For some time now steam punk has been receiving more and more interest as a genre. Mostly in comics and to some extent in movies. While there has been a fairly consistent flow of steampunk literature under the alternative history label of classic science fiction.
There’s a number of reasons for this. The most significant being the visual side: the genre expands on the designs and constructions from an age, where industrial creations were still beautiful. – or at lest – they had a different beauty than today: Stuff like brass and iron machinery, ornaments and mechanical calculators. The architecture and costumes are undeniably romantic and dramatic.
And then there’s something else. I don’t know if it was in the food they ate or what. But the Victorian age from 1837 to 1901 is a period of explorers, inventors, weird murderers and very inspirational literature: superintelligent detectives, artificial life, ravens, vampires, and then there’s Jules Verne obviously.
The movie “League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” which is based on a graphic novel by the way – sums it up quite nicely. – And while you’re at it I recommend a look at the movie Van Helsing.
But there’s more: the fact that this genre is mostly defined by some sort of alternative reality makes it a ((pleasantly) distorted) mirror of our own reality.
I predict that we’ll soon see som sort of steampunk breakthrough.
10.4.10
8.4.10
"The Innocents" reviewed
In the last edition of the "Fastamorgen" Fastaval con paper there's a review of my Fastaval 2010 game.
I know from the evaluation forms I’ve already seen that some groups must have had a great time while others quite obviously must have had what amounts to the worst game-experiences of their life.
Unfortunately the reviewer belongs to the last group.
The good news is that I understand some of the things that went wrong, and that the reviewer's suggestion that some sort of game-master function might be beneficial is very good.
I'm slightly puzzled by other remarks though. He/she (?) seems to think that long descriptions are better than short. I don't agree: they're just longer.
The inescapable conclusion is that I have not presented my ideas and intentions nearly clearly enough but also - I suspect - that this way of playing is both more difficult and far simpler than people seem to think.
Thanks to the anonymous reviewer.
I know from the evaluation forms I’ve already seen that some groups must have had a great time while others quite obviously must have had what amounts to the worst game-experiences of their life.
Unfortunately the reviewer belongs to the last group.
The good news is that I understand some of the things that went wrong, and that the reviewer's suggestion that some sort of game-master function might be beneficial is very good.
I'm slightly puzzled by other remarks though. He/she (?) seems to think that long descriptions are better than short. I don't agree: they're just longer.
The inescapable conclusion is that I have not presented my ideas and intentions nearly clearly enough but also - I suspect - that this way of playing is both more difficult and far simpler than people seem to think.
Thanks to the anonymous reviewer.
6.4.10
dungeon+magician impossible+tandhjulets krav=1 review
As a service to mainly Danish role players I've decided to post a short sweet review of the scenarios I got to play at this year’s Fastaval Role Playing Con.
First up its "Dungeon" by Lars Andresen.. Lars is one of the grand old masters of the Danish scenario tradition and has won several of the coveted Otto-awards. - And it shows. The craftsmanship is absolutely first rate. Both the visual design and the editing are beyond criticism. Actually you could use Dungeon as a textbook example of how to do that. Except for a twist and one turn: For obvious reasons Lars has decided to emulate the original Dungeons & Dragons design from before Eve ate the Apple. And quite frankly it wasn’t that great then and hasn’t improved since. But it’s a gimmick and it’s ok. The other reservation is about the player characters. I think their descriptions are a little too long and complex looking. Witch might quite simple makes working with them unnecessarily cumbersome.
The biggest problem from a design view is the fact that the game mechanics doesn’t work as advertized. There are cards that the players can ‘earn’ when their characters mature during the game. The cards are actually potentially very powerful within the game-reality while there’s no mechanism or guide to handling that power. So when the player uses one his cards to say “I can kill stuff!” The GM has to go completely Obama on his a**… (yes you can! but not right now...)
