![]() Now this is interesting. Space: 1999 is a British science-fiction television program that aired for only two series from 1975 to 1977. It has a cult following and came from the brilliant minds of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. While its base idea was very interesting, the many different ideas that were introduced did create a lack of consistency over time. It was set in the year 1999, The Moon among other roles was being used to store nuclear waster. When there was an explosion of some of the waste stored on the Moon's dark side. This would knock the Moon out of orbit, sending it and the inhabitants hurtling into space and on a desperate fight for survival and how to get back. The series did produce the amazing Eagle Spacecraft which was versatile but also incredibly clever and is still one of the coolest ship designs. They used a lot of miniatures in the show and something now replaced by CGI. It was not a cheap show to make however and this was a problem. I think it is very cool to see the RPG being made and I hope it comes with a lot of excellent lore and info. It may be a more limited run like the Dishonored RPG that Modiphius also has made. It is going to use the 2d20 system that Star Trek Adventures has made popular. If you want more info check out Modiphius Website. For story ideas there are a series of excellent audioplays on BigFinish.com and Andrew E.C. Gaska has a couple of brilliant graphic novels.
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Without a doubt Robert E Howard was instrumental in forging the Sword and Sorcery genre. Conan came at the right time. Weird Tales was the magazine that the character would first appear. This was a great magazine filled with crazy wonderous stories. They have tried to do things similar over the years but they never seem to have the same feel to them as the old one.
Conan was a hugely successful comic series. Savage Sword went from 1974 to 1995 with more than 230 issues. Conan the Barbarian ran from 1070 to 1993 and had over 270 published. They have left a deep mark on the comic industry. These were not kids comics. They were brutal adventure stories. Now Conan has returned. This time with Titan Comics and in full colour rather than Black and White like in the past. However I am very pleased with the end result. Bound in Black Stone is the first graphic novel released. It collects a Free Comic Book Day issue and the regular series 1 -4. It comes in about 100 pages I think. The book is softcover and the pages are shiny. The content I am very happy to say feels like old school Conan. It is brutal and tough. The art is the biggest surprise. While it is not the same as the older series, it definitely is done in that style and very much feels like part of that series. If you loved the old comics then check out this for sure. I think you will be well pleased overall. This is going to be a brief overview of lore for the Nomad faction from Corvus Belli’s Infinity. Now this is going to focus on information from the roleplaying game published by Modiphius, but if even if you haven’t played the rpg but you’re wanting to know a little bit about the Nomads in general, hopefully there’ll be something here to interest you as well!
Summary: To start off with, who are the nomads? In short, they are a faction of misfits traveling around the Human Sphere on their 3 motherships. Their lives are harder than those in many of the other factions, but they consider it worth it to live their lives with complete freedom and no judgment. They are proud of the fact that they are the only people left not under the thumb of ALEPH, in fact they have cobbled together their own chaotic datasphere, called Arachne, to prevent their secrets falling into the hands of ALEPH or its supporters. Nomads as a group are passionate, chaotic, rebellious and extremely individualistic which they sometimes express through extreme body modifications. Because they are so unique it is hard to pin down a single cultural identity for this faction, especially when you add in the differences between life on the three ships, but that’s just how they like it. And not all Nomads call the motherships home there are a vast number living and working on commercial missions, and they are often the only Nomads that interact with the other factions making them de facto representatives for Nomads as a whole. History: Corregidor was the first ship. But it wasn’t just a ship, it was a prison colony. Full of convicts, terrorists, refugees, all the “surplus” population of the nations who had built it. But maintaining it was expensive for those nations, and before they joined the PanOceania faction they had to somehow rid themselves of it. Giving the Corregidor independence was the solution they hit on. They were no longer responsible for them, it was up to them to find a way to survive. Although no one thought they would. They wouldn’t have without the brutal pragmatism of Corregidor’s warden. He quickly sorted the prison ship’s population into 3 categories. “Useful” prisoners, who had skills that would benefit the ship and help the group survive. “Valuable” prisoners, gang leaders or members of wealthy families, anyone that someone would pay to have returned. Or to have killed. FInally, the unlucky “surplus” prisoners, those with physical or mental health issues, or from poor communities, anyone the warden thought could not contribute and who no one would pay for. They were marked to be taken off life support first in case of emergencies. The inhabitants of Corregidor became a sort of mercenary force, and the first members of the Nomad faction. The next major event in Nomad history was the Violent Intermission. Yujing and PanOceania both used the Nomads as guinea pigs of sorts in a paramilitary experiment. They realized that since ALEPH dominated the interplanetary media, if you had the cooperation of the AI you could conduct small targeted attacks with no political consequence. Bakunin was their testing ground, and thousands of its inhabitants died so that the two warring factions could learn they could do the same to each other. The Nomads as a nation were too small to retaliate in kind, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t retaliate. They had a criminal mastermind on their side, Sarmiento, a man who so many wanted to kill that he could have brought the original Nomads a fortune when they auctioned off their valuable prisoners, but who the warden had decided was more useful to them alive. Sarmiento was the man who made people think twice about taking on the Nomads, because his tactics were not normal or proportional. If you ordered an attack on Nomad defenses, your faction might not suffer in the same way, but you would find your bank accounts empty, house burned down, loved ones dead and every piece of blackmail anyone ever had on you livestreaming to the whole galaxy. Now, ALEPH’s involvement in the Violent Intermission goes a long way towards explaining the Nomad’s hatred of the AI, but that is far from the only reason. Part of it is simply pride in their oppositional nature. The rest of humanity has turned much of their lives and decision making over to a soulless AI for the sake of convenience, and Nomads are the only ones fighting against what they see as humanity's biggest threat. They see themselves as inheriting the legacy of whistleblowers who came before them, those who spoke up against destroying the environment and using up the earth’s resources. Unlike the destruction of earth, if ALEPH’s reach continues to expand the Nomads believe there will be no escape. Nomad’s also deeply distrust anything to do with ALEPH and that is what spawned Arachne. Arachne is the dark-web datasphere and the unregulated counterpart to Maya, ALEPH’s datasphere used by most of the human sphere. As far as anyone is able to tell, Arachne should not work. Interplanetary access maintained by surreptitiously placed nodes aside, Arachne itself is a mess, but that’s no accident. To confuse ALEPH, Arachne is comprised of irrational and contradictory logical systems based on mythology and sacred geometry. Arachne is objectively slower than Maya, but Maya tends to show you what it thinks you want to see, or possibly what it thinks you should want to see, so many Nomads say that Arachne is actually quicker to use to find what you’re truly looking for. Maya has