Back in January, in my State of the Sector address, I mentioned that I was working on a Dungeons & Dragons supplement for the DM’s Guild. In my ignorance (or perhaps hubris), I thought it would be ready in March. Oh, you sweet, summer child.
But here’s the thing: While I may have grossly overestimated how long it would take to produce said supplement, I’m glad it came along in its own time. It allowed me to really make it great, thanks largely to the editor, designer and artist on this, Gabby, Natalia and Miguel. Now I’m proud to be able to introduce The Artificer’s Guide to Magic Items.
What is it?
The Artificer’s Guide is a supplement for Dungeons & Dragon 5e for both players and Dungeon Masters. The book serves both as an expansion and fusion of the crafting systems found in the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. It takes a layered approach to item creation that ranges from mundane, non-magical items to powerful artifacts — and everything in between.
I would hardly be a copywriter if I didn’t include a list of features and benefits, so here you go:
Expanded item creation rules for non-magic items, magic items of all five standard rarities, scrolls & potions, sentient items, and artifacts.
Improve the value of gems and art objects, add new abilities to existing magic items, transfer abilities between items, and design new magic items from scratch.
Hire help in crafting or enchanting items, or engage your fellow party members in the process to create cooperatively.
Explore special crafting environments, tools, and components that can supercharge any player’s ability to craft — especially if they are an Artificer.
Discover ways to integrate Artificer class abilities into item creation, granting additional time savings and reduced creation costs.
9 new spells exclusive to Artificers to unlock their crafting and creative potential.
15 optional rules to fine tune the crafting and item interaction experience at your table.
22 new magic items that include crafting aids and ways to give all four Artificer subclasses an extra edge both in the lab and on the battlefield.
Includes handy worksheets with step-by-step instructions to keep track of all the numbers.
Why is it?
I am a big fan of the Artificer class that debuted in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. I love the idea of a character that uses magic to create stuff. It fills a gap that I’ve wanted to see addressed for a long time. Unfortunately, I feel that the class hasn’t been given the same attention and support that the other core classes in the game have received. There just feels like there’s something missing from it.
What’s worse, you have a class that’s devoted to making things, but the item creation rules in 5e feel half-hearted and don’t grant the Artificer class any advantages in crafting. According to the rules, if a Barbarian and an Artificer were both trying to create a staff of thunder and lightning, they would be on equal footing.
To me, that doesn’t fulfill the core fantasy of being an Artificer. It would be akin to a Bard not having the edge in drafting an epic poem, or a Paladin being equivalent to a Rogue when it comes to navigating the seedy underbelly of a crime syndicate.
So, I did something about it. I created a crafting system using the framework of existing elements from both the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything. In this resulting system, any class can craft items, but the Artificer has the chance to shine brightest. The system also integrates Artificer class abilities into the mix to give a little extra oomph to creating items.
Where is it?
You’ll be able to find it on the DM’s Guild soon. ‘Soon’ being in the next few weeks. Right now, the layout is done, and we’re in the process of getting a print-on-demand version sorted out. That’s right, there will be a hard-copy version of the book available at launch! UPDATE: The book took slightly longer to launch than originally thought, but the book it’s now available here!
The PDF version of the book is $4.99. If you want a hard copy, that version is $17.99.
Final Thoughts
The Artificer’s Guide is the first supplement that I’m releasing under the Sector M banner. Pretty soon, there will be a new part of my author website for Sector M Games. You’ll note that everything under the games banner will feature a green version of the classic Sector M logo.
So, yeah, this is my first release under Sector M Games, but I’m hoping it won’t be the last. I have some other projects in the works that I hope will soon join the Artificer’s Guide on DM’s Guild or on my website.
I love museums and historical sites. If you’ve followed this blog for any period of time, this will come as no surprise. If you’re just joining us, museums have been something I’ve always enjoyed, even as a kid.
The thought of preserving our history where it can be enjoyed by the public is something that has always been a part of me as long as I can remember (even before I saw Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.) In my writing career I’ve even had the pleasure of doing some museum work, and hope to do much more in the future. So, suffice to say, historical sites and museums are my bread and butter.
There’s a phenomenon that I’ve encountered a few times when I’ve visited these places that I want to share with you, which I call “Oak Tree” moments. I’ll get into why I call it this in a moment, but it’s a catalyst that peels back the fog of time and years in a sudden rush.
Sometimes when you stand in a historical place or in the presence of historical artifacts, it can be hard to reconcile that you are actually there, that history is so close at hand. An Oak Tree moment is the realization that you are, in fact, there. It can be a transformative experience.
This doesn’t happen to me at every site or museum I’ve visited, but when it does it is powerful stuff. For this blog post, I wanted to share with you a few of the times I’ve had an Oak Tree moment, starting with the original.
My First Oak Tree
When I was fourteen, I had a week-long school trip to our nation’s capital. Washington D.C. was the most impressive city I had ever visited at the time. I had a keen interest in history even back then, having joined the local chapter of our school’s Junior Historians two years before at the age of twelve.
As you can imagine, getting to see all the regular stops was incredible: the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson memorial, Capitol Hill, and the crowning achievement — the Smithsonian. There, I got to see (among many other things) the original model for the U.S.S. Enterprise used in the original series Star Trek. They even had a pair of pointed-ear appliances worn by Leonard Nimoy on the show. I was a big fan even back then, and seeing the real deal was breathtaking, but not the Oak Tree.
We weren’t able to visit the White House, but drove by it. We looked at the Declaration of Independence through bullet-proof glass at the National Archives. We saw so many relics from the founding of our nation that I was close to such a moment, but not quite there yet.
Our tour group went to Mount Vernon, home of George Washington. If you’ve never been there, the grounds are tranquil and well maintained. I walked through his home. The tour guide told us that the green paint on the walls was Washington’s idea because it was soothing to the eye. Gorgeous as the house is, I knew in the back of my mind that it had been heavily renovated. Great care had been taken to restore the place to how it had been in Washington’s lifetime, but again I knew that little of it was original.
We visited Washington’s grave nearby, where he and Martha Washington are interred. I’ve always had a reverence for historical graves, and this one was no different, but still that feeling of realness hadn’t quite hit me.
The moment in question came when the tour guide took us to a beautiful, picturesque oak tree on the grounds, not terribly far away from the house. It had grown tall and strong. I remember looking up at it and thinking that it had come out of Lord of the Rings. That’s when the tour guide informed us that Washington himself had planted that tree.
My mind reeled at this. I thought about how long it takes oak trees to grow to that size, decades, centuries, even. The time difference between where I stood there at the age of fourteen and when Washington had stood on the same spot to plant the acorn seemed vastly far away, yet close at hand at the same time. He had actually been there, on that spot. The house wasn’t just a reproduction; it was really the place he lived, the place where he died.
In my mind’s eye I saw the tree sprout up out of the ground as the days and nights flew by in a time-lapsed flash, growing and growing until it finally became the tree I stood beneath. It was like a waking dream. This was the first time I had ever felt connected, really connected to history.
The Hatch
Some years later, I found myself at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas. I’ve been lucky to visit this museum more times than any other, but on this occasion it was my first visit. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend it. After a short video presentation, the museum starts off hundreds of years before World War II, talking about how trade and conflict over a long period of time created the complicated relationship between Japan and China.
As you walk along the timeline, you start to see Japan’s gradual rise to power and imperialism, including the military campaigns they waged in China, creating the client state of Manchukuo. The displays and exhibits don’t try to downplay the violence. One of the photos in the gallery here is of an infant sitting in the ruins of a bombed out train station in Shanghai. On a future visit, this photo would absolutely wreck me.
Finally, as you might expect in a museum about the Pacific War, you are led to a short presentation about the attack on Pearl Harbor. The display features one of the two-man Japanese subs present at the attack. There are many artifacts from that day and models of ships. Just around the corner from the submarine, however, tucked into an unassuming alcove is a rusted piece of metal.
I’ve mentioned this particular piece of metal before, but this was the first time I had ever laid eyes on it. The metal is reddened with rust. A black stain crosses it about half-way. Above that stain, there is an egg-shaped hole cut into its surface.
This is a hatch from the battleship, Arizona one of the first USN ships lost in the war. The black stain comes from all the oil floating on top of the water. It shows us where the waterline was when the ship sank. The hole was cut by Navy divers who were looking for survivors on the other side.
