Dholcrist

Re: The Super Darwin Awards

Oh, I've so many stories I don't know where to start. Well, I suppose one of the first would be best.

Cyberpunk, our first campaign with our first characters. We'd been doing pretty well, and had all met up and were trying to get out of Night City (which was being completely locked down, nobody in or out). After grabbing a substantial amount of firepower, we drove our van about a block from the last roadblock out of the city, and decided that the numerous tanks and dozens of heavily armed soldiers were too much for us to handle, so we would try to go through the sewers.

Well, unfortunately G, one of the newer members of the group, wasn't too sure. And when the NPC driver said he was going to stay in the city and take the van back to his house (it was his van, and we weren't going to need it in the sewers, so we agreed), G thought he was a traitor. And shot him. With the largest pistol in the game. A block from the roadblock. Naturally, as one would imagine, the soldiers heard the gunshot. A helicopter hovered overhead, and focused its lights/guns on us, as a dozen or so soldiers surrounded the van. Out of desperation, my character (a Terminator ripoff) stood up in the sun roof, and fired off a Stinger missile at the chopper. Double failure, the missile jammed, and detonated in the launcher. I died, but the others got out in time. G was immediately shot as he ran forward shooting his pistol wildly. The other two who were still alive immediately threw down their weapons and layed down with their hands on their heads.

As the soldiers approached, they yelled "You can't shoot us, we surrender!"

Apparently the military didn't feel the same way, as about five men loaded a clip each into their bodies.

Another quick one: G, new character, had just loaded up with about 8 different automatic weapons, which he loaded and carried with him slung across his chest and back. In the first three minutes of the game, he wants to make it clear that he never puts his weapons on safety, just in case, and they're always loaded. Also, they're customized with hair triggers. So, we laugh about how if he were to trip he'd probably shoot himself. The GM says that that would be likely, and as soon as G says he's going to run, the GM makes him roll. Fumbles three times. He trips, falls, and immediately every gun goes off, completely blowing him away.

G came to be known for his impressive skill for being able to get killed in a variety of spectacularly stupid fashions, and for never having a character for longer than a game, maybe two at the most. He actually has a list of characters that have died hidden behind a calendar in his room, so whenever we play over there and he dies, he just gets up, walks over to the calendar, lifts it up, and marks another dash.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Different episode' date=' actually. In this one, we paused the credits to catch all the hidden jokes in 'em. That's when I knew the writers were having a grand old time; who reads the CREDITS?[/quote']

 

Love the Animaniacs, second only to Freakazoid in hilarity (I know, I was just a huge Freakazoid fan back in the day). That's like the episode of The Simpsons where Homer is accused of sexual harassment, and during the televised apology they scroll a list of hundreds of things that are too fast to read. Never cared until I got it on dvd, and paused it repeatedly. Hilarious stuff. Gotta love it when the writers take the time out to do the small stuff that people would never see.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

On the bright side: They can't help but display Jennifer Love Hewitts' ginormous features in every episode.

Those "features" were the only reason I'd randomly flip to it and watch it for about five minutes before getting bored.

Just not my cup of tea, otherwise.

Re: TerranEmpire Space Battle Tracker

Haven't looked at it much thus far, but sounds like a winner.

IOU rep!

Re: Help me flesh out a kernal of a setting idea

Well' date=' remember -- the following spoiler contains BSG plot elements, [i']just in case[/i] someone hadn't seen it and wanted too. If you've already seen it, or don't care, then by all means click Mr. Button:

 

 

Everything that the Cylons are doing in BSG 2005 - 2008 is dedicated to creating a new, final race. One that can breed and perpetutate without the use of the Resurrection Machine or human intervention; i.e., the only viable child was a Human/Cylon hybrid, which means that their genetics are way, way ahead of where they should have been. It also means that the "original 12" will breed out into new shapes and forms. What's odd is that they declared war straight up, something I have yet to really understand. But certainly, 150, 200 years from now, and you have a new race for whom the humans are a legend, that could make for compelling fiction. It's the same idea I used for my HERO: Combat Evolved short story arc, now that the Halo Wars are over, we leap ahead 20 or 30 years -- what would that galaxy now look like?

