GM’s Blog

For many years now I’ve made a habit of taking a break from my regular weekly games to run something completely different during the University holidays. This began because even though I was not a student some or many of my players were, and they weren’t around to play during term breaks.

Even though most of my current players are also alumni and could keep on playing, I have maintained the habit. Running a different game for a while is a bit like eating a sorbet between courses; it cleanses my mental palate and satisfies my urge for novelty, allowing me to return to my regular games with gusto once they resume after the break.

This Easter I have decided to run a short Solar Exalted game comprised of four sessions that, I hope, will carry a single story.

One Boy and his Dog (Part Two)

Mark wakes to find himself blind and deaf. He panics for a moment and then realises that his eyes and ears are gluey with drying slug-slime. His mouth is sealed too and he can only breathe through his left nostril. He tries to wipe his face but finds that his arm is stuck to the floor. He panics all over again and thrashes against the muck, panting through his nostril. At last his arm tears free and he digs his fingers into the mask of slime over his face and claws it away. He sucks in a huge breath of air and finds himself taking unexpected pleasure in the simple act of breathing.

One Boy and His Dog (Part One)

When he thinks about his life, Mark pictures his job as a giant grey toad. A toad with mottled, warty skin that squats in the middle of his life, crushing all the joy and creativity from it and leaving him feeling flat and slimy.

Although Mark is rather proud of that metaphor he prefers to avoid thinking about his life at all. Not only is such contemplation a rich source of depression, but second-guessing the series of decisions that led to his current circumstances drives him half-crazy.

Kristallnacht

This is a piece I wrote for the SCP Foundation (http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com) but which was unpopular due to its reference to a real world event. At the time of writing it’s still up on the site as SCP-557 but I think it will soon be deleted. I actually rather like it and I’m therefore posting it here for posterity.

Sculpture/Thread

I found this old poem I wrote when I was going through some papers of mine the other day. I have no idea where the subject matter came from, to be honest, but I liked it enough to save it from the obscurity of a printout on paper and put it here on my blog.

The Problem Of Uncertainty

I enjoy reading Internet debates; in particular I enjoy reading what happens when rationality and irrationality collide. The Web serves as no-man’s land in the battles between the forces of religion and atheism; science and pseudoscience; superstition and logic.

As I read and participate in more of these debates I am coming to realise that there exists a fundamental problem affecting the marshalling of evidence for deployment against the enemy. Partly a consequence of the glut of information available online, I refer to it as the Problem of Uncertainty.

Blog Move

I’ve decided to move blog provider from Tumblr + Blogger to WordPress. The old Tumblr blog will be kept for sharing images or other small random bits and bobs I find online, but all of my writing, essays, journals etc. will now be hosted here on this WordPress blog.