I remember about twelve years ago, when I first discovered Dungeons & Dragons – not playing it, just looking at the rulebooks at bookstores and enjoying the pretty pictures – my mother told me that she felt taking on roles in RPGs "left you open" to demonic possession. This weirded me out, because she’s a very liberal, anti-establishment lapsed Catholic, albeit with a mystical worldview. She based her assumption on a friend’s daughter who played Vampire and got involved in the then-popular goth subculture; this young woman had a history of mental illness, and if she ever acted out her problems through the game, those problems were there to begin with and just looking for any outlet. I suspect my mother had also heard some of those alarmist reports from the ’80s about RPers committing suicide.
For my part, I’ve rarely had an opportunity to actually play D&D or any other tabletop RPG, but my mere exposure to such games has had such an impact on me I barely know where to begin. Poring over various Monster Manuals and Fiend Folios piqued my interest in world mythology. Delving into the worlds of Planescape and its fractious Factions opened my mind to philosophy and new ways of thinking (I like the Athar, personally). My immersion in words and statistics improved my literacy and math skills. Wandering the lands of Ansalon, Faerûn, and the Flanaess broadened my own creative horizons.
Without D&D, my world would be a far poorer place. I’m forever indebted to the late Mssrs. Arneson and Gygax for their gift to the world.
Showing posts with label gaming. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gaming. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Apologies
Sorry for the lack of activity, folks. I've been in a real funk for the last month, largely due to unemployment and the first anniversary of my father's death this past Saturday. I've been consuming about the same amount of pop culture, but I haven't felt up to writing much about it. I've kept active following my friends' blogs, but mine has gone fallow.
I'm just posting to let y'all know what's up with me and why I haven't been around much. I'm not giving up blogging, but expect activity to remain on the low side for the foreseeable future.
While I'm here, I also felt like sharing this keen portrait I found of one of my favorite video game villains, Porky Minch from Nintendo's classic RPG, EarthBound.
Porky Minch -Practice- by ~Bagatelle on deviantART
Très fly, Monsieur Minch. I find the sheer repugnance of an obese 13-year-old asshole strangely refreshing in a field dominated by whiny, conflicted pretty boys. If you have the time, I highly recommend this guy's playthrough (with commentary!) of EarthBound, one of the shining gems of the Super Nintendo.
So yeah, that's all I have to say for now. Excelsior, y'all.
I'm just posting to let y'all know what's up with me and why I haven't been around much. I'm not giving up blogging, but expect activity to remain on the low side for the foreseeable future.
While I'm here, I also felt like sharing this keen portrait I found of one of my favorite video game villains, Porky Minch from Nintendo's classic RPG, EarthBound.
Porky Minch -Practice- by ~Bagatelle on deviantART
Très fly, Monsieur Minch. I find the sheer repugnance of an obese 13-year-old asshole strangely refreshing in a field dominated by whiny, conflicted pretty boys. If you have the time, I highly recommend this guy's playthrough (with commentary!) of EarthBound, one of the shining gems of the Super Nintendo.
So yeah, that's all I have to say for now. Excelsior, y'all.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
In the Grim Dark Future There are Only Dudes
As an aside, before I get going, I'm now on Twitter. If anyone wants to friend me, I'm listed as "filbypott".
~~~
This is an interesting article on the exclusion of women from wargaming, focusing on Warhammer 40,000.
I've been reading the Warhammer Fantasy Battle army books, and I must say it's been fun. I enjoy immersing myself in a new world, and the more fleshed out the better. But one thing I noticed almost immediately was the exclusive use of male pronouns in the text, and that stuck out at me. Dungeons & Dragons has alternated between male and female pronouns since 3rd Edition was released in 2000 and Magic: The Gathering has always used "he or she" or "his or her" to refer to the player since its inception in 1993; as such, I've come to view gender-inclusive language as the rule rather than the exception, and coming across exclusive use of "he", "his", and "him" in a game book published in 2007 put me off.
It's not just that, though - Games Workshop seems to go out of its way to exclude female characters in the game world, too. In 40K, apparently the process for creating Space Marines just doesn't work on women, making them an all-male fighting force. In Fantasy Battle, female Skaven are neither sentient nor even humanoid - they're just giant rats for the males to mate with. Greenskins in both settings reproduce asexually, though they all happen to look male and individuals are referred to with male pronouns. And all that kinda bugs me.
Which is not to say that it's a barren wasteland for women, of course. As the article I linked to notes, the Sisters of Battle in 40K are an all-female army that wear sensible armor and aren't a horde of man-hating feminazis (God I hate that word). The various Elves and Eldar factions in both games get lots of female models. According to the tie-in novels, the Imperial Guard in 40K is co-ed (good luck finding any female soldier models, though). So, given that Games Workshop obviously doesn't actively hate women and includes them in some capacity in their game universes, it's mystifying that they aren't more accommodating of female players.
And this isn't just political correctness on my part, either. It's just a poor business model. Sure, sticking to gender-exclusive language may help assure the most immature players in their market that Warhammer is a boys' club, but if they suddenly stopped playing in protest if gender-inclusive language were adopted, would that be such a big loss? As we've seen in the RPG sector over the last decade, women can be gamers too, and as long as GW writes exclusively to a male audience, there's a big untapped market they're simply ignoring. And that's just bad business.
This is an interesting article on the exclusion of women from wargaming, focusing on Warhammer 40,000.
