...it's canon?
It has come to my attention that Vertigo Comics has published some Constantine/Chas.
Wrong kind of gay, though. :P (For the record, it's from Books of Magick, which I have never read).
It seems that the Spirit of the Century New Horizons expansion ( copy here, for the record) has fallen by the wayside. I was sort of sad to hear that some of the big issues were the author's health and his getting dispirited, but at the same time, I'm kind of glad. What I'd really rather have happened is for them never to have done the little "Remember, the 1920s were racist and sexist, so expect your non straight while male characters to have problems!" paragraph in the first place. Dude, we know that the past was unpleasant. Someone on RPGNet pointed out that the expansion was a way of saying "History sucked, and I'm gonna go fight it!", which made me feel more clement towards it - previously I had judged the whole thing ill-conceived. Someone else pointed out that a character with really high Leadership/Resolve skills could basically jump-start the civil rights movement, which I think sounds like an awesome plot (and, as the main book says, after Nazis is there really anyone more satisfying to beat up than the KKK?). But I think having an expansion saying "This is how you play non-straight-white-American-males!" is going to result in a bunch of well-meaning people being unfortunately heavy-handed. If a player in my game wants to play a gay disabled Mexican communist, they can do it. I may set the adventure in Mayan ruins and have Gorilla Khan hit on you, but that's the same amount of challenge/bother I'd give to any other player.
(Have I mentioned how excited I am for next weekend? My first time GMing! My first time gaming since Conbust, for pete's sake!)
Also, from S_D on DW, How Every Single Discussion About Sexism and Woman-Type Stuff on the Internet (and real life) Has Ever Happened And Ever Will Happen, Always, Forever, Until the Earth Finally Falls Into The Sun. (Or until the patriarchy is finally dismantled.)
Discussion of non-majority characters in historical settings made me think of a character in a now-defunct story I could turn into a Centurion. I went to my archive, and HOLY SHIT I have never written my alternate WWI story down, at least on the computer. Even if it's fallen by the wayside, that was some good stuff. It had Welsh dragons! And djinni! And naked Scandinavian witches! And suffragists! The main characters were Myfanwy, who rode dragons around Europe, and Salha, who sweet-talked djinni into blowing things up. I... sort of miss how I thought before fandom social justice stuff got to me, because I wrote whatever the fuck I thought was cool, and now I go "Oh, I bet that's problematic," and don't feel comfortable going forward. I wish I could find the fortitude to go "I'mma do this, and if it upsets someone, I can try to do better next time." Though maybe that last piece translates as 'Middle-class white girl has to check herself, whines'?
Thoughts on Supernatural 6.06:
OH MY GOD, SELF, CAN'T YOU WATCH ANY FUCKING THING ANY MORE? ARE YOU DAMAGED OR WHAT THE FUCK? I mean, obviously I'm not smart enough to skip when I know I should either.
Castiel, calm down and don't offer Dean any more alcohol.
I spent most of the time going "I don't care about the mystery of the week, I want the plot relevant information!"
I'm really unhappy about the developments with Dean and Lisa. She was pretty kickass, and I was hoping they would try to move him in a new direction, you know? But, if I was her I would be wanting a good explanation, preferably with physical evidence. Which he did not provide. I also really do not like the whole "you can't change who you are" thing they've got going on.
That was a magnificently nice house.
I'm not sure how I feel about their "Gods eat people" thing. I suppose it's supported by the harvest god not to mention the Good Omens-esque ones, but though we know Gabriel wasn't properly a trickster god in the first place, when they were coming to that conclusion wouldn't anthropophagism have been a prerequisite if all gods seem to do that? (I may have just totally made "anthropophagism" up, but since "cannibal" usually applies to something eating the flesh of its own species I didn't think that applied).
In conclusion, that solved just about nothing. WTF Is Wrong With Sam bingo's still going, people! :D But at least someone on this fucking show has acknowledged that they need help. Since they ALL need help. Though since it's Supernatural "help" seems to translate as "getting physically injured." (Jesus, Dean, want to stop hitting your brother any time soon?)
I went straight out and added that to TV Tropes under "Downer Ending." Because, LOOK AT THAT SHIT.
