Month July 2019

The Expanse Season Four

Rigil Kent

Damn, I can’t wait. They’re clearly (again) taking some liberties with the source material – in the book, for example, Amos and Holden were the only Roci crew to step foot onto Ilus/New Terra … which makes sense as they’re the Earthers accustomed to a domeless sky and capable of withstanding the gravity – but overall, I’ve been pretty happy with most of the changes they’ve made during the show’s run.

So yeah. Really, really eager for this one…

Netflix Witcher Trailer

Rigil Kent

Well, I don’t think it looks that bad. Yes, there are some casting issues – I still don’t like the SJW casting of Triss as a black chick and the Yennefer casting just doesn’t work for me either, but Ciri looks fine and I like Cavill so I am hoping he kicks ass in this. The fact that we see his Geralt reacting to the potions at the end (and in the middle as well) is a good sign, I think.

Which reminds me. I really need to read the books one day…

Krypton Season 2

Rigil Kent

Totally caught up with this show and man, I’m really enjoying it. I do have some minor complaints along the way, so I figure I’ll do my usual good, bad, ugly thing.

Good

  • Brainiac. Holy cow, but I dig this version of Brainiac. He’s fantastic – the actor is doing an amazing job and I love the look they’ve given him.
  • Lobo. To my very great surprise, I actually liked him in the episodes where he showed up. Not sure if it’s just due to the actor or what, but he didn’t make me want to change the channel.
  • General Zod. Colin Salmon is, hands-down, my favorite version of Dru-Zod ever. I can actually buy that this dude is a brilliant manipulator and mastermind and soldier … and psycho.
  • Seg-El. He’s evolved beyond being the “generic pretty boy” and I’ve rather liked the change. There’s a plot development between him & Brainiac later in the season that makes me like him even better.

Bad

  • As much as I like Nyssa-Vex, thus far, she’s been kind of wasted this season with her sole focus being to rescue her son, Cor-Vex (who I would prefer to be Jor-El, but alas.) I’m still kind of rooting for her & Seg though…
  • I was also never a super big fan of Lyta-Zod but what they’ve done with her is a little disappointing … though it tracks with Dru-Zod’s mindset. And the ending in 2×05 … that was legitimately surprising.
  • Doomsday … up until 2×06 (7/17/19’s ep), it’s like they forgot about him. Looks like that’s about to change, though…
  • The weirdness between Jayna-Zod (Lyta’s mom) and Dev-Em. I can’t tell if they’re trying to hint at a future, sort of inappropriate relationship between them, or I’m just reading too much into it, but it’s weird. Plus, for two super badass soldiery types, they seem to cry an awful lot.

Ugly

  • The way Lobo got past the containment field on Colu was pretty brutal.
  • Also, the way that a considerable number of the Resistance fighters bit it through asphyxiation was rough.

So, overall, I’m really enjoying the show a lot more than I expected to considering its a prequel … though we’re into an alternate timeline now, so anything goes. I still kind of want the guy who plays Seg to play Kal for just an ep…

GenCon 2019 – The Games

Rigil Kent

With GenCon creeping closer, I thought I’d mention the games I’m scheduled to play and my expectations.

THUR (8/1)

  • “Data Breach” – Starfinder 1E – 0800 to 1300. Since this is basically Pathfinder in Space, I don’t expect it’ll be anything too weird for me.
  • “Assault on the Dungeon of the Pognomancer” – 13th Age – 1400 to 1800. I know nothing of 13th Age so I don’t know what to expect here at all. Playing alongside two of the people I’m driving up to GenCon with.
  • “Champions of the Ivory Throne 34” – L5R – 1900 to 2300. Similarly, I don’t know much about L5R beyond a little bit about the setting, so I don’t know what to expect there. Playing alongside one of the people I’m driving up to GenCon with.

FRI (8/2)

  • “Extreme Safari” – Mongoose 2E Traveller – 0900 to 1330. This is a required game for me as I’ll be running M2T in the near future. I wanted to play it before running it, you know?
  • “Cupbearers” – The Expanse RPG – 1400 to 1800. Love the setting. Know nothing about the game. Still, looking forward to it.
  • “Blue on Blue” – Mutant City Blues” – 1800 to 2200. A Gumshoe game and I’ve played a little bit of Night’s Black Agents, so I think I know what to expect here.

SAT (8/3)

  • “Red Hand of Doom” – D&D 5E – 0900 to 1900 (!) – that’s right. Ten hours. I know enough about 5E to be ready for this … I think. Playing alongside two of the people I’m driving up to GenCon with.
  • “Castaway” – Cypher – 2000 to 0000. I have no idea about this game but I’m playing alongside one of the people I’m driving up to GenCon with who is really looking forward to this.

SUN (8/4)

  • “Living on the Edge: Purple Exodus 6: Piercing the Veil” – Star Wars Edge of the Empire – 0800 to 1200. I know the setting, but not this rule system.
  • “Rescue in the Dark” – HârnMaster – 1200 to 1600. I’ve glanced over some of the setting but am mostly ignorant of the rules. Playing alongside one of the people I’m driving up to GenCon with.

This is 47.5 hours of gaming. Wow.

What I’ve Been Up To…

Rigil Kent 1 Comment

So what exactly have I been up to of late instead of working on my ConsOps game? I’ve been working on a sci-fi game (using Mongoose Traveller 2nd Edition rules) that I’ll be running some time after GenCon with our F2F group.

Started setting up an Obsidian Portals site for it and everything: The Verge.

It’s not going to be using the canon Traveller background, but rather a pre-existing homebrew setting that is mostly the brainchild of one of the players that he’s run before. Though to be far, the home system the PCs will be in is all mine.

Despite not using canon Traveller, I am leaning toward using a version of the Tripwire … adventure path, I suppose? Big difference, though, is that it’ll stay in-system the whole time with the PCs going to moons instead of new star systems. My intent with the game is to be very Expanse-like, so that’ll be “fun.”