ffutures | Entries tagged with science fiction

This is a bundle of material for Age of Ambition, an RPG about a fantasy world trying to modernize and adapt to technology and rapid social and political changes following an alien invasion:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/Ambition

I'm not familiar with the rules system, but it looks reasonably playable and layout is good. If you get the complete bundle you're getting a lot for your money including numerous worldbooks and adventures, and the setting is novel enough that players ought to find it interesting.

This is a repeat offer of the cyberpunk RPG Neon City Overdrive from Peril Planet, last offered in May 2022

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2026NeonCity

Last time I said "Since I received this at about midnight and it only runs for a week I haven't had much time to take a detailed look. It's a system that looks reasonably playable, it's drawing on all the usual cyberpunk sources, and it's pretty cheap. I'm not sure I actually NEED another cyberpunk game, given how many I already own, but if you just want to dip your toes in the water I think it's worth a look. The usual caveat - I get to see this stuff without having to pay for it, if you don't your mileage may differ."

Since then I've taken a more detailed look - artwork is good (and credited to humans, not AI), and mostly avoids the tropes of the genre. Layout is a bit flashy but readable, and there is an emphasis on story-telling rather than rules. I think it's definitely a good one for a quick look at the genre.

This is a bundle of two-player RPGs for Valentine's day, the fourth such offer from Bundle of Holding. They come from a variety of authors and publishers, genres range from Georgian romance to far future exploration and horror

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/ForTwo4

This isn't really my preferred style of play - I prefer a larger pool of players - but if you like a more intimate approach to gaming the bundle is pretty cheap and may be worth a look. My personal favourite from these is probably Retired: The Ordinary Life of a Former Supervillain, which looks like it could be a lot of fun, and might be expanded to a larger group of characters, but several others look entertaining.

This is an offer of two bundles for Mongoose Traveller - one is a repeat, the other new (though based on a fairly old adventure).

MONGOOSE TRAVELLER EXPLORATIONS (from Nov 2022)
https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025Explorations

TRAVELLER ANCIENTS CAMPAIGN (new)
https://bundleofholding.com/presents/TravAncients

The last time Traveller Explorations was on offer I said "OK - Traveller is probably the best-loved SF system out there, and the Mongoose version is VERY popular. You're getting a ton of stuff for your money. Need I say more? Unless you really dislike SF or the setting, or already have everything here, I'd recommend buying them."

I'm less sure about the Ancients Campaign - I was never a huge fan of the original Secrets of the Ancients, the plot was a bit linear and the eventual secret really wasn't incredibly exciting, and while it looks like there are some more plot threads to keep players busy they are definitely still going to need some nudges to keep them on the right track. Not all players LIKE long campaigns, and although this is relatively cheap it might be a good idea to sound people out before buying.

This is a repeat of the "deep-space alien horror" SFRPG Hostile from Zozer Games, based on the Cepheus Engine and previously offered in April 2022

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025Hostile

Last time I said "My impression is a game that works pretty well if your players can live with corporate betrayal, virtually unkillable monsters, and the other tropes of this side of SF. I'm not entirely sure I want to play in that sort of universe at present, but it's well worth a look and pretty cheap." I don't see any reason to change any of that.

Another bundle for this system is coming soon.

This is a repeat offer of the Modern AGE / Expanse bundle from Green Ronin Publishing, containing the Modern AGE version of their Adventure Game Engine rules and sourcebooks and adventures for the popular Expanse books and TV series;

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/2025Expanse

In 2020 I said "I'm slightly hampered here by lack of familiarity with the AGE system, but my impression on a quick look is a fairly playable game that for once doesn't need a huge variety of dice - everything is rolled with 6-siders. The combat rules don't seem to take up a ludicrously large portion of the system, and explanations seem to work reasonably well without going into impenetrable gamespeak. Presentation is good too, with nice artwork and a reasonable balance of male and female characters represented. I found that the font used for the rules is a little hard to read on screen - I had to up the magnification more than usual - but otherwise have no particular problems. The font size may be a consequence of the fairly high word count for these rules, and I suspect that it was the best compromise for the printed version - larger text would have upped the page count considerably. Unfortunately I don't feel that it's a particularly good font from a legibility viewpoint, which isn't helping.

