April

Tread carefully.

Consider Halfway To Halloween as an alternative.

The Faculty

The Faculty was a particularly fun Screamalike as it applied a degree of Kevin Williamson script polish to an SF horror story, while still in high school, instead of a slasher.

The Pod Universe got a remake pitch from Taylor Ortega (spoilers for it, and Scream 4, and also White Nights) which got me to watch it again. And I now wonder if the final monster influenced the worst boss in Bloodlines.

Scream 8

Scream 7 did really well, unfortunately, so here we are. Scream 8 script order for Nora and Lilla Zuckerman, so yes, handing the keys to the big comedy slasher franchise to the writers of the Buffy: New Sunnydale pilot, which kinda seems validating after attempts to blame the script.

Ballad Hunters

Ballad Hunters, a GUMSHOE game of haunted folk songs and breaking the curse through ballad magic in 1813, Kickstarting now.

Conpulsion quiz update

Answer sheets off to be printed en masse.

Now to get enough questions.

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.

Manly Men With Uzis

Malcolm Craig on Delta Force and related 1980s action RPGs with the Historical Games Network.

The Airport

When a game creator is stuck in an airport... I think this is where Over The Edge began.

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!

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.

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.”

Happy birthday Cat!

Wonder Man season two

Wonder Man getting a second season is a pleasant surprise.