Finished the Cold Commands. The series remains awesome. Now I just have to acquire the third volume... I really liked the inclusion of LGBTQ main characters, they were well written and not included just as a plot device. Almost a novelty in mainstream fantasy fiction (sadly).

In the meantime I started Anthony Ryan's Blood Song (Raven's Shadow #1). I'm about 20 pages in and starting to think that I've read it before. I'll finish it either way of course.

Just finished The Steel Remains by Richard K. Morgan (author of the excellent Takehashi Kovacs novels). Solid grimdark, and not overwrought trying to become so (some GD makes me think of 14 year old Goth kids in that regard). More David Gemmel than Steven Erikson on the world-building front, but that's not a criticism. Started on the sequel, The Cold Commands, which also seems good so far.

Huh. I never set year goals for my reading, but I like the idea, even more so the tracking part - I have a habit of forgetting I've already read things. Let me just see if I can back track on my Kobo and get a list going.

Currently Reading: Hyperobjects - Timothy Morton
Next Up: Kill Society - Richard Kadrey

The Rise and Fall of Dodo: A Novel - Neal Stephenson
Merchant Princes Saga 1-5 inclusive - Charles Stross
Midnight Riot - Ben Aaronovitch
Moon Over Soho - Ben Aaronovitch
Whispers under Ground - Ben Aaronovitch
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
Warhammer 40K - Horus Heresy Novels 1-10 (pure nostalgia, I'm a 40K geek from way back)
Meditations - Marcus Aurelius
Old Man's War 1-6 - John Scalzi
Sandman Slim 1-6, 8 - Richard Kadrey (re-reads, prep for number 9 above)
The Bonehunters - Steven Erickson
House of Chains - Steven Erickson
Midnight Tides - Stephen Erickson (all three are re-reads)

*edit* Also re-read Bakker's first five books then forgot to read the one I did that to prep for.

That gets me back to sometime in Jan-Feb when I had to replace my Kobo. Stross was a new author to me, and I enjoyed him a lot. Fluffy reads, but good. The new Stephenson (DODO) is awesome. The Rivers of London series is cracking good urban fantasy.

I get a lot of reading done in the summer months, as you can see.

I'll admit, it was a big stick. Also, 7th Sea might have been bigger in your area than mine, either way I liked it a lot. I wouldn't use the whole rule set either though. The part I liked, and which I've used in modified forms elsewhere, is the henchman/boss approach to the bad guys. It's very cinematic and I find it does a great job keeping the action rolling along. In general, an approach like that could help keep the crusty grimdark life-or-death stuff for the right narrative spots. I'm not very familiar with the L5R RPG either, I should check that out.

The thing that struck me about Ars Magica in relation to Earwa was more the bare bones of the idea. They have very powerful mage characters, and non-mages are essentially henchmen. You can play a mix of both, but the game is upfront about the power difference. Call it Gandalf and the dwarves I guess. They present an interesting option where players have a mage and a non-mage character, and sometimes play entirely non-mage sequences and adventures, sometimes mixed, and sometimes entirely mages with the other characters as NPCs. It's neat idea.

I completely agree about player stupidity. There's a point where the GM needs to let them reap the rewards of their behavior. Chances are that kind of stupid was hurting the game anyway. If the players are all fully engaged in the story though, and playing their characters to the hilt, I'll go out of my way to avoid actually killing any of them in a pointless way. As much as possible without straying into egregious deus ex machina territory anyway. Of course you and I both know there's potentially a lot of very painful stops for a character that stop short of actual death. Muhuhahaha!!! *cough* sorry, my villainous laugh is a little rusty.

The game I was trying to remember the name of might be RoleMaster.

Yup, really good show that doesn't get enough love. I just finished season three. Marvelous.

Musically related, I went to karaoke for the first time in ages last night. Good times. I sang Black and Lose Yourself and managed to not embarrass myself, so there's that.

Currently listening to BB Guns and Dirtbikes - The White Buffalo

I live in Iqaluit, which has a population of 8500, so it's not terrible. A lot of the communities up here are tiny though. Nunavut is 800,000 square miles and has a total population of about 36,000. It's a little different than living down south to say the least (and when I say south I mean anything south of Baffin Island ).

I'm currently re-reading the Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey. They're marvelous.