Up the River - On the Wharf

A few people have asked about the current status of "Up the River," the upcoming campaign for Unhallowed Metropolis. I wanted to take a minute and let everyone know that we're on schedule to release it this summer. We're in the final editorial rounds and the illustrations are brilliant. I'm thrilled that Robert Tritthardt (www.writheandshine.com) is illustrating my campaign, he's done an amazing job of bringing my words and the sick things in my head to the light of day. Here's a brief excerpt from the campaign.


When the appointed day arrives, the crew has the ship in spotless condition and a large crowd gathers at Hay's Wharf to see them off. The morning is foggy and cold. The crowd seems quite excited but the ubiquitous gas masks make their cheering muffled and subdued. Stanhope addresses the crowd from the Cassandra's aft:

“Ladies and gentlemen of our great city of London, today we take a most important step in the rebirth of Empire! A great colony of ours has been without word from their mother country for almost two centuries.We shall find them and, like two candles in the dark, combine to become a mighty torch to Illuminate the rest of the world with the civilization of the English people! The Borneo expedition shall welcome them back to the arms of queen and country! God save the queen!”

The Army band at the wharf launches into a loud rendition of “God Save the Queen” followed by “Rule, Brittania!” The ship's crew lets slip the moorings, and the Cassandra slowly moves from the wharf. The thick mist quickly obscures the crowd and, shortly after, swallows up the sounds of the music. The Cassandra is enveloped in the dark fog and greasy waters of the Thames as she ventures out towards the North Sea.



The campaign is accompanied by pre-generated characters, new skills, new items, the Wonders of Botany and a new Calling for Unhallowed Metropolis: the Explorer.


“Up the River,” written by Simon Berman and illustrated by Robert Tritthardt, will be available as a downloadable PDF summer, 2009.

another version of the truth

http://iran.twazzup.com/

Riffs and Variations on a Single Note

As usual I haven't been updating my blog because I've been preoccupied writing other stuff. I've written a substantial amount of content for No Quarter in the last month as well as some rough drafts of items for the upcoming WM MkII books, completed a second draft of "Sanctuary," an introductory scenario for Unhallowed Metropolis, playtested that scenario, begun researching and outlining for my own RPG (co-authored with Ken Hurt) and completed the first round of editorial revisions for Up the River on friday night.

Then I took yesterday to do nothing productive at all.

Now I'm about to start my next Big Project which is related to Unhallowed but will be my first serious attempt at game design.

It will be exactly like this:

How I found The Knife

Because I know many of my friends live in caves deeper even than the one I dwell in, I will introduce you to The Knife.

http://www.theknife.net/

The Knife is a musical duo from Sweden formed in 1999. The band consists of siblings Karin Dreijer Andersson and Olof Dreijer.

Like fellow Swedish musicians Abba and Ace of Bass, The Knife make music.

It just happens to be really fucking good music.





They are also crazy Scandinavians who hate appearing live or in their own videos, often wearing masks when they do so. Or in this case, appearing only peripherally while letting a transvestite karaoke the song.



Believing that electronic music is difficult to experience in concert they perform extremely rarely but take dramatic measures to provide a compelling stage show. Only the vocals and parts of the instrumentation are not pre-recorded but their show is groundbreaking.





Recently, Karin recorded a solo album; Fever Ray. It's a departure in tone and song structure from The Knife but it is without a doubt the best album I have heard in years.



Unofficial video -


Tickets for US dates go on sale this Sunday. So, anyone want to come to San Francisco on October 5th?!??

An Exploration of Degradation

A few of us are actually managing to play Unhallowed Metropolis instead of just writing/photographing/drawing it. Jason has rolled a predictably lethal Undertaker, Chuckie's got himself a pretty entertaining Parapsychologist and I've rolled an Explorer.

I wrote the Explorer Calling to be included with my campaign Up the River coming this July. I envisioned the Calling to be equal parts Dr. David Livingstone, Allan Quartermain and Indiana Jones with a hint of Lovecraftian antiquarian. I wanted players to be able to portray a whole range of characters from bug collecting academics to men and women of action who brave the ghoul tribes of the Wastelands searching for ancient mysteries.

But the Explorer I made tonight is a touch different.

Harold Paget-Morrison was the sole survivor of a failed expedition to the Lower Nile in 2088. When the expedition ship sank, Harold found himself washed up on the shore of Tunisia. He spent over three months living in the shadowed ruins of Carthage before a Prussian merchant vessel saw his signal fire and rescued him.

Upon returning to London, Harold was granted the honorary title of Baron by the Queen in recognition of his expedition's sacrifice. Harold attempted to settle into the life of his industrialist family. But time in the wilds had left Harold changed. His diet was now strange and his appetite constant. He soon developed a nasty temper and alienated his family. Succumbing to strong drink he soon involved himself in a number of scandals that resulted in his family granting him a certain amount of money before cutting all ties.

