Shadowrun Returns

I mentioned recently that Nathaniel was playing through the classic Mass Effect, which Matt had gifted me many years ago. Another game he graciously gifted me was Shadowrun: Dragonfall. I've been thinking about cyberpunk a lot lately with my city of Vesper under construction, so I decided to check out the predecessor of Dragonfall, Shadowrun Returns. It's been a while since I've played any video game that wasn't on an Evercade platform, and I'm really enjoying a return to the Shadowrun universe!

What Happened to Dolorous Edd?!

As a guy who grew up doing some pretty spot-on (if I do say so myself!) voice impersonations of the Muppets and other pop-culture characters, I appreciate a good voice. I've always admired the work of voiceover actors like Frank Welker, Peter Cullen, and the guy with maybe the best voice in the history of humanity, Keith David. As a gamemaster, I like to incorporate custom voices for key NPCs in my campaign worlds, perhaps most notably in the Druid Cycle setting; Cyfrinach, Iskander, Cerdyn, Pyrrhus, and many others have had very distinctive voices. 

Over the past year, I've been listening to the Song of Ice and Fire series on Audible. The books were narrated by the late, great Roy Dotrice and -- wow! -- did this guy have an amazing reading voice! Over the first three books, Dotrice built an immense variety of custom voices for the main characters. His work on this series wasn't just a reading, but a true performance. 

I'm now getting into the fourth book, A Feast for Crows, and, well, it's a different experience. I understand that Dotrice wasn't available to record this book when it first came out and then returned to read it many years after he had narrated the others in the series. The result is pretty jarring. There are major changes in how he pronounces names like "Catelyn" and "Petyr", but also in the voices he uses for the characters. Some of the biggest changes are to major players like Arya and Petyr. The one that really hit me the hardest, though, was the voice of my absolute favorite supporting character, Dolorous Edd. A member of the Night's Watch and close friend of Jon Snow, Edd provides a lot of self-deprecating wit and comic relief. Dotrice's original voice for Edd always put a smile on my face, but the voice used in Feast is so bland and undistinguished that I almost wince when I hear it. 

If I ever screw up the voices in our campaigns, please call me on it. An unexpected change to the voice of a character can really take you out of the moment!

Mass From the Past

Over a decade ago, Matt gifted me a copy of Mass Effect, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Nathaniel found the whole series on Steam today at a mass-ive (!) discount, so now he's going to give it a whirl. Brings back great memories!

BGTV

Super excited about emphatically not watching this show...

Vesper Is Growing!

Back into the Funwhole! I picked up another big cyberpunk building set from Lumibricks. The mysterious city of Vesper is growing...

Gratitude

These days, I'm especially grateful for the opportunity to spend time with my family. We had a quiet weekend at home, and free time enough to play all three active campaigns: the revived Shattered Realm campaign with Matthew and Nathaniel, the Zoom-based Druid Cycle game with the boys and their cousins in Michigan, and finally the Vanguard Saga campaign with the boys and Amy. Any weekend we can get together around the ol' RPG table is a blessing.

MotU Trailer

HELL YES!

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

The latest GoT spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, premieres tonight on HBO!