C.T. Phipps's Blog, page 45
May 15, 2020
Top Ten Tips for Running the Sabbat in V5
The Sabbat are one of the three pillars of Vampire: The Masquerade and the conflict between them, the Camarilla, and the Anarchs remains the central focus of the game. The battle between Elders and Neonates, the Antediluvians and their progeny, plus unexpected groups like the Drowned or Second Inquisition are minor by comparison. However, the Sabbat has only sporadically covered by Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition. So much so that many people wonder if the organization...
May 13, 2020
Judgment (video game) review
The Yakuza series is one of my all time favorite ones in video gaming. This is due to the fact that I am a aging geek and admit to wanting some more works that are written toward the gritty crime drama sort of things than punching out aliens. So, of course, I love a series that includes things like a bunch of brawling men dressed as babies and other wackiness. Okay, okay, the Yakuza series is one with a somewhat bizarrely disjointed tone. The central storyline is usually a...
May 9, 2020
A cool video about my books
I'm pleased to say that Matthew Johnson a.k.a Professor Grimdark has done an awesome new video about my book series. It's about eleven minutes long and discusses things like the Supervillainy Saga and the Bright Falls Mysteries. Please check it out if you have the time and inclination.
May 6, 2020
Ten Tips for the Second Inquisition in Vampire: The Masquerade
"Why all the secrecy? Why not just go public, let people protect themselves?"
"Listen. Every week there's a panic about some puny little bug. Now how do you think it would be if this got out? Hm? You'll have paranoia, you'll have vigilantes, you'll have people running back to religion in droves. The next thing you know, you'll have the Archbishop up for Prime Minister. I don't fancy living in Iran, do you?"
-Mike and Vaughn, Ultraviolet
...
April 30, 2020
Yakuza 0 review
I have an absurd fondness for the Yakuza series and they have rapidly moved up my list to being among my favorite video game series. Part of this is the fact that they are adult crime novels, silliness aside, with probably the most serious plots you're going to find in video games. I really loved the Kiwami games for tapping into this with stories about murder, blackmail, revenge killings, and the complicated politics of Japanese crime syndicates. I mean, yes, this includes...
April 28, 2020
Ten tips to playing Anarchs in Vampire: The Masquerade
Anarchs are my favorite faction in Vampire: The Masquerade. They are the rabble, the street gangs, and the revolutionaries of the Kindred world. While the Sabbat cling to occult mysteries and the Camarilla to the wealth of the upper class, the Anarchs are the boots on the ground railing at the inequities of undead life.
However, the Anarchs are one of the most misunderstood factions. Many gamers, either Storyteller or Player, don't understand why they are...
April 25, 2020
My coronavirus story so far part 2 (4/25/20)
Month 1#
Month 2#
Hey folks,
I thought I would give yet another update on my self in our second month of lockdown as April reaches its conclusion. While I always knew, intellectually, that this was going to be a marathon rather than a sprint--the days are starting to wear down on me. It's kind of funny that I was always someone who stuck at home and didn't go out much but still manages to feel like its pressing in on us. My wife is agoraphobic with social anxiety so this was...
Month 2#
Hey folks,
I thought I would give yet another update on my self in our second month of lockdown as April reaches its conclusion. While I always knew, intellectually, that this was going to be a marathon rather than a sprint--the days are starting to wear down on me. It's kind of funny that I was always someone who stuck at home and didn't go out much but still manages to feel like its pressing in on us. My wife is agoraphobic with social anxiety so this was...
April 24, 2020
Assassination Protocol by Andy Peloquin
ASSASSINATION PROTOCOL: A MILITARY SPACE OPERA THRILLER is a bit of a mouthfull as a title. I think the author could have cut it down to Assassination Protocol or even Cerberus: Assassination Protocol and we could have gotten the general idea. Nevertheless, I was a big fan of Andy Peloquin's Queen of Thieves fantasy novels and when I heard he was going to do a space opera book, I had to check it out. Space opera, for those uninitiated, is a big epic universe where...
April 22, 2020
Resident Evil 3 (Remake) review
I feel like I've missed the boat on being part of Resident Evil 3's remake reviews. While I normally don't pay much attention to those sorts of things, I was a pre-order and really sunk my teeth into the game--or tried to. A lot of what I felt about the game has already been shared and is basically repeated ad nauseum. Which, to me, means it's true. I overall liked the game but felt that it did suffer from some pretty glaring flaws that impacted the experience.
Nemesis has...
April 19, 2020
An analysis of Anarchs in Vampire: The Masquerade
Vampire: The Masquerade is one of the top three most successful tabletop roleplaying games of all time with its only rivals being Dungeons and Dragons as well as Call of Cthulhu. It has been adapted to television, video games, and also a large selection of books. The premise is that you are a vampire, a damned creature of the night, and are living in the modern day behind the scenes. It predates the genre of urban fantasy and may have helped inspire many of the current...
