Well, folks, another week! Fortunately for me, midterms are coming to a close, and I am muchly relieved at that. And now for you: a slew of interesting links.
Critical Hits has gathered together all of its articles on "The 5x5 Method", putting it through all sorts of paces.
The sixth entry in Campaign Mastery's Pulp Gaming series is packed full of suggestions for protagonists and antagonists in a pulp RPG. Have a look and be enlightened!
Over at Spirits of Eden, Wyatt sets forth a much darker vision of elves, who tend to be known as the squeaky-clean cupcake archers. No longer.
Eddy Webb reminds us, in the aftermath of Mike Mearls' plea for D&D unity, that businessmen are people too, addressing fans who see RPG companies' executives as nothing more than soulless money-grubbing liches. Or something to that effect.
Finally, At-Will sets forth its take on multiclassing in 4th Edition, using the new mechanic of themes.
I would also like to add that the campaign I linked earlier (to bring Firefly back) has now implemented a pledge system, and has gathered almost a million dollars to contribute to some sort of efforts to make new Firefly content. I may get very, very choked up. Might even be tears.
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Showing posts with label firefly. Show all posts
Showing posts with label firefly. Show all posts
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
A Shiny Proposition
It all started as an aside comment by Nathan Fillion, on how he'd buy the rights and make Firefly, release it to the internet, if he won $300 million in the lottery. Pretty soon, a Facebook page took him rather seriously, and the effort is snowballing. If you haven't seen Firefly, do yourself a favor and check it out. Hulu is currently streaming the series, with the first three episodes up for free viewing, and a new one coming out each week.
If you have seen Firefly, well, follow this endeavor, and maybe it'll amount to something in the end.
You can't stop the signal.
Help Nathan Buy Firefly
Monday, September 20, 2010
Here's How It Was...
Time ago and past, was a fellow they called by "Joss", made himself a series there on television, called it as Firefly. Some fahng-tzong fung-kwong duh jeh there in the Alliance, and it's by "Alliance" I'm meaning FOX (curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!), figured around that it'd be a right shame to give her the fair run, but that story isn't for hereabouts.
No, the aim here's for commemoratin' a shiny spot of art. Won't be much in the way of a normal post, but that's straight fine. I'd ask you folk to join me in a bit of a toast to that show took us out to the black, and we ain't coming back.
Firefly: Come to this 'Verse Eight Years Past, Not a Day Over
No, the aim here's for commemoratin' a shiny spot of art. Won't be much in the way of a normal post, but that's straight fine. I'd ask you folk to join me in a bit of a toast to that show took us out to the black, and we ain't coming back.
Firefly: Come to this 'Verse Eight Years Past, Not a Day Over
Friday, March 12, 2010
A Shiny Thought
Well, it's Friday. Like I've hinted at, I'm going to be drawing the inspiration for this post from a television show called Firefly: a space western that got cancelled early by the FOX network. (I will now calmly silence the inner Browncoat before diatribing against the network) I just started rewatching the series with some friends. It's beautiful. What I'd like to talk about, though, is something more specific: it's the pilot episode. While watching it, I realized that it's one of the best pilots around, because it does such a good job of introducing all of the characters, and then cementing your attachment to them, so that you spend the rest of the series connected to them. The episode could be described as "Firefly: the Movie".
ALERT: this is going to contain a number of large SPOILERS for the episode. I'll be putting spoilers in a bullet list, with extra space around them, so you know where to skim, if you haven't seen it.
Starting Things Off
Things kick off pretty quickly, as we're treated to a flashback sequence with Mal and Zoe, outlining their participation in the war. Not only do we get to see their "battle faces", but we also get to see Mal betrayed by his army, his people, his cause, as he faces an utter defeat. We don't quite realize it yet, but this is the moment where he ceased to believe. Next? It quickly flashes to the present, where Mal and Zoe are smugglers. We then quickly move to the next major character, Wash, the pilot. He's...playing with toy dinosaurs, voices included, on his navigation console. These are things we can identify with or at least pity. After this, we meet the energetic and lovable Kaylee, ship mechanic, and shortly after are introduced to the Alliance, the big government group in charge of the whole universe.
Shortly after? Through their dialogue, you get a bit of a profile on the smuggling crew, also how their type of folk live. They're on the run, living on the edge, scraping just by. It's not a pretty sort of life. A final little bit of initial character introduction happens, as we meet Inara, the geisha, and then Shepherd Book, the preacher, and Badger, the distasteful crime boss. There's other characters we meet too, but they come later. All in all, a very colorful group. It's a bit like how RPG groups can form, out of very different and unique personalities and character types. Everyone's different, and they interact in very, very different ways.
Mixing the Pot
This is something everyone should be familiar with: the characters meet, and then engage. Things bump up against each other, and some things don't bump right. Mal shuts the mood down, as does Jayne, and we get to see their not-so-personable sides. Characters develop and display relationships, both new and preexisting. In a roleplaying game? That's easy enough. Encourage players to list strong character traits and relationships to other characters, to think about how they might relate. Have them write it down. Then, suggest scenes to frame these relationships.
There's no hard and fast way to make players do this, but what might help is if you made it clear that you'd like to set aside some time for them to meet up, and get to know one another. Maybe devote half of a session to scenes which might advance relationships. You never know. It's not for every group. This is playing into my grand idea of a "pilot session", which I'll explain later on.