Personally I had a great experience running this game. It’s got an overall feel of high quality about it. It’s extremely easy to read and Lars Andresen shows (again!) that his got a sharp eye and a deft hand.
I ran Dungeon as a GM.
:o)x5
Then I was lucky enough to play Magician Impossible by Kristian Bach Petersen. There’s not a lot to say - but in a good way: it was a very satisfying experience. As the name suggests "MI" is a follow up to last year’s Reservoir Elves, and the concept is quite simple: you take a famous Hollywood action movie and add classic D&D fantasy with lots of elves and magic and stuff.
Highlights were good clean action and fun, Brilliant handouts, very useful magic cards. – We had a number of spells and were given little cards with a short description of their effects. Within the con framework were you don’t know beforehand your players level of D&D-proficiency that was a very handy tool. It didn’t hurt that the plot was very cleverly constructed.
The only downside I could see was that the Olsen Banden- effect didn’t really work at all. Something about virtual music that wasn’t there.
:oJ
Very highly recommended
I was a player on Mission Impossible.
:o)x5
I’d signed us as a GM on “Tandhjulets Krav” [=”The Demands of the Gear”] by Carsten Andreasen and Martin Horn Pedersen. Due to unfortunate circumstances Saturday morning it didn’t come off.
The writers start out by starting that they want to investigate the way players imagine NPC’s and have chosen to do so in a steam-punk setting... I’m a very great fan of that genre and have written a couple of Steamy and smoky scenarios myself. (Nightworx and Flashworx). I was therefore rather disappointed to find that they really, really didn’t. There is not a lot of steam punk in TK, there’s little attempt to investigate the imaginative process – at least as I see it. – What we do get is a traditionalist Marxist analysis of post-Victorian capitalist society.
On the flip side: some very interesting game mechanics and well written characters I think would have worked quite brilliantly within the setting. Furthermore it should be noted that TK is a reader friendly text that can be easily read and understood with little effort.
If I was the author I’d make the effort of a v. 2.0 or do some sort of follow up. TK shows lot of potential.
I’ve read Tandhjulets Krav in preparation for GMing it.
:o)x2,5
First up its "Dungeon" by Lars Andresen.. Lars is one of the grand old masters of the Danish scenario tradition and has won several of the coveted Otto-awards. - And it shows. The craftsmanship is absolutely first rate. Both the visual design and the editing are beyond criticism. Actually you could use Dungeon as a textbook example of how to do that. Except for a twist and one turn: For obvious reasons Lars has decided to emulate the original Dungeons & Dragons design from before Eve ate the Apple. And quite frankly it wasn’t that great then and hasn’t improved since. But it’s a gimmick and it’s ok. The other reservation is about the player characters. I think their descriptions are a little too long and complex looking. Witch might quite simple makes working with them unnecessarily cumbersome.
The biggest problem from a design view is the fact that the game mechanics doesn’t work as advertized. There are cards that the players can ‘earn’ when their characters mature during the game. The cards are actually potentially very powerful within the game-reality while there’s no mechanism or guide to handling that power. So when the player uses one his cards to say “I can kill stuff!” The GM has to go completely Obama on his a**… (yes you can! but not right now...)
Personally I had a great experience running this game. It’s got an overall feel of high quality about it. It’s extremely easy to read and Lars Andresen shows (again!) that his got a sharp eye and a deft hand.
I ran Dungeon as a GM.
:o)x5
Then I was lucky enough to play Magician Impossible by Kristian Bach Petersen. There’s not a lot to say - but in a good way: it was a very satisfying experience. As the name suggests "MI" is a follow up to last year’s Reservoir Elves, and the concept is quite simple: you take a famous Hollywood action movie and add classic D&D fantasy with lots of elves and magic and stuff.
Highlights were good clean action and fun, Brilliant handouts, very useful magic cards. – We had a number of spells and were given little cards with a short description of their effects. Within the con framework were you don’t know beforehand your players level of D&D-proficiency that was a very handy tool. It didn’t hurt that the plot was very cleverly constructed.
