This one I was at Gen Con a few years back. The adventure was a Buffy/Charmed/Supernatural crossover using the Buffy RPG rules. So naturally, I had to play. Sam and Dean were grabbed quickly, and there was no way in hell I was playing Xander. But that was all fine, the character I really wanted was Piper from Charmed.
I had an absolute blast. Piper was, at the time, the snarkiest of all the sisters. So playing her was great. Ended up with the most Drama Points at the end of the game. In the course of the game, I burned through about 5 drama points, but I also had earned 6 for role-playing. Of course, having seen every Charmed episode gave me an advantage. I wish I had remembered the GMs/Director's name because I would have easily gone to one of her other games.
I still have my Piper character sheet here somewhere, and it was really fun. The GM even had taken out the Buffy logo and put the Charmed one in its place.
Last Thursday was the Supernatural Series Finale. 15 years, the longest-running genre show on American television. A little show that started with two brothers, some 80s mixtapes, and a black 1967 Chevy Impala. Driving the back roads of the US hunting monsters and saving people.
It was every Chill or Call of Cthulhu game I ever played. It is exactly what I would do in NIGHT SHIFT.
It was also the one show that everyone in my family watched. We didn't start in 2005, the pilot freaked my wife out. But we came to it later and binged watched all the past seasons one Christmas break. We all sat together and watched the adventures of Sam, Dean, and eventually Cass, Crowley, and later Jack. It was wonderful really.
Updating Sam
Last week I posted stats for Sam Winchester. I chatted a bit with my co-author Jason Vey and he suggested that I instead make a Sam a "Supernatural" race. This would work well with his background as a "Special Child." In fact, it works much better, given his ill-defined and ever-changing powers. I would drop the level in Psychic and give it back in Veteran or more likely Sage.
This works a lot better and ties in a little better to some other thoughts I had while watching the finale.
That Finale
Ok, Finale Spoilers follow. You have been warned.
In the mean-time here is sister group Neoni covering Wayward Son that appeared in the finale.
The last episode pretty much played out as I expected it would. The Winchesters settling into their new routine. To me, it looks like something that would have gone on every day for months without change. Until they get notice of some kidnappings. They consult their dad's journal (nice call back to the beginning of the series) they find some vampires, make short work of them, but in the process, Dean was mortally wounded. Doesn't matter that they fought demons, monsters, the devil, and even God himself, they are still men and Dean gets impaled on a bit of rebar.
Dean dies and Sam has to move on. He does. Gets married (maybe it's to Eileen, I certainly hope so), has a son (Dean Jr.), he grows old and dies. He reunites with Dean in Heaven.
#TheySilencedThem
Let's also talk about the finale and the things unsaid.
The Destiel fans are upset that not only did they not get the closure they wanted, but it also seems some scenes were later edited after filming. I get their complaints. I really, really do. I was in the same place about 20 years ago with Tara. Everything they are complaining about is 100% legitimate.
I do wonder if Covid-19 had not kept Misha Collins out of the filming if things would have been different. Evidence sadly suggests otherwise.
Again, I am left where I was in 2002, I am just going to have to continue the story I want in my NIGHT SHIFT games.
Did Rowena get slighted in the end? No. I don't think so. Yes, there was confirmation that she was bi and then she ended up in Hell. But she wasn't killed for that and let's be honest, Rowena isn't *in* Hell, Rowena is *ruling* Hell. Being in Heaven would have been a punishment to her. She even says if she knew it was going to be this good she would have done it years ago.
No, Rowena in Hell as its Queen gives her character new horizons.
Charlie is easily one of my favorite characters, behind Donna and Jodie, while it is never mentioned (and it could have been) we assume that Jack brought back her and Stevie along with everyone else. While I'd love to see more stories with her I think her best story would be to retire.
My favorite series that never was. Like Charlie, Jack brought the Wayward Sisters back. This we know because Sam gets a call from someone who got his number from Donna. We can assume then that this means Kaia and Claire are also alive. Whether they stay together or not is something to be played out. I know I am not with the same girl I was with at 18 or 19.
Knowing that they are all back though is great for my games, but sadly does nothing for the fandom wanting more.
I will say one of the first things I wanted to do was rewatch the series again from the start. With 327 episodes that would take a little bit; 6.3 years if I watch 1 a week. If I do I should do something with it.
