I say, old chap...

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Another Bishrook Tribute

So of course while I'm working on my in-house adaptation of the world of Barsoom for a certain project involving blue Martians (cough*asari*cough), returning oceans, and a much older Carthoris and Tara (played in my mind's eye by Anthony Hopkins and Rene Russo, reprising their roles as Odin and Frigga) I found the need for a proper cameo for my old friend. I'm not really happy with the choice of flaw--too many good options that would work--but for all her swashbuckling bravado, Bish's characters always had a good dose of devotion to social justice in their outlook, so I'm going with the 'anti-bully loadout'. So here she is. Give her a good ship in need of a steady hand at the controls, would you? Stafi Ruk Dashing Red Martian Airship Pilot Stats Cunning 4 Daring 8 Empathy 5 Might 4 Passion 5 Reason 6 Talents Lords of the Air (Grade 4) Your people are the undisputed masters of flight and you are among their most elite fliers. You can
Read more

Swashbuckling and Chandler's Law

 The last couple of swashbuckling games I've been in have been slow(er) to start than they could be, and I think I've figured out why. We're used to starting with exposition, set-up, making opening moves like there's this huge chess game going on and all the pieces of the full plot arc have to be in place for plot to happen. Which is absolutely fantastic if you're doing Tolkien, Martin, Jordan, or Dumas ( pere )[1]. This has been the general slant of mainstream tabletop games for quite some time--overarching plots, all of which are carefully constructed ahead of time and known entirely to one person (or sometimes persons, if you happen to be using a dual-DM system...one for the story and the other for the mechanics). We're trained to think this way, react thusly, and sometimes the results just don't seem to fit. What should be a lively, fast-moving, cinematic game of flashing blades and brilliant quips feels in practice more like a whodunnit that proceeds wi
Read more

The John Carter of Mars update post

Okay, so there's this new tabletop RPG called John Carter of Mars that's out (at least in PDF) and which of course I backed because my Inner Child took one look at the KS campaign and promptly went running amok in nothing but a gladiator costume, flip-flops, and waving a wooden sword around giggling like the maniacal little trash panda that he is.  The original novels are one of the guilty pleasures of my distant adolescence in a place as strange as Boise, and every so often someone's done something trying to approximate the planetary fantasy that Mr.  Burroughs brought to life. It took me a bit to decide whether or not I was going to do this because a) too many games on the bookshelf already, b) expensive, and c) yet another goofy system which may or may not be a good fit...so this was a gamble, and it was either going to suck or I was going to seize on this and join my Inner Child in running amok.  There were a couple of details that sold me on this.  First, possibly un
Read more