Finished William Gibson’s “The Peripheral”. A barely employed woman from a rural near future subs for her brother as a game beta tester and sees a gruesome murder in the game which seems set in a London of the far future. But, it’s not a game, the death is real, she’s the only one who knows, and her knowledge puts two continua at risk. To say any more would be to spoil the threads of confusion Gibson carefully sows in the first hundred pages, which tell two stories in settings that appear at turns familiar and utterly strange before finally meeting via the peculiar agency of the titular peripheral. ...

Took a chance on the film adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s “Radio Free Albemuth”. Really reminds me of one of those sixties or seventies science fiction movies – no real special effects, just telling a story. In this case, a story where an actor portraying Philip K. Dick himself is both the narrator and a character. I’ve never read the original book – I slogged through VALIS, and that was about all I needed to know about Dick’s views on religious epiphanies. But, I’ve read his (widely available) personal notes that led to the book that led to movie, so… it’s probably a good look into Dick’s mindset during his religious phase. ...

Incident at the Barn It was an odd chain of coincidences, we thought – Escobert sends us through a secret tunnel, straight into a kobold and cultist ambush. Then he sends us to a mill – straight into a cultist and mercenary, this time, ambush. The burning mill behind us tossed our shadows at our feet as we dragged the prisoner to the edge of the forest. Losing the mill wasn’t really part of our plan, but … at least we were all still alive. And now we had a prisoner who could tell us… everything! ...

Mill map Spend enough time in a kobold suit, and you begin to understand them, a little. The sideways sneers from those who don’t understand. All the gnomes in the lab calling you a “scaly”. But you need to really know your enemy in order to truly ridicule them. Honor them, I mean. Really, two sides of the same cognozzle, right? We’d snuck up to a mill, the mill that the red-bearded dwarf had sent us to protect moments ago, though it seemed like weeks since we’d left the keep and battled the cultists outside the tunnel grate. ...

Cultists on the River I’ve never seen such a tough crowd. I do mean crowd. The humans are stepping on each other’s shadows, and even we more compact sort are having to watch our step. Still, they seem upset, and why? How often do you get to see a DRAGON? I haven’t seen one in a long time. Well, there was that platinum dragon from whom I bought a single perfect note. I keep it in a box at the very bottom of my pack. Someday, the time will be right, and I’ll open that box, and that Note will sing out. ...

By my estimates, we’re about halfway through the foundry contest. So far, interest seems to have been generally falling week to week. Three Week 1 entries hold their grip on the prize spots. Since I changed my scoring method to the one (I hope) the devs will use to judge the contest midway through Week 2, the Week 1 entries might have an unfair advantage in my charts… but, we’ll see. Were the best three quests all just randomly in Week 1? ...

Wow, week 3 already. It’s been a rollercoaster so far, but this week is special. We have missions by two of the foundry’s pro builders – and the unluckiest contest entry of them all. But we’ll get to that one later. First, one of the three quests the overworked cleric who stands near Sergeant Knox gives out this week. The Dragon’s Prize by sc00teR This is the only foundry this week where the quest page is entirely taken up by a disclaimer. I think I was supposed to sign and date it somewhere. Yes, I indemnify the author against any blame for an end reward that I can’t or won’t use. Yes, I will control the mobs I pull and not blame you if I pull too many. Yes, if the sparkly trail leads me over a cliff, I won’t haul you in front of Lord Neverember. ...

Entering Greenest There’s a song I wrote once. Everyone in Elturel was singing it. They loved me there, but what could I do? I’m just that good. They love me everywhere. The song was “Get Off the Cart”… I don’t know if you’ve ever been to the gnome cities beneath the rolling hills of the Western Heartlands, and why would you? You love the sun, the wind, the trees, and why not? Gnome cities were all mines in ancient times, and some still are, with the stone brothers ceaselessly chipping. ...

It’s hard to figure out just what people are looking for when they choose a foundry. Daily quest completion? Experience? Treasure? And don’t laugh at that, because the latest expansion lets you power up your weapons and certain armor by sacrificing treasure to it. Story? Puzzles? Jumping? Last week, we saw a standard adventure-type foundry come in third place… while the top two spots were held by an adventure/combat hybrid, and a straight-up combat quest. ...

Okay, it’s finally here – the first six featured quests in the Cult of the Dragon foundry contest. The devs say this contest could take MONTHS to finish. We start out with a mixed bag of quests… and there’s gonna be some you want to play. And some you want to avoid. I was going to rate these things with an elaborate point system I came up with, but who cares about that? It’s the players who will decide. ...