A fairly nerdy day in New York City

'Cause everyone's your friend in New York City/ And everything looks beautiful when you're young and pretty/ The streets are paved with diamonds and there's just so much to see/ But the best thing about New York City is you and me

New York City, They Might Be Giants

It's been a while since I'd really gone anywhere, so I decided to take a trip to New York City.The result turned out to be fairly nerdy, though I definitely had fun. If you enjoy video games, I went to the Nintendo Store. If you like strange foreign cartoons, I saw The Illusionist. And to round out the day, I stopped at the Complete Strategist, one of the biggest hobby shops on the East Coast.

Here's the day, with some pictures.

Getting there:
The weather was in the high teens and low twenties, which made walking a little unpleasant, but also helped keep the crowds away. On the train up, there were empty seats, which is a nice thing. When I go in the summer or spring, I find that by the end of the trip it can be standing room only, but in this case I was able to get there and back without sharing a seat.

There were some kids in front of me on the ride up there. One of them, who I guess was about seven, had a cute morbid streak. At one point, the train tilted a little to the left as it was going over some uneven ground. "We're all going to die," the kid said. "We're all going to die." Just before we were about to enter New York, when we paused in the tunnel for a minute or two (I assume to let some other train pass), he turned around and said to me, "Mister, do you think we're trapped underwater?"

When I got there, I was surprised at how little snow there was on the ground. It snowed in New Jersey four weeks ago, and much of the ground is still piled up. In New York City, it's largely melted or cleared away, though you can still see some patches, such as on the New York Library:

 But most of the other places have only relatively small patches of snow and ice. Because of this, I mostly walked the streets and put up with the cold, rather than take the subway (though I did a little of that after seeing the movie, when it was getting darker and windier.)

Thank-you Mario, but our princess is in another castle
My first stop was the Nintendo World Store in Rockefeller Plaza. It's a two-story affair dedicated to all things Nintendo. It's nice, but I was hoping for a little more.

The store has two stories. The first is dedicated to DS games, with a special section for Pokemon. The second has Wii games and other merchandise. For both, there are a lot of demos available, probably a dozen DSes and Wiis loaded with the popular games to try. There was also a small exhibit of Mario games and merchandise through the years, clothing, candy, and dolls of the more popular characters. I bought myself a Goomba cap and this completely awesome baby Bowser.

Note the adorable little bib Bowser has, with razor-sharp teeth.

I had been hoping the store would have a slightly more exotic selection: obscure games from Japan, titles that got great buzz but have been hard to find, etc. But most of the selection was what you could find in any store that sells video games. So that was a bit of a disappointment.

L'illusionniste
My next stop (ignoring lunch and stuff) was the Paris Theater, where The Illusionist was playing. This is a French film (though there's very little talking, and some of that is in English or a very thick Scottish brogue). I saw it at the Paris Theater, which was an unusual experience for a modern movie goer.

The theater has only one screen, and there's a curtain in front of the screen drawn before the movie. Furthermore, the place is carpeted, there are no cupholders on the chairs, and there were no clips asking patrons to turn off their cell phones or visit the lobby and buy snacks.

The coming attractions also looked interesting. There was one for Home: The Movie a documentary. The premise seems fairly ordinary to me -- we're destroying the environment -- but the images on the screen were totally gorgeous. There was another documentary called The Last Lions, about a female lion whose husband, head of the pride, was killed, so she was driven out and has to struggle to raise her cubs. It's narrated by Jeremy Irons, who seems to like this plot. 

I'm glad I saw The Illusionist, which isn't likely to come to Monmouth County. It's set in the late 50s, and involves a past-his-prime magician, whose act is losing favor to things like rock bands. After he gets a temporary gig in a rural village in Scotland, he shows some kindness to a young girl, who becomes a fan.

I know this sounds like the typical "young girl gives old man a new lease on life" plot, but it's not. I don't want to say how it verges from that -- too spoilery -- but don't go to the theater expecting to see that.

Is it really complete?
The Complete Strategist is on 33rd Street, a block away from the Empire State Building. Given how niche the roleplaying, wargaming, and other hobby games are, I'm surprised they can afford to stay in what must be a pretty expensive neighborhood, though I'm happy to go there every few years.

