C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 16

Ten Recommended New Cthulhu Mythos Novels

    Howard Phillips Lovecraft remains one of the more controversial yet influential genre writers of the early 20th century. A man like his friend and contemporary, Robert E. Howard, who has stood the test of time. His creations in the Great Old Ones, Necronomicon, Nyarlathotep, and Deep Ones have resonated with generations of readers.

    Perhaps his most admirable quality as a writer was the fact that he was never afraid to let anyone play with his toys. An early advocate of what we’d now...

The Verdant Passage (The Prism Pentad #1) by Troy Denning

    THE VERDANT PASSAGE by Troy Denning is the first installment of the Prism Pentad series for the now-defunct DARK SUN campaign setting for TSR (later Wizards of the Coast). The premise was that it was meant to be a blasted arid wasteland where magic has destroyed the world that was half-planetary romance as well as half-Mad Max. It was a post-apocalypse setting that had a strong influence on my CTHULHU ARMAGEDDON series and still holds an important place in my heart.

    The book is fai...

101+ Dark Sun adventure hooks

101+ Dungeons and Dragons headcanon 101+ Planescape adventure hooks101+ Dark Sun adventure hooks

    Dark Sun is a deeply underappreciated gameline and the fact that Hasbro has decided not to continue the setting is a great disappointment. It was a planetary romance akin to Barsoom at its most beautiful and like Mad Max at its worst. It's a post-apocalypse setting where the world has been ravaged by destructive magic and ruled by evil sorcerer kings. There are no gods because they are either dead...

101+ Planescape Adventure Hooks

101+ Dungeons and Dragons headcanon 101+ Planescape adventure hooks101+ Dark Sun adventure hooks

    I'm a huge Planescape fan but coming up with adventures for it has always been something of a pain in the ass. So I decided to try to make a bunch of ideas for the setting, berk. If you have the time, feel free to add your own or give any feedback!

1. A young girl is kidnapped by a group of magically grafted individuals and the player characters are hired to get her back. They actually are f...

101 Planescape Adventure Hooks

I'm a huge Planescape fan but coming up with adventures for it has always been something of a pain in the ass. So I decided to try to make a bunch of ideas for the setting, berk. If you have the time, feel free to add your own or give any feedback!

1. A young girl is kidnapped by a group of magically grafted individuals and the player characters are hired to get her back. They actually are from a world where psionics and artificers reign and are collecting her as "spare parts" for their a...

Ten Recommended Ravenloft Novels

Ravenloft remains one of the greatest of Dungeons and Dragons settings. The original module written by Laura and Tracy Hickman was the first real stepping out of the game’s comfort zone and has made Barovia remained a popular campaign setting ever with Curse of Strahd being arguably the most popular 5th Edition product since unless we’re counting Critical Role’s Tal’Dorei as a whole.

Ravenloft wasn’t just limited to the domain of Strahd Von Zarovich, tho...

Baldur's Gate 3 review

“Not quite as amazing as reviewers claim. Still, a fantastic RPG and a nostalgia trip for Dungeons and Dragons kids of the Nineties.”

    I explained to my niece that Baldur’s Gate was a generational game. Baldur’s Gate 2: Shadow of Amn was created in 2000 when I was her age. The Enhanced Edition updated the original classic game and Siege of Dragonspear added an interquel in 2016. However, creating a full-fledged sequel to a twenty-year-old game was something that I thought was a risk even wi...

Series Retrospective: The Prism Pentad by Troy Denning review

Magic…Magic Never Changes.

Warning – This article will include spoilers for The Verdant Passage.

    Growing up in the Nineties, I think I read something akin to two hundred Dungeons and Dragons novels produced by TSR. If that sounds like an excessive or unlikely number, I should note there’s over one hundred and ninety Dragonlance novels alone and that doesn’t include four hundred Forgotten Realms novels or twenty-two Ravenloft ones.

    No, I didn’t read anywhere near all of them but it wa...

Moon Cops on the Moon is now available on Kindle

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Robocop: Rogue City review

    ROBOCOP: ROGUE CITY is a first-person shooter developed by Teyon and published by Nacon. It also stars Peter Weller, the original Robocop, as the titular character. As the resident cyberpunk junkie of the site as well as a longtime fan of the franchise, this was obviously going to be a day one purchase for me. However, it came with the sweeping sense of dread that can only come from the fact that Robocop has a history of truly awful sequels and bad adaptations. 

    There's just not that many...