Could Cruz have said "Allahu Ackbar"? Acceptable Expressions of Religious Faith in the United States
"Let me first of all say, to god be the glory." - From Ted Cruz's victory speech in Iowa "I’m a Christian first, American second, conservative third and Republican fourth. I’ll tell ya, there are a whole lot of people in this country that feel exactly the same way." - Ted Cruz while campaigning for Iowa I keep on reflecting on the fact that not only was what Cruz said acceptable but was said with the expectation that it would garner him votes. And he's almost certainly right. I want to be clear that I don't think an American should have to hide his or her faith. Or lack of faith. B... more »
State of the Game January 2016: What's Distracting Me Now?
There's a player in my gaming group who gets maximum amusement out of my ability to be distracted by shininess. He's compared it to the reaction of a kid to jingling keys... So what are we playing now? Right now we are continuing our *Star Wars: Edge of the Empire *game. We are on our 7th adventure, though given most adventures tend to be multi-session, I'm guessing we've clocked in about 14 sessions, though the first session was actually a standalone D6 Star Wars session that we ended up promoting to an *Edge of the Empire *game. We're had a brief D&D 5th edition game in the midd...more »
I Seem to Have Entered the 1960's: First Impressions of Music on Vinyl
I'm a techie. For my grad school classes at Brandeis I tend to take notes on my Microsoft Surface Book. I use a Nexus 6P phone for that "pure Android experience". I very rarely buy DVDs or Blu-Ray discs anymore, streaming most of my video watching. My comic book reading is electronic, as is my reading. Which is probably why the surprise expressed by family and friends was understandable when I picked up a TEAC Vinyl Turntable and purchased the first vinyl records since picking up the 45 single for Debbie Gibson's "Lost in Your Eyes" back in late 1988/early 1989 - my musical tastes ... more »
You Don't Believe in the Force, Do You? Religion in Star Wars
Luke Skywalker is a quick convert. In one scene he is asking Obi-Wan Kenobi what the Force is. A few scenes later he is looking down on Han Solo's lack of belief in the Force. This got me wondering as to the state of religion in the Star Wars universe. Let's take a look at the films. We'll go in order of release. I'll be quoting scripts from the Internet Movie Script Database. Episode IV - A New Hope In *A New Hope* I believe there are three references to religion/gods/etc. plus a fourth colloquial reference. In the first, Admiral Motti is mocking Darth Vader's belief in the Forc... more »
Religious Sects in RPGs
One advantage to your typical RPG religion is there isn't a whole lot of doubt. When you have priests who can heal injuries and turn away vampires, agnosticism and atheism are positions that make absolutely zero sense. In our own world, despite the claims of various prophets, saints, and the like, we've no conclusive proof of the existence of any supernatural being or beings, much less knowledge of what they might want or expect of lowly mortals. Moreover, even within a given religion, there is a lot of disagreement. You can find the greatest disagreement among people who are ess... more »
Fiction Review: The Fifth Wave
I wound up adding *The 5th Wave *on my reading list when my ten-year old daughter expressed an interest in seeing the upcoming movie adaptation after we saw a preview for it before *The Force Awakens*. Rick Yancey's *The 5th Wave* belongs to the somewhat strange genre of post-apocalyptic young adult fiction. It takes place in the months after an alien invasion which has wiped out civilization as we knew it. The story begins following Cassie Sullivan, a 16-year old girl who is on her own and as far as she knows, possibly the last survivor of humanity. She isn't - and she realizes s... more »
Revisiting Star Wars (1977)
When I went through the Star Wars movies back in November and December, I found myself frequently offering my opinions on changes from the original classic trilogy and the special editions. These comments were reliant on my memories of the original editions. Last weekend I dug out my old DVD of Star Wars from 2004 which included the original version of Star Wars. It’s important to note that it was just Star Wars. There was no “Episode IV” or “A New Hope”. Nor did those subtitles appear in the 1979 re-release of Star Wars. When people of my generation (and older) call the origina... more »
Remembering David Bowie
Toll the bell Pay the private eye All's well 20th century dies David Bowie, "I Have Not Been to Oxford Town", from the album *1. Outside* One of my all time favorite concert experiences was seeing Nine Inch Nails and David Bowie performing together on September 14, 1995. It wasn't the most appreciative audience. Nine Inch Nails was at the height of its popularity and the bulk of Bowie's performance was from the soon to be released album *1. Outside*. My brother and I were able to get some great seats after many of the Nine Inch Nails fans left. To this day it boggles my mind th... more »
Minos Cluster Setting Part 2 - Adarlon