They have a very extensive selection of RPGs, some of them rather old. There are plenty from older editions of games, and some cutting edge ones too. One of the books I bought was for a game called Exalted, a system and setting which is simultaneously fascinating and infuriating. They had both the first and second edition of the book, which are entirely different. I also picked up a copy of Spirit of the Century, a pulp-action game. I actually bought it because a few months ago I purchased a game called Diaspora, and the authors of Diaspora heavily recommended Spirit of the Century. (They practically assumed you had read it.) Maybe I'll write more about those if I think there's anything worth putting on the blog.

I

Let's play dress up

Wearin' her wig hat and shades to match/ She's got high-heel shoes and an alligator hat/ Wearin' her pearls and her diamond rings/ She's got bracelets on her fingers, now, and everything/ She's the devil with the blue dress, blue dress, blue dress,/ Devil with the blue dress on

Mitch Ryder and the Detroit

I think that playing Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies was the first time I've ever really understood why little girls like to dress up their dolls. Whenever you get a new piece of equipment, you can put it on your character, and it changes the 3D model of them on the screen. It can give them an entirely different appearance, and is one of the many charming, simple elements of the game.

Let me give you some examples. Since the DS doesn't allow you to take screen captures, these were done the old fashioned way, with a digital camera, so you can see some screen lines. But they're still good illustrations. Here's the avatar I used as the main character in the game:

When you start, you choose your basic appearance. I chose a silver mohawk and large eyes for this character. You can see he looks pretty intimidating with his sword and shield and powerful armor. But I can also dress him up in a spear with bright red clothing and give him a crown and different type of shield and gloves:

Here's another example, how another of the characters I designed looks in two different outfits. Obviously in one she's wearing a skirt and breastplate, and in the other robes. While she has the same headband and shield, notice her footwear is different.

Seriously, this dress-up thing is addictive. For some time, I left my character in a Flamenco Shirt rather than slightly better armor, because how cool is it that someone would go out fighting dragons and mummies in a shirt normally worn on a dance floor? At another point, I found out that it would be possible to outfit my characters with cat ears, if I went searching for certain hard-to-find components to build them. I spent quite some time searching. My goal had been to outfit my martial artist with cat-ears to complement the cat-tail fan she was wielding, but it turned out they were a bad fit for her powers, so I gave them to the blue-haired priest shown above. 

So, besides a fashion simulator, what is Dragon Quest IX? It's a computer roleplaying game on the DS. As the number implies, there have been eight previous ones, in Japan at least. Not all were released in North America, and this is the first one I've played. Now I'm debating whether to track others down.

DQIX, as I mentioned above, is made of a lot of simple components. If you've ever played a CRPG before, you know the formula: go on quests to help villagers, fight monsters, collect treasures, go up in levels, improve skills, and defeat the big bad monster that threatens the world.  But it wraps this basic formula in a very, very polished shell:

• The music is simple and catchy. While there's much to be said for clever, elaborate scores in video games, I found myself humming the background tunes to DQIX several times over the last few weeks. Similarly, the graphics have a charming, cartoonish quality. Wikipedia and fan sites tell me that the same composer and animator have been in charge of the series since the beginning, and I can see there's a unity to it. The monsters are all in the same sill style.
• Someone put a lot of work into the translation. People in different towns talk with completely different mannerisms, sounding suspiciously like Australians, Cockneys, Welsh and a bunch of other different nationalities. The monsters' names are often bad puns: you might face a Meowgician (cat-sorcerer, obviously), Scarewolf,  or Coolcumber (a vegetable with an attitude).
• The mechanics are pretty easy to follow. With one exception, there's no need to read the manual (though it may provide some helpful tips). And that exception -- the exact effect of different attributes -- is pretty self explanatory, though I wouldn't have figured out the difference between Agility and Deftness on my own. But everything else is pretty easy to follow. When you level up, the only choice you sometimes have to make is how to assign skill points, and it's done in a really straightforward manner. If you've played games with weird webs of special skills and abilities that are never properly explained, this is a pleasant relief. Similarly, the combat options are pretty straightforward -- do you attack, defend, cast a spell or use a special ability? Who is the target of your decision?
• The longest cut scenes last two, maybe three minutes. Many games are horrible with cut scenes. The worst example I've encountered -- and I am not making this up -- is Xenosaga. There, you'd play a level for about 15, 20 minutes, then it would ask if you wanted to save, then it would show you an hour long non-interactive cut scene. Then it would ask if you'd like to save again. Then you'd play five more minutes before getting yet another hour long cut scene. If I wanted to watch a movie, I'd get a movie.