Here we are. I know last week seemed like the "season finale" but tonight is the big "Series Finale".
Let's do this!
I have talked a bit about Supernatural here. Certainly not as much as my fandom might indicate. Supernatural is the one show that everyone in my family all watches together. My wife and kids all sit down to watch it. Doesn't matter what else we watch or what we do, this is the one show we always watch.
Supernatual then was also the test bd for NIGHT SHIFT.
I have been pretty open about what my personal design goals for NIGHT SHIFT have been. I wanted to be able to play ANY modern supernatural urban-fantasy I know. I want a game where I can create any sort of witch I want and have access to magic, demons, and the like. NIGHT SHIFT does all of this.
So when I was playtesting this with my kids there were two characters that were absolutely perfect. Sam and Dean Winchester.
Dean Winchester 15th level Veteran, Human
Strength: 16 (+2) s Dexterity: 18 (+3) P Constitution: 18 (+3) s Intelligence: 14 (+1) Wisdom: 14 (+1) Charisma: 18 (+3)
Sam has had an interesting arc. He starts out as a veteran at a very young age. Because he also has/had some demon blood in him he was telekinetic for a while, but that only manifests when he drinks demon blood. He is also a Sage and has played that role well in the 15 seasons of the show.
It was also stated a few times that he was Rowena's "student" so a couple levels of Witch might have been appropriate, but I think Sage covers it well. I could also see Sammy with a couple of levels of Survivor, but again, the Sage abilities cover that.
Both brothers have high Charisma. They need to be able to talk their way in and out of situations a lot. Plus they have been on the air for 15 years.
Likewise, Dean could have also had a level or two of Sage, due to his Men of Letters status, but really Veteran covers it all.
Regardless where tonight's LAST episode takes us (and it was looking a little dicey two weeks ago!) I know that if I want to continue the story I have these write-ups and NIGHT SHIFT.
It's Supernatural Thursday of Witch Week and that can only mean one thing; let's do some NIGHT SHIFT stats for Rowena MacLeod.
Spoilers up to Season 15 follow.
What is there not to love about Rowen? She is a badass redhead witch who gave the Winchesters a run for their money for seven seasons. She was the big bad for Season 10. She was born in the 17th Century Scotland, she is a pagan and is the mother of the former King of Hell, Crowley. Now she is the Queen of Hell. She only "died" because she needed to turn herself into a giant ghost bomb.
There were a lot of magic-using characters in Supernatural as well as a lot of them that were witches, but Rowena was the most powerful.
Rowena MacLeod 15th level Witch, Human
Strength: 12 (0) Dexterity: 13 (+1) Constitution: 15 (+1) Intelligence: 18 (+3) P Wisdom: 17 (+3) s Charisma: 20 (+4) s
HP: 52 (11d4+8) AC: 8 Fate Points: 1d10
Check Bonus (P/S/T): +7/+5/+3 Melee bonus: +3 Ranged bonus: +3 Saves: +6 to spells and magical effects
Skills: Sleight of Hand (Dex), Body Control (Con), History (Int), Research (Int), Theology/Myth (Int), Convince/Deceive (Cha)
Languages: English, Latin, Greek, Gaelic,
Spells
1: Bane, Command, Disrupt Undead, Inflict Light Wounds, Sleep 2: Cause Fear, ESP, Hold Person, Locate Object, Suggestion 3: Cause Blindness/Deafness, Curse, Fly, Remove Curse 4: Arcane Eye, Cure Serious Wounds, Inflict Serious Wounds, Produce Fire 5: Dismissal, Finger of Death, Harm, Raise Dead* 6: Disintegrate, Enchant Item, Projected Image 7: Death Aura, Draw forth the Soul 8: Wail of the Banshee
I will admit. I adore Rowena. She was a fantastic enemy AND ally of the Winchesters, and I would have loved to see a little of Rowena's and Charlie's road trip. That would have been a lot of fun.
If I am serious about running a Wayward Sisters game, Rowena will have to show up. Dead? That never stopped her before! And we know that Rowena/Ruth supports the Wayward cause!
Ruthie Connell is an absolute delight. I can't wait to see what she does next.
I am a firm believer that a rising tide lifts all ships, and that other Game Designers are not my competition, but my colleagues. I buy their games, they buy mine. We all benefit and we all enjoy.
