A city full of vampires

One per day for the month, for V5. A couple have actually appeared in games, but quite a few are new ideas. Some lean in to clan types, some away. Most of them are horrible people.

Onward

Pixar’s Onward opens next week, with previews today, February 29th being “an extra day of magic”. A single day is key to the story.

Another new world of gods and monsters

The Invisible Man comes out today, and io9 looks at ways to modernise other Universal Monsters and make them scary once more.

Tales From The Loop

A first trailer for the series of Tales From The Loop, coming to Prime in April. Based on the art of Simon Stålenhag, which inspired a book and an RPG, the trailer suggests that it plans to reflect the art’s quiet sense of wonder.

The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari

The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari was released in Germany 100 years ago today, on February 26, 1920. The opening volley of Expressionist cinema, its weird angle-and-shadow sets were the template for the likes of the Universal horrors and the later Film Noir style. Conrad Veidt became an early horror star in this and other roles, as well as influencing the Creature in James Whale’s Frankenstein. It also pioneered being screwed up by studio-mandated reshoots.

Hayley Williams, Creepin’

Poor little vampire baby

The Teuthic Temple

The Teuthic Temple, a Monsters & Magic mini-adventure for a good cause, proceeds to Sarah Newton

Star Wars: The High Republic

A longer time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

The High Republic is a big concerted book and comic setting for old Republic stories set a couple centuries before the Skywalker sage, with unfamiliar enemies, Jedi as knights of the Round Table and as frontier marshals, and some characters designed by Iain McCaig among others. So if nothing else I’d buy an art book!

And like KOTOR, Legacy, Dawn Of The Jedi and other now-Legends-y eras before it, it also looks game-friendly. It would probably have to be DIY as FFG are getting out of RPG publishing, but when has that stopped us?

Mardi Gras, or, Pancake Day

Happy Pancake Day here, and Mardi Gras elsewhere!

Often the one day I actually have pancakes.

Katherine Johnson

Katherine Johnson, NASA pioneer, has died, aged 101.

Fangs

Fangs, a webcomic by Sarah Andersen, as recommended by several people now.

Another L.A. By Night clip

The Camarilla in a nutshell.

The Art Of Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order

There’s always something worth checking out in the concept art for a big Star Wars thing, like Jedi: Fallen Order. Spaceships! Planets! Inquisitors! Bounty hunters! Cloak variations! Really big doors!

Nebula Nominations

The Nebula Awards finalists are out and includes Evil Hat’s Fate Accessibility Toolkit in the Game Writing category.

Vampirism is a metaphor

Vampirism is a metaphor.
Justin Achilli, linking to the Guardian on the politics of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2, as well as about the game in general.

The Portable Door

The Jim Henson Company is to adapt The Portable Door, first of a series of novels by Tom Holt about starting work at a corporate magic firm, which is a reference to The Sorcerer by Gilbert and Sullivan, a reminder that urban fantasy is older than it looks.

Doc Savage, TV Star?

Doc Savage coming to TV? Stranger things have happened. Like the movie from the 60s.

I Am Not Okay With This

You know my idea that Carrie is one friend away from being a superhero origin? I Am Not Okay With This sounds kind of like that.

So who is it at Netflix ordering all these graphic novel adaptations about teens coming to small towns and having to deal with supernatural stuff launching this winter? I haven’t finished October Faction or even started Locke & Key. I know that complaining about too much interesting genre TV would be churlish, and they are all different in tone, but...

Kickstarter Union

As reported on io9 Tabletop News, Kickstarter employees have voted to unionise and Kickstarter has tweeted a positive response to the news.

Live deliciously

In the title role in the new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma, Anya Taylor-Joy wears pretty dresses and may well get to enjoy the taste of butter.

I may be overthinking how much actors take from one character to the next.

Random Act Of Kindness Day

We need a day for that?

Okay...

1-4, comment on a blog.
5-7, share it on social media.
8-9, put in a tip if there’s a jar.
10, prehensile hair.

Vagrant Queen

Vagrant Queen is the next SyFy space opera show, the most Farscape/GOTG jokey from the get-go judging by the trailer (which outside the US I had to watch in a mirror shared in the comments) and the most synthwave-lighting-y.

Loved the “Identify yourself!” gag.

Back at it

For the first time this decade (depending how you count decades) I’m offering a Buffy PBP game.

Magic: The Gathering: The Documentary

Ignite The Spark, coming soon from the makers of The Toys That Made Us.

I made an L.A. By Night episode clip!

This seems to work.

Victor pointing to his “I’m not even surprised” face and Eva peering at it intently so she might recognise it if it ever happens again.

Mark Hamill as Skeletor!

I will watch the new Masters Of The Universe cartoon. Or at least listen to it.

(Sarah Michelle Gellar as Teela! And Henry Rollins as Tri-Klops?!)

Romance RPG advice

Rob Wieland discusses romance plots and consent in RPGs, specifically Star Trek Adventures as it’s on the front page of the official Star Trek site.

No Time To Die

Billie Eilish, the theme for No Time To Die. It is indeed very much a Bond theme while also fairly Billie Eilish on the maudlin rather than creepy side of her work.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Show some love.

The Green Knight

A trailer for a new film adaptation of Sir Gawain And The Green Knight, coming in May. Go look!

