Fundamental laws of a fictional universe (2)

There's a bold venture on the cards at Ostensible Cat and I'm behind it all the way. It's clear Johnathan wants not just a new game, but a new kind of game, one breaking new ground. It must be possible. For an existing game that doesn't necessarily fit the mould, see Harald's review of Itras by at The Book of Days. Synapse looks very promising too.

How would this affect those fundamental laws of a fictional universe? Well, I'm not sure they'd be so easy to lose. They're extensions of our nature after all, our expectations of a story and our willingness to pay with time and money, whether it's a story in cinema, literature or gaming. To change those expectations and that willingness we have to change ourselves. A noble mission, and not such a strange one at this time of year.

Here then are two more cards for the growing deck. The aim is manifold: first to allow the big events of fiction into your games; second to break down the barriers in how we define game types; third to identify recurring tropes as the first step to moving beyond them.

Status report (1)

Some order from chaos, a snapshot of the mood in the Expanse as it is at the moment.

A little bit of several recent posts in this: Bond and his antics of course, as well as the 1970s, but also monsters (this one comes good), exploitation of space and exploitation of women, and even an annual celebration, albeit later in the year. Plus laser battles.

Can't go far wrong with all of that, surely...

To expand on another past post and its sequel, Damien G. Walter has a link to further discussion of truth and beauty in sci-fi, while Slight Foxing has a view on Tron: Legacy.

Seventies heavens

This one's for joe especially. Yesterday's post was a lot to take in, and he reminded me I need to keep it simpler for readers less familiar with the world of gaming. He and others might like a primer in key influences and mental atmosphere.

Building on yesterday's use of cinema and taking the bold cyclopeatron and his 10 greatest works of fantasy fiction as encouragement, I venture into something more joe's bag - the 1970s - vital to understanding what makes many of us tick.

My criteria won't be overall impact, but apparent popularity and importance to the hobby, especially in this particular corner of the internet, especially to me, and I won't be annotating like cyclopeatron because I'm nowhere near clued-up enough. If you want my take on the influence of the '70s on the alien from Alien, that's still waiting for the brave.

Here we go then. Watch these to understand us better. All of the links will take you to IMDb, which ought to have a trailer for most. I recommend Wikipedia too for more on context. Remember, as always, some will not be for the sensitive or easily scared.

Fundamental laws of a fictional universe (1)

Here's something I've been tinkering with, but which I realise now will never be properly finished, except perhaps with your help. The stakes are high - the nature of reality.

Not such a long time ago at a blog not so far away, the The Angry Lurker put up this image of Luke's proton torpedoes entering the Death Star. As I mentioned later at the D6 post here, my comment was this: "It's a fundamental law of a fictional universe. You can't get round that kind of thing." At the D6 post I explained the thinking by saying "that is what we're talking about here - fictional worlds. A DM/GM and players may not be operating at high magnifications, and may not need to. I'd argue the range of options we expect in any given situation - and are happy to be given - are fewer than we'd think."

Since then I've come across the idea in all kinds of places, notably in the prototype mashup machine at The Lost Continent and in some thoughts on fantasy tropes at The Ostensible Cat. Cyclopeatron has just covered major influences, and the list is worth exploring. I was recently introduced to Seventh Sanctum and that site does this kind of thing very well - you might need your imagine much less for knowing about it.

Anyone playing a game has an interest in fiction, inspired by cinema and literature or not. Even in a real world setting, gaming is telling a story. Many systems allow for dramatic moments of the X-wing / Death Star kind, but others don't make it easy, or allow it only rarely, perhaps even accidentally. To make it more possible that some of our universal expectations occur, I've put together a simple card-based supplementary system. This something that exists in many games of course, but in going about it, I had in mind the strategy card system from the second edition of Warhammer 40,000. The idea is that each player is dealt one or more cards at the beginning of the game, which are then kept secret and played at an opportune moment, as directed by the card.

Our kryptonites

May I be the first on this bright day - painful for so many - to mention transmutation of matter.

