15 games, 15 minutes

Following along with the gaming blog meme "15 Games in 15 Minutes", which I first spotted at Age of Ravens and later at Grognardia.

The rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen games you've played that will always stick with you. List the first 15 you can recall in no more than 15 minutes.

My list:

1. Dungeons & Dragons (1e, Mentzer Basic/Expert)
2. Call of Cthulhu (particularly 4th and 5th ed.)
3. Star Frontiers
4. Warhammer 40,000
5. GURPS (3rd ed.)
   
6. The Bard's Tale II (for the Amiga!)
7. TIE Fighter (PC)
   
8. Pitfall (Atari 2600)
9. Villains and Vigilantes
   
10. James Bond 007
11. Starcraft (PC)
12. Marvel Super Heroes (TSR, FASERIP)
13. Rolemaster
14. Tekken 2/3, Soul Caliber (PS2)
15. Tomb Raider (PS2)

Mostly tabletop gaming, but with a mix of console and computer games. The games in this list have meaning for me because they each could represent a particular stage in my (gaming) life. Also, these might represent different styles of play or design philosophy.

Happy Birthday, Bela Lugosi

The actor famous for his portrayal of Dracula was born 128 years ago today.

"Bela, how do you do that?"
"You must be double-jointed. And you must be Hungarian."

Jazz Age Culture for Call of Cthulhu players

Jazz Age Culture, parts I, II, and the Writers page, is a scholarly resource on 1920s popular culture, focused specifically on the United States. Aside from a few short articles, most of the site is a collection of links to other 1920s resources on the web loosely grouped by subject. Much of the information linked here would be of interest to Cthulhu 1920s players, including fashion, movies, gangsters, music, technology and inventions of the time. Where else would you find The Unofficial Tommy Gun Page? It is an excellent resource for historical research for both Keepers and players.

Update: The Jazz Age Culture pages have been moved to another site.

Vampire Circus release date

The Digital Bits is reporting that the release date for the Vampire Circus Blu-ray/DVD combo is December 14th. Of course, you can check it out right now through Instant Netflix.

The Red Box Diaries at The Escapist

This "escaped" me earlier -- about three weeks ago The Escapist Magazine had an issue devoted to the influence of Dungeons & Dragons on the videogame industry, timed to coincide with the release of the new "Red Box" 4th edition Starter Set. Articles in this issue include the story of a veteran computer gamer's first try at a tabletop role-playing game, and a look at the new Starter Set with Mike Mearls, who is now the full D&D manager at Wizards of the Coast.

I purchased the new "Red Box" the week it was released, partially for nostalgic reasons and partially with the hope that it would make a good introduction to 4e. I have mixed feelings on both counts which I'll share in a future posting.

Hammer horrors and others this month on Turner Classic Movies

Continuing the theme of Halloween movies, I just found out yesterday that Turner Classic Movies is showing Hammer films each Friday night this month. My apologies for not noticing earlier; the Dracula films were on October 1st. Check the link above for the main article and the movie listing.

Take a look at the rest of the schedule for more non-Hammer monster and suspense films throughout October, especially the three days of the Halloween weekend. Universal horrors from the '30s and '40s with Lionel Atwill, Boris Karloff or Bela Lugosi on Friday and Sunday, a block of William Castle films on Saturday, and Vincent Price and haunted house movies on Halloween itself.

For your Instant Netflix viewing pleasure...

The cool chill of autumn is in the air, which means that October is here. For me the tenth month has always meant Halloween and, perhaps more importantly, monster movies.

