SF and Gaming Blog

Thoughts, reviews and opinion on the overlapping worlds of science fiction and gaming.

Games Workshop – Copyright Trolls.

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Tim Hall

From Making Light.

MCA Hogarth, an author and artist …. recently discovered that one of her books, Spots the Space Marine has been blocked from sale on Amazon, after a claim of trademark infringement from Games Workshop.

Since 1987, GW has published a series of games (and ancillary merchandise) get in their “Warhammer 40,000” setting, full of spike-covered pseudo-elves and pseudo-orcs amd chainswords and the like, all set in space (instead of on a planet like their original Warhammer setting). GW has apparently decided that, since they’ve got space marines in their setting, they own the very concept of space marines.

While the copyright lobby screeches about “piracy” and demands ever stricter laws, it’s nonsense like this that demonstrate how badly the current intellectual property regime is broken. Opinion on Making Light (and trust me, these people do know what they’re talking about) is that Games Workshop’s attempts to claim ownership of the name “Space Marine” is unlikely to stand up in court. But they’re targetting people who can’t afford the expense of costly lawyers to defend themselves. This is a company that has issued DCMA takedown notices on people publishing their own photographs of their own Games Workshop chaos spiky creatures.

They should not be allowed to get away with this sort of bullying.

Update: And they haven’t. Amazon have now backed down, belatedly recognising GW’s claim for the trolling it is. Hopefully GW will also realise that all this bad publicity is damaging their brand -  See the Electronic Frontier Foundation for the full story.

Posted in Games | Tagged , | 2 Comments

If Twitter is anything to go by, the way to scare prog-rock drummers is to start talking about Furries.

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

Worst RPGs ever

Posted on January 13, 2013 by Tim Hall

A comment left on another post sent me down the rabbit-hole of the worst RPGs ever.

The less said about “The Unholy Trinity”, the better; all are self-published efforts that as far as I know never saw print editions, and arguably shouldn’t really be considered as proper published games. The first two are notorious purely for the offensive nature of the game content, and only deserve to be flushed down the memory hole. The third, “Hybrid”, is quite literally complete gibberish from beginning to end, and it’s difficult to tell if it’s the ramblings of someone with zero SAN, or the whole thing is an elaborate practical joke by a troll.

Some of those intended as serious games bring back memories. I remember occasional commenter Amadán’s review of Senzar (A rilly kewl game if you’re 14). As for Wraeththu, well, I’ve actually played a convention game using that setting, something I signed up for largely on the reputation of the GM, knowing little or nothing about the game’s background.

At the top of the “bizarre setting” list is this game, based on a series of novels by Storm Constantine. The Wraeththu are hermaphrodite bishonen ubermenschen who are apparently slowly taking over the Earth—and, along the way, converting the occasional human into one of them by transfusing blood into them. Oh yeah, there are only male Wraeththu—and their genitalia look like flowers or anemones.

Although that RPG.net piece more or less admits that the problem with the Wraeththu game was more down to the clunky system that didn’t fit the setting. The game I played didn’t use that system, fortunately. Don’t remember much about the actual game now, suspect it may even pre-date the publication of the official RPG, except I think the player characters were all human, and the hermaphrodite bishonen ubermenschen of the setting were the opposition. Perhaps that premise would have made for a better RPG?

Posted in Games | 1 Comment

FATE Core vs. The Kalyr RPG

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Tim Hall

Now that FATE Core is out there, I’m wondering what to do with the FATE-based game I’ve had in the works for ages. It’s been on the back-burner of late, but maybe now is the time to pick up the project again.

For those of you unfamiliar with the project, the game is optimised for play-by-post rather than tabletop gaming, and as such some of the mechanics are streamlined and simplified. The setting comes from my long-running science-fantasy game I’ve been running online for years, heavily influenced by the novels of Jack Vance, amongst others.

The most significant changes are:

  • No Stunts. I’ve got a few tweaks to the skill system to allow for things like specialisations, and slightly expanded the role of Aspects.
  • Combat used the old Fudge-style simultaneous rounds rather than the alternate rounds of more recent builds of Fate, resulting in combat that’s round-based rather than turn-based. I find this works better for asynchronous play across multiple time zones.
  • No stress tracks. Losing a round in combat goes straight through to consequences. This speeds up combat, which would otherwise be too slow.

FATE Core has redefined a lot of game terms, for example, “Manoeuvres” have become “Create an Advantage”, and the game text needs to be revised to be consistent with this.

At the moment I’m keeping the simultaneous combat rounds and lack of stress tracks. Stunts on the other hand, I’m still not completely sure about. Early drafts included Stunts, later drafts removed them (Awesome Adventures was an influence here). FATE Core, along with every other FATE game I’ve read with the exception of Awesome Adventures, makes Stunts an important part of the game, which makes me think I ought to revisit this decision. Again.

And the game still needs a catchy and evocative name…

Posted in Kalyr RPG | 1 Comment

It is difficut to read this piece about Azidoazide Azides without thinking of my old school Chemistry teacher Mr Mullins. Or, for that matter, The Alchemists’ Guild of Ankh-Morpork.

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

Fate Core

Posted on December 29, 2012 by Tim Hall

Just as crowdfunding has revolutionised the independent music sector, it’s been having a similar effect on the world of roleplaying games. Most recently, Evil Hat Productions‘ Kickstarter for Fate Core has been a runaway success, reaching it’s initial target within hours, then hitting stretch goal after stretch goal.