As a combination of the last two, it's a game which is always moving. If you're in a fight that's boring, you can probably finish it in 30 seconds and get on to exploring for a hidden treasure grove or finding the iron ore you need to make a magic boomerang, because you want to see how your Sage would look if she was holding a boomerang instead of a bow.

Summary: If you're interested in an RPG for the DS, this is a good choice whether you're a hardcore fan of the genre or not (though since it's been available in the US for months, and was available as a Japanese import before then, you probably own it if you're a hardcore fan. It's also a great choice if you want a game where you get to choose your characters' outfits in detail, and don't mind killing monsters along the way.

The Art Detective

Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.

Michelangelo

The Art Detective is one of the most compelling collection of mysteries I have read in the last few years. Its tales are thrilling despite the lack of murder, violence, or even theft (with one possible, indirect, exception). And the fact that unlike most detective stories, these are non-fiction.

Philip Mould's website, if you're interested in acquiring British portraits

The Art Detective: Fakes, Frauds and Finds and the Search for Lost Treasures, by Philip Mould is exactly what the name says, stories of how people in the art world examine paintings and decide whether it's a genuine article or a cheap imitation. Since these works can sell for millions of dollars, this is a serious market.

The Art Detective tells stories of how Mould and others make special finds, and demonstrate their authenticity. 

This is surprisingly gripping, and more than money might be at stake. The proper authentication can lead history books to be rewritten, literally. Historian David Starkey revealed that a painting everyone assumed had been of Lady Jane Grey (sometimes called the "Nine Day Queen," a claimant to the throne after the death of Edward VI) was actually one of Henry VIII's wives, because of the jewelry she was wearing. That picture had been a standard in English text books.

As Mould tells it, finding the authenticity of a picture is a combination of intuition and research. There's a difference between the work of a master and an imitator that anyone versed in the work can feel. In one chapter, "The Norman Rockwell Hoax," he tells of a Rockwell painting that everyone knew had to be authentic. Rockwell had sold it to a friend, whose children had given it to a museum to put on display. But many of the people who saw it were bothered for some reason. They chalked this up to the possibility the canvas had been damaged when it was shipped to an international exhibit, damaging the vibrancy of the work. As the title suggests, there was a much better reason it didn't feel like it was painted by the master of Americana. But intuition isn't enough. Modern science lets art experts determine the age of a pigment and frame, details of what had been painted over, and other things essential to proving a piece is genuine.

Once an artist is finished with a painting, that doesn't mean the picture will stay in the same condition forever. In the late 19th and early 20th century, when there was a vogue in America for classic paintings, many tried to to touch up the details that had faded due to smoke and dust accumulating on the varnish. Then, to hide their touch-ups, they had to paint over parts of the picture where something looked incongruous. The subtle details a master might place on the folds of clothing or clumps of trees became streaks of black or green. Sometimes it was even the artists themselves who "ruined" a work. Rembrandt, who made his living as an art dealer as well as a painter, often had his apprentices repaint his works that weren't selling, turning artistic self portraits into something that might move faster. (Rembrandt, by the way, painted wonderful self portraits. I remember seeing one in the Frick Gallery in New York City a few years ago. He looked both prosperous and extremely sad.)

Also, as Mould notes at some points in the book, a lot of information needed to determine a painting's history isn't available on Google. Trying to track the authenticity of different works took him from library archives where one of a few known copiers of a work existed to small towns in Vermont to Nassau in the Bahamas. Other researchers had to parse everything from bizarre 18th century banking records and speeches Queen Elizabeth I delivered to the House of Lords.

Each story is mesmerizing. Perhaps that's to be expected. In The Art Detective, you travel around the world, deal with works worth millions of dollars, and get a taste of both the big picture of history and intimate family moments.

While this book is factual, I feel like I'd be giving away too much to go into details of his finds. But here are a few teasers:

• How the author wound up in the middle of Vermont in a snowstorm, and how he found a collection worth millions by a man who hated to spend money on anything.
• How the author discovered a work he thought could be an early Gainsborough even though it was attributed to a different artist; and how it helped reinterpret that landscape painter's early life. Also, this story had a moment which made me feel so sorry for Mould and his hard work in making this discovery.
• Why generations refused to believe that a picture was by Rembrandt when it turned out the be the genuine article.
• How paintings can suggest details of the love life of royalty. 
• A classic Antiques Roadshow story where a find made while on a fishing trip turns out to be worth a fortune.