I’ve seen the famous photo of Arizona in the aftermath, her once-proud lines blackened and ruined, belching smoke. It’s a powerful image, but nothing (and I mean nothing) prepared me to see an actual part of her hull. The fear and desperation of that day seemed to radiate from it, but with it, the courage, the determination, and uncommon valor also. I’ve never really been one to believe in ghosts, but the reaction I had was visceral, and I was overwhelmed.
I may have had an Oak Tree moment then, but it was to a very violent and dark chapter of our history. I have since visited this hatch on several occasions, and there has always been a reaction, though nothing quite like the first time. Each time I visit, I am thankful for the Japanese Peace Garden that exists on the grounds, which is always a welcome coda to the war.
The Diary
Last year, my family visited the National World War II museum in New Orleans, which includes an incredible number of exhibits from both the European and Pacific theatres. Before we go any further, I should say that even though this story also deals with a WWII museum, it led to one of the most heartfelt stories of the war that I’ve ever encountered.
We took the guided tour, and I’m really glad that we did. (Once again, I highly recommend doing so.) We progressed through the march to Berlin and then the march to Tokyo. As we got a decent way into the Pacific War, the tour guide stopped us at a glass enclosure and pointed out an open diary.
This particular diary belonged to Thomas Jones, a Marine whose blonde hair earned him the nickname of “Cotton.” Cotton kept a diary like so many did to document his experiences in the war. He also kept a picture of his high-school sweetheart in the diary, a young woman named Laura Mae Davis. Knowing the danger he was in, Cotton wrote in his diary that, if something should happen to him, he wanted Laura Mae Davis, the woman he loved, to have his diary.
Unfortunately, something did happen. Cotton died at the age of twenty-two at the battle of Peleliu. His personal effects, including the diary, were sent home to his family. Unfortunately, it appears that the diary went into a box and never made its way to Laura Mae Davis. Eventually, the diary was sent to the museum and put on display.
Fast forward to 2013, and a fateful trip to the museum. A 90-year-old woman with her family sees the diary, and the photo, recognizing it as a picture of herself. By sheer chance, Laura Mae Davis encountered the diary that Cotton wished her to have from the beginning. She brought this to the attention of the curator, who read Cotton’s words in the book, and gave it to her on the spot. It eventually came back on display at the museum where I encountered it.
There are so many service members who kept a diary just like Cotton’s, thousands, tens of thousands. This book is a single thread in a greater tapestry. The scope of World War II is so large that it’s almost more than the mind can comprehend, but Cotton’s diary shines a spotlight on one story among many in such a way that it humanizes them all.
Honorable Mention: The King’s Palace
Early this year I went to Graceland in Memphis, Tennessee, the home of the one and only Elvis Presley. I wrote about it in the blog post here, where I talk about having an Oak Tree moment, but I didn’t give specifics to it, only that it had happened to me.
You know what it was that triggered it? It wasn’t a white bespangled jumpsuit or the sight of the famous pink Cadillac. Two things triggered it, actually. First, it was the wood paneling in the security booth that guarded the driveway just outside the mansion itself. It’s the same kind of paneling that was in my childhood home, which had been built in the sixties. It gets really hot in Memphis in the summer, but the booth station had to be manned at all times because of who Elvis was. Thankfully, there was a standalone A/C window unit to give some much needed relief to the person on call. These small details really brought Elvis’ fame home to me.
The second part was green carpeting — on the ceiling. In the world-famous Jungle Room, where Elvis famously bought all of his furniture at once, he had green shag carpeting installed on the floor. Besides using the space to entertain celebrities, he also used the Jungle Room as a place to record music. This led him to carpet on the ceiling as well. From various accounts, this is the room where Elvis would often watch the news and eat breakfast. So, the carpet gave me that momentary view into the life of the man himself in the very space where these events took place. Absolutely magical.
Final Thoughts
History is a weird thing. The effects of it are all around us, every day, influencing us in a dozen subtle ways, affecting our opinions and viewpoints across a spectrum of areas — often without us even being aware of it. Museums and historical sites are our direct link to that history, where we come face-to-face with it.
I know that not everyone is quite so moved by history as I am, and that’s fine. It can be easy to get lost in all of the names and dates and minutiae, but in the end history is really about people. Oak Tree moments, on the rare occasions that I experience them, bring all that into sharp relief for a moment. They are a reminder that we are all fellow passengers through time.
So, I put the question to you: Have you ever experienced an Oak Tree moment of your own? If so, I would love to hear about it in the comments. If not, I hope that you do have one at some point in the future. You never know when something will strike a spark. Sometimes it can be the littlest thing, the smallest detail that can forge that connection with history.
I want to start this post by congratulating Larian Studios on their launch of Baldur’s Gate III on the PS4 platform. Now Playstation players will have the chance to go on a grand adventure that PC players have enjoyed for a few weeks now. Welcome to the party, folks!
Before I get too far along here, this blog post will contain spoilers for Baldur’s Gate III, so be advised.
Absolutely everyone who has helped produce this game should be proud of their work. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this amount of heart and soul put into a game, and it shows. But before I get into the specifics on why I love it so much, I want to give you the genesis of how BG3 came into my life.
How It Started
About a year ago, I got into the BG3 early access. I was afraid that my aging PC wouldn’t be able to deliver a decent experience. While it creaked along, I was able to play through Act 1 a few different ways. There were many nights that I didn’t get much sleep. I thoroughly enjoyed my time back then, but once I exhausted all the content, I put it down. My interest remained, however, and I’ve been listening to the music from the game ever since.
Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to rebuild my gaming rig for a while yet. This put me in the unenviable position of having to wait to play this landmark game. I saw on NerdImmersion’s channel that Larian recommended that you uninstall the game and delete all your saves just so that there would be no problems with the new install.
Darling…
A few days after the launch date for PC, I booted up BG3 to do just that. I had been hesitant to do so only because seeing it all again would just reinforce that I was going to have to wait until I get a computer setup that could handle it.
To my surprise, Steam had already done that for me. The full version of the game was just sitting there, waiting. I wasted no time diving in. I found, to my surprise, that my existing PC could actually handle the game, perhaps even a bit better than it had during early access. Consequently, I have been playing my merry little heart out the last few weeks. Once again, I find myself burning the midnight oil to visit Faerûn.
And there are some good reasons for that.
The Immersion
Larian did an outstanding job of fusing story, setting, and stakes into one coherent whole. Besides the incredible volume of things you can go and do, as well as the dozen or more ways you can approach each situation, BG3 makes me care — about the world, the characters, and the aftermath of the choices I make. I think the last game that gave me that sense of place was Ghost of Tsushima, which will forever have a special place in my heart.
This game just hits all the right notes, and does so with a minimal amount of bugs and crashes. Your mileage may vary, but I’ve only encountered a handful of glitches.
Soldier!
Beyond that, BG3 presents us with a variety of weighty themes, including mortality, the uses and justifications of power, standing up for what you believe in, owning up to your choices, and (in places) showing us that the quality of mercy is not strained.
While the combat is certainly thrilling, and I do love it, I also enjoy being able to talk my way out of a fight while receiving XP without undue bloodshed. It’s just one of the ways that Larian has served up an RPG that gives us the feeling of being there.
The Dramatis Personae
Perhaps the most compelling and endearing aspect of the game is the way that BG3 presents the companion characters. This cast of characters, all incredibly well written, are what set this game apart. When I talk about the heart and soul of the game, the characters are what I mean.
And I would be remiss if I didn’t give the voice cast of this game a huuuuge shout-out here. They played their parts so well that I really felt it when something unfortunate happened to them, and elated when some bit of good luck came their way. I knew I would be invested in these characters, but I was not prepared for just how much that would be the case.
Shar’s blessings upon you.
So, (in no particular order) I’d like to thank Amelia Tyler, Jennifer English, Devora Wilde, Neil Newbon, Tim Downie, Theo Solomon, Dave Jones, Emma Gregory, Samantha Béart, and so many others for bringing such life into these characters. The performances here are ones for the ages.
A few times, the screen got awfully blurry as the events unfolded before me. The end of Shadowheart’s story line, and the heartrending choice she has to make, springs immediately to mind. Karlach’s speech after seeing her tormentor defeated totally wrecked me. I thought about that one for a few days afterwards.
