After a so-so first half, the current season of Survivor ("Survivor: Caramoan") seemed like nothing to eat a writhing grubworm over. The inexplicable laziness of Shamar was annoying, and the meltdown of Brandon Hantz - while Train-Wreck TV - was so uncomfortable to watch that you couldn't help but question the producers' motives for bringing him back and your own motives for watching. Could we PLEASE get some actual gameplay?

Then came the Merge, and with it perhaps the best three-episode run in 13 years, certainly since the stretch of "Heroes vs. Villains" when Russell convinced Tyson to vote himself off. Thank you, Survivor Gods.

It started innocently enough when returning player Malcolm (who combines the physical skill of Ozzie, the savvy mind of Yul, and the life approach of a D&D warlock) confers with ally and delicious quote machine Corinne. They decide to betray their Favorites teammates and forge a new alliance with the remaining Fans. It should have worked. The Phillip-"led" Favorites had no inkling... until Corinne tried to bring super-crier Dawn into the fold.

In a treat to Survivor fans, Dawn tells us that she remembers what happened the LAST time she heard about a betrayal and did nothing: Cochran's epic flip (which I still support). This time, though, Dawn rises! And Corinne, who gleefully said that she had never been part of a blindside, gets her wish, Monkey's Paw-style. Bonus: Lovable nerd Cochran beats Malcolm in a thrilling photo finish of a classic Immunity Challenge - the eating of the gross local cuisine. Mmm, chicken embryos. Om nom.

It continued the following week with Malcolm's alliance definitely on the outs, Dawn & Cochran engaging in great strategizing, another terrific Immunity Challenge (combining endurance and willpower), and Andrea getting bizarrely paranoid. But hey, as that episode showed, sometimes they really ARE out to get you! The best part of that hour came at the end, when Malcolm - convinced (by Phillip?!?) that his fellow Favorites are out to get him - uses a Jedi mind-trick to persuade pal and other endangered player Reynold to surrender his hidden Immunity Idol to Malcolm! Kicker: Malcolm already HAD a hidden Immunity Idol that nobody else knew about! Brilliant!

(Another reason to like Malcolm: He doesn't succumb to the insane temptation to blab to everyone, "Look at me! I got the secret Immunity Idol!" As Gandalf told Frodo, "Keep it secret. Keep it safe.")

As it turned out, Malcolm didn't need it, but the end result is that Malcolm's hidden idol remained exactly that - hidden - and now everyone on the island was convinced that Malcolm couldn't possibly have an idol since he had to ask for Reynold's. Fabulous.

It perfectly sets the stage for this past week's episode. Malcolm, Reynold, and low-wattage Eddie know their backs will be up against the wall every vote until either they're gone or they find some cracks in Phillip's anti-stealth Stealth-R-Us alliance, which is already planning to split the next vote between Malcolm and Reynold. (To their credit, nobody aside from Phillip regards Phillip as the leader; they're content to let him run his mouth and be disliked by all potential Jury members.)

Let's jump right to the Immunity Challenge: a grueling water challenge requiring lots of upper body strength and the ability to hold your breath well. Phillip, shockingly, announces that he is NOT going to compete for Immunity! He tells Jeff that a childhood incident left him very afraid of drowning, so he's not going to do this.

OK, I can relate. I, too, have a deep phobia about drowning. A major accomplishment for me years ago was when I first tried (and loved) snorkeling. I understand where Phillip is coming from. BUT THIS IS SURVIVOR. If I were ever to be a contestant, I damn well would compete in every single challenge, even those where I knew I might come in last. Fuck the fear. Else why go on Survivor at all? So for Phillip to pass on this was a) incredibly dumb, b) evidence that - self-deluded as he was - he clearly felt safe, or c) both. Ultimately, Reynold wins the challenge, so the majority alliance figures no big deal, we'll split the vote between Malcolm and Eddie instead!

Malcolm doesn't rest. He's gambling that there's another Immunity Idol hidden somewhere on the beach, so the Three Muy Macho Amigos start searching. The possibility that "Hey, maybe we should find the idol before those three guys" apparently occurs to no one on the Stealthy alliance other than Dawn and Brenda; they start looking, too. Right before the ladies' stunned, shocked eyes, though, Malcolm finds the other idol! The look on Dawn's face said it all: Crap. Still, they figure they'll split the vote as planned, just in case Malcolm gives the idol to Not-So-Fast Eddie.

