Jeff Grubb's Blog, page 3

Theatre: Kinetic Bard

 Duel Reality, Written, Directed & Choreographed by Shana Carroll, Seattle Rep through 22 June.

I've talked about Shakespeare-adjacent plays a couple times in these pages. These plays use one of the works of the canon as a base, shifting it in time and/or space, or just revising it to see what happens next or what is happening elsewhere. They are retellings, and as a result rewirings of the original. Duel Reality is one of those Shakespeare-adjacent performances, using acrobats and cirque performers to tell the tale.

The acrobats in question are the 7 Fingers troupe, who we last saw a couple years back in Passengers. Back then I mentioned that while the performance was top-notch, the performance didn't seem to have a lot going for it as far as an overarching plot. Here, we've got a plot. Well, mostly. And it is one that you know of - Romeo and Juliet. Again, mostly.

The performance takes its base bones from the original play in that we have Capulets and Montagues. Jets and Sharks. Two families, alike in dignity, poised against each other. In this case, we have two troupes of acrobats, Reds and Blues, who battle against each other in competition and in hand-to-hand conflict. And a Romeo and an Juliet from each side that breaks through the limitations of clan and tribe. 

And that's about it. The conflict of the original play provides the framework for the acts. pole-climbing and hula hoops (the party where the young lovers meet) and teeter-totters (for a duel to the death). Bodies are being suspended and thrown back and forth across the stage. There's amazing juggling. No family dynamics, no members of the family easily identified. No nurse or friar. Liberties are freely taken, and while a few beats are maintained and few lines sprinkled along to help direct the play, most of the story-telling is physical in nature. 

And it works. This is polar opposite of Eddie Izard's Hamlet - this is all dynamic and kinetic and waves at the bard as it zooms past him. The conflict of Reds and Blues is extended to the audience, who are given red and blue cloth wristbands at the start of the play, and whose seats are lit with red and blue lights. The troupe reaches out to the audience continually for approval and encouragement, and there are patrons on stage as physical supporters. The play ends with everyone dancing (including the audience), and, unlike Laughs in Spanish, it felt incredibly earned. 

As I say, liberties are taken, Great liberties. And you don't mind because the sheer athleticism of the group is overwhelming. Were I to pick a nit or two, that the overwhelming nature of the stage-wide performances often had me distracted by some incredible bit of business to one side of the stage competing with the main thrust of the activity in the center. Usually the Lovely Bride and I adjourn to a local restaurant to pick over plot points and writer's intent. This time we sat on the sidewalk patio of the local Agave, and dispensed with only a couple "That was great" statements. And it was.

Duel Reality finishes up this year at the Rep for us, and it was a rocky season this time. The best of the collection was Hamlet, which wasn't even on the initial list. Duel Reality was also excellent, as was Primary Trust. Mother Russia was very good. Laughs in Spanish and Blues for an Alabama Sky were OK. It was the most tradition plays - revivals of The Skin of our Teeth and Blithe Spirit, that stumbled and brought the average down. Now we just wrap up one more play at the Arts West, and we're done until August.

More later, 

Recent Arrivals: All This and North Texas, Too!

 There has been a slow accretion of new games here on Grubb Street for the past few months. Kickstarters fulfilling. Old games I found at my favorite local used bookstore. But generally things have been quiet.

And then, a large, heavy box, attached to a large, heavy deadline, shows up on my doorstep. The Three Castles nominees have arrived. 

The Three Castles Award (3CA) is given every year at the North Texas RPG Con, in Dallas, which this year is the weekend of 7 June. NTRPGCon is a small, definitely old-school convention that celebrates the older games of our shared histories, including the early editions of D&D. The process consists of four or five ancient eminences reviewing the presented product, filling out their votes based on previously-agreed-upon standards, and go from there. I am occasionally one of those grey eminences. Sometimes the project I think of as best doesn't win. Sometimes it does. Here are the nominees. 

A True Relation of the Great Virginia Disastrum,1633, by Ezra Claverie, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, three clothboundhardback digest volumes - Volume I: Jamestown and Environs, 96 pages, VolumeII: Lo! New Lands, 192 pages, Volume III: Prodigies, Monsters, and Index,130 pages, 2024, 3 Castles Award Candidate.  Lamentations of the Flame Princess is a weirdgame in the literal sense – it thrives on the weird, strange, and occult. Thisis an extremely impressive adventure both for size (three hardback volumes) andthe nature itself (An alien ship crashes into Earth, inthe process creating a rip in reality 150 years previously outside of JamestownVirginia in the seventeenth century). The melding of historical accuracy (a lot covering the time period)and outré strangeness (mutated plants and animals, animated corpses, alternaterealities) make it a very interesting read and should be an interesting play as well. This is the sort of thing that RPGs can do very well.

The End of Everything by Alex Kammer and AlanPatrick, Frog God Games, 216-page hardbound, 2023, 3 Castles Award Candidate. Onceupon a time, the 32-page saddle-stitched booklet was the standard foradventures, covering a single location and adventure. Now they tend to be larger, in fullcover, and cover a lot more levels and a full campaign. This one couples anepic “end-of-the-world” threat (very Cthulhian in nature) with an out-of-the-ordinary fantasy setting (The Haunted Steppes of the Lost Lands) with its own uniquecultures (horsemen, tribal groups, and convivial Gnolls). Carries the players from level 1 tolevel 12 and spans the width of this rolling, roiling land. Nicely done.

