5 Things I'd Love to do with RPG Props

Here's a bucket list of things I'd like to do with props have effects in a game world. 

Fortune Cookie (may include game content) 

1.  Fortune Cookies - Imagine a game where the PCs have just polished off a nice celebratory chinese meal, when the DM/waiter hands out a plate of fortune cookies.  Each of the players takes one and discovers a clue or instruction to their next adventure inside.

2.  Defuse the Bomb - Make a prop bomb complete with digital timer and hand the players a screwdriver and a set of wire cutters.  I'm going to need to trap them in a locked room so they have no choice but to defuse it.  This is probably the trickiest of the lot as I'd have to find a good timer circuit which I can use. 

3.  SMS Patron - Have a game where all the instructions coming from the patron are delivered to the characters via SMS text to the players mobile phones.

4.  Amaretti Scroll of Raise Dead - This is something I'd like to do when playing a magic user.  When a party member dies, I'd like to pull out a piece of amaretti paper covered in symbols claiming it's a Raise Dead scroll.  Read out some incantation and then roll it up into a tube and set fire to it.  At the last moment the paper will fly into the air (just like in the video) and the character is back from the dead.



5.  Crossword from Beyond the Grave.  Give one or more PCs a half finished crossword puzzle as a clue, preferable found near the body of someone they wanted to interrogate.  The players must complete the crossword to reveal a message from the victim.

Astropia - RPG Advocacy in movies

Last night caught me flicking through the free movie content on my WD TV Live, where I stumbled across a Norwegian language film called Astropia.  Also known as Dorks & Damsels it was an indie film released in 2007. Given the subject matter, it was surprising that I'd never heard of it, but I've had good experiences with Norwegian films in the past so thought I'd give it a go.    

aka Dorks & Damsels

In a plot borrowed heavily from the classics such as "Oliver" and "Pygmalion", socialite Hildur (Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir), is living the life of a minor celebrity when her wealthy boyfriend Jolli, a shady car dealer, is suddenly arrested and jailed.  The confused society girl is thrown out of her home and hounded by the paparazzi, so goes to live with her sister Bjort and 10 year old Nephew Snorri.

She struggles to complete even the most basic tasks and come to terms with her new station in life when, by chance, she lands a job at "Astropia" the local "Nerd Store" as their RPG salesperson.  She knows nothing about roleplaying and her colleagues and customers are initially hostile until she joins her first game session run by store owner Goggi.  

RPG portrayals in mainstream media fall squarely into two camps for me, you're either condescendingly laughing at the nerds (Big Bang Theory) or knowingly laughing with the nerds (Robot Chicken) and this one falls squarely into the latter.  In fact the only condescending character in the movie is the villain Jolli and although Hildur is treated with a bit of suspicion and sexism by her co-workers, she wins them over quite quickly.

The movie does a good job of parodying some of the stereotypical nerd subdivisions and there are some great little moments like DVD salesman Floki trying to sending young Norri off home with copies of "The Exorcist" and "The Shining" as educational movies.

Importantly this movie has has an engaging convential plot centered around Hilda's and Jolli's abusive relationship.  It does a great job of portraying the members of the games group as odd, but likeable and fully functioning adults and the "normal" people as monsters.  The use of LARP costume action is sparing, but serves as an effective mind's eye view inside a game session and is sympathetic.  It explains the core functions of characters and GM well and demonstrates how RPGs have the power to unlock imaginations and how people can often have surprising hidden talents or skills and the determined Hildur also manages to knock some of the sexism for six in her first session.

If you don't mind watching subtitled movies this is definitely well worth a look and I'd definitelty recommend it to anyone trying to explain RPGs to a non playing partner or friend.

Revisiting Teenage Mutant Horror Comet Zombies

Had some down time last week and decided to revisit one of those 80s movies which I raved about after seeing it on Alex Cox's "Moviedrome".  For me it was seminal TV and regularly showed cult movies I had heard of but never seen.  Good Times.

They Came They Shopped They Saved The World

"Night of the Comet" (or as it was known in the UK "Teenage Mutant Horror Comet Zombies") was a relatively low budget (£3million) sci-fi movie released in 1984.  Written and directed by Thom Eberhardt it stars Catherine Mary Stewart (Weekend at Bernie's) and Kelli Maroney (Fast Times at Ridgemont High) as Regina and Samantha, as sassy valley girl sisters who end up missing out on the greatest spectacle of their lives, a comet passing Earth.  Does this sound familiar? (Day of The Triffids anyone...)

