I shall have more to say about the trailblazing, incomparable Nichelle Nichols, who shared the bridge with us as Lt. Uhura of the USS Enterprise, and who passed today at age 89. For today, my heart is heavy, my eyes shining like the stars you now rest among, my dearest friend.
George Takei on Nichelle Nichols
Sunday, 31 July 2022
RPGaDay2022 launch
David Chapman and Runselinger Anthony Boyd discuss RPGaDay, its origins and past, and this year. Starting tomorrow!
And the questions, in infographic and list form at Dave’s blog.
Cosy games
Cosy RPGs are a genre I haven’t really done, but I have enough of a fondness for Winnie-the-Pooh and the Cosgrove Hall stop-motion adaptation of The Wind In The Willows and Will Quinn’s Daily Bunny that I could consider it for a break from my usual monsters. (And a talking cat would hardly be out of place in Buffy.) And The Hobbit is mostly a cosy story until we get to the battles.
The introductory post links to an article about the style, with some advice for setting tone like an NPC explicitly making the PCs welcome in a new location.
Saturday, 30 July 2022
Max Headroom
Max Headroom to be rebooted, in a more literal way than most because he’s an AI.
When I were a lad, Max went from central character in a cyberpunk comedy-drama set twenty minutes into the future to modern VJ.
The cyberpunk version extended to a computer game involving remote hacking to get reporter Edison Carter into a corporate stronghold, as well as being an influence on the Media role in Cyberpunk and a good example of how hackers could affect computer-controlled systems in the real world.
Where are we now?
The National Library of Scotland compares modern and historic maps, going back over a century, with a spyglass overlay.
Thanks to Bram Clark for the link.
Friday, 29 July 2022
Tomb Reboot
Sorry to hear that MGM lapsed on Tomb Raider, so no sequel to the 2018 film, which was a pretty fun adventure movie in the style of the reboot games.
Thursday, 28 July 2022
The Commonwealth 2022 opening ceremony
A day over ten years since the London 2012 Olympic opening ceremony (that feels both closer and so much longer) the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham again shows that after alternative music festivals, big sporting opening ceremonies are the events where you’re most likely to see steampunk themed circus acts.
This one had a story about a star falling, bringing people who found shards together, making their homes fly here and having them appear through magic doors before going through Birmingham’s history, and freeing the giant mechanical bull representing the city’s spirit from connections to slavery.
So this could also be co-creator Steven Knight’s bid to take over Doctor Who.
Bernard Cribbins
Due to Children’s BBC book reading series Jackanory doing The Hobbit in a semi-dramatised reading, Bernard Cribbins is my Bilbo Baggins.
Wednesday, 27 July 2022
The Great
The second season of The Great arrives on Channel 4. Huzzah! (Trailer)
Described as “an occasionally true story” from the creator of The Favourite, it tells of the young Catherine the Great’s rise to power in a Russian court of mostly absurd intrigue. She and her husband Peter each have a handful of genuine and mostly reliable allies who can still be affected by their feelings while everyone else shifts with their own agendas. Some are clearly mad, some playing at it like Elizabeth, who is probably a bit of both.
Catherine’s intelligence, wit and modernity make her a hero here while her goodness keeps threatening to kill her. Peter is an absolute monster, but just aware enough of it that you sometimes feel sorry for him when he screws something else up.
Light And Magic
Light And Magic is a six hour documentary series about ILM, directed by Lawrence Kasdan, now on Disney+. The first episodes about the company’s formative years making Star Wars is particularly fascinating. (Richard Edlund designed the original Star Trek font!)
Stargate SG-1 25
Stargate SG-1 premiered 25 years ago today. It has had two RPGs released, as well as the mostly-there manuscript for a D6 version by John Tynes following licensing falling through very early, where he notes that it’s one of the most RPG-friendly setups in fiction - a party-sized group of various experts going to another planet from modern Earth to explore and have adventures.
Tuesday, 26 July 2022
The Weeknd After Hours Nightmare
There are quite a few musicians I can imagine having their own haunted attraction. The Weeknd would not be high on my list. And yet.
