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Time Reavers: Front Cover Rough Sketches!

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Time Reavers cover rough sketch 4

Time Reavers – The monsters are real, and time is their weapon.

Fed up with bad teachers and daily fights with her sister, sixteen-year-old Nicole Taylor yearns for something better. Sadly, she’s in for a letdown, because the world ends next week.
Nicole discovers she has a rare gift. She can bend time around her and even stop it completely. With her powers awakening, she must face the Reavers: horrific killing machines that exist outside our time. Nicole may be the only one who can stop their genocidal plan, but the Reavers know about her now and have unleashed their cruelest hunters.
Plagued by nightmarish visions and ambushed by terrifying monsters at every turn, Nicole has one chance to halt their invasion. With help from a chain-smoking pyrokinetic, a neurotic sword-wielding assassin, and a Goth chick with a crossbow, she may stand a chance. But the Reavers are tireless foes, and Time is on their side.
Oh, yeah! Here we go!
Once again, the extremely talented Robert Chew (a.k.a. CrazyAsian1) is hard at work on some amazing cover art. Up next is Time Reavers, a young adult urban fantasy novel. The cover features the heroine, Nicole Taylor, facing off against the awesome physical might of a Reaver. As you can see from these rough sketches, we’re off to a great start. Already, even in this early stage, the reaver exudes menace. I can hardly wait to see it detailed in.
The rough sketch above will form the basis for the next step, but it was tough picking out my favorite. Here’s another rough sketch of the cover for your viewing pleasure.
Time Reavers cover rough sketch 1
And another.
Time Reavers cover rough sketch 3
And one more.
Time Reavers cover rough sketch 2
Pretty cool stuff, huh? This is going to be one fantastic cover!
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Warmachine Convergence of Cyriss Review: Warcasters

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Convergence_of_Cyriss_Cover_lores
IN SHORT: The new Convergence of Cyriss rulebook is here, and with it Privateer Press delivers a whole faction of big, mean robots! Oh, yeah!
On a presentation level, Privateer Press continues to set the bar high with a gorgeous full-color spread. Convergence models have a clean robotic look that is both very unique but also feels perfectly at home in the wider Warmachine universe. The rulebook comes fully loaded with 5 warcasters, 11 warjacks (including a Colossal!), 7 units, 1 universal unit attachment, 7 solos, and a battle engine.
Wow! Privateer Press has been busy.
Today, let’s take a look at the Convergence of Cyriss warcasters.
AURORA, NUMEN OF AEROGENESIS: One look at Aurora’s rules tells you to take Clockwork Angels. She’s practically one herself with similar weapons and a big pair of robotic wings. Not only does she give them Combined Melee Attack, but she can Flank with them, getting +2 MAT and an additional damage die in melee when there’s a Clockwork Angel helping out. And when she does get stuck in, she can use Flashing Blade to smack every enemy model in range of her melee attack (which does have Reach).
She also provides plenty of support to any friendly infantry, not just Clockwork Angels. Transference is an upkeep spell that lets infantry around her spend her Focus on melee attack or damage rolls. True Path gives infantry +2” movement and Pathfinder. So she gives infantry extra bite and extra speed. Not too bad.
Aurora definitely feels like an infantry focused warcaster, but she comes with some interesting toys for warjacks too. As with all Convergence warcasters, she gives her MAT and RAT stats to her warjacks. MAT 6, RAT 4 are decent numbers to start with. With Field Marshal [Apparition], everything in her battlegroup gets a free 2” move in the Control Phase, including her! On top of that, she can slap Admonition on herself or a warjack to get out of the way when an enemy model gets too close.
And then there’s her feat, Eleventh Hour. This gives all Convergence models in her control area Refuge. As long as they hit something, they get to make a full advance after their combat action is done. This gives Aurora’s army some really nice tactical flexibility. The obvious benefit is hitting the enemy then moving clear of retaliation, but it can be used in the other direction too. Convergence models can head deeper into the enemy lines to engage and disrupt juicy solos to the rear. Clockwork Angels, with Flight and a 3” Reform move on top of the Refuge move (that ignores free strikes, by the way), are perfect for getting deep into the opponent’s army and disrupting the heck out of it.
Did I mention Aurora goes well with Clockwork Angels?
AXIS, THE HARMONIC ENFORCER: This guy is about fighting up close and personal. He has a ton of ways to shove enemy screening models around so that his army can strike at the squishy center. His weapons have Beat Back for a 1” push every hit. His spell Battering Ram pushes enemy models 3” away. And his spell Unstoppable Force gives his entire battlegroup the 2” push that comes with Bulldoze.
He also brings the love for melee warjacks. They get his solid MAT 7 (along with RAT 2, so choose accordingly) as well as Counter Charge, which can hinder the enemy further. Because, seriously, who wants to come into range of a whole battlegroup of MAT 7 warjacks that get free charges? Never mind that one of those warjacks will have Iron Aggression and the boosted melee attack rolls that come with it. Throw in Razor Wall on top of this for a wall template that is instant death to light infantry, and Axis has plenty of ways to force the enemy to engage on his terms.
His feat, Circumpotence, further hinders the enemy and enhances his own. Enemy models get -2 SPD and STR while his army gets +2 SPD and STR for an extra burst of speed and hitting power at just the right moment.
