Terminally Incoherent http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog I will not fix your computer. Wed, 05 Jan 2022 03:54:09 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.26 Rockets and Rayguns http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2016/03/08/rockets-and-rayguns/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2016/03/08/rockets-and-rayguns/#comments Wed, 09 Mar 2016 03:04:58 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18752 Continue reading →]]> In the past two years or so, I really got back into tabletop and role playing hobby. While it was always a part of my life, and I was always reading and writing about it, for quite some time I wasn’t actually playing much of anything. It was a hobby “on paper”: one that I experienced vicariously through battle reports, podcasts and forum discussions. But that has changed.

I briefly got back into Warhammer, only to see it destroyed, and rebound really hard with Warmachine. If you follow me on Twitter, you probably also know that I have went through a Magic The Gathering phase (circa Dragons of Tarkir) which seems to be mercifully over now. I’m also part of a semi-regular D&D campaign.

You might have actually heard of it. It was briefly trending on reddit because our DM loves to make amazingly detailed terrain props. Due to DM prep overhead, and general state of “adulting” we finds ourselves in, we only have time to play once or twice a month (if we’re lucky). But it’s fun.

If you are wondering why I haven’t been very active on this blog lately, this is part of the reason. Other hobbies have temporarily superseded, and became more important to me than my blogging hobby. Among other things.

At one point I was even prepping to run my own FATE Core campaign. If you are not familiar with FATE Core it, is a narrative RPG system loosely based on FUDGE. I like it because it is a really solid implementation of FUDGE, that really rewards role-playing and pro-active narration from players. It allows them to take part in creation and shaping of the game worlds, but puts limits on it, by making it a resource based mechanic.

Players have FATE points they can spend to gain mechanical bonuses (+2 to any roll), or to narrate something into a scene. They gain said points by allowing their characters to be “compelled” by the GM and giving into their weaknesses, or flaws or by indulging their vices. In other words, they are immediately rewarded for “good role-playing” or for simply following the GM’s rails when he needs them too, with a resource they can spend to get their way.

It makes for a really dynamic, and interesting play, and something very, very different from the very encounter heavy D&D game we’ve been playing lately. So I really wanted to try running a short campaign. Alas, nothing has panned out as of yet. But I did get some nice dice and tokens just in case:

Fate Tokens

FATE Core Tokens and Dice

And of course, because I’m me, I have made tons of notes for the campaign setting. In FATE you are kinda supposed to get players involved in the world building process, and iron out the details during the first session. But, I figured it can’t hunt to jot down some ideas on paper, and to photo-shop some images to give players an idea as to what I was getting at.

The basic idea was based on my retro SF essay from 2010. I just expanded upon it to make it in a rough draft of a game setting. Below, you can find precisely that: a very rough sketch of the proposed setting, along with some of the mechanics and system tweaks I planned to include. The document was originally designed to be a player hand-out that would be distributed before a session, which is why I’m not breaking it up into parts the way I did with Ravenflight.

I’m putting the “living” document here for the time being: Rockets and Rayguns.

After the break, you can read the entire set of campaign notes, as it was in March of 2016 in the form of a blog post. As always, let me know what you think in the comments below.

Rockets & Rayguns

Introduction

This is a game setting designed to be used with FATE Core rule set. This means you will need FATE Rulebook, character sheets, and some FATE Dice and tokens. All the resources can be downloaded for free from the official website.

The setting is based on retro pulp SF from the 40’s and 50’s. Sleek rocket ships with giant fins, space suits with bubble helmets, ray guns, giant computers that take up the entire room, programming done on punch cards or patch cables are the core aesthetic.

Setting

It’s the year 3,000 and humanity has colonized the galaxy. There are over two hundred known human inhabited worlds and many more that have yet to be settled and colonized. Space travel is inexpensive, accessible and affordable and interstellar trade is booming. The primary mode of travel between worlds are small rockets that require 4-5 person crew, and can ferry both passengers as well as cargo across vast distances.

While some people never leave their home world, many choose to travel the galaxy seeking better career opportunities, better education, or simply looking for adventures.

Owning a Starship is considered to be romantic ideal: being the master of your own fate, not beholden to any local power structure, not tied to a single planet, and being able to pick up and leave at any time. Space Adventurers often get fabulously rich by discovering new habitable planets, scavenging alien technology, or finding pirate treasures buried on some barren asteroid.

The technology, while allowing humans to travel between stars, is still stuck in the past. Rockets and ray guns are common sight, but computer networks are unheard of, even on most advanced planets. Computers do exist, and are indispensable, but they are large, slow and programmed via punch cards or patch cables. Space travel is basically all humans got going for it, and it shows. Space Ports are like parking lots: every town has at least one, and major cities have dozens if not hundred of them.

Humanity shares the galaxy with at least three other sentient races: the green skinned Arcturians, the reptilian Slags and the mechanical Centaurians.

Language and Communication

The common language used throughout the galaxy is Esperanto. Individual worlds will often have dominant local language that is spoken by most of the inhabitants, but everyone is expected to learn Esperanto at a young age, and it is used as the official, neutral, common language.

Player characters are considered to be fluent in Esperanto. They may also pick another language that is spoken on their home world. This can be an existing language (Spanish, English and French are especially common) or an original language unique to that particular planet, and/or region.

Communication between worlds is done via the wondrous invention known as Ansible, which is capable of transmitting data instantaneously across vast distances. The transmission rate is flat 3 Bytes per minute, and it does not change based on distance. Because of the slow transmission speed, Ansibles are used mostly like telegraph: text mode only.

Audio-visual and other data is typically recorded onto magnetic tape and transmitted via courier aboard an interstellar rocket.

Planets as Sovereign Kingdoms

Most of the inhabited worlds are sovereign states with their own local government, own military, and own rules. While many worlds resemble the 50’s "world of tomorrow" ideals, some are feudal kingdoms, empires, despotic regimes or even strange theocracies lead by religious cults. While there exist large alliances and multi-world factions, they are far from being homogeneous with respect to culture and customs.

Think of planets as islands separated by vast distances. Most are weeks, if not months away from their closest neighbor. Even though interstellar trade is possible, and hugely profitable, all worlds tend to be self-sufficient, self-reliant and self governed. This lends itself to an incredible variety of cultures, and ways of life.

The three main interstellar factions (The Colonial Authority, The Alliance and The League) usually adopt a hands-off policy with regards to local culture and attitudes. They are mostly military and trade compacts. Some impose their own culture and ideals on the member worlds more than the others. They all know full well, that people’s loyalty is almost always to their home worlds.

On some planets most of the population may live in fully automated, modern cities, with flying cars and robot servants, other worlds may be almost entirely rural and backwards. There exist planets that have almost no advanced technology save for one or two major cities or castles.

Currency and Trade

Most worlds use their local currencies, and many have more than one. Interstellar traders, typically use one of the three faction currencies:

  • Colonial Credits (¢¢) are backed by the Colonial Authority and respected almost everywhere. Even alliance and alien traders will accept the credits, because of favorable exchange rates, and ubiquity. It is a very strong and stable currency, and preferred method of payment for most travelers. Colonial Credits are rectangular plastic chips, about the size of a credit card, with their value laser engraved on the surface.

  • Alliance Trade Notes (atb) are backed by The Alliance and is the second most popular currency in the galaxy. It fluctuates more than Colonial Credits, and tends to be less durable. It takes form of banknotes printed on postcard sized sheets of paper. They are mostly red, with intricate artwork covering the entire surface of the paper.

  • Ducat (d) is the official currency of the League and is the third most popular currency in the galaxy. The Ducat are made out of platinum and gold and their value corresponds in large part to the value of the precious metal from which they were made. This also makes them rather impractical as currency, since large sums tend to be heavy and impractical to carry around. Ducat are usually distributed as coins of various sizes. Small denominations are usually round coins or rings, while larger denominations are rectangular bars designed to be stacked in neat rows. Some merchants prefer this currency because it can be traded as raw materials without incurring much loss.

Additionally, most worlds issue Common Trade Bonds which are backed by their central governing authority. In theory, you should be able to redeem these anywhere in the Galaxy for local currency, but in practice they tend to only be honored on worlds that have standing trade agreements. They typically take form of 8×11" paper documents.

Hyperspace

Most space ship in the setting are cylindrical, nuclear powered rockets. They take off and land in vertical position, and typically balance on three to four fins and/or external engines when they land. The engines on most rockets are capable of accelerations that would produce enough G-forces to make the crew black out, or even instantly kill them so Pilots must exercise caution. That said, they are still conventional engines that cannot get anywhere close to the speed of light.

Interstellar travel is accomplished via Hyperspace which is an alternate dimension in which time and space work differently providing shortcuts between points in our universe. Hyperspace is often described as a non-void: an emptiness that is very much unlike the void of space. It is impossible to measure it’s temperature, pressure or acceleration in Hyperspace because these concepts do not seem to exist there.

A traveler looking outside their ship will see an endless expanse that is devoid of color and any kind of illumination, which somehow still appears "white". Those who have seen it, describe it as deeply unsettling. Most travelers never get exposed to that sight however since ships rarely enter Hyperspace without active Force Field. While ship fields are invisible to the naked eye in our universe, in Hyperspace they strobe and pulsate with vivid color, seemingly at random.

The Force Field is maintained mostly for the comfort of the crew. Without it, most people feel queasy, nauseous, experience sense of vertigo, and suffer from various other sensory distortions. Most people suffer from blurred vision, ringing in their ears and skin numbness. Symptoms such as strange (neither pleasant nor unpleasant) taste in one’s mouth, and hard to describe sharp, but inoffensive odor are also not uncommon. It is not know whether long term exposure has long lasting health effects.

A low powered field surrounding the ship seems to block out all of these side effects.

Once a ship enters the Hyperspace, it winks out of the existence in the standard universe. There is no way to follow or track a ship that is in Hyperspace, and it is not possible for ships to communicate while they remain there. It is theorized (though it was never proven) that each ship enters a slightly different version of the Hyperspace dimension, which is why no two ships were ever able to meet, or transmit messages while traveling.

That said, a skilled Navigator can potentially deduce where a ship was going based on their entry point. The topography of Hyperspace is bizarre and abstract, but stable and unchanging, and specific points within correspond to points in the standard universe. Picking an optimal entry point into Hyperspace allows to shorten the trip considerably. Common inbound and outbound transit points in each system are known to anyone with even Medicore Navigation skill.

Aliens

There is a plethora of alien species out there, and almost every inhabited world has some unique indigenous species. Most of them are not sentient. While many planets have, or had in the past, been a home to an intelligent species, most are not technologically advanced. Humans do not have qualms about colonizing planets that already have intelligent life. Indigenous populations are either assimilated into the human society and forced to adopt human culture and often existence as second class citizens. Those less fortunate are displaced from their home lands to make way for human cities and sometimes completely eradicated.

There are only three sentient species that humanity can’t simply brush away, because of their considerable technological and military power.

Racial Aspects: each race has two or three racial aspects, which describes how the race as a whole is viewed by others. These aspects can be invoked against, or by any members of the species, but it must be in the context of a group as perceived by outsiders.

Consider these aspects represent generalizations, stereotypes and preconceived notions about each species. They can be taken as role-playing cues, but characters and NPC’s can, and should subvert these expectations. In fact, some of the racial aspects will be contradictory. This is by design, to represent conflicting beliefs and prejudices people may feel about this or that race.

Arcturians

Arcturians are sometimes referred to as "the little green men" because of their skin shade and short stature. They typically stand a 4’5" and few of them ever grow to be taller than 5′. There is no significant height difference between their men and women. Their skin is typically some shade of green, though there is some variation between individuals. Most have uniform, light green carnation, but individuals with deep dark green skin as well as those with cyan tinge have been observed. Freckles are not uncommon. The most common hair colors are silver or white, though individuals with various shades of red, blue and black hair shades have been seen,

Arcturians are bipedal, and their body plan resembles that of humans. Their faces are almost human-like, with the exception of lacking visible nose or ears. Their eyes are typically black, without visible whites, or a distinctive iris. Their most distinctive feature are two wriggling antennas growing out of the top of their head which seem to double up as bout olfactory and auricular organs.

Arcturians are similar to humans in their temperament. They have similar track record of colonizing worlds and displacing local populations, being aggressively expansive and endlessly adaptable. Their society is similarly fractured into hundreds of small, locally governed planet-states that trade and war with each other. Because of these similarities both races seem to get along reasonably well. Arcturians often trade with humans, and some even choose to live in human colonies. That said, it is not uncommon for Human and Arcturians to go to war over local resources, or various diplomatic disputes.

Arcturians can learn to speak Esperanto fluently. Most of their own languages are difficult for humans to grasp because it includes sounds inaudible to human ears.

Arcturian technology is slightly more advanced. They seem to have mastered anti-gravitational technology, and cold fusion. Their flying saucers require no loud rocket engines, and use safe and clean reactors. Human scientists have yet to replicate similar technology.

Arcturian Aspects:

  • Little green people
  • Sly and cunning space merchants
  • Their saucers have been seen steeling cattle and abducting humans
Playing an Arcturian

Arcturian characters may require specially fitted space suits, though they can usually get away with using a child-sized human suit if one is available. Standard bubble helmets usually have enough room to fit their head stalks.

An Arcturian player character will be assumed to be fluent in Esperanto, as well as Arcturian Common language, and another language spoken on their home world. They are assumed to have lived long enough among humans to have very good grasp of their norms, customs and taboos. Players do not need to feel the need to use their aspects to establish those facts.

Slags

Slags is somewhat derogatory name given to the race of red skinned, space-faring reptilian humanoids. Slags are roughly human sized, and they have hard, scaly skin and large, round black eyes. Their scales are usually a uniform shade of red, though some have a striped pattern running along their backs. They are obligate carnivores, and their mouths have sharp needle-like teeth. Their hands and feet have large, gripping claws which are used while eating. Most individuals file down the tips, to prevent them from getting caught on clothing. Despite a popular human belief, Slags do not possess tails.

Slags do not have external sexual characteristics that can be distinguished by humans. While they reproduce sexually, and their women lay eggs, there is virtually no way for a human to distinguish a male from a female member of the species just by casual interaction. Most other species have no such trouble and can distinguish Slag sex without any issues.

Despite their reptilian looks, Slags are warm-blooded, and highly energetic. Their though, but flexible scales are excellent thermo regulators which allow them to survive in very low, and very high temperatures, and withstand a lot of radiation. Slags do not need a full space suit to work in vacuum of space. They may spend up to an hour in hard vacuum without suffering any adverse consequences, provided they have a steady supply of oxygen to breathe. They are also extremely hardy, and their skin seems to be particularly resistant to ray gun fire on lower settings.

Slag technology is on par with human, though their ships tend to be much more heavily armored, and have very powerful rocket engines. They typically don’t install any sound dampeners, or emission filters on their engines, and frequently use chemical boosters. Because of that Slag ships are extremely loud, and can often be seen leaving thick, black smoke trails behind them. Their huyperspace drives on the other hand, tend to be sub-par, and significantly slower than human.

The name they use for themselves is unpronounceable by humans. Some members of the species who have learned Esperanto, claimed that they found the word Salamander as a good stand-in, being evocative of fire-spitting lizards. Others disagreed, and there is no consensus on what Humans should call them.

The Slags that are encountered most often in the human space are hostile marauders, raiders or space pirates, who attack human ships or human settlements. Furthermore, their lizard-like appearance is considered to be intimidating, or even frightening by some. In some societies they function as the space bogeymen used by politician or demagogues to rally support.

Humans unaccustomed to dealing with Slags tend to find them unnerving and intimidating.

Slag Aspects:

  • Tough and ugly reptile brutes
  • Smarter and more cunning than than they look
  • Savage, bloodthirsty marauders and space pirates.
Playing a Slag

Players wishing to play a Slag must meet the following requirements:

  • Their character’s Physique skill must be Fair (+2) or better

Slags do not fit in human sized space suits, and do not need them. They simply need a respirator that can fit over their mouth and nose, along with a tank of air to survive in the vacuum of space for up to an hour. Longer periods may result in them suffering from standard ailments related to decompression and exposure.

