THE BEATWEAVER posted:When I found out this series was originally written as an MMO framework the wierd pacing, bad plot after book two, and comically cardboard villains suddenly all made perfect sense. Wasn't it a play-by-post forum game? Shed was a player character who had to leave, so he was GM killed? Then it was made into an MMO framework?
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May 31, 2018 05:38
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Milky Moor posted:Wasn't it a play-by-post forum game? Shed was a player character who had to leave, so he was GM killed? Then it was made into an MMO framework? Other way around, I'm pretty sure. It was shopped around as an MMO, then got used in a message board game when there were no takers. That said, I don't think the story tracks that game past, like, part of the first book.
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May 31, 2018 05:53
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I thought it originated as a literal pen and paper rpg campaign.
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Jun 7, 2018 17:19
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ZombieLenin posted:I thought it originated as a literal pen and paper rpg campaign. Originally set as an MMO universe, they didn't find any buyers so they made it a pen and paper. They did a campaign which became the major story beats for Book 1! For instance: Shed died because the PC had to leave the campaign so the GM killed him with a railgun shot. 
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Jun 7, 2018 21:36
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Started listening to the latest book and did they seriously just kill Fred off-book or did I forget something from the previous ones? t's been a while and the offhanded casual way it's delivered fits the mood though
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Jun 16, 2018 15:30
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It was onscreen in Nemesis Games.
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Jun 16, 2018 15:40
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He stroked out on a hard burn in the previous book iirc
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Jun 16, 2018 16:01
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Yeah it was a pov chapter.
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Jun 16, 2018 20:55
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God fuckin help me I can never remember which titles correspond to which book, please continue to use numbers only, tia
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Jun 19, 2018 00:11
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Haven't read the books, just finished up the show. Does the show spoil so much it's sorta not "worth" reading the books? Or is there plenty of extra poo poo.
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Jul 5, 2018 21:00
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appropriatemetaphor posted:Haven't read the books, just finished up the show. Does the show spoil so much it's sorta not "worth" reading the books? Or is there plenty of extra poo poo. So far, the show and the books are heading to the same place, but the character and plot details along the way are increasingly divergent. Many characters are written better in the show, particularly antagonists. The books obviously have a lot more time for little world-building details, if that's something that interests you.
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Jul 5, 2018 21:17
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In addition, the flavor of the way Eros plays out was moderately different in the books, much more body horror and zombies and biological megastructures than "oh no some crystals". Not sure if it will have the same impact on someone who's not encountering the overall plot for the first time tho. As noted, if you liked the show for its setting and not purely for its characters, the books get to go into much more depth there.
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Jul 5, 2018 23:37
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It's definitely worth reading. You'll know what beats to expect, but the steps to get there are different enough to provide suspense or surprise, and the characters are still fun to read, even if the show did improve on basically everyone except Holden and Clarissa.
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Jul 5, 2018 23:37
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Cool I'll give them a go.
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Jul 6, 2018 00:36
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bitprophet posted:In addition, the flavor of the way Eros plays out was moderately different in the books, much more body horror and zombies and biological megastructures than "oh no some crystals". Not sure if it will have the same impact on someone who's not encountering the overall plot for the first time tho. At this point its all about the setting for me, as, in my totally subjective and minority opinion, the story has gone from “this has promise” to “good” to “are you loving serious?”
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Jul 6, 2018 14:30
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To me there's a bit of an imbalance in the books between world building and character building. There's only so many times you can have a character experience the physical effects of living in space with half page long descriptions before you say "I get it already".
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Jul 6, 2018 17:20
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This series is a great example of Authors milking the serial fuckin' cow like its the 50's and they're publishing a new chapter in pulp sci-fi quarterly, except its 2018 and each installment is 900 pages of poorly edited bullshit not fit to start a campfire with.
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Jul 8, 2018 03:48
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THE BEATWEAVER posted:This series is a great example of Authors milking the serial fuckin' cow like its the 50's and they're publishing a new chapter in pulp sci-fi quarterly, except its 2018 and each installment is 900 pages of poorly edited bullshit not fit to start a campfire with. So you'd say you like the books?
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Jul 8, 2018 03:55
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If you keep book 1 as is, combine books 2 and 3, delete book 4 entirely, combine 5 and 6, and treat 7 as the first half of 7-8, you've got a solid series.
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Jul 10, 2018 02:09
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a condensed version of the books is what the TV show is. it's better than the books.
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Jul 10, 2018 04:18
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If there's one thing that makes the books a better experience than the show, it's not having to look at Steven Strait's dumb loving face or put up with his poo poo acting  .
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Jul 10, 2018 21:39
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Marijuana posted:If there's one thing that makes the books a better experience than the show, it's not having to look at Steven Strait's dumb loving face or put up with his poo poo acting https://i.imgur.com/QV01rv9.mp4
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Jul 10, 2018 22:32
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I'd roll my eyes too if they took a production photo as my mugshot.
