The best-laid plans of mice and men, and all that.
My plan for February was to get a major update of the world-design sequence for Architect of Worlds out the door, and then pivot to finishing the Human Destiny novelette “Remnants” before the end of the month. Okay, one out of two isn’t bad.
It turns out that writing a murder mystery is hard. I’ve rewritten “Remnants” three times in the past couple of weeks, and I keep finding plot holes that mean the story still won’t work. I don’t think there’s any way the story will be finished to my satisfaction before the end of February. I’m honestly not sure how long it will take me to get it straightened out, even if I stay focused on it to the exclusion of other projects.
It appears to be time to throw in the towel and move to something else, while the back of my brain works on “Remnants” on its own schedule. That means there will be no charged release for February for my patrons. I’m going to concentrate on getting started on a new project for next month, and in the meantime pushing a book review out with what’s left of this month. I’ll post a planning message early in March as usual.
Just a very quick note, for folks who aren’t my patrons and don’t follow me on Facebook. Earlier today, I released a new interim draft of the world-design sequence document from Architect of Worlds. It’s available for free on the Architect of Worlds page on this site.
This is probably the last version of this material I’ll be releasing for free – other sections of the book are exclusive for my patrons, and the book itself is slowly moving toward being ready for final draft and release. I’m kind of hoping that 2022 is the year I finally finish this project.
Still, if you’re interested in this kind of scientific geekery, feel free to have a look.
I’ve been rather badly under the weather for the past few days, and not inclined to work too hard. Today, to take a break from outstanding projects, I decided to sit down and tinker with a recent purchase: the second edition of The One Ring, possibly the best tabletop RPG ever published set in Tolkien’s Middle-earth.
The four starting heroes I drew up this afternoon are based on characters I ran in the Lord of the Rings Online MMO years ago. Leonore and Morlindiel are taken almost directly from the online game, Reinald is a looser adaptation of another online character, whereas Náli is more or less original to today’s effort. In any case, I think this group would make a pretty decent starting party for the tabletop game.
I don’t know what, if anything, I’m going to do with these characters. I’ve been known to write some Tolkien fan-fiction in the past, but in recent years I’ve been trying to get away from fan-fic in favor of original work. Still, the new edition of The One Ring has certainly attracted my interest. I may even go looking for a group to play the new game with . . . in my copious free time.
Anyway, without further ado, here’s a small band of adventurers, ready to set out into the wilds of Eriador in the decades leading up to the War of the Ring.
Leonore Rushlight
Leonore is the daughter and only child of an alderman of Bree. Her parents took the unusual step of educating her as best they could, even acquiring books for her to read. She grew up rather quiet and thoughtful, and the other Bree-folk think her a bit strange, but she has already learned as much about the true history of Middle-earth as any of her people. Recently she met Gandalf the Grey at the Prancing Pony. Her long conversations with the wizard have encouraged her to seek out knowledge wherever she can find it, even if it means leaving the safety of Bree far behind.
Culture – Men of Bree
Blessing – Bree-blood (+1 Fellowship Rating)
Calling – Scholar
Standard of Living – Common
Distinctive Features – Fair-spoken, Subtle, and Rhymes of Lore
Travelling Gear, balm to soothe pain (Healing), book of history (Lore)
Pony (Vigour 1)
Morlindiel
Morlindiel is a latter-day Elf, descended from Sindar who survived the fall of Thingol’s kingdom in the Elder Days. She has many years of experience as a ranger in the wilderness, protecting the Grey Havens and the borders of the dwindling Elf-realm of Lindon. In recent years she has taken to wandering far and wide across the lands of Eriador, sensing that great events are stirring and there may yet be a part for Elves to play. She has just arrived in Bree, only to meet Gandalf the Grey and a young woman named Leonore, soon becoming snarled in an adventure.
Culture – Elves of Lindon
Blessing – Elven-skill (Spend 1 Hope to gain a Magical success on a skill roll)
Calling – Champion
Standard of Living – Frugal
Distinctive Features – Keen-eyed, Swift, and Orc-lore
Shadow Path – Curse of Vengeance
Flaws – The Long Defeat (Lose maximum 1 Shadow during Fellowship Phase)
Travelling Gear, knife for skinning and cleaning game (Hunting)
Náli Silvertongue
Náli was born in the Iron Hills, moving to the renewed kingdom of Erebor after the death of the Dragon. There he has prospered, serving as an envoy and trade representative for King Dáin Ironfoot. Náli left Erebor early this year, traveling with a company of Dwarves on their way to the old mines in the Blue Mountains. On the journey, he met and befriended Reinald of Dale. Now that the Dwarf-caravan has reached Bree safely, Náli seems prepared to join Reinald on any adventures he might find.