Axis himself is primed to take advantage of his own feat. With the aforementioned MAT 7, two P+S 14 (before the feat) and Double Strike, he can hit an enemy fourteen times in a single turn! Can you say enemy warcaster/warlock pancake?
Yeah, I like this guy. I like this guy a lot.
IRON MOTHER DIRECTRIX & EXPONENT SERVITORS: Oh, man! Be careful when going up against this lady with warjacks! First things first, she has Backlash. Once she’s inflicted an enemy warjack with it, every time that warjack is damaged its controller takes a point of damage. Since Convergence has cheap access to models with Puncture (the attack automatically does 1 point of damage), this damage can add up quickly while milking the enemy warjack for all its worth. Against Warmachine armies, the Directrix definitely wants some Elimination Servitors.
Okay, so Backlash with lots of Puncture is bad. What’s worse? Throwing Domination into the mix. With this spell, the Directrix can take over an enemy non-character warjack, move it, and attack with it (for example, bringing it closer to her army and turning it around for the back strike bonus).
With Field Marshall [Arc Node], every warjack is a possible source for her spells, so she’s not going to have problems slinging Backlash and Domination from a safe distance. Even the two servitors in her unit can act as Arc Nodes. She can even create replacement servitors (i.e. Arc Nodes) in the Control Phase.
So, yeah, she’s bad news for enemies with warjacks. Other than that, she seems to have a stronger focus on ranged combat than other Convergence warcasters. She comes with a really nice 4” AOE attack with POW 15. Her servitors can set enemies up with bonus damage. She can give her battlegroup +2” RNG with the Fire Group spell. And she can give a model or unit some nice move-shoot-move with Tactical Supremacy, giving them a 3” move at the end of their activations.
And then there’s her feat, Mathematical Perfection. Her MAT 5 and RAT 5 get replaced with her FOCUS 8 stat. And yeah, so do all her warjacks. That’s a whole battlegroup of MAT 8, RAT 8. Yikes!
FATHER LUCANT, DIVINITY ARCHITECT: Lucant and his army look like a force that will not go down easily. He comes with plenty of tools to outlast his opponent and avoid assassination, even with his large base.
Let’s start with his spell list. Deceleration gives friendlies in his control area +2 DEF and +2 ARM against ranged attacks. Purification stands ready to clear the board of unwanted continuous effects, animi, and upkeep spells. And Watcher is a neat spell that helps keep Lucant safe. When an enemy moves within 6” of Lucant, a warjack in his battlegroup gets to move and attack, either at range or with melee and with boosted attack and damage rolls. Depending on the warjack attack used, this can end up doing things like knocking down the offending model or dragging it away to get swatted by the Convergence colossal, the Prime Axiom.
Lucant has plenty of other abilities that keep him safe. He’s Repairable, and Convergence has lots of ways to repair models. Unless the assassination puts him down completely, he can repair and be back in the fight. With 21 hit boxes, ARM 17, and 7 Focus, he is not a soft target. Also, he’s Steady, so that DEF 14 isn’t getting negated by knocking him down.
His feat, Clockwork Reinforcement, emphasizes this further. Convergence models get +4 ARM and Repair skill checks pass automatically. Combined with Field Marshall [Shield Guard] his feat really shines. Even when enemy attacks are effective, Shield Guard can allow the hits to be absorbed by heavy warjacks with enhanced ARM values. Yeah, just try chewing through his army on feat turn.
His MAT 6 and RAT 3 will cause his battlegroup to lean towards a melee focus, which is fine because his Positive Charge spell fits that template nicely. Affected warjacks get +2 melee attack and damage rolls. Even better, friendly models within 3” also get the bonus. He can even spam it to multiple warjacks, since it only costs 2 Focus and isn’t an upkeep spell.
Overall, Lucant’s rules seem to encourage a combined arms approach. I picture him with a mix of heavy warjacks and heavy infantry to benefit the most from his feat, spells, and plenty of support models with Repair.
All in all, he looks like a tough customer that’s pretty fun to play.
FORGE MASTER SYNTHERION: Here’s a guy who’s all about the warjacks. He loves warjacks and warjacks love him. First, he has MAT 6 and RAT 5, good attack stats for his battlegroup. Next, he comes with Field Marshal [Auto-Repair], which removes d3 damage points from every model in his battlegroup during the control phase, including him! He’s also Resourceful, so he upkeeps spells on his battlegroup for free.
And what do these spell do? Well, there’s Hot Shot, which gives boosted ranged damage rolls to a model in his battlegroup. Yikes, just picture that on the Prime Axiom! Just in case you’re wondering, that’s 6 shots at 13” with boosted POW 11.
Okay, so he does ranged warjacks well, but how about melee? Yeah, he does that too with Synergy. This spell gives an accumulative +1 bonus to melee attack and damage rolls to members of a battlegroup for each other battlegroup model that hit with a melee attack. Given that Convergence has a 3 point melee warjack (to potentially take in large numbers), this bonus can get pretty ridiculous.
On top of that, he comes with a powerful debuff spell that reduces an enemy model’s or unit’s SPD and DEF by 2 and gives charging Constructs an extra 2″! And I haven’t even gotten to his feat, yet, which lets his battlegroup charge without spending focus and let’s them use both their ranged and melee weapons to full effect.
As if that wasn’t enough, there’s also Reconstruct. When a warjack with this spell is disabled, it immediately repairs 1 damage point in each system and gets placed within 3” of its current location. So, his warjacks can stick around even longer. With ARM 18, 20 damage boxes, Auto-Repair, and Repairable, Syntherion is sticking around for a while too.

