Here is my first annual White Hot Top 5 of Thanksgiving thanks for 2014.
Editor’s note: this article is not the typical Thanksgiving list, which includes things like “God, family, friends and country.” You've read enough of those types of articles already today. This one is about things I’m thankful for as a nerd.
Number 5: Marvel’s Cinematic Universe
I’m a Marvel, so I have really appreciated the series of films Marvel has put together in the last few years, starting with Iron Man. In 2014 they had two of my favorite films: Captain America the Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy.Those of you who've followed this blog for a while will tell you, no one was more surprised than I was that I loved Guardians earlier this year. What a breath of fresh air in the science fiction genre. I saw it twice, and at my age that’s about the biggest compliment I can give a movie.
Not so surprisingly, the other movie I saw twice this year was Winter Soldier. This movie was one I was really looking forward to, and it did not disappoint. I love the way Marvel has taken Captain America and kept him true to his roots. In the first film we get Cap the way I had always imagined him, and this great line:
The strong man who has known power all his life, may lose respect for that power, but a weak man knows the value of strength, and knows... compassion. Whatever happens tomorrow, you must promise me one thing. That you will stay who you are, not a perfect soldier, but a good man.
That’s one of my favorite lines from the film, and it shows why Captain America is such a unique character and one of the most inspiring heroes in our culture.
When I saw the first Captain America movie, I wondered how long he was going to stay being Cap before they “re-imagined” him and tried to give him an edge. When Winter Soldier came along it was… dark, yes, that’s the right word. The thing is, this Cap was true to the character and stayed the hero he was always supposed to be. That’s why I enjoyed the film so much. Cap is in some ways similar to Rorschach in Watchmen in that he’s a no compromises sort of character. (That may be the only time those two characters are ever thought of as similar, but there you have it.) But Cap always seems to make that work. He doesn't compromise and yet still remains a good man.
So Marvel made two of my favorite films of the year, but is that enough to mean they get to be in my top 5 for the year? Yes. But the reason they’re here is more about what they've done to the rest of the movie industry.
Marvel’s Cinematic universe has made all of the other superhero franchises up their game this year, and that has been a very good thing. X-Men’s Days of Future Past was a very good film, and it was better because it had a very high standard to reach. Let's face it, the last X-Men movie (leaving out First Class) was a huge disappointment, and the Wolverine films have similarly been ... bad. Days of Future Past upped its game and was a great film, in part due to the genre's not being something you can get away with creating junk anymore.
And DC, who I also appreciate despite being a Marvel, is going to finally give us a film with their greatest characters in it. We may even get movies with characters other than Batman and Superman.
The point is that Marvel has made comic book movies the hot properties. But it’s done more than that: it’s made nerds less tolerant of crappy superhero movies, and that’s a good thing.
Number 4: The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game
This second entry is a game that I've haven’t reviewed for you yet, but it’s become one of my favorites. It’s no secret that I’m a fan of cooperative games, in fact this is the first of two cooperative games on my Thankful list for this year.The Pathfinder Card Game merges a lot of different gameplay elements and it’s that combination that makes it something I've been playing week in and week out. First, it’s a cooperative game, which means that when you play it you’re all going to win or lose together. We’re all in it together.
Second, it’s a take on a deckbuilding game, which I like. You start with a basic deck of cards and add to them as you play the game. It’s a game style I really enjoy, especially when it’s cooperative so you’re not trying to simply assemble the perfect deck to beat the other players.
Third, it’s a campaign game, meaning you play it from week to week keeping the same character who grows and develops over time. This is a great part of the game, and one that keeps me coming back. Most cooperative games are complete in one play, so after you play them a few times, you’re ready to move onto something else. Pathfinder lets you keep a character who becomes more powerful and is able to complete bigger and bigger challenges as they do so.
Fourth, it has all the right fantasy and role-playing elements I like so much. There are spells, magic swords and armor and so on. You battle monsters, traps and characters right out of Pathfinder, all without actually being a full-on role-playing game that gets too complicated as you play it. It gives me the things I like in a game without choking me with them.
And lastly (and most importantly) it doesn't require any work between games, so I've been able to host sessions with my friends from work, who I don’t see often enough. Yes, Pathfinder is a really sneaky way of getting to see friends I wouldn't otherwise. Yes, that’s underhanded, but what do you expect from a Sith?
