The Ephemeris Encyclopedia Glactica: Sector 8 (Althani Space)

The Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica: Sector 8 (Althani Space) is now available.  You can purchase it through the Nomadic Delirium Press store at http://nomadicdeliriumpress.com/blog/product/ephemeris-encyclopeida-galactica-sector-8-althani-space/ or you can purchase it through DriveThruRPG at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/125303/The-Ephemeris-Encyclopedia-Galactica-Sector-Eight-%28Althani-Space%29.

The Althani are one of the most aggressive of the six major species in the Ephemeris universe. Now you can learn about their sector of space. Learn about the planets they’ve colonized, the systems they battle to try to control, and the systems that even they fear to enter.

The Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica will be a multi-volume collection looking at each sector of space.  The Encyclopedia continues with Sector Eight (Althani Space).

A preview of EEG: Secotr 8

This is taken from the first draft of The Ephemeris Encyclopedia Glactica: Sector 8 (Althani Space):

Gliese 832: 16.1 ly M1.5v

The star in this system may be small, but the trouble in this system is anything but.  More than a century ago, the Althani colonized a moon around the largest gas giant in the system.  The colony, called Menk, is currently home to more than three billion Althani, and they’ve transformed the atmosphere to a point that they can breathe the air without suits and breathers.  The majority of the inhabitants are military or corps employees.

The colony on Menk is not the problem.  There is a smallish terrestrial planet about .5 AU from Gliese 832, and this planet and its moon have been colonized by humans.  The colonization took place 30 years ago, and there are already one billion humans inhabiting the planet (New New York) and the moon (New Buffalo).  Humans can breathe on the planet, but they need suits to walk on the surface of the moon, which is why the colony is built completely underground.  Many of the humans work for the human corps, but a number of them work for the military, and it’s believed that many of those are working for covert branches of the military.

The humans have argued that Gliese 832 should actually be considered a part of their sector, but the Althani have been here for quite a bit longer.  The Althani don’t take well to others infringing on their space, and there have been several battles fought in this system.  So far, both species’ governments have refused to get involved, instead allowing the military forces assigned to these colonies to battle it out.  So far, things have stayed at a level of a few ships fighting at a time, but there is always a chance, and it’s a good chance, that things will boil over and all-out war will break out in the system.

Gliese 902: 37.1 ly K3V

Although this system has a planet that could be colonized by humans and a planet that could be colonized by the Culthan, the Althani have refused to allow outsiders into the system.  Their main reason for this is that there’s a large moon orbiting the largest gas giant in the system.  And on this moon is an Althani prison colony called Ten-pa.  The colony has four large opaque domes, one in each hemisphere (northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest), under which they house some of the most violent criminals, and while most of them are Althani, there are prisoners from the other species here as well.  The atmosphere outside of the domes is highly toxic to any sentient species, with much of the atmosphere made up of methane and cyanogen.  The surface also has winds that typically blow at over 100 kph, and often gust to 300 kph.  Each of the domes is so far apart that there is no way anyone could walk to one of the other domes, even with a suit.

No one in their right mind would even try to survive on the surface, and to date, no one has ever escaped from Ten-pa.  A few have gotten out of the domes, but no further.  Ten-pa also has a highly advanced satellite system that will shoot down any ship that doesn’t have clearance to be close, and if a ship does go down, there will be no effort made to try to rescue the crew.  Instead, they’ll be left to the atmosphere of the planet, and if they happen to be close enough to a dome that they might be able to get to it, they’ll be shot before they can get inside.  There are no visiting hours at Ten-pa.

 

A new collection

I've just learned that Alban Lake Publishing will be releasing a new short story collection of mine.  These are previously published stories about space exploration.  It will have stuff from early in my career all the way up to some more recent stuff.
Now, the big question is: What am I going to call this thing?
So far, I haven't come up with a title, but I'm working on it...

EEG Sector 8

I've just finished the first draft of The Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica: Sector Eight (Althani Space.)  This is the second volume in the Encyclopedia, the second of what will probably be many.  I'm hoping that if I can arrange the time, that I'll have this ready for players and game masters by the end of next weekend.
So, stay tuned!

New Year, New Game

The folks over at DriveThruRPG are having a sale to encourage people to try new games. So, for the next few days, you can pick up the core rulebook for Ephemeris for just $3.98...not a bad deal.
The special sale can be found at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/63664/Ephemeris?filters=0_0_0_0_0_44298.

