Kaijuville

GURPS: Conan now available in PDF

2012-02-13T10:00:00.006-05:00

You have probably already read the news that Steve Jackson Games is re-releasing the GURPS Conan sourcebook and 4 adventures as PDFs. Perhaps this is a great side-benefit to their licensing for Munchkin Conan, and Mongoose no longer owning the RPG rights.

It's good to have these available again, at least for a short time. The sourcebook is a great starting point for anyone running a Hyborian Age RPG campaign, for use with ZeFRS or any other rules system. The map is as good as those done for Mongoose's Conan RPG. I've never read the adventures, so I'm eager to see them without paying used and rare prices.

Even so, the sourcebook does tend to be L. Sprague de Camp- and pastiche-centric, particularly the story chronology and the bibliography, which was the nature of the Conan Properties license at the time. All the pastiches and re-edited stories were jammed into the timeline as "official". de Camp wrote the sourcebook's introduction. He praises Howard's writing style more here than usual, which is welcome. However, de Camp does include a paragraph of his amateur psychoanalysis concerning issues that have been "deBunked" by Howard scholars in recent years.

It would be great to see the bibliography updated with more recent publications like the Wandering Star/Del Rey series, Mark Finn's excellent Howard biography, and others, and then available on the product webpage.

Check out a preview of the sourcebook PDF here.

Zak's GM Questionnaire

2012-02-10T10:00:00.002-05:00

I printed the questions and wrote down answers as they occurred to me over the course of a few days. Maybe I'll come back to some later, as they are all worth further exploration.

1. If you had to pick a single invention in a game you were most proud of what would it be?

My film noir/Red Scare 1950s setting notes for a Call of Cthulhu one-shot, "Atomic Noir". I should redo the layout and post it here.

2. When was the last time you GMed?

I ran the Dragon Age quickstart module during the first week of January.

3. When was the last time you played?

Last Friday night.

4. Give us a one-sentence pitch for an adventure you haven't run but would like to.

Gothic D&D fantasy mashup of Warhammer Fantasy, Ravenloft, and Hammer Horror movies.

5. What do you do while you wait for players to do things?

Think about the possible outcomes for whatever things they are doing and planning, and how it will affect later scenes.

6. What, if anything, do you eat while you play?

I usually don't unless we are taking a break. Sometimes I'll sneak something I can eat quickly, like cookies.

7. Do you find GMing physically exhausting?

It can be, especially if I've done many different NPC voices or we've had a big combat to keep track of.

8. What was the last interesting (to you, anyway) thing you remember a PC you were running doing?

In our fantasy/steampunk/magical school campaign, my gentleman thief character rescued his apprentice from a deathtrap simulation (for our Death Traps class in school).

9. Do your players take your serious setting and make it unserious? Vice versa? Neither?

Not the entire setting. I don't mind, it's all fun. I think making jokes about situations and NPC names is a way to have fun and reduce tension.

10. What do you do with goblins?

In my last long-term campaign (Freeport), we had a half-goblin PC. The player took the lead in realizing the goblin culture of the setting. I also like Pathfinder's goblins.

11. What was the last non-RPG thing you saw that you converted into game material (background, setting, trap, etc.)?

The final location in the Freeport campaign was a serpent-people temple on a sunken island based on the Mayan pyramid at Tikal.

12. What's the funniest table moment you can remember right now?

We had quite a few "that's what she said" moments at the Freeport table.

13. What was the last game book you looked at--aside from things you referenced in a game--why were you looking at it?

A friend let me read his hardcover copy of Graham Walmsley's Stealing Cthulhu. Good stuff...I need to get my own copy.

14. Who's your idea of the perfect RPG illustrator?

Someone who's work evokes the ideas behind the setting. The illustrations give the reader a sense of the place, and inspire adventures or at least cool things to include in the game.

15. Does your game ever make your players genuinely afraid?

Horror is difficult to do. I'm still working on it.

16. What was the best time you ever had running an adventure you didn't write? (If ever)

It's been quite a while since I ran an published adventure straight though as is. Mostly I mine them for ideas. That Dragon Age module was a lot of fun.

17. What would be the ideal physical set up to run a game in?

A well-lit office meeting room, with a large table, comfortable chairs, whiteboards, a projector, sound system... but honestly I like the comfort of my house or those of friends. Or this.

18. If you had to think of the two most disparate games or game products that you like what would they be?

It took me some time looking over my shelves to make a decision. Ultimately, I went with these two items that were sitting right next to each other: Suppressed Transmission 1 and 2, and 10 Million Ways to Die.

The Suppressed Transmission books are collections of Ken Hite's alternate history columns from Steve Jackson Games' Pyramid Magazine. Each book is stat-free and has a metric ton of inspiring ideas from history usable for any RPG.

At the other end of the spectrum, 10 Million Ways to Die is six pages of universal combat system based on Rolemaster, followed by 100 pages of detailed attack, fumble and critical strike tables with conversions for a dozen different RPGs.

19. If you had to think of the most disparate influences overall on your game, what would they be?

The classic random-table, DIY ethic of the OSR, combined with the "Yes, but..." shared-narrative-control of indie story games.

20. As a GM, what kind of player do you want at your table?

Someone who is understanding that things don't always go as planned; is willing to suspend disbelief; plays well with others, that is, someone who works to include everyone in the fun.

21. What's a real life experience you've translated into game terms?

In some way or another, all my experiences have informed my play styles. I can't think of a specific experience I incorporated directly.

22. Is there an RPG product that you wish existed but doesn't?

Customizable plastic miniatures available in bulk using a 3D printer. Design it, print it, done.

23. Is there anyone you know who you talk about RPGs with who doesn't play? How do those conversations go?

I usually only talk about RPGs with other people who have played. When someone asks about what I do for fun, I mention "gaming", usually explained as "tabletop games, board games, video games", then I wait for the social cues from them if they are interested in knowing more. I want to be a better gaming ambassador. I could probably do better at that.

Conan: Queen of the Black Coast Issue 1 now available

2012-02-09T10:00:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I picked up Dark Horse Comics' Conan the Barbarian #1: Queen of the Black Coast Part One and gave it a quick read late last night. This is the first of a planned 24 issue run adapting the events of the story and filling in adventures only hinted at therein.

I can't do any better at describing it than Aaron Duran's review at Newsarama. I wasn't sure what to expect from the creative team of Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan. I've mentioned before that I know Wood's previous work, and Cloonan was new to me. I wasn't disappointed -- mostly. For two pages near the end, I thought to myself, "Huh? What does that mean?" Overall, however, I think it's off to a good start. I'm eager to see what they do next, particularly "unseen" scenes from the story such as burning the Stygian port of Khemi.

Monster Stock Art & Minis project on Kickstarter

2012-02-06T09:35:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry to see the Monster Stand-Ins project at Kickstarter has been cancelled. However, the new project might have a better chance of being funded.

Monster Stock Art & Minis is a library of stock art covering the most common creatures from the 3.5 SRD. Backers can get a PDF of the art designed for printing as paper miniatures, and laminated cardstock miniatures are available at another level. The creators hope to include more SRD monsters depending on the funds pledged.

This project is close to the funding threshold and appears more likely to succeed. Best of luck to the project designers!

Link: More about Money in RPGs

2012-01-31T09:00:00.003-05:00

Marshall Smith talks more about money and its function in RPGs, with examples from Spycraft and FantasyCraft, over at his game blog Division Nihil.

Money in RPGs, Part 2

2012-01-30T10:00:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, I looked at a couple of ways in which money is used by characters in RPGs. This time, three more examples.

GURPS by Steve Jackson Games has a bit of a reputation to some role-players. I can't speak to 4th Edition; I do have the core books but I haven't played. However, I do like 3rd. Edition. It's very simulationist, and you can add on any number of extra rules, following down the rabbit hole as far as you wish. At it's heart, though, it's just 3d6 versus a target number. The sourcebooks are my favorite part of GURPS, by far. They can't be beat for detailed campaign background information suitable for any system.

The GURPS 3rd. Edition Basic Set, Revised, has several passages in the main text and sidebars about money use in a campaign. Because it is meant to encompass any genre and time period, these are vague; however, several passages apply to the money characters might carry on them in a standard fantasy game.

Starting Wealth

"Starting wealth" covers both money and property. Start with the amount of money your "wealth level" entitles you for your world....Realistically, characters with a "settled" lifestyle should put 80% of their starting wealth into home, clothing, etc., leaving only 20% for "adventuring" gear....

Standard starting wealth depends on the game world....Some suggestions:

Fantasy/medieval worlds: $1000 (that is, 1,000 copper farthings). (p.16)

Economics

In a low-tech world, rings and jewelry are also money. They may not have a set value imprinted on them -- but they are small and portable, and are easily traded for coins or bartered directly for needed goods. In fact, many societies exist largely by barter -- which can be a test of the players' ingenuity. (p.189)

Bankrolls and Possessions

The money a character has on his person should be listed on the front of his Character Sheet, just like his other possessions. If a lot of transactions are taking place, this can be recorded on a separate sheet of paper to avoid erasing a hole in the Character Sheet! (p.190)

This section of the rulebook also has details on historical coinage and its possible weight and volume, noting that in a 14th-century English economy, the "dollar" value listed as standard in GURPS would be treated as a farthing, a copper coin equivalent in size to the U.S. quarter. A character could conceivably carry $20,000 in a backpack. There are also some guidelines for possible ways to "relieve" characters of their wealth, and ways that treasure might not be portable, recognizable, dangerous or illegal. Clearly, coinage is meant to be kept track of in detail under the standard GURPS rules.

Conan: The Roleplaying Game from Mongoose uses a derivative of the OGL/d20 rules as its main system with some changes such as Base Parry Bonus. As such, coinage is assumed to be used:

Starting Equipment and Money

Each character begins the game with a very small budget with which to buy equipment. This is usually just sufficient to buy a weapon or two and cheap, light armour for those who need it. Starting equipment budget is dependent on character class....Note that this budget is not the same as starting money. If the budget is not used, the character does not get to keep the money. The budget represents items he has managed to acquire and keep for himself over the years prior to the game beginning, not actual money. Any player can choose to have a starting equipment package for his character instead of a starting equipment budget. These are similar in value to the appropriate budgets.

Starting Money

In addition to his starting equipment, each character has 2d6-2 silver coins at the start of the game. At the Games Master’s discretion, this may be reduced to zero, if he wishes to start a campaign in which the characters begin desperately short of money, rather than just very short!

However, Conan reinforces the ideas found in many sword-and-sorcery stories, where money isn't the ultimate goal of characters. It isn't even that important to game play, as illustrated by passages right at the beginning of the Equipment section:

Acquiring wealth and objects of value is a central theme in many adventures. However, spending it is a good deal less interesting....The only times money should be especially useful to your characters are when their weapons or armour are lost or destroyed and when it could be useful to them to buy influence or power, usually in the form of followers. Certainly there should be no need to have players keep track of every last silver piece in their purses. Either they have enough money to get by, or else it is time to go adventuring again.

High Living

It is in the nature of adventurers to spend money like water whenever they have it. Folk who regularly risk their lives in the hope of gaining unimaginable wealth live for today, spending their gains on gambling, good company, expensive food, fine wines and spirits in enormous quantity and even more frivolous pursuits. The Games Master should feel free to enforce the High Living rule whenever characters have a large quantity of cash and no definite plans for spending it:

Every week, all characters will spend a minimum of 50% of their current wealth on high living, if that wealth is currently over 50 silver pieces.

This expenditure includes all ordinary living costs such as food and accommodation. The Games Master should also consider granting circumstance bonuses to Gather Information checks made by adventurers who are spending particularly large amounts of cash.

Finally, I want to take a look at Green Ronin's universal OGL system, True20. Among other changes, including the use a Toughness save instead of hit points, True20 has the Wealth Score. This number is equal to 5 plus Charisma (ability scores in True20 range from -5 to +5). The Wealthy feat adds a +4 bonus. It's meant to be abstract, although there is a table in the rules that gives general guidelines -- +5 to +10 is considered middle-class, for example.

This score includes all cash on hand, credit, and regular income. Instead of making purchases with money, the player makes a check by rolling a d20 plus the Wealth Score versus a difficulty number. The normal price of an item of equipment is labeled Cost, and this is the usual difficulty number for the check: a battleaxe is Cost 9, a sword is 11.

The Wealth Score is fluid:

If you successfully purchase an item with a purchase Difficulty higher than your current Wealth bonus, your Wealth bonus decreases by 1 point for every 5 points the purchase Difficulty is higher than your current Wealth bonus (1 point for 1–5 points higher, 2 points for 6–10 points higher, etc.). (p.74)

When I ran a True20 Freeport campaign, I didn't use the Wealth Score rules. Instead, we used coinage as given in the system-neutral Pirate's Guide to Freeport.

I'm uncertain on the idea of how to handle money in RPGs. There were good comments on the previous post concerning the idea of abstract money or recording individual amounts, especially where it makes sense to use abstract monetary values in modern games. Pulp fantasy heroes regularly chase after extraordinary treasures, but rarely have two silver pieces in their purse.

I would want to use whatever method make sense for the campaign at hand. My priorities would be 1) what is "in character" for the campaign world and the genre, and 2) what is easy for the players to keep track of, and doesn't lead to excessive paperwork.

Money in RPGs: Counting Coppers, or Just Wing It?

2012-01-27T09:30:00.019-05:00

“Everybody needs money. That's why they call it money.”

I'm not necessarily talking about found treasure and loot, but the cash an adventurer carries on hand. For a bog standard, D&D-style fantasy game, keeping track of money seems like the right thing to do. It fits the model of adventurers who need to scrape together the coin necessary to buy a new sword, spell components, or bundles of crossbow bolts. It also fits the sword-and-sorcery genre, which I'll discuss later.

The strange thing about keeping track of coinage on hand is the problem of large amounts. Thousands of coins can be converted to gems and other high-priced baubles, but then you might run into the issue of paying for smaller daily expenses. Not many taverns would be able (or willing) to make change for that opal you just found in the lich's tomb.

Call of Cthulhu was the first RPG with an abstract money system that I remember. Although equipment and weapons are listed with prices in dollars, money really wasn't an issue -- most likely because treasure hunting wasn't an objective of the game. Unless the characters were going on an expedition or they needed an outlay of cash at that level for some reason, it isn't necessary to keep track of how many dollar bills are in your pocket. At least that's the way we always played.

Additionally, characters have a skill called Credit Rating. This is a measure not of cash and credit reserves, but social status and influence, and the ability to raise cash through loans or even panhandling.

From the 4th. edition (1989):

Money

The players' investigators -- the journalists, authors, professors, and so on -- will need money for their investigations. Their cash can come from (1) wages, royalties, and remittances; (2) from previous savings; and (3) grants, gifts, and loans from various non-governmental sources (government is no granter of largesse in the 1920s).

Money is only a problem if the investigators must perform extended investigations. Incidental investigations can be assumed to take place on weekends, or evenings, or days off. (p. 14)

From the 5th. edition (1992):

Investigator Income

Income may or may not be important to your play. Take dollar signs with a grain of salt. Many Keepers never mention money or personal property, and rarely do published scenarios raise the subject. Only in campaigns does earning and spending hold much interest or significance; campaigns, however, can be quite detailed. Learn the Keeper's intent. (p. 24)

Savage Worlds has a similar approach to money, at least for starting characters. In the 1st edition rulebook, we find the following at the end of the character creation section:

Gear

Next you need to purchase equipment. Some settings may provide your hero with all the gear he needs. In others, you may be assigned a certain amount of money with which to purchase your starting gear. A list of some common gear and weapons can be found in Chapter Two.

Unless your setting book or GM says otherwise, the standard starting amount is $500. (p. 18)

The only other real mention of money is at the beginning of Chapter Two: Gear.

Cost: Equipment prices are relative both to the starting funds of $500 and to their tech level, so a Springfield musket doesn't really cost $250 in 1862. That's just the "worth" of the weapon relative to the tech level and the typical setting it's intended for. (p. 43)

Monday: Three other approaches.

Link: Using Microscope to Plan Goals in a Zombie RPG

2012-01-25T10:00:00.002-05:00

Derek at Harvester has taken some of the ideas that Lowell used at Age of Ravens for Microscope as a city planning tool, and changed them up as a goal-planning device for his All Flesh Must Be Eaten campaign. Take a look at what both of them are working on for new ways to handle idea generation, campaign planning, and setting preparation -- make a game out of it!

Hammer Horror and Godzilla DVD/Blu-ray News

2012-01-23T10:00:00.005-05:00

I have been out of the loop and not keeping track of DVD news this month, and I am ashamed. Big thanks to Gareth Skarka for posting about the news related to Hammer horror films.

