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[Let's Read] ARES Magazine
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<blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 6585696" data-attributes="member: 27780"><p><strong><u>Ares 02 - The Wreck of the BSM Pandora: May 1980</u></strong></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>43 pages. Once again, the centrepiece of the issue is put front and centre, with an appropriate cover (that's already higher quality than the first issue), while the rest of the contents get relatively small bits of promotion. A race against time to restart your damaged ship and survive alien attack? Will that be co-operative, competitive or a bit of both? Since this is more of a wargaming magazine, I'm going to have to get used to thinking of other players as the enemy again after many years of having don't split the party and no PvP drilled into me ad nauseum. Let's continue that adaption process. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Muse: The editorial topic this month is entirely familiar to me. Ironically, the aliens in most fiction are less alien than creatures you can find by exploring the ocean depths and looking back through the fossil record. Human imagination definitely has it's limits, especially if it doesn't get enough input in the first place, and this is one where we're routinely shown up by basic procedural generation computer programs. Doing research and getting external help when creating things isn't cheating, and you shouldn't feel ashamed for doing it. That was valid when I was being told to do it by Larry Niven, it was valid in Dragon Magazine, and it's still valid now. I hope I never forget it. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The Inn at World's End: Ahh, some good old Sword & Sorcery action. It's been a while since I had a new source of that. A morally dubious protagonist who wins through cunning rather than brute force, a sexy life consuming monster, a gaggle of quirky minor characters, and lots of implications of a big weird world out there beyond the boundaries of the story. This definitely has that authentic old school flavour to it, sex, blood and lots of quick and arbitrary deaths. It might not add much actual gaming material to my list, since I've seen all the tropes in it before, but it combines those elements well. After a break, you do often need a refresher course. I hope there'll be a few more of these before they go all sci-fi all the time. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Child of the Wandering Sea: In sharp contrast with the last piece, we now have a sci-fi story that's all about morality, in particular the morality of terraforming planets which already have life of their own. Should you transform an entire ecosystem to suit human needs, resulting in the extinction of anything that can't adapt, just to increase our own species chance of long term survival. Does morality even exist anyway, as most animals wouldn't even ask themselves that kind of question, simply eating and breeding until their population hits the limits of available space and food supply and then either stabilising or collapsing. What are we losing by not studying everything for utility before bulldozing it over? Yeah, this still seems very relevant today, as extinctions and climate change continue unchecked. On the other hand, we are making real strides in renewable energy, and birthrates have dropped below replacement rates in many developed countries, so we might yet reach some kind of new equilibrium with nature rather than destroying ourselves, but at what cost? It's tough sometimes, having the intelligence to analyse our animal nature, but not overcome it. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Alien Life Forms: And now for the detail heavy hard science piece by the same author as last issue's one. What are alien life forms likely to look like? As with last issue, he definitely inclines to the conservative side. Carbon based lifeforms with a water carried chemistry are likely to be most common simply as a matter of basic mathematics, as the 3rd and 4th most common elements in the universe, carbon & oxygen can't help but dominate a planet's makeup in normal situations. Size may vary, but the square-cube law means things can't go beyond a few orders of magnitude greater than earthly creatures. (although ironically, smaller, lighter gravity worlds could support larger animals than earth) But there are some things that are likely to be very different. Chemistry could be left or right-handed. Phyla are very unlikely to be like earthly ones, even if ecological niches are replicated by convergent evolution. (and there are a good few example creatures that blur the boundaries between earthly plants and animals) The information is of course, a little dated, as we now know rather more about the frequency of planets around other stars, and more about the other occupants of our own solar system. (It now seems likely that there are far more worlds that possess potentially life supporting oceans underneath miles of ice than earthlike worlds, and probably also many warmer ones that are entirely covered in miles of water with no exposed land. ) But this is another interesting and well thought out topic for them to cover. It still looks like it'll be a long time before we can settle other worlds, let alone stars, and in the meantime it's good to consider all eventualities carefully. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The Wreck of the B.S.M Pandora: Well, this is amusing. The premise for B. S. M. Pandora turns out to be very similar indeed to that of Metamorphosis Alpha. The ship is floating through space out of control, the original crew have lost their memories, and all the weird creatures are out of their stasis pods and wandering around making a terrible mess. Since they gave MA a critical review last time, this could easily be seem as SPI's riposte to TSR. This is how you do it with clearly worded, concise rules that let you get through the whole scenario in a single session. Or in other words: </p><p></p><p>The aliens buzz and it's all because</p><p>(this is how we do it)</p><p>Gamma rays mutate us like nobody does</p><p>(this is how we do it)</p><p>Scrambled brains, yeah the ships in danger</p><p>(this is how we do it)</p><p>So lets flip the polarity for some old school insanity</p><p>(this is how we do it)</p><p></p><p>Anyway, seriously, I do like this. It once again has not only a fair amount of depth as a game, but also actual effort put into it's fictional history as well. Reading things like this, it's easy to see how wargames could evolve into RPG's, while still being considered the same hobby by the old-timers, who are then surprised when new people come in and start playing them in a very different way, because the gap is bridged in lots of little steps rather than one big one. I definitely feel I am understanding a bit more of the history of gaming by reading this. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Conan - Illusion and Reality: Well, this IS a turnup for the books. L. Sprague de Camp gives us his version of the Robert Howard & Conan story. Not entirely positively either. I seem to recall history not being kind to his contributions to the Conan mythos in turn. Although it has to be said that for all his writing talents, it's pretty easy to portray Howard as a <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" /><img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />up in his personal life. Crippling shyness. Inability to hold down a regular job. Unhealthy mother fixation. Death by suicide. Seems a depressingly familiar story. It's interesting to ponder how he would have fared in the internet age, which would have enabled him to research his stories better and connect with people without face-to-face interaction. Oh well, really, we want our artists to be weird, precisely because it lets them create things normal people would never even consider. If they come to tragic ends because of it, that just proves we need a better mental health support system. Modern life is not something humans are adapted for, and I'm not going to hold it against anyone who dreams of cutting through their problems and living wild and free. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Books: The Enead by Jan Marks is another story of a strict and static civilisation that gets upended by a headstrong outsider. It richly deserves it, of course. The great thing about having societies as villains in a story is that you don't have to kill them to win so frequently. </p><p></p><p>Catacomb Years by Michael Bishop does much the same thing, but as a collection of short stories. Again, the storytelling gets a fair bit of praise. The main criticism is that the pathway from modern society to sci-fi future doesn't seem very plausible. Fiction, unlike reality, has an obligation to make sense. </p><p></p><p>The Probability Broach by L. Neil Smith is set in an alternate universe where the Confederation not only won, but actually been wildly successful in sticking to it's (heavily right wing) political principles. Once again, the reviewer seems to find this more implausible than bug-eyed monsters. It is interesting how most arty types being left wing can result in unchallenged cultural assumptions even as we talk about pushing the boundaries in other ways. </p><p></p><p>Wheels within Wheels by F. Paul Wilson also has a strong libertarian streak to it, but gets a better review nonetheless, as at least it thinks a society run on pure pragmatism would be better at encouraging racial and sexual equality. It's definitely a shame that the current real world libertarian leaders don't fit that mold. </p><p></p><p>Schrodinger's Cat by Robert Anton Wilson is a story of three nearly identical novels in three different universes and the philosophical implications of this. This means that you may love it, or wind up