Dungeons and Dragons

Geekscape 533: Ivan Van Norman And The ‘Altered Carbon’ RPG!

by JonathanFebruary 3, 2020

Friend Ivan Van Norman is back on the show to talk about his brand new ‘Altered Carbon’ RPG! It’s available right now as a brand new Kickstarter so get in on the ground floor! We talk some Philip K. Dick, cyberpunk and sci-fi, proto-humanity and what goes into making a successful RPG! Along the way, I tease the ‘Soldier’ game I haven’t been designing, catch up with Ivan on all things gaming and discuss the additional advantages of running a Kickstarter campaign to gauge product interest and aggregate a loyal following! Enjoy!

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Geekscape At LA Comic Con 2019: ‘The Return Of Fantasy Storytelling’ Panel!

by JonathanOctober 25, 2019

From Game of Thrones to Dungeons and Dragons to Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter, fantasy storytelling is stronger than ever! At LA Comic Con this year, Geekscape hosted a fun and expert filled panel on the return of fantasy storytelling! What led to its return? What properties, technologies and social changes led to fantasy properties in TV, Film, Tabletop and Gaming coming back on top? Is there a drawback to fantasy’s popularity? And how long can this popularity last? We hope you enjoy listening to this panel as much as we did recording it!

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Geekscape 516: The San Diego Comic Con 2019 Special!

by JonathanJuly 22, 2019

San Diego Comic Con is always my yearly barometer for how Geekscape is doing! Am I still having fun? Are we still meeting new people? Do people still get excited about being a part of Geekscape? Well, this year the resounding answer to all of these questions was YES! And I think this SDCC 2019 Special episode is evidence to that! We take you behind the booth to talk to Geekscape guests and contributors alike, including our friend Satine Phoenix, Dwarven Forge creator Stefan Pokorny, the director and star of your new favorite cult film ‘Velocipastor’, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer DMC and more! Along the way, Derek and I freak out over the Marvel Hall H presentation, Stephen Bay guests on the show for the first time and Matt Kelly runs the booth like a boss! It’s all here on this brand new episode… which is kinda like going to SDCC for yourself but without all of the body odor! Enjoy!

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Geekscape Games Podcast: Level 128 – “Damsels and Dragons”

by Courtney DossettOctober 4, 2017

Join Courtney and special guest star Rosie Makar as they discuss their love of Dungeons and Dragons.

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Geekscape 448: Rolling Crits With Stan Lee’s LA Comic Con’s Keith Tralins!

by JonathanAugust 14, 2017

Keith Tralins has been a friend and supporter of Geekscape for many years now! As one of the head honchos of Stan Lee’s Los Angeles Comic Con, he’s helped Geekscape get guests, be featured every year and partnered with us on many fun and exciting things. And it’s not over! In this episode, we not only talk about some of things in store for you at this year’s Stan Lee’s LA Comic Con, we also talk Keith’s time as one of the top Magic: The Gathering players in the world, his famous uncle and our love of Piers Anthony novels and lots of Dungeons and Dragons (Keith is my DM, after all). Yup! It gets awesomely nerdy this week! Enjoy!

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D&D Beyond: Phase 1 Beta Has Us Wanting More

by Courtney DossettMarch 20, 2017

The hardest part of playing Dungeons and Dragons, especially when you’re first starting, is figuring how the rules work. The Player’s Handbook gives you the framework of the game, spells, character creation, but it’s hard to find exactly what you need quickly. If you’re the Dungeon Master, you have additional materials to consult as well, like the Monster Manual, loot tables, crit charts – the list goes on. Looking up information on the fly can be time consuming and slow the pace of play.

Up until now, there haven’t been any official electronic resources from Wizards of the Coast, although there are some decent 3rd party apps, as well as pirated (illegal) PDFs of the handbooks.

Last week, Wizards teased us with the release of D&D Beyond, which promises to be an in-depth, cohesive, digital resource of all things 5th edition D&D to be released in 3 Phases. Phase 1 of the beta was released today, and it is already more than I had hoped for.

Phase 1 has several sections: the compendium, spells, magic items, and monsters. The compendium includes the basic rules of the game; how to run the game, how combat works, how to do different ability checks and when each type is appropriate. The layout is easy to navigate and makes finding details quick and easy, without having to pause the game for long periods of time to find the rules as written.

Each section has clickable links that lead you to more detailed information. Organized and easy to use!

Spells, Magic Items, and Monsters all have extensive browsing and search abilities. For instance, you can look at spells based on class, or do a search with the filters and look for spells by name, school of magic, or casting time.

You can click on individual spells listed and get a general idea of what is required for each spell, and who can cast it. This is basically a digital spell card.

Magic Items can be browsed through by type of item (like a ring) or with the search function, by how rare an item is, or what abilities it gives the bearer.

The filters for searches are very details for each section. This shows exactly how far down you can drill to find an item to purchase or verify that a player is using their items within the rules as written.

Monsters can be filtered by regional type, class range, abilities or just by what kind of monster it is (like a fey or dragon).

I haven’t had the chance to use D&D Beyond at the table yet, but just by searching for some basic information while creating a campaign, I have high hopes for it’s usability. I definitely think that this will be a good tool for getting more people to start playing D&D, since the fat handbooks are intimidating when you first start, and finding information in them can be difficult.

I’m looking forward to seeing what else Wizards has in store for Phases 2 (character building and character sheets) and 3 ( Homebrew Integration and Campaign Management).

D&D Beyond is an open beta worth signing up for, whether you’re new to the game and just looking to start, or a seasoned adventurer.

The 12 Days Of Switchmas: Day 8 – TableTop Crossover

by Courtney DossettJanuary 8, 2017

The Geekscape staff have done a great job of covering so many different aspects of what we want out of the Switch, but what about tabletop applications?

I like to play games with friends in the same room, which means hauling your gear over for a LAN party (console or PC).The gear is heavy and cumbersome (I’ve almost broken my monitor on more than one occasion), everyone’s rig takes up a lot of room, and it’s hard to get everyone into the same room without overloading a power circuit. This is one of the reasons why I love playing tabletop games, especially Dungeons and Dragons, because you can have a large (read: more than 2 or 3) friends come over and play without having quite so much hassle.

What does that have to do with the Switch? Well, I’m hoping it could mean that there will be options for tabletop gamers to use the Switch to enhance their role playing for table tops. There are some great programs already available for PC, like TableTop Simulator, and Roll20, which allow you to have your player sheet, character avatar, maps, ambient sound and music, and roll your dice, all digitally. If these programs, or one like it, could run on the Switch, it would be like creating your own RPG with your friends, that you could see on TV in real time.

There are two ways that I think this would work. The first option option would be to have one Switch that would be controlled by the dungeon master would be able to show maps on the TV, control the character placement, and could also incorporate sound effects and music. The second option would be if every player and the dungeon master had their own Switch. The players would be able to access all their player sheet, have custom spell cards, and roll dice available on their individual tablets. The dungeon master would be able to control the map display and character placement. Currently in Roll20, dice rolls are shown in a chat on the side bar, as well as on the map, so that the whole group can see how good or bad your roll is.

This is a screenshot from Roll20, which operates in a browser. The turn order and character placement make playing live a lot easier.

