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Status Report (17 May 2025)

Status Report (17 May 2025)

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This is the first update to my writing blog in over two months, and I’ve got a lot to discuss.

Where I’ve Been

My absence over the past few months can be tied back to the results of last year’s elections here in the United States. I have plenty more to say about that, you may be sure, but not in this space – this blog is solely for my creative work and isn’t intended as a current-events commentary. Still, the immediate impact of those elections on my personal and professional life was profound. I was, after all, employed by the US federal government at the time.

Suffice it to day that late in January, my wife and I looked at our finances, and realized that it would in fact be feasible for me to retire now, rather than three or four years from now as was my original plan. Watching what was already happening elsewhere in the federal government, what was already happening in my own piece of it, we decided that was the best move to make. I put in for retirement, and as of today (17 May 2025) that’s in effect.

However, that meant I had less than four months to finish one last really big project for my office. This at a time when almost daily, major changes were being imposed on my workplace that made actually doing that work more and more difficult.

I managed to get it done – that final project was completed two days before my retirement – but at the cost of almost all my creative production from about the end of February. After taking care of my other commitments, I just didn’t have the time or the emotional resources to focus on creative work at the end of each day.

So that’s why I haven’t updated this blog, or my Kofi page, or most of my other online presence, since early March.

Fortunately, that dry spell is over. I’m now retired, and I have no plan to look for a new full-time job anytime soon. Which means I now have the time – and, once I’ve adjusted to the new state of affairs, the energy – to get busy with my own projects once again.

In short: I’m back.

Creative Projects

So, in which creative projects do I intend to start investing some of my newly available time?

Architect of Worlds

At the moment I’m mostly in maintenance mode for Architect of Worlds. I’ve started collecting some notes for an eventual second edition of the book, but it may be a few years before I feel prepared to seriously start work on that. In the meantime, Ken Burnside and I keep collecting errata and releasing new minor updates to the book.

Ken and I also need to have a discussion about possible automation for the design sequences in the book. In particular, whether we want to work with someone to produce software that can be sold, or whether we want to take a different approach. That discussion is months overdue, and there are people who have done great work producing candidate software that have been in limbo because I just haven’t had the time to give the matter my full attention. Time to get that figured out.

Meanwhile, I think I have enough material to start producing at least one or two blog posts a month on new research or extra “rules” for Architect of Worlds. Special cases, new design sequences for additional detail, worked examples, all of those are possible.

The “Human Destiny” Universe

The Human Destiny setting is my primary space-opera universe under development.

Before my hiatus, I was working on using Architect of Worlds to produce short write-ups for specific star systems in the Human Destiny universe, and publishing those via my Kofi page. I’d like to get started with that once more, and hopefully get up to producing at least one new writeup per month. All this material will eventually go into an “atlas of human space” that might be published as a complete book.

I also want to get back to serious design work on the Human Destiny tabletop RPG, using some game system that has a third-party-creator-friendly licensing scheme. Most likely candidates are Chaosium’s Basic Roleplaying engine, and the Modiphius 2d20 engine.

Finally, I have three or four new pieces of fiction in this setting at various stages of development. Plus a couple of previously published works that I’m considering taking down, re-working, and republishing on a more creator-friendly platform. (Self-publishing on Amazon certainly makes money for Amazon, but the available evidence suggests it doesn’t do much for most authors.) Those stories are likely to appear as I find my hindbrain has finished processing them.

Writing Fan-Fiction

The one creative outlet I did manage to pursue over the past few months has been writing some fan-fiction, specifically Star Trek: Lower Decks fan-fiction. That’s been so much fun (not to mention useful therapy for stressful times) that I’m likely to continue with it. The stories I’ve written thus far are all available on Archive of Our Own: Lower Decks Continues.

The portion of my subconscious mind that I call “my muse” also handed me another insanely ambitious fan-fiction idea recently: write a sequel to the classic Arthur C. Clarke novel The City and the Stars. As often happens, I keep telling my muse to drop the idea, and she keeps ignoring me and handing me concept after concept in support of it. I suspect I’m going to have to write the thing just to get her to shut up about it.

Other Projects

There’s also my Fourth Millennium historical-fantasy setting, which got a fair amount of my attention last year and will probably rise back to the top of the queue at some point.

