A matr uv urjensE

January 17th, 2010 by Paul Baldowski | Posted in Books, Inspiration | No Comments »

The mail-tube went ping! and he opened his eyes, swearing. For a moment he was tempted to let the pneumo-roll lie where it fell, but habit was too strong. He grumbled his way over to the basket and took it out.

The stamp across it jerked his mind to wakefulness. OfiSal, sEkret, fOr adresE OnlE – and a Security seal!

Just finished reading Security by Poul William Anderson (1953). Security recounts a simple tale of a distopian regime. Think it works out as a short story – it’s a few thousand words long, and available to download if you have the Stanza app on the iPhone (and, I daresay, available elsewhere).

Allen Lancaster works as a researcher on a state run Project. The world would be at war if not for the superiority of the State WMDs; but, that doesn’t stop rebels and lesser countries constantly plotting against them. Government agencies redefine history and language to wipe out subversion. The major bodies of Control, Efficiency and Security organise and review the life of each individual, while a solid work ethic, regulations and clearances keep everything in it’s rightful and well defined place. State-driven Projects – akin to R&D – push research forward without enthusiasm or freedom to deviate, at once advancing and stifling science. Traitors disappear to camp, never to return, tortured for information about the underground before suffering an inglorious demise. Loyalty yields little comforts and rewards.

Thoroughly recommended read for PARANOIA players and gamemasters alike.

Loan Me This Money

December 15th, 2009 by Paul Baldowski | Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Keen to exploit any situation, Nigerian scamsters (or their ilk) may have overestimated their chances against the PARANOIA Yahoo! Group with this transparent, and misguided, attempt:

Hello,

How are you doing ? I’m sorry I did not inform you about my trip to London, England for a program. I arrived London successfully.But presently, I’m having a problem I misplaced my wallet on my way to the hotel. Inside my wallet, I have most of my valuable items which I traveled with like my credit card, money and my telephone contact diary .Now, I have to sort out the bills I’m owing at the hotel so that I can start preparing to return home. The bill amounts to £800 pounds.

Please, I want you to loan me this money to enable me settle this bills. I promise I’ll Refund the money back to you as soon as i return.I know I could count on you that is why i am contacting you on this issue.Pls let me know if you can be of any help. I do not have a phone to reach you with, that is why

I had to send you an email.
I will be expecting your response as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Abraham

Many plasma generators and laser barrels have already been expended in shooing this Commie Mutant Traitor.

Mission Report: Epic Fail

October 28th, 2009 by Paul Baldowski | Posted in Traitor Books and Games, Writing | No Comments »

I’m on holiday at the moment and intended to use some of the time to get writing done. Out on the picturesque coast of Anglesey, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to finally finish writing my 14th century Avignon-based PARANOIA mini-supplement.

Alas, fickle fate has interceded. I have teenage sons to contend with and no wife to keep them distracted (as she stayed at home nursing a broken toe). My time has not been my own and the apartment only has one room with an inspirational sea view. On top of the that, I’ve been plagued with headaches and sleeplessness, which contribute to a general lack of concentration. Just writing this blog entry involves a considerable act of will.

To add insult to injury, I also intended to run some roleplaying sessions in the evening, simply to keep my oar in. Alas, I have struggled here, too. I’d rather watch a DVD or play a boardgame after getting home dog-tired from walking and preparing dinner.

More pep-pills for me, please!

Hot Potato

October 22nd, 2009 by Paul Baldowski | Posted in Gadgets and Gear, Real World | No Comments »

I’m reasonably sure that I have posted something on this before – but, anyway, the US military are looking for a non-lethal weapon that inflict pain rather than permanent injury. Having already got themselves a crowd suppression turret-mounted weapon that fires microwave energy at a crowd – and disperses through pain – the US military now want something more portable. However, it’s a fine line between pain and injury:

“We have established the minimum irradiance to cause a sensation and have characterised where thermal injury begins … But the exact operating irradiance which balances a useful military effect with a conservative margin of safety has not been nailed down yet.”

