Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Savage Land

Sorry, folks...my internet at the house has been down the last couple-few days, leaving me unable to post and/or rant in my usual fashion. No idea when this will be resolved...this is part of the challenge of living in a "savage land" like Paraguay.

[since January, I have been strongly considering starting a blog specifically about being an American living residing in Paraguay, but my wife has asked that I do NOT, unless it is under an assumed name. She knows there's a lot of negative things I could and would say and she doesn't want it getting back to the folks we know here and offending anyone. I know some of my readers have expressed interest in the subject...sorry, but you won't find any links from this blog anytime soon]

So here I am sitting in what passes for a coffee shop (a hotel restaurant that serves coffee in the morning...people really don't do "breakfast" in Paraguay; and this from a culture that puts egg on everything! Even Washington D.C. has places that do breakfast till 9:30ish...but I'm digressing...again), writing apologetic emails to folks who've ordered books that haven't got 'em yet.

[*sigh*]

Anyhoo, I HAVE been working quite a bit on the "new book," though dammit, it really is almost entirely "new," both content-wise and design-wise. All you people who demanded space opera...fine. I'm doing space opera.

But it ain't B/X space opera...or even Traveller. Which means it's going to need testing...testing that cannot be accomplished in Paraguay unfortunately, as I'm purposefully designing a game that cannot be played "on-line." Which is stupidly obtuse of me, I suppose (given the technological climate of today's RPG crowd)...but acting recalcitrant isn't anything new over at Ye Old B/X Blackrazor blog.

Baron Karza...much scarier than Vader.
*ahem* So, yeah...play-testers will be wanted. Not yet, probably not soon. I've got a bunch of random tables to devise still. But it's coming along. No, it's not Star Wars and it's waaaaay far away from Trek, but it should still have cybernetic replacement because...you know...borgs. If I could find a way to make the Micronauts' "body banks" work with the setting I would. THAT shit is f'd UP...and I love it.

[I'll have to do a post on Ye Old Body Banks sometime. The Micronauts comics went to a lot of "dark places," back in the day. Where's the HBO series based on THAT intellectual property?]

Okay, I'm outa' here for now. Yak at you more soon (hope hope).


9 comments:

  1. I was curious about the food. Not sure how that could offend someone but I suppose why not? So many are offended easily this days. So silly.

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    1. @ Whisk:

      You'd be surprised. People can get really worked up just for saying you prefer the ambience, service, or (God forbid!) quality of grilled meat at an Argentine restaurant (in Asuncion) over a traditional Paraguayan one. Really.

      And, of course, I wouldn't limit myself to talking about food.
      ; )

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    2. I've gotten emails where someone was offended by something on my blog, and told me that they could barely eat their breakfast because of what I wrote.

      Don't like what I write. Don't read my blog.

      Delete
    3. @ Happy:

      Of course, of course...I'm not actually worried about creating (or losing) readership on such a project, though. I'm talking about offending people that we know here...our friends, colleagues of my wife, etc. For being the capital of the country, Asuncion has kind of a "small town feel" to it, and the chance of me alienating folks with my (sometimes inflammatory) writing is not a risk we're interested in taking.

      Yes, folks...sometimes there are "real world" repercussions to the shit you throw around the internet.
      ; )

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  2. I am a huge Micronauts fan. I look forward to hearing more about anything related to that concept.

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    1. @ BA:

      I could probably do a whole series of posts on the Micronauts. I wish there was a collection of the old Marvel comics in trade paperback form (there ain't).

      Unfortunately, the Micros don't really work with my current concept...and tell the truth, the setting (while super-cool) doesn't really feel like good gaming material...a little too "railroad-y" despite the mixed "party of adventurers" on display. And without the actual setting, individual elements don't look like they'd work out of context.

      But maybe I'm wrong. Might just need the right system.

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  3. Looking forward to hearing more on the space opera book. Not Star Wars and far from Trek. Sounds intriguing...

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  4. ...actually, hopefully without sounding impatient, I was curious when we might hear more about the unique sci-fi project...

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