Currently rereading The Exiled Queen, the second in Cinda Williams Chima’s Seven Realms series (one of my favorites). I read the first just before Christmas, then took a detour to read one of my Christmas presents - Symphony of the Sojourn by Rowan Alexandria Bennett, which I positively adored. It’s been a really good few weeks of reading, and I’m looking forward to continuing the Seven Realms, and then the follow up series - The Shattered Realms - after that.

My reading goal for the year is to actually track the books I read, so I can look back at the end of the year and actually remember what I read. I’ve downloaded the StoryGraph app to that end, now I just have to remember to use it…

If you wanted to allow customization but without user accounts, you could just store all that data in a cookie on the user’s machine. Just make sure you put clear warnings about how the data is stored and what will be gone if they delete the cookie

Stunning! Well done!

How do you feel about it? Was it a fun project? Are you excited to have it finished, or sad to be done?

I finished up Terry Pratchett’s Equal Rights the other day, and have moved on to Mort. As much as I enjoyed Equal Rights,I think Mort takes the title of my favorite so far. Lots to read yet, though, so we’ll see if it gets displaced

If you want something simple, you could try Peril in Pinebrook. It was designed to be used in schools to teach kids to play. It uses a much simplified set of rules and pre-generated characters. I’m going to be using it with my family in a few weeks

Since I didn’t really have time to play D&D right now, I finally decided it was time to dig into Baldur’s Gate, so I’m continuing my foray through that. I’m thoroughly enjoying it. Oh, and to be clear, in talking about Baldur’s Gate 1: Enhanced Edition.

5e is fantastic. It presents the standard combat-centric D&D rules, and provides a lot of freedom for players and DMs to fill in whatever rules they find most enjoyable.

Levels 1-3 are designed for the express purpose of onboarding new players, so complaining that it doesn’t fully represent D&D, is pretty silly - it’s supposed to be simplified.

I will agree with the facts behind your comments on the skill system, if not the exaggerations. I would prefer a looser system, akin to those from Fate, Cypher or Daggerheart, to allow for more creative freedom.

D&D doesn’t suck - it’s a combat centric system, as it always has been.

I have finally committed. I’ve started Sir Terry Pratchett’s Disc World, starting with the Color of Magic, and I intend to proceed by publication order. We’ll see how long this one takes to finish. 😛

From my understanding, hall effect sticks won’t work in switch 2 joycons, due to magnetic interference from the attachment mechanism. Instead, they would need something else - I hear TMR would be resistant to the magnetic interference.

Nook Glowlight 3, which I’ve had since release in 2017

I had such high hopes for Barnes and Noble’s e-readers - they were super well positioned to dominate the market, but instead decided to make half-assed tablets. It was soul crushing

I just finished Rich Riordan’s Daughter of the Deep - it was really enjoyable. While I doubt the twist is super hard to predict if you try, it really caught me off guard.

I’m about to start the second book in Cinda Williams Chima’s Runestone Saga, Bane of Asgard. I really loved the first one, and am quite excited to dig into the next.

Daughter of the Deep by Rick Riordan. I’ve read most of Riordan’s other books (really need to catch up on the last few Percy Jackson related books), and I’m always head over heels for the way he takes existing myth and recasts it into a fun story that still plumbs the depths of the source material. This one is essentially “unknown to the wider world, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was based on actual events; what is the fall out of that today?” I’ve never read 20,000 Leagues, but I might have to do so after I finish this.

Yeah, me too. To make things worse, I had it spilled for me by accident. I went 5 years without spoilers, but as I was starting the book I decided to look at what was happening with next books, and someone in the comments of the thread I found was grumbling and just dropped that fact. I was quite distraught.

I just finished Battle Ground by Jim Butcher - the latest of the Dresden Files. It was my first read of it, and wow was it a doozy. I really enjoyed it, but it’s probably going to take me a few days to really digest it all.

I’m thinking my next book will be Children of Ragnarok, by Cinda Williams Chima. It’s the first in a new series from an author I’ve been reading for quite a while. I really enjoyed her previous YA fantasy series - the Heir Chronicles, the Seven Realms and the Shattered Realms - and I’m pretty excited to get into yet another one.

I’m still pushing through Legends: Arceus. I’ve just dealt with the frenzied Kleavor, and have been exploring some of the edges of the Obsidian Fieldlands. The level jump in some of those areas really caught me off guard. I’m really enjoying the exploration, though.

Thanks for reminding me of this one. It was a really good read.

I’ve finally started Pokemon Legends: Arceus, and I’m really enjoying it. It’s a fun take on the standard Pokemon game, and I’m excited to see where it goes. I’ve almost completed the Scarlet DLC (just need 2 more group BBQs and the related legendaries), and I’ve been enjoying a bit of shiny hunting there, which isn’t something I’ve ever enjoyed in the past. I hear it’s even more fun in Legends: Arceus, which is very exciting.

Working in putting together my Pokemon Scarlet living dex, sans Violet exclusive singletons. I’m pretty close - need to nab another color of Minor and a couple pokemon that are genderless, and thus not breedable. I also have to complete some more group BBQs, for those legendaries. I’m deviating a bit to put together a couple of raiders to take on Mightiest Tyranitar, first, though.

IIRC, you don’t even need to look up a brail alphabet - the game lays it out for you in one of the ruins

It’s definitely one of my favorites in the series (I think my absolute favorite thus far has to go to Dead Beat), but it’s also really intense - pretty much non-stop adrenaline through the whole book. I hope you enjoy it!