31 Days, 31 Horror Movies

I also managed to watch 31 horror movies this month, as part of this RPG.net saga hosted by Bob Cram. I wish I’d done more in previous instalments!

Halloween 2019

Why did the ghosts get into the lift?
To raise their spirits!

There were quite a few trick or treaters and guisers out tonight, not least at the house a few doors along with the ghosts projected on the front wall. :)

We also had several movies on TV, although the main TV special was Autumnwatch...

Goodnight!

Chuffed

A very positive review of Trinity Continuum. With a P.S. noting a plan for a Les Fantomes series!

Also, we have a Jack O'Lantern bucket just like this...

Picture from Avanti Press

It came back from the US when we were kids. I made very sure of that!

Happy Halloween!

And here... we... go.

Green Lantern and Strange Adventures on TV

Green Lantern and Strange Adventures, coming to HBO Max, from Greg Berlanti, mastermind of the Arrowverse, among other things including new Sesame Street and Game Of Thrones spinoffs and an SF series from Ridley Scott.

Because Autocorrect is a monster...

Astromech Druid

Trinity Continuum out in the world

Ian Watson reports that his copies of Trinity Continuum and Aeon have arrived, and on RPG.net a question about who’s already playing it, which includes some advice and observations.

Birds in horror, fantasy and reality

A deep dive on the symbolism of birds in myth and genre at the AV Club.

The next Dracula

The first teaser for the forthcoming Dracula from Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss and OWWWWW that fingernail 14 seconds in.

Also, more vampire-hunting nuns than I was anticipating.

Escape Room

Escape Room (2019) is like a rollercoaster version of Cube with less grisly but much more OTT traps. The upside-down room is particularly odd. And amusingly stars a DM (Deborah Ann Woll) as well as having a villain called the Gamesmaster.

The Clocks Go Back

We have entered The Hour That Does Not Exist.

You are advised to keep all limbs in the space-time continuum for the duration of the Hour.

Reminder: all crime is not legal. That’s The Purge.

Michael Scot The Wizard legendarily went searching for the eleven days that vanished when we changed calendars in the 18th century. What if he found them...?

Unfamiliar Halloweeny songs

Some unfamiliar Halloweeny songs, as well as some familiar ones. Including a band called Lovecraft, Link Wray riffing on The Shadow, and Ryan Gosling doing a creepy voiceover before bringing in a children’s choir.

TimeWatch weekend sale

A Timewatch PDF sale to celebrate the achievements of Einstein, the dog in Back To The Future.

Halloween ComicFest

Halloween ComicFest is today! Like Free Comic Book Day, but (about 50%) spoopy!

(I might grab the Dark Red intro issue if I see it.)

The chat show of your setting

The Jim Henson Company are bringing a talk show to Disney+ which is hosted by an alien.

Talk / chat shows are a weird format, one that generally only works here weekly but in the US there seem to be multiple on most networks every weeknight. The larger entertainment industry helps, of course, although that doesn’t explain the deep oddness of such shows, for example the Craig Ferguson run of The Late Late Show. Or the question of whether Stephen Colbert is real. K has suggested you could do something like that as a feature in a World Of Darkness game with basically no changes.

See also Space Ghost Coast To Coast.

And of course The Muppet Show is a variety show with celebrity guests, which is a related form, though the trouble with getting it made every week is the main focus.

What would your modern-ish settings’ talk shows be like?

This may not come up unless the PCs watch one... or are invited on one, or their actions make the news and the opening monologue... or the game is set around producing one!

Gargoyles

Stone by day, warriors by night!

A surprising choice for the Disney Afternoon lineup, Gargoyles premiered twenty-five years ago.

A clan of gargoyles allied to a Scottish warlord, defeated by treachery and sent to sleep for a thousand years, awoken in modern New York by a scheming billionaire, making a few allies among humans and friends and enemies among the other beings living secretly among us.

Its ongoing story arcs and developments were a rarity at the time, though sadly they never quite paid off due to behind-the-scenes issues. I particularly remember the gun safety episode, where the Gargoyles’ main human ally Detective Elisa Maza is injured - and she’s still injured in the following episode. And the recurring character of Macbeth is based on the historical king, even though there are a lot of Shakespeare references in the show, among others.

