Moe Lane's Blog, page 666
October 21, 2021
Some notes for next month’s GHOSTS ON AN ALIEN WIND.
I should have written this out when I wrote the short story, honestly.
Company Name: XHum
Founded: 2095 AD
HQ location: Reagan City, Jefferson colony
Employees: 150,000
FTL Capacity: Yes
Base Capacity: Yes
Purpose: Commercial exploration and exploitation of the Dead Worlds, with an emphasis on salvage archeology
XHum was founded in 2095 by American and Hong Kong entrepreneurs. Corporate legend asserts that the founders (Claire Hedwig and Talia Sung) bribed S/CI to transport themselves, selected employees, their families, and considerable amounts of technological and industrial equipment to Jefferson Colony. The new company rapidly expanded, eventually dominating Jefferson’s orbital and system infrastructure. In 2102, XHum was the first extrasolar megacorporation to successfully pass the criteria needed to operate in the Dead Worlds. The company openly operates on six Dead Worlds, and has grey bases on a dozen more.
The megacorp’s official purpose is to find alien technology, figure out what it does, and reverse-engineer it. It does as much work as possible on-site, both because it’s more efficient and safer for Jefferson Colony that way. Unofficially, XHum smuggles alien artifacts, just like everybody else does. The revenue streams from both are roughly equal.
XHum is considered the gold standard for working conditions in the Dead Worlds. The megacorp takes the position that human beings actually are its most valuable assets, so it is careful to provide its bases and ships with ample supplies of good-quality equipment. This includes weapons: just because there’s no sapient aliens out there doesn’t mean that the Dead Worlds are safe. Plus, training new people is expensive.
If you did THE DRACULA DOSSIER Kickstarter, check your email.
Pelgrane Press is putting out a supplement called “The Dracula Dossier: Cuttings and New Additions,” and they’re giving out digital copies to Kickstarter backers. THE DRACULA DOSSIER is a truly excellent RPG supplement for the vampiric-spy Night’s Black Agents RPG, by the way. Well worth picking up, as is its primary supplement DRACULA UNREDACTED. This is all a Ken Hite joint anyway, so I dunno why you haven’t bought it already, frankly.
The “Welp.” ALPHA RIFT trailer.
GeekTyrant calls ALPHA RIFT ‘cheesy,’ and they are correct. But I feel obliged to mention it, just the same. I don’t know who made this movie; but they are of my people. They are of my tribe. Sometimes you must swallow hard and stand with your tribesmen, if only for your own honor’s sake. This… is one of those times.
That being said: geez, people. Missile weapons. And where are the backpacks? I thought the movie characters played D&D!
The ‘I dunno about Tom Holland’ UNCHARTED trailer.
Nathan Fillion worked better for me for that character. On the other hand, I’m going to be an sykes about it, because that’s apparently happening elsewhere. And on the gripping hand: video game movies generally suck anyway. There’s no reason to assume that UNCHARTED is gonna buck that trend.
October 20, 2021
Tough day today.
A ton of stuff going on, mostly involving educational matters. I pretty much spun my wheels creatively, too. There was never quite enough time to concentrate on anything. Which is annoying.
I’d say I need a vacation, except what I really need is a device that would let me stop time around me for four hours or so. If it recharged every week that would be useful enough, I think.
In Nomine Revisited: Vampire Cars.
Vlaroom! Vlaroom!
Vampire-Cars-Google-DocsDownloadThis material is not official and is not endorsed by Steve Jackson Games. In Nomine is a registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games. All rights are reserved by SJ Games. This material is used here in accordance with the SJ Games online policy .
Tweet of the Day, I Have An Unholy Desire To See This edition.
HBOMax has chosen the form of its destructor.
Just in time for Halloween, ‘CATS’ has been released on HBO Max.
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) October 20, 2021
Read what other horror movies are joining HBO Max this month: https://t.co/K5OnYj6isb pic.twitter.com/uLZe2XxQF0
Via @calvinjluther.
The About Damned Time GURPS GIRL GENIUS Kickstarter.
I’ve only been waiting for GURPS GIRL GENIUS for what, almost a decade now? Grumble grumble spraining fingers to back…
In the Mail: The Children’s Illustrated Clausewitz.
At last!
Eagle-eyed readers might recognize a passing reference to The Children’s Illustrated Clausewitz in MORGAN BAROD. Good thing it finally showed up! Now I just have to make sure a copy still exists in 2100 AD.
