Fighting For Good Causes

Hey Earthlings!

Not long ago, I wrote the Cypher System Bestiary. One entry under the Modern genre is "billionaires" (level 5, attacks and Speed defense as level 3; effectively infinite resources).

The creature entry reminds us that it’s humane to remember that every billionaire is also a person. A few choose to direct their incredible fortune primarily towards humanitarian ends. Others buy sports teams and leagues, rare collectibles, and extravagantly expensive yachts. Many display childish behavior and get away with it. And more than a few got their wealth by founding businesses credibly accused of human rights violations and environmental devastation.

The upshot is that you can put a billionaire—along with a vampire, a weird west gunslinger, and a killer robot—in your next Cypher System game if you want.

Which is great, because tabletop role-playing games are fictional escapes. You don't need me to tell you that. Just look at the murder hobos most D&D adventuring parties include. Also generally fine, fun, and funny—assuming they’re not ruining the fun for other players—within the confines of the stories ttRPGs so brilliantly create.

It’s not fine when someone in real life decides they will deal with a situation like an adventurer battles monsters lurking in a dungeon. In reality, I don’t feel it’s laudable.

To crystallize that feeling far more eloquently than I, please welcome Batgirl, in her role as a guest blogger, to finish out this post.

Batgirl’s Take

There’s an appeal to the righteous outlaw trope, from Robin Hood to Butch Cassidy, Bonnie and Clyde to John Wick. But we all understand that there’s a distinction between the fantasy of law-breaking, particularly in fiction, and the reality of the brutality of murder.

Nobody idolizes John Wilkes Booth, Gavrilo Princip, Lee Harvey Oswald, or the 9/11 pilots, even though they believed themselves to be fighting for good causes. We remember them, rightly, as people who committed premeditated assassinations, who caused enormous suffering to the families and communities of the people they killed.

No matter how much we may or may not sympathize with the killers' adopted causes, we know they're not heroes. The real heroes and justice fighters are the people who work for the common good: Ghandi, Martin Luther King Jr, Cesar Chavez, Nelson Mandela, and Ceyda Sungur (Turkey's Lady in Red).

These are the people we really admire, the people who make a better world.

[Image from NBC News, showing Turkey's "Lady In Red" standing up to riot police right before they pepper spray her]

[Article originally published in my Patreon.]

Escape!

Hey Earthlings.

Whelp, here we are. Ain't great. Personally, I wasn't dismissing the polls showing Harris as less likely to win. Whenever I saw folks online or other places explaining why we shouldn't believe those polls, I didn't give in to hope. That sounds sad, I know, and I wish I'd been proven wrong. So when the election was called, I had already been processing the outcome for a while. Despite that prep, I would have still needed to take a couple of mental health days, as was kindly offered by my employer MCG, except I was already leaving for a few days away.

[Photo by Tom Barrett on Unsplash]

Yep, in an effort to check out other interesting places where the cost of living is less than the Seattle area now that we are almost empty nesters, Batgirl and I made a short trip. It turns out that traveling was a reasonable panacea. If you're still suffering, and you are in a position to visit somewhere new, even if it's just a day or two, I recommend it. If not that, then a walk outside for a few hours in the nearest green space. It doesn't change the reality, but it might give you an extra scintilla of resilience to cope.

Another reasonable panacea? Escape into another world entirely. I just finished Mur Lafferty's Chaos Terminal, second in the Midsolar Murders series, and liked it a lot. I'm also closing in on finishing my good friend Susan Morris' debut novel Strange Beasts. It's great, and you should check it out!

Hmm, what other fictional escapes are—oh right! There's also my Patreon--I've just made the thirty-second scene drop--in this one, The Dreamrider and Minerva have just met for the first time in the Nightland.

Travel 2024

 Hey Earthlings!

It's been a travel-rific year for me so far, which for someone who's only so-so about travel, has been an , uh... let's call it an interesting journey ;).

Some of the farther-away places I've stayed this year include Austin TX, Indianapolis IN, Eugene OR, and most recently, Denver CO where I was excited to hang out with the old high-school gang--we even enjoyed a couple of entirely wonderful RPG sessions!

But I've still got several trips ahead, including to Madison WI (for Gamehole Con next week--come find me, I'll be running these games and on these panels!), Cleveland OH, and Watertown SD (to celebrate my Mom's 75th birthday along with my siblings),

That's seven trips in a year, which is a record for me. And as I said, I'm a bit of a homebody, so there's always a bit of discomfort for me when it comes to travel. Unfortunately, that discomfort wasn't merely metaphorical on my trip to Denver a week or so ago, thanks to an unrelentingly painful knot in my upper back. 

