Near future wor*fare

When mum came back from the war her skin was on inside out and she was crapping through a hatch in her belly button. That was nothing. Last time she'd coughed her lungs up and if not for the nanopills we'd have needed to stuff them back in ourselves. Like we did with aunt Claire's. Hanging down her front like a forked bib they were. *Yeugh.*

We did laugh though.

But this time it was the baddies came off worse. She had a vid to play us and it was a case of your tote destruxor. She took out two bungalows and the playground beside the old folks home, and Mrs Moggins vaped the brick flats on Mill Street. They pulled everyone back when the 'topes came in.

'Topes? No snopes. We never opened the windows anyway these days, what with the smell from next door. All just piled up out there they were. Good neighbours. Plain bad luck...

Bzzz...

Wired-up Fighting Fantasy Necromunda in Itra's City

Of all the games you've known or loved, what fine fusions would you make if you could?

I wouldn't mind exploring the early version of Necromunda from GW's Confrontation, but in the form of a networked Fighting Fantasy gamebook that's still a paperback, borrowed from a local library - with dust, stains and the pencil marks of past players - using the resolution system from the Norwegian RPG Itras By, and all on a rainy British afternoon.

Here's some of the rich setting material, although Itras By would encourage reworking it.

Hive clusters are connected together by roads across the [ash] wastes and transportation tubes supported on pylons and suspended from cables. ... the landscape resembles a petrified forest entangled in the web of some enormous spider. ...

...

... The ash occurs in many different, often vivid hues such as sulphur yellow, citric green, cobalt blue, pink, mauve, as well as various shades of grey, and it varies in texture from fine dust to crystalline clinker. The creatures and nomads that live there are equally colourful ...

... A moderate ash storm will strip an unprotected man to the bone in seconds, and then reduce his bones to a handful of dust. ... Imperial scholars who have studied dust ecologies believe that there may be currents and tides within the ash surface.

...

In hotter weather, when Necromunda’s sun breaks through the planet’s cloud cover, noxious vapors rise up and form poisonous mists and fogs. Mists are invariably followed by toxic rain storms, laden with particles of deadly ash dust and other contaminants.

White Dwarf No. 130 (October 1990)

The aspects are all there, in the intricate lived-in tone and weirdness. I'm actually looking for a gaming equivalent to this video, a soulful blend of individually outstanding material...

The major sources used, or a close and relevant match otherwise, are this ("Silent All These Years"), this ("Down by the Water"), this ("Cover Me") and this ("Dissolved Girl").

If you're wondering how the metaphor shifted, it probably passed at least partly through the prism of Tadeusz Różewicz's "Draft for a Modern Love Poem", especially the lines:

...

a spring-clear
transparent description
of water
is a description of thirst
ashes
desert
it produces a mirage
clouds and trees move into
the mirror

Lack hunger
absence
of flesh
is a description of love
is a modern love poem

Gaming can also be seen as a kind of ensemble musicmaking, even lovemaking, with a good metre, a few riffs and plenty of flights of fancy, all kept developing with gentle cues.

_

New genres A-Z - from archeopunk to zombie derival

Here then are all of the entries for the A to Z Blogging Challenge 2012, 26 posts with the theme of possible new genres for fiction, maybe in gaming but also beyond it. Some are deadly serious, others may just be silly, but as so often, it depends on you - the person.

The underpinning was this debate, on themes that have been running through a lot of the posting at the Expanse, and the discussion has spun out across the months. The latest instalment could be this recent back-and-forth. Feel free to join in, anywhere and -when.

Appendix OSR (2)

I've been reading The Secret History of Star Wars on a now mysterious Marcia Lucas and thinking.

Thinking it's another good text for that reading list.

Thinking we may think we create, and do, but not so much as we might like to think we do. We can hold worlds in our heads (with art or miniatures to help maybe, and numbers etc.), but mostly these are variations on this world even when they're not.

And how well do we actually know this one..? Or each other's version? Do we even know our own?

