Building Xyntillan on Roll20 - tables, dynamic lighting and maps

The kind of message you don’t want as you start to run a game

Last night was the fortnightly session for my Achtung! Cthulhu campaign, run on Roll20 for two sessions now that Role has dropped AV support. I was really looking forward to the session, especially as the game Trail of Cthulhu session for Eternal Lies was cancelled the day before before because the GM was unwell. I’d used the time I got back to do some proper preparation, rereading the scenario and the core rules to try and make things as slick as possible. I connected to the game in good time, and then - after about ten minutes when we were waiting for one of the players to arrive - the error message above popped up. I reconnected AV, relaunched the browser and fiddled until I realised that it was an issue with VirginMedia’s fibre connected, not Roll20, not Firefox, and not my WiFi mesh. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. I ended up having an earlier bed than planned.

I got woken up by the better half being restless around 4am, and by 5am I realised I wasn’t going to get any more sleep. The internet connection was back, so I put on the All About Eve Fairy Light Night gig recordings and reconnected to Roll20 to start on the next map section.

I had some issues getting the grid right. The pixel size written on the map didn’t match the reality of the file and it was a struggle to align the grid. Eventually, I used the size marked on the map and the option key to move the map to align to the grid; I’d forgotten that you can precise locate a map item or token with  that key press as a modifier. I need to remember to do that next map (part of the reason I’m writing this entry). In honesty, the instructions for using the map with Roll20 were good, it was just the final alignment that was tricky.

Working in the mapping layer

I started to add in the dynamic lighting. You do this by drawing on the mapping layer. You add walls/windows and one way fittings in by drawing them on. You can snap to the grid where it aligns by shift clicking, but it’s a little annoying when you do it free style (having to go off the grid intersections). The mouse pointer changes to a pen, and the line node is drawn below and to the left of the pen nib. I’d prefer a crosshair there as used in a lot of graphic programs, as it’s a bit hit and miss in getting an exact position. This also saw me adding some torches (for light from fireplaces) as light sources on the lighting layer, and some doors. The doors are easy to do, but the big round nodes at the ends make it hard to be precise. I’ll need to do some testing to make sure they’re right in the future.

 

Building a table

I also started to build out a table; this was pretty simple. A point to note was that you can account for items  which have more than one entry on a table (for example, rolling 1&2 on a dice gets the same result) by adjusting the weighting. The principle should be the same for a multi-dice table, you’ll just need to work out how they weight against each other (for example, a roll of 7 on 2d6 would have a weighting of 6, whereas a roll on 12 or 2 would have a weighting of 1).

Overall, I’m enjoying learning this in a bit more depth. Most of the games I’ve run before on Roll20 have been pretty much using as built material with the odd simple map or NPC and token added.  I’ve still got a fair bit to do before I can open this game up for play.

18 January 2024

WOTB - TS-5 Mastery - Canyon

3850 damage, 4 kills, 1890 blocked, 955 assistance.

This tank is a monster in the right situation.

WOTB - Bofors Tornvagn Mastery - Ghost Factory

 

This one just happened perfectly, giving a Kolobanov (1 vs 4) and Radley-Walters (5 kills) as well as the ace. They came at me one by one and let me use the terrain.

5 kills, 3685 damage, 2920 bounced and an Ace tanker.

Post Pandemic Challenges with Convention Running

A game at a Garricon

This is written from the perspective of running four different cons at the Garrison Hotel in Sheffield, UK (Furnace, North Star, Revelation, and hopefully LongCon). They're all different in style:

• Furnace is a generic 'any system welcome' convention ("It's all about the games") which attracted 70-80 people pre-pandemic (and filled the Garrison Hotel's space).
• Revelation is a tighter focused Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark focused convention. A different crowd to Furnace, but some overlap. Typically 30 to 45 people.
• North Star is an 'any game welcome as long as it's Science Fiction' con, which attracts 50-60 attendees.
• LongCon is an enigma, and hasn't run for some time. If we get 30 odd people I think we'd judge it a success (we need that many to cover event costs).

The post-pandemic recovery in numbers has been slow. We've started reaching the bottom end of some of the attendance levels but we aren't quite there yet. The current ongoing rail network strikes don't help us; I know that a number of people haven't joined us in recent years because travel just isn't viable.

We've also seen a huge change in sign ups; people leave it much later to register, to the point that we've actively discussed cancelling a convention at least once; we've never had to do that before, but post-pandemic we now have to deal with a deposit which we could lose.

