d: the positive enjoyment of various social, political, or economic rights and privileges
e: the power of choice
"He would be only too happy to let you make your decisions for yourselves. But sometimes you might make the wrong decisions, comrades, and then where should we be?"
Well, in a manner of speaking it is as the picture is from the opening shot of the HBO adaptation of GRR Martin's Game of Thrones. (No worries fellow hardball fanatics, spring has definitely sprung...PLAY BALL!).
I have a love hate relationship with these books. In fact I started the first book multiple times and finally at some point I stuck it out and became hooked. There is much in GRRM's writing style I loathe (over much detail on clothing and food, the entire Daneyrs plot) and much that I really enjoy (political plots in Westeros, handling of the super natural elements, character building)that keeps me coming back.
I doubt very much he will ever finish the series. Much like Stephen King's random writing schedule on the gunslinger/ dark tower series, it may take a near fatal event to motivate him to focus and finish the damn series. GRRM is seemingly easily distracted into strange side roads or editing collections and what not, rather than finishing the Westeros tale he started. He has a lot of talent and is clearly a motivated writer, but for whatever reason the success of A Song of Ice and Fire series has become something of an unpleasant burden. For a fellow who writes so much, the books have to be split up into various releases, it would seem he could crank out 400 page books yearly instead of delivering 1000+ page tomes every 5 years. Regardless, I think much like Alice down the rabbit hole, he has discovered something quite strange and quite intimidating in size, and now isn't quite sure what to do with it or how to handle it.. Not sure the HBO series will help that or harm the series ever seeing a textual end, but its a gritty dark fantasy world and I look forward to it being brought to life on screen.
In the not that matters to anyone but me PS to this post: One of my favorite actors (Sean Bean) plays Eddard Stark in the HBO adaptation of his GRRM series. For whatever cosmic coincidence, Bean's played nearly every one of my all time favorite literary characters: Richard Sharpe, Boromir, Odysseus, and now Eddard Stark. Outside of the possibility of his playing Beowulf, or a movie adaptation of the Odyssey where he can show more of his take on Odysseus than he did in TROY, he has pretty, much defined on film some of my all time favorite characters...what are the odds of that happening?? PSS Sean Bean, or Hollywood if you are reading-A real adaptation (true to the story) of the Odyssey would be huge especially following The Clash of the Titans relaunch this summer....OH and while you are finishing that, adapt "Eagle in the Snow" by Wallace Breem and put Sean in as General Maximus. I only want 5 % of the gross door revenue for giving away such genius easy money ideas, you can thank me later.
In discussing D&D, most OSR fans often comment on the art and the artists. In fact the art really seems to have had a massive impact on how one viewed the game and to some extent even played it. There are iconic images: the cover the Moldvay Red Box, The cover of module B2, The Cover of the AD&D Players Handbook or DM's Guide, all have become iconic.
Not so GDW'S Traveller. In fact its almost illustrative of the exact opposite philosophy of design. No cover art, and nearly no interior art. A few rough sketches, silhouettes, and ship diagrams. Really not much of anything and one could argue outside the stark design ethic of the book covers, there isn't a single iconic "art" image for Traveller. The cover is iconic simply for what it lacks-art-thereby the simple design alone IS the art.
Yet no one seems to mind or feel cheated in the least. I have never read or heard anyone say 'Traveller sucks because there are no pictures!' Yet I have heard and read people lamenting what they consider to be terrible art or that an artists decline (in their opinion) takes away from their enjoyment.
Is one better off then designing their game material with limited artistic interpretations? Is less more?
I have always liked heroes that were mortal, from heroes like Odysseus, Beowulf, and Boromir to Flash Gordon, Batman, and Captain America. To me they are just (extra?) ordinary guys who have all of our ordinary faults and yet still try their best to overcome the failings of being mortal. It’s how I run my games and colors a lot of what I like in movies books and TV.
