Heroic Effort

Call of Chtulhu, Haunted or Hunted 1

2011-10-17T15:56:00.005-04:00

This is the first of the lost sessions from Dragoncon 2010. The prequel to Maiden Voyage.
Here we go. Enjoy.

After Party

2011-09-21T16:51:00.000-04:00

This is a sequel to Michael Thompson's game from last Dragoncon which you'll find here in the feed. This one was a lot of fun and lots of great humor and laughs. I was a bit sleep deprived so I'm going to listen and refresh my memory.Here.

Get me Central Casting on the Phone!

2011-09-15T16:57:00.002-04:00

This isn't about the wonderful Central Casting products from the nineties, though I got quite a bit of use out of them back in the day.
This is about how Casting can improve your game. Now, first off, this doesn't apply to games where you're playing giant robots or mutant chickenmen or a very non-human character.
When I refer to casting I refer to asking the player, prior to play, who would play their character in the movie that is the game session.
I've been doing this for years and it really helps some players visualize their character better. It also helps the other players see the characters around the table as not just the player with a character sheet.
I realize that not everyone out there will have an encyclopedic knowledge of cinema and its not required. IMDB is your friend but, as always, talk to your players, ask questions, get feedback and don't force your idea on them.
As always, tailor to fit your group. If someone is resistant to the idea, don't force them.

Ghostbusters 1884 part 1

2011-09-06T15:30:00.002-04:00

This is the first part of the Ghostbusters FATE game I played in at Dragoncon 09. It was run by Michael Thompson and sharp listeners will recognize Steven Thompson's enthusiastic voice around the table.
Enjoy.

Matter of Honor from Dragoncon

2011-09-06T14:42:00.004-04:00

This is the first of my Dragoncon recordings and I had a great time because I was PLAYING!
The game is called a Matter of Honor and its run by Michael Thompson, one of the Macguffin Society; a group of GMs in the Atlanta area who are all top notch GMs and great folks.
I'm sitting at the table with a couple of the folks from the Ghostbusters 1886 game from two years ago and we had a blast.
Its set in a fantasy realm much like the setting of The Three Musketeers though there's a liberal dash of intrigue and politics as well. It uses the FATE system, one of my favorites to play.
I hope you'll have as much fun listening as I did playing.
listen

Top 3 Genres that don't translate to the table that well.

2011-09-06T14:20:00.006-04:00

I've been gaming for a long time. No, longer than that.
I was lucky, though, in that I wasn't in the initial, late-seventies generation of gamers. When I started gaming in '82 it was when companies and games were popping up out of the woodwork. D&D was the king of the sword and sorcery fantasy genre so other companies decided the best way to 'win' was to not directly compete.
This article is about which ones I've felt, over the years, that don't translate so well. I'm not saying that they couldn't, but so far, not so much.
3. Western.
Now, I imagine many folks have great Boot Hill stories but its not about the stories I'm talking about. No, my difficulty with a traditional western is the lethality. Don't get me wrong, I love westerns, film and literature, but when you are playing in a game with a random element for task resolution you are going to have folks get shot.
Without superpowers or some supernatural defenses, folks get shot, folks die.
So most 'western' games that do work do so by being non-traditional or, in the case of Dust Devils, make the destruction of the character the point of the game.
2. Super Heroes.
This is going to sound crazy coming from me, as its my second favorite genre to run but this one makes the list not because the rules don't work but, generally speaking, its the players vs the genre.
Most players find the idea of not killing their enemies and not looting the bodies and dealing with the melodrama to be dumb. Unless all of your players are superhero comic junkies, its going to be a rough road to hoe.
And finally, at number one..
1. Horror.
This one sounds even crazier coming from me as this IS my favorite genre to run. Once again, it doesn't go to fault with finding a game that works. There's some great systems for horror, from Little Fears, to Dread to Call of Cthulhu. The difficulty comes with getting the players to not only get into the mood but to STAY there. Players are friends and sometimes they want to joke and jibe and break mood. Its normally easy to recover the flow though, but in horror its much much harder.
Once one of the guys mocks the monster or makes a sexual innuendo about the dangerous psycho its almost over for the horror part. Also, since you are trying to evoke fear and horror, its doubly difficult because not everyone has the same idea of what is fearful or terrifying.
Some folks cover their eyes at a a slasher flick while others are having a ball and laughing.
Session 9 is my prime example. Its an hour plus slow burn until the horror erupts. I find it one of my absolute favorite horror films because of that slow build.
But you run a game like that, some of your players will get bored. And a bored player is a dangerous and disruptive player.
Tomorrow, the three that translate, for me, the best.

