This week’s missive from Kris Johnson calling us to arms was outstanding, and must be shared.

Did someone say “Gunpowder Plot”? That means no crossbows, no rocket launchers, no gravity guns, no crowbars and no alien derezzers. Guy Fawkes wouldn’t have any of it, gentlemen!

But Guy blew it, and not in the way he intended. His little plot might
have gone more to his liking if he’d added zero-point energy weapons and red-hot rebar to the mix.

I, for one, refuse to limit myself to gunpowder in deference to a
FAILURE, sirs! I will use every resource, be it of terrestrial origin
or brought here by dimension-hopping freakshows, to blast your sorry faces to oblivion!

Remember, remember, the fifth of November
The Crossbow with Rebar so Hot
I can think of no reason
The Crossbow with Rebar
Should ever be forgot.
Shotgun, shotgun, I double-tap
To separate your skull from cap.
A rocket launched into your eye
Across the screen your corpse does fly;
my laser tripmine laid in wait
To halt your dash and foul your gait.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, WASD!
Holloa boys, holloa boys, the winner, it’s me!

Spaceship!

The plot: your spaceship has broken down four days out of your next port, and you only have two days of oxygen left. You must fix the ship…or die.

From the intro to the game:

The alarm sounds and you’re moving before you even notice the shrill whine. You’ve gone through hundreds of these decompression drills and the movements required are pretty much routine: move the arms, put the torso on, seal yourself in and done! Now, just wait for the all-clear signal that sends you back to bed and the dream about… something, there was a parade, wasn’t there?

A few seconds pass. Something’s wrong – the all-clear should have sounded by now. The alarm, muffled by the spacesuit, is quieter but still there… and is there some hissing also? What’s going on?

The sounds suddenly stop. You notice your heavy breathing, the only audible thing on the ship. The alarm lights are still flashing, though. The realisation snaps you fully awake: no drill. The ship has decompressed: all atmosphere has escaped. If not for your quick reaction to the alarm, you would be dead. A quick check of your spacesuit: all systems nominal, oxygen full: enough for 48 hours. Pity you’re four days away from Nineteen. A quick glance out the porthole reveals the engines have stopped. You’re stuck, alone, adrift in the middle of space in a leaky ship, 4 days away from help, with 2 days of air.

This must be a Thursday

Download the game from IFDB or the game’s web site. If you like it, be sure to comment and rate it on it’s IFDB home page.

• Episode 1: Dreams
• Episode 2: Bell, Book, and Candle

From Raina’s point of view(played and written by Rachel Ross):

I didn’t throw up. I still wanted to.

The attacker was completely frozen, sword upraised. The hands were suspended by him, in mid air. Suspended, severed hands. Ralph stood, staring at the stumps of his wrists, where bone and tendon and nerve were all neatly cut and mysteriously cauterized. I didn’t really want to look that hard. Rex had the smart idea to grab the severed hands. I should have, but I was, frankly, scared. Anyway, I’m glad someone did. Clockwork stuck them in his pockets. Even writing that makes my stomach churn. Clockwork (his real name is Michael) got us all (and the frozen attacker, who was manhandled a bit in the process – I am sure I heard a fingerbone snap) bundled into Rex’s mustang, and we ended up at some little place, I guess it was a bar. There was a woman there named Elizabeth, who took Ralph out back (we watched from a distance) and magically re-connected his hands, somehow. (No other word fits any of this. Magic.) She looked at some cards first, and traced a glowing blue pattern that had something to do with the large flat stone on the ground by them. Glowing blue like the blue that came from the book. Glowing blue patterns seem to be a theme here, because when Ralph came back, there were glowing blue patterns all around his wrists where the hands had been connected. “Magical duct tape” Rex said. Surprisingly clever for Rex.

Michael was out there, by a tree, smoking, and asked me about what I had done with that book. I told him that I had no idea. I still have no idea. He told me to find the bell, to keep the book safe (or words to that effect, it was a long night) and to learn more about who wrote the book. He said it was written in the “First Language”. I don’t know how I managed to pronounce a page of “First Language” but I didn’t read it with comprehension, that’s for sure. But I told him – and it was true – it was like the page wanted to be read. It was the only page I could have read. I didn’t like the idea of taking the book to begin with, but now I don’t want to let it out of my sight.

