North Star Online 2020: Last, Best Hope - Post Convention thoughts

Our Last, Best Hope... that's what organising this convention felt like.

As many of you know, I'm part of a loose group of five of us who organise the Garricons, roleplaying conventions at the Garrison Hotel in Sheffield. This is the fifteenth year that we've been doing them, but my involvement is somewhat shorter as I joined when most of the founding committee stood down. Graham is the only founder left, with Jag, Guy, Elaine and myself also involved.

I'm involved in three of the conventions in depth, and sit out the other one. The biggest - and original - is Furnace, which will have its fifteenth year this October. We also run two more niche conventions; Revelation (focussed around the Powered by the Apocalypse and Forged in the Dark game engines) and North Star (focussed around SF RPGs). All three bring different crowds with some overlap. Furnace has 70 to 80 attendees, the other two 30 to 40.

All the conventions have an element of pre-booking managed through Google Sheets. If you GM, you automatically get a priority choice for one slot for each game you run. Typically we have five gaming slots and limit GMs to two games. That means, if you GM, you have a good chance of knowing exactly what games you're in for 80% of the convention before the rest of the players have chosen. We randomise GMs and allocate games up to around 75% full. Games are never fully pre-booked before players can get there. You can give a number of choices. At Revelation and North Star,  we then allocate all the player spaces (including the remaining slots that GMs have) in the same way. Furnace is a hybrid, where each player gets a single pre-sign (otherwise it would be a monster). Elaine developed the system and it's great.

The Garrison is a wonderful venue, made from an old gaol-house from the times that the government used to base troops at major industrial cities in case the workers got uppity. It's in Hillsborough, which is a bit poignant as a Liverpool FC supporter as you pass the ground the 96 died at to get there. The games are run in old cells, and it has a great ambiance. The Hotel and staff are wonderfully supportive of the conventions (not really surprising as we can fill the place and have lots of people who behave, drink beer and have food).

North Star came about after a conversation post Travcon (Traveller RPG focussed convention) between myself, Graham and Tom Z about whether we should try and organise a Travcon North. Graham and I ran with the idea, and it grew legs. We broadened to all SF. Elaine came on board for the first one, and helped get the systems right, but stepped out after the first year. It has been popular enough to continue with.

I've spent most of my time from the start of March leading the COVID-19 response at work, so I quickly realised that we were going to have issues. Graham had a similar view; we left it as late as we could, but we had to cancel, along with one of the sister conventions, Seven Hills. A donation was made to the Garrison Hotel because this was before the government closed down the hospitality industry. We muttered a mad idea that perhaps we should run this online, and then parked it as we focussed on work.

Someone nudged us on the Facebook group the week before North Star had been scheduled and asked about what had happened to the plan? Graham and I mused in WhatsApp exchanges. I dropped a poll on the group and we had a good number express interest. Graham suggested the weekend of 30/31 May 2020 would be great as people would have been going to Expo and it would be nice to get some gaming done then. So I cheekily announced 'Last, Best Hope' and then told Graham I'd done it. As he'd been wanting to get on with it and the date worked, he was happy. But this gave us three weeks to organise a convention.

It was on-the-job training to learn Google Forms...

I settled on Google Forms as a way to register; usually we do this through Paypal, but as we were not charging, we needed to do this right for GDPR and good practice. Very quickly we got to the mid-twenties in attendees. We knew we had about 30% of people interested in running games from the sign-ups, but we also knew that many people didn't want to play all slots. As numbers developed, it looking like were were a game short on what we'd usually want but I was hoping that this would balance out with the people who wanted to take some breaks. As it happens, it did, but it wasn't the kind of risk that I'd have taken with a face-to-face convention. We did warn people that there was a risk that they could end up without a game; however, they weren't losing out on costs of travel and attending, so everyone seemed reasonable.

We had a sudden surge two weeks before the convention which took us over 40 attendees so I had to quickly close down the link between Forms and the Sheet with the results. In the time between doing this and announcing it, at least two people tried to sign up on the link. We also had a number of cheeky buggers who signed up after the convention had closed, in some cases several days, but told us they'd signed up on time. We still accommodated them.

