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july-19th-club · 3 years

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What happened in the magicians?? Please say your doom, doomsayer, I want to know what to be afraid of

o stranger, it is your humble doomsayer's greatest wish not to disturb your sweet ignorance to the fiasco that was the magicians, since you have got thus far without it, and especially because it really bears no relevance on any other show except in my addled and unrested mind...but you asked and i have seen all of the magicians and know all the discourse, so i will tell you and you'll also know why my yardstick for anticipation is so god-awfully long

the magicians as you may know was a contemporary fantasy series on SyFy based on the books 'the magicians' by lev grossman (which are quite good in some ways and a little iffy in others but not the point of this post bc the show diverged from the canon plot fairly early), intended to be a sexy, sort of millennial deconstruction of the narnia concept. it ran from like 2016 through 2019ish and it was pretty good actually until it wasn't

what gave it that extra special sauce was that it had a good-sized following consisting of 'gay people who read the books' and it put a serious amount of effort into teasing a relationship that had been more subtextual in the books between two of the main characters - quentin (the little nerd maincharacter guy) and eliot (the troubled-misanthrope bisexual guy). in the third season an episode was devoted to following them as they build a little life together in a cottage somewhere, which they then of course have to leave in order to do the plot. point is, it was teased so heavily that it stopped being 'idle audience speculation' and started being 'plots reviewers are aware of and keep in mind when discussing the magicians.' many people fully expected that this stuff would get explored further in the fourth season, and it was, a bit, and then quentin, the main character of the goddamn show, is summarily killed in that season's final episode and....that was it.

audience reaction to this was pretty poor for many reasons (he doesn't die in the books, he's the main character, he has a long arc early in the series about overcoming suicidal impulses and then dies in a way that is explicitly linked to suicide) but especially because this character had been built up as part of the next big game-changing queer pairing. the showrunners justified killing the character early in the fallout by saying that (iirc) not even white men were safe on their show! which, if they'd bothered to give their black and brown characters better writing might have come off a little less performative and stupid-sounding. for a lot of people, the writing that had been on the wall re: a decline in general quality for the show and wrt some of its less successful features (aforementioned thin writing for characters of color, an overall overstuffing in the plot so nothing ever got fully wrapped up, only more complicated) meant that its viewership for the fifth and last season was abysmal. they'd yanked their main character without ceremony for shock value and now nobody wanted to watch it!

this show was also, for what it's worth, a sera gamble joint (she was the showrunner of supernatural for seasons 6 and 7 and she's currently the head of the show 'you,’ which seems like her ideal project and good luck to her but i won’t be seeing it). and for my money, one of the things that got people most up in arms about the magicians was that there was a lot of press about how much better it was doing than other shows in its niche. the uproar over stuff that happens on spn mostly stays in the 'spn people' corner; this wasn't supposed to be a little CW show where you went in halfway expecting some sort of clexa thing to happen sooner or later. there were thinkpieces written about it. there were queer people in the cast who spent months eagerly giving interviews about how groundbreaking and exciting it was to be involved in it. we soon learned that aside from the guy that got killed off, nobody else in the cast was told he wasn’t coming back until like, three days before the episode aired. audiences took this to mean they probably would not have talked the season up so enthusiastically if they'd know more about it. so the magicians petered out in infamy and now lives in the sad halls of 'shows that didn't do it', sharing drinks with 'the 100' and other sad, neglected stories of production mishandling.

now, that’s a very long and involved post about something that i don't actually expect to see happen exactly this way again (knock on wood). and you shouldn’t allow it to color your opinions of other projects the way it’s colored mine; it’s just that it was such a ridiculously shitty situation that it still sticks in my craw enough to write about it for forty-five minutes at 7am on a work morning. it was a perfect storm of incompetence, poor engagement, bad writing, and deliberate misdirection of both the audience and their own creative team. but it has become the smoking, still-uninhabitable volcano that my doom prophet points to whenever someone admires a nearby mountain, lush and green in the spring. you know, mountains can blow up at any time! i screech, and i wave my sign around.