The only downside I could see was that the Olsen Banden- effect didn’t really work at all. Something about virtual music that wasn’t there.
:oJ
Very highly recommended
I was a player on Mission Impossible.
:o)x5
I’d signed us as a GM on “Tandhjulets Krav” [=”The Demands of the Gear”] by Carsten Andreasen and Martin Horn Pedersen. Due to unfortunate circumstances Saturday morning it didn’t come off.
The writers start out by starting that they want to investigate the way players imagine NPC’s and have chosen to do so in a steam-punk setting... I’m a very great fan of that genre and have written a couple of Steamy and smoky scenarios myself. (Nightworx and Flashworx). I was therefore rather disappointed to find that they really, really didn’t. There is not a lot of steam punk in TK, there’s little attempt to investigate the imaginative process – at least as I see it. – What we do get is a traditionalist Marxist analysis of post-Victorian capitalist society.
On the flip side: some very interesting game mechanics and well written characters I think would have worked quite brilliantly within the setting. Furthermore it should be noted that TK is a reader friendly text that can be easily read and understood with little effort.
If I was the author I’d make the effort of a v. 2.0 or do some sort of follow up. TK shows lot of potential.
I’ve read Tandhjulets Krav in preparation for GMing it.
:o)x2,5
next up: steam punk!
We need heavy brass tubes. We need fog, dust and smoke. We need the Iron fist of the Inkvistioners of The Holy Fatherchurch. We need the secretive Royal Enforcement Agency Lamncers (REALs) We need darkness and light and deep, deep down we need the secret and terrible creations of Dr. Frank Stone.
I welcome you to the center of the universe, the capital of the British Empire the great city of Newdon.
I welcome you to the center of the universe, the capital of the British Empire the great city of Newdon.
and now to something completely the same
This post is in in English for no obvious reason. I have decided that from now on that's what most posts will be. I have been a staunch proponent of writing games, scenarios and other RPG-stuff in Danish rather than English. Because English isn't cooler or better than Danish, and that's still how I feel.
But I have just returned from Fastaval and I have seen a new light. Considering my targetordience audience English is OK and it's used as a first or second language by almost twice as many* as Danish is.
So there!
*Yes I know! I know!
But I have just returned from Fastaval and I have seen a new light. Considering my target
So there!
*Yes I know! I know!
5.4.10
De uskyldige i virkeligheden
Fastaval 2010 er kommet og er gået, og "De Uskyldige" er blevet afviklet ude i virkeligheden af rigtige spillere. Det har været en utrolig spændende oplevelse for mig.
Hvis du læser dette har du nok allerede et eller andet forhold til hvad "De Uskyldige" er for en fisk. Jeg har jo været så fræk at plastre tekster om mit 2010-fastaval-projekt udover det hele i perioden op til fastaval.
Jeg er stadig ved at nærlæse bedømmelsessedlerne, som i øvrigt ser ud til at være fuldtallige og som dommerne har sørget for at få indsamlet bearbejdet og videreformidlet til forfatterne med en ret imponerende præcision. Den overordnede tendens er i midlertid klar og kommer slet ikke som nogen overraskelse. Jeg havde nemlig allerede fået ret omfattende feed-back fra spillerne fra stort set alle grupper. Det er altid utrolig lækkert, når folk gider at gøre sig den ekstra ulejlighed det er at bruge relativt lang tid på at forklare, hvad man har fået ud af spillet og hvorfor. Det var lækkert og det vil jeg gerne takke for.
Bedømmelsen var, hvis man skal tage den efter smiley-skalaen, nok noget under middel samlet set, men det fordeler sig på to grupper, der har givet gode - næsten vildt gode - karakterer, der nærmer sig et gennemsnit på 6 smilyer og tre grupper for hvem reaktionerne tyder på, at De Uskyldige har været den værste rollespiloplevelse de nogensinde har haft.