Then, there’s the whole cut-scene where the Nightsong takes flight that gave me strong vibes of King Arthur riding across the land to one last battle while Carmina Buranaplays in Excalibur. There are so many perfect moments that it’s hard to believe it’s all in one game.
The Music
I have been listening to the BG3 OST for more than a year now. I write to music, and any time I’ve needed to get into a fantasy mood, this has been my go-to score. Heck, I’ve used it to write science fiction or in just my regular writing. In fact, I’ve been listening to it as I write these words. It’s excellent for all occasions.
When it’s playing in tandem with the game, it is, well, magical. This may be the best game soundtrack since Skyrim, which was transcendent. The composer, Boris Slavov, has really given us a musical experience that propels BG3 up among the stars.
*istik…*
This game would have been marvelous even if the musical score had just been so-so, but the haunting beauty, passion, and poignancy it delivers is akin to throwing rocket fuel on an already blazing bonfire.
I’ve heard music sometimes described as ‘speaking all those things that cannot be put into words.’ Of course, it’s hard to capture the essence of what I’m talking about just through text. So, I thought I might point you in the direction of the music so you can experience it for yourself. Here is a sampling of some of the tracks that have moved me the most:
Love — that’s what I see when I play this game. There’s such an incredible amount of care, time, and attention put into every aspect of Baldur’s Gate III that it has redefined the video game RPG genre for me. So, when I say it’s a game-changer, I mean it quite literally. It has recontextualized what a game could and can be.
Ultimately, this game is about a bunch of broken, morally grey people (though some are definitely greyer than others), being forced together by circumstances beyond their control to become the point on which the fate of millions turns.
They’re from all walks of life, from many different places, and most of them of had some pretty horrible things to contend with in their lives before the tadpole arrived. Half of them barely tolerate the other half.
But when it counts, despite their differences, they come together anyway, knowing that time is short and that they should act while they still can.
And you know, I think there’s something really beautiful about that.
2023 has been weird. This is the second time that I’ve had to scrap the blog post I was working on to address a seismic shift in an industry that interests me. Technically two industries in this case, but two that are very much interrelated.
I’m talking, of course, about the current strikes involving the Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild/American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA).
Pencils down.
Before I get too far into this discussion, I should point out that I am not a member of either of these organizations. I am a professional writer by trade, but I’m a copywriter. So, more of a marketing/branding writer. I write books and games, but that’s all just a side hustle for now. I am not a screenwriter, though that field does hold a certain draw for me. And while I was a theatre kid in high school and a bit in college, I realized early on that I was not cut out to be an actor.
Let me be absolutely crystal clear on this point: I will always be in favor of the artist over the corporation. That goes for the current situation as well as any more that might come about in the future. With that in mind, I thought I would lay out my thoughts on the subject, and why I think strikes like these are important and necessary.
The Eternal Squeeze Play
Corporations, with few exceptions, will almost always seek the path that reduces costs and maximizes profits. It’s one thing to run a company efficiently, but it’s quite another when both the reducing and the maximizing are taken to extremes.
That’s why I have little patience for CEOs who make more in a day than most people make in a year (and more in a year than most folks will make in a lifetime) saying that there’s not enough money to pay their creatives for their work. These are some of the same executives who were recently reported as saying that they would drag out negotiations until union members started losing their homes, describing it as a “cruel but necessary evil.”
Bear in mind that the biggest hubs of entertainment production are also situated in some of the most expensive places to live in the nation. Google how much the average rent is for a basic apartment in Los Angeles, I dare you.
The show won’t go on.
So, we have a situation where media corporations are raking in enormous profits, but the people who help create all that value are not able to adequately share in it. All the while, these creatives face limited work protections, a crushing lack of health care, and a shortage of the basic safety nets that other industries have gained only through organized labor.
Once again, I trust a corporation to do only what it considers to be in its own interest, and nothing more. Anything beyond that will require direct action for them to, grudgingly, loosen the purse strings. These companies could not, and cannot, exist without the labor of these writers and actors, pure and simple. So, just for the industry to continue, the people involved must be allowed to make a living wage, rather than being relegated to the iffy world of gig-economy/contractor status.
Skin in the Game
Now, what is or isn’t decided at the negotiating table will not affect me financially, but it will affect me. It will affect you, too. We all have a stake in these strikes to some degree. Unless you sequester yourself in some sort of remote area, chances are you stream movies or TV shows as entertainment. We all consume media in some capacity.
Can you imagine how much more miserable the pandemic would have been without streaming? And yet, as much as streaming services saw huge increases from that time, a trend that continues on to today, streaming has not proven itself to be a sustainable model for all the folks who contributed to its success.
The fact of the matter is that if we as the public want to continue enjoying movies and shows, we had better hope that both the WGA and SAG-AFTRA negotiations are successful. If not, there will be fewer people able to lend their talents to that end. Fewer people will mean fewer shows and fewer movies for us to enjoy. So, this isn’t just an issue for screenwriters and actors; we all have skin in this game.
No Dice, Skynet
Another sticking point in all this is corporations’ use of AI-generated content. This goes well beyond just actors and writers, but the use of AI will have enormous repercussions throughout the entire sphere of creative endeavors. I absolutely don’t blame actors and writers for wanting protections from AI written in their contracts. I would as well were I in their place.
AI is a creative shortcut, and right now a pretty mediocre one at that. It has the virtue of being pretty cheap to employ, though, certainly much cheaper than a living person who constantly needs money for food, water, and shelter. It’s the relative cheapness that has most corporations’ mouths watering. It’s yet another way to cut costs and maximize profits.
The use of AI brings up a whole host of moral and ethical questions. I won’t discuss those here, as they are far too numerous and complex. Rather, the point that I would like to make about AI used in a creative endeavor is this: Creativity is a human expression. Using our imagination and creativity constitute perhaps the most human things we can do.
There is no culture without creativity. If we decide to outsource our creativity to a machine, then we are, by extension, allowing an algorithm to dictate our culture to us. That diminishes us in ways I can’t even begin to fathom. Yeah, no thanks, Mr. Terminator — hard pass.
Conclusions
I think what these strikes boil down to is trying to get the major studios to acknowledge and accept that writers and actors are humans — with needs and aspirations, deserving of dignity and protection. It might be easy to point to a few rock stars in both fields as being super successful, but they are the exceptions, not the rule. The vast majority of creative people on the picket line nowadays do not fall into that category. They just want to be able to make a steady career in the industry.
It might be hard to see entertainment as a “product” in the same way that we view tangible products like steel girders or cars, but these creatives deserve to be compensated even if the work they produce is highly subjective. Really, when it comes down to it, if our auto manufacturers and steel workers have been able to secure legally enforceable assurances from their own corporations, vulnerable workers in the entertainment industry should be no different.
Think about the moments that have moved you the most on the big or small screen. One that comes to mind for me is seeing Tony Stark give the snap in Endgame that simultaneously defeats Thanos and saves the universe. That scene was written by the Russo Brothers and the movie’s editor, Jeff Ford, and then acted on screen by the peerless Robert Downey, Jr.
Each moment like that — each time it feels like all the air has gone out of the room and we feel the story resonate in our very bones — an actor and a writer brought that to life. If we don’t allow these creatives a path forward and a future they can aspire towards, we risk not having an entertainment industry at all. Or, at least, not much of one.
When my father would take me to elementary school, we had something of a tradition: We would listen to music to set the mood for the morning. It was through these early morning music sessions that I was first exposed to classical composers such as Vivaldi and Brahms, as well as the guitar magic of Fernando Sor and Enrique Granados. One of the albums that made its way into the mix was Paul Simon’s, Graceland.
The entire album is fantastic, but there was something in the catchy bass hook of “Graceland” that really resonated with me. This was the first time I had ever heard of the place, but I didn’t know what it was. My father informed me that Graceland was the famous residence of none other than the legend himself, Elvis Presley.
Recently, I had a chance to finally follow in the footsteps of the King. Paul’s Simon’s eponymous theme played through the speakers of the rental car on the way there, as it should. The Graceland Museum is right across the street from the mansion itself. It is filled with all manner of Elvis artifacts, ranging from his cars, including the famous Pink Cadillac, some of his Army gear from the time he was drafted, and tributes and various personal possessions. His signature jumpsuits and golden records are also on display, though I wasn’t able to see them this time around. It’s good to have something new to see next time I’m in Memphis, however, since I already want to go there again.
