Really Regrettable Robots

Although we've had robots — machines programmable to perform human-like functions — since 400 BCE, we only got the word robot in 1920, thanks to a Czech playwright. It's taken a long time for actual robot technology to even approach the potential imagined in the stories we've been telling about robots from this planet and others.

Translating these creations to stage and screen have yielded some truly regrettable robots, some of which are beyond even the reach of Gloom in Space to describe. Let's run down the top five saddest robots from movies and TV.

1)  Ro-Man Extension XJ-2 from Robot Monster: This robot, like many, is just a guy in a suit. That suit, though, wasn't made of metal hardware. Instead, Ro-Man wears a gorilla suit and a Sputnik-like astronaut costume helmet. He's bent on wiping out the last eight members of the human race. He doesn't succeed.

2)  Daleks from Doctor Who: These robots are the scariest foes for the Doctor, but it's hard for viewers to understand the terror they inspire when a Dalek is an upside-down trashcan on wheels, with egg beaters and a toilet plunger as weapons. All the earliest Doctors needed to do to foil these villains was to go up a flight of stairs.

3)  Nomad from Star Trek: The Original Series: A junkyard is a set designer's best friend, and Nomad looks like it was assembled straight from the trash heap. With a head like a coffee percolator and a body like a mesh office wastebasket, it's hardly a worthy adversary for Captain Kirk. Indeed, Kirk shuts down this mechanical menace by convincing it to commit suicide.

4)  Power Droid from Star Wars: This sad excuse for a robot was especially pathetic next to shiny, elaborate droids like C3P0 and R2-D2. Borrowing from the well-established tradition of trashcans as costumes, the Power Droid is just a box around a child or little person. Some flexible plastic ductwork gives them leg warmers to go with flat metal boxes for shoes. And still they managed to make two action figures out of this guy.

5)  Box from Logan's Run: As shiny as this robot is, all that chrome isn't enough to distract viewers from its janky design. The actor's head is wrapped in something like a reflective space blanket, with a slot cut for the mouth. The body looks like a shiny rooftop industrial air conditioner. While it has metal ductwork to cover the arms, it looks as though the actor is holding sticks with heavy, boxy guns on the ends, leaving them to flop around randomly.

Atlas Games at Gen Con 2015

Gen Con — the greatest four days in gaming — is upon us!

Find Us in the Exhibit Hall

Find us at booth 1401 in the exhibit hall, where we'll be running demonstrations of Feng Shui 2, Three Cheers for Master, and other titles as the mad whim strikes us.

If you're angling to pick up a copy of Three Cheers for Master at the show, you should know that we'll have a limited number available each day, because we're still waiting on our reprint. We'll have plenty of copies of new release Munchkin Gloom, though. We dare you to try to run us out.

 

Join Us for Our Scheduled Events

Three Cheers for Master: We're running a series of Three Cheers for Master learn-the-game and play-a-light-tournament events, where the winners each day compete for Master's undying affection in our booth on Sunday. Atlas President John Nephew made awesome plaques for every day's winner, as well as for the grand champion. Thursday 9a–12p (CGM1575645), Friday 9a–12p (CGM1575646), Saturday 9a–12p (CGM1575647)

Gloom: If Gloom is more your style, come visit us at the Very Gloomiest Afternoon Tea Party, where you'll mix Gloom, Cthulhu Gloom, Fairytale Gloom, and Munchkin Gloom to compete for the inaugural Gloomiest Teacup Trophy. Sadness will surely abound, and designer Keith Baker will be on hand for part of the event to adjudicate your misery. Friday 4p–6p (CGM1575648)

Feng Shui 2: Chi Warriors should plan to attend the Feng Shui Panel & Chi Warrior Meet-up, where the team behind Feng Shui 2 will be on hand to answer your burning questions and bestow a suitable reward to the winner of the Most Magnificent 20-Second FS2 Anecdote Contest. Thursday 4p–5p (SEM1575649)

Ars Magica: Our seminar on the future of Ars Magica will feature talk about all of the mad plans we've got for that game's future, including (but not limited to!) our Gumshoe game set in Mythic Europe. Saturday 5p–6p (SEM1575651)

Designing RPGs: Last but not least, we've scheduled an experimental seminar not directly tied to any of our game lines about creating awesome RPGs. If you believe — as we do — that creating great games is a worthwhile ambition, join us! Saturday 3p–4p (SEM1575650)

Social Media Roundup, 02-08 February 2014

Here are the five most interesting things from the Atlas Games social media this week.

• Most people rely on books and movies to fill out our imaginings of knightly combat, but we're sure this article about full-contact medieval fight clubs will inspire vivid details in your next Once Upon a Time story.
• Pick up the current Bundle of Holding to get a virtual library of Ars Magica Fourth Edition books. For less than $20, you get the core rulebook, resources, and adventures by authors like Jonathan Tweet, Will Hindmarch, and Atlas Games president John Nephew. Less than a week left on this sweet deal!
• Whether you're looking for a new Over the Edge storyline or a new reason to buy a hazmat suit, the laboratory replication of this 30,000 year old virus should fit the bill nicely.
• Myths about the Middle Ages abound in the modern world, but sometimes it's sad to see one of them debunked. We regret to inform you that medieval people actually did drink water, instead of only alcoholic drinks. Please adjust your Ars Magica or Once Upon a Time games accordingly.
• For game design insights and random hilarity from Atlas' brand manager and award-winning RPG designer Cam Banks, follow him (@boymonster) on Twitter.

If you want up-to-the-minute news or to interact with Atlas staff and fans, follow us on the Atlas Games Facebook and Twitter feeds, as well as the Once Upon a Time and Gloom pages!

Social Media Roundup, Week of 23 February—01 March 2014

Here are the five most interesting things from the Atlas Games social media this week.

• Edward Gorey's morbidly delightful art is an inspiration for Gloom. His collection of fur coats, many featured in his drawings, was recently auctioned off. We found a story of the event that doesn't end nearly as unhappily as one would expect.
• Robin Laws has been sharing his ideas for Feng Shui 2 on Twitter and his blog. Get the inside scoop on the redesign of this classic RPG!
• Historical Europe was more racially diverse than the history books usually teach. If you'd like to include a greater variety of people in your Ars Magica game, check out the Medieval People of Color tumblr for inspiration.
• Now that Once Upon a Time expansion Knightly Tales is heading out to stores, we're on the lookout for ways to add some chivalry to your fairy tales. Did you know that knights considered cutting off a horse's tail was a grave insult?
• If you'd like a daily dose of the gloomy and bizarre when you can't fit in a game of Gloom, we recommend following Cabinet of Curiosities (@wunderkamercast) on Twitter.

If you want up-to-the-minute news or to interact with Atlas staff and fans, follow us on the Atlas Games Facebook and Twitter feeds, as well as the Once Upon A Time and Gloom Facebook pages!