Shin Godzilla Review

 

I don’t talk about it much, but the original Godzilla really affected me as a child. Something about this unintentionally deadly monster really struck a chord with me. He wasn’t trying to destroy everything, he was just trying to live and we couldn’t let him! It was wrong that we made Godzilla, but was it wrong to kill him? Godzilla’s double victimhood hit me; he hadn’t asked to be made, and now he had to die. Something that big just shouldn’t be around. It went beyond questions of good and evil, rendering the frame utterly meaningless. 

Godzilla wasn’t bad or good. He just was.

And therefore we had to kill him. 

To say I’m disappointed by the following movies is an understatement. Godzilla is a quandary, not a hero, a critique of classic liberalism and its obvious stupidity on the face of life and death. Yea, this puts me in the grouch camp. I really couldn’t care less. Hero Godzilla is stupid.

So I was really excited when I realized that Shin Godzilla, the 2016 reboot, was being directed by Ecangelions creator, X. The Rebuilds really turned me around on X, so I figured I’d give this a shot too! Just the poster was enough; X was going for Godzilla’s original tragic roots. And that was enough for me.

What I got was a pleasant surprise: Godzilla isn’t the real monster of the movie. Oh don’t get me wrong, Godzilla is definitely disturbing. There’s something to this redesign I find… demonic isn’t the right word, but unsettling and threatening don’t really do it justice either. There’s something to Shin Godzilla’s face that is so fundamentally alien to me that I can’t help but be creeped out. The moments where he lets loose with his power are masterclasses in how to show power in a movie. I also liked how Godzilla was just as as much a victim of his biology as the humans were, having to stop and deal with his unwieldy biology.

No, the real monster is the U.S and the U.N. It’s a secret to the folks of the U.S. proper, but Japan is really just a colony of ours, in all but name. And the Japanese know it and resent it. This movie treats U.S. as a lumbering monster… that is the Japanese’s monster, protecting them from the U.N. As bad as the U.S. is the U.N. is far worse, both in the movie and in real life. No attempt is made to sugarcoat this reality; Yogucha, the protagonist, calls his country a puppet state.

And yet Japan survives because of his status as a puppet state, with the U.S. helping Japan defy the U.N. As onerous as being a colony is, Japan survived. 

It’s not bad. 

It’s not good. 

It just is.

And that’s a hard pill to swallow. 

Crescendo's First Arc: Reflections

 

I didn't realize it, but I'd been holding my breath the last few months. The first arc playtest of Crescendo has been going on and I kept asking myself "Is it going to be any good? At all?" I have a lot of ideas in this game that I was nervous wouldn't work, that would prove to be unrealistic to throw at a table. I mean, if it doesn't work that's fine... okay it wouldn't have been fine. At all. I've written a lot on this game and spent about a year fine-tuning it. And, despite the fact that the first playtest of the first arc had been going really smoothly, I didn't want to believe it. What if it failed at the end? What if the game failed to provide a good conclusion to the first arc it had ever truly run? Well, it didn't fail. There's a lot to improve and work on, but it didn't fail. Crescendo helped create a story filled with nuance and failure, character growth, a fantastical dream-like quality, truly tense plot, and a fitting coda.

Crescendo's mechanics create situations where characters must fail themselves. There are no squeaky clean and awesome characters; everyone does more than a few things they regret. As in, there are prompts generated by the game that tell you, the player, that your character fails himself, and you get to figure out what that looks like. These are profoundly humbling moments, as you have to figure out why and how your character has gone off the rails. But the other factor for the characters feeling human was that their successes could lead to unexpected consequences, in a  way that was fair and transparent, but unpredictable. The lack of total control over the plot makes the characters feel much more fragile, limited.  Because player control of the world and their characters wasn't total they took more time and care asking "What does my character really want out of this situation?" The mechanical refusal to deal in black and white results made the character's intent just that much more important.

The biggest drive to character change is failure. Because of the omnipresence of failure, as well as character change being based upon the ebb and flow of the mechanics, players are more in a role of directing the character growth. Character growth becomes the subject of the game itself, allowing players to disengage enough to where they can roleplay a character who is not like them. All the mechanics point back to the question "What does the character feel?" So many inputs into the system are subjective that you can't really get a moment where you could say "This is what the character should do." And players really responded to this! With the mechanics disengaging from a simple success/failure dynamic what the character turns into becomes the only thing the player really controls.... and the timing of that is a bit questionable as well.

Crescendo is a game of mythic fantasy. The immortals are alive and well, constantly mucking around with things, influencing the world to their own ends. Without the immortals Crescendo would be a good, if somewhat standard, fantasy game. But the addition of the immortals completely changed things for the players. Visions would just... happen. And completely recontextualize the action. Omens would appear around the players, helping them and showing them to be favored. But by whom? It wasn't entirely clear sometimes. Immortals would use similar omens, and sometimes in ways that confused the players. With the mechanics designed to keep players constantly on their toes, this existential meddling tipped the players into a world they're just certain enough about, but not too certain. There was always a dream-like quality to the story, where nothing was quite as it appeared. And that forced things back to the character, the only thing the players really had a true knowledge of.

