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Author: Sharrukin

Status Report (15 July 2023)

Status Report (15 July 2023)

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We’re making progress on getting the basement (that is, my living space, home office, and creative headquarters) repaired after last month’s flooding incident. The current state of play:

  • Furniture and almost all of my personal goods, including the bulk of my library, moved out.
  • Foundation repair and installation of a new drainage system and air-quality system complete.
  • Water heater replaced (this wasn’t on the critical path, but the old one was a few years past its warranty date, so better safe than sorry).
  • Replacement drywall hung, holes in ceiling left by plumber during emergency repair patched, everything trimmed and spackled and ready for painting.

We have painters scheduled to come in on 19-20 July, and the new carpeting should be delivered about then too. I’m hoping we can get the new carpet installed sometime between 21 July and 24 July. At which point, we’ll be ready to call the movers to bring back all my furniture and help us move all our goods back into the house.

Current best guess is that I’ll be able to call the move finished and release the storage pod we’re renting by about 26 July. At that point, at least, I’ll have my bed back and will have my workstation set up in its usual place once more. Unpacking all my books and games, and otherwise getting everything back to normal, may take some time beyond that.

Unfortunately, I am not making much progress on Architect of Worlds during this period of disruption. I’ve tried to do a few pages, but my current work area is very cramped and some of the physical materials I’ve been using are hard to deal with at the moment. I’ll keep at it, but I suspect the best time for me to forge ahead with that will be after that 26 July milestone.

Fortunately, there’s a solid weekend at the end of the month. I plan to get some minor creative work (notably my book review for July) out of the way over the next week or so, so I can focus on Architect editing and layout for 3-4 days at the end of the month. I see a good chance that, together with what I managed to knock out before the disaster, I should have enough new layout done to permit a free update for my patrons. Expect to see that by the end of July.

Meanwhile, I’ve been carrying out an interesting experiment with respect to my Danassos setting. I thought of a way to model some specific elements of the setting’s back story, and the results have been very interesting. Some revisions are underway to my “historical timelines” document. I doubt I’ll have a new version of that ready for anyone else to see by the end of July, but it’s already suggesting some new stories for that setting, and I suspect there may be some revisions to the Twice-Crowned draft before I’m finished. More about that as it develops.

Planning for July 2023

Planning for July 2023

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Well, as all my readers are doubtless aware, we had a small disaster at my home: some combination of a groundwater intrusion through the foundation, and a burst pipe, ended up flooding our basement. Since that’s my living quarters, telework location, and creative office . . . yeah, this was a big disruption.

So here’s the critical path for the next few weeks:

  • At the moment I’m standing watch while a crew of emergency movers finish clearing out our basement.
  • Tomorrow is the 4 July holiday, and we’ll probably be finishing up a few items and hauling out a fair amount of trash.
  • We have a crew coming in starting on 5 July to do foundation repair and install a new (and considerably upgraded) drainage system. That’s likely to take up to two weeks, so figure about 19 July to get that done.
  • We plan to take the opportunity to replace the water heater. May as well eliminate one possible cause for another water-based disaster in the future. Not likely to take more than a day.
  • Then it’s a matter of patching, priming, and painting drywall and replacing the entire carpet. Not likely to take more than a couple days, if we can coordinate the work efficiently.

Best guess, in the last full week in July I’ll be able to call the movers to bring everything back and help us unload the POD in which my entire personal library is now sitting. Of course, then I’ll be faced with the task of unpacking everything . . .

I do have my computer set up in the living room, so I expect to be able to make some progress on the Architect of Worlds layout, do a book review for July as usual, and maybe push a few other items forward. In particular, I suspect I will be able to release a free update for Architect late this month for my patrons.

Circumstances are not exactly conducive to major progress, though, so (unlike most months) I’m not going to set out any specific milestones for July. Look for a Status Report or two as the month moves along.

Echoes

Echoes

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While I continue rooting through my basement, boxing up the last scraps of small items I don’t want to discard, I’m coming across some interesting items.