Number 3: the 13th Age Role-playing Game
13th Age is my new go-to role-playing game. When Wizards of the Coast decided to end Fourth Edition Dungeons and Dragons, I was hopeful, since each edition of the rules pushed the envelope of the game and took it in new and exciting directions. Now it’s a few years later, and the new game doesn't offer that promise, it’s more of a retro second edition game, so I was left wondering what I’d want to play.Enter 13th Age.
The game was designed by two pillars of the industry: Jonathan Tweet and Rob Heinsoo, who have an incredible pedigree of work with both independent “hippy games” and mainstream games like Dungeons and Dragons. This is the perfect way to start making a game based on Dungeons and Dragons because it’s the hippy game designers who are moving the whole hobby forward.
I say forward, of course, because they’re moving it in a direction that I like, but as this is my blog I get to choose the terms. One of the pieces I’m working on for ‘OnTheDie deals with how role-playing games have developed over the years. It’s taking me a while because it comes out of getting to play games with a lot of different styles. You’ll like it when you finally see it, I promise.
13th Age hits the sweet spot for me because it allows you to be creative in the characters you make, and that creativity continues as you play the game. If you've read my toolkit entries on montages and The Truth of the World, those ideas come out of that game.
At the same time, it has substance. You get to design and build characters with actual rules and powers, you have classes, levels and so on as a framework to build from. To me, it’s definitely still Dungeons and Dragons, and infinitely more so than the fifth edition.
13th Age is giving me a game that I love to run, and really want to play. And it’s making me have a ball the whole time.
Number 2: Shadows Of Brimstone
Alright, we’re getting down to the bottom of the list here, and the things that make me really excited to be a nerd. Just over a year ago I heard about this game from the folks at Flying Frog Productions. I was excited enough to back the kickstarter, and to convince my fellow blogger over at the Vorpal Chainsword to do the same.Now that the game has come out, it’s everything I was hoping for and more. When I’m playing a role-playing game, I’m looking for basically two things: the story that we tell, and the tactical, character building challenge.
A game like 13th Age hits the spot for the first part. It’s a great game for telling exciting stories with everyone involved. Shadows of Brimstone hits the other one.
Wow is this game incredible. If you've read my review, you can tell that it has great components (the tiles, the cards, the character and monster miniatures) and that visual, tactical feel is just amazing. I feel like a kid in a candy store when I’m playing the game. When I’m looking for a tactical challenge, this game is going to be my go-to game for years to come.
It is also good to note that playing this game, much like Pathfinder, gives me the opportunity to get together with friends I don’t often see and have a great time. I’m very thankful for that.
Number 1: Mrs Sith
Remember when I said that this was going to be a nerd thankful list and not filled with sentimentality? Well, I lied. Well, that’s not entirely true either. What I said was true, from a certain point of view.I am most thankful for Mrs. Sith everyday, but especially on this day, since it’s the anniversary of then we first spoke. It was Thanksgiving day and I had just finished a dinner with my Sith relatives. I decided to check my responses on the different dating websites I was subscribed to (which was basically all of them) and saw a response from someone who, many years later, would become Mrs. Sith. I started talking with her, and much of who I am today came out of that conversation.
It was a pretty good conversation.
Now Mrs. Sith enjoys a lot of the same things I do: she has been with me to see way too many superhero movies for instance. We will soon be able to groan throughout Peter Jackson’s last film in the Hobbit trilogy, for instance.
She gets involved with many of the games I play as well, and that’s a really fantastic feeling. Being able to share being a nerd with someone is the best feeling in the world.
While we don’t share everything (I have yet to get into an involved conversation with her about the two-weapon fighting chain for her ranger character, for instance) it’s having someone to share the things you love with that’s most important.
In fact, you may have noticed that a lot of the things I’m thankful for are all about the excuse to get together and enjoy time spent with friends. Really, that’s what it’s all about.
So if you’re reading this, it’s likely that you’re one of those people, so if you’re wondering what I’m really thankful for, I’m thankful for you.
Hmmn, it seems that there's some dust on this keyboard that's getting into my eye.
So until next time, eat some turkey, be thankful for the nerds in your life, and Make Mine 20!
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