 

 

So those were other ideas that I had.

Hm, hadn't extrapolated the BSG info that far into the future. That would indeed make for a very cool storyline. Though I had similar thoughts/theories on what life might have been like on the original "Homeworld" that the 13 Colonies fled from.

Re: Help me flesh out a kernal of a setting idea

Well, two immediate references spring to mind:

 

1) Halo. The setting does in fact firmly establish that we (man) are the Forerunners. We likely either found in an alternate galaxy, or created, The Flood, wiping ourselves out, but building "The Ark" (one final ring) on Earth itself. Thrilling stuff.

 

2) Orson Scott Card's "Advent Rising." The story of a race of all powerful creatures, the stuff of legend, who were so deadly that they were hunted down to extinction.

 

3) There's also the possibility that man is the 'forerunner' from Mass Effect, but that hasn't been proven one way or another yet.

 

That race was man. And the aliens who hunted us down have found us again. And one of us will reawaken his powers. It's a great spin on a classic story.

All excellent references that I was going to point out myself, particularly Advent Rising (though I wouldn't call it "Orson Scott Card's", I ran into him at Comic Con a few years back and told him I enjoyed the story, he just chuckled and said "cool, you should compliment the scripters, I only worked on about the first third of it").

That story was cool because in it Humanity was a mythical race of godlike beings that disappeared millenia ago and are worshipped by various alien races across the galaxy. Cool stuff, and would've been a great game if it weren't rife with game-ending glitches.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Just finished watching ep. 3 of Twin Peaks. Got the Gold Edition for Christmas, and I've been slowly watching it for the first time whenever I get time. Damned good so far.

And I finally know what the joke was in Who Shot Mr. Burns? when Chief Wiggum has that dream where Lisa dances and speaks in that bizarre tone.

Awesome stuff though.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

"The Fall of Reach" The first HALO novel. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It's not the best book I've ever read but for a based-on-a-video-game book it was above average. It covers the events leading up to the first video game and I will say is that the author made many fewer mistakes than most people who write about the military.

I've been wanting to read this, maybe I will once I go through the pile I already have.

If you enjoyed that though, I'd highly recommend Karen Traviss' "Republic Commando" series, based off the Republic Commando Star Wars game. She's a former military journalist, so she knows how to write a book that's about clone commando's fighting in the clone wars. And she's obsessed with Mandalorians, going as far as to invent their entire culture and a primitive language for them. Awesome stuff.

And then critically fails to deliver in the game; I think I was just expecting more. And I would have preferred to keep the ambassador from the book, even though it's 20 or 30 years later, she was a FAR superior choice to the jack-bag they had in the position for the plot.

 

The six hour long RPG plot. Still bitter!

I know exactly what you mean, the book somewhat raised my expectations as well. And yes, that ambassador was so extremely good at what she did, it was one of the only times I've enjoyed reading about a politician in fiction. She was awesome. The one in the game on the other hand? Completely lame.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

Drew Karpashyn's "Mass Effect: Revelation." Oddly not as good as some of the Halo books I've read; very brain candy' date=' a set up for the game. It leads the way nicely. Strong beginning, strong ending, flabby middle. A 200 point book. Too many disads (and too many crappy gunfights).[/quote']

 

I enjoyed the book for what it was, much like most of the Star Wars books I read. They're just nice, short, turn off your brain and enjoy books. What I liked about the ME book was the setups of the background, which is pretty fantastic I think.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

. . . Am chugging through The Reality Dysfunction by Peter F. Hamilton. Very good space opera. Not even halfway through yet -- it's over 1' date='200 pages long.[/quote']

 

I'm on the last book right now. I've enjoyed the story so far pretty much, but more than anything else I've just really liked the setting. Voidhawks are "win", if I may.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

In the past week saw No Country for Old Men twice, once with my father and once with some friends. I really loved it.

And yes, I enjoyed the ending.

