*SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!*
That is all

Directed By: Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The Secret of Arrietty is the latest Studio Ghibli movie. It has just recently been released in the United States, and I can’t tell you how excited I was to see it.

Studio Ghibli and I have a long standing love affair, which I will admit is pretty one-sided. They keep putting out consistently adorable, well done, and heart warming movies and I keep loving them. Arrietty is no exception.

The movie is based on the young adult book The Borrowers (by Mary Norton). The movie follows Arrietty, a young borrower, as she meets and forms a friendship with a human boy. Borrowers are a race of tiny humans, usually no more than the size of a small doll. They live in the crawl spaces of houses and survive by ‘borrowing’ small things from humans (like sugar cubes or bobby pins).

Humans themselves are something to be feared, and when Arrietty is seen by Shawn (a sickly human boy) she puts her whole family in danger. Despite this, a friendship forms between Arrietty and Shawn, where she eventually comes to trust him.

The animation of the movie is beautiful as always. Studio Ghibli movies are known for their dedication to quality, and this film is no different. The music is equally well done. It is sad when it needs to be, and several of the songs feature a bouncy happiness that perfectly captures the feelings of some scenes.

So why did I give it a 4, not a 5? The story. It is cute and quirky, like any other Ghibli film, but something was lacking in the execution. The characters didn’t seem to stick with me like Howl or KiKi or San (Princess Mononoke). Also, for some reason, the story didn’t seem totally fleshed out. At the end I was left with several unanswered questions and generally just wanted more.

The Secret of Arrietty is currently in theaters in the United States. It is a movie that I would recommend for Ghibli lovers, families, or anyone who wants to see a cute movie. While your at it, you should check out the rest of the Ghibli catalog.

Gaming Inspirations: If your group is interested in anime type games (which lends itself well to the BESM 3rd system) a game could be run in which all characters are borrowers. It would be a unique experience to run a game in which the bad guys are cats and rats and humans, and the biggest a character can be is the size of a pack of cards.

Also the borrowers could be argued as being a class of Fae.

When you start out planning a game you have a whole story in your head. In the game set things are planned to happen, set people are meant to be met, and set places are meant to be visited. Something happens when you actually start the game though, inevitably some one throws a curveball into your carefully laid plans.

Be aware that this is not a bad thing. The creativity of my gaming group continuously astounds me, and, though rolling with the punches takes some getting used to, the results are always something good.

A game is almost like a living breathing thing; it continuously evolves. It almost always evolves into something better. It does this through collaboration between the players and the GM.

That’s the special thing about running a game. Instead of writing a novel, you are not building a story by yourself. Instead, you and the group are working together to make a sort of flowing group narrative.

The fact that gaming is a place where a group can get together and each give a piece of ourselves to the story is something amazing. It is something that is not found nearly anywhere else in society.

I know I sound all mushy, touchy-feely about gaming, but it is something that I truly believe is special. Yes, running a game can be nerve wracking, frustrating, and like wrangling chickens, but it is also immensely rewarding. Running a game and seeing the look of enjoyment on your players faces gives warm fuzzy feelings like none other. It is well worth it to yourself out there, so next time you get the chance take the leap.

This installment covers something that happens a lot in my gaming group: arguments.

Apparently this is two birds arguing. Make your own Angry Birds joke.

Gamers like to argue. We have this deeply ingrained need to be right all the time, and that comes to a head when we are gaming. The subjects of dispute can be anything from a certain rule to who the best Robin is (‘nother Batman reference, I have been getting back into comics if you can’t tell), but one thing is always the same, arguments take up valuable game time.

So what do you do?

1. Know Thine Shite: A lot of arguments come from two players disagreeing over a rule or not knowing the exact mechanics of a gaming situation. It is our jobs, as GMs, to know enough about the game were running to be able to definitively answer a rule mechanic question or, more realistically, know where to look it up.

Get ready to repeat the phrase 'have you checked the index?' often.

2. Be Confident in Thine Shite: Gamers feed on weakness. They are like Sharks that way (Sharks hunt by smelling fear right? Right? Or is that mongooses?). Some arguments go on way too long because a GM hedges or shows signs of doubt (I will admit this is something I tend to do). As a GM, you have to be confident in your abilities enough to sometimes say ‘this is the way it is going to be. Period.’ Just remember that you are lord and ruler of the game that you are running, and you have final say.

