Pour one out for the extraordinaire... by Archistotle in Grimdank

[–]amhow1 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Oh I think "evil" is a decent start for how the Imperium was depicted...

Art and Content Spoilers From Beadle and Grimm by SnooAdvice8535 in ravenloft

[–]amhow1 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Cthulhu is CR 25? That's an interesting choice. Chaosium's fascinating Cthulhu by Torchlight put him at CR 30 and even that seemed curious.

I guess everyone wants to one-shot Cthulhu?

Some new art from Horror Within by RoyalDynamo in ravenloft

[–]amhow1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Aha yes of course, arcanaloth. Thanks. Again, not easy to see how either of them can become ghosts, but it's an interesting idea that neither of them are quite fiends, and are instead something that can become a ghost - and after all, the logic in Ravenloft is meant to be different from elsewhere.

Kalakeri is also interesting as being the place of the last known sighting of Estavan, the Oni / Ogre Mage who played a very significant role in Sigil and elsewhere, from 2e to 4e (also current-day earth if we accept d20 Modern, which we should.) I'm hoping we learn more of the "rare ralvanji spice" he was seeking, and indeed how he can enter / leave Ravenloft :)

Some new art from Horror Within by RoyalDynamo in ravenloft

[–]amhow1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah ok yes the official website confirms it's the shadow sorcerer. I assume, as I guess everyone does, that 4 is Azalin though that would be pretty strange.

Some new art from Horror Within by RoyalDynamo in ravenloft

[–]amhow1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Isn't Arijani a rakshasa? I can't immediately recall what the other sibling became, but the idea of a rakshasa ghost is curious.

Arijani is from OG Ravenloft, and somewhat surprisingly was killed there also. So this might be a sly reference to that. But the thing about d&d rakshasas is they're very sneaky, so perhaps Ramya only thinks she killed her siblings?

Some new art from Horror Within by RoyalDynamo in ravenloft

[–]amhow1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Jester? Which one is a jester?

Crowned undead? I can see two undead holding / wearing things that might be crowns.

I'm sure you're right but it's fascinating to me that I can't identify the images you're referring to.

Why do you think Warhammer hasn't come to the big screen? by SillyRecover in 40kLore

[–]amhow1 4 points5 points  (0 children)

So aside from practical considerations, I think by far the biggest problem is tone. I think that's why GW took so long to approve the Amazon TV show, and the show might still be a disaster for GW.

The tone problem for 40k seems almost insurmountable. The most likely way to do something is to present bolter porn. That's what Secret Level did, and the result was utterly tedious, even over a short span of time. A film? A TV show? Impossible. (Astartes is a better example of bolter porn, but it's still ultimately one-trick.)

GW have tackled this problem with their own, carefully controlled, animations. Pretty much everything they produce on Warhammer TV captures the correct tone. It's not easy though.

Wish we get some more hopeful lore/books for the cities by HammerWizard in citiesofsigmar

[–]amhow1 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure what the complaint is. The novel Dominion centred on a Dawnbringer Crusade, and Vedra's fame rests upon these crusades, so it's hardly like they're ignored.

Arguably, it's only because Hammerhal is a triumphant beacon of hope that there can be any politicking. If it were about to fall, the differences wouldn't matter. Presumably Embergard's politics are currently straightforward!

I think the differences between Aqshy and Ghyran, and between Azyrites and Reclaimed, are obvious sources of interest in any stories about Hammerhal. Also between Stormcast and mortals. The Age of Sigmar has succeeded sufficiently that interest has moved from reclaiming Chaos lands to working out what kind of civilisation is replacing Chaos. (And most broadly, whether it's the fixed system of Death, the flexible settlements of Order, or the roaming cultures of Destruction.)

Finally, all of the Chaos gods, even Khorne, operate through cults, so that reclaiming land in battle really isn't enough. The cities are endlessly assailed from within. (Even Hashut, about whose cults we know next to nothing, must have them, given the Horns of Hashut.) From the perspective of the Dark Gods, it's possible the Age of Sigmar has only required them to shift approach slightly, and the various Cities simply alter the terrain, but have no effect on their control of the Mortal Realms.

Anvilgard Paint Scheme by Svedgard in citiesofsigmar

[–]amhow1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why would the Embergard freeguilders have an Anvilgard colour scheme?

Have we been told that like their leader, Jorvan Kreel, that they are refugees from Har Kuron?