Other than that I watched about 30 minutes of Saw II just to see what the deal was (it was on Showtime), until I got bored of watching some girl crawl around in a pit of medicinal needles. Seriously? That's it? I don't even enjoy horror movies or their subgenres because I'm somewhat easily freaked out, and I thought it was boring as hell. Ah well, that's just me.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Hard to believe' date=' but I just watched [i']The Iron Giant[/i] for the first time.

 

Wow. Just...wow.

 

(And hey, now I can say I've actually seen a Jennifer Aniston movie that didn't suck!)

Easily one of my favorite animated movies of all time. I still get teary eyed whenever I watch the ending.

*sniff*

Brad Bird knows his stuff.

Also, I'd like to add that it's Vin Diesel's greatest role, hands down.

Re: PA Hero--Revelations 1001 & beyond...

I need to get this book.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

There's a semi-cliff hanger in the coda. The settlers in the New World are saved by the natives, despite the warnings and prophesies about the corrupt nature of the settler's civilization. He might have gotten a book or two out of that if he'd wanted.

 

 

 

Not so far, though there were clues in many of the books. The missing piece, imo, was the connection (if any) between the star children and the stones of power. The common links seem to be:

 

1) Alternate groups of disembodied star children take physical forms on alternate Earths, inevitably dividing into pro and anti human factions.

 

1a) At least one of these groups holds the secret of dimension travel, and chooses to use it to cultivate magic on various alternate Earths, attempting to maintain those alternate Earth's as magic rich natural resources.

 

1b) Interbreeding between Star Children and Humans results in bloodlines on multiple worlds with psionic / magical potential. Some of these humans, the most powerful, become as powerful as the Star Children. Most are limited to astral projection, clairvoyance, minor telepathy, and limited TK. Rituals, herbs, and communication with spirits can enhance these talents.

 

2) The Stones of Power fall to Earth, stones that can activate psionic potential in humans and effectively grant wishes, within limits set by the size and power of the stone and the imagination, skill and will of the human user. The pure Gold stones are exhausted by magic working. "Feeding" them with the blood of the living re-charges the stones, but also corrupts them, causing violent emotions to overwhelm the user. These stones are used to found a single ancient Atlantean civilization, which discovers dimension travel. Dimensional gates cause 'great flood" events on multiple worlds, ending that civilization. The survivors use the stones to achieve practical immortality and play the roles of gods, heroes and villains on multiple worlds.

 

2a) At least two alternate ancient Avatar civilizations learn the secret of manufacturing weak stones of power, charging them either slowly with sunlight (pure stones) or quickly with blood. At least one of these alternate civilizations gains the secret of dimension travel, apparently only using it once. May somehow be linked to the origins of the true, Sipritsi of Power (speculation).

 

3) The Source of All Things is always the same in all alternate worlds, and is analogous to the Judeo-Christian G_d. His prophets are generally analogs of Biblical prophets.

 

4) At least one group of humans, linked to the Star Children and possibly to the Atlanteans, is patrolling the alternate time lines and trying to push the histories of certain worlds in certain directions, for unclear reasons.

 

It's a great meta-setting. I'd love to see his wife's view of it.

Wow, that's a fantastic summation of the meta-setting. I've seen some rambling speculation, but nothing terribly coherent though, and my own readings have been spread out over about 10 years, so I'm hazy on many parts.

Damn, now I'm going to have to go back and read all the books over again. Good thing they're so damn good.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

Stormrider completes it, more or less.

The Moidart, a man of Rigante blood, takes his place as emperor of Stone. His son sacrifices himself and in so doing becomes a Christ-like figure who will presumably play a similar historical role as an inspiration for a source-focussed religion.

 

 

Never liked Swords of Night and Day as a coda to the Drenai books, or the last Waylander book. I was OK with the last Shannow book.

 

There were probably points earlier in each series that I'd point at as "better" ends. OTOH, I never read a single book of his I didn't like enough to re-read; they all had something.

Hm, I read Stormrider, but for some reason I remember it as a cliff hangar. I'll have to get around to rereading them.

