Andrew Moore's Blog, page 21

The Latest Release

Aside from anything else, is Assassin's Creed: Shadows a good title? It doesn't tell you much, not that many of those titles do. Odyssey, Valhalla, and Black Flag give us a sense of the setting, which is why I can remember them. I'm not sure it's important that we remember them, but the real problem with Shadows is that it sounds like it could easily be a spinoff, possibly a mobile game.

Subtle Social Commentary

All these people think they're cool with their "critiques of consumerism" and whatnot, always likening buying stuff to religion, but I haven't seen any of their characters go on as much as a single shillgrimage.

We Don't Have a Reading Achievement System

At least I don't. I bet somebody out there does and is keeping it from the rest of us. I'm talking about points, not that Sony trophy nonsense that simply isn't as good.

Shark Counterattack

It was a hard battle which did much to blood and bone, but the villagers subdued the great shark and killed it. They then looked upon it and wondered, full of anger and bafflement, what use they could make of it.
Till Ollepor had his inspiration. "We can bear no more of this, and this is our opportunity to stop it." He hollowed out the shark. He took out its guts, and he firmed up the insides with beams, and he made the tail a rudder too. He made the fins into oars and did everything else necessary.
Then he bade the villagers, the brave ones, the strong, to gird themselves and enter the shark with him. Together they sailed forth and down, far below to the seat of the sea king where they offered battle. Spear went against spear and net against net, and in the end the veterans who had defeated the sea's heroes before did so again.
"I am defeated," the sea king confessed. "And what now?"
"Now, rain," Ollepor demanded, and so it was done. The clouds took away great gallons of water so that the village soon sat on a cape. The sea king sent the villagers back and along with them another shark filled with gifts, and ever since the war shark and the treasure shark were the symbols of the village, later a town and then a great city.
Finis

Addendum

If you want to be serious, just have it be Brundisium. That's the kind of place necromancers would like. Rome and Ostia are too busy for concealment of their horrible activities.

Here's What to Call Your City of Necromancers

"Bonedisium." It is farcical, naturally.

Addendum

Come to think of it, does Beowulf actually take place in a super-advanced civilization with domed cities, and Grendel has nano-machines to make him stronger and more resilient against having his arm torn off? Probably, right?

Habitational Musings

I bet dragons would love domed cities. Real comfy-like. Is that a thing in Shadowrun?

Genre Family Sizes

We all know fantasy families are too small because it's a pain to come up with names for a bunch of siblings, cousins, etc., but surely science fiction should be dominated by the only child or single sibling absent cloning, right? Look at contemporary fertility. But wait! If you're writing about future people, they must have had future parents and so on down the line, which is to say, they'll belong to cultures which keep those birthrates up. Again, cloning excluded.

Fantasy Dangers

Watch out, fellas! "Wizened" might not mean what you think it does! Don't use it as a compliment! If you did know, that's just rude, but you may have been justified in saying it. I won't pretend to know the circumstances.