What Do You Mean, 'What Is It For?'?!

  Ah, the internet, where you can argue over all sorts of things. The most recent internet argument I got into was with someone explaining that monsters with a no-save level drain are badwrong and there is no reason to have them other than,

  "...imbecilic blind worship of the past..."

  Uh-huh.
  Of course, I had already pointed out some reason for having such monsters in your game, to wit;

• Instilling terror in the players
• Driving quests for spells, etc. to get Restoration
• To 'throttle' level progression without nerfing XP/raising the bar or railroading players

  Now, I guess I might have just tossed in a link to a past article of mine, but there is that to say and more, so here we go.

What Do You Mean, 'What Is It For?'?!

  Ah, the internet, where you can argue over all sorts of things. The most recent internet argument I got into was with someone explaining that monsters with a no-save level drain are badwrong and there is no reason to have them other than,

  "...imbecilic blind worship of the past..."

  Uh-huh.
  Of course, I had already pointed out some reason for having such monsters in your game, to wit;

• Instilling terror in the players
• Driving quests for spells, etc. to get Restoration
• To 'throttle' level progression without nerfing XP/raising the bar or railroading players

  Now, I guess I might have just tossed in a link to a past article of mine, but there is that to say and more, so here we go.

Personal Note: Me and Stranger Things

  So.... Stranger Things. Set in Indiana in 1983, in a small town. Focuses on kids who play D&D.

  While I moved a lot as a small child by the age of 4 I was back where I was born, Indiana. I lived near Muncie, famed in D&D lore because of Knights of the Dinner Table. But there was a lot of gaming in Muncie, as I recall.
  I lived in al area near the towns of Redkey and Dunkirk, where the downtowns look like this;

this;

this;

and this;

  Yes, that is the entire 'downtown' of four different towns. It looks a lot like where the protagonists of Stranger Things live, doesn't it?

  Here is the view facing south from where I went to high school;

The other directions only vary in that one field is soybeans.

  I was a bit older than the boys in Stranger Things that are hanging out with El and a bit younger than Nancy and her friends - in 1983 I turned 16.

  My AD&D 1e campaign was 5 years old in 1983 and as I recall the party was dealing with a group of evil monks.

  Anyway, I identify with a lot of the characters in Stranger Things because it is, in an odd way, about me and my friends. Sure, archetypes are what they are for reasons, and tropes are useful, yes. But this hits awfully close to home. Very literally.

Stranger Things - Episode 2 Review

  Watched Eps 2 & 3 back to back with the oldest four sons on Sunday night. My wife has decided not to watch a show that features a missing son as a major plot point.

General Notes:
Acting: I wasn't too pleased with Winona Ryder's performance until the scene at her workplace, where she was great. David Harbour stayed great and Millie Brown did a lot with a little. I was impressed by how effective Shannon Purser was and am floored that this was her first acting job - she was great. Cara Buono is really growing on me, too.
  Natalia Dyer, however.... While she may be going for subtle, she is hitting me as wooden.
Cinematography: Tim Ives is on this one and he was great, again. He doesn't distract from the action, but he has excellent framing and excellent use of camera movements; rewatch the scene where Jonathan enters the woods for the first time and observe how he moves the camera. Great stuff.
Editing: Not as smooth as Ep 1. The cuts back and forth about the pool scene were ham-handed but that may be the fault of the director.
Directing: With the sole exception of the pool scene I mentioned above, the direction was solid. Minimalist and effective is what I love and overall, I got it.

Spoilers Follow!!!!!!!!!!

Characters:  Joyce had some nice growth and exposition and her hysteria didn't descend into narm, thankfully. Convincing the audience that you are hysterical without it being funny is hard, but they pulled it off. Jonathan got some great development and the writing and directing gave us an insight into how isolated and lonely he is without a hint of pathos. 

  The three boy protagonists were handled very well, as was El, and they were allowed to be different, emotional, and belligerent in a realistic way. 

Story: The second episode can be hard, and the cutaway to High School Drama made this tougher. The dynamic between the three lads and El grew well, and the development of Mike's role in the cast is coming along well.

  The High School Drama bit is frankly odd. So far the character of Joe is a bit tough to fit into the story in a meaningful way and the drama between him and Nancy is damn near an afterschool special, and not one of the good ones. My sons and I speculate that either the Drama Club transform themselves into last-minute heroes, are redeemed by giving their lives to stop Demogorgon, or are eaten as a cautionary tale, a la the film Halloween. 

  Which means we need to talk about the pool.

  Barb getting snatched by Demogorgon was a nice but. The bad guy is everywhere, watching, and can get you any minute, giving him a real Boogeyman vibe.

  Back to Joyce where lights act up and Demogorgon tries to come through the wall.... Boogeyman, indeed.

Notes: I may need to re-watch, but it appears that the area the kids call Mirkwood is close to the homes of Will and Steve but far from the homes of the other boys. Based on Demogorgon and Eleven, it appears the lab is also in Mirkwood. Is the creature limited to an area? Hmmmm.

References: A ton of them, again. 

  We see a jaws poster. Later blood drips into water and a monster attacks. That was fun.

  The episode title reminds me of The Monsters Come to Maple Street, the classic episode of the Twilight Zone where aliens use fear to destabilize a neighborhood. 

  I mentioned the movie Halloween, above - the antagonist of that series is name-dropped in the episode.

  We also have a shout out to Star Wars and the force.

  Guys in hazmat suits? Double shout-out to E.T. and Hell of the Living Dead!

  The creature at the walls looked like Videodrome and Day of the Dead.

  There were more, too.

RPGaDAY: Best Session of the Last Year

This was a rough one to choose, but luckily I already gave a write up here.

RPGaDAY: Dice

  I prefer dice but I also have two dice rolling programs on my phone and, Back in the Day, I even used (someone else's) Dragonbone die roller.
  All else being equal I like dice in and of themselves. They can be very decorative, they make fine gifts, and they are a physical reminder of the randomness of our largely mental hobby.
So: Dice first, then random numbers.

  I have seldom played diceless, but that's fine, too.

RPGaDAY: Dice

  I prefer dice but I also have two dice rolling programs on my phone and, Back in the Day, I even used (someone else's) Dragonbone die roller.
  All else being equal I like dice in and of themselves. They can be very decorative, they make fine gifts, and they are a physical reminder of the randomness of our largely mental hobby.
So: Dice first, then random numbers.

  I have seldmom played diceless, but that's fine, too.