Douglas E. Berry

It took three years, but it was mostly worth the wait.

I'm a Metalhead. I have been since 1983. I love almost all forms of the genre, so to see a TTRPG dedicated to the concept of a freewheeling, horns-flashing, headbanging game made me happy to back the Kickstarter.

Let's pretend we're all at a late-night restaurant after a show, sharing french fries and ranch dressing—first, the complaints.

The game is jargon-heavy. Successes are "Tributes," for example. Several important concepts are buried in the text. I had to keep flipping back to the glossary to comprehend the rule I was reading. The rules could be slightly better organized. Many simple proofreading and editing errors should have been caught in the layout process. Each of the six Metal Gods gets a single "art page" describing them and their goals. One of them is cut off mid-sentence. Later in the book, extraneous letters and odd cuts appear. I get meeting an already blown shipping date, but two extra pairs of eyes and one week of rewriting would have fixed these issues.

Now the things that make us throw up the horns, sing along, and get thrown out of Denny's at 3 A.M.

The tone of the writing and the artwork all build the setting and feel of Ragnarock perfectly. One of my early misconceptions was this was a game about being a metal band in Ragnarock. No, this is about being fucking Metal Demigods in Ragnarock. If this means your Avatar is Hammerhead Türzertrümmerer, who literally has a giant hammer for a head and two giant fucking Teutonic hammers for hands? Go for it!

Attributes and Skills are combined. For example, our friend Hammerhead should put some points in Brute if he wants to break down doors. You also choose a Metal God and a Tone. I'll detail character generation later because it is an adventure in itself, and yes, you can die during character generation.

The world-building requires two encores because there are two worlds. Mundania, where all of us Work Units (formerly known as People) are trapped, and Raganrock, where a few lucky souls can escape to fight the good fight. Your mortal body is still in Mundania, filling out TPS reports or stamping passports or whatever soul-destroying job the Executors and Upper Management have bestowed on you. They desire absolute obedience and conformity. Think of the worst dystopian SF you've ever read or seen. The Adjustment Bureau. Matrix Revolutions without the happy ending. A Stalinist gray wasteland if Stalin and J.P. Morgan joined forces.

But you have escaped, been drawn to the Spiral Umbilical, and if you survived. . . welcome to the party, pal!

So, there will be a second reading in the near future. I'll run my idea for a character through the introductory adventure, which is also an ideal Session Zero and character-building exercise.

What do I want? Aside from a corrected book. . .

• A proper atlas and gazetteer of Ragnarok.
• A handout of the basic creation myth.
• The Spiral Umbilical adventure as a download.

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Update from kshandra, 23 Nov 2023: One of the mutual friends Doug and I had through social media is laurenthemself, who among other things works with Ivan Van Norman, the man behind Gods of Metal. I can't find the comment currently, but they promised that they would hold a ceremonial bonfire and "send" Doug a copy of the errata that way. That's metal AF, if you ask me.

Procopius of Caesarea is one of the more interesting characters of the sixth century. A legal scholar, he was assigned to accompany the "last Roman General," Belisarius, as an aide and secretary. His chronicles of the wars against the Persians, the Vandals of North Africa, and the Goths in Italy are touchstones of the historical record of the times. The first two volumes follow the constant provocations and invasions by the Sasanian Empire, mostly under Chosroes. Interestingly, Procopius writes about what is happening in theater despite Belisarius being absent on other missions.

The result is a fascinating look at warfare in Mesopotamia as rival armies struggle to find enough fodder and supplies, troops are dispatched with little knowledge of where the enemy is, and cities bargain to save themselves from devastation.

I hope to find the following three volumes from the same publisher, as these are excellent translations of the original Latin.

https://a.co/d/1PuiDJG

Amazing. Five Stars

This one book can't be more than a survey of the 1,000-year history of the Assyrian state, but by focusing on the line of kings and how they influenced or were dominated by their times, author Eckart Frahm paints a great picture of the rise and stunning fall of the first true empire in the West.

From the one city-state of Ashur, named for the Assyrian's primary god, we follow the state's power's slow rise, to the empire's beginnings, to the heights of power and the stunning fall. Frahm spends time in each chapter explaining how the Assyrians governed their far-flung possessions, from tributary states to imposed governors in Assyrian-designed palaces.

Interestingly, the Assyrian kings didn't claim to be descended from the gods like many other Fertile Crescent rulers, but they did assert mandates from the gods. As Assyria absorbed the Babylonian culture, the link between God and King blurred, as the Assyrians adopted Marduk into the working of their gods.

