The Unbearable Lightness of Grimdark?

This particular thread is one of the more useful discussions on the aesthetic trends in 40K that I've seen in a while, going beyond level of detail, phwoar factor and producer ranking. It's at BoLS believe it or not, on a more or less ephemeral post.

One of the arguments corresponds to that idea that D&D is now its own set of reference points, which came up again with the nods to past fiction in fifth edition. A couple more:

 

Towards a 'new' encounter - reading, comprehension

Very interesting discussions on OD&D go down (like lead balloons?) at Untimately. I like the blog a lot. Today in the comments Gus L and Brendan suggested - if I'm reading right - that the encounter distance, surprise and reaction rolls can be just a little lacking.

For those who don't speak OD&Dese, encounter distance is the distance at which another party or situation is spotted, a surprise roll determines - surprise, surprise - whether each side is surprised and the reaction roll is a roll made to determine how a potential threat reacts, usually on 2d6 modified by charisma or an equivalent.*

Gus wonders if there's a way to generate more specific circumstances, like what exactly the goblins are doing other than "'goblin things'". I can improvise goblins okay, but I would be interested in a useful tool. I'm also the kind of guy who might help make it, even link to the project. But my worry is a new tool is more complication, especially when different settings and GMs have different takes on who or what a goblin actually is.

So I have a simple idea.

Wired-up Fighting Fantasy Necromunda in Itra's City

Of all the games you've known or loved, what fine fusions would you make if you could?

I wouldn't mind exploring the early version of Necromunda from GW's Confrontation, but in the form of a networked Fighting Fantasy gamebook that's still a paperback, borrowed from a local library - with dust, stains and the pencil marks of past players - using the resolution system from the Norwegian RPG Itras By, and all on a rainy British afternoon.

Here's some of the rich setting material, although Itras By would encourage reworking it.

Hive clusters are connected together by roads across the [ash] wastes and transportation tubes supported on pylons and suspended from cables. ... the landscape resembles a petrified forest entangled in the web of some enormous spider. ...

...

... The ash occurs in many different, often vivid hues such as sulphur yellow, citric green, cobalt blue, pink, mauve, as well as various shades of grey, and it varies in texture from fine dust to crystalline clinker. The creatures and nomads that live there are equally colourful ...

... A moderate ash storm will strip an unprotected man to the bone in seconds, and then reduce his bones to a handful of dust. ... Imperial scholars who have studied dust ecologies believe that there may be currents and tides within the ash surface.

...

In hotter weather, when Necromunda’s sun breaks through the planet’s cloud cover, noxious vapors rise up and form poisonous mists and fogs. Mists are invariably followed by toxic rain storms, laden with particles of deadly ash dust and other contaminants.

White Dwarf No. 130 (October 1990)

The aspects are all there, in the intricate lived-in tone and weirdness. I'm actually looking for a gaming equivalent to this video, a soulful blend of individually outstanding material...

The major sources used, or a close and relevant match otherwise, are this ("Silent All These Years"), this ("Down by the Water"), this ("Cover Me") and this ("Dissolved Girl").

If you're wondering how the metaphor shifted, it probably passed at least partly through the prism of Tadeusz Różewicz's "Draft for a Modern Love Poem", especially the lines:

...

a spring-clear
transparent description
of water
is a description of thirst
ashes
desert
it produces a mirage
clouds and trees move into
the mirror

Lack hunger
absence
of flesh
is a description of love
is a modern love poem

Gaming can also be seen as a kind of ensemble musicmaking, even lovemaking, with a good metre, a few riffs and plenty of flights of fancy, all kept developing with gentle cues.

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Towards a new model army?

Many of us feel that certain areas of wargaming can be pricey, some areas increasingly and unreasonably so. A handful of posts from the past few days suggest ways forward.

• James S at Warp Signal proposed the not-so-alien notion of army sharing...

• Matt Plonski at Apocalypse 40K described wargaming online with Vassal.

• The guys at Dark Future are reorganising their blog to highlight work in the wider community like tutorials, reviews of alternative bits and conversions.

• Loquacious at House of Paincakes followed up the OGL post and wondered about extending community licensing to other game systems and settings.

• For 40K especially, Tales of the Maelstrom posted a lead-in for tomorrow's festive meet-up, blending Rogue Trader's use of a GM with wide group play.

Interestingly, BoLS this week posted some homebrew, which I think is the first time in a good while. It's a full mission, like those Creative Twilight produce, possibly a step into a new golden age, and Loken reminded us of the first and its magical Lords of Battle pdf.

