Jeff Grubb's Blog

 The Play That Goes Wrong by Henry Lewis, Henry Shields, and Jonathan Sayer, directed by Damaso Rodriquez, Seattle Rep through 28 September.

Many years ago, in the pre-Covid times, I went to London on business for Amazon. And I has a free day and wandered the city, primarily hunting out bookstores. And there was a kiosk with plays currently running in the East End. One was the Cursed Child Harry Potter play, but the one that caught my eye was The Play That Goes Wrong. In the end, I decided to hunt down bookstores, but I always wondered about it.

Well, at last that particular crow comes home to roost with the Seattle Repertory opening their season with their production of the play. It is light. It is frothy. and it is hilarious.

People in theatre love plays about theatre, and anyone with more than a tacit background in theatre recognizes everything that go wrong in a performance. Muffed lines, mis-pronunciations, missed cues, malfunctioning props. And here everything that can go wrong does go wrong, in a non-stop cavalcade of blunders, malaprops, and accidents. The action and errors come in hard and fast here, and the audience (which included more than the normal amount of kids this time) rolled with it.

The concept is that the Comley Polytechnic Drama Society is staging a production of The Murder at Haversham Hall, a 1920s mystery. The Drama Society a small but spunky group of amateur thespians, and their reach exceeds their grasp. Combined with a deathtrap of a stage, the groundwork is laid for continual challenges to the production. The actors (Cassi Q. Kohl, Chip Sherman (previous in Fat Ham), Darius Pierce, Ian Bond, Setareki, Darragh Kennan (early in a Sherlock Holmes play at the Rep), Chis Murray, and Ashly Song) are all very good with verbal and physical humor, which they need to be, as the ongoing disasters pitch them from one side of the stage to the other, and leaves everything in shambles.

The Rep has always been an organization that excels at their technical production, and the company does not disappoint in making a play where the technical issues threaten to consume the staff. Sound cues go off at the wrong time, doors refuse to function properly, props fall from the walls, people miss their marks, but through it all the players manage to push forward in that "Show Must Go On", straining to maintain the lines they have to speak and the reality of the stage grows weirder and weirder.  It was a lot of fun.

We had out own bit of minor challenges as well. We initially sat in the wrong aisle (hey, it was the first show of the season), and left a half-consumed bottle of modestly expensive wine behind at dinner (I ended up walking four blocks back to retrieve it, and the staff at Toulouse Petit Kitchen were more than kind in finding it). And I was intent on finding the Lovely Bride's late mother's seat in the theater. After her passing, we sponsored a seat in the theater for Nardi Novak, who was in a couple movies and TV shows as we as being active in the Pittsburgh theater scene. I tried to find the seat location before the show, but the info desk had no clue, but said they would look it up for the Intermission. Low and behold, at Intermission, they came up with the seat number, CC12 on the balcony level (On the far left as you face it from the stage). I had to politely ask the occupant of that seat to vacant temporarily as I got this shot, and scurried back to my seat for the curtain of the second act. 

Anyway, 

The Play That Goes Wrong does everything right, and is a very pleasant way of spending a Sunday afternoon. Yeah, the Rep will delve back into more serious matter, but this was a delight.

More later, 

I got into Dungeons & Dragons in the late 70s at college. At that time, I was listening to a lot of progressive rock, which was a broad category which included bands like Yes, ELP, Pink Floyd, and in particular Jethro Tull. Tull had done albums like Aqualung, Warchild, Minstrel in the Gallery, and Thick as a Brick (one sone over two sides of an LP - you really should take the time to give it a listen). And in 1977 they released Songs from the Wood, which was the first of a series of "Folk Rock" albums. And I listened to it a lot, and it influenced my some of my writing, world-building, and game design.

And one of the songs was "Cup of Wonder", which leaned heavy on medieval mystical themes with a lot of synthesizer. And as one does, I wrote up the cup described of the song as a D&D magical item. 

(Now, looking back at the song, there was a LOT I missed at the time - namely, that the song was very much a "Hey, let's go out into the wheatfield and have sex" sort of song, and that a lot of the mystic references had earthier meanings and feminine euphemisms. )

But anyway,

I wrote the first cup description in 1977 in the wake of the album's release, but never really found the place to unleash it on my players. I considered it as a "Miscellaneous Magic" item, which was sort of a catch-all category for things that didn't really fit in one of the other columns. Now, by 1976 Eldritch Wizardry had come out and we had already started to talk about Artifacts and Relics as vastly powerful magic items with powers and malevolent effects unknown to the players. Below, I've revised my notes to fit the formatting and font of the original little brown box books of original D&D:

MISCELLANEOUS MAGIC

Cup of Wonders: This golden chalice can create a Healingpotion that can repair one six-sided die, plus one, (2-7) points of damage, onceper day. Once per week it can create a draught that will Neutralize Poison. Thedraughts must be imbibed directly from the cup to be effective.

 

It was a pretty straight-forward description of the item. Given the brutal nature of early D&D (your party's cleric did not even get a Cure Light Wounds spell until 2nd level), this was a suitable item to help the group survive. I put it in my random magic tables, but I never really found the opportunity to put into my player's hands. 

