This is the latest game based around The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. The art is simply amazing and the only reservation I have is around the binding, which may be fine but, equally, might be a pain in the butt for actual play. And, to be fair, some sort of GM screen would have been great. All in all, Cubicle 7 have knocked this one out of the park: again.

Ocean Sky from Alex Cherney on Vimeo.

Absolutely breathtaking. And if we ever got some decent weather (and I had a decent camera), I'd like to do some more time-lapse photography.

I've meddled with it in the past as you can see.

through music and games

Something is happening

The way people create and engage in stories is changing

Resonance is a grand narrative told across multiple platforms on a massive scale

A new science-fiction universe is being created and there is only one question...

Will you help?

I got the Serenity book a few months ago from Sub City in Dublin and the Smallville book arrived today from Amazon.

Both use derivatives of the Cortex system from Margaret Weiss Productions. While Serenity uses the Cortex systems in a "traditional" way, Smallville uses it in an interesting way. To perform an action, it's not really how talented or skilled you are, it's about how much the action matters to you, how it aligns with your values and who will benefit from the action. That's interesting because it aligns partly with what I had in mind for Qabal - even though I may not have realised what I had in mind. I'd still likely use a card-based system rather than a dice-based system but the mechanic is interesting.

Smallville is a TV based on the early years of Superman/Clark Kent, concentrating on the period before he put on the red cape and blue tights. It's mostly a teen drama similar to Roswell, 90210 or Gossip Girl. The series plays loose with the Superman mythology, altering timelines and characters to provide a episodic story (which has been denounced as "Freak'o'the Week". They are also, for the most part, blaming the rise of superheroes on the kryptonite meteor rocks which accompanied Clarks escape pod. As plot devices go, that's quite clever. The story arc is detailed enough and they've even resurrected the JSA to provide older mentor roles.

What turned me onto Smallville was an Actual Play on RPG.net. in this AP, the GM (Watchtower) is running a game entitled "Gotham" which is chronicling the teen angst of the various personalities involved in the Batman legend; obviously Bruce Wayne but also Vic Sage (the Question), Talia Al Ghul, Helena Bertinelli (Huntress), Harvey Dent (Two-Face), Ted Kord (Blue Beetle) and others. He's chewing his way through some of the old DC villains (Black Spider, Terrible Trio etc) and working up to a series end which will have some of the bigger foes. It's an extremely compelling read.

Of course, to be able to play these kinds of games, you need players who are not only able to put themselves in the mindset but also those who are interested in the mythology of the series, whether that's Smallville, Gotham, Roswell or Gossip Girl. I've met players who couldn't get past their own biases when playing characters. Such as an atheist who couldn't play a religious character and a caucasion who couldn't play a black character. Most fellas seem comfortable enough playing women though (with hilarious and creepy consequences). This sort of game is a relationship drama - it's about the interactions of people - and you can recognise them on TV as the protagonists are wound up in secrets and never seem to be able to tell the whole truth. Because that would sort stuff out. Duh

The community is developing other homebrews such as Blakes 7, The Matrix, Bugsy Malone, Teen Titans. I'm tempted to find some folk to run a Misfits game. Misfits is a E4 TV series about four young offenders who gain superhuman abilities by being exposed to a strange storm while performing their community service. The first series was extremely enjoyable, the second series starts at 9 pm tonight. It has the advantage of being "new" so you don't have to have extensive background knowledge to enjoy the story but the disadvantage that you don't have a lot of pre-made stuff from 50 years+ of writers and artists.

Six Flags New Orleans is an amusement park in New Orleans, Louisiana, which has been closed since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005.
The park is located in Eastern New Orleans, in the Ninth Ward of the city off Interstate 510. The park first opened under the name "Jazzland," opening in 2000 and operated by Alfa Smartparks before Six Flags took over the park lease in 2002.

And fans of Left4Dead 2 should get a huge amount of shivers from this. This is just screaming out for a new Batman/Joker film to be made.

Music by Godspeed You Black Emperor

Mirror's Edge on iPad - for the simple swipe-based mechanics, showing us a new way to do a simple platformer. For showing us how to convert a FPS for touch. And for this.

Left4Dead - for uncompromising 4 player co-op on both sides. For re-inventing the entire zombie genre. For much fun and great instakills. And for this.

Myth - for showing us that you don't need to spend two hours building an army for a 10 minute fight. And building a kick-ass story around it. And for this.

And two movies.

Primer - for providing an all-round mind-fuck of a movie. and it's available for free (linked here) on low-resolution web video and of course, available as a DVD.

Inception - only just out and not long out of the cinemas so there's not a lot that I can say without introducing spoilers. So go and look at the trailer here and then go watch the movie. All I can add is "BRRRRANNNNNGGGGGGG". You'll know what I mean after you watch it.

The plot is quite complex - so pay attention and lay off the mind-altering substances, you won't need them. It's about time-travel. And it's tricky stuff.

and more recently, an EMINEM video (forward to about 3 minutes):

and Push

I've not been posting much because I've not been gaming much. I need to do something about that for the latter half of 2010.

See More.

Summary: Chris Black possesses a power that could lead to the destruction of the current regime, and they will stop at nothing to destroy him.
The chase is on as Chris runs for his life in this sci-fi thriller set in an alternate and futuristic Los Angeles.

Director : Ricardo de Montreuil
Producers: Ricardo de Montreuil & Eliz Eskeranli
Writers: Ricardo de Montreuil & Antonio Perez
Cinematographer: Andres Sanchez
Composer: Angelo Milli
Special Effects Supervisor: Aaron Burns
3D Modeling and Animation: Juan Somarriba and Francisco Concha
Visual Effects and Compositing: Ricardo de Montreuil
Editing: Ricardo de Montreuil
Color Correction: Santiago Padilla
Sound Design and Mixing: Martin Seltzer
Budget: $5k
Format: RED 1920x1080
Special thanks: Filmosonido, CO3 and Converse

You can find concept drawings, 3D models and production stills at THE RAVEN facebook site:

facebook.com/THERAVENFILM

Contact: info@theravenfilm.com