Player characters are considered to be fluent in Esperanto, as well as the Slag Common language. They may also know a local language spoken on their home world.

Moravecs

The Alpha Centauri Moravecs are one of the most unique races in the entire galaxy due to the fact they are entirely mechanical. Their ancestral species was likely organic, but there is precious little known about them. In their current form, they are robotic, without even a trace of organic material.

They reproduce in a way that is entirely unique to their species: two or more individuals collaborate together, building a brand new individual from parts. Some individuals are simply built from spare parts that are available at the time of creation, while others are built to a specific plan or with a specific purpose in mind, using custom manufactured components. Because of this, no two Moravecs look the same. Most however use a bipedal body with two legs, and two manipulator arms, and sensory modules installed roughly where humans would expect a head to be.

Moravecs have highly advanced technology that is ahead of any other space faring race. Their greatest advancements are in computing and machine engineering. No other race has ever even came close to replicating the technology behind the Moravec brain, and few races can build mechanical sensors as accurate as they do.

Their ships have incredibly fast hyperspace drives, and their rocket engines are tuned to run at accelerations way beyond the tolerances of organic species. Because of this, they are incredibly hard to out-maneuver or chase.

Their ships often have leaky, un-shielded reactors that are unsafe for organic passengers, but do not affect Moravecs at all. They are usually not allowed to park their rockets on residential landing pads, and get re-routed to industrial space ports.

They typically do not install any life support on their vessels because it is not needed. They do not require air or food, and space travelers typically modify their feet to include electro-magnets that allow them to move efficiently in zero gravity. They also do not experience any discomfort while traversing Hyperspace without force fields.

Moravec language is incomprehensible to humans, consisting of beeps and mechanical sounds. Humans can learn to understand it, but can’t readily speak it. Individuals who expect to interact a lot with humans or other species typically install a set of speakers somewhere on their chassis.

Moravec Aspects:

  • Soulless automatons with no respect for organic life
  • Logical and literal to a fault
  • Each one is a priceless mechanical wonder
Playing a Moravec

Players wishing to play a Moravec must meet the following requirements:

  • Their character’s Engineering skill must be Fair (+2) or better.
  • They must take the following extra Made out of Steel: Armor Rating 2 (Cost: 1 Refresh)

Moravecs do not need space suits and can operate in vacuum for indefinite amount of time. They can also operate under water, but their bodies are not designed to withstand deep water pressures. Their bodies are hermetically sealed against vacuum, but extended exposure to water pressure may rupture said seals and cause them to short out and effectively drown just like organics would.

Player character Moravecs are assumed to have speaker mod, and are fluent in Esperanto, as well as the Moravec Machine Language.

Vegans

Vegans are bipedal humanoids that typically stand 7-8 feet tall. Most have thin and wiry build, though obesity is not entirely uncommon among them. They do appear to be less prone to it than Humans or Arcturians. They have a smooth, hairless light blue skin and white, pupil-less eyes that emit soft glow in the dark. Most individuals have light or dark freckle like spots on the top of their head, their back and sides of their arms and legs. The pattern and coloration is unique to an individual.

Similarly to Arcturians, they posses no nose, but do have ears similar to those of humans. Their olfactory senses are located in their mouth and they typically smell things by "tasting the air" with their mouth and tongue.

Vegans evolved from herbivorous herd animals and their stomachs cannot digest meat. While they can subside on food rations designed for Humans or Arcturians by just eating around the meat, it is not healthy for them. They typically need more varied plant based diet to stay healthy.

Their original home planet had much weaker gravity than Earth, and they tend to prefer low gravity planets. The standard gravity that feels comfortable to humans is strenuous and tiring to Vegans. It makes them tire easily, and make them seem sluggish and lazy, compared to other species. Despite their large size, Veagans are not significantly stronger than humans because their muscles are designed for much weaker gravity.

Vegan technology is on par with Human or Slag civilizations. They use atomic powered rockets and standard hyperspace drives. By necessity, their vessels tend to be larger, and more spacious to accommodate their large bodies. They usually have a distinctive bulbous shape, with engines mounted on fins.

Vegans have reputation for being peaceful and neutral race. Their worlds typically choose to stay out of armed conflicts, major wars or even territorial disputes. This is by no means universal across all their worlds of course. They do not hesitate to fight when attacked, and will launch attacks at perceived threats when needed. They simply prefer not to enter into interstellar military alliances. They prefer to maintain friendly relations with all their neighbors if possible.

Vegans have reputation for being level headed, and hard to shake or provoke. They can stay calm even under extreme pressure, and rarely lose their laid back and easy going attitudes. Some species find their unshakable will and unfaltering smiles to be rather unsettling, while others enjoy their company precisely because if that.

Vegan Common language has a song-like qualities to it, and is fairly easy for humans to master.

Vegan aspects:

  • Gentle, friendly giants
  • Laid back and easy going but lazy
  • Affraid to ever take a stand on important issues
Playing a Vegan

Players wishing to play a Moravec must meet the following requirements:

  • Their character’s Will skill must be Fair (+2) or better.

Vegans do not fit in human sized space suits. They are also not comfortable in chairs designed for humans.

Player character Vegans are considered to be fluent in Esperanto, Vegan Common language and one local language spoken on their home world.

Important Factions

There are three major human factions that operate on a galactic scale, rather than on a planetary scale.

Colonial Authority

Colonial Authority is a military superpower with an enormous fleet, and many worlds under it’s control. Their mission statement is to protect human life, human culture, and human interests throughout the galaxy. They seek to "prepare" new worlds for human colonization, which almost invariably involves exterminating indigenous alien life and supplanting it with Earth-like ecosystem.

Colonials also often choose to "protect" sovereign human worlds by making them part of their territories. The wishes of the local populace are irrelevant, and few worlds are able to face the Colonial Invasion Fleet in an open space battle. Fortunately the Authority allows the worlds it controls govern themselves asking only for three things.

First, is taxation. Second is providing the Colonial Fleet with soldiers on an annual basis. Third is the ability to build Colonial Bases on the surface of the planet, and govern them as they see fit, without them being subject to local laws. Of course local rulers still must answer to the Colonial Authority, and the local military must be disarmed and dismantled.

Colonial Authority is commonly referred to as "The Colonies". The people living on Colonial worlds are typically not referred to as "Colonials". That title is usually reserved to members of the Colonial Fleet, or high ranking diplomatic officials who represent the authority.

Faction Aspects:

  • "Enemies of the Colonial Authority are enemies of Humanity"
  • "Only good aliens are dead aliens"
  • "Colonial fleet has no peers, join us or perish"
The Interstellar Alliance

The Interstellar Alliance originally consisted of the Fomalhaut, Betelgeuse and Aldebaran systems, each of which is represented by a stripe on the flag. The stripes converge together to represent how these systems banded together in a close knit alliance, to protect their citizens from outside threats which include Slag marauders, Colonial Authority, League of Free Worlds and Arcturian invasion fleets. Since it’s inception, dozens more worlds were formally inducted into the organization.

Modeled after the Collonial Fleet, the Allied Fleet is funded and recruited from the member worlds. Unlike the Ahority however, membership in the Alliance is voluntary, and there are no tithes or mandatory draft. That said, member states are expected to pull their own weight and contribute. Worlds that do not donate funds, supplies or troops will often be expelled from the alliance. New member states must go through a rigorous vetting process, during which they are expected to take on all the responsibilities of a member, without actually gaining any benefits.

Alliance does not officially meddle in the local affairs of member states, but it does have a published set of standards, and model laws which members are encouraged to implement. These standards proscribe both legal, cultural and economic norms. For example, member worlds with democratic governments are instructed to ensure that aliens cannot vote on matters that pertain to human citizens. Some of the standards proscribe dietary restrictions (only Earth based foods, no indigenous plants or animals) or mode of dress (no hats or head-wear allowed on Alliance ships or alliance controlled lands). Original members are free to ignore these standards, but newly inducted members may be voted out if they don’t make every attempt to conform to all the suggested standards.

Alliance fleet is smaller than than the Colonial Fleet, but highly motivated and well trained.

Faction traits:

  • "Not nearly as bad as the Colonials"
  • "You are free to conform or leave"
  • "Humanity first!"
The League of Free Worlds

The third biggest faction in the known space, is the League of Free Worlds. It is feared and despised by both the Colonials and the Alliance alike. Unlike those highly organized factions, the League is a loose association of worlds united under a single banner. Each of said worlds is ruled by a local despot, who holds an absolute power over their domain, and maintains a personal army to defend their holdings. Alliances between the members of the League are based on personal martial or trade agreements between the ruling dynasties and tend to be fickle and impermanent.

The actual power of the faction waxes and wanes as the internal alliances are broken, wars are caught, and personal vendettas are being carried out. That said, there is a kind of strong "us vs them" mentality among the League planet lords, and they will usually put aside their quarrels to when threatened by an external force.

The League’s official leader is known as the Lord of Lords (or The Overlord for short). This is not a hereditary title, but rather an elected office with a twenty year term, which can only be served once. The Overlord is selected by majority vote at the Grand Landsmeet: a gathering of Planet Lords that happens once per two decades. It is a very festive occasion, and one fraught with danger and court intrigue. There hasn’t been a single Grand Landsmeet without at least one assassination attempt, and some kind of scandal or political spectacle. At Landsmeet new alliances are forged, old alliances are broken, duels between lords are fought, planets, riches and power changes hands in unpredictable ways, until a new status quo emerges. Usually the most powerful, or most charismatic of Planet Lords emerges as the new Overlord. The office itself grants authority over the other Planet Lords, but that authority must always be backed up by actual power: either in terms of a strong personal army, or good network of allies that can discourage dissent.

The cultures of the League worlds vary, and are usually dictated by tastes, beliefs and convictions of the ruling dynasty. On most of them governance resembles a class driven feudal system. Others may be run as corporate structures, or even faux democracies with mock senate, and meaningless elections. Some Planet Lords are despised by their subjects, while others are beloved local celebrities. All of them however wield absolute power of life and death over the inhabitants of their worlds.

  • "Space Aristocrats"
  • "Yield to the strongest and the mightiest"
  • "Kneel and you will be allowed to live and serve"

Mechanics

Below are additional skills and mechanics that extend the set of rules found in the FATE Core rulebook.

Anchors

This campaign will use the idea of Anchors as outlined by Rob Donoghue. To put it simply, an Anchor is an object, place or person connected to an Aspect that provides a concrete, tangible cue for invoking and compelling that Aspect.

When creating their characters, players should define one Anchor for each of their Aspects. They can be small trinkets or items (favorite hat, good luck coin, a locket with a picture), a meaningful person (mentor, teacher, parent, old friend, dependable associate) or place (your childhood home, a place you wish to visit, a prison where you served a sentence). Players should try to choose Anchors that both help to flesh out their character, provide "visual" cues as to who they are, and have a reasonable probability to come up in play.

The Anchors then provide an additional, and conceptually easy way to invoke or compel Aspects. For example, a Grizzled war veteran may be wearing a jacket with their former unit insignia, giving the GM an easy way to compel that aspect by having an NPC recognize the patch and try to start a fight because were on the opposite side of a recent war. The patch acts as a convenient hook to hang the compel on.

Skill List

There are 20 skills to choose from. You get the 18 standard FATE Core skills and two new skills renamed below. Additionally, some of the standard skills have been renamed to fit the setting better (see table below).

Skill Description
Athletics
Burglary
Contacts
Crafts Covers arts and crafts. Ron Swanson type shit here.
Deceive
Drive Covers all ground vehicles and other non flying machines.
Empathy
Education renamed Replaces Lore.
Engineering new Used to repair machinery, program computers and operate starship shields.
Fight
Investigate
Lore Replaced by Education
Notice
Physique
Pilot new Covers spacecrafts, and flying machines.
Provoke
Rapport
Resources
Shoot
Stealth
Will
Engineering Skill

I made a decision to break Engineering out of Crafts skill, because it represent a slightly different skill set. Along with the Pilot skill, it allowed me to round up the skill list to an even 20, so that works out just fine.

Crafts skill is still around, but is mostly focused on manual craftsmanship and artistry. With Crafts you can build a nice mahogany desk, reinforce a wall, weave ceramic plating into your space suit and etc.. It can also be used for architecture – you can build a shack in the woods, a floating raft, or a magnificent shed.

Engineering works similar to Crafts with exception that it is focused on technology specifically. Your character is good with machines, and mechanical devices of all sorts. You can repair your space ship, fix your ray gun, rig a robot to explode and etc..

This skill is also used for computer programming, reading and writing computer programs. As a rule of thumb, if something is mechanical, or plugs into power source, Engineering is the skill to use with it.

There is some degree of overlap between the two skills. Engineering skill could potentially be used to build a structurally sound raft for example. It may not be the best looking or most comfortable raft, but it will probably float just fine. Similarly, Craft can be used to open an electronic door lock, by simply cutting around it, and shorting the wires at random until something happens. As a general rule of thumb, in such cases the solution lacks the finesse and more of a temporary fix than a permanent solution.

Overcome: Engineering allows you to build, break, or fix machinery, presuming you have the time and tools you need. It can also be used to create computer programs. It can also be used to heal and repair robotic characters, such as the alien Moravecs.

Create an Advantage: You can use Engineering to create aspects representing features of a piece of machinery, pointing out useful features or strengths you can use to your advantage (Supercharged Battery, Finely Calibrated Gyroscopes) or a vulnerability for you to exploit.

Creating Crafts advantages can also take the form of quick and dirty sabotage or jury-rigging on mechanical objects in the scene. For example, you might create a Makeshift Pulley to help you get to the platform above you, open an electronic door lock and etc..

Defend: When on a ship with force fields, you may attempt to defend from attacks from enemy ships. To do so, you must first ensure your shields are at maximum combat capacity by routing power to them. Once that is done, you may use your Engineering skill to defend any Shoot attacks directed at your ship. This represents you modulating the field intensity to adapt to the incoming shots in order to deflect them.

Engineering Stunts

  • McGuyver: you can improvise and build simple gadgets or tools using things that just happen to be around (paper-clips, chewing gum and shoelaces for example). You always count as having the right tools for the job.

  • Computer Programmer: +2 to engineering rolls when programming, reading computer programs, or trying to solve problems using a computer.

Pilot Skill

Piloting a rocket ship is not an easy task. It requires a lot of special training and good grasp of orbital mechanics and how gravity fields and atmosphere affect a space craft. Because of this it is broken out into a separate skill from Drive which now pertains to non-flying vehicles only.

Pilot skill behaves similar to Drive

Overcome: Use Pilot whenever performing difficult maneuvers, such as trying to land on difficult terrain, weaving in between obstacles, trying to enter world’s atmosphere at a dangerous speed and etc…

Create Advantage: You can create an advantage for the Gunner by skillful maneuvering.

Attack: Pilot skill can be used to ram the enemy ship similar to the way Drive skill works.

Defend: You can use the skill to actively try to dodge the incoming attacks by performing evasive maneuvers.

Pilot Stunts

  • Dogfighter: gain +2 on active Defend rolls using the Pilot skill when in combat with a single enemy ship.

  • Push the Limit: you can withstand high acceleration better than the others. When your engines are overcharged you can out-run, overtake or shake off any ship of similar size as yours if you can make successful Pilot roll. The downside is that most of your crew will black out from high-G stress.

  • Stunt Pilot: gain +2 on Overcome rolls when performing difficult stunts such as barrel rolls.

  • Thread the Needle: gain +2 on Overcome rolls when flying the ship through extremely tight spaces.

Lore is now Education

Lore sounds a bit archaic or supernatural for this setting, so it was renamed. Education may refer to formal academic background, training or being self taught expert.

This is also the skill used for reading star charts, and plotting hyperspace jumps.

