#RPGaDay2015 Days 10-19 catching up and working ahead

The day job is busy and we have much going on with the family, right now. So, I hope you will pardon me as I catch up and work ahead in one post. 

Day 10:  Favorite Publisher

Currently, this is most likely Pelgrane Press. I like the look and feel of their books. They do column layout and design better than most of their competition. I like many of their game lines and can use nearly anything rpg related as source material. They are also more than happy to talk to their fans and are quick to sign books for their fans at conventions. Simon and Cat are good people.

Day 11:  Favorite RPG Writer

This is a hard one for me. If I buy a book, because a specific person wrote the book, it’s because they are a friend of mine. Shane Hensley, Jason L Blair, Jason Vey, Tim Brannon, and Dave Chapman come to mind very quickly. I like their products, but I am also friends with them outside of the rpg space.

If I buy a book, because I like the game line, it’s very rare that a book I purchase is by one single person. Ken Hite and Gareth Hanrahan are a great team up.

Maybe this is a take-away for me:  look into rpg authors and discover them.

Day 12:  Favorite RPG Illustration

Favorite? Not likely. Art, in this form, serves as inspiration. To narrow it down to one image is impossible.

I will side step and give you my favorite artist:  Timothy Bradstreet. I first viewed his work in Vampire:  The Masquerade. His images became icons for the game line. His work in Armageddon is awesome. However, his Punisher MAX image covers are just as iconic as his VtM work. I think the only genre I have yet to use his artwork as inspiration for, is fantasy. I should rectify that someday.

Day 13:  Favorite RPG Podcast

I have fallen out of listening to podcasts. I grew disillusioned with what they were offering. Some gave too much non-rpg content, others added personalities or changed the line, another began covering topics I just don’t care about, and the worst wander down completely unrelated, unnecessary rabbit holes. However, if you are looking for recommendations, you could do worse than start with Podcast at Ground Zero, PLay On Target, or Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff. The latter two have been nominated for awards in the rpg industry.

Day 14:  Favorite RPG Accessory

The Internet.

Nowhere else can I potentially play with friends across the globe, work directly with contributors, bounce ideas off friends to make sure I’m not going down a rabbit hole myself, or address concerns of fans. I can research my next game session, find images that outline the layout and history of a castle to include in my game, run name generators, and find new players for my games.

Dice rollers included, no dice tower needed. Cool battle maps can be found or built. Free scenarios for that new rpg you just purchased are there for downloading and using.

For me, it’s just as much an accessory as the next “tool.”

Day 15:  Longest Campaign Played

This is likely Lowell Francis’ Freakish Band of Adventurers or a Vampire:  The Masquerade game that I ran. Both went 3+ years, playing every other week.

Lowell’s was a game of continent travel, righting rights, releasing gods back into the world, and a game where one (?) character was a full blooded human (mine). There was a rakasta, elves, half-demon, aperkitus, and a wizard who was not all there, even if he did look human – in addition to my character.

The vampire game spanned years in game time. There were three players and an occasional fourth (who didn’t fit in the mix) who fought Nephandi, Sabbat, Inconnu, Angels, Highlanders, and everything else that the Internet could source in the mid- to late 1990s. The game ended with the end of the world and the characters joining different sides to support.

Day 16:  Longest Session Played

It has been decades since I played one that would qualify. There were long nights playing Vampire:  The Masquerade from dusk until dawn and overnights of D&D. None stand out for me this many years later.

Day 17:  Favorite Fantasy RPG

Of a company I work for? Either Dungeons & Zombies or Spellcraft & Swordplay. They have the same author, but it depends on whether I want a ton of zombie options or just zombies.

Of a company I don’t work for? 13^th Age. I don’t run it as is. I drop out the relationships ideas. I find them tedious and intrusive to my game style. What I do like is the mechanics. They use the same skill types as Spellcraft & Sorcery. The combat feels very gamey to me and completely in style of as characters build experience, their abilities increase with more than just feats or another cool thing. Damage increases, options increase, and if you’re looking for a game where you can min-max your heart out, you can likely do it with this one.

