Archive for simon cogan
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simon cogan
United Kingdom
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Over at 'Gallifrey Base' - probably THE biggest online Who community in the world - they're discussing Doctor Who games this week.
Naturally I've put forward DWSSG as a good example of the genre - no such thing as bad publicity after all. It's strange though that the game isn't getting as much attention over there as I'd like. I'm fairly sure the game is a strong one that would and should appeal to fans, and yet it's not as popular there as it is here with 'game' fans.
I wonder why that is? Is it too complex for 'non gamers'? Is the amount of material just too much to get into? Does it look too daunting?
Any feedback or ideas are welcomed. And if you're part of the Gallifrey Base forum community, why not pop along there and say something nice? One or two have and I'm very grateful to them.
I've been watching a reconstruction of 'Web of Fear' this week. Of course, episode 1 plus a few clips here and there exist as well. It just is a magnificent example of sixties Who - one of Troughton's absolute finest.
What marrs most of the black and white six parters is the slow pace but the writing, and particularly the superb direction by Douglas Camfield, really do gloss over any obvious padding. I would like to know how the web-map in the underground base actually works though? It seems like a marvellous device that can track the web's movement and advances - but how exactly?
Episode 1 is a superb establishing episode - easily Troughtons best. A gradual build up of tension that has just an amazing prologue in the museum that would've scared the pants off most kids watching. It's lit beautifully with candles and deep shadows like a fifties horror movie. Gorgeous.
Episode 4 is the other stand out episode where we have the military battling the Yeti in Covent Garden. Even with just telesnaps it looks terrific. Half the cast get massacred too!
All the cast are marvellous here, the regulars on top form, and of course, the wonderful Nick Courtney puts in a bravura (and suspicious at times) performance as Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart. The first of many appearances as the Doctor's oldest friend.
Terrific - 9/10 (and it should be 10, but since I can't see it all...)
And this weeks question: Why could Sgt Benton's first name be Fred?
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simon cogan
United Kingdom
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As New Dimensions bounds along at it's own pace - I can't believe we're almost half way through the season with episode 6 this week - nearly all my attention has turned to 'The Time Lords' for June.
Deadlines (I'm reminded again of Mr D Adams) just keep coming don't they? And this expansion should be on release in 3 weeks time. Eek! This one - even though it has been written by someone else for the main part - is a tough one to nail. And this is not the writer's fault - more mine really for not really knowing what brief to give him until I really examine the material.
There's so much Time Lord and Gallifrey lore spread throughout the Classic series that it's tempting to put everything in. But that's just impossible so I'm really having to tighten the focus. Out has gone Traken, Amsterdam, Romana, Drax, K'anpo, Salyavin, Shada.
It's just about Gallifrey this one, plus some really excellent 'Trial' mechanics that are better than anything I thought of!
But I'm still having thoughts of other new stuff.
An idea popped into my head yesterday which I'm calling 'Places and Bases' right now. I'm thinking of Enemy specific events for enemies to replace e082 (Important place) and e144 (Enemy base) when the Enemy has been revealed. Some Enemies already have these - Autons, Fae, Daleks have Dalek City etc - but others don't. I could do a whole expansion of about 44 or so of these to add flavour and individualism to 2 events that are quite common. What do people think?
With my episode watching this week, I had the absolute pleasure of watching 'Smith and Jones' this week with David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and Freema Agyeman introduced as Martha Jones.
This a cracker of an episode - fast, funny, exciting, great monsters - and a perfect season opener to get people watching. You need to know nothing of backstory or history, it's just a terrific way to hook new viewers. In fact, it's a text-book example of great writing in this respect and everyone gives pitch-perfect performances. Only one scene (the radiation 'dance' which is far too silly and demeans the character of the Doctor in many ways) marrs this episode.
Of special note are the regulars. Tennant is on top form with buckets of charisma and Freema is just wonderful (and very hot) for her first story. The Judoon are also inspired creations which I'm sure had lots of schoolchildren going 'do, slo, mo, ko' on Monday morning!
Absolutely loved it - 9/10. What do other people think?
So this blog's quiz: The Doctor uses 'John Smith' as his alias once more in this story, but who else in the series also uses 'John Smith' as a non de plume?
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simon cogan
United Kingdom
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Nothing to do with DWSSG this time but just thought I'd mention it.