Here is a list of Showa-era Godzilla and Toho kaiju films that have been added recently to Instant Streaming Netflix:

Rodan (1956)
Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)
War of the Gargantuas (1966)
Godzilla vs. Mothra (1964)
Ghidorah: The Three Headed Monster (1964)
Terror of Mechagodzilla (1975)
Godzilla's Revenge (1969)

Also, from this thread at the Mobius Home Video Forum, a partial list of other horror and monster movies newly-added to Instant Netflix:

COUNT YORGA, VAMPIRE (1970)
THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA (1971)
VAMPIRE CIRCUS (1972)
HANDS OF THE RIPPER (1971)
IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (1958)
THE MONSTER THAT CHALLENGED THE WORLD (1957)
THE FOOD OF THE GODS (1976)
EMPIRE OF THE ANTS (1977)
TENTACLES (1977)
OCTAMAN (1971)
FUTUREWORLD (1976)
YONGARY, MONSTER FROM THE DEEP (1967)
THE VAMPIRE LOVERS (1970)
SOMETIMES THEY COME BACK (1991)
THE RETURN OF DRACULA (1958)
THE RAVEN (1963)
THE TOMB OF LIGEIA (1964)
THE LAST MAN ON EARTH (1964)
THE COMEDY OF TERRORS (1964)
DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN (1972)
TALES OF TERROR (1962)
WITCHFINDER GENERAL (1968)
THE AMITYVILLE HORROR (1976)
AMITYVILLE II: THE POSSESSION (1982)
AMITYVILLE 3D (1983)
TRANCERS 2: THE RETURN OF JACK DETH (1990)
ZONE TROOPERS (1985)
NIGHT DRIVE (1971)
AMOK TRAIN (1989)
GHOST WARRIOR (1986)
OPEN HOUSE (1987)
THE FALLING (1987)
THE IMMORTALIZER (1989)
THE VIDEO DEAD (1987)
VICIOUS LIPS (1987)
ROCKULA (1990)
NEW YEAR'S EVIL (1980)
DR. HECKYL AND MR. HYPE (1980)
DERANGED (1974)
CRAWLSPACE (1986)
CULT OF THE DAMNED (1969)
THE CRIMSON CULT (1968)
THE HAUNTING IN CONNECTICUT (2009)
CATACOMBS (2006)
SHAOLIN VS. EVIL DEAD (2004)
SHAOLIN VS. EVIL DEAD: ULTIMATE POWER (2006)
THE VAMPIRE (1957)
NEANDERTHAL MAN (1953)
THE TOMB (1986)
BLACK SABBATH (1963)
THE ANGRY RED PLANET (1959)
QUEEN OF BLOOD (1966)
THE BEAST WITHIN (1982)
ISLAND OF DR. MOREAU: DIRECTOR'S CUT (1977)
INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS (1977)
SQUIRM (1976)
VAMPIRE'S KISS (1989)
COUNTESS DRACULA (1971)
DIE MONSTER DIE! (1965)
THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN (1977)
FLOWERS IN THE ATTIC (1987)
CARRIE (1976)
THE DEAD HATE THE LIVING (2000)
LASERBLAST (1978)
LEVIATHAN (1989)
EVENT HORIZON (1997)
EDGE OF SANITY (1989)
THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT (1972)
SPHERE (1998)
HOUSE OF 9 (2005)
BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (1992)
THE DEVIL'S BACKBONE (2001)
THE GHOUL (1933)
FROM A WHISPER TO A SCREAM (1987)
INTRUDER (1989)
THE BURNING (1981)
THE INCREDIBLE TWO-HEADED TRANSPLANT (1971)
THE THING WITH TWO HEADS (1972)

Warner Archive Collection and The Green Slime

On Tuesday I was looking at Glenn Erickson's DVD Savant site when I saw his note about the email he received from George Feltenstein, VP of Warner Brothers' classic film catalog:

The Warner VP has hinted lately that many of the WB/MGM films on my Savant DVD Wish List will be popping up in the Warner Archive Collection, and five or six more desired titles did indeed surface this week: Atlantis the Lost Continent, The Power, Cleopatra Jones and the Casino of Gold and the Italian-American They Came to Rob Las Vegas. I wonder what hidden gems will be popping up for Halloween?

That last line had me curious. What other gems, indeed? I held out hope for some of the other great pre-1986 MGM films that are owned by WB, especially one I've been waiting on for quite a while.

