Kersus's blog

This is my least favourite book in the Inhetep fantasy/mystery trilogy with Death in Delhi being better and The Anubis Murders easily the best.

Gygax show's off the world of Ærth and never hesitates to rush into action. The Samarkand Solution is quickly paced and a masterpiece of classic mystery in an alternate Earth filled with magic (Heka/Magick).

The tap water is clear while OM is a healthy urine colour.

The tap water from this well smelled faintly ashy and OM had that generic mainstream beer smell. It's faint though. Some will argue yeast while others barley. There is no significant fruit, hops, or malt in the aroma. Just generic beer.

War of the Beers Alcohol per Volume 1

Molson Export Ale vs Molson Old Style Pilsner

Blah blah blah from the guy at The Beer Store about how OS Pilsner is the exact same as Ex as he goes on about brewing processes that belies education on the topic but his zeal made me give it a whirl and start the first of my beer wars. Beer battles? Beer clashes?

These are both in 500ml cans stored for just a day at basement temperature which in this case was probably about 58 degrees F or so.

This chapter was not much fun to read. I'm not certain how well I followed it but I know that I do not want to read it again.

[spoiler]Rape, emasculating homosexual rape... It wasn't sexy or fun, just disturbing and nausea inducing. The vengeance was swift and victorious.[/spoiler]

After the shocking part, a supporting character tries to regain his manhood and our protagonist seems to become very attached to him.

I'm glad this chapter is over and hope the next one is better. Perhaps it's time to take a break and read one of Robert Aspirin's Myth books.

System: ə (Sorcerer Character Has Warrior Adventure)

Yessoff Coarse the Human Mime

Sorcerer 5 (d8); Warrior 5 (d8); Adventure 6 (d10)
Defence 2; Health 40

Spells - Heal, Magic Dart
Weapons - Longbow d2 (twice a turn), Longsword d2/d8
Armour - Scale Mail d4-1

Pet rat "Ratsputin" (negligible stats - normal rat befriended - may be diseased)

Equipment - Backpack, 50' rope, 6 torches, 10' pole, wine skin, rations, flint & tinder, 2 medium sacks

These are my conversion notes for the adventure which you can buy from Goodman Games. I have playtested a few encounters as well as the complete adventure. Note that a few encounters never happened so this is a rough draft. I did not repeat stats where a creature already stated reappears in the adventure.

Klazath is Krondar, Dwarven deity of (independence, war, order/revenge[strength])

Random encounters:

I was taken aback shortly into this chapter. The overt sexual payment in this progressive society......

I'm not fond of the method used to begin this novel, however that is likely because I've read so many that use it lately. We get some explanation of the world with a little shock and awe for the masses, but it's slow. Despite that the verbiage is quite beautiful.

Once we start into the story it's quite engaging and fun. I quite like both of the characters we deal with and see them both grow as people in a single chapter.

We have an adventure at hand with a few mysteries in a backdrop of sexiness. I am intrigued by what I will find around the next corner!

[Pre-Release Review PDF]

The first thing to note is the stunning visual artwork on the cover and throughout. Next is the layout which is impeccable and fits the feel of the game perfectly. It's easy to read and a pleasure on the eyes.

Me, I'm not big into reading PDFs, so I printed this out for the review.

The small book includes a table of contents, a lovely index, and a character sheet. What's missing is a sample adventure but perhaps a quickstart/convention style booklet would do wonders at some point.

The meat of the book is separated into four chapters.

The Last Days of The Doctor.... er... Silver Surfer.

I picked up the #1 of this series when it came out and while I didn't hate it, I really didn't much like it. SIlver Surfer is one of those characters I always enjoyed in general and while the art of the series sings "old-school" I found the writing of #1 to be dull.