Custom figurines are also really popular in Dungeons and Dragons, and could possibly cross over into an amiibo option that you could integrate with the Switch, so that as your character changes and levels up, you can level up your character in game.

I haven’t been able to find anything specifically related to tabletop gaming for the Switch, however, there are some options available already for the NVIDIA Shield, and Steam Machine, so it’s not a completely crazy idea for Nintendo to add this capability to the Switch.

Do you think tabletop gaming would marry well with the Switch? Let us know in the comments below!

‘Dungeons And Dragons’ Unearths Dark Paths For Paladins

by Courtney DossettDecember 19, 2016

I have never enjoyed playing paladins. They always seem to fall into one of two categories: either they are rigid, sanctimonious killjoys, or air headed do-gooders, who are so syrupy-sweet, it makes you a little sick. I like characters with a dark side to them (I think it keeps things interesting), and even when I made a paladin and tried to make her different, she fell into the stereotype.

The new Unearthed Arcana offers a change from that status quo. While these paladins are probably still going to fall into a lawful alignment, they do create an interesting alternative for those with a craving for a new lawful evil. Wizards offers two new Oaths for paladins: Oath of Conquest and the Oath of Treachery.

The Oath of Conquest boils down to three simple words: might makes right. The tenets of this oath ensure that you not only conquer your enemies, you crush and subjugate them. At third level, you can Channel Divinity as a Conquering Strike to strike fear into your enemy for one minute, or a Guided Strike, which adds +10 to your attack roll. At higher levels, paladins under the Oath of Conquest earn additional spells and skills that help them strike fear and control their enemies (like Hold Person, and Blight) and increase the damage dealt to their enemies.

The Oath of Treachery is designed for egocentric paladins who are less concerned with bettering a cause, and more interested in doing what’s best for themselves. It’s a great tool for when your paladin has had enough of being following the status quo, and has forsaken their Oath. Channel Divinity with this oath, and you can Conjure Duplicate to create an exact copy of yourself to confuse your enemy, or Poison Strike which adds 2d10+ your level poison damage (20 + your level on a roll with advantage). Higher level perks give you the ability to have advantage against enemies in groups, Treacherous Strike, which lets you attack as a reaction on a missed attack by an enemy, and at level 15, invisibility. Oath of Treachery would be an interesting multi-class with a rogue assassin, and cause some serious damage.

Wizards of the Coast has again given us some amazing new options for character creation, and in my opinion, flushed out the paladin class to be more interesting.

What do you think? Do these new oaths make you more inclined to play a paladin? Let us know!

Geekscape Games: ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ Cleric Domain Additions

by Courtney DossettNovember 25, 2016

Wizards of the Coast has been releasing new content for 5 edition Dungeons & Dragons left and right the last few months. The biggest changes I’ve been happy to see were the changes and additions to the various classes you can play in 5th edition. These tweaks for existing classes help to balance some classes, and add more options for merging your character’s backstory with their playstyle.

Take, for instance, the new Divine Domains for Clerics. The original information in the Player’s Handbook includes seven different Divine Domains (Life, Light, Tempest, Nature, Trickery, and War), with accompanying gods and ideals. Each domain gives the cleric spells and abilities related to the domain, and helps shape the background and story of the character, as well as their holy symbol. For instance, a Cleric in the Tempest domain may be associated with Zeus, and would have the ability to cast spells associated with the weather, and use Channel Divinity to deal maximum damage with a storm spell instead of rolling.

The Unearthed Arcana, released November 21st, announced three additional domains for clerics to choose from – Forge, Grave, and Protection.

The Forge Domain gives players skills and spells associated with smithing (like searing smite, wall of fire, elemental weapon), and clerics can use their ability to Channel Divinity to create simple items starting at level 2. A Forge Cleric also gets increased AC (armor class) and resistance to damage and fire damage at higher levels, making it a great option for a tank.

The Grave Domain is reminiscent of necromancy. Clerics in the Grave domain have spells that allow them to raise the dead, deal necrotic damage and detect the dead.They also have the ability to cast spare the dying as a bonus action at first level, and turn a critical hit by an enemy into a normal hit (once per rest), preventing your party from taking as much damage.

Protection Domain gives clerics spells that allow them to increase party defenses with shield spells, and giving enemies disadvantage on attack rolls. At 6th level, you also gain the ability to heal yourself when you heal an ally. Protection Clerics have the ability to be deal out a lot of damage, and help the party block damage and resist damage. This would be great for a small group, who might be squishy or not have a dedicated healer.

Ten domains seem like a lot of choice to have when creating a character, however, considering how diverse some pantheons can be, the wide variety of choice when creating a cleric and deciding their religious path gives the player more tailored options.

For details on all three new domains, click here.

What do you think of these additions to the Cleric class? Are there too many options to choose from? Let us know in the comments below!

Tabletop Tales: ‘Out Of The Abyss’

by NecroscourgeDecember 1, 2015

Warnings adventurer; spoilers ahead!

Wizards of the Coast’s strategy with the D&D Fifth Edition book has been seasonal story arcs that are a series of themed adventures meant to run characters from beginning to end. Out of the Abyss marks the start of the ‘Rage of Demons’ storyline, and is for a group of first level characters and ends with them all at fifteenth level. While the previous storylines were more suited for novice players; this book is far from introductory. While the other storylines also support levels one to fifteen they are more focused on dungeons rather than exploring an entire underground region.

Out of the Abyss is based in ‘The Underdark’, the underworld beneath the surface consisting of caves and tunnels. The party has been captured and brought to a small slave encampment south of Darklake, hidden amidst the webs of the Dark Elves favorite pets. Failure to escape timely will mean getting carted off to the Drow Capital as slaves. The leading jailers are detailed in personality, but the most amazing thing is the sheer amount of characters you meet in just the cells you’re thrown into. This list includes a monster that proclaims he is an transformed Elf, another is a gamblo-holic Deep Gnome, an Orc bully, and a fish-person monk that proclaims he has found the true way. Despite starting with so many characters you only get more and more throughout the story.

As quirky as they seem, these initial allies almost seem barely noted when introduced. This is because Wizards of the Coast uses an organization method that assumes the reader is familiar with the trinity (Players Handbook, Dungeon Master’s Guide, Monster Manual) as any text in bold is a reference to that exact word in one of them, typically obvious by the context. This results in a lot of cross-referencing book by book, and the difficulty of some encounters isn’t immediately obvious until you look up the creature’s statistics. This works both against and in your favor; especially as the book randomly declares earth elementals are helping you fight; or when you meet Glabbagool the friendly Gelatinous Cube.

The Underdark is detailed so well in this book it doubles as a general setting book. From the parties escape they can go in any direction, and pretty much anywhere. Well, sort of. There is a town very close by in one direction and a enourmous sentient fungus cave network in the other. From the town the more obvious path is to traverse the Darklake to Gracklestugh. Assuming the grey dwarves don’t enslave you or feed you to their red dragon; there is a more ideal path to the dwarvern city of Gauntlegrym. Much of the book assumes the players want to go to the surface yet the storyline actually picks up in a dwarven city at the middle-ish layer of the Underdark. While this is obviously the ideal route; the Underdark is never a place of straight paths. When the players get lost all sorts of things might appear in their way, such as the long lost crypt of an ancient sorcerer or the Temple of Ooze.

