Time and Temp and contre-tomps

Tried a new RPG game yesterday, Time and Temp. You're a temp at this agency that sends people through time to fix anomalies. [Although we set this game up a week ago, the GM was surprised when I contacted him 30 minutes before we were supposed to start to ask him if it was still on! Over an hour later he was ready to go, with another player, Alan, I haven't met before.]

I am Henry Mawson, ex-pizza delivery guy, ex-office gopher, ex-lift electrician, now time agency temp. Together with George Broom, we were sent back to deal with werewolves who wanted Teddy Roosevelt. Despite much bickering, and threatening to end all of reality, we managed to pull a success out of the huge bag of failure...

The mechanics are a little complicated, and there should have been more rolling to use the 'matrix' to get 'synchronicity chips' and other factors. Not sure how quickly this could be run in a con environment (which the GM was going to do, so was glad of the sudden practice!).

Get my recording of the game here. Note that there was a skype crash at around 3 hours, but I jammed the two files together so hopefully you won't notice anything major...

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EXTREEEEEEEME commenting policy

I've been getting comments. This is good.

I've been getting spam. This is bad.

In particular, I've been getting lots of spam comment. My usual technique is to simply delete them, although not permanently, thought they are clearly spam.

All of the spammers (that I can recall) are Anonymous. Although not every Anonymous is a spammer.

However, to negate the few the many have to suffer. In particular, I have now set it up so Anonymous users can no longer comment, instead you have to be a registered user, at least in some loose sense. Certainly not more than most people are already registered elsewhere. So this wont impact most people, just the rare few who want to comment without giving away who they are.

In other news: the terrorists have won.

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I've been watching

Delta and the Bannermen - "I've never seen..." episode one of Delta. Ken Dodd's performance was one I had never encountered before, although one hears tales. Even given that... he comes across as 'Wacky Tollman' rather than as any distinctive personality (the behind the scenes interviews were more revealing about the character, and that Ken Dodd come across as 'always on' for the camera). This just kicks off the main problem with this story, in that it is a series of vignettes rather than any serious attempt at a developed tale. There are various amusing moments, but the whole seems unconnected and messy, just a few too many plot holes. And the incidental music was too heavy handed, a problem many McCoy stories suffered from.

The other music, tied in to the time period, was nice. At this point I'd like to thank the person who did the production subtitles, they were very useful and gave goo dinsight into how much thought the prodcution team put into the atmosphere of the setting. The Chimerian girl wasn't an easy ask, I'm happy with what they did there. Thinking back over it, I'd say the production did a better job than the story did.

The Deadly Assassin - I hadn't remembered that the matrix sequence was over an episode long! A complete change of pace that shows that Doctor Who still has a few tricks up its sleeve. And given the set restrictions, I thought the first half of the story, in the Panopticon, also worked well. That does leave the final episode, in particular the fight with the Master, but I'd rather not dwell on that.

There have been criticisms over this 'stolid' aspect of the Time Lords, which isn't really that unexpected, even ignoring their previous appearances. They are supposed to be 'anti-Doctors', in that they don't intervene (as a general principle), but generally sit back and watch the affairs of the universe, only really getting involved when time travel is an issue, or other Time Lords are problems. It's either a stately affair with heads right up arses, or a country of couch potatoes watching events unfold on some screen (cf Vengence on Varos). Various later writiers have pepped them up, but this is a good story of two cats (the Doctor and the Master) amoung very sedate pidgeons.

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War on Scales 4

We set out, having wiped out most of the crypt's inhabitants, with some more people to find. Up and down and stairs and corridors and macra claws and goblins and... oh wait. Yeah, things to fight! Meh, the goblins weren't really an issue, and the macra claws weren't much of an issue either. Frankly, this is just becoming a joke.

After putting them down, we find another of the people, the curator who was happy to get all those items back, and we were more than happy to have someone else carry stuff around. Going back over our tracks, we found a shimmering tapestry that showed the Shadowlands, presumedly a portal into here, but not one we could touch. Huh.

Going the long way to miss those pits, we find a hall of displacer beasts statues with more creatures to fight. Namely... Dire Rats! And goblins! Wooo! Oh, we are so afraid... sigh... really? After putting them down, we save another person who's been broken mentally. We were unable to bring her properly back, but will have to leave it for later.

With only few areas left, we find a room with a trap on the floor being studied by a goblin and two zombies. They move around pretty well, but it's not really a huge problem either. Yes, all these fights are wearing us down, but we still aren't being that overly taxed. We did need a decent rest in the middle of exploring this place, but otherwise we are doing all right. After that particular fight, another person saved. One to go!