GM game booking then started. We began by limiting GMs to running in a single slot (to get as much variety as possible) and then opened it to two slots when we realised that a lot of games were for 3-5 players so we needed more options for players. We'd also taken the decision to only run two slots each day, as our experience showed that online gaming is more tiring.

Our GMs seem to flock to the same games...

Once this was filled, I opened GM pre-booking at the weekend; most GMs got it done swiftly, and that left us with a clear vision on how many players we needed to accommodate. GM pre-booking quickly showed us the pinch points.

We opened player pre-booking on the late May Bank Holiday Monday and had a hard close of Wednesday evening. I'd originally said midday, but ended up in work that day. By Wednesday night, I'd randomised and allocated the games and every player and GM had been contacted to allow them to plan how they would do the game. We sneaked a few people in and let a few out. A couple of GMs were disappointed without enough sign ups, and we ended up with a couple of players missing one or two slots. I think Keary was the worst affected, but when we found him some slots, he opted to prepare for his game instead.

The biggest change from how we usually prepare for conventions was the use of Google Forms. We also had to ask what platforms a GM planned to use so players could see, in case there was an issue!

Graham recorded a rather excellent introduction on YouTube, which let the cat out of the bag that we were already planning for what to do for Furnace if we still have to socially distance. Personally, I don't see how this can be viable with the spacing we face.

We used the Gaming Tavern, Facebook Group and direct emails for communications. BT Internet kills multiple BCC posts as spam, which was a learning.

The weekend went really smoothly; I'll post separately on my games later. Different services performed better than others, but generally, much fun seemed to be had.

To do this at a larger scale will be challenging, but I think we've proved that it is very much doable. Both Graham and I are pleased that it worked, and gave people a gaming fest to escape the lockdown, if only for a while.

31 May 2020

Poor UI design in the new Blogger interface

The existing, now 'legacy' interface. Functional, okay?

I switched to Blogger from my old webpage software back in January 2019, and have slowly been migrating posts over ever since. However, I've done over 200 on the new platform.

The main interface isn't perfect (for example the page selection isn't repeated at the bottom) but it's functional, clean and easy to parse. View counts, comment counts etc are in columns and a page has a decent level of data. Click through above to see properly.

This is all changing.

The new, 'mobile friendly' interface. Meh!

Blogger has slowly added a new interface that's mobile friendly over the last year. Generally, I've liked it. However, I really detest the new front page.

They've added an image, and layered data over itself. Gone are the clean columns that are easy to scan and read. The information density is massively down as the pictures and layering mean each post takes more space. You have a limited number of posts on view and have to scroll really quickly.

It's poor design for a normal browser. Fortunately, I can use the legacy option for now.

I've left feedback, but I doubt there's hope that the course will open.

Peeved.

28 May 2020

First Impressions - Hexagon Dice Tower from ARU

The Hexagon Dice Tower (and that's a natural roll)

I placed an order with All Rolled Up, using my GM discount voucher for running at North Star Online and as part of the order I bought a dice tower. The last one that I had (from many years ago) slotted together and broke really easily, and I really liked the look of the 3D printed options that ARU are offering now. So I decided to make a Hexagon Matte Spiral Dice Tower mine (£22).

It's deceptively light, sturdy and well finished.

It's ribbed.

The spiral the dice fall down has ribs to encourage them to rotate. I could (with a lot of tries) get them to land on the same face at the bottom, but if you just drop them, it's great.

I wondered about dice pools. So I dropped a full 15 dice set for Mutant Year Zero through it several times. On a hard surface (or one that has higher friction) you may want to raise the dice tower as dice can slow and block the exit. I found this happened on the carpet and to a lesser extent on a table with a vinyl protector.

Dice Pool friendly. The result of this roll is not character friendly.

It's a nice object. Do you need it? No. Is it fun? Yes.

Recommended.

Dice Towers at All Rolled Up here: https://www.allrolledup.co.uk/product-category/dice-towers/

There is a 10% discount code that works this weekend for North Star which is open to all: 

Code NS20V10

28 May 2020

Berlin Station - Season 1 [no spoilers]

Berlin Station - watching you.

