I checked out the first episode of SyFy's new web series "The Mercury Men." At first glance, it appears to be an amalgam of all those wonderful b/w serials I used to watch with my Opa late on Saturday nights. That means it warms a special nostalgic place in my heart, but it also means that every slight flaw feels like a great betrayal. I've got a list of pros and cons below the video, but before I taint your experience watch the show. Only then read my pros/cons.
Pro -- The music and special effects are quite good. The lead does a credible job and I love his costume. There is some good humor. This looks like it could be great inspirational material for a Savage Worlds Slipstream campaign.
Con -- 1975? Are you sure? It doesn't look like 1975? The employee looks 50s, the hero 30s/40s, the girl has modern eye makeup and 60s youth quake hair. How many shots does the hero get per round of ammunition? The acting on the part of the older employee is a little over the top.
I'll keep watching, but it is going to be a battle between my forgiving genre eye and my extremely critical nostalgic eye. If you are trying to capture the magic of a Buster Crabbe serial, then you had better capture that magic.
So far, they are meeting the test.
Monday, July 25, 2011
The Face of "Television" is Changing and Becoming "Internetelevision"
For the past few years, I have been talking about how our television viewing habits are being changed by the internet and how soon most of our viewing choices will be made "on demand." Providers of digital narrative viewing entertainment will be able to reap great rewards from the system, even as it shatters some of the older models. The studios, big and small, will likely benefit by the changes and affiliate stations will suffer as people move away from "command" television of the kind that local affiliates provide, and move toward "on demand" television where the viewer is empowered to watch shows directly from the provider. The content provider and the distributor system will change, but likely not be completely eliminated as trusted "content hubs" will make finding new content easier for viewers. The overall shift will likely empower creators and viewers and lessen the power of distributors -- though the need for effective marketers will be significant.
I began imagining this future before anyone offered streaming video content, but after reading The Future of the Mass Audience in a political science class as an undergrad. Since I started talking about the topic -- which was a topic for a couple of early Geekerati podcasts -- we have seen the rise of Hulu, Netflix streaming, television stations streaming their own shows, FunnyorDie!, and many DiY Web Series of varying quality -- some quite excellent.
Now one of the leaders in the field is moving forward toward the purely on demand future. It is one thing for television networks to provide their content online after it has aired through traditional channels, it is quite another for a streaming provider to purchase and produce a high end show strictly for streaming. That provider is Netflix and they are looking into the possibility of providing two upcoming on demand televisions shows in the near future. The first is House of Cards starring Kevin Spacey and the second is an unnamed show by the Kenji Kohan (the creator of "Weeds).
Change is in the wind, and that change looks very interesting indeed.
I began imagining this future before anyone offered streaming video content, but after reading The Future of the Mass Audience in a political science class as an undergrad. Since I started talking about the topic -- which was a topic for a couple of early Geekerati podcasts -- we have seen the rise of Hulu, Netflix streaming, television stations streaming their own shows, FunnyorDie!, and many DiY Web Series of varying quality -- some quite excellent.
Now one of the leaders in the field is moving forward toward the purely on demand future. It is one thing for television networks to provide their content online after it has aired through traditional channels, it is quite another for a streaming provider to purchase and produce a high end show strictly for streaming. That provider is Netflix and they are looking into the possibility of providing two upcoming on demand televisions shows in the near future. The first is House of Cards starring Kevin Spacey and the second is an unnamed show by the Kenji Kohan (the creator of "Weeds).
Change is in the wind, and that change looks very interesting indeed.
Saturday, July 23, 2011
[Review] "Battle of 4 Armies" is Fantasy Fun for All!
Earlier today, I made the second of what I hope will become a regular monthly or bi-monthly visit down to Victory Point Games headquarters in Santa Ana, CA. The game company's staff are friendly and welcoming, and it doesn't take long before a visitor gets talked into participating in a playtest of an upcoming game. On my last visit, I was able to playtest an upcoming game entitled "Assault on Galactus Prime." The game was a blast, and I eagerly look forward to its release.