SUMMARY

I have to say that these warcasters look fun to play with and challenging to play against.
The Convergence of Cyriss is an exciting new faction with gorgeous models and solid rules. As more of their models get released and people get used to their new abilities, I look forward to seeing their full might displayed on the tabletop.
Should be exciting!
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.

Ral & Grad Volume 1 by Tsuneo Takano and Takeshi Obata – Manga Review

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Ral n Grad Cover
Fifteen years ago, a child was born at the cost of his mother’s life, and through that child, a dragon appeared. This dragon obliterated the landscape and was followed shortly by a horde of Shadows–dark beasts that enter and possess bodies via those bodies’ shadows. The only way to contain a Shadow is to keep it out of the light, and so, to protect the land, the child and his dragon were sealed away into darkness. But in these fifteen years, the Shadows have grown ever more destructive, so much so that the only defense against these Shadows might be the dragon that heralded them in the first place. And so, the boy Ral, and his dragon Grad, are released from their prison and begin a quest to defeat the Shadows.
The description on the back of the book makes this Ral & Grad Volume 1 sound like a heroic fantasy adventure, but here’s how everything really goes down:
Ral is released. He promptly kills his father because OMG what kind of parent would imprison his son for fifteen years (never mind his apocalyptic tendencies), and upon seeing his kind lady tutor for the first time, realizes that women’s bodies are fascinatingly different from men’s. At which point he rips open her dress, feels up her boobs, likes them, and decides that he will help fight the shadows–to protect women. Specifically, to protect their boobies.
This is the motivation for the entire volume.
Think this is exaggeration? This is an actual exchange that occurs in the comic:
Ral n Grad Ex
It’s safe to say that this book is aimed at pubescent boys who have just had the same realization as its main character, realized (hopefully) that it’s not proper to go around grabbing every boob that they see, and are looking for some sort of fantastic way to satisfy that sexual frustration. Here, this book satisfies. Ral gets away with all his boob-grabbing because his intentions, his tutor insists, are basically innocent (She never taught him about women, so he’s naturally curious!), and all the girls he meets are intrigued by this and, at least in one case, flock to get naked and take baths with him.
The obvious thematic problem in this manga is that all female characters are reduced to nothing more than their exciting girly bits. None of them have any characteristics beyond “cute/sexy” or “sympathetic” (i.e. “totally understanding that Ral just wants to grab their boobs”), and at no point does the comic make a serious suggestion that girls might not like to be groped by random strangers. In fact, it does quite the opposite in suggesting that groping leads to naked lady baths. Refreshingly, there is one valiant male character who calls Ral an outright pervert, but Ral’s response is that, for said character’s nobility, he’s only protecting his princess of choice because he wants to get at her boobs, too, and there ends up being truth to that. (Really, though, I suppose this can be said of any man who willingly enters a relationship with a female, regardless of his level of valiantness). Anyway, hardcore feminists are going to hate this book. (Not that it’s actually aimed at girls, but whatever.)
This is especially true of hardcore feminists who are hoping for a plot. The story in Ral & Grad is a flimsy one. Granted, story isn’t the point of this comic, but bear with me. The very catalyst of the story doesn’t make any sense because, after Ral and Grad’s initial imprisonment in the prologue, there’s nothing to suggest that their evil (or at least destructive) alignment has changed (except maybe under the guidance of Ral’s tutor, but Ral himself doesn’t seem incredibly intelligent or socially adept, so one has to wonder what exactly she was teaching him in the first place). After that the story slopes into a gather-a-party-and-go-on-a-journey style story that is mostly pictures of hot ladies punctuated by cool Shadow battles, which is really all this comic aims to be.
It’s the art that makes it readable for people who aren’t hormonal teenage males. The comic is illustrated by Takeshi Obata of Death Note and Hikaru no Go fame, and said illustrations are stellar. His Shadow designs are reminiscent of Tite Kubo’s distinct Hollow designs from Bleach, with a bit of creepy Death Note Shinigami thrown in. Panel arrangements are dynamic, and battles are a whirling blast to look at, and the detail of the character designs themselves compensates somewhat for the utter lack of depth elsewhere. Commendably, he also renders most of the female characters sexy without making them look like strippers, with the exception of the antagonist, whose sensuality is so flagrantly over the top that it’s hilarious.
Really, the same can be said of the comic as a whole. I’m the sort of reader who takes minor offense at unnecessarily scant clothing on female comic characters, but oddly, I’d be okay finding this comic under the mattress of my future hypothetical teenage son. There are several reasons for this: First, for all his interest in boobs, Ral doesn’t seem to have much interest in actual sex. That said, this book is far from being porn or a rape fantasy. Second, the tone of Obata’s art is very tongue-in-cheek. While the story itself does not seem self-aware of how ridiculous it is, the art definitely does, which is why characters’ expressions are goofily exaggerated at several strategic moments. It’s as if the very art is saying, “Hey, reader, don’t take this too seriously.”
It’s worth mentioning, though, that said future hypothetical Holoboy reader would be well-schooled in treating girls respectfully, and Ral & Grad would be understood as a piece of ridiculous escapism. A reader who has no prior inclination to see girls as anything more than boobs, meanwhile, is going to find no encouragement to do otherwise in Ral & Grad, which is one of the book’s most uncomfortable implications.
Gender issues aside, I found Ral & Grad a hilarious read. It’s not a manga that I’d actually spend money on, nor is it one that I’d actively recommend, but it’s definitely one that I’ll check out from the library just to show its absolute absurdity to my manga-reading friends. (My friends who don’t read manga would probably just find it weird and never invite me to their house again.)
***
Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.

Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor – Book Review

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Sometimes there are books that you like. And sometimes there are books that you love so much, you want to run around the library screaming their praises and wondering why they’ve only been checked out twice because OMG THEY ARE AWESOME and why wouldn’t anyone want to pick them up because OMGTHEYAREJUSTTHATAWESOME,YOUGUYSdssfhsjfjkseyrkjhs !!1!!1@
😀
This was my reaction to Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor.
Akata Witch Cover
In Akata Witch, Sunny is a girl who just doesn’t fit in. She’s composed of dramatically conflicting opposites. She was born in bustling New York City, but now lives in quiet Nigeria. Though she looks African, she differs in one big way—She’s albino. Because of this, she stands out everywhere she goes. She’s also super-sensitive to the sun, so much so that she can’t play soccer during daylight—which is even more frustrating because it’s her favorite sport, and she’s a fantastic athlete. She’s a fantastic student, too, but her teacher seems determined to punish her for it by having her strike the hands of students who don’t score as well on their work. The other students hate her. They call her “akata witch,” “akata” being a word meaning “bush animal” (and being equivalent in insult to a racially-charged term familiar in the US). She hates being different. But one day, she has a vision of the end of the world, and she learns that she may be different for a reason: She is a Leopard Person, and a special one at that.
Leopard People go by many names throughout the world, but all are people with magical abilities. Sunny is a special sort of Leopard Person known as a free agent—a Leopard Person without Leopard relatives, who, thus being a seemingly random creation, possesses magic of unpredictable strength. She must learn to use her magic well and fast, for the area has been riddled with a series of mysterious and gruesome child murders, and she may have a closer connection to them than she realizes…
Much of my love for this book, I actually attribute to Pottermore.com. I read chapters of Akata Witch between messing around on chapters of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone on said site because—let’s face it—as exciting as J.K. Rowling’s Big Announcement was a few years ago, Pottermore is all kinds of boring unless you’re a fanatical Potterhead. But I am only a moderately fanatical Potterhead, and in my 20s, so Pottermore is boring. (Now can we please have the Harry Potter MMO that everyone wanted Pottermore to be? Thanks.) Anyway, breezing between chapters of Pottermore and Akata Witch led me to the following series of realizations: “OMG Leopard Knocks is totally Diagon Alley! OMG These textbooks are like mini-monsters, too! OMG The juju knives are totally wands! They’re even divas about who gets to use them! OMG the Leopard People love brainy people like Hermione! OMG The Zuma International Wrestling Finals are totally Leopard Quiddich! OMG The Funky Train is totally the Knight Bus!” (You laugh, but admit it—you’d ride the Funky Train if you had the chance, solely because of its name.)
With these similarities, one would think “Oh, this book is just a ripoff of Harry Potter!” But the truly magical thing about it is that it’s not. The similarities between Akata Witch and Harry Potter, ironically, evolve into distinct differences because of the way Okorafor treats them.  In fact, in addition to borrowing many of the things that I love about Harry Potter, it takes a lot of things that I hate about Harry Potter, and then turns them on their ear and does them better. It even takes the things Harry Potter does well and does them better. “How?” you may ask. And then you may add, “WHAT IS THIS BLASPHEMY?” But read on…
Let’s start with one of its subtler similarities, which is the series’ integral and vivid sense of setting. Harry Potter crossed hundreds of cultural boundaries to gain its popularity, but ultimately it remained a very British series. Take away the scarves; heavy, snowy winters; and dark, castle-like boarding school and you simply do not have the same reading experience. That said, just as Harry Potter could not take place in a non-British-inspired setting and still render the same story, Akata Witch could not be set anywhere but Nigeria and work. It is the African elements, combined with the sheer imagination surrounding them, that make this novel a great read.
As for the similarities that Akata Witch improves upon, the biggest is this: Both series clearly value the pursuit of knowledge. Harry Potter would have died in book one if Hermione Granger’s brain hadn’t been there to save him, and Sunny’s friend Orlu perfectly expresses the Leopard People’s opinion when he says, “Knowledge is the center of all things.” This is why the Obi Library is a respected place and why its Head Librarian, Sugar Cream, is the most revered and powerful Leopard Person in Nigeria. That’s about where Harry Potter’s appreciation of knowledge ends—“Libraries are awesome and can teach us things that help us when we’re getting into wizard trouble!”
Akata Witch values its library, but also takes its love of knowledge further than that. It’s reflected even in the Leopard People’s system of currency. When a Leopard Person learns something new, chittim—that is, the money used by Leopard People—magically materializes in front of them. The more a Leopard Person learns about magic, the more chittim they earn, and the only way to earn chittim is to continue to learn. But it’s not the chittim, or the awesome result of an all-nighter that Leopard People value. It’s the very process of learning itself, and the practical, and sometimes even moral value of the magical discovery that was made. All of the characters are expected to study, too, for reasons further explored below. They can’t be hapless heroes leaning on a Hermione crutch. And the mini-monster textbook mentioned earlier? It doesn’t move and growl because it wants to look cool and wizardly and foreboding. It moves because it wants to be read.
As for an element that I (and many critics) dislike about Harry Potter—One common complaint about the series is that Harry tends to break the rules and benefit from it, or either have the rules bent so they don’t apply to him. First year students aren’t allowed to fly on broomsticks? Pssh! Harry does it and gets a place as the youngest person ever on the quiddich team! Akata Witch doesn’t pull that. When Sunny uses her Leopard abilities in front of a lamb—a huge no-no, just like it is for wizards and magic—she doesn’t get a threatened punishment that is then revoked for Plot Reasons. She gets flogged, and then she loses her highly sought-after chance at becoming Sugar Cream’s mentee. Some of her companions suffer similar punishments for similar foolishness. Of course, while it hurts to see pain befall our heroes, I liked that there were actual consequences for infractions, rather than fortunately-placed plot twists. It adds a realistic sort of tension, in contrast to the tensions present because of the fantasy elements.
There’s also the whole Boy Who Lived-slash-Chosen One thing—a common element in many fantasy novels— where a particular character is, for whatever reason, destined to defeat a particular baddie. I hate Chosen One storylines no matter where they show up because in real life, I’ve only met, like, two people to whom I would confidently entrust the fate of civilization. Even that’s reaching a bit (‘cause, you know, saving all of humanity is a HUGE task for one person). Also, neither of these people were angsty, hormonal, pubescent teens, despite what YA fantasy novels would lead me to expect. (Granted, this is where suspension of disbelief comes in handy when reading YA fantasy.) Expectations of realism aside, there’s also the lack of suspense inherent in the typical Chosen One storyline. We know who’s going to live and defeat the baddie because the story type has already told us. Sure, Harry Potter had the whole and Neville-Longbottom-having-a-similar-backstory-and-therefore-being-a-candidate-to-defeat-Voldemort thing to keep us on our toes-slash-distract us to the end. But come on. Harry Potter’s name is in the title of the series. Of course he’d be the Chosen One. Of course he’d live and beat the bad guy. That’s how Chosen One stories work. (But maybe I’m just spiteful because I was Team Neville.)
Akata Witch doesn’t pull this either. While it’s said that Sunny and her companions’ abilities complement each other in a fortuitous, Chosen One-like way, they are frequently reminded of their absolute mortality: “There will be danger,” says their mentor, Anatov, “Some of you may not live to complete your lessons. It is a risk you take. The world is bigger than you and it will go on, regardless.” And as for that subliminal reader assurance that this rule won’t apply to our protagonists, that surely some mentor or deus ex machina will come to their aid? That hope is shot down by something as innocent as the Leopard People’s favorite sport, about which Sunny asks: “Why didn’t they stop [the match]?” And her mentor replies, “Because life doesn’t work that way. When things get bad, they don’t stop until you stop the badness—or die [italics mine].” Leopard People don’t get rescued, even if they are the protagonists. They take care of themselves, and if they get themselves into bigger messes than they can handle, they’re dead (which makes the act of studying magic a whole lot more appealing). Because the novel doesn’t play the protagonists up as prophesied victors, too, readers fully believe that death is a possibility for Sunny and friends, which makes reading about the danger that they put themselves in all the more suspenseful.
Now, I’ve placed a lot of emphasis on the book’s Harry Potter-like successes, but the novel does possess several great points on its own. For example, though the Leopard People have almost constant access to money (as long as they’re learning), they do not place great value in money, viewing it more as a tool to achieve goals than a goal to be reached in itself. (Granted, this is a theme that has been seen before, but it’s still refreshing to see it approached in a way that isn’t flagrant anti-consumerism). Leopard People also take traits that “lambs”—that is, non-magical people—view as imperfections and view them as strengths. Sunny is albino, Orlu is dyslexic, and other friends Chichi and Sasha were both notorious for being hopeless troublemakers in lamb school, before it was realized that they were actually gifted students bored with the unchallenging world around them (like teens falsely diagnosed with ADHD). All of these traits, regarded as flaws in the lamb world, contribute to their strengths as Leopard People, and it was cool to see characters with “disabilities” benefit from them in a semi-realistic way. (Kudos to Rick Riordan for giving Percy Jackson dyslexia, but to this day I haven’t met a dyslexic teen whose brain can understand the writing of their first language without effort, much less Ancient Greek.)
Of course, the book has flaws as well. The main conflict in the book revolves around the child murders mentioned earlier, and though child murder is awful, and though the crimes become a special concern for Leopard People late in the novel, Okorafor doesn’t spend much story time making us fear the ritual serial murderer Black Hat Otokoto. She’s more interested in showing us Sunny’s entry into the Leopard People world—which, in its defense, is hugely interesting—but I do wish that more time had been spent on the larger threat hanging over the characters’ heads. Ultimately, though, that flaw is overshadowed by the novel’s wonderfully imaginative world-building, and it’s not going to stop Akata Witch from being one of my favorite YA novels of the past several years.
***
Note: Holo Writing is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program and, as such, may earn a small commission from any product purchased through an affiliate link on this blog.