Selvom jeg stadig er ved at bearbejde indtryk og feedback er allerede nu nogen ting, der kan konkluderes. Først vil jeg gerne benytte lejligheden til at takke Frederik Jensen for hans meget lange og konstruktive omend slet ikke positive kritik. Jeg er dog næsten sikker på, at det han tror jeg vil, (eller synes jeg bør gøre), slet ikke er helt det samme som det jeg tror jeg vil, men det kan også skyldes at formidling på fastaval helst skal konsumeres i små overskuelige afsnit ad gangen.
Hvilket så leder mig til en af de relativt få klare konklusioner indtil nu: Hvis det her skal kunne lade sig gøre som en måde at spille rollespil på, skal grundkonceptet formidles meget bedre. Og det er da i hvert fald et problem, der kan findes en løsning på. Det mest oplagte er nok at udvikle en ikke-helt-spilleder-løs version, hvor man giver nogen vejledende og formidlende funktioner til en eller flere af spillerne. Man kunne endda have en lille Jeep til at vifte rundt og hviske ting i folks ører.
Der er - heldigvis - utrolig mange muligheder at arbejde videre med.
Hvis du læser dette har du nok allerede et eller andet forhold til hvad "De Uskyldige" er for en fisk. Jeg har jo været så fræk at plastre tekster om mit 2010-fastaval-projekt udover det hele i perioden op til fastaval.
Jeg er stadig ved at nærlæse bedømmelsessedlerne, som i øvrigt ser ud til at være fuldtallige og som dommerne har sørget for at få indsamlet bearbejdet og videreformidlet til forfatterne med en ret imponerende præcision. Den overordnede tendens er i midlertid klar og kommer slet ikke som nogen overraskelse. Jeg havde nemlig allerede fået ret omfattende feed-back fra spillerne fra stort set alle grupper. Det er altid utrolig lækkert, når folk gider at gøre sig den ekstra ulejlighed det er at bruge relativt lang tid på at forklare, hvad man har fået ud af spillet og hvorfor. Det var lækkert og det vil jeg gerne takke for.
Bedømmelsen var, hvis man skal tage den efter smiley-skalaen, nok noget under middel samlet set, men det fordeler sig på to grupper, der har givet gode - næsten vildt gode - karakterer, der nærmer sig et gennemsnit på 6 smilyer og tre grupper for hvem reaktionerne tyder på, at De Uskyldige har været den værste rollespiloplevelse de nogensinde har haft.
Selvom jeg stadig er ved at bearbejde indtryk og feedback er allerede nu nogen ting, der kan konkluderes. Først vil jeg gerne benytte lejligheden til at takke Frederik Jensen for hans meget lange og konstruktive omend slet ikke positive kritik. Jeg er dog næsten sikker på, at det han tror jeg vil, (eller synes jeg bør gøre), slet ikke er helt det samme som det jeg tror jeg vil, men det kan også skyldes at formidling på fastaval helst skal konsumeres i små overskuelige afsnit ad gangen.
Hvilket så leder mig til en af de relativt få klare konklusioner indtil nu: Hvis det her skal kunne lade sig gøre som en måde at spille rollespil på, skal grundkonceptet formidles meget bedre. Og det er da i hvert fald et problem, der kan findes en løsning på. Det mest oplagte er nok at udvikle en ikke-helt-spilleder-løs version, hvor man giver nogen vejledende og formidlende funktioner til en eller flere af spillerne. Man kunne endda have en lille Jeep til at vifte rundt og hviske ting i folks ører.
Der er - heldigvis - utrolig mange muligheder at arbejde videre med.
Julia Bond Ellingboe on fastaval 2010
(This post is in English for fairly obvious reasons.)
I was fortunate enough to have a chat with Julia Bond Ellingboe on this year’s Fastaval role-playing con near the Danish City of Århus in the Easter holiday week.