One project that’s long overdue: over the past couple of years, I’ve purchased several tabletop games that I’ve just never had time to bring to the table. Now that most of my days are going to have plenty of free hours, that’s going on the agenda. Some of those titles are nicely evocative and thematic, and they may well suggest some ideas for stories. I won’t know until I’ve tried them out . . .

Finally, I’m still working on a second undergraduate degree, and eventually a master’s degree, from the Open University. That’s going to continue, and in fact over the next 2-3 weeks it will take up a significant chunk of time – final assignments and exams are coming up. By next fall I’ll likely be enrolled in a couple of new courses. Still, with my day job no longer a factor, I expect I’ll be able to be a better student and still get a lot more creative work done.

Current Status

So there it is – I’m on the cusp of a major realignment in my time and creative work. I plan to spend what’s left of May just adjusting to my new status, working on my university courses, and starting to build some new habits. You may see some new work from me before the first of June, but I’m not prepared to make any promises.

About the beginning of June, though, you can expect to see the monthly planning message resume, and I’ll hopefully be producing new items on a regular basis for the first time since early this year.

My thanks for everyone’s patience. Looking forward to the new adventure . . .

Rethinking the “Human Destiny” RPG

Rethinking the “Human Destiny” RPG

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Art by Rick Guidice

It’s about time for me to swing back to working on the Human Destiny setting bible and RPG sourcebook, and that project is going to get a new approach this time around.

I submitted a partial draft of the setting to the Chaosium design challenge last year, and it didn’t do well. Didn’t even make the short-list, in fact. Which honestly doesn’t surprise me too much. I suspect they were looking for material that was narrowly focused on a working RPG, not the fragmentary setting bible I handed them. Lesson learned.

(Ironically, this is the same problem we ran into on a previous RPG design project I was involved with: Transhuman Space. Our team produced what I still consider a brilliant piece of world-building, but we didn’t develop a clear concept of what the “canonical adventure” would be in the setting. As a result, for too many readers it wasn’t clear what player characters were supposed to do in that universe. Later designers had to come back and provide that kind of on-ramp into the setting, so potential players had something to work with.)

So the project has been simmering in the back of my brain for a while now, while I’ve been working on the Atlas of the Human Protectorate. That project in turn has been causing me to do some more world-building in the setting. I think I have a high concept for that narrow focus:

Adventurers in the Human Destiny universe will be human agents of the Hegemony, charged with promoting human maturity and participation in the interstellar community. This will usually involve supporting human exploration of the galaxy, colonization of new worlds, and enforcement of the Hegemony’s guiding principles (the Praxis).

So human characters will usually be members of the Hegemony’s core services, such as the Ecological Service (planetary exploration and biosphere protection), the Guard (enforcement of the Praxis), or the Interstellar Service (interstellar exploration and colonial support). Most missions will involve trouble-shooting and problem-solving.

Missions will usually be set away from Earth. Earth is too “civilized,” too sedate. Humans on Earth are in a post-scarcity environment and subject to constant surveillance, so there’s little room for “adventure.” By moving the focus of the RPG away from Earth, I can set aside many pages of world-building detail that aren’t germane to the adventuring life.

Meanwhile, out on the frontier, resources are more limited, space and untamed wilderness are dangerous environments, there are worlds to explore and mysteries to solve, and human colonists are more likely to find ways to bend or break the Praxis. More problems to solve, more room for conflict, more adventure to be had.

The assumption will be that adventurers are loyal to the Hegemony and the Praxis, although the right way to interpret the Praxis won’t always be obvious. As adventurers develop their capabilities and successfully solve problems, they’ll earn social capital within the Hegemony, providing a reward structure.

If I were to come up with an elevator pitch for this RPG, I would probably say something like “Star Trek meets David Brin’s Uplift stories.” Adventurers will resemble Starfleet officers in some ways: competent, motivated, idealistic people, working in a loose chain of command but with a great deal of independence. The Hegemony and its Praxis would fill a dramatic role similar to the Federation and its Prime Directive. On the other hand, the details will be very different, especially since humans are very much not in charge in the Hegemony as a whole, and human independence has strict limits.

