Is 25 years old enough? Hope so!

Finally watched this a couple of days ago and wow, it's a ride.

The first act hits differently to how I imagine it did in 1998. At the time neo-nazis were much more fringe than they are now, so the first act took more time than I imagine they would now to humanise the characters a way that allows you to see how they encourage each other into escalating further and further. That said, there were times when it almost felt like the movie was on their side, particularly the triumphant strings during the basketball scene. I think I read at some point that neo nazis watch the 1st act as a celebration of their culture, and it kinda reads that way. It was uncomfortable, but maybe that was the point.

The second act does a good job of showing the process of radicalisation. The young Danny has been totally consumed by the skin head gang, and we see them coaching his speech, berating him for mis-speaking, pulling him away from friends, alienating him from school and sources of guidance.

The last act is satisfying and it wraps up well, but inwont spoil it.

There are some brutal scenes, with one particular moment that I won't spoil, but is infamous. I looked away at the moment it happened but I still saw too much for comfort and the image will stay with me.

A welcome surprise came in the form of Edward Furlong's voice-overs. They took me right back to watching Terminator 2 for the 1000th time when I was 11. His voice overs as John Conner are baked into my subconscious.

All in all, I think the movie is worth a watch, and has some good points and insight. It has some flaws, and I think it might miss the mark at times when viewed from a modern perspective. I suspect these things are mostly a result of the point of time it was made, so with that in mind I do recommend watching it. Just do it on a day when you're feeling thick skinned.

First off: Sawbones, Moonie, Reeva or Mygg, if you're reading this, DON'T!

I'm running a pirate-themed homebrew campaign set in a homebrewed place which I've plonked down in The Sea of Falling Stars. I call it The Southern Isles, and its rife with piracy. The de facto 'government' is The Southern Islands Company, who run the place for profit and starve the population with high taxes and tithes, and who brutally suppress any rebellion. I've used every pirate and maritime trope I can think of in planning the plot, creating encounters and filling it with characters.

I figured this will help me add flavour to the world, and could be a good resource for anyone planning a similar campaign, or one shot or whatever.

Edit: I should maybe note I already played quite a bit in this setting and after a long hiatus I am starting it back up for Season 2, so partly this is a way for me to get it all fresh in my head again.

Please be careful with spoilers from major campaigns, particularly Curse of Strand cos I'm playing through that atm please thank you 😊

I'll go first...

I'm running a homebrew pirate campaign and I have a character called Rusty Ben who's great fun to play. He's a warforged in the form of a skeleton made of rusted iron. He wears a pirate hat and he has a stuffed parrot nailed to his shoulder. He's a great sailor, who never tires, or eats, and he even keeps watch as he 'sleeps', because warforged. He's also handy with repair work, so he's a valuable member of the party's pirate crew. He's very friendly and speaks in a kind of silly Southern US accent. When he asked to join the party's crew, he held put a gold piece and said "I can pay my own way!". They declined and one of them gave him a silver piece as wages. He was bowled over by their generosity. Another player offered him a copper piece as well, and he got all serious and said, "No, no... let me earn the copper piece."

He acts as a kind of sailoring guide for the party. He has worked aboard quite a few pirate ships, until he was aboard one that sank in battle. He walked for a long time across the bottom of the sea and eventually found an island and just walked up onto the beach, where he met the crew of The Candlestick Maker’s Revenge and joined them, which is where the party met him at the start of the campaign. They took passage on that ship to get to the island chain that is the setting fornthe canpaign. He's one of my favourite people that I've ever made up!

I'll go first. He's a reborn necromancer wizard, with a 1 level dip into death cleric.

His backstory comes with a clichénwarning for lost memories..

He lost his memory just before the start of the campaign. He was conducting a gruesome experiment on a dog, when something went wrong involving lightning. He died, but also didn't, and came to wandering around his lab years later, clutching the skull of the dog, which had rotted away to just bone.

He didn't have a name at the start of the campaign. I let a different player name him, as his character knew mine from before the accident. He came up with the truly awful name Melvin Kingston, which I've grown to love. He had a massive fear of death, having died once already, and was quite the coward in early levels.

His memories have been slowly returning, and he's had to come to terms with all the evil things he did in his previous life. I recently took a level in death domain cleric, cos we had no healer, and I found the god Jergal, Scribe of the Doomed, who is concerned only with documenting the dead in his great book. Melvin's faith has allowed him to come to terms with death, and accept it as a part of life. (His newfound ability ro wear medium armor has helped as well, lol). I love having 8 cantrips, and so so many spells to choose from. I have so many options!

I love playing him, and I'm loving the progression he's gone through. I have more planned for him.

Now your turn!