The studio has been working on restoring "more than 30 films", utilizing print sources in the UK and the US. Quatermass and the Pit has already been released on Blu in the UK, with Dracula, Prince of Darkness on the way next in March. They plan to announce a US/Region 1 distributor soon.

The restored version of Dracula (1958, Horror of Dracula in the US) is being screened in London in mid-February. The exciting news about it is that this restored edition uses the extra footage from the Japanese release, cut from UK and US prints. The footage was found at the The Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo. At long last we get to see the full original film. More information about the ongoing restorations at the BBC and the official restoration blog.

The Criterion Collection's DVD/Blu-ray release of Gojira (1954)/Godzilla, King of the Monsters (1956) is on track for release this week. Toho Kingdom has an interview with Curtis Tsui, the producer responsible for this disc.

Godzilla getting "the Criterion treatment" has been a goal since the laserdisc days, so it's great to see that it's finally happening. It's quite possible that, as suggested in the interview, this may be the greatest amount of pre-sales for a title in Criterion history. Everything I hear about the print quality and restoration efforts suggests that it has been worth the wait.

Happy Birthday, Robert E. Howard!

2012-01-20T10:00:00.012-05:00

This Sunday marks the 106th anniversary of the birth of pulp writer Robert E. Howard. It has become a tradition on this date for Howard fans to read a favorite story and toast to his shade with a favorite beverage.

You can't go wrong with any of the stories, and there should be one to suit your preference: sword and sorcery, hard-boiled detectives, weird horror, historical fiction, boxing, westerns, pirates and sword-wielding puritans. One of my favorites that I often choose for a birthday reading is "Worms of the Earth", a story of Bran Mak Morn, last king of the Picts, and a weapon "to terrible to use, even against Rome". It's available in many publications but I would suggest the text found in Del Rey's Bran Mak Morn: The Last King.

This year I might look for another story I haven't read.

For more information on his life and career, start with the following sites:

Robert E. Howard United Press Association
The Robert E. Howard Foundation
Howard Works bibliographic database
The Cimmerian (no longer updated)

I would also recommend Mark Finn's Howard biography, the Locus and World Fantasy Award-nominated Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard. An expanded edition is due later this month from the REH Foundation.

Music from my D&D years

2012-01-19T10:00:00.048-05:00

A special Thursday edition of Favorite Music Friday: embedded below are videos for a few songs I remember on the radio or on MTV while playing Dungeons & Dragons -- or reading the rulebooks, or flipping though issues of Dragon -- during my high school years. I distinctly remember hearing the last song in this list on the radio during the first (and so far only) time I played the AD&D Battlesystem mass combat rules.

Ratt - Round and Round (this one can't be embedded) http://youtu.be/0u8teXR8VE4

Your Character Does Not Belong to You

2012-01-17T10:00:00.019-05:00

Often, it belongs to the other players.

I recently started playing in a new campaign of All Flesh Must Be Eaten, Eden Studios' RPG of zombie survival horror. I planned for my character to be a skilled professional -- not a doctor, soldier, or something useful like that. My idea was for a cable TV installer. He would have seen a lot of interesting and weird things already by going into people's homes (I know a few real-life satellite installers), and would be an expert in electronics.

The other part is that I wanted to model the character's personality after the TV character of Ron Swanson. He would know a little about everything, and be very secure in his opinions (but with room to grow), all good hooks for role playing. He would also have a Ron Swanson mustache. And that's how I lost control of the character.

Once the other players start discussing his mustache, and the fact that he has a van... any serious ideas about the character among the other players disappear. The idea of the character that you had intended is replaced in the minds of the other players by the ideas that they have discussed -- or joked about -- around the table. That becomes the character they react to in game, from then on. This isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, it is something to think about when planning your character and his/her personality. Certainly, it's on the same level as a GM trying to develop names for NPCs that can't be twisted around into jokes by the players.

How might this play out differently at the table? What could you do to change this?

Think about your character's initial impressions and play them out. Plan to work your ideas about your character's personality into the game from the first session. Take opportunities and risks in games to show what your character is like to the other players. Then do this every session. One of the best pieces of player advice that I've been given was to think about how to work your character into the story at the table. I tend to be passive as a player, in the background, and wanting to get other players into the spotlight. Sometimes, you have to take a leap -- make a decision, take an action, be bold. There's a fine line between being an assertive player and being disruptive. Don't be disruptive or demanding. But if there is trust at the table, jump in.

Tell the other players -- in game -- what your character thinks about. Ben Robbins wrote a great post about character monologues. Not necessarily dialogue, but actions and thoughts in the character's head. Get these out at the table in play. Your character has traits, advantages, flaws... whatever the system might call them. They might be on the character sheet or in the character background you wrote, but if you don't work them into play, or tell the other players about them, then they may as well not even exist. They don't truly become part of the game until they are worked into the shared experience of all the players.

Any others that I missed?

Pardon our dust

2012-01-13T11:45:00.000-05:00

I plan to do some experimenting with the template design here over the weekend, especially with font sizes and background colors. Things might look wonky for a bit. It should be set (or back to this template) by Monday.

Taking Dragon Age for a test drive

2012-01-12T10:29:00.000-05:00

Our regular Friday night group was down two players last week, so our GM asked me to run something as a one-shot. We also had D. and PJ as guest players. There are a couple of systems that we have wanted to try out, one of them being Dragon Age. I had the quickstart module from Free RPG Day so I read through the rules and adventure a couple of times and printed off the character and reference sheets.

The players chose the character sheets at random and I went over the basics of the rules as presented in the quickstart and the single page of world background. With all of us full of homemade apple crisp, the players sat back as I began reading the boxed text from the module...

My intention was to run it cold. That is, reading the boxed text verbatim (just like the old days) and following the adventure as described without much of my own added embellishment. I wanted to see what it might be like for brand-new players coming to the game without any RPG history. I knew nothing about the DA storyline. We had one player in the group who had played the video game, and he helped to explain some of the background knowledge that the characters would know.

We thought the rules worked pretty well. It is a brand-new rule set created for DA that Green Ronin calls the AGE system, using 3d6. I like the dragon die mechanic for gaining stunting points. Combat was slower than I expected. Once players have a good sense of what various possible stunts can be done without scanning the reference sheet, combat should get faster. I would also like to see more available stunt options. There was thought that it would nicely for a short-run campaign of maybe a dozen sessions. AGE isn't dependent on the Dragon Age setting, so it would work fairly generically with any setting. Without knowing what the rest of the rules are like, especially character advancement, I don't have a clear verdict on AGE yet.

The module presented in the quickstart, titled "An Arl's Ransom", is a great adventure scenario with plenty of combat and roleplay opportunities, a good twist and moral choices presented for the players to puzzle over. Depending on the actions of the PCs, there are a couple of directions that the plot could go, and the text presents ideas on what could happen. It also gives advice on what scenes to cut for time (I dropped the fight with the blight owls).

It is meant to be a starting point for a DA campaign, and we thought it worked well. That said, I wonder if the module is a little too complicated for first-time role-players. The DA rules are easy enough to get. It's the complications and the multiple directions that the story could follow in the module that I think might make it difficult for new players. A brand new GM might have enough trouble trying to get the rules down without the added difficulty of multiple NPCs with various and shifting plots and plans.

If you haven't played Dragon Age yet, I would highly recommend downloading the quickstart and give it a try.

A preview of the upcoming Conan: Queen of the Black Coast comic adaptation

2012-01-11T10:10:00.000-05:00

There is a new 2-page preview on io9 for Dark Horse's new Conan 25-issue comic series by Brian Wood and Becky Cloonan, an expansion and adaptation of one of the best Conan stories, "Queen of the Black Coast".

The io9 story also includes the regular and variant cover art for the first four issues. I know Brian Wood's work but I'm not as familiar with Becky Cloonan's art. The preview pages have been good so far. I'm eager to see how it turns out in the actual book.

Blogging ideas for 2012, part 2

2012-01-05T09:01:00.001-05:00

I forgot to mention in the previous post that I would like to get involved with gaming podcasts again. I was part of the team that put together the sadly defunct Twenty Buttons and Twenty Levers gaming podcast about 5 years ago. I'd also like to try video blogging here as well.

On a related A/V note, I've wanted to put together my own DVD audio commentaries for quite some time now, and this is the year to make that happen.

Blogging ideas for 2012

2012-01-04T10:00:00.003-05:00

Following on from my final post of 2011, I wanted to mention some of the ideas I have for the blog, what to look for here in the new year, and some possible goals.

Design changes: Overall I'm pleased with the layout. I've mentioned before that I'd like to try some different color schemes to improve readability.

From the Dusty Shelf: I have been a Gamer (with a capital "G") for over 25 years, and I have quite a few favorites among the rulebooks and supplements on my shelf. Nothing that is extraordinarily rare, but some forgotten gems that are worth another look. This will be an irregular series of retrospective reviews taking a look at some of these items, their place in gaming history, and some ways that they could be used today.

In a similar vein, I have several file boxes of old gaming magazines, catalogs, product fliers, and convention programs. This year I am finally going to follow through with my plans to scan some of these items and post here to share. Timothy Brannan at The Other Side recently mentioned his idea to pull out some of the gems from early issues of White Dwarf. Maybe I can cover some of the later issues.

Rules for a Conan RPG: I've been considering rules systems that best emulate the pulp-horror-fantasy of the original stories. I need to take the time for a more detailed look at these, and I'll post my thoughts here.

Fantastic Four...From the Beginning: A couple of years ago, my sister- and brother-in-law gave me an Amazon gift card as a birthday present. I used it to pick up the Fantastic Four/Silver Surfer Complete Collection CD-ROM set, containing the complete run of FF up to the end of 2006.

Fantastic Four has always been my favorite superhero book (aside from Marvel Team-Up), particularly John Byrne's run in the '80s. Back when I was seriously collecting comics I tried to complete my collection of Byrne issues but never finished it. This CD-ROM gave me that and then some. I still haven't explored it all -- yet. This would be an irregular series of posts looking back at some of the best issues of the FF, with an eye for how well they work today, and maybe pulling out some ideas for RPGs at the same time.

Cult Classic of the Week: I want to get back into a regular schedule with my cult movie reviews. If not weekly, then at least two a month.

DVD/Blu-ray and book previews: I'll continue to post on upcoming discs and books of interest.

Play more. I'm intrigued by Gnome Stew's GM challenge New Year, New Game. I don't know if I will be in a position to start up and GM another regular campaign this year. However, there are plans for some of us to try new games in the form of "Run Club"-style one-shots. My main goal is to get more play time and to try new games.

Glenn Lord, RIP

2012-01-02T12:31:00.002-05:00

Glenn Lord passed away on the last day of 2011 at the age of 80 years. Without exaggeration, Mr. Lord was the greatest Robert E. Howard fan and the man who has done more for Howard's legacy than anyone else. He became the literary agent for the Howard heirs and remained so for almost thirty years. He tracked down the famous trunk full of typescripts and supplied the source texts for nearly every published work throughout the Howard boom of the 1960s through the 1980s.

Better retrospectives can be found at The Blog that Time Forgot, the Conan Movie Blog, and a list of online tributes is posted at the Two-Gun Raconteur site.

The State of the Blog in 2011

2011-12-31T11:08:00.000-05:00

Just a short post to wrap up 2011 here at Kaijuville. At the beginning of the year I had the goal of increasing the frequency of posting, which I did accomplish. I started the year strong, but by mid-year my real-life schedule got more packed with responsibilities. I hope to get back to a regular schedule next year.

Regarding site stats, the pages with the most search hits continue to be my list of Free RPG Day PDF downloads, my DVD review of The Green Slime, the Bruce Timm birthday post and the obituaries for Julie Ege and Elisabeth Sladen (not Ingrid Pitt?). I didn't imagine that this would be a destination for Julie Ege fans but that's the power of Google, I suppose.

My series of movie reviews, the Cult Classic of the Week, started in January with the goal of publishing at least two reviews a month, if not once a week. It became difficult to make the time to watch the films and properly research the reviews, so I ended up posting only 14 reviews this year.

In May, I was granted membership in the RPG Blog Alliance during their first week of operation. I really enjoy the sense of community that the RPGBA has produced, and I would like to get more involved with that aspect next year. One blogger wrote that a great exercise would be the goal of posting at least three comments on blogs read each day. I wish I could remember who wrote this so I could give proper credit. I don't always post three although I make that a goal for each day. I believe it's a great way to build the blogging community.

In August I ran a series of daily posts for "Conan Week", leading up to the release of the new movie.

I posted my GM merit badges here.

In December, I was invited to write a guest post at Age of Ravens, where I examined two important popular culture influences on my gaming life.

In closing, I would like to thank everyone who follows Kaijuville and takes the opportunity to read what I post here. I hope you find it worthwhile. There are many, many bloggers out there writing dynamite material every day, and I hope that I can add to that wealth in at least some small way.

Next post: What to expect from Kaijuville in 2012.

My First Time...Gaming on G+

2011-12-29T14:52:00.000-05:00

Two weeks ago I played my first game using Google+ Hangouts.

This was a D&D 3.5 game based on the computer game Dwarf Fortress, so all of the PCs are dwarves. Many of the players were also in my True20 Freeport campaign. The reason for running over G+ is because half the players are out of town -- C. moved to Ohio before the Freeport game ended, and D.W., the DM for this game, moved to Mississippi shortly after it ended.

To play, we needed to join the same G+ Hangout. Additionally, D.W. set up maps with tokens for PCs and NPCs using the free Maptools software, which required each of us to connect through a VPN.

I did have some technical issues, but none of them were the fault of D.W. He and C. had worked out the bugs during their initial session. All I had to do was follow the emailed instructions. At first I tried using my usual desktop machine. I picked up an inexpensive webcam after work, brought it home and plugged it in. The camera test worked fine. Maptools worked fine, but I could not get into the G+ Hangout.

Mrs. Kaiju wasn't home, so I moved the webcam and the Maptools and VPN files (including my token) over to her Win 7 laptop. I was able to finally connect to the Hangout and see/hear everyone, although now Maptools would not load. Since it is a Java program, I tried to update Java but the update failed. It took a complete uninstall and reinstall of Java for Maptools to work.

Maptools is an impressive bit of software. I was concerned about how it might work, but it ran great, and D.W. put a tremendous amount of work into the maps for this session. The maps loaded quickly and token movement was easy and fast.

Overall, my experience with G+ Hangouts and Maptools was very positive. Once I moved to the laptop, the only issue was that I kept being dropped from the Hangout about every 15 minutes. The Google error messages kept saying it was a server error, but I was the only one being dropped. Once I can get that settled (and upgrade my desktop PC), things should work well. It's no substitute for face-to-face gaming, but being able to video chat with friends across the country in real time is terrific. I'm looking forward to more G+ gaming with them and local friends, and maybe some gaming with other bloggers too.

Blog housekeeping

2011-12-27T14:51:00.000-05:00

One area that I'd like to work on in the new year is the look and layout of the blog. Generally I like the layout, but I think there might be some areas for improvement. My main priority is readability, and while the black text on light grey seemed OK at first, I believe the readability could be improved. I'll also try other some other colors throughout. I always welcome suggestions, too.

Five golden links

2011-12-23T10:03:00.004-05:00

How BIG are gold pieces? (includes pictures)

James Bond retrospective: Goldfinger (1964)

Unsafe at any level: XP for gold

Tales of the Gold Monkey episode guide and photos

Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine

OK, here's a bonus link... you've been good this year.

D&D gold statue treasure image search

Link: SOPA and the RPG blogging community

2011-12-20T14:30:00.001-05:00

I rarely ever post anything here about politics. This blog is meant for important things like games and movies. However, this is a topic that requires more attention than it has received in the mainstream media. Michael at Neuroglyph Games posted an excellent article about the possible effects of the Stop Online Piracy Act on RPG bloggers (and everyone else). There is a committee vote scheduled for ~~tomorrow~~.

Update: "Markup postponed due to House schedule."

Monster Stand-Ins

2011-12-14T09:40:00.002-05:00

I missed out on some interesting Kickstarter/IndieGoGo gaming projects: Far West, Stealing Cthulhu, Crypts and Things, and Writer's Dice. One project that's really caught my attention but hasn't closed yet is Monster Stand-Ins. This is a project by Joe Wetzel, the talent behind Hexographer, Dungeonmorph Dice and others.

For me, miniatures make any game better. I enjoy miniature gaming and using minis in RPGs. It is frustrating to not have all the minis that you might need for a scene, or not the matching minis. Pre-painted plastic minis have helped with this issue, but even with super-cheap common figures it can be expensive to get a solid collection of monster minis.

The Monster Stand-Ins are a set of over 150 fantasy monster images scaled to 28/30mm and printed on plastic flat tokens that can be stood up on bases. Foamboard is included with the plastic flats for creating the bases. I don't mind flats at all -- I like using printable PDF flat figures such as those from One Monk -- so I don't see that as an issue. And no cutting and gluing required! Flats are much easier to store and transport too, with removable stands. The plastic should hold up very well with use.