Naturally, I also feel that a good gaming experience can be had by looking to see what others are doing and seeing what I can bring into my games when I am running them.
When we were working on NIGHT SHIFT we had a fairly strict "no looking at other games" policy. We really wanted our game to have it's own unique feel and direction. But that was last year, and now NIGHT SHIFT is out and I am pulling out all my other games to see what each one has that can help NIGHT SHIFT and what Night Shift has that can help them.
Old School Roots
Jason and I have worked on a lot of games. Both together and separately for dozens of publishers. But the one thing we both enjoy are old-school games. This doesn't mean we don't like new ones, quite the opposite in fact. But it is the old-school design aesthetic that keeps us coming back and saying "what else can we do with this?" NIGHT SHIFT covers both halves of our RPG hearts.
The mechanics in NIGHT SHIFT (what we call O.G.R.E.S. or Oldschool Generic Roleplaying Engine System) are firmly rooted in the Old School mechanics of the world's first popular RPG system. What does this mean? Well if you have been playing RPGs for any length of time since 1974 then chances are good you can pick up the rules for NIGHT SHIFT very, very quickly.
Also, it means that out of the box, NIGHT SHIFT is roughly compatible with thousands of RPG titles.
Appendix A of the NIGHT SHIFT book covers conversions between NS and the Oldest RPG, it also covers conversions between the O.G.R.E.S. of NIGHT SHIFT and the O.R.C.S of other Elf Lair Games products; namely Spellcraft & Swordplay and Eldritch Witchery.
It also covers 0e, B/X and BECMI style conversions. Converting then between NIGHT SHIFT and anything based on Swords & Wizardry or Labyrinth Lord for example is easy.
There are guidelines on how to convert classes, but since the classes have the same DNA as the ones in many of these clone games I am going to take the extra step and say, just play them as is.
So yeah, run a Sage in Labyrinth Lord. Put a Chosen One in Swords & Wizardry. In fact, I'd love to hear how this works for you. This also gives you a good way to add a new supernatural species to your game. What to play an Angel cleric? With NIGHT SHIFTS rules on supernaturals, you can. IT also makes a nice way to create something my Basic Games have needed, a Vampire Witch. In NIGHT SHIFT this is easy.
Need more monsters? Grab any monster manual and you can be set to go. Monstrosities and Tome of Horrors Complete are only two examples but they give hundreds of monsters. More than you will ever need.
NIGHT SHIFT is not the only Modern Supernatural RPG out there based on old school roots. So many in fact that my next one and others would have to constitute another full post to them justice. But I will mention a couple.
DP&D is such a delight. It really is. I am very fond of this game and I still enjoy playing it. On the surface it looks like DP&D and NIGHT SHIFT could be used to tell the same sorts of stories, and that is true to a degree, but that really underplays what makes both games special.
NIGHT SHIFT covers adults (for the most part, I'll talk Generation HEX specifically) in a very dangerous supernatural modern world.
Dark Places & Demogorgons covers kids in a very dangerous supernatural world of the 1980s.
Both games are built on the same chassis and have similar cores. One day I want to run a game where the Adults (NS) flashback to when they were Kids (DP&D). Sort of like Stephen King's "It."
Or one could start out as a kid in DP&D progress a bit and then become an adult to continue on in Night Shift.
There is not a good One to One class correspondence between the games and nor would I want there to be. A Jock (DP&D) might end up as a Veteran (NS) or even as a Chosen One (NS). In truth, I would give any DP&D kid character some "free" levels in Survivor but allow them to keep some of the perks of their original DP&D class. So Goths still see ghosts, Karate Kids still kick ass, and so on.
Frankly, I think it would be a blast with the right group. Maybe I should write a two-part adventure that covers both. A little like "It" but something very different. Something "Strange" happened in the 1980s and now a group of characters have gotten back together in their old home town to stop it once again.
I singled out Generation HEX since that one already covers kids. I can see a game though were kids from AMPA (Academy of Magic and Paranormal Arts) have to work with the "normies" of DP&D to solve some great mystery. Likely one that is affecting adults only.
I have also used monsters from the DP&D Cryptid Manual for NIGHT SHIFT many times.
