Moe Lane's Blog, page 87
March 26, 2025
A more productive day than usual…
…thank goodness. Did a surprising bunch of meetings and emails, actually. I can’t wait to get the next story hanging over my head out of the way, so that I can… go on to the next thing hanging over my head, I guess. April definitely needs to be Work On The Next Tom Vargas Novel, that’s for sure…
If you signed up for my Backerkit’s cross-collaboration…
…check your inbox.
If you haven’t, this is a reward that people who backed both the FERMI RESOLUTION WORLDBOOK and the LEAD AND CHROME Backerkits are going to get. Sign up for both now!
If you haven’t read the books that this game is based on, here’s the link!
#commissionearned
Some THE BOLD MARAUDER art.
I had Ben Fleuter draw me some Samson Black. He gave me versions with and without the bubble-helmet, because Ben is that kind of professional. Seriously, if you can manage to hire him for stuff, do so.
Snippet THE LAST, PICKMAN’S MODELS.
ITTTTTTTTT’S DONNNNNNNNNNNE.
…
That meant that he was not close enough to stop Stampp from abruptly disengaging, and — running to Reithner, still on the slab. He didn’t hesitate, either; Stampp’s blade was menacing her throat before Tobias could close the distance. “Drop it!” he yelled at Tobias.
Tobias considered that, for a moment. “No,” he replied as he stopped advancing, “but I will keep my distance.”
“Not good enough. Drop the rifle, or she’s dead.”
“She’s not going to die either way,” Tobias noted. “She’s not here. You’re not here. I’m the only one here.”
Stampp stared at him. “The grenadiers’ memories were right. You are insane.”
“Probably,” conceded Tobias. “But, ah: how would you have known what the grenadiers thought of me? They all died at the hands of the real you before you could interrogate them.”
“Their corpses, we kept.” Stampp’s smile was merciless. “Including their brains. So many memories, still fresh and warm…”
His smile slipped as Tobias laughed. “Good recovery!” he told Stampp. “Nice spur-of-the-moment addition. You ate the brains, right? That’s the sort of thing that would gross me out, when I’m awake. But I know this is all in my mind, so it won’t.” The commander shook his head. “Look, you’re a part of me, so can we start working together and solve this problem? I have to get back up there, and get the real versions of you and your friends squared away. I know dreams are quick, but they’re not instant. I want this all done before my air tanks run out.”
Patreon!
03/26/2025 Snippet, LE BETE.
I’ve gotten to the finish, now I just have to circle back and write the Big Scene.
The wine was surprisingly good. Better, in fact, than most of what was available in all but the highest circles of Paris. He took a measured sip nonetheless. “I take it then, your Grace, that what you truly want to hear is always to be the truth?”
That seemed to amuse the man, oddly. “Do I look like a saint, Citizen Fouché? I assure you, I am a man like any other. Sometimes I must be flattered; other times, gently checked. A very few times, I might even need to be nudged. But I cannot abide being lied to.” The duke drank from his own glass, as carefully as Joseph did. “Those in my service would do well to remember that.”
Not ‘the King’s service,’ Joseph noted. Then again, he is married to Princess Collette, and the King has no other heir. “Forgive my presumption, your Grace, but I believe that I will. Or at least, I will, once you have decided to give me a position of sufficient trust to make my memory relevant.”
“Smart,” murmured the duke. “Normally I’d put you somewhere quiet and out of the way for six months until you got bored enough to attract my notice, but we have just finished smashing every army that stood between us and Paris. I do like having the enemy tell me just where and when his troops will be marching. It simplifies planning amazingly — but never mind that, right now. The fee still held by the Revolutionaries will spin whatever lies they need to in order to obscure our advance, until it is too late. The capital is disorganized and in the grips of an undisciplined mob, anyway: I do not expect one whiff of grapeshot will resolve matters, but four or five should do. In the end we will take Paris, and we will crown Adam at Reims, in the old and proper style.”
Patreon!
March 25, 2025
The cross-collaboration reward for the FERMI RESOLUTION WORLDBOOK is almost ready to go out!
This is a reward that people who backed both the FERMI RESOLUTION WORLDBOOK and the LEAD AND CHROME Backerkits are going to get: I want to do one last check on it before I load it up on Backerkit for distribution. This is not going to be for commercial distribution, although I expect that the maps for it and some of the text will be available in a later supplement.
Keep watching the skies!
PS: If you haven’t read the books that this game is based on, here’s the link!
#commissionearned
Tweet of the Day, Twenty… *Billion*? edition.
Goodness gracious.
Yeah, so: Google pays twenty billion dollars a year to be the default search engine on Apple devices. Human beings can't comprehend this number, not really. But that's the world we live in, and must forage for scraps; one where draconic forces have made the world their lair. pic.twitter.com/SJWh2LHoxm
— Tycho Brahe (@TychoBrahe) March 26, 2025
Note that I wouldn’t care if Google Search wasn’t steadily decaying. Which is a matter of no little concern to a self-published author.
#commissionearned
Item Seed: Notas in Mechanism.
I needed to expand my head a little. Too many things with deadlines and money involved. Gotta have more fun.
Notas in Mechanism – Google DocsDownload03/25/2025 Snippet, LE BETE.
Almost there (sort of)!
“So you will swear allegiance to me, then? Take off the cockade, and instead wear the rose?” King Adam snuffed laughter at Joseph’s involuntary start. “I am no fool, Monsieur, for all you… revolutionaries… called me Le Bete. Too many Frenchmen have been taught to hate the scent of the fleur-de-lis. Better to use the symbol of my House, until those memories fade.”
“I understand, your Majesty. As to your question… I could swear my allegiance to you, yes. But would you trust me? Should you trust me?” He waved a hand in Berthier’s direction. “The general is a forthright man, justly angry at being lied to and unused to having his honor stained by others. He has spent his days in the field, far from the stinks and corruptions of the capital. I… am more used to the game of factions, your Majesty. I have been dealt a shabby hand, to be sure. How could you be certain that someday someone else might deal me a better one?”
The queen spoke first, in the rather appalled silence that followed. “Citizen Fouché, are you trying to talk yourself into meeting the executioner’s dagger?”
Is that how they are executing rebels? Joseph thought. What a relief. “Your Majesty, I am only saying aloud the things that others would happily whisper later in your ears. It is well-known that I am linked to the Committee and the Convention. It is reasonable to think that my conversion might be from expedience, not conviction. I will not lie about it.” I dare not lie about it.
Patreon!
