I have been doing this for twelve years now. Writing against RPG-a-Day. Against. Again and again. Every day, every August, since 2015. Most often on my own, sometimes collaboratively with others here on d6ideas or across different (German) blogs.
2015: ArtifactaDay
2016: Loot-a-Day
2017: Rival-a-Day
2018: Ad-Blog
2019: RPG+Ally+a+Day
2020: Not One Step Back
2021: Veteran-a-Day
2022: The Thousand Titles of the Cat Emperor
2023: Sommerverdichtung (German only)
2024: CampaignConceptaDay
2025: A-Piece-of-History-Every-Day / Calculating World(s)history
And now? The German next door neighbours at Kritischer Fehlschlag have issued the rallying cry “Crime Scene” (German).
But here? After twelve years of doing this dirty work? There is but one possible answer:
The Dirty Dozen.
Interpreted via the lense of the so called Dirty Dozen of persistent organic pollutants such as DDT and dioxins (although an earlier thought was the likewise so called Dirty Dozen of biological weapons and this might still colour some of the entries).
One-hundred-and-fourty-four poisons and pollutants (in the widest, freest sense). Twelve each for twelve systems. Thirty-one days. Twelve years. Against RPG-a-Day. Again.
The Soviet Union’s dismal record in environmental protection (and pollution) make this a straightforward exercise, first off with some more (or less) mundane pollutants.
- Fertilizer – decades-long massive overfertilization has left soil and water across large swathes of the URRS poisoned
- Lift blocks – the heavy use of skyships along all major transport routes, carried aloft by lift blocks and with declining maintenance over time, has led to a host of ill-documented ailments in animals and humans in affected zones, disorientation and impaired sense of balance, bone density disorders, and impaired telekinetic ability or control being only the most prominent
- Demonic ice – with the Icewall becoming subject to development, physical fragments of its eternal winter found their way into remote areas with increased frequencies, impacting the local micro-climates
- Furnace fuel – the military-sorcery complex of the URRS produced fuel for the Red Fleet’s sky furnaces in vast quantities, and spills – burned or unburned – at plants, tank farms, testing areas, bases, and last but not least during missions were an almost routine occurence