Monday, June 22, 2009

The Martin Thompson Story

An excerpt from Reality Cops. This is a fiction snippet, and about 95% of the setting material that is not generated at the table. Most of the setting for the game is created in a brain-storming session at the beginning of the game, with the rest happening on-the-fly during play.

The Martin Thompson Story

Phase Theory

On March 6th, in the year 2217, Martin Thompson applied a revolutionary combination of mind theory and chemical science, to discover that ours is not the only world. He learned that certain minds, under certain conditions, could be made to shift their perception into other realities. Other worlds. Some of these worlds are much like ours, some are very different. He called these alternate realities phases of existence, and proposed that when a mind transitioned between them, the phases met and touched at that single point, much like soap bubbles floating in air. And like those bubbles, they proved fragile, some more so than others. In early experiments, three volunteers were driven insane when the communal phase they occupied broke under the pressure.

On December 9th 2219, Martin Thompson died, went insane, and disappeared, in approximately that order. This was the first recorded incidence of reality subversion.

Transition Threat

From the very early phases of Thompson’s investigations, it was clear that minds in transition could influence, to varying degrees, the phase they moved to. Investigation of his death and subsequent insanity showed that minds in transition and only minds in transition could also influence this reality. Assimilating known history with Thompson’s model showed clear mathematical indications that, at various points through recorded history, reality had been warped. Sometimes it gradually returned to its “normal” shape, sometimes the change became permanent.

Work in other phases had already shown that a strongly focused mind could cause shifts in the structure of that phase. It was theorized that a sufficiently focused individual could, through the connection between the alternate phase and reality, cause shifts in the structure of reality.

Panic spread. In some places, phase researchers were hunted by mobs, blamed for every little thing. In others, they were lifted up like gods, and viewed as the only ones who could save reality. It is from the seeds of this second set that the awareness of a moral imperative to maintain our reality arose. This awareness, combined with a fluke discovery is what led to the eventual formation of the Phase Research and Reality Maintenance Division, commonly known as Reality Cops.

The Burke Dynamic

In the chaos and panic following widespread awareness of reality subversions, many of the organizations researching phases of existence no longer had the luxury of carefully controlled experiments and volunteers were less carefully screened. In late 2223, this resulted in Davey Burke entering transition while suffering from acute appendicitis. His account of how simple it was to affect the phase was initially discounted as simply a misconception, but transition recordings and later, further controlled experimentation bore out his testimony.

A mind that entered transition while experiencing pain was better able to affect the phase it entered.

This was the breakthrough that allowed the Reality Cops to effectively carry out their mandate.

Strictly voluntary, the Division gained in credibility and effectiveness until it was an accepted and necessary part of life for more than a generation.

It had been more than twenty years since the last reality subversion.

The Second Thompson Subversion

July 12, 2262. A deranged man breaks into Division Headquarters and transitions illegally. The man dies moments later, without leaving the phase of existence he had transitioned into. Phase researchers become aware that another reality subversion has occurred. As best can be determined, the subversion had two main effects. First, and most obvious, entering transition no longer required complex equipment. Second, and more complex in its effects, was that the Burke Dynamic no longer drew exclusively from an individual's own pain, but was affected by the pain of those around them.

Post-subversion DNA testing indicates the man was, in fact, Martin Thompson. This is not, however, viewed as conclusive evidence.

The year is 2265. You are a Reality Cop.

Labels: pimping my stuff, publishing, Reality Cops

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Getting the urge

I think I want to run some ronin up a mountain again.

Yeah... Friday Night Mountain Witch, coming soon to a basement near me.

James

Labels: Friday gaming, geekery

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

On value.

Our society places too much emphasis on the value of things.

Have you ever tried to give things to a stranger?

James

Labels: I think too much, Stuff and Things

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

My not-so-secret shame

So, one night last week, while my wife was out, I did it.

I'd been holding off for quite a while; since last year, pretty much, but eventually I couldn't help myself.

I crept furtively under the stairs, and snuck out that brown-wrapped package with the discrete logo in the corner, and took off the wrapping.

The model on the cover was displayed, teasingly, in full colour, brazenly showing here, artfully concealing there...

I spent all that night with it, and when my wife came home, she caught me. There ... was some fallout, and I ended up going to bed late, and alone, but that didn't stop me from going back to it the next night, and the night after.

Yeah baby, I'm lookin' at you. (link totally SFW)

James

Labels: geekery

Monday, May 04, 2009

Endeavours

So, deciding to update around here a little more often; we'll have to see how long that lasts... Oh, Facebook, my languishing blog envies you so.

Reality Cops is my current project, and the two-fold goal is this:
1) To have an ashcan at Gencon
2) To have premie/promo ashcans done by Go Play NorthWest, to distribute among that group, and hopefully generate some play and buzz in the lead-up to con season.

I think I'm on track for this. Text is pretty much done, barring an editing pass or three, so I'm starting to shop around for someone to do the ashcan artwork. Layout will start soon, too. Reminder to self: Harrass Adobe for my new version of InDesign that I paid for.

James

Labels: pimping my stuff, publishing, Reality Cops

Friday, May 01, 2009

My son looks normal.

... but he's not.

Today is Blog against Disablism Day 2009.

Over the last few years, it's been a challenge.

Oh, sure - there's the thousands of hours of therapy, and the 6 year old that's not toilet trained, and has no concept of personal safety (why yes, we do have bars on our second story windows, why do you ask?), the special diet, and the communication issues and.... well, I could go on.

But today, I want to talk about your pity, and how you can keep it the hell to yourself.

My son is autistic. When we go to the playground, and he's climbing up the slide, yes, I will step in when you try and tell him not to - because you don't know how to talk to him. In case it's not clear, you chose to intervene with someone else's child, and you are the ignorant one here, not my son. He's having fun, and doing what kids do in playgrounds. It's not his fault you don't know PECS or sign. It's not his fault that you don't know to make eye contact before talking to him. So when I explain this to you, don't you dare pity me. I'm educating you.

When we are at the 7-11, and I'm holding my son's hand while he's grinning and bouncing, I'll forgive you whispering to each other and giggling: you're teenagers, and it is kinda funny. But when I squat down in front of him, and guide his hands through sign to ask for a slushie... that look you can bloody well keep to yourself.

When we go to the indoor play park, and my son spends the entire time sitting in the treehouse with his hands over his ears, don't you dare look at me like he's broken. Look at his face. Look at it. He's grinning like a maniac and staring at everything. He's having a blast.

James

Labels: living with autism

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Funky.

Check this out:

superuse.org.

Very cool.

Labels: geekery, I need a tag for this sort of thing, Stuff and Things