I believe it was actually the B-side for The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Edmond Dantès is...

The Count of Mysterious Figures!

I love the Count of Monte Cristo. Superb book, and not a bad movie. I love period pieces in general. 18th century France had some killer dresses (19th century Napoleonic France less so, never been a huge regency girl, but CoMC pulled it off all right).

I remember having to read it for my English class in 9th grade, and I couldn't put it down. It was the only piece of literature I've ever been forced to read that I thoroughly enjoyed, save perhaps Bernières' Birds Without Wings. Now I'm tempted to pick up Corelli’s Mandolin, but I don't know if I can get past Nicolas Cage's contribution to the franchise.

I remember having to read it for my English class in 9th grade, and I couldn't put it down. It was the only piece of literature I've ever been forced to read that I thoroughly enjoyed, save perhaps Bernières' Birds Without Wings. Now I'm tempted to pick up Corelli’s Mandolin, but I don't know if I can get past Nicolas Cage's contribution to the franchise.

I've found that pre-Modernist literature is awesome, but literature from the Modernist and post-Modernist periods is insufferable. Probably why I'm working on a PhD in archaeology.

I remember having to read it for my English class in 9th grade, and I couldn't put it down. It was the only piece of literature I've ever been forced to read that I thoroughly enjoyed, save perhaps Bernières' Birds Without Wings. Now I'm tempted to pick up Corelli’s Mandolin, but I don't know if I can get past Nicolas Cage's contribution to the franchise.

I've found that pre-Modernist literature is awesome, but literature from the Modernist and post-Modernist periods is insufferable. Probably why I'm working on a PhD in archaeology.

I would argue that all post-modernist art is awful. Maybe that is why I don't study sociology.

Speaking of Napoleonic France, have you seen the Temeraire series? I don't know if alternate-history fiction is part of your bailiwick, but I still maintain that dragons make everything better.

Speaking of Napoleonic France, have you seen the Temeraire series? I don't know if alternate-history fiction is part of your bailiwick, but I still maintain that dragons make everything better.

I actually read the first book in the series despite my well-attested hatred of dragons. I liked the way she turned them into flying ships, though I also disliked it, because, well, they weren't airplanes, which was what I really wanted. I think a book about people who turn into birds of prey and go in for talons on each other would be cooler. Maybe they could occasionally drop fire grenades on the heads of ground-pounders too.

Speaking of Napoleonic France, have you seen the Temeraire series? I don't know if alternate-history fiction is part of your bailiwick, but I still maintain that dragons make everything better.

I actually read the first book in the series despite my well-attested hatred of dragons.

XD

Yes, I recall now.

Have added Homeworlds where recorded.

At a glance I reckon there is more missing than present, although given some of the bit-parts many of the characters are drawn from, it probably isn't all that surprising.

Speaking of Napoleonic France, have you seen the Temeraire series?

I own like 6 of the books but haven't made it past #2 or #3. Good books, just had trouble getting into them. Normally I'd buy them one at a time but Amazon or Barnes and Noble which every I got them from, had a 2 for 1 deal, so I got like 4 of them for free.

I loved the ideas behind the story, the nobility of the main character and the details about the dragons. Plus I thought it did a good job of how things would work if dragons were part of the Napoleonic wars.

Ended up at B&N today. I indulged myself and walked away with a copy of Corelli's Mandolin after all; I'm only a chapter in, and the hooks are already set. Truth be told, Mr. Bernières had me at the very first paragraph. There's just something charming, human, and inspiring about his writing. There's an ounce or two of comedic wit sprinkled in for good measure, but it's fleeting in the most appropriate way. It was there again in that first paragraph, and it brought me right back to the Battle of Gallipoli from Birds Without Wings.

I own like 6 of the books but haven't made it past #2 or #3. Good books, just had trouble getting into them. Normally I'd buy them one at a time but Amazon or Barnes and Noble which every I got them from, had a 2 for 1 deal, so I got like 4 of them for free.

I loved the ideas behind the story, the nobility of the main character and the details about the dragons. Plus I thought it did a good job of how things would work if dragons were part of the Napoleonic wars.

I was hooked from the first chapter, but the latter books have become... tedious.

Speaking of Napoleonic France, have you seen the Temeraire series?

I own like 6 of the books but haven't made it past #2 or #3. Good books, just had trouble getting into them. Normally I'd buy them one at a time but Amazon or Barnes and Noble which every I got them from, had a 2 for 1 deal, so I got like 4 of them for free.