GM Shark says, "Roll for damage."

3. Be Willing to Compromise Thine Shite: Yeah I know that doesn’t make a lot of sense after the last tip, but think about it: many revolutions have happened because some king is all like ‘it’s my way or the highway folks.’ In a gaming group there is no room for revolutions, so if you start Stalin-ing out on people (called railroading) at best they are not going to let you run anymore and at worst they are are going to kick you out of the group.

So how do you know when to compromise? When you are unsure think to yourself, will this add to the game? Will this make the gaming experience better/more fun/cooler an any way? If the answer is yes, a compromise may be in order.  It all comes down to remembering that when you are gaming, whether running or playing, you are building an narrative together. Anything that adds to the awesomeness that is that narrative should be included, even if it is off-script.

That’s all for today folks. If you have any different ways to deal with arguments amongst your group post ‘em in the comments.

As for me, I got a bottle of NyQuil with my name on it.

On the thirtieth anniversary, you’re supposed to give pearls or diamonds. The color is green. The flower is the lily. It’s a beautiful time of love and commitment and proving that you can stay together longer than most people can remember. Big parties and celebrations. Thirtieth birthdays though, those are hell. It’s death. Black balloons and caskets, right?

So, which is it when book turns thirty? Birthday or anniversary?

Some of you might remember the review I did of Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark last year. The stories were cool and told in such a vague, oratory style that Stephen Gammell’s artwork popped to life. There was nothing between you and the horror of the illustrations. Alvin Schwartz’s stories gave you an idea and Gammell showed how nightmarish it could be.

Well, kiss your nightmares goodbye, kids. In the new Thirtieth Anniversary Edition, all of Gammell’s artwork has been switched out for more literal designs by Brett Helquist.

I don’t want to give the impression that I think Helquist is a bad artist. He’s quite good and has a great style. But we’re talking about going from “oh my god, I can’t even bring myself to touch the fucking paper this is printed on” to “that’s pretty”.

You can see more comparisons at Adventures in Poor Taste.

One of the biggest challenges to any game master is time management. You may have a great story, interesting NPCs and a finale that will blow your players away, that is if you can get to it. Employing the shortcuts below will speed up any game system you play. (If you’re not a fan of reading and just want a quick pro break down, scroll to the bottom.)

The biggest slowdown of any game is combat and that’s the main focus of this article today, how to speed up combat. Where players are, where the bad guys are, who’s on fire, who’s on a ledge, there’s a patch of ice there? All these questions can be answered in a few seconds without a word said by the storyteller. Although you will need to be a bit, crafty.

First you’ll need a fold out dry erase mat. I use foldable grey scored map, 1”by1”, squares for easy tracking of movement. No ever asks “Could I make it this far?” They just look at the map and can count it out. I draw out the terrain, the ice slicks, the trees, and I have several wooden blocks, cheap at any hobby store, if i want elevated terrain. This one marker and mat can easily transform into any terrain for any game. A dark warehouse, a sewer, a church, a castle hall, a dock, a oil rig, a office building… I should stop or I could go on forever. No digging through bins for trees, or cottages. No wasting time finding that one perfect treasure chest tile. In the end that’s all fluff and fluff that wastes game time. This also gives you flexibility in your games because now if the players go in a different direction it’s easy to change things. I know that when I prepped an hour before a game and the players went somewhere else I might have to spend five minutes digging up the right tile sets. NO MORE!

Second thing you’ll need are pieces to represent your players and npcs. This is really up to the group. It can be coins or dice, or colored stones. In my group we actually have numerous miniatures on hand so we went a little extra on this part. We used miniatures and hard scored plastic squares, to match our map. We super glued the miniatures onto the bases. Now you could use thick cardboard as well for this and glue your token onto it. Now that’s all basic stuff, but now it gets to the next level.

