A Mission In Action

My mission (and I chose to accept it) is to bring more diversity into gaming. That has been my goal in establishing Darker Hue Studios and I have been flying the ship while building it because it is a lofty task with no real benchmarkers about how to do it. I just know that it needs to be done and has been needed for a long time. By actively working toward this goal, I've had the opportunity to meet other people who are also dedicated to the cause. It's awesome to find a community where I thought I was the unicorn.

Last weekend, I had a chance to talk to Katrina Stovold about why I am doing this. She asked some great questions and I got to talk about some of my experiences. Then she asked about my mission statement; I've written what I want to do, but not how I plan to do it. She's right.

Honestly, I want to do it in any way possible. Going everywhere to run games, writing games, publishing games, working at Con . . . ruling the world with an iron fist. 

But I realize I need to focus. My plan is to create as much diverse, quality material as I can freelancing for other companies. And I want to create a more inclusive world by giving away stuff on the website and Darker Hue original published stuff.

I've written A LOT this year, mostly for other publishers. But now, it is time to do something on my own. I am working with Nino Malong (our talented Chief Artist Officer) to launch a project up on Kickstarter or GoFundMe in the fall. I can't say what it is right now, just that I am WOKE! FOCUSED! And ready.

Civil War, as Compared to Other Marvel Movies

It was tough to find time to go see it, but dodging spoilers was proving to be an Olympic sport. So, I finally saw Captain America: Civil War. Did I like it? Yeah. I am still processing the movie but my brain has reordered my Top 5 Marvel Superhero Movies and I had to share. 

1)      Captain America: Winter Soldier – This remains the best Marvel movie to date for me. It has tension, stakes that matter, shows who Cap is, and introduces Falcon.  It is superheroes done right! 

2)      Captain America: First Avenger – Yeah, I have a thing for historical movies and Peggy Carter. 

3)      The Avengers: Marvel did something no one else thought was possible: they brought a team of superheroes to the big screen and made it work. It is not a perfect movie but the fanboy in my soul is still giggling and Bruce Banner’s "I am always angry" plays through my brain.

4)      Captain America: Civil War: This is a really good movie, introduces Black Panther (future blog post), Spiderman (another blog post) and stays true to the character of Cap. Cap is not a tool of the government but someone that fights for the ideal of what America should be--the same reason I joined the army.

5)      Ironman: It started the whole Marvel Cinematic Universe and was Robert Downey Jr.’s first outing as Tony Stark. For me, it is tied for #5 with Ironman 3 – Yeah, I hear your groans, but other than my issue with how the Mandarin was handled, it was the perfect Ironman-not-really-being-Ironman in a buddy-cop movie).

Honorable Mention:  Agent Carter. I know it is a TV show but it was the best Marvel network show, and the fact ABC canceled it really has me missing it. Maybe it is time for a re-watch of the two seasons and do a little fan fiction writing, or maybe I'll run a game in tribute to a great show. 

In a couple of weeks and after one more viewing of Cap III, I will have a spoiler review, but until then (and after) GO SEE IT!

The Rebel Angel | My Tribute to Prince

by Nino Malong, DHS Chief Artist Officer

I received word last Thursday that Prince had died. I refused to believe it. To say that this affects me immensely is an understatement. In my grief I wanted to find a way to honor the man that had the most profound influence in my journey as an artist. If it were not for him, I don't know if I would have been the artist that I am now. He taught me to be fearless in my art and to hold myself and my art to a high standard. Once a piece is done, I move on to the next one. It is bittersweet but I hear the next one calling. 

So it went with the piece I called, "Habibi, the Rebel Angel." That was the name of his iconic guitar. I thought if I could capture the spirit of Prince and Habibi together, what would that look like to me? Beautiful with a hint of rebellion and recklessness. 

Prince and Habibi

It's one of those pieces where it was a joy to work on, but I had to stop at times because the pain of loss was too much. A good friend of mine (and a hell of a songwriter), Jason Michael Greene, said to just let it go and see what happens. I started and only stopped when the painting itself said it was time. So I gave it to the world. Saying goodbye in the best way I can. Thank you Prince. I'll stop now and let the art speak for itself.

I think he would've agreed.

Nino has submitted this work for inclusion in Heavy Metal Magazine. VOTE FOR NINO.

It's So Hard to Say Goodbye

It has been a busy start to the year. New job, buying a house, crashing on a couple of writing projects (waiting on feedback from a first round draft) and juggling a billion little things. It fully occurred to me last week what moving means. Not just saying goodbye to my favorite bar, Jack Rose, or my favorite movie theater, the Uptown where I took my wife on one of our first dates and where her grandmother went when she lived in DC in 1940s. No, it means one hard truth:

I am losing my gaming group!!! 

The group of gamers that I have scoured the internet for, went to gaming shops to find, recruited from friends who did not even know their friend was a gamer (I can sense them, akin to Highlander), and rattled the very gates of Heaven and Hell to find. After finding them came the mutual vetting: they, debating if they dug my style of GMing and my sense of humor; me, deciding if they meshed with everything one else, were dependable and welcoming to people from all walks of life. Plus... they must be open to a little booze while gaming (not necessary to partake), and my kid has to give them the stamp of approval. It was basically three full time jobs but worth all of the effort. 