I loved the ideas behind the story, the nobility of the main character and the details about the dragons. Plus I thought it did a good job of how things would work if dragons were part of the Napoleonic wars.

Haven't gotten to the point where it really veers off from history. And quite possibly the best dragon.

It's a fun series, especially if you look at it as a "lets see how a world with dragons look like", as you quite literally travel the globe. Admitidly, I did not like the amnesia sub plot of the last book, but only one more. Will have to do a reread once I finish of a reread of the Dune series.

Bringing this (sort of) back on topic, I do like that they had female pilots in the Temeraire series.

Even if they were only pilots because the Dragon Corps was less professional and looked down upon in the service?

I thought it was primarily because that one type of dragon wouldn't take male pilots, so they had to have females, and then they hid it from society because it would have been a scandal.

Semi related...

Picked up Imperial Assault a few weeks ago. My 10 year old daughter seemed interested in it, but when she found out she could play girl heroes, that really sold her on the game.

It was a nice touch IMO for FFG to include women heroes in the game as it is more welcoming to girls that way.

Semi related...

Picked up Imperial Assault a few weeks ago. My 10 year old daughter seemed interested in it, but when she found out she could play girl heroes, that really sold her on the game.

It was a nice touch IMO for FFG to include women heroes in the game as it is more welcoming to girls that way.

I am so glad you posted this. Wish I could like it five times. When I was that age, there were some games I just wouldn't play if you couldn't be a girl character. When I played X-wing and TIE Fighter, I loved that they never gave away the identity of the pilot. The EU "pilots" for those games being both male really irritates the heck out of me. When X-wing alliance came out, I considered boycotting it because they made the player exclusively male, which they had never done before.

I too am really glad that FFG includes female heroes in its games. Make her a fun all-girls list for X-wing and get her hooked on that too!

Similarly, my wife is willing to play IA because she can be an awesome hot-shot female smuggler, but doesn't like X-Wing because she isn't as interested in the various pilots.

She also prefers RPGs to miniature games so it's more complex, but the character selection certainly helps. Our playgroup consists of the two of us and one other married coupe; both wives play as heroes because they love the smuggler and Jedi. It's amazing how much more fun a game can be when you can relate to the main characters.

Similarly, my wife is willing to play IA because she can be an awesome hot-shot female smuggler, but doesn't like X-Wing because she isn't as interested in the various pilots.

She also prefers RPGs to miniature games so it's more complex, but the character selection certainly helps. Our playgroup consists of the two of us and one other married coupe; both wives play as heroes because they love the smuggler and Jedi. It's amazing how much more fun a game can be when you can relate to the main characters.

Absolutely! And here is the way you sucker them into playing X-wing with you. Create a Star Wars RPG campaign where they are all smugglers or space pirates, and they get to invent their own characters, and choose a unique pilot ability. Print out cards for their made-up pilots, and include the X-wing miniatures as part of the RPG. Then, when they've had tons of fun with the RPG, introduce them to X-wing scenario play with the "real" pilots from FFG, and give them the backstories on Kath Scarlet and Drea Renthal and Serissu and all the other female pilots, and I think they'll be converted.

I've absolutely begun to think in that direction. We have a campaign planned this summer that combines IA Skirmish and X-Wing, modeled loosely on the "Mandatory Retirement" story arc of the old Rogue Squadron comics.

The biggest difficulty is overcoming their dislike of competitive games. Playing against one "DM" is fine, but one on one is less appealing.

It's amazing how much more fun a game can be when you can relate to the main characters.

The unfortunate part is that it really isn't amazing, it's just that lots of us have never had to worry about it. I'm a white dude with brown hair. I am the default protagonist.

Semi related...

Picked up Imperial Assault a few weeks ago. My 10 year old daughter seemed interested in it, but when she found out she could play girl heroes, that really sold her on the game.

It was a nice touch IMO for FFG to include women heroes in the game as it is more welcoming to girls that way.

Sort of lost one my Netrunner regulars for our weekly meet up due to playing D&D with his daughter.

On a side note (to the already existing side note to the original post) my wife and I did the following:

1. Took our favourite pilot card

2. Replicated it, replacing only pilot name and image (changing it to our own)

3. Played X-Wing

The psychology of having yourself on the table changes your play style. There is a strong sense of self-preservation, and on the other side of the coin (dial, token, etc) a stronger sense of achievement when that particular pilot is successful.

I would highly recommend it. It is very fun.

I really do want to make some custom generic pilots.

Does strange eons come with the xwing plug in or where do I get that?