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I've read the first three adventures and I'm really liking the overall story and different characters there. I have not actually played yet 2 Edition yet at all (hopefully in Sunday) and so this is coming from just straight numbers point so: Is the Greater Barghest going to murderize a standard 3-4 player party? I'm looking at what it can do and how many hitpoints it has and it seems like a potential partywipe waiting to happen. I acknowledge that I'm still looking at these stats with 1.edition goggles on due lack of experience, but my friend who is running this (and isn't active in these forums) was worried about this too. He had trouble getting his party alive from boggards too.
Fact that it's called "KNIGHTS OF THE EVERFLAME" and that Kassen is namedropped in the background- I really want this adventure for myself so I can nostalgia-DM it to my group that ran the whole "Price of Immortality" trilogy. Cool stuff!
Names: Akariel Wrona & la Gorda
I really wonder how you guys view the gorilla tribe in Black Panther. Off topic, but one difference is that the Gorilla tribe are decidedly not a chaotic evil tribe of murder monster raiders not known for their intelligence. There is a difference in framing and purpose.
A Very Good Point. On the same note, staff people, maybe give a look from this perspective to other designs as well. Just in case. Easier to fix now than later!
Question: Is the Frost-Thunder Hammer kinda too strong? I mean, the special ability does not need a save. You only need to hit, and after that the target is helpless. So the freezed target can then be coup de grace'd to death? Or does the ice protect them from that? Does the ability work on anything? I mean, if they just hit Yrax with that freeze ability (which is pretty easy since Touch AC 8) and then huge dragon is suddenly helpless? I like the item, it's cool and our oracle is loving it. I'm just wondering; is there limitations to that ability except once per day?
Either I have gone blind, or there is no discussion thread for Guillermo Del Toro's latest movie. The Shape of Water just came out in Finland couple of weeks ago, and I loved it. Amazing, beautiful, poignant and shameless as hell. Now, it has earned Guillermo his first two Oscars, for directing and best movie.
So the guys who wanted to make confederate south wins- alt university TV show are now making a Star Wars movie. The same folks who have proven that they are good with adaptable material but with their own writing on place the show starts to sink? Who added more rape to game of flippin' thrones? Goodie, I'm so excited.
Name: Upi Lunkka
Now the player wants to change character, because Upi believed in natural progression of death and does not want to be raise'd or reincarnated. Which is shame, since Upi was fun and competent character. And the artist I commissioned for a group picture just finished Upi's picture, which seems just ironic.
I'm throwing around idea for Changeling Bloodrager, taking the Hag-Riven archtype and hag bloodline. Someone who voluntarily answered her call and well, process did not go as planned. Outcasted even by the hags, she know puts her considerable strength and unique abilities to use as a muscle for Taldor's wealthy elite, providing more terrifying sort of mercenary who can forgo weapons and just slice people up with fingers. Basically, Lady Deathstrike in Taldor.
I just want to share a adventure detail we just had while finishing this book: Our party is Black Blade Magus, Beastbonded Witch, Hunter, Arcane Duelist Bard and Volcano Oracle. 1) We were at the Logrivich's clock tower, and they were afraid that the dragon would be too much after whatever awaits in the towe. So, their decision was, to use wand of spider climb that they got I do not remember where, and climbed the tower from the outside. So, they did that then, and found very surprised Logrivich there. Battle ensues, and the dragon manages to use his breath weapon (all succeeded in their save + witch had resistance) and make one full round at the party, but then the dwarf hunter decideded "f this" and just whams his earthbreaker at the dragon's head; crit and massive. Logrevich is dead after two rounds of combat. Then they decide to go the tower in reverse. 2) At the fight with Nazhena, I replaced the wussie Ice Golem with Frost Giant. Frost Giant and hunter duel, and the giant barely wins. Nazhena is being all evil and super cool, but then our witch throws a Snowball spell to her face, and staggers her. Our witch, mind you, is kind of a meek, uses mainly debuffs from afar. Nazhena, having spied on the party, has not seen her ever using offensive spells. She is pissed now, and tries to spectral hand-vampiric touch her, but fails. Our witch answers with chucking a lighting bolt at her face, further making her super confused why her intel is so dead wrong about this young, barely 18-years old witch. That manages to draw her attention, so the black blade magus manages to sneak under her, and uses bladed dash vertically and after two tries finally crit kills her. That went really funny, and we had a fun session with lots of laughter and cool ideas to roleplay. Anyway, I just wanted to share this cool moment.
