Scheduling: Kev works Friday night. Is everyone good with getting together Saturday? Let me know what time you’d like to start– we defaulted to the same 6:30 last time, but if you want to meet earlier, let me/us know.
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Author: Scott
While I don’t have the same bad experiences with cross gender play, I do have concerns about shallowly portraying women.
Newwark, NJ: City creation example for Dresden Files
LeGuin: Staying awake: Notes on the alleged decline of reading
Books to investigate: Thomas Ligotti: Noctuary, Songs of a Dead Dreamer
A More Perfect Constitution, by Larry J. Sabato, is an interesting look at the constitution. He suggests that our reverence for the founding fathers has delayed much needed upkeep to the constitution. He has several proposals (23 or so) to address various issues, like the permanent campaign, Iowa and New Hampshire’s outsized role in the primaries, etc. The issues are good ones; almost everything he mentions does seem to be a problem, though I don’t agree with all of his solutions. His website related to the idea of calling a second constitutional convention, is amoreperfectconstitution.com.
Swords of Riverside by Ellen Kushner is an omnibus with two previous books and a few related short stories collected. The first book, Swordspoint, reveals an interesting culture. The relationship between Alec and St Viter is the heart of the first book; they each reveal themselves with interesting edges as the book progresses. Alec’s “secret family” is adequately telegraphed and works fine for the story. The intrigue among the nobles is properly off camera most of the time. The minor view points are less grabby but still work.
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Next Game: Friday February 15th
We’ll get back to roleplaying on February 15th; after a couple of weeks off. Josh will host and we’ll explore Boston. Hopefully everyone will return, excited and ready for action. We left off the night before the attack on the dwarven encampment. You have a short night ahead if you’re still planning the dawn assault on the dwarven camp…
Let us know if you’ll have any problem making it on Friday.
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Interviewing a Hedge Fund Trader
A talk with a hedge fund trader about the sub-prime mess, black box trading, and currency. It’s fascinating– the interviewer is no expert on the subject, so it’s much easier to follow than most discussions about the subject. (via Ezra Klein.)
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Next Game: Friday January 25th
We’ll play next Friday, starting with the PCs standing up from the table after agreeing on the Attack Plan with the Captain and Mayor. Then you’ll head out and implement the plan you agree to– a daring raid or a bloody battle; whatever you decide.
Modify the attack plan linked above with details and improvements throughout the week. We’ll start next session jumping quickly into motion and get to the good stuff quickly, I hope.
If you can’t make it, please let us know!
[Also, I added the Mayor and other townspeople you interacted with this week to the people page of the wiki.]
PS: Dad, you might want to raid the previous post’s comment where you talked about Gaia, Danu and Don, and edit them into the new page Kevin began, Dieties of Iron. (Thanks Kev!) Similarly, Compass can get raided from Rumors of Iron and pasted on the deities page.
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World War Z and Radio Freefall
World War Z, by Max Brooks, was a solid take on the zombie uprising. Creative and sweeping, he does a good job of looking around the world for his stories. It’s a little USA-centric, but I certainly forgive him that. While there are extra movers and shakers, he does a good job of looking for a wide variety of viewpoints, which really helps it feel like a world wide epidemic.
He does a good job of pointing out flaws in modern society, especially our desire to be seen “doing something” instead of accurately forecasting threats and responding appropriately. It’s a good read, and he wanders down all kinds of interesting side roads. The societies that emerge from the Zombie War feel real, and he never looses track of the horrors of war… not of the changes those who survived have undergone.
Radio Freefall by Matthew Jarpe, is a cool future society. There’s a lot of apathy and a sense that the world doesn’t allow space for the next generation, but the music scene is still plugging away. The world he builds, with nationalist parties and the unification, and technology that feels authentic– a few things that are surprising, like a dedicated space presence, and a lot of things that feel like logical extrapolations of today.
I’m surprised that I enjoyed it as much as I did; I’m not normally a fan of celebrity or rockstardom, but Riff is a cool guy who gets into interesting trouble. Things occasionally come together a little too exactly, but it all works in the moment.
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Next Game: Friday January 18th
After a wildly successful pair of ambushes, the PCs hit level 2. They now have over thirty armed gnomes at their sides, but they’re deep behind enemy lines. Who knows what trouble they’ll get into next week…
We’re getting together on Friday night, unless trouble crops up. Let us know if you’ll have any trouble making it.
Keeping access easy and current: Empire of Iron has your characters and most of the world information. Contribute as much or as little as you like.
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Links from the last month
UPDATE: Another cool collaborative world building system, from Fred Hicks. It’s light, and seems similar to the wikidot “each person has 12 beads” system.
Humor:
Liberal Fascism, Year’s best posts, Tom Tomorrow comics (mondays), Kevin Moore comics, they’re out to get me!, Pax in oxen, peeing (Ben’s story), ideal job (for Kristen), New time management system, The evil of florists
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Next Game: Saturday, January 12th
[Note: Kev has to work Friday night. Does Saturday night work for everyone?]
In the kickoff session, an exhausted gnome warrior reached Felixis and warned them that an army had sacked the encampment town of Gleyn to the north. The PCs picked up weapons and started to the north, scouting to ensure that the dwarves weren’t also marching on Felixis.
The encountered a skirmish party of clay dwarves and slaughtered them while they concentrated on shackling Sandy. They released the homing pigeon to warn the town of their encounter. They also seized the skirmish group’s whistle and blew it, drawing in a second heavier group, led by a stone dwarf. The battle was brief and decisive; while a few of the PCs picked up wounds, the fallen were all dwarves.
They asked a captured enemy mage (or warlock) about the attack. While he tried to lie, persistence paid off and his earlier estimate of 10 legions was revealed to be an exaggeration. With the sun setting, they moved away from the battle site and setup a cold camp nearby.