Well, if this sounds like your kind of thing, then I need to point you to a new comic line launching from DC comics, It’s called First Wave and it centers on a noir like world where the heroes are ordinary guys trying to do the right thing in a world gone wrong: Doc Savage, Batman, the Spirit, Black Canary and more.
I have high hopes, and hope it becomes a long running popular line of books.
I am hoping you might be able to help me. I have decided that when I finish the revisions to Roguish I am going to print and assemble them myself into digest sized booklets. Not out of some sense of trying to be throwback, more in the sense of I want to finish doling it my self. I'll probably only sell 50 or so game sets so I'd rather they go out handmade, for better or worse. :)
My question is can you guide me to a blog or site that discusses the trials and travails of doing this?
So I am back from a LOOOOOONG week in NYC working the ToyFair booth for the company I work for. Holy Cow 9 hours a day on your feet selling sure was easier in retail when I was 24 then it is now @ 40. Anyway, while it is BIG BUSINESS (so busy-so important dontcha know) it always amazes me how grim, dour, and down right crabby a lot of folks are at the show. It could be buyers or another companies booth crew stopping to talk, but damn they make Eeyore look like Chuckles the Clown.
Look I am no Mary Poppins, but damn if you come to my booth I am going to smile shake your hand and talk with you friendly and casual. I may be a "sales guy" but I am not going to "sell you." To often as I visited booths or had other folks come to ours, I was amazed by how little they knew about their own games and toys, and by how little they cared.
Stopping at one booth I saw a couple of new kids games I thought my nieces might enjoy. So I asked a sales rep in the booth "can you tell me about these games? Are they out yet?" Her reply, "It's a game for little kids, can't you just read the box?" Then she quickly looked away and studied the remainder of what smelled like a tuna fish sandwich. I smiled, set the box down, wished her luck, and left.
Maybe it was the fact my lanyard and name badge identified the company I worked for and she had issues...or maybe she just had a bad meeting or a bad day. Either way-she lost a sale as I would have probably tried to find them online, instead I'll go out of my way to avoid the whole company now.
In fact MANY booths had vaguely interesting things, but the staff in the booth either ignored you, or at times were hostile. In fact the only genuinely friendly booths were the limited "hobby game" booths at the event. By limited I mean less than a dozen. There is a difference between having a passion for what you are doing, instead of having to (to lift a phrase from Nike) "Just do it."
If you can't be happy in the game and toy industry might I suggest a different career path? The absolute best parts of the show (for me, outside of successful business) were when fans or kids came to our booth and overflowed with stories or excitement at seeing some of their favorite stuff RIGHT THERE! No matter how tough the job gets sometimes, seeing how happy the end result makes kids feel makes it worth it.
If you are frowning more than smiling at the end of your work days (especially in a game and toy business) then get out! Life's way to short to be miserable, and at the show I saw a whole lot of misery.
I think it's somewhere in the back of the G1-3 module, but there is a D&D pre-gen character named Gleep Wurp the Eye-biter. That name has stuck with me since the first time I read it as a wee lad chucking dice for the first time.
I hate that name.
In fact I hate all sorts of faux fantasy names. Most are just some sort of strange mash-up of consonants and vowels attempting to sound fantastic and foreign. Too often the only serve to make me realize how absurd (or potentially how crappy) the book is I am reading. It takes me right out of the world because I have to puzzle over what the heck does this word sound like,and how do you pronounce it anyway.
This is part of my hang up with the Simarillion (say that 3 times fast)and why no matter how much I want to read it, I simply chuck it in frustration. Contrast that with the Hobbit or LotR trilogy. I can easily sort out the names in those and though strange (Boromir, Bilbo, Frodo, Smaug, Sauruman) I can reasonably assume how to pronounce them.
Contrast that with some from my favorie offender R.A. Salvatore: Drizzt Do'Urden, Jarlaxle Baenre,Ilnezhara,Tazmikella,Eilistraee, Fraehlern. (note one of those is not an actual Salvatore character...but its poop-like nature fits right in.) I have about 6 different Salvatore collections on my shelf that were gifts...and attempts to have me overcome this prejudice. I have not been able to finish let alone get beyond chapter 3 in any of them.