Gödellian Rhapsody

There's a reasonable popular-scientific sketch here on a 'grand theory of everything'. It's easy to follow and even uses metaphor from gaming and mapping. More importantly, it takes into account the limits of human structure and the problem of defining 'everything'.

Personally, I'd argue it doesn't go far enough - too little looking sideways for a start - and falls down on what life or a deity might be, in more hylozoic senses for example. If these are the best minds we have, good as they are, it may be time for more of us to help out.

For most of that, plus The Glass Bead Game, music, Dawkins, themes in the sly-fi and his work in opposing the cull, you might be interested in the views of this astrophysicist.

If you're wondering about that title, it's a reference to Gödel's incompleteness theorems.

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Ambient random

Here's a quote that jumped out recently, from a text I linked to at the panspermia post.

Cosmology in the oldest lands radiated from the priestly classes, where, charged with religious power, the priests and magi who were able to understand the patterns politicized space to a great extent, often deciding public policy using one or another astrological method.

It got my attention for a different reason than you might expect. Not for the changing role of space agencies or the secret space missions or the contenders, or the recent big SF on the silver screen, even if all of these seem to make space a source of power now too.

Using dice or maybe a deck to produce so-called random numbers is, when you think about it, a bit weird. Why such artificial, physically complex systems? And building on the interview with Loquacious, when there's so much deep intricacy out there, they're a real sledgehammer. And impractical: they help to limit tabletop games to the tabletop, even without miniatures or other components, and maybe mean ever more components.

And why play so many games indoors, or sitting down, or in a fixed location? Moderate physical activity is healthy, oxygen too, and sunlight. In rules-light games in which the dice or cards are the big hindrance, why not ditch them and look for another system?

The beginning of the Ends

Here's an idea which was given a nudge by Trey's latest post, Opening the Doors of Perception. I recommend reading it, following the links and looking at the portal list.

The essence is this. All worlds are connected and each can be reached from any other. The idea is to get links between settings and game universes, so one campaign can run smoothly into another. What would a gateway to a given world look like?

Pick a world, any world - an existing space or a new - and describe a path across.

Here's a weird example: In a wild landscape, dig a cocoon in play dough, modelling putty or stained clay, then enter and settle in, buried alive. Fast, meditate and grow squishy like the squirming worms. Wake, and join their migration to dark and nasty regions.

Which could be a way you leave the current setting and end up somewhere like this...

A destination world could be much more serious of course, basically anywhere. I'll post more as I get them and make a master list, with links to whatever people come up with.

More inspiration.

Update: There's a master list here.

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Fractal gaming

I imagine quite a few of us have a played a game within a game, where the characters themselves are playing, gambling say. But how often is this a game of the very same type - meaning an RPG inside an RPG, or a wargame inside a wargame?

This kind of 'fractal gaming' shouldn't be too hard to do with a rules-light RPG, with its freedom to improvise and rewrite rules on the fly, but it could be tougher with the narrower focus of a wargame, where we're given less scope for non-destructive interaction between individuals. Hold the thought.

Could we and the dice be seen as gods to the characters in our games? Collectively, we are the creators of the fictional world, and to the inhabitants we're potentially omnipotent, as omniescent as the game needs, and possibly even omnipresent: after all, the events exist only in the players' minds; things only happen if we go there. Hold that thought too.

The noble art of the yawn

For me there is value in this discussion on genre at Monsters and Manuals. But having followed it up by watching scenes from Sucker Punch, I'm feeling mild despair right now.

By the by: Does anyone see in this Butthole Surfers video a spark for the video for "We Come 1"? Or think the Streets ran with that Faithless theme for "Turn the Page"? If you don't know the Butthole Surfers, Independent Worm Saloon looks a good place to start.

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Read any good sly-fi?

More inspiration for gaming and wider fiction, like the space plasma and symbiogenesis posts, but more like those on geoengineering and warming, and maybe even comment forms teaching an AI.

This time it's about helium, a gas with a range of applications, some arguably critical.

But there's not much on Earth, and even less because the market price has collapsed thanks to a timed sell-off of stores. The good news is the moon seems to have a lot...

The fiction? What if a sell-off was designed to cause a shortage and create an economic incentive, in this case for private spaceflight? Providing transport to the moon for helium extraction could be highly lucrative, and a decade or so is good lead-time; a consulting role in exchange for support might seem a smart career move. For bonus plot strands, some of those involved might want to cut funds to projects for ideology or appropriation.

More? From the blogs, how about this suggestion of western self-deception re Chinese military development, or this challenge to a buttress of modern physics, Mr Einstein's special relativity, or this look at the failings of reason itself in contemporary culture?