I've been reading the Warhammer Fantasy Battle army books, and I must say it's been fun. I enjoy immersing myself in a new world, and the more fleshed out the better. But one thing I noticed almost immediately was the exclusive use of male pronouns in the text, and that stuck out at me. Dungeons & Dragons has alternated between male and female pronouns since 3rd Edition was released in 2000 and Magic: The Gathering has always used "he or she" or "his or her" to refer to the player since its inception in 1993; as such, I've come to view gender-inclusive language as the rule rather than the exception, and coming across exclusive use of "he", "his", and "him" in a game book published in 2007 put me off.
It's not just that, though - Games Workshop seems to go out of its way to exclude female characters in the game world, too. In 40K, apparently the process for creating Space Marines just doesn't work on women, making them an all-male fighting force. In Fantasy Battle, female Skaven are neither sentient nor even humanoid - they're just giant rats for the males to mate with. Greenskins in both settings reproduce asexually, though they all happen to look male and individuals are referred to with male pronouns. And all that kinda bugs me.
Which is not to say that it's a barren wasteland for women, of course. As the article I linked to notes, the Sisters of Battle in 40K are an all-female army that wear sensible armor and aren't a horde of man-hating feminazis (God I hate that word). The various Elves and Eldar factions in both games get lots of female models. According to the tie-in novels, the Imperial Guard in 40K is co-ed (good luck finding any female soldier models, though). So, given that Games Workshop obviously doesn't actively hate women and includes them in some capacity in their game universes, it's mystifying that they aren't more accommodating of female players.
And this isn't just political correctness on my part, either. It's just a poor business model. Sure, sticking to gender-exclusive language may help assure the most immature players in their market that Warhammer is a boys' club, but if they suddenly stopped playing in protest if gender-inclusive language were adopted, would that be such a big loss? As we've seen in the RPG sector over the last decade, women can be gamers too, and as long as GW writes exclusively to a male audience, there's a big untapped market they're simply ignoring. And that's just bad business.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
Blood for the Blood God!
I've been reading up about the Warhammer miniatures game, which I find kinda interesting. By which I mean the original Warhammer Fantasy Battle, not the sci-fi Warhammer 40,000 spinoff, which I honestly don't like much at all. 40K's main faction, the Imperium, is basically Nazi Germany cranked up to 11, with its god-emperor and its genetically engineered "master race" of Space Marines, yet it's portrayed as this good and heroic beacon of light, and the whole thing just turns me off. On the other hand, that kind of militarism doesn't bother me as much in Fantasy Battle's pseudo-Dark Ages setting, and the fact that it takes itself far less seriously is a big plus - I've heard it described as equal parts Tolkien, Moorcock, and Monty Python, and I'd say that about fits.
That said, I have neither the money nor the inclination to buy what amounts to an army of dolls that don't even come pre-painted. It would be cool if I could find some kind of shareware similar to Magic Workstation that lets you build your own virtual armies and play online, though.
That said, I have neither the money nor the inclination to buy what amounts to an army of dolls that don't even come pre-painted. It would be cool if I could find some kind of shareware similar to Magic Workstation that lets you build your own virtual armies and play online, though.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Fantasy and Racism
...or, "How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Goblin".
This is something that's been rattling around in my tiny li'l brain for a while now.
You know what bothers me about a lot of fantasy fiction? The way "goodness" or "badness" is often conflated with how something looks. If something is "beautiful", it must be good; if it's "ugly", it must be bad.
This goes back all the way to mythology, of course, but in modern fiction I think The Lord of the Rings is the ur-example. The elves are beautiful by the author's standards, with lily-white skin and shining eyes; of course, they are the good guys. Conversely, the orcs and trolls are vile monsters, and their evil manifests outwardly with lumpy countenances and coarse, dark skin. You can see the undertones of racism there. Tolkien was a good writer, though, and he managed to subvert this idea within his own mythos. In his backstory, some of the elves were murderous kin-slayers. The heroic Aragorn was scruffy and looked "foul" to the hobbits, while the Dark Lord Sauron was described as achingly beautiful before he was reduced to a disembodied spirit who only appeared as a red eye in people's minds. No luck for the orcs, though: they remain downright demonic, every one.
Tolkien was a good writer, but flawed. Needless to say, most of his successors have possessed his flaws but not his talents. Dungeons & Dragons is a perfect example: elves and dwarves are inherently "good" and even nameless non-player characters are valued (i.e., mourned for roleplay XP), while goblins and orcs are inherently "evil" and just there to kill for XP unless the DM goes out of his/her way to give a goblin NPC a personality. This extends even to their game stats: elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings all have abilities that can be used both in combat or in roleplay; while goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, ogres, and other "savage" humanoids have stats that are purely combat-oriented. (The exception is kobolds, who have a bonus on mining and trapmaking; perhaps for this reason, D&D went out of its way to push kobolds as a viable player race toward the end of 3rd Edition's lifespan.)
The thing that prompted me to write this post is this page on the subject of goblins in D&D, written half tongue-in-cheek from the position of a goblin advocacy group. In the 3rd Edition Monster Manual, the combat tactics of goblins is described thusly:
“The concept of a fair fight is meaningless in their society. They favor ambushes, overwhelming odds, dirty tricks, and any other edge they can devise . . . goblins have a poor grasp of strategy and are cowardly by nature, tending to flee the field if a battle turns against them.”
Meanwhile, in the same book, we have the elves' strategy:
“Elves are cautious warriors . . . maximizing their advantage by using ambushes, snipers, and camouflage. They prefer to fire from cover and retreat before they are found, repeating this maneuver until all of their enemies are dead.”