ShadowRim by Greg Christopher, Chubby Funster Games,200-page digest hardbound, 2023, 3 Castles Award Candidate.  My day job is a Senior Writer on Elder ScrollsOnline, so imagine my surprise when I saw this volume, which uses the ShadowDarkrules (which it recognizes) in the Skyrim setting (which it doesn't recognize, at least not directly). It does not SAYSkyrim, but it uses the races (name-changed), pull-quotes from the game, the Skyrim map(available separately, but also name-changed), and a declaration that it was “Inspiredby the greatest CRPG of all time” (again, without mentioning that CRPG by name).Oh, and the back cover has a hand print with the words “We Know” writtenbeneath it.  It reads well, uses the ShadowDark layout, and lookslike a labor of love, but … really?

Dragonslayer by Greg Gillespie, Old SchoolPublishing, 298-page hardbound, 2024, 3 Castles Award Candidate. My gaming grouphas played in some previous Gillespie adventures – Barrowmaze and Lost Canyonsof Archaia. We had a good time with the old-school feel, and our GM (hey, Steve!) transposed what was there into D&Dishterms (%E 2014 edition). This is the rule set that ties more directly to it. It is definitelyold-school right down to its Jeff Easley cover, and embraces the original ruleswith a strong eye towards combat and a delightful lethality. Some of thematerial has appeared in the adventures where they first showed up, but now they aregathered in one spot. Strong, intense rush of old-school nostalgia here.

Don’t F*ck The Priest by James Edward Raggi IV,Lamentations of the Flame Princess, box set, 64-page hardbound digest, cards,dice, 2024, 3 Castles Award Candidate. Good points? Excellent production values,that outré, weird, mushy organic vibe that exudes from LotFP products, and acard-based dungeon design that actually works for the story they’retelling. Bad points – Black on puce interior text, unreadable death metal heading fonts,extreme sexuality and grossness, and edgelord GM approach that tells you that if youplay the adventure in any way other than being a CPU for the brilliant design,you’re having badwrongfun. Can’t mention the title at dinner parties. Didn’teven know if I want to show the cover. It's there, but didn't like it enough not to censor it.

And the winner is: TBA

And as for the rest that has come over the transom recently:

Rapscallion by Elizabeth Chaipraditkul (ProductManagement) and Whistler (Lead Designer/Lead Writer), Magpie Games, 288-pagedigest hardbound, GM Screen, playing maps, dice, dice tray, 2024, Kickstarter. So I’m a fan of pirategames, and this looks like a good one. It is of the Powered By The Apocalypse (PBtA) family, so we’re talking playbooks and moves. One of the key things I likeabout this is the rising tendency to make the case ship as a separate characterwith its own playbook. This sort of group identity has shown up in games like Blades in the Dark, and creates a cohesive identity for theplayers, as opposed to just “You are adventurers meeting in a bar”. Worthfurther investigation.

Dreadnought Return of the Black Maw by Alex Beiseland Nicholas Ross, Liminal Artifact, 88 page softbound, 2024, Kickstarter. Thewas part of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest, but it really is a bit large for thatmoniker. It is a horror game with a nautical theme, where tidal waves destroy afantasy-ish Port Royal and an evil black submarine (?) washes up in the ruins, leaking evil from its reactor.  Your choices are to investigate it or runaway. Neither are good options. It is yet again Powered by the Apocalypse (usesmoves) but is mostly statless and uses a unique fear (dread) determiningmechanism - 2d8 roll against a third die (starts at a d4 but ratches up). Interesting.

Flying Circus by Erika Chappell, Newstand Press,304-page digest softbound, 2020, Page Turner Books. OK, besides pirates, I alwayshad a fascination with WWI air games. Dogfight from Milton Bradley, Ace ofAces from Nova Games, Richthofen's War from Avalon Hill. Flying Circus is a fantasy air game, which means dragons and biplanes amongother things. It is PBtA again, and uses a playbook for your aircraft as well.However, the playbooks are not in the book, but can be found online, and thelinks provided in the book are no longer accurate. I had to dig around in Reddit and theirDiscord to figure out where they were. Cool thing, unlike a lot of PbtA, the game getsdown into the nuts and bolts of air-to-air combat.

Cthulhu Dark Ages by Chad Bowser and Andi Newton withJames Holloway and Mike Mason, Chaosium, 272-page hardback, 2020, Page TurnerBooks. So the conventional wisdom about old TSR was that it put out too muchstuff – splatbooks and new settings and revisiting old ones. Yet the modern Chaosiumhas been doing the same thing and seems to be doing OK. This is a revision ofearlier Call of Cthulhu books covering Cthulhu adventures in the medieval world, and is aserious, serious upgrade. It has the standard features of new and modifiedinvestigator skills, game systems tweaked to the new setting, and appropriate mythosmonsters, but also has a history of 10th century England, a new setting(in the Severin Valley, of course) and a few new adventures. Very well done.