Adarlon itself is a rugged, mountainous world. Its three major cities are located along the west coast of the northern continent on a narrow plateau between the mountains and the sea. Adarlon has a generally pleasant climate, though it does vary considerably by region. The forested regions between the mountains and the seas, where most of the population lives, are temperate and quite wet. In the cities, however, it rains only in the early mornings (climate control) and it is sunny the rest of the time. The Human inhabitants of this planet are obsessed with pleasure and fun; they ... more »
Fiction Review: Ishmael
Hmm, a book starring a telepathic gorilla giving ecological lessons. It certainly is an interesting hook. Once I saw that I had to read the darn thing... The novel, *Ishmael, *by Daniel Quinn, is a Socratic dialogue between Ishmael (the teacher) and the unnamed narrator. The narrator is a somewhat cynical middle-aged man who, as a child, was disappointed that the movements of the sixties never did change the world. He feels something is wrong but doesn't quite know what. Answering a newspaper ad, he becomes a student of a telepathic gorilla, Ishmael. I'm not quite certain how mu... more »
The Second Amendment and Standing Armies
Since this post has to do with the 2nd Amendment, something that generates a lot of passion, I'll begin with a few points: - The Founding Fathers were not a monolithic block. As a result it's easy for people, including me, to pick and choose from their statements to defend a particular viewpoint. - In the United States, it is the Supreme Court which determines the Constitutionality of a law. The Roberts Court has determined the 2nd Amendment Guarantees an individual right to own a firearm. - There is a history of Supreme Court decisions that many have regarded ... more »
The Bestest Books Ever
I'm not planning any major New Year's Resolution to read more - I tend to get a bunch of reading done over the course of your typical year and I'm hoping 2016 will be like that as well. I get a lot of reading done via unabridged audiobooks, either while commuting or while going for walks. What I'm planning on trying this year is making use of Goodreads to track what I'm reading. Hopefully I can figure out a way to link reviews there to this blog. As I dusted off my Goodreads account I noticed I put a number of books as five out of five stars which was probably a tad overly enthus... more »
2015 In Review
"Another year over. And a new one just begun." - Happy Christmas (War Is Over), John Lennon BloggingLooking at my blog's post count for this year, I see I for the first time exceeded the post count of the blog's first year. So, hooray! One thing which helped was participating in #RPGaDay back in August, though I also managed to do at least 10 posts every month for the rest of the year. What I did was quietly set up a posting schedule. I knew every other day would probably be too much so I opted for something a little bit unusual - I made sure I had a post for every day which was a p... more »
The Force Awakens and the Happy Ending Override
This post has spoilers for *Star Wars: The Force Awakens*. Please scroll past this lovely picture of Jar Jar Binks in order to proceed further. All Bettie's stories have happy endings. That's because she knows where to stop. She's realized the real problem with stories -- if you keep them going long enough, they always end in death. - *Sandman: 24 Hours *by Neil Gaiman, Mike Dringenberg, and Malcolm Jones III The Big Bad to end all Big Bads has been brought to a crushing end at the hands of The Hero, his Ragtag Bunch of Misfits and his trademark BFS. The Negative Space Wedgie ... more »
Non-Fiction Review: The Devil in the White City
A few years back I ran a brief *Cthulhu by Gaslight *campaign. It kicked off, as one might expect, in 1890's London. I was somewhat surprised when the game wound up relocating itself to New York City. Though I had some familiarity with late Victorian-era Britain, I discovered I did not know very much about the United States of that same period, typically referred to the Gilded Age. Having done a bit of homework as a result I found it to be an incredibly interesting era and one largely untapped in gaming. If an RPG takes place in the 1890's it is usually safe to assume it takes plac... more »
Minos Cluster Setting Part 1 - Deciding on the Cluster and the Imperial Presence
This is possibly an ongoing series - either that or in a few months I'll need to get rid of that Part 1 when no one is looking... So after doing what we thought would be a one-shot D6 Star Wars game back in May, my gaming group wound up doing an Edge of the Empire Star Wars campaign throughout the summer. We did a 5th Edition D&D game in the autumn and are back to the Edge of the Empire game again. After running the Beginner Set game which was set on Tatooine the group needed something of a "home base". While jumping through the galaxy is traditional in Star Wars, as GM I find St... more »
Spoiler-Free/Plot-Free First Impressions of Star Wars: The Force Awakens
I'm not going to spoil anything, give away any plot details, or character details. I will say that they made a worthy sequel to the original Star Wars trilogy. It looked great, had awesome characters, delivered an emotional impact, and was definitely a Star Wars movie. It had some elements of nostalgia without being a nostalgia-fest. My 10-year old daughter could not stop talking about it the whole ride home. I had to tell her not to spoil it for her friends. I'm apparently going to be taking her and a friend to see it during winter break.
