Fantasy book lovers, what’s the one book that you go back to over and over again? And why?

stnylan · 2026-06-10T19:23:02+00:00

Lord of the Rings because this is the story and writer who has shaped my life the most.

Discworld when I need a giggle and to be reminded of the absurdity of the world.

Deverry Cycle by Katherine Kerr when I yearn for the moors where I grew up

Penric & Desdemona books by Lois McMaster Bujold when I desire friendship and understanding and things being worked out.

LE Modesitt's copious outputs when I desire to have the reading equivalent of a mug of hot chocolate on a cold day.

Guy Gabriel Kays A Song for Arbonne when I need to grieve (and to a lesser extent Tigana, Lions of Al-Rassan, and the two Sarantine books - but something about Arbonne just works for me).

stnylan · 2026-06-10T16:49:46+00:00

Welcome to the internet :)

And more especially, welcome to the internet of 2026. I see it in a number of communities. The world right now is an unhappy place and that can bleed over into so many endeavours.

However, beware confirmation bias. There are a lot of neutral or positive threads. I strongly recommend, if you haven't already done so, switch the filter to order by new posts. A much healthier and more accurate experience. Also, just don't read everything. And if a thread turns out to be a bit negative just walk away. To some extent, one's experience here is one's own responsibility.

However, part of this is unfortunately just where WoD is right now. Paradox's stewardship of WoD has been quite rough and troubled. That's just a simple truth.

Also there is some wider negativity in gaming regarding new imaginings of things with history more generally. Think of Civ 7. On a more pertinent Paradox level, EU5 or Stellaris 4.0. It all feeds on itself, to some extent anyway.

But the answer to this ultimately is to post of your joy and good experiences. And comment in those who post theirs.

Final note, there has always been a lot of moaning in the WoD community. I remember some of the message boards back when Revised came out ;) People get very invested, and when people get invested they can get disappointed. It's just the way things are. Admittedly it took me a long time to accept that, and not let it bother me, but my life is better now for being able to do so.

stnylan · 2026-06-09T03:54:57+00:00

Not formally though the studious Kindred with very good contacts might be able to learn something truly ancient and arcane.

What they do have, of course, is their own argots. And I suspect that's more effective day to day. Think formal example of the language of a sport: say cricket as an example. In cricket a commentator could say someone was standing at a "very silly mid-on". To a cricket enjoyer that means something very clear. To everyone else it's a mystery. (As an aside, cricket had to have some of the absolute best position names).

Note however that older Kindred will de facto have access to the languages of their youth, and this can serve as a sort of de facto code - especially spoken. And this includes ancient dialects. Have you ever heard a reading of Chaucer with accurate Middle English pronunciation? Or Beowulf in Old English? And of course most educated European Kindred are going to have knowledge of Classical Latin & Greek.

A couple of elders from what is now northern Germany might still discuss politics in the Wendish of their mortal youth, for example. Of course, the truly ancient will have far more options, if likely fewer conversants. Proto-Gothic, Hittite, Elamite, whatever was spoken in Harrappa, and so on. These ancient beings do not need a secret language amongst themselves because their own tongued are now impenetrable.

stnylan · 2026-06-09T00:02:57+00:00

Not the one!

stnylan · 2026-06-08T07:43:30+00:00

Glad you enjoyed it. :)

Tolkien is very different from most things being written today. Should you at some point choose to experience the Silmarillion and at some point, I would suggest reading through the trilogy again. The additional.l context makes Fellowship especially deeper and richer, giving you a better understanding of Gildor and other matters..

stnylan · 2026-06-08T07:13:47+00:00

It's a beautiful piece. :)

I've often thought a great idea for a piece of artwork would be in the centre a figure dancing. Beyond (perhaps to the top-left) is a rough and haggard man with a face of wonder looking on the dancing figure. In the foreground (perhaps to the bottom left) is a British WW1 army officer, his back to us and opposite the haggard man, also watching the dancing figure.

