I came across a mention of Shock: on Wikipedia today. I can’t remember if I put it there. But there was no page for Shock: and I was wondering if you’d help me with that. I started a stub that doesn’t meet minimum requirements, so the page will disappear in a week if no one [...]
March 31, 2010 – 12:54 pm
(Video is loud but sound is unnecessary) In Human Contact, the Academics have these subtle and powerful materials that they use for all sorts of stuff — materials that change volume, texture, or color, for instance. I’m not really making that stuff up. I’m just extrapolating.
March 31, 2010 – 11:22 am
If you’ve ordered Shock: in the last month or so, you’re probably wondering where the hell your copy is. The answer is, something went wrong in inventory and 17 copies of Shock: unwrote themselves from history. This is likely related in part to the mysterious “sideways printing” matter, but that can’t account for all of [...]
(You’ll have to pardon what I can only assume is totally incoherent writing in this post. I’m totally exhausted.) So, this settles it: if you’re an independent RPG publisher, what the fuck were you doing not at PAX East this weekend? It’s better than Gen Con in every dimension. The players are more enthusiastic and [...]
There are several parts of Academy law that will be broadly applicable to the interstellar expeditions that will be the core of play in Human Contact. I’m interested to see how these are interpreted (and ignored) in the course of play — after all, it’ll be years, or maybe decades (or maybe never!) before contact [...]
March 16, 2010 – 11:46 pm
So, Malcolm, Courtny, Rob, and Soren all got me to thinkin’. What happens when a starship can’t land? The answer is, they do a careful insertion of a small team of emissaries to make it so they can land when they loop back around in seven years. The groundwork they have to lay is social, [...]
Over at the new Shock:Human Contact forum, Malcolm Craig asks, Are the Academy always overt when they arrive at a planet? The answer is, “It’s hard not to be, but there are ways, when the circumstances are right.” Join the conversation and help form the Academic Contact Best Practices document!
February 24, 2010 – 6:09 pm
I’ve got just a handful of copies of the Shock:Human Contact Dreamation 2010 Preview left. I’d love to see them in the hands of some fans of Ian Banks’ Culture, Ursula LeGuin’s Ekumen, and Asimov’s Foundation. If you’re one who lives in the US, paypal me $9 + $4 s&h. If you’re one who lives [...]
February 16, 2010 – 5:46 pm
For 800 years the Academy has been slowly bringing the humans of Earth back from the brink of extinction to enlightenment. For the last 300, it has looked in wonder at the faint signals from the stars, knowing that humans had fled their home deep in its terrible past and may now be struggling without [...]
February 10, 2010 – 10:28 am
I’m excited about running Shock:Human Contact at Dreamation 2010 (The Year We Make Contact) with folks! I’m getting the edition put together right now and I’m really happy with the way it’s shaping up. I’ll have copies of this edition for all players of the game, and depending on the cost of production, might have [...]
