The Marshmallow Ranch Gazette

Volume 5, Issue 14 - Monday, May 11th, 2020

Howdy, patrons!

It turns out I did not have time to write two episodes of Crushing The Competition last week -- I barely had time to work on a Friday night Pathfinder game I'm running online with a few friends. Since our regular games are on a bit of a hiatus in this time of quarantine, I dusted off this one as an excuse to learn Fantasy Grounds, one of the big online table-top RPG offerings out there. 

I'm not being paid to plug Fantasy Grounds, but it is an extraordinarily-powerful piece of software that takes a minute to learn. It doesn't exactly feel intuitive when you start, but once you get past the learning curve it's pretty great -- especially for a relatively-crunchy system like Pathfinder. As long as you know what you're doing and follow the process, things like persistent conditions are automatically applied and tracked by the system. It's also a little pricey, since you have to buy sourcebooks you want to use. Want to play a hybrid class, or, say, a firbolg? You're going to have to pay up. Still, my gaming friends like the system enough that we'll likely use it even once we're able to meet again!

Still, that's a lot of work that didn't make its way towards the Patreon, and I apologize for that. I'm working to make sure that doesn't happen again. 

I've spent a great deal of my time reading, listening to, and watching stories for the past couple months as you can imagine. Recently, we've finished Luke Cage Season 2 and Downton Abbey Season 1. Extreme vibe whiplash is how we roll in this household!

Luke Cage started out slow, but really picked up after the first few episodes to have an amazing season. It doesn't get the attention that other Netflix-Marvel shows get, but I must say I hold a special place in my heart for it. The show effortlessly weaves the political into the personal, so while much of the action is character-driven you never forget the social forces that have made these characters who they are. It's not a "performatively" black show that introduces black culture into the mainstream (though there's room for that, too, I see you black-ish); it's just hella black. But the special sauce is that it isn't alienating in its blackness -- there are still easily-recognized Marvel archetypes, and it exists comfortably in the same world of Daredevil, Jessica Jones and Iron Fist. But to see a show that feels so comfortable with my background and calls it out in ways both big and small? That's really special to me.

The season even ended teasing a promising new direction for Luke, and I'm sorry we won't get a season 3. I'd love to see a comics run with him reminiscent of the TV show, but I don't see that happening. Still, next time Marvel lets someone do a revival of The Crew? I'm all in.

Downton Abbey, on the other hand, is as aggressively white as it can be. It's also a singular joy for me. I adore stories of small communities, and I think the estate's lords, ladies, and servants definitely qualify. What I love about it is how easily the show navigates from downstairs -- where servants serve as a kind of Greek chorus commenting on the affairs of their lords -- to the upstairs, where the aristocrats don't see the power their privilege affords them. All they can see are the rules that constrain them, and their struggle is to find a way to be who they truly are in a world that only wants them to be their positions. 

I'm not going to lie here: I have a pretty strong affinity for the trappings of British butlery and all that, so learning the minutiae of the servant's lies, like what a valet actually does, and the career path of a footman or scullery maid -- it's super-dope to me. The characters are so amazingly varied and interesting, from the harrassed and frazzled Daisy (scullery maid) to the gives-no-shits Dowager Countess, mother of the current Lord Crawley. Using such a big cast well is a feat in itself, and it's a genuine delight that none of the characters feel like a false note. 

The dialogue is equally impressive. I'm always awed by shows that can manage conversations that always feel like two discussions at once, with a mundane layer masking coded language that speaks out to a ton of different topics. That's definitely something I'd love to get better at, though it might not translate quite as easily to the page. So much of the dialogue's success depends on the subtle acting and line-reading of the actors, but there has to be a way to do it in prose. Don't be surprised if you see a few clumsy attempts at this soon.

I think a great joy in being a writer who knows the craft is taking in these stories and marvelling not only at their emotional punch, but the elegant craftsmanship behind it. You learn something new every time you hear a story, and hopefully you can take that lesson and find a way to put it in your writing. 

This week is an off-week for the game, so I'll have a bit of time in the evenings. However, I might end up having a very busy week once my boss goes on a much-needed vacation and I step in to fill his shoes. I will do my very best to write as often as possible this week, but I make no promises.

I hope all of you are safe and well this week. See you soon. 

-Jakebe