But perhaps the biggest surprise to me was the evolution of the plot. Crescendo uses extensive journaling and a mechanic called The Black Swan: everyone at the table opens to a random page of their journal and puts their finger on a random passage; the GM takes these passages and makes up a plot twist, with the emphasis being on making an intersecting  narrative which intrudes on the players’ story. With Black Swans the GM becomes less the master of the plot and the interpreter of the signs. You can just sit back, and let the game ebb and flow around you, being just as surprised as the rest of the players at twists and turns. With the knowledge that the plot was not being "handled" by the GM, the game truly let go of the feeling that there was anything for certain. Only one question could possibly matter at that point: what did your character think of the events they had in front of them, right then and there?

Endings are beginnings where you stop. A story should have a strong end, one where the world doesn’t stop but the story does. RPGs usually don’t have ending mechanics, leaving that up to the players to figure out. Given how important endings are I’ve always found this to be a surprising hole in most designs. So I designed The Festival, which is designed to propel the world and PCs forward, while wrapping up the parts of the story that the game considers important: how the PCs and the world changed. This is done in the context of a cultural celebration. Everything has calmed down, and if you think pre-modern folks are just going to sit around and wallow in whatever just happened… well they can’t. May as well have fun! So characters get reputations and traits voted onto them, and then the players play out the scenes where they realize that their characters realized they changed. The setting is then more or less randomly moved forward, with new plot hooks being generated by the table. 

And it works beautifully.

The synergy of group discussion and in-story development produced scenes worthy of a true end to the journey the players and their characters had been on. The new plot hooks enveloped us in a feeling of constant motion, a sense that the world was moving on. The players wanted to see what happened next. Their characters had not only changed but were  given the opportunity to acknowledge it. If we could never return to this story it ended in a way we could be okay with.

Crescendo still has a ways to go. I'm testing out another first arc as we speak, which has more world building mechanics in it, at the cost of slowing the pacing of the story down, but with more depth. The second arcs won't be starting for a little while. But we ended the first arc deeply satisfied with the arc itself and excited to see where it was going. And I feel more than a bit of relief! Crescendo not only stuck the landing but did it with style.

But who cares what I think? I’m the designer, course I’m going to like my own product. What do my playtesters think? When I asked here’s what they told me:

Zac

Why play this game 

Character development. It is easy to create a living, breathing, real character. The slower pace of play really gives you time to think about your character’s actions and motivation. In fact the game demands that you do. And when things go wrong (and they will), the system gives you the time to work through how this character manages and rationalizes the events that take place resulting in a character that is far more believable and inhabitable because their decisions make sense and their motivations make sense. At least to you. There are plenty of opportunities for the GM or other players to challenge your decisions and at the end of a story arc what the other players think of you actually matters. I also enjoyed the lack of a party system. While the game is a cooperative storytelling experience, I didn’t need to worry about how my character’s growth and actions would affect the party (or split it). Also, no one else needs to feel pressured to take actions to keep the party together after my guy decides to go do his thing. While I think the party mechanic has its place in many games, particularly the combat oriented, I think many times it can also hinder your growth if an emotional revelation means the group is understaffed for an owlbear encounter.

 Martha

The first thing that jumps out about Crescendo is the rules don’t get in the way of gameplay.  So much of RPG time is spent trying to ‘outgame the game’ (think peasant rail gun). A lot of it is you vs the GM; who can make the story work better for them.  Crescendo is a collaboration between players and GM, which takes the competition out of the picture, and focuses characters and the moderator on making a good story and a good experience. Story and content is key, and the rules take a back seat. They are there to facilitate only and they aim to not be part of the problem. This is perfect for me, because I despise the dynamics between players and the GM in traditional games. I want to create a great story with them, instead of fighting for my own way every step.

    Throughout this play test the rules were changed a lot, and every single time it was because the rules were somehow blocking story development, they were too visible. Because you aren’t crunching numbers every five seconds, or pulling out power cards at every conflict, it leaves things open for creativity and collaboration in a way that mainstream RPG’s don’t. This is something that games like Trophy do marvelously, and something that is relatively hard to achieve. Unlike some other games I have played this game isn’t ‘rules light’ it’s ‘rules invisible’, which gives it the support structure of a traditional game, but all the flexibility and creativity of a game like Trophy. While Crescendo mirrors some concepts from games like Burning Wheel, they are combined with original concepts, and reworked themes from different games that work in a pretty great symmetry.

