My friend and coworker Hjalti Danielsson has a novel coming up. The Burning Life deals head-on with the moral issues surrounding EVE's murderous, immortal space pilots. Hjalti's a great writer, and his work goes places that other MMO tie-in fiction just doesn't. If you've ever felt uneasy about the hundreds of sentient beings your fantasy hero slaughters for loot, this one's for you.

I worked with Hjalti on his EVE chronicle All Tomorrow's Bodies, which I think turned out very well.

(The bizarre similarity in title to a chapter in Kiss of the Succubus is just 'cause I named both and love the Velvet Underground.)

On RPGnet, walkerp's posted a number of newspaper clippings from the early eighties, when Dungeons & Dragons was a controversial hobby. It's a very cool insight into the history of the games we play; I'm particularly interested in the differences in the language used to talk about roleplaying over time.

...but I'd feel bad if you did and I didn't share it with you. Behold, the Star Trek corset:

Or an Unknown Armies PC. Or, like, my Senor Cardgauge.



No idea where it's from. Somebody at work sent it to me.

I am probably making a mistake posting it where people who find me attractive can see it.

Only Chuck Wendig says shit like this:That is because he is the man.

Consider this my plug for his blog.

The success of The Incredible Hulk inspired this short-lived running man series. After an experiment by Doctor Morpheus (Ricardo Montalban), amnesiac Elijah Prophet (a young Bruce Willis) must exorcise the memories of the "fallen souls" trapped within his mind. Some are sinners, others simply tormented. With the help of daughter Rachel, Elijah roams a faintly apocalyptic American landscape setting the souls to rest.

Unanswered questions included the nature of the apocalypse, why "daughter" Rachel appeared so close Elijah's age, and whether the diabolical Morpheus was, in fact, Satan himself.

I feel sorry for these guys. They started out as a cool midpoint between vampires and mortals. Then they turned into scary junkies. Both of those things were cool. But somewhere along the way, they became Flunkies Who Might Turn on You. They're snitches you beat up. The idea of a ghoul as a compelling protagonist has become laughable. The current book suggests they masturbate with toothpaste and get used as furniture. Their imitations, Blade's "familiars" and other such, are even worse.

We've gotten to the point where the only thing a ghoul can do is be a pathetic slave or freak out and rebel. And doing the latter requires years of the former.

What could we do to change that? To give ghouls their freaky edge back and make them compelling characters again?

There just aren't enough games where you play robots. I liked Run Robot Red, though.