C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 9

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,...

Abigail (2024) review

    ABIGAIL is a 2024 movie that, unfortunately, blows its chief surprise in the trailer and it is something that I can't imagine would be kept under wraps for the majority of audiences but would improve the film tremendously if you don't know it. It's still worth seeing if you have been spoiled and I had a lot of fun knowing the "twist" from the beginning but my nieces, who didn't know, had their enjoyment magnified a huge amount. So, if possible, read this review and take friends to see this m...

It's okay to like grimdark or "I am a Nineties Edgelord"

 
    I am a Nineties Edgelord.

    This is something that I came to a recent realization about but was probably pretty obvious to everyone in my circles of fandom, review-dom, and authord-om for decades now. Being a Nineties Edgelord, I was absolutely into the Old World of Darkness tabletop games, heavy metal, horror films, and would have been a Goth if I could have pulled off the look. Also, being a Nineties Edgelord means that I’m forty-three in 2024 and am the kind of person who tells kids to ...

Song of Carcosa by Josh Reynolds review

    SONG OF CARCOSA is the third of the Countess Zorzi series by Josh Reynolds. I’m a huge fan of these books and their Catwoman-esque protagonist. The Countess is a multi-dimensional protagonist who straddles the line between the upper class of the 1920s as well as the increasing social tensions of the working class. She’s an ex-con woman and cat burglar but has made her fortune through multiple generations of her family being very good at both. It makes a fascinating sort of character t...