pleasedR.I.P. Jordan Kadvers.
The Friday night players continue to play SkyRealms of Jorune and are currently involved in a search for the disappearance of a challisk, one of the medallions on which is recorded the deeds of those who seek Drennship (citizenship). Their search had led them to the edges of Temauntro, the domain of the crugar, and a small set of ruins. There the characters were attacked by several crugar with crude weapons and some trained tarro, and the while the characters successfully escaped the ambush, Jordan Kadvers fell defending his friends and allowing them to make their escape. Unable even to recover the body at the time, they are determined to return to the ruins and recover his body and personal possessions (including his own challisk). The players are somewhat in shock at his heroic death, but SteveB (who plays Jordan) said afterwards that he was glad to go out so heroically, and that the character's time had come. SteveB and I will get together later this week, and create his new character for the game. Looking forward to see what he decides on...
Following the game of SkyRealms of Jorune, the players watched another film noir. The movie this week was High Wall, a neat little movie from 1947, directed by Curtis Bernhardt, and featuring Robert Taylor, the always lovely Audrey Totter, and Herbert Marshall. While I'm not going to give away any elements of the plot here, I will say that this was one of Robert Taylor's finest performances as far as I'm concerned, second only to what I remember of his role in Johnny Eager, but the movie is definitely carried to new heights by Audrey Totter, beautiful as always and acting her butt off, bringing just the right balance in her role opposite Taylor, to give the film a pair of memorable characters that are more than they seem, even if the ending of the film is a tad predictable. The story, as two of my Friday nighters pointed out, moves swiftly and keeps the viewer absorbed from start to finish. It's a well-paced thriller that makes use of psychiatric trends that may date the film today, but it's all done with such authority that whatever script contrivances are present don't really matter. It's intense and absorbing the whole way through, in true film noir style. What really distinguishes High Wall is the oppressively noir quality of its cinematography. Several scenes have a powerful noir elements that are so vital to the genre - dark, rainy streets, claustrophobic apartment rooms - and there are a couple of oddly "whirlpool" flashback moments that are handled with style, and some violence that may be surprising. (I know that Kathy and Joanne were somewhat surprised at that last.)
In any event, another successful night of gaming, with the added bonus of some excellent film noir. A great night overall.