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CºNTINUUM news
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cold storage
[9/12/2001 4:02:01 AM | Chris Adams]
Woke up Tuesday morning, and I panicked.
I looked at my watch, and while I didn't have my glasses on, I could tell it read 8:45 AM. There would be trouble, big trouble.
I had left my van at a meter, and there was no parking there between 8 and 9.
I scrabbled into clothes, hoping to get down there and avoid the inevitable ticket. But once I was nearly out the door, I checked my watch again.
It read 7:50.
Thank God! I must have mistaken the second hand for the hour hand somehow. I relaxed. Everything would be all right.
With condolences to all families and innocent victims,
Chris Adams
Aetherco
New York City
2001.09.11
3:50 PM ET
PS Barbara also woke up early, thinking it was around nine, and that she had overslept. Both of us are fine. David Fooden boarded a plane Monday night bound for Seoul, and from there to Vietnam. Since it was an 11:00 PM plane out of JFK, his would not have been one of the hijacked aircraft.
PPS May justice guided by cooler heads prevail.
--
Yes, I am ok and trapped in Alaska for at least 24 hours due to the airports closing. Pray a moose does not eat me. There are lots of bugs here and it's chilly.
Holy shit, I still can't believe it, saw the news footage a little while ago. We're all in shock here.
~ Dave
[7/26/2001 9:35:03 PM | Chris Adams]
Visit us at Gencon 2001 at BOOTH #1046! Looking forward to seeing everyone there.
TIMELINKS' Obscure page is reposted, and more CºNTINUUM scenarios are slowly being made available. Enjoy.
Cheers,
Chris
[7/18/2001 3:08:58 AM | Chris Adams]
Gencon 2001 is just two weeks away-- please follow the links under CONTINUUM *news* at left for our complete game track.
Also, check out pg. 5 of our Summer catalog for our upcoming products, now in the works. Hit *catalog* at left, and expect 364k of PDF goodness to download.
Cheers,
Chris.
NEW YORK - Uploaded AD 2001 07.17
Plus, we have all-new scenarios ready to bend the minds of the gaming public. Save a few slots, spanfans, because we have offerings every day of the con:
Gencon is is just weeks away (August 2 -5, 2001), we'll be there in Booth #1046, and we're looking forward to showing off a demo of our forthcoming SPANBOOKTM Automated Time Travel Diary! See our Summer catalog for a teaser [364k PDF].
Used Time Machines -- Online Auction -- $AVE!!!!
Thursday August 2, 5 PM; 3 hrs 45 min; 1 round
Age: Ages 12 and Up; Rules Complexity: Average; Experience Required: Level 2 - Newcomers welcome
NªRCISSIST v. 0.7.3
Hey, a previously-owned time machine will help you escape! Speedy Delivery, would time travel with again! A++++! Uh, but suppose it doesn't work properly before the Swarm comes to Frag your butt? Talk about leaving negative feedback. For NªRCISSIST.
Latter-Day Spanners by Dave Fooden
Friday August 3, 2 PM; 3 hrs 45 min; 1 round
Age: Mature; Rules Complexity: Average; Experience Required: Level 2 - Newcomers welcome
CºNTINUUM v. 1.1
The West is Yet to be won– but which west? History dictates the United States' manifest destiny, but some narcissists insist on making the Mormon dream of a nation of Deseret an eternal reality. Choose your allegances carefully in this AD 19th Century setting for CºNTINUUM.
Assassinations by Dering Sprague with Chris Adams
ROUND 1 - Saturday August 3, 10 AM; 3 hrs 45 min; 2 rounds, auto advance
ROUND 2 - Sunday August 3, 2 PM; 3 hrs 45 min
Age: Mature; Rules Complexity: Average; Experience Required: Level 2 - Newcomers welcome
CºNTINUUM v. 1.1
Conspiracy buffs can take a joke: Lincoln had a secretary named Kennedy, Kennedy had one named Lincoln, etc. The assassinations are separated by 98 years; even paranoiacs dismiss any genuine connection. Until they realize that time travel is real. For Span 2 or 3 characters.
Aetherco/Dreamcatcher Developing
Automated Span Card
CºNTINUUMTM Accessory Available This Summer
AD 2001.05.08
Aetherco/Dreamcatcher's first foray into computer gaming will be a program based on the Span Card from their CºNTINUUM time travel game that allows players to keep track of their trips through time. "It's a small but decisive step," explains Aetherco VP Chris Adams. "It's an element we always wanted to have available to gamers."
The companies have always hired outside artists and writers to bring their visions to life, but this is the first time they have hired a programming engineer. "Also, we don't deem this a step away from book-based games or products, but an expansion into the digital realms," explains Adams. "We know people are playing CºNTINUUM by email, and since they're at their monitors already, we want to give them every opportunity to play the game with minimal burden in doing the chorework of adding and subtracting calendar dates. It might be difficult to create an Everquest-like environment for CºNTINUUM, but that doesn't mean abandoning the digital markets to the limiting definition computer game manufacturers have put on the term 'RPG'. It's time to put gamers in charge of roleplaying again."
Decisions as to whether the initial release of the application will be shareware or freeware are pending, but should not hinder the timing of the release itself. Features will include automatic Age and Duration calculation, and expandable room for a time traveller's running diary– all notable advantages over the paper Span Card. Additional functions are to be determined as the programming process advances.
NEW YORK - Uploaded AD 2001 04.27
Genericon is an anime and game con held every year on the campus of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy NY, outside of Albany. It's not terribly close to its train stations; RPI is at the top of a mind-bogglingly steep cliff that rises above the only national-chain hotel within a mile or so, and since it's held in winter (January 19 - 21, 2001), the effort to approach the festivities seems insane, even inside a shuttle bus. Why load for bear and do a forced march through snow just to watch some cartoons in a foreign language?