I’m wondering where the margins of safety come into the use of other military gear – rubber bullets, for example, shouldn’t cause permanent harm, but they do.

Opponents have raised concerns that weapons that inflict pain without external evidence can only make it harder to identify signs of abuse. Dread to think what someone might do with one of these in a detention centre!

Mobile Messaging

October 21st, 2009 by Paul Baldowski | Posted in Gadgets and Gear, Real World | No Comments »

I’m currently addicted to Twitter. I wonder whether Troubleshooters might fall foul of similar information overload through their personal communication device of choice? We have myriad routes of communication with people both close, near and, well, frankly strangers.

Would a Troubleshooter have a stream of messages to contend with from friends, associates, contacts, spammers, managers, peers, underlings, blackmailers, blackmailees, strangers, recruiters, entertainment celebrities, administrators, tech support, automated services, The Computer, Troubleshooter handlers and more besides? Could they cope? Would housekeeping – whether manual or automatic – present a risk of deleting something – or everything – of importance? Would a Troubleshooter deal with ninty-nine innane demands for their attention before reaching an overdue imperative from an irrate executive officers, IntSec interrogator or YELLOW Clearance jobsworth?

I fear clever software solutions wouldn’t be enough – indeed, if the Troubleshooters experience mirrors my own, they’ll have a dozen different message handling clients that do almost all they want, but not quite. Will one client make orders from The Computer clear at a cost of complexities in searching for anything else or tracking message threads?

Would you use the C-net Wideband Interaction Trans-protocol or just not bother? Nobody likes a Cwitter!

Cheap as Chips

October 21st, 2009 by Paul Baldowski | Posted in Not PARANOIA | 1 Comment »

I’m not one to line anyone else’s pockets if possible, but why would you turn down a spanky copy of The Underplex for as little as £3. Cheap, entertaining – and suspiciously located in Swindon. Perhaps Mongoose had a car boot sale?

Upgrade Successful

August 30th, 2009 by Paul Baldowski | Posted in Not PARANOIA | No Comments »

Omega Complex has survived the move from one hosting solution to another… Blessed relief that it turned out to be relatively easy. I reckon I’m saving the really difficult migration work for when I’m in a really good mood…

And, for the time being, www.traitorrecycling.com is pointing at this time. It hasn’t exactly been busy over there of late.

Crash Course Cover Art

August 21st, 2009 by Paul Baldowski | Posted in Announcements | No Comments »

The rather engaging image from the front of the ‘Crash Course Manual’ is currently up on eBay, selling from a mere starting bid of $1,200. While the premise and book largely sucked, the cover does provide a rather fetching image that might adorn the wall of some lucky citizen. Rendered in pencils and paint by artist Robert Larkin, it’s rather a shame his website is under construction because I’d quite like to see more of his work…

I am in no way associated with this sale, just chanced upon it while rooting through eBay…

UPDATE: First time, no sale. However, the Crash Course Cover has been re-listed for a mere $1,000.

Black Omissions

August 21st, 2009 by Paul Baldowski | Posted in Announcements, Books | No Comments »

Quick post. Got the new Black Missions version of the PARANOIA Troubleshooter book. A quick scan indicates re-organised, re-fonted, re-formatted, re-illustrated, and reduced in thickness/weight. Essentially, Allen’s XP edition with tweaks… and my name misspelt in the credits. Mongoose have been informed and termination vouchers duly issued.

I’ll post more about the new edition later, after I’ve stopped weeping…

Seed Vault

August 21st, 2009 by Paul Baldowski | Posted in Real World, Underplex | No Comments »

Interesting setup at Svalbard – Seed Vault – where the hope of generations to come, post-apocalypse, sit in racks of dark grey boxes. A holy grail for Sierra Club members, and undoubtedly there’ll be a way in via the Underplex. Accessing from underground would obviously be a lot easier than braving the Outdoors and facing off in unarmed combat against armored polar bears…

(If Allen got here before me somewhere in the recent/distant past on the Dev Blog, I can but apologize for the repetition. If not, of course you can post a link, Allen.)