I have fears for this. Fact that this comes out in...1, 2, 3, 4 months or so, and we have only seen some teaser art and few producion photos. I fear that Disney saw that they had a bomb in their hands, and are now on defense mode, with minimal preview material. I expect teaser soon, and maybe two fullblown trailers.
Do not know this McGowan or his work, but looks right to me. I just hope this Geralt does not growl every sentence out of his mouth. This might be just from reading the books first, but Geralt's growly voice in video games gets old very fast. Like, he is badass but not because he sounds like he drinks a bottle of scotch a day and smokes pack a day.
I liked the orc. Thought Noomi Rapace looked cool. Makeup was great. That's about it. Horrible script, poor middle-school level social commentary that was just there to make this slightly edgy, both Noomi and Lucy Frey had nothing to say or do, they were plot points. Will Smith was unimaginable a&#!$~$, but somehow still likable because Smith but as a character he made no sense. Visually unimaginably boring. Jacoby, who should have been btw the main character, lost all his hero moments to Will Smith because of course. So yeah, not a fan.
As we have now played about 8 sessions, we are about halfway through second book. We have managed very well- most of them have pretty good fort, they stocked very fast on winter coats and furs and one of them already has pretty good save against cold weather via racial traits and whatnot. Upi Lunkka is a monster in a battle, for about 3 rounds before his afflicted companino pukes and Upi (more often than usual) gets stunned. Pretty much at this level they start to turn to pretty much monsters. Akariel hits like a devil with spellstrikes, Grag's various hissatsu combos with fire spells and fire mysteries make him unpredictable and dangerous, la Gorda is very good at debuffing foes and Pablo being a buff center himself makes this all together a very well oiled but somewhat chaotic engine. Next up is exploration in Whitethrone, making contact with friends in the city and a hot date between half-orc and winter wolf.
I just saw it and yes, believe the hype. I just cried like the last 5-7 minutes straight. It gets emotional like you would not believe. Spoiler: The ending of this movie is something else, rivaling even the Empire for me. I have no idea what Episode IX will be about, and I'm so glad.
Oh, he is a good director, not disputing that. But most of his more recent movies are bit trashy and low-bro, yet they work. Machete especially. It's silly, stupid and trashy, but it also has something to say and it means it too. I don't think I trust current Camerona as much.
But I do recommend Wennstam's book. I'm not sure if it is translated yet to English though. That is the newest one, the Traitor is in swedish Svikaren, right here.
I must admit, at the point when I was starting to read the Miss Smilla's Sense of Snow the fatigue from nordic noir started to lay heavy on me. That's why I wont continue straight on with the crime novels, but instead go back to SF and fantasy. I have Weir's Martian and Bank's Use of Weapons up next, and after that finnish fantasy novel Käärmetanssija (Snake Dancer). I got from Worldcon a book of Finnish weird (scifi/fantasy/horror) anthology and one horror anthology called This Leg Is Not Mine which focuses on body horror. It'll be interesting to read, as I have not read Finnish SF/Horror literature before, at least not something that is made with adults in mind. But I do recommend Wennstam's book. I'm not sure if it is translated yet to English though.
