Michael Langlois's Blog, page 5
February 14, 2013
Unlike Chocolate, Free Books Won’t Make You Fat
BB sez: Happy Valentine’s Day, giant carnivorous primate!
Because I have been filled with love today by a naked, heavily armed flying baby, I felt compelled to give you a gift. Two, even. From today until 2/18, Bad Radio and Walker are as free as love and sunshine. (Note: if you’re paying for it, odds are it’s imitation love at best. Or fluorescent lighting.)
Anyway, totally free. Tell your friends and loved ones, especially if you think you can get away with pointing them at a free book and claiming it’s a gift!
Just like I’m doing right now…
Happy Love Day!
Filed under: Blog Posts
February 13, 2013
Dungeon World – The Good Old Days, Only Better
I try to be vigilant, I really do, but I missed the Kickstarter for this bad boy last summer. Which was a real shame, because it’s exactly the kind of thing I like. Fortunately, the circle of nerds that I call friends have sharp eyes and grasping claws, and succeeded where I failed. We managed to sit down to a game last night, but before I get into that, let me give you a quick idea of what Dungeon World is and why it matters.
Remember playing D&D back in the day, when you were a Cheeto-stained, soda-addled young person, giddy with the thrill of role playing for the first time? Some of you might have gotten into the hobby a different way, but for most, this was the rite of passage into the world of tabletop RPGs. And it was amazing.
The best part was that we touched the rules only lightly, and mostly as a way to measure success or failure of an action. It was about shouting and laughing and standing up brandishing a pencil like a sword and cracking the group up with your bold refusal to let the Lich of Unending Smugness get away with his plan to eat the sun. It was about participating in the story, with just enough support from the rules to make it a game, to have success mean something because the rules allowed failure to enter the narrative.
Fast forward to now. Pen and paper RPGs have gotten much, much more sophisticated over the years. And don’t get me wrong, they can be fun as hell. But they lack the spontaneous freedom of those early days. They often boast sourcebooks hundreds of pages long, with tons of tables and skills and conditional actions. What you gain in realistic simulation, you lose in freedom. And the required level of commitment from a group of friends to dig into one of these can be high.
Enter Dungeon World. It plays exactly like those old high school sessions, because it’s designed from the ground up for that breezy, story-first type of session. It’s a breath of fresh air. There’s almost nothing the players need to know to get started outside of character creation, which is as simple and straightforward as sticking a dagger in a goblin. It borrows a few bits and pieces from old school D&D-type games with the attribute system and marries them to the narrative elements from more modern games, like the FATE system. And it does so in a way that’s effortless to get into and play.
We sat down with zero knowledge of the system (except for the GM), and in about 15 minutes were guarding a merchant on the road to a distant city. In that fifteen minutes, four people created characters from scratch, and had a blast doing it. Here’s mine as an example, Strom the Bard. He’s kind of an idiot:
Strom Theramin
Human Bard
Not a particularly handsome man, Strom makes up for it by overspending on clothes and grooming himself past the point of sanity or good taste. He smells FANTASTIC.
Stats:
HP: 19
Base Damage: D6
XP: 2
Str: 9, +0
Dex: 12, +0
Con: 13, +1
Wis: 8,-1
Int: 15, +1
Cha: 16, +2
Alignment: Chaotic “Spur others to significant and unplanned decisive action.”
Bardic Lore: Bestiary of Creatures Unusual
Weave Performance into Spell
·Heal 1d8 damage (Soothing Ballad of Virgin Silken Thighs)
·+1d4 forward to damage (Poetic Justice)
·Their mind is shaken clear of one enchantment (Clarion of the Third Eye)
·The next time someone successfully assists the target with aid, they get +2 instead of +1 (Rondel of Brotherly Love)Inventory (Load Max: 18, Current Load: 2 )
(0) A fine lute named Caroline
(0) Ostentatious Clothes
(2) Dueling Rapier (close, precise)
(0) 3 gold
As you can see, there’s not much to it. Just enough to hang a character on, not so much that it bogs things down. Pretty perfect, in my opinion. The whole system works this way. There’s a lot of innovative stuff in there, but it never gets in the way of the story, and in fact, contains a lot to help it along.