Where I was fascinated, however, was in the mansion itself. Elvis bought the estate when he was just 22 years old, and he lived there for the remainder of his life. He modified the grounds extensively, adding the iconic guitar gates, an outdoor pool, a trophy building, and an indoor racquetball court.
The grounds there are peaceful. Part of me was captivated by the trees on the green in front of the house. I went in with the tour group, just one more pilgrim in the crowd. While luxurious, even decadent in places, I was struck by just how small the house was. Elvis was arguably the first international megastar. Musicians nowadays with a fraction of his star power live in megamansions that could dwarf Graceland. That Elvis chose this place as his main residence, and didn’t have a string of much larger places, is something that’s worth noting.
The Graceland Mansion has been frozen in time from the era when he lived there. His living room with a grand piano and stained glass peacocks, his yellow basement lounge with its three TVs and a (for the time) state-of-the-art RCA sound system, the world-famous Jungle Room with its carved wooden furniture and green shag carpeting on the floor and ceiling — it’s all in the state that Elvis left it.
It’s here that I had my ‘oak tree’ moment (a phenomenon that happens to me often enough at places like this that it really deserves its own blog post). Basically, it’s the dawning realization that the place you’re standing in isn’t a reproduction or facsimile; it’s the very real place where this person lived. This is where they sat down for dinner, spent time with family, took important phone calls, made tough decisions that are now lost to the sands of time — where the quiet moments of their life took place. In Elvis’ case, it’s also the place where he passed away. Heavy stuff, man.
The second floor of the Mansion is roped off. The audio tour, hosted by John Stamos, tells the visitors that the upper floor is kept private. I suspect that’s largely because having people see the place where he died just should not be on display. And, you know, I’m fine with that.
The next day, I went into Memphis proper to see the place where Elvis’ recording career first began its meteoric rise to prominence. Just as I would recommend the tour of Graceland, the same is true of Sun Studio, the birthplace of rock and roll. The likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, B.B. King, and so many others made their careers at Sun Studio.
The space where Elvis recorded “That’s All Right,” his first runaway hit, is right there on the first floor of Sun. You can see the spot where he recorded the single that began his rock stardom. The story goes that Elvis had a fateful recording session with Sam Phillips, Sun’s owner and record producer, one that did not go so well at first. After a few hours, Sam decided to call it quits. The guitar and bass players began putting their instruments away when Elvis started singing “That’s All Right.” Something in it really grabbed Sam’s attention, and he asked Elvis to sing it again. The bass and guitar players pulled their instruments back out and they spent the rest of the night trying to get the song down.
Once they finally had it in the can, Sam sent the record over to the “Red Hot & Blue” radio show hosted by legendary DJ, Dewey Philips. “That’s All Right“ became an instant hit. A few days later, Elvis signed his first recording contract with Sun. His first record came out two weeks later, and so begins Elvis’ path to becoming a fixture in American pop culture. He inspired a generation of artists, and his fame paved the way for many other musical legends. As Buddy Holly put it, “Without Elvis, none of us would have made it.”
Buddy Holly would, in turn, go on to inspire many others, including the Beatles. So, the impact that Elvis has had on music cannot be understated. As an aside, I once knew a lady who had a collection of pristine liquor decanters in the likeness of Elvis, complete with microphones and necklaces gilded with real gold. I mean, that’s a little on the weird side, but how many other musicians are ever enshrined in such a way?
Yet, when I think of Elvis, not the one we see on black velvet but the man himself, I can’t help but feel pity for him, especially in the final years of his life. Increasingly isolated, with most of his musical rights sold, divorced, performing constantly, with years of bad habits taking their toll, he died alone at the age of just 42.
There’s a piano in the lounge adjoining the aforementioned racquetball court. That was the last instrument that Elvis ever played, on the day he died. According to his cousin and member of the Memphis Mafia, Billy Smith, the last songs Elvis sang were “Blue Eyes Cryin’ in the Rain“ and “Unchained Melodies,” the latter of which was one of the last live performances he ever gave. Both songs, especially when sung by Elvis, have that poignant, yearning quality to them, which I can only conclude encapsulated his state of mind at the time. Listening to them now is haunting.
I didn’t know this before I arrived at Graceland, but Elvis is actually interred on the grounds, near a fountain in the Meditation Garden. He’s there along with his mother and father. Tragically, his only daughter, Lisa Marie, now lies there in a mausoleum next to her son, Benjamin Keough. It’s difficult to stand there and not be moved, yet the peaceful nature of the grounds I spoke of earlier is a balm to this.
You know, in many ways, I have been on my way to Graceland for a long time, ever since those trips with my father as we zipped down the country roads in his ’72 Datsun pickup truck. Trips like this are transformative in many ways. Where I thought the visit would be for the glitz and glamour of one of America’s brightest stars, I came away with more of a feeling of introspection for having been there, a cause to ask the important questions of life, death, and existence. My trip to the Buddy Holly Museum had a similar effect on me.
Even still, Elvis had a personal mantra in the ’70s, summed up in this logo. Believe me, it is everywhere at the Graceland Museum.
The gates of the Graceland Museum.
It stands for “Taking Care of Business in a Flash,” or often shortened to simply “Taking Care of Business.” I believe this was Elvis’ way of telling us that time is short, to stay focused on what’s most important, get stuff done with style, and live a life worth remembering.
Not bad advice from the King, really. And considering everything that was going on in my life when I took this trip, they are sentiments I needed to take to heart. So, from me to all of you out there reading this…
Many years ago I was reading a fantasy novel as I was settling down for the night. In it, there was a long description of an old manor house that said the ancient stone walls had Spanish moss hanging from its surface.
Hold on, what kind of moss? How do you have Spanish moss without Spain? This was set in a whole different world, so the use of ‘Spanish’ in that context immediately took me out of the story. Couldn’t this have been described as ‘horse hair ivy,’ or ‘long moss,’ or some other descriptor that isn’t directly based off our world?
I mean, imagine that you’re reading a high fantasy story about two male characters going to a tavern to celebrate. These guys each order a Bloody Mary, call each other ‘dude’ and ‘bro’ a lot, and then high-five each other. That would be a bit jarring, right? That just doesn’t sound like something people in a fantasy world would say, and the Bloody Mary is linked to several historical figures from the history of our world.
Language is one of the best ways to establish the mood of a fantasy story, as well as to reinforce the atmosphere of the world. With that in mind, I thought I would go through a number of words that have direct links to our world in particular. If you’re writing fantasy, you might consider using a synonym for them if you want to avoid a ‘Spanish moss’ kind of moment in your work.
Let’s dive in.
1.) Okay/OK
Full disclosure, there are several theorized origins for this word, but they are all fairly recent, linguistically speaking. Perhaps the most popular (and the one I subscribe to) is about the 8th president of the United States, Martin Van Buren, who was born at a place called Old Kinderhook. Van Buren adopted this as a nickname, even using it as a campaign slogan during his presidential run, with the abbreviation of “O.K.” This came to be synonymous with ‘all correct.’ So, the origins of this kind of acknowledgement are specifically tied to our world in a way that wouldn’t exist elsewhere.
2.) Fan
Short for ‘fanatic,’ the idea of being a fan of something is a usage that has only come about in the last 150 years or so, and is often attributed to the rise of baseball. Of course, the word ‘fanatic’ has been around for many centuries, but previously it was taken in its literal meaning of a zealot or someone who is obsessed or divinely devoted to a cause.
In an episode of Doctor Who early in Chris Eccleston’s run (“The Unquiet Dead”), the Doctor meets Charles Dickens. When the Doctor says that he’s a big fan of Dickens’ work, Dickens believes the Doctor is referring to a fan that you use to cool yourself. If a person from Victorian England wouldn’t get the reference, your high fantasy characters probably wouldn’t either.
3.) Lateen
This type of triangular sail has been used all over the world, but the name itself is taken from the word ‘Latin’ due of the usage by the Romans. This kind of sail has appeared in a number of fantasy stories, though it is rarely called something else. Of all the examples on this list, this one is the most in the vein of the ‘Spanish moss’ since it is directly derived from the name of a language used in our world.
4.) Sadist/Sadistic
Both of these words come from the name of the Marquis de Sade, a French nobleman from the 18th century who wrote about inflicting pain and suffering on others…amongst other things. If you’re describing your fantasy villain, you might want to use ‘cruel,’ or ‘merciless,’ or something without a direct link to someone who (presumably) doesn’t make an appearance in your fantasy world.
