Lost in Translation is taking time off for the holidays but will return next week with a look forward to 2015.
Happy holidays!
(Way With Worlds is a weekly column on the art of worldbuilding published at Seventh Sanctum, Muse Hack, and Ongoing Worlds)
So there’s a reason I covered humans (and human-alikes) and the psychology of conflict first. Characters and their institutions are often the causes of conflicts – and characters are the lenses through which players/readers experience your world. We have to think about them first in the case of worldbuilding because it gives us the right perspective.
But with that said, you need something to get your cast to engage in (or prevent) atrocities. What are he drivers and elements that create wars and conflicts?
Again, it’s often a matter of perspective. Which is the problem in fiction – and come to think of it real life as well . . . (more…)
Merry Christmas Everyone! And for Christmas let me give everyone the Fantasy Metal Generator!
This interrupted the Magical Power Generator and was inspired by the Rougelike game Dungeonmans, which beyond being a fantastic comedy/adventure/roguelike/persistent world game, also has some dynamite (and funny) sounding items and components that made me think “hey, fantasy often has strange metals.” So in turn, I made a generator for them. Here’s some samples:
- Demons’ Timemetal
- Dream Glittermercury
- Dream Mithril
- Evil Shadowiron
- Fatal Dream Mithril
- Flaming Bronze
- Ghostly Ice Copper
- Glitterhammer Adamant Of The Past
- Meteoric Orichalcum
- Night Platinum
- Night Windhell Orichalcum
- Phantasmal Windgold Of Arch-angels
- Rottin
- Sand Bronze Of Wizards
- Sapphireshadow Adamant
- Secret Orichalcum
- True Adamant Of The Dawn
- Unknowable Rockiron Of The Rivers
- Wordsilver Of The Swamps
- Zephyrlead
This puts me in mind of a game of fantasy weapon making where the minerals you mine are procedurally generatred. So you make weapons and equipment out of randomized minerals with different properties, and if there’s one you like you can keep trying to mine it or get ahold of it.
– Steven Savage
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Edward Morris is a man seeped in literature from a young age, who’s also lived quite a life. He’s been nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2011, the Rhysling Award in 2009, and the BSFA in 2005. From short stories to full novels, he’s done it all – and pretty much lived it all as well.
Let’s dive into this man’s life and find out what he can teach us – which is a lot. (more…)
A few tidbits for the month. The big news involves the Doctor Strange movie.
Jem and the Holograms comic due in March.
The new design for the characters has been released. The art is updated while still keeping to the original looks of the dolls and TV series. The hair is outrageous, as to be expected, but either hair spray or holographic display can explain it.
Benedict Cumberbatch to start as Doctor Strange.
Marvel has confirmed that Benedict Cumberbatch will play the title role in Doctor Strange, the first of the Phase 3 movies. All Marvel needs to do now is get Loki in the movie.
JK Rowling releasing new Harry Potter.
The releases started on December 12. Among the works are stories about the Malfoy family, Prof. McGonigle before Hogwarts, and how Floo Powder is made.
TOHO announces first Godzilla movie since hiatus.
TOHO will be ending the fallowing of Godzilla movies in 2016. The success of the 2014 American Godzilla has encouraged TOHO in bringing back the iconic kaiju.
Archie Comics restarting at #1.
Mark Waid and Fiona Stevens will helm the title after the reboot. Archie Comics, the publisher, has been on a rejuvenation spree of late, adding darker elements while still being family friendly.
SyFy picks up Krypton.
Air date is still unknown, but SyFy will air the Superman prequel series, Krypton, which will follow Jor-El, father of Kal-El, aka Clark Kent, aka Superman. As with the other DC properties airing on television, there is no connection to the cinematic releases.
Titans pilot to shoot in 2015.
Geoff Johns confirmed that Titans, the live-action version of the follow-up to /Teen Titans/, will have a pilot filmed in 2015. Nightwing, aka Dick Greyson, has been confirmed as one of the characters and rumours have added Starfire and Raven. The show will draw influence from Marv Wolfman and George Pérez’s New Teen Titans.