This time I playtested an expansion for "Battle of the 4 Armies," one of VPG's existing game products. But before I played the expansion, I had to learn how to play the base game. I own a large stack of VPG games, but I had yet to purchase "Battle of the 4 Armies" by designer Nathan Hansen. It is a testimony to VPG's desire to support and educate burgeoning game designers that this game, which was released on May 12 of this year, already has an expansion in the works.
The premise of "Battle of the 4 Armies" is simple:
In order to lay claim to the Crown of Chip, the winning Race must either completely defeat the armies of all of the other Races or control 3 of the 4 strategic locations on in the wealthy valley. Hansen provides some very simple tile placement and combat resolution rules that constitute the majority of game play, rules that echo some of the best elements of Diplomacy and Neuroshima Hex.
At its core "Battle of the 4 Armies" is a territory control game with very few random elements. Save for one random mechanic utilized to represent the morale of units in the game, this is a luckless game. Given the strength of Hansen's basic mechanics, this single random mechanic impacts play but does so in a way that is predictable and adds realism to the game -- morale effects being a staple of wargaming of all kinds. It would be easy to give a pure description of the rules, but they really are so simple that almost any attempt to describe them would border on plagiarism. As one of VPG's "Battlelesson" line of games, the game spends more text providing clear examples of good strategy than it requires to convey the basic mechanics.
That simplicity shouldn't be misinterpreted as meaning that the game is shallow. On the contrary, the choices required of players in the game are quite complex. Where to place and move pieces, when to push forward, when to retreat, these are all very significant choices -- choices that can result in very interesting movement combinations. Not only are the choice options complex, but the size of the territory to be controlled is small enough to guarantee that players must become actively engaged or suffer the consequences. There is no stalling in Australia in order to build up your armies in "Battle." The game can be played with 2 - 4 players, and the more players participating the more frenetic the game play.
Hansen designed the game as a "strategy game" to use during a role playing game session. The game represented a game that was played within his fictional game world. It has since come to be an excellent generic fantasy war game, one that I plan on inserting into my Eberron campaign as a representation of a battle that took place during the "Last War."
In short, "Battle of the 4 Armies" is almost a definition of what reviewers mean when they call a game elegant. There are few pieces, simple rules, but complex and diverse choices to be made that result in remarkable combinations. The game is quite simply one of the best games I have played this year, and is well worth the $15 price tag that VPG are charging.
Buy the game. Play the game. And help me start a viral campaign to convince VPG to do a Kickstarter project that produces a copy of this game with a cardstock map and nice plastic fiddly bits.
This time I playtested an expansion for "Battle of the 4 Armies," one of VPG's existing game products. But before I played the expansion, I had to learn how to play the base game. I own a large stack of VPG games, but I had yet to purchase "Battle of the 4 Armies" by designer Nathan Hansen. It is a testimony to VPG's desire to support and educate burgeoning game designers that this game, which was released on May 12 of this year, already has an expansion in the works.
The premise of "Battle of the 4 Armies" is simple:
In a wealthy valley through which a warm, enchanted river flowed from Foggy Mountain, Queen Elyra’s Council could no longer keep secret her mysterious disappearance. She, the last heir to the Crown of Chip, was gone and, as word of her departure grew more dire in each retelling of this new while spreading o’er
the land, order in the realm crumbled.
The representatives of the Great Races in the Queen’s Council, long assembled in peace by the force of her will, laid forth their claims to the crown in her absence – first with words, and then with deeds, calling their armies from afar in all directions to this land, each seeking to claim and restore the Crown of Chip.
In order to lay claim to the Crown of Chip, the winning Race must either completely defeat the armies of all of the other Races or control 3 of the 4 strategic locations on in the wealthy valley. Hansen provides some very simple tile placement and combat resolution rules that constitute the majority of game play, rules that echo some of the best elements of Diplomacy and Neuroshima Hex.