Crisis
First big spoiler.
Now, bad stuff happens, and it causes stress to this web of relationships. Why does this take place? Connection. In moments of crisis, emotional involvement and connection are stronger, especially if death is on the line. Not only does it stir this reaction in the viewer, it also instills this reaction in the other characters, too. Everyone acts differently in the face of trauma. What it does, interestingly, is first stress the web of relationships, and then strengthen it, establishing more firmly how everyone relates to everyone else.
Second big spoiler.
What else is better to bring things to a head than a plot twist? They keep us all on edge, not knowing what to expect. So just as people are getting comfy strengthening their bonds in the face of danger, throw something at them. Things heighten, and then...well...
Third big spoiler.
Another plot twist, and things continue to move along. You get the way it goes. Everything comes to a head, with all the plot points intertwining, and the mission getting towards completion. There's a moment of tension, and of character decision, and then everything gets pretty much resolved. Things slow down, and we finish with an emblematic statement, a mission statement for the show: "We're still flying." "That's not much." "It's enough."
Practical Use
Having mentioned all of this, I think it would be a cool idea if GMs ran one session at the start of their campaigns like this, for the sole purpose of getting players to connect with their characters, and also to get the players to connect with one another, in-character. I would summarize it as follows...
So, maybe you ought to try it out. And blast it, I've realized that everything I've described above sounds like it came right out of the Mouse Guard RPG...
ALERT: this is going to contain a number of large SPOILERS for the episode. I'll be putting spoilers in a bullet list, with extra space around them, so you know where to skim, if you haven't seen it.
Starting Things Off
Things kick off pretty quickly, as we're treated to a flashback sequence with Mal and Zoe, outlining their participation in the war. Not only do we get to see their "battle faces", but we also get to see Mal betrayed by his army, his people, his cause, as he faces an utter defeat. We don't quite realize it yet, but this is the moment where he ceased to believe. Next? It quickly flashes to the present, where Mal and Zoe are smugglers. We then quickly move to the next major character, Wash, the pilot. He's...playing with toy dinosaurs, voices included, on his navigation console. These are things we can identify with or at least pity. After this, we meet the energetic and lovable Kaylee, ship mechanic, and shortly after are introduced to the Alliance, the big government group in charge of the whole universe.
Shortly after? Through their dialogue, you get a bit of a profile on the smuggling crew, also how their type of folk live. They're on the run, living on the edge, scraping just by. It's not a pretty sort of life. A final little bit of initial character introduction happens, as we meet Inara, the geisha, and then Shepherd Book, the preacher, and Badger, the distasteful crime boss. There's other characters we meet too, but they come later. All in all, a very colorful group. It's a bit like how RPG groups can form, out of very different and unique personalities and character types. Everyone's different, and they interact in very, very different ways.
Mixing the Pot
This is something everyone should be familiar with: the characters meet, and then engage. Things bump up against each other, and some things don't bump right. Mal shuts the mood down, as does Jayne, and we get to see their not-so-personable sides. Characters develop and display relationships, both new and preexisting. In a roleplaying game? That's easy enough. Encourage players to list strong character traits and relationships to other characters, to think about how they might relate. Have them write it down. Then, suggest scenes to frame these relationships.
There's no hard and fast way to make players do this, but what might help is if you made it clear that you'd like to set aside some time for them to meet up, and get to know one another. Maybe devote half of a session to scenes which might advance relationships. You never know. It's not for every group. This is playing into my grand idea of a "pilot session", which I'll explain later on.
Crisis
First big spoiler.
- In the midst of a standoff, Kaylee gets shot.
- A good portion of the episode tension is spent in uncertainty as to her fate.
Now, bad stuff happens, and it causes stress to this web of relationships. Why does this take place? Connection. In moments of crisis, emotional involvement and connection are stronger, especially if death is on the line. Not only does it stir this reaction in the viewer, it also instills this reaction in the other characters, too. Everyone acts differently in the face of trauma. What it does, interestingly, is first stress the web of relationships, and then strengthen it, establishing more firmly how everyone relates to everyone else.
Second big spoiler.
- The doctor, Simon, is transporting his troubled little sister
What else is better to bring things to a head than a plot twist? They keep us all on edge, not knowing what to expect. So just as people are getting comfy strengthening their bonds in the face of danger, throw something at them. Things heighten, and then...well...
Third big spoiler.
- They have to deal with Reavers: savage no-longer-humans.
Another plot twist, and things continue to move along. You get the way it goes. Everything comes to a head, with all the plot points intertwining, and the mission getting towards completion. There's a moment of tension, and of character decision, and then everything gets pretty much resolved. Things slow down, and we finish with an emblematic statement, a mission statement for the show: "We're still flying." "That's not much." "It's enough."
Practical Use
Having mentioned all of this, I think it would be a cool idea if GMs ran one session at the start of their campaigns like this, for the sole purpose of getting players to connect with their characters, and also to get the players to connect with one another, in-character. I would summarize it as follows...
- Introduction of characters
- Interaction of characters -> friendship and conflict
- Crisis to set relationships solidly
- Twists to keep engaging characters
- Characters work to resolve problem
So, maybe you ought to try it out. And blast it, I've realized that everything I've described above sounds like it came right out of the Mouse Guard RPG...
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