Get It at Sutlers by Daniel Sell, Melsonian ArtsCouncil, 110-page digest hardback and numerous small booklets, 2024, Kickstarter.Troika is a very weird little game, and this is an … I think “adventure area” wouldbe the best description of it. Imagine a weird tales version of Harrods of London, orMike Moorcock writing an episode of “Are You Being Served?”. The setting is an all-purposedepartment store (remember department stores? And malls? Yeah, good times), whichhas a eclectic clientele, bizarre staff, and unique and alien challenges. You’reassumed to be working a shift there. Bunches of random encounters. Sort of anopium dream of a setting.

 Bounty KingdomGazetteer by Simone Laudiero, Acheron Games, 184-hardback, 2024mKickstarter. Well, half a Kickstarter – the other half (a monster book) will show up eventually.This is an expansion/setting book for Brancalonia, a whimsical SpaghettiFantasy based on Italian folklore and more than a dash of Commedia delle-Arte. Newraces, new classes, new subclasses, then a long tour though the city-states of theItalianish peninsula. This one’s set up for 5E, but it is just a goodsourcebook. 

And that is it for now (though more has shown up in the meantime). Stay tuned for the winner of the Three Castles Award, and as always - 

More later,

Play: Izzard's Shakespeare

 Eddie Izzard Hamlet by William Shakespeare, Adapted for the stage by Mark Izzard, Directed by Selina Cadwell, Presented by Eddie Izzard, Seattle Rep, Through 19 May

Wow. This was amazing. Just bloody amazing.

This is a one-person presentation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. The one person doing the presentation is comedian Eddie Izzard. I haven't caught a lot of her material over the years, but the Lovely Bride had and got us tickets. This was not part of the Rep's standard season, and was held in the smaller Leo K. Theater. 

But, wow.

Eddie Izzard is best-known for her comedy, so I expected comedy. A light-hearted take on a classic. And boy, was I wrong. This was a spell-binding performance that held the audience rapt as she essayed Hamlet in its dramatic glory.

And she plays all 23 characters - Prince, King and Queen, Ghost and Gravedigger. And she does it with a subtlety and grace that enraptures, moving from character to character fluidly yet defining each one with their own voice. Watching the full-bore performances of the Shakespearean canon, I sometimes get lost among the characters, costumes, and pageantry. Yet on this simple, mostly bare stage (set designer Tom Piper), Izzard commands every inch. Creating a sword-fight from both sides without swords is incredible in itself, yet Izzard pulls it off.

There was a bit of humor here. I mean, we are talking Shakespeare. The Gravediggers contribute their lines, and Izzard presents Rosencrantz and Guildenstern as hand puppets (oh-so-effectively), but for the most part Izzard plays it directly and honestly. The writer in me recognizes all the bits that we've since looted and turned into common phrases, but Izzard restores them to their proper place in the plot. And the soliloquies are pure and solid.

I've referred to a lot of Shakespearean performances as "Shakespeare-Adjacent" - revisions, modernizations, recreations, and inspirations. Examples include Fat Ham and Mac Beth. This isn't that. This is full-bore Shakespeare's plots, words and actions, but boiled down to their bare framework and presented in a natural, accessible style. Izzard's command of the language, accents, and the stage itself was simply marvelous, and the entire audience rose to their feet at the end of performance with hearty and enthusiastic applause. 

Now let me throw you the bad news - the rest of the performances (they already extended a week) are sold out, but there are SRO tickets available. But if you can, this one is worth catching.

More later, 

Play: La Risa

 Laughs in Spanish by Alexis Scheer, Directed by Damaso Rodriguez, Seattle Rep through 11 May

Short version? A pleasant afternoon and a pleasant play. Laughs in Spanish does not have high stakes or deeper moral meanings. But it is pleasant and amusing and sometimes that is good enough.

Mariana (Beth Pollack) runs an art gallery in the Wynwood neighborhood of Miami. The night before the big opening, all the art is stolen. Mariana is not taking this particularly well. Her intern assistant, Carolina (Diana Garle) sees this as a chance to exhibit her own art. Carolina's boyfriend, Juan (Gabriell Salgado) is an officer investigating the case.  And in the midst of this, Mariana's mother the movie star (Diana Burbano) descends on Miami, with HER latest assistant, Jenny (Cheyenne Barton), who Mariana knew in school, in tow.  Jenny and Mariana had a thing back then, and may have a thing yet again.

Throughout, the emotions are high and the stakes are modest. Everyone has their own secrets, but they are not horrible secrets (I mean, not REALLY horrible). Jenny is bright and positive. Carolina is passionate about her art. Juan is a big-hearted lug, like Joey from Friends. Estella the movie-star mom is loud and over-the-top. And they're a good ensemble.

The weak link is Pollack's Mariana. The character is written as brittle and business-like, the boss confronting a disaster badly and arguing with everyone around her. She is put-upon throughout, and wants to stay grounded and realistic, but ends up inert and angry, trying to weather the challenges with a frosty disposition and a sense of universal disdain. And yeah, she does grow a little over the course of her travails with career, life, and mom, but the movement feels slight. In short, as a character she's hard to root for, and difficult to laugh at. 

The stagecraft is standard Seattle Rep - high-tech but not overly intrusive. Walls slide away, hidden patios are revealed, vehicles are brought onstage. It works, but does not overwhelm the actors. 