Countdown to Dragoncon

2011-08-03T12:15:00.003-04:00

Well, another Labor Day weekend will soon be upon us and with it will be another Dragoncon.

This will be my 14th one. The con had started to become a bit dull for me about five years ago. I was beginning to feel that I was just going to be going.

That was when I started to run games at Dragoncon.

It changed things for me there. I felt like I had a reason to go besides all the stuff to see and do. I feel like I'm part of the con and an active participant.

This year, I'll be running two games, two sessions each.

The first is called Heroic Effort. Its a re-working, or even a re-imagining of one I ran my second year running using Mutants and Masterminds 2e. I'm updating it for 3e and changing the name from its original title, American Hero, to Heroic Effort.

Its about a reality gameshow to pick the newest member of the world's greatest superteam. Little did I realize that George R.R. Martin would steal the name and concept for his Wild Card novel a year later.

I'm kidding, of course. I'm certain its just great minds, or a great mind and a median mind, thinking alike.

The other game is a sequel of sorts to last year's CoC game. That one was about a weekend party gala held at a country estate for a family. One of my great regrets is that I lost the memory card with those audio recordings. They were great sessions and I think that family deserves another look.

I hope to try out some new games, see some old friends, and make some new ones. Hope to see you all there!

London After Midnight

2011-02-23T15:23:00.001-05:00

http://www.heroic-effort.com/files/Lam1.mp3

New Year New Game

2011-02-23T15:19:00.002-05:00

Hello everyone, sorry for the absence. I can't really justify it. There are times in my life when I just get disinterested in everything. I'm seeking help so here's hoping it'll get better.

But enough about that.

We have a new game for you folks. Its called London After Midnight and it uses the Unisystem. I got everyone together, gave them each two chips, and we hashed out a game. What we got seems a bit Cthulhu, a bit Dresden, and so far a very enjoyable game.

Links to follow.

Dresden from Dragoncon2

2010-10-19T15:36:00.001-04:00

Here is the second Dresden Files RPG recording from Dragoncon. Enjoy.

Dresden Files, my experience

2010-10-19T15:29:00.002-04:00

I went into Dragoncon with one real intention this year: to get to try the Dresden Files RPG. What really helped me get into the games I wanted to was a combination of two things. One, that Dragoncon closed pre-reg very early this year, enabling me to have a chance to register on site. Two, just showing up at the alloted times for the sessions to start. I got lucky and had some drops in the Dresden game I wanted to play.

My only dissapointment? I couldn't get any of my local friends to sit in with me.

Hopefully these recordings will give them an idea of the game.

I played it twice under two different gms with two different styles. The first was Michael Thompson, who I played Spirit of The Century under last year. He's the one that ran the Ghostbusters 1885 game thats in the recordings.

He presented the system beautifully. The character folders he handed out have inspired me to step up my own games and made the game a wonderful experience.

I wasn't playing a mage in the first game, so I didn't really get a grip on how it works. Not the down and dirty but its discussed in detail in the recording.

The second game was run by Stephen Thompson, no relation. I played with him in the Ghostbusters game last year and he is, quite possibly, the most wild and enthusiastic player I've ever met.

He GMs a great game, very cinematic. I'll post that one in just a second.

Give 'em both a listen.

Dresden from Dragoncon

2010-10-19T15:22:00.002-04:00

Here's my first experience with Dresden Files from Dragoncon 2010 this past Labor Day Weekend.

I'll talk about it more in the next post.

DC Universe RPG

2010-07-19T16:33:00.002-04:00

I pre-ordered the print copy so I was sent the PDF for free.

