10 Montages Until Gen Con: #7-Big Trouble in Little China Supercuts

I started adding the new characters for GenCon 2013 today, and once again got all pumped up. In my fit of gaming-induced epinephrine-fueled working session, I remembered several fanboy montages that have been sent to one of my friends (and stalwart game supporter/playtester) Ben, the man responsible for the first HiBRiD/Cinema20/Ite' Gaming Engine quote "Because a natural 20 just looks cool").

I wanted to present a montage of montages to Big Trouble in Little China, because this one movie is the main inspiration of the GenCon events since 1994 as well as in my directing style. It was the movie that led me to drop all of my fantasy events at GenCon, including those in the Namenelos Welt. It was the movie that inspired me to add rules for guns. mix Genres, leave the Dungeons and Dragons/traditional wargame feel of roleplaying games behind. It was the movie that inspired me to replace the concepts of rounds, attacks per round, initiative phases, and all the pace-killing mechanics behind in the game and just stick to conducting the game in broad, loose "action scenes" where kicking ass and describing macho action became the norm rather than just rolling damage!It exemplifies the humor, action, and use of Ite' like few other movies! While there have been humor-based role playing games (Tales from the Floating Vagabond, The Adventures of Baron vn Munchausen, Toon, et cetera), I always preferred the humor to be more subtle and in the improvisational hands of the players rather than being forced and trite like in those games.

As without further adieu, let's look at a few...

"What the Hell?"

I am constantly quoting Big Trouble in Little China. And I don't just quote the words, but the voice, timbre, timing et cetera of the actors in the movies as well. From "Light's Green, you can go" to "What the Hell?", the timing of all of the actors in this movie is just fan TAS  tic! And while the not-so-clever-though-I-think-I-am-a-clever-writer-because-I-am-publishing-something-on-the-internet-oh-I-am-so-pretentious-and-clever-did-I-say-I-am-clever comments for the first ten seconds ad absolutely NOTHING to this clip, it is a great example of Kurt Russell's subtle combination of swagger and angst that really helps define his character:

Light Comin' Out of His Mouth

This next montage has such a catchy soundover that my kids and I are constantly singing it on road trips (minus the swearing, of course!). Come on...(you must be doing something seriously wrong, Dave...oops...you know, I really can't help but quote this flick...it's sooooo addictive! :) )...you KNOW you all want to sing along with this one:

Just a little sidebar before I move on to the next montage: I actually had an NPC with the Presence Aspect: Intimidation: Light coming out of his mouth once. The players just went around looking for a semitruck for 30 minutes in a Canyonside playtest looking for a truck to drive "straight THROUGH him". Twelve points of Ite' later (talk about player collaboration!), my NPC met his demise via a Piggly Wiggly tractor-trailer truck...*sniff*...and we move on...

Theme Song by The Coupe DeVilles

Speaking of catchy Big Trouble songs my kids love to sing, this next montage that is actually the video for the theme song of the movie for those few of you who didn't know that yes, there really WAS a music video (hell, EVERYone was doing them back in the eighties!). It's great because John Carpenter's voice is so haunting, and his backup singer's falsetto is such a contrast that it makes me laugh:

Well, if you have any favorite clips, feel free to comment and post them here..The con is only a few weeks away, and my tank can always use a little inspiration...