Back in the 1995-2005 timeframe, I kept many handwritten notes in small notebooks. At the time a lot of my creative thinking happened at the office, or in other places where I didn’t have access to my computer or the Internet, so handwritten notes were very useful. Apparently I still have all of those notebooks, salted away on low shelves or in boxes that haven’t been opened in many years; very few of these got water-damaged in the recent disaster. So, for example, just today I found:

  • An extensive set of notes titled “Life after Steve Jackson Games,” in which I started planning an independent creative career. Most of that plan doesn’t seem to have survived contact with reality, but a few of its features do seem to have been implemented.
  • Huge piles of notes from when I was helping to develop setting material for GURPS Traveller, including the Interstellar Wars setting. More piles of notes that eventually went into Transhuman Space.
  • My own version of the Aldebaran Sector for Traveller, along with a contract (never completed) to write a GURPS Traveller sourcebook titled Grand Frontiers.
  • Notes and hardcopy of the rules for the Game of Empire system I developed for realm-level play in Traveller. This is the game that I refereed for a bunch of GURPS Traveller fans about 2000, developing a ton of background information (including months’ worth of Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society news items) for the Solomani Rim.
  • Notes for a new generic RPG system. Apparently I was already thinking in terms of developing my own rules mechanics so as to publish game material without running into licensing issues. Probably never going to be developed now, but still interesting.
  • Notes for a realm-management game set in Bronze Age Greece. I think this did get deployed in a GURPS campaign I was running back in the day, although one of my players reacted so badly to the system in its first session that the campaign disbanded almost immediately afterward.
  • Extensive notes for at least three genre settings. One these eventually gave rise to my first complete original novel (the unpublishable one). Another looks very much like an early version of my Human Destiny space opera setting. A third was a fantasy setting I had forgotten about entirely and might now think about revisiting.
  • Extensive musings on philosophy and theology. I’m almost afraid to re-read these in detail. I’m a cheerful solitary regarding such matters, so it doesn’t concern me that my ideas aren’t in lockstep with any extant school of thought. Still, I suspect the me of 2023 might find the me of circa 2000 kind of hard to take.

Quite the treasure trove. Hard to say whether any of it will ever see the light of day again – it’s not as if I don’t have enough creative work to do already – but it’s still interesting reading. All of it’s going in boxes to be preserved.

Special Status Report for Patrons (29 June 2023)

Special Status Report for Patrons (29 June 2023)

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This one is specifically for my patrons (and regular blog readers who might be interested in my creative projects).

As I mentioned on 23 June, we’re currently fighting a flooded basement which has knocked out my primary living area and home office. I haven’t been entirely cut off from the Internet, obviously, but I’m spending 12-15 hour days just keeping up with my day job and doing pack-and-move work here. Not much time left over for creative work, so (e.g.) Architect of Worlds is pretty much on hold for now.

Architect didn’t get enough new layout done before the disaster struck to justify a new update. There will therefore be no free update for patrons at the end of this month.

I also may or may not generate a planning message for July at the beginning of the new month. Things are too much in flux for me to be able to plan anything with a straight face.

The primary effort right now is to prepare our basement for a crew who will be coming in, starting on 5 July, to do foundation repair and waterproofing work. To that end I’ve packed up just about the entirety of my library and moved it to storage. Over the next few days we’ll be policing up any remaining small items, and moving the larger pieces of furniture aside so the crew has access to get their work done. After the foundation work is finished, we’ll need to paint the new drywall, get all the carpeting replaced, and then move everything back into place. I expect all this to take up the bulk of the month of July. It might even overlap into the first week or so of August.

I’m not entirely cut off. We’re also working to ensure I have a small home-office space elsewhere in the house while the work is being done. If that works out, I may be able to get back to some creative work in a limited way, even while all the repair and rehab are being done. I’ll keep everyone posted as things progress.

Review: The Murder of Heracles, by J. Edward Ritchie

Review: The Murder of Heracles, by J. Edward Ritchie

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The Murder of Heracles: An Amazon Odyssey by J. Edward Ritchie

Overall Rating: ***** (5 stars)

The Murder of Heracles is a fun historical fantasy novel, which takes the familiar world of Greek myth and drives it in some surprising directions.

At the beginning of our story, four young Amazons are about to become full members of the community: Penthesilia (“Pen”), Bremusa (“Bremy”), Valasca (“Val”), and Antianara (“Anne”). They complete their final trial, defending their homeland of Themyscira against invading men. Victorious, they return home to claim their reward. Unfortunately, on that very night, a more effective army of Greeks invades Themyscira, massacring the Amazons and killing their queen Hippolyta. The leader of the Greeks is the “hero” Heracles, here portrayed as an intelligent but monstrous and barbaric figure.

Fifteen years later, the few surviving Amazons live in exile, scraping out an existence in the wilderness, having lost all their culture and pride. Only Hippolyta’s daughter, Derinoe (“Dee”), offers them any hope as she grows to womanhood as a potential queen. Then the survivors discover that Heracles is still alive, standing at the head of a vicious religious cult that demands tribute from across the world. Pen and her companions set out on a quest for revenge, hoping to find Heracles and kill him for what he has done.