In no time Harold descended into the alcoholic nightmare of London's gambling hells and taverns. Flush with money and liquor he indulged his appetites to the full becoming corpulent and vicious. In just a few years he found himself suffering seizing fits, occasional delirium and screaming night terrors. When he submitted himself to his first medical physical in a decade the doctor wasted no time in pronouncing a diagnosis of syphilis. Harold cursed savagely and muttered something about the "damned strange whores of Tunis" before shoving the doctor to the ground and stalking out.

Today, Harold finds himself in a desperate amount of debt as his expensive taste in liquor and strange dietary habits sap his wealth. Aside from his venereal disease, he is in shockingly good health. Still an excellent shot with a rifle, he can occasionally be found giving shooting lessons to the children of aristocrats and industrialists. The violent strings of vulgarity to which he is prone typically means that these opportunities for employment seldom last long. Indeed, Harold is better known and feared for his other weapon; an oversized silver-headed cane with which he terrorizes the serving girls and doormen of the few establishments still willing to suffer him for his dwindling reputation.

Baron Harold Paget-Morrison

Explorer (see Up the River, coming this July)

Vitality 5 (effectively 6)
Coordination 3
Wit 3
Intellect 2
Charm 2
Will 3

Prowess 6
Actions 2

Features
Cabinet of Curiosities
Man of the World (Explorer Natural Science stunts) -
Dietary Advances
Field Medic
Fixer
Previous Expedition

Skills
Artillery 1 (Machine Guns)
Anthropology 2 (Folklore, Tunisian Ghoul Tribes)
Concentration 1 (Dull Pain)
Ettiquette 1 (Diplomatic)
Gambling 2 (Cards, Bluffing)
History 2 (Military, Egyptian)
Language 2 (German)
Language 2 (Latin)
Medicine 2 (Emergency, Complications)
Melee 3 (Free Parry, Head Hunter, Preferred Weapon - Cane)
Natural Science 4
Rifle 4 (Fast Aim, Long Shot, Pistol Whip, Preferred Weapon - Bolt-Action Rifle,
Survival 2 (Desert, Scavenging)
Unarmed Combat 1 (Hardened Strike)

Wealth: 5

Desire Corruption 2 - Addiction (Alcohol)

Qualities
Upper Class

Impediments
Debt
Fits
Malignity
Night Terrors
Syphilis

Gear
A single good suit in relatively current fashion.
Gold plated respirator.
Silver headed cane.
Kramer 2086 Bolt-Action Rifle

I dunno what the hell's in there, but it's weird and pissed off.

Abutebaris modo subjunctivo denuo

So, anybody speak Latin? Better yet, is anybody a Classicist? If so, I've got quite a bit for you to do, it might even pay REAL CASH MONIES someday (in the distant future)!

Finally, in an attempt to provide some kind of content, Thom Yorke and DJ Shadow -

U.N.K.L.E. - New Music - More Music Videos

Fainting Ladies

I'm all moved into the much bigger and nice apartment now and have written an appalling amount of stuff for No Quarter in the last forty eight hours in an effort to make up for time lost during the move.

In less stressful news, I just found out that Ladytron and The Faint will be at the Showbox SoDo on Saturday, May 2nd. I'm gonna pick up tickets next paycheck. Pretty cheap too, $22.50, general admission. Anyone wanna come along?

You can go there even though it doesn't exist.

Long story short, I have to vacate my apartment due to the need to tear up the floor and replace a sewer line underneath it. The building was going to put me up in a vacant unit for the duration but I've somehow parlayed this into being allowed to move into the new unit permanently. It's still a studio but approximately 3x bigger than my current one, is on the 13th floor and has a bomb-ass view of Capitol Hill. All for only $165 more per month than I currently pay and my deposits all roll over.

The downside of course is that I'll be without internet for a few days but I'll be available by cell.

Find the Fish

http://www.innsmouthfreepress.com/

Interesting site, I'm thinking about submitting. Maybe some kind of fisherman's almanac as a Monster Byte or something. I should probably have my head examined thinking about taking on more freelance (that doesn't even pay) but what the hell.

Also considering getting a saltwater tank. 20 gallon nano-reef setup, couple of fish, some crabs and snails, maybe a coral or two. I've wanted to do that for a while and the cost of the hobby has dropped significantly in the last few years.

Finally, I'm on a Ladytron binge for no particular reason. Apparently everyone is calling Velocifero their weakest album but they are dumb babies. Black Cat fucking rules and has the sickest bass line I've heard in a long while.