DMG. Of course, Labyrinth Lord is the Basic D&D retroclone which prevents frequent references to the Holmes book.

Who's Martin you ask, George R. R. Martin of course. I've read 700 pages of A Storm of Swords and would like to think Mr. Martin is having some influence on my game and plot design but I can't be certain. Martin's approach to literary plot would seem a bit nontraditional, his use of the protagonist is disposable, literally. His writing is beautiful and flawless but don't become attached to any of the characters or factions in the Song of Fire and Ice series. I still have 300 pages to read in this novel and I am starting to wonder what characters will survive as material for the subsequent books in this series.

Now, back to the ol' drawing board. I promise to provide some gaming material in the next post since I have posted photos of books for the past two days.

What passes for quality reading around here...

Here are two of the latest acquisitions for my library. I discovered 100 Fantasy Short Short Stories through Paperback Swap. Yeah, these are some short, short stories and I question if, at least one of them, qualifies as a story at all. Barry N. Malzberg's The Second Shortest Short Fantasy Ever Ever Published is less than a page long and the last paragraph is:

"The bullet bullet lodged deep deep in his brain he pulled pulled the trigger the bullet lodged lodged deep in his brain brain he he pulled pulled the trigger trigger the bullet"

So this story ends, with no punctuation. That's not what passes as quality reading around here but it was a challenge to type. However, I'm sure I will get lots of enjoyment when I settle down with the rest of the short, short stories.

At the suggestion of James Maliszewski I purchased Patrick Wetmore's Anomalous Subsurface Environment or ASE-1. I looked through the first twenty pages and I love this book! I shared it with the Adventure Capitalist last night and the all seemed to appreciate it too. I told the A.C. guys, "This guy wrote it just like I would and I'm sure I missed some of his inside jokes." If  you like swords & laser guns or mutants & magic you should definitely get a copy of Anomalous Subsurface Environment Vol. 1. 

Frankenstein!

That's, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I thought I'd dip into this classic. I have vague memories of reading it in college, now that I'm revisiting it, I hope no one has to suffer through this monstrosity to get an education these days.

It is just all too wordy for me. While I think the style of Frankenstein is just tedious Victorian romance, I can see the obvious influence on the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne. In fact, the style reminds me of Journey to the Center of the Earth. Both are written as a series of letters which convey the action and plot to the reader. For example:

"This expedition has been the favourite dream of my early years. I have read with ardour the accounts of the various vouyages with have been made in the prospect of arriving at the North Pacific Ocean through the seas which surround the pole. You may remember that a history of all the vouyages made for purposes of discovery composed the whole of our good uncle Thomas's library."

Shelley or Verne, I ask you? And, if it's Shelly, what's the North Pacific Ocean have to do with the tale of Frankenstein?

The influence of Mrs. Shelley's tale on subsequent literature, as well as society, are obvious and my complaints are as miniscule dust particles in the endless measure of the Milky Way. I've read one third of the book. We'll see if my intellectual appetite  can contain the remainder of this verbal flesh golem.

Further Adventures with Lionel Fanthorpe

What is it about this Post-Pulp fiction that I am so fond of? I believe it is light, quick and enjoyable nature of these little novels that hold my interest. I've just started reading Orbit One by Lionel Fanthorpe and it is, at least, as light as Time Echo.

In the first thirty pages of Orbit One there is little to distinguish the book as a Science Fiction story. So far, the plot revolves around four central characters, one of which has just committed suicide, as far as we know. This could be any pulp mystery or espionage novel set around a corrupt director who stages a suicide to escape his corporate crimes.

The act that appears to be suicide, Director Fletcher Starbuck, who was an excellent pilot, wrecked his personal star ship. Other main characters are the chief investigator, a long time co-worker and friend of Starbuck, and Starbuck's second in command who will be come the new director once the mysterious events are resolved.

So, the setting; a colonial experiment on a distant planet. Other elements that hint at sci-fi are; hover craft and personal rocket-ships. These three elements alone base Orbit One in Science Fiction or I'd be reading  any ol' espionage novel. I'm not sure what I expect out of the first thirty pages of a book?

