My Life In Fandom: "Where Eagles Dare", Strategic Deception On Display

Veteran's Day 2020. I won't talk books on the subject; that's for the Study. No political hot-takes here; that's for Empire. Instead, I put to you one of my favorite war films, a 1968 film starring Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood: Where Eagles Dare.

This movie is about a commando raid during the later years of World War 2. It turns into an exercise in strategic deception, and when the major plot twist occurs a first-time viewer will be suitable surprised, a surprise that gets a second impact at the resolution when the deception achieves its objectives and wins the day.

This film was a blockbuster, and its appeal endures well past its year of original release. The reason? This is a film where no one carries the Idiot Ball. The viewer that actively engaging with the film as he views it will see that every player is acting as best he can given what he knows and has at his disposal, even those that are venal and petty.

This is a film that wears the trappings of a war film, but it is really a spy thriller. You could do a shot-for-shot remake today, put Tom Cruise in the lead, call it "Mission: Impossible 1945", and no one would claim that it isn't a solid MI film. That's because it is one, as the first Cruise film shows (because its plot is a Cold War style revisiting of the premise).

And that brings us to Strategic Deception.

You engage in Strategic Deception when your enemy is in a superior position to you, your allies are unreliable or incompetent, and your resources are limited to handle matters. By appearing to be where you are not, appearing to be what you are not, and appearing to be doing other than what you are, you keep the enemy unable to effectively respond to your moves- you seize and hold the initative, flushing out hidden enemies and forcing allies up or out. This is exactly what the protagonist does in the film. When the film ends, he knows who he can rely upon; his enemies have all--but the target of the operation--been exposed and killed, and his dead weight cut loose. He outmaneuvered his foes, and when victory is certain the target sensibly concedes defeat.

In a conflict between reasonable, but opposed, parties that sort of outcome--even in a hardball play-for-keeps thing like Total War--you can do that and be gracious in victory, as the protagonist was. Against unreasonable opponents this is not an option, and that means the only resolution is to kill or to die; the protagonist has neither qualms in killing such opposition, or guilt after the fact.

Don't be surprised if you see this displayed in everyday life, and soon. In the meantime, pick up this film; it's one that is always good for watching time and again.

My Life As A Gamer: Palladium's Guyver/Terminator Blend Has A Supplement

Remember what I said about tabletop RPGs being a lagging indicator? Palladium's Splicers is one; blend The Terminator with Bio-Booster Armor Guyver and sprinkle in some Noble House fuckery and that's this game right here. I've had the rulebook for years, so when this--the first supplement--came out I knew I'd get it sooner or later. It was part of the 2020 Grab Bag, and it's delivered on the promised shakeup of the base game.

And for those that don't know, Splicers takes place on a distant interstellar colony world where the planetary AI system went rogue and (of course) decided to Kill All Humans. To prevent using high tech weapons against it, the AI unleashed a nanoplague that makes all metal deadly to the touch of any living flesh; it does that T-1000 thing and attempts to kill you with living metal tentacles.

This lead to the collapse of Civilization and Mankind on that world, which also got cut off from the rest of the galaxy, so this is a wholly terrestrial game; no space action at all. Instead, you play a character that is able to use biological technology replacements--bio-weapons--that take the form of various sorts of powered armor or augmentations which lets you go toe-to-toe with the Machines of the AI.

The trick? The AI is actually AIs; there are multiple personae, with conflicting beliefs and objectives regarding Mankind, which makes fighting the Machines more difficult due to some places being false safe spaces under psuedo-benevolent AI control and others looking like one of the many scenes of post-Judgement Day Terminator. On the home front, Man is not united; it's split into Houses ruled by Warrior elites that have psuedo-Techpriest castes providing the wargear.

And, as is typical Palladium fare, there is a lot of broad-stroke information but sweet fuck-all for plug-and-play useability; Game Masters are expected to do a lot of rolling their own to make this game work, filling in the details that Palladium leaves blank.

