PopCult Reviews

31 Days of Character Creation #9 – Cabal

Cabal is a game where the character is the evil corporation you create. Employees are assets the company moves around to work towards its nefarious agenda. Essentially, if you want to play a mix of Succession with horror elements, you have found the game for you. Here’s how Cabal is described on its Kickstarter page:

Cabal is an RPG that works in reverse to the way tabletop RPGs usually function. Instead of each player creating their own character, you create a single character between you. This character is an organisation with its own secret plan and goals. It might be a conspiracy, a corporation, an activist group, an occult society of magicians or even a collection of hidden alien refugees. The size, influence, resources and pawns of the group depend entirely on what attributes the players choose between them for the organisation.

Movie Review – Winter Light

Winter Light (1963)
Written and directed by Ingmar Bergman

It didn’t take me very long while watching Winter Light to realize what contemporary film was essentially a remake of it, Paul Schrader’s First Reformed. Schraeder certainly localizes the story to upstate New York and removes or alters certain details, but narratively & thematically they share so much. Both are films where I can’t imagine them being set in any season other than winter. The cold, the snow, the silence. They are all significant parts of setting the atmosphere for this story of spiritual doubt and crisis. Ingmar Bergman was a person always in some type of spiritual introspection and with Winter Light he’s wondering about those who seem certain about the existence of a God who cares about humanity.

31 Days of Character Creation #8 – Pirate Borg

I’m fairly familiar with Borg subset of tabletop RPGs. They are bursting with personality and fantastic art. Of the many that exist I’ve played Mork Borg (with the excellent solo supplement Solitary Defilement), CY_Borg solo, and Corp Borg in co-op play with Ariana. Here’s the description of Pirate Borg from its official website:

A scurvy-ridden, rules light, art heavy tabletop RPG.

Inspired by history, fantasy, horror and rum. Your cutlass & flintlock won’t save you from the hordes of skeletons, the Kraken, or even your own crew. PIRATE BORG is a complete game based on and compatible with the award -winning MÖRK BORG RPG. But it’s also a tool kit. Most of the tables can be hacked and used with any tabletop RPG.

31 Days of Character Creation #7 – Traveller 2022 Edition

I have heard about the complexity of the Traveller character creation system for years, particularly that your character can die as you are rolling up their lifepath. After going through it, it is quite an experience. I really love systems where character creation is a game unto itself, like Heinrich’s Call of Cthluhu Guide to Character Creation. I had zero idea of who my character would be going into this, but by the end I really understood her much better.

Movie Review – Ikiru

Ikiru (1952)
Written by Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, and Hideo Oguni
Directed by Akira Kurosawa

After watching a little over half a dozen Kurosawa films in my life, I have concluded that I prefer his modern films more than his historical ones. That isn’t to say films like Seven Samurai or HIdden Fortress are bad. It’s more that I have difficulty emotionally connecting with that era of Japan. It’s certainly entertaining, but I don’t get invested. Perhaps that’s why I’ve gravitated towards Yasujirō Ozu’s films; they are contemporary to the period they are made in and focus on people living their lives with little melodrama. Ikiru is like if Kurosawa tried his hand at an Ozu picture. It has some thematic similarities, but tonally, this is pure Kurosawa. You can see him shaping the minds of audience members who would go on to become prolific filmmakers in their own right, mimicking the techniques of a master they first observed here.

31 Days of Character Creation #6 – Silent Legions

I plan to crack open at least one of designer Kevin Crawford’s tabletop RPG books and use it’s incredible tools this year. Before I do that, I thought I’d create a character in his cosmic horror RPG, Silent Legions. Here’s the description of this game from its official website:

The world is broken in hidden ways. The truth is concealed for the sake of mortal minds. The unendurable reality that boils behind the stars is veiled by the pleasant blindness that human sanity requires. Yet every comforting shroud must fall in time, and for these investigators, that time is now.

PopCult Podcast – Wicked Part One/Y2k

We kick off a new year with two recent holiday releases. A young woman in Oz learns the truth behind the Wizard. A group of teenagers faces a millennial nightmare.

31 Days of Character Creation #5 – Flabbergasted!

Today we will be making a character from the unique comedic tabletop RPG Flabbergasted! This is the game as described on its official website:

Flabbergasted is a rules-lite and narrative-driven tabletop RPG set in the roaring 20s! Comedic scenarios and light-hearted adventures are at the heart of Flabbergasted, drawing inspiration from the likes of Jeeves and Wooster and Fawlty Towers.

Comic Book Review – Daredevil by Frank Miller Part One

Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller Volume One (2021)
Reprints Daredevil #158-167
Written by Roger McKenzie with Frank Miller
Art by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson

Daredevil Visionaries: Frank Miller Volume Two (2021)
Reprints Daredevil #168-182
Written by Frank Miller
Art by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson

I knew at some point I would read this seminal run of Daredevil. As a kid, I first heard about it on the pages of Wizard Magazine, piecing together a rough version of it in my head. One of my favorite things about finally reading a book or comic or seeing a film I’ve heard about for decades is that the preconceived idea about the piece is destroyed and replaced with what it actually is. The result is that I now understand why the thing had such a profound influence on a noticeable portion of the culture. I felt the same when reading Chris Claremont’s Uncanny X-Men or watching the films of Fellini. It’s the sense of “Now I get it,” which must release some dopamine or something because it feels pretty nice. Reading Miller’s Daredevil was one of those, where I could see how comics were being changed as I read through it.

31 Days of Character Creation #4 – Over the Edge 3rd Edition

Today’s game is Over the Edge 3rd Edition, a very evocative premade setting & game. I was a big fan of the 2nd edition and supported the Kickstarter for this one years ago. I have yet to play it though, so I thought to add to this character creation marathon. Here’s the game as as described on its official website:

Over the Edge is the classic RPG of counter-culture conspiracy, weird science, and urban danger. For its third edition, the game comes roaring back in a completely reimagined relaunch by its original creator. Everything old gets a new take. Nothing is a retread. Every conspiracy, every neighborhood, every major gamemaster-character is portrayed with a new spin. It’s not “25 years later.” Everything on the Island is reborn to surprise new and existing players alike.