As far as the Swords of Night and Day book goes, I think I enjoyed it just because it was something new with Druss in it, and anything with Druss in it got an automatic thumbs up from me. And he did have a sort of habit in ending his series with a sub-par book that he probably had never intended on writing.

And yes, I agree completely, I've enjoyed all of his books so thoroughly that I never mind going back and rereading, though some are reread more often than others. Legend, First Chronicles of Druss, Waylander, and the first Jon Shannow book are all books I've read at least 5 times, and will be reading at least 5 times more.

Also, did his wife ever release an explanation as to how all of his stories fit together, or was that something that she's still not ever going to divulge?

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it...

It's a tricky issue, as it's a departure in many ways from his default story telling style. The mythic themes are closer to the surface, and doesn't neatly fit the boy-to-man or old-veterans-on-a-last-ride arcs that Gemmell loved exploring in his other books. So, if that is what you're looking for, it might not click for you. OTOH, I thought it did a great job of showing his craft, and the world itself was well conceived.

 

No law says you have to like Shannow.

I do so love hearing people talk about Gemmell (RIP). Echoes is probably my favorite one-shot book of his, though the Drenai mythos is easily the best. I started reading him with The First Chronicles of Druss the Legend, which I completed in about three hours. Soon as I finished that, I've bought up every book of his I could find without hesitation. His Druss and Waylander stuff (well, the first Waylander actually, the sequels are somewhat below standard) are phenomenal, followed closely by the Shannow books (also disliked the first few books of the series, and the last one was a disappoinment).

Loved the Rigante novels, but as I recall it never actually ended. Did they ever actually complete them, or did he just move on without doing so?

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Just watched Futurama: Bender's Big Score a few hours ago, really absolutely fantastic. If you've ever laughed while watching Futurama, you'll love the movie. Thank Crom that they're back. It's been a lonely couple of years.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Me too. I also liked the teenage comedy and the war subplot. The robots were good too.

Exactly why I really disliked the movie. The robots were good too.

It just annoys me to no end that the "Transformers" movie wasn't about the Transformers. It was about everyone and their mothers except the Transformers. It was about some nerdy hacker who liked to comically play DDR and added nothing to the movie. It was about some Australian researcher chick that didn't do much of anything. It was about some bizarre federal agents that didn't do much but talk about how "criminals are hot" and get urinated on by childhood heroes.

And what's with the awkward 10 minute masturbation conversation? Was that really necessary?

While I got used to their designs, and actually enjoyed the Transformers themselves (when they were on screen, that is), watching them do stuff was one of the more frustrating things I've had to do while watching movie. I'd bet that very few could watch the movie and actually tell you what was going on when more than one robot was on screen at a time. The fights were just random angles swinging around and an occasional rocket flying off.

I won't even address the product-placement-bots.

Sorry for the rant, but while I was a little too young to actually have seen the original Transformers in its first run, I did grow up with the repeats, and most especially, the Movie. I've seen all manner of terrible, terrible incarnations of some of my favorite characters over the years, but this gives them all a run for their money.

Damn Michael Bay for making a Transformers movie that could have had so much more greatness in it. It's like the X-Men 3 movie. Not a terrible movie in its own right, but the worst movie simply because it took an incredible story and put it on film, barring others from making a good version for a very long time.

/end rant

Re: Pulp/Steampunk SF Ideas

I like the comet idea. Thanks.

My pleasure. I was also thinking, what if you were to combine the ideas? Say that Pluto is where lesser demons live, awaiting the return of their master and the destruction of all things, foretold to coincide with the return of a comet, a harbinger of death that enters this realm (aka the solar system) once a millennia, inside of which is entombed Cthulu, frozen, slumbering until the time for his awakening comes.

A great place to look for inspiration of using Cthulu-esque creatures in a sci-fi setting would be the Hellboy comics. There's a few stories that involve Greater Demons being monitored and imprisoned by what look like steampunk-ish aliens.

