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49. Grandville Bete Noir, by Bryan Talbot. I liked the story and the art.
50. I'm counting the Hugo short fiction (short stories, novelettes, and novellas) and the short stories included in the Campbell section of the Hugo packet as one item.
51. Eternal Lies, a campaign for Trail of Cthulhu, by Will Hindmarch ad Jeff Tidball with Jeremy Keller. I playtested this one and have finally started running it. Lovely, evil, and massive. It also has a lot of helpful GM advice for runtime decisions. I've also listened to the music written for it.
52. Tentacle City, by Willow Palecek. Reads like part board game, part RPG, and I'd like to give it a shot. (Hm, might make a good one shot for the Monday group.) I'm glad I saw Shaun of the Dead recently, as it gave me a good idea of what kind of genre we're talking about here.
53. Blood & Honey, by Stina Leicht. I've got issues with this one.
54. Alarums & Excursions #454.
55. Esteren Volume 0: Prologue. I'm not sure this is my cup of tea, but it's a risk free way to get a look at the Esteren game world and setting, as it is available for free at DriveThruRPG / RPGNow. I'm in favor of that sort of thing.
56. Call of Cathulhu. Fun, small book about cats fighting Lovecraftian horrors described in terms meaningful to cats. I believe there's a kickstarter for a deluxe version of the game, though I'll need to hunt down the link.
57. Alarums and Excursions #455.
58. Hot Guys Making Out, by Ben Lehman. I had forgotten just how cleanly Ben writes. Back when it seemed half the indie rpgs out there had badly phrased rules that failed to cover things that came up all the time, Polaris was one game where, whenever we had a question -- we found the answer in the book! Like Tentacle City, Hillfolk, Kingdom, and a looong list of games I've purchased this year, Hot Guys Making Out in my want-to-play queue.
59. Dreamhounds of Paris. This is a draft of Pelgrane Press's upcoming Dreamlands supplement for Trail of Cthulhu. Basically, by the 1930s, the Surrealists had found the Dreamlands and were changing things. While, obviously, I have a somewhat rough-around-the-edges draft, this is the easiest time I've ever had running Gumshoe. Part is the arc structure, which worked better than anticipated, and part is -- well, it's just like any Lovecraftian game -- as long as it's set in the Dreamlands, where I can pull out all my Eng Lit story tropes. And then, just dump melting watches and rains of ants and minotaurs with drawers in their chests at random places. Dreamhounds gives the freedom to have a short attention span and derail the theoretical adventure for the sheer joy of doing so.
60. The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman. I picked it up and put it down when I was finished, not a moment sooner. I've got Strong Opinions about What Happens, but at the end of the day, I love his writing and can't get too much of it.
61. Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion. This is a book over twice as long as the Call of Cthulhu campaign for which it serves as a guide. And, it was given away as a free e-book. I'm finding it invaluable as I run Masks again (or for the first time with the actual CoC rules).
62. Alarums and Excursios #456.
63. Livre de Fourmis (The Book of Ants), a companion book for Dreamhounds of Paris (like The Book of the Smoke is a companion book for Bookhounds of London).
64. Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor. Solid YA, and, unsurprisingly, I enjoyed it more than Who Fears Death.
65. The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Ship that Sank Twice, by Mike Carey, Peter Gross, Kurt Huggins, and Zelda Devon. Graphic novel, sort of a prequel to the series, but this really is the right point in the series to do it. The Unwritten pushes all my Lit Major, Fantasy Reader buttons. This installment is no exception, blending the first novel of a Harry Potteresque character with the story of how the man who created the Tommy Taylor books shaped his son's life as the book was written, all in keeping with his convoluted agenda. And, I can totally buy that the Tommy Taylor novel would catch on. What we see of the book hits the right notes, especially if one presumes that these books exist instead of the Potter ones.
66. Alarums and Excursions #457.
67. The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two, by Catherynne Valente. The third book in the series that started as an imaginary book in Valente's Palimpsest, and it's as strong as the other two. I am already biting my imaginary nails as I wait for the fourth book. (I try not to bite my actual nails.)