seemingly endless content, but it’s curated. Arachne has everything jumbled together in a mess of pure chaos, but contains thingsMaya would never allow. Ships: Now Corregidor was the first ship, but the Nomads have expanded beyond being able to inhabit one ship alone. While hundreds of thousands of Nomads don’t live on any of the three motherships but are on commercial missions, the ships remain the heart of the Nomad nation. I’m going to briefly go over each ship and share some of what makes them unique as they are all completely different from one another. Bakunin: The “radical mothership” Bakunin is a ship full of big ideas and innovative research. Mad scientists creating monsters, anarchists, activists, and dissidents all jumbled together. Visually it’s just as chaotic, a jumble of colours and lights, and music and performances are going on constantly. Exposed wires and carelessly placed panels in the ship are just for show, and some even have training games for curious children hidden in them, as the actual workings of the ship are safely hidden from prying eyes. Stray cats are everywhere, and feature prominently in urban legends of Bakunin. Most notably some people believe they carry the souls of departed people. Whereas Corregidor makes its money through hired labour and Tunguska through manipulating finance, Bakunin’s economy depends on tourism and entertainment, and research and development. Bakunin’s scientists are not restrained by ethics committees or political red tape, which has led to an equal mix of horror and success stories. One of the most notable ideas to come out of Bakunin is Social Energy. While difficult to define, it is a system of social ranking that is an ID, a currency, and also plays a big part in social interactions. It consists of a myriad of measurements taken from extensive data the system has on all citizens. It’s a quantified value of the impression an individual has on the society around them. It is represented by a number between 1 and 10,000, but values lower than 2,000 or higher than 8,000 are very rare. While it is technically not possible to have a ranking of zero, let alone below it, both the AI ALEPH and the Equinox terrorist group have the dubious honour of being considered less than zero aboard Bakunin. Corregidor: The inhabitants of Corregidor care about survival above all else, probably not surprising considering their origin as a prison ship cut loose to live or die, and view life as a series of transactions. The ship is full of workers, mostly manual labourers who have gathered after being rejected by the rest of society. Whether they were criminals or refugees they now call Corregidor home and offer labour for hire to the rest of the Human Sphere Visually, Corregidor is stark and industrial. Every inch of space is utilized with nothing wasted, and everything has a function. There is not enough room on Corregidor, and there hasn’t been for generations, so everything is built with this in mind. Pragmatism is apparent in every facet of the ship’s design, and anything that can be made to serve more than one purpose will be. Nothing more than what is absolutely necessary is built, there are no public leisure spaces or artwork. Even private residences seem more like military barracks and utility and maximizing space are valued over comfort or aesthetic. Corregidor’s economy is dependent on physical labour, mining, construction, mercenary work, and to ensure its inhabitants are up to the task they are required to participate in daily fitness activities. Skipping these is actually a punishable offense, but even if it weren’t, social pressure would likely be enough to ensure people took part. The idea of everyone pulling their own weight is ingrained into those who call Corregidor home and everyone has to do their part to keep the ship going. No one gets a free ride and even the air you breathe has a price, whether you pay with money or labour. If you don’t, or even if you can’t, you’ll find yourself arrested and forced to work off your debts. On Corregidor, whether you work as a prisoner or a free individual, work is inevitable. Tunguska: Tunguska is full of hackers, bankers and organized criminals and if you’re looking to have something taken care of in secret, which is increasingly difficult in a world under the watchful eye of ALEPH, they’re the ones you want to talk to. The governing of the ship works as a corporate model and is split into three different groups. The Entente, a gathering of crime syndicates, hold 39% of shares in the project that is Tunguska. The Bank, made up of extremely discreet Central European financial groups, holds 29%. Tortuga, a collective of hackers, received 19%. Together these three groups are known as The Nines, named for the final digit of each of their respective percentage of shares. The remaining 13% went to external investors and new citizens. Having a share in Tunguska allows you to vote directly on how it is run. The Bank of Tunguska is considered the most powerful financial entity in the world, and while not as big as other such groups it is free to maneuver without bureaucratic red tape and O-12 oversight. Tunguska offers many things to the human sphere, some more legal than others. Legal services, consulting, investing, and so on, but also the best hackers you could find. The uniting feature of any job they take on is unorthodox methods and impressive results. Perhaps the service most often taken advantage of on Tunguska is privacy, and in fact 80% of Tunguska’s economy is dedicated to providing it. The Human Sphere has, in most cases, sacrificed privacy for convenience with ALEPH integration and hyperconnectivity. Tunguska offers many options for anyone looking to regain some of that lost privacy, with discreet bank accounts, safe boxes, private datasphere connection, etc. This is all possible due to the Crypt, a secure data crypt in the ship’s core. Thus far neither hackers nor ALEPH itself have been able to breach the securities put in place to protect the Crypt, but if they were ever able to, the entire economy, and therefore ruling structure, of Tunguska would crumble. For those living on Tunguska, everything, including daily life, revolves around finance. Citizen shareholders receive yearly dividends, though these are not exclusively paid out in actual currency. It can be redeemed instead as something known as service vouchers. Tunguska is a business and so there are no publicly funded services. Everything is privately contracted whether that be healthcare, utilities, or anything else a governing body would usually oversee. Service vouchers can be traded in to skip the line, get better service, etc. It is transparent and institutionalized corruption and though those outside of Tunguska would tend to decry it, citizens find it reassuringly honest and unique in that if governments are corrupt to begin with, at least in this case citizens can participate in that corruption. Even the justice system on Tunguska is financial. A citizen who takes any action that harms Tunguska as an entity, Tunguskan citizens or the Nomad nation (in that order) will find themselves in social debt. If this can be paid off, a good defense lawyer can talk them out of it or bribes are made, which will be openly recorded, the matter will be closed. Otherwise, they may find themselves in massive debt they could never conceivably pay off and in a form of life sentence in indentured servitude to whoever it is determined they have wronged. Other important Nomad things: Krugs: Now every Nomad ship is extremely different and they may not interact with each other very often, but every four years there is an event very important to all Nomads. Called the Krug, it’s a gathering of the 3 motherships. It’s an opportunity to connect, trade goods or swap vessels, and strengthen the bonds between the three ships. It’s a celebration, and the only holiday celebrated by all Nomads regardless of background, religion, etc. The amount of deals being made at almost every turn is astronomical, perhaps rivaled only by the number of parties going on. Drug fueled raves whose fatality count rarely dips below double digits, elegant galas hosted by the rich and powerful where so many rules of etiquette are imposed it is mandatory to download software to your geist to keep track of all the dos and don’ts, drunken revelry in the streets, extravagant