dragoness_e | Reading

Another two fantasy bundles, this time the venerable Tunnels and Trolls, the second fantasy RPG. These offers are being repeated now to publicise a kickstarter for a new version of the game - Tunnels & Trolls A New Age. I'm slightly sceptical about the need for a new version, which allegedly isn't going to be very compatible with the old rules, but what do I know...

TUNNELS & TROLLS BUNDLE (originally published September 2018)
https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Tunnels2026

T&T ADVENTURES (originally published June 2021, formerly titled "Tunnels & Trolls 2"
https://bundleofholding.com/presents/TunnelsAdventures

When these were first on offer I said (of the game)

I only played T&T a couple of times, since everyone I knew was using D&D, but it does have a lot going for it if you want a fantasy system with an emphasis on dungeon-bashing and don't mind its sense of humour. It works reasonably well, it's a fairly streamlined system that can be picked up fairly easily, and it only uses six-sided dice, always a hit with those who don't like endless confusing polyhedra. It isn't really my preferred style of gaming any more, but for those who do like this sort of thing there's a lot for your money, and some good stuff in the bundle and available on line for the system.

and of the adventures

...it's a little dated by modern standards. Having said that, it's still a fun and easy to use system, and if you want a game where you can get a character created and start playing quickly it's still a good choice.

Still annoyed that my favourite T&T adventure, Rat on a Stick, has never made it to these offers, but it was an independent production from Judges Guild and appears to be unavailable. The only dungeon-delving adventure where the first choice is whether to kill the inhabitants or start a fast-food franchise and sell "ratsonastick! They're luvverly" to the monsters... but I digress. If you're interested in the slightly jokey "everything is a trap or a monster" style of play and don't already own a lot of this stuff it's probably something worth considering, if you don't already own it all. And if you're a T&T player it's worth checking to see if these offers can fill gaps in your collection.

Since all of this material has been available as PDFS for several years now I'd better add that if you already own a lot of it you way want to think about just buying the bits you don't have before going for the bundles - cherry picking may be the cheaper option.

james_davis_nicoll

The 2015 DELUXE rulebook plus many solitaire and gamemaster adventures. First of two T&T Bundles.

Bundle of Holding: Tunnels & Trolls (from 2018)

AND

Eighteen Tunnels & Trolls solo modules plus five GM adventures. Second of two offers.

Bundle of Holding: T&T Adventures (From 2021)

starspray

Fandom: Tolkien
Rating: T
Characters: Sons of Feanor, Elrond, Feanor, Daeron, various others
Warnings: n/a
Summary: After years in Lórien, Maglor and Maedhros are ready to return to their family and to make something new with their lives--but to move forward, all of Fëanor's sons must decide how, or if, they can ever reconcile with their father.
Note: This fic is a direct sequel to High in the Clean Blue Air.

Prologue / Previous Chapter / Next Chapter

( Read more... )

Current Mood: calm
Current Music: Storm Comin' - The Wailin' Jennys

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/31/the-big-idea-annye-driscoll-2/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59922

Feeling crafty? Cosplayer and author Annye Driscoll has got you covered, with their newest book showing you how to work with pretty much every material you could ever hope to sew. Grab a thimble and check out the Big Idea for Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fabrics & Unconventional Materials.

ANNYE DRISCOLL:

“Can you expand it to include… everything?”

Ominous words from my editor that led to the biggest and best thing I’ve ever made.

(And I’ve made some really cool stuff! Including a six-foot-long hot dog on a fork and a suit of armor for a spider.)

When I pitched what would become my third book, I called it “Sewing with Difficult Fabrics” and it was targeted firmly at the cosplay sewist. Sequins, faux leather, plastic fur—these are the weirdo kinds of materials that costumers struggle with, but that the average sewist will use very rarely. My goal was to help my fellow weird-thing-makers!

