Ok, I went and saw GI Joe.

If you want my review, click the link.


But I have to admit, as I walked out of the theater, I was overflowing with little ideas and inspirations for new Shadowrun hooks, plots, ideas and descriptions.

First, am I alone amongst those who saw that [adjectives redacted] movie?

Second, what other movies in recent (say, last year or two) have had you walk away inspired to sit down and crack your books?

Usually, me and my boyz-mob are in cinema whenever something lightly nerdy comes along . . but this time, nobody wanted to see it somehow O.o

Which movie inspired me the last few months? WATCHMEN, simple as that. That movie was frigging epic . . And aside from Manhatten, everything else can be done in shadowrun.

cradle 2 the grave
good example of a shadowrun team

Hellraiser franchise, Vidocq, The City of Lost Children, Cronos, umm... that's all I can think of so far.

Babylon AD?

Personally I liked The Skeleton Key for a wicked little run idea.

Oh, and also Push.

Eastern Promises was better, but it is a watered down version of Antikiller. Why watch Americanised Russian gangster movies when I can watch Russian ones? Besides I like laughing at the illogicalities.

Renaissance was awesome. If it had magic and dudes with pointed ears it'd be just about right.

I think something Blade Runner-inspired could make for some good shadowrun.

And if you're into more military-style games, something Black Hawk Down-esque would be super cool.

Several movies I liked for their mythology: The Messenger, Snapphannar and the Prophecy.

He-Man - Masters of the Universe: The Movie
*runs*

I was just watching Clear and Present Danger, and a shadowrun where you're deniable assets operating similar to the SF team in Colombia could be very fun as well.

You mean you HAVEN'T done that?

Most Travolta-Movies lend themselves just fine to shadowrun.

Well, you know, not terribly specifically. But a government-sponsored team going drug cartel hunting with an open season rules of engagement would be hella fun. But most runs have a more specific target instead of orders to go to a general area and cause mayhem.

Or the Silvester Stallone Movies.
Or the Nicholas Cage Movies.
Or the Jackie Chan Movies.
Heck, you could chose anything, as long it's not too phantastical in nature.
Shadowrun, especially the 4th system, can basically emulate pretty much everything.

I've said it before, but Michael Clayton. Renaissance was an unoriginal genre piece, but a very nice one.

If I have encountered it, I have used some part of it my roleplaying. Even if it is only to teach me what is inappropiate.

I like intellgent and insightful pathos but sometimes well done unintellegent pulp is the order of the day. Even if I dont like a story style i still learn from it.

Three hundred, The last Samuria, Tu Mama es Bien, Vanity Fair, Dangerous liasons through to Adams family, The Maltese Falcone, Clue, the Crow, pitch black, Event horizon to Disney, To marry a Millionair, Brain Dead, Plan 9 from outter space etc

All gave me something I can use. Strangely it is the long running TV series that showed me how craft episodes in a long running campaign with multiple plot strands and plot arcs similutaneously. Novels dont have the time frame constraints.

All the setting and events, gear and society are necessary to get to what and how the dramatic persona think and feel. Shadow of a Vampire for example caught me off guard with an insight of method acting/perspective shift which I could use on a topic oft travelled.

My responsibility to my players is to make them feel what they want to feel to have fun. So whating a yarn being spun in all its detail teaches me something to a greater of lesser degree

Please tell me you're not talking about that walking abortion Broken Arrow!?

Although I will give them that they had one of the better lines of all time. But I still wanted my admission price AND my two hours back at the end.

QUOTE (Giles Prentice - Broken Arrow - 1996)

I don't know what's scarier, losing nuclear weapons, or that it happens so often there's actually a term for it.

For rigging inspiration, I'm looking to the three Transporter movies. The attitude, the style. Definitely going to marathon them before the next game I attend.

If I recall correctly, it wasn't too long ago that some air force folks lost their job on some live nuclear weapons that accidentally went up in some aircraft. Also, some nuclear weapon parts accidentally got shipped to Taiwan. So while Broken Arrow may be an abortion of a movie, it's not necessarily that far fetched.

Plus, as far as awesome Travolta movies that would do well as inspiration for shadowruns, Pulp Fiction is a good choice as well.

Strange Days.

Six unarmed ALCMs (missing the primary core IIRC) in the first case, and relays or triggers in the second. But we haven't flown live weapons intentionally like that (as clearly stated in the movie) in a while, and certainly not in a training flight. The point's well taken and in principle if they'd handled it like an "oops, that one is armed!" it wouldn't have offended me the way it did. OK, and the "B3" was just... never mind.

And is NOBODY else willing to ADMIT seeing that movie besides me?

*grin*

Come on, somebody HAS to have seen it...

I saw it. I'm just trying to act like I didn't because it embarrassed me watching such a disaster. Which is saying something considering the cartoon and action figures that inspired it!

Renaissance
The Dark Knight
Watchmen

No others that I can think of at the moment. I would have forgotten about Renaissance if it had not already been mentioned, but that one had me thinking 'Shadowrun' through the entire film.

I actually like Broken Arrow. I mean, the plot was kinda hoeky, but it was a fun ride.

And I did like that quote too.

Broken Arrow = steamy pile of dog shit.

Travolta Movies? How about Saturday Night Fever? Urban Cowboy? Grease?