A few years later, I found my original notes, and upgraded the Cup of Wonders to full artifact status. Both Eldritch Wizardry and the 1st Edition AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide left the abilities lines blank to let the DM fill in what he could, choosing from a master list, but I made those choices for my versions of the items. Here's what I ended up with: 

TABLE (III.E3) SPECIAL

Cup of Crimson Wonder: This ornate chalice ofbeaten red-gold with silver filigree of forest creatures was brought from the Isles of the FurthestWest by the Green Man as a gift to the Great Druid at the founding of hisorder. The Green Man often rescinds this gift for his personal use, and abandons it when he has completed his tasks. Upon speaking the Green Man’s name,the cup fills with blood, which then grants the positive effects of this item.In the hands of the Great Druid or one of the three Archdruids the cup may castResurrection once per day without having to rest and are immune to the Cup’smajor and minor malevolent effects. Druid initiates of lower levels and non-druidsmay use the following powers/effects when possessing the cup:

4 × I: Create food and water – 1 time/day  

 Cure light wounds – 7 times/week  

 Know alignment when held and ordered –1 time/day  

 Possessor immune to disease

2 × II: Heal – 1 time/day  

  Regenerate 2 h.p./turn (but not if killed)

2 × III: Possessor’s hair turns white  

   Saving throws versus magic are at -1

1 × IV: User takes double damage from steel and ironweapons.

1 × IV: Summon 1 of each type of elemental, 16 hit dice each, no need for control – 1 time/week 

There is a lot more going on here than in the first draft, in that I'm adding a lot of abilities and keying in on giving the druids something unique and cool as well. There's more background color for the AD&D versions, something that will increase as we go along, and is sort of a "shadow worldbuilding" in that it hints at larger things with the campaign world. I kept to the list provided at the time, with the exception of the Major Malevolent Effect (Table IV), which I felt was to overpowering, but instead grabbed something that would fit with its Druidic attempt.

Looking through the changes from the original D&D magic item to a 1st Edition AD&D artifact, I'm kind of curious to see how the design would change, and weather it would come closer to the original song or stray off into the fields and forest on its own. I'll take a look at later editions, and if it works out, I'll post here. Otherwise...

More later,

 Hey folks, the King County primary election has come and gone. It was a top-two primary, which means the two candidates with the most votes go on to the general election in November. It is an open primary, which means that you don't have separate Democratic and Republican ballots. And most of the positions are non-partisan, which means that anyone can run without being a member of the party (though for some positions they can self-declare as "prefers X party". That also means you can get two Democrats, or two Independents, or two Republicans squaring off against each other in the general.

It is ALSO an all-mail-in election, which means that we'll have a big drop of votes on election day, then smaller drops as the ballots mailed in at the last moment are counted. Often this does not move the results much, but there is always a race or two that in "hanging fire" - it's so close you can't make the call immediately. So I wait a couple days before posting here. Late ballots around here tend to shift the vote towards the lefter, bluer, more progressive end of the political spectrum.

Final vote total looks like 33% or so, which is a) about right for an off-year primary election, and b) still sucky. That all said, it was a good night for the progressive side of the coin. In Seattle Mayor's Race, the progressive candidate actually out-polled the moderate incumbent (50% to 42%). And for King County Executive, we see two progressives squaring off against each other. 

Anyway, here's the local results, as of Friday night. If they change further, I'll note them in this space.. 

King County Proposition No. 1 Parks, Recreation, Trails, and Open Space Levy - Everyone likes parks, This was approved with 73% of the vote. In elections where 52% is called decisive  and 54% is called a mandate,  the Seattle Times sniffed at this result with the innocuous headline "King County Property Tax Looks to be Passing."

King County Executive This is one with two progressive Democrats in the main,. Grimay Zhailay (44%) vs Claudia Balducci (30%). Both candidates are currently on the King County Council and have similar voting records. The campaign looks like it will be cordial. Good.

King County Council District 5 - Here's where it gets interesting. On election night we have three candidates of the six candidates that are running who are viable after the first day - Stephanie Fain, Peter Kwon, and Kim Khan Van. Both Fain and Kwon would fit in the moderate/centrist slot. Fain had a LOT of mailers and endorsements, and Kwon had billboards. Real, old-fashioned billboards.  As of Friday night, we're looking at 27% for Kwon, 24% for Fain, and 23% for Van, so it is likely Kwon vs. Fain in the final. This one could flip, but there are not a huge number of uncounted votes left.

City of Kent Position No. 6 -  We are looking at Sharn Shoker (34%) versus Andy Song (19%). Shoker, as expected, had a very strong campaign, but it is good to see Song in there.

Kent School District No. 415 Director District No.4 - Will be Teresa Gregory (42%) versus Carolyn Wilsie-Kendall (32%)

Kent School District No. 415 Director District No.5 - Will be Laura Williams (49%) versus Jane Smith (30%), sparing use the Laura vs Laura contest in the main..

And with that the Political Desk rolls over, hits the snooze bar, and returns to slumber until sometime in October.

More later,

 OK, on the local ballot there are only six things, so let's try to do them in one swell foop. The bulk of these are replacements - open positions due to the office-previous holder moving on.

King County Proposition No. 1 Parks, Recreation, Trails, and Open Space Levy. I like parks. You like parks. The Stranger and the Times like parks. No one has even submitted an argument against it. This is a replacement of existing levy on property taxes to maintain parks. Sure. Go with Approved.

King County Executive Long-term King County Exec Dow Constantine has stepped down to oversee Sound Transit, so this is an open slot without an incumbent.  The two front running candidates in the run are former Bellevue Mayor Claudia Balducci and Grimay Zhailay, of the King County Council, Both are impressive, both have endorsements, and both are on the progressive side of the spectrum. The candidate that is the better centrist moderate was John Wilson, who ran into legal trouble from stalking his ex-wife and has dropped out following his arrest. The rest include Amiya Ingram, an independent who writes a damned poetic Voters' Guide, Bill Hirt, a perennial who runs to point out the flaws in Sound Transit, Rebecca Williamson who tacks down the Socialist end of the spectrum, and Don L. Rivers, who is humbled to put forward his candidacy. There is also a gosh-honest endorsed Republican, Derek Chartrand, who wants to know why King County is wasting money when it could just build more jails.