When I’m not an author and cosplayer, I’m a software developer. I’m very familiar with scope creep: when the project expands and expands and balloons out of control. I’m comfortable with my boundaries and I have no issue pointing out and turning down scope creep, when I need to.

With Fabrics, what happened wasn’t so much scope creep as…scope jump scare. Scope avalanche. My editor saw my outline, added a few things that fit the theme, and then added basically everything else. She liked the concept of the book and my previous work, and thought we had a chance to make something big, comprehensive, and seriously cool.

The resulting book is a literal encyclopedia: Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fabrics & Unconventional Materials. I researched, practiced with, and then explained how to work with over a hundred kinds of fabric, and then added in some weird materials for the costumers. (Like paper! A surprisingly satisfying material to sew with.)

(And, although I want to boast, there’s no way to say something like “it includes every kind of fabric.” Fiber arts are literally thousands of years old; there are—and have been—thousands of variations of fabrics and textiles.)

I got confused a lot. Did you know that sometimes two-way and four-way stretch fabrics are referred to as “one-way” and “two-way” fabrics? So if you’re trying to buy a two-way fabric, you may see it labeled as “two-way” or “one-way”.

And oh my gosh, the language differences. What I in the United States call a muslin—a practice piece for a future project—is actually a type of fabric in British English. A muslin is also often referred to as a toile… which is a second, completely different kind of fabric. I had to decide, at one point, that I was writing the book from my own, American English perspective, and that I’d just do what I could to anticipate and reduce confusion.

All that to say: writing an encyclopedia was really hard. It was, by far, the hardest I’ve ever worked on a single project. Over 500 of my own photographs are in the book. I messaged, wooed, and profoundly thanked a little over fifty guest makers (imagine wrangling release signatures out of fifty artsy-fartsy folks!). I had to keep a list of “I decided to spell words this way” to try to maintain consistency (I went with nonslip over non-slip, for example).

And it was worth it. I am so proud. Writing and photographing Fabrics made me a better teacher, photographer, and maker. It pushed my limits and tested my tenacity. I am so so proud of it.

I can’t wait for folks to learn from it, to be inspired by it, and to make cool stuff with it!

Check out excerpts from the Supplies and Knits chapters of the encyclopedia here.

Author’s socials: Website|Instagram

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/31/the-big-idea-annye-driscoll-2/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59922

james_davis_nicoll

22 works reviewed. 11.5 by women (52%), 10 by men (45%), 0.5 by non-binary authors (2%), 0 by authors whose gender is unknown (0%), and 9 by POC (41%).

March 2026 in Review

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james_davis_nicoll

A host of familiar faces from the Star Wars movies fend off extra-galactic occupiers.

Destiny’s Way (New Jedi Order, volume 14) by Walter Jon Williams

scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/30/march-marches-on/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59908

March was a much busier month than I expected it to be, but it also flew by and I feel like I can’t even keep track of what all happened. I don’t know how we’re at the end of March already, and yet the trip to Colorado I took at the beginning of the month feels very far away. Somehow there’s never enough time to do anything, and when I look back at what I have done it feels like nothing got accomplished at all. It’s like every single day I have no free time and am always running around doing something, but then at the end of the day it feels like nothing even got done.

This past month I’ve truly felt so overwhelmed by everything. And when I say everything I mean any and every little thing stresses me out in a disproportionate way. It’s like my brain doesn’t know the difference between a small problem and a catastrophic one, and so my response to either ends up being the most extreme reaction possible and results in a meltdown and a paralysis of my ability to function.

Every issue is day-ruining, every problem brings me to tears, nothing feels possible to overcome, whether it be the laundry, grocery shopping, or calling the plumber for the tenth time because of leaking in the basement. Everything takes so much longer to accomplish than I think it will. I am either not managing my time well or maybe just not budgeting for things correctly in the first place. Surely it’s a combination of both.

