Sponsorship Fashion and Lifestyle released

Got the second installment of 'Sponsorship' up on DrivethruRPG. This time with the two companies 'Delusions of Grandeur' clothing and 'Puppy Mill' pet stores. Completely system agnostic and easy to drop into most cyberpunk or scifi settings. Still only 75 cents.

Click here to go take a look.

Working on part three now which will like be 'Arms and Armor'. The two companies listed in it will be Athena Shell and Defense Designs. Releases after that will be the continuation of the Sponsorship line and likely some system agnostic horror setting material as well. This is turning out to be the year I'm getting stuff done.

Another sad troll on Facebook

The dumbasses I run into. Sometimes on Facebook you get that person that just tries really hard to troll you. But the attempt is so pathetic that all I can do is laugh at them. I mean really this particular case just has me wondering if I'm being ridiculed by somebody who is lacking in their mental facilities.

But I figure why not use them to get a few more hits on my blog. I mean that's all this person is really good for right? This particular person goes by the name of John H Dunleavy and yes that is a link to his Facebook page.

Now for you all to see just how pathetic of a troll this guy really is. Feel free to share this around. Actually please share this around maybe even drop by his page and let him know just how sad this attempt is. I've been dealing with troll online for over two decades and this guy is bottom of the barrel worthless as one.

Rampage (2018)

Rampage (2018)

Buy a physical copy from Amazon.

Watch it digitally on Amazon Prime.
 

Some video games deserve to have a movie based on them. Games that drip with story, developed characters and so much potential. But no, they go make a movie based off of monsters destroying a city. The entire plot of Rampage is so thin that you just know they are going to have to pipe in a ton of material that is should just be it's own movie without tying it to an already existing property. Kinda like Battleship where they tossed in aliens. But hey it's a Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson action vehicle so who cares right?

Well the story is pretty damned thin. Evil corporation makes stuff they will cause animals to grow and go super aggressive. Said stuff gets out by extraordinary means. Three animals get infected and all hell breaks loose. Throw in some odd story bits for human actors and you pretty much get the idea. They may toss in a lot of scientific terms but they also make the zoo keeper ex special forces just so he can do cool shit through out the movie. The plot is paper thin and if you think about it to hard it will tear under that pressure.

They do, however, make a great effort into making you think a couple of characters are going to be big deals in the film. But no it doesn't go that way and they end up dead rather quickly or never show up again. I actually kind of like that because you do get the feeling that nobody is safe until about little past half way through then the obvious survivors become obvious. But still, nice to see you for a little bit Joe Manganiello wish you could have stayed around a bit longer.

Special effects wise this is awesome. Giant monster things tearing everything up and beating the hell out of each other. All sorts of military firepower getting torn to shreds. Buildings collapsing, people getting squished, shit blowing up all over the place like Micheal Bay stepped in the back door for a moment. A body count that must be through the roof. This is where the budget went, well here and into the bank account of Dwayne of course.

In the end this film is entirely bubblegum for the brain. No sustenance but it gives you something to do. If you like story with your moving pictures then I would stay away from Rampage altogether. But as something to watch with friends while you tossing back a few beers it may work. But at least it's not as bad as they Uwe Boll Rampage movie.

 

If you like this review you can check out my others by using the 'Movie Reviews' tab at the top of this blog. Also please support this blog by purchasing through the Amazon and DrivethruRPG links scattered around, maybe even share a link so others can have a look see.

 

Damn now it's giant flying wolf monsters.

 

Stargate (1994)

Stargate (1994)

Buy the DVD or Blu-ray on Amazon.

Watch it on Amazon Prime.

Stargate the movie that was supposed to spawn a movie franchise. I mean they had such high hopes for this film that there were even action figures for the damned thing. But when you can't even gross 20 million over your budget that pretty much kills the chance of sequel. Eventually somebody got smart and made a television series, that spawned another television series, and another, oh and a few made for television movies, more action figures, a roleplaying game and all sorts of stuff. Not bad in the end.