Abyss1 — The best and only image that explains where anything is in the Underdark

Every single location, no matter how minor it may be, is detailed with a set of general features that are always in effect while the players are there. Usually this builds on the basic “It’s dark down here” description of lighting, adding hazards like slender crevices, pollution, spider webs, and other environmental hazards. Chief among them is the unique type of wild magic field that permeates the Underdark: Faerzress. Not only will spells act a little wonky in areas where this mysterious energy flows but staying in them too is hazardous to your mental health. Sanity, and it’s sudden demise down below is a central theme to the adventure. Every race and monster is experiencing sudden lapses of insanity and strange behavior. Several of the party members may come down with bouts or permanent madness conditions; writing additional flaws and personality traits on the characters sheet. Some of these are harmless, some comedic, others entertainingly dangerous. Gazing upon a demon lord is the surest way to go crazy, each has their own personal madness table that generates the conditions players suffer.

Each location has several things going on. Power struggles, assaults, dangers, and all manner of side-quests for the players. The party is often a deniable asset that the local leaders can fling at whatever issue has come up. While it’s not immediately obvious, the book is written in a way that leaves a lot to the GM’s discretion. The most important story quest of the game: gathering ingredients for the final ritual, is a list that can be added to and taken away from in a way that goads players to go to specific places. Many of the initial NPC’s have general things they try to do listed, rather than any specific dialogue. This aspect of the book severely limits its use to inexperienced players; as it takes a creative mind that knows how to put this all together in a way players can process.

Abyss4 — Prince Derendil: Slave, Ally, Nutjob.

Every aspect of ecology and society is investigated within the book. Many monsters have “Roleplaying as” sidebars that encapsulate how you would roleplay those creatures. The actual monster manual entries lack such information, while this book ties together a lot that is alluded to in other books. The recently released Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide barely mentions the Underdark, as this pretty much is the Underdark book. Creatures that otherwise are listed as just “monsters” in one book come to life when explained in this one. It’s written in a factual tone unlike the SCAG which is written from the tone of a dwarf adventurer. So while the SCAG is cryptic and alludes to all sorts of weird things, those things are addressed in this book in full.

The major new content comes in the form of stats for several demon lords (two of which only barely mentioned in the Monster Manual.) pose as the end bosses of the adventure. They have the tendency to just pop up every now and then, each is hiding out somewhere in the Underdark. In Dungeons and Dragons cosmology if you kill a demon on its home plane it’s dead for good, and if you kill it while it’s summoned to another it just reforms on their home plane. The adventures whole point is essentially to clean up a mess the Dark Elves made.

Abyss3 — Each Demon Lord as they appear in Out of the Abyss.

Something that always bothers me about the end of “End of the world” story arcs in video games is the story suddenly gets very rushed at the end as we suddenly go “Alright let’s do this!” and the setup often overshadows the actual deed. The climax reads this way. The final acts of the story are collecting a series of ingredients for calling all of the rampant demon lords together so that you can fight the survivor; as written it’s always Demogorgon (Rightmost above). A variant rule exists letting players control a demon lord in a minigame fight but the end result should still be the same: A boss fight against a weakened demon lord. Still difficult, but with the players all at level 15 and given serious bonus it’s not the hardest fight in the book.

Don’t get me wrong. Assuming you had to fight Demogorgan he still most certainly will hit you, and his attacks drain your maximum hit point total; being reduced to zero means instant death. While other Demon Lords do significantly less damage and lack any such effect. The book was clearly written to make him seem powerful, despite this book being the triumphant return of Zuggtmoy the Lady of Rot and Decay. She get’s far more potential face time than he does! She can be talked to in her lair, and a whole chapter revolves around going to the World Fungus to stop her from marrying it. Yes. Really.

If you are gathering books to play Fifth Edition then I would highly recommend this book be part of your collection. It’s well written with support from Green Ronin Publishing; one of my favorite companies. If you have some Dungeon Mastering experience and want one book to last you for a few months than you will find Out of the Abyss is a book that just keeps on giving.

For me, this book summons Five out of Five Demon Lords

Tabletop Tales: ‘Dungeons And Dragons’ Fifth Edition!

by NecroscourgeAugust 3, 2015

For the longest time it was fairly difficult to recommend an edition for newer players when it came to Dungeons and Dragons; there is simply something to complain about in all of them. The earliest second editions are notorious for their steep learning curve, third has power balancing issues, and fourth edition is better known as “Stuff To Complain About: The Game”. They all have two major issues in common: character creation needs an experienced player sitting beside you to explain it, and the books do very little to prepare the player for actual play. Fourth editions “player guides” are almost entirely filled with cards either detailing magic items or the classes abilities (“Power Cards”), leaving a tiny blurb at the back of the book telling players how to actually play the game. It’s no wonder your typical 4E session is fight after fight with a word or two of plot inbetween; far from Gary Gygax’s original vision of swords and sorcery.

Dungeons and Dragons Fifth Edition is Wizards of the Coast’s apology to the hobby at large, cutting out almost everything that convoluted the game and reworking it from the ground up. Power Cards are gone, magic items no longer litter the streets, and the setting itself has been toned back from a time of magical superheroes to a more appropriate swords and sorcery styled setting full of adventure and mystery. In general, many new rules and mechanics exist that give players many non-combat opportunities to further the story, where before most players just resorted to extreme violence. The pivotal new tool for roleplaying and combat is the concept of Advantage/Disadvantage, which benifits characters in situations where it’s very likely the character shall succeed/fail miserably. In either case two twenty sided dice are rolled instead of one, and either the higher or lower result is taken depending on the situation; flanking most notably provides advantage rather than an attack modifier now. It’s the ever present equalizer.

5E feels more like Gygax's original vision than any edition we've played thus far. — 5E feels more like Gygax’s original vision than any edition we’ve played thus far.

Characters now choose a background at character creation that sums up the general life experiences they have under their belt. With this experience comes a general idea of their personality as well as their backgrounds feature ability; a special rule that normally makes exploration or social niceties easier somehow. The nobleman paladin commands respect worthy of his title while the party’s rogue is a deadbeat charleton that fancies forging fake aliases to soak up his debts. This system often blends with Advantage and Disadvantage to create interesting scenarios such as: the Human Monk is a sailor at heart and spent most of his life at sea, he would have no problem keeping on his feet during a storm and would roll with advantage. The dwarf on the other hand hates water and everything that lives within it, rolling with disadvantage when the storm hits.

Character creation has been tidied up into a manageable step by step process that can be understood by players new and old alike. In past editions it was hard to pick a race because they all looked so interesting and powerful… except the basic humans. The earliest editions balanced the whole game around humans being “standard” and thus penalized the other races in their potential, this was written out edition by edition until the other races were just so much better that nobody wanted to be human. Let’s face it why be a weak ol’ humie when you could be Gnarmtar the Ogre House-Juggler. Humans now are gifted with naturally good statistics (+1 in all of em’) but no special rules OR you can go with the statistically weaker variant but get a tasty feat to play with. Either way 5E boasts a good lineup of stock player races.