I need a label for these posts, so I'll propose a possible new genre. Here's a definition:

sly-fi (n., pl. -s)  a fictional genre consisting in the interpolation of feasible secret histories from reported facts and their elaboration in other settings

That's the label I'll use from now on, so you can find all the posts, including this, here.

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Odcházení

Václav Havel passed away today. I've not mentioned a death here that I can remember, but I'm doing it now for how relevant he could be to wargamers, roleplayers and writers.

That said of course, in general anyone who helps bring a community together to tackle a violent domination, and does so through art, who keeps going despite a clear danger of personal loss and harm, who takes high office and appoints Frank Zappa as a special ambassador on trade, culture and tourism has a life that rewards reflection, and all in.
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Deep thought Friday

Here we go then. If you'd like some background reading, try this thesis and this recent blog post.

Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot live in a cradle forever.

Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky

But is a birth an imperative to grow or succeed when presumably we had no say in whether or not it happened? And if many of us play games we played in our youth, would we now aspire to grow old given the choice? Should life on Earth?

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Pulp sounds (4)

The slow wander after a soundtrack to gaming goes on. Here's another piece which manages mystery and militarism, but which doesn't seem limited to any one genre despite being part of a well-known sci-fi score, to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Interesting film, and interesting that it seems to grow in the memory over time. Star Trek is a funny old thing. I wrote a recent post here on the radical in the franchise, and later read this enjoyable post at The Secret Sun with a different focus. It goes deep.

I'm pretty sure there was discussion of The Wrath of Khan somewhere else recently as well, but I can't remember the place. Damien G. Walter mentioned it today too.

Inspired by the film, a response to Jennie's Expansion Joints this week. The idea is to write a narrative in 15 words, with one word given; this time the word is free. For some discussion of the nature of stories and how short they can be see the last post here .

Free! But free's a crowd, of choices...

We strike out; by our decisions close caskets.

If you write your own 15-worder, you can leave it or link to it here. And have a listen.

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Hot elfin Chico

Not a hot elf chick, the sprightly Chico Marx, and he's really on fire in this clip.

What am I going on about?

The OSR blogs have a dastardly plan to attract attention - post a 'hot elf chick' or the like to lure a crowd. I've realised that might not bring the Marx Brothers' demographic.

Anyway, Johnathan at Ostensible Cat has a good intro, to the plan and the OSR. The blogrolls in the left-hand column here are a possible starting point for OSR links.

The OSR - Ossification, Strangeness and Rogues or Our Satisfying Rejuvenation?

Chico then, at the piano, with Harpo conducting. Keep watching for the wizardry.

Chico plays "On the Beach at Bali-Bali" and Harpo on the piano Rachmaninoff's prelude in C sharp minor, a 'Fantasy Piece'. The safe and dry among us might see more in it all on a day like today, and think - at the very least - of those around the world who are not.
.

Meet the new boss?

It's hard to follow current events without thinking about the ordinary, everyday and routine whirling into the extraordinary, and why and how this happens. It's something we all face, albeit on a far lesser scale, when we refuse to accept a thing and set events in motion to change it, whether planned or in the heat of the moment. We might break delicate balances, cause distinct worlds to merge, make ourselves and others highly uncomfortable in the short term.

Looked at like this, gaming seems even more like escapism, with a relatively ordered situation, clear rules, perhaps a top-down view and a cool head while the characters and models are driven on into the crucible on our behalf. Why do we get this luxury? Didn't a wargame ought to show us too more war, or a roleplaying game force us into what could suddenly look a less appealing role? After all, the fun will always come, at the very least, in knowing we can make a nice cup of tea at the end, leave it all behind. In that light, why not put ourselves through a more real grinder, why not live the game more?

Triffles (12) - A wrong turn

The delay since the last Triffle can be worked in here: what if a tail didn't arrive on time, or one party to the exchange failed to appear? It could be as simple as a wrong turn.

     panic, leading to haste            an inhospitable landscape /
       and basic oversights            dangerous fauna and/or flora

\             /

a wrong turn

              \

                                                  a shocking discovery

The essential point to note is that fear can stimulate a flight response even in cases of individuals becoming lost. Basic survival errors might also then be made, and I've read a claim that people sometimes even fail to check their own rucksack for supplies.

In wargaming the possibility that part of a force becomes separated in this way could be represented by a reduction in the stats of a unit or individual, marking disorientation, fatigue, hunger and thirst, and also by a delayed and random entry. For a simpler option each side could lose one randomly determined element at the start of the game.

In roleplaying the key issue could be the possible divergence of player and character response. While players themselves might stay calm and collected, the DM/GM could force tests for the characters to keep their heads, even before the most basic of actions.

Re the idea of a surprise discovery, in terrainmaking each set of themed pieces could include one element which is unexpected or out of place, completely alien even.

