Sparks and Flows of Imagination: Blue Planet
There are many things which I find compelling and satisfying about Blue Planet as an RPG in all of its editions, but near the top is how it manages to give me at least part of an answer to any particular question I might have about a future setting of speculative science fiction grounded in a spirit of verisimilitude over fantasy and depth vs vibes.
Recontacting Blue Planet with gusto~
Over the past few weeks, during my commute, I have been spending a lot of time putting my imagination to work inhabiting the world of Poseidon and all that that entails. I have been paying particular attention to the little details that matter to a character’s perspective, like what biocrete might feel like and sound like underfoot, and what tang a saltier ocean might carry. I wonder at the feel of loss the absence of gulls might evoke, and if the folk music of natives and newcomers alike might try to fill that void. I put my mind’s eye under a sky with two moons and nightly flares of launches to orbital stations. It’s not just that. It’s a world where uplifted cetaceans from earth vie with humanity for work and happiness. It’s a world with not just uplifted species, but three species of humanity we have created with blind luck, boldness, and more than our fare share of callousness. It’s a world we are in a rush to despoil with toxins and bloodshed.
It’s a world where the dream of immortality can be achieved… or at least, believed.
From a certain point of view… On RPGs.
What if, for the sake of discussion, everything that you believe to be true about roleplaying games were true, but let’s also note that that “you” is not the singular, but the plural. We can rightfully expect, I think, for the sum of all those perspectives to seem chaotic. Of course, not all that each … Continue reading
Building Bonds, Testing Trust, and Sandbaggers – oh my! Part 2
This is the second in what might become a series which uses the episodes of a beloved cold war spy series called The Sandbaggers to dig into the genre from an RPG perspective and specific mechanisms from RPGs such as Delta Green and World War Cthulhu.
Bonds, Trust, and Sandbaggers – Oh, my! Part 1
This is the first in what might become a series of posts about episodes of the cold war spy series The Sandbaggers and how the events and relationships in the series can highlight and give nuance to our understanding of mechanisms within great RPGs like Delta Green and World War Cthulhu: Cold War~
