I've got space ships on the brain.

I've got space ships on the brain.

Which means I've been writing a role playing game, calling it Solar Wind & Sales. In particular, a pbta hack that i can't stop talking about.

These aren't giant ships like Star Destroyers, and not tiny ships like the Falcon. Ship's a bit bigger than the Serenity, with crew and officers. What specialization do you expect in crew and officers?

I expect this to be a pirate ship -- operating outside the law, smuggling and raiding other ships.

This started before reading the Solar Clipper series, which has really pushed it along.

If this is a pbta game, what stats do you expect? What do you want on the ship? What officer positions do you expect? Do you expect the PCs to be the officers? Crew? Both?

Like I said, a little bigger than Serenity. She's listed with a mass of 280t, and 82 feet long. Similarly, the Free Trader of Traveller field is 200t and 37.5 meters. What size do you expect this to be? How many crew, and in which specializations?

What level of specificity do you think matters on these questions?

Novel: Half Share

Novel: Half Share
Author: Nathan Lowell
Rating: 3 out of 5

I read this book in under 24 hours.

It parts that becomes the series remains a delight, in part that I was hoping something more would happen. In part, today was a reading day.

Maybe 3/4s through, our protagonist discovers boozing and sexing. Hooray!

I've got the next one -- Full Share -- and plan to read it to see what'll happen next.

I'm hopeful there is more about finances. I still don't understand the watch rotation, but its always been peculiar to me.

Novel: The Summer Prince

Novel: The Summer Prince
Author: Alaya Dawn Johnson
Rating: 5 out of 5.

This novel grabbed me in the beginning. It let go a little and I almost put it down. I am glad I did not. It was hard for me as it is about Art and the sacrifices made for it. That's harder for me than, say, the economics of space merchants.

Its about a young woman in an arcology in Brazil, dealing with the privileges and challenges of her life. Its about the politics surrounding a system of government with an elected King with one power -- to choose the next Queen, as he is killed by the current Queen.

Its about the end of the world, and shows how it might end.

Its by a DC native two years younger than me, and is a far better piece of art than I've ever created.

Solar Wind & Sail.

Solar Wind & Sail.

I've put together some preliminary sheets.

This is intended to be printed double sided; the basic moves are on the back of the officer sheets. The fifth is either for the MC, or for the fifth player.

The playbooks are designed to limit competence the players have access to.

Questions and comments would be invaluable!
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1OSCGD3HXZ4i8sgMcXU_Bsi2r6A_A7gHXWyv9eETji94

Also, if you aren't mentioned in the who be helping section and think you should be? Lemme know!

Great article in the Atlantic about unconditional cash transfers.

Great article in the Atlantic about unconditional cash transfers.

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/12/why-not-cash/511799/

Points out something I forget too often: Carnegie was a dick.
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/12/why-not-cash/511799/

Projects from 2016:

Projects from 2016:
-- Started slow and unsure of myself, with some light hacking of Star Wars World

-- Hacked up The Watch to make Markets & Mages, my economic RPG on after the adventure. I'm really pleased with how well this has gone. The characters sheets are available for anyone who wants them.

-- Written up and talked a lot about The Caliphate of Azithan, the fantasy realm of necromancers. I've designed city master plans (sort of), thought about various types of undead, and had a lot of fun thinking about a government run by priests.

-- In the last month or so, I've gone through a few versions of Solar Wind & Sale, my game of space piracy. Initial playtests went well, but I have no idea how much of that was my enthusiasm and how much is the game system. I've put in some weird elements, and am slowly disintegrating the need for an MC.

-- Acted as mentor, both knowing and unknowingly, to folks wanting to play and MC more games.

-- I played a lot more games than these! One shots of AW, MH, Headspace, Night Witches, and Star Wars. We're almost done with a full run of SpaceWyrm, which is a sequel campaign to a World in Peril campaign that I'm really proud of, and we did Microscope to bridge between!

What've you done, gaming wise, in 2016? Did we collaborate on anything that I didn't list above?

Quarter Share.

Quarter Share.

I think I already posted about this, but I want to talk some delightful elements to this novel.

Namely:
-- five pages spent on how to make coffee, while the protag cleans and measures and grinds.