Fate has to be one of the most revolutionaly pencil-and-paper game engines to be developed over the past decade or so. It grew out of Fudge, with “Aspects” as a very elegant mechanic improving on what I felt were Fudge’s weaknesses. Games such as the two-fisted pulp action Spirit of the Century, the hard-SF space opera of Diaspora, and the licenced monster-mash urban fantasy of Dresden Files built on Fate’s core engine adding new mechanics and game tools to support many genres and styles of play. It developed the so-called “Fate Fractal”, in which everything from equipment to an entire nation can be modelled as a character. Fate Core aims to be an improved and streamlined core engine on which the next generation of Fate games can be built.

Pledge just a quid (although most people seem to have pledged far more than this) in order to get the finished printed book), and you can download the current laid-out version of the core rules. No art, and some details may be tweaked for the final release, but it’s a complete game.

If Fate is your sort of game, and you haven’t contributed yet, what are you waiting for?

Posted in Games | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

RIP Gerry Anderson

Posted on December 29, 2012 by Tim Hall

Gerry Anderson, who died at Christmas, was a major part of my childhood. As noted science-fiction author Alastair Reynolds said on Twitter, Anderson created a future that seemed believable and lived-in. He filled the loosely-linked universes of Stingray, Thunderbirds and Captain Scarlet with vast engineering projects, all lovingly created in miniature, then frequently blown to bits at the end of the episode. And it was all made in my home town of Slough, in an industrial unit so anonymous nobody is now completely sure which one it was.

It’s remakable how well his 60s work stands the test of time, and has been proved by the number of times it’s been repeated to enthrall new generations. Compare it with the cardboard and plasticene of Dr Who from the same period, for example. And it’s all from an age where children’s TV weren’t just glorified toy marketing campaigns. I don’t think there ever were toys made of half the machines from Thunderbirds.

And we mustn’t forget Barry Gray’s magificent scores, which I’m sure had an effect on my taste in music over the following decades. How many other TV series had incidental music still memorable after 40 years?

So farewell Gerry. You were someone who knew how to capture the imagination of every seven year old.

Posted in Science Fiction | Tagged | 5 Comments

When you have The Monster From The ID from Forbidden Planet hauled up before Joe McCarthy’s House Unamerican Activities Committee, you know you’re in a game run by Marcus L Rowland.

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Tim Hall | Comments Off

What Spooks Think of PowerPoint

Posted on October 25, 2012 by Tim Hall

This Stratfor Glossary of Useful, Baffling and Strange Intelligence Terms is an amusing and entertaining read, regardless of what you think of ethics of Wikileaks. I like the term “Clancy” meaning, “Somebody who has read a lot of Tom Clancy novels and thinks he knows the Craft. Total moron“. If you’re planning on writing fiction or running an RPG with an espionage-based theme, the whole thing is gold. Which explains why the link came via author Charlie Stross.

Best one for me is what they say about Microsoft Powerpoint

An efficient means for turning complex and sophisticated analysis into half-witted bullets. If you can’t read a 50 page analysis before invading a country or buying a company, you probably shouldn’t be in the business.

Single most destructive invention known to man.

This is not the first time PowerPoint has been blamed for the decline of Western civilisation…

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Monte Cook bails on Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Tim Hall

Wizards of the Coast have been working away on a new edition of the iconic tabletop pencil-and-paper roleplaying game Dungeons and Dragons for some time. It’s prompted much speculation on the net over direction the new edition might take.

The previous 4th edition had radically changed many aspects of the game, and had rather divided the fanbase. To make things worst, they open-sourced the rules for the previous third edition, which resulted in them competing with several rival versions of the game, from Paizo’s well-supported Pathfinder RPG based on the superseded Third Edition, to a slew of small-press games under the loose banner of the “Old School Renaissance”, all based on much earlier editions.

With the new edition, they announced ambitious plans to reunify the whole thing, a seeming impossible task of reconciling different groups of fans who really want to play what had in effect become several completely different games. One wonders whether such a thing is even possible, let alone desirable.

When the lead designer quits mid-project, it’s a sign things are not going well.

On Monte Cook’s Livejournal:

Last week I decided that I would leave my contract position with Wizards of the Coast. I am no longer working on Dungeons & Dragons, although I may provide occasional consultation in the future. My decision is one based on differences of opinion with the company. However, I want to take this time to stress that my differences were not with my fellow designers, Rob Schwalb and Bruce Cordell. I enjoyed every moment of working with them over the past year. I have faith that they’ll create a fun game. I’m rooting for them.

Due to my non-disclosure agreement, as well as a desire to keep things on a professional level, I have no intention of going into further detail at this time. (Mostly, I just hate drama, and would rather talk about more interesting things.)

The net is awash with talk of the whole thing going horribly pear-shaped. Now, I know nothing about the direction the game was supposed to be taking, and haven’t played much D&D since 1st/2nd edition (I’m that old!). But it does sound a bit like an archetypal failed large-scale IT project, doomed from the start by over-ambitious and contradictory requirements. Add a few egos and some corporate politics, and it’s easy to see how easily such a project might run into trouble.

It’s worth noting that Dungeons and Dragons is relatively unusual in that the entire game has changed almost out of all recognition between editions, and other games which had done similar things had unhappy histories. Call of Chulhu, for example is still recognisably the same game as it was back in the early 1980s, while Traveller, after a complicated and somewhat messy history has now reverted to something looking a lot like the classic late 70s rules, under the stewardship of Mongoose games.

I don’t really have a dog in this fight, since my tastes have moved away from the rules-heavy combat-centric approach of D&D to more lightweight games that emphasise story and setting. But it will be very interesting to see how this all pans out.

Posted in Games | Tagged | 7 Comments