Thorough Thursdays : FUTURAMA

Prior to this post, I have only mentioned FUTURAMA, the brilliant, oft on-the-air/off-the-air Animated, Science Fiction-Comedy Television Series, by David X. Cohen, and Simpsons creator Matt Groening, in a few blog entries, and its only been tagged on this blog twice before.

That's just wrong.

Welcome to New New York

It's a hell of a hell of a town!

Truth be told I kind of cheated on this one.

I wanted Futurama to be my next Thorough Thursdays entry, so I looked at my list of tags to see how many times I had mentioned it in the past. According to the tags the answer was zero. There was no tag for Futurama.

Certain that this couldn't be true, I did a search for the word, and sure enough, while I had mentioned it before, I had never tagged any entries with the title. I remedied that by adding the tag to the two most appropriate entries, which only further spurred me onward towards making a Thorough Thursdays post about the show.

The concept of the 'Thorough Thursdays' series is not to add new tags, but rather to give some love to ones that have never been given the attention they deserve. Certainly Futurama is deserving of my attention, so this will be one of the rare cases where a subject gets the spotlight when it was previously not a title on my tag list.

We good? No? Well bite my shiny, metal ass!

***

I love Futurama.

I discovered the show relatively late, having missed its initial television airing. I caught it later when the reruns were shown on Cartoon Network, and later still on Comedy Central.

It was love at first viewing however, as the mix of smart humor, social parody, Science Fiction themes, and its wild, retro-futuristic setting immediately won me over.

As time, and episodes, went by, I was further impressed by the surprisingly complex characters. Voice actor Billy West is nothing short of astonishing in this series, playing main characters Philip J. Fry, and Professor Hubert J. Farnsworth, as well as DOOP (Diplomatic Order of Planets) Captain Zapp Brannigan, and Doctor John Zoidberg. How often is this dude talking to himself on the show?!

I've been gripped many times with a desire to explore this setting, mixing my particular brand of outer space adventure and humor with that of Futurama (which in many cases isn't all that different).

If only there were a Futurama RPG. Sigh. Alas...

Yes, one of my many crazy, past, pet projects was creating a Futurama Role-Playing Game.

Originally based on Star Frontiers (no, really. Star Frontiers), the game became something slightly different over time, although its genetic ties to TSR's Space Opera game of the 1980s, could easily be recognized. It was essentially Star Frontiers Light (Maybe very light. Maybe not), with options for character species (called Character Types), and careers that were customized to fit the open ended nature of the show.

For example, instead of having the rules, or stats, for playing an Omicronian of Omicron Persei 8, you play an Alien, with rules for customizing your alien to create a huge variety of sentient species (including Omicronians if you so desire).

Work on the game began sometime in (or around) 2005 I believe, with periodic updates over the next several years. A few years back I went to futz with it again, but couldn't find my most recent notes. I have found only a few pages of some previous edition, and as such, have stopped working on it to pursue other projects.

Pity. I should really get back to it.

Other than the thought of having to rework the whole thing all over again, a number of other factors have set back my enthusiasm for the idea. For one, there is the fact that the show is once again off the air, which is a real downer. I had originally planned to debut my Futurama game at NerdNYC's RECESS Game Day mini-convention, but sadly it seems those are no longer being held.

Sweet Gorilla of Manila! I'm starting to get jazzed again. When the heck would I run it? Who could I get to play it?

Here's what I have been able to find/salvage:

Worth continuing?

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Barking Alien

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan appreciation, insomnia, and an overzealous love of RPGs based on TV shows, movies, comic books, and other pop culture media. The creator of this material in no way intends to infringe up the copyrights, and badass legalese of Fox Broadcasting Company, 20th Century Fox, Matt Groening, David X. Cohen, or anyone else with abominable lawyers, and more money than God.

I am not making a dime off this. This is just for fun.



Thorough Thursdays : STAR FRONTIERS

Prior to this post, I have only tagged Star Frontiers, the 1982, Science Fiction-Space Adventure Role Playing Game created by David 'Zeb' Cook and Lawrence Schick for TSR, seven times on this blog before this post.

I may have mentioned it briefly a few other times.

That's just wrong.

What to say about Star Frontiers?

