Gameable Fiction Settings

Finding the audiobook of Simon Green's Deathstalker free on Audible until next week, I decided to revisit it. It's a book I read in the 90s, but I've found most of it has stuck with me, and my impression hasn't changed. It's high of action and invention, but above all, it's a really rpg setting-like world. 

Of course, almost any setting is gameable, but some worlds seem have been built with the requirements of game settings in mind: distinct character types with cool abilities, sources of those cool abilities as setting elements, and factions in varying degrees of conflict. The Deathstalker series has all of this and the kitchen sink: noble houses, rebel ESPers, rebel cyberpunks, a sleeping cybernetic army, an inimical AI civilization, and mysterious alien threats. Sources of "power" including intensive training, cyber-and biotech enhancements, weird alien tech, and psionic abilities. And there are swordfights.

All of this reminds me of a gaming setting. It says "play me," I think, more than any rpg tie-in fiction I have read (which isn't a lot, admittedly, but some).

Another series with this quality is Stephen Hunt's Jackelian novels. They are steampunk at base, but also sport robots, feyblooded mutants, biotech, Lovecraftian ancient gods, and a number of post-apocalyptic secrets. I gave them a fuller overview here.

I'm sure there are other such book series out there. Sykes' Graves of Empire series is in that vein, though not as kitchen sink as the above. Certainly, mainstream comic book universes are this and then some. 

Wednesday Comics: DC, January 1985 (week 3)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I'm looking at comics that were published on October 18, 1984.

Robotech Defenders #1: This is not the Robotech you might remember from the Harmony Gold cartoon, which won't appear until sometime in 1985. Instead, this series is a tie-in with an unrelated line of scale model kits released by Revell with whom the more famous Robotech shares a name and logo. Read more about that here.

The story by Helfer and Hunt/Anderson involves a group of pilots representing various alien species and worlds fighting against the invading Grelons, a formerly less technologically advanced species that have somehow gained much more advanced and powerful weapons of war. Things are looking grim for the defenders until one of them discovers an ancient mech disguised as a statue amid the ruins of a city on her homeworld. Activating it, allows her to find the location of other such giant robots on all the resistance fighters' worlds. Each pilot goes and retrieving a mech: deep in the ocean, in the remote mountains, etc. When they're assembled, they win victories against the Grelons, until their mysterious benefactors supply them with titanic war machines of their own!

I owned this issue as a kid, and I really enjoyed it. The alien species, though all humanoid, are distinct, and the mech-acquiring portion of the story has some good set-pieces, even if they go by pretty quick.

Batman and the Outsiders #17: Barr/Aparo take the story in an unexpected direction by sending the team to ancient Egypt. Somehow, restoring Metamorpho did that. They're expected because a prophecy told Ramses IV people that look like them would show up to secure his throne. He needs all the help he can get, because Metamorpho is now in the thrall of the would-be usurper Ahk-Ton. 

Meanwhile, the past Halo doesn't remember is catching up with her. It seems she was a bit of a bad girl, and it's making it hard for her family to trust her. Then there's the matter of her old boyfriend found dead in Europe!

Again, this issue makes me think that this title is what Conway wanted to do with the New Justice League. Some well-known heroes mixing with new characters. Some character drama mixing with superhero stuff. Maybe this book should have been the new Justice Legue?

Blue Devil #8: Giffen is guest artist this issue, and he works better than Kane did. Dan and Sharon are still traveling with the Trickster. Dan is trying to keep the villain safe, but that guy isn't making it easy. After a message convinces him that the Organization is still on his tail, the Trickster runs, then tries to rob a back being transported via helicopter. The Trickster gives Blue Devil a hard time, but with Sharon's help, our hero both thwarts the bank robbery and reins in the rogue again.

Green Lantern #184: The current storyline takes a break (except for a frame) so that we can get a reprint of Green Lantern (Vol 2) #59 by Broome and Kane, which introduces Guy Gardner, via a "what if" sort of story, where Gardner becomes Earth's Green Lantern but after a mission on a very Star Trek sort of planet where ageless kids fight an unending war with robots, he contracts the same plague that previously killed the adults. Dying, he bequeaths the ring of Jordan. Of course, all that was hypothetical and Gardner never became Green Lantern. Hal's wink at the audience at the end, suggests another potential Lantern out there might soon be relevant.

Infinity, Inc. #10: At last, we come to the end of the "Generations" saga with The Justice Society and Infinity, Inc. having a showdown in the lair of the Ultra-Humanite. The kids initially have a tough time with their more experienced and ruthless elders, but eventually teamwork turns the tide and the JSA is defeated. Brainwave, Jr. must team-up with his father to defeat Ultra, though at the cost of his father's life. She is also Ordway's and Machlan's last issue on the series, and we are told Newton and Alcala will be coming on board.

