Just wanted to note that I really appreciate these bits of context! Ironically I think this was the first one I got on my own but they've been really nice to have
I probably should take up some kind of 3d modeling program at some point, instead of manually fitting textures, cut up photos, and screenshots of 3d models onto a sketch. It probably won't be gmod though
I'll admit I was picturing the closer track as a rail siding left over from when freight trains would stop to unload here but that certainly isn't shown. And it'd still be in service with modern trams, I just don't know how often they'd stop (never decided if this is a passenger stop, but there's honestly no reason it shouldn't be)
Well the big news for me is that we finished the solarpunk TTRPG campaign book and handouts and we're gearing up to release it! It's been almost three years and I'm really excited to share it (and also to be done working on it).
I need to put together a writeup for my website, lemmy, reddit etc, and we're working on a blurb for the itch.io and DriveThruRPG pages. Andrew is reaching out to different people in the solarpunk, eco fiction, etc spaces to see if they'll give it a mention etc.
In other news I got the page on High Context Living far enough along to add to our worldbuilding resource wiki (these things are never really done but it's great to have a place to save relevant bits of info as I learn about them). Please feel free to message me with any additions you think fit, or if you'd like to add a topic!
I'm excited to go back to making one-off bits of solarpunk art for a while, to pick up the gamebook again, and to help some writer friends with setting up bookbinding versions of their books! (I help by making covers, helping them create interposed, print-ready PDFs, walking them through bookbinding their own copies, and ideally drafting tutorial on binding the books. It's part of an ongoing project to help make indie publishing a little more like indie music, with an emphasis on DIY and a rejection of trying to mimic the mainstream stuff. I'm hoping to show people that home bookbinding can be easy and produce some really high quality books with some cool/weird advantages over the mass market stuff.
I appreciate you obtaining these bits of history? context? and sharing them. Even if I'm having some trouble parsing this particular one. You don't usually hear people describing the civil rights movement as building barriers.
I've managed to pack an absurd amounts of stuff into a sedan over the years (it often looks like the photos of your truck, jammed floor to ceiling) but there have been times when I really wished for an open bed for bulky items. This thing has more cargo space than my four-door and looks smaller overall which is a huge plus in city driving (even my sedan feels too big a lot of the time). Plus it's cheap to buy, cheap to operate, probably cheap to insure because of its low speed. If they are frequently hauling cargo but less than you are, and need to drive and park in tight roads in the city (where it's intended to be used) it seems like a better fit than a car (from someone who uses a car).
Hi, I've set up a new copy of the doc for ongoing feedback towards the gamebook version, if you're interested. It's got my old comments on where various details and ideas came from which might be useful if I'm really off-base somewhere. I've also added a page to the beginning with links to various locations with content you might be able to make corrections on. I'm obviously happy to get input on anything that'll improve the next version, but I think given your limited time, these might be the best place to start?
I'm also happy to share the gamebook version at some point, though I haven't gotten to these topics/locations yet so we're catching it at a good time. Basically anything we correct on this doc goes into the gamebook eventually. For as much work as I put into this campaign, I think it'll probably see less of an audience than a standalone book will, if only because you don't have to convince 3-6 adults to spend two hours a week on it for a couple months.
Hi, thanks for taking the time to give it a look! You were right - I actually just finalized the PDF and we're gearing up to release it, but I'm also planning out a gamebook (choose your own adventure) version that'll probably be more approachable for regular readers, so I'd still love to get your input! It sounds like your experience directly covers some of the groups, and things I haven't done.
I used to have a page at the front with links to each section I was hoping someone with your experience would look over, but we removed it while finalizing the doc - I'll see if I can find an old version or just gather up links for you (assuming you're still interested). In addition to the site the players are searching for I've got former town (and household) dumps undergoing remediation, a contaminated, filled-in wetland, and forests where they're rewilding.
Looking over your questions I think I feel safe saying that for any point where you asked whether I elaborate on a given setting topic later in the doc, the answer is yes (though I'm always happy to get input). The other devs and editors would probably have preferred if I stopped elaborating at some point, but here we are 300 pages later.
We used to make batches of farmers cheese with spoiled milk, and I think give the whey to our tomato plants. You can also then use the cheese to make syrniki which is awesome. These days we're not buying much milk so it hasn't come up as much.
This is a great addition and I'll find some way to include it! I think it's important for the wiki to call out accessability topics wherever they fit. Also if you'd be interested in putting together any standalone topics (such as accessable urban layout) which you'd like to see writers include, I'd be happy to help!
