Labor pains, RPGs and Napoleonics
Dec. 2nd, 2006 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tcpipKim Beazley and Kevin Rudd are squaring off. Julia Gillard will be challenging Jenny Macklin. I used to think Beazley was a good Labor leader up to the 2001 election. Since then I have been lukewarm about his abilities. Rudd seems to be a more popular and intelligent candidate and whilst Macklin is a better comrade, Gillard is more politically astute and is well known. Of course, neither Macklin or Gillard will ever be leader because they're from the Left, they're from Victoria and they're both female. Such are the factional balances.
Hopefully whoever ends up leader will pay attention to the fact that we've now spent $20 billion on the "war on terror" and, according to a recent report from University of Texas global warming is already causing mass destruction among frogs, butterflies, polar bears and penguins.
Ran Aesheba Everway on Friday night. A good session, with players now familiar with the setting, the GM (re)familiar with the mechanics, and thus opportunities for story development. The DragonQuest/Barbarian Kings game now has a name; "DragonLords" (the object of the game in its title) and I have completed the first chapter which I feel pretty happy worth. It's a alien-fantasy world that's sufficiently exotic but doesn't disobey basics of science (unlike many fantasy novels).![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tau_iota_mu_c has been most helpful in double-checking my astronomical equations and will be getting a credit.
In alternate realities in a different medium, have spent a fair bit of time in the past fortnight playing Waterloo, a genre of strategic and historical wargaming I was hitherto unfamiliar with. The game itself is extremely good; the historical research is of very high standards, the fictional scenarios are attractive "what ifs" and the game mechanics provide plausible results. Napoleonics provide some interesting historical-military lessons; Roman tactics are still useful for formation and flanking, muskets are next to useless in skirmish or small groups but devastating en masse and cavalry shouldn't ever charge up hill.
In other news, I didn't complete the 50,000 word target for NaNaWriMo (indeed, not even half), but am continuing with the novel. Prosper Australia has published an edited version of the Education Kit I wrote for them. Finally, mais oui!; French primary school children to learn wine appreciation.
Hopefully whoever ends up leader will pay attention to the fact that we've now spent $20 billion on the "war on terror" and, according to a recent report from University of Texas global warming is already causing mass destruction among frogs, butterflies, polar bears and penguins.
Ran Aesheba Everway on Friday night. A good session, with players now familiar with the setting, the GM (re)familiar with the mechanics, and thus opportunities for story development. The DragonQuest/Barbarian Kings game now has a name; "DragonLords" (the object of the game in its title) and I have completed the first chapter which I feel pretty happy worth. It's a alien-fantasy world that's sufficiently exotic but doesn't disobey basics of science (unlike many fantasy novels).
tau_iota_mu_c has been most helpful in double-checking my astronomical equations and will be getting a credit.In alternate realities in a different medium, have spent a fair bit of time in the past fortnight playing Waterloo, a genre of strategic and historical wargaming I was hitherto unfamiliar with. The game itself is extremely good; the historical research is of very high standards, the fictional scenarios are attractive "what ifs" and the game mechanics provide plausible results. Napoleonics provide some interesting historical-military lessons; Roman tactics are still useful for formation and flanking, muskets are next to useless in skirmish or small groups but devastating en masse and cavalry shouldn't ever charge up hill.
In other news, I didn't complete the 50,000 word target for NaNaWriMo (indeed, not even half), but am continuing with the novel. Prosper Australia has published an edited version of the Education Kit I wrote for them. Finally, mais oui!; French primary school children to learn wine appreciation.