The whole premise of this blog is to detail my abject refusal to abandon my various geeky obsessions despite having to split my time between a full-time job and a family. These grown-up commitments have slashed the amount of bandwidth (and money) I can devote to comics and games, but I’m working hard to find new ways to pursue my favorite hobbies without shortchanging all that other important stuff.
Enter Dungeons and Dragons Encounters.
The last two Wednesdays, I’ve been able to get my d20 on in short, controlled 2-hour increments at my local hobby gaming store through an organized play program called Dungeons & Dragons Encounters. I’m not sure who at Wizards of the Coast came up with the concept for Encounters, but that person deserves a raise. It’s tailor-made for guys like me who love table-top gaming but don’t have the time to put together an ongoing campaign.
Each session lasts about an hour or two as PCs take on a standardized adventure module that features one combat encounter and some light role playing. The program utilizes D&D’s 4th Edition rules, which I hadn’t played before but picked up in a hurry. The sessions are structured to accommodate characters dropping in and out, so if you can’t make it every week, no big deal. However, the renown, xp and specialized power cards you earn at each session are carried over from week to week, so it rewards good attendance.
At my LCS, the DM helped us use an online character-design app (no more rolling for stats!), printed out all our character sheets and ability cards, provided the maps and miniatures and just generally did a great job of facilitating an enjoyable experience.
Taking into account my unfamiliarity with 4E, I created an elven 2-blade ranger that I figured would be a simple point-and-click badass. He can deal some serious damage with an axe in each hand or with his longbow, and he’s mobile enough to target enemies all over the battlefield without giving them much of a chance to strike back, which is key since his HP is pretty low. In the first session, I rolled a high initiative and wound up leading the charge, my whirling axes raining down destruction against a swarm of Drow who were attempting a late-night raid on the inn at which my party was staying. Last night, I botched my initiative roll and ended up spending a good chunk of the fight behind the main skirmish line, nocking arrows and letting them fly against shape-shifting hostiles as we searched for a magical amulet in an ancient tower.
Our party changes a little every session as some players from the first week were absent and some new folks showed up, but that created a welcoming atmosphere for everyone. The experience level varied pretty broadly among our group, which is another feature I really like about Encounters. I cut my teeth on 3E and 3.5, but I’d never played 4th Edition. Last night, I sat across from a middle school-aged girl and a guy about my age who had never played D&D before in any capacity. Sitting next to me was a 30-something dude who could quote the rules from the 4th Edition Player’s Handbook with impressive accuracy. And as I said before, the DM did a masterful job of keeping the fight lively while making sure everyone got out of there before two hours had elapsed.
As you can probably discern from my description, Encounters is pretty standard fare for D&D, but that’s exactly the sort of thing I’ve been jonesing for since the real world forced me to cut back on gaming. It’s fast-paced and combat-centric and requires minimal commitment. Just show up when your schedule allows and wade into the bloody mayhem. For any other aging nerds out there who regret that they no longer have time for table-top role playing, Dungeons & Dragons Encounters might be just the thing to drag you back into the Underdark.
To the organized play gurus at Wizards of the Coast, I swear my undying allegiance to thee.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Logan’s Lies: Character Assassination in AvX
Wolverine is no stranger to assassination as a tool to permanently silence threats to mutantkind, but Marvel appears to have singled out Logan for a completely different kind of wetworks mission. Namely, it looks like the writers of AvX are doing everything in their power to assassinate Wolverine’s character.
After a recent re-read of the first act of Avengers vs. X-Men, Marvel’s summer blockbuster event, I found myself particularly baffled by the writing team’s treatment of Logan’s motivations and actions. Logan is weaving a web of lies and betrayals that grows with every page, but I’m having a hard time figuring out what his plan is. If the first act of AvX was all I had to go on, I’d conclude that Wolverine is a childish and self-serving manipulator who doesn’t really know what he wants.
To catch up anyone who isn’t reading AvX, Logan basically decides early in the story that the only foolproof way to avert a major Phoenix-related disaster is to kill Hope before she can manifest the full power of the Phoenix Force. That very premise – and, in a larger way, the central premise of the entire story – leaves quite a lot of room for doubt. But, in the name of fairly analyzing his characterization here, let’s just accept that Logan’s plan to destroy Hope stands a serious chance of saving humanity from disaster. Even under such a premise, Logan’s actions seem to run contrary to his goals and motivations.
I actually quite like how things start out. Wolverine plans to make the tough decisions so those around him – whether they’re the squeaky-clean Avengers or the innocent students at the Jean Grey School – don’t have to get blood on their hands. Wolverine feels he’s beyond redemption, but if he continues to shoulder the burden of all the really dirty deeds that need done to protect mutants, he can keep others from having to go down the same path. This interpretation of the character is quite consistent with how he’s been portrayed the last few years, especially as the leader of the clandestine hit squad X-Force.
