Blue Gargantua's Journal

1:38PM - Degenerate Decoration

"But a modern man who tattooes himself is either a criminal or a degenerate. Why, there are prisons where eighty per cent of the convicts are tattooed, and tattooed men who are not in prison are either latent criminals or degenerate aristocrats. When a tattooed man dies at liberty, it simply means that he hasn’t had time to commit his crime."

-- Adolf Loos, Ornament and Crime

Mr. Loos eventually goes on to propose that all decoration and ornament should be stripped away from objects leaving only smooth functionality in its place.

Me, I'll choose degenerate aristocrat, please.
Tom

12:58PM - Workplace Conversations...

"Going out for a walk?"

"Yeah, I'm getting my exercise in now because I'm going out for trivia tonight."

"You mean like bar trivia?"

"Yeah, a few of us have a team going. You should join us."

"I can't. I've got D&D tonight."

"Dungeons and Dragons?"

"Yeah."

"Wait. Are you making fun of us?"

"No. I'm really playing D&D tonight."

"So...should we make fun of you?"

"I'm not sure. The social hierarchy here is unclear."

and then we shrugged and went our separate ways...
Tom

7:25PM - Skill Fault

Hi,

Just as an FYI, the first batch of errata for 4th ed. D&D is out. You know how people where bitching about skill challenges and the like? Turns out the entire section was one big "oopsie!".

Fun stuff
Tom

9:13AM - Now you're playing with Parkour

Hi,

Penny Arcade readers will know about this already, but as a gamer you might be interested in this game footage of Mirror's Edge. It's a first-person platform puzzler. A bit like Portal, but instead of a portal gun, you just run like a maniac and bounce off of everything in sight. Looks very interesting.

later
Tom

8:14PM - Litany of the Long Review

Hi,

Blazed through Litany of the Long Sun (books 1 and 2) by Gene Wolfe. It's a series set roughly in the same universe as his "Urth of New Sun" books, but not directly related to it in any way.

As you might guess rather easily from the title, the characters are all trapped aboard a slower-than-light world-ship. It's a long cylinder with the "long sun" a glowing plasma conduit running down the center. Of course, everyone has forgotten about their origins (some 300 years ago) and now they've got this whole messed-up religion based around their half-remembered past and visitations by god-like AI's in the various large terminal screens.

The main thrust of the story follows Patera Silk, an augur who receives enlightenment from the god known as the Outsider. The priest sets off to rescue his parish and in the process becomes a thief, a detective and a rebel leader. All rather by accident, as he strives to remain true to his faith in spite of ever-increasing demonstrations that it's all a put-on.

My biggest pet peeve about the books is that they're clearly meant to be read as a whole and have no problem just up and stopping in the middle of the action. In fact, they basically end on cliffhangers. Not so big a deal since I have the books collected in two volumes and can easily go onto the next page, but had I read these when they first came out, I'd be a bit miffed. As it is, I'm not entirely sure if I want to go onto the next set of books.

On the plus side, he never really stops for a huge amount of exposition. So you soon figure out that there are "bios" who are normal humans, "chems" who are basically robots and a few bios who have almost enough prosthetics to quality as chems. But all of this slowly teases out along with various bits and pieces of the ship's true history and the social underpinnings that have grown up to hold everything together.

So...yeah. The writing was very strong and kept me going, but now I'm looking at the concluding volume and I'm trying to make up my mind. I'll probably go through with it, just for completeness sake, but it feels like a real slog.

later
Tom

1:11PM - MegaDungeons

Hey,

So thanks to bryant I've been thinking about MegaDungeons. You know. Dungeons that are huge pretty much for the purpose of being huge. The massive "Ruins of the Undermountain" maps and Castle Greyhawk and stuff.

And now I've got an idea.

So Orcus (cause hey, he's a great finishing Big Bad) steals the Amulet of Yendor and tosses it at the bottom of a massive dungeon in another dimension. Since the Amulet not only makes you Ruler of Yendor, gives you hoopy magic powers, and totally gets you laid, but also keeps demons and other critters out of your world, getting it back is a pretty high priority. Major governing bodies and not a few private individuals go to work on the problem and eventually they come up with these smaller magical amulets that allow someone to pass into the Dungeon Realm for a random period of time. The amulet coats you in an etherial aura that allows you to exist and interact in the Dungeon Realm, but eventually the aura breaks down and you're ejected back into the Yendor reality. Most people come back within a day, a couple don't come back for a week, but that seems to be the extent of it. The aura's decay seems to be influenced by conditions at the moment of transition so groups of people who jump all at once come back at the same time. The call goes out far and wide for brave and daring teams of adventurers who are willing to make the dangerous journey into the Dungeon Realm.

