Bastard, Sword [RPG]

NO SPOILERS

I've been a huge fan of Tim Pratt ever since I discovered the Marla Mason urban magic series of novels, so I was stoked to see he's written some stories in the Pathfinder Tales line.  Yesterday, I finished Bastard, Sword, a four-part story available for free download from the Paizo website.  The story isn't what I expected (which was edgy urban magic) but it was nonetheless fantastic.  Bastard, Sword features a character named Rodrick (who appears in some of Pratt's other stories and novels in the line), a scoundrel who is out for a quick buck but isn't a bad sort really.  Set in a frontier region in Andoran, the story is laugh-out-loud funny and quite memorable.  I usually read one part of these web fictions each evening, and it was hard to keep from gulping the whole thing down in one go.  If you're willing to take your fantasy on the lighter (but not overly silly) side, I highly recommend this one.

SPOILERS

Rodrick's been hired by a wealthy Andoran nobleman to steal a powerful, intelligent sword that has lain for years in a linnorm's barrow.  Rodrick finds the sword, and its personality (see title) is completely fitting and utterly hilarious.  The scene at the end of the story, where Rodrick uses a magic spell to convince the nobleman that an ordinary sword is the magical one and we realize that the fool is planning to ride into battle against demons with it, treads the funny/cruel line perfectly.

Mynock Squadron Recap # 17 [RPG]

[4.7.20]

After a night spent planning for an assault on a prisoner camp, the members of Mynock Squadron wake in the morning with time to take care of a few last details before presenting their plan to Lt. Tuvolo. 

Citing the loss of Stavros and Torga, Kero manages to convince Tuvolo to loan Gamma Flight another trooper, who turns out to be Trill Dunerunner. Trill later claims she got in trouble for making a joke about Aqualishes within Tuvolo's hearing, which is probably why she got assigned to Gamma. The group decides that Trill's role in the mission will be to serve as a sniper and provide cover for Max's infiltration.

Warik finishes a requisition list for Kero to examine. The list includes the usual array of blaster rifles, but also a special sniper rifle for Trill, explosive charges to be dropped from the air, stealth suits for Max to take for the rescued prisoners, and even concussion missile launchers. Kero gives the list a cursory glance, and says that, other than the need for more medpacs, it looks fine.

As Warik, Kero, and Max are going over the plan one last time, a loud alarm klaxon suddenly sounds. A voice over the loudspeaker announces that intruders have reported in Maintenance Bay # 2, and that the area is in lock-down pending security's arrival. Realizing that they're just down the corridor from Maintenance Bay # 2, the trio decide to investigate.

As they approach, they see a figure covered in blood laying on the floor just outside the door to the bay. The technician is clearly on death's door, but somehow Kero manages to keep him alive through a magnificent display of battlefield surgery. Once the man is stabilized, she starts to drag him to safety while Warik and Max proceed into the bay. Inside, they see that one of Gamma's Y-Wings has been undergoing a full retrofit for the upcoming mission. Another technician is on the floor, clearly dead, grasping a small container in his hand. As Warik and Max watch, a silvery sheen advances along the corpse's skin and, in seconds, the body gets to its feet in the form of one of the Nanoformed constructs the group thought destroyed forever!

Warik leaps into the turret of the Y-Wing and starts blasting the construct with the vessel's ion cannons. The ionic energy seems to be effective in deactivating the electrical signals carried by the nanobots that make up the construct. After Max cleverly uses a fire extinguisher to freeze the construct and slow it down, Warik lines up both barrels of the turret and fires a blast into the head of the Nanoformed, destroying it utterly!

The trio of heroes are forced to follow a lengthy quarantine process before they're allowed free range of the ship again. Warik theorizes that perhaps the Imperials planted the creature on the Y-Wing. Tazo-Rhi praises Warik and Max's quick thinking in the maintenance bay, stating that she didn't think they had the cumulative intelligence to come up with such an effective strategy.