In some ways, running the cons with slightly less people there isn't a bad thing; increasingly, people are pitching games for four players rather than the five or six that were common before. That's not a bad thing with the size of some of our smaller cons, but it does leave us with a risk that the fuller cons may not have enough player spaces to cover everyone. We usually lose about 10% of people on the weekend, and I think we're possibly seeing more single day attendees than before. What it does mean is that Elaine or I end up asking for GMs to add an extra space in, which may not be used.

I think the four people thing is partly related to the kind of games run. You can focus more on a table of four than six and there's less GM overload.

However, the more worrying trend is a drop off in GM numbers. Normally, we'd cap GMs at running two games in a five slot weekend; this was initially put in to enable more GMs to run because the active folks (our Iron GMs) would pitch four game slots and close the calendar. However, we've increasingly had to open up to three or four slots available for GMs because far less people are offering than before. 

This comes with a risk, one that the restriction to two games addressed previously. If a GM has to drop out at short notice, or they become ill at the con (I've had a migraine develop, for example), it leaves the organisers a challenge to fill the gap. I used to bring the 'big bag of boardgames' but haven't recently as it's not been called on for a while. We do try to get reserve GMs for slots, but often they're already running games. 

Of all these things, the GM numbers part is the most concerning. All three of the core cons have suffered from it. We used to incentivise the higher volume GMs beyond the priority in booking playing slots, but I don't think that this is the solution.

Curious if anyone else who's running conventions has seen these trends. Is it just us, because if it is it may be a reflection on the convention organisation or perhaps geography? What's your experience?

14 January 2024

First Impressions - Forbidden Lands RPG - initial kickstarter bundle

The Forbidden Lands Core Box Set.

I originally wrote this back in January 2019 after I'd read the material from the Forbidden Lands initial kickstarter bundle over the Christmas period from Fria Ligan. However, it was buried in a general books post so I'm extracting it now. This is a game that I've yet to get to the table, but I'd like to. I've a hankering to visit the Bitter Reach.

Forbidden Lands RPG

The Forbidden Lands RPG comprises two hardbound leather-effect books; the Player’s Handbook (character generation, the game engine, combat, spells, journeys, strongholds) and the Gamesmaster’s Guide (principles of the game, history, gods, kin, a bestiary, artefacts, encounters, creating adventure sites and three sample locations). There’s also a large map of the Raven Lands and stickers to go with it, plus a more detailed handout guide to give characters a deeper background.

The game uses the Year Zero engine, as seen in Coriolis and Tales from the Loop. Like both those games, it has been tweaked to fit the setting. In this case, it has become significantly more lethal and dangerous. Characters are fragile, like those in early D&D. The dice pool rolls generate negative outcomes which can seriously mess your character up, making them ‘broken’ and vulnerable to critical. The game engine also moves away from just D6s. Although these are the standard dice, you can sometimes roll a D8, D10 or even D12, all of which can bring much more successes than the D6. You’ll need to be clever and alert to avoid injury.

The game engine also generates willpower points, which are a limited currency. They fuel spells and talents and can only be obtained by failing a roll in certain circumstances. If you don’t fail, you don’t refill your points pool.

There is a big focus on the exploration side of the game, and it is definitely influenced by The One Ring*. Players take different roles, and you need to ensure enough food and - especially - water or treks across the wilderness can go horribly wrong. The map doesn’t assume the location of any of the adventure sites in much detail from those presented in the book or in Raven’s Purge. The GM can position them, and use the stickers to mark up the map. If you clear an old ruin or watchtower, you can turn it into a stronghold, creating a mini-game not unlike high level D&D or Pendragon. Of course, setting up a stronghold is only the start of the story; holding on to it is the challenge.

[*In some ways ironic, because Fria Ligan have subsequently acquired the rights to The One Ring and have published a second edition.]

The rules have random tables for the creation of adventure sites, using a D66 in many cases, and wearing the OSR movement inspiration on its sleeve. The usage dice concept from The Black Hack is also adopted for consumables. The principles section would not seem out of place in a Powered by the Apocalypse Game

All in all, the game is a thoroughly modern take on a wilderness D&D style game, with hints of Stormbringer. It reminds me very much of many of the early Fighting Fantasy games, especially with the gorgeous B&W art (which is in a similar style to that which I grew up on). I would like to run or play this.