At its core "Battle of the 4 Armies" is a territory control game with very few random elements. Save for one random mechanic utilized to represent the morale of units in the game, this is a luckless game. Given the strength of Hansen's basic mechanics, this single random mechanic impacts play but does so in a way that is predictable and adds realism to the game -- morale effects being a staple of wargaming of all kinds. It would be easy to give a pure description of the rules, but they really are so simple that almost any attempt to describe them would border on plagiarism. As one of VPG's "Battlelesson" line of games, the game spends more text providing clear examples of good strategy than it requires to convey the basic mechanics.
That simplicity shouldn't be misinterpreted as meaning that the game is shallow. On the contrary, the choices required of players in the game are quite complex. Where to place and move pieces, when to push forward, when to retreat, these are all very significant choices -- choices that can result in very interesting movement combinations. Not only are the choice options complex, but the size of the territory to be controlled is small enough to guarantee that players must become actively engaged or suffer the consequences. There is no stalling in Australia in order to build up your armies in "Battle." The game can be played with 2 - 4 players, and the more players participating the more frenetic the game play.
Hansen designed the game as a "strategy game" to use during a role playing game session. The game represented a game that was played within his fictional game world. It has since come to be an excellent generic fantasy war game, one that I plan on inserting into my Eberron campaign as a representation of a battle that took place during the "Last War."
In short, "Battle of the 4 Armies" is almost a definition of what reviewers mean when they call a game elegant. There are few pieces, simple rules, but complex and diverse choices to be made that result in remarkable combinations. The game is quite simply one of the best games I have played this year, and is well worth the $15 price tag that VPG are charging.
Buy the game. Play the game. And help me start a viral campaign to convince VPG to do a Kickstarter project that produces a copy of this game with a cardstock map and nice plastic fiddly bits.
Friday, July 22, 2011
[Blogging Northwest Smith] "Scarlet Dream" (Reprise)
Published in the May 1934 issue of Weird Tales, "Scarlet Dream" is the third of C. L. Moore's tales of the interplanetary rogue trader Northwest Smith. It is also the third story in Paizo's Northwest of Earth collection. With this tale one can really see C. L. Moore developing her voice as an author of the weird supernatural horror story. Of the three Smith tales I have read for this series of blog posts, this is the best of the bunch so far.
Like in her previous Smith stories, there is little within the narrative itself that signifies that this is a science fiction story. Other than the fact that Smith eventually uses his magic wa... err ... "gun" against a foe, this story fits firmly within the narrative tropes of the "faerie" tale. Like Christina Rossetti's wonderfully frightening Goblin Market the tale demonstrates the consequences of tasting the "fruit" of Faerie. Like Dunsany's King of Elfland's Daughter, this tale has time in the land of magic move at a different pace than that of the real world. Unlike either of those tales, morality offers no salvation for our hero.
"Scarlet Dream" begins with Northwest Smith wandering the streets of a vibrant bazaar where he purchases a shawl made of an unbelievably light textile and bearing a mysterious glyph. The shawl, "clung to his hands like a live thing, softer and lighter than Martian 'lamb's-wool.' He felt sure it was woven from the hair of some beast rather than from vegetable fiber, for the electric clinging of it sparked with life. And the crazy pattern dazzled him with its utter strangeness."
In describing the physical properties of the shawl, Moore provides foreshadowing to the events that are about to unfold as the tale progresses. It is masterful foreshadowing as it occurs in a description where one does not assume the author is providing a map to the structure of the tale. Who would guess that the shawl clinging "to his hands like a live thing" hinted at darker things to come? Not darker things from the shawl itself, that would be obvious, but darker things that come as a result of the unnatural properties of another world. The use of strange patterns and objects of alien make would be used again by Moore in her section of Challenge from Beyond -- a shared universe tale she wrote in 1935 with H.P. Lovecraft, A. Merritt, Robert E. Howard, and Frank Belknap Long. Each of those authors adding their own characteristic touches to the story. In Moore's case, that touch is an artifact -- a shawl in "Scarlet Dream" and a crystal in "Challenge."