Writing could make use of the wrong turn concept with little or no adaptation at all, and it's clearly an excellent plot driver. Perhaps the best-known case of this is Bilbo's time alone under the Misty Mountains, in The Hobbit of course. This is a book full of inspiration, as Risus Monkey is demonstrating with his re-read; the last chapter completed also prefigures this triffle, and maybe through derivative works led to it?

Having a choice of paths, taking a wrong turn and becoming lost are metaphors which would seem easily used in music. There is a Florence and the Machine video which uses a similar idea, "Dog Days Are Over", and the lyrics, and arguably the music too, play up the idea of running. For lyrics openly suggestive of a hidden secret, try "Temple of Everlasting Light" by Kula Shaker, and those to "Stairway to Heaven" by Led Zeppelin are also full of related ideas, and possibly even inspired in part by Tolkien's work.

Triffles (11) - A tense exchange

Following the theme of the last Triffle, today an attempt to exchange a high value item. It could even loosely describe an eventful Valentine's Day date.

            a cautious                     a fumbled handover / 
             approach                    misunderstood gesture

\             /

a tense exchange

/              

an unseen tail / infiltrator /                                           
double-cross                                               

If you want to get this into a wargame, skirmish game or roleplaying game, you could do far worse than look at Necromunda which has a mechanism for simulating a cinematic wild west-style gunfight. You could also try something more like the tracks used in the latest Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, based on key elements which need to occur to ratchet up the tension. The situation seems to need a build-up to a moment at which nerves snap and a means of determining the order of reactions, assuming they'll not all be simultaneous. It's possible to imagine entire forces manoeuvring around the few specialists conducting the exchange, hands at weapons holstered or sheathed.

But maybe the breakdown doesn't come? It might be possible to hold it off or prevent it by diplomacy and avoid the loss of life on both sides. Would that ruin the game? Better question: could wargames do with more mechanisms for impromptu diplomacy?

In writing, as the Valentine's Day idea suggests, this could be the underlying idea in a situation apparently very different, within a comedy of errors at least. A fine web of taut interactions could be spun, more so if more than two parties are involved. This post at TalkToYoUniverse ought to be helpful if that sounds tricky.

Continuing the interest in applying these to music, we might expect a slow build-up, along the lines of "The Creep Out" by The Dandy Warhols or "Angel" by Massive Attack.

Triffles (10) - A high denomination

Yesterday's Triffle made mention of loss and breakages, which might mean buying replacements, but if returning from an adventure loaded down with items of great value, it could be surprisingly difficult to get what we want. Thanks due here to Bartender, who in his comment under the last set my mind on the possibilities of the shopping trip.

 danger in storage                    sudden interest / 
     and transport                     new acquaintances

\             /

a high denomination

|

credit given freely, but
at inflated prices

To explain the thinking behind the last, credit given freely because it it might not be possible to give the change, and at inflated prices because the holder - the current holder if we take into account that sudden interest - is apparently a person of means.

Hard to work this into wargaming except as an objective to capture, possibly mobile. In roleplaying the attempt to make a purchase with an item of this value could be a whole adventure. In writing we're operating in interesting territory with regard to motivations.

Innovations also left a comment yesterday and set me thinking too, about whether songwriting could be covered. After all, money and love - those new acquaintances? - are common themes in music. Let's not forget "It's All About the Benjamins" and - as perhaps a more traditional approach - "Can't Buy Me Love".

So my suggestion for a song on romance and currency: "Love is Pegged to Love (And Fully Convertible)". Not really doing it for you? Try this then: "Back on the Love Standard (Don't Dig the Gold Diggers)". Feel free to write your own lyrics for these instant hits.

Ravelling yarns (3) - Ten thousand worlds

Another snippet in the 'ravelling yarns' series. The first is here, the second here, but there's nothing you need catch up on.

This time round the musical inspiration is a track I've linked to before, Dātura, which I labelled back then "for all the possible presents". Since that time, with all the thinking here on information, the discussion of portals and the attempt at the scope of fiction, I've seen 'present' is a very open idea. With this in mind the song is used now for a possible future.

As before, I do recommend listening before reading, and listening right the way through for the change in mood.

*      *      *      *      *      *

Theatre of dreams

I just heard a track from the last Dream Theater album and gaming was the first thing that came to mind. Christian at Destination Unknown recently posted on how playing again as an adult might be an attempt to recapture fleeting memories. I'd imagine he had the OSR most in mind, but it's a part of modern 40K too for example. Dream Theater have also been going 25 years. Are we doing it right? Listen and give it some thought.

There's also a portal theme going on to match the theme here of late.