Episode 56; More Alpha Wolfpack Playtesting

Episode 56: iTunes
Episode 56: Non-iTunes

Hosts: Pad Prik, Gyro, Biscuit, T-Bone, Duck Sauce, Chick-o-sticks, and Americano

Show Notes:

• More Alpha Wolfpack!
  
• On to the actual play...

Pad Prik came to town with the latest revisions to Alpha Wolfpack, and we put them to the test in this, err, playtest.

Episode 55; Mass Effect Rogue Space Continued

Episode 55: iTunes
Episode 55: Non-iTunes

Hosts: Gyro, Biscuit, T-Bone, Duck Sauce, Chick-o-sticks, and Americano

Show Notes:

• I can't find my show notes sheet!
• On to the actual play...

The Minion's unofficial summer hiatus comes to a close, with a much delayed Mass Effect game.

Episode 50; Rogue Space Mass Effect

Episode 50: iTunes
Episode 50: Non-iTunes

Hosts: Gyro, Chick-o-sticks, Duck Sauce, Biscuit, and Americano













Show Notes:

• Our fiftieth episode!
• Biscuit's Surreal Dream
• Hunger Games movie
• Kick Ass movie
• Dr. McNinja
• Axe Cop
• Game of Thrones
  
• Goblin Quest novel
  
• Confessions of a D-List Superhero novel
• Twilight Struggle
• The new Marvel RPG
• XBox Kinect
• Power Up Heroes
• Privateer Press Clarification
• Nightfall
• Quarriors
• Gaming Apps
• Digital Comics
  
• On to the actual play...
  

Gyro takes the GM reins for the show's milestone fiftieth episode in this sci-fi romp through the Mass Effect universe using the indie Rogue Space RPG rules. We begin with the players confined to the cargo hold of an advanced prototype Alliance ship on its way to the Utopia System. Things heat up quickly as they hit dirtside on Eden Prime, where a routine shakedown run turns into much more than they bargained for.

Enjoy!

Episode 48; Alpha Wolfpack Playtest Session #1

Episode 48: iTunes
Episode 48: Non-iTunes

Hosts: Duck Sauce, Gyro, Mystery Meat, Biscuit, and Pad Prik











Show Notes:

• Top o' the mornin' to ya!
• Double Skyrimming
• Obligatory Duck Sauce Nethack Spiel
• More Mass Effect 3
  
• Assassin's Creed 3
• Bioshock 3
• Controversial Privateer Press Smack-talk
• Hordes and Warmachine
• Games Workshop Models
• Super40K
• Gyro gets Cranky
• Free Market Awareness
• Dice Games and Custom Dice
  
• On to the actual play...
  

After our last character creation episode we get started on the first official playtest session of the fledgling Alpha Wolfpack RPG rules. Let's get to it!

Enjoy!

The Well-Read Minion

National Public Radio recently held a contest for the best science-fiction and fantasy novels of all time. The site narrowed the list down to a mere 200, then invited viewers to vote for up to ten titles. The contest may still be going on, if you are interested.

“But T-bone,” you say. “The minions are sci-fi/ fantasy geeks that are always talking books on the podcast. What do you guys think are the best books?” “Excellent question,” I reply.

So I (T-Bone), Duck Sauce, Americano, Gyro, Pad Prick, Flounder, and Chico Stix all voted, then tallied up our votes to create a Minion’s top ten. Err...top forty.

As a disclaimer, we chose our books on personal preference, entertainment value, impact on the genre, or quality of writing. Thus, some are classics, and others are just fun reads. Not surprisingly, between 70 votes we picked 40 different books. Many of us did not have a one single book in common, which just shows how many great fantasy/sci-fi novels there were to choose from.

Our not-so-definitive list is…

5 votes:

• Lord of the Rings Trilogy

4 Votes:

• Starship Troopers
• Ender’s Game

3 Votes:

• Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy
• 1984
• 2001

2 Votes:

• World War Z
• Eisenhorn Omnibus
• I Robot
• Foundation Trilogy
• Conan Series
• Old Man’s War
• The Forever War
• The Stainless Steel Rat Books
• The Stand
• Hyperion Cantos
• Caves of Steel

1 Vote:
The Riftwar Saga, Fahrenheit 451, The Belgariad, Dune Series, Drizzt Series, The Watchman, Xanth Series, Bridge of Birds, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Ringworld, Uplift Saga, Neuromancer, War of the Worlds, The Saint, The Diamond Age, The Deed of Paksenarion, Snow Crash, Childhood’s End, Chronicles of Amber, Martion Chronicles, Song of Ice and Fire, Chronicles of Tomas Covenant, Elric Saga, Silmarillion, Rendezvous with Rama, VALIS, Sandman Series.

Free Minis Giveaway Winner!

In episode 31 we had an embedded, super-secret miniatures giveaway. Up for grabs are the five galactic hooligans you see above; 15mm Scourge models from Rebel Minis. The codeword for the contest was "Icehouse" and Moe came through like the wind.

"The sun hangs high in the sky and the ice house is slippery when wet."

So congratulations to Moe, and to anyone else who made it that far into the podcast (we'll get you a consolation prize Stewart). There will definitely be more giveaways in the future. Until then!

Episode 31: Deathwatch Character Creation

Episode 31: Deathwatch Character Creation
RSS Feed Located Here

Hosts: Duck Sauce, Gyro, T-Bone, Biscuit

Summer is right around the corner and so is a new RPG campaign. This time the hosts return to their roots and delve back into the 40k universe, now with a purpose-built a 40k rule-set. Trading in their investigatory longcoats and lasguns for power armor and bolters, Deathwatch has become their destination. Definitely more to come, enjoy!