Exactly the same thing as the goblins, but described in more glowing terms while the goblins are portrayed as cowardly and craven. It's a total double standard. This dichotomy reminds me of two news articles I saw side by side in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, with one showing a black "looter" and the other a white guy who "found some supplies". I'm not comparing goblins to black people, nor do I think that D&D is worthy of the same kind of outrage as the news articles. I just think that both are symptomatic, to very different degrees, of the institutionalized prejudice in our culture.
Perhaps because they're the designated antagonists in most fantasy, I find goblins and orcs much more interesting than elves and dwarves. Surely there's more to them than mindless violence. What if they have some moral justification for their aggressions against humans and elves besides just being inherently evil? Or, heck, what if they're not all that violent at all and their reputation is just propaganda from books written by humans? (Yes, I have been reading Goblins: Life Through Their Eyes, why do you ask?)
In the D&D campaign I'm very sporadically working on, I try to go out of my way to give goblins and hobgoblins and ogres actual cultures and a place in the setting that goes beyond violence. There are still evil goblins, but they have reasons for their actions. There are also quite a few good goblins, and evil dwarves, and so on. Basically, no race is tied to one moral alignment. They're people, not monsters.
So, yeah. This post turned out a bit longer than I intended, but it feels good getting my thoughts out of my head and onto the (web)page.
This is something that's been rattling around in my tiny li'l brain for a while now.
You know what bothers me about a lot of fantasy fiction? The way "goodness" or "badness" is often conflated with how something looks. If something is "beautiful", it must be good; if it's "ugly", it must be bad.
This goes back all the way to mythology, of course, but in modern fiction I think The Lord of the Rings is the ur-example. The elves are beautiful by the author's standards, with lily-white skin and shining eyes; of course, they are the good guys. Conversely, the orcs and trolls are vile monsters, and their evil manifests outwardly with lumpy countenances and coarse, dark skin. You can see the undertones of racism there. Tolkien was a good writer, though, and he managed to subvert this idea within his own mythos. In his backstory, some of the elves were murderous kin-slayers. The heroic Aragorn was scruffy and looked "foul" to the hobbits, while the Dark Lord Sauron was described as achingly beautiful before he was reduced to a disembodied spirit who only appeared as a red eye in people's minds. No luck for the orcs, though: they remain downright demonic, every one.
Tolkien was a good writer, but flawed. Needless to say, most of his successors have possessed his flaws but not his talents. Dungeons & Dragons is a perfect example: elves and dwarves are inherently "good" and even nameless non-player characters are valued (i.e., mourned for roleplay XP), while goblins and orcs are inherently "evil" and just there to kill for XP unless the DM goes out of his/her way to give a goblin NPC a personality. This extends even to their game stats: elves, dwarves, gnomes, and halflings all have abilities that can be used both in combat or in roleplay; while goblins, hobgoblins, orcs, ogres, and other "savage" humanoids have stats that are purely combat-oriented. (The exception is kobolds, who have a bonus on mining and trapmaking; perhaps for this reason, D&D went out of its way to push kobolds as a viable player race toward the end of 3rd Edition's lifespan.)
The thing that prompted me to write this post is this page on the subject of goblins in D&D, written half tongue-in-cheek from the position of a goblin advocacy group. In the 3rd Edition Monster Manual, the combat tactics of goblins is described thusly:
“The concept of a fair fight is meaningless in their society. They favor ambushes, overwhelming odds, dirty tricks, and any other edge they can devise . . . goblins have a poor grasp of strategy and are cowardly by nature, tending to flee the field if a battle turns against them.”
Meanwhile, in the same book, we have the elves' strategy:
“Elves are cautious warriors . . . maximizing their advantage by using ambushes, snipers, and camouflage. They prefer to fire from cover and retreat before they are found, repeating this maneuver until all of their enemies are dead.”
Exactly the same thing as the goblins, but described in more glowing terms while the goblins are portrayed as cowardly and craven. It's a total double standard. This dichotomy reminds me of two news articles I saw side by side in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, with one showing a black "looter" and the other a white guy who "found some supplies". I'm not comparing goblins to black people, nor do I think that D&D is worthy of the same kind of outrage as the news articles. I just think that both are symptomatic, to very different degrees, of the institutionalized prejudice in our culture.
Perhaps because they're the designated antagonists in most fantasy, I find goblins and orcs much more interesting than elves and dwarves. Surely there's more to them than mindless violence. What if they have some moral justification for their aggressions against humans and elves besides just being inherently evil? Or, heck, what if they're not all that violent at all and their reputation is just propaganda from books written by humans? (Yes, I have been reading Goblins: Life Through Their Eyes, why do you ask?)
In the D&D campaign I'm very sporadically working on, I try to go out of my way to give goblins and hobgoblins and ogres actual cultures and a place in the setting that goes beyond violence. There are still evil goblins, but they have reasons for their actions. There are also quite a few good goblins, and evil dwarves, and so on. Basically, no race is tied to one moral alignment. They're people, not monsters.
So, yeah. This post turned out a bit longer than I intended, but it feels good getting my thoughts out of my head and onto the (web)page.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Gray Gamers
This is a very interesting article on the subject of senior citizens who play video games.
I'm not much of a gamer - I haven't spent much time with a video game since I beat The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask almost ten years ago. I have lots of friends who are into gaming, though, I enjoy watching gameplay videos on YouTube (ProtonJon is awesome), and the gaming subculture is pretty much ubiquitous online so it's not like it's a foreign concept to me.