The play brushes against topics include career choices, the Latino experience in the States, and the conflict between business and art, but it is primarily about relationship between mom and daughter and Mariana's own struggle to escape Estella's shadow. And it works more often than it doesn't. Let me praise with faint damns - it is a pleasant play. And that's part of the nature of theater. Not every play has to be epic or hit it out of the park or twist your emotions. Were there laughs? A few, but a lot more wry chuckles. But "Wry Chuckles In Spanish" would not work as well as a title.

More later, 

Play: En Garde!

 Athena by Gracie Gardner, Directed by Kathryn Van Meter, presented in collaboration with Salle Auriol Fencing Club, Arts West, Through May 4. 

Back to the Junction in West Seattle. Dinner at our favorite sushi place, a desert donut at the nearby Top Pot (which was also hosting a local distillery for a tasting for rye whiskeys and berry liqueurs), and the Athena at the Arts West on its opening Friday. A play about two young women. And swordplay. A lot of swordplay.

Mary Ellen (Anteia Delaney) and the aforementioned Athena (Allison Renee) are 17-year old fencers training for nationals. Mary Ellen is dexterous, gangly and introverted, fencing to make herself look better for college. Solo-named Athena is strong, loud, and pushy, fencing to prove herself the best. Mary Ellen is from the burbs and wants to impress her parents. Athena is from the city and has a rocky relationship with her father. Both are socially maladroit. They start practicing together. And the play is about their relationship as they cross swords and words and emotions.

They're seventeen, and all the emotions are on the surface. The conversations just tumble out nonlinearly, with whipsaw changes in direction and hummingbird levels of attention. And through it all you see the bonds growing between them, as they both want the same thing, and very different things as well. You're supporting Mary Ellen at the beginning (she's the underdog of the pair), but come to appreciate Athena as well.

The play is presented in collaboration with the Salle Auriol Fencing Club. There have been a lot of such team-ups in West Seattle's productions, usually other entertainment groups but this is the first one for a fencing club. The single setting is the piste - the long strip that combat takes place on. The action orbits around the field of combat, but centralizes there. And the fencing is ... real good, and carries the plot forward as both young women change each other. 

And the Athena is ... good. I liked it but did not love it, but then, I have never fenced nor been a 17-year-old girl. The Lovely Bride DID love it, because in her storied history she was both. I found it well-written, well-acted, and well-presented. Arts West has produced another excellent evening of entertainment. 

 More later,

The Political Desk Pops Off

OK, I'm going to be 'that guy'. The grumpy old man complaining about the responsibilities of the modern world. Blame the killer head cold that has been kicking me around since Gary Con, but I'm going to vent a little.

This past week a packet arrived from the King County Department of Elections with a ballot. And the ballot had one measure on it. One. The official title is Proposition No. 1 Regional Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) Levy. Its to fund the King County Fingerprinting unit. Yep. Fingerprinting.

It's a replacement levy for the elapsing levy. It is a property tax increase, but at a lesser percentage than the previous one. Of course, your house is worth more at this point as well. but doing the numbers, it is an extra 20 bucks on top of everything else. And AFIS has done a pretty good job for the past few decades, has been really transparent about their work, and touts their successes on their site. And checking on the web, there is not even a statement AGAINST this measure.

But,

But,

But why are you asking US at this point? Shouldn't this be part of the rest of the budget? Is this worth sending out ballots for something like this?

Well, they're asking us because thems the rules. You want the county government to boost your property taxes (even by about a Jackson) without your OK? You want a chance to be a part of the decision -making process? Well, here it is. Being a separate item also protects it from being put on the chopping block for some closed-door budget cutting (like, say, the mounted police unit for Seattle itself, which met its end last year due to budgetary constraints). 

And the ballots have a lot more on them, just not stuff where I'm living. School levies on Mercer Island and in Enumclaw. Fire Protection issues in Renton, Duvall, and Woodinville. And some of this stuff can't really wait around for a November election. 

I'm actually an opponent of the proposals to bunch everything together in one mammoth ballot, and as a result am willing to put up with this "pecked by baby ducks" approach to government. And if it is a irritant, its the same sort of irritant as getting your oil changed at regular intervals, or separating your trash and recycling, or taking those two separate bins to the curb, even when it's been raining for hours and you're really rather be inside because you already have a nasty cold. AND hauling them back up the driveway. In the RAIN.

But I digress.

Anyway, go vote when you get your ballots. Its practically frictionless at the moment, and requires only a little effort on your part. It shows you're paying attention. Despite all my whining about the process, I'd say let's keep the AFIS, and vote Approved on this. 

S'allright? S'allright.

More later,

Book: An Elegy for Ellison

  The Last Dangerous Visions edited by Harlan Ellison (with J. Michael Stracynski), Blackstone Publishing, 2024

Provenance: Christmas present from the Lovely Bride, purchased off Amazon.

Review: I talked about Harlan Ellison the man back here. Let's talk about his "last work" - The long-promised collection of bleeding edge stories called The Last Dangerous Visions. 