Man oh man. This game. The red-headed stepchild of Science Fiction RPGs where I grew up. It was a love-hate thing for sure.

We played a lot of it but the attention it received pales in comparison to other games such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Traveller, Space Opera (yes, Space Opera by FGU. Don't ask me how. Another Thorough Thursday perhaps), Cyberpunk 2020, even 2300 AD...yeah. Pretty much every Science Fiction game out there saw more play than this bugger and that's a kind of a shame.

The game has something special about it, some sort of charm that is very difficult to pin down. Unfortunately, when compared to other games we were playing at the time, all it had going for it was that it was popular and available. Sadly, that's about all that made it stand out to us and that ain't enough. Because of this, it was easily overshadowed.

Much like previous Thorough Thursdays celebrity guest DC HEROES, Star Frontiers faced some pretty tough competition, not the least of which was FASA's Star Trek, which I discovered and had been playing for a year or so before I ever saw Star Frontiers. With the FASA game being pretty excellent and me being a huge Star Trek fan, you can see what Star Frontiers was up against. It really never stood a chance.

In addition to its fierce and largely unyielding competition, Star Frontiers had several elements working against it.

As I mentioned some time ago in a post about my first experience with Traveller, I expect certain things out of my Sci-Fi/Space Adventure RPGs. Among those things are interesting (and playable) alien species, starships and the ability to operate them, robots (playable if possible - otherwise at least purchasable and operable), cool ray guns, and neat technology like HUD equipped binoculars, wrist mounted computers, and the like. Not every Science Fiction universe is going to have all of those things. Star Trek is notably robot light, for example.

Two problems with Star Frontiers that always stood in the way of it winning us over were a lack of solid spaceship rules and the opinion that the aliens were, well, silly.

Star Frontiers painting by Jim Burns

I don't know why, but we never took the aliens of SF too seriously. Don't get me wrong, there are some very cool things about some of them (Dralasites in particular are pretty original for a player character species), but somehow they just seemed cartoonish to twelve year old, oh-so-serious me.

As far as the starship rules, we fudged things at first, but soon came up with our own rules for spacecraft that largely worked. When the Knight Hawks edition of the game came out, we weren't super impressed as I recall and mixed what we did like into our homebrewed system (which for the life of me I can not remember at all just now).

The rule system is also a bit odd. While I am a fan of percentile skills to some extent (I like the aesthetic), SF's skills, if I am remembering this right, start at 100%, and are then modified by the situation's difficulty, and the PC's skill. I have this memory of that particular mechanic making things seem way too easy too quickly.

While it may not live among my top ten, it is definitely a game I have found memories of. Just because my group, and I didn't love it like we loved Star Trek, or even Space Opera, doesn't mean it wasn't fun to play.

I periodically trot it out from time to time, running ones-shots or very short campaigns, but as a full campaign game it just hasn't caught on with anyone I've played with in the last 25 years or so.

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Barking Alien

Happy Birthday to Me! Today I am 46 years young. :)

A lot of Science Fiction Love on the Thorough Thursday posts, no? I hope you're enjoying them. Matter of fact, let me know how you like Thorough Thursdays in general. I'd appreciate the feedback.

Just Being Thorough

Looking over my tabs, I am amazed at how few posts some of my favorite subjects have had.

Seriously, in 7 years, and about 845 posts, I've only mentioned Boot Hill once, which is one of only two posts to discuss Westerns at all. Chill, DC Heroes (DC HEROES People!), Paranoia, the Japanese table top RPGs Metal Head and SATASUPE Remix, all mentioned only one time each.

There's only been thirteen posts about Mekton. Thirteen posts about one of my favorite, most frequently played games. What the hell?

To remedy this situation, in which the games, and subjects I love don't get enough love, I am instituting my first reoccurring feature of the 2015:

THOROUGH THURSDAYS!
 

 

On Thorough Thursdays, I will be exploring one of my all time favorite things that, for one reason, or another, I have not talked about nearly enough on this blog.

 

Note that this may range from obscure games, or settings that I really enjoyed but haven't played in 30+ years, to games I play, or have played quite often, but for some reason that completely eludes me, I haven't told you guys about. Also, don't be surprised to see entries on artists, actors, books, films, TV shows, and other major influences on me that I've treated like dirt. I am to make amends.

