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Appendix N in audio

Appendix N: The Literary History of Dungeons & Dragons is a detailed and comprehensive investigation of the various works of science fiction and fantasy that game designer Gary Gygax declared to be the primary influences on his seminal role-playing game, Dungeons & Dragons. It is a deep intellectual dive into the literature of SF/F’s past that will fascinate any serious role-playing gamer or fan of classic science fiction and fantasy.


Author Jeffro Johnson, an expert role-playing gamer, accomplished dungeon master, and three-time Hugo Award finalist, critically reviews all 43 works and authors listed by Gygax in the famous appendix. In doing so, he draws a series of intelligent conclusions about the literary gap between past and present that is surprisingly relevant to current events, not only in the fantastic world of role-playing, but the real world in which the players live.

Appendix N: The Literary History of Dungeons & Dragons is narrated by Brandon Porter and is 10 hours and 22 minutes long. This is a deep and fascinating dive into the fantasy and science fiction literature behind the landmark role-playing game.

The heroes of Avalon: FAZER

Now that we’ve got several scripts done, it is clear that CHUCK DIXON’S AVALON is really going to be very different than the Alt★Hero comics proper. Whereas I like to focus on worldbuilding and city-level events of international significance, Chuck prefers to go street. He’s focused on citybuilding, crime-fighting, and street-level events, and while the city of Avalon is an integral part of the universe of Alt★Hero, it is a small, detailed, and distinct part of it.

FAZER is one of the first new characters created by Chuck and he will be appearing in both the first and second issues. The description: FAZER is King Ace’s crime fighting partner. He’s the brains of the pair and resents being referred to as a sidekick. The guy has a very short fuse. He’s much slighter and shorter than King Ace. His power is the ability to phase through solid objects. He can maintain the phasing stage only through tremendous concentration. Fazer wears an all-over suit that hides his face entirely. The suit is made of leather as Fazer can only phase organic materials. Fazer is Hapa, with a white father and a Filipino mother. 

The amazing thing to me is how, in just two issues, Chuck has already managed to create intriguing characters with distinct individuality and complex personal relationships. It is no wonder he is considered a comics legend. And yes, if you think you recognize the artist’s signature, it is indeed the gentleman you have in mind. He is illustrating CHUCK DIXON’S AVALON #1.

I would have tweeted this link out, but Twitter suspended the ArkhavenComics account as soon as it was created, before we’d even had the chance to upload a logo for the profile. So, we’ll be posting our regular social media announcements on the AltHeroComic Facebook page and leaving any Twitter repostings up to the fans.

How to be in charge

Without actually being in charge. Google’s Sundar Pichai demonstrates what it means for a CEO to serve at the will and pleasure of the SJWs nominally under his authority:

Google CEO Sundar Pichai responded today to the firing of employee James Damore over his controversial memo on workplace diversity, stating that while he does not regret the decision, he regrets that people misunderstood it as a politically motivated event. Speaking in a live conversation with journalist and Recode co-founder Kara Swisher, MSNBC host Ari Melber, and YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki in San Francisco, Pichai said that the decision to fire Damore was about ensuring women at Google felt like the company was committed to creating a welcoming environment.

“I regret that people misunderstand that we may have made this for a political belief one way or another,” Pichai said. “It’s important for the women at Google, and all the people at Google, that we want to make an inclusive environment.” When pressed by Swisher on the issue of regret, Pichai stated more definitively, “I don’t regret it.” Wojcicki, who has spoken publicly about how Damore’s memo affected her personally, followed up with, “I think it was the right decision.”

It’s not political, it’s just about women’s feelings. Apparently this walking, talking corporate debacle has never heard of either a) feminism or b) the feminist mantra “the personal is the political”.

I had an interesting conversation with Nitasha Tiku, a senior writer at Wired, last night. She’s working on a story about how the poor, powerless executives and managers at Google feel frightened, intimidated, and harassed because James Damore, Charles Johnson, and others have exposed how they harass, intimidate, and blacklist their coworkers, how they hate everyone who voted for Donald Trump, and how they can get away with openly threatening their colleagues with violence and unemployment without suffering any consequences for their behavior.