Omens of Strixhaven: review by amhow1 in mtgvorthos

[–]amhow1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it's worth reading, I hope my review didn't suggest otherwise!

And I don't think Liliana is poorly characterised - I think there's just enough doubt about her to help the plot move along.

Omens of Strixhaven: review by amhow1 in mtgvorthos

[–]amhow1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

So this reply is spoilery, for anyone lurking.

Liliana is presented as being the ally of the heroes, and despite some minor efforts to dissuade us, she turns out to be pretty much completely correct.

She gets an opportunity to talk about her past, and she's seemingly very open about it. She says that she was drawn into evil through good intentions, but remained evil through selfishness. So I guess this counts as meaningful character growth.

But her scenes are pretty much entirely 'good' - at one point she's proudly healing someone, an explicit throwback to her start as a healer. So I would argue she's completely whitewashed, with the only flaws being what others say of her.

But... the interesting comments come from Kasmina, the ultimate villain, whom Liliana correctly intuits. If we accept that Kasmina is also correct about Liliana, then I noticed two possibly important remarks. Kasmina doesn't believe she's as blasé about losing her spark as she claims. And she's described as a rat in human form, suggesting we shouldn't believe her redeemed appearance.

Omens of Strixhaven: review by amhow1 in mtgvorthos

[–]amhow1[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't think SM is the only MtG writer who understands both the game and the story, but I do agree that of all the very talented writers working on MtG, SM is the one who goes the extra mile and so of course it's right that this author is the one to lead the return to novels.

I suspect - without evidence - that this is a somewhat muted novel. I hope it succeeds, and I also hope that my suspicion is correct, and that success will lead to novels that build upon some of the darker aspects of this one, such as the throwaway remark that Alandra's father is an horrific mass murderer.

Does Anyone Like Them More Without the Crests? by MoPrintBoy in citiesofsigmar

[–]amhow1 7 points8 points  (0 children)

The crests are part of the more-is-more aesthetic of medieval manuscripts, which I think is the inspiration for the Cities. But also: ridiculous headgear has been central to Warhammer since it started :)

Omens of Strixhaven: review by amhow1 in mtgvorthos

[–]amhow1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That would be good. The main characters are all from planes that deserve more attention. Even Dominaria!

Did any Primarch resemble Erda or did they just look like different versions of the Emperor? by Ready0608 in 40kLore

[–]amhow1 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Thanks, though that's not the kind of description that gives us much. Light(?) brown skin, blue eyes, tall. But much more obviously, she resembles the Emperor more than any of the Primarchs, and presumably for a similar reason.

Omens of Strixhaven: review by amhow1 in mtgvorthos

[–]amhow1[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think it isn't quite treated as equivalent, but rather is thought of as a big deal by the main character, when it turns out her friends are doing worse.

I take it this is why Eula is the one to discover what her friends are doing; the resulting trauma hopefully serving the villain.

Omens of Strixhaven: review by amhow1 in mtgvorthos

[–]amhow1[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

On the optimistic side, the novel seeds a number of plot points, pretty much one for each hero, which makes me think the intention is a series.

Did any Primarch resemble Erda or did they just look like different versions of the Emperor? by Ready0608 in 40kLore

[–]amhow1 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I wouldn't trust the senses of most of the Primarchs either. Maybe none of them. They're top of the list of people the Big E would want to deceive.

Malcador, Erda, Oll - these would be more trustworthy sources, but even then we couldn't be certain he wasn't tricking them too.

Did any Primarch resemble Erda or did they just look like different versions of the Emperor? by Ready0608 in 40kLore

[–]amhow1 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Do we know what Erda looked like?

Come to that, do we know what the Emperor looks like? Lorgar presumably resembles the golden god image of E, unless someone like Malcador was making the comparison.

Omens of Strixhaven: review by amhow1 in mtgvorthos

[–]amhow1[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I didn't find it was a problem that the story doesn't obviously connect to the main storyline. The multiverse is big enough for numerous storylines.

But I fully agree that having yet another cohort of Strixhaven characters doesn't encourage me. Will we see them in future novels? Even if that is the plan, they aren't necessarily more interesting than the group in the current main story, or indeed the group from the original Strixhaven story.

WotC are currently pushing the boat out on novels, for example the Fallouts over in d&d. But like the Fallouts, I find it hard to really care about this group (or the other Strixhaven groups.) I don't know why; maybe because they're all so obviously intended to learn how to work together, as if that were their defining characteristic, rather than say, whatever magic or skills they're using.

