brainiacfive's omnicom

Waters of Mars: Hommage to John Carpenter??

2009-11-22T07:05:10Z

As I was watching the latest Doctor Who special, I was reminded of the Carpenter film, "Ghosts of Mars'. Seemed to fit - Mars, possession by some sort of awakened former life on the planet.

Upon reflection, I realized it was more like a cross between GoM and "Prince of Darkness", a Carpenter flick from the late 80's involving a cylinder of 'liquid evil'. The liquid would drip on someone, possessing them by some collective will and allowing them to spew streams of water to possess others. As a bonus, PoD involved a recurring tachyonic dream-message from the future, warning of impending doom. Now isn't that ood?

So, coincidence? Or is RTD a Carpenter fan?

As for the Doctor Who special itself, the less said, the better. Kind of a waste of an hour, for all the squandered opportunity and missed potential. There were a couple of germs of some good ideas in there, but they were either handled better in "Fires of Pompeii" (which was even referenced in the ep!) or taken care of in the blink of an eye!

An unfettered Doctor could be a great story, but deserves, nay, CRIES OUT FOR, more than a 5-minute character arc! Why even bother when you can have 30 minutes of lovingly shot but wasteful scenes of the Doctor saying he should reallllllllllly be going now.

Pride & Prejudice & Zombies

2009-10-25T03:37:25Z

As some of you may know, wiliqueen has a role in a production of Pride & Prejudice that runs through next weekend.

I've been toying with the idea of attending the Halloween performance dressed as a zombie - I haven't read the recent Pride & Prejudice & Zombies parody, but I like the idea.

Today wiliqueen told me that tickets for the Halloween performance are reduced to $10 if you come in costume, so there's an added incentive.

How about it, anyone want to join me?

Jones Soda does D&D

2009-09-22T14:04:20Z

Jones Soda Limited edition Spellcasting Sodas:

Potion of Healing, Dwarven Draught, Sneak Attack, Bigby's Crushing Thirst Destroyer, Ithillid Brain Juice and Eldritch Blast.

The Mouse Buys the Spider

2009-08-31T15:36:24Z

I don't know what to think of this yet. I'm still... mulling.

I can see pluses AND minuses for Marvel fans.

Related to Previous: Recommend an Online Computer/Parts Vendor

2009-08-12T20:32:45Z

So, I figure I should try a replace the power supply before jumping into a new machine. So, anyone have luck getting a PS from a particular vendor? Any mailorder suppliers you trust? It's been YEARS since I shopped for computer parts online, and not since I moved, so I would appreciate any thoughts.

I have a 3-year old Dell Dimension E510, and the dead power supply seems to be common. Hopefully that'll take care of it.

FYI: Out of Touch

2009-08-12T15:43:23Z

My home computer power supply appears to have died after a late-nite reboot by MicroSoft. So I will not be responding/posting much until this is fixed/replaced. Work computer is not letting me view ANY outside webpages at the moment (usually just webmail is restricted, but I think there are DNS issues today) so even that is out (posting from the wife's computer).

Maybe it's time to upgrade my desktop. Any suggestions on vendors/build-it-yourself sites?

Brainiac 5 at Chicago Comic Con 2009

2009-08-10T19:52:50Z

So, as threatened, I showed up green this past Saturday at Wizard's Chicago Comic Con. Here's an overview.

I've had a long fannish association with the LoSH, beginning with my first round of comic readership in the 70's. My earliest recalled stories include reprints, I think, of early 'Adventure' backup strips, as well as full-blown stories in 'Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes', such as Pulsar Stargrave, the Infinite Man, and the one where Saturn Girl and Lightning Lad are kidnapped while both are up for Legion Leader and have to face off against the Fatal Five alone! I think it was these stories during my formative years that cemented Brainiac 5 as my favorite/identification Legionnaire because his super power was that he was really REALLY smart. And just being smart put him on the same footing as the most powerful beings in the universe. I liked that idea. I couldn't grow up and learn to throw lightning bolts, but I could learn everything I could and still be considered a hero! And who wouldn't want that?

I think that's one of the reasons I was initially reticent about the characterization of Brainy in the Kids WB animated series a few years ago. They made him into a robot, and one who could transform into a big, powerful, weapon-laden bruiser. That was WRONG! To go from a character who was there because he was simply the smartest being around and created the gadgets and technology the Legion used, to a smart robot who WAS technology and could form his body into a multitude of gadgets - that seemed to deny the essence of the character. To be fair, they did do some interesting things with him, and I liked that the series ended up being in large part about his and Superman's relationship, but I still feel that - for a children's series - they missed a big opportunity to say something about the importance (and power) of studying and learning to be the smartest you can be.

The Legion was also a big part of my second wave of comics fandom, which started with Crisis in the mid-80's and lasted through the mid-90's until I basically took a break again from comics after tiring of the unending special-event cross-over multiple-cover palooza. I had been a (mostly passive) follower of Legion fandom online since the early 90's. I recently found a stack of printouts from the old Legion outpost mailing list I'd made while still in grad school.

