The Cambias Digression

Notes and thoughts on everything from what I had for breakfast to the fate of the Universe.

  • Nostalgie du Geek: Opening the Traveller Box

    My roleplaying game life began with Dungeons & Dragons, because that was the only roleplaying game there was back in the summer of 1977. But that changed very quickly. That same year, Game Designers' Workshop published the first science fiction roleplaying game: Traveller. I got my copy of Traveller some time in 1978, possibly at…

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  • The Long History of Spin-Offs

    It is practically a cliche to complain that modern movies and television are creatively bankrupt. I won't argue the point. But one piece of evidence often used to support that notion is the reliance of Hollywood and TV on spinoffs — shows or movies built around characters introduced in another show or movie. Trouble is,…

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  • Appalachian Spring, or Not

    One of my favorite pieces of music is Aaron Copland's Appalachian Spring. I often listen to it while driving, but the last time I did that I realized something which had been scratching at the back of my brain for years: Appalachian Spring doesn't sound much like the Appalachians. The main theme is a Shaker…

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  • Another Political Paradox

    I've already mentioned that solidly loyal states are at a disadvantage in modern American politics, but there's another paradox I've noticed: Elections are determined by the people who don't care much about politics. After all, the party faithful are the ones who care. The ones who read political blogs and listen to Rachel Maddow or…

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  • Perfection

    Some time ago I was making a long trip by car on a summer weekend, and so as I drove I could see a number of families enjoying the nice weather with back yard cookouts. It made me realize something. We will never know who made (or who ate) the greatest hamburger ever. It may…

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  • That Show I Watched

    This week marks the 50th anniversary of two science fiction icons. One is me, the other is Star Trek. Since we're practically twins, I feel as though I can be brutally honest about the show, the universe, and what has become of them. First of all, it always surprises me how unfamiliar people are with the…

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  • Sandbox or Quest? Yes.

    The style of a game campaign mirrors the fictional genres it is based on. The original Dungeons & Dragons was inspired by two strands of fantasy. The first was the fantasy adventures of Robert E. Howard, Jack Vance, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and Fritz Leiber — tales of roguish wanderers more or less stumbling across situations…

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  • Congratulations Dragon Award Winners!

    For several years now I've been telling everyone who'll listen that the major awards for science fiction and fantasy were in danger of becoming too obscure. The Nebulas are selected by the membership of SFWA, but don't get much publicity because (sadly) the organization isn't well-known outside the fraternity of SF professionals. The Hugo Award…

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  • Greetings, Fellow Cyborgs!

    I write science fiction, and one enduring trope of science fiction is the idea of combining humans and machines — "cyborgs," to use the term popularized in the 1960s. The notion is far older, going back to Neil R. Jones's "Professor Jameson" stories, if not to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Man That Was Used Up."…

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  • The Joy of Research

    My name is Jim, and I'm addicted to doing research. There. I've said it and I'm not sorry, either. When I'm cured of this addiction just put me in the ground because I'm done. How bad is my research addiction? Let me tell you my shame. For a while I played an online game called…

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The Worldbuilding Index