The market where Smith buys the shawl is in the city of Lakkmanda on Mars, but the description of the market is similar to one that might be given to the bazaar of Baghdad. It is not until Smith returns to his hotel room, a small cubicle of polished steel, that one gets any visual sense of the science fictional (sfnal). It doesn't detract from the story that it isn't a "hard science" tale, it adds to the mystery and sense of wonder as the tale unfolds.
Smith falls asleep covered in the shawl and is overtaken by a disturbing dream. He awakens, only to fall back asleep into another dream. It is in the second dream that Smith's consciousness is transported into a fantastic land. When he arrives he meets a young woman who is fleeing a horrible beast. She is covered in blood and frantic. Smith calms her and soon discovers that he is in an eerie bucolic paradise. The weather is pleasant and the lakeside landscape is beautiful. The temple building where he arrived in the world is the only large man made structure. There are no books, no worldly distractions, and as he soon learns...no food.
He is initially puzzled by the lack of food, but the beauty of the land -- and of the woman (whose name is never revealed) -- intrigue Smith and he follows the young woman to her house. The next day Smith finds himself overcome with hunger and asks the young woman to take him to the temple to acquire sustenance. When he arrives, he sees people kneeling before spigots docilely consuming the liquid being dispensed. He himself begins to partake when he realizes that the people, and now he himself, are feeding on blood! No mention is made of where the blood comes from, and Smith recoils in horror at the thought of feeding on blood. Yet...he has found it satisfying. As the days pass, he eventually partakes in a routine of idyllic days and nights with the young woman interrupted only by regular feedings at the temple. Smith has completely overcome any moral objections to the feeding, satisfied that it sustains him.
Throughout the story, there are references to a beast of some sort that was responsible for the murder of the young woman's sister -- beast that eventually comes for everyone when their time has come. Smith is unworried, and the girl is fatalistically accepting of her mortality. Life in this world is idyllic, yet the routine of it eventually over comes Smith. He needs adventure and discovery, not a dull routine in a beautiful setting. Unable to return home, he decides that he must journey within this realm to find adventure, but this is to be denied him. The planet has no food to sustain him, save for the temple's blood spigots, and Smith learns another terrifying fact. It seems that the entire planet, plants and all, are alive and feed on the blood of living things. If you stand too long in one place, the grass will drain you of your blood. You cannot sleep if you aren't on stone as the plants will eat you. This is a world where all the denizens are sustained by blood.
Smith is not shocked or terrified by the prospect, he is resigned to satisfy his sense of adventure. His spirit cannot be sentenced to a life of dull routine. It is his Fredrick Jackson Turnerian frontiersman spirit that saves him from a fate worse than death.
How? That's for you to find out when you read the story.
What is particularly interesting in this story is the way that Moore uses the traditional elements of the faerie story, that of entering a beautiful but dangerous world, while demonstrating how a non-moral actor would react to the environment. What use has the adventurer for bucolic paradise? Apparently, not much. It would be unfair to leave out that the girl, like the sister in Goblin Market, sacrifices herself in order to save a beloved, but in Goblin Market the spirit of curiosity is the culprit and not the savior. Also interesting was Smith's reaction to the feeding process in the world. He is initially revolted, as I imagine any one would be, but he quickly overcomes his moral rejection and feeds like everyone else. This is the moment where the audience, though not the character, get to feel a sense of cosmic horror. We look into the abyss with Smith, horrified, but he allows the abyss to look back into him and is largely unaffected. This is a disturbing thing to read. How does one react to a protagonist who so quickly, Smith does not resist eating for days nobly suffering before succumbing, to temptation?