Time Echo by Lionel Fanthorpe

The "splash" or "tag line" for Time Echo reads, "Out of the gray mist vague shapes were forming." Here's some gray mist for ya, I've devised my own category for these old paperbacks, which are not old enough to fit in the Pulp Fiction category, I call them Post-Pulp. The whole lot of them, the second generation Fantasy and  Sci-Fi writers, Fanthorpe, Carter, Stableford, they're all Post-Pulp.

Fanthorpe's the pulpiest of them all, his work borders on the Action-Adventure genre which isn't, normally, on my reading list. Time Echo has a simple enough plot; set in the year 2309, protagonist, Mike Grafton, flees the forces of dictator Rajak the Magnificent and stumbles into a time-machine during his escape. That stumble into the time machine is where Fanthorpe begins to work his pulpy magic, or the art of the vague gray mist. Grafton goes back in time to 1809 and Fanthorpe's backdrop is now, conveniently, the Napoleonic campaign. Fanthorpe doesn't pass up the opportunity to give us a four page biography of Napoleon's rise to military power. 

This book is only 144 pages long and, by page 88, I could not see Fanthorpe resolving his plot at the finish line. This tale reads like a writing experiment in character development. Each character introduced to the story gets many pages dedicated to their physical, psychological and emotional investment in the plot. This technique doesn't progress, enrich or support the plot line but, does add to Fanthorpe's word count and leaves the book wide open for plot flaws.

The most outstanding flaw in Time Echo is this line, "This was more that the art of any Houdini." Vague gray mist and all, this phrase is used by an Englishman, a native to the 19th Century,  seventy years before Houdini was born.

Fanthorpe spends about twenty-five pages each introducing the four central characters of the tale. Then, he ties up the plot with his trademark psychedelic scene. In a chapter titled "Realm of Insanity" two of the main characters enter a dimensional travel device, or vehicle, too, again, escape the security forces of Rajak the Magnificent. The dimensional travel device is, of course, untested but should take the passengers to an alternate Earth. Instead, it takes them on a seemly unending ride in the Tardis where a kaleidoscope of colors serves as a backdrop for multiple alien images and scenery. Due to a short circuit, the passengers eventually return  to their own dimension and time, Earth, 2903.

There is a lovable quality to Fanthorpe's work, a child like simplicity in the stories which don't require a basis in logic. Lists of random items seem to compose his tales; time travel, the Napoleonic Era and George Orwell's Eurasia all stew into a "time echo." The setting, 2309: Eurasia, could be the far future of Orwell's 1984 which Fanthorpe pays homage to in the following lines, "What, the cigarettes? ... These are only cheap ones; the good ones, now, that's what I call a smoke, but you can't get them unless you’re a member of the inner party." 

Inner Party member or no, Fanthorpe's many books are fun, relaxing reads emphasizing the occasional simple joy of a twisted, chaotic plot line.

Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide

I am currently reading the Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide by Ben Burtt which I just received last week from Paperback Swap dot Com. I thought this looked like a fun and funny book and my guesstimation was correct.

I have not spent much time playing Sci-Fi rpgs but I always seem to have some Sci-Fi related game ideas floating around. I probably wouldn't play a Star Wars rpg because I wouldn't know where to start the game. My approach to a Sci-fi game would involve the Mutant Future rules applied to any phaser and planet idea I may have in mind. Of course, Encounter Critical rules could be applied to any game genre a geek might want to try.

No mater what your rule set, the Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide could be useful for adding some details to the setting. This quote could help set the scene if the setting is among the stars; "Thanks to the absence of open warfare in the space lanes, and the dry-docking of Imperial Interdictor cruisers responsible for pulling craft out of hyperspace during the recent Rebellion, you may be among the many who find it relatively safe and economical to cross space again." (p. 17) This sounds like Ben Burtt's been crossing his Star Wars with Doug Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide which is fine and fun and right up the ol' home brew Sci-Fi alley.