A few hours later, the members of Gamma Flight present their plan to Lt. Tuvolo. Warik and Kero will land some distance from the southern perimeter of the base and use concussion missile launchers to blow holes in the electrified, durasteel fence. Keth and Tazo-Rhi will fly together in a Y-Wing and try to destroy as many of the base's TIE-Fighters on the ground as possible, and then focus on neutralizing the camp's E-Web towers. Max will move in steathily through the breached fence to find the high-value political prisoners and, with Marress' aid, get them to safety while Trill provides sniper support.

Tuvolo says he thinks it's risky to have the entire plan depend on an untested member of the Squadron like Max, and he also expresses skepticism over the wisdom of using heavy artillery like concussion missiles and Y-Wing proton torpedoes so near the prisoners. In the end, however, he approves the plan.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Director's Commentary (January 6, 2017)

This was a bit of a filler session while the players figured out their tactics and equipment for the major assault on  the prison camp.  Keth's player was away, and I wanted to bring back the loose end of Warik having hidden a sample of the Nanoformed virus aboard his starfighter.  The idea of a retrofit of the Y-Wing resulting in a Nanoformed taking over a mechanic and causing a crisis aboard the cruiser was a pretty good one, I think.

The players did a great job acting quickly and coming up with some clever plans.  Kero made a nigh-impossible check to save the one mechanic's life, while Max and Warik teamed up effectively to combine the Y-Wing's ion turret and the fire extinguisher to good effect.  I really appreciate it when characters do more than fire their blasters at the bad guys, and having villains like the Nanoformed can really push the players to be cinematic and creative.

This session showed the virtues of having a virtual tabletop.  For all the annoyances that can sometimes occur while playing online (time zones, connection issues, sound issues, etc.), it was incredibly easy to find and reshape hangar bays as terrain and to add in necessary touches like the Y-Wing, etc.  On a real tabletop I would have drawn some ugly stuff with a black marker on a play-mat, and it would not have looked anywhere near as cool.

Chronicle of the Righteous [RPG]

Chronicle of the Righteous is about the servants, worshippers, and homes of a group of beings in Golarion (Pathfinder's campaign setting) called "Empyreal Lords."  Empyreal Lords are hard to define exactly; they're divine beings that inspire small groups of worshippers (called Mystery Cults), but they're not major deities that attract thousands of worshippers and the building of major temples.  They might be best thought of as demigods, because they're below deities but above normal "celestial" races like angels.  That's my best guess anyway, as I'm still a little bit fuzzy on the role of Empyreal Lords in Golarion.  But put that to one side:  Chronicle of the Righteous is a fascinating book that has inspired me to want to integrate Empyreal Lords, Mystery Cults, and more into my campaigns.  The book is a 64-page entry in the Campaign Setting line.  The inside front cover is a list of approximately fifty Empyreal Lords, their alignment, areas of concern (portfolios), domains (that they grant to clerical worshippers), and favored weapons.  The inside back cover is a full-page reproduction of the cover art, which is quite impressive in its own right.  Between the the covers are nine sections.

1.  "Tabris's Return to Heaven" (two pages):  This is a dense account, written in a "handwritten" font, that tells the tale of a warrior-scholar angel named Tabris who was obsessed with fully exploring and detailing the heights and depths of the heavenly and fiendish realms.  Tabris disappeared for decades before returning with his Chronicle of the Righteous, and the book contained secrets that even the celestial realms would have rather been suppressed!  It's quite evocative and well-written, and surprisingly effective.  It's definitely a flavourful way to start the book off.

2.  " Lords of the Empyrean" (29 pages):  Each of the major Empyreal Lords receives at least a half-page entry that describes them and their particular interests, along with a drawing of their holy symbol and information on what types of people worship them, where their shrines might be located, and what sorts of celestial beings act as their minions.  I would say that every third or fourth Empyreal Lord receives a full-colour picture, and these are done quite well.  Perhaps the most important thing in this section is the introduction of the concept of "Celestial Obedience" and "Boons."  Celestial Obedience is a feat that can be taken by worshippers of Empyreal Lords and provides them with an immediate +4 sacred bonus to something like (depending on the particular Emypreal Lord worshipped) a certain type of saving throw, combat maneuver check, AC against a particular type of enemy, etc.  The benefit is narrow in scope and certainly not game-breaking, but additional powers ("boons") are gained at character levels 12, 16, and 20--and some of these are pretty cool.  The best part of the Celestial Obedience concept is that, although it can certainly be taken by clerics, paladins, and other divinely-focussed classes, it doesn't have to be.  If your Cavalier is a worshipper of the Ragathiel, the Empyreal Lord of chivalry or your Bard is a worshipper of Seramaydiel, the Empyreal Lord of communication and music, they can gain the benefits of Celestial Obedience.  It's a great way to make the gods (or demigods) meaningful to more than just clerics in a campaign.