I was watching an episode of 'Holby City' this week when a character muttered "go to your 'happy place'" to another when they were about to enter a stressful situation.
So is 'Doctor Who' my 'happy place'? You betcha!
Nothing better to illustrate that than last night when I had the pleasure of being rung by a friend at 4.30pm to say he had tickets to see the 2 recently recovered episodes - 'Galaxy Four' part 3 and 'The Underwater Menace' part 2.
These were being shown in Chapter arts as part of a BAFTA Cymru ceremony in Cardiff - and about 20 mins from home. We had tried to get tickets previously but were told that they were all sold out, so this was a fantastic surpise.
With another friend picking me up, the three of us had a fabulous evening watching the two episodes and then having a question and answer panel with Frazer Hines (Jamie), Anneke Wills (Polly) and Peter Puves (Steven) along with Gary Russell and none other than Steven Moffat himself.
Although no-one can say that the episodes themselves were the best that sixties Who had to offer, it was a real thrill seeing them for the first time and any problems I may have with the stories were more than covered in the warm, happy glow of nostalgia.
The 300 strong audience - with an age range of 6 to 60 (brilliant that, isn't it!) were then regaled with facts, fun and trivia (and gossip) from the black and white era of the show for about an hour.
But the night wasn't over as I met some old friends I hadn't seen for a few years, we caught up over a few beers and chatted to Frazer, Peter and Anneke who were all very friendly and great company in the bar afterwards.
A really great night. My 'happy place' indeed!
And a tough quiz question - what links Galaxy Four to Underwater Menace?.
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simon cogan
United Kingdom
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Another busy week goes by and lots of things to type about.
'New Dimensions' continues to be popular over at the Yahoo group. We're on episode 5 this week, which, if you're a player, you'll know is an eas week for me as it's the conclusion of a story 'MANA' started last week. I wanted to have 2 parters in the season so put in deliberate cliffhanger events in the story. The intention was to make it difficult enough so that you needed extra time on this one. It certainly worked in my version, although some people might get a week off this week if they pummelled MANA quickly last time. It won't be the only 2 parter this season either.
In related news, I've now finished all the work on 'New Dimensions' as well as compiled all the material that will see release here as a regular expansion in July.
So now that ND is done, I've turned my attention to the first Classic expansion of the year with 'The Time Lords'. Not written by me (in the most part), I'm hoping that it will be a straight forward editing job so that I can get it done for release in June. I'm aiming for about 2 pages per week, so I need to get Omega and the decayed Master done this weekend...
A final - although big piece of news as well...
I have been trying to negotiate over the last few months on making DWSSG an official product in some way. Sadly, it was not to be.
This week I've been listening to the BF 8th Doctor 'The Witch in the Well'. I really enjoyed the period 'Hammeresque' setting of this adventure and it moved along at a good pace. There were some interesting characters from some fine actors - Simon Rouse as the amusingly named 'Witchpricker' (it's a hobby...) and Serena Evans as the titular witch being the two best. It wasn't perfect, with Mary Shelley being sidelined I felt in another timeline, and the climax of the adventure a little confusing to follow. But I'm being picky (or pricky). Rollicking good fun at 8/10.
I'd recommend a listen - anyone else heard it?
And my question this week. Simon Rouse of course played Hindle in 'Kinda'. But where would Hindle meet Melkur?
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simon cogan
United Kingdom
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Gosh I'm tired.
It's been a hectic week and I'm only just managing to do some stuff for the game this week as I find I'm getting too tired during the evenings.
Still, over the last few weeks, the game has made good progress with lots of things being done and I'm in a good position to finish off New Dimensions - with now only 1 page to go (hurrah) before starting editing 'The Time Lords' ready for June. This will be our first Classic release of 2012 and has been completely written by someone else (again - hurrah!). We actually get to visit Gallifrey 'properly' in the game and have lots of Gallifreyan goodness - Time Lord allies and Enemies, Artefacts of Rassilon (tm), the Matrix and a whole lot more I hope people will enjoy.
You see, this is the curse of good planning - there's always something to do and more to finish. As soon as I start on 'The Time Lords', it will be the August expansion 'Storylines II' that will be nagging at the back of my brain. This is a sequel to last year's popular expansion and will cover the David Tennant specials plus all the 11th Doctor expansion sets, so it should be good fun to design.
