Erratica Reduex

In the Virginia Senate race, when the going got tough, Governor Manchin got weird. Whatever one's politics may be, I think we can agree that these are the utterly geekiest campaign ads ever aired.

First: use the Force, Joe!




Second: Orbital Lasers!




All they need now are the sharks. With lasers.



Obviously I haven't been doing enough drugs to work in a political campaign.

In retrospect, the Under the Green Moon game last Saturday went pretty well, considering that a) I changed my mind about the scenario four days before the game, b) I lost a day to a computer virus and c) it was a party and there were a ton of distractions. It seems that people. Had fun, and the Heroquest system worked well, even though I forgot the rule book. I also didn't follow the recommended rules for increasing or decreasing difficulties according to the time in the game, and the final battle looked nothing like the rules in the book for extended contests. Oh well The only thing I regret is that the ending/denoument was rushed so that no proper explanation could be given. An epilogue needs to be written.

I did get some feedback from RacerxMachina, to the effect that I need to give myself more time to write the game, and that it would benefit from the sort of sandbox setting and player investment that comes from an extended campaign. Also, to get that investment, I need to write more. To all of which I agree completely. I myself was concerned about the game being linear- part of which comes from being a convention game.

She had another comment that took me by surprise, but which in retrospect makes sense: the UTGM games have been too focused on the past. It's been all about dealing with ancient wonders and threats, which overshadows the current age. Where, she wondered, were the new discoveries of the current cultures? What was going on in politics, art, and the like? They can't all be obsessed with the past, can they?

That's a valid concern. I confess I've been emphasizing "applied archaeology" both to emphasize some of the differences of the setting (being our far-future Earth), and because dealing with ancient artifacts, whether in a fetch and retrieve quest or a free-for-all McGuffin chase makes for a simple, obvious convention game. But she has a point- there is a lot that should be depicted as going on in the setting that has nothing to do with the past.

So my next project will be to do a list of some of the current events in the setting. That, and I need to get a map posted one of these days.

So does anyone have any additional comments, either on the game last Saturday, or in general?

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