-- about half the book is dedicated to developing trade for the ship's crew, including establishing a coop. The coop has rules: the coop takes 1% of proceeds, up to 10 credits per person per day. The coop splits the proceeds with whomever is doing the selling, to encourage people to do the selling. Items that are on consignment instead give 10% to the coop, and that's split 50-50 with the person doing the selling.

-- everyone has strengths! The protag's friend starts off on the wrong track, but with some clever work by protag is able to get back on track.

These were all pretty great. This is the sort of book Heinlein might've written, had he been born 50 years later.

In Solar Wind and Sale, there's an officer position of Boatswain.

In Solar Wind and Sale, there's an officer position of Boatswain. This officer is in charge of making sure gigs are profitable and selling prizes.

I'd wanted a bankruptcy mechanic, and it occurred to me in the shower that this was the right place to put it.

When the ship docks in port, the Boatswain rolls with Trade (probably gigs). on a 10+, good things. On a 7-9, slightly less good things. On a 6-, one good thing but also bankruptcy.

Here's my first draft for how bankruptcy works:
Bankruptcy: Whether through ill luck or incompetence, you are unable to meet the ship’s financial obligations. Choose one, and mark it off. Once chosen, an option cannot be chosen again by the same Boatswain:
[ ] Everything is fine
[ ] Mark a ship’s system down one
[ ] Mark a ship’s system down one
[ ] Mark a ship’s system as busted
[ ] The ship is prevented from leaving.

That is: You get one get out of jail free card, and then you have to start selling off ship's systems to keep the ship flying.

This is not yet playtested. Whatcha think?

I'm getting really annoyed with a specific emerging narrative.

I'm getting really annoyed with a specific emerging narrative.

Namely, that the Democratic party lost voters. That the democratic party needs to be rebuilt. That the democratic party is a failure.

The FBI & CIA agree: Russia interfered in the election. Whether this turned the election or not is unknown pending further investigation.

How the hell is the head of the DNC in South Carolina blaming HRC and Podesta when Putin hacked the election?

How this isn't the dominating story in all news outlets across the world for the next 4 years, I don't understand.

30 Rock, season 4, Episode 2.

30 Rock, season 4, Episode 2.

Jack references Zac S as someone Malina Obama knows.

Tell me this is not the Zac S of gaming infamy.

Please. Jesus Christ, please.

Novel: A History of Travel in 50 Vehicles

Novel: A History of Travel in 50 Vehicles
Author: Paula Grey
Rating: 5 out of 5.

This book does exactly what it is supposed to, and made me remember that Riskshaws exist.

Fun, and a quick skim!

Caliphate of Azithan --

Caliphate of Azithan --

Riskshaws. Of course there are rickshaws in the city, pulled by Lifeless. Of course there are. How could I not have thought of this before?

What else am I missing?

I'm a spaceship!

I'm a spaceship!

I have a crew of 18, plus 4 officers. These are divided into boarders, sailors, traders, and seers.

Onboard is a nose cannon and defensive mounted weapons, a bomber and a couple of shuttles. I've got modern hand weapons and a disciplined gang of violent bastards.

My foodstuffs include soylent and bread for everyone to eat. I have bandages and emergency medicines, and enough spare parts and hydrospanners for my sailors to take care of me and themselves.

I've asked to engage in piracy, and carry some cargo. The cargo is carried in sealed boxes and a few nooks and crannies; my diligent, tough traders know a couple of contacts who sometimes ask me for help.

My viewports let the weird, scientific seers on me look into the abyss to know where to take me; I've got a solar sail and ion drive. My hull has a full seal.

Can you answer some questions about me?
-- What is special about me?
-- What size am I?
-- How much do I weigh?
-- What do my insides look like?
-- What sort of sleeping conditions do I have for my crew?
-- How much of me is given over to engines and life support?
-- What're my toilets like?

What other questions do you have about me?

Solar Wind & Sail.

Solar Wind & Sail.

Each playbook is linked to another one, literally on opposite sides of paper. The PCs get one or the other, but never both.

So, for ex, you can have either a Mechanic or a Surgeon. Not both. This enforces limitation of competency.

