Eran Arbel
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sabrerunner.bsky.social
Eran Arbel
@sabrerunner.bsky.social
370 followers 560 following 1.8K posts
Writer, gamer, programmer, designer, amateur samurai, creator of "Mountain Legacy"

[email protected]
https://eran.geek.co.il/links
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sabrerunner.bsky.social
זה מאוד מתיש להיות כלבלב.
December 2, 2025 at 6:27 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
I think our current calendar is not very good in general. Not gonna dispute a day is not a day but we can do better than the current arrangement. Ditch months outside of where the moon is. Do something akin to Swatch Time for the day. And just name everything 1st, 2nd, ... 17th, etc...
November 30, 2025 at 12:43 PM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Whenever I see something like this, I remember the little foreword to Nightfall. And whenever I think about doing something like that, I tell myself to remember Nightfall.

Remember Nightfall, dear fantastical writers. Remember Nightfall.
TO THE READER Kalgash is an alien world and it is not our intention to have you think that it is identical to Earth, even though we depict its as speaking a language that you can understand, and using terms that are familiar to you. Those words should as mere equivalents of alien terms—that is, a conventional set of equivalents of the same sort that a writer of novels uses when he has foreign characters speaking with each other in their own language but nevertheless transcribes their words in the language of the reader. So when the people of Kalgash speak of "miles," or "hands," or "cars," or "computers," they mean their own units of distance, their own grasping-organs, their own ground-transportation devices, their own information-prcressing machines, etc. The computers used on Kalgash are not necessarily compatible with the ones used in New York or London or Stockholm, and the "mile" that we use in this is not necessarily the American unit of 5,280 feet. But it seemed simpler and more desirable to use these familiar terms in describing events on this wholly alien world than it would have been to invent a long series of wholly Kalgashian terms. In other words, we could have told you that one of our characters paused to strap on his quonglishes before setting out on a walk of seven vorks along the main gleebish of his native znoob, and everything might have seemed ever so much more thoroughly alien. But it would also have been ever so much more diffcult to make sense out of what we were saying, and that did not seem useful. The essence of this story doesn't lie in the quantity of bizarre terms we might have invented; it lies, rather, in the reaction of a group of people somewhat like ourselves, living on a world that is somewhat like ours in all but one highly significant detail, as they react to a challenging situation that is completely different from anything the people of Earth have ever had to deal with. Under the circumstances, it seemed to us better to tell you that someone put on his hiking boots before setting out on a seven-mile walk than to clutter the book with quonglishes, vorks, and gleebishes. If you prefer, you can imagine that the text reads "vorks" wherever it says "miles," "gliizbiiz" wherever it says "hours," and "sleshtraps" where it says "eyes." Or you can make up your own terms. Vorks or miles, it will make no difference when the Stars come out. -- I.A. -- R.S.
November 30, 2025 at 12:41 PM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Whenever I see something like this, I remember the little foreword to Nightfall. And whenever I think about doing something like that, I tell myself to remember Nightfall.