I'd love to see a face-off between Claudia Balducci, who has the experience, and Grimay Zhailay, who is the new young hotness, but for the primary, I am going for Claudia Balducci,  

King County Council District 5. King County District 5 is squarish lump of real estate that encompasses Renton, Kent, Seatac, Normandy Park, Des Moines and the southern part of Tukwilla. This is another replacement election, in that previous councilperson Dave Upthegrove left to become State Commissioner of Public Lands. And the roster is very strong with individuals with backgrounds in unions, local politics, and NGOs. That's the good stuff.

The bad stuff is ... well, there's an elephant in the room. A real political elephant. Steffanie Fain, is married to Joe Fain, a former Republican State Rep who stepped down after a rape accusation (after stepping down, they stopped the investigation, which is maddening - so we don't know what happened). The Times ignored the situation in their endorsement. The Stranger touched base on it briefly, then decided to endorse someone else. Ms. Fain packs a lot of heavy hitters in the Moderate/Liberal part of Democrat spectrum as far as endorsements. I literally don't know enough to give a firm opinion on all this. here, but I need to put it on the record.

Of the rest, I look at their Voter's Guide and what I can dig up. Angela Henderson has a strong union backing. Ryan McIrvin is a Renton Councilmember, as was Kim Khanh Van. Peter Kwon was one for SeaTac. All have a pretty respectable amount of accomplishments and endorsements. Ahmad Corner comes out the grassroots side of the equation, and stakes his claim on affordability and safety. This is a hard call, even at the primary level, but I'm going to suggest Ryan McIrvin.

City of Kent Position No. 6 OK, now we are getting into the weeds. Most of the urban blogs and magazines don't get this far south, so we're pretty much relying on what gets said in the Voters' Pamphlet and on their web sites (and yes, I am judging you on your web skills). All was to make Kent safe, happy, and affordable. I'm looking out primarily for red flags and dog whistles. But, if you tend towards the Progressive end of our spectrum, check out the Progressive Voters Guide, where you can dial down to the School District level. It's actually kinda impressive. 

Anyway, City of Kent Position No. 6.  At this level, everyone is an amateur. And that's great. Some have some experience under their belts. Some are small businessfolk as their day job. Some have been living in Kent all their lives. Some are first-generation citizens, their parents having come to one of the most diverse towns in Washington State. And that's where the goo-goo part of my civics goes out to them (Goo-goo is a Chicago term, usually used disparately, for "good-government"). Sharn Shoker is an extremely strong candidate, but for the primary I'm going to suggest you look at School Board Director Andy Song. 

Kent School District No. 415 Director District No.4 This is the trailing end of the ballot, where no one but the Lovely Bride and a few friends will be paying attention. And we actually have someone running who is an incumbent! Well, kinda. Teresa Gregory was put into the position to replace Awale Farah. for just a little while. But, so far so good, so yeah, let's keep her. 

Kent School District No 415 Director District No. 4 is a choice between two Lauras - Laura Williams and Laura Jensen. I hope both of them will be on the November ballot, just for the confusion factor. I'd go with Laura Williams, but that's just me.

OK, that's it. We can now return you to your regularly-scheduled theater, book, and game reviews. 

More later, 

Yard signs have sprouted. The sage editorial boards have delivered endorsements. The ballots have arrived. The Primary season is upon us. And let me rant a bit before getting to the meat of the situation.

It's short ballot this year, with only six items on the Grubb Street version, and half of those are dealing with my community of Kent. I buck the current movement of trying to shove all the elections into an even-year cadence. I do this for two reasons. The first is that if you put EVERYTHING on the ballot, there is an informational overload, which reduces the number of people who actually want to vote (I vote regardless, but I understand that people can look at a slew of names and let out an exhausted sigh). Secondly, and more importantly, I prefer to turn the boat slowly. Which is to say, if we go the wrong way, we can course-correct as opposed to lurching back and fourth between political poles. 

Also, I've described my politics as being "Politely Left of Center", which has served me well for the past 25+ years. Though I've described myself to pollsters as an Independent, I lean heavily Democrat, particularly in my time in Wisconsin and Washington State. I've supported Republicans in the past, but usually in non-partisan positions where they aren't obligated to line up with their crazier partners. I'm sure that the local leadership on the Kent City Council includes Reps, but to be honest, they've done a good job, they've stayed away from the crazy, and that's really what I care about.

Currently the Democrats are still a big-tent operation, which means it swarms with factions and arguments. That's cool - that's sort of the way Democracy is supposed to work. But I can put them into four major groups.

 Moderates, also called Centrists. They pitch themselves as the safe, sensible, responsible people. Big business should be encouraged, even pampered. Will not march, but claim to reflect the wants of most people in their districts. Are concerned that conservatives will consider them too liberal. Aware about infrastructure. 

Liberals. They want change, but are good with making it incremental. Slow change is still change. Patient. Unionist. Thoughtful, with can sometimes seem inert. Big Business should be carefully guided to do the right thing. Will march if they have to. Worry about infrastructure.

Progressives. Get things done. Movement is good, even if there are unintended consequences. Will march and protest to show that there are a lot of folk that agree with them. Corporations should be watched and kept on a short leash to keep them from screwing up. Want to rebuild infrastructure

Leftists, often called Socialists, though the term is often used by the conservatives for anyone more liberal than Barry Goldwater. Will march, will get loud, will throw things. Corporations should be burned to the ground. We need to reset everything to redress years of injustice.

