White Star: Zentradi

ZENTRADI

Armor Class: 6 [13]
Hit Dice: 5
Total Hit Bonus: +3

Attacks: Slam (1d8) or by weapon

Saving Throw: 14
Special: Large Weapons
Movement: 24

HDE/XP: 1/15

   Weapons used by the Zentradi do +3 damage.

   The Zentraedi are a a genetically engineered race of giant clones that served their creators, the Robotech Masters, as miners to obtain mineral ore from Fantoma, a giant planet close to Tyrol, the homeworld of the Masters. They eventually were modified to serve as an army of enforcers for the Robotech Masters' galactic empire.

White Star: Cylon Centurion

CYLON CENTURION

Armor Class: 5 [14]
Hit Dice: 2
Total Hit Bonus: +2 

Attacks: Laser Pistol (1d6+1) or Laser Rifle (2d6) 

Saving Throw: 16
Special: None
Movement: 12

HDE/XP: 2/30

 The Centurions are robots designed by the advanced Cylons, a reptilian race who created the robots to serve them, maintain their vast empire, and to man their military forces. The Cylons, an aggressively expanding empire, declared war on Humanity because they had intervened on behalf of a race of beings called the Hasaris, who had been enslaved by the Cylons and who had sought the aid of Humanity.

Stranger Things: Demogorgon for Savage World

For those who haven't yet watched or finished this awesome Netflix series, I've included a picture at the end of the stat block to help avoid spoilers.

DEMOGORGON
Wild Card

Attributes: Agility d10, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d10, 
Vigor d12

Skills: Fighting d10, Notice d6, Tracking d6 (+4 when Blood is present, -2 to when feeding)

Pace: 10; Parry: 7; Toughness:  11 (2)

Special Abilities:
• Melee or Bite 1d10+1d6
• Armor 2 (Heavy Armor against guns)
• Burrowing
• Fear -2
• Fleet-Footed
• Hardy
• Size +1

Marvel's Agent Carter

So I've watched the first three episodes of Marvel's Agent Carter.

Let me add, that while I'm enjoying all DC's TV shows, I am not a fan of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

I can say I like Agent Carter better, but I'm still unsure of Marvel's foray into TV.

From a Super Hero standpoint, why the reluctance to feature Superh Heroes as the central protagonists?

While, I love Agent Carter's era and believe they are handling her fellow agent's reactions to a female agent, its gets a bit heavy sometimes.  Especially, as the series has progressed, I wonder if Carter is the central character or if its Jarvis or even her fellow agent?

Now here is where I turn things on their ear, if you look at Agent Carter as mere adventure TV, it works very, very well.  In fact, as recruiter for a more general and female audience, its brilliant.
And Marvel Studios has proven they understand how to recruit audiences.

I just wish we'd get a real Super Hero show on ABC.

Maybe the Netflix Defender tie-ins will offer a bit more of my central desire?

But, at least I can watch Agent Carter until then and its worlds above S.H.I.E.L.D.

BBC's Sherlock

After enjoying Downton Abbey and Bletchley Circle, we decided as a family to finally watch

Sherlock.

Wow.  Not only do I love the writing, acting, and cinematography, but the allusions to '30's adventure cinema is spectacular.  I love the deathtraps and witnessing a shadowy silhouette attack some unsuspecting victim.  Well, not the killing, but the imagery.

We just finished Series 1 and I can't imagine what it would be like to wait for Series 2 during their initial runs.

I'm usually late to the party on stuff like this (my wife and I only get to watch 1 to 2 hours of TV a night), but if you haven't checked this out, do yourself that favor.

On the plus side, my 12 year old son is starting to read the stories.

The game is afoot.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D Episode 2

So I came into the episode hoping for quite a bit:  better pacing and story, better writing and acting, better sets and effects.  And I was disappointed.

I really see this as ABC's flagship show so why doesn't it have better sets and effects?  Buffy had better sets, on the WB.  I feel like I'm watching an episode of Wonder Woman, that's how bad the sets are.  And the writing and acting just continue to underwhelm.

But here is my caveat, I see the importance of tonight's episode in the larger picture.  Six very different agents learning to be a team.  I get what they're trying to do.

And I was pretty close to writing it off, when the Nick Fury clip came on.  And just like last week, the last bit of the show pulled me in for next week.

So there is hope.  But I need them to kick this into gear fast.  Y'know I think Joss needs smaller seasons and less guarantees.  I think he's a better maker of television as the underdog, instead of the 800 lb. gorilla.

Now, onto the my biggest gripe.  The Marvel universe is filled with thousands of great characters and props to use in this show.  And they aren't using any of them.  I'm sure Marvel Films wants to protect things, but how cool would last week have been featuring Luke Cage and this week if the device was of Kree or Celestial origin?