Attention is paid to each stage of the empire's growth, and the personalities and policies of each king are examined. External causes for issues are also addressed, from climate change to barbarians raiding the borders to internal dissent. Careful attention is paid to the eternal fighting between Babylon and Assyria and the great game of diplomacy that stretched from the Egyptian states to the Hittites of Anatolia.

Frahm does a great job of linking topics from chapter to chapter, breaking the narrative to comment on how people the Biblical prophet Isaiah saw the Assyrians, or how the ordinary people lived and the influence mothers and family members had on weak kings. We get a complete picture of the empire, from rise to fall.

The story doesn't end with the fall of the Assyrian Empire in the mid-7th century BCE. Frahm tracks its influence on later empires, like the Neo-Babylonian and the Persian Achaemenid Empire, which copied the Assyrian model of governed provinces and tributary states. Frahm offers a chapter showing how Western eyes saw the Assyrian empire through the foggy visions of myth and mangled history.

The final chapter covers how ISIS tried to destroy the Assyrian period's relics and profit from the illicit sale of antiquities. Despite their best efforts, the memory of the Assyrians survives.

This was a great read, and I recommend it to anyone interested in history. For RuneQuest players, the Assyrians make a great model for the Lunar Empire.

https://a.co/d/5sN43Jt

Five Stars

We need a Netflix series about this woman.

Born into the lowest rung of the social ladder in Constantinople, among the actors and circus workers, Theodora from an early age learned to use her talents and looks to rise in society. A scholar in an era when women weren't supposed to do that, she studied theology to support her monophysite beliefs.

She married Petrus Sabbatius Justinianus, nephew of Justin I, after he changed the law for them. Once empress, she ran the court while Justinian focused on wars and reconquering the West. Her long experience as a courtesan taught her to have an informer in every bed and kitchen, to control the flow of rumors, and run the Great Palace like a machine. She and her husband conferred on everything, and she even ruled in Justinian's name when he was stricken with the plague.

A remarkable woman, and I've barely scratched the surface. Author Paolo Cesaretti writes this in almost the style of a novel. Events unfold like you are there, which helps understand her journey from the side alleys to the throne. What's interesting, and something Cesaretti freely admits, is that most of our information about Theodora comes from Procopius of Caesarea and his Secret History, an absolute diatribe against Justinian and Theodora, calling them both literal demons.

So using that and then finding the facts was great work. Anyone interested in Roman history or great women should read this.

(This was mostly written a year ago and updated.)

I’m writing this in a Santa Cruz, CA, hotel room a few blocks from the famous Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. First opened in 1907, going to the Boardwalk has been a rite of passage for Bay Area teens for decades. Going “over the hill” (the hill being the Coast Range) to spend long days enjoying the beach, the rides, and attractions at the Boardwalk - and let’s be real here, scoring weed - was a big part of my teenage years.

But the Boardwalk is also known as one of the more critical settings in 1987’s The Lost Boys, the best vampire movie ever made. I know that’s a challenging statement, especially given the long history of vampire films going back to 1922’s Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens and including such classics as Bela Lugosi making the definitive mark on vampire movies in Dracula (1931), or the even better Spanish-language version filmed at the same time as Lugosi’s film using the same sets. Look it up. It’s amazing.

But I’m going to make the case that while the character of Dracula defined the modern vampire, it is a definition rooted in Victorian mores and concerns. Dracula draining the blood of his victims leaves them pale and listless, similar to the end stages of tuberculosis, a pale beauty also celebrated in La bohème and other works of the era. Also, Dracula cemented the idea of the noble vampire, a character of means and refined manners. Again, this was a Victorian take on culture, allowing the threat to grow because a Count would never be suspected of such murders!

The Lost Boys subverts that meme and does it in the best way. Set in the fictional town of Santa Carla, the movie follows Michael (Jason Patric) and Sam Emerson (Corey Haim), who, with their newly-divorced mother (Dianne Wiest), are forced to move in with their eccentric grandfather (Barnard Hughes). A rebellious and sullen teen, Michael soon falls in with a group of dirt bike-riding punks who terrorize the Boardwalk. His younger brother Sam encounters the Frog Brothers, self-proclaimed vampire hunters who push horror comics on Sam to educate him about the threat.

I’m not going to go into detail about the plot, except to say that it is both funny and scary at the same time. What amazes me on every viewing is that while the visuals are terrifying, much of the dialogue is amazingly quotable and funny. It keeps the viewer engaged and interested in the characters.

“My own brother, a goddamn, shit-sucking vampire. You wait ''til mom finds out, buddy!”