For one thing, this engineering school has more than half a dozen huge screens to play anime on. Classrooms become widescreen theaters– which is perfect, since America is still getting used to the idea that animated movies can capture an adult, cinema-going audience, and many of these films were made for the big screen in Japan.
They also don't weigh down the con with any kiddie stuff, which they refer to as "PokéMoon Z" and openly disdain: Genericon radio ad [648k mp3]. The best, the bizarre, and the blue of the Japanese art form is shown round the clock, all subs no dubs (or at least we heard no dubbing going on).
Since the anime rooms are in real life lecture halls, scheduled panels have a great venue. Dave Fooden and Chris Adams were able to hold forth on a number of the issues that shaped the CºNTINUUMTM game, and they felt professorial every moment.
The first organized Cowboy Bebop party (that we know of) was held at Genericon, thrown by Aetherco's own Barbara Manui. Since food and lack thereof plays an intrinsic role in the series, we collected as many of last-morsel foods the crew of the Bebop had to stomach, and forced them on a willing convention: shiitake mushrooms, chocolate souvenirs, dog food, and even an entire basketfull of boiled eggs, this last secured through the last-minute problem-solving of our hosts, the future geniuses of RPI. Seeing Bebop on the big screen while partying down was one of the high points of our time.
CºNTINUUM and NªRCISSISTTM games went quite well, as the engineering students took to Span cards like bits in a graphing calculator. But they've insisted since they've had no problem showing others their use, and are spreading the CºNTINUUM gospel even as we type.
A couple of lockers full of boardgames were available in the main area, with several open gaming tables; the game event schedule was light, but well-attended from what we saw. Essentially, if you're an otaku into gaming, this is your con. If you're a gamer into anime, you won't be disappointed either.
And realistically, the accommodations aren't half bad. There are some eateries and other basic shops within walking distance of the hotel, and an on-campus food service while at the con itself. Being treated well as guests helped a lot, but we got the impression that Genericon is a beloved institution at RPI, always struggling to share its gifts with the outside world. Think of it as an anime Rivendell that brigadoons once a year, and make the hike to see it.
You probably haven't gone to JerseyDevilCon because it's only occurred once so far (April 6-8, 2001) but it's already off to a roaring start. Founded by Steve Yoder, the mastermind behind Hurricon, this new convention is filling the long-standing void of Not Enough Cons on the East Coast.
For a small, brand-new con, JerseyDevilCon had a lot going for it. Panels ran on a wide variety of SF subjects, the dealer room had a good selection of wares, and gaming was well represented among ourselves, the World Tree RPG, and someone trying to get a Magic tournament going. The staff was harried but efficient and friendly, and while the hotel wasn't too easy to find, it was happily surrounded by restaurants and services (malls on all sides: it's New Jersey, after all).
Dave Fooden was a panelist on a Future Weapons panel, although he pointed out he was not a professional Future Weapon designer, but still an interested party, as he gets to paint these things from time to time. Chris Adams sat on panels regarding the accuracy of the futures SF portrays, and a time travel discussion. Both of us had a great time.
The scheduled gaming was very light but more than adequate for the gamers discovering the new vistas of CºNTINUUM and NªRCISSIST. Copies sold briskly even with the first-year attendance of around 200+, and with the friendly competition from the World Tree RPG designers, who also did quite well. Our thanks go out to the many young players we befriended for their effort and input! (See a review of CºNTINUUM from one of them at Anathema's Domain.)
Next year, a Big Name Author is confirmed as guest, so the hotel will be a larger one, to contain all his fen, and Steve has promised to doublecheck to make sure his con isn't scheduled on a Jewish (or any other) holiday weekend again. With a new location and some positive word-of-mouth, this should become one of the hot new cons for the '00s.
Steve also invited us back again as guests, and we'll just take him up on that.
We also visited I-CON (March 30 - April 1, 2001) for the first time this year, and found out why so many of you are attending it: For one thing, the LIRR out of Manhattan stops right at the campus at Stony Brook. Another is, it's been running a long while, and has some really cool media guests.
One of these was actor Brad Dourif, to whom Chris put the tough question about the upcoming LotR movies. Pointing out his unique perspective in having acted in adaptations of the seminal 20th Century works Dune and The Lord of the Rings, we asked him during a stage appearance whether he felt that LotR was faithfully adapted? He decisively answered that no book is like its motion picture counterpart, and "what you'll be seeing is Peter Jackson's 'The Lord of the Rings'." At another point in his appearance, he pointed out that he was satisfied with the production of LotR, but was dismayed with how Dune was handled in 1984, saying "it should have been two movies". Chris left him with the comment that of the entire cast list, the pairing of Chris Lee as Saruman and Brad Dourif as Wormtongue was something everyone was looking forward to seeing, to which much of the audience nodded and murmured approval and agreement.
We only stayed for the day, since Chris had to run home and nominate some Hugos. Certain editions of Cowboy Bebop were eligible under the rules, and justice had to be served.
For upcoming conventions we'll be at, visit The Con Game page.
For convention listings around the world, check out Jenga's pages at go.to/conventions
For the best SF series you're not watching, see Sunrise/Bandai's Cowboy Bebop.
Rated a rare "A" by SciFi.com, Cowboy Bebop is, despite the anime-ish name, better than Trek, B5, and nearly every episode of Buffy and FarScape. Give it 5 episodes (subbed not dubbed!), and you cannot escape.