5.) Sandwich
You might know this one already, but the term for putting meat and toppings between two pieces of bread was named after the 4th Earl of Sandwich in the 18th century. Often the story goes that he wanted to have a convenient way to eat so he didn’t have to leave the gambling table. While that part of the story is probably apocryphal, the name is still taken from a historical figure.
6.) Bathroom
When it comes to characters referring to the toilet, those from a medieval/renaissance frame of reference would likely refer to them as the ‘privy,’ the ‘garderobe,’ or something else. The term ‘bathroom’ wasn’t used until about the 18th or 19th centuries (sources vary on exactly when), but the meaning was literally the place in which you take a bath. Using it as a synonym for a lavatory came about early in the 20th century.
7.)Laconic
When someone has the tendency to express themselves in as few words as possible, they could be described as ‘laconic.’ This has a real-world origin. Laconia was the heartland of ancient Sparta, leading to the Spartans being referred to as the Lacedaemons. It’s why the Spartans sometimes had the Greek letter lambda (Λ) emblazoned on their shields. Spartans were notorious for their short, sarcastic zingers. Once a young Spartan complained that his xiphos sword was too short. His mother reportedly told him, “Take a step towards the enemy. Then it will be long enough.”
8.)Cereal
Another word with its roots in antiquity, ‘cereal’ is derived from the Roman goddess of agriculture, Ceres. That’s the Roman adoption of the Greek goddess, Demeter, famously the mother of Persephone. If your fantasy world has gods that aren’t Greco-Roman in nature, you might give cereal another name. Something to ponder the next time you’re enjoying a big bowl of Lucky Charms, eh?
But wait — there’s more!
I know that this would normally be the end of a blog of this nature, just getting through the numbered bits, but I think there’s more to say on the subject here. Consider this the bonus round!
The ‘Translated Language’ Approach
Alternatively, if you don’t want to get too in the weeds on checking word origins, you could approach your fantasy world from the perspective that everything the characters are saying and writing is just a translation from the original source. So, if one character says ‘okay’ to another, they aren’t really saying ‘okay’ as much as whatever the equivalent to ‘okay’ is in their native language, which is certainly not English.
The movie version of The Hunt for Red October had a great example of this. All the Russian characters speak Russian until we see the Political Officer reading the Bible. There’s a close up on him, and suddenly he starts speaking English. The implication is that all the characters are still speaking Russian, but we, the audience, are getting the dialogue through a translated lens. The same can be true of your fantasy setting, though it can make justifying plays on words and puns a bit harder.
Maintaining Interrelationships
If you start changing words around, it can be helpful to keep in mind the words that derive from those that you change. Here’s an example: Let’s say that you have a fantasy world that takes its inspiration from ancient Greece. You decide to rename the goddess Hera to something else. That change trickles down to other things.
Take Hercules, or his actual Greek name, Herakles. His name translates to ‘The fame of Hera.’ Change Hera’s name, and you’ll probably want to change Herc’s name as well to match, assuming you plan on having a Herc analogue in your mythology. Furthermore, if you use the word ‘herculean,’ you might want to reflect that change in that root word as well, just so you keep the connection between these related words in place.
Reaching a Balance
If you’re writing in English, you are already writing in a language that has a habit of borrowing words, either in whole or in part. Latin, Greek, Arabic, German, Old Norse, and a bunch of others have all contributed to the English we speak today. That’s the beauty of a living language that changes and evolves over time.
All that’s to say that there’s no way to delve deeply into every word you use in fantasy. I put this before you only to get you thinking about how etymology can be a useful tool in the fantasy writer’s toolkit. Of course, you could attempt to fully recreate the Middle-English vibe, but you might wind up writing something that reads like Chaucer’s original text that’s not going to be terribly accessible to a modern audience.
So, know when to put it down. Ultimately, the use of etymology is in service to the story. If you determine that you absolutely must use ‘antidisestablishmentarianism’ in your story, do it.
Final Thoughts
A fantasy world is supposed to feel real, even if it only exists in the minds of the author and the readers. Establishing that sense of place is, I think, why fantasy manuscripts can get away with being longer than other genres. It takes a lot of textual space to create that world, to bring it to life.
So, if you’re going to go to all that effort to build a world, word by word, dipping into etymology is a way to qualify those words so that you don’t wind up inadvertently tying your fantasy world to our own.
In December, Wizards of the Coast released Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen. Like many fans, I was eagerly looking forward to a return to the world of Krynn. While the book itself was very hit-or-miss for me, especially as a source book, just looking at the map of Ansalon again took me back to the time when I fell in love with Dragonlance.
The story, the characters, the setting — all of it really resonates with me. In the pantheon of fantasy epics, the Chronicles and Legends trilogies rate right up there with Lord of the Rings in my estimation. So, for this blog, I thought I would share the particulars of how Dragonlance first came into my life.
It was, as it turns out, quite a happy accident.
The First Taste
When I was about 13, a relative of mine came down from Michigan. I had never met him before that summer. He was older than me by a few years and interested in many of the same things I was, including tabletop role-playing games. At that time, I had played some Palladium RPGs, but never actually played D&D itself. He was also a big fantasy reader.
Between trips to the local pool, he told me about this cool new fantasy series he was reading. (No, it wasn’t Dragonlance. That would come a bit later). The series he described was actually the Deathgate Cycle by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. He had the paperbacks of the first two novels with him, Dragon Wing and Elven Star. Since he was big into collecting the hardcovers, he gave me those two well-loved (but dog-eared) copies of the books.
I devoured those two novels over the next couple of weeks, and loved every page, character, footnote, and appendix. That was my first taste of what Weis and Hickman could do when they collaborated together. It definitely wouldn’t be the last.
A Fateful Trip
Many moons ago, there was a B. Dalton Bookseller in the Broadway Square Mall in Tyler, Texas. I loved that store, and I was sad to eventually see it close down. I had an uncle who lived just outside of Tyler. Any time I would go to visit him, he would find an excuse for the two of us to head off to the mall to look at books. Like me, he was a voracious reader. While he was not a rich man by any means, he made sure that any novel that really caught my attention came home with me.
Not the precise one I went to, but it looked pretty much like this.
Normally, we would each get a book, read it, then give each other a verbal book report about it the next time we saw each other. We had similar tastes, so when one of us liked a book, we would let the other one have a turn at reading it. I didn’t realize until much later that he never asked for any of the books back that he let me borrow. This was just another way that he helped me fill up my bookshelves.
So, on one of these trips, he found an anthology of fantasy short stories called Tales 1: The Magic of Krynn. The cool cover had been what first piqued his interest. This is a photo of the actual book he got on that day. As you can see, it’s been read over many times.
He really liked the book and recommended that I read it as well. Looking through the table of contents, I found some familiar names. The very last story in the book was called “The Legacy,” and it was written by (you guessed it), Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.
Raistlin Did Something Really Bad.
[Some DL spoilers ahead, so take heed.]
In “The Legacy,” we find an aging yet powerful warrior named Caramon who is worried for his son, Palin. Palin is going to take his test at the Tower of High Sorcery to see if he can become a wizard of the White Robes. There is an uneasiness hanging over everyone in the story. Caramon, Palin, and the other wizards of the Tower all seem on edge.
Turns out, it’s all because Caramon’s brother, Palin’s uncle, did something truly unconscionable. Everyone is really upset about it. But here’s the thing: No one says explicitly what Raistlin did. Whatever it was, it was so heinous and world-shattering that everyone in the story speaks Raistlin’s name in hushed tones. That’s one of the reasons that no one is exactly thrilled that Raistlin’s nephew wants to become a wizard as well.
Of course, now I know the whole story, but back then I had no idea who any of these characters were, what they had done previously, or what their interrelationships looked like. This was my very first introduction to them. “The Legacy” wound up being about 100 pages worth of pure foreshadowing for me. I was intrigued to know more.
Larry Elmore for the Win
Sometime later, my uncle and I were once again in the B.Dalton looking for new books. The fantasy novels had inhabited one back corner of the store for a long time, but the eponymous booksellers had rearranged the books since the last time we visited.