I was enough of a fan even after I quit reading regularly to get wiliqueen to make a Brainiac 5 costume for me when we went to Chicago Comicon in '98. Apparently attending in greenface made an impression, as I got Claudia Christian to pause in answering a question during the Babylon 5 panel to ask this audience member, why was he green? I stood, and placed the Koko monkey doll on my shoulder to a round of applause as the audience tried to explain for me. head58 later pointed out that I'd appeared also in an issue of Wizard magazine in a shot apparently taken while I was talking to TV's Superboy, Gerard Christopher. The caption they ran with the photo was MOST unflattering, but apparently fairly in line with their practice of making fun of people in their targeted demographic. Still, I'm glad to have the shot of B5 and Superboy - thanks Wizard!. At that convention I also met up with a group of Legion fans I had previously only known online, had a diner at a nearby restaurant (I remember the walk in greenface down the street and into the restaurant - I think I was the only one in costume that year - and I'm not sure I'd have the courage to do that again today) and marveled at the HUGE custom Legion figure collection someone had brought and set up at the restaurant. Now THAT I wish I'd had a picture of.

I met a few of those same folks about a year later, in my one and only appearance with the Legion of Super-Gamblers in Las Vegas. That group of Legion fans meets up once a year in Vegas to talk Legion fandom, show off any nifty collectibles they've managed to get, and indulge in some gambling, of course! As it happened, I had a trade show conference in Vegas in '99 that overlapped with their gathering that year, and had a lot of fun after hours hanging out with the gang. A Legion highpoint was going into the WB store in the Shops at Caesar's Palace and admiring the expensive Alex Ross Legion print available at the time and stunning the workers in the shop by not only naming each Legionnaire (including the one's barely visible in the reflection of Wildfire's visor), but listing their 'real names' and home planets. The staff had a key to those at the front desk, and after we started going around and rattle them off the top of our heads, we gathered a crowd of two or three staff members who grabbed the key and were amused at our thoroughness.

Which makes my performance at ChicagoTARDIS '08 a little embarrassing, as during a conversation with taraljc and paulcornell2 I got the 'real name' of one of the Legion of Substitute Heroes wrong. I knew I had misspoken right away, but I couldn't for the life of me think of the real answer until later. Ah, well.

I have been back to Vegas since then, but haven't been to another gathering of the LoSG - which makes me a reserve member, I suppose. :-)

Recently, my Legionmania was stoked by the appearance of the 3 founders on an episode of Smallville. I meant at the time to make my thoughts known, and I might still do that in another post, as this is getting long enough as it is. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed the interpretation, and promptly started thinking about how a Smallville Brainiac 5's jacket would look like... :-) Maybe for Dragoncon one of these years?

So after the Smallville Legion appearance, and the fact we had plans (and rooms) to go to DragonCon finally this year, I thought it was time to drag out the B5 outfit, finish the Belt, and do it right. Though DragonCon is off the cards now, we decided to go back to Chicago Comic Con as a consolation. With the help of a couple of members of The League of Heroes costuming forum, I got the belt finished, and the results are here to see.

First off, here's a shot of me with George Perez, who drew the just finished 'Legion of 3 Worlds' series. He signed the awesome two-page spread from the final issue for me (as well as the back of my legion buckle, which kept popping off and chose to do so while I was waiting in line, so I took advantage of adversity!) He looked up as I passed by earlier and said 'I've drawn you a LOT recently.' And as I walked up in the autograph line, he correctly identified me as 'my post-Zero Hour Brainiac 5'.

Next Brainiac 5 with a couple of Supergirls. I expected more Supergirls, considering it's the 50th anniversary of her debut...

Uh, oh, Bwainy! Be Cawful! I think Glowith's back! (Brainiac 5 and Lil' Saturn Girl).

And finally some group Legion Shots, with Cosmic Boy and the Emerald Empress (complete with floating EYE that unfortunately gets cut off in the photo). We were told early in the day that they would be there, and when gathering for the unfortunately completely mishandled Masquerade that we bailed on, I saw the balloon from across the packed room and knew where to head to, saying "Follow the Floating Green Eye!"

I've got some other shots with celebs, and other costumes, but those are pictures for another post.

So.. What recent Trades are good (comics)

2009-08-05T06:02:59Z

Since I'm heading out to the Chicago Comic Con this weekend, I might just find a deal or two on trades (which are about all I read these days, anyway).

Can I get some recommendations for recent (the last few years) trades? I admit, I've been out of the loop when it comes to the major companies, reading webcomics mostly the last couple of years, and besides a lot of the recent multi-mega-event storylines have really left me... no, not even cold. Just wildly indifferent. As in, I don't care.

But I didn't hate "Legion of 3 Worlds" (considering my sig, wouldn't have expected to, but I was a little meh on the last few years of the Threeboot Legion), so I'm sure I missed something worthwhile in all the rampant crossover mediocrity.

So, opinions, recommendations, disagreements?

What should I look out for?

Or heck, why limit it to the last few years. Give me the best of always as well.

Thanks.

Rocketeer Update

2009-07-27T01:13:54Z

I said I would track my progress in putting together the Rocketeer costume. This update is late, but work and vacations have delayed me, and I wanted to make sure I had photos ready for it.

First, as I mentioned there are a few vendors selling replica jackets out there, with prices ranging from $200-$500 or so. Some of them sell at a slight discount on eBay, which is where Imanaged to get what I thought was a fabulous deal. A jacket for about $90 (after a few rebates). Problem is, when it arrived, the had sent the wrong color!

