Magic the Gathering Nemesis: Masquerade Cycle Book II by Paul B. Thompson

Another quick read from the Half-Price dollar spinner rack.

I'll be jumping into spoilers right away. If you're looking for just an overall yeah or nay, I'd say yea. It's usually a fun read when you get to see what the villains are up to and the heroes aren't the 'main strays' of the series.

Anyway, the book is indeed about villains and fallen heroes. Two of the main villains, Ertai, and Crovax, were former heroes aboard the Weatherlight. Two of the others, Greven, and Volrath should be better known as villains since they've been around for a while. The new piece to the game Belbe, is added. This provides a nice range of characters who for the most part, have their own methods and abilities, but are eager to see who the new champion of the machine made plane of Rath will be.

In a role playing game, it can often times be difficult to play as the villains if its a standard game. In a setting like this though, where all of the characters and enemies are villains, it makes it a little easier. No matter which side you turn on, they probably deserve it. It can act as a guide to running a quick mini-campaign of sorts that sets up the background events.

This can allow players the change to see how the other side lives and works and while it can be hard to keep the meta knowledge out of their hands, it can also be fun if they know what a struggle they've have in the upcoming events.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Just saw Captain America, The First Avenger. It was a solid movie and I enjoyed it. I actually thought it was too short, which is a rarity for a me to think such of a movie. The actors did a good job with their characters. The little differences between the comic and movies, actually worked in the movies favor this time around. For example,I wouldn't mind seeing the origin of the Red Skull as done in the movie makes a lot of sense and makes the Red Skull and Captain America more alike in some ways.

Now I'll be talking about specifics in the movie and how they bounce around the old brain and how I might relate some of that to a role playing game.

In terms of structure, Captain America is a soldier. Prior to that, he is a patriot. He wants to serve his country. One of the reasons I like games that follow some type of military structure, either mercenary or military, is that they provide a fairly clear structure that allows the game to flow in a manner that the GM has a little bit more leeway in controlling. As shown in the film however, not every soldier always does as he's told and even in those situations, they work out to be action filled scenarios that have the soldier 'officially' in the wrong, but doing such a good job of crippling the enemy, that it still works out to every one's advantage and any actual punishments are wink winked away.

For equipment, Captain America uses a specialized mesh for his uniform to protect him from small arms fire as well as from bayonets. His shield however, is a unique weapon of defense that is painted over and over again in the colors of his home country. With his augmented strength and agility, the shield becomes both defensive and offensive weapon. It is also iconic. Few fans of Marvel Comics wouldn't recognize the red, white, and blue of Captain America's shield.

Supporting cast includes fellow officers and agents who are allied with America. Another reason why I enjoy the military structure, there are opportunities to surround the players with interesting people who may not have the same type of plot protection that the players have. Will an explosion kill a friend? Will a sniper take out an important ally?

The nemesis... I've mentioned the Red Skull already. In this version, he too benefits from the super serum that turns a man into a super soldier. It ties him and Captain America together. the actor playing the Red Skull does a great job of bringing a level of arrogance to the Skull that works well. For example, when first introduced, he is warned away from an item of great power by an old guardian who tells him, "It's not meant for normal men to look upon", or something of that nature. The Red Skull agrees with him! Other opportunities for the Red Skull to shine include his first physical encounter with Captain America, which is cut short by the destruction of the building around them.

This destruction is a good method of keeping the final fight from happening. It allows the audience to get a taste of the Red Skull's physical prowess and reveals his madness as he claims to embrace his greater than human nature, by showcase his well, red skull visage.

In many situations where there is a need for a nemesis, having that nemesis have a similar origin to the players can provide insight into the abilities, methods, and motivations of the nemesis. It also serves to set up the nemesis as someone who is just as capable as the players. a good villain needs a good introduction. He needs a good theme.

The Red Skull also benefits in that he has a lot of neat toys. His car for example, is a slick piece of machinery while his soldiers, Hydra, are all armed with high powered energy weapons with their own signature look. These touches work well for the movie in that they allow viewers to quickly identify who the good guys and bad guys are.

Captain America is also packed with high energy. It keeps moving. There are times I wanted it to slow down as it actually uses a montage of Cap taking down various Hydra bases instead of showcasing specific missions.  Keeping things moving is also vital to a role playing game. It helps keep things moving. It provides the players reasons to pay attention, to keep their hands close to the dice.

While many of the ideas are immediately of use to a super hero based campaign, they are also grounds for any campaign that requires the GM to have a military structure with a villain who shares a common point of origin with the players. Good stuff all around.

Afro Samurai Resurrection

Afro Samurai is a strange hybrid of different cultural elements. On one hand, it's the high energy Rap music wrapped up in Eastern Samurai warriors dressed like some weird combination of hip hop apocalypse survivors, which doesn't seem that far from what it actually is.

But what can you drag out of it for your own campaigns?

Actions have consequences is a theme I've mentioned before. In the original movie, Afro cuts a swathe of destruction through the land in his search for the #1 headband, worn by the man who killed his father. Friends, loves, and others all suffer under... almost indifference... to the need of his quest for revenge. Many of those people who die, have loved ones who aren't happy with those results. In this movie, they come back for some of their own revenge.

The Nemesis Effect is also in play here. Afro has proven himself fit against a robot duplicate of himself in past performance, and referenced here, but what is it that drives Afro? His father. So using the post-modern super science of the era, the villainess of this piece brings Afro's father back to life to act as his executioner.

