HAY GUYS HAVE YOU SEEN THIS THING (Forum Shout Out Thread Thing)

[Adam_Autist]

io9.gizmodo.com/category-5-is-the-heist-movie-set-during-a-violent-stor-1754084595

Guys! Get the Weather Pattern!!

[clockworkjoe]

Nice! I like it.

[Twisting H]

After watching The Expanse episode 8, I'm going to have to give another shout out to Eclipse Phase fans to take a look at this series.  It takes a few episodes to get into but the payoff looks good.

I'll shut up about it now.

I will say though, if The Expanse can be successful, I don't see a reason (other than body-switching being expensive to visualize) that Know Evil couldn't be optioned for similar series.

A fan can dream I suppose. 

[Adam_Autist]

The Altered Carbon series is coming to Netflix so i guess we'll see how that goes.

[Alethea]

I don't see a reason (other than body-switching being expensive to visualize) that Know Evil couldn't be optioned for similar series.

The body-switching would actually save money (if I understand television economics at all) - new actor(s), cheaper/entry level salary.

The crazy morphs on the other hand... 

[Twisting H]

So the RPPR Broadcasting Network (TM) is potentially expanding 

From the Patreon

New Milestones and Rewards Added!
Published 7 hours ago
The RPPR Patreon has been up for a year at this point and it has leveled up! I've added two new milestones to celebrate (and more are coming!)

At $1500, a new monthly online game will be opened up (for a total of 3 games a month) for $10 and above backers to play.  As always, these games will be recorded to the RPPR Youtube channel and eventually converted to free AP episodes for download for the entire public to enjoy.

At $1600, we will create a new monthly After Hours spinoff podcast called WoD The Heck. Shaun and I (with a different guest co-host every episode) will discuss the Old World of Darkness, reviewing a different book each episode. Later this month, I will post a free preview episode where we discuss the Black Hand of the Sabbat so you can get a feel for the show.

Once we reach these milestones, I'll reveal more milestones to reach.

We also have new rewards coming down the pipeline, including limited edition prints and more postcards. 

Thanks again for all your support! We couldn't have done this podcast without it

Ross have you mentioned the RPPR Youtube channel before?  I oscillate between weekly and intermittent listening, time permitting, and I don't recall you guys advertising your games on the RPPR Youtube.

Could be my memory.

Also if you are Reviewing old World of Darkness (rebranded to "Classic World of Darkness") check out the following links where Shannon Appelcline outlines the genesis of the company and a history of the publishing line.

http://www.rpg.net/columns/briefhistory/briefhistory11.phtml

http://www.rpg.net/columns/briefhistory/briefhistory12.phtml

As I recall "Dirty Secrets of the Black Hand" was the book that was written by an author who knew in advance he was going to be fired so he deliberately wrote a bunch of broken cross-over bullshit to break canon like mage-ghoul-werewolf kinfolk playable characters.

[Adam_Autist]

Yay more RPPR content!

geekandsundry.com/pandemic-reign-of-cthulhu-spreads-madness-this-summer/

[Twisting H]

Wow. Why didn't I think of modeling mythos spread as a disease. So obvious but so logical in hindsight.


Also Ross if you are reading the thread, I'm mildly curious what the RPPR crew thinks of the Rams move.

[Adam_Autist]

sispurrier.tumblr.com/post/138690418747/the-weavers-organised-crime-meets-supernatural

“Imagine ‘The Wire’ as co-directed by David Cronenberg and Guillermo del Toro based on a script written from beyond the grave by H.P. Lovecraft.” Well, that’s “Weavers.”

All the words that grab RPPR's collective attention.

[CADmonkey]

<a href="" target="_blank" class="aeva_link bbc_link new_win"></a>

Holocaust drama Son of Saul a story of remarkable resilience

In Laszlo Nemes’s remarkable Holocaust drama, Son of Saul, there’s a minor character who risks his life secretly taking photographs of the corpses. There’s a passing suggestion from another prisoner that the photographer thinks his images might somehow be passed to an army that would then know to liberate the camp, but the photographs are more likely intended for history. Son of Saul is a film that knows nothing can be rescued from Auschwitz except memory.