I picked up Berlin Station by chance, as it was shown as a recommendation on Amazon when I was looking at another spy-related film. I'm glad I did.

This is a ten-part series set in modern-day Berlin, in the CIA Station. A former analyst, Daniel Miller, is assigned to the station; it's his first field assignment in ten years, and no-one in the station knows that he's really there to find a mole, Thomas Shaw. Thomas Shaw is a CIA member who is leaking information about the unethical and illegal operations that the CIA has carried out globally. Berlin Station is in crisis, as suddenly all Shaw's leaks are focused around their operations. There's friction between the Chief of Station and his underlings, and the politics and tension are visible. The leaks are being published by a Berlin newspaper, so it's believed that Shaw must be at the station or have some link to it.

The series opens dramatically, and much of the season is a flashback which brings you to understand what has just happened. There are layers of plots with entwined threads and it manages to treat the characters sympathetically even when they may have done terrible things. They feel very human. There is friction between the BfV (Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz) and CIA due to the bugging of Angela Merkel's phone, and Mossad is operating quietly in the background. Everyone is playing everyone else. The ending is satisfying, and I'm looking forward to watching the next series.

If you like spy-thrillers, complex plotting, and compromised characters, this is one for you. I'll add that Berlin itself is a character in this, giving a cosmopolitan and decadent backdrop for the plots to fester in.

The opening music is great; the NIN take on David Bowie's 'Afraid of Americans'. I've linked it here for your entertainment.

Berlin Station Season 1 Main Title from Elastic on Vimeo.

Recommended.

22 May 2020

What brought me into gaming?

I bought the first issue of Space Voyager magazine* which had some great stuff on Blakes 7 (Liberator blueprints) and also an article on roleplaying and the different types of games (1981). The description fascinated me but none of the local shops stocked any of these games. I read the magazine again and again and the itch to explore these games more never went away.

Space Voyager - the catnip that drew me in.

(*great article by Paul Cockburn here on Space Voyager)

Sometime in 1982 I picked up a copy of 'What is Dungeons and Dragons?' by John Butterfield, and it made me determined that I wanted to play these games. I read the first edition, and repeatedly took it out. I'm not sure about the 'fantasy cult' reference, but it certainly didn't put my parents off me reading it. There's a great section in the book which has a narrative description of what was going in a scenario as if a novel, and the facing page had the mechanics and game activity. This made me determined that I wanted to try these games.

Eventually I bought my own copy of the newer edition.

Somewhere between the two versions of the book (in 1983 I think), a copy of OGRE and Holmes Basic D&D landed in the local toy and gift shop. I saved up to buy Basic D&D and was gutted when it had gone and they told me that they didn't know when they'd get it again. Unbeknownst to me, my mum had bought it as a gift for me (for Christmas from my aunt).

I went to Chester, in September, just after I started High School for a birthday shopping trip, and looking for a copy of D&D or Traveller. I couldn't find any, but then found a copy of the just printed Games Workshop 2nd Edition Call of Cthulhu boxset. So, I went away happy with this and ran it for my friends, eventually setting up the school RPG club.

Basic D&D arrived at Christmas and I loved it. The Keep on the Borderlands formed a base for many a fun game where we raided the Caves of Chaos. Sometime in 1984, I finally got hold of Traveller (because every time I ordered it from Games Workshop mail order I ended up with a credit note rather than a game). And from that point things just progressed.

My first White Dwarf.

1984 was notable for another reason; I can remember reading the first books of the Belgariad (I'd already done Tolkien) and this 'new' magazine hitting the newsstand called White Dwarf at issue 52(!). I subscribed for the next fifty to sixty issues before it became a miniatures catalogue.

Anyway, what attracted me to roleplaying games was the huge scope, freedom and opportunity to play in different worlds and explore them with my mates. It has introduced me to many lifelong friends and pointed me at many new authors whose books I've enjoyed. It started me writing. The skills of being a GM and running games have made me more confident, and forced me to plan and think things through. I don't regret this slippery slope, and I'm glad my parents encouraged me and also the fact that our RE teacher - Miss Smith - (at a Roman Catholic High School) supported us in setting up the club and let us use her classroom.