They at least started with a knock out cast. Kurt Russell who spent about a half of the movie acting like Todd 3465 and then suddenly turning likable. James Spader pulling up the nerd front. An early Djimon Hounsou role before he career really took off. Not to mention one of my favorite “oh that guy is in this” actors Erick Avari. Okay so the rest aren't super known to me but every one does a great job. So they didn't fall down in the casting department.

The premise is pretty straight forward at the start. A object discovered in Egypt 70 to 80 years ago is apparently some sort of gate to another world. However nobody can figure out how it works until they bring on board Daniel Jackson. He suddenly goes “oh these aren't hieroglyphs around the edges but star constellations. Because nobody else could figure out these symbols that kind of already look like constellations really are constellations. So fire up a team and go through to see what is there.

So during the duration of the film they find a whole civilization of humans living on the planet. Discover that aliens are responsible for humans being strewn all over the galaxy. Befriend young teens, accidentally get married, meet a mega alien who calls himself Ra and a big nice battle at the end. Oh and there's even a nuke in there as well just to keep things hopping. They even set it up so that a sequel would be easily done.

Sounds pretty good. Problem is the slow burn of the film building up to the action. This was billed as an action movie but surprisingly doesn't have all that much action in it. We get some great world building and a whole lot of information dumped onto our lap. But getting to the reward at the end takes a while. This is ultimately what I think kept the movie from doing better. I don't see anyone going back to the theater to see it a second time or really recommending it as a “must see” to their friends. More of a “It's fine to wait until rental” type of movie.

Now set design and the overall look of the film is great. Everything from the gate itself deep in the underground military base to the very Egyptian based look of the aliens and their technology. Not to mention some nice little touches making standard fair scifi more interesting, like the dropping teleporter rings and the space ship being pyramid shaped so it could park on top of the pyramid.

Special effects were cutting edge at the time and actually hold up pretty well. They used their CGI for scenes where it was really needed. Lots of actual models and miniature sets were used as well. In the end two thumbs up for the crew making the movie look good.

I give this movie a solid two thumbs up. But don't go in expecting an action fest because this, my friends, isn't it. However this is a great look at successful world building where the writers obviously put a lot of work into the details. This is something Roland Emmerich is known for so that isn't surprising at all. If you're a scifi fan and haven't seen this movie, well then you need to take the time and give the film a watch. You won't regret it.

 

If you like this review you can check out my others by using the 'Movie Reviews' tab at the top of this blog. Also please support this blog by purchasing through the Amazon and DrivethruRPG links scattered around, maybe even share a link so others can have a look see.

 

"As far as I can tell the future of this franchise is so bright we have to wear shades."

 

Sponsorship: Food and Drink

My latest release is now up on DrivethruRPG. 'Sponsorship: Food and Drink" is system agnostic and made to be used with cyberpunk and scifi settings. Time for your runners to slap a logo on themselves and get a payout for appearing on screen. This first installment presents two low level companies eager to their branding everywhere; Almost Meat Stix and Slurps.

Buy in on DrivethruRPG right here.

I have more Sponsorship titles in the works coming soon. Style and Fashion, Arms and Armor, and more.

World of Darkness Documentary

Watch it on Amazon Prime.

Finally got around to watching the World of Darkness documentary charting the rise and fall of White Wolf Studios, mainly focusing on their game Vampire: The Masquerade. I remember this coming out a couple years back but never got around to trying to give it a view. Which is odd considering how much time I spent running V:TM back in the day.

Although they do seem to show a lot more about the LARP version of the game while talking more about the tabletop version. But that's okay, it's easier to show what you mean with people in costumes than folks setting around a table rolling dice. But it does give us a nice view of the path from where the company started, when V:TM exploded and up to the inevitable end. So for those who do like a bit of history of gaming this is worth watching.

Now some of this I experienced first hand as the game came out when I was really doing a lot of roleplaying. I actually bought a copy the day it hit the game shop shelves and begin running it within a week. One this I will agree on is that it changed the hobby and was quite different from everything else out there at the moment. Different as nearly everything else out at the time was just another book full of rules (which they mention) with sourcebooks that were additional books of rules. V:TM was pushing to be something different than that, tried to make the system more light and wanted players to keep the roleplaying more important than the mechanics.

