Writers block

I know now what they mean, by the phrase 'writers block'.
It's that pressure, when you know you have to write. But you can't.
And you go in circles, thinking that you must, and as you do, you move further away from doing so.

I got around to checking.

My first plotline in SINergy started August 03. That's 14 months ago. I hadn't realised it'd been quite that long.

Since then, I've moved from 'occasionally one or two plotlines' to doing Neon Fringe, (although some of that's now handed off), Rumours, Return Sheets, prop courier and the Event. Instead of one or two a month, I'm trying to find 10-20 'things'. At least some of which will (or should be) be part of a storyline.

The art of the story teller is a wonderful one. You create a setting, characters and events. And then you transpose that chain of events into a section

The art of a story teller isn't an easy one. The hardest part though, is finding inspiration for something new and innovative. I'm not saying that SINergy is the height of literary excellence, but I'm starting to have a hard time of it.

4 full time refs aren't enough. At the moment, SINergy has two. I'm not knocking Darren and Graham's contribution to SINergy. I suspect they pretty much hit the point of burn out 6 months back.
I'm very appreciative of any and all assistance offered to the end of making SINergy good. From those who help transport, to those who NPC or write story arcs, to those who show up, help us cover the cost of the club, and play.

But I think it's starting to crack. I know I am. Often I have some last minute inspiration for fun ideas. I'm hoping that'll happen this month. It seems to be getting a little later each month unfortunately, and still I have return sheets to finish.

The call for new refs is out. It's not easy. It will take as many hours as you're prepared to put into it. Unfortunately my well of creativity is starting to run dry. I've a few things I can use. iamnotramphus and I do still have a few fun ideas for things to do. And we'll be conspiring this weekend to do the best we can.

I still don't want to see SINergy fade out. I want to to be vibrant and good. I like having fun ideas for the story of this ol' club in Nova Roma.

I started reffing, because I like telling stories. A child of Legba, I.
I started reffing because I could see Darren and Graham hitting this point of burn out, where the effort of getting everything in place for a session outweighed the wellspring of enthusiasm.

And I'm starting to get there myself. Enthusiasm and creativity depleted by overuse.

Tonight, I go and meditate a while. I will sit in the garden, on my folding reclining chair, be it raining or no.
The resolve focusses the will.

Sunday I will make it happen. And it will be good. As a story teller I can do no less.

Jobs and servicing

Well, there's a thing.
Going to have to cancel my car service on monday.
I'll need to be in London in the afternoon to see a nice man at EMC. About a 'pre sales techie' job.

Which is nice.

Hyperspace as a game/story mechanic

One of the problems with science fiction, is that space is big.
Really really big.

There's lots of different ways of handling it. Most do so by some form of faster than light travel.
Too many overlook it though, since it makes a big difference to the 'feel' of your setting - how easy it is to travel.

Sometimes you have "FTL isn't possible" scenario. Where everyone obeys relativistic physics. There aren't many examples of this, although perhaps the most famous would be Arthur C. Clarke, and his 2001, 2010, 2061. In these, the journey is a major part of the story - travel around the solar system takes months. Often there's the concept of 'continuous acceleration' ships - the physics being cheap fusion power, throwing particles out of the ships sufficient to sustain 1G of acceleration all the way. (The ship turns around mid flight and decelerates the final stages)

It works well enough, but (off the top of my head) this makes Jupiter weeks away, and our Solar system the limit.

Another common mechanic is 'warp' drive. Faster than Light travel through real space. Most obvious example being 'Star Trek' where they distort space time, such that they're travelling through real space, but 'cheating' to avoid the light speed barrier.

It makes for a 'simpler' conception of the galaxy - they 'almost' ignore the light speed problem, and all they need is a special engine to travel quick. (Although they do have relativistic issues when travelling with 'impulse' engines).

The third method that's often seen is 'hyperspace'. A realm of space, connected to 'real' space, but usually smaller. Or of a different topography, such that moving the 4 light years from Sol to Proxima centauri doesn't involve covering the same distance.
Motion through hyperspace typically _also_ takes a different kind of propulsion - sometimes just to 'jump' sometimes to sustain.

In star wars, hyperspace is not a 'natural' place for a ship to exist - if the hyperdrive cuts out, ships leave hyperspace (although sometimes that means they're proper fecked). The 'speed' through hyperspace depends on the 'power' of your hyperdrive. A hyperdrive in star wars is also sufficiently small to be on fighters - all the rebel starfighters - A-Wings, B-Wings, X-Wings and Y-Wings can travel through hyperspace. Although being in small cockpit for extended periods of time isn't stunningly comfortable.

Babylon 5 universe is similar, but with one important difference. Hyperspace _is_ stable in B5, so a ship can enter hyperspace and stay there.
In B5 this was originally accomplished via the Jump Gates in each Solar system, but there was an evolution of 'ship based' hyperdrives. Most of these only on the very large capital ships (one of the reasons that large ships are necessary).

It does make for a different plot device - getting 'lost' in hyperspace is a very real possibility (where in star wars, getting 'lost' was still possible, but it'd be in real space as you ended up in the middle of no where between stars).

The fourth possibility is 'star gates'. Mystical thingies that people can use to travel between two fixed points. Or maybe they're just 'warp points'. They're finite and fixed. If you want to go to $location, you have to start from $other location.

And finally you have the 'mystic navigator' system. Dune and the Warhammer 40k use them. Special individuals who can in some way move things the size of space ships across the intervening void. This is actually one of the cooler ones - it's a 'human aspect' to your space travel, rather than just a technological solution.

The universe and stellar distances are approximately fixed. The _real_ distance is how long it takes to get there. Occasionally you see others show up, such as the 'mathematics' travel that David Zindel uses in Neverness. Sort of a variant on the mystic navigator, it's also more detailed, and ... well worth a read just for the explaination of hyperspace travel.

So now I have a question. Which do you 'prefer' for your GMing, story telling, or in films/TV?

And is there any (examples or methods) that I've missed in this selection of plot devices?