5. The Great Library

One of the book series that I’ve read, I’ve talked about this one before. This is a very solid young adult series. I still need to finish up the last book, but the series as a whole works. The basic concept is cool, when the library of Alexandria was burned, it was rebuilt and became the haven for all books. But it was taken to a logical end of protecting books so much that it started to seek to control knowledge.

It is also a nice book that has a diverse cast of characters where you don’t notice it so much. That sounds odd to say, but fairly often in stories authors will like to call out what they are doing. This is integrated into the story in a way that it all makes sense and it flows together with the narrative. And that adds a depth and richness to the story that you don’t get if the author is pointing it out or if the diverseness of the cast of characters isn’t there.

4. Strange Academy

The first of the Marvel series, and this one is an ongoing series. And I somewhat have a soft spot for it because it’s a magical school. There’s one in The Great Library series, and there’s one in the next item on my list. The idea of kids learning that they have magical abilities or how to use them just works.

And here you have a unique cast of characters from Dormammu’s son to some Asgardians and a Frost Giant, and then just normal people. Plus teachers being Doctor Strange, Scarlet Witch, Baron Voodoo and more, it is goofier than some comics, but works for me. And while it’s been more short little stories, I’ve enjoyed that I don’t need to wait as long to find out what is happening.

3. Keeper of the Lost Cities

Another set in a school, and another person who didn’t know they were magical getting sent to a school. Now, they knew they weren’t normal because they were telepathic, but they didn’t know what that meant. And it’s fun because it means that there is a whole other world around/intertwined with ours where magical creatures, elves, gnomes, and more exist.

This reminds me over Harry Potter, though, I think the early book writing is better done. And I think the series, thus far, hasn’t tried to do too much. The scope feels focused and while the world is big, there are a lot of interesting storylines. It isn’t limiting itself to just one story, but a lot of them that I’m sure will eventually come together. And the characters are fun to be around.

2. House of X/Power of X

This might be the top comic for a lot of people in 2020, when it came out. I didn’t get it on Marvel Unlimited until this year, and it’s really good. This is an X-Men or X reboot. It’s now, I believe, just called X. And it’s about Charles Xavier trying to create a utopia where mutants can live and exist outside of the struggles of the world and what it has provided for them.

But of course things don’t work like he expects and there is trial and error. But it’s less of an issue between mutants, he brings all the major players in, but with people as well, with nations. It feels like a side of Xavier that we don’t really see all that often. Him throwing his weight around as a personality and as well as his powers.

1. Secret Invasion

Finally, I read through all of Secret Invasion. I’ve read through the main storyline before, but when you get into the depths of Secret Invasion, there are so many comics. Are they required reading, not really, but it fleshes out the story and world that is being created.

Secret Invasion is one of my favorite storylines with the Skrull infiltrating every part of society, and especially super heroes. And it is fascinating because you are wondering, how is a Skrull. We’re starting to see that get set-up in the MCU and possibly coming up in 2022, late 2022 is my guess, we’ll get a Secret Invasion show. Now not all Skrull are evil, and in the MCU they definitely aren’t, but the question of who is a Skrull is a great on.

So that’s what I’ve read this year. I read some Dr Strange, Fantastic Four, and other comics as well this year. I’ve started on Secret Wars, and I think it was all in 2020, but maybe early 2021 where I read the Age of Apocalypse massive X-Men storyline. And I’m going through Wheel of Time on audiobook, but I’ve done that before.

What is your favorite thing you’ve read this year?

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The Inspiration

Right now in Minnesota we’re going through a massive deep freeze, in the southern part of the state, we might not get above 0 Fahrenheit for several days, and the lows have been very low, -14 with -30 wind chill (-25 and -34 centigrade). So how can you create a game around something like that, and that is where The Frosts of Rhime come in.

The Setting

A deep magic, something long forgotten, has awakened throwing the lands of Rhime into an ice age. Frost Giants harrow the lands removing the smaller folks, humans, elves, halflings, and even breaking down into the dwellings of the dwarves deep below. A white dragon of an ancient stature sits on the remains of the largest city in the lands.

Deep deep below the rending claws of the dragon and delving of the Frost Giants, pockets of people huddle, always trying to dig deeper below, get closer to the center of the lands and further away from the ever increasing cold that is seeping down.

The Campaign

The player characters come from one of these pockets of people left down below. Just from that setting and telling them to come from one of the groups of people together is enough for the creation for a lot of good backstories.

Their goal, of course, is to return the lands to the ways that they were or at least stop them all from freezing to death. This means beating back Frost Giants, the ancient White Dragon, and more creatures of the cold before they freeze to death. Freezing is actually going to be one of the timers of the game. Unless they can make it back to one of the under ground settlements in time, which are moving, exhaustion becomes a real thing. This is a deep cold that even a magical resistance can only slow down a little.

There are two ways you can drop the players into this game. Firstly, start at level 1, give them small battles leading up to leveling up where they can start to deal with the bigger threats in the world. Or you drop them in at a higher level and let them start to deal with the bigger things. This is one where I might start at the higher level. I don’t know that survivability of low level characters is going to be that likely, even the most heroic.

When I talk about exhaustion, I’m talking about using those D&D rules where eventually you can die. Players at higher levels are going to have creative ways to deal with it more than characters at lower levels and they might be able to stay out for more prolonged times. It might be too deadly for lower level characters. I do want to tweak, a little how exhaustion hurts the players, instead of making their check for it at the end of the day, this is something from the middle of each day. And you need to spend a full day out of the elements deep below the ground to shake it. So no magical housing is going to get it out of your bones unless, maybe, the players spend a full 24 hours in there.

The players are going to battle their way up until they are eventually facing off against an ancient white dragon. At level 20, them versus the ancient white dragon should be in their advantage, but bring in some of the allies that the white dragon seems to have, like the frost giants.

Before that, they will need to get something, the mcguffin, something that the white dragon has used, somewhere in the lands to bring down this frost. Most likely at the top of a mountain that is treacherous to get up and could cause them to die just from exposure. So at the mid levels/early part of the campaign, make it about figuring out where that item is, what that item is, and how to undo what has already been done. Then as time goes on and they get better and stronger, let them go up there, deal with Frost Giants who are guarding the items for the white dragon.

How does this game sound to you? Do these post apocalyptic style of games where survival is key seem interesting to you or do you prefer more focused on high fantasy?

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