Pacific Rim – Movie Review

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IN SHORT: Giant alien monstrosities invade Earth through an interdimensional portal deep in the Pacific Ocean. The solution to this problem? Giant frickin’ robots!
WHAT IT IS: Giant robot versus giant monster porn at its ABSOLUTE FINEST!
WHAT IT IS NOT: Anything that remotely makes sense. Seriously, just check your brain at the door and have a good time.
WHAT I THOUGHT: This is the most fun I’ve had at the movies all year. In fact, I’m hard pressed to recall a recent movie I enjoyed more than Pacific Rim. It’s an absolute blast that should not be missed.
This movie has an unabashed, unquenchable sense of fun. It never lingers on the non-fun for very long. For example, the main character’s brief emo I-don’t-want-to-be-a-pilot phase is beaten out of him by his commander in three sentences.
The movie sets out to entertain, and it achieves this objective marvelously. The fights are tense and exciting, full of delicious visual eye candy. The giant monsters, named Kaiju, are powerful, formidable foes with plenty of variety and dangerous tenacity. Despite the ridiculous premise, I felt the dread of impending human extinction and became emotionally invested in the struggles of our heroes.
The giant robots, called Jaegers, are cool and fun to watch in action. Each one has a distinct feel in terms of design and combat execution. My only complaint is they feel a little too generic. Unlike classic giant robots such as Evangelion, Battletech, or Gundam, there’s no real way to look at a Jaeger and say: Aha! That’s a Jaeger! Notice the [distinguishing feature]. But this is a minor quibble, and does not detract from the movie.
The characters are, almost without exception, likable and fun to follow. Heck, even the hothead jerk pilot ends up being likable. There’s even a small fart of a love story thrown in, but it’s so small it never detracts from the movie. The story stays firmly focused on what works best for a giant robot / giant monster beat ‘em up.
That’s not to say the movie is flawless. Far from it. The plot is absolute nonsense, even by the standards of other giant robot franchises. In most giant robot fiction, we get some sort of excuse for why we need the giant robots, such as how normal weapons bounce off Angel AT fields in Evangelion. Here, it’s just “to fight monsters we created monsters.” Seriously, how exactly is a giant robot better than, say, a thousand cruise missiles? And while we’re at it, how is building a giant wall around the ENTIRE PACIFIC OCEAN more cost effective than building more Jaegers? Seriously, if I start poking holes in this plot, we’ll be here all day.
Also, the way the Jaegers fight is just painfully stupid at times. The hero Jaeger, Gypsy Danger, has two huge plasma cannons and two very deadly swords (post upgrade). You’d think that the pilots would soften up their target at range with the plasma cannons and then close in with swords for the kill, right?
Um, yeah. The Kaiju don’t have guns, and we’ve got these plasma cannons. So let’s just wade in close and start punching them. Wait, that’s not working? I guess we should use this big Kaiju-slaying sword, then.
mortal kombat fatality
Seriously, why weren’t they using the sword from the beginning?
Oh, and did I mention the Jaegers need two pilots? Apparently, controlling a humanoid combat weapon is too much mental strain for a single human to handle. It takes two pilots doing a mind-meld sort of thing called a drift. For, you know, plot reasons I guess. Granted, from a story-telling perspective, drifting is very effective for revealing a pilot’s history. It’s also absolute nonsense.
So, yeah. Let’s just recognize the plot for what it is: an excuse to have giant robots brawling with giant monsters. And frankly, I’m perfectly fine with that.
VERDICT: Strongly Recommended.

The Dragons of Jupiter: First Reader Review! Five Stars!

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The first reader review for The Dragons of Jupiter is in, and it is GLOWING!
Review by: Dan Pederson
Great plot, great characters, great world, and one heck of an awesome ending. That’s pretty much how I would describe The Dragons of Jupiter if someone asked me about the novel. The story centers around two brothers Ryu and Kaneda, their personal war, as well as the ongoing interplanetary conflict that is raging around them. The author does an excellent job of introducing the characters as well as the universe they exist in. The characters are done extremely well and it is interesting as a reader to become aware that you are favoring one side of the conflict versus the other. Some of the characters follow stereotypical sci-fi archetypes but that is one of the charming things about this book. The plot ranges from huge battles to small scale one-on-one fights and it handles each equally well. I won’t include any spoilers but will note that I thoroughly enjoyed the ending.
The review was posted on Smashwords and can be seen here.
Well, what can I say? Wow! Just … wow! That is one satisfied customer! Thank you, Dan Pederson, for your very enthusiastic praise!
And this is how I feel right now:
smiley-face-wallpaper-widescreen-001
So, does this sound like a novel you’d enjoy? Do you like your novels action-packed? Do you crave interesting characters? Do you enjoy a kickass ending?
Why not give The Dragons of Jupiter a try?
Click here to learn more.

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Warmachine Tactics – Cryx: Skarlock Thrall

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warmachine cryx skarlock thrall
Solos in Warmachine may not have the raw power and durability of warjacks or the sheer numbers enjoyed by infantry. But don’t discount them. For so few points, no models can tip the balance of a game quite like solos can. Today, I’m taking a look at the Skarlock Thrall.
IN SHORT: Who doesn’t like a free spell a turn? The Skarlock is a Cryx warcaster’s best friend.
STRENGTHS: Two words. Spell Slave! With this ability, the Skarlock can cast one of its warcaster’s spells for free, while in that warcaster’s control area. And for only 2 points? Seriously, that is just so cool.
Now, there are a few exceptions to worry about. The Skarlock can only cast spells of COST 3 or less and cannot cast spells with target SELF or CTRL. Even with these limitations, there are so many applications for Spell Slave, it’s ridiculous.
The savings in Focus alone are phenomenal. The Skarlock is great for assisting Cryx warcasters with support spells. From a timely application of Ghost Walk to applying or re-applying buffs like Scything Touch and support spells Occultation, the Skarlock is a huge boon to Focus efficiency. It’s just great to have along.
WEAKNESSES: With DEF 14, ARM 12, and only 5 hit boxes, the Skarlock is squishy. Keep it safe, because if your opponent can take a shot at it, it’s likely dead. This makes it very risky to use the Skarlock for offensive spells, which force it into range of reprisal. It’s best to keep the Skarlock back in a support role until it’s needed. That said, don’t be afraid to sacrifice a Skarlock to get that extra debuff applied. Often, the right debuff in the right place is well worth a dead Skarlock.
Also, it … umm … It can’t cast every spell? It’s not a 1 point solo? You can’t take two?
Seriously, I’m stretching on this one.
SYNERGIES: Almost any warcaster can take advantage of the Skarlock. It’s basically an auto-include in most lists, so it’s easier to cover the exceptions rather than the synergies.
The Skarlock is a warcaster attachment, so it cannot be included with Mortenebra or Asphyxious the Hellbringer, who both have their own character Skarlocks. Of the remaining warcasters, Goreshade the Bastard is probably the one that will miss a Skarlock the least, since the only spells available to the Skarlock are offensive. Though do not discount even this. Goreshade can often be hurting for Focus, and an extra Hex Blast at the right time can be game-changing, given its ability to strip enemy upkeep spells.
JUST FOR FUN: Let’s look at Iron Lich Asphyxious’s spell Scything Touch. This is a rare buff spell in Cryx that grants +2 STR and Critical Corrosion to a unit or model.
Start the round by upkeeping Scything Touch on Unit 1, activate Unit 1 and get the most out of the buff. Next, activate the Skarlock and cast Scything Touch on Unit 2. Activate Unit 2 and do some damage. Now activate Asphyxious and cast this spell on Unit 3. Activate Unit 3 and tear it up.
That’s three units benefiting from +2 STR in a single round for only 3 Focus and a Skarlock. Not too bad.
And remember, this tactic can also be used on debuffs against enemy units. Who wouldn’t like to smash three warjacks in a row, each afflicted with Parasite’s -3 ARM penality?
SUMMARY: The Skarlock has a place in almost every Cryx list. If in doubt, take one. Seriously, just take it. You won’t regret it.
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.

