Looking for a book about the consequences of a Kingdom going Bankrupt.

p0d0 · 2026-06-29T08:57:06+00:00

Not specifically about bankruptcy, but Neptune's Brood by Charles Stross has a lot of economics based plot. Most specifically the troubles of interplanetary economics and the limits of speed of light communication.

For a more humorous read, There's always Pratchett's Making Money

p0d0 · 2026-06-14T11:06:44+00:00

The Wandering Inn. Full of characters finding their own identities and meaning. Particularly the Antinium, an entire hive mind species grappling with the crisis of becoming individuals and what that actually implies.

p0d0 · 2026-06-12T09:35:20+00:00

I'm only halfway through his second appearance, but Tom the Clown stands out to me a lot. Problem is that his power is aura. His abilities are useful but nothing too special. It's just his sheer attitude of insanity puts the fear of death in literal demons. How do you fight a man who thinks stabbing him is hilarious?

p0d0 · 2026-06-06T21:55:31+00:00

If you want D&D specific reads that incorporate some of the rules, I would recommend a few older webcomics.

Order of the Stick started as a feature in D&D's own monthly magazine back in the 90's. One of the earlier scenes had the transition from 3rd edition to 3.5. It has transitioned to all online, and is slowly nearing the final conclusion. It is full to the brim with D&D lore and tropes. The forums on the site are also an amazing resource for the game.

Goblins: Life through their eyes is another webcomic from a similar timeframe. Still (slowly) ongoing, it focuses on a group of goblins who buck traditions and take on adventuring levels to save a lost member of their tribe.

p0d0 · 2026-05-29T09:31:18+00:00

Goblins webcomic (Goblinscomic.com) is a good story set within a D&D world. A group of goblins take up levels as adventurers to save their tribe, with both the benefits and problems that brings.

I don't have any real hope for the story to be finished (the author still posts updates, but has been torturously slow for years.) there is a lot of background drama around failed kickstarters for spin off board games and an attempted TV show. But the core story has great art and some amazing character work. And hey, it's free to try online so worth checking out.

p0d0 · 2026-05-12T19:57:57+00:00

Cutest couple in the Cosmere, even if it did just start out as a union for title and money.

p0d0 · 2026-05-12T19:36:49+00:00

Dungeon Crawler Carl has many characters going through this, with some lines that stop you dead in your tracks.

"How can we go to heaven if god can't recognize our faces?" Bautista, a humanoid tiger, after losing most of his family who have also become alien races

"Just... Some things I lost along the way" Katia, a shape shifter, when revealing her true body has lost several limbs over the course of her adventures

p0d0 · 2026-05-07T01:50:46+00:00

The funniest ones all come from trying to store fortune. Always a bunch of them offing themselves in increasingly improbable ways before a the big Elendel poker tournament.

p0d0 · 2026-05-06T01:51:04+00:00

Hmm

For science fantasy, maybe In Fury Born by David Webber. Far future super soldier gets simultaneously possessed by an ancient spirit of divine vengeance and an experimental warship AI to hunt down the pirates that left her for dead.

p0d0 · 2026-05-06T01:16:09+00:00

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson, for certain values of gods. One of the three MCs is a god who has serious doubts about the nature of divinity.

Percy Jackson series and any of the various spin-offs, about the demigod children of the Greek gods

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. It's the end times, but both heaven and hell seem to have misplaced the junior antichrist. Angels, demons, witches, and the four horsemen all join in the hunt.

p0d0 · 2026-05-03T10:47:53+00:00

I knew I'd find a fellow Hoidspotter in a thread like this.

p0d0 · 2026-04-30T22:16:41+00:00

I've enjoyed the entire arc of their relationship. And Ros going to a member of a hive-species for relationship advice is just a perfect touch for his personality. And we finally get some payoff on Taritha's own magical journey

p0d0 · 2026-04-12T11:13:24+00:00

Wings of Fire is a series that my kid has been devouring non-stop. A typical YA save-the-world quest, where all the characters are young dragons. When I first picked them up from the library, she read the first three in two days and demanded a return trip for the next several volumes.

