I’m going to start keeping track of how many New York themed collections Criterion runs before they get around to Boston. Which I suppose would need to be Boston Crime — it’s a low hanging fruit, y’all. Or Boston Journalism but that’s not quite as rich a topic. Anyhow I did wind up watching Carol from New York Love Stories so I can’t complain too hard. So, April’s lineup:
Population: One
I’ve been rereading Greg Rucka’s Atticus Kodiak books on the occasion of him republishing the first four in the series, and it’s been a pleasure. A gloomy, morose pleasure but a pleasure nonetheless. As always they seem like they ought to be quite adaptable to tabletop RPGs, so I spent a while thinking about that last night while I was falling asleep.
The super-easy adaptation would use Night’s Black Agents, drop the vampires. It’s easy to dial that flavor of GUMSHOE into gritty dangerous street level action, and the bursts of competence that result from the Military Occupational Specialty rule — automatic successes once per session on your chosen MOS skill — would also fit perfectly. Atticus and his friends spend a lot of time being able to push themselves to unreasonable levels of competence when the situation really calls for it.
You’d have to generate some new Backgrounds, I think, which is easy. Also drop Occult Studies and Vampirology from the abilities list and… yeah, Sense Trouble is the critical ability for keeping focus when you’re on watch for hours at a time. Without play testing this, I think using the Thriller Chase rules for standing watch would work really well; the assassin is testing abilities like Infiltration, Surveillance, and Disguise against abilities like Sense Trouble, Surveillance, and Preparedness. Winner gets points in a combat pool before playing out the actual attempt.
But then I had another idea, which I like more and which would take way more effort to implement. The post title gives it away, I know.
One of the core mechanics of Blades in the Dark is the engagement roll; the goal was to reduce the amount of time a group of players spend planning out every detail of a heist. You just go straight to the start of the action, and rely on flashbacks to fill in plans as necessary. So why couldn’t you just invert that — make an engagement roll to cut right to the start of the attempt on whoever you’re body guarding?
In Blades, you choose the point of attack before making an engagement roll. For this application, I think you’d go a bit metafictional and choose the opposition’s point of attack — this may be a bit too much player control for some but it allows the body guarding PCs to look awesome. Bad engagement rolls mean more variance from the determined point of attack, so that it’s not a guaranteed win for the players.
The time consuming part of this hack would be building a bunch of new playbooks. Not too hard to come up with them, just using the Kodiak series as the point of reference: Bodyguard, Private Detective, Driver, Special Forces, Cop, Medic. There’s six, voila. Writing them up is left as an exercise for someone else.
I don’t see a lot of value in multiple crew types, since this is about a very specific topic. I suppose there’s a game about urban action in here somewhere, in which case Bodyguards is one of several crew types with special rules for engagement rolls, but that’s even more work.
And then time to work out a new list of actions, etc. etc. As I said, there’s real effort necessary here, but I dig the idea.
March’s lineup is the kind of varied, interesting curation that represents the Criterion Channel at its best. Unfortunately, there’s one big miss: no celebration for Women’s History Month! Nannina Gilder took up the slack with a great Bluesky thread curating the collection she’d have made with movies that are already on the Channel.
Also I’m late on this one. Criterion dropped the lineup later than usual and it’s been a very busy month for me. So it goes.
Sometimes it’s just a new month with new movies, you know? I’m gonna dig right into it — there’s at least one collection which I want to draw attention to.
I wanted to build something completely weird and gonzo and that’s Heart in a nutshell. It’s a weird dungeon delving game into a dungeon that wants to give you your heart’s desire but isn’t very good at it. The world is just deeply weird. Let’s mess around in it.
It turns out that business trips are poor places to work on posting challenges, especially if you’re horribly jet lagged and you have a lot of evening meetings. I’m gonna try and hit 31 of these anyhow, just not before the end of January.
I found myself thinking about action a lot, so now that I’m back in the US I’m gonna do a quick Outgunned character. Outgunned is designed as a modern action RPG, very much in the spirit of John Wick. Since it’s been pretty successful as measured by Kickstarter success, the designers (Two Little Mice) have added a couple of genre books packed full of potential settings — Wild West, space opera, etc. — and a second corebook aimed at 30s pulp action. This time out I’m doing the “A Kind of Magic” mini-expansion, or Action Flick. I’m going to frame this as modern espionage with magic, which seems like a fun game idea.
