DShomshak

Part Two: Main Deck: The rear third of the deck is a helipad where the team can park its flitter, a repaired MONAD transbot. A small helicopter could also park on the pad, though it would be a tight fit. The fore quarter holds deck chairs and a hot tub for outdoor relaxation. Narrow aisles connect the fore and aft areas, flanking the main cabin. A crane dominates the rear of the cabin, flanked by two stairs to the upper deck. Inside, the fore of the cabin consists of a wide briefing room. Windows fill most of the curving fore wall. There’s a table, chairs, podium, large television screen for videoconferencing, and side-table with coffee maker. Stairs behind the briefing room lead to the upper deck and first lower deck. Next come a small dining hall and rec room with sofa, comfy chairs and wide-screen TV with entertainment center and video game controllers. The rear is divided into a library and office. In between are a compact galley and pantry, a head (just a toilet and washbasin), a laundry room, and a sealed shaft running between decks. Stairs from the library and office lead down to the first lower deck. Dean Shomshak

The thread about buildings that could make cool hero bases reminded me of an earlier thread in which I offered and solicited ideas for buildings and other places that villains could easily convert into secret bases. That in turn led to the HQ the PCs acquired in my Champions campaign, Avant Guard: a refurbished derelict ship. Our forum colleague Lord Liaden suggested the idea, so I named the ship the RV Liaden. The Champions forum has been a bit slow lately, so I thought some people might be amused by seeing what I eventually devised -- with maps. (Hex mapped, because we still play 5e.) Here's the first section: AVANT GUARD BASE: THE RV LIADEN Background: The Liaden was an oceanography research vessel about 30 feet wide and 160 feet long. The Landlady bought it and reconditioned it as Avant Guard’s headquarters. It no longer has engines; it’s permanently docked among other semi-derelict ships so that attacks on the base will not endanger many other people. Concrete props under the ship mean that hull breaches won’t sink the ship. Much of the base’s cost came from reinforcing the hull with advanced composite materials, making it much stronger but not much thicker. The Landlady also gutted and replaced much of the interior: The Liaden still has four decks, but bulkheads were moved to create completely different rooms. The stairs are still steep and narrow, though. The hull is painted white with “Avant Guard” painted on both sides of the bow. There are rows of portholes on the main deck and first lower deck, and wider windows in the forecastle. Security: Dozens of tiny cameras are hidden throughout the ship, inside and out. It is flat-out impossible to approach the ship or go anywhere on it or in it without being on camera. (It is up for the team to decide how assiduously they watch the monitors. The team’s bedrooms also have hidden switches to turn off the cameras within them. The cameras are represented as Area Effect Clairsentience.) Exterior doors have keypad locks and alarms in case they are forced open; fine wires in the windows and portholes similarly guard against breakage; and motion sensors turn on lights inside and out, showing the general location of any intruder. (These off-the-shelf security systems are represented simply as a Security Systems rating for the entire base.) Dean Shomshak

It's not hypocritical when you accept that the fundamental premise of conservatism is different rules for different people. Dean Shomshak

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman. First of a series. A jolly romp about acqyiring rare books for an interdimensional library. Alternate histories, faeries, a Great Detective, steampunk London, vampires, dragons, and more fun. Not a serious bone in it, unless you count the suggestions of poisonous office politics among senior librarians, which suggests to me that Ms. Cogman once worked in the Tacoma Library System. (As my sister did for many years and I did... briefly.) The style is arch to just the right degree, in that way Brits do so well. Possibly of interest to some readers that Ms. Cogman once wrote a fair bit of material for the Exalted RPG and ported a fair bit into the series. Her Fae, as creatures of primal Chaos, are ported directly from Exalted (OK by me since it's a view of Fae she had a large role in creating in the first place). I shall see if her version of dragons intersects with Exalted as well. Could be: In Exalted, dragons are powerful elemental spirits, and at one point a dragon wields elemental power. We game writers are all frustrated novelists. It's nice to see that one of our crew made the transition so well. Dean Shomshak

Keep in mind, "insane" is just my one-word summary of The Economist's summary reporting the Russian ambassador's statement. He may have expressed himself at greater length and more forcefully. Dean Shomshak

