Buffy is 29

In cinematic terms. The original film came out in the US on this day in 1992. 

It has its moments.

Sleeper

Sleeper from creator and writer Jed Mercurio with co-writer Prasanna Puwanarajah and illustrator Coke Navarro, a graphic novel, as even the creator of Line Of Duty can’t get a science fiction series greenlit on spec in this country.

Fully armed and operational

... but going out tomorrow and not far.

The Bad Batch 1.14: War-Mantle

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

1.14: War-Mantle

“After receiving a mysterious distress call, the Batch tracks it to a secret facility.”

25 minutes plus credits.

A trooper on the run from troopers?

Echo demonstrating that the ability to guilt Hunter into action isn’t unique to Omega.

And on Kamino, trouble brewing.

With two more episodes to go, a season finale looms large. But right now we’re hitting some classic Star Wars beats.

Mad God, by Phil Tippett

Special effects legend Phil Tippett has been slowly making a full-length stop-motion horror fantasy for the last thirty years, and now Mad God is complete and has a trailer. I saw some of it at Dead By Dawn in 2017, and am very curious to see the sequences in context.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Captain America: The First Avenger came out in the UK ten years ago today, a bit late for Steve’s birthday on the Fourth of July.

My favourite Cap film and one of my favourite MCU films overall, which may not surprise you given my recent post about the 30th anniversary of The Rocketeer, director Joe Johnston’s previous circa-WWII retro pulpy superhero film. Like that, it made a straight-up hero work and be totally charming.

And I will never be okay with The Star-Spangled Man With A Plan not getting a Best Original Song nomination at the Oscars. (Especially as there were two entrants that year. Just making up the numbers so there wasn’t only one loser!)

Episode synopses

Rewatching Angel S5 on Disney+ Star and the episode synopses in the Next Episode screens are notably pithier and less spoilery than S4’s. I approve.

Though none of them beat this description for Once More, With Feeling when it was on E4.

Update: That said, I feel the description for Smile Time may overdo it in intentionally burying the lede. 

I mean, yes, these things happen in the episode, but I feel that shot cropping hides something rather important.

Sounds Like Helping

Yaying a Twitter post about a plan for a Buffy/Angel one-shot about a band led to thanks for sharing the idea. Which was nice. :)

Doctor Who second edition

As naturally mentioned on the Who blog:

Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game second edition PDFs are here along with preorders for books.

a|state second edition

a|state second edition now on Kickstarter and funded in an hour and a half.

I am curious just how much money one can actually spend on sequels to The Exorcist.

RRH 2.05: I Am Stretched On Your Grave

Vampire: The Masquerade - Red Right Hand book two, chapter five

Having introduced the vampire Evelyn Stephens and her human detective brother Gregory, taken from the first edition introductory session for the 30th anniversary session, tonight they met Evelyn to infirm her that her brother is snooping around a vampire attack. And knowing she’s a Brujah they were very nervous about her temper and how to break it to her. The Brujah temper gets taken as read so often that this surprised me.

Walk Among Us now in print

I now own Vampire: The Masquerade - Walk Among Us in paperback as well as the original audiobook version. 

At 440 pages it’s not small. (Each novella was about four hours in audio form.) No internal art, decent print size.

Olympics Tokyo 2020 ...1

Higher. Faster. Stronger. Together.

A relatively low-key opening ceremony. Still loud enough to make it hard to hear the protests outside.

The Olympic rings were made with wood from trees planted by athletes the last time Japan hosted the Summer Olympics.

The precision drone display was impressive.

The orchestral video game medley for the athletes’ parade was quite weird.

My favourite bit was definitely the Pictograms quick-change act, a clever way of showing the wide variety of sports included. And also golf.

The BBC trailer leans into the popular culture promotional theme (going with Ghost In The Shell rather than the more Olympic-relevant Akira was probably wise considering what happens) as does the opening for the sport JRPG Google Doodle.