Raven's Purge - the first campaign book

Raven’s Purge

Raven's Purge is the default adventure campaign for the game, but don't think you are getting something like The Temple of Elemental Evil or one of the other epic TSR sets. Instead, expect a pretty well written group of adventure locations which mesh together in a unique way for every GM as they will have to place artefacts and use rumours and NPCs to draw the PCs into the heart of the plot. This has more in common with GDW's Twilight's Peak for Traveller than the old epic D&D scenarios.

There's a lot to draw on here, nicely presented. That said, I think the GM will have to put some work in getting this ready (or be ready to manipulate it on the fly). There are a lot of core NPCs which can have varying motivations at varying places. I think the key to this would be to bring it in as a slow burn; ultimately, the characters may end up leading an army to attach the evil Sorcerer that dominates the Forbidden Lands, but they need to grow into that.

The only concern I have is that the game is very lethal, so the chance of playing through with the same characters may be lower than you'd like. That said, this is good stuff.

The Spire of Quetzel - dangerous scenarios.

Spire of Quetzel

The Spire of Quetzel is a scenario book for Fria Ligan's Forbidden Lands RPG. This is a homage to the OSR movement and presents four adventure locations. The title adventure, written by Patrick Stuart, has the characters entering a spire to face a Demon-Queen. The blurb claims that it is very Moorcockian, and I think that's right as I could easily imagine running this with Stormbringer. The second adventure, 'The Bright Vault', sees the characters entering a vault that imprisons demon-spawn that could threaten the world. The sibling spawn all have different needs and motivations which can be played against each other. 

The third scenario, Hexenwald, has witches and necromancy, set in an area of forests and lakes not unlike the Black Forest or Russia. The NPCs all have interesting motivations and rivalries that leave plenty of opportunities for adventure. The final scenario, The Graveyard of Thunder, has the characters drawn to an adventure site where one of the last of the Thunder Lizards prepares for its death. They face orc rivals and the threats of a guardian.

I liked this collection, my favourites being 'Hexenwald' and 'The Spire of Quetzel', both of which I'd like to run. This is a short collection of good adventures that will certainly be remembered by the players.

[reMarkable 2] 3 Years On…

Well used reMarkable 2

I’ve been using my reMarkable 2 since November 2020 (Batch 5 preorder).  It’s worked solidly since then, used multiple times daily at work and for home activities. I know at least five people who’ve bought one having tried mine (plus one who got a Kindle Scribe and another who got a Boox). I bought my eldest a second hand rM1 for college which he loves (I do like the robustness of that version). 

I keep it in the tablet sleeve you can see behind it when I’m not using it. I finished the first lot of nibs about 3 months ago. I have the marker plus and it’s still working fine. I did clean the folio last year following advice from here. The edges are a little frayed and you can see the use, but it looks smart still. 

The battery life is good (but I mainly work in airport mode). 

I’ve tried the Lamy, the Norris Jumbo and the HP pens and each of them are great for the right mood but I keep coming back to the marker plus. 

I love using it outside in the summer; sometimes I’ll step away from the teams calls and just use the phone. 

It’s been updated at least 20 times as the software has got much better (the only bit I’m not so hot on is the way OCR works now). I’ve never gone beta as this is a work tool for me. 

I scanned my old Leuchterm and Moleskine notebooks to PDF and added them in as a reference. 

It just works. 

I do treat it like a £500 device (which it was with the accessories) and look after it. I’d replace it in an instant if it broke. 

I’m posting this because all too often all we see are the stories when something has gone wrong. After three years, this still delights me everyday.

First Impressions - Cartel RPG - Mexican Narcofiction Powered by the Apocalypse

The Cartel RPG and supporting cards

This is a review I really didn't expect to write. 

TL;DR: Cartel is one of the most sharply written Powered by the Apocalypse roleplaying games I've seen; there's nothing wasted and the game is constructed to make players spark off each other and feel like they're caught up in the drugs war. The book is beautifully put together and illustrated. If your gaming table isn't afraid of some character-vs-character conflict, then this is definitely worth checking out.

