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Author: Scott
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State of Decay by James Knapp
This book wouldn’t let me go when it was time to sleep last night.
For the first long bit, the book is a dystopian near future police thriller. There is one obvious twist: Heinlein Inc. has been producing reviors– technologically reanimated corpses– for a while now. They fight wars for the US government, and are smuggled in/imported for other grunt labor.
The book has four point-of-view characters who get regular turns– no one gets only half the chapters of the others. Two link up soon and substantially: Nico and Faye, who are FBI and police respectively. The other two tie in less strongly, but their perspective provides useful balance to the world view: Calliope and Zoe. Zoe has a strange perspective– it’s clear she has a lot of problems– but it’s also clear that she’s going to be an important POV for the sequel. Speaking of which: the story ends at a good break point, it feels like a completed novel. You might be content to call this a stand alone novel, until Nico’s final scene, which clearly signposts a continuing storyline.
The characters are all good and interesting, but Nico has top billing. The other characters all compliment his story well, but the driving force of the story is his. In many ways, his is the only life that is enviable– everyone else is wrestling squalor, exhaustion, and third class status.
All in all, a good book, with a very interesting twist that develops throughout the second half of the novel. I’ll be looking for the sequel. [It’s called THE SILENT ARMY, according to the author’s blog.]
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Stalking Diaspora
Doyce has a couple of good posts for Diaspora: Being Immortal and a huge Session One post. Let the stalking begin. 😉
Judd’s game, a thread on ENWorld.
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Aces and Eights resources
Our upcoming game is Aces and Eights, and we’ll be playing members of a wagon train heading west. Since there’s a lot of changes from real world history, and it’s a new system to us, I thought I’d dig up some links.
The history of the continent is wildly different, due to a much earlier civil war. This annotated map does a good job of showing the various countries and conflict zones. This timeline is a very short “one page” of differences that setup the map above.
The download page has excerpts from the rulebook and many other interesting references, including objects to hide behind in a shootout, silhouettes, a stage schedule, the alternative history excerpt, and so on.
There are two bits of errata linked on their website: Basic Combat and Wounds Modifiers Primitive Ranged Weapons.
The revised chapter 6.5, detailed backgrounds, is a PDF. It has the 01-92 “parents legitimate” fix, and probably a few more. Kenzerco also posted up tutorial videos for the combat system. For a couple of nice combat reference PDFs, see this post.
From RPG.net, there’s a quick example of play that went pretty well. (If you scroll down, you get the 7 session story.) The play log and characters are here. They just started a sequel game here.
Despite extensive searching, I haven’t found good third party or personal guides to the system. I know that I often appreciate different explanations and guides– sometimes the third time, you hit on the formula that explains it perfectly.
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Next Game Selected
Today we met and discussed the options for our next game. After much debate, we decided that the next game we play will be Aces and Eights. We’ll get together next weekend and create characters. We will make characters as a part of a wagon train, heading west to seek a better life. We’re aiming for a detailed campaign– somewhat complex and a little detail oriented to start with.
Next weekend, we’ll get together at 3 pm, watch an episode of a western show to get on the same page, and make characters ready to head west.
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Farthing by Jo Walton
This is a great alternate history mystery, with two engaging and well drawn main characters.
Lucy is a great window into the aristocracy, with enough bristling at the system to make her sympathetic, but enough background so she makes sense. Inspector Carmichael, from Scotland Yard, is no fool, but there is quite a tangle to work through on the murder.
Along the way, the variations in belief and sympathy from the different characters keeps the book feeling real– each character comes from its own place and has its own prejudices. The main characters, fortunately, are quite progressive in their mindset, which does ease a modern viewer into their viewpoints.
I liked this one enough that I’m looking going to check out the rest of the trilogy (Ha’penny and Half a Crown). Though I wonder where they’ll launch from– these characters reached a strong break in their story. I wonder if we’ll follow new people in the next books.
A great collection of very interesting and quirky short stories. I look forward to reading just about anything she cares to publish.
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The Plot by Will Eisner
The Plot is an explanation of the The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. It traces their historical development, from an unrelated book published in 1848 [The Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu], copied with slight renaming into the first “Protocols” by just changing the dialogue to a “report”, and mutant descendants from there.
It’s a thorough and largely scholarly look, told as a comic book. It works, particularly given Eisner’s strengths… but for me, it would have worked as well as a long prose pamphlet.
An interesting, personal look at economics and the long depression of the 1930s, written by a contemporary who has no idea that it’s all going to work out. His perspective is interesting; like many of us, he believes himself more independent than he proves to be, but he carefully explains his thoughts and thinking.
Interestingly, very little of the social comes through– you hear about his business continuing to be slow, but not how that affects what’s served at dinner. He sounds like a great public speaker, and proved a good student. The “tips” about investing are solid and conventional– but the growing awareness that you can’t predict the market or time things well is lived and very convincing.
In the end, it’s a very local look at national events… and a fascinating look at Youngstown, during the 1930s.
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More on compels
From the mailing list Xarlen asks
The way I conceptualize Compels, it’s really easy to toss in complications in the middle and the end of the various stories. That’s when there’s clear conflict and the player has to make their choices.
But it’s also important to get the PCs some juice before things are ratcheted up to that point. In DF, players WILL start with low refresh.
So, how do you really toss compels and make complications at the beginning? Aside from the old “You have an Arch Nemesis As an Aspect, here’s a fate point for them to pop up later.”
Fred answers,
Compels are a tool for how I add pressure to the early events of the story.
My basic storyline might be “okay, so there’s been a murder, and you’ve got to solve it”, but compels would be how I add, “while trying to keep your marriage from falling apart” and “before the police catch up with you, since you’ve been framed for it”. Pressure becomes the motive that drives things forward.
Jan gives his own example,
“You’re a ‘Hot-Headed Kinetomancer’? Okay. So: You’ve been enjoyed a quiet evening in your local haunt when this group of low-level talents walk in, laughing among themselves about some in-joke. As they sidle up to the bar, you hear one of them crack a joke at the expense of your mentor, and that _really_ gets your bile up. Go ahead.”
In effect, start with the compels on generic things — temper, financial (“In Debt to a Loan Shark”) or social situation (“My GF hates what I do”). FATE is spent, action is had, and all things are good.