I'd put myself down on this spectrum as on the Liberal/Progressive line - in favor of change, but willing to be thoughtful about it. Good with regulation, but let's playtest it. Most of the fights in our chunk of the PNW are between the Moderate and Liberal wings of the parties. Seattle itself (which I can't vote in) has been in the hands of the moderates recently, who have been doing safe, moderate things, like more money for police and cameras, shorter hours for beaches and libraries, supporting landlords, putting electronic billboards on sidewalks, and trying to reduce ethical requirements for their positions. On the other hand, cars are no longer pushing through pedestrians on the cobble-stone street at Pike Place, so ... yay?

I suppose I should address the current Republican factions as well, even though they are a rare breed in Metropolitan King County. Here's an analogy, though  Take a plate, stand over a concrete sidewalk, hold the plate at an arm's length, and let go. 

It used to be that the GOP was pretty monolithic, but now its riven with all different flavors of conservative; Neo, Theo, Paleo, Tech-Bro, Isolationist, Anarcho, Maga, and Original Flavor Conservative (though a lot of those have drifted over to become Moderate Dems). They expect the other factions to line up with them, they have a deep dislike of each other, and a hatred of Dems of any stripe trying to make things better.

OK, enough of a rant. If I go on I'd have to post this on Twitter. Lemme tag you in on the other folk reporting in.

The very-valuable official King County Voter's Guide is here. The Seattle Times, representing the Moderate Wing, and their recommendations are here. The Stranger is under new management and tends to the Liberal/Progressive side with less snide remarks and can be found here (TLDR Cheat Sheet here). The Progressive Voter's Guide is, duh, progressive, but handles a lot of areas that the Times and Stranger miss. The Urbanist's Endorsements are here. KUOW discusses the candidates without coming right out and making recommendations here. But as always, check out your sources. Don't just take my word for it.

And then we move on. More later,

The recent arrivals at Grubb Street ...So things have been trickling into Grubb Street for the past few months - gifts from friends, kickstarters fulfilling, and the odd store pickup. But I want to gather them all in one place because the Washington State Primary primary ballots have arrived and I feel obligated to slog through this off-off-year election.  So here we go with the fun stuff first. 

The Sassoon Files 2nd Edition by Jason Sheets, Damon Lang, Andrew Montgomery, and Jesse Covner, Sons of the Singularity 272 page hardbound, 2025. Kickstarter. This is the 2nd Edition, and I should note that the 1st edition had problems seeing print since doing a project about pre-communist China hit some push-back from printing in China. The setting is Shanghai, which is touched on all-too-briefly in the classic Masks of Nyarlathotep and gets a deeper look in The Nyarlathotep Companion. I was the Keeper on a long-running Masks campaign (Which I may someday bore the heck of everyone here by talking about it - unsurprisingly, I have things to say).

But anyway ...

Sassoon Files is really good, and attempts to capture the flavor of Shanghai in the pre-war era. It is at the time where the city is overseen by a bunch of Western powers that broke it up into rival fiefdoms, have native Chinese movements verging on a split between Communists and Nationalists in the wake of the death of Sun Yat-Sen, has a collection of local criminal organizations of varying levels of control, and is in general being a hub of intrigue and adventure in a historical sense. And add new mythos cults, deep ones, ancient mystic relics elevates the entire setting. On the down side, the timing of the adventures overlap with each other and with Masks, so the Keeper may have to do some re-orging to run everything, and while the players can throw in with gangsters or the communists, they always tend to come back to dealing with Victor Sassoon, a wealthy bon vivant with a eye towards protecting the city from Mythos threats. Hence the title.

Daggerheart Core Set by Spenser Stark et. al, Darrington Press, 266-page hardbound, boxed set of 280 cards, 2025, Midgard Comics and Games. This is the most recent of the declared "D&D-Killers" I've encountered over the years, and has an excellent pedigree with the Critical Role folk. The book is colorful, well-organized, and hits all the beats of traditional RPGs, though it adheres to the more free-form Powered by the Apocalypse/Blades in the Dark style of play (I have opinions, but that will wait for another day as well). I'm not sold on the plethora of cards that came with the rules, but that may just from previous experiences, and I'll see how well they fit into the game. So this one is under investigation. I got this from my local friendly comic shop, which has a small section of RPGs and discovered that customers were amazed they had it, since it had sold out in more traditional gaming venues. 

The Excellent Prismatic Spray Volume 1, Issue 2, 72-page squarebound, Pelgrane Press, 2001, from the collection of John Rateliff. John (known the blogosphere as Sacnoth). John has been clearing out his collection, mostly on Ebay with the aid of Bill Webb, but occasionally something offers something up to the rest of the gang. This is the 'zine for The Dying Earth RPG, which is in the category of "Great RPGs I've read but will probably never play" - the gaming version of tsunduko. The game and 'zine both emulate the flowery, ornate, robust, superfluous language of Jack Vance's books perfectly, and to be frank, the game deserves to be featured in those podcasts where they talk about games that are no longer published. In addition, this particular volume contains a four-page essay by Gary Gygax on "Jack Vance & the D&D Game".

Curse of Candlelight Manor, by Heidi and Erik Gygax-Garland,  32-page self-covered digest booklet, 2023, Gaxland  Pooduction,  Shadows over Lake Geneva, A Sanguine Horror by Heidi and Erik Gygax-Garland, 32-page saddle-stitched booklet, 2023, both also from the collection of John Rateliff. Heidi is Gary Gygax's daughter, and she and her husband are continuing the family tradition. Curse is a wonderful, short, old-school style adventure written for 5E, and set in a haunted house. Sanguine is usable for both 1E and 5E, and is a modern adventure set in Lake Geneva of 1948, dealing with the old Oak Hill Sanitarium, which is one the site of now Colonial View Condos where I lived in the early 80s. I am really curious if the maps provided are based on the original Sanitarium. Both are volume 2s in a series, so I'm going to have to pick up the first volumes the next time I am at GaryCon.

