So I decided to hang a white sheet over my front room door in order to dry. This apparently made Artemis decided she needed to lurk atop said door. Now she jumps onto the heads of those who dare enter:
Also I am going to need to run another white load.
Artemis decided to use my work laptop whilst I was at lunch, I am not entirely okay with her apparent plan to convert documents into cats.
Agreed there, some of of favourite Fading Suns RP for example was when I was playing a psi character with an obvious stigma and people actually responded to it negatively. Tarah on Star Crusade for example, she was an albino, she read people's minds all the time or fucked with people's emotions in council meetings to further her own agendas. Everyone was totally okay with her outside of a few instances.
Those instances where people were freaked out or nervous of her still stick in my memory years later.
So now that the heat wave has mostly passed the kittens are getting more rumbacious and cuddly. Leading to things like this:
Also I really do need to not leave towels and shirts on the floor. Gah.
So a while ago I posted up a very Fading Suns looking 'system map', namely this:
It did gather some enthusiastic attention via messages but the main person I was using as a sound board to bounce ideas off then kind of went silent, combined with my work flaring into extreme business and stalling progress.
Basically I have been working on hashing out a 'Lost World' setting for a new Fading Suns game but it has been hard to maintain motivation and inspiration by myself and I welcome collaborators, here is a summary of the current setting though:
The setting is Nestoria, a Lost World system that was cut off from the jumpweb approximately three hundred years before the 3995 starting date, post Vladimir but well before the start of the Emperor Wars. There are two habitable worlds, Nestoria is a large, cold, metal poor planet that required minimal terraforming. Well industrialised and heavily populated it has historically been dominated by two Hawkwood dukes in bitter competition and is potentially a decisive factor in the balance between the Royal Houses given its wealth and power are likely on par with Sutek or even Delphi. This is the primary focus of the game.
Khangai is smaller, colder, its atmosphere shedding as its terraforming fails. Civilisation clings to deep rifts and valleys while abandoned and ransacked Second Republic cities litter the barely habitable highlands. Ruled by a Li Halan duke, this world is dying yet rich with technological treasures and several Annukai Gargoyles, a place for adventures and quests, the Scravers guild also a major power.
Further out are gas giants with myriad moons and two sets of major asteroid belts, much of Nestoria's industry is fuelled by metals mined in the Inner Belt, leading to bustling trade and also powerful space borne factions and in system pirates.
The thing is that while the jumpgate to the Known Worlds has just been opened (a few months before the game starts) it has opened deep in Decados space and this was not the first link that was re-established, fifteen years ago Nestoria, until then an isolated world, made contact with the so called Third Republic.
The Third Republic was founded around a newly established colony that lost contact with the rest of the Known Worlds during the collapse of the Second Republic and the sack of Byzantine Secundus, losing their technology and regressing only to claw themselves back up over the course of centuries. While they make profligate use of technology they lack the Second Republic infrastructure that the Known Worlds still replies heavily upon, perhaps at Diasporan level at best. The Third Republic can manufacture energy shields – but they are inferior to those worn by every minor noble or paranoid guild member of the Known Worlds. They can mass produce starships, but their hulls are alloys far weaker than ceramsteel.
Eleven years ago they invaded Nestoria without warning, swarming the system with their starships and launching an unexpected attack upon Panticapaeum, the second city of Nestoria itself.
Never having gone through the Emperor Wars, the Nestorian system did not maintain significant standing armies and the Third Republic struck while the Duchess of Panticapaeum was visiting her offworld holdings with the bulk of her fleet in a grand procession. Advance infiltration caused surprisingly extensive local uprisings while cybernetically enhanced Republican Guard overwhelmed the token garrisons.
Over the next few months the bulk of the northern continent of Nestoria was seized by the Republic as the Duke of Diospolis, the titular overlord of the planet, stood by and watched, reportedly relishing in the fate overtaking his bitter rival. The Duchess of Panticapaeum did not stand idle though, always the greater power in space, she called upon allies, traded favours, formed up her armada and then struck at her cousin's void ships without warning of mercy, seizing them and adding them to her fleet before he engaged the Republican force.
