Tweets for Today

• 12:26 Apparently when you fly in to Austin, they quote Kool and the Gang lyrics at you.

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House of Cards: And Celluloid Heroes Never Really Die...

It's been an exciting week in House of Cards, with people dying, people being-missing-on-purpose, people-being-missing-by-accident, people-being-secretly-missing, people-not-answering-trumps, people-answering-trumps, and what-have-you. It's been fascinating to hear lurker-opinions (on- and off-list) about what's going on. I really get a kick out of what other people make of the story so far.

That being said, I think prince_corwin may be trying to get uninvited from future redheaded picnics.

JN3: Okay, Bleys moonlights as an actor in B-movies, and I claim my five pounds.
GMM: So, your guess is that all those "Bleys is doing something dashing" intros when people trump him are really B-movie serial roles? Interesting...
JN3: It fits all known observations!
JN3: And what else would Bleys really be doing with his spare time and surplus ego, other than BEING A MOVIE STAR!
GMM: Hmm. We need a masked avenger Bleys...
JN3: A space pirate Bleys!
GMM: Tomb Raider Bleys! No, wait, that's what Huon is trying...
GMM: We've had War Hero Bleys!, Bleys of Arabia!, Bleys Carter Warlord of Mars, Gone with Prince Bleys...
GMM: Bgum!, I think you're right...
JN3: It fits the facts, I say.

The only fact that doesn't fit is Bleys' notorious weak chin...

Con Game...

Before we began talking about Glowing Truck Balls, prince_corwin and I were discussing what became a convention round I'd like to run at some point. It's pretty sketchy, but here goes:

JMC:It'd be a cross-genre game where everyone is an actor, filming on a remote location, something goes horribly wrong, and every single one of them is some sort of special in disguise.

While the players might (depending on the con) be encouraged to create their own characters, the basic framework supports simple, iconic, pre-generated ones:

• the actor who is the Prince of another dimension but who enjoys theater, which he can't do at home
• the wisecracking stuntman who is really Britain's best (and best known) secret agent
• the trombone playing casanova who is really the 2nd in command of an orbiting starship
• the screenwriter who's a time-travelling soldier from the future who came back to avert a cataclysmic war, then didn't have a home to go back to
• the fight choreographer who is a scotsman from the 18th century travelled with an alien time-traveller for years
• the PA who is secretly a girl reporter in disguise to get the big scoop, she channels an ancient warrior princess when in danger

The PCs would not know that anyone else was exceptional. The circumstance that they're faced with would need to require exceptional actions, so the players would need to use their mighty powers.

There are some serious unknowns:
System: It would have to allow for a lot of variation. Probably something light, like Everway, PTA, or SotC.
Obstacle: It has to be big. Cthulhu big. Chased down by the X-Files big.
Setting: Taking a cue from Call of Cthulhu, the game doesn't have to be modern, and isolation often works better in the 1930s or earlier. This does eliminate (or at least change drastically) some of the character options.

The point of the game is to be larger than life. Even if the players have to run from MC 400 foot Cthulhu, they should do so in a big way...