Legion of Super-Heroes #6: Levitz and Orlando/Mahlstedt revisit Alya Ranzz's history and the origin of the lighting-powered Ranzz-siblings as the alien Zymyr takes Lightning Lord and Lightning Lass captive and carries them to his installation. Working together, the siblings defeat him, then back on Winath, Ayla defeats her brother in one-on-one combat. Afterwards, she decides she needs to return to the Legion. Meanwhile, the five Legionnaires lost in Limbo try to find a way home.

New Talent Showcase #13: This issue's cover story is unusual in that it's domestic drama rather than the usual genre fair. Newell and Eric Shanower present a Mid-Century tale of a young girl who falls for a race car driver, that finds the reality of her situation not matching the fantasies of teen love. After disguising herself as a man and beating her philandering and drunk husband in a race, she leaves their young son with him and sets out to find herself. 

The next story is a number superhero piece, though not an origin story, interestingly. It's got amateurish artwork by Norm Breyfogle. After that, Bobcat is back, courtesy of Tiefenbacher and Woch/Kessel. He and another kid have to recover a signed baseball that got hit into a crotchety old neighbor's yard. Finally, Juaire and Palmer deliver another installment of "Sentry A.D." where our hero defeats the oni physically, but then learns the bigger challenge is defeating the demon spiritually.

Saga of Swamp Thing #32: McManus is fill-in artist for a done-in-one story, a tribute to Walt Kelly's "Pogo." It's concerns with animal rights and environmentalism remind me a lot of Morrison's later work in Animal Man, now that I think about it. Anthropomorphic animal-appearing aliens land on Earth looking for a place to live in peace after being driven from their homeworld. Unfortunately, they find out this world would be no safer for their kind than the one they left.

Sgt. Rock #396: Like last issue, this is a reprint issue devoted to one artist, in this case, Russ Heath. It has an additional theme of reprinting stories about kids. In the first one from Our Army at War #208 (1969), Easy finds a ragdoll in a bombed out French town, and Rock feels compelled to find the doll's owner and return it. In the second from Our Army at War #215 (1970), Easy is guarding a prisoner, an SS officer, who begins to exert a strange influence over the children in a French town. After the kids still Easy's weapons, Rock has to battle the Nazi hand-to-hand. In the end, it's revealed that he was threatening to have the children's parents killed if they didn't help him.

Warlord #88: I reviewed the main story here. 

The Funhouse Crawl

This past weekend, I visited my mother's family's old hometown of Panama City Beach, Florida. I got a chance to show my kid one of the landmark's I remembered from my childhood, the kitschy miniature golf course known as Goofy Golf. The firebreathing pink dinosaur that once demanded your attention at the roadside is, alas, no longer there, but the sphinx, giant ape, statue of Buddha, Asian dragon, Easter Island head, and assorted more mundane dinosaurs are still in evidence, along with rockets, windmills and the like.

I feel Goofy Golf is good inspiration for a point- or hexcrawl. I don't mean in its specific set-pieces (not necessarily, at least) but in the way it's basically a spread out funhouse dungeon. I like a good, well-thought out setting as much as the next guy, but I also enjoy the kitchen sink weird lost worlds. I'm thinking of things like Ka-Zar's Savage Land or the world beyond the Bermuda Triangle Skull the Slayer gets sucked into. Hollow World has more than a little of this vibe with cavemen, Rip Van Winkle still dwarves, and gaucho orcs, but there isn't as much of this done in gaming as there could be.

Making it a bounded location to be explored like a pocket dimension or lost world frees it to strain seriousness and consistency in a way than might not work in an entire setting. 

Old Time Radio for Halloween

Jason Sholtis and I have been listening to some old time radio horror stories as we get ready for Halloween and posting about them over on the Flashback Universe blog. So far, we've done:

"The Thing on the Fourble Board" from Quiet, Please.

"Three Skeleton Key" from Escape.

Wednesday Comics: DC, January 1985 (week 2)

I'm reading DC Comics' output from January 1980 (cover date) to Crisis! This week, I read the comics released the week of October 11, 1985. 

Immortal Dr. Fate #1: In keeping with my standing policy, I won't review this issue as it is a collection of reprints of two Dr. Fate stories from the 70s (one of them being the one from 1st Issue Special #9) and one from the 40s, but I did want to mention it as I think it was likely my first encounter with Dr. Fate as a solo character--and it has a cool Simonson cover.

