The launch of their last two licenses was done with a hiss, a roar and the promise of great support and interest. However as time marches on it seems that this isn’t quite happening.

A Song of Ice and Fire has had it’s core book, a GM screen and an adventure in the year an a half since it’s been released which is great. But the Campaign Guide is almost a year overdue and momentum seems to have really slowed. This is a great game and one which has given me many hours of fun, but despite winning ENnie awards and getting great feedback from the community, I worry that it isn’t going to get many more books released.

Dragon Age is the other major licence they’ve recently released and while this has only been around since late last year there has been very little in the way of news about new products. A book of adventures and adventure seeds called Blood of Feralden has been announced, but a release date hasn’t been. This game has the potential to tap into a whole group of gamers who don’t have any experience with dice, but unless GR keeps up the momentum on this licence I think it’s just going to fade away.

While I’m sure that Green Ronin is certainly very keen to support these lines and no doubt see them prosper, it is hard to stay enthused when there is next to no news of what’s coming up. I know that they are a small company and that they no doubt would rather be writing and producing games than creating hype. However part of keeping a fan base happy is news, rumor and titbits of information. It would be nice if they were a little more forthcoming with this sort of thing.

So the point of this post, if there is one, is that a great company like Green Ronin, who release interesting games with good systems needs to work a little harder to support the communities it has already established. I’m more than happy to accept that games like A Song of Ice and Fire and Dragon Age will have long approval processes. But if that is what is holding things up, tell me and while you’re at it, tease me with what’s next to come.

Not much happened in terms of plot in this one, most of it is dealing with the bomb Calvin dropped in the episode before and Alex not knowing how to deal with it all. As all of this is gone into in by Jenni in her blow by blow recaps, I think I’ll leave it at that.

But to sum up:

• Calvin and Alex barely talk when they wake up in Calvin’s bed the next morning, having spent the night together.
• Alex gets busted leaving the house by Martha, Calvin’s sister.
• Megan tries to sweet talk a priest into giving her some holy water, and when that doesn’t work steals it instead.
• Darius is still recuperating (either in hospital or at home, I was a bit confused).
• Calvin tries to find Gina, and discovers that shes disappeared. The car she borrowed is found in a parking lot near the train station and he assumes that shes left town.
• Megan is oblivious to whats happened between Alex and Calvin, even when the three of them hang out at her house trying to find out what happened to Gina. (Cue awkward silences)
• Alex totally confuses Calvin by bursting into tears in front of him, after he offers to just forget about the night before and she says she doesn’t want to.
• Calvin and Alex have another bonding cemetery moment when they’re attacked by two vamps. This fight doesn’t go so well and Calvin ends up getting bitten.

Next time round well be getting back on track with the plot and edging that much closer to the end of Fall, Season 1!
Previously on Fall
Jennis write ups

Now unlike many geeks I’ve never been that into comics, and those comics I have been into haven’t been the Marvel/DC variety. However Joss Whedon directing and no doubt being involved in the script of a superhero movie had to be a good thing, right?

Unfortunately though, during a conversation with a friend, doubt started to creep in. Joss was going to make the most amazing Wonder Woman movie ever as well… but due to “creative differences” with the studio it got shelved.

And as we all know he often has ‘creative differences’ with the studio, and there are only so many times this can happen before you really have to ask. Is it Joss or the studio that’s being difficult?

I think anyone who has read this blog will know I’m a huge fan of what Joss creates. Buffy, (most of) Angel, Firefly, Serenity and Dollhouse are all fantastic. Hell I even liked Alien: Resurrection. But I can’t help but feel that there is a measure of diva in what drives him and that diva means that he has a habit of throwing his toys.

I hope I’m wrong and that The Avengers is a fantastic movie that hits our screens in 2012. But I’m keeping a certain level of healthy cynicism till then.

What do you think? Am I being too harsh on The Whedon? Or is there merit in what I say?

As you can tell from the trailer this movie is pretty unabashed and it’s title character is also convinced of his own greatness.