The next level is straws, toothpicks, and masking tape. We glued 1” cut outs of straws onto the bases of our miniatures so that they could hold up toothpicks. We now have a quick and visual way to mark npcs and players with conditions on them. If a player is knocked out or prone, it’s easy to pick up a toothpick write “prone” on a strip of tape and tape it around as a little flag. This opens up the door to much larger fight sequences in games because now the work of tracking monster conditions isn’t yet another burden on the storyteller.

Which brings me to my final tip. Get the players involved in what’s usually considered GM stuff. If you’re tracking monster conditions, health points, movement, and events you might be doing a lot more than you need to, and all that time you spend tracking every little thing eats away at game time, while everyone else is waiting on you. By using the toothpicks and straws the players take charge of putting condition markers on monsters instead of just telling the storyteller. So why not have them track monster damage too? It spreads out some of the math and constantly reminds the players how much damage they’ve inflicted on the big bad. This also helps players stay active and involved when it’s not their turn. I give each player a monster or group of monsters damage to track. So if player A hits a monster player B is tracking, player B is involved instead of sitting around waiting for his turn. This also means player B is more aware that the monster is about to die and might make his actions change. Note that I said damage, not health. The only person who should know a creatures full health is the GM.

I’ve never really considered going to all this effort before Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition came out. Now that I have i’m very happy to have such a versatile toolbox for any system.

Now the breakdown in a nutshell.

Items needed
Dry Erase fold out mat
Superglue
Toothpicks
Straws
Scissors
Masking Tape
Dry Erase Markers, I recommend a few colors and a large eraser.
Tokens of Players and NPCs

Use the mat to create any area you desire.

Use Flags as easy visual markers that players make as their abilities cause buffs or debuffs.

Have players assist in tracking monster damage taken(don’t tell them the monsters health) by assigning them each different creatures to track.

Should easily be able to have everything, including character sheets in a shoe box. By reducing the number of items needed for a game, it cuts back on game prep, and travel difficulty.

Anyway, the actual lyrics of this song are the usual rap fare. “Hey, I’m awesome, don’t be jealous. Everybody be hatin’ on me.” Pretty meh all around. But the opening, man, I love the opening. “I shoot the lights out. Hide until ’till it’s bright out. Woe, just another lonely night. Are you willing to sacrifice your life?” Then the closing, “I-I crossed the line-line. And I’ll-I’ll let God decide-cide.”

Those two verses paired with the sort of Promethean (think Disquiet) feel of the victimy arrogance in the middle get this song on the list, even if it is last place.

12. Outkast – Dracula’s Wedding

I think this song might have suffered a bit from being part of the Speakerboxx/Love Below album. If you never got past listening to “Hey Ya” on repeat or avoided it all together because of “Hey Ya”. Either way, you missed out.

“Dracula’s Wedding” kinda shows the human side of monsters. It reminds me a bit of a scene in Being Human (UK) when a vampire says something to the effect of, “If we do this, it’s forever. We say we love each other and that’s it. We never die. It’s really forever,” to another undead to explain his reticence in entering a relationship with her. In large part, that’s due to Kelis’s (awesome) guest parts. After her bit about great PB&J, she goes onto some fairly standard wedding vows. But then, “‘Till death do us part. ‘Till death do us part. You only live once. Well, not in our case ’cause we live forever.” Her emphasis on each word really shows us why he’s terrified of her and the commitment she’s asking for.

It’s not necessarily creepy or scary. Mostly just… humanizing.

11. Billy Idol – Buried Alive

Once upon a time, there was this groundbreaking movie that showed everyone cartoons weren’t just for kids. It had sex and blood and violence and gore and was hailed, far and wide, as a triumph of the times. So, then they made a sequel. And it was not so good.

I saw Heavy Metal 2k as soon as I could. It was mostly just a rehash of old stuff, but it separated itself enough from the original form that it didn’t even have copycat charm. The soundtrack was supposed to be edgy and amazing with acts like ICP, Monster Magnet, Queens of the Stone Age, Bauhaus, and more. But it was also kinda meh. This song though, this song stuck with me. It’s all about the chase and the kill and the hurt in between. Billy Idol at his apocalyptic best, IMO.

