Where Worlds Collide

Matt in the Telegraph sums up the track maintenance company Jarvis quite well.

Hero Quest, the new RPG set in Glorantha is out. Although billed as a brand new game, it’s really the second edition of Hero Wars, the game released about three years ago. I was very disappointed in Hero Wars; the appalling editing and layout made it very difficult to figure out quite how the system was supposed to work.

The new game is a big improvement. Although the basic game engine is the same, the actual rulebook has been completely rewritten, and the whole thing is much clearer. They’ve also changed the very freeform magic system quite a bit, introducing “common magic”, which means I can now convert my old RuneQuest character Javin, something I could not do with Hero Wars (Javin was a character with a lot of Battle Magic, but wasn’t initiated into any cult)

A lot of old time Runequest players will find Heroquest a quite different system. It’s more cinematic in power levels, and it’s very much a dramatist rather than a simulationist system, with a very abstract system for handling combat and magic. It’s possible to handle combats in a single die roll (roll well and you win the fight, roll badly and you lose), although there’s an extended contest rule for more dramatic situations which involves betting ‘action points’ on a series of dice rolls. You can use this system not just for fights, but for any dramatic contest, from some arduous physical task to trying to win the love of the princess.

Magic is totally abstract; rather than a long list of spells that do precise things and do X points of damage, you have a list of ‘affinities’ or ‘talents’ which simply have names, and it’s up to the players and the GM to decide what these abilities can do.

If anyone’s thinking of joining Dreamlyrics (not a free site, but well worth the money!), I’ve just put out a recruitment notice for my long running game, KLR.

A lot of so called Christians, including George Bush, seem to believe in The Gospel of Supply Side Jesus, even though it doesn’t appear in any translation of the Bible I’ve read. (Link from Body and Soul)

Gnotalex of Dodgeblogium says “Stop me before I build again”. He’s asking the wrong person. He goes on to categorise the fans of “The Worlds Greatest Hobby”.

There are three categories of model railroaders (though the interests do crossover):

1. The detail freaks. The ones who buy $500 brass locomotives from Japan and Korea, accurate down to the rivet.

2. The control freaks. They try to duplicate the actual workings of railways, with loading, unloading, massive switchyards and timetables.

3. The dollhouse crowd. That would be me. I like looking at and working with miniatures.

1 is definitely me. I’ve bought �300 locomotives from modelmakers like Chris Marchant, accurate to the last rivet; I’ve even got an EWS class 67 on order, which I ordered sight unseen as soon as he announced it, based on the standard of his earlier 60, 66 and 56, superb models all.

2 is me as well. I had worked out a complete working timetable for my never completed Par and St Blazey layout, and spent a lot of time on research on things like correct train formations and locomotive allocations. I’m just the same with my current Swiss layout, based on the imaginary station of Wöminsee on the north ramp of the Lötchberg main line, tracking down obscure discontinued models on eBay and other places so as to make up accurate copies of real life train formations.

Gnotalex was disappointed in the standards he managed to achieve:

What’s in the mind’s eye, though, doesn’t always translate exactly to paper or stage, and didn’t in either case look like anything in the magazines.

My layouts have never been up to the standard of the models in magazines or the superb examples you see on the exhibition circuit in Britain either.

I think the trouble with magazines like Model Railroader is that most the layouts the feature are the work of guys in the 50s and 60s who have been modelling for 30 to 40 years. The first efforts of any beginner is never going to match their modelling standards. Also, their highly-detailed basement empires often represent twenty or more years’ work.

My advice to a beginner would be:

• Start small. If you’ve got a whole basement or loft to play with, don’t start a massive project that will take years to complete. With something simpler, you’ll have a chance of getting something to a presentable state (track, electrics and some basic landscape) before the first flush of enthusiasm fades. But don’t make it too simple or there won’t be enough to sustain interest.
• Join a club. There’s no better way of exchanging modelling ideas and learning from the experiences of others.
• Consider using preballasted track, such as Kato Unitrack or Fleischmann Profi-track; while this is never going to be as realistic as carefully ballasted Peco code 55, it looks a lot better than unballasted track.

In true comic book style, Anglegrinderman has met his arch nemesis, Justlyacquiredpropertyrightsman

Well, Anglegrinderman - now you’re about to meet your match. You’re the disease, I’m the cure. “Live parking charge free or die” that’s your slogan isn’t it? Well, we’ll soon see about that. I’m gonna teach you some respect.

Oh what’s that you’re pointing at me? A piece of industrial machinery? Well, guess what piece of industrial machinery I’m pointing at you? Yeah, that’s right - it’s an RPG.

He’s going to batter him with a hardback copy of Hero System 5th Edition, the game that can actually be used in hand to hand combat.

Wallop! Blatt! Kerpow!!

New Scientist reports on a remarkable skeleton discovered in Venezuala

The full magnitude of the world’s largest ever rodent has been revealed- the now-extinct monster was the size of a cow.

The creature weighed in at 700 kilograms and lived eight million years ago, roaming the lush banks of the ancient Orinoco delta in northwestern Venezuela. But the three-metre-long, 1.3-metre-tall behemoth was an evolutionary cousin of today’s humble guinea pig.

You would need a big hutch for one of those. (Link from Boing Boing)

A message for Stephen Karlson of Cold Spring Shops:

Virus Warning!!

If you receive a ship labelled “Class 66s”, DO NOT OPEN IT!!! It contains a virus that will overwrite all your other locomotives”

Call me old fashioned, but I still prefer these…

to these..

The first anniversary of Carnival of the Vanities, it’s back at Bigwig’s place again. (And if it was German, it would have been a Kriegslok)

One reason I’ve been slow updating this weblog recently; I’ve been busy writing up material for the Kalyr Wiki. Much of this is the material that’s already been on line for some time, but I’ve been revising and rewriting a lot of it. If you’re a player in either of my online games, please don’t read any pages marked by spoiler warnings!