Alright, now that everyone reading this doesn’t care about being spoiled, let’s hop into the game. So the troubles, if you didn’t read the article about the TV show Haven from yesterday, are basically issues that manifest in people, it can be touching someone or something and they explode, it can be that you don’t feel anything, which works fine for a Barbarian fights through pain, instead there is just no pain. But it’s bigger than that, every 27 years these troubles are activated and someone, in fact, probably our crack team of heroes or one of them anyways, is sent in to save the town and restart the 27 year cycle.

Now, you give a player free will with their character and they are going to see the end of the 27 year cycle coming, and a lot of players are going to want to try and stop it completely instead of just stopping the cycle. In the show, Audrey Parker is the key to getting the troubles to stop and then restarting the 27 year cycle. But in the show she falls in love with Nathan Wuornos, a detective in the town, and he wants her to stay and they want to solve the troubles for good. Now, I doubt that the players are going to have characters fall in love, but who knows, they might. But even if they don’t, most of the time, unless a player has completed their character arc and feels like they have nothing more to do with that character, they’re going to be attached to the character and want to keep them alive, so hence, they need to figure out a way to stop the troubles, but also not have to restart the cycle.

Probably more to explain at this point, the troubles are stopped when Audrey, in the show, or the chosen character, goes basically into a stasis for 27 years only to come back out when the time is up and the troubles are coming back. And for elves, that’s not that long, for dwarves, they have a few lifetimes of going through the cycles, but for humans, you get maybe two of these cycles in the prime of your life, so that’s why the love angle worked well for the show (granted the show isn’t elves and dwarves fantasy either). And when I say stasis, I mean trapped basically in limbo, a space between dimensions and worlds.

So we have a lot of the set-up, how would you pull something off like this?

I think there are a handful of interesting things you can do. First, I think that this is a good chance to have a larger group game. If you have one consistent person, the “Audrey” character who can make it to most if not all sessions, you can have a rotating cast of PC’s supporting them. Have them deal with an trouble per session, and by deal, I don’t mean kill the troubled person, that generally causes more troubles to manifest and troubles are in a bloodline, so the next generation would have the troubles show up. I mean, there can be conflict and there should be conflict, probably with a group who is hunting down the troubles, so almost a rival group with pretty unlimited minions and an almost untouchable boss that the players can fight. But since it’s a one and done with the stopping the troubles for good and not having “Audrey” disappear as the main over arcing story, that means it works well for having people drop in and out without missing that much.

Next, the troubles themselves, in the show “Audrey” is immune to all the old troubles, which is probably a good thing, because they can be nasty. But other people aren’t, and I think that’s where you can have some fun. “Audrey” might be immune to getting blown up if she’s touched by someone with that trouble, but the rest of the party isn’t, so how can you deal with that, plus “Audrey” can still die to a sword through the chest or any other natural means. And there’s someone who draws pictures and if something happens to the picture, like a branch on a tree is pushed, it’d push that branch in real life and break it off, so you can knock someone out that way, such as “Audrey” even though it was caused by a trouble, or explode the house around “Audrey” dealing her shrapnel damage, even though “Audrey” can’t be exploded herself.

Also, give the other PC’s troubles. In the show, Nathan, who is Audrey’s closest friend in Haven and who she ends up falling in love with can’t feel pain or touch, so he gets his hand broken, he can’t feel it, he gets shot, he can’t feel it, his hand is touching something dangerously hot or cold, he can’t feel it. Give the PC’s troubles like that. Give them the ability to heat something up to a scalding temp or free something small instantly, give them something that’s powerful but not too powerful. Don’t give your PC the ability to explode someone, they would just immediately take the town hostage.

Finally, keep this localized. Keep it in a single town that is off on it’s own away from everything else. Make it harder to get to, hard to run away from, in fact, you could use the mists like those that surround Castle Ravenloft and Barovia in D&D already where you can’t get through them, you walk in and then you just walk back out into the same town. But even if you don’t force it through magic to be localized, keep the troubles and the stories close to that town. The reason for that in the show is that the troubled would be killed or experimented on if their troubles manifested outside of Haven, so Haven is a safe haven for the troubled, make that the case for your town as well. The secondary reason for that is that if you start and end in town almost every session, you can have players drop in and out.

