C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 43

Star Quest: All That Remains by Patricia Macomber review

    STAR QUEST: ALL THAT REMAINS is the second book in the STAR QUEST series by Patricia Lee Macomber. The Star Quest series is a idealized Star Trek-esque space opera about the first human interstellar starship. It is sent out into the Great Beyond after mankind barely manages to repel an alien invasion. It has a ANOTHER LIFE and STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE-esque feel, though far more entertaining than both are for me.

    Captain Hunter and the crew of the Endeavor are really good Federation-esque ci...

The Skald's Black Verse by Jordan Loyal Short review

     THE SKALD'S BLACK VERSE by Jordan Loyal Short is a science-fiction fantasy novel that takes place on an isolated world at the heart of a vast interstellar empire. The planet was conquered long ago and has been ground down to a Medieval subsistence. However, with a looming natural disaster, the seeds of rebellion are planted that are aided by mysterious supernatural forces.
    The world-building of this book is something that I really enjoyed. The village of Skolja is a Viking-themed M...

Watchmen HBO vs. Watchmen the comic regarding race

Warning - This post will contain spoilers for the Watchmen HBO series.

    I'm presently tinkering with a blog post about the WATCHMEN series vs. the original. Unfortunately, my inner academic is interfering. Rather than talk about the show its ending up discussing the fact Alan Moore created a world where superheroes and vigilantism is fundamentally silly thing that white people engage in.

    There's not many black people in Watchmen (aside from the psychologist) because Alan Moore draws associa...

Mafia II: Definitive Edition review

    Mafia II is one of my picks for all-time best story of any video game ever. The other picks are well-known ones like Red Dead Redemption, Deus Ex, and Grand Theft Auto IV. Mafia II never achieved those kind of heights but I think it is one of those rare video games that would work every bit as well as a movie as it would as a video game. While there are plenty of those games, Uncharted and Tomb Raider come to mind, they tend to be action-orientated genre pieces. This is the rare game that fu...

Mafia III: Definitive Edition review

    I was one of the early purchasers of Mafia III and I had a set of mixed feelings about it that could be summarized as: "I love this game but it crashed to the point I could not complete it." That is a pretty heavy criticism for me to lay on a game. The story was magnificent, the characters entertaining, and the soundtrack was so great that I burned myself a CD of its classic Sixties hits. Unfortunately, the frame-rate drops and bugs were nasty to the point that I had to quit. There was also ...

Peace Talks (Dresden Files #16) by Jim Butcher review

    I am one of Jim Butcher's biggest fans. Indeed, I did a massive re-read of his DRESDEN FILES books on RPG.net and was briefly a beta-reader before I had to drop out due to my father's death (that was a bad year for me). Still, I have waited for baited breath and great anticipation for the next installment of the adventures of Harry Dresden, Wizard for Hire. Was the book worth the wait? Yes and no but mostly yes.

    Harry Dresden is one of the biggest influences on my writing career an...

Ten Tips to running the Tremere in V5

V5 Chronicle Tips

1. Ten Tips to Running the Anarchs in V52. Ten Tips to Running the Second Inquisition in V5
3. Ten Tips to Running the Sabbat in V5
4. Ten Chronicles for Sabbat PCs in V5
5. Ten Tips to Running the Camarilla in V5
6. Ten Tips to Running the Thin-Bloods in V5
7. Ten Tips to Running the Tremere in V5

Hey folks,

    These articles on how to run the changes to major characters and factions in V5 are proving to be some of my most-loved blog articles. As such, I've decided to continue them ...

The Last of Us 2: Revenge, Redemption, and Regret in the Other Mushroom Kingdom

    THE LAST OF US 2 is a controversial game to say the least. I already did a review for Grimdark Magazine and gave it a nine out of ten. So, you can guess that I have a genuinely high opinion of the subject. However, it is a game that is controversial for a reason. People develop parasocial relationships with fictional characters and this game takes advantage of that to maximum effect. Because I've already reviewed the game in basic, this will discuss more detailed elements of the plot. S...

An Excerpt from THE HORROR OF SUPERVILLAINY

I thought I'd share some of what I've been working on:


"Hold on, I need to upload this to CrimeTube," I said, taking a brief moment to turn my cellphone around. "Wassup, Crimetubers! It's the Supervillain without Mercy, Grandmaster M, Merciless with the less-ness! I just hooked up with my main gal here, Weredeer, and we just trounced a zombie version of Ultragod from another dimension!"
Jane blinked. "Please don't say we hooked up. Ever. Also, I'm pretty sure that's no way anyone over thirty shoul...

Ten Tips for running Thin-Bloods in V5

V5 Chronicle Tips

1. Ten Tips to Running the Anarchs in V52. Ten Tips to Running the Second Inquisition in V5
3. Ten Tips to Running the Sabbat in V5
4. Ten Chronicles for Sabbat PCs in V5
5. Ten Tips to Running the Camarilla in V5
6. Ten Tips to Running the Thin-Bloods in V5

    Hey folks, I'm pleased to say I'm returning to these Top Ten Lists now that I've managed to get some more work done on my recent novels. I encourage people to check out the omnibus of my Red Room series that was just released...