Anyway, one of the things that bothers me about the gaming subculture is the constant undertones (and overtones...) of ageism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and general smallmindedness. There's an assumption among a lot of gamers that the only demographic that matters is the 18-to-25-year-old straight males and that anyone who doesn't fit in there has to identify has a "girl gamer", a "gay gamer", and so on. Games that are marketed specifically towards women are insulting in how stereotyped they are. When games include strong female characters who aren't eye candy, male gamers complain about the lack of T&A; if a game ever included a strong gay character, there'd be rioting in the streets over "the fags" ruining "our video games"; and as of today the only transgendered video game character I'm aware of is Birdo.
It's good to know that there's a place for senior gamers - according to the article, 19% of gamers are 50 or older, and that was in 2005. It's proof that games aren't a fad, but have become a legitimate, mainstream form of entertainment just like movies and sports, and as the current target demographic ages, the percentage is destined to keep growing. For my part, I look forward to the day when I can sit down with my nieces and nephews and grandkids and play some Final Fantasy XXV while waxing nostalgic about the halcyon days of A Link to the Past and Super Mario World.
I'm not much of a gamer - I haven't spent much time with a video game since I beat The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask almost ten years ago. I have lots of friends who are into gaming, though, I enjoy watching gameplay videos on YouTube (ProtonJon is awesome), and the gaming subculture is pretty much ubiquitous online so it's not like it's a foreign concept to me.
Anyway, one of the things that bothers me about the gaming subculture is the constant undertones (and overtones...) of ageism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and general smallmindedness. There's an assumption among a lot of gamers that the only demographic that matters is the 18-to-25-year-old straight males and that anyone who doesn't fit in there has to identify has a "girl gamer", a "gay gamer", and so on. Games that are marketed specifically towards women are insulting in how stereotyped they are. When games include strong female characters who aren't eye candy, male gamers complain about the lack of T&A; if a game ever included a strong gay character, there'd be rioting in the streets over "the fags" ruining "our video games"; and as of today the only transgendered video game character I'm aware of is Birdo.
It's good to know that there's a place for senior gamers - according to the article, 19% of gamers are 50 or older, and that was in 2005. It's proof that games aren't a fad, but have become a legitimate, mainstream form of entertainment just like movies and sports, and as the current target demographic ages, the percentage is destined to keep growing. For my part, I look forward to the day when I can sit down with my nieces and nephews and grandkids and play some Final Fantasy XXV while waxing nostalgic about the halcyon days of A Link to the Past and Super Mario World.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
Magic Set Editor
Speaking of MTG, Magic Set Editor is a fun program that lets you design your own card sets. I was fooling around and made a few cards, including two for a couple of friends of mine (ya know who ya are).
(I don't know what to say about this other than that I was just fooling around with the multicolor settings.)
(I don't know what to say about this other than that I was just fooling around with the multicolor settings.)
Sunday, November 23, 2008
It's Not Easy Being Green
Okay, time to show my nerdiness.
I found this cool music video tribute to Magic: The Gathering on YouTube. It's just plain awesome. You'll wanna play this with your volume on high because the music is just that good.
Beautiful art + EPIC music = WIN
I found this cool music video tribute to Magic: The Gathering on YouTube. It's just plain awesome. You'll wanna play this with your volume on high because the music is just that good.
Beautiful art + EPIC music = WIN
Monday, November 10, 2008
13 Posts: Ravenloft
I'd be remiss if I finished this countdown without mentioning one of my favorite horror-themed publications: the Ravenloft campaign setting for Dungeons & Dragons.
There isn't a single D&D setting that I honestly dislike (though Dragonlance grates on me at times), but if I had to play favorites, Ravenloft would be near the top of my list. The setting was never hugely popular - it was a product of the bad old days when TSR, Inc. would throw out a new campaign setting whenever their sales were slumping and hope to Pelor that it would stick. Rather than being a generic fantasy setting, though, Ravenloft mixed heroic fantasy with gothic horror. Elves and dwarves, wizards and warriors did battle with vampires, restless spirits, and evil geniuses, and a happy ending wasn't always assured.
The setting had its origin in the classic 1980s adventure Ravenloft and its sequel, The House on Gryphon Hill, written by Tracy Hickman, one of the creators of Dragonlance. These adventures gave us the tortured vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, Lord of Castle Ravenloft, who went on to become the campaign setting's central villain and one of the most popular recurring villains in D&D's history. The original adventure Ravenloft has been reprinted no less than three times for three different editions of the game, and I've no doubt that a version of the adventure for the new 4th Edition will pop up down somewhere the line.
Strahd by *nJoo on deviantART
Ravenloft had something that most other RPG settings lack: atmosphere. An impending sense of doom hung over the very land, and the sinister mists constantly threatened to whisk you away to some new unspeakable horror.
If I had the ambition to do so, I'd love to run or otherwise participate in a Ravenloft campaign. If you're into D&D or tabletop RPGs in general, I can't recommend Ravenloft enough.
There isn't a single D&D setting that I honestly dislike (though Dragonlance grates on me at times), but if I had to play favorites, Ravenloft would be near the top of my list. The setting was never hugely popular - it was a product of the bad old days when TSR, Inc. would throw out a new campaign setting whenever their sales were slumping and hope to Pelor that it would stick. Rather than being a generic fantasy setting, though, Ravenloft mixed heroic fantasy with gothic horror. Elves and dwarves, wizards and warriors did battle with vampires, restless spirits, and evil geniuses, and a happy ending wasn't always assured.