These dirty deeds usually mean killing those who present a threat to the world in general and mutants in particular. At the beginning of AvX, Wolverine seems to have taken this attitude a step further. Not only does he plan on killing an innocent child to protect the rest of the world, he’s willing to deceive and betray his teammates to do so. This is all a perfectly natural progression of the character’s current direction, and I think it opens up some fertile story ideas if the writers want to pursue them. Think of it this way: Wolverine, the character who seems to appear in every book and is a trusted member of every team in the Marvel universe, is suddenly cast out of paradise. He’s now an outsider and a lone wolf who’s burned all of his bridges with both the X-Men and the Avengers. I’d read that story in a heartbeat.
Unfortunately, Logan’s characterization takes a huge nosedive in issue 4 of AvX. I’m not sure if that particular issue’s writer, Jonathan Hickman, is to blame or if this was all plotted out by committee like much of the rest of the series. But, oh my stars and garters, the developments in that issue left me scratching my head.
Here’s how it plays out: Hope tracks down Logan after he was kicked out of the Avengers’ airplane in the Antarctic and proposes a truce. She argues that she deserves a chance to try to control the Phoenix force. If she fails, Logan has her blessing to try to stop her for good. Logan expresses some doubts but appears to buy into the plan. That’s good enough for Hope, who then decides to take a nap (No, I’m not making that up for comedic effect. It’s in the book). But Logan decides to double-cross her and alert Captain America and the Avengers to Hope’s location, giving them a chance to apprehend her before the Phoenix Force arrives.
In the immortal words of Kitty Pryde, “Yeahbuhwhat?”
From the word go, Logan has made it clear that he believes the only way to end the threat is to end Hope. Captain America literally had Wolverine booted out of a flying aircraft over freakin’ Antarctica because Wolverine showed no sign that he would compromise on his solution.
So Hope seeks out Logan, lets him onto an airplane with her and promptly excuses herself to the cargo hold to go get some shuteye. But rather than gut her in her sleep and thus ending this whole fiasco, Logan gets on the horn with Cap and tells him where he’s going to take Hope so the Avengers can apprehend her.
Logan’s conversation with Captain America takes place mostly off-panel, but a full transcript must have gone something like this:
Captain America: Hello?
Wolverine: Hey, Steve. It’s me.
Captain America: Logan? Shouldn’t you be freezing your hairy little berserkers off on some iceberg right now?
Wolverine: Haha. Yeah, it’s pretty cold down here. But listen, the reason I’m calling is because I’ve got Hope, and she’s sleeping right now so I thought I’d let you know where we’re going so you can take her into custody.
Captain America: [Pause] Are you screwing with me? Because if you’re just screwing with me…
Wolverine: No, I’m serious. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.
Captain America: Don’t you remember how you were totally sure that killing her was the only way to save the world in issue #2? And then you literally sliced my stomach open with your claws just last issue because you thought my plan wouldn’t work, so we had to throw you out of a moving airplane. Do you remember that? It was just, like, a few hours ago.
Wolverine: No, I don’t remember any of that.
Captain America: Ok, I guess I don’t either.
In AvX #4, Wolverine passed up an easy opportunity to carry out his single overriding motivation in the first three issues of the crossover. Has he abandoned his belief that killing Hope is the only certain way out? It seems that way, but we haven’t been given any indication of what changed his mind. If it was Hope’s speech in the antarctic, why did he then turn around and narc her out with the Avengers?
As a long-time and unabashed Wolverine fan, I’ve got to believe that Logan hasn’t played his full hand yet. There’s got to be something more to Wolverine’s motivation than meets the eye. Otherwise, the writers have really painted the old Canucklehead into a corner where he’s turned his back on a lot of his friends with precious little in the way of a coherent explanation.
Wolverine turned his back on Cyclops in Schism. He violated an order from Cap in issue #2 of AvX, physically attacked Cap in issue #3, and then he betrayed Hope in issue #4. He’s burning bridges left and right and looking more like a self-serving turncoat than the violent-but-honorable antihero I’ve come to love over the years. Worst of all, I’m not convinced there’s any good reason for him to burn all these bridges in the first place.
I have a sinking suspicion that the writers of AvX may be sacrificing Logan’s character to serve the plot.
After a recent re-read of the first act of Avengers vs. X-Men, Marvel’s summer blockbuster event, I found myself particularly baffled by the writing team’s treatment of Logan’s motivations and actions. Logan is weaving a web of lies and betrayals that grows with every page, but I’m having a hard time figuring out what his plan is. If the first act of AvX was all I had to go on, I’d conclude that Wolverine is a childish and self-serving manipulator who doesn’t really know what he wants.
To catch up anyone who isn’t reading AvX, Logan basically decides early in the story that the only foolproof way to avert a major Phoenix-related disaster is to kill Hope before she can manifest the full power of the Phoenix Force. That very premise – and, in a larger way, the central premise of the entire story – leaves quite a lot of room for doubt. But, in the name of fairly analyzing his characterization here, let’s just accept that Logan’s plan to destroy Hope stands a serious chance of saving humanity from disaster. Even under such a premise, Logan’s actions seem to run contrary to his goals and motivations.
