Another book with System quests (called “tasks” here). I do not like them. They are too directly manipulative or too trivial. Our intrepid hero (from Proving Grounds: Annals of the Runeguard Book 1) is being targeted by a group of thieves. After some escalation, they kill the blacksmith (Gorman) making him armor and steal it.Continue reading “Yeah, No Quests”
Author Archives: Mark
User Pacification Dots
Back in the day, one would type a command into a computer at a prompt and press enter. When that command was complete, the prompt would reappear, awaiting the next command. Sometimes, things would get stuck and the command would not complete. Sometimes, a user would get impatient waiting for a command to complete. TheContinue reading “User Pacification Dots”
Dystopias
Like them I do not. That’s my biggest issue with Dungeon Crawler Carl (once it gets going and stops info-dumping). I just tried to read Apocalypse Eater. It’s a bit unfair to the author, but I only made it to page 2. The universe is awful enough that I don’t want to know any moreContinue reading “Dystopias”
My Competition 4
This one is aspirational. Wormhole Mana is good (at least book one; I just started book two). In no particular order… It’s tight third person. There are internal monologues in first person of the character monologuing. It’s all very obvious. No weird point-of-view changes. There is incremental “what’s going on?” as the magic system isContinue reading “My Competition 4”
Who’s Responsible?
I really, really like black-and-white morality in my fiction. Unfortunately, that makes for unrealistic (and often dull) stories. A reasonable current events example is Iran. One of the problems with decapitation is that when you kill those responsible, who’s left to make decisions? Iran as a state cannot surrender because there is no one whoContinue reading “Who’s Responsible?”
Impulsive Anger
I’ve finally figured out what irritates me so much about Cultivation books: The cultivators spend so much time, effort, and pain doing all sorts of complicated techniques to grow stronger, but as soon they feel insulted – legitimately or not – all that discipline flies out the window and they fly into an impulsive rage.Continue reading “Impulsive Anger”
OK, Boomer
What Grocery Stores Lost When They Ditched the 1970s Layout contains a lot of interesting factibbles. It also contains a lot of opinions. This quote needed some trimming. It’s section 6. Ask anyone who grew up shopping with their parents in the 1970s about the deli counter and you’ll usually get a smile before theContinue reading “OK, Boomer”
Justification
Humans are really good at justifying themselves – especially to their own self. We all do it. The one that drives me nuts is “if I don’t kill this guy, my kid will suffer.” That’s all well and good when “this guy” is a knife-wielding maniac attacking your kid. It’s more than a bit differentContinue reading “Justification”
When Would You Pick?
If you were to die today and were offered the chance to be injected into your own mind at any point in your life’s timeline, when would you pick? Before you had your children? For me, that one’s easy because I don’t have children. Chances are very high that, even if you try to avoidContinue reading “When Would You Pick?”
Obstacles
A story is basically a description of how the intrepid hero overcomes the obstacles between him and his goal. I have not been explicitly writing down the obstacles. That shall change. In my OutlineThingy document, I have the cross-chapter arcs and the chapter goals. I have not written down the obstacle. I will now toContinue reading “Obstacles”