17th May 2020

(Expanded from a shorter post on the Tavern).

Second Thoughts - Tales from the Loop Starter Set

The new Tales from the Loop Starter set looks gorgeous.

I previously reviewed the PDF of the new Tales from the Loop Starter Set and gave it a big thumbs up. So what's my opinion now that the physical item has arrived?

The box is the same height as the core book so you won't fit it in.

The box has a lovely cover and is roughly the thickness of two of the core books. It's sturdy and has plenty of space for additional material inside. Unfortunately, the box is just slightly too small to fit the core rules in. It will look great alongside them though. It does fit the GM screen inside it.

Plenty of space in the box.

Inside, we have the starter rules, the starter adventure, a map of the US and Swedish Loops, ten dice and the character sheets. There's also a catalogue and some silica gel.

The books definitely stand out!

The starter rules and adventure are both pretty distinctive; they're printed on a heavy gloss paper, staple bound and both have a thicker cardstock for the cover. The map is the same size as the original but feels like better print quality.

Five characters to start your game.

The character cards are full size, heavy-duty glossy paper with a character sheet on one side and an illustration and quote about the character on the other. There are five characters.

The original Kickstarter dice (left) vs. the starter set dice (right).

The dice are of reasonable quality. They are definitely not the same quality as the original Q Workshop dice from the Kickstarter of the core rules. They are more of a dull orange than the originals and the detail is less sharp.

All in all, the set leaves me feeling happy that I have it, and it's of good quality.

15 May 2020

Values of online services

Comparative costs (link to sheet)

I had another advert today from Grammarly, offering me a discounted service rate to upgrade from their free tier. Now, I like Grammarly, but I don't like it enough that I want to spend £110 a year to have it at the enhanced level, especially when you read that the discounted rate ends after the first year.

It set me thinking on the costs of online services.

I abandoned Adobe when they went to the Creative Cloud which rocks in at a massive £600 a year. My use scenario was Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and Acrobat, which means that the whole suite is the cheapest way to get this. I used to upgrade every two versions when it was Creative Suite (so £400 to £500 every 2-3 years) and was happy to do that. These days I've have moved to Affinity Publisher, Photo and Designer, with PDFPen Pro filling replacing Acrobat. I don't miss Adobe, especially as the last upgrade I did which left a bad taste (they bounced me into upgrading saying that it wouldn't be possible after a set date, and then - after I did - offered an upgrade to the next version a few months later which would cost me a similar amount).

Dropbox is the most costly service I pay for (I'm ignoring Spotify here as that's a different niche). It's rock solid and a service I trust. I don't trust iCloud (I've never lost data but I have lost access and gone around in circles) and I prefer Dropbox to Google Drive and OneDrive as they're linked to their ecosystems (but I do have accounts on all three of these platforms). Now they've added local sync options it hits all my use needs.

Office 365 feels like a reasonable deal at £80 annually with access (effectively) across all my machines and mobile devices. The fact that Grammarly charges more than Microsoft does for its Office suite is one of those markers that put me off paying for that tool.

Evernote is the odd one; it won me over Apple Notes and Google Keep by being cross-platform and pervasive. Really useful as a scrapbook for ideas. Google Keep is nice, but Google keeps killing its children. Apple Notes is also good but locked in. Evernote feels like a significantly stronger offering. At £60, it's reasonable.

Had Grammarly been priced somewhere between Evernote and Office 365, it would have been tempting. As it is, it's too much.

What're your thoughts on online services?

13 May 2020

Fencing Youth Series - January 2020, Manchester

Fencing before the lockdown. At least they had masks and gloves.

This was a bitter-sweet competition, as Nathan had to retire with damaged muscle, and Aidan came first. Highs and lows of emotions.

Photos just uploaded to Flickr as I tidy up my camera.

11 May 2020

Second thoughts - Romance of the Perilous Land

Back in January, I reviewed Romance of the Perilous Land and it's fair to say that I liked it a lot except for the quirks in the task system because difficulties were non-linear. We had a chat about it on the Tavern, and I did some basic analysis. It wasn't a deal breaker for me, but it was irksome.