themed parties, there is something for anyone looking to have a good time. The number of children conceived during a Krug is quite high but not specifically known as some ships can be a bit touchier about lineage than others. And of course in between the deals being brokered and parties being thrown, someone has to take care of some planning. Things that need to be organized include the location of the next krug, and is always a spectacle of bribes, threats and pleading for it to happen anywhere other than the speaker’s own system, and transfers of people from one ship to another to help maintain biodiversity in their populations. Ending: And that is a quick overview of the Nomads. Certainly not everything, as there is no way to briefly summarize the chaotic variety that surrounds everything to do with this faction! If you’re interested in more lore I really recommend the Nomad supplement for the Infinity roleplaying game The Wolf General is a mysterious figure in the world of Carbon Grey. Walking the line between mysticism and pragmatism he is a truly formidable foe to any who find themselves pitted against him, and as his allegiances tend to shift even those who believe themselves to be on his side may not be for long. He will say or do anything to further his goals, so while he claims his only aim is to protect his nation that may serve as little reassurance to those around him. He sits in somewhat of a grey area (if you will pardon the pun). He serves as the head of internal security for the nation of Mitteleuropa and in the past was zealously devoted not only to the country itself but to its ruler the Kaiser, and to its legend of the peoples’ champion Gottfaust, but now finds time and reality have not matched up to the lore and ideals he believed himself to be serving. He now believes the people of Mitteleuropa to themselves be the source of the nation’s strength, not any leader or hero of legend. Yet while he may no longer be a true follower of Gottfaust he is inextricably linked to him for he has an inexplicable connection to Gottfaust’s stone, a powerful artifact that has the potential to shape the course of the whole world. This connection allows him to read the memories of the dead, seeing the last things they saw. This is one of the fun miniatures that come in the Carbon grey Deluxe Boxed Set. Wolf has a lot of dark colours in the graphic novel which suits him very well. But in the miniature form I wanted there to be a little more light. I kept with dark cor his pants and shirt, the wolf skin is brown. The chains and helmet are nice as they allow a metallic in the central part of the figure. I decided upon a red for his coat. I did that over a couple of days and let everything dry completely before moving on. One mistake beginners tend to make is not letting everything dry fully. Take your time. I did some dry brushing to bring out the tips of some of the clothing folds. Dry brushing is a good technique and can be quite effective at times. There are more complex techniques in blending and layering, but I am not always keen on using them on a figure that is meant to be touched a lot. Which game miniatures are. For the coat I used a darker red to give the deeper areas some shadow. The base was a brown dirt texture with green added to make it a big more like moss. I then added one tuft of greenery to imply that not everything was dead. Last act was to seal his soul in matt varnish to protect the paint from touching and take off any excessive shine. All in all its one of the mini's I enjoyed a lot that came in the boxed set. Hello and welcome to the Kritfayle blog! Could you begin by telling us a little bit about yourselves?
We are a self built Board Game Company in Western New York that designed and sells Ghosts of Ur the table top adventure game. As the creators of Ghosts of Ur, how would you describe it to someone who might not be familiar with it? We have a saying here at the warehouse that Ghosts of Ur is Chess and Risk meets Dungeons and Dragons How did you get into board game creation? We, and me specifically, playing a lot of Board Games and DnD back in the 70s and 80s. Many of them we did not like and could be easily broke, think Risk with Australia, and so we created GHOUR with that problem solving in mind. What are some of your favourite board games? Aside from Ghosts of Ur of course! Dark Tower was a big one for me personally but Axis and Allies and Third Riech were also big for me. As well as the game of 20 squares which you might know as "The Royal Game of Ur" What first inspired Ghosts of Ur? Learning about Summeria and the Genetic ties to North Western Europe in 3800bc, had me hooked immediately. Real History is stranger than fiction and the dawn of early man was a magical time. Did you first have the idea for the setting and then decide it would make a good board game, or want to make a board game and later come up with the setting? To be honest they went hand in hand almost at the same time. What was the creation process like? Painstakingly slow with a ton of Prototypes and play testing and experimental hours working out the math for years. Who do you think this game appeals to most? DnD fans that want to play a Board Game as a change of pace that is different every time to play it. In an era where computers are used for so much, what do you think are the strengths of board gaming over computer gaming? I play a LOT of computer games still, they have their place for sure but Board Games offer a much diffrent experience because you are gathered with freinds and family in a live setting. What was a challenge that you didn’t expect while creating Ghosts of Ur and how did you overcome it? Material processing and the knowledge needed to utilize everything from 3d printers to spin casting molten Pewter. It has been a labor of love but it has been work that has been long and back breaking. What was the most enjoyable part of creating a board game? The first day we all saw the finished box we all lit up here like school kids. Just awesome. Still is TBH One cool feature of Ghosts of Ur is how replayable it is due to the random tile placement system, are you planning on releasing any expansions to further boost replayability? We have many varients that we experiment with and post on the website and TBH most casual BGers will be done with Ghosts of Ur long before it is done with them. We are also working on a Dungeon Crawler utilizing the same components as GHOUR just with new tile sets and diffrent mechanics. We have been testing this part in the back ground for a bout a year now. What, if anything, inspired the six different adventurers? They are based on real archealogical digs from 3800bc and the real people that made the actual journey to Sumer 7000 years ago. Your website lists interesting gameplay variants, do you have a favourite of those? I like playing Gala Master if I can draft him, or Capture the flag if I am feeling like a little more action movie type thing if that makes sense. You mention some of your game components are locally crafted and/or handcrafted, how important was it to work with local artists and manufacturers? We manufacture all of the Pewter and assemble in full here in Buffalo NY (as well as all the shipping) the graphic artists were all local also, and TBH when working on such an obscure time in history I am not sure that remote communication would have worked for us. It is strange to most artists and the heavy lift of helping them understand the time period helps immensely if they are in the same city. You do livestreams of Ghosts of Ur on Twitch, when can people check those out and what can they expect? They can expect to see daily Tuesday through Saturday 8am est (and then rerun all day afterwards) a bunch of GHOUR players that have played each other for 1000s of times and as such there is a lot of strategy involved that I am not sure the average adventurers would be doing right out of the box first few times What’s next? Are there any upcoming projects we should keep an eye out for? It involves a Dungeon Crawler and Enki's son Marduk. The Pantheon of ancient Sumer is fascinating to us. A modern element to some RPG's now are cards. They have certainly existed in RPG's before but they have gained popularity in more recent years. I cards from the Star Wars RPG. Twilight 2000, Alien and the Carbon Grey ones which are pictured above.