50. I'm counting the Hugo short fiction (short stories, novelettes, and novellas) and the short stories included in the Campbell section of the Hugo packet as one item.
51. Eternal Lies, a campaign for Trail of Cthulhu, by Will Hindmarch ad Jeff Tidball with Jeremy Keller. I playtested this one and have finally started running it. Lovely, evil, and massive. It also has a lot of helpful GM advice for runtime decisions. I've also listened to the music written for it.
52. Tentacle City, by Willow Palecek. Reads like part board game, part RPG, and I'd like to give it a shot. (Hm, might make a good one shot for the Monday group.) I'm glad I saw Shaun of the Dead recently, as it gave me a good idea of what kind of genre we're talking about here.
53. Blood & Honey, by Stina Leicht. I've got issues with this one.
54. Alarums & Excursions #454.
55. Esteren Volume 0: Prologue. I'm not sure this is my cup of tea, but it's a risk free way to get a look at the Esteren game world and setting, as it is available for free at DriveThruRPG / RPGNow. I'm in favor of that sort of thing.
56. Call of Cathulhu. Fun, small book about cats fighting Lovecraftian horrors described in terms meaningful to cats. I believe there's a kickstarter for a deluxe version of the game, though I'll need to hunt down the link.
57. Alarums and Excursions #455.
58. Hot Guys Making Out, by Ben Lehman. I had forgotten just how cleanly Ben writes. Back when it seemed half the indie rpgs out there had badly phrased rules that failed to cover things that came up all the time, Polaris was one game where, whenever we had a question -- we found the answer in the book! Like Tentacle City, Hillfolk, Kingdom, and a looong list of games I've purchased this year, Hot Guys Making Out in my want-to-play queue.
59. Dreamhounds of Paris. This is a draft of Pelgrane Press's upcoming Dreamlands supplement for Trail of Cthulhu. Basically, by the 1930s, the Surrealists had found the Dreamlands and were changing things. While, obviously, I have a somewhat rough-around-the-edges draft, this is the easiest time I've ever had running Gumshoe. Part is the arc structure, which worked better than anticipated, and part is -- well, it's just like any Lovecraftian game -- as long as it's set in the Dreamlands, where I can pull out all my Eng Lit story tropes. And then, just dump melting watches and rains of ants and minotaurs with drawers in their chests at random places. Dreamhounds gives the freedom to have a short attention span and derail the theoretical adventure for the sheer joy of doing so.
60. The Ocean at the End of the Lane, by Neil Gaiman. I picked it up and put it down when I was finished, not a moment sooner. I've got Strong Opinions about What Happens, but at the end of the day, I love his writing and can't get too much of it.
61. Masks of Nyarlathotep Companion. This is a book over twice as long as the Call of Cthulhu campaign for which it serves as a guide. And, it was given away as a free e-book. I'm finding it invaluable as I run Masks again (or for the first time with the actual CoC rules).
62. Alarums and Excursios #456.
63. Livre de Fourmis (The Book of Ants), a companion book for Dreamhounds of Paris (like The Book of the Smoke is a companion book for Bookhounds of London).
64. Akata Witch, by Nnedi Okorafor. Solid YA, and, unsurprisingly, I enjoyed it more than Who Fears Death.
65. The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Ship that Sank Twice, by Mike Carey, Peter Gross, Kurt Huggins, and Zelda Devon. Graphic novel, sort of a prequel to the series, but this really is the right point in the series to do it. The Unwritten pushes all my Lit Major, Fantasy Reader buttons. This installment is no exception, blending the first novel of a Harry Potteresque character with the story of how the man who created the Tommy Taylor books shaped his son's life as the book was written, all in keeping with his convoluted agenda. And, I can totally buy that the Tommy Taylor novel would catch on. What we see of the book hits the right notes, especially if one presumes that these books exist instead of the Potter ones.
66. Alarums and Excursions #457.
67. The Girl Who Soared Over Fairyland and Cut the Moon in Two, by Catherynne Valente. The third book in the series that started as an imaginary book in Valente's Palimpsest, and it's as strong as the other two. I am already biting my imaginary nails as I wait for the fourth book. (I try not to bite my actual nails.)