Smith may never have discovered the name of the young woman, but the audience never discovers the origin of the blood the people feast upon. Is it the blood of those killed by the beast? Is it the blood of those killed by the planet? Is it the blood of the planet? If it is the blood of those killed by the beast, is some of it the young woman's sister's blood? Creepy...and wonderful.
Previous Blogging Northwest Smith Entries:
2) Blogging Northwest Smith: "Black Thirst"
1) Blogging Northwest Smith: "Shambleau"
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Heartbreak & Heroines: I'm on Board
[EDIT: I received an email this morning stating that this project has been cancelled.]
Three days ago Caoimhe Ora Snow (also credited as Kynn Bartlett) announced a new Kickstarter roleplaying game project. As many of you know, I have been supportive of a number of gaming related Kickstarter projects in the past. I believe that "sourcefunding" or "patronage" are wonderful ways to build the venture capital needed to fund and self-publish games, films, books, you name it. The explosion of sourcefunded projects in the past year is a boon for gamers, and I am sure for other art forms as well. It is a boon, because it allows for projects that might otherwise be impossible to distribute to have a chance at seeing daylight. Heartbreak & Heroines is one such project.
For years, there has been heated discussion about the inclusiveness of the role playing game hobby toward those women, minorities, or LGBT who are participants in the gaming community. The conversations have been similar to those regarding the SF/F community. Someone examines the field and finds a result and comments on it, this is then followed by knee-jerk backlash and possibly meaningless counter-examples attempting to refute initial comment, the conversation fades unresolved. A typical exchange can be seen over at the Black Gate Magazine website in the conversations here and here.
There is some good discussion of women in the role playing game hobby in particular in Michelle Nephew's dissertation on authorial power "Playing with Power", a chapter of which is included in the book Gaming as Culture. If you can get a copy of the dissertation, do so. It's worth it. If you cannot, the chapter is a very thought provoking read. She discusses how the milieu of games can be very sexist and off putting to women gamers, "From this perspective, including the historical facts of sexual inequality and other discriminatory practices as part of the game setting allows male players to escape into a game world that validates their own sense of worth by making their characters physically and socially superior to others around them, whether those ‘others’ happen to be monsters or women.” (Nephew, Michelle, 187 - 188).
Nephew's dissertation covers many more topics than the appeal of games to women, but it is interesting to note that a hobby that has near limitless possibilities with regard to creating counter-cultural societies -- and which often prides itself on being counter-culture -- rarely creates games that truly go against social norms. It is also rare that a game will come along that is constructed specifically to be inclusive toward overlooked communities of potential players.
The announcement of Kynn's Kickstarter project met with some predictable outcries that mirrored the traditional pattern. "She's saving us from ourselves." "The window of which she speaks has always been open." "It's not like we've got any roleplaying games which include women in anything."
It's true, if one looks hard enough, one can find games like Blue Rose and Faery's Tale (to name only two) that seek to appeal to new audiences. It is also true that games like Vampire initially broke the "kill, loot, and power up" style of game that is directed at male players -- though the splat books soon empowered those gamers significantly. That doesn't matter. Assuming that it does assumes that the conversation is over. It isn't.
We need more games, and we need more points of view. Gaming is a place where we get to construct meaning and tell stories together. It's a place to mirror and to break stereotypes.
I for one, am looking forward to Kynn's offering -- now is when I should admit bias as Kynn has been regularly playing in a D&D Encounters game I run once a week for the past month or so.
My only concerns are that the game will only capture the imagination of one of the two audiences that such a game should appeal to.
Games aimed at inclusiveness should target two audiences. The first audience is the group that is already playing, but who are being overlooked by the majority of game offerings. Heartbreak & Heroines certainly meets this goal. The second audience is the group that isn't playing games because of the social barrier built up by the underlying assumptions of what a role playing game is, and how to "properly" play.