 

I mean, only three Red Dwarf posts? Three? What is that about?!

 

Thorough Thursdays, every Thursday, starting later today. On a Thursday.

 

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Barking Alien





A Thorough Outlook

This month was supposed to feature the return of Thorough Thursdays, but as the RPGaDay Challenge went on, and real life took up more and more of my time, I quickly realized it was not going to be.

Still, and all I would like to bring it back for at least a month, or so to see if it continues to be an enjoyable, and worthwhile endeavor. It went over well with readers, and commenters alike, and got some love on Google Plus as well, so I am generally inclined to keep it up.

I definitely find Thorough Thursdays fun, and helpful myself, since the entries give me the opportunity to cover subjects I really enjoy that for one reason, or another I've not had the chance dedicate much blogging time to. 

Among the potential subjects to receive the Thorough Thursdays treatment include, but are not limited to:


David Bowie
Golden Sky Stories
Harry Potter
Wares Blade
Wizard of Oz


Any others? That is, are there any other tags on my list, or things I've talk about that you'd like to see me blog about more thoroughly? Let me know! I love feedback, and I love giving the people what they want to see.

Unless they want to see Dungeons & Dragons. Can't help you there. *Wink*

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Barking Alien

Idea For A Farce

My Thorough Thursdays series appears to be fairly popular. Based on the number of views, comments, and messages I've gotten here, and on Facebook, it seems like a worthwhile endeavor to keep the feature going. It's also been a lot of fun for me, so that is really all that counts.

I didn't really intend to have a monthly theme for these slightly-more-in-depth-looks-at-things-I-enjoy, but February certainly had a pretty powerful Science Fiction vibe. Actually, with the exception of January's one DC HEROES entry, they've all been largely Sci-Fi focused. That's not surprising I guess, as Science Fiction, and SF gaming, is probably my favorite genre, and subject.

More surprising is that it occupied so much of Thorough Thursday, a series focused on things I haven't talked about enough. How is it that there are so many Sci-Fi things I haven't posted much about in the last 6 years? What the H-E-Double Hockey Sticks?!

For March, I thought I'd go a different way, and talk about one of my favorite RPG genres (or perhaps subgenres) that I haven't given much attention to recently, and which, in my humble opinion, gets very little internet love at all. Since that is the true theme of Thorough Thursdays, I figure I'm on the right track.

Let's talk comedy, shall we?

The one trait I undeniably inherited from my parents, and grandparents, is my sense of humor. Yes, we Dicksteins, and Einsteins, are genetically funny.

Um...yes, well...

Appreciating a good comedy is appreciating the skill, dedication, and natural talent it takes to unite witty dialog, physical performance, and of course crackerjack accurate timing to create something truly spectacular. Yes, to me at least, comedy is art, and I fancy myself an artist dontcha' know.

So it is that I have a very strong affinity for comedic Role Playing Games. Finding a way to make a game cohesive as story, functional as a game, and consistently milk-out-of-the-nose inducingly hysterical is no easy feat.

Billy Murray looks eerily like my dad in this shot.

Over the years (and there's been a lotta them) I've run a fair amount of humorous RPG campaigns, and one-shots. I don't feel I am exaggerating, or boasting (OK, maybe a little boasting), when I say I've probably run more campaign length comedy RPGs than the average GM out there.

I might be wrong, but it never seems like anyone talks very much about comedic gaming, and when they do it's largely short campaigns, and one-shots. If anyone knows a blog, or other site that talks about humorous campaigns in detail, please send the info my way!

My approach to humorous RPGs is, like many things I do, possibly a little off the beaten path. I am hoping at least one of my old players will pipe in to confirm that, while unorthodox, our way of coming at the subject always works.

It is usually too much pressure to be funny all the time. A major league false assumption when running a comedic game, is that the GM needs to be hysterical. This is not completely true (although it helps). What a comedy game GM needs is a good sense of humor. That is not always the same thing as being funny.

You need not be as proactively comedic as you are good at recognizing comedy. You need to get when things are funny. Comedy, like so many things, is subjective, but if you are playing with a group of friends, chances are you're all going to be laughing at the same jokes more often then you're not. If you don't share someone's sense of humor, your relationship with them (regardless of what kind of relationship) isn't going to last.