Modern Supernatural
It is no great secret that I LOVE games like WitchCraft and Chill. I have talked many times about my love of both games. Chill was my first Horror RPG and WitchCraft might be my favorite game of all time. Jason and I met while working as freelancers for Eden Studios, the company that made WitchCraft. We worked together on Buffy, Angel, and Army of Darkness. I helped him with his All Flesh Must Be Eaten books and he helped me on Ghosts of Albion. A lot of what is in NIGHT SHIFT came out of our conversations of things we wanted to do in those games.
I guess then it is not a shock or surprise that I see NIGHT SHIFT and the spiritual successor, at least on my shelves and table, to games like Buffy and WitchCraft.
Buffy and WitchCraft defined horror monster hunting for the 90s and into the 2000s. NIGHT SHIFT takes this to 2020 and beyond. With NIGHT SHIFT I want to be able to play anything those other games offered me. Sure the playstyle will be different. WitchCraft is more about the machinations of the Supernatural World. The Gifted (WC) for example are all covered by the Witch Class in NIGHT SHIFT. In WitchCraft though there is a HUGE difference between the Wicce and the Rosicrucians. In NIGHT SHIFT those differences would have to be played out by the players in role-playing. NIGHT SHIFT also is more Normies and Weirdos vs. Dangerous Supernatural types. More like Buffy or Ghosts of Albion in that sense.
All Souls Night
There is an adventure that I have been dying to finish, "All Souls Night." It is part of a trilogy across time and distance that includes Ghosts of Albion's "Blight", Buffy's "The Dark Druid" and what I have been thinking of as D&D's All Souls Night. Translating them all into NIGHT SHIFT makes this so much easier to run.
Supernatural and Chill
Not the new version of "Netflix and Chill" but adapting the best monster hunter games.
Chill has such a long history I could not do it justice here. I love the game but one place it has always felt a little lacking for me is the ability to play a spell-caster. The Supernatural RPG is the same way. In truth, Supernatural RPG is the cinematic version of Chill. I mean sure. If I wanted to play a spellcaster, or a witch, I still have Buffy, WitchCraft, Ghosts of Albion, and about 100 other games to do that. Both Chill and Supernatural are solid "let's go hunt some monsters" games. So is NIGHT SHIFT.
Adapting the style of either game is easy. Having these games also gives your NIGHT SHIFT game a slightly edgier feel.
Some games, like say Call of Cthulhu, fit their niche so perfectly that I would not want to run a "Mythos" game with NIGHT SHIFT, but I certainly could borrow ideas from CoC for my NIGHT SHIFT games.
In many ways doing a Plays Well With Others and NIGHT SHIFT is a cheat. One of my own design principles for the game was to make it as flexible as I could so it could cover a wide variety of game and play styles. I am happy in my belief that we succeeded in that.
Charlie, real name Celeste Middleton, was a techie and hacker turned Hunter and "Woman of Letters." She met up with Sam and Dean during the Leviathan outbreaks (Season 7, "The Girl with the Dungeons & Dragons Tattoo") where she quickly proves her worth to the hunter's cause. She is smart, quirky, so steeped in Geek culture, and really quite a delight. We also learn that she is one of the very few in the world that can't be copied by the Leviathans (her and Bruce Springsteen). She becomes a hunter, but really shines when becomes an honorary Woman of Letters. Well...I guess a real one since there were no more Men of Letters in the US save for Sam and Dean.
She picks up a little magic here and there. Picks up a couple of women, including a faerie princess and notorious witch hunter Dorothy Baum/Gale.
Sadly Charlie, like pretty much everyone in the Winchesters' life, was killed. She was murdered by the Styne's, the modern descendants of Dr. Frankenstien. While her death didn't raise the ire that say Tara's or Lexa's did, it did raise concerns because she was such a beloved character.
