In our fourth sandbox episode, we flesh out the crew with non-player characters, discuss a bit more about cool-things-we-want-in-the-game and end with some character mechanics.
Give us a call at 972-763-5903 and leave us your feedback. If we use your voicemail, you’ll win an Ideology of Madness SurPrize.
Podcaster’s note: Star Trek: Aegean is released bi-weekly(ish). Episode 5 will arrive the weekend of December 4.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
I forget what put me in the mood, but I’ve had a desire burning within me to run a Trek role playing game for awhile. As a guy who’s GM’d Star Trek for decades, it’s been awhile since I’ve had an active crew. More than two years. Longer maybe?
So I put out the call…
Joining the crew are Funnybooks’ Tim and Wayne, Thistledown John and Knights of Reignsborough artist Jake Ekiss.
In this first episode, the guys establish their Star Trek street cred and discuss what they’d like to see in a Star Trek game.
Star Trek: Aegean is sponsored by SausageFest.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
It was a sad week for comics. Not only did very little hit the stands for the first week of January 2011, but there was also very little in the way of quality in these books. But don’t despair, there were a couple of winners. Plus, we return to What If We Were Writing…?
Join Aron, Paul, Tim, and Wayne for the 78th weekly episode of Funnybooks:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
I am as tickled as I can be.
The media property that got me into SCI-FI was not Star Trek, nor was it Star Wars. No, my gateway to SF was none other than the Six Million Dollar Man. To this day when I hear series producer Harve Bennett’s narrative from the opening sequence – “Steve Austin, Astronaut… a man barely alive…” – I get chills of excitement!
I am a sucker for this show. Love it. Only problem is that there has never been a legitimate way to own the series. It has never been released legally in the States on VHS or DVD. Oh sure you can get Region 2 discs or plenty of Chinese pirate DVDs. You can even pick up the Spanish language version, El Hombre Nuclear (I guess they didn’t want to do the Peso conversion), but there’s not been an American release.
Until this November.
The complete series, digitally remastered even, will be available on November 23rd. It’ll be tricked out with 17 original featurettes, 6 audio commentaries, plus interviews with series stars Lee Majors and Richard Anderson (aka Oscar Goldman). Seven year-old me is doing cartwheels.
I squealed when I read the press release last night. The Wife has been mocking me on Facebook since.
The fact that I’m voicing the “bionic” sound FX as I move through the house at Bionic slo-mo doesn’t help either. But screw her. This shit’s awesome.
November 23rd, eh? I know what I’ll be doing over the Thanksgiving holiday.
Steve Austin, astronaut. A man barely alive. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world’s first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better, stronger, faster.
On another note, I’m escorting The Wife to her work thing tonight. I asked her, “Which superhero shirt should I wear? I’d wear Superman, but maybe they won’t get the irony. More of a Captain America crowd? Or are they more urban… Black Bastard perhaps?”
Paul and I can’t tell time.
Specifically, we can’t convert the time difference between the U.S. and the U.K. Fortunately, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning have mastered such pedantic concepts as time, thus affording us the opportunity chat with them one Saturday morning.
We chat about Dan’s novel work in the Warhammer 40K universe such as Gaunt’s Ghosts, his passion for Cthulhu, and a whole lot about his affection for role playing games such as Traveller. Of course it’s a comics podcast and it’s DnA, so we talk about their origins in writing Marvel’s cosmic books and go deep, deep, deep into their current event and it’s impact on Guardians of the Galaxy and Nova…. we discuss Rocket Raccoon and even Groot and of course the big event itself… The Thanos Imperative.
Fhtagn!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
James Cameron is well known for his visually stunning, epic masterpieces. From Terminator to Titanic, Aliens to the Abyss, he’s consistently created major works of cinema that leave lasting impacts on pop culture. His latest work, Avatar, promises to add to this reputation.
As expected, the effects in this movie are beautiful and seamless. “Awe inspiring” could almost be applied as well, but it is all too easy to forget that the creatures, plants and even scenery on the screen do not really exist and that there is anything worthy of awe. The motions of the animals, the reactions of the plants and even the landscape all seem completely authentic. Even the design of the alien creatures and equipment that the humans use are logical and believable, adding another level of verisimilitude to the film.
The viewer is drawn in almost immediately. One of the first scenes contains what is probably the most realistic portrayal of zero gravity ever put into film. There is a moment of “this is so cool” and then the viewer’s mind simply accepts everything that is going on is real.
Perhaps the greatest triumph for the CGI animators is the eyes of all the living creatures in the movie. Even though the eyes of the alien creatures actually are alien, they still look real. More importantly, they look alive. “The eyes are the windows to the soul” is never proven any more effectively than when an image is given eyes. If the eyes don’t look alive then the creature itself will not look real. Everything else can be completely accurate, but getting the eyes to look alive proves quite elusive and vital. Avatar never encounters this problem and even close ups of the characters look authentic and expressive. Part of this success is no doubt due to the excellent way that the animators manage to bring through the expressions and mannerisms of the actors to their CGI counterparts. Read the rest of this entry »
Friday night I joined six others on what I assume will be the first of Kicked in the Dicebags‘ round table discussions. Joining in the conversation with me:
Topics ranged from Science Fiction to hermaphrodites, “writer’s block” and horror. In fact, we got into a whole bunch of slasher movie chat. Paul really should’ve been there for that.
If you’ve got three hours on your hands, check it out. If you don’t have three hours on your hands, call in sick and check it out.
Stargate is one of the best science fiction franchises of television. For more than a decade, the creators, writers and actors on both Stargate series have consistently delivered entertaining and interesting plots, storylines and worlds. They have created a compelling, complex universe with its own history and a consistent and logical set of scientific rules. In many ways, Stargate is the equal of that titan of TV science fiction, Star Trek.
Like many other viewers, I was disappointed when I found out that Stargate: Atlantis was going to end, leaving television without a Stargate series. I was equally excited when I learned that a new Stargate series was in the works. Unfortunately, I have just finished watching the second installment of the two part series premier for Stargate: Universe, I’m a bit worried about the future of the franchise. Read the rest of this entry »
Just as excited as I can be about this.
I woke this morning to find new artwork in my inbox for my homebrew SciFi setting, This Empire Earth. The latest item features the Ikati, the empires answer to cat-people.
Those who have dealt with an Ikat or two will report that you never know when one of these guys is going to flip out, do something that doesn’t make any sense at all. And sometimes? Sometimes you know when it’s about to get dangerous. Their eyes go black…
Artist Jake Ekiss does all kinds of wonderful stuff. I’m thrilled that he does some of it for me!
Click through to see the full image. Read the rest of this entry »
Sheriff Jinks
I’ve been designing my homebrew SciFi setting for awhile now. I’ve worked on it solo and opened it up to sandbox sessions with my players. It’s turning into quite a robust universe.
The Empire is a big play ground complete with nobility and political intrigue, interstellar warships waging galactic scale battles, and merchants just trying to score a deal. The story I’m telling is a unit of Rangers out on the far frontier sorting out problems, enforcing the law, making a civilization where the wild things are.
Last month, I ran a prologue to the main campaign. I’m still learning Savage Worlds, a game I’ve played several times but have not ever game mastered. So, I thought a game absent a bunch of setting and campaign threads might be helpful to both me and the players. Read the rest of this entry »