Swag, DotM, WorldCon

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Got issue #6 of Fell today -- many thanks to Ron Edwards for recommending it.

jlighton brought back the swag I'd asked him to get. Dictionary of Mu looks really good. jlighton said that it should properly be called Encyclopedia of Mu. Aesthetically -- he's right, but "Dictionary" somehow has a better ring in my ear, perhaps simply because that's what I'm used to the game being called. The Princes' Kingdom also looks good.

He also picked up the Hawkmoon monograph from Chaosium and Strange Songs, both of which look cool. I may have the Hawkmoon stuff if it's reprinted from the game Chaosium did years ago, but, y'know, I can live with encouraging the company to keep it in print.

He also got the Weapons of the Gods Companion.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying getting to use parts of Midnight Circus in CthulhuPunk pbem and ftf. I got this as a review copy when it came out, the first White Wolf adventure for all five games. I dreaded finding out it was the usual WW railroad job. To my delight, it was not. An actual "Here's a bunch of stuff going on and what will come of it if the PCs don't intervene" adventure, where the PCs are expected to, well, intervene effectively, plus stats and stuff, and background flavor text.

I see some of its flaws more clearly. In a few ways, the Circus is far too deadly, and unaesthetically (to me) so. Also, in practice, the "Here is the list of characters with stats and background" and the "Here is where everything is in the circus" makes for much annoying page flipping. Really must do my take on how players use gaming products and try to sit on agrumer to make him do his. That last trick never works, though.

Getting ready for WorldCon. I find that I don't miss GenCon as much as I thought, primarily because a) we did Origins, which was great, b) we did DexCon, which was great, and c) jlighton took a commission to bring me back swag. This year, I am glad of the break. Next year? Depends on whether we do the Japanese WorldCon.

Finished a draft of Felice for DotM, and am working on Vicarious.

Swag, DotM, WorldCon

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Got issue #6 of Fell today -- many thanks to Ron Edwards for recommending it.

jlighton brought back the swag I'd asked him to get. Dictionary of Mu looks really good. jlighton said that it should properly be called Encyclopedia of Mu. Aesthetically -- he's right, but "Dictionary" somehow has a better ring in my ear, perhaps simply because that's what I'm used to the game being called. The Princes' Kingdom also looks good.

He also picked up the Hawkmoon monograph from Chaosium and Strange Songs, both of which look cool. I may have the Hawkmoon stuff if it's reprinted from the game Chaosium did years ago, but, y'know, I can live with encouraging the company to keep it in print.

He also got the Weapons of the Gods Companion.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying getting to use parts of Midnight Circus in CthulhuPunk pbem and ftf. I got this as a review copy when it came out, the first White Wolf adventure for all five games. I dreaded finding out it was the usual WW railroad job. To my delight, it was not. An actual "Here's a bunch of stuff going on and what will come of it if the PCs don't intervene" adventure, where the PCs are expected to, well, intervene effectively, plus stats and stuff, and background flavor text.

I see some of its flaws more clearly. In a few ways, the Circus is far too deadly, and unaesthetically (to me) so. Also, in practice, the "Here is the list of characters with stats and background" and the "Here is where everything is in the circus" makes for much annoying page flipping. Really must do my take on how players use gaming products and try to sit on agrumer to make him do his. That last trick never works, though.

Getting ready for WorldCon. I find that I don't miss GenCon as much as I thought, primarily because a) we did Origins, which was great, b) we did DexCon, which was great, and c) jlighton took a commission to bring me back swag. This year, I am glad of the break. Next year? Depends on whether we do the Japanese WorldCon.

Finished a draft of Felice for DotM, and am working on Vicarious.

In Dark Alleys

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Am slowly working my way through In Dark Alleys. Am taking anything about the real world con grano salis, given that this comes from the people who seriously expected me to believe, in Fates Worse than Death that a) the Internet could fall down and not get back up for a decade, b) that parents would be allowed to keep their kids with them in prison, where they pick up all sorts of prison skills (ebartley: Yes, they would. This is why prisons don't allow convicts to keep their kids with them in jail.), and c) that the government would not be willing to issue anyone identity papers and keep track of them.

On the other hand, I am pleased to note that In Dark Alleys actually notes that Whites are a minority in LA, and gives some kind of ethnic breakdown. I'm not sure of the source or accuracy of the figures, but that's less important to me than the recognition that people in a contemporary gaming world are not all like, well, me or most of the folks that I game with. When discussing native traditions, the book avoids the usual Celtic stuff, and gives a 1-page summary of Latin American beliefs, which, while not screamingly original for an rpg, is quite appropriate given the setting, and also gives a brief summary of 3 Asian traditions -- Hmong, Cambodian, and Vietnamese. I do not think I have ever seen that in an rpg before. I am not attesting to the accuracy or lack thereof, but definite nod for thinking about the setting.

Oh, and there's a lot of lovely horror / dark fantasy cool bits in there.

The system is, of course, crunchier than I'd like. Most systems are. But, I bought it to find stuff I could use, and, like Fates Worse than Death, it's got plenty of lovely stuff.

In Dark Alleys

[drcpunk.livejournal.com]

Am slowly working my way through In Dark Alleys. Am taking anything about the real world con grano salis, given that this comes from the people who seriously expected me to believe, in Fates Worse than Death that a) the Internet could fall down and not get back up for a decade, b) that parents would be allowed to keep their kids with them in prison, where they pick up all sorts of prison skills (ebartley: Yes, they would. This is why prisons don't allow convicts to keep their kids with them in jail.), and c) that the government would not be willing to issue anyone identity papers and keep track of them.

On the other hand, I am pleased to note that In Dark Alleys actually notes that Whites are a minority in LA, and gives some kind of ethnic breakdown. I'm not sure of the source or accuracy of the figures, but that's less important to me than the recognition that people in a contemporary gaming world are not all like, well, me or most of the folks that I game with. When discussing native traditions, the book avoids the usual Celtic stuff, and gives a 1-page summary of Latin American beliefs, which, while not screamingly original for an rpg, is quite appropriate given the setting, and also gives a brief summary of 3 Asian traditions -- Hmong, Cambodian, and Vietnamese. I do not think I have ever seen that in an rpg before. I am not attesting to the accuracy or lack thereof, but definite nod for thinking about the setting.

Oh, and there's a lot of lovely horror / dark fantasy cool bits in there.

The system is, of course, crunchier than I'd like. Most systems are. But, I bought it to find stuff I could use, and, like Fates Worse than Death, it's got plenty of lovely stuff.