YouTube of the Week: D'OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH! Edition
Simpsons + Star Wars = Crazy Delicious. Now if only they’d do a full episode, like Family Guy is doing. Found on ExtraLife.
The Rule of Cool
Image Source: The TV Tropes Wiki.
I just found out about possibly the coolest site for failed writers (raises hand), Meta-plot analyst (raises hand… again) and just plain Story-driven entertainment junkies (Me me me!!!).
It’s called the TV tropes Wiki and it may very well Ruin your life. (God! I must be the billionth blogger to use that Schtick). It’s about plot devices and common tricks used in successful TV/commercials /movies. I love this as I’ve always been a great fan of discussing plots and narative techniques in novels and TV shows.
I haven’t yet spent a lot of time on it, but I probably found one of the best rules of adventure design and DMing I’ve come across: the Rule of Cool.
The limit of the Willing Suspension Of Disbelief for a given element is directly proportional to its degree of coolness. Stated another way, all but the most pedantic of viewers will forgive liberties with reality so long as the result is wicked sweet and/or awesome. This applies to the audience in general, as there will naturally be a different threshold for each individual in the group.
To transpose to RPG terms: Your player will put up with almost any illogical or “wobbly” plot devices or encounter as long as things get cool enough for them.
Which basically makes me think that my efforts as a DM should not so much be on far-reaching World Building and tight nitpicking-proof plot lines and such. I should go all out for encounters and role playing that will swamp my players in coolness. Think combat on ice Bridges, negotiating the release of prisoners in a flooding underground prison, hopping from floating island to pieces of flying ruins in order to catch the thieves of the Star jewel of Radnia. Yeah, that`s the ticket!
Enjoy the site, I know I will.
Red Shirts anyone?
See also this as it is where I found what type of DMing I aspire to achieve.
Inq. of the Week: Tights and Spandex
Most of the CH crew spent the day partying at a cook out at my place- with plenty of games of course. Guitar Hero 2, Wario Ware, Wii Sports, Wii Play, Get Bit!, Celebrities, Squint, You Must Be an Idiot, and Mall of Horror all were played at some point during the party. But the game we played the most was Covert Action, as Jake arrived with his box of comp copies and was eager to shoot some spies! As more people funneled in, the game was requested again and again. Expect to see a review of it in the near future.
But now down to business- our Inquisition of the Week, and recapping the past two weeks. [Read the rest of this article]
A Field Guide to Gamers
A surprisingly respectful look at gamers and GenCon- mostly they let us speak for ourselves. The only thing I didn’t like is that three of the people they show in “crazy costumes” are actually from the reality show ‘Who Wants to be a Superhero?’ and not gamers at all. Added note: there may be an ad before or after the video. Thanks to the Main Event for finding this.