I mean, Vampire Weekend would be higher. (rimshot)
Monday, 25 July 2022
Paul Sorvino
Paul Sorvino, best known as Paulie in Goodfellas, also played with his rep as Eddie Valentine in The Rocketeer.
V20: The Ruins Of Warsaw story so far
A short summary of the first 38 sessions of The Ruins Of Warsaw, a Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition game run by Wise Women creator Aleksandra Brokman for players including a friend. It’s an interesting take, something of a slow burn, with an occult horror play on the Sabbat.
Sunday, 24 July 2022
Buffy game 1.02
Tonight the gang were unable to enjoy a school football victory when they realised the opposing team was under a hex. It’s the little things that make this gig rough.
Part two
JP: Maybe we could get a tarot reading.
Harper: Tarot?
JP: Y’know, the cards that tell fortunes?
Harper: So not the bubble tea flavour?
Kelsey, meanwhile, bemoans the fact that vampires are soulless and unromantic and then adds to her disappointment when Harper mishears “magical prints” as “magical prince” and wonders if those are real too.
Chronicles Of Darkness sale week four for core
Chronicles and Dark Eras PDFs on deep discount for the week.
MCU Phase 5 and 6
Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase 4 ends with Black Panther: Wakanda Forever this November.
Phase 5, via Gizmodo at SDCC, with films getting specific dates:
Secret Invasion: Spring 2023
Loki Season 2: Summer 2023
Blade: November 3, 2023
Ironheart: Fall, 2023
Agatha: Coven Of Chaos: Winter 2023/2024
Captain America: New World Order: May 3, 2024
Daredevil Born Again: Spring 2024 (and 18 episode series!)
Thunderbolts: July 26, 2024 and this closes phase 5
And then Phase 6!
Fantastic Four: November 8, 2024
Avengers: The Kang Dynasty: May 2, 2025
Avengers: Secret Wars: November 7, 2025
Also before all that, a She-Hulk trailer, a room-only look at Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania, and Guardians Of The Galaxy Volume 3 getting a trailer set to Do You Realize? by the Flaming Lips.
Yesterday various animation projects were showcased or revealed too.
Oh, and some comics.
Saturday, 23 July 2022
Interview With The Vampire trailer
The first full trailer for the new Interview With The Vampire series plays up the changes to Louis and the sameness of Lestat.
Little Demon first look
Little Demon, an animated comedy about a not-that-into-it teenage Antichrist (Lucy Devito), her very-to-into-it mother (Aubrey Plaza) and her back-in-her-life father Satan (Danny Devito). Note: swears and cartoon dangly bits.
Already basically done as a Buffy premise in Reaper, but worth another go.
Edit: trailer.
Challenge of the Vampire
I challenge you once again!
(Very slightly!)
Because this time the Guardian kids’ word search is about... vampires!
Dare you answer?!
... Well?
John Wick: Chapter 4 teaser trailer
No subtitle yet. But it does have Donnie Yen!
Friday, 22 July 2022
Sarah Michelle Gellar is coming back to urban fantasy TV
... with Wolf Pack, a series about a teenage brother and sister whose lives are ruined by something supernatural emerging from a wildfire, playing an arson investigator looking into the blaze.
Traveller 45th anniversary
The first edition of Traveller came out on this day in 1977, as noted by creator Marc Miller. I have never played it, but have read a fair bit of it across different editions and swiped adventures from White Dwarf and Challenge for other SF RPGs.
(Free Trader Beowulf gets help in the back cover blurb for GURPS Traveller. Which is nice.)
The Rings Of Power trailer
The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power looks great, apart from Elrond looking so much like Steve from Stranger Things.
Thursday, 21 July 2022
D&D: Honour Among Thieves trailer
A first look at Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves from Comic-Con, where the panel also confirms that we should look out for D&D cartoon shout-outs and Critical Role references. Sophia Lillis’s Tiefling Druid and part-time Owlbear looking rather like Keyleth with horns instead of a horn-like tiara apparently isn’t it.
One reference already on the way out is one of the monsters in the teaser poster, drawn from a monster book for, er, Pathfinder.
