I've more or less abandoned this journal, although I'm not planning on deleting its contents, on the off chance that someone actually cares about any of my old entries. My current online home is at Grognardia and I'm likely to continue devoting the bulk of my public musings to that blog, as I have been for the last seven months. It's a peculiar, idiosyncratic place with a very specific focus, so I don't expect it to be of general interest, even to other gamers.

In any case, if, for some reason, you want me to know about something you've published in your LJ, it'd be best to send me an email directly at either jmaliszeATgmail.com or jimmythegeekATrogers.com. Chances are I won't see it otherwise. This generally includes comments on the LJ feed for Grognardia, though I do try and check it more regularly, since I know at least a couple of you take the time to post there.

Don't hesitate to email me just to say hello or chat or whatever. I'm not going anywhere; I'll still be online and as available as ever. I'm simply moving on from LJ, which has served me well for quite a few years, so I don't do so out of regret so much as the feeling that a change of venue will serve me well. Indeed, it's already done so, given how much more I enjoy Grognardia and the surprisingly lively community that's grown up around it.

It's always possible I may return here at some point in the future, but I wouldn't count on it. As I said, the people on my friends list know how to contact me and I encourage you to do so. Getting email from friends is always a pleasure.

Adieu.

My longstanding email address has been appropriate by spammers selling replica watches worldwide. I was greeted this week to 1000 or more bounced messages from this reprobate's illicit activities. Consequently, I had to delete the address and create a new one. If you are someone who wants my new email address, please put a comment below and I'll make a point of letting you know over the next day or so. It's a damned annoying thing to have to inform everyone of this change, not to mention updating all my mailing lists, online services, and so on.

I wonder what circle of Hell is reserved for spammers.

Happy Independence Day to all my American friends, family, and colleagues. 

Happy Canada Day/Dominion Day to all my Canadian friends, family, and colleagues. Looks like the weather will be nice for a change, so enjoy it.

Is something funny going down on the Internet today? I seem to be having trouble connecting to quite a few websites, especially anything connected to Google or related companies. The problem could be very localized, I suppose, since I am able to get some pages without trouble (LJ, for example), while others are completely inaccessible or very sluggish.

Anyone else experiencing this?

So I managed to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull yesterday afternoon with rentagurkha, furiousdave, and another friend of mine. I'm glad I did, because, as I think I've said before, I have a tendency not to see movies at all if I don't see them within a week or two after their release. I'm also glad, because I really enjoyed the film. I'm actually hard-pressed to find a sour note in it. Well, actually, I can find many of them if I allow myself to do so, but they're nitpicks, the kinds of criticisms I make when I feel that my reputation for being an implacable curmudgeon is on the line. So I look for little things, like the Trek-like tracking devices used by the Commies, and point and say, "Aha! A misstep!" and hope to God that I somehow manage to maintain the appearance of objectivity despite my having loved nearly every minute of this film.

Heck, I even love the title, which I know some people felt was a mouthful, but which I feel strikes exactly the right tone. But then I also think The Phantom Menace is a great title too, so what do I know? I think the thing that a lot of people forget is that all the Indiana Jones films, including Raiders of the Lost Ark are unabashed nostalgia pieces. They're attempts by Lucas and Spielberg to relive the past -- their pasts -- in a way that's interesting and exciting to modern moviegoers. Raiders was such a revelation, I feel, not just because it was a ripping good story well told, but also because it was a kind of story we hadn't seen in movies. You have to remember that, back in the hoary days of 1981, "retro" wasn't a genre; neither was "pulp." People may have done what amounted to retro movies or pulp movies before Raiders -- I'm sure some of the cinephiles on my Friends list are even now writing comments to prove this very point -- but I'm not sure they ever did them in quite the same deliberate way that Lucas and Spielberg did.

The difference, I think, between Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and the previous three movies is that it's a nostalgia movie made by old men as opposed to a nostalgia movie made by younger men. Consequently, so many of the choices made in the film, both dramatically and artistically, strike me as the kinds of things that old men, looking back on their youths, would do. I'm not trying to be deep here; none of the Indiana Jones movies is deep, after all. All that I'm saying is that, if Crystal Skull feels different, it's only because the men who made it are different than the ones who made the other films. And unlike, say, Isaac Asimov novels, I don't think that difference hurt Crystal Skull at all. In fact, from my perspective, I thought it allowed the movie to become more than the sum of its parts.

But then I'm getting old myself, so perhaps I was naturally inclined to like this film. So many of its elements struck a chord with me that I suppose it's impossible for me to be objective about it. For example, I've long been a proponent of using the Soviets as pulp villains. I think they're every bit as good as exemplars of human evil as the Nazis, often better in certain kinds of stories, such as the one told in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. So, from the get-go, I was inclined to give the movie more than a fair shake. Similarly, I'm a sucker for movies that acknowledge the sometimes regretful passing of time in ways that aren't treacly or melodramatic. "You reach a point in your life." says Jim Broadbent, as Marshal College's dean, "where life stops giving you things and starts taking them away." For some reason, this line stuck with me and, although the film itself develops this theme more in the breach than in the observance, it is developed and in ways that, for me anyway, didn't overshadow the pulp sensibilities that animated the whole production.