I first came across Cartel at the Revelation convention, where it was an early release ashcan. I'm not certain if the game had actually been through Kickstarter at that point, but if it hadn't then it would be imminent. We ended up with a small group of players, all ready to try something different, and we had one of the best games that I've ever played. It was plotting, scheming, twists and you were as likely to get stabbed in the front as in the face. There's very much a player-vs-player aspect to this, but actually, it's really character-vs-character. You're looking to generate situations and friction as your characters, all tied to the drug cartels in some way (even if only the spouse of someone who is involved) try to get by in their day-to-day without getting fucking shot. It's brutal, tense and has highs and lows. At the end of the game we played, it felt like we'd just participated in the pilot to a TV series. Kudos to Nigel, our MC, and the other players.

I'm not going to apologise for the profanity before, because that's the name of the one move you don't want to have to make in the game. Getting Fucking Shot is the one move that can take your character out of the game, and it's brutal. The more heat the group around you is facing, the nastier the situation and the higher the likelihood you will die,  maybe not immediately, but soon after. This is not a nice game. This is a game that puts your characters front and centre in the drug war and friction between different cartels in Durango in Mexico. If you can handle that, you're likely to have a fantastic game. 

Cartel is strikingly presented. It's a 160-page hardcover, printed in a square format in bright and shiny colour - red, pink, green, yellow. It has great artwork, and I didn't see a typo throughout the game. It has a pink ribbon.

Cartel was also originally due to be delivered in February 2019. It reached retail in the UK in December 2020, and backers in the UK didn't get their copies until April 2021 due to a shipping error by Magpie Games. As I write this, it has been 16 months since the last update on the Kickstarter, although the author posted a comment on New Year's Eve (31 December 2023) promising an update in January. Magpie have taken payment for PDFs and two extra books from some backers, and they've not delivered. Universally, I've found that lack of information, poor information and outright misinformation are how Magpie behave on kickstarters; I've seen the same with the Urban Shadows 2e kickstarter. I will never back one of their kickstarters again.

Yet, Cartel is absolutely brilliantly done. Tautly written. Packed with advice. Sharply focused. Mark Diaz Truman really gets Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA). Every product I have seen from Magpie is similar; well-written, focused and a great experience. There is absolutely no reason not to pick up this game from retail. In fact, I recommend you do, if the idea of exploring the drug war in a tense conflicted game appeals to you.

The engine is a tuned evolution of the PbtA core. Each character has four stats: Face, Grit, Hustle and Savagery which provide modifiers to a 2d6 roll where you're looking for 7+ (partial success), or 10+ (for complete success). Each player has a unique character playbook. These could the El Cocinero (responsible for drug production), La Esposa (the tie to family), El Halcón (young, naive and wanting to make their way in the cartel), El Narco (the boss), La Polizeta (a corrupt police officer), La Rata (a mole for law enforcement) or La Sicaria (the professional killer). There are actually some additional playbooks that have been shared beyond these, but they're from the expansion material on the CIA and beyond.

Each playbook has some custom moves, and then three Llaves (keys) to choose two from. They're tailored to the playbook; if you act in line with them, you mark experience.  The playbooks include advice on how to play the character and examples of fictional characters to draw upon. Characters get to build relationships with all the other players; these provide the impetus for much of the story; the MC will use these Enlaces as levers if the players don't. Ideally everyone will draw on these to inspire action. There's solid guidance on how to construct a relationship map, something that should be at the heart of a game.

Heat is tracked, marking the attention that law enforcement is giving your character. In a scene, the character with the highest heat will drive the reaction. 

Lifestyle is also set, and drives what cash or assets that you have available. If you can't get the money, you may need to hustle or steal, especially if you can't strain your finances enough. 

Stress is tracked; it's at the heart of the game. If you fill the track it limits how your character can respond; they're vulnerable to pressure and struggle to justify their behaviours. The only way to lose stress is to take a specific move to do so, all of which will cause a mess. Verbally abuse or shame someone, dish out a beatdown, confess your sins or lose yourself in a substance to recover; but be aware that there are consequences. You always begin a session with two of your five stress track boxes filled, so it's easy for things to escalate and for your character to become overwhelmed.

Cartel's agendas are pretty focused:

• Make the drug war seem real.
• Keep the player character's lives exciting
• Play to find out what happens

The principles are also strong (comments like this mine):

• Ground the story in Durango, Mexico
• Speak to the characters, not the players
• Make your move, but never speak its name
• Name everyone, give them drives and instincts (ie NPCs)
• Treat everyone as expendable and suspicious
• Fill the character's lives with secrets
• Make the authorities a persistent presence
• Be a fan of the PCs and their schemes
• Embrace the language of la guerra antidrogas (violence)
• Sometimes, declaim decision making (and let the dice decide)

The game makes less distinction of which MC moves are hard or soft (and explains that you can choose how this plays out). Moves include:

• Escalate a situation to violence
• Shoot someone
• Threaten someone's interests
• Disrupt someone's routine
• Offer a difficult compromise
• Turn their move back on them
• Lean on a secret
• Demand someone play their part

Although there's some overlap with other PbtA games, these are all very pointed and focused on escalating and pressuring the situation. 

