I'd say that this is perfect fit for BRP's low - level grittiness.

Strugaccy were generally one of the "greats" of Sci - Fi.

Quote from: The Yann Waters;661975Finnish, actually. On a related note, have you seen this?

No I had not. Super cool. Gonna check it out when I get a chance. Thank you.

Quote from: Rincewind1;661983Strugaccy were generally one of the "greats" of Sci - Fi.

So says a child of the soviet era. I kid, I'm sure, I'm loosing a little in translation. But I really enjoyed "Roadside Picnic". I haven't seen their other work translated to english. If I do I would definitely check it out. I've read a bit about their "Noon" universe.

Quote from: Ronin;662071So says a child of the soviet era. I kid, I'm sure, I'm loosing a little in translation. But I really enjoyed "Roadside Picnic". I haven't seen their other work translated to english. If I do I would definitely check it out. I've read a bit about their "Noon" universe.

Prisoners of Power (Przenicowany Świat) is a film (and a very good one), and you should be able to get English subtitles for it with ease.

And heh, I was born after the fall of Berlin Wall and I'm Polish, so I also "lost in translation" . Arguably, the Slav Languages are all pretty similar (to the point, if you know Polish and know how to read cyrilica, it's possible to understand a lot of words without actually knowing Russian per se).

As for Sovietness of Strugaccy - well, that's certainly a problematic issue, and I admit I did not pay it much heed myself. Their works don't bear a lot of political messages from what I've seen (to analyse Roadside Picnic in terms of Stalkers being some greedy capitalists is a huge overanalysis), Monday Begins on Saturday has some communist overtones but even those aren't too obvious/painful (just a general "work and enthusiasm in work is a good thing", but that can generally apply to a fiction regarding enthusiastic scientists in general, and approval of hard work is not a purely communistic thing). There is some "socialist state is good" in other sci - fi works, yes, but it's on par with later Star Trek I'd say. Then again, one can't help but feel that the whole "Przenicowany Świat"/"Prisoners of Power" planet setting is a very, very veiled allegory of old Stalinism.

 On the other hand - I'd not be surprised if they got a lot of printing time because they were generally hardliners enough that they did not need to prove that in their sci - fi stories. As I said, I did not investigate a lot, but...I remember they've pulled their support from at least one of film adaptations, because the director refused to shoot it in DDR. Perhaps it was more of Russian Imperialistic streak in them.

I'd not be however surprised if they were some strictly "Communism is Great" works in their repertoire - in the glorious Worker's Paradise, this is how you had to play ball if you wanted to be printed. Otherwise, you were usually only printed when someone wanted to use your work to strike against another part of establishment in the truly Byzantine intrigues of Parties.

Interesting. I don't read a lick of either (polish or russian). But I do know some spoken polish. As my girl friend is of polish decent and speaks a little bit. Most of it directed at the dog. Hes a dupa.

Dogs tend to be.

Stalker (or Roadside Picnic) is indeed a perfect material for RPG. It combines this proto - RPG D&D stuff of "you're an adventurer hunting for treasures", with some truly bizarre and scary traps/occurances/treasures, modern weaponry, and general grittiness that requires you to think rather than rely purely on your rolls to survive.

I'm not a fan of D&D, but Stalker is pretty much that, except you carry a box of screws rather than 10 foot poles.

From what I heard of Torchbearer, it would be a great match for a Stalker game.

Quote from: Rincewind1;662768Dogs tend to be.

Stalker (or Roadside Picnic) is indeed a perfect material for RPG. It combines this proto - RPG D&D stuff of "you're an adventurer hunting for treasures", with some truly bizarre and scary traps/occurances/treasures, modern weaponry, and general grittiness that requires you to think rather than rely purely on your rolls to survive.

I'm not a fan of D&D, but Stalker is pretty much that, except you carry a box of screws rather than 10 foot poles.

Agreed, and the screw comment makes me smile. Mosquito Mange is a nasty surprise:)