I wasn't sure of their use, more so how their use would add or improve the gaming experience. I have found however that they can be quite useful. The Star Wars cards cover NPC's and are great when a GM needs a stat block on the fly. Alien was the first all round package. It includes cards for equipment, agenda's, npc's. During play these were useful for both GM and players. The Agenda's reminded the players of their motivations. The gear cards were great for having stats on hand without having to look in the book. Especially for disposable gear and items that the character will not be used on going. Carbon Grey is the latest game that I have received cards in. Carbon Grey has cards on NPC's, beasts, vehicles and weapons. They have sped up some of the book keeping that would normally be done by flicking through pages in the book. Overall the addition of cards to the games have been a positive experience for us. This post is a brief introduction to the different factions in the world of Corvus Belli’s Infinity. Now this is going to have more of a focus on the roleplaying game by Modiphius, but if you’re interested in the miniature wargame and just want some basic faction info, this might help you as well! If you want to learn more about any of the factions, Modiphius has released supplements for the playable groups which are definitely worth investing in as they provide a lot more lore and some faction specific lifepaths, careers, etc.
PanOceania: PanOceania is the greatest of all the great powers, the strongest of the G-5 nations, the biggest faction in terms of both number of citizens and influence. PanOceania boasts a strong economy, which combined with its reliance on the artificial intelligence ALEPH and other technology allows its citizens safe, comfortable and prosperous lives. That’s not to say this faction is content to simply rest on its laurels at the top, PanOceania’s army is equipped with weapons more advanced and destructive than many other groups in the Human Sphere could imagine, and they will fight to defend their position as best of the best. If you’re looking for an elite and stable faction for your character to be a part of, PanOceania might be for you. On the other hand, there’s potential for stories about dissatisfaction with society’s reliance on technology, distrust of ALEPH, etc. Whether you want to embrace the factions' ideals or fight against them, PanOceania gives you a lot to work with. Yu Jing: Perhaps slightly in PanOceania’s shadow, and definitely their greatest rival, Yu Jing is the other great power in the Human Sphere. All Asian nations united under the banner of what used to be China, Yu Jing’s culture is a both diverse and unified sum of all its parts. While they were late joiners to the space race that has spread humanity throughout the stars, they have since worked twice as hard as any faction to prove themselves an example to the entire Human Sphere, and escape the ever looming shadow of their perpetual enemy, PanOceania. Possessing a thriving industrial sector, strong economy and powerful technology, they truly are a formidable power in their own right. However while their government presents a faction dedicated to the best interests of its citizens, behind this projected united front are cracks that some citizens slip through, turning to crime to boost their status or make a living. There’s a lot to work with character wise in this faction. The frustration of always being just behind another power, trying to gain ground and make up for time lost. Do you follow the Party and the Empire or make your own life in the shadows? Whatever you decide, there’s potential for a great story. Ariadna: Ariadna is made up of the descendants of the first human colony ship, of the same name, which the rest of humanity believed to have been lost when it vanished into a wormhole. In reality the colonists were alive, but stranded on a harsh and dangerous planet. From a variety of nations, the different groups fought each other while simultaneously trying to survive the planet itself, and through all that hardship they were merged together and forged into Ariadna. The strength, endurance and perseverance they learned would serve them well because as soon as they were rediscovered by the rest of humanity, hypercorps were trying to claim the Ariadnans' resource rich planet for their own. After fighting them off, Ariadna joined the G-5 nations. Ariadnans are tough, resilient and straightforward, fiercely loyal to their faction but also prone to fighting within it. Due to their long separation from the rest of the Human Sphere they do not have much of the technology that other factions take for granted, including cubes and geists. If you want a more rough and tumble or practical character who isn’t overly reliant on technology, Ariadna might be for you. In terms of character stories there’s a lot to work with in terms of feeling isolated from the other nations, wondering if they were only accepted into the human sphere because of their resources, or maybe having a greater fear of death than other factions for whom it’s a less permanent issue because of their cubes. Haqqislam: Haqqislam is a nation that began as a cultural and religious movement. The members of this faction seek knowledge, pursuing both philosophical learning and scientific discoveries. Their greatest discovery has probably been Silk, a gene therapy courier that weaves its way through the human body allowing individual cells to be interacted with on a genetic level. Silk allowed for all kinds of medical advancements, none more revolutionary however than the development of the Cube. Silk can basically make a perfect replica of the brain, memories and all, and store it in an implant called a cube. After someone dies their cube can be transplanted into an L-Host, a new body rapidly grown over an artificial skeleton using Silk. Haqqislam’s monopoly over Silk and extensive trade routes have resulted in them being a formidable economical force. While knowledge may be their main goal, they are ready to fight to protect the secrets of Silk and the nation they have built. Haqqislam is a faction that lends itself well to characters that are scientists or in other ways seekers of knowledge. If you want to go against the grain though maybe your character is more focused on discovery for personal gain rather than learning for learning’s sake, or you could dedicate yourself to fighting to protect knowledge rather than seeking it yourself. Nomads: The Nomads don’t have a homeworld, but travel in three massive motherships, Bakunin, Corregidor and Tunguska, each with its own distinct culture. Nomads are true individualists, and value personal freedom above all else. While life is hard on their motherships, perhaps especially Coreggidor where you are charged even for the air you breathe, Nomads believe freedom is worth anything. Freedom from what? From the rest of society, and specifically from the AI ALEPH who they view as the biggest threat to humanity. The Nomads are the only remaining nation not cooperating with ALEPH, or as they see it, not under the thumb of ALEPH and its insidious surveillance state. More so than any other group, Nomads seek out extreme body modifications, both for practical reasons and as another way to assert individuality. You might want to make a Nomad character if you love traveling or thinking for yourself. In terms of story, make sure to delve deeper than just a hatred of ALEPH. While that’s something all Nomads share, what else makes you a Nomad? What was life like on your particular ship? A Nomad character may clash with others, part of their story could be getting used to cooperating with the rest of the party. Whatever you come up with it’s sure to be fun, as the Nomads are a bizarre and varied group! ALEPH: The only legitimate AI in the Human Sphere, and the only one there ever will be thanks to the Sole AI law, ALEPH oversees a sizable amount of all human activity. ALEPH seeks to do everything in its power to better the lives of those who created it and still work alongside it. ALEPH oversees daily life, improving its quality and making the human sphere safer. ALEPH is everyone’s