It's not a one way street though. In order to challenge the #1, now Sio, Afro needs the #2 headband. The current owner of it is travelling with a child. This doesn't stop Afro mind you and much like the young heroine at the end of Kill Bill, Afro lets the child know that when he's ready for the fight, Afro will be there. This makes things cyclic. There are no real good guys here, just people obsessed with following their own agendas.

Some game systems build these types of innate activities into the player's through game mechanics. Games like Dungeons and Dragons use alignment as a broad guideline in allowing how players act. Hero and GURPS have psychological disadvantages with different strengths that show how the players may react to different scenarios.



Simple Plans Are the Best: This resurrection of Afro's father probably wasn't the best thing to do for several reasons. The first, is that Jinno and Sio had already proven their superiority to Afro in the initial conflict. To go further in the name of bring further pain to Afro, works against the act of killing Afro.

This is a common problem that many ego-maniacs have. When you are designing your head villains, how powerful do they think they are? How untouchable do they believe themselves to be? The more on the crazy scale they are, the more likely they are to make plans within plans within plans that can fall apart without that much required to happen. This desire to inflict more than pain and to inflict incarnate suffering leaves the hero too many opportunities to overcome.

The Control Effect: Like any good monster, Afro's father quickly falls out of control from Sio. What's worse, is that her brother, Jinno, is still Afro's friend underneath all of the cybernetics and takes this time to renew that friendship by trying to save Afro from his father. This of course leads to the resurrected father killing pretty much everyone that gets in his way leaving Afro a few moments to gather himself and claim victory.

It may seem that some of these things could only happen in such an anime but in my opinion, this could almost have been a Godzilla movie where the bad guys bring bad another giant monstrous enemy of Godzilla and lose control over it only to have it turn on them and be saved by Godzilla at the end.  The common themes of arrogance, cyclical events, and things beyond our control, are common to story telling and can be used in many mediums.

Afro Samurai boasts some great action sequences and some interesting character designs. If you're looking for some high powered post-apocalyptic action, Afro Samurai Resurrection hits the spot.

Usagi Yojimbo: Grasscutter

Usagi Yojimbo continues its trail of one rabbit samurai wandering the countryside as a ronin who keeps a circle of friends close while the world about him continues to come together in ways that are not always seen by the main character, but that the audience sees as ties that bind.

Below I'll be discussing some of the bits from Grasscutter, previewed here, the twelfth volume graphic novel collection of Usagi Yojimbo published by Dark Horse comics. Spoilers will follow so beware!

Mythology: Either Stan does a fantastic job of researching the history of Japan and presenting it to the reader or he does it in such a way that it's fun to read and doesn't negatively impact the story. In many cultures, there are magical weapons but too often the origin or founding point of these weapons are left to the readers imagination. There's nothing wrong with that. Was the infamous sword Blackrazor better before it gained excessive background or worse? Readers will be divided on that issue. Here, we are introduced to Grasscutter through both myth and historical events as to how it was lost to Usagi's Japan.

Nemesis: Ah, the dreaded tale of the nemesis. I've hit on this several times but well, here it hits again. Jei, the demonic warrior that Usagi has 'killed' several times prior to this returns in this novel. He showcases his powers against several entities that may have even been kin in their own way to him, but the path Jei walks is one that he walks unopposed. This can be an important thing to showcase with the villains in your setting.

In some setting such as the Forgotten Realms, there are so many high level villain and heroic organizations that it's often difficult to imagine the setting not resembling Gamma World more than a pseudo fantasy setting but those organizations dont' tend to ally with each other and even with 'good', may have their own ideas on how certain things, like artifacts and knowledge, should be shared, putting them at odds with one another. Have the party stumble upon a group of dead orcs and hobgoblins to showcase that just because they all hate the players, doesn't mean they love each other.

The Villain's Weakness: Most of the time when Jei and Usagi fight, Usagi doesn't do to well and generally is saved either by circumstance or luck. This volume is no different but it showcases a different side of Jei in that he leaves himselve open protecting 'his innocent'. This is essentially a follower of Jei who doesn't understand or care about what Jei is, only that he protected her at a dark period in her life and looks out for her. Usagi doesn't deliberately use her against him, but events conspire to put her in danger and Jei can choose to either end Usagi or save the 'innocent'. He saves the innocent.

Foreshadowing: Stan does this with a saint's patience. While probably not as noticeable in the individual issues that make up the series, the graphic novels allow the reader to see Stan setting up events so that they fall like domino's. Could you guess the events that will happen? Possibly. Do they make sense in the context of the story and keep the story moving forward?

Yes. In this instance, Inazuma, introduced only last volume, is hunted by Gen for the large bounty on her head. the two fight, Gen barely escapes with his life but ironically, due to an accident, it's Inazuma that's badly injured and passes out in front of Jei who at the bidding of his follower, leaves Inazuma, suffering from delusions and hallucinations, at a temple to heal. When Jei is 'killed', his spirit finds a new host in Inazuma, whose storyline will come back into play way down the line in volume 24.

Grasscutter: Grasscutter exhibits some interesting bits to it but doesn't shine through as something like Excalibur or Strombringer in terms of raw sword power. Rather, it's something that is a unique cultural artifact that could upset the political power of Japan and send the whole of it into further warfare. The thing is, Usagi is generally a 'good' individual and has no desire for political power. Don't put the gun in the room unless you're ready for the players to use it. I can easily envision a scenario where the players are supposed to pass an object to another individual but hey, when is this opportunity going to come along again? Always be ready for the players to take the path not offered and be ready for the consequences of it.

In my opinion, if you don't want to deal with the players potentially getting their hands on such an object and using it as players instead of as story element, it's better to not put it into the game rather than having some highly unlikely series of events conspire to steal the item from the players.