Review: From Norman Spinrad and Edgar Pangborn, Two Classic Science Fiction Novels

Ah, science fiction. Glimpses of futures that most likely will never come to be. Or will they? I read a lot. Slowed down a bit as the years rolled by, but still a lot when compared with the average. What's amazing is that the number didn't increase during the pandemic! OK, guess I really read …

Fallout: Not Your Father’s Post-Apocalypse

From the Fallout franchise. The single-player, first-person games. I've always been a fan of the end of the world. Wait, I mean the fiction. But I'm not the only one. Fallout's all the buzz at the moment, but coincidentally I've been reading a variety of post-apocalypse fiction recently. And I mean that, it's coincidence. But …

Review: Fallout Nuka Break (The Web Series)

Fooled you! I bet you thought I was going to review the official new Fallout series, didn't you? Just to be contrary, I watched this unofficial fan series instead. Bottom line, it's great and a must-see. Personally the jury has to wait for me to watch the official series before it gets to deliberate on …

Review: ATOM, Trudograd RPGs

Zdravstvuyte! Do you miss the days of Fallout 1 & 2, bunkie? Isometric turn-based post-apocalyptic wandering, digging through the scraps of a fallen civilization while fighting off your fellow looters? Fondly recalling the glory days of the socialist world, joyously working with your komrades to free humanity from the chains of capitalist oppression? Wait, what? …

Review: Hello Tomorrow!

Apple TV, 2023, one season (so far). Flying car and all. Great look to this show. All the visions of the future as imagined “back in the day” are on display here. He's probably packing Or for you kids, it’s like the Fallout games, pre-apocalypse. Fallout's Mister Handy Protagonist Jack Billings is played by Billy …

Part Fifty-Seven: 2021, To Boldly Go. A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches

Shatner with fellow members of New Shepard 18 flight Up, Up and Away Here on 2021 Earth we're still in a worldwide pandemic, but Star Trek's William Shatner heads to space in a Blue Origin spacecraft compliments of Amazon's Jeff Bezos! Shatner, at ninety years of age, becomes the oldest man ever to travel to …

Part Fifty-Four: 2018, The Enemy Within. A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches

We lost two luminaries in 2018. First up, multiple award-winning author Harlan Ellison. Awards: Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Edgar, Stoker, Méliès and Inkpot. He was a larger than life personality and reading a biography would be well worth your time. Ellison wrote fiction (Repent Harlequin Said the Ticktockman, A Boy and His Dog, I Have …

Part Forty-Nine: 2004-2013, Summarizing the Fourth Decade of Modern RPGs. A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches

Four decades of role-playing games. Forty years, that’s huge. That’s not an unusual adult lifetime (IE, twenty years growing up, then forty as an adult). Forty years certainly covers multiple generations, and that includes not only players but writers. Many folks working on games at this point may not have even been born back in …

Part Forty-Five: 2010. “I mean it’s sort of exciting isn’t it? Breaking the rules.” – Hermione Granger. A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches

And here we are, well into the 21st century. It’s like science fiction, isn’t it? I still don’t have a flying car though. Or a four-day work week. Or food pills. And I can’t vacation on the Moon or Mars. No, the future’s not what it was cracked up to be, not by a long …

Part Forty-Three: 2008, All Things Must Pass. A Historical Overview of Role-playing from the Trenches

Journey’s End On March 4th, 2008, Gary Gygax passed from our plane of existence. It was a time for solemnity. It was also a time for the bereaved widow. Gary’s second wife Gail now owned Gary’s IP. She pulled all of Gary’s products and licenses. The Zagyg and Yggsburgh and Lejendary Journey product lines would …