For weeks the heavens were filled with fire but in the end, the duchess won a stunning victory, capturing dozens of their transports, driving the Republic from the system and seizing complete control of the void around Nestoria. She had still lost almost all of her holdings however and lacked any way to take them back, the PTS guns and shield of her capital making mockery of her dreadnoughts.
Since then the victorious armada has mouldered in orbit, no doubt damaged to some degree but also blockading the planet and trying to interdict all trade, 'taxing' all traffic. Occasional skirmishes with elements of the Republic's fleet have also been a factor but the Duchess appears unwilling to press home full scale fleet engagements even after the proven inferiority of Republican vessels – they never seem to lack for new ones and have continued to be able to run resupply to their new holdings on Nestoria.
Nobody knows how long the 'Pirate Duchess' can maintain this state of affairs, while considered a champion for her victory that was a decade in the past and what kind of duchess rules only a few holdings on airless worlds along with a perhaps rapidly decaying fleet?
The Duke of Diospolis took advantage of the war to cross the equetorial straights and seize the County of Tanais, leading to a decade of skirmishing warfare with the local levies of the Republic along with increasingly intensive naval confrontations. The duke is now dying though, kept alive only through the ingenuity of his Engineers and coherent for no more than a few hours a day, decisions increasingly irrational.
The Li Halan Duke of Khangai has tried to remain neutral, though the 'Pirate Duchess' seizing many of his remaining void ships is a bitter point of contention. The Republican Fleet is entering the Nestorian system in increasing force though, teams landing upon Khangai in attempts to retrieve Second Republic technology or foment uprisings.
The outer system outposts and colonies have been a battleground for over a decade, the Republic has no experience of ground warfare it seems but while their starships are inferior to those of Known Worlders their fleet is highly efficient and crewed by large numbers of Changed void born. The Brother Battle cling to a bastion upon the outer world of Nisibis, rather more fervent in pressing the offence against the Republic than the Duchess of Panticapaeum but increasingly lacking in resources.
Of course a few months ago Nestoria did regain contact with the Known Worlds and that potentially changes everything. Will there be a crusade against the Third Republic? Will the Nestorian Dukes acknowledge the Emperor, will they join with their extended families or suffer annexation to the Decados who are able to offer more immediate aid? Unlike in previous Fading Suns games though the world the game is set in is a major power in its own right, even if a Royal House or the Emperor did decide to throw its entire weight onto Nestoria it might be matched by the local lords and guilds, who given their monopoly looking ways are in general not in favour of the Third Republic and its free market hyper capitalism.
So game wise my current thoughts – The setting is big, the population of the Nestoria system over a billion. The ducal level characters would be NPCs but very much existing to drive plot rather than belonging to particular characters (with the most powerful, the Duke of Diopolis, liable to die or require a regency council). Counts, Earls, Barons, etc would be opened as PC positions at a measured rate that concentrates on the nobles doing interesting things with a good proportion remaining NPC so that things like IC reputation or ability to orate and argue can gets its mileage.
The church would rule approximately a quarter of the land and have immense power, especially with the 'antagonists' being a resurgent Republic that imperils everyone's souls, a good portion of the County level positions would be landed Bishoprics.
All cities run by the Guilds, mostly under charter to a noble, but while nobles might have manpower and be titularly in charge, the bulk of the wealth would belong to the Guilds. They have a major choice to make as well – the Republic is potentially what many of them want, but just how much power would they retain under such a regime if they shared their secrets?
So that is my probably over extensive summary. Are you interested in helping or discussing? Then say so, I am based in the UK for fun timezone based shenanigans but if you are seriously interested then I am happy to Skype.
So one the smaller of my two kittens has decided to become a shoulder cat. If I pick her up? She immediately climbs onto my shoulder so that she can be super tall.