So end game for this, it’s about stopping the troubles once and for all. This stasis should have a physical manifestation that they can destroy. But that shouldn’t end the troubles, give them a false end, instead, for a final epic arc, give them a chance to go and find that untouchable being that wants to kill off all the troubled, give that being a way to actually end the troubles, and maybe even have them live in limbo and have the town be their experiment, again stealing some of this from the show. Use that to end it, but give them a timeline because once “Audrey” isn’t in stasis at the right time, things need to go from back to worse for our heroes and the town, and the world, probably.

So, would you play in a game like this? I think that I would run something like this, but I think that it might be harder to pull off than some games. There are definitely some trickier things, such as the players just running away from the town to stop having to deal with all of the issues that crop up. I think a session 0 where players really work together and develop the town with you, or at least plenty of people they care about in the town, you’d be able to get them to want to stay.

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Audrey Parker is an FBI agent who is sent after a wanted man and she tracks him down to the town of Haven. When part of the road gives way on the coast, she is rescued from her car by Nathan Wuornos, a detective in the police department and someone who is “troubled” (has a special ability) where he can’t feel pain, which as some upsides and downsides. Audrey quickly figures out that there’s a lot of “troubled” people in the town and she figures out that she can help them. Not only that, with being adopted, the two journalists in the small town show her a picture of someone who looks like her mother. She decides to use some of the vacation time that she’s saved up and spend some time in Haven, helping out the police department and see what she can find out about her mother, and that might be what Agent Howard, her superior, really wanted to happen.

That, by the way, is basically the synopsis of the first episode of a five season show and it doesn’t change massively as time goes on. The first couple of seasons are a bit more episodic, but eventually you start to get bigger story arcs as Audrey, Nathan, and Duke (who is introduced in episode one as well), keep having to solve the problems and deal with the troubles. And the troubles can get out there, there’s someone who basically put their soul into the work on their house and keeping their family safe that they took control over their own house and use the mirrors to see, which is pretty horrifying. Or there’s someone with whatever they touch in with their hands, it causes it to explode. Or time travel or mermen. There are so many, and it’s almost one per episode, though we do get to go back and visit. And while we get that, they spend more time building up Audrey Parker’s past and delve into the mystery surrounding her mother and an unexplained Colorado Kid mystery. In the end, I think that they tie it up quite well, though, it ends differently than I would have expected, but it ends smartly. They are given time to wrap up the mystery and complete the full story which is really nice.

Now for a downside of the show, I think that some of the special affects haven’t aged the best, and that’s kind of to be expected. While this show had a solid budget in terms of what they were able to pull of it was still early 2010’s and that’s going to look dated now. I just kind of expect that because some of the other shows I really like from the SyFy channel has the same issue, Eureka and Warehouse 13. Another thing is the early season storytelling, I think that they have a few arcs that are being set-up that would have had great long term potential, and then they rush through them in a couple of episodes. Some of that was the product of the time, and some of that was just poorer storytelling. The issue with the storytelling like that is that you feel like you lose the payoff, but in the early 2010’s, the larger story arcs were generally secondary.

Finally, as a downside and an upside, I want to talk about the acting in this show. I would say that the acting is okay for the show. I don’t think that it’s bad and I don’t think that it’s great. With Audrey, Nathan, and Duke, though, it ends up being good on screen chemistry, it just takes a bit to get there. The early episodes, in fact I’d say through a good chunk of season 1, the acting is quite rough. Now there are some characters, Vince and Dave, the journalist brothers, played by Richard Donat and John Dunsworth who are great from the start. Eventually the acting does get better and I think that’s mainly as the chemistry on screen gets better. Plus, it’s a show where Edge and Christian from the WWE are both in it, and Edge (Aaron Copeland) playing Dwight Hendrickson actually has a big role in the show and does really well with his acting. There are other professional wrestlers who have acted, but he’s one of the best that I’ve seen besides the ones who have gone to Hollywood, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and John Cena.

So, who is this show for? I think that’s a good question, I think that the supernatural element is going to keep some people a way as it dabbles in dimensions, time travel, ghosts, and so much more that would give away a lot of the plot if I continue down that route. I would say that it probably would make sense for fans of Supernatural but maybe aligns itself closer with Locke & Key in terms of feel. Also fans of Eureka and Warehouse 13, while it’s kind of in a different genre, it definitely has some similar feel to those shows.

Overall, I really like this show. I think it suffers a tiny bit from Stephen King syndrome where the ending is a little bit out there, but they build towards that well. There are also some story elements that are just dropped in an odd way, but overall, it’s good. And I think some shows like this, Supernatural, suffer from having the world ending event at the end of every season that needs to be stopped, Haven does a good job of building up the stakes for the seasons as time goes on.