Each pair is tied to a stat. I did have Void linked to the Navigator and Master of the House, but I think I've had a bit of a moment. Instead, haul in the Brainer and link that to void with the Navigator. That gives two ways to think about the void -- between our ears, or out in the abyss.

Push the Master of the House (Guinan / Quark / etc) to a fifth sheet, and don't let the be a ship's officer. On the opposite side have the shipboard Intelligence. Only have this one if the other four are already filled -- meaning 5 PCs, and one MC at the table.

Which is a big table, and multiple conversational threads start happening. Push responsibility to manage conversation to the fifth slot, baked right into the moves. Give the Master of the House the ability to have away from table conversations, and give the Shipboard Intelligence a move about being in multiple conversations at once.

Build it into the moves, "When you pull someone aside for a conversation away from the MC ... ", "When you join two simultaneous conversations ... ". I need to work on the triggers, but that's the idea.

I also want to hand the contact list to some PC, but I'm not sure which one. Eventually, I'd like to get rid of the MC altogether. I'm getting closer.

Thoughts? Ideas? Questions?

Failure!

Failure!

The stats so far:
Successes: 3
Tentative Successes: 1
Failures: 7

I'm a half pound over success. As much as this is failure, its only failure by a pretty strict definition.

Still. Sucks.

Happy Newton Day, everyone.

Some relatively dorky spaceship math, tangentially related to Solar Wind & Sale.

Some relatively dorky spaceship math, tangentially related to Solar Wind & Sale.

The Traveller Free Trader (200t) has listed dimensions of 37.5m by 21m by 9m, and 3 decks. On the floor plan, each square is 1.5 meters by 1.5 meters. For reasons of ease of use, I'm using the Free Trader's deck plans, but calling the squares 2 meters by 2 meters.

Which indicates 50m by 28m by 12m. I'm keeping three decks, and assume there's a magical 3-4 meters of machines.

That indicates ~1,400 square meters per deck, over two full decks and one half deck -- so 3,500 square meters to work with.

With 18 crew and 4 officers, how much space do you allocate to:
-- Mutual space, such as a galley? Medbay? Gym? Bridge? Access ports? Flight Deck? Arms locker? Comms? Cargo Hold? Gangway? Lounge? Server farm? Airlocks? Engine room? Meditation chamber? Brig? VR chamber?
-- Sleeping quarters?
-- There are 6 sailors, 5 boarders, 4 traders, and 3 seers. Do you allocate space per person, or per department?
-- There are 4 officers. How much private space does each get?
-- Each PC has a special area, things like a Workshop, an Establishment, and a Balcony. How much space do these each need?
-- How much of a social difference do you give between crew and officer?

These are questions asked implicitly in the game, in the first session, when I have them draw these areas on the ship. Its printed out and in front of them, and they are told to start drawing.

What do you draw? How do you allocate the space?

Solar Wind & Sale

Solar Wind & Sale

The second playtest went less well than the first. There are some reasons for that not related to game design -- I had five people, and the game is designed for up to four -- but also tried some things that didn't work well. And that's ok! That's why we playtest, to find out what doesn't work and experiment.

The scarcity of competency continues to be pretty great. Drawing the ship didn't work out as well as the first time, but I think that's because I didn't put a cap on the number of ship's systems. If you tell PCs they can have whatever stats they want, they go crazy. In the future, this'll be "pick one at +2, two at +1, one at 0, and one that is busted", or something similar.

There's a move I think is great: Rely on the Crew. If there's a problem the PCs don't want to deal with, they can have the crew deal with it instead. This is not a get out of jail free card -- relying on the crew always has a complication of the crew acting out. Even on a 10+. That has worked out surprisingly well, and keeps the game directed back to relationships.

I've come to a conclusion. It is pretty obvious.

I've come to a conclusion. It is pretty obvious.

Here it is: Laws that stray from simplicity inherently exist to create classist and racist and sexist barriers.

For ex: In many states, the law is "everybody can vote ... except criminals". And then, various interests work to ensure that certain classes of people are criminals.

Or, for example: "anyone can get unemployment checks ... so long as they fill out these forms, held a job for at least 30 days, etc" ... leaves out those who can't fill out forms, or who didn't have a job for 30 days. Guess who that tends to be?

Or, for example: "Anyone can get health care! But, only immediate life saving health care, otherwise doctors can refuse", benefits those who can afford it.

