I just found out last week that the insanely talented Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton fame (along with In the Heights and the soundtracks for Moana, Vivo, and Encanto) has a concept album coming out next month (the one that starts tomorrow) based on The Warriors. I'm pretty stoked.
As I mentioned recently, I've become a bit of a Playbill collector over the past few years, and my love of the transcendent musical Hamilton definitely played a role in that development. And The Warriors...so, I found it relatively late in life, interestingly through learning about its potential influence on beat 'em up video games - specifically Double Dragon and Renegade - that I really liked as a kid. But now, if you catch me on the right day, I'll probably tell you it's one of my favorite movies ever. It's just so freaking...I don't know, stylish? Beautiful? Slick? Cool? I feel like a lot of folks of a certain age and outlook just have to admit, whether or not we think it holds up as quality cinema, that it's just badass.
It looks like Miranda is taking some interesting creative approaches - like casting women for all of the Warriors (plus replacing the Lizzies with some dudes called the Bizzies) and anthropomorphizing the boroughs of NYC by giving them distinct voices (maybe...I'm just guessing based on the cast list). And the cast itself has some legends.
If you're interested in learning more about this most fortuitous combination of things I really dig, you can check out the album's website HERE. I assume there will eventually be a stage musical, but either way, this looks awesome.
----------
And for a nerd touch, here's the film's closest-thing-to-a-hero Swan statted out as I've been putting numbers to characters lately...
A little while back, Father Josh threw me another tabletop bone by playing as the sole PC (with a supervisory role over the other protagonist) in Session 2 of the Monstrous Matters campaign. (For my Session 1 ramblings, check out the post HERE.)
The high points of this session:
1. The first pieces were planted to tie into what might turn out to be a meta-narrative that makes its way through multiple adventures. I say "might" because I'm committed to not railroading this thing...BUT I can have the overarching story in the back of my mind that MAY become obvious to the game's player(s) over time.
2. We returned to a more "standard" dice pool resolution mechanic for the D6-based system we're playing with. I see this being The Way going forward, but I've honestly never determined what I find to be the optimal approach to the Wild Die/Ghost Die in these games, so I'll probably still play with that over the coming sessions.
3. The importance of player motivations with respect to the goals of the game itself came to the forefront, as one of the characters shifted into murder-hobo mode in a game that is, ostensibly, very much not about murder hobos. The thing is, it really worked narratively, so it's drawing our attention to the value of determining the PCs' ethical views of creatures that have made their way to our world via connections to magical fantasy realms. I'm sure there's also some political commentary that could be dropped into this exploration, but I'm going to do all I can to avoid that because (1) it seems cheap and exploitative, and (2) this is very much meant to be escapist entertainment.
So, here we go...
To begin the session, the team (Fingers Watson and Bobby Flech) move down the staircase from Level 1 to Level 2.
From the free and excellent Dyson's Delve mega-ish-dungeon...check out this level HERE.
Moving east, they peer into a room with six goblins; none notice them outside the cracked door. Five of the goblins are dressed in tattered rags, while one is in much nicer attire (including some fancy brass-ish goggles). He seems to be in the middle of a chemistry experiment. (When questioned, he says that he is “just trying to make it explode.”) He looks something like this:
On his wrist, there is a striking signet:
When asked, the goblin says that the signet is the symbol of his guild, the Izzet.
It doesn’t take long now for Watson’s long-harbored hatred of planar outsiders to show itself. He first tricks a few of them into falling into a carefully deployed portable hole. As they attempt to recover, he kills one with a dagger thrown into its eye. He then pulls out his sidearm and shoots four more dead. Finally, the chemist – by now the dozing victim of a scroll of Sleep – is strangled by Flech at Watson’s direction.
The protagonists have now shut themselves in the goblin den. There are other dungeon inhabitants outside, alerted by the noise and trying to get in. It doesn’t look great for the Monstrous Matters pair. There is a wildcard here, though: Fingers would happily kill every last one of them...
In my continuing efforts to become a liberal coastal elite, fully out of touch with my working-class roots [that's mostly sarcasm, in case it needs to be said], I've become a pretty big fan of Broadway musicals. I've long enjoyed musicals [and (1) have even been playing around with writing one for like 20 years, and (2) think that an RPG that plays out like a musical might be the most amazing game I can imagine]. So, now that Laura and I live close enough to hop over for a day in NYC, we take whatever opportunities we can (and can afford) to see the best that musical theater has to offer. (West End theatergoers, I'll entertain your arguments.)