The Bad Batch 1.13: Infested

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

1.13: Infested

“To save a friend, the Batch plot a mission to sabotage a gangster’s operation.”

24 1/2 minutes plus credits.

Returning from a mission, the Batch find someone new in Cid's office. Someone with a lot of goons, as well as some of the Pykes, spice gangsters from The Clone Wars. And Cid’s not happy about this development either, which leads to a stealth mission, with an added distraction caused by Bolo and Ketch, as well as, inevitably, a complication...

Comic-Con At Home

San Diego Comic-Con is at home again, which means a smallish burst of pop culture news compared to the gigantic live version.

LARP styles explained

Boffer LARP:

Load up on guns, bring your friends

Nordic LARP:

It’s fun to lose and to pretend

Ensemble to lead

When an ensemble character becomes the lead in a spin-off, they may lose some of the traits they had as a side character, such as Natasha’s snark about her teammates in Black Widow.

Sometimes these are passed to a new character and aimed back at them. In some cases this is a younger sibling introduced in a family dynamic.

Earthy estranged father figure optional.

Loki Assembled

Most interesting bit in The Making Of Loki - at one point, via the concept art, the TVA waiting room was going to be full. I think it’s much more telling to have it almost empty, a relic of a system that isn't as needed as it was.

And OF COURSE I looked up Wally The Support Alligator.

Stealing Stories For The Devil

Stealing Stories For The Devil a new game from Monte Cook, is a zero-prep narrative heist game with an added apocalypse and tech-magic.

It sounds to me like Mage: The Ascension meets Leverage with a bit of The Terminator thrown in, in a sort of Fate Accelerated via Cortex way.

Mage: The Ascension because the PCs’ main power is Lying to reality so that what they say comes true, like a door is unlocked or a truck gets in the way of a chasing car - coincidental magic.

Leverage because they use this to pull of perfect heists, and in so doing save the world.

The Terminator because they’re from the future, sent back to save reality with sufficiently advanced technology. This is front-loaded in the primer after being dropped in sideways on the Kickstarter page, which surprised me after the general lying-magic-thief setup and the Devil namedrop in the title. And then only one of the three main character skillsets uses the then obvious “retcon through time travel” as the way their power works.

Fate Accelerated because the character design is a handful of Aspects.

Cortex because of the stepped dice for abilities.

Also going with a more market-friendly sales model than Invisible Sun so the Kickstarter page has a free primer and the basic rules are available separate to the full set.

Marvel Super Heroes AP

A Marvel Super Heroes Actual Play miniseries at New Old Game, Who Dis?

GMed by Pathfinder creator Jason Bulmann, via featured player comic writer Jim Zub.

Milwaukee, 1996. The Ordinary Life Initiative set up by S.H.I.E.L.D. to monitor superhumans with powers not really worth worrying about on their own.

And yes, random character generation! Using some of the Ultimate Powers Book no less.

“You’re a human, Jim.”

Update

I basically feel okay, now that I have Optrex and sunglasses and no further need for them.

Aliens at 35

Aliens is 35 today! A personal review by Germain Lussier at io9.

(Quite weird seeing a new trailer that doesn’t use the music, considering how many trailers used it soon after.)

While the A L I E N RPG covers the series and a mixture of ancillary material up to just past ALIEN³, the Colonial Marines get their own book as well as pregen PCs in some of the Cinematic adventures, as well as Aliens getting its own RPG back in the day and still getting separate licensed things like video games, not to mention all the games it influenced more than ALIEN.

But note how the setup takes away their best weapons...

Update

Alive, and have some descriptions for sensitivity to light that might come in handy for a Vampire game.

Taking a day off from screens as my right eye aches.

Black Widow

I have seen Black Widow.

I may have teared up a little at the Marvel Studios intro.

The film itself could have mostly been done around the time it was set, though the time since Captain America: The Winter Soldier probably helped with how much of a sequel to it this is.

Malia J’s sad elegiac cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit over the more Bourne than Bond stake-setting titles, interesting choice. (Captain Marvel used Come As You Are around the end of act two.) Here we are now, entertain us.