Watching it is a harrowing experience, and the first 20 minutes or so are particularly difficult. The film is shot from the narrow perspective – and the narrowness is the only thing that makes it bearable – of Saul Auslander, a Hungarian Jew who works in the Sonderkommando that herds new prisoners into the “showers,” collects the victims’ clothing, moves the bodies to the crematorium and scrubs out the gas chamber before the next transport arrives. We see the reality of this gruesome job slightly out of focus, as though in Saul’s peripheral vision, as the camera always stays tight on Saul’s face. Often the sounds around him, and our own foreknowledge of the place, are what make the half-glimpsed scenes particularly wrenching.

In this slaughterhouse, a young boy somehow miraculously emerges from the gas chamber still breathing, only to be quickly suffocated by a German officer. Saul, apparently recognizing the boy as his son, becomes obsessed with removing the corpse and securing a proper Jewish burial. He hunts desperately for a rabbi to help him prepare the body and say the Kaddish – the Jewish mourning prayer – while his comrades are secretly preparing to break out of the camp before their brigade is exterminated in its turn.

The film is based on actual accounts of the Sonderkommando’s gruesome role, its members forced to collaborate with the killing machine or be killed, and marked for extermination themselves every three months as “bearers of secrets” who could not be allowed to survive. The photographer was an actual person, identified only as Alex from Greece, who took four images that were smuggled out to the Polish underground.

Saul, on the other hand, may be inspired by stories of Sonderkommando workers who came across family members’ bodies in the gas chambers, but he is a wholly fictional, almost archetypal character. His unwavering purpose is superbly captured by Geza Rohrig, who remains almost constantly on screen, his subtle features telling the story in a film that features precious little dialogue, only barked orders and a few spoken words, allowing the audience to infer all the character’s motives and plans simply from his pinched face and frantic actions.

Much of what has been written about Son of Saul since it appeared in May at Cannes, where it was awarded the Grand Prix, stresses that it is a story of remarkable resilience in the face of Auschwitz’s horror. Certainly, Saul is impressively determined in his quest to rescue the body and bury it but, as his closest comrade points out, he is endangering the living for the sake of the dead.

Many a Holocaust movie offers its audience false comfort with stories of miraculous escapes and daring rescues: The criticism made when Steven Spielberg released Schindler’s List in 1993 was that the Holocaust is not the story of thousands saved but rather of millions murdered. In contrast, Son of Saul offers no such redemption.

The boy is already dead and it seems unlikely that Saul’s plotting comrades will successfully rescue themselves. His gesture is important because it insists that in the face of inevitable extermination, this one, specific individual will be accorded dignity after death, and that is only valuable as a gesture if we witness it. Son of Saul is a uniquely honest Holocaust movie because it recognizes what role the film itself must play as the bearer of secrets that will survive when all the rest is ashes.

[Twisting H]

This would make a great game world and I wish more people watched it.

! No longer available

[Twisting H]

ROSS SHAUN FAUST

RE: WOD THE HECK

NEWS FROM PARADOX


http://imagonem.org/2016/02/15/white-wolfs-lead-storyteller-there-will-be-a-release-in-2016/

Dateline: 15. FEBRUAR 2016

White Wolf’s lead Storyteller: – There will be a release in 2016

Martin Elricsson, Lead Storyteller and Brand Architect at the newly Swedish White Wolf (recently acquired by Paradox Interactive) kindly took the time for a brief Q&A with Imagonem about upcoming plans. 

Which game lines do you plan to revive, and when?

We prefer the term ”rise from torpor”. An elder awakening from a century of slumber is starving and hungry for fresh blood. So are we. Initial plans include products based on all of the ”classic” World of Darkness lines. It may be a while before we get to Mummy: The Resurrection tho Our launch plan will always be a secret until it’s not. I love the speculation and mystery surrounding future releases we saw in the 90’s, so we will definitely play with that aspect. Hints and clues to what will come next will appear in future products and WW communiques. There are actually a few of them out there already.

Will you prioritize computer games, or will we see  pen-and-paper soon?

Short answer is that the economic centre of the company will be computer games. Unless something weird happens and people start buying roleplaying books, WoD novels and comics like they were Harry Potter. As things are now tabletop publishing hardly breaks even. Spiritually the core will always be tabletop rpg and larp. The Bibles we’re working on for computer games are written as if they were texts for a new tabletop edition, and will most likely be released in that format.  Combined launches of digital and tabletop also games seem to make a lot of sense. In the last few years, focused and easy-to-use products like Mutant: Year Zero and Lamentations of the Flame Princess are selling unexpectedly well. Their brevity and low threshold makes them perfect for introducing new players to the hobby, while the monumental classic-WW-style books generally sell poorly and are more read than played. If future editions of WoD are actively used rather than collected we have done our job.

