Captain's Log, Weekly Digest 7

A summary of the past week of posts to my in-character Star Trek Online Tumblr, chronicling the adventures of E.N. Morwen, a science-loving and thoughtful young woman trapped in a galaxy of warring space giants.

• Divide et Impera: In which Admiral Zelle is not what she seems.
• Saturday's Child: In which STO decides that uncritically repeating some of the most problematic and racist elements of TOS is a good idea.
• Preemptive Strike: In which the Watson slips in ahead of a Starfleet attack on the Rator System to rescue POWs.
• Hunting the Hunters: In which the Watson away team falls into a trap while searching for missing scientists.
• Project Nightingale: In which the Watson discovers a secret Romulan research project while attempting another rescue mission.
• By Any Means: In which the Watson must stop the Romulan research project before they unleash something terrible.

Captain's Log, Weekly Digest 6

A summary of the past week of posts to my in-character Star Trek Online Tumblr, chronicling the adventures of E.N. Morwen, a science-loving and thoughtful young woman trapped in a galaxy of warring space giants.

• The Lost City of Paradise:  The crew of the Kestrel meet their contact on Nimbus and get their first taste of the "delights" the planet has in store. Also there's a Borg tending bar, that's kind of interesting.
• Blind Men Tell All Tales:  Morwen and crew hunt for the Orion stronghold on Nimbus III.
• The Undying: The Kestrel crew confront the leader of the Orions on Nimbus III.
• A Fistful of Gorn: Morwen's team run a gauntlet of Gorn separatists en route to the Tal Shiar base.
• Installation 18: Inside the base, we finally learn the secrets of the Romulan presence on Nimbus III.
• [Promotion]: Captain: Morwen is promoted and transferred to a new ship, the Galaxy-class USS Starfire.
• Heading Out: The Starfire transports a Trill scientist to the Romulan border.
• Under the Cover of Night: A Starfleet intelligence analyst intends to defect to the Romulans.
• Minefield: Morwen works with an arrogant scientist on a plan to make the Federation's jump gates transwarp conduits more secure.
• Divide et Impera: The Starfire gets a massive overhaul and is rechristened the Watson, and assigned to serve as Admiral Zelle's flagship for a mission on the Romulan border.

Captain's Log, Weekly Digest 5

A summary of the past week of posts to my in-character Star Trek Online Tumblr, chronicling the adventures of E.N. Morwen, a science-loving and thoughtful young woman trapped in a galaxy of warring space giants.

• The Doomsday Device: Ambassador B'vat returns and awakens an ancient terror with the intent of turning it on the Federation.
• Arrested!: In a sequence of events that have basically nothing to do with the game except that I wanted to switch ships, Morwen gets caught in a Kafka-esque court martial over nothing.
• Koolhaas System Patrol: The new crew of the USS Ariel go on a fairly straightforward mission, while Morwen gathers her most trusted officers to found a conspiracy.
• Betreka Nebula Duty: The Ariel explores a nebula, Morwen sits in a hero's chair, and the plot thickens.
• Terran Empire Encounter: The Ariel has an extremely brief brush with the Mirror Universe.
• City on the Edge of Never: While Morwen's conspiracy closes in on their quarry, Ambassador B'vat switches tactics to kidnapping and time travel.
• Past Imperfect: The Ariel chases B'vat into the past, and the identity of the mole is revealed.
• Temporal Ambassador: The Ariel investigates strange temporal readings in the Azure Nebula, but they turn out to be nothing at all whatsoever. I mean, it's not like Morwen ended up on some kind of bizarre-yet-awesome adventure in an alternate timeline that ultimately became a paradoxical quest to erase itself from ever having happened, thus ensuring the log doesn't cover it. That'd be, frankly, far too Star Trek-y a thing for STO to do. (End of the Klingon War arc.)
• Secrets of Nimbus: Restored to her rightful place in command of the Kestrel, Morwen sets off for Nimbus III to investigate the possibility that thalaron weapons are being traded.
• The Lost City of Paradise: The crew of the Kestrel meet their contact on Nimbus and get their first taste of the "delights" the planet has in store. Also there's a Borg tending bar, that's kind of interesting.

Captain's Log, Weekly Digest 4

A summary of the past week of posts to my in-character Star Trek Online Tumblr, chronicling the adventures of E.N. Morwen, a science-loving and thoughtful young woman trapped in a galaxy of warring space giants.