That's the fluff. The deal is that I build a huge, huge, HUGE megadungeon. Then I run on multiple nights with different groups of people. Each group is a separate adventuring party. They kick off their amulets and go exploring. As soon as the night's session is over, the amulets go off and they return to Yendor where they have to wait until the next session. In the middle of a fight? Tough (or maybe yay). Sit in a locked room for days and days and days. Whatever. When the real-world game session is over, everyone zaps out.

So now you're not just competing against the monsters and the dungeon, you've got other parties to worry about as well. You might not see them directly, but if they get to the dwarven throne room first, you won't get any loot. Worse, if other parties can negotiate with factions in the dungeon, you might find yourself facing a rather formidable set of opponents. Of course, parties can cooperate as well, trading magic items, spells, maps and information. Some parties might choose to run deeper into the dungeon, do a quick scout and come back to sell the info.

Every so often, parties would get access to a magical token they could leave behind in the dungeon to serve as a "spawn point" (so they don't have to tromp down 16 levels and can just start. Of course, those tokens have a small, but non-zero chance of being moved or disturbed.

There'd be massive GM burnout, but it seems like a fun idea in theory.

later
Tom

11:23AM - iKitties

Hi,

So in the next few weeks, we'll be taking possession of two kittens. Feel free to suggest names, but right now I think we're leaning towards calling one "Dr. Teeth" and the other one "The Electric Mayhem".

Or maybe not.

In any event, what I'm really asking about are some powered accessories to help make keeping the cats a little easier for us. In particular I'm curious about:

Auto-scooping litter boxes
Pet drinking fountains

Do you have any experience with either of these tech toys? Do they actually help make things easier or are they big hassles to clean/maintain? In the case of the former, I really hate dealing with poop and in the latter, the last cat we had living with us seemed to prefer fresh-drip water from sinks/bathtubs and didn't care for the water dish. I'm hoping a gurgling fountain will be more appealing.

Any other tips for managing two cats? I'm essentially looking at katatonic here but perhaps others in LJ land have useful tips.

later
Tom

8:32AM - The AK Fairy

Hi,

I have a new LJ icon. This one is for all those "africa is screwed" posts. It's a child soldier from Liberia. They often wore drag or outlandish costumes (like the fairy wings) partially to be distinctive, partially as magical protection, and partially as a psychological buffer for their sanity.

later
Tom

2:15PM - Elementary Videos

Hi,

The Periodic Table of Videos. One short video for each of the elements of the periodic table. British chemistry humor abounds.

later
Tom

12:22PM - Dental Epilogue

Just FYI:

Gentle Dental is open on Saturdays. You might have to call around, but there's a chance you can luck into an opening and get some emergency work done.

Now for the Novocaine to wear off to I can really eat something.

yay
Tom

6:55PM - Weekend Dentist?

Hey,

I have a filling that just popped. I'd like to get it refilled ASAP. Does anyone know of a good dentist who does emergency weekend work?

later
Tom

2:50PM - Am I just jealous? Or all too wise?

Hi,

So this nice lady, Marie Brennan, is an author and she's written (among other things) this book called Midnight Never Come, which is a sort of Elizabethan historical fantasy novel.

Here's the blurb:

"England flourishes under the hand of its Queen Elizabeth, last and most powerful of the Tudor monarchs. But a great light casts a great shadow. For in hidden catacombs beneath London, a second Queen holds court—Invidiana, ruler of faerie England, a dark mirror to the glory above… A breathtaking novel of intrigue and betrayal set in Elizabethan England; Midnight Never Come seamlessly weaves together history and the fantastic to dazzling effect…"

Not really my sort of thing, but there have even been some pretty positive reviews about it. And so, in a in a recent interview she was asked:

Q: So when and how did the idea for “Midnight Never Come” first come about, how long have you been working on it, and how much has it evolved from its original conception?

Marie: Actually, it started as a role-playing game.

I'm entirely serious. In 2006 I ran a game I called “Memento,” because it was structured much like the Guy Pearce movie of that name; we went through six hundred and fifty years of English history backward. The game system we were using, Changeling: The Dreaming, focuses on faerie souls who reincarnate in mortal bodies, and “Memento” was structured around a group of changelings who were remembering a series of previous lives.

The Elizabethan segment of the game (which was also called “Midnight Never Come”) ended up having this really complex backstory and consequences, so that, although it wasn't the central plot, it stretched from 1350 to 2006. And after the game was done, it wouldn't leave my mind. So I filed off the Changeling-specific serial numbers, cut the Invidiana part of the story loose from the metaplot of “Memento,” and set about turning the skeleton that remained into a novel.

um...oh man. Is it going to be bad because I'm jealous that someone turned their Changeling game into a novel? Or is it going to be bad because gaming fiction is almost always bad? Well, if someone else has a taste for it they might find the trivia useful.

later
Tom

10:57AM - I've got friends who belly-dance...

...and my birthday is comin' up.