What follows is a journey across the world, full of bloody battles, narrow escapes, triumphs, and tragedies. The astute reader will spot references to many stories of Greek myth, even some that are rather obscure; Mr. Ritchie has definitely done his research here. In most cases, there is some dramatic twist to render the familiar story strange.

In fact, this story gives us a very contemporary take on the Greek heroic age. Character dialogue and authorial voice are all in modern and highly colloquial language. The setting is full of anachronisms, elements of the historical Late Bronze Age mixed with much later eras and the fantastic world of myth. I detected some very distinctive influences here: a dash of Xena, scraps of George Pérez’s take on Wonder Woman, and even hints of a recent Assassin’s Creed game. At times, the classicist in me was having seizures . . . but the recipe honestly works well, and the result is a very engaging story.

After all, the core of this story isn’t the mythical or pseudo-historical premise. The core of this story is its leading characters: a band of tough, cynical, bloody-handed, foul-mouthed women who have already suffered all the pain and betrayal the world has to offer. Their personal development across this story is a delight to watch, and their resolution feels very well-earned.

The mechanics of the prose are strong. I caught a few typos and odd word choices, but it was never enough to break me out of the flow of the narrative for long. Viewpoint discipline is very good – the entire story is told from Pen’s perspective, and we hear only her internal dialogue.

This isn’t a novel I would have written, despite my interest in the setting, but I still found it thoroughly enjoyable. I’m very interested to see what Mr. Ritchie comes up with next. Very highly recommended.

A Prized Possession

A Prized Possession

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While doing some post-flood cleaning and packing in the basement today, I came across a neat item: the one and only exchange of correspondence I ever had with Poul Anderson.

I generally do not engage in fanac. I don’t go to many conventions and I don’t pester my favored authors with my presence. I can count on one hand the number of times a well-known creative has ever been prevailed upon to give me even a moment’s attention. This was an exception, and all the more valuable to me as such.

Back in the late 1990s, I had a contract to write GURPS Traveller: First In, the sourcebook for the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service. A big chunk of that book was going to consist of my update to the old Traveller Book 6 world-building rules – the first (but not the last) attempt I ever made to design plausible new world-building systems for a game.

A lot of my inspiration for world-building had always come from Poul Anderson. He was always famous as one of the SF authors who took the time to make his planetary environments exotic but also scientifically plausible. Read, well, just about any of his Technic History stories if you don’t believe me. I would honestly have put him on a par with Hal Clement in that field.

So when I got to write this book, I asked to do something unusual: I wanted to make a small dedication on the title page. GURPS books generally have never had dedications, but in this case I was allowed to make an exception, so long as Mr. Anderson was cool with it.

So I wrote him a concise, polite letter (yes, a letter, this was back in the 1990s after all) explaining the project and asking for his permission. In due course, back came the self-addressed, stamped envelope with his even more concise and gracious agreement. So the book got its dedication.

At the time, Mr. Anderson was getting along in years, and he passed away a year or so after the book came out. I’m told, however, that a GURPS Traveller fan out in California reached him with a copy of the book at one of his last convention appearances. He got a lengthy opportunity to see the dedication and leaf through the book. The phrase “like a kid in a candy store” was included in the after-action report that got back to me.

We never know just how we might manage to touch people with our work.

Status Report (23 June 2023)

Status Report (23 June 2023)

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Only a short note today, to report that I’m likely going to be getting little or no creative work done for at least a few days, possibly as much as a few weeks.

My living quarters and home office are in the finished basement of our home, and as of yesterday afternoon, that basement is being flooded. So far it’s not too bad – only a few of my possessions have been water-damaged, and the bulk of my library of books and tabletop games is safe for the moment. On the other hand, the bulk of the carpeting is water-logged and we’ve had to shift a lot of furniture around. As I sit at my workstation right now, the carpet under my feet is soggy and wet.

(No, the image above is eye-catching, but it’s not actually that bad. Even if it’s starting to feel that way.)

We have a specialist coming this afternoon to make an assessment and estimate what would be involved in repairs. I suspect we may need to move most of the furniture and items from my space into storage for at least a few days, cutting me off from my primary work machine and resources while repairs get done. In particular, if the flooding worsens, we may need to move everything to save my equipment and prevent significant losses to my library. In the worst-case scenario, it may be several weeks before things are back to normal.

