State of Stuff

 Godbound

Group communication/expectation issues aside, I still need to figure out what to do with my character. An oddity in the game means you can't level-up without spending Dominion in addition to accumulating XP. Dominion is... a measure of ability to influence the world, I suppose you could say. It makes sense with the game conceit that PCs are growing divinities - they have an ability to shape the world and doing so strengthens them. Spending Dominion to benefit followers or territories seems like the most straightforward and obvious use.

But when your character is intended to become a more behind-the-scenes power, things are a little more tricky. Plus, it's far too early at this stage to know who she wants to support - the PCs haven't had much change to distinguish themselves and they really haven't found any territory to claim (save, perhaps, the airship wreck they're exploring, but it would apparently take more than dumping present quantities of Dominion into it to get it working again).

You can also make artifacts with Dominion... but it requires time and specific resources that aren't at hand.

In what appears to be a house rule, you can also spend Dominion on self-improvement (one PC purchased night vision). This seems a little counter to the game concept, but if it's allowed, it's allowed. I just don't see any little abilities like that which appeal at the moment.

It looks like waiting is a valid option that I might go with, but waiting to spend Dominion means waiting to gain the benefits of leveling up too. That isn't a deal-breaker in my mind as I don't see an immediate need for more plusses/hit points/gifts/etc. Those things are all great, but I have needed them exactly zero times thus far and I'm still waiting to see if the one Gift power I've used will even pay off.

So... yeah, I may just sit on Dominion and levels for a while unless inspiration strikes.

Valheim

I'm generally anti-early-access when it comes to video games. I find it annoying, in fact, to see a "release date" come up for something I'm interested in only to see it's "releasing" into early-access and won't be complete for "a year" which usually means more like 2-3.

That said, I gave in and decided to give Valheim a try after a number of positive reviews. I don't really regret the decision. As a game that centers around crafting up through tiers with some survival and exploration, it works in its current state. There are a lot of hours worth of gameplay working up to the last complete tech tier and biome and there's no real reliance on story so the absence doesn't hurt so much.

That said, I've gotten my little viking-ish avatar up to black metal tools and padded armor with a foothold fort in the plains and... there's not much more to push toward right now. I haven't killed the last boss, but there's no next tier of items to open up from it either, so I think I'm probably done for now. Without the sense of advancement, I don't have much motivation there to build bigger and better bases or explore far and wide.

Siobhan Dunmoore

With the ridiculous workload of the early month having tapered off and being roadblocked on a number of other projects at work waiting for others to do things, I've had some reading time of late. This led me to pick up the Siobhan Dunmoore books and blaze through them.

It's a space navy series with war, pirates, privateering, and a dose of politics on the non-human side. I have to say it didn't quite grab me the way a few other military sci-fi books have, but I still found it enjoyable. It's always interesting to see an author's take on giving a historical naval feel to spacefaring combat. I'd say in this case the link is more terminology and tradition rather than something like the Alexis Carew books that made space travel and combat very physically akin to sea navy. Still, the parallels are there.

Six digital books down. Not sure what's next.