Hadestown, Wall-Building, and the Gotham by Gaslight Effect

In my continuing efforts to become a liberal coastal elite, fully out of touch with my working-class roots [that's mostly sarcasm, in case it needs to be said], I've become a pretty big fan of Broadway musicals.  I've long enjoyed musicals [and (1) have even been playing around with writing one for like 20 years, and (2) think that an RPG that plays out like a musical might be the most amazing game I can imagine].  So, now that Laura and I live close enough to hop over for a day in NYC, we take whatever opportunities we can (and can afford) to see the best that musical theater has to offer.  (West End theatergoers, I'll entertain your arguments.)

Our current Broadway favorite obsession is Hadestown.  This musical has an interesting origin, as it started out in smaller theaters in New England, then was turned into a concept album by its creator, Anaïs Mitchell, in 2010.

Starting in 2016, the musical made its way to an off-Broadway theater, then to Edmonton, to London, and finally to the big stage of Broadway (although it uses a fairly small stage, to be honest), winning the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2019.  It's inspiring, as a would-be creator of a variety of media, to see that an idea was able to progress this way.  And in all seriousness, it is a freaking work of genius.

Hadestown tells the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, set in what seems like a Depression-era New Orleans juke joint (as Hermes tells us, "Don't ask where, brother, don't ask when"), plus this setting's associated underworld, called Hadestown.  I could gush about pretty much every aspect of this production, but I'll try to keep it brief by saying that it is a complete work of art, with meanings that I'll probably be working through in my head until the day I take my own trip across the Styx.  It is also beautiful.  The underworld's dieselpunk aura is especially striking:

This is actually a shot from a Korean production, rather than Broadway, but the dark deco feel is still there.  Image from HERE.

The end result of this mashup of mythology and Americana is a near-perfect story that always leaves me wanting more, to the point that I start to imagine what other works of classical mythology would fit nicely into this cultural milieu.  I eventually recognize that overplaying the details and themes that make Hadestown so transcendent will probably just lead to a bunch of stuff that doesn't feel nearly as special anymore.  That little drive is always there, though -- whether it's due to my comic-filled childhood or my love of gaming, I inevitably want to expand the "Hadestown Universe" just to get more of it.  (That's a tendency I've chosen to call the Gotham by Gaslight effect.)

We took in the production for the second time last Wednesday...and while there are a number of excellent songs in the show, there was one that was just taken to another level that day.  Having watched the American presidential debate the night before, and listened to the anti-immigrant nonsense espoused therein*, I was struck by the remarkable fact that Mitchell wrote the song "Why We Build the Wall" way back in 2006.  Many viewers assume the show is just a statement on modern American politics...but it's really just a show about the nature of humanity and of being human, and this song just happens to hit a lot harder because of the world we live in now.

If you have a couple of minutes, I really, really recommend giving this tune a listen.  Here's a lyric video featuring the original Broadway cast (leading right into the last few lines of the first act).  Laura and I were a bit late to the game, so while we actually missed the runs of the original main cast members, we have not been left wanting.  Hades is currently portrayed by Phillip Boykin, whose performances have been jaw-dropping, to say the least.  (The last time we saw it, in the split second between the end of the number and the rise of applause, you could hear a guy a couple rows behind us just say, "My god...")

Now, to make sure I'm keeping this blog suitably ridiculous, I think I'll close this out by taking a look at Hades as a character in a Ghostbusters-type game.  So here goes...

Hades

Image from HERE

If we're using the "Ghostology" section of the old Ghostbusters RPG's Operations Manual, Hades would fall into the category of Really Bad News, which includes "demons, powerful gods, and the like."  This essentially puts him into a category where he doesn't need stats, because the PCs aren't going to be able to do much to affect him anyway...that is, unless they can find that one unique way to defeat him.  For the Hades of Hadestown, there are some key weaknesses that can be seized upon: (1) his greed and love of power, and (2) his genuine love for his wife Persephone.  Anything the players can do to impact Hades will have to feed off of the insecurity that comes from these two qualities of the character.