    Almost all stats and numbers are developed outside the actual game, and you have to pay attention to at most one number of your own, and help from others, that’s it. To top it off, the black swan mechanic helps develop the story in a completely random fashion (which is very realistic) but still pulls from the past sessions and lore to make it relevant and somewhat consistent. You know that something is going to happen, but you know that inevitably it will happen in line with the rest of the story. It makes for some pretty great plot developments. 

    The last thing I would like to mention about the mechanics is the journaling.  Everyone has a different style of journaling, and often they write it in the voice of their character.  This makes read throughs and black swans very interesting, because you’ll catch a line or a story from a different character’s perspective, and it makes you question how that interaction actually went down. This coupled with the vision mechanic makes for some very interesting interactions, and developments. 

    As to the story itself, it was a lot of fun.  You can spend quite a lot of time on a pretty simple scene and still feel like it is full of action, questions, and plot development. Several of our sessions took place over several hours but only really covered a couple of minutes in actual game time, but you didn’t really notice it, and it was still pretty satisfying. There are several different ways to play characters in this game. You can defy your traits and drives and constantly be putting yourself into confusing circumstances, or you can play them up and call upon a whole new set of crises. My character in particular stayed super true to her ideals and self and ended up in a place that she really didn’t want to be, even though she did everything just about perfect for her traits.  On the other hand, another character really played with his traits, and ended up getting exactly what he wanted.  But I could absolutely see it working the other way around, making for a bunch of story possibilities in the future. 

    Altogether this was a very satisfying and productive play test and I’m looking forward to  more!

Bryan

Crescendo Review.

How would I describe a game like Crescendo? In short it is fun unique form of table top RPG that I have not seen the likes of before. It is extremely different from D&D removing the combat heavy focus of gameplay for a game centrally focused on character development. In fact, the game the heavily reminds me of Burning Wheel, another game that the Nathan has GMed, and that I have had the pleasure to play with him. However, I think personally that Crescendo improves upon Burning Wheel. For instance, the belief and instincts mechanic on Burning Wheel can feel a bit overwhelming, while the drive system of Crescendo is stream-lined and far more manageable. Another thing that has jumped up at me, is dice rolling system. Instead of rolling a standard D20 for everything like in D&D, this game has you rolling different types of dice depending on your stats. (BTW the highest dice I have rolled in this game is a D12)

The Story of Crescendo has been a blast. While Nathan at times tries a more hands off approach to storytelling, allowing for more player input then some other GMs would, He still manages to weave together an epic that keeps players coming back. One of my personal favorite moments in the game so far has been when Roisto, one of the PCs threw the Captain of the Dragonslayers overboard while the palming the Shard of Typhon (BLOGGER’S NOTE: The Shard of Typhon is a Macguffin that can bring back Typhon, the king of monsters, radically changing the world) over to him. The result led to complete chaos where we realized we may have just doomed everyone. Of course, this wouldn’t have been possible without one Crescendos most central features, The Black Swan. This concept of reading our own personal journal experience, (which is another thing that make this game unique; taking notes of what your character is doing has an actual gameplay mechanic to it) makes the twist feel more appreciative since the player actively contribute to it. 

To sum up, Crescendo is a game that I highly recommend to anyone wanting to try something new. It forces you to take your character seriously and you’ll be surprised what kind of changes your character and yourself will go through 

Thank you to three of you. Crescendo is a much stronger game because of your generosity with your time! 

If you want to see where Crescendo is at now click here to join the Discord and get access to the alpha version!

Gollum Always Trips

When I woke up this morning something felt off. It got under my radar, of course. It has for the last six years. As the day goes on I just… sour. My mood begins to swing suddenly. I’ll lose my temper faster than I’d like. Little twitches in my peripheral vision start making me nervous. It’s the day of a thousand paper cuts. 

And then the bottom drops out. 

And I’m staring that dammed darkness in the face, once again. 

I try to ignore it. Really, I do! But that’s not a paper cut I’m dealing with anymore. Now I’m dealing with a full on emotional gut wound. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, I can’t stop the memories. The horror.

And oh God the rage. It feels so good. 

Most days I’d just melt before this awful waterfall of rage and pain. Fold up shop. Disengage. Disassociate. I’ve been doing this since I was six, I’m an old hand at it by now! What’s one more time? Why not just zone out, let myself go and surrender, again?

Why not?

Why?

Why was it different this time?!?? Why couldn’t I quit??

Because now a part of me refused to budge: “No,” it said. “Not again. I’m not leaving my family, my friends, myself. I refuse.”

“Fuck you, I’m in pain!” I found myself whispering back. “I need this.”

“Not as much as they need you.”

And there it was. When the hell had I become so altruistic? It had never stopped me before! I grew angry. And then afraid. What would happen to me now?? How was this happening and how could I stop it? “I DONT CARE WHO I HURT YOU’RE IN MY WAY.”

That’s not true, said a small, still voice. You’ve always cared. But you let your fear get in the way. 

“Yeah, so???”

That makes you a coward, doesn’t it?

