Buys
As I'm getting near the end of my New Series Doctor Who novels, I grabbed the last of the Tennant ones, many of which feature returning aliens: The Krillitane Storm, Autonomy, The Taking of Chelsea 426, Prisoner of the Daleks and The Slitheen Excursion. The Sontaran Games quick read was also part of that shopping splurge, as was Jeffrey Brown's second cat book, Cats Are Weird and More Observations.
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: Johnnie To is the master of casually brutal and spontaneous violence, which is always somehow more disturbing than elaborate gorefests. Election has a lot of those moments, punctuating a portrait of the Hong Kong triads and their traditions as two men vie for the position of chairman. Will patience or aggression win out in the end? As with To's other films, this is more thoughtful than most gangster films, but a little more action-oriented than, say, PTU. A really good film, but then, I usually love anything with Simon Yam in it. The DVD includes in-depth interviews with the director and some of the actors which put the slight making of to shame.
Books: I finally got up to the Master's return and regeneration in the New Adventures range of Doctor Who novels - First Frontier - and while I usually enjoy David McIntee's well-researched historicals, he leaves me wanting a little here. There's still research, mostly into the 1950s space race and communist paranoia-fueled B-movies, but there are just too many similar characters to keep track of. Military guys spread across three bases, plus an alien race split into three types, with secret identities besides, makes the supporting cast start to blur after a while. Still good fun, and the new Master (reputedly based on Basil Rathbone) is a welcome change from Ainley's panto villainy, but I guess I was expecting more. The Master could have regenerated 100 pages sooner, for example.
RPGs: I'd say our Savage Worlds/Evernight campaign just entered its third act this week (with, count 'em, TWO sessions) as a battle royale against the Masters is promised in the next five days. Or five sessions. Or less. Depending on how it goes. Players are taking that opportunity to start resolving their character arcs, spending time with key NPCs, and acting out the learning of lessons. I don't know where they see themselves at campaign's end, or if they'll successfully get there, but I've encouraged them to at least think about it. Whatever fate their characters come to in this game will be somehow transposed into their next characters as a sort of wyrd (as per my Eternal Champion notion).
Also been tinkering with DC Adventures, trying to come up with a campaign concept before asking players to come up with characters. The current idea is to replace Booster Gold with a team of Time Masters to protect the timeline(s), composed of Out Own Heroes(TM) from across all of time and space (and any obscure/alt heroes that might come up). We'll see who bites.
New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 16 from Amy's Choice
Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
Other Hamlets: Gilligan's Island
As I'm getting near the end of my New Series Doctor Who novels, I grabbed the last of the Tennant ones, many of which feature returning aliens: The Krillitane Storm, Autonomy, The Taking of Chelsea 426, Prisoner of the Daleks and The Slitheen Excursion. The Sontaran Games quick read was also part of that shopping splurge, as was Jeffrey Brown's second cat book, Cats Are Weird and More Observations.
"Accomplishments"
DVDs: Johnnie To is the master of casually brutal and spontaneous violence, which is always somehow more disturbing than elaborate gorefests. Election has a lot of those moments, punctuating a portrait of the Hong Kong triads and their traditions as two men vie for the position of chairman. Will patience or aggression win out in the end? As with To's other films, this is more thoughtful than most gangster films, but a little more action-oriented than, say, PTU. A really good film, but then, I usually love anything with Simon Yam in it. The DVD includes in-depth interviews with the director and some of the actors which put the slight making of to shame.
Books: I finally got up to the Master's return and regeneration in the New Adventures range of Doctor Who novels - First Frontier - and while I usually enjoy David McIntee's well-researched historicals, he leaves me wanting a little here. There's still research, mostly into the 1950s space race and communist paranoia-fueled B-movies, but there are just too many similar characters to keep track of. Military guys spread across three bases, plus an alien race split into three types, with secret identities besides, makes the supporting cast start to blur after a while. Still good fun, and the new Master (reputedly based on Basil Rathbone) is a welcome change from Ainley's panto villainy, but I guess I was expecting more. The Master could have regenerated 100 pages sooner, for example.
RPGs: I'd say our Savage Worlds/Evernight campaign just entered its third act this week (with, count 'em, TWO sessions) as a battle royale against the Masters is promised in the next five days. Or five sessions. Or less. Depending on how it goes. Players are taking that opportunity to start resolving their character arcs, spending time with key NPCs, and acting out the learning of lessons. I don't know where they see themselves at campaign's end, or if they'll successfully get there, but I've encouraged them to at least think about it. Whatever fate their characters come to in this game will be somehow transposed into their next characters as a sort of wyrd (as per my Eternal Champion notion).Also been tinkering with DC Adventures, trying to come up with a campaign concept before asking players to come up with characters. The current idea is to replace Booster Gold with a team of Time Masters to protect the timeline(s), composed of Out Own Heroes(TM) from across all of time and space (and any obscure/alt heroes that might come up). We'll see who bites.
New Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG cards: 16 from Amy's Choice
Hyperion to a Satyr posts this week:
Other Hamlets: Gilligan's Island
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