I enjoyed the explosions, Scarlett Johansson, Robert Downey Junior and the total over the topness of the whole thing. I thought they were a little heavy handed in the way they tied it all in with the upcoming (and potentially Joss Whedon directed, though that’s a whole other blog post) Avengers movie.

For a bit of mindless fun about a narcissistic genius who dons a shiny suit and flies around, you should totally go see it.

Awesome.

I’m … speechless….

We pick back up on Saturday morning, with Alex texting Megan to make sure she makes it to Darius’ for research-o-rama on the Hell Hounds. After a weird text exchange about the likelihood of Calvin’s presence, Alex jumps on her bike and heads to Darius’ via the park, where the police are still working hard trying to work it out.  One of the police dogs bark as she rides past, so Alex keep moving.

Meanwhile at Calvin’s house there is a knock on the door, he’s sleeping in so ignores it. Martha answers and then heads up to tell him it’s the police. He pulls himself out of bed (insert fan service moment) and goes down to talk to them. The one of the officers starts grilling him about the night before, while the other takes notes. He tells the kind of truth, about how a friend contacted him upset and they went for a walk before he caught a cab home. It’s going fine up until the point when they ask to search Kermit. Then Calvin asks for his lawyer.

While this is happening Megan turns up at Darius’ house, looking very hot with a new hair cut and clothes. Darius nervously lets her in, looking for vases. She bounces in looking for Calvin the others but is the first to arrive.

While Alex is still en route Martha calls and lets her know about that Calvin is talking to the police.

“It doesn’t sound good”.

Alex rides full tilt to Darius’ and lets them know that Calvin is in trouble. Megan and Darius start looking for magic ways to clear out the trunk full of incriminating monster hunting weapons in the back of Calvin’s car.

Alex is convinced that telling the truth is the best option. She heads off to the police while Darius plans to cast a spell called Transform Reality… what could go wrong? Megan hacks the telephone company to clean out any weird monster related texts from the records. Except the one between Alex and Calvin last night.

Alex turns on the water works and tells the police about finding the body and how awful it was. Darius casts his spell successfully (he thinks) and then watches as the police search the car and find nothing but innocent looking car tools and a fluffy pink bunny.

The police ask Calvin to sign a release form and tell him off for not telling the truth.

“Luckily a concerned member of the public stepped forward.”

He then jumps into Kermit and drives to Darius’. On the way he notices that all of his music has disappeared off his iPod, most of which was pirated. It’s been replaced with music from his parents CD collection.

The team meet back at Darius’ house. Darius is feeling very pleased with himself, the others are pretty creeped out by the spell. Calvin realises that his jacket changed while he was in the car from a heavy duty leather duster to an ordinary leather coat. He is not amused.

Figuring that the spell must still be active, Darius and Calvin look to see if other stuff gets changed by putting a battle axe into the car. When it comes out like a foam pointing finger they decide to see what happens if they put Evil Megan’s mirror in there. Alex manages to stop them before they can, and they notice that Darius’ hand is bleeding from being cut by the foam pointing battle axe.

While taking the mirror back downstairs Alex and Calvin have a moment.

Calvin: “Hey, so thanks for today… with the police. I’m guessing you were the member of the public who came forward? Thanks.”
Alex: “You’d do the same for me.”

Once everything is tidy the gang start trying to find ways to undo the spell on Kermit. Darius finds one called “Undo Witch’s Spell”, and starts doing the prep in the kitchen.

Everyone else stays a safe distance away, Alex is reading on the stairs keeping out of the way. As Darius does his casting, Alex starts to get the creepy feeling that she’s being watched or looked at. The spell continues and as it gets to the end Alex feels kind of strange.

They all troop outside to see if Kermit is back to normal. Unfortunately it looks like the spell was a no go. Kermit is still normalising things and so Alex decides that it’s time to move on to the Hell Hounds. She heads back inside and heads over to an axe on the wall and grabs it, her arms collapses and the axe drops to the floor.

It seems obvious that Darius’ spell did work, but not on Kermit. Instead it seems to have stripped Alex of her Slayer powers. Alex is in shock. She suddenly feels utterly exhausted and goes to sit on the couch, then lays down and falls asleep.

