071: Garden-of-Me
It's a garden entirely built from transgenic species, all from one guy's DNA. Interesting idea, especially with the social aspects discussed.
One extremely good hook: a bank job variant, with competing interests, but it (optionally) ties back to interesting philosophies, and is easily and deeply integrated into the setting.
No grade on this one, because it appears to be an extension of a major setting element, and because I have no basis for evaluation of the fidelity of that extension. (By itself, an A-, with some font issues).
Farcast "review"
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Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Ancient History
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Yay, updates!
[/edit]I guess I should mention that kidmoths were first mentioned in one of my pieces of Eclipse Phase fiction, 17 Senses.
[/edit]I guess I should mention that kidmoths were first mentioned in one of my pieces of Eclipse Phase fiction, 17 Senses.
Last edited by Ancient History on Mon Jun 23, 2014 12:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
ENTRY 072: The Automatic Farm
A martian terraforming version of biodome, with extra-smart dogs and terraforming sheep. Good, though mostly uninspired.
Second hook strongly suggests dogrape. B-.
A martian terraforming version of biodome, with extra-smart dogs and terraforming sheep. Good, though mostly uninspired.
Second hook strongly suggests dogrape. B-.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
Bonus: 17 Senses
Excellent short story consisting of a series of short vignettes, each themed around a sense. The first eight are standard human senses, and a few of the remaining ones are too. It grows progressively more associated then dissociated with normal human experience. Good enough to forgive that it drifts into constructed pronouns towards the end, as that emphasizes the dissociation. 1-9 are A+; would expect to see in a (good) published work. it goes downhill after that, though not bad. Overall, A-.
Excellent short story consisting of a series of short vignettes, each themed around a sense. The first eight are standard human senses, and a few of the remaining ones are too. It grows progressively more associated then dissociated with normal human experience. Good enough to forgive that it drifts into constructed pronouns towards the end, as that emphasizes the dissociation. 1-9 are A+; would expect to see in a (good) published work. it goes downhill after that, though not bad. Overall, A-.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
073: Shedder
Generic colorful character, well set up for use as a contact. Easy to drop in, and colorful / well fleshed-out enough to be easy to use and memorable.
B+ for concept, solid A for execution.
Generic colorful character, well set up for use as a contact. Easy to drop in, and colorful / well fleshed-out enough to be easy to use and memorable.
B+ for concept, solid A for execution.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Ancient History
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074: Solnar
Basically, a unit of pseudo-currency, interesting only to economists (think SDR), and also the name of a currency marketplace with price fixing based on Solnar exchange rates, and also an app for that.
After introducing this as though it were an uninteresting background element (C+), Ancient judo-flipped my expectations and turned this into fantastic lube: encouraging hyper-local/unorthodox currencies in game (B), because now they are painless to trade, so each session is locally flavorful, but not inextricably beholden to what has gone before (B+).
The second hook is an inspired take on a break-and-hack: Someone A wants to mess with Someone B, and asks the PCs to break in and virus Someone B's computers, so that their vast wealth (in Kronor) is converted to a hojillion crazy boutique currencies. To make this worth their while, the PCs are given $TEXAS in crazy boutique currencies, which will convert to precious Kronor if they succeed. (Up to A-)
The first hook is amazing. It crams an incredible amount of flavor into one short paragraph. Go read it. There's an evocative character, with a creative (but believable) gimmick, who is being inconvenienced in a believable way. It's not fully fleshed out, but is exactly as detailed as it needs to be to be easy to drop into any game.
Overall: A+
Basically, a unit of pseudo-currency, interesting only to economists (think SDR), and also the name of a currency marketplace with price fixing based on Solnar exchange rates, and also an app for that.
After introducing this as though it were an uninteresting background element (C+), Ancient judo-flipped my expectations and turned this into fantastic lube: encouraging hyper-local/unorthodox currencies in game (B), because now they are painless to trade, so each session is locally flavorful, but not inextricably beholden to what has gone before (B+).