Or, "everybody deserves equal pay .... and they'll get it if they can prove they didn't", which again benefits the status quo.

Which are all reasons that I want a single rule for these things:
-- Are you a person? Then you can vote.
-- Are you a person? Then here's enough money to not die.
-- Are you a person? Then you can show to a clinic without paying.
-- Are you a person? Then you get paid for your work.

But, I'm simple like that -- I've got this crazy notion that people are equal.

Novel: Quarter Share

Novel: Quarter Share
Author: Nathan Lowell
Rating: 4 out of 5.

As a rule, I only buy books that are not available from my library. This series is not. Does anyone own it? Would anyone like to suggest reading or not reading the rest of the series?

Short Synopsis: Our white male cis het shy dorky protagonist uses his out of the box thinking to find profit that others had not considered, by discovering the magic of sharing.

At the same time, he also diversified his own capabilities by taking tests in all four departments on a ship, so that he is unlikely to ever be out of work. Once again, our young protagonist is thinking of things no one else has.

That's pretty much it. While a lot of the secondary characters were women, I would have liked it if one of the three main characters was a woman -- protag, best friend, boss. The women in the book are at least people with their own motivations, but are secondary at best.

This is like something Heinlein might have written if he was born 40 years later. Especially only hinting at sex.

I am likely to buy the rest of the series. I read this book in two days, pretty quick by my standards. I could probably do the whole series in a couple of weeks.

This is absolutely fodder for Solar Wind & Sail, my pbta hack about space pirates.

You have 18 crew on a pirate spaceship, plus some officers.

You have 18 crew on a pirate spaceship, plus some officers.

Who are they? What do they do?

For Solar Wind & Sail:

For Solar Wind & Sail:

The crew is really important on a space ship, yeah? And here, I've got an NPC crew of 18, divided into four sections. Each of these can be upgraded or busted when we build the ship.

These are: Sailors, Boarders, Porters, and Seers. That's 6 Sailors, 5 Boarders, 4 Porters, and 3 Seers. For each of the 18 people, I've got names, cravings, looks, and a downside.

Maybe the boarders are a busted ship's system. I think I know what that means, but do you think it means? What's it mean for Sailors? Porters? Seers?

Similarly, what's it mean to have improved boarders? Sailors? Porters? Seers?

Where's the line between game design and session prep?

Where's the line between game design and session prep?

For example, right now I am coming up with names, cravings, look, and weakness for 18 NPCs. Plan is to have these as crew members of a spaceship.

Have I moved from design to prep? Or, are these words meaninglessly similar at the level I am speaking of them?

Failure!

Failure!

The stats so far:
Successes: 3
Tentative Successes: 1
Failures: 6

Managed to go running outside today, and I'm still a little more than 2 pounds up from a success.

The 200 to 205 ranges gives me 2.5% of bodymass to work with, which is under the 3% just noticeable difference threshhold. 

That means that now I'm at 207, which feels different than 202. As in, 207 abbreviates to 210, not to 200.

If it stays warm (hah), then I can keep running outside. We'll see.

If you're going to write pages on a topic, while claiming something novel?

If you're going to write pages on a topic, while claiming something novel?

It'd be real good if you got the official facts straight.

For ex, if I am reading an article claiming that American doesn't have enough jobs for those who want to work, and you say the official unemployment rate is 8.3%?

Nope. You just lost me. It is < 5%.

I cannot and will not go with you on your claims if you do not get the facts straight.

should I bring a game to Dreamation?

should I bring a game to Dreamation?

If so, what should it be?

There's this show I used to love.

There's this show I used to love.

About the crew of a spaceship, travelling around. Making trouble. Trying to be bad guys, and getting stuck with the moral issues thereof.

With nine people on the ship, I've always had difficult thinking of it as an RPG. That's too big of a table for my wants.

Then I started working on this game, Solar Wind & Sail.

Here's a question: Which of those nine are NPCs? Which are PCs? How many are PCs?

Here's the list: Captain Reynolds, Zoey, Wash, Kaylee, Jayne, Shepherd Book, Inara, Simon, River.

I've got my notion, but I want to hear how you break it up.

The Grinning Liar, the PCs ship last night.

