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It’s easy to find the creepy elements in bad stories. Often those elements are why a story is bad in the first place. Few people are lining up to defend the invasive underwear shots in Star Trek Into Darkness or the blatant misogyny of Michael Bay’s Transformers films. … read more »
It’s no secret that The Last Jedi diverges significantly from its predecessor, The Force Awakens. Whether this is the death of the Star Wars franchise or the greatest event in the history of science fiction depends on who you talk to, but it’s clear that … read more »
Kesha Cherian swore as alarms blared. A blip inched toward her ship on the sensor display. Another ship, running without transponders, was on a collision course with just the right amount of momentum for boarding. Pirates. Read more »
The Force is an energy field created by all living things, except it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with living things. Is it just a collection of Jedi superpowers, or does it mean something more? What is the ‘Dark Side,’ and can there … read more »
While not all antagonists are full villains, they all provide opposition to the protagonists. It’s their job to drive the story’s conflict, and to do that job well, it must feel like they can defeat the heroes. One reason we remember the likes of Darth Vader and … read more »
Years back, I wrote some rules for using fake words. Some people grumbled that it banned writers from using conlangs (constructed languages) altogether, and that’s not far from the truth. The bottom line is that your conlang won’t give your audience the same joy it … read more »
Classes have been in roleplaying games for as long as there have been roleplaying games. But why? What benefits do classes provide, and are they worth it? Ari returns for a third episode to discuss how classes work, what they bring to a game, which … read more »
Star Trek is a difficult setting to roleplay in. The canon is labyrinthine and confusing, with material drawn from hundreds of episodes, many of which contradict each other. The aesthetics vary widely depending on the time period and the series, making it hard to imagine they exist in the same universe. … read more »
Star Wars: The Last Jedi is an ode to the power of failure. The main characters fail at many of their plans. However, the more they fail, the more they learn and grow. This film shows the benefit of learning from mistakes, giving this tale … read more »