All of which is to say that work on Architect of Worlds and other projects is at a standstill until I get my space back. I can’t even promise any free updates for this month, and I may miss my monthly book review for June. We’ll see how things go. I’ll post again as soon as I know more, and have some idea how long I’ll be offline.

Status Report (11 June 2023)

Status Report (11 June 2023)

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Some quick notes on the state of Architect of Worlds.

While I was doing further layout, I realized two things. First, the extended examples at the end of each section of the main design sequence were a mess – I had let them get out of synch with each other and with the design rules while those evolved. Second, I wasn’t happy with some of the previous layout; in particular, I’ve decided that I would prefer to have every step in the design sequence start at the top of a page, allowing more space for interior art when the layout is finished.

I’m going to have to correct both of those items at some point, so I’ve decided to go back and do it now. I’ve been reworking the “Arcadia” extended example in particular, since that was the one that got into trouble. Once that’s done, which may be as early as today, I’m going to go back and start reworking the layout through the design sequence. That may lead to some repagination, and in particular I may end up having to move a lot of the tables around. I may take the opportunity to tweak the master page setup too.

All this may take me a few more days, during which I won’t be laying out any new material, but the book will look better and more coherent in the long run. It may impact my tentative milestones for June, though.

David Kano

David Kano

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David Kano (150 points)

David Kano is in his late 30s, a burly man with dark skin, close-cropped black hair, and brown eyes.

  • ST 11 [10]; DX 10 [0]; IQ 14 [80]; HT 12 [20].
  • Damage 1d-1/1d+1; BL 24 lbs.; HP 11 [0]; Will 14 [0]; Per 14 [0]; FP 12 [0].
  • Basic Speed 5.5 [0]; Basic Move 5 [0]; Dodge 8.
  • 5’ 10”; 170 lbs.

Social Background

  • TL: 9 [0].
  • CF: Western (Native) [0].
  • Languages: English (Native; Native Language, -6) [0].

Advantages

  • Military Rank 3 (World Space Commission) [15]; Wireless Neural Interface/TL9 – Telecommunication (Radio; Reduced Range, x1/10, -30%; Secure, +20%; Sensie, +80%) [17].

Disadvantages

  • Bad Temper (12 or less, *1) [-10]; Light Sleeper [-5]; Low Empathy [-20]; Truthfulness (12 or less, *1) [-5].
  • Quirks: Proud; Refers to Computer as “she”; Tends to trust Computer’s output too far; Uncongenial; Uninterested in romance. [‑5]

Skills

Administration (A) IQ-1 [1]-13; Astronomy/TL9 (Observational) (A) IQ-1 [1]-13; Beam Weapons/TL9 (Pistol) (E) DX [1]-10; Brawling (E) DX+1 [2]-11; Computer Hacking/TL9 (VH) IQ-1 [4]-13; Computer Operation/TL9 (E) IQ+3 [8]-17; Computer Programming/TL9 (H) IQ+1 [8]-15; Electronics Operation/TL9 (Communications) (A) IQ+1 [4]-15; Electronics Operation/TL9 (Sensors) (A) IQ+1 [4]-15; Electronics Repair/TL9 (Computers) (A) IQ+1 [4]-15; Free Fall (A) DX [2]-10; Games (Backgammon) (E) IQ [1]-14; Games (Chess) (E) IQ+1 [2]-15; Leadership (A) IQ-4 [1]-10 *; Mathematics/TL9 (Computer Science) (H) IQ-1 [2]-13; Navigation/TL9 (Space) (A) IQ-1 [1]-13; Piloting/TL9 (High-Performance Spacecraft) (A) DX [2]-10; Savoir-Faire (Military) (E) IQ-3 [1]-11 *; Shiphandling/TL9 (Spaceship) (H) IQ-2 [1]-12; Spacer/TL9 (E) IQ [1]-14; Vacc Suit/TL9 (A) DX [2]-10.

* Includes -3 from Low Empathy.

Biographical Information

David Kano was born in 2011 in St. Andrew, Jamaica. He came from an impoverished family but showed considerable talent with computers at a very young age. He earned a full scholarship to study mathematics and computer science at Stanford University in California, earning his doctorate in 2043.

While at university, Kano became involved with early experiments in brain-computer interfaces. He volunteered to be one of three test subjects for a highly experimental wireless implant. The experiment was nearly a failure; the other two volunteers suffered severe neurological damage, but Kano emerged with the ability to interact with computers almost by instinct.