Culture – Dwarves of Durin’s Folk
Blessing – Redoubtable (Halve the Load of any armor or helm, rounded up)
Calling – Messenger
Standard of Living – Prosperous
Distinctive Features – Fierce, Proud, and Folk-lore
Shadow Path – Wandering-madness
Flaws – Naugrim (Cannot use great bow, great spear, or great shield)
Rewards – Grievous (Great Axe)
Virtues – Hardiness
Strength 7 (TN 13)
Endurance 31
Valour 1
Heart 3 (TN 17)
Hope 11
Wisdom 1
Wits 4 (TN 16)
Parry 14
Skills
Awe 2
Enhearten 1
Persuade 1
Athletics 1
Travel 3 (Favored)
Stealth 1
Awareness 0
Insight 0
Scan 3
Hunting 0
Healing 0
Explore 2
Song 1 (Favored)
Courtesy 3 (Favored)
Riddle 2
Craft 2
Battle 2
Lore 1
Combat Proficiencies
Axes 2
Bows 0
Spears 1
Swords 0
Gear
Treasure – 90
Great Axe (Damage 8, Injury 20, 4 Load, Grievous)
Short Spear (Damage 3, Injury 14, 2 Load, can be thrown)
Coat of Mail (Protection 4d, 6 Load)
Helm (Protection +1d, 2 Load)
Travelling Gear, fiddle (Song), fine tools for personal grooming (Courtesy), magnifying glass (Scan)
Pony (Vigour 2)
Reinald of Dale
Reinald comes from a prosperous trading family in Dale. As a younger son, he was never likely to inherit a big share in the family trade, so he sought out a position as one of King Bard’s huscarls instead. He served the king for several years, earning experience as a warrior and war-captain. Early this year, he (apparently) left the king’s service to join a band of Dwarves traveling to their old dwellings in the far-off Blue Mountains. During the journey, he met and befriended Náli Silvertongue. Now that the Dwarves have arrived safely in Bree, Reinald has left their company, and intends to seek adventure in the lands of Eriador.
Culture – Bardings
Blessing – Stout-hearted (Valour rolls are Favored)
Calling – Captain
Standard of Living – Prosperous
Distinctive Features – Bold, Generous, and Leadership
Shadow Path – Lure of Power
Flaws –
Rewards – Fell (Sword)
Virtues – Dour-handed (+1 damage on a Heavy Blow)
Strength 6 (TN 14)
Endurance 26
Valour 1
Heart 6 (TN 14)
Hope 14
Wisdom 1
Wits 2 (TN 18)
Parry 14
Skills
Awe 1
Enhearten 2 (Favored)
Persuade 3
Athletics 1 (Favored)
Travel 1
Stealth 0
Awareness 1
Insight 2
Scan 1
Hunting 2
Healing 0
Explore 1
Song 1
Courtesy 2
Riddle 0
Craft 1
Battle 3 (Favored)
Lore 1
Combat Proficiencies
Axes 0
Bows 1
Spears 0
Swords 3
Gear
Treasure – 90
Sword (Damage 4, Injury 18, 2 Load, Fell)
Bow (Damage 3, Injury 14, 2 Load)
Mail-shirt (Protection 3d, 9 Load)
Shield (Parry +2, 4 Load)
Travelling Gear, coil of rope for climbing (Athletics), lodestone (Travel), fine pipe for relaxation (Insight)
Time for a quick taste of how the new Architect of Worlds version is turning out.
Long-time followers of this project will remember the two running examples in the draft: planetary systems named Arcadia and Beta Nine that are intended to demonstrate how the system works in practice. I’m in the process of re-working all of the examples, which should be the last step before I share the current draft with my patrons and my readers here.
Here are a couple of tables to suggest some of the results of the revised system.
Arcadia Planetary System
Orbital Radius
Planet Type
Planet Mass
Density
Radius
Surface Gravity
0.254 AU
Terrestrial Planet
0.26
0.75
4470 km
0.53 g
0.380 AU
Terrestrial Planet
1.75
1.09
7460 km
1.28 g
0.580 AU
Terrestrial Planet
1.34
1.10
6800 km
1.17 g
1.00 AU
Terrestrial Planet
0.22
0.74
4250 km
0.49 g
2.12 AU
Planetoid Belt
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
4.08 AU
Large Gas Giant
460
0.20
84100 km
2.64 g
8.12 AU
Medium Gas Giant
180
0.075
85300 km
1.00 g
12.0 AU
Small Gas Giant
52.0
0.14
45800 km
1.00 g
17.6 AU
Failed Core
2.80
1.13
8620 km
1.53 g
Not too many surprises here – this resembles the previous version’s Arcadia system fairly strongly. For some context, the primary star here is a singleton K2V, with about four-fifths the mass and one-third the luminosity of Sol. The third planet (at 0.58 AU) is the Earthlike candidate that I intend to use as an example for the last portion of the design sequence.
