Team-Updates #3: A Spectacular Special Guest
Greetings, heroes! It’s Stephanie, since Fiona is in Sound Production Editing Land, where I cannot, nay, dare not go. Thanks for subscribing to our newsletter!
Run #7: A City of Shining Stars
By the time you read this you’ll be able to hear our whole run of A City of Shining Stars by Aaron Lim, with noted world-building and superhero expert Jeff Stormer, from Party of One and All My Fantasy Children and Anyone Can Wear the Mask. We’ve got a whole Golden Age for the alternate-Earth city of New Olympia built, and a network of wires that supports the city and can even talk back, and a sketchy lawyer who came here (i.e. there) long ago from Faerie.
Run #8: Spectaculars
This one’s next up for February, and it’s a treat! We’ve got Shana Hausman (last heard on Team-Up Moves as Aubergine in our run of Mutant City Blues) as the modern-day golem Emmett, and we are over at least one moon, possibly three, to have the great novelist Seanan McGuire with us as Lily, or Aelili, self-exiled from her planet of libertarians because she’s a twin and cannot own the rights to her own face. She can augment your powers. And duplicate them. Augmicate? Dupliment? We go to space! And we fight… a sketchy space lawyer? Also there’s a flying space manta ray.
Spectaculars, the system we chose for this run, is focused on superhero business (there will be fights!), moves fast, and generates characters through a mix-and-match card-draw system that we really liked: you choose your powers and background through a limited set of options determined by cards. You also get to choose, together with all the other players and the GM, what genre of story you want to tell: we picked Clash Among the Stars, the space adventure subsystem, no doubt because we all like CAtS. Hear all about what we picked and what we did with what we picked, and about what kinds of worldbuilding Spectaculars makes possible, when we get to the back matter!
New Olympia Spotlight!
That’s not a typo. New Olympia is the alternate-universe version of New Arcadia that we explored in our run of A City of Shining Stars with Jeff Stormer.
Setting that game in an alternate universe gave us a blank slate for the city-building, but inter-dimensional cross-overs are enough of a staple of super-hero stories that of course we’re going to see it again.
If you’ve listened to those episodes, you’re probably curious about what actually did happen to Gooseberry in their attempt to unseat the Seelie Courts.
I mean, they lost. You come at Oberon, you best not miss, and they whiffed hard. Their punishment was banishment, and as fae are immortal, that lasts a really, really long time. And when you get to the end of everything, sometimes you have the opportunity to turn around, and make your way back.
What We’ve Been Playing and Reading
Steph: Seanan McGuire pretty much always has a new book out, but the one that dropped in January’s a stunner, and it’s short, too: the eighth installment of her heartbreaking Wayward Children series, Lost in the Moment and Found, whose child hero finds the shop where doors between dimensions make the best-ever thrifting a daily reality. But of course all these bargains have their price, and it’s the kid who has to pay. The Wayward Children books as a whole have a premise as simple as it is unforgettable: some kids find Doors into realms unlike our own, realms that fit their psyches or their needs or their desires: a place of deep stillness, an ultra-Goth valley, a candy-color land of icing and cakes. Some of those kids later end up back here, transformed or empowered or traumatized by their experiences. And there’s a school for them.
Fiona: Panda’s Talking Games is one of my favorite podcasts, so first up, check them out for GM and player advice. But one of the co-hosts, Senda (who you also may remember from She’s a Super Geek), has been repeatedly recommending Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree. I was in the mood for something cozy and fun and started listening and pals this book is quite good. The premise is an orcish fighter leaves her D&D-esque adventuring party to start a coffee shop in a new city. It’s lovely and sweet and kinda gay and warm and I can’t recommend it enough. The author’s narration is quite delightful as well.
That’s it for today! If you like what we’re doing, leave an iTunes review or tell a friend. You could even forward them this e-mail!
Do you know of a game that you think we should play? Email show@teamupmoves.com or mention us on Twitter (@teamupmoves) or Mastodon (@teamupmoves@dice.camp). We love all superhero stuff, but especially games that convey a particular point-of-view. Self-promotion is encouraged!
Do you want to be on the show, or know someone who does? If you love a particular superhero game or a particular type of superhero story, let us know at show@teamupmoves.com or those aforementioned socials. If you have links to places you’ve been recorded either playing games or talking about things, send those, too, though they’re not required. We especially encourage folks who have different social or cultural backgrounds from the two of us.
Do you want one or both of us to be on your show or stream? We probably want to be on it, too! Get in touch. Let’s talk.
– Fiona & Stephanie