150 creatures on plastic card for $30, plus the PDF file? Sign me up.

Site update

2011-12-08T09:44:00.000-05:00

I've added a sub-page titled "Currently...", accessible from a tab at the top of the main page. This is a little list of what I'm playing, running, reading, watching, and so on. I've wanted to add this to the blog for a while but the main page layout is full with links and blog rolls. The sub-page gives it a bit more room.

The titles are pretty self-explanatory. "The New Hotness" highlights new things I'm thinking about, interested in, and wanting to play/read/watch/whatever.

For some reason, the spacing on that page has some weird issues, even when trying to edit the HTML directly. Those problems don't show up on the normal Blogger pages. I also need to re-size an image or two.

Mongoose Legend Core Rules for a buck

2011-12-07T10:00:00.003-05:00

Legend is Mongoose's revised and updated version of RuneQuest II (with the "RuneQuest" bits removed), and the Core Rules PDF is available at Drivethru/RPGNow for just one dollar. Thanks to Late to the Party and Billiam Babble for posting about it recently. I really enjoy the BRP/d100 system, so I might finally check out the ~~RQII~~ Legend rules.

For more gaming on the cheap, check out the $1.35 PDF sale on Lamentations of the Flame Princess titles this week (the Grindhouse Edition doesn't appear unless you activate the adult content filter on your RPGNow account), and of course Stuart Robertson's Weird West is a single dollar as well.

Out sick

2011-11-30T20:39:00.001-05:00

I have been out sick with a nasty head cold the last couple of days. While that might mean that I have free time to post here -- between hours and hours of sleeping -- my brain has been fuzzier than usual and I haven't been able to write anything at all. I hope to have more this weekend or next week.

Hey, this is my 400th post. Woo-hoo!

All (Turkey) Flesh Must Be Eaten

2011-11-22T10:17:00.001-05:00

On Sunday I had a chance to play All Flesh Must Be Eaten for the first time in several years, since D's Viking Horror game. D is the Zombie Master for this game as well, and it's great to be back at his table again. Other players include J (husband of Girly Nerdy Gamer) who was in my True20 Freeport game along with D, and also PJ.

There are two other players I know but I have never gamed with before, so it will be an interesting mix and a discovery of gaming styles. Nothing like a little zombie attack to get people working together...cooperation and teamwork, right...? I'm really looking forward to what happens when we pick up again in two weeks.

I should finally have some time over the Thanksgiving break to post more, or at least write up new posts for later. I'm wondering if the gaming blogosphere will be active, or in a tryptophan-induced slumber?

The Dungeon Master, steam tunnels, and gaming stereotypes

2011-11-15T13:48:00.000-05:00

Reading this recent post at Skyland Games last week reminded me that I have a mass-market paperback copy of The Dungeon Master: The Disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III, written by private investigator William Dear, somewhere in one of the boxes here in the Kaiju Lair. I may need to do some real-life dungeon delving to find it, although I will avoid the steam tunnels.

The last time I read the book was at least 15 years ago. The two things I remember most about it were the sureness and smugness of the author, and the scene where he plays D&D with some of the college students, packed with an abundance of stereotypical gamer behavior.

Thorynn's post made me think that I should revisit the book and see how it reads with even more distance, and in light of both Forge-style indie-game trends and the OSR. I'd like to give it another read-through now with a critical eye and post my observations here on the blog. This might be a good project for the Christmas break.

Busy, busy days

2011-11-08T11:51:00.001-05:00

Real life has been intruding more and more into the blogging world here in the Kaiju lair -- fix-it projects, getting the house/yard ready for winter, the mid-term point of the semester... I've been too worn out to put two coherent thoughts together for ye olde Blog (one thought more than usual). With luck, I'll be posting more here very soon.

A "thanks for reading" bonus: Haven't checked this myself, but I've read that Deep Discount DVD is having a 25%-off sale until November 20th. Enter the code "25More" at checkout.

50% off Criterion discs at Barnes and Noble

2011-11-03T09:07:00.000-04:00

November 1st kicked off the semi-annual Criterion Collection sale at Barnes and Noble. This month online and in the store (at least until the 21st, I believe), Criterion DVDs and Blu-rays are 50% off MSRP. Other stores' regular discounts (Amazon) might be about the same on some titles, so check accordingly. I'd really like to get Island of Lost Souls and Kiss Me Deadly on Blu-ray... in addition to all the Kurosawa films I still need... and so many others.

The 50 Scariest Movies of All Time

2011-10-31T10:00:00.024-04:00

As a Halloween treat today I want to highlight film critic Glenn Kenny's list of "The 50 Scariest Movies of All Time" that was posted to MSN.com as a photo slideshow.

Normally I'm a bit dismissive of lists like this, but from the start at #50, you'll see why I'm sharing it here. Whereas most "top X of all time" lists seem to be written by people with memories that cover only the past 15 or 20 years, Kenny does review the whole gamut of horror cinema with his list. Universal and Hammer horror, Mario Bava, Georges Franju, J-horror, Nosferatu, Coffin Joe, Herschell Gordon Lewis, and even Dreyer's Vampyr -- I can't fault a list with entries like these. On his blog he confesses to the one film he forgot and left out. Crucial to the success of this list is the overriding philosophy that "scary" does not automatically mean bloody slasher violence. Much more often it is the threat, or the unseen threat lurking, left to the imagination, that can cause real terror in the aisles.

Any others that he left out of the list? What are your favorites?

To give you an idea of the range of the audience MSN Movies is addressing, I'm told that the gallery got something like 20 million page views first day up. Any day I can possibly get 20 million people interested in Mario Bava and Jose Mojica Marins isn't a bad one. -- Glenn Kenny

Free DriveThruRPG treats (and tricks) for Halloween

2011-10-27T14:53:00.001-04:00

Just saw the post on Stargazer's World about the 13 Halloween freebies available at DriveThruRPG. Click around the site for hidden pumpkins and find a random treat (or trick!). Plenty of horror-themed goodies among the list of found items so far.

Different cover art for Destroy All Monsters

2011-10-24T09:00:00.019-04:00

Why does Mothra get top billing?

An interesting story about the cover art for Media Blasters' DVD and Blu-ray re-issue of Destroy All Monsters can be found at Sci-Fi Japan. The cover that was released for distributors -- and is still in use on Amazon -- is a temp cover. The actual cover is the original 1968 Japanese poster art. Good news! For comparison, the US poster from AIP is at the left.

The original soundtrack CD is out November 8th.

Brainstorming a list of game management ideas

2011-10-21T10:00:00.001-04:00

The following are the total contents of a Word file titled "General Game Ideas" from my RPG folder. The file is dated New Year's Eve, 2006. I think I just started free-typing and this was the result:

Get agreement from the group (vote?) concerning character danger/death
Character background as ~3 Hooks
Request for “what the player considers a good role-playing experience”
Request for “what the player wants for his/her character”
Request for “what sorts of events and encounters the player wants in the game”.
Request for “what sorts of events the player doesn't want to see.”
Have two or three scenarios prepared before each session. Tell players that they can go anywhere, but if they go too far on a tangent, then ask for time to prepare.
Create 10-20 cool set pieces or locations that come immediately to mind in the campaign world.
For the beginning of the game:

Have the players point to a spot on a map to begin.
Have the players decide how they want to begin.

Film critic David Edelstein subbing this week on Turner Classic Movies

2011-10-18T10:00:00.003-04:00

On my short list of dream jobs, one near the top is introducing the movies on TCM (or perhaps writing the introductions). Read David Edelstein's short blog post about substituting for Robert Osborne this week -- a week that includes four horror movies that shaped his life -- here.

It's official: Criterion Godzilla

2011-10-17T10:00:00.002-04:00

The Criterion Collection made their official January title announcements on Friday, and among all the great films listed is the 1954 original Gojira, also known as Godzilla, King of the Monsters. It appears that it will be a hi-def digital restoration from one of Toho's interpositive prints. Long rumored for years, and often times thought to be wishful fan thinking, this DVD and Blu-ray release is the more important of two recent kaiju events, the other being the possibility of getting the AIP audio track for Destroy All Monsters.

Check out the product page for more detail on the specs. The U.S. version is confirmed as an extra. Criterion is creating a new hi-def transfer of Godzilla from a 35mm fine-grain print in the hands of a collector, and it should look like an entirely different film compared to the poor-quality video transfer that has been used for years. More information about that is on August Ragone's blog.

It's great to see Ishiro Honda take his place among other great Japanese directors like Kurosawa, Ozu, Oshima and Suzuki in the Collection.

More upcoming British horror films on DVD

2011-10-13T10:00:00.005-04:00

Peter Sasdy was born in Budapest, but made his career as a film and TV director in England -- notably with three films for Hammer: Taste the Blood of Dracula, Hands of the Ripper, and Countess Dracula with Ingrid Pitt. After these, he hit his stride as a director of thrillers, including Nothing but the Night in 1973.

Going into the 1970s, it was clear that the glory days of Hammer were past, and several members of that community were looking for new opportunities. Christopher Lee formed his own production company, Charlemagne Productions, with producer Anthony Nelson-Keys, in the hopes of creating interesting science-fiction and horror films with intelligent scripts. Charlemagne's first -- and only -- film, Nothing but the Night, teams Lee with his long-time friend Peter Cushing and Diana Dors in a thriller about possessed children on a remote island. It's finally out on DVD next week from Scorpion Releasing. Extras include a trailer and liner notes by Cushing biographer Christopher Gullo.

Countess Dracula has previously been available on an MGM Midnite Movies double-feature disc with the other Ingrid Pitt vampire film, The Vampire Lovers. Synapse Films is currently in the middle of releasing several Hammer films as Blu-ray/DVD combo packs, and plans to offer Countess Dracula next year after finishing Twins of Evil and Hands of the Ripper.

Upcoming Godzilla DVDs (and Blu-ray)

2011-10-03T10:00:00.064-04:00

Now that October is here, the season of monsters, I thought I better post some DVD release news that I've been sitting on for weeks, before it's no longer news. I've mentioned these before, and now it's official with pre-orders and release dates.

Destroy All Monsters is getting a DVD re-release and its first Blu-ray release on October 25th from Media Blasters. This is great news, as MB has done terrific work on a host of Toho kaiju and sci-fi flicks in their Tokyo Shock line, including The Mysterians, Matango, Latitude Zero and many others. It was previously released on DVD by the now defunct anime label ADV Films. I have read elsewhere that the cover art MB chose was used on a Japanese DVD of Ghidorah The Three-Headed Monster.

A commentary track by kaiju experts Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski appears to be just the starting point for the extra supplements on this disc. Some cryptic posts on Media Blaster's Facebook page has lead many to believe that one of the two English dubs on the disc will be the superior American International Pictures audio track done by Titra Studios. An official release with the AIP track has been a Holy Grail for kaiju fans.

The real surprise is the Media Blasters' release of Godzilla vs. Megalon on DVD and Blu on November 22nd. This was a staple of discount store tape bins in the VHS era, and it seemed unlikely that a company would want to license it for an official release. The terrible public domain prints released on tape damaged Megalon's reputation over the years. It's not a Destroy All Monsters; however, there are some neat things happening in this underrated movie, especially the robot Jet Jaguar. I'm excited about finally seeing the original Japanese version of this childhood classic.

The witching season

2011-09-30T10:08:00.001-04:00

Fall is here, and tomorrow the first day of October. As a kid, I wasn't a big fan of the fall season. It meant that summer vacation was over and it was time to go back to school. It would feel like such a long time between the start of class and Christmas vacation. What I looked forward to most was October, because that meant Halloween. Not because of the candy -- we never really went door-to-door except for people my parents knew, and usually only to the candy giveaway at the mall (where Radio Shack would give out batteries).

What was really fun about Halloween to me was on TV -- Halloween specials like It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and monster movies. It also wasn't just one night, or a week. I remember Halloween-themed shows throughout the month. Back at the time when there were only three or four networks, a few local stations and a handful of cable channels, October was a time when many stations would roll out more monster films than usual and have them on earlier than the normal late night time slots. It was a chance to see nearly-forgotten classics or new (to you) favorites.

It's great to have the near-instantaneous access to a particular film we enjoy today -- and I wouldn't want to give that up -- but there was also something very special about having to wait until a movie was shown on your local UHF station at 1 in the morning on a school night because "you might not ever see it again". Back then, it was an event, the magic of light and shadow on a flickering TV screen.

Out-of-print DVDs through the Warner Archive

2011-09-22T10:00:00.009-04:00

One of the new releases from the Warner Archive made-on-demand DVD program last week was the Hammer "space western", Moon Zero Two. In addition to having another Hammer film available, this is also significant because it had been previously released on DVD several years ago, on a Warner Sci-Fi Double Feature disc along with the Hammer prehistoric epic When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth. This DVD went out-of-print quickly, presumably because of an incorrect rating.

The set of new releases for this week include several more Warner Brothers titles that had been previously released on DVD, including more from the Warner Sci-Fi collection. A few weeks back Akira Kurosawa's Dreams went up on the Archive.

It appears that WB is moving toward using the Archive as a way to re-release catalog DVD titles that have gone out-of-print. With any luck, that means we'll see Dinosaurs... on disc again. It's too bad that they aren't being given a regular DVD release, but the made-on-demand discs are so much better than not being available at all.

IRL

2011-09-08T10:11:00.001-04:00

September is shaping up to be more busy than I had expected. Updates will be sporadic for the short term at least.

On today's date in 1966 Star Trek first premiered on NBC. The 45th anniversary is deserving of its own posting here at some point.

The teaser photo from last Friday was for Criterion's as-yet-unannounced disc of Gojira, a Holy Grail for kaiju film fans. A 35mm fine-grain print of the U.S. version (Godzilla, King of the Monsters) has been located so it appears that the U.S. Godzilla will be included. More details can be found at August Ragone's blog here and here.

Criterion

2011-09-02T10:00:00.001-04:00

Because this is the start of the holiday weekend, I'll just leave this photo here as a teaser. I plan to write more about this and some other news next week.

A call to post about your geeky hobbies

2011-09-01T10:00:00.007-04:00

The start of the semester has kept us hopping here at the Kaiju Lair, so I haven't been able to post at all this week. Even so, I wanted to point out this call for bloggers from author and game designer Monica Valentinelli. In reaction to some negative perceptions of gamers recently, she's suggesting that bloggers write passionately and positively about the hobbies they love during one week in September. From her site:

Here’s what I propose:
SPEAK OUT WITH YOUR GEEK OUT

Sometime during the week of Monday, September 12th to Friday, September 16th post about what geeky hobby you love. Then, tell us why we should try it, too. Leave your fears (and edition wars) at the door. Forget about your latest rant. Tap into that well of positive energy and share in the excitement of all things geek.

Let us invite those who would stereotype us to sit at our table and share our interests.

Should be easy for the gaming blog community. Originally this was proposed just for girl geeks, but it was suggested that it be more inclusive. Let everyone raise their geek flag high!

My GM Merit Badges

2011-08-25T10:00:00.019-04:00

I didn't take up the Better GM Challenge posted at the Hill Cantons blog, mostly because I'm still trying to figure it out some best practices for myself. Every campaign I run could be considered an experiment in technique, trying to build on past successes to run the best game possible.

On the other hand, the excellent set of GM merit badges that Stuart at Strange Magic made are great shorthand symbols, and I think I can easily put together a set that represents my own GMing style -- or at least what I aspire to when I run.

My games will tell an interesting Story. It may not be the story I intend to tell, but it's the one I hope the players want to be in.
My games will be Scary -- or at least I try. I usually sneak in Lovecraftian things-man-was-not-meant-to-know whenever I can, even outside of Call of Cthulhu games.
My games focus on Exploration & Mystery. I enjoy setting up places for the PCs to explore and mysteries for them to solve.
I will Mirror back player ideas I think are interesting in the game. I am very open to player input, and I try my best to encourage players to add to the narrative, whether that means describing attacks in detail, monologuing, embellishing the current scene or adding NPCs and places to the world.
The GM is In Charge and "Rule Zero" is in effect. For this, what I mean is that I reserve the right to ignore the rules as written, but only if it's for the overall fun of the group. If it seems like a rule will prevent a PC from doing something awesome, that rule is getting in the way of the fun. I also hope that I have the trust of the players to know that I make decisions as fairly as possible -- most of the time in their favor.
My games use a pre-made Map and pre-scripted content. I like to have locations and scenes planned in advance like movie set-pieces whenever possible, and plan and follow a loose flowchart for the overall campaign storyline. These could be invented or from published material. Which leads into the seemingly contradictory badge...
My games rely on a lot of Improvisation rather than pre-scripted content. I like to throw out several plot threads and let the players pull on whichever ones they like. Because of this, I'm trying to plan more loosely and take a more improvisational approach to let them roam where they wish.
My games focus on interesting Characters and Drama. I try to populate the game world with NPCs that will be interesting for the PCs to meet, ally with, plan against, fight, and sometimes exist just for background and local color. I hope that these interactions create strong connections that will then lead to conflict and drama.