This is exactly the sort of stuff I'm looking for, thank you! I think when these systems are coupled with lower expectations they can be way more efficient than the infrastructure defaults - that's something I might have to work into the definition if I can back it up
That sounds like a fairly elaborate rig! I don't want to pry into your location but what kind of seasons/temperatures were you dealing with and did you have to do anything to keep from overheating the water lines? Could you connect and disconnect the stove?
Same! I'm actually about to start posting around asking for anyone's favorite examples, and digging into permiculture forums which are often a gold mine for this stuff.
I'm 100% with you on linux, I've run into the same situation and conclusions a few times. In fact a lot of how I live tends to involve having to explain the quirks of whatever system to people who want to use them, and I'm still in an apartment with standard up-to-code water, electricity, and sewer hookups. I've known homesteaders who were far and away further along on that stuff than I am. I'm excited to see what we can gather up here, as one of my ongoing projects features a mostly-abandoned region where people likely would have introduced some high-context systems just to get by once the grid and everything else started to fall apart. And those systems have had decades to metastasize until each location is weird in its own way.
One of my British friends was kind of horrified at how we do things over here, especially in rural areas. The houses I grew up in only had electricity and phone lines (and eventually cable tv/internet) run to them. Individual wells and septic tanks/leach fields is very much the norm, even in planned developments. Lots of redundancy and you need to get your water tested occasionally to make sure the groundwater hasn't been contaminated by industry or neighbors (and basically no recourse if it has).
Once you get into adding rainwater collection for showers/toilets and switching to small scale solar, especially stuff like partial or whole house conversions to DC power to reduce conversion loss, things get complicated enough that a houseguest probably can't safely assume things work the way they expect. It's possible not every outlet is lit the usual way, or maybe they can only charge a device when the sun is out, or maybe you need to know the right valves to open to draw water from a cistern.
IRL building codes and consumer mindsets in first world countries have standardized a lot of things and offloaded/hidden a lot of the complexity that underpins our day to day existence. For many of us our power and water are handled by specialists in dedicated facilities, and the equipment which goes into our homes have strict codes and expectations to keep the experience of using them fairly standard.
But in a solarpunk world, especially one that's rebuilding, and relying on salvage and diy, I think we'd see many more retrofits and 'bespoke' solutions which are more efficient but leave the complexities of filtering water or generating electricity or disposing of sewage more exposed to regular people. I think there's some cool worldbuilding potential in that.
I applaud the research! At first glance that actually sounds like it might be a bit overkill depending on what kind of forging they're doing - a single solar concentrator made from a fresnel lens from a large rear projection TV is enough to burn a hole through a skill saw blade on its own. That wouldn't be a great experience for forging (though I'm still planning to set one up and try it out) but if you can burn steel you can technically do forge welding. It's just that the concentration of heat on such a small area would be really unpleasant/impractical to work with.
I'd be interested to see the math if you've still got it, it's extremely possible I'm way off and you'd need way more light for a really effective forge. I would have figured even a dozen mirrors would be sufficient.
Wait are they smelting steel too? That would be closer to those molten salt solar thermal towers out west or the big parabolic mirror/heliosat combo the smelters use IRL.
When I was learning from a blacksmith we used coal, he favored it because it was traditional and you could do forge welding (propane forges don't get hot enough) - I couldn't really manage the temp on my little diy forge well enough to do do it often but he had a full out smithy with the big brick forge, bellows, and everything, and I learned there. Mostly I made basic stuff with thin stock I found at the dump, hooks and shelf brackets and such. At his forge we made andirons, trivets, railings, and all sorts of heavier or fancier stuff.
I'm between forges at the moment but I'd really like to get into blacksmithing again. If I ever build my solar forge I figure it'll probably be a single big screen fresnel lens on an adjustable frame, with a brick lined fire pot laid out so the focal point isn't concentrated completely on the work but instead diffused over a wider area. I don't expect it to work anywhere near as well as even my rickity old coal forge but as long as it's equivalent or better than a burnzomatic propane torch will no shielding it'll be a step up from where I'm at now.
That would be kinda amazing
Just wanted to note that I really appreciate these bits of context! Ironically I think this was the first one I got on my own but they've been really nice to have
Oof.