Of what I've read so far, I'm liking it. The stats have changed the names a bit, and there are some that there weren't before. I'll go more in depth later.

The biggest change to the stats is you are no longer buying them on a 3-18 and beyond scale to get a +2 bonus beyond the human average of 10, which you started with for free anyway. Instead its on a scale of -5 to 20, with what you are paying for as the actual bonus.

Jamie, one of my players, complained just last week that he felt it was 'dumb' to buy the odd numbered stats since they didn't provide a bonus. Well, that's done.

The feats are now called advantages but are pretty much unchanged.

The powers section also seems unchanged, just much more clear.

I'll talk more about it as I dig in deeper.

So far, I'm liking it, though.

And on to number 2 for today.

2010-07-16T04:47:00.001-04:00

And here is the second of three updates I promised you, the Arkham Horror/CoC mashup, part 3.

We were getting into full swing here and folks started to come out of their shells and participate.

Enjoy.

Sorry for the delay.

2010-07-16T04:44:00.002-04:00

Apologies all, been on holiday this past week. But here we are again with the first of three updates.

First up is the intro session for Epsilon Terra. I hope you enjoy it half as much as we did.

Arkham Horror/CoC part 3

2010-06-27T10:50:00.002-04:00

Well, we're back up and running, despite rumors to the contrary.

I'm happy to share with you today the third episode of CoC/AH mashup. Stan joined us for this session.

This was back during a time when we tried to play on the weekends. It was a hard and irregular schedule, do to conflicts with real life.

Overall, I've been happy with the move to Mondays we made last year.

Here it is.

Apologies for the absence.

2010-06-22T11:00:00.002-04:00

Sorry, folks.

The old computer went blooey. I'm not sure what it was but I have replaced the old machine.

Not with something top of the line but it will service.

Sadly, we also had a hiccup with the recorder and lost the epic last session of Bad Kansas. We've moved on but things took a very strange turn.

We're going to take a break from CoC for a bit to let tempers cool.

Next week we'll be playing something new. I hope you'll like it, I'll be posting more about it as I develop it this week.

I'll also be posting more Arkham Horror/CoC mashup later this week.

Epsilon Terra part 2

2010-06-14T13:00:00.002-04:00

Part two of our first foray into sci-fi gaming is now available, in which our players are introduced to Unisystem combat.

Enjoy: part 2

Arkham/CoC part 2

2010-06-10T11:14:00.001-04:00

Well, this is the remainder of the last session when we discovered the recorder had, well, stopped recording.

Enjoy!

link

The Road, Twisted Tales From Route 66

2010-06-05T21:29:00.003-04:00

About this time last year, I got the idea to set a CoC campaign along route 66. It was completed in 1927, right during the height of the cuthulhu mythos era and, the thing that caught my attention when reading up on it, there's a weird little thirteen mile stretch where the route runs into Kansas and right back out again.

Well, I did a scenario for Dragoncon called Thirteen Miles of Bad Kansas and ran it there. The audio of that is here.

Then I started the campaign for my friends. We are still playing it right now.

Part one of the campaign is here.

A wonderful gift from my friends

2010-06-01T12:17:00.003-04:00

Last night, after our first arc of Epsilon Terra ended, I asked everyone what we should play next.

Something new? Or revisit an old setting?

Doug suggested, and I agreed, that, having been left out of the boys sci-fi adventure, Sasha should choose.

Before she could voice her opinion, Bryan, James, and Doug all voiced their desire to return to Call of Cthulhu, specifically our adventure on Route 66.

Sasha agreed that she wanted to do that too.

It was a really great feeling to see so much enthusiasm for a CoC setting that, seemingly, doesn't really seem to follow the traditions of the Cthulhu mythos published settings or stories.

I'll begin to start posting the older sessions to the feed so you can catch up.

As always, comments are appreciated.

More CoC mashup!

2010-06-01T08:42:00.002-04:00

Here's part two of the Arkham Horror, CoC mashup. Its a shorter part, about an hour as we realized the recorder's batteries and done gone to a better place. Then they went back in the charger.

Enjoy

How serious should you take a Game?

