Remember the Blogaround Challenge?
Cynics might consider this engagement bait nowadays, but this was pre-social media (as we currently know it), when blogs were peaking.
On comics and other pop culture topics, including archived Comic Book Commentary posts from 2005-2007.
Comics vs. Manga: Deciding What to Read?
The past three years have found me reading a lot more comics and manga again, to the point where I've had to be more intentional about what I'm planning to read next year, mainly because there's so much manga to choose from!
2024 in Review: My Favorite Games
Personally, 2024 was one of the best years for gaming in a long time, and I even played more acclaimed new releases than usual. I also replayed several old favorites that remain in heavy rotation, some as palate cleansers, some as in-between mains. These were my favorites, a few of which could have been my game of the year in any other year.
Encounters: Shadowrun — Modified Solo Play Rules
In which I codify my homebrew rules for Encounters: Shadowrun, hopefully making the game more satisfying for solo play while adding a fun narrative layer to make it more immersive.
Shadowrun Subverted? A First Look at Subversion RPG
Remember the "This is the world liberals want!" meme? Subversion is the game they'd be talking about, and I mean that as high praise. While it has the requisite cyberpunk trappings of economic dystopia and extreme power imbalances, it flips Shadowrun's integration of fantasy on its head, imagining a world that a) always had magic and fantastic lineages (aka, races), and b) building upon Babylonian mythology as its foundation instead of the usual European inspirations. In Neo Babylon, magic has ruled for eons and technology is trying to level the playing field, disrupting the balance of power while crushing the underprivileged between them. In this world, the cops (Lawjacks) are implicitly a gang.
Into the Shadowrun Rabbit Hole: Character Creation
I've had an itch to write something in this ridiculous and ridiculously cool world since I finished Shadowrun Returns a couple of months ago, like I used to for D&D, and have started sketching out my first character's backstory.
On Shadowrun: Nostalgia for a Game I’ve Never Played
I honestly don't know how Shadowrun escaped me all these years, but its combination of D&D, The Matrix, and Mission: Impossible is 100% my shit! Imagine: fantasy races, magic, cyberpunk, and elaborate heists sitting atop an intricately fleshed out near-future world that uses the Mayan Long Count calendar and corporate greed as its main pillars. It's as problematic, corny, and compelling as you'd think — and I'm totally digging it.