As I passed by one shelf on the way to my usual corner, I caught a glimpse of Caramon’s distinctive dragonhelm. I recognized it from the cover of The Magic of Krynn. In this painting, he was in his fighting prime. Raistlin was present beside him wearing the red robes of neutral mages instead of black. I was, of course, holding a copy of Dragons of Spring Dawning with cover art by Larry Elmore. Elmore had also done the cover for The Magic of Krynn, so his artwork was instrumental in introducing me to Dragonlance at two separate points.
I had thought that Palin and his brothers, Tanin and Sturm, were the main characters of the setting. Here, I was seeing compelling evidence that they were, in fact, the second generation of heroes in Dragonlance.
Without hesitation, my uncle bought me all three volumes of the Chronicles series. I couldn’t wait to dive in. I read the first lines of Dragons of Autumn Twilight in the car on the way back to his house.
A Lasting Impression
In no time flat, I had read all three books. Hungry for more, I picked up the Legends series, which finally revealed to me the epic bad deed that Raistlin had tried, and failed, to do. Finally, the circle I had started with “The Legacy” was complete. I moved on to many of the other books by other authors in the Dragonlance setting, but the six books by Weis and Hickman really stuck with me.
One of my favorite pieces of fantasy artwork. Ever.
I began reading their other series as well. The Rose of the Prophet. TheDarksword. Margaret’s solo series, The Star of the Guardians. Let’s not forget the rest of the Deathgate Cycle, which I didn’t finish until I was in college.
To say that Weis and Hickman were an inspiration to me is a massive understatement. Dragonlance had captured my imagination. It became the spark for me to start writing my own fan fiction. Admittedly, it was really bad fan fiction, but still a necessary step to becoming a writer myself. Krynn gave me a familiar place to set my stories, and I went all in.
Becoming a Hero of the Lance
When I first read Dragons of Autumn Twilight as a young teenager, I had yet to play D&D. So, I’m actually someone who fell in love with the world of Dragonlance before I ever played the game it was set in. Years passed, however, and I finally got my chance to play in Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, and a few homebrewed settings. Never Krynn, though.
The source of the aforementioned fan fiction? That came when a good friend of mine announced that he wanted to run a Dragonlance campaign using the original modules. Here was my chance to step into the world I had been such a fan of for so long. I have to hand it to this friend of mine, he loved Dragonlance as much (if not more) than I did, and it definitely showed.
I took on the role of a gentlemanly Knight of Solamnia, who had seen a vision he couldn’t explain and had gone on a quest to find the story of the True Gods. He was joined by a tinker gnome from Mount Nevermind, a brother Knight of the Crown who harbored a potentially ruinous secret, an enigmatic mage of the red robes, and a dwarven drill instructor from Thorbardin. Together, they became the new Heroes of the Lance.
Everyone who made up characters for this game role-played them to perfection. I’ve played in a lot of memorable campaigns over my gaming career, but as Paladine as my witness, this one had a kind of life to it that I have never seen before or since.
Simply magical.
The Journey Continues
There have been occasional forays back to Dragonlance over the years, whether in the pages of a novel, or in game. Dragonlance is still very much a part of me to this day. This series was precisely at the right time/right place for me as a young man. It continues to be a source of inspiration. I have my annotated Chronicles and Legends hardbacks on display in my office.
I’m happy to say that I’ve been able to meet Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman, and Larry Elmore at various conventions over the years, though I’m not sure they would remember me. I’ve been off the convention circuit for many years now, even before the pandemic, but I’m hoping to catch up to one or more of them at some point in the future.
To the three of them, if any of you should read this, you have my most heartfelt thank you. Your work helped give a kid who was really struggling with, well, pretty much everything a place to go when the world grew too heavy to bear. Beyond that, I can trace much of my interest in becoming a fantasy author back to Dragonlance.
Lastly, I would like to thank my uncle, whom I sadly lost in 2015. I miss him still, especially when I set foot in a bookstore. It was through his understanding and generosity that I found the magical world of Krynn and was forever changed. So, to him, I’d like to simply say:
I was a voracious reader as a kid. Even back then words fascinated me. Between my love of books, a mother who would explain things using medical terminology, and a father who used to play word games with me, I wound up with a pretty advanced vocabulary for my age.
When I encountered a word I didn’t know, I was pretty fearless about asking adults what it meant. Often the definition they gave me might contain a word or two I wasn’t familiar with as well. I would ask about the meaning of those words, and so on and on it went. In retrospect, it was good training.
Today, I make my living with words. Etymology remains a passion of mine. To quote the movie version of V for Vendetta, “Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who listen, the enunciation of truth.”
Now, I’m not aware of when every word I know entered into my vocabulary, but there are exceptions. With that in mind, here are seven such words and the stories and memories that go with them. As you’ll see, my general geekiness/nerdiness was firmly established even at a young age. Let’s start the count.
#1
Word:Idiom
Source:Monty Python and the Holy Grail
My father was, and still is, a huge Monty Python fan. I was fortunate enough to grow up within broadcasting reach of KERA, the local PBS affiliate in Dallas, Texas. They would broadcast all sorts of ‘britcoms’ and British TV, including Monty Python’sFlying Circus, Fawlty Towers, Doctor Who, Are You Being Served?, and many others.
From the Flying Circus, I graduated to the Monty Python movies, particularly The Holy Grail. I was already big into Arthurian legend at the time, so a completely off-the-wall interpretation of the Knights of the Round Table was perfect for me. It’s definitely one of those movies I can quote nearly verbatim. It has worked its way into my everyday speech.
The scene in question involves Sir Lancelot travelling about with his squire, Concord. Concord is struck by an arrow with a note attached, leading to Eric Idle uttering, “Message for you, sir!” (Which has been my email alert on more than one occasion.) At first, Lancelot believes his squire is dead, vowing that his death was not in vain. When Concord wakes up and offers to go with Lancelot on his rescue mission at Swamp Castle, Lancelot tells him to stay put until he’s accomplished the deed in his own particular…idiom.
#2
Word:Criteria
Source:Star Trek: The Next Generation, “The Measure of a Man” (Season 2, Episode 9)
Both of my parents were fans of Original Series Star Trek, so when Next Generation started up, we were tuned in and ready. While Seasons 1 and 2 of TNG struggled to find traction, it’s episodes like “Measure of a Man” that really started to demonstrate how forward-thinking and idealistic the show could be.
In this episode, the android, Lieutenant Commander Data, is put on trial to determine whether he is, in fact, a sentient being or merely the property of the Federation. The stakes are high because if Data loses the case, he will likely be disassembled and studied by Commander Bruce Maddox.
During the trial, Maddox is questioned by Captain Picard about what defines sentience. Maddox lists three things: intelligence, self-awareness, and consciousness. Captain Picard is then able to demonstrate that the first two parts of Maddox’s criteria are met, going on to ask what if Data meets the third criteria, even in the smallest degree. It’s a fantastic episode, one that really digs into the morality of artificial intelligence and personhood.
#3
Word:Genuflect
Source:Aladdin
This was a bit of a late-comer to my vocabulary. I had read stories of lords and vassals for years, but for some reason the word genuflect, the act of showing reverence by bending the knee, didn’t reach me until I saw Aladdin in the theatre. It was, you guessed it, the “Prince Ali” song. Genuflect, show some respect, down on one knee…
Bonus points: This song also gave me the word coterie, which would come in handy when I started playing Vampire: The Masquerade a few years later. Thanks, Howard Ashman!
#4
Word:Cutlass
Source:Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
When I was about eight or nine, I started reading various classics for kids like Tom Sawyer, Robin Hood, and so forth. Treasure Island was one of my favorites. It sparked my lifelong love of the pirate genre.
So, I was reading this book in my Aunt’s living room when I ran across the phrase: “he drew his cutlass.” The word sounded familiar, but at the time I didn’t know that it meant a sword. My father was sitting at the kitchen table, so I asked him, “Hey, Dad…what’s a cutlass?”
“An Oldsmobile.”
Well, that made no sense. Why would someone take the time in a tense situation to draw a picture of a car that, presumably, didn’t exist in the time of wooden sailing ships and maps to hidden treasure?
Apparently, the confused look on my face prompted him to ask how it was used in the sentence. Then he was able to amend his answer to a single-edged pirate sword.
#5
Word:Twosome
Source:TheTransformers, “The Master Builder” (Season 2, Episode 12)
In this episode, we find the architect, Grapple, with his buddy, Hoist. The two of them are busy building a “Power Tower” model, a device that can turn solar energy into energon. They present it to Optimus Prime, but the Autobot leader declines to advance their project citing that it would make too tempting a target for the greedy, energy-hungry Decepticons.