You can take Stunts to specialize in a specific field. For example:

  • Medical Doctor: +2 on Overcome or Create Advantage rolls pertaining to first aid, medical aid, or general knowledge of medicine and pharmacology.
  • Navigator: +2 on Overcome or Create Advantage rolls pertaining to hyperspace navigation, reading star charts and etc..

Zero Gravity

Your ship’s Life Support system has a built in artificial gravity support. This is true for most rocket ships, and as a result very few pace travelers ever need to learn how to handle themselves in zero gravity. It is a skill that only comes up when the on-board Life Support fails, or when a person needs to go outside of the spaceship to perform repairs.

For an average person, working without gravity is rather challenging. People tend to bump into walls a lot, get themselves stuck in a middle of the room, and tend to get disoriented or even nauseous.

In zero gravity all physical actions have a -2 penalty, regardless of skill level.

This penalty applies to all skills that have physical component, including Engineering and Pilot tasks. It does not apply to non-physical skills such as using Rapport or Empathy.

Player characters may take the following stand-alone stunt to represent their expertise as seasoned spacers.

  • Astronaut: ignore penalties for working in zero gravity.

Taking the above stunt gives a character access to a whole stunt family:

  • Space Walking: (requires Astronaut) gain +2 to Athlethic rolls while out of spaceship in vacuum of space.

  • Zero-G Combat: (requires Astronaut) gain +2 to any Fight rolls while in zero gravity.

  • Zero-G Marskman: (requires Astronaut) gain +2 to Shoot rolls when using personal side-arms in zero gravity.

Crew Roles

Crew roles listed below describe the jobs characters will have on the ship. The players should try to build their characters so that they can fulfil one, or several of these roles. You won’t need all of them, but it’s good to have at least few.

To run a ship effectively, you will need one character with Pilot skill, one with Engineering just to be able to take off and land. Computers and Navigation will be necessary to get between systems via Hyperspace. A crew without someone with a good Shoot skill will be in trouble if it runs into any ship-to-ship combat.

That said, if one or more players want to create off-beat characters that do not conform to any of the roles below, they can certainly do so. In such case, the crew should simply hire a number of NPC crew mates with the missing skills.

Please note that a Crew Role should not be used as your High Concept Aspect. It can however be used as a starting point. For example a Pilot may take "the best damn pilot in the Colonies" as their High Concept. This is not a requirement though. As a counter example, you may have a Captain who is a "scoundrel with a heart of gold" or a Gunner who is a "disgraced war hero".

Captain

As a Captain you are the leader of the crew. You represent your crew mates when interacting with others, and anything you say or do reflects on your crew and vice versa. It is your job to find new jobs, passengers, negotiate prices and ensure your ship is stocked with provisions for long trips.

While on planet, you are responsible for the conduct and actions of your crew mates. If they get in trouble, it is your job to appease the locals, talk to the authorities and make things right. During combat it is your job to negotiate with the hostiles, accept their surrender, or make the decision to concede in conflict to save your ship and your crew.

You are, by far, the most important member of the crew because you hired all the other crew members and you own the ship.

Important Skills:

  • Notice, Will, Rapport

Pilot

You are responsible for piloting the ship and making sure you take off and land in one piece. During combat, your skill may be called upon to doge incoming shots or to out-maneuver the enemy and create good firing situations.

You are, by far the most important crew member because without you, the ship will not fly.

Important Skills:

  • Pilot, Engineering, Education

Engineer

Your job is to maintain the ship, and repair it when it becomes damaged. You can be usually found calibrating the engines, tinkering with the hyperspace drive or making new modifications to the turret. Without you, the ship would fall apart. During combat, you will be routing power to various ship subsystems, and operating the Force Fields, deflecting enemy shots.

You are by far the most important crew member, because without you the ship would fall apart.

Important Skills:

  • Engineering, Crafts, Education

Gunner

You are the ship’s muscle. You are in charge of loading and unloading the cargo, making sure everything is strapped down tight, and prepared for the flight. You are handy in a bar fight, or street brawl. But it’s space combat when your skills really shine. You are a crack shot, both with a ray gun and with the heavy laser turret. You can alway line up a perfect shot.

You are by far, the most important crew member, because without you, they’d be sitting ducks to be plucked by Space Pirates.

Important Skills:

  • Shoot, Fight, Physique

The Ship

Your ship is Advanced Astronautics Dauntless 600 Interstellar Rocket Ship (AA D-600). It’s designated as a light cargo hauler / passenger carrier. Your ship was modified with a military issue Heavy Laser Turret installed in the Observation Deck.

The ship is a character that the players will create along side their characters.

When creating the ship:

  • Give it 3 aspects as to a regular character (High Aspect, Trouble and one aspect related to it’s past owner, or how the crew obtained it)
  • Leave space for two additional aspects to be gained during play
  • Assign the ship no skills or stunts. All rolls will depend on crew skills.
  • Give the ship Recharge of 2.
  • Give the ship 1 stunt that can be useful in combat, that makes this ship unique

The ship has two stress tracks:

  • Hull Stress works like physical stress for a character. Your ship starts with two boxes and may gain more.
  • Shield Capacity starts with two boxes.

The Shield stress track is to be used only when actively defending via Shields. If damage is taken in excess of Shield Capacity, the Shield is Taken Out for the remainder of the scene. It must cool off, and be re-calibrated before it’s used again, but no repair roll is necessary.

If shields are powered down, or in cruise mode when hit, you must use the Hull Stress track.

You can use this modified character sheet:

The ship may gain two additional aspects (to a total of 5) during game play.

During the game players may invoke the aspects of their ship by using the ship’s own FATE points.

Ship to Ship Combat

Ship to Ship Combat counts as Physical Conflict. Treat each ship involved in combat as a single character.

Use Cpatain’s Notice skill to determine the turn order, and break any ties by using Pilot’s, Gunner’s and then Engineer’s skill (in that specific sequence)

During each Exchange each crew member may perform one action. The following special actions affect the ship as a whole:

Create Advantage: Pilot may attempt to create an advantage over the enemy ship(s) by carefully maneuvering the rocket into an advantageous position. This should be rolled against the enemy pilot skill. A captain may also attempt to create advantage by observing the enemy ship via Lidar to find weak spots, maneuvering patterns that could be exploited.

Attack: the Gunner may use their Shoot skill to attack the enemy ship.

Defend: If attacked, the Pilot or the Engineer may use an appropriate skill to defend against an incoming attack. If Pilot chooses to Defend we call it Evading. If Engineer chooses to defend, we call it Blocking.

  • When Evading use Piloting skill to defend. If damage is taken, use Hull Stress track.
  • When Blocking use Engineering skill to defend. If damage is taken, use Shields Capacity stress track.

The Captain may also try to perform mental Attack actions using the Shortwave Radio. In that case, they will be rolling against the enemy Capitan, and the damage and consequences are applied to said character rather than the ship.

The Ship Systems

Your D-600 has an old, aging reactor, which does not yield enough power to run all the ship systems at the same time. To represent this, you can use the optional power management mini-game in ship-to-ship combat to make it more interesting.

Power management works as follows:

  • Ship’s reactor generates a fixed number of Power Points (PP) which should be represented by appropriate tokens
  • Each of the ship’s systems consumes a set number of PP per Exchange to operate
  • At the start of an Exchange all the tokens are placed on the Reactor system on the Ship’s character chart
  • Before any actions are declared, Engineers assign the tokens to ship systems in secret, then reveal them at the same time
  • From that point on the Exchange proceeds as normal, but systems that have not been assigned enough PP to meet their minimum, cannot be used

Overcharging: in order to perform stunts, relevant ship system must be supplied with extra power. Place an extra token on said system to pay for stunt use.

The resource management should only be used during Conflict resolution, and can be ignored during regular (boring) ship use, when the party just wants to get from point A to point B.

Atomic Reactor

Your D-600 is powered by a standard nuclear power source for that model. If the reactor is damaged, the ship is completely out of power and is considered adrift.

  • The reactor output: 8 PP per Exchange
Rocket Engine

The Rocket engine is used for normal space flight, take-offs, landing and docking operations. During combat, it is required to perform any actions that require ship to move or change position. It also allows to use the Pilot skill for Active defense against shots or ram attempts.

  • Minimum power required: 3 PP per Exchagne
Life Support

Life Support system covers air, water, waste recycling as well as artificial gravity on the ship. It requires a constant supply of power while the ship is in outer space, but can be temporarily disabled if PP are needed elsewhere.

The immediate consequence of disabling this system is that it cuts the artificial gravity. This means anything not strapped down starts to float and bound around. Crew members without the Astronaut stunt face penalties for working in Zero-G.

The long term effect is that ship’s air is no longer recycled, so the crew has about 20 minutes before they start suffocating.

  • Minimum power required: 1 PP per Exchange
Hyperspace Drive

Your D-600 is fitted with a standard Hyperdrive that allows you to perform hyperspace jumps. It has no obvious utility in combat, except for when the ship’s crew is trying to make a quick escape.

In a Conflict the Hyperdrive must operate for at least 4 consecutive Exchanges without interruption in order to successfully initiate a hyperspace jump. A Crew member must be assigned to operate and program in the course into it over that period and they may not do anything else. If they are interrupted, or the power is cut before the 4 Exchanges have elapsed then the process must be restarted from the beginning.

  • Minimum power required: 5 PP per Exchagne
Force Field

Force Field (also referred to as Shields) is mainly used for deflecting laser shots or space debris that would otherwise damage your ship’s hull. When the ship is Attacked, a Crew member operating the Force Field system (usually the Engineer) may use their Engineering skill to Defend from the attack.

If the Force Field is active, damage can be recorded on the Shields stress track, rather than on the Hull stress track.

The Force Field is also used during Hyperspace travel, but it can usually be run in low power mode where the drain on reactor is negligible. This feature has no combat utility and can be safely ignored (assume Shields are on while in Hyperspace at all times) unless the system is damaged.

  • Minimum power required: 3 PP per Exchagne
Med Bay

A small medical room is tucked into the corner of the Cargo Bay next to the Life Support systems. It contains a fully stocked medicine cabinet, surgical tools, one surgery table and three stasis chambers that can stabilize a patient in critical condition. The chambers may also be used to enter suspended sleep state if the Hyperdrive is broken and the ship is adrift.

In Combat the med bay can be shut off, unless you need the Stasis Chambers to be running: for example if transporting a patient in a critical condition.

If the power is cut, the chambers gracefully shuts down and wake up the patients. Each chamber can be connected to an external power supply, and placed on a dolly for transport to a hospital.

  • Minimum power required: 1 PP per Exchagne
Lidar

The AA D-600 has limited visibility out of the Bridge canopy and uses a Lidar array for sensor readings. Lidar works by illuminating targets with laser light and reading the reflected beams. It works like a sonar but can provide a lot more information and works at the speed of light.

Lidar is located on the Bridge and looks a bit like a bulky submarine periscope. It is typically used by the Captain who can use it’s readings to instruct the Pilot.

Lidar has two modes: passive and active. In passive mode it will detect any objects that generate or deflect light. It can also be used to detect heat from rocket engines, and systems. If a rocket shuts off it’s engines, and there is no nearby source of strong light (like a sun) it may be very hard to distinguish from a space debris.

In Active Scanning Mode the Lidar can be used to make long range scans by illuminating targets with various wavelengths of laser light. It can be used to identify the exact model of the enemy ship, see if it has active force fields, detect presence of a working reactor, scan for life signs and etc. When a ship uses Lidar in active mode it lights up like a Christmas tree and reveals ship’s position.

During combat, Lidar can be used to identify enemy weaknesses, and used for Create Advantage action.

  • Minimum power required: 1 PP per Exchagne in Active Scanning Mode
Shortwave Radio

Used for ship-to-ship or ship-to-planet communication. Uses standard analog radio wave and has rather limited range. Players will have to use to request permission to land or coordinate docking with another ship or space station.

All rooms have wired communications that require negligible power, and will work as long as the reactor is running. They do not depend on the Shortwave Radio subsystem.

In combat, the Radio is mainly used for Ship to Ship communication. If the Capitan wanted to Provoke the enemy Crew, this system would have to be on

  • Minimum power required: 1 PP per Exchagne
Ansible

Standard Ansible allowing for instant interstellar communication at roughly 3 Bytes per minute. It allows one to send a message to any other Ansible in the universe, provided you know it’s unique routing number.

Ansible must be powered on to send out messages. In combat assume you are able to send one written word per Exchange.

  • Minimum power required: 1 PP per Exchagne while Sending
Laser Turret

Military equipment, retro-fitted to work with D-600. It can sustain 3 second high intensity beam that can be used to damage another ship, clear space debris out of the way and etc.

The turret can be used once per Exchange. During combat it will almost exclusively be used to make Attack actions. It can also be used to Defend from a projectile weapon (eg. a torpedo) or to blast space junk or debris to Create Advantage. In all the above cases, the Gunner’s Shoot skill would be used.

  • Minimum power required: 4 PP per Shot

Ship Upgrades

The ship is expected to gain new Aspects and Stunts as the campaign goes by, and that is it’s main progression. Unlike characters, it does not have skills it could improve. The crew could however choose to upgrade some of the ship systems, or install new modules.

An obvious upgrade is a better reactor that generates few more PP per Exchange. Other possible upgrades to consider:

  • Better Force Field (add stress boxes to the Shields track)
  • Better Turret (add a Weapon Rating extra)
  • Armor Plating (add stress boxes to the Hull track)
  • A whole new Systems module with unique functionality

Eventually the Crew could even upgrade to a new ship with a new set of aspects and different module slots.

The Ship Decks

All decks are air tight, and connected via two hatches to the deck above and two hatches the deck below. The primary hatches are all aligned into a column that allow a person to freely climb up and down between decks. There are also maintenance hatches that are in different places (but clearly marked by hazard stripes). Maintenance hatches are usually closed while not in use. All hatches are sealed manually.

All rooms and sections within a deck can be sealed individually via air tight door. The seals on all doors are manual.

  • Deck 1: Engines – Sits on top of the rocket exhaust. Divided into Reactor Room and Engine Room. Reactor Room is sealed off, and accessible via a air-lock door and requires a radiation suit to enter. Engine room has the Engineering Station that allows the Engineer to shut down and power up ship systems at will. It also houses the Hyperdrive Engine.

    Systems:

    • Rocket Engines
    • Hyperspace Drive
    • Frorce Fields
    • Atomic Reactor

  • Deck 2: Cargo Bay – Used for storing hauled cargo. Also includes external air lock, automated ladder, and a crane system for pulling up large boxes off the ground. The crane must be operated by a crew member. The air-lock can be wide open when the ship has landed, but at all other times, only one set of doors can be open. The air-lock doors are automatic and controlled via a panel inside the Cargo Bay. There is a manual override on the outside which uses a gear box to close and seal inside door and open the outside door via a crank shaft. It is usually hidden behind a reinforced panel that requires a key carried by the Capitan. Within the Air Lock there are 3 lockers with one Space Suit each.

    Small section of the huge Cargo Bay space is sectioned off to house Life Support systems. The machinery simply did not fit in the Engie Deck. The emergency hatch to the Engineering Deck actually opens into the Life Support toom. Some Engineers like to keep that hatck open, and lock the Life Support room from the rest of Cargo Bay.

    Right next to the Life Support there is a tiny Med Bay with three stasis chambers. It was placed here to avoid taking sick crew up to the living quarters deck to minimize contamination. The room has a small air-lock entrance with a decontamination shower. There is a locker with a single hazmat suit outside.

    Systems:

    • Life Support
    • Med Bay

  • Decks 3: Living Quarters – Seven rooms for crew and passengers, connected by a common area in the middle. The common area has a small kitchen, large conference/dining table, as well as a shared restroom with a stall, sink and a shower.

  • Deck 4: Bridge – contains pilot station, Captain’s chair, and Lidar. The other half of the deck is the Observatory which was retro-fitted to house the Heavy Laser Turret which takes up most of it.

