I picked up Engel (original), 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.

Real Live Preacher (original) is a brilliant new weblog from a Texas preacher. Oddly, it reminds me of True Porn Clerk Stories, in that it’s very honest writing about a profession that most of us know little about. At least, from the inside. Very much worth reading. (By way of Electrolite.)

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. ...

The latest entry in Key 20’s 12 Games of Christmas (original) series is [Bloggomancy](http://web.archive.org/web/20250424002024/http://web.archive.org/web/20250424002024/http://www.key20.com/12games/BUA.html (original) “12 Games of Christmas - The Bloggomancer for UNKNOWN ARMIES 2d Ed!”) (original), 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.

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. ...

Notes from the Velvet Crypt is a cool little weblog about eroticism, science fiction, horror, and stuff like that. In other words, stuff I like when I’m not thinking about politics. If she ever says anything nice about Laurell Hamilton, though, I will be saddened.

Virginia Postrel commented on Bob Jones University (original) 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.

When I mentioned imagination in skyscrapers earlier, I was thinking in particular of the skyscrapers of Dubai. Then I realized I’d never linked to those. So: here’s a page of drawings of Dubai skyscrapers (original), which will give you an idea of how inventively wacky and big they are. This page (original) also has drawings. The drawings there aren’t as good, but they link to photos of the buildings, which are incredible.

Perceptive souls will notice a Creative Commons license in the bottom of the left hand column. Or, if you’re reading the bare bones Population: One, it’s at the bottom of the page. I wound up choosing the very liberal Attribution license. This means that anyone can copy, distribute, or display these pages or works derived from these pages, as long as they give me credit. I doubt anyone will, mind you. This is pretty much just a philosophical statement. ...

Cold Fury clarifies his earlier statements, and I believe I thus owe him an apology. I can’t hold being closed-minded against him, either; I think that people on the left are just as likely to be closed-minded in exactly the same sort of a way. You think (say) Atrios believes a word Bush says without some sort of evidence? Nope. Nor should he, any more than Cold Fury should believe Democratic politicos. Hidden agendas are the nature of the beast. The Republicans accused Max Cleland of being a pacifist! Pointing your finger at the left as the only people who do this is simply silly. “Did you know John McCain has an illegitimate black child?” ...