In the last 2-3 months, I took part in a book reading club-course in my University class. Theme was nordic crime literature, and we read 10 novels by authors from Finland, Sweden, Norway, Danmark, Iceland and Russia. Names in the brackets are if there is no officila translation name, or at least that I did not found one. - Isä, Poika & Paha Henki (Father, Son and the Evil Ghost) by Matti Rönkä: Spoiler:
Almost a literal crime novel, being both told from perspective of business man Viktor Kärppä who meddles in prostitution and smuggling, and being criminally boring. Viktor is "Marty Sue", who is good at everything and everyone depends on him. Though I respect the angle of what being a russian/karelian immigrant in Finland is like. - Thirst by Jo Nesbo: Spoiler:
A real thriller story, latest entry in popular Harry Hole-series of Norwegian crime novels. Serial rapist-murderer makes headlines with his gross methods and links to vampirism. Harry Hole returns from teaching job to help catch him, since he reminds him of old foe he once let escape. Thrilling, gory, dark but also fun and very well written, with glimpses of hope and good humanity to balance the darkness of the murderers. Has slightly technological angle, with Tinder and 3D printing playing significant parts. - Murtumispiste (Breaking Point) by Arttu Tuominen. Spoiler:
Tuominen came to the course to talk about writing, and I was very glad he did it before I had to read his book, because it sucked. Hard. Annoying, needlessly cruel and full of super cliched and thin characters. Hard pass. Not even the fact that it happened in my hometown of Pori helped this at all. - Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell. Spoiler:
First of the super popular Kurt Wallander-books of swedish crime tradition. Mankell is way too good a writer for this to be a bad novel, but Faceless Killers is kinda boring nonetheless. Old farmer and her wife are cruelly murdered, and Wallander starts to investigate who are to blame, and rumors and yellow press are blaming the immigrants. Despite being written in the 90's, it is somewhat topical in it's themes. It is not a bad book, just bit cliched and tad boring. - The Hypnotist by Lars Kepler. Spoiler:
Swedish writer Kepler is a pen name of a married couple Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril. That might explain the very split tone of the book. Detective Joona Linna finds himself amidst of a particulary gory mass murder, were members of one family are chopped up to bits, with exception of missing daughter and only very seriously injured son. Linna seeks help of Erik Maria Bark, a hypnotist, to find out what the boy knows. Bringing the hypnotist only makes matters worse, and the novel goes to wildy different direction than expected. Defines the term "frustrating", even if it is a very thrilling read. Long, full of characters and subplots (including 50 pages flashback, ugh). - Irina Tietää Liikaa (Irina Knows Too Much) by Alexandra Marinina. Spoiler:
Russian style detective novel in 90's Moscow, where militia officer Kamenskaja solves the murder of a murdered official Irina Filatova. Not much to say, because I failed to read it in time and did not finish it. The style is intriguing, but writer's tendency to give pet names to everyone makes it also a confusing read. - Petturi (Traitor) by Katarina Wennstam. Spoiler:
My favorite from the bunch. Story focuses on two characters; a lesbian police officer trying to solve the crime of murdered football star, and a Swedish-Iranian lawyer trying to help the family of the murdered. Very focused on socio-political themes, mostly on the theme of toxic masculine culture. Very well written, both main characters are different and fun to read. It has a killer ending, that makes you want to read more. - Strange Shores by Arnaldur Indriðason. Spoiler:
Very slow, very much a mood piece. Paints absolutely beautiful picture of Iceland and it's people. Most interesting part is that the murder in the novel happened decades ago, and is mostly about maun character Erlendur finding closure. Beautiful, but bit slow and hard to follow, from time to time. - Miss Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg. Spoiler:
Another very slow and very intricate mystery, with one of the most open-ended endings ever. Very nordic. Main character's Half-Danish, half-Greenlandic nature makes her a pariah in both cultures. But like I said, very intricate and super "wordy". Hoeg goes on tangents about Greenland's history and/or character's histories that halt the story. - My First Murder by Leena Lehtolainen. Spoiler:
Overly cliched, childishly simple and annoying dialogue makes this the second worst book in this list. It's not blood-boilingly bad as the Breaking Point, but it is a bad book nonetheless. Main character is self-hating, I guessed who the murderer was on page 20 and ending was just weird. Ugh. It was a fun project, and since I have never really read crime novels before, it was enlightening. Nesbo and Wennstam are definitely writers that I will read more in the future. Now, back to basics with Iain M. Banks...
That was pretty damn good rendition of Batman v Superman. Seriously, way Reign is presented in visuals and in contrast to Supergirl, including how they first rooted her as Kara's friend, and with the cape & cowl, she pretty much is Batman. And like BvS, this also had shades of Death of Superman in it, minus the obvious element. And that fight was one for the ages. And it was smart to make this happen on Christmas, added some darkness in it's own way. Good television.
Citizen Cold & Ray kicking ass and taking names while openly adoring each other. I loved this. Whole Crisis on Earth-X was such a hoot. Real stakes, really good emotional stuff that made me feel feelings I'm not ready talk about and kickin' superhero action. Spoiler:
Isis, Vixen & Killer Frost riding a ice bridge to NaziRider was so effing awesome. So many characters, but everyone got some cool moments. Too bad some where missing the action (Kid Flash you were so cool in the first ep) but still, really good superhero tv. More of this please.
I concur, this is stellar stuff. Even if one likes BvS, it's worth the watch for the movie making side of things. History of making Superman movies in part 2 is really something. It kinda makes you more annoyed at BvS because on paper, most of the ideas in it are actually kinda great.