    Systems:

    • Lidar
    • Shortwave Radio
    • Laser Turret

  • Deck 5 – tip of the rocket. Houses the Ansible, the radio equipment and antennas. It also houses the Captain’s Cabin.

    Systems:

    • Ansible

Rockets

Rockets are iconic and important to the setting. Your D-600 is special and unique ship, because it belongs to your party. Similarly, important NPC ships may also have unique aspects and features. There are however going to be dozens of other ships you may encounter, which are not going to be important enough to warrant a character sheet.

Below you can find brief descriptions of popular ship models you might encounter during your adventures. Each model will have an aspect (in italics) and sometimes a stunt or an extra associated with it.

  • Enduring class ships are fast but cheep and not very durable.
  • Mercurial class ships have been built for speed and comfort, not for combat.
  • Dilligent class ship is a dependable workhorse favored by space merchants
  • Divergent class ships are light, well armed military crafts usually used by planetary defense or law enforcement (Weapon Class: 1)

  • Dauntless class ship may be slow and does not look like much, but its dependable
  • Intrepid class ships are cargo haulers that are built like race cars
  • Peerless class ship is a piece of junk that belongs in a museum

  • Falcon class ship was built for fast atmospheric dogfighting used for planetary invasions
  • Swift class ships are blindingly fast, hard hitting glass cannon and are mainly used as deep space interceptors
  • Wasp class ships are slow but steady, colonial workhorse used as military transports or cargo haulers (Armor Class: 1)

On average, even the slowest Arcturian saucer is more maneuverable than the fastest rocket. They do however are at a disadvantage in deep interstellar space where their anti-gravity engines can’t provide enough thrust.

  • Traveler class saucers are agile but fragile
  • Vanquisher class saucers are frighteningly maneuverable, light military warships
  • Observer class ship is sluggish for a saucer, but surprisingly tough and durable

Slag ships are heavily armored, and all have Armor Class: 1 unless specified otherwise.

  • Armadillo class ship is a flying fortress
  • Razorspine class ships bristle with weaponary
  • Thunderstrike ships are nothing but engines

Moravec ships have no Life Support or Artificial Gravity.

  • Moonstrider class ships are solid cargo haulers, with fragile landing struts
  • Stargazer class ships have vulnerable hull but powerful force field
  • Triton class ships are faster than they look, but not very maneuverable

Vegan ships have their Artificial Gravity turned down to a fraction of what Humans consider comfortable.

  • Starstrider class ship turns on a dime
  • Moonraker class ships have powerful engines, lots of weapons but little cargo space
  • Sunspot class ships are built for speed at the cost of armor

Other Technology

Computers

Computers do exist in this setting but they are huge, unwieldy and expensive machines that take up an entire room. They require high Engineering skill to operate properly.

Most computers are programmed via patch cables, or punch cards. A portable computer that will fit on a space ship, will take up almost entire upper deck, and will be programmed via patch cables and manual switches. Computers used in research facilities are almost universally punch-card driven.

Punch card decks (pictured above) are the default programming medium, while large magnetic spool tapes are used for data storage. Both can be used as McGuffins or objectives. Punch cards are portable but fragile. Messing up their order will destroy the program, unless the author took time to number the cards. A deck can be read directly and require at least a Fair (+2) or better Engineering roll.

Magnetic spools are about the size of a spare tire for a medium size passenger car, and weigh about as much. They require special hardware to read.

Ansible

Ansibles are used for instantaneous interstellar communication. They are able to transmit data at the constant, uninterrupted rate of 3 bytes per minute, regardless of distance.

A standalone Ansible is a machine about the size of a small work desk, that contains a teletype device with a keyboard. Typed text is buffered in temporary memory that can hold up to 256 Bytes of data. Received output is printed directly onto the paper spool.

Because of the limitations of technology, most Ansibles work in text only mode and are used much like telegraph was back in the day. There exist versions of this device that can be used as general purpose computer modems but they are much bigger and more expensive since they require much more buffering memory.

Ansibles are fairly simple to use, and do not require Computers skill to operate.

Space Suit

A standard space suit is made out of thin, flexible space age material that provides perfect thermo-regulation. It will protect you from the extreme cold of outer space, and can withstand the heat of a ray weapon. The material is stretchy and flexible, but very difficult to tear or puncture. Most modern space suits are thin and form fitting, but bulkier, multi-layer, old suits are still in use in some places.

Each suit comes with a reinforced glass bubble helmet that offers full peripheral vision, and a shoulder harness that mounts air tanks.

Most suits also come with a utility belt with array of pouches and a number of attachment points for tools or weapons. The helmet has a built in radio unit, with a very short range. It can be sued to communicate with the ship while working outside of it but it is very low powered and maximum range is only about 5 miles. The radio uses a battery is carried in a pouch attached to the belt, and it can sustain 20 minutes of continuous use which is usually enough for most space walks. The suit also has a small speaker on the front of the collar that can be also used for close proximity communication.

Each suit comes with a utility belt that has a pouch for the battery, a small length of elastic rope with few hooks and carbiners, a foldable multi-tool as well as patch kit that can be used to seal the suit if it’s torn, or fix cracks in the helmet.

Some space suits may have special features: for example protective ceramic plating, better radio, bigger tanks. A better suit should be taken as an Extra for a character.

Ray Gun

Ray guns are the most commonly used type of fire-arms. The gun itself is a small pistol, which is useless without the large battery pack to which it is attached by a coiled cable. The battery pack usually comes with a shoulder strap, and worn at the hip. Some space suits come with a dedicated mount for the battery pack.

When the user squeezes the trigger the gun starts emitting a laser beam until the trigger is released.

The battery pack has a few dials and switches which require at least Average Shoot skill to operate properly. The analog dials and switches allow the user to set beam intensity, power cap, automatic cut-off and etc. In game terms all of this is simplified to 3 settings:

  • Low – is a non-lethal setting. The beam can be sustained for up to 3 seconds and it will burn through clothing and damage electronic equipment but will not melt through solid walls. A person shot by a ray gun on Low settings will suffer nasty 3rd degree burns but won’t suffer major internal damage. A standard space suit can usually protect from one or two direct hits. Weapon Rating: -1

  • Medium – can be sustained for up to 2 seconds. Will burn a hole straight through flesh damaging internal organs. A person wearing standard space suit will suffer burns as if hit by a Low beam. It is possible to hit up to two people with the same beam if they are lined up, in which case the second person suffers damage as if hit by Low beam. Medium beam will damage electronics and machinery and will burn through wood, but won’t pierce metal or concrete walls. Space suits offer no protection, but ceramic armor does. Weapon Rating: 1

  • High – can be sustained for up to 1 second. High beam will burn right through metal and concrete. If shot on board of a space ship, it will likely cause a hull breach and decompression. It is possible to hit multiple targets, or targets behind cover by simply shooting right through them. Ceramic Armor offers adequate protection. Weapon Rating: 3

A battery pack has 60 units of power. Power usage depends on beam intensity:

  • Low Beam: 1 unit per second (60 pin point shots, 30 two seconds sweeps, 20 three second sweeps)
  • Medium Beam: 2 units per second (30 pin point shots, 15 two second sweeps)
  • High Beam: 5 units per second (12 pin point shots)

The gun will automatically cut-off when it starts to over-heat. Players with high Shoot skill may take Stunts that allow them over-heat the Ray Gun for longer sweeps, or additional effects.

Portable Radio

A battery powered, portable radio that can be used to communicate between a planet surface and a ship in orbit. The device weighs about 80lbs and has a battery that allows for about an hour of continuous use.

The ship should have at least one of these available in the Cargo Bay. The radio can be tuned to a number of frequencies, but should be pre-set on a channel that will connect it with the Ship’s radio array. Anyone who can overcome a Medicore difficulty Engineering test can tune it to another ship’s channel.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2016/03/08/rockets-and-rayguns/feed/ 3 Warmachine Resources http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/10/10/warmachine-resources/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/10/10/warmachine-resources/#comments Sun, 11 Oct 2015 00:28:39 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18695 Continue reading →]]> If you read my last post from few months ago, you probably know I’ve been quite broken up by the demise of my favorite miniature game. Fear not though, I’m ok now. I have fallen in love with another tabletop game. The death of Warhammer ended up being a good thing, because it shook up the local gaming scene, and allowed me to branch out and try new games. New, vastly more affordable games, with tight rules and supported by companies that care about their customers. Right now, for example, I’m really into Warmachine which is absolutely fantastic. I probably would have never gotten into if it wasn’t for the hilarious failure of Age of Sigmar, so thank you Games Workshop for opening up my eyes.

Getting into a new game, which has a vibrant community and great organized play support feels great. Last time I was this excited about tabletop wargaming was my freshman year in high school when I first discovered the hobby. Only now I’m a grown-ass adult with disposable income that I can irresponsibly piss off on plastic army-mans (an on a completely unrelated note, could you guys please click on the ads a lot this month, please?).

I figured I might as well put together a list of useful Warmachine (and general wargaming hobby) things for future reference. This is probably more for myself, so that I don’t forget where to find these things, but perhaps some of you will also find it useful.

Printable Warmachine Resources

Steamroller is the official Warmahordes tournament standard which provides rules and regulations specifically designed for tournament play. While all these rules are optional, they provide a set of 8 game scenarios which are incredibly well thought out and balanced. For example, Privateer Press noticed that in high level tournament play getting the first turn gave players significant advantage, which is why Steamroller scenarios use asymmetrical deployment zones to even the playing field.

PP updates the rules every year. Here are the links to the recent sets:

The 2015 Steamroller Scenario rules are also available as a neat set of printable cards:

Steamroller Scenario Cards

Steamroller Scenario Cards

Each scenario comes with a two sided card, and there are extra, single sided cards for Steamroller objectives on the back page.

Steamroller also uses concept of scoring zones that need to be clearly marked on the table. People use all kinds of different markers, but I’m kinda fond of these printable templates by Warmachine Masters.

Zone Templates

Zone Templates

In case they ever decide to take them down, here is a mirror:

I’m not entirely sure who make these fantastic Wreck Markers but I really love them. Print them out on a thicker paper, or glue them to a piece of cardboard and you are all set:

Printable Wreck Markers

Printable Wreck Markers

These are split into two files by factions:

Sorry Convergence players. No markers for you.

Finally, here are the official printable Warmachine templates:

These will work in a pinch, but you are definitely better off with the plastic set.

Markers and Templates

The official set of Warmachine tools and templates is fantastic:

As much as I love the large 5″ precise movement tool in the Quick Measuring Set. That’s the one that has X edges: one marked 5″ for checking Stealth range, one marked 3″ for checking LoS in the woods, one marked 2″ for Reach and one marked ½” for melee range. It is extremely useful, except for measuring movement distance when you play an army with basic MOV6.

I highly recommend picking up this one as well:

The long edge on this tool is 6″ which allows you to use it for movement without actually having to bust out your measurement tape. The remaining edges are 4″, 2″ and 1″ respectively. Between these two tools you should have all the short range measurements covered.

We’re currently also using these Warsen.al Acrylic Flag Templates for Steamroller scenarios:

Warsenal Flag Markers

Warsenal Flag Markers

They are mounted on 40mm bases which, apparently works both for Infinity and Warmachine. The flags are fantastic, and they really stand out on the battlefield. I highly recommend the orange tinted ones especially – they look striking on green felt table.

Sometimes you need some proxy bases, either for proxying a unit, or as an objective marker (if you don’t feel like modeling one). Here are a few good sources:

All of the above offer standard Warmachine/Infinity/Malifaux base sizes of 30mm, 40mm and 50mm. The Warsen.al bases are flat, transparent fluorescent proxies. The Wyrd bases are fully functional and can be used to base your models.

Papercraft Terrain

I’m not very good at making terrain. Recently however I discovered that it is entirely possible to set up a decent looking table with zero skill and limited resources using papercraft terrain. It is a perfect solution for wargamers with limited time and limited budget. Paper buildings, walls and streets are cheep, easy to assemble and look perfectly presentable on the battlefield. For example, for our recent Warmachine game we have assembled this small town square:

Papercraft Terrain

Papercraft Terrain

Roughly, 90% of what you see there was made out of paper. My favorite resource for papercraft buildings is probably Dave’s Games:

The site offers a few free buildings, but the better ones cost actual money, albeit not much. I purchased several, with no regrets. Most ship as layered PDF files, which allow you to pick and choose from a wide variety of wall textures and ornaments.

If you don’t have cash to throw around, Wizards of the Coast have a small collection of fantastic papercraft buildings for D&D here:

In the picture above we used the FPM Roads files to create the cobblestone streets.

Here is some more flat terrain you may want:

Game Tools

One of the best purchases I have made this year was this particular tool:

LoS Tool

LoS Tool

It is a laser pointer that projects a line onto the table. It is perfect for checking line of sight in a game such as Warmachine where you are not allowed to pre-measure distances and so can’t use measuring tape to check shot angles. I have seen similar tools marketed directly to wargamers sold for over $50, but I bought mine at a hardware store for less than $5:

As for measuring tape, I’m still using a good old Stanley Powerlock 33-210:

Stanley 33-210

Stanley 33-210

I actually bought it in 1995 to play Warhammer Fantasy, and have been using it ever since. The tape is showing signs of rust in places, but overall it continues working quite well. The damn thing is nearly indestructible.

I’m very fond of Jumbo Dice like these:

Jumbo Dice

Jumbo Dice

No, not for regular rolling during the game. I usually set three of these on the side of the table and use them for tracking the turn number, and victory points scored by each player.

Warmachine is a very dice efficient game. You will only ever need five or six dice, so I it is actually a good idea to invest in a nice, good looking set. A lot of players use the officially licensed Warmachine dice sets, but the readability on those vary depending on the faction. Cygnar dice set for example is pretty decent, but the Retribution set is awful. If you are standing across the table from someone using these, you literally can’t see what they rolled.

Currently I’m using a set of Chessex Frosted Dice (5 clear and one smoke for damage allocation) to go with my Retribution army. That said, I’ve been thinking of upgrading to a fancier set like one of these:

Getting a set of six would cost $30-40 which is incredibly expensive for dice, but the coolness factor of rolling metal or stone dice may possibly make it a worth while investment. That said, metal dice are pretty heavy and may rip up felt mats and chip paint of terrain pieces if rolled too hard.

The other thing every Warmachine player needs are card sleeves. Unless of course you don’t mind getting your cards getting damaged, and having to replace them every once in a while. At the moment I use these hard top loaders:

They are slightly over-sized, but Warmachine cards are thick enough to fit snugly and stay in place. If you buy these for Malifaux you will need clear sleeves, because their cards are much thinner and much sleeker which makes them slide out of these. The hard top-loaders provide great protection and the surface is perfect for writing on them with dry-erase markers.

Online Resources

One of my (many) favorite things about Warmachine is that Privateer Press provides their own army building tool called War Room. The basic tool is free, but you do have to buy card sets for the factions you play. The sets are priced reasonably, and they get updated automatically whenever PP publishes an errata, or adds new units via expansion. It also gives you damage tracking functionality, so you don’t even have to bring your cards to the game (and if you do bring them, you don’t have to draw on them).

Army Building Tools

Army Building Tools

At first I was a bit skeptical of the mobile only nature of this tool, but after using it for a while, I can’t imagine living without it. Especially since it lets me list-craft anywhere, at any time as long as I can get to my phone.

For those who prefer more traditional approach, there is always Forward Kommander:

It is a third party tool and it allows for basic list building. It will also print out nice damage grids on paper. Unfortunately it is hampered by the fact that it’s someone’s hobby project, and so you often have to wait a while for new units to be added after an expansion comes out.

Hobby Tools

Finally, last but not least here are some of the tools I use to assemble and paint my miniatures. Despite being a long time Warhammer player, I never really liked their hobby tools. Their brushes are garbage, and their tools are way to expensive for what they do.

Hobby Tools

Hobby Tools

The most useful tool I have bought recently is the Xuron Spure Cutter. This tool does not necessarily get that much work done when working with Warmachine minis (which are metal, or resin that’s cut off the spure prior to packaging) but it is absolutely essential if you play stuff like Malifaux.

