Odd Sources for Inspiration

[Krensky]

There is nothing odd about that.

Obscure these days, perhaps. But nothing odd.

[MilitiaJim]

It is too late for me to dig enough to find the right thread on books that offer something for games.  Check out Charles Stross' The Jennifer Morgue.  It was described by my fiancee as "x-files + dresden + 007 = a good read."  I am currently enjoying it a great deal.

[TheAuldGrump]

It is too late for me to dig enough to find the right thread on books that offer something for games.  Check out Charles Stross' The Jennifer Morgue.  It was described by my fiancee as "x-files + dresden + 007 = a good read."  I am currently enjoying it a great deal.

It is a very fun book - but one small problem. Nowhere on the book's cover, or even on the list of other books by Charles Stross does it ever mention that it is the second book of a series! The first book is titled The Atrocity Archives.

It would have been nice to find this out right at the start, rather than by going on line to look for what other books he had written. 

Well worth picking up, but right now I am waiting for Amazon to mail me the first book, when I am more than half done with the second....

The Auld Grump

[TheAuldGrump]

Sites for desktop wallpapers can have some good solid pieces -

An evil Treeman from Desktop Nexus - good for a Rootwalker that has been turned to the darkside.

Looking up ghost ship, plague ship, and a few other such phrases found me a goodly number of images.



The Auld Grump

[MilitiaJim]

It is a very fun book - but one small problem. Nowhere on the book's cover, or even on the list of other books by Charles Stross does it ever mention that it is the second book of a series! The first book is titled The Atrocity Archives.

It is the second book?  Bugger.  Time to start digging around for number one.

[TheAuldGrump]

It is a very fun book - but one small problem. Nowhere on the book's cover, or even on the list of other books by Charles Stross does it ever mention that it is the second book of a series! The first book is titled The Atrocity Archives.

It is the second book?  Bugger.  Time to start digging around for number one.

In that regard....
First the good news: Atrocity Archives is still in print, and readily available.
Second, the good news: It's a fun read!
Third, the bad news: You already know the bad news - they really should have mentioned that there was a first book. (And in fact is is Mr. Stross's first book - Atrocity Archives was his first published novel.)

The Auld Grump

[MilitiaJim]

These folks will be right at home in 10k Bullets:  The Fast Food Mafia.

[MilitiaJim]

So there is this old article and thread over at Reason Magazine, and someone mentioned a potentially great country/punk record.  I think it would work better as vignette opening a campaign world:

The Lone Trucker of the Apocalypse

So, who wants to help whip this up?  We either need Fallout style atomic trucks, or shortly enough after the apocalypse that there is still diesel fuel.

[MilitiaJim]

The New Jersey state lottery has Dragon Ball number six.  Pennsylvania has number five.  Where are the other Dragon Balls!?

[Psion]

It is too late for me to dig enough to find the right thread on books that offer something for games.  Check out Charles Stross' The Jennifer Morgue.  It was described by my fiancee as "x-files + dresden + 007 = a good read."  I am currently enjoying it a great deal.

I had a thread about Stross' out-there horror-espionage books in Off Topic.

It went without a single reply. 

Good to see he's getting some notice here. 

[Psion]

Sites for desktop wallpapers can have some good solid pieces -

(snip pic)

An evil Treeman from Desktop Nexus - good for a Rootwalker that has been turned to the darkside.

Looking up ghost ship, plague ship, and a few other such phrases found me a goodly number of images.

(snip pic)

Very nice. Both scream certain segments of my once-and-future games.

[TheAuldGrump]

And then there is my old friend, the Oxford Condensed Dictionary. Today's word just makes me feel all warm and tingly: Cacotopia - while the word Dystopia makes me think of totalitarian regimes Cacotopia makes me think of raw, vicious anarchy. 

The Auld Grump, who fell into the dictionary, and couldn't get out... again.

[TheAuldGrump]

Personally, I'm hoping for a Viking-style funeral. That would be suitably epic.

My fiancee keeps telling me those are illegal.  I keep explaining that my friends will make it happen.

Heh - the state of Maine is one of the few places in the USA where you can still be buried in a cheap pine box, in your own (adequately large) back yard. I have sometimes thought of getting a slab of slate and etching my own stone, just for that purpose. (Though explaining why I have my own gravestone sitting in the kitchen might take some doing....)

The Auld Grump, actually, you can be buried in a cardboard box....

[Sletchman]

Personally, I'm hoping for a Viking-style funeral. That would be suitably epic.

My fiancee keeps telling me those are illegal.  I keep explaining that my friends will make it happen.

Heh - the state of Maine is one of the few places in the USA where you can still be buried in a cheap pine box, in your own (adequately large) back yard. I have sometimes thought of getting a slab of slate and etching my own stone, just for that purpose. (Though explaining why I have my own gravestone sitting in the kitchen might take some doing....)

The Auld Grump, actually, you can be buried in a cardboard box....

Put some sturdy legs on it and use it as a coffee table.  Might make an interesting conversation starter.

Turnip, who wants his tombstone to have massive lies - like "Died saving orphans and puppies from a burning fireworks factory".

[MilitiaJim]

You know how they have those places that will take your ashes and make a gem?  I was told I may not start a family statue that uses gems from deceased members.

And apparently Viking funerals are illegal too.

Dying just ain't no fun no more.