The classes have also been scaled back into a traditional array of classes from Fighters, Monks, and Rogues; with thankfully no mention of 4th Edition’s contributions such as the Spellblade; who teleported around and hit you with his sword magic. Every class now features role playing abilities, such as the rangers terrain bonuses being switched out for travelling bonuses, and at higher levels monks can be understood by any creature that knows a language no matter what language they are speaking. It all comes back to the games rules being fleshed out to allow for richer storytelling, something the game has needed for years! Even monsters now have rules for pure roleplaying purposes now with lairs that influence the world in subtle ways around it.

Monsters are now uniformly angrier and less loaded with hitpoints and more loaded with stabby slicey bits. A fight that has been going well may quickly cascade into a series of botched rolls and knee-bites that can bring a party to its knees; players can’t just go on murder cruise-control anymore. I threw a trio of what were effectively great white sharks at the party and the party had a great ego about them until they realized that jumping into the water to fight them would be utter suicide from how hard they hit (even while shrunk by a spell one jumped out and nearly killed the rogue!)

On the other side of the table the game is nothing but fun to run as a GM. The Dungeon Master’s Guide is a beautifully written resource that does a perfect job sparking the imagination while teaching you how to run a game of 5E with a table or section for every situation. These sections of sage advice provide plenty of fuel for both the game and the game’s world and generally makes you worry less about making up rules regarding minutia. The DMG contains a section detailing areas of peculiar conditions such as areas of wild magic; places where every spell makes you roll for weird stuff going on like your hair turning greenish orange for a day. After one session in such a place the wild magic sorcerer went from wanting wild magic to always happen to being afraid it might happen.

The cosmology of DnD is extremely confusing: existence as we know it is called the material plane and from there is an ongoing matryoshka doll of different planes of existence that potentially go on forever. The description of the inner planes is the most poetic, describing the Plane of Water as an vast tropical ocean between the extremes of an icy abyss and a gigantic silt bog darted with various islands covered in ancient shipwrecks. A full read through the DMG arms you with not only the way to run 5E but the knowledge is just plain useful for any roleplaying game you attempt.

All in all I can’t stress enough how much I love this edition over any other I have played, and I’ve played most of them while owning the books for all of them. I’ve defaulted to advising new players to start with fifth, and generally hold it as a success. It’s been engineered to be accessible to new players, with the basic rules available on the website for free. Your local hobby shop more probably than not is holding a weekly DnD Encounters game designed to introduce new players to the system through an official story-line; As of writing it’s Elemental Evil (Which by the way is also a nifty book) that presents four different cults of elemental maniacs to fight with friends.

I give this edition five out of five giant sharks!

New ‘Dungeons And Dragons’ Movie In The Works At Warner Bros.!

by Derek KraneveldtAugust 3, 2015

Briefly: Somehow, all of this slipped past me, but apparently, for some time now Warner Bros., Hasbro, and Sweetpea Entertainment have been in a legal battle regarding the rights to the Dungeons and Dragons franchise (THR has a great write-up about exactly what happened).

Warner Bros. lawyer’s have apparently passed their ‘persuasion’ skill check, as said battle has just ended, and the studio wasted no time at all in announcing a new Dungeons and Dragons film.

The announced, as yet untitled movie already has a script written by Wrath of the Titans scribe David Leslie Johnson, and will be produced by The Lego Movie and How to Train Your Dragon producer Roy Lee.

“We are so excited about bringing the world of Dungeons & Dragons to life on the big screen,” said Greg Silverman, president of creative development and worldwide production at Warner Bros. Pictures. “This is far and away the most well-known brand in fantasy, which is the genre that drives the most passionate film followings. D&D has endless creative possibilities, giving our filmmakers immense opportunities to delight and thrill both fans and moviegoers new to the property.”

Are you down for a Warner Bros. developed Dungeons and Dragons film? Or were you a bigger fan of the lower-budget SyFy entries? Sound out below!

Geekscape 342: All About RPGs With The Boys From Saving Throw!

by JonathanNovember 18, 2014

One thing we don’t cover enough on Geekscape is the hugely popular world of RPGs and tabletop gaming! Both have been on a huge upswing in popularity for the past few years and it’s about time we reflected that on the show! To help us wade through the deep waters as a bunch of noobs, Ivan and Dom from Saving Throw join their buddy Ben Dunn to teach Kenny and I about the new generation of tabletop RPGs. We discuss the new mechanics of D&D and the difference between it and Pathfinder. Also, we suggest some other games to the audience, including horror based ones and the growing popularity of real world games like Puzzle Rooms! It’s a brand new day and age with an old familiar game on this episode of Geekscape!

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Geekscape 307: The ‘Bitter Party of Five’ Cast And ‘Zero Charisma’ Creative Team!

by JonathanOctober 4, 2013

A packed episode! In the first half hour, we have the cast of the hilarious ‘Bitter Party of Five’! If you haven’t watched an episode yet, go to Blip.tv and check it out. They are amazing! Mary Birdsong, Greg Cromer, Tricia O’Kelley and Romy Rosemont talk failed pilots, the ups and down of being a Hollywood actor and spider impregnation… don’t worry… it makes perfect sense!

Then, in the second half of the show, ‘Zero Charisma’ directors Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews drop by with star Sam Eidson to talk role playing games, finally having the movie released and the sincerity of being a geek! I would say that’s a pretty action packed episode right there!

‘Zero Charisma’ finally comes to VOD this coming Tuesday!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 57:19 — 23.0MB)

Watch A New Trailer For ‘Zero Charisma’

by Derek KraneveldtSeptember 16, 2013

Briefly: Zero Charisma has to be my most anticipated film for the remainder of 2013, and this trailer is absolutely wonderful.

Following the poster release earlier this week, Nerdist today debuted a phenomenal new trailer for the comedy. Zero Charisma premiered at this year’s SXSW, and has been garnering universal acclaim ever since. Our very own Jonathan London even said that “Zero Charisma is one of the best Geek culture films of all time.” Yep, it’s that good (check out his full review here).

Sadly, I still haven’t had an opportunity to see the film. That’s all set to change next month however, as Zero Charisma is scheduled to hit VOD and iTunes on October 8th, before beginning its theatrical run on October 11th. I can’t freaking wait.

Take a look at the new trailer below, and let us know just how much you want to see the film!

As the strict Game Master of a fantasy role-playing game, Scott (Sam Eidson) leads his friends in a weekly quest through mysterious lands from the safety of his grandmother’s kitchen. But his mastery of his own domain starts to slip—along with everything else in his life—when neo-nerd hipster Miles (Garrett Graham) joins the game, winning over the group with his confident charm and dethroning Scott with an unexpected coup. Caught in delusions of grandeur, Scott must roll the dice and risk everything to expose Miles as the fraud he believes him to be. A darkly comedic fable of epic proportions, Zero Charisma is an ode to nerds from every realm.

‘Zero Charisma’ Gets A Wonderful New Poster!

by Derek KraneveldtSeptember 13, 2013

Briefly: Preceding a brand new trailer that’s set to be released on Monday, Nerdist today debuted a phenomenal new poster for Zero Charisma.

Zero Charisma premiered at this year’s SXSW, and has been garnering universal acclaim ever since. Our very own Jonathan London even said that “Zero Charisma is one of the best Geek culture films of all time.” Yep, it’s that good (check out his full review here).

For now, take a look at the new poster below. We’ll be sure to share the new trailer when it’s released on Monday, and be sure to watch for more Zero Charisma in the coming weeks!