The black jacket with silver highlights, while fitting well, really wouldn't serve the costume purpose. And when I complained, the vendor said they had such a small margin on the item, they couldn't send me a replacement. I should sell the jacket myself, or I could return it for a refund if I couldn't sell it.

Well,neither idea suited me, and it turned out the very responsive customer service person was in Pakistan, and the language barrier was getting in the way. I eventually struck a deal to return the jacket (at my expense) for a replacement. That turned out to be more involved than I first anticpated, as the eBay auction listed a New York origin, the jacket was sent from UAE, and I needed to return it to Pakistan. What the heck, I thought. I was still covered under the PayPal guarentee, so I figured I'd go ahead.

And I waited, and waited, and finally, 1 day before I had to put in a formal complaint, the jacket arrived. Not QUITE as good a fit as the first jacket, but the right color!

So, helmet, check; jacket, check. Next, gloves, pants, boots and the rocketpack.

Amber Game Log: Session 2

2009-06-03T02:56:44Z

Session 2: 5/7/2009

Still in a meeting room at Argolin Castle in Jason's Shadow of the Realm, Talon attends to his prisoner (a vermik) and interrogates it. Discovers that the gods had been to its home shadow and recruited some of its people recently. And it's hungry.

Jason is concerned that the activation of the crystal will call something nasty to his shadow, and asks Sheenakri to check the borders and boost the security patrols, since he had determined it probable that there were military exercises going on.

Meanwhile, Leo and Jason examine the crystal. Jason discovers a latent afterimage of the woman's psyche, and Leo attempts to use that to create a Trump Sketch. Jason maintains control over the device, to make sure it isn't accidentally activated again, while looking for other controls/uses for the crystal. The woman is not recognized by anyone.

It is decided to take Talon's creature somewhere it can hunt/feed. Such as Sheenakri's shadow (reluctantly). Sheenakri discovers she can't Trump anyone back at shadow Wilder, nor the shadow itself. Then Talon can't reach his shadow by Trump. They decide to put the creature in a wildlife preserve under guard for now.

Concerned, Leo finds he can Trump to Amber and back. The group consider tracking down Torin, and pay a visit to the Hightowers, but Sheenakri's concern over her shadow wins out, and they try to pool their Psyche to Trump shadow Wilder. A connection opens, but Wilder isn't there. Instead, one of the connecting shadows is reach, on the shadow path to Wilder.

The group travels there, but the shadow path leads right past wilder. Like it isn't there. Then they are attacked by 6 of those creatures. Leo drops back to try and Trump Amber - but they are far enough out that it takes a moment. Jason steps back to defend him by sword.

Talon takes on a couple of creatures, clearly outclassing them by sword. Sheenakri similarly bashes and stabs a few combatants, while Bryce releases a lightning bolt spell he had ready to knock his opponent off its feet.

Jason tries to quickly shift local geography while backtracking, leading his opponent into grass concealing a rut in the ground. The creature stumbles, but Jason's attack is expertly blocked. Using the opportunity, Jason makes eye contact and shuts down combat quickly, appearing as one of its gods.

While the lightning bolt fries one, Sheenakri throws one of hers into the other, finishing them off. They have the dagger cards. Talon's refuse to surrender, and he makes short work of one, and the other makes a break for it. Talon follows discretely.

Jason's captive recalls being gathered by a tall man in full armor, face hidden by a black sugarloaf helm from its home to a nearby shadow, and delivered to a young man, with brown hair and a flaming dagger symbol. It is this dagger man who ordered them to attack, knowing where the Amberites would be.

Talon finds the 'staging area' for the attack, but there aren't any others still there, but they left recently. Leo abandon's the idea of Trumping back to Amber (but verifies it is still Trumpable) and soon thereafter Talon reaches him with the trail. The others come through, and Sheenakri finds some horses for them to follow.

Jason takes point, and leads the hellride after the young man (hopefully). The trail leads towards Chaos and is moving fast. Then it splits off, one track widening as if leading a group (or army) parallel with the original track, which remains. Sheenakri, Talon and Bryce continue on the current path, while Jason and Leo split off to follow the 'army'.

The army moves towards Chaos, just passing the midpoint, then disappears. Figuring a cover up, Jason heads farther towards Chaos, and tries to backtrack, but can't pick up anything after it disappears. Pulling up Pattern defense, he tries to barrel through, as if someone tried to pull the shadows over his senses, and he eventually breaks through, finding a little trail back towards the original track. They head back to the original group as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile the others make it to a valley where a single tree stands aways off before a stone wall cutting off the valley further down. They see someone ride up to the wall and dismount. They have a conversation with the Tree, Ygg, who has a little to say about beings who have passed by recently. Sheenakri is intrigued, and wonders if there is a connection between Ygg and her shadow. There is a storm (shadow storm?) brewing over head - over the wall.

The others catch up, and head to the wall. A tall man, in full black armor and sugarloaf helm blocks the door. He says they may not pass - yet. Talon disagrees and walks forward to attack, and gets his lights knocked out, repeatedly. The others try to help, distract the man, etc, but he does not relent. The storm peaks, there are thunderclaps, and the man steps aside, walks to his horse, and takes off.

