It’s also Shakespeare’s 450th birthday.
And probably World Book Night.
And the day when... wait. Why do I have tally marks on my hands?
Wednesday, 23 April 2014
The Doctor, St. George, And The Dragon
And the Google Doodles just keep on coming. How cool is this one?
Avoiding the nationalism issue, the obvious plot hook for St. George is The Dragon. But for a bit of variety, in eastern Europe he is better known for fighting the undead. To play that straight(ish) there are plenty of other games, as covered on my other gaming blog which you should also be reading, but there’s plenty of room for dragons, vampires, knights and saints in the Whoniverse.
A chatty Smaug-ish dragon (from space, or from the depths of the Earth and the Silurian era) would be a nice change from the usual. The above from IDW’s Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life, previewed here before it came out.
Primeval had an anomaly deposit a Dracorex Hogwartsia in the Crusade era and bring it and the pursuing knight (Tony Curran, Who’s Vincent Van Gogh) to the Notting Hill Carnival, so team historian Sara had to get them both back without causing any further paradoxes. Which was a bit of a shame as a knight joining the team would have been great fun.
Avoiding the nationalism issue, the obvious plot hook for St. George is The Dragon. But for a bit of variety, in eastern Europe he is better known for fighting the undead. To play that straight(ish) there are plenty of other games, as covered on my other gaming blog which you should also be reading, but there’s plenty of room for dragons, vampires, knights and saints in the Whoniverse.
A chatty Smaug-ish dragon (from space, or from the depths of the Earth and the Silurian era) would be a nice change from the usual. The above from IDW’s Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life, previewed here before it came out.
Primeval had an anomaly deposit a Dracorex Hogwartsia in the Crusade era and bring it and the pursuing knight (Tony Curran, Who’s Vincent Van Gogh) to the Notting Hill Carnival, so team historian Sara had to get them both back without causing any further paradoxes. Which was a bit of a shame as a knight joining the team would have been great fun.
Tuesday, 22 April 2014
Titan's comic companions
Alice Obiefune and Gabby Gonzalez join the Eleventh and Tenth Doctors on their new comic adventures.
They join a lineup of non-televised heroes dating back to John and Gillian appearing in comics at the end of the first year of the show and taking in the likes of Nick from TV Action (a black companion for the Third Doctor), Frobisher and Izzy jumping over to Big Finish and more. Welcome aboard - I can’t wait to see your adventures!
They join a lineup of non-televised heroes dating back to John and Gillian appearing in comics at the end of the first year of the show and taking in the likes of Nick from TV Action (a black companion for the Third Doctor), Frobisher and Izzy jumping over to Big Finish and more. Welcome aboard - I can’t wait to see your adventures!
Happy Earth Day!
Brought to you according to Google by the Rufous Hummingbird, Veiled Chameleon, Puffer Fish, Dung Beetle and Japanese Macaque.
Quick - which of these have good gimmicks for monsters? The Puffer Fish inflation thing and the Dung Beetle rolling its prized possessions around in a ball, perhaps? Maybe odd but friendly monsters...
Quick - which of these have good gimmicks for monsters? The Puffer Fish inflation thing and the Dung Beetle rolling its prized possessions around in a ball, perhaps? Maybe odd but friendly monsters...
Monday, 21 April 2014
The Brontës
As well as Easter (with no new Doctor Who!) today is also, according to a Google Doodle, Charlotte Brontë’s 198th birthday. Best known for Jane Eyre (which this short article spoils the end of!) she was part of a familial movement for Gothic tragedies, as well as a childhood fantasy shared world involving maps and miniatures and waitaminute...
Who-wise, I have previously suggested the Brontës for a Celebrity Historical about windswept moors and dark secrets, and that was before they visited the DWM comics as android copies wielding blaster rifles to help save the world.
Who-wise, I have previously suggested the Brontës for a Celebrity Historical about windswept moors and dark secrets, and that was before they visited the DWM comics as android copies wielding blaster rifles to help save the world.
Monday, 7 April 2014
Who is the Other? You are number seven.
Heading into New Adventures territory here.
As I understand it from explanations of the incomplete Cartmel Master Plan, the Other is the mysterious trickster of the Rassilon/Omega era, and was a pre-Hartnell, pre-regeneration-cycle Doctor. Or maybe all the pre-Hartnell Doctors. Or...
He partially manifests in the Seventh Doctor, which is why he’s “far more than just another Time Lord.”
Or something like that.
So what if this is something Time Lords could do, back in the day? Like storing their power in a Chameleon Arch, or taking the potions of Karn.
They could program themselves - or their descendants - to regenerate into specific forms under specific circumstances.
And since not every Time Lord has much control over their regenerations (the Doctor far less than most, it seems) they might not even know about it until it’s too late.