It appears that the author, Scott Malthouse, has had similar comments elsewhere as he has published an alternative system for difficulties on his blog (and asked for feedback). Essentially, it switches the difficulties to linear (i.e. an equal penalty for the difficulty no matter what level you are).

I dived back into the mathematics to compare old and new.

Link to original Google Sheet by clicking here

• A simple task is the same in both systems and less of a challenge than a 1HD monster.
• A regular task is the same as a 4HD monster
• A tough task is the same as a 7HD monster
• A severe task is the same as a 10HD monster
• All non-simple tasks are now harder at lower levels and easier or the same at character level 10.

Does this fix the quirk? Yes, although I can also live with the idea of just writing the mods on the character sheet.

However, making the difficulties fixed in the same way the HD of an opponent is makes sense and unifies the system. The only remaining quirk is that the first jump in difficult gives a four point hit, and three points thereafter. However, that's the nature when you're going in a range from one to ten with no possibility of a half value.

Definitely worth exploring (and had it been in the game originally then it would have made the review a lot shorter and more positive).

I still wholeheartedly recommend this game.

10 May 2020

A short break in the Lakes (January 2020)

Flickr photo album

I finally uploaded the photos from the break in the Lakes to Flickr today. Short album on click through, mainly Aira Force, Ullswater and a bit of Coniston.

10 May 2020

First Impressions - Electric Bastionland

Electric Bastionland - unique and gorgeous!

TL;DR: Electric Bastionland is a quality roleplaying game with high production values, great art and clean layout. The game engine is simple and could be picked up in a few minutes. The setting is inspiring and interesting and feels unique. There is some really focussed writing and guidance and the game presents a great opportunity for an enjoyable session or mini-campaign. There is a lot packed into the guidance around the game world and I think I'd need to reflect on it further before running it. 

Electrical Bastionland is Chris McDowall's successor project to his well-liked 'Into the Odd'. However, I came to it in a cross reference related to Patrick Stuart's Silent Titans which is nominally set in the same world. I must read both of those books properly.

This a quality book.

Black and white with yellow spot colours.

The book is 333 pages long (the final page being a useful summary of the rules on the inside back cover. The book a stitched hardcover, and the interior pages are black and white with spot yellow. The yellow matches the ribbon nicely. The layout uses white space well and is clean and simple. There is a very art-deco/art-noveau feel to it with a style not dissimilar to British railway advertising from the first half of the 20th century. It feels quality. There are large numbers of black and white illustrations throughout which catch the feel of the setting well.

Example Failed Career

The character generation section takes over two hundred pages of the book; the core elements are covered in two pages, giving you statistics, hit protection and money. Your highest and lowest ability scores are cross referenced against each other, giving you a failed career. Yes, you start as a failure. As a group, you're all saddled with a crippling debt which has forced you to a life of crime and adventure. You've left your career, and now you adventure. Each failed career has two pages which include a tag line about the career, a pertinent illustration, basic equipment and two tables referencing your savings and your hit points. These give you further abilities, equipment or beliefs which counter-balance the situations when someone has lower values. They provide hooks and unique elements for every characters. Your characters will all be very different, and if you embrace this it should drive a very interesting experience.

The game engine is a very simple d20 mechanic. You have three stats - STRength, DEXterity and CHArisma - rolled initially on 3d6 and you need to make a save by rolling equal to or under the stat. Combat doesn't bother with rolls to hit; you just deal damage. You may make a DEX save if the combat order isn't obvious from the narrative. You start with d6 hit protection. Once these zero, your STR starts getting reduced, and you will need to make saves to avoid a critical which will take you out of combat and kill you if you aren't helped. If you hit 0 hit points you get a scar, which can develop your character. There's a neat pooling mechanic for damage where you don't stack attacks - rather you take the highest roll from the dice rolled by everyone. The core rules are covered in two pages, with a two page example of play.

Minimalist and focussed. 

The remainder of the book is the Conductor's Guide (GM section) which is incredibly focussed, so much so that I almost find it intimidating. Your first reaction would be to skims this, but you need to take your time and let the ideas settle in. This is definitely a game that is discovered from play. The Conductor (the name change is deliberate to try and give a feel for how McDowall feels the game should work) will start from some very simple maps, mainly built around transport routes, over which  are layered landmarks and paths each of which has a complication. Treasures, patrons, specialists, shops and investment opportunities are outlined as ideas in short bullet points.