I'm jus' sayin'




later
Tom

10:02AM - Why couldn't I be more into stamp collecting...

Hi,

A brief bit of gaming snark courtesy of this review of D&D 4th ed. on RPG.net:

But some weapons just seem pointless. Consider this example - why would a rogue ever choose a hand crossbow over a sling? Both do the same amount of damage, have the same bonus and properties. But the crossbow is 25 gp and weighs 2 pounds while the sling costs 1gp and weighs nothing.

There aren't a lot of these cases, but there are enough to raise an eyebrow. This is such a basic mistake, given the amount of playtesting that Wizards put this game through, it is a shame such a basic problem that should have popped up everytime a character was being created still was overlooked.

I have seen in each case of character creation this same problem pop up where at least one player will say "why would I buy X weapon when Y is the same but cheaper?"

He's right of course. There is no reason to choose the hand crossbow over the sling except maybe for the fact that hand crossbows are totally badass!

I mean, really. Unless you've just escaped slavers or you've just been anointed the King of Israel, there is never any good reason to take sling over hand crossbow. Want to make that flying leap, twisting in midair to pick off the guy with the hostage? Hand crossbow. Want to deliver a deadly dose of poison through a small crack in the door behind the bad guy? Hand crossbow. Want to improvise a trap? Hand crossbow. Want to have a tense, dramatic standoff where everyone is pointing their weapons at one another? Hand crossbow. Just think of how stupid that scene in Reservoir Dogs would've looked with everyone twirling their slings like some beginner poi class?

You see, buddy, there's this little thing called style and it's at the heart of roleplaying -- it's very core essence in fact. Yeah, yeah, there's no "mechanical bonus" for looking cool. You don't get an extra "+1" for being a badass, but there's no "+1" for buying the cheapest crap you can either. Style isn't something you use in the game -- it's how you are judged by the other people at the table.

So there's your group. You've got Lightfoot Pine-Sol, the Elf, with his finely crafted longsword that glows with moon-runes in the night. Over there is Standfast Rockbeard, the Dwarf, wearing the armor passed down from father to son for over 10 generations along with the shield and hammer given to him by his Jarl when he became his vassal. Finally, there's you. Bob the Rogue with his "layered clothing" armor and dinky sling from Wal-Mart. You aren't a brave adventurer. You're an embarrassment to the party. Assuming the other players don't just kick you out of the game, you will be the constant laughingstock of the table. All because you couldn't bear to live a little and drop some gp on quality gear.

Finally, if you're really gonna Scrooge McDuck this whole thing, you overlooked the most stinging criticism of all: why the hell does a sling cost 1gp? It's just a leather strap (if that). Next to a stick, it's the most easily improvised weapon in the world. Those kids in the West Bank don't have gold pieces lying around and they seem pretty well stocked with 'em. Cripes, a quarterstaff is almost as good as a longsword and it's 10gp cheaper (again, a stick costs 5gp, what's up with that?). Or you could get a Great Club which does more damage on average than either quarterstaff or longsword and is a steal at only 1gp (or just break off a table leg and use that). If your aim is to get the most bang for your buck, then I'd be calling out WoTC for this blatant error in common sense.

cripes
Tom

5:49PM - Russian Bar-BEAR-ian

Hi,

Probably the coolest thing I've seen today. quem98, you'll probably actually understand this:

( video behind cut. safe-ish for work, but you'll get funny looks )

later
Tom

9:22AM - Pirate Sun Review

Hi,

So I went tearing through Pirate Sun by Karl Schroeder. This is the third book set in Virga -- a giant bubble of air floating in space where everyone inside lives in freefall. I reviewed the first two books here and here.

Strictly speaking, this book sits on its own, but in reality, you're going to be a lot happer if you've read the first two books because this book tops out at just over 300 pages and it has absolutely no time to waste. It starts with Chaison Fanning breaking out of prison and pretty much never stops running or fighting from there. There are tons of fights and battle scenes, there's romance and intrigue and the amazing setting keeps leaping out from the background in dazzling descriptions of floating cities and arial floods.

I really liked this book and the series as a whole. The author has stated an intent to continue producing stories in this setting and I'm very excited about that possibility. All three books have produced three very different types of stories and show that the setting has a lot to offer.

later
Tom

11:19AM - Military Records

Hi,

A sudden question has popped into my head:

What, if any, military service was on the resume of the founding fathers? Just being "Commander-in-Chief" doesn't cut it, you need to have actually been a part of the army. It doesn't matter if you saw action, it doesn't matter if you served under the British or other non-American army. How many soliders are in the roster?

George Washington -- too extensive to summarize here.

John Adams -- none as far as I can tell. Lawyer and Diplomat.

Thomas Jefferson -- Another Lawyer/Diplomat.

James Madison -- I believe he briefly commanded an artillery battery as the British marched on Washington. I'm going to count that, although I'd put an asterisk by it.