_

Dragon's Lair - alive and kicking the bucket

I see a lot of inspiration in old video games, likely for the excitement there was in playing them and the influence they had, even unconsciously in the brief images. Dragon's Lair also has the Don Bluth story attached, a big near-run thing. This is the full laserdisc.

It feels fresher than I'd expect nearly 30 years on, and it's good to see scenes I'd likely never have reached, but the video may need a steel like that for the gameplay given all the repetition. The way Daphne is drawn could also be a surprise. More lower down.

If you read nothing else today...

Three posts up in the past few hours seem to me to deserve a good cup of tea or coffee and a long reflection - maybe a cup each - and they weave one into the other very well.

The first post is this, which could feel offensive, at Astrogator's Logs, on simplicity and danger in understanding of sci-fi. The second is this at The Secret Sun on Jack Kirby, synchronicity and war, which might seem rather silly. The third is this, a review of the year at From the Sorcerer's Skull, which links to what could look like gaming material.

I'd suggest delaying the reaction long enough to be inspired and to be sure you're sure...

_

Writers and the world

Thanks to Bibliophile Stalker I found a set of interview excerpts running from 1987 to 2001, with Douglas Adams, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, J. G. Ballard and Kurt Vonnegut. I recommend them to anyone wanting a look into their worlds and ours.

If that interests you, and Ballard's thinking in particular, or simply life, I'd also point you to this post at Science Not Fiction on a possible hidden meaning in Pixar's films.

On the subject, mainly for 40K fans, is Auberon's interview with Dan Abnett at Digital Waaagh!, which focuses on Abnett's contribution to the shared universe.

And following up all of that, you might well like this, a stimulating post and discussion at Astrogator's Logs, on the nature of fantasy, coincidentally quoting Douglas Adams.

_ 

Pink, blue

With the 'hot elf chick' everywhere recently, even this week's EXPANDERS!, more on gender in gaming and other interests. It's the subject of some current or recent posts.

Greg Christopher at Errant has thoughts on magic as an equaliser in games.

Loquacious at World of Wonder looks at women as players, here first, then here.

Juliette Wade at TalkToYoUniverse has a major post on contemporary culture with the title "The Cultural Question of Girls and Princesses, Boys and Battles". This is one that's well worth reading right the way through and mulling over long.

The latest follower here has the name Mary. Not enough battles at the Expanse? If you're reading this, Mary, it's good to have you onboard too. There's no personal site link in your pop-up so please drop me a line or leave a comment here. This is often the case, and finding a new arrival can involve a lot of detective work or plain good luck. Anyone with the same trouble might like to read this post at The Angry Lurker.
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Cohabitation

Could the Dark Eldar also be popular because of the balance between male and female miniatures? A pleasant thought to offset the less pleasant nature of what those minis represent. Re my ponder under the last post, perhaps a sleek female form - in skimpy clothing in the case of Lilith Hesperax - sells better too than a short, portly abhuman?

Three recent posts then on a hot subject of late - men, women and games.

It might be best to read this first, an image-heavy post on what we mean by 'sex sells', with thanks to TalkToYoUniverse for the referral.

If that seems overly simplistic, you could well enjoy this fuller essay.

If you haven't been following the discussion between Greg and Zak on the representation of women in games here at Errant, it's challenging and I recommend reading as much as you can. Here's the post I think best puts the context, also an excellent contribution.

Finally, Atrotos has a new post up at Victory Candescence on the subject of computer games especially. It's irreverant to say the least, but arrives at an interesting conclusion.

Titillation red and pink

If your mind is still out on the red planet, Secure Immaturity has a review today of Total Recall. He's revisiting the work of Paul Verhoeven, and also covered Robocop recently. Yep, that means more nudity, and ultra-violence now too. But also sympathy for mutants. It needs mature reflection.


On the subject of nudity, I've been reflecting as maturely as I can. What follows some may find uncomfortable or even offensive - if so, skip this and the next eight paragraphs.