One example is the success system. Most attempts to do things are decided by rolling 2D6 and adding the appropriate attribute modifier (so, playing a song for Strom would be 2D6 +2, since that’s charisma based). 10 or better and things worked out exactly as planned. Less than that, and you might succeed, but you’re also going to get an unintended consequence at the same time. Or you might fail, causing hilarity to ensue. Unlike a lot of other systems, its not just a failure to accomplish your task and that’s the end of it.
For example, Strom tried to strike a pose and play a rousing song to give someone a bonus to assist. He succeeded, but also made himself a target of a nearby archer at the same time. Could you do that without the roll? Sure. But it’s awesome to have the prompt, and the chance to pull it off without a hitch.
To sum up: it’s frigging great. We had a blast in no time flat, and the system stayed out of our way. It was just like the Before Times, only better. Also, it’s cheap. Like ten bucks cheap. There’s zero reason for you not to grab a copy and try it out.
If you want to hear a bit about the game from the designers, here’s a panel they did at PAX 2012. They’re smart guys, and they made a heck of a game.
Filed under: Blog Posts, Gaming
February 7, 2013
Book Recommendation: Impulse
I’m not really a book review kind of guy. Back in the day, before I put on my author pants, I would sometimes throw up an occasional opinion, even if that opinion wasn’t exactly positive. But now that there’s the potential to have my shenanigans seen in a competitive light, I think public criticism of that sort is firmly out of bounds.
So, instead of a review, let’s call this a recommendation. A strenuous recommendation. Impulse is fantastic, go get it. Don’t even finish reading this, just go.
“But Mike,” you say out loud to your screen like a crazy person, “this is the third book! I haven’t read Jumper or Reflex yet! Am I totally boned?” Not at all. In fact, I envy you. Not just because you’re so attractive and clever, but because you have the chance to enjoy these books for the first time. You have to read all three in order, but it’s a Willy Wonka kind of challenge. Oh no, I have to eat a bunch of delicious chocolate in order to win a prize! Poor me! If anything, you get an excuse to pick up three incredible books at once.
Here’s the official blurb:
Cent has a secret. She lives in isolation, with her parents, hiding from the people who took her father captive and tortured him to gain control over his ability to teleport, and from the government agencies who want to use his talent. Cent has seen the world, but only from the safety of her parents’ arms. She’s teleported more than anyone on Earth, except for her mother and father, but she’s never been able to do it herself. Her life has never been in danger.
Until the day when she went snowboarding without permission and triggered an avalanche. When the snow and ice thundered down on her, she suddenly found herself in her own bedroom. That was the first time.
What this blurb doesn’t tell you is how vivid and compelling Cent’s coming-of-age story is or how she’s charming, reckless, and vulnerable all at once. It’s also fascinating to reconnect with her parents, Davy and Millie, and see them struggle to raise a teenage daughter, especially in the context of being hunted fugitives. One of the best things about the series is how thoughtful and interesting the characters are, and Cent in this book is no exception.
Jumper was, and continues to be, an inspiration to me. Impulse is a worthy successor to its legacy.
Filed under: Blog Posts
January 31, 2013
Today’s Reminder of Joy And Wonder
You have a lot going on right now, I get that. Me, too. But don’t get too bogged down in it.
Remember why you’re here.
MOVE
EAT
LEARN
Filed under: Blog Posts, Food
January 30, 2013
David Tennant Teaches Cellular Biology
I was doing some research this morning and I came across this amazing episode of Secret Universe. David Tennant, , narrates.
I learned two things this morning: one, cellular biology is much more interesting with fancy CGI, and two, I never want to learn anything again that isn’t taught by The Doctor.
The show is about an hour, but it’s a completely fascinating hour. I totally recommend taking the time.
Filed under: Blog Posts
January 28, 2013
Fantasy Circle of Five
Jim Rohn once famously said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
If that’s true, wouldn’t it be amazing if you could choose those five people? Wouldn’t you be amazing? And what if they didn’t even have to be real?
