Paizo's Policies Not Always Awesome

Just a little rant today.

I am a big fan of Paizo Publications. I have been a fan of theirs since the days when they published Dragon and Dungeon magazines. I have been a fan of Erik Mona's even longer, dating back to the days of the Oerth Journal and the AOL Greyhawk sub-culture. Until recently, I cannot recall anything that they have done that I would be hyper critical of with regard to their corporate practices/behavior.

I would have liked for them to moderate the anti-WotC venom on their boards a little more, but I didn't/don't view this as a business failing.

Since they first announced the creation of the Pathfinder series of products, beginning with the monthly Pathfinder publication and other D&D products, I have been what is termed a "superscriber." In fact, I am a "charter superscriber." This means that I have been, and will continue, to be a consumer who subscribes to all of their Pathfinder products. With one small exception. I don't want to subscribe to the new Pathfinder RPG "rules subscription." At least not yet. My love of the Pathfinder product line has been its backward compatibility with Dungeons and Dragons 3.5. I'm still running my gaming group through the first Pathfinder series of adventures -- and the Falcon's Hollow series of modules.

While I think their public beta-testing of products is admirable. Heck, it's AWESOME! I'm playing their modules because I own thousands of dollars of 3.5 books and not to commit to playing their new update of the 3.5 rules -- which is an excellent product, I just want to buy it at my own pace and not commit to a subscription.

That said. I recently purchased the existing hardbound books for the Pathfinder rpg. I know that flies in the face of what I said earlier, but I'm just not ready to subscribe. I still believe in the products and want to read them.

When I ordered them I knew that I would have to wait a few days, possibly more than a week, before the products came to my house. In fact, it took exactly one week. With every other printed Paizo product I purchase, I immediately get PDF access. I expected the same with the online purchase of the Core Book, the Bestiary, and the DM Screen. This is especially true given that Paizo took advantage, as they should have, when WotC pulled the pdfs from the market. They bragged about how they were pdf advocates.

Sadly, there were no pdfs of the products for me to download. There was a wonderful 15% off that I received for being a superscriber, but no pdfs. Of the 140 Paizo products I have available for download, not one of them is these books. I was shocked. Since 2003, I have ordered $3424.29 worth of merchandise from Paizo -- combining magazine subscriptions, Pathfinder subscriptions, and pdf orders (of WotC stuff that I can no longer download if I lose my digital copy).

Think about it for a second. If Paizo has only 1,000 customers like me, they will have received $3,424,290.00 in gross revenue over the past 7 years -- minus the amount of our orders that are sales tax. They likely have more than that.

Here is the company who stresses the value of pdfs and customer relations, not giving me a download of my recently purchased physical copy.

My subscription to the other titles had led me to believe that pdf versions of print products was standard Paizo practice.

Sadly, this is not the case for the Pathfinder rulebooks. As customer service notified me today:

The Corebook, Bestiary and GM Screen are part of the Pathfinder RPG subscription. In order to qualify for the free PDF, the items need to be received as part of the subscription at the time we release the item. As a Pathfinder Adventure Path Subscriber, you did receive a discount of 15% on the items in this order.

Wow. Really? Given that the pdf is a very reasonably priced $9.99, and the book I purchased has an srp (that I got a 15% discount from) of $39.99 -- which is a bargain given the massiveness of the tome. I don't think it would be too much to give a superscriber the pdf free. I guess I could become a Pathfinder rulebook subscriber -- they get the pdf for free, but they also pay full cover price for the book.

Does my 15% count on my rule book subscription? If so, I might just subscribe. If not, this doesn't seem like a great deal.

I'm not sure that pdfs for subscribers only is the best business policy when it comes to reducing piracy, but that's just me.

Still...

Paizo isn't releasing a tidal wave of rulebooks. They are paced out nicely, and are excellent products. Maybe I'll subscribe anyway, but I cannot help but feel slighted.

Bad News for American Solomon Kane Fans...

Jim over at Grognardia has a post that highlights a recent French review of the -- as yet unreleased in the United States -- new Solomon Kane movie. The crux of the review is the the film is neither a good adaptation of Robert E Howard's character, nor is it a particularly good film in its own right.

Crap! This bodes ill.

My obsession with things Howardian will require that I watch the film when/if it is finally released in the United States, but I have greater reason to dread the inevitable viewing. In case you are wondering, my obsession is so potent that I have not only seen Conan, Conan: The Destroyer, Red Sonja, and Kull: The Conqueror on repeated occasions, I own them on DVD and watch them from time to time looking microscopically for glimpses of something remotely Howardian.

This is harder to do with some of the films than it is with others. Thankfully, there is always The Whole Wide World -- a delightful biographical Howardian film.

At the end of the post at Grognardia Jim asks, "What is it about Robert E. Howard that makes Hollywood want to tell its own stories with his characters rather presenting the ones he himself wrote? I'm sure there are other authors whose works have repeatedly suffered as much as Howard's have but I'm hard pressed to think of any at the moment."

I think there are a couple of reasons for the lack of presentation of Howard characters as they should be presented -- in their proper Howardian glory.

First, any Conan movie has to fight against decades of Frazetta's visual representations, and their descendants, of the character. Frazetta's art is stunning, but it doesn't very well match the actual descriptions of the character. Other characters present this problem to a lesser degree as they have fewer popularly resonant images to combat. They also have less popular resonance at all, which constitutes its own problem. A problem that typically leads to an, "I need to provide an origin and context" syndrome.

Second, movies are the perfect length to depict novellas. A 30,000 word story fits nicely in a 90 - 140 minute framework. One could make a nice movie out of The Hour of the Dragon, but any adaptation would likely suffer from "I need to provide an origin and context" syndrome. Fans of the Howard fiction know that the first Conan story, The Phoenix on the Sword, takes place late in the Barbarian's life and drops the reader right into an existing milieu. All we get for context is a beautifully written excerpt from The Nemedian Chronicles giving us a sense of place/time. The vast majority of Conan tales, and Solomon Kane tales, are shorter than novella length and leap from one time and place to another. The fireside story feel of this phenomenon is enjoyable for the reader, but doesn't make for a well structured film.

All one has to do is look at the Stone script for Conan: the Barbarian to see what happens when you combine disparate short stories -- themselves clouded through the de Camp lens -- and fuse them together with your own connecting narrative. One gets Conan fighting a Kull villain -- though to be fair the Kull villain is to Kull as Thoth Amon is to Conan.

The translation of a patchwork of short stories into a 90 minute narrative isn't easy, and it comes with its own temptations -- temptations that Hollywood has fallen into far too many times. It would take a talented, and devoted, writer to bring Howard's great Barbarian to the screen. Even then, there would be those who would quibble with the interpretation.

Imagine how many people felt a need to shout, "someone on the internet is wrong" when I wrote that Frazetta's Conan is artistically beautiful but textually inaccurate. I hold strongly to that opinion, but I imagine there are Howardians who would take me to task for such an opinion.

Howard, and Lovecraft, have yet to see an excellent Big Budget adaptation of their properties.

I lament that the upcoming Solomon Kane film will likely be horrible, but I will watch it none the less. It cannot be worse than Kull: The Conqueror.

Who do you think competes with them for the prize of most awfully adapted?

Please Forgive Me for Passing Edgar Allan Poe's Birthday Without a Mention

Yesterday, January 19th, 2010, was 201st anniversary of Edgar Allan Poe's birth. Poe is a figure who looms so large over the genre that I most enjoy, that it is truly impossible to imagine my reading world without his early contributions.

