Playing ALIEN

A chance to play ALIEN at GEAS on Wednesdays, so stood by the GM first to make sure they had a player before some others came over. Could have also gone for Cosmic Dark but looked like it had enough. (And there were also games with wizards and stuff.)

Looks like no major changes to character creation in the Evolved Edition, and it only takes a couple minutes even without the helpful creator. I’m sure this has nothing to do with a potential high bodycount.

So far I’ve made an Officer, two Roughnecks, a Marine, a Marshal and an Entertainer, so I can start with a hero, a useful fight support type, a different protag, a flawed civilian with a key skill, or someone all but useless that I can inflict on the group later on, mwa ha ha.

No androids... or are there?

And the most difficult part - coming up with a name that people can shout in an action scene. A good ALIEN-y name should have one or two syllables and a hard consonant.

Autumn

The equinox is upon us! At like 1.08 this morning.

Happy birthday Mark!

CHVRCHES, Roses

Fill a glass with delusions of the good days of blood and wine, of pearls for swine

Kinda gothy guitars, kinda crashy drums, opening  Portisheady thrum, spoken word bit, this is the stuff

The brain is actually two organs

The new research finding shows that the human brain consists of two ancient nervous systems cleverly packaged together - a more primitive part that regulates our hearts’ beating, our breathing and other functions, and another that makes us distinctly human, capable of poetry, mathematics and wondering about our own origins.

How long before a zombie movie addresses this?

GEAS one-shot AAR

Judging by tonight’s one-shot I should have put Drive on the cut down skill list, as there were three attempts to run enemies over in the final fight.

Emma Ruth Rundle, Enough

Emma Ruth Rundle, Enough

More Gothy and also more Nirvana-y than expected

Via Stereogum, via A Very Special Episode

Adapting a property that may not adapt

The Pod Universe and the creators’ predecessor Are You Afraid Of The Dark Universe? look at cinematic universes, constructing settings for lots of stories, so the same kinda thing as an RPG setting and series / campaign planning.

And as we know some settings make better big settings than others.

Have you ever considered a setting and decided it really wasn’t viable?

Have you ever decided to go all in on that?

This week, a guest pitch for the Eraserhead Cinematic Universe.

Labelled The Worst Idea We Could Come Up With

With a chapter heading Why Eraserhead? Dear God, why?

“We are gonna try and do our best job with this terrible idea.”

Kinda makes me wanna...

CHVRCHES V

The new CHVRCHES album preview starts at the same time as my fortnightly Vampire: The Masquerade session. This seems like a trick by a cruel god.

I mean

Come ON

Talk Like A Pirate Day vs. BIPOC Vampire Day

This is a busy weekend.

Also International Red Panda Day!

Games Workshop announce Necromunda RPG

Necromunda Roleplay

A box set with miniatures for four intro characters and five enemies, blank character sheets and a screen as well as a rulebook.

I remember when Games Workshop got out of the RPG business, so strange to see them getting back in.

Mission: Impossible at 60

Mission: Impossible first aired September 17 1966. A straightforward idea for a show even if the episodes often weren’t, the setup making a rotating cast for isolated episodes a key and advertised part of the design, full of charming gimmicks like the masks and “This message will self-destruct in five seconds” and an absolute all-timer of a theme and credits sequence. I’ve often said that the Tom Cruise movies are an adaptation of the credits more than the show.

Cassie Workman Is Witchy AF

Cassie Workman Is Witchy AF

A puppet-heavy drinky history of the occult by Australian comedian Cassie Workman. Hail Satan!

Episode one, Aleister Crowley halfasses multiple attempts to contact the divine. Special guests include Shirley Manson explaining the pre-Crowley history of the house by Loch Ness.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Nocturne 2026-7

Reused placeholder chronicle title subject to change depending on emergent theme

Vampires hunt for blood in a world that looks like ours. They have their own societies, their own laws, their own conflicts, but they also walk among us, trying to hold onto their humanity - to some extent, at least.

Vampire: The Masquerade is a modern horror game where you are the monster. Knowledge of the system and setting are not required, the system is straightforward and the setting is full of mysteries.

CW: Horror and action violence, political and occult themes, metaphorical addiction, uneven power relationships, and blood.

V5 one-shot autumn 2026 edition

Vampires hunt for blood in a world that looks like ours. They have their own societies, their own laws, their own conflicts, but they also walk among us. Tonight, some of them just want to hear a singer's set and have a night out. But things are rarely that easy.

Vampire: The Masquerade is a modern horror game where you are the monster. Knowledge of the system and setting are not required, the system is straightforward and the setting is full of mysteries.

CW: Horror and action violence, occult themes, addiction with possible alcohol and drug use, and blood

Complaining about having to do a Vampire one-shot again

The age-old issue (ca. 1991) of preparing one-shots for an RPG with a complicated secretive background, for players who might never have played it or any other RPG either.

Setup for people I expect to know the game can go wild.

Setup for people I expect to know RPGs in general suggests a classic like a heist to show how differently vampires approach it.

Setup for possibly total newbies and... um...

Yes I could run a one-shot for something else, but I’m planning to run Vampire and I don’t like showing something I’m not planning to continue.

Buffy news this week

Sarah and David at the Emmys..

Sarah shared a photo from Scooby-Doo: Origins wrapping, showing McKenna Grace who plays Daphne in a Buffy T-shirt.

McKenna Grace (Daphne) and Maxwell Jenkins (Fred)
But what does his shirt mean?

Most photos suggest more traditional costumes but if the shirt appears in the show it causes a delightful reference paradox.

Raiders Of The Lost Ark 4K

Raiders Of The Lost Ark was great in the new restoration on the big screen.

Of course it was also great the time I saw a thirty-year-old original print that had gone kinda sepia-toned. It fit really.

A thousand ideas!

My pretty vague “ideas” tag just hit 1000!

What to GM, 2026-7 edition

Start of GEAS getting close now. Saturday game shop tour and quiz, Monday one-shots, Wednesday pitches. And in between my regular games are Sunday and Tuesday.

Having had no other brilliant ideas, and having some character sheets left, prolly run Vampire. Likely Sunday afternoons as no Sunday evenings by default (boo!) and have Sunday evening game anyhow (yay!) but would gladly do it at Teviot but no Teviot booking either (boooooo!)

Have assorted setup ideas, but keep it basic for new players.