Once you know when something someone does, or says is funny, you'll start to realize that gamers are constantly being funny. We can't help it. It could be the use of puns when naming characters, the ever present Monty Python quotes, or just our appreciation for the moments where we poke fun at ourselves. Whatever the cause, the effect is that no gaming session goes by without at least 45% of your session time lost to laughter.

To me, that's the way it should be.*

Throughout the month of March, expect posts on comedy RPGs, comedic game advice, and some Thorough Thursdays entries that truly near, and dear to my heart.

As always, questions, and comments are welcome. Share your experiences running comedy games, ask me about mine, and see what the future holds for the Barking Alien blog.

Remember, "Death is easy, comedy is hard".

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Barking Alien


*Unless you are running some whiny, angsty, emo game full of pain, and despair. Then by all means, do not be funny. Avoid chuckles, giggles, and especially guffaws at all costs. Do not, under any circumstances, 'lighten the mood'.

Enjoy. I mean, don't. Your welcome.

Thorough Thursdays : STALKING THE NIGHT FANTASTIC

I'm a few Thursdays behind in my plan to bring back Thorough Thursdays, but I'm glad to finally get back to the series.

This month I want to make a concentrated effort to not talk about Science Fiction, and Superheroes.

In addition to getting back to certain reoccurring theme posts, I was looking to address the fact that although I (like anyone else) have my favorite genres, subjects, and games, I've enjoyed and played a lot of different kinds of RPGs.

One genre that I rarely favor, but which has occasionally resulted in some really fantastic games, is Horror. However, we are looking at a very specific type of Horror - one with a dollop of Funny.

Follow me as I take a long look at a very specific game...

***

Prior to this post, I've only tagged Stalking The Night Fantastic, the supernatural Horror-Comedy RPG created by Richard Tucholka, Chris Beiting, and Robert Sadler for Tric Tac Games in 1983, four times before.

I've probably mentioned or alluded to it a few other times.

That's just wrong.

Original 1983 Cover and Third Edition 1990 Cover.

This game, and this entry, is a bit of an oddity.

Most of the time, Thorough Thursdays posts focus on a subject very near and dear to me that for some reason I've never addressed in detail. This was the original idea of the series at least. Take a game, a TV show, a famous person or what-have-you that means a lot to me, realize I haven't ever really talked about that person, or thing, and rectify that situation pronto!

Then there are subjects that I want to discuss because they interest me but the opportunity to do so just hasn't come up for one reason or another. Sometimes these aren't especially favorite subjects but they are ones I think about and would love to look at a little more closely.

Perhaps examine them more...thoroughly? Heheh. Ahem.

Stalking definitely falls into that latter category.

STNF is part of a certain breed of game that was very popular in the early to mid-eighties, even if each individual game wasn't hugely popular among the masses. These games all shared the common traits of being really cool ideas for RPGs that were then buried under incredibly crunchy and unnecessarily complex mechanics.

Stalking The Night Fantastic has a number of interesting elements going for it. Not the rules of course but interesting elements nonetheless.

First off, the overall tone of the game is a little bit tongue-in-cheek. Depending on how you read into it, the setting either has a hint of humor or it's a downright comedy (best handled as a dark comedy in my opinion).

I personally ran it a bit more on the serious side (believe it, or not), with humor sneaking in through the use of clever character banter and the occasional oddball NPC. My take would fall in line more closely with the Hellboy comic books than it would say, Ghostbusters (although my later take on Ghostbusters upped the scary factor as well).

The game itself focuses on a super secret organization known as 'Bureau 13' that investigates unexplained phenomena and protects America from the strange and supernatural. A mix of Hellboy's B.P.R.D., Men in Black, and the X-Files, the agents of Bureau 13 are not your polished, James Bond type spies. Rather, its field operatives are a mismatched assembly of former soldiers, police detectives, civilian researchers, and other assorted specialists.

In edition to normal men and women fighting off the denizens of the dark, paranormal  agents were also possible. I recall a Vampire, a Spectre, a Sorcerer, and a Psychic among the various PCs to appear in our campaigns. A friend's campaign featured a Were-Squirrel PC. No, you did not read that incorrectly.

