MST3K is back

So, I'm a huge MSTie. And I thought I'd have to settle for collecting the old episodes as they came out on DVD and basking in their sarcastic glow.

But it turns out Mike Nelson is a genius.

He's started a company called RiffTrax. He and several MST alums, including Kevin Murphy (the voice of Tom Servo) record audio tracks riffing on movies. Pop in your DVD of the movie, cue the audio... and instant MST goodness of movies like Star Trek V, Fellowship of the Ring and Casino Royale.

Oh, and of course, they also tackle the finest American movie ever made: Roadhouse.

Check it out.

Blood and Fists True 20 sneak peek

I've been posting some sample martial arts styles from the upcoming Blood and Fists: True 20 edition over at the Green Ronin True 20 forums. Stop by and take a peek.

Dark Future sneak peek

In our near future, mutants are real.

Are they our brothers? Or the next step in human evolution, destined to replace mankind as we did the Neanderthal?

Struggling to come to grips with the "mutant question", a mutant crime wave leads to the Mutant Registration Act.

This leads mutants to strike back in a way that shocks and frightens ordinary Americans and pushes them over the edge, allowing ambitious lawmakers, suspicious of mutants, to pass the Mutant Enforcement, Removal and Evaluation act.

Now mutants live in ghettos, called "Containment Zones", scattered in large cities across the United States.

Within the Containment Zones, mutants prey on each other, in a lawless gang environment where the strong rule the weak.

Black Knights patrol the Perimeter in powered armor that makes them the equal of most mutants. Anyone found in this no man's land can be shot on sight.

Beyond the Perimeter, ordinary men and women continue to struggle with the "mutant question", asking themselves the same question their grandparents answered so tragically.

Some, driven by hatred and fear, form lynch mobs, terrorizing and killing those that are different, those they think might be mutants. Some have decided to aid the mutants in their plight, helping their fellow man, regardless of their appearance of powers, through an underground railroad of safehouses and secret runs across the border to Canada and freedom.

And some mutants are convinced a war of extermination against their kind has already begun. These mutants wage a terrorist campaign that divides humanity over the Containment Zones even further, forcing humans to choose between the zone or the Underground Railroad. These terrorist are opposed by brave bands of mutant heroes, willing to risk a return to the Zone, or death at the hands of the Knights, to protect the weak from these mutant terrorists.

It's the 21st century and the United States is a powderkeg.

Will you strike the spark? Or extinguish the flame?

Welcome to Dark Future

Audio mention of Guilds and Money on Gamer Traveler

I know. Longest post title ever. Just roll with it.

Are you listening to the Gamer Traveler Podcast? Well you should. This week, you would have heard Danial give a short run down on A Clash of Kings: Guilds and Money.

It's a really great look at the book, as well as a great look at medieval Brussels and some ideas for using it in your historical fantasy games.

He also gives a shout out to Green Ronin's Medieval Players Manual, a book that I think is AWESOME. So lots of goodness all around.

Dirty Deeds and Seedy Characters

RPGObjects slips into the back alleys with Dirty Deeds and Seedy Characters!

A new kind of Modern adventure, designed for maximum flexibility, Dirty Deeds and Seedy Characters presents the type of adventures found in modern noir crime fiction, where characters get wrapped up in a messy crime and have to fend for themselves.

In addition to providing adventure material, the Seedy Characters from the title are fully detailed and described, each with a background and plot hooks to use them as springboards to further adventures after the Dirty Deed is done.

This adventure tells the sordid tale of an adult film star wrapped up in a world of drugs, robbery and murder. The players can take the part of police investigating the affair, fellow drug addicts wrapped up in the robbery at the heart of the adventure, or hired killers paid to clean the whole thing up before the cops catch up to them.

The Voice of Reason

Owen Stephens talk. You listen.

Easily the best of the industry blog entries I have read on this subject.

Of course, the fact that he agrees with me helps immensely.

Chuck

Diplomacy

Diplomacy (Cha)
New Use (Get Product Reviewed)
This use of the Diplomacy skill may not be untrained.
Base DC 20
Product is not for D&D: +5
Company you work for is out of buisness: -5
Game lost money: -5

Time: This use of the Diplomacy skill takes 6-12 months. For every 5 points by which your skill check exceeds the base DC, subtract one month.