Storyteller: thumbs up

"I knew that from then on," Wilder says, "the audience wouldn't know if I was lying or telling the truth." Or whether Wonka was good or evil, sane or crazy, a question that isn't resolved until the last few minutes of the film. 

"Gene Wilder: It Hurts To Laugh," by David Segal, The Washington Post, March 28, 2005

Did you know that in the first draft of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Charlie Bucket was Black? Roald Dahl's inspiration for the character was drawn on a servant he had while living in Dar Es Salaam, Mdisho. (It was horribly colonial: he was employed by Shell Oil company, and they provided each of their employees at Shell House in Africa with their own personal "boy.") Though Mdisho was only 3 years younger than Dahl, the future children's author was charmed by the 19 year old. "Mdisho's lack of guile and his simple, honest view of the world resonated with Dahl," writes Donald Sturrock on Storyteller: The Authorized Biography of Roald Dahl.

Given the first draft of Charlie, it's surprising that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory got Dahl in trouble with the NAACP, who objected to the portrayal of Oompa-Loompas as African Pygmies. If you think of the Oompa-Loompas as orange with green hair, like in the movies, you're right. Dahl changed the detail for later editions, shocked that people had seen it as offensive, but infuriated with the NAACP for what he thought was misreading his work. Interestingly, Charlie had been out several years before anyone started objecting to possible racist overtones.

Roald Dahl is, to my mind, not just one of the best children's authors of the 20th century, but one of the best authors, period. For example, I cannot think of any book nearly as disturbing as The Witches. I can still remember how the Big Friendly Giant (who wasn't so big for a giant) said "belly choppers" instead of "helicopters." When I went to see Fantastic Mr. Fox in the theaters, I remembered only one detail from the book -- about his tail -- but that vivid image stuck with me for two decades. Lemony Snicket, author of the wonderful Series Of Unfortunate Events, says that when he was first asked to write a children's book, he used Dahl as an inspiration.

But amazingly he was much more than just an author. He made two major contributions to the field of medicine, both to help ailing members of his family -- including helping his first wife, Oscar winning actress Patricia Neale, recover from a major brain injury, changing how stroke victims are given therapy. He wrote the screenplay for You Only Live Twice, which was fitting, because he'd worked with Bond creator Ian Fleming on espionage matters duirng World War II. (He actually didn't like the original novel, but neither did the director.) It would be easy to make a movie out of his life.

He was an unpredictable man, perhaps the only person in all of England to say Salman Rushdie had made a mistake by publishing the Satanic Verses when he knew it would prove so offensive. (Though he was very kind to the owner publishing house who printed the book and got in trouble.) Editors were afraid to work with him, because you never knew what he considered helpful criticism and what he considered attempts to destroy his vision. Once, when he found a woman needed to raise money to by expensive electric wheelchairs for her children, and was looking for some autographed books to auction in a fundraiser, he not only signed a complete collection of his works, but also gave her $10,000 to buy a chair. He convinced his American publishers to pay him through a dummy corporation based in Switzerland to avoid paying enormous British taxes -- then complained about the conditions of the contract.

But -- most importantly to me -- the title of the book is very appropriate. He was a storyteller. I remember reading Boy, his memoir of his youth, years ago. It was aimed at a young audience, and I assumed he had simplified some details for them. Sturrock said he did more than that: a lot of it seems to be somewhat imaginary. It's hard to tell whether he was deliberately sprucing up his life story, or genuinely misremembered.

Dahl led a fascinating life outside of his stories, so I understand why so much time is spent talking about his affairs, his relationships with his family and friends, and so many other details. But I do wish there had been more about the writing process itself. It's amazing to know details such as the fact that Charlie was supposed to have a different skin color (and Willy Wonka had a son in that draft, too), or that Mathilda was supposed to die after using her powers to win at the track. Or which incidents in Dahl's life he drew a particular scene from. I would have loved to see even more behind the scenes looks at how his characters and plots evolved.

In the prologue, Sturrock tells of a conversation he had with Dahl over dinner, where Roald complained that all biographies are garbage. As was frequently the case, it's hard to say whether he believed that, or was baiting his guest. I think Storyteller has some flaws, but I think they're flaws endemic to most biographies. In 1975, when describing what made a good children's author, Dahl wrote that children are savvy readers. "But they hate descriptive passages and flowery prose. They hate long descriptions of any sort... But above all, bear in mind that they do not possess the same powers of concentration as an adult, and they become very easily bored.or diverted. Your story must, therefore, tantalize and titillate them on every page..."

