Blog Columns

Blogworthy: Believing Virus Myths, NASA Worm, Stargate RPG, Kool Aid Man, Skyrim Mods, Mars Rover, Galactic World Building

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Why smart people believe coronavirus myths talks about a phenomenon I’ve seen too many times to count: Otherwise intelligent people retweeting or re-posting questionable content without thinking it through. Case in point: people stating as fact that individuals are getting reinfected with COVID-19. There are certainly cases where people who have had the disease test … Read more

Blogworthy: Good News, Toilet Paper Economics, Star Trek Swearing, Wither Betelgeuse?, Tales from the Loop, Good-bye Dirk Pitt

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Some Good News with John Krasinski: The star of The Office and Jack Ryan started his own Youtube show dedicated to bringing good news to a world that desperately needs it. Thanks John, this is awesome! What Everyone’s Getting Wrong About the Toilet Paper Shortage: Sure, some people are buying more toilet paper than they … Read more

Blogworthy: Floating Worlds, Tome of Beasts II, Data Detox, Savage Frontiers, Backpacking Tips

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A map of the World of Greyhawk

Artists Creates Floating Worlds In Test Tubes – Rosa de Jong creates tiny models of buildings, trees, and geographic features that float on sculpted, rocky islands in a test tube. Think Avatar’s floating islands meets the traditional ship-in-a-bottle models. Greyhawk CY 576 by Anna B. Myers – Thanks to funding from her Patreon, cartographer Anna B. Myers released a refreshed … Read more

Blogworthy: Smart Star Wars Soldiers, Witcher Timeline, Pulp Magazine Archive, Stem Cell Robots, Ice Safety for Giant Monsters

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An armored warrior walks out of a sunset.

The Mandalorian Is the Only Smart Soldier in the Star Wars Galaxy – The Angry Staff Officer at Wired.com explains how everyone’s new favorite bounty hunter and his ally, the former Rebel Alliance drop trooper Cara Dune are the first on-screen soldiers in the Star Wars universe to use reasonable, intelligent strategies and tactics. Here’s why writing things … Read more

Blogworthy: A New Star Wars Reckoning, Four-Day Week, Supernova, Risk, Y2K Redux

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A close up of the cannon aperture of the planet-sized Starkiller Base.

10 Intriguing Star Wars Details We Learned From The Rise of Skywalker’s Visual Dictionary – There are a lot of interesting tidbits in here, but the strangest one is the decision by Lucasfilm to drop the Before/After Battle of Yavin (BBY/ABY) timeline reckoning in favor of Before/After the Starkiller Incident (BSI/ASI). While I can kind … Read more

Blogworthy: Baby Yoda Sleepytime, Unseen Enterprise, Doing Nothing, Electric State, Biohacking, Accidental Neighborhoods, Zeppelin Return, Limelight

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A lounge in space. A bar can be seen to the left; tables with seats look out on space on the right

“Go To Sleep Baby Yoda” Perfectly Captures the Torture of Putting a Toddler to Bed: Yeah … it’s pretty much exactly like that. The Unseen Enterprise-D: Forgotten Trek documents the portions of the Next Generation’s Enterprise that we never saw on the show. It’s filled with fan and concept art for areas like the main shuttle bay, the ship’s many … Read more

Blogworthy: Interstellar Salvage, Star Trek, 1990s Video Game Archive, Unproductive Habits

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Space-suited explorers enter a derelict starship.

The Last Parsec – Jumpcorp Guide to Interstellar Salvage: The Last Parsec is a space opera setting for Savage Worlds that has a Star Frontiers meets Mass Effect feel. This new sourcebook provides rules and setting material for exploring – and salvaging – derelict spacecraft. It sounds like a great setup for a campaign to me since you could easily … Read more

Blogworthy: 5e Skill Challenges, Marvel Multiverse, Fey Realms of Greyhawk, Nuclear Rockets

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A bearded man gestures his hands toward the viewer, casting green arcane energy as he does so.

Skill challenges were one of the few things that everyone in my gaming group liked about Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. Thought it had its issues in its initial iteration, Star Wars: Saga Edition further refined the idea, and we used it to great effect. It’s a subsystem I was sad to see missing from 5th Edition, but … Read more

Blogworthy: Meteorite Swords, Eberron, New Weird, Picard Timeline, Anxiety, Shower Monsters, Planar Manual

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An up-close look at one of Japan’s five Ryuseito swords, forged from meteorites: A look at the forging and subsequent history of these “comet swords”. One of the five blades is missing, which sounds like great fodder for one of my Weird Pulp campaign. Star Trek: Picard Timeline Updated and Explained: How Hugh, Data, and Seven of Nine … Read more

Blogworthy: Coffee Naps, Spocking Currency, Western Oerik, Dragonfly on Titan

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A Canadian five dollar bill ... modified to look like Spock.

Scientists Agree: Coffee Naps Are Better Than Coffee or Naps Alone: Drink some coffee. Take a 20-minute nap. Wake up feeling more refreshed than ever. Bank Of Canada Urges ‘Star Trek’ Fans To Stop ‘Spocking’ Their Fivers: People keep transforming Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Canada’s seventh prime minister, into Star Trek’s Spock in honor of the late Leonard … Read more