I wouldn't say that this is locked in, and would vary depending on the system, the setting and the group's own play style. If I am running Call of Cthulhu or a distinctly horror-related setting, I'd add the Run! badge.

Thanks to Stuart for a cool idea!

Jimmy Sangster, RIP

2011-08-23T10:00:00.001-04:00

Producer, screenwriter and director Jimmy Sangster passed away on Friday. He was 83. His scripts for both Curse of Frankenstein and Dracula (Horror of Dracula in the U.S.) were absolutely essential for the rise of the Hammer Horror aesthetic.

This almost wasn't the case. In Sangster's version of the story, he was approached to write the script for Curse after suggesting several ideas for the studio, even though he wasn't going to be paid for it beyond his role as production manager. After the success of Curse he wrote the script for Dracula, The Mummy, and several other early horror classics for Hammer. In the Seventies, he wrote Hammer's remake of Curse starring Ralph Bates, The Horror of Frankenstein, but only on the condition that he could direct. His main interest was always with psychological and crime thrillers; he also produced most of those scripts including two films with Bette Davis, and directed Fear in the Night with Joan Collins.

He later wrote for U.S. television, including The Night Stalker, Ghost Story, The Six Million Dollar Man and Wonder Woman.

Sangster was one of the last major creative crewmembers from the "golden age" of Hammer Horror. Most recently, director Roy Ward Baker passed away last year.

Read horror media expert Kim Newman's excellent obit for Sangster here.

121 Years of Howard Philips Lovecraft

2011-08-20T11:27:00.001-04:00

I am Providence.

As Conan Week 2011 draws to a close, it's fitting to take time to remember another of the "triumvirate" of Weird Tales, H.P. Lovecraft, who was born 121 years ago today. His reputation stands as a close second to Edgar Allan Poe among American writers of horror, the supernatural and the macabre.

Today, his form of "Yog-Sotherey" -- what we today call the Cthulhu Mythos -- has become a prevalent form of horror for books, movies, games, even plush Cthulhus and other toys. It's a well-known fan meme. Ken Hite has suggested that all of this absorption into fan culture proves that Cthulhu and his otherworldly ilk are iconic figures, like Superman.

What is Lovecraft's lasting legacy? Others on the 'net have expressed this in a more erudite form than I could. I believe it is not only his own brand of "cosmic horror", the idea that there are things in the universe so completely strange and alien to us that our fragile minds cannot fathom them, not only the idea that humans are as insignificant to them as an insect might be to us, but the true message is that human beings are fully capable of reaching those same heights of inhumanity. I often wonder what H.P. would have thought had he lived to see the scale of atrocities during the 20th century.

Issues with the Conan Chronology

2011-08-19T10:00:00.014-04:00

With a few exceptions, Howard didn't write about most of his characters in chronological order. He wrote the Conan series of stories as the ideas presented themselves, much in the same way as someone would tell yarns around the fire: "...and that story reminds me of the time that..."

The first Conan story to be written and to see publication was a tale of Conan as King of Aquilonia, "The Phoenix on the Sword", which is in fact itself is a re-working of the Kull story "By This Axe I Rule!". Howard started writing Conan at a point near the end of the character's career. As Howard wrote and published more Conan yarns, the settings and Conan's age and career would change -- king, pirate, mercenary, adventurer, thief.

In early 1936, Howard received a letter from P. Schuyler Miller, a fan praising the Conan stories and presenting his own ideas about the order of Conan's adventures. In Howard's reply, his pleasure at Miller's enthusiasm over the stories can be felt. He suggested that the outline was "pretty close" and offered other suggestions. Miller and fellow fan John D. Clark compiled and published a new chronology later that year. If I remember correctly, Howard didn't make notes for himself about the chronology of Conan's exploits, at least none that are known to survive. He surely thought about it as he wrote, but the letter back to Miller is the only known affirmation by him about a possible order.

Howard doesn't reveal many details about Conan's early life in his stories. Conan was born on a battlefield (literally or metaphorically?); in his youth he broke the neck of a Cimmerian bull; by 15 years of age his exploits were talked about around the council fires; and he fought at the siege of Venarium. These milestones all take place before the events in the stories proper.

The problem with the Miller/Clark timeline is that not all of the Conan stories had seen print yet. There were more submitted but not yet published, still others that were not chosen for publication, and also various fragments and synopses.

In the 1950s and 1960s, when L.Sprauge de Camp and Lin Carter began to compile first the Gnome Press edtions and later the Lancer editions, they had access to these unpublished and unfinished works. As part of their editing and compiling process, de Camp, Carter, and Bjorn Nyberg finished the fragments, re-worked tales of other Howard heroes (for example, the long version of the El Borak tale "Three-Bladed Doom" was re-fashioned by de Camp into the Conan story "The Flame Knife"), and worked in their own stories to create a chronology that fit the material on hand. By finishing fragments and working in their own original stories, it also strengthened their claim of rights over the Conan works. This official timeline would be used for many years, eventually incorporating the various pastiche novels as they were published.

In 2003 Howard scholar Dale Rippke proposed his own version of a Conan chronology, meticulously going over only the stories and fragments written by Bob Howard, and using the clues therein to piece together a coherent structure. It has the benefit of incorporating many stories that Miller did not know about, and the objective view of only using those tales by REH. Trying to form a complete, concrete chronology is a difficult task. Rippke's textual evidence convinces me that his makes the most sense. Many other Howard fans must agree, as it was his chronology that has been used by Dark Horse for the comic series and appears to be the de facto "official" timeline adopted by Conan Properties.

***

Many fans enjoy having the object of their interests codified and explained. This can be seen going back to the first Star Trek fan projects like Enterprise bridge blueprints ("every function of every button explained") and technical manuals, through to books such as The Dictionary of Imaginary Places, or The Atlas of Middle-Earth, and now today with sites like the Harry Potter Wiki. Fans enjoy knowing how things in the stories work and in what order their favorite characters' adventures take place. It also brings those places and people to life, and lets one imagine everyday life there.

"Any world-creator in a fantasy role-playing game setting can tell you about the hours/days/weeks spent building a working fantasy universe; immersing one's self in minutia and fine tuning the whole thing. There comes a point when the "Created-world" takes on a kind on life inside one's head. You are able to describe any part of it as if you had actually been there and experienced it. The whole thing transcends its origins and becomes (from a purely mental standpoint) a real place.

Every sense I get from reading Howard's Conan stories informs me that he experienced something very similar from his creation of the Hyborian Age world. He mentally lived in this place when creating and writing his Conan stories. Perhaps it was part of his putting on a persona as many authors do. All I can tell you is that he wrote these stories like he believed it. And, as any damned fine author does, he makes you believe as well." -- Dale Rippke, The Dark Storm Conan Chronology.

Howardian Movies without Howard Characters

2011-08-18T10:00:00.004-04:00

Here's a short list of films that I feel exude the same sort of mood, atmosphere or style that you might find when reading a Robert E. Howard story:

Brotherhood of the Wolf: I haven't seen the official Solomon Kane movie, but this is what I would expect it to look like.
The Vikings: Historical adventure, brutal swordplay, Kirk Douglas and Ernest Borgnine!
The 13th Warrior: Vikings against the Picts.
Seven Samurai: Honorable warriors battle against overwhelming odds.
The Mummy: Some of the action scenes, particularly the gunfight on the boat, remind me of El Borak and Kirby O'Donnell (Brendan Fraser's character is named Rick O'Connell...).
Jason and the Argonauts: A heroic sea voyage across the known world for a fabulous treasure.
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad: Evil wizards, giant monsters, lost cities, animated statues and lots of swordplay.
Raiders of the Lost Ark and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom: Pulp adventurers get in and out of deadly situations with evil armies and cultists, in search of fortune and glory...

What others did I miss?

Conan the Destroyer: A Re-Appraisal

2011-08-17T10:00:00.006-04:00

My Conan Week post for today isn't quite ready for public consumption yet, so this is a on-topic re-post originally from last year. This week's theme might stretch into the weekend...

Several months ago, I had the chance to watch Conan the Destroyer again for the first time in quite a while. For years this film had the reputation of being "The D&D Movie". The title fits -- a motley group of adventurers are brought together for an epic journey...under false pretenses and with a stinging betrayal.

I know, I know, it's not Shakespeare. It's not even proper Howard, but it's fun. And it's all we had in 1984.

Even though it's less about Howard's Conan than even the first movie, there are still many things to like about it. Roy Thomas's involvement with the original story lead to the comic-book feel of the movie, even if he was disappointed with the final product. I'm not sure what to make of Richard Fleischer's work on the movie. He directed such great films as Tora! Tora! Tora!, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and Soylent Green. I think more of the blame should go to the script.

One of my biggest disappointments with the movie is the score. Surprisingly, because the composer, Basil Poledouris, created one of the all-time best motion picture scores for the first Conan film. Some of those same cues are reused here, and the new music is rather pedestrian.

Despite its flaws as a whole, there are so many things to like about the movie. During this last viewing, I made some notes on the bits that I love, and the classic fantasy tropes that are used through the film:

A thief counting his coins
Soldiers "sneaking" up on our hero
A leaping backstab
Conan punches-out a horse, Mongo-style
A sorceress-queen who hires our hero for a quest
A fortress-city on a mountain
Evil-looking warlocks reading golden tablets
"Dagoth, the Dreaming God"
The Scrolls of Skelos
A prophecy of a virgin sacrifice
The threat of death/treachery
Rows of giant statues
The Queen's Guard following behind
Cannibal tribesmen
Decapitations
Gladiator pit fights
A crystal castle on a misty mountain lake
A wizard transforms into a bird of smoke
An impenetrable door with the only entrance being underwater
An enormous spiral stone staircase (this and the underwater entrance are my favorite scenes in the movie)
A hall of mirrors
"Out!!"
A sword fight on horseback
An ancient tomb in the desert (this entire sequence is another great scene)
Akiro nonchalantly lighting a torch with magic
Zula afraid of...a rat
Some really brutal swordplay against hordes of bad guys
A magical wizard duel
A secret entrance to the city behind a waterfall (my second favorite scene)
An arcane magical ritual
Sneaking in to stop the ritual
A giant Cthulhu Mythos beast (designed by Carlo Rambaldi, who won Oscars for E.T, Alien, and King Kong)
Conan tearing the magic artifact horn out of the monster's head and throwing it away with a priceless superstitious look
The new queen handing out rewards to the group

The Whole Wide World (1996): the forgotten Conan/Howard film

2011-08-16T10:00:00.006-04:00

The Whole Wide World is not a Conan movie, but it is the Robert E. Howard movie. The marketing may have suggested to many that this was just another "chick flick", but it is much more than that. This romantic drama is chiefly based on the book One Who Walked Alone, the memoir of Howard by Novalyne Price Ellis, who was friends with and briefly dated Howard in the mid-1930s. Screenwriter Michael Scott Myers and director Dan Ireland worked closely with Mrs. Ellis to tell her side of their story.

We see the relationship distinctly from Novalyne's point of view, however it's still a great look into the thoughts and writing style of Howard. It's not completely accurate, and it is a dramatization. Even so, it's a pleasure to see these real-life characters brought to the screen.

Beyond the fun of watching a pulp legend portrayed on film -- shouting out the dialogue while typing a story, or passionately describing the history rooted in West Texas -- we also have the emotional connection to these characters and we feel the joys and sorrows of their relationship. TWWW is a great true story about this doomed relationship, told in a very real, well done and convincing way.

Could Novalyne have saved Bob Howard? Perhaps if the social conventions of the time were different, or if their obligations to others hadn't kept them apart. It's a heartbreaking look into the inevitable demise of a relationship between two different people who shared one passion: writing.

Vincent D'Onofrio shines in this film. He rarely disappoints in his acting roles and in TWWW he is so convincing as Howard. I can only guess what he was like based on written accounts by those who knew him. Having watched this film several times, it's easy for me to imagine Bob Howard as D'Onofrio portrayed him.

Rene Zellweger is fine as Novalyne. Her upbringing in Texas probably contributed to her performance. Unfortunately for me, I always see her as "Rene Zellweger" instead of the character she is playing, but that's just me. Zellweger and D'Onofrio have an uneasy chemistry on screen that does fit with the characters.

Zellweger's performance in this was overshadowed by the other little film she was in that year, Jerry McGuire. When she won the Oscar in 2004 for her performance in Cold Mountain, she thanked D'Onofrio for "teaching [her] how to work."

If you haven't seen TWWW, you've been missing a real treat.

Howard describes Conan from 1:04 to 2:30. The look on Novalyne's face is priceless.

Conan Week: Introduction

2011-08-15T10:00:00.053-04:00

With high hopes for the new Conan movie being released on Friday (*fingers crossed*), I wanted to have a series of postings here this week about the character of Conan and his creator, one of my favorite authors, Robert E. Howard.

I should probably note any of the inherent biases that I have here. When talking about Howard and Conan, there's a sort of continuum of fans, and you can plot out fans on that continuum based on what appeals to them. On one end, you have a Howard fan who is a "purist", for want of a better term. He or she might acknowledge only the works that were directly written by Howard, and does not follow the movies, comics, pastiches by other authors, and so on. At the other end, we might have a person who is really a fan of the Conan character specifically and follows everything related to the character. Of course, I can't speak for everyone, but this has been my experience.

I like to compare this to the fans of two other long-running iconic characters, Sherlock Holmes and James Bond. There are Holmes fans who acknowledge only the Doyle canon, and other fans who also enjoy the pastiche work like other authors' books, the movies and the Jeremy Brett TV series. Likewise, we see fans of Ian Fleming's original Bond stories, then there are the fans of only the Bond movies, which are of course different from Fleming's books. One type of fan isn't better than another, and I'd like to think that all the fans can find at least some bit of common ground.

"Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing." --"The Tower of the Elephant", 1933.

For myself, I tend toward the Howard "purist" end of the spectrum, but I still enjoy many of the pastiche works. As long as Howard's original stories are readily available in print (as is the case with the marvelous work by Howard scholars for Wandering Star and Del Rey), then there is plenty of room for expansion of these characters' adventures. In my opinion, L. Sprague de Camp and Lin Carter's work on the Lancer/Ace series (and those Frazetta covers!) was very important for making Conan -- and by extension, Robert E. Howard -- popular with a wider audience in the late 1960s and the 1970s, and should be recognized for that accomplishment. Even so, the integration of their own writing into the Conan "mythos" and their rather brutal editing of the originals are difficult to forgive. I hate to even bring up such contentious work like Dark Valley Destiny, de Camp's psychological biography of Howard that introduced some erroneous facts and outright baseless conjecture. Scholars are still trying to repair lasting damage to Howard's reputation 40 years after the Lancer series first appeared.

There are great stories in some of the comics and pastiche novels. The novels tend to be hit-or-miss, depending on the author. Some are great (John C. Hocking, Karl Edward Wagner), others not so much (Leonard Carpenter, Poul Anderson, Steve Perry). The movies, for the most part, are fun and have some cool parts in them -- more on that in a later post. If you exclude some of these works out of hand, you'll miss out on some really good entertainment.

Next week is Conan Week

2011-08-11T10:00:00.004-04:00

In the lead-up to the release of the new Conan movie on the 19th, I'll be posting each day next week about the character and his creator, pulp writer Robert E. Howard. I continue to bat around ideas for a Conan RPG campaign, and I hope this series of posts will help with that process and inspire others to take a look at the source material: Howard's original stories.

In related news, Dark Horse Comics is offering a bundle of the electronic versions of Conan issues #0-19 (by Kurt Busiek and Cary Nord) for $20! I'm not sure how long the sale lasts, but their Facebook page seems to suggest that it runs through this weekend.

Lulu coupon codes

2011-08-10T09:34:00.000-04:00

Good until this Friday night:

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Back from Gen Con

2011-08-09T11:53:00.001-04:00

Actually got back Sunday night but I've had no time to process it or report on it. I'm also trying to catch up on everyone else's reporting from the show. I'll be back with some thoughts later this week.

Dice Dice Baby

2011-08-03T20:43:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted as much as I had intended to this week (not at all...), so I'll jump on the polyhedral bandwagon that Tim started over at Gothridge Manor. Here are two themed sets of dice from my collection for the "Show Me Your Dice Marathon".

I picked all but two of these d20s out of the Chessex dice-scoop bin at Gen Con several years ago. I wanted a set of "ugly" d20s to use for my True20 Freeport campaign. I only used the location die one time in a combat. We made up better damage effects on our own.