That night I checked DVD Drive-In and found a confirmation. Listed at the top of the news, they announced that two '60s Italian sci-fi films, War of the Planets and Wild, Wild Planet, are due from the Warner Archive Collection in October, along with Kinji Fukasaku's Gamma dai sango--Uchu dai sakusen (Gamma III--Operation Outer Space), better known by the title The Green Slime.

A quick aside about the Warner Archive Collection -- various representatives from Warner Brothers Home Video have insinuated that they wish to release everything they have from their catalog titles, in some fashion. Last year they started the Archive Collection, a method of releasing catalog titles on DVD that may not have the commercial appeal to support pressed discs sold at retail. The Archive makes these lesser-known catalog titles available by direct download or on-demand DVD-Rs which are sold on their site and also through Amazon.com.













The first releases used a generic blue background package with a still or publicity photo on the covers. Sometime this year they started using the original poster art on most new offerings, and it appears that they have changed to this for some of the older releases as well. I'll write more about on-demand discs in a future posting.


The highlight of this for me is that The Green Slime will finally be available on a legal Region 1 DVD. On the Classic Horror Film Board, film historian Tom Weaver mentioned that he was told the disc source is a brand new anamorphic 2.35:1 scope master, scanned in HD from a "beautiful" inter-positive print.

Fukasaku, who would later become world-famous for his Yakuza films and Battle Royale, directed this at Toei Studios in a contentious collaboration with Italian and American (MGM Studios) producers. The shrinking budget and the shortened shooting schedule might show on screen, but this is still one of the great Japanese science-fiction films of the 60s, a psychedelic trip of bizarre aliens and outer space action.

"...struggle for survival in the infected remains of a diseased universe...Rated G."

The trailer makes a good mini-movie all by itself. I get a sense of Lovecraftian nihilism from it, but that suits the movie just fine. Also check out the commentary for the trailer by director John Landis over at Trailers From Hell.

Vampire Circus

As mentioned here at the beginning of May, Synapse Films has the DVD and Blu-Ray rights to several Hammer horror films that have not yet been released on disc in Region 1.

Synapse just announced to DVD Drive-In that Vampire Circus will be released as a Blu-Ray/DVD combo pack by the end of the year (scroll down the main page for the news story). There are some great bonus features included -- more than on many other Hammer discs.

I haven't seen Vampire Circus, I only know it by reputation and reading about it. This disc, and the others in the collection from Synapse, fill a glaring omission in the collection of available R1 Hammer films.

Today DVD Drive-In announced more great cult classics on the way to DVD, including one of my most wanted films -- more on that next time.

So long, Starlog, and thanks for all the fish

Another item from the Drafts bin. When Starlog ceased publication in April 2009, I had intended to write a short retrospective about it. I started writing this draft posting and gave it a suitably geeky cliche title (see above). I did not get around to finishing it.

I only needed to wait 17 months and, look, today James Maliszewski posted his own retrospective article on Grognardia, written more eloquently than I would have. Maliszewski's opinions match my own, more or less, although I do miss the magazine more than he does. Rather, I miss the idea of Starlog more than the print magazine, at least the way it was in the 70s/80s. I haven't picked one up since the very early 90s. By then there were more outlets for fandom information, and Starlog became more slick and glossy but with less substance -- much in the same way that Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood used to report on film production news.

I liked the homegrown fanzine feel of the early issues. A large percentage of pages were given over to classic Golden Age sci-fi and fantasy then, with the sort of articles that you now only see in Filmfax. I remember the multi-issue serialization of "Who Goes There?" by John W. Campbell, Jr. and part of David Gerrold's first Chtorr book.

Another important aspect of Starlog was its use as a source for new sci-fi and fantasy movie news. An issue might have one or two still photos and a short article on the making of a new movie, and then we would have to wait another month for more news, another still or some production art. Quite a contrast from today, when any leaked movie news is blogged, Flickr'd or Tweeted around the world almost instantly. It's great having more and more fan news available, but I believe we may have lost something special in the process.