I've read 71 pages of this book and it's given me plenty of possible adventure seeds already. Here's a useable quote from Hutt cultural history, "the Baobab Archives have uncovered tablets in archaeological diggings on the moons of Varl (the Hutt home world) showing ransom notes written in ancient Huttese at least 1000 years ago." (p. 31)

Do you want to run some player characters through Mos Eisley? "Mos Eisley .... has less scum (and villiainy) nowadays. The recent cleanup (by Imperial Troops) has helped stimulate the tourist and business trade." (p. 32) Chapter Three, Survival in Huttese, contains three pages on Mos Eisely with details of hostels, markets and dinning establishments.

How about the Forest Moon of Endor, what's been happening there after the Jedi returned? We learn this on page 49, "There have been several privately funded salvage expeditions to retrieve valuable hardware, the most significant being the hire and transport of 480 Jawas from Tattoonie ... to clean up the wreckage. Last reports indicate they mutinied and formed a roving bandit gang that had been known to prey on innocent visitors. No one has been hurt, but..."

Lastly, for now, if you're running a Star Wars game or Encounter Critical, perhaps your playing your own home brew Planet Algol setting, and you need some Wookiee terms, the phrase "Huwaa muaa mumwa," is certain to come in handy. (Can I buy you a drink?)

I'd like to mention that I also received an abridged edition, 160 pages, of Gargantua and Pantagruel from Paperback Swap last week. I am certain it will be full of potential gaming fun too. I may include more from the Star Wars Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide in another post but, for now, I leave you with this Ewok phrase;

Allayloo ta nuv, coatee-cha tu yub nub.
(Celebrate the love, celebrate the freedom.)

I had a gamer geek Christmas, here's the proof

My lovely wife, Sally, is very diligent about using my Amazon wish list when shopping for me for Christmas. I keep the wish list short and loaded with things which will provide me with plenty of enjoyment. Through the Amazon list and verbal suggestions, I got some good gamer swag this year.


I've been eying The Dungeon Alphabet for two years and was very glad to find it available on Amazon. Santa, and Sally, brought me a copy of the Dungeon Alphabet and I intend to get plenty of fun use out of it soon.



I had read an e-book version of Lord Dunsany's Book of Wonder and determined that I needed a print copy of Dunsany's work. The Book of Wonder is available with another set of short stories, originally titled Tales of Wonder, in a new paperback titled Wonder Tales. Thanks to Sally, Amazon and Santa, I have the gonzo Book of Wonder and a whole slew of Dunsany's stories which I have yet to read. The Book of Wonder and most of Dunsany's work, I would imagine, is in the public domain. The e-book is free and is a must read for fans of fantasy literature and frpgs. Get it soon if you have never read any Dunsany. His work really provides a sense of pre-Tolkien fantasy fiction.

So, here's a tricky thing I did, I knew Santa and I were giving Sally a Kindle so I just mentioned that I'd like the Batman Chuck Taylor High-tops and not the flippin Dark Knight version. I really didn't expect to get the shoes for Christmas but my hints and suggestions paid off and I now have the first pair of Chuck Taylors I've owned since high school. I've been wearing them proudly since I put them on Christmas morning. They don't have the arch support of my other casual shoes, Merrell, but I will not be wearing these Detective Comic kicks to work either.

To top the gamer geek themed holiday off Sally and Santa also brought me a Justice League of America t-shirt too. I've never owned a Justice League shirt but I'm sure to be sporting this new one later this week.
I think I'll go read a Detective Comic now.

Brak the Barbarian by John Jakes

I recently read the pistachio joy that is Brak the Barbarian. I didn’t know John Jakes had written these novels of adventure until I read The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories vol. 2 as edited by Lin Carter. I was familiar with Mr. Jakes for his novel North & South which appeared as television mini-series when I was an adolescent. I have probably mentioned, a time or two, I love the old Swords and Sorcery tales because they are just plain, fun reading. So, I found a copy of Brak the Barbarian through Paperback Swap to study this earlier work of Mr. Jakes.

