Film Series
[Mike Leigh: Selected Works] – April 1st thru 11th]
High Hopes, The Life is Sweet, Naked, Secrets & Lies, Topsy-Turvy, All of Nothing, Vera Drake, Happy-Go-Lucky
[Neo-Noir: Rethinking the Darkness] April 15th thru 29th
The Conformist, The French Connection, Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, Chungking Express, Jackie Brown, Mulholland Drive, Collateral
Oracle: Reveal Warning
Uram returns to Carver’s lair to find things in chaos. Carver is ranting about Elysia Velasir, an information broker for the Society, who is withholding the date of the heist from him. Only the most elite members of the Society are getting access to when & where the citywide chaos will begin. Early on, the leadership of the Larcenists’ Society realized they were an organization of highly untrustworthy people, so the most vital information was secreted away. Carver believes he deserves to be in the know, so he wants to steal it from Velasir’s office.
Continue reading “Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Ironsworn: The City of Eternal Night Part Five”
There is no known origin point for the Vok (translated to the common tongue: Voidforged). The earliest mention of them in the United Planetary Archives is from ancient Sulvu writings. A tribe of Sulvu in the pre-Nevaa period made cave paintings of a shape in the sky that historians now believe was a Vok scout ship. There was no subsequent encounter with the Vok until after the Sulvu became an FTL-level civilization, and those were minor skirmishes. For millennia, no one knew the extent of the Vok, how they were organized, or their ultimate goals.
Continue reading “Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Starforged: Wrath of the Vok Act Two”
Dreviz had grown up in Kronholm, but as a goblin, his experience of the city was different from that of the humans who dominated. The goblin artificer was born & raised in Grimscrabble’s Roost, a ghetto carved out beneath the city where the city’s rulers mandated all of “that kind” be forced to live. The goblins could only find work doing the most undesirable tasks, often in service to the aristocracy, who were frequently lost in a stupor of narcotics and shadow magic.
Continue reading “Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Ironsworn: The City of Eternal Night Part Four”
Kronholm is a place composed of layers. The first layer, built by the ancient dwarves, was hewn from the great mountain with which the city came to share a name. Their time ended with a blaze of blood & magic, sorcerers acting unrestricted in those days, leading to mass death. In time, like vermin, humans spread across the land and discovered the hollowed-out ruins of a once great city. On top of this, they constructed Sirenhelm Keep, where, to this day, the royal family resides in the palace, though sightings of them are much harder to come by, and rumors spread that the line died out generations ago.
Continue reading “Solo Tabletop RPG Actual Play – Ironsworn: The City of Eternal Night Part Three”
It’s all things Denis Villeneuve this week. We watched his latest, the second chapter in a legendary science fiction saga. Then we went back to see a film that garnered his first major attention.
Continue reading “PopCult Podcast – Dune Part 2/Polytechnique”
In Nigeria, a woman attempts to keep her community together as massive fractures form. In a strange fantasy world, a woman attempts to figure out who she is as she speedruns through human development.
Continue reading “PopCult Podcast – Mami Wata/Poor Things”
You can buy Vaults & Vows here
You can buy Feats & Favors here
In March 2023, I played through a short game of Ironsworn for the first time. I loved it, but there were definitely some wrinkles Starforged helped iron out (no pun intended). I did want to revisit Ironsworn, though, with some tweaks. This was mainly an interest in seeing how some additional fan-made products worked when attached to the core system. My story hook came from my Dungeon World Solo series, and while that was very fun to play, Ironsworn’s brilliant progress mechanics stand head & shoulders above any solo system I have encountered. If the goal is to create a sense of exploration and surprise, you don’t get better than this system.
Continue reading “Solo Tabletop RPG Review & Actual Play – Ironsworn: The City of Eternal Night Part One”
Film Series
[Wiseman’s Eye] – March 3rd thru 14th
Titicut Follies, High School, Law and Order, Welfare, Public Housing, Juvenile Court, City Hall
[The Films of Ousmane Sembène] – March 18 thru 28th
Black Girl, Mandabi, Emitai, Xala, Camp de Thiaroye, Moolaadé
Hyperion by Dan Simmons
As a teenager, I came across this book in the now-defunct Wizard Magazine. I am trying to remember the context in which it was brought up, but I do remember the striking cover. Years later, when I took Chaucer & Medieval Literature in college, someone told me Hyperion was a retelling of The Canterbury Tales. Only at the end of 2023, at 42, I picked up Dan Simmons’ acclaimed science fiction epic to read. Wow. What an incredible treat to enjoy.
Continue reading “Book Update – January/February 2024”
PopCult Reviews 