staying up late, playing games
The atmosphere is becoming more humid in a pattern consistent with man-made climate change, researchers have found.
“This confirmation that humidity and temperature are increasing as expected has important implications for future human health and comfort,” observed the Hadley Centre’s Peter Thorne, one of the research team.
Looks like BladeRunner had it right. It’ll never stop raining.
This kind of thing gives me the shivers.
Two disabled blokes were detained by UK police for suspiciously opening a white envelope and looking at police men in public view
It’s been asked about 20 times now when I’m going to London with the job and I’ve been wanting to put it off. Anything to avoid the steely stare of Airport Security.
YOUR RIGHTS UNDER SECTION 44 (Courtesy Liberty ):
God forbid you should be having a game in the pub and passing round a copy of the Compendium of Modern Firearms or something.
Pardon my French, but this is fucking mint.
Escapist’s Yahtzee reviews Halo 3. It made me chuckle and made her-indoors roll her eyes.
Meanwhile we learn that Microsoft and Bungie are parting ways. So sad, too bad.
Of course, Bungie is now broken but who cares. Really.
Okay….
From the Wonderland blog:
While we’re debating the use of English pronouns in RPG books, we find that Ubisoft have just created a range of games for the Nintendo:DS which consist of shopping, fashion, animals and babies.
The world is imbalanced, side-loaded, lurching: we need more female policemen, actually – aren’t Ubisoft watching Life on Mars? – and female referees, and female politicians, and female military people, and female marketing strategists, and female farmers … and, of course, as evidenced by this latest offering, more female video game personnel.
Their next releases will concentrate on Ponies, Make-Up…..
I recently read James Herbert’s ’48 which is a post-World War II version of a few post-apocalyptic stories. It was essentially “28 Days Later” or “Night of the Comet” but with Nazis. It read like a muh shorter ‘lite’ version of Stephen King’s “The Stand”. It’s Dawn of the Dead with a swastika.
Sure – there’s some good plot points, some not so good and some decent characterisation. It leaves the ending a little flat but it’s an easy read and not a long book so most people should be able to find their way through it easily enough. Two sex scenes, both where the author gingerly describes genitalia without using real words. Some interesting characters were killed off and the hero – well – I found it very hard to identify with him and his constant internal monologue.
So is this a mashup like we find in so many online apps and also in roleplaying games? Who knows. I liked the book, enough to finish it which hasn’t happened with every book I’ve bought in the last few years.
Along the lines of rehashing plots, new movie The Invasion seems to be just a rendition of Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
Everything old is new again…
The Giant’s Causeway is one of the most astounding natural formations in Northern Ireland. This got me thinking about the representations of natural wonders in gaming.
In the Aurore Sourcebook for 2300AD, they described a tidal flood plain which was so flat that the tides, sped by the influence of the large lunar satellite on that planet to be a rushing wall of water that destroyed anything in it’s path and whose sonic booms could be heard for miles around. I, of course, delighted at the idea of the players racing along the tidal flat trying to get to high ground before they were destroyed… (and I’d still give my right nut to play some 2300AD with a good group).
When playing MERP we didn’t spend much time talking about the grandeur of the mountain ranges or the dread of Mordor but we were young and we made more of an effort when playing the Decipher LotR game.
Without having trodden the steps (so to speak) or seeing the photos, does the sound of the Giant’s Causeway not sound like fiction?
🙂
You will find British people very polite. Here are some of our quaint phrases; if you learn them before visiting Britain, you will be able to understand us much better, and soon will be talking “like a native”!
Phrase – Meaning
Efforf – Would you like to join me?
Bleadenyanx – I’m so glad you’ve come to visit our country!
Shaddi – Please repeat that
Getstaft – Won’t you sit here a minute?
I’ve been a grumpy bastard all day and the kids just turned what was already going to be unpleasant for me into something hellish and I think I took my mood out on everyone.
Being moody sucks.
Sorry to everyone.
This time it seems to center around the use of the English language (which does not have a gender neutral pronoun).