Julia is a young American indie game designer, with some very interesting designs under her belt. She was invited to Fastaval as this year’s honorary guest.
(I cannot link directly to the relevant sections but on page 20 of the fataval program (pdf) there's a nice introduction to a couple of her games.)
This is by no means a formal interview or anything like that: just a couple of interesting observations taken from a long..ish completely informal conversation we had in thebar lounge at Fastaval.
We talked a little about what you might call the dilemma of amateurism vs. professionalism. No - even in America (pun intended) - it is only a select few game designers that can make a living designing role playing games. (And let’s be honest about it, those games are not all that interesting!?) Julia's take on this is that as long as you have a job you like it is OK. The fact that you're not a full time pro in the field, has the advantage that it gives you a level of creative freedom that the full time professional doesn't have. She mentioned a concept she'd been working on for some time, in a way that wouldn't have been possible in a fully pro non-indie set up. And she seemed to think her approach to this aspect of game design work demanded a certain level of freedom that the full-time pro non-indie designer does not have.
An amateur is by definition a person who does what she/he does out of love for doing it whereas a professional is someone who does what she/he does because she/he has to get bread on the table and/or cars in the driveway. I 'totally get' Julia's view. My own experience is that while it must be fun to work professionally in game design it's also very awarding too work in areas where gaming offers relevant experience. For instance I've done some teaching with young people with various learning challenges, where I’ve found that some of the angles and perspectives I've applied when writing scenarios, turned out to be extremely useful.
Julia and I also talked about the significance of her being there: Being the guest of Honor in a remote northerly country known mostly for not being exactly Sweden must be a slightly surreal experience? I don't think she used that exact term, but I got the distinct impression that she was very flattered. Some of her predecessors as Fastaval honorary guests have been rather obviously aware of the significance of their own awesomeness (or have succeeded in acting that way) Julia on the other hand was very open and seemed to make a point of wanting to talk to every-one interested. This is actually rather important because the usual presentations/panel discussion style sittings are often not that productive. I'm sure that it hasn't been a part of the deliberations behind Julia's invitation; Julia is an accomplished and interesting game designer and is absolutely the right choice. The fact that she's not your typical white male slightly geeky not quite as young as he used to be game designer makes her a very powerful banner bearer for role playing (and game design). It is simple put a lot more satisfying to be able to point to her and say "look she's one of us" than having to point to Ron Edwards, Lars Andresen (Prizewinning Danish RPG-wirier) or myself for that matter. That she is a very nice person doesn't actually hurt.
I want to thank Julia for being there, the Fastaval organization especially Frederic Jensen, the international coordinator for getting her there and the Danish national role playing organization BIFROST, for sponsoring (part of?) Julia's trip.
It is a very significant part of the future perspective for Danish RPG-design work that an international network of mutually inspirational connection seems to be developing. Julia's visit has been a significant contribution to that effort.
I was fortunate enough to have a chat with Julia Bond Ellingboe on this year’s Fastaval role-playing con near the Danish City of Århus in the Easter holiday week.
Julia is a young American indie game designer, with some very interesting designs under her belt. She was invited to Fastaval as this year’s honorary guest.
(I cannot link directly to the relevant sections but on page 20 of the fataval program (pdf) there's a nice introduction to a couple of her games.)
This is by no means a formal interview or anything like that: just a couple of interesting observations taken from a long..ish completely informal conversation we had in the
We talked a little about what you might call the dilemma of amateurism vs. professionalism. No - even in America (pun intended) - it is only a select few game designers that can make a living designing role playing games. (And let’s be honest about it, those games are not all that interesting!?) Julia's take on this is that as long as you have a job you like it is OK. The fact that you're not a full time pro in the field, has the advantage that it gives you a level of creative freedom that the full time professional doesn't have. She mentioned a concept she'd been working on for some time, in a way that wouldn't have been possible in a fully pro non-indie set up. And she seemed to think her approach to this aspect of game design work demanded a certain level of freedom that the full-time pro non-indie designer does not have.
