Reminds me of the Ethshar series. I don’t remember what book it happens in, but in one of them, it’s a bit of worldbuilding that Divination wizards typically do a quick divination in the morning to see what clients they’ll get that day, then also do a divination to see what they’ll want to ask. That way, when the client comes into their shop, the wizard already knows who they are, what their question is, and the answer to the question, proving their abilities.

I always put the peanut butter on top because it sticks to the bread better. If I pick up a slice of bread with jelly, there’s more of a chance that some could fall off.

Have you read the series Slumrat Rising by Warby Picus? I think you might like it, since I get a somewhat similar vibe to your thoughts here as some of the philosophizing a bit later on in the series. It took me a bit through book one to see where things were heading, but things became clear after that, and it was entertaining enough before I got to that point.

congratulations

I think it just depends on what music you’re listening to. I wasn’t able to think of any songs I’ve been listening to in the last year or two that glorified the hustle, if anything they do the opposite. Here’s an example that came to mind when I saw this post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1bW2MBdyLw

Source: https://existentialcomics.com/comic/540

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5iqCKzUhlg

There are a few places I’ve found with lots of prebuilt monsters for GURPS, though they aren’t really consolidated in one place. I usually look through one if the following if I want something prebuilt:

• the creatures of the night books (mostly solitary monsters you could design an adventure around, with suggestions for each one)
• the fantasy bestiary (lots of generic and mythological monsters from all over the world, with stats and descriptions for each one)
• dungeon fantasy monsters 1-3 (lots of monsters, kinda built with dungeon fantasy settings and power levels in mind)
• the gurps repository also has tons of free and generic statblocks

I’d recommend Kingdoms of Amalur if you’ve never played it. It has neat lore, and the combat is fairly satisfying imo. My main complaint is that combat gets kinda easy when you start approaching the level cap, even on max difficulty, but I still go back to the game every now and then.

Probably something like this. Seems self-explanatory to me at least.

Well, it’s a bit late to be considered quick, but here’s some of my favorite series that I’ve read recently:

• Firebrand by Quill - magic school story about a boy who lives in a Roman inspired setting. The story also extends a few books after his graduation from school, which I liked.
• Mother of Learning by nobody103 - also takes place in a magic school, but in a very different setting. It’s also a time loop story and one of the best series I’ve ever read.
• Ave Xia Rem Y by Mat Haz - pretty standard Xianxia story, but very well written. It’s still ongoing, but it’s older, so there’s a lot of free chapters already out and arcs finished.
• Mage Errant by John Bierce - another magic school type story (evidently I really like those), with a really interesting magic system and world building. John Bierce also has a patreon with a bunch of short stories, which I enjoy, and all his books have a bunch of recommendations for other stories at the end, which I’ve used to find good stuff in the past.
• Weirkey Chronicles by Sarah Lin - This story focuses a bit more of character development than I usually prefer, but the combat, characters, setting, and magic are all great. It has a unique take on cultivation, where your power is built as a “soulhome” inside your soul, and the construction of that home gives various advantages and disadvantages along with your powers.
• Paranoid Mage by InadvisablyCompelled - this is one of the few urban fantasy books that I’ve really liked. The protagonist finds out he’s a mage at like 30 or something, but the magical government is even more tyranical than the non-magical one, so he goes on the run and tries to fight back however he can. He often makes do by making clever use of his space magic.
• The Iron Teeth by Clear Madness - This story has a goblin protagonist, and it does a good job of showing how he thinks differently from a human. I also really like the worldbuilding and how the magic systems work and are limited.

I tend to go through phases in which whenever I find a bunch of books I’m really interested in, I’ll read a ton. But, once I finish those, I’ll read less for a while. I think my top speed if I’m really invested in what I’m reading is around 800 pages a day, but I never sustain that for long because I run out of book.

I pretty much exclusively read fantasy, with a focus on books with hard magic systems, progression elements, and/or some sort of cultivation (which itself is a progression element).

When I was a kid, I struggled with reading for years because I wasn’t interested in anything I read at school. I only really started reading a ton when I found books I was interested in (fantasy), which in turn made me a lot better at reading from all the practice.

Somewhat more recently, I’ve started reading webnovels in between traditionally published books, which is nice because you get a continuous drip of content. I also generally just read on my phone, as it’s very convenient to pop out a book wherever I am. I like physical books too, but I don’t tend to get through them as fast because I can’t fit them in my pocket and take them with me everywhere.

My experience is that if you want to develop a habit of reading a lot, you should focus on finding something you enjoy, as it’s a lot easier to make a habit of doing something you like than something you don’t like.