By that standard, Storyteller is not for children. It has many fascinating moments, but fails to tantalize and titillate on every page. It starts slowly, describing ancestors Dahl was not aware he had, and how Nordic society changed over the course of the 19th century.I agree the book is authoritative, but feel it would be a smoother read -- and more to Dahl's taste -- if Sturrock had taken out about 50 pages from the work.

Anyway, it's been too long since I've read any of his work, and I've never seen his adult fiction. I'll have to check it out soon. In the meantime, I've taken my copy of The Witches out for rereading.

What's the opposite of a best seller? I have an idea for one.

Sherlock Holmes rose and lit his pipe. "No doubt you think that you are complimenting me in comparing me to Dupin," he observed. "Now, in my opinion, Dupin was a very inferior fellow. That trick of his of breaking in on his friends' thoughts with an apropos remark after a quarter of an hour's silence is really very showy and superficial. He had some analytical genius, no doubt; but he was by no means such a phenomenon as Poe appeared to imagine." 

A Study In Scarlet, Arthur Conan Doyle

I'm in the middle of The Apprentice, by Tess Gerritsen. It's the second novel in the Detective Rizzoli series, which was, loosely, the inspiration for the television show Rizzoli and Isles, a police procedural which is very careful to break no new ground. Not that the show (or the book) is bad, exactly. But it's like every other procedural on television (or in the 'summer reading' aisle, in the book's case). The only suspense on the show is wondering if  Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander are going to confess their undying love for each other. I predict that happens in season 3.

Here are some excerpts from a detective novel I'd like to see. I believe it would sell exactly one copy. However, any publicist who wants to throw their money away, contact me and I'll write more.

Chapter 2
"You look glum, chief. What's up?" Detective John Smith asked.

Chief Joe Green did not reach for a cigarette. After all, he had never smoked, and smoking had been outlawed in police headquarters 15 years ago. He did, however, take a sip of coffee before answering the detective's question. It was delicious; it only took a couple of minutes to brew a fresh pot, so the staff regularly put up new batches throughout the day.

"You're not going to like this John. The FBI called. They want in on your latest case. In fact, there's an agent coming here right now. Should be here any minute. I'm sorry, but it's-- "

John was grinning as he interrupted. "What are you talking about? That's great! The FBI has hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on fancy investigative equipment. It will make our job so much easier."

At that point, a man walked in. He wasn't wearing sunglasses, because it was an overcast day. He was wearing a black suit, which looked good, but not perfectly tailored. John would have guessed it came off the rack at Macy's or somewhere similar.

"Chief Green? Detective Smith? I'm agent David Stone."

"It's a pleasure to see you," John said, shaking his hand.

"Same here," said Stone. "I love it when I get to work with local police departments. We have all this fancy equipment, but it's so useful to have someone who knows the neighborhoods and what local people might be of interest. I think that by working together we'll have a great chance to capture this criminal."

Chapter 5
The killer watched the television intently. Soon he would see what the world was thinking of him. Soon he would affirm how much fear he had struck into the hearts of Detroit.

"Good evening. Welcome to the 10 o'clock news. I'm Grace Casper, filling in for Johann Miles, who is on vacation. Our top story tonight is--"

He licked his lips. What nickname had they come up with for him. Did they base it on the fact he sliced all his victims into seven equal portions. The Unlucky Seven Slayer. That had a ring to it. Or perhaps the toys from his childhood he left at the scenes would create his moniker. The Action Figure Killer. Maybe the coroner had found the orchid stems he left lodged in each victim's trachea, in memory of the greenhouse his mother had kept. The Floral Menace?

"-- the continuing tension in the Middle East. We go now to Sarah Tellington in Washington D.C., where..."

How could this be? Weren't two deaths, both committed on Wednesdays three weeks apart, not enough to be the lead story? Of course, what was happening in Iran was pretty frightening. Maybe he would be next.

"... thank you, Sarah. We have to take a commercial break, but next we look at a story closer to home --"

Yes! This was what he had been waiting for.

"-- how one high school is helping students get ahead."

No! Perhaps he would be on later. But he had to be at work tomorrow. He pressed the 'record' button on his DVR, and went to bed. It was better that way. He hated Sam's Sports Spotlight and would be able to fast forward through it tomorrow. Sam was so insincere. Always pretending the Tigers could pull through this year.