The grim conspiratorial title sequence it scores (after a pre-credits riff on the same story that inspired The Americans) suggested the film would be more on the Bourne than Bond style of superspying, which of course it wasn’t in tone but actually kind of was in terms of plot. (And Rachel Weisz was involved in the superspy program in Jeremy Renner vehicle The Bourne Legacy too!)

Jab 2

Jab 2, AZ, in and out in fifteen minutes, and I was fifteen minutes early.

The Bad Batch 1.12: Rescue On Ryloth

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

1.12: Rescue On Ryloth

“The Batch is tasked with a dangerous mission..”

24 1/2 minutes plus credits after a run of roughly-24-minuters, episode length has largely stabilised following those slightly shorter early episodes.

As you can perhaps guess by the title and the episode thumbnail, though not by the description, this is a continuation from last week. The Batch are in this one for more than one scene.

“I have seen how you treat your allies, Admiral. I prefer to be your enemy.”

Heck yeah Eleni Syndulla

Vampire: The Masquerade - Out For Blood demo

The second Choice of Games Vampire: The Masquerade ineractive novel, Out For Blood by Jim Dattilo, with a human character finding vampires in a small town near Chicaho, is coming in two weeks, and now has a three-chapter demo.

Author mentioned the influence of Stephen King such as ‘Salem’s Lot in the WOD News interview, and it has both the small town vibe and the dark woods. Although the PC is the one coming to town to take over a store, which gives a nice base to work with.

Loki 1.06: For All Time. Always.

Loki 

1.06: For All Time. Always. 

“The clock is ticking in the season finale which finds Loki and Sylvie on a date with destiny.” 

40 Minutes plus credits and a mid-credit shot. 

It’s Been A Long, Long Time from Avengers Endgame plays over the Marvel title, along with snippets of dialogue lining up so we hear “I can do this all day” as Steve throws the shield... 

And then the sun, and the solar system, and a very 2001 and also rather Doctor Who blurring zoom through the galaxy and more references from reality and the MCU up to and including WandaVision... and a different theme over the series title. 

“Not what you were expecting, hmm?”

Squeaks In The Deep

Squeaks In The Deep - rats and mice for Pugmire and/or Monarchies Of Mau.

Accidental dialogue note

Just heard the phrase “a bit horrendous” and it made me do a double-take.

Justin Achilli

RRH 2.04: Vampires' coded talk

In Red Right Hand, I am being more clear about the subtext in vampires’ coded talk.

“Dr. Hopkins has told you of the Traditions?” She makes that sound like a statement that he better have.

Tonight’s needle drop: 

Queens Of The Stone Age, The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret.

Vague ideas for 2021

Might do that Student Paper Buffy game I knocked out ideas for in RPGaDay 2020.

The Bad Batch 1.11: Devil's Deal

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

1.11: Devil’s Deal

“As the seeds of rebellion foment on an outer rim world, the Empire schemes to squash it.”

24 minutes plus credits.

The world in question is Ryloth, home of the Twi’leks. And Crossfire is the one looking for rebels...

And, spoilers for The Clone Wars and Rebels...

Lone Wolf Bundle Of Holding

Bundle Of Holding offers PDFs of the C7 version of Lone Wolf Adventure Game ahead of the end of the licence.

Lone Wolf was one of my formative gaming experiences, a high fantasy campaign in gamebook form, and I was delighted to meet writer and creator Joe Dever at Dragonmeet promoting this game.

a|state second edition cover and Kickstarter alert

a|state reveals via GeekNative.

Loki 1.05: Journey Into Mystery

Loki

1.05: Journey Into Mystery

“Loki tries to escape The Void, a desolate purgatory where he meets variant versions of himself.”

45 minutes plus credits. 

The Vote For Loki scene in the trailers comes from here.

“Okay. Fine. Willing to accept that.”

Have you seen the Yellow Sign? At these prices you should!

The Yellow King RPG comes to Bundle Of Holding. 