I read the initial Dangerous Visions (published 1967) in hardback in our high school library, and purchased paperback editions of it and its two-volume sequel, Again Dangerous Visions (1972), in college. For a young person who had drifted into SF through the ABC axis (Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke), the subject matter and writing was a bit mind-blowing. It helped codify the American New Wave of Science Fiction, went after a variety of societal taboos, and kicked down the doors of tradition bolts-and-rivets SF.

Then there was a bit of a lapse of about 50 years, and only after Ellison's passing did his executor, J. Michael Stracynski (the Babylon 5 guy), organize the remaining material Ellison had, added a few stories, and finally finished the volume. 

The result is a mixed bag. Some pieces have that urgent, nostalgic, whiff of the originals ("Assignment No. 1" by Stephen Robinett and "A Night at the Opera" by Robert Wissner). Some feel like political tracks that could appear in the Economist ("Hunger" by Max Brooks). Some were utterly frightening ("The Final Pogrom" by Dan Simmons, which combines the holocaust with American Ingenuity, made more poignant by recent events in this country). Some of the best feel like recent, post-Harlan additions. "War Stories" by Edward Bryant, dealing with weaponized sharks, was brilliant in both presentation and subject. "First Sight" by Adrian Tchaikovski mixes the tropes of first contact, alien cultures, and the limits of the senses in a nice little package. But more than a few were "meh" - OK, but not shaking the earth great. And there were short "Intermezzos" by D.M.Rowles that just completely missed the mark. The art (by Tim Kirk) is a wondrous call-back to the earlier volumes, but the Ellisonesque intros (telling you WHY this story and this author are worth your time) are mostly missing. Yes, and there some typos in the text, including the punchline of Ward Moore "Falling from Grace", which needed a bit more typographic love to make the story land.

The longest entry in the book is Stracynski's own introduction/eulogy of Ellison, two parts remembrance of a friend, and two parts why-this-project-is-late. He hits the good parts and bad parts of Ellison in his travel from Terrible Infant to Grey Eminence, and offers some reasons behind his personal actions over the years. But reasons are not a denial of responsibility, and Ellison the man, the writer, and the editor, has to accept responsibility. An afterword talks about earlier incarnations of the book, and seems like an interesting collection of stories in their own right.

And the end result is ... OK. This final volume would neither kick down the doors of traditional SF (which now continues, but no longer dominates, the marketplace), nor wade onto the shores like a Leviathan, sweeping all in its path. My mind is not blown, but then, I'm no longer a teenager, my high school has been completely renovated, and the world turns and moves on. Some of the dystopian futures are all-too-real. Others feel right around the corner.

But it's a suitable memorial to a mercurial talent. Thank you J. Michael. Rest easy, Harlan.

More later,

Recent Arrivals: The Gary Con Cache

 I was a guest last week back at Gary Con, a convention celebrating the life and works of D&D co-creator Gary Gygax. It was held in the Grand Geneva Resort in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. It is one of the best-run, most-fun conventions in gaming. For me it is a chance to game, meet new gamers, and hang out with old friends from TSR. And I pick up some interesting stuff in the process. Only one of the items shown at the right is from a Kickstarter. The rest come from my experiences in beautiful Lake Geneva (hey, it didn't snow this time). Here's what is in the photo:

Echoes from Fomalhaut by Gabor Lux and others, 5 issues, First Hungarian D20 Society, Various page length, 'Zine  digest format, 2018-2022. One of the joys of the Gary Con dealer's area is the Black Blade booth which carries OSR material that doesn't always show up at the local game store, like Dungeoneer 'zines, Judges Guild adventures and Empire of the Petal Throne reprints. I picked up issues #1-3 and issue #10 of Fomalhaut last time out, and really enjoyed them. They have that old-school flair of early D&D 'zines, with a booklet format and separate maps, tucked in a simple paper envelope. This time out I expanded my collection with Echoes from Fomalhaut #s 4, 5, and 8, In The Shadow of the City-God (cool name), and EMDT #100, A Journey to Fomalhaut (opened and shown here). Cool stuff. Thinking about running adventures in Shadowdark using this setting and dungeon (see below).

Various Shadowdark Products by Kelsey Dionne, Arcane Library, saddle-stitched digest-sized booklets, 2023-2025. Shadowdark is the new hotness, an Old School Revival pitching into a New School Revival for FRPGs. I picked up a copy last Gary Con out and was really, really impressed with the simplicity of the game, the new twist they added, and the clean b/w presentation. This time out I picked up a recent versions of their 'zine, Cursed Scroll (64-pages) and latched onto a copy of the adventure Raiders of the Hidden Temple (26-pages) at the dead dog party Sunday night. Looking forward to digging through this, and should mention they are doing a MASSIVE Kickstarter for a campaign setting. 

Secrets of Morocco: Eldritch Explorations in the Ancient Kingdom by William Jones et. al.  Chaosium had a booth at the con, celebrating 50 years of the company (their first project, the White Bear & Red Moon boardgame came out a year after D&D, and introduced everyone to the world of Glorantha that would host Runequest). And they brought some old stock they found in the warehouse. In my case, this worked out well, since I was struggling with The Blessed and the Blasphemous, which was set in Morocco about twenty years later (B&B also caused me to start reading Destination Casablanca, by Meredith Hindley, a rich, well-told history of the region in WWII). History overlaid with the Cthulhu Mythos. Looking forward to reading the Chaosium version.

