C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 8

The Eldritch New Adventures of Becky Sharp by Micah S. Harris

    THE ELDRITCH NEW ADVENTURES OF BECKY SHARP by Micah S. Harris is a peculiar example of a novel, starring the villainous co-lead of VANITY FAIR as she's granted immortality by the forces of the Cthulhu Mythos then put through a variety of oddball adventures that roughly resemble A LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMAN. This despite, or perhaps because, she is one of the most selfish and self-absorbed antiheroines in English literature. It's a bit like PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES or Phillip J...

House of the Dragon 2x05 "Regent" review

    HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 2x5 "Regent" is an interesting contrast to "The Red Dragon and the Gold" because one of the objectively best episodes of the season is followed by one of the worst. Unfortunately, this episode suffers not only from dramatically slowing down the pace of the previous episode but also meanders in character development as well as world-building.

    One of the things I was worried about with the racing through of the plotlines of the Dance of the Dragon's backstory for Season ...

Tales of an Eldritch Wasteland coming out on July 23rd!

Hey folks,

A lot of interesting news this month with the release of TALES OF AN ELDRITCH WASTELAND happening on July 23rd. This is the fourth volume of the CTHULHU ARMAGEDDON series that will be finishing later this year with the fifth volume, CTHULHU'S CANYON.

Tales of an Eldritch Wasteland is a collection of the various short stories and novellas I've written for the Cthulhu Mythos over the years, including several important ones for understanding the main series. Mostly, they've been divided o...

He Who Fights With Monsters by Shirtaloon review

    HE WHO FIGHTS WITH MONSTERS by Shirtaloon is the archetypal LitRPG story. It is the story of a geeky young man being transported who dies in a sort of accident and gets deposited inside a fantasy world that operates on the rules of a tabletop RPG. From there, he begins an extended campaign to level up his abilities, accumulate treasure, and stick it to every authority figure while making pop culture references that his fantasy companions are deeply confused by. That description will more or ...

House of the Dragon 2x4 "The Red Dragon and the Gold" review

    HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 2x04 "THE RED DRAGON AND THE GOLD" is an answer to every fan who complained about House of the Dragon being too slow. It finally has one of those glorious battles between dragons that has been promised since Season One. There's going to be some complaints from the fans about tactics, undoubtedly, and how some of the scenes don't make too much sense but I am overall satisfied with the results. A lot of things change on the game board of thrones and we sadly lose a characte...

Lair of the Crystal Fang by S.A. Sidor review

    LAIR OF THE CRYSTAL FANG by S.A. Sidor is the third book in his "Andy Van Nortwick" trilogy with THE LAST RITUAL and CULT OF THE SPIDER-QUEEN. It takes the story back to Arkham, Massachusetts after the events of the Spider Queen novel and proceeds to follow up on several of the characters. It also makes use of several characters from the board game, which I always enjoy. 

    The premise of the books is a fairly simple one with a serial killing operating in Arkham, much to the show and horror...

House of the Dragon 2x3 "The Burning Mill"

    HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 2x3 "THE BURNING MILL" is the third episode of the second season. As a huge fan of Game of Thrones, I've always viewed this series as something of an apology tour for the franchise after the events of season eight. That may not be fair to the actors and production status but it seems like it exists in large part to win back over the once-massive fandom that felt betrayed by the ending. Sometimes its very good at this and sometimes it's very bad.

    With the death of Princ...

House of the Dragon 2x2 "Rhaenyra the Cruel"

 
    HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 2x2 "Rhaenyra the Cruel" is the second episode of the second season of HBO's extended apology for the final season of GAME OF THRONES. Ha-ha. Just kidding, except not. Overall, I was a big fan of the first season but I feel like the two year wait on the follow up killed a lot of forward momentum that the series had been accumulating and this is from a guy with a Targaryen wallet. Still, the first episode was gutsy enough to kill a toddler and I was invested enough to be ...

101+ A Song of Ice and Fire RPG adventure hooks

1. The player characters are informed that an entire noble household has died out and they have been willed their keep, lands, and title. What is the cause? Plague? Feud? Murder? Just outrageous misfortune? Is the land a disaster or disturbingly well-off?

2. The player characters are approached with a marriage offer from a nearby house. The prospective spouse comes with an ample dowry and is not uncomly. So, what's wrong with them? Horrible temperament? Heathen religious beliefs? Dishonored virtu...

House of the Dragon 2x1 "A Son for a Son" review

    HOUSE OF THE DRAGON 2×1 “A Son for A Son” is the season premiere of the second season of House of the Dragon. While a big supporter of this series and a believer that it has done a lot to wipe the sour taste of Game of Thrones’ season eight from viewers’ mouths, I have a lot of criticisms of season one. Simply put, the ten episodes jumped around one way too much and at least two seasons of story were crammed into one season in hopes of getting to the “good stuff” faster. Unfortunately,...