science fiction – Page 2 – PopCult Reviews

31 Days of Character Creation #4 – Over the Edge 3rd Edition

Today’s game is Over the Edge 3rd Edition, a very evocative premade setting & game. I was a big fan of the 2nd edition and supported the Kickstarter for this one years ago. I have yet to play it though, so I thought to add to this character creation marathon. Here’s the game as as described on its official website:

Over the Edge is the classic RPG of counter-culture conspiracy, weird science, and urban danger. For its third edition, the game comes roaring back in a completely reimagined relaunch by its original creator. Everything old gets a new take. Nothing is a retread. Every conspiracy, every neighborhood, every major gamemaster-character is portrayed with a new spin. It’s not “25 years later.” Everything on the Island is reborn to surprise new and existing players alike.

31 Days of Character Creation #3 – Cyberpunk Red

Today we create a character in the game of Cyberpunk Red which has a neat lifepath system that fleshes out your character’s backstory. The system as describe on its official website:

The 4th Corporate War’s over and the big dogs have retreated to their corners to lick their wounds. That leaves everyone else to fend for themselves in a shattered world.

And that’s just fine. ‘cause you’ve got interface plugs in your wrists, metal in your limbs, and chips in your skull. You’re wired in, loaded with chrome, and ready to take it to the Edge.

There’s a world full of opportunities out there. Maybe this time you can do more than save yourself. Maybe.

Cyberpunk RED is the latest edition of the classic roleplaying game of the Dark Future, featuring updated mechanics and new lore set in 2045, midway between the events of Cyberpunk 2020 and Cyberpunk 2077.

My Favorite Books Read in 2024

Good Night, Sleep Tight: Stories by Brian Evenson

I have never been disappointed by Brian Evenson, so I was delighted to see his short story collection coming out the exact same day as Laird Barron’s new book. These two books helped improve my October, and I needed it. This story collection was a slight shift from Evenson’s normal fare. I noticed a lot of variations on the same themes (mothers, robots, the end of humanity) and a shift to more science fiction stories than just horror.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Starforged: Messiahs Part Three

Read the previous chapter here

Read the previous part here

[Begin a Session: Seemingly unrelated situations are shown to be connected]

A figure rides a wooly sandfoot across the desert, cresting a ridge. Thousands have been set up around a mountain range at the base. The figure is greeted by one of the al-Raml. The figure removes his straw hat and face covering to reveal a young man. This is Gerard Linnaeus, the heir to a House of the same surname. The attendant is Ghazi, Gerard’s greatest acolyte among the al Raml. He brings Gerard into the encampment to a more lavish tent than the others. Here, Gerard cleans himself with the special powder used by the al Raml. He prepares himself and rests.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Starforged: Messiahs Part Two

Read Part One here

[Begin a Session: Important character is put in danger or suffers a misadventure]

Dreng Wraithus wakes with a gasp for air. He is lying on a cold metallic floor. A hand reaches down and lifts him up by the scruff of the collar of his black robe. Wraithus’s legs still flop about like cold noodles as he’s drug through the halls of this strangely humid vessel.

TV Review – The Prisoner

The Prisoner (1967)
Written by George Markstein, David Tomblin, Vincent Tilsley, Anthony Skene, Patrick McGoohan, Terence Feely, Lewis Greifer, Gerald Kelsey, Roger Woddis, Michael Cramoy, Roger Parkes, Kenneth Griffith, and Ian L. Rakoff
Directed by Don Chaffey, Pat Jackson, Patrick McGoohan, Peter Graham Scott, and David Tomblin

As a citizen of the Western World (born in the States, residency in the Netherlands), I have been told from birth that I am free and those outside my sphere are not. For many years, I took this to be the truth. Why? The people who told me I was taught to see as correct in all things. These are the institutions responsible for my freedom, after all. But as I got older, the more I read & observed, it became clear that I wasn’t free. Well, I was free, in about the same way as a dog chained in a backyard is free. I can move up to a point, but then the chain chokes me and reminds me of the limits of this supposed “freedom.” I am as free as the establishment that controls my world allows me to be. I don’t think that can be defined as actual freedom.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – The Electric State Part Six

Read the previous chapter here

One Year Ago
Stella Shaw lays on her back, combat boots up on top of one of several monitors she’d spent months scavenging for. With a little help from Lester, a local tinkerer, the teenage girl constructed a makeshift antenna she installed one of the watchtowers in the compound for the best possible reception. It was just her luck that she picked up a broadcast of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air coming from somewhere to the west. Down in what Stella’s aunt nicknamed her “hidey-hole” she was quite cozy. These series of reinforced tunnels might have triggered claustrophobia in the adults, but they were the perfect fit for Stella.

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Starforged: Messiahs Part One

The Starforged story being told here is the culmination of over a year of playing in my little homemade science fiction toy box. Listed below are the various interconnected chapters where you’ll see several characters mentioned here. I can’t guarantee it’s good writing, but it exists.
Starforged | Starforged: Nexus of Destiny | Starforged: Abyss of Shadows | Starforged: Wrath of the Vok | Sundered Isles

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – The Electric State Part Five

Read part four here

Two Months Ago

Crystal stumbled out of the barn and braced herself against one of its faded red exterior walls. She was having trouble breathing and slid down to the ground. A beat. Randy James stepped out into the moonlight, an annoyed look on his face.

“Why do you have to be like that, Crissie?” he asked, a slight whine in his voice.

“Th-that kid,” Crystal started. “How can you…do…that?”

Randy James clucked his tongue disapprovingly. “You have such shortsightedness, you know that? You just refuse to see the bigger picture, like everyone else. You don’t see them out here, freaking out, boohooing. Maybe you need to grow the fuck up, Crissie.”

Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – The Electric State Part Four

Read the previous part here

Scene One
Six months ago
Crystal went out the night she got the eviction notice. She needed to drink until she couldn’t remember anything. Losing her apartment. Catching her boyfriend cheating on her. It needed to drown and die. And that’s how she met Randy James. At first, Crystal saw him like any other shitkicker who wandered into Victorville on a Saturday night. But that wasn’t Randy James at all. He said he was a professional philosopher. She rolled her eyes. But damn, if he wasn’t charming as hell. RJ had many thoughts on neuronics; he said he worked in R&D for Sentre, developing new interfacing for the neurocasters. That’s what led to them having sex in his truck with their neurocasters on. It was unlike anything Crystal had ever experienced. She was enamored.