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Colonial Gothic is a game of occult mystery and darkness set during the American Revolution, I shall try to contain myself from dispelling too many myths about that time or the nature of the revolt, or what the British actually did/were doing and why but even without that making my forehead vein throb this seems, to me, to be a peculiar time period to place such a game in, when there are more pressing matters for both the British forces and the rebels.
Departure is the second book in the Redemption Trilogy set in the world of the Chronicles of Ramlar Role Playing Game, which is also known as Eranon. This book picks up where Into the Reach left off, continuing the adventures of Kennerly, Lydia, Nara and Taru as they build new lives for themselves away from their homes and events in their individual pasts that brought them to the Reach.
Cadwallon sells itself as a ‘tactical role playing game’ and it sits, uncomfortably and mystifyingly, somewhere between D&D and one of Games Workshop’s skirmish games like Mordheim or Necromunda. It never quite explains what tactical roleplaying is exactly and it comes across in the reading as either a dumbed down D&D where the board becomes necessary or a brightened up skirmish game where you actually roleplay. It is stuck between dimensions, neither one thing nor the other but given the D&D miniatures and the popularity of Clix this new middle ground seems to have become a fighting area for many of the companies so there must be something in it.
Qin is to China’s mythological history what Legend of the Five Rings is to Japan’s. While there are superficial and stylistic similarities between the two games and they share the same broad appeal the similarities in no way mean they’re the same any more than the broad similarities between Japan and China themselves mean they’re in any way the same country.
Qin takes a more historical approach – though don’t worry, there are monsters and magic – and has a much more egalitarian and open society structure (considering the source material) than Legend of the Five Rings. Being a peasant or bandit is a much more viable option in Qin and while the social order is divinely mandated and enforced – particularly for women – the period of the setting is chaotic enough and in enough upheaval that this is no longer an issue.
From first edition Vampire through to about a year or so before the end of the Old World of Darkness line I was a bit of a White Wolf fanboy. Not a drooling fanboy, they still did things that annoyed me, but by and large I agreed with their design philosophy and found that their games appealed to my style of play and the sort of games I wanted to run. With their cackhanded interference in their LARP society (not that it could have made things much worse than they already were) and their wrap up of the oWOD I fell out of love with them for the most part and aside from the occasional bit of curiosity I haven’t really followed their games.
Colonial Gothic Primer is a free PDF download that acts as an introduction to Rogue Games’ Colonial Gothic role playing game (RPG). It combines eighteenth century North America with a dark, secret history full of ghosts and ghouls and vile cultists. Players take on the role of colonial era individuals who are introduced to the secret history via becoming confronted with the supernatural. I imagine that the most common approach would be that of a Call of Cthulhu game with one difference, which is that the rules describe a cinematic style of play, with characters leaping from table top to table top exchanging wild blows, swinging from the chandeliers and probably employing fancy Mongolian style horse riding techniques. There is, in other words, a danger that game sessions may degenerate into knockabout comedy and the supernatural elements will turn into Scooby Doo type monsters. Players and GM will need to establish what kind of style they wish to use and how strictly they will stick to that.
I write for Victoriana, though I didn’t work on the corebook, just so you know. Though I think I’ve established myself as a fair reviewer of products by now. In fact I’m writing this review when I really should be trying to get back on with some writing for Victoriana. Bad monkey, no biscuit. Anyway… Victoriana is a steampunkish, fantasyish, politically aware RPG of an alternative Victorian setting, the height of the British Empire, seemingly limitless technology, mediums, necromancers, strict class boundaries and – most importantly of all – top hats.
Monster Island opens sometime after the rise of zombies across the world. Most of the civilized nations have already been overrun and there are only a few survivors left. Not surprisingly, larger population centers are early victims of the zombie menace and, as a result, the more developed countries fall more quickly. For example, the sheer population size of a city like New York makes the epidemic difficult to contain. Too many people, coupled with poor “epidemic” containment, prove to be the city’s downfall in Monster Island.
Erin McCarthy’s Bled Dry, falls into the vampire chick-litesque category of paranormal romance. It chronicles the relationship between Brittany Baldizzi, a dentist, and Corbin Jean Michel Atelier, a french vampire DNA scientist who was turned in the 19th century, and has spent the last century or so looking for a cure to his vampirism. The novel is set in Las Vegas, a good choice for those with a nocturnal lifestyle, but McCarthy could have taken more advantage of her setting.
