Monday, 30 March 2026

Conpulsion quiz update

Answer sheets off to be printed en masse.

Now to get enough questions.

Sunday, 29 March 2026

Project Hail Mary

I loved The Martian and liked this.

Trying not to think about the science from a biology POV though.

Summer

Ah yes, British Summer Time, I can tell by the hailstones.

Friday, 27 March 2026

The Bunker Game is coming

The Bunker Games is a (mild) development of something I did with students on my Nuclear Cold War module at Edinburgh Uni between 2014 and 2016. You’re trapped in a bunker after a nuclear attack - who is allowed to survive?

This is not something I would run with students now, certainly not without considerably more preparation and buy-in.

However, it is an interesting artefact, if only from a personal POV, seeing how my pedagogical approach has evolved over a decade.
Malcolm Craig

Physical copies launching at Conpulsion!

Thursday, 26 March 2026

Ryan Coogler's The X Files leads

Himesh Patel joins Danielle Deadwyler in the pilot for a new take on The X Files written and directed by Ryan Coogler.

For Hulu, so here’s hoping That Guy doesn’t get to decide if it goes ahead.

Hunter: The Reckoning - Deathwish

Trailer for an XBox game due next summer, from the makers of RoboCop: Rogue City who can certainly hit the vibe. Fingers crossed for a smooth development run.

The End Of Oak Street

It’s a pleasant surprise to get a trailer for an interesting movie I hadn’t heard of. The End Of Oak Street (trailer) (Empire talk) looks like a La Brea situation where a suburban street is transported to dinosaur times, stars Ewan McGregor and Anne Hathaway and is written and directed by It Follows creator David Robert Mitchell.

Late arriving horror heroes

An announcement for the new multiplayer game of John Carpenter’s Halloween has revealed that on the non-Michael side you can play Dr. Loomis or a deputy... after your first character dies.

Making a note of that idea for future horror games.

Wednesday, 25 March 2026

V5: Stolen 2.06

Vampire: The Masquerade
Stolen
2.06
Betrayal

Beck
Robin
Vince

Beverley holds the scroll case tightly. “This what you want? Back up.” She clenches her fingers and blood starts to drip out around her nails - and hisses and steams as it hits the floor, and she holds a hand over the case, ready to destroy it.

Vince takes a step back.

--

Outside, Robin knocks out Beverley’s driver with a single blow, then realises he’s concussed and needs medical help. He also pauses at the man’s exposed neck.

Making himself focus, he texts Beck that they’re at the dropoff point.

--

Slice of life games

A question on the World Of Darkness Discord about how to make more slice-of-life sessions. As I ran a Vampire: The Masquerade game which went this way, Last Dance:

I stumbled into running a slice-of-(un)life game because I got a group of friends in a suitably relaxed space, so as far as I can tell it very much depends on them.

But to try to help, I did include more “hangout” scenes, like going to a club to see a band and it not then shift to seeing an enemy there or something.

It helped that it fit with the setup, the PCs being in a band, so leant itself to low-stakes sessions, dealing with mortals and other Kindred on the music scene, only occasionally getting into general vampire trouble.

It also helped to have some examples among the SPCs, Kindred who were focused on mundane things. Like a had a couple of Harpies who’d just show up to parties and chat casually, getting on fine with the PCs.

Daredevil: Born Again 2.01

Daredevil: Born Again season two begins and gets to the cop-kicking part pretty quickly.

V5: City Of Angels 38

Vampire: The Masquerade - City Of Angels session 38

Paris got to be scared of new things as well as possibly dealing with some familiar things.

Deleted scene:
“Quoth the raven...”
“Not enough.”

Monday, 23 March 2026

Wonder Man season two

Wonder Man getting a second season is a pleasant surprise.

Starfleet Academy 2

So the forces of evil in charge of Paramount have decided sixty years of Star Trek is too many. I mean I get it, I’d cancel something that tells me I’m an evil shit too.

Forbidden Planet

Forbidden Planet premiered on this day in 1956. So as we mark sixty years of Star Trek consider seventy of one of its parents. And celebrate the naming of the comics shop franchise.