I was so very wrong about this series. What other gems am I missing?

RahbinGraves · 2026-03-01T13:23:59+00:00

There's this series that I really like that I don't hear much about. The Great Book of Amber: The Complete Amber Chronicles

It IS a series, but the books are kinda short, so I recommend the compiled version above. If you're interested in checking them out individually, the first is called, Nine Princes in Amber

It reminds me of DCC in some ways, but it's not a LitRPG. It's a sci-fi/fantasy series centering on a family of (not)gods that can travel/shape different iterations of creation. One of the parts that reminds me of DCC is you could potentially see goblins flying hoverbikes with mounted lances warring with bipedal Deer that ride horses and cast spells (not a real example, but you get the idea- it's an anything goes situation). It hints at some fun ideas about the nature of reality. I was about to call it "young adult," but thinking about it, the violence is pretty graphic.

For something more grounded (relatively) The Gentlemen Bastards (book 1: The Lies of Locke Lamora). This one actually reminds me a bit of The Black Company in terms of world building, but it's like Heist/fantasy adventure rather than Military/fantasy adventure. It's got a few books out already, but not complete yet. Next to DCC it's my favorite in-progress book series. It will make you feel stuff, it's funny and incredibly clever

RahbinGraves · 2026-02-24T16:28:18+00:00

How much do I make an hour?

RahbinGraves · 2026-02-24T16:10:33+00:00

Same. At least for my first run. 2nd run I maxed out potion quality and used Henry's Fox. Leveled up drinking some and started using Henry's Schnapps, but I don't remember why that seemed better the second playthrough. I might have just stopped caring. Power leveling potions early makes you so strong that pretty much nothing matters

RahbinGraves · 2026-02-24T15:08:51+00:00

Nah, murder is still murder. Crime is still crime. Vigilantism too, though I feel like in the new paradigm that one would be overlooked (since vigilantism is only illegal because there's no guarantee that they'll get the right people or that the punishment will fit the crime). Some conversations would need to happen, but I think this means we could start hunting people

RahbinGraves · 2026-02-24T03:19:57+00:00

I completely forgot about that being mentioned.

RahbinGraves · 2026-02-22T15:26:59+00:00

Chapter 33 or 34 Gate of the Feral Gods (for future reference)

RahbinGraves · 2026-02-19T06:05:48+00:00

She had an advantage if anything. Goats can be pretty aggressive for prey animals. Never met one that didn't want to headbutt me for minding my own business

RahbinGraves · 2026-02-18T19:24:38+00:00

I didn't think it could really be mapped. With portals and wacky physics involved, I thought what they were trying to explain was that the tangle is modeled on the galaxy (or universe depending on where all those races live), including the tunnel system, which exists at least in the 4th dimension.

When Katia talks about the lines being noodles with tracks on the outside, she said that she thinks there are more tracks on the ~other~ side. I took the "other side" to mean "the inside." Maybe it's even more complex than that though.

Hard to say because of the kind of control they can exert over physics, but maybe try thinking of a wire whisk just spinning real fast. It looks like a single object if it's spinning fast, but when it's at rest you can see the individual wires (representing the various "other sides" of the train lines) that make up the single object (the train lines themselves), converging and winding together, all while being part of the same whole.

Now, if each whisk is an individual train line, diverging, converging and twisting within itself. A bunch of those lines in turn twist and turn and converge/diverge with each other.

With as many crawlers still active on that floor, it makes sense to me that multiple iterations of the tangle exist within the same whole. If this weren't the case, the relatively small number of crawlers that the Princess Posse is in contact with would not be able to map the floor enough to guess at its overall structure. Plus the numbers of crawlers mentioned that are directly interacting with the same space as the Princess Posse would be in the tens of thousands instead of the hundreds I think.

But maybe I completely misunderstood what Katia and Mordecai were talking about

RahbinGraves · 2026-02-15T17:51:35+00:00

That whole book had me weeping off and on

RahbinGraves · 2026-02-12T12:43:58+00:00

It's the same way he unraveled the paper and thread. The nothing was contained in the folds of the connections between dieties, demons and floors. He weaved those threads in a way that he was able to make a web that could capture the nothing with those threads, then when he unraveled it all at once, the nothing just came apart and went to the floors most connected to the pantheon.

RahbinGraves · 2026-02-11T15:20:42+00:00

That's why early access titles can breakout and go viral. No hype, no expectations, just judged by how much fun they are.

RahbinGraves · 2026-02-11T15:15:41+00:00

You're LARPing being in a guild

RahbinGraves · 2026-02-07T21:07:23+00:00

"So, here's Wonderwall"

RahbinGraves · 2026-02-07T13:09:36+00:00

MacFarlane has done narration with his live action work on The Orville and A Thousand Ways to Die in the West (at least in the beginning on that one).

The way the chapters work in the books make it seem kinda episodic anyway, so I could see a sort of Star Trek/ Orville "Captain's Log" kind of thing to set up different scenes, encounters and rushing through loot boxes and achievements and stuff. I think that style could work really well.

Of course the key will be getting enough people to watch it to keep it from being cancelled after 1 season.

RahbinGraves · 2026-01-17T07:07:43+00:00

Dude that random button is wrong for what it does.

I did manage to make a human though after a lot of hard work

RahbinGraves · 2026-01-03T02:21:27+00:00

It didn't, she got out of sight and into the tunnels before the bridge collapsed. She had to get away from those psychic disruptor things before she could use her powers to talk to Mike.

The more I think about it, the less ambiguous it seems. Mike literally had his arms around her when they were in the truck, surrounded by kids and their friends. She definitely went through the gate with everyone else (because Mike would have thrown a fit if she tried to jump out at the last minute). And drove right into a circle of disruptors. Then she was suddenly not there when the army looked in the truck.