Helping Talon, they enter the door to find an area walled off like a ceilingless room, containing a bluish-silver Pattern, and something else. A young man, brown hair, holding what looks like a shining ruby stands in the center of a new pattern, glowing red, panting and tired.

Leo conjures a crossbow and tosses it to Talon, who is too weak to shot it. Sheenakri takes it, aims, but the fellow pops out of the center, and reappears at the start of the new, writhing red Pattern. The groups tackles him, and Jason grabs the jewel away, searching for the flaw to verify it is what he thinks it is.

The man is Torin, and he is gleeful, saying he did it. The storm increases in intensity and the red Pattern pulses, feels like it is moving before your eyes. created a Pattern, he is asked. Now, smiles Torin, a Logrus!

And something comes out of the stormfront - a gigantic serpent flying towards us. Torin says we don''t have much time. Jason says he has even less, and stabs Torin in the heart. Leo takes the body and he and Jason toss it on the new logrus. Instead of erasing the lines, the blood seems to energize it, taking on the same red glow, and blotting out the lines into a large puddle, that seems to destabilize the Logrus. It seems to pull on the nearby Pattern, drawing energy from it and shifting it towards it.

The serpent gets nearer, and Jason tries to use a quick Pattern defense, to keep the two structures separate - pushing energy like a Pattern wall between the two. The Logrus swallows the energy, and the serpent is almost there.

They make a run for it, but the hellride gets barely past Ygg when the serpent catches up It is blind - that isn't Amber's jewel, but the other eye, recently stolen. Jason exchanges words with the Serpent, letting it know they saved the jewel from the one who stole it - without them it could have been anywhere by then. It owes them. The serpent grants them their lives, and only wrenches Jason's shoulder as it takes the eye back. It leaves back towards Chaos.

They wander back, and the pattern is being drained, and slips towards the damaged Logrus. Nothing they try seems to stop it. Sheenakri talks with Ygg to try and find out if it can do something to the ground to disrupt the Logrus. No good. The other four decide to walk the dying pattern, hoping it will accept them, and they can bolster it as they walk, renewing it.

They walk in series, with Talon who is too weak otherwise in the middle with Leo who has never walked before. It's different than the usual walk, but the same. Sheenakri joins in before they reach the center, but it is already starting to recover. s she reaches the center, the Pattern brightens, and it pulls back from the Logrus, drawing the energies back. It swallows all of the Logrus, absorbing it's energies and causing the Logrus to vanish.

The storm reaches them, but it isn't as bad, and breaks now that the new creation isn't there to sustain it. They wait it out in the center of the revived Pattern.

After a rest, Talon has the Pattern send him to the woman from the crystal, and he reappears in a room somewhere in Chaos.

Leonardo wants to stay in the Pattern, absorbing the feel of the area, so he can draw it later, and resting after his Pattern walk. Jason takes the others to the center of the Primal Pattern to wait out the storm as it crosses through Amber. The griffin comes out to see if Jason has any food. Not this time.

New Gaming Blogs

2009-06-01T05:43:42Z

Just an FYI. I have started writing about gaming on two other blog sites, only some of which will be cross-posted here.

First, there's head58's ClawClawPeck, which is where he's letting me (and a few others) post some more general interest (or what I think might be) gaming material. So far I've posted some introductory thoughts on how I went about choosing to update the old basic D&D adventure Keep on the Borderlands for my first 4th Edition game. I would like to turn that into a series of articles, both organizing my thoughts about the game, and soliciting input on the ideas I'm using. I'm calling it "UpKeep on the Borderlands". Shut up.

Then there is second blog, League of Elgin Gaming, which will be more specifically focused on games and ideas run by or for what I call the League of Elgin Gamers. I thought it was cute since I started up a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen game when I moved to Elgin, and I soon realized the initial possibilities (loeg) of that name for my group of gamers.

This second blog will have pretty much all of my gaming posts, some of which will be cross-posted to here, or to ClawClawPeck. So it'll include some egenral purpose game stuff, as well as gamelongs, character diaries, and so on for various games I'm in.

For those of you in games I run, I ask that you avoid looking at posts regarding games you are currently in and have the 'GM' category on League of Elgin Gaming. I don't have as much control over how my posts on ClawClawPeck appear, so use your best judgment.

And if any of you League members (current, past, or heck, future, why not) would like to post your own material, let me know and I'll get you access to the League blog.

Amber Game Log: Session 1

2009-06-01T05:12:41Z

I mentioned in April that I would be playing in my first Amber game in years. We've done two session so far, and I'm finally getting around to writing up my notes as a gamelog.

This is a game log from dracian's Amber Game, run at the EAGLES regular Thursday night meetings. This is the first post-Auction session, run on 4/30/09.

Leonardo, son of Fiona, was the first to see one - a creature out of Shadow that was just suddenly there. Was it hiding shapeshifted as a rock in the Grove of the Unicorn? Not wanting to confront it (and sure his stakeout for the Unicorn was interrupted) he calls in Julian by Trump, and heads back to the Castle.

He runs into Jason, son of Flora, and tells him the details. Jason senses a disruption in the local Pattern, and they go to investigate. Bryce, unacknowledged but known Patternwalker, was researching something in the Library when a similar creature appeared. Grayish, with a retractable sword in the arm. Bryce called for the guards, and together they finished it off just as Leo and Jason arrive.