Gamemasters: The Comic Book History of Roleplaying Games by Fred Van Lente, Tom Fowler, and Bill Crabtree, 112-page hardbound, Clover Press, 2025, Kickstarter. Fred Van Lente has done one of my favorite comic book series, Action Philosophers, so I was very interested in seeing what he did with the more recent history of RPGs. He covers the basics of history (sort of what you'd read in the first Playing at the World, traveling through Chess, miniatures, wargames, and the Braunsteins which birthed modern RPGs, as well as covering the more real-life salacious and scandalous adventures over the years (Dallas Eggbert, the FBI raid on Steve Jackson). But where it excels is when it starts talking about other, non-D&D RPG games, like Call of Cthulhu, West End's Star Wars and (ahem) the original Marvel Super Heroes by myself and Steve Winter. Its pretty good, though I have to note that liberties were taken in presentation (Yes, Lake Geneva had a Playboy Resort, No, there were no Playboy Bunnies at the first GenCon (At least in uniform)), and some of the stories are of the "yeah ... kinda", but its an excellent, entertaining look at our hobby and industry.

An Infinity of Ships by by Adam Good and Jamie Peters, Illustrated by Rob Turpin, 152-page digest hardcover, published by STATIONS, 2025, Kickstarter. I love the art and idea behind this one - the ability to create your own spaceships. But not a formulaic "Here is how many credits the astronavigation unit costs", but a more free-form "Here, roll on a huge number of tables and tell me what you and you players can make of it". It is more inspirational than instructive. The ships themselves range from mechanical to organic to beyond, and the AI ranges from simple servants to godlike commanders. The names are out of IMBanks novels.("for example, "This Could Have Been an Email"). It doesn't try the define the universe that these ships operate in, but in covering all types and options (and running light on operating systems), they portray a radically diverse and chaotic galaxy where there are few known constants. Still, worth hacking about with it. The Kickstarter included stickers, bookmarks, and 115 cards to randomly create ships on the fly.

... and one that arrived after I took the photo.

The Old Margrave by Matthew Corley et. al, 256-page hardbound, Kobold Press, 2025, Tales of the Valiant Game Master's Guide Pocket Edition by Celeste Conowitch et. al. 304-page softbound digest, Kobold Press, Tales of the Valliant Game Master's Map Folio, 6 24" by 36" double-sided maps, gift of the publisher. The Old Margrave is an ancient forest just to the East of Zobeck, the main city of Kobold's Midgard campaign setting. Its a wonderful forest location for adventure, and the book (for 5E and their Tales of the Valiant) has new heritages, lineages, spells, subclasses, and a huge adventure arc set in the forest. Speaking of Tales of the Valiant, the Pocket Edition of the ToV GM's Guide is a digest-sized reprint of the original book, in a handier and portable format. And while my current gaming style (sitting around a living room or online) does not use maps and miniatures, the Map Folio hosts a number of locations (Inn, Gate, Fort, Tower, Villa, Lighthouse) that can be ported into any adventure.

Ticket To Ride Legacy: Legends of the Old West by Rob Daviau, Matt Leacock, and Alan Moon, Big box of a boardgame, Days of Wonder, 2023, Gift from Ed Stark, who was out here visiting for a wedding. The original Ticket To Ride has been a go-to game for our game days on Grubb Street, and a source of contention between the Lovely Bride and the mighty Stan! This version is a Legacy game, which means that as you play it, you modify the game materials that will affect future plays. In this case, you start with the Eastern Seaboard, and work west over time, with specialized rules as you add more pieces to the game. And ultimately you have a finished version for replay. Now we just have to find a regular gaming group to meet up with, since our own gaming groups are different and on different days. Ah, the challenges of game players.

And that's it for this round. Now I settle into the more boring stuff about very local politics. Its cool if you find something else to read. I'll understand. 

More Later, 

 The Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie, William Morrow Paperback Edition, original publication 1923.

Murder on the Links by Steven Dietz,  Directed by Karen Lund, Taproot Theatre, Extended run through 30 August.

So John, who is Sacnoth and Janice, who is the Bride of Sacnoth, invited me to join them in an expedition in the Greenwood neighborhood for this Hercule Poirot mystery in Taproot's renovated main stage. The new/old digs are well-renovated, and the seating, while still tight, has been improved. In preparation for the play, I actually tracked down a copy of the original story at Page 2 books in Burien. It was an interesting search, in that while a lot of my regular haunts had all manner of Agatha Christie novels, they did not have this one. 

Anyway, long story short, I liked the play better than I liked the book. But I'll get to that. Lemme talk about the book first.

The Murder on the Links is the second Poirot novel. Poirot (for those who never got near PBS in their upbringing) is Agatha Christie's Belgian Detective, with his fastidious nature, distinctive moustache, flashing green eyes, and little grey cells that he uses to navigate through the mysteries. I had powered through a number of Poirot short stories, collected in Poirot Investigates, and he has the talent of targeting some small fact that blows up traditional theories about the case. 

Poirot's assistant and narrator of the tales is Captain Hastings, who is Watson to the Belgian Holmes. He is note quite the dullard of Nigel Bruce in the Sherlock Holmes movies of the 40s, but missteps regularly, concludes erroneously, and is often distracted by beautiful women (Poirot is, of course, immune to all feminine wiles).