At Tribal Council, before the voting even starts, Malcolm displays his newly found idol... and then reveals his original one, which he gives to Eddie! All three guys are potentially safe. Wow. Sure, Malcolm could've waited until after the votes were cast to make his move. But what places his action in the top tier of Survivor moves is what comes next. He announces that all three men are voting for Phillip. This kicks off something unprecedented in Survivor: The tribe members begin openly whispering and changing their votes on the fly. Right there! Cochran smiles the smile of a fanboy, even though his side is on the receiving end of this shocker, and I'm smiling right with him. It's stupendous. Beautiful. Phillip's name is whispered, and so is Andrea's. Who would be voted off? Would Malcolm and Eddie actually play their idols? Will I ever recover from the fact that it was Clueless Erik who actually pointed out that not playing the idols was an option?

In the end, everyone votes as originally stated, which means the majority alliance's votes are for naught and Stupor Secret Agent Phillip - the man who refused to compete earlier that day - is eliminated with just three votes.

Karma, you are a magnificent bastard.

And with Phillip goes Stealth-R-Us (huzzah!), which also means that alliances may be up for grabs from here on out. Fabulous. What did you think, fellow Survivor buffs?

My daughter Jordana (now 6) and I have pulled out my D&D minis, maps, and Castle Ravenloft tiles many times during the past three years, often at her request. Over time, our pseudo-D&D playsessions have evolved from lining up the minis for a dance contest to skirmishes with giant spiders to – last year – creating an entire town on GameMastery maps and Dungeon Tiles. "This is the house, this is the diner, and THIS is the hot lava area." She chose specific minis to represent the town’s mayor, innkeeper, rabbi, fighting instructor, and other residents. It was pretty damn cool to watch, both as a gamer and as her dad.

Right around that time, the always-awesome Geek’s Dream Girl site posted “D&D The Next Generation – GGG Gives Tips for Gaming with Kids.” The blog post is worth reading. In a nutshell, the advice is to keep the DM strokes broad, use humor often, and keep in mind that many kid gamers – just like adult ones – have specific gaming preferences that you need to respect. This post, combined with my own experiences, convinced me that the time was right to run Jordana through an actual game.

Gaming with My Kid #1: rpgKids – the saga of a girl, her brother, and their steel snake
The ideal starting place was the rpgKids game by Enrique Bertran, a.k.a. “NewbieDM.”  It’s a clever, rules-light, kid-friendly fantasy RPG. The rules are simple, with four classes that correlate to the classic D&D foursome, a few basic skills, and a grid for combat, which is resolved via contested rolls using just several dice. Damage is also handled simply:  strike a foe once = injured; hit ‘em a second time = down, though the Big Bad might require 3 hits to defeat.

Jordana assembled the party from her town: the sorceress Ayla (wizard), her swashbuckling brother Zeph (archer), and their "pet" steel serpent, Kobri (fighter). Jordana determined that Kobri wears a magical collar that allows him to speak. Together, the siblings and the snake entered “The Lair of the Frog Wizard,” the introductory adventure in the rpgKids download. Can they stop the evil wizard who is turning townspeople into frogs? Do we know why he’s doing this? Naaaah! Doesn’t matter.

The session went extremely well! Jordana loved rolling the dice and – just like a grown-up gamer – got frustrated when her attacks missed, anxious when one of her PCs got hit, and super-excited when she successfully killed a monster. She even quickly grasped the concept of terrain, occasionally placing a PC behind a tree or rock for cover. The only time she seemed unsure of the whole thing was when several ghosts appeared. She was a bit scared of them at first, but once combat began, gamer’s adrenaline took over. :-)

As a DM, I had to be ready to make on-the-fly changes to accommodate the plot, the pace, and my player (e.g., changing the size of an encounter), just as I would if I were running a game for adults. If you have a kid aged 4 or older, rpgKids is a great way to introduce the excitement and fun of RPGs.  It’s available for a ridiculously low $2.99 at DriveThruRPG.