Jason tries to grab a psychic impression from the creature before it dies, and gets a sense of someone unknown, probably male, god-like to the creature, ordering it to seek out and attack Bryce. It has a calling card, with the word 'Annies' on one side, and a flaming black metallic dagger symbol on the back.

Sheenakri, daughter of Deirdre, arrives from Shadow Wilder to report a similar creature appeared there, killed both humans and creatures, before being slain. It carried a similar card. Talon, an unknown son of Bleys, appears soon thereafter looking for answers on these creatures as one attacked in his home shadow as well.

Jason performs an impromptu autopsy on the creature, and decides it hails from nearer to the Chaos side of things. Leonardo updates Julian and calls folks known to be out in shadow to warn them. Some are unreachable, many who do respond report a similar creature recently attacked them. Sheenakri and Bryce check out the dagger design with the Chief Herald, and while they don't find out whose symbol that is, they discover the name Annie's, and the style used, belong to a recently opened (2 years back) tavern in Amber city, run by Lady Annibelle Rutsgar. A widowed landowner and winemaker, her husband Lord Jerrod Rutsgar was lost in the Patternfall War. They had one son, Torin.

The assembled group goes to Annie's for a late lunch, and eats and drinks while pumping the staff for info. Lady Rutsgar is a hands-off owner - only coming in every few months. They confirm the card is their's, or exactly like it, but don't recognize the dagger design on the back. They mention that Torin has been courting Lady Teresa of Hightower, something that was otherwise unknown to the Amberites, so either it's recent, or something strange is going on.

Jason decides if there are creatures for each of the cousins, there may still some in the vicinity, since he hasn't had one show up yet. He leads a directed shadow walk near Amber for the the closest such creature yet alive, and they find themselves being led to Arden. Suspicious, Jason has Leo contact a terse Julian who confirms (though not in as many words) that his men have closed off the entry routes for these creatures.

With that avenue of inquiry closed off, the group split off. Leo wanted to visit the Primal Pattern, and Jason led him to check out if the source of the Pattern disruption came from there. Talon wanted to go back to the Castle and walk the pattern to transport to the origin shadow of these creatures, to capture one alive. Leo gives him a Trump of himself to use to get back. Sheenakri and Bryce went to the Rutsgar estate to speak with Lady Annibelle.

Talon runs into issues - the guard will not let an unknown into the Pattern room. A quick Trump of Leo, who vouches for him and Talon is Patternwalking. He transports to a far distant shadow, full of those creatures, and grabs one. He tries to Trump Leo for a ride back, but...

Leo and Jason make it to the Primal Pattern, which seems in good repair, and nothing out of place (as far as they can tell). Jason wonders why it isn't guarded, when the guardian griffin appears out of a cave, dragging it's chain and making all sort of nasty sounds. Jason approaches to just beyond the chain's limit, and tests it - it is meant to keep anyone from approaching the entrance to the Pattern. It doesn't like anyone going towards it's cave either.

Jason Trumps back to his shadow while Leo soaks in the ambiance for future Trump making. Grabbing some livestock (sheep) and dried meat, Jason has Leo bring him back, and Jason feeds the griffin, which eventually allows him close enough for psychic contact, and Jason makes friends, scratching behind the ears, etc. That's when Talon Trumps Leo for passage back, and fearing the appearance Talon and his captive will cause the griffin to freak (since they don't plan feeding the creature to it) and tells Talon he will call him back.

Talon gets impatient and starts shadow walking to his personal shadow with his captive unconscious. Leo realizes he doesn't have a Trump of Talon, and he and Jason eventually head back to Jason's Shadow of the Realm, Argolin, where Leo works on a Trump sketch to contact Talon. He can't make contact when it is finished, as Talon is shadow walking, but with Jason's help they barely reach him, but Talon doesn't respond and they lose contact.

Meanwhile Sheenakri and Bryce call on Lady Rutsgar. She is thrilled to have Royals visiting, and shows the best hospitality. She's a little concerned about her son, Torin, who hasn't been seen for a few days. She confirms that the dagger design is his. He's been courting lady Teresa of Hightower for almost two years, she says. This doesn't track at all, as Sheenakri had confirmed with the Herald that this is unknown if true. Torin was last seen in his room, and they are allowed to search it. They find a black metal box with a strange indentation instead of a lock. Bryce examines it and sets off a Chaos energy burst that STINGS! Lady Rutsgar is horrified, and embarrassed, and allow them to take the box. They contact Leo, and head towards Argolin to meet up.

Talon makes it back to his shadow, gets a cage for his captive, and contacts Leo. He comes through to Jason's castle as the others arrive.

The indentation in the box appears to be the same size as the calling cards, and Talon puts one in the space, and the box pops open to reveal a bluish crystal spire with faceted sides. There appears to be an opaque flaw in the center, and Talon picks it up and looks within. This triggers a hologram of a woman's head, who addresses Torin, then realizes that the activator isn't Torin, and breaks contact.

Just then, a roar escapes from the captive Talon brought with him.