“Fuck you!”

That doesn’t make Me wrong. 

I sat there a moment. “So what do I do?”

Come die with Me. I Am dead. I sit here, in the land of the dead, waiting. The yoke is easy. The burden light. Come and suffer and die. 

“FUCK YOU NO”

Something will die regardless of what you do. Would you like it to be your connection to your wife, children, friends, Me? Or will you finally see what’s on the other side? Will you come and be dead with Me?

I’m not entirely sure what happened the next hour. I know I walked and raved like a lunatic, the pain causing my jaw to disengage and work on its own. I don’t remember much. The pain was insanity itself, driving me deeper and deeper into somewhere that…

There was a light. 

Somewhere, deep down in this horror, there was the tiniest of lights in my soul. And it sputtered. And waved. But it held. Defiant. Beautiful. 

This is all that was left. You almost put it out. 

I cupped the light in my hands and blew softly, coaxing it. Begging. Pleading. With it. That made the pain so much worse. But I couldn’t. This was all I had left. And I knew I couldn’t leave it. Not again.

There was a blaze of white light in my mind.

And now the pain is back. The storm in my soul is at a fever pitch. But I hold a little light in my left hand, glowing a gentle white in my mind. The pain is so much worse than I ever thought it could be. 

Storms end. 

But if I give up this one won’t. 

It may be a fool’s errand. But looking at the existential wreckage within what else am I but the greatest of fools? It a fool’s hope, that I can be fixed. It’s a fool’s hope, to beg for mercy when I can see the damage I’ve done myself. I don’t deserve mercy. No rational being would give me any, not after what I’ve done. It’s foolish to even think the words.

That suits me perfectly. Gollum does trip, after all. No, I don’t count the dumbass movie. Gollum always trips. 

A fool’s hope is enough. For now. It’s just a matter of time  

There are two people I’d like to dedicate this post to. The first is my wife, who keeps telling me I’m worth keeping around. I’m not even close to really believing her, but she seems to mean it to herself and that’s a damned sight better than I ever noticed before. You’re everything to me, darling. Thank you. 

The second person is highly unlikely to ever read this, but she’s been singing her heart out to the first song the last month. Thank you for writing it and for continuing to sing it, years later. I don’t think I would have known to look without your song.

More Thoughts on Dinogenics

 

1 Triceratops, 3 T-Rexes, 1 Velociraptor

What you see above is a second-place park. I'd gotten the ability to get dinosaurs more easily than my competitors.... and wasted my time getting T-Rexes. See, each unique species of dinosaur you have in your park nets you another three victory points. This subtle but powerful rule allowed my competitor to beat me by a large margin, with less resources. This allowed him to focus on his park more, creating a more balanced experience than my threadbare, if impressive, park.

Also: he was a rotten snake a bit better than me.

Each park is a story. The story of the above park isn't just a failure, but the tale of a start-up that was doomed from the start. When your competitors are making more species more quickly and cheaply than you, and you stumble acrost T-Rex DNA? You clone it. Immediately. Damn the fact that we don't have fences, it's a big island, how bad could it-

Knocked over the Triceratops fencing, you say?

The Triceratops knocked over more fencing, destroyed our state-of-the-art cloning center, and made Timmy Smith (all fatalities in my Dinogenics games are the ten year old Timmy Smith) a bloody jam on the pavement? Which the T-Rex ate with a spoon because surprise T-Rexes are surprisingly cultured?

At least it wasn't the T-Rex that killed him!

You'd think if they had the ability to clone faster than anyone else the company would scrounge up the cheapest dinos they could, right? Nope. It was all about the T-Rexes. And y'know what? It wasn't the worst strategy in the world. Combined with a few other animals they had the most entertaining animals, by the metrics. 

But the rest of the park? That was a different story. Beyond private exhibitions the park only had one hotel and a crummy T-Rex statue. Gotta keep with the theme and all! No efforts were made for improve infrastructure beyond the bare minimum, even after an unexpected infestation drove the few guests they did have off the island. But the park engineers were unfazed; they wanted more T-Rexes.

No one saw the merger coming. The buyout was too good! The other island had better infrastructure, more dinosaurs, and overall better PR. Of course the owners sold out. They didn't care about the art of it all. Philistines.

Every park tells a story. The next one will be as different as the park. 

I love that about this game.

Spider-Man 94: Season Three

Welp, folks, hopefully it doesn't get worse than this.

Sins of the Fathers, the name of this season, is flawed. It doesn't have the thematic coherence of Season Two, nor are its episodic elements nearly as well-used as Season One. While the season is supposedly about the failure of the previous generation (summed up in Norman Osborn's defeat by the Goblin), there's more than a few episodes that derail the delicate balance between plot and character. The finale, while gut-wrenching, is brought down by hamfisted exposition and left-field developments. While there are some standout episodes and arcs the quality has taken a noticeable dip. Thanks corporate! 

