UPDATING OCCASIONALLY (FOR NOW)

9 thoughts on “558 – Cotton Clad Calamity”

  1. Raznaak

    Yup, he’s a bastard XD

  2. Dr. Norman (not a real doctor)

    Are those pajamas available in XXXL in the gift shop?

  3. Otaku

    It’s been a while, so let me ask: Did we get a reason for him to WANT Susie dead? Not to backseat, but if we didn’t, I’m worried were about to move into “Stupid Evil” territory. Now, stupid happens, don’t get me wrong. It’s not bad storytelling for that to be the case here.

    You’ve just done a good job NOT having that be a driving factor, so the “Kill off the stars of my successful reality TV show.” seems shortsighted, otherwise. Oh, I guess I could be mistaken about the in-story reality TV show’s success. Like, if the company behind them is losing money, or they think a change in management at the ranch would make the whole thing more popular/profitable, then I can see the above scenario happening as well.

    I REALLY think I’m just forgetting something important, but that I don’t have time to deep dive to remind me of, hence the comment. >_<

    1. Deoxy

      It certainly has been stretched out over quite a while, but there have definitely been hints from quite near the beginning that whoever is running the reality TV show definitely wants her dead.

      But I certainly don’t recall any reason why.

      1. Clint

        Yeah it’s fair to not remember since it’s been a hot minute (many, many minutes) but if you feel like a refresher the most relevant bits would be the beginning of Episode 8 and the end of Episode 15. We haven’t explicitly spelled out exactly what The Exec means by his “side hustle” or who was on the other end of that phone call, though.

        I’m hoping that when the whole thing is eventually available it will make sense, or at least enough sense to have hung this narrative on.

        1. Otaku

          Thanks for the replies, Deoxy and Clint. Yeah, I’d totally forgotten about those things. Good to know!

  4. Evervigilant

    Seems about time for the two people who aren’t there to make a surprise entrance as the ace Susie didn’t even know she had.

  5. Scarsdale

    There’s still 3-5 people on her side that might be planning something. This guy is a megalomaniac with a god complex, so letting him think he’s the sharpest tool in the shed sets him up for a fall. Everything depends on those cameras, and I suspect their little stop over by the charging coffins had something to do with her actual plan, not the one the a-hole thinks it is.

  6. lyra

    Really enjoyed the opening of Zombie Ranch. I like the combination of the western setting with the zombie concept, it gives the story a really distinctive atmosphere. I’m a freelance illustrator and animator, and I’d be interested in seeing how some of these scenes could translate into motion, especially as a short animated teaser or character scene.

    If you’re ever interested in something like that, you can reach me here:

    IG: eve_verse_
    Email: [contact.lilaclines@gmail.com](mailto:contact.lilaclines@gmail.com)
    Discord: Lyralilac_

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558 – Cotton Clad Calamity
Posted on August 26, 2026 by Dawn

What would you call this? Armchair assassination? Merk-from-home?

Well, Suzie ain't dead (or undead) quite yet, so we'll just have to see if his gloating is justifiable.

A return to the Wasteland

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Clint

In the annals of this blog I have made much mention of the Fallout game series (and even devoted an entire article to one of them). It’s one of the inspirations for many aspects of Zombie Ranch that I unapologetically wear on my sleeve.

But Fallout might never have existed were it not for Wasteland, and Wasteland hasn’t gotten nearly as much press from me despite being the first real post-apocalyptic Computer RPG I can remember playing, all the way back in my pimply teenage years of the late 1980s. That’s probably because it was, what, 25 years ago? As the film that arguably birthed this whole genre famously began — “…the vision dims. All that remains are memories…”. On the other blog site I used to regularly contribute to, I had a series of “Low-Rez Recollections” where I talked of the games of my youth and their impact despite the limitations of the technology, but Wasteland was one I never got ’round to. That also meant I never went through my “refresher course” on the game the way I did with others I featured, so all I could truly comment on for sure were the setting, a few memorable moments, and the fact it certainly left its mark on me.

How much of a mark? Enough for me to throw money at a Kickstarter for a sequel involving a lot of the same core team, and compose an article hoping it and projects like it heralded a new era for a gaming industry in danger of collapsing under its own bloated weight. Prior to Wasteland 2 I’d also pledged money to the as-yet-untitled Double Fine adventure game (now known to be Broken Age), and while Broken Age has only released Act I so far, it still for me had all that Tim Shafer magic to it, a magic I was able to share with my wife who missed out on the age of classics like Grim Fandango. I eagerly (but patiently) await the rest, and you know what, even if Tim Shafer blew all the Kickstarter money on drugs and hookers like some forum posters would end up claiming, I can’t really complain after drinking all his beer and getting a free GWAR concert at the Brutal Legend party at SDCC ’09. But nope, he and his team are still hard at work on Act 2.

Wasteland 2 meanwhile has finally released, and while my old-school boxed copy is still in process of being shipped, I’m doing just fine in the meantime playing it through Steam. Is it a perfect game? No. Are there bugs? Yes. But it has me very, very engaged, and has brought up a number of things for me to ponder concerning game and setting design. What was, what is, and what could be again. The Wasteland 2 project raised nearly 3 million dollars on Kickstarter, but the question I always had was, did that 3 million represent everyone who would ever be interested? Some few fanatics aside, I doubt there any many people who would want to buy the game twice, and that’s why hearing that the game had 1.5 million dollars in Steam sales in its first week of release alone was surprising and heartening. It seems to justify Brian Fargo’s bold declaration that he and his team no longer have to answer to Walmart.

But we’ll get to that whole Walmart thing in my next blog, where I’ll speak on the ways Wasteland 2 feels like a breath of fresh air. Although “fresh air” may not be the most apt metaphor for what I’m going to discuss.*

*Hint: cigarettes are involved.