The Other Side blog

Monday, August 24, 2015

RPG a Day 2015, Day 24

Day 24: Favorite House Rule

Hmm. Hard call.

It's not so much a house rule, but a roll of 20 in D&D is always double damage. No rolling for crits. No rolling the damage die twice. What you roll x 2.

Not really a big deal but I like to play the rules as written most times.

Sunday, August 23, 2015

Fantastic Heroes & Witchery Week!

This week I want to spend some quality time with Fantastic Heroes & Witchery and Dark Albion: The Rose War.

I have talked about Fantastic Heroes & Witchery a little in the past, but I have not put up a proper review. With Dark Albion now out I figure it is a good time to look at both in detail.

I am rather looking forward to it.

RPG a Day 2015, Day 23

Day 23: Perfect Game for Me

Kind of a no brainer really. The perfect game for me is the one I wrote.

Ghosts of Albion!

Again it is everything I have ever wanted in a horror game, everything I want in a fantasy game and one I can run with zero prep time.

It's a period I love, with rules I love and characters I adore. What else could be more perfect?

Saturday, August 22, 2015

Zatannurday: Tribute to Yvonne Craig

On Wednesday August 19 we learned that Yvonne Craig, TVs first Batgirl, had passed away at the age of 78.

You can read a word from her family here and her official obituary here.

Of course she had a varied and distinguished career. She was well loved y her family and friends. But it is her role as Batgirl that interests me today.

I have mentioned before how Yvonne Craig's Batgirl was one of my first crushes as a child.
What was not to love really? She was smart, she kicked ass, and she was able to do everything Batman could do. I thought she was cool as hell and she left a pretty deep impression in my young mind. I would be later when I made one of my first witch characters that I would realize that I was unconsciously rebuilding Batgirl in many of my PCs. That first witch had red hair, wore a lot of purple and had began life as a librarian for my wizard character. So yes she even started out with a secret identity.

Batgirl was great and Yvonne Craig was part of that reason. In the 60s she showed us that not only could a super heroine could do what a super hero could, but an actress could do do what an actor could do.

One thing I always knew about Yvonne Craig was she grew up in near-by (near by to me at the time) Taylorville, IL. It is always nice when a local kid does good.

There is a lot I could say about Yvonne Craig, but honestly the best tribute came from comic writer Gail Simone. http://www.playboy.com/articles/remembering-the-revelatory-yvonne-craig-by-batgirl-writer-gail-simone

Let's not forget she was also Marta, the Orion Slave Girl, who was working with Garth of Izar in "Whom the Gods Destroy"

RPG a Day 2015, Day 22

Day 22: Perfect Gaming Environment

I have spent years working on my game room.

I like nice comfortable chairs, plenty of light, access to my books when I need them.

And I like to have access to Frankencomputer.

Friday, August 21, 2015

Friday Night Videos: Carlos Santana

Whenever I put on music to either get my creativity flowing for writing or game or just just mind in the right spot, I usually have themes. Typically this is things like metal or Iron Maiden for D&D. Classic rock or newer hiphop for modern supernatural games. 70s hard rock for other games and so on.

But one performer/band comes through for me for nearly everything. That is Carlos Santana.

Santana, either as a solo act, part of the Santana Brothers or with his band Santana, always has such a sound. Yeah it is latin, but it also classic rock and 80s and new millennium ... well for a lack of better word, groove. Listening to Santana is like driving at night, the world is familiar, but also very, very different. Santana has had nearly 50 year career, I am going to focus on the songs that most people know...and the ones that have videoes of course.

Let's get into it!

"Evil Ways" was one of Santana's earliest hits. From his self titled album Santana, it's about what all good Santana songs are about, a woman. Here is his career making turn at Woodstock.

Abraxas, Santana's 2nd album, might be one of the best albums ever recorded. Certainly in my own top 25. If I want to write about magic and just get into the right mood then I put on Abraxas. This album gave us the hits "Black Magic Woman" and one of my favorites "Oye Como Va".

The bulk of his 70s catalog is very jazz-inspired and cool, but not what I need when I want a little darkness. The next album of Santana's I really enjoyed was the double album Moonflower. In truth this is where I first heard Black Magic Woman as a live song. But the stand out song for me was a cover of an old Zombies song "She's Not There". Again, Santana is at his best when playing or singing about a woman.

Shangó is another one of those career changing albums for Santana. I listened to this album so many times in Jr. High. In fact it was playing around the exact time I was first playing D&D. "Hold On" is another song about a woman, but also about a particular time and place. This song always reminds me that "Now" will never happen again.

Supernatural became Santana's next biggest album and one of the biggest of his career. It was also one of the albums I had playing on constant rotation while working on the d20 version of the my Witch book and then later Buffy and Angel. "Smooth" was just one of those songs that pulls you right in. Plus it features a then somewhat unknown actress Rosario Dawson.

"Put Your Lights On" written by and featuring Everlast was actually the first song I heard from the album. I was a big fan of House of Pain in college so this was a nice a little treat.

Kickstart Your Weekend: Kings or Pawns

A new Kickstarter was brought to my attention this week that looks rather cool.

I love audio-books. I spend a lot of time driving to work, to campus so I get to listen a ton of books. So this new one from JJ Sherwood looks really great.