No, the supplement doesn't really change that. It just adds a new--very hostile--AI persona ("Legion"), new toys and gear to play with, new hostiles to incinerate with your not-Guvyver's weapons, new rivals to play Diplomacy with, and yet more broad-stroke setting notes for you to work with when making this kit into something that actually works at the table.

And then there's the included campaign module. Remember what I said about The Mechanoid Invasion? What we have here is really a good outline for a Mil-SF novel series, and not a proper campaign module. While the results are not wholly pre-determined, the differences are so minor as to be irrelevant; you're along for the ride, again, and this has been a very persistent problem with Palladium's modules for decades- all due to a fundamental misunderstanding of what the medium is and how it works.

The problem is that the premise is good. The titular antagonist--Legion--is all about doing the Borg thing to both Man and Machine, making everyone and everything a drone in its hivemind. You get to play with all of the same fears that you get in a story like The Thing when players realize Legion can assimilate Splicers, you get Guyver-style action, and you get Terminator scenes of various sorts. The mistake is doing this in a narrative format, which is antithetical to what makes games work. You have to stop deciding what the result is; that's the players' problem, not the designer's. Just set up the board, determine Win and Loss Conditions, and GO.

This post is not about how to fix it; that's for another time. Neither is it about how to not make this mistake; ditto. This post is about whether or not you should get it, and the answer is: "Yes, but only at a steep discount, since you're looting it for playable bits and not the whole."

And yes, doing that as part of a Grab Bag is exactly that. You want one? Here you go.

My Life As A Gamer: Thoughts On "The Mechanoid Invasion Trilogy"

I received a Palladium Books X-Mas Grab Gab on Saturday. Four books on the Wish List provided were in the box. (Alas, no shirt, again.) I'll post about the others over this week, so come back later for those.

One of them is a collected reprint of one of Palladium's oldest publications: The Mechanoid Invasion Trilogy. I'll quote the store page's copy on its contents:

This is the original three Mechanoid Invasion® books published in 1981 and 1982 and first collected in one volume in 1998. The collection is back due to popular demand from YOU. It contains all the material that appeared in the original three Mechanoid Invasion® books plus some background history. This is the game and sourcebooks that launched Palladium Books.

Uncle Kevin ain't exaggerating here. This did put him, and Palladium, on the map and lead to publishing his fantasy RPG; that got him the TMNT and Robotech licenses, which got him to RIFTS, and here we are. (That's oversimplifying things, but not by that much.)

Tabletop RPGs are a lagging indicator of cultural presence. By the time someone puts together a commercial RPG product, the influences prompting its creation have already made their impact; what RPGs do is echo back what sticks and what doesn't from the larger entertainment business offerings. The Mechanoid Invasion Trilogy is no different, and it is readily apparent what went into its creation if you account for the year of its original publication: 1982.

That's just after that magical 1980 date where the zeitgeist shifted. D&D, by Kevin's own admission, already made its impression by then and Kevin was part of the first cohort to react to it and do the whole "D&D with Blackjack and hookers" routine. He's already become familiar with tabletop RPGs and their design by participating (as an artist, professionally) with what is now Classic Traveller, so he was right to think that he'd be able to make a go of it during the waning years of that initial heady rush period that was 1974-1981 or so.

In short, before D&D broke into Normieland.

This means the game very much reflects the wargame roots of the TRPG medium, and it also means that some of the problems that would become widespread are also present here. The big problem here is that this is very much a Campaign Path, akin to a contemporary Adventure Path; the results of each segment are, for all intents and purposes, predetermined and as such there is no tension and thus no reason for many gamers to bother as they cannot affect the outcome.

Yes, it's a railroad if played as-written; the only question is if specific PCs make it to the end-state or not.