Man, there were no dice last time. Also I’m just off a transatlantic flight and I’m tired. Thus, I’m going to let the dice do the thinking for me and go for something highly randomized: the Troika supplement Academies of the Arcane. It was a really fun read; I wound up wanting to run a mini-campaign in it.
We start with stats:
Skill: 6 (nice, that’s max)
Stamina: 18
Luck: 9
All characters start with 2d6 silver pieces, a school uniform, a knife, a rucksack, and a text book on their favored subject. I don’t know what the latter is until I randomly roll a background — like I said, this is highly randomized.
And on a 52, my character’s background is Hellfire Gullet. He signed his soul over to the Devil and ate the contract, as if that would negate it. Instead, he wound up with an eternal case of acid reflux (really, it’s listed under Possessions). He also has singed clothing and a ritual dagger. His magic lives in his stomach and his spells are kind of — well, it says they “spew forth from your throat,” so.
And what spells does he know?
Ember: 8
Glotfire: 8
Firebolt: 8
Flash: 7
Explode: 7
That max Skill plus the base rank in each spell is added together to get the total shown, which is why maxing out my Skill was so good. This is not a hyper-balanced game. Jaym (there’s a name) also has a couple of skills:
Language – Legalese: 7
Gastronomy: 7
So I think Jaym is the kind of officious prick who memorizes regulations. Should be plenty of rules and restrictions at an arcane academy! This particular supplement is big on the annoying students, which means I’m more willing to be abrasive than I normally would be. The one spell which isn’t fairly obvious is Glotfire, which basically allows Jaym to burn away written words leaving paper intact. Obvious applications for forgery there. I’m thinking Jaym didn’t actually get into this academy legitimately.
And that’s character creation. I can’t resist rolling up the academy itself, though, since there are these great tables…
Jaym attends the Kraken’s Hammer Lyceum of the Four Humours. Feels kind of Nordic, maybe; the school’s focus on bodily fluids explains why Jaym wanted to go there. The school’s central feature is a great arch of Sudano-Sahelian stylization, with opal minarets and onion domes; there are also hanging translucent bulbous lecture rooms strung up with golden chains. So not all that Nordic after all. The interior tends towards belted metal and thin, fur rugs, with industrial light fixtures. It’s a deliberate attempt to evoke the feeling of being inside a kraken’s digestive system.
The school is built on top of an oasis in the desert. Rumor has it that those who know the right rituals can sail directly from the oasis into the far away Blood Red Sea.
The school uniform is a cubist-patterned Dalmatia tunic, hose, and a dressing gap. It’s incongruous with the rest of the aesthetic. There was a Magister several hundred years ago who dictated it.
Finally, the Kraken’s Hammer is locked in a long and notable conflict with the College of Friends. Those idiots worship the Cordial Wizard God; the Kraken’s Hammer faculty know that no divine entity should rule over wizards.
Young Jaym is a first year in House Xilat. The House’s mascot is a feathered mastodon, iridescent in hue, which is constantly coughing up gemstones. Their motto is “The Drink is Deep and Plentiful,” which Jaym has learned is a warning about the dangers of the sea rather than anything related to alcohol. House Xilat is deeply indebted to a Gremlin Hunter consortium, and everyone knows it; their deeper secret problem is that they’re also indebted to the Palace of Tigers, and the Palace is disgusted at Xilat’s weakness.
I swear I did not even use all the tables. These are so good!
That’s a lot of OSR to start the challenge, so I figured I’d do something less trad for day three. If I’d been thinking ahead, which I may do later in the month, I’d have thrown the playbook history section open to my pals on social media to crowdsource answers, but in the interests of efficiency I just made up my own this time around.
I decided I wanted to play a character who’s a little bit out of sync with the modern world but still effective. Playbook: the Initiate, who belongs to some kind of secret sect that thinks it’s the bulwark against evil. I’m going to call her Jeanne, as a reference to Joan of Arc.
She thus has a thin body and wears unfashionable clothes. This doesn’t lessen her charisma:
Charm +1
Cool -1
Sharp +1
Tough =0
Weird +2
Or her weirdness. She’s no mystic but she is subject to prophecy; I want Fortunes and Sacred Oath for my first two move choices, to sort of emphasize the chains of obsession that bind her. For a third move, in order to make sure she plays well with others, I’ll take Helping Hand. Note that Help Out is a Cool move, which with her -1 Cool means she’ll be exposing herself to trouble a lot. If I’m power gaming, I can use Sacred Oath to offset that a bit.
