I Am Once Again Asking You To Watch The 2019 Shakespeare In The Park Production Of Much Ado About Nothing

i am once again asking you to watch the 2019 shakespeare in the park production of much ado about nothing

The question with The Wizard, The Witch and the Wild One was always going to be "which worldbuilding detail will I find to fixate on", not "will I find something to fixate on", and the results are in:

it's the naming conventions

In Suvi's corner of the story so far we've had Soft, Stone, Steel, Archmage Silence, and Silver ... and Suvirin.

It's a clear convention but has not yet been lampshaded by any of the cast, which is of course delicious.

Is it an Empire convention, a Citadel one, a wizardly one? I'm guessing Citadel/wizard, since people like Roselyn and Grandmother Wren are presumably Empire citizens but don't follow the convention.

But is it something adopted later in life? Because Suvi follows the initial S but otherwise breaks the convention of the name being a dictionary word. Will she be expected to pick – or be bestowed with – a dictionary S-word when she's no longer an apprentice, is that it?

And if so ... what will it be? Sand? (sort of combines Soft + Stone)

OR did Soft and Stone break convention when they named their daughter?

the thing is that I don’t entirely disagree with the idea that “parody should arise from a love of the genre” but the more I consider it the more I think it’s reductive. bc like. how are we defining genre? if someone who loves Fantasy in the broad sense despises sword-and-sorcery barbarian-hero types, or the concept of an “adventurer’s guild”, or stories that are about war or stories that aren’t about war or stories that rely too heavily on the assumption that monarchy is fine actually – are they not allowed to take the piss? are they not allowed to say “this is shit and I’m tired of pretending otherwise?”

I think it would be more worthwhile to say that parody should arise from engaging with the genre in good faith. if you make a parody based on a shallow or straight-up incorrect understanding of a work then yeah, obviously it will not be very funny or insightful. if you work to meet things where they are and understand why they are what they are, even if your conclusion is that they suck ass for it, you’re more likely to make something insightful. like. I don’t think Cervantes was out here writing Don Quixote and thinking the whole time “ha ha chivalric romance whips ass actually.”

Some of you have never used your magic luck powers to find and open a dry bar and cafe with your boyfriend who also has magic luck powers to provide a safe space and sanctuary for people in the lgbtqia+ community who are in a bad situation and who end up becoming part of your found family that you use your magic powers to protect and soothe when things get rough and it shows

Do you ever consume a piece of media and are like. This is it. My art needs to get Weirder.

We're doin some noir!! I've had this feeling for a while that Fate would be a good system for noir, because it's a system all about people who are competent in different ways, using their own resources and the tools around them to get what they want. I think to do noir in a lot of systems, you'd end up with a party of oops all detectives, and all the interesting antagonists like the fatal/e or the local corrupt business owner would have to be GM characters. Whereas here the players get to play with those archetypes, and all push-pull the story around with their own agendas. It ended up quite light-hearted and silly by noir standards, but I'm pleased with how the game supported the genre in terms of everyone's secrets and ambitions driving things!

▶️ Now playing in the Studio

Cadence Fairchild’s first big case washes up on her doorstep one rainy night in Fosshythe.

Follow us on your usual podcast app - search Merely Roleplayers or head to www.merelyroleplayers.com

COMPERE: Matt Boothman

STARRING:

Vikki as Cadence Fairchild, baby-faced P.I.

Ellie as Cam, cinnamon roll newshound

Alexander Pankhurst as Regonald Skinner, infamous corrupt businessman

Helen as Stella Sylvester, woo-woo femme fatale

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Fate (Condensed)

MUSIC BY: Alexander Pankhurst

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman