06/14/21: Space Between Worlds and I Care A Lot
TLDR
Update: The Playtest went well
Reading: The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
Watching: I Care A Lot (Netflix)
End Notes: You can contact me at jadettman@gmail.com
THE UPDATE
If you were waiting on tenterhooks (which, interestingly enough, were hooks used to fasten woolen cloth to a drying rack) to find out how my playtest with the Magpie Game Design Festival went, here it is: It went well. I, of course, was very nervous for several reasons.
We ended up with one fewer player, so I only had three, which was fine. Though we played through a scenario I spent the game hard framing most scenes and pushing the players into conflicts so that I could test those mechanics. Feedback was mostly positive, though there are still things for me to look at and make adjustments to.
Overall, it was a good experience. I just wish it was less stressful.
READING
I finished The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson last week but I was still processing it. The premise of the book is that there are an infinite number of dimensions that are variations on the world that we know and a scientist found a way to travel between. But! If the a version of you is still alive in the world you travel to, you both can’t exist peacefully and the version traveling is injured terribly and never survives. Which means that people living in precarious situations that may have killed them in another dimension become valuable as world hoppers.
Cara, the main character, is one such person. She makes her living traveling to other worlds to collect data to help scientists predict what might happen in her world. Of course, complications arise and Cara has to deal with them. Also, there are interesting themes about income inequality, how the first world treats the third world, and how trying to move, or live, between those worlds makes it hard to be part of both.
I really enjoyed this books. I like multi-dimension books, in general, but this had a new twist on world hopping and had interesting things to say. I definitely recommend.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/610612/the-space-between-worlds-by-micaiah-johnson/
WATCHING
I watched I Care A Lot (Netflix) because Peter Dinklage was in the trailer. The premise is that Rosamund Pike is a professional care guardian for elderly people without family and she uses this position to commit rich elderly people to care facilities so that she can gain control of their wealth but, one day, she commits the wrong lady and everything starts to spin out of control.
I really didn’t like this movie, mostly because there was no one, except the elderly victims, for me to root for. I was rooting for Peter Dinklage’s character a little bit because Rosamund Pike’s character was evil but, really, they were both bad people and it made me cranky. However, the acting was good which wasn’t surprising. So, if you aren’t bothered by two bad people doing bad things and making each other crazy, then you will probably enjoy this movie more than I did.
END NOTES
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