Gaming Philosophy: Dungeons And Dragons, Morality, And You

by NecroscourgeMay 2, 2013

When it comes to the concepts of good and evil, there has been an eternal conflict of opinions and thoughts concerning their uses. The muddiest of uses of course being the 9-part morality system as popular in the Dungeons and Dragons series that is composed of the concepts of Lawfulness and Chaos in various degrees of Good or Evil (IE: Lawful Good, Chaotic Neutral) and like any other concept of morality, you can practically expect that pretty much nobody truly understands it. I was sent into this rant by Spoony’s “So you want to be Evil” video (posted yesterday) that begins with “don’t do it”, and is just him sitting infront of a camera explaining his rampant generalizations and misunderstanding of gaming morality.

Good and Evil, as many know, is the philosophical concept that all actions are either “good” or “evil” where the positive actions that the people like are branded as “good” and things people do not like are called “evil”. This matter gets more complicated in Dungeons and Dragons because of the very true presence of gods, angels, and demons in most normal settings as well as the presence of death, true death, and resurrection. In particular the confusion comes from the DnD interpretation of morality, where Evil just means you kill people and Lawful just implies a moral code or respect of law.

The common interpretation is that the two states of Good and Evil are directly opposing entities, and that by being one you act a very specific way. That is to say Orcs kill on sight because they are evil rather than any real personal philosophies they may have. “Heroes” kill “Monsters” on sight because they are Evil and thus should not feel bad about the lives they extinguish because our culture says killing monsters is “good” . Good or Evil aside, the Paladin that speaks to god still sliced the heads off three Orcs for just being in his way.

As written by Gygax himself in the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbook:

Chaotic Evil: The major precepts of this alignment are freedom, randomness, and woe. Laws and Order, Kindness, and Good deeds are disdained. Life has no value. By promoting Chaos and Evil, those of this alignment hope to bring themselves to positions of power, glory, and prestige in a system ruled by individual caprices and their own whims.

-ADnD PHB

Chaos and Law in DnD are as simple as it sounds, the character either adheres to a code of conduct or instead values the freedom and liquidity of life. These are philosophical states often polarized just like Good and Evil, while they are more accurately states of being as real as ourselves. While as written Good and Evil are mentioned to be a polarized struggle as well, but in truth the only clause that Gygax seems to attribute to an Evil character is having no inherent reverence to the sanctity of life, implying that the Paladin that runs around the countryside mowing down Orcs is “good” because they would never slay a rational being that surrenders before them. In moral terms, the Paladin would be committing an Evil action if he were to take the life of an Orc that surrenders regardless of the Orcs alignment, while the Orc if Chaotic Evil may very well surrender without moral issue and attempt to kill the Paladin in betrayal, though he may not just to keep you guessing as is implied by his random, Chaotic nature.

Let’s look at Batman and Superman, who represent Chaotic and Lawful Good. Both do “good” things, they save the day, stop the villains, but no matter how VERY evil their opponents are, they cherish life (which seems to be the only tangible point to being “Good”), and if given the choice would rather spare lives then extinguish them. Even though Batman is chaotic and will do pretty much anything he can to get it done that may or may not cause suffering, he won’t kill. The Joker does not, being Chaotic Evil, cherish life at all and will kill when he feels like it. On the flip side, he may not because he feels like it.

That being established, now to the task at hand. People like to blame morality rather than the actual player’s actions themselves, or use morality as an excuse to do whatever they want. Honestly though, its a game foremost and the simple “Black and White” morality was there just to give an arbitrary excuse for Orcslaughter. Not knowing that years down the road and after Gygax’s death there would be people using mortality as an excuse to slice people’s heads off because they are Good (Something a truely “Good” character would not do) while Evil characters take this as an excuse to go around town murdering willy-nilly just because they are Evil. This is the aspect of morality people usually have a hard time with, the idea of being evil and then the actual practice of being evil.

Granted, as you have noticed Gygax’s view of Evil is very polarized in a fashion that taken literally and morally incorrectly deems all Evil characters to be wanton killing machines with no possible remorse or redemption, nor a tangible reason for their murder as is the ideal of “Evil is just Evil” while Good characters sort of get off scott free with their murder because of their “just cause”. However, until now I have refrained from the second part of the Good versus Evil morality system, the gods themselves. Unlike life as we know it, gods in DnD actually exist. They appear on the planet, walk around, talk to people, and grant spells to their loyal clerics. The “big” gods such as Bahamut, Lolth, and the rest have entire metaphysical planes they live inside populated with outsiders of their alignment as well as the means of directly communicating with living people.

This is where the already very muddy moral politics get even muddier. We know that Evil simply means having no moral issue with taking lives, while Good will only take lives in self defense and that law and chaos are the primary means to which those morals are taken lawfully or randomly. The issue arises when you have the god king of dragons telling you to smite evil in the name of Bahamut, or when Lolth the spider queen of the Drow urges you to sacrifice the young in her name. Lolths existence and policies directly contradict the laws of a God like Bahamut, which drives the Lawful Good followers to kill Evil things in his name and the name of Goodness. Lolth’s followers are urged to spread Lolth’s corrupting influence and kill those that get in their way. We have labelled Bahamut as Good and Lolth as Evil, The former cares about life while the latter does not. The point being that religious characters have a very real god in this world telling them what is good and what is evil, and to an extent most characters know they exist while nowhere near all have had the chance of actually meeting a god. While their actions are not excused, there reaches a point where individual morality is very separated by what god tells them, that just happens to be morally aligned.

The human, you're standard follower. — The human, your standard follower.

As a general rules of thumb, humans are social creatures and are hardwired to listen to the person in charge, if not obey them. When the entity that gives you the ability to heal and call lightning down from the heavens tells you to smite Evil in his name, most are pretty willing to do so. Conversely, without the prior knowledge that the entity is “Evil”, there is little stopping most from obeying them either as without knowing of both Good and Evil, it is impossible to grasp either individually. What does this mean in a gaming context? Essentially that a Chaotic Evil character does not rampantly run around stabbing people because they are Chaotic Evil, they do so because they have a personal reason of doing so. DnD character morality is often played for laughs because of how initially wild the concepts look when in fact the moral alignments presented in DnD are things that we witness and watch every day, especially knowing now that Good and Evil as defined is a stance on the sanctity of life rather than a polarized mindset or specifically the means rather than the end.

It only stands to reason, to realize that while alignment determines a good bit about the individual philosophies and thoughts a character may contain, there is nothing about the system that absolutely determines how a character *should* act. All evil characters do not like the color black, just as all evil characters are not rampaging lunatics in the same manner that all Good characters are bible thumping fanatics that ceaselessly preach about the joys of Pelor. It’s an arbitrary system developed to make players feel better about slaying the various monsters of the world taken far more seriously than it should be.

What's your alignment? — What’s your alignment?