Our current Broadway favorite obsession is Hadestown. This musical has an interesting origin, as it started out in smaller theaters in New England, then was turned into a concept album by its creator, Anaïs Mitchell, in 2010.
Starting in 2016, the musical made its way to an off-Broadway theater, then to Edmonton, to London, and finally to the big stage of Broadway (although it uses a fairly small stage, to be honest), winning the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2019. It's inspiring, as a would-be creator of a variety of media, to see that an idea was able to progress this way. And in all seriousness, it is a freaking work of genius.
Hadestown tells the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, set in what seems like a Depression-era New Orleans juke joint (as Hermes tells us, "Don't ask where, brother, don't ask when"), plus this setting's associated underworld, called Hadestown. I could gush about pretty much every aspect of this production, but I'll try to keep it brief by saying that it is a complete work of art, with meanings that I'll probably be working through in my head until the day I take my own trip across the Styx. It is also beautiful. The underworld's dieselpunk aura is especially striking:
This is actually a shot from a Korean production, rather than Broadway, but the dark deco feel is still there. Image from HERE.
The end result of this mashup of mythology and Americana is a near-perfect story that always leaves me wanting more, to the point that I start to imagine what other works of classical mythology would fit nicely into this cultural milieu. I eventually recognize that overplaying the details and themes that make Hadestown so transcendent will probably just lead to a bunch of stuff that doesn't feel nearly as special anymore. That little drive is always there, though -- whether it's due to my comic-filled childhood or my love of gaming, I inevitably want to expand the "Hadestown Universe" just to get more of it. (That's a tendency I've chosen to call the Gotham by Gaslight effect.)
We took in the production for the second time last Wednesday...and while there are a number of excellent songs in the show, there was one that was just taken to another level that day. Having watched the American presidential debate the night before, and listened to the anti-immigrant nonsense espoused therein*, I was struck by the remarkable fact that Mitchell wrote the song "Why We Build the Wall" way back in 2006. Many viewers assume the show is just a statement on modern American politics...but it's really just a show about the nature of humanity and of being human, and this song just happens to hit a lot harder because of the world we live in now.
If you have a couple of minutes, I really, really recommend giving this tune a listen. Here's a lyric video featuring the original Broadway cast (leading right into the last few lines of the first act). Laura and I were a bit late to the game, so while we actually missed the runs of the original main cast members, we have not been left wanting. Hades is currently portrayed by Phillip Boykin, whose performances have been jaw-dropping, to say the least. (The last time we saw it, in the split second between the end of the number and the rise of applause, you could hear a guy a couple rows behind us just say, "My god...")
Now, to make sure I'm keeping this blog suitably ridiculous, I think I'll close this out by taking a look at Hades as a character in a Ghostbusters-type game. So here goes...
If we're using the "Ghostology" section of the old Ghostbusters RPG's Operations Manual, Hades would fall into the category of Really Bad News, which includes "demons, powerful gods, and the like." This essentially puts him into a category where he doesn't need stats, because the PCs aren't going to be able to do much to affect him anyway...that is, unless they can find that one unique way to defeat him. For the Hades of Hadestown, there are some key weaknesses that can be seized upon: (1) his greed and love of power, and (2) his genuine love for his wife Persephone. Anything the players can do to impact Hades will have to feed off of the insecurity that comes from these two qualities of the character.
However...he should be a little more fun to play than that. So, here are a few tidbits stolen/adapted from an OGL 5e take on Hades:
Spell-like Abilities (all at will): hellish rebuke (3rd level), mold earth, thaumaturgy, fear, phantasmal killer, wall of stone, gate
Soul Syphon: Hades inhales souls in a 60 ft. cone. Each creature in the affected area takes 13D damage unless they pass a Strength check with a difficulty of 21, which cuts the damage in half (rounded up).
Bass-Baritone: Hades' voice is really, really low. Just do your best.
----------
* Yep, I know immigration is a complex issue (as they all are), and there is a discussion to be had on the proper approach to reform that accounts for both American safety and human dignity. BUT...that bullshit last Tuesday? That was nonsense.
Mini-ethical dilemma today: I honestly feel a bit strange posting anything too...eh, hopeful and...I dunno, frivolous...on 9/11. But y'know, if I wait till tomorrow, the clock will be almost at zero on this. And I do want to share it...and you can't really deny the American connection here. Today is a day to celebrate heroes!