I probably should take up some kind of 3d modeling program at some point, instead of manually fitting textures, cut up photos, and screenshots of 3d models onto a sketch. It probably won't be gmod though
I'll admit I was picturing the closer track as a rail siding left over from when freight trains would stop to unload here but that certainly isn't shown. And it'd still be in service with modern trams, I just don't know how often they'd stop (never decided if this is a passenger stop, but there's honestly no reason it shouldn't be)
Well the big news for me is that we finished the solarpunk TTRPG campaign book and handouts and we're gearing up to release it! It's been almost three years and I'm really excited to share it (and also to be done working on it).
I need to put together a writeup for my website, lemmy, reddit etc, and we're working on a blurb for the itch.io and DriveThruRPG pages. Andrew is reaching out to different people in the solarpunk, eco fiction, etc spaces to see if they'll give it a mention etc.
In other news I got the page on High Context Living far enough along to add to our worldbuilding resource wiki (these things are never really done but it's great to have a place to save relevant bits of info as I learn about them). Please feel free to message me with any additions you think fit, or if you'd like to add a topic!
I'm excited to go back to making one-off bits of solarpunk art for a while, to pick up the gamebook again, and to help some writer friends with setting up bookbinding versions of their books! (I help by making covers, helping them create interposed, print-ready PDFs, walking them through bookbinding their own copies, and ideally drafting tutorial on binding the books. It's part of an ongoing project to help make indie publishing a little more like indie music, with an emphasis on DIY and a rejection of trying to mimic the mainstream stuff. I'm hoping to show people that home bookbinding can be easy and produce some really high quality books with some cool/weird advantages over the mass market stuff.
I appreciate you obtaining these bits of history? context? and sharing them. Even if I'm having some trouble parsing this particular one. You don't usually hear people describing the civil rights movement as building barriers.
I've managed to pack an absurd amounts of stuff into a sedan over the years (it often looks like the photos of your truck, jammed floor to ceiling) but there have been times when I really wished for an open bed for bulky items. This thing has more cargo space than my four-door and looks smaller overall which is a huge plus in city driving (even my sedan feels too big a lot of the time). Plus it's cheap to buy, cheap to operate, probably cheap to insure because of its low speed. If they are frequently hauling cargo but less than you are, and need to drive and park in tight roads in the city (where it's intended to be used) it seems like a better fit than a car (from someone who uses a car).
It'd be nice if there was another way to learn about other countries
Hi, I've set up a new copy of the doc for ongoing feedback towards the gamebook version, if you're interested. It's got my old comments on where various details and ideas came from which might be useful if I'm really off-base somewhere. I've also added a page to the beginning with links to various locations with content you might be able to make corrections on. I'm obviously happy to get input on anything that'll improve the next version, but I think given your limited time, these might be the best place to start?
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1naf9MvD_qJTrIv9K3VmNSpQOIuLq5h0qPwDRSxMrJZE/edit?usp=sharing
I'm also happy to share the gamebook version at some point, though I haven't gotten to these topics/locations yet so we're catching it at a good time. Basically anything we correct on this doc goes into the gamebook eventually. For as much work as I put into this campaign, I think it'll probably see less of an audience than a standalone book will, if only because you don't have to convince 3-6 adults to spend two hours a week on it for a couple months.
Thanks again!
You have to open negotiations with a strong position you can afford to negotiate down from
Hi, thanks for taking the time to give it a look! You were right - I actually just finalized the PDF and we're gearing up to release it, but I'm also planning out a gamebook (choose your own adventure) version that'll probably be more approachable for regular readers, so I'd still love to get your input! It sounds like your experience directly covers some of the groups, and things I haven't done.
I used to have a page at the front with links to each section I was hoping someone with your experience would look over, but we removed it while finalizing the doc - I'll see if I can find an old version or just gather up links for you (assuming you're still interested). In addition to the site the players are searching for I've got former town (and household) dumps undergoing remediation, a contaminated, filled-in wetland, and forests where they're rewilding.
Looking over your questions I think I feel safe saying that for any point where you asked whether I elaborate on a given setting topic later in the doc, the answer is yes (though I'm always happy to get input). The other devs and editors would probably have preferred if I stopped elaborating at some point, but here we are 300 pages later.
Thanks again!
We used to make batches of farmers cheese with spoiled milk, and I think give the whey to our tomato plants. You can also then use the cheese to make syrniki which is awesome. These days we're not buying much milk so it hasn't come up as much.
