A retraction

Brog (not Grog as I previously printed) would like it known that I have misspelled his name.  He would also like it known that he is not currently holding me at ax point and... what's that Brog?  No, this is just a draft.  No one will ever see this and know I'm being held hostage at the Old Cockatrice Inn on Oaken St....

The Pathfinder group, West Bend edition

The Pathfinder group met last Saturday for the first play session.  The group consists of Grog, the half-orc ranger, Karsh, the human fighter, Tanis, the human monk, and a human bard and half-elf cleric of Pharasma whose names I forget.  The met in the usual fashion, gathered at the Wounded Gull tavern in the small but thriving city of Freidvale, seccond largest city in the Glorious Human Empire.  After perusing the wanted posters, the group decided on going after a giant crab that had been menacing poor Himador Iago the lighthouse keeper at a small island within sight of the coast of Freidvale.  They also decided to disguise the half-elf's ears, since there was a bounty on elves as traitors in this region.

Another tavern-goer, a lithe-looking humanoid with it's features concealed by a mask made of shark-skin, was feeding pieces of meat to a rottweiler.  As the strange figure got up to leave, the dog walked over to the half-elf cleric, sat there wagging it's tail for a moment, then coughed up a wad of paper at the cleric's feet.  The note simply read, "Meet me at the corner of Division Street near the docks in 1 hour."

Tanis followed the odd figure out of the bar, noticing that they were not alone on the early morning streets.  Two figures were concealed on the rooftops across from the tavern, and Tanis could clearly see the crest of the Imperial guard on their gear.  One of the rooftop figures left to follow the Leather-faced tavern goer, while the other remained watching... Tanis.  A few moments later. The rottweiler joined his companion in the street.  The party convened and hastily decided to meet with whomever had written the note and left the tavern through the back alley with permission of the tavern keeper.

An hour later at Division Street, near the tavern called the Skinny Puppy, they found the dog waiting for them, tail wagging.  Grog was a bit miffed when the dog growled at him, but the half-elf was met with happy barks.  Soon, the mysterious leather-faced note giver from the Wounded Gull appeared.  He took off his mask to reveal the face of a young elven child, and he identified himself as Wren.  He said he knew the bar was watched, and that was why he didn't make direct contact with them.  He told the cleric that she needed registration papers, and that he knew of a friend who could produce them for her:  Pasqual the bookseller.  He gave them directions to the shop, then disappeared quickly down the alley.  The group decided they would first try to kill the crab, then get papers for the cleric at the next opportunity and hope they weren't stopped by imperial patrols in the meantime.

The seas were fair but it's denizens were not as the tiny skiff the PCs rode to the island was attacked by sharks almost immediately.  The jigsaw sharks in Freidvale bay were notorious for lunging out of the water to take a bite of fishermen trying to ply their trade.  Karsh and Grog made short work of the sharks, then continued on their way.

Negotiations were a bit rough with Mr. Iago, as Grog was somewhat hostile toward him and the bard rolled a one on diplomacy checks.  Still, it was agreed upon that the group would buy one of Himador's goats and stake it to a likely spot to increase the likelihood of the crab attacking at just their ambush spot.  The plan was agonized over in real time for about 30 minutes, and the battle lasted about 2.  Karsh took one swipe at the thing and severed a claw, and Tanis finished the crab off for good with some weirdly-named weapon I can't pronounce or spell.  Himador thanked the party and paid them a hefty bonus for the intact crab meat.

Safely back in Freidvale, the party set out to Pasqual's to see about getting papers for the cleric.  Pasqual did so, and proved to be a font of information on local goings on after little probing from the Bard, who had been wise enough to put ranks in knowledge local.  They learned that a series of murders that had been terrorizing Freidvale were only being perpetrated against Werbergians, a race from the far east known for their monastic traditions and prowess at martial arts.  The victims were all males in their 60's.  Each victim bore a black hand print on their chest, with multiple contusions and broken bones.  All the attacks were believed to have occurred at night, with no witnesses as of yet to any of the murders.  Armed with these leads, the group resolved to capture the Black Hand Murderer, and set about following the first elderly Werbergian male they saw on the street.

The session was concluded shortly after this, as it was approaching midnight real time, and all of us were (relatively) old, except, of course, my darling wife who remains eternally youthful.