Runequest Starter Set by Greg Stafford, Jeff Richard, Jason Durall and others, Boxed Set, Chaosium Inc. 2022. I've been impressed with what Chaosium has done with its starter sets such as Pendragon - they are heavy, meaty, affordable introductions to the game. This one is packed with four booklets (rules, campaign setting, solo adventure, adventure), character sheets, maps, and polyhedral dice. Runequest is a complex game set in a complex world, and this set pushes to make it accessible to newcomers.  

Wildspace Magazine issue #2 Elves of the Stars and #3 Groundlings' Guide to Spelljammer, Various authors, David Shepheard, Editor, Published by The Piazza, 2024. I'm delighted that people are still enthusiastically playing and expanding the original Spelljammer campaign setting. Last year I was presented with issue one, and this year with Pdf printouts of issues two and three. Issue two concentrates on the elves in the Spelljammer universe, which are pretty much the British Navy. Issue three is an excellent collection of articles on introducing Spelljammer to your groundling characters. These are free, well-done fanzines, clearly labors of love. Terry Hawkins, who gave me the copies, also gave me a draft copy of his adventure Race Across the Stars, a Spelljammer space race through a slew of Wildspace locations. As an aside, he's looking for someone to publish it. 

These mugs with those mugsGame Lizard Mug. The first night before the convention officially started, colleague Ed Stark arranged a dinner at the Chophouse, which is the resort's upscale restaurant. Picture is to the left, and you may recognize some of the folk gathered around the table. Ed also invite Mark Jeranek, of the Order of the Owls, who run a large group  of fans continually through the convention. And Mark in turn brought some mugs he created, which are beautiful and have the original Greg Bell game lizard from TSR's early product on them (with permission of the artist). Really nice!

Woodford Reserve Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, 200 ml. I'll be frank, I'm of mixed emotions about people giving gifts to the Dungeon Master. I mean, you paid to come to the convention and came all this way, you don't have to toss a coin to the GM. That said, I will not turn down a kindness from fans, and a small bottle of whiskey is greatly appreciated when I get back to rainy Seattle and the post-convention head cold. Thank you.

TSR Alumni totchies. Tim Calhoun puts together a gathering of old TSR employees every year, and his work is greatly appreciated. It is a chance to see old friends and catch up on what everyone has been doing (spoilers: We're all getting old). We had drinks. We had drink tokens. This year they were poker chips. They were so cool I forwent my normal third beer in order to keep this one. Also, former TSR colleague Kevin Melka does 3-D printing, and I snagged a black unicorn from him, which I gave to the Lovely Bride and is currently on her desk.

Orcus Dice Bag. I got this at the Gary Con Merch booth, which has a host of neat stuff - hats, tropical shirts, adventures, and yes, dice bags. This one features an truly old-school Orcus on it. I has been years since I got a new bag, and it pairs well with the whiskey to create my own Chivas Regal moment. 

Tower of Gygax, various authors, 50-page ringbound booklet, various years. A tradition at Gary Con is the Tower of Gygax. Oh, I'm sorry, it should be read TOWER! OF! GYGAX!  This is 2-hour public session where various DMs run players through a series of encounters, the bulk of which consist of an entrance, and exit, and something nasty and murderous in-between. I had the chance to run it with veteran designer Doug Niles at the other table, and we had a great time. My style of running, particularly in combat encounters, tends to be a bit ... flamboyant. If you get a chance at Gary Con, take it out for a spin. (Oh, and I got a button as well).

It belongs in a museum!The Sanitariums of Lake Geneva by Sonja Arkright, Self-Published, 96 page square-bound digest 2024. OK, so this isn't from Gary Con proper, but rather found in the Lake Geneva Museum. Situated in the old Power & Light building where the lake's outlet creates the White River, the museum has a three major rooms - a hall that features typical furnishing and artifacts from the town's past, another vault of specific displays of local hisotry (like the old Playboy resort and the raising of the Lucius Newberry), and a room dedicated to Gary Gygax and Dungeons & Dragons. And one of the books I wrote (Manual of the Planes) is in the display. So now I have something in the museum. So I feel old.

ANYWAY, Lake Geneva was the site of several Sanitariums/rest homes/health resorts, the most impressive of which was Oakwood, a massive five-story brick structure just east of town. In fact, the apartments that the Lovely Bride and I lived in when we first moved to Lake Geneva (The Colonial View Condominiums) were built on the site of this sanitarium. I picked up the book for potential Call of Cthulhu history, but did not know this. Nifty little book.

Monty Python's Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme RPG (No it isn't!) by Brian Saliba and Craig Schaffer, Exalted Funeral/Crowbar Creative, 350-page Hardbound, 2024, Kickstarter. OK, This is the only non-Gary Con entry this time out, and is probably the weirdest game I've seen in the last decade (and I have one where you play vampires wanting to drink Hitler's blood). Saliba and Schaffer have cheerfully plundered the entire Python corpus to produce a huge volume in which no bit of the comedy group's work goes untouched. Dead parrots, spam, the Spanish Inquisition, the whole lot, all wrapped around the core of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. However, there is a REAL RPG underneath all this silliness. A step-level approach to damage. Pendragonesque character traits.  A host of character classes. Character Personas for the Gamemaster (sorry - the Head of Light Entertainment) who can over the course of play be sacked and replaced with a randomly-rolled NEW GM (Sorry, Head of Light Entertainment). I find this one fascinating in its mechanics, but am going to have to dig down through all the spam to find them. The Kickstarter came with a box of dice (including a boulderous 30-Sider, a sash for the HoLE and some plastic coconuts). No, they hit every base on this particular license, with a playable game. It's kinda frightening.