Actually, this could be a pretty good illo for Velleda McFarlane (Arcane Adversaries, p. 59). Dean Shomshak

https://freakonomics.com/podcast/season-11-episode-41/ Discussion of social scientist's classic book Influence, newly reissued and expanded -- and highly relevant to our discussion of reason, emotion, and politics, because Cialdini's book is about the seven techniques used by everyone from salesmen to despots to manipulate us. These techniques work no matter how smart you think you are, but conscious awareness and wariness might at least give you a chance to resist. Dean Shomshak

The June 4, 2022 issue of The Economist has some articles people might find interesting. Cover story: Russia breaking the "Nuclear Taboo" with near-daily threats to use nuclear weapons, either in Ukraine or against Western countries. Even if nuclear weapons ultimately aren't used, just talking about it makes the danger greater that someone will use nukes, sometime, by treating it as a potentially feasible tactic -- especially if Russia seems to gain advantage from the mere threat. Leaders also must note that Ukraine gave up its share of the Soviet nuclear arsenal for security guarantees that turn out to be worthless. Now, Ukraine didn't have the industrial infrastructure to maintain those nukes, and it probably would have paid a high political price for doing so, so it still might have been the only reasonable choice at the time. But the leaders of every country with potentially troublesome neighbors must be thinking, "Huh, maybe I need a nuclear deterrent." This makes it vitally important, the article argues, that Russia lose hard in Ukraine, to establish that nukes are neither a Win Button nor even an Escape Geopolitical Consequences button. Though the article also notes that the Nuclear Taboo may only have been held by policy elites. Many ordinary people in nuclear-armed countries think it's perfectly acceptable to use nuclear weapons on the battlefield if it would save lives of their own troops. (Presumably, of course, agaionst a foe who is not similarly armed.) Disturbingly, the Russian ambassador who rec ently resigned over the Ukraine invasion claims that many Russian strategic policy people think, or claim to think, that Russia could achieve a quick and easy victor over the US by using nuclear weapons. Just drop a nuke on some small town in the US, and the cowardly Americans will drop to their knees and beg for mercy. The ambassador thinks they're insane. For something completely different: Education as a way of coping with climate change. It's a truism that poor people in the Global South are the least responsible for climate change but are already suffering from it the most. Education ma not help them do anything to curb climate change, but it sure helps them deal with the effects by enabling them to improve their income, change how they farm or conduct animal husbandry, and -- not least -- just to know what's going on. The ignorant and illiterate stubbornly cling to the old, customary ways of doing things because they know nothing else and they have no margin for experimentation. Educated people gain just by knowing that things can and have been done differently, and how to find the information they recognize that they need. The article particularly notes the powerful effects of educating girls and women. Doesn't say whether this is more effective than educating males, or if so, why, though I can imagine some reasons. But the gist is that of all the ways to raise the Third World out of poverty and create more resilient societies, education may give the greatest return on investment. Dean Shomshak

Last week I watched the premier episode of the new Tom Swift series on CW. I have fond memories of the Tom Swift Jr. book series from my youth, so I expected to be disappointed and by cracky I was. Actually, my first reaction was, "Wut?" I mean, does anyone under 50 even remember this kid's book series about a Boy Genius Inventor? But watching the ep explained why anyone would be interested in this IP. (For those not in the know, Tom Swift was the hero of a series of kids books from, like the 1920s or thereabluts, with titles like Tom Swift and his Giant Airplane or Tom Swift and the Big Oil Gusher. He's a young inventor and industrialist who travels the world and has adventures. Series rebooted for his son, Tom Swift Jr., going into outright SF with titles like Tom Swift and his Polar /Ray Dynosphere, Tom Swift in the Caves of Nuclear Fire, and Tom Swift and the Visitor from Planet X.) I did know that Tom's character would have to be changed significantly because in the books, he doesn't have one. He is a perfect whitebread straight arrow, exactly what 1950s America thought a young person should be. So, boring. The series makes him Black and gay. OK, whatever. Tom also starts as an undisciplined party boy as well as a scientific genius, and he has major daddy issues. Also an AI assistant. Aha! They're trying to make him Tony Stark. Reasonable, because Tony Stark is well known and popular, but of no interest to me because we already have one Tony Stark and I don't see the need for another one. The acting, dialogue and plot are meh. Tom Sr. blasts off in the cpmpany's new rocket to Saturn. Leaves the company in the hands of someone other than Tom Jr., because Junior is undisciplined and a disappointment despite his genius. Rocket blows up once it reaches Saturn. Junior finds evidence there was sabotage, but also that his father survived in an escape pod. Who sabotaged the rocket? A secret society, "an offshoot of the Illuminati," dedicated to reversing technological progress (but is nevertheless willing to use advanced technology to do so). Episode ends with Tom going on a road trip to collect the three parts of the message capsule his dad rocketed back to Earth, Tom vowing to reclaim control of his father's company, and a revelation that the conspiracy has already infiltrated the cpmpany. I ought to have watched episode 2 to see if it got any better, but I forgot and don't mind much. Honestly, I cannot imagine why anyone should waste their time on this derivative drivel. But then, I am also certainly not the target audience. Dean Shomshak

