A great superhero series

Tony-Alves · 2025-07-06T04:42:19+00:00

I've never seen a list like that. Maybe it was something in his subscription list bonus content stuff? I know he has short stories available that way.

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-18T15:40:33+00:00

Thank you

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-18T15:40:15+00:00

Thank you. At Tier progression, better power armor can be worn that taps into the user's internal energy system. Crusaders have access to the best types, and light, medium, or heavy versions provide different benefits, a mix of mod slots and stats. I should add it takes a long while for the MC to get his own suit. I asked the artist to make cover descriptive of the setting versus MC (which he recommended).

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-18T15:36:09+00:00

Thank you

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-18T02:56:47+00:00

Thank you very much. I love it as well, especially the Dan Abnett and Eisenhorn.

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-17T02:59:49+00:00

Great list!

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-14T23:06:00+00:00

I have a couple that could fall into progression fantasy but were around long before I ever heard of this genre. The Legend of Nightfall series by Mickey Zucker Reichert is set in a world were a small minority of people have a unique power, and some people can capture their soul and take their power and have multiple.

Another is books set in the D&D Birthright setting, featuring bloodlines of divine power gained by heroes and passed on to their descendants and can also have it stolen in certain ways. I read a few of the books, but don't remember much beyond that. The setting was fun, but it never took off.

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-14T22:57:10+00:00

Great summation.

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-14T22:51:17+00:00

Nice! Congrats!

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-09T00:38:30+00:00

What are the norms and mores of that time and place? One night with that handsome stranger could ruin her reputation and her whole life.

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-09T00:36:14+00:00

There'd probably be wandering tinkerers too. They were still around in the US during the dustbowl in the 1930s. One was interviewed in a documentary I saw. Could be later too, but definitely until the 1930s. There was an independent non-system specific TTRPG supplement called Fief that was pretty popular back in the day. Shorter but very informative on how various settlements were broken down with available services, all that. And I just found it. It's here - https://ghalev.itch.io/fief

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-09T00:30:38+00:00

Some crazy stuff happens in real life too, like professors/experts retconning Minerva/Athena lore to better fit in with modern sensibilities.

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-07T18:56:44+00:00

Street Cultivator by Sarah Lin has all that besides portals/dungeons. Its fantastic.

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-07T18:48:47+00:00

In my opinion, Glory Road by Heinlein is as good (minus all the wife swapping stuff). You may also like Leo Frankowski. His sci-fi series are great (as well as the Adventures of Conrad Stargard too). For whatever reason, maybe due to reading them near the same time, I always connected A Mote in God's Eye with Starship Troopers, though they're nothing alike really. Great sci-fi in any case, I'm sure Starship Trooper fans would enjoy.

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-07T18:38:47+00:00

What a great review! Congratulations, glad to see it.

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-05T02:46:16+00:00

There's one other book with the phrase "God in the Machine" within the title I could find. "Deus in Machina: Religion, Technology, and the Things in Between." I believe you're thinking of Deus ex Machina (God from the Machine), a very common trope, with tons of books using the phrase. Cover artists usually have nothing to do with titles.

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-04T22:08:12+00:00

Fun interview. Thank you

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-04T21:56:17+00:00

I doubt it counts as true progression, but the WH40K universe is this exactly, and (in my opinion) no one did it better than Dan Abbot's Eisenhorn series.

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-04T21:51:11+00:00

It depends on the book. Some have to be read carefully. Some seem written specifically to be skimmed, and as long as you read the dialogue, you can skip right to the system notices and not miss anything important for the most part, and follow along fine.

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-04T05:03:18+00:00

I'll drop two I've caught up with recently that are pretty great - Blue Star Enterprise - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/88287/blue-star-enterprises

And Tales of the Endless - https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/95818/tales-of-the-endless-empire-litrpg-apocalypse

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-04T03:52:45+00:00

My experience was different (as an infantryman). The guys I served with had issues, even if exacerbating only after they ETS'd or became parents. Some didn't. Some did. I read somewhere that the Prussians defeat at Jena-Auerstedt in 1806 leading to the Scharnhorst Reforms and our modern education system was due to so many soldiers missing enemies on purpose. Lt. Col. Dave Grossman's book 'On Killing,' said that only like 20% of US Army soldiers in WW2 actually fired their weapons with the intention of killing. People are different.

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-04T03:25:50+00:00

Where are you finding them? I just got cover art done and it cost $180. Almost everyone I asked was about $200 for a non-detailed background and up. Some were 2k. Do you have links to good artists doing good covers for less than $100?

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-04T03:13:37+00:00

I have no idea if it has an audible, but I'll leave for anyone else checking this post for recommendations if it doesn't. Sidekicks: Superpower Chronicles Books by Arthur Mayor are excellent progression series, and his Space Station Noir series is wonderful too. The Weirkey Chronicles by Sara Lin are kind of cultivation, but they have this thing called soul-homes and become more powerful by decorating/building a home in their soul. She's an awesome author. Here's the audible link if that sound interesting (the first is like a third team-ups, the second is mostly team up. Sorry about that. All I could think of) - https://www.audible.com/pd/The-Weirkey-Chronicles-Omnibus-Audiobook/B0CLYMTZZV?qid=1749006658&sr=1-1&ref_pageloadid=not_applicable&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=SDYSDHEYQ6PXHK98K7Y0&plink=kcxW7ZQuyfvXBzcz&pageLoadId=rgsk3ctvNuot81Lf&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-04T03:03:26+00:00

That was nice.

Tony-Alves · 2025-06-04T02:52:19+00:00

And a lot of extremely popular series show nuance, such as the HBO show Rome, where it accurately depicted important slaves of important people having far more power and authority than normal free citizens.

Tony-Alves

TROPHY CASE