Having been a fan of the Cthulhu Mythos and Live Action games for years, I was thrilled when I came across a book that merged the two. I first discovered Cthulhu Live years ago in its 2nd Edition format and had a blast running the game, creating characters and designing plot hooks for players. I had a lot of fun with the game and was really excited when I heard there was a 3rd Edition in the works.
I was one of the lucky few, thanks to the sharp attention of the wife and her amazing persuasive abilities, to pick up an early release volume of The Savage World of Solomon Kane by Pinnacle Entertainment. Like a great many other game designers I am afflicted with a great love of the pulps and related ‘trash’ forms of fiction such as B-movies, exploitation cinema and so forth. Alas for us game designers the appeal that these genres have for us don’t often translate into good sales or successful games, with the notable exceptions of Mongoose’s Conan and, perhaps, Spirit of the Century (which has plenty of industry kudos but I’m not so certain on their sales).
Hands down, the worst trend in the relatively recent horror movie resurgence is the incessant green lighting of unnecessary and bad remakes. It’s indicative of a larger financial problem plaguing the entire industry and while remakes may guarantee a built-in audience for the short term, they will erode the genre over time. So needless to say, I was none too pleased when Dimension Films first announced that the next classic in line for a rebuild would be John Carpenter’s seminal slasher flick, Halloween (1978). But a funny thing happened upon my learning about Rob Zombie’s involvement – not only did my steadfast opposition to the remake disappear, but I became down right excited to see the movie being made by a film maker who takes his horror very seriously.
The genre of story telling that has best succeeded in giving me the creeps is the tried and true ghost story. It tends to be reliably frightening in written form, and although less so on film, it’s hard to find someone who’s not been given a heebie-jeebies overdose by The Changeling (1980). Other successes worth mentioning include The Haunting (1963), Poltergeist (1982), and more recently, The Others (2001). Unfortunately, the list of bad haunted fright films is far lengthier. This brings us to the genre’s most recent offering. To describe 1408 in appropriately metaphysical terms, Swedish director, Mikael Håfström’s film is stuck in movie purgatory, somewhere between good and bad.
Upon watching the unrated DVD version of Jaume Balaguero’s Darkness (2002/2005), I experienced a first. It was the first time that I would rather have been watching a safely edited PG-13 version of a horror movie (U.S. 2004 theatrical release). It’s not because the unrated version of Darkness is too frightening, gory, or disturbing, but rather it’s longer and given this movie’s lack of originality or anything entertaining at all, length in this case is a negative attribute.
Well, I’ll just start off by saying that the movie has a really good grabber with the two main characters going on vacation, but from there it only gets worse. Grace and Jim (the main characters) plan to go to Mexico on their spring break trip. But sadly, the first night they get stuck in a rainstorm, and then they see a guy on the road and almost hit him.
Well, this movie has a bunch of scientist chasing a big getaway animal, and who doesn’t like a creature flick? Jaws, Cujo and other such movies showed us that creature movies can be good as long as they have a good plot and a good creature.
Nox Arcana’s newest CD in their collection is devoted to the grim, grotesque and the macabre all found within a dark carnival. The CD opens with an introduction; the ringmaster, voiced by Joseph Vargo, welcomes one and all to the “circus of the strange.” Indeed, this CD is “strange” for on it you will hear a blend of organ music, children’s voices and haunting melodies.
The Nightside novels are Simon Green’s homage to the classic “hardboiled” detective fiction of the late 1920’s and early 1930’s. The strengths of these novels are the endlessly-varied settings and characters. In Hell to Pay, Simon’s signature Nightside hero, John Taylor, tackles a missing-persons case. Taylor finds himself at odds with militant nuns; cross-dressers with a strong sense of solidarity; and the usual array of angels, devils, and demigods.
The Ninth novel of the Dresden Files series, White Night advances the plot that has been building up for the last few books. This novel also features more than a few characters from previous books in what feels like a “Who has a beef with Harry?” vibe. Heroes and Villains show up in this story, trading blows and witty dialog throughout.
Given the instant success of 28 Days Later and its money generating influence industry wide, it was to be expected that once the cinematic carnage had subsided, the entrails had dried up, and the dust had settled, we’d be treated to a second go around with the rage virus courtesy of Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s 28 Weeks Later.