Amethyst #1: Mishkin/Cohn and Estrada/Colon take us back to Gemworld. Amy and Emmy (the Princess Emerald) aren't there, though, because they are stuck on Earth and can't seem to find a way back. What's more, there are new neighbors next door that appear to be Dark Opal and Prince Carnelian in 80s suburbanite disguise. In Gemworld, an evil is building while the houses squabble without Amethyst to lead them. That evil appears to be Fire Jade, who already has Sardonyx working for her. Thanks to a magical call from the ailing Citrina, Amethyst finally returns to Gemworld, but somehow without her body, leaving Amy Winston in a dangerous sleep.

Flash #341: The Flash's trial gets underway in earnest, and we find out Central City must not be in a state that requires grand jury indictments, because the prosecutor just announces in court he's changing the charge from manslaughter to second degree murder.  Meanwhile, the Rogues again capture and brainwash Big Sir who has been busy freeing dogs from animal control. He attacks the Flash just after court adjourns for the day and smashes his face to a pulp with his morning star. Flash is left unconscious and unmasked but unrecognizable.

Arak Son of Thunder #40: Interesting that Valda gets a special "co-starring" billing on the cover here. The Thomases and DeZuniga have Arak and friends participate in a living game of "Shah" (chess) for the life of the impetuous Alsind. This comes after Arak already used a ritual to save his life from his stab injury. The letter column contains some additional details about the Persian version of the game that became chess, so it's educational!

Batman #379: Moench and Newton/Alcala aren't done with the Mad Hatter as the villain pivots to a scheme to use crooks mind-controlled and given enhanced strength by special hats to set a trap for Batman. A trap the Caped Crusader and Robin fall into and would have been killed by had Nocturna not come to the rescue. She's keeping up her press to when the affections of the dynamic duo after the court awarded her custody of Jason Todd.

There are other plates spinning: Julia gets a job as a writer for the picture news. Vicki Vale is still interested in Bruce Wayne though she's trying to keep her distance. The blind girl and her dog have nursed Night Slayer back to health, convinced he is the Batman.

G.I. Combat #273: In the Haunted Tank story, Stuart's Raiders are sent to rescue two concentration camp escapees, a German stage memory expert and his Jewish wife, because the expert has memorized the names and contacts for the Nazi leadership's escape plans if the war should go badly. Briefly, it seems things are a bust because he has amnesia following a head injury, but an electric shock triggers his memory of the torture he suffered and everything else returns with it.

There are two more World War II shorts by Newman/Patricio and Drake/Gonzales. The Drake story has two G.I.'s escaping a German P.O.W. camp dressed as women. The final story is the "Bravos of Vietnam" with Trinidad on art. Kiley and crew are following an ARVN soldier to a supposed VC weapon cache, but they suspect he's a traitor leading them into a trap. That turns out to be the case, but the Bravos manage to beat the odds and make it out alive.

Jemm, Son of Saturn #5: Jemm is prisoner aboard the White Saturnian vessel, and that gives Potter and Colan/Janson time to catch us up on how there happen to be any White Saturnians still around since we were told they were all dead. Turns out this bunch was an exploratory expedition and all off-planet when the nuclear war happened. They've turned pirate since under Synn's leadership, and the soldier women have enslaved the scientist men aboard. Hearing that the hidden Red Saturnian city of Bhok was still around, they headed back home to check it out. Jemm and friends manage to escape with the help of Synn's concubine. Meanwhile, Superman has made his way to Bhok and tells them about Jemm, only to hear the leader say he despises the Saturnian Prince.

Omega Men #21: The letter column tells us this is Moench's and Smith's/Maygar's last issue, but the new creative team isn't announced yet. The Omega Men are on the planet Dreadfahl. After a bar fight, Nimbus tries the bring a wounded man peace but instead turns him briefly into an angry ghost. Losing the will to live over the horror he inadvertently committed, he goes into a catatonic state and Primus, Broot, and Doc enter his soul, facing perils there, to try and bring him back.

Star Trek #10: Captain Styles and Excelsior arrive at Regula Station to retrieve Kirk and his crew. The pompous Styles has no love for any of them and seems determined to make things as difficult as possible. When confronted by the Mirror Enterprise and its crew, though, he's quickly off maneuvered and his ship boarded. The Kirks of two universes come face to face on Excelsior's bridges.

Superman #403: Kupperberg writes both stories this month. In the main one, he's joined by Swan/Oksner and they reveal that Superman is potentially far too trusting. An alien master thief from the planet Ramox gets intel from the Monitor to start a crime spree on Earth. After a couple of clashes, Superman finally stops him, then the thief seems to change personality and claims he was suffering from a genetic compulsion to theft, but being caught broke the compulsion and now he'll never do it again. Superman buys it without any real evidence. 

