Ask Me Anything: WhtKnt

What is your favorite way to consume your science fiction, fantasy and horror?

What are some horror movies that you like?

Backstory on your name?
A game opinion everyone is wrong about?

I need to know everything about
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A DS9 (DeepSpace 9) fan you say? What is your thoughts on Babelyn 5? Of the two I'm more to B5

I have to ask about your Savage Worlds supplement in the works! What setting is it?

Movies, mostly. I don't read nearly as much as I should, these days.
Name one. I enjoy them all. I guess my favorites are films where they don't show the monster until the last scene, leaving it to your imagination. J-horror is good for this.

Rather than the best book you've ever read, what is the book you most like to recommend to other people? (Feel free to also post up the what you think is the best book you ever read!)

What is your favorite video game you played as a kid? What is your favorite video game to play now?

What is it about the Cyberpunk genre that you don't like?

Now that's quite the story and it goes back a long way. In the 80's, I was active on local BBSes as Caramon Majere, a character I identify strongly with from the Dragonlance Saga. As time went on, it occurred to me that using a copywritten character name, even for personal use, could be problematic, so I developed a character called the Knight of the White Rose and began using that name regularly. Come the Internet and AOL.com and the Knight of the White Rose was a bitch to type every time, so I shortened it to White Knight. Eventually, it got shortened again to WhtKnt and that's where we are today.

Hmmm. I've had a lot of people tell me about the "oversimplification" of Savage Worlds, but I don't find it so. It's supposed to be "fast, furious, fun!" and it plays as such. It was largely intended to emulate the old west dramas and it works for that. It's an action game and it plays like one.

My novels are perpetual projects that I go back to now and again. One day, one of them might actually be finished and ready for editing. The main one is a steampunk novel titled "Jonathon Cross and the Temples of Venus". It's part of a trilogy: "Johnathon Cross and the Caverns of Mars" and Jonathon Cross and the Craters of Luna". It's set on an alternate Earth in the late Victorian Era. In this universe, the planets float in something called the aether, as opposed to a vacuum. Venus, being a younger planet than Earth, is like Earth of the past, a jungle world complete with dinosaurs and lizard people. Mars is an older world and contains the remnants of a past civilization. And Luna, well, I'll keep that a secret for now. Jonathon Cross is an ordinary young man who longs for adventure, and it finds him in the form of an elven princess, a self-aware steam-powered automaton, and a dwarf named Dugger. The princess is being pursued by... well, I don't want to give too much away.

The cats are a 14-year old black domestic shorthair named Salem, a much younger black domestic shorthair named Wingnut, and the baby, Lunar, a part-Maine Coon whose picture is my profile pic. Salem was named by my wife. Wingnut's name comes from a character of mine; a mechanic on a starship who had a cat named Wingnut. Lunar was named Luna, but we discovered that we were mistaken about his gender, so since he had already learned that name, we just added an R.

Oddly enough, I have never watched Bab5. I need to borrow my friend's copy of the series and check it out.

My Savage Worlds setting emulates the world of my novel. It is a fantasy steampunk setting in Earth's Victorian Era, but elves, dwarves, and other trappings of fantasy exist. Magic is real and great airships travel the aether with the aid of oxigum, a gum arabic substance infused with pure oxygen crystals. The solar system is as it was thought of in the Victorian Era; Venus is a hothouse jungle with dinosaurs and lizard people, Mars is a desert world with the remnants of canals of a once-great civilization.

Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein. Don't see the movie; read the book! The book is so much better. I first read it when I was 14 years old and I've worn out six copies since that time. Other great books I recommend are the Riverworld saga by Philip José Farmer and the Dragonlance series (the original trilogy and the Time of the Twins trilogy) by Margaret Wise and Tracy Hickman.

I remember watching a Riverworld movie ages ago and finding it kind of interesting. And then reading it's based on a series of novels that are supposed to be much better. Never got around to reading them, but they've always been kind of on my list since then.

As a kid, it was the Atari 2600 (and later, the 5200). In arcades, I often played Tempest, Black Tiger, Star Wars, Star Trek, and Dragon's Lair. Nowadays. I enjoy two different styles of games. When I want to play strategy, I play Civilization. When I just want to relax and have some fun, I play any of several Lego games that I own.

I just never developed a taste for it. I've tried a couple of times to get into it, but I just can't grok it. I think that a lot of it stems from my preference for bright and shiny futures instead of dystopian.

Definitely worth a read! The books are infinitely better than the half-assed crappy movies that were made by the SciFy channel.

Babylon 5 is a masterpiece of storytelling. I cannot think of a series I'd recommend more highly!