And that's if for this collection of loot/swag/totches/kickstarters. More later,

Play: Brave Old World

 Mother Russia by Lauren Yee, Directed by Nicholas C. Avila, Seattle Rep through 6 April 13 April

If writer Lauren Yee has a "thing" that describes her plays, it's dark comedies set against authoritarian backgrounds. Her excellent Cambodian Rock Band featured a man literally playing for time against a bouncy, humorous  leader in the Cambodian genocide. The Great Leap Forward sent a US basketball team to China and ended at Tiananmen Square. And now she take on Russia after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the dissolution of Soviet Russia and the triumph of capitalism. And its a wild ride.

So, we're in St Petersburg in the early 90s, and we have three people for whom the great move to capitalism has not worked out so well. Billy Finn is Evgeny, a unemployed milquetoast who lurks in the shadow of his father, a former KGB bigwig. He's hired by an old school chum Dmitri (Jesse Calixto), who has used the new freedom to open a small, failing business, and has pivoted it into a front for a freelance domestic espionage operation. Their target is Katya M (Andi Alhadeff),a  former rebel rocker who was big in the secret listening parties during the bad old times, and left for America. She couldn't compete with Whitney Houston, and no one wanted songs about the gulags when the gulags were supposedly closed down, so she came back. They are all lost in this brave new world of MacDonald's filet-o-fish sandwiches, adidas swooshes, and Folger's instant coffee. Freedom of choice means little to them when they themselves are not chosen.

And punctuating all of this is the always-appealing Rep semi-regular Julia Briskman, who wanders onto the stage between scenes as the babushka-wearing old woman. She's the embodiment of old Russia herself, though she never comes out an admits it. She plies the audience with donuts to get them on her side, complains about how everything is different now, and describes the former leaders of the USSR as old lovers who come to woo her yet always disappoint her. 

And the set-up feels comfortable and little frothy, and you think you know what's coming, and you're right and you're also wrong. Yee throws in some delightful curveballs in the plot, and all the characters are both smart and incredibly stupid at the same time. Billy Finn is timid,  trying to strike out on his own, and get his father's love and respect while dealing with his own inner cowardice. Jesse Calixto evokes Jackie Gleason with his wide-eyed reactions and own cluelessness of his weakness. Both men were originally planning on moving up to the big leagues of the old regime in the ranks of the KBG, and are now lost in the wake of the Soviet Collapse. Andi Alhadeff carves her own path as Katya, with her own arc and goals which the others both miss.

Now, in Mississippi Moon I loved the music, but recognized its existence as a cover to the motions of a rotating set design. Julia Briskman's Russian Mom does the same thing here with monologues and complaints, but the rotating set design here actually works, going from inside the shop to outside to a bus interior to outside Evgeny's father's door neatly. In this case there is precious little downtime and without breaking the flow. The fact that Briskman is wonderful just adds to it.

And, like Yee's other works, there is a lot of bright spots and human nature against the authoritarian background, and while there are the horrors of the past and perils of an uncertain future, the performance sparkle against it. Some of it feels like a SNL skit from the same period, making fun of Russian interpretations of American styles, yet it peels away easily to reveal the vulnerabilities of three people who have been conditioned to hide their true selves by their government. And it is a bit uncomfortable at a time when our own authoritarians are seeking to remake the world in their image, so some of the laughter feels like whistling past the graveyard.

I'm going to mark this one as a hit, and am delighted that the Rep is pushing its own World Premieres. More of this, please.

More later, 

Recent Arrivals: Winter Festival

 So, things have been trickling into Grubb Street for the past few months. Some are Kickstarter resolutions, while other a bit of retail therapy.

The current situation is a mess as far as new game offers are concerned. The raw mess that is tariffs and trade wars threatens this entire cottage wing of the industry. We're already paying 20% over the initial investment with increased shipping costs, and it is only going to get worse. In addition to the added cost is the fact that we now have another step in the process - you order, you pay, and then you have to confirm and pay again wherever the wheel of financial fortune shows up. When I worked for Amazon, we obsessed with the idea of reducing the number of clicks needed to get somewhere. We're not doing it here, and it's going to hurt us, badly.

In any event, here are the latest things from the outside world.

Hamil's House of Oddities by Jon and Brynn Hage , Sleeping Giant Games, 304-page hardbound, Kickstarter, and Shadow's Reach by Jon and Brynn Hage  Sleeping Giant Games, 252-page hardbound, Kickstarters. This is one of the more beautiful projects to come across my transom in the past year. The main book (Hamil's) is a 5E adventure, while the Shadow's Reach is campaign, treasure, and monsters/characters. There's not a lot of text on each page, but it has a calm, cozy look to it, and really nice b/w art. This is the sort of thing I look for in Kickstarters - nice, personal products. 