The difference between this tool, and your average hardware store set of pliers is that it is almost entirely flat rather than angled allowing for precise cuts where it matters.

The tool that does see a lot of use with Warmachine minis is a seam scraper:

I find that it offers better control than an exacto knife blade, and removes the risk of cutting in too deeply, or chopping off some important detail if your hand slips.

When it comes to brushes, lately I’ve been using Windsor & Newton Series 7 among other things. Here are some brushes I recommend if you need some new tools:

What are your favorite brushes and tools? Do you play Warmachine or any other war game right now? Care to share any resources? Let me know in the comments.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/10/10/warmachine-resources/feed/ 3 Age of Sigmar and the End of Warhammer http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/07/04/age-of-sigmar-and-the-end-of-warhammer/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/07/04/age-of-sigmar-and-the-end-of-warhammer/#comments Sun, 05 Jul 2015 00:39:49 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18659 Continue reading →]]> As you may know I’m a huge fan of Warhammer Fantasy Battles table top game. I have written about it on more than one occasion and I made a tiny web service allowing you to print custom paper movement trays / proxy sheets. I own not one, not two, but three armies for the game. That’s easily hundreds of dollars worth of miniatures. More if you consider most of my dwarfs are classic Marauder models that have been out of production for over two decades now. I have been playing the game since around 1995. I started with the 4th edition and I am no stranger to the changes in the game mechanics and balance. I endured the 5th edition Hero Hammer power escalation, and the subsequent global nerf and rule reset in the 6th. The most recent 8th edition has turned to be the last one.

RIP Warhammer Fantasy

RIP Warhammer Fantasy, 1983-2015. Never forget.

During the massive and aptly named End Times campaign, Games Workshop officially destroyed the Warhammer Fantasy universe. And no, that’s not a metaphor: the campaign literally ended in gigantic magic battle that resulted in the annihilation of the entire universe. But some gods did some magic stuff, and the universe would be reborn after the cataclysm. Only it would be new and different. This was supposed to allow Games Workshop to shake up the 23 year old setting, add new factions, create new alliances and do some clever re-branding (GW was always upset they could not trademark words like Elf, Dwarf or Empire). The 9th edition of the game was supposed to be all new and all different which was… Intriguing. As much as I bemoaned loss of two decades of lore and world building efforts, I was rather interested to see the brand new setting. Especially since I never used any special characters in my armies. My collection was not strictly bound to the Old World lore, and could be easily ported to the new setting if needed.

Dark Elves

Part of my Dark Elf Army. Still unpainted.

Unfortunately, the 9th edition never came. Instead, Games Workshop released a brand new, skirmish game called Age of Sigmar. The new game looks and plays entirely different from the venerable twenty year old Warhammer Fantasy. For one, it eschews the concept of unit block. In WFB the models used square bases (usually 25mm to the side) so that they could be arranged in ranks and columns. Square or rectangular blocks of roughly 20-60 troops would move together as one entity. You would usually place the entire unit on an appropriately sized movement tray and then slide the trays across the table. The units could perform wheel maneuvers to turn, or reform to change the number of ranks or do an about face. Age of Sigmar threw all of that out. It uses round bases and all models move individually, though units should stay in 1″ cohesion if they are able to.

Games Workshop did provide Age of Sigmar rules for all the Warhammer Fantasy models they currently sell in their online store. That said, all the game mechanics were re-tooled to focus on individual models, and low model count battles. Templates and guess range weapons are gone. All ranges were shortened to support smaller, more spread out armies. For example, Dwarf cannons in the 8th had a maximum effective range of up to about 70″. The same model under Age of Sigmar rules can only shoot 32″ and is vastly less effective.

The game replaces the 8th edition, but it does not seem to be interested in actually being a replacement of any sort. Instead it seems to be positioned to compete with with Privateer Press Warmachine (another low scale, low model count fantasy skirmish game) rather than with Mantic Games Kings of War (which focuses on unit blocks like WFB did). The new starter set has less than 20 models to the side, with powerful heroes being the main focal point of the battles and rank and file troops being just a filler. There is a dedicated Hero Phase in which powerful characters trigger their signature abilities. This is very similar to Warmachine which focuses on powerful Warcasters and their magically powered, clockwork Warjack machines – of which you only ever field a handful. Both games seem to favor small engagements with few powerful models on the table.

Warmachine

This is a legal Warmachine starter army. That’s all the models you need.

But Age of Sigmar can’t hope to compete with Privateer Press product (save maybe on model quality or pricing), because Warmachine is designed from ground up to be a competitive tournament game. It has balancing mechanics that ensure opponents will always play with equally powerful forces. WFB had a similar mechanic. Age of Sigmar has none. The rulebook for the game which is four pages long, and available as a free download from the GW website specifically encourages players to bring any models they want. There are no point costs, no unit size limits, no limits on optional upgrades. The only limit is how much you are willing to spend on the miniatures. The only balancing mechanic is the fact that the player who is outnumbered by 30% gets to pick a victory condition.

But that rule in itself seems inconsistent and easy to abuse, since you compare forces on raw model count, even though models are not equal in power. For example a player fielding 5 of the brand new, vastly overpowered medieval Space Marines accompanied by 3 special characters, each riding a dragon will be outnumbered by someone fielding a single unit of 10 rank and file goblins with no characters. Horde armies such as Skaven or Goblins that in the past relied on superior numbers to offset relatively weak core troops are now punished for fielding large armies. On the other hand players who field few special characters and no troops at all are rewarded.

If you wanted to make a small local tournament in WFB you could put out a flyer or a poster that said something like: “1,500pts, no special characters, no magic items over 50pts” and it would force people to bring balanced, characterful armies built around core units. The players would have to figure out how to build forces of specified size that leveraged the strengths of their chosen army while at the same time minimizing its flaws. They would have to think about unit positioning, protecting their flanks, synergies between units and leaders and etc.. In Age of Sigmar this is no longer possible. Since there is no point costs and no size limits on units, it is impossible to ensure any kind of balance.

Allegedly there exist these top secret, unofficial basic balancing rules released by disgruntled GW game developers through back channels, but even those don’t help much:

To put it simply, Age of Sigmar is not a competitive tournament game. Which would be fine, if that was it’s only flaw. I’m not much of a competitive player myself, and I much prefer casual play with friends than tournament play with strangers. But I do like game balance and structure, as much as I like my ranked up unit blocks and my movement trays. And I would like an option to play a tournament from time to time if I wanted to. Age of Sigmar does not support that. But if GW wanted to make a game that is strictly casual and non-competitive and friendly then so be it. Unfortunately the game is not designed to be either friendly or inviting.

Games Workshop products and lore has always been a tad problematic. Back in the day the Warhammer lore included monsters whose reproductive cycle involved kidnaping and rape. Their sculptors always had issues creating female models without objectifying and sexualizing them. But those were minor problems compared to the new rule set.

Age of Sigmar is a game that throws away the idea of good sportsmanship out the window and encourages players to hurl insults at each other in order to receive mechanical bonuses:

Yep, making the environment hostile, uncomfortable and facilitating abuse and bullying is a codified game mechanic. Abso-fucking-lutely brilliant, GW. good luck marketing this particular warscroll to parents whose children want to get into the war gaming hobby. Especially since the streamlined, simplified, non-competitive rule set definitely skews younger.

There is another rule that encourages players to give and accept bribes in exchange for in-game effects. Because adding a gambling mechanic into a core rule set is a splendid idea that will never actually backfire:

Some rules are simply straight up sexist. Anyone who can’t or simply does not want to grow a mustache can’t use this rule:

I can see this particular rule being used by players to body shame younger boys for not having enough body hair, or young girls for having some fuzz on their upper lip. Because making someone feel like shit about their own body is awesome, and sportsman like, is it not?

Some rules are just plain goofy. Bretonian players for example can get mechanical bonuses for rising a cup into the air, and screaming out a catchphrase:

Others are genuinely mean spirited, encouraging players to straight up mock people who suffer from mental illness:

I get what they were trying to do with these rules. They were trying to encourage players to have “fun” with their games. But you can’t codify fun as a game mechanic. People scream Blood for the blood god! when charging not because they will get a buff, but because its fun, silly and spontaneous thing to do. Codifying it as a mechanic makes it forced and awkward. Doubly so if the game tells you to do something you are not comfortable with: like insulting your friend, or mocking insanity. It is one thing to have a “mad count” type character in the lore, it is a whole other thing to encourage players to “pretend to be a crazy person”. It’s uncalled for, and it ignores the fact many Warhammer players may personally know people who struggle with mental illness, or may have one themselves.

It amazes me that no editor realized that these rules might not only be upsetting, but even damaging to the Games Workshop brand. But that’s sort of my general impression of the entire rule set. It seems to be hastily put together without much oversight. Its like none of these rules were play tested, or focus tested to see how they will perform in the field.

Many people are really excited for this new game. Folks in my Twitter feed and on reddit are already posting pictures of their models on round bases, and writing up first battle reports. Sadly, I don’t share their enthusiasm. Age of Sigmar is not for me. I like the WFB focus on unit blocks and core troops, I like my movement trays, I don’t like powerful hero characters that dominate the battlefield. I like balance and structure, and building armies using a spreadsheet and a calculator. The new rules do nothing for me. They are overly simplistic, and too goofy to be taken seriously. I also don’t feel comfortable playing or endorsing a game which encourages players to insult each other or mock mental illness.

Most of people in my gaming group share these opinions, so we will be sticking to the good old 8th edition. While it isn’t perfect, it is pretty damn good and we enjoy it. It’s sad that it won’t be supported by Games Workshop anymore. This means that it will be more difficult for use to replace damaged rulebooks, and near impossible to convince new players to join the hobby. But the bittersweet takeaway from all of this is that Age of Sigmar means Games Workshop won’t be able to ruin the mostly well balanced and sound 8th edition rule set. We can continue playing the game as it exists right now, without worrying about rule changes, power creep, getting our favorite units nerfed and etc..

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/07/04/age-of-sigmar-and-the-end-of-warhammer/feed/ 23 What does it mean to be a gamer in 2015? http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/06/24/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-gamer-in-2015/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/06/24/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-gamer-in-2015/#comments Wed, 24 Jun 2015 19:37:25 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18631 Continue reading →]]> Do you consider yourself a gamer? What does it mean to be a gamer? I submit it means absolutely, fucking, nothing.

There was a brief period in history when this term kinda made sense, as it described those who played video games, as opposed to majority of the population who did not. It also made sense to pretend we actually have something in common due to the fact we enjoy video games back when there was a legitimate threat that government might actually ban this form of entertainment. We felt kinship to each other, because we felt we had a common enemy: a gray haired, conservative lawyer who later got himself disbarred. But that was then.

Gamer

This may represent you… Unless you are a PC gamer. Or use a different console.

Today the term gamer is useless because everyone plays video games and the game industry has gotten so huge and profitable that there is no threat of it ever going away. Take five random gamers and put them in a room, and chances are they won’t have much to talk about other than recent releases or upcoming games. Let’s do a quick thought experiment: imagine the following 6 people who can all be classified as “gamers”.

  • Person A: likes Call of Duty, Battlefield and MADDEN.
  • Person B: likes Civilization, Total War series and obscure turn based strategy games.
  • Person C: likes Dreamfall, Gone Home and Life is Strange.
  • Person D: plays League of Legends almost exclusively.
  • Person E: runs a big corporation in Eve Online
  • Person F: buys all those weird train simulator games on Steam

I made these examples up, but you know that folks like that exist. Think about what all these different people get out of the gaming hobby? Notice how completely different their favorite games are. How broad the spectrum of experiences gaming offers for all kinds of different folks from different paths of life? What do these six individuals have in common? The fact that they consume interactive media using a computer or a dedicated gaming console. That’s about it.

Some Gamers

Just some gamer type folk at this years E3 (via digitaltrends.com E3 photo coverage)

How do we even define who is a gamer? If we say gamer is someone who plays and enjoys video games then this covers almost everyone alive today. This includes your grandma who loves her some Candy Crush on the iPad she got for her 90th birthday. If this is the case, then the term is pretty much meaningless. Why do we even need it? It would actually be more useful to have a term for people who still don’t play video games since they would be a minority.

Elderly Gamer

Pictured here: a gamer. (via Debra Husz)

There is this notion, that the definition of the term gamer should be more narrow and constrained. Younger generations for example don’t consider “grown-ups” like parents, teachers or the elderly to be “real” gamers. So is gaming a youth culture thing then? Not necessarily. Teenage Jocks who exclusively play sports games with their bros are as likely to get declared to be non-gamers as teenage girls who spend most of their time typing in descriptive emotes into WoW chat on a slow role playing server.

Some argue that to be a gamer you have to play a certain kind of games. So someone who likes “walking simulators” and adventure games is excluded. Except, perhaps if they like the right kind of adventure games, like Monkey Island or Day of the Tentacle or the right Sierra games. Someone may tell you that a person who only owns a WiiU console and uses it as a primary gaming machine is not a true gamer. Except maybe if they are a huge fan of the correct Zelda and Mario games which are the right kinds of classic games to like. Wherever you draw the line, there are always special exclusions.

Some say that gamers are people who are passionate about the industry, who follow the gaming news and are active in online gaming communities. But that does not seem right either. Folks such as Anita Sarkesian or Leigh Alexander for example are extremely passionate, and very active online, and yet some adamantly claim they are not and cannot be gamers. Same goes for women who spend months crafting elaborate cossplay costumes and go to gaming conventions and conferences dressed up as their favorite video game characters. There is a lot of gate-keeping that allows some people to be “gamers” just because, while at the same time requiring others to have legitimate and “ideologically pure” motives to even want to aspire to that term.

Gamer

Pictured here: gamer who is passionate and opinionated about her hobby.

What it boils down to is that the term “gamer” is basically used to denote “people who are like me, and who like the same things as I do” as opposed to the others. People who like the wrong kind of games, wrong kind of consoles, or express the wrong kinds of opinions about the games you like are not gamers. Or maybe they are gamers with an asterisk: casual gamers, fake gamer girls, game-bros, posers, etc.. And whether you are in or out of this exclusive club changes from group to group. You might self-identify as a gamer, but whether or not you will be accepted as one outside of your immediate social circles may very much depend on random attributes like the type of games you enjoy, the type of console you own, how closely you follow the industry gossip, your race, your gender, your political views, and etc. In other words, it’s completely arbitrary. It’s basically synonym for “my gaming buddies” or “the folks from my favorite gaming board”.

Gamers of sorts

True gamers wear rainbow collored trilbies. All others are casuals.

So the definition of the term is either so broad it’s meaningless, or so narrow and arbitrary it is useless. There is no such thing as “gamer identity” or “gamer culture” because no one can agree on what these things could be. And any group who thinks they know what true gamer culture is, simply narrowed down the definition of the term gamer to conveniently exclude everyone who disagrees. Gaming is mainstream, and so by definition gaming culture is mainstream culture. Gamer is someone who consumes games. Gamer is a consumer of a product. What kind of identity is that?

Note how other media forms don’t have an equivalent term. There is no word for people who watch movies, read books, listen to music or enjoy art. Terms such as bibliophile, audiophile or film buff have an entirely different connotation. We use them to describe connoisseurs with refined tastes and deep knowledge of the medium. But people who are connoisseurs of gaming, and want to analyze games as works of art, dissect their themes and discuss their issues are frequently labeled as outsiders who don’t get “gaming culture” and can’t enjoy a good game. People who are the most vocal about their “gamer identity” don’t see themselves as medium’s experts. They self-identify as non-discerning, uncritical hyper-consumers.

Film Buff

Pictured here: a film buff. (via Brows Held High)

That’s not necessarily something to be proud of or something to aspire to. But it gets worse. In recent years the term gamer started to accumulate even more, derogatory connotations. Yes, I’m aware that in the past some people might have used “gamer” as a drop in replacement for “nerd” when they wanted to be insulting. You could argue that it was always somewhat derogatory. This is different though. These days people who love games, and are passionate about gaming related things are reluctant to label themselves as gamers, because the term has been tainted.

