lternity.net serves as a nexus for fans of the defunct role-playing game Alternity, released in the mid-1990s and killed off a few years later by Wizards of the Coast to make way for
its new Star Wars d20 game.
Designed to provide rules for near- and far-future campaigns, Alternity's Gamemaster's Guide and Player's Handbook books were backed up by three campaign settings: the space opera Star*Drive, the X-Files-inspired Dark Matter and the post-apocalyptic Gamma World. Nowadays, the game is supported entirely by fan efforts, with Alternity.net having earned the title of "official fan site" from WotC.
It lives up to its designation: The site is crawling with information about the game. Neophytes would do well to visit the Downloads section first—there they can grab fast-play versions of the rules, an introduction to the Dark Matter campaign setting, and all-important character sheets. Long-time fans can also find a few treasures, such as the huge Warships supplement that WotC released as a PDF in the game's dying days.
Over in the "Resources" section, fans can discover all manner of tools to improve—or resurrect—their games. They are 40+ rules, nearly two dozen adventures, 50+ starships and numerous equipment, cybertech, weapon and vehicle write-ups. The "Projects" section lists numerous undertakings that fans are currently engaged in, while those desperate for a game can find players using the Online Gaming directory. Rounding out the site is a Gallery that holds numerous stellar maps, a few desktop images, and renderings of scenes, species and technology from the game; and the Books section, which lists all of the rule books and supplements released for the game.
— Ken Newquist
Site of the Week—September 2, 2003
ounded in 2105 (according to the "About Us" section of the Web page), Chronos Technologies will one day be a hotbed of scientific developments near and dear to an SF reader's heart: biotech, androids, medical nanotech and—most importantly—time travel. "Making Tomorrow's History Today" is its motto, and to that end the Chronos site offers a wealth of information on
the theories surrounding time travel and the specifics of teleportation through the sixth dimension.
Writers of time-travel fiction often focus on the ramifications of meddling in past events without worrying overmuch about the mechanisms of the voyage to eras past. Chronos, on the other hand, is strongly concerned with hardware and logistics, discussing such technicalities as the placement of time gates in geologically stable regions, the required angle for a tachyon stream to meet a gravitic lens, and the need for time travelers to have an interspatial teleporter on hand once they have ventured into the past.
As for temporal paradoxes, Chronos has a single stern answer: They cannot occur. Rejecting free will, the site insists that "time travelers" are in fact visiting a parallel dimension: Any changes they make there will affect the future course of that timeline, but when the visitors returns home to their own dimension they will find no alteration. Their fate, Chronos insists, is predetermined.
Though its content is whimsically presented—check out the hilarious FAQ!—Chronos is utterly serious about time-travel theory. It presents a single, fully rounded view of the possibility of time travel. Offering this theory as a basis for philosophical and theoretical discussion, the site does make a few concessions to the realities of the present. For one, it provides a small series of links to time-travel movies, noting that though fictional treatments of the subject are scientifically flawed, they can be entertaining. For another, it has a series of site-related merchandise and goodies in its gift shop. No matter what its future holds, the Chronos site is definitely a highlight of the Web of today.
— A.M. Dellamonica
Site of the Week—August 25, 2003
ebzines about the film industry aren't exactly rare, but sometimes a site takes thoroughness and in-depth coverage to a wonderful new level. CHUD.com is such a place, lavishing dedication and sheer affection for the movie genre on every well-written paragraph of content it posts.
CHUD offers all the basics a movie fan might expect—reviews of new releases and DVDs, film industry news, interviews with actors and directors and—for interested participants—chat rooms and discussion forums. As always, though, it is the extras that give this site its individuality. A section called "Fetal Films" is dedicated to movies in such an early and tenuous stage of production that they might never be made. Another somewhat esoteric offering is CHUD's coverage of film-related print magazines. From Cinefantastique to Starlog, these follow a full stretch of subjects—broad topics like anime or video games and narrow ones like the Star Wars movie franchise. The CHUD DVD review section also includes "Ten Grabs," whereby screen captures from various films are presented with humorous captions.
This site does everything it can to involve its readers in the fun. In addition to bringing fans together with its forums, CHUD regularly runs contests for film-related merchandise and goodies. The site also hosts advance screenings of movies in a number of U.S. cities, offering its readers a chance to get away from the computer and out to the big screen—which is, after all, the point.
CHUD's true means of hooking Web surfers into visiting regularly, though, is the all-around quality of its articles. Serious in intent, this site never loses its delicious sense of fun—a combination that explains its growing and loyal following.
— A.M. Dellamonica
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