The one final set of steps leads down to a large room with mushrooms. A lot of mushrooms. Many, many mushrooms. We pick our way through and find the last person trapped in a magic circle. With an excellent allocation of resources, I tell them what to do, and the other two do it.

With everyone rescued (sans the one who died, we did take him back to be raised), we headed back to town. Good job done all around. After a hearty round of back-slapping we are advised to find more work in the city of Overlook. Sounds like a place to go...

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I've been watching...

Due to not keeping track, I have two copies of Beneath the Surface. Finally, over Christmas, I got around to watching at least one of them.

Doctor Who and the Silurians - I didn't watch this all in one go, but I was surprised by how well it worked. The Silurians don't really show up until episode four, and the series continually throws up one challenge after another. Even if it is padding, it's enjoyable padding. It's a shame there were only six Silurians, but the costumes were well made, and the tri-vision thing is nicely innovative. Even if the production crew thinks it went on a bit too long, it's good to see an actual story develop over time (and we're talking over three hours here!). The new series doesn't come close... (And you can even spot the moment where the universe diverges into Blood Heat!)

The Sea Devils - Yay, Roger Delgado! Which, to be blunt, is the best part of this story. Unlike The Silurians six episodes is too long, with people just wandering around a lot and not much being developed. Have to say the Naval sequences are very good, nice visuals, and the actors playing the crew do a great job. I like the fishnet clothes on the Sea Devils, although their shooting ability is fairly typical. And the Master is unleashed unto the world again...

Warriors of the Deep - This is just not a good story in many ways. The whole Nilson/Solow plot line is useless and completely irrelevant when the Silurians and Sea Devils attack. And the Silurians and Sea Devils are nothing like how they were portrayed. And what is up with that polystyrene door. But there is something that I changed my mind on, and this isn't something you'll hear that often...

The Myrka works. There. I wrote it. Fine, the complete execution leaves a lot to be desired, but there are those shots, where the lighting isn't full, where the Myrka is half-shot... and it works. It's actually scary! A ferocious monster that kills anyone and anything that gets near it. Even martial artist Ingrid Bergman can't stand up to it. It's by no means the best monster ever... but it's not the disaster that I thought I remembered...

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Speaking of Steam, Steel and Murder

Of Steam, Steel and Murder is a game run by Bert. I thought the game started earlier, I was wrong, and so with not many other opportunities before me, I decided to jump on in. We're using the Fate system, something I haven't tried before.

My character is Gavin Marshall. He works for the Ministry of Research, Science and Technology, which doesn't have as much to do as in our world given that the Guilds do all the inventing, and the Guilds are basically running the city. (More or less.) Although my character isn't entirely that straight-forward...

Anyway, here is Game 6 (which I just realised I labeled as Game 5!), in convenient hour-sized chunks.

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I've been watching...

Attack of the Cybermen - I remembered the changing TARDIS, that it had the return of Lytton, went to Telos... but there was a lot I didn't remember. Terry Molloy dies at the end of the first part so they don't have to pay him for the second (with the self-cleaning TARDIS). That the Cryon outfits weren't practical, but the characters worked very well (and although they were played by 'statuesque' women, that didn't really show). Eric Saward over packed the script and there was a lot in the second half that didn't go anyway. The Cyber Controller isn't as fat as many claim.

Another good note is that, yes there are the moments where the Doctor is 'shout Shout SHOUT', but there is also a lot of good acting scenes, especially in part two. See the scene with Flast (Flask? Flost?) in the cell with convenient explosives, and at the end. Oh, and the Doctor firing a gun in fine, particularly considering he was up against Cybermen. Go fer it, Doc!

The Five Doctors - The original, not the revised edition. The story works better in the original, even if the effects weren't up to much (the chess board room... sigh...). And I think that Richard Hurndall is a fine First Doctor. No, he's not William Hartnell, but one should not cast for the actor but for the character (a point that underlines the success of the show!). But he does get a kicking in the bonus commentary...

And speaking of the bonus commentary... no, not appealing. They come across as 'superior smug' and they haven't earned it. Very much 'yeah, we did watch it at the time, but we're so much better now'. I get the impression from other documentaries that Tennant had more respect for the old series, so I'm not sure if this is 't
rue colours' or just 'everyone else was trashing it, I went along with it'. Hmmm...

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