baffled. Challenge accepted. </p><p></p><p>Eyes of Amber by Joan D. Vinge is another collection of short stories that gets a good result, even though the reviewer wasn't too keen on her full novels. Being better at one form than the other is a perfectly normal bit of variation. </p><p></p><p>The infinitive of go by John Brunner demonstrates how you can have both infinite parallel universes and free will via equations using transfinite numbers. It's nice to have some optimism when faced with a universe too enormous to comprehend. </p><p></p><p>The Devil Wives of Li Fong by E. Hoffman Price is unsurprisingly set in ancient fantasy china, and features the (actually not so evil) devil wives dealing with the fear of mundanes, and the machinations of an evil taoist (ie wizard). Some things never change, even when the names do. It's important not to judge things by appearance over actions. </p><p></p><p>Mooncrow by Jack Massa is another one dismissed quickly. Just another bit of generic fantasy. Yawn. We always have plenty of that trying to break through. </p><p></p><p>A shadow of all night falling is one of Glen Cook (of black company fame)'s early books. He's already managing stories that seem fantastical without resorting to archaic language or unrealistic expectations of human nature. Might as well get on the wagon now and keep up with him. </p><p></p><p>And we finish off with a collective review of Piers Anthony's Tarot trilogy. Unlike Glen, the reviewer thinks he's improved enormously since his early work. How long before the brain eater overtakes the increase in technical skills in overall significance? </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Films & Television: The Black Hole gets a rather scathing review from a writer who thinks it's far too cutsey and disneyfied for literally the weightiest subject in the known universe. The dialog is wooden, the special effects are of dubious quality, and the whole thing is far too conservative in it's execution. The House of Mouse didn't have a great 80's in general, did they? </p><p></p><p>Saturn 3 gets an equally dismissive review. Star Wars has raised the bar enough that these B-movie efforts simply don't cut the mustard anymore, and anyone thinking sci-fi audiences will snap up any old drek with robots, explosions and girls in tin-foil bikinis in it is sorely mistaken. Such is the nature of being on the tail end of a fad. </p><p></p><p>Television is faring no better. Battlestar Galactica has found earth, and been retooled into the woeful Galactica 80, and both the original sci-fi series and novel adaptions thoroughly deserve to be forgotten. For now, books have the clear lead in this genre as imagination need not worry about special effects budget. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Media: On the other hand, this column is much more optimistic about future properties. I guess they have to keep hoping for better things to keep the genre going even when signs aren't great. Final Countdown? Galaxina? Scanners? Sinbad on Mars? A lot of unfamiliar names and far fewer I have actually seen. I guess every era has a lot of crap that deserves to be forgotten for very gem, and going through old periodicals like this lets me rediscover them and judge for myself. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Games: In sharp contrast to last issue, they only do one games review this issue. However, it's a long and in depth one. Magic Realm is Avalon Hill's big attempt at tapping the expanding fantasy market. Choose your hero, explore the randomly generated landscape, fight monsters, collect treasure, hire followers and try to become supreme champion by whatever means. It's an interesting bit of design, and the way it introduces the various elements of the game one at a time seems cool, but it falls down a bit due to poorly edited rules and an overambitious reach, trying to mix boardgame and rpg and not quite satisfying either goal. I suspect this may be a case where the reviewer is overly harsh due to lots of experience, and I could get a good few enjoyable plays out of this before moving on. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Feedback: Hmm. So they're not just doing feedback once per year or so, but every single issue. That is a HUGE difference from TSR. And it makes me wonder just how different the surveys will be each month, and if I'll be able to think of something interesting to say for each of them. Aside from the expected ones about how the previous issue was, and your opinion on their competition and review ratings, they also have a list of proposals for future games to include in the magazine, which definitely seems interesting. Jack the Ripper and The Stainless Steel Rat? I shall keep an eye out for these. </p><p></p><p></p><p>While there is an improvement in production values from the previous issue, it's certainly not as dramatic as the early days of Dragon. I suppose SPI have already been producing magazines for over a decade, so that's to be expected. It's also very worth noting that there haven't been any entertainingly bad articles yet. I'm not coming in near the beginning of the company this time, and they aren't dominated by one person in the same way. Of course, that may be part of what leads to their downfall. Sometimes you need that controversy to grow and avoid being stuck in your little niche. Oh well, if they can keep the articles conventionally good all the way through, I may finish this sad, but I certainly won't be unsatisfied. To number three!