So, the novel: Poirot and Hastings are summoned to France by a wealthy Brit named Renauld, who fears for his life because of an unstated "great secret". They arrive on the scene to find Renauld has been murdered, his body found in what would become a bunker in an adjoining golf course (this is the only mention of golf in the book). What follows is a torturous route with continual twists and revelations - hidden histories, changed wills, stolen evidence, secret romances, strange coincidences, exploded alibis, multiple confessions, acrobatic twins, another body, and a rival for Poirot in the form of Surete officer (seriously underused). There is a lot going on, stuffing it all into a relatively short novel. All of this is told with the dry, mannered, clockwork style of Christie, which, for all the murder involved, feels very temperate and bloodless. Having read a lot of Christie recently, I can see why Raymond Chandler really hated her work.

So that's the book, and on reading it I saw it would be a great challenge adapting it to the stage. There are a huge number of characters involved in the novel, including all the suspects, witnesses, and detectives. There is a lot of travel, from England to France with Poirot frequently dropping away from the narrative for some secretive mission in Paris or London. The book's plot turns on itself, with blind alleyways and false leads that are later revealed to be pertinent facts. Oh, and Hastings at one point does something lumpishly stupid and obvious that is then ignored by the author for several chapters. How to handle all that?

Well, writer Dietz does a pretty good job of it, and in addition, makes it a comedy.

Now, Christie lends itself well to comedy, particularly with sometimes overblown characters like Poirot. Check out Miss Marples in the 1960s movies, where the prim, elderly villager is overtaken by Dame Margaret Rutherford's more boisterous portrayal. And Dietz and the actors lean into the implausibility of the original text heavily. The accents are heavy, the actions are frenetic, and the lines are overblown. It actually lends a strong sense of fun to proceedings, and is frankly contagious. Dietz allows Hastings to be the narrator, and to fully narrate, piercing the veil between the fictional world and recognizing it as a play. Janice pointed out a similarity with The 39 Steps, and I heard another patron afterwards make the same comment. So yes, we can put his piece in the same wheelhouse as that one, making the original story a metatextual comment on the fact that this is a play. 

More importantly, the huge cast is cut down to a mere six. Nathan Brackett as a woosterish Hastings, Richard Ngyugen Stoniker (or perhaps understudy Mark Emerson - the moustache is that mesmerizing) is a solid Poirot. Everyone else in the play is portrayed by two men (Tyler Todd Kimmel and Jeff Allen Pierce) and two women (Betsy Mugavero and Claire Marx), which leads to situations where quick changes and transformations are required (and sometimes performed comically on-stage). And the players are in on the joke - this is a performance, and as the players move all the props about on the stage and pull together to make it all make some sort of narrative sense.

And as a play, it works so much better than as a novel. The linearity of moving the action forward makes clear the various plot points and revelations. I did not lose the thread. And even Hastings' bumbling in places makes better sense on the stage than it did on the printed page. Also, the play allows Brackett's Hasting to be more of the romantic hero he sees himself as, with his heart on his sleeve and his desire to protect young (and pretty) young women. And it gives Hasting not only a happy ending, but a lead-in to another Poirot mystery as an Easter Egg. Oh, and a scene actually takes place on a golf course.

All in all, it was an enjoyable way to spend and afternoon, and highly recommended. The cast is frantic and positively acrobatic in their portrayals, and leaves the audience exhausted and delighted. Worth seeing.

More later,

 The Effect by Lucy Prebble, Directed by Mathew Wright, Arts West through July 13

Arts West closes its season with a extremely powerful performance. The Lovely Bride took it in after an excellent Sushi dinner at Mashiko, then settled in for what turned out to be an excellent, amazing, emotional performance. This is one of those plays where I cannot say enough good things about it. 

The Effect deals with the meeting of biology and psychology. Connie (Anna Mulia) and Tristan (Morgan Gwilym Tso) are volunteers for a set of drug trials. The trials are overseen by Dr. Lorna James (Sunam Ellis) under the direction of biochemical entrepreneur Dr. Toby Sealey (Tim Couran, embracing the spirit of Steve Job) 

Tristan is a slacker who has does this before, and is there for the payout - he's flirty and nervous. Connie is a student and treats the drug trials as a personal test - she wants to give the "right answers". The drug itself elevates dopamine levels, which affects, among other things, affects emotions and falling in love.

And yes, things go off the rails quickly. Connie and Tristan fall in love. Maybe its their own doing, or the drugs or their emotions. They don't know, and it is frightening. They have their own challenges which surface in the process as they do not believe they have control of their own decisions. Lorna and Toby have their own emotional wounds driving them forward and affecting the results and what they choose to do with them. Lorna in particular is at the fragile center of the storm. Both couples spiral into anger and argument, and no one knows the truth of the matter. Are Connie and Tristan in love because of the drug or is the drug just affecting their own emotions? Are we all victims of our own biochemistry?

And it all works. The actors are frankly terrific. Their characters are human and relatable. The descent into doubt, desperation, and despair is completely believable. The dialogue is natural and often choreographed, the dancelike move of the actors. There are a lot of big ideas fighting with the big emotions in the play, and the bare-bones set of a simple raised platform, limned by neon lights, gives the actors the space to big it all home. The direction (Mathew Wright, also the Artistic Director of Arts West) fits all the pieces together marvelously. The resolution is ferocious and devastating, to the point that the stunned audience at the end was silenced for a few breaths before thunderously applauding.

It all left me shaken in a way that few plays do.

Arts West had an incredible season. Both The Effect and Covenant were among the best theater I've seen in Seattle this year. Guards at the Taj was heartbreaking, and Athena was very good (the Lovely B loved it). The weakest of the lot, the sequel to last years Snowed In, was still festive in the spirit of the Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland lets-put-on-a-show performances.

They did a fantastic job, and The Effect was the icing on the cake. Go see it. 

More later, 

 Duel Reality, Written, Directed & Choreographed by Shana Carroll, Seattle Rep through 22 June.