I'm back on the audio adventures this week with the Sixth Doctor adventure 'The Curse of Davros'.
I have to say I wasn't terribly impressed with this one. It wasn't bad by any means just terribly 'ah well, seen it all before' kinda thing. Colin Baker and Terry Molloy were on good form and new companion Flip was fine, but the story neither gripped me, made me laugh or made me want to find out what happened next. Meh - 5/10.
So because my head is a little fuzzy, we'll go for an easy question this week:
How did Davros get killed by Lytton?
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simon cogan
United Kingdom
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A.little extra blogging this week as I've been off work.
It's been manic this week in all sorts of ways. The Yahoo group continues to be really busy - over 100 posts this months so far - by FAR the busiest month since I started it in Sept 2009 - gosh, 2 and 1/2 years ago.
New Dimensions seems to have gone down well with players, which I'm very happy with. It was my idea to try something different with the game when the TV show was off air when it should be on (April-June) - although I'm all for Autumn transmission when nights are darker, and I've got plenty of Who DVDs to watch until then. I actually had the idea for New Dimensions when on holiday last year in Florida, so it's taken 8 months of fermenting in my brain since then. It gives a bit more RPG to the game, which is a good thing I think and I get to flesh out a new Companion more fully than the normal game would allow.
The real point of discussion over at Yahoo is the HTML project which again is very exciting. Although my technical skills are not much help to those who are designing (thanks, guys!) I'm all up for advice and encouragement wheen needed and I'm looking frward to the time when we can play DWSSG on different platforms - who knows what that might bring??
I've been doing, as I mentioned last time, lots of cards for the game too. These are for my own use really as when I'm playtesting I like the feel of having physical cards to handle and pics to see without a lot of flipping and remembering - if possible. It helps to imemrse myself in the story better.
So, I managed another Who watch this week - 'The Wedding of River Song'. This is only the second time I've watched it in full and I've reviewed it before - catch my first review here:
[blogpost= http://www.boardgamegeek.com/blogpost/5087/the-wedding-of-ri...]
I enjoyed it more this time - although my initial worries and niggles still stand - I think I just have to accept them and go with the flow. I have to say I thought Karen Gillan looked really hot in this one though!
Last time, I wimped out of giving it a score, so here I'm giving it 8/10 - very enjoyable, some great stuff, but with some plot problems (mainly the whole 'if we touch, time starts' stuff when the Doctor is a robot...)
And so for a quiz question..Churchill visits Cleopatra in this story and claims she was a great dancer, but what did a captain in Cleopatra's guard teach the Doctor (and in what story was it mentioned)?
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simon cogan
United Kingdom
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Another busy week with the game for me.
I've been busy printing and designing Ally cards for my own games. All the Core Set, End of Time and all Eleventh Doctor expansions are now completed. I've also done some Location cards so players can keep track of special rules whilst they are there. There's also some counters and markers for games - the most useful being the Action/Encounter marker (flip when required) as it's amazing how often I forget which part of the Turn I'm on! And don't worry - all will be available here soon.
I'm also completing the proposed Prevent Actions as well as the Desperate Venture and Study History Actions. This last one has 2 variants too - Study Earth History (where you can get specialised History traits per Era) and Study at Museum.
There's also been some more work on the proposed HTML version of the game which sounds very exciting.
Of course, I've done a bit more for New Dimensions - still those last 2 episodes of the season are proving elusive to nail down! Episode 2 was well received and Episode 3 is raring to go with me just prepping the files later today ready for Saturday. There's some nice stuff for this episode and I hope people enjoy it.
After the awful 'Paradise Towers' last week, I went from the ridiculous to the sublime with 'Rose'.
Now this is an incredible piece of TV. As an episode it's fine, but as a piece of TV history it's amazing. It achives what it has to do - no easy task - in such style and panache, and with such a deftness that it's astonishing. True, there are some tonal errors (mainly with Auton Mickey and the burping bin but also the gurning with the auton arm), but we can forgive these as it was the first episode and it was (almost) never repeated again.
Chris Eccleston plays the Doctor wonderfully - and, of course, will get better at it as the season progresses, but he's on top form here. And Billie Piper's Rose is fantastic too. They make a great team.
