Sunday, September 20, 2009

Am I The Only One Reading This..?



Look, I'm weird, okay? Probably because I grew up in a city that is rabid about our professional football (our pro team retired the #12 jersey in honor of the fans back in the 1980s!), I am just a HUGE NFL fan.  Am I the only one that thinks this game is so readily combine with a love of fantasy gaming?

Maybe.  I have read some of GW's Black Library Warhammer 40K books (orks in space, in case anyone is unfamiliar with the game line). But I just ran into this book last year. I picked it up , but my reading of it has been on-hold since last October when it got packed up with most of my library for our anticipated house sale (said sale not occurring till May, due to the sudden tanking of the market...ugh!).

Anyway...

It's NOT the greatest book, or the greatest writing (sorry Mr. Forbeck...just being honest here). But I still enjoy it...because it's Blood Bowl fiction! Blood Bowl is such an easily spoofable genre of fiction...you can poke fun of football, you can poke fun of fantasy tropes (pansy elves, hungry hobbits, brutally stupid greenskins).  It's just a good time over all.

And it's light reading, what I call summer reading.  Of course, summer's over (football season has officially started), but it'll be good for NEXT off-season.

Mmm...ANYway, it's good for me to be a little lighter. My thoughts have been going to some darker places lately (don't ask me why). Yesterday I sat down to do some actual writing on my B/X Companion but I was interrupted by "friends" coming over. I probably shouldn't put friends in quotes because they ARE good friends, couples whom my wife and I have a great time with...but, as I'm said, I'm weird and they don't match my weirdness. Hell, they enjoy college football (why would someone pay to see THAT?)...ugh...I should have at least added 5 pages yesterday and instead I ended up watching hours of TV and talking about Bowl Games and local politics and whether one peach pie was better than another (when made with the same ingredients). Ugh...I guess I had been looking forward to an anti-social weekend, and I didn't get my wish.

Ah, well...I'll snap out of it once I've had some breakfast. It's hard to stay depressed on Football Sunday (especially when your favorite team is beating the hell out of its division rival), and I don't mind socializing during "the big game." Good thing, 'cause it looks like there may be even MORE people coming over today (including all four from yesterday and some friends from Orcas Island...no relation to Blood Bowl's Orcidas...that are in town).

[man, the Bengals are looking good again. I'm glad I decided to paint those wood elves in the Orange & Black...]

[ope...just got a phone call from our Orcas friend...who wanted us to meet her for sushi! Is she crazy? The Seahawks game starts in an hour! And who eats sushi for brunch? Sheesh...island people!]

I read Mr. Forbeck's book and I can't help but thing two things: A) thank you for taking the time to write this (pedestrian or not, I can always use more BB fiction), and B) why didn't I think of this first?  

According to his preface, Mr. Forbeck is from the USA originally, moved to England to beg a job from Games Workshop, ended up writing three novels for them (eventually) before moving back to the US...all straight out of college. Hell, I could have done that...if I'd had more balls (I guess). Ah, youth...

Mmm. So far my fantasy football players appear to be getting smoked this week. Oh, well...it's just a game, right?

: )

3 comments:

  1. I haven't played Blood Bowl since the edition that came with the styrofoam turf.

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  2. I see that the new PC version is really inexpensive on ebay, as I haven't been able to find it locally.

    Last night, while watching Conquest I saw a Monday Night Football commercial that lampooned roleplayers, it was funny.

    There was just a bit where a guy rolls dice at a table and says "I cast my 2nd level Charm spell."

    Come on! That is a 1st level spell!

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  3. The recent Blood Bowl comic book was linked to these novels; I think it's the same team, and the same writer. It was a huge missed opportunity though, not making any use of the potential inherent in a fantasy sport comic. Sad.

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