There are four parts to the world. Bastion itself, the Living Stars above, and the Underworld below. Bastion is surrounded by the Deep Country; failed towns and cities, rural areas, the provinces which are treated with disdain by the city dwellers. Bastion is living, growing and changing, but no-one knows who is in charge. There's a complex interweaving of a multitude of councils which are responsible for all aspects of life, and it is not uncommon for two organisations to both be responsible. The city is filled with people, mockeries (living taxidermies and toys), aliens and machines. Electricity is king. The feel is analogous to the early 20th Century, but later technology could be there in a different form. Oddities include super-science like equipment.

Going Underground.

Principles are outlined for running adventures in Bastion and the four other areas, and there are useful random tables to spark ideas. There is guidance on mapping and stocking the Deep Country, Deep Water and the Underground. Principles are given for people, mockeries, machines, aliens and monstrosities. There are example sections of peoples, organisations, boroughs, cults and more. I found these helpful as they drew me into the setting and gave a feel for the author's vision.

The section also outlines McDowall's vision for how the game should work - the ICI doctrine (Information, Choice, Impact). There are some really smart tips for running the game there.

There's no starter adventure. There is no official character sheet (but it's not really that kind of game). I'd have liked to see an example of the map creation.

This is a quality roleplaying game with high production values, great art and clean layout. The game engine is simple and could be picked up in a few minutes. The setting is inspiring and interesting and feels unique. There is some really focussed writing and guidance and the game presents a great opportunity for an enjoyable session or mini-campaign. There is a lot packed into the guidance around the game world and I think I'd need to reflect on it further before running it.

Recommended.

8 May 2020

Our Last, Best Hope - North Star 2020 goes virtual

North Star 2020 moves online

So, in an effort to spite COVID-19, we've just announced that we will run our popular North Star SF RPG convention virtually this year. North Star was due to run this weekend, but was cancelled for obvious reasons. So we've decided to take it on line on the later weekend of 30/31 May 2020.

You can sign up here: https://forms.gle/A8hPvwwQfEgcq4XeA (updated link)


6 May 2020

First Impressions - The Midderlands Expanded

The Midderlands Expanded; more greenness.

TL;DR: I like The Midderlands Expanded, but I don't love it like I did the first one. It has superb production values and lots of useful material, but by spreading itself more thinly it fails to give me the GM tingles that The Midderlands did. The lack of the integration of the main map of the Haven Isles into the text detracted from my enjoyment. It's a useful addition if you want to play in the setting, with superb production values (if anything, higher than the first). Recommended, but not essential.

The Midderlands Expanded takes the setting described in The Midderlands (previously reviewed here) and expands it to cover the whole of the Haven Isles. This is an OSR book, designed for use with Swords & Wizardry, but usable with any D&D engine with a bit of thought.

It's a 224 page digest sized hardcover, full colour throughout. Admittedly, that colour is mostly green. Production values are very high, with two ribbons and good quality paper. The artwork and mappage is superb. It's well edited and clear. It has one failing which detracted from the usability of the book, which I'll cover below.

This probably should have been called Beyond the Midderlands, as what the book does is provide the setting details beyond the regions that was lovingly detailed in the first book, with a gazetteer of the entire twisted version of the Island of Great Britain. The gazetteer is packed full of gaming juice; vignettes describing towns, maps, random tables and plenty of inspiration. What it's lacking is the map. The map is a separate product (which you mustn't forget if you order the book as you're reminded at the Monkey Blood Design webshop). I have the map, because it came as part of the Kickstarter for the book, but I found a lack of it embedded in the book (even as sections) really detracted from my reading. It should be part of the book. If it added another 4-8 pages, then it would have been worth it. I think that the separation is a flaw.

As an aside, the separate map is gorgeous and I love the fact that it places another OSR favourite, Dolmenwood, in the equivalent of Ireland.

The only other niggle I have is that several times the keys to the lovely town maps are placed on a different page spread so you're flicking backwards and forwards.