Another review of Batman V Superman

A Review of Batman V Superman By Scud Farkas Jr. Before discussing the film at hand, I have to delve into its precursor a little, namely the movie Man of Steel in which the Henry Cavil take on the Superman character is introduced. I believe that film (and Batman V Superman) revolves around two central questions: What would superheroes really be like in our world today, and how would that world really receive such heroes? The answer given in Man of Steel is that largely no matter what kind of saint that hero tried to be, with that much power he or she would be viewed with a modicum of suspicion and mistrust. If it seems like I’m getting a bit too philosophical right off the bat about a movie that deals largely with men in tights (or power armor, as the case may be) then I think you and I will agree with one of the fundamental flaws in these films: they’re taking themselves just a bit too seriously. This is not to say that significant issues fundamental to the human condition can never be examined in a super hero film, or that they can’t be cynical or dark and brooding. But when I see a superhero film, I have some expectation that said hero, who is empowered with laser beam eyes, super speed, and the ability to punch through brick walls like they’re made of paper mache is going to spend more than a small portion of the film solving problems by punching things and shooting them with laser beam eyes. And if you title a movie Batman V Superman I am going to expect more than approximately 10 total minutes of the film where the title characters beat the stuffing out each other. I wanted more of an epic fight. Issue number two I had with the film: I think they’re trying to do too much in one film. DC is setting up the franchaise for a superhero extravaganza in the form of a Justice League film, and Bats Vs Supes is the wind up for that series. In this film, they’re introducing a number of heroes for the very first time, including Batman. Only Superman has been established from the onset of the current film. Even Batman is a newbie, with a take on him unlike any I’ve seen. He’s even darker than the Christian Bale interpretation. This is a Batman who is no above using guns, even killing his enemies with maximum force. And that could be okay, if we’d been set up from the beginning to accept that kind of Batman. But to attempt to combine a Batman origin story (for this is only one of the things packed into the story at large), introduce Wonder Woman as well, set the stage for 3 other possible heroes in wings, and on top of that come up with a plausible explanation why Bats and Supes would fight in the first place? I think all these things could have been done, but not in a single film. The resulting film is a porridge of themes that turns cold before the first bite. Compare this approach to the film Justice League is doubtless trying to emulate, at least in box office returns: the multi billion dollar Avengers films. Each hero had their own origin and a tight, self-contained story line in separate films complete with crossover guest appearances and stingers after the credits rolled. Bats Vs Supes could have been a great film, if it had been given enough time to develop and gestate. One film was not enough time. That being said, I had to see it. My dad’s been seeing these things with me since Christopher Reeve first donned the tights in the 70’s, and I pretty much learned to read on my dad’s old comic books. They’ll keep making them, and I’ll keep watching, hoping for that spark of wonder I felt when I first read the promo: “You will believe a man can fly.” See Bats Vs Supes in the theater if, like me, you must. Wait for it to come out on Netflix if you’re more patient and try to piece together the two or three good films that might have been with a bit more thought and planning.

My thoughts on Elysium

Just saw this via Netflix. This movie could have been so much more. I loved the idea of it – the ultra rich have left the planet and live on an idyllic space station while Earth is a cesspool of poverty and violence. I loved District 9 (a film by the same director), and if you haven’t seen District 9, I highly recommend that you do. Perhaps that’s my trouble. The director, Neil Blomkamp, set the bar so high with District 9 that my expectations skyrocketed for this film. My main trouble with Elysium is the portrayal of Earth as a hell hole. It just wasn’t bad enough in my eyes. Yes, there’s poverty. Yes, there’s police brutality. Yes, the system is unfair and broken in this film. But little things bothered me. Why does Matt Damon’s character look so healthy if he’s living in a third world slum? Why does he have running water in his home (that looked pretty clear) if things are really so bad here? He even has some access to health care. Maybe Damon is meant to be portrayed as one of the relatively lucky ones amid a sea of even less fortunates. But I didn’t get that vibe throughout the movie. The concept is great, but what is missing are compelling characters and a coherent story. Telling us that Max (Damon’s character) has longed to live on Ellysium his whole life is less effective development to my mind than effectively portraying how truly awful life on earth is. Could have been a good film. I think Blomkamp was befuddled by his own big budget on this one. I know District 9 was made on a relative shoestring. Not a great film, but not a horrifically bad one, either.

Mage Wars!