Warmachine Tactics – Cryx: Pistol Wraith

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warmachine cryx pistol wraiths
Solos in Warmachine may not have the raw power and durability of warjacks or the sheer numbers enjoyed by infantry. But don’t discount them. For so few points, no models can tip the balance of a game quite like solos can. Today, I’m taking a look at the Pistol Wraith.
IN SHORT: These ghostly duelists are experts at reaching their targets, striking first, and striking hard. But watch out! They are glass cannons.
STRENGTHS: First, the Pistol Wraith lives up to its name. It shoots well, which is something of a novelty in Cryx. With RAT 7, the Pistol Wraith’s twin POW 12 pistols are accurate and can do some decent damage. Good speed on the solo and range on the weapons also lends the Pistol Wraith a high threat range of 16”.
But what’s better than POW 12? Boosted POW 12! Thanks to its Body Count rule, the Pistol Wraith can collect souls of living enemy models it kills. Those souls can then be used to boost attack or damage rolls, making the Pistol Wraith one deadly customer.
But there’s more! If the Pistol Wraith connects on the same target with both pistols, it fires a third non-damaging Chain Attack at that target. This Death Chill attack forces the target to give up either its movement or its action during its next activation. This gives the Pistol Wraith the ability to hinder targets it has trouble damaging, such as high ARM warrior models, heavy warjacks, and even Colossals!
To keep the Pistol Wraith safe, it has Incorporeal, which grants it immunity to normal attacks until it opens fire.
WEAKNESSES: At 3 points, the Pistol Wraith is a mildly pricey solo. With DEF 14, ARM 12, it’s also vulnerable. This can lead to the Pistol Wraith becoming a one-hit wonder by getting flattened immediately after opening fire the first time.
This problem also makes it difficult to use souls because the Pistol Wraith has to collect them first through attacks. And when it attacks, it loses Incorporeal for a round, leaving it very vulnerable.
Finally, besides our impressive selection of debuffs (which go great with Pistol Wraiths), Cryx has very little support for enhancing ranged attacks.
SYNERGIES: Skarre, Queen of the Broken Coast and Pistol Wraiths go together like chocolate and peanut butter. Not only does Epic Skarre enhance shooting to ridiculous levels with Black Spot, her Fate Weaver feat can be used to protect the Pistol Wraith. First Black Spot a unit, then have a Pistol Wraith or two attack the unit, gobbling up the soul tokens and getting free shots. After this, use Fate Weaver to make the Pistol Wraiths invalid targets. With the Pistol Wraiths gorged on souls and protected from reprisal, they’re ready to do some real damage next round!
And, of course, debuffs make anything better, not just melee attacks. The Pistol Wraith’s ranged attacks can benefit greatly from the wide selection of Cryx debuffs. Why not team up with Warwitch Deneghra for an assassination run. Combining Parasite with her feat, The Withering, on the same target can turn the Pistol Wraith’s RAT 7 POW 12 attacks into effective RAT 9 POW 17, which can be boosted further with souls!
JUST FOR FUN: You know the saying, boosted 12’s win games. Hey, check it out. Pistol Wraiths have two POW 12 attacks that can be boosted. Huh.
Just saying. Might be worth a look.
SUMMARY: Pistol Wraiths are dangerous solos, and with Incorporeal, they can normally get the drop on their target. Just don’t expect them to last long after that first strike if you haven’t planned accordingly. That said, make no mistake. With the right list and a solid battle plan, Pistol Wraiths are absolutely deadly!
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.

Warmachine Tactics – Cryx: Warwitch Siren

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warmachine cryx warwitch sirens
Solos in Warmachine may not have the raw power and durability of warjacks or the sheer numbers enjoyed by infantry. But don’t discount them. For so few points, no models can tip the balance of a game quite like solos can. Today, I’m taking a look at the Warwitch Siren.
IN SHORT: Cheap, fast, and supremely versatile, the Warwitch Siren is one of the premier Cryx solos.
STRENGTHS: The name of the game here is versatility. For only 2 points, the Warwitch Siren brings a large toolbox of interesting abilities. Let’s take a look at them.
First, there’s Power Booster. The Warwitch Siren can clear of warjack of the Disrupted effect and, if it doesn’t have any Focus, she gives it one. Warmachine is a game of resource management, namely Focus, and the Warwitch Siren lets the warcaster keep more. Very nice!
Next, the Warwitch Siren can move into base-to-base with a living enemy warrior model and use Seduction. Take control of the enemy model, make a full advance then make one normal melee attack. There is no roll to hit for Seduction. The ability always works, though warcasters and warlocks are immune.
The applications of this power are many and varied. Need to bring an enemy support solo closer to your warjack? Seduce them! Want to break a unit by moving the leader out of formation? Seduce them! Got a powerful melee solo closing in? Seduce them, turn them around, and attack something!
The Warwitch Siren also come with Venom, a low POW 8” magic spray that causes Corrosion. With a magic attack of 7, Venom is deadly against clumped up groups of enemy infantry. Between the initial spray attack and the Corrosion afterwards, the Siren can clear out surprising numbers of enemy infantry all by herself.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Warwitch Siren can inflict Shadow Bind with her P+S 11 Shadow Blade melee attack. This is great for stopping an enemy warjack or warbeast dead in its tracks, especially if the target doesn’t have Reach. Because, guess what? The Siren does! She can freeze models in place, lower their defense by 3, and they can’t even smack her back. This also gives her the defense bonus for being engaged in melee.
On top of all of this, the Warwitch Siren comes with Stealth to protect her at range and Parry to let her ignore free strikes.
All this for 2 points? Very nice indeed!
WEAKNESSES: ARM 13 and DEF 15 are good, but not great. The Warwitch Siren can be difficult to pin down, but when she is, she gets squished. Even with Stealth protecting her, she has to watch out for blast damage. Never mind that there are plenty of ways to bypass Stealth.
And while Shadow Bind on her melee attack is nice, she’s only MAT 5. Even against the generally low DEF of heavy warjacks, she has a reasonable chance to miss.
Finally, she’s a living model, with all the extra vulnerabilities that brings over our undead models.
SYNERGIES: Just about everything in Cryx. Almost every list I make includes one and sometimes two Warwitch Sirens. However, there are some combinations that can stand out.
Scaverous’s feat boosts the attack rolls of magic attacks. Combined with the Siren’s Venom and her solid magic attack, and suddenly that spell is really, really accurate. Go ahead! Melt their faces right off!
Venethrax also gives the Venom spell’s Corrosion effect a nice boost with his Caustic Presence [Corrosion]. Instead of a two in three chance of basic infantry dying, now they just die.
With the number a warjacks Mortenebra normally fields, she really enjoys the extra Focus two Warwitch Sirens can bring to her battlegroup.
Finally, what’s better than one round of Shadow Bind? TWO rounds of Shadow Bind! Try teaming up some Sirens with Wraith Witch Deneghra’s feat to really paralyze your opponent.
JUST FOR FUN: A little combo I like to use is a Warwitch Siren and a Stalker as a two-part flanking force. Both the Siren and the Stalker swing wide on one flank. Both are SPD 7 and both have Stealth. Plus the Siren can Power Boost the Stalker if Focus is tight. With the Stalker’s Extended Control Range, the warcaster is free to load it with Focus when the moment is right. Together, the two can cause a lot of chaos for only 6 points.
SUMMARY: The Warwitch Siren is a fantastic, supremely versatile solo that fits great in almost any Cryx army. The sheer number of abilities she brings to the table gives you plenty of options and makes it almost impossible for your opponent to predict her moves. It’s a rare game where I’m not fielding my trusty Siren in the list.
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.