Agent McNamara was killed in action in the Summer of 2013,

and he STILL reports to work on time every morning.

What's your excuse?

The adversaries in Stalking The Night Fantastic are incredibly diverse, as well as over-the-top. It is here that you see the comedic angle rear it's head in earnest. From the aforementioned Were-Squirrels to a few pun related beasties, truly anything is possible. The classics are still the best of course and Zombies, Ghosts, Demons, Cult Members, Ancient Gods, Flying Saucers, and creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monsters are all fair game.

I've always felt this game had a lot of potential, more potential in fact than it's notoriety and popularity would elude to. I've run campaigns of it on a few occasions and I'm not even entirely sure I achieved the full potential of the game as I imagine it.

There is this amazing place that lies somewhere between Call of Cthulhu, Chill, Ghostbusters, B.P.R.D., the X-Files, and many other related settings that this game is perfect for depicting. The road to that place is hard to find for some reason.

Maybe one moonlit night, somewhere far away from the eyes and thoughts of the unbelievers, I'll find it.

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Barking Alien

A Giant Leap for Mankind or A Stumble in the Dark?

Is this an April Fools prank? A hoax? No?? It's real? Really real?

It's not my birthday. It isn't Xmas or Hanukkah. Life Day?

How can this be true? 

Well it is...it definitely is...

Modiphius Entertainment, the makers of my beloved Star Trek Adventurers, have announced that they are making a Space:1999 Roleplaying Game. 

I've brought up Space:1999, the British Science Fiction TV Series, only a few times in the past and as some may remember, that's the tagline for my Thorough Thursdays series. I had always intended to do a Thorough Thursdays about this show but never got around to it much to my dismay. Now I have every reason to do so...only its Saturday. Drat. Oh well, the show must go on! I'm too excited about this to wait until next week. 

I caught the show when it first aired in the US in 1975 and instantly fell in love. It was like a  a cross between Lost in Space and Star Trek, yet distinctly different in setting, plot, and atmosphere from both of those shows. The stories were somewhat darker and more surreal. The science of it was often wonky (Isaac Asimov famously lambasted the 'science' of the series in Cue Magazine in 1975) yet somehow gave off the feeling of being more 'realistic' due to its tone and look. 

I for one ate it up. I had the Mattel Eagle 1 Spaceship (the Eagle Transporter), action figures, the toy prop Stun Gun and Communicator, and even went as a Moonbase Alpha crewman one Halloween (not a store bought costume but a total homebrew - long sleeve colored shirt underneath another white one with one sleeve removed. Vintage/second hand clothes are magic). 

I've always wanted to run a Space:1999 RPG but never have as best I can recall. The series has absolutely influenced many of my Sci-Fi campaigns such as Star Trek, Traveller, Red Dwarf, and more but I have never done a dedicated Space:1999 game. The reasons for this are really three fold:

While I was and am a fan of Space:1999, my working knowledge of the setting and its elements is no where near as strong as those of Star Trek, Star Wars, ALIEN, or Red Dwarf. I would need to re-familiarize myself with the series in a big way in order to feel comfortable running it as a campaign. 

Am I alone in my love for Space:1999? I've seen a lot of people on the internet surprised that Modiphius chose this particular franchise to produce as an RPG. Most noted positive but only vague memories of the show or a hope that some other Gerry Anderson property would be made into a game (most notably UFO or Thunderbirds). My concern now is the same as it was in the past - do enough people know about and like Space:1999 enough for me to find players?

Lastly, the setting focuses on one 'world', Earth's Moon. On it is a single, large base known as Moonbase Alpha which is occupied by 311 crewmembers*. That's kind of limiting when compared to the settings of other modern SF RPGs. In the RPG to come, are you one of the 311 on Alpha? Don't we know we (the Player Characters) aren't the ones in charge unless the players are controlling John Koenig, Helena Russell, or Alan Carter?

The question that comes to mind would be the same one I'd have if I were running a Star Trek campaign set on the original series Enterprise; if we come upon a derelict alien vessel and we're not playing Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, how is it that the PCs get to go on a mission to investigate it? If we are assigned to accompany the leads, do the NPCs (again, Kirk, Spock, McCoy) decide what to do? That doesn't sound like fun even though it makes internal sense.