Gaming with My Kid #2: Marvel Heroic RPG – Assault on Avengers Mansion!
I’ve gotten really into Margaret Weis Productions’ Marvel Heroic Roleplaying over the past few months. Next week's post will have a lot more to say about it; for now, suffice it to say that, if run properly, the Marvel Heroic RPG does the best job I’ve seen of replicating the flow of battle, the soap-opera subplots, and the fun of classic Marvel comics.

After digesting the rules and listening to a few podcasts (mostly The Walking Eye’s actual-play sessions and Damage Control), I finally ran a session for my group earlier this month. Jordana, upon hearing of this the next day, said, “I want to play the Marvel game, too!” (Being my daughter, she is of course well acquainted with Marvel superheroes.) “Sure!” I said. Granted, I needed to do a little revising first. While the Marvel Heroic RPG is fairly easy to play once you grasp the key concepts of dice pools and Distinctions, it’s a bit much for a typical 6-year-old who is just looking for an hour or so of fun.

So here’s how I tweaked the rules for a kid-friendly, Marvel RPG-Lite session:

• Reduced each hero’s datafile to 4 stats (3 powers + 1 specialty), three of which can be used toward the dice pool


• Kept the concept of adding the top 2 dice, but dropped the effect die, so that combat resolution was a straightforward opposed roll; it was still possible to gain an extraordinary success


• Flattened the three types of stress to just plain ol’ Stress (1st hit = d8 stress, 2nd hit = d10 stress, 3rd hit = stressed out), and the stress die could still be added to another character’s dice pool against the injured person


• Turned a roll of 1 by me into an automatic extra die for the next roll by one of Jordana’s heroes, and vice versa (kind of a use-it-or-lose-it Plot Point)

Jordana chose as her heroes Iron Man, the Black Widow, and the Scarlet Witch. She also gave the Scarlet Witch an animal companion, Owl the Owl. (Holy Familiar, Batman!) Naturally, Owl the Owl needed his own datafile and powers, hence we agreed on See-Through Vision, Hearing, Flight, and a Gem of Protection. (See the photo. It's fairly easy to tell which of us wrote what!)

As our story begins, the three heroes (and their owl) are content to relax in Avengers Mansion, and the Black Widow is on monitor duty. Suddenly, there’s a pounding on the wall. It’s getting louder and LOUDER... The Black Widow quickly alerts the other heroes. Then - SMASH! The wall crumbles, and two massive robots stride forward! Clearly, determines Jordana, they’re after the Infinity Gems hidden in the mansion! (Thank you, Super Hero Squad Show.)

Black Widow strikes first, successfully damaging one of the robots. Jordana picks Owl the Owl to go next, saying, “She’s going to use her See-Through Vision to look into the robots and tell Iron Man where the weak spots are.”

I think, “Holy crap, she just created an Asset.” I hadn’t even considered using the game’s Assets or Resources for this version, but hey, there ya go!

Jordana rolls for the Owl and – bing! – Asset created! Shellhead’s resulting attack is a big success, and his repulsors finish off the first robot and damage the second. The Scarlet Witch is unable to destroy that last attacker, though, which gives the robot enough time to locate and rip open the vault containing the Infinity Gems! It collects them, but Iron Man blasts it before it can leave. All done, right? Unfortunately, at that moment, the robots’ master steps through the gaping hole in the wall.... Ultron. (For Ultron, the core dice pool consisted of 5 dice, not 3, and two of those were d12s. Hey, it’s friggin’ Ultron!)

Jordana isn’t thrilled to see him! In typical 6-year-old fashion, she wants to have her three heroes just smash Ultron and be done with it, 1-2-3, but I remind her that Ultron is TOUGH. The Black Widow again attacks first, ineffectually this time, and Ultron promptly throws her through the broken wall, stressing her out (Marvel RPG-speak for K.O.'d). Iron Man lasts a little longer, but he too joins Natasha in the dumpster behind Avengers Mansion. It’s down to just the Scarlet Witch... and Owl the Owl.

Jordana announces that Owl also has a “shriek” power. “OK,” I say. Why not? After all, it IS a super-owl.  She adds Shriek to Owl’s datafile and rolls. Hey, not bad... a total of 16 on the Shriek attack. Now for Ultron’s reaction roll to counter it, which shouldn’t be a problem as he’s rolling 5 dice, including those two d12s, right?

