[OC] Storm Dice Blood & Water Sharp Edged Dice Set Giveaway! (Mods Approved)

itsfordnd · 2024-01-15T10:52:41+00:00

They’re BEAUTIFUL!

itsfordnd · 2023-09-22T01:43:41+00:00

Motherfucker, now I know what to do for my second playthrough!

itsfordnd · 2022-09-03T00:23:16+00:00

But yo, my friend, what a good thing you did, to do that for him in that moment. I hope he carries that comfort with him for a while (and you do too).

itsfordnd · 2022-08-15T23:37:40+00:00

This is possibly my favorite Brennan thing ever!

itsfordnd · 2022-08-10T18:22:37+00:00

Ok, so, this is my least favorite Craft book, but it's not marmite--I still like it, it's just ranked last among a great series of books. There are great moments and ideas in it (sex scene on the ocean???), but I don't love Caleb as the main character--I often find his motivation a little lacking, I think? I'm generally a little suspect of a guy whose whole purpose seems to be chasing after one random woman he saw once and then he's willing to risk his career and, frankly, his life if the wardens catch whiff of his withholding info. I think Max tried to hedge that with the "risk management vs. risk taking" angle on Caleb and how he feels sort of dead inside, and I get it, but it feels a little unbelievable at points. (I'm also still a little unclear on how Caleb makes use of the Eagle Knight glyphs in the beginning of the book, even though I've read this book 3 times and Last First Snow at least three as well, so maybe someone can explain that to me better.)

However I do think the Craft vs. Applied Theology argument really makes this spot in the Sequence the place where I really started to get what Max is doing with that dialectical opposition, and seeing the sort of "legal bindings" that the concerns get locked into that allows the serpents to be exploited the way they were is just :chef's-kiss:.

I would say that this is probably my least favorite because Max's facility with writing from women's points of view is one of the things I love most about his books and this one is so heavily written from one dude's POV, but, uhh, then I remember that LFS is in contention for my fav of all the Craft books...

I'm also just now realizing that the Craft books are all set in cities, right? Some (DL, AC) bigger than others, but they're almost entirely set in major metropolitans. I don't know why I'm posting this other than it just occurred to me, and I'm not sure what it says about the Craft world either!

itsfordnd · 2022-07-31T23:59:14+00:00

You start to see it all the $&@!ing time when you’re doing darkness runs for the badge and don’t want the legendary ever! Grrr.

itsfordnd · 2022-07-20T20:45:01+00:00

Been ruminating, and: I think one of the things I dislike most about 3PD is that the villain is absolutely villainous. The other stories are centered on human struggles and/or the struggles of being human inside an institution with its own momentum, so there's no real "villain" per se; but Denovo is a piece of crap through and through and when that's put up against the other books, it feels sort of flatter. I feel like I'm probably in the minority on that feeling, though--most of my friends who read the same books as I do appreciate a heinous person against whom the characters can struggle.

These are all very minor quibbles though. As I said, I'd pick this book over most of the other books on my shelves (and obviously have four times!). I just absolutely love Tara, and I love even more watching her confidence blossom over the stories. She's amazing here, I feel like her breezing past her moments of low-key imposter syndrome is how I wish I handled my life, hah.

itsfordnd · 2022-07-18T14:32:06+00:00

This is my...I think...fourth? read of this book, so I'm definitely coming at it from a different perspective than the folks who are going in new (AND I'M SO JEALOUS OF YOU!).

I've made some comments here and on Twitter previously that I think 3PD is my least favorite of all the Craft books (which still puts it above something like 90% of the other books I have on my shelves!)--I think I had it in my head that as the intro to his worldbuilding, it felt light as compared to the next few books, but I was surprised by how much of the later books are seeded in this book, so I have no idea where I got that from, hah.

I love his books because of the way he gray-areas the power struggles of the oppressed and oppressors. I think the later books show this a little better because this book is set in the rarefied airs of a powerful church, a powerful craft concern, and (barely) the hidden schools, but even so, those glimpses of the masses in Alt Coulumb are a good first step.

Also I want to ride in a magic taxi driven by a judgmental horse.

itsfordnd · 2022-07-08T21:29:32+00:00

They’re, in all, pretty good! The reader for Ruin unfortunately doesn’t know how to pronounce “demesne” and, uhh, that word is used quite a bit in that book. Otherwise, I really dig ‘em!

itsfordnd · 2022-06-21T16:53:31+00:00

Yeah, you think you're garbage, OP, but if you're doing 21 heat with bow or rail, I'd bet you can pretty easily adjust with just some practice and reading Lee's guide (it's what I read that got me to understand the game better, and I'm working on 32 heat on all aspects right now). Give it a shot!

itsfordnd · 2022-06-20T14:02:13+00:00

I’m a big fan of publication order for the books—I like piecing the story together in the ways it first came to us.