After earning his doctorate, Kano joined the World Space Commission and served in several postings on and near Earth. Early in 2049, he was transferred to Moonbase Alpha as the new head of the Technical Section.

Kano is a somewhat eccentric genius, very comfortable with computers and computer networks but awkward and standoffish with people. His colleagues in Main Mission rely on his technical skills, but he is rarely put in a command or leadership position.

Kano is very aware of his intellect and accomplishments; he sometimes loses patience with the slowness or clumsiness of others. He makes few friends and appears to have no interest in romantic attachments. He is quite fond of strategy games and sometimes challenges his colleagues to a round of backgammon or chess.

Sandra Benes

Sandra Benes

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Sandra Benes (150 points)

Sandra Benes is in her mid-20s, petite, with a round face, black hair, and brown eyes.

  • ST 8 [-20]; DX 12 [40]; IQ 14 [80]; HT 11 [10].
  • Damage 1d-3/1d-2; BL 13 lbs.; HP 8 [0]; Will 14 [0]; Per 14 [0]; FP 11 [0].
  • Basic Speed 5.75 [0]; Basic Move 5 [0]; Dodge 8.
  • 5’ 2”; 125 lbs.

Social Background

  • TL: 9 [0].
  • CF: East Asian [1]; South Asian [1]; Western (Native) [0].
  • Languages: Burmese (Accented; Spoken) [2]; English (Native; Native Language, -6) [0]; French (Accented) [4]; Hindi (Accented; Spoken) [2]; Mandarin (Accented; Spoken) [2]; Portuguese (Accented) [4].

Advantages

  • Appearance (Attractive) [4]; Military Rank 3 (World Space Commission) [15].

Disadvantages

  • Combat Paralysis [-15]; Curious (12 or less, *1) [-5]; Pacifism (Self-Defense Only) [-15]; Shyness (Mild) [-5].
  • Quirks: Attentive; Emotionally delicate; Imaginative; Nervous around doctors; Strong aesthetic sense. [‑5]

Skills

Administration (A) IQ [2]-14; Beam Weapons/TL9 (Pistol) (E) DX [1]-12; Computer Operation/TL9 (E) IQ+1 [2]-15; Computer Programming/TL9 (H) IQ [4]-14; Electrician/TL9 (A) IQ [2]-14; Electronics Operation/TL9 (Communications) (A) IQ+1 [4]-15; Electronics Operation/TL9 (Electronic Warfare) (A) IQ [2]-14; Electronics Operation/TL9 (Security) (A) IQ [2]-14; Electronics Operation/TL9 (Sensors) (A) IQ+1 [4]-15; Electronics Operation/TL9 (Surveillance) (A) IQ [2]-14; Electronics Repair/TL9 (Communications) (A) IQ [2]-14; Electronics Repair/TL9 (Computers) (A) IQ [2]-14; Electronics Repair/TL9 (Sensors) (A) IQ [2]-14; Engineer/TL9 (Electronics) (H) IQ [4]-14; Free Fall (A) DX [2]-12; Linguistics (H) IQ-1 [2]-13; Literature (H) IQ-1 [2]-13; Mathematics/TL9 (Applied) (H) IQ-1 [2]-13; Poetry (A) IQ [2]-14; Savoir-Faire (Military) (E) IQ-1 [1]-13 *; Vacc Suit/TL9 (A) DX [2]-12; Writing (A) IQ [2]-14.

* Includes -1 from Shyness (Mild).

Biographical Information

Sandra Benes was born in 2023 in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei. Her father was the world-famous engineer and inventor Lawrence Benes, developer of the Interstellar Transmitter system for deep-space communications. Her mother was Nan Sanda, a Burmese journalist and poet.

As a young woman, Benes lived in many places around the world, speaking six languages fluently by the age of twelve. She studied electronics while working in her father’s lab, and earned a doctorate in electronic engineering from Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) in 2048. Benes joined the World Space Commission early in 2049, and was quickly assigned to Moonbase Alpha as the new head of the Communications and Telemetry Section.

Benes is a brilliant and extremely competent technician, a talented natural linguist, and a self-taught expert in several fields of human literature. She has a strong aesthetic sense, and is often first of the Alphans to remark on the beauty to be found even amid the dangers of deep space. She tends to be underestimated in person; she is physically petite, and is rather shy and unassuming in social situations. She has been known to “freeze up” or faint outright when subjected to sudden stress or shock. Only when working in a professional capacity does she become assured and confident. Even so, she is a critical member of Alpha’s command crew, often involved in scientific investigations or first-contact situations.