Stems and Creepers, RPG Review #5, Atheist Discussions

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Last Friday night caseopaya and I ventured to the Corner Hotel to see the last ever show of The Stems, a 60s revivalist garage band who had some significant success in the 1980s and reformed in 2007 (following that?). They were aptly supported by the Huxton Creepers, along with The Dolly Rocker Movement and Even. It was an excellent show for aging alternative rocker types like ourselves, competently and energetically performed, although the couple standing behind us probably could have done with a hotel room.

The latest issue of RPG Review has been released which starts with a fascinating legal debate over our use of 'Young Gods' as the title of an article in the last issue (I'm sure some readers will love to get their teeth into this one), industry news from Mingshi, an interview and artworks by Dan 'Smif' Smith, a review of the New Worlds of Darkness series plus a scenario for the same, a retrospective review of Swordbearer and Heroes of Olympus plus a scenario for both game systems based on the Odyssey, a GURPS Transhumanists plus Time Travellers campaign, languages in GURPS, travel and transport in Paranoia, reliance on NPCs, Metagaming, Anachronisms and Diegesis, a review of Fallout 3, a review of the movie District 9, and, of course, advice and help from Lord Orcus himself!

I'm speaking tomorrow at the Melbourne Atheist Society on "Atheist Support for Religious Freedom?" which promises to discuss the hard issues, not the easy ones. In my absence the Unitarian Philosophy Forum discussed "Death and Existence" which I provided an outline for the discussion. Tickets now available for the 2010 Rise of Atheism convention in Melbourne which features Richard Dawkins, Phillip Adams, Peter Singer and P Z Myers.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

The Young Gods thing.... er..... I believe *headdesk* is the way it is said today. Poorly written legal letter too.

You didn't know Barry Windsor-Smith? That makes me a little sad. Just a little. But seeing his newer work (and not his Daredevil stuff) makes me sad.

(I'm suing DC for using Titans.....)
BTW, I always assumed The Young Gods were created by Kirby.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Er... that was me.

No problem :)

Yeah, I wasn't aware of it. With the exception of a brief flurry in some indie comics in the late eighties (Crisis, Fringe, Brat Pack) and a few of the alternative classics (Dark Knight, Elektra Assassin, Watchmen) and accumulating nearly everything in the DC Vertigo line (Sandman of course, Swamp Thing, Hellblazer etc) for a few years, I've never been much of a big reader of comics.

Windsor-Smith seems to have some talent in illustrating, but yeah... What you said about the rest. I imagine you've already seen it, but it does remind me a little of the criticism that Ralph Lauren doesn't want you to see.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

As much as love the high arts and even fashion to that effect, there is more than enough people in that industry that need to spend a year or two outside of their own arsehole...

[belegdel.livejournal.com]

need to spend a year or two outside of their own arsehole

That is a spectacular turn of phrase :)

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

The mental image is quite... disturbing and accurate, verdade?

[roadriverrail.livejournal.com]

Thought I'd mention that I sent a friend of mine your way. He's on Isocracy under the name "Zenc".

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Ah, very good! Thank you! Over 100 members in the Facebook group by the middle of last week.. An excellent response, I must say.

[roadriverrail.livejournal.com]

I really like the idea of it, and I believe I now have Isocracy on my RSS reader. In terms of writing for it, which you've asked about in the past, I just often feel too mentally exhausted to argue about politics online.

Zenc, on the other hand...you could probably get a few articles out of him. He's a massive warehouse of news and information, particularly where concerns of advancing police state and corporate power are concerned.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the head's up. I'll give him a prod right now.. :)

[angel80.livejournal.com]

OMG "world-class atheist speakers"!!!

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

It is a bit an all-star line-up, isn't it?

[ghoststrider.livejournal.com]

Ah, GURPS. After Wizards decided to rob people's pocketbooks again by changing the game edition, I went looking into alternate systems. GURPS seems to be pretty decent, although I haven't really looked at the mechanics. I just like that it seems very thorough when it comes to settings and loves to take everything and mix it together--which tells me that it will be perfect for the lunacy that often crops up in RPG games.

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

The truly superb thing about GURPS is its commitment to a simulationist and, in particular, realist agenda. The 'reality-checking' is mostly excellent and the integration of personality characteristics is pretty sweet. The only downside is that the magic system is boring.

Oh, and the historical sourcebooks are just superb. I've ended up with about 70 of the damn things :)

[ghoststrider.livejournal.com]

Boring magic! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[tcpip.livejournal.com]

When it comes to magic I think RuneQuest and Swordbearer do they best job. Interestingly, they are probably the closest to historical usage...