We went inside the bar, and reconnoitered, and eventually met for breakfast the next day – including Michael. The woman that stabbed Jay showed up and threatened us right in the restaurant! And then Rex pulled a big gun right in the restaurant. I don’t think ANY size tip would cover that. The woman is named Melisande, and she knew Michael, and apparently they are on “opposite sides” of whatever this conflict is, but they didn’t physically kill each other in the restaurant. She said that she wanted the book and candle, and then she would release our parents. Our parents? What? If I were being logical I should have given the book back right there, to ensure my parents’ safety. But I am hoping (against hope) she’s bluffing. I mean, I don’t see my folks every day so I didn’t assume they were gone. It all happened so fast I hardly had time to react – especially because Rex was pulling out a gun. Melisande said “Paris will be Destroyed” but I don’t know what she meant by that. She pointed at Rex and said something in another language. And vanished, fortunately before anyone got shot. She sort of, how do I put this? Turned flat and winked out of the dimension. It wasn’t like you’d expect from watching movie special effects. I guess there is no reason that movies would get it right, anyway. But we got out of there before anyone realized that, yes, we had pulled a gun on a crazy woman in a restaurant.

Michael told us to look for the bell, he would look for the idol, before the “Children of the Dragon Cult” could get it. I didn’t know what idol he meant, at the time.

Jay got out of the hospital and met us somewhere in here. I shouldn’t have waited so long to write this down, but I had to give it some mental distance before I could face it.

So Ralph and Chet (I decided I should stop calling him “Weedy” in my head) and I went back to Willoughby to look into the bell’s history, and Rex and Esteban went off to contact Jay. I think.

In WIlloughby we went to the Historical Society, which led us to the estate that belongs to Petunia McGinnis, last remaining grandchild of the Van Gorders. She was very hospitable and sweet, and let me rummage through her attic boxes looking for the sales slip from the estate sale back in the 50s, and gave Chet all the lemonade he could drink. After a couple of (genuinely interesting) hours, I found it had gone to a Professor Arthur Chubblewit (must remember that name later, when looking for novel ideas) at Cleveland State U. Dept. of Antiquities.

So we went over there. Even though it’s a Sunday, there was an off chance we’d catch him. Providentially, he was – but he wasn’t pleased to see us investigating the bell. He gave us a stern “don’t stick your nose into this, it will ruin your life, it contains forces you cannot control” sort of speech, about it opening a portal to another world (wait, what? I had no idea!), if you had the book and candle (I did NOT produce the book or candle at this point) and he looked sincerely concerned about it. When I told him that it might cost our parents their lives, and Ralph pointed out that it had something to do with his family history, well, the good Professor grudgingly gave us some information, and a scrap of paper with the translation of the bell’s inscription. He said it was in “First Language” too. The bell was hidden in a fake idol and sold to Dean Brothers art supply company, to try to get it out of harm’s way.

Well I forget what happened here, to be honest, but we ended up reunited with Jay here, if we hadn’t earlier (sorry journal) and Esteban and Rex. We were downtown, at Jay’s office/warehouse/club. I started asking if we could use his phone to find Dean Brothers, but he wouldn’t let me, because, wait for it – he had a shipment from Dean Brothers right there. Someone had been in earlier asking about it. In fact, it was Michael.

Then “even more hell” broke loose, because Michael showed up and told us “they’re coming” to fight. I, for one, was not really sure what that meant, but then Melisande showed up, with a horde of actual monsters. Some came right through the walls like ghosts.

I hope we win.

I’ve wanted to run a game for my friends who gather at the International House of Johnson. About six weeks ago, we started the first part of a campaign where I have the opportunity to take a set of experienced gamers into my little plot.

It’s been an absolute joy.

The group I play with is made up of a number of extremely creative people. Because of this, their characters are fully developed, with interesting backstories and personalities. As an added benefit, the setting I am using is something that most of the players have never played in before, so I get the unqie opportunity to introduce a group of people I respect to a world that I love. Thus far, they seem to be enjoying themselves.