(Way With Worlds is a weekly column on the art of worldbuilding published at Seventh Sanctum, Muse Hack, and Ongoing Worlds)
For the next few columns I’m going to be exploring the dysfunctions and conflicts in the worlds we create. Not conflicts brought about by our mistakes as worldbuilders (though those can become fuel for deeper worldbuilding as noted), but what happens when things break down? Sure we’re all busy building our world, but things go wrong inside the worlds as part of good worldbuilding, and we have to figure out the implications of the crises we create.
In fact, as repeated several times, conflict is actually part of the process of making a world accessible and interesting. People want to hear stories and play games about things that happen, and that often involves conflict. Not always of course, but often enough it warrants its own section here in a series of columns by a slightly-mad-scientist of randomizing ideas.
Now everyday conflicts are one thing; arguing over a tab, not being able to find dragon dung at the alchemist’s shop, and so on. Let’s talk about the big ones, the ones that are epic and horrible, the ones we write about – and the ones that in real life make us wonder why the hell they happened.
So let’s go and find out just how things break down and go wrong. We’ll start with how it stays together in the first place – well, how our cast of characters and people keep it together. After all, they’ll be the ones you’re writing about or your players are playing.
Also they’re probably the ones causing the problems . . . (more…)
More cities and worlds to adapt or use unchanged for your stories and games.
- The Magic Dyson Sphere
I’m not sure where this idea came from, but what if magical energy came from a variety of places, and one of those was the process of decomposition as it occurred in a god? You would have wizards ganging up around that thing like nobody’s business, soaking up magic rays like a lazy cat. Well, maybe not quite like that. But it would be a pretty popular place. (more…)
Yeah, another delay – holidays, illness, work craziness. I am so glad I’ve got vacation time coming up.
So first up, more detail on the Magical Power Generator idea.
Basically I noticed in things like anime (especially Fairy Tail which inspired another generator a year ago – which is how long this idea was sitting in my head) and video games there’s magic that’s sort of a “superpower” – not a ton of chants and material components but more blast-and go. You also see this to an extent in video games. It’s a “set” of abilities as it were with names as simple as “Dance Magic” or as complex as “Lightning God Slayer Magic.”
Needless to say, that started giving me ideas.
So what about a generator that makes these “types” or “sets” of powers, but also tosses in some good expansion. Sure you may have “Air Magic” but why not “Wind Bewitchment?” Why not have “Celestial Beast Snare Sorcery” along with “Animal Magic?”
On that level, why not make options that allow for some poetic alliteration? You could have “Water Wizardry” out to “Dark Demonic Decimation Diabolism?”
So as you can guess this simple idea is fun (in fact I have most of the data), though getting the poetic alliteration is a wee bit challenging – but is teaching me some new stuff. Let’s hope I have enough sane time to do this!
Now with that being said . . .
The new year’s coming up and last year left me with enough ideas I don’t think I need to do a new poll (or “yes, I know, plot twist generator.”). However I do want to consider it.
Things I HOPE to do are:
- More Tumblr feeds.
- Automate the Twitter random idea feed.
- Consider a Patreon to ditch ads and give me more layout options.
- Try to do some events/teamups/more contributors to the codex and others.
Oh and use that portable dev environment I have yet to use.
This was a pretty insane year.
Finally at Muse Hack I did two columns on the question “is there a gap in hiring in IT” – if you work in IT you’ve heard the claim it’s hard to hire people. In part one I examined the basic numbers and what they tell us, but then dived deeper into specifics and reached some surprising conclusions. Short form, there’s probably a gap for senior people, it’s concealed due to certain factors – and we’re making it worse. If you work in IT check it out . . .
– Steven Savage
Steven Savage is a Geek 2.0 writer, speaker, blogger, and job coach. He blogs on careers at http://www.musehack.com/, publishes books on career and culture at http://www.informotron.com/, and does a site of creative tools at http://www.seventhsanctum.com/. He can be reached at http://www.stevensavage.com/.
Over the course of writing Lost in Translation, I’ve seen movies that caught the core of works perfectly and I’ve seen movies that missed the target to the degree of not even being in the same ballpark. It’s easy enough in the latter case to point out just what went so horribly wrong. Is it possible to redeem those movies, to take what went wrong and put it right? With some movies, it is, and the Fix-It Shop will explore those possibilities. With this inaugural entry, I will go back to the 1998 Godzilla.