Personally, I am very excited to see this game and will definitely be picking it up. I do hope that the book dedicates a significant portion of the GM section to how you play this given the parameters of the milieu.

Until then, "Loyalty is better than logic; Hope is better than despair; Creation is better than destruction".

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Barking Alien

*Between character deaths and new births during the course of the show's two seasons, Moonbase Alpha has approximately 284 occupants (including at least one baby as I recall). 

Thorough Thursdays : MEKTON

Prior to this post, I have only mentioned Mekton, the Japanese Anime/Manga themed Mecha Role-Playing Game created by Mike Pondsmith, and published by R. Talsorian Games, in blog entries thirteen times before.

That's just wrong.

The KG-6 Sleipnir, from the Anime Aldnoah Zero.

If there is a RPG among my list of tags whose number of related posts is the most inversely proportionate to the number of times I've run and played it, that game would have to be Mekton (although Teenagers from Outer Space and Star Wars would come in as close runner ups).*

Truth be told, I haven't run more than a handful of one-shots of it in the last several years. And, you know what? That's a damn shame. I love the game, I love robots, I love Anime, and it's a very simple system to learn, and play.

So why no Mekton for the man who loves mecha?

Same as with many other genres, my current group's opinions on the subject are too divided. All of us are Anime/Manga fans to a greater, or lesser degree, but our interests within the medium are very different. Some prefer gonzo comedy, others more romantic comedy. Most of us like some kind of action/adventure, or another, while slice of life stories interest about half of us (maybe a bit more).

As for Mecha Anime and Manga, I would say two of us love them, two like them, two don't really care about them one way, or another, and one or two don't actually like them that much. I think. I'm not sure where our newest member stands on the subject. I'll have to ask him.

Another thing that's held back my enthusiasm for giant robot gaming has been my lack of model building over the last five years (perhaps longer). I don't have the time, and I certainly don't have the disposable income, to purchase Gundam, and other series models, like I once did.

I've been a fan of Gunpla, and model building, painting, customizing, and kitbashing since I was about 11. After years of trying to get me interested in building model airplanes, and cars, my Dad took me to a store in New York City's Chinatown that sold Star Trek, and Star Wars models, and I discovered the early Mobile Suit Gundam kits. In subsequent years I would work for various comic book, toy, and gaming stores that sold these kits, and their vastly improved descendants.

Gunpla Customizing Contest

May 2013

While I was never much of a miniatures fan (though I did collect, and paint some on and off in my younger days), I found running Mekton without some kits around was like eating pumpkin pie without the whipped cream on top. You could do it, but it just wasn't the same.

I was digging through some old boxes of books a little while ago, and I found I still have one kit remaining, the packaging completely unopened. It's a favorite of mine, one I've built, and customized so many times I've lost count.

I think I'm going to give it a go. See if I still have the touch.

Anyway, that is it on Mekton for now. I could say a lot more, and perhaps I shall in future posts. If I can complete the kit I have, I'll post some pics of the finished product.

Hopefully I'll be able to get back to this game before too long. It is one of the rare crunchy games I like as well. While not overly complicated, and not nearly as math intensive as Champions, or even Mutants & Masterminds, it does have more combat rules, and construction options then I usually bother to deal with. For this reason I prefer Mekton II over Mekton Zeta. Mekton II, the game's second edition, is just chock full of building blocks enough without driving me wiggy with complexity.

Plus, there is a new edition on the horizon. Hmmm.


Alright, onward and upward...

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Barking Alien

*Teenagers from Outer Space, and Star Wars, are likely candidates for later Thorough Thursdays features.

Thorough Thursdays : CYBERPUNK

This Thorough Thursdays entry was supposed to have gone out yesterday, but I came down with a terrible cold, and forgot to publish it. Gomen nasai!

Prior to this post, I have only tagged three posts with the label Cyberpunk.

Those posts refer to the Cyberpunk 2013/2020 Role Playing Game by R. Talsorian Games and the genre as a whole respectively.

Three posts labeled Cyberpunk by a Science Fiction fan who loves the concepts of artificial intelligence, robots, and Anime/Manga.

That's just wrong.