The other issues that come up aren't design problems in the sense that they break the mechanics of play. The issues are that the titular antagonists make it hard for players to buy into the setting because it's an opposition that feels like a knock off of the Daleks from Doctor Who blended with elements of Fred Saberhagen's Berserker; the enemy is a species of ex-human mutants with genetic memory, psychic powers, and are nigh-omnicidal maniacs that genocide humanoids and devour their planets literally. They use hunter-killer robots to supplements their cyborg forces, and some of them are titanic in size (e.g. the Voltron-sized Spider Fortresses).

Another aesthetic issue is that, due to its time of publication, its SF sensibilities are those of the 1970s Space Opera- complete with the nihilism issues of that decade. If it were not explicitly set on a distant frontier colony world in the ass-end of the galaxy, there would be no way to sell this to more recent prospective audiences. As it is, this has value more in what not to do than the converse; you see these learned lessons in the Mechanoid book for RIFTS, which explicitly avoids all of the things that the original rightly got criticized for.

Would I buy this separately new? Not at full price. That's why I had it on the Wish List for a Grab Bag; that's a defacto 50% discount on whatever you get. Otherwise, if you can find it used in good condition, and at a good price, buy it. You learn a lot about game design, and technical writing, from analyzing the work of others- good and bad. You can also learn a lot about cultural influence by seeing how lagging indicators manifest what mattered when and where, and this book does both very well.

My Life In Fandom: 2021 Macross Media Announcements

Yeah, still on that Tamashii Nations kick. This time it's a Macross-related item. This stream premiered over the weekend. No English subs, but that's fine.

In addition to the new round of premium Macross toys, there's a few things to note here.

• There is a new Macross Delta movie. This will be supported with a new Walkure tour and new singles released.
• There will be a livestream of the 2008 Frontier concert film, unarchived, at the same Youtube channel linked above. This is on the 23rd at 20:00 JST, which is 6am Eastern and 3am Pacific. Because it won't be archived, there is no playback at that channel; be prepared to be present or to find some way to record it for later. (Because those import prices are killer.)
• There is a Macross portal (in Japanese; have your translator apps handy) here.

This also means no new Macross series or film, yet. It's been four years since Delta ended on TV. Sure, I'm all for waiting for quality, but I'm also certain that when we do it will be--at worst--as good as Delta (and Delta is not as bad as folks say; it's just a let-down from Frontier's excellence). The franchise remains in a big coasting phase at the moment.

And, of course, thanks to Harmony Gold you're going to need a VPN to get around the region blocks if you want to (otherwise) legally access the shows and films made available via streaming services or on YouTube. Fortunately, Harlock's got your back; you just have to ask nicely. As for physical media, again, you're importing; you aren't buying any AAA games on release if you do that.

*shakes fist at HG*

That deal, more than anything else, is what keeps Macross from being more than an also-ran to Gundam globally. When a wide swath of the planet can't even see what you produce without piracy because of a screwjob deal done in the early 1980s, you ought to reconsider not unleashing the lawyers to unfuck your position- especially if all this talk of a global pivot really is true.

Until that change comes, however, we Western fans will cope as we always have: importing, Harlock on speed dial, etc.

(P.S.: If, by some miracle, anyone can get me that VF-1S Japan exclusive for XMas, I will be grateful. Roy was the big brother I never had. Also, Minori Suzuki has that Girl Next Door smile that I can't resist.)

My Life In Fandom: Tamashii Nations 2020 (& Tie-Ins)

This weekend was the Tamashii Nations 2020 exhibit, which had a significant online component. Stream archive here.

It's here. Almost over, so catch it while you can.

In addition to some new figure debuts, Bandai took the opportunity to put up some old classics on their YouTube channels. I'm embedding some below.

There's plenty more. Bandai's Global channels (like Gundam Info) are where you'll find the stuff, with ENG subs on the CC track (so turn them on). There's non-mecha and newer stuff also.