Day 18:  Favorite Scifi RPG

Sorry, Dave, it’s not Conspiracy X. Although, Con X is my favorite modern game with a sci-fi bent to it.

My favorite sci-fi game is WEG Star Wars. Of sci-fi game, I ran this one the longest. If you look around the Internet hard enough, you can find a .pdf of material either from the game, or rehashed, to make a new product.

Eclipse Phase is a close 2nd. I think I need to run a campaign or two to see how the fun level compares. 

Traveller, Fading Suns, and Dark Heresy are also worth checking out.

Day 19:  Favorite Supers RPG

The World of Darkness. No, seriously. It is or at least, that’s how most folks I know play it. Which is fine if you are looking to run a game where the setting is more supernatural than superhero.

I think the best rules out there are for Mutants & Masterminds. I haven’t played many supers rpgs:  old DC Comics, old Marvel, Hero, and M&M. M&M is the best for my money. The math works out the best for me and in a game wherein you can potentially play the upper limit of power, you need that. Maybe, one day Beyond Human will fill this roll. For now, it remains vaporware. Don’t worry, I’ll keep bugging George to publish it. J

The superhero game I want is Gotham Central:  players as human cops taking on super villains. Maybe one day I’ll do it and do it right. Mutant City Blues may be the way to go with this one. The game includes a chart of how different powers are related. That builds in another clue structure to the game. It also uses GUMSHOE which is clue driven.

Day 20:  Favorite Horror RPG

I’ll stop right there. This one is going to be special.

Legos for Fan Film Friday

I wanted to go a different direction this week for Fan Film Friday. Instead of people doing all of the work, I thought I would show you two Lego-based films.

There are a large number of Lego films out there. My favourite are the stop motion based films. It is harder to see the stop motion in some films than in others. Some "Lego" based films out there are digital images and not real Legos. Those were not reviewed or even remotely considered for inclusion this week.

Another topic that I consider when reviewing these films is the quality of sound and proper use or lack of use of sound. Do they utilize music? If so, is it appropriate to the genre or mood of the film? There are tools out there that can be used to improve sound quality. If you are just talking into your laptop's internal microphone and not filtering with a program, you are doing your audience a dis-service.

Based on all of that, I have a Batman and a zombie fan film for you to watch. The Batman fan film actually has backgrounds that remind me of the Batman Lego video game. The voices are a combination of the tv show and movies. Robin is in the film, as is the Joker and his henchmen.

I like this one, because it's clean and nicely done. There's a quick view of the situation, we know how the cast arrived, and we see them arm up before the attack. The zombie film has more than just your standard zombies in it. There is a feel of Left 4 Dead or Resident Evil to a couple of the zombies. If you aren't a fan of either of those, I don't think they will ruin the viewing experience for you.

Wanted

For those that didn't see or research the commercials on the Superbowl and for those that saw the Superbowl and don't realize it, Wanted the comic is being made into a movie. The first commercial I know of for this movie was on during the superbowl. The comic isn't some great peice of work, but I enjoyed most of it.

I finished up The Long Halloween. I also enjoyed this one. Lots of movement in and out of characters. One thing that ate at me, was The Batman making leaps of logic without us seeing his logic. Or at least, leaps of logic I didn't see.

I also read the Fafhrd and Gray Mouser graphic novel put out by Dark Horse. I'm not impressed. Mignola's artwork is okay, but nothing special here. I've not read Hellboy, so I can't compare the two. The storyline leaves much to be desired. However, I think that's a problem with the source material being converted to graphic novel format. I've seen the problem crop up with other short stories and novels being converted into comic book format. Still, I can't recommend it.

My friends Nik Havert from Pickle Press and Jim from Of Masks and Men both questioned my thoughts on Identity Crisis. And on further thought, they were right - there are parts of that storyline that are bad. First off, the running around Superman and The Batman's back? WTF? Superman not carting Lois off to someplace remote where she'd be safe, or at least to the farm with his parents so he could watch over all of them at the same time?

It hit hard at first - which I liked - and then it lost steam over time. It also reduced supers to real people with real concerns. I tend to like that at times, too. The twist at the end was okay, but not great.

