Review: Picard Season 3

This review contains spoilers

I just finished the series finale for Star Trek Picard, and overall, it was a good ending. Season 3 delivered on the promise of being The Next Generation's swan song. It loaded the show with nearly heaping levels of nostalgia. They didn't over do it, but it was a near thing sometimes, and much of the final episode was pure fanservice. And look, I wanted it too, and so for that want, I'm satisfied.

However....

The was the Seven/Raffi relationship was sidelined this season, how little Troi got to do, how Beverly was so entirely focused on her son, meanwhile the emotional anguish of Picard, Riker, and Jack (three straight white men) was placed center stage just feels like a step back, and not in a fun nostalgic way. And then, AND THEN, at the end, with Jack being fast tracked through Starfleet to serve on the new Enterprise as special counselor to the captain? While there is a history of Crusher children getting special attention, the level of nepotism shown was so high they even pointed it out themselves in the show. 

While we're talking about the Enterprise, seeing the D in all her glory, with the crew back on the bridge? Honestly, my eyes welled up with tears of joy. Having the Titan-A rechristened to Enterprise-G? I can kinda understand why they, in universe, made that choice. The shipyards were destroyed less than 15 years before, and then with Spacedock and all the other orbital defences destroyed, there probably weren't a whole lot of extra ships being made. (Ignoring the entire fleet of copy/paste ships from the end of season 1) 

In spite of the name change, I do hope that we get to see the further adventures of Captain Seven and her crew. 

And that mid-credits scene? While I was thrilled to see Q again, I had kinda hoped it would have been Jack's brother instead. I guess if they do continue things, we might get to see him again... as well as Elnor and Soji who I really missed this season.  

But now it's onto Strange New Worlds in a couple months! Then more Prodigy and Lower Decks, and a Section 31 movie! It's an amazing time to be a Star Trek fan. LLAP. 

Stonehell: Defenestration!

Session 202 was played on 6/19

Morgana, Mage 8 (Rob)
Borumar, Thief 9 (Josh)
Koltic, Cleric 6 (NPC)
Aroon, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Jameth, Fighter 4 (NPC)
Lor’Koth, Dwarf 5 (NPC)

Morgana preps a “Protection from Evil 10’ Radius” scroll, and then the party heads back to the manor, going directly to the groundskeeper’s house, and to the summoning room. The red mist demon shows up, and slams Lor’Koth before Koltic can turn it. Morgana dispels the ritual circle and Borumar grabs the crystal skull within. Koltic uses a protection from evil spell and grabs the sack with the skull in it from Borumar. 

They then continue into the main house through the kitchen and up the servant’s stairs. At the top of the landing is a little office area with a ledger. They spend a brief bit of time examining it then explore the upper rooms. The servant areas are bypassed and into the family areas. They discover a ghost of a woman who chats with them, and tells them a bit about the house. In another bedroom they fight some more imps. 

Moving onto the impressive library, they find a pair of brute demons. Borumar, who opened the door quickly closed it, but the demon simply smashed through the door to grab him, and pull him through the door, and then toss him out the window. Borumar landed on the stone patio mostly intact, if unconscious. Morgana dimension doors to Borumar to tend to him, but the second demon hops out the broken window. Morgana uses her protection from evil 10’ radius to protect herself and Borumar. She then shoves a potion of healing and a potion of giant growth down his throat. The demon screams in impotent rage.

Back in the library, the demon is blocked from the rest of the party by Koltic’s protection from evil 10’ spell. It gives up on them and begins chucking chunks of masonry at Morgana and Borumar. They both avoid the missiles. Borumar pops up after the potion boosts and uses his bow to blast the demon, who slides back a few feet from the force of the shot. Morgana follows that up with a lightning bolt, and the demon drops, and the porch collapses, dropping Borumar, Morgana, and the burning demon corpse into a basement room. 

After they shake it off, Morgana casts ice storm on the demon still chucking stones. It jumps down and lands on Morgana. With a toot, the Horn of Valhalla summons a dozen berzerkers who flail ineffectively on the hurt demon. This distracts it enough that Borumar is able to slip in and use his daggers to finish it off. 

The rest of the party hurries back out of the manor, and they head back to town with the crystal skull. 

Gains: crystal demon skull, various coins and jewelry
Kills: imps, bargdas
Losses:  

March ‘23 In Review

Coming into April like I just finished a 31 day long march. 

The good news is that, while expensive, my basement office was finally repaired after the flooding. I haven’t moved my stuff back into it yet, but probably will before too long. Need time to let the paint dry. 

I’m glad spring is finally rolling around. In spite of the relative mildness of it here on Long Island, I’m ready for some sun and warmth. Work is busy, and will only be busier over the next couple of months. We’ll see how that impacts life away from work. 

I did slack off a bit on session reports. Need to get back to that. Taxes were submitted though. 

Gaming

Gaming continues in Rappan. I’m having a good time exploring new ways into the dungeon, including a 40 odd mile long underground tunnel. Let me tell you how much damage resistance sucks... 

In spite of having my next Stargrave game set up and ready to play, I never found the 2 hours I need to play it. Need to correct that, maybe tomorrow. 

Miniatures

A productive month! I managed to complete every single item for the Reaper Challenge League this quarter, except one. I still need to finish that turtle castle I started months ago… I guess I can submit it for Q2. 

One of my favorite things is painting silly minis, and I got to paint a very silly cat licking it’s own butt. I hope you enjoy looking at it as much as I enjoyed painting it.

I also painted some orcs. 

Media

Bad Batch
Mandalorian
Ghosts
Star Trek Picard
The Last of Us
Ted Lasso

Goals for March

Continue #Dungeon23
Keep up with the session reports
Play the next scenario for Stargrave