This is my 40K dice cup. The red d6 brick for my Ork Speed Freek Pirates, and the grey and green brick for my Necrons. I also inherited some unit and vehicle condition dice from a friend and fellow player when he upgraded to markers from Gale Force Nine. I use the casino die as a turn marker, and the d4 is for tracking character wounds.

Another Lulu coupon code

2011-07-27T16:10:00.000-04:00

25% off your order, good through this Friday night. The fine print:

Enter coupon code TIME305 at checkout and receive 25% off your order. The maximum savings for this coupon is $400. Offer good towards print costs only - shipping and tax amounts are excluded. You can only use the code once per account, and you can't use this coupon in combination with other coupon codes. This great offer ends on July 29, 2011 at 11:59 PM so try not to procrastinate! While very unlikely we do reserve the right to change or revoke this offer at anytime, and of course we cannot offer this coupon where it is against the law to do so. Transaction must be in US dollars.

What I'm looking forward to at Gen Con

2011-07-26T10:00:00.008-04:00

Following on from Monday's post, I thought I would mention some aspects of this year's Gen Con that I am thinking about the most. Unlike some previous years, there isn't a must-have item for me that is being released for the show. Shadow, Sword and Spell was the big one for me last year. Even so, I am looking forward to:

The OSR booth -- Although there was an small Old School presence among the items at the Tabletop Adventures booth last year, this is the first time we will see an entire booth of OSR publishing at Gen Con. I welcome the chance to browse through some of the items that I wouldn't normally see in the local shops, like OSRIC and some of the modules. I hope someone at the show will have copies of OpenQuest.

Indie/Story Games -- Whatever term you want to use, I would like to (eventually) pick some of the games that I've missed out on so far -- Fiasco, My Life with Master, Microscope, Spirit of the Century, The Shab-al-Hiri Roach, just to name a few. I didn't see IPR on the exhibitor list this year, however.

Chaosium -- This venerable publisher is back at Gen Con after some years. I'd like to take a peek at the 30th Anniversary Edition of Call of Cthulhu, check out any generic BRP books and, with luck, they will have their scratch-and-dent Mythos fiction sale.

Demo games -- I generally do not sign up for games in advance, preferring to keep my schedule open for pick-up games. It also gives me time to check out demonstrations from publishers. One in particular that I'm eager to try is the new Star Trek deck-building card game from Bandai... even if it isn't the Original Series.

Getting books signed -- I enjoy having the chance to talk to some of my favorite game creators and have my books signed. I still need to check the lists of artists and other special guests.

Finding some out-of-print treasures -- You never know what you might find in a dusty, forgotten bin at one of the booths.

Sales on older overstock/warehouse deals -- I'll miss Titan's "Buy One, Get Three Free" sale, but Chimera Hobby Shop always has some great hidden treasures.

Late night gaming in the hotel bar -- Last year we found a booth to play Descent, it was Munchkin the year before... this year we're thinking Castle Ravenloft.

Whatever it is that you enjoy about Gen Con, make the most of it, and have fun!

Preparing for Gen Con

2011-07-25T10:00:00.029-04:00

It's less than two weeks until Gen Con, the largest gathering of gamers on the planet. There are many other fine local and regional conventions, but this remains the great gathering of the gaming tribe, set to invade a welcoming Indianapolis with dice, cards and miniatures in hand.

I always enjoy this time before the con when blogs and other gaming sites post their guides and advice for con-goers. Even being a veteran Gen Con attendee, I still find useful and clever information. I'd like to highlight some recent posts that I think are helpful:

"The Art of Con Survival" from Girly Nerdy Gamer
Great tips on a GMs kit for running at cons from Gnome Stew's Patrick Benson
Advice on keeping yourself healthy before, during and after Gen Con (I think I'll be packing alcohol wipes to go along with the hand sanitizer...)
"My Gen Con Advice to You" from Zachary at RPG Blog II
The mighty Keeper of Ancient Gen Con Lore

In addition, the Indianapolis Convention & Visitors Association has a page of maps specifically for parking lots and downtown restaurants in PDF format. These maps are worth taking with you on-site for your planning needs.

More Godzilla discs in October

2011-07-22T10:00:00.001-04:00

Back in April I mentioned that Media Blasters/Tokyo Shock was rumored to have the rights for Godzilla vs. Megalon on DVD. Since then, they have announced the official release of not only Megalon but also Destroy All Monsters on both DVD and Blu-ray on October 25th. Media Blasters posted on their Facebook page that the CD soundtracks for both films are also on the way.

A flyer given out at G-Fest in July has preliminary box art for both, although it appears that MB is still deciding what art to use and what supplements will be on the discs.

Upcoming books of interest

2011-07-20T10:00:00.037-04:00

Tom Stewart's highly anticipated but often delayed book, Robert E. Howard: The Battle for the Legacy of Conan, was due this month. It appears to be delayed yet again as Diamond Comics Distributors cancelled orders for the book. This is the first book-length work on Howard's literary rights after his death and the course that his work followed through various editors and rights-holders.

The novel adaptation of the Solomon Kane movie was released at the end of June by Titan Books. I still haven't seen the movie yet--I'm holding out hope for a US theatrical release. My interest in the novel is because the author is Ramsey Campbell, who finished some of the Kane fragments for publication in the Bantam paperbacks in the 1970s.

Still no official word on the contents of Conan the Barbarian: The Stories That Inspired the Movie, the paperback collection of original Howard stories. Comments from associate editor David Pomerico indicate that there will be five stories, printed in publication order. A marketing blurb from the Borders website was re-posted on the Conan.com message board and suggests that "Shadows in the Moonlight" and "A Witch Shall Be Born" are two of the five stories. Update: a review of the UK edition was posted on 7/21 at the Conan Movie Blog, although the page count and story list seem to be different.

It appears that at least the first volume of the H.P. Lovecraft omnibus editions is getting a new cover in September. This one seems to be listed as a "Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition", as compared to the previous 1999 black-band Penguin Classics edition, although the page count is exactly the same.

ENnies vote suggestion: Old School Hack

2011-07-18T09:45:00.003-04:00

I believe that the ENnies Awards are important for the hobby, perhaps more so now than the Origins Awards because the votes are made by the general gaming public.

With that in mind, I'd like to take a cue from Risus Monkey and The Free RPG Blog and ask that you consider Old School Hack in the Best Free Product category. Not only because it is a great free game (not a quickstart, the full complete rules), but it is the only product from the OSR community eligible for an award this year. Vornheim is an Honorable Mention for Best Aid/Accessory and Stars Without Number is an Honorable Mention for Best New Game.

If you have never voted for the ENnies before, it isn't necessary to vote in every category if you don't know those products. Take a look, however, because one of your favorites from this past year just might be listed. I'm rather partial to Bookhounds of London and The Unspeakable Oath, myself.

A random thought

2011-07-13T09:47:00.000-04:00

Is there some reason that DVD prices on Amazon seem to fluctuate like the price of gasoline? I could understand price changes if they were on newer releases, but these are prices on older catalog titles. Amazon can display different prices to different customers based on cookies, past buying habits, etc. Is that part of it?

RPG blogger badges at Gen Con

2011-07-11T10:00:00.014-04:00

There has been some discussion in posts and comments on several RPG blogs about meeting up in some way at Gen Con. I wondered about a way for bloggers to identify themselves in the crowds at the con. Some years back at an early G-Fest, one member of a Godzilla e-mail list generously offered to print up color badges for any list members who wanted one.

I thought about something like this, maybe using the RPG Blog Alliance logo. Sniderman from The Savage AfterWorld made the comment that he was incorporating his blog header image into the badge holder, which then gave me the idea for this:

I used plain paper as a test. For the real thing I might use thin cardstock and attach it with double-sided tape.

Freeport Adventure Seeds: Kraken Atoll

2011-07-05T10:00:00.025-04:00

Kraken Atoll is a ring of sharp, broken volcanic rock in the Southern Ocean approximately 12 days sail due south of Freeport and the Serpent's Teeth. There are several breaks in the atoll allowing ships passage into the calm shallow waters of the lagoon within. The lagoon itself is about 350 yards across.

The Atoll occupies an important location as one of the few islands in that area of the ocean. Due to the lack of solid flat land on the rocky atoll, early visitors began to lash ship hulls to the rocks. Over time a line of hulls were strung across the lagoon two hulls deep, strapped together by lines and held in place by anchors. Most are without masts and far from seaworthy, given over to ramshackle extra decks built over the 'castles and main decks, tarpaulin roofs, built-on stairs or ladders, or portals cut from one gun deck to another with rope bridges in-between. The hulls are in various states of disrepair, although not from barnacles, which are crowded out by the abundant mussel and starfish populations.

This floating city has built up into an important trade settlement and temporary haven for people constantly on the move. It flies no flag. Although Hexworth has recently patrolled the nearby waters in its search for pirates, Kraken Atoll maintains a neutral status and is a frequent stopping point for travelers, merchant traders, fishermen, privateers and smugglers. No questions are asked and answers seldom given--except for the right amount of coin or trade goods. Gossip is a frequently-traded commodity.

Notable personalities:

Rebick -- forger; can be found aboard the Wandering Storm

Verbeek -- goblin fisherman; in reality the local agent for the goblin information network

***

I will get back to more of my True20 Freeport post-campaign report, but I also wanted to post a few of the locations, personalities, items or scenario seeds that I used during the campaign.

You've got D&D in my Warhammer Fantasy

2011-07-03T11:19:00.000-04:00

"Stereotypical Brit Gamer" Chris posted his Basic/Expert D&D/Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay rules mash-up yesterday. Thanks to Jeff Rients for pointing this out. Aside from being a super-cool idea on its own, Jeff also points out the tone of how the text is written and the way Chris notes where his rules bits are originally from and why he used them. I've downloaded the rules but have yet to check them out for myself.

I've been a long-time 40K and Warhammer Fantasy fan. Other than 1e and Red Box D&D, the original Rogue Trader rulebook and White Dwarf magazine were my early entries into the hobby--the last few issues of the Dwarf when they had scenarios for WFRP and still covered D&D and Call of Cthulhu. The British gaming scene of the mid- to late-Eighties really stands out strongly in my consciousness as a gamer.

Star Trek, Avengers, X-Men episodes now streaming on Netflix

2011-07-01T11:52:00.000-04:00

Just in time for the long holiday weekend (in the US): Engadget is reporting that the Star Trek episodes promised earlier this year are available starting today. The second and third seasons of the Original Series, all of The Next Generation, Voyager and Enterprise are up now, with Deep Space 9 appearing in October.

Also of interest is the mid-90s X-Men cartoon, The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, and... Power Rangers.

Almuric and the "Posthumous Collaborator"

2011-06-30T10:30:00.007-04:00

In my last post, I mentioned Almuric, Robert E. Howard's only foray into the sword-and-planet genre. I have a feeling that we may see a resurgence in sword-and-planet stories with the impending release of the John Carter of Mars movie from Pixar next year.

I wanted to point out Al Harron's great introduction and overview of Almuric's publishing history and Keith Taylor's overview of Almuric and the sword-and-planet genre. The story of how it was published is almost as interesting as the story itself. Most of its published instances make no mention that the original first draft manuscript is lost and what we have of the story, as published in Weird Tales over three months in 1937, is likely to have been completed by another author. The last chapter doesn't read as if it were written by Howard. Many of the words and phrases used do not appear in any of his other stories. Harron writes about the work done by another Howard scholar, Morgan Holmes, who discovered evidence that points to Otto Binder--another author managed by Howard's agent Otis Kline--as the person who completed the story.

These details shouldn't diminish anyone's enjoyment of the book by any means. It's a fun ripping yarn and a great read. Anyone who loves "planetary romances" and other fantastic planet stories would like Almuric.

The lost book of Almuric

2011-06-27T10:30:00.012-04:00

Earlier this year, I saw a post on Paizo's blog listing items that were in short supply and soon to be sold out. One of the items on this list was the Planet Stories edition of Almuric, Robert E. Howard's sword-and-planet novella in the style of Burroughs. I thought to myself, "Self, you better get a copy before it goes out-of-print," so I ordered one from our local Barnes and Noble. It was a little shelf-worn but I was glad to have it.

This weekend, I was looking through a box of books that we had packed up last year when we painted the living room of the Kaiju Lair. I didn't find the book I was looking for, although there was something else--a minty-fresh brand new copy of the Planet Stories Almuric.

I think the lesson here is that I need to unpack and display my books. The only other time I remember this happening was when I accidentally purchased another copy of GURPS Egypt from the "3 for $10" shelf at the Adventure Gaming Retail booth at Gen Con a few years ago. You can never have too many GURPS sourcebooks, right?

Did you ever accidentally buy a book (gaming or otherwise) because you forgot that you already owned it?

Cult Classic of the Week: The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)

2011-06-24T10:00:00.018-04:00

Hammer Film Productions was formed in 1934, but by the end of the Thirties it was primarily a distributor of films produced elsewhere. After World War II in-house film production resumed, mostly consisting of crime and mystery films. In the mid-1950s Hammer would rise to prominence with two film adaptations of the television series Quatermass and the first of their horror films, The Curse of Frankenstein. These proved so popular that Hammer continued with a series of films using the same characters--Dracula, The Mummy, Frankenstein--including The Revenge of Frankenstein in 1958 and The Evil of Frankenstein in 1964.

Baron Frankenstein continues his grisly experiments until the local clergyman discovers his "blasphemy". Fleeing with his assistant Hans, the Baron decides to return to his home in Karlstaad, thinking that the residents will have forgotten him after a ten-year absence. They make their way back to his abandoned and looted chateau using the local carnival festival as cover. With the assistance of a deaf and mute beggar girl, they find Frankenstein's original creature frozen in a mountaintop glacier. The Baron enlists a carnival hypnotist to get though to his creation's damaged mind. The hypnotist, however, has other plans for the monster...

Along with the later film Horror of Frankenstein (1970), Evil... is usually set apart from the other movies in the Hammer Frankenstein series. Horror... is a remake of Curse of... with a dark comedic bent. Evil... started out as an unproduced script from the TV series Tales of Frankenstein. The plot device of a hypnotist who can get through to the creature's damaged brain carried over from that script.

Because of the distribution deal with Universal Pictures, the production had more money to work with in its budget. This arrangement also allowed Hammer to use Universal's intellectual property, whereas in the previous films they were prevented from doing so for copyright reasons. The creature makeup in Evil... was the most similar in the series to Jack Pierce's famous makeup design for Boris Karloff. The machinery in Baron Frankenstein's lab is modeled after Kenneth Strickfaden's electrical set pieces. The monster is found frozen in ice, as seen in Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man. The backlot set of the village is like the German village set from the Universal backlot. In look and feeling, the film itself was much more like one of the Universal Frankenstein films.

This similarity to the Universal monster films became a sticking point among fans at the time of its release. Hammer had charted their own new course with the previous films, and this return to a more standard style of storytelling appeared to be a step backward. Another point of contention was its place in the timeline. Evil... has a flashback sequence to a different set of events that were not in the first two movies. The creature wasn't shot and chased into the mountains in the first film; there's no mention of the Baron's escape from the guillotine or his "escape" from the authorities at the end of the second film. Frankenstein's personality is also different in Evil... In the first two films, he is cold, calculating, and clever enough to evade his pursuers, including the police and the medical association. In this film, the Baron is less in control of situations. He flaunts his superiority over the villagers and can't control his temper in a local inn, leading to his arrest. He also trusts a sideshow hypnotist with his greatest creation. For reasons such as these, many fans see this as a stand-alone film apart from the normal series.

The Evil of Frankenstein is essential viewing for anyone watching the entire Hammer Frankenstein series. On its own, it's a good Frankenstein movie, harkening back to the classic Universal films. Peter Cushing is great as usual but limited by the material he's given. He still manages some standout scenes. As far as interesting movies that do something different, Curse of... and Revenge... are the better films. I watched this on DVD as part of Universal's terrific 8-movie, 2-disc set The Hammer Horror Series.

A random thought

2011-06-23T10:55:00.000-04:00

If I had known that the PDF of the Dungeon Crawl Classics adventure from Free RPG Day would cost $4.99 later, I would have picked that up from my FLGS as my freebie on Saturday.

Having said that, It's more likely that our group would play the Dragon Age quickstart adventure that I chose instead. I'd like to try both systems at some point, though. The 3d6 and "dragon die" mechanic in DA is pretty neat. I haven't had a chance to read the DCC beta file yet.

Matango and Chicago Shock Theater

2011-06-22T11:00:00.001-04:00

If you're a classic film fan, you should regularly check in on Turner Classic Movies' blog Movie Morlocks. I haven't looked at it for a couple of months, and it seems that I've missed out on some good articles. There are two notable posts I want to highlight.