Alexis' surgery

I've had several people ask me about the surgery that Alexis is going to have to have, so I figured I'd just answer everything here.  The ENT found a Thyroglossal cyst, which apparently formed in utero, because the Throglossal duct did not close as it was supposed to.  The cyst itself is not dangerous, but if it becomes infected, it can have some nasty side effects.
The procedure they're going to be doing is called the Sistrunk Procedure, and it involves removing the cyst, and if the duct is still present, they'll take that out as well, which involves removing part of the hyoid bone.  If you want the details, which I don't like thinking about, you can find them at http://www.ent-surgery.com.au/thyroid/thyroglossal-duct-cyst-surgery-sistrunk-procedure.

The Nomadic Delirium Press Bookstore

Nomadic Delirium Press now has a bookstore.  You can find all of their print and e-books there, including a number of titles that I've written or edited.
Please check it out at http://nomadicdeliriumpress.com/blog/shop.

The Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica: Sector Three (Melanathee Space)

The new supplement for the Ephemeris RPG with the very long name is now available.  This started out as a very daunting task, but once I started working on it, I found it to be a lot of fun, and the creativity just flowed...so it's available a lot earlier than we'd expected.
Here's what you can expect:

The Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica: Sector Three (Melanathee Space) is now available at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/124640/The-Ephemeris-Encyclopedia-Galactica-Sector-Three-%28Melanathee-Space%29.

The Melanathee are the oldest of the six major species in the Ephemeris universe. Now you can learn about their sector of space. Learn about the planets they've colonized, the systems they battle to try to control, and the systems that even they fear to enter.
The Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica will be a multi-volume collection looking at each sector of space. You can start with Sector Three (Melanathee Space).

A glimpse of the Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica

I've been working on the first volume of the Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica for a bit now, and I'm happy to say that in the next few days, players and game masters will be able to get their hands on it.
What can they expect from it?
Here's a glimpse of a couple of the entries.  Keep in mind, these were taken from the first draft of the supplement, and they have changed slightly, but hopefully they'll be enough of a tease...

Gliese 317: 29 ly, M3.5
The Gliese 317 system is a system of potential conflict. Although there have been small skirmishes, nothing too serious has happened yet. For more than a century, the Melanathee have had a colony on a moon orbiting a gas giant that sits just under one A.U. from the red dwarf. Three decades ago, Humans moved into the system, colonizing two other moons of the same gas giant. Even though Humans and Melanathee do not breathe the same types of atmosphere, there have been debates over who should control the space around the gas giant. The Melanathee argue that they have been here longer, but the humans argue that they actually occupy two moons in the system. The other species have chosen to stay out of this one for now.
TolENtaMe is a small gaseous moon inhabited by the Melanathee. There are currently more than one million of them living on the moon. The settlement started out as a scientific colony, but has since expanded into a full colony, and because of the presence of humans in the system, there is a fairly large military base on the moon. The atmosphere is breathable for the Melanathee, although some of the less healthy will have trouble with it.
Ardith is the largest moon, and is currently occupied by a quarter of a million humans. The Earth military originally set up the colony, and even though they keep a large presence on the moon in order to protect the inhabitants, most of the planet is run by ExploraCorp, an Earth-based corporation with the mission of exploring and colonizing as much of near space as possible, and of course making a lot of money in the process. Although the actual air of the moon is dangerous for humans to breathe, the atmosphere is at a pressure and temperature that humans can walk on the surface with only breathers.
Rowena is a small moon with roughly 1,000 humans living on it. The moon has been set up as a research base to explore the weak star at the center of the system. The surface has no atmosphere, and the entire colony has been built underground.

69 G Carinae: 53 ly G2V
From the outside, this star system looks perfect for colonization, but there is something very wrong in the 69 G Carinae system. The Melanathee, the Arbonix, and the Humans have all tried to establish colonies in this system. All of those colonies have been destroyed, and no one has been able to figure out why. There are rumors of angry cyber wizards, some unknown civilization, quantum instabilities, hyperspace intrusions, and thousands of other less likely reasons. Not only have the colonies been destroyed, but most ships passing through this system are destroyed. Some of the ones that have made it through the system have reported strange lights, problems with their engines, and all kinds of system malfunctions.
At the moment, there are no sentients living in the system…at least that we know of.

14 days of '14

For the first 14 days of the New Year, Nomadic Delirium Press will be putting a different e-book on sale each day.  To keep track of what's going on sale each day, you just need to visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/nomadicdeliriumpress.