Fear Itself
I am certain that my fellow Americans expect that on my induction into the Presidency I will address them with a candor and a decision which the present situation of our people impel. This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed e... more »
Nativity Scenes on Town Property
This morning I woke up at some dreadful hour and found myself unable to go back to sleep. Doing something probably awful for falling back asleep, I started reading news stories on my smartphone. One caught my eye at Newsbusters - a site dedicated to "Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias". This liberal was somewhat bemused by the following story: Fox Spotlights Minnesota Town's Rebellion Against Anti-Christmas Atheists. The short version is the evil whining atheists made a town take down its nativity scene. In response, gazillions of residents put up their own nativity scenes... more »
Welcome Back to the Minos Cluster - Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters
When the Star Wars RPG first came out back in 1987 the game's default assumption was all the characters would be members of the Rebel Alliance. This wasn't to say everyone was a soldier - but if you were a smuggler, for example, you were a smuggler involved in the Rebellion. Most of the adventures assumed the heroes were your basic Rebel Agents - one week stealing Death Star the plans, the next locating a general of the Old Republic before the Empire and its sinister agents can. In 1990, West End Games published *Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters*. Interestingly, it was written by ... more »
Comic Books on the TV and Movie Screens
It might be that I'm becoming an old fogie (old enough to have seen the original Star Wars in the theaters) but I'm coming to feel when I want "comic book" type entertainment, I get the best value for my money and my time in the television and movie form. For me it comes down to the ability to enjoy a story without worrying about untangling the tendrils of crossovers and reboots. (Though some superhero film franchises are overdoing the reboot concept.) Take *Guardians of the Galaxy*. Over the past year, you'd have your core comic. Comics for the members. Crossover events, including... more »
Fiction Review: The Man in the High Castle
Amazon has recently released to Prime Video the first season of their "Man in the High Castle" television series, loosely based on the Philip K. Dick novel of the same name. I saw the pilot episode last year and for the most part enjoyed it and I've now seen the first two episodes (ahead of it in my viewing queue was the first season of *Alias *as well as my project to rewatch the Star Wars films). It's been several years since I last read *The Man in the High Castle.* I believe my first reading of it was in 1994, towards the end of my final semester at UConn, largely on the praise... more »
Revisiting Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
As much as I dislike the whole "Han shot first" from *A New Hope*, the change in the special editions that bothered me the most was the replacing of the original ending Ewok song in *Return of the Jedi*. This is due to the fact that it kind of served as the end credits to my wedding back in 1996. When my wife and I watched the special edition in 1997 we were disappointed to see the song had been replaced. So let's start off with "Yub Nub". I seem to recall it actually got some radio airplay back in 1983. *Return of the Jedi *is generally regarded as the weakest of the original t... more »
Revisiting Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
Spoiler alert. "No. I am your father." *The Empire Strikes Back* was the first movie I actually waited for. After the original *Star Wars* I was that kid who was absolutely obsessed with all things Star Wars. In spring of 1978 I was overjoyed when my uncle got me a toy landspeeder with Luke and Obi-Wan. Our pantry had tons of Kenner proofs of purchase taped to the walls, good for redeeming for accessory sets, Boba Fett action figures, etc. Greatest Christmas gift ever was the Death Star playset. December 25, 1978 In 1979 my uncle and I saw the rerelease of *Star Wars*, with a snea... more »
Revisiting Star Wars: A New Hope
It's a little odd for me to think of this movie as "A New Hope" or "Episode IV". When I saw it in 1977 it was just "Star Wars". I was a few months away from my 6th birthday. I was living with my grandparents, uncle, and mother in Brooklyn while my father was settling into his new job in Connecticut, with my mother and I joining him later that summer. I'll open with some thoughts on the Special Editions vs the original releases. It is worth noting that Lucas constantly tweaked the original trilogy. For example, the subtitle "Episode IV - A New Hope" was added, to the best of my kn... more »
Revisiting Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith
Generally speaking, *Revenge of the Sith *tends to be the best received of the Prequel Trilogy. In surely unrelated news, Jar Jar Binks was seen, but not heard, in this film. Taking place some three years after the events of *Attack of the Clones*, *Revenge of the Sith *opens with Chancellor Palpaitne having been kidnapped and Obi-Wan and Anakin leading a desperate mission to rescue him from Count Dooku. Of course we the audience know this is quite the sham with Palpatine being Count Dooku's Sith Master. The relationship between Anakin, now a full Jedi Knight, and Obi-Wan, his f... more »
Revisiting Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
Continuing our journey through the Star Wars movies, *Attack of the Clones *takes place a decade after its predecessor, *The Phantom Menace.* Anakin Skywalker is now training to be a Jedi, serving as Obi-Wan Kenobi's padawan. As before, I'm assuming knowledge of the film and beyond points of discussion will be dispensing with a summary. So, what is the movie about? We learn the Republic is dealing with a separatist movement, led by Count Dooku, a former Jedi Knight and once the late Qui-Gon Jinn's teacher. Given what we saw in *The Phantom Menace* it is not a huge surprise that sy... more »
Revisiting Star Wars: The Phantom Menace
With the new Star Wars film about to come out I’ve been revisiting the previous Star Wars movies. I’m going to go through them in chronological order if for no other reason than that’s how I randomly decided to watch them. I’m also not really “reviewing” them as it’s probably safe for me to assume that everyone has seen all of them. I’m also not hiding knowledge of other films in the series when I examine a given film. I know Anakin becomes Darth Vader (sorry, spoiler…) Putting things into context. There was quite a bit of excitement with the news that new Star Wars movies were b... more »
Gaming in the New Star Wars Canon
In 2014, Lucasfilm revised its determination of what made up the Star Wars canon. Effectively, all the material released prior to that point with the exception of the six Star Wars films and the *Clone Wars* animated series were classified as *Legends *and no longer a part of the canon. Out the door went novels, comic books, and RPGs. Not Admiral AckbarThere was quite the fan outcry - which is not all that shocking given the investment - mental or financial - that many fans had put into the *Legends* material. Officially, the *Legends *material is available to be mined for ideas. An... more »
My Comic Game Changers
I've enjoyed reading comic books since the mid-1980's. I just finished reading Neil Gaiman's *Sandman Overture*, a series which featured Gaiman returning to his most famous creation to tell the story of what transpired before the events of *Sandman *#1. It reminded me of how much Sandman shook up the market and made me think about some of the comics that had a big impact on me, that made me say "whoa" and reconsider what was possible. I'll focus on both comics and stories. *Daredevil: Born Again* - I caught pieces of this when they first came out in 1985 and 1986 but didn't get the ... more »
Star Wars: Dark Empire
"And now, my young apprentice... Your father is dead. Have you come to join me? Will you take the place that rightfully belongs to you–at my side." - Emperor Palpatine I first saw an advertisement for *Star Wars: Dark Empire* in a book previewing upcoming Marvel comics, either in 1989 or 1990. Marvel had produced a *Star Wars* comic until 1986 and kept their *Ewoks* and *Droids* comics going until around 1987. And then nothing. So I was greatly looking forward to Marvel's *Dark Empire*. As it turned out, Marvel wound up not releasing *Dark Empire* and Dark Horse Comics gai... more »
Oota Goota?