This is a great addition and I'll find some way to include it! I think it's important for the wiki to call out accessability topics wherever they fit. Also if you'd be interested in putting together any standalone topics (such as accessable urban layout) which you'd like to see writers include, I'd be happy to help!
A while back I started a discussion on the anarchist community looking for some similar discussion - some of the answers there might be useful:
https://slrpnk.net/post/35979981
This is exactly the sort of stuff I'm looking for, thank you! I think when these systems are coupled with lower expectations they can be way more efficient than the infrastructure defaults - that's something I might have to work into the definition if I can back it up
I'm not sure I even know where to begin but I'd love to hear about any of the warnings you have to give people when they're staying with you!
That sounds like a fairly elaborate rig! I don't want to pry into your location but what kind of seasons/temperatures were you dealing with and did you have to do anything to keep from overheating the water lines? Could you connect and disconnect the stove?
Same! I'm actually about to start posting around asking for anyone's favorite examples, and digging into permiculture forums which are often a gold mine for this stuff.
I'm 100% with you on linux, I've run into the same situation and conclusions a few times. In fact a lot of how I live tends to involve having to explain the quirks of whatever system to people who want to use them, and I'm still in an apartment with standard up-to-code water, electricity, and sewer hookups. I've known homesteaders who were far and away further along on that stuff than I am. I'm excited to see what we can gather up here, as one of my ongoing projects features a mostly-abandoned region where people likely would have introduced some high-context systems just to get by once the grid and everything else started to fall apart. And those systems have had decades to metastasize until each location is weird in its own way.
One of my British friends was kind of horrified at how we do things over here, especially in rural areas. The houses I grew up in only had electricity and phone lines (and eventually cable tv/internet) run to them. Individual wells and septic tanks/leach fields is very much the norm, even in planned developments. Lots of redundancy and you need to get your water tested occasionally to make sure the groundwater hasn't been contaminated by industry or neighbors (and basically no recourse if it has).
Once you get into adding rainwater collection for showers/toilets and switching to small scale solar, especially stuff like partial or whole house conversions to DC power to reduce conversion loss, things get complicated enough that a houseguest probably can't safely assume things work the way they expect. It's possible not every outlet is lit the usual way, or maybe they can only charge a device when the sun is out, or maybe you need to know the right valves to open to draw water from a cistern.
IRL building codes and consumer mindsets in first world countries have standardized a lot of things and offloaded/hidden a lot of the complexity that underpins our day to day existence. For many of us our power and water are handled by specialists in dedicated facilities, and the equipment which goes into our homes have strict codes and expectations to keep the experience of using them fairly standard.
But in a solarpunk world, especially one that's rebuilding, and relying on salvage and diy, I think we'd see many more retrofits and 'bespoke' solutions which are more efficient but leave the complexities of filtering water or generating electricity or disposing of sewage more exposed to regular people. I think there's some cool worldbuilding potential in that.
I applaud the research! At first glance that actually sounds like it might be a bit overkill depending on what kind of forging they're doing - a single solar concentrator made from a fresnel lens from a large rear projection TV is enough to burn a hole through a skill saw blade on its own. That wouldn't be a great experience for forging (though I'm still planning to set one up and try it out) but if you can burn steel you can technically do forge welding. It's just that the concentration of heat on such a small area would be really unpleasant/impractical to work with.
I'd be interested to see the math if you've still got it, it's extremely possible I'm way off and you'd need way more light for a really effective forge. I would have figured even a dozen mirrors would be sufficient.
Wait are they smelting steel too? That would be closer to those molten salt solar thermal towers out west or the big parabolic mirror/heliosat combo the smelters use IRL.
When I was learning from a blacksmith we used coal, he favored it because it was traditional and you could do forge welding (propane forges don't get hot enough) - I couldn't really manage the temp on my little diy forge well enough to do do it often but he had a full out smithy with the big brick forge, bellows, and everything, and I learned there. Mostly I made basic stuff with thin stock I found at the dump, hooks and shelf brackets and such. At his forge we made andirons, trivets, railings, and all sorts of heavier or fancier stuff.
I'm between forges at the moment but I'd really like to get into blacksmithing again. If I ever build my solar forge I figure it'll probably be a single big screen fresnel lens on an adjustable frame, with a brick lined fire pot laid out so the focal point isn't concentrated completely on the work but instead diffused over a wider area. I don't expect it to work anywhere near as well as even my rickity old coal forge but as long as it's equivalent or better than a burnzomatic propane torch will no shielding it'll be a step up from where I'm at now.