by Betsy Bryant
Doctor Roosevelt Pythagoras, a billionaire genius who has long denied his growing reputation as the world’s most dangerous supervillain, was finally brought to justice on Sunday after a raid on his volcanic lair in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
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Forget about your bleeding toenail. Forget about muscles that want to betray you. Forget about the you entirely. Right now, you’re nothing but the dance.
Now part of the Winter 2022 edition of The Avalon Literary Review, “Second Position” is a piece of flash fiction that tells the story of a woman’s transformation as she gives herself to a career in ballet. Delving into matters of introspection and gender identity, it is an exploration of a person’s psyche as she handles her own past under the harsh lights of the stage.
“Second Position” and many other great short stories are available now in The Avalon Literary Review, which is available in both print and PDF!
Einstein told the President to make a bomb. Instead, they made a man.
Meddling Heroes is a superhero murder mystery told from two perspectives: the world’s greatest supervillain and the woman who frees him from prison. Before we explore the characters in this drama, though, let’s break down the world in which it unfolds.
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The PCs don’t always get to a dungeon first. In the mini-adventure “Massacre in the Lost Warren,” they arrive after another group of adventurers has cleaned the place out. However, those treasure-hunting fools don’t know the dangerous magic they possess…
“Massacre in the Lost Warren” is a new mini-adventure for EN5ider. Subscribe now and you can get this adventure plus more than 400 other articles!
Folks who read this blog or who know me in person probably realize that I’m a pretty big shill for the Pathfinder RPG. While I love a lot of different role-playing games, Pathfinder has won my heart due to a combination of rules, art, and creative worldbuilding. On the other hand, while I have always appreciated the work Paizo Publishing has done in creating both Pathfinder and its sister game Starfinder, I’ve never particularly idolized the company. This week is a good example of why.
Paizo is currently embroiled in a major controversy of its own making, due largely to poor decisions by management and atrocious actions taken by some of its most influential members. The company has had some serious issues for a number of years, and many of those problems are now on display for the world to see. This has all raised questions in my mind about ethical consumption, especially when it comes to luxury products like RPGs. By continuing to buy Pathfinder products, am I condoning Paizo’s bad behavior?
The answer is…well, complicated.
The excellent Broadway musical In the Heights received a film adaptation this summer and, like most such adaptations, it went through some changes from stage to screen. Character arcs shifted slightly, some numbers got cut, and a few items got added to make the show more topical. But one particular change left me really thinking, and I feel that it subtly alters the tone of the entire story.
Consider the Mushroom Kingdom, the most common setting of the Super Mario Brothers franchise. Set aside the fact that its main populace consists of anthropomorphic mushrooms and focus instead on the downright bizarre social and political implications presented by Nintendo’s flagship franchise. Now consider how much weirder things get when you expand outward to games like Mario Party and Mario Kart.
This is a kingdom in a state of constant political upheaval, and yet there is no succession plan should the ruler be deposed. It lacks any sort of organized military despite being under constant assault by a literal fire-breathing dragon. The inhabitants show very little prejudice, and yet the social system is filled with incredible amounts of systemic bias.
Clearly, this strange kingdom bears a more thorough investigation.
Over the past 25 years, Pokémon has gone from a fad to a multimedia juggernaut. Dozens of video games, movies, TV seasons, comics, and more have sprang into existence around the cute little monsters.
These different properties have varied in some respects, but all have helped to apply at least a veneer of continuity on the imaginary world where pocket monsters roam the wild. And, in many ways…what these things show is pretty weird.
I’m not talking about weird as in the obvious, with bizarre creatures that live in tiny Pokéballs. I mean that the world we see in the different franchises, particularly the videogames, has some fascinatingly odd worldbuilding implications. Here are just a few of the things you’d have to contend with if you lived in the world of Pokémon.
Yes, I’m about to launch into a talk on politics. If you’re sick of the topic or just don’t care what a nerd on the Internet has to say about the United States government, go ahead and skip this one. I’ll go back to screaming about comic books and role-playing games next time around.
So, here we are at the end of the term of President Donald Trump–three words together that once seemed so far-fetched that they were a joke on The Simpsons. The past four years in the United States have been largely defined by political divisions, racist policies, and a frightening lean into outright fascism. They culminated in an attempted coup at the Capitol Building that claimed lives. This is not the first time this sort of thing has happened, and I’m sad to say it won’t be the last time. But maybe we can prevent it from happening again for a long while. Maybe we can even learn from it as we move forward?
I don’t really feel like trying to prognosticate about the future of the United States and its elected representatives. But January 6, 2021 is going to be a defining moment in American history, as will the immediate aftermath of the insurrection. As the chapter of President Trump comes to an end, I’d like to take a moment to reflect and get my thoughts down. As the incoming President Biden vows a return to normalcy–whatever that means–I think taking a snapshot of this moment in history that I can look back upon will be very useful in the days to come.
Something funny is happening in the Blakros Museum…again! After many break-ins and disasters, it’s time for the Pathfinder Society to assess the competence of museum curator, Nigel Aldain…and your PCs are the ones assigned to the job!
The Blakros Deception is one of the newest Pathfinder Society scenarios, and is a Pathfinder adventure for characters of level 5 to 8. It represents my first Pathfinder Society scenario using the second edition rules, and also happens to be one of the most fun writing projects I’ve been involved in! Playing around in the Blakros Museum gave me a chance to jump into a wide range of Golarion lore, and the opportunity to use the Influence rules from the GameMastery Guide opened doors to a new dimension of play.
You can pick up The Blakros Deception on Paizo.com and run it as part of the Pathfinder Society campaign or as a one-shot at your own table.
Charlie Brooks 