Holy crap, yeah, those are amazing.
That said, I've been digging the art on the newer mongoose releases - "The Borderland" has a few pieces that have absolutely become favourites.
With a little bit of creativity (and a lot of disinfectant), it could hold THREE tacos!
Ah yeah, "the blizzard of '96"
I remember it well.
If there's a firefly reboot, this absolutely has to be a scene.
On the lower island, it snowed for about an hour. I swear, as soon as snow touched the pavement, there was an accident on the Sooke to Langford road, closing it down.
The fire department goes on high alert the second it snows for good reason, ha.
It'd be fun to see an older crew, maybe with River as the pilot, handing over Serenity to some newbies.
Or have the alliance war start up again and have Mal realize the Browncoats are assholes too.
That's sort of my take as well, though the Scrubs remake so far has been much better than I expected, so there's that.
Nathan Fillion has been filming going to over actors house, and dropping STRONG hints. Supposedly an announcement is coming next week.
So, uh, how do y'all feel about this Firefly teaser thing making the rounds?
If Hans Zimmer does the music I'll have an aneurysm. But then, IMO, I wish we saw more conan art that hews to the books - more "lean and wiry" and "Panther like" than Frazzetta art or Arnie.
I... Have not? It was moved to my TBR shelf, and then moved again!
lol SAME. I've still got the one you sent sitting on my shelf. :(
Great film. And the book is definitely worth tracking down.
The film's a wonderful companion piece to "the right stuff", which is probably my favourite astronaut film (the book is lovely too!)
It was! One of the NPC crew is a member of a purity church, who finds all stimulants offensive
She covers the labels of any food she thinks is too stimulating, and the players LOVE her
She bought a shirt that said "I got stoned at the rock museum" and the PCs don't want to tell her what it means
- hung up motivational posters all over their spaceship
- haggled with a robot over space suit prices
- baked cookies
- took on a new job trying to find a saboteur on a mining colony
All in all, great fun!
2/2
In today's Traveller session, the crew of the Rock Lobster:
- explored and named a moon
- responded to a distress call
- found a new alien life form
- fished for said alien using body parts from an earlier autopsy
- visited a rock museum
- bought a t-shirt
- ate ancient American fusion food
1/2
This is the first part of exploration gaming, and it introduces the next part I'm working on - areas, connections, hubs, and regions.
Basically, a system for coding exploration areas without having to describe every building.
But I'll save that for another day.
28/28
Players acquire context clues, items, knowledge, and tricks that allow them to navigate the world, without exploration being predicated on gaining new levels and learning new powers.
Instead, they find stuff, and if they pay attention, they can use it to better explore.
27/
You drop a KEY to the mall while players explore the ruined church, which has an effect that can be negated by an UMBRELLA you've planted in the gas station and the lighthouse. The lighthouse has an ARROW that points to the next region over, which has a KEY to the lighthouse.
See?
26/
So, how do you use all this?
Basically, you use these hooks to link areas together. Whenever you design a region, a ruined neighbourhood, a dungeon, whatever, you plan links to other areas.
25/
(of course, the kobolds and goblins are still there, and have NO IDEA about any of this.)
24/
Shadows require a bit more work to pull off, and are gonna be used sparingly, but if done right, they can be a lot of fun.
Who knew the caves of chaos were filled with ghosts? But with this doodad, you can see them, they can see you, and you can loot their ghost treasure.
23/
Finally, we have SHADOWS.
A shadow is any game element that lets a PC experience an explored area from an entirely new perspective.
The caves of chaos are nothing for 7th level adventurers. But what if they can see ethereally? It's a whole new game!
22/
Importantly, spikes should not be instantly lethal. Groups that push past a spike that aren't ready for the challenges should be able to retreat, maybe with a few casualties or deaths.
Let them lick their wounds, so they have time to plot their revenge...
21/
Spikes are even better in "West marches" type games, where multiple groups of adventurers are competing for loot.
A group of level 4s, 5s, and 6s might try and tackle the level 8 dungeon before the level 7s make a push.
20/
Spikes encourage players to make a note to return to an area once they get tougher. As an added bonus, they might feel really tough if they get a chance to steamroll the level 2 monsters on the way to the level 8 area - look how they've grown!
19/
Spikes should be obvious.
PCs shouldn't casually wander from a level 2 dungeon into a level 8 dungeon without an obvious warning sign - dead demons, a crucified mind flayer, whatever.
Players might ignore the sign and proceed for better loot. But they should know the risk is much higher.
18/
Next up are SPIKES, also known as a difficulty spike.
If you've ever played a classic d&d dungeon, you're familiar with a spike. Every time you went down stairs to a new dungeon level, that was a spike.
Spikes are sharp increases in an areas lethality.
17/
Imagine the PCs suffer from ghoul attacks in the swamp. They find the ghoul kings lair. Random undead encounters hound them the whole time
Then, in an old church, they find a magic light that deters undead - undead random encounters are ignored!
Might be time to poke around the swamp again!
16/
The important thing is, if the umbrella gives access to a new area, it's not really an umbrella - it's an arrow with more steps.
The umbrella has to make an area the PCs have already been to, and suffered from, a little bit easier
15/