What form will the computer game take? MMO? Are you able to bring over content from CCP’s “World of Darkness”?

All releases will be announced when we feel confident they will release on time, reach our very high bar of quality and have enough material to be discussed by the community in a meaningful way. We own all assets connected to WoD, including the CCP content that they kindly gave us as a bonus when we made the purchase of the IP. I for one intend to make sure those 8 years of work by a hundred exceptionally talented creators doesn’t entirely go to waste.

You have mentioned larp plans. Will this be a new international “Camarilla”? How will the campaigns work, and what kind of system will you use?

We hope to be a resource to local Mind’s Eye Theatre troupes, not a dictatorial central committee. Plans for some tools for communities and global character tracking are underway but way to early to talk specifics. What we can say is that MET will not be the only larp in town. Official White Wolf larps will not use Minds Eye Theatre rules but be organized more like Monitor Celestra or College of Wizardry.

Could you explain a little about the deal you’ve made with Onyx Path? What will be the main difference between “The Chronicles of Darkness” and “The World of Darkness”?

There is only one WoD. Chronicles of Darkness is a sandbox tabletop setting featuring the same broad creature types as the World of Darkness, but it is not the same world. It will not be spun off into computer games, novels, TV or anything else. It’s our specific brand for great metaplot-less, flexible, table-driven tabletop rpg. With the 2nd editions CoD has really found a separate identity from WoD and will continue to become even more of it’s own thing. We still own it but it’s Onyx Path’s baby. I love CoD and find that is a much more playable game with a more vague and unsettling aesthetic than WoD ever had. Too bad it never sold for shit and that old players hated it. It lacked the epic scope and the punk passion of the classic WoD. Had it done even remotely as well as the classic WoD things would be very different.

Onyx Path also have a license to produce nostalgia books for the classic WoD settings. These are official but set in the same nebulous ”eternal nineties”, using the old-school buckets-of-dice-system featured in the original lines. Future editions will move the setting, mythos, metaplot and mechanics almost 15 years forward into present day. It’s the same world, but a lot has changed. It’s useful to see the Classic and Anniversary books as highly subjective. The ultimate truth can’t be found in the books, but we can glimpse it through the multiplicity of perspectives presented. For instance Humanity is a mechanic presented from the Camarilla point of view, while Paths of Enlightenment give us the Sabbat perspective on the subject of morality. None of them are True. Both are models and simplifications.

Could you explain the vision for the new setting and metaplot, and the “eastward shift” (focusing on Europe, Russia and the Middle East)?

”What if the monsters are real, hidden among us?”, is the elevator pitch for the new metaplot. Gothic-Punk is dead and buried as an aesthetic. All the Apocalypses of the classic WoD has happened. In 2001 the Gehenna-war for the graves of the Antediluvians began. In 2006 the rise of the Wyrm and the inevitability of ecological Apocalypse became publicly known. The Technocracy has won, we surrendered when we allowed machines to shape our values and minds, trapping us in the paranoid realms of our personal filter-bubbles. At the same time we are applying engineering to quantum mechanics, making magical theories manifest as Science, so all hope is not lost. In line with this we integrate dramatic real world events to feature prominently in the story. We face difficult social subjects like the rise of fascism, religious fanaticism and the death of ideology in mainstream politics, head on. This naturally leads us to focus on areas where dramatic change is happening. Also there are more books on the US of Darkness than the rest of the world combined.

When can fans expect to see the first products for these new lines from Paradox and partners?

There will be a release in 2016.

What clans do you and CEO Tobias Sjögren belong to?

I’m a Toreador, he’s a Ventrue.

Any Mage plans?

Yes.   

Will the Werewolves remain crypto fascist eco-terrorist?

More than they have ever been. Global Warming has released the Wyrm-tide. The end of the Impergium (ancient Werewolves hunting humans to keep their numbers manageable) seems like a terrible mistake in retrospect.

What sucks most (pun intended) about being a Vampire?