The first episode features Doctor Strange. MJ has been kidnapped by Baron Mordo to help Dormammu escape. It's a good team-up, with some fantastic development for Mary-Jane, whose abandonment issues get sketched out, while being integral to the plot. This was a really strong opener! I'll liked it a lot, and with Madame Web being set up I thought it a good intro to the season.

And then Make a Wish and Octobot. Holy shit. Just, holy shit this was insufferable. For those of you who don't know, one of the best Spider-Man stories of all time is "The Boy Who Read Spider-Man", about a boy named Tim who asks to see Spider-Man and hang out. Spidey shows up at his room and the two talk about a surprisingly detailed account of Spider-Man's abilities, tech, and ethos. At the very end of a charming story Tim asks to find out who Spider-Man is, under that mask.

And Spider-Man does it. 

Is it a plot? Is Spider-Man being controlled? Is Tim a spy?

No.

Tim is dying of cancer. 

Soon.

And he wanted to meet the hero who helped him hold on for so long. Peter, moved by Tim's kindness and courage in the face of impending death, simply can't deny his greatest fan.

God, it's such a beautiful story.

Yeah, they try to adapt it. And it's horrible. They tie in a crappy plot about Doctor Octopus wiping Spider-Man's memory, a Jamaican (???) taxi driver who's so insensitively done! I cringed watching this shlock as a child who had never met a Jamaican before, but could tell this was badly done, and changes Tim to an actual Mary Sue (Rey haters, please reference these episodes so you'll know what a Mary Sue actually is) whose character was nails on a chalkboard.

But don't worry, she's dying of cancer too! Gah!

You can smell corporate demanding a freaking Octobot. I wanted to throw out my phone from the fumes of sulphur and... We'll just say discharge. Yeah.

Y'know, Navy folk. No, not sailors.

Yes, I think I'm funny.

My wife laughs at me, not my jokes, can you tell?

Fortunately the introduction of the Green Goblin is next. And is it done right or what??? Man I love this episode. This show is at its best when its characters are human beings handed awful power, which magnifies their worst qualities. And we've taken some time developing Norman! He starts off as a sleezebag with genuine affection for his son, buried way deep down. Over the first two seasons Norman has wrestled with his inner monster. And he wasn't a saint or anything, but Norman was better than he'd ever been.  And then the accident happens and it's all for naught. This is easily one of my favorite single episodes of the show. My nostalgia is fully earned here.

Rocket Racer's episode is another great one-off. The debilitating moral effects of poverty are called out. If you need to steal to survive it makes you a criminal. If you're a criminal why not just be a bad guy, since the rest of the affair is stressful enough without having moral ambiguity making it complicated.  Merloo in "Rape of the Mind" not only calls societal pressures like what's going on in this episode brainwashing, but displays one of the most horrible things about societal pressures: man's sense of justice is so acute, his need for right and wrong so absolute, that continuous pressure on him eventually makes him become what others think of him, because he knows that justice is external. So, in an effort to recognize justice, he'll become what everyone is accusing him of. 

Happy thought, right?

The Daredevil, Smythe, and Tombstone episodes are just incredible. Plotting, characterization, voice acting, even the animation is really well done! While I think the Tombstone episode is the best of the bunch I'd definitely not say that makes the others worse; it's a real embarrassment of riches in these episodes. This is real quality stuff.

Which makes the Venom and Carnage episodes just that much worse.

Please keep in mind that a show as thematic as this one has to stick the landing. Thematic arcs are generally more difficult to pull off than a strictly plot-based show. You have to have a solid foundation and be willing to explore all sorts of situations... that are related to your theme. Oh, and you have to be willing to let go of ideas that are thematically sound, but don't execute too well. 

I really want to not do those freaking kid episodes again, can you tell????

The issues I have with the Venom and Carnage episodes isn't that it isn't thematically consistent with the rest of the show; nature vs nurture is on full display here. It's that the sins of Norman Osborn do actually need to be set up for later on! MJ ends her engagement with Harry in the Daredevil episodes and the show drops the plotline entirely after that. I get not dwelling on it overly, but we don't know much about Norman and what he's really like as an attentive father. We've seen his wrestlings with his darker nature, sure, between the Green Goblin episode and this one we really don't know what Norman and Harry are up to. That needed to be shown. This ain't the Skywalker Saga, where points you'd normally consider important don't need to be shown. The Skywalker Saga is an intergenerational soap opera. Its points are on a grand sweeping scale. But that's not what this show is. Harry has been basically sidelined up until this point, and as we're about to see that's going to do some significant damage to the finale.

Also, there's the fact that Mordo and Dormammu are central to the plot of Venom and Carnage's episodes. Where the hell is Doctor Strange?? Y'know, the dude who has dedicated his life to stopping Dormammu? They spent time setting him up... and then he's not there. So multiple threads are dropped and ignored to create these two episodes. Even the time dilation stuff could be introduced another way, see the Spot episode that literally comes right after this. These two episodes are unnecessary.