I am sure we all have our own pet peeves, but nothing takes me out of reading, or for that matter gaming, quicker than some absurd or unpronounceable merger of letters masquerading as a name.
If you think I am going to call you by a character name like Flexelgramhult Von Rubtyyrst for the next hour, let alone months of a campaign, my friend pick up your dice and head for the exit now.
Okay so you know what I hate, what do I do to get around it? I simply mix up the letters from common words we already know. It makes them seem familiar but different at the same time. Examples? Sure, guess the real stuff I made these names out of:
Well Precis Media dropped a note in my in box letting me know the PDF of their new fantasy system is available now! I picked up 2 copies of the boxed set which ships out next week so I am anxious to read it.
I am not overly fond of their 2d6 system used in games like Earth 2, and happily Ancient Odysseys does NOT use this system!! Below is quick overview based on browsing the books.
The boxed set (and pdf) comes with 3 books: Basic Playbook, The Dungeon Adventure, and Further Adventures. A pair of Reference sheets and blank character sheets are also included.
Basic characters creation:
You have 3 stats (Fitness, Awareness, Reasoning) each ranked 1(weak) to 5 (strong). The four classic fantasy races are represented (hoblings are hobbits) and 3 fantasy classes are available(fighters, wizards, rogues) There are a total of 16 pursuits (skills) in the game and what you start with depends on your class. Pursuits are ranked from 1 to 3. To accomplish a task you roll 1d6, add your stat, and add your pursuit trying to beat a 7 on an average task.
The basic rules and character creation are in a slim 37 pages. The Dungeon is a complete single player or group referee-less adventure that is simple in execution but perfect as an introduction to the system. For new players or young kids, it actually seems pretty fun.
The Further adventures book contains rules on creating adventures and being a referee.
Overall I really like this little RPG. As a Basic Set it is complete, simple, and could provide a great stepping stone into further adventures. My hope is the system grows a bit deeper or additional options become available in supplements or additional boxed sets.
Buy it: If you want a simple elegant system and to see how a great introductory RPG boxed set should be put together.
Don't buy it: If your only measure of a good game is how many charts, spells, blood demons of Yog-Mis-Fyrl, and character options/classes determine a games worth.
FRAK!! So as I have worked on my Collapse RPG I passed my basic rule set and character creation to a friend last week.
Him: Hey, have you read the Barbarians of Lemuria rules before?
Me: No, should I?
Him: Maybe, maybe not...because you just kind of rewrote them...HA!
Me: FRAK!!
Well I spent yesterday jumped up on Dayquil and Robutussin DM reading the Lemuria rules. I'll be damned if I didn't come up with almost the same rules. I have a number of differences but in essence its the same 9+ on 2d6, 4 stats, which influence your roll but I added skills and fleshed them out tied to careers. Frak me, this also means the "Barbarians of the Aftermath" rules book due in February must be similar in some way to my own rules set.
I am (was) writing mine up in the manner of a government issued field manual with various Blue Book reports focused on specific collapse events...but at this point I kind of feel suckered punched. So do I continue or not? Seems sort of pointless...but hell with so much OSR reprints of D&D rules out there...why not? Off to get more Dayquil to help me make my decision...
Well I am home fighting a terrible cold and in between bouts of delirium and sleep I have concocted the following as an introduction to my RPG: Collapse
Think about what you would do tomorrow if:
You can’t get food from a grocery store…ever again…
You can’t call the police, fire department, or an ambulance for help…ever again…
The hospital is closed, and the pharmacies are empty…
You can’t get gasoline for your vehicle from a gas station…
No one has a job that pays them money…
Credit cards are worthless, no one uses them or can use them…ever again…
The banks are no longer open and all your money there is gone forever…
All the paper money in your wallet is worthless except as a way to start a fire…
Then you hear a knock at your door…and it’s your neighbor…wearing a backpack…and holding a rifle…
I feel sorry for folks who aren’t baseball fans. Not in an I am superior you are inferior manner, more in the sense that there is something truly special in life and damn I wish you could share in it.