I first discovered the term Cyberpunk through my uncle, a brilliant fellow and an avid reader of Science Fiction. He was especially interested in SF works that address changes in Human nature, culture, and thought brought upon us by advancements in technology.

After reading a number of novels in the genre he recommended them to me, namely Hardwired and Voice of the Whirlwind by Walter Jon Williams, Neuromancer, Count Zero, and Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson, and Blood Music by Greg Bear.

I became quite a fan myself, and since I am influenced as much by cinema as literary works, I became further inspired by the film Blade Runner, and the often underrated TV series Max Headroom.

This all lead me to the R. Talsorian Games RPG Cyberpunk 2013, and its follow up, Cyberpunk 2020. I ran a lot of 2020, often altering it a bit to reflect more of a Blade Runner setting and feel. I also tried my hand at Shadowrun, 2300 AD, and other games with significant Cyberpunk elements.

Around 1990 I discovered the Japanese RPG Metal Head, a Cyberpunk RPG that also included space travel, mecha, and other elements that really appealed to me. I ran a few games of that as well.

Many of my Traveller campaigns contain heavy Cyberpunk influences in the way technology and corporate culture interact with the people of Charted Space and the Third Galactic Imperium. . 

Cyberpunk is a strange genre. It really should be jarring, thought provoking social commentary and sometimes it is, but it is just as easily an excuse for technology-porn, and non-stop action.

How many Cyberpunk stories have cybernetics? Most, if not virtually (pun intended) all.

How many Cyberpunk stories feature 'punk'? Not many.

Punk is traditionally a social movement born out of the frustration and angst of the working class. It bucks tradition, corporate culture, and celebrates freedom, non-conformity, and the establishment through acts of counter-culture rebellion.

Does Cyberpunk actually do that?

As noted, sometimes it does, but other times the main characters of Cyberpunk stories end up working with, or at the very least within, the confines of the established authories to take down other interests who aren't all that different in the grander scheme of things. For example, Major Motoko Kusanagi of Ghost in the Shell isn't some punk rebel trying to stick it to the man, but rather a kind of police officer - She is the man! Well...you know what I mean.

Wouldn't a true Cyberpunk hero, or heroine have no cybernetics, avoid the 'net', and try to dismantle the oppressive culture of megacorporate government control? Are Shadowrunners really Cyberpunk if they go on runs for one megacorporate patron against another? That's just facilitating the situation, not rebelling against it, which is the real definition of punk. 

For a time it seemed that Cyberpunk in the classic sense had fallen out of favor. Real world scientific advancements had shown that biological, not mechanical, improvements were the logical next step. Also, things stated to look less dystopian, and an oppressive corporate culture less likely to prevail. 

Now, things have swung back the other way. Between the current world political and social climates darkening yet again, and improvements in the fields of prosthetics and virtual reality, the outlook for our future seems more Cyberpunk then ever. Is it just a coincidence that Blade Runner is getting a sequel now, and they finally put together a live action Ghost in the Shell film (crappy and poorly handled as it was)?

Recently Age of Ravens started a Cyberpunk retrospective of sorts as part of his History of RPGs series. One of the podcasts he's involved with, Play on Target, released a recent episode covering Cyberpunk gaming as well. Check them out won't you?

In the end, I am going to say I am a fan of Cyberpunk, especially its presentation in games, Anime/Manga, movies, and television. At the same time, I see it in a fashion similar to how I see Fantasy. It's a guilty pleasure for me this genre, since I don't feel like most of the Cyberpunk we see is truly what Cyberpunk is, or what it could be. The Cyberpunk we get is over-the-top, sensationalized Cyberpunk, and that's the opposite of what Cyberpunk should be.

What are your thoughts on the subject?

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Barking Alien

Thorough Thursdays : ALIEN

Welcome to Thorough Thursdays!

Prior to this post, I have only mentioned Alien, the 1979 Science Fiction/Horror film directed by Ridley Scott, in blog entries once or twice before.

That's just wrong.

Alien came out in theatres on May 25, 1979, when I was 10 years old.

The film, written by Dan O' Bannon, based on a story by himself and Ronald Shusett, was groundbreaking for the time, even if no one involved was wholly aware of it.

