Returning to Two-Fisted Tales: Worlds of Wonder
I'm impressed by folks who can write on a consistent schedule and plow through, regardless of mood, inspiration, illness, work conditions ... I've never been able to do so, even when I'm writing as a labor of love; and when I'm forced to write for school or job it ends up being dreadful shit I can't bear to reread. (It's one reason why my first year in grad school was so awful.)
Happily inspiration struck again recently, and I made some progress on the should've-finished-years-ago supplement to Two-Fisted Tales, Worlds of Wonder. This supplement extends the 2FT rules to four settings: Swords & Sorcery, Swashbuckling Adventure, Golden-Age Superheroes and Space Opera. (I'm debating adding a fifth, Wild West, but it wouldn't have more than gun and lasso tricks.) 1
It's been hard-going to many reasons. I was proud of Two-Fisted Tales and want the supplement to be high-quality as well. I'm not as familiar with these genres -- superheroes excepted -- and not as fond of their pulp exemplars, so I have less information to draw upon. With superheroes, on the other hand, I have plenty of background but the rules get unwieldy at superhuman power levels. 2
Nevertheless, every once and a while I think up an elegant solution to a problem and it inspires me for a few days of work on the manuscript. Sometimes I get stuck on research questions, though, that I can't quite answer, and it stops me in my tracks. For example...
Bleg: Does anyone where I might find a source online (or offline, if necessary) on old scientific beliefs about the planets? I'd like to know what they knew, or thought they knew, about Mercury, Jupiter, the Jovian moons, Saturn, Titan and so on in the 1910s, 20s and 30s. (I've got a good take on Mars and Venus.)
This is for a part of the Space Opera chapter, in which I tell GMs what they could place on these planets while, if they choose, being consistent with the planetary science of the time. (Of course they can put dinosaurs on Saturn or anywhere else if they think it'd be fun that way.) Any help that might sustain this brief inspirational period would be welcome! Thank you.
1 I also have a "Preview of the 2nd Edition." These include my ideas to simplify, streamline and better balance the rules. I understand that 2nd editions, typically, are not written by the original authors, and I would be fine with that, if I thought the next author was going to update the game, rather than just copy & paste the flavor text to a completely different system. I'm worried that Brett Bernstein will just shift 2FT to his Impressa/Genre Diversion line, and this might make that change a little less likely.
2 Specifically: 2FT's Weird attribute has this exponential relationship with ability maxima, which adds a huge level of complexity when trying to balance things. In addition, when Muscle goes up, the difference between potential damage and a target's Resistance goes up as well, making fights far too deadly without some difficult kludges.
Happily inspiration struck again recently, and I made some progress on the should've-finished-years-ago supplement to Two-Fisted Tales, Worlds of Wonder. This supplement extends the 2FT rules to four settings: Swords & Sorcery, Swashbuckling Adventure, Golden-Age Superheroes and Space Opera. (I'm debating adding a fifth, Wild West, but it wouldn't have more than gun and lasso tricks.) 1
It's been hard-going to many reasons. I was proud of Two-Fisted Tales and want the supplement to be high-quality as well. I'm not as familiar with these genres -- superheroes excepted -- and not as fond of their pulp exemplars, so I have less information to draw upon. With superheroes, on the other hand, I have plenty of background but the rules get unwieldy at superhuman power levels. 2
Nevertheless, every once and a while I think up an elegant solution to a problem and it inspires me for a few days of work on the manuscript. Sometimes I get stuck on research questions, though, that I can't quite answer, and it stops me in my tracks. For example...
Bleg: Does anyone where I might find a source online (or offline, if necessary) on old scientific beliefs about the planets? I'd like to know what they knew, or thought they knew, about Mercury, Jupiter, the Jovian moons, Saturn, Titan and so on in the 1910s, 20s and 30s. (I've got a good take on Mars and Venus.)
This is for a part of the Space Opera chapter, in which I tell GMs what they could place on these planets while, if they choose, being consistent with the planetary science of the time. (Of course they can put dinosaurs on Saturn or anywhere else if they think it'd be fun that way.) Any help that might sustain this brief inspirational period would be welcome! Thank you.
1 I also have a "Preview of the 2nd Edition." These include my ideas to simplify, streamline and better balance the rules. I understand that 2nd editions, typically, are not written by the original authors, and I would be fine with that, if I thought the next author was going to update the game, rather than just copy & paste the flavor text to a completely different system. I'm worried that Brett Bernstein will just shift 2FT to his Impressa/Genre Diversion line, and this might make that change a little less likely.
2 Specifically: 2FT's Weird attribute has this exponential relationship with ability maxima, which adds a huge level of complexity when trying to balance things. In addition, when Muscle goes up, the difference between potential damage and a target's Resistance goes up as well, making fights far too deadly without some difficult kludges.