I can't praise the story enough in terms of the massive task of bringing the show back to the public eye and into 2005 (gosh - 7 years ago now!). It does so with pace, energy, respect and most of all - love. If 'Rose' had bombed, we wouldn't be here today...
As a stand-alone episode, this is 7/10, as a piece of TV history - this is 9.5/10 .
What are your opinions of this one?
And my quiz question for this week...the ninth Doctor is seen next to the Titanic. In which story did the Doctor dismiss the word 'unsinkable' as it reminded him of this fateful ship?
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simon cogan
United Kingdom
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Gosh it's been a busy week - fortunately I've had some time off so have been able to cope!
The Yahoo group seems - much to my liking of course - gone berserk and it's the liveliest that it's ever been since starting back in 2009.
Of course, New Dimensions has also begun. Episode 1 'The TARDIS and Jane' went out last week and I played the episode through myself as well. It was very straight forward in my version, meeting new companion Jane Danning whilst she was on holiday in Paris. Ah, Paris in the Spring - sunshine, cherry blossom, good coffee, the Eiffel tower, Zygons...!
I'm all raring to go with episode 2 - 'Data Harvest' for this Saturday and have got the folder ready for sending. In fact, I'm nearly all done with the season now. I've just got the last 2 episodes to finalise, although I'm part-way there and have cast yet another great actor in a guest role. No Doctor Who pedigree, but a Star Wars minor character...
Then there's been the great discussion about the new poposed 'Prevent Action' which I'm hoping will give adventures a new thematic boost for players who have been around a bit. I've managed prototypes for 6 of the 9 so types far and will get down to playtesting them plus a 'Desperate Venture' Action soon.
I know that some players have been a bit narked (perhaps that's too strong a word) about my recent tinkering. I keep going back to my original mission statement of 'getting the best Doctor Who game there is, with a rich thematic storyline' though - and by producing extra stuff like Actions or a better combat system, it means I get closer to the ideal. Yes, it does mean perhaps a bit of reprinting but that's a small price to pay when it makes the game better. And I will introduce all new rules like Prevent or other Actions in expansions, so if you don't like them, you can just ignore them - the basic game will remain fixed.
This week I've been watching what I consider the worst Doctor Who TV adventure ever produced - 'Paradise Towers'.
This story is wrong on so many levels that I can't begin to go into all of them in detail. The acting is dire from all concerned - although both Bonnie Langford and Richard Briers (what was he thinking..?)take the honours for two of the worst performances ever. The plot is muddled and illogical (how long have they been there..?), the direction and lighting flat - and as for Keff McCullogh's music - yeesh! And just when you think it can't get any worse - part 4 comes along. Now this just HAS to be the worst thing ever under the TV Who banner. It's embarassing to watch from start to finish.
Appalling drivel - 1/10. (Although if you want to make it slightly, just slightly, better - watch it without the usual music and a different score by David Snell. He's no Murray Gold but it's miles better than Keff and makes the story just a tad more bearable - 2/10).
What do others think of this 80's masterpiece? And what would YOUR worst TV Who be?
And this week's quiz..What connnects the Black Guardian to Paradise Towers??
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simon cogan
United Kingdom
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It's getting busier all the time as I get ready for New Dimensions that premieres tomorrow!
Everyone signed up for ND1 will receive an email with attachments and instructions for playing through episode 1.
Episodes 1-10 have now been all completed and I should (even with all this first night madness!) get episode 11 done this weekend.
I have also posted the latest rules book with the combat system updated in it. This has got to be cleared by Admin. The Enemy and Events books will follow in due course but are not hugely important right now.
If anyone is using the new combat system then replace any 'Serious Wounds' events by just Wounds. Autons, Ice Warriors, Sontarans and stone creatures (Angels, Pyroviles etc) have Armour. Any Enemy with built in energy weapons (Autons, Ice Warriors, Cybermen etc) have Laser.
In other news, there is a good suggestion on the gamepage for a new set of mid-game Actions called 'Prevent'. This will, when you know the Goal, open an Action depending on the Goal 'type'. All Goals will have one of 9 types such as 'Invasion', 'Resurrection' etc. So we will have a 'Prevent Invasion' Action etc.
There is also a suggestion for a 'Desperate Venture' Action which is what it says - when you cannot Oppose and time has run out for you, do you take a gamble to Defeat the Enemy?