I know the H&H is reaching the first audience -- the Kickstarter is doing very well -- but I hope it can make some ground in the second.
Kynn has provided a basic outline of the game's mechanics on the Kickstarter page, as well as one hint regarding the setting/narrative assumptions of the game, and I look forward to seeing how they pan out in play.
Three days ago Caoimhe Ora Snow (also credited as Kynn Bartlett) announced a new Kickstarter roleplaying game project. As many of you know, I have been supportive of a number of gaming related Kickstarter projects in the past. I believe that "sourcefunding" or "patronage" are wonderful ways to build the venture capital needed to fund and self-publish games, films, books, you name it. The explosion of sourcefunded projects in the past year is a boon for gamers, and I am sure for other art forms as well. It is a boon, because it allows for projects that might otherwise be impossible to distribute to have a chance at seeing daylight. Heartbreak & Heroines is one such project.
For years, there has been heated discussion about the inclusiveness of the role playing game hobby toward those women, minorities, or LGBT who are participants in the gaming community. The conversations have been similar to those regarding the SF/F community. Someone examines the field and finds a result and comments on it, this is then followed by knee-jerk backlash and possibly meaningless counter-examples attempting to refute initial comment, the conversation fades unresolved. A typical exchange can be seen over at the Black Gate Magazine website in the conversations here and here.
There is some good discussion of women in the role playing game hobby in particular in Michelle Nephew's dissertation on authorial power "Playing with Power", a chapter of which is included in the book Gaming as Culture. If you can get a copy of the dissertation, do so. It's worth it. If you cannot, the chapter is a very thought provoking read. She discusses how the milieu of games can be very sexist and off putting to women gamers, "From this perspective, including the historical facts of sexual inequality and other discriminatory practices as part of the game setting allows male players to escape into a game world that validates their own sense of worth by making their characters physically and socially superior to others around them, whether those ‘others’ happen to be monsters or women.” (Nephew, Michelle, 187 - 188).
Nephew's dissertation covers many more topics than the appeal of games to women, but it is interesting to note that a hobby that has near limitless possibilities with regard to creating counter-cultural societies -- and which often prides itself on being counter-culture -- rarely creates games that truly go against social norms. It is also rare that a game will come along that is constructed specifically to be inclusive toward overlooked communities of potential players.
The announcement of Kynn's Kickstarter project met with some predictable outcries that mirrored the traditional pattern. "She's saving us from ourselves." "The window of which she speaks has always been open." "It's not like we've got any roleplaying games which include women in anything."
It's true, if one looks hard enough, one can find games like Blue Rose and Faery's Tale (to name only two) that seek to appeal to new audiences. It is also true that games like Vampire initially broke the "kill, loot, and power up" style of game that is directed at male players -- though the splat books soon empowered those gamers significantly. That doesn't matter. Assuming that it does assumes that the conversation is over. It isn't.
We need more games, and we need more points of view. Gaming is a place where we get to construct meaning and tell stories together. It's a place to mirror and to break stereotypes.
I for one, am looking forward to Kynn's offering -- now is when I should admit bias as Kynn has been regularly playing in a D&D Encounters game I run once a week for the past month or so.
My only concerns are that the game will only capture the imagination of one of the two audiences that such a game should appeal to.
Games aimed at inclusiveness should target two audiences. The first audience is the group that is already playing, but who are being overlooked by the majority of game offerings. Heartbreak & Heroines certainly meets this goal. The second audience is the group that isn't playing games because of the social barrier built up by the underlying assumptions of what a role playing game is, and how to "properly" play.
I know the H&H is reaching the first audience -- the Kickstarter is doing very well -- but I hope it can make some ground in the second.
