Fantasist's Scroll

I got a request to share my sourcecode yesterday.
First off, I generally don’t do that because a lot of my stuff is derived from work found elsewhere anyway. Also, my code is crappy looking! I mean, I’m not a real programmer, so sometimes I do strange, circuitous things to make my code work and I’d be embrassed to let that out into the world.
Secondly, I don’t want to support that ugly code when it gets out into the world. Half the time, I can’t remember what I’ve done in the first place, much less why. And, frankly, I don’t have time to properly maintain my own website, so I certainly don’t have time to properly support someone else’s coding efforts.
Thirdly, all my stuff is coded specifically for the web. More precisely, for this website. So, certian “look-and-feel” things are done to force a match here. Also, some of my code contains things that I’d rather not make too publicly available. After all, it is what makes my site unique.

I tried to send this person a note with all that in it, but it bounced back. So, even if I’d wanted to send him my source, I couldn’t! For those of you who really, really want to make your own PERL-based language scripts, do what I did, go to Chris Pound’s Name Generator page and start with his code. That’s really all I’ve done is mangle his code for the web.
So just start with that and play around with PERL. And, of course, go read a couple of PERL books. (One good one, after you’ve gotten your feet wet, is the PERL Cookbook, but any of the O’Reilly books are great.)
Good luck!

A conlang without a grammar is just a cipher.

Think about that for a minute. If you’re just transposing words, you haven’t created a new language so much as you’ve created a new code. Maybe that’s all you’re after. If so, that’s fine and you can stop reading now, but if you want more than that, think about your native language and your conlang for a minute.

Still with me? Great. I can make up words, either by hand or by machine, but making a grammar takes a lot more thought and work. Last month, I was reading the blog over at Langmaker.com, the Ultimate Constructed Language Resource which is maintained by Jeffrey Henning. He had several links to conlang grammars there, including: The Sixteen Rules of Esperanto Grammar, Syntax for Artificial Languages, and A Training Device for Translation Theory and Practice. Any of them are good places to start looking at what goes into a grammar. If you’re a little more advanced than that, and feeling brave, you can try reading Describing Morphosyntax : A Guide for Field Linguists. But, as good as it is, I have to warn you, this is NOT for he casual reader or the easily intimidated. It is a daunting book that damn near put me into a coma! But, if you can make it through this bad boy, you will have a really good grasp of what can go into a language’s grammar. You will also be able to endure incredible, mind-numbing torture as dosed out by mothers-in-law. Or, you will be a gibbering idiot. Either way, it’s all great fuel for conlanging.
I often find myself getting stuck in the “research phase” of my many creative projects. Sometimes, I get so caught up in the research that I never get the project started. This is where I’m at with my conlanging. I need to get past that. I hope that the inspiration from Langmaker, and Jeffery Henning will help me get started on those projects. As they say on the street, ‘aint nothing to but to do it. So, let’s all take some inspiration from those links up above and get started on that conlang that we’ve been putting off.

And, for that matter, gaming.

One of my favorite constructed worlds, or “conworld”, is Tékumel, which is an ongoing project of M.A.R. Barker. One of Professor Barker’s assertions is that religous belief is very important to a created world, but often overlooked or done poorly. In games, we find poorly understood real-world religons being “modernized” or otherwise adapted to the game world in a very surface-level way. Or, religions are simply motions that people go through with little thought or belief behind it. And, while such things often occur in our own world, more people actually believe in a religion of some kind than simply take it as a set of rituals to perform. In any case, it is usually quite a bit more complicated than the way most folks represent. Professor Barker wrote an article about it which you can find in the Blue Room Archives at Tékumel.com It’s worth reading if you’re thinking about integrating a “real” religion into your work.

Oh, my stars, yes, loads of fun!

I first saw the Ghyll Encyclopedia, then the blog post that inspired it. So, I came to understand this glory in a ’round about fashion. Still, it seems like loads of fun. I have no idea how many readers this sad blog draws, but I hope they all go to discover the joys of this game. In fact, I like it so much, I may just set up one of my own! Yes, it’s that inventive.

Oh, for Heaven’s sake, it’s Friday, go see!
(And, yes, I am, in fact, the alter ego of “Doctor” Phineas Crank.)

Okay, so I’ve been busy!

Whew! Let’s see… I haven’t posted much in the past week because I’ve been adding and updating features on the site. For one, The Alchemist’s Attic is now on the standard menu bar. For another, that standard menu bar is now on the results of all my cgi scripts. (Yes, along with all the nice advertising…) And, I’ve added the Fantasy Pocket “Litter” generator to my Worldbuilding and Resources pages.

I’ve also been working on plugins for the WordPress blog system, which I will eventually be converting to for this section of the site. They’re not quite ready for public release, but when they are, I’ll have a Moon Phase plugin, a Chinese Zodiac plugin and a Forgotten Realms (Dale Reckoning) dates plugin. That last is the really tricky one, but when I’m done it will have all the functions to let you run an entire blog, including the calendar in the Dale Reckoning date system, which is used in the Forgotten Realms campaign setting for Dungeons and Dragons.
That last plugin was developed in preparation for my own custom calendar system which I intend to use in a blog set in a fantasy world. The idea being that it would tell a very personal story of one of the inhabitants of said world. Sort of like a fantasy version of the Pepys Diary.

So, as you can see, I really have been busy! But, I promise I’ll post more cool things here soon.

Okay, now here’s a couple that I’m looking forward to getting…

The first two are game books: Serpent Kingdoms, which is a D&D supplement about reptilian races and D20 Future, which is, well, a D20 supplement for futuristic gaming. I’m looking forward to that second one, in particular, for all the cool Star Frontiers information that they’ve included. Star Frontiers was a great little science-fiction game that TSR put out back in the 80’s. It was smart, slick space-opera and it was really, really fun. So, back a couple of weeks ago when I read that Wizards of the Coast was putting all that info into the new D20 game, was really excited. Too bad that it isn’t due out until September! Luckily, Serpent Kingdoms is due out later this month.
So is my third reading list book, Iron Council, which is the third book set in the world of New Crobuzon. A very different and innovative fantasy series by an acclaimed author. It’s really a very interesting world filled with magical creatures, but not any elves! (Hooray!) This one seems to be set back in the city of New Crobuzon itself and promises to be a good one. (Okay, who am I kidding? I’m a drooling fanboy who would worship almost anything China Miéville would put out. There, are you happy?)

So, it looks like I’ll have more reading to do!

is back!

Well, at least the Warehouse 23 Basement is back. And, frankly, that’s all that matters. It’s loads of fun, especially if you’re a gamer. Or, and Indian Jones fan, oddly enough. It’s acutally based on that huge warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Who knows, you might even find the lost Ark of the Covenant!

And, yes, once again, this first appeared on my other blog las week. What can I say? I’m strapped for material!
Anyway, it’s Friday, so go have fun!

“Evercrack”, indeed!

I rarely make social commentary on this blog, but in this case, I’ll make an exception. Wired News ran an article recently about on-line game players and addiction. It seems that there are a number of games that include character boosting “drugs” that players can use to get more points in their respective games. These drugs work like real drugs, with side-effects. Like, for instance, they give you the boost, but eventually require higher doses. Eventually, requiring doses so high that they can kill your character. But, even knowing this, people still use them.

Wow. What does this say about our society? First, it’s interesting that the game designers would put drugs into the game. Especially drugs that have consequences. Second, that people who know better, or should know better, still use them speaks to something fundamentally flawed in our society. Has life become so cheap? Even virtual life? What’s next?
More importantly, how many good stories are there in the discussion of what this all means and what might be coming? Go, write them. Make us think!