What would Detective and Mystery fiction be without Poe's invention C. Auguste Dupin?

For that matter, what would Weird Fiction be without Dupin and his obsession with "Darkness" and his, and his Bosworth's, obsession with ancient and mysterious tomes?

What would modern Thrillers be without stories like "William Wilson" or "The Black Cat"? Poe's use of unreliable narrator in these tales, as well as in "A Cask of Amontillado," provides a wonderful tool for authors of Thrilling tales -- for authors of any tale.

What would the world of Literature be without The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket? It is possible there would have been no At the Mountains of Madness, Moby Dick, Land that Time Forgot, or "Dust of the Gods."

Poe helped to set the foundation for modern Science Fiction, Weird Fiction, modern Horror, Mystery, Fantastic Fiction...etc. Quite a remarkable achievement for a man who was long overlooked as a creator. Overlooked until those he inspired referenced him so often that his legacy could not be ignored.

To these reviewers Poe would have written (and G.R. Thompson argues that Poe did write in the Library of America edition of Poe's Essays and Reviews) the following:

THE GREAT FAULT of American and British authors is imitation of the peculiarities of though and diction of those who have gone before them. They tread on a beaten track because it is well trodden. They follow as disciples, instead of being teachers. Hence it is that they denounce all novelty as a culpable variation from standard rules, and think all originality to be incomprehensible. To produce something which has not been produced before, in their estimation, is equal to six, at least of the seven deadly sins -- perhaps, the unpardonable sin itself -- and for this crime they think the author should atone here in the purgatory of false criticism, and hereafter by the hell of oblivion. The odor of originality in a new book is a "savor of death unto death" to their productions, unless it can be destroyed. So they cry aloud -- "Strange! incomprehensible! what is it about?" even though its idea may be plainly developed as the sun at noon-day. Especially, we are sorry to say, does this prevail in this country. Hence it is, that we are chained down to a wheel, which ever monotonously revolved round a fixed centre, progressing without progress.

Thankfully, Poe cracked the spokes of the wheel and allowed future generations of writers to feel free to attempt originality and push the boundaries of what constitutes literature. After all, how dull would the world of Literature be if all short stories were -- as Michael Chabon describes much of modern short fiction -- "contempory, quotidian, plotless, moment-of-truth revelatory stor[ies]," devoid of fantastic, horrific, whimsical, or bizarre counterparts? Chabon laments that the "short story" post 1950 has returned to Poe's wheel and cries out for us to forget the critics and look for the new.

It was Poe's lesson first, but it is a lesson that requires constant renewal.

While I got so caught up in RPG/Conan geekiness yesterday that I forgot to honor Poe's birthday, our friends at The Cimmerian were not guilty of the same oversight.

What Does the Gaming Future Look Like for Conan Fans?

There has recently been some discussion at The Cimmerian and on the Savage Worlds gaming boards regarding the news that Mongoose Publishing's license to produce Conan related roleplaying game material will expire later this year.

In announcing the pending termination of the Conan license in their annual "State of Mongoose" report on November 25th, 2009, Matthew Sprange wrote the following:

Conan
A disagreement between ourselves and the licence holders has resulted in Conan being suspended in limbo. It is a tricky position – we cannot produce more material for the game (sales of further OGL Conan supplements will simply not justify the work required), and we have been forbidden to move the sword-swinging barbarian to a new games system.

It is a shame, but our loss is your gain. We have resolved to do the following in 2010.

First, we are bringing the price of all existing Conan books down to make it the best value fantasy RPG around. If you were debating about whether to dip into the Hyborian Age or wanted to complete your existing collection, now is the time! From January, the glorious 424 page main rulebook will be retailing for just $29.99 or £20, for example, while the Player’s Guide to the Hyborian Age will be just $14.99 or £10.

Second, we are going to be unleashing the power of Signs & Portents to support Conan throughout the year. We have built up a huge stock of player submitted adventures and writers’ rules-doodles. They will now be made available, for free, in the online magazine. Just click to download!

An earlier post regarding the topic had led to the internet board "Conan Properties Inc sucks and is trying to kill gaming" hyperbole so typical in online discussions. The Conan Properties boards had some more muted disgruntled comments. These earlier posts caused Conan Properties to respond with the following:

In light of Mongoose’s announcement on Friday Oct 2, 2009, and subsequent posts, we feel there is a need for Conan Properties to comment on the matter.

First of all, keep in mind that CPI’s President and CEO, Fredrik Malmberg, has been involved in the RPG industry for many years. Around 1979/80, he was an intern at Chaosium and playtested the first editions of Call of Cthulhu and Stormbringer. Gaming has been a part of his working life since then and all decisions are based on these years of experience in, and love for, the gaming industry.

Mongoose has had a six-year run with the Conan RPG. There have been some ongoing contractual issues and quality standard concerns which we are working with Mongoose to correct. We made a decision not to automatically renew a third term when the present license expires, which is little more than one year from now. Instead, we will open the category up for all RPG publishers, including Mongoose, to submit proposals. Thereby we have given Mongoose a significant amount of time to correct the problems prior to the expiration and have welcomed them to present their new proposal and marketing plans.

A system change is not ruled out. We are neither bound to d20, nor opposing any other system for a future Conan RPG. From a business and player perspective, we feel a system change this close to the expiration of the license would be unfair to customers as there is a risk the new system would be abandoned a year from now, if a new licensee is selected. Until their license expires, Mongoose may continue to develop d20 supplements.

The Mongoose license has always been for RPGs and supplements only. The proposed atlas series was never included in the license. Unfortunately, work was started in lieu of this without prior approval and license amendment. CPI has been considering developing a deluxe atlas to explore the Hyborian Age for quite some time, receiving interest from major US publishers.

Jay Zetterberg, Director of Publishing
Conan Properties International

I don't think that there is really any room for "picking sides" between the "evil intellectual property holder" or the "plucky game publisher." I think that Conan Properties has been generous with their IP enforcement when it comes to fans, and I am a wonderfully content mega-deal subscriber of Mongoose's Lone Wolf reprints.

Al Harron, over at The Cimmerian, had some very interesting comments discussing the merits of the Mongoose rpg and how it will be difficult for another rpg product to live up to the high standards that the Mongoose product offered -- high standards that included a deep knowledge of Conan lore. Harron also goes on to offer a couple of ideas regarding who he'd like to see/who might be selected as the new holders of the license. His list includes Chaosium, Wizards of the Coast, Steve Jackson Games, and Fantasy Flight Games. My thoughts are that it won't be any of the above, nor do I think it will be Mongoose again, and my hopes are that it will be Pinnacle Entertainment who gets the go ahead.

Argument Against Chaosium

In any argument against Chaosium, one must also advance why one might consider Chaosium for the production/distribution of a Conan roleplaying game in the first place. That's easy. Ever since the 1980s, and Ken St. Andre's excellent adaptation of Michael Moorcock's Elric stories into RPG format, the folks over at Chaosium have made a number of excellent licensed rpg products. The Chaosium "Eternal Champion" series of games are a high quality adaptation of Moorcock's IP into the Chaosium house "Basic Roleplaying System" used in their Call of Cthulhu and Runequest roleplaying games.