The 1998 Godzilla had many problems, but only really went off the rails when Zilla reached New York City. Prior to that point, the movie played out as the original Gojira had, with the monster being hinted at instead of shown. When Zilla appears, then problems start. The obvious fixes were done in the 2014 Godzilla, keeping the focus on Godzilla. Even with the human element being front and centre, Godzilla’s battle with the MUTOs were still the central conflict. With that fixed, what can be done with the rest of the 1998 film?
The core problem with the latter half of the ’98 Godzilla was the shift in tone and genre. The first half was a kaiju movie. The second half added action and comedy, taking focus away from Zilla. Yet, that element could work in its own movie, away from Godzilla. Having the most famous kaiju off the poster frees up expectations. The entire subplot involving the Direction génèral de la sécurité extérieure* is now available on its own. Jean Reno is too good to waste.
In Godzilla, the French Directorate had a division set up for the research and containment of kaiju and was more prepared for Zilla than either the Japanese or the Americans. The agent in charge, Philippe Roaché, played by Reno, managed to protray himself as an insurance investigator and as an American soldier**. Let’s take him and his team and change their approach just a little. After the events in New York, the existance of giant monsters is no longer a secret. When a major American metropolis with several media headquarters, from television to print, gets trashed and evacuated, it’s news. Even in 1998, the twenty-four hour news cycle existed, with CNN being the major outlet. Roaché needs a new way to research while keeping his connections to the Directorate hidden. Anyone who sees him or his team may remember him from New York.
The solution? A front company, funded by the Directorate, that investigates kaiju sightings. The company can’t be Fortune 500; monster hunting has never been portrayed as profitable in TV or movies. Sam and Dean of Supernatural make money through credit card scams. The Ghostbusters put all their earnings into maintenance and paying fines. Roaché’s company, thus, is a small one, using grants for the most part as it develops anti-kaiju weaponry and hunts giant monsters. Having no official government status means the team must get into sites under attack through subterfuge, allowing Roaché to be an insurance investigator, a military officer, a university researcher, and anything else needed.
Tone will be key. As mentioned above, the latter half of Godzilla changed genre without a clutch, becoming an action comedy. The change was dissonant in the ’98 film, but if the new movie – let’s give it the working title Kaiju Hunters – starts as such, with the team in action against a lawyer-friendly version of a known giant monster, then the audience won’t have a problem with the approach. Ideally, the tone of Kaiju Hunters should be along the lines of Ghostbusters, Arachnophobia, and Tremors; a bit of horror, a bit of comedy, a bit of action, and monsters.
Casting will be important. Matthew Broderick was an odd choice and looked out of place in the 1998 film. Broderick is better known for comedies, not action. Given the change in tone above, he might fit in better, the field researcher brought into the company at the end thanks to the events during Kaiju Hunters. This will give the audience the outsider viewpoint to follow to learn about the company and its secrets. The rest of the cast are company employees, either hired on as staff or assigned by the Directorate.
Will Kaiju Hunters be successful? The ultimate question, with no easy answer. There’s no real built-in draw, unlike Godzilla of any year. Reno and Broderick aren’t household names. It may come down to budget. Is Kaiju Hunters blockbuster material? No. A lower budget may make the movie profitable, though. It will be a balancing act, finding a way to draw in audiences without needing an Avengers-sized number of people watching. What do you think? What would you do to fix the 98 Godzilla?
Next week, the December news round up.
* The French intelligence service, literally, the General Directorate for External Security
** Albeit, based on Elvis Presley.
(Way With Worlds is a weekly column on the art of worldbuilding published at Seventh Sanctum, Muse Hack, and Ongoing Worlds)
So last we met I discussed how using RPGs was actually a boon to Worldbuilding. There were positives in stimulating thinking, in sheer entertainment, and of course using premade concepts to test the consistency of an RPG system.
Now let’s talk the negatives of using using RPG systems in your worldbuilding, be they mapping characters to classes or diving into them for ideas. Yes, there are negatives.
Hey, it’s not all sunshine and worldbuilding here. Some stuff is just bad.
The core issue is that RPG systems are just that – systems – and any use of a system can constrain you. That is actually the point of having a system. The problem is the system is an outside factor influencing your imagination.
Which is good. Sometimes.
In this case however, we’ll look at how it can go bad. (more…)