One of my favorite things about this game is reading the character diaries that some of the folks are posting up on the game’s web site. Each is blogging in their character’s voice, and I love reading the entries. It’s absolutely fascinating to me to read how the different characters recount their adventures so far…what each chooses to focus on, and what they forget that others remember. Witness this, written by Laura, as her character Ralph. Ralph is a 20-something boxer who is down on his luck, broke, and living with his parents:

So one night I had a really weird dream. Maybe I had too much spicy sausage pizza for dinner and it gave me indigestion. Mom always said that could happen. Anyway, in this dream I was in a room with a lot of books all around and there were these other people in there with me. This kind of weird old lady showed up and mumbled some stuff I didn’t understand and all of a sudden these tentacle things reached out of a fireplace and grabbed her and she’s gone. Goofy stuff. Well, the next day I didn’t think anything about it until I was downtown after visiting the training center and I meet up with all the people that appeared in the dream. I swear I never met or even saw any of these guys ever before, but somehow we all got together. And we all had the same exact dream. I was really bugged by this. It was kind of creepy, but I really don’t believe in astrology psychics or crystal balls or stuff like that so there had to be some reason it happened and I wanted to know what it was. It was just the weirdest thing that ever happened to me. I decided to go along with the group because I think the Spanish dude, he’s a wrestler, might be able to get me a job. I really need some cash. My unemployment will run out next month, I think.

Compare it to Rachel’s Raina, who is a university student at Case Western:

I’m Raina Wallace, and I had a dream.

I had a dream about being seated in a book lined room, with other people. A ghostly woman appeared, tried to tell us something – the word Paris was in there – and vanished, drawn into the fireplace by weird tentacles. Which is all kind of standard for a dream. Except, the next day I saw someone – someone I had seen in the dream. In fact, I met everyone that had been in the dream, that next day. Everyone was in Cleveland, like me.

I don’t mean “Hey, you kind of remind me of someone…” it was more like a lightning bolt this is the man from the dream. We all felt it. It was real. A connection. These were people I never would have met, otherwise (let alone hang around with – half of them were big thugs). And so we decided the room must also exist.

Finally, from Kris’s character, Rex Barrett, who runs a gun shop, is a survivalist, racist, and a loudmouth:

My nightmares usually involve an unstoppable flood of brown-skinned people swarming over our southern border and spreading like a dirty puddle across the entire nation, or fifty faceless ATF agents in body armor kicking down the door to the gun shop—or worse—the bunker and hauling us all off to jail, or finding mom dead in the kitchen—not just crying and bleeding and bruised, but dead, her head bashed in or twisted around the wrong way or a knife in her chest or much, much worse—and dad just sitting there, an empty bottle of bourbon lying on the table and another half-full bottle clutched in one fist. In one such dream there were probably thirty guns of various calibers, all of them smoking, lying on the kitchen table. Always he has this blank look on his face; no remorse or sorrow, just an empty stare, and he’ll take a pull from the bottle and wipe his mouth with the back of his hand (the bourbon sloshing in the bottle as he does so) and say, “That’ll shut you up. That’ll shut you up good.”

But nightmares about women being sucked into fireplaces by tentacles? That doesn’t happen.

I’m seeing something that I’ve not seen in a long time: people really enjoying their characters. I’m watching them develop before my eyes, and it’s spurring the players to delve deeply to play their parts authentically. Game nights are not only fun, but they are starting to reach a level of intensity that only comes when the players are fully invested in the future of their characters.

Links for this show:

• Pinax
• Origins 2009
• War, Season 5 of Heaven
• Fluxx and Family Fluxx
• Are You The Traitor?
• Necessary Evil
• The Cthulhu Mythos Encyclopedia

Names dropped: Kris Johnson, Jim Van Verth, Mur Lafferty, Ken Newquist, David Moore, Erin Moore, Natalie Metzger, Andy Steigle, John Cmar, Laura Burns

Download the show here.

This was taken tonight at the Saddle Ranch Chop House in the City Walk at Universal Studios. The guys, left to right: Jeromy, Steve, Damon, and Dave. I’m the looming figure standing in the back.

I’ve shared many a pleasant Friday night with these guys, and it pains me that we didn’t get to hang out more while I was here. It’s my one regret about leaving.