Charlie Bradbury
7th level Sage, Human
Strength: 12 (0) Dexterity: 13 (+1) s Constitution: 14 (+1) Intelligence: 18 (+3) P Wisdom: 17 (+2) s Charisma: 18 (+3)
HP: 33 (7d6) AC: 9 Fate Points: 1d8
Check Bonus (P/S/T): +4/+2/+1 Melee bonus: +0 (+1) Ranged bonus: +0 (+1) Saves: +3 to spells and magical effect
Special Abilities: Open locks 35%, Bypass traps 30%, Sleight of Hand 40%, Move Silently 40%, Hide in Shadows 30%, Climb 75%, Danger Sense 50%, Perceptive 80%, Mesmerize 70%, Lore 88% (special bouns +15% for computers, +5 for magic)
Skills: Forgery (Dex), Computers (Int) x2, Knowledge (Int), Research (Int)
Languages: English, Elvish, Dothraki, Greek, Latin
Notes: Charlie became the adopted younger sister of the Winchesters. While I was never happy with her death, the show treated her well both before and after and there was a strong sense of loss and mourning on the show. Besides. Dean, at great risk to his own soul, kills every single member of the Styne family in retaliation.
When the Nephilim Jack began to open portals one opened to a world where the Winchesters were never born. This world had been overrun with demons so bad that the Angels came to Earth to eradicate them. And then they kept on going and started killing humans. A resistance front grew and one of their commanders was Charlie Bradbury.
Charlie, along with alternate version Bobby and others came to the Winchester's world to escape. Charlie became a hunter in this world too. She was the same person, but only more hardened and serious.
Charlie Bradbury
3rd level Survivor/4th level Veteran, Human
Strength: 12 (0) Dexterity: 13 (+1) s Constitution: 14 (+1) Intelligence: 18 (+3) P Wisdom: 17 (+2) s Charisma: 18 (+3)
HP: 33 (3d4, 4d8) AC: 9 Fate Points: 1d8
Check Bonus (P/S/T): +4/+2/+! Melee bonus: +0 (+1) Ranged bonus: +3 (+4) Saves: +3 to death attacks & area saves
Special Abilities: Open locks 35%, Bypass traps 30%, Sleight of Hand 40%, Move Silently 40%, Hide in Shadows 30%, Climb 75%, Danger Sense 50%, Perceptive 50%, Read Languages 80%, Tracking 70%, Supernatural Attacks.
Notes: This Charlie at first wanted to have nothing to do with the other Charlie's life and that included a friendship with Sam and Dean. Time in this world has mellowed her out a little. She even expressed curiosity about finding her and Charlie's former girl-friend. Charlie broke up with her in this world, but she was killed in Apocalpyse World.
Charlie spends some time with the witch Rowena as well. Regular world Charlie was a bit afraid of her, but Apocalpyse World Charlie is not so easily shaken.
Bobby: Rowena and Charlie are road tripping it through the Southwest. Mary: That's trouble. Bobby: Ginger trouble -- the worst kind. - 13.23 Let the Good Times Roll
Ginger Trouble
So I really have to hand it to Felicia Day. Over the course of her tenure on Supernatural, she played three different (well four I guess) versions of Charlie and each one felt different. Regular Charlie, Good and Evil Charlies (split by the Wizard of Oz) and Apocalpyse World Charlie.
In truth, I was not a fan of Felicia Day until I saw her on Supernatural. Then I was like, "oh! so that is what all the fuss is about. I get it now."
Charlie would make a fantastic guest star on Wayward Sisters. The cast pulling her in when they need some magical help, since Rowena is unavailable. I can see Charlie eventually calming down and going more the sage route like her alternate did. Hell. I think it would be cool if Apoc Charlie came across a stash of journals and notes from her alternate from this world, maybe even taking a page from Star Trek III (because Charlie would have) and figured out a way to store part of her own katra onto the Internet before Styne killed her.
Lots of ways I could go with this character to be honest.
Tonight is the premiere of the FINAL season of Supernatural. I can't believe it.
With the Supernatural RPG out of print, NIGHT SHIFT is the best choice for playing a Supernatural-style game, where the PCs are largely normal people fighting against something far beyond their own power levels.
So this seems like a perfect time to bring back my favorite show that never was, Wayward Sisters!
Note: If Jody is the mom, then Donna is the fun aunt.
