I'd read a magazine called Sensible Chuckle.

Quote from: Marchand;1122591So... the fantasy elements become just everyday shit that happens. Does that not kind of miss the point?

As long as there's a level where it can still most definitely not be everyday shit, they can be both.  In the Earthsea books magic is both a daily widespread practical craft, even an unglamorous one, at its lower levels, and a mighty legendary art capable of sinking islands and ripping holes between worlds; it just doesn't do the latter nearly as often, and when it does those are what the stories are about.

(One of the things I always enjoyed about those books is that they really do quite subtly but effectively deconstruct the "tyranny of expertise" by emphasizing just how much even the most powerful mages don't and can't know, and how much safe and proper use of power involves admitting that lack of knowledge.)

$150 for the print version?  Damn.

What was the original version?  I know I didn't pay that much, thinking $75 - $100.

Quote from: Thornhammer;1122707$150 for the print version?  Damn.

What was the original version?  I know I didn't pay that much, thinking $75 - $100.

The 2006 preorder price was $119.99.

Quote from: Pat;1122711The 2006 preorder price was $119.99.

That sounds about right. The current Noble Knight price is $225. Amazon has prices starting at $770 new and $335 used, but those are meaningless.

Quote from: Aglondir;1122712That sounds about right. The current Noble Knight price is $225. Amazon has prices starting at $770 new and $335 used, but those are meaningless.

I have a mint copy that I would sell for $770.

Quote from: deadDMwalking;1122714I have a mint copy that I would sell for $770.

I will sell mine for $769.

Quote from: Pat;1122711The 2006 preorder price was $119.99.

100% certain I didn't preorder it, and I'm about 80% certain it was under a c-note when I did buy it, but not by much.  I think it came with a sheaf of player booklets.

Part of me is saying "no, you're getting it confused with World's Largest Dungeon" but the sheaf of player booklets was definitely not just a stack of maps.

This isnt a doorstopper. Its a damn barricade! :eek:

Quote from: deadDMwalking;1122714I have a mint copy that I would sell for $770.

Except that "Fuckstick" is written in the margins on a couple of pages as a theft deterrent.

Quote from: Omega;1122721This isnt a doorstopper. Its a damn barricade! :eek:

It's like T5, but it doesn't even have the devoted fanbase.

Quote from: Stephen Tannhauser;1122610As long as there's a level where it can still most definitely not be everyday shit, they can be both.  In the Earthsea books magic is both a daily widespread practical craft, even an unglamorous one, at its lower levels, and a mighty legendary art capable of sinking islands and ripping holes between worlds; it just doesn't do the latter nearly as often, and when it does those are what the stories are about.

(One of the things I always enjoyed about those books is that they really do quite subtly but effectively deconstruct the "tyranny of expertise" by emphasizing just how much even the most powerful mages don't and can't know, and how much safe and proper use of power involves admitting that lack of knowledge.)

I can see what you are saying. It's an aesthetic thing I suppose - I just don't like ubiquitous-magic settings. For one thing, it's hard to think through all the implications of even a Level 1 and 2 spell list plus basic magic items being available more or less retail, and a lot of setting writers don't even bother. Ptolus at least sounds like it might make an effort to do so.

the one good thing I can think of that Cook did was when he wrote his d20 World of Darkness book, which was supposed to be his last RPG book before he moved on to novels...
He wiped a specific small town in South Dakota off the face of the earth as that was where the demonic incursion attempted to land.  (I can't remember which town it was)  Having been to many small towns in South Dakota (including the one in question) I say good riddance!

(then again Cook was born in a small town in South Dakota so that is probably where a lot of the hate comes from)

Trying to please the Twitter outrage mob never works. They'll inevitably attack you again for some other trivial thought-crime.

Remember the Nibovian wife controversy? The Nibovian wife was an artificial creation by aliens that pretended to be a normal woman, seduced adventurers, got pregnant, then gave birth to alien babies whose first act in life is attempting to kill their father. It's a monster based on the Freudian nightmare that "women exist to entrap men into having families that destroy their previously awesome lives." Some people complained.

Before you start attacking me as an evil SJW trying to destroy your fun, I'm not saying that we should ban all the monsters whose shtick amounts to "present as female and predate on men using seduction." I do think we have an over-saturation of such monsters in gaming bestiaries and a surprisingly lack of monsters that do the same thing with the genders inverted, even though both kinds of monsters exist in world mythology and for many of the same reasons. E.g. the incubus, the satyr, the kishi, the shape-shifting alligator man of the Ozarks, etc.

To be honest, I'd be more interested in a version of the Nibovian wife who produces alien babies that serve some kind of utility to her adventurer husband. Disposable soldiers, spare clones, living equipment, etc. That's way more disturbing, too, than yet another black widow succubus.

The Twitter clowns would cry about a monster that preyed on female PCs too. It would be total muhsoggyknees to have such a monster in any game because it would "penalize" players who chose female PCs. There is no end to the dumb.