It's Harmon's world... we just game in it

I've only recently been introduced to the madness that is the Rick and Morty animated TV show. I've only seen 2 episodes so far, but just purchased both seasons on DVD based on the strength of those two episodes. They should be arriving this week.  

It was that good. It reminded me of Alpha Blue... and then I remembered a recent player mentioning something about a show called Rick and Morty after a session of Alpha Blue.

[Update: I've seen the entire first season]

So, yeah... it's a bit like Alpha Blue. But what else is it like?
It's sort of a cross between Heavy Metal (we're not worthy!) and that Futurama show (not really a fan, though I can see why some find it enjoyable). Plus, Dan Harmon is behind it! I know him from Community and that was pretty much it. Community was a comedy TV show with a lot of hilarious episodes, including a couple that focused on D&D.

Well, I've also now been exposed to a long-running podcast called HarmonTown. The most interesting aspect of HarmonTown is a segment where they started to play D&D. That spawned a partially-animated spin-off show called HarmonQuest where Dan Harmon and friends play a fantasy RPG that feels old school and is Game Mastered by Spencer Crittenden, who was just an average geek and GM living in California who decided to attend a live taping of HarmonTown.

I've now watched the first season (10 half-hour episodes) of HarmonQuest, and it's good. It won't necessarily resemble the games you play at home. About 20% of their adventuring feels ironic, but the remaining 80% is pure nerd bliss! Having an audience makes it seem more important somehow. I think this could catch on...

There's also a documentary on Dan Harmon and company as he takes HarmonTown on the road, appearing in comedy clubs and such. I've watched it since beginning this blog post a week ago. Even though it's about an hour and 40 minutes, it feels short. I definitely wanted more!

Lastly, for the entire month of August, Alpha Blue will be on sale (PDF and softcover). I anticipate the latest AB sourcebook to be available in September. It's called Universal Exploits and will contain so many fucking random tables that it will be virtually impossible to "sandbox fail." #sandboxfail

Keep gaming,

VS