The IMDB quotes page is filled with golden nuggets like these. The dialogue keeps the film from bogging down and reminding us that these kids are the main characters. What’s the worst threat you can make as a younger sibling? Telling mom! That’s not why this is the best vampire movie. So far, it’s a great vampire movie, so what makes it the best?

The vampires.

The Lost Boys is one of the first big-budget movies not to portray vampires as suave upper-crust types or mindless monsters. No, this movie shows vampires to be what they should be: predators. The vampires in this movie don’t seduce their prey or depend on deception or guile. They attack isolated targets and kill to feed. They are predators, and we are their prey. The empathy, the human connection you get in Dracula films, is missing here. They are only reasonably kind to Michael because he’s a recruit. Everyone else is either potential food or a threat to be removed.

Even in recruiting Michael, they show a sadistic glee in tormenting him, pushing him both physically and with mental games. Until he joins them, he is just another amusement. Kiefer Sutherland’s David is a magnificent example of what an immortal hunter would become. He’s scary in the way Bela Lugosi never managed. Not even the more blood-infested Hammer films with Christopher Lee managed to portray the casual dismissal of mere humans the way David does. He is a monster. He is an apex predator who cares only for his fellow vampires.

The movie ends with a fantastic battle against the forces of darkness and not one but two twists. As we fade to the credits, Echo and the Bunnymen’s cover of The Doors’ "People Are Strange" begins, and it’s one of those films you sit through the credits for, not because of the promise of additional scenes, but because it was so good.

Every year the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk has a summer film series, with movies screened to an audience sitting on the beach. The highlight every year is, of course, the night they show The Lost Boys. Every year people dress up in their 80s-fashion best for the movie. Cast members have been known to show up for the event. This summer, we will travel over the hill to watch this movie with the lights and the sounds of the Boardwalk behind us.

And after the movie is over, we’ll hurry back to the car, fearfully looking up to ensure we are not the next items on the menu.

The Victory by Dan Abnett

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I will admit that when at the end of the last omnibus, having Colonel-Commissar Gaunt rescued kind of disappointed me. I thought the series had reached an appropriate ending, with the 1st Tanith entering a new phase of existence, beyond the legacy of being Gaunt's Ghosts.

I was wrong.

We pick up two years after the events in Only in Death, the Tanith 1st has finally been sent for rest and refit, But two years of inactivity are wearing on them. The planet Balhaut was the site of the Famous Victory some fifteen years prior, and Gaunt gained fame as the Commissar of Hyrkan 8th, rallying them to a crushing victory in the final battle. in the city of Balopolis. Gaunt is ready to be redeployed, ready to get back in the war. . . then a very special prisoner arrives, and he will on;y speak to Gaunt. A prisoner that the Archenemy will do anything to silence.

What follows is a game of one mouse and many cats, with suspicions on all sides. There is unexpected heroism, a stunning betrayal, and a satisfying conclusion. A very different entry in the series, and a very good novel. That's my view of Blood Pact, the first novel.

The second novel is Salavation's Reach and is a more traditional Ghosts story, but with a twist or five. The regiment is packed on a frigate centuries past the day when she should have been scrapped and sent on a raid that could tip the balance in the stalled Sabbat Worlds Crusade. Along for the ride are three Space Marines, and hidden among the regiment and crew is an assassin.

Abnett normally avoids big themes in his books, or rather he hides them very well, but here the theme is family. We have a woman from the previous book who is now adjusting to life as an officer's lady. Reunions both welcome and unexpected, and how close family ties can both help and hinder a unit. One thing I really like was how he showed the regiment preparing for the raid. They had floorplans of the target, and these were laid out in empty hanger spaces so the troops could rehearse every expected step, train on room-clearing, and learn the other guy's job as well as their own. This is what real units do. It was a nice touch.

There are the usual roadblocks, some quite threatening, and we do get a massive space battle, but the raid goes off as planned, and the regiment escapes, except we've lost some long-standing characters. Such is war.

After this, there are several short stories that both deepen mysteries and imply greater threats while showing different aspects of shipboard life. All in all, this is a great addition to the canon, and I shall be ordering Volume 2 of The Victory as soon as I have some spare cash.