2010-05-29T12:05:00.002-04:00

I've thought about this for awhile now.

As my group's primary GM, I put a lot of thought and effort into each game. I do it because I like it and I feel my friends deserve my best efforts.

But sometimes I think I take it too seriously and go too far, putting pressure and a sense of obligation, or expectation, on my players.

I'm trying to throttle it back but I just know we can hit it out of the park when everyone relaxes and gets into it.

I'm just not really sure how to promote that.

Warhammer, New God Risen

2010-05-27T19:40:00.002-04:00

We started this campaign about three months ago. It had a mini-marathon at the beginning with three play sessions in the first week. We were having some recorder issues so apologies if it cuts off a little short.

link here

DC returning to Pen and Paper rpgs with Green Ronin/Mutants and Masterminds.

2010-05-24T14:35:00.002-04:00

Big announcement. I've never made a secret that Mutants and Masterminds is my second favorite superhero RPG. Top spot still goes to Champions but its steep learning curve keeps a few folks away.

So, I heard about and read about this news today. Green Ronin is not only coming out with a third edition of Mutants and Masterminds, they're also going to be producing the licensed DC Adventures rpg which will be fully compatible with M&M 3e.

I'm pretty stoked by this turn of events, no lie.

You can read more about it here.

What's wrong with 4e?

2010-05-23T13:42:00.003-04:00

Its not a question I've been asked by anyone else, its one I've asked myself quite often. Why am I not running 4e? Whenever I manage to brave one of the local game stores and head to the bulletin board, to see in anyone has replied to my flyer looking for new players, I'm often met with disappointment. Not from my flyer, all the little tabs have been pulled off, (though nobody ever calls/emails, the cowards. :P), no the disappointment comes from all the other flyers on the board of folks who are looking for a game. After you wade through all the folks wanting someone else to play Warhammer 40k, all you're left with are flyers of folks that want to play 4e.

That's it.

I've only played a demo of the game and, while it was fun, it wasn't what I considered an rpg. Maybe I'd been broken by already playing Fantasy Flight Games' boardgame Descent, but the games eerily similar.

I felt that, in both games, I was playing as a playing piece, not a multi-faceted character with individual foibles and characteristics.

I might as well be trying to roleplay as the scottish terrier from the monopoly set.

So I don't understand the fascination with this tactical minatures game combined with CCG mechanics. I'd love someone to explain it to me. If you'd like to, please reply because I'm starting to feel old.

Really old.

Did I mention I turned 40 last month?

Raw game feed from the vault.

2010-05-23T13:30:00.002-04:00

Here's a blast from the past. Raw game feed from a few years back. Its a mashup of Arkham Horror and Call of Cthulhu. Listen to part 1, character generation.

Epsilon Terra

2010-05-23T11:29:00.001-04:00

Its that time of year again. Its time for me to start thinking and writing up what games I'll be running for Dragoncon this year.

The first contender is Epsilon Terra. Its a scifi game I've cooked up using the Unisystem and All Tomorrow's Zombies.

We have a few sessions under our belt and here is Session one for your enjoyment.

Where does the time go?

2010-05-23T11:23:00.002-04:00

Well, its been far too long since I've updated the Blog. Starting tomorrow and at least twice a week I will be posting updates of my thoughts on gaming and related media as well as telling you about my players and the games we're doing.

Sorry for the long absence.

Fresh Audio

2009-09-16T15:04:00.003-04:00

Well, after being sick all weekend, (and still managing to get a session of The Road in with my local group), I've finally got my Dragoncon audio up.
I also am almost all caught up on new sessions of The Road: Tales from Route 66.
More to talk about later.

What a week!

2009-09-09T14:44:00.002-04:00

Well, I didn't update before I left but I'm back from Dragoncon.
Thanks to some good friends, I was able to make the trip. It was a great time and I ran some games for some wonderful folks. There were some familar faces and some new ones and once again I was just blown away by the creativity that these fine gamers could cook up with just a few minutes to think about a pre-made character just handed to them.
I ran one session of Call of Cthulhu, a tie-in to my current campaign; Route 66. I'm still trying to cook up a catchy name.
I also ran two sessions of Mutants and Masterminds.
Aaaaaand I finally got to play Spirit of the Century. The game was Ghostbusters 1884 and it was an absolute blast. There were some battery issues with the recorder on that one but nothing was lost.
I've had a bit of con crud the last couple of days but I should have the audio of my games up tonight.
I'll post when they're ready.