Which brings us directly into the argument against Chaosium. They no longer produce the "Eternal Champion" line of roleplaying games based on the Runequest version of the "Basic Roleplaying System." Mongoose produces the new edition of Runequest, is the publisher of the Eternal Champion line of games, and publishes a Fafhrd and Grey Mouser rpg to boot. In fact, when I read the "State of Mongoose" discussion regarding why Conan Properties Inc. allowed the license to expire, I read the following sentence, "we have been forbidden to move the sword-swinging barbarian to a new games system."

My guess is that the mystery system Mongoose was contemplating using for the Conan RPG, if CPI approved, was the Runequest system that they currently use to fuel most of their in house licensed fantasy roleplaying games. I could imagine them using the Traveller system, but that seems to be their in house science fiction system. I could also imagine them using the, as yet unreleased, multiplayer non-d20 Lone Wolf system they are releasing this year. Though I can understand why a publisher wouldn't want to risk their IP on a "new" system that isn't familiar with the gaming community.

Put simply, Conan Properties is unlikely to choose Chaosium to publish their game as the system Chaosium would use is currently being published by the company Conan Properties has currently licensed. If they wanted a Basic Roleplaying version of the game, they would renew Mongoose's license.

The Case Against Wizards of the Coast



Any consideration of releasing a licensed product must include the "leader in the field." Wizards of the Coast, publishers of the Dungeons and Dragons roleplaying game and the Magic: The Gathering card game, are the absolute leaders in the roleplaying game marketplace. Add to this the fact that Wizards is a subsidiary of Hasbro, the world's largest game manufacturer, and you know that you have some pretty good marketing potential. The potential for "synergy" is almost endless, particularly with a future Conan feature film in pre-production. As an aside, I would love to see a Heroscape: Conan set.

That said, I cannot see Conan Properties going with Wizards.

First, history has shown that D&D and Conan don't mix as well as one might hope -- especially given that Robert Howard was one of the main influences on the creation of the D&D game. The D&D Conan modules from the 80s were entertaining, as far as they went, but they were a far cry from what Conan deserves as an IP. Wizards seems to be focusing on their "core strengths" when it comes to the rpg industry, and in this case that means that most of their roleplaying products are D&D related -- they have only recently given Star Wars the rpg support it deserves. There are no non-D&D/non-Star Wars rpg books in the advertised pipeline, and Wizards is re-releasing campaign settings from older versions of D&D in the new 4th edition rules set. I personally think that 4e could emulate Conan style play very well, but as a stand alone game and not as an integrated game. The way that magic works in a Sword and Sorcery tale, versus a high fantasy tale, would require certain mechanical differences that would affect balance.

Add to this factor, Wizards poor track record with licensed IP -- outside of Star Wars. Their roleplaying game based on Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series was a good product, but it received almost no support. Wizards lost the Dune license when they didn't properly think through how licensing is affected by corporate buyouts.



Back before pretty much anyone on staff at Wizards worked for the company, TSR (the creator of D&D who was purchased by Wizards) did release a Conan product using a system developed by David "Zeb" Cook. The game has an excellent underlying mechanical system, which emulates Conan Sword and Sorcery quite well, but the game reads as if it was hurriedly written and the game support was minimal -- ZefRS the current Old School Revival "knock-off" version has more support material for a long standing campaign than the original. In fact, if one wanted to play "original" characters, the game provided almost no support material for the creation/continuation of a campaign. The product made the common licensed product error of promoting the title character, which leaves everyone in the gaming group fighting over who gets to be Conan.

I don't think that "ancient" history will weigh heavily in the minds of Conan Properties when considering Wizards as a licensee, but I do see Wizards' treatment of the Robert Jordan series -- and the Dune/Star Trek debacle -- as something that might concern them. As much as I'd like to see Wizards' take on Conan, and a Heroscape: Conan game, I don't see much possibility here.

The Case Against Steve Jackson Games



This one will be short and sweet. Steve Jackson Games has already had the license. Their products were quite good, but the products did seem to get lost in the wave of GURPS products released around the product. Steve Jackson's GURPS: Conan didn't stand out enough as a product outside of SJ Games GURPS line of games. It even required the ownership of the GURPS main rules to be playable. It lacked a rule set within the product. This has been a problem for most of the GURPS licensed products. SJ Games has tried, by including "lite" version of the GURPS rules, to mitigate this effect when they released the Hellboy and Discworld based GURPS products, but it didn't really work. The GURPS rules are very complex, and can add wonderful depth to game play, so purchasers of GURPS: X might feel that their game would be better if they also bought the main GURPS books (a requirement in the case of GURPS: Conan). These people would be right.

While it might seem a "good for everyone" occurrence if a player buys the licensed product then buys more non-licensed products from the licensee, and it is, that isn't necessarily what an IP holder wants. Conan Properties wants people to buy more Conan merchandise and not more "Game company X" merchandise instead of more Conan merchandise. It's natural. A robust GURPS: Conan book/set would be huge and expensive if it wanted to be a "complete" game. Given SJ Games recent focus on board games and card games (actually a long standing focus), there recent emphasis on pdf supplements, and their recent Vorkosigan saga GURPS supplement, I don't see SJ Games producing something that would meet the desires of Conan Properties. Steve Jackson games puts out great products, and the GURPS system can be a good match for the IP, but I don't see them wanting to put out enough content on a consistent basis to warrant a license. Add to that the complexity of GURPS mechanics, and how that might limit the market appeal, and I don't really see Conan Properties going with Steve Jackson games again.

The Case Against Fantasy Flight



Fantasy Flight already publishes a Conan based boardgame, which was discussed in the post on The Cimmerian, and produces excellent licensed products -- and excellent products in general. The primarily obstacle I see to FFG producing a Conan RPG is the massive workload they have ahead of them in the projected future.

They are currently writing RPG products for their popular Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader, and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay lines of games and producing new boardgames at a breakneck pace. Add to this the long list of other projects that Fantasy Flight is working on, which I hope includes new episodes of their Midnight Chronicles series, and I don't see any time to work on another licensed product -- especially if they want to do a good job.

Fantasy Flight is another company, like Steve Jackson, that I'd be happy to see get the license, but I don't see it fitting in with their production schedule. I'd even like to see how their Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay die pool system translated to Conan style Sword and Sorcery. Yes, production schedules can be set aside for big money flow producing projects, but would Conan produce more revenue than Rogue Trader? I don't know, and I doubt it.

The Case for Pinnacle Entertainment Group

The case for Pinnacle is not a perfect case. They are not rapid in their product development, and they haven't put out enough "support" products for some of their other licensed properties. There are, though, two strong arguments in favor of letting Pinnacle Entertainment Group have the license to a Conan RPG.



First, they produced the excellent Savage Worlds of Solomon Kane RPG. The game uses the Savage Worlds rules system, but contained the complete rules and didn't require consumers to buy "non-Solomon Kane" merchandise to play. The game includes good player and GM support, it contains a full scale campaign, and it doesn't fall for the "who gets to be Solomon Kane" pitfall.

Second, the Savage Worlds rules set is easy to learn and complex enough to satisfy the experienced gamer. I am actually continually amazed at how fun and exciting this game's mechanics are. So...yes, my argument for a Savage Worlds based Conan is essentially, "I know it doesn't make more business sense than any other deal, but it would be AWESOME!" Not the most sophisticated reason, but a damn good one from my point of view.

Oh, and did I add that Savage Worlds was essentially created to emulate the stories of Robert E Howard? Just look at the cover for the first edition! See Conan lurking back there?