An amateur is by definition a person who does what she/he does out of love for doing it whereas a professional is someone who does what she/he does because she/he has to get bread on the table and/or cars in the driveway. I 'totally get' Julia's view. My own experience is that while it must be fun to work professionally in game design it's also very awarding too work in areas where gaming offers relevant experience. For instance I've done some teaching with young people with various learning challenges, where I’ve found that some of the angles and perspectives I've applied when writing scenarios, turned out to be extremely useful.
Julia and I also talked about the significance of her being there: Being the guest of Honor in a remote northerly country known mostly for not being exactly Sweden must be a slightly surreal experience? I don't think she used that exact term, but I got the distinct impression that she was very flattered. Some of her predecessors as Fastaval honorary guests have been rather obviously aware of the significance of their own awesomeness (or have succeeded in acting that way) Julia on the other hand was very open and seemed to make a point of wanting to talk to every-one interested. This is actually rather important because the usual presentations/panel discussion style sittings are often not that productive. I'm sure that it hasn't been a part of the deliberations behind Julia's invitation; Julia is an accomplished and interesting game designer and is absolutely the right choice. The fact that she's not your typical white male slightly geeky not quite as young as he used to be game designer makes her a very powerful banner bearer for role playing (and game design). It is simple put a lot more satisfying to be able to point to her and say "look she's one of us" than having to point to Ron Edwards, Lars Andresen (Prizewinning Danish RPG-wirier) or myself for that matter. That she is a very nice person doesn't actually hurt.
I want to thank Julia for being there, the Fastaval organization especially Frederic Jensen, the international coordinator for getting her there and the Danish national role playing organization BIFROST, for sponsoring (part of?) Julia's trip.
It is a very significant part of the future perspective for Danish RPG-design work that an international network of mutually inspirational connection seems to be developing. Julia's visit has been a significant contribution to that effort.
Hurra For scenarierne på Fastaval
(Dette indlæg kan ogaå læses som en artikel på RPG forum)
Ja jeg er så kommet hjem og har fået sovet i en rigtig seng. - Det kan faktisk ikke overvurderes!
Jeg valgte at tage hjem *før* den berømte banket, så jeg har ikke nye oplysninger om Ottovindere og den slags.
Jeg har slet heller ikke læst/spillet alle scenarierne endnu eller noget, men man får jo snakket en del rollespil med folk på sådan en con og jeg synes jeg har en ret god fornemmelse af tendenserne og den slags.
Samlet set synes jeg man må sige at området er inde i en fantastisk udvikling, hvor man ser et meget bredt udvalg af rigtig, rigtig gode scenarier. En virkelig bred vifte af seriøse og mindre seriøse emner, mange forskellige tekniske overvejelser. underholdning og humor samt mange på begge dele. - Så ikke bare har niveauet været meget højt, udvalget var også så bredt, at der virkelig har været noget for enhver smag.
Selvfølgelig skal dette års scenarieansvarlige og (ikke mindst forfatterne!) have store roser i den forbindelse, men det vi ser er jo frugten af en meget lang indsats fra fastavals side: for det første ved at vise, at man tager scenarierollesspillet alvorligt og for gennem tiden at have iværksat et meget stort hav af store initiativer for at udvikle det. I år har der således været forfatter-inspirationsmøder/workshops, besøg af udenlandske scenarieforfattere/spildesignere og så er der jo altid den berømte pingvin, der er med til at sætte en stemning. (som man kan læse meget mere om ved at følge dette link eller måske især dette...)
Sammenligning med Viking Con (Hey! Stavekontrol!) er jo unægtelig både oplagt og særdeles æh... respektindgydende.
Den gode nyhed er at der er tale om udvikling, der tilsyneladende stadig er i gang og hvor mange gode kræfter og tendenser fører arbejdet videre.