Which is sort of a perfect segue into something that all this travel has me thinking about this year: Travel is often challenging and uncomfortable when you're going someplace you're not familiar with. But should I embrace this discomfort because I know it's good for me in the end?

Probably. Now that I've put all this time, I'm suddenly remembering the first time I went to the UK in early 2000 (Wizards wanted me to sell Gen Con UK con-goers on how great 4E D&D was going to be). The first two days crept up on me, throwing one challenge after another—how to turn on the lights my room, turn on the taps, adjust the thermostat, plug in my razer, and so many other little things that couldn't be taken for granted. The stress built up... but then suddenly on day three, my perspective shifted, and this wave of elation swept over me as I looked out the window and saw the morning sun on the countryside. I was on another continent, I was making new friends, and I was in it for the next week, so no use in doing anything other than enjoy it! That was a great feeling, and sure enough, the rest of my trip was fantastic. 

So yeah. Travel can lead to personal growth. No news there. But that knowledge is something I try to keep in mind before each new trip. Homebody Bruce is home most of the year. He needs to get out once in awhile, right?

If only I could leave the knot in my back at home.

Photography Decoupled From Reality

 

Greetings, Earthlings!

We've entered the era of photos no longer being proof of anything. With some new features offered by my phone, I can include mostly realistic-looking changes to a base photo that are anything but real. Like, this entirely fictitious cute kitten shown in the photo above. I assure you, there is no such kitten here.

I've also given our dog a faux tiger cub companion, added weird purple spiders to my desk, and called down alien landing ships to investigate the front yard. The latter is something I've wanted to pull off for decades, harkening back to when I was a kid with a film camera--I taped pieces of paper cut like saucers to my bedroom window, then took a photo of the sky. The result was blurry images of flying saucers in the sky.

Hmm, well, I guess the more things change, the more they stay the same. I'm afraid I don't have a hot take on the topic other than "I guess we'll see where this all goes."

Gen Con 2024—Lows and Highs, Mostly Highs

 

Greets, Earthlings!

I returned from Gen Con 2024 on Monday and brought home with me a case of COVID. Boo!

But rather than let the last part of a week-long experience define the whole thing, let me take a moment to describe how great the preceding week was.

MCG brings a large staff to Gen Con to set up our dedicated game-room-and-sales-booth just a hallway's width away from the dealer's room. The dedicated room has the benefit of being near a high-traffic area without the downsides of being mid-stream in a high-traffic area. This means customers have more time and mental energy to browse and ask questions. And those playing our games who have a good time can look over their shoulder, see all the goodies, and grab something appealing.

In fact, MCG brought such a large team that my set-up duties were minimal--great job team! Especially to Charles and Tammie Ryan for marshaling and planning the entire thing. So Tuesday night was a breeze, Wednesday's "set-up" even more so, but also included some amazing sales training for those of us assigned booth duty--that was a first, and I learned a lot. Later, I enjoyed the company of other game designers at the Diana Jones Awards. (Maybe that's where I got COVID?)

The rest of the week was a combination of booth time—talking to people who were not feeling the pressure of the constant motion in the dealer's room was awesome—and running games. I ran an adventure I wrote—Ghosts of Iron Saddle (a weird west adventure)—twice, and another adventure—Bake Me Another Body (a Numenera adventure by Sean Reynolds) once.  I love running adventures at conventions—everyone is so happy to be there. (I hope I wasn't a COVID vector for any of them.)

In the way that all things seem to rush by in a twinkling, Gen Con concluded. So we tore down and packed up, and it was time to say our goodbyes to another great tabletop roleplaying game celebration.  

In fact, it's been 5 days since I got back. And today's the day I finally feel "better" (as the CDC's latest guidance uses the term), which means I can return to regular activities (like MCG and my evening Patreon writing), so long as I'm masked in public for the next 5 days. Yay!

A Year in the Blink of an Eye

 Hey Earthlings!

Remember when time crawled by as a kid? When weeks seemed endless, and months stretched into eternity? If you're like me, those days are long gone. Now, I blink, and a month vanishes. A year? Gone in a flash. I've railed against this phenomenon before, even sharing strategies to slow things down in a post from about four years ago (here: Expanding Subjective Time). It seems like only yesterday when I wrote that ;).

But today, I'm taking a different approach. What if time speeding by isn't always a bad thing?

Take our current heatwave. With temperatures soaring to 100°F and a heat advisory in effect, the prospect of racing through to the rainy season doesn't seem so terrible.

Sun Dogs in Oregon

This perspective applies to all sorts of other things. When facing a work deadline a month or two away, there's a strange comfort in knowing it'll be here in short order. Yes, I'll still put in all the effort—and enjoy the process every time I come up with some new adventure wrinkle or rule—but the swift passage of time brings a certain confidence. I know that I'll make that deadline, and afterward, it'll seem like it took hardly any time at all.

