Minority settings in RPGs

Why minority settings matter for representation and education, by Whitney “Strix” Beltrán. 

Thanks to Morgue for the link, who said it was the first time he had ever heard of the Tulsa massacre, which was 100 years ago today. (I heard of it through the Watchmen TV series, as apparently did many others.)

I in turn had never heard of the Night Witches until they became the subject of a game.

Johnny Cash: Man In Black

Johnny Cash released his album Man In Black on this day fifty years ago.

V5: Nobody's Home 1.25

Last needle drop of the game:

Last night she came to me

My dead love came in

So softly she came her feet made no din

And she laid her hand on me

And this she did say

“It will not long now

Till our wedding day...”

All About Eve, She Moves Through The Fair

Actual Play to follow.

Psycho Goreman

It has come to my attention that (some of) the villains in Psycho Goreman are Darkscream and the Paladins Obsidian, masters of the 5th Moon Of Gigax.

Werewolves Within: The Motion Picture

Werewolves Within looks like it might be that rare thing, a good video game movie.

A Star Wars version of Seven Samurai is not a new or clever idea.

The Bad Batch 1.05: Rampage

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

1.05: Rampage

“The Batch strike a deal to take on a mission.”

22 minutes plus credits again, the first one not to be shorter than the week before!

The Batch go to Ord Mantell, something Han Solo never managed in The Empire Strikes Back, the place to investigate why a bounty hunter is after Omega. So they have to take their first outside gig...

Bloodlines soundtrack unused and alternative tracks

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, More Music From The Vault by Rik Schaffer, via Bloody Disgusting, with a one-click .zip download button.

Live-Action Online Games

LAOGs (Live-Action Online Games by video call) come in three basic forms, as laid out at Nordic LARP:

The invisible call, where you act like you’re in the room together, a way to carry on regular games as long as you have a good connection.

The diegetic call, where the characters are Zooming too (see the film Host) or doing something close like starship officers yelling at each other on ViewScream, which now has several new scenarios including audio-only ghost hunters.

The metaphorical call, where the call is treated like something else like a future holographic conference or a séance (see Host again, as well as all the jokes about how Zoom calls are basically seances anyway - “can you hear me?”) - the example uses the selective mute effect for a game about someone communicating with the afterlife, with “ghost” PCs only able to communicate with the “living” through them.

I wonder if anybody’s done something like Knightmare with a GoPro...

The Sandman TV cast

The Sandman is going to be quite a thing. (The inclusion of pronouns is a very nice touch.)

The Star Wars sequel trilogy plan

J.J. Abrams talks to Collider about how a planned trilogy might have helped.

“... the lesson is that you have to plan things as best you can, and you always need to be able to respond to the unexpected. And the unexpected can come in all sorts of forms, and I do think that there’s nothing more important than knowing where you’re going.”

The Sabbat are coming

V5 Sabbat is specified as an antagonist book.

Eternals teaser

Eternals, from Marvel and director Chloe Zhao.

(The song choice brings me back to the adverts for season one of Heroes.)

V5: Nobody's Home 1.24

So, how did the session go?

Remembering you fallen into my arms

Crying for the death of your heart

You were stone white, so delicate, lost in the cold

You were always so lost in the dark

The Cure, Pictures Of You

Eurovision was certainly a Eurovision.

Poor Things

Surprise Alasdair Gray adaptation! 

A film of his riff on Frankenstein from Yorgos Lanthimos, director of The Favourite, with Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe.

“Also recently cast is a very welcome Willem Dafoe, who, much like Ruffalo, is no stranger to reworkings of 19th-century horror, having been Willem Dafoe his whole life.”

WORLD GOTH DAY

WORLD GOTH DAY

There can be another one?

Highlander remake with Henry Cavill? Sure, could work. Highlander remake with the director of John Wick? Yes, now please.

Angel on Disney+ Star

Angel is now on Disney+ Star. Buffy and Angel will leave All 4 at the end of the month.

The Bad Batch 1.04: Cornered

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

1.04: Cornered

“The Batch’s supply run goes awry.”

22 minutes plus credits, which is a very classic animated series kind of length.

The Batch land to pick up supplies and scramble their ship’s ID.

And we have a guest star. Arriving three and a half minutes in, and already seen in trailers: Ming-Na Wen as Fennec Shand, mercenary sniper first seen decades later in-character in The Mandalorian.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer: Chosen

Chosen premiered eighteen years ago today. I am constant in my affections.

Batman: Caped Crusader and My Adventures With Superman animated series

Batman with Bruce Timm working with JJ Abrams and Matt Reeves, Superman from Teen Titans Go! and She-Ra writers. Yes now yes please.

Ludonarrative Dissidents

Ludonarrative Dissidents podcast on Kickstarter

James Wallis (Baron Munchausen, Alas Vegas) Greg Stolze (Unknown Armies, Reign) and Ross Payton (Base Raiders, Role Playing Public Radio) analyse RPGs, one per episode in depth.