As I understand it from explanations of the incomplete Cartmel Master Plan, the Other is the mysterious trickster of the Rassilon/Omega era, and was a pre-Hartnell, pre-regeneration-cycle Doctor. Or maybe all the pre-Hartnell Doctors. Or...
He partially manifests in the Seventh Doctor, which is why he’s “far more than just another Time Lord.”
Or something like that.
So what if this is something Time Lords could do, back in the day? Like storing their power in a Chameleon Arch, or taking the potions of Karn.
They could program themselves - or their descendants - to regenerate into specific forms under specific circumstances.
And since not every Time Lord has much control over their regenerations (the Doctor far less than most, it seems) they might not even know about it until it’s too late.
Thursday, 3 April 2014
Night Terrace
The makers of Australian Whovian podcast Splendid Chaps seek to branch out into related fiction, with the adventures of retired world-saving time traveller Anastasia Black and her unwelcome companion Eddie.
Wednesday, 2 April 2014
Where would you take the TARDIS?
A question that’s always worth asking.
SF Signal asks a variety of people including Paul Cornell, Trudi Canavan, Erica Ensign and Patrick Hester, providing a variety of interesting places to go and people to meet.
There are solid bases for quite a few adventures here (including one chosen by Carole Barrowman which I’ve already run!) as well as reflections on what the chance to travel would bring.
SF Signal asks a variety of people including Paul Cornell, Trudi Canavan, Erica Ensign and Patrick Hester, providing a variety of interesting places to go and people to meet.
There are solid bases for quite a few adventures here (including one chosen by Carole Barrowman which I’ve already run!) as well as reflections on what the chance to travel would bring.
Tuesday, 1 April 2014
Brigade Temporelle
Spurred on by a question about which international Marvel heroes would be fun to feature in the movies, related to my recent post about Marvel UK, I also looked up Cool French Comics for their local superheroes including those next to Marvel reprints... and coincidentally found Time Brigade.
It’s a classic time police setup (see also TimeQuake, and Pelgrane’s Timewatch RPG) in French. Which always makes me wonder what else we’re missing due to its creation starting in other languages.
And I note that the early 2000s revival mentioned at the bottom is written by Big Name Fans and revivers of Professor Gamble the Lofficiers. Also the curators of Cool French Comics. Small world.
It’s a classic time police setup (see also TimeQuake, and Pelgrane’s Timewatch RPG) in French. Which always makes me wonder what else we’re missing due to its creation starting in other languages.
And I note that the early 2000s revival mentioned at the bottom is written by Big Name Fans and revivers of Professor Gamble the Lofficiers. Also the curators of Cool French Comics. Small world.
Friday, 28 March 2014
Daleks Vs. Daleks Vs. Daleks Vs. Daleks V. Daleks
Risk: The Dalek Invasion Of Earth doesn’t just rebadge the classic empire-level wargame to let you play multiple warring Dalek factions, it adds the Doctor trying to stop you. Risk variants often change gameplay and add intereting complications, so I expect it will work quite well.
But this would mean, for me, wanting to lose...
And it has a plot, complete with an ancient Gallifreyan MacGuffin, as explained on the back of the box. It bears a passing resemblance to Remembrance Of The Daleks, but that only had two Dalek armies trying to kill each other...
A huge insane five-way Dalek civil war could make for some interesting adventures, possibly enough for a seasonal arc. Seemingly monolithic enemies fighting amongst themselves can be a lot of fun, especially when the heroes get to aggravate the conflict and try to defeat all of them. And of course it would let you bring out strange variant Daleks, assorted superweapons, and a number of Dalek leaders displaying different kinds of madness and fanaticism.
But this would mean, for me, wanting to lose...
And it has a plot, complete with an ancient Gallifreyan MacGuffin, as explained on the back of the box. It bears a passing resemblance to Remembrance Of The Daleks, but that only had two Dalek armies trying to kill each other...
A huge insane five-way Dalek civil war could make for some interesting adventures, possibly enough for a seasonal arc. Seemingly monolithic enemies fighting amongst themselves can be a lot of fun, especially when the heroes get to aggravate the conflict and try to defeat all of them. And of course it would let you bring out strange variant Daleks, assorted superweapons, and a number of Dalek leaders displaying different kinds of madness and fanaticism.
Thursday, 27 March 2014
The Silver Surfer
... is a classic 60s Marvel superhero, so why am I talking about him here?
Because Dan Slott and Michael Allred just launched a new series featuring him, which as Slott discussed in advance, takes the character in a decidedly Whovian direction.
“He’s this lone guy on a board. And one of things that happens in his first adventure is he meets a kindred spirit. He meets an earth girl. And it’s - there’s someone on the board with him. It really is about how the best way to see the universe... is with someone.”