Beta Nine Planetary System
Orbital Radius
Planet Type
Planet Mass
Density
Radius
Surface Gravity
0.027 AU
Terrestrial Planet
1.22
1.09
6610 km
1.13 g
0.038 AU
Terrestrial Planet
0.94
1.01
6220 km
0.99 g
0.062 AU
Planetoid Belt
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
0.135 AU
Small Gas Giant
12.0
0.29
22000 km
1.00 g
0.390 AU
Failed Core
2.80
1.16
8540 km
1.56 g
The Beta Nine primary is an M4V red dwarf, with about 0.18 solar masses and less than 1% of Sol’s luminosity. It also has a brown-dwarf companion that cuts off planetary formation too far away from the primary. This planetary system is actually quite a bit different from the previous draft’s Beta Nine. The new model I’m using provides enough planetesimal mass for at least a small gas giant world, and it also allows for the possibility that some of that planetesimal mass “migrates” into the inner system to help form rocky worlds. So we end up with more planets this time, and the terrestrial worlds are considerably bigger.
One inspiration here is the TRAPPIST-1 planetary system. My old model didn’t have much trouble generating a planetary system like that for a small red dwarf, but it needed a pretty massive protoplanetary disk to do it. Under the new model, a red dwarf star doesn’t need an improbably big disk mass to have a chance at Earth-sized worlds. Given how many red dwarfs we’ve found with planets of significant size, I suspect the new model fits the facts better.
I’m hoping to have the new draft out as a free update for my patrons, and as an update to the version posted on this site, within a few days.
Well, my day job is a little less demanding as January turns into February – my two big projects for calendar year 2021 are almost finished and I don’t have any big new projects for 2022. At least not yet. So I’m expecting to make good progress on a couple of creative projects this month. Here’s the main list:
Top Priority (“this is how I’ll judge whether the month has been successful”)
Architect of Worlds: Rewrite sections of the Introduction and Design Sequence segment, based on new research, hopefully simplifying several steps of the sequence having to do with the placement of planets. I may also take this opportunity to update all the worked examples and make all the mathematical notation more consistent.
Human Destiny: Finish the novelette “Remnants” for eventual collection and publication.
Human Destiny: Finish writing an article for the Cepheus Journal about the game-book project.
Second Priority (“work on this as time permits”):
Krava’s Legend: Write a few new chapters of The Sunlit Lands.
Architect of Worlds: Start work on a section describing the structure of the galaxy and of interstellar space, and providing guidelines on how to make maps for interstellar settings.
Human Destiny: Produce a high-level map of terraformed Mars.
Human Destiny: Research and produce a timeline for the terraforming of Mars.
Scorpius Reach: Write a few new chapters of Second Dawn.
Back Burner (“work on this only if everything else gets blocked”):
Architect of Worlds: Start work on a section of special cases and additional worldbuilding material that doesn’t fit into the design sequence.
Krava’s Legend: Write the second short story for the “reader magnet” collection.
Scorpius Reach: Start work on a third edition of the Game of Empire rules for Traveller (or Cepheus Engine)
The work on Architect of Worlds is probably the top priority this month. The end result there will probably be a version 0.8 draft of the Introduction and World Design Sequence. That new document will be a free update for my patrons.
I’m also considering releasing the new partial for free on this blog site, in an attempt to generate some new interest for the project. There have been a lot of changes and improvements since the version that’s currently available to the public. My patrons will continue to get any further updates to that document as free rewards, until there’s another major overhaul or the book as a whole is about ready for layout and release.
Meanwhile, I should be able to complete the novelette “Remnants” this month, and if that ends up being long enough, I’ll likely make it the charged release for February.
The Wild Court is the most recent installment in a high-fantasy series, strongly flavored by elements of Irish mythology.
Áed is the young king of a human realm, struggling with physical disability, the responsibilities of rule, and the growing possibility of a relationship with one of his royal counselors. On the evening of a liminal festival – a time when Áed’s mundane realm and the Otherworld come into contact – his kingdom is savagely attacked by the fae. He soon learns that a war in the faerie realm is spilling over into his own kingdom, threatening widespread death and devastation. He resolves to visit the Otherworld in person, hoping to uncover the causes of the faerie war and end it before it can do any more harm. Several other characters go with him on this quest; he meets both foes and surprising allies along the way.
The greatest strength of this story is its characters. Áed reminds me a little of Maia from The Goblin Emperor; he’s very earnest but also surprisingly clever in a pinch, and he overcomes steep obstacles to be an effective ruler. His supporting cast – his heir Ronan, his advisor Éamon, a fae girl named Erin, and many of the people he meets in the Otherworld – are all interesting and sympathetic. Even the villain of the piece (a truly horrifying figure) is very well-drawn.
E. G. Radcliff has a very clean prose style, with either very good self-editing skills or a sharp editor; I don’t recall being pulled out of the story even once by a copy- or line-editing problem. Her style is always at least workmanlike, and occasionally lyrical. She has a clear eye for the details of character and place, and a gift for making the reader feel part of the story. I found The Wild Court engaging and a very clean read.
One observation I made was that the plot is very straightforward, even a little predictable at times. The story sets up one or two mysteries, but none of these are at all difficult for the reader to unravel before the characters resolve them. That’s not a weakness of this story – not all fantasy tales need to be convoluted and mysterious, after all! The reader’s motivation is to watch a team of brave and clever characters as they deal with personal issues and relationship drama, even as they face down villains and try to end a war. On that basis, The Wild Court succeeds admirably.
I thoroughly enjoyed The Wild Court, and in my experience the story did a very good job of reaching its objectives – once I finished it, I immediately went to pick up the earlier books in the series. Very highly recommended if you enjoy honest high fantasy with a strong Celtic flavor.
Well, the honey and the biscuits are not quite coming out even.
I’m making decent progress on “Remnants,” a new Human Destiny novelette. However, that’s going more slowly than I had expected; I’m discovering that writing a murder mystery is a bit more challenging than my usual genre. I’ve also settled on an indie novel to review before the end of the month, and I’m plowing through that text at a rapid pace. Unfortunately, I don’t think I have enough free hours left before the end of the month to get both tasks finished.
Doing at least one book review a month has to take precedence, so as a result, there will be no charged release for my patrons for January 2022. I’ll most likely be able to finish “Remnants” in the first week or so of February, and that will probably be the next charged release. I haven’t settled on the next major project to get attention, but I suspect I may be looking hard at a major round of revisions to the Architect of Worlds design sequence, based on the new research I mentioned in this post from last week.
Rings in the protoplanetary disk around the young star HD163296 (Image courtesy of Andrea Isella/Rice University)
The science of planetary formation has been advancing in leaps and bounds for the last decade or two, driven by the discovery of thousands of exoplanets and fine-detail imaging of other planetary systems. This has been giving us a lot of insight into not only the history of our own Solar System, but also the general case of planetary formation elsewhere.
With my Architect of Worlds project, I’ve been trying to keep abreast of the current science while designing a world-building system for use in game design and literary work. The current state of the system is pretty good, I think, but it’s a bit complicated. I’ve built a model that tracks the formation of a system’s primary gas giant (if any), follows that planet as it migrates inward (and possibly outward), and uses the results of that evolution to determine the mass and placement of the rest of the planets. Lots of moving parts there, and a few of the steps are kind of unwieldy.
The idea is that it wasn’t specifically the migrations of Jupiter that brought about the architecture we see of the inner Solar System. Instead, the protoplanetary disk probably had several “pressure bumps,” places where infalling particles released gases due to the increasing temperature close to the embryonic Sun. These pressure bumps tended to accumulate dust particles, and created an environment where planetesimals could form and coalesce, without continuing to spiral into the Sun. The authors of the paper predict the presence of three such “pressure bumps,” which ended up giving rise to the rocky inner planets, the gas giants, and the Kuiper Belt objects respectively.
The idea makes a lot of sense, especially since we’ve started to get fine-detail images of young stars and their protoplanetary disks, and we sometimes see exactly the system of “rings” that the model would predict. Take the image that leads the Rice University article, which I’ve included above.
Scientifically, speaking, the neat thing about this new model is that it explains several things that previous models (which assumed a more uniform disk and relied on Jupiter-migrations to make things work out) had trouble with – especially the specific isotopic composition of inner-system as opposed to outer-system material. The new model also doesn’t have any trouble producing a small Mercury or Mars, or a planetoid belt (with mixed composition) between Mars and Jupiter.