The obsession with self-deception and appearing moral or darkly glorious to their peers. Never being able to be truly proud of who you are. Even The Sabbat need to think of themselves as ”good” in their fight against the Cam oppressors and the rising Ancients. The need to play the (anti-) hero is tragic. At the end of the night they’re addicts to sex, blood and power, masking the pursuit of their next fix as part of some grand scheme or other.

Where did White Wolf “get it wrong” last time around? What are your least favorite parts of the IP?

Anything that smells of Fantasy. The attempt to create a deep mythology by linking the setting to Exalted was the worst choice ever. (BOOO BOOOOO) That was the last step in WoD’d death-march from being an artistic horror-IP to full on immature, escapist Urban Fantasy. The inability to deal with and integrate real-world events in the setting. If you can write about the Holocaust, you can write about 9/11. Fear is the death of creativity. The game was always best in the hands of storytellers who dared to place the story close to reality, often in their own cities, featuring real places and people.

And vice versa: what were your favorite games and concepts?

Too many to list. The books are shock full of profound insights, human stories and heretical interpretations of real-world mythology and subculture. My most collected and (through my and Adriana Skarpeds political game series Prosopopeia) played game is  Wraith. A small selection of my favorite books include 1st ed Vampire, Fatal Addiction, Gilded Cage, Damnation City (for V:TR, but very useful for V:TM) and Love Beyond Death.

Must be included:

Toph Bei Fong from Something Awful

As the quest for peak irony strives further and further, a multi-million dollar company that made all its money on producing addictive and absorbing games that take hours to play and generally have no set victory conditions, and has purchased the IP from the producer of even more addictive MMOs, decries modern technology and advancements. "No, seriously, we're like the good guy hacker Tradition," the founder was quotes as he pushed his VR goggles up onto his forehead and hastily shoved a pile of money into a desk drawer, slamming it authoritatively.

[Twisting H]

Great deal on Pathfinder Core rules and then some at Humble Bundle

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/paizo-pathfinder-bundle

$1:
Core Rulebook
GameMastery Guide
"Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Digital Beginner Box"
Player Character Folio
Advanced Class Guide
GM Screen (how are you... supposed to use a PDF of a GM screen again?)
Adventure Path: In Hell's Bright Shadow (Hell's Rebels 1 of 6)

$beat the average:
Inner Sea World Guide
Strategy Guide
Bestiary
Ultimate Equipment
Pathfinder Society Scenario 7-01: Between the Lines
Adventure Path: Turn of the Torrent (Hell's Rebels 2 of 6)
Advanced Player's Guide

$15
Ultimate Magic
Ultimate Campaign
Ultimate Combat
Bestiary 2
Adventure Path: Dance of the Damned (Hell's Rebels 3 of 6)
Inner Sea Poster Map Folio
Pathfinder Society: Year of the Sky Key Scenario Mega Pack (23 Adventures)

$25
Physical Beginner's Box

[Gorkamorka]

Great deal on Pathfinder Core rules and then some at Humble Bundle

https://www.humblebundle.com/books/paizo-pathfinder-bundle

$1:
Core Rulebook
GameMastery Guide
"Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Digital Beginner Box"
Player Character Folio
Advanced Class Guide
GM Screen (how are you... supposed to use a PDF of a GM screen again?)
Adventure Path: In Hell's Bright Shadow (Hell's Rebels 1 of 6)

$beat the average:
Inner Sea World Guide
Strategy Guide
Bestiary
Ultimate Equipment
Pathfinder Society Scenario 7-01: Between the Lines
Adventure Path: Turn of the Torrent (Hell's Rebels 2 of 6)
Advanced Player's Guide

$15
Ultimate Magic
Ultimate Campaign
Ultimate Combat
Bestiary 2
Adventure Path: Dance of the Damned (Hell's Rebels 3 of 6)
Inner Sea Poster Map Folio
Pathfinder Society: Year of the Sky Key Scenario Mega Pack (23 Adventures)

$25
Physical Beginner's Box

They had to do something before 5th ed DnD made them irrelevant.  I' guessing that the long tail affect (selling old titles) took a terminal stop when 5th came out. Anyone who wanted to get into DnD then would of course go for DnD and not Pathfinder.

[Adam_Autist]

The Cyberpunk Apocalypse engine  game The Sprawl is finally out! I'm glad to have a game that lets me make my own world.