Hi Daniel, We have, of course, already spoken via another venue, but I thought I'd reply to this to once again express my admiration for the line of approach "I'm a real person, not a bot", which tickles me! It's also poor that it's taken me a month to spot this comment, but then, this particular corner of the internet is clearly entering its twilight years... Chris.

Hey Njordy! It wasn't, I knew of this game but never played it. As I've discussed in Origins of Ghost Master, Part One, the main influence on the gameplay was more from Pokémon, and the haunting aspect came more from films than from games. Thanks for asking! Chris.

It is quite remarkable that this piece didn't age - I could have been eating my words soon afterwards! Thanks for stopping by, Kermond!

Thanks for your supportive comment, Don! I truly appreciate it.

Thanks Ian! It is indeed a beautiful view here, with the only disappointment being the light pollution from nearby Nashville. But frankly, compared to the light pollution from living in Manchester, it would be churlish for me to complain!

PPS: I just reached this part of the book with my boys (my youngest hadn't read it with me before) and I now have much more sympathy with your position! I was thinking off the event I mention above, the attack on the secret door, but of course there is an encounter with Smaug - admittedly at long distance! - earlier in the same chapter, when they run and hide in the secret passageway. So I now think there is a case to be made for the dwarves 'encountering' the dragon, albeit never in close quarters - and certainly never in a fight with the Worm! Thanks for the opportunity to explore this issue! Chris.

Hey Will, This one is a technicality - it's true that Smaug tries to attack them, but the dwarves do not see the dragon as they are on the other side of the secret door. The implication as I read it is that if they had directly encountered Smaug, they'd have been toast. So I guess this comes to the definition of 'encounter', doesn't it! Does having a dragon smash its body against a mountain you are inside really count as an encounter...? Perhaps I could have added the qualifier 'directly' as in 'the dwarves don't directly encounter the dragon'! 🤣 Thanks for commenting! Chris. PS: From the end of Chapter 12, Inside Information: Darkness grew deeper and he grew ever more uneasy. "Shut the door!" he begged them. "I fear that dragon in my marrow. I like this silence far less than the uproar of last night. Shut the door before it is too late!" Something in his voice gave the dwarves an uncomfortable feeling. Slowly Thorin shook off his dreams and getting up he kicked away the stone that wedged the door. Then they thrust upon it, and it closed with a snap and a clang. No trace of a keyhole was there left on the inside. They were shut in the Mountain! And not a moment too soon. They had hardly gone any distance down the tunnel when a blow smote the side of the Mountain like the crash of battering-rams made of forest oaks and swung by giants. The rock boomed, the walls cracked and stones fell from the roof on their heads. What would have happened if the door had still been open I don't like to think.

An odd idea... I can't imagine saying 'white bread will win', and that seems to be a parallel kind of claim. If we insist on seeing matters as a fight between communism and capitalism, the one certain thing is that economics will win. Chris.

This is a brilliant commentary, E - I quite agree. As I put it in Chaos Ethics, 'we are all nomads now'. I'm not sure this is a 'peculiar misfortune', however, so much as the inevitable trajectory of 'technology' such as it is. Many thanks for your thoughtful comment! Chris.