The second hook is an inspired take on a break-and-hack: Someone A wants to mess with Someone B, and asks the PCs to break in and virus Someone B's computers, so that their vast wealth (in Kronor) is converted to a hojillion crazy boutique currencies. To make this worth their while, the PCs are given $TEXAS in crazy boutique currencies, which will convert to precious Kronor if they succeed. (Up to A-)
The first hook is amazing. It crams an incredible amount of flavor into one short paragraph. Go read it. There's an evocative character, with a creative (but believable) gimmick, who is being inconvenienced in a believable way. It's not fully fleshed out, but is exactly as detailed as it needs to be to be easy to drop into any game.
Overall: A+
ENTRY 075: Eternal Puppy
Not sure why this was going to be exciting. EvilCorp made a bunch of dogs which never develop, and so stay puppy-like forever. They also come with a bunch of genetic defects, and never learn not to pee on the rug.
Four hooks, two generic: (a bank job, an escort mission (escort a wacky puppy!)). The other two are original: Oh no! All the puppies are bombs! and someone's puppy is dying, so she takes hostages to demand a cure.
Overall, a solid albeit unexceptional example of Ancient's work: he takes an interesting/evocative premise, and fleshes it out with believable complications. Unfortunately, this example is not as inspired as some.
Overall: B+
Not sure why this was going to be exciting. EvilCorp made a bunch of dogs which never develop, and so stay puppy-like forever. They also come with a bunch of genetic defects, and never learn not to pee on the rug.
Four hooks, two generic: (a bank job, an escort mission (escort a wacky puppy!)). The other two are original: Oh no! All the puppies are bombs! and someone's puppy is dying, so she takes hostages to demand a cure.
Overall, a solid albeit unexceptional example of Ancient's work: he takes an interesting/evocative premise, and fleshes it out with believable complications. Unfortunately, this example is not as inspired as some.
Overall: B+
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
That's all tonight.
I've been contacted by a special guest (ha) reviewer, who might chime in if we're lucky. I'll leave it mysterious for now, but you'll know when he posts.
I've been contacted by a special guest (ha) reviewer, who might chime in if we're lucky. I'll leave it mysterious for now, but you'll know when he posts.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
I recall a sci-fi short story I read a dozen or two years back in Aasimov or Analog or something. Anyway, premise was there were cats gene-crafted to stay as kittens for years instead of months (they do eventually become adults). Also given opposable thumbs. Side effect is that they develop mentally very quickly and become sentient/intelligent. Creepiness is that the kitten uses its pet-owner child as bait for a trap to kill some larger beast that it had a beef with.fectin wrote:ENTRY 075: Eternal Puppy
Not sure why this was going to be exciting. EvilCorp made a bunch of dogs which never develop, and so stay puppy-like forever. They also come with a bunch of genetic defects, and never learn not to pee on the rug.
Four hooks, two generic: (a bank job, an escort mission (escort a wacky puppy!)). The other two are original: Oh no! All the puppies are bombs! and someone's puppy is dying, so she takes hostages to demand a cure.
Overall, a solid albeit unexceptional example of Ancient's work: he takes an interesting/evocative premise, and fleshes it out with believable complications. Unfortunately, this example is not as inspired as some.
Overall: B+
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Ancient History
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076: Lois Wylie
A NPC (potentially antagonist or ally) character sheet with stats and skills that I lack the knowledge to even begin to parse. Also includes a quick personality synopsis.
My favorite part of the whole thing was the introductory paragraph; that the "genefix" process can only work with existing genes and can't make you audacius, velocius, firmior than you already had the potential to be. I'd like to hear more about that and if they ever got around that "problem".
Grade: B
(Thanks, fectin, for letting me chime in when I can. Bobby, if you'd prefer this be handled by one person I will bow out. Let me know.)
Game On,
fbmf
A NPC (potentially antagonist or ally) character sheet with stats and skills that I lack the knowledge to even begin to parse. Also includes a quick personality synopsis.
My favorite part of the whole thing was the introductory paragraph; that the "genefix" process can only work with existing genes and can't make you audacius, velocius, firmior than you already had the potential to be. I'd like to hear more about that and if they ever got around that "problem".
Grade: B
(Thanks, fectin, for letting me chime in when I can. Bobby, if you'd prefer this be handled by one person I will bow out. Let me know.)
Game On,
fbmf
Last edited by fbmf on Mon Jun 23, 2014 9:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ancient History
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Nah, I'm just happy to see it reviewed.