At this point, I’m not sure if I’m going to stick with the Chaosium BRP system for this project. I’m tired of being a game-system nomad with it. BRP is something like the fourth or fifth rules system I’ve considered for Human Destiny, and I really need to settle on one and push forward with it.

On the other hand, lately I’ve been messing with the Modiphius 2d20 system, current home for the Dune, John Carter, Space: 1999, and Star Trek RPGs. That system has a lot of features that I like, and it’s also under a very third-party-friendly licensing scheme, so there’s that.

More to come.

A Hero for the John Carter of Mars RPG

A Hero for the John Carter of Mars RPG

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As of today, I’m suddenly enjoying an outbreak of freedom. I’ve finished my work on university courses for this academic year, and all my major creative projects with deadlines are done too. I still have a pile of work to do for the office, but other than that I’m remarkably uncommitted for the next few months.

So this evening I decided to let my muse pester me a bit, and sat down to tinker with the John Carter of Mars RPG from Modiphius. What follows is a character who appeared unbidden in the back of my mind a few days ago. I’m still trying to decide what to do with him. Some Edgar Rice Burroughs fan-fiction? Probably not, but we’ll see if my muse will let me leave this Verginian on the shelf . . .

Marcus Verginius

Disciplined Earthborn Soldier

Marcus Verginius is a very old man, although he does not know how old he is, for he remembers no childhood and has not aged as other men do. His earliest memories are of a farm in the Latin hills, in the time of the last war against Carthage. Whether he was born there or simply remembers living there long ago, he cannot be certain.

For as long as he can remember, Marcus has been a soldier, serving in the legions of the Roman Republic in war after war. Most recently, he was primus pilus and then praefectus castrorum in Legio XXVII, one of the legions raised by C. Julius Caesar for his war against the Pompeian faction. After Caesar left Egypt, the legion remained behind to support the rule of Rome’s ally, Queen Cleopatra VII.

A few months later, while leading a punitive expedition against Egyptian brigands, Marcus vanished and was never seen again (at least on Earth). Instead, after a bizarre adventure, Marcus found himself naked and alone on a strange world: on Barsoom, over 1900 Earth-years before the arrival of John Carter.

Attributes

  • Daring: 7
  • Cunning: 4
  • Empathy: 3
  • Might: 8
  • Passion: 6
  • Reason: 6

Stress Trackers

  • Confusion: 6
  • Fear: 7
  • Injury: 8

Talents

Battle Valor (Grade 1)

You are a true warrior and steadfast soldier, at home in the chaos and carnage of war and always willing to meet your fate with sword and pistol in hand.

  • Circumstance: When suffering Fear damage in combat.
  • Effect: You may ignore the first 2 points of stress inflicted to your Fear stress track taken during combat. You suffer Fear damage normally after this during a combat scene or from other situations.

Break the Line (Grade 2)

Your skill with a sword is such that no lesser foe can hope to stand against you. In past battles, you have often been the first to break through an enemy’s line or shield-wall.

  • Circumstance: When wielding a sword.
  • Effect: You automatically defeat 2 minions as part of your action. You may spend additional Momentum to defeat more at the cost of 1 Momentum per additional minion.

Earthborn Strength (Grade 3)

You are tenacious and your Earthborn strength and years of experience give you a substantial edge in battle.

  • Circumstance: In melee combat.
  • Effect: You can always use Might for melee attack and defense and you do an additional 1 die of damage with melee attacks.

Leaps and Bounds (Grade 2)

Your Earthborn muscles allow you to leap great distances and perform great feats of strength while on Barsoom.

  • Circumstance: When moving on Barsoom and planets with similar gravity.
  • Effect: You may close one range category automatically, ignoring any obstacles or intervening terrain as long as you have clearance and space to leap between your starting point and destination. You may spend 1 Momentum to move an additional range category.

Logical Orator (Grade 2)

You have the benefits of a top-notch Greek education, and are accomplished at using both reason and rhetoric to convince others.

  • Circumstance: When attempting to persuade or convince an audience.
  • Effect: You can always use Reason to aid in a persuasive attempt. In addition, you can roll 1 bonus d20 on the test.

Flaw

Code of Honor

You lose 3 Momentum if you break your word, refuse to defend the innocent form harm, or otherwise act dishonorably.

Renown and Accolades

Renown: 0