Is this a show that you watched when it came out or one that interests you now? If you’ve seen it, did you enjoy it?

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The Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose is a secret organization that operates at least partly out of Belgrave University. That’s where Jack Morton’s mother went, that’s where she fell in love with Edward Coventry and became pregnant with Jack, unknown to Coventry. She killed herself after Jack was born and Coventry and abandoned her. So now Jack and his Grandfather want him to get into the school and join the order so that he can take it down and take down Coventry. But in Belgrave University, there’s more going on than just a shady magical order that might threaten all of Jack and his Grandfather’s plans.

There are a lot of shows out there in this vein, as I mentioned, Locke and Key feels similar but beyond that you have shows like Grimm, Haven, Supernatural, The Magicians, Lost Girl and more. So is there room in the genre for even more? Personally, this magical, somewhat comedic, monsters of the week sort of show is one that I really love. I love when there’s a bit of camp, a bit of drama, a bit of horror, and an interesting plot and bad guy. And while I don’t know that The Order is particularly shocking in what it does or turns the genre on it’s head, it does a good job of being the type of show that you expect it to be, and in my case, that I want it to be.

What I think works well is how you end up with multiple factions happening, both in the Hermetic Order of the Blue Rose, but also in other parts of the college campus. I think that’s something that you see at times in other shows, but they do a good job of drawing the main character in multiple different directions because of that. There’s definitely a message to the show about growing up and taking responsibility for yourself and not just living based off of what others tell you to do. It’s played out most obviously with Jack and his grandfather, but the multiple factions piece helps solidify it as kind of the drive of the main story, beyond trying to get into the order and get to Edward Coventry.

I think that one other thing for these shows that you want to pay attention to is how well they do with the monsters. Obviously, the older you go the poorer they’re going to loo, Haven looks real bad in comparison, but I don’t think that The Order leans so much on having the best looking monsters. The story has comedy in it and leans into that bit campier nature, so it doesn’t need the best looking monsters and it doesn’t need to be hyper realistic. Instead, it can look a bit cheesy because the show is a bit cheesy. That helps keep the cost of the show down, but also gives it a feel that’s different from a few of the other shows in the genre that really take themselves seriously and consider themselves to be more important than they are.

Acting wise, I think that the acting is just okay. I love the actor who play Jack’s Grandpa, Matt Frewer, and I knew him previously from having played Taggert in Eureka. This show even has a bit of a Eureka vibe, just more adult. Jake Manley who plays Jack Morton does a good job as well. There’s an earnestness to his performance that comes across. There are plenty of other characters that I like as well. When I say the acting is just okay, I don’t mean that it takes away from the story or from the show, because again, it’s meant to be a little bit campy. And so we get some campy or sillier performances, Jack’s RA (resident assistant) in college is a funny character, though does have some moments of depth. They do a good job of sprinkling those moments in and generally I think that they work well and they act them out well.

Overall, The Order is a show that from the trailer looks like it takes itself more seriously than it does. It has a nice blend of comedy and monsters and offers some interesting thinking points. For me, that’s what I want in a show like this, it can’t just be heavy otherwise I have trouble wanting to stick with it, and if it’s just silly, I have to be in a particular mood for that. Would I recommend the show, I would say that it’s meant for adults, there’s swearing, murders, and plenty of things that aren’t appropriate for younger children, but yes, I do recommend the show. Just know that it’s going to be campy and it’s going to have some absurd moments to it, but overall, it’s a fun show that’s worth checking out, and a fast watch as there are only 10 episodes in season 1.

Let me know what you think of it below? Is it the type of show that you enjoy or was it too campy for you?

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Locke & Key follows a family who is moving back into the families home after tragedy has struck them. Rendell, their father, has passed away so Nina picks up and takes the kids from Seattle to Mattheson, Massachusetts. None of the kids, except the youngest, Bode, are excited to be there. But when Bode hears a voice in the well house talking back to him when he makes his voice echo, it’s clear that this isn’t a normal house. Soon Tyler and Kinsey are drawn into the crazy world that the house holds with many magical keys and Echo, the voice from the well who has gotten out. What does Echo want and why can’t their mother, Nina, remember anything about the keys?