Show Notes:

• Our local Blood Bowl league, The Painsphere
• The Dawn of War franchise
• Organized Play, our FLGS
• The Heroes of Armageddon Project
  
• The 25mm Warrior
• Dragon Age II
• A New Minion, Jumbo Shrimp
• A Free Minis Giveaway...and Winner: Moe!
• The Latest Hyborean Hype
• Our hometown of Santa Cruz, California
  
• Mako
• Deathwatch Character Creation
  

Episode 29: Fiasco in Antarctica

Episode 29: Fiasco in Antarctica
RSS Feed Located Here

Hosts: Duck Sauce, Gyro, Americano, Biscuit

Danger and intrigue abound deep in Antarctica. The hosts try a new cooperative story-building role-playing game in Fiasco. This is definitely new ground for the intrepid hosts as they venture into a Cohen Brothers-esque modern rpg with a tagline that reads, "With great ambition and poor impulse control." By direction of Duck Sauce, "no aliens, no robots, no monsters." By the end of the game, you've got one heck of a story too. Enjoy!

Show Notes:

• The Game of Thrones Franchise
• Duck Sauce's FoW D-Day Stuff
• Basing Tips for 15mm Troopers
• Ascension, Pandemic, Small World
• Film Documentaries
• Netflix Selections for You
  
• The Big Blue
• More French Films for You
• Being Human TV Remake
• The IT Crowd
• The Cape, worthy or not?
  
• Old TV shows and their Remakes
• Biscuit talks art
• Gyro's lament for a slow 2011 start
• Some 2010 Numbers in Review
• True Grit remake
• el Duderino
• Cohen Brothers movies
  
• Fiasco Actual Play RPG
  

Episode 24: Oblivion's Edge, now with more FATE

Episode 24: Oblivion's Edge with FATE
RSS Feed Located Here

Hosts: Duck Sauce, Gyro, Chick-o-Sticks, Mystery Meat, T-Bone

Episode 24 sees us back in familiar 40k territory but with unfamiliar rules that make their Minions debut. Following up on the Bolterpalooza episodes, the Minions play Fantasy Flight's second adventure, Oblivion's Edge. This time around however it's the FATE engine that's under the hood.

So let's get down to business. Alien crushing, bolter firing, power fist punching, praising the Emperor business. The heroes may have eliminated the Genestealer threat by exterminating the Brood Lord and putting down the local rebellion, but now the shadow of Hive Fleet Dagon casts its shroud over the planet. Huge bio-organic drop pods hit dirtside, spewing forth chitinous terrors. The locals are on the menu. Guess who just came to dinner.

We follow up on Bolterpalooza episodes #1 and #2 with the sequel, Oblivion's Edge. Turning things a tad on their ear however, we eschew Fantasy Flight's system altogether and substitute it for Starblazer Adventures powered by the FATE engine. All the usual Minions zaniness applies within, so kick back, reload your bolter, and enjoy.

T-Minus Five Days!

BOLTERPALOOZA IS COMING!!!

It has been a while since we here at the Minions have had a bona fide episode, but the wait is almost over. This Saturday, barring Armageddon, will see our next installment. Stay tuned, we're returning to our Warhammer 40k RPG roots with a full roster!

Harry Dean Stanton

Early life

Stanton was born in West Irvine, Kentucky, the son of Ersel (née Moberly), a hair dresser, and Sheridan Harry Stanton, a tobacco farmer and barber.^[1][2] His parents divorced when Stanton was in high school and later re-married. He has two younger brothers, Archie and Ralph, and a younger half-brother, Stan. Stanton attended the University of Kentucky in Lexington, Kentucky, where he studied journalism and radio arts. He also studied at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California, where his classmates included his friends, Tyler MacDuff and Dana Andrews.

Stanton is a U.S. Navy veteran of World War II. He served as a cook aboard an LST ship during the Battle of Okinawa.

Career

He also is known to be a big fan of classic rock and roll, his favourites including Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Stanton has appeared in both indie and cult films (Two-Lane Blacktop, Cockfighter, Escape from New York, Repo Man), as well as many mainstream Hollywood productions, including Cool Hand Luke, The Godfather Part II, Red Dawn, Pretty in Pink, Stephen King's Christine and The Green Mile. He has been a favorite actor of Sam Peckinpah, John Milius, David Lynch, and Monte Hellman, and is also close friends with Francis Ford Coppola. He had a very small part in 1962's How The West Was Won as one of Charlie Gant's (Eli Wallach) gang.

His principal lead film role was in Wim Wenders' film Paris, Texas. This role of Travis, which he is often associated with, was originally to go to Sam Shepard at the urging of Wim Wenders.

Stanton is a favorite of film critic Roger Ebert who has said that "no movie featuring either Harry Dean Stanton or M. Emmet Walsh in a supporting role can be altogether bad." However Ebert later admitted that Dream a Little Dream (1989), in which Stanton appeared, was a "clear violation" of this rule.^[3]

His television credits are extensive, including eight appearances between 1958 and 1968 on CBS's Gunsmoke and four on the network's Rawhide, as well as a cameo as himself on Two and a Half Men, alongside Sean Penn and Elvis Costello. He has been featured since 2006 as Roman Grant, the manipulative leader/prophet of a polygamous sect in the HBO television series Big Love.

Stanton has also occasionally toured nightclubs as a singer/guitarist, playing mostly country-inflected cover tunes. He appeared in the Dwight Yoakam video, "Sorry You Asked", portrayed a cantina owner in a Ry Cooder video for "Get Rhythm" and participated in the video for Bob Dylan's Dreaming of You. -Taken from Wikipedia