A hiccup and dissapointments

2009-09-01T06:23:00.003-04:00

Well, I ran over a curb and bent a control arm under my car. Hello six hundred bucks in repairs, and goodbye to Dragoncon. Just no way I can swing it. So, I have my vacation scheduled for me to go and I have to spend all my con funds on auto repairs.
I'm going to be sitting at home without my car and not working while Con is going on. Bleah.
I haven't missed one in a dozen years and I am, of course, upset, but I was a bit doubtful about how good a time I was going to have.
This was going to be the first year I was going alone and I was just not sure I'd have a good time by myself.
Well, next year I'm thinking of trying Gen-Con, and I'll try to get a group of folks to go too. Here's hoping.

Fun Television

2009-08-25T11:40:00.003-04:00

Its weird to say it, but FUN is my number one qualification for a good show. Gripping is nice, Thrilling is also good, but Fun is what'll bring me back.
Its why so many of my favorite shows are comedies. Sure, they're sometimes pretty black or bleak comedies, but its almost always got this sense of fun.
Two of my favorite shows on TV are about this aforementioned word: Leverage and Burn Notice.
Leverage stars Timothy Hutton as an ex-insurance agent that leads a team of thieves to help folks. I like that there's layers to each job, the characters are great, and you can tell there's a great time to be had just making the show.
Burn Notice, starring Jeffery Donovan and geek media staple Bruce Campbell, well, its a great show about a burned spy. And, blah-de-blah, looks like a lot of fun to make and its great fun to watch.
I'm typing this and I realize that these shows have a lot in common with another show from a long long time ago that I loved and its for the same reasons. The show was the Rockford Files. Its available on Netflix streaming and I highly recommend it.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Third Edition

2009-08-25T06:05:00.002-04:00

When FFG took over WFRPG from Black Industries last year, I was hopeful. I enjoy all of the boardgames I've ever purchased from Fantasy Flight Games and, as it looked like they were continuing the wonderful 2nd edition game products, this was going to be great.
Well, they produced two books and they were good.
Then, last week, I read about third edition.
Cards, custom dice, stances...
I was and am a bit scared that they are DnD 4e'ing my favorite game.
read a bit here
Today, I watched a video seminar about it. My opinion is more open than before. I don't like the game supplies limiting the number of players to three plus the GM or needing to buy an expansion to add a fourth one.
I also don't like that halflings are not in the basic game.
That said, it seems interesting and I do like that it seems to give focus and guides to roleplay through the mechanics. Whereas I've felt that the mechanics in DnD 4e are almost actively opposed to deep character interaction or story.
Link to the seminar
So, depending on finances, I might just pick it up. I hope the price point breaks down a bit cheaper than previous WFRP products and that the game doesn't become too larger than life. The darkness and everyman nature of the player characters is what always attracted me to the game before.

More Route 66 soon.

2009-08-25T05:57:00.003-04:00

I have two more sessions in the can, just have to upload 'em to the site.
I don't do a lot of editing of the sessions. Heck, I don't know if I've ever done much to them. I don't know if its laziness or if I feel that editing them seems like cheating.
When I say cheating, I mean, well, another word for it would be produced. That you're not hearing the actual gameplay, warts and all, but an idealized version of it.
Anyway, the game gets more fun for me to run with each session and I'm firmly decided to keep the chip mechanic.
Its a work in progress but the way it works now is that at the beginning of each session, each player is given one black chip and three reds. The black chips are for plot points or direct statements that change what I've said about what they see or know, subject to GM approval. The red chips are used for rerolls.
At the end of the session, the chips become akin to experience points, with the red chips allowing rerolls on skill improvement checks and the black chips allowing the player to select a skill that wasn't used this session to attempt to improve it, even including skills they don't have, subject to GM approval. Well, except for Cthulhu Mythos, of course.
I still weep at the lack of new players, gnashing my teeth and despairing at finding folks that don't want to just play DnD 4e. Not that I am an ardent hater of it, just that its not something I want to run.
Dragoncon is just over a week away. I hope to meet a lot of new folks there and record some game audio as well as maybe get some interviews or audio spots for the podcast which I'm still trying to get off the ground.
Hope to see you there!