Film historian David Kalat gives his take on Toho's Lovecraftian horror flick Matango (aka Attack of the Mushroom People). This has always been one of my favorites but I learned something new from his analysis of the final scene (spoilers ahoy if you read the post). I think I failed my Sanity check... not from the movie stills but from the photo of the Bullmark Matango tricycle toy.

Cult movie fans in the Chicago area need to know about the Shock Theater series of double-features running the first Friday of each month in Wicker Park. Two classic horror and sci-fi movies projected from real 16mm film prints for $5? Sounds like a great time!

Free RPG Day PDF downloads

2011-06-21T10:00:00.006-04:00

Many of the publishers involved with Free RPG Day release PDF copies of their giveaway products after the event. Here are the ones that I've found as of last night:

Eden Studios: All Flesh Must Be Eaten: The Waking Dead quickstart rules and introductory adventure
Stone Tablet Games: Aspect starter rules and adventure Here There Be Demons
Exile Game Studios: only the 2008 and 2009 adventures so far.
Fantasy Flight Games: Black Crusade quickstart rules and adventure (usually posted in a couple of weeks)
Flying Buffalo: Tunnels and Trolls adventure module "Rescue Mission" available for $2 (bottom of page).
Goodman Games: Dungeon Crawl Classics introductory adventure PDF available in Goodman's online store or RPGNow for $4.99.
Green Ronin: Dragon Age quickstart rules and introductory adventure
Paizo Publishing: We Be Goblins! Pathfinder module
Pinnacle: Savage Worlds Test Drive rules and FRPGD 2011 adventure module The Wild Hunt (includes Test Drive rules)
Troll Lord Games: Castles & Crusades quickstart rules (2010 edition)
White Wolf: World of Darkness quickstart rules and adventure "Nightmare at Hill Manor"

When there are any updates I'll make the appropriate changes here.

Free RPG Day this Saturday

2011-06-15T11:00:00.002-04:00

The annual Free RPG Day is June 18th, this Saturday. Based on the highly successful Free Comic Book Day, it's a chance for the gaming industry to show off new products, give away free quickstart rules or accessories, and get more people involved in our hobby.

See if one of your local game stores is participating with giveaways or game demonstrations. Many publishers also have free downloads for the occasion at their sites or RPGNow/DriveThruRPG.

I always have good intentions about volunteering to run a game demo at a local store but schedules seldom work out. Maybe next year!

Cult Classic of the Week: Logan's Run (1976)

2011-06-14T10:45:00.006-04:00

Based on the 1967 novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson, Logan's Run was released in June of 1976. Less than one year later Star Wars hit theaters, and everything would change. The film, then, acts almost like a bridge between the darker, dystopian theatrical science-fiction films of the 1960s and early 70s, and the blockbuster science-fiction films of the late 1970s and after. Science fiction on TV, however, still looked the same into the early Eighties: shows such as Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica, for example, had sets with lots of glass, blinking lights and chrome panels.

I remember seeing the movie on TV once or twice, but most of my early memories of it were from the short-lived Marvel Comics series and articles in Starlog and other magazines. I clearly remember the vast majority of photos in those articles being 1) the futuristic cityscape miniature, 2) the still of Michael York firing the Sandman gun with its distinctive four-way muzzle flash, and 3) Farrah Fawcett. Of course, the nudity was edited out of the TV print.

In the 23rd century, a perfectly-balanced society run by a central computer system exists within a multi-domed city. Life exists only for the pursuit of pleasure, which grows more intense as each person approaches his or her thirtieth year and their Lastday: entering into the performance known as Carousel with the hope of "renewal". Some members of the population try to avoid this fate and run, escaping the city for a mythical Sanctuary. When Logan-5, a "Sandman" who's job it is to terminate runners, finds a symbol of Sanctuary on a runner's body, the computer assigns him the task to go outside the city and find Sanctuary and the missing runners, setting his own lifeclock forward to Lastday...

Logan's Run was an impressive film for the time in which it was made, and it has that MGM "epic film" look to it. It was one of the last to develop from that massive 1960s-70s studio system. A budget of $9 million was quite a lot for a film in 1975, and the studio made a profit with it, earning around $50 million worldwide. Much of the action takes place in indoor locations and would have cost much more if shot entirely on soundstages. The crew took advantage of several "futuristic" looking buildings in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area for many of the indoor locations. They also used older buildings such as a sewer plant for some of the undercity locations. Even then, the sets that were constructed for the film are really well done. Logan's apartment, the "New You", and most impressively, the computer room at Sandman headquarters. The size and scope of that room are beyond what I imagine for most films made at the time. It reminded me of the extravagantly large sets from an earlier MGM classic, Forbidden Planet.

The film's visual effects certainly deserved the Academy Award that was won the following year. Three effects sequences stand out: the wire effects for Carousel, the cityscape miniatures, and holography. The scene of Logan's interrogation by the computer was the first use of holograms in a major motion picture. In the audio commentary director Michael Anderson mentions that although they looked flat in the film, they were much more three-dimensional in real life.

The miniature cityscape was an outstanding achievement for the time. Much of its effect was due to the size and detailing. I did not know that it was built at a scale where many of the buildings were four or five feet tall. Stock footage of the city continued to be used in science-fiction films and television shows for years, including (apparently) one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Logan's Run shares many similarities with another dystopian classic, George Lucas' THX-1138. In both films, we have future societies insulated from the outside world, a complacent population, a society run by and dependent on one or many ruling computer systems, and at least one character who fights to find a way out. The main difference being that in Logan's Run the population live for fun without care, while in THX-1138 the people of the city are drugged worker drones without any type of social life. I watched THX-1138 again fairly recently, and I'll have more to say about it in some future post. The thought crossed my mind while watching Logan's Run that they could exist in the same universe--the worker drones of THX-1138 could be living in the undercity of Logan's Run, doing all of the manual labor and manufacturing to keep the upper levels of the domed city functioning.

The film inspired a television series of the same name which lasted one season on CBS, and is probably most notable for the cars.

I watched the 1999 MGM DVD of the film, which has since gone out-of-print. Warner Home Video released it in 2000 in a cardboard snapper case with both widescreen and fullscreen versions (minus the 8-page insert), again in 2007 in a standard Amaray plastic case, and on Blu-ray in 2009.

Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG Beta

2011-06-09T10:35:00.004-04:00

We've had various...interesting things...happening around the Kaiju Lair this week. I haven't had a chance to sort out the rest of the photos for the True20 Freeport campaign so I will try to work on more updates this weekend.

The big news of the week was the release of the Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG beta rules yesterday. I've been reading very encouraging words about the game pre-beta. Now that the beta rules are available I look forward to reading some good discussion about it. I find the idea of a modern system with an old-school sensibility very appealing. Add the use of some of the odd-size Zocchi dice into it, and the DDC RPG could be something special.

Upcoming books of interest

2011-06-07T10:30:00.004-04:00

Actually, this first book is available now. I should have mentioned it earlier. Edited by Otto Penzler, The Big Book of Adventure Stories purports to be the largest and best compilation of adventure stories inside one cover. It certainly contains the top names of pulp and adventure fiction: Jack London, O. Henry, H. Rider Haggard, Alastair MacLean, Harold Lamb, Talbot Mundy, Cornell Woolrich, Baroness Orczy, Rafael Sabatini, Philip Jose Farmer, Sax Rohmer, Louis L’Amour, H.G. Wells, Clark Ashton Smith, Fritz Leiber, and Robert E. Howard. Whew!

Check out that table of contents: the story that introduced The Cisco Kid; a Zorro story; the complete Burroughs novel Tarzan the Terrible; "To Serve Man"; and the first appearance of Buck Rogers.

The Conan story selection is intriguing. "The Devil in Iron" is good, but "Iron Shadows in the Moon" is a better, similar story. Penzler is legendary in the field, so I am interested in reading his justification for choosing "Devil".

A second book I'm looking forward to is Conan the Barbarian: The Stories that Inspired the Movie. This is an official publication by Del Rey, publishers of the Howard trade paperback library. It's due for release at the end of July as a mass market paperback listed at 304 pages. I wouldn't expect it to be illustrated except for perhaps a frontispiece and a map. So far, the contents haven't been released. Knowing the page counts of the stories and the expected page count of the book, there's some good guessing of the contents going on at the official forum. If it does turn out to be a true "best of Conan" compilation, it should make a great inexpensive entry for first-time Howard readers.

The ephemeral nature of the RPG experience

2011-06-03T10:38:00.000-04:00

I had planned for another post on my True20 Freeport campaign report for today but I'm still sorting through photos. I'll be working on that over the weekend.

In the meantime, check out this post over at Age of Ravens. Lowell traces the Japanese concept of mono no aware (the ephemeral nature of things) from the short life span of insects through to role-playing games. It's a look at how we remember those fleeting in-game experiences and how they live on in memory after their moment has passed.

What are some of your gaming memories--good or bad--that have stuck with you over the years?

Cult Classic of the Week: Alphaville (1965)

2011-06-01T10:00:00.002-04:00

Jean-Luc Godard was one of the leading filmmakers of the movement known as the French New Wave. The style and techniques used in Breathless (1960), his first feature, changed the landscape of cinema forever. As his career progressed, his politics tended to overshadow his technique. Along with Contempt (1963), Alphaville might be one of Godard's more conventional films.

American ex-pat actor Eddie Constantine found his niche portraying the private eye Lemmy Caution in a series of low-budget French crime films produced during the 1950s and early '60s, and based on the work of 1930s British writer Peter Cheyney. Even in other movies, the gruff, no-nonsense personality of the Lemmy Caution character carried over because of his popularity.

In true Godard fashion, Alphaville: A Strange Adventure of Lemmy Caution is a departure from the norm: an existential sci-fi noir/private eye film. Instead of Cold War Europe, the film finds Caution in a nebulous future era. He's sent by the Outer Countries to the technological "utopia" of Alphaville to find a missing scientist. Using his cover as a journalist, he makes his way through various levels of the bureaucracy (technocracy?), making contact with another undercover agent and falling in love with the scientist's daughter. That doesn't stop Caution from using her to get to the heart of Alphaville, the sentient computer Alpha-90. It's a battle of love and poetry versus the cold calculating logic of the machine that controls an entire population--and wants to expand that control to the Outer Countries.

I say "nebulous future", because it's unclear just exactly when or where the action takes place. Caution mentions being a veteran of Guadalcanal, which puts him in the post-war 20th century. He drives what looks like an early-'60s Mustang. The streets have other motor cars and buildings that would be at home in 1960s Paris, albeit futuristic modern architecture fitting the story.

However, there is the geopolitical question: what are the "Outer Counties"? Is "Nueva York" New York City? Where is Alphaville located? The weather and daylight are different from the north side to the south side. I like to think that it's an isolated island city-state in the middle of the Atlantic, based on the night scenes of driving to and from Alphaville, filmed on long streetlight-lit straight roads.

But then there is the talk about "galaxies". Lemmy's car is a "Ford Galaxy". Alpha-90 speaks about Caution traveling "light-years" across "open space". Caution is offered control of at least one "galaxy" in exchange for his cooperation. Because of the anachronistic mix of words and images, I believe that one possible reading of the film is that it's all a fever dream; it only exists in the mind of the Lemmy Caution from his other films, a nightmare brought on by the ever-increasing danger and loss of identity in the post-war atomic age.

I'm not sure that it really matters if the story is set on Earth or if Alphaville is another planet. Godard is playing with the conventions of the pulp/noir film drama, mixing in his own meditations of life, the meaning of art, beauty, and what it means to be human in an increasingly tech-driven consumer-focused society where the people move in circles and more words are removed from the "bible" (a dictionary) every day. It's very much in the same realm as other science-fiction dystopias as 1984, Brave New World, and films from Soylent Green to Blade Runner. It was also one of the inspirations for the name of this blog.

I watched Alphaville using streaming Netflix. The Criterion Collection released it very early on DVD (with only a liner notes essay, available online) although it appears to be out-of-print currently. I'm not sure if Criterion still the rights. If so, I hope they consider updating this title to a proper special edition on DVD or Blu-ray. Many of Eddie Constantine's other Lemmy Caution films are available from Sinister Cinema.

Another consideration for Conan RPG rules

2011-05-30T10:00:00.002-04:00

I mentioned before that I have been looking at systems to use for a Hyborian Age campaign eventually; something that matches up to the weird pulp fantasy feeling one gets when reading Howard (and Lovecraft, and Smith, and Leiber...).

D. and I were talking recently about Labyrinth Lord, and I also want to check out OpenQuest. I need to investigate the damage dice variation for Action Cards, too.

Now, another possibility: Stuart at Strange Magic will be following up on his excellent Weird West RPG with Weird Fantasy. So many good choices!

100 Years of Vincent Price

2011-05-27T12:00:00.000-04:00

He certainly deserves more than just this brief posting, but I couldn't let the 100th anniversary of Vincent Price's birth go by without commemoration.

One of my favorite actors--and one of the greats from the second generation of horror movie icons, among such company as Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee (also born on May 27th). Price was born on this date in St. Louis, Missouri in 1911.

Cinema St. Louis has been celebrating this past week with their Vincentennial: exhibits of artifacts, artwork, lectures and presentations, and screenings of 20 Price films. Check out the program guide here.

I couldn't make it to the Vincentennial, but I could probably host a reasonable facsimile here in the Kaiju Lair with our collection of Price DVDs. I'll try to spin one over the holiday weekend--or check out a movie I don't have via streaming Netflix.

True20 Freeport campaign wrap-up, part 2

2011-05-25T00:01:00.000-04:00

For the next few campaign wrap-up postings, I'd like to show some photos taken during the game. I'll also include scans of some maps and my notes. See the first part of my Shadows over Freeport wrap-up here.

March 2008: My gaming area after the character creation session and before the "official" first session. I added a four-foor table to the end where I sit to allow more room for the players and my notes and other items.

May 2009: The party fights their way through degenerate serpent people on the fourth level of the sunken Temple of Yig, buried under the volcanic rock of Mount A'Val. This location was taken from the module Madness in Freeport, the final chapter of The Freeport Trilogy.

Down to the fifth level of the Temple of Yig.

At the base of the temple, the sixth level, the group splits up to fight more degenerate serpent people in the corridor while others take on the awakened Avatar of Yig who had been sleeping in the sacrificial pit.

Another view of the battle. The worm miniature shown here is far below scale (so is the map); the Avatar was closer to 70 feet long. The d10 in the background marked the location of the only intact egg found in the hatchery.

Cult Classic of the Week: First Men in the Moon (1964)

2011-05-21T13:59:00.001-04:00

1963 was a good year for Ray Harryhausen. One of his most popular films, Jason and the Argonauts, was in general release; he married his wife Diana; and pre-production started on his next film, First Men in the Moon.

In the late 1950s and 60s, studios produced many films that we could call "Victorian science-fiction adventure" -- Journey to the Center of the Earth, The Time Machine and 20,000 Leagues under the Sea are some examples. The advance of special effects techniques and widescreen Technicolor processes allowed filmmakers to realize these fantastic worlds on the screen in a realistic way as never before.

First Men in the Moon was a departure from other science fiction films of the era. Rather than an invasion of Earth by aliens, it documents the exploration of an alien civilization by human beings. Harryhausen was a fan of H.G. Wells' book and had wanted to bring it to the screen for some time (the last film production having been made in 1919) but was unable to convince his partner, producer Charles Schneer, that it could be done in a way that modern audiences would believe.

That changed when he mentioned the idea to British screenwriter Nigel Kneale (creator of the character Professor Quatermass). Kneale proposed the idea of a wrap-around story, in which a modern UN lunar mission finds a tattered Union Jack on the surface and a note claiming the Moon for Queen Victoria. Schneer signed Kneale on to co-write the screenplay.

Unlike most Harryhausen films there are only three instances of stop-motion animation: the caterpillar-like "mooncalf", a Selenite technician and the Grand Lunar, the leader of the Selenites. The majority of visual effects are models, camera effects, forced perspective, and optical-printing layers of mattes together. The majority of the insect-like Selenites are portrayed by children in costume (the same technique used later in The Green Slime).

First Men in the Moon is a fun movie. It's very much in the vein of other family adventure films of the era like Journey to the Center of the Earth. I don't recall ever seeing First Men... on TV growing up, certainly not as often as Journey... was shown.

I watched the 2002 DVD release. The print used for the DVD looks good, and is presented in anamorphic widescreen. The DVD also includes a photo gallery, trailers for First Men... and two Harryhausen Sinbad films, a three-minute featurette on the optical print/stop-motion process Dynamation, and the hour-long bio The Harryhausen Chronicles.

Trailer with John Landis commentary available at Trailers From Hell.

Cult Classic of the Week: Silverado (1985)

2011-05-14T23:58:00.004-04:00

I had not seen Silverado until this past week. It was popular at the time of its release, particularly among the gaming and movie geeks I knew at the time. I just never got around to seeing it at the theater or on video.