But today? She used this elevated vantage point to then leap atop an open door. She did not apparently have any plan for how to get down:
So between having recently consumed the Red Rising trilogy and recent comments about Lords and Ladies games, plus a lack of space stuff, I have found myself thinking about Space Lords and Ladies. The Fifth World was run by legitimately nice people but never scratched my itch (not to mention being gone) so I found myself sort of musing the following. It is kind of random and a bit stream of consciousness but I thought I should share and see if my thoughts match with other people's at all.
Key Ideas:
The setting is not supposed to be 'nice', Space Feudalism (Or Space Rome) is liable to be a fucked up kind of place with gigantic inequalities to support Space Lords and Ladies living in unimaginable luxury.
Space Lords & Ladies should have admirable qualities still, there should be honour, ideals, glory, bravery. Living up to the IC ideals of a brutal Space Noble should be seductive even if the whole society is built upon oppression and exploitation. Being a Space Noble should be amazingly cool.
Crunchy estate/fief management, resources should be limited, (social or economic), people should compete over them and gain tangible benefits. Resources should be expended and everyone should always want more.
This should be fairly abstracted especially given the scale, a few moving parts, but people should be able to intuitively grasp what is going on. Also this should require fairly minimal administrative burden. Build in reasons to delegate power also!
Players should not be in outright warfare with each other in most circumstances, rivals, enemies, but not in open war. Part of the same 'society' with reasons to go to parties even if they are plotting the other's demise.
Space Nobles need some reason to be seriously important militarily. Magic Space Powers? Magic mind machine interfaces? Dune type shields and magic space swords? Genetically engineered super people? If the latter make it so that they are 'pushing the envelope' and not hugely stable so that fucking idiots and crazy people still make sense (some players are going to fit the bill!).
Thoughts from Prior Games
Do not have one person make a Space Duke and get four Space Legions also then have the same tier +sheet as the person who makes a Space Knight who has their Space Sword and Space Horse (ship?). Alternative, Space Duke has to have Space Skeletons in the closet sufficient to summon a Space Count of Monte Christo or two, have people pay chargen resources for wealth/power which comes from safely 'Off Screen' and is not tied to drawbacks. So if you want to be a Space Duke who holds Space Lands on the border and is constantly menaced by invasion or is hated by the Space King for murdering his brother? Cool! Want to be the Space Duke who owns rich Space Estates in the core worlds and has an uninterrupted supply of infinite completely legitimate Space Gold? You might have to compromise on your Duelling skill.
Make the game an actual sandbox, that does not mean staff should not introduce plot elements and run NPCs with agendas but they should be deciding 'Where do we want the story to go?' then railroading things. The meat of the game should be competition between player characters and the environment they find themselves in.
Keep It Simple Stupid when it comes to economy, it should not be entirely abstracted, it should be something people compete over, but have it at say Reign level rather than trying to replicate Crusader Kings II in MUSH format. Too much administrative burden leads to staff burnout, leads to delayed requests, leads to collapse of trust and interest.
Do not have an awesome Space King. If there is a Space King then they should be an NPC and be kind of crap, better might be a Space Regency Council or a distant Space Emperor who issues directives then has to rely on local player characters to actually follow/enforce them.
Some people will try to insist that (Insert Sci Fi Thing Here, often assassination related or utilising of relativistic projectiles to kill planets) or nukes should let them instantly win whatever issue they are facing. First of all make it clear things are soft Sci-Fi, but also head them off at the pass. Fuck nukes, space battles already involve ships throwing antimatter missiles or singularities at each other. For bonus points really crazy tech levels mean that you can have your spaceships look like the ones from Jupiter Ascending (but limit your influences from that terrible film to stealing aesthetics).
Encourage making older characters or those with ties to the setting with bonus points or something, otherwise a lot of people will make orphan 18 year olds. I could also see giving bonus point for living children, more if they are potentially playable adults.
