Is it worth it: Fright Night?

In a small in isolated town out side of Las Vegas, former nerd Charley Brewster is starting to...

"Vampire"

...er there have been several unexplained...

"It's a vampire, traditional rules of stakes, sunlight, garlic and crosses apply. Let's hurry up."

Ummm well there is a detailed mystery of who this dark stranger...

"New neighbor, 'Jerry.' Stop stalling."

Fine... "Fright Night" is a fast paced, no apologies vampire movie. It doesn't waste any time setting up the plot or introducing the characters. It quickly establishes that the usual vampire rules are in effect. It doesn't attempt to justify or explain them. BAM you are in a vampire movie, adapt to that or die painfully.

Their method of doing this was actually quite simple, they picked up the movie a quarter of the way in. Before the movie started, local geek and the movies first Cassandra, Ed has already suspected, track and started hunting vampire Jerry. As he is played by Mclovin' Christopher Mintz-Plasse, he very well could have been the main character of the movie, if he wasn't made to be part of a Jerry's well balanced diet within the first 10 minutes of the movie.

No, the protagonist of the movie (although I'd argue against calling him the star) is actually Charley Brewster, played by Anton Yelchin. If their name isn't familiar to you then it was the guy who played the new Chekov in the Star Trek reboot and Kyle Reese in Terminator: Salvation, so fantasy/scifi should feel pretty comfortable to him. The premise of the character is that he is a former geek who is ashamed of his nerdy ways because now he is hanging out with the cool kids and has a super hot girlfriend. Anton does a great job in this roll, playing a character who is flawed but likable. He proves himself to be just the right amount of "resourceful survivor" and "kid way out of his league", that makes for an interesting hero in a horror flick.

Toni Collerre and Imogen Poots are the hero's mother and girlfriend respectively. I don't want to give away too much about what happens to them later on in the movie but early on it follows as you'd expect. The characters are not very fleshed out, but they are not completely two dimensional either. They have enough character to leave make the audience care about their well being, but don't take so much screen time that it bogs down the story. Enough of them however... time for the starts of the show.

David the Tenth Doctor Tennant. Not playing some brilliant time lord here. No, here he is playing a fowl mouthed famous stage magician with professed knowledge of the occult. He is the go to guy for vampire lore, a person who seems every bit as dangerous as the vampire the hero is facing, a collector of holy artifacts and weapons, and he wears leather pants. Tight... tight leather pants. Despite his... distracting wardrobe, he manages to play an interesting and mysterious character, arguably the one with the most dimension.

Colin Farrell plays a fantastic vampire. As McLovin' says, he is not some doey eyed love struck heart throb, he is a killing machine. He is Jaws. He kills people brutally, drinks their blood, then goes and watches some TV. He is old, powerful, and smart. He is everything a vampire villain should be.

So... the acting is great, how about the rest of it? As I mentioned the stories pacing was very fast paced, but it never felt rushed. It hits the ground running, and gives us just enough pauses so we can catch our breath before we start running for our lives again. I saw the movie in stunning wonderful 2D, because well, I'm not a huge fan of 3D and tend to avoid it when I can. There are some VERY obvious scenes that are meant to exploit the 3D. It actually looked good but I could see it being distracting for some. Also noticeable are the product placements. Man Century 21 must have spent some serious coin on this movie. Now that said, they actually did a great job making the placements not only make sense, but actually become important to the plot in a few cases.

The story is what makes or breaks a movie for me, like most people I would think...or at least hope. Fright Night delivers this well. It manages to be both traditional and fresh when it comes to a monster movie. The movie seems predictable for the most part, but it does manage to keep you on your toes or even surprise you. There is no "big twist," so the surprises are natural and flow well with the rest of the story. Again I don't want to spoil the ending, but let me assure you, it doesn't disappoint.

So is Fright Night worth it? As someone who has never seen the original, yes. I knew of the original movie but never have actually seen it. This movie now makes me want to. It is well done on multiple levels, has a great mix of horror and really funny moments. Fright Night, it starts off strong, and stays that way.

Is it worth it: Ninja: Legend of the Scorpion Clan?

Stealth... misdirection... cunning... cats...