However...he should be a little more fun to play than that.  So, here are a few tidbits stolen/adapted from an OGL 5e take on Hades:

Spell-like Abilities (all at will): hellish rebuke (3rd level), mold earth, thaumaturgy, fear, phantasmal killer, wall of stone, gate

Soul Syphon: Hades inhales souls in a 60 ft. cone. Each creature in the affected area takes 13D damage unless they pass a Strength check with a difficulty of 21, which cuts the damage in half (rounded up).

Bass-Baritone: Hades' voice is really, really low.  Just do your best.

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* Yep, I know immigration is a complex issue (as they all are), and there is a discussion to be had on the proper approach to reform that accounts for both American safety and human dignity.  BUT...that bullshit last Tuesday?  That was nonsense.

Just about a day to go for Michael T. Desing's Stalwart '85 Kickstarter!

Mini-ethical dilemma today: I honestly feel a bit strange posting anything too...eh, hopeful and...I dunno, frivolous...on 9/11.  But y'know, if I wait till tomorrow, the clock will be almost at zero on this.  And I do want to share it...and you can't really deny the American connection here.  Today is a day to celebrate heroes!

So...just reminding you to make sure to get in now if you want to be a part of Dr. Michael T. Desing's Stalwart '85 Kickstarter!  Mike (may I call you Mike?) has covered a lot of the creation process over at his excellent blog and publishing HQ, The Splintered Realm.  Stalwart '85 looks to be a love letter to 1980s superhero comics, but in a way that imagines a third major publisher (largely using public domain characters) rather than generating a pastiche of '80s stories (which, obviously, I'm also fond of).

The Core Rules are already on DriveThru as a PWYW, so you can check out the basics before buying into it.  The mechanics definitely look solid, although I'm really in it more for the worldbuilding.  The art is familiar but unique.  And Mike, frankly, seems like a good dude.

It's already funded and into stretch goals.  Check it out HERE if you'd like to join me in getting in on the superheroic action!

5 tips for running the Ghostbusters RPG (AKA another lazy post!)

Inspired by Adam Dickstein's killer Chapter 2 writeup of his awesome Ghostbusters + Tokyo Ghost Research idea in action over at his Barking Alien blog (seriously, check it out), I really wanted to get another Ghostbusters RPG post out into the world. BUT...I have to focus on real life a little too much today. Aha...BUT(!!!)...I did finally write up a little list of things I've learned along the way as I've run the classic West End Games RPG myself. I said I might get around to it, and then I finally did so in...another Reddit thread.

So here we go. Written to a first-time Ghostmaster, and with pretty minimal editing here (like I said, another lazy post!). Maybe someone will find it helpful...? [This is where I shrug, but I'm not sure if I should put an emoji or just write *shrug* or what...]

5 Tips for Running the Ghostbusters RPG

1.  The more you set things in locations you're familiar with or can easily imagine, the easier it will be to improvise over the course of the adventure.  (I guess this really applies to any RPG...)

2.  Have a list of potential complications to turn to if nothing comes to you after the roll of a ghost on the Ghost Die. I have had a session before with so many ghosts rolled that by the end I was just like, "Okay, you miss hitting the demon and...uh...you fall down. Yes, you step on a well-placed banana peel!" (This may or may not be a precise example, but it ultimately helped me realize that you can put ridiculous stuff on a complication/fumble list, and it somehow seems to hold more weight among players if you randomly generate it from a list rather than just making it up in the moment. [NOTE: That's probably just my own assumptions showing through.] Although...I'm sure there's an effective GMing style that involves ridiculous ad hoc complication creation as well!)

3.  If you have the time, you can try prepping (to whatever extent you plan to do so) like three adventures, then have multiple calls come into Ghostbusters HQ in rapid succession. It gives a sense of agency to the players from the start. You'll just want to make sure they don't try to split up to cover all three at the same time, which would be pretty cumbersome. (Ghostbusters as a game lends itself to possibly humorous notes to players along the lines of: "Each of these calls seems really dangerous. You can just tell that you're going to need to take the full crew to whichever one you choose, for the sake of either Ghostbuster safety or Ghostmaster sanity...I'll let you know which in a little while.")

