I Just Want to Celebrate

Welcome to August and what is intended to be the height of my celebration of 45 years in the Tabletop RPG hobby.

Art by Midjourney, AI Image Generator

Prompts: Barking Alien, 45th Anniversary, Celebration, Green Fireworks

The plan was to make the whole year about this; to commemorate, honor, and in some ways memorialize that which has given me an outlet for creative expression and kept me sane through the decades. 

Unfortunately, I feel as if I've fallen far short of that goal up to this point. Even this post in coming late to the party.

I haven't had much to say lately on the past, present, or future of my gaming. Nothing that I feel warrants a post in my opinion. I'm not enthused or inspired to recount past successes, discuss current goals, or postulate what the next 45 years will be like. Will there even be another 45 years?

To that I will say, "Yes, definitely". I love TRPGs. I love the idea of them, a well executed campaign, and I will likely continue to do so far into my twilight years. Am I enjoying it as much as I have in the past? Well...not always. The frustrations sometimes outweigh the fun but I have to believe that the best things are yet to come. 

To that end...

This month will be what it was intended to be, a celebration of my time as a gamer. In addition to fulfilling the 2022 RPGaDay Challenge for another year, I will be posting some rather personal entries about people, events, and ideas that have impacted my friends and/or myself over my 45 years of slinging dice and using funny voices. 

Also, don't be surprised if you see a few posts on The Orville, specifically Season 3: New Horizons, as the season finale airs tomorrow, August 4th, 2022, at 12 am (on the East Coast of the USA). 

Please raise a glass of your favorite adult beverage and join in the festivities.

Better late than never.

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My apologies that this too is late in coming...

Anyone familiar with Science Fiction, Television, and American History knows by now that we lost a legend last week with the passing of the one and only Nichelle (Grace Dell) Nichols. Most well known for her role in the original Star Trek series and films at Nyota Uhura, the actress, singer, dancer, and advocate for the American Space Program was a key figure in the induction of woman and people of color into the ranks of the NASA's Astronauts. She was an inspiration and a multi-talented woman of class, conviction, and compassion. 

Ms. Nichols, you will be sorely missed and fondly remembered. 

RPGaDay Challenge 2022 - Day 1

 

There is really only one person I can think of but its unlikely to happen for various reasons and that would be my nephew.

There was a time I wished I had a kid of my own to pass on all my geeky interests to but as that never came to pass I figured my nephew might want to try TRPGs when he was old enough and if he were into fandom things. 

While he is - especially Star Wars - he's not into it at the level where I'd think of him as a geek. He does love Star Wars, Anime, and video games but he's more a consumer type than a creative one. That may not be true or a fair assessment but that's how he comes off. 

I just don't think he'd be interested in it and definitely not to the level I am. He has so many interests and activities in his life already and it takes time to learn rules, schedule games, and find time to play. I also don't think his Mom (my sister) would want him even more distracted from responsibilities and school work. He is definitely the easily distracted type. Been there, lived that, so I totally understand. 

In the end, I will introduce to anyone I think would really like it but I am not targeting anyone in particular. Come one, come all.

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RPGaDay 2022 - Nine and Forty-Five

August is a month away and you know what that means don't you? You don't? Oh. My bad. Totally my fault so I absolutely get it.

I've been making a really big deal about this year being my 45th Anniversary in the TRPG hobby and yet I've done jack to really make it special. My repeated intention of doing more posts and posts of a more meaningful nature has yet to be effectively expressed.

I am experiencing a sort of sidelong burnout. I don't lack ideas or the desire to talk about them but for some reason I can't get excited enough or motivated enough to bring my ideas to 'print'. I have thoughts. I want to blog about them. And then...I don't. I get tired from work, frustrated by my own perfectionism, and quickly lose interest in the subject at hand in favor of another, usually unrelated, subject. 

So what's an RPG Blogger to do? Well...it is August and every August we have...

