Jun 27 2022
Tho I’m a ginormous fangirl of both this series and its creative team, I must say that I’m glad that this installment was passed over for the Hugo nomination (for purely temporal reasons) because things definitely start to fuzz out of cohesion here. So! Our intrepid heroes were originally, literally sucked into the twenty-sided world …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/27/die-vol-3-the-great-game-by-kieron-gillen-stephanie-hans-clayton-cowles/
Jun 23 2022
So on the one hand, I love any book with an inclusive portrayal of role-players and depictions of how out of game dynamics can affect in-game performance. On the other, yikes, these people need to play something that isn’t Dungeons & Dra– I mean, Dice & Deathtraps. I guess it’s unfair of me to stereotype …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/23/the-last-session-vol-1-roll-for-initiative-by-jasmine-walls-dozerdraws-micah-myers/
Jun 17 2022
with the subsubtitle “Prompts and Activities to Create Compelling Characters for Horror, Sci-Fi, X-Punk, and More” As an RPG nerd from way back, I was both deeply appreciative and somewhat perplexed by this book. I’ve never really had trouble dreaming up backstories for my characters, but can see how people with less active imaginations would …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/06/17/the-ultimate-rpg-character-backstory-guide-expanded-genres-edition-by-james-damato/
Feb 10 2022
After reading Cleo Coyle’s absorbing Honey Roasted for work the other day, I was seized with the desire to write a game revolving around different kinds of single flower honey. I knew I wanted it to be connected to my Six Elements Universe, but I very specifically wanted it also to be an exploration game …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2022/02/10/carta-srd-apex-predator-and-into-the-glacier-by-peach-garden-games/
Nov 11 2021
The first volume of this outstanding homage to RPGs absolutely broke my heart. It was my favorite for last year’s Hugo for Best Graphic Story, but I was unsurprised that it didn’t win. It’s VERY niche, even for nerds, and not everyone was going to adore it the way I did. The second volume amplifies …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/11/die-vol-2-split-the-party-by-kieron-gillen-stephanie-hans-clayton-cowles/
Nov 06 2021
For a certain kind of person, this book is a source of great joy. Fortunately, I am that kind of person, and I have kept coming back to it since I bought it in February. I first became aware of Art & Arcana when I flipped through an electronic version that came as part of …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/11/06/dungeons-dragons-art-arcana-a-visual-history-by-michael-witwer-et-al/
Aug 23 2021
After a decade of seeming indifference to my role-playing hobby, my eldest child suddenly asked me one day if we could play “Magick And Monsters.” This was probably prompted by his recent re-read of Book Two of the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid series, Rodrick Rules. Plus he’s been watching me game master one of …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/08/23/hero-kids-by-justin-halliday/
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2021/05/03/odyssey-of-the-dragonlords-players-guide-by-james-ohlen-jesse-sky-drew-karpyshyn/
Jun 09 2020
This was the first of the Hugo-nominated graphic stories I picked up for review and wow, inject it straight into my gamer veins! Immediately after finishing, I emailed my favorite former Dungeon Master and sent him the link to the first issue, just in case he hadn’t read it already. Any book I immediately want …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2020/06/09/die-vol-1-fantasy-heartbreaker-by-kieron-gillen-stephanie-hans-clayton-cowles/
Nov 05 2014
Ewalt gives his slender volume the subtitle “The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It,” at which point my inner copyeditor immediately reaches for the red pencil to change it to “A Story…” and “Some of the People…” There are a lot of stories of Dungeons & Dragons, and Ewalt surely …
Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2014/11/05/of-dice-and-men-by-david-m-ewalt/
Al Singh
Doug Merrill
Doreen Sheridan
John Pitzel
Lars N. Goldschlager
Laura Eilers
Professor X
Robert Maedgen
Sylvere Ap Leanan
The Shire