I've talked about Shakespeare-adjacent plays a couple times in these pages. These plays use one of the works of the canon as a base, shifting it in time and/or space, or just revising it to see what happens next or what is happening elsewhere. They are retellings, and as a result rewirings of the original. Duel Reality is one of those Shakespeare-adjacent performances, using acrobats and cirque performers to tell the tale.

The acrobats in question are the 7 Fingers troupe, who we last saw a couple years back in Passengers. Back then I mentioned that while the performance was top-notch, the performance didn't seem to have a lot going for it as far as an overarching plot. Here, we've got a plot. Well, mostly. And it is one that you know of - Romeo and Juliet. Again, mostly.

The performance takes its base bones from the original play in that we have Capulets and Montagues. Jets and Sharks. Two families, alike in dignity, poised against each other. In this case, we have two troupes of acrobats, Reds and Blues, who battle against each other in competition and in hand-to-hand conflict. And a Romeo and an Juliet from each side that breaks through the limitations of clan and tribe. 

And that's about it. The conflict of the original play provides the framework for the acts. pole-climbing and hula hoops (the party where the young lovers meet) and teeter-totters (for a duel to the death). Bodies are being suspended and thrown back and forth across the stage. There's amazing juggling. No family dynamics, no members of the family easily identified. No nurse or friar. Liberties are freely taken, and while a few beats are maintained and few lines sprinkled along to help direct the play, most of the story-telling is physical in nature. 

And it works. This is polar opposite of Eddie Izard's Hamlet - this is all dynamic and kinetic and waves at the bard as it zooms past him. The conflict of Reds and Blues is extended to the audience, who are given red and blue cloth wristbands at the start of the play, and whose seats are lit with red and blue lights. The troupe reaches out to the audience continually for approval and encouragement, and there are patrons on stage as physical supporters. The play ends with everyone dancing (including the audience), and, unlike Laughs in Spanish, it felt incredibly earned. 

As I say, liberties are taken, Great liberties. And you don't mind because the sheer athleticism of the group is overwhelming. Were I to pick a nit or two, that the overwhelming nature of the stage-wide performances often had me distracted by some incredible bit of business to one side of the stage competing with the main thrust of the activity in the center. Usually the Lovely Bride and I adjourn to a local restaurant to pick over plot points and writer's intent. This time we sat on the sidewalk patio of the local Agave, and dispensed with only a couple "That was great" statements. And it was.

Duel Reality finishes up this year at the Rep for us, and it was a rocky season this time. The best of the collection was Hamlet, which wasn't even on the initial list. Duel Reality was also excellent, as was Primary Trust. Mother Russia was very good. Laughs in Spanish and Blues for an Alabama Sky were OK. It was the most tradition plays - revivals of The Skin of our Teeth and Blithe Spirit, that stumbled and brought the average down. Now we just wrap up one more play at the Arts West, and we're done until August.

More later, 

 There has been a slow accretion of new games here on Grubb Street for the past few months. Kickstarters fulfilling. Old games I found at my favorite local used bookstore. But generally things have been quiet.

And then, a large, heavy box, attached to a large, heavy deadline, shows up on my doorstep. The Three Castles nominees have arrived. 

The Three Castles Award (3CA) is given every year at the North Texas RPG Con, in Dallas, which this year is the weekend of 7 June. NTRPGCon is a small, definitely old-school convention that celebrates the older games of our shared histories, including the early editions of D&D. The process consists of four or five ancient eminences reviewing the presented product, filling out their votes based on previously-agreed-upon standards, and go from there. I am occasionally one of those grey eminences. Sometimes the project I think of as best doesn't win. Sometimes it does. Here are the nominees. 

A True Relation of the Great Virginia Disastrum,1633, by Ezra Claverie, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, three clothboundhardback digest volumes - Volume I: Jamestown and Environs, 96 pages, VolumeII: Lo! New Lands, 192 pages, Volume III: Prodigies, Monsters, and Index,130 pages, 2024, 3 Castles Award Candidate.  Lamentations of the Flame Princess is a weirdgame in the literal sense – it thrives on the weird, strange, and occult. Thisis an extremely impressive adventure both for size (three hardback volumes) andthe nature itself (An alien ship crashes into Earth, inthe process creating a rip in reality 150 years previously outside of JamestownVirginia in the seventeenth century). The melding of historical accuracy (a lot covering the time period)and outré strangeness (mutated plants and animals, animated corpses, alternaterealities) make it a very interesting read and should be an interesting play as well. This is the sort of thing that RPGs can do very well.

The End of Everything by Alex Kammer and AlanPatrick, Frog God Games, 216-page hardbound, 2023, 3 Castles Award Candidate. Onceupon a time, the 32-page saddle-stitched booklet was the standard foradventures, covering a single location and adventure. Now they tend to be larger, in fullcover, and cover a lot more levels and a full campaign. This one couples anepic “end-of-the-world” threat (very Cthulhian in nature) with an out-of-the-ordinary fantasy setting (The Haunted Steppes of the Lost Lands) with its own uniquecultures (horsemen, tribal groups, and convivial Gnolls). Carries the players from level 1 tolevel 12 and spans the width of this rolling, roiling land. Nicely done.

ShadowRim by Greg Christopher, Chubby Funster Games,200-page digest hardbound, 2023, 3 Castles Award Candidate.  My day job is a Senior Writer on Elder ScrollsOnline, so imagine my surprise when I saw this volume, which uses the ShadowDarkrules (which it recognizes) in the Skyrim setting (which it doesn't recognize, at least not directly). It does not SAYSkyrim, but it uses the races (name-changed), pull-quotes from the game, the Skyrim map(available separately, but also name-changed), and a declaration that it was “Inspiredby the greatest CRPG of all time” (again, without mentioning that CRPG by name).Oh, and the back cover has a hand print with the words “We Know” writtenbeneath it.  It reads well, uses the ShadowDark layout, and lookslike a labor of love, but … really?

