Reading update over the weekend

Just a quick update. I've read two of the Bleeding Edge adventures, which are part of the Freeport Trawl. These two I've actually read before; I've had the entire series for many years, but I don't recall if I ever got around to reading any more beyond these. (I have a problem with buying books and not getting around to reading them for a long time. This is bad enough with physical books, but it's even worse with pdfs, especially when I end up buying lots on sale, or in humble bundles, etc.) The Bleeding Edge adventures are mostly pretty short, so I should go through them relatively quickly, although they have absolutely tiny font, surprisingly. Luckily, I can enlarge the pdf, but then it's a pain scrolling every page, lol. Anyway, in theory, they can be combined to form a single campaign, but they were also written so that they could be stand-alone adventures, so the coherence between them as a pseudo-adventure path is—so far—limited to geographical proximity. And even that is a handwavy detail, since little of the geography is spelled out.

They take place, in theory, in the Freeport setting, and there are references to places in the Pirate's Guide to Freeport (which means that I probably should have read that before reading these adventures; but luckily for me I've already read it. In fact, although it's on my trawl, I'm considering skipping it because when I started tracking my reading a couple of years ago, I read that book, so it's already on my relatively recently read list as is.) Except for the last one, they don't take place in Freeport, however, although there are vague references to a bit of stuff that has to do with the setting. That said, they were deliberately kept vague enough that they can be used anywhere without a bunch of specific details getting in the way of you using it in your setting instead. Although the Bleeding Edge adventures are, of course, regular D&D adventures of the 3e version, which was still current at the time and would be for a little while yet, they definitely have that much darker tone coming from a guy who used to work on Warhammer FRPG and Rob Schwalb, who seemed to be the kind of oversight editor for the line. They also did darker, edgier stuff like the Black Company and Thieves World adaptations to d20. Schwalb, of course, is the creator of Shadow of the Demon Lord. Not surprising, I suppose, that this is kind of a darker and edgier series, but Green Ronin wasn't always so, and their tone is sometimes all over the place, even within the Freeport series, much less in other settings. 

I thought it interesting that there's some intro text by Pramas talking about Bleeding Edge being written for the "modern gamer." This predates the sarcastic use (or even more so the cringy sincere use) of "modern audiences" and actually does refer to perceived differences in mainstream play style. Of course, that "modern" play style dates back to at least the early 80s when the trad style of play started going mainstream, but still... These books came out in 2006, I believe. The 3e era started exactly in 2000—August was the first release, if I remember correctly. In 2026, 2000 will literally be the midpoint in the chronology of the hobby, with just as much between 2000 and now as there was between the beginning of the hobby in 1974 and 2000. To me, that's a sobering thought, because to me, 3e doesn't seem like that long ago relative to "the olden days" of the hobby, but there's a weird time dilation affect, of course, as you get older. In 1974 when D&D was originally released, I was a toddler. In 2000, I had just finished my MBA and started my "real" career job and was, of course, in my late twenties. Now, I'm in my early rolling into middle 50s, and quite advanced in my career. I can't afford to retire any time soon, but I'm hardly new in my career either. A lot has happened. When 3e came out, I had two young toddlers of the four kids that I would eventually have. Both of those kids have kids of their own now. So plenty has happened, but somehow, it doesn't seem as long as it does since the hobby started. Heck, I still (sometimes) post on ENWorld, which I was doing back in 2000 too. Wild. 

I've also stepped back from the Eberron Trawl because I have other physical gamebooks to read before I read Races of Eberron which is next for that trawl. Rather than rearrange my reading schedule, I'm going to let the Eberron trawl "rest" for a bit until I'm ready to add Races into the reading docket. But that won't be until after I've read probably half a dozen physical game books that I want to read first: Stormwrack, Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss, Monster Manual II, Expedition to Castle Ravenloft and probably either my B/X combined omnibus (I had Lulu print that from my pdfs) or Basic Fantasy 4e. After those and Races of Eberron I have other physical game book re-reads on my schedule, but only vaguely, so those can wait. What I'd prefer to concentrate on, honestly, is the Adventure Path read-through. In part this is because that is, I think, the longest trawl; there's so much material to read there that even if I focus on it, it'll still be the last one I get done. 

I also finished the third (of four) parts of the first "Sandy Peterson Cthulhu Mythos Sagas", Ghoul Island. It's fine. A little rough, honestly. I hoped for better; Sandy's a veteran of decades of RPG campaign design, although many of those earlier Cthulhu campaigns are supposed to be railroads too. (Not just Horror on the Orient Express, which is literally a railroad, lol.) That particular trawl was a later add, but I've been leaning in to it pretty heavily because I was quite interested in it. After I finish the conclusion of Ghoul Island in the next few days, I'll probably take a step back from that trawl until I'm able to read Rise of the Runelords at least. Maybe that's the way to go with those; leapfrog a Paizo Adventure path with a campaign from 3pp or from WotC's 5e to keep them at least kinda sorta in parity.

And, I'm almost done with Homeland the first part of the Drizzt prequel trilogy. I had actually hoped to finish that this weekend, but I got distracted by the fact that my daughter-in-law's twins were born early on Saturday morning, so I spent more time in particular on Sunday on the phone with various people than I expected; a good couple of hours with my wife, who's staying with my son and daughter-in-law for a while to help with their other kids, with my parents, etc. I also made sure to "get out" while I had decent weather and decent fall colors on Saturday, so I spent several hours poking around. I tried to go to Pilot Mountain, which I thought would be quicker and easier, but the summit parking lot was full so I was turned back. I ended up going to Hanging Rock instead. That meant more time driving around, and much more time hiking since it's about four times as long a hike (which elevation gain that I have to hike, not drive, too.) It was still worth it, but all in all, I spent a lot more time doing things other than reading than I expected, so I haven't picked up that book since Friday. I'll probably finish it today though. I only have 30-40 pages left, I think. After that, even though the whole trilogy is in a single omnibus, I'll probably leapfrog to another series and read Ghouls of the Miskatonic, the first part of the Dark Waters trilogy, a Lovecraftian story set in the 20s that was written as a tie-in specifically for Arkham Horror. If I leapfrog those two trilogies, I'll easily get them done before the year is over; hopefully before November is over, even, so I can read some other fiction too. I feel like fiction has been "held hostage" by my game books, adventures and other gaming manuals and supplements reading lately, but fiction reading is ultimately more satisfying in some ways.

I've also been "trawling" if you want to call it that through the first season of The X-Files again. I feel like I've tried to do that before years ago. I've seen lots of episodes of that show over the years, but I haven't ever really tried to watch the whole dang thing and gotten even halfway through the first season before. I'd really like to get as far as the first theatrical movie, that came out between seasons 5 and 6 before I lay off on that one.

Anyway, this is what you do when your wife is out of town for an extended break. I'll probably be traveling for work soon too, but if anything, that means more reading. What else am I going to do on the plane?