best friend. If you ask ALEPH and its proponents anyway. Detractors such as the Nomads believe those who work with ALEPH are little more than its puppets and are hastening their own demise. Rogue AIs seek to cause chaos from within. Those enemies are little more than annoyances however compared to the looming threat of the Evolved Intelligence and their Combined Army. Characters in this faction can be human, members of Bureau Toth or others allied with ALEPH, or aspects of ALEPH itself given physical form to fight, interact with humans, or do other tasks. There’s a lot to play with when it comes to AI characters, are they a person, etc. and when it comes to aspects of ALEPH there’s even more to dig into as they are smaller parts of a gigantic whole, not possessing the full knowledge ALEPH has. Combined Army: The Combined Army is made up of some of the most dangerous species in the universe, and was put together by the Evolved Intelligence, an AI that has conquered countless civilizations in working towards its ultimate goal, transcendence into some sort of higher plane. Cold, calculating and ruthless, the Evolved Intelligence has in creating the Combined Army made the most dangerous army in the galaxy and they are looking to add the Human Sphere to their number. The Combined Army should serve as a common enemy thus uniting all of humanity, but despite that fact humans can’t seem to put faction warfare aside. NA2: The Non Aligned Armies is a catch all for the mercenaries, bounty hunters, etc. that aren’t aligned with any faction. They are employed by factions, corporations, and so on and while often treated as disposable they pride themselves on their work. Members of NA2 may be motivated purely by financial gain, or perhaps they are disillusioned with their former faction. O-12: O-12 is sort of a successor to the UN. It’s an international organization designed to oversee the entirety of the human sphere, keeping powerful factions in check and protecting smaller ones. They look to unify all groups in the human sphere into mutual collaboration for the betterment of humanity, striving to uphold their four Pillars: Unity, Cooperation, Support, and Progress. O-12 is made up of 12 different Bureaus, including the tactical police force Bureau Aegis, the covert intelligence agency Bureau Noir, and Bureau Toth, the group responsible for overseeing Aleph. Tohaa: The Tohaa are an advanced alien civilization who have been fighting against the Evolved Intelligence longer than anyone else in the galaxy. Masters of biotechnology and terraforming they travel the galaxy and “exalt” other species they deem worthy, that is raising them into sentience and granting them more intelligence so they can fight beside the Tohaa as their “auxiliaries”. Highly intelligent and adaptable, they can also be cold and calculating The Tohaa are not a playable faction in the Infinity RPG Core Rulebook, but there is a supplement that allows you to play them or one of their exalted alien species. And there you have it! All the Infinity factions in a nutshell. If you’re interested in any deeper dives into any of these groups, like what it’s like on the three Nomad motherships or why the number 3 is so important to the Tohaa, let us know! Thanks for watching. One area that is so often overlooked in Sci-Fi series and Star Trek to a large degree is transport vessels. In Earlier Trek this was partly due to the fact that any vessel seen on screen had to be a physical model. That also lent into the movies and The Next Generation. So any new ship was a big deal that would eat into budget. If a new ship was to be shown there had to be a real reason for it. Transports are a very unsexy class of ship when compared to the ships of the line from any of the main races. For most stories they would be very important window dressing. At places like Star Bases, colony worlds, research stations and the like. In these places transports would be a key part of the supply chain. Far more than a ship of the line like Enterprise.
This is one of my favourite ships from Star Trek, It isn't pretty at all but it fulfills an important void. The Klingons would have a large transport fleet for resupply. It is warp capable but its speed and living conditions made it better suited for shorter runs, has a crew of around fifty and is a little more than fifty meters long. These kinds of Space Haulers are very needed in Trek. The Model is quite nice in some areas and a little soft in others. Overall though it is good. The Stack like Structures and engine area are nicely done and the paintwork on this one is excellent. It has a unusual shade of green and a layer of grime and weathering. If you like unusual Trek ships this is a good one to get. .One of the most unusual vessels in Star Trek is the United Earth Arctic One. Not a overly long vessel at around 80 meters. It was operational during the Mid-23rd century and came with the rare feature of skids. These were to allow the vessel to land on ice planets.
The ship was relatively easy to fly and could be done so by a pilot alone, but the average crew was three to six for flight operations. It is designed for Arctic conditions, however space itself is the harshest of environments. Its primary role was research and the cargo hold could be outfitted for the mission requirements. It could house around thirty scientists in its living quarters. It came outfitted with thrusters which allowed for vertical take off and landing as well as hovering. It was also warp capable, however it was slow and could only do warp 1.4. It featured no weapons and the hull while somewhat armoured was done so with environmental conditions in mind rather than combat. The Model This was not one I even remembered, which might also be why it was on sale at the time. However I think it is interesting that these lesser know ships are available. The detail on this model is slightly soft when I compare it to a couple of the other ones I own. It is possible that the studio model might not have been super detailed either. It doesn't have too many join lines which is the bane of many diecast models. and overall I think its a nice addition to the collection. Shuttles play a very important roll in Star Trek. In their simplest form they shuttle gear and personal that could not be teleported for some reason, but over time the need for a warp capable small vessel would become important both from a Star Fleet point of view but also a story one.
From the story side it allowed a different kind of story. Often these were either separating crew from the support of the ship or smaller stories that could be focused on a couple of the characters rather than an ensemble. Next Gen used Shuttles in their stories effectively, but it was DS9 that made them a central part of the shows ship lineup. The Danube Class (Nicknamed Runabout) was 23.1 meters long and had a crew between 2 and 4 depending on the mission requirement. They were modular in its cargo area which allowed for several different missions to be outfitted. These included defense (Phasers and Microtorpedo) scientific, medical, cargo or personal transport. The Danube is larger than standard shuttles and this gave it some more versatility. They were capable of landing on planets and leaving the atmosphere. They were able to reach Warp 5 and with that had a decent range. DS9 started with 3 and all of them were named after Earth Rivers. The Diecast model is quite nice. It does come with a lot of detail and Eaglemoss always does a pretty good job of hiding seamlines and screws. Something that can be a bane to some diecast lines. This model is not perfect, however its not very expensive and if one considers the price they are then these are pretty decent value for money. If you like the Runabout then this would not be a bad purchase. So I bought this as it has a novel idea (if you'll pardon the pun, I wouldn't) its a novel that comes with a Adventure for the Alien RPG in it. Full disclosure I am a fan of Drew Gaska's work. Could someone else have written the Alien RPG? Sure but I don't think it would have been as good. Seeing that the new novel would have the RPG Adventure was what made me pre-order it.