For a lot of folks, baseball is nine guys standing around in a grassy field. There are 3 bases, a home plate and a pitcher’s mound. One guy is throwing a ball and another guy is crouched down near home plate catching it.. Interrupting this game of catch is a guy with a big stick trying to hit the ball. If he manages to hit it, the guys out in the field go from standing around to doing something. Then you rinse and repeat for what seems like forever and eventually we all go home.
If this describes your view of baseball then it’s not surprising the sport is not too exciting, let alone interesting. Baseball is in my opinion the best of all sports and in many ways for me reflects a lot of my philosophy on life. The odds are stacked against you. As a batter, you stand alone at the plate facing a guy hurling one of many different pitches into a location only he and the catcher know. Then you have less the 4 tenths of a second to decide to take a swing or not and most of the time, you are going to guess wrong. Even if you do manage to guess right and hit the ball, there are 9 guys in the field trying to stop you from reaching first base. Should you manage to leave home plate and reach base, you now rely on another teammate to get you home again. Baseball is about failure and consistently attempting to overcome it. Not quite Sisyphean in aspect, but when you pick up your bat and step into the box, you realize the outcome at least 7 out of 10 times is going to be a walk back into the dugout, and thus failure. Yet, you gamely pick up your bat and head to the batters box at least 3 times a game, trying your best to beat the odds. One against nine, odds stacked against you, and you dig in ready to have another go. Remember there’s no crying in baseball.
Baseball is a game of strategy. It may look like the pitcher just waits for the catcher to show some odd figure gesture and then he chucks the ball hard trying to fool the batter. To some extent, yup that’s it-but that’s also like saying a kiss from your wife is the same as one from your grandma. There are all sorts of different kisses right? There’s the kind you give your grandma, the kind you give your mom, the kind you give to some Euro types as a greeting and the kind you give your spouse. Trust me, if you’re not giving your spouse or significant other a little extra effort in that kiss, I am here to tell you son you’re doing it wrong and missing out on a lot! On the other hand if you’re giving your grandma that same kind of effort, I’d recommend you dial it back a few notches.
Like different kinds of kisses, the same is true for pitches. There’s a pitch your throw to a home run hitter, and there’s a pitch you throw to a fast guy who slaps the ball. The kind of pitch thrown depends upon the number of different pitches you can throw, the batter being faced, how many times the batter has faced you, how good you feel, which pitch is working, the weather conditions, the number of men on base, the inning, and the score. Yup that’s a lot of data to figure out before you throw EACH AND EVERY pitch. Then you have to figure out if you are going to pitch it high or low, inside or outside, or maybe you really screw with them and throw them something they could hit.
Don’t get me wrong, no one is out there with a slide rule and an iPad figuring this out in between pitches, instead it’s simply a hard learned skill or talent. The manager, the pitcher, the catcher and even fielders are all in concert pitch by pitch trying to figure out how best to fool the batter and steer the course of the game to favor their team by making the batter get an out. So much like a duck swimming, it may look effortless or simple, but there’s a lot of going on under the surface.
That’s just one little aspect of the greatness of baseball. How about the fact that there is no clock in baseball? There is no arbitrary end to the game based on some sort of time limit. A game lasts 9 innings and each team gets an equal amount of 27 outs, no more-no less. There is no clock control, not time outs, no time of possession. A game lasts as long as it takes for each team to get 27 outs, and in that way every game is a little story of its own. There is a beginning, middle, and an end to each game. In that most American way, each team gets an equality of opportunity (27 outs) but the equality of results is not guaranteed.