Is it possible to write gender-neutral (as opposed to say balanced) text and still entertain?
Yes. But if the audience is spending more time counting the number of times you used he and she rather than actually reading the book, then you haven’t a chance.
I write based on personal experience. There are no women in my gaming group and most of the guys do not choose to play female characters. When writing I do mix the pronouns but that’s more for readability rather than anything else. Referring to two male characters as “he” gets confusing, as would referring to two female characters as “she”. Which one do we mean? Bish, bosh, change one of them and the readability increases.
It still won’t be good enough for the people counting pronouns.
After what seems an age, the first roleplaying games I wrote are on sale again at Key20
The 23rd Letter ( RPG.net Review )
Zombi: The Earth Won’t Hold The Dead ( Review by Jeff Rients )
I’ve linked to reviews before but they’re easily searchable anyway.
The fashion chain Zara has withdrawn a handbag from its stores after a customer pointed out that the design featured swastikas.
..
As well as being the Nazi symbol, the swastika is also a religious symbol for Hindus and Buddhists.
What disturbs me about this is that if the Nazis had adopted, say, the Crucifix or, perhaps, the Great Seal, would there be such a hubbub.
Yes, they were scumbags but does this mean we have to throw out Hindu and Buddhist culture? What does this mean for the Black Leather Trenchcoat? Does Lightning McQueen sport the lightning symbol on his bodywork because he is paying homage to the SS (Schutzstaffel)?
There’s one thing in refusing to glorify or edify the wrongdoers of the past. That’s not what the handbag makers were doing. But this insistence on removing everything that might possibly offend anyone is only going to lead us to Equilibrium.
Yes. That’s a bad thing. (it wasn’t all about cool guys fighting with guns and swords….no really….)
I’ve bought a few foreign language games in the past – a few French games (Humanydyne, Vermine, In Nomine Satanis, Te Deum Pour Un Massacre, Apocrypha) , a couple of German games (Das Schwarze Auge, Space Gothic) and my friend Paul gifted me with a copy of Ars Magica in Russian a few years ago.
Some of the games you get from other countries are very much foreign language versions of games we already have. They have their own direct translations as well as native versions of hackneyed fantasy and other tropes. But they have some gems, like some of the games listed above. Even before you start translating the games, they stand out (worthy of note is that someone is working on an English translation of HumanyDyne.)
I hear good things from Spain (but haven’t bought any because I don’t know any Spanish, while I can read French and German).
Anyone else ventured to other cultures for good RPGs?
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Time Killers game – mostly about whether or not there is room for ANOTHER time travel game out there.
One of the best time travel games I’ve ever read was Continuum (1999) which really went to town on background and gave special focus to making sure you fulfill your own future. Some of the things in the game (spanners, frag) have silly names and I dislike the “secret” as well. But, nonetheless, it has a lot of things going for it.
So, here’s the framework for Time Killers.
Every player has a character, pregens are provided but there’ll also be rules for making your own.
Each player must have a Timepiece, a pen and paper representation of an electronic diary, which records their past and future. Everything “temporal” that happens in a game session should be recorded in their timepiece.
When doing something that is in your Future, you should skip a random number of pages ahead in the Timepiece and write in a reminder. As you start to fill your diary with events from your Present (this making up your Past), you will eventually come across events you have placed into your Future. Now is the time to resolve them.
Paradoxes are bad but that’s where the time killers come in. In the example of the famous grandfather paradox, the Time Killers are there to restore normal working to the timeline. If a time traveller goes back in time to kill his grandfather, noting that if he succeeds, he will never be born and will never have been able to go back in time because he never existed, the correct flow of time will be that he does go back and he does attempt the murder, but for whatever reason he will fail (either by being prevented in committing the murder or by the Time Killer organisation planting whatever is necessary to keep the timeline straight, up to and including replacing the dead grandfather with a simulacrum or technological fertilisation of the time travellers grandmother. Time Killers are not exempt from these paradoxes but at least are more knowledgeable than most.