My visual problems aside, this looks to be a pretty good bundle, and is probably a must-buy for anyone liking The Expanse. Recommended!"

I don't see any reason to change any of that.

Some histories of science fiction claim that the first SF convention was held in Philadelphia in autumn 1936. That was actually an impromptu gathering of fans, not an organized convention, and the first real convention was held in the UK a few months later, in Leeds in January 1937.

But it turns out that there's another event that can make a reasonable claim to have priority over both - in 1891! The Vril-Ya Bazaar and Fete was basically a media con way ahead of its time, held in London's Royal Albert Hall in March 1891. The media in question was Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s novel Vril: The Power of The Coming Race, first published in 1871. The Bazaar was a charity event set up to raise money for a hospital, and lasted several days. The fete included cosplay, jugglers, magic acts, and much more. It wasn't a huge success, and didn't really pave the way for later fandom, but it could be an interesting event to throw into a game set in this period.

An overview of the earliest SF conventions

The Vril-Ya Bazaar and Fete

Video about the event

The programme for the event (PDF)
Courtesy of Royal Albert Hall Archive. Ref. RAHE/1/1891/5

Many thanks to Rob Hanson for bringing this to my attention.

This is an interesting job lot of SF titles from Night Shade Books, featuring collections in the Best SF of the Year series

( Night Shade Best SF )

There are some very good authors in there, and I think I have my next few months reading sorted! If you like SF I don't think you can go very far wrong with this one.

Pointed out by Brian WINOLJ - the original drawings for a set of illustrations that were in a 1906 printing of The War of the Worlds by artist Henrique Alvim Corrêa, which are in some cases better than the Warwick Goble illustrations of 1897 - Wells liked them anyway. Lots of pictures, scroll down the page. Yours for an initial bid of £350,000, more likely a million or two.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3066374/Original-drawings-depicting-iconic-Martians-HG-Wells-s-sci-fi-masterpiece-War-Worlds-sale-350-000.html

Found by

karohemd; The Pulpomizer! You never knew you wanted it, but you do...

http://thrilling-tales.webomator.com/derange-o-lab/pulp-o-mizer/pulp-o-mizer.html

And this is the sort of thing it does...

Today's walk took me first to Little Venice where I disposed of a few slices of slightly stale bread in the traditional way, by feeding them to the assembled ducks, coots, swans etc. Along the way I managed to fumble one bit of bread so that it was still between my fingers when a swan grabbed it, and I can now truthfully say that I have been bitten by all of the main vertebrate groups including birds, reptiles (lizards, tortoises and snakes), fish, amphibia, and mammals (including primates).

Unfortunately I didn't get a photo of this, for fairly obvious reasons, but I did get a couple of nice pictures of some coots that are nesting on the rudder of an old sailing barge at Little Venice:
( Coot nest )

It's noticeable that their main nesting material seems to be old plastic bags and other rubbish.

I took a slight diversion because I wanted to visit a shop in Church Street market, and found my way back to the canal at the weird upside-down house - photos tell the story:

( Upside-Down House )

After a nice lunch in Camden Town I went on to a pub in Great Portland Street, where the Britain in 2014 Worldcon (World Science Fiction Convention) committee made an announcement of epic importance; they'd won the bid (to nobody's great surprise, since there were no other contenders), and Loncon 3 will be held on 14th-18th August 2014, but more importantly the guests of honour will be:

Iain M. Banks
John Clute
Malcolm Edwards
Chris Foss
Jeanne Gomoll
Robin Hobb
Bryan Talbot

Much rejoicing on this from me, and from the assembled gathering.

For much more on this see

www.loncon3.org

After that I went home, stopping to get a few more pictures of the Crossrail works at Royal Oak Station - suddenly realised that you can see them from the bridge by the station where there is a temporary structure over water pipes, raising the ground level by a couple of feet.

( Crossrail conveyors )

And so to the computer, and this update.

Tomorrow - the school term begins...

PS - have a small bonus convoy of baby ducks, a photo I took a few days ago.

( We have a convoy... )

Later: Forgot to say that there is a livejournal for the Worldcon,