The group started almost four years ago. I won't lie, it was not perfect; we had people come that did not pass the vetting, or had to drop out because real life  happened. The group even had one player move to another state for a year and then rejoin, after moving back. That should speak volumes in itself.  What epic campaign brought these gamers together?

The collector's edition of The Mask of Nyarlathotep!!!  The group started large for a Cthulhu game with five characters:

Theron Wyrd: Worldly scholar and antiquarian of long forgotten lore. (Plus writer of this little gem.)
Minnie Abbott: Artist and modern woman, whose parents disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
Freddie Hawthorn: Stunt coordinator and daredevil who saw things in darkest Africa no man should. 
Jackson Perry: Con artist and criminal, seeking vengeance for a wrong done to him. 
Ronald McReady: Professor and veteran, suffering from his time in the trenches. 

Around London, the group had pick up a number of other players but three became steadfast companions.

Philomena Watz:  Nightclub singer and entertainer turned adventuress.

Harvey Lewis: Scared WWI vet turned construction worker, supervising renovations of NYC sewers. 

Theophilus 'Theo' Chandler: Everyman turned boxer, race car driver and mechanic.

The scenario was a house of fun as they struggled against Nyarlathotep's machinations, with many a new PC generated,  only to fall to his wicked schemes. They came to realize that their actions in Hong Kong (six months ago in real world time) likely doomed them to fail. Instead of a room full of angry gamers, things were said like, "DUDE!!! That was incredible, all of this time you let us follow our own lead, no matter how wrong and IT WAS TOTALLY LOVECRAFTIAN." One of the best feelings you can get from a game that ran almost 3 years. 

I ran other games: Trail of Cthulhu, Delta Green,  Pathfinder, Wild Talents and more with the group or with a mix of them and others. But I will always remember the Mask Campaign and how FANTASTIC they were: how they loved the hand made matchbox (which a certain player still has) and the mini-tomes that were baked in the oven to give them that aged feel. And when I knew I had them? The mood was tense, something scary was happening, and one of them would try to crack a joke. And it didn't work. The scary moment was too real. Those are the moments when we all became the story.

Agent Carter: Carter and Wilkes

Agent Peggy Carter, I kinda love you. Don't tell my wife, but I do.

Not just the character, but the actress who plays Agent Carter, Hayley Atwell, and how outspoken she is and how open she is to the fans. I know that she recently left the internet and it is a darker place for it; we can only hope she returns. 

The first season of Agent Carter was very good; it was kinda everything that I had hoped Agents of Shield would have been when I tried to watch it. It was funny, action-y and blended spy/superhero tropes in the perfect way. But watching first season, it really struck me how the only black guy, Spider Raymond, was a gangster club owner. It did not stop me from watching, as Peggy's character has so much depth that it speaks to any gender or race. The story is in the struggle against near impossible odds that forces her to be at least twice as good, and still get no credit other than in backrooms when no one else is around. 

I was psyched to hear that the show got a second season and even more surprised to see the diversity on the show level up, and not in an after school special way. The new character was brilliant, mysterious, charming and brave.

From here on, SPOILERS. A week late, but still, spoilers...

The tone of the show is lighter, more steeped in supers and seems to have a focus on shining a light on other people struggling to be accepted for who they are. 

I love Jason Wilkes. He's an incredible addition to the show, and his chemistry with Peggy was HOT! It felt like Marvel reached into my brain and pulled out the character I have been writing about: war vet, smart, charismatic, brave and trying to change the world one solution at time. When it becomes a choice of doing the right thing that would destroy the stability he has built for himself, he still does it without question. Better to do the right thing, than to live a lie. 

It was great to watch the show lightly address the hardships Wilkes endures on a daily basis through dialogue. When Peggy and Wilkes are on the run, after battling off some hired killers. they worked as a near-perfect team: Wilkes' time in the Navy gives him solid fighting skills to go along with his smarts and Peggy is just all around awesome. They escape,  only to encounter a problem they can't beat: a white story owner refused to really help them because Wilkes is black. Peggy wants to punch the guy, and Wilkes sorrowfully explains, "Are you going to punch out all of Los Angeles?" That line is easy to miss but perfectly explains the world around them. 

Then the show did what I expected them to do. Wilkes was too cool, the chemistry to great, and Peggy Carter must remain a tragic heroine. The scenes make the viewer presume Wilkes is killed with Zero Matter, and it shakes Peggy to the core. My assumption is that Wilkes is not dead but will be permanently phased or slightly out of sync with Peggy's reality. That means they can't really be together even if he comes back. I know, I know . . . tragic heroes are stronger, but come on . . . Steve, Peggy's roommate and now Wilkes . . . 

But only time will tell and my excitement is mounting for the next pair of episodes. 

My dream would be a Carter and Wilkes show in the vain of Hart to Hart,  tackling spy and superhero threats, while Hydra worms its way into SHIELD with Jarvis and Ana as the support staff. Maybe I will write that up and pitch it to Marvel. Surely they wouldn't turn me down.