The two Autobots go to repair Power Glide in the field where they are quickly surrounded by the Constructicons, who claim that they have left Megatron’s cause and gone rogue. They offer to help Grapple and Hoist build a full-scale Power Tower. The Constructicons make a show of some supposedly stolen energon cubes, and the two Autobots agree to jointly build Grapple’s masterpiece.
Surprise, surprise, it’s a trick. Just as the finishing touches are put on the Power Tower, Megatron shows up and captures Grapple and Hoist. He imprisons them in the solar collecting sphere atop the Tower, which will surely melt them down into slag. This prompts Megatron to muse, “Magnificent…now the gullible twosome shall perish in their own tower.”
That’s right, I learned this word from the legendary Frank Welker himself!
#6
Word:Vermillion
Source:Robotech: Macross Saga
Another one I picked up from my weekday-morning cartoons, this was a word that I learned but didn’t quite know the meaning. In the Macross Saga of Robotech, Rick Hunter is the main protagonist. He starts out as a civilian stunt pilot but quickly joins the ranks of the Robotech Defense Force (RDF) as he is pulled into the armed conflict between Earth and the Zentraedi armada.
After an initial training period, Rick is given command of the Vermillion Squadron. The ‘squadron’ seemed to consist only of Rick himself, Max Sterling, and Ben Dixon, though to be fair, sometimes they were referred to collectively as Vermillion Team. I thought the word just sounded cool, but at the time I had no idea it meant a bright shade of red-orange.
Spoilers: Vermillion Squadron’s time in the sun was short-lived, however. Ben Dixon dies in a huge explosion over Ontario. Rick and Max become part of the storied Skull Squadron. Since Rick’s older brother, Roy Fokker, died in the previous episode, Rick takes command of the Skull Squadron. Vermillion Squadron is effectively dissolved at that point.
#7
Word: Chaos
Source:The UncannyX-Men #120
The direct opposite of vermillion, this is a word I had heard and knew the meaning of already. I had just not seen it written out. I was a big X-Men fan when I was a kid. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t have a great way of getting a particular title regularly. So, my comic ‘collection’ (if it could be called that) was a mish-mash of different titles I could scrounge together along with those given to me by friends and family.
Somehow, I wound up with a second-hand copy of The Uncanny X-Men #120. I don’t remember how it came into my possession, exactly, but I remember seeing the word chaos on the cover which proclaimed “Chaos in Canada!” This was when the X-men fought Alpha Flight. Not recognizing the word, I asked my father about it. He informed me it was pronounced kay-os. For a kid who was still trying to master phonics at the time, a ‘ch’ combination of letters that didn’t make the traditional ‘ch’ sound was bit confusing.
To this day, it remains one of my favorite comic book covers. It’s evocative and colorful, and there’s a real menace at seeing the outlines of Shaman, Vindicator, and Sasquatch in the foreground. *chef’s kiss*
Fun fact: One of the cover artists for this issue was none other than Bob Budiansky, who famously developed Transformers lore for the original comic. He is known for naming Megatron, Wheeljack, Starscream, Sideswipe, Shockwave, and a whole host of others. Since Megatron appears on the list above, I’m declaring that a double vocabulary synergy, baby!
So, there you have it, folks — there’s a look at where I discovered seven different words and how I learned them. If you enjoyed this blog post, please give it a like. If you had fun with this one, I have some other word origins I’m happy to talk about in the future. Also, feel free to share where in your personal history you picked up certain words. I’d love to hear your stories. Until next time, thanks for reading!
[Author’s note: Each time I went to post this, the story and circumstances around the OGL changed (that’s part of why it’s late). I’ve kept the text more or less the way I had it. I’ve included an update section at the very end.]
Dear Wizards,
Well, you’ve had an interesting couple of weeks. Once again, it feels like I’m watching history unfold before my eyes. Not the happy kind. More like the destined-to-be-taught-in-business-college-courses-cautionary-tale kind of history.
Now, before we get too far into this, let me make a distinction here. This letter is to the executive staff of Wizards of the Coast, the decision-makers and gatekeepers, as well as any others from Hasbro that might be involved in what could only charitably be called a fiasco. For all the designers, community managers, middle managers, and developmental staff of D&D, this isn’t aimed at you. I know this has been hard on you, too. Stay strong and know that you are loved. (Also, I’d like to see you do more with the Artificer, but that’s another story.)
So, WotC executives, where to begin? I swear by the great beard of Moradin that I’m not just ragging on you. In fact, believe it or not, I want to help you. Let’s start with a little education. We all know the old axiom that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it, right? Unfortunately, for many of us, recent events in the TTRPG space have felt more like those who know history are doomed to watch those who don’t know history repeat it.
Let’s set the wayback machine to 2008. Fourth edition comes along, and it’s excluded from the existing OGL. It takes its cues from the GSL, a much more restrictive set of rules for putting out game content. Paizo says no thanks, and BOOM — we have Pathfinder.
I doubt any of the existing WotC executive team in place now was present back then, but there was a definite cause and effect. Cause: a departure from the OGL that had issued in a golden age for D&D. Effect: massive loss of faith in D&D by the player base, giving rise to the game’s biggest competitor.
At the time, the blunder of Fourth Edition in its attempt to chase the thrill of an MMO (but without all the things that make an MMO memorable and fun), seemed like D&D had finally run its course. Shortly, it would join any number of other legacy systems on the scrap heap. It would be something old players of the game would reminisce about and tell war stories from adventures at the High Clerist’s Tower or in the streets of Waterdeep. Maybe we’d pull it out for a one-shot every now and then.
I stepped away from D&D at that time. Truth be told, I didn’t think I would ever come back, and if I did, I would probably play older editions of the game. I ignored 5e when it came out initially. I thought I was done with D&D.
Then a miracle happened, the thing I’ve always wanted since I’ve been a TTRPG player: D&D broke through into the mainstream, or as close to it as I’ve ever seen. Suddenly there were more active players than there ever had been before. Folks who might never have played RPGs previously found a home with D&D 5e, and I was super onboard for that. D&D came alive again. People were excited to play it. I never thought I would see that again after Fourth Edition.
You see, I firmly believe that playing TTRPGs is a healthy form of self-expression. At once, it combines creativity, tactical and strategic thinking, improvisation, critical analysis, and basic math. There’s also a strong social component to it. For life-long introverts such as myself, D&D was a refuge, a home away from home. I know I’m not alone in this.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, the OGL 1.1 (or 1.2, 2.0, or whatever) has made this haven feel pretty inhospitable. I’m one of the lucky ones in that my livelihood is not directly tied to D&D content creation, but there are innumerable talented Youtubers and creators out there that I respect who are put in jeopardy over this.
This will not do.
It’s how you say “Good-bye” in graph paper.
At the time of this writing, you have released your response to the uproar. Silence was not your friend, let me tell you. The statement itself did little to allay any of my fears. Truly, you may like to label it as “we both won,” but if anything the opposite is true — we all lost.
We lost a home and the promise of what the OGL was meant to stand for. Whether you realize it now or not, you lost, too. Not from the backlash this caused, no, but you’ve lost the trust. Shattered it, more like. Your want to control that part of the gaming space has opened the door for your competitors to offer their own OGLs, ones that we hope live up to the spirit of the original. Once again, cause and effect.
Cause: a departure from the OGL that had issued in a second golden age for D&D. Effect: massive loss of faith in D&D by the player base, giving rise to the game’s biggest competitors. Note the plural there.
Sound familiar?
Get used to seeing this dragon.
It’s exhausting to see the death of D&D — again — play out in real time before my eyes. All empires crumble, however, and perhaps it’s time for D&D to fade into near obscurity. I doubt the game will go away completely, but I’m not putting any odds on One D&D now. I was looking forward to where it would go, but now…not so much. Ditto for the upcoming movie and TV show.
While some small, idiotically optimistic part of me thinks you might change course in light of how unpopular this initiative is, the truth is that you will likely continue with deauthorizing the OGL 1.0a as planned, despite the many, many warnings of what an avoidable, self-inflicted wound that would be.