In that spirit, I’ve been tagged by Paige Addams to participate in the Circle of Five challenge. The rules are that you must list five fantasy (I’m going to assume fictional, rather than the genre) characters that you’d like to spend time with, and that you must pass the challenge on when you’re done.
Here are my five:
1) Nicholaï Hel
The protagonist from the novel Shibumi by Trevanian. Nicholaï embodies the idea of affecting the world through mastery of oneself. He survives in a world of violence by seeking tranquility, without confusing peace with being passive. He is able to spend years on a garden whose full expression will not come in his lifetime and at the same time is a master of the ephemeral arts of romance. If the Most Interesting Man in the World was a retired spy who could kill you with a plastic comb while contemplating ancient Japanese poetry, he would be Nicholaï.
2) Emile Khadaji
The protagonist from the novel The Man Who Never Missed by Steve Perry. Over the course of our lives, in small ways and large, we each face choices between our principles and the way we live. And more often than not, we choose comfort or convenience when we know we should do better. When we should be better. Emile does not. When someone tells you that one person can’t change the world, remember that Emile would ask you why that should make any difference. The act itself is enough.
3) Death
One of the Endless and the sister of Dream from the comic series The Sandman by Neil Gaiman. If you’ve read the comics, you already know why Death is listed here. If you haven’t, imagine for a moment that the embodiment of Death is a woman filled with joy, wit, and compassion, and that by spending time with her you can come to realize that every life is important enough to warrant the attention of the universe itself.
4) Carl
An intelligent automaton from Penny Arcade’s Automata. More here. And here. Though hated, Carl does not hate. He works to protect a society that largely would see him destroyed and he does it without thanks or reward. Why? Because Carl can see the worth of the individual despite the actions of the group and he can separate right and wrong from retaliation and self-interest. Also, I can’t imagine not wanting to hang out with a robot private detective. If you can, then we’re veeeery different people.
5) Annie
Annie bears the message that the secret to the universe is gratitude, from the movie happythankyoumoreplease. More than that, she also knows that accepting the love of others is the same as accepting yourself, and that you can’t truly do one without the other. Of everyone on this list, Annie is the one that I think the world needs most.
Those are my five. What are yours?
Consider yourself tagged.
Filed under: Blog Posts, Essays
January 25, 2013
A Winner Is Crowned!
A victor has been chosen!
Congratulations to Ed, vanquisher of foes and claimer of books!
Your spoils will arrive shortly, signed by yours truly. Signature authenticity will be verified by Cher and, in the event that there is any doubt , co-verified by Mojo. BB used to be on the validation committee, but he tends to nip the corners off the covers as part of his ‘process’.
Even though the contest is over, you can always join the mailing list by clicking the link the sidebar. After all, isn’t the real prize being notified of free and forthcoming books?
Well, no. The real prize is a box of actual books that are being mailed to Ed as soon as I deface them with a Sharpie. But the mailing list is still awesome and you should totally sign up.
Thanks to everyone who entered!
Filed under: Blog Posts, Writing
My Quarterly Sanity Shipment
For the record, my wife’s sister is a wonderful lady. But today, she became a wonderful, lovely, and charming lady whose character and intelligence cannot be overstated. Why? Because chocolate, that’s why.
Don’t get me wrong, she was terrific before I received my first mail-based truffle bombardment, but there’s something about creamy ganache centers that really highlights her better qualities. Like her taste in gifts and brother-in-laws, for example.
Of course, setting me up to receive chocolate on a regular basis might have less to do with how wonderful she is and more to do with how annoying I am when I’m out of chocolate, but that’s probably not something I should dwell on.
In any case, if I learned anything today besides who my favorite relative is, it’s that the best Christmas presents are the ones I get ALL YEAR LONG.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m late for my date with a sugar coma.
Filed under: Blog Posts, Food
January 24, 2013
Dollop of Heaven: June Taylor Jams
I’m officially out of June Taylor Pluot jam. If you know what I’m talking about, you just made a gasping noise and felt my pain. If you don’t, then I’m going to suggest, much like your local heroin dealer, that you give it a try.
Watch this:
And then go here.
I mean, you don’t have to. You could just sit there like some kind of jamless rebel, but what fun is that?
Filed under: Blog Posts