After surviving a pre-credits ambush, ex-con Emmett (Scott Glenn) meets Paden (Kevin Kline) in the desert, left for dead by the bandits who stole his horse, hat and gun. They catch up with the bandits at a cavalry outpost, where they also encounter Cobb (Brian Dennehy), who used to run with Paden in earlier lawless days. Cobb offers Paden work, which he refuses. Emmett and Paden continue on to Turley to find Emmett's younger brother Jake (Kevin Costner) so they can both travel on to California. While in Turley they meet Mal (Danny Glover), an African-American gunfighter who left work in the stockyards of Chicago to find his family. Mal is thrown out of town by the sheriff (John Cleese) and the other three escape after busting Jake out of jail. The four of them find their way to Silverado where the son of the cattle baron Emmett killed in self-defense and Sheriff Cobb (something he forgot to mention to Paden earlier) control the town with intimidation and violence.

Lawrence Kasdan directed, produced and co-wrote the movie along with his brother. I wonder if there's a parallel between the Kasdan brothers and the characters of brothers Jake and Emmett: which one is the solid, steady loner, and which is the talented but wild and undisciplined one?

Kasdan had struck gold with several hit films before this. He completed the screenplay of The Empire Strikes Back with Leigh Brackett, wrote and directed Body Heat, wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark and Return of the Jedi, and wrote, directed and produced The Big Chill.

There seem to be two schools of thought among movie buffs concerning Silverado. One viewpoint holds that Kasdan works too close to the old line in the Western genre. The movie uses many of the classic Western movie cliches but doesn't do anything new with them. The second opinion is that it's Kasdan's adherence to these tropes that are its strength. Silverado is really one of the Last Great Westerns of the classic Hollywood studio era. There wouldn't be another major Western until Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven in 1992, which would then usher in a new round of Westerns including Tombstone and Kasdan's Wyatt Earp (again with Costner) in 1993.

I agree with the second viewpoint. It does use many classic Western tropes we have seen before but they are used here in a new way. Not in the revisionist way that we saw in Westerns of the 1970s--many of the Hollywood Westerns in the 1970s portrayed the End of the West as a historical idea but also as the End of the Hollywood System and the rise of independent filmmakers, heavily influenced by the spaghetti Westerns of Italy and Spain.

Silverado is a return to the ideas of the '40s, '50s and early '60s Hollywood Western. It's idealistic but not sappy, fun but not comedic. The events of the film and the obstacles put in the paths of our heroes are taken seriously by the characters (and by the film itself) even though there is still an optimistic tone that is reminiscent of the best classic Westerns. The difference is that here Kasdan is using a more modern method of storytelling that really became standard in Hollywood films at the end of the Eighties. We have multiple heroes with multiple storylines going at once and we see how these threads spread out and converge again. Kasdan uses classic filming shots and camera setups with a more modern story and editing style to create a new "old" Western. I understand the argument of its detractors, but the film has such heart and is such fun to watch. The four lead actors--most of them fairly early in their careers--really shine and work well together. I especially enjoy the fun and youthful Kevin Costner seen here, in contrast to the more serious demeanor he displays in much of his later work.

Silverado is also notable for the construction of the largest standing Western town set up to that time (later destroyed by fire during the filming of Will Smith's Wild Wild West, also co-staring Kevin Kline) which was re-dressed to portray both the towns of Turley and Silverado.

I watched Silverado using Instant Netflix. The menu screen suggests that it's in HD, although I couldn't tell if Netflix used a high-def transfer or the DVD transfer. The film is also available on 2-disc DVD and Blu-ray with several great extras, including a commentary track by Western historians.

See the theatrical trailer here.

Shadows Over Freeport: True20 campaign wrap-up

2011-05-10T00:12:00.002-04:00

It's been a little over two weeks since our Freeport campaign finished up. Freeport is Green Ronin's fantasy/pirates/Lovecraftian horror setting. The main book is systemless and GR has released or licensed rules companions for most of the major systems. We used GR's True20 system.

In total, we had sixty game sessions over three years and two months of real time. The final three sessions involved the party fighting a group of skeletal pirates at the bottom of the ocean, exploring a pyramid temple of serpent people on a sunken island while looking for the lost treasure of the legendary Captain Francisco, and fighting Deep Ones and their god who was imprisoned within the temple.

I'm still putting together my thoughts about the campaign. I think everyone enjoyed it. I often second-guess my game-mastering style, so I try to look over how the sessions went and what things I can improve on for the future.

Some ideas so far:

Talking with my hands: I tend to use my hands quite a bit when I talk. I hope that it isn't too distracting, but I'd like to cut down on it.

Speaking about the environment from my perspective: During this campaign, I noticed myself doing this and I tried not to make it a habit. When I describe a scene or location, I imagine it from the players' perspective and try to describe it as such. Unfortunately, I sometimes use directions from my point-of-view; that is, if I describe a tunnel to the left of the party, I would talk as if it was on my left--the opposite viewpoint of the party--which could get confusing for them. Perhaps even worse were the couple of times that I drew out maps on our miniatures grid mat facing me instead of the players.

Forgetting to use NPCs in combat: Often I found that I would forget about the allied NPCs that were with the party during combat. Usually I would have the NPCs take their actions before any of the group's adversaries. Missing their turns was never a determining factor in any of the combats so it wasn't an important issue but it could have lead to more interesting scenes. In my defense, one of my general guidelines is that NPC allies should never upstage the player characters.

Spending time looking up obscure rules: Part of this campaign's purpose was to try out True20, kick the tires and see how it works under actual play conditions. I'm still thinking about that and how it went. What I'd like to avoid is spending valuable time checking rules. At its heart, True20 is simple: roll a d20, add an attribute, and roll against a target number. With the additions of the Companion book, the Freeport Companion, the Bestiary, and the Handbooks for each of the three classes, there were some occasions where it became necessary to look something up. I was often torn between wanting to get the rules right and making a temporary ruling so that play would not slow down.

Not enough detail vs. too much detail: This is a tricky one. I tried to add enough detail to descriptions to make the campaign world seem real but without overwhelming the players with detail that wasn't significant to the game. I can recall describing some less-important NPCs with only the barest details.

These are only a few items that I've been thinking about. I'm sure I'll come back to this later. The next post about the Freeport campaign will have some photos of miniatures, maps and terrain from various important scenes. I also want to post some scans of my notes, charts and other notebook jottings.

Gaming blogroll update

2011-05-09T06:56:00.000-04:00

I've been meaning to do this for some time now: I converted the majority of static links on my gaming blog list to an auto-updating blogroll. You'll find it at the bottom of the left sidebar. It's not complete so I'll be adding more as time goes on.

To new (and current) followers of the blog, thank you! I hope you find what I post here interesting and useful.

Cult Classic of the Week: Reptilicus (1961/1962)

2011-05-05T23:58:00.001-04:00

Reptilicus is a bizarre little movie. It's no wonder that clips of the monster were used as stock footage during the more chaotic moments on The Monkees' television show. Being the only Danish giant monster film, it was quite popular in its home country. I do remember it being shown on TV quite a bit when I was a kid, although I only remember seeing it fully once or twice. I remember it mostly from those clips on The Monkees.

High about the Arctic Circle (in a sunny tree-filled forest), a group of copper miners collect core samples from below the permafrost. The drill bit comes back up with thick leathery flesh caught in the threads... and fresh blood. Scientists from the Danmarks Aquarium are sent to inspect and dig up the fossil--or whatever is down there. They find part of a giant prehistoric reptile's tail. Keeping the sample frozen, they ship it back to the aquarium for study. The freezer door is left open one night, and it's discovered that the thawing tail is still alive and regenerating. Later, two UN representatives join them: a stern US brigadier general and a beautiful female scientist from UNESCO. Just in time, too, as the combination of increased nutrient flow and an electrical storm cause the regeneration to rapidly accelerate...

The real-life drama behind the making of the film is perhaps more entertaining than the movie itself. American producer/director Sid Pink developed the idea for the story, and co-wrote the screenplay with novelist and screenwriter Ib Melchior (who was born in Copenhagen). Pink set up production for the film in and around Copenhagen. The original version was filmed in the Danish language by Danish director Poul Bang and released there in 1961.

Pink directed the English version for American-International Pictures--twice. The first English version was filmed with many of the same actors, none of whom spoke English. They recited their lines in English phonetically. The execs at AIP, particularly Sam Arkoff, hated it. They had the film re-cut, with American voice actors dubbing the lines in English. They still had to match the stilted mouth movements of the Danish actors, however.

Several scenes and parts of scenes were cut for the AIP release, including the infamous Reptilicus flying scene. It's set at night so the crude nature of the effects work isn't as obvious. Compared to the rest of the creature effects in the movie, the flying scene really isn't that bad. The model for Reptilicus itself appears to be a marionette puppet.

One aspect of the film that was kept is the inclusion of popular Danish comedian Dirch Passer. He plays the night watchman hired on to keep an eye on the frozen Reptilicus tail in the aquarium. His scenes are played for laughs, of course. The officer he talks to at the police station was one of his frequent comedy collaborators.

For the AIP release, Reptilicus' green acid slime spit was added. This takes the form of hand-drawn animation added into scenes where the monster attacks crowds at the beach or on the streets of Copenhagen. Apparently many, many locals were used for the crowd scenes, and members of the Danish military and their equipment were provided for the films use. These scenes and the stock footage are carefully edited together. It's really not bad at all for a lower-budget production. And, as previously noted, it was a source of pride for the Danish people.

Before the monster attacks, the American general accompanies his Danish counterpart and the UNESCO representative for a drive and a night on the town. This part seems almost as if someone slipped a tour package film into this monster movie. For someone who seemed to hate his new assignment at first, the brigadier general now appears to know all about the history, architecture and public sculpture of Copenhagen.

I watched the out-of-print Midnite Movies DVD from MGM. The print used is in decent shape, considering the history of the film. The film was shot in 1.37:1 35mm, so the DVD is full screen and non-anamorphic. You can also watch the 10-minute version. For more details, I recommend the reviews and background at Jabootu's Bad Movie Dimension or The Monster Shack. It's goofy fun, and really inspires the viewer to provide an ongoing MST3K-style commentary.

Conan (2011) Theatrical Trailer

2011-05-05T13:39:00.006-04:00

The first theatrical trailer for Conan was released into the wilds of the internet yesterday. I'll have more to say about it later after I've watched it a few more times. I will say that, based on just one viewing, I'm slightly more encouraged about the film than before.

There's some talk that this trailer will be attached to Thor when it's released this weekend. If not, it should be.

Loud speakers warning: the video starts playing as soon as the page loads up.

http://movies.yahoo.com/summer-movies/conan-the-barbarian/1809953260

Cult Classic of the Week: 18 Bronzemen (1976)

2011-04-27T23:35:00.000-04:00

Joseph Kuo was one of the leading independent directors of Hong Kong kung fu movies. Mystery of Chess Boxing, Blazing Temple and 7 Grandmasters are considered his best work. Before those films, one of his early successes was 18 Bronzemen.

Set during the Manchu invasion, 18 Bronzemen opens with an attack on the household of a notable Ming general. The general is killed, and his infant son Shao Long is passed into a family of Ming loyalists, where he begins kung fu training and brutal beatings to give him strength. The Manchu continue to terrorize the surviving Mings, and so the boy is sent to the safety of the Shaolin Temple for further training. Before his training can be considered complete he must pass through the 36 Chambers and face the 18 Bronzemen, or die in the attempt...

This was one of several kung fu films to focus on the Shaolin Temple and the 36 Chambers of testing in particular, two years before Lau Kar-Leung's famous The 36th Chamber of Shaolin. The success of this film would lead to two sequels (well, same actors, different characters...): Return of the 18 Bronzemen and the aforementioned Blazing Temple (8 Masters). Carter Wong (Thunder from Big Trouble in Little China) plays the "big brother" role, the serious student who helps the bumbling Shao Long through his training.

For an independent film of the time, the production quality is fairly high. The sets of the Temple, especially the training areas, are impressive. The town setting must have been filmed at one of the studio backlots, but is very effective, and the teahouse fight scene is really good. Carter Wong's fight scenes are the highlight of the film.

One lingering question: What are the 18 Bronzemen? Automatons? Shaolin masters in gold paint?

The first two-thirds of the movie--involving the Temple and the training--work the best. Once they leave, the film starts to fall apart. It's almost as if it's rushing to move the story along. The editing of some scenes can leave the viewer wondering who people are and what is going on. I think that's a problem both with the dubbing and with cultural differences. When Polly Shang first appears, it is implied that she is disguised as a man and Shao Long is fooled by the disguise, although to the viewer it's obvious that she isn't. I got it, that it's a cultural convention for these types of stories, but the casual viewer might take it literally. There's also one of the worst jump-cuts I've seen in a kung fu film, where the fight between our heroes and the Manchu warlord goes from a city street to a mountain valley in one cut.

Odd story and editing choices aside, the film is worth seeing as a great example of the independent kung fu films outside the major studios (i.e., Shaw Brothers) and the early "old-school" productions.

I watched the Tai Seng/Mei Ah DVD released in 2002 with Mandarin dialogue and English subtitles. It can also be viewed in 10-minute parts on YouTube.

Upcoming DVD releases

2011-04-23T21:34:00.000-04:00

I haven't been keeping up with DVD release news for about five weeks now, so -- wouldn't you know it? -- that's the time when there are some big announcements.

Hammer fans can now get the DVD of The Creatures the World Forgot from Sony's Screen Classics Manufactured-On-Demand series. The last of the three prehistoric epics from Hammer (including One Million Years B.C. and When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth), Creatures... is notable for the near-total lack of dialogue. The story is told through the actions of the characters (no stop-motion dinosaurs, either). It was released on VHS years ago but has only been available recently as a download or streaming rental through Amazon Video on Demand.

The Warner Archive continues rolling out great films from the vault through their MOD program. One of the latest releases is the Rankin/Bass-produced film The Last Dinosaur, which has special effects by Tsuburaya Productions. From the IMDB:

Science has announced the discovery of a lost land hidden inside the warm pocket of a dormant volcano under the polar ice cap. Masten Thrust, a billionaire oil tycoon and big-game hunter, is recruited to lead a team there to study the last living dinosaurs. Upon arriving, Thrust and his team find that the hidden world is populated with both dinosaurs and prehistoric humans. While the humans give the explorers a fair bit of trouble, the real danger is the hungry tyrannosaur intent on making lunch out of the Great White Hunter and his crew.

This was originally planned as a theatrical release but was shown in the US as a TV-movie. I only remember vague mentions of this; I don't believe I ever saw it on TV.

Speaking of MOD discs, Sony has made an agreement with Warner Brothers to sell their Screen Classics on Demand from the Warner Archive web store. It makes sense -- Warner Archive has become the MOD powerhouse among the studios and (even better) Warner Archive has regular sales and coupon codes. MGM's own foray into the made-on-demand business had some false starts with Amazon, although it appears that MGM MOD discs are being made available now through Screen Archives Entertainment, the fine folks who bring us Film Score Monthly limited edition soundtrack CDs and other treasures.

Legend Films has released various movies from the Paramount back-catalog, and on May 3rd we get an excellent British horror treat: a Blu-ray double-feature of Hammer's The Man who Could Cheat Death and Amicus Productions' The Skull. Legend released these two on DVD previously. Severin Films has Amicus' The House That Dripped Blood in prep for eventual release.

Some of the out-of-print single-disc Midnite Movies from MGM appear to be back this month, albeit in a different form. Cover photos were spotted at DVDPlanet (and apparently available on Amazon). There are at least two four-movie sets. One has Morons From Outer Space/Alien From L.A./The Man From Planet X/The Angry Red Planet, the other includes The Land That Time Forgot/The People That Time Forgot/Panic In Year Zero/The Last Man On Earth (that's a steal at $10). Let's hope MGM/Fox re-packages some of the other OOP Midnite Movies titles. It appears that a few single-movie MM discs are on the way from their MOD program.

Public domain-content provider Film Chest has restored and released Roger Corman's 1963 film The Terror as a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. The movie was made in a matter of days using the magnificent sets left over from Corman's Poe film The Raven, and extra time left on Boris Karloff's contract. It's impressive considering the circumstances of the shoot. I have a soft spot for The Terror, as I remember it being a staple of Saturday afternoons as a kid. If one of the Corman Poe films were being shown, it was likely to be The Terror -- probably due to its public-domain status. With this high-def release it gets the restoration it deserves.

Finally, there has been some buzz about an official DVD release of Godzilla vs. Megalon. As with The Terror, Megalon has been a mainstay of public-domain releases. Nearly every PD video company put out a cheap VHS tape during the '80s and '90s. So far it appears to be speculation. I'm sure there is more to the story, and like many others I hope we see an official release soon.

