Okay, the title may be a bit misleading, although Adventure Time is a great inspiration for D&D. What I’m alluding to is the time of year when gaming gets “kicked up a notch.” What makes it so special? There are two things – the first is Halloween, and the second is fall television show premieres!
I think 2013 will go down in pop culture as the year of the geek. I can’t think of any other time in my life when everything I love is front and center, in-your-face, practically mainstream. The rpg industry has had an explosion of creativity, with really great games like 13th Age, Numenera, and Star Wars: Edge of the Empire quickly taking the foreground. Fantasy-based shows like Once Upon a Time and Arrow are back for a second season, and new geek shows like Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Heroes of Cosplay, and Fangasm are flooding the tv channels.
What does this mean for gamers? It means there is a plethora of inspiration out there, no matter what game you play, or what genre you prefer. Now more than ever, television is a geek smorgasbord from which you can pick and choose characters, plots, and general inspiration to take your rpg games to the next level.
Superheroes
Arrow is back for another season, and they’re piling on the superheroes. Besides Green Arrow, we’re supposed to get Flash, Black Canary, and Bronze Beetle this season. This show is a good example of how to present heroic action without straying into fantasy (or too far into sci-fi). Word on the street is that the Flash will have actual super powers, so we’ll see if the show transitions from hyper-realism into silliness or not.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had a solid debut. Every new show has to work out the kinks (some of the acting is lacking), but this show is doing something that I don’t remember seeing in any other show – it addresses the “superhero epidemic” from the perspective of the common man. We get to see how the public reacts as superheroes become public knowledge. Even just borrowing that for a D&D campaign makes it worth it, in my eyes; what kind of gossip can the adventurers pick up about the heroes and lordlings that have traveled before them? How has the magic of that sorcerer or the miracles of that cleric been embellished by tales and retellings in the local inn night after night? Do the villagers hail the adventurers as heroes, or boo them as unwanted visitors who disrupt routine and take up the already meager resources?
Fantasy
Once Upon a Time is back, and everyone is visiting Neverland. This show has done a great job of bridging the gap between reality and fantasy, making it an ideal model for a d20 Urban Arcana campaign. There’s also great inspiration for complex and interesting villains, such as Regina and Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin. Many game designers have said that a bad guy never thinks he’s doing the wrong thing – he always thinks he’s right. Both the above characters exemplify that, and the audience learns their motivations as the series progresses. Let’s hope Peter Pan as a bad guy is just as complex and interesting!
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland looks to do the same, but with a slightly earlier time period. It has yet to debut, but mixing Urban Arcana with d20 Past would probably do a good job of simulating it. Based on the appearance of the White Rabbit and the Red Queen, I’m guessing it will be campier than Once Upon a Time, but the two shows need separate identities so audiences don’t feel burnt out.
Horror
American Horror Story: Coven is the third installment of Ryan Murphy’s dark side. (It’s so hard to believe he also created Glee.) The first season covered ghosts, the second covered scientific experiments, possession by demons, and aliens, and the third looks to be about witchcraft. With Angela Bassett and Kathy Bates playing characters loosely based on real historical figures, there’s a lot of material to mine for an rpg, no matter what the setting.
Incidentally, New Orleans is getting a lot of love on tv these days. Not only is Coven set there, but also the CW’s The Originals, a spin-off of The Vampire Diaries. (Top Chef is also set in New Orleans this season, but that’s not related to our topic.)
Dracula debuts later this month, and it looks to be a lavish production on par with some of HBO’s period pieces. Set in Victorian England, it would make a good basis for a d20 Past or Ravenloft campaign. Since the vampire is the title character, I assume it will paint him as an anti-hero in the same vein as Tony Soprano, Hannibal Lecter, and Walter White (we viewers can think he’s sexy and cool, but he WILL kill people, and some of them won’t deserve it). I hope the writers don’t try and diminish the evil within the character, even though there’s the temptation to do so, because of the Twilight movies. Vampires may be fascinating, but they are undead, and they are irrevocably evil.
I never watched The Vampire Diaries, in truth because I heard it was based on a series of books much like the Twilight series, and I avoided that sparkly vampire crap like the plague. However, I’ve seen previews for The Originals, and it instantly brought back memories of reading Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire. That book was set in New Orleans, focused on vampires, and wove an interesting and compelling story. The Originals looks to do the same, set in modern times. I have a sneaking suspicion I might be moved to dig out my Vampire: The Requiem books and start a campaign based on the series, if it’s as good as the previews looked.
Sleepy Hollow blew me away with its creativity. The short story by Washington Irving blended with the American Revolution AND the Book of Revelations from the Bible? Pure Genius! After two episodes, I think it’s moving a bit too fast, and I hope it doesn’t turn into a “monster of the week” show like Supernatural. (Don’t get me wrong – I love Supernatural, but its camp and humor allow the formulaic monster-each-episode to work much better than the seriousness with which Sleepy Hollow has adopted.)
What can I say about Walking Dead? The setting is great for d20 Modern or a near-future D&D Gamma World campaign. Zombies are the only fantastic thing; everything else is a post-apocalyptic drama about the struggle between good and evil. Imagine a D&D campaign where the local lord is based on the Governor, and as the characters advance in level, they see more and more behind his façade until he transforms into a death knight, or reveals himself as a dread necromancer, or some other uber-villain who can provide a challenge all the way to epic levels. The prison is an abandoned castle with undead threats constantly clawing their way up from the depths. I have many more ideas than I have time on my hands…
What shows have provided you with inspiration for gaming this fall and winter? Let me know in the comments below.
