If you aren't watching Burn Notice, then I am sad for you.

Bruce Campbell is in the show. If that's not enough for you ...

... do I want to know you?

After posting earlier about liminal spaces, an idea occurred to me that I have to get down right now and declare as my own.

In that post, I said that I am superliminal.

In a later post, I talk about a multiversal RPG campaign.

What about a ship with superliminal drive? First, it's a nice play on words (superluminal drive, or FTL, for the SF geeks). Second, it would allow for characters to traverse the boundaries between alternate worlds / dimensions.

Superliminal Drive. I like that.

Copyright, Me.

So I have another campaign idea (no shocker there - I am the Big Bang of campaign ideas), something I'm working on in bits and bytes, an experiment I'd love to try with the right group of gamers.

I would like to develop an entire comic book style universe from the ground up, and develop a lot of it in play.

When I say "comic book style universe," I mean an entire multiverse, where anything can happen, even if not everything does happen. No genre limitations, with genre blending encouraged.

I'd want to run it like the recent spat of cable TV series, like The Sopranos, The Shield, Carnivale, Rome, etc.

I'm thinking in TV terms, here, because the terminology works better in my brain.

When I say "series," I mean RPG mini-campaign. Each series is like an individual TV series, each having its own setting within the multiverse, its own cast of characters, its own themes, its own genre conventions, etc. Each series will have an opening "season" of about 12 sessions, each session building on the previous ones, but also self-contained. Thus, session = "episode."

When we complete a season, then we jump to a different series set in the same multiverse.

Especially popular series may have multiple seasons.

As the players participate, the characters' actions influence not only the current series, but potentially all other series set in the same multiverse.

I'd want solid player input as to the development, genre, themes, etc. of each series, to get their preferences and ideas.

Over time and through play, some series would demonstrate evidence of connection to other series.

Of course, to make this work, I would need a group of players who were willing to give it a try.

As far as systems, I might find a single excellent generic system (BESM, Mutants & Masterminds, Genre Diversion i, etc.) to run all the series in. Alternately, I could switch systems as necessary, the advantage being, depending on the conventions of a given series, I could find a good solid system to support those conventions. Disadvantages are, of course, cost, time (players having to become familiar with a new system), and difficulty of conversion if there ever were any crossovers between series.

Still, I've got plenty of time, and am in no hurry.

Thoughts?

Read Farthing by Jo Walton and The Yiddish Policeman's Union by Michael Chabon back-to-back.

I like liminal fiction.

You know, liminal, between two different states or places. Between one thing and another, but neither this nor that. Like thresholds, windows, doorways, dusk, twilight (hey, they named a whole Zone after it). The space between boundaries.

I'm not as interested in fiction that is decidedly one thing or another. I prefer genre blends to genre boundaries. I like coloring outside the lines.

You saw more of this kind of thing in pulp fiction, where anything could happen. Where science fiction, fantasy, and horror were all blended together in the same tale.

Comic books, urban fantasy, interstitial fiction, slipstream, magical realism, Bangkok 8, the works of China Mieville.

I suspect this preference is because I identify with liminality. Raised bicultural (some would say biracial, too), growing up among two distinct peoples, cultures, part of neither and a foot in both. Seeing the beauty and ugliness of both, seeing as insider and outsider.

I am superliminal.

I want weirdness, strangeness, and beauty. I want a sense of wonder.

Give me something new. Alternately, I favor radically new combinations of elements. Radically new.

I want, not mere world building, but world immersion. If you're going to all the trouble of building a magnificent world, go beyond making it feel lived in. I want to feel like I live there. (As an addendum, don't go overboard with the world building. Unless it's important to the story, I really don't need to know the amount a loaf of bread costs in that kingdom our characters will never visit. Really.)

I want the language to be beautiful and lush, a step beyond lyrical. Alternately, I would like the language coming out of characters' mouths to match the damn characters.

