26 June 2022

Savage Worlds Thought of the Day 2022-06-26

As much as I appreciate the alacrity with which Pinnacle is working on the SWADE versions of the Fantasy Companion and the Super Powers Companion, I wish they had prioritized the Science Fiction Companion so I could use it with The Savage World of Flash Gordon (and post about it here). I have ideas for things I'd like to introduce for use with it, but I'm not sure if they've already been done or what the established parameters are rules-wise, and I'm not sure how useful the previous edition would be. I hope it won't be too long before it's released.

04 June 2022

Flash Gordon Thought of the Day 2022-06-04

Flash Gordon has appeared in various forms in various media since first appearing in a Sunday newspaper comic strip in 1934, and many of these are fine, but some beg the question, "How dare you call this Flash Gordon?" followed by a slap in the face with a glove. The worst offenders are television bastardizations that bear little resemblance to the original characters and storylines. The 1996 animated series and the widely despised 2007 series are both execrable in their own ways, but the most egregious example might be the 1954 series. "Ah, Flash on television at last!" viewers might have said after his absence from movie screens for more than a decade. Alas, this is not the heroic and compassionate Flash Gordon who united disparate peoples to overthrow a tyrant. This is angry and hard-boiled Flash Gordon who works for the Galaxy Bureau of Investigation, a space G-man you might say, enforcing space laws and bringing space villains to justice. Granted, I have not seen more than a few episodes, and none to their conclusion, but as far as I can tell it has nothing in common with Flash Gordon — in any incarnation — other than the names of a few characters. The characters could have been renamed and the series retitled and no one would have ever connected it with the Flash Gordon legacy. Any television space opera of the period was superior to the 1954 Flash Gordon. Any! The rollercoaster that is the history of "reboots" goes on and on and on. Thank Tao we have the technology to preserve and enjoy the original Flash Gordon and the good reboots.

Table: City Encounters (Build Your Own Space Opera Table)

In a space opera, there are least 12 possible persons (sample names included) the protagonists may encounter as they explore the cities of ...