I'd wager that... Spoiler: ..that since Frank basically retired again,
even getting some well-earned and well-written closure as a character, potential Punisher season 2 would probably be Russo destroying ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING MEANINGFUL LEFT IN FRANK'S LIFE. And since I'm pretty sure Karen's gotta go to either jail or morgue in Daredevi season 3, that would leave Frank pretty much alone again, with only punishin' left in life.
13 episodes is way too long for this. That much is clear for me now. It's not bad it's just...something else. Very low on actual punishing. I'm in episode 9 and there has really been only one instance of actual criminal killing. Otherwise this reminds me more of First Blood mixed up with military/political thriller. Bernthal is super good, and so is Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Micro. It's also way funnier than I expected. Also SUUUUUUPER politically charged. It's really different from what you would expect. Also good use of handheld/person cameras in few scenes. Makes them feel really real and anxious.
Yeah, there is costume changes. Spoiler:
Flashback sequence dealing with Steppy's first assault on Earth features amazons from Age of Heroes, when they used either leather bikinis or deep cleavage armors.
And in the modern era, some amazons (like Hippolyta) still have their old armor. But many others, like Penthasilea and Nubia, have metal bikini armors, just a modern version of those leather bikinis. Also there are FAR MORE assshots of Wonder Woman and other Amazons. So yeah. Also sorry Freehold, under Snyder since these were shown a while ago before Whedon was even on board. Take that, hatred. Though the worst parts in JL are the added comedy parts sooo 50/50
So I just saw it and....meh. It's not the worst. But there is absolutely nothing that special about it. There is one or two fun scenes, mostly around Flash, and couple of cool action scenes. Villains is a utter bore, even by standards of generic doomsday villain. Some really bad scenes, and Elfman's score is really lackluster. And the fact that this is JUSTICE LEAGUE and there is nothing special about it and that is barely made me feel anything except frustration is a special sin of it's own.
Spoiler: Grandmaster was to me, like many other, like a slave master/owner. Casually seems nice, but his apprehension to speak about things with their real names (not slaves, non-paid workers) and casual cruelty towards people echo this. And that alone makes him very uncomfortable be with. So the idea that he has maybe using emotional abuse to keep Hulk happy is probably very true.
The popular theory is that someone at Disney finally got around to watching Jurassic World rather than just looking at its gross earnings.Colin Trevorrow (sp?) was suppose to do the third one, but Lucasfilm and him parted ways at the last minute, so they brought in Abrams.Wait really? I thought the plan was a different director for each of the three. Why are they bringing him back instead?Same here. I enjoyed watching TFA, but I felt it tried a bit too hard for the nostalgia at the cost of being a more original movie. Also I admit to uh...not being the biggest fan of J.J. Abrams (I was not pleased to hear he was doing the finale of this trilogy). Or Book of Henry. Depends on the source. Yea, I'm not super happy about that even though I really, really enjoyed Force Awakens. But better him than Trevorrow.
Not saying that. But I resent the idea that Disney owns most major franchises in Hollywood. That would left Universal, Warner Bros, Paramount and Sony with Disney on the field. Studio competition is a good way to generate innovation and progress. If Disney own e v e r y t h i ng and has monopoly-station by buying rest of the Hollywood as well...well yeah, Disney makes good films and I support their progress to diversify their films, but I don't want everything to be a Disney product.
No. It would have not been great. Sure, I would have loved that MCU got the rights to Fantastic Four. That would have been amazing. But X-Men in MCU right now...would just mess everything up. Also...this would have been a huge industry shakeup. I love Disney and all, but I am against monopolies, including in the entertainment industry. This would mean that Disney would have the movie and TV rights to X-Men and Fantastic Four, but also: - The Simpsons
(But also home media rights to original theatrical versions of Star Wars 4-6, so that would have been neat.) But what would Simpsons look like if it was produced by Disney? Or Kingsman? Most of these are R-rated movies, a style of film which Disney rarely-if ever-makes. So yeah. This might still happen in the future, but let's hope it's just the Fantastic Four.
Ragnarok was ton of fun. Really fun, action was balls to the walls amazing, acting was solid and it had actually something to say, and Waititi's bold vision for Thor really paid off. HULK. HULK EVERYTHING. This was the best movie Hulk we have ever got, clearly it's own character, not just some always angry monster. Spoiler: Did anyone else notice that one of the Grandmaster's towers giant heads was Beta-Ray Bill?
Also, He stood alone at Gjallerbru. Well, not alone but still. NEAT. Matt Damon, Sam Neil and Luke Hemsworth made me laugh so much.
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