3.  "Celestrial Realms" (2 pages):  This is a description of the major geographical features of the celestial realms: Elysium, Heaven, and Nirvana.  I have to admit I've never had characters adventure in celestial realms, and I have no idea what it would be like to GM or role-play such a place.  I suppose it's good to have something more concrete to heaven than fluffy clouds.  I did like how there was mention of where mortals who plane shift to each realm are most likely to appear.

4. "Celestialkind" (6 pages): After an introduction to celestial races and a sidebar about what happens to mortal souls who reach the celestial realms ("petitioners"), each of the following varieties of good-aligned denizens of the celestial planes receives a full page description: Agathions, Angels, Archons, and Azatas.  I think this would be especially useful for those pesky spellcasters who are prone to summoning celestial beings willy-nilly.

5. "Concordance" (2 pages):  Although only two pages long, this is one of my favorite sections of the book.  The premise is that "once an eon, and only in times of great danger or turmoil" all of the divine powers of the celestial planes gather together to reach an accord on what should be done.  There's material here about the death of Aroden, Lamashtu's rise to power, hints about a deity interested in time-travel, and, most intriguing of all, "The Seventh Accord", a Concordance never spoken of in the centuries or millennia since it happened and considered so blasphemous and dangerous that no mention of it is permitted to exist.  Great fodder for creative GMs!

6. "Empyreal Worship" (14 pages):  This section is a grab-bag of material, but it's useful.  There's a page on how the different divine classes relate to Empyreal Lords, two pages on different types of Mystery Cults (drawn broadly among themes, but useful), and two pages on "secret offerings" that can be made to improve one's chance in summoning a particular type of celestial being.  Two pages are also devoted to Rituals of Mortification, which requires a character to invest a certain number of days going without food, water or sleep in order to gain both an affliction and a benefit.  The actual rituals listed are said to be examples only and GMs should feel free to add more.  The Ritual of Appetite, for example, requires two days' fasting, afflicts the character with a -2 penalty on Constitution checks and saves vs. disease and poison, but grants the character a +2 sacred bonus on concentration checks and Will saving throws.  Other rituals are far more powerful, with one providing a +4 sacred bonus on attack rolls against evil creatures and a +4 bonus on caster level checks to overcome their spell resistance!  I haven't used these rituals in play, and I'm not sure whether they would be balanced or not, especially because part of the mechanism is the infliction of nonlethal damage once a day, but nonlethal damage heals quite easy.  So the idea is interesting, but I'd have to test this concept out more before I'd be confident it's a good addition to the game.  Next, there's an important new prestige class introduced here: the Mystery Cultist.  A Mystery Cultist gains spells at the same speed as their prior class and several celestial-themed abilities, but a big reason for playing one is that they can receive the "boons" of the Celestial Obedience feat a few levels earlier than a regular character.  I'd be very tempted to try this class out, as it seems to both fit the flavour of Empyreal Lord worship and be mechanically sound.  After this, here are two pages of new spells (6 in all), with specific mention that these are not restricted to worshippers of Mystery Cults (and a couple of the spells are arcane in nature).  I would love to see "Charitable Impulse" in a game, as it forces someone to help others and gradually give away all of their possessions instead of committing acts of violence.  Last, there are two pages of celestial-themed magic items.

7.  "Lesser Empyreal Lords" (1 page):  About two dozen Empyreal Lords that were, for whatever reason, not significant enough to be included in the first section receive a brief, one-sentence description here.

8.  "Fallen Celestials"  (1 page):  Intriguing description of those celestial beings who have turned their back on the heavens, many of whom have joined the infernal realms.