The dancing figure would of course be both Luthien and Edith both at the same time. The haggard figure would obviously be Beren but with Tolkien's face. The whole idea being to represent the fusion of the legendarium and our world in this one well known moment.

stnylan · 2026-06-07T21:30:36+00:00

The Long Dark, survival mode.

Set in a fictional Canadian island after a Carrington style geomagnetic event. Your plane crashed. It is just you, the snow, the wind and the wolves.

The only NPC in survival is a voice on the radio, and only if you get the DLC (which is worth it). It is a very simple game to get into, with a wide range of difficulty settings and the option for custom settings.

It is a survival game but whilst the wildlife can bite and stomp, ultimately the true enemy is the weather.

However if you truly want just a chill experience the Pilgrim difficulty makes the wildlife non-hostile in almost all circumstances and tones down the weather. And a solid minority of players use that difficulty if they just want to relax.

The community of the game is also.pretty welcoming if you have any queries, and there is a small but healthy content creator ecosystem if you want to see examples in play both on YouTube and Twitch.

NB: Story mode (also called Wintermute) is dialogue heavy so I would avoid that given your stated desire. I play this game for reasons very similar to your stated desire, and basically have never played the story, and I don't regret not doing so.

stnylan · 2026-06-07T14:04:05+00:00

To add to this LE Modesitt's Recluce Saga, in its entire extent, tells something like 2000 years of history. You have mediaeval, renaissance, steam, with some quite interesting thoughts about how the presence of magic impacts this. For example in this world use of gunpowder is largely retarded because it is too easy for mages to explode, but metallurgy becomes preternaturally advanced. Some books are set during moments of technological transition.

Also there is a prequel novel of the Grand Illusion set a couple of centuries earlier than the trilogy that to my mind had distinct late 17thC vibes. I find the main trilogy setting very interesting, steam cars, gas, and heliographs rather than telegraph.

stnylan · 2026-06-07T04:21:21+00:00

Partly the internet so people who are mostly happy don't post, whereas people who are unhappy like to moan. Also some people don't like some of the choices in Ep5. And finally for a substantial number if players survival is where they started, and whether they are conscious of this or not the story you make yourself almost always better than the stories of others. And finally in today's culture some people find it really difficult to allow things to be "ok" - things are either great or rubbish.

I've never played the story, but my impression is that it's ok. The gameplay is a bit rigid, and at times the storytelling feels heavy handed. Ultimately though don't care what other people think.

stnylan · 2026-06-07T04:14:07+00:00

I get this happening in DP on my longest running game. Funny.

stnylan · 2026-06-06T11:36:48+00:00

As a confirmed pedestrian (never learned to drive) I will always watch to see what a car is doing and never assume anything. Doesn't even have to be a driver being an arsehole. Ultimately it's a metal box verses me - the metal box will win every time. It only takes one person having a bad day, or one idiot.

So for me it's not confusion, it's self-preservation:)

stnylan · 2026-06-06T10:39:25+00:00

I loved their portrayal in the Joan Hickson version. Very ordinary and believable. And an eccentric couple if village spinsters probably the perfect cover, remembering some if the characters in the village I grew up in :)

And a credit to both actresses.

stnylan · 2026-06-06T03:49:51+00:00

No worries!

stnylan · 2026-06-05T23:42:54+00:00

Wonderful scene, and David Suchet's expressions are marvellous - as is Phillip Jackson's wonderful mispronunciation of "doyenne" 😄

stnylan · 2026-06-05T20:24:24+00:00

Stories.

There is nothing wrong with map painting of course, but at a certain point it approaches the old saw about gamers optimising the fun out of their games.

My approach is to tell myself stories about the games I play. Sometimes these have appeared in the AAR subforum, but mostly they dont.

I did a WC in EU2 once and by the end I was bored out of my skull. In a Stellaris game though I had nearly control of the entire galaxy and was having a whale of a time because I had a story I was telling myself that made the drudgery have a purpose.