The Time Killers are one of many “timeline guardian” organisations. There are others. And no-one is really sure of what is the “proper” timeline. However, what distinguishes the the legitimacy of some from others is the ability of the organisation to detect changes in Causality. These manifest as “vibrations” in spacetime and indicate that a paradox has occurred. As paradox happens instantly and would cause spacetime to unravel, it is important to get the Time Killers out into the field before the unravelling occurs. This means there’s very little time to prepare and every single time it happens, the fate of the universe is on their shoulders.
That’s enough stream-of-consciousness for one morning.
[The title of this post comes from the 2004 film, Primer.]
These are the games I’m currently working on – as in trying to spend an hour every night writing something, anything. Some nights are more productive than others. I’m only hampered my Black Macbook being pinched by my partner because she has more important stuff to do but hopefully before the end of September that will be resolved when I take delivery of a brand spanking new 17″ MacBook Pro.
It’s a much better machine for working on at night anyway because it’s got the whole glowing keyboard thing which means I can tap away at night without the light on.
My only distraction so far really (apart from her indoors) is Battlefield 2142 which is proving to be a lot of fun and I’m slowly but surely getting better at playing it as I get used to the health dispensers and the ammo dispensers. I need to practise more before playing against real humans and also need to get learning the maps! I’ll also be able to play it on my new laptop which will be a real relief considering the discomfort in my back after hunching over an iMac while perched on a stool with my head cocked to one side due to the sloping roof in the little side room.
Without further discussion, here’s what I’m working on.
“6” – previously named CONTROL, “6” is a modern espionage game framework. The initial background is Cold War era, British Secret Service (MI6) with a setting more familiar to readers of Le Carre or Deighton than Fleming. Release planned before December 2007.
“Solar Racer” – a sports-focused sci-fi RPG set in and around the dangerous sports of zero- and microgravity vacuum racing. Complete background for the world post 2200 and guidelines for pimping your racer. Steals a lot from an earlier game I wrote but never finished called “Airtight”. Maybe it’ll see release at some point as a supplement for ‘Racer. Release Spring 2008
“Time Killers” – a series of one-off adventures. Each scenario includes rules, pre-generated characters, setting and scenario. Basic premise is the players are time-travellers tasked with “fixing” some bloopers in time. Each scenario should take 2-4 hours which is perfect for those of us who find ourselves with a minimum of prep time or have a free slot at a convention. Release of first scenario, December 2007.
Tonight I put together the first eight pages of CONTROL, a game I hope to release in PDF form in just two weeks, time permitting.
CONTROL is an espionage game set at the start of the second Cold War, a period of intense emotions which I remember well. The game itself uses the model of Tiered Play, similar to Troupe Play. Players will play more than one character during the game.
At least one player must play a member of CONTROL, the committee which oversees espionage operations. Other players take the roles of AGENTS and ASSETS where the former are experienced and trained spies and the latter tend to be individuals who find themselves involved in espionage due to money, ideology, coercion or ego.
CONTROL makes decisions on agents and resources and keeps records on assets while trying to maintain and enhance their own career by working with the government. The enemy is a minor concern.
AGENTS try to build relationships with assets, negotiate with Control for resources and have to contend with the enemy.
ASSETS commonly just try to stay alive.
The game will, to a point, hinge on the interactions between the tiers.
To be honest it eludes me…how anyone could hold a baby in their arms and be drunk in by their tiny eyes, heart softened by their tiny fingers closing around your own elephantine digits…
….and then call the wee boy Roger.
I never knew any kids called Roger when I was growing up. But I meet people called Roger every day.
It justifies the opinion that we really are living in The Matrix. Everyone we know around our age was created at that age, as memory began.
There were never any infants called Roger. Ever.
Just to confuse matters, these are in alphabetical order but to my mind they represent the absolute cream of the crop when it comes to roleplaying games.
