I write English-language books about German folklore. I primarily read books about folklore & mythology, history, and tabletop role-playing games.
Mastodon profile: @juergen_hubert@mementomori.social
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Dieses Buch war ein echter Glücksfund aus einem öffentlichen Bücherschrank - ein überdimensionierter Wälzer mit Illustrationen verschiedener europäischer Städte und Gegenden aus früheren Jahrhunderten.
Wahrscheinlich sind die gemeinfreien Illustrationen inzwischen alle als Digitalisate im Internet erhältlich - allerdings muss man von ihrer Existenz erst einmal wissen.
Ich muss ja als "Zugereister" was über meine Nachbarschaft lernen...
This 1997 edition, illustrated by Alan Lee commemorates the 60th anniversary of "The Hobbit."
…
How it all began.
Another book on Frau Holle/Hulda/Perchta, as research material for my own hypothetical future book on this goddess from German folklore.
(Migrating this review manually from the previous instance.)
This work contains player-facing options for Tian Xia, the "Asian"-themed continent of Pathfinder's Golarion setting. A huge part of the book discusses different ancestries. Some are variant takes on existing ancestries, such as kobolds, goblins, leshies, and so forth. Others are new to this volume. The kitsune were to be expected. Tanuki are a bit more obscure, although still fairly recognizable. But the more obscure ones stand out - my favorites are tsukumogami poppets, old items whose spirits have awakened to sentience.
Another major chapter is on archetypes, many of which are tied to local arts and crafts. In such cases, their section have copious notes on these crafts, which will help the players and GMs to understand their cultural significance. However, a word of caution - there are some archetypes which can drastically shift the tone of a game. …
(Migrating this review manually from the previous instance.)
This work contains player-facing options for Tian Xia, the "Asian"-themed continent of Pathfinder's Golarion setting. A huge part of the book discusses different ancestries. Some are variant takes on existing ancestries, such as kobolds, goblins, leshies, and so forth. Others are new to this volume. The kitsune were to be expected. Tanuki are a bit more obscure, although still fairly recognizable. But the more obscure ones stand out - my favorites are tsukumogami poppets, old items whose spirits have awakened to sentience.
Another major chapter is on archetypes, many of which are tied to local arts and crafts. In such cases, their section have copious notes on these crafts, which will help the players and GMs to understand their cultural significance. However, a word of caution - there are some archetypes which can drastically shift the tone of a game. The most blatant of these is the Starlit Sentinel - yes, now you too can play a Magical Girl/Boy right out of anime in Pathfinder 2E. GMs should be ready to either enforce archetype rarity classifications, or face the consequences.
All in all, this book whetted my appetite for its companion piece, the Tian Xia World Guide.
(Reposting this review because the old one did survive migration to the new instance.)
My main complaint about this book is that it is too short. But then again, how could it be otherwise?
This book covers Tian Xia, an entire continent for #Golarion , the "default" campaign setting for the #Pathfinder #TTRPG . Just like the default "Inner Sea" region is vaguely inspired by Europe and North Africa, so is Tian Xia inspired by Asia, and does its best to make it an interesting region to play in. But Tian Xia is several thousands of miles in diameter, and this book has a mere 302 - and thus, each region and country on this continent will only get the briefest of oversights. Which for a detail-oriented setting junkie like me is frustrating, to say the least.
The authors of the various regional writeups did try …
(Reposting this review because the old one did survive migration to the new instance.)
My main complaint about this book is that it is too short. But then again, how could it be otherwise?
This book covers Tian Xia, an entire continent for #Golarion , the "default" campaign setting for the #Pathfinder #TTRPG . Just like the default "Inner Sea" region is vaguely inspired by Europe and North Africa, so is Tian Xia inspired by Asia, and does its best to make it an interesting region to play in. But Tian Xia is several thousands of miles in diameter, and this book has a mere 302 - and thus, each region and country on this continent will only get the briefest of oversights. Which for a detail-oriented setting junkie like me is frustrating, to say the least.
The authors of the various regional writeups did try to make the most out of their word count. We get a decent idea of what the local culture is like, and most regions have some good conflicts and other hooks for adventures and even entire campaigns around. However, there is a dearth of locations - each region is several hundreds of miles in diameter, but we only get three to four (briefly) described locations for each region. A GM who wants to run a campaign in one of these regions will have to do a lot of worldbuilding - which is not something I personally abhor, but if you plan to use this setting, then this is something you should keep in mind. I do hope that some of the authors of this work will publish more in-depth regional gazetteers using the Pathfinder Infinite Community Title program if Paizo doesn't support this setting further directly.
(Speaking of worldbuilding - is there a list somewhere of which real world culture inspired which region in Tian Xia? With some regions it was obvious even for me, but with others I would have to do some further research.)
Apart from the brevity, there were only a few parts of this book I wasn't fond of:
On the other hand, there were some real highlights:
To sum it up, I would strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to run fantasy campaigns in an Asian-themed setting, and I hope this work will not be the end of the support for this region.
...jetzt frage ich mich, wer mir dieses Buch wann geschenkt hat.
London Labour and the London Poor is a work of Victorian journalism by Henry Mayhew. …
I bought this book before I became aware that it's available as a free ebook at #ProjectGutenberg . But either way, I expect that it will be a great resource for the "Industrial Age Fantasy" #ttrpg setting I am (very slowly) developing.
If you want to check out the ebook versions, here they are:
www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55998 www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/60440 www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/57060 www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/63415
Arthur Dent is terug op de aarde, die opnieuw op het punt staat vernietigd te …
The last "Hitchhiker's Guide" book by Douglas Adams ended on such a depressing note that I could never muster the energy to read this sequel.
One day I shall read all those #DeltaGreen fiction books...
I haven't come across any evidence that would convince me that extraterrestrials (or ultraterrestrials, for that matter) have visited Earth in historic times, but there is a surprising overlap with #folklore .
Night hags/sleep paralysis demons are the most obvious example, but there are numerous other weird phenomena in old folk tales that would pass as " #UFO lore" nowadays. Fiery spheres or streaks in the sky, weird substances dropping down from up high, and so on and so forth. I might even write a book of folk tales about such "Fortean Phenomena" one day, if I find the time - I certainly have enough source material to work with!
Ein weiteres Buch aus öffentlichen Bücherschränken von dem ich hoffe, es mal als Inspiration für #pnpde -Mythologie zu verwenden.
Another collection of #CthulhuMythos fiction which I bought a long time ago and never got around to reading.
These days, I find it difficult to read #CosmicHorror when the real world has non-fictional horrors aplenty.
A number-one New York Times bestseller when it was originally published, The Silmarillion is the …
One of these days I ought to re-read this book.
A fascinating look at the culture of #NorthKorea . It was particularly interesting for me since I actually had a North Korean co-worker back during my university days.