The premier of the second season of the new Doctor Who ran on Sci Fi Channel last night and it was really good. Though I know a lot of people liked Christopher Eccleston’s more hard-boiled take on the good Doctor, I thought David Tennant’s Doctor was more in the spirt of the show’s more eccentric qualities. While the series willingness to inject a little more action into the stories does change it from the feel of the old considerably, it also finally brings the series into the 21st century. Here is looking to more episodes!
Monthly Archives: September 2006
Spontaneous Combustion on Google Video
DJWebb alerted me to the rather baffling fact that over 1,800 people have viewed Spontaneous Combustion on Google Video. Sure maybe all 1,800 people stopped after minute one, but really who is counting? When you type in the words “spontaneous combustion” into the Google Video search engine, the movie is ranked number 1, above South Park‘s take on the phenomenon. It even gets a respectable 3 out of 5 stars. That converts to something like 6 stars on IMDB, or maybe one of those ubiquitous 7.1’s on Pitchforkmedia.
Protocon 2.0 Call for “Wicker Duck” Designs
Please submit your designs for “Wicker Duck” construction to (loki at protozoic dot com) or alternatively post them if you already have an account.
Protocon 2.0 will occur in early to mid-November (date to be determined).
d20 Adventure – Playdough Fun Factory of the Godz
Alternate Title: Evil Elf Chicks Must Die
This was the adventure designed for the sole purpose of testing out the Injury and Consequences mechanics mentioned earlier. The level of the PCs was 6th and I had them gradually facing protagonists closer and closer to the standard D&D challenge ratings.
The since some of the mechanical elements I eventually try out might clash with any of the pre-planned settings (ie. Forgotten Realms or Ravenloft) I instead cooked up a home-brew setting with characteristics generally similar to the standard ones. There’s not much to it but a few background details thrown together and some antagonists. Since I’d been reading Vance’s Dying Earth recently you may notice some minor thematic aspects of that setting worked in as well. Other elements will be invented later as they become relevant to the story.
My prep-notes for the session follow. As such they contain spoilers, players be warned.
Continue reading d20 Adventure – Playdough Fun Factory of the Godz
d20 Alternate Mechanics – Combat Sheet
In trying to playtest the d20 combat systems discussed recently I’ve gotten to the point where the alternate rules are sufficiently different from the original rules that it’s difficult to keep track of things on a normal character sheet.
So here’s a sheet to keep track of the new character stats:
d20 Alternate Rules – Character Sheet – Combat Section
This sheet is just for combat-relevant stuff. I figure at some point I’ll come up with one for spells and another one for abilities, skills, and other noncombat stuff. But for now the standard sheets can handle those things pretty well.
Paradigms in Conflict
On why a big rip is gradually forming on my side of the bed:
Dragon: I know, maybe the mattresses they installed in this building were manufactured with the assumption that every year a different person will sleep on them and the wear and tear will even out over the whole surface. But since I’ve slept on it in the same direction four years in a row without an egg-crate* it’s getting too much stress in these particular spots.
She Dragon: Or maybe it’s because every year it collects the hopes and dreams of the varied dreamers who sleep upon it. But your dreams are so vapid and shallow that you’re robbing it of it’s essential mana and it’s become weak.
*– Egg-crate: A piece of corrugated foam rubber used to suppliment the cushioning of firmer sleeping surfaces.
Interview with Sean McKnight, Director of “Disturbing Images: The Story of Helmut K.”
Disturbing Images: The Story of Helmut K. (2006), directed by Sean McKnight, paints the portrait of the artist who is questionably consumed by fires his art ignites. Previously a schlock filmmaker, Helmut K. turns to the world of photography in search of his muse. When some of Helmut K.’s photos of scantily clad young men and religious imagery come under attack from a right wing religious group led by Byron Lloyd, rather than shy away, Helmut meets the challenge by adorning his best ring-leading hat. “Be, like the monkey,” chants Helmut K. throughout the circus that boils around him. And it is such a hypnotic circus that Helmut’s art takes back seat to his outrageous performance.
Disturbing Images: The Story of Helmut K. balances artiness with comedy and philosophy for one entertaining ride. In the following interview, the film’s director, Sean McKnight, gives some of his insights into the film and the making of it.
For more information on Disturbing Images: The Story of Helmut K. visit the Cinema Alliance website.
Interview follows.
In the opening shot of Disturbing Images: The Story of Helmut K. the viewer can see a microphone and the back of the head belonging to someone who is presumably a crew member, if not a person meant to represent the filmmaker him/herself. Throughout the film, similar acknowledgments of the artifice of the fiction of the film occur. Was this something that was in the screenplay, or something that you chose to do as director?
McKnight: The film crew is mentioned briefly in the script but I wanted to
emphasize and expand that concept a bit more as a way of telling the story. I think one thing that’s important from a director’s standpoint is to place a lot of emphasis on how you tell the story. While reading the script for DI, a documentary approach to it just made sense.
d20 Alternate Mechanics – Injury & Consequences (Redux)
A bit over a year ago I posted an idea for some alternate mechanics as a substitution for hit points for games using the d20 system. Rarely do I ever DM though, so the odds of getting these mechanics actually play-tested seemed slim. However on Thursday, this past, I actually ran an adventure in which they were tried out.
The results didn’t seem too bad and, as expected, combat was short and deadly. Overall reaction afterward seemed to border on actual enthusiasm though a number of concerns were voiced and a fair bit of discussion and suggestion quickly followed.
Continue reading d20 Alternate Mechanics – Injury & Consequences (Redux)
The Black Hole
Bernheim, one of Governor Hentoff’s lackeys, was vomiting off behind a trash receptacle. I wasn’t big on politics, but for what it is worth, Bernheim would have been an idiot regardless of his profession. That morning and before the black hole had opened up in the middle of Chicago, he’d eaten three cheese steaks.
“Try not to get any of that on the floor, Berny – they just waxed in here!” I called out as I clacked away on the keyboard.
“Fu— blauguguguguguguugugug!” replied Bernheim.
I laughed. My laughter was quickly quelled though. We were in big trouble and by my calculations had 1 hour and 17 minutes to stop a black hole from consuming all of Chicago. In another twenty-four hours, it would be the world.
Round Table Topic – Toffee & Cea
One of my favorite drinks is coffee. I like my coffee black. No sugar. No cream. I also like hot tea, especially Earl Grey. When I lived with Tim, I’d also drink green tea (generally because he had a lot of it). While I don’t drink tea nearly as much as coffee, I do thoroughly enjoy a cup now and again – especially when I don’t want all that caffeine and I just want a hot beverage. And much like my coffee, I also don’t want anything else in my tea except “tea”.
Yet, I have always been vexed by the question that why when you mix the two together do they taste so nasty? It would seem logical that a mixture of tea and coffee would be quite nice. Even refreshing. Both hot drinks are bitter. I even drink both hot beverages the same, unadorned with frills. Still, the very thought of snarfing down a piping hot mug of toffee or cea is repulsive.
Why? The table is open.