While Alex sleeps on the couch the others try to get another opinion by calling the witches in the UK. Luckily it seems that the coven has a 24 hour help line for just this sort of situation.

“Ah.. we were expecting your call. One of our pre-cogs warned us.”

After a bit of back and forward the help desk sends someone to help. The others turn at a voice to find the ventriloquists dummy, Sid, perched above the sleeping Alex. He may have been checking out her boobs.

Calvin: “Dude, not cool.”
Sid winks at him.
Calvin: “That is spooky.”
Sid: “I’m Sid.”

Calvin ushers them all into the library so that Alex can continue to sleep, and is tucking a blanket around her when she jerks awake.

Getting the story from Sid, it seems that Darius’ spell did strip Alex of her powers. She’s just regular old Alex again and she doesn’t know how to deal with it.

Escaping outside Alex is contemplating the possibility that all of the dreams and plans she had a year ago could still happen. Alex never wanted to be a Slayer and now she can be normal again. Megan follows her and tries to convince her to be responsible and that the world needs her. Alex doesn’t really want to hear it and asks to be left alone.

While continuing to sit on the steps Alex hears a rustling in the bushes. It could be a cat, or it could be one of the Hell Hounds. Unfortunately for Alex she now knows all of the things that go bump in the night, and even though she can undo being a slayer she can’t undo what she knows. The bushes rustle again and she gets up to go inside.

Alex: “Ok, lets do it then. What do you need?”

Alex, Sid and Megan head up stairs to a spare room to start doing the ritual. Just as they are about to start Alex turns to Sid,

Alex: “Can I have someone, just watching?”
Sid: “I don’t really want the distractions…”
Megan: “I’ll be really quiet.”
Alex: “Wait, what’s Calvin doing?”
Megan: “What do you mean?”
Alex: “Never mind.”

Alex then settles down on a chair as Sid tells her to concentrate on a crystal. His voice pulls her into a hypnotic state and suddenly she’s in some strange cave like place with a threatening black form coming out of the floor. The form washes over her and despite every atom telling her to fight it, Alex let’s the thing seep beneath her skin. Next she feels it start to try and take over her sense of self.

Alex screams and starts fighting it with everything she can.

Calvin and Darius run upstairs when they hear the scream and burst into the room to see what’s going on. Alex is on the floor and Sid is watching impassively as she thrashes around.  She finally settles down and Calvin turns to Sid:

Calvin: “Is she alright?”
Sid: “I guess she had some issues to work through. It looks like she went a couple of rounds with herself. She might be rejecting part of her nature.”

Calvin scoops her up and after directions from Darius takes Alex into a spare room to let her rest. Megan follows as well and the two of them keep an eye on Alex as she sleeps after her ordeal.

This peace lasts for about 10 minutes, after which Alex wakes up and upon seeing Darius launches out of bed, batting Megan aside like a rag doll. Alex’s eyes are all glowy and yellow and she lifts Darius up by the scruff of his neck.

Alex (with a weird echoy voice): “No more magic. More reading.”

Darius is then dropped in a heap and Alex also collapses again. Calvin is suddenly there again, scooping her up and putting her somewhere more comfortable.

Calvin takes Megan downstairs to try to tend to the bump on her head, before deciding that the best thing to do is make sure she doesn’t sleep for awhile and so they stay up watching TV.

The next morning people are tip toeing around, when Alex wakes with a scream from a dream of blackness engulfing her. Not a fun way to wake up on a Sunday morning. As Sid talks to her to help her calm down the others make their way to the room. There is an awkward moment when Alex notices the big bruise on Megan’s face, and asks what happened. The crew then find out a little more about why there are suddenly so many Slayers.

Heading downstairs for breakfast Alex spies the front page of the paper with the headline “Another Body Found”, which rather strengthens her resolve. While munching on a large bowl of cereal Alex maps out where all of the bodies have been found. It seems that the Hell Hound is making a line out of town, towards the forest, snacking happily as it goes. The team make a plan to meet up later that afternoon (Alex realises she should really make an appearance at home today) and clear out of Darius’ house.

