#361
Aug 31, 2025
Books
This week I read:
Greatest Hits by Harlan Ellison
That’s the “I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream” guy. I’d never read any of his stories before, but I knew that title: I didn’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t what I got (a sci-fi horror that culminates in the protagonist being turned into a blob creature with no mouth). This book caught my eye because the editor is J. Michael Straczynski, the Babylon 5 guy.
There’s some really good stuff in here, my favourite was definitely Paladin of the Lost Hour which is about the hereditary guardian of a pocket watch that’s stopped at 11, which if it ever strikes 12 will cause the end of time. I had to pass on I’m Looking For Kadak, which is about a Jewish alien (a literal alien, not a foreigner), because it felt like every other noun was in Yiddish.
Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades from Osprey Publishing
RBRB is a wuxia RPG system (review by Seth Skorkowsky here) that really seems to hit all the genre notes. I’ve not tried it out yet, but it looks fairly straightforward (once you’ve got a handle on all the many unique martial arts abilities) and feels like it would actually emulate a wuxia story pretty well. I look forward to trying it.
Roleplaying Games
The Halls of Arden Vul
This was a very exciting session, as the players not only found the Gemini Blades they’d been tasked to recover (and slew a demon that was guarding them), they also broke into the Inn of the Lost and found Isocorax! They solved the mystery of why he eats people: he’s a vampire! Kept drugged and chained to a table in some sort of alchemical laboratory, a terrified prisoner nearby begging to be rescued and not fed to “that thing”; the PCs brought Isocorax and the poor man out through secret passages into the VIP room they’d taken.
Now they just need to get out, and away.
Miscellaneous
After finishing Thunderbolt Fantasy on Monday I was in a bit of a wuxia mood, so not only did I pick up Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades, I also watched a few films: Hero, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. I enjoyed Hero the most of those. I’ve got a few more on the list, too. I love all the dumb tropes and over-the-top acting, I’m definitely going to have to run a wuxia one-shot some time.