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RichardAbbott
About
- Username
- RichardAbbott
- Joined
- Visits
- 6,372
- Last Active
- Roles
- Member, Administrator, Moderator
- Games I like
- Sundry, mostly board
- Books I like
- Science fiction, fantasy, some historical fiction
Comments
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Right! Caught up now. What did I think? I liked the way that Gene Wolfe does not feel compelled to explain loads of stuff up front, but just lets you work it out as you go along. And that while he as author has a good grasp of what's where, none of …
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Oooo
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Exciting news today... "Dear Richard Abbott, We thought you would like to know that your Lulu order was shipped on 21/03/19 19:31 via Standard Royal Mail"
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> @dr_mitch said: > There has to be something in Plato's theory of forms for an RPG magic system. Coming soon...clash bowley's "Plato was right." :) "Bless me, what do they teach them in these schools nowadays?"
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I've only just got hold of this so will be a bit behind... will catch up over the weekend hopefully
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(Quote) Yes! That totally captures a lot of this - it's not a 'portable' religion but bound to the physicality of that part of the land. From memory that also holds true of other significant places for the Old Ones. The stone at Osskil was the same …
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(Quote) Not at all frustrated - it's great to be dealing with a book that encourages all of us to see multiple sides of the issue.
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@Ray_Otus I agree (though had not done the statistical analysis that you did :smile: ) - I think Ursula LeGuin was deliberately avoiding the possibility of people saying "aha, the Old Ones are _really _XYZ religion and the wizards are _really _…
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I think there are several approaches to religious thought and feeling. The idea that it might be provable is, IMHO, very much a Protestant / nonConformist one, and is the basis behind a lot of contemporary missionary and such like work. But other b…
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> @Ray_Otus said: > > (And yes. I just found this section of the forum. How am I so bad at navigating this site? Is it just me?) So far as I can tell you have to update your notifications every time someone adds a new discussion are…
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Your lack of faith disturbs me...
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Ordered mine from the UK and shipping was an entirely reasonable amount. Dragon hordes were not involved. Now the wait for it to be printed and dispatched...
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(Quote) I've often wanted to create a game of some kind where the terrain changes in various ways through the course of action. My original thought was that the setting would be a tidal coast or estuary, where particular routes might be traversable …
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Finally got around to a review of this one - https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2747404847 - but I haven't posted it in its entirety as we all read it together :smile:
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Ouch... that would have been painful
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> @rossum said: > I'm also reminded of a pull quote from a cyberpunk/psionic favorite of mine, Catspaw by Joan Vinge: "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is stoned to death." I've never known where that one originated :…
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(Quote) Along these same lines, one of the features of the advanced wizard is that they learn the value of ordinary things - rabbit here, and stone ("tolk") in Wizard of Earthsea. The novice wants to do flashy things and impress, while the…
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(Quote) That's a really helpful piece of terminology, thanks!
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(Quote) That's a splendid observation!
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(Quote) I think he does :smile: "His temple is painted fresh every year, there's a hundred-weight of gold on the altar, the lamps burn attar of roses" Like many other new or reformed religions, the God-Kings set up their place near enough …
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(Quote) I guess one can see her Taoist inclinations coming out - what she typically opposes is not religious sentiment but religious organisational structure. Acts of personal or communal faith are typically celebrated, so long as they do not turn i…
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(Quote) There's a really interesting contrast here between Thar and Kossil. For sure, both are responsible for her education and training, but Thar is constantly, in her own way, trying to get Arha to see a bigger picture, and to be aware of undercu…
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(Quote) You would probably make a contemporary version in which the child was brought up in a very repressive and constraining sub-culture - a religious cult, for example, or a family situation where parental authority was absolute. There are plenty…
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As an extreme novice at this, and very much open to correction, I wonder if this exposes a difference between gaming and reading? Surely when gaming there is a sense that each time you play, the result might come out quite differently? You might hav…
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They never individuate but always act as a group - if you like, there seems not to be such a thing as "An Old One", only the group together. They remind me a bit of the chthonic gods you get in many ancient systems of thought - a very arch…
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Yes, the tombs were very vivid, and show LeGuin's ability to mix elements from many different cultures. The larger-than-life temple paraphernalia echoes many ancient near eastern temples, the stones remind one of neolithic work, the labyrinth is mor…
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Splendid work @Michael_S_Miller !
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(Quote) Well put! His reaction to that is, I think, the short laugh he gives near the end of chapter 5, "that of a man who thinks, 'what a fool I've made of myself'"
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Arha's life was extremely circumscribed and predictable, defined by the regular cycles of worship and religious discipline. I don't think Ged's life was ever predictable! So it's easy to see how his constant change and (almost) chaos would appeal to…
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One of the great sub-plots of this book is the way - at least to Arha's perception - her religion has been marginalised by the much more overtly political movement of the God-Kings. To me, there's a sense in which her faith is authentic both persona…