CthulhuTech the Movie: Pacific Rim

Greetings all.

Longtime fan of the Cthonian Mythos as originally penned by H.P. Lovecraft and extended by innumerous other authors. It was a damn shame that the Mountains of Madness Movie was canceled and all of the other Cthonian movies (of which there are many good ones) have all been B-films and fan projects.

I have also long enjoyed Cthulhu-inspired gaming, from the old staple of Call of Cthulhu to things like Cthulhu dor d20/D&D and so forth. A number of years ago I came across a rather lovely game system & setting known as CthulhuTech. Check it out, it's awesome. Fans of Guyver should also be rather happy with the Taggers and other entities as well I would imagine.
Link: http://www.cthulhutech.com

In any event, you can imagine my surprise and interest when Pacific Rim was announced a while back. Naturally I immediately thought of CthulhuTech and I do wonder if anyone involved in dreaming up and producing the movie was aware of the game. It's not a far cry to imagine the Jaegers as prototype Engles; and that despite how horrible things have become in Pacific Rim (according to the trailers) that the worse horrors have yet to arrive.

Personally I hope the movie does well; and unless the threat is entirely eliminated in the scope of the movie, that the universe established is not left to rot.

IMNSHO the world needs more Cthulhu-inspired movies and games that are handled as well as I hope Pacific Rim is (and that I know CthulhuTech has been). Nuff said.

Shut up and Take My Money: Knights of Pen and Paper + 1 Edition

Yeah, I have been waiting on this one for a while. Let's just say I was very happy to hear a while back when Paradox got involved as the publisher. A good match IMNSHO, but I am not here to talk about business dealing... no I am here to talk about a game (that I have not played, yet have watched videos of) as it reminds me of why people play games: to have fun.

KoP&P+1 (seriously, a better acronym is needed) looks to be a very fun game. Sure it has a plot, and cute mechanics and all that; but the entertainment value of this game is what draws me in... well that and the nostalgia force from many years of being a Pencil & Paper RPG nut. The game is already out now (for iPhones and other portable electronics) but I have been penitently waiting for the souped-up PC version that was forthcoming.

What appeals to me about this game, is how well it seems to capture some of the silly and weird things that can occur at a gaming table. Sure there are groups that like to be ultra serious; but this game better represents the lay gaming table. Just a group of friends and assorted hoodlums (and random little brothers) sitting around, talking, throwing down dice (never touch another man's dice!) and having fun.

As a longtime game-master (I prefer Game Operations Director myself), I definitely can relate to the allure of running games with homages to other source materials. Sure I personally never included TMNT variants in any of my campaigns, but I was inspired by outside sources on many occasions. To each their own.

What was the point of this blog post? No point really than simply to toss some nostalgic mumblings into the digital wind while I wait to sink my greedy teeth into this fine morsel.

Games I Want to See: CthulhuTech!

While re-reading my copy of the CthulhuTech Core Book (for the Pencil & Paper RPG system) I suddenly realized there is a serious lack of PC (or console) games that fit this specific genera. Quite a number of possible game types could be crafted from this source material.

CthulhuTech meets XCOM

No, I don't mean the FPS that is coming out in the near future. Instead imagine a CthulhuTech game based on some of the same principles of the X-COM series of games. By default such a game would start off around the time everything starts going to hell on Earth. The player would take the role of the founder of a special group, trying to understand the threats posed and to research defenses. I am sure something along these lines would not be that hard to accomplish in theory.

CthulhuTech the FPS

There is also a lot of potential available I think for a more action-oriented CthulhuTech game. Perhaps the character could take on the role of a Tager or some other form of specially enhanced operative. Alas there are not too many games already on the market to compare with with a similar concept. The Darkness comes somewhat close in theory.

CthulhuTech the MMO

Do want. Not sure the fan base is really there though. Building a CthulhuTech MMO that incorporated the Engels and such could be difficult. Hard to say how well The Secret World will fill this particular niche though.

Your Highness Movie Review: Just another D&D session gone Right

Caught a showing of Your Highness this weekend. Loved it. I highly recommend it to folk who like D&D and just about any other tabletop pencil & paper rpg. Full of wonderful tropes, good (penile at times of course) humor and general wackiness. The movie is both a serious fantasy movie with a quest as well as a not-so serious comedy all wrapped up in one.

While it is very obvious that the movie is meant to be a huge load of camp, it is pulled off very well. While some of the subject matter is not the most tasteful by general standards, the movie does a wonderful job in my opinion of aiming at the right demographic. As a longtime gamer, I have been in (and run as a gamemaster) many sessions that left me and the other players around the table laughing our assess off. While some of the humor in Your Highness is a bit forced, most of it had that gaming table humor feel to me.

 This is one of those movies that I think will stand the test of time fairly well. I may just see it again, or grab a copy when it comes out on DVD. Great stuff all in all, good acting, good casting for the various roles, wonderful humor, good action. All in all a very entertaining movie.