Help offset server costs by donating. This is totally optional. Any overages will go to library fines or new books.
NeilNjae
About
- Username
- NeilNjae
- Joined
- Visits
- 1,844
- Last Active
- Roles
- Member
Comments
-
(Quote) I agree with this. The book was more "valuable" and "rewarding" to read than "pleasurable" or "fun".
-
Good observation! There was one couple, Abu and Umm Salim, but that was it. Another symbol of the fractured society?
-
(Quote) Interesting! I had the opposite reaction. I was drawn into the story before that (it took a few chapters for me as well), but I thought that chapter was too disconnected from the rest of the book.
-
There's a lot in the effect that the stories we tell ourselves can shape how we feel about things. But I don't subscribe to the idea that stories, fiction, are the only way we can know things. I come from a science/maths background and there's a lot…
-
(Quote) So was Whatsitsname dispensing legal, divine, or street justice? It's certainly not legal (state) justice. Is Whatsitsname an agent of the divine? I don't think so, despite the connections to St George. It's street justice, as you say. In f…
-
(Quote) By that measure, the story of the events in Dora is allegory, as none of the characters have names, only traits. Given that everyone else has names, I must consider the difference to be deliberate. The question is, why do it?
-
What is the point of executing a murderer? It doesn't undo the deed. Why are two grieving families better than one? What is the point of punishment? Is it to put right the wrong (restorative justice, or paying damages)? Is the punishment so the cri…
-
It's a window into a great setting, but one that I think needs a fair bit of effort by all concerned to do it justice. These clearly historical games need to be treated with respect, to respect the real people the game is about. (I recall the prep w…
-
I'm not sure what the naming is saying. There are characters that have names and peripheral ones who don't. Is that just an attempt to keep our attention focused on the characters in Bataween, by making all the others ciphers? (I did like the commen…
-
And I forgot to add the reference to (Quote)
-
Stories, and storytelling, and stories within stories, are a tradition ever since the Arabian Nights. The structure in this book could be genuinely following that tradition, an intertextual reference to the Arabian Nights, or a deliberate ploy to di…
-
Good question. For me, the book is all about justice and everything about it: who decides what is "just", what is done about it, what should happen to criminals or sinners, and what should happen to victims; when are crimes justified, or w…
-
A quote from the book: (Quote)
-
This wasn't a big part of the book for me. I think the references to magic and djinni served to make the magical seem mundane, just another tool. That meant that the act of animating Whatsitsname wasn't the focus of the story, and we could instead g…
-
(Quote) I don't know. I know that news reports, by necessity, simplify situations from what they really are. But the book doesn't end on an optimistic note.
-
I agree with Richard, and I think the book succeeded because it concentrated on the people and their very human reactions to the violence and their need to continue living in the face of it. In many ways, the bombings were kept outside what they con…
-
I liked that it raised the diversity. Why shouldn't Baghdad be as diverse as London, New York, or any other global city? As for the distinctions no longer mattering: I wonder how much they ever mattered. In the quote above, I get the feeling that bo…
-
Whatsitsname is, for me, the clearest symbol in the book. It's not a person, its the combination of many aspects of the city and its people. All the way through, people are projecting their desires onto Whatsitsname. Almost never does it have any ag…
-
I don't know how representative the characters are of Baghdad. It's a large city with a long, long history of trade and exchange, so I'd expect it to have plenty of variety in its citizens. But I've never been there and my perceptions of modern Bagh…
-
I think it was more the "literary" end of fiction than the "genre" end, hence the focus on characters and setting over plot and events. It was very clearly an allegory for events in Iraq, and a wider consideration of power and ju…
-
(Quote) I've not read any of their stuff, but it seems worthy of discussion. I'm happy to give it a go! And @RichardAbbott , it wasn't me that suggeseted Klara.
-
I've finished as well.
-
(Quote) Sorry, I misunderstood. Thanks for the clarification. FWIW, I think both modes are perfectly feasible in play, so long as all the players agree what they're doing.
-
(Quote) The mission-based style is common in RPGs, even if the initiation may be different: "you have your orders" vs "the old man gives you a treasure map" vs "you are the prophesied Chosen One". (Quote) My definition…
-
I heard once that the ideal for a play was for all the events to take place in a 24 hour period. That short period of intense activity is achievable for just about everyone. Even if things aren't that short, a lot of standalone stories are one-offs.…
-
Yeah, I'm not that bothered by realism. I want things to fit the setting, but I'm more interested in using setting features to prompt interesting decisions. For example, you can catch the tide and sail now, but the ship won't be fully equipped. Or y…
-
Thinking about it, Star Trek: Lower Decks may be a good model for a military RPG. The characters are much more concerned with their own agendas, with the overall missions being more prompts and backdrops than they are the focus of play. In that way,…
-
I always have a problem with military games, because I think I get too caught up on the "chain of command" thing and now allow the PCs sufficient freedom. You can get away with that to some extent by having a mostly-independent unit, such …
-
A decent military adventure romp. It's a cross between Sharpe and Hornblower, but with steampunk nerd-troping. Despite being steampunk, it doesn't glory in the racism, classism, colonialism of the era. A good book to read for unwinding before going…
-
I thought there was too much technical exposition. It didn't help that it was all invented by the author for this book. Other Napoleonic military books (Sharpe, Hornblower) at least have the benefit of including some genuine historical detail on the…