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Population: One

Time to ring some changes

December 23, 2002
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Funniest damn thing I’ve read in a while. Excerpt:

Madame Galadriel, famous Elf Queen,
Had a forbidding realm, nevertheless
Is known to be the wisest woman in Middle-Earth,
With a wicked pack of cards. Here, said she,
Is your card, the drowned Wizard,
(Those are the grey robes that were his garb. Look!)
Here is Eowyn, the Lady of the Horses,
The lady of battle.
Here is the man with many colors, and here the Staff,
And here is the one-eyed Sauron, and this card,
Which is blank, is something he searches for in your pack,
Which I am forbidden to see. I do not find
The Uruk-Hai. Fear death by Nazgul.
I see crowds of people, talking about a Ring.
Thank you. If you see dear Master Gamgee,
Tell him I bring the mallorn myself:
One must be so careful these days.

Oh, oh, the original thread has even more brilliance.

Engel Engel burning bright

December 23, 2002
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I picked up Engel, the new D20 game from White Wolf, over the weekend. Wait, that’s not true. It’s actually from Feder und Schwert, a German gaming company, and White Wolf’s Sword and Sorcery Studios is publishing it over here. Also, it’s not a D20 game per se: it doesn’t have the D20 logo, so strictly speaking it’s just an OGL game that happens to use the D20 mechanics. But they’re not allowed to say so. In Germany, it was apparently published with the D20 logo and also had a set of Tarot-based mechanics, which we don’t get here. Have I mentioned lately that WotC’s licensing scheme is somewhat complex?

Anyhow, it’s a pretty cool setting. It’s 2654, plagues and disasters have traumatized the Earth’s biosphere, and the Lord of the Flies dreams horrible insects into life. Only the Angelic Church — led by an undying Pope — stands between the wreckage of Europe and the demonic hordes. But five orders of angels have been sent to assist humanity in this hour of need.

Technology is outlawed, but still pursued by the secular leaders of Europe. Feudalism has returned. The Church is the most powerful institution in Europe, but by no means the only center of power. Feder und Schwert have avoided the trap of one-dimensional settings; it’s not just the Church against the baddies, and there are those who are not aligned with the Church but are also not evil.

I like the images of a drowned world in a dying age. In some ways, it’s very Dying Earth. The world is clearly near an end, battered and bruised by centuries of pain, and everyone finds their own way to avoid thinking about it. Some resort to decadence, some resort to the Church, and some find peace in surrender.

The translation is top notch; some Euro game translations (Agone comes to mind) have great ideas weighed down by turgid English, but Engel flows very well. The prose strongly conveys the feeling of the world. The excellent maps probably helped a lot there; the endpapers are a map of flooded Europe, and they really drive home the sense of a world less than once it was.

There is a strong metaplot, some of which is not revealed in the main book. I think it would be pretty easy to ignore it completely, though, so I didn’t find it objectionable. Feder und Schwert is one of those companies that wants to tell a story with their RPGs, though: they’ve published Engel graphic novels and CDs. It might well get in the way of the game at a later date; be warned.

I think using the D20 mechanics was a good choice. Most of the book is background, which doesn’t hurt because the D20 rules are simple to explain and mechanically solid. I would have liked to have seen the Tarot-based system, but I’m sure I’ll find a recap of ‘em on the Web eventually. There’s very little divergence from the basic D20 model here. Engel uses the same classes as does D&D, plus five more classes for the angels themselves. Angelic powers are treated as skills (a really nice touch), but you fuel them with your own hit points (another nice touch which makes good sense in the setting).

On the down side, there are very few sample monsters. This is a pretty serious lack; sure, you could adapt any D&D monster pretty easily, but I kind of want a good set of adversaries in a stand alone game. Since campaigns will likely center around angels, we need to know what they’re combatting. In general, in fact, there’s a lack of information about the Lord of the Flies. He’s around, he’s doing bad things, but what exactly? Well, that’s murky.

There is, by the by, a big secret at the heart of the setting. I’m going to cut that off into the extended entry, for the sake of anyone who might want to play the game. I do think that if you’re intending to be a player (rather than a GM), you don’t want to know this, and I am generally pretty casual about such things.

Overall, it’s a buy with the caveat that the backstory of the world is not complete. I think the promised book on the Lord of the Flies will complete the backstory sufficiently, and I’m willing to wait for it on that basis, but I could be wrong.

Continue ReadingEngel Engel burning bright

Shift to the right

December 22, 2002
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So while thinking about the NBA expansion into Charlotte, I found myself contemplating NBA contraction, since I firmly believe there are too many NBA teams. The talent pool is too diluted, and while an influx of Euros may counteract this, that influx would be even cooler if there were fewer teams.

So who would I cut? Well, I’ve never been happy about the Canadian teams, but then the Grizz moved to Memphis and got Jerry West and you can’t cut a team out from under Jerry. Toronto can go any day, though.

I think we also have about one too many teams in Florida. They should do a special playoff at the end of this season; winner gets to stay around and take over the contracts of any players they want from the losers. Ideally, this would take place inside a cage.

Washington wants a baseball team. The Wizards should convert over en masse, satisfying Jordan’s dreams and getting rid of a bad basketball team and providing DC with the baseball it yearns for. I bet people would pay to see Kwame Brown pitch. I sure would.

Denver just needs to go away. There’s nothing funny you can say about Denver. Same goes for Golden State. I lived in San Francisco for a bunch of years and you know what? Nobody’s going to get behind ‘em ever because a) they suck and b) they have a sad sorry name. You should never be named after anything but a city. The New England Patriots would be doing OK this year if they’d just get over themselves and become the Boston Patriots. The Revolution would have won the MLS Cup if they did the same thing.

