Shadowrun - We Are The Future

Shadowrun - We Are The Future

There is a very good reason why Shadowrun has taken pains to be inclusive in its character options and in the universe that those of us currently writing have been lucky enough to work on in its nearly thirty year history. It’s not only because making the world inclusive is the right thing to do; and it’s not just because the Player Characters are presumed to be from the marginalized, downtrodden, and ignored parts of society that are now and are in the Sixth World reserved for or otherwise filled with racial, ethnic, gender, religious, and other minorities (or majorities—numerosity doesn’t necessarily translate to political power); but at the end of the day, being an inclusive and open world is the right business decision.

This criticism is the desperate cries of dinosaurs as they struggle against the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction. It’s loud and violent, and in the end it’s just as successful.

While this tumblr is supposed to represent the Shadowrun tabletop game, the entire universe and all of the properties share these same traits and considerations. Shadowrun, in video game or tabletop RPG or novel or any other format, will continue to move forward and I expect that D&D, Pathfinder, etc. and Beampod will also continue to move forward because the future is open and inclusive. And if you don’t like it, too bad.

UPDATE: To be clear, these negative comments are in no way “criticism” of the game. It’s whining by bigots trying to impose their own biases on commercial enterprises that have made their position on their fictional universes and in who they hire and promote to continue those universes. This whining does not deserve anything more than to be ignored.

If you don’t like it, you’re free not to buy the product.

Life - On Pax

Life - On Pax

It's taken me a few days, but I've started to put some of my thoughts to paper finally.  I make...literally...no secret of the fact that Pax is reliably one of the best times of the year for me.  For six years now, we've been attending Pax as gamers, and I now attend it as well as a developer.

For those that don't know, Pax is a conflagration of gamers hitting Seattle for the Labour Day Weekend.  Over 4 days, games are literally celebrated.  If you play games, there's probably something at Pax for you.  And I don't just mean video games, although video games are a considerable part of that.  Exhibitors show off the latest and upcoming in video games, technology and merchandise.  Tabletop, board games, pen and paper, card games and deck building all show up and are played extensively everywhere.  You literally can't walk fifteen feet without tripping over someone in a hallway playing Zombie Dice or Cards against Humanity.  There are massive tournaments and tiny tournaments for games, everything from Towerfall tournaments to the League of Legends Championship Series that encompasses a hall for probably 5000+ people.  People bring their personal computers and set up a massive LAN play area, there are retro consoles, and D&D, there are huge tournaments and a hundred panels to attend.

There's something for everyone, in our crazy community.

Life - What Gamers Want

Life - What Gamers Want

Endymion86 on Reddit today wrote a neat piece that I thought I'd share here.

The One Thing That All Gamers Want...

...more than anything, is time.

Money? Sure, that'd be great.

Gifts of games? Awesome.

A girlfriend? Hell yeah.

We get home from our 9-5 job, or from classes at college; household chores are done, bills are paid, dinner is prepared, and finally, FINALLY, our time has come. We finally have a chance to sit down and turn on our battlestation, hear that wonderful little "boo-beep!" noise when our 360 lights up, or the melodious tones of the PS3's cross media bar, and our hearts that have grown cold from the harsh reality outside begin to warm up just a tad.

An hour goes by, maybe two, but then you look at that clock and realize you have to sleep, and get ready for the next day. There's that feeling again - like you've been robbed of your time. How is it possible that it's already 11:00 PM? It just doesn't feel right, or fair. It's time to start that endless cycle all over again.

Some of us have four hours a day, and the chronological freedom to work on that Steam library that keeps growing and growing. Some of us have only twenty minutes to lose ourselves in the universe of that $5 bargain bin game that's four years old, because we had just enough left over from our last paycheck. It's wonderful, either way.
So no matter how much time you have...

...appreciate it.

The entire Reddit thread can be found here: http://www.reddit.com/r/gaming/comments/15j41o/the_one_thing_as_gamers_that_we_all_want/

Life - Pax 2012

Life - Pax 2012

Hey...all of us.