Let me quickly give my thoughts on the show and then I’ll go into more depth. There might be some spoilers later on, but I’m going to try and keep them to a minimum. I really liked this show, even though it isn’t as dark and horrific as the first trade paperback, there’s definitely a very interesting and creepy story behind it. And that was enough for me, plus Joe Hill did the work on it to keep it in the spirit of the books, but not have to go fully dark. However, because of that it has much more of a YA feel to it, so if you’re a huge fan of the comics, know that before you jump in. There are a few things that stand out to me for the show.

The first thing is the acting. Most of the time, you have a cast that is mainly teen age (though teen in acting can be early 20’s) or kid actors, the acting will end up being suspect. However, in Locke & Key they do an amazing job. The actor who plays Bode, Jackson Robert Scott, does a great job. Bode is supposed to be a wide eyed 8-10 year old in the show, and you can really see that in the acting. He does a very good job of portraying an innocence and sincerity to his acting. And I won’t go into it a ton with the other actors, but the actors portraying Kinsey and Tyler, Emilia Jones and Connor Jessup respectively, do really good work as well. There are shifts in their acting as you get to see more of their character and as their characters change that are really well done. Even the adult acting is well done and it doesn’t just feel like so many YA stories where there’s a group of teens and no adults believe them and then the adults are wrong.

Another thing is that while this leans into horror tropes and supernatural elements that could seem cliche, it does a good job of keeping them different. When we were watching through it, it felt to Kristen and myself like several things we’ve seen or played before, Haven, Life is Strange, Oxenfree, and more, but it still felt unique. The element of the keys and how they work is really well done. And you can see where Joe Hill is borrowing form the work that his father has done before, but in a very respectful and well done way. I got numerous callbacks to IT in the show, and I appreciated that. It’s really that none of the tropes it used felt out of place or felt like they were forced in there because it’s horror or anything like that, it just flowed naturally.

Let’s talk a bit more about the story before I wrap up here. Like I said, the story is not going to be as heavily horror focused, which I’m fine with. While I love some good horror, there’s something whimsical about the keys that lends itself not just to horror but to this more fantastical element as well, and the show leans into that some more. As things unfold, there is definitely more horror and violence, but there’s also a sense of fantasy or magic to the story. Like I said previously as well, it doesn’t fall into the storytelling tropes of YA where the kids are smart and the adults are dumb and don’t believe the kids. It avoids some of that by a nifty plot device that they explain but also by just having the kids do their own thing. They use the grief of Rendell’s death and Nina’s reaction to it to drive some of why Kinsey and Tyler don’t bring as much to her as well, which I think is well done. And Bode is just too Bode to think about that.

So, I’ve said that I like the show, but would I recommend it to everyone? I’d lean towards no. It still has horror elements, so some people aren’t going to love that as much. Kristen actually stopped watching part ways through episode one because of some of the creepy stuff that was going on. But in the middle of the season, it hit more of that fantasy and whimsy, so I stopped and we rewatched it because I knew that she’d like it. So there’s definitely a piece where if people aren’t horror fans they’ll enjoy it as well, and like myself, Kristen and I are waiting for, hoping for, a second season to come out. Definitely an interesting show and if the trailer seems interesting, they do a good job and it’s worth checking out.

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I didn’t talk about this last time, so I’ll mention it now — what criteria do I have for picking my favorites for a top five list? First for me is enjoyment of the thing — which is obvious; if I don’t enjoy it, why would I have it on my list? But that enjoyment can come in many different forms. For example, with Lord of the Rings, I enjoy it because of how it shaped the works of fantasy that came after it, and because it’s a great trilogy, but when I compare it to something like Dresden Files, it’s clear that I enjoy them in different ways. For example, there’s more humor with the Dresden Files, and there is a more enjoyable escapism element for me with those books. Then compare that with Swallows and Amazons, which is a children’s/young adult book that hasn’t really influenced anything — while there’s a fantasy aspects to the series, you know it’s just the kids’ imaginations. Another of my criteria is how absorbed I get into the book/show/movie/game. Is it a form of escapism for me? If it is, it’s probably going to be higher on the list because something new, exciting, and fantastical that I can escape into is always fun.

So with that out of the way, here are my top 5 TV Series:

Quickly, some honorable mentions that I hated leaving off of the list. Stargate SG1 is a fun long-running sci-fi show. Haven is a show based off of Stephen King’s work that is more supernatural-feeling than horror. South Park is an irreverent show that takes the lowest common denominator all the time and is still one of the smartest shows you’ll watch. Warehouse 13, Killjoys, Firefly, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are all a lot of fun as well.

What are your five favorite TV series?

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