Hey Man, well this is Babylon

On Sunday, I watched the HD version of the new Watchmen trailer eleven times. I’ve watched it many more since then. I want this movie very badly. I just this weekend finished reading the complete series for the first time, and I’m really amazed by it. I doubt anything I could say about it hasn’t already been said, so in short, I’ll just say that it was Amazing.

During my lunch break yesterday, I wrote an entire two-page RPG system mostly from scratch and other unsorted mental ideas. I’m sticking it with the Quad name, because that’s what it is: quick and dirty. I intend to sell it for a buck at gaming cons, and maybe I’ll try to have the Screg print some up and sell them at Dragoncon in a few weeks. Perhaps I’ll even put it on RPG Now and Drive-Thru as a one-dollar download. Here’s a short excerpt:

This is hardly a revolutionary system, so why write it? I needed a good game to pick up and run with no books at all. Nothing out there did the trick for me. Thus, I created this game, and hopefully you’ll find it equally as useful for your own insta-games. Are you waiting in an airport with some buds for a layover? Camping in line overnight for concert tickets or that new gaming console? Killing some time in-between scheduled games at a con? Drunk and awake with some buds at a party after most of the other guests have left? Personally, I keep a folded copy in my wallet, just for these unexpected moments. I find it’s great for playing a game where I just don’t want to think about the mechanics at all, and with players who usually hate the long process of character creation (yes, they do exist).

This coming Thursday evening I’ll be playing D&D 4th Edition with some local indie gamers. This should be interesting, to say the least. Finally some hands-on experience to determine if my first-read reactions were anything close to warranted.

Recently, Bethany and I have started a play-through of Resident Evil on the GameCube, aka “REmake.” I’m slightly ashamed to say that I’ve never played through the original Resident Evil before, but that’s mainly because I’m not fond of “BOO!” moments in movies and games. Usually, I think “BOO!” is just a cheap technique, a weak substitute for real horror. However, REmake executes it well, it seems so far. The “BOO!” moments happen less frequently than do the “OMG I don’t want to open this door there could be something scary it could eat me OMG I don’t want to die” moments. This is effective, and Bethany can attest at how frequently I just don’t want to go through that next door, oh yes. But she makes an excellent co-pilot/navigator, and indeed it just reaffirms my belief that some excellent single-player games work even better as two-player games.

This looks awesome:

But not as awesome as this (too bad it ain’t a real game, *sigh*):