Conspiracy X 2.0 - The Paranormal Sourcebook

A little while ago I posted on here about Eden Studios and the work I did for them for Conspiracy X 2.0 - mentioning how the second book, "The Extraterrestrials Sourcebook" was finally seeing print thanks to a Kickstarter campaign that would fund the print run, and give those who preordered loads of cool extra bonuses.

Well, we're at it again. Launching just yesterday, Eden have decided to get the Paranormal Sourcebook into print for the first time (it's not been released before, not even as a PDF) using Kickstarter (Click Here to go to the Page).

The Paranormal Sourcebook collects the three original paranormal phenomena sourcebooks for the original Conspiracy X system (Shadows of the Mind (Psychics), Forsaken Rites (Magic and the Occult) and Cryptozoology (strange creatures)) and converts them into Unisystem.

I guess the big deal with this one is that it not only converts the material to Unisystem, but it also covers how to use Seepage (the psychic phenomena that's causing all the weird stuff) in other Unisystem games like WitchCraft and Armageddon, and how it relates to their use of Essence - the natural magical element in the universe.
It's all cool stuff.

And, of course, if it goes well, we'll hopefully see book 4 - The Conspiracies Sourcebook sometime next year... (fingers crossed).

INK

Yeah, I know, it’s been a quiet month on here so far. You have NaNoWriMo to thank for that. I don’t know what I’m doing trying to keep up with the wife’s writing, especially as there are times that I’m convinced no one in their right mind would want to read the mass of bizarre and weird drivel that is coming out of my head.

I’m not officially doing NaNoWriMo, just trying to keep up with the word-count, which is handy as not only am I writing the most bizarre fiction put to paper, but I’m also trying to keep up with the RPG writing. Now working on two projects - WILD and a pitch for a licensed property. I don’t know if anything will come of the latter, but it’s worth a try.

As it’s been quiet, I thought I’d draw your attention to another movie that was recommended to me by one of my nieces’ husband (thanks Simon!). I’d not even heard of Ink, but he’d seen that I was writing something about dreams and recommend it to me.

Ink tells a couple of parallel stories that meet in one universe. We’re introduced to the concept early on in the film that there are forces at work that influence our dreams. One of the earliest scenes shows a street where half a dozen shamanic ninjas (called "Storytellers") appear in what looks like camera flashes. No one can see them, but they enter peoples’ houses, into their bedrooms, and touch their faces, giving them pleasant dreams. Shortly afterwards, we see the nasty equivalents - really creepy looking guys in rubbery suits (called "Incubi"), with bizarre screens attached to their faces. If they influence your dreams, you can be sure of a traumatic time.

At the start of the film, a young girl, Emma, is kidnapped by Ink. Ink is a strange creature - the best way to describe him is if you imagine a shorter Hagrid from Harry Potter, only a master of martial arts, and a nose like those urRu creatures from The Dark Crystal. Ink has been told by the Incubi that acquiring this girl and sacrificing her will allow him to be accepted into their ranks.

While this is happening, the Storytellers are trying to get Emma back, and need the assistance of her estranged father, John, who was forced away from his daughter due to his dedication to his career making him a drunk, drug taking, obsessive. It’s hard to describe much more without giving too much away. All I can say is that the story is split between Emma being lead through the dream realms by Ink, as he collects the necessary items to let him deliver her to the Incubi, and the story of John being protected and guided by Storytellers he can't see to reach out to his comatose daughter in the real world to try to save her.

The film is very low budget, but doesn’t look like it. The effects are cool - the nasty dudes are really, really creepy... almost like something from Dark City (one of my favourite films of all time). The martial arts scenes look very real, none of the Hollywood glamour, it’s visceral and frantic. There’s a great bit at the beginning when the Storytellers are trying to stop Ink from kidnapping Emma - as they break the furniture in the real world, the objects around them reverse and reconstruct themselves while the fight continues. Very cool.

None of the actors are recognisible from anything else, but they’re all very good. Quinn Hunchar is excellent as Emma, and Chris Kelly playing her father is brilliant as the tormented soul that he is.

It was one of those films where I honestly didn’t know what was going to happen next - it was great, and unpredictable, and I really can’t recommend it highly enough.

You should be able to pick up the DVD/BluRay anywhere, or you could head over to JaminWinans.com and get the film straight from the director - he'll even sign it for you, and you can get some cool merchandise, watch the trailer and support independent film!

NaNo New Mo...

Okay, so I'm supposed to be doing NaNoWriMo (but not in an official capacity), and writing shed-loads. I'm up to just over 10,000 words since the start of the month, which is all new stuff to the Case of Lost Possibilities that I started years ago, almost doubling it in length. Dunno if any of it's any good though. I may just be spouting nonsense.

I've had a couple of days of failing the word-count, but luckily I wrote a lot in the first couple of days that evens it out.

However, I've got another project that I'm working on (not WILD, though I haven't forgotten about that, it's still in the works). This is mostly why I didn't sign up officially for NaNoWriMo - I knew something like this would crop up and I couldn't submit say 30,000 words of fiction and 20,000 of RPG writing. That's not how the month works. But it does with me. As long as I'm writing, that's a good thing.

I wonder if Blog post words count?