The RPGaDay Challenge!

...to look forward to. Now in it's 9th year, the RPGaDay Challenge is a thing I enjoy doing, though I completely admit to sometimes doing it almost ironically. I often have a snarky, almost mocking attitude towards the questions as they seem, IMHO, to vary between too vague and too specific. This makes them hard to answer as written.

Take this years list posted above. Prompt #12, 'Why did you start RPing?' is a great question and one I'd be very interested in both reading from others and writing an answer to. Questions 22 through 27 don't warrant separate posts; why ask multiple inquires on a single character over the course of six days? It's RPGaDay but one could easy make those six into one post. Number 31, the last of them, can be responded to with a single line with a date. How is that a blog post, let alone what some participants do such as a podcast episode or a YouTube video?

Regardless of the quirky nature of the RPGaDay (and this year doesn't disappoint on quirkiness), I am going to have at it as a way to get my motor up and running. Hopefully it will be interspersed with some other posts I've wanted to get to.

We shall see.

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The Sunday Times

I know, I know, I've been quiet again. I've been racking my brain trying to think of something to talk about.

I am in one of my moods...again. Ya'know the kind. Too many ideas, none with enough of that certain something, that je ne sais quoi to stand out above the rest. I'm excited to run something but there is nothing new I'm especially excited to run. 

Still largely pleased and satisfied with the games I am running and playing in, I am nonetheless feeling down that this is my 45th Anniversary in the Tabletop RPG hobby and nothing particularly Wow has come of it. Not at the table, not on the blog...nada. 

August is still a couple months away and with any luck I will have some special things to share by then. 

In the meantime, keep on keeping on, get inspired, inspire others, and good gaming.

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I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge June 2022 LGBTQIA+ Pride Month and pass on my solidarity and support. If you know someone or are someone in this community or simply think and feel we all do better when we all do better, I highly encourage you to learn more, love more, and do what you can to embrace peace and harmony among all aspects of Humanity. 

We aren't the best carbon-based, oxygen breathing, iron-blooded sophonts in the universe but we're the only ones we have. 

Also, today is Juneteenth (public holiday date, Monday 20th, 2022). While generally commemorating the emancipation of the African American slaves in the U.S.A., it specifically marks the anniversary of Union Army General Gordon Granger's announcement of General Order No. 3 on June 19, 1865, proclaiming freedom for the enslaved people in Texas. I am particularly pleased by the animated Google made if you do a Juneteenth search. Try it. Very cool. 

Finally, it is also Father's Day. I wish a Happy Father's Day to all those dads who are indeed good dads. 

Talk to you all again soon. 

Definitely Worth The Wait

It's out and it's AWESOME!

It's also quite different from what many expected. Let's discuss that.

What I am referring to is...

The first episode of the third season of Seth MacFarlane's Science Fiction Action-Dramedy The Orville, titled 'New Horizons', has aired on the streaming service hulu.

Before we go any further I want to give everyone both a SPOILER and CONTENT WARNING. This episode discusses some serious subjects and goes to some dark places and some of that will be talked about here.  

You have been advised to proceed with caution.

As I am using the universal translation software and am incapable of stuttering, 

I must assume you understand me.

This discussion has concluded. 

Following a delay in the production of Season 3 due to both the COVID-19 Pandemic and the sale of Fox to Disney, the season was further delayed a bit by the reorganizing of the Fox properties Disney obtained. It has finally been released, starting on June 2nd, 2022 with the first episode, Electric Sheep.

Overview:

Following the events of the previous season's episodes Identity - Parts 1 and 2, the USS Orville is at the Earth orbital Dockyard undergoing a refit. The ship is being heavily upgraded in order to handle the potential threat of their new, highly advanced enemy, the Kaylon, a species of artificial beings. A member of the Kaylons, an individual called Isaac, has served on the Orville for approximately two years or so as its Chief Science Officer.