The Gentleman Gamer

Matthew Dawkins is on Patreon.

RPGs for teens

There seem to be a lot of threads about this on RPG.net right now. Not the start of a new term, is it?

Call Of Cthulhu: Crusader States

A University of Edinburgh project to make a Cthulhu historical sourcebook, now open to all students and alumni.

The Rise Of Skywalker, final trailer

The story lives forever.

That slow triumphant version of the main saga theme... and yes, the tears...

Investigative Roleplaying Masterclass

Investigative Roleplaying Masterclass with Cat Tobin, Robin D. Laws and Lynne Hardy, at the Kraken convention.

Vampire: The Miniatures Return

Modiphius announces 32mm Vampire: The Masquerade miniatures sets. This follows the boardgame Chapters, which has 40mm miniatures.

I’ve never used miniatures in Vampire, though I do have a few of the original official 25mm-ish line from Ral Partha and the Fantastique Noir Vampyres from RAFM, in a purely toyetic collectible way.

Going for signature characters, Bloodlines characters and other specifics is a good call, I reckon, as most Vampire characters should blend in to crowds, or at least miniatures-friendly crowds of gang members, corporate suit types and the like.

Happy birthday, Carrie Fisher.

Critical Role: UnDeadwood

The first episode of Critical Role’s Deadlands game UnDeadwood is on Youtube, with three more to follow.

Dang I envy that table town setup, not least the ominous camera pans over it.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse fifth edition

From Paradox Interactive show PDXcon comes a trailer for the Werewolf: The Apocalypse computer game Earthblood and news that W5 is on its way to tabletop, Paradox working with a partner.

It sucks to be the Quarren

Three years on from my decision to feature a heroic Quarren in my next Star Wars game because they keep betraying the good guys whenever they get a line in the official media, here we are again.

And yes, Sergeant Sliss was a great and valiant hero of the Rebellion.

“Come on, mammals, show some of that backbone you’re so proud of having!”

Rian Johnson on Brick and mysteries

Rian Johnson looks back at Brick, ahead of Knives Out.

Every single person who does any kind of mystery — it was like this with Brick, it was like it with Knives Out — you’re on set living in a constant state of fear every time an actor comes up to you with a question. Because you’re 95 percent sure they’re about to ask something where you’re gonna blank and realize your entire story doesn’t make sense!

Stephen King's castle

Stephen and Tabitha King to open their famous Maine house as a museum and writers’ retreat. Tempting...

Come Join Us By The Fire

A new audio series of short horror stories from Tor imprint Nightfire.

Apparently only available in north America at this time. :/

Two weeks to Halloween

Are you ready?

I love the little swing and lowering the handle.

Trick Or Treat Rat is so conscientious.

DriveThruRPG Halloween scavenger hunt

What will you find?

The ghost needs a hug.

The Enemy Within Returns!

Enemy In Shadows launches in PDF for the new edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, ahead of physical copies at the start of 2020. Dare you visit Bögenhafen?

Paint the town red

A collection of the goriest scenes in film history.

The Cameo Quiz Scary Movie Special 2019

So, you play your wits against mine? We got 41 out of 47...

Tonight, the scary special!

Time for the annual Cameo Quiz scary special, which I won solo in 2017. Buffy T-shirt at the ready!

Update: And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over the Cameo Film Quiz. Which was nice.

Photo of me with our host and quiz-winning thanks to teammate Sean!

As host Ian said, he brought out the Red Death costume last time I won and this time as well, so he’ll now offer to wear it any time I need a win. Maybe next time I vote for something...

And now...

So, you play your wits against mine? We got 41 out of 47...

Conservation in action

I went to Edinburgh Zoo today with my mum. It’s lovely, and can always inform monster special attacks.

Also quite happy with this photo of Ginger, the new mum Red Panda.

Trinity plot hook: The Sun Bears were rescued from an illegal private collection. Conservation in two-fisted action!

Jungle Cruise

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in Jungle Cruise, which looks more Adventure! than expected.

GM Basics

I think the GM Basics talk went okay. We certainly got a lot of questions, not always the case in Q&As.

