An innocent comment over on the FFML has triggered the most traffic the list has seen in years. At this moment, the ultimate fate and focus of the FFML are being discussed and some long-hidden heads are lifting and making their opinions known... The volume of mail was so large I spent all my early-morning online time clearing out my inbox of FFML discussion.
I'm curious whether this will result in actual change in the FFML, or if the status quo will reassert itself.-- Bob
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I loot faster. -- Peggy Schroeck, D&D game, in response to a crisis situation that arises while she's searching the bodies of four recent opponents.

Weird Al Yancovic's "Everything you know is wrong"
I was driving on the freeway in the fast lane
With a rabid wolverine in my underwear
When suddenly a guy behind me in the back seat
Popped right up and cupped his hands across my eyes
I guessed, "Is it Uncle Frank or Cousin Louie?"
"Is it Bob or Joe or Walter?"
"Could it be Bill or Jim or Ed or Bernie or Steve?"
I probably would have kept on guessing
But about that time we crashed into the truck
And as I'm laying bleeding there on the asphalt
Finally I recognize the face of my hibachi dealer
Who takes off his prosthetic lips and tells me
Everything you know is wrong
Black is white, up is down and short is long
And everything you thought was just so
Important doesn't matter
Everything you know is wrong
Just forget the words and sing along
All you need to understand is
Everything you know is wrong
I was walkin' to the kitchen for some Golden Grahams
When I accidentally stepped into an alternate dimension
And soon I was abducted by some aliens from space
Who kinda looked like Jamie Farr
They sucked out my internal organs
And they took some polaroids
And said I was a darn good sport
And as a way of saying thank you
They offered to transport me back to
Any point in history that I would care to go
And so I had them send me back to last Thursday night
So I could pay my phone bill on time
Just then the floating disembodied head of
Colonel Sanders started yelling
Everything you know is wrong
Black is white, up is down and short is long
And everything you thought was just so
Important doesn't matter
Everything you know is wrong
Just forget the words and sing along
All you need to understand is
Everything you know is wrong
I was just about to mail a letter to my evil twin
When I got a nasty papercut
And, well, to make a long story short
It got infected and I died
So now I'm up in heaven with St. Peter
By the pearly gates
And it's obvious he doesn't like
The Nehru jacket that I'm wearing
He tells me "We've got a dress code, ya know"
Well, he lets me into heaven anyway
But I get the room next to the noisy ice machine
For all eternity
And every day he runs by screaming
Everything you know is wrong
Black is white, up is down and short is long
And everything you used to think was so important
Doesn't really matter anymore
Because the simple fact remains that
Everything you know is wrong
Just forget the words and sing along
All you need to understand is
Everything you know is wrong
Everything you know is wrong
This song could give Doug the equivalent of the GURPS "Illuminated" advantage, useful to spot cover-ups and conspiracies, altought he would probably believe that the song just makes him paranoid. Or maybe the song does makes him paranoid, who can tell?

"Change the World" by Eric Clapton
If I could reach the stars I'd pull one down for you
Shine it on my heart so you could see the truth
That this love I have inside is everything it seems
But for now I find it's only in my dreams
CHORUS:
That I can change the world
I would be the sunlight in your universe
You will think my love was really something good
Baby if I could change the world
If I could be king even for a day
I'd take you as my queen I'd have it no other way
And our love will rule in this kingdom we have made
Till then I'd be a fool wishin' for the day
CHORUS:
That I can change the world
I would be the sunlight in your universe
You will think my love was really something good
Baby if I could change the world
Baby if I could change the world
- GUITAR SOLO -
CHORUS:
That I can change the world
I would be the sunlight in your universe
You will think my love was really something good
Baby if I could change the world
Baby if I could change the world
Baby if I could change the world

When this song is used it allows Doug to "Change the World" in the same manner as Corwin and his family walked the shadow world's in Zelazny's Amber series. Minute changes add up, over time, to move a person from world to world.
The biggest limitations I see are the length of the song and how often Doug can use it. It could take a very long time for him to get where he wants to go.
Doug might be able to "force" the changes faster but, if possible, it would cause him to experience a "hell ride" just as in the novels.