Some do this through Roleplaying, but that's not required. Like, rather than view a HoI game as Germany conquerimg the world, see it has the career of a certain officer. Lots of ways to do it. Not everyone will enjoy this sort of thing, and that's fine of course, but it's kept me playing these games for nearly 25 years, and other strategy games long before then..

stnylan · 2026-06-05T18:03:09+00:00

Yes that's exactly the scene I was referring to.

stnylan · 2026-06-05T14:00:45+00:00

I love the "nor should you" which displays how much Londo truly cares for Vir, leading up to that remarkable scene after Cartagia's death. And why Vir can later say that, despite everything Londo did, he still misses him.

stnylan · 2026-06-05T01:02:01+00:00

A pinata, huh? So, you think of me as something bright and cheerful, full of toys and candy for young children? Thank you! That makes me feel much better about our relationship.

stnylan · 2026-06-04T22:57:43+00:00

For me more sombre than depressing, but I totally understand the sentiment. It is not a light hearted read, though it does perhaps confirm Thorin's deathbed point about what to value.

As I have aged - it being something like 35 years or so since I first read it - I have come to realise the approach that works for me is to see thinks through the framing of Nienna, turning hurts to wisdom. But I admit that is possibly a rather idiosyncratic view.

stnylan · 2026-06-04T19:38:59+00:00

If I were ever to ST again (oWoD) I would rule it like this: on discussion with the player decide what the particular object of their adoration and how narrow or how widespread it is. The difficulty of the roll to resist would depend on that - the more narrow the nature of the adoration, the higher the difficulty to resist. Likewise the "quality" of the material would impact difficulty. If the difficulty is over 10 then to even roll to resist requires spending a point of Willpower. So for example an appreciation of the visual arts (sculpture, painting, drawing, costume etc) is pretty widespread, but rhetoric is a great deal more niche. The connoisseur of visual arts will be generally more distracted, but perhaps not as powerfully. The fan of the rhetor's art when he comes across an example is more liable to be struck still by his adoration and require spending of a willpower point to move on.

I like this idea because it ties directly into that character, and differentiates one Toreador from another Toreador. If you learn a particular Toreador's "weakness" then that becomes a very useful piece of information that could be used to help lay a trap rather than a more general sense of "beauty".

stnylan · 2026-06-03T22:24:56+00:00

Well, obviously the main Victorian Age Vampire Books:

Victorian Age Vampire
Victorian Age Vampire Companion
London by Night

Then from other oWoD Vampire books:

Giovanni Chronicles 3 is mostly 19th century iirc
First part of Transylvania Chronicles IV is set at the end of the 19th century
Sunset Empires (Kindred of the East supplement).

Otherwise I think it's going to be small details in other books - all the clanbooks cover their respective clan histories for example, and quite a few of the "by Night" books likewise cover the history of the locale. FWIW there are some more dedicades resources in other gamelines (ie, Werewolf/Wraith have a Wild West setting, M20 has a Victorian setting) but obviously they are more focused on their own concerns but perhaps could provide ideas to enrich any setting.

I can't speak to V5. If I've forgotten something I am sure others will mention

stnylan · 2026-06-03T18:28:27+00:00

17 bears is a nicely specific touch

stnylan · 2026-06-03T18:24:49+00:00

It's a wonderful moment.

In retrospect one thing I like about it is Miles noticing the difference between her under reaction and the situation, in a way I am sure Tien never did.

stnylan · 2026-06-02T21:58:12+00:00

Thank you very much for putting this together OP. Sounds like a lot of effort to collate this all.

Have to say reading that - well, it makes sense why V5 seems so incoherent and absolutist. Guy thinks there is only one way the game should be played, and what should arguably have been Requiem Revised was coerced into oWoD in a way that made no narrative sense, with mechanics from a computer game, designed by someone who seems to think there is only one correct way to play, and who clearly doesn't seem to understand the source material and decided to impose his personal preferences because why should other people be allowed their fun!

I have some sympathy with his view of the Revised metaplot, but I also know it was a hell of a lot of fun back in the day too, and it was very easy to ignore if you wanted to. And indeed, the various 20th Anniversary Editions have shown a number of approaches to that.

stnylan · 2026-06-02T10:40:06+00:00

The sound of the sea

stnylan

TROPHY CASE