There are a whole bunch of Midwestern teams which limp a lot and never do much. There’s also Indiana and Detroit which have history and class and style, so they’re safe. Milwaukee and Cleveland, though? Gotta go. The Bulls should go too but I’m told Chicago is a major media market or something. Fine, whatever.

OK, let’s see. We’ve gotten rid of seven teams, which puts us at 23. Still too many. OK, I hate to do this, but you know that when Stockton and Malone retire Utah is just gonna be sad forever, living on dreams of past glory, never again to make the playoffs. The ultimate tribute to Stockton and Malone would be to retire the entire team when they’re done. “Guys, you were amazing, and we will never do better than you so we will not even try.” Also, they should get a special NBA Title Award, entitled the “We’re Sorry About Michael Award.”

I further believe that either the Lakers or the Clippers need to go, or they need to rename the Pacific Division to NBA West and make it a totally separate league. Which, come to think of it, would solve a few problems. Anyhow, I say that if the Lakers finish ahead of the Clippers this year then the Lakers should be disbanded and the Clips should get their players, out of mercy. If the Clippers finish ahead of the Lakers, then the Lakers should be disbanded, out of shame. And if the Clippers allow any more good free agents to just walk out the door, that’s a termination offense.

What? I’m a Boston Celtics fan. You expected me to keep the Lakers around?

It's a kind of magic

December 21, 2002
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The latest entry in Key 20’s 12 Games of Christmas series is Bloggomancy, a school of magic for Unknown Armies. Yeah, it’s what it sounds like. Both amusing and fairly playable, albeit a little slanted towards LiveJournal. Easy enough to fix that, though.

Mind you, it says you can get a major charge for writing a new weblog/journal client. That probably ought to be revised; I’m not a programmer, and I could crank one of those out per day if I wanted. Easy fix: you only get the major charge if more than 500 people use it regularly. That also fits the theme of the other major charge gathering methods.

Raise your voice unto the Lord

December 21, 2002
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Largely because of this post, I’ve been thinking about Bush’s faith-based initiatives some more. Bunch of aspects to this. Let’s break ‘em down.

First off, yes, this is advantageous to Bush politicially. As NPR pointed out a few nights ago, this will demonstrably and directly benefit some portions of society which have tended to vote Democratic in the past. I’m sure Bush knows that. I also don’t think it’s relevant to whether or not the initiatives are a good idea.

Second, there’s a question as to whether or not Bush had the right to issue this executive order. That’s the one that says religious groups can receive federal grants even if they display religious symbols in their facilities or discriminate in hiring on religious grounds. As Daily KOS pointed out earlier this month, this may be more rightfully a Congressional decision. In fact, discussion of this topic stalled in Congress last year. I dislike the idea that something devolves to Presidential decision simply because Congress is stuck on the issue.

Third, is it a good idea? I think yes, with caveats. Bush specifically called out some continuing and unaffected requirements for faith-based groups recieving funds. First, they can’t discriminate in who they help. Second, they can’t use the grant to proselytize. Those are key points, and he’s got ‘em covered.

The handbook (PDF) providing guidance to faith-based groups on these issues is worth reading, to get an idea of how careful Bush is being. Example question: “If someone asks me about my faith, can I share it with them?” “If someone asks you about your personal faith while you are providing a government-funded service, you may answer briefly. But if you wish to have a longer discussion on matters of faith, you should set up a time to speak with that person later.” I think that’s a fairly good balance between the right of a volunteer to free speech and the necessity to distinguish between church and state.

OK. So that’s the good. Now, the bad.

Critics who say that this could erode the separation between church and state are correct — they’re only wrong if they claim such erosion is inevitable. The biggest danger is that Bush will find his administration in the position of determining which religions are acceptable. It is utterly essential that Bush makes sure that the grants aren’t slanted towards any one brand of religion. It would be unfortunate (that’s dry sarcasm, there) if we looked up a year into this and discovered that no Islamic organization had gotten any grants. For that matter, the Church of Satan better be able to get a grant if it wants one. (It doesn’t; Satanists of that stripe are devout individualists. But you get the idea.)

Mind you, in one sense, this problem is no different than the question of which non-faith-based groups get grants; favoritism is favoritism. However, we ought to acknowledge that religious groups do occupy a special place in their ability to sway minds. That means we need to take more care with them. Fact of life; not an insult to religion by any means, but a recognition of the special role it plays in our society.

Withholding federal grants from religions isn’t a way to discriminate against religions; it’s a way to avoid favoring one over another. Characterizing it as the former (and Bush did that) is a disservice to the real danger.

Man's inhumanity to man

December 20, 2002
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I can’t tell if this is a sporting event or brutality. Five competitors are going to run 1,000 miles in 1,000 hours, then cap it all off by running the London Marathon, whose organizers came up with the concept. That’s certainly a challenge, and I admire the spirit of those willing to take it up. The competitors are legitimate marathoners, so it’s not a circus sideshow per se.

Actually, come to think of it, the concept itself doesn’t bother me much. There’s something almost meditative about it. And, for that matter, I haven’t ever minded the Tour de France which has similar qualities of strain. I hope not too many people tune in for the same reasons they’d slow down at a car crash, and I wish the runners well.

Bob Jones? John Smith?

December 19, 2002
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Virginia Postrel commented on Bob Jones University last year. Good stuff, and an interesting postulate which makes a lot of sense. I found the link in a recent post of hers regarding the nature of the Southern Christian right. No perma-link, alas. She says there that “the South-based Christian right is not a racist movement. Billy Graham won that debate. Bob Jones lost it.” I tend to agree with that, but I would add the caveat that if Bob Jones University is the sort of place that’s producing Southern Republican political candidates (which is her assertion in the earlier piece), then the nature of the Southern Christian right is not entirely relevant to the nature of Christian right-wing politicians.