I actually quite like how things start out. Wolverine plans to make the tough decisions so those around him – whether they’re the squeaky-clean Avengers or the innocent students at the Jean Grey School – don’t have to get blood on their hands. Wolverine feels he’s beyond redemption, but if he continues to shoulder the burden of all the really dirty deeds that need done to protect mutants, he can keep others from having to go down the same path. This interpretation of the character is quite consistent with how he’s been portrayed the last few years, especially as the leader of the clandestine hit squad X-Force.
These dirty deeds usually mean killing those who present a threat to the world in general and mutants in particular. At the beginning of AvX, Wolverine seems to have taken this attitude a step further. Not only does he plan on killing an innocent child to protect the rest of the world, he’s willing to deceive and betray his teammates to do so. This is all a perfectly natural progression of the character’s current direction, and I think it opens up some fertile story ideas if the writers want to pursue them. Think of it this way: Wolverine, the character who seems to appear in every book and is a trusted member of every team in the Marvel universe, is suddenly cast out of paradise. He’s now an outsider and a lone wolf who’s burned all of his bridges with both the X-Men and the Avengers. I’d read that story in a heartbeat.
Unfortunately, Logan’s characterization takes a huge nosedive in issue 4 of AvX. I’m not sure if that particular issue’s writer, Jonathan Hickman, is to blame or if this was all plotted out by committee like much of the rest of the series. But, oh my stars and garters, the developments in that issue left me scratching my head.
Here’s how it plays out: Hope tracks down Logan after he was kicked out of the Avengers’ airplane in the Antarctic and proposes a truce. She argues that she deserves a chance to try to control the Phoenix force. If she fails, Logan has her blessing to try to stop her for good. Logan expresses some doubts but appears to buy into the plan. That’s good enough for Hope, who then decides to take a nap (No, I’m not making that up for comedic effect. It’s in the book). But Logan decides to double-cross her and alert Captain America and the Avengers to Hope’s location, giving them a chance to apprehend her before the Phoenix Force arrives.
In the immortal words of Kitty Pryde, “Yeahbuhwhat?”
From the word go, Logan has made it clear that he believes the only way to end the threat is to end Hope. Captain America literally had Wolverine booted out of a flying aircraft over freakin’ Antarctica because Wolverine showed no sign that he would compromise on his solution.
So Hope seeks out Logan, lets him onto an airplane with her and promptly excuses herself to the cargo hold to go get some shuteye. But rather than gut her in her sleep and thus ending this whole fiasco, Logan gets on the horn with Cap and tells him where he’s going to take Hope so the Avengers can apprehend her.
Logan’s conversation with Captain America takes place mostly off-panel, but a full transcript must have gone something like this:
Captain America: Hello?
Wolverine: Hey, Steve. It’s me.
Captain America: Logan? Shouldn’t you be freezing your hairy little berserkers off on some iceberg right now?
Wolverine: Haha. Yeah, it’s pretty cold down here. But listen, the reason I’m calling is because I’ve got Hope, and she’s sleeping right now so I thought I’d let you know where we’re going so you can take her into custody.
Captain America: [Pause] Are you screwing with me? Because if you’re just screwing with me…
Wolverine: No, I’m serious. I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.
Captain America: Don’t you remember how you were totally sure that killing her was the only way to save the world in issue #2? And then you literally sliced my stomach open with your claws just last issue because you thought my plan wouldn’t work, so we had to throw you out of a moving airplane. Do you remember that? It was just, like, a few hours ago.
Wolverine: No, I don’t remember any of that.
Captain America: Ok, I guess I don’t either.
In AvX #4, Wolverine passed up an easy opportunity to carry out his single overriding motivation in the first three issues of the crossover. Has he abandoned his belief that killing Hope is the only certain way out? It seems that way, but we haven’t been given any indication of what changed his mind. If it was Hope’s speech in the antarctic, why did he then turn around and narc her out with the Avengers?
As a long-time and unabashed Wolverine fan, I’ve got to believe that Logan hasn’t played his full hand yet. There’s got to be something more to Wolverine’s motivation than meets the eye. Otherwise, the writers have really painted the old Canucklehead into a corner where he’s turned his back on a lot of his friends with precious little in the way of a coherent explanation.
Wolverine turned his back on Cyclops in Schism. He violated an order from Cap in issue #2 of AvX, physically attacked Cap in issue #3, and then he betrayed Hope in issue #4. He’s burning bridges left and right and looking more like a self-serving turncoat than the violent-but-honorable antihero I’ve come to love over the years. Worst of all, I’m not convinced there’s any good reason for him to burn all these bridges in the first place.
I have a sinking suspicion that the writers of AvX may be sacrificing Logan’s character to serve the plot.
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