So...just reminding you to make sure to get in now if you want to be a part of Dr. Michael T. Desing's Stalwart '85 Kickstarter! Mike (may I call you Mike?) has covered a lot of the creation process over at his excellent blog and publishing HQ, The Splintered Realm. Stalwart '85 looks to be a love letter to 1980s superhero comics, but in a way that imagines a third major publisher (largely using public domain characters) rather than generating a pastiche of '80s stories (which, obviously, I'm also fond of).
The Core Rules are already on DriveThru as a PWYW, so you can check out the basics before buying into it. The mechanics definitely look solid, although I'm really in it more for the worldbuilding. The art is familiar but unique. And Mike, frankly, seems like a good dude.
It's already funded and into stretch goals. Check it out HERE if you'd like to join me in getting in on the superheroic action!
Inspired by Adam Dickstein's killer Chapter 2 writeup of his awesome Ghostbusters + Tokyo Ghost Research idea in action over at his Barking Alien blog (seriously, checkitout), I really wanted to get another Ghostbusters RPG post out into the world. BUT...I have to focus on real life a little too much today. Aha...BUT(!!!)...I did finally write up a little list of things I've learned along the way as I've run the classic West End Games RPG myself. I said I might get around to it, and then I finally did so in...another Reddit thread.
So here we go. Written to a first-time Ghostmaster, and with pretty minimal editing here (like I said, another lazy post!). Maybe someone will find it helpful...? [This is where I shrug, but I'm not sure if I should put an emoji or just write *shrug* or what...]
5 Tips for Running the Ghostbusters RPG
1. The more you set things in locations you're familiar with or can easily imagine, the easier it will be to improvise over the course of the adventure. (I guess this really applies to any RPG...)
2. Have a list of potential complications to turn to if nothing comes to you after the roll of a ghost on the Ghost Die. I have had a session before with so many ghosts rolled that by the end I was just like, "Okay, you miss hitting the demon and...uh...you fall down. Yes, you step on a well-placed banana peel!" (This may or may not be a precise example, but it ultimately helped me realize that you can put ridiculous stuff on a complication/fumble list, and it somehow seems to hold more weight among players if you randomly generate it from a list rather than just making it up in the moment. [NOTE: That's probably just my own assumptions showing through.] Although...I'm sure there's an effective GMing style that involves ridiculous ad hoc complication creation as well!)
3. If you have the time, you can try prepping (to whatever extent you plan to do so) like three adventures, then have multiple calls come into Ghostbusters HQ in rapid succession. It gives a sense of agency to the players from the start. You'll just want to make sure they don't try to split up to cover all three at the same time, which would be pretty cumbersome. (Ghostbusters as a game lends itself to possibly humorous notes to players along the lines of: "Each of these calls seems really dangerous. You can just tell that you're going to need to take the full crew to whichever one you choose, for the sake of either Ghostbuster safety or Ghostmaster sanity...I'll let you know which in a little while.")
Obviously there's a good chance the players won't get through all of the adventures in one session, but then you're already prepped for a future game AND you have some security in case someone comes up with something that makes you think, "Yeah...that IS really smart and could potentially solve this case in about five minutes' time..."
4. I've had good luck with the adventures written for the game Paranormal Investigators & Exterminators (P.I.E.), a Mini Six variant from Genius Loci games that works as a GB retro-clone. (Specifically, I've used versions of the adventures "Humble Pie" from the original P.I.E. release, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" from the Good-bye American P.I.E. supplement, and "Chocolate P.I.E." from its own individual module, all in the "three calls" setup above.)
(You can click HERE to head to the company's DriveThru page...)
5. I'm sure this will vary by group, but I've always found it fun to zero in on a fairly specific time in the past to set things. Sharing some of the details of the world in general that you'll find with just a google search or two can help give the game a retro feel, which I think is often part of the appeal of playing as Ghostbusters. This can conflict with #1 a little bit -- you can set things in a location you're very familiar with, but you may not have much of an idea of what that place was like in, say, 1986 (not that it necessarily matters unless you have a player who will recognize and care about any inaccuracies) -- BUT a little touch like a certain song or sporting event playing on the radio is an easy way to add a little atmosphere.
----------
With the Monstrous Matters campaign in progress, I'm really interested in seeing everyone's approaches to the art of running a Ghostbusters-style paranormal RPG, so please hit me up with your own tricks and insights if you get the chance, here or elsewhere!
