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Apocryphal
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Comments
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While I agree with many of Neil’s points, including the over use of the word ‘did’, I actually quite liked some of the passages in the book, especially in the voice of Ahab (though this wasn’t always consistent) more on this later, maybe with some t…
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Keep in mind we aren’t talking about historical fiction here, but taking historical, or much-beloved fictional, characters from their usual milieu and plopping then into another, very different one - especially after they supposedly died!
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I’m not sure who the protagonist was, or even if there was one - or even three. Ahab was certainly a force of his own, and the hero of his own story. But he’s not sympathetic. Nemo is sympathetic and has a character, but is oddly remote. Brunel seem…
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For me, the story itself was too inconsequential. Engineer is kidnapped by angry dilletante then helps get his sub ship-shape. They head off to put a stop to progress, which is (ironically) defended by a conservative madman. The engineer is forced t…
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FYI the questions are up, for those following notifications.
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The Pastel City must have been a comedy - doesn’t make sense any other way.
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I’m ok with either. I also am not normally a fan of comedies, but Space Opera sounds like a High Strung scenario in the making and I wouldn’t mind exploring that.
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In your dislike of Melville, yes you are.
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Certainly wasn't the pulp adventure that the back cover described, but I liked it for what it was. That said, when I was about a quarter of the way in I knew Neil and Clash probably wouldn’t like it. Look for questions Sunday or Monday.
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I don’t know about that. You both still use underscores and no caps in your internet handles, like you’re still living in the days of bulletin board services.
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Oddly, when I started this thread and went to write the title, I only typed in ‘90’ and the software auto filled the rest. I thought maybe I had started a draft already, or even posted it already, but I hadn’t. Is the forum software getting smarter?
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Good luck with that! It’s not what you might expect.
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Same with me more than 20 years, though I very much enjoyed it when I read it, and when a friend asked if I'd lend her a fantasy novel, that's the one I gave her - from there she was hooked.
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I think that's what I just described... :-)
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I like the idea of using a pool of points as a meter for the change, because I feel the change should have a catalyst. So, for example, let’s say you have a finite pool of fate points. Because You only tend to use fate points when it really matters,…
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One system from Trail of Cthulhu is to have anchor beliefs, which are written down as statements that essentially guide how the character is role played. The character can elect to change their anchor belief in order to offset or reverse a change in…
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Aha, yes. It's quite good and nicely evocative of the setting, but not quite what I need for my current purposes. I spent some time tonight writing. I'm always amazed how the act of writing is so very lubricating when one needs ideas. I find that t…
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Yes, very much could use some of the characters, or the pantheon. The trip to Xibalba, and even the theme of liminality in the book is really interesting. I;m curious how this book relates to The Hero's Journey - @NeilNjae often has good insights wi…
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I can see why you might have hit on this. I'm not entirely convinced it was intentional. She was certainly looking at the details which is maybe why 'the particular' seems like a theme. And maybe she just didn't want to deal with the question of God…
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I liked it more at the end than the beginning. I think I found the initial set-up a little too facile, though it did work to get the story moving quickly. And (as with Jemisin) the moralistic elements are kind of obvious simplistic, aren't they? How…
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Yes, also really enjoyed that aspect of this book, and boy does it relate to the idea of railroads vs sandboxes in RPG gaming. What's nice here is that the antagonist is the voice of order, while the protagonist that of chaos - where I suppose we no…
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Well observed. I think also modern/traditional. Having traveled to Xibalba myself by underground river in Belize, I can relate somewhat to the idea of being on the journey itself as a liminal state - neither the beginning nor the end. We started in…
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So, overall this novel reminded me very much of American Gods - less adept, but it had its moments. The characters and their motives were rather simplistic, I thought - especially the cousin, though he did develop into someone more interesting towar…
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Pretty much. Overall, the experience with the ‘generators’ has left me unsatisfied and wondering if I could make a better one (which I absolutely don’t have time to do). I think Outremer has a pretty good one, though, doesn’t it? I can’t get at my …
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Found this big list of plot and story generator sites (which includes the one above): https://www.writerswrite.com/fiction/plot-generators/ Exploring now....
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Now ad 'situation generator' would be great idea, and thanks for recommending I take a look at Levis. It's not quite what I need, though, because it's not really a situation generator so much as a situation organizer - I mean, I still need to genera…
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Yay! Glad you’re feeling better!
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I'm ready whenever. The discussion category is here: https://www.ttrpbc.com/categories/89-%28june-2020%29-gods-of-jade-and-shadow-by-silvia-moreno-garcia if anyone wants to set up notifications.
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Nothing’s stopping you from going on to the end and sharing final thoughts. It’s just the weekly roundup of reiterating our thoughts that will end. I don’t think anybody’s mind changed about much the book over the course of the read, so those were g…
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Someone at the Mitchester Arms complained that many published CoC scenarios had too much information in them, and Mike Mason defended this by saying that these are intended to be toolboxes and people can draw what they want from them and ignore the …