As noted in the comments for that story on Grognardia, blogger John Z. has been reviewing every issue of Starlog -- take a look at the archive for The Starlog Project.

The more things change...

Red Letter Media review of Star Trek 2009

Red Letter Media, the folks who brought you the video reviews of the Star Wars prequels, is back this week with their video review of J.J. Abrams' Star Trek. The character of "Harry Plinkett" seems to have some affection for the film, which is quite different from the way he feels about the Next Generation movies and the Star Wars prequels. He still manages to take a biting look at its flaws, and gives an explanation as good as anything else I've seen about how Hollywood really works and how Trekkies are not going to get another movie like those with the original cast(s).

Be aware that as with the other reviews in this series, some of the language and images are NSFW. The videos do not appear to be on YouTube yet, so I'm linking to the main RLM page and the story about it at Trekmovie.com, where you can watch the two-part ST09 review embedded in the page.

Looking forward to his Revenge of the Sith review...

Two movies...

...I didn't believe that I would see on R1 DVD, let alone Blu-ray: Star Crash and Shogun Assassin.

Star Crash was an Italian production, and was reportedly conceived as being a Harryhausen-type fantasy film set in space. But then Star Wars was released...

This is one of those odd films that I remember as being a "lost" movie in my memory. It never played here, if I remember correctly, or I'm sure that we would have gone to see it. Much like many Japanese science-fiction films, to my young eyes it seemed like it really was from some other planet. My earliest recollections of it are stills published in Starlog and some of the lower-budget pulpy-paper sci-fi magazines of the late 70s and early 80s, like Media Spotlight. I've read that it ran on cable occasionally, but I never caught it there, either. The only time I've seen live-action shots from it was when I saw the trailer on a compilation tape. The DVD and Blu-ray are due in mid-September.


Shogun Assassin is the notorious American re-edit of the first two Sword of Vengeance films, based on the popular Lone Wolf and Cub manga series, for the British and American movie circuit.

Again, this is another film that I had not seen but read plenty about it. This time I knew it wasn't "lost"; it had been shown in U.S. theaters and released on video, so I knew it actually existed. It wouldn't have played at any of the local theaters and the tape would not have been available at the public library, Chuck Stewart's, Video Movie Center (anyone local remember those?) or any of the other local rental shops.

Although the original Japanese film series became available on R1 DVD, Shogun Assassin remains important as a historical artifact. It works on its own as a movie, but more importantly it represents the influence of the Japanese cinema in general on U.S. audiences (at the same time as kung-fu movies from Hong Kong were incredibly popular here), and specifically the influence of the Lone Wolf and Cub mythology. The manga series would not be published in English until 1987. Shogun Assassin on Blu-ray is out this week.


A bonus image: the cover for the Star Crash DVD. If you compare this cover art to the Blu-ray above, you'll notice the change in framing the title against the art and some cropping at the top. This is probably worth its own post sometime, but I'm disappointed with the cover art choices on many Blu-ray discs. At least the sides of the art are not cropped, as with many Blu-rays.

I'm grateful to have the films presented in such quality, of course, that's the important part. However, the more square-shaped Blu-ray case causes the taller DVD art to be squished most of the time. My own personal preference for DVDs (and Blu) is to have the original poster art used for the covers, or at the very least given a prominent place on the back. I suppose it's just the historian/collector in me.

Gen Con 2010 Report

The semester is over, which means I have a chance to write a post-Gen Con report.

The Good

Attendance appeared to be up, from the crowds I saw. All of the publisher reports that I have read said that sales were good, and the con officially broke the 30,000 attendees mark. Very good news, indeed.

I was able to see just about everything that I wanted to and pick up the items I was most interested in. I also found a few surprises.

My main goal was to get a copy of Shadow, Sword & Spell at the show. Their booth was my first stop, and I had my copy signed by one of the authors. They took my name and email address and I got the PDF of the book by email two days later. $12 for print and PDF -- bonus! Rogue Games is building more online support for the game and really pushing customer service.