The setting had its origin in the classic 1980s adventure Ravenloft and its sequel, The House on Gryphon Hill, written by Tracy Hickman, one of the creators of Dragonlance. These adventures gave us the tortured vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich, Lord of Castle Ravenloft, who went on to become the campaign setting's central villain and one of the most popular recurring villains in D&D's history. The original adventure Ravenloft has been reprinted no less than three times for three different editions of the game, and I've no doubt that a version of the adventure for the new 4th Edition will pop up down somewhere the line.
Strahd by *nJoo on deviantART
Ravenloft had something that most other RPG settings lack: atmosphere. An impending sense of doom hung over the very land, and the sinister mists constantly threatened to whisk you away to some new unspeakable horror.
If I had the ambition to do so, I'd love to run or otherwise participate in a Ravenloft campaign. If you're into D&D or tabletop RPGs in general, I can't recommend Ravenloft enough.
Friday, October 31, 2008
BOO! The 13 Posts of Halloween
I'm back, baby! Happy Halloween!
Well, it's been a month, and I'm feeling about ready to get back into the habit of posting again. I'm doing a lot better now; not up to 100%, but getting there.
Anyway, while I was on my break, I had a great idea: Why not do a series of 13 posts, one per day, sharing creepy, Halloween-related, or just plain weird things related to comics, movies, and other pop cultural things I like talking about on my blog? Great way to motivate myself to write a bit more often, right?
Unfortunately, I only thought of it three days ago.
So instead of counting down to All Hallow's Eve, I've decided to start on the 31st and keep going from there. Stretch the season out by two weeks or so. It'll be like the Twelve Days of Christmas, only spookier!
Index
Oct. 31 - Changeling: The Dreaming
Nov. 1 - The Deader the Better
Nov. 2 - Always 2
Nov. 4 - The Max Headroom Incident
Nov. 5 - Death Seen
Nov. 6 - Hansel and Gretel
Nov. 8 - That Lovecraft Feeling
Nov. 8 - Anatomy of a Scream
Nov. 9 - The Enigma of Amigara Fault
Nov. 10 - Ravenloft
Nov. 11 - Repercussions of Evil
Nov. 12 - Frankennerd
Nov. 12 - Finale
Since it's going to take me a little while to plan this whole thing out, all I have to share today is a sketch I drew a few years ago when I still had a working scanner. I promise that most of the posts I write from here on out won't be this self-indulgent.
Beastie by ~Filby on deviantART
For a short while in my adolescence, I was a fan of Changeling: The Dreaming, a role-playing game published by White Wolf Game Studio as part of their World of Darkness line (which also included Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and a half dozen other games titled Noun: The Noun). Unlike the other games, though, Changeling had a much more pronounced sense of idealism, even whimsy, though it still had its fair share of things that go bump in the night.
The idea of the game was that the players were fairies* disguised as humans, trying to fight off the banality of the modern world lest they fade away. Players were given a variety of different types of fairies to play as, from the beautiful Sidhe and mighty Trolls to the inventive Nockers and vicious Redcaps; fairies of all types were aligned with one of two Courts: the haughty yet benevolent Seelie or the cold and amoral Unseelie. One of the fairy types, or "kith" as they were called, associated with the Unseelie were the Beasties, who thrived on the fear of little children. The bogeymen, the monster in the closet, whatever you want to call them.
Beasties come in all shapes and sizes - anything that anyone would find scary, really. The one I drew was supposed to look sort of like a corrupted stuffed animal, a teddy bear gone bad. You can probably tell I saw Gremlins (which I may or may not also end up posting about) before drawing it.
Since I drew this, Changeling: The Dreaming has been discontinued and I've drifted away from RPGs, but I still like this piece. I'm not a terrific artist by any stretch, but I think I did a fair job at making it look good 'n' creepy.
That's it for now. Watch this space!
*I refuse to say "faeries". It's trendy, yeah, but it misses the point that fairies were supposed to be downright dangerous, and that calling them "fair" was supposed to be a way to get on their good side and keep them from spoiling your crop, poisoning your livestock... or abducting your children.
Well, it's been a month, and I'm feeling about ready to get back into the habit of posting again. I'm doing a lot better now; not up to 100%, but getting there.
Anyway, while I was on my break, I had a great idea: Why not do a series of 13 posts, one per day, sharing creepy, Halloween-related, or just plain weird things related to comics, movies, and other pop cultural things I like talking about on my blog? Great way to motivate myself to write a bit more often, right?
Unfortunately, I only thought of it three days ago.
So instead of counting down to All Hallow's Eve, I've decided to start on the 31st and keep going from there. Stretch the season out by two weeks or so. It'll be like the Twelve Days of Christmas, only spookier!
Index
Oct. 31 - Changeling: The Dreaming
Nov. 1 - The Deader the Better
Nov. 2 - Always 2
Nov. 4 - The Max Headroom Incident
Nov. 5 - Death Seen
Nov. 6 - Hansel and Gretel
Nov. 8 - That Lovecraft Feeling
Nov. 8 - Anatomy of a Scream
Nov. 9 - The Enigma of Amigara Fault
Nov. 10 - Ravenloft
Nov. 11 - Repercussions of Evil
Nov. 12 - Frankennerd
Nov. 12 - Finale
Since it's going to take me a little while to plan this whole thing out, all I have to share today is a sketch I drew a few years ago when I still had a working scanner. I promise that most of the posts I write from here on out won't be this self-indulgent.
