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RPG Review 8, Fox Magic and Other Gaming Events
Being a old-school tabletop RPG gamer is not very cool. It's rather like admitting you're an ELO fan. It is not, of course, wrong as such, but it is going to have you marked as rather seriously nerdy and perhaps lacking in refined taste. It is possible of course to redeem oneself depending on other expressions of taste, in which case such aesthetics is treated with a nod and smile.
So this said I think that Time is one of the best LPs ever released; a rather appropriate way to announce the release of RPG Review Issue 8 (after two very late nights finishing it off), which has a strong (but not exclusive) science fiction orientation. I am rather happy with the range of games this issue covers, but as the editorial states, I pretty mcuh had to exclude the entire transhumanist orientation; traditional science fiction is now a literary genre, transhumanism has become the mythology and I just didn't have space to include both.
I have also been delighted to receive my copy of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tashiro's game, Fox Magic. I reviewed this some months ago and noted some style and substance issues. Almost immediately after the review, the author pulled the product and the new version has been revised with much better layout and extra text, including my own chapter on using Nihon as a setting. My densely written material covers geography, history, politics, religion & etc and is about as exciting as reading Talcott Parsons. Nevertheless I am quite proud to have so much included in the book.
In the past several days I've several good actual gaming experiences; on Monday night I introduced some people to HeroQuest using the Flying Kites scenario. The players grasped the rules quickly and enjoyed the unified, simple and yet adaptable mechanics. On Sunday I ran a session of RuneQuest, the beginnings of the Haunted Ruins setting. Finally on Thursday I GMed a session of Mouse Guard using The Enemy Within story from Warhammer.
So this said I think that Time is one of the best LPs ever released; a rather appropriate way to announce the release of RPG Review Issue 8 (after two very late nights finishing it off), which has a strong (but not exclusive) science fiction orientation. I am rather happy with the range of games this issue covers, but as the editorial states, I pretty mcuh had to exclude the entire transhumanist orientation; traditional science fiction is now a literary genre, transhumanism has become the mythology and I just didn't have space to include both.
I have also been delighted to receive my copy of
tashiro's game, Fox Magic. I reviewed this some months ago and noted some style and substance issues. Almost immediately after the review, the author pulled the product and the new version has been revised with much better layout and extra text, including my own chapter on using Nihon as a setting. My densely written material covers geography, history, politics, religion & etc and is about as exciting as reading Talcott Parsons. Nevertheless I am quite proud to have so much included in the book. In the past several days I've several good actual gaming experiences; on Monday night I introduced some people to HeroQuest using the Flying Kites scenario. The players grasped the rules quickly and enjoyed the unified, simple and yet adaptable mechanics. On Sunday I ran a session of RuneQuest, the beginnings of the Haunted Ruins setting. Finally on Thursday I GMed a session of Mouse Guard using The Enemy Within story from Warhammer.
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D&D at least has some cred in the US from gamer celebs like Stephen Colbert and Wil Wheaton.
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Do you think that that Colbert and Wheaton was behind the remark about the 'pro-Obama Dungeons & Dragons crowd'.
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Supposedly Vin Diesel is a gamer, and there's a lot of gamery set decoration in big budget films (Harry Potter's roomies have polyhedra dice, the kids who get caught in the Haunted Mansion apparently play Magic the Gathering). Robin Williams is supposed be into Warhammer minis, and Squad Leader is kept in print by some MLB player I can't remember.