Annie Jones
3rd Level Survivor/1st level Sage, Human
Strength: 12 (0)
Dexterity: 12 (0)
Constitution: 15 (+1)
Intelligence: 15 (+1) s
Wisdom: 16 (+2) s
Charisma: 15 (+1) P
HP: 19 (3d4+1d6)
AC: 9
Fate Points: 1d6
Check Bonus (P/S/T): +3/+2/0
Melee bonus: +0 (+1) Ranged bonus: +0 (+1)
Saves: +3 to death saves
Special Abilities: Open locks 35%, Bypass traps 30%, Sleight of Hand 40%, Move Silently 40%, Hide in Shadows 30%, Climb 75%, Danger Sense 50%, Perceptive 50%, Sneak Attack x2, Read Languages 80%, Lore 25% (special bouns +5% for vampire lore)
Skills: Medicine (Int), Science (Int), Notice (Wis), Deceive (Cha)
Languages: English, Spanish
Notes: Use to be "bait" for a vampire family and was a vampire once. Now she is a nurse. Of all the Wayward Sisters Annie/Anne/Alex wants to have a "normal" life the most.
Claire Novak
1st Level Theosophist/3rd Level Survivor, Human
Strength: 12 (0) s
Dexterity: 13 (+1) P
Constitution: 15 (+1) s
Intelligence: 15 (1)
Wisdom: 14 (+1)
Charisma: 14 (+1)
HP: 22 (1d6+3d4)
AC: 8
Fate Points: 1d6
Check Bonus (P/S/T): +3/+2/0 Melee bonus: +0 (+1) Ranged bonus: +0 (+1)
Saves: +3 to all wisdom saves
Special Abilities: See Dead People, Turn Undead, Protection from Undead, Open locks 35%, Bypass traps 30%, Sleight of Hand 40%, Move Silently 40%, Hide in Shadows 30%, Climb 75%, Danger Sense 50%, Perceptive 50%, Sneak Attack x2, Read Languages 80%, Lore 25% (special bouns +5% for angelic lore)
Notes: She Began as a theosophist due to her religious background and her ability to be a perfect angelic vessel for Castiel. Was a werewolf once. She is in love with Kaia. She is the one Wayward Sister that is most like the Winchesters.
Patience Turner
3rd Level Psychic, Human
Strength: 12 (0)
Dexterity: 14 (+1)
Constitution: 14 (+1)
Intelligence: 18 (+3) P
Wisdom: 16 (+2) s
Charisma: 17 (+2) s
Notes: Kaia is a Dream Walker which can be covered by the Psychic class. Her stint in the "Bad Place" gave her a level of Survivor. Kaia is also a former drug user to keep herself from dreaming. She is in love with Claire. #dreamhunter.
Episodes/Adventures would have to be named after rocks songs by women-fronted bands; like Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Halestorm (naturally), The Pretty Reckless, Doro, Garbage, and Lacuna Coil. Taking a page from Supernatural music would have to play an important role. Come to think of it, you could just use my Daughters of Darkness playlist. At 39 songs, that's 3 "seasons" of 13 "episodes" each. I love it when a plan comes together.
Came home last night to a nice treat. My hardcover version of Dark Places and Demogorgons came in. This one I ordered from Bloat Game's own website. After all the fun I had, I wanted to have this hardcover version too.
I even got it signed!
It got me thinking what would be a great one-shot Crossover for my Sunny Valley, OH game. Then it dawned on me! The only thing that makes sense is Supernatural!
In the in-show continuities, they were all born between 1978 and 1984 so why not extend that to my Sunny Valley game.
Supernatural even has baked in reasons for Dean and Sam to show up. John Winchester has heard the rumors of Sunny Valley and has come to town to help clean it up. He decides to enroll the boys in the local High School for a bit and this is where they meet the cast.
If Tumblr is to be any source on this the meeting goes a little like this: Buffy and Dean meet, Dean hits on her, she rebuffs...(ouch), monsters come, Dean tries to save her, she instead kicks the monsters asses and saves Dean. Dean falls more in love with her than before.
Sam and Dawn, as the youngest are stuck together. They each discover the other's secrets; That Sam has some demon powers in him and Dawn is a powerful psychic.
Dean Winchester
Class: Monster Hunter (demons) Level: 5
Alignment: Good
Languages: English
Age: 16
Background
Mother is dead, Father is always on the road.
Annoying older brother.
Class Abilities
+1 to Psionic attacks
Move 11 lbs of items, Push, Psionic Attack.
+1 to hit, track, dmg to demons
+1 Toughness
Skills
Outdoorsmanship +2, Paranormal +2, Knowledge (Demons) +1, Knowledge (History) Possessions
Members Only Jacket
Money: $5
The arrival of Sam and Dean also mean the arrival of demons to the show.