Both Actions are in the spirit of the TV show and I think will add to the game. Both will have 'official' release in 'The Companion 2' in November this year.
Any thoughts or suggestions on these would be welcome.
I know that my polishing of the rules set is irksome to some, but I do believe in 'getting it right'. With DWSSG we can afford to be in flux a little as there's no published game, and it's not costing anyone anything apart from a bit of printer ink. I always leave the old versions up too so youcan compare and see what has been teaked so only have to print off some pages - not the whole book.
In the end, we get a better game and if you're not keen on the latest revision - just ignore it.
I've ben listening to another BF lost story this week with 'Hexagora' starring Peter Davison, Janet Fielding and Sarah Sutton.
Good, solid entertainment with the regulars on top form and all of them getting something to do. It guest stars Jacqueline Pearce, Toby Hadoke (who's everywhere these days!) and Dan Starkey and all turn in fun performances. A solid 7/10.
So, this week' quiz...Jacqueline Pearce also starred as Chessene in 'The Two Doctors', but which actress did she replace for that role at the last moment, who later had a different ('meatier'...) part in Who?
And did no-one get last week's brainteaser...?
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simon cogan
United Kingdom
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Wow - it's been a busy week!
Of course, the main debate this week is my proposed combat change, and I think we've hammered it out now. I say 'we' as this really is a collective decision where different points of view and ideas are discussed until I feel we've got to the right place.
As such, there has been little 'real' change I suppose, but a clean up and streamlining of the system to eliminate a bit of recording (now can be done with simple counters) as well as putting in a few Traits and tweaks that I think make the game stronger anyway.
I'm going with -2 Brawn per Wound and any Character can take Wounds except Minions and Troops.
I'll be releasing the final system with all the information ready for playing 'New Dimensions' next weekend.
I am constantly amazed that I manage to keep to my schedule sometimes - it really is a killer! But Episodes 1-6, 8-9 are completed and episodes 10-11 have been done this weekend. These last 2 episodes contain content (not necessarily related either...) by Matthew Barrett and I'm just in the process of 'casting' a villain..hmm...
There are, including myself, 5 writers in total who have contributed to the season and I'm very grateful to Craig, Stu, Brian and Matthew for their hard work
And I suppose I'd better get working on the last 2 episodes of the season, plus Episode 7 that seems to have slipped through the net.
Another topic of discussion this week was the forming of new optional Actions - especially for the later parts of an Adventure. I would think these might come in 'The Companion 2' scheduled later for the year.
'Desperate Venture' has been proposed and I put in the idea that if we put the Goals into 'types' (such as Invasion, Apocalypse etc), then this might open another Action called Prevent (type) - so Prevent Invasion etc. I'd welcome any opinions on this proposal - it might another fun option that changes between adventures so they are slightly different (as we've done with the Explore Action).
I've been back to listening to Doctor Who this week and a 4th Doctor adventure 'The Valley of Death' with the incomparable Tom Baker being assisted by the lovely Louise Jameson.
This was a 'lost story' from ex-producer Philip Hinchcliffe and a very curious beast that does a complete switch in plot and locale between episodes 1-2 and 3-4. It starts off as very much a 'lost valley of the dinosaurs and explorers' piece which is very atmospheric and great fun, but then becomes a fairly typical alien invasion with a bit of 'bodysnatchers' thrown in for good measure. I certainly preferred the first 2 episodes but that doesn't mean to say the last 2 aren't bad.
The villains of the story are the Lurons who, apart from having only briefly described physical characteristics (they're short and yellow with fangs apparently), sound perfectly normal with no voice modulation at all and very, ahem, British...
Of course, the main reason to listen to the story is to hear the 4th Doctor and Tom Baker. Having listened to the AudioGo 'Nest Cottage' series with Tom (well, the first half of the first one - and he was DREADFUL!) I approached it with trepidation. Did Tom remember how to play the Doctor, or was it just Tom larking about and playing himself? I'm very happy to say that Tom was back on form and only once or twice went OTT - just like the TV show.
Very pleasant listening - 7.5/10
And for this week's question. Philip Hinchcliffe penned this story, but which member of the behind the scenes 'regulars' proposed an idea about the Foreign Legion where Sarah Jane might have met her death?
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