"Han shot first!" There's a considerable amount of fandom rage about the changes George Lucas made to the special editions of the Star Wars trilogy. None more than the cantina scene. In the original Greedo finds Han Solo, threatens him, and then gets shot. In the special edition Han and Greedo shoot their guns at each other. With Greedo somehow missing at point-blank range. I'm probably among the youngest people to have seen the original Star Wars when it first came out in the theaters. Back when there was no "Episode IV". I don't believe the pre-Empire Strikes Back re-release had ... more »
Sporting Events in RPGs
With the World Series having just ended my mind is on baseball. I love baseball. Originally a New Yorker and having grown up primarily in Connecticut, I'm still a Mets fan despite having lived in the Boston area for nearly twenty years now. And I'm in a little bit of mourning right now given the Mets lost to the Royals in the World Series. Though given the pain of the past few years, I'm really able to focus on "omigod we made it to the World Series!!!" Off the top of my head, I don't think there's a lot of RPG adventures in which sporting events are featured prominently. I'm sure... more »
1970's Traveller Computers in the 2010's
The Traveller RPG first appeared in 1977. It's inspirations were many of the classics of science fiction such as Asimov's *Foundation *series, Piper's *Space Viking*, Niven's Known Space, etc. I've never had the chance to do a full game of Traveller - though I saw ads for it in *Dragon Magazine *throughout the 1980's, the first version of it I managed to get a copy of was *Traveller: The New Era *back in 1994. That probably wasn't the best version of the game to be introduced to Traveller with, given it's setting was an Imperium that had been shattered by a super computer virus. It ... more »
Remembering FASA's Doctor Who
Back in the 1980's I remember seeing FASA's *Doctor Who RPG* at my local Waldenbooks. Being a boxed set I couldn't flip through it but I remember being intrigued by the back cover text: The Master has stolen a weapon that will give him ultimate control of the universe and of time itself. The Daleks are invading Earth. The Cybermen are terrorizing the space lanes. And the Sontarans and the Rutans are battling to see who wins the galaxy. Only YOU, the Time Lords and Companions of the Celestial Intervention Agency, can stop these villains from changing the course of history. Your wea... more »
Non-Fiction Review: A Universe From Nothing
I've been on a bit of a philosophical journey over the past few years. Always of a scientific bent, I've wrestled with some heavy-duty ideas, the biggest of which being "why is there anything?". I can handle the fact that life exists. I can handle the idea of this being the only life - I don't recall existence before I was born as being unpleasant, but if this is it I have to confess to being disappointed all the things I'll not get to see. What I find the most challenging is the fact the universe exists at all. And if there was no universe, what would there be? What is nothing? Th... more »
Exploring Some Open Issues in Dracula
I'm not sure if its's the season of the year or something else but I've definitely been in a bit of an undead kick of late. The picture here shows what my front yard looks like as we approach Halloween, with a nice zombie apocalypse in the making. Tragically, my elder daughter has told me I'm not allowed to keep the zombie display going until Thanksgiving, even with my offer of equipping them with pilgrim duds. Though my yard is decorated by zombies I've been thinking more about vampires. I recently reread *Dracula* and I've been going through some of Pelgrane Press' vampire-centric... more »
Fiction Review: Dracula
*Dracula* is a novel which has entered western culture so much that even those who have not read it are familiar with many of its essentials. However, it is a novel absolutely worth reading. *Dracula* is written as a collection of journal entries, newspaper clippings, letters, etc. The narrative switches from perspective to perspective. It begins with Jonathan Harker, solicitor, narrating the tale of his visit to Count Dracula of Transylvania. The villagers of the area try to warn him against going there, warnings he of course should have heeded. Dracula appears to be an older gent... more »
Volkswagen and the Case of the Rogue Engineers
Wesley: I'm a Rogue Demon Hunter now. Cordelia: Wow. What's a rogue demon? - *Angel*, "Parting Gifts" So here's the short version of the story. At a Congressional hearing on October 8th, the head of Volkswagen's US business operations, Michael Horn, was being asked about the defeat devices on Volkswagen's diesel automobiles. Essentially, when the car was plugged in for an emissions test the software in the car would change the engine profile to drastically reduce CO2 emissions (and reduce fuel efficiency). When not plugged in fuel efficiency and performance would be hig... more »
Some Kickstarter Loot - Tunnels & Trolls and The Dracula Dossier
Hey look more stuff to distract me! I came home today to a pair of packages, one with the new *Tunnels & Trolls Deluxe Edition* and one with *The Dracula Dossier*, a campaign for *Night's Black Agents.* My experience with Tunnels & Trolls is fairly limited - I've played a few one-off games way back in middle and high school. It's a game that looks a lot like D&D, with a series of stats that are generated by 3d6. It has a small number of classes - warriors, wizards, and rogues are the big three. Warriors and wizards are pretty self-explanatory. Rogues are anyone else - they can lear... more »
Art Spiegelman's Maus
For some reason I have to chuckle as I consider the first of Art Spiegelman's creations I encountered was not his masterpiece *Maus* but rather his Garbage Pail kids - hideous trading cards that my brother and his friends obsessed over in the mid-1980's. I think that goes to show we're all capable of all sorts of creations. I might be delaying diving into what I'm planning on writing because *Maus *is not an easy read. It is a story within a story, telling of Art in the 1970's and 1980's interviewing his father Vladek about his experiences as a Holocaust survivor. Art was born aft... more »
Always Watching You...