Alexander Hamilton -- Artillery Captain. Definitely counts.

Benjamin Franklin -- Pretty much did everything but fight.

John Jay -- Seemed mostly associated with espionage and intelligence among the Patriot rebels. Again, I'll count this, but with a very big asterisk.

George Mason -- None.

Samuel Adams -- Unclear, but I'm leaning towards no. Even as part of the rebel movement, he didn't appear to take direct action or be part of the chain of command.

John Hancock -- Commanded Massachussetts militia during the Revolutionary War.

All this gleaned from a quick perusal of Wikipedia and is cheerfully open for peer review. It's quite possible that all of these men were part of a local militia and I just don't know about it.

But it does appear that out of the 10 men listed, 3 definitely have a military record, 2 are suspect and 5 never served in uniform. Now, all of these men probably did a lot of work for the Revolution and may have co-ordinated a lot of rebel activity. But it doesn't appear as though they acted as part of the rebellion's "military wing".

Huh, interesting
Tom

9:19AM - The boys of Summer

Hey,

So in the Middle Ages, there was this idea of courtly love. Essentially, it was a codified system of adultery. Actually, if it went "all the way", that was inevitably bad, but tormenting yourself with desire was the bestest possible thing.

I had this half-dream this morning where the basic concept of courtly love was applied during a baseball game. So you'd have this forbidden love between players on opposing teams and there were all these various ways that you would try and express your love to the other player without giving it away to everyone else. You'd try hitting the ball in a certain way or to a certain part of the field, uniform irregularities, bases stolen, that sort of thing. So much drama! You were treading the dangerous line between True Love and Professional Sportsmanship, between Heart's Desire and Oh Noes Tehs Gays in Baseball!

So, I've just generated a rich, vibrant sub-genre of slash fiction for people to pursue. I'm not up on the MLB enough to do it justice, but somewhere out there is a woman who desperately wants to see a few baseball guys get it on and here's her outlet.

Your Welcome
Tom

9:49AM - Particle Toys, Particle Toys

Hi,

Plush sub-atomic particles.

They also come in anti-matter variants
Tom

12:15AM - Polity Guide pt. 1

Humans excel at many things. Longevity is not one of them. Human societies blossom like flowers, only to squander their hard-won gains away in the next generation. United by visionary leaders, humanity can accomplish great things, but visionaries are few and far between and are often all too human themselves. Their brief candle of a lifetime, when stacked up against the Dwarves or the Elves makes them prone to greatness, to tragedy, but mostly to petty survival.

If Elvish and Dwarvish societies seem slow and hidebound, they are also extremely enduring. Every leader knows that their plans have centuries to play out and they must consider the far-reaching consequences of their actions because they will be forced to live in the future they make for a very long time. Humans are more willing to “pass the buck” since they have little to lose and everything to gain by pursuing short-sighted policies for quick gain.

How then to instill a sense of perspective for Human rulers?

The City-State of Sarh has found a rather unique solution. The members of their Stone Senate are elected for 20 year terms. What makes this more interesting is that their terms are not continuous. Each senator serves for 5 years and is then magically turned to stone for a 20 year period before being re-animated to serve another 5 year term. There are 5 rotating sets of senators. Thus, the senators must be prepared to manage affairs for a full century.

The task of catching up on 20 years of history is something of a challenge. Luckily, the magic that petrifies the senators is capable of being influenced by artifacts within the senate building itself. The broad outlines of policies and current events permeate the senators in stasis and if it’s not a detailed education, senators generally require much less orientation than one would think -- although senators frequently experience unsettling instances of deja vu from time to time as a result of their “dream briefings”.

The system has worked rather well. There have been a couple of instances in Sarh history where the current term has attempted to prevent the re-animation of some or all of the next Senate and a few attempts have been made to steal some of the statue senators. This has caused some paranoid senators to hide their bodies during the stasis period, but then they are denied the informative help of the senate building itself and the “future shock” has often been more of a hinderance than the potential for any violence on their person.

Sarh has enjoyed a modest, but steady growth. Other city-states have tried to take advantage of Sarh’s slower response times. Attacks during term transitions have been especially popular, but Sarh has usually come out ahead in the long run. Aside from simply outliving hot-head rulers who hope to conquer them, the Sarh also have senators (and not a few military officers) who’ve seen a lot of different tactics and who’ve studied their enemies’ development over a long period of time. Truly new and unusual tactics and strategies can fluster them, but they’re very good at improvising when the need arises.

In the end, Sarh is not the largest or richest City-State, but the overall standard of living is high and basic governmental services are efficient and effective. It’s also telling that the various Elven and Dwarvish City-States prefer to deal almost exclusively with Sarh over other Human entities.

-- from the Polity Guide produced by the Association of Policy and Foreign Relations