There’s always something more to do. It never ends. There is never a moment of “whew, I got everything done!” The satisfaction of completion, of achievement, never comes. The stress doesn’t end, it continues from one day into the next. I go to sleep anxious and stressed about the problems tomorrow me will face, and then tomorrow me wakes up and is stressed about the problems that have to be taken care of that day. It feels like a vicious cycle and I feel like I’ll never be free.

I keep thinking it will get better, but it hasn’t.

But if I explain the things that are causing me so much stress, I just sound ridiculous and more than a little pathetic. I mean, everyone has bills. Everyone has dishes and laundry to do. Everyone has appointments to keep. Everyone has to grocery shop and cook for themselves. These are very normal, well known life things that everyone does and manages on a day-to-day basis. So why am I drowning? I don’t even have a 9 to 5 or kids or anything that makes my life so much harder and more overwhelming than everyone else’s. In fact, I have the opposite! I have financial security and a WFH job and supportive family and friends, and I still feel suffocated by the menial, tedious, repetitive tasks of daily life.

Every task takes so much amping up for me to do. I cannot simply do a task, I have to work up to said task. I have to prepare mentally to accomplish the task. I need proper motivation, and I so rarely have it.

There are so many things within the house I thought would be done by now, like furnishing the sun room, painting the walls, fixing up the guest bedroom, and yet none of these have been accomplished despite having moved in in November. I just thought these things would be done by now. Or at least started. But they’re not. And my Christmas tree is still up.

Plus, nothing feels like it matters in the face of what’s happening in the world, but that’s a tale as old as time and told by everyone at this point. It hardly feels like an excuse anymore. Oh no, I’m witnessing unspeakable horrors all day every day! Well, time to do the dishes. At least I still have running water, unlike people near data centers. Oh, they’re building a data center twelve miles away from me? Right, right. Well, I guess I’ll just go ahead and do my taxes. Oh, the US is committing horrific acts of war with our tax dollars? Again? Right, right.

I know I’m sounding very doomer, and I rarely bring these types of thoughts here, but good lord March was heavy and I can’t really figure out why it was so bad. But it was, and I posted pretty much zero content. I don’t want to feel like my writing doesn’t matter, and I don’t want to feel like the things I do in my day to day life don’t matter, but that’s where I’m at right now. I know a lot of people feel the same way.

I’m hoping to catch up with a lot of posts, as I have been doing really fun and exciting stuff. And as frustrated as I am that all the good things in life are continuously tainted by the fact we live in a world run by the most evil people imaginable, I am still looking forward to sharing those good things with y’all. Because they do exist, despite it all.

-AMS

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/30/march-marches-on/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59908

starwatcher posting in

fandom_checkin

This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Monday, March 30, to midnight on Tuesday, March 31. (8pm Eastern Time).

Poll #34428 Daily Check-in

This poll is closed.
Open to: Access List, detailed results viewable to: Access List, participants: 22

How are you doing?

I am OK.
13 (59.1%)

I am not OK, but don't need help right now.
9 (40.9%)

I could use some help.
0 (0.0%)

How many other humans live with you?

I am living single.
9 (42.9%)

One other person.
9 (42.9%)

More than one other person.
3 (14.3%)

Please, talk about how things are going for you in the comments, ask for advice or help if you need it, or just discuss whatever you feel like.

xkcd_feed

https://xkcd.com/3226/

"While I try to do my part to destroy the environment, I try not to focus too much on individual responsibility. By pushing for broad policy changes, we can collectively do far more damage to the biosphere than any of us could on our own."

https://xkcd.com/3226/

goddess47 posting in

stargateficrec

Show: SG-1, Bones

Rec Category: Jack O'Neill
Characters:Pairings: Jack O'Neill/Daniel Jackson (implied)
Categories: crossover, mystery
Warnings: none
Word Count: 4080
Author on DW:

sg_wonderland
Author's Website: AO3 Profile
Link: The Bones in the Sarcophagus

Author's Summary:

A sabbatical from SG-1 lands Daniel in the middle of a murder mystery.