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="(un)reason, post: 6585696, member: 27780"] [B][U]Ares 02 - The Wreck of the BSM Pandora: May 1980[/U][/B] 43 pages. Once again, the centrepiece of the issue is put front and centre, with an appropriate cover (that's already higher quality than the first issue), while the rest of the contents get relatively small bits of promotion. A race against time to restart your damaged ship and survive alien attack? Will that be co-operative, competitive or a bit of both? Since this is more of a wargaming magazine, I'm going to have to get used to thinking of other players as the enemy again after many years of having don't split the party and no PvP drilled into me ad nauseum. Let's continue that adaption process. Muse: The editorial topic this month is entirely familiar to me. Ironically, the aliens in most fiction are less alien than creatures you can find by exploring the ocean depths and looking back through the fossil record. Human imagination definitely has it's limits, especially if it doesn't get enough input in the first place, and this is one where we're routinely shown up by basic procedural generation computer programs. Doing research and getting external help when creating things isn't cheating, and you shouldn't feel ashamed for doing it. That was valid when I was being told to do it by Larry Niven, it was valid in Dragon Magazine, and it's still valid now. I hope I never forget it. The Inn at World's End: Ahh, some good old Sword & Sorcery action. It's been a while since I had a new source of that. A morally dubious protagonist who wins through cunning rather than brute force, a sexy life consuming monster, a gaggle of quirky minor characters, and lots of implications of a big weird world out there beyond the boundaries of the story. This definitely has that authentic old school flavour to it, sex, blood and lots of quick and arbitrary deaths. It might not add much actual gaming material to my list, since I've seen all the tropes in it before, but it combines those elements well. After a break, you do often need a refresher course. I hope there'll be a few more of these before they go all sci-fi all the time. Child of the Wandering Sea: In sharp contrast with the last piece, we now have a sci-fi story that's all about morality, in particular the morality of terraforming planets which already have life of their own. Should you transform an entire ecosystem to suit human needs, resulting in the extinction of anything that can't adapt, just to increase our own species chance of long term survival. Does morality even exist anyway, as most animals wouldn't even ask themselves that kind of question, simply eating and breeding until their population hits the limits of available space and food supply and then either stabilising or collapsing. What are we losing by not studying everything for utility before bulldozing it over? Yeah, this still seems very relevant today, as extinctions and climate change continue unchecked. On the other hand, we are making real strides in renewable energy, and birthrates have dropped below replacement rates in many developed countries, so we might yet reach some kind of new equilibrium with nature rather than destroying ourselves, but at what cost? It's tough sometimes, having the intelligence to analyse our animal nature, but not overcome it. Alien Life Forms: And now for the detail heavy hard science piece by the same author as last issue's one. What are alien life forms likely to look like? As with last issue, he definitely inclines to the conservative side. Carbon based lifeforms with a water carried chemistry are likely to be most common simply as a matter of basic mathematics, as the 3rd and 4th most common elements in the universe, carbon & oxygen can't help but dominate a planet's makeup in normal situations. Size may vary, but the square-cube law means things can't go beyond a few orders of magnitude greater than earthly creatures. (although ironically, smaller, lighter gravity worlds could support larger animals than earth) But there are some things that are likely to be very different. Chemistry could be left or right-handed. Phyla are very unlikely to be like earthly ones, even if ecological niches are replicated by convergent evolution. (and there are a good few example creatures that blur the boundaries between earthly plants and animals) The information is of course, a little dated, as we now know