April 30th, How Appropriate (Amber RPG Musing)

2009-04-30T08:05:56Z

So, all signs are that I will be playing in my FIRST Amber Diceless session in over 5 years tonight, and I'm excited. I'd forgotten how much I missed the game.

I discovered Amber Diceless Role Playing (ADRP) in.. '92? And it was a revelation to a guy who had been playing D&D, Traveller, call of Cthulhu, etc. for around 15 years at that point. To say playing the game helped shape my style as a GM is like saying continental drift helped shape the continents. I'd always tried to think outside the box when it came to running games, but in this game, there IS no box. I wondered from the start how a diceless game could work, and be fun, with the size of the groups it routinely encompassed. But 10+ years and 8 Ambercons worth of experiences showed that it can work really quite well.

Which is not to say it is for everyone. dracian is running it for our Thursday night gaming group. The group that is primarily D20 -centric (D20 Future, Mutants & masterminds, and a heavily modded 3.0 edition game) and includes a mechanics guy who LOVES to tinker with game mechanics - it's the source of a lot of his fun in gaming. So going diceless has raised some questions among them. And I don't think our GM HAS Gm'ed Amber before, so the first few sessions might be a little awkward. I found myself trying to take the lead in explaining things last week for the Character Auction, and had to fight the impulse (and I apologized later, in case I had overstepped).

I want this to succeed, as I'd love this 'adventure' to turn into a regular campaign. I've even broken out some of my half-finished Trump projects and am on my way to completing a deck that's been languishing for over a decade. But I have to trust the GM to carry the game. I remember how nervous I was the first time I ran - nervous and intimidated!

It was Ambercon '94, I believe, and I had been playing Amber via e-mail for about a year. I was going to Ambercon for the first time, and I wanted to make sure I got in (such was the popularity- or so it was said at the time - that they limited membership) that I volunteered to GM, even though I had yet to actually play a face-to-face game, or even run one online. Imagine my surprise when the author of the game, the late Erick Wujcik, called me up out of the blue a week or so later, asking me about the storyline of my game.

He ran the cons personally then (and was probably the main reason the membership was limited - he couldn't handle many more folks than that and did the planning and game matching himself) and wanted to 'vet' me before accepting my game and my membership. GULP! So I spent 5-10 minutes outlining the Amber-Cthulhu crossover I had in mind (In Dead Rebma, Rising). He asked a few questions, I expanded upon a few points, and I was in! It was probably just a formality, to see if I had given any thought to what I was doing, but I never expected that call!

As I stated, back in those days, Erick personally matched people up with their games - you were assigned when and where you played, none of the fancy 'game selection' stuff they use these days (uphill, both ways, IN SNOW!) And since Erick was really biting off more than he could chew (this was either the last Ambercon he ran on his own - or close to it), the game selections weren't quite ready by 7pm on that Thursday, when the first games were supposed to start.

So there we were, probably a couple of dozen or more, trying to cram into one of those airport hotel conference rooms waiting, meeting folks, and generally anxious to get going. At this point I had no idea when I was running (that got decided by Erick as well) or where (though we did game in the hotel suites, as they do now-a-days, just WHOSE suite you gamed in could vary depending on needed space - oh, that's right. Erick assigned roommates, too, if you chose that level of membership. I'd forgotten ALL about that wrinkle - I didn't have a room yet!) I think it was 7:45 or 8:00 by the time Erick arrived with the magic pieces of dot-matrix printer paper with the schedules.

That's when I found out where my room was, who may roommate was to be... and that I was supposed to be already running my game. D'oh! OK, so quick rush to stuff my.. stuff into the bedroom and break out the books while my players start to trickle in. Fortunately, I know one, who is in my e-mail campaign of the last year. That put me at ease to start with. Then I meet the other players, which included a guy with a TON of points sunk into objects and creatures (a tactic to which the ADRP rulebook is merciless in encouraging you to toy with their toys) and another guy whose name I recognize as one of Erick's players from the examples in the book. GULP again!

I run through my game, which takes way too long for starting an hour and 15 minutes late, but we make it through, the universe is saved, and I didn't embarrass myself too much in front of either my online campaign-mate, nor the Erick-protogee. I did, however, totally fail the toys-boy.

I thought I was so clever, adapting my scenario to acknowledge and render useless his mighty shadow-sailing flying ship and dragon companion. I was expecting some grumbling, some pushback (rightly so) and for the player to discover that these objects could, in fact, be useful if he used them in a different way. He didn't. After a couple of attempts at 'doing his thing' with them, he basically gave up, played some solitaire, and eventually took a nap. And I allowed it to happen. Rather than just engaging him, pushing him to think of his objects beyond just what he saw of them, I let the other players dominate him right out of the game. I learned a bit of a lesson that night. One that has served me well in the much larger multi-player games I've run since.

And it's the same kind of mistake I once saw Erick make, a couple of Ambercons later. Then I got to see what REALLY happens if you take too much Bad Stuff in a Wujcik game. Starting the session dead is not as bad as it gets, and the guy just didn't see that. Erick let him hang himself with his blindness (or rather, decompose in his coffin), which I suppose, is in line with his style of GMing (as might be indicated from the tone of advice in the Amber DRP writing). I knew by then it was not in line with mine.