I'll be patient.  But this project deserves better than we are getting.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D

So I'm done watching the pilot and I'm still figuring things out.

What I do know is that I think Joss Whedon should stick to directing features, as this is the third one of his pilots that left me wanting.  But, I will keep up with this, mainly for the Agent Coulston character.

I did enjoy the remark by Simmons about a "Journey Into Mystery", and while I know Disney/Marvel wants their big name properties for films, how cool would it have been for Michael to have been Luke Cage?

I hope this series develops well.  I get a bit tired of Whedon reusing castmates from other shows and I think he needs to work with some new archetypes.  But we'll see, at least I have Sleepy Hollow to completely look forward to.

I will add that the last scene with Lola was AWESOME.  Made me smile on every level.

Mountain Monsters

I ran across this show, Mountain Monsters, while flipping through channels late friday night and after watching the Devil Dog episode, promptly recorded all the the other shows being aired that night.

It's on Destination America and its like some crazy mix of Duck Dynasty, Finding Bigfoot and Haunted Collector.

Here's the thing, I don't care if it's fake or not; it falls into a category of TV I love watching.  Shows like Haunted Collector, Dead Files, Ghost Adventures and Finding Bigfoot (although this last season lost me).

If you like shows about cryptids or ghosts and some whacky characters (longbearded rednecks who are pretty smart) out in the woods with thermals viewers and guns, building traps, then this is the show for you.

Disney Bought Lucasfilm

I'm sure most of you have heard the news that Disney acquired Lucasfilm for 4.05 Billion.

Personally, I'm pretty happy about this.  Disney wants "boy brands" and I think they will handle it well.

And I'm hopeful that George Lucas won't be allowed anywhere near the Director Chair for Episode 7.

As an aside, I wonder if there is any chance of seeing more of Willow?

As a further aside, I've understood that Lucas owned 5% of Hasbro.  I wonder if that means that Disney could end up with those shares?

On the 3rd Day of Halloween...

A guilty pleasure of mine: Haunted Collector.  I don't watch a lot of the Syfy channel, but my wife mentioned that a house close to where she grew up would be featured so we watched it.  And I was hooked.

What I like about this show is that is captures things that appear to be parnamormal.  Obviously, I won't say they are, but they sure appear that way.

Also, John Zaffis and his team try to solve the haunting.  I like that.  It rings of Ghostbusters.  He's not trying to prove the paranormal exists--for him it does, he's trying to fix the paranormal situation.

A couple facts about me:

1) As a high school student, I read a paperback about the are of Indiana where we were living being a gateway for the unexplained.  It also mentioned that opening yourself up to such things, was like turning yourself into a magnet.  I've always been glad to let myself and the paranormal remain as far apart as possible.

2) I've built 2 houses to reduce the risk of hauntings.

On the 2nd day of Halloween...

The Real Ghostbusters.
Episodes like the Collect Call of Cthulhu and Ragnarok and Roll and No One Comes to Lupusville (the episode where werewolves battle vampires!).

 J. Michael Straczynski even worked on the show, I'm not a huge fan of his work these days, but he's no hack.

Yeah, it was a saturday morning cartoon, but it really impacted my preference for horror and the macabre.  And action and comedy.

X is for X-Files

The truth was out there, or so we all hoped.  Like many people my age, I was a huge X-Files fan.  But more importantly, I'm a huge Conspiracy fan, and X-Files was my gateway into that strange, strange world.

A good conspiracy gets my juices flowing.  Unfortunately, while I believe like minded people can change things behind the scenes, I think human frailty prevents any form of serious success from emerging in the shape of some shadow government.

But, the idea of conspiracies are fascinating to me.  And what better types of organizations to add to your game?  Wether it's a benevolent union to protect the world from eldritch threats or a malevolent force manipulating and murdering without compunction, a good conspiracy is a very useful tool.  And a favorite in my toolbox.  I've been working on the Council of Fire for 20 years now, and they still haven't stepped into the spotlight.

The power of his hat compels you.

I also really enjoy the type of horror, the X-files, produced.  It's cerebral and subdued, splatterpunk had no place there, and often the truth was murky at best.  And it drew a great deal of inspiration from Kolchak, the Night Stalker (the original, not the one the Ford Mustang starred in).  Karl's adventure under Seattle are still a favorite of mine.

Scully's fiery locks warmed my heart.

And finally, the X-files exposed me to the idea of a story arc within a TV show.  Sure, it was drawn out and never really had a pay off, but it was unexplored territory for me as a teenager.  I can draw inspiration from how it developed as both what to do and what not to do with my own arcs, in my games.