This first volume of the adventures of Brak is dedicated to Mr. Jakes’ son;
"for my son Michael, who has yet to make the acquaintance of Conan,
The Mouser and Fafhrd, Cugel, or the rest of that splendid company
that Sprague de Camp has so aptly named The Brotherhood of the Sword."

During the entirety of this book Brak has one garment of clothing, a lion skin girded about his loins, and one weapon, a broad sword. While I find it hard to believe, I got the impression he wore the same lion skin through the entire tale. I know the broad sword had to be replaced after he threw the original sword into the eye a T’muk, a giant spider-like beast of the desert which bleeds acid.

Brak is no magician, diplomat or politician. He is just a simple barbarian who wants to journey to the southern extreme of known civilization, to Khurdisan the Golden. Brak’s knowledge of Khurdisan is limited to the rumors of the splendor and glory, beauty and treasures to be found there. As an outside observer of Brak’s world, I have to question why he’d believe the Khurdisan would be any better then the perilous lands which precede it. Perhaps I want to route for the underdog and I just can’t admit that Brak is witless as well as a barbarian.

One of the most memorable passages from the novel is, appropriately, Jakes’ description of one of many of the vile beasts which Brak is forced to face in combat;
"Arrowing towards him came a thing of great slimness but immense length. It had a flat, milky-blind eye in either side of its head. The head looked malformed because it widened out twenty times the thickness of the creature’s body and fanned, flicking tail. Gillslits as tall as Brak himself throbbed open and shut just above the water."
...
"Brak realized dimly that the monster must be some vile crossbreeding of life forms older than time. It was able to lift its long fish’s body half out of the pool by means of a series of froglike webbed appendages down either side of its shimmering scaled body. Brak counted eight, ten, twelve of those webbed half-legs on one side. They churned in a rhythm like galley oars as the Fangfish bore down."

In each chapter Brak faces a unique monster, each a new and deadly opponent from the imagination of Mr. Jakes. These creatures would be right at home in a fantasy role playing adventure If you’re looking for some new plot hooks, Brak the Barbarian could be research material for you.

Goodwill of San Diego

Yeah, I live in East Tennessee so why do I have a post titled Goodwill of San Diego? I think this may have been covered before but, if you have a book acquisition problem, as I do, do not visit this e-bay vendor;

Goodwill Industries of San Diego

I believe one of the other FRPG blogs may have mentioned this e-bay book vendor but I can't recall which blog it may have been. A few days ago I found the Pazio Planet Stories printing of R. E. Howard's Almuric through this Goodwill sale. The San Diego Goodwill only seems to sell books through e-bay and there are many more interesting books in their sell that gamers would be likely to enjoy reading and owning.

For example;

The Complete Stories of Theodore Sturgeon

and The Gormenghast Novels of Mervyn Peake

I've given you all fair warning. Do not visit that vendor if you have a book acquisition problem. Happy reading!

Paizo Planet Stories, a question for the OSR blog o sphere

If you've read my blog you should have no doubt that I'm a bit nostalgic about books. And, as if I needed some more books, I feel the need to acquire the more of the Planet Stories publication series by Paizo. But I have searched high and low across the internet and can not find any complete list of the books that have been published in this series. Perhaps I haven't use my google-fu to my best ability on the Paizo website?

Can any of my fellow grognards inform me of such a list at some internet location?

Thanks and have a great Friday!

What we write about when we write about rpgs.

Perhaps this should be titled; What we read when we read about rpgs. It has been noted that I read a lot and I have determined that all this reading is the equivalent of doing the research with out doing the writing. The writing does eventually come about but probably at a much slower pace than is desirable.

I was doing a bit of "research" recently, reading the ol' 2nd Ed. AD&D Dungeon Master Guide and I read a paragraph that looked familiar. I have reached the point in my reading and research career that I read almost all of a book. This is to say that I read the introductions and the "notes about the author" but am not likely to read the glossary or bibliography. So, I was reading the intro to ye ol' DMG and came to this section;

"The rules of the AD&D game are balanced and easy to use. No role-playing game we know of has been playtested more heavily than this one. But that doesn't mean it's perfect. What we consider to be right may be unbalanced or anachronistic in your campaign. The only thing that can make the AD&D game "right" for all players is the intelligent application of DM discretion."

