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Apocryphal
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Reading this I was struggling a little with this question. What can we use? Certainly the world-building elements are all useful and that would be my main takeaway. LeGuin manages to create a sense of place, of culture, of history, with only the lig…
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Both as characters and gods they are pretty subtle. Are they a force, or are they a culture? Or, put another way, are they a force in the same way that a culture is a force?
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I love the tombs. There's actually quite a lot of good world-building in this novel which I had forgotten about. LeGuin is quite adept at creating a rich world in a small novel. Tanith Lee could do the same. Clark Ashton Smith, too, I suppose. As f…
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Arha's role as a priestess seems to be a trap. Expectations and rules are laid upon her - she's not really free to break those. Is that intended as a comment on religion? I'm not so sure. Arha's faith is tested in the novel, but it doesn't take all …
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The most interesting exchange between Tenar and Ged was when Tenar despaired that the gods she served did not exist - that her very own reason for being was a lie. Ged could have claimed a victory at that point - he could have said YES! Now you see …
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I don't mean that it's a literal romance, of course. What I mean is that the way their relationship grows resembles a courtship. The way Tenar changes in response to Ged are similar to how a woman might grow to love a man. And the things Ged says, …
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I will answer these more fully tomorrow, but to start off with this one, my great sense on this reading of the book (which I think is my fourth) is that this is less a coming of age story and more of a romance. Is LeGuin really describing a wooing? …
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Whoa - got sucked into the rabbit hole reading this for a while. FYI, the header text "The Fellowship of the Read on..." which appears on several pages (such as 99) has the word 'fellowship' spelled with 3 Ls, like we were discussing P.G.…
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Glad to have you with us,, @Bill_White ! How did you come to find us, anyway?
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I do like that minas morgul picture for the cover. Inside a frame or borderless? What’s this book called, anyway? Lord of the Rings Slow Read Compilation is descriptive but not very pithy.
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> @Ray_Otus said: > Sorry @Michael_S_Miller pages 57 and 58 of what? Are you referring to that drawing I made that I was going to put on the cover. I can send you that. He’s referring to the PDF linked to above, I think. There are no post …
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I'd say Bang Oriented is essentially what I've always done (created a network of NPC then created hooks for the players) but no, I didn't know someone had tried to coin the process. It's really helpful to get an outside perspective in the planning, …
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Thanks, @dr_mitch . It might be very interesting if the sick governor turned out to be an ally afterall! I've resolved how the governorship question will work itself out. Early in their adventure the PCs travelled to the neighbouring city of Zaralu…
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Thanks so much, @NeilNjae, this is really helpful and useful stuff! I just may use all those specifics. :smile: Especially the situation with the scout's brother. Because of how history real history unfolds I think I'd like to introduce at least o…
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I saw this book some time ago and was intrigued - I do quite enjoy the Middle East as a setting. "Djinn of dubious background" - what could be more dubious than just being a normal Djinn?
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Yeah, 'uproariously funny' claims on book backs are almost never true. It's not a claim I would have made for this book, certainly. Anyway, glad you mildly enjoyed it! :wink:
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(Quote) Bill "Ahab" White just harpooned the whale! And gave Book of the New Sun a boost over Dune. So you may not get to read either... for now. But both will be back - you can't kill a god!
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(Quote) Yay! I knew I could rely on you, @Michael_S_Miller (does some quick calculations...16 for NS, 15 for Dune, 11 for Dick...) Whoa - the Dick camp needs way more votes.
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(Quote) Not for the Dick lovers! I'd like to see a lot more Dick love in the next few votes!
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(Quote) Why not pitch it and run it?
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Moby 3pts New Sun 2pts Dune 1pt
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(Quote) I'm unconvinced. If the urge is there, the fear is there, surely. It's not just dogs, but wild animals, too, that seem to express fear. It's true we don't know exactly what animals and babies are feeling so there's no way to know for sure, b…
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(Quote) Culture is, itself, evolved. But if fear is cultural and not biological, why do babies cry when exposed to angry people? Why do dogs lick your face or cower under the bed?
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I'm a bit unclear as to what is meant by emotions not being a fixed human experience. Do they mean that people in the past experienced different emotions in times of stress than we do. I think this is a given. Do they mean that we experienced the sa…
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(Quote) Yes, then they get back home to find everything had changed while they were away - so much so they are no longer comfortable at home. And so they are forced to re-enlist.
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(Quote) Source material for Liminal? How did it influence how your decisions on setting-specific mechanics?
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(Quote) Actually, that is what it's like.
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(Quote) I feel this is a common theme in the SF-verse, but at the moment I can only think of The Forever War as one that explores this. Vernor Vinge's novel Marooned in Realtime explores one-way time travel, but not in the context of worrying about …
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(Quote) No, of course not. I assumed it was all random. Perhaps an example of what I mean would be better: Let's say your character is an opera-loving uplifted crocodile security chief on a space-ship, and he comes across some intel after performin…
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Will they use a clay envelope?