These are the tools at the disposal of the ninja. AEG's new strategy game of hidden movement. Created by Fréderic Moyersoen, this game is for one to four players. The action takes place in a Lion stronghold, one player playing the diligent and numerous guards of the Lion clan, the other a pair of ninja trying to carry out their secret objectives.

I must start this off with the precursor, I am a fan of Legend of the Five rings and, when I played the CCG, I played the Scorpion clan primarily, and the Lion clan as my "back up." Needless to say, when I first learned about this game, I was pretty excited. While I have removed myself from the CCG lifestyle (which will probably be a focus of an upcoming "Is it worth it") I am still a large supporter of AEGs creation.

For those of you who do not know, the Legend of the Five Rings is a collection of games that share a rich, detailed story in the world of Rokugan. Originally a collectible card game, it has also spawned a now defunct miniatures war game, as well as a role playing game which is currently on its forth edition. As the newest addition to the L5R family, Ninja has a lot to live up to.

Having the chance to play a few games on both sides, I'll try to answer the question that any potential buyer must ask himself, "is it worth it?" I am going to try to be as objective about this as I can be, but remember, my name "facedown ninja" came from somewhere...

The game play revolves around each player having a paper copy of the game board. The Scorpion player uses this paper to track down where he actually is on the board, and where he places things like secret passages and ropes to scale walls. The Lion player uses the board to mark down where all the different possible mission objectives are, two out of the six the Scorpion player actually will actually care about, as well as hidden guards and "traps."

As the Scorpion player does actions that raise suspicions; the alert level increases and the Lion player gets to draw more cards and thus take more actions. The guards have a fairly short term memory however, and as long as the Scorpion player lays low for a while, the alert will decrease. Time is on the Lion's side: the Scorpion has only twenty turns to complete both objectives and escape. Not only that but the Scorpion is limited to the cards he starts with, and can not draw any more.

As a quick run down

Lion Advantages:

-Card Draw

-Number of units

-Unlimited Resources

-Knowledge of where the objectives are

-Time Limit

Scorpion Advantages

-Invisible movement

-Faster Units (3 spaces vs 4)

-Stronger Abilities

-Knowledge of secret passage

-Tougher (3 hits to kill vs 1)

The board looks great. The pieces are all great. I especially love that the traitor's cat is actually on the pawn. They give you plenty of maps to use, plus you can go online here to download the pdf to print out more copies. There is easily the potential for making new maps to try a different layout, although the given one seems like it has enough room and diversity to not get old any time soon.

For all that is good about the game, there are some note worthy penalties. Some of the spaces are not quite clearly defined on the map, the walls are not highlighted and are a similar color as the stone pathways, leading to some confusion. This is not too big of an issue however as the paper maps have everything clearly labeled. Still a better border around the walls would have helped. There also seems to be a misprint in one of the sample pictures in the rule book. The Lion player can put some sleeping guards in specifically marked spaces that he can wake up later. In a sample picture it shows the donation of a sleeping guard (an S) on a space without the mark. Maybe I misread it or maybe an earlier version of the game had a mark there.

Then there is an issue with listening. The mechanic itself works great. The further a ninja moves, the more spaces away he can be heard. So if he moves two squares then any guard two spaces away from where he ended up can hear him. The guard can then move two spaces if he did hear him. Walls and moats do not affect hearing, only actual number of spaces away. All of this is clearly explained on the card. What is NOT explained is that after the guard hears him to raise the alert by one. Granted the card does say to check the complete rules for listening and even lists the page number... but... why?

This was the only other part of the listening rule... and it is very important, but it is not mentioned on the card. This is the main way Lion is able to make sure they have card draw. There seemed to be room on the card to put that in, especially if you take out the message that says effectively "to read the part of the card that we didn't want to put on here, go to page 8." I am harping on this because I made this mistake the first game I played, and I had a really bad time that game. I was playing Lion and it only lead to frustration. I figured that the guards had no real chance against the ninja, that the game isn't balanced at all, and the game itself failed to be fun (for the lion anyways, my opponent had a smile on her face as she completed her missions without a guard so much as noticing that Akodo Sven hasn't come back from the bathroom yet .)

As it turns out, the game is well balanced. After that mistake was corrected every game I had sense then was reasonably close, with both players either drawing, or could have drawn if I didn't get greedy.