Poor, poor Googlers. Why can’t they harass their victims with impunity in secret?

As I pointed out to Ms Tiku, I and a number of other outsiders have known about what has been taking place behind the scenes at Google for years. I even wrote about it after the election, nine months before the Damore memo was leaked to the public by SJWs.

Internal pressure is pushing for the expansion of hate speech to include everything and everyone that fails to submit to the SJW narrative, for more intense action against so-called “fake news”, and even broader definitions of “fake news”. So far, they are only cracking down on genuinely fake news, but there is some belief that this is the proverbial dipping the toe in the water, to see what they can do without provoking a backlash.

The victory of the God-Emperor Ascendant was a massive blow to the SJWs inside Google, and like most SJWs, they have completely lost the plot post-election. They were openly calling other Googlers racists, sexists, and homophobes just for voting for Trump. Those are firing offenses at Google. Google has insane civility requirements imposed on anyone talking to a member of a protected group, but apparently calling for all Republicans to be fired is perfectly acceptable.

Everyone ignored this. Then James Damore and I provided incontrovertible proof that Googlers were, in fact, behaving every bit as badly as I had said they were. So now, having been accused, exposed, and caught red-handed, they’re trying to spin documented proof of their own misbehavior as some sort of harassment, and they are attempting to enlist the media as their ad hoc defense attorneys in order to change the subject.

Yeah, because THAT’S the problem

Someone who may or may not be Robert Downey Jr. speculates on a coming action by a company that may or may not be Warner/DC:

This studio has admitted internally that it has failed in its efforts at emulating the success of the one that now owns the world.  Their new secret plan? To “split” the properties into two divisions.  One for “kids”, basically carrying on with the universe-multiverse they’ve already created under the disastrous helm of _____________.  And the other division for “adults”, to create more realistic-themed movies of the same properties, like their most successful versions.  How do they plan to make this happen? They proposed to hire this family, give them first-dollar gross revenues on EVERY PROJECT; and give them carte blanche and full control over that second division.  At this point, the studio has nothing to lose in that contest.

Warner Bros. would do better to split their DC film properties into two divisions, one for SJWs and one for everyone else. But because they are literally run by SJWs, complete with major Hillary fundraisers and Bill Clinton’s former press secretary, there is zero chance that the convergence will not continue to get worse.

And at this point, I really don’t have a problem with that.

Interview with the legend

Ethan Van Sciver interviews Chuck Dixon. From the section where they discussed Chuck’s involvement with Arkhaven.

CD: I don’t mind being edited, but I mostly want to be left alone on the creative end. I wasn’t interested in books that were political, they weren’t going to be screeds, but they would reflect my life view. They wouldn’t tell anybody what to think. And [Vox] was fine with that.

I wanted to be free of the kind of concerns I would have working for another company where I would have to be politically correct, where I would have to be diverse for the sake of diversity, that kind of thing. He said no, that’s fine, that’s what he was looking for. Basically, he was doing the book that would take all the slings and arrows, but if I wanted to do straight-ahead superhero adventure set in the universe he created that was fine.

That’s where we started, and then it turned into more books, and more involvement, and that’s where we stand. The first artist is working on the second book now, the first book is going to the colorist.

A few weeks ago, he thought of the idea of adapting PG Wodehouse into comic book form, not knowing that I’m a longtime Wodehouse fan. He teamed me with Gary Kwapisz, who I’ve worked with for 30 years and never knew was a Wodehouse fan. We’re adapting Right Ho, Jeeves, which should have a huge audience overseas.

Like all the editors I used to like working with, he has faith in me and he’s letting me do what I want. So, it’s kind of irresistible.

And he’s paying on time!

EVS: He is?

CD: Yes, he is, he is paying on time. It’s a reduced rate against participation and backend, but I’ve been doing that for years.

EVS: So what do you think? Do you think he’s going to succeed?

CD: I think project by project, we’ll have to see what happens. He’s certainly got different ideas, he’s got ideas that don’t come from comics which is a good thing, sometimes. He seeks my guidance all the time. He’s always picking my brain.

The costs of convergence

The NFL has gone from bleeding viewers to outright gushing them.