And oh hey, I was looking for armory plans a while back and still have one on my desktops!

Yes, this could be a CW show with frightening ease... 'Shipping included. Dean Shomshak

I approve of this villain team! (Makes popcorn, sits back to watch the fun.) Dean Shomshak

For a similar idea, a block of row houses or other conjoined housing. A book I read about historic architecture of New York City inclided plans and a brief description of the Henry Villard houses, 6 variously-sized homes forming a Y around a courtyard, built in uniform style to suggest a single Italianate mansion. I thought it might make a nifty home base for a "people with powers" campaign: A group of super-criminals made their big score and retired, buying such a block of houses to live in. Years later, their kids have grown up all knowing each other -- and then discover their heritage as mutant powers and family curses manifest, power rings and battlesuits long set aside are found, etc., and they find the secret entrances to the underground labs and training areas that were set up "just in case" but were long neglected. I never developed the idea, though (my group has more campaign ideas than we have time to play). EDIT: Oh hey, the Villard Houses still exist. They're a Historic Landmark. Here's the Wikipedia article, with ground floor plans. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villard_Houses Dean Shomshak

This sentence seems backwards. Don't start by saying what something isn't. We have no expectations that must be contradicted, so this makes no sense. Rivers generally empty into seas rather than seas into rivers. Is the Kulana River in fact an outflow from the Gefting Sea, on the way to some other body of water? If so, look for a way to briefly and gracefully remind the reader of this. Dean Shomshak

<blink> Whoa. I don't like Rittenhouse either, I might even agree with the sentiments, but that's stronger language than I think I've ever seen fro you, P. Maybe edit before Simon says, "Ahem." Dean Shomshak

Cool Science Dept. For this one, listening is a must. https://www.npr.org/2022/06/06/1103372492/a-volcanos-song-could-contain-clues-to-its-future-eruptions-scientists-hope Dean Shomshak

Regarding the Ukraine invasion, we've heard a bit about the "Wagner Group" of mercenaries. All Things Considered just had a story about what it is and how it works. https://www.npr.org/2022/06/06/1102603897/wagner-group-mercenary-russia-ukraine-war Dean Shomshak A brief history on how a few radical misogynists pushed the 19c campaign to ban abortion and birth control. https://www.npr.org/2022/06/06/1103372543/abortion-was-once-common-practice-in-america-a-small-group-of-doctors-changed-th Dean Shomshak

I think the academics who wonder why so many Russians back the invasion are overthinking. For millennia, it was perfectly normal for a stronger group to attack, conquer and pillage weaker neighbors. Successful conquering despots got labeled "the Great." Putin is just playing by the old rules, and the Russian people respond -- not b ecause they've suffered some special historical trauma, but because they *haven't* been raised in historically unusual safety, comfort, and Enlightenment ideology. So for instance, of course Russian officers aren't trying to stop Russian soldiers from (as the article notes) sending stuff looted from Ukrainians home to their wives, who are grateful to receive them. Pillaging is traditionally part of why you go to war, no matter what international law says. It's a compensation leaders offer for soldiers' risking their lives. Russians aren't strange for embracing Putin's war. We're strange for finding it strange that they do so. And I dare say that many Americans, Canadians, Australians, and other folk would act exactly the same way under similar circumstances. Condemning it is, arguably, intellectually elitist. But I'm okay with that. I consider the fundamental work of civilization to be making people treat each other better than comes naturally. Dean Shomshak