10.Anastasia Soundtrack – In The Dark of the Night

At this point in the movie, Rasputin has (spoiler alert) come back from the “dead” and discovered that Anastasia is still alive. It is in this song that he awakens to his destiny. He embraces what he is, “Then I opened my eyes and the nightmare was me!” and just fucking goes with it.

I love everything about this song, from the evil electric guitars to the band of silly minions chorusing behind him.

09. The Priscillas – All My Friends are Zombies

I first heard of this band when I was working on a zombie movie project and they emailed me, wanting to know if I could get them on the soundtrack. The project, unfortunately, fell through, but I kept listening to them anyway.

What we have in this song is a tragic Patient Zero tale. A girl and her friends get attacked by a crazy old lady with a gun. They die, bloody and covered in junkfood in the dumpster nearby. As she goes to mourn them, they slowly rise and she realizes that she needs to run. And fast.

08. Blue October – Dirt Room

Blue October has always dealt with the kinds of confessional things people don’t like to admit to. You’ll note near the end of the song that Justin Furstenfeld burns a dollar bill with the initials “M.R.” written on it. Justin admitted the song was inspired by the bands ex-manager, Michael Rand. Michael claimed that he had co-written their song “Hate Me” and some others and sued the band for compensations.

In the video, for quite a while, it’s difficult to tell who the bad guy is. I mean, yeah, the guy broke into her house. But she’s clearly psychotic. And, depending on how you want to take the end, the whole town might be.

07. Say Anything – Skinny, Mean Man

This is a weird one. It’s not really clear who the monster is. I listened to the song for a couple of years before my ears finally picked up on the chorus. “If only you’d start breathing, I’d court you exclusively. With my shovel I’m pounding earth ’till suddenly I see you awake from the dirt and the grime. Stretch your fractured pretzel spine. Out to take your revenge for the crime. Filled with fire and finally mine.”

So, she’s dead and that it’s because of someone else. But who’s really the bad guy here? The now-a-zombie girl? The ex-boyfriend? The apparent necromancer?

06. Meg and Dia – Monster

Point of note, Meg and Dia now play under the name Dia Frampton.

They said this song was based on Cathy Ames from East of Eden by John Steinbeck. It’s always sounded, to me, like the birth of a slasher. A bit like “In the Dark of the Night”, someone realizing who they are, what they want, and that they’re prepared to do it.

05. Abney Park – Tiny Monster

No actual video. Sad days.

The song plays a very hot prelude to Rosemary’s Baby or The Omen. It’s an old story– Girl meets devil and they have a beautiful baby… thing. If you like your sex a little creepy, seriously, play this song.

Slight aside, Cubicle 7 developed a game based on Abney’s Park world. It’s currently on sale at DriveThruRPG. I am about to buy it and you can expect a review up soon (please remember that this is me and “soon” could mean anywhere from tomorrow to this summer).

04. Matchbox Romance – Monster

The actual video has embeding disabled. Which is stupid because I want to share it and they’re making it harder for me to do that. So, in case this video doesn’t work, here’s the link to the official one. It also has better sound and video quality: We Don’t Share

The best I can gather here is it seems like, in this video, the celebrities we worship are dragging us down into tar pits, killing us like dinosaurs. But then angels. And also a little superhero girl.

I love the admission of “We are, we are the monster inside your head. Believe what you see.”

03. The Automatic – Monster

You might know this band better as The Automatic Automatic. Their name seems to be just the one Automatic, except in America.

If you want to get all real about the song, it’s all about the inebriation. “Brain fried tonight through misuse… Without these pills you’re let loose”. “What’s that coming over the hill? Is it a monster?” is referring to the person one becomes when they’ve had a bit too much. The band seems to have gotten quite a lot of hate for this song, but fuck those guys. This song rocks.

I love the silly campiness of the video. It’s like some mutated love child between Discovery Documentaries and Comedy Horror. Also, Bigfoot dances. You can’t beat that. Did I mention the band is adorable?

02. The Creepshow – Take My Hand

The video is all pirates and krakens, but the song is all vampire love the way it should be, sweet and monstrous.

I feel it important to point out that this is not their best song. If you like this even a little bit, google them. Find them on youtube. Click through the related videos.