So Erick taught me another lesson that night - how NOT to screw over players (or at least help them get out of it when you do) - one I've used a few times since. And I think I'll cut our GM a little slack.

The main point to all this babbling is that I'm looking forward to tonight, and hope the game style catches on with our group. As for the comment on the 30th, no, it wasn't the date on my first Ambercon (that I can recall, anyway - it was April, though), but it is the date of the recurring (8 or 9 years running) assassination attempts on Merlin in the second set of Amber books. Bloody business, but the coincidence is perhaps a good omen. Hopefully I'll be blogging about the game 8 or 9 years from now as well.

Rocketeer: It is SO on!

2009-03-19T04:14:37Z

OK, so I've been semi-obsessed with The Rocketeer since '91, when the movie came out. The design was just, so... keen.

My old comics store in Saginaw tried to get me interested in the title years earlier, but I wasn't biting. Seeing the whole package on the big screen, though - I WANTED that rocket! AND the jacket! AND the Helmet. (And possibly Jennifer Connelly, in that order...)

And since I saw it with my future wife (and master costumer) wiliqueen, we started talking costuming possibilities on the way home from the theater.

She had never worked with leather before, and building the jacket from scratch wouldn't be easy, so we brainstormed on ways to modify my tan leather coat to approximate the look. I had no idea how I might do the helmet or rocketpack, other than by taking my time and scouting out odds and ends at hardwares, army surplus stores, even junk yards. I was still a physics grad student then, and had been known to look lovingly on some of the scrap that found its way to the back rooms of the department machine shop from time to time.

I never got anywhere with the plan, however. Oh, sure, I saved up some scraps of appropriate colored leather, that I might one day cut up into a hand-control piece. But we never did up the front panel for my jacket. I did seriously look at some parachute harnesses at the surplus store, but it wasn't a good fit for what was needed. Besides, better to know the size and weight of the package before figuring out how to carry it, I thought. So I passed.

I met some folks at various conventions who introduced the idea of medium-to-large scale vacuforming to me. That sounded promising, and I tried a small scale experiment, but that didn't turn out too well, as I hadn't done enough homework, and tried to cut too many corners.

Eventually the Rocketeer idea dropped by the wayside, taking back seat to other daydreams and fannish ambitions. Such as the Brainiac 5 outfit wiliqueen made for me one summer for Comicon. Spandex, she can do. Even if I shouldn't be wearing it! :-)

Of course, things could set off the old spark easy enough. At that same Comicon we ran into a Rocketeer sporting the comic-style single-engine rocket (I eventually collected all of the old comics - not surprised, you say? I'll try harder in the future. :-) A LOT of work went into that. A DAUNTING amount.

And while on an evening outing during a trade show at Disney in Florida, I came off of the latest roller coaster ride to discover, of all things, one of the Hero Helmets from the movie on display in the giftshop 'exit'. Oh, it was night, and the lighting was bad, but I had one of my co-workers take a snapshot of me and the helmet-behind-glass!

And yes, I'd seen the occasional prop show up for auction on eBay over the years. But the prices? If I spent that much for something, I'd be afraid to take it OUT of the glass case I'd be forced to buy to display it in!

So the idea has languished. Until now. While searching for unrelated fannish items (alright, Green Lantern Rings, if you must know), I checked out one of my old saved searches on eBay for Rocketeer memorabilia. I saw authentic harness buckles going for outrages sums of money, like 10 years ago. Check! And I saw both fan-made and replica helmets. Check! But wait, it seems I missed out on a run of Master Replicas made Rocketeer helmet replicas in the mid-2000s. They'd already liquidated their stock, it seems (LAST YEAR! Darn it!) but that meant there were vendors selling it on eBay for MUCH less than the original $400 price. Promising. Must keep an eye on that to see if it dips to something... 'affordable'.

In the meantime that old spark resurfaced, and I started looking around for other options, and found the last few years had been kind to the Rocketeer-fanatic.

For example, four separate vendors that I've found that do replica jackets (with varying costs and varying degrees of authenticity, but all but the MOST authentic being what I would consider reasonable for a good leather jacket). And besides the MR helmet, there are at least two competing kits of the helmet out there. One I've seen a few times on eBay for around $100, made out of molded plastic, and the other a $200 resin kit that most references give solid marks to. The resin model folks even have a $1000 rocketpack kit! Not that I can see spending $1000 quite yet. But it's nice to know the option is out there! There ARE options.

That's the thing - I've found at least TWO detailed descriptions of how people have assembled their costumes, and a few partials. I have material and resources to draw inspiration from! There is even a boot replica maker! (Though they are a bit expensive, in my eyes. Still, less than some custom made boot shops, so I guess it depends on what you're expecting. And the fact that there is a new commercial boot called a Rocketeer - so disappointingly misleading! If only!)

With the 20th (!?) anniversary of the movie coming up in just about 2 years, I think it's time to set myself a goal. Recently ivan23 posted about his joining in on the "101 Goals in a 1001 days" meme.

I liked that idea.

I've been needing some goal-setting in my life, lately, as it seems as if my whole life has kind of been on hold, professionally and creatively since I moved to Chicago. Sure, I did some freelance writing since moving here, but I decided after the last round that I really needed to stop writing for someone and write for myself! Using my ideas, my characters and world and FOR me! Sounds great, but since then, nada.