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Jul 10, 2018 22:49
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Uh, so Strange Dogs?? Holy loving what???
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Aug 23, 2018 03:02
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Johnny Truant posted:Uh, so Strange Dogs?? Holy loving what??? My least favorite of all the shorts. About the time it gets interesting it just ends in the middle of nowhere. It seems like all the other shorts are filling in bits of characters or questions we already know about but just haven't heard. Strange Dogs strikes out into new territory, teases us, then concludes. Perhaps once Tiamat's Wrath and 9 are out this will feel the same way, but for now I agree with your assessment. Holy loving what indeed!
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Aug 23, 2018 13:09
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I was a little surprised and disappointed it ended so abruptly, but it's just got me that much more pumped for fuckin weird PM poo poo. I did do a little double take when they dropped Singh's last name there, since I read #7 before this. I wanna see more Laconia, damnit! Gimme chapters from the dogs' perspective! I've still got Drive, Vital Abyss and Gods of Risk to read, but Dan December can't get here soon enough.
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Aug 23, 2018 14:00
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Wait, what's Singh's role in Strange Dogs? Does he drive the car or something?
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Aug 23, 2018 14:40
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He's the friend that zombie kid went to meet before the accident
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Aug 23, 2018 15:11
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Yeah it's real minor but I still like the way they connect little threads like that. Could it mean something? Maybe! But still good worldbuilding. I've been thinking about it and I think the 30 year time jump is just really.. bad. Should've been like ten years or something.
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Aug 23, 2018 15:26
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Strange Dogs sticks with me. Good poo poo.
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Aug 23, 2018 20:35
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Eh, that dog’s not so strange
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Aug 23, 2018 21:55
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Johnny Truant posted:Gimme chapters from the dogs' perspective! There's always A FIRE UPON THE DEEP for that.
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Sep 7, 2018 22:02
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I feel like it's been recommended before in this thread, but if you enjoy explorations of alien thought, Peter Watts' Blindsight is worth checking out. (Along with the rest of his works imo) Imagine you're the protomolecule.
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Sep 8, 2018 00:11
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ATP_Power posted:I feel like it's been recommended before in this thread, but if you enjoy explorations of alien thought, Peter Watts' Blindsight is worth checking out. (Along with the rest of his works imo) I'll second that; I've read it and it's good. It took me a minute or two to really grasp the tech level of the setting (and...there's vampires?) but once you settle in it's a good time. If we're talking about other sci fi; I started reading the Culture series, and...is this series a Dresden Files situation where it gets better after the first book (two in the case of DF), or if I'm not enjoying it right away, will I probably not like the rest? I'm maybe 3/4 of the way through Consider Phlebas (which I believe to be the first book) and it's just not doing it for me at all. The world-building is neat, but I simply do not care about any of these characters and I don't wanna keep going if the first book is indicative of the rest of the series. Should I power through or is it maybe just not for me? I've been looking for a sci fi series to fill my expanse hole until the next book drops; I guess I could ask in the sci fi thread but I trust this thread's tastes more immediately
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Sep 8, 2018 01:09
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Ainsley McTree posted:If we're talking about other sci fi; I started reading the Culture series, and...is this series a Dresden Files situation where it gets better after the first book (two in the case of DF), or if I'm not enjoying it right away, will I probably not like the rest? I don't think Consider Phlebas is bad, but it is tonally different from the rest of the series. Also, every book introduces an entirely new set of characters, so don't feel like you're saddled with Horza.
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Sep 8, 2018 01:13
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How bout "Death Slugs for Elvi"
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Sep 9, 2018 03:46
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Toast Museum posted:I don't think Consider Phlebas is bad, but it is tonally different from the rest of the series. Also, every book introduces an entirely new set of characters, so don't feel like you're saddled with Horza. Player of games is the classic 'if you don't like this then they're not for you' Culture book, phlebas is a collection of setpieces with a downer ending.
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Sep 9, 2018 12:40
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I just finished marathoning all 7 extant books and now i am left every night opening my kindle expecting to read more new Rocinante adventures but not being able to, like a tongue probing the empty place where a pulled tooth was once anchored. Fake edit: seriously though they used that metaphor like once per book i s2g
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Sep 10, 2018 08:40
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dropkickpikachu posted:I just finished marathoning all 7 extant books and now i am left every night opening my kindle expecting to read more new Rocinante adventures but not being able to, like a tongue probing the empty place where a pulled tooth was once anchored. gonna be on the lookout for it in the next book in... november?
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Sep 10, 2018 09:21
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Milkfred E. Moore posted:gonna be on the lookout for it in the next book in... november? Next one comes out March 2019.
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Sep 10, 2018 13:49
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