Pilot: Apocalypse World, including a shoutout to Best Friends.

Crow

Crow is a forthcoming fan film. No The. Set and actually shot in Detroit. New character, like all of the following films and most of the spinoff comics. Different and kind of Punisher-y makeup, part of a sort of Skull Cowboy look.

Fan films are touch and go of course, both in quality and in actually getting finished. But then as noted in previous posts here, so are attempts at an official remake.

Naturally this makes me wonder again what mine would look like.

Vampire: Elysium Con, June 11-12

Renegade Game Studios, makers of Vampire: The Masquerade Rivals and of forthcoming V5 books, hosting a Weekend Of Darkness free event with panels and streaming games over the weekend, featuring an L.A. By Night special. 

Not saying I’m going to try to win the trivia contest, but not not saying that...

Edit: That’s the same weekend as Onyx Path Con. :( 

OPC is more focused on the chance to play balanced with panels and show game, Elysium Con is all for viewing with some participation, and I’m sure most of both will be available to view later.

Vampires are the new, er, vampires

Apparently it’s Vampire Movie Announcement Week.

Yesterday we had Uprising with director Travis Knight and The Bride with director Jessica M. Thompson, today a remake of The Hunger with Angela Robinson in talks to direct.

I think there’s room to do something interesting, though the cast is obviously a hard act to follow.

(And I expect we’ll get a cover of Bela Lugosi’s Dead in there somewhere. CHVRCHES already recorded one for Vampire Academy.)

Edit: And speaking of Vampire Academy, it’s getting a TV series, from the first showrunner for The Vampire Diaries, who also has a credit on its current spinoff which is set in... an academy for (among others) vampires.

Back In (Attack) The Block

ALLOW IT

Where are Moses and the gang ten years on? Did the aliens try it again? Will there be any new cast to go on to headline a genre franchise?

Empire talked to director Joe Cornish and some of the cast about the anniversary.

This Is A Craig Oxbrow Game (full version)

Yes, I did it.

To the tune of This Is A Trent Reznor Song:

I am Craig Oxbrow, this is how I run games

Kind of a collaborative story

When I improvise a plot it’s usually a mystery

Depending on what you’d like to see

Emotional beat!

IDAHOBIT

The International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia

This Is A Craig Oxbrow Game

The new Nine Inch Nails collaboration with HEALTH, Isn’t Everyone, is very Nine Inch Nails while also quite HEALTH.

And that naturally reminded me of the legendary This Is A Trent Reznor Song. 

And that somehow led me to thinking what the lyrics would be for This Is A Craig Oxbrow Game. 

Now clearly I am not qualified to write my own parody filk about what my games are like, but I would start the second verse with... 

“Now I make you ROLL PERCEPTION!

Then I think what the results mean...”

101 sad little Vampire stories

101 short Vampire plot hooks for street level games and personal horror, by CT Phipps.

Summer games 2021

With three sessions to go before the summer Sunday pitches, best decide what to do. I have a couple of interested people for a return to the summer 2020 V5 game (who are also in the current V5 game, which recycled some of the NPCs so I would have to work out what happened in which game) and not seriously considering running more than one like I did last year.

Jag

First AZ jag. Twenty minutes early, in and out in fifteen. So far arm not sore, and no sizzling eye beams.

Update: arm sore by about 9pm, a day later achy when I reach for something high or lean on it.

The Bad Batch 1.03: Replacements

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

1.03: Replacements

“The Batch get stuck on a desolate moon.”

24 minutes plus credits. The Batch’s shuttle crashes and they have some traditionally Star Wars trouble with repairs.

Meanwhile, Crosshair is put in charge of an experimental non-clone trooper unit.

Escape From The Enemy, chapter one

Escape From The Enemy, chapter one.

OneDice Fantasy has a very old D&D all-or-nothing approach to damage, which may be fiddled with, along with a stunt system which encourages big action, and might have too many points available at the session length we go for, but it did let Jackdaw grab a rope and swing across to kick an undead knight off the deck.

Possible theme, back referencing the fantasy Battlestar Galactica ragtag fleet.

Robots are everywhere

This picture story from the Atlantic shows the variety of robotics, drones and remote control devices in use now. Some fascinating, some I must admit rather alarming.

Jamal Shakhtor, a 26-year-old Palestinian student in industrial automation, demonstrates the movements of a robotic hand that he built at his workshop in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, on February 5, 2021.

A total of 1,100 drones form the shape of a police officer in the sky to celebrate the first Chinese People's Police Day on January 10, 2021, in Shanghai, China.

Thanks to Lenin on RPGnet for the link.

After Laughter at 4

Non-Fake Happy fourth anniversary to After Laughter by Paramore, source of among other things twelve Buffy adventure hooks because have you met me?

Onyx Path Convention 2021, June 11-13

News and call for GMs here.

World Of Darkness Berlin four years on

I miss nights like that.