On the whole, this looks fun. The trailer certainly hits the planned target of a light Guardians Of The Galaxy tone with the band of crooked adventurers and the classic rock needle drop.
D&D folk go through the trailer and explain the game-specific monsters shown like Mimics.
Adventure! 100th anniversary (in game)
100 years ago tonight, the Hammersmith Experiment started the Adventure! era with, yes, a bang.
Alan Grant
Alan Grant has died. A comics writer best known for his foundational work in 2000 A.D., he went on to a long run on Batman starting in Detective Comics and co-creating the likes of Anarky and the Ventriloquist, as well as many more like the comics adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped for Edinburgh’s UNESCO City of Literature celebrations in 2007.
San Diego Comic-Con 2022
SDCC 2022 is on! Expect a link to one or more big news aggregator posts from a geek site by Sunday.
So far some movie trailer reveals, some toys (NECA’s Lugosi Dracula looks great, and the add-on accessory set has a coffin, a spider, and AN OPOSSUM) and Spider-Man being added to the comic character hall of fame.
And of most relevance to here, character shots for the new Dungeons & Dragons film Honour Among Thieves.
Wednesday, 20 July 2022
Tuesday, 19 July 2022
Ludonarrative Dissidents season one
Ludonarrative Dissidents season one is now all up free to listen. James Wallis, Greg Stolze and Ross Payton discuss an RPG per episode in depth, and in some cases play it.
Trinity Continuum: Aether
Trinity Continuum: Aether is now live on Kickstarter and funded in under four hours! A 19th century setting where reality goes a bit Victorian SF.
The Antiquities Theft Task Force
This interview with the head of the New York Antiquities Theft Task Force contains ideas you could use for Leverage (it was shared by series creator John Rogers) Les Fantômes or the GCI in Trinity, or other modern treasure hunters, including some you might have to tone down so they seem plausible. It starts with someone reporting seeing a sarcophagus he looted in a photo at the Met Gala and proceeds from there.
Monday, 18 July 2022
Sunday, 17 July 2022
Chronicles Of Darkness sale week three
Demon, Changeling, Beast, Promethean, Geist and Mummy are now all on 90% PDF sale.
Saturday, 16 July 2022
Ad Astra (2019)
Ad Astra updates the 2001 style of glum quiet space stories with commercialised near-future moon bases giving way to a lonely frontier, though here the bleakness is punctuated by a few weirdly fun action scenes. Ever wanted to see a car chase in moon buggies or a knife fight in zero-G? This follows director James Gray’s previous The Lost City Of Z, a grim take on the exploration adventure story that still had adventure-y bits. The result is a strange mix, and kind of a downer. (Ignatiy Vishnevetsky at the A.V. Club liked it more than I did.) But it’s certainly interesting. And that moon buggy chase.
Underwater (2020)
Channel 4 and its family are showing SFF movies all month, including some network premiere in their now common Saturday night slot, so some catchup...
Underwater (2020) is the unhelpful title for basically an Alien style movie... underwater. But I liked it more than the last five actual Alien movies. Being an Alien movie by way of a disaster movie was a nice switch - Calliope on RPGnet noted this as the location is dangerous enough without monsters - and Kristen Stewart got to be intense and caring. (As a game it would be easy enough with Alien, resembles the classic Call Of Cthulhu adventure Grace Under Pressure, and closely follows the Grave And Watery scenario in Robin D. Laws’s out of print story game Pantheon. The location could also work with non-horror-y adventures, like I could see the pure disaster version in Trinity.)
Friday, 15 July 2022
Verdi's Requiem
The BBC Proms begin tonight, with Verdi’s Requiem, one of the most hardcore Requiems.
Thursday, 14 July 2022
Wednesday, 13 July 2022
3D printing your head on an action figure
In a step up from the novelty scan and 3D print booths, Hasbro are rolling out a system to print a good enough scan of your head from a smartphone and put it on a six-inch action figure, starting with suitable Marvel, Ghostbusters, G.I. Joe and Power Rangers bodies, with generic Star Wars bodies like the confirmed X-Wing pilots and likely Stormtroopers and Jedi robes to follow. I presume they have some variety in body shape planned. And hopefully non-US support.