Let PCs be the characters who are awesome at things, only do not just let them, spell this out. Also communicate this to new players and publicise things like 'Hey, we have four people who are Supreme Space Duelmasters but nobody who is the Greatest Space Spy.' Try to discourage people making incompetent wallflowers.
Maybe some kind of Social Currency? Prestige? Something tangible and tracked that really encourages people to blow their economic resources on fancy parties, employing legions of servants and Moon Palaces.
Do not have players write up the wiki entry on their own family/house/country or whatever. They will inevitably end up being super awesome at everything with a token flaw.
Poor Hera looks particularly silly in the wake of being splayed. She has also turned into an utterly demanding cuddle monster who will not let me sleep? But the purr cuddles are adorable. Here she is just sort of hanging out next to me.
This is so very, very true, a MUSH is a text only medium, people have no idea what your intended tone of voice is and thus how you mean to say whatever it is you just typed.
This can really easily lead to a gigantic degree of antagonism as people assume the worst of whomever they are talking with, it is easy to see somebody who from their perspective is making an observation they do not even feel that strongly about, as angrily ranting, arguing, etc. It is an especially easy trap to fall into when you are staff, somebody points out 'Hey, X does not seem right' and it is very easy to see it as a personal attack on your decisions, or said person as attributing huge important to something irrelevant.
The moment you start assuming people are being outright argumentative or confrontational is the moment where that starts actually being true.
So I watched the Alita movie, taking advantage of being in the UK where it released last week (I have no idea why?)
It suffered from some 'time compression' where stuff that in the manga took a year+ seemed to take place over days but frankly? I really liked it, the huge eyes actually worked just fine in practice and I honestly found Alita really compelling as a character with how she was played.
The action scenes were utterly phenomenal and despite how ridiculous it was I was completely sold on Alita just being that fucking good. She was fucking people up despite being vulnerable and them presenting a real threat, she was just too perfectly lethal and agile and really came across as a force of nature who was still very much a young, idealistic and opinionated person. Just one who was a peerless killing machine and was ultimately totally okay with this.
I am in the process of moving into a new home, it was supposed to be unfurnished but apparently the landlady just sort of walked out of the front door and left everything but her clothing, bedding and TV? Like there are mugs in cupboards and towels still here. Needless to say this makes things profoundly awkward and there are now two houses worth of furniture crammed into the place while we try to contact the owner to ask her WTF.
Obviously my main concern was my cats though who, after a five hour journey in a pet carrier, were horrified and immediately glued themselves to the back of a cabinet where they could hide until they scary removal men stopped scarily moving furniture.
The plan was to keep them confined in one room for a day or two but the fluffy black thing escaped and started exploring, also lounging on stuff:
Now they are running up and down the stairs like lunatics but I cannot get a proper picture of that due to excessive scampering. They were in an apartment before so stars are new and exciting for them both.
The cats continue to explore, atop wardrobes:
Enjoying stairs:
Looking cute in front of windows:
I really enjoyed Captain Marvel, it was not perfect but I thoroughly enjoyed it and the mood in the audience was great.
Also, as an added bonus, I can now blacklist Youtubers who put up misogynistic rants about how bad it is. It seems to be a really sensitive detector there even if some of the 'discoveries' are disappointing.
Depression: Your work performance review has been scheduled for this afternoon. STRESS! Turn into a ball of nerves and fail to sleep properly as you have vague unformed nightmares about losing your job and failing.
Reality: Boss pushes back meeting by ten minutes due to feeling it hardly neccessary, tells me how happy he is with how everything is going, asks what he can do to support if I need it, claims he had no real ideas what to put in the mandatory to fill in improvement section. So is there any external training that he can pay for me to go on? Also keep up the good work and enjoy the fifteen thousand dollar bonus.
Depression: Still leaves me feeling meh and anxious and terrified of job security? Dammit.
Some of the time is used just amazingly well though, the entire Salusa Secundus sequence is less than a minute long and yet tells you so much about the Sardaukar whilst 100% selling them as being terrifying when coupled with their later appearances.