There are good sections on magical items, shipwrecks and creatures. Several character classes are offered; the Witchfinder, the Highland Shaman and the Dragonsinger. This would definitely add to a campaign in the setting.

The book rounds out with an introductory adventure - The Ratdog Inn - which would be useable just as easily with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplaying and could easily get messy if GMed the right way. There's also a potential adventure site (a town with caverns cut into the hillside and used for trade, with paths to the Middergloom below) and a good selection of adventure hooks. Some adventure ideas are tied to map hexes. The appendices are useful including relationship diagrams, quick hints on the nobles in each area and their personalities, and ways to personalise equipment. The index is decent.

I like this book, but I don't love it like I did the first one. It has superb production values and lots of useful material, but by spreading itself more thinly it fails to give me the GM tingles that The Midderlands did. It's a useful addition if you want to play in the setting, with superb production values (if anything, higher than the first).

I am looking forward to reading the Lunden book which I also have; I hope that the tightening of focus will excite me once more.

Recommended, but not essential.

4 May 2020

The Kitchen - no spoilers

What's cooking in Hell's Kitchen?

Set in the late 1970s, The Kitchen is a gangster film based on the DC/Vertigo graphic novel of the same name. I'd not heard of the comic before I saw this, but the concept seemed worth a watch.

The Irish mob is failing; the leadership is lacking, and the men are feckless. Their protection racket is failing, with people turning to others for help or just not paying, because there's no protection provided by the mob in the crime-ridden New York of the seventies. Three of the leaders decide that the solution is to go into loans, and pull off a number of heists to get seed funding. We join the story as they attempt to pull off the final job to net them enough cash to begin. It goes badly, with an FBI operation reeling them in.

The men are cliches; one wants to stop doing this and has a semblance of a normal life with his wife Kathy and the two kids. Another is aggressively alpha, with a black trophy wife, Ruby, who is accepted grudgingly and despised behind her back. The final husband is a wife-beater, who takes his frustrations out on his wife and has caused her to lose her child. They get sent down; the families are promised to be 'looked after' by Little Jimmy, who takes over the gang. But the promises are every bit as weak as the protection that the Irish are offering.

The women end up facing their demons and taking over the mob. Their pitch is that you pay them, then they'll look after the community, like a family. They grow, expand, and have to face the implications of their husbands returning from jail and the inevitable conflict that it brings.

The Guardian didn't like this one; it especially hated the 'doing something good for the community' line. And yet, in a way, the protagonists are doing exactly that; making the streets safer for their community because the NYPD aren't.

You can see the comic book antecedents from the style and script of the film, which is also very faithful to the feel of the 1970s. At the end, I was left wanting to find out what happened next, which is always a good sign. I enjoyed this more than Color Out of Space the night before. The growth curves of the three protagonists are interesting and the acting done well.

Recommended.
Obviously, if you don't like films about organised crime in a sympathetic light, don't watch this.

3 May 2020

Color Out of Space - no spoilers

The Color Out of Space... is pinky-purple with a hint of UV

I watched Color Out of Space last night. I'd originally rejected the idea of watching it, as I'm not a big fan of Nicholas Cage, but then I found out that the Director was Richard Stanley. I'd really enjoyed his early films (Dust Devil, Hardware, Brave) before the failure of the Island of Dr Moreau trashed his career in Hollywood.

This is a modernisation of the Lovecraftian classic, which is one of my favourites of his. The story has been modernised to the current day, but still manages to make the woods outside Arkham seem terrifying. The film is shot beautifully. Unfortunately, it takes a turn towards B-Movie schlock horror midway through. Beautifully done, though. And yet, it still manages to retain the insidious, creeping horror of the story. I suspect a truer reading of the story would both not be exciting enough and be too bleak for Hollywood.

I enjoyed this, probably give it a 7/10. Nick Cage does himself at one point, but it kind of fits.

If you want a more faithful adaptation check out Die Fabre, the German take on the Color from 2010.

2 May 2020

PS Some images of the woods around Arkham after the break, showing how well he manages to creep it out (with great music).

