Weird Movie Sunday: Tusk

I didn't know about this and thought I'd share ...

So Jay and Silent Bob watch an old Cronenberg movie and decide to make their own body horror flick. Well, maybe that's not fair. As internet-lore goes, Kevin Smith saw an entry on Craigslist (or some such thing) about a guy looking for others to dress as animals for him and Smith took this as an idea for a movie that goes way beyond that premise: it's about a guy that tries to transform another human being into a ... walrus (of all things). Because they are better people.

Here is the trailer and it's the weirdest thing I've seen in a loooong while:

I mean, that's just an extraordinary display of madness with a humor that makes you choke on your laughter. It's that profound fear that somebody might try to alter your body that irreversibly destroys how you want to be perceived by others and thus threatens your sanity. I'm aware that this is what body horror is all about, but ... you know, I can't really put my finger on it. The thing made me uncomfortable (in a good way) and I'm really not squeamish. Maybe it's how the madness of this guy is rationalized, maybe it's the glimpse of a normal life that shows the main protagonist in the beginning (something Kevin Smith is very able to make work, I might add) and the true horror in the eyes of his girlfriend later on (since Red State, I know he is willing to go there ...).

I'm not saying this will be a good movie, but judging by the trailer it very well has the potential to be. So I'm going to bookmark this and will see it as soon as it hits the screens. If you're a fan of Smith's work or of the weird, maybe you'll do the same and we'll talk about it later.

Soldiers! Aliens! Carnage!

Sometimes I come across a movie and think: this is the perfect frame for a role playing game. Battle: Los Angeles is one of those for obvious reasons:

• The title alone indicates a franchise (Battle: New York, etc.).
• It's squad based, perfect for a rpg.
• The viewer never knows more than the characters in the movie, so you get first impressions what the game should feel like.
• Simple premise (get to the safe zone) with weird encounters to add suspension (what are the aliens up to?!).
• End of world scenario (always nice to have in a rpg...).

I'm totally aware of the fact that many games could emulate a scenario like this, but I want to try my hand on this. A small and light rpg, driven by the D&D engine. And I finally have the balls to write in public about it. Blogging can do that to you.

So I'm working on it. Here's my thinking so far:

• Rules for urban warfare without miniatures.
• Rules for squad-based game-play.
• Random City Block Generators.
• Escalating Random Encounter Tables.
• Rules for 3d Ruin Crawls.
• Instant NPC recruiting if a character dies (but new Marines only at the base, in the wild you'll get civilians).
• Characters used by players are safer than the rest.
• A player can (and should) control more than one character. It effectively enhances his combat rank (like level would).
• Communication will be key, the better your line to command is, the better are your chances to survive long enough (or call an air strike).
• Machine guns! Flamethrowers! Pistols! Alien technologies! For D&D and friends!
• And some aliens, of course.
• It'll be free for all.

Instead of levels for individual characters, it will have phases (some sort of dooms-clock for the setting). The phases are:

Phase One: Attack

Phase Two: Colonization

Phase Three: Terra Forming

Phase Four: Enslavement

Only beginning with Phase Two Characters that have no military background will have combat skills. I'm not quite sure if I want ability scores or just skills (or a hybrid?). Maybe DM-less?

Right now it's some ideas in my head and some house rules I wrote about in the past (like Wizard with a Shotgun). But it already feels finished and I'm pretty confident that play-testing will start some time next month. Expect more posts about this after the challenge-thingie...

This is what D&D did to culture:

Hehe

And now for something completely different...

"You don't choose the Soy Sauce,...

... the Soy Sauce chooses you!"

This is a movie recommendation. If you haven't seen John Dies at the End, please do so. It's like Kevin Smith's Dogma had a love child with Philip K. Dick's brain (while watching Supernatural*).

Found here!

- It has a ghost door (with a lovely idea to open it...).

- It has Cthulhu references!

- It has gore, nudity (well, a little, but it counts nonetheless) and a huge amount of zen-crazy!

- It has Soy Sauce!

-It has Paul Giamatti (and that counts for something).

- And it has Highlanders Nemesis, but enlightened and with Kung Fu!

I have to check out the books by David Wong. If there is more of this... ah, damn, I'm in love.


Please report of your experience!


*And after watching Buckaroo Banzai...