9.  "The Celestial Hosts" (8 pages):  This is basically a bestiary.  It helpfully puts into table format all of the Agathions, Angels, Archons, and Azatas introduced in other Pathfinder materials, and then describes five new ones:  Cervinal Agathions, Balisse Angels, Choral Angels, Spyglass Archons, and Vernallia Azatas.  I found the new creatures interesting and potentially useful (except for the Choral Angels, which were a bit too cliche for me).

In sum, there's a lot of material here and it's almost all great.  I picked this book up by chance (it was half-price) and have never done much with the celestial realms in a game, but I can now definitely see why I might want to in the future; and if I do, I'm confident that Chronicle of the Righteous would be the first place I'd turn.

Pathfinder Flip-Mat: "City Streets" [RPG]

With some urban adventuring coming up soon for an adventure path I'm running, I was lucky enough to get for the holidays my first product in the Pathfinder Flip-Mat line: City Streets.  The mat is a good size for the gaming table: 2 feet wide and 2 1/2 feet long.  One side is blank with 1' squares, while the other side is, as the title would indicate, streets of a quasi-medieval city full of buildings, cobblestone roads, and sewer entrances.  The Flip-Mat is treated so that it can take equally wet erase, dry erase, and permanent markers, which is pretty cool.

On the whole though, I'm not particularly impressed.  Instead of a blank side, I would rather have another part of a city landscape with different types of buildings to keep things fresh--I have enough blank mats for game play.  The city streets side is pretty bland, as there's not a lot of interesting decor for the players to interact with--things like water barrels, wagons, refuse piles, and more would go far to giving this the feel of a real city street.  I'm not a fan of how the buildings are depicted; because it's a true top-down view, you can't see doors and windows, tell what the different buildings are supposed to be, or have characters burst into a building (because the designers left the roofs of the buildings on).  Unless you're really into rooftop adventuring (and even if you are, the grids don't extend to the roofs), I've seen other products of this sort done better and with more interesting features.  It's passable, but not up to the level of good.

Pathfinder Tales: "Armored" [RPG]

3/5 Stars

SPOILER-FREE

Armored is a four-part short story in the Pathfinder Tales line, made available for free download on the Paizo website (here).  Written by Stephanie Loree, the story is set in the nation of Druma and involves Brea, leader of a mercenary group named the Blackjackets, and her relationship with the local Kalistocrat, Prophet Deagan Callimedes.  There's a good mixture of bloody action and interpersonal conflict in the story, though readers unfamiliar with Druma and Kalistocrats (as I was) may be a bit confused as the story doesn't stop to catch up newcomers to Golarion.  There's enough twists to propel the story forward, though frankly I didn't find any of the characters likable enough to really care what happened to them.  Each chapter comes with an illustration of one of the characters (picture here is Brea), an added touch I really like.


SPOILERS

The gist of the story is that Brea and Deagan have a love affair, and that Deagan, in order to rise in the ranks of the Kalistocracy, must keep this a secret.  To that end, he pays a group of hobgoblins to ambush the Blackjackets in the hopes that Brea will be killed.  Things don't turn out the way he planned, and he's forced to take even more drastic steps.  The execution of one of Brea's friends is moving and effective.  Overall, however, I think the story just didn't have enough space to flesh out the characters' personalities and motivations to make it clear to the reader what was going on and why.  Without this context, there's the germ of a good idea here that falls flat.

Dwarves of Golarion [RPG]

Dwarves of Golarion is one of the earlier entries in the Pathfinder Player's Companion line, and the first book dedicated to a specific race.  The artwork, though serviceable, is clearly inferior to the current Paizo standard.  The inside front cover of the book has a nice, full-page summary of Dwarf racial traits and a list of dwarven gods, while the inside back cover has a map of the Five Kings Mountain region that is rather-well detailed, containing over two-dozen settlements, fortresses, and mines.  The 32 pages of the interior are divided into the following sections:

1. "Dwarves of Golarion" (10 pages): An introduction and overview to Dwarven physical, mental, and cultural norms.  Everything from Dwarven diet to Dwarven fashion is covered here.  Frankly, there's little that strays from the stereotypical fantasy notion of a dwarf, and players experienced with previous versions of D&D will find most of their preconceptions confirmed.  There are a few pages on Golarion-specific history of the Dwarves which is reasonably interesting--events like the Quest for the Sky and places like the Sky Citadels offer some insight into Dwarven culture.