Kynn has provided a basic outline of the game's mechanics on the Kickstarter page, as well as one hint regarding the setting/narrative assumptions of the game, and I look forward to seeing how they pan out in play.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Gaming*Mirth [Cartoon] -- GAMR GRLZ #2 "The Quests Begin"
This week, we have the second offering in my wife Jody's experiment with a gaming themed cartoon strip entitled GAMR GRLZ. She's still refining who the characters are, and what challenges they will face, but she is having a wonderful time discovering the young girls who will be featured in the comic. For those of you not familiar with Jody's work, she was the first woman to win the prestigious Charles M. Schulz cartooning award -- which she won for her fantastic Nicnup cartoon strip.
As usual, blogger being blogger and not a webpage optimized for cartoon syndication, if you click on the cartoon you will get a larger and easier to read image.
As usual, blogger being blogger and not a webpage optimized for cartoon syndication, if you click on the cartoon you will get a larger and easier to read image.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Agent 13 Returns -- Pulp 2.0 Reprinting Classic TSR Pulp Title
My good friend, and former Geekerati Co-host, Bill Cunningham recently announced that his independent publishing company Pulp 2.0 will be republishing the Agent 13 novels that TSR printed in the late 80s. The Agent 13 character was featured in a trilogy of novels written by Flint Dille and Dave Marconi, in a set of comic books, and in an excellent Top Secret S.I. setting/supplement.
When Bill told me the news, I was extremely excited. I have been a fan of the Agent 13 character for some time and the Agent 13 Sourcebook is one of my prized gamebook possesssions.
I only hope that Bill and Flint will be releasing/licensing new RPG or Boardgame material based on this great character.
You can read the full press release below (I don't normally cut and paste press releases, but Bill covers all the bases).
When Bill told me the news, I was extremely excited. I have been a fan of the Agent 13 character for some time and the Agent 13 Sourcebook is one of my prized gamebook possesssions.
I only hope that Bill and Flint will be releasing/licensing new RPG or Boardgame material based on this great character.
You can read the full press release below (I don't normally cut and paste press releases, but Bill covers all the bases).
Pulp Publisher to Collect the AGENT 13 Novels by Flint Dille and David Marconi
Los Angeles, CA - Pulp 2.0 Press CEO Bill Cunningham today announced that the company has signed an agreement to redesign and republish the adventures of the classic pulp character, Agent 13, created and written by Flint Dille (Transformers G1) and David Marconi (Enemy of the State). This Pulp 2.0 collector’ edition titled The Agent 13 Dossier will be exclusively in print, and will collect all three of the original Agent 13 novels as well as exclusive features disclosing the secrets behind the mysterious Midnight Avenger.
Agent 13 was originally published in 1986 by TSR in a trilogy of novels - The Invisible Empire, The Serpentine Assassin and Acolytes of Darkness. The character spawned a set of graphic novels drawn by artist Dan Spiegle (with covers by Jeff Butler) as well as a role-playing game and comic. Kidnapped as a young child in 1907, a gifted boy was brought to The Shrine, the hidden headquarters of the ancient organization known as The Brotherhood. His past memories were erased, he was assigned the title Agent 13 and trained as an assassin and agent in clandestine operations. He became the best disciple and would have risen high in the ranks of the Brotherhood, until he discovered its true evil nature under its cadaverous leader, Itsu - The Hand Sinister. Fleeing The Brotherhood he is hunted by their ninja-like agents, and begins a deadly cat-and-mouse contest against the organization. He fights back, forming his own group of allies against the Brotherhood who dare to plunge the world toward war.
“Agent 13 is Dille and Marconi’s love letter to the pulps, cliffhanger serials and comics. We at Pulp 2.0 are ecstatic to present our readers with these great pulp adventures in an exclusive collector’s print edition,” said Pulp 2.0 CEO Bill Cunningham. “I remember reading... okay devouring these books when they first came out, and I’ve always loved the world and characters that Flint and David created. To be able to design a new edition to share these rare novels and the secrets behind Agent 13 is an honor.”