Beastie by ~Filby on deviantART
For a short while in my adolescence, I was a fan of Changeling: The Dreaming, a role-playing game published by White Wolf Game Studio as part of their World of Darkness line (which also included Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, and a half dozen other games titled Noun: The Noun). Unlike the other games, though, Changeling had a much more pronounced sense of idealism, even whimsy, though it still had its fair share of things that go bump in the night.
The idea of the game was that the players were fairies* disguised as humans, trying to fight off the banality of the modern world lest they fade away. Players were given a variety of different types of fairies to play as, from the beautiful Sidhe and mighty Trolls to the inventive Nockers and vicious Redcaps; fairies of all types were aligned with one of two Courts: the haughty yet benevolent Seelie or the cold and amoral Unseelie. One of the fairy types, or "kith" as they were called, associated with the Unseelie were the Beasties, who thrived on the fear of little children. The bogeymen, the monster in the closet, whatever you want to call them.
Beasties come in all shapes and sizes - anything that anyone would find scary, really. The one I drew was supposed to look sort of like a corrupted stuffed animal, a teddy bear gone bad. You can probably tell I saw Gremlins (which I may or may not also end up posting about) before drawing it.
Since I drew this, Changeling: The Dreaming has been discontinued and I've drifted away from RPGs, but I still like this piece. I'm not a terrific artist by any stretch, but I think I did a fair job at making it look good 'n' creepy.
That's it for now. Watch this space!
*I refuse to say "faeries". It's trendy, yeah, but it misses the point that fairies were supposed to be downright dangerous, and that calling them "fair" was supposed to be a way to get on their good side and keep them from spoiling your crop, poisoning your livestock... or abducting your children.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
The Magic is Gone
I hate to say it, but I think it's time for me to stop collecting Magic: The Gathering cards and move on to more productive hobbies.
One problem is that I'm just not playing with anybody. I'll play with my sister maybe once every other week, but she's playing with my cards and I always beat her so there's really no reason to bother. There are no gaming shops within my area, and even if there were I'm too shy to walk into one and start a game with people I don't even know.
But more importantly, this hobby is expensive. I've probably spent close to four-hundred dollars on Magic cards over the last year. That was fine when I was making $200 a week, but now that I've left my job to go back to school, I need to be a lot more frugal with my money. I've been buying cards not to play with but just to own them, and that's an incredible waste of money.
So, yeah. No more cards for me.
One problem is that I'm just not playing with anybody. I'll play with my sister maybe once every other week, but she's playing with my cards and I always beat her so there's really no reason to bother. There are no gaming shops within my area, and even if there were I'm too shy to walk into one and start a game with people I don't even know.
But more importantly, this hobby is expensive. I've probably spent close to four-hundred dollars on Magic cards over the last year. That was fine when I was making $200 a week, but now that I've left my job to go back to school, I need to be a lot more frugal with my money. I've been buying cards not to play with but just to own them, and that's an incredible waste of money.
So, yeah. No more cards for me.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
The Magic of Years Gone By
Terese Nielsen has a DeviantART page! She's like the best MTG artist there is, along with Quentin Hoover and Wayne Reynolds and John Avon and Rebecca Guay and --
OMG it's Gerrard
he is so beautiful *swoons*
>_>
<_<
-_-'
*ahem*
Seriously though, I miss the good old days of the Weatherlight saga. I understand why a lot of people look back on those days rather less than fondly -- the characters were shallow, the tie-in books were mostly awful, and following a preset storyline detracted from the sense of exploration that made Magic great. But having those characters to latch onto, no matter how shallow they may have been, went a long way in getting me hooked on the game.
Even today, I still miss Gerrard and Squee and Volrath... and Urza, that crazy old bastard... *sigh* Good times, good times...
OMG it's Gerrard
he is so beautiful *swoons*
>_>
<_<
-_-'
*ahem*
Seriously though, I miss the good old days of the Weatherlight saga. I understand why a lot of people look back on those days rather less than fondly -- the characters were shallow, the tie-in books were mostly awful, and following a preset storyline detracted from the sense of exploration that made Magic great. But having those characters to latch onto, no matter how shallow they may have been, went a long way in getting me hooked on the game.
Even today, I still miss Gerrard and Squee and Volrath... and Urza, that crazy old bastard... *sigh* Good times, good times...
Saturday, April 26, 2008
Worlds Collide
Normally I wouldn't post about this because I'm not sure what level of reference my friends have about these issues, but since Ragnell the Foul has written at length about it (go read it) I think I can safely assume that it's known to the comics blogosphere at large now.
So apparently some guy who calls himself The Ferrett cooked up a scheme to grope women at conventions by offering "yes, you may grope me" buttons at the front door.
Um.
That's creepy.
Apparently some women don't mind that (at least going by the comments on his post), but it seems to me that most of the women who would submit to that kind of bizarre crap would be doing it because they're too insecure to say no or think that pleasing these creeps would get their respect or something. But the real thing that kills it for me is that there would be a lot of teenage fans at these conventions as well, and this kind of shit just isn't appropriate for what should be a family-friendly event.
And really. "The Open-Source Boob Project?" Like someone on the Penny Arcade forums said, why does everything nerds do have to reference something else nerds do?
Anyway, once again, this is not something I'd normally write about if not for the fact that I'm already acquainted with The Ferrett by way of his column on magicthegathering.com. In fact I first read about this story at the MTG Salvation forums, so when it appeared on Ragnell's blog I had a strange "worlds collide" moment. The thread on the subject is mostly full of annoying nerds making excuses, saying how they "don't see the problem with it" and bemoaning the evil feminists who are trying to spoil their fun, but there was one post I really liked:
I'm surprised so many people here are supporting this. Even if you're not supportive, not being directly opposed to it is pretty shocking to me. I've researched into it a bit, and the response from the general public, online and off, is so strongly negative that it's not even funny.