2.  "Dwarven Character Traits" (1 1/2 pages):  This section introduces eight race traits, six religion traits, six regional traits, and four magic traits.  The traits are flavourful and tie in well to Golarion's conception of dwarves.  Mechanically, they are certainly not game-breaking and for the most part rather bland in effect.

3. "The Five Kings Mountains" (8 pages):  This is a gazetteer of the Five Kings Mountains, the center of Dwarven culture in known Golarion.  Several major cities like Larrad, Highhelm, Kovlar, Rolgrimmdur, Taggoret, and Tar-Kazmukh receive at least a couple of paragraphs each.  Other topics include natural hazards and foreign relations.  Four pages of this section are actually about other Dwarven enclaves beyond the Five Kings Mountains, and cover the Darklands, Kalsgard, the Kodar Mountains, the Mindspin Mountains, the Shattered Range, and Osirion.  This section would be extremely useful for GMs planning to run Dwarf-centered adventures in any of these locations.  My guess is that most players probably don't need so much information and will just skim it.

4. "Combat" (2 pages): There's a brief, non-mechanical but flavourful description of legendary Dwarven combat tactics to start this section.  Next, five Dwarven combat feats are covered and a new Dwarven weapon (the Dorn-Dergar) is introduced.  The feats are really fun!  If I had a Dwarf PC, I could definitely imagine taking some of them like Bounding Hammer or Sliding Axe Throw, as they have a nice Dwarf-specific flavour and would be effective in combat.

5. "Faith" (2 pages): This section is almost entirely new spells.  Nine new spells are introduced, and all of them are divine spells for clerics, rangers, and paladins.  An odd mechanic is set forth that limits these spells to worshippers of particular Dwarven deities unless a special ritual prayer is said.

6. "Magic" (2 pages): Three spells relating to veneration of one's ancestors are introduced for Dwarven clerics and bards only.  There's one new spell for Dwarven rangers & druids and two new rune-focussed spells for sorcerors and wizards.

7. "Persona" (4 pages): Three NPCs are given full stat blocks and descriptions.  I still don't really see the value of including NPCs like this in a Player's Companion, but it has potential value for GMs who buy the book and need to provide a contact, a cohort, etc.  There's also a one-page overview of Dwarven deities, each of whom only has a paragraph or so.  I'm not sure why this wasn't placed in the "Faith" section, and the description of each is quite cursory.

8. "Social" (2 pages): Three topics--Dwarven beards, ales, and craftsmanship--are discussed.  Definitely not essential, but could be good for players wanting to add a little more flavour to their PCs.  A couple of the ales even provide alchemical bonuses for an hour or so, an idea which I can safely say I've never seen before.

Overall, there's not a lot in this book that is especially memorable or innovative.  A player with this book and a player without this book would probably portray Dwarves in Golarion equally well, especially now that the feats and spells would be available on various websites.  If anything, I'd recommend this book more to GMs who need a relatively quick overview of Dwarven history in Golarion and the Five Kings Mountains for a campaign set in the area.

What I Read (2016)

Book log 2016

Jan 14, 2016:  The Supernaturalists by Eoin Colfer. "YA novel about kids in corporatized future hunting mysterious blue energy monsters.  Some excellent twists, but still falls a bit flat somehow."

Jan. 17, 2016:  What Came Before He  Shot Her by Elizabeth George. "Probably the best of her books so far, and it doesn't even have any of the series' main characters until the last few pages. Gripping and moving story of kids on the edge of spiraling out of control."

Jan. 26, 2016:  Journal d'un degonfle: Carrement claustro! By Jeff Kinney. "Christmas themed and funny."

Feb. 9, 2016:  The Explorers Guild, Volume 1 by Jon Baird. "Fantastic combination of prose novel and graphic novel.  Looking forward to more in the series."