Every single game was down, no matter how good the games were. And, remember, three of these games were highly competitive in the divisional round this year. Whereas last year only two of the games were competitive. Hell, three of the four windows even feature one of the same teams from last year. And yes, I know, the Cowboys and the Packers played last year and those are the two biggest fan base draws in the NFL, but even if you pull that game out the numbers for the other three games also declined double digits.

Adding all these numbers up 120.8 million viewers watched the NFL divisional round playoffs in 2018 vs. 144.1 million who watched in 2017, a decline of 23.3 million total viewers.

That’s an overall viewership decline of over 16{97fd97520de31cde0b26d0c2f59922f7376b6ca8a53cb12ed2e4a6df0b8f3453}, even steeper than last week’s 13{97fd97520de31cde0b26d0c2f59922f7376b6ca8a53cb12ed2e4a6df0b8f3453} playoff decline.

What a pity it doesn’t occur to corporate executives to consult with the kind of experts who could tell them how to avoid these sorts of self-mutilations.

Clearly the NFL needs a New England vs Minnesota Super Bowl. Desperately. Is that… is that THE NARRATIVE’S music?

Sweden running out of patience

Let’s face it, we all know where this is going to end, sooner or later:

Sweden will do whatever it takes, including sending in the army, to end a wave of gang violence that has seen a string of deadly shootings, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said in Wednesday. Law and order is likely to be a major issue in a parliamentary election scheduled for September with the populist, opposition Sweden Democrats linking public concern about the rising crime rate to a large increase in the numbers of immigrants. …

“People are shot to death in pizza restaurants, people are killed by hand grenades they find on the street,” Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Akesson said in parliament on Wednesday.

“This is the new Sweden; the new, exciting dynamic, multicultural paradise that so many here in this assembly … have fought to create for so many years,” he said sarcastically.

Forget “ending gang violence.” End the invasion. That’s actually what the army is for, after all.

And immigration is war.

Nationalism intensifies. The Sweden Democrats growing vote share:

1998: 0.4{97fd97520de31cde0b26d0c2f59922f7376b6ca8a53cb12ed2e4a6df0b8f3453}
2002: 1.4{97fd97520de31cde0b26d0c2f59922f7376b6ca8a53cb12ed2e4a6df0b8f3453}
2006: 2.9{97fd97520de31cde0b26d0c2f59922f7376b6ca8a53cb12ed2e4a6df0b8f3453}
2010: 5.7{97fd97520de31cde0b26d0c2f59922f7376b6ca8a53cb12ed2e4a6df0b8f3453}
2014: 12.9{97fd97520de31cde0b26d0c2f59922f7376b6ca8a53cb12ed2e4a6df0b8f3453}
2018: I expect 30{97fd97520de31cde0b26d0c2f59922f7376b6ca8a53cb12ed2e4a6df0b8f3453}+

Free Stupefication

The Original Cyberpunk has an announcement:

To celebrate the release of STUPEFYING STORIES #19, we’re giving away the Kindle editions of both our latest book (issue #19) and our oldest book that’s still on Amazon (issue #12) FREE for the cost of a click—but for today only.

Tell your friends! Tell your family! Tell people you know who aren’t such good friends but still like to get free ebooks! Share the news!

But share it soon, because at midnight tonight, these books go back to normal price.

» DOWNLOAD ISSUE #19 RIGHT NOW
» DOWNLOAD ISSUE #12 RIGHT NOW

STUPEFYING STORIES #19 features the remarkable cover story, “Communion,” by Fi Michell, along with  a terrific mix of fantasy, light horror, superheroes, alien invasions, space adventure, and I don’t know what to call “More Crackle Than Music” but I love it. The book ends with Harold Thompson’s dark but charming story, “Dogs and Monsters,” which I’m hereby going to go out on a limb and christen an entirely new sub-genre, “post-Human steampunk.” Clifford Simak would have loved it.

Who subsidizes whom?

California politicians are worried about their taxpayers’ new inability to offset against their Federal taxes:

The Republican-backed federal tax bill flipped the tables on a never-ending question for California politicians: Will high taxes lead the state’s wealthiest residents to flee the Golden State for the comparable tax havens of Florida, Nevada and Texas?