Amber – The godchild of Zelazny’s novels, Amber brought us some really innovative methods of determining hierarchy and conflict resolution in a diceless roleplaying system. Re-defining the player character as a “godlike being” among tiny humans while also making them juniors in their own hierarchy.
Ars Magica – The definitive fantasy/Mythic Europe game brought us Troupe Play – the idea that you would maintain multiple characters in a single game. This concept has since been applied to almost every genre. Ars Magica still leads the way in running a Mythic Europe game out of the box.
Chaosium’s Call of Cthulhu – One of the first games where the ability to hit someone was not the primary focus of creating a character. It was the first time it certainly when more people were interested in creating characters as “professors” and “archeologists” rather than “fighters” and “magic users”.
CyberPunk – What did it do for us? In such a combat-heavy game, it got us seriously thinking about initiative, armour, the damage that guns inflict and also how playing a bona-fide X-factor applicant (Rockerboy) was a real option. It also gave us Netrunning and helped us realise that a Netrun was really boring for the rest of the players.
Marvel Super Heroes (FASERIP) – redefined the super-hero RPG genre by presenting the most flexible, most configurable game system of all time without compromising simplicity. Talk about a game that refuses to die!
Pendragon – a shot in the eye for recent indie games which attempt to force immersive roleplaying by pigeon-holing players into restrictive roles. You play a knight. That’s it. Not a priest or magic user. Playing a rogue is right out. Not only that – it pays to be a Paladin. It’s essential to your progress to act like a knight.
RuneQuest – the champion of Basic Role-Playing and also shouldering Glorantha, one of the most popular culture-game settings out there. It helped re-define the role of the magic user (in essence, everyone is a magic user) and gave real depth to the relationship between gods and their followers.
Skyrealms of Jorune – my personal favourite as a culture-game setting which stretched the imagination as to what could be really familiar as well as superbly alien. Not everyone could take Thriddles seriously but the background, a web of secrets, was enticing and rich, richer perhaps than any other man-made background.
SLA Industries – a relative newcomer but in spite of the not-entirely-shocking revelations near the end, we had some of the most involving gaming in this setting which, on the face of it, did more for trivialising murder than any other game. It was the first and last game to successfully meld horror and sci-fi.
Vampire – love them or hate them, White Wolf brought a much needed influx of people into the hobby and some of them remained. We’ve not seen a change in the market since to the same scale and it would be unlikely anyway. Vampire taught us that a game could be about humanity and character and not just about wearing black leather trenchcoats, mirrorshades and strapping a katana to your back.
WFRP – takes a lot of rap for being a game for losers – by this I mean, the game setting kinda reinforces even more than CoC that you cannot win. Even if you do find the demon possessing the guy who is on the throne, tomorrow you’ll catch some horrific disfiguring disease and die anyway.
These are mine.
What are yours?
For the last forever, Aidan and I were working on a new game. It started out as an idea for a videogame based on racing through courses around the Solar System, such as skimming the rings of Saturn or around an asteroid with an irregular spin. The idea was exciting – at least to us.
Lack of time and money killed the idea but we did a lot more work on the RPG and board game. I concentrated on the mundane stuff. We’ve not had much time to work on it recently but I’m hoping for release before Xmas 😉
Over the last few hours I’ve been watching episodes of ‘The Sandbaggers’ – a Cold War spy thriller TV series which aired in the late 70s and early 80s. Twenty episodes were made and though it was not popular at the time, it is one of the few TV shows I’ve seen with truly intelligent dialog. I bought the series on DVD from Amazon and I’m working my way through the second season right now.
It doesn’t paint a glamorous picture of espionage in any way.
Back in the olden days I GM’d TOP SECRET/S.I. and I have copies of DELTA FORCE and the James Bond RPG. Of course, more often when I run an espionage game I use The 23rd Letter for lots of reasons.
This makes me want to write two games. One a Cold War thriller and the second a post WW2 supernatural/low power superhero game…
More than this – I’d give my right nut for a co-worker.
(Just noticed this thread on RPG.net)