Warmachine Tactics – Cryx: Machine Wraith

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warmachine cryx machine wraiths
Solos in Warmachine may not have the raw power and durability of warjacks or the sheer numbers enjoyed by infantry. But don’t discount them. For so few points, no models can tip the balance of a game quite like solos can. Today, I’m taking a look at the Machine Wraith.
IN SHORT: In Cryx, we steal enemy corpses and enemy souls. But what about whole warjacks? Yeah, we do that too.
STRENGTHS: The Machine Wraith is a 1 point solo that TAKES CONTROL OF ENEMY WARJACKS! Granted, there are a number of conditions that have to be met and qualifiers that need to be added. But still. Seriously. I mean seriously, this is so awesome.
The Machine Wraith needs to get within 1” of the target warjack and execute its Machine Meld special action, so it cannot be used if the Machine Wraith charges. The target warjack must have a functioning cortex, cannot be a character warjack, and cannot be a Colossal since they are immune to control of any kind.
To pull this off, the Machine Wraith is fast at SPD 7 and is Incorporeal! This not only protects the Machine Wraith from normal attacks, it also allows it to pass through other models and terrain on its way to taking control of the enemy.
Opponents have a few options for getting the warjack back. Warcasters can spend Focus and attempt to kick the Machine Wraith out. Basically, the warcaster and the Machine Wraith compare CMD and add a D6. The Machine Wraith has a low CMD 7, by the way. Damaging the warjack will also kick the Machine Wraith out, but in your Maintenance Phase. Either way, your opponent is wasting resources.
And even if the Machine Wraith is kicked out, the biggest benefit is preventing any Focus allocation to the enemy warjack. When the Machine Wraith is inside, the warjack is not a part of any battlegroup! No Focus for you!
As a side bonus, the Machine Wraith can also use its speed to harass enemy solos and infantry, setting itself up for free-strikes while remaining protected by Incorporeal.
WEAKNESSES: Except for Incorporeal, the Machine Wraith is a soft target. DEF 14 isn’t too bad, but ARM 12 on a medium base with one hit box is nothing to be excited about. If your opponent wants the Machine Wraith dead, it’s probably dead. Protecting it with smart use of terrain is critical.
Also, while the Machine Wraith is best used against Warmachine armies, those armies tend to have a wider selection of magical weapons. Even worse, Colossals and character-warjacks give Warmachine players plenty of options that are immune to the Machine Meld ability.
And that comment about not allocating Focus to a warjack under Machine Wraith control swings both way, so you can’t allocate Focus to it either, though this isn’t a big deal. The Machine Wraith is more about denying options to your opponent than opening up new ones for you.
And finally there are Hordes armies that don’t care one bit about Machine Meld. Against them, the Machine Wraith is a simple solo harasser … with low P+S and average MAT. It’s not terrible, but it’s not exciting either.
SYNERGIES: The Machine Wraith needs the enemy warjack to be within 8” in order to steal it … unless another model pulling it in! Try teaming up with Reaper or Malice warjacks and using their Drag attacks to bring the enemy warjack into range. Scaverous’s Telekinesis spell can produce a similar effect, either pulling the warjack in or bumping the Machine Wraith closer. Or both.
Also, fielding the Machine Wraith with other Incorporeal models can saturate your opponent’s ability to deal with them effectively. The Wraith Engine can also help the Machine Wraith get to its target by giving it a small ARM buff via its Unhallowed rule. This also makes the Machine Wraith immune to blast damage.
JUST FOR FUN: Against a Gargantuan or a Colossal there’s nothing a Machine Wraith can do, right? Well, not so fast!
Yes, the Machine Wraith is an Incorporeal model, which means enemies can walk right through it too. Except, Large bases normally come with low speed. Sure, that Colossal can walk right through the Machine Wraith, but it has to clear it too! It can’t stop on top of the Machine Wraith!
Run the Machine Wraith up and engage the Colossal. Now the Machine Wraith has DEF 18 to ranged attacks.  Shooting the Machine Wraith down with magic is going to be tough. And if your opponent moves in another model to take the Machine Wraith out, now THAT model is blocking the Colossal!
SUMMARY: The Machine Wraith is a fairly situational solo that sometimes shines and sometimes is barely mediocre. Still, for only one point, the ability to take an enemy warjack as your own should not be dismissed. In the right place at the right time, Machine Wraiths can single-handedly swing games in your favor.
Check out the complete list of Warmachine and Hordes articles here.

The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress – Book Review

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Caution: Contains one spoiler.
Anyone who has ever spoken to me at length about steampunk will know this:  While I do love steampunk, I’m a bigger fan of the idea of steampunk than I am of most steampunk books. My main complaint against them is that they tend to treat the pseudo-Victorian aesthetic as a decoration, rather than an integral part of the world of the story. Occasionally, though, I happen upon a steampunk novel that takes that decoration and rocks it.

