Where to begin (again)? My *Humble* Return?

 Wow... so this thing is still on, huh? Feels weird, posting on my RPG Blog again. I honestly didn't really think this site was still publicly viewable, but I guess it's still active. Shocked to see that I somehow got a content strike on my post homebrewing the Vierna race from FFXII for DnD 3.5 that I made in 2010...  how'd anyone find that here in 2023??? It's been 13 years. There's been like at least 4 final fantasy games, and a few remakes since have come out since then.

But I digress.

On a personal side, if you're reading this, and you used to follow me from the RPG Blogger Carnival, I guess I should update about my life, since I used to do that once in a while.

In 2015, I moved back to the United States. My marriage ended, fucking me up pretty good, and to top it off, I was pretty much terminally ill (one of the main reasons that the marriage ended as one would have it). I had what ammounts to basically 1 HP and was rolling negative on all my saving throws. There was little hope I would last through the end of the year - doctors gave me about 2 weeks to live in November when I was being processed at a University Hospital in Tokyo.

Fast-forward 8ish years and now I'm pretty much fully recovered. Remission baby. Oooooh yea!

Thank you modern medicine and suck it Japanese doctors. We built tough.

After a few very hectic surgeries where they removed the vast majority of my internal organs (don't worry they put them back again, mostly), several years on experimental meds requiring outrageous hoops to get approved, and a few years of bed rest, I'm basically back on my feet, working  *nearly* full-time again too; in what basically ammounts to my childhood dream job - a video game retail store; a pretty famous chain one too (you've definitely heard of it, though it shant be named here lest I summon the HR).

Sadly, I've not had much time, or energy to devote to TTRPG anymore. All of the friends I had that I once played with have long gone and moved onto other things. My circle has vanished. I don't have access to trusty feed reader anymore, so I've not seen much of whats been going on in the RPG community these days either. Every now and then I'll get an update sent to my g-mail, but I've not really paid much attention to the content.

But, it's a relief to find that most of THIS  *waves hands* is still here, getting at least a little bit of traffic to some extent.

So now I'm left wondering if this is something maybe I want to come back to, here in the latter half of my thirties. I've been getting sentimental about DnD lately, so maybe it's something I'll want to dip my feet into again. Anyone gonna go see the new movie? I'm hearing pretty good things... also heard something about an update to the OGL??? What's that about?? 

The one source I do check regularly for hobby related news... well, more like SALE news, is Humble Bundle, specifically their book bundles. They have some really good ones every once in a while for manga [ my newly revitalized obsession since about 2019 ], so I'll stop in there and check to see what they've got going on each month.

Oh, wow! March is pretty loaded.

46 Item Warhammer 40K RPG Bundle

$25. Woah...

LINK HERE

Not sure I'll pick this one up unless Henry Cavill's gonna RSVP to be the GM since I'm not versed enough in the lore.

But wait...

There's more...

There's also a 17 item Shadowrun bundle for just $18... not bad, not bad.

LINK HERE

This one is actually pretty appealing to me tbh. The whole Shadowrun mythos is fascinating to me, and we're basically living in a dystopian cyberpunk hellscape these days anyay...

Wait, maybe this one's too real.

And a third one... this one's for Castles and Crusades. $18 for 37 different books. Woah. That's a ton of content.

LINK HERE

This is some serious classic TTRPG action right here. Troll Lord Games publishes some of the most old-school RPG books I've seen in forever. May go down this nostalgia trip and see where it takes me.

But, not to leave their software bundles out in the cold, Humble also has a great map making software bundle this month too, coinciding with the trio of book bundles. Almost like they planned this... 

LINK HERE

So, I'm not exaclty sure which of these I'll buy, if I decide to buy any of them. Right now, I've got no group to play with, and don't really see myself having the time to actively search for one, but if one happened to fall into my lap I'm not about to turn them away. But, in the event that one DOES find me, and I find myself falling back into old habits, perhaps I'll be picking one of these up.

If not, you can find me at my new blog, where I write about Anime and Manga!! YAY! 

Post Japan I went through major withrdrawls, so now I've devoled into being a complete and utter otaku. All hope is truly lost.

So, If you've made it this far. Why? Why read to the end? Are you nutty? Do you remember me? If this was YouTuber's I'd tell you to like, comment, and subscribe, but instead, I'll just ask you to reply with which of the bundles you think you'd like to pick up, or if you grabbed one already, what made you decide on that one?
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Anyways, may your dice always come up 20's. 

