Metal Monday

Shorter post this week because of family visit and a very busy work week. Listen, theyre not excuses if you believe them too.

Reading

Nick Harkaway managed to write a sci-fi noir that is mostly noir and only just barely sci-fi all the while creating a completely engaging world. Titanium Noir takes place in the modern (ish) world where culture is stuck in the 1920’s, creating a retro-futurism vibe. Culture has arrested because in the 20’s, a miracle process was developed to give people a second puberty in old age, basically returning them to a teenager physically, doubling their lifespan. It’s a very expensive drug so only the elite 1% can get their hands on it and since they are wealthy and effectively immortal, culture has stagnated to their tastes.

However, with the second puberty comes a second growth spurt. Causing the person to grow another 2 feet after their treatment. The mutation, a trade-off for immortality. Add in multiple doses and some of the 1% of the 1%ers are over 4 meters tall growing to titanic sizes where just their laugh can harm normal people.

The on-the-nose commentary on wealth would be cheesy if not for Harkaway’s excellent writing. Likeable characters and crunchy noir tropes -expertly deployed- make the world feel only one degree removed from our own.

I highly recommend Titanium Noir.

Playing

There is a storm brewing on the horizon and it’s name is BattleTech.

I’ve spoken about my interest in the BattleTech table-top universe before and my love for the 2018 video game is no secret. But recently, I found out that last year, the developers of the BattleTech TTG Catalyst Games put out a Beginners Box that supports a simplified rule set. What always puts me off from engaging with the TT editions of the game is the (seemingly, to my number-dumb brain) extensive maths involving heat management. The simplified rules do away with some of the more minute number tracking and promote more run-n-gun gameplay leading to faster games. It’s also a good place to start because more rules can be added bit-by-bit as you familiarize yourself with the game.

BattleTech appears to have a very supportive community that proliferate free pdfs of rulebooks, record sheets, relatively cheap 3D printed models¹ and one of the most excellent wikis for a game I have ever seen. This community combined with the new rules-for-baby, has me fully obsessed.

So far I’ve only purchased the Beginners Box but I have plans to paint a few models and have been reading so much lore. Oh boy is there lore. It really does make me wonder why I never got into the BT lore novels before considering their content is right up my alley. It’s like Dune mixed with 40k but BattleTech really leaned into the “no magic” side of space feudalism.

So, unlike my usual toxic trait of buying TTRPG material but never playing, BattleTech has broken the mold (no pun intended) by getting me to actually playing the game and painting models. So this might be a new hobby for me? Maybe?

Other Notables

**My parents visited me last week and I have to give major props to them for being so consistent using They/Them pronouns for my non-binary partner. Considering they’re Catholic boomers from Indiana, the amount work they’ve put into maintaining a healthy relationship with me as an adult is beyond my expectations.

** I don’t have many baseball opinions (Even fewer Hall of Fame opinions) but Pete Rose dying before they put him in the MLB Hall of Fame is gonna look so incredibly petty in 50 years.

** Speaking of baseball, this MLB regular season was insane.

1  Unlike the more litigious the developers of Warhammer 40k -Games Workshop- Catalyst Games seems to have a laissez faire approach to people printing and selling models.