Obviously there's a good chance the players won't get through all of the adventures in one session, but then you're already prepped for a future game AND you have some security in case someone comes up with something that makes you think, "Yeah...that IS really smart and could potentially solve this case in about five minutes' time..."

4.  I've had good luck with the adventures written for the game Paranormal Investigators & Exterminators (P.I.E.), a Mini Six variant from Genius Loci games that works as a GB retro-clone. (Specifically, I've used versions of the adventures "Humble Pie" from the original P.I.E. release, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" from the Good-bye American P.I.E. supplement, and "Chocolate P.I.E." from its own individual module, all in the "three calls" setup above.)

(You can click HERE to head to the company's DriveThru page...)

5.  I'm sure this will vary by group, but I've always found it fun to zero in on a fairly specific time in the past to set things. Sharing some of the details of the world in general that you'll find with just a google search or two can help give the game a retro feel, which I think is often part of the appeal of playing as Ghostbusters. This can conflict with #1 a little bit -- you can set things in a location you're very familiar with, but you may not have much of an idea of what that place was like in, say, 1986 (not that it necessarily matters unless you have a player who will recognize and care about any inaccuracies) -- BUT a little touch like a certain song or sporting event playing on the radio is an easy way to add a little atmosphere.

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With the Monstrous Matters campaign in progress, I'm really interested in seeing everyone's approaches to the art of running a Ghostbusters-style paranormal RPG, so please hit me up with your own tricks and insights if you get the chance, here or elsewhere!

Mini Six vs. OpenD6 (vs. TinyD6, kinda)

Okay, a very low-effort post today...!

There was a recent Reddit thread on universal RPG systems, so I had to chime in and spread the love for the D6 System, my current mechanical obsession.  Another poster asked if I could explain the difference in OpenD6 and Mini Six (as well as TinyD6), and I ended up writing a bit more than I imagined I would.  Then I realized that there's a chance other people might google something like "OpenD6 vs. Mini Six," and that it might be helpful to have that same response as a blog post, especially for anyone who avoids Reddit threads when they search.

So, eliminating my opening and closing caveats and apologies, here's my from-memory take on the differences:

TinyD6 is the one I know the least about and have never played. As far as I know, it is its own system using one or more (I really don't know which) d6s and is pretty rules-lite. It seems to have a following of its own, and content in a variety of genres, so it is probably a good gateway to "univeral gaming" even though...AFAIK...it is not directly related to the other two.

OpenD6 and Mini Six, on the other hand, are very much connected. OpenD6 is the license/movement/set of games that came about when the owner of West End Games' D6 system (used in Star Wars and DC Universe, with a proto-version in Ghostbusters, among others) released it via the OGL. You can probably find a lot of the old WEG books...or versions of them with IP removed...for free on the net, although it's been a while since I've surveyed that availability. At its heart, the D6 System is more of a toolkit than a specific way to play, and there's even an old book simply called The D6 System (with the subtitle The Customizable Roleplaying Game) that is often called "the cookbook" and has a bunch of options laid out with the idea that you'll choose the ones most appropriate to your game (including stuff like which attributes you'll have for characters). There was a set of three books for Fantasy, Adventure, and Space that had rules specifically tailored to those genres. (Space, for example, was built heavily upon the old Star Wars rules.)