I think 2013 will go down in pop culture as the year of the geek. I can’t think of any other time in my life when everything I love is front and center, in-your-face, practically mainstream. The rpg industry has had an explosion of creativity, with really great games like 13th Age, Numenera, and Star Wars: Edge of the Empire quickly taking the foreground. Fantasy-based shows like Once Upon a Time and Arrow are back for a second season, and new geek shows like Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Heroes of Cosplay, and Fangasm are flooding the tv channels.
What does this mean for gamers? It means there is a plethora of inspiration out there, no matter what game you play, or what genre you prefer. Now more than ever, television is a geek smorgasbord from which you can pick and choose characters, plots, and general inspiration to take your rpg games to the next level.
Superheroes
Arrow is back for another season, and they’re piling on the superheroes. Besides Green Arrow, we’re supposed to get Flash, Black Canary, and Bronze Beetle this season. This show is a good example of how to present heroic action without straying into fantasy (or too far into sci-fi). Word on the street is that the Flash will have actual super powers, so we’ll see if the show transitions from hyper-realism into silliness or not.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had a solid debut. Every new show has to work out the kinks (some of the acting is lacking), but this show is doing something that I don’t remember seeing in any other show – it addresses the “superhero epidemic” from the perspective of the common man. We get to see how the public reacts as superheroes become public knowledge. Even just borrowing that for a D&D campaign makes it worth it, in my eyes; what kind of gossip can the adventurers pick up about the heroes and lordlings that have traveled before them? How has the magic of that sorcerer or the miracles of that cleric been embellished by tales and retellings in the local inn night after night? Do the villagers hail the adventurers as heroes, or boo them as unwanted visitors who disrupt routine and take up the already meager resources?
Fantasy
Once Upon a Time is back, and everyone is visiting Neverland. This show has done a great job of bridging the gap between reality and fantasy, making it an ideal model for a d20 Urban Arcana campaign. There’s also great inspiration for complex and interesting villains, such as Regina and Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin. Many game designers have said that a bad guy never thinks he’s doing the wrong thing – he always thinks he’s right. Both the above characters exemplify that, and the audience learns their motivations as the series progresses. Let’s hope Peter Pan as a bad guy is just as complex and interesting!
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland looks to do the same, but with a slightly earlier time period. It has yet to debut, but mixing Urban Arcana with d20 Past would probably do a good job of simulating it. Based on the appearance of the White Rabbit and the Red Queen, I’m guessing it will be campier than Once Upon a Time, but the two shows need separate identities so audiences don’t feel burnt out.
Horror
American Horror Story: Coven is the third installment of Ryan Murphy’s dark side. (It’s so hard to believe he also created Glee.) The first season covered ghosts, the second covered scientific experiments, possession by demons, and aliens, and the third looks to be about witchcraft. With Angela Bassett and Kathy Bates playing characters loosely based on real historical figures, there’s a lot of material to mine for an rpg, no matter what the setting.
Incidentally, New Orleans is getting a lot of love on tv these days. Not only is Coven set there, but also the CW’s The Originals, a spin-off of The Vampire Diaries. (Top Chef is also set in New Orleans this season, but that’s not related to our topic.)
Dracula debuts later this month, and it looks to be a lavish production on par with some of HBO’s period pieces. Set in Victorian England, it would make a good basis for a d20 Past or Ravenloft campaign. Since the vampire is the title character, I assume it will paint him as an anti-hero in the same vein as Tony Soprano, Hannibal Lecter, and Walter White (we viewers can think he’s sexy and cool, but he WILL kill people, and some of them won’t deserve it). I hope the writers don’t try and diminish the evil within the character, even though there’s the temptation to do so, because of the Twilight movies. Vampires may be fascinating, but they are undead, and they are irrevocably evil.
I never watched The Vampire Diaries, in truth because I heard it was based on a series of books much like the Twilight series, and I avoided that sparkly vampire crap like the plague. However, I’ve seen previews for The Originals, and it instantly brought back memories of reading Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire. That book was set in New Orleans, focused on vampires, and wove an interesting and compelling story. The Originals looks to do the same, set in modern times. I have a sneaking suspicion I might be moved to dig out my Vampire: The Requiem books and start a campaign based on the series, if it’s as good as the previews looked.
Sleepy Hollow blew me away with its creativity. The short story by Washington Irving blended with the American Revolution AND the Book of Revelations from the Bible? Pure Genius! After two episodes, I think it’s moving a bit too fast, and I hope it doesn’t turn into a “monster of the week” show like Supernatural. (Don’t get me wrong – I love Supernatural, but its camp and humor allow the formulaic monster-each-episode to work much better than the seriousness with which Sleepy Hollow has adopted.)
What can I say about Walking Dead? The setting is great for d20 Modern or a near-future D&D Gamma World campaign. Zombies are the only fantastic thing; everything else is a post-apocalyptic drama about the struggle between good and evil. Imagine a D&D campaign where the local lord is based on the Governor, and as the characters advance in level, they see more and more behind his façade until he transforms into a death knight, or reveals himself as a dread necromancer, or some other uber-villain who can provide a challenge all the way to epic levels. The prison is an abandoned castle with undead threats constantly clawing their way up from the depths. I have many more ideas than I have time on my hands…
What shows have provided you with inspiration for gaming this fall and winter? Let me know in the comments below.