Wrong kind of gay, though. :P (For the record, it's from Books of Magick, which I have never read).
It seems that the Spirit of the Century New Horizons expansion ( copy here, for the record) has fallen by the wayside. I was sort of sad to hear that some of the big issues were the author's health and his getting dispirited, but at the same time, I'm kind of glad. What I'd really rather have happened is for them never to have done the little "Remember, the 1920s were racist and sexist, so expect your non straight while male characters to have problems!" paragraph in the first place. Dude, we know that the past was unpleasant. Someone on RPGNet pointed out that the expansion was a way of saying "History sucked, and I'm gonna go fight it!", which made me feel more clement towards it - previously I had judged the whole thing ill-conceived. Someone else pointed out that a character with really high Leadership/Resolve skills could basically jump-start the civil rights movement, which I think sounds like an awesome plot (and, as the main book says, after Nazis is there really anyone more satisfying to beat up than the KKK?). But I think having an expansion saying "This is how you play non-straight-white-American-males!" is going to result in a bunch of well-meaning people being unfortunately heavy-handed. If a player in my game wants to play a gay disabled Mexican communist, they can do it. I may set the adventure in Mayan ruins and have Gorilla Khan hit on you, but that's the same amount of challenge/bother I'd give to any other player.
(Have I mentioned how excited I am for next weekend? My first time GMing! My first time gaming since Conbust, for pete's sake!)
Also, from S_D on DW, How Every Single Discussion About Sexism and Woman-Type Stuff on the Internet (and real life) Has Ever Happened And Ever Will Happen, Always, Forever, Until the Earth Finally Falls Into The Sun. (Or until the patriarchy is finally dismantled.)
Discussion of non-majority characters in historical settings made me think of a character in a now-defunct story I could turn into a Centurion. I went to my archive, and HOLY SHIT I have never written my alternate WWI story down, at least on the computer. Even if it's fallen by the wayside, that was some good stuff. It had Welsh dragons! And djinni! And naked Scandinavian witches! And suffragists! The main characters were Myfanwy, who rode dragons around Europe, and Salha, who sweet-talked djinni into blowing things up. I... sort of miss how I thought before fandom social justice stuff got to me, because I wrote whatever the fuck I thought was cool, and now I go "Oh, I bet that's problematic," and don't feel comfortable going forward. I wish I could find the fortitude to go "I'mma do this, and if it upsets someone, I can try to do better next time." Though maybe that last piece translates as 'Middle-class white girl has to check herself, whines'?
Thoughts on Supernatural 6.06:
OH MY GOD, SELF, CAN'T YOU WATCH ANY FUCKING THING ANY MORE? ARE YOU DAMAGED OR WHAT THE FUCK? I mean, obviously I'm not smart enough to skip when I know I should either.
Castiel, calm down and don't offer Dean any more alcohol.
I spent most of the time going "I don't care about the mystery of the week, I want the plot relevant information!"
I'm really unhappy about the developments with Dean and Lisa. She was pretty kickass, and I was hoping they would try to move him in a new direction, you know? But, if I was her I would be wanting a good explanation, preferably with physical evidence. Which he did not provide. I also really do not like the whole "you can't change who you are" thing they've got going on.
That was a magnificently nice house.
I'm not sure how I feel about their "Gods eat people" thing. I suppose it's supported by the harvest god not to mention the Good Omens-esque ones, but though we know Gabriel wasn't properly a trickster god in the first place, when they were coming to that conclusion wouldn't anthropophagism have been a prerequisite if all gods seem to do that? (I may have just totally made "anthropophagism" up, but since "cannibal" usually applies to something eating the flesh of its own species I didn't think that applied).
In conclusion, that solved just about nothing. WTF Is Wrong With Sam bingo's still going, people! :D But at least someone on this fucking show has acknowledged that they need help. Since they ALL need help. Though since it's Supernatural "help" seems to translate as "getting physically injured." (Jesus, Dean, want to stop hitting your brother any time soon?)
I went straight out and added that to TV Tropes under "Downer Ending." Because, LOOK AT THAT SHIT.