The result of Ultron’s reaction roll: 2, 4 ... and three 1’s. Wow. Owl the Owl’s cosmic hoot cuts through Ultron’s systems like adamantium claws through butter! Normally, that would be enough to end the battle, but Jordana is having too good of a time! We continue, with the once-mighty Ultron staggering through the mansion, trying to repair his body and now spotting the fallen Infinity Gems in the wreckage of his robot minion.

The Scarlet Witch will have none of that! She casts a probability hex, opening up a mini-dimensional void next to Ultron. It sucks the metallic menace into it, along with (determined randomly) one of the Infinity Gems! Ultron is gone from this reality. But where? And will he come back, more powerful than ever? Those answers must wait until our next issue, True Believers!

As you might guess, Jordana and I had a great time doing this. So don’t let anyone try to convince you that the age of tabletop gaming is dead. As long as we continue to help kids find ways to wield their exhilarating, boundless, trope-free imaginations, there will be room for games that allow kids to shape worlds.

• First returnee to get voted off: Brandon. Too nutty to be trusted.
• Returnee who will surprise us: Erik. He has much to prove after his humiliation in the first "Fans vs. Favorites." He'll do so.
• Final Three: Returnee Brenda (a great schemer) and two newbies, Eddie and Allie.
• Winner: Allie. She's a bartender, she's from New York, and she's dismissive of bad liars while not knocking lying. "I don't even mind if you lie to me, just keep track of your lies, you fool."  That's good enough for me!

Greetings, 2013! Your predecessor, 2012, was a disappointment, mostly due to reasons having nothing to do with this blog. Granted, the Mayans did provide amusement. Fortunately, from the perspective of pop culture and All Things Geek, 2012 was humongous! Remember that stuff that got you ostracized or mocked 20 or 30 years ago? Well, they’re money-making machines now. (Whether or not that’s a good thing is a different story....)

Here are my picks for the top 10 tidbits:

10. The Hobbit and 48 frames per second. On its own, Peter Jackson’s cinematic return to Middle-Earth would be newsworthy. But the director caused an Internet freakout when, at a summer convention, he secretly unveiled the first Hobbit footage – which he had shot at the newly developed 48-frames-per-second rate (double the century-long standard of 24 fps). The reaction was not good, with many commenters saying the crisp realism of the new rate made the film resemble cheap video, almost like ‘70s Brit TV. The controversy dogged the film for months prior to its December release.

9. The SOPA blackout. You likely forgot about the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA). You should remember, though, that the Internet fight against it actually impacted national policy. Here’s a memory jog if you need it

8. SpaceX’s launch to the International Space Station. For the first time, a privately held company delivered cargo to astronauts onboard the ISS – a long-awaited step in space exploration. That the name of the spacecraft was the Dragon? Deliciously nerdy icing on the cake.

7. The Firefly reunion at San Diego Comic-Con. Ten years after the series’ debut and cancellation, Josh Whedon, Nathan Fillon, and crew took the stage to celebrate the show, its enduring legacy, and – above all - the fans. Watch the video and have tissues on standby. I’m getting verklempt all along again....

6. The Mars Curiosity Rover. et another big science story, and really, who didn’t pay attention to this when it arrived on Mars? Mind-blowing science moment of the year: an astonishing, high-definition video of Curiosity’s high-speed descent – taken by Curiosity itself. Smile-inducing science moment of the year: the congratulatory giddiness in the Control Room skip to the last 2 minutes) among straight-laced dudes, nerds, old hippies, an Alec Baldwin stand-in, and THIS guy.

5. D&D Next announcement. Last January, in a well-orchestrated display that got mainstream attention, Wizards of the Coast announced it was developing a new version of Dungeons & Dragons. Since then, hoping to win back many gamers who disliked 4E, WotC has been conducting a smart, open, ongoing, and well-received public playtest – nearly the opposite of how it rolled our 4E. In terms of its arrival in a hungry marketplace, the timing as perfect, for reasons I described here. The final version of the game is likely still a year and a half away, which gives the developers and the fans plenty of time to tweak the rules – and gives WotC time to figure out how to salvage the online DDI, which has been losing subscribers and revenue ever since 4E presumably became Dead System Walking.