Calling all 7th Sea GMs!

The Iron Mask. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jackie Chan. Jason Flemyng. Rutger Hauer. Dragons.

Although yes, it does look like Schwarzenegger versus Chan is all from one scene...

DC Universe TV launching its own RPG show

DC Universe is to start an RPG stream with the original DC Heroes, fronted by Freddie Prinze Jr. and Sam Witwer. (They already do a Star Wars game, of course.)

Blackwood: The Mourning After

Writer Evan Dorkin and artists Veronica Fish and Andy Fish talk to Daily Dead about returning to Blackwood College for more supernatural schooling.

Ultimately, what do you hope readers take away from Blackwood: The Mourning After?
Comics are fun. Two-headed mummy chimps make for terrible house pets. And store-bought Rice Krispies treats are bullshit. You have to make them yourself.

Many Places By Night

Shawn Gaston on how to do open table soap opera World Of Darkness.

All aboard the Limiting Factor

The late Scottish author Iain Banks has been remembered in a US adventurer’s expedition to visit the deepest points in every ocean... Victor Vescovo is the first person to complete the feat, diving in a submarine named after a spaceship in Banks’ science-fiction stories... the Limiting Factor.

I naturally wonder how many other ship names Vescovo and his team considered, as the Limiting Factor is one of the least mad options.

Oscars 2020

Some pleasantly surprising results there. My What We Do In The Shadows DVD is now retroactively autographed by an Oscar winner!

I definitely did not expect Parasite from Snowpiercer director Bong Joon Ha to win Best Picture either, as while great it does not feel very Oscar-y.

Also, Natalie Portman accessorising with embroidered names of women who didn’t get Best Director nominations for their films.

Snow

I just looked outside. Merry Christmas!

What We Do In The Shadows

An observation from December 5th 2014:

What We Do In The Shadows may well become like This Is Spinal Tap for some Vampire LARP groups.

Has it?

Oscar night lights

As this selection of film-themed boardgames mentions, why don’t the Oscars have interesting adverts?

Oscar night RPG ideas: plot hooks from Best Picture nomineees and going to the awards.

So for this year’s nominees...

Dialogue saved for later

“Hmm.”
“Well?”
“Hmm...”
“Got anything there?”
“No. Hence the continuing hmm.”

The Monster Mash Movie

Uh, okay?

I mean, I’m sure a Universal Monsters musical could be made to work, but...

Speaking as someone with an X in my name, it is a silly letter.

The XFL is back after nineteen years, starting this weekend right after the Super Bowl.

No none-more-90s teams with misspelled names with X in this time, although two of the eight teams share names with Marvel superhero teams, Defenders and Guardians, a third is the Wildcats rather like the WildStorm team, the Dallas Renegades may be vampires and the St. Louis BattleHawks basically share a logo with the Dark Angels chapter of Imperial Space Marines.

Hunter: The Vigil Second Edition

Hunter: The Vigil Second Edition, now on Kickstarter. I led a playtest for this.

Welcome to Fantasy... Or Some Other Genre... Island

If you can make a horror film out of Fantasy Island... what else? Though honestly it’s not such a stretch.

And I think Highway To Heaven would work fine if the angel walking the earth was fighting demons...

Haven’t had to think about this for a while...

Might be GMing again soon. For a specific group rather than all comers, so looking at what might work for them...

I would watch this buddy series

Coyotes and badgers team up and sometimes this gets recorded, showing the coyote happily encouraging the badger to come with.

Your idea is probably not too odd

Io9 hints at a bleakquel for Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. Also two things with vampires - one sounds like Collateral with vampires and the other sounds like Fright Night with a book club. Your vampire idea is probably not too odd to work.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Chapters

Vampire: The Masquerade - Chapters is now live on Kickstarter.

Stay tuned for...

And of course there’s a Wikipedia page about Super Bowl lead-out shows.

I knew some of these already. The Friends double The One After The Superbowl was hard to miss, and the DVD commentary for the Alias episode Phase One pointed out its slot as the reason it blew apart the original series premise halfway through season two. But the premiere of Homicide: Life On The Street? A pretty random MOTW episode of The X Files which introduced a downer subplot? ... Lassie?

For our year in the US, I didn’t watch the game and I don’t think any of us did - I was eight, and while aware the sport existed it wasn’t played until junior high. We got into The A-Team pretty early, though, just maybe not right away.

What kind of game would you run with that big a lead-in?

Super Bowl trailers

For the 100th anniversary of the NFL and 54th Super Bowl, Super Bowl trailers collected by Empire including Marvel on Disney+ and Fast people being Furious in Edinburgh - I wonder if their geography will be as accurate as Infinity War.

Also including the starry and crossover-y adverts, although not the one featuring the regeneration of a peanut during a funeral presided over by Wesley Snipes.

(Also this year the Super Bowl is on Fox and its lead-out show is The Masked Singer. So keeping up the Weird Level there...)

Hail The Superb Owl

The Strix see all!

Palindrome Day

20:20 on 02/02/2020.

Also Groundhog Day.

And the Super Bowl.

You might be a rustneck if...

You might be a rustneck if... a running gag for a cyberpunk game.

Star Wars Underworld test footage

Nearly five minutes of test footage for Star Wars Underworld, the live-action TV series George Lucas wanted to make, from an effects company.