been a long road to follow
been there and gone tomorrow
without saying goodbye to yesterday
are the memories i hold still valid?
or have the tears deluded them?
maybe this time tomorrow
the rain will cease to follow
and the mist will fade into one more today
something somewhere out there keeps calling
am i going home?
will i hear someone singing solace to the silent moon?
zero gravity what's it like?
am i alone?
is somebody there beyond these heavy aching feet
still the road keeps on telling me to go on
something is pulling me
i feel the gravity of it all

gravity, performed by Maaya Sakamoto, lyrics by troy, music by Yoko Kanno, from the album Nikopachi, copyright (c) 2003 Victor Entertainment Inc., Japan.
(One can buy the album here.)

Yes, it's supposed to be in all lower-case.
Yes, it's a Kanno/Sakamoto song that's in English.
Yes, it's yet another possible gate song ("been a long road to follow / ... / still the road keeps on telling me to go on")... but I'm thinking it's either to reach the Sailor Moon Step ("will i hear someone singing solace to the silent moon?"), or to leave a Step that brings Doug to despair ("are the memories i hold still valid?").
Edit: Come to think of it, this would be a good one for Doug to use to leave the Sailor Moon Step - "will i hear someone singing solace to the silent moon?" and "are the memories i hold still valid?" are both good lines for leaving that world, if canon holds and Doug's memories go the way of everyone else's...

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

... a decent Suikoden fanfic?
Interested mostly because I've been finding nothing but shorts and/or stuff that doesn't really measure up, and I've become interested in the matter again since I've finally scraped together enough cash to replace my broken PS2 and get S:Tactics (five isn't out over here yet, sadly).
Come to think of it, the same would apply for Disgaea and most console RPGs.
-Griever
When tact is required, use brute force. When force is required, use greater force.
When the greatest force is required, use your head. Surprise is everything. - The Book of Cataclysm

The Stories Men Tell (drabble-ish, Star Wars)
The Emperor hid the secret of Darth Vader's identity well. Only a tiny handful would know the truth, until that fateful day over Endor.
The story was put about that Palpatine had sent his apprentice, Darth Vader, to negotiate the final surrender of the Separatist leaders. To bring an end to the war, to bring peace to the galaxy. He said that the Jedi sent asassains, as part of their rebellion against the Senate, to eliminate Vader, to carry on the war. That they killed the Separatist leaders in an orgy of mad violence.
As far as the public knew, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi, heroes of the Clone Wars, died that day on Mustafar. Darth Vader simply appeared out of nowhere, already clad in the black armor that would be his trademark for twenty years of terror.
But I remember the truth. I remember the pain in his eyes. The fear he felt as he slid into the lava. And I remember, every night, picking up his lightsaber, turning my back on him, and walking away. Leaving him to die.
Every night I dream of it, out here in the desert, watching over his son. I dream, and I remember, and I hope that one day his nightmare will end.
-- From the journal of Ben Kenobi.
Watched 'Revenge of the Sith' for the first time the other day, and this popped into my head.--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

As the title says. City of Heroes material. I just finished this a while ago, in one massive straight-line burst. 's pretty short, but it took me a bit to get it where I wanted...and...and I probably shouldn't actually post it until I've had a day or so to stew and make edits. But...I'm impatient.
Well, more critically, I'd like permission to reference the Legendary...and a particular character from the team (Minuet Mac Hine), and if I get that, then I'd probably change the appropriate paragraph accordingly. Why the Legendary, and why Min? Well, it's about Syndesis, my DM/Regen scrapper.
"Fifty"
-- Acyl

Both in the description of Step X.
The link to Legion's Quest gives me a "www.schollnet.com could not be found" error, and the link to SME gives me a page containing only a non-breaking space...
(So, anyone have links to these fics that work?)

-Rob Kelk
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

-- Bob
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I loot faster. -- Peggy Schroeck, D&D game, in response to a crisis situation that arises while she's searching the bodies of four recent opponents.

This is more of a joke sequence than anything else, and it came to me in the wake of writing something a bit more serious about Doug working with the Senshi. I'm not even sure if it will actually make it into the story at all, so I figured I might as well share it now. The setting is one of the classic all-Senshi study sessions. Enjoy.