Chapter 9
The crime lab was always brightly lit. John Smith had wondered about that, after watching CSI, but Lucy Dorchester, the chief coroner, had explained it to him one day. "If I'm looking over a body for subtle signs like a needle puncture, I want as much illumination as possible," she had told him. John had always respected Dr. Dorchester, for both her intelligence and her charming sense of humor. But that was as far as it went. They were, after all, both happily married. Besides, it would be a gross breach of departmental regulations to let the relationship go any further.  The idea that a man and woman couldn't have a relationship without it turning into a sexual one had always struck him as bizarre.

Of course, he wasn't with her anyway, because he hadn't come here for autopsy results. He was with forensic detective Anna-Lucia Proppiata, reviewing the evidence from the last crime scene.

"If there were any weird chemicals in the blood, it will be a few days before we know," she said. "To test for this you need the solution to sit for 48 hours."

"I understand," Smith said. "And I know this isn't the only thing the lab's working on. This serial killer may be my main case, but I've got several other things I'm working on myself." Anna nodded, grateful he wasn't trying to demand the impossible.

Smith continued, "How about that oil-like substance we found?"

Anna smiled. "We have identified it as motor oil."

"Great," said the Detective. "It's a sort used by only one car company, right? It will tell us that the suspect drives a custom-built 1994 Jaguar?"

She shook her head. "Sorry. It's the sort sold in every hardware store, convenience store and mega-mart around the country. He could be driving anything. Heck, he could have used it for a lawnmower or boat. It really tells us nothing. Sometimes clues are just a red herring."

Chapter 14
He got the impression the police weren't taking him seriously enough. It was time to get personal. He would stalk the detective investigating his case just like Jeffrey Dahmer had stalked... actually, he didn't know the name of the detective who had arrested him. But he would torture his pursuer's dreams the same way that Ted Bundy had tortured... how had Bundy been caught again?

Well, neither of them had the advantage of Google. Ignoring the search engine's slogan of "Don't Be Evil," he typed in "Detectives in Detroit,"  ready to locate his nemesis and slowly drive him insane.
Now showing results 1-10 of 998,000.

Well, he'd have to narrow it down. Maybe Google was giving him results for private eyes. Maybe if he tried "Detroit Police Detectives" instead... results 1-10 of 7,194,000.

Over seven million hits? How was that possible. No way he was searching for all those. Oh well, he'd just keep killing like he always did.

It was getting late and he had work tomorrow. He really should start planning his killings earlier in the evening, but who had the time? Bed soon, but first the auction sites. Maybe someone was selling a cool toy,

Chapter 28
Dr. Barcus Emptor stared out his maximum security prison cell, barely even blinking. The prisoners in the cell across the hallway avoided his gaze, scared of the cleverest serial killer Michigan had even known. He listened to the inane chatter of the security guards in the hallway.

"I'm telling you, we want to keep at least two people on patrol in this corridor at all times. We've got Doctor Emptor here! He's as bad as Hannibal Lector."

"Who?"

"You're kidding me. You've never heard of Hannibal Lector? From Red Dragon? Silence of the Lambs?"

"What are those? Plays? Radio dramas?"

"They're -- look. Forget it. Let me try another example. Ever see Con Air. He's like Steve Buscemi's character."

"Steve Buscemi? The guy on that Boardwalk show? He's been in other things?"

"Ugh. Okay. Ever watched CSI? Remember the Doll House killer?"

"CSI? Is that the one which shows Masterpiece Theater?"

"No! That's PBS... Gah. Look, the dude is cell 5 is an evil psychopath who's already killed 3 guards who let themselves get distracted when they were dealing with him. Don't -- I repeat, do not -- let your guard down near him."

"Oh. All right."

For the millionth time, Dr. Barcus wondered how, exactly, he had been captured.

Hunger Games Trilogy

I touch the fire and it freezes me/ I look into it and it's black/ Why can't I feel? My skin should crack and peel?/ I want my fire back.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

I just finished the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins. It's a great page turner, though not without its flaws Technically, they're young adult books, but in a world where Harry Potter and Twilight dominate the best seller lists, and the New York Times saw fit to review Mockingjay this week, so there's no shame in checking them out even if you're not a young adult.