Hence, goals. Need 'em. But I didn't just want to join in on the meme without putting my own twist to it. Sure, I love the idea of setting specific goals and actually giving yourself the TIME to either succeed or fail at them. That's key, I think. Long-term viewing is what I need to do to kick start this life of mine back up.

But I needed to do it my way, so while I will probably steal a lot of the tricks the "Day Zero" folks are using, I'm calling this my Fifth World Initiative. 121 goals in 1221 days, ending on or around 12/21/2012. Get my goals out of the way by the start of the Fifth World, and then start fresh with a new set then. Or at least get them all finished before the world ends, if you go in for that.

Anyway, this is now my first goal (it's actually #21 on the list, but the first I'm stating publicly - only 100 more to set before August!): Get a Rocketeer costume ready for the 20th anniversary in June, 2011.

And why am I stating this one now? Because I took the plunge and got one of the MR helmets off of eBay, for a 'smidge' more than the resin kit (on deep discount!) and it arrived today.

It's GORGEOUS! And even comfortable to wear (relatively speaking - it has a quilted cloth liner and chin strap, and weighs just under 5 lbs. I was under the impression it was much heavier, and spent a hour or so with a salad bowl and some weights on my head last week to judge if I could stand wearing the thing. Don't laugh! Well, laugh, but get it over with quickly please!)

Here's how it looks with that same tan leather jacket I wore to see the movie in the first place!

OK, just had to crow a bit about that! And I will try to keep a running commentary as the pieces fall together, to pay back the folks who have left similar crumb trails for me to follow.

Farewell SciFiChannel!

2009-03-16T21:01:23Z

We've had a rocky relationship, from the early, heady days of 1993, when I moved from one section of the city, to another, (not) just to get you.

I remember the quirky, weird 'News from the Future' station breaks, with the bald-headed newsguy, and the endless psychic friends commercials. I fondly remember the Sci-Fi Series Collection that introduced me to such obscure gems such as 'Moonbase 3', which are now personal favorites.

OK, recently you've gone kind of schizo, what with your 'reality' game shows and wrestling(?!). But you still had BSG, Stargate (the good one) and new darlings like Eureka.

But now you're finally admitting that mid-life crisis and getting your ear pierced (JUST the LEFT!) and coloring your hair.

It's not that SyFy is a stupid name (no comment). I understand the need to have a brand name you can, say, trademark (though maybe you should have gone for something - I dunno - classy, like SFC?) It's the lame protestations you make in announcing it. Like you are embarrassed to be seen with your (previous) viewers. We're not cool enough for you anymore.

How Skiffy!

Watch out! It's Ballerina Batman!

2009-03-03T20:29:44Z

Not just the pink, but the pink AND the pose....

from a 1965 bendy Toy...

You're All Fired!

2009-02-25T23:45:40Z

Why did no one let me know that these were available?!

Planet Krypton Green Lantern Ring Set

The Keene Act & You!

2009-02-06T17:12:38Z

Awesome!

House Needs a Naming

2008-12-19T07:07:14Z

As some of you know, our 4-square original-farm-house-on-this-corner-of-Elgin, surrounded by 1-story 50's housing home is 100 years old this year.

We've done some upgrades since moving in a few years back, finally got rid of the last of the (possibly) original windows this year, and have been meaning to give it a proper name to commemorate it's centenary.

We've had all year, no rush, but nothing has gelled. So as the year comes to a close, I thought I would ask for suggestions from those who (kinda) know us.

Any thoughts?

Gigantic Understatement

2008-09-26T21:22:08Z

A line I've been hearing over and over this week during the rest of the financial fallout is that 'our economy is built on oil!'

No, no, no. That's not thinking big enough. Try our CIVILIZATION is built on oil. We've been making it so for over a hundred years, which may just indicate the depth of the problems we're going to run into as we face an enforced change away from that.

Talk about culture shock!

Fright Night... for real.

2008-09-26T18:44:52Z

Apparently in conjunction with a theatrical showing of 'Fright Night' in LA with cast and crew present, a couple of 'guerrilla' commentaries were recorded. You can find them here.

Speaking of dissonace...

2008-09-18T17:40:58Z

Your challenge is to write crossover fanfiction combining Captain Planet and America's Funniest Home Videos. The story should use tornadoes as a plot device!

Courtesy of the Terrible Crossover Fanfic Idea Generator.

Where are the good birthday dinner specials these days?

2008-07-22T07:00:12Z

My folks used to take me to a Japanese steakhouse in Columbus, but I don't think there are any in close driving distance here.

What national chains have good deals? And preferably ones that don't do the stupid birthday song thing.

Movie Night - July 5th

2008-06-26T21:25:13Z

No commenters on my last post, but wiliqueen got a few on hers, and they were all for the 5th of July, so that's the date of the next movie night.

So, who can make it, and what should be the theme?

Since it's the holiday weekend suggestions so far have been Summer Blockbuster, Patriotic, and in a change of pace a vote for my long delayed Dracula day, since wiliqueen is on a vampire panel at her next convention soon.

So say if you can come, and give me suggestions for the theme of your choice and some appropriate movies.

Infinite Oregano!

2008-06-18T14:48:03Z

Rules lawyers as cooks.