The box says it takes 45 minutes to play, after my first game I was ready to call AEG a filthy filthy liar, but after several goes... yeah I can very well picture it taking that long. A better guess would be an hour from what I've seen, but I suppose once you really get used to it, you'll be able to go much faster.

The game is really designed for two players, and it shows. Adding more players just splits up the existing pieces and actions between more players. I have not had the chance to try it with four people yet, but I think it'll work... although it is obviously ideal for two. There are some optional rules in the back to add some replayability. It is quick to set up as well as quick to clean up. The box holds everything quite nicely.

At about $50 I would say that yes, this game is worth it. It isn't a "must have" by any stretch of the definition, but it offers a lot for the price. You do not need to be a previous L5R player to enjoy the feel of sneaking around an enemy castle and opening up a can a Tenchu on some poor "honored house guest." The art work is stunning, the game play is solid, and the theme is very immersive. Ninja: Legend of the Scorpion Clan, coming to a shadow near you.

Click here to read Sara's take on the game (with actual pictures!)

Character Profile: Xander

Xander
Race: Drow
Class: Warlock (Dark Pact)/ Multiclassed into Paladin
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Xander heard whispers early on in his life. Promises of power from unknown forces. Growing up in the brutal world of the Underdark, he needed any help he could get. Thus he began tapping into the arcane powers of the creatures of shadow. The female priestesses of Lolth thought VERY poorly of him. It was not his place to have power that wasn't granted by their goddess, and thus he was a threat that had to be eliminated. They chained him and tortured him, hoping to break him before his death. Imagine his surprise when, a young female paladin slaughter his jailers. For reasons he still does not understand, she freed him and the two escaped together.

Joining up with other adventures, Xander proved himself to be useful, if double edged, companion. Willing to drain the life energies of his allies, his magic carves devastating effects into his enemies. Often the paladin took the brunt of this damage, with a smile. Xander proved to be sadistic, twisted and most surprising of all... loyal. When ever the paladin was in danger he put himself in harms way to protect her, and unleashed the full fury of his might to protect her. While the rest of the party always felt uneasy by he presence, something Xander himself delighted in, the paladin always said she felt safer when he was around. He might never admit it, but he cared for her deeply. Already he had taken some of her teachings to heart... although it remains to be seen if it will be enough to turn him from the dark path he walks upon.



Author's Note
Xander was a short lived character of mine. Made in conjunction with Mary's paladin character, I was able to make an "evil aligned" character that was more then just the Black mage/Richard/ Belkar. He had a strong reason for being in the party and the chance for real character growth. Sadly the campaign he was in only lasted about 3-4 sessions, but I was able to do subtle but powerful bits of growth with him. The time that Mary's paladin was knocked down (which happened a lot to that character if I remember correctly...) He really did flip out and protected her relentlessly.

The other thing I enjoyed was I don't usually play the damage dealer... and Xander was a hell of a damage dealer. His build allowed for incredible amounts of damage for a low level character. It was fun to see an enemy and just say "no, you should not live" and make that come true in one standard action.

Also, naming him after a Buffy character was fun. If I remember correctly, some of the other party members did the same.

Character Profile: Gadeebee Seebo Grizzley DePaul of the Turan Clan III

Maestor Gadeebee Seebo Grizzly DePaul of the Turan Clan III
Race: Gnome
Class: Artificer (originally a bard without perform)


Gadeebee was always innovative and creative, believing that curiosities should almost always be explored. He found at a young age that he was able to grasp concepts and idea that stumped even the wisest of elders in the Turan clan. A humble little village of gnomes, they had lead relevantly peaceful lives, until the trolls showed up. The trolls laid siege to them, only to be driven off by a group of adventurers. Gadeebee instantly fell in love with the idea of becoming an adventurer, and immediately proved his worth by crafting useful items for the adventurers. Arranging a series of traps around his home filled with acid and alchemist fire, the trolls were beaten back. His home safe, he decided that he should explore more of the world and became an adventurer himself.

Gadeebee is an exceptionally daring adventurer, surviving thanks more to luck and quick thinking rather then any combat ability. He has a bad habit of finding traps... and purposefully activating them to see how they work. His plans often bordered on the insane (making a giant buzzsaw bicycle to deal with zombie lumberjacks) but often led to amazing results (defeating an army using only level 0 spells) sometimes to epicly absurd levels (punching a positive energy hole the size of a kingdom in Ravenloft.)