Thoughts on Mongoose

I don't think Mongoose has much of an opportunity to get the license renewed. I see two major contributing factors to this. First, it seems that Mongoose's attempt to release a "Conan Atlas" is part of why the license wasn't renewed, they might have been attempting to "step outside the license" in the eyes of Conan Properties. The Director of Publishing for CPI pretty much says as much in the post I quoted above. Second, the merger between Rebellion and Mongoose was a boon to the Mongoose fan, of which I am one, but it is a game changer when it comes to other licensees offering Mongoose product. The Rebellion merger gives Mongoose access to the 2000 AD library of characters, and to an excellent printer for their products, but that rich library is exactly what might make a company balk at the idea of licensing other IP.

What is a Gamer to Do in the Meantime?

For gamers who want to play Conan based games now, there are a wide variety of options. I am going to list a few below. The GURPS: Conan book is hard to find, and often expensive on eBay, so that will not make the list, but the options are really quite good. While I look forward to seeing who gets the Conan license next, I am not lamenting what is currently available.

1) Mongoose's Conan Roleplaying Game -- The game's license doesn't expire until later this year, and the products are very reasonably priced for the time being. The books are very complete and provide everything you need for years of gaming.

2) Call of Cthulhu: Cthulhu Invictus -- If you have a good knowledge of the Conan fiction, or you own the Mongoose stuff/GURPS: Conan, but you want to use the Basic Roleplaying rules set, you cannot do better than to buy this product. While Howard's Conan lived in a pre-historic mythical time, the rules for playing Cthulhu in a "classical" setting translate well to Conan emulation. Howard's tales of the barbarian are filled with Lovecraftian weird horrors.

3) Simon Washbourne's Barbarians of Lemuria -- This game has been simmering in the cauldron of the indie game movement for some years. The most recent, Legendary Edition, of the game is a very good Sword and Sorcery game. An earlier edition pdf) is free, but I recommend the Legendary Edition. It may cause a slight gag in some of the anti-Lin Carter crowd that the game is based on Thongor rather than Conan, but if you have a rich understanding of the Conan milieu these rules translate to Howard's Hyboria as easily as Carter's Lemuria.

4) ZefRS -- the game is based on the old David "Zeb" Cook TSR Conan RPG. The system works quite well for a Sword and Sorcery game and the people who worked on the game have added enough material to start a real S&S campaign. Not a lot of support for the novice game master, which is a mark against the game, but the system itself is quite good. This game is a part of the Old School Revival movement that is attempting to keep older game systems alive, under the argument that specific game content may be copyrightable but mechanics aren't.

5) Savage Worlds -- I wouldn't be so excited about this game becoming the engine for a Conan RPG if I didn't think that it was good to go as is. You'll need some other sources for your Atlas and campaign information, but this game has all the rules you'll need.

Is Filmation's Old Series "Flash Gordon" Done Right?

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Steven gave me The New Adventures of Flash Gordon - The Complete Series DVD for my birthday.

He meant it as a gag gift. We have an ongoing, "let's watch bad stuff, ridicule it, and see just how awful something has to be before we turn it off" game going on. It started with my Birthday "Bad-movie-athon" viewing of In the Name of the King and has included things like Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter and Knights of Bloodsteel. So far, only Jesus Christ Vampire Slayer has been so horrible that even mockery wasn't able to make it watchable.

I have extremely fond memories of the Filmation Adventures of Flash Gordon series. Memories that I didn't believe were mere fabrication. Unlike my memories of how awesome Hawk the Slayer was -- which is now awesome for completely different reasons -- I was pretty sure that my fond memories were right on target in this case. Still, one does have to be wary of the memories of what one considered awesome during their youth. These things can come to bite you in the ass, as going back to watch episodes of Scooby Doo after the team began encountering Scooby's various relatives has proven to me. I loved the various "Doo's" as a conceit when I was a kid, I despise them now and blame Boomerang for letting me discover my childhood pleasure was a lie.

Needless to say, the DVD set of Filmation Flash Gordon episodes has been sitting on my shelf for the past couple of days as I deliberated whether to watch them with Jody and my twin daughters -- which would assume that the cartoons held up -- or to wait for a day when Steven and some other friends were over so we could MSTK the episodes -- which assumes that the cartoons would fail to live up to childhood memories.

Thankfully, our good friend Bill Cunningham over at Pulp 2.0 posted a blog entry discussing this very animated series which included a link to the invaluable SPACE: 1970 blog where Christopher Mills puts to rest all of my concerns. According to Mills, the first season of this animated series is a good adaptation of the classic comic strip.

I'll be ripping these open tonight for some family fun.

Now for some bonus material for Savage Worlds gamers out there. A few years back, I did some Savage Worlds character conversions of Flash and Ming the Merciless. I had intended on doing a full update of a number of the characters from the comic strip and serial, but haven't done any more to date. In order to encourage myself to post more character conversions from the Flash series, I'm going to post Flash and Ming here. If you want to see any future updates, you'll have to check my overly ambitiously named blog SAVAGE WORLDS CHARACTER A DAY.

Name: Flash Gordon


Yale graduate and famed polo player Flash Gordon is one of a small band are the world's only hope for salvation against the armies of Ming the Merciless.

At the novice level Flash has just parachuted to the ground near Professor Zarkov's secret rocket base and is about to begin his journey. At this time he has no "known" skill at shooting or piloting. Flash begins his journey with only the clothes on his back. No weapons...no armor...no food...

Race: Human

Hero Rank: Novice

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d6

Skills: Fighting d8, Guts d8, Swimming d8, Throwing d6, Streetwise d4, Piloting d4, Shooting d4

Charisma: +2, Pace: 6, Parry: 6, Toughness: 5

Hinderances: Loyal, Heroic, Enemy: Ming the Merciless

Edges: Attractive

Equipment: none.

Flash and his companions crashland on the mysterious planet Mongo and encounter some of the native beasts, two large lizard-like creatures. They are seemingly rescued by rocketships...only to discover that they have been caputured by the malevolent ruler of Mongo, Ming the Merciless. Flash makes a quick escape, but must leave Dale behind. He is still weaponless, but has acquired a new set of clothing (equivalent to leather armor) and flies off in a rocketship.

Hero Rank: Seasoned

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d8

Skills: Fighting d8, Guts d8, Swimming d8, Throwing d6, Streetwise d6, Piloting d8, Shooting d6

Charisma: +2, Pace: 6, Parry: 6, Toughness: 6 (7)

Hinderances: Loyal, Heroic, Enemy: Ming the Merciless

Edges: Attractive, Command

Equipment: Leather Armor.

After crashing in his rocketship, Flash meets his first ally Thun the Prince of the Lion Men. Our heroes journey into the Cave World of Mongo (Flash's eventual hideout). They rescue dale, only to crash when attacked by mysterious creatures. Eventually they end up in the land of the Shark Men of Mongo where Flash must fight hand to hand for his life against the King of the Shark Men. He spares the life of his opponent, only to be betrayed and place in a death trap. He is once again separated from Dale.

Hero Rank: Veteran

Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d6, Spirit d6, Strength d8, Vigor d8

Skills: Fighting d10, Guts d8, Swimming d10, Throwing d6, Streetwise d6, Piloting d10, Shooting d8

Charisma: +2, Pace: 6, Parry: 8, Toughness: 6 (7)

Hinderances: Loyal, Heroic, Enemy: Ming the Merciless

Edges: Attractive, Command, Block

Equipment: Leather Armor, Rapier, Laser Pistol.