The only people okay with this seem to be guys into the hobbies that would be at these conventions. Once more I am reminded of the social retardation of the Magic fanbase, and sigh at having to game with them.
Seriously, nobody thinks this is anything but creepy except for *gasp* other creepy nerds.
...which pretty nicely sums up my reaction as well. I don't like being associated with a community that thinks this is okay, just like I hate calling myself a Democrat when a plurality of Democrats are against gay marriage. The Ferrett and his ilk are the people that make me ashamed of calling myself a nerd or a geek.
I do wonder if Wizards of the Coast will see fit to terminate The Ferrett as a columnist. This is a bit like the Don Imus incident from last year, which I think was justified (he seriously pissed off a large number of potential consumers, which is just bad for business), but Imus aired his crap on the job while The Ferrett did it on his personal journal. So I could see it going either way.
All I can say is that I wouldn't miss him, since his writing style annoyed me anyway.
So apparently some guy who calls himself The Ferrett cooked up a scheme to grope women at conventions by offering "yes, you may grope me" buttons at the front door.
Um.
That's creepy.
Apparently some women don't mind that (at least going by the comments on his post), but it seems to me that most of the women who would submit to that kind of bizarre crap would be doing it because they're too insecure to say no or think that pleasing these creeps would get their respect or something. But the real thing that kills it for me is that there would be a lot of teenage fans at these conventions as well, and this kind of shit just isn't appropriate for what should be a family-friendly event.
And really. "The Open-Source Boob Project?" Like someone on the Penny Arcade forums said, why does everything nerds do have to reference something else nerds do?
Anyway, once again, this is not something I'd normally write about if not for the fact that I'm already acquainted with The Ferrett by way of his column on magicthegathering.com. In fact I first read about this story at the MTG Salvation forums, so when it appeared on Ragnell's blog I had a strange "worlds collide" moment. The thread on the subject is mostly full of annoying nerds making excuses, saying how they "don't see the problem with it" and bemoaning the evil feminists who are trying to spoil their fun, but there was one post I really liked:
I'm surprised so many people here are supporting this. Even if you're not supportive, not being directly opposed to it is pretty shocking to me. I've researched into it a bit, and the response from the general public, online and off, is so strongly negative that it's not even funny.
The only people okay with this seem to be guys into the hobbies that would be at these conventions. Once more I am reminded of the social retardation of the Magic fanbase, and sigh at having to game with them.
Seriously, nobody thinks this is anything but creepy except for *gasp* other creepy nerds.
...which pretty nicely sums up my reaction as well. I don't like being associated with a community that thinks this is okay, just like I hate calling myself a Democrat when a plurality of Democrats are against gay marriage. The Ferrett and his ilk are the people that make me ashamed of calling myself a nerd or a geek.
I do wonder if Wizards of the Coast will see fit to terminate The Ferrett as a columnist. This is a bit like the Don Imus incident from last year, which I think was justified (he seriously pissed off a large number of potential consumers, which is just bad for business), but Imus aired his crap on the job while The Ferrett did it on his personal journal. So I could see it going either way.
All I can say is that I wouldn't miss him, since his writing style annoyed me anyway.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
MTG Preview Season!
Okay, time for a fanboy moment.
I love it when preview season rolls around for Magic: The Gathering and I get to check out all the new, weird, and wonderful cards I have to look forward to. Like this sweetie from the upcoming Shadowmoor set...
I am all over this. Not only is that some incredible art by the talented Mark Zug, but she could fit my white kithkin weenie deck like a glove. 80% of the creatures in it are 1/1 to begin with so it's no huge loss, and when all my opponent's creatures are 1/1 as well, all the better! Plus she only makes them 1/1 at their base, so I can still pump my kithkin up with my Wizened Cenns and Burrenton Bombardiers. Sweet. :)
I also really love the hybrid mana mechanic. It simultaneously encourages mono-color and multicolor deckbuilding. I can put cards like her in a blue/white, mono-white, or mono-blue deck and not have to worry whether I have enough Plains or Islands to get her out, or I can put her in, say, a white/red deck and not have to waste space on any Islands.
And really, "Godhead of Awe." That is a seriously kickass name.
I am ready to explore Shadowmoor right now! So bring it on, Wizards!
I love it when preview season rolls around for Magic: The Gathering and I get to check out all the new, weird, and wonderful cards I have to look forward to. Like this sweetie from the upcoming Shadowmoor set...
I am all over this. Not only is that some incredible art by the talented Mark Zug, but she could fit my white kithkin weenie deck like a glove. 80% of the creatures in it are 1/1 to begin with so it's no huge loss, and when all my opponent's creatures are 1/1 as well, all the better! Plus she only makes them 1/1 at their base, so I can still pump my kithkin up with my Wizened Cenns and Burrenton Bombardiers. Sweet. :)
I also really love the hybrid mana mechanic. It simultaneously encourages mono-color and multicolor deckbuilding. I can put cards like her in a blue/white, mono-white, or mono-blue deck and not have to worry whether I have enough Plains or Islands to get her out, or I can put her in, say, a white/red deck and not have to waste space on any Islands.
And really, "Godhead of Awe." That is a seriously kickass name.
I am ready to explore Shadowmoor right now! So bring it on, Wizards!
Friday, March 14, 2008
A Quick Casting Thought at 2 AM...
...that only one or two people reading this will get:
Brendan Fraser as Gerrard Capashen.