There is some eye rolling parts though. They attempt to lay claim to the shift of the club scenes into more goth and vampire that happened at the time. From what I've been told the shift happened before VTM and the game itself was more likely inspired by that than the other way around. Now maybe more convention parties went goth because of it but not mainstream clubs.

Also they covered the fallout that happened between the global live action community that had sprouted up and the company. Issues over copyright and IP infringement which led to a really jagged break between the two. The failure of the video game to materialize. Plus a few other downfalls.   

So I recommend this to just about anybody out there who has even some passing memory of the glory days of Vampire the Masquerade and White Wolf as a company. 

Truly Rural upcoming releases

Upcoming releases from Truly Rural Productions.

The next project I'm am working at is retooling my Sla Industries and Cyberpunk 2020 sponsorship company write ups into a system neutral format and removing any copyrighted information that links them from the two games. These will be like 'Squad Names' and be small releases of maybe 3 to 4 pages in length. One page will likely be standard text that is in each release stating how to use them in their settings and notes on currency conversion. Each will have two companies with the first having Slurps and Almost Meat Sticks. I may try to theme each one such as "Food and beverages", "Arms and Armor", "Style and Fashion", etc.

Not sure on what the title of this line will be.

They will also likely be at the 75 cent price point that 'Squad Names' has.

New Product Release - Squad Names

Need a name for a squad, team or unit for a modern/scifi/cyberpunk setting? Look no further because we have a hundred different names for you. All for a super low price of 75 cents.

Buy "Squad Names" over on DrivethruRPG now! 

 

 

Guns Akimbo (2019)

Guns Akimbo (2019)

 

Buy it on Amazon.

Watch it on Amazon.

I'm not sure where to begin. This movie was a lot of things going in different directions all at once. That being said it all ended up at the same spot in the end somehow. A lot of general bizarre ideas in here that kind of go together and kind of don't but here you go.

Working his dead end coding job is Miles (Daniel Radcliffe without a wand) who seemingly finds fun in trolling internet trolls while drinking. When he pisses off the wrong people and finds himself part of Schism all against his will. Waking up with a set of high capacity pistols literally bolted and nailed to his hands.

Wait, what is Schism you ask? Oh yes let me cover that real quick. It's an illegal show broadcast on the internet where they put two people up against each other in a fight to the death. Using drones, hacked security cameras and whatever else they can to track the fighting as it goes across the city. Usually they pit psychos against each other in these death matches. But this time we get Miles as one of the contestants. His opponent is their undefeated champion Nix (Samara Weaving) and she has some real motivation to kill him.

Now all this of course leads to some really messed up scenes covering such issues as trying to take a piss when you have guns bolted to your hands. Or convincing your ex girlfriend to get back with you while you are trying to pretend you aren't being chased by an insane killer and have maimed digits for fingers. Even a little bit of how to pick up the hot dog laying next to the used condom when you're hungry.

Oh and a shit load of fighting (and running for your life) scenes that keep the movie going at a rather nice pace. The bodies start piling up really quick and music picks up right along with it. Leaving you going “Holy shit” on more than one occasion.

The effects are well done across the board. Blood splatters, gun effects, very well done sets, some really wonderful costume design and so much more. They went all in to give this movie a very specific look and they achieved it. There is even a little bit of Scott Pilgrim vs the World tossed in for some nice added flavor.

Now the one thing it also does is give us a healthy dose of Black Mirror style social commentary. With a raw look at the hateful side of internet culture and the overwhelming desire to see more darker and gruesome material every day. It's not a pretty picture of what 'could be' when it comes to our society at large.

But hell things blow up, people are gunned down in massive amounts and one guy even has a special hand smashing hammer. So I'll give this movie two thumbs up. It was a fun thrill ride of a movie with a very dark side that pulled no punches.

"Go on get that hot dog, don't even think about that used condom next to it."

 

But sadly I doubt there will be a sequel.

 

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