Flash as he begins to form alliances with the "Princes of Mongo."

Hero Rank: Heroic

Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d8, Vigor d8

Skills: Fighting d10, Guts d8, Swimming d10, Throwing d8, Streetwise d6, Piloting d10, Shooting d10

Charisma: +2, Pace: 6, Parry: 8, Toughness: 6 (7)

Hinderances: Loyal, Heroic, Enemy: Ming the Merciless

Edges: Attractive, Command, Block, Fervor, Inspire

Equipment: Leather Armor, Rapier, Laser Pistol.

This is Ming the Merciless as Flash first encounters him on the planet Mongo. He is fearless, intimidating, and powerful, but we have yet to see him in "action" as a combatant.

Ming the Merciless

Threat Rating: Veteran (50)

Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d10, Strength d6, Vigor d6

Skills: Intimidation d10, Shooting d8, Piloting d6, Persuasion d10-2, Guts d10, Fighting d8, Knowledge (Law) d8

Charisma -2, Pace 6, Parry 6, Toughness 5

Hindrances: Vengeful, Bloodthirsty, Mean.

Edges: Noble, Charismatic, Command, Rich, Natural Leader.

Now that Flash has become a nuisance in Ming's backside, Ming has begun to display new powers. Ming displays physical capabilities beyond what we have originally witnessed, and a hint of mystical powers.

Threat Level: Legendary (80)

Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d10, Spirit d12, Strength d6, Vigor d6

Skills: Intimidation d10, Shooting d10, Piloting d8, Persuasion d10-2, Guts d10, Fighting d10, Knowledge (Law) d10

Charisma -2, Pace 6, Parry 7, Toughness 5

Hindrances: Vengeful, Bloodthirsty, Mean.

Edges: Noble, Arcane Background (Psionics), Connections, Charismatic, Command, Rich, Natural Leader.

Powers: Fear, Mind Reading, Puppet.

Game Review: The Supercrew by Tobias Radesaeter

Every now and then, there comes along a product that manages to simultaneously appeal to several of my obsessions. The Supercrew roleplaying game by Tobias Radesaeter is one of those products. The game combines my interest with the indie game movement with my obsessive need to own every superhero roleplaying game ever published. As numerous re-reads of Superhero 2044 prove to me time and time again, the targets of my obsession do not always lead to enjoyable (or even understandable in the case of 2044) experiences.

The superhero genre features characters of near unlimited potential, and who possess a vast array of capabilities. Any game designed to emulate the feel of the source material faces a daunting challenge. How does one design a game that can simulate an almost infinite collection of powers and abilities, yet is also as fast and exciting as the source material being emulated? It's not easy to do, and it is one of the reasons that some successful superhero systems are also successful "universal" systems. For a while, it seemed as if all decent superhero systems were also universal systems. The indie game movement, with games like Capes, proved that being universal wasn't a necessary condition of a superhero game and that games could be designed based on emulating the feel of comics without granularly emulating the physics of them.

Games like Capes are a part of the narrative focused game design that influences a lot of what is going on the indie gaming community. Design choices in these games focuses more on how a particular mechanic can help to create a collaborative "playing story" rather than a quantified gaming representation of "reality." To be reductive for a moment, these games have a narrative rather than a gamist focus.

Supercrew takes a fairly strong narrativist approach to the superhero genre in it design choices, and even makes one small quip regarding gamist style games, and even presents its rules in a narrative format.

Supercrew's thirty-page booklet presents the games rules in a comic-book panel format. The first game to attempt this approach was the unplayable He-Man and the Masters of the Universe RPG by FASA. It's a novel approach to introducing roleplaying concepts and mechanics, and in the case of Supercrew is done in an effective manner. The rules are presented in a logical and engaging manner. They are also very easy to understand, making this game a potentially great introductory roleplaying game -- in addition to its potential use as a narrative rpg for experienced gamers.

GAME CONCEPT

Supercrew begins with an interesting premise as a game within a game. The central conceit of Supercrew is that all of the superheroes designed by the players are their own alter-egos. As the game explains it, "The players play super-powered versions of themselves. Each adventure starts with them playing a role-playing game when they hear about some kind of emergency they have to stop." You read that right. The players are playing characters who are playing a roleplaying game that gets interrupted and needs their superheroic intervention. When I first read that the players play versions of themselves, I was reminded of the character design system for the revised edition of Villains and Vigilantes so I didn't think Supercrew's approach was too novel. Then I read the sentence where the rules describe it as a game where the "characters" have shown up to play an rpg, only to have it interrupted, and a number of wonderful uses for this game popped to mind -- this is before I read a single rule.

Every group has players who show up late, or cannot make it to a particular session. If your group is playing in a long term campaign, you often don't want to continue the adventure without the player as it could make the player feel left out as their characters don't earn as many experience points or miss out on key plot points. You also have to consider the feelings of those players who did show up. They are there to have a good time and to play a game. If your group agrees to use Supercrew as the backup campaign, it's central conceit is perfect for these occasions. Let's say Jim doesn't show up to your regular D&D campaign. You begin the session as normal, "when we last left our heroes," but somewhere in the middle of the first encounter you do your best radio static impression and blurt out "News Alert! Baron Ravenblood and Persecutus are holding the city hostage threatening to destroy the Gas Company building unless the mayor wires $1 billion into their bank account by 3pm." The players grab their Supercrew character sheets, and their "characters" excuse themselves from the D&D game to fight for great justice!

Sounds like fun, but does the system work?

GAME SYSTEM

Characters in Supercrew are constructed using three main abilities and three tricks which are particular uses of these abilities. The powers are ranked from 3 - 1 in order of power. Three is the most powerful ability, two is the most frequently used ability, and 1 is the least powerful ability. It doesn't sound like a lot of powers to give a character, but it actuality this is a pretty robust system.

For example:

Christian wants to make a character based on everyone's favorite Flight, Invulnerability, and Super-Strength character. To avoid copyright attorneys suing his game group, he decides to name the character Superior! He give the character the following powers Heat Vision, Inert_Gas-ian Physique, and Flight. He states that Heat Vision is Superior!'s most potent ability (as is often described regarding our favoring FISS character, though rarely believed) at rating 3. Inert_Gas-ian Physique, Superior!'s most frequently used power, is given a rating of 2. Finally, Christian gives Flight a rating of 1.

Inert_Gas-ian Physique is a broad descriptor that encompasses super-strength, super-speed, x-ray vision, super-breath, and invulnerability. There is no reason to quantify each individual power, as would be done in more granular systems, since the broad descriptor's effectiveness is determined by the associated rating.

The effects of powers are determined by the roll of ordinary six-sided dice. The player rolls a number of dice equal to the abilities rating. Those dice that have a result of 4 or greater are considered successes, lower results are considered failures. This is a system similar in basic structure to Burning Wheel or White Wolf's World of Darkness systems where pools of dice are rolled and successes counted based on the results of individual dice.

The game enforces the use of ineffective powers, and limits the usage of the most potent powers, by requiring that heroes spend "hero points" in order to activate the rank 3 power. The only way to acquire hero points is to either use your rank 1 power or to be knocked unconscious in a battle. Each of these gives the character a hero point that may be spent later to activate rank 3 powers. This is an elegant design choice that undermines overt power-gaming where players would minimize/maximize abilities to tweak a game system in their favor and hold more "power" than other gamers. In this system, that is relatively impossible. Even if the player chooses a broad ability descriptor, like Superior!, since how an ability is used is determined when the player's describe what they are doing the broad descriptor is no more useful than the narrow one. After all, the Shade Knight can apply his "Keen Intellect" descriptor just as broadly as Superior!'s Inert-Gas-ian Physique.

