What are words for? Reading!

Been catching up on my far-too-tall stack of books to be read.

First up was a re-reading of Tim Powers' Last Call. Still freaks me out, but this time around I think I managed to follow the various threads better and keep track of who was who, and their various significances. But one thing still bothers me.. had Scott already become the King after the Assumption game by the dumpster, or did he have to play the final game on the lake? Clues indicate that he had already taken the role, and the rest wasn't really needed.

At the same time I was also reading Greg Bear's The Forge of God. Entertaining, but somehow unfullfilling. The ideas were good, and some of the characters were interesting, but it just seemed a bit predictable to me. One wonderful anachronism in the book. At one point some characters are driving across the Bay Bridge into SF. Bear has them take the 480 to the Embarcadero. The scene is set in 1997. The 480 was severely damaged by the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, and was torn down in 1992. :)

Next up is S.M. Stirling's Conquistador, a novel I'd never heard of until I saw it on the bargain shelf at B&N. It looks interesting, a novel about encounters with an alternate universe where Europeans never reached the Americas. I'll let y'all know what I think.

But now I have to run off to work. Have a good one!

Told you so!

POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE WILL LEAVE CALIFORNIA STANDING

BUT PLUNGE THE REST OF THE COUNTRY INTO THE OCEAN, EXPERT SAY

A DEVASTATING earthquake will strike California in the next five to ten years -- with a force so powerful it will plunge the rest of the country into the sea, and leave the Golden State intact, experts say.

"For years, people have been saying California will someday fall into the ocean," seismologist Ron Felgar said. "Turns out California will actually be the safest place to be when the big one hits."

Felgar predicted that an earthquake measuring 15.0 on the Richter scale -- the largest in recorded history -- will rock the western United States. California's location directly atop numerous fault lines will cause the impact there to be diffused.

"The damage to the other states will be catastrophic," Felgar said. "Tidal waves will wash around California and swamp the rest of the country. Most of the survivors from the sunken states will head to California, resulting in massive overcrowding.

"If people thought the traffic in L.A. was bad before," he said, "it's about to get a whole lot worse."

Hey, if you can't trust the Weekly World News...

Traveller burnout.

Contemplating the theoretical upcoming campaign, and the results of the quiz (which will be redone in a few weeks, and please, this time only answer if you are interested in a game that you will be able to attend!) I realized that while most people wanted SF/Space Opera, I am completely burned out on Traveller right now.

Probably the result of too many attempts to write something new for the setting. I'm just too close to it, too immersed in its lore and legends. I need something fresh to excite me.

So, it has been decided. My WH40K variant universe campaign. The Twilight Regency. This setting steal liberally from WH40K, Renegade Legion, Dune, the Foundation Trilogy, and every other good "epic story of galactic empires crumbling."

Long story short. Centuries ago, mankind was ruled by an exceedingly powerful psionic talent. Unfortunately, his chief adviser and Warlord fell into the thrall of (or willingly joined with) one of the Chaos Lords. Chaos beings live in hyperspace. Their motivations are unclear, beyond enjoying twisting minds and destruction. The forces loyal to the Emperor fought the ever-growing armies of the Traitor for decades, until finally the Chaos Armada headed for Old Earth. There, the two sides met in titanic struggle. The Emperor and the Warlord killed each other, but their deaths left an imprint in hyperspace, called The Shout officially (the Scream by most on the frontiers) it is a shining beacon in hyperspace, making navigation far easier.

Hyperspace navigation is a psionic ability. Over the centuries, families of Navigators became increasingly powerful and influential, eventually owning most of the ships they guided. Navigation is dangerous, for to navigate, one has to expose oneself to the Chaos creatures lurking in sevenspace. Not so big a problem inside the Shout, but along the edges... there are wolves in the deeps, and they hunger.

There are three main power groups in the Regency of Man.

The Regency Government. Controls the Army, the Fleet, and the Bureaucracy. Disadvantage, ponderous and rife with political maneuvering.

The Church of the Undying Emperor. Controls the Inquisition and the dread Space Marines. The official religion of the Regency, the Church teaches that the Emperor did not die, but instead ascended to a higher plane, and will return one day to save the pure. Disadvantage: run by fanatics, they cannot see beyond their holy orders.

The Trader Families. Factionalized and squabbling most of the time, these families of carefully bred Navigators wield enormous influence and power simply by controlling most of the shipping in the Regency, and all of it around the edges of the Shout. Immense resources, a Trader patriarch can demand a ship the size of Manhattan divert course to carry him to a desired location. Disadvantage" lack of unity.

The campaign would be set on the frontier, where what the Regency and Church have feared for so long has begun: The Shout is fading. Slowly, year by year lesser Navigators can no longer detect its comforting beacon. To the faithful, God is deserting them. To the dissidents, the time has come to rise up. For the authorities, the need to crack down will never end.

I see the campaign as being sort of "Blake's 7". A group of people all wanted by the Regency for whatever reason on the run and striking where they can.

Probably going to order Star Hero this weekend. I think this game would work best using Hero System.