Finished my second play through of Mage Wars on Saturday. I love this freaking game. I find it hard to believe that Wizards of the Coast never came up with the idea for selling ‘spell books’ – books with four plastic sleeves a page for conveniently storing your cards and thumbing through them. Mage Wars had me right there when I read about this concept. But the spell books are only the beginning…. I played the Beastmaster mage and my wife played the Priestess (because she had a unicorn). I’d looked over the cards ahead of time and figured I was in trouble before the first spell was cast. (We played apprentice rules – a simplified version of the game with fewer spells, half the game board, and the special abilities of mages are not used.) Somehow she managed to hold off Cervere (think Guenhwyvar from the Drizzt books), a Steelclaw Grizzly (who attacked with 11 dice one round with Bear strength enchantment and a two dice bonus from the Beastmaster’s staff – to put this in perspective, most average cards roll 4 dice for an attack) and a timber wolf with just the royal archer and a Westlock knight. I got her down to within 4 hits of dying, but she wouldn’t go down. Then she summoned the bloody unicorn that grants regeneration 1 to all friendly creatures in the zone, cast a bunch of healing spells, and started picking off my creatures one by one. In the end it wasn’t even close. She was back up to full health and the Beastmaster was a bloody mess – full of arrows and singed from more than one blast of pure light. Some things I learned from the fight: - Don’t stand around toe to toe with the priestess in a zone that grants Aegis (takes away attack dice) - Don’t send a lone bobcat to harass the priestess and her royal archer. - Stunned mages can still case spells. Still my favorite game, even though I lost. Every spell has a counter (although not all mages may have that spell in their spell book.) I hear there’s a local gaming group in Madison that plays this. I may have to check them out, because my wife does not seem to share my love of Mage Wars.

Agents of Shield

The show has been growing on me. I'm not saying it's great television, but I'm compelled to keep watching it. I follow very few shows these days because: 1) I have a 2 year old on my hands who doesn't go to bed until 8pm, and 2) I don't have cable. What I follow I either watch over the internet or get disks via Netflix. I follow Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, the afformentioned Agents, and Brooklyn 99. I may get roped into Vikings since I've heard so many good things about it from multiple sources, but that's pretty much it. Oh, and Sleepy Hollow isn't too bad from the little I've watched of it. Agents of Shield has the tantalizing lure of the possibility that characters from the movies other than Colson's character could appear on the show. But they don't very often. So far we've had a cameo from Sif (Thor's scorned love interest) and Nick Fury. There's always hints about the goings on from the movie tie-ins, but rarely an actual appearance. I think for the show to really take off, Shield would need to step up and find a way to get the big names on the small screen, even if it's only for a moment. I think it would help interest in the movies and it would definitely help the series, giving it more of a sense of connectivity to a broader universe of heroes. I have no idea if it would be economically feasible, but if they could afford to get Samuel Jackson on, they could probably afford Helmsworth or Evans, right? I've heard other people complain that the Marvel title shouldn't even be attached to this series due to the paucity of named heroes attached to it. I think the producers listened when they put in an appearance from Sif. It's a small step, but a positive one. Not to mention that the interplay between the main characters has improved and I might actually care what happens to Ming Na in the series. Still not much caring about Colson or Sky. This is a series Joss Whedon attached his name to as well, right? So a main character has to die in the first season - that's a given. Unless he's lost his nerve or the network won't allow him to operate that way. But if it happened right now, I can't say I'd be surprised or shocked, regardless of who it was. Make me care, Marvel! I'm rambling. And I need to eat lunch sometime. So I'd better bail.

Game Weekend

Last week the wife and I went to sunny Florida, and came back just as pale as when we left. Every year around this time we gather with old high school friends to do nothing but play board games for 3 days straight. This year was another rousing success. My tastes vary from my Game Weekend friends, but I did manage to sneak in a game of Duel of Ages. I'd rather play Pathfinder, or Starcraft, or Battlestar Galactica, but sadly this will have to wait until I find new friends. Some highlights from the festivities were Glass Road, which had a really innovative dial for tracking resources (increasing some resources results in reducing others); Fleet, a game of sending out fishing boats to try to amass the most victory points; and Tzolkin, which has one of the most elaborate boards I've ever played on - resource gathering is done by placing workers on rotating gears, which all move in unison with the advancement of the Mayan calendar wheel. Great new games. Oh! And I really liked Hanabi, a card game where you try to develop the best fireworks display that you can all while not looking at your own cards and giving clues to everyone else what they hold in their hand. Of all of them, I think Hanabi is one I'd like to buy. It ended too quickly and I can't wait to plan for the next one.