The books are set in the future, in the dystopia of Panem, which was once North America. There, the Capital rules over 12 Districts. Technically, it still is North America, since it's not so far in the future continents have drifted. I assume Collins means it was once the U.S., and maybe parts of Canada and Mexico. It's really not too important to the plot. Other than mentioning that District 12 is somewhere in the Appalachian coal mines, the geography isn't mentioned much. I suppose if I wanted to study the books more closely, or look up a FAQ, I could find out where each was.

Anyway, the Capital controls the Districts with an iron fist, keeping them too poor to rebel. The heroine of the series, Katniss Everdeen, comes from District 12. Even though it's a coal mine, they have to buy fuel to heat their homes at exhorbitant prices. Food is scarce, and Katniss helps supplement her family's meager income by hunting -- which would be punishable by death if she got caught. To make matters worse, once a year, to punish the districts for the rebellion of the 13th, the Capital draws the name of a boy and a girl from each district to compete in the Hunger Games. The 24 competitors are put into a specialty arena, and forced to fight to the death, until only one survives.

When her little sister's name is drawn, Katniss volunteers to take her place. The boy chosen from District 12 is Peeta, who complicates things before they go into the arena by saying he's always loved Katniss.

I don't want to give away too much, though since there's three books, it's safe to say Katniss survives the Hunger Games. The later books take on a bigger scope than the first one, expanding the world beyond her attempt to survive the death match and into an attempt to survive the much bigger death match of life and politics.

If you want a good page turner, I recommend reading the series. I went through the three books in under a week. There is some intense imagery I imagine could disturb people, but I expect cruelty in my dystopias. (Then again, I read 1984 when I was 10 and was unfazed by the scenes of Winston Smith being tortured. So I may not be a good judge of something going too far.) So I'm not too upset by hideous genetically engineered monsters or people slowly dying of horrible wounds.

One complaint: you keep hearing music when you read the series. Every time I looked at the first book, this song came to mind. 

Catching Fire  suffers a bit from middle child syndrome. It's the weakest book in the trilogy, often either repeating things from the first or setting things up for the final. But it does remind me of a song too, which I put in the opening quote of this entry. Rather than post from the original episode, here's the song in a family reenactment of the musical episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer, just because it's so weird.

The third book is good, with the most depth of the series. It's also musically memorable:

Also, while Katniss was charismatic and sometimes clever, she's not the sharpest tool in the box. ("Why does she act so dumb?" I asked my sister, who loaned me the books. "She's 16," she replied. That does explain a lot.) Also, as young adult novel, the series doesn't want to go over the heads of its readers. So sometimes things just go on too long. At some points I just wanted to reach into the pages and shake some sense into her.

Æternal Legends comments, part II

Julie Newmar: "I could give you more happiness than anyone in the world." 
Adam West: "How do you propose to do that?" 
Newmar: "By being your partner in life, I mean it's me and you against the world." 
West: "What about Robin?" 
Newmar: "Why I'll have him killed. Painlessly."

Batman Displays His Knowledge, 1966

The rules inÆternal Legends are normally pretty clear, but sometimes, like Catwoman in the above quote, I think it's possible to not quite get them. 

Like last time, I haven't played the game, but I've now created some characters, tried a solo round or two of combat, some skill checks, the magic system and a few other odds and ends. And, as I said in my last post, I think a few examples and designer's notes could make things a lot clearer.

The mechanics used are called the Ready 2 Run system, and they're pretty straightforward, simple, and seem solid enough, especially for a system which explicitly calls for trust among the players. So the fact that this analysis below may look like a lot of griping isn't because the system's broken, but because I think these are areas which could trip a player up, or are neat and I want to elaborate on more.

I'm going to assume you've read the rules, which means these comments will probably be of use only to a very small number of people, most of who will never read this blog. C'est la vie.

Character creation

The first character I created -- a theology major turned cop -- took 15 minutes, and would have gone faster if I hadn't needed to double check how some of the rules worked (particularly Spheres).  A second one -- a Dwarven cat burglar -- went even quicker. If you have a rough concept, creating a character can probably be done in a few minutes. For my second one, the hardest part was figuring out some appropriate Beliefs.

