277: Get your best Brass In Pocket on
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Rise of the Powers of X #2 drops today. After #1 does the slight of hand to explain the situation, we get Xavier's team together and start doing their plan to try and stop the Enigma. I suspect a good chunk of the questions people were wondering will be answered here – the structure is an in media res one, so we're meant to be playing catch-up. That said, it also sets some more questions folks will be wondering about – the “exactly what happened between Immortal 18 and now” will be waiting for X-men Forever #1 next month, for example.
But this is the issue where my early-1990s techno vibe kicks in a bit. We dance across time and space, and give space for RB to big sci-fi visuals.
Here's the first three pages...
Next up is X-men Forever #1 next month on the 20th, followed by Rise of the Power of X #3 the week after.
Oh - Here's an interview about X-Men Forever #1, including more preview art, which mainly shows Mother Righteous having what seems to be a really terrible day.
I need to go through some editorial tweaks on the sequel to this in this, so I think it's a good time to give another plug the pre-orders to the first one, which presents three whole new scenarios.
I'm really pleased with this. I'm even pleased with mine. The goal was to try and show what a detailed pre-generated scenario with DIE can look like, while still being flexible enough to warp to whatever questions and ideas the group brings to the table. It's definitely a step on for the scenarios in the manual, which are basically improvisational guide-rails and only Total Party Kill actively creating a firm “go here, do this” structure.
BIZARRE LOVE TRIANGLES is basically twice the length of that, with 20 real encounters, all designed to be personalised intensely to the group (while also giving exact guidance where to place the ideas.) The trick is the Persona Gen questions narrow the player's responses in a way which means whatever they decide can be thrown back at them when they reach Die.
Let's show one by way of example – spoilers, obviously. There's regions which are keyed specifically to each of the paragons. I'm going to use the Fool as the example, as it's the one I paraphrased while on a panel at the last Gencon.
Bizarre Love Triangles is a game about a group of people who are hung up in one way or another over their exes – the one who left someone, the one who was left, the one who loves unrequitedly and so on. Each becomes a different paragon. The Fool is a bit of an exception – they're someone who loves in a somewhat fickle manner, and has left behind a string of broken hearts.
So in Persona Gen, these are their specific questions. It's worth noting by selecting the Fickle as their archetype, they've already said “I'm someone who does this kind of thing” so they've already accepted being a bit of an arsehole, or at least particularly clueless...
And later in the adventure, you'll reach this region. The “Impassable” basically means the region can't be visited on the map if there's no Fool player.
I think you can see how the two work together to create something which absolutely would personalise intensely on the answers while also working as a big dramatic set-piece.
Oh – here's the side-bar for this.
We have a standard stat block for the scenario, which is then altered in the encounter as needed. This one is an example of how Specials in Die can be used for narrative not tactical considerations. (Specials can be activated on any 6+ roll in a dice pool).
Basically, I think this is the closest I've come to giving a scenario which shows exactly how I GM Die, and should be strong to run straight out the box or as an inspiration for your own scenarios.
Oh – one last thing. This is the last question in Persona Gen...
Which I suspect will get a laugh at a table, but also is a good example of how Persona Gen shapes groups, and so the adventures they have. The Reunited group in Rituals is a group of Gamers – like, by definition, the group of people playing the game in real life. By putting the answers which make the persona not gamers first, we highlight that a gaming-group isn't a default here – and then point other ways they can be gamers, but with a twist. Of course “Something else” is there to ensure the option to just be a gaming group is there too, if they want... but not one we necessarily guide you towards. Pick lists are great.
It'll be releasing by May at the latest and you can pre-order here, both in physical or PDF.
(Or both – you get the PDF with physical)
X-men solicits for May. More Details here.
- This is big news! Lin Codega, Rowan Zeoli and Chase Carter soft launch Rascal, a site devoted to tabletop RPG coverage. With Quinns Quest last time , this is an amazing period for quality critical coverage of RPGs. I couldn't be happier. Well, I could be happier. Give me a mars bar right now, and I'll be a little happier than I am, but you get the point. Here's the why they're launching and here's the stylistic influences of what they want to do (Warning for a New Games Journalism namecheck), which Lin indirectly reminds me is 20 years old, which is (er) a lot? NGJ is older than I was than when I started writing games journalism. Oh noes. At the least, go read the stylistic influences post, as it's a great reading list of some of the finest tabletop writing.
- The Hugos 2023 situation grows ever more worrying. reported here at length. “Clusterfuck” doesn't really cover the active malevolence in some of this.
- Nick Cave isn't gentle here on “I have writer's block” and “how can I create art in a world of pain”? but also occasionally necessary.
- Down the Tubes detailed Obituary for Paul Neary. I didn't know Paul at all, but was an astounding inker. Specifically, the Authority was the gateway to me going from a 2-trades-a-year-guy to a weekly person in an intense 3 month period, so he's someone whose work that absolutely seduced me.
- A funny and desperate plea for us to all be a bit more normal about Taylor Swift isn't really about that, but how the present media age is warped by fans and critics alike, and the nightmare in terms of navigating that. I half suspect I may say a little about navigating Marvel's fan waters when I'm out the door, but I likely will think better of it.
- Scott Snyder on the power of first pages (or scenes). He hits up a classic (Dark Knight Returns) and two contempoary books (Cobra Commander and the new Ultimate Spider-man). I find myself thinking that starting a book is the perhaps the easiest task, and so it's also the one which you have the best chance of actually nailing. Nothing to distract you from the task at hand... so why not be brilliant? It's your chance to strut and show what you're about. Be Chrissie Hynde. Get your best Brass In Pocket on.
A week before I head off to Emerald City, so a lot of things are aligning. My creator owned things are getting very real - Clayton is doing lettering tests for the OGN, for example. I handed in the last issue of X-men Forever. When I finish writing this outro, I'm going to go back and do a final quick proof of Rise of the Powers of X #5, and send it over... which ends my series commitments to marvel. I've got a couple of things to finish off – the Mystique/Destiny marriage issue which has just been announced – but they're relatively small commitment. I'll have hopefully handed that in by Tuesday.
So yes. Nearly out. I mentioned this on blueskies and Douglas Wolk said how excited he was by both the end and whatever next, which provoked this...
...which is the sort of thing I do when I have too much to do. I'm someone who, if busy, will be trying to do even more.
(Er... to stress, Marvel didn't offer me another event. I'm just joking what the one ring would look like for some writers.)
Anyway – back to look at Powers of X, to see what hilarious typos I've made.
Speak soon.
Kieron Gillen
London
21.2.2024