(I also mentioned this to artist Darick Robertson as the reason I got to his three-hour signing at the last hour, and his son has started GMing! He played in his youth but never got to enjoy it as he ended up drawing everyone else’s characters. “No, I think a long sword!”)

The Crow (2019... but not)

The cancelled reboot of The Crow starring Jason Momoa was scheduled to come out today. What would that have been like?

Momoa looks like small arms fire would bounce off him normally, so having him play a regular guy who needs a supernatural upgrade for his battle with his killers seems like a stretch. I imagine him killing T-Bird by holding on to the hood of his car and goading him into crashing it into a wall, then freeing himself from the burning wreckage and walking away.

But the theme of Detroit recovering from its worst times could play well. And would we get Zola Jesus on the soundtrack?

The Name Of The Rose

I haven’t seen any adverts for the new TV version of The Name Of The Rose, starting tonight on BBC Two, so here is a note that it exists.

Phone PDF RPGs

Phone PDFs launch at DriveThruRPG, and to celebrate, Pugmire is currently free in the new format.

For Greg Stafford

On the first anniversary of founder Greg Stafford’s death, Chaosium launches WeAreAllUs, a campaign to share RPGs, with free adventures for all of their major game lines, including one of his own for Pendragon.

Tales From The Loop free PDF

Today, get in the loop!

Clones

Gemini Man has been in development for so long that they could almost have filmed it Boyhood style without needing the de-ageing effects.

Have you ever had a PC cloned, outside of Paranoia? Or a fantasy doppelganger or something similar? They’re usually more or less identical rather than noticeably different like the younger Gemini copy, to cause confusion and trouble for the original.

I once had a high-power Cyberpunk PC who was actually a batch of clones, each trained in a different skill, so that they could record their skills and plug in expertise. And latterly a Marvel SAGA character based on a similar idea, able to upload his mind into different cloned bodies engineered for different specialisations.

And The Watch House included Milli being reincarnated from a magical parallel universe... and the parallel versions of the rest of the PCs coming to get her back.

No pressure

So this weekend I’m talking at a GM Basics workshop. Hopefully I won’t demonstrate too clearly why I blog rather than vlog.

80s and 90s Halloween adverts

Over 80 or 90 of them...

Blood On The Tamesis

After Blood On The Thames, a new chronicle for the British V5 stream team.

Tonight on Loud As Hell

... an awkward family dinner.

Spaceship shows are back (and comics too)

New seasons of The Expanse and Lost In Space.

And a new comic series from Jamie McKelvie, The Killing Horizon.

As well as Green Lantern series Far Sector from N. K. Jemisin and Jamal Campbell.

New Star Trek trailers

Star Trek: Discovery season three

And a new Picard trailer and... is it dusty in here?

Angel at twenty

Tonight is the twentieth anniversary of the premiere of Angel.

Reunion special.

21 episodes to check out.

Cable Street

On this day in 1936, people in London stood up to the British Union of Fascists. It can be done.

A Darker Shade Of Magic

The writer of John Wick is adapting a series about a secret mystical world sideways of our own. Hmm.

Long Beach By Night

B. Dave Walters, Undisputed Baron Of The Valley, starts a new V5 chronicle on Sunday, noon PST, at queuetimes on Twitch.

Update: episode one is now on Youtube, going straight in to a cold open for the first 48 minutes.

Happy birthday dad!

Happy birthday to my father. He went for lunch and a walk in Peebles, and the Colin Baxter steam train print I sent arrived in time!

19th century occult investigators

For Varyar’s birthday. Original and from fiction of the era.

Wendy’s Critical Role

Coming soon, a Critical Role one-shot sponsored by Wendy’s, the American burger franchise. Which is... an odd decision for corporate synergy.

(I note this as news. There aren’t any in the UK, so it doesn’t work so well as a marketing ploy here.)

Critical Role is donating their profits from this week’s sponsorships to Farm Worker’s Justice.

And now the game has its own free PDF rulebook. Print copies are available at New York Comic Con.

October

Will I manage 31 Movies? Will I try Inktober? Who can say?

Answer! Share! Tut disapprovingly at my questions!