Republicans reliably raise that alarm when Democrats advocate for tax increases, like the 2012 and 2016 ballot initiatives that levied a new income tax on very high-earning residents.

But now, with the federal tax bill cutting off deductions that benefited well-off Californians, the state’s Democrats suddenly are singing the GOP song about a potential millionaire exodus.

“People with higher incomes pay a lot more money, and some of them may be tempted to leave,” Gov. Jerry Brown said when he unveiled his 2018-19 budget proposal last week. “This was an assault by the Republicans in Congress against California.”

That fear animates Senate President pro tem Kevin de León’s bill that would allow California residents to write off their state taxes on their federal returns as a charitable deduction, as well as other proposals that Assembly leaders have hinted they’re preparing to offer. De Leon’s bill cleared a second committee this week and is on its way to a vote on the Senate floor. Trump administration officials say it won’t pass muster with the IRS.

Democratic state lawmakers are worried because California relies so heavily on the income taxes it collects from high earners to fund government services. The state’s wealthiest 1 percent, for instance, pay 48 percent of its income tax, and the departure of just a few families could lead to a noticeable hit to state general fund revenue.

“It is a genuine concern and that’s why the legislatures in high-tax states are swinging into action immediately,” said Katie Pratt, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles who specializes in taxes.

The new federal tax law poses problems for high earners in the Golden State because it caps two deductions that Californians used to limit their federal income tax liability, restricting their ability to write off mortgage interest and their state and local taxes.

Come now. Every time the issue gets raised in Minnesota, the newspapers produce one argument after another to explain why people don’t move based on tax rates. Because great schools! And art! And people!

Of course, since liberals and progressives are totally incapable of keeping two thoughts in their head at the same time, the fact that moving a bunch of Mexicans and Somalis might degrade the value of those competing factors never occurs to them.

Stealing their wind

To the Point articulates how Trump systematically undermines the power and influence of the media:

President Trump’s systematic thrashing of the leftist media is the example that illustrates the theory.  See his literal thrashing in the YouTube above.

Conservatives complained about the media for a long time. Aristotle’s dialectic approach, against people uninterested in truth. Net effect? Very low. Sad!

So let’s apply what we’ve learned.

Why do the media have power? Because they have social status with ordinary people. Are we still hearing about Watergate — decades later? The Pentagon Papers? How many movies seem to exist just to show journalists as heroes?

Or let’s take a different tack: What’s the attraction of such a low-paying profession? Status given by the profession, and status from rubbing shoulders with high-status people. Status by acting as a vector for status signals, which is what every women’s magazine is.

Ditto publications like WIRED, which is just Cosmo for geeks.

The media offers people clues about what things are high status within the areas they cover. People notice, and act accordingly. Yet most conservatives still don’t understand Trump’s response:

 If I lower the media’s status, I will wreck their power.

So The Donald says that the media has “some of the most dishonest people” he has ever seen. Not an arm’s length complaint. A direct and personal status attack, rooted in truth.

Trump also acts in ways that cause journalists to fulfill his pre-suasion labeling. He makes “outrageous” statements, which many people outside the Beltway Bubble agree with. Those statements receive over-the-top media attacks, which make his enemies look ridiculous.

Then events swiftly show that Trump had a point. Trump rubs it in, using the media’s own “Fake News” term against them and pouncing on every sloppy and dishonest mistake. As a final topper, Trump makes the dishonest media a focus during every massive rally. Which strengthens his out-grouping effect among participants and viewers.

He uses ridicule and lèse majesté, not bended knee and appeals — note that subordinating word — to logical argument.

The result?

American belief in the credibility of their news media is now at about 32 percent. That’s the lowest ever polled, and an 8 percent drop from the lowest point of the 2008-2015 period. The media has lost audience, and a lot of power.

This is an extremely effective technique. And like all rhetoric, the more based in truth it is, the more powerful it is. The point about status-signaling is important too, because that is how SJWs decide who gets to determine the Narrative. It is also one more reason why giving them what they demand will never satisfy them, because the struggle for status continues regardless.