The Novel *** it was ok. Read it pretty quickly. Some of the stuff I liked a lot some things like the base, some of the characters. Somethings I didn't like. The dog was one, as was some of the British elements which were hard to take seriously. More at home in a Victorian pulp novel than Alien. The Adventure ***** So this was the most expensive adventure I have bought really. I mean that is on me. I bought it for the adventure rather than the novel. The adventure is a added bonus not the reason to buy the book. Unless your me and do it in reverse, but that is the Kritfayle way. So this is a short adventure (as expected) but there is room for a lot of fun RP. To give me time to think about it we have already had the players decide who they wanted to play and have had their agenda's given to them. The agendas they do not share with each other. Watching Raven's face when they realized just how much trouble they were in, how much trouble they would cause the other characters and the drama and stress that would come from it was worth the price alone. Its a good adventure. It ties into the book well and the characters have some cool moments because of that. it also has some of those moments for the players. Those moments add to it and give the players a little extra connection to what is happening. In many IP RPG's (IP referring to existing shows, books etc in this case) the games feel distinct from the parent setting. Like a Expanded Universe but not part of the canon in any way. The Alien RPG doesn't feel that way and connecting the adventure to the novel's events is a interesting way to do it. It makes the novel more of a fun read for the players as they are seeing how they effected things and vice versa. If you play the RPG then get it. I think it adds something extra and is worth it. The Batman, The Worlds Greatest Dectective. VENGENCE. I have always liked the Batman as a character. He is very different to lighter characters like Spiderman. Spiderman was cool for the over the top action against other super villains and the occasional hero. I liked Batman for very different reasons. He was trying to make streets safer. Super villains had big goals and big plans and while their stories were interesting they were unrelated to me as a kid. Batman laying the hurt on a scumbag was satisfying. Over the years though the character has changed and seen lighter and darker versions. He has also seen more perfect versions as well as more broken ones. He is not a great hero. His parents get killed so he dresses as a bat to extract revenge. New versions like Chris Nolan's and the most recent The Batman has examined the transition of the character a bit more from revenge to something else. The character is very flawed and not a role model. For all that though there has been a fertile ground to tell stories.
The opportunity came to get this figure on sale and I grabbed it. Overall the figure is good and for what I paid it is excellent. Where these kinds of figures lose points is in their paint jobs. Many will say painted by hand but that doesn't really mean much. The base colours are very good and good coverage. Things like the symbol are very difficult to do on miniatures and the symbol here looks good. Where it fails is in two areas. One the eyes. More definition around the edges is needed. The second is in the wash. Washes are used on miniatures to give some definition and a fake shadow. Even coats are something miniature painters aim for so the wash has a unified coat in the areas we want it to go. On many figures/statues this does not happen. You can see the uneven drying of the wash on his arms, in the chest creases, boots and leg muscles. Instead of giving some shading it looks more like stains which isn't the effect they should be going for. Overall though I am happy with it based on the price. If you can get it on sale then its quite fun. As a kid growing up there were many Sci-Fi shows in the 1980's. In some ways it was a golden age. Yet two stood out to me. One was Battlestar Galactica. The two movies were excellent and left a lasting impression. The second was Buck Rogers in the 25th century. In the end I feel both series fell somewhat short of their potential. Season 2 Buck Rogers especially and issues with the shows lead actor are well documented.
For all that Buck Rogers was a very fertile ground with lots of room to tell all sorts of different stories. There were good messages in there also. The Earth had suffered. Humanity had survived and rebuilt. In that beautiful glossy future there still remained the scared cities from the war and the forgotten remnants of humanity in the wasteland. There is a lot to play with there. Moral and ethic questions in a range of areas. There was a uneasy peace/war with the Draconian Empire and in that there was a lot of the Space Opera excitement that sci-fi shows did so well. The effects were great and the reliance on models and real explosions for some of the ship destruction gave the series a look that cgi heavy series don't always seem to have. In the end the series never reached its full potential before cancellation. It was very cool however to find that there was three new stories written by Andrew E.C. Gaska. The rings of Saturn feels very much in the Space Opera area of the show and was where I feel it was best. While there is a large area to play in season 2 started to get a little strange at times. This book does not do that. This is a novella and comes in at 118 pages. While not the size of a novel I have to admit I am quite fond of Novella's. There were a lot more when I was younger. They are shorter but also easier to get through. They make great reading on holidays, while on the train and when you want to read but don't have lots of time. They move at a decent pace because they have to and never feel like they drag. They get to the point and stay there. The cover art is great and has that 1950's Amazing Stories art vibe. If you remember Buck Rogers and want some more stories then give this a go. If you want something different that isn't cynical like some of the more modern stories then give this a read. As a kid Star Wars was the biggest movie to effect me and it did. It solidified my love of Sci-Fi as my first genre love and I enjoy it far more than I do fantasy. You can see that on my gaming shelf. I GM and buy into mostly Science Fiction Genres. The TV movie that grabbed my attention a great deal as a kid was Battlestar Galactica and its follow on one with the Pegasus. The effects were great and overall are still very watchable today. They also had cool characters with great names like Boomer, Starbuck, Apollo (not callsigns) the Cylons were campy but great villains. The Basestars and especially the Raiders. The Show was campy, over the top but it embraced it and I loved it. So when i had a chance to get a Cylon Raider I jumped at the chance. I have collected Star Trek ships from Eaglemoss but this was my first one that was larger in scale. It comes in a decent sized box and all held in place by the styrofoam protection. Within is the model, the stand and a small booklet that gives some information about the Raider and its design process. The model itself is big and has a lot of weight to it. There is one visible screw which is located underneath and won't be seen. So that was a good place to put it rather than on top. The Detail overall is excellent. The pieces from the tank model kits are on here as they are on the original model. For 1978 it is a clever design and it has a lot of character. There is a lot of little things when looking at it that I didn't notice when I saw them on the screen. If you love Battlestar Galactica this would look great on your shelf.
Today the ship people seem to think of when they think of Klingon ships are the Birds of Prey. The staple of the fleet though was the D-7's and the K'Tinga. As much as I like the K'Tinga there is something about the old smooth D-7 that speaks to me.
