Seth Harris

Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – Dungeon World Solo Part Two

Make sure to read part one before this and part three next.

During my Dungeon World solo playthrough, I extensively used Perilous Wilds. While Parts Per Million’s Dungeon World Solo book is helpful, it only looks at Dungeon World. Here’s the thing about DW: it’s a fine game, but I have always felt it was underbaked. There’s very little about dungeon crawling in the core book, and some of the mechanics (Hirelings in particular) are confusing and not fun. Perilous Wilds feels like the missing portions of the game, providing revised rules for hirelings and tools to build dungeons as you play and even create monsters on the fly. These tools helped make this playthrough fun; I never knew what lay in store for me next.

Comic Book Review – Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Black & White Collection Volumes One & Two

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Ultimate Collection Volumes One & Two (2014)
Reprints (V1) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1-7 and Raphael One-Issue Micro-Series
(V2) Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 8-11, Michelangelo One-Issue Micro-Series, Donatello One-Issue Micro-Series, and Leonardo One-Issue Micro-Series
Writing and Art by Kevin Eastman & Peter Laird

I won’t go over the backstory of how Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came to be. That is a well-trod path you can find in various forms online. Instead, I want to share my first encounters with these characters in animation and comic books. Like almost every child in 1987, I watched television, unaware of what would be coming next. It was around Christmas, and our local Fox affiliate was showing a new episode of the opening mini-series each day of the week. I couldn’t remember the full name of the show, so I just called them “The Turtles” until I had it down. I was six years old at the time.

Movie Review – The Gleaners and I

The Gleaners and I (2000)
Directed by Agnes Varda

There is a tension in art between planning & spontaneity. I feel it when I write fiction. I’m always wrestling with how detailed an outline I give myself. Where is the room left to be surprised? But I also need to ensure the whole piece feels cohesive and connected. Agnes Varda embraces spontaneity in her documentary The Gleaners and I but strikes a good balance. She sets out with an idea of what she wants to explore but allows herself to be open to drift. Varda is so fascinated with people that she won’t hold back if the people she encounters inspire something new in her. I can see how contemporary filmmakers like Nathan Fielder or John Wilson are inspired by Varda’s work, particularly how she engages with strangers.

Movie Review – Vagabond

Vagabond (1985)
Written and directed by Agnes Varda

It seems easy for so many to demonize the vulnerable. That’s one of the most upsetting things about humanity for me, to see & hear people refer to subgroups of their fellow human beings as animals. One group in America that is treated in such a way through legislation & everyday rhetoric is the homeless. There are myriad reasons why a person might end up living on the streets. In the West, we still fail to treat the mentally disabled with respect & dignity. The average worker lives in constant peril that each paycheck might be their last. Queer & trans youth are routinely kicked out of their homes by parents whose brains have been inundated with the most hateful propaganda. When I see videos on TikTok of fellow teachers disparaging young people for being disengaged in what they are being taught, I feel like the speakers are missing the point. This is a society that has no intent of ever helping you and would instead grind us into bone meal. If you do not submit your life wholly to the capitalist game, then the ones who are too frightened to ever break away happily piss on your grave.

Movie Review – One Sings, the Other Doesn’t

One Sings, the Other Doesn’t (1976)
Written and directed by Agnes Varda

Time feels distorted. It didn’t just start with COVID-19 either. Our understanding of even recent history is blurred, with significant historical events from just a decade or two prior feeling like they happened so long ago or disconnected from our point in time. Part of this is the poor perception of the human brain, whose recall & memories have been proven very unreliable. It also emanates from the neoliberal project outlined in Francis Fukyama’s The End of History and The Last Man. The argument made via neoliberalism is that all possible political ideologies have been discovered & developed and that we live in a period in which no more historically significant events will happen. Essentially, human development is now a capitalist machine meant to run forever, powered by the “benevolence of capitalism.”

PopCult Podcast – Bottoms/Killers of the Flower Moon

These films couldn’t be more different. One is a comedy based on a series of Comedy Central shorts about two horny lesbian losers. The second is the true story of a series of killings at an Osage reservation in the early 20th century.

Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – Dungeon World Part One

Read Part Two here and Part Three here

Of all the games under the banner of “Powered by the Apocalypse,” Dungeon World is probably the most well-known and played. It’s a variation of the classic dungeon-crawling tabletop rpg games that dominate the hobby. While games like Dungeons & Dragons rely on skill checks and rigid combat systems, Dungeon World takes a fiction-first approach, with all rolls being player-facing. Everything in the game happens as an extension of the player’s actions. There are no modules with structured adventures; instead, Dungeon World encourages improvisation and, at most, a simple dungeon starter outline. As with all the PBtA games, the focus is on playing to discover what happens without having all the steps written down beforehand.

TV Review – Paul T. Goldman

Paul T. Goldman (Peacock)
Written by Paul T. Goldman
Directed by Jason Woliner

The “reality television” genre has never been anywhere close to reality. The place you find reality on screen will always be in the documentary form, and even then, a director or editor can shape things to fit the narrative they want. We do the same in our lives every single day. We mentally emphasize & ignore various things because of how they make us, curating a perspective on the world that suits us. There is always a tension, though, between the perception & the real, cracks forming in our psyche as unpleasant things burrow their way in, eventually becoming undeniable. How you handle those unpleasant things defines you, whether you sink into despair or try to connect with others to process them. Paul T. Goldman, in the guise of a true crime series, is actually the exploration of these themes. How do we handle a lifetime of hurt and keep living? Do we hurt others? Do we invent stories that make us the hero?

Comic Book Review – Stargirl and The Lost Children

Stargirl and The Lost Children (2023)
Reprints Stargirl Spring Break Special & Stargirl and The Lost Children #1-6
Written by Geoff Johns
Art by Todd Nauck

Geoff Johns is in his third act, and it’s not going great. Act one was his rise to prominence as one of DC Comics’ best writers in the 2000s. This was followed by a transition into DC’s films division, where he oversaw what I consider some of the worst superhero films of all time. He would still dabble in comics occasionally, but once he stepped down from his role in the movies, his output increased. The word that comes to mind when discussing this second shot at comics writing for Mr. Johns is “delays.” Not just a month, but multiple months on books that are already limited series. Why DC doesn’t require X number of issues in the bank before beginning publishing remains a mystery to me. It is an excellent strategy to ensure distribution goes smoothly and your readership stays happy.

Movie Review – Le Bonheur

Le Bonheur (1965)
Written and directed by Agnes Varda

Translated into “happiness,” Le Bonheur is a pointed satire about marriage. Like good satire should, it is nuanced & subtle. I think American audiences have come to define satire as “parody” or just broad comedy when it is, in fact, building a case through narrative to support a particular point of view. There’s mockery here, but it’s not the kind that bellows loudly and makes a nuisance of itself. Agnes Varda was a filmmaker with such a strong filmmaking sensibility that she could unfold her story with finesse. It’s a feminist reading of male privilege with the husband as the central character. The female characters are supporting figures, but that makes it all the more damning and brutally hilarious.