But--and this is key--Bandai's doing its very best to replicate the TV model here; they push the merch good and hard, and I do not fault them for doing so. Anime, for most of the corporations, are loss-leaders for the Home Video and Merchandise sales they hope to rake in. Yes, "glorified commercial" is very much the point, but that doesn't mean you can just phone in the narrative work; you have to satisfy audience expectations or they won't buy the merch that lets them associate with the show's brand away from the screen.

You can see this with how fast Gundam course-corrects when an offering underperforms. Other franchises (e.g. Dragon Ball) do this too.

Now, I said yesterday that Japan perceives a need to reach out to foreign audiences to compensate for the drop off of domestic demand. This is one way that's being done, but it's a short-term solution; you can only milk a legacy IP so long before it runs dry, so it either has to be refreshed with faithful--i.e. audience-satisfying--additions (including remakes; this is how Space Battleship Yamato relaunched a decade or so ago) or those spiritual successors we all talk about but few actually hit with the audience.

And that's before legal fuckery. (*shakes fist at Harmony Gold*)

It's interesting to see the major corporations in Japan attempt to adjust their existing model to face the challenges before them. They are very risk-averse and conservative, but not blind; they know what's going on, and once they get a man to rally behind they can and do commit- see Nintendo rally around the Switch.

Crunchyroll and others may think they can buy their way to control, but don't count out the Japanese yet.

My Life In Fandom: They've Found A Crack In The Wall

I told you they'd be making a move sooner or later, and that's come.

Quoting Clownfish: "Crunchyroll is for sale, and its GM Joanne Waage seems to be doing some damage control by talking about how rosy the future looks for the streaming platform, and what great partners WarnerMedia and HBO Max have been. Translation: PLEASE don't sell us! What's really interesting is her comments pertaining to the relationship between the West and Japanese anime production studios. She seems to be saying that they need GUIDANCE from American studios to make "Global Franchises." I dunno... Japan seems to be doing JUST FINE on its own, thank you."

Sony buying Crunchyroll doesn't change CR's aim at pozzing anime at all. Sony is a Japanese company successfully converged and usurped from Japanese to Globohomo control. That aim at "global markets", as Friend of the Retreat Rawle Nyanzi has pointed out, is the weakness they aim to exploit due to Japan's disastrous birthrate- a birthrate induced in part due to demoralization into their culture since World War 2.

Crunchryoll, as with Netflix and Cartoon Network, have seen that getting on the production committees and bankrolling productions is the way to bring the poz. They also know that more informed Western fans--us--are communicating the containment efforts to our Japanese counterparts, but that information can only go so far so fast and only have so much impact due to corporate concerns of persistent quarterly growth vs. a local culture with a serious morale problem.

Rawle's right to see this as how they can get their hooks in, start demanding changes and being the wrecking process so that anime resembles Western animation's awful state and thus ruin yet another thing that those outside the Death Cult enjoy as an escape from same.

And don't think this can't be done to their live-action shows also, or that digital offerings can't be altered to fit Current Year like Western ones are.

CR can do this because you let them; they hate you, and yet you pay them. Stop doing that. NOW.

The containment strategy was always meant as a backup, but its primary purpose was as leverage: comply or we cut you off from the West. We'll see how well this goes, but since CR is backrolling trash productions that poison the well, productions it will own and thus push like it's better than sliced bread even as the shit burns your sinuses, I don't expect any surprises like Knights of Sidonia to come out of this- or even passable trash like the Castlevania series.

It's not in a fail state yet, but it will get there faster than we think if we don't figure out how to act now.

My Life In Fandom: Back Arrow Series Release Date, 2021.

Way late to the party, but thanks to the Tamashii Nations exhibit word's being spread again: Back Arrow, coming 2021.

Quoting a commentor: "The director of Code Geass, the writer behind all of my Gainax and Trigger favorites, and the character designer who also wrote and drawn Magi? Sign me up!"

It's going to be a good year, if we get to see it. Fortunately, bilingual mecha men need only wait for February. The rest of us are waiting for them to translate for us.