Les Fantômes are loose

Les Fantômes, one of the Allegiance I created for Trinity Continuum, was a small side option in the core rulebook. But now they have a full writeup by Daniella Lauzon. 

An eight page PDF for $1.99, it’s a steal! (Sorry.)

Loki 1.04: The Nexus Event

Loki

1.04: The Nexus Event

“Frayed nerves and paranoia infiltrate the TVA as Mobius and Hunter B-15 search for Loki and Sylvie.”

44 minutes plus credits. including mid-credit scene! The episode photo is a bit of a spoiler in itself.

Coincidences

I’m not a fan of coincidences in fiction, which is one contributing factor to my conspiracy mystery plots.

Reminded of this because apparently in Blood Red Sky, a movie about a vampire on a hijacked plane (which unlike a Buffy one-shot I ran fifteen years ago isn’t called Stakes On A Plane) the hijackers aren’t vampire hunters or anything, they just managed to hijack a plan with a vampire on it. Oopsie.

Which, sure, okay for an inciting incident - Die Hard, Taken and John Wick all start with the antagonists accidentally messing with the protagonist - but somehow with a vampire involved it seems a bit much. And y’know, I throw vampires into different genres all the time. It just seems like them being after her specifically (possibly with incomplete information) would be one less implausibility to deal with.

Bloodhunt Update

Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodhunt isn’t even out yet and already confirmed Ventrue as the first clan to be added after the starting Brujah, Nosferatu and Toreador. As the clans so far have two archetypes I would expect a Dominate one (affecting mortal SPCs as well as enemies?) and a Fortitude one (as tanking damage is clearly useful) as the Brujah didn’t get a Presence one. (Not that every power maps directly to a Discipline, one of the Nosferatu options is a supply of smoke bombs.) I would also expect to see them in sharp suits, fancy historical styles, militaria and maybe even armour.

Also, title sequence, featuring Katana And Trenchcoat.

Foundation rising

Apple TV+ and showrunner David Goyer adapt Foundation, the biiiiig space opera by Isaac Asimov, starting September 24th.

A galactic empire falls, and what will follow?

It appears to be a pretty loose adaptation. Jane Espenson talks about it on Twitter, with previous adaptation tryer John Rogers.

Among other things, the Encyclopedia Galactica reference in Hitchhiker’s comes from here, which really surprised me when I found out as it works so much better as a joke.

Pride was a riot

And it can be again.

RPGaDAY 2021 is coming

RPGaDAY, writing prompts for every day in August, returns, and the prompt graphic is already up at founder David Chapman’s home site.

Birthday 2021

47. Not a significant number, but feels like one.

Storytelling Secrets with Jason Carl

Jason Carl talks Storytelling and GMing, from the Elysium Weekend Of Darkness virtual convention.

The Bad Batch 1.09: Bounty Lost

Star Wars: The Bad Batch

1.09: Bounty Lost

“The Batch embark on a rescue mission.”

24 minutes plus credits.

Cad Bane has Omega! The Batch have to jump away to escape Crosshair! Todo 360’s leg still isn’t back on!

Know your enemy

“John Wick is coming for us! What can we do?”

“I have an idea...”

Loki 1.03: Lamentis

Loki

1.03: Lamentis

“Loki finds out The Variant’s plans, but he has his own that will forever alter both their destinies.”

A mere 38 minutes plus credits (including the Loki-specific Marvel intro with episode-specific music over it) so it makes sense that this was the episode where the least happens, as we basically follow one straightforward plot.

I presume a lot of that was done on green screen or virtual sets, although possibly with some classic Doctor Who quarry location shooting?

“How do I look?”

“Like someone with a shit plan.”

Also: 

“You’re a prince, must’ve been would-be princesses? Or perhaps another prince.”

“A bit of both.”

Series director Kate Herron talks about the importance of that moment on Twitter.

World Of Darkness - Crimson Thaw

World Of Darkness - Crimson Thaw, a comics mini-series spinning off from Vampire: The Masquerade - Winter’s Teeth will feature a clash with werewolves.

(The solicit listing spoils a plot point in an issue for WT that hasn’t come out.)

Quake at 25

Today is the 25th anniversary of Quake, the 3D-polygon-based follow-up to id Software’s famous first-person shooter Doom.

Both of them feature design work and monsters by Call Of Cthulhu designer Sandy Petersen, who tells of why it was called Quake as a holdover from the protagonist wielding a ground-smashing magic hammer several iterations before the one we got.

Not that the story matters - Quake II dumps the original interdimensional medieval Cthulhoid setup for an alien invasion and has enough story to justify its action coherently, and some fans considered that too much - but the version that nearly happened sounds pretty fun too. It also explains why the protagonist has even less of a personality than the much latterly named Doom Slayer. (Not counting the Doom films, or the comic which gave him entirely too much personality.)

Add the creepy ambient Trent Reznor soundtrack and generally green and brown, rust and dried blood aesthetic and it can still feel tense after all this time.

Name a Rodent Of Unusual Size!

Specifically a Northern Luzon Giant Cloud Rat born at Edinburgh Zoo.

Leslye Headland on Star Wars and RPGs

To me, that kind of stuff is so fun, because I also played some Star Wars RPGs. And that’s my favorite version of Star Wars, the Star Wars where you get to make up your own Star Wars. So when people are like, what’s your favorite film? And what’s your favorite piece of media? I’m like, “I just really love the RPGs.”

The A.V. Club talks to Russian Doll co-creator Leslye Headland about her forthcoming Star Wars series: The Acolyte, the saga and setting, and making her own stories there already.

Thanks to Rob Wieland for the link.

The Rocketeer at 30

The Rocketeer came out in the US thirty years ago today. 

Watch The Rocketeer. It’s great. Example.

Taking a pitch from one style to another

Person Of Interest started with questions about the surveillance state and the possibility of A.I. affecting society and ran with it overtaking the original procedural premise, making great modern cellphone cyberpunk as it did.

But after following up Ian A. A. Watson’s snarky comment about Knight Rider with this one:

Most episodes never felt much like ”a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of man who does not exist” either.

Person Of Interest is a shadowy flight into the dangerous world of man who does not exist. It has them ”champion the cause of the innocent, the helpless, the powerless in a world of criminals who operate above the law” as well. And it has a very small group (with a lot of financial clout, like FLAG) making a difference too.

At the time it was likened to The Equalizer, which it’s close to with a former secret agents taking on jobs of the week and a similarly gloomy tone, but that show never had an A.I. as a main character.

V5: Red Right Hand 2.01

Vampire: The Masquerade fifth edition

Red Right Hand book two

The PCs are given an assignment that involves modern media, so as recently alive people they might understand it. Not that they do.

Finding a needle drop for the first session made easier by a scene in, yes, a Goth club.

It’s dangerous

It’s dangerous to know

When it comes are you gonna throw

Your bite into the game

Know what’s right for your name

Lose your battle it’s all the same

Zola Jesus, Dangerous Days

Summer and winter

No, you’re writing up an Actual Play of the Christmas episode of your last RPG and listening to sad Christmas music a day before midsummer!

Okay, you’re probably not doing that.

Sarah McLachlan, Wintersong

Edit two days later: This album features a cover of River by Joni Mitchell from her album Blue, first released 50 years ago today, so yeah, sad Christmas music as far from Christmas as possible is a thing.