Some tips:

• There's a lot of neat, non-obvious synergy possible. For example, I chose a Dwarven burglar because Dwarf Legends have an ability to sense things at a distance through the earth. I thought this would be a really neat way to case a joint before robbing it, figuring out how many guards were around and where they were stationed while 1,000 feet away and looking in a different direction. (She's also faster than you'd think, because Dwarfs get a bonus to health and running speed is based on health. I can't tell if that's a bug or a feature, but it works well for a non-combat oriented character to get away.)
• Some concepts call for a specific Sphere. The cop, a fighter type, screamed for Strength. Others will require a bit of lateral thinking. I chose Splendour for the cat burglar, going for an Indiana Jones, seeker of knowledge and artifacts feel. It's not an obvious match (mages re the ones who truly dig Splendour) but it's at least a square peg in a rectangular hole.
• While the rules say you start with two Aptitudes, remember that you'll be playing a Legend, so you get  a sphere Aptitude too. That gives you some extra flexibility. 
• Like I mentioned last time, check out the sample characters from the game's website. It helped clarify a fair number of details for me.

Task resoltion

This only takes up a page or two, which is all it needs. It's pretty self explanatory, especially if you've played any game with a Stat + Skill die pool before. My only complaint is that the extended task resolution method is confusingly worded. An example could have cleared that up easily

Example: Kylie (Body 3, Aptitude Cat Burglar 3) has to scale a 30-story building in a blizzard to get to the penthouse, where an elf is keeping a rare copy of Summoning Demons For Fun and Profit.The GM rules the conditions are so bad this is an Extended Task which would take a Professional climber 30 minutes. The chart says a professional-level task has a threshold of 3, and it should be divided into three checks. Every roll Kylie makes represents 10 minutes of game time spent climbing; she'll need to accumulate 9 successes total to get to the top, and at least 3 successes each time to make progress on the icy building. 


I think that's how it works, anyway.

Some tips:

• Unless you don't mind a big whiff factor, spend Will, and justify using your Beliefs, Sphere, and magic to help get bonuses. Every die rolled will, on average, give you half a success point. A starting character is probably going to have 4-8 dice in their basic pool, which means 2-4 points per roll. Since a Difficult task requires 5 points, these supposedly impressive Legends don't look too competent unless they're making an effort.
• I just want to say I love the Expertise rule. You get to define a niche where your character is given primary control in a situation. Since Aptitudes are so broad, it allows a good place for overlapping character ideas to shine. The Bodyguard might specialize in hand-to-hand combat while the Soldier specializes in tactics. Also, while I don't think it's particularly relevant for this system, it helps a player who doesn't think in terms of character optimization get spotlight time to do what they want when another player would dominate them on paper.

Combat

Given how simple the task resolution is, combat feels relatively complex. This is achieved through a bidding process. Every round, you have a number of points equal to your Wits to spend. Every action costs at least one point, and some require more. It can also be used for defense, or to add dice to an attack or action. Since Wits is based on Mind, I think this may be the only game I've seen where intelligence is arguably the primary characteristic in battle.

I like this because it leads to a lot of interesting choices through a simple decision. Should I put only one point of Wits into my attack, and hope I roll well? Should I put several points in for a better chance to hit, or does that risk points I could use to defend against the counterattack I know is coming. Maybe at the start of the round I should spend points to boost my order in combat, which means I'll attack early, but with fewer resources to attack or defend.

The damage system, with three different types of injuries, is probably the crunchiest bit of the R2R system. As a sidebar notes, it's possible to incapacitate or kill someone by either nickel and diming them with a bunch of weak, light blows; or to do it with one decisive blow. A punch will probably just bruise, but if they're battered up, or it's a good shot, it could wind up breaking bones.

Magic
Among the Aware, the ability to use magic is very common. If you learned an Aptitude while Aware, you probably learned how to cast some spells or enchant some items to make your life easier. (This is in the book, but it's one of the things I didn't realize until I was creating a character.) While it's difficult to enchant complex items with mechanical parts, simple devices such as books, hand weapons and clothing are easy to make magic. Aware tailors probably make their suits so the buttons can never tear, and the jacket grows with a man's waist-line.

Even someone without an appropriate Aptitude can learn a specific spell for just a couple of experience points and a teacher. I'd be inclined to say that for an Aware community, many spells are taught in an evening workshop. 

Technically, each spell must be a form of Alteration, Creation, Destruction, Divination or Preservation. If you have an applicable Aptitude, it's got to relate to that domain, but it can be freeform magic within those parameters.  One mage might achieve an effect by chanting and gesturing, another by singing. It's all good.

There are three effect levels: minor, significant and major. I didn't look too closely, but there's a huge cap in casting costs between minor and significant. The system looks like it encourages people to use a bunch of small effects rather than regularly blowing up buildings with an ancient blasphemous invocation.