I got into CopyrightX! I’m very excited about this; it’s a subject near and dear to my heart and admission is competitive. The course begins this week with readings, a video lecture, and a discussion group on Friday. The syllabus is online (original), for the curious. My discussion group looks fairly amazing. We have a couple of techies, at least one lawyer, an academic – really varied group in terms of age, careers, and especially location. Unsurprisingly, it’s a bunch of people who are good at expressing themselves with the written word. I’m finding myself excited about interacting with this bunch, which I didn’t really think about or expect. ...

Movies reviewed this week: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters.

Movies reviewed this week: Rock of Ages and Her.

Movies reviewed this week: Frances Ha and The Wolf of Wall Street.

Years apart, actual quotes. It’s interesting how two of my favorite designers approached the same problem. Unlike a lot of games out there, InSpectres didn’t start as an idea for a cool setting or anything like that. What I wanted to do was try designing a game that “fixed” some problems I saw in similar games that dealt with investigation (no names, please). That problem is what I call the “murder mystery” plot. Basically, it goes like this: the players stumble across a mystery of some sort. The GM then provides clues (in the form of helpful or not-so-helpful NPCs, scraps of forensic information or first-hand knowledge of the event). If the players are smart, they’ll figure it out. If not, then the GM has to guide them along until they do figure it out. In effect, it becomes an exercise for the GM in which the players are guided down a pre-built track and react to stuff that pops up along the way (not unlike a funhouse ride). In the end, the game succeeds or fails on the merits of the GM running that game. ...

Movies reviewed this week: American Hustle.

Mostly thanks to Hillfolk and the enabling influence of Kickstarter, I’ve wound up with a number of decks of playing cards. As one does. In a feeble but well-meaning attempt to justify the trickle of ten buck pledge levels, I’m going to write up some quick little DramaSystem series pitches based on said decks. I am not committing to running a DramaSystem game based on each deck. Primus, the system works better when it’s in campaign mode. Secundus, not insane. This is the Urban Punk Bicycle Deck (original) from UncommonBeat. (Click to enlarge, cause they’re better-looking full sized.) I am not sure if they’re still available or not; the Web site says Coming Soon. Email ’em and find out! It is not my favorite deck or even in the top half. The backs are really garish without being graffiti-inspired, while the court cards are oddly 80s-flavored. I still love the concept and the spray painted outlines on the pips. OK, so what can we do with this? Nutshell Ten years after the Global Financial Crisis was not averted, all politics are local. All governments are local, for that matter: it takes too much energy and too much effort to worry about what’s happening fifty miles away. The clock is ticking, as the storehouses of resources dwindle away, but it’s hard to care much about that.

1 bottle vanilla soda (we used Dry) 1 shot vodka (Tito’s!) 1/2 clementine, peeled and segmented Squirt of lemon or lime juice Pinch of ginger Ice I imagine the procedure here is pretty obvious. I squeezed one of the clementine segments over the drink and dropped the husk in, but the rest go in unmolested so you can eat them at the end after they absorb some vodka. The ginger is sprinkled over the top once you’ve mixed it.

Movies reviewed this week: Movie 43.

This post has an expiration date, which is approximately three days from publication. Reading it after 9/28? You missed out. The current Bundle of Holding is for a bunch of GUMSHOE games and it seemed worth going over what you get. It might appear that there’s a lot of duplication in the bundle, since all four of the full RPGs are based on the same ruleset. Not so! Night’s Black Agents is the easy sell: technothrillers meet vampires. Spy action, bloodsuckers, Ronin and Alias and so on. You get the basic GUMSHOE rules tuned for action, which had not been a particular strength until this point. Also you get The Zalozhniy Quartet which is probably a solid 8-12 sessions of play, at a guess. Maybe more. ...