#the magicians #i found my rant from this morning! murphy and your law dont even look at this #it ws just.......further down in my drafts #not sure why #because the ask was from last night? thats weird #and i dont get it #but whatever

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tabletoppotluck · 5 years

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A Town Called Malice Potluck Blog

The clouds have passed over Malice. As the rain washes away our fears, we will in turn pour our feelings on this system over your willing eyes and ears. If you don’t have time to listen to the potluck episode, here’s a handy blog post to reference as you decide whether or not you want to click that Buy-It-Now button! So now let’s dig in to A Town Called Malice (ATCM) by David Kizzia and Monkeyfun Studios.

Remember to take our review with a grain of salt since the game is likely to change by the time it is officially released!

Our first discussion topic was the Nordic Horror setting and its effectiveness in this system. Even our players who were not well-versed in Nordic Horror still really enjoyed the setting and the eerie feel made possible in such a small town. We made sure to touch on the fact that although we made the Darkness something supernatural, the game does not specify that; your Darkness can be as terrifyingly real as you wish! The rules and creation guides leave many options to the players while guiding them along an easily spoopy situation.

The game appears to be very open to possibilities. With that in mind, David Kizzia mentions the possibility of a PvP playstyle. The Beta rules do not go into detail on this, but the entire team is very interested in learning more about that choice! We’re personally hoping for some Betrayal at House on the Hill surprise twisty goodness!

Continuing on, the playbooks fit perfectly in the setting (if you want a sneak peak at every playbook, check out our Session 0 at patreon.com/tabletoppotluck). The archetypal structure of the characters lets you take a very specific role and implement it however you’d like to fit your desired story. It’s very easy to make a community through the playbooks, and they’re all made to build a seamless sense of community. You start the game by creating your characters which includes creating a location in town and an NPC that fits with it. This includes everyone in the world building and makes it more of a group activity instead of just running a cut and dry setting guide. We love the inclusion of the players in worldbuilding in any game and were so excited to see it explicitly asked for here.

On the subject of structure, we addressed a unique feature of ATCM. Instead of a singular GM running the game, the system requires a narrator. This can either be one player (who also has a character in the game) or the role can be shared by all players, each taking turn with the role as the spotlight shifts between them. As lovers of secrets and unknown horrors, a lot of us questioned how effectively a scary story can be told if 1. Everyone knows the secrets or 2. No one knows the secrets and it’s all improv. As a sole narrator, Megan found it a bit difficult to balance knowing the hidden information and trying not to meta-game as her PC. That being said, we all agreed that we wouldn’t want to give up the feature of all players taking turns being NPCs. This fits better with a rotating narrator, or at least a narrator who doesn’t take the sole role of GM, and really solidifies this as a game of community. You build the town, you continue to help it grow as you create new locations, and you lend your voice to the community. It’s very rounded out between every player and no .

As much as we believe comparing this game to Fiasco is like comparing apples to oranges, we want to touch on the topic because they’re both technically GM-less games. If you want a bit more structure to your improv TTRPG, ATCM has a lot of it. Fiasco is, as the name suggests, more of a chaotic, comedic whirlwind. It’s the different of wanting a fun, Cohen brothers film or a darker Fargo. If you’re a fan of a bit more structure and darker narratives, you’ll love A Town Called Malice.

Some players might struggle with the fact that the existence of full success/mixed success/ full failure endings leads some people to stray a little bit away from natural roleplay due to the innate desire to win. If you want a full success, you most likely will end up meta-gaming at least a little bit as you head towards the final act and confrontation with the darkness. And that’s fair! But if you want that out of your games, you might take up issue with ATCM. At the same time, this leads to very cooperative play which can be a joy if you’ve had problems with adventuring parties that are constantly questioning why they travel together.

On the subject of Scenes: There are 5 different possible scenes you can choose to run on your turn. These either resolve something personal for your character or address a story pillar of the game. As we’ve seen throughout ATCM, that’s a lot of options to keep you from feeling trapped in only one choice. You can help your friends, fight alone, or just go out and do whatever puts your character ahead. And that’s a good concept. We could see some of the scenes growing more from where they currently are, but other than that it’s a pretty good start! Each brings something different in the evolution of the acts, but their effects are still pretty easy to follow. The change between the acts itself can be very subtle and that can let the importance of the ending sneak up on you. It’s important to remember that this game will eventually end and there can be dire consequences for your choices even from the first act. That being said, you need to stay on your toes if you want to win because one dice roll can change the entire game.