The same goes for anticipated joys. Whether it's celebrating the completion of a project or looking forward to an upcoming trip, the knowledge that these events are just around the corner is heartening.

That's especially true when I'm sick or someone I'm close to is hurting. While it's tough in the moment, time will see that sickness healed or that difficulty overcome sooner than it feels. Sometimes, we just need to let time do its thing.

Of course, time won't "do its thing" if I decide to play video games all day. A hundred little daily tasks call out for completion—for work, home, and for my family and friends. By tracking these moments, savoring them, and reflecting on them, I could slow down my perception of time's passage...

But today? I'm eagerly anticipating 1 AM tomorrow when the temperature will mercifully drop below 70°F.

Interestingly, there's one thing that doesn't seem to be rushing by—the Patreon novel I'm writing. But hey, at least each scene I write gives me a chance to share some new insight or odd thought that's been tickling my brain with ya'll, which I cross-post here to my blog. Win-win, right?

2005

Today, fellow MCGer Dom Dickey posted this in our company Slack, "If Bowling for Soup wrote the song 1985 today, it would be about 2005," (like in this 2024 video, done in the same style, but about 2005: https://youtu.be/zaAYUZqZvlA?si=HLPyni4uOzER0x-4)

Of course, the 80s were much more formative for me—the last few years of junior high and high school, then off to college in 1986—than 2005, when I was mid-career at Wizards of the Coast. It probably has a bigger resonance than my life during my mid-30s. At least, that was my initial thought.

Still, watching the video made me reminisce with a friend. So I looked back into the picture archive, and what do you know? I found an image of me, my ex-wife (but still good friend) Dee, and that friend Greg Heck and a brand new Honda Element my ex-wife had bought.

Now as it happens, the purchase of that car was preceded by one of the biggest arguments I've ever had. I was exceedingly pro-hybrid at the time (because there were no electric vehicles to be pro about in 2005), and the Element was not a hybrid. I got so mad I left the house, driving away in my Prius hybrid (model year 2005!) to cool off.

During the drive, I realized I had no say in her purchase, that I was being a tremendous jerk, and that I owed someone an apology. So I went home and did just that.

Dee purchased the car, we picked up our friends Greg and Teresa, and we went out to eat to celebrate. Someone ordered an olive plate for the table. Guess what? I hated olives. HATED them. But I was in a "changing my mind" sort of mood, so I tried a few. And you know what? I LOVED them.

And I have loved olives ever since. And you know what else I learned I loved? Changing my mind. Which is a habit that has served me well over the years.

I guess 2005 was more formative than I first gave it credit for. Go figure.

Planescape First Drew Me to 2E Dungeons & Dragons

I turned another year older a few days ago. My employer MCG is kind enough to suggest we take our birthdays off, so that's exactly what I did. It was a super-chill day. I got caught up on some reading (almost finished with The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz, playing Fallout 76 (started a fresh character), and come evening, enjoying Batgirl's wonderful company and the delicious meal she cooked.

In other news, I'll be appearing on Peter Adkison's "50 Years of D&D" series on Gen Con TV (streamed on Twitch) on May 25th, featuring Dungeons & Dragons second edition (2E).  (EDIT: Here's a link to the discussion and game on YouTube.)

Peter asked what was the first thing that drew me to 2E. Well, the first thing that captured my imagination was about four or so years into the release was the Planescape box set cover art and graphic design, featuring the entrance to a magnificent fantasy city in Robh Ruppel's dreamy artistic style. 

At the time, I knew nothing about Planescape other than it was 2E D&D, the perfectly evocative name "Planescape," and the aforementioned cover. Except, I also knew that I wanted desperately to go wherever Planescape was.

In a way, I got my wish, because it wasn't more than a year later that TSR hired me to work on D&D in 1995.

Long story short, I've been working in RPGs and writing fantasy and sci-fi novels ever since.

(Including my latest Patreon novel I've been plugging away at for the last several months, with my patron's help. My patrons get to see first chapter drafts, like this one I just published where Minerva, who—in an earlier chapter drop—encountered a three-headed manifestation of her greatest mistake in the land of dreams, seeks answers.)

The Moons of Earth

Hey friends!

While walking my dog Tesla today, I was catching up on listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Planetary Radio. One of the discussion topics was NASA's RPG, The Lost Universe. I'd heard of it previously—if you work in RPGs, I imagine you have, too. But it was wonderful to hear designer Christina Mitchell tell podcast host Sarah Al-Ahmed about the setting, including how NPCs in the setting used vacuum energy to power their magic. How cool is that?