There's been a lot of talk about the NSA watching everyone's every move. While there's absolutely a legitimate concern there it's amazing the amount of information we share freely (or for access to Candy Crush). I'm not exempting myself - googling myself reveals a ton of information, some going as far back as the mid-1990's. There's not anything particularly embarrassing out there, but that's not fully the point. I've begun pursuing my Master's Degree at Brandeis University in Strategic Analytics, dealing with a ton of data science related topics. One of the topics we are going ove... more »
Film Review: The Martian
"Houston, be advised: Rich Purnell is a steely-eyed missile man." Last December I read Andy Weir's *The Martian*. My blogging frequency was pretty low back then, so alas, no review was ever written. Last Friday my group at work went on an outing to see film version of *The Martian* at one of those funky luxury theaters with reclining seats and everything. Must talk with the wife about securing such a setup at home... Like any good geek, I love space. I knew everything there was to know about the Apollo missions, all but two of the moon landings happening before my birth, and the s... more »
Rewind to Star Frontiers
I first saw Star Frontiers on the shelves of a Kay-Bee store in the Naugatuck Valley Mall. Neither the store chain nor the mall exist anymore. I remember being a bit confused as the box (the back cover I believe) indicated it contained the "Expanded Rules". I assumed that meant there was a basic game I needed to get somewhere. I eventually picked it up and discovered that, yes, that boxed set was all I needed. So what was Star Frontiers? I guess you could say it was TSR's answer to GDW's Traveller RPG. It wrom the vaiouas a science fiction RPG set in "the Frontier", where the fou... more »
Ho-Hum, Another Mass Shooting
jonathanschmock.comOh look, another mass shooting, this one at Umpqua College in Oregon. Let me see if I know the script: "I'm offering my thoughts and prayers." "More people are killed in automobile accidents. Or by cancer." "Criminals don't follow the law." "2nd Amendment." "Background checks (or some other regulation) wouldn't have stopped this incident." "Now is not the time." So one at a time: I'm offering my thoughts and prayers. That's wonderful. Mass shootings still seem to be happening though. I don't think your thoughts and prayers are doing anything. More people ... more »
Random Thoughts on Adventuring in the Solar System
Mars with an Arctic Ocean, Image by NASAThe internet got some scientific excitement yesterday with NASA's announcement of discovering evidence of water on Mars. This got me thinking to science fiction set in our own solar system - primarily in RPGs. It's not a particularly common setting, especially once you remove retro style games which focus on a pulpier version of the solar system such as *Space: 1889 *and *Rocket Age*. Those are wonderful games, but I'm talking games set in a slightly harder setting. Off the top of my head, I can think of a few - many of which I've minimal fam... more »
Common Core Math
In my Facebook feed I see a lot of pictures mocking common core math. The latest to go viral is the dad who used "common core math" to write a check. Friendly Atheist over at Patheos wrote a blog post The Dad Who Wrote a Check Using “Common Core” Math Doesn’t Know What He’s Talking About which describes what the deal is with "ten boxes" and how the check isn't even correct for using ten boxes. I'm mildly qualified to give my own opinions on the whole common core math thingamabobber. I'm married to a science teacher which gives me access to someone in the business (though not in math... more »
Fiction Review: The Left Hand of Darkness
The Left Hand of Darkness I first discovered Ursula K. Le Guin in my last semester at UConn, in the first half of 1994. I'd met almost all of my engineering requirements, needing two computer classes - compilers and graphics. I also needed some additional credits and it turned out they could be in literally anything. So I rounded my college experience out with classes in racquetball (yes I got a credit to play racquetball!), dinosaurs, and science fiction. Le Guin's novel *The Dispossessed *was one of the works we covered in our science fiction class. I absolutely loved it. The ent... more »
First Impressions of D&D 5th Edition
It's a little late to be doing a review of D&D 5th edition. Be that as it may, I recently ran my first 5th edition game and it seemed a reasonable topic to give my first impressions of it. This isn't a full review - a little googling will find a few gazillion of those. First, some background. Earlier in the year we played some Dungeon Crawl Classics. It was a blast, at least until the total party kill. I'd gladly play again, but I felt free to allow my GM ADD to reign. We played Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars: Edge of the Empire. It's a game I enjoyed, but it's a bit of a mental ... more »
Developing Diverse Characters
Cover to Black Goliath #1 [1]I seem to be on my "Social Justice Warrior" kick and my previous post on Diversity in Comics got a decent amount of traffic (well by my blog's standards) - with some interesting comments, both here and in other places I posted links. One thing that showed up in some discussions is the absolute possibility of being extremely clumsy in the well meaning attempt at including diversity. The 1970s is rife with this - an era when diversity often meant tacking the word "black" in front of a character's name. Black Lightning is perhaps the most notorious example ... more »
Diversity in Comics
Green Lantern Spider-ManMarvel and DC Comics have, over the past few years, increased the diversity in comics characters. *Earth 2* has featured a gay Green Lantern leading character. The current Ms. Marvel is a Pakistani-American teen-aged girl. The lead of *Ultimate Spider-Man* transferred from white Peter Parker to mixed race (of African American and Latino descent) Miles Morales. I've read some controversy as to whether this is "pandering". I've also heard some people upset that iconic characters who had been white males being replaced by other types of characters - "why not mak... more »
The Analog Parts of My Gaming Toolkit
