They are apparently open to the public, so you can vote even if you’re not attending in September.
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Sigh
I do wish I was reading more. The Three Body Problem has been sitting on my shelf untouched since I got it, and I have the full Expanse series on hold.
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Me too. I am currently reading some older stuff I hadn’t had time to while I was in course work. I’m rounding the bend on the Barque cycles by Stephenson. I do think I’ll pick up the Charlie Jane Anders book next and then work through the Pratchett/Baxter series… None of which were nominated, though.
but yeah, I do want to read the 3 Body Problem, too.
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it doesn’t help me that I look at this text off and on all day and pick up a book and go ugh more text… as well as having a pile next to my bed of stuff I have purchased but yet to read.
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I found it a bit of a slog. Maybe it was the translation, but I just didn’t enjoy it much.
IIRC, @enso didn’t much like it.
As mentioned elsewhere… meh. First one was okay, but didn’t really go anywhere. Second one was more of the same, but worse and I gave up there.
I put TBP down 75% read. I just couldn’t finish it.
Limp plot. Basically, the characters and plot are an excuse for world building, instead of the other way around.
No one is every really in jeopardy. There are no real stakes.
How good is it? 
It starts slowly but by the end I was horribly disappointed that it was finished.
These, I unfortunately didn’t find to be very Pratchetty…they’re decent, but almost more speculative travel writing, which is entertaining reading but definitely light on plot.
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Well you beat me as soon as you got past cracking it open.
What went wrong with it?
It felt like I was reading a novel pretending to be a science fiction novel. As I recall, it just became too divorced from reality halfway through or so for me.
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Sounds like a lot of Jules Verne’s work then which can get tedious if it isn’t your thing.
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Ah! Something Literary rather than the undistinguished ranks of … genre… fiction.
No, that would have been ok. More like a science fiction novel that blows my suspension of disbelief about its “science.” Off the rails even.
This wasn’t Margaret Atwood.
Holy shit, a novel based in the traveler universe is on the list? That’s like Ed Greenwood or something making the list.
And speaking of TTRPGs, you have my two favorite core systems competing in systems I don’t prefer them used in. Then again, it’d be hard to give The Burning Wheel more praise and Mythras is really just a rerelease of RuneQuest 6.
I’m also sad that Betrayal at the House on the Hill Widow’s Peak expansion didn’t make the board game category, though they have been tight lipped about its contents.
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Burning Wheel: so big and complex, I’ve never taken the time to figure it out.
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It’s good. It’s rooted in history, so I appreciate that. He includes nice little historical details, the changes to London over time, the role of sugar in daily life, changes to the economy due to the struggle between Britain and France. And he does this without abandoning the characters. [quote=“adonai, post:7, topic:83374”]
These, I unfortunately didn’t find to be very Pratchetty…they’re decent, but almost more speculative travel writing, which is entertaining reading but definitely light on plot.
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I’ll get around to them eventually and see how I like them.
The Burning Wheel isn’t so bad. Most hardcore dungeon crawlers are much thicker - they just take less player investment. It’s still one of the few games that can facilitate tense social interaction as well as exciting combat without relying on the player’s ability to roleplay alone.
I’ve tried to convince my group to try it but we generally fall back on FATE and Apocalypse World derivatives. We tend to be narrative focused and not go for crunchier systems.
That’s the thing, Luke Crane worked right alongside the Forge guys making games like AW. It’s just a system that has grown to cover just about any story complication. Burning Wheel is a fiction first narative game, it’s just not light weight.
I personally like RuneQuest 6 which is being reprinted with the Glorantha stuff cut and some of the supplements folded in under the name Mythras. They’ve released the free version and it is pared down much like FATE Accelerated - the entire pdf is like 34 pages. I like it because it focuses on developing a character organically, includes story-focused elements, and still has very intense and tactically satisfying combat.
I’m aware. I’ve heard the interviews. I’ve interacted with him a little (he’s kind of a dick, actually). I backed the new codex even. It is just a lot of book to convince people to get into with no major incentive (for my group). Mouseguard, which is a much lighter version of the same thing, is frankly more likely to happen.
My group is very much (and identifies mostly as such) a “story games” group. We were persuaded by a passionate member to start a D&D 5E game, which has been going well though.
We’ve been playing some Deadlands Reloaded too and I must say that I think Savage Worlds kind of sucks.
I wish there was an updated Stormbringer, personally.
I’ll have to look at RuneQuest 6.
I’ve heard that before. The only designer I’ve met was Sage LeTora and he was pretty chill. I think Torchbearer is supposed to be a lighter weight Burning Wheel too.
I really like 5e, I have a Curse of Strahd game going right now.
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