Not only does it describe indiscriminate hyper-consumer but it also stands for toxic, entitled behavior that has always been the bane of gaming communities. Gamers are the angry teenagers shouting slurs, obscenities and threats into voice chat. Gamers are entitled biggots who thing gaming should be a safe space for white males where they can be sexist, racist and homophobic without fear of getting called out on it. Gamers are the people who demand to debate feminists critics and insist on lecturing them about journalistic ethics. Gamers are people who are too busy making seven hour log Youtube vlogs about “Cultural Marxism” and spamming Twitter hashtags with anime porn to actually play any video games. Granted, not everyone thinks this way. But more and more people realize you can be passionate about video games without being a gamer. Especially if large online communities don’t consider you a gamer, and seek to exclude you.

Massive Asshole

Gamers are this fucking asshole in the background who probably thinks he is hilarious.

Here is the thing though: even if a bunch of entitled manchildren decrees you do not fit their arbitrary definition of what it means to be a gamer, it does not prevent you from playing games or talking about them online or offline with like minded people. Because, again, gaming is mainstream now. There are more and more gaming publications targeted at more discerning consumers, connoisseurs and people who want deeper analysis. AAA publishers are slowly realizing they can actually sell games to demographics other than entitled white male teenagers and college students. As reasonable people simply stop identifying as “gamers” (but rather as, say, game enthusiasts) and disassociate themselves from “gaming culture” whatever that might be, the concept of what it means to be a gamer changes for worse. In such an environment being a gamer is all about performing the right behaviors, and adhering to the right stereotypes. It is about perpetuating the toxicity, aggressively policing those who step out of the line, and extensive gate-keeping.

The meaning is slowly shifting from “person who has acceptable opinions about the games I like and is not member of a group I hate” to “insufferable jerk whom I already blocked on Twitter”.

How will gamers be remembered 20 years from now? Likely as bunch of entitled, angry internet assholes. In fact, it’s entirely possible that the inevitable Simpsons reboot will replace the annoying comic book guy with smug gamer dude whose catchphrase is going to be “actually, it’s about ethics…” Because, lets face it – being a know-it-all fan of comic books is not going to be weird for people that don’t remember a time when Marvel and DC did not dominate Hollywood. Being super smug and weird about liking ultra-popular AAA games that everyone likes on the other hand. That’s actually rather comical.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/06/24/what-does-it-mean-to-be-a-gamer-in-2015/feed/ 3 Witcher 3 and Diversity http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/06/04/witcher-3-and-diversity/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/06/04/witcher-3-and-diversity/#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2015 14:50:21 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18587 Continue reading →]]> Witcher 3 is a fun game. It is also a game almost exclusively about white people. There are white humans, white elves, and white dwarfs with Scottish accents, and about a hundred different types of monsters that come in all shapes, sizes and colors of the rainbow. While playing the game you will encounter many Noonwraiths, Neckers, Drowners, Luberkin, Ghouls, Fiends or Warewolfs but you will not see a single person of color. Game critics picked up on this, because it’s 2015, so of course they would. Very predictably bunch of “gamers” jumped to defend it pointing out that game is based on “Slavic mythology” and that complete lack of people of color is somehow “historically accurate” seeing how the setting is supposed to resemble pre-Christian Poland.

As an actual Slavic person, who was born and grew up in Poland, I feel that I should chime in here.

Witcher 3 does not contain any people of color not because of “mythology” or “history” or “book lore” but most likely because CD Project Red never even considered adding non white characters to their game. They literally forgot that non-white people even exist, which is something that happens when you are a white person, living in predominantly white culture, and consuming predominantly white media. You can literally spend a few years making a cool video game, designing awesome monsters, and interesting characters, and not even once consider giving one of them a darker skin color. Folks who made the game not evil racists (at least I don’t think they are), they just happened to do a thing that white people very often do, which is to ignore everyone that does not look like them. By doing so they contributed to erasure of non-white people in the industry. Witcher 3 is yet another game that features exactly zero people of color. This is a problem.

Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt

It may not be a problem to you, but it is one to many, many people who love and enjoy video games. If you don’t understand why it is a problem to them, or why they would like to see themselves represented in their media… Well, you are a part of the problem.

If Witcher 3 was the only game released this year which was found lacking with respect to race and representation, we would not be having this discussion. But it is not. It is a part of a cultural trend that extends beyond video games and into all popular media we consume. It’s an issue that is bigger than video games.

Because of that, criticism that calls game devs out for lacking diversity it is valid, and constructive. This is something we most definitely should be talking about in reviews, so that CD Project Red (and the industry as a whole) can improve. After all, the dev team did not fail out of menace, but out of ignorance. And the only way to combat ignorance is to make people aware of these issues. Defending the lack of diversity in the game citing “mythology” or “historical accuracy” is incredibly silly and disingenuous.

Firstly, Polish/Slavic mythology isn’t really a thing.[1] You can’t talk about it in the same way as you talk about Norse mythology or ancient Greek or even Egyptian mythology. There is no concrete body of mythological lore you can print in a book and use as a game setting.[2]

The ancient Slavic people that roamed central and eastern Europe territories that we now recognize as Poland left virtually no written records. Most of their religious beliefs, customs, rituals and stories have been very successfully erased from history by the efforts of the Catholic Church. For example, there is no such thing as a Slavic people’s version of the creation myth. Doubtlessly such a myth must have existed, but we have no knowledge of it. It was lost to history.[3] While we know of a handful of Slavic gods that were worshiped, most of what we know about them is based on conjecture based on analysis of the precious few stone and wooden idols that were not smashed or burned by the Inquisition, and church records.

In fact, most of what we know about the religious customs of the day has been sourced from notes of Christian monks about three or four hundred years after the last Polish pagans have died. The same monks who have been actively suppressing that very knowledge for more than a few centuries. There are scant few bits and pieces of folklore that has survived to this day via oral traditions, customs. Some are enduring part of Polish culture to these days. But even those those were scrubbed and sanitized over the ages loosing much of their original meaning and significance. So anyone telling you that Witcher 3 is based on actual Slavic mythology is full of shit. We literally know more about the religion and myths of fictional land of Westeros than those of very real, pre-Christian Poles.

Monsters not in Slavic Mythology

Things that are not authentic Slavic mythology: dwarfs, elves, witchers and whatever the fuck that horned thing is.

Yes, some of the names of the monsters in the game are indeed based on Slavic, and more specifically Polish folklore. But the rest is almost entirely made up. The Witcher novels on which the game is based are pretty standard Fantasy with some “domestic” themes and folklore thrown in. In fact, A. Sapkowski’s entire shtick for early Witcher stories was to take a classic fairy tale (more often something from Grimm Brother’s rather than from actual Slavic folklore), apply 90’s style “edgy” filter by making everyone curse like a sailor, have the Witcher blunder into the mess and then reveal the good guys are actually the bad guys at the end. The books are standard Fantasy pulp, with very standard Fantasy elves and dwarfs imported directly from Tolkien. Geralt’s story arc pivots around fairy tales and trope subversions to ultimately fall into an Arthurian heroic archetype. Sapkowski swims in anachronisms and constantly winks at the readers to the point of breaking the fourth wall.

Also, Witchers, mutated monster slayers with super powers are not, and never have been part of Slavic mythology. Or any mythology for that matter. They are entirely made up by A. Sapkowski who, could easily trademark the term “witcher”, if he has not done so already.

Coincidentally he said pretty much the same things about Polish mythology in an essay he Publihsed in 1992:

Andrzej Sapkowski, Piróg alboNie ma złota w Szarych Górach, Berlin, November 1992

Andrzej Sapkowski, Piróg alboNie ma złota w Szarych Górach, Berlin, November 1992

Witcher 3 pedigree is as much D&D, pulp fantasy and Tolkien as it is Slavic mythology. Sapkowski never intended it to be held up as a celebration of Slavic mythology. He was mainly interested in writing interesting story, with interesting setting and cool characters. You can read the rest of the essay (in Polish) on Scribid.

So please, spare me the whole “based on Slavic mythology” excuse, because it is bullshit.

The argument from “historical accuracy” is also moot and void, because the game does not take place in a historical period, but in an entirely imaginary setting. But if we wanted to be sticklers about it and say it is supposed to be “based on” Poland as it existed at some point in time (but, you know, with elves, and werewolfs and drowners) it still would not make sense. As I mentioned above, we don’t know much about Polish history prior to year 966, when pagan chieftain Mieszko I was baptized and crowned by the Roman Catholic Pope. This was a shrewd political move as it legitimized Poland as an official Christian nation, and meant our western neighbors could no longer try to annex our territories in the name of “spreading the faith”. The story of Mieszko is literally page one of our official history as a nation. We really don’t know all that much about our pagan ancestors. We do know that Slavic people did travel and traded by sea and by land, and not just with their immediate neighbors because that’s what you do when you are in Europe.

Józef Brandt

Painting by Polish artist Józef_Brandt depicting the scene from a Polish-Ottoman war.

Poland, as you may be aware is not some lonely island in the middle of a Pacific ocean where it would be isolated from other cultures . It is a country smack dab in the middle of the big cultural melting pot that is Europe. At the height of it’s power, Polish and Polish allied territories stretched from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Poles traded with, and warred with the Ottoman Empire, Tartars, Mongols and etc.. Polish medieval fashion was full of Eastern or Southern influences. The staple of Polish nobleman attire were ornamental silk belts, and Winged Husars (elite cavalrymen) would adorn their armor with leopard pelts. Neither silk nor leopards are native to Poland, but these materials were imported from Asian and African nations. That means traders, scholars, political envoys… Not to mention that Polish territories also have always had sizable population of Roma people.

I have not noticed it at first, but others pointed out that the map of Witcher 3 universe is essentially a map of Poland rotated in such a way as to specifically erase the neighboring regions that had significant non-white population:

The world of The Witcher books and novels is most emphatically not just the world of Poland. Great swaths of the third game take place in Nilfgaard, the plain-as-day Holy Roman Empire analogue. The Northern Kingdoms are rather obvious as the fragmentary kingdom of Poland before the time of Casimir the Great in the fourteenth century, although individual kingdoms like Temeria have strong flavor from other medieval monarchies like France. There is even a group of islands to stand in for the kingdom of Denmark! The Witcher is Polish, but it is definitely peddling a vision of neo-medievalism that encompasses the greater part of Europe. And, at least for me, what is the most striking aspect of the map? Well, it’s been rotated ninety degrees counter-clockwise and cropped so that Poland’s eastern and southern neighbors functionally exist no longer. It’s just fuckin’ deserts and mountains there, move along. That means no Huns, no Avars, no Magyars, no Pechenegs, no Khazars, no Cumans, no Turks, no Mongols, and no Ottomans can have analogues here, none of the nomadic peoples of color who shaped the face of medieval and modern Europe. That’s really weird, isn’t it? A history of Poland without Hungary or the Golden Khanate is unimaginable to me, yet here it is, and people are defending it as “historically accurate,” whatever that means.

Granted, the world was not designed by CD Project Red. This particular bit can probably be entirely blamed on Sapkowski, and as an author he has the right to set up his world any way he likes. But people defending the game using “historical accuracy” should probably note how the map was manipulated to specifically exclude a number of Poland’s neighbors.

Literally Polish Knights

Winged Hussars, Polish elite heavy cavalry. Note the leopard and tiger pelts.

My point is that if you wanted to include a non-white person in a story set in Poland at any point in history, it would take a minimal amount of research to come up with a believable, and historically “accurate” back story for that character. In fact, this works for just about any region or time period in medieval Europe. Observe:

Q: How do we get Morgan Freeman into a Robin Hood story?
A: IDK, crusades or something.

Done. It makes sense (just as much as anything in Robin Hood story would), is historically plausible, and does not really require complex explanation. It’s literally that simple.

But, once again, the world of Witcher 3 is not historical Poland. You don’t really even need a plausible explanation. If CD Project Red wanted to be even a little bit diverse, they could totally do it. Perhaps by including some traders from the tropical Zerrikania that is mentioned but never described it in much detail in the books. Or maybe some people who live in Southern parts of Nilfgraad Empire happen be brown and some of them become soldiers in the army that is now occupying the Northen territories? Because, why not?

Someone could argue that this would be breaking with the so called “book lore”, but would it be though? The developers of the game already had to take many liberties with the source material when they translated and packaged it for English speaking audiences. For example, all the Dwarfs in the game have Scottish sounding accents. Why is that? Well, mainly because of Peter Jackson’s portrayal of Gimli I assume. Sapkowski never specified that his Dwarfs sound vaguely like Scots because in his books they do not. They all speak Common, a language which just happens to sound like Polish because Common languages in fantasy setting always happen to sound like whatever the fuck language the story is written in. It’s a fantasy trope.

But when the voices for the characters were recorded, the development team made an arbitrary choice to make Dwarfs sound one way and not another. There have been plenty of other arbitrary choices made to fill in the gaps, or flesh out things that were not described in much details in the book. Sapkowski never really said that all of his characters are intended to be white. Some characters are described as fair skinned or pale, but nowhere in the books does it say that everyone is. So would making a character whose ethnicity and skin color are never mentioned to be non-white a bigger departure from the source than say… Giving Geralt a plot induced amnesia and having him wander through the world, having weird non-cannon adventures in between the books. You know, like CD Project Red have been doing since their first Witcher game?

So please, stop using my culture and heritage to try to validate your own prejudices. As an actual Pole, and someone who read the Witcher novels before the games introduced them to English speaking world, I can tell you that I would not mind seeing people of color depicted in that universe. It would not somehow devalue my culture or heritage to see non-white people in the game loosely based on the beliefs and folklore of my homeland.

If you do mind, and the very idea of people of color existing in a setting based on our culture and folklore offends you for some reason, then that’s entirely on you.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/06/04/witcher-3-and-diversity/feed/ 50 Mad Max: Fury Road http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/05/25/mad-max-fury-road/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/05/25/mad-max-fury-road/#comments Mon, 25 May 2015 23:07:21 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18566 Continue reading →]]> You don’t need me to tell you to go watch Mad Max: Fury Road. You have probably already seen it twice, and even if you didn’t you have likely read a dozen of glowing reviews. There is little I can say here that would change your mind about it. In a way this is probably the shortest and simplest movie review I have ever had to write. Which is why I’m about week late with publishing it. I have been trying to figure out what to say about it, but all that comes to mind is: “go see it”.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Mad Max: Fury Road Poster

Usually when I leave the theater I have a list of complaints about the movie I just saw, but when I was done watching Fury Road I had none. It is a perfect fusion on old school, 80’s era action cinema, modern special effects and stunt work and progressive, modern storytelling. It is a movie about women who overthrow a literal patriarchy told as an extended car chase scene. It has post-apocalyptic automobile mayhem, electric guitar flame throwers, larger than life villains, explosions and vibrant female protagonists who are neither background decoration, nor damsels to be rescued, but the actual heroic protagonists.

It’s is actually quite amusing that I have watched this film and Age of Ultron almost back to back in the span of two weeks. If you read my review you know that I was disappointed with the portrayal of Black Widow and Scarlett witch. Fury Road succeeds everywhere where the latest Avengers movie has failed me. George Miller takes all the stale sexist movie tropes and subverts them in new, exciting ways.

For example, Charleze Theron’s Imperator Furiosa is most definitely an “action chick” of sorts, but not in the same way as Black Widow is. When she fights, she does not strike sexy poses for the camera. She is not “movie beautiful” and she does not try to be. There is dignity and gravitas to her character that is absent from the portrayal of Black window, despite the fact both occupy the same action heroine role in their respective films. I mentioned this phenomenon of fight scenes and violence being depicted differently in my review of Pretty Deadly. Miller does it right: women are depicted as capable rather than sexy, effective rather than graceful. He specifically tries to avoid the male gaze, especially during combat.