However, after letting the material sit, there are two big problems I have with the story. The first is that The Batman was brainwashed once in this storyline and it's hinted at that it's been done at least one time before. Yet, at the same time, there's hints that he knows what really happened and that he knows he was brainwashed to cover it up. Again, wtf?

Now the other item is why The Batman was brainwashed. It crosses every line of good standing and when I read the story the first time, I wondered why they showed the details. There's a rape scene in the story. I was taught long ago, and I forget by who, that there is never, ever a reason for a rape scene in any story. If you want to severely hurt a character, do something else. But rape? Completely unacceptable.

So, for now, even though I want to go back and reread Kingdom Come, I think I'm swearing off superhero team up comics for a bit.

Mind you, I just started reading Fable after several recommendations and that's kind of got an all-star line up. We'll see. I don't think I'll read all of them, but maybe one or two. I'm already tired of the gratuitous, totally unnecessary swearing. Passe'.

3:10 to Hush

I watched 3:10 to Yuma last night. I thought it was a good movie. It was no Sergio Leone classic, but it was worth sitting through. I think a happier ending would have been better ending, but that's life.

I think I like Russel Crowe as a bad guy more than a good guy. He wasn't a crazed over the top bad guy, just a criminal capable of doing really bad things. Christian Bale as the innocent bystander trying to do right was fine. I sensed bits of Quinn from Reign of Fire and Bruce Wayne The Batman in the character, but that could be me reading into things.

However, the two castings in the movie that I thought were absolutely brilliant were Alan Tudyk of Firefly and Peter Fonda! of everything. Alan did a great job as city folk trying to help out and Peter Fonda was brilliant as the old curmudgeony, bounty hunter type.

Gretchen Mol was nice to look at, as always. Logan Lerman was great as Bale's son. The kid reminds me a lot of Christian Slater in the face.

I noticed during the credits that it was based on a book. Can anyone recommend good Western novels? I don't even know where to begin and I'm not sure I'll ever find one I like. Most of my love for Western cinema is due to camera angles and bad-ass actors. Surely there's an author out there that can accomplish that?


Next up, I read Hush, the Batman graphic novel.

Wow! What a well written, well art worked comic series. I've been hoping to find a really good Batman graphic novel and this was it! I read it between 3:10 to Yuma, sleep, and dinner this evening. I need to go back and reread it, watching for artwork nuances I may have missed the first time. This comic brought a lot to the plate, with action, secrets revealed, romance, trust issues, and all the usual darkness that can come with The Batman (you must say it like, The Ohio State).

Before I do that, though, I'll be reading Brad Metzler's graphic novel Identity Crisis, another big seller for DC Comics.

Fan Films

While "Grayson" is IMO the best fan film in existance, I feel the need to share the love for some others.

Keeping in the superhero theme, I recently watched "Worlds Finest" by Collora Studios and "Batman Dead End" by Montauk Films & Level 7. While not as good as Grayson, they are still pretty cool endeavors. I was quite surprised by where "Dead End" went.

Switching speeds to the genre that originally got me into fan films (Star Wars), there's "TROOPS." I would rate this as my 2nd fav. "Broken Allegiance" does a good job, but there's something about it that never sat right with me. "Revelations" is pretty good, potentially better than BA, but it was completely over-hyped by the time I saw it. I've downloaded "Seeds of Darkness" 1-3 and I've watched the first one. So far, so good. They haven't done much to attempt to botch it, but we'll see what happens in the other two parts.

So, if you've the bandwidth, I'd suggest checking out any of these fan films.

Batman Begins comment

I've been watching Batman Begins the past two nights. With edige's M&M game starting soon, I find myself in the mood for superhero/vigilante action.

As I watched the chase scene with the "Bat-tank," I took notice of the landscape. I recognized a lot of the scenery and buildings. Lower Wacker, below Lower Wacker, the various bridges, the buildings in the Loop, it's all there. I've always liked knowing such insider knowledge, as much as is it is insider knowledge. No, it isn't insider knowledge, but it kind of feels like it and let's face it, we all like being one the inside.


One side note, today is Of Masks and Men's birthday. If you have a chance, swing by and wish him a happy birthday! I already did so, over dinner.