The Grinning Liar, the PCs ship last night.

What do you see?
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0ByuvweEiUz-raWcyamhVRFZMdU5zUHV6S1pFLVlHQXZIZXE0

I ran Solar Wind & Sail today: a pbta hack about space pirates.

I ran Solar Wind & Sail today: a pbta hack about space pirates.

It went really well. Like, much better than I expected from a first run.

What really made it was having a blank deck plan to Traveller's Free Trader. That's three decks of amazing.

So, Thanks Game Designers Workshop for sending me free deck plans! That made my night. Anybody know Marc or others at GDW?

We wound up with a bloodthirsty crew of pirates with no food, no boarders, no real hull, and no seers. That is, the food was poisoners, the only designed boarder was the Captain, the hull had huge gaps, and the only seer was the Stargazer. They couldn't rely on NPCs to help with those things.

I've got some ideas for improvement, some of which I'm already implementing tonight.

Including, it turns out, some really great feedback on my MCing from George Austin. That guys is the best.

The Traveller Free Trader's deck plan has squares of 1.5 square meters. That is, the base unit is 1.5 square meters.

The Traveller Free Trader's deck plan has squares of 1.5 square meters. That is, the base unit is 1.5 square meters.

Does 1.5 square meters strike anyone else as weird? That's ~16 square feet, which is 4 feet on a side.

I think they did this originally in imperial and converted.

As the ship I want for this game has a sizeable crew beyond the table, I think I can adjust by calling those square 6 feet on a side -- about 2 meters, so 4 square meters.

think that means 2.66 times bigger on the inside, so big enough for a real crew instead of just the table. Which is what I'm going for, so huzzah.

As an aside, 2 meters is a great baseline distance, as that's roughly how much a bunk needs.

Also, jeebs is Traveller stuff involved. I'm intentionally just scratching the surface, as I am not making a traveller game. Just stealing the deck plans for a first run, so we can draw on the ship.

I am bad at internet.

I am bad at internet.

just received Merry Christmas email from Game Designer's Workshop through DriveThru.

Email says a product has a special low low price of $0.00, but clicking in shows a price of many more dollars than zero.

How did I internet wrong?

Kind of on a dare, I am writing a pbta space hack about pirates! Avast, its a pirates life for me!

Kind of on a dare, I am writing a pbta space hack about pirates! Avast, its a pirates life for me!

Solar Wind & Sale: an economic pbta hack for 3-4 players and an MC. At least until I divide up the fronts and make it GMful.

I have some novel things, maybe. This post is here to talk through how I expect those to work, and see if they make sense to you. Yes, you.

In decreasing order of novelty:
1. Only the ship has stats, which are Supplies, Guns, Trade, and Void.

2. These have sub-stats! For Supplies its Foodstuffs, Medical, and Repair. Sometimes you need to rely on access to fruit, sometimes its the self-sealing stembolts. What're some other sub-stats you might expect for Supplies, Guns, Trade, and Void?

3. Damage is done to stats! If the ship takes damage, you mark down one of the advances until it gets fixed.

4. There are ships officers: Captain, Quartermasters, Boatswain and sometimes Stargazer. These must be PCs. They have a move each, and are responsible for widely different things.

5. Only half of the playbooks can be in use at any time! These are things like Mechanic and Surgeon -- you can only have one. If you've got a Ship's Doctor, you don't have a decent mechanic.

6. (Less Novel) -- Each PC brings a new room onto the ship, which lets them change the game in a cool way. The Mechanic has a workshop, which lets her build or figure out just about anything. The Navigator has a balcony.

7. (less novel) -- the "Do something" move is "Rely on the crew", which always has a complication. Even on a 10+. You don't get out of drama by relying on the crew!

8. (less novel) We go around the table to build the ship. First, everyone marks off a ship's system that is lacking, "Our ship does not have medical equipment", "Our ship does not have cargo boxes", "Our ship's engines are untrustworthy, and possible missing entirely". Then, go around and build up systems, "Our food stuffs include cheese", "Our weapon systems include a real gang", "Our gigs include hauling cargo", "We have a lot of mechanics, 24".