At the thought-provoking Science In My Fiction yesterday the discussion turned to the practical and economic uses of superhero powers, the potential for supers to do more of a day's work.

If we can't be space marines with their many implants, and specifically the oolitic kidney with its emergency filtering of the blood, a superhero service provider wouldn't be such a bad idea. Who would even need the spectacular powers of an Alchemy, Metamorpho or Edward Elric? We can heed Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer and break them into parts. The enterprising superhero wouldn't want much more than a good reach. That's right...

With teletransmutation of a long enough range, riches could be made on dial-a-seltzer.

On the subject, Aeons & Augauries has a series on weird weapons, the latest here.

Viva la revolución!

Happy new Gregorian calendar year! Here's to another orbit of the sun, more or less!

If you want gaming inspiration for 2011, you might start with the personal summaries of games played - or not - at Creepy Corridor, Fire Broadside!, ArmChairGeneral, Plastic Legions, Super Galactic Dreadnought and Mik's Minis, all of which cover various options.

Need your lists of bests? Lazy Thoughts From a Boomer has best bits in blogs, books and movies. Asking the Wrong Questions has opinions I trust on best and worst books, while shadowplay does movies that appeared only in alternate universes...

Papa JJ at diceRolla has something similar, a list unpublished posts. This seems to me dangerously like the approach Zanazaz took at Have dice, will travel... re iron spikes...

Resolutions abound, but the reading list at Huge Ruined Pile is a huge ambitious pile. If that helps put you in your place in time, see Slight Foxing for your place in existence.

Finally, there may or may not be an actual arrow of time, but there is an Arrow of Time at Tower of the Archmage. Impeccable timing.

With Earth history moving on, I thought you might also appreciate a few speculative timelines, elements of histories and/or info on calendars. Here they are then, by scope.

Big beasts

I don't do politics here, and definitely not party politics, but this post at Gene Expression hits above the belt. Can it be true?

If it is, I have a funny feeling I'm so conservative I'm actually liberal. Which is to say I'm so liberal I'm conservative. The spectrum's really a colour wheel after all. If not a sphere. Or a hypersphere.

We are large, we contain multitudes.

All mines?

Here's a brief list of fictional mines and other mining-related resources, hopefully useful to someone at some point for settings, scenarios or terrain, in whatever kind of game or fiction. I'll update as I find or remember more, with your suggestions too if you have any.

Have a look at the original post for a few thoughts on how these or similar places might fit into games. With the length of the list as it is, they do seem relatively underused.

No kill

I'm working on a resource list that's nearly done, but this is too good not to show alone. Look out for more of those poor guys in red shirts, not one, not even two, but three.

Mine the gap

Remember kiddies, mines are dangerous. Just ask Thomas. And look at that terrain...

_

Gold struck

On the subject of gifts, a brief look at wealth, specifically mining in games. One of the three wise men gave gold and mining is a real ghost of past, present and future.

The past we know about - 2010 was a year the human cost really made the news. In the present we have the battle for rare earth metals, a big one - you could easily have some of these in whatever you're using to read this. For the future, if you think Branson et al are interested only in tourism and lifting, think again - a smart investor would be growing the technology to mine the moon and asteroids. There's money in them thar belts.

How to fit all of this into a game?

Foxing Day

We've all had some time with our gifts now, and probably been thinking about presents for ourselves and others plenty over the past few weeks. Johnathan at Ostensible Cat prefers not to list and I largely agree, while Desert Scribe at Super Galactic Dreadnought has thoughts on golden oldies (for Star Wars fans years could fall away at Back in '81). But how much have you thought about gifts in general?

I've mentioned The Log from the Sea of Cortez here once before. This is one of those books that keeps on giving. In the appendix Steinbeck suggests a defining quality of his close friend and mentor Ed Ricketts may have been the ability to receive. Steinbeck describes giving as a “a selfish pleasure”, but says receiving done well needs “a fine balance of self-knowledge and kindness”, “humility and tact and great understanding of relationships”, wisdom and even “a self-esteem”.