Because Dan Slott and Michael Allred just launched a new series featuring him, which as Slott discussed in advance, takes the character in a decidedly Whovian direction.
“He’s this lone guy on a board. And one of things that happens in his first adventure is he meets a kindred spirit. He meets an earth girl. And it’s - there’s someone on the board with him. It really is about how the best way to see the universe... is with someone.”
1000 Posts
Something of an achievement in sustained geekiness. I hope I have provided entertainment, encouragement and inspiration along the way.
Beaten slightly by that other blog. And seeing what I did there, how does this one break down by category?
Leading the field easily at 512 posts is the completely unhelpful catchall Doctor Who category. The Doctor himself only manages a mere 159 tags, behind the idea-friendly Adventures (279), History (221), the all-important Mad Notions (210) and Characters (190) which often include him too, and just beating Monsters by one tag. (Hooray! The Doctor beat the monsters!) Writing makes 150, which contains both my stabs at writing and posts about writing when I quote people who know what they’re on about. DWAITAS, which I keep for official-ish games stuff and/or actual rules stuff like statblocks, hits 140. The likely-to-go-up-in-autumn Episodes tag is the last to pass a hundred with 105. Science comes close with 83, and so on down until Skywatch and Actual Play tie for last with 17. I really must do more Actual Play transcripts...
Beaten slightly by that other blog. And seeing what I did there, how does this one break down by category?
Leading the field easily at 512 posts is the completely unhelpful catchall Doctor Who category. The Doctor himself only manages a mere 159 tags, behind the idea-friendly Adventures (279), History (221), the all-important Mad Notions (210) and Characters (190) which often include him too, and just beating Monsters by one tag. (Hooray! The Doctor beat the monsters!) Writing makes 150, which contains both my stabs at writing and posts about writing when I quote people who know what they’re on about. DWAITAS, which I keep for official-ish games stuff and/or actual rules stuff like statblocks, hits 140. The likely-to-go-up-in-autumn Episodes tag is the last to pass a hundred with 105. Science comes close with 83, and so on down until Skywatch and Actual Play tie for last with 17. I really must do more Actual Play transcripts...
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
"Do you wanna come with me?"
For my 999th post(!) it’s the 9th anniversary of the 9th Doctor.
Yes, the 9th anniversary of Doctor Who is a few months after the 50th anniversary...
Yes, the 9th anniversary of Doctor Who is a few months after the 50th anniversary...
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
Gallifrey, looking behind the curtain
Mark Gatiss on the way Gallifrey appearing on-screen can lessen its mystique.
This goes all the way back to An Unearthly Child cutting specific references to the Doctor and Susan’s origins, and fan reactions to the satirical Westminster/Oxbridge hybrid Gallifrey of The Deadly Assassin and the like. As Steven Moffat has noted, do we really want the mysteries solved?
The visuals of classic era Gallifrey didn’t help, of course - the robes, collars and skullcaps remain pretty cool, but everything else was always a bit Flash Gordon On Stage.
(Speaking of, Trial Of A Time Lord makes an interesting comparison to the trial called by an off-brand Time Lord that same year on the West End. How’s that for a non-canon spinoff?)
Compare the reveal of historic Skaro in Genesis Of The Daleks a year and a half earlier, played totally straight with an equally obvious Nazi analogy, and where the stark design works for the story. Even that led to Dalek stories being trumped by reappearances by Davros for more than a decade.
Now Gallifrey looks as grand as Coruscant in the Star Wars prequels - and that still risks getting boring if overexposed. At least now the guards have better costumes.
This goes all the way back to An Unearthly Child cutting specific references to the Doctor and Susan’s origins, and fan reactions to the satirical Westminster/Oxbridge hybrid Gallifrey of The Deadly Assassin and the like. As Steven Moffat has noted, do we really want the mysteries solved?
The visuals of classic era Gallifrey didn’t help, of course - the robes, collars and skullcaps remain pretty cool, but everything else was always a bit Flash Gordon On Stage.
(Speaking of, Trial Of A Time Lord makes an interesting comparison to the trial called by an off-brand Time Lord that same year on the West End. How’s that for a non-canon spinoff?)
Compare the reveal of historic Skaro in Genesis Of The Daleks a year and a half earlier, played totally straight with an equally obvious Nazi analogy, and where the stark design works for the story. Even that led to Dalek stories being trumped by reappearances by Davros for more than a decade.
Now Gallifrey looks as grand as Coruscant in the Star Wars prequels - and that still risks getting boring if overexposed. At least now the guards have better costumes.
Saturday, 22 March 2014
Prisoners Zero To Fifty Have Escaped
A brainstorming session (at least it became a brainstorming session and I hope that was what the original poster had in mind) for the most dangerous prisoners in the universe. Bad people, not so bad people, people capable of bad things, and people bad things happen to. All stuck in one little prison starship...
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)