Once OpenD6 became a thing, the Mini Six system was one of the first to use the license. It is a very approachable, fairly stripped-down ruleset that is also available for free and that can be used for just about any genre. At the time it was released, I saw it as the authors (Ray Nolan and Phil Morris of AntiPaladin games) sort of reverse-engineering Ghostbusters (probably my favorite RPG ever) while bringing in some of the options and technology that had been innovated for the D6 System over its lifetime. I definitely recommend checking it out:

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/144558/mini-six-bare-bones-edition

Overall, the potentially diverse application of the system was a plus for folks who really like to tweak their games, but some of the drastic differences in how the games end up playing out probably made it tough to gather as much of a unified community as there was for, say, the d20 System. It's typically pretty easy to convert from one "subsystem" to another, but I just don't think that feels as universal as systems that have a unified set of attributes (and skills, and even how to read the results of rolls, in the case of games like DC Universe that used a success/fail-based version called D6 Legend).

The D6 System has recently gotten some love with stuff like the Zorro RPG and a recent Kickstarter for a "D6 2e." I've gravitated to my own houseruled version as a sort of house system for my own games, and so I check out new developments when I think about it and have the time, in case there's something I can bolt onto the form of the game I'm running with.

And then I followed up quickly after to add this:

Also, just wanted to add that the owner of the system IP who released it into the wild was Eric Gibson of Purgatory Publishing. It was a really kind move that definitely helped keep the system alive. There are a few other folks who have been vital to it over the years, but I don't want to start naming them because I'm afraid I'll leave out someone important...!

If you happen upon this while investigating the system(s), please let me know if there's anything more to my opinions that may be helpful in your search!

Etherealite, fissure glow, and interplanar connections

Breaches of the barrier surrounding this material plane lead to a number of detectable forms of radiation in our world.  These similar but distinct waves are used by Monstrous Matters scientists to piece together details related to each planar portal.

Fissure glow is the radiation that seems to emanate from the gaps between our realm and connected material planes.  For the Monstrous Matters team, this is often the best indication of a portal requiring investigation.  While it is unclear whether the radiation actually originates from those other worlds, or rather from the tearing of interplanar barriers, fissure glow has been found in the vicinity of most of the organization's most important research sites.  As noted previously, many common Earth minerals can block the detection of these waves, creating an additional challenge for Monstrous Matters operatives seeking the doors of the multiverse.

A similar signature, often called penumbral radiation, remains within all organic beings that cross the threshold of an interplanar portal into our realm.  Scientists from Department-7 spent a great deal of time in the 1980s zeroing in the detection of these faint rays surrounding the beings they referred to as Shadowkind, improving the sensitivity of their equipment to the point that handheld imagers are now quite reliable.  Penumbral radiation has been further harnessed in the operation of the uncertainty gun, used to return outsiders to their own realms; most researchers believe that it is the critical connection that leads many outsiders to simply fade away away (and presumably return to their plane of origin) upon death.

Penumbral radiation indicating an interplanar visitor

The radiation that remains the most mysterious to parageologists is that emitted by etherealite, the mineral associated with regions hosting planar portals.  Somewhat ironically, etherealite has been studied in more detail than either fissure glow or penumbral radiation; while scientists have become very good at identifying and describing it, its actual relationship with interplanar travel is so far unknown.

Etherealite's chemical composition varies somewhat from one region to another; it is distinguished from surrounding objects by a special feature of the electrons associated with various metals and metalloids found within its structure (notably aluminum, magnesium, and silicon). These electrons consistently appear to be entangled with particles that exist outside the immediate and obvious physical realm in which we live...described by some Monstrous Matters scientists as if they are paired with with points beyond our four-dimensional existence. Amazingly, mapping these realms based upon our known physics has at times led to physical reconstructions of worlds that have seemingly existed only in the imaginations of the researchers involved. It’s all very meta and is best understood with a wink, a shrug, or a bong hit. (Maybe all three.)

A future pseudoscientific blog post will cover some of the spots around the world that have served as significant sources of these forms of radiation, as well as the extradimensional realms connected to these sites.

Dragonfyre: I'm guessing you haven't seen it, and I'm guessing you're gonna like it

A recent Reddit thread about movies that play out like RPG adventures got me thinking about one of my favorite films matching this description.  While I plugged it on that thread...and I know I mentioned it when Pun discussed something similar over at Halls of the Nephilim (and have probably shared my love for it elsewhere on the internet)...I realized that -- criminally -- I have never discussed this very-discussable movie here on the blog.  And now that I'm working on a campaign involving fantasy monsters encroaching on our world, it's time to talk a little bit about...