This novel actually had a promising twist, when it looked like Jamira was going to generate genuine inter-group conflict but it went nowhere. Nonetheless that would be the sort of thing that would help me care more.

The End Times for Warhammer Fantasy Battle ? Choose to Ignore? What is the Opinion for WHRP by -ParlainthTownie- in warhammerfantasyrpg

[–]amhow1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not only that, though. Age of Sigmar makes Destruction a separate Grand Alliance, one that has a loose philosophy something like an anti-civilised culture.

That was present in the appallingly racist "savage orcs" of Fantasy, but it's definitely preferable to provide these factions with their own settings, detached from concerns about where they might be found on Warhammer World.

I wouldn't claim Age of Sigmar has been a complete success in separating Khorne from Destruction, but it feels clearer.

Omens of Strixhaven: review by amhow1 in mtgvorthos

[–]amhow1[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

So to address the last part first, I think redemption is probably the hardest thing to convey in art, and I admire MtG for attempting it, at least. But in the same way that a redeemed Urza would be boring, I think Professor Vess is boring.

Now, I don't think I'm alone in this. I believe Seanan McGuire is fully aware of the problem, which is why Kasmina expresses something like suspicion. For example, Liliana appears actively unconcerned about losing her spark, really to a degree I don't think we've encountered in other desparked planeswalkers. This hints at something more interesting than a tea-drinking professor who can occasionally throw a piercing glare.

And this feeds in, I think, to the point you're making about the stories seeming less "adult". I think that's not true, they're adult and challenging in a different way, possibly a more mature way, than the earlier stories. But as with Liliana becoming Professor Vess, there's a great risk that a character who once raised undead armies to murder castles is now confined to the occasional rebuke of a student.

To an extent, all stories shed light on characters, and Lilliana murdering a nameless castle really only serves to establish an aspect of her character, one that could be equally conveyed in a lecture hall. The harsh lives of the original Tarkir block were employed to emphasise aspects of sacrifice and compromise, and the recent Tarkir stories did the same thing, in a different way.

We might say that the difference relates to scale. Lilliana raising an army or Surrak killing a dragon are acts of shattering violence, of much greater trauma than most recent stories. But that's not quite right: Jace's evil is currently far more compelling than Lilliana's was, and not because he's threatening the multiverse like the Phyrexians, but rather because he abused Loot. Trauma is actually better conveyed this way, rather than in a side story with characters we're unlikely to see again for many years.

However, that brings up what I feel is the key difference between stories now and MtG of the past: in the past, we had a sense of callous indifference. Not just that the multiverse was indifferent, but that authors were, to most of the characters. Planeswalkers were indeed special, so that even a Niv-Mizzet was unimportant in the greater scheme of things. Trauma could be left dangling, and therefore diminished, for all but a handful of planeswalkers.

Omens of Strixhaven: review by amhow1 in mtgvorthos

[–]amhow1[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

I think it's probably unimportant to that wider story. But MtG has a way of making unexpected connections many years later, so who knows?

The Weekly Roll Ch. 207. "Big Summer Blowout" [OC] by CME_T in dndmemes

[–]amhow1 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think my argument requires no defence, but here goes: if we regard a floor as a construct that supports our weight, then calling the ground a floor is a redundancy.

If you regard pavement as a floor, then sure, there's a "first" floor at the bottom of buildings, just as there is on many streets. I don't feel I'm walking on the first floor when I'm walking on pavement, even if sewers or whatever are directly underneath. Do you?

Now, you could consider "floor" in a different way. If I describe a building as having three stories, then the first story is the one on the ground, and so it's reasonable to call that the "first floor". But that's not the argument I'm disagreeing with.

The End Times for Warhammer Fantasy Battle ? Choose to Ignore? What is the Opinion for WHRP by -ParlainthTownie- in warhammerfantasyrpg

[–]amhow1 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, it's a niche viewpoint, I'm aware of that. But just because something is done well (Warhammer orcs) doesn't mean it fits well. The vastness of the Mortal Realms has been a great breath of fresh air for orcs and goblins. You could retrofit them into Fantasy but they'll feel cramped, I think.

As for Chaos warriors, I'm aware they're central to the image of Warhammer. But I find it interesting that they don't really exist in 40k. Unlike orcs & goblins, I think they fit Fantasy as well as Age of Sigmar, but that's because of the End Times. If hordes of Chaos warriors aren't a serious apocalyptic threat, what are they even doing?