Many role-playing games, since the early days of Dungeons & Dragons, have employed alignment systems to keep a player's decisions for his character consistent with some ethical framework. This way, a player is not free to have a normally moral character commit heinous acts because it would be temporarily convenient and lack any real-world consequences.

Dungeons & Dragons' alignment system is based on two axes of lawfulness and goodness. Palladium games more or less adapt this system to include selfishness. Other, more narrative-driven systems, such as The World of Darkness, round out a character's attitudes more loosely. And some RPGs have no alignment system at all and leave ethical issues to be freely played out.

What is your favorite alignment system?

Photo by Flickr user laenulfean used under Creative Commons license

Tim of Pop Crunch has a list of what he considers to be the best dystopian novels of all time. Among his choices are The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood and Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. Some of his choices I would class as "post-apocalyptic", rather than dystopian. I think that the latter genre is best defined as set within a tyrannical regime. Nonetheless, the list makes for some interesting reading suggestions.

What is your favorite work of dystopian fiction?

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It's still a couple hours until lunchtime, but I'm hungry! Let's see what cuisine science fiction can offer us.

Star Trek -- a jumja stick. This Bajoran desert is made from the sap of the jumja tree. It's sort of like carmelized apple, except without the apple, or the creamy taste of carmel. Think of it as a dried popsicle.

Star Wars -- human. This Ewok delicacy can be served in a variety of ways, but gourmands prefer to have it roasted over an open fire. Tastes like chicken and pairs well with a dry chardonnay.

Babylon 5 -- spoo. Though physically repugnant while alive, the spoo makes for a quite tasty meat dish. Centauri prefer theirs cubed and aged, whereas the Narn (to the disgust of the Centauri), perfer fresh spoo.

Stargate -- kassa. Sometimes called the "evil Orville Redenbacher", this corn-like product is genetically engineered to be very addictive. That disadvantage aside, it's unbelievably awesomely good. I mean, I can't stop eating it.

What's your favorite food from science fiction?

What science fiction or fantasy author is most deserving of a Nobel Prize for literature?

What science fiction movie is so bad that it's worth seeing?

What do you think is the best science fiction television show currently on the air?

Image: ABC Studios

Every year since 2007, artists have been invited to submit variations on a 1:1 model of Darth Vader's helmet. This year, the show begins on June 11 in Los Angeles. You can view more examples at the link.

Link via technabob | Official Website | Image: Vader Project

What science fiction universe would you most like to live in, and why?

Image: MGM

What is your favorite work of anime?

Image: Studio Deen

Who is your favorite comic book artist?

Image: Dark Horse/Frank Miller

Tom Baker, who played the Fourth Doctor on Doctor Who, is sometimes referred to as the American Doctor. This is because it was during his tenure that the series was widely distributed in the United States. So Baker came to define the original Doctor, though he followed others. As one fan recently told me, those that came after Baker seemed weird.

Who is your favorite Doctor?

Image: BBC

Here's my idea for a novel:

The Earth experiences a near-miss with an asteroid, which skims the surface of our atmosphere. Afterward, people notice that mergers and acquisitions attorneys are unusually ravenous. They begin biting people, who themselves, after a short illness, become mergers and acquisitions attorneys. Soon, it's not safe to venture out at night because the streets are filled with mergers and acquisitions attorneys hungry for human flesh (as in real life, sunlight is a natural foe of mergers and acquisitions attorneys). The world becomes consumed with their bloodthirsty howls and SEC filings as the human population dwindles....

Here's my idea for a movie:

A biological warfare program has an accident, and an airborne pathogen spreads across the world. It kills everyone who has gone through puberty. Once it kills off the adult population, the virus itself dies as it lacks proper hosts. Children are left to rebuild the world.

Alternatively, the virus kills 95% of the post-pubescent population, leaving only all the children and a few adults.

What's your idea for a novel? What's your idea for a movie?

Image credit: unknown, via David J. Batista.

We have a winner in our most recent caption contest! Check it out.

Cartoonist David Stonecipher previously depicted famous female video game characters as male. Now he's tried the opposite approach and drawn eight male characters as female.

Link via Kotaku

"How often it is that the angry man rages denial of what his inner self is telling him." -- Collected Sayings of Muad'Dib, Dune.

"The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife." -- Ferengi Rule of Acquisition #48, Star Trek.

"The one beside you is yourself." -- Dalek proverb, Doctor Who.

"Understanding is a three-edged sword." -- Vorlon saying, Babylon 5.

What are your favorite proverbs from science fiction?

Image: Paramount