Elisabeth Sladen, RIP

2011-04-19T23:12:00.008-04:00

We learned today (thanks to Norbert) that Elisabeth Sladen, who portrayed Sarah Jane Smith on Doctor Who and The Sarah Jane Chronicles, passed away at the age of 63.

There have been a number of obituaries and tributes posted, all of which do more justice than I could. You will find that the thread running though all of them is her graciousness, talent, humor and class, and the genuine affection for her from the fans and those who worked with her.

** Update: these three are some of the more touching tributes on the web **
Newsarama: Elisabeth "Sarah Jane" Sladen, Queen of Companions, RIP

Kasterborous: Elisabeth Sladen

Kasterborous: Goodbye, Sarah Jane Smith
**
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-13137674

http://blogtorwho.blogspot.com/2011/04/elisabeth-sladen-1948-2011.html

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2011/04/dwn190411204508-elisabeth-sladen-1948.html

http://www.doctorwhonews.net/2011/04/dwn190411134512-elisabeth-sladen.html

http://www.kasterborous.com/2011/04/elisabeth-sladen-rip-1948-2011/ (includes video tributes)

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ElisabethSladen

Many Who fans talk about "their" Doctor--the actor they grew up watching. I remember watching Doctor Who on WTTW-11, the PBS station in Chicago. I saw some of the later Jon Pertwee episodes, most of the Tom Baker episodes and Peter Davidson shows, and a handful of the Sylvester McCoy shows. Tom Baker's first episode, "Robot", might have been my first. My favorites were Pertwee and Baker, and Baker was always "my" Doctor. Sarah Jane was almost everyone's favorite Companion.

Elisabeth Sladen and Third Doctor Jon Pertwee

Elisabeth Sladen and Fourth Doctor Tom Baker

Rules for a Conan RPG

2011-04-13T01:05:00.003-04:00

A few weeks ago, Mrs. Kaiju was chatting with a friend and former colleague. He said that he would be interested if I planned to run a Conan RPG in the future. I haven't talked to him for a while, and I was very flattered that he suggested it.

Our current Freeport campaign will be wrapping up soon, although I'm not sure when I might be able to start up another campaign. He is also starting his own game very soon.

There are several RPG settings that I would like to run. Freeport was one of those, and the Hyborian Age of Conan is at the top of the list. We had great fun in the game(s) that S. ran. I've been putting together background notes for a Conan game since at least 2005, and regularly think about ideas for it. It's the setting that I feel most comfortable with running, particularly for improv riffing and winging it. In my mind, it's as real as any fantasy setting could be.

The uncertain part of my planning has always been what rules system to use. At various points I've considered:

Dungeons & Dragons 3.x (or some flavor of d20)
GURPS 3rd Edition
True20
Unisystem
Basic Roleplaying System
Savage Worlds
Mongoose RuneQuest

There are four main points that I'm looking for in a rules system:

Rules that play quickly and resolve smoothly. In my experience, the best RPG moments involve the storyline and the interaction of all the players, not necessarily crunching numbers. The suspense of a crucial die roll or card flip is great, and can ratchet up the tension. That's not what I'm referring to here. I'd rather that the rules help facilitate the role-play rather than cause us to spend time looking up obscure rules in several books. I've tried to be better about making a ruling and moving on, and looking it up later, but I still need practice in that area.

Rules that simulate pulp action. Howard's Conan stories are prototypical sword-and-sorcery and firmly rooted in the pulp tradition. Pulp action, in an RPG, should have that over-the-top feeling. "Cinematic" is used often when referring to RPG rules. I think pulp is similar. The PCs should be heroic, in the sense that they are better than the average human in abilities. Pulp generally follows what is often called "gritty", as it's more human-focused than the usual fantasy setting with elves, dwarves, orcs and the like. I'm also very enamored with some of the mechanics from the pulp RPG Spirit of the Century, especially the idea of Aspects. I'd like to use that or something with the same literary style to play up the trappings of the genre.

Give a variable level of "crunch" to those who want it. I would like to use a system that allows players some latitude on how detailed they want their stats and special abilities to be. It should be simple for the players to add extra detail to their characters, as add-ons (feats, special abilities, etc.) beyond the standard, if they wish to do so.

In-print and available or, even better, free? Used copies of out-of-print rulebooks are possible to find, although it can make things complicated. It's much easier if the books or documents required to play are readily available, particularly if the game is currently in print and actively supported by both the publisher and the fan community. Additionally, I do not want players to feel that they need to buy books in order to play. Players may want their own rulebook or player's guide but it shouldn't be necessary. I can make table copies available. Even better if the system is free to download, where as many copies as needed can be printed for all.

Currently l'm considering:

A retro-clone? Swords & Wizardry, Labyrinth Lord, Castles & Crusades, OSRIC... one of the old-school games might give the proper vibe. Related to this is ZeFRS, the free retro-clone version of TSR's Conan rules.

Shadow, Sword & Spell. I first learned about this system from Zach's posts on RPGBlogII, and I was so impressed by his comments about it that it was number one on my list to investigate at Gen Con last year. It's a human-centric sword-and-sorcery RPG with Howard, Lovecraft, Smith and Leiber as direct influences.

OpenQuest d100. I have experience with Basic Roleplaying as the system behind Call of Cthulhu, and its use in RuneQuest seems like a good system for pulp fantasy. OpenQuest is a project to create an open d100-based fantasy RPG using the RuneQuest SRD along with the best ideas from Chaosium's RuneQuest and Stormbringer.

Crypts & Things. A recent development from the folks that brought us OpenQuest; a Swords & Wizardry variant using house rules, changes and additions to promote a pulp fantasy feel to the game.

Maybe even Action Cards?

Plenty to think about...

Update: I forgot to mention Barbarians of Lemuria in the list above. I haven't read it yet, although it has received great reviews.

Cult Classic of the Week: House (1977)

2011-04-09T18:57:00.001-04:00

This week's review is a step outside my usual random picks. I had wanted to watch House for some time now, and as I was returning one disc to Netflix, I added House to my queue at #1 to get it in time for the weekend.

I've been a fan of Japanese film and pop culture for as long as I can remember. House was a hit sensation in Japan, although somehow I had never read anything about it until it was released on DVD and Blu-ray recently by The Criterion Collection.

I'm not sure if this is the strangest or weirdest film I have ever seen, but it may be in the top five. I'm not qualified to decide if it is the strangest film ever produced (I still haven't seen Jodorowsky's Holy Mountain yet). Somehow, I doubt it.

Here's the synopsis from Criterion:

How to describe Nobuhiko Obayashi’s indescribable 1977 movie House (Hausu)? As a psychedelic ghost tale? A stream-of-consciousness bedtime story? An episode of Scooby-Doo as directed by Mario Bava? Any of the above will do for this hallucinatory head trip about a schoolgirl who travels with six classmates to her ailing aunt’s creaky country home and comes face-to-face with evil spirits, a demonic house cat, a bloodthirsty piano, and other ghoulish visions, all realized by Obayashi via mattes, animation, and collage effects. Equally absurd and nightmarish, House might have been beamed to Earth from some other planet. Never before available on home video in the United States, it’s one of the most exciting cult discoveries in years.

That says it all, really. I especially like the part about being beamed from another planet. I've used that analogy before when talking about some foreign films, and that's how it felt sometimes watching Japanese giant monster films -- or Italian crime dramas, or Russian fairy tale movies -- late at night on out-of-town UHF TV stations. "What is this? Is anyone else seeing what I'm seeing?" It's comforting to see this as a response from someone else.

Is it a love story? Is it a cautionary tale? Is it nothing more than a fun haunted-house romp? I'm still not sure I can answer that. I found the film fascinating to watch, particularly the different camera tricks and special effects used, the music, and the editing. The first half of the movie seemed much more strange and unique. Perhaps, with the distance of time and all of the other films that have used House as inspiration, some of the later elements didn't appear as fresh to me. This is not a criticism of the movie itself, as I feel that a work should be judged in the context of the time it was created.

If you are looking for a unique film experience, enjoy Japanese film (particularly fantasy or horror), or are interested in film-making styles of the 1970s, take a look at House. I highly recommend the recently-created mini-documentary "Constructing a 'House'", featuring Obayashi and his daughter, included on the Criterion disc.

Link Cleanup

2011-04-07T13:40:00.001-04:00

I hope to have a chance this weekend to reorganize some of the site links on the left sidebar, which I've been wanting to change for a while. I will not remove any (and likely add more), only put them in more concise headings. I would also like to add a separate page with a gaming-related blogroll, however it doesn't appear that Blogger lets you drop widgets on a static page. I may have to dig deep for the coding and paste it into the HTML directly.

Michael Gough, RIP

2011-04-03T16:55:00.000-04:00

Although I'm late in commenting on this, I would be remiss if I did not mention that actor Michael Gough passed away on March 17th.

I'm prompted to do so because many of the news stories online have summed up his career with the phrase "...best know for his performance as Alfred the butler in the Burton/Schumacher Batman films..." That may be true in America and some other international markets, but he's also had a prolific and distinguished acting career on stage, screen and television.

His acting caught the eye of Sir Laurence Olivier, and he was cast in Olivier's film adaptation of Richard III, worked alongside Sir Alec Guinness in The Man in the White Suit and won the Tony Award for Best Actor in 1979. He could move from serious dramatic works to B-movies and back again. He appeared in many British horror films of the era, including his role as Arthur Holmwood in Horror of Dracula, the villainous D'Arcy in Phantom of the Opera, Horrors of the Black Museum, Konga, The Skull, The Curse of the Crimson Altar (The Crimson Cult) with Boris Karloff, Christopher Lee and Barbara Steele, The Legend of Hell House, and Dr. Terror's House of Horrors, among others.

On television, he appeared in Blakes' 7, The Avengers, Brideshead Revisited, Smiley's People, and several times on Doctor Who, most notably as The Celestial Toymaker.

In later years he appeared in the Batman films, Top Secret, Out of Africa, The Serpent and the Rainbow, The Age of Innocence, and Sleepy Hollow, just to name a few.

Cult Classic of the Week: Eyes Without a Face (1960)

2011-03-31T00:00:00.000-04:00

My experience with French cinema is fairly limited. I'm familiar with some of the main themes and leading filmmakers; I've seen some of the New Wave classics, like Breathless and Le Samouraï, and modern ones like Amelie. Still, I feel my knowledge of French film is lacking.

I'm grateful, then, that when I was researching Eyes Without a Face (Les Yeux sans Visage) I found film historian David Kalat's essay for the Criterion Collection DVD. Kalat covers the history of the film and the career of director Georges Franju, and some very good points about the French film industry at the time. It's a short essay, and recommended reading.

Eyes... follows the plans and experiments of a brilliant medical doctor, and his attempts to repair the horribly-scarred face of his daughter (in a car accident when he was driving) by transplanting the faces of unwilling young female donors. She is hidden away in his country house after having "escaped" from the hospital. One of the donors dies from her injuries and is dumped into the river by Dr. Génessier’s assistant. When her body is found, and the doctor is called in to identify the body, presumed to be his daughter, it's his chance to officially declare Christiane dead -- allowing him more time to perfect his transplantation techniques...

There are two points in Kalat's essay that I would like to elaborate on:

The key was in finding the right tone. Feuillade’s genius was in his affectless, matter-of-fact depictions of the wildest, pulpiest lunacy. Franju inverted the equation, while still juxtaposing the fantastique with the mundane, the impossible with the everyday. Franju was on record that “I’m led to give documentary realism the appearance of fiction.” Or, put another way: “Kafka becomes terrifying from the moment it is documentary. In documentary I work the other way round.” Any way you slice it, Franju was fixated on the seam between actuality and fantasy.

Part of what makes Eyes... so effective is this realism. I find the matter-of-fact, realistic style of film-making very compelling and unsettling, particularly for horror and suspense movies. It's the difference between The Blair Witch and Blair Witch 2, as an example. Eyes... doesn't flow in the same way as "horror" films from the time. Only the face transplant scene has any gore, and even then it's very tame by modern standards (looking more like grape jelly to me than blood). The film is much more ethereal with the ever-present darkness, fog and isolation. It adds to the effect of Dr. Génessier’s guilt and obsession. I think this is where we see some of the French film-making style in action.

Edith Scob had worked with Franju on Head Against the Wall in a small but memorable role, and the two became a team: Franju cast her in four more films after this one. Yes, Edith is beautiful and vulnerable, but beyond that she has an intangible air of mystery about her. Franju said of her: “She is a magic person. She gives the unreal reality.”

Scob's character Christiane is the key to the film. She drifts through the film as things happen around her, until the end when she acts, almost as an avenging angel, but gently.

In the U.S. Eyes... was cut slightly, evocatively re-titled The Horror Chamber of Dr. Faustus and run on a double-bill with the U.S./Japanese co-production The Manster.

Eyes Without a Face is available in an excellent special edition DVD from the Criterion Collection. This is the source of Netflix's streaming version, which is the method I used to watch it.

Happy 80th Birthday, Leonard Nimoy!

2011-03-26T15:23:00.000-04:00

Following on from Shatner's 80th this week, Leonard Nimoy turns 80 today. Although he was portrayed poorly with regards to a raise and increased creative influence on the Original Series, I've always liked Nimoy and I'm not alone in that. He projects professionalism in whatever project he is working on, and he's always been good to the fans; a real gentleman. One of my favorite non-Trek projects of his was the 1970s paranormal investigation TV show In Search Of... The credits music used to creep me out. Scary!

In the spirit of birthday wishes and good humor, take a little trip to the Shire for "The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins"...

Happy 80th Birthday, William Shatner!

2011-03-22T22:42:00.000-04:00

I've been woefully behind on my blog reading and blog posting for over a week now. A double whammy of flu and an important project deadline has keep me from the interwebs. I almost neglected to post something for both William Shatner's birthday and International Talk Like Shatner Day:

VIDEO: Celebrities Honor Talk Like William Shatner Day

80 Reasons Why William Shatner Is Awesome

See Winners & Finalists For Int’l Talk Like William Shatner Day Video Contest

Japan Earthquake/Tsunami Relief

2011-03-15T00:33:00.000-04:00

Some ways to help:

The Google Crisis Response page for the event lets you donate directly to the Japanese Red Cross.

Several Japanese popular culture writers, including Patrick Macias and August Ragone, are pointing to the Japan Society of New York's relief fund page, where "100% of your generous tax-deductible contributions will go to organization(s) that directly help victims recover".

On that same point, comics and animation writer Mark Evanier links to Operation USA, another organization who uses 100% of the donations for relief efforts.

DriveThruRPG and RPGNow are collecting $5 donations for the Red Cross.

The Comics Journal now online and the Frazetta family feud

2011-03-09T22:19:00.000-05:00

This week, the new online edition of The Comics Journal went live. It's sad to see another long-running print magazine disappear from the rack, although in this case it's still going in another medium.

I was surprised to see that the lead story for the first online "issue" was a piece on the on-going turmoil between the children of artist Frank Frazetta. I've written about his work here save for the family troubles after his wife's death and his passing. The situation was just too fluid for me to get a handle on although I tried to read the ongoing articles from the Pocano Record website.

I was very glad to read Levin's article "Goodbye To All That" as it's one of the best summations so far of a confusing mess, and I consider it a must-read for anyone interested in Frazetta specifically or even 20th-century illustration in general. I liked the parallel with the Barnes Museum fiasco, the idea of artists' wishes for their works, and I also generally enjoy autobiographical pieces when the subject at hand is contrasted with the feelings and events in the life of the author. On the other hand, I felt, like many others, that it was lacking. The author disclosed his lack of knowledge about his subject and, although Levin seems to have done some good research, it was puzzling to me that a leading comic book industry publication would assign such an article to someone without further knowledge or contacts.

Be sure to check the comments. One can assume that what was expected from some of the readership for this article was a more objective and up-to-date journalistic piece. The tone and voice changed at several points in the article. The most recent event noted was the sale of "Conan the Destroyer" in July 2010. Any word on what has happened with the family or the artwork since then? That may be the reason for the disappointment.

I might also suggest that the author's opinion of Frazetta's work may have discouraged some readers. For myself, I was taken aback by this comment:

"There was no indication that, even in his private moments, Frazetta accessed the quirky, personal corners of the mind that, for me, made art tingle."

Certainly the author is entitled to his opinion, but I'm not sure that the samples shown on the museum website should be representative of the artist's work as a whole. And these qualities were not seen in the published materials consulted for the article?

The books consulted for this piece may also play a role here. The original Ballantine collections are good, but, aside from the documentary DVD (2003), the most recent book in the list was published in 1994. The three volume retrospective from Underwood published from 1998 to 2008 should be the beginning point of any serious look at Frazetta's life and work.