Monthly Archives: March 2015

GNU Terry Pratchett

Websites

http://www.gnuterrypratchett.com/

To remember a great man, his fans came up with a way to seed his memory in the internet in the same way that the fallen operators of his “Clacks” system in the Discworld books were remembered – through the use of a never logged code that flew through the system unnoticed.

In the modern version of the clacks (the internet), this has been achieved through cunning use of response headers on websites and emails. I can’t add the header to my emails yet, but every website I manage (outside of my day job) now has the header secretly being passed along unnoticed by anyone except the people looking for it with keen eyes (and cunning browser extensions).

A Dark Room

Computer Games, Websites

I don’t know why I should be the only one enthralled by this, so I present to you: A Dark Room.

A Dark Room is a simple browser-based game that works from a simple point-and-click interface (though certain aspects are better done through keyboard controls).

It starts off quite slowly, with no apparent goal or purpose, but as time goes on, there’s this story told to you through nothing but environmental cues. There’s no old man who shows up and tells you a story – it’s left for you to piece together.

All you get to start with is a dark room, and the ability to start a fire. From there it tells a story that quite possibly varies from imagination to imagination.

One of the things I like about it is the simple aesthetic. I’m reminded of the early days of Fallen London when the best review about it described it as “mostly beige, mostly text”, and it was the story that made it a success, not fancy graphics.

A Dark Room is done entirely with JavaScript and CSS with no fancy graphics in the time old tradition of the oldest RPGs, and that simplicity hasn’t stopped it winning awards for its concept and design.

Go, play it, and come back and tell me what you think the story is.

It’s also available on Android (unofficial ports) and iOS (for £0.79).

Scottish LARP site

LRP, No Rest for the Wicked, Websites

I’ve put together a new site on a new domain I bought: Scottish LARP – LARPing in and around Scotland. The idea is that it can be open to anyone who wants to get involved and provide a central point for LARPers across Scotland to share information.

Plus the domain was cool. I’ve started up a No Rest for the Wicked sub-blog and I can add more sub-blogs for anyone who’s interested. There’s also scope for guest bloggers if anyone wants to do that.

ReGenesis

LRP

ReGenesis LARP: http://www.regenesis-larp.com/

Just been linked to this today, and they’re starting up next year. This kinda looks… amazing. I mean, I really like the ideas behind it including onomatopoeic calls and phyr-reps that conform to personal style rather than a dictated one.

In a game where “magic” is shaped by your own personal ethos, it makes sense that everyone could have a different phys-rep for an item that does the same thing. Where some people might use a gun, others use a wand, and others use ornate hand-jewellery. That’s awesome, and something I might have to use myself at some point.

I’m quite liking the idea of going along with an Opportunity group, though I’ll confess to having not checked out most of the rest of the site yet. A Protean Dynamics group appeals to me, but then I always liked sneaky stabby types…

A giant has fallen

Books, Musings

If we see further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.

One of those giants died yesterday, and though his death weighs a heavy toll upon all of us who loved him, his work stands on and will continue to stand for decades still.

In the future, it won’t be unusual for someone to be called a “modern-day Pratchett”, and that may even be the highest accolade in the land. After all, how many of us got our start with his work? How many of us picked up his books in school, or at home at a young age and were immediately enthralled by them? How many of us delved deeper into fantasy works guided by his words having planted the seeds of curiosity in our minds?

“The space between the young readers eyeballs and the printed page is a holy place and officialdom should trample all over it at their peril”
– Terry Pratchett

That is his enduring legacy – the words he has written and the effect they have had on all of us, and the effect they will continue to have on future generations.

“Fantasy is an exercise bicycle for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the muscles that can.”
– Terry Pratchett

He suffered as a result of the Embuggerance, and his views on the right to die were well known. It is because of this that I do not mourn his passing, but I mourn the future that doesn’t have new words from that most excellent of minds.

A giant has fallen, but his works stand tall and mighty.

RIP Terry Pratchett 1948 – 2015

Kingsman – The Secret Service

Films

I’ve been to see this twice now, and I can still say that I love it. Especially with some of the callbacks to the original comic in there[1].

The gadgets are awesome, the slowed-down epic combat scenes worked brilliantly, and I loved the “Manners, Maketh, Man” scenes.

Was it fantastic in its portrayal of female characters? Not hugely. Was it a send-up of the classic spy movie? Yes, yes it was. The fact that they had a female agent candidate who not only had no romantic interest in the protagonist, but passed the training where the male protagonist didn’t was a firm point against a male bias (even though I freely admit the film had a male bias, as the original comics likely did).

Footnotes   [ + ]

1. ↑ the role Mark Hamill was playing was called Mark Hamill in the comics