Gadeebee ended up marrying his love, rubbed elbows with the great gob Jobob, and founded his own school. He proved that knowledge and creativity was a force as great as any army, as any spell, as any god.


Author's notes
I will never have a character as memorable or successful as Gadeebee was. Through some VERY generous DM interpreting the rules, and a blunt focus in what he did, he was able to create ANY magical item, without cost, in 8 hours. This ability was actually not abused as much as it could have been, with Gadeebee preferring silly, creative solutions rather then blunt force. Of course when an explosion was required... he made a point to make the biggest one he could, just ask Ravenloft :D

The idea of a purely support caster was something I've done before. In a short lived game that was run by either Tim or John, I played a bitter, cranky Dwarf Wizard that had only buff spells. That character was based off of Dr. Smith, complete with creative insults to the party fighter who did all of the dwarfs heavy work for him. Despite it only running maybe 5 sessions I had a ball playing him and vowed a way to bring him back.

A couple of years later I started college, met Brian, and got back into DnD. I showed up on day one with a character with no combat ability other then tricking a goblin that he should drink a bottle of alchemist fire... no really.

Gadeebee's name, well the "Gadeebee" part, was actually from the sound that I imagined what a dying goblin sounds like. The rest of it was from what I read that in 3.5 DnD, Goblins were given a different name by each of their family members and each important figure in their life. I fell in love with the idea and decided I wanted to make him have the longest name that I could remember.

I did have his back ground story about the Turan clan being at odds with the troll planned as an explanation for him always keeping Alchemist fire and acid on hand... nothing came of it though.

Character Profile: Prince Sirius

Sirius Nathan Beryl

17 Years old at start of story.

5'10

Long, straight, White hair

Fair Complexion

Skinny

Dark Blue Eyes

Armor: Black with a silver trim

Weapon: Wields a light fencing sword as opposed to the heavier swords his brothers use.

The youngest of the five Beryl brothers, Sirius was born after the King had disappeared. Due to the timing and his appearance being strikingly different than his father or brothers, it was a popular rumor that he was from an affair. Being named after a prominent general certainly compounded those rumors.





He was the only one of his brothers who enjoyed any sort of affection from his mother. She took interest in his upbringing outside of the harsh lessons she gave all her children. Drakin was old enough of the time to watch over him as well, playing more of a fatherly figure to him then one of a brother. Because of this attention and genuine care showed to him, he grew up believing what his family was doing was for the best, even as they carved the world asunder with war.





Despite being foretold to be the "Destroyer of Hope" he himself is actually the most optimistic of the brothers, besides perhaps Jerik. He earns his title by being the messenger send to other kingdoms and announcing Negus's ultimatum: surrender and be integrated into Negus's society and enjoy full privileges and rights as citizens, or be completely razed to the ground.


Despite being a less accomplished swordsman then most Negus soldiers, he actually remains a huge threat on the battle field. He has the supernatural ability to heal others, with but a touch life threatening injuries fade to mere scars. There are limits to how much he can heal in a given time and it seems he is much more capable in healing Shaokin then he is normal humans. Much of his training involves learning as much about medicines, antidotes and alternative treatments. For any injury or poison that he comes across, he often can find multiple ways to save the patient, relying on his power only when there isn't time for a longer treatment.





Author Notes:
Sirius was created to fill in a gap. The number five felt natural to me at the time (I blame Captain Planet) so I wanted to make sure there were five brothers. The rest of the brothers created, I realized that, if they were an adventuring party. They would need a healer. Boom! Sirius was born. I based how he looked based off an old Magic the gathering card: Justice (which also went on to inspire the template of the armor all the brothers wear.)

He was the first of the Brothers to meet the current adventuring party. I wanted to emphases that these people, who are the big bad and are doing all these horrible things, are still people and have some good in them. As such I was heavy handed in Sirius explaining how good and right his brother Drakin was. DJ actually just called him a "fan boy" of his brother and I realized that was exactly how I was playing him. This cemented Sirius's personality for me, as well as reminded me to not fanboy my own creations again (at least not as blatantly)