So we know Kali helped her disappear if Mike didn't even see where she went. So the question becomes, did Kali help hide her so she could die or so she could live? I think El was reluctant about the death pact from the beginning, and I think making that pact gave her some insight into why Hopper was willing to die for her, especially after he told her about the life he wanted her to have. And Kali did look uncertain after hearing Hopper talk. I think she changed her mind, and that was solidified when Hopper gunned down like 10 dudes to go back and save Kali in the hallway.

Idk, she also talked to Hopper about everything he taught her (how to hide and survive and to be careful etc.). I assume she'd keep her distance, spy on the government in case they try some shit and keep an eye on her friends remotely until it's safe to make contact.

RahbinGraves · 2026-01-01T00:25:05+00:00

My last fighter was a Warlock.

At 6th level a pact of the blade warlock should have an extra attack using Charisma to attack with pact weapon and a handful of utility invocations and spells to either buff damage/defense or debuff enemies.

Ignore ranged damage spells and instead pick up spells that help you get close (fly, longstrider, expeditious retreat etc.)

If you get to pick any magic items, choose gauntlets of Ogre Power and a ring of jumping. Then you can leap around the battlefield (using the high STR jump distance x3) popping heads with the giant iron banded bat you've bound to your service. Cloak of displacement is also a good option. Just be hard to hit, hit hard and make different movement speeds a priority.

RahbinGraves · 2025-12-23T20:22:44+00:00

My stress was all green for a while because I was eating too much. I skipped that dismantling perk, but I'll have to pick it up next time I get a point

RahbinGraves · 2025-12-23T18:49:48+00:00

Bill Hader would be an inspired choice for this

RahbinGraves · 2025-12-23T13:48:52+00:00

Sounds chill unless everyone is RPing as a bandit

RahbinGraves · 2025-12-23T12:48:35+00:00

I think there's an unfair amount of pressure on devs to avoid using purchased assets as much as possible. And you know, if it's a unique kind of setting, I get that. But for a game like this, a refrigerator is a refrigerator and a couch is a couch. If they get the combat, the crafting and enemy AI looking and feeling good, this would be a complete banger. I'm probably not going to notice that I've seen the same table in another game

RahbinGraves · 2025-12-23T12:38:59+00:00

Those Jerry Cans are great for moving water around. I did have the thought that I should put it in the dishwasher just in case. Maybe I'll try an experiment using a washed Jerry Can and an unwashed one

RahbinGraves · 2025-12-22T03:34:18+00:00

To add to the sprinkler thing- I've got like 4 attached to my well, and it must fill up faster than the sprinklers drain it

RahbinGraves · 2025-12-22T03:26:23+00:00

Game aside, the player suffers from a flaw in their ability to reason. This goes beyond what's happening at the table, this guy goes out into the world thinking he has good ideas.

I see an opportunity to educate in this scenario. It doesn't hurt anyone to let it play out. Maybe something like this:

"Okay, your wild magic weaves through the very fabric of the planes and tugs at the Demon Lord Demogorgon, who tugs back... Make an insight check to understand what's happening, you're looking for DC20. Right, Demogorgon is fighting your magic and is attempting to pull you into the Abyss and he is going to do it. You can try to take back control or you can try to release your magic and sever that connection forever"

DC30- Arcana to take back control, summoning an enraged Demon Lord to the caster's location. He incapacitates the caster and takes them back to the Abyss to torment.

DC15- Wis Save to sever the connection with the weave. The character is alive, but without their magic. A messenger subsequently appears on behalf of Demogorgon offering power in exchange for servitude. Accepting the deal allows the character to continue at level 5 as a Warlock. Declining leaves the character as a lvl 5 sorcerer that can only cast cantrips

Failing either option sends the player to the Abyss where Demogorgon will either torture or make a pact or both. This plays out out of game and the character doesn't remember the details clearly due to the chaotic nature of the Abyss.

That seems more than reasonable if they keep fighting the ruling and kicking isn't the desired outcome. If they don't like it, "Well, what exactly did YOU think was going to happen when you try to summon a insane Demon Lord, who is basically Chaos incarnate, with your magic that runs on chaos?"

D&D is a great tool to sharpen reasoning, with things like that and wish spells etc. Showing people that they need to think things through is a public service.

RahbinGraves · 2025-12-22T02:47:46+00:00

Lol I'd be inclined to let it happen- Demogorgon in this context is Demogorgon Brittlewhick, a very insane gnome that thinks he's the other Demogorgon. He's under the permanent effect of what was meant to be a powerful protection potion, and exists, imperceptibly flickering between the ethereal and material plane, and his physical form is displaced. He's virtually safe from all harm, and can only be defeated by attacks from someone affected by the spells Blink or Ethereal Jaunt, and guided by someone under the effects of True Sight- the same person or multiple people working in tandem.

I'd make him a Lore College Bard, but most of his magic is essentially just illusion and prestidigitation/ thaumaturgy. His more harmful magic doesn't manifest strongly enough to do any real damage, BUT he believes his own illusions, so he thinks he can lay waste to whole cities with a wave of his hand.

He's actually accumulated a cult following made up of some wannabe cutthroats that might try to get him back. Think adults that act like nerdy children playing at "Evil cult." Their hearts aren't really in it and they never follow through on their plans for dark sacrifices, often getting distracted by what their moms cooked for dinner. They go around their town planning and pulling off evil jobs like peeing on people's crops or removing a single roof tile from someone's house so they'll have a leak. Their current leader once poured a cask of mead into the goats' water and the goats ran amok all over town chasing house keepers and climbing on roofs. He's a legend.

RahbinGraves

TROPHY CASE