I guess classic Star Wars scale is too small to really show it off, though I’d be surprised if that never follows... and maybe miniatures someday too since Hasbro also owns D&D. Though presumably the smaller it gets, the more pricy compared to normal figures.
I like the sample results, but I would naturally want to use it more for characters. And would probably end up putting them on other bodies for plain clothes options like the Buffyverse, the main thing I’ve made figures for.
Superman & Lois season two
Superman & Lois season two starts here on BBC One on Saturday. pretty soon after we got season one here, though still time for it to have finished in the US.
Ms. Marvel 1.06: No Normal
Ms. Marvel 1.06
No Normal
A fun finale with a pretty good job of combining the disparate threads.
Back to some more playful visuals.
Mid-credits scene!
Review at Tor by Leah Schnelbach.
Tuesday, 12 July 2022
The James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope has sent its first image of distant galaxies.
Granted it looks like the Colin Baker Doctor Who credits, but it’s a great moment for science.
More, including water and clouds over another world.
Sunday, 10 July 2022
Buffy game 1.01
Harper the Slayer, JP the scion of a demon cult, and Willis and Kelsey the NPC Scoobies.
“Hi! I am here to disrupt the... whatever this is.”
JP: So are you both like Captain America strong too, or do you have some other powers?
Willis: Yeah, we’re still waiting for those to kick in.
JP: You made that vampire steam.
Kelsey: Holy water. That’s a them thing, not an us thing.
JP: Still pretty cool.
Willis: Not for him! ... Sorry.
Onyx Path anniversary sale: Forsaken and Awaken...ing
Onyx Path anniversary sale Chronicles Of Darkness month reaches Werewolf: The Forsaken and Mage: The Awakening.
Saturday, 9 July 2022
Tron
Tron came out in US cinemas forty years ago today. (In October in the UK.)
Ahead of its time in many ways, but with a decidedly old-fashioned story to tell.
 |
| Original poster, possibly a little influenced by Star Wars. |
Living in the USA that year I had a T-shirt, and visiting Walt Disney World that Christmas meant I have a lot of the pretty limited toy line. The see-through action figures were a nice touch, and the Light Cycles with a ripcord to power them could go pretty fast... if not very straight.
 |
| Not mine. They're in my room somewhere... |
While it’s not great, I remain annoyed that it missed an Oscar nomination for special effects, and that Gandhi beat it for Best Costume Design.
The 2010 sequel Tron Legacy is mostly remembered for not-quite-there CGI de-aging, Olivia Wilde’s haircut and the soundtrack by Daft Punk. It was also followed with an animated series. The setting has naturally also been the basis for computer games, including a previous decanonised sequel.
Its influence on cyberpunk includes William Gibson having it in mind when describing Cyberspace.
Characters in a computer having to play various games to live also appear in the likes of the CG TV series ReBoot, the Eagle comic strip Computer Warrior which advertised actual games in its run, and Disney’s own Wreck-It Ralph.
And it’s a good series hook. Just saying.
Friday, 8 July 2022
ENNIE nominations 2022
Congratulations to the 2022 ENNIE nominees, including the ones I know like Eddy and Ksandra.
Note: sweary word in one of the nominated adventure titles.
Thursday, 7 July 2022
Thor: Love And Thunder
Thor: Love And Thunder is the fourth MCU Thor film and the second Taika Waititi Thor film. It balances the undercutting of drama better than Ragnarok. I will say more in a week. Short version, I generally liked it. I didn’t hate it like the last time I was at an MCU movie. Though I didn’t like one development.
Stranger Things 4
Stranger Things is now big enough that being on the internet and avoiding at least some spoilers is pretty much impossible.
(As well as getting a D&D starter kit, with an official Demogorgon miniature. Not to be confused with the miniature used for the Demogorgon miniature. And one of those not-quite-LARP Immersive Experience shows. Meanwhile, Zombicide has a set of totally not the kids D&D style for a fantasy spinoff and Crooked Dice has a classic uniformed Hopper lookalike and three-jawed Demolikes. Nexus Miniatures used to do the kids as of season one, and I was sure somebody else had an Eleven but couldn’t find one. Update: Black Site Studio has the classic kids, in 35mm scale.)
