Vignette 049 The Daggertooth had been a mature male, big and fierce. Yahless'ayu bowed once to its still-warm corpse, then spread his hands to his sides, palms upward in a gesture of peace. “Mother of grazers, I am Yahless'ayu of the Elkh'uurt pride. I give you the life of this predator, and the lives of the grazers it would have hunted, in payment for the lives of your children that my pride will take in the coming year, lives saved for lives taken” The first part of the ritual complete, he glanced quickly at the hovering pict-drone to ensure it was transmitting. “I am Yahless'ayu of the Elkh'uurt pride. I have taken this daggertooth in the traditional way, without bow or firearm, and with no more than a claw of companions. I claim my place as a hunter of the pride, and as an adult”. He stepped back as E'kwaaay'r and the others came forward in turn for their own oaths of adulthood... (Author's note - The canon sources don't talk much ab...
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Vignette 048 “ When my brother and I visited Duchaine, we went to the same planet, but very different worlds. His naval lieutenant's uniform got him admission into the polite society and wealth of the thousand families who owned and ran the planet, and he moved through a world of elegant receptions, excellent food, and ubiquitous servants catering to every whim. My work as a journalist took me into the underside of Duchaine's arcologies, where millions thrown out of work by the automation of its industries tried to survive on inadequate or non-existent welfare. Law enforcement was brutal when it was present, but mostly it wasn't, since the thousand families just wanted the slum-dwellers kept out of sight and out of mind, and didn't much care what they did to each other. A job as a servant upside was a dream come true for most slummies, even if it only paid three meals a day and a bunk in a dormitory, and they'd do almost anything to get one. A recruiter came...
Game Review - Forgotten Waters I'm interested in the evolution of games, and particularly the rise of cooperative rather than competitive games. This year's Christmas game is a good example of that, with the players as the crew of the same pirate ship, and also the first game to actually integrate a phone app as part of the game, rather than a rules reference or a bolt-on source for additional premium content. The game itself has a number of heavy cardboard trackers for various types of resource - supplies, crew, hull points and the number and power of any cannon the ship may acquire. These resources will be gained and used up as the game progresses. If hill points or crew reach zero, the players ship sinks and the game is over; supplies can reach zero, but causes other problems rather than instant death. Neatly, the crew tracker also has a second counter tracking crew discontent. This starts at the opposite end of the track from the crew counter, and moves in the opposit...
Vignette 047 The city of Aralais is surrounded by an archaic city wall, known as the “Hunger Wall” and decorated with elaborate carvings, bas-reliefs and mosaics. It was built solely to provide employment for out-of-work and hungry citizens during the terrible economic depression of the 530s, and funded by the Marquis of Aralais, then the wealthiest noble on the planet. He continued to pour money into its construction until the end of the depression, and on being told the cost had almost bankrupted him, simply observed “Then I am thankful that my fortune lasted long enough to preserve my people”. The Marquis' memorial can be seen in the city cemetery. It was built entirely by craftsmen who learned their trade building his wall, and carries the inscription “Walls can defend a people against more than enemies” (Author's note - This is intended to give a world a little more flavour, as since the "Hunger Wall" serves no architectural purpose it can be added to a ...
Vignette 046 “ The first thing you notice on pre-fusion worlds is the smell. Whether it's the dung from riding and draft animals, the coal and wood smoke from steam-powered worlds or the sharper tang of burned petrochemicals from internal combustion systems, they all stink, and it takes a while to get used to it”. (Author's note - This is just a handy piece of colour text the referee can drop in anywhere. We'd be horrified by how bad Victorian London smelled - even natives often were - and fusion-era natives would be horrified by the car-related pollution in modern LA)
Game Review - Rhino Hero Buying a new game for christmas is a family tradition - we play it with my parents on christmas day, then ourselves on new year's eve. This year's choice was "Rhino Hero", a simple and cheap game that's still a lot of fun. It's effectively a cross between Uno and reverse Jenga - all players start with a number of floor cards in their hands, and the aim is to be the first to get rid of them all by building an ever taller tower of cards. When a player lays a floor card, it will have one or two "walls" drawn on it. These walls are simply folded cards, and the next player places the walls then balances a new floor card on them, before the turn passes on for the third player to do the same. The first player to get rid of all their cards wins, which is only likely to happen if all the players have pretty steady hands. If the tower collapses while a player is adding that card, then that player loses and the winner is whic...