Why This Must Be Read:

This is more fun if you know "Bones" but the author gives you enough to work with in her notes.

Brennan helps Daniel with a mysterious sarcophagus, and, of course, the usual Daniel Jackson chaos happens. So Jack has to come in and make sure his archeologist is okay. The mystery is kind of cute, in the end, and Daniel and Brennan bond over their hockey-loving boyfriends.

Just a fun read!

( snippet of fic )

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ffutures

This is a big bundle of games and supplements for the Apocalypse Engine system from Magpie Games, some of which have been in previous bundles, but including new material such the Kickstarter record breaker "Avatar Legends: The Roleplaying Game."

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/MagpieMega

I'm not going to try and track down what I've said about these games in the past, it gets a bit complicated, but I think there's a lot of new stuff that ought to appeal, especially for Avatar fans. But as usual check what you have and what you want, cherry picking can be cheaper if you already have a lot of it.

james_davis_nicoll

A new Magpie Games Apocalypse Megabundle presenting a diverse abundance of Powered by the Apocalypse tabletop roleplaying games from Magpie Games.

Bundle of Holding: Magpie Apocalypse MEGA

pronker posting in

fancake

Fandom: Dark Shadows

Pairings/Characters: Magda Rakosi/Sandor Rakosi, Angelique Bouchard Collins/Barnabas Collins, Barnabas Collins/Julia Hoffman, Nicholas Blair, Aristede, Andreas Petofi, Quentin Collins

Rating: Gen

Length: 93,699 words

Creator Links: AO3 Profile

Theme: Siblings

Summary: What if Julia loses her memory? What would happen if Blair had to actually help the Collins family? The answer was obvious: He'd hate it. He'd hate it soooo hard.

Reccer's Notes: Siblings come in all flavors, and this fic explores the dynamics of a witches' coven brother and sister, Angelique and Nicholas. With Satan as "parent," how is the more familiar sibling relationship different? How is it the same? Author delves delightfully into the question, as well as the all-too-human found-sibling relationship of Quentin and Julia.

Fanwork Links: The Wide Winged Moon

Current Mood: awake
Current Location: comatose in bed
Current Music: birdsong

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scalziwhatever_feed

Posted by Athena Scalzi

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/30/the-big-idea-ec-wolfe/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59898

Though we flip through a story’s pages as quickly as our eyes allow, do we ever stop to think about the story that lies in between the pages? The one that happens off-screen, out of sight, and in the background? Author EC Wolfe has, and she used these thoughts to craft a new novel in her Kerovosian Chronicles series, Shrike.

EC WOLFE:

I’m sure I’m not the first to say that real characters and stories don’t have to come from some deep place to be compelling. Compelling characters and stories come from real places, places that we can connect to as individuals. This is why, as an author, I spend a lot of my time asking “What if?” Granted, asking the question aloud has gained me a reputation for being a little bit weird, but asking the questions of myself and then answering them on paper has gained me a reputation as an author.

My hard drive is full of answers to “What if?” left in folders labeled Scrap. These ideas languish in digital purgatory until I can answer the next question, “What happens next?” The answer to that question is singularly responsible for the second two books in the Water Girl series; I just kept answering it.

Shrike is different.

Shrike is the sixth book in the Kerovosian Chronicles, but it’s not “What happens next?” nor is it “What if?” Shrike is the answer to a question that could have been asked in books one through five, but those books were about Chana and Thorne, and Voil and Kade, and Navi and Harker, and Ceff and Nythan, and Kerovos.

But this book isn’t about them. It’s about the ones who brought Kerovos’s plan to fruition and yet were little more than a footnote for their troubles. Shrike isn’t about what happens next, it’s what happened when we weren’t looking. The Shrikes didn’t just appear and help out of the goodness of their hearts, so where did they come from? What sort of person would take Kerovos up on a job offer? What did it cost them and what did they gain? Did anyone ever know what they did?