Playing at the World, 2E Volume 1: The Invention of Dungeons & Dragons by Jon Peterson, the MIT Press, 374-page trade softbound, Gabi's Olympic Cards and Comics, Lacy, WA. Hang on, didn't I already get the original Playing at the World? Well, yeah, but that version covered everything, from German Kriegspiels and HGWell's Floor Games to the almost-present day. This is both cut down to the "juicy bits" about D&D itself, and expands in that Peterson has gained access to previously unavailable information. I'm looking forward to a reread (though right now on my reading list I am obsessing over the various colonial struggles in and around what is now Pittsburgh).

Triangle Agency, Normal Briefcase Collection, by Caleb Zane Huett and Sean Ireland, Haunted Table Games, Boxed set containing 300-page hardbound book, 216-page mission book, ring-bound character sheet booklet, dice, 2024, Kickstarter. I don't think I've ever been as intimidated by a game as by this one. It arrived, I opened the "Normal Briefcase" box, found it completely packed, carefully put the components back into the box, and and set it aside for when I could properly examine it. That was about four months ago. Anyway, finally cracking the game, it is pretty impressive, and fairly daunting. It is a corporate supernatural game where you are employed by the Triangle Agency to investigate anomalies. The game runs off four-sided die, but only the 3s matter. The books themselves are laid out as orientation manuals for the new "employees", and are spot-on happy-talk versions you'd find when you start at Amazon. Impressive and a little frightening.

Changed Stars by Patrice Daniel Long, Leland Andercheck, Dieselshot Express, 304-page hardbound, 2023, Kickstarter. This was definite whim purchase, but I'm pretty happy with it. SF set in the future of the Orion Arm, where humanity expanded out, acted like a bunch of militaristic a-holes, lost the war and was transformed into less a-holes. Original system, diverse alien species, lots of cool-looking ships, a very Star Trek Next Generation meets Traveller vibe. Merits a more thorough read-through.

Aetherial Expanse: Setting Guide by Joe Raso (project lead) and James J. Haeck (Story), Ghostfire Games, 294-page hardbound, 2024, Kickstarter. This one has an interesting provenance - it is the campaign setting book for a series of pdf adventures. But it is also another take of D&D IN SPAAAACE, so I'm naturally interested in it. Space in this case is an astral sea dotted by various island nations. They look like they've expanding in how to handle ship movement and combat within the D&D system (though I've been partial to the methodology laid out in Secrets of Saltmarsh, no one else seems to have picked up on it). Ship hit points seem a bit light, but I can do a bit more digging on that.

The Grey Knight by Larry DiTillio, Moon Design Publications, 84-page hardbound, 2024 (original 1986), Gabi's Cards and Comics, Lacey, Washington. I can't say a lot about this one, since a colleague is running the original version of this adventure using original Pendragon rules (character generation was complex for the time). This looks like it has added some additional material and tied it in more tightly with their starter set. The graphic quality is high. But I'll wait until our current campaign wraps before delving too deeply into it.

Arkham by Mike Mason, Keith Herger, Bret Kramer, Chaosium, 268-page hardbound w/ two full-color maps and a facsimile newspaper, 2023, Gabi's Olympic Cards and Comics. Another whim purchase and a good one. Arkham was HPLovecraft's setting for many of his stories. He did a sketch map for it, which was expanded by others (most notably cartoonish Gahan Wilson), each new version adding stuff to it. Chaosium has done several editions of the town, and this one is probably the best yet. Not only does it have a lot of the characters, locations and creatures of the haunted city, but also a lot of good info on how to use all this information and playing characters in the 1920s. Eminently browsable. 

Urban Shadows by Mark Diaz Truman and Marissa Kelly, Magpie games, 320 pages, 2024, Kickstarter. This is 2nd edition of the game, the first being 10 years previous, much like the current D&D. Powered by the Apocalypse, and hews more tightly to all the options presented there than, say, Brindlewood Bay. We have moves, we have play books, we have a lot of player empowerment. Has a heavy scent of the World of Darkness in its urban fantasy with factions as different character ancestries. The interior is very, very purple, but it is an impressive volume, 

Swyvers by Luke Gearing and David Hoskins, Melsonian Arts Council, 96-page hardbound, 2024, Kickstarter. This is an odd and amusing little duck. deep in the alleys of a Londonish fantasy city. Players are thieves and knaves of the worst sort. The rules are light and portable, and the book is filled with random tables. Also, you play blackjack to cast spells. Yeah, this is not too deep, and good for making stuff up as you go. The included adventure involves cheese thieves. Production values are nice and fit the setting well. Worth trying out once or twice. 

Found Worlds by Todd Lockwood, 352-page hardbound, Gift from a Friend. An art book? Here? Sure. Todd Lockwood is a brilliant artist, and an excellent heir to the classic TSR Artdogs. The book covers the full career, but of course the stuff that connects with me is the TSR/WotC material, particularly in crystalizing the look and feel of 3E. Heavy stock, beautiful colors, captures the detail o his art.  

That's if for now. I'll be heading for Gary Con next week in beautiful Lake Geneva Wisconsin, and may have a bit more after that.

More later,