4. Kickstarter and big, BIG bucks. The crowdfunding site Kickstarter has been around for a couple of years (hey, it helped us to fund Foreshadows!), but it made big news in 2012 with multiple projects that raised more than $1 million in support, including the Reaper Miniatures project in August that raised over $3.4 million. Wow.

3. Marvel's The Avengers and the triumph of geek media. You know the story with Joss Whedon’s film. Enormously successful, enormously entertaining (my quickie review here). But it was not alone! From The Amazing Spider-Man to a reanimated Walking Dead to the success of CW’s Arrow series to Entertainment Weekly’s cover story (!) on Doctor Who a first for ANY British TV show), 2012 will go down in history as a banner year for geek properties in mainstream media. Unfortunately, 2012 is noteworthy for another reason….

2. The Dark Knight Rises shooting. There have been gun-related massacres before and – horrifically – even worse gun-related massacres to come later in the year. What made the insanity and death in Aurora, Colorado uniquely disturbing for us was that in happened in a movie theater, the place that has long served as our mental refuge from often-grim reality.

1. Disney revives Star Wars. Winner, hands down – perhaps the biggest story of the past 10 years. When Disney bought Lucasfilms and immediately announced that new Star Wars films were already in the Mouse Pipeline, fans rejoiced. After a couple of decades of reissues, digital retweaking (Han shot first, damn it!), and Jar-Jar Binks, we’re all excited to see fresh minds and talents bring balance to the Force. And, yes Leia is a Disney princess.

Honorable mention: The publication of Foreshadows: The Ghosts of Zero. I can't let 2012 go without mentioning a personal highlight. Not only was I thrilled to have my first work of speculative fiction published, I was also honored and delighted to share Foreshadows' table of credits with a ton of fabulously talented people, including Jeff LaSala, Ari Marmell, Rosemary Jones, Ed Greenwood, and Brian Matthews, whose first novel, Forever Man, is out next month!

• Mike: Tarthon, minotaur barbarian – Have Axe, Will Travel
• Steve: Grumhorn, a.k.a. "Grue," dwarf invoker – The Immovable Object. Truly.
• Me: Graaver Stormcry, longtooth shifter druid-fighter – Sees Life as a Series of Punching Bags
• Willie: Sebastin, githzerai ranger – able to nab a Dunkin’ Donuts Munchkin at fifty paces
• Felix: Manael, tiefling bard – new character to come!

1. Dracula Has Risen From the Grave. As I said in the Chris Lee post, while this may not be in the top rank of Hammer's movies, it is the quintessential Hammer film. Everything that made Hammer remarkable is in perfect display here, from the cinematography to the sets to the remarkable Veronica Carlson to Lee himself.
2. Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter. Worship this crazy, clever movie! Why? Here's why. Better still, watch the whole movie right now on Hammer's YouTube channel. Bonus: The podcast informed me that there's a new novel adaptation out as well!
3. The Devil Rides Out. Intrepid investigators, led by Lee (in a rare appearance as a good guy), face off against Satanists and black magic in the 1920s. Fun! It has thrilling direction by Terence Fisher and a terrific script by Richard Matheson, even if the ending's deus ex machina is hard to swallow. The film is also a Call of Cthulhu RPG come to life!
4. Horror of Dracula. Hammer's first Dracula film and the best. Cushing, always great, excels as Van Helsing, whose fight with Lee's Dracula concludes in a dialogue-free, pulse-pounding final two minutes that is among horror cinema's finest moments.
5. Updated: Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed. The night after I wrote this post and placed Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde in the #5 spot, Baron Victor Frankenstein haunted my thoughts, demanding recognition. And he's right. Hammer's superb Frankenstein series focused on the creator, not his creations, and was anchored by the riveting, chilling performance of Peter Cushing as the thoroughly vile baron. In this, the fifth of the series, Cushing gives one of his finest performances. From the kinetic opening to the tragic, nobody-wins ending, Cushing's Baron Frankenstein again shows why he's one of the cruelest, coldest sonuvabitches in film. What he does in this film...! Director Terrence Fisher, who helmed many of Hammer's finest, is back here, and I dare you not to feel the tension during the flower-bed sequence. Yes, you read that correctly.