We end their time on the "show" with Alex showing the Winchester boys how to play AD&D.
This could be a lot of fun to play at a Con sometime. Now I just need to work Charmed in there somehow.
Well. A while back I expressed my wants for the upcoming Wayward Sisters Supernatural spin-off. Well, sadly we learned over the weekend that the show was not picked up (Charmed was! but more on that later).
Personally, I think this is a huge mistake and many entertainment news outlets are reporting the same. There is even a petition that gaining steam and buzz asking the network to reconsider. I would consider it a favor if you all could stop by and sign it. https://www.change.org/p/the-cw-save-wayward-sisters
But I am not asking this and expecting not to pay. So here are the Wayward sisters themselves, ready to go for your Supernatural Cortex game, whether they get a show or not.
Concept: Once religious daughter of Jimmy Novak who gave up his life to be Castiel's vessel. Former thief and now out for blood hunter. Veteran Hunter.
Supernatural is back with its midseason premiere, that is really a back-door pilot to the new Wayward Sisters spin-off.
Currently, the episode is one of the highest rated episodes of Supernatural in a long time and getting nearly universal critical praise. This bodes quite well for the series. Especially a series that will likely inherit the extremely loyal fan base that Supernatural has.
So here are my five wishes for the series. 1. Focus on the Family aspect. The characters have all been survivors of various monster attacks and have all stood up in their own ways to those attacks. Each one though lost something in those attacks. Jodie, Clare, and Alex all lost their entire families. Donna lost her innocence and naïveté. Patience lost a very promising future. So each one now looks to this group to help replace what they lost. In Supernatural Sam and Dean have each other, but that is really it. Everyone they have known over the years has died. Well. More or less. This group can be stronger because they all have each other.
2. Don't Forget the differences. Jodie and Donna are both Sheriffs. Clare and Alex both lost their families. It might be what they all have in common that brought them here, it will be their differences that keep the show going. We have seen Jodie be silly and funny. We have seen Donna be serious. So they can play against their "type". Patience as the newest character has the most room for growth.
3. Give us Something New. This show cannot be a distaff Supernatural. It needs its own identity and it's own voice. Jodie isn't going to pack everyone up in her SUV and drive across country. The stories have to be local and therefore more immediate and even intimate. Also. In the course of 13 years, the Winchesters have fought every type of monster there is. Every mythological beast, every horror movie standard, every urban legend. Wayward Sisters needs to give us new things. Sure I 100% expect to see ghosts, vampires, werewolves still AND I would miss them if they weren't there. But this is a chance (and there is even an in-universe justification) to give us more. 4. Don't Forget the Music. One of the things that was a huge feature of Supernatural was it's "soundtrack". Classic rock dominated the earliest days of the show. This ran sort of counter to other shows on the WB and then CW at the time which featured new music. Now the show has backed off of the music (disappointment), but that is the result of the producers knowing who their fans really are vs. who they thought they were. Also, and let's be honest, it is cheaper.
One of the things about the WB then was that shows featured all sorts of new music. Wayward Sisters needs to get back to that. The CW is dominated now by Superhero shows and those don't often lend themselves to new music (Black Lightning I hope will be an exception). Wayward Sisters can do this. The mid-season trailer/opening (above) is like a music video for the Halestorm song "I am the Fire". Embracing newer artists like Halestorm, and hopefully, more female artists will be a key factor in giving this show it's own identity and place in the CW lineup.
5. Remember What Made Supernatural Good. Supernatural today is not the same show it was 12 seasons ago or even 6 seasons ago. Somethings worked. Somethings didn't. But there are reasons it is still on the air. Wayward Sisters needs to tap into that as much as they can. Well minus the Sam and Dean part, which is a huge draw. The female audience (who make up a lot of Supernatural's fan base) admittedly like the show for the eye candy (read some of the fan postings on boards sometimes). Eye candy, while that can work here, is not going to have the staying power. So instead the producers need to be conscious of something this time that they only did on accident with Supernatural; attract and keep that female audience. They are going to have to tap into what made Wonder Woman such a success. Strong female characters who are not victims (anymore) and can do the job they need to do. Or to quote the Halestorm song I am the Fire, "I am the one I've been waiting for."
Hopefully we will she this picked up (I am sure it will be) and hope it is good.
