Quick Analysis Of The Doctor Strange Movie Teaser Trailer For Your Old School Campaigns

So tonight the Dr. Strange movie trailer dropped onto an unsuspecting world, the reaction has been interesting today to say the least. I haven't been this excited in a long while for a film. I'm a Dr. Strange fan from way back in the 1970's and in fact I grew up with Dr. Strange. The comic books were classic and almost the entire reason why I got into the TSR Marvel Super Heroes game in the first place.

What we get is a voice over of Wong perhaps telling Dr.Strange to forget everything he knows while Strange is hanging upside down in the car wreck that ruins his hands ala the classic comic book series. Then we get a montage of sequences referencing the back story of Strange in the comics as well. We get a sneak peak into the weird and often mind bending vistas of Strange once again referencing the comics. Then we get that classic Dr.Strange astral projection bit. So how close is this to the comic books so far as I can see its damn close to the comics.


We also get a sample of the mind bending Inception like vistas that classic Dr. Strange comics were know for. The Ancient One also seems to be true to form and there's a certain amount of classic weirdness about the trailer that makes this movie so compelling to a certain extant with the teases and hints we've seen so far.



So far as what I've seen in this teaser trailer we get a good and quick overview of perhaps the man we're expecting to see on the big screen. Will we get the Stephen Strange that we deserve as fans? Well that's going to be very interesting and perhaps only time will tell but I have hope now that this trailer has hit the street.



The elements and essence of Stephen Strange the future Sorcerer Supreme of Earth are there but are they following the path of the comics or will they take their own ways of getting into the cinematic Marvel universe? I have a feeling its going to be a combination of both. Strange has almost always been a hard act to follow. The comics have had their own style, history, substance, and set the other worldly tone for the mighty Marvel universe.



The Marvel universe of TSR's Marvel Super Heroes was and is a strange beastie of a role playing game. It was by turns frustrating, weird, playable, and I simply still love the system with all of its weird trade mark bits and pieces, classic Seventies and Eighties era Marvel Heroes and Realms of Magic Book. This was the best magic book and system outside of D&D that had come out. You can still download it right over here.



So does the new Dr.Strange movie pass the Hoary Hosts muster? For the moment I think it will do, I'm pretty excited to see what Dr.Strange has in store for us.

Captain America The Winter Soldier Un-Masked - Review and Commentary

 So apparently today was DM appreciation day and my gang of nine players decided to drag me kicking and screaming to the movies to see Captain America Winter Soldier. This was an incredible film. The story line sets a new gold standard for super hero films while really taking in a stab at echoing the political thrillers of the 70's and 80's. The overtones are over arching in this one. Shield is center stage throughout and things may never really be the same again.
Many of the elements of this film are tied directly into the first Captain America film.
Re watch it before going to see this one

.

 This film throws the audience in the deep end of the Marvel Captain America pond and doesn't let up at all. The theater was cheering at certain parts of the film and visuals are very well done. The action never stops with several key plots running at the same time even though this film.The movie  is PG -13 film and the violence is pronounced and as extreme as we've seen perhaps a bit more then Avengers.
This film stars : 

• Chris Evans
• Scarlett Johansson
• Sebastian Stan
• Anthony Mackie
• Cobie Smulders
• Frank Grillo
• Emily VanCamp
• Hayley Atwell
• Robert Redford
• Samuel L. Jackson
  Already we've got a seqeul scheduled for 2016 according to wiki:  A sequel set to be directed by the Russo brothers is scheduled for release on May 6, 2016.
  
  

The Winter Soldier is a well crafted movie and the plot ideas here are not so much taken from the Winter Soldier Marvel Comic series as they are reworked into the movie Marvel universe to a very well done effect. So far as I've seen everything about this movie lives up to the previous Captain America movie and turns the volume up to eleven. 

This film puts Steve Rogers in the driver's seat of the movie and then gives  the action over the Black Widow and the Falcon. There's lots happening here and there's still more coming. I've got to see this film a second time to see every single thread in this one. 


This is perhaps the best Marvel film that I've seen to date and there are some major tie ins to the other films especially the Avengers and the rest of the movie Marvel universe. The ideas here fly fast, the plot elements are bold and comic book like. This however is one of the darker Marvel films to date and it goes a long way toward capturing the air of paranoia and fear that is in the air right now. That fear is taken and turned into a very loud, fun, and one hell of a ride to take a date to. 

The performances here are fun and gritty with just the right level of violence and mayhem to keep things moving very quickly.
This is a film that your going to want to see again and again to get everything. This one opens cans of worms and the door for many more things to come from the world of the Marvel movies. 

OSR Gaming In The World Of 

Captain America The Winter Soldier

 

If you are playing an old school Marvel Super Heroes Rpg campaign using the Marvel movie assets of these films. There are years of plot hooks and ideas just waiting for a DM & players to exploit.
 This one has everything from ties at the end of Avengers, Iron man, to loose threads that tie directly into the Agents of Shield television series. The idea of everything from clean up crews of Shield agents to complete rogue elements of mercenary super heroes dealing with the blow back and events of this film are all there.
After the events of Winter Soldier there are going to be a boat load of agents questioning their place in the world and Shield. This opens the door to many possibilities for DM's to exploit into full blown campaigns.
The elements of Winter Soldier make the inclusion of individuals of exceptional abilities and powers not only a necessity but a need for this world. This is a world that needs heroes and capes like now. The state of things in the aftermath of Captain America is even more shaky and ill suited then the alien invasion of Avengers.
While everyone was cheering on Cap and the rest of the cast. I kept looking at the destruction going on throughout the film and thought who besides heroes are going to be able to cope with some of this? Sure the police, military, and more are there but boy a group of PC's sure could get right into the thick of the destruction seen even in the trailers and help.
 The technology here is bleeding right along the edge of real world into the heights that we've seen in the Marvel movies before. There is some very cool hardware and many of the ideas here might need the touch of a group of super powered individuals to help balance the odds. Seems to me that there is more then enough room to open the door of a couple of Pandora's boxes on some other special Shield projects. Those that might release a couple of second stringers right into mix to help clean thing up and get the world right.
 All in all I think that Winter Soldier presents a unique opportunity for a DM to get right into the old Marvel Universe and get the ball rolling right away on a campaign in the 'Aftermath of Winter Soldier.'
Sounds like a real catchy name for a campaign doesn't it. 