Unless you have to please a toy line. 

New Venom with a swappable head to Eddy Brock? Carnage??? Iron Man and War Machine? 

There were clearly dollar signs at work here, folks. And it's a damn shame. I love this take on Carnage! He's just the right type of sick and twisted fun this show needed! Eddy and Ashley are pathetic and sympathetic, even with the major ethical breaches going on. Granted, the show doesn't talk about that, but the actual dynamics between the two of them are well-handled. It's such a shame.

And then we're back to fantastic stuff again with The Spot! This is a fantastic one off that goes back to the simplicity of Season One, while setting up for the finale. Like Hydro Man, this is the definitive take on the character. In the comics he's a joke. I wouldn't say the Spot isn't a joke here, but he is treated with the sensitivity and sympathy I've come to expect from this show.

Goblin War is a fantastically frustrating episode. On the one hand you've got Hobgoblin, Felicia, and the continuation of the time dilation device plot. Which is great! I love this version of Hobgoblin! Felicia is handled so well here! It makes sense the underworld would go nuts about the time dilation device. The ending scenes of this episode are absolutely perfect. But then there's the sudden drop of the Green Goblin. And that Harry has been poisoned against MJ and Peter since the Daredevil episodes. I've already given you my thoughts on that. I am not happy with the sudden snap.

And then there's Turning Point. For every pro of this episode there's a glaring con. The characterization is fantastic. The plot is rushed. Madame Web is used so freaking well. There's way way way too much Spidey narration, which outright destroys what should have been the best single scene of the show. The ending is gut-wrenching tragedy.

It could have hit so much freaking harder.

And that's really my takeaway on this season: it could have been so much better. When this season is on, by God it's more than a step up from Season Two. But what seems like really blatant corporate meddling takes a season that should have been perfect, a defining season of Spider-Man, a triumph of adaptation... and averages out to a compelling story compromised by the need to sell toys.

And therein lies the real tragedy.

Hearts of Wulin

 

Look folks, this review is gonna be kinda weird. I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with PBTA. On the one hand, I greatly appreciate the framework that Mr. Baker set up. I heartily agree that RPGs are a conversation, with mechanics coming on specific triggers. Yup, I'm with that part. But there's a hyper-focus to PBTA that I have a hard time with. Maybe that's the vestiges of DnD still living within my soul fighting to survive or whatever, but the scope of a good PBTA game is so small it weirds me out. I like the more "old school" feel, of having discrete skills that can be used in multiple ways. By paring down the "moves" of skills into something more restricted I just feel like something is lost.

Now, to be fair, this is my second PBTA I've ever actually played, the first being Dungeon World. I've been told in no uncertain terms by PBTA apologists that the PBTA tech has evolved past that point, and has done so in earnest.

That may be true, but the hyper focus of skills into genre emulation isn't gone in this PBTA game. It's done better, yes, but my underlying issue with all PBTA remains: you're telling me how to play. Thank you kindly, but I don't want you telling me how to play. That's not your job, Designer-Person. Give me somewhat specific tools, with some guidance on how to use them, and I'll figure it out from there.

So no, I'm not quite the target audience for this game. 

But y'know what? I decided to bite on this one. Most of the important movies of my childhood and teenaged years include Chinese martial art films. I mean, Hero is as influential on me as Clannad, not to mention House of Flying Daggers. It's a genre I've not explored in a very long time, and one I could stand to look at again. That and I saw a session of it played online and was astounded at how emotionally safe everyone was during it. There was some seriously heavy stuff going down, but everyone was fine! It was awesome!

I still don't have the hardcopy in my hands, thanks to COVID. That made learning the game a bit harder; I don't absorb information from PDFs terribly well. But fortunately I had a PBTA aficionado around to help, so I was able to lean on him a bit during play. Fortunately, I found the game relatively easy to pick up. PBTA is normally pretty easy to learn, at least in my experience, and that's not different here. You just play, and the GM butts in with mechanics when necessary until you learn it. It's a pretty simple process.

And, let's be honest, the moves themselves aren't that mechanically different from most other PBTA games I've read. Granted, I want to do this genre, but that doesn't change the involuntary twitch. And, to be fair, that's my problem, not the designers. But I wound up loving this game.

It's because of the Internal Conflict move.

Basically, if you run into a spot that might create emotional distress, you roll this move. You get XP, just for having to do the move. You then have three possible outcomes, all of them various levels of bad but.... they're mostly open. You can just do what you think best within the context. This one move creates some of the most fun I've ever seen in an RPG. Your character can go crazy and you're emotionally shielded from it. If you want to have a really RP intense game, then emotional shielding like this is crucial. You have to be able to point at the mask and go "This is happening to this thing, this object, not to me"

What I love about this mechanic is that it allows you to radically shift the narrative in ways that are consistent with your character. One of the issues I've frequently run into as a GM is the wish to control the plot. I think part of my issue that I like lots of elements being introduced, just to see how the characters react. With this? I don't have to. Just ask if it's a moment of Internal Conflict. The plot practically writes itself after that. Just throw new things to drive everyone nuts, sit back, and grab the popcorn.

