Barnastyz

I looked through this forum to see if there was a topic about the Malazan world yet. I promote these books to literally everyone that I know that enjoys fantasy novels. That said, they are definitely Tomes with a capital T so if you're not a fan of huge books I would definitely give these a pass. I think the best way to introduce them is by giving the history of the world and the authors. Steven Erikson came to writing fantasy after working as an anthropologist and practicing archaeologist, his interest in tribal people's specifically and years of tabletop gaming with his buddy and writing partner Ian Cameron Esselmont gives him a super interesting perspective. Between the two of them they have written 16 books set in the world of the Malazan Empire along with a handful of novellas that have a much different tone. SE was heavily influenced by Glen Cook's Black Company novels (arguably the first "gritty and realistic" fantasy) and used those concepts in his tabletop games that he played with ICE. I keep mentioning the gaming that they did because it plays an interesting role in the development of nearly all of his books. When SE&ICE were gaming they were tired of the cookie-cutter adventures available through the DnD formula so they created their own game and moved away from stats and towards worldbuilding and character interaction. Something I find particularly fascinating is that they literally gamed the entire first book and only later Erikson decided to write a book using the characters they had created for that campaign This is getting kinda long, so I'll try to tie it up. He writes 3 dimensional characters with believable motivations in a world that is constantly changing as the reader learns more and gains context. The world is rich in both space and time, there is a lot of it for the characters to experience physically, but the characters live on in the wake of extinctions and wars and forgotten cities that are cast off through time with a scale of eons. The magic system is good and mostly coherent, there are meddling gods and demi-gods and he is not afraid to kill off a main character (but at the same time you can tell he doesn't get the obvious pleasure out of it that a writer like GRRM does). His tabletop buddy Ian has written 5 books set in the same world that focus on different characters. They're decent but not nearly on the same level as Steven Erikson's writing. If you're interested, his main series is a 10 volume mammoth called "The Malazan Book of the Fallen". The first book is called "Gardens of the Moon", however, some people have difficulty getting into that one as it was his first book and he was a smug bastard and just drops the reader into a world where things are happening without truly introducing the players for a goodly number of pages. If that sounds like something that would annoy you I would start with the second book "Deadhouse Gates" and then double back, the second book is AMAZING and one of my favorites in the series. If anyone wants to talk Malazan lore I'm down all day.

I'm kinda interested in this game first mmo in years to get my attention If anyone has a NA guest pass they'd be willing to pass along I'd like to try it out. Been burned too many times to drop 60 right away though.

I've been listening to the idle thumbs podcast for a bit under a year now (podcasts make work go so much more quickly) and I've heard a lot of references to the forums. I figured that the guys behind some of the best podcasts' available would have a similarly high quality forum for discussion, plus the quality of the reader mail when compared to some other podcasts I've listened to is far more interesting and thought provoking than I'd originally expected when I started listening to Idle Thumbs (usually the reader mail section of a show makes me groan). Anyway, here I am. My name is Shane, I like long walks on the beach, pina coladas and sunsets..... Actually I do like all those things, but I prefer playing with firetoys and drinking bourbon. I've been pretty exclusively gaming with my PC these days so I'm not hip to TLOU, I'll try not to be to skeptical about the goty claims. Mostly I've been trying to get into DOTA 2 these last few weeks. I'm also a cook and love to read, so if anyone wants to talk food or books I'm always down. ps. I really like the layout of this forum, very simple and clean.

For anyone who is thinking of buying Dark Souls for 15 dollars on steam, it's 12.something on Amazon with the promo code "gooncave". http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00917DBUE/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00917DBUE&linkCode=as2&tag=amazonsale0a7-20 Edit: Got- Hotline Miami Dark Souls Fallout New Vegas: Ultimate Edition

I'd say that jokes can be art. I'd consider satire to be a category of art, as well as comedians and comedy movies.

There are a lot of worthwhile things on Kickstarter, but there are also so many shady things that I'm starting to be turned off by the entire idea. I dunno if this http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=528903 (millionaire, domain squatter mom uses her daughter as a device to trick money out of well meaning people) has been discussed here. But it's this sort of thing that I'm talking about. I know it's not incredibly common to do something as sleazy as this, but it shows that Kickstarter has no inherent quality control and that people should do some more research before they decide to back something. It does bother me that people view backing a Kickstarter as an investment instead of a gift for something you'd like to see happen.

I'd like to hear about this from their perspective as well.

Kinda funny then that Nintendo tried to ban them from streaming "their" content. They would have lost out on reaching 130k people of free advertising (which they desperately need) over an irrational fear of something that at it's most basic level is pretty much just hanging out at a buddy's house watching some friends play smash. It's not like the EVO folks are raking in the millions. Btw, anyone else think that viscera game is edging the line of "games as art" that people talk about so much?

Three books that are coming out relatively soon that I've been waiting on are: 1- The new Steven Erikson book, The Fall of Light. The book is part two of a trilogy that sheds some light on the divinities of his 10 book epic and will surely end up raising more questions that it answers. For those who haven't read Forge of Darkness, the first of the trilogy, but have read TMBotF and are planning to.... prepare to have your entire perspective violently shifted. 2- Republic of Thieves, I'm really interested in the quality of this book. I really enjoyed the first two. The series is called The Gentleman Bastards and it is a baroque renaissance romp filled with con-men, alchemy and a mysterious elder race. The first book is The Lies of Locke Lamora. I say I'm interested in the quality because it has gone through several rewrites and the release date has been constantly pushed back. Scott Lynch, the author, has been very open on his blog about his battles with severe depression. I completely empathize with having those sorts of issues mess up your life, but I have to wonder if the effect on his 3rd book will be positive or negative. 3- Words of Radience by Brandon Sanderson. The sequel to The Way of Kings which is an excellent fantasy book set in a VERY refreshing setting. Sanderson has dodged so many tropes (while embracing others) and created such a detailed and vibrant universe that the first book is worth reading for the worldbuilding alone. Yeah they're all fantasy