I found a copy of Villainy Amok for half-price at Chimera Hobby Shop's booth. This is Hero Games' sourcebook of seven classic superhero scenarios, packed with dozens of variations on each. I've wanted this book for quite a while. The plots and story ideas can be lifted and dropped into almost any genre of RPG. I've had a certain one of these in mind since the start of the Freeport campaign, so the book will be used!

BoardGameGeek wins the Diana Jones Award! Very well-deserved!

In all my years of gaming, I've never owned any Gamescience dice. I could hardly call myself a goober without owning some of Col. Zocchi's precision-edge dice. I found a good deal on one of their "Color Explosion" sets. It includes 12 different dice -- translucent, opaque, glow-in-the-dark, all different colors and sizes -- the usual seven, plus some odd ones, including a d20 marked 1-10 twice and a d16. I think these are overstock and/or seconds. Two of the colors are discontinued, and a couple have gouges where the usual mold flash would be. They will all need some sanding, but it's still a good deal for $6.

The booth that is alternately labeled "Adventure Gaming Retail" and "Cthulhiana Corner", Steve Jackson Games and Atlas Games' Gen Con presence, had all of the usual good stuff. DV and I think that they moved last year's regular-priced GURPS books into the 3-For-$10 section this year. It sure seemed that way to us. We went in together on the 3-For-$10 deal and I walked away with GURPS 3rd. Ed. Compendium II and Suppressed Transmission 2, two more books I've wanted for a long time.

On Sunday we finally got to the Paizo booth, and I looked around for any of the Planet Stories series. The selection was sparse (they needed the room for Pathfinder, of course), with the latest in the series and...several copies of Robert E. Howard's Almuric, one of the first books they published. I hadn't picked it up yet (I'm far behind), so now, finally, I have a reading copy of this novel. And I love that cover.

As I mentioned to D., based on the booths at the show and the attendees in costume, I'm calling it: Steampunk is the new Goth. Not that I mind...

The Bad

Another book on my list was Hamlet's Hit Points, Robin Laws' new book on story beat analysis in RPGs, using the plots of Hamlet, Dr. No and Casablanca. I saw it on the table at Adventure Gaming Retail once, Friday afternoon, but then copies were scarce. I missed out on the book and getting it signed. Next year...

When I got back home, I discovered that I didn't get the commemorative d6 in the free swag bag. DVO and Mrs. Kaiju didn't get one either. It appears to have been a widespread problem. I emailed Crystal Caste but they were completely out. Not a big thing, but I do like collecting the dice.

White Wolf's "booth". Really?

It wasn't until after I already purchased Villainy Amok that I spotted it on Chimera's Buy-One-Get-Three-Free shelf, along with various Freeport books that I could have used and the reprint Judges Guild d20 books.

I spent more on food than on gaming goodies, and that includes Mrs. Kaiju's blue anime wig.

I don't mind the cos-players, the more con attendees the better -- they are helping to subsidize the stuff that I like. However, I don't know if it's necessary to wear a costume that takes up a lot of space for the entire weekend. I usually enjoy walking through the con center, but this is the first time I found myself walking outside so that I could move from one end to the other at a standard walking pace.

Speaking of space... the convention center expansion looks nearly finished. This is going into the area where the RCA Dome sat. I'm hoping that having this extra floorspace available will help to spread out the con in a more reasonable way. Many of the events have been farmed out to the hotels. It would be nice to have more of the con held under the convention center roof, yet also giving us room for everyone and their massive cos-play props.

Soon, some photos.

Gen Con wrap-up soon

Busy, busy... Might be a couple of days before my comments on this year's show. I'm also looking at some changes using Blogger Template Designer.

Gen Con: What I'm Looking Forward To Most, part 3

Part 3 of the series...

Castle Ravenloft.