Leaving him to go into the garage to attempt to remove the spell on Kermit for a second time. Which he dutifully does, after preparing slightly more carefully this time. Feeling rather impressed with himself he heads back inside.

When Alex turns up again a little while later Darius starts off saying sorry for the night before, and then smuggly places the axe (which yesterday was turned into the pointy finger). Alex looks at it, then back at Darius, before launching into him.

Alex: “You messed up last night, and the thing I had to go through to get back what your spell took was so hard. You have no idea how hard it was. I will wake up screaming because of that. This stuff is bigger than you. It’s bigger than me. For all we know it will destroy the world.”

Darius then tries to defend himself saying that all he wants to do, and Alex clearly doesn’t believe him. They’re glaring at each other when Calvin drives up in a car borrowed from his parents. Megan arrvies about the same time and when she heads into the house Darius goes too.

Calvin: “So….uh, are you ok?”
Alex: “Not really.”
Calvin: “So, you want to go kill some stuff?”
Alex: “Yeah.”

Now that the whole crew is together they set to hunting Hell Hounds. The plan is pretty simple, go to the butcher’s shop which is on the Hell Hound’s planned route and kill it. They assume that the blood from the shop will be a sure draw card. It turns out that their assumptions are right on the money. They pull up and all pile out of car and start looking around the alley. Alex hears something coming out of the darkness and gets ready to kill it very dead. Calvin steeps forward too and as Alex tries to take it out the Hound goes for her knee caps. Calvin and Darius then swing their axes with all of their strength hitting the beasty for an two impressive hits and it goes down in a heap. Alex didn’t even get a chance. They stand around a little in shock by how easily they took it down when a light comes on in a near by building.

Alex (almost growling): “Let’s go.”
Darius: “What about the body, shouldn’t we do something with it?”
Calvin: “It’s not our problem.”
Darius: “Yet.”
Calvin: “What are they going to do? “You killed an animal we don’t believe exists. We’re really angry?”
Darius: “True.”

Considering how much of an anti climax the fight was Alex gets Calvin to drive to the nearest cemetery, after all a girl has to burn through her aggression somehow. Calvin offers to drop the others home, but they choose to stick around.

They quickly find what Alex is looking for. A hapless, lonely vampire. He has a bit of a start when he sees their assorted weaponry and takes off full tilt. Alex takes off after him, utterly unconcerned whether the others follow or not. They do, but are some way behind. Alex catches up to the newbie vamp and starts pummeling  him for all she’s worth.  This goes on for sometime and when Calvin, Darius and Megan turn up she is crouched over the prone vamp driving his head into the pavement. The sight of of Alex being so cruel, even to a vampire visibly upsets Megan and she begs Alex to finish it.

Alex obliges and twists his head off, dusting him. As she gets up and turns round the others see tears streaming down her face. Megan’s attempt to comfort her a rebuffed and Alex walks alone back to the car.

The episode ends with Calvin driving them home through the dark, as Alex contemplates that her Slayer-ness seems much darker now than it was before.

Previously on Fall
Jenni’s reports

I travelled with a friend down the highway to Geelong to watch Serenity in a pre-release screening. I had a good time, liked the film, saw it once again in the cinema on general release with another friend and bought it when it came out on DVD in order to help boost sales and convince them to make more. We now know that that’s never going to happen but what the hell. At least I have it on DVD right?

But here’s the problem:  I’ve never watched the DVD. Beyond that, I’ve never revisited the original Firefly series (which I also own on DVD). I’m currently watching (extremely slowly) Buffy with my highly horror adverse wife and I’m enjoying it – we’re only two episodes in and it’s still astonishingly amateurish but it’s fun. When I think of Firefly now I think of it being (a) slightly forced and (b) unfinished. Now I know that (b) is not Whedon’s fault but (a) certainty is. Firefly, I suspect, is not going to go down in history as one of the great shows. If Fox hadn’t canned it in  mid-stream, the reasons it is so missed would have been removed. Hopefully it would have provided new reasons to be missed, but I don’t think we’d seen them yet.