Det er også en vigtig del af det som dette års terrængående æres-otto-vindere fik prisen for. Deres arbejde er med til at skabe/udbvikle internationale kontakter, som vi så (også) kan få glæde af herhjemme fx i kraft af besøg fra folk som den meget spændende og iøvrigt særdeles tiltalende Julia Bond Ellingboe. (Æh... and I mean that in the nicest possible sense!) (Julia har en blog her.)
Jeg var så heldig at være med til at bedømme deltagerscenarierne i dette års scenarieskrivnings konkurrence, og også her må man sige at niveauet lå vildt imponerende højt (efter omstændighederne) med mange forskellige indgangsvinkler m.h.t. mål og midler.
Jeg synes der er grund til at råbe et rigtig stort hurra både for de enkelte forfattere men altså også for den samlede indsats såvel den nuværende som den kommende.
Lige nu ser det ud til at udvalget er både højt og meget bredt, samtidg med at der ser ud til at være positive udviklinger i mange forskellige retninger. Det er svært at være andet end utroligt imponeret.
Ja jeg er så kommet hjem og har fået sovet i en rigtig seng. - Det kan faktisk ikke overvurderes!
Jeg valgte at tage hjem *før* den berømte banket, så jeg har ikke nye oplysninger om Ottovindere og den slags.
Jeg har slet heller ikke læst/spillet alle scenarierne endnu eller noget, men man får jo snakket en del rollespil med folk på sådan en con og jeg synes jeg har en ret god fornemmelse af tendenserne og den slags.
Samlet set synes jeg man må sige at området er inde i en fantastisk udvikling, hvor man ser et meget bredt udvalg af rigtig, rigtig gode scenarier. En virkelig bred vifte af seriøse og mindre seriøse emner, mange forskellige tekniske overvejelser. underholdning og humor samt mange på begge dele. - Så ikke bare har niveauet været meget højt, udvalget var også så bredt, at der virkelig har været noget for enhver smag.
Selvfølgelig skal dette års scenarieansvarlige og (ikke mindst forfatterne!) have store roser i den forbindelse, men det vi ser er jo frugten af en meget lang indsats fra fastavals side: for det første ved at vise, at man tager scenarierollesspillet alvorligt og for gennem tiden at have iværksat et meget stort hav af store initiativer for at udvikle det. I år har der således været forfatter-inspirationsmøder/workshops, besøg af udenlandske scenarieforfattere/spildesignere og så er der jo altid den berømte pingvin, der er med til at sætte en stemning. (som man kan læse meget mere om ved at følge dette link eller måske især dette...)
Sammenligning med Viking Con (Hey! Stavekontrol!) er jo unægtelig både oplagt og særdeles æh... respektindgydende.
Den gode nyhed er at der er tale om udvikling, der tilsyneladende stadig er i gang og hvor mange gode kræfter og tendenser fører arbejdet videre.
Det er også en vigtig del af det som dette års terrængående æres-otto-vindere fik prisen for. Deres arbejde er med til at skabe/udbvikle internationale kontakter, som vi så (også) kan få glæde af herhjemme fx i kraft af besøg fra folk som den meget spændende og iøvrigt særdeles tiltalende Julia Bond Ellingboe. (Æh... and I mean that in the nicest possible sense!) (Julia har en blog her.)
Jeg var så heldig at være med til at bedømme deltagerscenarierne i dette års scenarieskrivnings konkurrence, og også her må man sige at niveauet lå vildt imponerende højt (efter omstændighederne) med mange forskellige indgangsvinkler m.h.t. mål og midler.
Jeg synes der er grund til at råbe et rigtig stort hurra både for de enkelte forfattere men altså også for den samlede indsats såvel den nuværende som den kommende.
Lige nu ser det ud til at udvalget er både højt og meget bredt, samtidg med at der ser ud til at være positive udviklinger i mange forskellige retninger. Det er svært at være andet end utroligt imponeret.
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Opslag (Atom)