Then, at the end of the podcast, Dr. Bruce Betts happened to mention another RPG he was fond of: The Strange. I have to say, that definitely made my day. 

Anyway, I moved from that episode to another where the topic was the naming of Venus's quasi-moon Zoozve. I was like, wait, what's a quasi-moon? It was long theorized, but the discovery of one around Venus was the first confirmation. (The podcast actually discussed how Radiolab is responsible for naming the moon Zoozve--its original designation was 2002VE. I recommend listening to the episode on your favorite podcast catcher.)

Since then, the planetary community has learned Earth has quasi-moons, too. Apparently SIX of them!

So, yeah, that's cool.

[Photo by Zoltan Tasi on Unsplash ]

And we danced! (at Norwescon 2024)

Happy April 1st! There is NOT a spider on your shoulder, my friends.

This last weekend, Batgirl and I attended Norwescon just south of Seattle. Norwescon has always been a sci-fi and writer-forward convention, but has also made room for RPGs in the last few decades. I've attended in the past wearing different hats—fiction writer, RPG designer, or sometimes both.

This last time around, I decided to focus solely on gaming. Which is why I sat on and moderated some fun panels including worldbuilding RPGs, RPG sessions 0 suggestions, making RPGs more welcoming to new players, and strategies for teaching RPGs to young players.

I also ran an adventure called "Bitter Seeds" from the pages of my post-apocalyptic worldbuilding book Rust and Redemption. And guess what? Garth Hill (a patron of my Patreon) flew out to attend the convention and actually cosplayed as his character, The Kid! (The Kid was a psychic "phreak" who could interface with computers with his mind). The game was fantastic and I've got to hand it to Garth and the other players for a great job dealing with challenges that included them rolling more 1s than I've ever seen, no joke.

Batgirl and I also danced the night away two nights in a row! When it comes to dances, there's really no better place to dance in a judgment-free zone than at a dance at a geek convention!

March Roars, Snow-Hail Falls

Heya Earthlings!

As spring roars in like a lion (it snow-hailed on me today while I walked our dog Tesla), all sorts of activities are jumping onto my calendar. The big ones are a short trip to Austin with Batgirl for vacation, a company summit where MCGers gather from around the world to hang out in person, and the sci-fi and gaming convention Norwescon 2024.

At Norwescon, I'll sit on several game-related panels and run a tabletop RPG adventure called Bitter Seeds—PCs in this post-apocalyptic scenario must find and retrieve viable grain from a before-times seed bank. Doing so requires that they overcome raiders, radiation, and other threats of the wasteland, including a mysterious warlord that has no face. If you're in the area and would to play, there's still room (as of the time of this writing)—sign up here! Don't worry, I've got a pre-generated character for you :). 

As all this is happening, I've agreed to play in another RPG game. Scheduling has proved a bit challenging, given the game I'm already in. Thankfully, there's a lot of overlap between the two groups, so despite the challenging schedule, we're all mostly in the same situation. 

Did I say challenging? My challenges are nothing compared to Baz's situation (the main character in my current Patreon novel), who was tracking the delivery of refined dream being smuggled out of the Nightland. His investigation was off to a promising start until someone collared him behind the pot shop. My latest Patreon post picks up right after that if you're curious.

[Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash]

Dice Make a Hard Man Humble

Photo by NASA Hubble Space Telescope ]

Hello Earthlings. Last night on the way home from a tabletop RPG game, I heard a chorus of frogs singing in a marshy, wooded area. The same chorus I always hear when Spring is near. Which is usually March, so that was weird.

But I took solace in the frog-song anyway, because in that game, I experienced an especially horrible run of bad dice luck that saw my "champion" humbled. It was a tough fight to be sure, but my friends, ouch. Tough fights are fine, but when you're consistently rolling at the wrong end of the bell curve, even WITH five second chances (you can use XP in the Cpher System for re-rolls, and I used up three of my XP and two of my friends' XP), I still couldn't land a telling hit or avoid a devastating blow. Afterward, Sean (a co-player) said, "Are you really a warrior?"

I was still smarting this morning, but with the day to give me some perspective, I'm ok with it. My character survived, and it makes for an interesting story. And maybe will knock my cocky "spellsword" character down a notch or two. In fact... I need a new character arc. I'm thinking of some version of "Fall From Grace" (of his sense of self-importance).

Speaking of someone facing mishaps, my latest Patreon post (Chapter 7, scene 3 of Dreamrider in the Nightland) picks up from scene 2 where Minerva met a three-headed entity that stepped out of the boundary between regular dream and what she regards as the realm of nightmare. One of the three visages is a manifestation of her greatest mistake...