December recap

The words are starting to flow
A new story
The Nomadic Delirium Press 12 Days of Christmas sale
I love these productive days
Working on the Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica
The Nomadic Delirium blog
The first volume of the Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica
The year in review

The year in review

2013 is about to end, and like every year, this has been a year of ups and downs.  The biggest downs we saw were the passing of my grandmother towards the beginning of the year, and then the passing of my brother-in-law Chris, who lost his battle with pancreatic cancer, just before Christmas.
Another big down we faced, and will continue to face in the year to come is the fact that our three year old Alexis will need surgery some time early in the year.  It's not a major surgery, but any time they're going to cut into your child, especially a small child, is quite scary.
The year was also filled with quite a few ups.  The biggest being our decision for me to leave my "real" job, and go back to working at home.  Even though it has put a huge financial strain on us, it has been good in every other way.  I no longer bring home the stress of being the "store bitch," which is basically what I'd become.  I also have more time to write, edit, and create games, and I also have more time for the kids.  We're already starting to see a change in their behaviors now that there's a little consistency as to who they're going to be seeing each day at home.  My staying at home also takes a lot of stress off of Rebecca.  She can now focus on just working, while I take care of the cooking and cleaning at home.  Some people might say that being a stay-at-home dad is not manly, but if you ask me, there's nothing more manly than doing what's best for your wife and kids.
Some other big ups are that I'm starting to write a lot more and I'm having a lot of time to develop supplements for the Ephemeris RPG.  I've also started working hard on getting Nomadic Delirium Press up off of the ground, and we're starting to see an increase in sales and submissions to the various publications.
As always, it's been a mixed year, but I'm looking forward to 2014.  I have a good feeling for the year to come...I just hope I'm right.

The first volme of the Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica

I've just put the finishing touches on the first draft of the first volume of the Encyclopedia.  There's still a lot of work to be done, however.  The goal of this draft was to just get the very basics down for each star system.  Now I'll have to go through and expand on what's already there, and put in some rule notes so that game masters can better tie the information into their games.
No matter what, anyone that is interested in the Melanathee from the Ephemeris RPG should really enjoy this, as it will give them a much better idea of what to do with their sector of space.

The Nomadic Delirium blog

Nomadic Delirium Press now has a blog.  There you'll be able to learn about publications that are planned, publications that have been released, and whatever else they feel like posting.
You can find it at http://nomadicdelirium.wordpress.com/.

Working on the Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica

I'm having a blast working on the Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica.  When I first conceived of the idea, I wasn't sure if it was going to be as much fun as I hoped it would...but it is.  When I first came up with the idea for the Ephemeris RPG, I wanted to make it as hard SF as I could.  Granted, I had to use hyperspace to make it playable, but for the most part, I wanted things to be based on real science, or at least conceivable science.
When I started working on this project, I wanted to continue that.  So all of the star systems that will be listed in the Encyclopedia are real star systems.  And when possible, I've tried to use real planets that we know are there.  Even when I've introduced something that is out of the ordinary, I've tried basing it in science.
To me, this makes the game that much more fun.  I may be alone in that feeling, but I've always liked science fiction over science fantasy.  When I designed the game, I didn't want it to be Dungeons & Dragons in space...and I hope I've succeeded in that.

I love these productive days

Days like today are what make me happy that I left my "real" job.  I just about finished up an editing project for a publisher that I'm working with for the first time.  In addition, I reworked the short story I finished a few days ago.  I think it still needs a little more work, but I hope to have it done very soon.  As if that wasn't enough, I added many pages of research to the first volume of the Ephemeris Encyclopedia Galactica, and I'm now ready to sit down and actually start writing the thing.
Yes, it was a very productive day.  I'm hoping to have many more like this in the days to come,

The Nomadic Delirium Press 12 Days of Christmas

Nomadic Delirium Press is running specials on their titles during the 12 days of Christmas.  Each day, a different tile will be on sale.  Some of these will be books I've written, magazines I've edited, or RPGs I've designed.  Others will be from other authors and editors.
For updates, you just need to go to their Facebook page.
Check back every day for that day's sale.

A new story

I just finished the rough draft of a new story.  This is the first unsolicited short story that I've written in quite a while, so it's a very good feeling.  My skills are still a bit rusty, so it will take several re-writes, but I'm fairly happy with the way this one turned out, even if it went a completely different direction than I'd expected.  A lot of times, however, some of my best stories actually are the ones that seem to have a mind of their own.
I hope to have it ready to go, and actually start submitting it before Christmas.
Now for the next story...

The words are starting to flow

Three weeks after escaping the "real" work world, the words are really starting to flow for me.  I'm not quite back to the point where I could sit down and crank out 5,000 words in one session, but they are flowing the best that they have in many years.
Right now, I'm focusing on cranking out some short stories to kind of get my chops tuned back up, but then I hope to get back into the novels, while still keeping the short stories going.
No matter what, it's a good feeling, and I think once the holiday season is over, things will start to flow even more.

November recap

It seems like I've started posting more now that I'm no longer trapped in a dismal "real" job.  Look for even more posts in the month to come...
I have some big news
The big news
Happy third birthday!
I'm free!
Keeping myself busy
Submitting reprints
Holiday deals featuring my stuff