Karavansara

East of Constantinople, West of Shanghai


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Other People’s (New) Pulp: Tropicana

Screenshot from 2015-11-29 22:34:14My plans for the weekend have been completely shot by the publication of Tropicana, a new Savage Setting for the Savage Worlds roleplaying game.
This week I’ll be posting various stuff about this setting – because it’s the sort of game that really clicks with a lot of my interests and passions, and reading the handbook was really inspiring.

If you are looking for a capsule review and an overview of the pulpy goodness that is Tropicana, point your browser at the GreyWorld blog.

In this post I’d like to offer a selection of resources I think players and game-masters might like to check out – if they don’t know them already.
Sort of an essential reference shelf.

Let’s go. Continue reading →


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What the situation hands us

I was thinking, yesterday, that this writing thing is quite fun and all that, but one might also do without the ups and downs, the mood swings and the very bad days (yesterday was a very bad day).
I mean, hand pains, weird hours, and rewrites and waiting for news from publishers are all bad enough without also getting melancholy and sad and then back again.

manic-depressive

And so I thought about this video – a nice, intelligent song, a quick discussion of manic-depressive artists, the truth about Los Angeles plumbers and electricians, and life in the countryside.
What else we need?

Enjoy!


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Other People’s Pulps: The Taking of Tiger Mountain (2014)

OK, I said I’d do a few posts about Tsui Hark‘s The Taking of Tiger Mountain – so here’s the film review, or an attempt at it.
Let’s start with the plot.
As mentioned in a previous post, The Taking of Tiger Mountain is based on true events: in the winter of 1946, in North-Eastern China, a unit of the Chinese People Liberation Army tackled a local warlord and his army of bandits.

Then, a novel, an opera, a movie – and in 2014, The Taking of Tiger Mountain.

te-takingtigermountain

Tsui Hark’s take on this classic of historical adventure turned Cultural Revolution mainstay is framed as a movie-within-a-movie: in the prologue, Jimmi – a young hotshot Chinese programmer on his way to Silicon Valley – catches a glimpse of the 1970 version of the movie, and decides to re-watch it.
What we see, therefore, is the 1970s movie through the eyes of a post-Communist young man1.
Ergo, the somewhat stiff and overstated 1970 film turns on the screen into a Spielbergesque high adventure entertainment. Continue reading →