The book has a good introductory section on the drugs war, combined with a strong section for the MC on how to run the game, which has an extended example. Throughout, there are sidebars which link actual events to the text described.

The book wraps with a decent index.

There is a map of Durango available separately (not sure if it comes as part of the PDF package if you get this retail) and also some really good location cards with specific moves for each. I'd recommend these if you can get hold of them.

Originally, I thought I'd never write this. I've quite often flipped and sold on delayed or poorly communicated kickstarters, but having played Cartel, I didn't want to sell this on. I knew I'd really enjoyed it. What gave the the impetus to read it was a decision to potentially run this at Revelation in February 2024. I figured that if I did that, then it would make me read it and make a decision about whether I keep the book. Having read it, I definitely want this in my library, and I'm going to run it.

In conclusion, Cartel is one of the most sharply written Powered by the Apocalypse roleplaying games I've seen; there's nothing wasted and the game is constructed to make players spark off each other and feel like they're caught up in the drugs war. The book is beautifully put together and illustrated. If your gaming table isn't afraid of some character-vs-character conflict, then this is definitely worth checking out.

But I'm still conflicted over Magpie Games and won't back another Kickstarter from them.

6 January 2024

Music in 2023

 

So this is what I played most that was released in 2023 according to iTunes (or rather the Apple Music app). As previous years, I've not managed to work out how to do this for music played in 2023, as I can't see how to filter on play count for only that year. 

I'll rank this by the highest play by album.

1. Hats Off Gentleman, It's Adequate - The Light of Ancient Mistakes

Fantastic new album, the early released songs got a lot of play. 3 tracks in top 25 for the year. Love the SF flavour, and use of the flute makes this something special.

2. Grandbrothers - Late Reflections.

Very chilled out album (the cover is Cologne Cathedral). I think I stumbled on it from a report in the Guardian. 10 tracks in top 25. It is great music to work to.

3. Andre Soueid - Echoes of the Past EP

Bizarrely, I stumbled across Andre Soueid when the local cinema played on of his tracks before a film. I loved it - the violin is fantastic in a fusion that comes towards EDM / trance. 2 in top 25.

4. Depeche Mode - Momento Mori

I still don't know what I make of this album. A single track places it in the top 25 I played (Ghosts Again) but nothing else. 

5. Steve Wilson - The Harmony Codex

A late entry in the year, I really like this album which is different in feel to Porcupine Tree. 2 tracks out of 25. I was surprised it was so high, but like it a lot.

6. Orchestra Manoeuvres in the Dark - Bahaus Staircase

Another late entry, with 5 tracks in the first 25. I have no doubt that this one will continue to rise as I love it. 

On reflection, the track count may be a more reliable measure of which releases were more popular and played for me. It's worth adding that this misses a chunk of plays when I go swimming, as I use an SD card on the headphones rather than Bluetooth from my phone.

Some good albums this last year.

2 January 2024

State of the Blog update 2023

 

Overview for the year…

I’ve posted less to the blog this year, mainly due to the end of the Curse of Strahd campaign. I also severely dropped off in the last quarter as work and life became busier. That said, the overall engagement and views on the blog are sharply up, with this year having 72.5% of the overall views I’ve had since I moved to Blogger some years ago.

Why the change?

1) Mastodon - my experience of Twitter was that it was like shouting (sometimes angrily) into the void. I’ve had much higher engagement on Mastodon, especially when I use the right hash tags (eg #ttrpg #vtt etc). I see less in the way of comments on the blog, but more in the way of responses to the shares when I toot them out. I suspect being on @dice.camp helps as well.

2) Charles Stross - when I read Season of Skulls and mentioned it in my monthly books post, Charlie boosted the toot. That drove a huge amount of traffic, with the end result that the post is the second most read overall and the most popular in 2023.