It stuck out to me that there were several stories left untold once I’d finished the fifth book, several characters that deserved the pages necessary to explain their motives, their victories, and their failures. Like ours, the world of the Kerovosian Chronicles is full of players shuffling about on a game board, for good or ill. Some of them stood out more, and like a tag you can’t rip out, it bothered me until I took the time to figure out why. I realized that Kerovos had taken their glory in his eponymous book and I felt compelled to give it back to them. It’s an honor to grant them the story they’d been denied, these characters who made choices just like you or I. Hard choices. Painful choices.

Like any other characters of my invention, these characters aren’t perfect. It feels disingenuous to write perfect people since I have yet to find a person, now or in history, who was or is. Instead, these characters are real because they aren’t perfect. As I mentioned, it’s not deep. You can throw a little deus ex machina in there to help them along but it’s still about the choices people make. There are always more What Ifs and scrap on the hard drive, but for now, I’m happy to share Shrike. A story about real people and the answer (but not really) to yet another “What happens next?”

Shrike: Amazon

Author’s socials: Facebook

https://whatever.scalzi.com/2026/03/30/the-big-idea-ec-wolfe/

https://whatever.scalzi.com/?p=59898

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Current Location: Iron Mountain
Current Music: The Clouds Burst

mific posting in

fancake

Fandom: Heated Rivalry
Characters/Pairings: Shane Hollander/Ilya Rozanov, Alexei Rosanov, Yuna Hollander, David Hollander, Hayden Pike, Jackie Pike, Rose Landry
Rating: Teen
Length: 7394
Content Notes: no AO3 warnings apply.
Creator Links: Evilharlowe on AO3
Themes: Siblings, Action/Adventure, Competence, Established relationship + plot, canon LGBTQ+ characters

Summary: Four months after their wedding, Shane Hollander and Hayden Pike are kidnapped by disillusioned fans who see Shane's coming out and departure from the Voyageurs as the ultimate betrayal. With the police off-limits and a ten million dollar ransom on the clock, Ilya makes the last phone call he ever expected to make — to the estranged brother in Moscow he hasn't spoken to in three years. What follows is a night of unlikely alliances, hockey sticks used as weapons, and the discovery that family isn't defined by blood but by who shows up when everything falls apart.

Reccer's Notes: This is a rare Heated Rivalry story in which Alexei Rozanov isn't a complete shit. He's fairly one-dimensionally a baddie in both the books and the show, but here, while the author doesn't pretend he's a nice guy, the fic leans into him being a police officer and gives him both competence, and underlying family loyalty to Ilya when the chips are down. Another plus is that Shane is far from being a helpless victim. Gripping, and an excellent read.

Fanwork Links: Taken

ETA: unfortunately this author has now deleted their AO3 profile. More info here.

mific posting in

stargateficrec

Shows: SGA
Rec Category: John Sheppard
Characters: John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, Teyla Emmagan, Ronon Dex, Jennifer Keller, Marshall Sumner, Aiden Ford, Carson Beckett, Clone Carson Beckett, Elizabeth Weir
Categories: M/M
Words: 24,853
Warnings: no AO3 warnings apply
Author on DW:

rheanna
Author's Website: rheanna on AO3
Link: A Matter of Death and Life on AO3
Why This Must Be Read: John does something heroic again when Atlantis is in San Francisco harbour after season five. It should kill him, but, inexplicably, it doesn't. Afterwards, there's something increasingly wrong with his brain. This plays out medically and through hallucinations (or are they?) in which John encounters a series of dead friends (and a commanding officer), and is also kind of on trial, having to make a case as to whether he should be allowed to live or not. Along the way, John and Rodney also find each other. A tour de force - gripping, profound, and with wonderful characterisations of John and Rodney, in particular. Don't miss it.

( snippet of the fic under here )