The Riverworld books are quite a trip and well worth a read through. I want to say there's a GURPS supplement available for the setting although I don't think I've ever seen it in the wild.

As we're all currently living in a dystopian future, I'd like to believe a shinier future is waiting for us...

There is a GURPS supplement. I own a copy!

Favorite thing about Pathfinder 1E?? And have you checked out Savage Pathfinder (I know we chatted about SWADE fantasy companion), or do you play on checking it out??

In a word, versatility. If I need an orc shaman, I take an orc and slap a few levels of adept on it. If I need a young otyugh, there's a template for that. If I want a dryad berserker, I can take a dryad and add a few levels of barbarian and most of these alterations can be done in minutes, rather than having to recreate a brand new creature. The same thing applies to players. You can build the exact character you want to play (though it may take some time to come up in levels).

I have briefly looked at a friend's copy of Savage Pathfinder and do intend to get the books from DriveThruRPG, eventually. I probably won't run in the Golarion setting, since I prefer my homebrew settings, but I am interested in the ruleset.

Did you hold a rank in Starfleet?

I do, as a matter of fact. I am a Captain in STARFLEET, the International Star Trek Fan Association. Currently assigned to the U.S.S. Neptune, NCC-75013 (our chapter "ship"). Sure, it's all for fun, but we get together and do conventions, fan events, and community service. As an aside, I did serve 7.5 years in the U.S. Air Force but only ever made it to Senior Airman (E4).

Did Trek inspire you to enlist? Or are they unrelated?
What's your favorite drive?
What do movies get wrong about your job or career?
Have you finished every book you started?

Strangely enough, Trek did inspire me to enlist. That and three years of drifting through college with nothing to show for it. So the military was really a last resort and I chose the Air Force, rather than the Navy because I thought that it might at least get me closer to space.
I'm sorry. I don't understand the question.
My specific career field? The only movie about meteorologists I know of is Twister and aside from them surviving being in the middle of an F5 tornado, it was fairly accurate.
Nope. I abandoned The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe because it couldn't hold my interest. I also dropped Eragon for similar reasons. I have also abandoned a few scientific books about physics and spacetime because they were too dry.

If you enlisted in Starfleet, what branch would you be most interested in? What's your preferred flavor (series) of Trek?

What two things do you like most about Trek?

What two things do you like least about Trek?

Sciences, all the way. I am a scientist at heart.
It was the Next Generation, but Strange New Worlds has recently overtaken that.
First, the idea of a unified Earth and a utopian society. I know that it's corny, but I like to believe that such is possible. Second, is the very idea of space exploration. Exploration of the vast unknown has always appealed to me and Star Trek fulfills that desire. I've always said that I would not hesitate to volunteer if NASA came to me tomorrow and offered to waive all requirements to send me on a one-way mission into space. To see the wonders of the universe up close? Yes, please.
Inconsistency. I find it annoying when the writers can't even stay within their own rules and history. You have a bible for the show, use it! I believe that it was George Takei who once said that a guest director was on the set one day and told him, "George, when I give the signal, I want you to hit that button." George replied that he couldn't do that. When the director questioned why not, George said, "If I hit that button, the ship will blow up!" While I'm reasonably sure that it was just George being funny, the fact is that the fans would have noticed!

The second thing that bothers me most about Trek is Paramount's treatment of its fan base. Yes, there are fans who would take advantage of every loophole, but by and large, most of us just want to be fans and to share our love of the franchise with other fans. If we post an image of your starships on our website, we're not trying to infringe upon your rights, we are merely showing our appreciation for the Trek universe.

I notice that there is a Humble Bundle about Modiphius' 2d20 Star Trek Adventures. I've got a bunch of the books already, but STA is one of those possibly cursed games on GP.

Have you played it? What did you think of it in capturing that Star Trek vibe?

I have played STA. In fact, I run a face-to-face game on Friday nights. It does not lend itself well to PbP. However, my players seem to enjoy it immensely (despite the fact that we are still learning the ins and outs of the system). I would say that it goes a ways towards capturing the Trek feel, but I can't recommend it for online play. Offline, it is a lot of fun (so far), though there is a bit of a learning curve.

What is the level closer social interaction do you care to have in your gaming?

I actually prefer F2F gaming, but I like the application of using the computer for mapping and combat resolution. I have hundreds of beautiful full-color maps for VTTs that I have purchased or found online which would cost thousands to print (plus the cost of miniatures). My group meets face-to-face but one of them uses the computer to project onto the big screen for the benefit of all. They see only what the characters would see (or know) and I get to make full use of the Foundry's VTT capabilities. If they want to roll physical dice, they are welcome to do so, or they can use their computer.