Re: the Uvalde cops... I've learned never to believe the first day's reporting on a mass shooting or other tragedy. Anything beyond the raw fact that it happened, and where it happened, is likely to be corrected later. For instance, IIRC for several hours after the Sandy Hook shooting, the shooter was mis-identified. People are confused, or they fabulate what they think must have happened, or they flat out make stuff up and it gets repeated. But usually, within 24 hours the contradictory reports and rumors shake out and a reasonably consistent story emerges. I am generous enough to presume that the reporters are at least trying to find and report what's actually true. (Fox "News" always excepted, of course.) But the Uvalde cops keep changing their story, or at least other people are coming forward to say No, it didn't happen that way at all, and everyone seems to be consistent except them. So even granted that everybody, everybody, spins to make themselves look good... they just keep looking worse and worse. Just fess up, guys. No matter how bad you look when you immediately tell the truth, you always look worse after you're caught lying. Dean Shomshak

June 2, 2022 on the NYT podcast/radio program The Daily: California has been passing gun control laws for decades and... they work. At least, in 2020 the rate of gun death in Cali was 8.5 per 100,000 compared to over 13 per 100k in the US as a whole. Here's how they did it. And (hee hee!) Ronald Reagan was part of it. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/02/podcasts/the-daily/uvalde-buffalo-gun-control-california.html?action=click&module=audio-series-bar&region=header&pgtype=Article Dean Shomshak

A quick Google search turned up these floor plans for a Masonic temple: The print is too small and blurry to read what the rooms are, but you're going to change them anyway. Dean Shomshak

IIRC his Star Trek geekery was also a lot of fun. I too will miss TJack. Dean Shomshak

If one more weather-related digression may be tolerated... I live just a few degrees of latitude south of Vancouver, so the weather's probably not too different. Our winters tend to be wet and relatively mild; the temperature rarely drops below freezing, even at night. (This also describes our springs and autumns. ) Well, except in January, when a blast of arctic air rolls down the Frazer River Valley and parks over the Pacific Northwest for a few weeks. Heavy snowfall is also rare. About every 10 years, though, that blast of arctic air meets a "Pineapple Express" of warm, moist air from Hawaii. Then the media bandies about terms like "Snowmageddon," no doubt to the amusement of Midwesterners who think a foot of snow is just a light drifting. Problem is, we lack practice at dealing with snow, so there's always a huge wave of traffic accidents and stranded vehicles. Dean Shomshak

This seems eminently workable. In the unlikely event you aren't aware of it already, you can also draw on the H. P. Lovecraft's Dreamlands setting pack that Chaosium did for Call of Cthulhu. PRE 25 might be a bit high for Lovecraftian teens. Erudite, possibly unusually self-possessed, but I don't see Lovecrarft protagonists as ever being particularly charismatic... in the Waking World, at least. And part of classic Teen Drama is that people don't take you seriously. In fact, for Waking World characters it's probably best to stick to Normal Characteristic Maxima for INT and EGO, too. As teens, they are still growing into their full potential. Archetypes seem limiting, especially if there are only 3 of them. Something like them might be useful as suggestions to help players who don't know where to begin (a common problem with players, especially for games where everything hasn't been spelled out in advance by decades of pop culture.) I would like to see this idea developed more. Dean Shomshak

sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn) was interviewed on All Things Considered yesterday, about legislative efforts at gun control. He's still trying, but warned that the numbers in the Senate are, not to put too fine a point on it, impossible. No Republicans, he said, are going to have epiphanies and switch their established party-line vote. Change will only come through "exercise of raw political power": when there are enough Democrats in the Senate to push through gun control laws by themselves. Ditto at the state level. Unfortunately, I also read that a large fraction of Millennials and Zoomers have given up on politics and don't intend to vote for anyone. They think it's more useful to go to protest marches. This seems to me a recipe for keeping Democrats for ever reaching Murphy's threshold -- which means they will never be able to enact the policies that younger liberals want. Sorry, kids, but "Hey Hey Ho Ho" is not a magical mantra: It doesn't matter how many times you chant it, it will not force change. (And I'm sorry to be the grumpy old guy saying "Kids these days," but I have a low tolerance for magical thinking.) Dean Shomshak