Moe Lane's Blog, page 598
March 12, 2022
Books of the Week: DAGON/THE CALL OF CTHULHU (For Beginning Readers).
R.J. Ivankovic’s DAGON/THE CALL OF CTHULHU (For Beginning Readers) are, of course, for my youngest child. Something new to read to him at night, you see. Yup. Of course. Surely this is obvious?
#commissionearned
So, I’m thinking of getting one of those hanging banners for conventions.
I have artwork that I can use, all of which I explicitly bought with the understanding that I could use it for advertising my books and my site. And it’s not too expensive to buy a hanging banner to attract the eye. The question is, which should I use?
I’m inclined to these three:
Vector image of an koala bear design on white backgroundAll suitably cropped and positioned, of course. Does anybody have any thoughts on what might look best? I like the one in the middle, but I dunno if it’ll sell the most books.
#commissionearned
March 11, 2022
‘Bad Boys.’
#commissionearned
Back from dinner!
Like, a real one. At a restaurant, with hot food and everything. My wife and I had gotten out of the habit of doing that, obviously; but now that things are approaching normalcy again we can start eating out again. I’m looking forward to it. I missed having people around, shockingly.
Tweet of the Day, This Is Extremely Cyberpunk edition.
Also, it’s horrible that this has to exist. But then, Cyberpunk is at bottom horrible. And considerably less fun in real life:
Story from the NY Post:https://t.co/n2RaJ4pJNq
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) March 10, 2022
The Secret World Legends TTRPG Kickstarter teaser trailer.
Am totally looking forward to this. Hell, maybe people will play the MMO more. That’d be nice.
#secretworld #secretworldlegends #dungeonsanddragons #ttrpg
— Star Anvil Studios (@AnvilStar) March 11, 2022
I still think this video came out great. When we get close to launch there might be a new video with some hints of things to come…https://t.co/Ki0N01OGHG
March 10, 2022
Anybody playing Elden Ring?
I normally would say that Elden Ring ‘looks fun,’ except that as I understand it there’s no quest log. A videogame without a quest log is by personal definition pretty much not-fun. In fact, it sounds like something that I’d be forced to play in Hell. But people keep raving about the game. Is it still worth it, even if I have to write everything down*?
Moe Lane
*I do not begrudge the developers their right to create a game that fits their vision of play. But if it doesn’t fit mine then I don’t have to play it, right?
#commissionearned
Tweet of the Day, Antidote edition.
An antidote for what, you may ask. I dunno, man. Whaddya got?
now this is cinema pic.twitter.com/PAcVTgeeQ2
— F*CK IT WE'LL DO IT LIVE (@AndersonVilien) March 10, 2022
Via @emmcoy_writer.
Item Seed: Būsai Sard.
Writing smaller stuff is good for me.
Busai-Sard-Google-DocsDownloadBūsai Sard
Description: a cheap, mass-produced machete made out of faintly rusted steel. The name “Būsai Sard” (Tajik for “Cold Kiss”) is inscribed on the lower part of the braid. Magical scrying of the item invariably leads to nausea and nosebleeds. The weapon does not come with a scabbard.
Būsai Sard is a sadist’s weapon. It doesn’t do any more damage than a regular machete might, but the wounds it makes are extra painful, hard to heal, easy to fester, and leave nasty scars. In the 1950s and 1960s it was carried by one mercenary or another, when it wasn’t being used by death squad commandos (or outright torturers). It’s said that Būsai Sard appeared in every civil war, revolution, and massacre in Africa and the Middle East, and that it never changed hands peacefully. That might even be the only good thing about the weapon: everybody who wielded it ended up dying in a horrible and richly-deserved fashion.
The artifact disappeared in 1975, not that it was ever very famous outside of a particular (and extremely unpleasant) class of people. Anyone who cared assumed that Būsai Sard had simply been destroyed, out of sheer moral repugnance; but it’s recently resurfaced. Worse, the group who found it is ready to sell it at an extremely private auction, the fools.
We know the date and place of the auction, then: so that’s where your team comes in. Your job is to kill every person in that auction house. Top to bottom, front to back: leave nobody alive. However you want to do it is fine, as long as you get everybody. Everybody. This is a full sanction job, no witnesses, no survivors, no exceptions. No notice will be taken of any actions you do in that auction house, just as long as everybody dies. Think of it as a vacation, of sorts.
…Oh, put your guns away. Congratulations, you’re the first team that’s managed to not succumb to — whatever vile thing or energy it is that Būsai Sard is all tangled up with. It’s been pure hell on briefing officers, too: we actually had one authorize the use of sarin gas. Obviously, you can’t just kill all of those people, down to the caterers. Oh, most of the bidders will have warrants out on them (the ones that don’t are probably the worst of the lot), but it’d be better if they were arrested by mundane police. Better for your team, that is: murdering in the presence of Būsai Sard is contraindicated.
But if Būsai Sard has enough power to affect us at a distance like that, then it has to be destroyed. Not confiscated, not analyzed, not secured. Break the damnable thing. Do it clean.