As was just mentioned, this game has an ending. This isn’t really built to be played over years and years (though there are notes in the book for continuing the story). If you feel like you don’t have the time to commit to an RPG campaign, ATCM can be a perfect option for telling deep, dark stories on a busy schedule. The team had a bit of a disagreement on if this game can be picked up and played on a moment’s notice, even though it’s very low commitment (aside from emotional). Marquez thinks it depends on the people you run it with. Ray thinks it still requires setup to be run well. Like the Betrayal at House on the Hill boardgame, it requires a bit of setup and a certain level of investment, so it really is up to you if that’s the type of game you’d go for at a party! If that sounds like a party for you, invite Megan.

This is a game for “spooky binches,” those who like mysteries and thrillers, psychological film nerds (Jacobs Ladder), and serious improv troupes (which should totally exist). If you want to play normal people confronting things far above their understanding and normal wheelhouse, then this is a game for you.

So would we play it again?

-Sally wants to experience mixed success endings and failures.

-Marquez wants to play the other playbooks.

-Ray would possibly play it but isn’t chomping at the bit. She wants to see a PvP playthrough though.

-Megan can’t wait to see what changes will be made when the Kickstarter has done.

Some tips for playing:

-If you want more instances of the darkness having a chance to come in to play, play with more than 4 players! And work on confronting the darkness as much as you can!

-Like any game, play with it. If you want to modify the rules for a certain mechanic to fit your group better, feel free! There are so many options in this game, it feels like optimization really fits the spirit of the system.

-Make sure you’re upping the stakes as you get closer to the ending! The game doesn’t necessarily tell you when to do that (aside from Darkness scene failures), so follow your gut and let that darkness shine!

-Sally thinks that this game is a bit difficult for people who have no experience with tabletop roleplaying games. So if you’ve got newbies in your group, make sure you’re checking in with them to make sure they’re getting the most out of the game! Also, probably shepherd them through it with a selected narrator instead of taking turns with that role.

A Town Called Malice is on Kickstarter from April 23rd-May 24th: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/monkeyfunstudios/a-town-called-malice-a-nordic-horror-story-game

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lennoxfraser-blog · 7 years

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ooc week: day four

When and how did you get into Harry Potter? the first time i ever heard the words ‘harry potter’, my grandparents had just come back from a holiday in england and i was really young. and they were like “have you heard of this book series called harry potter? it’s huge in england” and i was like “uhm no that sounds ridiculous goodbye.” then a few weeks later, it started to catch on in australia and they cut out a newspaper article for me (I WAS LIKE 7? a newspaper article???) and they showed me and they were like “this!! harry potter!” and i was like :/ okay :/ so i went and got the first book. i remember DISTINCTLY sitting in my 4th grade classroom reading the first book and everyone around me was reading it too, and i fell in love.

Favourite HP movie? Why? ommggg i never shut up about it i’m sorry but PRISONER OF AZKABAN? literally where are the oscars... grammy’s... all the awards? honestly?? that was such a huge change from the first two - i loved how much darker it felt, not just visually but in the storytelling. i love the time travel, i thought it was so clever when i read it and i loved seeing it just as much. as a kid, it was also the first time i was genuinely like “hey harry’s cute now” lol also PoA opened my eyes to werewolves and lycanthropy in general as a kid and it really gave me a love of the supernatural and dark things.

Favourite HP book? Why? PoA is my favourite book, but also? Order of the Phoenix? that book was PURE because of its glimpses into the marauders and that whole era, and i’m lowkey obsessed with the marauders. i love the insights from OotP, so i really cherish that book too.

Favourite HP character? Why? omg. honestly, i could write an essay, but remus lupin. that’s all that needs to be said. remus lupin is the hero of the hp series - he deserved better than the shitty plot that j.k gave to him. he deserved more than all the cheap werewolf allegories (his patronus was a wolf? are you kidding me? his father was named LYALL, his mother’s maiden name was HOWELL, his boggart was a MOON, i’m sorry but we get it????? he’s a werewolf???? omg????), the allegory to aids that j.k made literally gives me nightmares BUT thEN she didn’t make him queer????? you can’t just??????? use something that’s affected queer people for your metaphor? you should at least follow it up? do justice to the LGBTQ community? give them something other than a shout out once the series is finished? i’m sorry this gets me so mad but anyway, i’ve rewritten lupin in my head - he was queer, he was strong, and he didn’t die in vain (not that he should’ve ever died but that’s a rant for another day). lupin deserved more than he got tbh.