Ricketts is described as accepting a thing, but not taking it and keeping it as property, and association with him is said to have been “deep participation”. From reading the book as a whole, the authors – Ricketts included – seem to have an almost mythical view of synthesis and the non-teleological, the thing as it is.

As Steinbeck also says, giving can be “downright destructive”. We know this. In games plenty can be done with the fact. Where would Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 be without the corrupting gifts of Chaos? How about Tolkien's Rings of Power? They must have seemed like the perfect present at the time, for the lord who has everything. A DM/GM can use his or her players worst instincts against them, luring them into danger on the basis of greed or lust, or just giving them an item they can't not use...

Sleigh bells and whistles

I've held off for long enough.

If you have an interest in the physics of Santa Claus - not just that physique - then Science In My Fiction has an article for you.

Wondering how he'd look to an Inquisitor in the 41st millennium? Possibly the definitive answer is set out at Warhammer 39,999 in a humorous text of mysterious origin.

Also for fans of 40K - and anyone with a hand in worldbuilding - the trusty Just_Me at Bell of Lost Souls has an interesting article up, on holidays in the Imperium.

And as if that were not enough, the long-awaited Killzone update has finally arrived at Galaxy in Flames - forget the presents under the tree!

There are also more Christmas gifts waiting for you at various generous blogs.

No future

Intriguing evidence at Discover's Science Not Fiction blog that the future may be old hat.

Maybe there's truth in it. Tales from the Maelstrom are looking at adding Warhammer to their exclusively 41st millennium blog. Gorgonmilk is happy blurring 'past' and 'future' when developing a new setting. So is Mists of the Lost Continent with the mashup machine prototype, perfect for blending genres. ArmChairGeneral even sees a dragon in the Large Hadron Collider and opens the door for musings on progress and IT skills.

The eggnog may do strange things to us all. If so, I'll have to get some in.

Titillation red and pink

If your mind is still out on the red planet, Secure Immaturity has a review today of Total Recall. He's revisiting the work of Paul Verhoeven, and also covered Robocop recently. Yep, that means more nudity, and ultra-violence now too. But also sympathy for mutants. It needs mature reflection.


On the subject of nudity, I've been reflecting as maturely as I can. What follows some may find uncomfortable or even offensive - if so, skip this and the next eight paragraphs.

Games coming up

Games, games, games!

We're just looking for a good time, and that's as clear as can be - in recent posts I've mentioned the request at Destination Unknown for a fresh take on D&D as well as a great chance to get into Traveller. The New Year is imminent and with it reflections on the past and planning for the future. A great time to plant a figurative seed - perhaps a space seed for a truly bumper crop - in the fertile soil of the gaming mind.

In much the same way as everyone has a novel in them, I think every gamer is a budding games designer too. As evidence for this I cite the number of independent or homegrown games either already available or in development at blogs I visit regularly. Ever ready to support new growth, I thought you might like a report from... yes, the field.

Space, untimely

In the last post, on Traveller, I failed to mention the possible inspiration concept ships has up at the moment, in the form of spaceship environments. Take a look if you need a spark for anything space-based or even sci-fi.

Like what? Well, for space-based you could use the first part of the series on ships and spaceships here - 'A tall ship and a star' - as a launchpad; read through the comments for more ideas. The second part is still in the shipyard, but there's something related putting out shoots even as I type that should be out of the nursery in the next few hours.

While I'm here, I'll mention the current post over at Science In My Fiction, on the use of lasers. Apparently, space is the most feasible location if they have to be weapons.

Welcome Traveller

For anyone who hasn't already heard, DriveThruRPG is offering Starter Traveller for free until the end of the month. Rogue Trader or not, the classic Traveller is well worth a look.

If you'd like to know more, David at Tower of the Archmage has been blogging on aspects of the game for the past week or two.

Kobold at Waystar High Port has ideas if you're looking for inspiration for a campaign.