Take for example the Orc baby “Dilemma” as posed by Spoony, where a traditionally good party wipes out a Orc encampment and finds women and children, who immediately surrender. The Good decision is to spare them, with the Evil to be killing them despite the prisoners being of Evil alignment themselves. Of course, the metagaming argument of “they are evil” is moot since that is not roleplaying, and not a proper justification of murdering women and children. Then we are introduced to the concept of Evil characters in the party arguing *for* the murder. The most common ignorant thought is that Good and Evil cannot co-exist, and thus a party must be either all Good or all Evil, despite the hundreds of examples of parties with a mixed ratios of alignments in popular media. A common argument against a mixed party is that there will be conflict and thus it is impossible for them to be in the same party together. Any professional writer can tell you all good stories *require* conflict, and the same is true of a DnD party.

People are under the impression that if a Good and Evil character, meet they are required by the games rules to do combat to the death, which is false as evidenced by what we know Good and Evil stand for, and where they divide. The cause of this incorrect assumption are the cases of “controlled” monsters that are in league with whatever Big Bad is looming beyond the Gates of Extremely Evil Evilness at the end of the campaign. These creatures include Outsiders (Creatures from other planes), mind-controlled or otherwise malcontent goblinoids, and other various ill-willed monsters and are the common things you will be fighting so its only natural to assume they are completely unfeeling in their attacks. In most cases these creatures are either genuinely “Evil” homicidal bastards or directly being controlled by the higher powers just as the heroes are doing the dirty work of the good higher powers in most cases. What most don’t realize is there is a very vast difference between a Good creature and a Cleric of Pelor just as there is a difference between a Chaotic Evil Orc tribesman and Saruman’s Uruk-Hai, and thats where people get confused. A Witch is not bad because she is evil, its more of the whole poisoning and cursing people thing, which is a personal choice made by that witch.

-Necroscourge 5/1/13

SXSW 2013 Review: ‘Zero Charisma’

by JonathanMarch 14, 2013

A few weeks ago we had filmmakers Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews on the show to talk about their SXSW film Zero Charisma, the story of a tabletop RPG obsessed 20-something living with his grandmother who begins to lose control of his gaming group (and more) when a new table member threatens to sway his carefully crafted social order. At the time, I didn’t know Katie and Andrew, and they didn’t know me, but I really responded to the sincerity, and humor, of the Zero Charisma trailer and wanted to help them with their IndieGogo campaign to finish the film before the premiere. Sure, I had fears that most trailers are better than their actual films and that Zero Charisma might follow in a long line of indie films about our geek culture, and specifically the tRPG sub-culture, that have missed the mark. And every single one of them, from The Gamers to Role Models, have missed that mark, choosing the safety of goofing on the film’s subjects to actually compelling the audience to feel for them.

And not to say that it’s an easy temptation to avoid. We geeks and our and social idiosyncrasies are so particular that it’s just easier to point a camera at what’s loud and funny than what’s true. We spend so much time in fantasy (especially when tabletop roleplaying is concerned), that it’s almost always more appealing to narrate the fantasy of our lives than the oftentimes painful inadequacies underneath. But something in the trailer for Zero Charisma and its anger possessed main character of Scott, told me that Katie and Andrew’s film might just avoid those trappings and get right to the heart of the cultural and social re-appropriations that fantasy culture is all about. Going in to the film’s premiere on Monday night, and as the lights dimmed in the theater, I had hope (for all us geeks).

I’m happy to report that my hope in Zero Charisma was beyond well placed. Katie, Andrew and company knocked this one out of the park. Before there was even an image on screen, the music hit and I knew I was in good hands. The first thing that you hear is shrieking fantasy metal. I let out a loud “fuck yes” (which most at the after party admitted to hearing… sorry!). I’m a huge Luca Turilli and Rhapsody fan and the music that starts Zero Charisma off was right in line with the heavy metal songs of wizards and fantasy that inhabit his music. I even let out another shout when an extra in the film wore a Rhapsody shirt later on. The movie opened up and there was Scott, alone and head banging down a grocery aisle stocking up on snacks for his gaming like a playable character would on questing supplies. The journey was about to begin and I was thrilled knowing that I was in good hands.

The actual plot of Zero Charisma is simple. Scott lives with his grandmother and runs a tabletop RPG a few times a week for his similarly geeky group of friends. He invests everyting into the game and the experience he is creating. So when one of the longtime players drops out, it leaves Scott (and his sidekick Wayne), searching for a replacement. They find their fifth player in Miles, a hipster geek who is just looking for a group of guys to play with. Miles brings beers (and levity) to their first game, and quickly becomes its most popular and successful member and Scott’s alpha grip on the game begins to erode. Scrambling to keep the script that he’s written for everyone else on track, Scott wrestles to take back control and things go from bad to worse.

And that’s what Katie and Andrew got the most right: the personal nature of who we are. The group of gamers are a surrogate for Scott’s powerless role in a family that doesn’t really exist. His father is non-existent and his mother abandoned him long ago to move out of state. His Grandmother has had to look out for him long past the expiration date on his social maturation and he is angry. The failings of others in his life, and subsequently the excuses that have led to his own, have turned Scott into a short fuse who doesn’t see the dangers in scripting friend’s lives or trying to control others. From the opening metal music, he is both alone and ready to explode and watching newcomer Sam Eidson portray him is awesome. Sam’s not an actor playing a geek. He is a geek, and he gets the pain that makes our lots in life so compelling and Katie and Andrew don’t avoid going there. In fact, they go there a lot.

Other reviewers have said that when Scott’s mother shows up halfway through the film, that it feels like a plot device, because she only shows up to complicate things for Scott and his grandmother. I think those viewers need to re-role their Perception checks because you don’t need to hit a 20 to realize how wrong this is. The very antagonist of Scott’s fantasy quest is The Goblin Queen, a shadowy matriarch of a dark kingdom who rules from a distant tower. He’s enlisted his friends in helping him destroy the Queen and when that obsessive goal is challenged by Miles “just wanting to have fun”, Scott’s fuse is lit. Everything Scott does in the film is informed by the pain he feels towards his mother’s abandonment, and her showing up only makes a bad situation worse as he scrambles for a way to cope with a rapidly deteriorating social order that he had only a fabricated control of in the first place. Andrew’s script is fantastic on a character level and I urged he and Katie to continue Scott’s story in whatever other ways they could.

I know I’ve given a pretty serious review for a movie that is being showcased as a comedy. And I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. Zero Charisma is hilarious. The crowd responded vocally to the many jokes in the film and I watched it in a constant state of losing my shit laughing. If I hadn’t had to return to Los Angeles, I would have caught the rest of the screenings in Austin, I am that obsessed with the film. I even B-lined it for the filmmakers and gave them a hug for how incredibly moving the movie is. It just does so many things right in regards to a subject matter that we care so much about (almost similar to Scott’s obsession!). From skewering hipsters for their misappropriation of Geek culture (that scene in amazing) to our intensely passionate debates (like if the USS Enterprise is faster than the Millennium Falcon), Zero Charisma does everything right. The comedy flies pretty frequently but never at the expense of what makes Zero Charisma work the most: its sincerity.

As I said to Katie and Andrew Monday night, I’ve been attending the SXSW Film Festival since it began playing films in 1994 and this is one of my favorite SXSW films that I’d ever seen. But beyond that, and probably more importantly, Zero Charisma is one of the best Geek culture films of all time. We will definitely be championing it here on Geekscape. Come to think of it, I can’t think of a quest more worthy of the undertaking.