For any given task, the Game Master sets a success threshold. The individual character can only contribute toward passing that threshold, once per round -- or once per task for certain tasks. Teams must work together to succeed at fighting earthquakes and burning buildings.

In combat, and in other situations, the player first states what ability they wish to use. They do not describe how the power is used, or its effects, until the number of successes achieved is known. In a recent post discussing the Dragon Age RPG by Green Ronin, I discussed how I liked how Dragon Age's stunt system allowed for more narrative combats. Supercrew's system is attempting a similar effect here, the benefits of "roll before you describe" are discussed at length in a recent GamePlayWright post. Once the player knows how many successes the character has achieved, and how many total successes are needed for an action, that player -- whether he completed the task or not -- describes what happens. This game is very much about the player, knowing the results, creating the narrative regarding how his/her character succeeded or failed. Typical of many modern narrative games, this player empowering approach can be disorienting or empowering depending on your group's preferred method of play.

The combat rules are an extension of the basic task resolution system, and the game provides some excellent examples of how they would represent villains, groups of thugs, or hazardous events like building fires.

The system looks like it works and it looks fun. Simple but able to simulate a broad array of activities, what designers often call "robust."

CRITICISMS OF THE GAME

I have two major, and one minor, criticisms of Supercrew.

While the game provides some examples of how they would represent villains, thugs, and hazards, the game provides not guidelines or benchmarks to help the game master. Experienced game masters may not technically need these in order to run a game, but they would be exceedingly helpful. This is an even larger flaw when considering the fledgling game master. The games rules and concepts are perfect for the new gamer, in addition to the experienced gamer, but the new gamer needs more assistance when creating opponents for their players. Some comments regarding balancing encounters, more than just the examples, would have been greatly appreciated.

The game also lacks any real online support, which is tragic as the game deserves more. The rule book says to visit the Kaleidoskop site for character sheets etc., but the page listed gives a 404 error (in Swedish) and searching through the site doesn't seem to reveal any game aids in the Swedish parts of the site either. Thankfully, Christopher B at A Rust Monster Ate My Sword has designed an excellent character sheet for use in the game.

Lastly, and this is a minor quibble, the game's prose isn't quite funny enough. I would have liked more jokes. Given the entertaining cartoony art in the rulebook, some more jokes would have been appreciated. Maybe it's just the translation that lacks the humor, but I'd have liked more.

In conclusion, I think that this is an excellent game at a reasonable price. It isn't likely to replace Savage Worlds' Necessary Evil campaign in my game rotation any time soon, but I think I'll be trying to fit it in when some players don't show up for our regular sessions.

I wish some of the early professional efforts where as clearly explained and thought out as this gem.

Underappreciated SF/Fantasy Authors

Yesterday's post regarding Clark Ashton Smith, and his relative obscurity in the minds of the "average" citizen, got my subconscious mind percolating thinking about other authors that I enjoy. These are the kinds of authors for whom I have a deep affection, but that others give me blank stares when I mention their names. I would have left such musings to the backburner of my mind, except for the fact that Jo Walton decided to write a post on that very subject today at the Tor website in a post entitled "Neglected Books and Authors."

Quite a few of Jo's choices would make my list of authors underappreciated by the mainstream SF/Fantasy crowd that attends an event like the San Diego Comic Con. One might argue that same "mainstream" audience's lack of awareness about some of these authors is the real reason that some of the more "arty" SF fans regard the San Diego Comic Con fans with so much venom and disdain. Instead of trying to introduce the Buffy (and Joss Whedon) fan to the works of Barbara Hambly -- particularly Those Who Hunt the Night -- the "arty" SF fan seems content to grumble and moan. I have been a big fan of Hambly's Sun Wolf and Starhawk series that begins with The Ladies of Mandrigyn since I first saw the ominous "shadow hand" book cover of The Dark Hand of Magic. The cover compelled me to buy the book, only to swiftly find out that it was "Book 3" in a series -- so I quickly purchased the other two.

Hambly makes Jo Walton's list, as does John M. Ford who fans of Steve Jackson Games should know as one of the authors of GURPS: Infinte Worlds (along with Kenneth Hite) -- but too few probably made the connection between John M. Ford the gamer and John M. Ford the author of The Dragon Waiting : A Masque of History (Fantasy Masterworks). Heck, the Tor website still describes him as follows, "He lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he is currently at work on a novel, "Aspects," a fantasy with steam engines." Ford passed away in 2006.

Those are two on Walton's list who would also make mine. There is one more that we share, Susan Palwick. Before I begin to praise Susan for her writing, which I genuinely adore, I have to point out that she was one of my mentoring professors as an undergraduate at the University of Nevada. She was a wonderful writing teacher and advocate of SF/Fantasy, and is a remarkable writer in the field. I would likely have not read her first novel Flying in Place so early had I not taken a class with her, but I would have certainly read The Necessary Beggar and Shelter close to their release dates even not knowing her. The Necessary Beggar is a wonderful example of what Fantasy can be, a story where the fantastic is introduced into the mundane world and where the consequences of that interaction are explored. It is an excellent novel that grapples with modern politics, without being "on the nose," and timeless philosophic issues. It also has wonderfully engaging prose. It's the kind of book that makes you pause and wonder why more Fantasy doesn't break from the familiar paths. Shelter is similarly engaging in its SF exploration of identity and what constitutes "humanity." In a future where there are artificial intelligences and "digitized individuals," where does society draw the line as to what constitutes a "person." When the book came out, Susan was kind enough to do a lengthy interview with me on my podcast.

There are a few authors that I would add to Walton's list of "neglected" SF/Fantasy authors. Emma Bull, whose Territory is one of my favorite Fantasy novels, is someone who deserves to be far more widely read. She is an author who has two works, including Territory, that should be of particular appeal to fans of the Savage Worlds roleplaying game. Territory could be used as a wonderful campaign map for a Deadlands: Reloaded game, as it perfectly balances magic and the Old West in a powerful tale. If you want your Deadlands games to be more than zombie hunts and "Tremors: The Cowboy Edition," this book is vital. Freedom and Necessity, co-written with Steven Brust, is also excellent and would be useful to any Rippers game master or player. It's depiction of British culture is invaluable to anyone wanting to know how to run "Status" in a Rippers campaign without it seeming capricious. Beyond their use as research materials for role playing games, these two books are extremely well written with engaging narratives.

Given how many people asked me, "Brandon Who?" I think that I should point out that Brandon Sanderson is an imaginative and exciting Fantasy author who is taking Epic Fantasy in new directions. I am almost saddened that he was chosen to finish the Robert Jordan series. It means that it will be a while before I can read more of Brandon's original fiction. His Mistborn trilogy and Elantris are properly lauded by many Fantasy fans, but we need to get them into the hands of the casual fan.

Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy is an entertaining romp and a natural scion of the Sword and Sorcery genre. If you are a fan of the pulp action of Robert E. Howard, then you should be reading this series. The books could probably use a stricter editor for some of the stylistic issues, but the books are entertaining swashbuckling adventures of a kind often looked down upon. If Weeks keeps improving, he will prove to be a worthy successor to David Gemmell -- and that is high praise indeed.