The model of the K'Tinga is really nice. A lot of it is solid metal with the engines being plastic. The stand holds the model in place but with all of the models in this series they are held in place, they are not screwed in or attached. The pro is there is no invasive way to hold it or loss of detail due to holes etc. The con is if bumped it can fall out of the stand. So keep that in mind with where you display it. The actual ship comes in clkose to 350 meters long with close to 800 crew. They are a powerful ship. Some also have cloaking devices which can be unpleasant for their opponents. For its size the crew have few amenities and is a warship in every way. Although the Vor'cha would replace the K'Tinga you will still find many in operational service. The first on screen appearance of this ship was The Motion Picture. Dice are great. I'm sure that's something we can all agree on. I don't know a single person who plays roleplaying games that doesn't also constantly look for a shiny new set and hoard them like a dragon protecting a pile of gold. And with all the types out there, it's easy for anyone to find more they'd love to add to their collection. But why exactly? I mean technically one set of dice for each system you play would suffice. With online dice rollers and dice rolling apps you could even argue that physical dice aren't actually required anymore. But such a suggestion would be anathema to any TTRPG fan I know, myself included. So why exactly do we want them so much? The urge to simply collect certainly can't be overlooked, but dice collecting is different than many other types of collections. Trading card collectors can have motivations beyond simply owning cards they like, whether it's the completionist's desire to possess all the cards from a certain set, the knowledge that they may appreciate in value, or wanting specific cards to strengthen their deck. Stamp and coin collections can likewise be "completed" in a sense if the collector focuses on a specific type or time period, and are also often seen as a monetary investment. Those who collect figurines often look for specific characters they are fans of. All of those motivations are a bit trickier to apply to collecting dice. While some dice are rarer and they can certainly be expensive, there's not the same argument to be made that they're a monetary investment as you could for coins. There are certainly dice themed after characters but not to the extent that you have with figures or other collectables. "Completing" a dice collection would be difficult unless you narrowed the criteria significantly. Very, very significantly. And unlike cards one set of dice can't be objectively "stronger" than another. Sure we all may have a set we feel rolls better for us but that's not guaranteed by stats proving they're better than another set. So why do we want so many? Is it just because they're pretty? That's certainly got to be a part of it. With metal dice, gemstone dice, wooden dice, glitter, inclusions, hand inking, there's truly something for every aesthetic. Dice come in all colours, materials, sizes, finishes, etc. Can you get a sense of a person's style from their dice collection? Maybe, but I feel like most would be a bit too eclectic for that. Some people do definitely have a theme across their collection though, I'm not sure I own a single set of dice without glitter for example. There is something just satisfying about having lots of interesting looking and varied dice that I cannot explain but definitely know I'm not alone in experiencing. Something I feel is a pretty big motivator, and that is connected to aesthetic but not necessarily the aesthetic of the collector, is character themed sets. I don't mean buying a set themed after a character from your favourite video game or movie (although that would definitely also be cool), but choosing a set you feel fits a character you have created. There are lots of ways to connect dice to a character. An oceanic looking set for a character who's spent their life at sea, lots of glitter to represent your spellcaster's magic, colours associated with an aspect of your character or just a colour they'd like, anything you can think of It can be even more literal than those examples, the first set of dice I bought specifically for a character were full of juniper leaves and berries. That character's name is Juniper. Picking dice to fit a character is not only fun but can help you get more into character at the table. Or at least I certainly felt more druid-y using dice full of twigs. In the end although it feels like a bit of a cop out, I think the reasons for dice collecting are unique to each person. They're certainly much harder to pin down than the reasons for other sorts of collections can be anyway. It's fun, they're pretty, enough said! Collect away and when on the hunt for new dice remember to check out independent dice makers. You can find very cool unique sets while helping support smaller businesses, and who doesn't want to support awesome people who make dice? With that in mind if you know of any cool dice makers let us know in the comments! -Emily So while playing Star Trek Adventures I started to think about something. The idea came up when working on one of the adventures that the Klingons would still require a merchant fleet. This may not be a commercial one, but even a one dimensional yelling and thumping race needs to stay supplied. No military can outfight its supply line. Ships need resupplying of provisions, spares and things like torpedoes. They have to get there somehow and a frontline ship would not pull back light years to resupply. Doing so could leave the line weakened as well as taking them out of the fight for too long a time and allowing others to gain glory.
Klingons may be angry yelling thumpers but if that is all they were and if they were that stupid they would have lost long ago. The Romulans would have out manoeuvred them long ago. Now maybe Klingons do have a form of plot armour, but they understand warfare. There isn’t a lot of Klingon ships that are not warships shown. Again this could well be in part due to the story. If the story is involving Klingon warships then there would be no need for extra ships to be added. The model budget for Trek never seemed very high. But I did find one I really did like. This is more like an armed merchant rather than a cargo vessel, but that fits with the Klingon mentality. There is also a history of armed merchant vessels during the First and Second World Wars. German U-Boats did not always attack from below the waves and arming the merchants made life a bit more difficult for the German Submarines. This ship is a pretty cool design and I liked it upon seeing it. It featured in Star Trek Enterprise. It has an interesting overall shape and I think it is a good addition to the Klingon ships. It does not have a lot of information on it which is a bit unfortunate. It doesn’t have a model designation which is a shame. Rather it is known as Goroth’s Klingon Transport Ship. Goroth though is the name of the Captain and not the design of the vessel. Armed with Disruptors, a torpedo tube and coming in at 88 meters long. A top speed of warp 6 and a crew of up to 7 makes it a decent light transport. It's not big enough to resupply the big Klingon vessels but I think there would be quite a number of these in the Empire. The model is really nice. It has good detail, has that great Klingon Green shade of paint and is unusual enough to stand out on the shelf. The only complaint is the unusual design does make it not like the stand in the same way that most of the other models in the range do. So you have to be careful about where you place it as if it gets bumped it will fall off the stand. Hello! My name is Rebecca. Or Becky, Becca, Beck, Beqlynd, Steve. I respond to most things when I think someone is trying to get my attention. I wanted to talk to you about how I was introduced to tabletop RPGs, and how I truly began to engage and enjoy them. It started when I was very young. My uncle had a comic book shop that also sold props and craft items for miniatures. My babysitter was one of the store friends, and the sword of Elrond hung on the wall above where I slept. I was allowed to stay up late to secretly watch Dragon Ball Z, wear special gloves to hold valuable comics. I watched and sometimes participated in the campaigns the guys ran in the back of the store, complete with costumes, terrain and minis they had made themselves. I didn't know what Vikings were at the time and called one of them "cow guy" when he showed up with a horned helmet. It was so cool to my baby five-year-old brain. However, being a nerd wasn't considered "cool" yet for people in my age group ('90's kids, anyone?). I had the bizarre experience of going from being ridiculed for being TOO nerdy as a child to not being nerdy ENOUGH as a teenager. That's not even bringing into the equation that I was a girl encroaching on a predominantly male pass time. What a world, eh? Knowing all there is to know about a very niche topic hasn't ever really appealed to me. I don't know all the Magic the Gathering cards from 1993, but I still think it's fun to play. I don't have all the monsters/rules/builds of D&D memorized from any edition, but I still like to play. I'm awful at shooter video games, but I have fun playing them. I never have, nor will I ever be, a min-maxed, highly optimized gamer. I'm in it for the fun of discovery, the puzzles, the interaction, and the chaos. In ANY game, the ability to go anywhere and have consequences for doing so is one of my favourite things, right alongside character development and a rich story. So, where I am now in regards to gaming is excellent. I've found people I love to game with, both on and off the table. It is just as cool to be invested in roleplay as it is the rules. You need to find the people who like the kind of gameplay you enjoy. Some extremists believe there is ONLY ONE RIGHT WAY or ONLY ONE FUN WAY; I think they are fundamentally... wrong. I'm not about to go on a crusade to stop them from playing games the way they like to play, though. I'm firm of the belief that if you and you're group are having fun; you're playing the game the right way.