‘Zero Charisma’ Gets An Awesome SXSW Poster!

by Derek KraneveldtMarch 6, 2013

Last month we showed you the wonderfully impressive trailer for Zero Charisma, the upcoming comedy by Katie Graham and Andrew Matthews.

The movie looks like an absolute blast, and will be premiering at next week’s SXSW. If you find yourself in Austin next week, I implore you to give Zero Charisma a shot, this one looks to be something special.

To celebrate the upcoming world premiere, a new poster for the film has been crafted by artist Jay Shaw. It’s quite the piece of work, and has some cool history behind it too; the weathering and texture from the poster is actually lifted straight from an old D&D Player’s Manual.

Check out the poster below, and let us know what you think! If you’re one of the lucky folks attending this year’s SXSW, the film will be screening at the following times and locations:

Monday, 3/11 @ 7:15 PM – Rollins Theater at the Long Center – World Premiere

Wednesday, 3/13 @ 7:00 PM – Rollins Theater at the Long Center

Friday, 3/15 @ 11:00 AM – Topher Theater at Zach Scott

Bah, I’d kill for a copy of that poster. Again, if you haven’t seen the trailer, watch it here, and get excited!

Geekscape 277: Ken Kristensen, Zero Charisma and Vigilante Ex-Cops!

by JonathanFebruary 8, 2013

Writer Ken Kristensen drops by to talk about his Image book ‘Todd: The Ugliest Kid on Earth’… and he brings gifts! Jonathan talks ‘Warm Bodies’! Star Wars spin off movies! The Luna Brother’s ‘Sword’ is getting made! The filmmakers behind ‘Zero Charisma’ call in to talk geek cred! Paul Walker is the new Agent 47! There’s a vigilante cop loose in Los Angeles… is it Frank Castle? Plus! Can you be a hero after smashing someone in the head with a hatchet?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 56:22 — 22.6MB)

‘Zero Charisma’ Looks Amazing, But It Needs Your Help! Watch The First Trailer!

by Derek KraneveldtFebruary 5, 2013

Since discovering the trailer for Zero Charisma just a few days ago, I honestly couldn’t tell you how many people I’ve shown it to (I may be slightly hyperbolizing here, so let’s just say at least a dozen).

The movie looks like absolute gold, and as wonderful as the final product is sure to be, Zero Charisma also has quite the story behind it. Directors Katie Graham (Cinematographer of Best Worst Movie and The American Scream) and Andrew Matthews (Editor on Best Worst Movie and The American Scream) raised over $25,000 in preproduction over the course of their successful IndieGogo campaign in Spring 2011.

As I mentioned above, the first trailer for the film has just been released. Trust me, you’re going to want to keep your eye out for this one.

Metal-loving gamer geek Scott Weidemeyer lives with his ornery grandmother and works a lousy job at a donut shop. But every Tuesday night, he is the omnipotent Game Master, guiding his role-players through a tabletop journey of fantasy and adventure. However, when neo-nerd hipster Miles joins his game, Scott begins to resent the admiration Miles receives from the other players. To make matters worse, the health of his grandmother begins to falter, and his estranged mother visits town, reminding Scott of a childhood he’d just as soon forget. Caught in a spiral of rage and delusion, Scott is forced to take drastic steps to reclaim his honor, and his identity as the Game Master.

Of course, independent films are costly to make. Zero Charisma is currently in post-production, and Katie, Andrew, and everyone else involved need your help so the finished product can see the light of day. Another IndieGogo campaign is currently underway, with a goal of $30,000 (currently sitting just under $10,000). This campaign will take the film from post production through to distribution, and you can score lots of cool goodies by backing it (including of course, a copy of the finished feature).

You watched (and very likely loved) the trailer above, so why not throw them a few bucks and score yourself a copy! I’m sure they’d be forever grateful (as would I, as I really, really want to see this)!

Zero Charisma is set to premiere at this years SXSW, where Jonathan will be watching, and I’ll be stuck in Canada.

‘Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition’ Launches In Just Two Days, Here’s A New Trailer!

by Derek KraneveldtNovember 26, 2012

Baldur’s Gate originally launched in November of 1998. I was just 8 years old at the time, and while that’s certainly no excuse, the game that’s often called one of the greatest RPG’s ever developed is one that I wouldn’t learn about until years later.

I’m much older now (22), and I’ve still never played through the game. I was extremely excited when the Enhanced Edition was announced, as such a huge update to such a classic title meant that I simply wouldn’t be able to ignore it any longer.

The release date is now just two days away and a new trailer has just been released for the game. It looks awesome, and I can’t wait to get my hands on it! Again, Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition will be available for Mac, PC, and iOS on Wednesday, and on Android at an unspecified date.

Are you a fan of the series? Are you planning to pick up this new edition? For which platform? My iPad is the device I always have with me, and Baldur’s Gate seems perfectly suited to a touchscreen, so it’s probably safe to say that the mobile version will be my edition of choice!

Print Isn’t Dead, It’s Quarterly! Geekscape Interviews THE DEVASTATOR!

by Joe StarrMay 10, 2012

The Devastator is a humor book harkening back to the days of National Lampoon and MAD Magazine. Founded in 2009 by Geoffrey Golden and Amanda Meadows, two comedy writer-editors from Los Angeles the quarterly published indie book features a mix of upcoming and renowned writers and artists from The Daily Show, Marvel and DC, and Adult Swim, as well as cartoons, essays, and cock blocking wizards!

Geekscape sat down with Amanda and Geoffrey Matrix style (inside a group g-chat window) to talk about the origins of the book, their current Fantasy issue, and the long standing war between print and internet comedy that we made up for the purposes of this interview.

Amanda: I was obsessed with print books and magazines and a kid. I was the kid who everyone took their essays to edit before turning them into the mean teacher. As I got older I got more and more into comedy nerdom, and knew I wanted to write my goal was to travel a lot and work for a magazine or publisher. I studied English Lit in college and moved to LA to work for a publisher, Phoenix Books (now defunct, but at the time they were the #1 fastest growing indie publisher). I had written for College Humor and McSweeney’s here and there, and comedy.com for a bit. Then Geoff and I, in December ’09, burned out on the internet comedy cycle, thought about bringing back humor in print!

Geoffrey: I’ve been writing comedy from a very early age, sometimes to the detriment of my grade point average. I wrote a humor column for the school newspaper, which I’m sure is very embarrassing.

Geekscape: We’re high school newspaper column brothers!

Amanda: Oh yeah! I did some newspaper shiz too. Nerd club 4 lyfe

Geekscape: Loser High School Newspaper Trio engage!

Geoffrey: ACTIVATE FORCE SHIELDS!

Amanda: I am picturing this as a very shitty anime.

Geoffrey: My influences were pretty much the same as Amanda’s – I read a lot of X-Men, National Lampoon, The Onion – we both love classic Simpsons. I was also into old radio guys like Bob & Ray, Stan Freberg and stand-ups like Bob Newhart, along with The Muppets, which puts me into a very weird category of geekdom even within “Comedy Nerd” After graduating from Emerson College, I got my first job as an Associate Editor for National Lampoon’s website. I’ve been writing and producing internet humor professionally for 10 years now, writing comics, articles, web series and more for Fox, Warner Bros, Cracked and currently I’m a freelance comedy writer for CraveOnline.