Baseball is also all about hope. The pitcher and catcher hope to get each batter out. The batter hopes to get on base and score a run, and every spring, every team and baseball fan hopes that this is their year to win it all. Spring training is coming and I have had baseball on the brain since, well since I first played T-ball at 6 years old. I have a lot of hope as pitchers and catchers report in a couple weeks. I hope my team wins it all, I hope I get to see more games live with my friends and family and enjoy a good hot dog and a beer under the summer sun. I hope I get to create a lot of new memories as I cheer my heart out with every win and take my lumps with the inventible losses knowing we have chance next time. I hope most of all, that you may give the sport a chance and study it. Pick a team, watch a couple games and head out to a ball park. You do not have to go to an MLB game, it can be minor league game or just as fun, a local little league game. Get outside and enjoy the little story played out amongst strangers and friends on a green diamond under a blue sky and a warm yellow sun. Play ball!
So I had a lot of time to think about my rules set while trapped on a plane over the past week. Here's how it will breakdown (no pun intended) The book will be formatted digest sized and short possibly 64 pages. I will out line the basic rules, character creation and then provide potential Collapse event scenarios followed by reference materials (books, comics, movies, TV shows) to be used by referees as a springboard for further development. Then supplements will be Blue Books or Case Studies: They will focus in a brief 24 pages on a particular Collapse scenario in depth: Zombies, Mutants, Rise of the Apes, etc with possible scenario hooks included. I do not necessarily want to create adventure modules, instead I'd rather have a mini source book with ideas for referees to build on their own.
The rules them selves and character creation are going to be very easy. 2d6 system roll 8 or better to succeed. A life path character creation will be available to make generic characters, and a system for generating you and your friends into characters for the Collapse event will also be included.
Overall the rules are quick, light and easy (so far) to pick up and play allowing the focus to be on creating adventures and playing instead of gaming the rules. Now I just need a few more plane flights to have time to type it up from my notes!
PS-If you have not read Day by Day Armageddon yet...do it quick becuase the loooooong awaited sequel is coming this Spring! AMC has announced they are making a pilot of Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead comic into a TV show, so read the comics now my firends, you will be glad you did!
Hello from Brazil! My job takes me all over the place and this year it looks as if I will be spending time in South America. What better opportunity to think about gaming and a collapse event than while trapped in a plane for 10 hours, trapped in an airport for a delayed flight for 6.5 hours, or flying over the Amazon...
First a bit about general gaming in Brazil. I did spy 4th Ed D&D, but what really floored me was the price of boardgames. Currently $1 USD =R$1.80 (Brazilian Real.) Wow, what a potential gaming bargain for yours truly. Except the game of Risk is...R$119.99 or $67.19 USD!! WTF? Well, it must be imported so of course it is expensive...okay how about crappy old Monopoly...made in Brazil...R$99.99 (or $56 USD) Yup that $10 Wal-Mart classic is $56!! Booster pack of cards? R$20...or $11.20 US a pack for Magic or Pokemon. Hell a HALO Action figure was R$99.99 ($56 US) and the big stunner for me...an electronic talking Bumblebee transformer figure that is $40 everywhere in the US...R$999.99. Nope I did not miss type that...it would be $560 US dollars. It was one of a couple Toy stores in the mall, part of a chain of stores across Brazil. The Brazilians I was with could not believe I was correct...until I showed them on Amazon and they were stunned.
Even homegrown version of RISK called WAR in Brazil are R$99.99, or $56 US ( I know because I bought one...a Roman Empire version of WAR (Risk)...holy crap is it sweet! Hail Caesar baby!
Okay so why the game pricing beatdown? First, because I thought I'd get some deals...and second because I often think we take our United States of Nerdom for granted. I mean REALLY for granted. I thought about how expensive and unlikely it would be to be a gamer in Brazil!! I mean if you got one game a year it would be a major event and what of that game stunk on ice?? You'd never waste the ducats again probably on a game of any kind. Count your blessings brothers and sisters, the next time a $5 PDF rule book or $30 hardback gets you down my friend, just remember there is a Brazilian somewhere who would like to deliver a swift kick to your head for being such a nutter.
