Imperium Reginae, Part One

Orbs spinning in the void, kept in line by ruthless gravity

Human Slaves of An Insect Nation-Imperium Reginae (a bare-bones attempt at creating a steampunk setting)

I was never really partial to steampunk. Not because I found the genre to be beneath me, but because when you’ve been raised on a steady diet of British trip-your-balls-off science fiction and Japanese psychic supermen, well…

You can’t exactly go back to pretending like you give a damn about Star Trek

But steampunk (for all the unnecessary goggles, dials and cogs that it has added to perfectly functional designs), has also added a great deal of awesome to pop culture, the kind that you can’t exactly shrug off and pretend like it doesn’t exist. It bridges fantasy and science fiction in that very special, bullshit science kind of way that I have come to respect and admire.

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Human Slaves of An Insect Nation, Part 13-Sexy In Spandex (short)

I’m only eating this dude because he’s EVIL! What? Eating people’s wrong now? Oh screw you, society, screw you!

Human Slaves of An Insect Nation, Part 13 (shortie)-Sexy In Spandex

I was always curious as to why almost every attempt of mine to run anything other than a fantasy campaign failed so utterly. It took me about ten years before I made an honest, earnest attempt at setting up an overarching plot, devoting all my brainjuice into this singular act of weaving a long-running supers story and two years before I could properly run it, before I realized what I had been doing wrong.

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Jar-Pet

Intelligent, Playful, Resourceful Jar-Pet For Adoption!

Are you a high-energy person with no time to care for a regular pet? We've got you covered!

Introducing the Jar-Pet! What’s a Jar-Pet, you’ll ask? It’s the answer to your prayers!

I found my Jar-Pet in my home’s cellar, abandoned its previous owner prior to his annihilating his entire family. Extremely intelligent, highly conversant and adaptable, the Jar-Pet is fluent in a number of languages (most of them dead) and an expert in the occult.

But that’s not all! The Jar-Pet is also highly resilient and can subsist for weeks without food, air or water. It cannot be harmed and is immune to all diseases. Believe me, I've tried.

Interested in adopting a Jar-Pet? Then call the number below!

WARNING: The Jar-Pet is not intended to be owned by or exposed to, children. It must not be kept in a room containing -or in proximity to- religious symbols. Owners of the Jar-Pet accept full responsibility for its dietary needs at the moment of adoption. The Jar-Pet should not be removed from its provided container, no matter how much it pleads. Should the Jar-Pet nest and/or breed inside a tenement the previous owner holds no responsibility for its actions, up to and including injury, loss of spiritual and mental integrity and loss of life.

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What I Think About Stuff-Y the Last Man Review

Yorick Brown, hard at work trying not to look like he’s taking a shit.

What I Think About Stuff-Y The Last Man

I don’t like Y the Last Man.

But it’s the feminist comic book epic of the decade, effenti!

Yes. I know. And I don’t like it. To be honest, I didn’t not enjoy it because it was poorly written, or because the premise offended my overly masculine sensibilities or because its art was shit or even because the comic book failed miserably at bringing its point across. This is not at all the case.

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Foundation Initiation, Take One

 

"You were chosen because you survived."

"You saw the things that dwelt inside and beside and within reality, or you stepped into the places where the universe burst at the seams, and you came out the other side. 

You're here because you came out of something that defied understanding through luck, grit, or sheer bloody-minded tenacity."

"You were dragged from the ruins of your life, torn and bloodied, thinking that it was God's will or doing that brought you there.

"It wasn't. It was terror and tragedy transmitted into the fabric of your lives in indecipherable tongues.

"You were ants, caught in a flood as your world was swept away in the dark, screaming."

The man coughed once, then flicked his cigarette in the nether regions off-screen.

"That is no longer the case."

The reel ended, leaving behind the sound of old film, whipping itself like an old flagellant. The assorted crowd rustled uneasily in their seats. No words were spoken; there were whispers of fabrics on skin; the nervous, repeated flicks of lights conjuring flame.

Finally, the doctor spoke his four-word incantation:

"Welcome to the Foundation."

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Human Slaves of An Insect Nation, Part 12-Chillin wit' Da Villains

I find your lack of phat beats…disturbing.

Human Slaves of An Insect Nation, Part 12-Chillin’ Like Villains

In the previous installment of the series, I detailed a few stepw toward generating a campaign villain: a creature that, despite its complexities and motivations, is wholly and utterly commandeered and controlled by you, the Storyteller, for the duration of the campaign.

Fellow redittor MetaMeh commented on last week’s article, proposing I focus on giving some tips (or more specifically, my own ideas) on handling the dynamics of more than one villains. As this is a subject that requires almost an entire thesis on its presentation and handling, I have instead chosen to take the easier road and try to address something that, again, focuses on a number of evil people, but does not require any in-depth look into campaign dynamics.

In short, evil characters.

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Why Haven't You read This? Part 4-I Can't do this Rhyming Shit Anymore

First Google result when you type ‘read’ that’s not a stock photo. The internet IS marvelous.

Why Haven’t You Read This? Part 4-Can’t do this rhyming shit anymore

Moving on to cheap entertainment alternatives on the Internet that aren’t cat videos (and are in fact, more than competent works of fiction), here’s the 4^th installment to cheap, awesome stuff you can find online for free!

But before we move on, a quick nod to fellow scifi nerd and reviewer, Rusty Keele, who has done me the huge favor of letting me do short science fiction story reviews on his website, Bestsciencefictionstories.com. By the time you’re reading this, Rusty, it will be the 1-year anniversary of our collaboration! I’d buy you dinner, dude, but since we’re both at either ends of the planet, here’s a cool robot that’s flying above the Earth!

There’s a lady riding on top of it, but you’re the pilot!

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