Ripley : How many times GMing Alien is this for you, Lieutenant?
Lieutenant Gorman : Thirty eight... simulated. Private Vasquez : How many *actual* GMing? Lieutenant Gorman : Uh, two. Including this one. Private Drake : Shit. Private Hudson : Oh, man... I am still quite new to tabletop roleplaying games, it hasn't been two years yet since I ended up getting involved, so I will be the first to say I have very little experience. Gameplay itself is where that's most obvious, especially combat, I feel like I have to ask for rule clarification several times a session, but unlike remembering various rulesets the roleplaying aspect didn't feel that new. I realized that's because I was drawing parallels between it and something I have been involved with for a longer time, theatre.
Now there are some obvious differences, notably roleplaying isn't generally scripted so unless you do improv, theatre may not seem directly related. Theatre is aimed at presenting what you're doing to an audience and while roleplaying can include having an audience, if you record your sessions or even just have observers at your table, that's not the inherent purpose of roleplaying games and is often not going to be the case. Still I've noticed a few key things I was taught while involved in community theatre that I think are also useful for anyone looking to improve their roleplaying or looking to better support the roleplaying of others at the table (and don't worry, none of them are "you must get involved with local theatre.") You don't have to be an actor to be a roleplayer of course, but there are some things that are helpful to keep in mind for both!(edited) 1. Be Present in the Scene (and participate, to an appropriate degree) Whether you're an actor or a roleplayer there are going to be some scenes that aren't about you. Maybe you're an ensemble member milling about as part of a crowd while the leads do something plot important, or maybe your party member is finally getting to confront the mysterious figure from their past that features heavily in their backstory. It's not your scene, but if you are onstage or your character is there for that you're still a part of the scene. You're not the focus of attention, but that doesn't mean it's ok to check out and stare at the wall or your phone until it's your turn to do something. When you're not the focus it's still important to pay attention to what's happening and how you respond to it. Too much or not enough reaction can make things difficult for the person who is at the center of the scene. The leads onstage are probably going to have trouble staying in character if the ensemble starts stealing the scene with over the top reactions or attempts to pull focus, but if the ensemble just stand doing nothing waiting for their cue to do something that's going make it hard too. Support whoever's the focus of the scene by being present and engaged. Participating in the scene while still letting them have the spotlight shows you care about the effort they're putting in and care about their character's story. Match their tone, if their character is distraught about something and they're roleplaying that then it's probably not the best time for that great joke you just heard. 2. Be Flexible (stuff happens, go with it) Now non improvisational theatre is scripted but that doesn't mean everything goes according to plan. Cues are missed, lines are dropped, someone breaks a prop, lights or microphones have issues, someone falls into the orchestra pit, the possibilities for disaster are endless. However no matter what happens, the show must of course go on. If you know anyone who's done theatre I'm sure they'd love to tell you about the best mangled line they've ever heard, or the time some guy grabbed the wrong prop and had to get through his scene trying to dramatically threaten someone with a rubber chicken instead of a sword, or when someone's mic didn't get turned off before they headed to the bathroom, and how whatever went wrong everyone on stage had to act like this was how everything was supposed to go. Every production has stories. And while things can't of course go off script for non scripted roleplaying, the principle of just going along with things that didn't go how you thought they would is useful for roleplaying as well. Maybe what you planned as a stealth mission devolved into chaos when someone failed their stealth roll. Maybe the party split up and some of them have run into trouble that the rest don't know about. Maybe everyone agreed on a plan but now that's it's time to enact it someone's decided to go off book. Things are going to go wrong and I think for most of us the first instinctual response to things going wrong is wanting to fix it. When you're roleplaying though, you can miss a lot of good story if you focus too much on everything going right. Things going wrong is interesting, and gives you a lot to think about in terms of how your character would react to the situation. I also feel it's very easy to slip into meta when you get into problem solving mode, I've definitely experienced having things go wrong and then someone going "hold on, out of character for a second here's what we should do about this" or trying to take back an action that caused whatever trouble has ensued. You don't need to go looking for chaos or drama to have a good story or develop your character well, but rolling with it when it happens and dealing with it in character is something I definitely recommend. 3. Be Respectful I mean that sounds obvious I'm sure, and more like just sound advice for life in general, but more specifically be respectful of how other people are taking a risk and putting themselves out there. Some people find acting or roleplaying more nerve wracking then others. Even if you're sitting in your living room with a few friends instead of standing on stage in front of an audience it can be hard trying to portray a character, and if you're giving it your all but other people aren't respectful of that it can be very disheartening and might discourage you from trying again. Now the extent to which this applies to roleplaying depends both on the tone of the game and how well you know the player. Your friend doing a silly character voice in a lighthearted game probably won't care that much if you jokingly give them a hard time about it, but someone trying to seriously roleplay a vulnerable moment or one addressing a sensitive topic isn't likely to appreciate the same response. If you don't know a player well you won't necessarily know how difficult it is for them to play a character in front of other people so it's best to err on the side of caution. Basically if you want the theatre summary, even people who love acting get stage fright and that's ok, you're all in this together so be supportive! Now these are just some things I've drawn parallels with personally, and of course probably apply more to trying to roleplay with a more serious tone and focusing more on story than mechanics (which to be fair is pretty much the only experience I have to draw on there) but they are ultimately pretty basic principles I think could apply to any game! And while you don't of course need to roleplay to be an actor or be an actor to roleplay, if you're involved with one and interested in the other I really do recommend trying it out! There's a lot you can learn from one that will apply to the other, and aside from that they're both great activities to have fun and form a community! |
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July 2024
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