A Knight’s Tale at twenty

Behind the scenes reminiscences of A Knight’s Tale for its twentieth anniversary.

The Once And Future Party

Star Trek: Discovery season three throws the ship almost a millennium into the future, where the Starfleet era is a mythical golden age.

“They can’t help us, Kal.”

“Yes, they can. And they will. It’s a... a part of them. How they are.”

Star Trek: Discovery 3.02 Far From Home

It takes a long look at the idea of legacy, and how to deal with the expectations of those who’ve heard of you. See also Captain America, and obviously King Arthur and assorted other legendary heroes who will return in various places’ hours of greatest need.

How would your PCs deal with that?

LARP in China

LARPing has experienced explosive growth among Chinese youth in the past year, according to this report by Siyuan Meng for Radii China. Link thanks to Angus Abranson. The article traces its success to a 2016 mystery reality show called Who’s The Murderer? and notes that it’s mostly small groups with one GM, often playing in dedicated rented-out sets, with the most popular genres being murder mysteries and period dramas.

Baelin's Route

This Epic NPC Man short film asks whether a background NPC can complete a side quest. NSFW language.

Always aim to be done before the end of your slot

No session tonight. Three sessions left before switching to summer. Hopefully time for a conclusion of sorts.

It's a small dark world

No session tonight, so I watched the introductory session for a V5 short by New Game Who Dis and... it’s set in Philadelphia and has a former Prince called Carlyle.

So I’m taking one of its location choices, so there!

The legacy of Nigel Kneale and Ghostwatch

BERGCAST talks to Ghostwatch writer Stephen Volk about his career and influences, particularly Quatermass and The Stone Tape creator Nigel Kneale.

Blue Letter Day

Vaccine first appointment offered for this time next week.

The Bad Batch 1.02: Cut And Run

Star Wars: The Bad Batch 

1.02: Cut And Run

“The Bad Batch visit an old contact.”

Our first regular episode is twenty-six minutes plus credits. We don’t get the The Clone Wars logo burning away or the newsreel narrator introduction. (We do get a "Skip Intro" button for the three-second intro, after the thirty-second Star Wars intro. This does not seem helpful.)

The Batch reach a planet which has previously appeared in The Clone Wars...

Vote.

Vote. It annoys the right people.

The Guardian at 200

The Guardian, the UK’s main sort-of-leftie newspaper, celebrates its 200th anniversary today.

Being a better hobby ambassador

Article from Neal Litherland and video from Paco Jaen on being a guide and a positive example.

Star Wars: The Bad Batch 1.01: Aftermath

Star Wars: The Bad Batch is the new Disney+ animated series spinning off from The Clone Wars where the title characters first appeared in season seven.

Trailer, most of which is in the premiere but includes at least one notable Star Wars character who isn’t.

Meet Clone Force 99 - Hunter the leader with enhanced senses and Rambo headband, Wrecker the Big Guy, Tech the, well, tech, Crosshair the sniper and Echo the cyborg regular clone. When the credits say this show stars Dee Bradley Baker it really means it, as he voices all of them and makes them all distinctive.

(Also for May the Fourth, a Simpsons short and wordless slow-TV tours of the Millennium Falcon, a First Order Star Destroyer and planets from the setting.)

1.01: Aftermath

The 75-minute premiere starts with the previous show’s logo burning away to reveal the new one, and then Tom Kane returning as the retro-serial-style narrator telling us where they are...

Leverage Redemption teaser

“Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood.”

Marvel look back, and ahead

See you at the movies.

“We’re all part of one big family.”

V5: Nobody's Home 1.23

I had been waiting with this needle drop for a while now.

All my friends are murderers

"i am Iron Man."

Thirteen years ago... and the crowd went wild. 

Iron Man is a fun, pretty normal superhero movie, until he just drops the secret identity setup right at the end.

The end not counting the post-credits sequence, which was also fairly important. The MCU has been quite a ride ever since.

The new Buffy and Angel figures...

I feel less bad about the new Buffy and Angel action figures being unavailable over here now that I’ve seen pictures of them. They’re the tiny ones. Shaky likenesses, weird proportions, and yes, the Angel figure is shorter than the Buffy figure. He’s not quite small or stylised enough to be Smile Time puppet Angel, but...

(Photo by Sloth15 on The Fwoosh.)

Dialogue or scene note, The One Ring edition

Coming from a dream imagining the Fellowship of the Ring (very much the Peter Jackson version, with Gandalf the White out of sequence) defending a tower in a marsh under a murky orange-brown sky.

After a demand to release some prisoners, the orc army below them fires a catapult containing a prisoner. Splat.

Gandalf looks down gravely.

“You have made your point. Now let us make ours.”

He nods to Legolas, who shoots an arrow at the orc who pulled the lever. The orc runs. He stops and looks back when it lands behind him and smirks. And takes a second arrow right in the face.

May Day

It is May. The sun has risen. So that’s something.