The Friday Society Cover

The Friday Society by Adrienne Kress rocks hard in all the ways that steampunk should.
In the novel, Cora is assistant to a mad scientist, with all the science brains and cool tech knowledge implied; Nellie is assistant to a magician, armed with sparkly dresses, sneak tactics galore, and a parrot sidekick; and Michiko is a Japanese assistant to an English fight instructor, who knows more about katana combat than her present charlatanic master. When heads start rolling in the London streets—the first right at their feet, in fact—they take it upon themselves to solve the mystery with sassy, street-smart girl power and more than a little technological mayhem.
These are combinations that could not exist outside a steampunk novel and still make sense.
At its heart, The Friday Society reads like Kress said, “OK—I’m going to take everything that is awesome about steampunk, trash the rest, put it in a blender with some glitter and Japanese swordplay and see what happens.” Which is why there is almost no affected fake-Victorian language in this thing, and why the novel foregoes the tedious details of Victorian manners and society to toss an explosion at readers in the first sentence. There are also magical gravity-defying minerals and a super fancy gun that can be worn like armor until an electromagnetic pulse calls its pieces into weapon form.
The protagonists, too, are sneakily developed, looking like stereotypes on the surface—the tomboy, the girly girl, the samurai—but revealing some clever variations on their types as the novel progresses. Michiko, for example, is the stoic, silent, samurai sort one would expect—but only because she doesn’t know enough English to use the language and so stays quiet to avoid making herself look foolish. Cora and Nellie take it upon themselves to teach her the language, and ultimately, it is these three characters and their interactions that make the novel worth the read. Stylistically, it aspires to read like a steampunk cousin of sassy fantasies like The Princess Bride or Stardust, a feat largely accomplished through the girls’ banter. Though they never actually reach Princess Bride levels of wit—though, really, what other than The Princess Bride itself can do that?— its sense of humor was close enough and uncommon enough in steampunk novels that it kept me reading.
However, even though the strengths outweighed them for me, the book does have some weaknesses worth mentioning. There’s an attempted romantic storyline that falls absolutely flat—but this is a book about girls kicking butt, so that’s ok. The story also involves a secondary murder mystery that I found completely throwaway once it was solved, and once readers find out the eventual bad guy’s motivation, it is frustratingly feminist (that is, feminist in a negative way). BTW THIS IS THE SPOILER PART. WATCH OUT. This seems odd to say about a book that is unabashedly about girl power, but when the antagonist’s reason for murdering everyone (and then some) comes down to “THE MEN DIDN’T THINK MY IDEAS WERE GOOD BECAUSE I WAS A GIRL SO I’LL SHOW THEM >( ” it’s a bit anticlimactic, and not entirely believable. (A younger me was a tomboyish girl who wanted to excel at boy things like science and blowing things up, but I was never motivated to do such things because people told me I was too girly to succeed at them. I simply wanted to do them because I wanted to do them.) Finally, the novel makes a noble stab at having a diverse cast—Michiko is trained by a local Japanese expatriate, and Nellie works for an exotic Oriental magician—but most of the multicultural characters in the novel ultimately fall into convenient stereotype. Nellie’s magician, though interesting, exists only to be exotic and mysterious, and Michiko’s mentor reads like he popped out of The Karate Kid.
Taken as a whole, though, The Friday Society ranks among the best steampunk novels I’ve encountered in the past year. It’s not flawless, but it’s still the most entertaining piece of steampunk quirk that I’ve read since Phil and Kaja Foglio’s classic Girl Genius.
***
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Dungeon Master Brings the Pain

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life is baby meme
When I’m running a campaign, I have a script in mind. I think most dungeon masters do. For me, everything is moving towards an epic final confrontation. Throughout the encounters, the villain is established and shown to be a powerful, formidable threat. The motivations are laid out. The stakes are revealed. The encounters are set up so the action crescendos in intensity until it reaches its peak at the Final Battle. Everything is laid out with precision and care.
And then players try to pull stuff like this.
Jacob Holo: Okay, what are you trying to do again?
Twinkie: I want to dodge the robot, grab Shrike, but not where he’s drenched in acid, jump up to the next level, and flip us both over the ledge.
Jacob Holo: <sigh> Acrobatics check.
Twinkie: <rolls D20> Okay … uhh, it’s a one.
Jacob Holo: <blank stare>
Twinkie: This is going to hurt, isn’t it?
Sometimes I wish they would just read the script.  Except, yeah … They don’t have my script.
Well, shoot.
That being said, it’s a fun and challenging exercise to guide players towards their goal without letting them feel like they’re being led by the nose. Case in point, Twinkie was supposed to just shoot the robot, which had (what I thought were) conspicuous weak points. Instead, he lathered up with acid, melted his armor, and later asphyxiated on the lunar surface because, you know, no air.
futurama leonard nimoy headFortunately, this is science fiction, so the party was able to rescue him as a Futurama style head-in-a-jar and then get him a new body. I particularly enjoyed coming up with that bit.
So, after much coaxing that (I hoped) didn’t seem like coaxing, the players were ready for the Final Battle. And this is where I deviated from the norm. I had a script, and darn it, it was going to be followed. After all, this was it: the end of our campaign. I wanted it to be memorable and exciting, and the players were not going to get in my way, darn it!
Jacob Holo: Perception check.
Agnis Crane: Thirty-one!
Jacob Holo: You see a vague, ghostly silhouette down the ship corridor. It appears humanoid.
Agnis Crane: I shoot it!
Jacob Holo: Go ahead.
Agnis Crane: <rolls D20> Umm … let’s see here …
Jacob Holo: Yes?
Agnis Crane: Hold on. I’m doing math. Twenty-four?
Jacob Holo: Hit.
Agnis Crane: Yay! Ten points of damage.
Jacob Holo: The optical illusion falters, revealing a crusader. He raises his Gatling gun, and he’s not alone. Three more crusaders decloak and raise their weapons. One of them has a thermal lance.
Agnis Crane: Well, crap.
dragons of jupiter crusader firepower-small
And that was just the start. After that, the foes kept coming, impeding them every step of the way. It was a long, grinding battle as the party fought through obstacle after obstacle, struggling towards their target at the center of the enemy starship.
They chewed through a huge number of gun-spiders, crusaders, and three tank-spiders before I finally wore them down. Those of you who have read my book, The Dragons of Jupiter, will know this is no small feat. In retrospect, I should have given the tank-spiders beefier stats, but oh well. They did their job.
At the very end, three party members had been knocked out. Agnis Crane, with only five hit points left, took out the last tank-spider with a lethal shot. After that, the flow of new enemies stopped. Because, you know, the rules of drama had been satisfied. The party had seized a victory from what could have been a Total Party Kill. Throwing more enemies at them would have served no useful purpose.
Angis revived the team, and they went on to complete their objective. The campaign ended on an emotional high note, with players talking excitedly about what had happened and how close to defeat they had come.
Just as I had intended.
As a dungeon master, I don’t just see myself as the guy running the game and setting up the encounters. I’m a story teller, and if I have to bend the rules to tell a better story, well … yeah, consider those rules bent. There were exactly enough enemies, and their attack rolls were just good enough to make the battle a tense nail biter. No more. No less. The players don’t need to know that, right?
At the end of the day, I had four happy players who enjoyed my campaign and will probably ask for another someday in the future. Now that’s what I call a happy ending.
For a sample of our misadventures, click here.
Drake Squad Mercenaries at Large-small