I just watched "Knowing" and was pleasantly surprised. It was better than I thought it was going to be and had a few elements that I think you could steal for SR.

What kind of skills would you take for a player character in a Saturday Night Fever campaign?

Heh. Disco Dancing, Disco Music, Department store shelf stocking... You asked.

Maybe some "enhanced package" cyberware.

Okay, that was good.


"Bu-, bu-, but Mr. Johnson, I gots ta dance!!"

Would Grease be a campaign for riggers or social adepts?

'course i did.
and i actually do like it too.
but then again, i probably have a pretty low trash-treshhold ^^
come on, say what you want, but travolta is perfect for the role of BBEG, phsychotic asshole or most anything else.
and he does it with style.
Saturday Night Fever, probably some hooding low power street style.

Here's some movie inspiration

Plot Synopsis:
The runners are hired by Mr. Slugworth to infiltrate the Wonka corporate factory (A subsidiary of Aztechnology) during a highly publicized factory tour for a few contestant winners. Mr. Slugworth provides the location of one of the winning tickets, currently being held by a low class family, The Buckets, living on the boarder of the slums. The runners will steal the ticket and gain entrance to the high security factory facility via the tour and steal as much data as they can from the factory's internal closed network while keeping the eccentric and possibly awakened president, Mr. Wonka, unawares. The Wonka contest also provides a secondary award to the contestants should they complete a last-man-standing objective. Mr. Slugworth provides the runners with a number he can be contacted at when the run is completed.

My wife would disagree, the movie has Christopher Ecclesston. For her, at least, that is pure eye candy.

I get inspired by just about any movie even remotely related to the genre.

Some big ones that inspire my style of game include the Fifth Element, Snatch and Pulp Fiction. But I get ideas from pretty much anywhere. I've ran metaplane adventures similar to the Labyrinth, created characters inspired by Caddyshack and Grosse Pointe Blank, created runs from Cast Away and Shaun of the Dead... you name it, I've pretty much sampled it or at least fantasized about doing something with it.

Dr. Strangelove. Go!

I saw it. Had mostly the same reaction too "Oh, it's a watch the pretty explosions and T&A movie"

I too also thought of shadowrun when I watched it. Physads, Crazy Gear, it was pretty much all there except for magic.

Heck, the movie itself could have been a plot in a high cinematic, low grit, no magic campaign.

That makes me sad, because I've thought for a long time that GIJOE would make wonderful fodder for a gritty action movie, especially in a world where "terrorism" has a whole new meaning.

Um, all I can think of when I read this was "Team America: World Police"

The Cobra 21st Infantry has disavowed all knowledge of any such film being made.

When we first heard a GI Joe flick was coming out, some of us were excited. When we heard Hama was on as an advisor, Quaid was General Hawk, and when Snake Eyes got cast? We were making plans to show up opening night in our Bluesuits. Then? Then we started to learn more and more and more about it. A Wayans brother as Ripcord? That kid for Cobra Commander? Then the Cobra Commander action figure/image got leaked...then the first Superbowl movie spot, with exoskeletons and nanite missiles and...and...

And we all just kept wincing, with every new press release and commercial and trailer.

I might add it to my NetFlix que someday. Maybe. But, no. No, I'm not going to go watch it. My enormous GI Joe fanboyism just won't let me.

You know, and I hate to say this, the way they depicted the power suits was actually very good SHADOWRUN, and as far as it went, pretty realistically demonstrated in function. The previews were made to draw the Halo crowd, but that's not how they worked them. The suits, in fact, were one of the speciffic things that got me to post this thread in the first place. If you read the rules in Arsenal, that's almost exacly how they showed the suits in the movie, down to the trode-DNI control and servo-accelerators. It's all handwavium materials and technology at the moment, but it's spot on as to 2070's tech. Also, the depections of the aerodyne jets was surprisingly well done, for those looking for directed jet lift vehicle references, but you'll notice the Joe vehicle had stub wings for foward flight, so it wasn't a pure aerodyne. The cobra vehicle, on the other hand, looked like it might be a convincing model for a LAV/T-Bird based on the lifting body full form and the way it maneuvered.

HAHAHAHA! The thing that makes it so funny is how it would actually work too!

As an interesting aside I just finished watching Mutant Chronicles. For those who don't know MC, its a PnP RPG from the early 90's made by Target Games/Heartbreaker Hobbies. Anyway, it wasn't the best movie (its no GIJOE I'm sure), but if you've played the game its kind of nostalgic to watch. One thing that stood out to me though was how the plot really translated the dynamics of a tabletop RPG adventure.

Are you serious? XD A rogue general orders a first strike on another country due to a conspiracy theory, and then all the hijinks that ensue? How can you not find inspiration for a Shadowrun adventure (or more likely, an entire line of adventures) from that movie?!

I can't because there's nothing really happenning in that movie.
It could have been over by 15 to 30 minutes.
One third of the Movie shows a room full of people talking to each other(war Room)
One third of the Movie shows a room with two people in it talking to each other shooting out the window(Army base)
One third of the Movie shows a plane with 4 or 5 people in it just flying around, ONCE having to out maneuvre incoming unfriendly fire.
Then the bombs get dropped.
Nobody has to find anything out, nobody has to really fight anybody, there's no stopping it.

Perhaps come up with a plan on getting a bunker and having ten young women for every man?

In the War room allready.
Dr.Strangelove himself.