But okay, if moving units is really what motivates you, if that’s the only language you speak, take heed. By attempting to have more, you will wind up with less. I know that sounds a bit like a fortune cookie. It’s true though. If you move forward with your plans, you will have put the nails in the coffin of D&D’s resurgence. All of them, all at once. Dead and buried.
And I suppose that’s what hurts the most about all of this. You had the top spot, you had achieved something fantastic, something truly wondrous…and then you just threw it all away. Perhaps you view the ecosystem that developed around D&D, and by extension those who could make a living from it, as parasitic. You really should view them as pillars. They prop up your brand and your game on a daily basis. How many other games ever get to that point? You should have done everything you could to further empower and protect them.
Instead, you’ve managed to alienate practically all of them in a comically short amount of time, though there’s nothing funny about any of this. Once again, livelihoods are on the line. How can the community ever trust you again? Your actions demonstrate a staggering lack of understanding of your own product, and a level of disconnect from your playerbase that is almost too much to believe.
In short: You were the chosen one! You were supposed to bring balance to the Force, not leave it in darkness!
Then again, I could be looking at this the wrong way. Perhaps I should be celebrating this in the form of an Irish wake. Maybe there should be no monoliths in the TTRPG space, no not one. Perhaps we’ll be better off without you. Perhaps ironically, and certainly unintentionally, you have made Dungeons & Dragons into a phoenix.
Paizo is already laying the groundwork for the ORC. MCDM is working on their own game system that will be “aggressive” in its own open gaming license. Kobold Press has their “Black Flag” project in the works. Monte Cook, who has designed several of my favorite games, has his Cypher system. I’ve been meaning to check it out, so this seems like the opportune moment to do so.
Current mood.
They are all rising from the ashes before you’ve even finished burning it all down. But make no mistake, your game, your community, the goodwill you’ve built up over the years, and the reputation of Wizards of the Coast, such as it is — yeah, it’s all on fire.
And you are the ones who held the torch.
But in the words of the great Led Zeppelin, whose music is inextricably tied to classic D&D: There are two paths you can go by, but in the long run, there’s still time to change the road you’re on.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Si vales, valeo.
-Matt Carson
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UPDATE: At this point, the first proposed “playtest” form has gone up for OGL 1.2. I’ll admit that some of the concessions appear to be a step in the right direction, but I would still never dare to produce content under it. Here’s a short list of why:
1. You still want to deauthorize the OGL 1.0a. The reasons you cite are spurious — a dodge at best and an insult at worst. The OGL has stood for more than 20 years. That I’m aware of, there haven’t been any high-profile offensive content released under it by third-party publishers.
2. The morality clause in 6f is untenable. The way this situation was handled shows that WotC is hardly a moral compass to determine what is “harmful” or “obscene.” This point says that you alone determine what is considered hateful, and this cannot be contested in court. Even if the rest of OGL 1.2 were perfect (and spoilers, it isn’t), there’s no way any content creator would, or should, agree to that.
3. You give yourself at least three ways you can change your mind in the future if it suits you, including the Severability clause. “Irrevocable” in this case doesn’t mean what you’re hoping the community thinks it means.
4. I’m not as well versed in the VTT space, but the provisions you put in place are clearly meant to give you an advantage once the One D&D VTT comes out. This doesn’t seem like you’re terribly confident in your product if you feel the need to close off sections of it from other developers.
5. Ultimately, the broken trust means that I cannot expect you to act in good faith with any of this. It’s as simple as that. OGL 1.2 does attempt to give content creators a little more breathing room, but it’s just not enough.
As it stands now, the new OGL is a bad bet, one that most third-party publishers and content creators will be unwilling or unable to make.
We are back with a brief retrospective on what we were able to do last year as well as a look ahead to the horizons of 2023. Let’s dive right in, shall we?
A New Direction
My last blog post of 2022 talked about this in detail, so I won’t repeat too much of it. The short version is this: I’m having to move my focus away from science fiction for the foreseeable future. I’ll be focusing on fantasy this year in the hopes of breaking into traditional publishing. It’s not a decision I make lightly, but it’s one that comes after much thought and soul-searching. This change will trickle over to the posts I make here. So, expect to see a bit more content about the fantasy genre in the months ahead.
Drink up me hearties, yo ho!
Marvel, Maybe?
My philosophy for this blog was always to talk about those things I enjoy instead of focusing on those things I don’t. The MCU has taken up a significant amount of my Fanboy Reviews up to this point, but most of Phase IV has fallen flat for me. Multiverse of Madness was something of the final straw. My review of that movie was long and mostly negative, which runs counter to why I created this blog in the first place.
I can hope that Phase V will be an improvement, but don’t expect to see as much coverage of the MCU as there was in times past. If Phase V starts to improve, I’ll pick it back up, but I may be more selective in the titles I choose to review.
Fun & Games
This has been in the works for a while behind the scenes, but I can finally announce that I’m actively developing a TTRPG supplement for D&D 5e, potentially the first of many, and an original board game with a cyberpunk aesthetic.
The supplement will appear on DM’s Guild, and I’m hoping to launch it in March. More details on that as they become available.
The board game, by contrast, is on a much slower developmental track. My plan is to run a Kickstarter for it when the time is right. There are a lot of moving parts to a project like that, so it might be next year before it finally sees the light of day. I will, however, keep you posted on the progress I’m able to make in the meantime.
Gone is the past.
2022 Accomplishments
Last year was something of a roller-coaster for me creatively, but I made significant progress on a number of things I outlined in last year’s State of the Sector Address. I wanted to share those with you here.
Sector M Website/Patreon Revamp/New Merch Store: Sector M got a new look and new features, starting with my author website. I migrated my old Redbubble store over to Etsy. I now have many more options and designs available. Lastly, my Patreon got quite the glow-up , with new tiers, new rewards, and monthly Zoom calls with yours truly. If you haven’t already, go check ’em out.
Blog Delivery: After a few years of being hit-or-miss with my blog posts, in 2022 I was able to post one original blog post per month, January to December. With one exception, I delivered them on the dates I listed in the last State of the Sector.
Attended DFWCon: In October, I finally made it back to DFWCon after years of being away. I really loved the opportunity to hang out and talk with other authors, hear success stories, and make in-person pitches to agents and industry professionals.
Progress on #7: Book #7 has been something of a storm in a bottle. I started it on Halloween of 2021. While I made some progress during the last two months of that year, I really started getting into it in January of last year. I noticed that my average word count per writing session almost doubled. At the time of this post, I’m 120,000 words into it. The story is a big one though, big enough that what I thought was a novel might wind up being a trilogy of novellas instead.
Still in the Works
The Sector M Podcast: The timing for this just didn’t work out. I’m still interested in getting a Sector M podcast off the ground at some point in the future, so I’m not shelving this idea. If and when there’s any progress on this front, I’ll be sure to announce it here.
The road to the mountain.
Goals for 2023
Finish Book #7, Start Book #8: As stated above, I’m still working on book #7. I hope to have the initial draft done in or around April. My plan is to start book #8, a direct sequel to #6, in June.
Query Books #5 & #6: Book #5, or DMM, is my first querying project of the year. This should begin in February. I’ll be working on polishing book #6, or AOTO, to start querying it later in the year. Both are fantasy titles that (ostensibly) are set in the same world, though they are separated greatly in time period, space, and overall theme.
Revamp Strange Reports to Sector M: My anthology that came out some years ago is getting a re-release. In addition to fixing some production errors that crept in, I’ll be adding a hardback version. My goal is to get that up and running in a May timeframe.
New Blog Schedule: I have a new slate of original blog topics planned for this year, and I’m excited to get started on them. Like last year, I’m going to post on the third Friday of the month. Here are the dates in question:
This does not include the updates that may pop up in more of an update/ newsletter-style post.
Attend Writing Conventions: I thoroughly enjoyed going to DFWCon this last year. In addition to returning to that con, I want to travel to a few more conventions. I’m still in the research phase to determine which ones. Once I have that figured out, I’ll post the details in the next update.
Time for an epic team up!
How You Can Help
Support Tab: I’ve created a new tab next to “Home” and “About” at the top of the page. It has all the ways you can support Sector M. Here’s the breakdown:
Tell a friend. No, really! Word-of-mouth is an author’s dream.
So, that does it for this year’s State of the Sector Address. Let me close by simply saying thank you for your continued interest and support of my work. There are some exciting things on the horizon, and I can’t wait to share them with all of you.
The Sector M 