Mercury Man

2009-08-18T22:58:00.002-04:00

I love Netflix, I really do.
Its an innovative idea that seems so simple in concept you wonder 'why didn't I think of that'.
But what makes my subscription great is the streaming content, especially in conjunction with my Xbox 360.
The movie I'm going to talk about came out last year and its a Thai film, an area of films I haven't been exposed to til very recently.
Brian and I sat down last week and started through a few. This one caught our interests because, well, I love superhero movies and Brian was willing to follow along as he rightly assumed that there would be tons of martial arts action.
Well, we were both satisfied with Mercury Man.
It was a big, fun train ride of an action film with the now somewhat common trope of the baddie being a middle-eastern terrorist. It was a bit of a twist, the film trying to make the viewer somewhat sympathetic to his cause.
I might have found it easier if he wasn't wearing eye-shadow and lipstick..
The hero's powers are somewhat vaguely defined and that's okay, because what its really about is the smackin' and whackin' and this movie has this in spades. Men fighting Men. Women fighting Women. Men fighting Women. And big explosions for all.
I don't want to give away too much so I'll end it here by saying its a fun thrill ride that any action fan will get a kick out of.
Three Stars of Five.

Dragoncon 2009

2009-08-18T22:48:00.002-04:00

Whelp, here we are again and the only major convention I go every year.
Dragoncon in Atlanta.
Attendance is supposed to be at a record high this year and I believe it. When the economy gets bad, nerds need to commiserate and wear funny costumes.
I go for the gaming and, every year, its seemed to get a bit better.
When I first went, all gaming was in the grand ballroom of the Hyatt. Its a huge space, no barriers, and dozens of big round tables. It was loud, poorly arrranged, and drearily lit.
Then, we moved to the individual banquet rooms on the same floor. It was somewhat quieter but still poorly lit.
From there, it was the bottom level of the Mariott, where the vendor halls used to be. It was pretty nice; quiet, relaxed and none of the rooms were too crowded.
For the past two years, however, we've been in the Hilton, and its a great change.
Granted, gaming is now a bit off the beaten track to the rest of the con, except for autograph alley and a few panels, but its really nice, with the scheduled games in nice rooms with no overcrowding and the open gaming area downstairs in a large open area.
Gaming isn't all I go for, as I have a regular weekly group, but I found that when I tried to see everything, I missed most things.
So, gaming is a touchstone for me and the rest is catch as I can.
Last year I got to stay at one of the host hotels. And, while it was expensive, it was certainly worth it. Nothing like taking a two hour nap and going down to the con to take pictures of all the great costumes, fully alert.
This year, I'll be staying farther out, unfortunately. I just can't afford the host prices.
I just have to keep positive that it won't ruin the experience.
Hope to see some folks there!

Where does the time go?