I like tech toys a lot - well enough to have gotten rather proficient at selling older items on eBay to help feed my habit for new items that sane people are perfectly happy waiting for... Oddly, one area I find myself turning to some vintage technology is when I need to record my thoughts. Both in hobbies and at work I find myself making use of pen and paper as my preferred way of doing so. It's not that I'm uncomfortable with more modern methods - for example in my family we use tools Google Calendar and Google Keep as tools to keep track of everyone's activities and to maintain s... more »
Movie Review: The Princess Bride
*Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.* Image from The Princess Bride Ltd. site.I didn't see *The Princess Bride *when it came out in theaters in 1987. Not many people did. Pulling up IMDB, the movies that I saw in 1987 when they did come out were *Spaceballs*, *Can't Buy Me Love*, *A Nightmare On Elm Street 3*, *Superman IV, *and* Teen Wolf Too*. I turned 16 that year so I really shouldn't have been able to see *Elm Street *without an adult but this was the 80s where the way to get into an R movie as a teenager was to buy a ticket to that movie. I... more »
Rewind to Damnation Decade
*Warriors, come out to play!* I recently reread Stephen King's novel *Salem's Lot*. Among the many things it does well is capture 1970s America. It's not too surprising given it was written then, but there are some books, television shows, etc. that really are products of their times. Born in 1971, I don't have the clearest memories of the 1970s. I bounced around a number of places - New York City, suburbs of Syracuse, New York, some time in New Jersey, and finally winding up in Connecticut. I think it's best to say my memories of the 70s are in flashes. Technology with wood paneli... more »
Is Objectionable Content OK?
There was a bit of a tempest last week when the OneBookshelf (i.e. DriveThruRPG, RPGNow) sites hosted for a period a d20 supplement entitled "Tournament of Rapists". I'll begin with I can't even to begin to imagine why one would think producing such a product to be a good idea. The summary of the product, quoted from Tenkar's Tavern, is: *The Tournament of Rapists details the sadistic Rape Pure Fight circuit, expanding on what you’ve seen already and introducing dangerous new sexual predators. This sadistic bloodsport takes place in abandoned office buildings and atop Tokyo roofto... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 31 - Favorite non-RPG Thing to Come from RPGing
I've already seen a bunch of people post their thoughts on this and I'm going to be boring and echo what I've seen. For me, the best thing to come out of gaming not related to gaming is the people I've met through it and the friendships I've formed. I've not become friends with everyone I've gamed with - heck I've gamed with a few people who I'd prefer to not associate with again. And there's some who are great people but we didn't quite click outside of gaming- which is human nature. But I've also made some lasting friendships through gaming which I greatly value. People I can talk... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 30 - Favorite RPG Playing Celebrity
This is a bit of an odd topic that I'd not normally give a lot of consideration to - gaming celebrities. There's a number of celebrities who have been known to show up in *World of Warcraft* online but I'll stick to traditional tabletop games. I did some googling to see if there were any surprises - turns out actress Dame Judi Dench is known to be a gamer which I'd had no idea. I also discovered conservative columnist Michelle Malkin to be a gamer. Actor Vin Diesel is known to be a huge D&D fan and is always a delight on film (the man managed to deliver the line "I am Groot" with l... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 29- Favorite RPG Website/Blog
I'm not certain I have a must-visit RPG website anymore. I still do the occasional peeks at rpg.net and yog-sothoth.com. Oddly I probably visit Google+ for most of my gaming collaboration. I've got a pretty broad group people in my circles and am a member of numerous communities. I know Google+ gets dinged a lot as a social media site, but I find it excels in bringing people of common interests together. The only negative is if you are a member of many similar communities, you often see the same post multiple times since Google+ does not allow for a single post to appear in multiple... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 28 - Favorite Game You No Longer Play
For this post I have two criteria: 1. It be a game I used to play a lot 2. The odds of ever playing it again are small I'd mentioned the Last Unicorn Games incarnation of Star Trek when discussing my favorite science fiction games. Those games have a special place for me. Coming out from 1998 to 2000 they mark the point when I began regularly gaming again. Star Trek was at a high point of its popularity in the 90s and I feel Last Unicorn Games was a great complement to the Star Trek television shows. There was a great community which formed around these games, centered aroun... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 27 - Favorite Idea for Merging Two Games Into One
A few days ago I'd mentioned how my perfect game would be some variation of Pendragon, adapted for a setting I preferred over Arthurian. When I wrote that I was thinking how very much I'd love to see some variant of Pendragon used for playing in the setting of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. The passions and traits rules are perfect for modeling the interesting yet flawed characters of the setting - Ned Stark's stubborn honesty, Tyrion's inability to keep his mouth shut, etc. Moreover the system for large-scale battles, managing houses, etc. would fit the setting very ... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 26 - Favorite Inspiration For Your Game
As far as my gaming inspirations go, I think I've a number that are pretty normal. I like listening to music while I'm prepping for a game, with my choice varying wildly from jazz to industrial. I like jotting ideas down, sometimes electronically and sometimes in a high quality notebook, armed with my Pilot Vanishing Point fountain pen - yes, my technology varies from old school to the latest and greatest. One thing I really rely on is history. I love learning about the past. Sometimes about the Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman Empires. Sometimes Colonial and Revolutionary America. I'... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 25 - Favorite Revolutionary Game Mechanic