When morning comes they discover that everyone they ever knew is missing and a dusty red smog has filled the air.  Enter Robert Beltran (ST Voyager's Chakotay) as Hector, the mexican truck driver, an unlikely but entertaining hero who tries to help the girls come to terms with the new world order.

Meanwhile the saviours of humanity in the form of a bunch of "Apocalypse Nuts" led by Geoffrey Lewis are emerging from their underground bunker to start afresh by gathering up all the survivors.

Without giving anything away it's an entertaining slice of 80s L.A. teen culture, deely boppers, rampant consumerism and zombies.  It's got a few great one liners like "Daddy would have gotten us Uzi's" and "The legal drinking is ten... but you will need ID, lets be real".  The two girls are the absolute stars and strong female characters are hard to come by in any post apocalypse movie.

Great inspiration particularly in the case of the two strong female characters, and as a genre setting for an apocalyptic game when you're bored with "The Walking Dead",

Ennie Award for Best Cavern Map goes to... Fire Ants.

One of the staple RPG tropes is the "Bug Hunt", we've all done them.  There are some pretty cool bug hunt tunnel maps out there, but even the best human cartographers can't come close in complexity to these real world Fire Ant Colonies.  These stunning aluminium casts are the work of anthillart.com

Fire Ant Colony #45 - 18.5"x12.5"x13" (HxWxL)

Carpenter Ant Colony #31 - 16.5"x4.5"x8" (HxWxL)

The artists YouTube channel has some interesting videos showing the whole casting process which inevitably causes the destruction of the colony.  I'm rooting for Hicks and Hudson on this one and prefer to immortalize the work of these pests rather than go down the "nuke it from orbit" route.

More uses for those pesky Loom Bands?

If you've got a child aged between 10 and 15 you will have probably been unable to avoid the current craze of "Loom Bands".  These tiny multicoloured rubber bands are intended to be woven together, in a form of phsychedelic macrame, to make friendship bracelets and other strap like objects.

But they have a far more useful use...  as wound markers for your tabletop miniature games!!

Loom Bands make great wound markers

They're stupidly cheap (1000 for about £3), you can find them just about everywhere at the moment and come in an astonishing array of colours. 

I'm going to throw down the gauntlet and challenge you crafty readers to weave up a set of spell effect templates.  Post links to your achievements in the comments below.

Mad Max 4 - Fury Road Comic-Con Trailer

There's only one word for it...


Awesome!!!!!!!

Dazzle Camoflague for the Future

Back in WW1 artist and Naval Reservist Norman Wilkinson came up with the idea of covering ships in bizarre geometric paint schemes to make it harder enemy submarines to target them.

HMS Kildwick in Dazzle Camoflauge

Fast forward a hundred years and we are fast approaching a minority report scenario where we are all subjected to face recognition scanning to some degree as we pass through public spaces.  We even carry these devices with us every day (it's in the software of most digital cameras in our smartphones). 

Thankfully we're not at the stage where you are scanned by GAP as you walk past their billboard at the tube station, but I'm sure that I'm not alone in thinking that things like facebook's face recognition software are a bit creepy, So here's a free app idea for some enterprising mobile developer.
 

Muppet face recognition

Enter the guys at CV Dazzle who are developing simple makeup and hair techniques to fool facial recognition software.  The only downside is that it makes you look like some uber futuristic cyberpunk cosplayer or Lady Gaga fan depending on your perspective (and age).

CV Dazzle Makeup and Hair Techniques

Which brings us back to Sci-Fi and RPGs in particular.  The most common party concept for Sci-Fi games is the band of misfits sticking it to the empire/corporation/man and engaging in lots of covert ops where your ability to hide your identity is crucial.  Unless there's been some sort of utopian revolution there is likely to be some form of mass surveillance at work. 


R Talsorian's Cyberpunk 2020 had a plethora of fashionware items such as light emitting tattoos, colour changing hair and contact lenses squarely pitched as mere character affectations.  The 2006 adaptation of Philip K Dick's "A Scanner Darkly" had undercover cop Keanu Reeves in his hi tech "Scramble Suit" to prevent his identity from being revealed.  Even Milla Jovovich got her identity fooling fashion camo together in the visually entertaining "Ultraviolet".

Put these all together and you've got a really sweet combo which should keep those algorithms busy.