K. F. Cole

All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer by the stars. - Neil Peart (Rush, The Pass)

All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer by the stars.

If there’s some digital super-intelligence, and its optimization or utility function is something that’s detrimental to humanity, it will have a very bad effect. It could be just something like getting rid of spam email. And it’s like, ‘The best way to get rid of spam is to get rid of humans’.

The story being told in ‘Star Wars’ is a classic one. Every few hundred years, the story is retold because we have a tendency to do the same things over and over again. Power corrupts, and when you’re in charge, you start doing things that you think are right, but they’re actually not.

Robert McKee on Character

True character is revealed in the choices a human being makes under pressure — the greater the pressure, the deeper the revelation — the truer the choice to the character’s essential nature.

Issac Asimov on Salvation http://kfcole.com/2014/10/07/asimov-on-salvation/

Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today – but the core of science fiction, its essence has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all.

C. S. Lewis on Storytelling

Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.

Lofgren on Being Childlike

The good news is you can be young at heart. There is a lot of stuff to do that is very child-like and fun – you just have to avoid the childish stuff that gets you into trouble.

Fists of Fire, The Shaw Brothers Documentary #wuxia #kungfu

Considering a Wuxia setting? Check out this short documentary about the Shaw Brothers; three brothers responsible for over 1000 films in the genre.

Akira Kurosawa on Honesty in Story

Although human beings are incapable of talking about themselves with total honesty, it is much harder to avoid the truth while pretending to be other people. They often reveal much about themselves in a very straightforward way. I am certain that I did.

Tonight, I got into an extended Twitter conversation with #GamerGate advocates who took issue with this post:

I love games. Sometimes, I hate gamers; especially #GamerGate misogynists. GG doesn’t harass men? #comeatmebro

That tweet linked to an article which showed some of the uglier reactions to Anita Sarkeesian‘s appearance on The Colbert Report. For little ole’ me, with a total of 60 Twitter…

Dark Dungeons and the D&D Scare @Dark_Dungeons

If you grew up with D&D, like I did, you’ll remember well the scared drummed up about the game by Chick Publications. Basically, they tried to tie D&D to Satanism and suicide.

Last year, some folks pulled together the funding to produce a live action version of the comic. It is pretty epic.

I write to give myself strength. I write to be the characters that I am not. I write to explore all the things I’m afraid of.

J.R.R. Tolkien pretty much nailed the #GamerGate trolls. :D #nailonthehead

Trolls are slow in the uptake and mighty suspicious about anything new to them.

A very compelling short documentary about girls and D&D.

I’ve recently begun working on series of NPCs for a project. First up is Artrex, an undine druid. A creature born of water, she protects the primal swamps of the Black River delta. Always accompanied by FellGnaw, a massive Spinosaurus, Artrex is not afraid to respond to perceived threats with violence.

Artex The Foul

The water parts around the rising head of massive spinosaurus. Astride its…

If Shakespeare and Michelangelo were alive today, and if they decided to collaborate on a comic, Shakespeare would write the script and Michelangelo would draw it. How could anybody say that this wouldn’t be as worthwhile an art form as anything on earth?

Gauntlets of Redemption, 2nd Draft Integrated feedback from @SeanKReynolds; the result is a much stronger design.

Last Thursday, I received my first round of feedback from Sean. Though Sean’s notes taught me a lot, I struggled with two issues.

First, Sean suggested I cut the bring-you-back-to-lifemechanic. This was tough because, initially, it seemed to kill the whole concept of redemption flavor I hoped to create with this item. I threw out one possible solution to Sean which he thought might work and I…