Oh, and if you aren't reading C.L. Moore, Leigh Brackett, or Manly Wade Wellman then you and I need to have a little talk.

Happy Birthday Klarkash-Ton!

Today, in 1893, one of the great trinity of Weird Fiction authors was born. Of the "big three" Weird Fiction authors, Clark Ashton Smith is the one who has least captured the popular imagination. Robert E. Howard's Conan is a figure that looms large in the popular psyche, and Lovecraft's Weird Tales inspired countless authors and a number of films and television episodes. Awareness of Lovecraft's "Cthulhu Mythos" has long been lurking in the depths of the popular subconscious and is slowly surfacing into full awareness.

When will the popular psyche become aware of Klarkash-Ton's literary influence on modern fantasy? Let us hope that day comes sooner rather than later.

I first encountered the writings of Clark Ashton Smith when I read the X2 Castle Amber module for the Dungeons and Dragons Expert Set game written by Tom Moldvay. Castle Amber was one of the first truly narrative adventures written for the Dungeons and Dragons game. It influenced the structure and tone of the classic Ravenloft module, and permanently embedded the name "Etienne D'Amberville" into the hearts of fans of the Known World D&D setting.


I had purchased Castle Amber believing it had some relation to the Amber stories of Roger Zelazny. I was wrong, but I have rarely been so glad to be incorrect. The Castle Amber module is a celebration of the Weird Tale, combining narrative elements from Edgar Allan Poe, H P Lovecraft, and Clark Ashton Smith. The Poe references were obvious to me, even though I was quite young when I first read the module, but the references to a wondrous place called Averoigne were entirely new to me. I had never heard of the "Beast of Averoigne, (nor the Beast of Gévaudan for that matter) "The Colossus of Ylourgne," or "The Holiness of Azédarac." I likely never would have, but for the fact that Moldvay had a brief bibliography listing the stories that influenced Castle Amber.

Up to that time, I had not encountered anything quite like Smith's writing. My fantasy experience had been primarily limited to Tolkien, Brooks, Greek Myths, Arthurian Legend, Moorcock, Zelazny, and Lewis. The truly weird tale had escaped me, but that small bibliography opened new avenues of fantastic fiction to me.

In recent years, publishers have printed some very nice collections of Clark Ashton Smith's works. The University of Nebraska Press has printed Lost Worlds and Out of Space and Time. Night Shade Books has been compiling Smith short stories in wonderful editions. I highly recommend purchasing physical copies of Smith's works, but for the digital reader Eldritch Dark has collected much of Smith's written work -- with proper concern for copyright.

I could write, and talk, about Smith for hours. When I discovered he had lived in Auburn, CA (a city close to my wife's home town), I began a brief obsession with Smith. I even began reading his correspondence...for fun mind you, much of which you can read at the Eldritch Dark website.

I am not the only person on the interwebs celebrating CAS's birthday, the premiere pulp website The Cimmerian has a couple of good posts up today that are worth reading.

Best Roleplaying Games of the Aughts

The Aughts were a great decade for the role playing game industry and for the game player/collector. The wide array of creative and original content to come out during the decade is quite remarkable -- and I believe surprising. I had entered the Aughts believing that there would be no way that the new decade could compete with the 90s with regard to exciting new ideas/settings/rules in roleplaying games, but left the decade finding myself pleased to be wrong.

The 90s had seen the release of the World of Darkness games by White Wolf Publishing, Feng Shui by Daedalus and later Atlas Games, The Marvel Adventure Game by TSR, Brave New World by Pinnacle and later AEG, Deadlands by Pinnacle Games, and Hero 4th Edition. That list of games, games that expanded the appeal of roleplaying games beyond the small community of gamers that existed at the time, only scratches the surface and leaves out many excellent products. The 1990s saw a new generation of game designers releasing products into the marketplace that not only improved gameplay, but improved production values and saw the beginnings of a "professionalization" of the industry.

I could spend a long time writing about the trends of the roleplaying game industry in the Aughts, but that would be worthy of a series of posts and isn't suited as a preface to a list of great games.

Instead, I'll get to the list as promptly as possible. Below are my 10 (actually 11) favorite roleplaying games to come out in the Aughts. These aren't the only great games to come out during the decade, but they are the ones that I find myself most frequently reading, playing, and enjoying. Future posts will include discussions of why these games are so remarkable.

1) Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition (and 3.5)

2) Savage Worlds

3) Burning Wheel

4) Trail of Cthulhu

5) Hero System 5th Edition

6) Dragon Warriors

7) Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition

8) Spirit of the Century

9) My Life with Master

10) Scion: Hero, Demi-God, God

11) Fireborn

Mandatory Elvis Hulu Post

January 8th happens to be my and Elvis' birthday. Ever since I was a kid, this day has been marked with Elvis movie (and music) marathons. I would rather that January 8th was filled with David Bowie or John McTiernan marathons, as I would prefer to watch Labyrinth and Die Hard over Viva Las Vegas.

My sister was born on August 16th, which happens to be the anniversary of Elvis' death -- so our birthdays make nice Elvis bookends. Her birthday is also marked with TCM marathons of Elvis' (quite large) movie catalog.

Though I might prefer McTiernan films to the King's offerings, I had to make a decision early in life. I had to decide whether I was going to be trite and feign offense at the outpouring of popular culture offerings repeated annually on my birthday, or whether I was going to go along for the ride and have as good a time as possible. I chose the second path. Elvis movies may not be the best films ever made, but they are often quite fun. I've always enjoyed Speedway, King Creole, and Jailhouse Rock -- even if I've never come to truly appreciate Viva Las Vegas. The songs, like most of the King's tunes, are infectious and the stories are entertaining enough. One just has to be in the proper frame of mind.

Thankfully, I am usually in that frame of mind on my birthday. After all, I'm someone who celebrated his birthday by going out with friends to watch In the Name of the King by Uwe Boll. Compared to that film, the Elvis films are high art.

Sadly, Hulu doesn't have any full length Elvis films in their catalog to date. They do have some clips from Elvis' first film though, and you can enjoy Elvis big screen premiere in Love Me Tender.

[Blogging Northwest Smith] "The Cold Gray God"

Catherine Lucille Moore's seventh Northwest Smith tale, "The Cold Gray God," takes place in a city named Righa -- "pole city of Mars." One imagines that the location of Righa isn't too distant from the polar mountains where Smith and his trusty companion Yarol explored an ancient temple to a forgotten deity in "Dust of the Gods."

The "Dust" and "Cold" stories share many qualities, both take place in polar environments -- highlighting Moore's frequently used theme equating cold with evil. Both of the stories deal with forgotten Martian gods -- one can imagine the possibility that the forgotten Martian god is the same entity in both versions. The primary motivation for Northwest Smith to become involved in the narrative is the same in these stories...his overwhelming sense of curiosity. To be fair, most of the Smith adventures are triggered, in one way or another, by his curiosity.

"Dust" began with Smith and Yarol drinking segir whiskey and commiserating about their lack of finances. "The Cold Gray God" begins with an enigmatic female strolling down the streets of Righa, a city filled with the desperate and sinister, completely indifferent to any danger that might lurk around the next corner. The woman notices Smith, approaches him, and lays her hand upon his arm. Her touch gives Smith, "a queer little start, involuntar[y], like a shiver quickly suppressed." We know from earlier descriptions that the woman is beautiful, so the fact that her slightest touch causes shiver-like starts in a character as jaded as Smith gives us our first hint that something is deeply amiss with the woman.

