Hey Man, well this is Babylon

I’m in something of a High Nirvana era of personal gaming enjoyment. I feel that there are more awesome gaming opportunities around me than ever before in my life. Tabletop, Video, Design, it’s a veritable cornucopia of exciting play. Let’s review!

As far as my table-topping goes, I’m in the middle of at least two games, with two more on the horizon. First is my Old School Palladium Fantasy sandbox game, which has had four gatherings so far and seems to be maintaining everyone’s excitement pretty nicely. This game is really doing a good job of reinvigorating me, both as an arbiter of events and as a creator of spontaneous content. I haven’t run this seat-of-the-pants in a long, long time, and it is quite simply titillating my gamer imagination. I go into each session with a mental picture of all the events happening in the world within a 20-mile radius of where the characters are, and as they move around, those events progress of their own accord. So far, the players have managed to hit up most of them quite nicely, and get themselves directly involved of their own volition. It’s wonderful. Read more

I’m looking for some out-of-game inspiration for my current Shadowrun game. When I run games, I like to immerse myself in as many related influences as possible, as I’ve found it really helps me keep up the good vibe. So right now, I’m looking for video games and TV shows that fit the feel. Here are a handful that I’ve found so far, and I’d love some other recommendations.

GAMES:

Shadowrun (Sega Genesis): This game got me into the RPG in the first place, way back when. Quite a fantastic and loyal translation of the game rules to video game format. Canon-wise and system-wise, it’s the best official Shadowrun video game I’ve yet to see.

Perfect Dark Zero (XB360): I freakin’ love this game. It fits the feel quite well. The short version: you’re a stealth-hacker action girl who sneaks into places and, essentially, performs a series of shadowrun-like jobs in a near future dystopia. Awesome.

Fear Effect 1 & 2 (Playstation 1): While the gameplay leads to frequent moments of intense puzzle-based hair-pulling frustration, these two gems are what you would get if you removed the magic from Shadowrun and turned it into a damn awesome video game.

Rogue Ops (Playstation2): Similar style of stealth action, this game didn’t get much acclaim or recognition, but is a hell of a lot of fun to play. Again, stealth-action girl going on sneaky missions in the near future

Syphon Filter (Playstation 1, 2, and PSP): A fantastic series of near-future espionage action games, a must-play for any fans of futuristic stealth games.

Deus Ex (PC): Another good stealth-action shooter, this game has hacking, sneaking, shooting, robots, cybernetic implants and more. A fan favorite, it’s too bad the sequels were crap.

SHOWS:

Leverage: This show really captures the essence of the Heist Job. It has humor, drama, action, and intrigue, and never fails to inspire me.

Burn Notice: I haven’t actually watched this yet, but it’s next on my list. I hear it has a lot of the similar themes as Leverage. EDIT: I watched the first three episodes last night, and yeah, this show rocks. It’s basically the adventures of a Face and his two friends. Good stuff!

Smith: Very sadly, this excellent “what happens between the jobs” heist show was canceled after only a handful of episodes, but it had such awesome potential.

FILMS:

Strange Days: This movie just oozes with Shadowrun concepts, including simchip dealers, low-grade extraction runs, armored limo drivers, race wars, and more. One of my favorite flicks of all time.

The Usual Suspects: Crime, paranoia, whodunnit, and lies. Another one of my favorite movies ever.

Sneakers: A truly fantastic digital hacker flick. Lies, spies, and action.

Johnny Mnemonic: While nothing at all like the original cyberpunk short story it is very loosely based on, this is still a great movie to get yourself into the Shadowrun aesthetic. Has hackers, tech-gangs, yakuza assassins, cybernetic data couriers, and more.

Any other suggestions?

I can hear the unwashed thousands of die-hard old-schoolers right now, screaming cries of “blasphemy” and “heresy” at my entitlement of this post – but then again, I doubt any of them actually read this blog, so perhaps I’m just hallucinating. But for a second round of added emphasis, I will repeat: Shadowrun is finally awesome again.

That’s right. I said it. Shut up. Read more