Which also gives me an idea, what about also having one of the races having had previous contact, and thus are able to quantify the supernatural scientifically? Say a mysterious race that is seen only rarely by others, and through this self-imposed isolation have taken on a nigh-mystical reputation. Maybe this race could actually be the original inhabitants of Pluto, which was the site of the last Apocalypse a millennia prior, when their own burgeoning civilization was almost destroyed, and they had to rebuild off-world, becoming nomads while constantly fighting the Demonic threat and trying to keep it from extending its reach off of Pluto, keeping the rest of the races in the dark, which in turn causes the rest of the solar system to believe that the Plutonians (?) are the actual threat.

Alright, sorry for that stream of thought, just throwing ideas out at random. Hope something sparks something grander and far more refined. Look forward to whatever comes next.

Re: Pulp/Steampunk SF Ideas

So if I include Cthulu and friends in this campaign, where should I place them? I was thinking of leaving them in Pluto, which was still undiscovered in the Victorian era. That way, the PCs may still have creatures from "beyond the stars."

 

And if the players insist on "discovering" Pluto, I'll whack them with a backscratcher (Well, not really).

Hmm... do you think they should inhabit a planetary (or sub in Pluto's case) body, or that perhaps exist elsewhere? Perhaps on a comet (real or fictional) that enters the solar system every few hundred years, bringing with it untold horrors from "beyond the stars" as it were. Or something similar.

Either way, having Cthulu would be awesome.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

Is that Let This Be Your Final Battlefield?

I don't believe so, it was two words, the first being "Alternate" or "Alternative". Alternative Warp ?

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

The Star Trek original series ep. that I forgot the name of. Alternative something? The one where they have the two versions of a guy named Lazarus that are trying to kill each other, and will blow up the universe if they come into contact.

Awesome stuff, and I usually really dislike ST (hence my seeing this ep. for the first time).

Re: What Have You Watched Recently?

I hate when i have something recording on the Tivo and I try to go to sleep' date=' but knowing it's on keeps me awake. So I stayed up until 11 watching [i']The Ultimate Fighter[/i] (I loves me the UFC violence). Mac Danzig is quite a character; I hope he goes all the way.

 

I also recently watched the Frank Langella version of Dracula (my favorite version), and caught six epsiodes of Flight of the Conchords. It's such DRY humor that I'm suprised to see it has a second season. Personally, I *love* the songs. "Bowies In Space" and "If that's what you're into" and many more.

His last name's Danzig? Really? Awesome.

And yeah, Flight is hilarious. I really have been enjoying it, and their music really is incredible. "Bowies in Space" and the LotR song were fantastic. I need to get it on dvd.

Re: [Review] Alien Wars

Dunno. Part of the issue there's no real "gee whiz' date=' that's awesome" techy toy in the setting. Heck, [i']Traveller[/i]'s the same way. Most of the weapons are really "enh" unless you can play with a gauss rifle or a PGMP/FGMP.

 

Of course, the big question becomes "what cool techy toy would fit and not destroy game balance?"

I see what you mean, most of the vehicles/weapons/equipment they list is rather par for the course. Some kind of large gauss rifle would be rather cool though.

I'm somewhat the same way, the stats in the book that are given are the weakest point. Very little equipment/vehicles for the Xenovores, and almost as little for the humans. Just not a whole lot of variety.

Re: [Review] Alien Wars

The WWI feel (absolutely love the military doughboy uniforms) and the low tech SF setting are the selling points for me, personally. The tech is all far advanced from us, but still incredibly familiar. Kind of like the Civil War of Firefly. Sure, they had fancy guns and flying grenades, but essentially warfare hadn't changed so it was unrecognizable. Same here. You've still got the grunts toughing it out in the crap just trying to survive.

And I think the gun (I forget what it is at the moment) that the soldier is holding in the "doughboy" picture is awesome just because they made a futuristic Thompson. Coolness.

But to address the need for a more futuristic military sf setting, wouldn't Terran Empire address that for you? I know the setting itself at the time they recommend isn't actually at war, but they present many periods where it is happening, and easy reasons for it to happen. Complete with powered Heinlein armor!