Remember Nightfall, dear fantastical writers. Remember Nightfall.
TO THE READER Kalgash is an alien world and it is not our intention to have you think that it is identical to Earth, even though we depict its as speaking a language that you can understand, and using terms that are familiar to you. Those words should as mere equivalents of alien terms—that is, a conventional set of equivalents of the same sort that a writer of novels uses when he has foreign characters speaking with each other in their own language but nevertheless transcribes their words in the language of the reader. So when the people of Kalgash speak of "miles," or "hands," or "cars," or "computers," they mean their own units of distance, their own grasping-organs, their own ground-transportation devices, their own information-prcressing machines, etc. The computers used on Kalgash are not necessarily compatible with the ones used in New York or London or Stockholm, and the "mile" that we use in this is not necessarily the American unit of 5,280 feet. But it seemed simpler and more desirable to use these familiar terms in describing events on this wholly alien world than it would have been to invent a long series of wholly Kalgashian terms. In other words, we could have told you that one of our characters paused to strap on his quonglishes before setting out on a walk of seven vorks along the main gleebish of his native znoob, and everything might have seemed ever so much more thoroughly alien. But it would also have been ever so much more diffcult to make sense out of what we were saying, and that did not seem useful. The essence of this story doesn't lie in the quantity of bizarre terms we might have invented; it lies, rather, in the reaction of a group of people somewhat like ourselves, living on a world that is somewhat like ours in all but one highly significant detail, as they react to a challenging situation that is completely different from anything the people of Earth have ever had to deal with. Under the circumstances, it seemed to us better to tell you that someone put on his hiking boots before setting out on a seven-mile walk than to clutter the book with quonglishes, vorks, and gleebishes. If you prefer, you can imagine that the text reads "vorks" wherever it says "miles," "gliizbiiz" wherever it says "hours," and "sleshtraps" where it says "eyes." Or you can make up your own terms. Vorks or miles, it will make no difference when the Stars come out. -- I.A. -- R.S.
November 30, 2025 at 12:40 PM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Pretty much everyone in power talking about "think of the children" doesn't really care. If they would, they would invest in education, in the physical and mental health of new parents, in helping people who want to work (contribute financially) and have a family (contribute demographically).
November 30, 2025 at 11:58 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Gotta say... great game. The smaller scope even serves it better, especially on the narrative side.
November 30, 2025 at 11:53 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Focus on writing and creating all the ideas I constantly have rattling on in my head if I don't have to worry about whether we can affort proper food.
November 29, 2025 at 6:58 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
The original system is very similar but I think Traveller deserves better.
November 28, 2025 at 8:09 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Better than the original, I would think, but it deserves its own proper system.
November 28, 2025 at 8:08 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Vault.
Reliquary.
November 28, 2025 at 8:06 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Get them to play Draw Steel once. They'll never go back.
November 28, 2025 at 7:42 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Hmm... Quatro... takes me back to my AI courses university days.
November 28, 2025 at 7:21 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Draw Steel...
Slugbluster...
Lancer...
Panic at the Dojo...
Masks...
November 28, 2025 at 6:29 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Just make your own website, start an email list, or even a Telegram channel so I can follow interesting things you want to share. I want an RSS feed, not an algorithm that decides for me what I should see or not.
November 26, 2025 at 2:18 PM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
מכיר. ניסיתי. זה טוב. אני לא יכול להרשות לעצמי.
November 26, 2025 at 1:39 PM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
I happen to have prepared something in advance...

youtu.be/fKkW23hDgfA...
Draw Steel Bits˸ Introduction
YouTube video by Eran Arbel
youtu.be
November 26, 2025 at 8:55 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Pics or it didn't happen.
November 26, 2025 at 7:58 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Have you heard about our lord and savior Draw Steel?
November 26, 2025 at 7:57 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
זה היה אחד הטיעונים בוועדה שלי. יש לי רשימה של דברים לעשות כשאני קם. יש לי רשימה של דברים לעשות לפני שאני הולך לישון. לפעמים אני באמת מפחד שבלי כל אלו אני אשכח להוציא את הכלבה או להאכיל אותה ואז אני מתרשל בטיפול ביצור חי שתלוי בי.
November 26, 2025 at 7:56 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Oroborousoup!
November 25, 2025 at 10:02 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
Yes, yes, and yes!
In an RPG I'm writing, I wanted to use "Silambam" and I thought, "Will people know what that is? Well, mark the word and choose 'Web Search' and they got it. It's not difficult."
November 25, 2025 at 10:00 AM
sabrerunner.bsky.social
And yes, there's a difference in what you can do in any such part and that might be a useful definition: "I have a huge powerful publisher's resources", "I have a great exclusive deal with a publisher", "I have a contract with a marketer", or "I do everything by myself".
November 25, 2025 at 9:58 AM