Right on man. For some reason I feel compelled to post my thoughts on some of the larger more general forums that have many subsections. I definitely think smaller communities are generally a happier bunch. Larger forums are really cool for sheer volume I guess, but even then it kind of seems like a hivemind takes over. I tried posting on Reddit but I hate the layout and the upvote system leads to a lot of what I call "upvote bait" posts that stifle discussion. There are definitely some cool subreddits I visit though. My most used forum is called endoftheinter.net, I like it ok, but that's mostly because I've been going there off and on since 2004, so there is a lot of history there that wouldn't be apparent to a new user, it's almost the mirror image of reddit, very similar, yet poisonously bitter since there is no moderation at all (besides over things like off site harrassment, unmarked nws posts and really serious issues). I don't like anonymous posting so I've never bothered with 4chan and I won't buy a SA account out of principal, making registration cost money is naturally going to lead to arbitrary moderation and bans, not out of any malicious agenda but the combination of power tripping moderators and a very strict TOS. Obviously I've missed a bunch of popular forums. I'd be interested in hearing other peoples' thoughts about different online communities though.

^Thanks for this Excellent breakdown.

Monster is one of the few animes that I've watched a fair bit of. (Besides DBZ when I was a kid!). I really like the European Post-Cold War setting a lot and the protagonist and antagonist are both super interesting. It's just kind of slow, there's only so much you can do besides either . I forget how many episodes there are but I remember one thing, there are definitely too many. Oh Are you ready for the best DBZ joke ever? Q: How many Super Saiyans does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A:

That happened to me too, It says I have 90 hours when I really have more like 20-30. I think I might've left it open on my desktop overnight. Seems more likely than the hours glitching or something.

Hi! I guess I kinda jumped the gun making a whole thread introducing myself haha. Didn't realize this one was here for that purpose, now I feel like a bit of an attention whore. Like I said in my thread, I've been listening to IT for a while and joined the forum because it seems like a laid back, smart community (which is truly a rarity when it comes to gaming communities, or at least the ones I've experienced). Gaming-wise I'm currently blaming Nick and Sean for getting me started on Dota. Just before the Dota Today podcast started I remember thinking "If they're trying not to talk about Dota on Idle Thumbs and still have trouble not doing it there must be something about this game". I held off until the first DT but their energy was so infectious I had to get a beta key.

Awesome! One thing he does that I think is super cool is how his chapters begin and end cyclically (I don't know the word for the actual writing device), For example he'll end a chapter with a house burning down or something, and then the next chapter will begin with some other group of characters sitting around a fire. Once I realized he was doing that I noticed it way more often.

I knew they weren't a myth! Glad to hear there's more than just sausage at this party Sounds like a personal trainer for aliens to me. Gotta make sure they're fit and scary for the times they let them out of area 51 for a movie role or whatever. Nobody is scared of an alien with a beer belly. You guys are super welcoming, thanks.

Love this podcast. The guy who does it has a really good flow, and he can be pretty funny sometimes in a low-key way. I dunno if it's been recommended yet but Hardcore History is a great podcast. And the BBC has documentary shorts that are like 20-25 minutes and are about world issues.

Definitely a good idea. Deadhouse gates is SOOOO good

I'm pretty proud of myself, only bought Hotline Miami and Fallout: NV ultimate so far.

That's a good tip, thanks. I'm actually kind of curious about x-com. I don't really know what it is at all, but I heard it's a strategy game, and I usually like those. Oh and if anyone wants to read my promotion of my favorite fantasy series in the books section here's a link: http://www.idlethumbs.net/forums/topic/8762-steven-erikson-and-the-malazan-book-of-the-fallen/'' Warning, it's a bit of a long post haha.

Platoon and Forrest Gump are two good examples of this.

That is mesmerizing. I'd like to see more big plays broken down like that. I'm really new to dota but I think I have a decent understanding of the game, but those crazy plays where everything depends on split second reflexes and coordinating those reflexes with 4 other people is what separates pro players from the rest of the dota world, well that and tons of practice with the same team and lots of natural skill (as far as I can tell anyway).

I cook for a living, and I'd definitely say that I do my best gaming when I've had a filling tasty snack. Just yesterday I made myself an asian style shrimp po'boy. I'll go ahead and post the recipe below, It's a really quick recipe so long as you have the coleslaw ready. 1/2# good sized prawns Flour Egg (beaten with S&P) Panko A nice crusty sub roll Mayo Lemon Coleslaw: Bit of beansprouts Finely shredded green cabbage and red bell peppers Matchstick carrots Slivered ginger Fine chopped green onions 1/2 clove garlic minced Bit of soy, rice wine vinegar and mirin as a marinade S&P Directions: Go ahead and get all your veggies for the coleslaw prepped and mix them with enough liquid to have a good coating on all the ingredients with a little bit pooling at the bottom of the bowl you mixed it in. Set that in the fridge for an hour or so. The next step is breading the prawns with the egg, flour and panko. Use the standard breading method - a light coating of flour, then a dip in the egg and finish with the panko - set the prawns on a greased baking sheet (or deep fry them if you're willing to make a mess, I can't do that in my apartment, the smoke alarm would freak out lol) and toss them in the oven. Finally just toast your bread, add some mayo and hot sauce, drizzle some lemon over the prawns on the roll and top with your slaw. I was really surprised how well it turned out, I'd never considered doing an asian style po'boy before that.