In fact, Miller’s care not to sexulalize violence against women is especially topical, considering the ongoing media debate on this topic. If you have been online in the last week or so, you are probably painfully aware of the general disappointment at the way creators of Game of Thrones have been handling depictions of rape. Or the very fact that they keep injecting rape into their stories.

Mad Max: Fury Road offers an interesting counterpoint to those who claim that depictions of misogynistic, violent societies should include such scenes for the sake of realism and pathos. George Miler however proves that this argument is bullshit:

Miller does not need to show us that Immorten Joe’s wives have been sexually abused and enslaved. We already know what from the context. We can imagine the kind of trauma they might have went through without having to see it glamorized on the screen. Max believes their story and emphases with them without having to have witnessed it.

In fact, while Miller demonizes toxic masculinity by casting Imorten Joe as a literal patriarch and his War Boys as a destructive warrior cult, Max is held up as an example of positive, masculinity. Max does not mind being used as a sniper stand, because he knows Furiosa is a better marksman than him. He does not mind fighting henchmen to give her enough space so that she can take out the big bad. He never questions her competence just because of her gender. He treats the female protagonists as his equals. He never feels the need to save them from themselves. He never delivers a monologue telling them how things are in the “real world”. He trusts in their abilities, respects their judgment and recognizes their bravery. None of this diminishes his status as a action movie bad-ass or masculine hero. In fact, it makes him all the more relatable and likable. But despite being the titular protagonist, it is not really his story. It is Furiosa’s. She is the breakout star of the movie.

http://devrandom.click/post/119466943421/lierdumoa-furiosa-isnt-the-fe male-action-hero

That, in itself is somewhat ground breaking. We don’t see this in Holywood that often. But Furiosa is even more than that.

Furiosa is disabled, but her disability is handled with the grace and subtlety that is rarely seen in Holywood, much less in the SF action genre. Her missing arm is never a plot point or subject of conversation. She is simply allowed to be, and none of the characters treat her differently because of her prosthesis.

You could write an entire essay on the many ways Furiosa is an amazing character. But if she was the only female protagonist in the movie Miller might have fallen in to the same tokenization traps as Whedon did. Instead, however, he wisely side-stepped those issues by making her only one of many varied female characters.

Mad Max: Fury Road is a summer blockbuster action film in which the main protagonists are disabled women, women of color, pregnant women and elderly women. I was especially overjoyed to see Melissa Jaffer (whom I haven’t really seen since the days of Farscape) cast as a tough, motor-bike riding, rifle shooting desert scavenger. I was even more impressed when I heard that she did her own stunts.

For these, and many other reasons, many critics hailed the film as a feminist triumph. Granted, not everyone agrees. There has been a lot of discussion whether it can be called a feminist film, and what makes film to be feminist. I already shared my thoughts on it in a Storify the other day so I will include it here, rather repeat myself:

Whether or not Mad Max: Fury Road is actually a feminist picture, it is still a fantastic movie with great characters, memorable action sequences and unique aesthetic. When I first heard they were making a new Mad Max movie I did not think I could get excited for it. The genre seemed overplayed and dated to me. George Miller however knocked it out of the park, proving not only that he can resurrect an old franchise in style. He made it clear that he can make modern, progressive movies better than folks half his age.

I hope that folks at Marvel are taking notes. This kind of movie making is what we need to see in 2018 when they finally give a solo film to Captain Marvel. After her stint as Furiosa, Theron should be a no-brainer pick for Carol Danvers.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/05/25/mad-max-fury-road/feed/ 4 On YouTube rants… http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/05/16/on-youtube-rants/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/05/16/on-youtube-rants/#comments Sat, 16 May 2015 05:53:26 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18559 Continue reading →]]> I have noticed that video is increasingly becoming the preferred communication medium on the web, especially for the younger generations. This is especially noticeable amongst the newly formed gator/puppy set which has spawned in the August that never ended, but not limited to just them. Any time these folks get some thought in their head that they feel is worth sharing with the world, they turn on their webcam, ramble off the cuff anywhere from 15 minutes to 3 hours and then promptly upload the whole thing to YouTube without editing.

Back in my day (only a decade ago, but that’s like a million internet years) we might have called this “vlogging” but I haven’t really seen that word used in ages. Personally, I always thought of vlogs as prepared essays with with visual components. To me the whole point of doing a video to show viewers examples of the stuff you are talking about. What Anita Sarkesian is doing is a good example: well researched, well edited, succinct, to the point visual essay with concrete examples of game-play and game dialogs. On the other hand, someone just talking “off the cuff” into the camera for twenty minutes in a single unbroken cut is…

Well, to me it just seems lazy. Here is the thing: I can read faster than you can talk. Therefore, if you have a message you want to get out there, the most efficient way of doing this is via text. Text can be absorbed very rapidly, even if it is an unstructured stream of consciousness jumble. I can skim long articles pretty quickly without losing too much information, but there is simply no way to skim a video. You can skip around, but that’s not the same. Skipping feels lossy. When I skim I can still look at the length and shape of the paragraph, check the opening and closing lines, scan for relevant keywords within and etc.. The best YouTube can do for me at the moment in this respect is to show me still thumbnails of what I can expect to see on the screen when I skip to that point. Which, if I’m watching a 20 minute unbroken rant, is always going to be your face.

Writing things down takes some effort. The very process of arranging words into sentences, sentences into paragraphs and so on forces you to think about structure and flow. You can’t just vomit words in the exact order they pop into your mind. Written word has rules, and ignoring them yields unreadable and confusing mess. But if you use video, you can just ramble, talk in circles, get tongue tied, correct yourself and go on tangents without losing too much coherence. Our brains are pretty good at making sense from unorganized, jumbled speech, because that’s how we communicate on the daily basis. So you can talk to a camera the way you would talk to your friend, and chances are most of your viewers will at least get a gist of what you’re saying. But the fact people can comprehend what you’re saying doesn’t mean you are coherent, or that you are not wasting their time. Because you are.

Guy in Bathtub ranting into a camera

Yep, that’s a dude who didn’t even bother getting out of the bathtub to share his brilliant insights on ethics in video game journalism.

If you turn on a webcam, and hurl words at it for an hour without at least an outline, and without at least some basic editing to remove filler words (umm.., err..) and stuttering you are saving yourself time while wasting mine. Considering that, according to some estimates, over 20% of sounds we make during regular, conversational speech are non-lexical vocables, false starts and corrections, this is rather inconsiderate. This is why you don’t usually see people speaking this way on TV or in movies (save for maybe, you know mumblecore stuff, which consciously mimics “natural” conversation patterns) because for the most part its just noise. Useless, pointless interference that is not conducive to getting your message across.

So if you have some thoughts you want to share, write them down, kinda like I’m doing it here. Put these words on Medium, or Twitlonger, or one of the other five million sites designed to facilitate exactly that. Ranting into camera is just lazy.

Then again, maybe I’m just getting old. Perhaps there is a generational shift away from textual communication happening right now. And why not? It has never been easier to publish video online, and with ubiquitous broadband and storage we don’t have to aggressively edit for size, like we used to. So people are taking advantage of this.

There is this vision of the future that worries me quite a bit: one in which text is dead. In this future all interfaces we input data using touch and speech, and all output is visual and verbal. Humanity is mostly illiterate (save for handful of historians and archivists who study old text) but not uneducated. Poets and writers simply dictate their books to machines, because we perfected speech processing algorithms, and we have them read to us by descendants of Siri, who have perfect cadence and inhumanely soothing voices. Scientists and engineers dictate their papers and equations. Math is done in-silico…

There are no keyboards in Her

Have you noticed how no one ever types in Spike Lee’s Her?

But would that even work? Can you read and write scientific papers without the ability to skim? Can you write good code, without actually… Writing? Up until now, education and literacy were inseparable: one depended on the other. But can technology disentangle the two? Can it help to create a society of highly educated analphabets, and would that even be a desirable thing? I’m inclined to think that this future simply won’t happen, because text is just too fast, efficient and convenient. It compresses insanely well, can be searched and indexed with frightening speed and efficiency, it can be absorbed much faster than audio and it can be translated without artifacts and side effects (such as lip movement being out of sync with dubbed speech on video). I just don’t see us ever giving up all the benefits of text, without getting anything in exchange. Because even if we get perfect speech recognition software, and machines can interpret our commands with flawless accuracy, talking is still slower, less accurate and less focused than writing. It just would not make any sense to abandon it.

But, Spike Lee’s movie Her does provide a vision of the future in which no one ever types anymore, but people still do read. And that is potentially something that could happen one day. And that’s my worst nightmare, because I can only ever properly organize my thoughts when I write. Which is one of the reasons I never felt compelled to make these sort of stream of consciousness type videos. Vocalizing my thoughts adds another layer of abstraction and takes me that much farther away from my message. I feel that dictation is nowhere near as flexible as typing. For example, have you ever tried to someone how you want them to re-format a document?

Can you copy that sentence… No that’s too much… No, actually I meant this sentence, and the short one afterwards. Now cut them out, and put them… Wait, scroll up a bit. No too much. Lower. Third paragraph… Sorry, I guess technically that’s fourth if you count that single word over there as a paragraph. So we put it here, but now we have to change it up to fix the flow…

It usually takes five minutes to explain to a human something you could do yourself in five seconds. Now imagine parsing all of this in an unambiguous way that can be understood by a machine. Editing text with speech would be a nightmare. In fact, editing anything with speech seems like an uphill battle. I think we would literally have to invent new, un-ambigous sub-dialects just to efficiently interface with machines. Or maybe learn Lojban.

I think what we’re seeing here is just laziness, and not some generational paradigm shift.

Then again, I have been wrong on things like these in the past. If this is the way of the future, I will have to adopt to that new, nightmarishly inefficient world. I don’t want to be the bitter old man who doesn’t get the new technology and refuses to get with the times. And at the very least, this strange future without reading and writing would result in more engaging, and visually pleasing Powerpoint presentations without bullet points…

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/05/16/on-youtube-rants/feed/ 6 Age of Ultron http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/05/05/age-of-ultron/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/05/05/age-of-ultron/#comments Tue, 05 May 2015 04:36:42 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18509 Continue reading →]]> SPOILER WARNING! Proceed with caution. I’m not even going to try to talk about this movie without spoilers.

No one at Marvel/Disney seem to know what to do with Black Widow. It is clear that the studio does not see her as a useful asset because she is missing from most of the Avengers merchandise. It is clear that Avenger’s stars don’t view her as an equal team member but rather as eye candy and distraction. But Joss Whedon, self proclaimed feminist, known for creating well rounded, interesting and compelling female characters on TV will surely buck the trend and do something interesting with her in Age of Ultron, right? I mean he didn’t do much with her in the first movie, but that’s understandable. This is the middle film in the trilogy: the one when you spread the wings and flesh out your characters. He will surely give her a more interesting role, won’t he?

Nope. Not even close.

Halfway through the movie Black Widow gets kidnapped by Ultron and thrown in a cage. She is a super-spy though, so she can escape, right? Wrong. She sends a message and waits to be rescued by the new boyfriend. Nothing says “full fledged member of Avengers that should get her own movie one day” like demurely waiting to be rescued by your most recent “it’s complicated” boy-crush. And yes, you read that right. The only lady on the team gets “romance” as her story arc. While other Avengers worry whether or not they are strong and heroic enough to save the world (outside enemies or from themselves), Black Widow gets to swoon and cry that she had her tubes tied when she attended The Evil Dance School and now she can’t give Bruce Banner little Hulk babies. That and sit in a cell and wait to be rescued. No I’m not kidding. That’s her entire story arc in this movie.

Age of Ultron

Age of Ultron

Let’s unpack that a bit. There is one particular exchange between Banner and Romanoff in the second act that is weird and unsettling for all kinds of reasons. The heroes just lost a big fight and they are hanging out at a safe house, trying to re-group. The two briefly discuss eloping together. Banner rejects the proposition, pointing out they have no future. He can’t be in a relationship, he can’t settle down and most of all, he can never have children. He does not elaborate why, but we know. Banner can turn into a monster at a drop of a hat, and he simply does not think he has enough self control to keep his family safe from the Hulk. He views himself as a threat to any potential life partner and children. Natasha’s response is bizarre. She confesses that she was sterilized as part of her assassin training, so she can’t have children either. The way she says it, indicates that she believes that this makes her “damaged goods”. She is trying to tell Banner that they are both broken people who can never be whole, which makes them good for each other. Except that she is not broken. Infertility does not make you less of a woman. Losing ability to give birth is a tragedy, yes, but it does not preclude one from starting a family or leading happy, fulfilling life. If Black Widow wanted to quit being an Avenger, settle down and adopt a horde of kids, she totally could. Banner does not have that option.

This is what makes this whole situation so bizarre. Out of all possible back stories and personal demons to wrestle, Marvel’s deadliest and most cunning assassin gets a broken heart and “lady problems”.

That is not to say that it is wrong for a female heroine to fall in love or to muse about motherhood and fertility. But if you only have one woman of note in your movie, don’t you think it is a bad idea to make her story arc to be solely about these things? Don’t you think that taking away her agency and making her a powerless damsel in distress in the second act is just bad writing? Don’t you think that “evil ballet school” is an incredibly awful back-story for an assassin super-spy?

Come on Joss, this is inexcusable. Between this, and the prima nocta joke… I expected better of you.

Black Widow

Black Widow is tired of this shit.

I really wanted to write a glowing review of the movie and tell you it is was really fun to watch, because it was. There is a lot to love about Age of Ultron. But it is really hard for me to overlook just how utterly Whedon dropped the ball not only with Black Widow but also with Scarlet Which. The later is first established as hyper-competent villain, but when the time comes for her to undergo a heel-face turn, she gets overwhelmed and needs an inspirational pep-talk from Hawkeye to transition into the role of a hero.

What’s worse, Scarlet Witch is the one hero in the entire movie that gets no funny quips of slapstick moments. Everyone else, including her brother get at least one Whedonesque smart-ass comment or at the very least a visual gag. That’s what makes this ensemble cast so engaging: we love to watch them squabble, bicker and joke together. But Scarlet Witch barely interacts with anyone. Here is a first female avenger with actual super powers, and Whedon writes her to be so dull and uninteresting I can’t even describe her personality. She literally has none. I guess she won’t get any merchendise either, because I bet most people already forgot she was ever in the movie.

Scarlet Witch

I want you to go out there and be as dull and uninteresting as humanly possible.

This is especially jarring since in all other aspects the film is either great or at the very least perfectly satisfying.

Whedon’s signature funny banter is there in full force. He is a master at creating extremely funny, quotable and captivating dialog and he does not disappoint. I could watch the Avengers just hanging out and partying all day. He also has a knack for injecting the same type of humor and witty banter into action scenes. Let’s face it – watching people punch hordes of robots over and over again, can get boring after a while. Whedon however can write protracted fights that are as amusing as they are suspenseful.

The titular villain, Ultron is as funny and engaging as a mad murder-bot could possibly ever be. I expected him to be a dull, distant, detached vengeful machine god. Instead we got an angry internet nerd with superiority complex and daddy issues. I think Lindsay Ellis hit the nail on the head when she described him thus:

This seems especially astute observation when you realize that Ultron literally learned everything he knows from the internet. He coalesced into being at the intersection between Wikipedia, Reddit and 4chan without context or real world experience to help him navigate the murky underworld filled with philosophical manifestos written by angry thirteen year old Frank Miller fans or six hour video monologues about ethics in game journalism delivered from a bath tub. No wonder he emerged as a murderous, megalomaniac, arrogant asshole. No wonder he is fond of making overly long, self aggrandizing speeches. And to be honest, I kinda like him that way. It’s the familiar kind of evil I wish I did not know so well.