In the backup art is by Saviuk and Marcos. It's got an interesting conceit, I guess, but it doesn't make for a riveting story. Johnny Webber, Clark Kent's old classmate and the reformed villain Dyna-Mind, invites Clark to come to a Smallville High School reunion, but keeps calling him "Superman" and calls Superman "Clark Kent." Webber seems unaware he's got this mixed up, but it causes Clark a great deal of consternation as he scrambles to cover this up and figure out how it happened. In the end, super-hypnosis comes to the rescue, to make Webber forget what he must have accidentally picked up as Dyna-Mind. It was nice to see the Superboy series not forgotten, though.

Weird Revisited: Spelljammer 1961

The original version of this post appeared in December 2020...

"Thinking beings of earth planet. This message was sent subsequent to the bravery of Yuri Gagarin and the achievements of the Soviet Union, but its intended recipient is every individual of your species. We are the Esoteric. We are now honored to admit you into the interstellar society. Many things we have to show you will definitely shock you and cause confusion. We have regret in that our policies mean you are living in a controlled environment where your understanding of physics has been restricted. We guarantee that this was done to protect you. Now, you are graded ready to have the safety guard removed to more fully experience the universe. We look forward to meeting with your government representatives and giving you a menu of offered services."

The poorly translated message broadcast to the entire planet was from beings who called themselves the Arcane. They revealed the image of the solar system taking shape from modern observations was an illusion. The real solar system was teeming with life, and ships powered by something more like magic that rocketry sailed through the heavens.

Once the principals were understood, humanity was able to get impossible, physics-defining things to happen even deep within Earth's gravity well, but it was always easier the thinner the atmosphere was. Humanity wasted no time in establishing orbital colonies and bases on the Moon, though they were ultimately more fantastic than anything science fiction had dreamed since the Victorian era. Once trade started with Mars and magical wood was imported, even private individuals were able to build all manner of spacecraft.

The Space Age had truly begun.

One thing that would have to determine with a setting like this is how technology Earth's technology would work in the Spelljammer type space. Could guns (or nuclear weapons) be exported into space. Spelljammer ships look much like sailing ships, but I don't know that the setting requires that as written. Could a C-47 cargo plane fly through "space?" What about a nuclear submarine, if it could get there?

The answers to these questions would perhaps take you further afield from trad fantasy, potentially moving things in a pulpier (and I think) more interesting direction, but it would make it harder to implement with D&D rules. 

From Azurth to the Moon

 

After a bit of a hiatus, we weren't to our 5e Land of Azurth game this past Sunday. We left our heroes with the shock of finding the princesses of the four countries, the leaders of the rebellion against the Wizard, turned to stone.

A council of important secondary leaders was quickly assembled. In addition to the PCs, it included some familiar names and faces from the party's adventures: Mapache Took, alleged head of the Raccoon-Folk Crime Family, who's brother's vault the party robbed; Black Iris, Pirate Captain from the Motley Isles who they rescued from the Candy Isle; King Gheode of the Earth Fae, who helped them get passage through Subazurth beneath Noxia; and Freedy, frogling ambassador from Under Sea.

Princess Viola's gnome techs have done a lot of analysis and report that have a high degree of suspicion that the Wizard used the power of the Shadow Elves focused through a crystalline power-purifier, likely one of the original heavenly crystals from the Sapphire City was supposedly grown. Some of the council favors sending a group in stealthily to perhaps still this supposed crystal from within the Wizard's palace. Others feel it's the time to strike with the giant robot the party recovered from Sang.

While they were discussing it, a representative from the Mysteriarchs of Zed appears in the room from a glowing orb. He is perhaps the same one they met previously. The representative tells them that a crystal such as they seek exists on the Moon!

As everyone knows the Moon is the home of the Bright Lady and the Thrice Hundred demigods revered by the Rabbit Folk. It's reasonable to think they might be willing to help the heroes of Azurth. But how can the party get to the mood?

Well, they have a ship, the one they took from the Domed City of Yai, and a pilot in the person of Irwin-37. They don't know anything about the Moon or how to get there, but they recall that Jaka Oloap, who they met originally in the Hybercube prison and met again in Sang, had boasted of going there.

After a quick flight to Sang to recruit Jaka, the group takes off for the Moon. They're enjoying the strange vistas of Azurth from far above, when they are approached by shantak-riding women bandits calling themselves the Night Sisters. The party refuses to surrender their vessel and a fight ensues on the hull (the party has to tie themselves to the ship with rope). When Tura, the leader of the Night Sisters, is killed the others break off the attack, but promise revenge.