-ShinobiCow 

Dungeons & Anime - AMV

Found this the other day when I was checking out some of the Anime Music Videos (AMV's) that came out of Anime Expo 2011.  I thought it was pretty funny.  Most people know the song, by Stephen Lynch, but the composition of that song with all these anime clips is pretty humorous.  Not surprised that it didn't win the comedy category of the competition, but it still rocks.

A Giant Fire Breathing Robot Approaches!

Don't you dare close your eyes! The Giant Fire Breathing Robots are invading!!  If you're not familiar with them, Giant Fire Breathing Robot is both a web site and a podcast which covers all manner of nerdy, cool stuff.  You can find their podcast on iTunes or off of their website.  I have been a pretty big fan of the podcast for a long time, at least the last 9 months or so I'd say (I think I started listening when they were still in their 20's or so).

The show, which is put out twice a week, covers topics including anime, RPG's, comics, and board games.  They are the self-proclaimed "Talk Radio for Generation Nerd".  All of the folks on the show have a really fun, geeky banter, and they seem to actually like each other, which is a real plus when you're listening to someone talk for an hour on end.  They also like to use adult language, which is really great, because honestly, I like knowing that I am not the only person who  curses like a sailor.

GFB Robot is not just a podcast; they have an awesome website which covers all kinds of geek related stuff.  They have quite a bit of RPG related, and board game related content, which makes this site highly relevant to the interests of the collective RPG blogosphere. I'm

But, one of the other awesome things about GFB Robot, is I will now be writing for them! I have been in talks with their Editor in Chief Andrew, the host of the podcast, about writing for them and helping them fill a spot in their anime department.  It should probably come as no surprise to you that I'm a big anime lover.  I had an anime blog at one point, which never really went too far (it actually died when I decided to focus on The Dump Stat).  Living in Japan, I get to catch a lot of stuff on TV before folks in the states get to see it, and, I also live really close to some of the biggest anime centers in the world, namely Akihabara, but also the biggest manga and anime conventions such as the bi-annual Comic Market (Comiket).  So, you'll be able to hear my thoughts on anime once a week over on their site.  You can check out my author feed in order to see all of my  articles, the first of which, a short newsy bit about Durarara!! coming to Adult Swim very soon, is up now. I highly encourage you to explore the site and check out what they have to offer.

Casting for Akira Leads to White Washing... and Old Washing...

I've been a big fan of the Akira anime since I was a kid.  It was one of the first anime I ever watched and It has been a film that I have constantly revisited over the last decade.  I own some of the 6 Volume Manga for which the series was based (in Japanese) and I have been looking forward to Warner Brothers and their film adaptation of the anime for quite a while now.  But, where are they going with this?

On the blog, Racebending, I saw today that they had announced a "short list of actors for the film and well, they are all white...

From his blog -
For the role of Tetsuo: Robert Pattinson, Andrew Garfield and James McAvoy.
For the role of Kaneda: Garrett Hedlund, Michael Fassbender, Chris Pine, Justin Timberlake and Joaquin Phoenix.

GOOD GOD!!!  NOOO!!! I'm not so firmly entrenched in my Akira ways to say that only Asian actors should be playing these roles, but honestly, if they are going to keep the names the same, for GOD'S SAKE PLEASE CAST SOME JAPANESE PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!  If they want to change the names, just like they are going to change the setting (from neo-Tokyo to neo-Manhattan) then fine.  I'll live with white actors being cast in the lead roles under that set of circumstances.  But, the above is just wrong on so many levels.

The Characters in Akira are high school age.  Akira is a coming of age film in many respects and having a bunch of middle-aged actors vying for these lead roles seems ridiculous to me.  As much as I AM NOT a fan of all the Justin Bieber types, he would be a waaaayyyyy better choice than freaking Justin Timberlake for the movie.  Of all the people above, I could really only see James McAvoy and Chris Pine as suited for the roles; they are the closet to the right age, and James McAvoy can do pretty good dramatic stuff, especially in war stories (which Akira pretty much is).  I could also see Chris Pine sporting the Red Leather Jacket, jumping on his Red Superbike and then fighting Tetsuo in the climax with a massive laser cannon.