Speaking of nutters, back to this collapse event muse I have listened to lately. If you have read World War Z (good), or Day by Day Armageddon (OUTSTANDING!), both have a zombie out break occurring in China. Que picture of lots of people everywhere, a mysterious fog shrouded land, and cut...print scene. No one ( to my knowledge) has tapped an Amazon or Brazil angle.
First I CALL DIBS on generating the scenario. You see in Brazil they eat a lot of meat. I am no dainty daisy eater, I cook BBQ all the time, and lived in Texas for years so I know a bit about meat. Kids I am here to tell you they are born teething on a T-Bone, suckling on side ribs, and raised on Rump Roast. Lunches consisted of meat, with a side of meat, and a garnish of meat. Dinner was an appetizer of meat, with a first course of meat, followed by a meat sorbet to cleanse the pallet, and then a dinner of meat, with 2 sides of meat, and your choice of seven meats for desert. Sincerely I wish I was over stating it, but I am not, it really is all meat all the time. I skipped meals because I was over loaded with it. I am now convinced Mr Atkins of Atkins Diet fame is a Brazilian...or his wife is...or he vacationed here and really loved the meal selection.
Anyway fellow zombie collapse fans...a nation that does nothing but focus on eating so much meat...may have a prediliction towards this collapse event. Tie in strange bugs drinking the blood of strange hidden animals in the Amazon....then that bug alight on a tourist who is riding a tour boat on the Amazon, then goes back to the hotel unwell with the rest of the tourists in a highly crowded dense population center, and they are in town for the Olympics or the World Cup in Brazil...then the disease is transmitted to people traveling globally...and BAM you have your first Brazilian-centric Zombie story (Trademark to ME!)
Side note: The Brazilian people are kind, helpful, friendly, generous and wonderful to work with. Sure there's a rotten apple in any barrell, but I truly enjoyed their fine hospitality, and kindness. Second, never believe what you see on TV. The Amazon is huge, I mean massive, I mean biger than the Pugest sound huge. Having seen too many Man vs Wild or Nat Geo/ Discovery channel Amazon shows I expected a cross between Indiana Jones and Tarzan. Instead I am staring out at a massive river that is 10k across and reminds me more of the Puget Sound than a narrow piranha infested mosquito breeding ground. I felt like an idiot and the Brazilians had a good laugh at my expectations. Travel broadens the mind indeed.
The last few posts I have made centered around what happens during a collapse event. The terrible tragedy in Haiti is providing one window into what happens when: Infrastructure, order, law, government, and utilities collapse then people are left to try and survive in a crisis situation that occurred a little over 48 hours ago (1/12/10). The following are based upon current (1/14) observations from boots on the ground reports and news outlets:
>>>Gangs Armed With Machetes Loot Port-Au-Prince Central Business District Resembles Hell On Earth As Bodies Pile Up And Armed Men Battle Over Food, Supplies. On Wednesday they were seen getting into stores and taking all the supplies they could carry. The armed men were seen marching up and down the streets with machetes raised and the competition among the gangs turned quite fierce. Fights between gangs were seen on the streets. Machetes were flailing and it was impossible to predict what would happen next. There was no sign of police or any kind of law and order. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Food is often scarce. Now, with this tragedy, desperate people are doing whatever they have to do to eat. People were seen going into stores and rubble and taking anything they could find with them for their trip back to wherever they were camping out.
>>> Survivors of the earthquake in Haiti that may have killed as many as 100,000 people face deadly outbreaks of diarrhea, measles and malaria after its already fragile clean water and health-care systems were destroyed. Even before the bodies of the dead have been removed from the rubble, health officials say it’s critical in the next few days that massive containers of water be set up throughout the capital of Port-au-Prince, temporary treatment centers established and tons of antibiotics and basic medical supplies delivered.