Feb. 28, 2016: The Crystal Star by Vondan McIntyre. "Enjoyable Star Wars novel focussing on Leia and her kids."

Mar. 28, 2016:  Cujo by Stephen King.  "Really good characters in what is a very simple, but engaging plot."

Mar. 28, 2016: Bone Shop by TS Pratt.  "Prequel Marla Mason story.  A bit disjointed in places, but with some interesting ideas."

Mar. 30, 2016: The Good Earth by Pearl S. Buck. "Unforgettable tale of peasant farming in pre-Revolutionary China."

April 23, 2016:  Careless in Red by Elizabeth George. "While walking across England after having quit his job, Lynley comes across a body.  Good, and the whodunnit plot actually seems to work in this one."

April 26, 2016.  We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver.  "Epistolary novel of mother whose son committed a school massacre.  Gripping and thought-provoking."

May 12, 2016.  Dead and Gone by Charlaine Harris.  "Mediocre Sookie Stackhouse book, risking the series becoming formulaic."

June 6, 2016.  Le Guide du voyageur galactique by Douglas Adams.  "Classic, still funny though I missed a lot of jokes given my rudimentary French."

June 18, 2016.  The Running Man by Stephen King. "Fast-paced and interesting, even if predictable."

June 18, 2016.  Brainboy and the Deathmaster.  "Really clever and well-plotted YA novel."

June 21, 2016.  The Torchwood Archives by Warren Martyn.  "Companion book to the first two seasons of the show.  Very cleverly done to seem as realistic as possible."

June 30, 2016.  Sidekicks by Will Kostakis.  "Friend central to web of connections dies, and his friends have to figure out whether they have any real friendship with each other.  Funny and moving, a fantastic read."

July 16, 2016.  Wittgenstein's Mistress by David Markson.  "Stream of consciousness novel in Joycean vein from perspective of mad woman living alone on a beach.  Painful to read, glad it's over."

July 24: The Plague by Albert Camus.  "Thought-provoking about the essentials of humanity."

August 14, 2016:  A Toaster on Mars by Darrell Pitt.  "Futuristic buddy cop story in strongly Hitchhiker's vein.  Dumb but funny, and I'd probably read a sequel."

August 15, 2016: The Double Helix. "Norton Critical Edition of James Watson's story of his and Crick's discovery of the structure of DNA.  Interesting insight into the sociology of science!"

Sep. 2, 2016:  Dead in the Family by Charlaine Harris.  "Forgettable."

Sep. 7, 2016:  A Brief Guide to Secret Religions by David V. Barrett. "Intelligent and objective overview of modern pagan, New Age, and esoteric beliefs.  Better and more credible than the title indicates."

Sep. 12, 2016:  Magnimar, City of Monuments by Adam Daigle and James Jacobs. "Pathfinder game supplement.  Looks solid."

Sep. 24, 2016: Blood of the City by Robin D. Laws.  "Pathfinder novel set in Magnimar featuring a cleverly conceived urban druid.  Stunning twist 1/3 of the way through."

Oct. 9, 2016:  Simples mortels, passez votre chemin! by Charlaine Harris.  "First of the new Midnight. Texas series, as Internet psychic Manfred arrives in an isolated Texas hamlet.  Okay, but not great."

Oct. 17, 2016: This Body of Death by Elizabeth George.  "Strong entry in the Havers/Lynley series, as we meet a new character named Inspector Isabelle Ardery.  The plotting actually holds together well.  Can't wait to read the next one!"

Oct. 31, 2016 Before the Storm by Michael P. Kube-McDowell. "First novel in the Star Wars Black Fleet Crisis trilogy.  Fantastic; a page-turner that is Star Wars at its best."

Nov. 5, 2016.  The Dark Tower by Stephen King.  "First novel in the Gunslinger series.  Has great epic feel."

Nov. 7, 2016.  Dead Reckoning by Charlaine Harris.  "Eric's feud with Victor comes to a head, and Sookie discovers more about her fae past.  Fun and exciting."

Nov. 7, 2016.  Inner Sea Monster Codex by John Compton, et al.  "Descriptions and NPCs for ten of Golarion's more obscure monstrous races.  Well-written, nice art, and some interesting ideas."