It’s also big enough that after three years away it felt like they wanted to give us three years’ worth in one story. The resultant pacing was kind of odd.
I don’t think I’d get on with Eddie as a GM, though I do appreciate his smile when that natural 20 comes up.
Current events
An ousted Prime Minister holding on to his official country house so he can have a wedding party there before quitting would be a great premise for a LARP.
Wednesday, 6 July 2022
Witchblood
The Witchblood RPG by Rose Bailey is out!
The Woods... are dark and deep, but they are not lovely. Inch by inch, they close in on the villages of humanity. And in those encroaching wilds dwell the witches. Ancient, primeval, creatures from before the First Eve and still potent today. In this world, where life is brutish and short, you stand tall. You are a witch's grandchild, or a disinherited noble, or a scion of the good folk. You are part of humanity, but also apart from it, by your own choice or otherwise. You are caught between the expectations of your birth and your own needs and desires. Run from your past, or chase it. Love freely, or not at all. Stand between the hearth and the wilds. They may not call you a hero, but your name will live on ever after.
Ms. Marvel 1.05: Time And Again
Ms. Marvel
1.05: Time And Again
The regular six hour pacing of Disney+ Marvel shows can lead to some odd bumps. This episode is surprising and nice, but definitely odd.
Tuesday, 5 July 2022
RP Haven
RP Haven is opening in Edinburgh on the 20th, at a bar in the West End, and calling for GMs.
It’s pay-to-play and for membership, and GMs still need to pay membership. (There may well be a first taste free.) Players paying per session does make me worry about whether I would provide value for money.
Do I want to put my hand up, to run a game for up to three months or so for the first slot? The last time I did that was the start of Gamers Anonymous in 1994. My tendency with clubs is to hang back a bit, wanting to see what else is running. I know GEAS well enough to make offers early, but even there the new option to see pitches a bit in advance tempts me to wait and see.
Monday, 4 July 2022
Holiday Specials that never were
It’s the Fourth of July and Buffy is trending on Twitter. Because the show ran about the school year we didn’t get a Fourth of July episode. I’m imagining zombie Redcoats and one being killed by firework.
And the tie-in books had me just about right.
(Anya claims to have been born then. Fibber.)
What kind of holiday or other special occasion adventure have you not done?
V31
Happy 31st Anniversary of the release of Vampire: The Masquerade 1st Edition to those who celebrate
Ian A. A. Watson
The Fourth Of July
Happy anniversary, USA!
As far as I recall we didn’t actually do anything on the Fourth of July in the year we were in the USA. We travelled all over for the summer, though we were delayed by me needing to recover from an appendectomy, but I was out by then.
Sunday, 3 July 2022
Unnamed Summer Buffy Game, session zero
Buffy RPG character generation achieved! Now to give the PCs some friendly NPCs as well as a monster to hit next week.
Harper, a non-binary slayer, and JP, an ambiguous part-demon.
I cannot wait for my dumbass slayer and their half demon nerd buddy to interact with the world!
- Faye
Cyberpunk: Edgerunners titles
Titles for the Cyberpunk animated series coming in September. I can honestly sayCyberpunk is not the first game I would associate Franz Ferdinand with.
Saturday, 2 July 2022
New York By Night 1.01
Vampire: The Masquerade - New York By Night starts with a great scene-setting introduction, less kind Anarch leaders than L.A., a setup with a built-in regular plot hook, and concern about what to feed dogs.
YouTube, as of Monday.
Chronicles Of Darkness July sale
Chronicles Of Darkness 10% sale in July for the Onyx Path tenth anniversary, starting with Vampire: The Requiem this week - and 10% means paying 10%.
Friday, 1 July 2022
Pride in the UK at 50
The first gay pride march here was fifty years ago today. We’ve made progress since then, but can’t stop.
Happy Canada Day!
Happy Canada Day, Canada-connected people! Five years on from the 150th anniversary.