tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post251880778307736081..comments2024-03-29T20:04:30.755+08:00Comments on Monsters and Manuals: Dance of the HoursUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-27201569936462851562009-05-28T18:12:10.059+08:002009-05-28T18:12:10.059+08:00All most all settings have travalogs; in addition ...All most all settings have travalogs; in addition to the Volo's line and everything other DnD setting (which people have mentioned:<br />Rifts had Erin Tan<br />Shadowrun had their "shadow-bbs" (or whatever they called it)<br />Scarred Lands Termania had one too. <br /><br />I agree that Abarat was a better idea than execution.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03278314957990880869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-70438509519372577232009-05-08T10:50:00.000+08:002009-05-08T10:50:00.000+08:00I will probably get flogged for this comment, but ...I will probably get flogged for this comment, but I've always said the same thing about H. P. Lovecraft. I've enjoyed the Cthulu world much more than I have the actual stories.Robohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15830826332699427926noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-54905395440160304732009-05-08T02:20:00.000+08:002009-05-08T02:20:00.000+08:00blizack: I think there's a lot of smoke and mirror...<B>blizack</B>: I think there's a lot of smoke and mirrors when it comes to Mieville. His ideas are brilliant, and I love his prose (though some think it's overwrought) but in many ways this disguises the fact that the stories are a bit bland. <br /><br />Mind you, I find a lot of famous media-darling writers a bit dull. Neil Gaiman and Neal Stephenson for starters.<br /><br /><B>Chris</B>: 2e is by no means inadmissable but 3e is! Funny that I'd completely blanked The Wanderer's Journal from my mind.<br /><br /><B>Max</B>: It's just come to be expected, I think. It's now as much a hallmark of the genre as magic, dragons and hot girls in chainmail bikinis kicking ass.<br /><br /><B>kelvingreen</B>: I'll have to see if I can find some of those. Although I'm not the biggest FR fan, to be honest.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-51019516668535732562009-05-07T06:20:00.000+08:002009-05-07T06:20:00.000+08:00The Volo's Guide series were ostensibly travelogue...The <I>Volo's Guide</I> series were ostensibly travelogues, although having never read one, I can't say how much was travelogue and how much was generic rpg sourcebook. I think they were for Forgotten Realms.thekelvingreenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01928260185408072124noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-87418031753047446332009-05-07T05:51:00.000+08:002009-05-07T05:51:00.000+08:00I remember liking the first two-thirds of Weavewor...I remember liking the first two-thirds of <I>Weaveworld</I> (lo these many years ago) but ultimately growing to resent it as it just went on and on. <br /><br />Who's to blame for the plague of tome-itis afflicting genre fiction? Tolkien? King? Raymond Chandler was just as busy creating an exotic world, and he never lollygagged for 300+ pages doing it.Maxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07615194097431562045noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-73237944238855115692009-05-07T03:07:00.000+08:002009-05-07T03:07:00.000+08:00I always thought of Clive Barker as primarily a sh...I always thought of Clive Barker as primarily a short story writer. None of his longer books quite stayed with me the way some of the - really visceral - horror in his "Books of Blood" series did. Heck, even the framing story in that series was excellent.<br /><br />On the subject of travelogues as gaming introductions. I know these are 2E - 3E (and thus likely inadmissible), but Mystara had The Voyage of the Princess Ark; Dark Sun used excerpts from The Wanderer's Journal as prologue and introduction to the setting; Eberron used an illustrated travelogue as promotional/introductory material; and Pathfinder has an ongoing travelogue/diary detailing Goralion in their Chronicles(?) books. IIRC Fading Suns did similar. <br /><br />Sure, none of the above were exactly Gulliver's Travels, or Utopia, or The Lost World, but the andecedents are there...<br /><br />PS: Abarat (twinned with Ursa Beta Minor) hopes you have a nice diurnal anomaly. ;)Chrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04072272223837426211noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-35161576550825056552009-05-07T02:40:00.000+08:002009-05-07T02:40:00.000+08:00"...rather like China Mieville: the sheer creative..."...rather like China Mieville: the sheer creative brilliance of the concepts presented is hard to deny, and yet in the final analysis the books are merely okay, not great."<br /><br /><I>Thank you.</I> I have taken some serious shit from friends for saying the same thing. He's an idea man, and a great one, but as far as story goes... just okay.letsdamagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02145102722055581254noreply@blogger.com