Nov. 12, 2016.  Steppe by Piers Anthony.  "Clever and original; a real Mongol is brought from the past to portray Genghis Khan in an MMO-like historical reenactment."

Nov. 13, 2016.  Into the Dark by Peter Abrahams.  "Third and so far last of the Echo Falls mysteries. Fantastic, with real life issues mixed with mystery.  Wish there were more!"

Nov. 16, 2016.  The City Who Fought by Anne McCaffrey and S.M. Stirling. "Science-fiction novel about space station ran by a human consciousness.  Surprisingly interesting."

Nov. 18, 2016.  O Pioneers! by Willa Cather.  Classic tale of settling the Nebraska prairie, with a strong female protagonist.  The theme of connection to and reverence for the land reminds me of The Good Earth."

Nov. 18, 2016.  Hexenhaus by Nikki McWatters.  "Three stories of young girls affected by witchcraft hysteria.  Pretty interesting!"

Nov. 23, 2016.  The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett.  "Really interesting and original fantasy novel about humanity that had to cower from demons behind wards.  Looking forward to the sequel."

Nov. 27, 2016.  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.  "Norton Critical Edition.  Great and evocative. Fantastic essay by Lawrence Lipking."

Dec. 1, 2016.  Prince of Wolves by Dave Gross.  "First Pathfinder novel.  Set in Ustalav and featuring alternating chapters of an aristocratic Pathfinder and his streetsmart bodyguard.  Pretty good."

Dec. 2, 2016.  The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.  "Worthy of reputation as SF classic.  It is mind-boggling to think of what space travel at relativistic speeds would mean, and how the fundamental premises of war would change.  Some odd social predictions that border on problematic."

Dec. 4, 2016.  The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli.  "Norton Critical Edition.  Good introduction to the various interpretations of the text."

Dec. 7, 2016.  Sos the Rope by Piers Anthony.  "Weird story about post-apocalyptic world where nomads challenge each other to duels, while, secretly, hidden repositories of civilisation look on. Crazy gender problems and unconvincing motivations."

Dec. 9, 2016.  Changeling by Chris Kubasik.  "Shadowrun novel.  The cover art is ridiculously bad, but the story is surprisingly good!  The plot, about a troll who wants to be human again, has a thematic depth that works quite well in the setting.  Do not judge this book by its cover."

Dec. 12, 2016.  A Study in Silks by Emma Jane Holloway.  "Mystery featuring Sherlock Holmes' niece in a Victorian setting with magic and clockwork mechanisms.  A bit over-long, but I'd still read the next in the series."

Dec. 14, 2016.  Dungeons of Golarion by Jason Buhlman, et al.  "Pathfinder sourcebook providing brief backstories and level outlines of six mega dungeons in the setting.  Interesting reading, but would require a LOT of work to flesh these capsule descriptions into something playable."

Dec. 19, 2016.  One of Our Thursdays is Missing by Jasper Fforde.  "Fifth in one of my very favourite series.  Fantastically clever and thoroughly enjoyable from beginning to end."

Dec. 20, 2016.  Mystery Monsters Revisited by Richard Pett, et al.  "Sourcebook for bringing ten monsters from real-world folklore into Golarion.  A couple of interesting entries, but far from essential."

Dec. 27, 2016.  Castles of the Inner Sea by Alyssa Faden and Tim Hitchcock.  "Pathfinder book containing full descriptions and quality maps of six different castles in Golarion.  More directed to adventuring locales rather than PC-friendly bases, but a quality book."

Dec. 27, 2016.  Words in Deep Blue by Cath Crowley.  "A story about love, books, and a love of books.  A perfect novel, the best I've read this year.  Funny and moving and sure to be remembered."

Dec. 29, 2016. A Passage to India by E.M. Forster.  "Classic novel about British colonialism in India. At heart, whether a pair of men can be friends across the barrier of nationalism.  Excellent."

? 2016.  Spider-Man: Attack off the Heroes by Rich Thomas Jr..  "Kids book involving Spider-Man investigating while other heroes like Daredevil have suddenly gone bad.  Mediocre."