rather more about the frequency of planets around other stars, and more about the other occupants of our own solar system. (It now seems likely that there are far more worlds that possess potentially life supporting oceans underneath miles of ice than earthlike worlds, and probably also many warmer ones that are entirely covered in miles of water with no exposed land. ) But this is another interesting and well thought out topic for them to cover. It still looks like it'll be a long time before we can settle other worlds, let alone stars, and in the meantime it's good to consider all eventualities carefully. The Wreck of the B.S.M Pandora: Well, this is amusing. The premise for B. S. M. Pandora turns out to be very similar indeed to that of Metamorphosis Alpha. The ship is floating through space out of control, the original crew have lost their memories, and all the weird creatures are out of their stasis pods and wandering around making a terrible mess. Since they gave MA a critical review last time, this could easily be seem as SPI's riposte to TSR. This is how you do it with clearly worded, concise rules that let you get through the whole scenario in a single session. Or in other words: The aliens buzz and it's all because (this is how we do it) Gamma rays mutate us like nobody does (this is how we do it) Scrambled brains, yeah the ships in danger (this is how we do it) So lets flip the polarity for some old school insanity (this is how we do it) Anyway, seriously, I do like this. It once again has not only a fair amount of depth as a game, but also actual effort put into it's fictional history as well. Reading things like this, it's easy to see how wargames could evolve into RPG's, while still being considered the same hobby by the old-timers, who are then surprised when new people come in and start playing them in a very different way, because the gap is bridged in lots of little steps rather than one big one. I definitely feel I am understanding a bit more of the history of gaming by reading this. Conan - Illusion and Reality: Well, this IS a turnup for the books. L. Sprague de Camp gives us his version of the Robert Howard & Conan story. Not entirely positively either. I seem to recall history not being kind to his contributions to the Conan mythos in turn. Although it has to be said that for all his writing talents, it's pretty easy to portray Howard as a :):):):)up in his personal life. Crippling shyness. Inability to hold down a regular job. Unhealthy mother fixation. Death by suicide. Seems a depressingly familiar story. It's interesting to ponder how he would have fared in the internet age, which would have enabled him to research his stories better and connect with people without face-to-face interaction. Oh well, really, we want our artists to be weird, precisely because it lets them create things normal people would never even consider. If they come to tragic ends because of it, that just proves we need a better mental health support system. Modern life is not something humans are adapted for, and I'm not going to hold it against anyone who dreams of cutting through their problems and living wild and free. Books: The Enead by Jan Marks is another story of a strict and static civilisation that gets upended by a headstrong outsider. It richly deserves it, of course. The great thing about having societies as villains in a story is that you don't have to kill them to win so frequently. Catacomb Years by Michael Bishop does much the same thing, but as a collection of short stories. Again, the storytelling gets a fair bit of praise. The main criticism is that the pathway from modern society to sci-fi future doesn't seem very plausible. Fiction, unlike reality, has an obligation to make sense. The Probability Broach by L. Neil Smith is set in an alternate universe where the Confederation not only won, but actually been wildly successful in sticking to it's (heavily right wing) political principles. Once again, the reviewer seems to find this more implausible than bug-eyed monsters. It is interesting how most arty types being left wing can result in unchallenged cultural assumptions even as we talk about pushing the boundaries in other ways. Wheels within Wheels by F. Paul Wilson also has a strong libertarian streak to it, but gets a better review nonetheless, as at least it thinks a society run on pure pragmatism would be better at encouraging racial and sexual equality. It's definitely a shame that the current real world libertarian leaders don't fit that mold. Schrodinger's Cat by Robert Anton Wilson is a story of three nearly identical novels in three different universes and the philosophical implications of this. This means that you may love it, or wind up baffled. Challenge accepted. Eyes of Amber by Joan D. Vinge is another collection of short stories that gets a good result, even though the reviewer wasn't too keen on her full novels. Being better at one form than the other is a perfectly normal bit of