01. The Ramones – Pet Sematary

I think this was the first song I ever heard that made me realize people could write songs about monsters. It helps that it came attached to one of the scariest movies I’ve ever seen. I don’t really feel like there’s much I can say that will improve your experience listening to this song. Just… enjoy.

Directed by: Dennis Gansel

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Sometimes foreign films just do things better. Films like Night Watch, Pan’s Labyrinth, and Let the Right One in are just a few. Now I am happy to say that I can add We are the Night to that list.

The film follows small time pickpocket Lena as she falls in with a group of vampires. She learns their ways and grows closer to the vampires who turned her (interesting side note, in this movie all the vampires are women. All the male vampires were hunted and killed long ago, and the remaining women vamps have promised not turn any more). The movie is so much more than that though. It is a movie about searching for a soul mate, choosing to lose your humanity, and what you would do with immortality.

Almost everything in the movie is well done. There are only a couple of nit-picky things that I would change. The first is the dubbing. It was okay, but the voices of a couple of the characters just don’t match at all. The second is the lighting. I found myself wondering more than once if it was daylight or not because the light coming through windows seemed like daylight. Also the cover makes the movie seem like a soft core porn, which sends the wrong message and does a disservice to such a great movie.

Everything else was great though. The acting was pretty fantastic, and the special effects were wonderful. There is a scene where one of the vampires puts out a cigarette on her eye, and you can see the ember burning, replacing her pupil.

Where the movie really shines is the soundtrack. It was so good, I went out and got it. The music matches the feeling of every scene, adding to the overall feel of the movie. It also has the bonus of having one of my favorite songs on it (“Pretty when you cry” by Vast).

I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see awesome fights, sexy vampires and to hear cool music. It is available on Netflix streaming.

Gaming Inspirations: The overall feel of the world is very NWoD, with gritty and dark overtones. The vampires are pretty close to what I imagine Daeva.

The Ragwitch is the story of a boy named Paul and his sister Julia. When Julia comes under the influence of a sinister figure known as the ragwitch it’s up to Paul to follow his sister into a world of magic and myth in order to save her. This is a story about the struggle the lengths we will go to for the people that we care most about. This is a well written story with well rounded characters. Garth Nix is a masterful writer whose prose sometimes verges on poetry. All in all this is a really fantastic read and I give it 5/5 Glooms.

Gaming inspirations

Changeling: When I think of the Ragwitch I think of the Ragwitch as a strange alien creature from a different world. Changeling captures the feeling of finding yourself in a world very different from the one you know and of attempting to preserve the things that make you you from a terrible inhuman evil.

With that in mind, I thought I might hand out some tips to help. These are truths of what to expect as a GM, no matter what system you are running in.

1. Expect Distractions:

Gamers are like children with ADD, and since gaming is the only social interaction that some of us really get, it is inevitable that sometimes not everyone is going to be focused on the game all the time. Add in the fact that the larger the gaming group, the more chance that some players are going to be on ‘pause’ (waiting to talk to you while you are dealing with someone else) and you end up with a recipe for people on their phones (or laptops) playing games.

These photos have nothing to do with the post! Distractions!!

There are a few ways to deal with this. One is to just let it happen. This is not really advised, because most gamers don’t have a lot of restraint and will not ‘peter-out’ after a while. Another way is to gently remind your players to pay attention (I recommend a large, sturdy, branch, called a GM stick). One other way is to take frequent breaks. This allows for distraction time, and has the added bonus of letting the GM have time to think as well.

The important thing is to always plan for things to take longer than you thought they would. Distraction is a powerful thing and make a fight that would usually take an hour take 2 sessions.

Tangents!!

The other thing is to not take it personally. This was a hard one for me when I first started to GM. I thought that if people were not hanging on my every word that my game must be boring and awful. That is not the case. It is simply the fact that, when you have a group of friends getting together, tangents are going to happen.

Kittens in Hats!!

Think back to your favorite class in school, be it college, high school, or even elementary. The teacher in that class could have been shooting candy out of their eye sockets, but if your friend had to show you the cool new bug/song/video that they found, you would still not pay attention to the teacher.

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The next post in the ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting (To GM)’ series will cover arguments. In it you will find yet another use for your handy GM stick.