Ultron

Actually, it’s about ethics…

Which does not mean he is a great villain, merely an acceptable one. Best MCU villain still belongs to Loki (eat your heart out Thanos) who is not only charismatic, but also flawed, human and relatable in all the right ways. He is powerful enough to be dangerous, but not threatening enough to warrant being destroyed. He is the kind of villain who can be thwarted, and imprisoned only the break out and wreak havoc in the next movie. But he can’t be the bad guy every time the Avengers assemble. That would get old really fast, and the Marvel universe has no shortage of interesting villains. Whedon makes a valiant attempt at humanizing the inhuman murder-robot and he does succeed at making him more entertaining he had any right to be. But Ultron is a ticking time bomb and he can’t be put in a box and saved for later. He must be utterly destroyed by the end of the movie, which makes him seem disposable. I have seen him described as “monster of the week” type threat, and I think this is somewhat accurate. He is merely a bump in the road to Infinity War, but I don’t think there is anything particularly wrong with that.

MCU is interconnected, and villains don’t exist in void. They have comparable power levels, and they must scale properly. Ultron must be mid-level, disposable threat so that Thanos can be adequately scary when he finally arrives. That’s just how these things work.

Hammer Lift

Couldn’t find appropriately sized gif, but can we all agree that this was a brilliantly shot scene?

I guess it helps when you don’t think about Age of Ultron as a middle movie in a trilogy, but as an episode in an ongoing shared universe series. Because that’s what MCU is now: a serialized story told in summer blockbuster movie installments. What is happening here is a storytelling media convergence: our TV series become more like movies (with season spanning story arcs, and no weekly resets to the status quo) and our movies become more like TV (shared universes and continuities between spin-offs, frequent cross-overs, story arcs that span many movies). It is happening now, because our media is no longer consumed in isolation. With on demand services, video streaming, online wikis and social media it is impossible to miss an episode or be confused by continuity. There is a whole cottage industry of commercial sites and fan driven communities which specialize in explaining and contextualizing everything. In fact, getting new viewers up to speed now became part of the advertising campaigns with marathons, TV specials, magazine features, interviews and promotional re-cap articles.

Age of Ultron may seem sloppier and less focused than it’s predecessor but it is also much denser with lore. The first movie had one goal: to provide an origin story for the Avengers as a super-hero team. The sequel is trying to accomplish several things while at the same time telling a self-contained and compelling story about crazy robot trying to blow up the Earth.

Let’s try to enumerate all the things that Whedon’s team managed to squeeze into the two an a half hours of screen time:

  • It sets the stage up for Avengers: Infinity War (which should go without saying).

  • It lays down the ground work for Black Panther by introducing the hero’s fictional homeland (Wakanda), it’s source of wealth (vibranium ore) and a potential villain (Klaw).

  • Foreshadows Thor: Ragnarok via visions and prophecies that disturb the son of Odin and take him away from Earth

  • Has Steve and Tony bicker and argue over tactics and their vision for the team, maneuvering them into position for the conflict that will break up the team in Captain America: Civil War

  • Introduces not one, not two, not three but four new characters: Ultron, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver and Vision. By comparison, the first Avengers film did not introduce any new characters. Everyone was either an established hero, villain, sidekick or supporting character in the MCU. Except maybe for for Hawkeye who only had a brief cameo in the original Thor.

  • Attempts to flesh out Hawkeye who spent most of the first movie as a remote-controlled villain. Age of Ultron gives him family, motivation and makes him the relatable everyman to replace Agent Coulson.

  • Tries to give all the Avengers some sort of story arc: Cap accepts he can never go back to his time, Hawkeye realizes he is “too old for this shit”, Thor finds questions that need be answered, Scarlet Witch gets to have a heel face turn, Banner loses faith in his ability to control the Hulk, Stark learns that its ok to fuck with infinity stones as long as you can do it right the second time around, and Black Widow gets… Well, Beauty & The Beast subplot with some Black Swan flashbacks…

  • Attempts to give screen time to few supporting heroes such as The Falcon, War Machine and Nick Fury.

  • Establishes The Avengers as an institution with a rotating roster by seemingly retiring some heroes (Hawkeye, Iron Man, Thor and The Hulk) and recruiting new ones (The Falcon, War Machine, Scarlet Witch and Vision).

That is a lot of stuff to fit in a single movie. The fact that Whedon can keep all these balls in the air, and only drop one or two is still very impressive. According to some of the interviews, his original cut was only a little short of four hours. A lot of stuff got cut from the theatrical release, though Whedon claims most of the lost scenes were small, and inessential character bits, and more screen time for side characters. It’s a pity because the small, inessential moments is where Whedon shines the most. One would hope that perhaps one day we might get a Lord of the Rings collectors edition, directors cut version of the film, in which Scarlet Witch is actually a funny and memorable character. I would love to see it.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/05/05/age-of-ultron/feed/ 8 On Black Widow and that Bro-tastic interview… http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/04/26/on-black-widow-and-that-bro-tastic-interview/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/04/26/on-black-widow-and-that-bro-tastic-interview/#comments Sun, 26 Apr 2015 21:59:38 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18497 Continue reading →]]> Avengers, Age of Ultron is almost upon us, and this means it is interview and promotion season for Marvel movie studios. Last Thursday, Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner (Captain America and Hawkeye respectively) were doing an interview as part of the scheduled media blitz, and then this happened:

Chris, dude, this wasn’t even half as funny as you are making it out to be. This should probably be a sobering reminder that the actors that portray some of your favorite heroes are most definitely not their characters. The clip above for example shows Evans and Renner sharing a definite “dudebro” moment and firmly placing their feet in their mouth. Definitely not cool.

And yes, I know it was “just a joke”. I also realize that they are not talking about Scarlet Johanson, that Black Widow is not a real person, and that a fictional character does not need her honor defended. This is not really the problem here. The problem is the culture which enabled this. Think about this: Evan and Renner were doing a promotional interview, end goal of which was to convince as many people to go and see their movie. And yet, within confines of that public appearance, during which it was their literal job to be on their best behavior, they felt comfortable making disparaging sexist jokes. Jokes that punch down at approximately half the viewing audience, and let the world know that dudes who play Captain America and Hawkeye think women who do not conform to the narrow behavioral scripts of sexual expression are “sluts” and “whores”.

It is the same culture that perpetuates the ridiculous double standards which were brilliantly highlighted in another promotional Avengers interview which took place only a day before the Evans and Renner fiasco:

It’s the same culture that facilitated Joss Whedon (a self described feminist) slipping up and inserting an off color proma nocta joke into an otherwise a fantastic scene in the upcoming movie without any push-back, or critique from the cast and crew:

You would think that at least one of the people involved in the movie would take Whedon aside and go “you know, while this is totally in character for Tony stark, do we really want to have rapey joke in our movie?”. But no one did, and for all we know this scene will be in the theatrical release. Because this is our status quo. This our normal.

I’m not trying to shit on Whedon here. In fact, I’m a big fan of his work. But he is only human, and he makes mistakes just like the rest of us. The problem is that when no one tells you about the mistakes you make, then you will keep making them. Which is why Joss, Evans and Renner all need various degrees of scolding, so that the franchise as a whole can improve. Because, god dammit, I need Captain Marvel to be good. This world deserves a female led super hero movie that is mind blowing. My niece deserves a kick-ass female super-hero role model with an actual costume and super powers, who is not anyone’s sidekick. But if we keep allowing the Marvel team to make these kind of goofs, then they are going to royally fuck it up come 2018.

It is true that Black Widow has been written as a sidekick character since she appeared in the MCU. That’s actually another valid criticism of the MCU which seems to push women into the background. It is also true that she has been portrayed as being overtly sexual. But, so what? Tony Stark has a reputation of a playboy and a ladies man an no one seems to hold it against him. In his case, it is seen either as one of his strengths, or at the very least as a lovable character quirk. I would argue that Black Window uses her sexuality in about the same way as, say, James Bond does: as a tool or a weapon. Both these characters are in approximately the same line of work, and both use their personal charm and sex-appeal to get the mission done. But only one gets shamed for it.

Perhaps, I was not paying much attention, but I don’t think I ever read her interactions with Hawkeye and Cap as overtly flirtatious. We knows that she cares for Hawkeye because they have worked in the past, and he is someone she grew to trust and rely on. In Winter Soldier she gets close to the Cap, but again, they’re not falling in love in that movie. They are learning to trust each other so that they can save the world. But shippers gonna ship, so I think the interview question was mostly precipitated by wishful thinking of the fans and the eagerness to see a love triangle emerge where one is definitely not needed at the moment.

But even if Natasha decided to flirt and/or sleep with every other member of the Avengers, would that make her less of a hero? Would it make her less of a woman? Come on guys, it’s 2015, time to let these sexist notions go.

Black Widow

Black Widow does not approve of your sexist bullshit.

For what it’s worth, Marvel acknowledges the interview was a disaster. Both Evans and Renner released public apologies. Evans sincerely regrets what he said, while Renner sincerely regrets some people did not get his “hilarious jokes”. So there’s that.

]]> http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/04/26/on-black-widow-and-that-bro-tastic-interview/feed/ 2 Daredevil http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/04/13/daredevil/ http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/2015/04/13/daredevil/#comments Mon, 13 Apr 2015 13:42:20 +0000 http://www.terminally-incoherent.com/blog/?p=18483 Continue reading →]]> I have spent an entire weekend binge watching Daredevil on Netflix and I have some thoughts about it. I will try not to include any major spoilers here, but I will talk about general story elements so it could be spoiler-ish if you really want to go into it “blind”. And yes, that was a tasteless pun. I apologize.

Daredevil

Daredevil Title Sequence

Firstly, thank god someone took another crack at this franchise. For a while there, I thought that Ben Affleck’s movie has tainted it beyond repair. The Netflix series is a much appreciated palette cleanser which hopefully will allow all of us to enjoy the adventures of the man without fear without cringing.

Secondly, I love that this series is part of the MCU and thus allowed to reference the events of The Avengers movies. It is a small thing, but it makes me happy when characters in a superhero story mention other costumed crime fighters. It is also worth mentioning that some of the plot threads in the series thus far might be tying into the upcoming Iron Fist also produced by Marvel/Netflix. The fact that everything in the MCU is interconnected, and only will become even more tightly intertwined in the upcoming years fills me with a nerdy glee. And of course it will be fun to watch young geeks who grew up on MCU have a complete meltdown when the Disney/Marvel decide to reboot the entire universe a decade from now. But that’s a topic for a whole other post.

I found the pacing of the series a bit odd. It works as a cohesive whole, and in retrospect I do appreciate the amount of effort put into making this into a dual origin story. We not only get to see how Matt Murdock became the Daredevil, but we also see the downfall of Wilson Fisk and his transformation into Kingpin. The fact that the series could take thirteen episodes before Murdock actually dons the iconic horned costume is probably a unique function of the Netflix production format. Netflix knows that people use their service to binge watch series, so they could hold back the costume, and the big revelations until the very end of the season.

When I was watching it, however I had my doubts. For a time I was worried that they are going to go the Arrow route and act like they are slightly ashamed of the source material. For the record, I only seen the first season of Arrow and while watching it, I was amazed how much effort the writers put into making sure that the words “green” and “arrow” would never be uttered without at least few buffer words in between. Nine episodes into the thing I was really worried that in this reality the man without fear will just be “The Man in Black Mask” whose nemesis is entrepreneur Wilson Fisk. Which, let’s face it, does not have the same ring as “Daredevil vs Kingpin”. Especially since this is MCU we are talking about: a shared universe in which costumed heroes already exist. When you’re part of MCU being afraid of colorful spandex tights seems silly.

Fortunately, my fears were unfounded and the slow ramp-up paid off in the satisfying finale. Granted, the mask might need some work… I honestly don’t know why the Marvel costume designers are still so reluctant to do faithful reproductions, and insist on sticking armor pads, belts and pouches on every outfit. I mean, Spiderman has been rocking spandex since he got his big break in the movies, and no one complains. As much as I hated the Ben Affleck movie, I think that costume was pretty OK, all things considered. But that’s just me.

The pacing issue is probably my biggest gripe with the series. I almost feel like they could have wrapped the entire arc around episode six or seven and then move onto something more interesting. But I guess they really wanted to have the status quo of the Daredevil universe established in the season finale, and so we got bunch of filler to pad out the episodes. It is the good kind of filler, mind you, full of character development and foreshadowing.

My other complaint would be that the story in general, seems a tad redundant. The city is drowning in crime, and one honest man decides save it against impossible odds. If it sounds familiar, it is probably because you have already seen it in the Dark Knight, Arrow and Gotham. Then again, this is the archetypical masked vigilante origins arc, and it does to a degree follow Frank Miller’s Man Without Fear series. There is a lot of interesting stuff in the Daredevil lore they could have tapped into, like the crazy ninja clans for example. They did touch upon some of that, and hints were dropped, but it was not necessarily a major focus of the Season. Perhaps they were afraid of diluting the main story arc with too much weird stuff at once. So I kinda understand why they chose to tell this particular story and not the other.

One thing that separates this series from all the other ones that I mentioned is the fact that when Matt Murdock takes a beating, it really does feel like he is getting hurt. The fight choreography is excellent in that it succeeds both at conveying the idea that Matt Murdock is an exceptionally skilled martial artist, but also every single fight feels like a brutal, bloody and painful slug fest. Most on-screen heroes will take a punch, or get their wind knocked out of them now and then. Matt Murdock gets bloodied and bruised every time he dons his suit. This makes what he does all the more dramatic, and his wins all the more earned. I especially enjoyed the corridor fight from one of the early episodes, which (I think) was a homage to the iconic fight scene in Old Boy.

I already mentioned that the series heavily focuses on Kingpin and Vincent D’Onofrio is doing an excellent job portraying him by threading the line between awkward and imposing. He is sufficiently different from the now iconic Michael Clarke Duncan incarnation (general consensus is that Duncan’s Kingpin was the only good thing about that film) to seem like a separate character rather than an off-brand knock-off. D’Onofrio’s kingpin actually seems more dangerous because of how unhinged and disturbed he is, compared to the calm and self-assured Duncan version. He reminds me of Penguin from Gotham in that he can be both relatable and repulsive at the same time.

Deborah Ann Woll does a commendable job in a supporting role as Karen Page, though I keep expecting her to sprout fangs at any minute. I think it will take quite a while before I stop seeing her as “Vampire Jessica”. But that’s probably because I just finished catching up on two last seasons of True Blood a few weeks ago. I had to keep reminding myself that her character can’t just rip people’s heads off at a whim. I do like that Karen is driven, has her own arc and turbulent past, instead of being stuck with a “love interest” or “plucky secretary” type role, although for a few episodes it almost seemed like they will go that way with her.

I also like Vondie Curtis-Hall as the grizzled investigative reporter. When he showed up, I thought he will end up trying to expose Daredevil and end up in a quasi antagonist role, but was pleasantly surprised that this was not the case.

That said, it is worth noting that in mere 13 episodes, the series managed to kill off a number of prominent characters. It seems to be one of those shows that is not afraid to take risks and re-shuffle the deck to keep viewers on their toes. Unfortunately it does not help that most of the actors that won’t be coming back for Seson 2 gave really strong performances thus far. Let’s hope that Daredevil did not hobble themselves by removing too many interesting allies and villains too early.

I enjoyed the series. I wouldn’t say it is the greatest thing I have ever watched, and it is not the best of what Netflix has to offer, but it is pretty damn decent and entertaining. But regardless of what any of us may think about the series, Daredevil is now officially part of the MCU and that’s undeniably a good thing. Every hero they add to the roster makes the shared universe more interesting. Once a hero is enshrined in the movie cannon, they will never really go away, even inf their solo endeavor fails completely. Even if the Netflix series is a bust (and I don’t think it will be) Marvel probably won’t write off the hero. They will re-cast him and toss him into an ensemble feature, and leave it to their top tier writers to figure out how to re-contextualize him into something more palatable. This is exactly what happened to The Hulk. His solo movie tanked, but Joss Whedon managed to figure out a way to make the fans love Bruce Banner and his mean, green alter ego all over again in Avengers. So the man without fear has now a Joss Whedon rescue clause going for him.

Are you watching the series? What do you think?

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