I like, but don't require, a first person perspective. Remember that immersion I mentioned earlier? Nothing helps that along but putting us in the head of your character. (I don't particularly enjoy third person omniscient; third person limited is a bit better. But ask yourself, if you're going to hear a story about WWII, would you want to read a college history text, or would you rather hear it from the lips of a veteran? Third person vs. first person, right there.)

How about all of you? Respond!

For your reading pleasure, Five Elements of Commercial Appeal in RPG Design, by S. John Ross.

Author's caveat:

"These elements aren't keys to quality ... a game can be crummy with them and excellent without them. They are, though, a useful window into the appeal of RPGs as games, into the conventions of RPGs as a fictional medium, and into the considerations that make the design of a game world a beast distinct from other kinds of world design." [Emphasis in the original.]

Basically, read, comment, discuss.

I went to see Jacqueline Carey last night at her signing at Borders. She was witty, patient, and intelligent, a joy to listen to. Even more wonderful, she read from the first chapter of her new Terre d'Ange book, which was an unexpected treat.

If you're unfamiliar with Carey's work, she writes a delightful series, alternately dubbed "Kushiel's Legacy" and the "Terre d'Ange" series. The books are a beautiful blend of historical fiction, fantasy, romance, erotica, and political intrigue, and Carey's language is lush and lyrical, like rolling naked in velvet and silk.

As everybody who knows me can tell you, I've been a big fan of Carey's work since the first novel in the series, Kushiel's Dart, and have been actively promoting her work to anybody who will listen, as well as making sure the library has the entire series in the collection.

Because you cannot have too much of this good thing.

Continuing the meme ...

I just read this review of John Ringo's Paladin of Shadows series, and I don't know whether to laugh, cry ...

... or go out and read every single one. Right Now.

"Awesomely horrific and horrifically awesome," indeed.

(And yes, our library owns Every Single One.)

Planetary romance invades the Marvel universe with Skaar, Son of Hulk.

( Read more... )

I am discovering the joys of flavored vodka.

Currently, Vanilla Absolut.

That is all.

( Anybody else out there reading The Boys by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson? )

Crossposted to my LJ, torresroman, comics and comicbooklovers.

In honor of the slew of superhero movies coming out ...

( Hulk-busting 101! )

dewprisms: "Taoists. They're hippies from China."

Currently reading Bangkok 8 by John Burdett, in preparation for the August "Destination Wonder," the speculative fiction book club I lead for the DeKalb Public Library.

This is the third (fourth?) time I've read this novel, and every time it feels as fresh as the first. I have never ever encountered this before. The wit, the authentic voice, the sense of capturing a cross section of a culture in all its nuances, and even a touch of magical realism, all in a crime story that practically reinvents the genre.

If you ever wondered what my favorite books are, this novel ranks easily in the top 3. On any given day, it may be #1. It's about as close to the ideal of the perfect book as I've ever read.

So yes, consider that a recommendation. Go. Read.

Erick Wujcik, RPG writer & designer, died on June 7, 2008, after a long battle with cancer.

Erick Wujcik is well known for his work on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles & Other Strangeness RPG, and the Amber Diceless Roleplaying Game.

Eric Wujcik challenged how I thought about roleplaying games and systems, and I'm a better GM and player for it.

If you're not reading FreakAngels by Warren Ellis ...

... then that empty space in your soul is your own damn fault.

Weird Science Moment!

"'Horror frog' breaks own bones to produce claws"

Frogerine? Wolverfrog?

Bizarre!

(Thanks, Cason!)

"[M]any of us have to be Conan Doyle, unable to give our heroes the mythic burial they deserve and then to move on to new things. ... And if you'd like to know where bad comics come from, the answer is often simply this: that not every idea has enough give in it to go a hundred episodes. Or even six. Some ideas only retain their power and charm in the short form."
- Warren Ellis, December 2005

I daresay that's where bad genre fiction comes from too.