Last edited by Ancient History on Mon Jun 23, 2014 9:20 pm, edited 1 time in total.
077: Newskin
A quick write up on the transhuman equivalent of tanning and facelifts all rolled into one. Very cool world building combined with a promising adventure seed. It combines "life is cheap" (a cosmetics company is willing to kill you to protect corporate secrets) with "all the modern conveniences" (in the dystopian future, there are tanning salons).
Grade: B+
Game On,
fbmf
A quick write up on the transhuman equivalent of tanning and facelifts all rolled into one. Very cool world building combined with a promising adventure seed. It combines "life is cheap" (a cosmetics company is willing to kill you to protect corporate secrets) with "all the modern conveniences" (in the dystopian future, there are tanning salons).
Grade: B+
Game On,
fbmf
One more before I have to go back to Dad Duty.
078:Trollheim
The idea that every major settlement has its own area where political and social dissidents are at least tolerated if not outright endorsed is very practical. The fact that Anonymous can and will track you down even there if you're enough of a pain in the ass also seems reasonable.
Easy enough to drop into and existing campaign and a few adventure hooks to boot.
Grade: B+
Question: What's the in universe etymology of Trollheim?
Game On,
fbmf
078:Trollheim
The idea that every major settlement has its own area where political and social dissidents are at least tolerated if not outright endorsed is very practical. The fact that Anonymous can and will track you down even there if you're enough of a pain in the ass also seems reasonable.
Easy enough to drop into and existing campaign and a few adventure hooks to boot.
Grade: B+
Question: What's the in universe etymology of Trollheim?
Game On,
fbmf
Last edited by fbmf on Mon Jun 23, 2014 9:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Ancient History
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Wild Turkey in hand and a half hour or so to kill.
079: Starmothers
The Starmothers are a Cthulhu cult of reproductive abusers ( I heard that term on L&O: SVU, so it must be legit). The article also mentions poser fetishists that aren't really into the religious aspects of the movement.
The inclusion of the blanket caveat and advice about using sex, especially forced sex of any kind, in a TTRPG is an especially nice touch. The fact that it is written in such a way so as to not come off a didactic is even cooler.
Experienced gamers will see the Adventure Seed coming from a mile away, but "classic" doesn't mean "tired" or "boring" in this case.
OVERALL: A+
Game On,
fbmf
079: Starmothers
The Starmothers are a Cthulhu cult of reproductive abusers ( I heard that term on L&O: SVU, so it must be legit). The article also mentions poser fetishists that aren't really into the religious aspects of the movement.
The inclusion of the blanket caveat and advice about using sex, especially forced sex of any kind, in a TTRPG is an especially nice touch. The fact that it is written in such a way so as to not come off a didactic is even cooler.
Experienced gamers will see the Adventure Seed coming from a mile away, but "classic" doesn't mean "tired" or "boring" in this case.
OVERALL: A+
Game On,
fbmf
Last edited by fbmf on Wed Jun 25, 2014 7:20 pm, edited 2 times in total.
080: Jhil Nightbreaker
Jhil is a nightbreaker, those that invade ultra right wing (socially, politically, religiously, all or some of the above) communities in order to jump start the counter-culture and show the fundies the error of their ways. She is not opposed to violent methods when she deems it necessary, though if making out with a few dudes in public will get the job done then so much the better.
There are two adventure seeds. The first is a well worn classic. The second, at least with my lack of background knowledge, seems counter intuitive to the type of person Jhil is otherwise described as being. Her primary goal seems to be saving the Expy-Amish from corporate sponsored pedophiles masquerading as religious authorities, "...knowing that it will probably shatter the already unstable society". The way I read it, nightbreaking seems to be secondary to rescuing the community from the corporation.
OVERALL: B-
Game On,
fbmf
Jhil is a nightbreaker, those that invade ultra right wing (socially, politically, religiously, all or some of the above) communities in order to jump start the counter-culture and show the fundies the error of their ways. She is not opposed to violent methods when she deems it necessary, though if making out with a few dudes in public will get the job done then so much the better.