And that's not including the more high fantasy moves that are included in the back of the book. I really appreciated having these put in. They work more to my tastes, and I'm glad that they were included to expand the scope of the game. That's something I really like. I know I'll be using them a lot.

So you grab these very specific moves, combine it with a good and strong reaction mechanic, and you have a recipe for awesomeness. I did a Mortal Kombat-inspired game and we didn't even fight until the end. We didn't need to, I just called for Inner Conflict rolls and just saw where it went from there. And when we did fight it was really intense and cool, because we had all this interpersonal drama going on.

I really look forward to getting the book in my hands. The PDF is gorgeous and put together well. It's hard not to get inspired by the art, which is compellingly ethereal. The text is well laid out and clear. My lack of ability to read the text is my own hang up; this is really well done stuff. If you can read PDFs and get something out of them I think you'd have an easy time for it. 

Despite my own prejudices this is easily one of my favorite games. The mechanics are extremely well oriented, with a good reaction mechanic to help redirect the narrative. There's actually some good variety, a bit of a wider scope allowed. The drama these mechanics elicit are so heartfelt.

And heartfelt is my jam.

Spider-Man 94: Season Two

As a child, I saw all the episodes of this show, which was well into re-runs when I began watching. So, while I know these episodes, I never saw them in the intended order. And the episodes from this season always intrigued me the most. This may actually be my favorite season of the bunch. I say may, because I've not seen the rest of the show, not yet, as of the time of writing this post. So no, there isn't much of a plan here. I watch, I write, and then watch some more. 

Season two of this show is a completely different picture from season one. Where season one is clearly an appeasement of the corporate powers that be, season two is where the writers were finally left to their own devices. Where season one was a loosely episodic show, the entirety of season two is labeled as one story: Neogenic Nightmares. It's an epic story, one arc thematically linked to another. It's daring and dark and.... well... brilliant. It's self-contained; if you wanted to just sit down and watch this one season you could do it really easily.

The season starts with the Insidious Six, this show's take on the Sinister Six. Peter loses his powers, just in time for Aunt May to be kidnapped by the Insidious Six. The writers not only manage to make a gripping story, but legitimately set up for the next arc with the surprise that Peter's powers are just the beginning of his transformation into... something. Something horrible.

The next episode is about Hydro Man. This is still the definitive take it on the character; he's tackled so well that I was disappointed when I found out that Morrie wasn't nearly so interesting in the source material; neither was Mary-Jane, by and large. There's so many little things about Mary-Jane from this season that I wished were adaptations. They weren't. They're original to this show.

Next up was the cross-over with the X-Men show! Peter goes to Prof X to get some help with his mutation disease. If you've not seen this thing I'm not sure how to comprehend how we're in the same reality. This was the first MCU, and it was done incredibly well. All the characters are written perfectly, with any inter-character conflict being logical and brief. No one is written worse off for forced plot convenience or fan service. And, while Peter's problem isn't solved, his desperation is contrasted against the mutants of the Marvel Universe really nicely. Peter's mutation wasn't the result of being born with that DNA; he's essentially one step away from being forced into being a monster. It's nice to see that desperation put agai

The Man-Spider arc is one of the best Spider-Man stories ever written, without exaggeration. I actually wish this was the finale of the whole show, I love it that much. If you're going to watch any particular arc from this show this is the one. All the characters are presented in sympathetic tones, especially the Punisher, who was my favorite version until Netflix. And Punisher's tech is almost hilariously over the top, like the rest of this show. I could go on, and on, and on, but this is something that needs to be seen for yourself. 60's weird science doesn't get much better than this. Spider-Man definitely doesn't get much better than this.

And right after that is another one of my favorites, the Morbius arc! Again, this completely defined my idea of what the character was like. It's just as good as when I saw it, with a lot of the subtleties being easier to pick out. The weird science finding tragic people trope of Spider-Man TAS is done so well, so tragically, so humanely, it's worth seeing this arc on its own, even with the silly hand suckers. The Morbius arc is probably better than the Man-Spider arc, but you won't hear me admitting it any time soon.

Tablet of Time, after all the awesomeness just mentioned is a bit of a letdown. It's a good arc, but it's definitely not as good as what just came before. Which, I mean, makes sense. Sometimes all you can do is go down. It's still immensely tragic and well-paced, but it's not quite the same. The more human element in the villains that's typical of the season isn't here as much and I think this arc suffers for it. That being said, the Connors and the Lizard are utilized really nicely, keeping the plot running at a good clip.