Source: Reuters
* Earthquake disaster overwhelms Haiti's weak government
* International aid effort has yet to kick in
* No one in charge, U.S. seen filling the vacuum
By Andrew Cawthorne and Tom Brown PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Desperate Haitians turned rubble-strewn streets and parks into makeshift hospitals and refugee camps on Thursday in the absence of any noticeable response from authorities in Haiti after Tuesday's earthquake. With the 7.0 magnitude earthquake collapsing the presidential palace, a string of ministries and the headquarters of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in the country, Haiti faces a dangerous vacuum in security and government. The Caribbean nation of 9 million people, the poorest in the western hemisphere, has a turbulent history of conflict, social turmoil, dictatorship, fragile institutions and devastating natural catastrophes. Many in the capital Port-au-Prince picked away at shattered buildings with bare hands, sticks and hammers hoping to find loved-ones alive.
Thousands of homeless people began to set up their own camps anywhere they could, the biggest right opposite the collapsed presidential palace. "Look at us. Who is helping us? Right now, nobody," said Jean Malesta, a 19-year-old student who was the only survivor when her apartment building collapsed from the powerful quake that has killed thousands, possibly tens of thousands. She and a dozen others lay under a tent they had set up in the park opposite President Rene Preval's palace. His weak and under-resourced government appears totally unequipped to handle the crisis, its officials in disarray and nowhere to be seen.
'WE ARE ON OUR OWN'
"So far, they have brought us nothing. We need water, food, shelter, everything, but we are on our own," Malesta added, to cries of agreement from women sitting and lying around her. A major international aid effort has not yet kicked in, although plenty of small groups, many from the United States, have scrambled quickly, moving personnel into Haiti by plane and overland from neighboring Dominican Republic. "The problem is that unlike traditional disaster situations we have few local partners to work with, because most of them have had their buildings destroyed and are looking for their own dead and missing," said Margaret Aguirre, a senior official with International Medical Corps. Haitians are doing their best to survive chaotic conditions in the absence of any clear leadership, said Latin America expert Dan Erikson of the Washington-based Inter-American Dialogue think tank. "The sad truth is that no one is in charge of Haiti today. This vacuum, coupled with the robust response from the Obama administration, has inevitably created a situation where the U.S. will be the de facto decision-maker in Haiti." Even President Rene Preval lost his home. "My palace collapsed. ... I can't live in the palace, I can't live in my own house," he told CNN on Wednesday.
The 9,000-strong U.N. peacekeeping force, which might have been able to step into the void, has been left counting its own dead after its headquarters were destroyed in the quake. The United Nations said 36 of its personnel in Haiti had been killed and many more were still missing. Peacekeepers occasionally patrolled the city in buses and trucks and have mobilized some heavy earth-moving equipment but the blue-helmet soldiers have largely stayed off the streets. Underlying the growing sense of chaos and abandonment around the half-destroyed coastal capital Port-au-Prince, some looting began -- a phenomenon Haitians have seen many times before in past political crises. At one crushed supermarket, young men calmly carried off bags of food and electronics without a policemen in sight. Pickup trucks stacked high with bodies could be seen making their way through traffic-clogged streets on Thursday morning, on their way to drop off the dead at the morgue attached to Hospital General, the city's main health facility. But Guy LaRoche, the hospital's director, said it was already filled to overflowing with more than 1,500 rapidly decomposing bodies. Many had been left lying out in the sun. LaRoche said he had had no contact with any government officials to see what to do with them.
LOOMING HEALTH THREAT
"I'm awaiting the decision of the government. What else can I do?" he said. "The health threat, from disease, could be another catastrophe. We need nurses, medical teams, more of everything." Around the city, many Haitians put rags and masks over their faces as the stench from rotting bodies began to rise. Crushed cars and vans stuck out of collapsed buildings, while children's toys, shoes and papers were scattered on streets. In poor areas, there was little sign of any coordinated rescue activities.