9. I don't yet have an Hx system. That'll be after the first playtest. It'll probably be Hx with PCs and with the crew, though I'm not yet sure what that'll look like. Maybe a I'll steal from The Watch, and have a spendable resource.

10. The move for the Stagazer is almost exactly Let It Out, because why not steal from what I love the most?

What of this doesn't make sense? Does this sound good? Do you want to play this? Who am I unintentionally stealing from?

Novel: A Man Called Ove

Novel: A Man Called Ove
Author: Fredrik Backman
Rating: 5 of 5 tears
Genre: Fiction

Short Synopsis: TEARS

This book is alternatively hilarious and heart wrenching. The author knows how to hit you right in the guts, and I cried on Metro.

On. Metro. That's kinda rude, but there it is: I cried outloud during rush hour on Metro.

Do yourself a favor, read this book.

Novel: The Spider's War

Novel: The Spider's War
Author: Daniel Abraham
Rating: 4 of 5
Genre: Epic Fantasy

Short synopsis: The fifth book (of 5) in the Coin and Dagger series. I read this series over the last six months, finishing the first end of June. I adore Abraham's writing, though this is not his best. That'd be the Long Price Quartet.

I literally cannot say more without a spoiler.

---spoiler space---

---spoiler space---

--spoiler space--

--OK, spoilers--

I was really pleased with a lot in this book, which pulled out of the fire some of my concerns in the previous volumes.

For example, I was worried that Cithrin's creation of fiat currency would be for nought. Instead, at the very end we not only see war reparations in fiat currency, but the beginning of a currency exchange.

I was concerned that the Spiders would win. I admit it, I didn't see a way out. Getting Geder back on the "good" side was about the only way out, and I'm glad he thought his noble sacrifice was big deal and everyone else is like "Its the job".

Along with that, I was glad that not all war is placed at their feet -- just a particularly pernicious sort of war.

DRAGONS. Inys the Dragon is what they are supposed to be: greater than human, with an ego to match.

Glad our man Marcus got to take out the chief spider priest, too. He carried around that damn sword for long enough. The King refusing to treat the kidnapped children as hostages was excellent.

Could have used more currency manipulation, and fewer swords.

Traveller.

Traveller.

Remind me about the basic ship you start with.

Here's what I think i remember: skeleton crew, no shields, no weapons, minimal cargo and no minimal ability to take a hit. The ability to go from system to system, but only in the local neighborhood.

Am I remembering right? Am I wrong?

I know there are other ships you can start with, especially as a scout. I'm meaning like the ship that you get and owe money on.

Solar Wind & Sail post --

Solar Wind & Sail post --

I've got a super rough draft, and plan to run this game on Thursday.

As of now, the playbooks are super duper light; I need to add names and looks, for sure. But, I like the idea of the system from each playbook being simple; a move or two, and a room in the ship. Right now, that's advancing a basic move and a room that gives a move no one else can have.

Notice, stats weren't in there. I'm hopeful I can just have stats be something the ship has, and what's great about the crew is their ability to use it.

A big deal is the ship, even more so with it having the only stats. A bunch of other things, but for sure also stats. The other stuff is things like shuttles, gangs, and spacesuits. These things are important!

The ship's officers, which must be PCs, are the Captain / Quartermaster / Boatswain. Captain is in charge during battle, QM while undersail and not during combat, and Boatswain takes care of repairing the ship and hiring more crew between missions.

The ship starts off pretty shitty! If it takes a single hit, it is disabled. If the crew takes a single point of damage, it is disabled! If you take cargo damage, you've nothing to sell! Your Supplies, Guns, Trade, and Void are all very low! It is very hard to make a dollar at first, but if you can manage to get an upgrade then life becomes a lot easier.

Or does it?

Thoughts about space pirates? Does this pbta game sound like anything? Am I too dumb to think about games?

Success!

Success!

The stats so far:
Successes: 3
Tentative Successes: 1
Failures: 5

I'm not really sure how, but a success is a success.

Writing things down.

Writing things down.

A ship has the following resources: supplies, guns, cash, crew.

The ship's officer have the following stats: Discipline, Popularity, Thrift, and Prizes. The Captain has Discipline, the Quartermaster has Popularity, the Boatswain has Thrift, and the Fence has Prizes.