Combining the unparalleled artistic talents of Ron Cobb, Chris Foss, Moebius, and of course, H.R. Giger, the movie, directed by Ridley Scott, tells a traditional horror story in an especially untraditional way, using a very relatable Science Fiction setting.

The protagonists are an older, more experienced group than you'd typically see in a horror film. They are a crew of blue collar 'Space Truckers', something not really seen in Sci-Fi films prior. These were normal, working class 'Joes' and 'Janes', thrust into an abnormal, and deadly situation.

As a kid, I was not all that enamored with Horror films or comics. I was a rather peaceful, even timid lad. I didn't like being afraid (and I still don't). As a result, scary movies, roller-coasters, and other things designed to give you a fright were not my cup of tea.

That said, I did like the creepy, the odd, and the unexplained. Mysterious you see intrigued me. Gore and pointless death did not appeal to me (Nor does it now).

But then there is Alien...

At 10 years old I was not supposed to watch this movie. I had not even heard of it until I went to my grandfather's movie theatre where he worked as manager. I had gone there with my uncle and first cousin. While the adults spoke to each other, my cousin snuck into Alien. I saw him, looked at the films poster, was definitely intrigued, but nonetheless snuck into The Muppet Movie (watching it for around the 3rd or 4th time).

After the film was over, I realized that no one had come to get me. I walked backed out to Pop's office (Pop or Poppi was my maternal Grandfather's nickname), where he told me my uncle had to run back to his office in Manhattan (we were in Brooklyn). My cousin and I were staying at the theatre until either my uncle came back or my Mom came to pick us up and take us back to my place.

My cousin went back in to watch Alien again. This time...I followed.

I spent the majority of that first sit through of the film with my eyes closed or covered by my hands. I couldn't help it. My cousin said the movie took place in outer space, in the future. He it had a neat spaceship. He said it had the coolest looking alien ever. He was right on all counts but damn, if it didn't scare the bejeebers out of me.

If was the first and perhaps the most enjoyable, good scare I ever had.

Fast forward to now...

I've now seen the original film at least ten times, and the 1986 sequel, Aliens, at least twice that many times. All the others in the 'series' I've seen at least twice, but I consider them apocryphal. Only the first two films matter to me and believe it or not, they matter to me a lot.

On the left is 'The Book of Alien',

an Art Book/Making of The Movie Softcover.

That is my copy. An original first printing from 1979.

I've only ever gotten to play in the Alien universe once, at a gaming convention in New Jersey around 1995 I believe. It was an excellent session (though I don't remember the specifics of the system) and I remember it had a great story. I really liked my character, an android (Although he preferred the term, 'Artificial Person') named Rook Grey (Grey - Ash / Rook - Bishop) who appears to be setting up the Colonial Marines for a fall only to reveal he was working to save their lives the whole time.

The game gave me a host of ideas. Reading the 'Making Of...' book, 'The Book of Alien', only increased my desire to run something set in that milieu. Over the last 20 years or so I've thought up scenarios, NPCs, ships, and really exciting, nail-biting scenarios for a team of PCs to engage in.

One of my most inspired, but tricky ideas, which keeps nagging at me to give it a try, is to use Dread, the indie Horror RPG which in turn uses Jenga to determine the outcome of situations. Unlike how Dread normally uses the Jenga blocks, I think I have a way to do more with them. While still nearly as deadly as standard Dread, my variant would allow a little more survivability for campaign play purposes, as well as enabling them to use it for skill checks and the like.

If I can work out the details, I will try to post it here on the blog.

I have yet to use any of it. I've not run a game in this setting.

Now, with the release of the computer game Alien - Isolation, and all the incredible concept art that goes with it, I've got the urge again. It's like a throbbing pain, banging at the inside of my...*cough*...my ribs...ack! The need to...run this...so...so...powerful. It's going to burst right out of my...

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Barking Alien

DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fan appreciation, insomnia, and an overzealous love of RPGs based on TV shows, movies, comic books, and other pop culture media. The creator of this material in no way intends to infringe on the copyrights, and badass legalese of 20th Century Fox, Dan O'Bannon, Ridley Scott, H.R. Giger or anyone else with abominable lawyers, and more money than God.

The same thing to the makers of Dread.

I am not making a dime off this. This is just for fun.