variation. The infinitive of go by John Brunner demonstrates how you can have both infinite parallel universes and free will via equations using transfinite numbers. It's nice to have some optimism when faced with a universe too enormous to comprehend. The Devil Wives of Li Fong by E. Hoffman Price is unsurprisingly set in ancient fantasy china, and features the (actually not so evil) devil wives dealing with the fear of mundanes, and the machinations of an evil taoist (ie wizard). Some things never change, even when the names do. It's important not to judge things by appearance over actions. Mooncrow by Jack Massa is another one dismissed quickly. Just another bit of generic fantasy. Yawn. We always have plenty of that trying to break through. A shadow of all night falling is one of Glen Cook (of black company fame)'s early books. He's already managing stories that seem fantastical without resorting to archaic language or unrealistic expectations of human nature. Might as well get on the wagon now and keep up with him. And we finish off with a collective review of Piers Anthony's Tarot trilogy. Unlike Glen, the reviewer thinks he's improved enormously since his early work. How long before the brain eater overtakes the increase in technical skills in overall significance? Films & Television: The Black Hole gets a rather scathing review from a writer who thinks it's far too cutsey and disneyfied for literally the weightiest subject in the known universe. The dialog is wooden, the special effects are of dubious quality, and the whole thing is far too conservative in it's execution. The House of Mouse didn't have a great 80's in general, did they? Saturn 3 gets an equally dismissive review. Star Wars has raised the bar enough that these B-movie efforts simply don't cut the mustard anymore, and anyone thinking sci-fi audiences will snap up any old drek with robots, explosions and girls in tin-foil bikinis in it is sorely mistaken. Such is the nature of being on the tail end of a fad. Television is faring no better. Battlestar Galactica has found earth, and been retooled into the woeful Galactica 80, and both the original sci-fi series and novel adaptions thoroughly deserve to be forgotten. For now, books have the clear lead in this genre as imagination need not worry about special effects budget. Media: On the other hand, this column is much more optimistic about future properties. I guess they have to keep hoping for better things to keep the genre going even when signs aren't great. Final Countdown? Galaxina? Scanners? Sinbad on Mars? A lot of unfamiliar names and far fewer I have actually seen. I guess every era has a lot of crap that deserves to be forgotten for very gem, and going through old periodicals like this lets me rediscover them and judge for myself. Games: In sharp contrast to last issue, they only do one games review this issue. However, it's a long and in depth one. Magic Realm is Avalon Hill's big attempt at tapping the expanding fantasy market. Choose your hero, explore the randomly generated landscape, fight monsters, collect treasure, hire followers and try to become supreme champion by whatever means. It's an interesting bit of design, and the way it introduces the various elements of the game one at a time seems cool, but it falls down a bit due to poorly edited rules and an overambitious reach, trying to mix boardgame and rpg and not quite satisfying either goal. I suspect this may be a case where the reviewer is overly harsh due to lots of experience, and I could get a good few enjoyable plays out of this before moving on. Feedback: Hmm. So they're not just doing feedback once per year or so, but every single issue. That is a HUGE difference from TSR. And it makes me wonder just how different the surveys will be each month, and if I'll be able to think of something interesting to say for each of them. Aside from the expected ones about how the previous issue was, and your opinion on their competition and review ratings, they also have a list of proposals for future games to include in the magazine, which definitely seems interesting. Jack the Ripper and The Stainless Steel Rat? I shall keep an eye out for these. While there is an improvement in production values from the previous issue, it's certainly not as dramatic as the early days of Dragon. I suppose SPI have already been producing magazines for over a decade, so that's to be expected. It's also very worth noting that there haven't been any entertainingly bad articles yet. I'm not coming in near the beginning of the company this time, and they aren't dominated by one person in the same way. Of course, that may be part of what leads to their downfall. Sometimes you need that controversy to grow and avoid being stuck in your little niche. Oh well, if they can keep the articles conventionally good all the way through, I may finish this sad, but I certainly won't be unsatisfied. To number three! [/QUOTE]
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