I believe that passage speaks volumes about what is popularly called the "old school" attitude of fantasy role playing games. These ideas have been written, time and time again, across the blog-o-sphere; unlike the rules of chess, the rules of role playing games are not intended to be the final judge of an action in the game. Rather, the final judge are the ideas and attitudes of the members of individual game groups. But, rehashing old opinions about our hobby is not the point of this post.

Those sentences from the 2nd Ed. DMG reminded me of a passage at the beginning of another favorite rpg, Encounter Critical. I don't have any doubt that the author of E.C., S. John Ross, was familiar with that very passage or, at least, similar passages from various old rpgs. In the intro to E.C. he, in the voice of Hank Riley, writes:
"...you can enjoy the assurance that this is the only game we know of to include True Scientific Realism in every system. Combat, especially, derives from actual battle experience and from extensive research into the theories of tactical interplay... This is a complete fantasy and science fiction game in a single manual, but it is also the beginning of your greatest scenario, a foundation on which you can build."

"Although, as far as rules go,...(we prefer) a minimum of systems to keep track of: enough to know what your character can achieve, and enough to know who he can defeat, is enough!"

Perhaps these two passages are not as identical as I had initially thought but they certainly bare a resemblance in tone as they both imply; "this is the most highly playtested game to our knowledge." E.C. is a lampoon of the old style rpgs any way, but a very functional game itself, and that makes the comparison and likeness appropriate.

So, thanks to Zeb Cook and his team that created 2nd Ed. AD&D and thanks to John Ross and Dave Insel and Cody Reichenau for Encounter Critical, I have two more things to ramble on about as I approach my senility.

Confessions of a Booknerd

The trouble with books is they’re so inconspicuous, so affordable and so enjoyable. I said I wasn’t going t o buy any more books in 2009 except at the Friends of the Library annual book sale. Of course I was not able to stick with this plan. I’m certain I have bought at least one book each month. The problem is, books are just too affordable! They are too affordable and available everywhere. About ten days ago I managed to buy five books for $2.50 at the Goodwill store. It was 50% off day at the Goodwill and these books would have sold for at least $2.00 at a used book store. I found a Clifford Simak novel, an Alan Dean Foster paperback, The Cat and the Hat and a few other children’s books for my stepson’s daughter. (That’s her in the cow suit in my profile photo.)

I blame my family, the economy and the book vendors for my book acquisition problem. Our local used book warehouse, McKay Books, has been a prime contributor to my problem. Their bookshelves practically bleed classic Sci-fi, fantasy novels and bargain priced rpg books. In the past two months I’ve found copies of the Castles & Crusades Players Handbook and a Savage Worlds hardcover to add to my bookshelves. I blame the economy, even at bargain prices the books innocently and quickly begin to overflow the bookshelves.

So, I blame the books, my family, the book vendors and the internet for my problem. The used books stores are a bit helpful since I can trade in my old books for books I never knew I wanted. But the book credit can be a problem if you live in a family of readers and suddenly you find you’ve been given four of five, or more, boxes of paperbacks from the in-laws. Once the used book store sorts through the in-laws old paperbacks you’ve got $200 in credit and it’s like Christmas in July.

I’ve found a few services on the internet that contribute to my problem with books too. Paperbackswap.com is pretty helpful since it’s a one to one book swap between the members of the site. I’ve created an account at BookCrossing but I have yet to give a book away. I’ll eventually find a book too dilapidated to trade and will find an appropriate place where some other curious reader will likely adopt it.

Instead of announcing that I will not buy any more books in 2010 I should keep a budget of my book expenses. I’m thinking I’ll give myself a $100 budget for books at the beginning of the year. This doesn’t sound like a very big budget but $100 will go a long way at used book stores, library sales, yard sales and thrift stores. I can use the money I save by limiting my book purchases for my retirement or to purchase a new truck. Nah, I'm sure I'll spend it on my other problematic hobby, brewing my own beer.