2009-08-18T22:23:00.002-04:00

Good googally moogally. I can't believe its been two months since my last post.
In that time there have been a few changes at work a lot of extra hours and a bit of wandering of the mental variety.
If you go to the site, you'll see that there's the start of a new game posted. This is a CoC adventure set around Route 66. Considering it started, the actual Route, that is, in 1926, I'm surprised I was the first to think of basing an adventure/campaign around them.
I didn't record the character generation session, because I had no idea if it would be interesting.
So, of course, it turned out to be one of the most interesting sessions yet.
Anyway, there's another session in the bag that I'll post tonight. Melinda's new work schedule is making it difficult to get everyone together. 3 to 11 is not conductive to social activities, even less so that 11 to 7!
Anyway...
Comics that I am reading that you should try!
It was a few years ago when, in a stroke of long overdue genius, that Marvel and DC decided to finally have the big crossover that every ten year old comic fan had been having on the schoolyard with his friends for the past thirty years. To kick it off, they had a big VS series where the readers would decide the outcome via a call-in number, much like the one that killed old Robin back in the day.
It was while I was thinking about my votes, as a man in my twenties, that I realized something that I didn't know about myself til then.
One, that I was and am a tremendous dork, not that I have a tremendous dork, its huge at best, and two; that I'm a DC fanboy.
I mean, when you pick notch-shaved head Superboy over Spiderman, there's no dancing around it.
This brings me back to my comic recommendations. I haven't purchased a lot of Marvel comics in recent years. Blame the Big Event mentality, blame BND, or just chalk it up to personal taste. Agents of Atlas is a definite must read for me. I'll talk about it and my particular love for it in another post but its a strong book.
Independants are what I read mostly and will probably make up the rest of this impromptu list.
Invincible.
Its my favorite solo-hero title, bar none. Even when the gore flies, the book still has me tightly in its grip. One of its strongest features, I find, is its willingness to kill any of the supporting cast if it fits the story. Nobody is safe. Heck, this last arc had me wondering if the main character was safe! The art by Ryan Ottley is jaw dropping at times and always pleasing. Robert Kirkman's scripts are tight and gripping.
Dynamo Five.
This is my favorite team book. The concept is fresh and the story is fantastic. Every issue continues to get stronger and stronger. No second-year slump for this title.

And, my biggest recent dissapointments:
Green Arrow/Black Canary. Bleh. The writing is horrid, the art is passable, and the characters are far from how they've ever been depicted before. If I decide to start giving stars this would be my first half-star title. Its on paper, there are pictures and words, and that is the extent of the good things I have to say about it.
I'm still pretty disgusted for how Birds of Prey, Nightwing, and Robin all got the bullet behind the woodshed to make way for the new 'status quo' in the bat-family. None more than BoP. If for no other reason than, in every other appearance of the characters from that book, they've been marginalized or greatly changed.
Enough of that rant.
My other big dissapointment title: JLA. After digging around a bit and finding out how Dwayne McDuffie's hands were tied while he tried to write a book about the greatest superhero team in the DCU, I feel for him. Its sad watching a writer whose work I love get chopped off at the kneess and then blamed when the product isn't interesting to readers.
Since his departure, the slide into mediocrity continues. I have seen solicits for a new line-up that will include variants of the Big Three that should always be available. What a great idea! Why couldn't they have given at least one or two of these to McDuffie a year ago?
Well, new comics come out tomorrow so here's hoping for a gem.
Randy

BeeTeeDub

2009-06-17T11:26:00.001-04:00

I thought I'd put this out there that my rpg group is currently at four players so I'm searching for a couple of folks in the savannah area that are wanting to join up.
We play a wide variety of games and we're always up for something new.

New Game

2009-06-17T09:53:00.000-04:00

So, the problem I've been having within my gaming group is not that difficult to understand; I love comic book rpgs. Well, the problem is that half of my current group are girls who don't read comics. You'd think with the current spate of comic book films hitting the multiplexes that it would be easy to get them interested.
Well, you'd think wrong.
So, third time's the charm, this time I tried a fresh idea that will hopefully keep them interested.
The new setting/campaign I started this last Saturday is called The Line. Its about a city, tentatively called Chicago unless I find that a bit too limiting, that is under seige by supernatural and paranormal forces beyond the ability of human agency to cope with.
Some of these groups and individuals have greater purposes. The end result is the same though, the very heart of the city, its spirit, is being stretched and torn at and pulled to its breaking point.
On a special night, when the evil tide is rising, the city pushes back.
Individuals who died protecting the city and its people are brought back, with abilities related to how they died.
First session went okay, not as well structured as I normally do but I'll work harder for the next one.
If you'd like to give a listen, its up at my site, here
Stop on by and post here about what you think, or any ideas or the like.
Thanks for stopping by.

Greetings and welcome

2009-06-17T09:51:00.000-04:00

Welcome aboard!
I decided to start a new blog for my site and my efforts as well as to talk about my gaming experiences and thoughts on movies, books, and other things.