The World of Lucky

GURPS Basic Set: Characters by Steve Jackson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A definite must have for gaming groups!

I have ran tabletop roleplaying games for decades (since approximately 1984). Everything from Dungeons and Dragons Basic set (in the box), Battletech, Shadowrun, White Wolf, and a dozen other systems (that maybe I will do reviews on someday).

I have recently reread the book this year for a new campaign I am running and I am reminded why I use it. Because you can recreate any world you want with these rules. The fact that you can modify the setting, genre, realism level of the game, makes it the best choice.

Pros: A variety of settings are provided in supplements and sourcebooks with constant updating of different worlds and even additional advanced rules, equipment and ideas. You want gritty realism, or cinematic campaign you have it. Do you want a combination of Cthulhu and Shadowrun? What about Fantasy and Werewolf? You can do it all.

Cons: In all fairness this is not an easy system to learn. It is prohibitively complicated for new players or GMs, and even those with lots of experience will still struggle a bit. The rules can bog down the game so you will have to learn to cut the things you don't want to deal with. This is why I can't give it a 5 star and only a 4 star.

Overall it is my favorite systems and with patience you can convert any other game system into GURPS (my most recent one was converting Mechwarrior/Battletech into GURPS and it was better than the original system because of more RP character options).



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Necropolis by Jordan L. Hawk
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is for the Audio Book only!

As I started the fourth book in the series I had pretty high hopes, and Jordan Hawk cleared that goal with some room to spare.

In order to avoid spoilers all I will say is you get a glimpse of the dirty, dusty and rough desert. You see Whyborne grapple with the "horrors" of living in a tent. You get a bit more background on Griffon (there can never be enough background). You get some good sex scenes. Finally you get a lot more background on Christine.

I wasn't sure how I felt about Christine when this all started. I wasn't sure if she was going to fit into the stereotypical woman with gay guy best friends. However she has been flushed out and given a pretty cool backstory. I look forward to more about her now as well.

Oh, on a down note, Christine sounds like a catty gay guy sometimes when the narrator reads her part. I am not sure if its on purpose or maybe just something I am hearing, but that was the only negative.

If you liked the first three, definitely you want to read this.

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Widdershins by Jordan L. Hawk

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Audio Version Only!

This is a first for me. I have never read a gay urban supernatural fiction centered romance located in the 1890s Lovecraftian Universe. To be honest this is my first gay romance, and it was pretty darn good.

That seems at first an almost bizarre combination, but it is great. I absolutely enjoyed this book and I am thankful my husband pushed me to read it. Don't worry I won't spoil the book, but I just had to comment on how much I did like it.

The story itself is great, I love the romance that develops in the book. The main character is very much in the same vein as Randolph Carter in Lovecraft's stories, in fact this book could very well take place in Lovecraft. The big difference is Jordan writes better.

The story is full of the horror we expect, the small towns, underground passages and things man shouldn't read. The big difference is there is no inherent racism or sexism directed at others in a hurtful way. The prejudices in the book are appropriate for the time and are written carefully to make it clear the author is telling a story of the time period, not that people in the real world are the monsters. Lovecraft was problematic at the best. This book avoids his pitfalls and shows the pains a homosexual man and a woman trying to push into the male dominated fields handle being professors at a university.

Oh, and the sex scenes (and there are some pretty explicit ones) are pretty good.

The only flaw in the entire setup isn't Jordan, its the narrator. He is pretty good overall, however he cannot affect an accent to save his life. He doesn't need to either, he is fine just reading the book like he does for most of it. However, the Irish accents and the women's voices are cringeworthy.

Once again, he was great overall, just stay in your lane sir, stay in your lane.

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