@surreality said in Original Sci-Fi?:
Since this seems to be the #1 pastime of sci-fi games, I consider them an unfriendly environment on the whole, often to the point of active hostility and ugly condescension in the same way the people who are obscure comics lore experts railing about how so-and-so is 'doing it wrong' in their portrayal of a character are obnoxious, or it would be obnoxious for me to OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG SO STUPID DID YOU SEE THAT HEADPIECE?!?!?! WHAT SERVING GIRL CAN AFFORD THOSE PEARLS; THIS IS CRAZY! at people enjoying an episode of Reign, and modeling something they do on an L&L game on that dubiously accurate ensemble.
Gah, that reminds me of watching The Russian Ark with my mother, it is this absolutely insane experimental film that was recorded as a single 96 long minute sequence through the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. What did my mother, an expert on historical clothing, spend the entire time doing? Yes, complaining about how the costumes were from wildly varying periods and should not be next to each other.
Then again that is not entirely invalid for making a consistent and deep world for people to RP in, what people wear and when is a huge part of society and for that matter? Textiles were one of the major drivers for the non agricultural economy throughout most of history. If silk is imported from a foreign land who only take silver in payment and its popularity is driving a trade deficit/bullion shortage? That is meaty economic plot beyond 'Meet X for tea, agree to a handwaved trade deal, get some benefit', right there.
It is the same with tech in a sci-fi setting. Ideally you want enough top level detail to allow for emergent details and people to get their head into the setting, but you cannot go into too much detail because 1) People do not have time to read that shit or inclination to care and 2) Other people will care far too much and will pick apart every detail for inconsistencies that allow them some advantage.
I let my kittens out onto the balcony today, under strict supervision.
The fluffy black kitten (the cuff link thief) decided that this was amazing and that she had to try to eat all of the cobwebs. Sadly I did not manage to get a picture of her cobweb covered little face.
The black and white kitten? She was very, very interested in the 'down' from the balcony and I also found out that 1) She can jump about 4 feet vertically despite not being 14 weeks old and 2) She can cling to staccato wall like some kind of especially cute spider.
I am definitely not inclined to let her out onto the balcony again.
Added: Kittens Explore Balcony
I think another core issue with sci-fi is that there are hugely divergent opinions on what sci-fi is and if one person is operating under another set of assumptions to another? They are likely to clash.
If one person is expecting Star Trek, one is expecting Flash Gordon and another is expecting District 13? Non of the gut feelings those people have for how things work are going to be compatible in the slightest.
@jibberthehut She is really rather cute, especially with her huge eyes and the fact she has to investigate everything that moves or makes interesting noises.
Her half sister by contrast is only seventeen weeks old and is turning into a floof monster of unprecedented size. Here she is stretching and giving me a look because I am not changing position to scritch her chin.
Keep in mind that the foot to scale is a US size 14 and at her age she is going to be a month and a half at least from being half grown.
I now need to get a copy of a certain picture.
To explain, I visited my father and he had a black and white photograph on the wall of a man wearing a suit and a tophat. Whilst in the same room as my own father and whilst actively looking at him I assume this was a photograph of my dad, perhaps from a decade or two ago, wearing Victorian fancy dress for whatever reason.
No, this was a photograph from 1870 one of his friends had found and sent to him. Apparently my father either has/had a century older doppelganger in Belfast or he is a secret time traveler who gives no shits about posing for photographs.
I have a new house! Or at least I have a new place to live lined up.
In about three weeks I am moving for my new job and while I do still need to get a removal company booked and sell my current home I do have a rental home lined up for while I carry out said sale and then buy a new place. I will be paying a horrifyingly large sum for it because the south (of the UK) is painfully expensive but fortunately the new job pays very well and I have the savings to cover the cost of the move.
It is going to be interesting to see how the cats adapt when going from a two bedroom apartment being their world to living in a full sized house with a decent garden. Personally I am looking forwards to the summer and living only a few miles from the beach.