Traveling to Italy!
I went as a guest of honor, along with Tobias Wrigstad, to the Italian hobby gaming convention InterNosCon, for May 8 and 9. I arrived a few days early to see Bologna and Ravenna. Tobias and I spent some time putting together a shared and individualized program of activities, and I played Spione, a playtest of Shahida, and a playtest of a modified setting for The Shadow of Yesterday system.
Published
Naked Went the Gamer (originally in Fight On! #6)
I’d greatly appreciate feedback, thoughts, and whatever else at the Adept Press forum.
Goddess of Rape – an essay originally published in Daedalus #1, in 2003, regarding the goddess Thed in the setting of Glorantha, interpreted through an exegesis of sources and our long-running game of Hero Wars
In progress
A very practical look at science fiction in role-playing, using no definitions but my own. The games I’m focusing on include:
Ruby, Venus 2141, Justifiers (using Levi Kornelsen’s system in playtest, The Exchange), EABA: NeoTerra, Sign in Stranger, shock:, Bliss Stage, Burning Wheel: Under the Serpent Sun, Burning Empires, Center Space (probably using the Hero Wars system), Rats in the Walls (in playtest), Reality Cops (in playtest), 3:16, Lacuna, Tsyk, Cyberpunk (first version), Mars Colony, Underground, and a few others.
As I see it, the blanket literary category is “fantasy,” of which “science trappings” is a subset, and within that, “political content” is also a subset. I’m choosing to use “science fiction” to mean fantasy with science trappings and political content. I want to stress that fantasy and science fiction are therefore not opposed or alternatives.
Also, by this definition, the various concepts of alternate history and predicting future events are irrelevant. As I see it, science fiction is only and always about the moment it is written. This also means that the Star Wars films, as well as games or any associated media, are not science fiction at all.
Another variable would concern whether the work involved is any good or not, but again, that’s an independent variable. I can think of much “fantasy with science trappings” which is good and much “science fiction” which is not, for instance, as well as vice versa.
My goal with this project is to produce a number of usable handouts for each game which facilitate and promote them. It’s also a way for me to increase my chances of getting around to playing all of them (I’m about halfway through). So far:
Sign In Stranger, Bliss Stage, Under the Serpent Sun, Justifiers, Venus 2141, Ruby. Please bear in mind that all of these are rough drafts.