The cover of Devastator #5: The Fantasy Issue

Geekscape: Amanda mentioned the ‘internet comedy cycle,’ was there a driving force that made you guys want to put together a physical product as opposed to ‘it’s a blog and sometimes it’s videos!’

Geoffrey: We love print! We think there’s a certain type of humor, this mix of satirical prose and comics that works really well in print. Plus it’s rewarding having a bookshelf full of your work, as opposed to a folder in a hard drive

Amanda: Exactly. The tangible experience of reading can’t really be replaced. Also, I think the immediacy of internet humor is really fun but it sort of lacks perspective. The fact that we have to really take our time to craft our work focuses us.

Geekscape: Internet humor seems to have a limited shelf life, too.

Geoffrey: That’s because the most clear-cut path to getting attention is to make videos based on things users will be searching for.

Amanda: It’s great to know that once something crazy happens, a million people are going to make fun of it, but yes, stories get old fast. There can be an ambulance chaser quality to some of the broadest internet humor.

Geoffrey: Who’s gonna be the first to make fun of that thing kim kardashian said?! Will it be YOU, Geekscape?

Geekscape: Glendale! Mayor! Something something large ass!

Geoffrey: One million views!

Geekscape: I would definitely place Devastator in the DIY ‘comedy nerd’ movement that’s happening now, but I think it’s cool that you guys have gone old school with print instead of, say, a podcast. Has there been a good response to the book or are a lot of people irritated that the magazine isn’t on their Kindle?

Geoffrey: Everyone is really happy this is a print book. We have a very small group of people who digitally subscribed and we mail those people PDFs. The vast majority are like us, who love comedy in print and want to support that but we offer the option, because… y’know, the future?

Geekscape: I didn’t realize you offered both options. That’s interesting that the print is favored, especially in an age where even most comic publishers are starting to focus on digital subscriptions.

Geoffrey: I think it’s because a lot of our subscribers meet us at comic book shows. When they see the print book, that’s what they really want and connect with. they hold it and want to snuggle with it at night. The covers are surprisingly soft!

Geekscape: Devastator: the anime body pillow of comedy.

Amanda: That is the most perfect slogan ever.

Geekscape: This interview has not been a waste! What’s the format of the book like?

Amanda: Well, it’s a mixed format book – a blend of short comics, and written pieces with artwork. You can jump from a comic to a prose novel parody to an infographic.

Geoffrey: A reviewer once described our content as the onion meets a vintage t-shirt shop. You’ll see a lot of retro pop culture parodies.

Geekscape: And you guys have a pretty awesome lineup of writers writing those parodies.

Amanda: Thank you! We mix together all kinds of up-and-coming talented writers with artists, and some brilliant cartoonists.

Geoffrey: Writers and artists from The Daily Show, The Onion, Adult Swim, Marvel, DC Comics and more!

Geekscape: Any personal favorite material so far?

Geoffrey: From the fantasy issue, I love ‘Rat Knights of Rat’s Hollow’, a Mouseguard parody written by contributing editor John Ford and illustrated by Mouseguard artist Nate Pride.

Geekscape: Holy shit that sounds amazing.

Amanda: It LOOKS amazing too!

Geoffrey: Marvel Brand Management vs. Capcom Legal Affairs in D#4…

Amanda: I really love Ryan Sandoval and Lili Sparks’ The Arcade Hire in D#4, an employee handbook for possibly the world’s sketchiest arcade.

Geoffrey: Cathair Apocalypse, Hold Me Closer Charming Cat-Man, and Cat on a Hot Tin Plate in D#3.

Amanda: And everything R. Sikoryak has done for us, in issues 1, 2, and 3.

Geekscape: The new issue is FANTASY. Sell it!

Amanda: So you’ve got the best of the best in this one. It’s our most ambitious issue yet!

Geoffrey: This issue is the stuff of legends.

Amanda: Our cover: drawn by the illustrator laureate of the interwebs, Dan Hipp (MISTERHIPP).We have an original comic from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal’s Zach Weiner and Tony Millionaire exclusive artwork! One of Funny or Die’s best, Scott Gairdner, does a piece that will explode your face with hilarity.

Geoffrey: We riff on Game of Thrones, Lord of the Rings, Final Fantasy…

Amanda: And Geoff, tell ’em about the reverse book!

Geoffrey: And the reverse book is a playable Dungeons and Dragons parody called “Wizards of Cockblock Forest” In order to become the most powerful wizard in Cockblock Forest – which is a lot like Brooklyn or Echo Park, only magical, so it’s not that bad – you have to have sex with faeries.

Geekscape: Of course you do.

Geoffrey: But every other wizard wants to have sex with faeries too, so the competition is fierce! Can you cockblock your rivals and bed the most faeries?

Geekscape: You’ve had a really strong convention presence lately. Where will you be next?

Amanda: Well, funny you ask because we’re in a con storm right now! We just returned from Stumptown Comics Fest which was amazing! This weekend, May 5-6 we’re doing Toronto Comic Arts Fest in CANADA Exotic Canada! Then on Memorial Day Weekend its Phoenix Comic Con, which has become a huge show. We get a month off of shows in June, during which we will be doing a series of Game Night events across the LA area to play Wizards of Cockblock Forest. Then it’s San Diego Comic Con!

Devastator’s Fantasy issue is out now and you can order it HERE. Check them out online and be cool like us by making Devastator subscriptions a new all occasions gift for everyone that you know. Also, if you’re going to be at any conventions stop by and visit Geoffrey and Amanda. They’re crazy nice, have an animation cell from Samurai Pizza Cats framed on their wall, and they were in newspaper in high school, so they’re not intimidating at all.

“Shadowrun Returns” Receives Funding For Game Development!

by Steven KunzApril 29, 2012

Crowdfunding has been making a big impact in the realm of video games, with the most famous being the Double Fine Adventure kickstarter started by Tim Schafer, which raised nearly $3.5 million dollars to fund development for their new game. It’s a model of funding that could become really big in the future, although I’m personally waiting to see when the 1st real failure of crowd-funding occurs, just so we can analyze and improve on the process of crowd-funding, enabling a better service for fans, consumers, and developers alike.

I am a huge fan of the SNES-era Shadowrun game, and to be able to play this game on the PC, with a level editor built into the game, does sound like a real treat, especially for fans of the Blade Runner/Deus Ex: Human Revolution aesthetic. And now we’ll hopefully get a chance, as the experience I’ve just described, entitled “Shadowrun Returns”, has successfully hit its Kickstarter goals! Well done, internet!

For more information, visit the official Kickstarer page here.

Source: http://venturebeat.com/2012/04/29/shadowrun-returns-raises-1-8m-in-kickstarter-campaign/

Geekscape 245: Satine Phoenix

by JonathanJanuary 21, 2012

Warning! This episode has a ton of sex talk in it! Satine Phoenix is an artist, sculptor, roleplaying game enthusiast and model. She invited me to be a part of a fundraising D and D gaming event and I thought it was long since she should have come on the show to talk Dungeons and Dragons, her former career as a stripper and porn actress and her own writing and artwork. Why not have her on to talk about this fundraising event? Also, she talks all about the scandal of purposefully bringing women by the Geekscape booth at Comic Con to try and ruin Jonathan’s life!

Find it on iTunes

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:07:48 — 40.7MB)