I'm just saying.
Brendan Fraser as Gerrard Capashen.
I'm just saying.
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Two Things
First of all, I found this image chuckle-worthy. It's from the guy who does Nodwick, and is apparently from a t-shirt:
.
Secondly, from the man who brought you Macbeth 2: The Reckoning, Twelfth Night of Blood, and The Merry Werewolves of Windsor, the rock-'em-sock-'em actionfest of the season...
.Secondly, from the man who brought you Macbeth 2: The Reckoning, Twelfth Night of Blood, and The Merry Werewolves of Windsor, the rock-'em-sock-'em actionfest of the season...
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Timmy, Johnny, and Spike
I was reading this article on game design by Mark Rosewater, the head designer for Magic: The Gathering and one of the big names in the gaming industry. He talks about the different kinds of players that he markets to, why they play, and what they enjoy. It's an entertaining read if you're curious about the inner workings of the gaming industry.
Anyway, it occured to me that these three "psychological profiles" extend beyond just one single card game and cover just about any game player you can think of:
Timmy/Tina -- Plays for fun and wants to have a good time around the game table. Stereotyped as a power gamer; loves splashy effects and blowing things up. Maybe doesn't know the rules too well. Loves having a great story to tell about the game afterwards.
Johnny/Joanie -- Plays to express him/herself. Stereotyped as a role-player (as opposed to "roll"-player) in RPGs and many fit that profile, though may also or instead express him/herself through number crunching by putting together game stats in a way no one else has or building a deck around a spectacular combo.
Spike/Barb -- Plays to win. Stereotyped as a "roll"-player (as opposed to role-player) or munchkin. Gravitates toward competetive games (such as card games, board games, etc.) or games with a clearly-defined objective (such as most video games). Spikes/Barbs who play RPGs prefer "kick in the door, kill the monsters, loot the treasure" game play.
Needless to say, there can be some overlap between the different types, and one can be some combination of the three. Personally I see myself as a Johnny/Timmy hybrid.
Anyway, it occured to me that these three "psychological profiles" extend beyond just one single card game and cover just about any game player you can think of:
Timmy/Tina -- Plays for fun and wants to have a good time around the game table. Stereotyped as a power gamer; loves splashy effects and blowing things up. Maybe doesn't know the rules too well. Loves having a great story to tell about the game afterwards.
Johnny/Joanie -- Plays to express him/herself. Stereotyped as a role-player (as opposed to "roll"-player) in RPGs and many fit that profile, though may also or instead express him/herself through number crunching by putting together game stats in a way no one else has or building a deck around a spectacular combo.
Spike/Barb -- Plays to win. Stereotyped as a "roll"-player (as opposed to role-player) or munchkin. Gravitates toward competetive games (such as card games, board games, etc.) or games with a clearly-defined objective (such as most video games). Spikes/Barbs who play RPGs prefer "kick in the door, kill the monsters, loot the treasure" game play.
Needless to say, there can be some overlap between the different types, and one can be some combination of the three. Personally I see myself as a Johnny/Timmy hybrid.
Monday, January 07, 2008
Yet Another MTG Preview
I promise I'll try and post something of substance in the not-too-distant future, but for now...
Another great preview card from Morningtide. The thing I love about this guy is his synergy with the set's other legendary elf: You lose 3 life each turn with Maralen, then get it back same turn with interest with Rhys. It's like they were made for each other. <3
I'd also like to give it some bonus points for the art. Very dynamic, and I love how the loose clothing shows off his not-quite-human anatomy in motion.
Another great preview card from Morningtide. The thing I love about this guy is his synergy with the set's other legendary elf: You lose 3 life each turn with Maralen, then get it back same turn with interest with Rhys. It's like they were made for each other. <3
I'd also like to give it some bonus points for the art. Very dynamic, and I love how the loose clothing shows off his not-quite-human anatomy in motion.
Thursday, January 03, 2008
I feel speshul.
For the first time just now I played against someone I don't know on Magic Workstation and totally kicked their butt with a deck I just threw together like two minutes before that.
Lovisa Coldeyes and Phantom Warrior are a match made in heaven. I never would have thought of a red/blue warrior deck:
Warrior's Guile
(Type 2 deck, 60 cards, under construction, no sideboard as yet)
Lands
Island x8
Mountain x8
Shivan Reef x4
Creatures
Amoeboid Changeling x4
Axegrinder Giant x1
Boggart Sprite-Chaser x2
Boldwyr Intimidator x2
Goblin Furrier x3
Lovisa Coldeyes x4
Phantom Warrior x4
Sage of Epityr x4
Shapesharer x1
Turtleshell Changeling x1
Spells
Ego Erasure x2
Ovinize x3
Remove Soul x4
Unsummon x3
Wings of Velis Vel x3
Lovisa Coldeyes and Phantom Warrior are a match made in heaven. I never would have thought of a red/blue warrior deck:
Warrior's Guile
(Type 2 deck, 60 cards, under construction, no sideboard as yet)
Lands
Island x8
Mountain x8
Shivan Reef x4
Creatures
Amoeboid Changeling x4
Axegrinder Giant x1
Boggart Sprite-Chaser x2
Boldwyr Intimidator x2
Goblin Furrier x3
Lovisa Coldeyes x4
Phantom Warrior x4
Sage of Epityr x4
Shapesharer x1
Turtleshell Changeling x1
Spells
Ego Erasure x2
Ovinize x3
Remove Soul x4
Unsummon x3
Wings of Velis Vel x3
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