Wil Wheaton will be there, speaking and selling chapbooks of gaming stories. As a fellow member of the "video game/D&D/BBS/Star Wars figures generation", I enjoy reading what he has to say. I'm sorry, J. and G.!

FFG has a Space Hulk co-op/solitaire card game on the way. Looks like fun!

Alderac has a new version of the alternate history World War II game Dust: Tactics that looks like a hybrid board/miniatures game. I'm also interested in their Cadwallon boardgame City of Thieves.

The Cubicle 7 booth will have a wide variety of titles, including the acclaimed ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying. I'm curious about it because Steve Kenson, the "mastermind" behind Mutants & Masterminds, also worked on this. I'm hoping they will also have a copy of Barbarians of Lemuria for me to read through.

Green Ronin will have DC Adventures and some unspecified surprises for their 10th anniversary.

There are at least a dozen more. I'm sure there will be plenty of surprising discoveries to be found. I love finding something great that I wasn't expecting.

Gen Con: What I'm Looking Forward To Most, part 2

Part 2 of my look at new games and other favorites at Gen Con:

Volume 2 of Open Game Table: The Anthology of Roleplaying Game Blogs should be available at the show through Studio2 Publishing.

Two books of advice on playing and gamemastering that I've been thinking about picking up for a while: Graham Walmsley's Play Unsafe, and John Wick's Play Dirty.

Tabletop Adventures will have the print edition of the "White Box" Swords & Wizardry rules, and limited print copies of the One Page Dungeon Codex.

Chimera Hobby Shop -- this is the booth that has boxes of dirt-cheap CCGs, discounted miniatures, and row after row of RPG books at 50% off cover.

More tomorrow!

Gen Con: What I'm Looking Forward To Most

Gen Con begins this Thursday...technically -- the unofficial festivities have spilled over into Wednesday in recent years. For me, Gen Con begins Friday morning, when our caravan pulls into town. Really, though, the Gen Con season starts when the buzz for new products begins, when guests and events are announced, and the anticipation starts to build. Two months ago, maybe? I'm already in the Gen Con state of mind.

The title of this post might be misleading. What I look forward to most is the camaraderie, the fun, the shared stories and the shared history. Gen Con is the place where the members of Geek Nation can assemble and wave their freak flag high, for four days at least.

The shared history is particularly important for me. It's a continuous living connection to the past of our strange and wondrous hobby. Stop in and watch the Gen Con Auction for a history lesson, not only from viewing the vintage items but listening to the matching stories from the auctioneers.

More Gen Con nostalgia later. This posting is really about what games, products, and general silliness I'm most looking forward to this year. I was inspired by Zach Houghton's Gen Con vendor previews over on RPGBlog2, which helped me look at the company sites for several interesting new products, along with my notekeeping and bookmarking for the past few weeks as the announcements and previews filtered out. Another important resource is the 2010 Exhibitor Website Directory over at Livingdice.com.

First of all, Eden Studios will be at the show. Buffy, Angel, zombies... go to their booth and buy stuff!

Fireside Games will have scratch-and-dent copies of their popular co-op boardgame Castle Panic for only $20.

The main book I'm looking for this year is Shadow, Sword & Spell from Rogue Games. From what I've read about it (A Primer, interview), it appears to be a new perspective take on old-school pulp fantasy. By "pulp", I mean The Big Three of Weird Tales: Howard, Lovecraft, and Smith. This might be the rules I've been looking for to run a Conan RPG.

When you walk the the length of the dealers' room twice and then drag your backpack to the next game, you're going to be thirsty. Grab a Rootjack, the pirate energy drink. It prevents scurvy!

And after walking all day, hit the Geeky Clean booth for soap with a d20 inside.

Speakin' o' pirates, matey... Scotty's Alehouse is having a Pirate Gatherin' on Saturday night. I've never been there, but from what I've read this year it sounds like they are getting into the spirit of the con as much or more than even The Ram. While supplies last, Scotty's is handing out one of four commemorative dice with the purchase of a gaming-themed entree. Freeport Sea Biscuits and Gravy?!