Smith accompanies the woman back to her home, a traditional Martian home. For the first time in the Northwest Smith stories Moore gives us a glimpse into the Martian architecture in a way that sets it apart from the architecture of the American West. Moore takes a wonderful leap into making the Mars of the Smith tales truly alien, or at least fantastic.

The room they entered was immemorially ancient, changelessly Martian. Upon the dark stone floor, polished by the feet of countless generations, lay the furs of saltland beasts and the thick-pelted animals of the pole. The stone walls were incised with those inevitable, mysterious symbols which have become nothing more than queer designs now, though a million years ago they bore deep significance. No Martian house, old or new, lacks them, and no living Martian knows their meaning.

These three sentences can be unpacked to create encyclopedias of information about Mars and its history. The way that they trigger the imagination is a wonder. Read them, let the significance of what they mean sink in, and imagine the potential consequences. Moore's Mars is a world that has architecturally stagnated. It's buildings tell stories of forgotten empires; stories that are no longer understood. What are those mysterious symbols? What do they mean? What do they say about ancient Martian society? The lack of immediate answers to these questions hints that the story will portray the folly of forgetting the past, a hint transferred to full foreshadowing with the next paragraph.

Remotely they must be bound up with the queer, cold darkness of that strange religion which once ruled Mars and which dwells still in the heart of every true Martian, though its shines are secret now and its priests discredited. Perhaps if one could read those symbols they would tell the name of the cold god whom Mars worships still, in its heart of hearts, yet whose name is never spoken.

These words are ominous enough, but having read "Dust of the Gods" these words were more frightful than they would otherwise be. For in "Dust," Smith had encountered what may be the very remnants of this forgotten, discredited, yet still worshiped entity. The cosmic horror of a people who have "rejected" and forgotten a deity, yet still worship the deity in their heart of hearts, is wonderfully chilling. It's a sentiment that even Lovecraft never touched upon. Imagine a society that has left behind and rejected horrible evil, even forgotten it, but still echoes that evil by the very fact of that society's existence. Evil, even abandoned and forgotten evil, lingers forever on Mars.

Having informed us of the lingering evil that threatens Mars, Moore returns us to the "simple" story she began -- a tale of someone hiring a rogue to do some less than legal activity. Throughout the hiring/negotiation scene Moore re-emphasizes the discomfort that Smith feels in the presence of the woman, who we now know is named Judai. Under normal circumstances Smith shouldn't feel disdain for her. "He wondered briefly why he disliked even to look at her, for she seemed lovelier each time his gaze rested upon that exquisitely tinted face." Judai had once been a famous singer whose beauty and songs had captured the hearts of the solar system. Smith should feel elated that he has rediscovered this lost celebrity, yet his intuition makes him feel uncomfortable in her presence.

The mission Judai wants to hire Smith for is a simple one. A man has a box that Judai values and Smith is to acquire the box. For his efforts, Smith will be rewarded richly. Given that Smith's intuition is virtually screaming at him to leave the presence of this woman, and that Smith soon receives formal warning from someone he trusts that Judai isn't to be trusted, he should decline the job. As usual though, Smith's sense of adventure overcomes his intuition and good sense and he agrees to take up the job and acquire the box.

What follows is immensely entertaining, and not worth spoiling. Throughout the tale, the connections between this story and "Dust" continually echoed in the back of my mind. So did Moore's pattern of equating sexual attraction -- pure sexual attraction and not a higher "marriage of true minds" attraction -- with danger and death. Judai is a beautiful Venusian woman, as so many of the women who have put Smith in danger seem to be, but she exudes evil and danger from her very pores.

This story also highlights another of Moore's narrative devices, that of the importance of friends in surviving danger. Smith rarely saves his own hide in his adventures. Were it not for his trusty companion Yarol, Smith would not have survived his encounter with "Shambleau." Yarol is absent in this tale, otherwise one would guess that Smith would not have stepped as far into danger as he eventually does in this story. Yarol had accompanied Smith on his journey into the hidden arctic temple of a forgotten Martian god after all, and may have been sensitive to what was about to occur in this story.

Like many of the Smith tales, this one demonstrates how mundane actions can have monumental consequences. One can only imagine the damage that would have been wrought had Smith delivered the "Dust" in "Dust of the Gods." One gets to see what is released when Smith delivers the box in this story.

Cosmic Horrors are not to be trifled with. Thankfully Smith is made of sterner psychic stuff than your typical Lovecraftian protagonist. His psyche's ability to endure the horrific and bizarre is only matched by his curiosity to encounter the unknown.

Previous Blogging Northwest Smith Entries:

6)[Blogging Northwest Smith] "Nymph of Darkness"
5)[Blogging Northwest Smith] "Julhi"
4)[Blogging Northwest Smith] "Dust of the Gods"
3)Blogging Northwest Smith: "Scarlet Dream"
2) Blogging Northwest Smith: "Black Thirst"
1) Blogging Northwest Smith: "Shambleau"

Ken Hite Inspired by Carnacki

Game designers and game masters are always looking for new inspirations for games and interactions.

I cannot tell you how many times I find myself reading through a book just to see if it contains elements that I can use in adventures that I am running for my regular gaming group. The end of one of our campaigns was based on the James Barclay novel Elfsorrow -- loosely based -- which ended up being one of the most successful campaign finales I have run in years. That novel's grand heroic tension made for a perfect campaign goal.

I also find myself, when reading comic book back issues, reading them through the lens of how to structure my comic book rpg sessions. Not that old comic books were great reading, but they sure make for action packed 4 hour game sessions -- something that seems to deeply satisfy my Necessary Evil group.

Kenneth Hite has recently read a story featuring William Hope Hodgson's Carnacki thestories. Carnacki is the classic ghost hunting detective, the supernatural counter to Holmes' material metaphysics.

As is typical of a gamer, Hite has expressed how reading Carnacki stories always makes him want to design a Carnacki roleplaying game. Hite offers a couple of possible mechanical and narrative frameworks that he might use to adapt such a game, including the Gumshoe and Savage Worlds systems. Both of these game systems are near and dear to my heart, but I think there is a game that could be used to simultaneously capture the style of the Carnacki stories while maintaining the importance -- and roleplaying excitement -- of Carnacki's obligatory supernatural opposing rituals.

I think that Ken should adapt the system used in Eric J. Boyd's The Committee for the Exploration of Mysteries. Given that Carnacki stories are usually tales where a group gathers and is told a tale, Boyd's game structure is a perfect starting point for design. The systems may not create the levels of suspense necessary in a horror tale, but mechanics could be created that would allow for the level of tension that Hite desires.

Imagine if you will a society of Edwardian Ladies and Gentlemen gathered in Dodgson's study awaiting the next examination of their adventures against the supernatural. One could have the players as comrades of Carnacki, or have them be the interlocutors questioning and extrapolating on Carnacki's tale. No player would have to be the Carnacki character...potentially all could be. One advantage to the shared storyteller aspect could be the potential of having a Carnacki-esque character who has a genuine chance of failure or death.

One could make it so the setting is such that the discussion takes place, with Dodgson leading the discussion, before Carnacki arrives. Thus if Carnacki perishes, it could be his friends sharing his "final" adventure. Or if death is unnecessary, but you still want failure to be an option you can still use the Carnacki sharing a tale with the group. What would happen in the discussion/roleplay could be used to determine the consequences of Carnacki's failure to dispel the sinister spirits.