The Captain and Quartermaster are in charge of the ship while it is in space; the Boatswain and Fence are in charge in dock.

Those resources can be used by anyone to accomplish goals and make rolls. Specialists can roll without spending, or spend to get a 10+.

More later.

Had a run-in with christian privilege this morning.

Had a run-in with christian privilege this morning.

On Metro.

Fairly crowded train car, and on comes a Christian Caroler. Who takes it upon himself to sing Oh Come All Ye Angels as loud as possible.

Unluckily enough for him, we were commuting and were next to where he started to sing. Our reaction started with a "Could ya not?", and escalated to a discussion of Christian privilege as it contrasts with other religious.

You never see jewish carolers. Or Hindi. Or Muslim. There was a woman wearing the hijab five feet from this asshole, and she wasn't singing about Allah.

But you know, there's a "war on christmas".

I'm annoyed. What is to be done about it?

Does this make sense for A Pirate's Life (25th century space pirates).

Does this make sense for A Pirate's Life (25th century space pirates).

The ship has stats like Hull and Crew. It has resources like Supplies and Guns. Supplies and Guns are capped at the lowest of Hull and Crew. A crew of zero is a skeleton crew like Serenity, a crew of 3 is like Enterprise.

If the ship takes damage, anyone can fix it up by spending one supply. So, the rating goes down by one. This'll heal one box of harm.

The Mechanic may roll plus the supplies on hand to fix the hull. On a 10+, she completely fixes the hull. On a 7-9, she heals one box of hull damage, and . On a 6-, still heal one but hard move. The Mechanic may spend 1 as if she rolled a 10+.

If you don't have a specialist (the mechanic), then you just move stuff around. If you do, then you have a chance to really fix things!

Does this make sense?

This is a thing that exists: www.safetypinbox.com/

This is a thing that exists: www.safetypinbox.com/

This is maybe important!
https://www.safetypinbox.com/

I am envisioning a game about Piracy.

I am envisioning a game about Piracy.

Scratch that: a game about power and finances through the lens of 25th century space piracy. The fundamental scarcity onboard ship is competency.

There is never enough competency to go around. The playbooks are setup to cover more than you have moves for, such that an important part of what you do cannot be done well.

That is: There's a single playbook for Mechanic/Surgeon. The moves will be designed so you can be good at one or the other, but not both.

Same thing for Master Gunner/Navigator, Master of the Watch / Fence, Caravan Master / Steward.

That is: the playbook select ensures you choose between keeping the ship in good shape or the people, between knowing where you are and how to fire your weapons, between having a good watch and being able to sell stuff readily, and between knowing where other ships are to rip off and being able to feed everyone.

In addition, there are specific positions onboard ship. Officers, which may or may not have the abilities to do this well. These elected officer positions are:
1. Captain, who has unlimited authority during battle. And none otherwise.
2. Quartermaster, who has authority over the crew during non-battle and controls the purse. Major issues are settled through a vote of the crew.
3. Boatswain, who is responsible for the equipment and ship. Basically, the Boatswain is in charge while the ship is docked and/or getting repairs.

Those are the only officer positions, so those three players have additional responsibilities. These come with no additional powers, just responsibility. This may be all the players! Everyone else is a spacer.

I'm very tempted to make this a hack of Dream Askew. In particular, the GMful nature and distributed fronts could hit exactly what I want.

Sound any fun?

Hard fail. I ate way too much pizza last night.

Hard fail. I ate way too much pizza last night.

I ran twice, once outside!

I don't want to be putting this weight back on, and am hovering close and then shooting up once a week. Its really kinda interesting to notice.

The stats so far:
Successes: 2
Tentative Successes: 1
Failures: 5

What's a ridiculous thing you've done for an RPG?

What's a ridiculous thing you've done for an RPG?

For me: putting together a crew rotation for a Correllian Corvette. I designed it such that the Captain and the XO -- my character's wife -- were never on crew rotation. I showed this to friends who think about military space ships, and they were aghast.

That's the first ship we see in Star Wars; Leia's consular ship. I know way too much about Star Wars, including things like the crew counts.

What's a ridiculous thing you've done for an RPG?

In the Caliphate of Azithan, known to its neighbors as the Necromancer Kingdom ...