Isaac was originally on the ship as a supposed cultural exchange between the Kaylon and the Planetary Union. It was a hopeful precursor to the possibility of the Kaylon joining the Union. As noted, in the Season 2 episode Identity - Part 1, Isaac suddenly shut down and was brought to the Kaylon homeworld in order to repair him. It is revealed that his mission to the Planetary Union was a farce designed to amass knowledge on the Union's combat capabilities and weaknesses. The true end goal of the Kaylons being destroying the Planetary Union and all biological life in the universe (see the episodes for why - trying to keep this as brief as possible.). 

So here we are a year or so after the Kaylon-Union conflict, the battle at Earth that saw the Planetary Union Fleet team up with their enemy the Krill Empire, to defeat a genocidal attack by the robotic Kaylon.

[Actually, I don't know the exact time difference between the last season and this new one. I assume some time has passed since the USS Orville and other ships of the Union Fleet have under gone considerable refits and upgrades.]

Some members of the crew - including the newly added Chief Navigator Ensign Charly Burke (played very well by actress Ann Winters) - have grown to distrust Isaac and his presence on The Orville. Many blame him for the actions of his species and for the part he played in helping the Kaylon get through the Union's defenses. 

From there the episode explores the ramifications of these events, the actions taken, and the feelings they left behind. It looks into some philosophical and social themes related to anger, grief, trauma, and goes to some dark places. It is quite an impressive episode but I will finish my overview here so you can enjoy the show if you haven't watched it already. If you have, please continue reading. 

New Horizons

This episode may appear to those familiar with the previous seasons to be a 180 from the what we expect from The Orville. I can definitely understand that viewpoint and to some degree I even agree with this assessment. 'Electric Sheep' is quite serious and dark, missing the typical lighthearted approach that has become synonymous with the show up to this point.

To me this isn't a 180 but it isn't a straight line progression either. The Orville has definitely made a hard left into more mature and serious territory. In my opinion it could have used a bit more humor sprinkled through out in order to ease the audience into the deeper, graver elements so it didn't come off as so drastic a change in atmosphere.  

The show's identity thus far has been directly linked to the comedic tone it has had since the very beginning. It's a key element that separates The Orville from its Star Trek inspirations and makes it a unique outing in the Science Fiction TV/Streaming landscape. That said...

The Orville was initially sold as a comedy because that's how Seth MacFarlane was able to pitch it to Fox and get the funding to make the series happen. As the show has progressed through the first two seasons, the humor has been toned down more and more and the serious subjects have been brought closer to the forefront. The Orville has already generated some thought provoking stories and addressed numerous social topics. The Season 3 premiere isn't a new direction, though it is perhaps atypical of the balance between the earnest and the funny we've grown used to.

Season 3 Episode 2, Shadow Realms, brings the humor back in tiny trickles. There is some great lines and banter here the there but an overall horror tone in maintained for this very creepy installment into the franchise. Another excellent episode and highly recommended, definitely more 'fun' than the premiere. 

Conclusion:

We are only two episodes in so it is too soon to make a final assessment but so far I am loving it. The Orville is my kind of Science Fiction and it's definitely inspiring thoughts of another attempt at an Orville campaign. Interestingly, it impresses me and satisfies me in a way Star Trek's new series, Strange New Worlds, has not.

For some reason I can't quite put my finger on, Strange New Worlds is not connecting with me. I don't find the characters all that engaging (with a few exceptions) and their need to bring up TOS elements before (chronologically) the TOS crew first encountered them is irritating. It isn't a bad show, not poorly written or executed the way, say STD was in its first two seasons but it isn't WOWing me either. 

Anyway, that's all for now. More thoughts as they come to me.

The Orville airs on the Hulu streaming service in the USA, Disney+ in many parts of Europe, and on other services elsewhere. Check your local listings. New Horizons, Season 3, puts out new episodes every Thursday in the US.

Fan Poster by PZNSGAZ

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Barking Alien