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Thursday, August 07, 2008

Freemasons Did This: A Primer. "B"

B is for Count Basie. Hear him boogie.

B is also for William Blake; who did this:

And did those feet in ancient time
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?
And did the Countenance Divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Among these dark Satanic Mills?

Bring me my bow of burning gold!
Bring me my arrows of desire!
Bring me my spear! O clouds, unfold!
Bring me my chariot of fire!

I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land

And this:

These men were Masons.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Mario Grandi Oom Paul + Esoterica's Penzance

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Hmm... Muslim Superheroes?

You know, I don't think I've ever seen a religious comic book I really liked, except maybe V for Vendetta.

But hey, you've got to give credit to a dude like Naif Al-Mutawa, living in a society suspicious of anything coming from the west and with a religion that is generally iffy on the presentation of images, making a comic book based on Islamic principles like The 99.

And apparently, his idea has been successful enough that the whole thing is booming; and from what I've heard there's at least one other superhero comic series being made in the Muslim world, in Jordan (The 99 come from Kuwait).

Now, the thing is, these guys aren't really, technically Muslim Superheroes. If you check out the website of the comic, the characters are never portrayed as being Muslims, and while certainly they have a number of middle-eastern characters you could assume to be superheroes, others are certainly doubtfully so; and what you get isn't so much a preachy primer on Islam as you have a comic inspired by Islamic philosophy. I think that's sort of kind of brilliant, actually.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Castello 4k Collection Canadian + GL Pease's Samarra

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Defeating the Magic Deer

You have to love it when the guys at RPG.net pick up on a debate at theRPGsite (one based on an old blog entry, at that!) and botch it up completely.

It is an interesting premise, to be sure, asking how one could possibly defeat the "undefeatable" Magic Deer in the Blue Rose setting as written. But what fascinates me is how they're 43 posts in and up till now NOT ONE of them have felt that trying to stand up for human rights, republicanism or democracy are in any way a credible tactic. Instead, most of their posts are absurd defenses of Aldis as written mingled with ridiculous characterizations of those who want to destroy Aldis as wicked misanthrope gamers who hate the idea of people being happy.

I particularly like this little imaginary exchange:

"You despicable slave! You're blind to the truth!"

"What? That I had a great breakfast this morning, and now I'm going to an orgy being throw by some friends of mine?"

"Yes! Your happiness is a lie!"

"Really? Tell that to my psychic wolf companion. We're going to go hiking later this week. It'll be rad."

"Mindless drone!"

"Dude, have a cookie or something. The cookies get you high."

I see. So apparently, if someone has two square meals a day and gets to have a lot of sex, that means there's no reason to despise the system they live under, and who cares about something as inconsequential as democratic freedom or self-determination?
I guess in these gamers' eyes there's nothing particularly wrong about Communist China or Franco's Spain, either, as long as everyone gets fed.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Castello Collection Fiamatta + Planta's Image Latakia

Monday, August 04, 2008

The Amber-love Continues Unabated

All my campaigns are doing pretty well right now; some of them are fun for a lark, some of them are really exciting, some are very immersive.

But there's no question that Amber, as an RPG, and certainly this current campaign of mine being no exception, is remarkable.

There's rarely any other RPG where I get players sending me countless emails about stuff they want to do, or questions, or things about their characters.
Players bring me images they've found that they think I might want to use in the game.
Players speak about the campaign with a remarkable level of obsessiveness when we meet outside of a gaming environment.

Players write me just to tell me how much fun they've had.
They have conversations with each other, in character, on chats and then email those conversations to me.
They want to play out scenes with me in between the regular game sessions.

This is why Amber is awesome. It takes a group of regular players and turns them all into goddamned obsessives, drawn in completely to the machiavellian soap opera that is the game. It takes immersion to a completely new level.
In my experience, no other RPG even comes close to this level.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Mario Grandi Freehand + Comoy's English Mixture

Sunday, August 03, 2008

How Forge-theories Ruined My Fun, the Proof

I adore the WFRP game. It has quickly earned a place in my heart, for having everything the old WFRP game had but actually being playable without all the wierd issues.

But imagine if instead of the game we got, we'd gotten a game where the only thing you could play was a Ratcatcher. And then, two years later, a totally different game where the only thing you could play was a merchant. And finally, two years after that, a game where the only thing you could play was a soldier.

What would be the fucking point of doing that? WFRP would almost certainly have flopped, and for good reason.

So why the FUCK are they doing that with the new Warhammer 40000 RPG?

In case you haven't heard, the development plan, no doubt the brainchild of genius Chris Pramas, is to release not one but three WH40K games; but make each of them of very limited scope; so that in the first game you can only play an Inquistor's team hunting heretics, in the second you can only play a rogue trader, and in the third, you can only play a space marine.

Gone is the idea of having a plethora of careers, of having a rich and full experience.

This is the thing I fucking hate about Forge-style microgames. And clearly someone has been drinking the kool-aid. They are somehow convinced that trying to sell me three incomplete games is doing me a bigger favour than selling me a single actually complete game.

They're trying to tell me that somehow selling me a game where THEY TELL ME what I HAVE TO PLAY is better for me than selling me a game where they give me all the possibilities and then leave it up to me to frame my campaign anyway I like.

Its utterly shitheaded. Fuck them, for trying to dictate to me how my game has to be, for trying to sell me the RPG equivalent of crippleware, and then having the boldfaced gall to tell me that they're really doing it as a favour to me.

And for all of you fuckers who kept asking "how is the Forge hurting you"? THIS is how.
When the fashionable "game theory" of the day leads to a gaming company ruining a game that could have been great. Every time that happens, it makes gaming a little poorer.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Moretti Rhodesian + Balkan Sobranie

(originally posted September 30, 2006)