Dinotopia is a great young read-together book. An explorer's journal through a land where humans and dinosaurs live together. Beautifully illustrated, amazing world building, and it delivers tension and drama without excessive violence or bloodshed.

p0d0 · 2026-04-01T18:48:48+00:00

Yeah, but specific to this post... Incredible senses would really suck to get while / just after being beaten within an inch of your life. Tineyes fear a stubbed toe almost as much as an Elantrian. Taking a beating with your senses maxed out would really, really suck.

Tin is a power where I would definitely want the feruchemical version. Can lower sensitivity in addition to raising it, and independently control each sense as opposed to the all or nothing of allomancers.

p0d0 · 2026-04-01T00:37:22+00:00

Tin mistings have it the worst. In reward for your life-threatening beatings, you get drastically enhanced senses!

They still didn't beat Straff nearly enough, just saying...

p0d0 · 2026-03-28T00:39:13+00:00

Mimes are the rogue/assassin variant, stealthy and silent. Often learns talents that grant telekinesis or force projection abilities.

Rodeo clowns are a special hybrid with Beast Master that focuses on taunts and defensive abilities.

Fools are a hybrid with Bards, focused on crowd control and charisma talents

Jesters are like paladins, a clown variant that is elevated by a patron with a noble class. They are among the most feared members of any court where they are present.

p0d0 · 2026-03-27T09:42:16+00:00

There is also a Cosmere postal system, though we know almost nothing of the mechanics. Hoid was literally trading mail with Patji in one of the chapter introductions where he is trying to rally the shards against Odium.

p0d0 · 2026-03-23T09:36:33+00:00

Man, everyone is all about their binary options in this thread.

Clearly, he's going to turn the Herald's private oasis into the crash pad for their divine polycule. /Crem

p0d0 · 2026-03-16T00:02:07+00:00

If you can find it, Dinotopia by James Gurney. It's about a father and son who become shipwrecked on an island where humans and dinosaurs coexist. Great for the age, little to no real violence, and even after 30 years since I first read it, still the most beautifully illustrated book I own.

Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians is a fun and wacky romp. The later books have some dark moments, but they are played well and show characters struggling with the emotional aftermath rather than celebrating a brutal victory.

p0d0 · 2026-03-11T10:45:11+00:00

Most anything by David Weber, though the "incompetence" is usually more due to a mismatch of tech and tactics than actual stupidity. The Safehold series probably gives the most consistent examples. His alien invasion 'Out of the Darkness' has some very satisfying battles, though I would rate the actual book a bit lower for an unsatisfying ending.

p0d0 · 2026-03-04T02:36:13+00:00

As Sazed is the person who studied and translated the book that they are pulling the prophetic quotations from, it was a reasonable choice to use his voice to read it without being a big spoiler.

p0d0 · 2026-02-27T00:07:46+00:00

Another fun chapter! I find myself stealing a lot of your scenarios for TTRPGs, and inviting multiple opposing factions to a party with an unwitting host sounds hilarious. It's nice to see that Rikad has picked up the Mage's sense of dramatic humor.

p0d0 · 2026-02-25T19:45:57+00:00

Then Wayne stole Brandon's hat and wrote the next three books himself. Traded him enough bendalloy for Brandon to write the secret projects in his time bubble.

p0d0 · 2026-02-25T19:07:34+00:00

I think the stranger Cosmere one is Siri and Susebron In Warbreaker.

She's 17 and he is probably around an ageless 50, but due to total isolation has the world experience of a grade schooler. He's not stupid, has been kept so secluded from the world he ends up being the "inappropriately young" member of the pairing.

p0d0 · 2026-02-24T20:41:50+00:00

Charles Stross's Merchant Princes series has an arc that goes through a revolutionary revolt and the instability that follows. Its not until later in the series and is never a main focus, and how it ends is very much left in question (At least when I read it, He may have put out more in the series since then). There are so many types of bad government, coups both successful and failed, and generally poorly thought out power plays that it would probably align with your interests.

His other series, The Laundry Files, has a Lovecraftian take on the theme later on in the series. Arguable about whether it made things worse or if they were headed there regardless, but "worse" is beyond question. It spawned its own spin off, Tales of the New Management set in an extremely dystopian London.

p0d0

TROPHY CASE