The page is mostly orange, but do not be fooled, orange is a neighbour and ally to yellow.

Hamlet 0 - Macbeth 0!

The Festivals are coming back, the Fringe has almost 180 shows, some here and some online, the Shakespeare showing is rare and elusive and none of the shows start with AAA in an attempt to be first in the listing.

Bloodhunt lore observations

I had assumed Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt was set around the V5 canon Convention of Prague in 2012, when Theo Bell killed Hardestadt and led the mass of Clan Brujah out of the Camarilla, but as a well-known event in the lore it was considered too well covered, so the game is set around a Second Convention in the present, a peace talk about Camarilla and anarchs which goes... poorly.

1 of 7? Hmm...

Entity, part of the Second Inquisition, attacks. The Prince is missing. What else happened?

While obviously the focus on combat would make this tricky to translate directly to tabletop or LARP, the Lore cards show there is clearly more going on here than we see at first... (I can imagine a LARP version as big as Enlightenment In Blood.)

Richard Donner

Richard Donner terrified me (THE OMEN), made me soar (SUPERMAN), thrilled me (LETHAL WEAPON), and made me swoon (LADYHAWKE). And that's the tip of his cinematic iceberg. Amazing range over the course of an incredible career. Our hearts and minds are forever thankful, sir.

Jose Molina on Twitter

Richard Donner on the 40th anniversary of Superman at Empire

NHS anniversary

Thanks to all. May the government not destroy you.

Vampire: The Masquerade 30th Anniversary!

Vampire: The Masquerade premiered at Origins Game Fair 30 years ago today. Happy anniversary to Vampire and the World of Darkness!

Via Ian A. A. Watson, Onyx Path on Twitter

I celebrated by introducing a plot hook I never used in the original Gary Indiana setting. So now the PCs have met a detective who knows too much, and shares a surname with one of the local vampires...

While wearing a Tim Bradstreet T-shirt and ending on a Cure song quoted in the rulebook.

And looking back at the quotes in the first edition rulebook, someone involved was a big fan of Indigo Girls.

Bloodhunt Alpha Night 2

Never won a game, never came close, including the time I was killed while loading which like a bad workman I’ll put down to my computer. But I was able to run around Elysium comfortably.

Didn’t quite get my arms to line up, but...

From what I could see, it’s fun and pretty, and the design, lore cards and music add a lot of atmosphere. I like little details like the distant rattle of gunfire across the map, the guns mostly being old rather than brand new, and the different animations for feeding so the Brujah grab struggling victims and the Toreador victims put their arms around them until they push them off.

Also, via Outstar: “There can be only one.”

Bloodhunt is beautiful and I am terrible

So far in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt, I have managed not to die in the tutorial or in Elysium. 

(After having to ask how to slide: you have to be running when you start.)

But is is very pretty, and has loads of sly references.

This starts right away. The Keeper of Elysium is called Custos, which may be an Ars Magica reference which was brought into the World Of Darkness by the Tremere. The harpy has an art collection including some art from the books. Artist Mark Kelly posted a screencap of a player checking out an in-game version of one of his chapter frontispieces. 

The Bad Batch 1.10: Common Ground

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

1.10: Common Ground

“The Batch has their ideology challenged.”

24 minutes plus credits.

Since they had to go on the run after refusing unjust orders and aren’t entirely happy about being mercenaries, that’s a pretty vague description...

Guest voices this week include Alexander Siddig, Shelby Young, and Sian Clifford - Claire from Fleabag following Phoebe Waller-Bridge voicing a Droid in Solo.

We open on a fantastical city on an unfamiliar world. Raxus, the Separatist capital.

(A city that looks kind of like Edinburgh on a sunny autumn day.)

And the Empire is here. Claiming not to be the enemy... and that doesn’t last long.

Do the Batch help a Separatist planet against the Empire? Cid wants them to and holds their debt over them, but is that reason enough?

Happy Canada Day!

Kind of strange seeing July Talk in colour...