Month: December 2004

Well, here’s the last of my year-end “best of” listings, devoted to games, because Hey– who’s gonna know better than a guy who works in the biz, right?

Aye, there’s the rub. Y’see, I pulled further and further away from the printed end of the gaming world this year (which is not to say that I still didn’t have work released in print–I did, in several products), and that meant less swag traded with my fellow ink-slaves. Less swag pretty much means less exposure to the new & nifties for the year. That said, here are some RPG-industry offerings that I felt were pretty damn cool (and some of which I even *gasp!* paid money for):

Pirates of the Spanish Main: Dude, come on…it’s PIRATES, fer fuck’s sake. Like it wouldn’t be on my list. A nifty game that combines the joys of naval combat in the Age of Piracy with the joys of snapping together tiny little models of ships….and also manages to create an entirely new category of collectable game. Brilliant.

Wyrd is Bond: Alright, this might be cheating, since it’s one of the products that came out this year with my name in it, but I do think it’s really good. Hip-hop street culture meets Hermetic magick….wicked concept, and well executed (a tricky bit of work, considering that RPGs are one of the most crackerific “white boy” hobbies out there, and producing something credible in this genre without venturing into parody was deftly handled, IMO).

Sidewinder: Recoiled: Another one that might not technically be elligible, since it’s an update of an older product (Sidewinder), re-envisioning the system from standard d20 to the d20 Modern rules set. Plus, it’s not one that I actually own—I own the original, and I’ve read a friends copy of Recoiled, but it was still solid enough (and I’m enough of a Western goob) to rank it as one of the best products I’ve seen this year. Right now, the only reason I don’t already own a copy is because I doubt that I could find any interested players (Western being a somewhat rare interest among gamers).

There’s a bunch more stuff that I’m sure will end up on this list, once I actually get around to reading a copy (or, god forbid, owning one)…such as The Black Company campaign setting, Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra, Mutants & Masterminds: NOIR and The Red Star campaign setting (all from Green Ronin, coincidentally enough….or not).

I could also go on about various PDF releases, but I’d end up plugging more of my stuff there (*ahem*cough* Adamant’s product page at RPGNow *cough*ahem*), or raving about various products from some of my competition–the last thing I want is for folks reading this to make them MORE money. :)

So, there ya have it.

New Year’s Resolutions tomorrow.

Best of 2004, Part 4: Games

Well, here’s the last of my year-end “best of” listings, devoted to games, because Hey– who’s gonna know better than a guy who works in the biz, right?

Aye, there’s the rub. Y’see, I pulled further and further away from the printed end of the gaming world this year (which is not to say that I still didn’t have work released in print–I did, in several products), and that meant less swag traded with my fellow ink-slaves. Less swag pretty much means less exposure to the new & nifties for the year. That said, here are some RPG-industry offerings that I felt were pretty damn cool (and some of which I even *gasp!* paid money for):

Pirates of the Spanish Main: Dude, come on…it’s PIRATES, fer fuck’s sake. Like it wouldn’t be on my list. A nifty game that combines the joys of naval combat in the Age of Piracy with the joys of snapping together tiny little models of ships….and also manages to create an entirely new category of collectable game. Brilliant.

Wyrd is Bond: Alright, this might be cheating, since it’s one of the products that came out this year with my name in it, but I do think it’s really good. Hip-hop street culture meets Hermetic magick….wicked concept, and well executed (a tricky bit of work, considering that RPGs are one of the most crackerific “white boy” hobbies out there, and producing something credible in this genre without venturing into parody was deftly handled, IMO).

Sidewinder: Recoiled: Another one that might not technically be elligible, since it’s an update of an older product (Sidewinder), re-envisioning the system from standard d20 to the d20 Modern rules set. Plus, it’s not one that I actually own—I own the original, and I’ve read a friends copy of Recoiled, but it was still solid enough (and I’m enough of a Western goob) to rank it as one of the best products I’ve seen this year. Right now, the only reason I don’t already own a copy is because I doubt that I could find any interested players (Western being a somewhat rare interest among gamers).

There’s a bunch more stuff that I’m sure will end up on this list, once I actually get around to reading a copy (or, god forbid, owning one)…such as The Black Company campaign setting, Egyptian Adventures: Hamunaptra, Mutants & Masterminds: NOIR and The Red Star campaign setting (all from Green Ronin, coincidentally enough….or not).

I could also go on about various PDF releases, but I’d end up plugging more of my stuff there (*ahem*cough* Adamant’s product page at RPGNow *cough*ahem*), or raving about various products from some of my competition–the last thing I want is for folks reading this to make them MORE money. :)

So, there ya have it.

New Year’s Resolutions tomorrow.

2004 wasn’t the geek-genre paradise that 2005 appears to be shaping up as, but there were still a few stand-outs for me:

LOST: I actually missed the premiere episode of this series, and only tuned in when The Dastardly Best Friend gushed about it. From the second episode, I was hooked. I remember saying that I was sure that the show would be cancelled after a handful of airings. That always seems to be the way with network TV shows that I like (I fare better with cable)…but ABC suprised me by keeping the show on the schedule, and the American viewing audience surprised me by making the show POPULAR. We’ll see if it lasts–I have all-too-clear memories of the craze-and-later-abandonment surrounding Twin Peaks to be entirely comfortable.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow: I started gushing about this in my blog when I first heard it was being filmed, and the final product didn’t disappoint. Sure, it performed about as well as I expected in the theatres–the modern audience doesn’t quite know how to react to 30s-period pulp stuff that doesn’t feature Harrison Ford–but I loved it.

Van Helsing: Another bit of popcorn fluff, but one that I really enjoyed nonetheless. I’m an absolute nut for the Universal horror films of the 30s and 40s, and the Hammer horror films of the 60s and 70s, so I had zero problem with the goofiness. Made me feel like I was a teenager, staying up to watch Crematia Mortem again.

Ghost In the Shell 2: Innocence: I had the good fortune to see this in the theatre, and I’m glad that I did. The story was fairly standard Japanese existential cyberpunk…but the visuals! Easily one of the best animated films I’ve ever seen.

Hellboy: I’ve been a Hellboy fanatic ever since one of my Skull & Bones co-authors (T.S. Luikart) hipped me to the big red lug, expressing his disbelief that I wasn’t already a fan, since it was a melange of nearly all of my major interests. Now, I’ve got all of the trade paperback collections, the novels, and both short-story collections…and now, thanks to this film, I’ll forever hear Ron Pearlman’s gravel-rumble voice in my head when Hellboy speaks.