Scientists develop ‘bacterial battery’ (BBC News, also via diepunyhumans) reminds me of the super-nonobacteria ßehemoth, from Peter Watts’ SF novel Starfish.
Categories
Month: September 2003
Categories
Replicant Politicians
A San Francisco magazine administers the Voight-Kampff Test to see if six mayoral candidates are human or replicant. (via diepunyhumans)
Categories
Optical Illusions
Optical illusions to mess with your head, via
Boing Boing. Steps towards the Langford Mind-Erasing Fractal Basilisk
?
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Superhero Game Designs
Through
this thread on the Forge forums, I came across two indie/homemade superhero RPGs: Capes & Cowls (shudder; I have designs for something with a very similar name) and Golden Age Guardians (a working title…). Both games move away from the “traditional” point-based, system-heavy design common to most superhero games, going much further than the classic Powergame.
Categories
Astrology, and a John Dee link
- The John Dee Society site
seems to consist mostly of an online book and a thesis, as well as a
lot of links. - A good site about Astrology.
I used to have a good book about Astrology – I think it was The
compleat Astrologer, by Derek and Julia Parker – lots of nice pictures
and charts, but I remember detesting it – I would have prefered a book
about Astronomy. I think Astrology is so mainstream that it’s pretty
dead as an occult system, but it still has a lot of cool symbolism and
crunchy bits (as they say in gaming), so I’m curious if bits of it can
be pinched for use in designing a roleplaying game.
It’s interesting how “uncool” Astrology has become among geeks (myself
not only included, but put forth as a prime example). Even hardcore
rationalists (and I guess I am, sorta) can find stuff like Tarot
intriguing (if only as a fictional/dramatic tool), but even geeks with
New Age leanings will probably prefer nearly anything to Astrology.