• Spin the Wheel (cont. from last week): The crew of the Sakura goes on shore leave, but it's actually a cover for Morwen to go on a mission for Drake. (Interdimensional Vampire Ghost Giants From Space Saga, Part 2).
• What Lies Beneath: Armed with a prototype weapon, the crew of the Sakura return to the haunted depths of Drozana Station--but there is more than one way to be a ghost... (Interdimensional Vampire Ghost Giants From Space Saga, Part 3).
• Eihress System Patrol: The Sakura protects aid shipments from Reman raiding parties.
• Everything Old Is New: The Sakura away team returns to Drozana Station, and a gateway to the past... (Interdimensional Vampire Ghost Giants From Space Saga, Part 4).
• Night of the Comet: The Sakura goes back in time to foil the Devidians' plans. (Interdimensional Vampire Ghost Giants From Space Saga, Part 5).
• [Promotion]: Commander: Morwen is promoted and given command of a new ship, the Advanced Research Vessel Kestrel...
• Klingon Scout Force: ...and promptly sent on a pure combat mission involving no research.
• Traelus Satellite Repair: Morwen reluctantly goes on another mission for Drake.
• Kinjer System Patrol: The Kestrel is sent to study a rare form of radiation.
• The Ultimate Klingon: The Klingons and Gorn have been raiding Federation medical and biological research facilities, and the Kestrel assigned to find out where they're taking their plunder and why.
• The Doomsday Device: Ambassador B'vat returns and awakens an ancient terror with the intent of turning it on the Federation.

Captain's Log, Weekly Digest 3

A summary of the past week of posts to my in-character Star Trek Online Tumblr, chronicling the adventures of E.N. Morwen, a science-loving and thoughtful young woman trapped in a galaxy of warring space giants.

• [Promotion]: Lieutenant Commander: Morwen is promoted and given command of a new ship, the USS Sakura. She has mixed feelings about this.
• Halting the Gorn Advance: Morwen fights to protect miners in the Tostig System from lizard space giants, and she and T'Vrell take the first steps toward learning some important lessons.
• The Kuvah'Magh: Morwen tries to prevent a pro-war faction of Klingons from disrupting peace talks.
• Treasure Trading Station: A servant in one of the Klingon Great Houses wants to defect to the Federation.
• Secret Orders: The Sakura is sent to locate a Klingon base hidden in the dangerous Briar Patch Nebula, while the seeds of tension sprout among the crew.
• Task Force Hippocrates: A Starfleet task force tries to stop Klingon and Gorn raids on medical and research facilities near the border.
• Skirmish: The mysterious Drake sends the Sakura to investigate fighting between the Cardassians and Klingons. (Interdimensional Vampire Ghost Giants From Space Saga, Part 1).
• Outreach: Morwen helps negotiate a trade dispute.
• Spin the Wheel: The crew of the Sakura goes on shore leave, but it's actually a cover for Morwen to go on a mission for Drake. (Interdimensional Vampire Ghost Giants From Space Saga, Part 2).

Captain's Log, Weekly Digest 2

A summary of the past week of posts to my in-character Star Trek Online Tumblr, chronicling the adventures of E.N. Morwen, a science-loving and thoughtful young woman trapped in a galaxy of warring space giants.

• Personal log: Morwen's feelings on being put permanently in command of the Oracle.
• Stranded in Space: The Oracle is assigned to look for a lost freighter, and finds trouble.
• Diplomatic Orders: The Oracle is assigned to protect an ambassador who is not all that he seems.
• Oracle's Last Stand: When a Borg fleet enters the Sirius Sector, Morwen is determined to help stop them. In the aftermath, she struggles to deal with her sense of failure.
• Celes Patrol: Morwen and Kolez investigate possible sabotage on Starbase 114.
• Hide and Seek: The Nephilim explores the Paulson Nebula in an attempt to determine why the fake Ambassador Sokketh sent a signal there.
• Starbase 24 Defense: The Nephilim must help defend Starbase 24 from a massive Klingon fleet that has slipped behind Federation lines.
• Stop the Signal: The Nephilim searches for a hidden Klingon listening post in Federation space.
• Researcher Rescue: When contact is lost with an archeological research station in the Kassae system, the Nephilim is sent to investigate and provide assistance.
• [Promotion]: Lieutenant Commander: Morwen is promoted to Lieutenant Commander and given command of a new ship, the small but advanced science vessel USS Sakura. She has mixed feelings about this.

