Mike, Chris, and Oren offer tips for depicting factions in stories. They describe how competing groups manifest in real life and list their favorite factions from Star Wars, Star Trek, Hunger Games, and Game of Thrones. Then they debate which Hogwarts houses they’re in. Read more »
Sometimes technology is too good to be true. It might be so powerful that problems become trivial. Get into a jam? Just pull out that deus ex machina, it’ll clear it right up for you. Or the tech’s power level is fine, but taken to … read more »
Sarah Gould joins Oren and Mike in discussing The Prime Directive, the most sacred law of Starfleet. They debate whether The Prime Directive is wise or moral. Oren questions the practicality of hiding all alien life, Mike describes ethics in anthropology, and Sarah vents about … read more »
Chris, Mike, and Oren discuss what a good beginning should accomplish. They analyze their favorite and least favorite openings, and describe different opening techniques. Mike raves about military scifi, Chris rants about unnecessary framing devices, and Oren actually defends something from criticism. Read more »
Star Trek: The Next Generation introduced an amazing piece of technology, the replicator. These devices work by the same principle as transporters – making matter out of energy (or reorganizing existing matter into new forms, depending on which technical specs you’re reading). They were mainly … read more »
A while back, I wrote an article about the unintended consequences of various technologies from the Star Trek universe. I barely scratched the surface. A good number of the 700+ episodes (plus a bunch of movies) introduced powerful new tech without ever thinking about its … read more »
Character arcs form the heart of the story. They give audiences a reason to cheer a character on and add emotional depth to the plot. But not all characters arcs are equal. A good arc doesn’t just take a pauper and make her queen; it … read more »
Chris, Oren, and Mike discuss the way wildlife is portrayed in speculative fiction. Since they are never happy, they complain about both vilification and glorification of nature. Oren becomes scared of polar bears, Chris asks for happy swamps, and Mike wears out his welcome with … read more »
While Mike is away with a cough, Oren uses his perfectly objective viewpoint to declare which systems are superior to others. Jim praises games he can break with power combos, and Chris raves about mechanics that make GMs do all the work. They all share … read more »
Telling an egalitarian story means fighting back against a lifetime of cultural programming, not to mention systematic bias in production, publishing, and marketing. So even when we try to make our stories just, problems we haven’t noticed can sneak their way in. Graded on a … read more »