Dragonfyre

AKA DragonFyre: The Worldgate Sentinel.  AKA Orc Wars.  (I don't know why it has a second, completely different name, but there ya go.)

From HERE

From HERE.  Yep, this is the same movie.

Very minor spoilers follow.  I think it's mostly stuff you won't be surprised by anyway.

There's a pretty simple premise here:  An American veteran struggling with PTSD buys some property out West to get away from everything.  Then he has to fight a bunch of orcs who trespass on his land trying to kill an elven princess.  He uses guns.

I think the film probably surprises a lot of people with its quality.  I mean...it's definitely a B-movie, clearly ambitious beyond its budget.  The thing is, with many such films, there are things that I (not a filmmaker) can point to and say, "I don't think that should have ended up in the final cut."  Maybe a line needs to be re-cut more believably.  Maybe a goofy FX shot needs to be tossed.  It could be anything and is usually a lot of things.  However, Dragonfyre really doesn't have many (if any) of those moments.  It was clearly produced by skilled and detail-oriented creators.

Many of the costumes and props seem to be LOTR leftovers, or maybe commercially available replicas.  This obviously has the effect of giving the fantastic elements of the movie a look we've seen before, but considering the premise of the story, that might be more positive than negative.  They look pretty darn good.  FX-wise, artists clearly knew when to back off.  The cheesiest effect of the film is probably the CGI dragon (spoiler!), but even that is pretty solid, especially when you consider how dated CG effects from even highly regarded films can look today.  (I'll save my unpopular opinion of never really embracing the look of Gollum for another day.)  The most important effect in the film is probably the dark cloud-splosions of orcs getting shot in the head, and they definitely got that one down.  (It is a fairly violent film, btw, in case that's something you wish to investigate before taking the plunge to watch this.)

If I had to pick one thing to change about Dragonfyre, it wouldn't actually be anything related to production quality.  While the character of Whitefeather is portrayed very well by Wesley John, there's just something off-putting about having another Magical Native American (he's also blind!) character so central to the plot.  It isn't a dealbreaker for me, but I imagine some viewers might take enough offense to want to skip it altogether.  (I know, I know, I hear you...I need to get out of here with all of that woke shit.  I mean, if that's what you're thinking, Whitefeather definitely won't bug you...but I know I'm not the only one who cringes when we notice these stereotypes.)

Overall, I feel pretty good about dropping this one into the grand headcanon of my imagination, and it holds up really well as a film as long as you can accept the low-budget caveat.  (And as I make this edit, it's available on Tubi...free to watch if you don't count those pieces of your soul you give up as you watch commercials!)  Coming up...I think I need to stat out John Norton (the Worldgate Sentinel...oh, another spoiler!) to be an NPC in the Monstrous Matters campaign...

The D6 2e Kickstarter is coming to a close!

I just have to throw this out there in case it tips anyone off to the existence of this Kickstarter campaign.  It's a little too convenient that funding for a "Second Edition" (in quotes because you could argue that there have already been more than two editions...) of West End Games' D6 System is funding while I'm in the process of getting a D6-based campaign up and running!  Everything about this points toward the view that Gallant Knight Games is putting together a framework that honors the game's legacy while including lessons and technologies learned in the years since West End Games last worked on the system.

You can find the Kickstarter HERE.  It closes late Thursday morning (my time).  I'm in mostly just to see how this new "official" take on one of my favorite systems turns out, but there are a number of campaign and setting extras that may also be the deciding feature for other backers.  And while I want to get my grubby mitts on a hardcover, that $20 digital pledge level that includes the core rules and a bunch of stretch goal additions looks like an especially good deal.  It is, after all, a proven system that could handle just about all of your RPG needs from here to eternity.