I see her Sect as somewhat antiquated. It’d be fun to do the contrast of a traditionalist who belongs to a high tech bunch, but nah — let’s make her the product of her upbringing. Their good traditions are Ancient Lore and Fighting Arts; their bad tradition is Tradition-bound. I think they are religious in nature, maybe Montanists? I am just skimming Wikipedia here but a Catholic heresy that believes in prophetic gifts seems right for Jeanne. For a real campaign I’d do some more research; Montanism has the benefit of being a dead sect so not a lot of real people to offend there.
I’ll call the sect the Prisca Society, after one of the original sect leaders. They recruit by family ties, although not exclusively — if someone has the gift of prophecy, they’re a candidate for recruitment. Since Jeanne does know prophecy, I think she was recruited at a young age, which may have been traumatic. I’ll let that develop in play.
OK. Those tradition choices mean Jeanne has three old fashioned weapons and one modern one. She prefers the old school stuff: her sword, her really big sword, and a silver knife that’s handy for certain targets. She also owns a shotgun and maybe has a very limited supply of silver-loaded shells.
For my fellow PCs, I’m postulating Marcia, playing Gregori, a Professional who favors direct action; and Hank, playing Feldspar, a Spooky. Hank loves weird characters and Marcia loves being effective.
Jeanne and Gregori fought together when the tide of monsters seemed unstoppable. How did that go? Gregori says they were shoulder to shoulder when the Gates broke open, and both of them were at peace with whatever happened. She was a bit reckless — took a bite for him while he was reloading — and he appreciates that. They have each other’s back.
Feldspar knew Jeanne when she was under her cover identity as Jane, a bank teller. (I like the way there are little implications about character history in these questions.) Feldspar thought Jane was trying too hard because nobody is that boring. Turns out Feldspar was right! I bet Feldspar isn’t always right about that kind of thing, though… anyhow, these days, Feldspar keeps looking for the next shoe to drop, the next layer of weirdness, although they don’t hold the secret against Jeanne.
OK, this time I really did cut back on movies. When I say “cut back” what I mean is I watched only 291 movies, which is only cutting back if you start at a baseline of 508 movies watched. Partially this is because we didn’t do Fantasia in 2024; really, though, I made myself be less obsessive, watched more TV, and so on. Also I had a nasty case of something at the beginning of the year which left me exhausted for most of the rest of the year; I want to say it was COVID but who knows? Either way my workday evenings were less useful than once they were.
I did SIFF again, with a festival pass this time. I only saw 22 movies because of the aforementioned fatigue factor. I didn’t see as many movies I loved but I saw some really good ones, including my second favorite movie of the year. Janet Planet is awesome. After the first three or four the movies kind of tailed off into a tight group of enjoyable but not excellent movies.
I haven’t nailed down my top ten 2024 movies yet because I give myself a month or so to catch up on a few more 2024 movies post-Christmas. For example, I’m gonna see Nosferatu and Nickel Boys in January. I will be hugely surprised if anything surpasses the amazing The People’s Joker, which found new ways to tell a very personal story. Otherwise, though, there’s some room for changes. The current list is here, and I expect to cut it down to a top 20 in February. Top ten was feeling too limited.
I started the year with Sátántangó. Now I know I can sit through a seven hour movie if it’s really, really amazing! I did take the intermissions. It’s a remarkable deliberate construction; every shot in the movie has purpose and adds significance to the whole. It’s about demagogues and the trust they abuse. It doesn’t provide much hope. I decided this should be a tradition — watching a long movie on January 1st — and I saw an incredible Argentinian movie this year, but that’s 2025. Eh, I guess it’s cool to read ahead. I very much hope to have more to say about Laura Citarella and the film collective of which she’s a part next year.
If I had a theme this year, it was Radiance Films. I did not resubscribe this year, because we didn’t finish the 2024 subscription and because I have enough interesting Japanese and Italian crime thrillers in my library right now. I still love their taste and I’m very glad we did one year of subscription, though.
S. and I successfully finished Boofest, our date night challenge. Second year running. Five 5-star movies for me this year, wow. Two of them were from Kurosawa, who I am getting to appreciate more and more.