We close out the season with the most creative use of the Vulture I've ever seen. Adrian Toomes, afraid of dying, created a technology to steal youth... and spider powers. This was a really satisfying bookend, as Spidey started the season powerless and is then old... and thus powerless. It's a stellar close to the season, as multiple plot lines from season one collide here for a flashy finish. There's so many satisfying thematic clicking into place in these final episodes! I really want to rewatch the whole season with a notebook, just to see how many things actually do pay off here. It's pretty intense.

This is the season of Spider-Man 94 I think of when I get nostalgic. The characters are brilliant, the thematic build is intense and deep, and the risks the show takes with the source material still haven't been topped. If there's any season of Spider-Man cartoons I think anyone should watch and make a part of their canon, it's this season.

Yeah, I said it.

And I think Spectacular Spider-Man is a brilliant show.

But more on that in season three.

May The Power Protect You: Rocky DeSantos (MMPR Red) V2

When I first saw the new Rocky deck I thought him a tank. It's not hard to see why I thought this: Rocky's Bravery made me want to throw Rocky into all the damage taking situations I could. And that was a disastrous decision: one of my few recent losses was specifically because I kept trying to tank with Rocky. Rocky just doesn't work as a tank, at least for me. But I don't think he's meant to. I think Rocky is a masochistic leader. 

Risky Moves is the lens I've learned to see Rocky through. For one energy you can take up to three damage, giving bonus dice to another player equal to the damage Rocky took. This is one of the best leader cards in the game, hands down.  I've seen such spectacular results from it I'd be tempted to say it's one of the best leader cards in the game! For one energy you get to add three dice to another attack; that makes a normal 2D attack comparable to a frickin Power Weapon. For one energy. You pair up Rocky with someone who can get 3D for no energy (MMPR Zack, Adam, or Kat) and you're dishing enormous potential damage for almost nothing. And that's before you stick this card on a Power Weapon, at which point you're dealing simply ridiculous damage.

Yes, I consider activating zords more costly, because they're normally once a round. 

"But Nathan!" you protest. "Its not just an energy! Rocky takes damage too! That's not nothing!"

I agree. It's not nothing.

It's an opportunity. 

And it's all because of Bravery. Rocky's ability isn't once a battle, it's at your discretion. Which means that, as you take damage, you're going to be able to pick up other cards. It may make Rocky a bit more reliant on recoveries, and you may never see him start a battle. But the opportunity cost I've found to be consistently worth it. You can cherry pick your draws and get more resources to keep the momentum on your side. And this game is all about getting momentum and keeping it.

Square Up is Rocky's second most valuable card. You get an energy and stack your deck. It's meant to be played after Risky Moves, which means that you can effectively get Power Weapon damage for free, so long as you have an energy to begin with. You can then dish out your big and expensive hits and keep the momentum going. If you can get some damage reduction from someone else you can then tank a hit, draw Square Up, and then play it, putting it atop your deck. It's a neat little trick and feels good to pull off!

Power Sword is freaking amazing, especially if you can combo it into Risky Moves next turn! It takes a lot of energy, but your momentum will be huge and it may buy you some time. Or just end a battle entirely.

Sturdy Blow is meant to be fodder for Risky Moves, lowering the sting considerably. Otherwise it's a reliable damage dealer. Given how swingy I've found the dice reliable is always good; I find it better to buff a sure thing than speculate. If your dice luck is better than mine (it isn't hard!) you may not like this card. And that's fine. But I need all the help I can get!

Haymaker is a tricky card. For it to be truly worth its time it has to have another Haymaker or Power Sword at the top of your discard pile. It's not that this is impossible to pull off, but the circumstances you'd find that three shield card at the top of your discard pile are... be limited. But how often do you really want Rocky to be hitting directly anyways? The rest of his deck is centered around Risky Moves. I treat Haymaker as a backup for when other options aren't available. 4D for one energy is good, so when it comes up it's nice to have! But I don't focus on it all that much.

The Red Dragon Zord costs you one card to make it a terrific buff. But who would want to give up a card? Well, Haymaker exists, right? So does Sturdy Blow. Giving up a card you weren't interested in using much isn't really that much of a cost. And who knows? Maybe discarding a Haymaker will set you up for its twin to deliver a bone-crunching 4D. I'm always drawing the two copies together, much to my annoyance. Maybe you have better luck shuffling. But I don't, so I'll take advantage, thank you very much!

Rocky's got a lot of potential. If you play him correctly your damage output will be consistently high, allowing your group to keep momentum going and recover with the extra time if need be. He's not as directly offensive as Jason but I'd be lying if I said that Rocky doesn't now have a special place in my heart. If you're okay with sitting in the back and being pretty roughed up after every fight, despite never taking a hit, then Rocky is your guy.

Or, y'know, if you like dealing incredibly stupid amounts of damage for practically nothing.