In the Caliphate of Azithan, known to its neighbors as the Necromancer Kingdom ...

Here's a post about city design. This is a weird post, very much in the weeds on how the Caliphate structures its cities. I figure the audience for this is five people, at absolute most.

There are three main types of cities:
(0) The Capital, which is a combination of all three of the below.

(1) Organic cities. Whether in areas where the Faith is new, or cities older than the Faith, these cities are a combination of buildings built by Lifeless and designed by priests, and those that predate.

(2) Leisure cities, focused on the people rather than those people having jobs. The safe distribution of flour and turning it into bread is the main industry in these cities. The bakers guild loves the leisure cities.

(3) Working cities, centered around production. Different priest-architects have designed different version of these. The most successful make the building labor sufficiently repetitive as to require mostly Lifeless, and empower the people in these cities to work.

The above nomenclature ignores the Lifeless Enclaves that farm and mine, which also serve as garrisons.

All the cities have the multi-use tenements built for the Faithful. Remember, anyone who goes to church receives sufficient Flour to make ends meet -- 50 cups of flour, if my memory checks out. Go twice, get 80. Go three times, get 100. That is, there is diminishing returns from returning. As these are built, so are support locations, such as temples, bathhouses, and schools.

Of course, the Faithful build their own houses and businesses, but only in the working cities is this viewed as a matter for the Church to plan.

The working cities also have parks, commercial areas, suburbs (individual houses), and industry as well as the tenements, temples, bathhouses, and schools.

In one conceptualization, a working city is thought of as a mile and a half diameter half-circle around a river. The city is broken up into a grid, with 1000 feet (300m) by 1000 (300m) feet sections. These are divided into 25 squares, each 200 ft (60m) by 200 ft (60m). Outside of the grid is a network of homes, both for the wealthly and simply those who do not wish to live inside the apartments.

[ I played way too much SimCity. ]

Of these 25 squares:
1. The middle is a Temple.
2. The surrounding 8 are parks.
3. The outer 16 contain the industry, tenements, bathhouses, commerce, schools arranged such that when you put a square next to another square, nothing touches a like building.

That is, the outer edge of each square is the "city", with the inner being parks and temple. Because Temples are important in the Caliphate of Azithan! This is an approximation, as roads simply disappear at this resolution. A lot of the life of the city occurs within those inner 9 squares.

Here's the layout of a tenement in a working city:
Because I think in terms of feet, the following are primarily in feet and contain translations to meters:
Tenements: approx 160 feet by 160 feet (50 meters by 50 meters). That's 25,600 square feet (2,500 m^2).

In all cases, stairs are on the outside.

Basement: Accessible from the priest's apartment, and holds the Lifeless. Most of the actual work of the church is done at the temple, if there is one nearby. In the designed cities, there always is.

Ground Floor: This is divided evenly into 8 locations, each accessible from outside: 6 retail, 1 magistrate office, and one apartment / workshop for a priest. The priest's apartment contains the entrance to the basement, which has the Lifeless and doubles as a machine room. Each is approx 2,500 square feet (~250 m^2). The retail usually includes a couple places to eat, a leasing office /cop shop, and other useful shops. What else goes here?

Floor 1: Apartments fit for families, with running water! Eight of these, each approx 2,000 square feet (~300 m^2). Balconies on the roofs of the floor below. Population: ~40.

Floor 2: Apartments fit for singles, couples, and small families, making a reasonable wage in local industry. Each apartment has rudimentary plumbing. Sixteen of these, each approx 800 square feet (~80 m^2). Balconies on the roofs of the floor below. Population: ~30.

[ As an aside, my apartment isn't 800 square feet. Of course, it is also made out of steel, drywall, and glass. Not concrete.]

Floor 3: Dorm style! Small rooms, and a lot of them. Each ~100 sq feet (10 m^2), and 50 of them. Not all of these have light, and are accessible by hallways lit only by the outside. There's a waste and waste water disposal shaft for the floor. icky! Communal balconies. Population: ~30, but up to ~50 without too much difficulty.

Floor 5: Barracks style! Additional housing for the Faithful as needed. Visiting monks, additional lifeless. Those Faithful who don't work and wander from City to City! Whatever!

Thoughts / Ideas / Questions/ Comments welcome!