I could go on at greater length, but I fear I would simply be repeating myself. Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull is a flawed but fun movie. It is not one for the ages, but then very few films are. I'm honestly not even certain that Raiders of the Lost Ark is, but that's not really the point. There is a scene in Crystal Skull, one of my favorites, that I think nicely sums up why Raiders sets such an impossibly high standard for the movies that followed. Shortly after their reunion, Indy and Marion are bickering in the back of a truck under the watch of a Soviet thug, who yells for them to shut up. Without stopping their argument, they manage to free themselves and push the Commie bastard out the back of the track. Marion is exasperated at the implication that she shouldn't have gotten on with her life after she and Indy parted ways. She states that surely there must have been other women in Indy's life after her, to which he replies, in a moment that reminded me that Harrison Ford is in fact a good actor, "Sure there were, but they all had the same problem -- they weren't you."

If Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has a real flaw, it's that it's not Raiders of the Lost Ark. Somehow, I can live with that.

One of the lessons I learned from the Thousand Suns rulebook was to use more art, so the upcoming Pilot's Guide to the Core Worlds will have more illustrations even though it's a much smaller book. Here are two pieces from it that are both pertinent to the new book and correct artistic omissions from the rulebook.

( Behind cut for your protection )

These are worlds of wonder.

At the heart of the inhabited galaxy lie Humanity's most populous and sophisticated planets. The dizzying spires of their cities are matched only by the complexity of their cultures, exemplifying all that is best among the Thousand Suns. The Core Worlds glitter like jewels in the crown of interstellar civilization.

These are worlds of upheaval.

Sophistication breeds decadence and power inevitably gives way to corruption. The Core Worlds are no different. With each year, these planets grow ever more self-interested and debauched. The vitality and drive that gave them command of the stars is long since gone, leaving behind only a hollow shell, ripe for exploitation by demagogues and revolutionaries alike.

These are worlds of glory.

The Core Worlds have no equals in art, commerce, technology -- or power. Idealists and cynics alike are drawn here from the farthest reaches of the galaxy, for this is where the future of the Thousand Suns is written. Whether that future is a bright or a dark one has not been decided and the actions of a daring few may yet tip the balance one way or another.

These are worlds of adventure.

I continue to be very gratified and, frankly, amazed at the reception Thousand Suns has received since its release in February. There's a demonstration of it being given in Oakland, California in early May, which neither I nor mind_of_richard arranged. The game has also received its first review via that newfangled podcast thing all the kids are talking about. Again, this is an unsolicited review and a quite positive one at that, so I am doubly pleased. The game is doing well for us and gamers seem to be taking it in the spirit in which it was written rather than expecting it to be more than it is.

All in all, I have no complaints.

A night out at the Granda Operejo and a grav ball match at the Koloseo

( Behind the cut once more )

Here's the first piece of art from The Pilot's Guide to the Core Worlds. It's an "official portrait" of the governor-general of Center Sector.

( Behind here to save your Friends page )

I'm hard at work on The Pilot's Guide to the Core Worlds, which in addition to describing the 19 worlds of Center Sector, is intended to be a toolkit for Thousand Suns players and GMs who like their games to focus on decadence, corruption, and political manipulation. One of the things that's grown increasingly clear to me is that there's a significant minority of gamers out there who are quite interested in meta-systems to simulate politics and organizational influence. That interest grows even more if the meta-systems can serve to generate "normal" adventures for use in an ongoing campaign. I mentioned off-handedly in the RPGnet thread discussing Thousand Suns that I was toying around with a supplement for the game I tentatively called "The Game of Empire" that would put the players in the roles of the rulers of entire worlds, interstellar organizations, or even entire states, both as a game in itself and as a way of generating the "history" of an ongoing campaign -- and the response was immediate and tremendous. Unsurprisingly, I'm seriously considering this to be the next release for the game after Fighting Ships of the Thousand Suns.

Of course, I'd already committed myself to include rules for organizations and influence in the first Pilot's Guide. As it stands now, I'm going with simple but flexible. All characters can acquire Influence Points in one or more areas based on the Career Packages they've taken during character creation. Thus, a character who spent his entire career in, for example, the Navy will have more military Influence Points than one who spent only one term in the Navy before mustering out to become a Trader. Starting Influence Points are also affected by a character's Presence score and any appropriate Hooks he may have. Influence Points can then be spent on various things, from material possessions, like a penthouse in a prime location on Meridian, to actions, like a smear campaign against one's opponents. Smart players will, of course, use their IPs to build organizations (or take over existing ones), because that's the surest path to wealth and power. Moreover, organizations help replenish and expand one's pool of IPs.

