Episode 160: Or His Solid Ghost
October 2nd, 2015 | Robin
The Cinema Hut heralds the androids, fish men and yakuza vampires coming to a movie consumption venue near you as Robin regales you with the hottest tips from this year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Consult his full list here.
It was the Gaming Hut, he thought, where the topic of internal monologue in roleplaying would be settled once and for all.
We save the debauchery till last as the History Hut tackles the hot topic of the Hellfire Club.
It blew up Kickstarter. It slid into Gen Con on a gurney with both guns blazing. And now Feng Shui 2: Action Movie Roleplaying is laying down the kung fu, the gun fu, and the cybernetic primate fu, and rocketing its way to a retail store near you. Join our friends at Atlas Games in celebrating the long-anticipated release of Robin’s classic game, accompanied by the GM Screen: Fistful of Fight Scenes and Blowing Up the Movies.
Ken fans who did not partake of the Kickstarter will want to sink their fangs into the pre-order for the Dracula Dossier from Pelgrane Press, consisting of the Director’s Handbook and Dracula Unredacted. 
You say that’s still not enough Ken for you? Very well, my friend. His brilliant pieces on parasitic gaming, alternate Newtons, Dacian werewolves and more now lurk among the sparkling bounty of The Best of FENIX Volumes 1-3, from returning sponsors Askfageln. Yes, it’s Sweden’s favorite RPG magazine, now beautifully collected. Warning: not in Swedish.
It’s not easy teaching in America’s second worst school district and being a wizard on the side. But Nathan Kulwicki thought he had it covered. Until he received news of the worst kind. Inoperable cancer. He’ll be dead before the start of the next school year. Now, he will have to scour time and unheard of dimensions to find a magical cure to save himself. But what will he be willing to do to find it? Find out in Terminal Magics, a novel by Plot Points impresario Ben Riggs.
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http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/florida/2015/10/8578511/libertarian-party-drama-goat-sacrifice-eugenics-and-chairs-resignati
I have a new candidate for Politics hut. There is an American politician called Augustus Sol Invictus, who was thrown out of a cult for dismembering a goat and you are not talking about him?
As your Local Correspondent for the area where the Hellfire Club flourished let me correct a few things. First of all the Abbey at Medmenham is about six miles from the Dashwood family seat at West Wycombe (pronounced ‘Wickham’): I know that’s probably a flyspeck on the map from Chicago but they look like separate places on an English scale. The Wikipedia article for the village of Medmenham claims the monkey releasing incident took place at a regular Sunday service in the parish church: perhaps old St Francis pulled the same trick multiple times.
You omitted any mention of the Hellfire Caves at West Wycombe which are our pathetic local tourist attraction. Cut into the side of the hill on top of which stands the Dashwood family mausoleum (used to film the climax of TO THE DEVIL A DAUGHTER: obligatory geek reference there) is was originally part of a public works program in which Dashwood paid unemployed locals to dig out materials for a roadbuilding project and was later used for his private entertainments. Nowadays it is as interesting to visit as a hole in the ground albeit one with a sordid past. I did use it as a location in a LAUNDRY FILES game once.
Speaking of historical conspiracies and of a one-time member of the Club: would Ken care to do a History/Conspiracy hut on the issue of Benjamin Franklin’s career as a double agent working for the British during his time in Paris and to hazard a guess what exactly he was up to?
Heh, more local than me by about three miles. If Ken and/or Robin would ever care to take a look at the area, only about 20-30 minutes by car from Heathrow, I’m sure we could arrange something.
I enjoyed my visit to the Hellfire Caves a few years back. With the mausoleum, the church and the pretty meadows, it was a good way to pass a day.
Seeing as Michael and Roger have their own monthly podcast, namely the always entertaining and informative IRTD, maybe you should all get together for one super-special trans-Atlantic episode some time? I’m guessing it might be a little GURPS-heavy if it were ever to come about, but would certainly be very interesting to hear.
Question for Ken and Robin regarding How To Write Good.
I have previously thought of an editor as someone who works to improve my writing after I have done my very best. However, I’ve just had a realization…
Would you say that a writer should (in their first draft) concentrate solely on big story ideas and vivid character moments, and not worry at all about continuity, structure, pacing, writing style or even grammar until an editor has had a good look at it? In other words, that the writer should focus on being a raw creative force, and depend on the edit-and-rewrite process for everything else?
No. If you do your best writing that way, be the raw creative force, then edit yourself and put the draft in as close to publishable form as you can manage. The editor is there to find stuff you don’t see.
Here’s a question for… The consulting occultist? The Science Hut? The History Hut? Perhaps Ken’s Bookshelf? I’m not certain, it doesn’t seem to quite fit anywhere precisely:
“How would you use the mystery of, or the modern (perhaps) rediscovery of the True Tekhelet in a game?”
I actually ran across this while researching fountain pen inks, only to find that a particularly rare blue dye was created from a mysterious sea creature called a “Chillizon” in ancient times, but the secret of the particular creature and process has been lost for 1300 years. Adding in the fact that the color had religious (and perhaps magical) properties, and I started thinking about magic inks and scrolls and all manner of Role Playing weirdness.
Here’s a linky thingy: http://tekhelet.com/whatistekhelet/
–“Do Not Prod the Beach Rubble”
I’d love to hear Ken talk about the “real” John Wilkes Booth, i.e. the Oklahoma John Wilkes Booth mummy.
Hey guys;
Since Ken is an aficionado of musical drama as well as a student of history, I’m curious as to his opinion of Hamilton, the new musical and 2016 Tony sweeper?
Justin
Askfalgen should be spelled Askfageln, just like it do if you follow the link.
Also a question, why is the “between sections” music so loud compared to the surrounding sections? I sometimes have to remove my headset due to the difference in volume.
Thanks for spotting the typo.
Will mention the music volume issue to our audio editor.