Captain's Log, Weekly Digest 1

So, those of you who follow me on Tumblr probably already know this, but I have created an in-character blog to record the log entries of my Star Trek Online character. It's sort of something between a Let's Play and a fanfic. I've decided to post weekly summaries, with links to the relevant posts, here.

• Out-of-Character Introduction
• About the main character, E. N. Morwen
• In which Morwen is hopeful
• In which Morwen's hopes are dashed by an unexpected promotion
• In which there may be reason for hope after all
• In which Morwen has a bad feeling
• In which it is worse than she feared
• In which damage is assessed
• In which there is a delay going home
• In which Morwen gets to scan something
• In which Morwen FINALLY gets to reconfigure a deflector dish
• In which Morwen's first day is confirmed as the worst ever
• In which the Oracle must convey a warning for some reason
• In which newbies fight Borg
• In which newbies fight more Borg
• In which colonists are rescued
• In which Morwen is confident she will finally get an assignment appropriate to her skills and experience

Seeing as my office has decided this is a games site...

No, seriously, for the past two weeks the automatic content filter at my work has started blocking all of MLPomo, and informs me it's classified as "Games" when I try to visit. No idea why it's blocked while, for instance, Nintendo Project Reloaded is just fine.

Anyway, if this is a games site, let's talk games. The window to record anything with Viga is now basically over until the end of the year, and uncertain then. So if I do Let's Plays, it'll be just me for the time being.

I ran some experiments and it looks like I can more-or-less successfully record off my PC. I'm thinking of doing an FFV Let's Play--I haven't played it in a long time, I like it, and it's not something you see covered a lot.

My main question is: should I try to be funny? Or intelligent/analytical? Or both?

News Dump

Various bits of news and future planning today:

1. My Little Po-Mo, Book 2: Book 2 is running a bit late but proceeding apace. I will almost definitely miss the July deadline, but hopefully by no more than a couple of weeks. I will also be writing the commissioned essays during the next couple of months, so expect to see those soon.
2. My Little Po-Mo, Book 3: The next book will compile the Fanworks Month and Derivative Works Month articles, plus Season 3. I expect to run a Kickstarter for it in September, October at the latest. (Kickstarter fail rates skyrocket in November-December, so if I don't get it by then it's not happening this year.)
3. My Little Po-Mo, endgame: This past weekend's Equestria Girls post was the final Derivative Works Month article. Ever. Next week begins Season Four, which as I've said several times is the end of the project; I will do Season 5 liveblogs, but I am not planning on doing full articles for it. Season 4 coverage will begin, as I said, with the ending, then jump back to the beginning. I do not expect any lengthy breaks, just the occasional guest post here and there while I'm at a convention, so My Little Po-Mo should end in about 30 weeks, give or take.
4. Site redesign/move: So, I got an e-mail this morning that the domain name I registered last year expires in two months. Eh-heh-heh... oops. I really do want to get moving on this, but I am very much at sea with these things, so it's taking a long while. It WILL be happening at some point, though.
5. The Very Soil book: No Kickstarter for The Very Soil, as I said. I am hoping to have it off to the editor by the end of the month. It will of course contain all of the The Very Soil articles, with expansions and revisions, and right now I'm looking at adding three more, one each on Kazumi Magica and Oriko Magica, and one additional "Against _____."
6. Let's Plays: Recording begins tonight, if all goes according to plan. Our first two games will be Final Fantasy III (the U.S.-released Super Nintendo game, FF6 in Japan) and The Ur-Quan Masters HD. Not sure yet if we're going to go straight through one and then the other, or alternate. Our next game after that will probably be Terranigma, but that's pretty far off. Not sure yet about formats and release schedules; we'll play it by ear.

Let's Plays?

Sorry this is late. I forgot to actually queue it, so even though it was written in time, it didn't show.

My friend Viga and I have been talking about possibly recording some Let's Plays. Now that she's in town for a couple months, it's suddenly become actually feasible to do.

So, would there be any interest in seeing this? Current leading game candidates are leaning toward early-90s RPGs.