“We were sitting in Flint’s living room one day, and we started jamming ideas back and forth. Flint was a big fan of the pulps and he showed me some of the old materials he had. He had a book featuring the old pulp covers that we looked at that was very inspiring. I had just written some screenplays for Warner Brothers and had good relationships there, and said that if we came up with an interesting story/pitch about this stuff, we can possibly set it up as a screenplay to write.’ So we originally developed AGENT 13 as a studio pitch to set up as a film, and spent quite a lot of time developing the story and characters as we pitched it around to the various producer/buyers around town,” said co-creator David Marconi.
“Then, when the movie wasn’t getting set up as quickly as we hoped, but the story had progressed to the level where we had all the characters and everything else worked out, we decided to just write the book. Flint had access to Random House through Gary Gygax and TSR, so we were able to get a publishing deal, and dove straight into Agent 13 novel world. Which at the end of the day, was more fun in that it allowed us to go much deeper into the characters and backstory which can’t be explored in great detail in a 2 hour script format.”
More details will be forthcoming as the project progresses. The Agent 13 contract was negotiated on behalf of the creators by Howard Bliss of Union Entertainment.
About Flint Dille:
Flint Dille is a living embodiment of Transmedia. His career started by turning toys into TV Shows with G1 Transformers, G.I. Joe, Inhumanoids and Visionaries. He has designed games with Gary Gygax and written movies for Steven Spielberg. Flint has sold game design documents as feature films - Venom (Dimension 2006) and Agent In Place (Lionsgate 2010). Flint directed the interactive movie Terror T.R.A.X., Track of the Vampyre which became a television pilot for Fox as well as Dragonstrike, one of the first hybrid film projects.
Flint has twice won 'Game Script of the Year' (Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay (with JZP) and Dead to Rights and was nominated for Ghostbusters and Dark Athena. He has worked on crown jewel franchises including James Bond, Mission: Impossible, Tiny Toons, Batman: Rise of Sin Tsu (Guiness Book of Videogame Records for creating the first Batman villain outside of the comics), Superman, Dungeons & Dragons, Teen Titans and Scooby-Doo.
He has a degree in Ancient History from U.C. Berkeley and an MFA from USC. Currently, Flint is teaching a class on Alternate Reality Games at UCLA. His follow up book to The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Design is about Transmedia.
About David Marconi:
A native of Highland Park, Ill., Marconi was passionate about film making from an early age. After winning several high-school film making competitions, Marconi was awarded an Alumni Merit Scholarship to attend the University of Southern California's Film School. Upon graduation, landed his first job as Francis Ford Coppola's assistant on The Outsiders.
Working closely with Coppola, Marconi "cut his directing teeth" watching Francis direct both The Outsiders and Rumblefish. In 1993, Marconi wrote and directed his first feature, The Harvest, (Columbia TriStar). The film premiered in the 'official selection' of the San Sebastian Film Festival and went on to win numerous awards in International Film festivals.
The success of The Harvest brought Marconi to the attention of Simpson/Bruckheimer who commissioned Marconi to write his original screenplay Enemy of the State (Disney) starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman. Marconi continued creating tent-pole action films for the major studios; WW3.com (which served as the basis for the Die Hard sequel; Live Free or Die Hard ) (Twentieth Century Fox,) Perfect Suspect for Chris Rock (Twentieth Century Fox,) and the high-tech., science fiction epic; No Man's Land. (Dreamworks.)
Most recently, Marconi was a featured guest speaker for IADC, International Attorney's Defense Council, and the Department of Defense Cyber-Crime Conference where he lectured on his film Enemy of the State and how it relates to privacy concerns and cyber-warfare in a post 9-11 world. 2011 will mark Marconi's second foray behind the lens as a writer/director with his new feature film; INTERSECTION, a gritty thriller currently in pre-production being produced by Luc Besson, the director of THE PROFESSIONAL, FIFTH ELEMENT and Europa Corp. Holding duel citizenship for the US and EU (Italy,) Marconi divides his time between Los Angeles and Europe.
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