My most watched actor was Phillip Kwok. Also a lot of Lo Meng, Lu Feng, Chiang Sheng… yeah, I spent quality time with the second Arrow Shaw Brothers boxed set, which has a ton of Five Venom movies. Good stuff. Outside the Shaw crowd, I also saw five films starring Tomisaburō Wakayama, courtesy of Radiance. My most watched director was Krzysztof Kieślowski, since I log each Decalogue episode separately (and as a result, Artur Barciś also snuck into the list of most watched actors). New to me directors: Damiano Damiani, whose 60s Italian politically infused crime thrillers are great and Tai Katō, who I don’t love but certainly like.
I also finished up Céline Sciamma’s filmography with great pleasure. Let’s see. Four films from Lukas Moodysson, including those two very experimental ones that are hard watches. I am up for following his vision anywhere even when he misses. Three Mike Leighs — I also got a great book about his work, Mike Leigh on Mike Leigh. Like Sciamma, he is completely dedicated to the human condition and I vastly appreciate his career.
I guess that’s about it. If I had to guess I’d say I’m going to keep digging into Argentinian cinema in 2025; I bumped into impressive Argentinian work from a number of different directions this year and I’m pretty fascinated. S. and I have plans for Fantasia again, which is exciting, and I already have my SIFF pass for 2025. We have also set out our date night challenge for 2025, which looks excellent. I feel like getting back to the canon a bit; perhaps I’ll make more progress on my Great Directors watchlist? Finally, I am not gonna lay any expectations on myself for numbers — I will watch what I watch and be happy with that.
Mothership gets to be my second character because a pal of mine wants to playtest a scenario sometime this year. I won’t use this character for the purpose — at the table, I’d rather make PCs with everyone else around — but it’ll familiarize me with the rules a bit.
Stats come first. This is another one where you roll stats in order, using 6d10 this time. I get:
Strength: 21
Speed: 32
Intellect: 41 (31 + 10 from my class)
Combat: 30
So clustering around the mean, sure. Interestingly I just noticed that the character sheet I downloaded says I should roll 2d10+25 for each stat, which must be a change from the initial rules. Well, I’ve got the initial rules so I’m using them and will cope.
I feel like playing a scientist; that’ll be my class. That gives me a +10 to Intellect, keen. My saves are:
Sanity: 40
Fear: 25
Body: 25
Armor: 35 (30 + 5 from gear)
Note that stat checks and saves are just roll under on 1d100. I sense plenty of exciting failure in this dude’s future.
Also my character — let’s call him Sal, he’s a xenobiologist who specializes in developing useful new drugs from alien lifeforms — deals with stress and panic by, um, freaking out people nearby when he fails a Sanity Save. I think he talks too much because he’s used to lab situations where communication is more important.
I get to choose some skills now. As a Scientist, I pick two of several basic skills, then spend 3 points. I’m taking Biology and Hydroponics as my basic Trained skills — that gives me +10% on their skill rolls. So 50% base, not so bad. Expert skills cost 2 points per and Master skills cost 3 points. Xenobiology is a Master skill, that’s a bummer. Let me revise a little: Sal wants to be a xenobiologist, but isn’t there yet. Thus, I spend 2 points on Genetics (a prerequisite for Xenobiology). If my GM will let me hold a point and spend it on the Expert skill Botany when I earn another point, I’m doing that. Otherwise I’m buying Scavenging.
Actually, no, I’m just buying Scavenging. Let’s be simple here. I get 2 skill points when I level up after the first session so I can go to Botany immediately. Xenobiology is a long ways away; that’s OK! Gotta have dreams.
Gear is super-easy, because Mothership is all about getting right down to play. There are four standard loadouts and you pick one. Sal gets Examination: a scalpel, a tranq pistol, pain pills, a diagnostic scanner, stuff like that. I also get a randomly selected trinket and patch: Sal has some kind of token, let’s call it a challenge coin, with “Is Your Morale Improving” written on it and a cool patch depicting a Fun Meter. The Fun Meter’s needle is in the Bad Time zone. I think Sal’s morale is not improving.
Sal has 20 credits, rolled on 5d10. I guess I could gotten a much better roll for starting credits if I selected gear piecemeal but it’s gonna be a long month, let’s not do that. His hazard suit boosts his Armor save by 5%; his tranq pistol does no damage but can knock the target unconscious. I bet it works very well on xenos. The stun baton does some damage along with a chance of unconsciousness but you kinda gotta be next to someone to use a stun baton on them so I know where Sal’s instincts lead.
Finally, secondary stats:
Stress: 2
Resolve: 0
Max Health: 42
In theory I’m supposed to pick a name at this point but I’m too much of a filthy storygamer to wait until now. Good luck, Sal, you’re gonna need it.