3) Reviews - I still do reviews of roleplaying books that I like, and often they’re either reasonably new, or somewhat more obscure OSR books, and just something that interests me. I don’t tend to review books I don’t like, partly because I don’t think that it’s nice to say bad things (I can get that entertainment on Bryce’s tenfootpole.org posts), but more because I don’t want to waste the time. I try and be objective and express how I feel. One of these posts will usually do between 100 to 150 views. Probably not stellar, but nice to know they get looked at.

Of course, the reason for the blog isn’t about the number of views, it’s just been a way of replacing the personal website that I have had since the dial-up days (note to self to redirect the domain from that to here) to record what’s going on. It’s just nice to see that it gets read.

This year’s top ten posts

So the top ten is half full of reviews, and then a comment piece on GM’s screens. RPGaDay2023 had three entries (game you’d like a new edition of, weirdest game played and favourite character sheet) so definitely drove traffic. Interestingly, several of that top ten have only been written recently. 

(The views on the post on GM Screens were also helped by Xaosseed sharing the post on the Shiny TTRP links post they do.)

I’ll be continuing into 2024; perhaps I’ll even get the final few posts from the old site migrated. 

What interests you that I post here?

1 January 2024

Books in 2023

2023 - 103 books!

Time for a quick overview of the books that I read in 2023. This year, I read 103 books, for a total of 27,892 pages.  If you follow me on Goodreads you'll only see 75, as that platform doesn't make it easy to add small press books like roleplaying books. I've moved all my day-to-day tracking to The Storygraph, which seems to be a better fit for me. Day-to-day tracking is right, as one of the things I've tried to do is read a little everyday, usually before bed, whatever is going on. As I type this, I've been doing that for 358-days, a habit which seems to have paid off with more books read. I've not broken 100 books since I started recording again on Goodreads in 2016.

The months I read the most both involved travel; July and August saw me away in Africa with work so several long-haul flights, and August saw me away for the family holiday in Cyprus.

Most Read Authors

My most read author was Mick Herron, as I worked through the Oxford Investigations, having finished the Slough House books in years before. That said, my highlight from him was The Secret Hours, which came out towards the end of 2023 and is, in effect, a prequel to the Slough House books.

Highest placed SF/Fantasy author was Alienate de Bodard. I finally read the Dominion of the Fallen trilogy, which was great. Bizarrely, I'd approached this from the perspective of having read several of the short stories related to it first. My favourite from her this year was The Red Scholar's Wake, and I'm happy that I've her latest sitting read to read in January.

The Modiphius 2d20 team sit high in my reading, driven by my foray into several of their game systems which I mentioned in the earlier post on Gaming in 2023.

Joe Abercrombie is in there, driven by the 'Read along with First Age' book club we had on the Tavern (which seemed to peter out in the last quarter of the year unless I missed the posts). I enjoyed the books, grim-dark though they were; I'd completely missed The First Law trilogy when it came out. I'm not certain I'll rush to read any more though, which is a similar feeling to the Hanna Jameson books. The London Underground books are brutal crime fiction, which I enjoyed but I very much need to be in the right mind to dig into. High energy, intriguing and messy, they do give a pay-off, often at the cost of reading about deeply dislikable characters.

Old favourite Ken Macleod was there again, with two books from his new Lightspeed trilogy, and a novella, The Human Front. 

I also enjoyed Charlie Stross' latest New Management book, and the third of Charles Cumming' Box 88 series. Gareth L Powell's Continuance books were great, giving me the kind of buzz I got when I first discovered Banks, MacLeod and Reynolds. I loved Nick Harkaway's Titanium Noir (which reminded me of Richard Morgan's work), and also should give a shout out for Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törz, which had me musing how to using the magic described in it in the Liminal roleplaying game, a blog post that kind of got lost in the middle of the #RPGaDay2023 frenzy.

I read 30-odd roleplaying books (and need to keep that up to make a dent in the gaming reading pile), but always find that the rules books take me much longer to read. Graphic novels were significantly down; although I did finish the year with finally reading The Umbrella Academy. 

I've also built a habit of listening to more factual and political books when travelling to the various offices and sites that I work up. As most of these journeys involve more than 4 hours in the car return, that's a great opportunity to dig into a selection from Audible. I find it easier to listen to some of these books than read them. Katie Mack's The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking) was my favourite of these.

Overall, a good year for reading. I did let myself down at the back end of the year on my monthly blog entries on what I enjoyed, so I'll try to get into that rhythm going forward.

1 January 2024