Weekend of July 5th, 2014

Weekend of July 5th, 2014

I do not like Vampires and Vampire stuff.  Never have.  Its probably the primary reason I never played any World of Darkness table top.  Like all things, there are exceptions though.  I think Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is one of the greatest games of all time.  I think the movie "Interview with a Vampire" was really good.  My other exception happens to be one of the early anime that I found that I actually liked: Vampire Hunter D.  Its a lesser violent anime for its era, though its still brutal and has a couple of grow out head pop moments.  Getting Anime brought here in the 80's, you had to have that kind of stuff for some reason.  Anyway, we watched it Friday and it is still pretty damn good, even today.  A little cheesey, some bad voice acting here and there, but in general it is still quality stuff.  My girlfriend liked it a lot too, more than Ninja Scroll I'd wager.  Yoshitaka Amano did the character artwork for that movie before he did the artwork for Final Fantasy 1-6.  His artwork with this series had huge influence on the 80's and 90's Goth scene, inspiring work and collaborations with Neil Gamon, Tim Burton, and James O'Barr.  My girlfriend was also saying that it had obviously influenced Robin McKinley for his book "Sunshine".  Good anime was hard to come by in the 80's over here, and so a great one arriving in the mid-80's changed popular culture.

Some more reveals on the full version of Dungeons and Dragons 5th, and I'm happy to say that the customizable fighter got past the test packets and into the game.  In interviews, the Dev team talks about how with 4th people complained all the classes worked the same, just had different descriptions, something I've seen to be true.  So with this one, the entire set up of classes works more like the Sorcerer and Wizard dynamic did.  Both the Sorcerer and Wizard are magic users in 3.X D&D, but the Sorcerer gets less spells, but can cast them without preperation, where was a Wizard has to keep books, work up intelligence, and prepare spells before casting them.  Now, with the example of Fighter and Barbarian, they approach their stuff just as differently.  Barbarians can use totems to grant them abilities, different spirits grant different attributes.  Fighters work up "expertise" dice, that they can add to their various rolls.  Like you can work up 3 "expertise" dice, and choose to use them to deal damage, or use them to add to a saving throw.  Cool stuff.  In 4th everyone and everything worked the same, the only difference between a fighter and a mage was the type of damage done.

I know... more D&D stuff, sorry, but its the weekend, 3 days of stuff, and it comes throughout the weekend.  Mike Mearles is the newest "almost killed Dungeons and Dragons" person.  There have been many.  He said in an interview that the whole development team was blindsided by the amount of feedback from the community that wanted less tactical and intricate combat, more role playing, and less rules.  BLINDSIDED.  He said that in the past 15 years the team has been working with the assumption that all players wanted more and more and more rules, combat, and less "fluff" and then 4th Edition is much clearer to me now.  Mearles and crew have been living in this insane little bubble, their own home groups of players, and thought everyone thinks like they do.  The Chris Perkins Penny Arcade games, the game store Encounters sets, the erasure of role playing tips from 4th Ed books, ALL these makes sense now, and it all rests firmly on Mike's head.  He thinks everyone plays like he does.  We'll see if the changes to 5th stay, or if they were just the best ideas of the guys that left WOTC last year after all the real work was done.  Dungeons and Dragons in the hands of people that don't understand the fanbase is nothing new.  In over 30 years, its been in the hands of good players maybe 6 of them..  If he runs it more into the ground, I really hope Hasbro will just sell it to Paizo so we can have a grand reunification.

There are only a few franchises that I enjoy as much as the Mad Max franchise.  When I played Fallout 3, i disappeared for a month... not playing Fallout 3, I was playing a Mad Max simulator, the closest I've had come to experiencing that world.  It was one of the greatest gaming experiences I have ever had.  When it comes to non-fantasy RPG playing, my favorite worlds are Mad Max style worlds, and one of the reasons I love Savage Worlds so much is because it does post-apocalyptic car chase combat so damn well.  I am extremely excited for the new Mad Max: Fury Road, and I've already watched the trailer several times each day.  I think the last movie that I was this excited about without reservation was The Dark Knight.  There have been other good movies since, and movies I've been excited to see, but none gave me the feeling like Mad Max now does.  Its a feeling I haven't had since I worked at a movie theater.

BBQ spaghetti is wonderful.  I have like spaghetti in the past, but its not generally something I go out of my way for.  In fact, spaghetti is on my list of things I never want to pay for in a restaurant.  Home spaghetti is better, cheaper, and more plentiful.  Anyway, BBQ spaghetti is great, and you should try some if you like the flavors.  I take the easy way out and get a batch of "Lloyd's BBQ" at the store and use that.  Just make your spaghetti noodles, and add your BBQ, mix up and enjoy.  The BBQ sticks to the spaghetti much better and actually makes it less of a mess to eat.