“Prep Is Play”

 “It usually takes me more than three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech.”

— Mark Twain

I haven’t engaged with roleplaying games in a while, owing to a lack of interested players and time. Gathering multiple friends for any regular game session these days has become a common meme trope for the adult gamer generations. So I’m exploring a solitaire roleplaying game to engage my urge to return to that form...and immerse myself in some much-needed gaming escapism to deal with an onslaught of personal stress and <waves hand> all this nonsense going on in the world. My game of choice? Ironsworn: Starforged by Shawn Tomkin. I backed it in Kickstarter and, though I’ve read it and explored its numerous oracle tables, I’ve not yet sat down to play it. I’ve been developing a character in the back of my mind, along with an initial contact and a sector with some locations, but otherwise I’ve relied on the random table “oracles” to guide my sector set-up and other bits for which I’ve no immediate inspiration. I’m having fun determining the elements for my future adventures, even though I’m not actually playing the game. Or am I? Starforged includes a heading I think all roleplaying gamers can take to heart: “Prep Is Play.”

Return to the Abbey of St. Leibowitz

 “So it was that, after the [Flame] Deluge, the Fallout, the plagues, the madness, the confusion of tongues, the rage, there began the bloodletting of the Simplification, when remnants of mankind had torn other remnants limb from limb, killing rulers, scientists, leaders, technicians, teachers, and whatever persons the leaders of the maddened mobs said deserved death for having helped to make the Earth what it had become.”

– A Canticle for Leibowitz

Time for me to read Walter M. Miller, Jr.’s A Canticle for Leibowitz again. It’s one of the books I reach for when I need a break...from my more serious non-fiction reading, from the news, from numerous stress vectors mercilessly bearing down on what’s left of my psyche. Like many, I find diversion and solace in books, an escape so we can (hopefully) find renewed strength and get up to face our toilsome, everyday challenges in reality.

Author Umberto Eco likened books in a good library to remedies a medicine cabinet:

“We understand that it is good to have many at home rather than a few: when you want to feel better, then you go to the ‘medicine closet’ and choose a book. Not a random one, but the right book for that moment.”

A Tale of Two Alien Games

More often I’m exploring cooperative and solitaire games given their growing prevalence as a subgenre of the adventure gaming hobby and my limited player base. Frequent readers know I’ve discussed solo roleplaying game options before (and I’m still exploring more recent entries), but I’ve not really talked much about solitaire board or wargames beyond the “playing against yourself” variety. The pandemic had me exploring a host of different options, both purely solitaire games as well as cooperative games suitable for a single player. The intersection of these games with themes that interest me has brought a few new titles into my collection. As a fan of the first two Aliens franchise movies, I couldn’t resist picking up their associated games, each designed as a cooperative game suitable for a single player. Both remain true to their cinematic origins, but they offer quite different experiences on several levels.

D&D, Sci-Fi & Banning Books

“Goose-stepping morons like yourself should try reading books instead of burning them!”

– Professor Henry Jones

I regret to see book banning and angry mobs back in the news again. (Apologies to those who don’t come here for my occasional descent into political issues, but if you keep reading you’ll find some mention of games in the context of this subject.) Now that the furor over “critical race theory” has slightly subsided after Virginia’s contentious gubernatorial election in November and public schools start lifting mask mandates, the right-wing has fired up its angry base against books they fear question their white-privilege morals, insisting schools ban these objectionable titles, or even burn them (yes, two Spotsylvania County, VA, school board members said particular books should be pulled from school libraries and burned). Fear of the angry mob has permeated schools to the extent that an assistant principal in a Mississippi elementary school was fired for reading I Need A New Butt! Unfortunately we’ve seen this all before in some form and to some degree, though more often from the top down, from governments officially banning books and free speech rather than vocal minority mobs aggressively forcing government policy to reflect their agenda.

Exploring Thousand Suns

For one of my many pandemic diversions this year I picked up a copy of James Maliszewski’s Thousand Suns roleplaying game. It’s lingered on the periphery of my gaming radar for a while. I’m an admirer of the author’s Tékumel fanzine, The Excellent Travelling Volume, as well as his Grognardia blog. Having enjoyed classic Traveller back in the day – my “Golden Age of Roleplaying” in the early and mid 1980s – Thousand Suns’ allure of “imperial science fiction” appealed to my gaming nostalgia. So I ordered a print-on-demand copy of the second, more generously illustrated edition and started reading.

Space Marine Adventures for Solo or Coop Play

I don’t recall where exactly I first heard of Space Marine Adventures: Labyrinth of the Necrons, but the concept of introductory solitaire and cooperative play grabbed my attention. I’m not a huge fan of Warhammer 40k, though in my distant past I dabbled with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (second edition) and found a used edition of the fantasy miniatures rules, more out of curiosity than any other motive. I have a vague awareness of what Space Marines are and that they apparently spend much of their time fanatically blasting things. So I’m in no way invested in the Warhammer 40k universe, but knowledgeable enough about its basics to enjoy an entertaining solo/coop game experience with high production values and good replay possibilities.