So far, I'm waffling on how simplistic to keep the system. On the one hand, I think a nice, straightforward scheme that's evocative but with lots of room for house ruling and modifying is probably for the best. On the other hand, I just know that there will be cries that such a system is "bland" or "too thin." I'm aiming for a middle road here, as everyone always does, but I suspect I'll err on the side of lighter rather than heavy, if only because it better suits my own style of play. Likewise, organizations and influence are the kinds of things that can't -- or perhaps shouldn't -- be easily mechanized. I want there to be a reasonable amount of "fudge factors" involved, so individual players and GMs can tailor the basic system to their own preferences and the nature of their campaigns. Still, I have to admit I'm still not entirely sure of myself when I go this route. All too often I get the impression that gamers want everything spelled out for them in exhaustive detail and nothing less will do.

In the early days of Terran interstellar exploration, worlds were grouped arbitrarily together based on their pseudo-proximity via D-Drive and given temporary designations such as Sector Alpha, Sector Beta, and so on. Over time, as these sectors became more settled, new “picturesque” designations were given to them. Throughout most of the Thousand Suns, the new names preceded the word “sector,” as in Polaris Sector or Five Stars Sector. Among the Core Worlds, though, the older practice remained, with the word “sector” preceding the name – Sector Center instead of Center Sector, for example.

This idiosyncrasy of speech is most common among the elites of the Core Worlds, although individuals from all walks of life may well adopt it. At the GM’s discretion, characters not native to the Core Worlds who fail to use the “appropriate” terminology suffer a –1 TN penalty to social interaction rolls when dealing with Kernistos who adhere to this peculiar linguistic custom. Of course, the reverse is also true: non-natives who make a point of employing Core Worlds terminology may instead gain a +1 TN bonus under like circumstances.

I think wireless computer peripherals were invented solely to vex me. My wireless keyboard inexplicably gave up the ghost sometime between the time I went to bed last night and this morning when I woke up. Of course, the mouse is perfectly fine. And of course, Logitech, being the nice guys they are, will be sending me a new keyboard -- in 5-7 business days. So now I'm stuck using my wife's rather cramped little keyboard, with which I am not at all comfortable, and contemplating what I should do for the long-short term. Do I buy a nicer keyboard for my machine, acclimate myself to it over the next few days, and then go back to the new-old one when it arrives or do I give the new-old one to my wife since she probably should get a better keyboard anyway?

Bah. I hate technology.

It's not yet been posted anywhere online that I can find, so I guess I can be the first to break the news: my wife has been awarded the 2008 Follett International Teacher Librarian of the Year Award, given every year by the Canadian Library Association. At the end of next month, she gets flown to Vancouver for the awards ceremony, where she'll be honored by her colleagues from across Canada. This is a big honor for her and richly deserved, considering the time, energy, and passion she puts into her work. It's great to see that her fellow teacher librarians recognize the gifts I've seen up close for well over a decade now.

Did I miss a memo somewhere?

Pretty much every single spell checker, both on my computer and online, doesn't like the word "esthetic" or variations thereof -- as I speak, even LJ is objecting to it -- and yet I know this is an acceptable spelling of the word. Much like archeology, it seems that everyone, even Americans, spells it the British way. And yet I distinctly recall being taught the ligature-less orthography in school as a child, but perhaps I just lived in some linguistic backwater in my youth and never realized it.

Does anyone out there in the ether -- at least that word gets by the spell checker without issue -- spell this as I do? Am I really some kind of spelling Neanderthal and simply ignorant of the fact?

Like me, some of you may have long wondered how it was that Julius Fučík's "Entrance of the Gladiators" came to be associated with clowns (aside from the obvious circus connection). An enterprising Canadian at the turn of the last century named Louis-Philippe Laurendeau (aka Paul Laurent) is apparently responsible, after he re-arranged what Fučík had intended as a military march for a full band into a piece for a smaller group of performers. The march quickly became a staple of circuses in North America.

As an aside, if you ever hear the piece performed in its original version, it's amazing how different it sounds from the more popular version.

I finally completed the long-delayed intro adventure for Thousand Suns today. It'll be made available for free on the Rogue Games website over the next few days, depending on how long it takes mind_of_richard to convert it to a nice-looking PDF. I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out and hope that others will appreciate the way I wrote it. The scenario is a fairly open-ended investigative one, with lots of opportunities for individual GMs to tailor it to their own campaign settings. Of course, I do worry a little bit that some might see the scenario as "thin" or insufficiently fleshed out with "no real resolution."

Such criticisms are not completely inapt, I suppose, but they do miss the point somewhat. The adventure is intended to be the kickstart to a campaign and, given the diversity of possible campaign set-ups, I had to be somewhat vague in places. Likewise, investigative scenarios demand both open-endedness and a good GM with the ability to wing it and extrapolate based on what's written in the text itself. I think I've provided enough information, though, to help GMs muddle their way through anything that isn't explicitly covered in the scenario, but I'm a poor judge of my own writing abilities.

In any event, The Chabuli Conspiracy deals with many of the staples of Imperial SF -- colonialism, ancient mysteries, illicit activities, etc. -- and shows how they can be used in a practical way without having to come up with epic plotlines involving the fate of the galaxy. I like that and I hope others will too.