Lyonesse RPG - now available and top of the charts

Lyonesse: finally available

The Lyonesse RPG was released today and is available from DriveThruRPG. Aeon Games will also be producing a print copy of it for distribution in Europe and Australia, but you can get a POD version today.

I'm proud to have been part of a talented team including some of my game writing heroes. The writers and artists have produced a superb book, and it has been a pleasure working with them.

No 1 bestselling on DTRPG

No 1 in small press and No 2 in print

The book seems to be doing well on DriveThruRPG (now I know what it feels to be a chart topper) and I'm excitedly waiting for my print copy.

I hope to meet you on the roads or in the ports of Hybras.

1st May 2020

Books in April 2020

A combination of lockdown and stress at work has accelerated my reading. Lots of gaming books which you'll have seen in the 'First Impressions' posts but a respectable number of novels too.

False Value (Ben Aaronovitch)

So, this the eighth in the Rivers of London series (excluding the novellas and the comics) and it ticks all the boxes. You know what you're going to be getting with it, and if you like the rest of the series, you'll enjoy it. The story sees Peter Grant going undercover to investigate a technology company, giving Aaronovitch an opportunity to introduce analytical engines and steampunk technology. The story namechecks D&D and board gaming reasonably heavily as it shows the geek culture at the company. Peter even gets to play.

It doesn't feel as fresh as 'The October Man' did, but it did deliver an enjoyable, well written read.

A Brightness Long Ago (Guy Gavriel Kay)

Guidanio Cerra is the son of a tailor the fantasy equivalent of renaissance Venice. Fortunate to win a scholarship to a renowned school, he exists on the edges of the circles in which people with power move. He secures employment at court in a small city-state ruled by a mercenary warlord, but events swiftly move him into a chain of connections with the movers and shakers of the age.

This is a beautifully written book. GGK's style has a lightness to it that draws you in. The text is written from the perspective of Cerra looking back, and there is love and loss and a sense of the insignificance of the individual against the movements of history. The writing is gripping; one sequence follows a horse race, something that I have little interest in, but I found myself almost holding my breath and mentally cheering on the character I wanted to win. The novel is a recollection of moments in a life and the small chances that can make all the difference.

Life can hinge on such moments. It is sometimes that close, in our lives, in the lives of others. Sometimes the arrow or the sword misses us, or wounds instead of killing, the earthquake smashes the world flat a little distance away from where we are, and there is a life for us . . .

Like most of GGK's novels, this is set in an alternative, historical fantasy version of our world. It's the same setting as the 'Sailing to Sarantium' duology and also 'Children of Earth and Sky', albeit at different times and places. This is not a novel that relies on energy and pace to take you through; rather, it's subtle observations, character developments and interactions against the relentlessness of history. Absolutely recommended, one of the best books I've read in a while.

Snow, Glass, Apples (Neil Gaiman)

A beautifully illustrated and darkly macabre retelling of the Snow White story.

The Names of the Dead (Kevin Wignall)

This is an entertaining spy-adjacent thriller which I found hard to put down. The protagonist is a former CIA agent who has taken the fall for a failed operation which they were in charge where French citizen's died. Now imprisoned in France, he is held in a facility which also holds those imprisoned for war crimes, shunned by his colleagues and divorced by his wife.

Three years into his sentence, he gets the news that his wife is dead, along with a son that no one had told him that he had. His release is brought forward, putting him in jeopardy as elements in the CIA need to ensure his silence.

The plot moves at pace and heads all around Europe. I'm not sure how I felt about the way the author approached the female protagonist and her mental health; it felt a little contrived. The involvement with war criminals was interesting, as it tried to portray them as human beings as well as the monsters that their actions showed them to be.

Overall, an entertaining read. Better than a popcorn book, but definitely not a le Carre.

The Bridge (Iain Banks)

The Bridge is one of my favourite novels by Iain Banks. I realise that may not be a common view, but there is something about the dreamlike fractured reality of the narrative that resonates strongly with me. I enjoyed the lushness and imagination of the elements of the story, set against a twisted backdrop of a bridge inspired by the Firth of Forth railway bridge, as as they twist around each other and slowly draw together. This isn't a novel with a strong plot arc; rather you go on journey of discovery to find out what has set the scenes in motion.