Least favourite HP character, plot, or ship (or all three)? my least favourite character is snape!!! my least favourite plot is snape’s “”””redemption”””” arc!!! my least favourite ship is snape/lily!!!!! i have no time for snape apologists omg sorry if you like him rip

What’s your favourite HP-related memory? buying the deathly hallows - we lined up with the other hundreds of people in the store and bought it and i came home and read it from start to finish. ALSO during the release of half blood prince, people at school wrote on paper “do not spoil HP for me” and walked around with them taped to their chests and backs? no one trusted ANYONE, so we were all on edge. i liked that sense of community.

Why did you decide to start roleplaying HP-related stuff? i didn’t even know roleplaying hp was a thing until i joined my first roleplay and a friend said they were making our legacy. i was excited because harry potter was/is my biggest love, and didn’t hesitate before joining. those were the days ;~; i honestly thought nothing was cooler than roleplaying in the hp world, and tbh i still don’t think anything is better - whether that be roleplaying at hogwarts or the world beyond ;)

Most interesting part of the HP world? the greater world!!! honestly, i love rping at school, but when you think about how big the world is and how magic can take you anywhere.... the possibilities are endless. i love learning/reading/roleplaying about apparating to countries, walking through wizarding cities, seeing the “wizarding section” of a city, going to pureblood parties in the countryside.

Your wand: it was a 12″ pear wand, i remember because i gave my wand to keller (from first OL) rip

Your patronus: i honestly have never been able to figure it out. pottermore told me it was a dragonfly but i don’t buy it. i always thought it’d be something like a sparrow.

Your boggart (if you’re okay sharing!): me treading water in the ocean... for so many reasons. i’m not a strong swimmer, i drowned when i was a kid, and i have a huge case of thalassophobia, which is a fear of the ocean/travelling on the ocean/what’s in the ocean. basically, water. but i love sitting at the beach and watching the waves, just being in it is a huge no.

What classes would you be best at in Hogwarts? i think it’d be best at charms.

What classes would you be the worst at? omg honestly like potions or dada.

Your favourite thing to do if you were at Hogwarts: hm going to the owlery sounds like a lot of fun, sitting by the lake, playing with the animals, the library!!!

Favourite supernatural creature from the HP world? honestly the hippogriffs blew my mind when i read about them for the first time - the way she described them as half all these creatures was so interesting. so either a hippogriff or a blast-ended skrewt - they never fail to make me laugh.

Death Eaters or the Order? death eaters are so interesting but i can’t play them well, so order members. i feel like it’s easier for me to be a good character and justify doing bad things than to be a bad character doing even badder things lol

Marauders era or Next Gen? marauders!!!! i don’t care about the next gen except for teddy.

Would you join the quidditch team or cheer from the sidelines? i’d be in the crowd because i’m not very sporty, but i think learning to fly would be a lot of fun.

If the Triwizard Tournament were allowed, would you put your name in? 100% absolutely not. the money would be great but i don’t trust my abilities that much.

Dorm life: good or bad? good, i think. it’d suck if you didn’t get along with people, but the dynamics of harry’s dorm were some of the best parts of the hogwarts books - the things they’d do after curfew, the sleeping patterns, the way people would share clothes. i’d love to create more dorm headcanons for the roleplay too.

From canon HP, who would be your favourite teacher? lupin obv but if we go with a teacher who was there more permanently... probably mcgonagall or flitwick.

If you could make J.K Rowling write another series (and write it well), would you? And if so, what would you have it focus on? listen i don’t want another cursed child fiasco but if she had to do a good job, it’d be marauders era for sure - i want the marauders at hogwarts, and i want the books to go into the wizarding war, and i want like... proper dynamics and war and the darkness of the era. i want to forget that i know how it’s going to end and be kept in suspense. every marauders era rp i’ve been in has been chasing that feeling tbh ;~;

#olooc #how many times can i mention remus lupin: a study

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