Review and Commentary On The New X men Days Of Future Past Trailer And It's impact on Your Old School Super Hero Campaigns

This looks like the X men movie that we've been waiting for? Or is it? It's really interesting looking and with so many Marvel properties in the mix now a days things are very busy for an old comic book fan like me. It's nice to see Bryan Singer returning to the directing chair. The reason I say this is because from a  cohesion of storyline stand point I've gotten a bit tired of redo's and recons of Marvel properties.

I would love to see a tie in with Agents of Shield or some of the other Marvel properties but the problem is that these properties are scattered to the four winds by the various studios. A fact that seems to escape some folks. Here's a break down over HERE

Many of the players here are from the X men First Class movie and as we wander down the movie version of the Days of Future Past, things are starting to look up for this movie. I like what I see with this one. There's a vibe of the humor, pathos, and of a hint of a great movie or its it a great trailer? Hard to tell but I did enjoy First Class so we'll see what happens.

So we're going to get the Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver in this one and we get another round of Magneto and Charles friend ship tearing the whole tapestry  of Earth apart. Will we see a Scarlet Witch tie in with Age Of Ultron? Color me curious to say the least. 

 My criteria for these  films is that they should make me want to run an old school super heroes rpg campaign. 

So far things are sounding really solid but I just can't seem to get into the design of the new Sentinels.

There's something classic about the comic Sentinels to me. 

The Sentinels look like an I phone or tablet technologies not horrid cybernetic units  that are capable of ripping PC's apart. 

The one important point here is that the Xmen comic book is classic. And this is a movie and there are all sorts of issues putting onto screen a story line with this many comic fan's expectations. Will they nail it? 

That's going to be the real heart and soul of the matter. TSR had a very nifty way of dealing with the marketing that appealed to the fans of the Marvel comic and the game. But it always falls back to this. 

The comic book vs the movie is real the issue. The old school Marvel Superheros Heroes rpg had a very nifty time of marketing itself. Especially the Days of Future Past Adventures, they took place within your home town. The  dystopianism was knocking right on your campaign's front door and it was coming to kick your PC's teeth in. 

As the adventure story line continued your PC's were hunted, exploited,humiliated, and almost sentinel bate at least a couple of times. That's only in the first adventure BTW and I ran the hell out of this one back in the nether reaches of my misspent youth.
 Surviving such a programme is isn't easy but the fact that these now classic adventures are available for free makes me very curious to run em and see how they hold up.
They're all available right over HERE

The First Four Minutes Of Captain America The Winter Soldier Trailer and It's Influence On Your Old School Super Hero Campaigns

To say I'm excited is an understatement for this film. The storyline has been kicking around Marvel comics for some time however. The movie looks hands down excellent and the vibe is very exciting to say the least.
The vibe of the movie seems to follow a bit of the Marvel Ultimate's line. Given that Cap is such a fixture of  the old Marvel Super Heroes Rpg it follows that this movie is going to pump a whole lot of juice back into that old school rpg. 

The Plot :  Steve Rogers resides peacefully in Washington, D.C., struggling to adapt to contemporary society. However, after a S.H.I.E.L.D. compatriot is assailed, Rogers becomes entangled in a mystery that may endanger the globe. Together with Natasha Romanoff, Captain America attempts to uncover the growing machination while fending off hired hit men. When the entire scheme is discovered, Captain America and the Black Widow must recruit the aid of the Falcon

 Given the times that we live in this movie seems to echo the vibes that we've seen in Agents of Shield as well as much of the 70's nostalgia and paranoia.  Given that Robert Redford is playing a senior member of Shield and its world council there are echoes of many of his roles in the writing and development of the film.

According to Wiki : 

Markus and McFeely decided the script would fall under the conspiracy genre and were heavily influenced by 3 Days of the Condor, The Parallax View, and Marathon Man.^[43] Kevin Feige described the film as a political thriller.^[65] Feige later elaborated,

In our attempt to make all of our films feel unique and feel different we found ourselves going back to things like [Three Days of the Condor]. Also the other political thrillers of the ’70s: The Parallax View, All the President's Men. This was a time that Cap existed in in the comics. He found himself in the swinging ’60s followed by the Watergate Era followed by the Reagan Era followed by where we are today. In the comics it was a hell of a journey for Steve. And we couldn’t take him through those years because in our cinematic universe he was asleep. But we wanted to force him to confront that kind of moral conundrum, something with that ’70s flavor. And in our film that takes the form of S.H.I.E.L.D

 Much of this movie seems to be echoing down beat and weirdness of the 1970's Avengers, Captain America, and much of the Shield stuff from recent years. This is going to be a movie that takes no prisoners and I've played in a few Marvel Super Hero campaigns where this was the case. The system can and does echo the scope of this style of play believe it or not.

When we look into the Marvel Super Heroes Rpg there's a very dark undercurrent in the Avengers Box set and source books. This weird quasi governmental aspect to the Avengers including Captain America. Although we're not going to see Stats for the Winter Soldier. We can use the Avengers box set and source book. 

Available Right Over
HERE
 This Avengers Source book has quite a bit of detail about Shield and the background of the Avengers including most of the major players 

Right Over
HERE