Dragonslayer by Greg Gillespie, Old SchoolPublishing, 298-page hardbound, 2024, 3 Castles Award Candidate. My gaming grouphas played in some previous Gillespie adventures – Barrowmaze and Lost Canyonsof Archaia. We had a good time with the old-school feel, and our GM (hey, Steve!) transposed what was there into D&Dishterms (%E 2014 edition). This is the rule set that ties more directly to it. It is definitelyold-school right down to its Jeff Easley cover, and embraces the original ruleswith a strong eye towards combat and a delightful lethality. Some of thematerial has appeared in the adventures where they first showed up, but now they aregathered in one spot. Strong, intense rush of old-school nostalgia here.

Don’t F*ck The Priest by James Edward Raggi IV,Lamentations of the Flame Princess, box set, 64-page hardbound digest, cards,dice, 2024, 3 Castles Award Candidate. Good points? Excellent production values,that outré, weird, mushy organic vibe that exudes from LotFP products, and acard-based dungeon design that actually works for the story they’retelling. Bad points – Black on puce interior text, unreadable death metal heading fonts,extreme sexuality and grossness, and edgelord GM approach that tells you that if youplay the adventure in any way other than being a CPU for the brilliant design,you’re having badwrongfun. Can’t mention the title at dinner parties. Didn’teven know if I want to show the cover. It's there, but didn't like it enough not to censor it.

And the winner is: TBA

And as for the rest that has come over the transom recently:

Rapscallion by Elizabeth Chaipraditkul (ProductManagement) and Whistler (Lead Designer/Lead Writer), Magpie Games, 288-pagedigest hardbound, GM Screen, playing maps, dice, dice tray, 2024, Kickstarter. So I’m a fan of pirategames, and this looks like a good one. It is of the Powered By The Apocalypse (PBtA) family, so we’re talking playbooks and moves. One of the key things I likeabout this is the rising tendency to make the case ship as a separate characterwith its own playbook. This sort of group identity has shown up in games like Blades in the Dark, and creates a cohesive identity for theplayers, as opposed to just “You are adventurers meeting in a bar”. Worthfurther investigation.

Dreadnought Return of the Black Maw by Alex Beiseland Nicholas Ross, Liminal Artifact, 88 page softbound, 2024, Kickstarter. Thewas part of Kickstarter’s ZineQuest, but it really is a bit large for thatmoniker. It is a horror game with a nautical theme, where tidal waves destroy afantasy-ish Port Royal and an evil black submarine (?) washes up in the ruins, leaking evil from its reactor.  Your choices are to investigate it or runaway. Neither are good options. It is yet again Powered by the Apocalypse (usesmoves) but is mostly statless and uses a unique fear (dread) determiningmechanism - 2d8 roll against a third die (starts at a d4 but ratches up). Interesting.

Flying Circus by Erika Chappell, Newstand Press,304-page digest softbound, 2020, Page Turner Books. OK, besides pirates, I alwayshad a fascination with WWI air games. Dogfight from Milton Bradley, Ace ofAces from Nova Games, Richthofen's War from Avalon Hill. Flying Circus is a fantasy air game, which means dragons and biplanes amongother things. It is PBtA again, and uses a playbook for your aircraft as well.However, the playbooks are not in the book, but can be found online, and thelinks provided in the book are no longer accurate. I had to dig around in Reddit and theirDiscord to figure out where they were. Cool thing, unlike a lot of PbtA, the game getsdown into the nuts and bolts of air-to-air combat.

Cthulhu Dark Ages by Chad Bowser and Andi Newton withJames Holloway and Mike Mason, Chaosium, 272-page hardback, 2020, Page TurnerBooks. So the conventional wisdom about old TSR was that it put out too muchstuff – splatbooks and new settings and revisiting old ones. Yet the modern Chaosiumhas been doing the same thing and seems to be doing OK. This is a revision ofearlier Call of Cthulhu books covering Cthulhu adventures in the medieval world, and is aserious, serious upgrade. It has the standard features of new and modifiedinvestigator skills, game systems tweaked to the new setting, and appropriate mythosmonsters, but also has a history of 10th century England, a new setting(in the Severin Valley, of course) and a few new adventures. Very well done.

Get It at Sutlers by Daniel Sell, Melsonian ArtsCouncil, 110-page digest hardback and numerous small booklets, 2024, Kickstarter.Troika is a very weird little game, and this is an … I think “adventure area” wouldbe the best description of it. Imagine a weird tales version of Harrods of London, orMike Moorcock writing an episode of “Are You Being Served?”. The setting is an all-purposedepartment store (remember department stores? And malls? Yeah, good times), whichhas a eclectic clientele, bizarre staff, and unique and alien challenges. You’reassumed to be working a shift there. Bunches of random encounters. Sort of anopium dream of a setting.

 Bounty KingdomGazetteer by Simone Laudiero, Acheron Games, 184-hardback, 2024mKickstarter. Well, half a Kickstarter – the other half (a monster book) will show up eventually.This is an expansion/setting book for Brancalonia, a whimsical SpaghettiFantasy based on Italian folklore and more than a dash of Commedia delle-Arte. Newraces, new classes, new subclasses, then a long tour though the city-states of theItalianish peninsula. This one’s set up for 5E, but it is just a goodsourcebook. 

And that is it for now (though more has shown up in the meantime). Stay tuned for the winner of the Three Castles Award, and as always - 

More later,