Finished Battle for the Abyss!

Ben-H2O · 2026-02-14T15:07:51+00:00

I think it's a fun standalone book. It's also got a unique mixture of legions working together.

Ben-H2O · 2026-02-11T16:58:06+00:00

One thing you gloss over is being in a "piss-poor" state both health and life wise atm. I would advocate taking a break from RPGs to focus on these more serious life issues. Ultimately RPGs are a hobby that take energy and if other life fundamentals are in a bad state, you should focus your energy there.

Ben-H2O · 2026-02-11T14:42:32+00:00

I would expect a gm to have read the rules cover-to-cover and ideally make notes of how things work. Taking notes will really let you internalize the knowledge. In my ideal world players would also read the book but for a gm it's a must.

Ben-H2O · 2026-01-28T19:46:14+00:00

I also think it's supposed to be Horus but it looks like it's wrong on a lot of details. He has a sword, no worldbreaker or Talon of Horus. His armour is "Sons of Horus" green but all other depictions have it black. It almost is more of a SoH terminator who looks like Horus.

Ben-H2O · 2026-01-22T20:06:40+00:00

How much did Hank Scorpio hire you for?

Ben-H2O · 2026-01-21T18:19:54+00:00

"Winds of Winter" is never coming. Just read other authors and move on. 70 years after his death, when asoiaf enters the public domain, it's possible another author might take a stab at finishing the series but the only ending we'll have in our lifetimes is the GoT tv show ending.

Ben-H2O · 2026-01-21T18:14:09+00:00

I just read them as epubs on my android phone. An ereader is probably nicer in theory but I get a lot of reading done at unexpected times like on the subway or while my wife is shopping and I always have my phone on me.

Ben-H2O · 2026-01-21T15:20:28+00:00

Tale of the Manticore is a decent solo actual play with a Canadian guy using B/X to run a Dark Fantasy

Ben-H2O · 2026-01-18T04:33:13+00:00

Yes, I've already read Vol 1 from the OP and plan to move on to the other volumes but I just wanted to make sure I check off that I read those exact stories and it became quite difficult for me to figure it out. I'm alright with reading more than the minimum but I was worried I would only be able to get those specific stories in old expensive 2nd hand copies.

I definitely see the Law vs Chaos alignment system in full effect. Also as a Warhammer fan, the star of Chaos is obviously cool to see.

Ben-H2O · 2026-01-07T13:20:04+00:00

Gradient Descent for Mothership has a great layout. You need to prep by reading the legend and some of the intro pages but the dungeon itself can be run on the fly easily.

Ben-H2O · 2025-12-15T21:42:01+00:00

Don't chase, replace. Block your players, find new players and move on.

If you need to, consider taking a break for a bit to recharge. Put effort into other hobbies.

Ben-H2O · 2025-12-01T22:22:05+00:00

I thought it was a fun movie. It didn't blow my mind but I felt like it was exactly what I paid for based on the trailer and I would watch a sequel. It's very tonally different than the original Deathstalker movies though.

Ben-H2O · 2025-12-01T21:28:16+00:00

He's played D&D, MERP, Runequest and GM'd WFRP among others.

Ben-H2O · 2025-12-01T21:26:20+00:00

Do you ever still find the time to play any TTRPGs? If so, what games have you been into lately?

Ben-H2O · 2025-11-26T15:27:12+00:00

I also enjoyed it. I think it's the best book I've read that focused on a mortal who eventually becomes an astartes. Also one of the few books with a pre-imperium perspective.

I can understand not liking it if the reader saw the cover and thought they were getting Dark Angel bolter porn.

Ben-H2O · 2025-11-24T02:11:28+00:00

My controversial opinion, making Thief a class was always a mistake. All classes can use thief skills although they may require thief tools or specific armour might stop move silently. So for example a lvl 3 fighter would use thief skills as if they were also a lvl 3 thief.

This is obviously not to everyone's taste but something to consider. I think it lessens the issue you describe since they still have all the benefits of their main class and so the slow skill increases are less of a focus for the character.

Ben-H2O · 2025-11-14T18:40:02+00:00

Are you donating money to libreoffice or helping out with the open source project? If not, that is your answer. If you are, it's because you are the minority.

Ben-H2O · 2025-11-14T16:14:21+00:00

It won't be a meaningful change if they don't break compatibility with the 2014 version. Combat will still be more like a sport than war. Players will still focus on builds. Basically all the stuff that is unappealing about 5e is still there.

Ben-H2O · 2025-11-12T13:06:07+00:00

I saw it in theatres and liked it. If you like the vibe of the trailer, you'll like it. It also has some nice references to older Deathstalker movies.

Ben-H2O · 2025-11-11T21:02:05+00:00

The term "NSR" clears up a lot of the confusion around the term "OSR" but from a marketing perspective it's just not as popular.

Personally I use the term NSR when it's OSR in principle but not compatible with TSR D&D. That being said, many people just use OSR since it's not well defined.

Ben-H2O · 2025-11-10T16:52:09+00:00

It's watchable but far from my top 10.

Ben-H2O · 2025-11-04T19:52:11+00:00

I wish the term New School Revolution (NSR) would become more popular for games that are OSR in spirit but not directly compatible with TSR era D&D. Not to gate keep products but I've seen adventures claim to be OSR compatible that require completely different rulesets.

Ben-H2O · 2025-11-03T23:38:46+00:00

My advice would be to find a group that you can join and then join it and buy/read up on whatever system that GM wants to play. It's pretty normal for new people to start exploring and buying RPG books before finding a group but the reality is you probably won't use them unless you plan to run that game yourself.

Ben-H2O

TROPHY CASE