Posts Tagged ‘Games’

Halloween Horror: Scottish Oil Rig Horror Game

Tuesday, October 15th, 2024

As I may have mentioned before, I don’t tend to play horror video games, despite reading horror, because I don’t care for some tropes of the genre that appear in almost every game (path dependency and jump scares being two), but I do enjoy watching Daz Games play them, since he freaks out enjoyably at some scenes.

This time around he’s playing Still Wakes The Deep, a horror game set on a Scottish oil rig in the North Sea that manages to dredge up something horrifically eldritch. Though the path dependency is there, the game has two big things going for it: Superb voice acting for well-realized characters and a really detailed, immersive setting of a working oil rig that provides a lot of other dangers in addition to the monster.

Library Additions: Several Jack Vance Items

Monday, October 16th, 2023

A private collector downsizing his library sold me some of his books, most of which was for Lame Excuse Books stock (hopefully that catalog will be out near the end of November), but there were a few things I found to add to my own collection.

  • Vance, Jack. Night Lamp. Tor, 1996. First edition hardback (precedes the Underwood Books edition), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, signed by Vance. This is one of the rare cases where adding a new book will actually free up some space in my library, as this volume will replace both a Fine unsigned copy I’ve already read, and a signed copy with a remainder mark, both of which should show up in the next Lame Excuse Books catalog. Cunningham, 61a. Supplements the Underwood Books limited edition. [Edited to add: I misremembered: It’s Lurulu I have the signed, remainder-marked copy of. But I’ll still have two firsts of Night Lamp, one signed, in the next catalog.]

  • (Vance, Jack) Laws, Robin D. The Kaain Player’s Guide: A Supplement for the Dying Earth RPG. Pelgrane Press, 2002. First edition (“First printing June 2002”) trade paperback original, a Fine copy. Supplement for the Dying Earth RPG. My role-playing game days are long behind me, and I haven’t really made a point of picking up RPG stuff for authors I collect, but this was cheap, and I have some books from the Amber Diceless RPG I haven’t cataloged yet from the last Bob Pylant purchase. Now I just need to find a place to put them…

  • (Vance, Jack) Parmentier, Gregg. The Vance Phile issues 1 through 6. First edition center-stapled fanzine originals, each #5 of 30 copies, signed by Parmentier (and sometimes other contributors), each a Fine copy. Fanzines full of interesting articles from Vance fans, from reprints of rare Vance works to a lot of bibliographic updates (include some from Jerry Hewett to his Vance bibliography). Strangely, I’ve been on a private Vance collector’s list with Gregg for decades now, but I believe I started getting those only after his period of publishing these, so I never heard about it. There was evidently an Issue 7 I’m still trying to track down a print copy of. I seem to be picking up quite a number of Vance fanzines this year. (See here.)

  • Library Addition: Holkins & Krahulik’s Lexcalibur

    Wednesday, June 27th, 2018

    Saw this mentioned on Penny Arcade and immediately decided to order a copy. Good thing, since it was sold out by the next time they posted…

    Holkins, Jerry and Mike Krahulik. Lexcalibur: Useful Poetry for Adventurers Above And Below The World. Penny Arcade, 2017 (actually 2018). First edition hardback (“First Printing. November 2017. Printed in China.”), a Fine copy in a Fine dust jacket, new and unread, with additional “Table of Malcontents” poem on bookmark laid in. Fantasy-gaming themed humorous poetry. Not actually offered for sale until May 2018.

    PAX Coming to San Antonio in January 2015

    Saturday, April 12th, 2014

    Penny Arcade Expo is coming to San Antonio January 23-25, 2015. No venue was announced, but I can’t imagine they can hold that monster in anything smaller than the convention center, since PAX Prime in Seattle has drawn as many as 70,000 participants.

    This is what they call “a big deal.” And unlike Worldcon, expect most of the attendees to be under 30 rather than over 50…

    They’re Dogs! And They’re Playing…Magic?

    Sunday, November 17th, 2013

    I don’t back that many Kickstarters, but this one is tempting, especially since I do like the iconic work of Cassius Marcellus Coolidge, and appreciate the conniptions he induces in the Art Police.

    The problem is, I’ve never played Magic: The Gathering. But I bet there are enough people out there who have to make this Kickstarter, which is currently 30% away from their $1,000 goal.

    (Hat tip: Moe Lane.)

    Ogre KickStarter Update

    Friday, May 11th, 2012

    The funding period ending for the designer edition of Ogre I previously mentioned.

    The total amount raised:

    I would imagine that Steve is a very happy camper right now, especially considering that the original goal was $20,000…