I've been gaming long enough for that I remember when a lot of now normal game mechanics were first taken for a spin. Though as I gave some thought to today's entry there's one game that kept coming to mind - and it's one I've not mentioned in my #RPGaDay2015. And sadly I've not had a chance to try the game out yet either, though it remains on my bucket list. I think the best criteria for such a mechanic is that it indeed be revolutionary but also seem obvious - a sort of "gee, why didn't someone think of that before now?" By that criteria, I'm going to nominate the action system o... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 24 - Favorite House Rule
This posting, I think, is a quick one. And it's not even a house rule anymore though at the time it was... Back in the 90s, I think in the Usenet group rec.games.frp.dnd though it might have been in Dragon magazine, I read about the idea of allowing first level D&D characters to start with maximum hit points. It's normal nowadays but at the time the official rule was at first level you started with random hit points. This was an idea I really liked and made use of, though I'm trying to remember if we really ever allowed first level fighters to go adventuring with just one or two hit... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 23 - Perfect Game for You
Geez all this obsession with perfection... Perfect game for me. I'm going to answer this one partially and revisit this one when it comes time to mash-up two games. My perfect game would be a modified version of Pendragon. It has a number of things that I really like about it. First of all, it has a rules set I really enjoy - though it is d20 instead of d100 based, it is still a BRP system. Very easy to understand and visualize. I also really like the generational play of the game, with each adventure presumed to take place over a year and your character not expected to make it to t... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 22 - Perfect Gaming Environment
This is kind of weird for me since it's been several years since I've had a regular gaming group physically present. That's not to say that I've not been gaming, rather I've been doing my gaming online. So let's start with physical environment - really what I need for that is a reasonably big table with enough seats for all the players and some space for character sheets, maps, munchies, etc. Now that I have kids I've grown to appreciate being able to isolate that space a little bit to give the group some privacy (and since our humor would often not be suitable for kiddies). Gaming... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 21 - Favorite RPG Setting
I'm going to narrow this down a bit to cover settings just created for a game and exclude licensed settings and slightly modified versions of Earth. As someone who gamed back when old school stuff was new, I remember the original versions of settings like TSR's Forgotten Realms. My default game setting was usually World of Greyhawk. I'd still gladly set games there. That said, I really enjoyed Wizards of the Coast's Eberron Campaign Setting, especially in its original incarnation. It really hit a lot of criteria that I enjoy. It didn't feel like a world that had no room for the play... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 20 - Favorite Horror RPG
*That is not dead which can eternal lie,* *And with strange aeons even death may die.* "The Call of Cthulhu", H.P. Lovecraft *Call of Cthulhu*, being my favorite RPG, easily fits into this category as my favorite horror RPG as well. The odd thing is I don't recall having played another horror RPG - I suppose playing *Vampire: The Masquerade* might count but it doesn't seem to be a horror RPG in the same way that *Call of Cthulhu *is - in that game the characters are the monsters. I've also played Eden Studios' *Angel* RPG but that's a bit more a monster hunting RPG than one of ho... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 19 - Favorite Supers RPG
When it comes to Supers RPGs I've not had a ton of luck. I think it is largely because there's a number of genre conventions in superhero stories, primarily in comic books, that don't translate well in an RPG. Getting captured, letting the villain get away, etc. These are things that don't just sit well with most gamers. With that in mind I've a bit less experience in supers gaming than in other genres. Off the top of my head I've run or played in: - Marvel Superheroes (TSR, original and advanced games) - Champions 3rd Edition - DC Heroes (Mayfair, 1st and 2nd editions) ... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 18 - Favorite SF RPG
Geez this one is really tough too. For a fairly long period the great bulk of my gaming was in the science fiction genre. I'm going to limit this to only games I've played or run - there's a number, like the *Firefly RPG* that I'm really looking forward to trying at some point. Even limiting it to that gives a pretty broad range of RPGs. Off the top of my head, that'd include (in rough order of my first time playing them): - Gamma World (2nd Edition) - Star Frontiers - Star Trek (FASA) - Doctor Who (FASA) - Star Wars (West End Games) - The Babylon Project (Chamele... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 17 - Favorite Fantasy RPG
Eek there's like too many of these... I'm going to go over some of the games I've played before zero-ing in on a favorite. Once upon a time I had a blast with a D&D 3.5 game in the Eberron campaign setting. I'm going to say that D&D 3.5 was a blast to play. However, in terms of running the game, especially with regard to prep work, I found it a bit cumbersome. I played some D&D 4e and generally enjoyed it but it felt a bit different from other D&D games and we did run into the dreaded "grind" where the outcome a combat is clear several rounds before it ends. I've also done some Run... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 16 - Longest Game Session Played
