Below are a few quick thoughts on the books I’ve read throughout May
The Bright Sword by Lev Grossman
This was going to be my big book for the year after finishing The Power Broker by Robert Caro last year. It was significantly easier to read through The Bright Sword. However, it was still a slow burn of the book. It takes it’s time to setup the characters, the setting and the history of this Arthurian world it goes through. By the end, I came to love and care about the characters. Reading constantly to see all their stories to the end and to find out exactly what happen to Camelot after Arthur passed. I liked it, but I didn’t love it. I sometimes found myself really fighting just to pick it up, but when I did pick it up, I was hooked.
The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross
Oh god, I still do not know if I like this series or not. Like I enjoyed the idea of it, and there is something funny about this story being about Lovecraftian strangeness with just middle-management bureaucracy with writing which feels like one of the more enjoyable Standard of Operation Procedures workbook. I think I enjoy the main character. I look over my CAWPILE notes and everything is around the 4-6 range. I think I’ll pick up the next book. But it’s not going to the top of my To Be Read list.
An Informal Guide to Workwear: Form, Function, and Fashion by A.W. Sylvester
Getting into my 30’s, there was something in my head that clicked and wanted me to work on my appearance, how I wear clothes, and what do I want to say with my outfit. This book came up from Putthison.com’s gift guide. It is no way a guide to fashion but helped me understand some of the history of clothes and its view in the blue-collar industry. I very much enjoyed the art in the book and love the blue outer cover. This would be one of my coffee table books. It easy to pick up and just read a few sections while waiting.
Cold Clay by Juneau Black
Out of all the books in May, this was the one that caught my attention the most. Juneau Black’s writing works great for me, and I enjoy the pacing of this mystery story returning to the town of Shady Hollow. I felt like the character were a bit more alive in this book than the first in the series. The atmosphere was still very charming and quant with that murderous vibe that reminds me of Midsomer Murders or Father Ted. My main critic is the story. Juneau Black tells us not to worry too much about how the animals live together, but a major plot point in the story kind of deals with their animalistic nature. There is something disconnecting about “don’t worry they all live together” and “Yes, this thing happens to me because of that animal’s nature” The mystery was also weaker than the first. It felt obvious and was waiting for the twist that threw the story on its head that made me go “AH how did I miss that?”, thought it was still a fun journey. Finished it in a day as I was that invested
Game Books or misc.
The following books are RPG books; they do not get ratings and while I’ve read them. I would not consider them reviews of the games or their mechanics as I have yet to run them. I would say maybe my quick impressions of varying length
Call of Cthulhu: Campfire Tales
One of my best friends loves to play as teens and kids in TTRPGs with cool settings, and I do like Call of Cthulhu. So, when I saw the game was available on Studio 2 publishing, I bought it immediately. I found the adventures fun with some weak set-ups and the campaign framework to be okay. I’m excited to try to bring it to the table for a small campaign.
The Laundry Roleplaying Game: Introduction to Applied Occult Computing by David F. Chapman (Game designer), Calum Collins, Christopher Colston, Alister Davison, Michael Duxbury, Warren Frey, Gareth Hanrahan, Elaine Lithgow
Do you hear that dear reader? That was my sigh from far away. Like it’s book series, I’m not sure if I like this or not. This is the Laundry’s RPG introduction book that gives an adventure, a few pre-gen characters, and some lore about the area of London our beloved employees of the Laundry would be dealing with if you wanted to extend the scope of the campaign. The good, I liked the main adventure with some of the extended adventure ideas the book gives for continuing the campaign. The writing felt like the book and sometimes bore me. I think my main trepidation in running this one, is trying to sell it to my players and how much information they would need to know regarding the world of the Laundry. I haven’t done many campaigns that take place in establish license worlds and series, so I may just be overthinking with the idea “How much do they need to know?”. It’s on my to run list but somewhere in the middle.
Pathfinder Adventure Path #55: The Wormwood Mutiny by Daniel Rizea, Robert Lazzaretti, Mikaël Léger, Doug Stambaugh, Richard Pett, Jason Engle, Sean K. Reynolds, Craig J. Spearing, Jesse Benner, Steven D. Russell, Tyler Walpole, F. Wesley Schneider, Daryl Mandryk, Robin D. Laws, Mariusz Gandzel, Emiliano Pretrozzi
I have a buddy who wanted me to run a Pathfinder campaign. A game I do not run with a campaign with books I do not have. But he does and was more than willing to lend me the books to see if I was interested in running it. I took the first one, The Wormwood Mutiny to get an idea of the campaign. Pirate theme with the players trying to become pirate lords and dealing with rival captains. Okay, I typically don’t play the crunchy tactical tabletop RPGs but I’m willing to give it a shot. I came off a bit excited and a bit relieved I read through the whole book first. I loathe how sporadically throughout the book it would tell the GM which additional books would be needed to run the beasts and details on magic items. Another friend told me those details are all online for free by Paizo though I was still kind of annoyed with layout of the book. I have no problem with a book saying “you will need these books to run the game” but please just put it in one place. I’m not completely sold on the campaign, so going to read the next one when I got the time.
Index Card RPG Power Tools: Game Mastery Book by Brandish Gilhelm
There are plenty of advice books for Game Mastery, I’ve talked about one or two here before. This one comes from Runehammer’s Brandish Gilhelm filled with some actionable advice, tables, and a bit of marketing for his other products. There was a video he put out regarding this where he mentions he’s not a salesman, but the passion he has sold me on this book. I picked up and found some good advice along with some reminders I needed to hear. His method to create relationships, think about NPC arcs, and just a reminder to have fun. Since reading I’ve been drawing a scene from sessions I’ve ran or played in. Sure, my drawing might look like crap, but it’s a game we are playing pretend and having fun
Index Card RPG: Realms of the Graves by Brandish Gilhelm
A sandbox adventure/small campaign that could be played with Index Card RPG while giving examples of how the tips and trick in the Game Mastery book can be used. Enjoyed what I read, got a bit confused on few of the mechanics but still excited to try during a break between main campaigns.
Delta Green: Agent’s Handbook by Dennis Detwiller, Christopher Gunning, Greg Stolze, Shane Ivey’
I have heard Delta Green’s campaign Impossible Landscapes was one of the best campaigns in TTRPG landscape, but I never took a proper look at it. When the RPG channel, Quinn Quest’s reviewed Delta Green rules and Impossible Landscapes, that got me to pick up some of the smaller adventures like Owlshead Mountain and PX Poker Night. I enjoyed what I read that I then picked up the Delta Green handbook and Impossible Landscapes. I overall fine the rules fine. Once my current Dragonbane game is done, one of my players will run a Star Wars Campaign, and I’ll be reading Impossible Landscapes getting ready to prep that massive campaign
Black Powder and Brimstone Core book by Benjamin Tobitt
A small RPG that gives me big Dark souls grimdark vibe compatible with the Mork Borg system. I liked what I read, though I think the grim dark art is what sold me to pick up this game. I can see this being one of those OSR games I’ll pick up to run like a small one shot or short campaign especially since of the quick character creation and simple mechanics.
A Stray Blog 
Leave a comment