From my perspective, it may mean that I can simplify the model on which Architect of Worlds is built, making the whole thing much easier for people to use. I’m going to be reading the literature on this, and thinking about the implications.
A quick post to update things, as we’re moving into the last week of the month. My day job has been insanely busy so far this month, with two major projects coming to a conclusion more or less at the same time. Still, I’ve survived the critical few days and still gotten some creative work done. Fingers crossed that I’ll hit my major milestones by next Monday.
I’ve just finished putting together a new partial draft of the Human Destiny setting bible and game sourcebook. This is the first draft under the assumption that the eventual product will be published as a Cepheus Engine book – the main block of new material is a complete draft of the character design rules, including all the lifepath tables. A PDF of the draft just went out to all of my patrons as a free update.
I’ve also finished polishing up the existing partial draft of a Human Destiny novelette, with the working title of “Remnants.” This is actually the first Human Destiny story I ever started writing, seven or eight years back, and I’m hoping to finish it over the next few days. If I can get that whipped into shape before the end of the month, it will be a charged release for my patrons.
In other news, I have an opportunity to write an article for the Cepheus Journal, the foremost fanzine for the Cepheus Engine family of games. The article will probably be a summary of the Human Destiny setting, with some designer’s notes about ways in which the eventual game book will be distinctive. Cepheus Journal isn’t a paying market, but that’s okay – I’ll bring in more attention for that particular project that way.
Meanwhile, I still need to finish reading a novel or two for review by the end of the month. I’ve got a couple of promising candidates, but we’ll see how that goes.
Eight days to go, and I think I’m ahead of the usual monthly curve. Hopefully nothing unexpected will get in the way.
Here’s another teaser for the Cepheus Engine hack I’m putting together, for the new version of the Human Destiny sourcebook. This is part of the character design rules – the draft list of available “careers” for characters to indulge in during the lifepath generation process.
Again, this list is kind of atypical for a Cepheus Engine game. A few of the careers here are somewhat analogous to the ones you’ll find in the classic space-opera RPG that the engine emulates. Others are not – again, Human Destiny stories are likely to be heavily social-interaction-oriented, in a context of post-scarcity economics and a strong interstellar state. That sets different parameters (and constraints) on the kind of “adventures” that are likely to happen.
Careers List
Activist – Individual who pursues a cause, agitating for social or political change.
Artist – Individual who pursues celebrity status and supplements the Citizen’s Allowance by producing and selling works of art or handicraft.
Athlete – Individual who pursues celebrity status and supplements the Citizen’s Allowance by taking part in one or more competitive sports.
Bureaucrat – Official in an organized bureaucracy, either under the Hegemony or in an éthnos, charged with following the details of administrative process.
Citizen – Individual who subsists almost entirely on the Citizen’s Allowance, and who spends most of their time on entertainment or socializing.
Colonist – Individual who has settled on a more-or-less Earthlike (or terraformed) world and works to support the human community there.
Counselor – Individual who provides psychological care or social services.
Dissident – Individual who has rejected Hegemony society, but still uses some technology and lives in a Free Zone.
Ecological Reclamation Service –Member of the Hegemony’s scientific corps, overseeing wilderness reserves to support and protect the natural ecology.
Entertainer – Individual who pursues celebrity status and supplements the Citizen’s Allowance by performing before an audience.
Feral – Individual who has escaped the Hegemony entirely, by rejecting all technology and living in the deep wilderness.
Guard Service – Member of the Hegemony’s paramilitary force, enforcing the Praxis on planetary surfaces, also (rarely) carrying out annexation against pre-stellar civilizations.
Influencer – Individual who advocates for ideas, products, or services, primarily on the global information grid.
Interstellar Service – Member of the Hegemony’s interstellar paramilitary force, carrying out missions involving peacekeeping, enforcement of the Praxis, and exploration of deep space.
Mediator – Individual who provides negotiation or conflict-resolution services.
Physician – Individual who provides medical care.
Rogue – Individual who frequently engages in deception and subterfuge, whether in violation of the Praxis or not.
Scholar – Individual who is engaged in and has expert knowledge of a science, or some similar formal body of organized knowledge. Also, anyone attending or teaching at an institution of higher learning.
Service Specialist – Individual who provides personal service to others, most often in the hospitality or leisure industries.
Spacer – Individual who works aboard a deep-space outpost or colony, usually on an asteroid or moon.
Technician – Individual who is skilled in designing, building, maintaining, or repairing complex technological systems.
Now that I’ve blocked this out, the rest of the character generation rules should follow without much trouble. We’ll see how much progress I’m able to make over the next week or two.