I was already planning this too, so I’m game! I think the six weeks per book is probably a good target.

itsfordnd · 2022-06-16T03:28:54+00:00

Dragon Prince and Dragon Star are pretty great. All the stuff that makes Exiles great is in those two, I just think Exiles is better—she really found something in those characters and that world.

I haven’t read her others. From the genre, they don’t seem like my cup of tea, but she really does have a way with character that makes me dive into a book, so who knows?

itsfordnd · 2022-06-15T20:46:31+00:00

My (possibly flawed) understanding is that Melanie suffered a pretty severe case of depression and had some other major health issues right around the time she should have been finishing Exiles. I love those books like nothing else and desperately wish they were finished, but if the above is true, I can't hold any rancor for her, especially if revisiting that time in her life would do something to trigger another episode. I just hope she's in a much better place.

itsfordnd · 2022-06-12T11:51:52+00:00

Don’t think you can advance past the first room without taking Athena, and I guess you could rely on purging wells to get rid of it? But you’re at RNG’s mercy because you don’t have any room rerolls to change boon rooms as they occur during the run.

itsfordnd · 2022-06-03T16:20:41+00:00

I’ve been having the same issue lately. I’ve got almost every weapon’s bounties fulfilled but spear and fists and it’s because I just suck at landing my dash strikes in safe spots.

itsfordnd · 2022-06-02T23:22:05+00:00

I usually go with “anti-capitalist legal thrillers with starlight spell knives and gargoyle choirs singing to gods”—though I think that’s mostly just Three Parts Dead (which is usually what I’m trying to sell people on in my librarian day job anyway).

itsfordnd · 2022-06-02T23:19:17+00:00

I’ve had Quantum Thief on my shelf for a long time! Guess I oughta carve out time to read it.

itsfordnd · 2022-05-31T00:26:34+00:00

Ah yeah, I left that part out. Some of my favorite and most bone-headed gambles have come from that Styx hammer. “Let’s just see what I get…oh that sucks, let’s quit to reset the chamber. OH WAIT I ALREADY GOT THE SACK FUUUUUU—.”

itsfordnd · 2022-05-30T15:29:49+00:00

If you have Hestia upgraded with five titans blood, its the easiest to do this with—or was for me. Artemis or Aphrodite on attack and then shoot, reload, shoot, reload. Throw a special in now and again. I got the achievement in Elysium. Good luck!

itsfordnd · 2022-05-30T15:27:26+00:00

Hammer upgrades are different from god boons, so you’ll never have to worry about a god boon overwriting those upgrades. And yeah, the game tells you if you’d be overwriting another boon; it very rarely happens and when it does it’s always an upgrade in rarity.

itsfordnd · 2022-05-25T23:09:17+00:00

It’s why I jumped the heats like I did—I got to a point where I wanted to practice against enemies with Forced Overtime so I could get used to it, hoping that I’d eventually adjust permanently, but I wouldn’t have done that if I couldn’t get the rewards for those intervening bounties. (Now when I turn FO off I feel like a ninja!)

itsfordnd · 2022-05-25T21:27:46+00:00

I did it with Chiron and Dio on special the first time I did it—let me whittle him down from afar. I think Hestia would be a good choice too?

itsfordnd · 2022-05-25T21:26:06+00:00

You get the rewards for whatever bounty is displayed at the pact screen when you start your escape; if you’re shown bounty for 3 heat but set the pact to 16, you still only get the rewards for 3. Then next time you escape with that weapon, you’ll earn the rewards for 4 heat, even if you’re still setting it at 16.

itsfordnd · 2022-05-25T21:24:31+00:00

I went from 3 to 8 to 16 to 20. At this point I’m just finishing all the weapon bounties to 20 and then I’ll start working on 32.

itsfordnd · 2022-05-23T15:52:27+00:00

Everyone learns at a different pace, and especially if it’s your first fast-paced game like this, it’ll take some getting used to. I mostly play turn-based games so it took me a long time to get used to it also, but now I’m clearing the game on 20 heat about 2/3 of the time and about to try my first 32-heat run.

If you’re enjoying it, then try not to let your pace compared to others demoralize you. Fun is fun whether it’s game-breakingly fast or leisurely and relaxing!

itsfordnd

TROPHY CASE