There are two adventure seeds. The first is a well worn classic. The second, at least with my lack of background knowledge, seems counter intuitive to the type of person Jhil is otherwise described as being. Her primary goal seems to be saving the Expy-Amish from corporate sponsored pedophiles masquerading as religious authorities, "...knowing that it will probably shatter the already unstable society". The way I read it, nightbreaking seems to be secondary to rescuing the community from the corporation.
OVERALL: B-
Game On,
fbmf
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Ancient History
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Ancient History
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081: Skincast
It's American Idol crossbred with MXC and Fear Factor, with the top prize being a brand new body. A decent description of future TV, with potential for the PCs to get roped in to compete in arbitrary challenges.
Easy to drop in as background, but is missing specifics. I would like to two sentence sketches of some notables (judges, producers, famous contestants, 2-3 Beloved Sponsors, as well as more example challenges.
Fluff like this is best when I don't have to mind-caulk it myself. As it stands, this could be reduced to 3-4 sentences without losing content.
Overall, B-. Would be lower, but it still is useful as a trashy show for guards (or whoever) to watch.
It's American Idol crossbred with MXC and Fear Factor, with the top prize being a brand new body. A decent description of future TV, with potential for the PCs to get roped in to compete in arbitrary challenges.
Easy to drop in as background, but is missing specifics. I would like to two sentence sketches of some notables (judges, producers, famous contestants, 2-3 Beloved Sponsors, as well as more example challenges.
Fluff like this is best when I don't have to mind-caulk it myself. As it stands, this could be reduced to 3-4 sentences without losing content.
Overall, B-. Would be lower, but it still is useful as a trashy show for guards (or whoever) to watch.
Last edited by fectin on Thu Jun 26, 2014 3:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
082: The Breach
It's a busted space station. There was an especially big explosion. Some guy claims it ripped a hole into a parallel universe.
Again, this entry fails to describe what actually happened, and just talks about what some people believe happened. It would have been much better if the entry had been entirely about Gul Von Vander ("some guy"), or if it had omitted him entirely in favor of a description of what actually happened.
Overall, B-
It's a busted space station. There was an especially big explosion. Some guy claims it ripped a hole into a parallel universe.
Again, this entry fails to describe what actually happened, and just talks about what some people believe happened. It would have been much better if the entry had been entirely about Gul Von Vander ("some guy"), or if it had omitted him entirely in favor of a description of what actually happened.
Overall, B-
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
ENTRY 083: Unguam
He's a conspiracy theorist, who is largely correct. This article describes Exsurgent (alien?) activity as kept quiet through a vast conspiracy. That's fairly implausible. If it's an Eclipse Phase conceit, This is a good subversion of it. If it's an innovation for this article, it's a bad one.
No grade this time, because I don't have a basis for determining if this is decent or bad. Bonus points for making him easy to drop in, and plausible; points off for leaving him two dimensional.
He's a conspiracy theorist, who is largely correct. This article describes Exsurgent (alien?) activity as kept quiet through a vast conspiracy. That's fairly implausible. If it's an Eclipse Phase conceit, This is a good subversion of it. If it's an innovation for this article, it's a bad one.
No grade this time, because I don't have a basis for determining if this is decent or bad. Bonus points for making him easy to drop in, and plausible; points off for leaving him two dimensional.
Vebyast wrote:Here's a fun target for Major Creation: hydrazine. One casting every six seconds at CL9 gives you a bit more than 40 liters per second, which is comparable to the flow rates of some small, but serious, rocket engines. Six items running at full blast through a well-engineered engine will put you, and something like 50 tons of cargo, into space. Alternatively, if you thrust sideways, you will briefly be a fireball screaming across the sky at mach 14 before you melt from atmospheric friction.
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Ancient History
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084: Decoded Transmission
Massively crowdsourced epic prose as a living document. Think Leaves of Grass as an enormous wiki.
By itself, a relatively bland bit of background. Ancient suggests using it as a way to convey motifs though (through tattooed lines, graffiti, etc.). That's actually a very good idea (kind of like Dr Who's arc words).
Overall B+
Massively crowdsourced epic prose as a living document. Think Leaves of Grass as an enormous wiki.
By itself, a relatively bland bit of background. Ancient suggests using it as a way to convey motifs though (through tattooed lines, graffiti, etc.). That's actually a very good idea (kind of like Dr Who's arc words).
Overall B+