Hmmm. Maybe I can get them out for Origins….

photo credit: EvaSan

Fantasy Flight makes some great games, but this might be pricing them out of my range.

Roseville, MN, USA. Fantasy Flight Games (“FFG”) announced today that it will increase suggested retail prices on a wide range of its products. These 10-25% price increases are broad reaching, affecting most of FFG’s board game and card games.

“There has been tremendous upward pressure on manufacturing pricing during the last three years,” noted Christian T. Petersen, CEO and founder of FFG. “FFG has fought very long and extremely hard to
create and retain maximum value in our products for the gaming audience. This is something that we’ll continue to do. With energy, commodity, and labor prices affecting every stage of our our business, however, we now find it necessary to make a pricing correction.” He continued; “Even with the price increases that we announce here today, I am confident that our customers will find FFG products among the best value in the industry”.

Price changes on existing inventory items will take place on November 1st, 2008, while prices increases on upcoming new releases will take place with immediate effect. A detailed list of new prices and their effective date, has been made available on FFG’s website: www.fantasyflightgames.com.

The “Battlestar Galactica® Board Game”, FFG’s most anticipated fourth quarter release, will retain its SRP of $39.95 for the initial wave of product (which is currently sold out on pre-orders, and scheduled to arrive in October) increasing it to $49.95 for the second wave of product (scheduled for late November.)

Prices of FFG’s Collectible Games, Miniatures Games, and most RPG products will not be affected.

photo credit: myrtti

I missed Windows for a while this weekend.

I was looking for a game to take my mind off of selling the house and moving to L.A. I wanted to relax and play a game, and I was craving a game like Galactic Civilizations. A sci-fi empire builder with exploration, colonization, and a little warfare.

No. Such. Luck.

Understand…I don’t play computer games like I used to. That’s not only because I own a Mac, it’s also because I just don’t have the time to play. Up until now, I’ve never had a reason to miss gaming on Windows.

Heavy Sigh. Looks like I’ll have to fire up my Parallels VM and install GalCiv II. Pity. Wish there was a Mac version.

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photo credit: daniel.julia

Often called a dead genre, interactive fiction continues to flourish long after reaching the end of its commercial lifespan. In the decades since whiz-bang graphics drew away the attention of the masses, hundreds of games have continued to evolve the genre — to the point where it can be a little intimidating to approach cold. If you’ve never experienced interactive fiction, or haven’t returned to it since its commercial decline, maybe we can offer a little direction. Here are five of our favorite titles from the last decade to ease you into things.

from Top 5 Introductory Interactive Fiction Games from 1UP.com

I’ve been a fan of Interactive Fiction since playing Zork on my Commodore 64. It was the main reason I got into playing on MUSHes, which lead to meeting some incredible folks, many of which I’m still friends with to this day. I’m been having a great time since rediscovering the genre.

Additionally, I’m participating in a project to write a collaborative IF game. Started by the folks at the Guardian UK’s Gamesblog, we’re desigining the game Spaceship! on a wiki. Come in and see how the sausage is being made.

If you enjoy reading, you need to be playing interactive fiction.

If you enjoy writing, you should sit down, play, then try your hand at writing one. It’s a fabulous exercise in dealing with point of view, puzzles, and planning.

Here are some great links to get you started:

• The Interactive Fiction Database – find all sorts of free games here
• Planet-IF – A river view of many of the top blogs/sites on Interactive Fiction.
• The IF Reviews at PlayThisThing.com
• Inform – one of the languages available for creating your own games.
• IF-wiki – A wiki for learning, playing, and improving interactive fiction

And some of my favorite games. You’ll need an interpretor to play these:

• Anchorhead – Anchorhead takes place in a New England town by the same name that bears a resemblance to Innsmouth, Arkham, and other fictional towns created by H.P. Lovecraft.
• Lost Pig
  – Grunk stuck. Grunk must find lost pig. Grunk none too bright. Very funny game.
• Infocom: The Zork Archive – download the original Zork games for free
• Babel – You wake up with amnesia in an abandoned research station in the Arctic. As you explore, psychometric visions give you glimpses of the lives of four scientists and the tragedy that befell them. Before you can escape, you’ll have to learn your own history.

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