What the Hell is an “Aluminum Falcon”?

I just rediscovered this page that compares the size of spacecraft, etc. from all walks of Sci-Fi. It really is tfc (totally fucking cool). Someone had a lot of time on their hands…and have inspired me to run a Sci-Fi game….if only I had a lot of time on my hands.

It would be cool if they had specs from games like Traveller, Star Frontiers, etc….but since those games tend to include all these specs, it should be too hard to append them for game use. Cool, Cool site for any sci-fi geek.

~AoB

Movie Review – The X Files: I Want to Believe

The X Files: I Want to Believe was a poor attempt to revive the X Files for movies.

This uninspired ghost from the past just gets a 6.

While the usual elements were there, it was the pale reflection of a good episode. The studio limited the budget to $30 million (avg budget is around $70m these days) to reduce the risk of a lack of appeal to general audiences. The movie is set post-trial (last season finale) and Mulder has been in hiding for years. Fox and Scully are pretty much themselves but with a clumsy attempt to show that they have changed or moved on with their lives. It seemed like a half-hearted attempt to grow the characters. Failure of mission. Gillian Anderson seems to have aged significantly. She seems to be shrouded in a cloud of bad times and sorrow. Assistant Director Skinner makes a brief cameo adding little more than nostalgia.

The plot was interesting but lacked energy. The FBI offers amnesty to Mulder if he will help them determine if a psychic can help them find a missing agent. It actually developed kind of well and had a pretty interesting ending. However, they should have spent more time, detail and special effects dollars on the plot at the end. That would have stepped up the energy and interest.

It was nice to see two Battlestar alums in the cast. Callum Keith Rennie (Leoben the Cylon) plays one of the bad guys and does a nice job but nothing very impressive. The other was the priestess from Gemenon as a doctor interacting with Scully via video-conference. At least it looked like her.

Sadly, this was essentially a long, mediocre X Files episode. I write this with a heavy heart as the X Files is one of my all time favorite shows.

Update of NBOS: Fractal Mapper

Well, I now have the updated version of Fractal Mapper (v8). Along with that comes the add-on program, Fractal World Explorer, that provides export AVI’s for created planets. This version on YouTube is a little distorted (due to differing ratios), but I’ll work on that. Kinda neat anyway.

~AoB

NBOS Part II: Look, Look at the BONES….er, the maps

Wow, I just started playing with the NBOS Fractal World Explorer/NBOS Fractal Mapper. Within like 10 minutes I was able to create a map like this. Also, take a look at the globe view of the same. These maps can be tweaked or majorly modified to my heart’s content and can be combined with the NBOS Fractal Mapper (comes with Fractal World Explorer), AstroSynthesis, Screen Monkey, InspirationPad, etc. Pretty freakin’ cool. And all of this from  a program (or suite of programs if  you’re planning on interfacing with NBOS’  other programs) that cost much less than the competition (uhem, ProPhantasy, I’m looking in your general direction). Again, I emote: Pretty freakin’ cool.

~Adaen of Bridgewater

NBOS Gaming Tools are Cool – See J. K. Mann

I’ve gotten back to building (er, rebuilding) my PC back up to its former, pre-crash glory. Slowly but surely, things are shaping up. I’ve recovered all my personal files (family photos, music files, untold hours of work….you get the picture). Anyway, the other night, my two-and-a-half-year old daughter and I reinstalled the NBOS suite of gaming software. We had decided that we were going to use the Character Sketcher to draw a man.

I posted some of the images that I’ve made for campaign purposes before. They’re a little cartoonish and are limited to headshots, but they’re quick and dirty, AND, they do help with the whole shared perspective thingie in terms of what characters look like.

This time at bat with the Character Sketcher, I let my offspring make all the decisions: colors, nose, hair, beard, armaments, the works. Here’s what she came up with. She even named him J. K. Mann.

I was so pleased with how she did (in like 15 minutes no less) that I thought I’d post J. K. here, give my kudos to the folks at NBOS, and purchase the upgrade to NBOS AstroSynthesis program (that generates 3-D Star Charts, and all sorts of neato Sci-Fi schtuff). I’ve just started to play with that. I’ll post once I’ve had some time to see how things work.

~Adaen of Bridgewater, HAG Steward