Daniel needs his sleep... To be honest, I'm not a veteran of super-long game sessions. After I moved to Massachusetts and began regular gaming again after a break of several years. there were a number of sessions that would run from around 7 until midnight or 1. But that's not like the twenty hour sessions I know some folks have... Nowadays, with kids and the fact I'm several years into my forties, even that's a dream, with sessions in the 2-3 hour range. I've learned to use hour-long television drama as a model for planning a game session. Part of me misses the ability to keep a ... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 15 - Longest Campaign Played
The next campaign is always the best one. Some of us, like yours truly, are easily distracted by shiny things. I'm rather pleased that my recent Dungeon Crawl Classics "campaign" ran to completion with a total party kill in its second adventure... My longest overall campaign is probably a game my brother and I would do off and on throughout the late 80s to the mid 90s, working its way through a variety of classic AD&D adventures along with a number of home-brew adventures. The Temple of Elemental Evil fell, the Slave Lords were defeated, as was Lolth, Demon Queen of Spiders. Great ... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 14 - Favorite RPG Accessory II
I've seen a lot of RPG accessories posted today that are not related to gaming products and it got me wondering what sort of item along those lines I'd go for. I'm a techie. I don't have the absolute latest and greatest toys all the time but I do like my toys. And one thing that makes my life easier is to easily get data on these toys. I tend to prefer digital products nowadays. I have two excellent devices for reading digital gaming products - a Google Nexus 9 and a Microsoft Surface Pro 3. To store all these pdfs and related files I make use of Google Drive. And I also keep my own... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 14 - Favorite RPG Accessory
Discover all the technical and natural wonders of the fantastic Star Wars saga. Here are sleek starfighters that clash with mile-long Star Destroyers, tilling the void with streaks of laser fire and blazing wrecks. Here are armor-clad stormtroopers battling desperate-Rebels across the galaxy. Here are detailed descriptions of the bizarre aliens, devastating weapons, amazing Droids, courageous heroes and cunning villains of the Star Wars universe. - Back cover text for West End Games' *The* *Star Wars Sourcebook* [Note I'm going with this post I'm defining an accessory as an add-o... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 13 - Favorite RPG Podcast
Well this is a bit odd since I'm not a huge podcast listener, though a number of players in my group are and I've listened to quite a few on their recommendations. I think my favorite would have to be *The Good Friends of Jackson Elias.* First of all it's a super-awesome name, referencing the fictional writer whose fate triggers the classic adventure *Masks of Nyarlathotep. *Moreover, I really enjoy the way they do their podcasts - the interaction of the hosts is enjoyable, it's not updated at such an insane rate that trying to keep up is impossible (though I'm pretty awful at keepi... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 12 - Favorite RPG Illustration
I'm actually able to give a straight answer on this one as I do have an actual favorite - it's a classic and one I'm sure others will have it as well and deservedly so - David Sutherland's *A Paladin in Hell *from the 1st edition of the AD&D *Players Handbook.* For me this illustration captures the heroism of the paladin - not the infamous "lawful stupid" caricature but the true hero who will fight the forces of evil in their own domain against overwhelming odds. I'd also like to highlight the work of Tim Bradstreet who became best known for his work on *Vampire: The Masquerade.* ... more »
Infected: Reviewer Copy
Over the past few days I've seen some previews for Immersion RPG's upcoming *Infected *RPG, set in a world crawling its way out of a zombie apocalypse. Now to be honest, their website does have an amusingly bold declaration: " We are a pen and paper Role Playing Game company in the final stages of creating the most exciting system and settings you’ve ever played." Their starting RPG, *Infected*, is due to launch on Kickstarter in about a week. To be honest, it was the artwork that first caught my eye, being strongly reminiscent of the Playstation game *The Last of Us.* From readi... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 11 - Favorite RPG Writer
OK this one isn't fair - there's about fourteen gazillion I'd pick... I'm not even going to give a pretense of trying to pick just one. This time I'm going to list those writers who, seeing their name on a product, will make me give some serious thought to buying it when I might not otherwise. This is a somewhat random list and I'm sure I'm going to leave someone off that I'd wanted to include... - Mike Olson - While not having a huge portfolio, he made some very interesting tweaks with the Fate system in the *Kerberos Club's* Fate version (an amazing setting to begin wi... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 10 - Favorite RPG Publisher
I seem completely unable to give an absolute straight answer on these posts. But that's ok, as they do seem to have me writing a heck of a lot more than I had been... If I were forced to pick one I'd probably go with Evil Hat Publishing. They've produced some great games, have fantastic customer service, and seem to be just good all-around people. They don't produce a ton of products but at the same time they seem to have found a way to determine what it is they're able to take on and deliver on that. Who else do I like? Chaosium produces my favorite RPG, *Call of Cthulhu*. If thei... more »
#RPGaDay2015 Day 9 - Favorite Media You Wish Was an RPG
You come into camp, rent my lot, within six hours you blow in a guy's eye with Wild Bill Hickok backin' your play. Next day, I'm supposed to sell you the lot, put you in business, without askin' who the fuck you are or what the fuck you're doin' here? - Al Swearengen, *Deadwood* I'd love to see someone taking a stab at making an RPG out of HBO's *Deadwood. *One of the problems I've had with running a campaign set in the American Old West is getting a good frame for the campaign. Sure, one can add the undead (which *Deadlands* does to great effect), but I'd love to see a hist... more »
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