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A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A few months after A Memory Called Empire, alien forces massacre an industrial colony of the Teixcalaanli Empire. The Teixcalaanli admiral Nine Hibiscus, tasked with confronting the threat, requests an Information Ministry specialist to attempt to communicate with the inscrutable enemy. That specialist is Three Seagrass, now a senior Imperial official, who smuggles herself to the frontlines by way of Lsel Station. There, she convinces her former associate and still nominal ambassador to the Empire, Mahit Dzmare, to accompany her. Mahit seizes on the chance to escape the increasing danger from factional conflicts on Lsel, and she is tasked by one of Lsel's leaders to sabotage first-contact efforts in order to prolong the Empire's war with the aliens. (from Wikipedia)

Wow. Once again Martine shows an amazing range as the action shifts from place intrigue to a growing war against an unfathomable enemy. Three Seagrass and Mahit must not only learn how to communicate with these aliens, but they also have to resolve how they feel about each other. The tension, intrigue, and potentially lethal factionalism inside the Teixcalaanli fleet come through clearly.

One amazing character is Eight Antidote, the Imperial heir and despite being only 11, a vital part of the story. Like all the characters in the book, he's believable, a kid who wishes he was older while retreating into childhood. He really comes into his own and shows his mettle.

Along with being a ripping good space opera, there are some really deep themes here on language, personhood, and the crushing weight of command, be it of a fleet or the empire or just the assumed authority of an 11-year-old kid. The plot concerning how to talk to the aliens is just fascinating.

I want more. Teixcalaan is a fascinating universe on the brink of wonderful changes. Three Seagrass and Mahit Dzmare are people who deserve more attention, even as they part ways, for now. There is so much more to be seen here, and Arkady Martine is doing a master's job in presenting it. No wonder both this novel and Memory won the Hugo Award for Best Novel.



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War and Peace: Possible Futures from Analog by Stanley Schmidt

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


We picked this up on a buy-nothing group. It's a mixed-bag collection of military-relating science fiction, ranging from classics like "The Weapon Shop" by A.E. Van Vogt to lesser-known stories like "The Wabbler" by Murray Leinster.

It was fun to read, but so many of the stories feel dated and some were just odd. So if you're a completist for MillSF, seek this book. Otherwise, I'm glad we got it for free.



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How Beer Saved the World by Phyllis Irene Radford

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Ah, beer. Some scientists are saying brewing may predate raising grain for bread. We love our frothing fermented beverage.

And in this wonderful anthology, beer does in fact save the world. It is a set of pretty short stories, none too deep, and always fun. We go from Gilgamesh getting some good advice over a pot of beer from a goddess brewer (all brewers are goddesses, after all) to how IPAs ended the zombie apocalypse, to the noble sacrifice of a cargo of beer to, well, saving a world.

I first bought this in 2013, shortly before my stroke, which explains why I haven't read it until now. Another back of the bookshelf find. But a great one. So pout yourself a cold one, and have a read. Who knows, maybe your beer will help to save the world too!



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RuneQuest: Weapons & Equipment by Richard August

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This book is titled "Weapons & Equipment" because "Complete Guide To Bronze Age Economies, Trade, Managing Your Lands, Hiring Everything From Porters and Guides to Sorcerors, and oh yeah, all the Equipment and Weapon Details You'll Ever Need" would take up too much space on the cover.

Seriously, this slim tome contains so much more than just equipment that, honestly, the gear lists and weapons and armor tables feel like an afterthought. We start with a primer on how markets work, and your chances of finding what you need in one. Tolls, selling treasure, Masterwork items, and what they are worth. That's chapter one. Then we get into Gloranthan metals pottery, weaving, and what people use as fuel for their fires.

Now we get into things, starting with common goods that pretty much everyone will own. There's a chapter on Beasts, how to buy them how they are useful, and gear for riding or hitching carts. An entire chapter on hirelings and services, including a frank discussion of slavery in Glorantha. Weapons and armor get their due, and what I like about this is that while the game characteristics don't change much, the story aspects change. For example, an initiate of Waha the Butcher would probably carry a Flensing Knife, since he needs to break down animal carcasses for food and hides. That knife is just as sharp and deadly as a war dagger, but in the terms of the character's story, that knife makes more sense. The same goes for armor choices.

After that, we get expanded travel rules, which of course include buying your own means of transport, and rules for dwellings, with a great bit about what happens when your clan or temple grants you a few hides of land for being so awesome. Then an expanded chapter on training rules, and finally some fun enchanted objects and rules from the prized magic crystals, which are literally the blood of dead gods.

This is the kind of book that sits on the game table for easy reference. It's also filled with hooks for the clever gamemaster. Just reading the rules on developing hides of land had me plotting ways to make it both a blessing and curse for the player who is now a minor noble in his clan.

"Weapons & Equipment" belongs in every Runequest library.



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