So much for the silliness. Tomorrow I'll write more about the books and products I believe will be the highlights of the show for me.

Friday Links

One awesomely-cool website: http://www.scifiairshow.com/

...and three super-creepy robot videos:

BigDog New Improved 2008 Version

LittleDog at MIT

Boston Dynamics BigDog Fort Benning Report, Feb. 2009

Free RPG Day 2010 this Saturday

A quick reminder that this Saturday is Free RPG Day, an industry-wide event for local game stores to get players to stop in -- hopefully new players, or regulars playing a new game.

Some highlights this year include the 40K Deathwatch RPG quickstart adventure, a Cthulhu scenario from Goodman Games, the quickstart for Prime Directive (the Star Fleet Battles RPG), and a Dark Sun 4e module.

You can find participating retailers here. Go to your local shop and try something new!

Keyboards for Rock Band 3

After the teasing hint at the end of the Green Day Rock Band demo, there has been wild speculation about the possibility of a keyboard added to Rock Band 3. Now with the story (video) in USA Today this morning, it's official.

This is great, exciting news. The new gameplay elements are neat, but the keyboard opens up the possibility for songs by The Doors ("Break on Through" is in the demo video), Journey, Boston, Billy Preston, Howard Jones, Thomas Dolby (OK, maybe I'm dreaming here) and other synthesizer/organ/piano-heavy rock. How about Emerson, Lake and Palmer's "Karn Evil 9: 3rd Impression"? Elton John's "Bennie and the Jets"? Van Halen's "Jump"? (a song that could do for RB3 what "You Really Got Me" did for Guitar Hero)

Eventually, Harmonix needs to review some past content and update it for the keyboard controller, such as Boston's "Foreplay/Long Time" from RB1.

In the meantime, I'm dreaming of 80's synth-pop like this:

The end of The Cimmerian

At the end of May, an announcement was made that The Cimmerian blog would be coming to an end on June 11th. This coincides with the Robert E. Howard Days celebration in Cross Plains, Texas this weekend.

For several years now, The Cimmerian Blog has been the main informational site for Howard fans, and so much more. As the subtitle says, a website for "...the best in heroic fantasy, horror and historical adventure." From 2004 to 2008, The Cimmerian was the premier fanzine pro-zine in the Howard community. The blog was a great companion to it, and when the print edition ceased publication the blog continued the tradition.

You can read two good (short) histories of TC and its place in Howard fandom at the Two-Gun Raconteur blog and at the REH United Press Association blog.

Besides the high level of quality inherent in the articles posted there, what I'll miss most is having just one place to go for news. It appears that the articles will be archived at the website of the editor, so past articles won't completely disappear. Any new articles from the team of contributors will be spread among a half-dozen blogs and forums.

I'm also disappointed that I never picked up any print issues of TC. Yet another reason to purchase collectibles and rarities when you have the chance...

'Empire' at 30

Last Friday, May 21st, was the 30th anniversary of the second Star Wars film, The Empire Strikes Back. There have been several tributes posted in various places, including this look at a first draft of the script.

Last week Mrs. Kaiju and I had discussed that we should watch Empire sometime over the weekend to mark the occasion. We spun the disc on Sunday night. I'm sure everyone in our generation remembers what it was like to see Empire for the first time, with that surprise double cliffhanger ending. We were very pleased at how well the movie holds up after all these years. It makes the problems with the prequels that much more irritating.

I recommend that you check out this link to the trailer for the original 1950 version of the film. Thanks to Viking Moose and others at Urkobold for being the first place that I saw this.

Favorite Music Friday: "Every Breath You Take"

In this edition of "Favorite Music Friday", I want to spotlight one of the great songs of the '80s. This is a song that I wanted to talk about eventually, but the subject came up recently. Two weeks ago, in fact, when we were talking about The Police before the LV game.

I have many favorites, whether it's music, or books, or movies, but I haven't made the conscious decision to list any of them in order, as a "top ten" or "best of", or sort them out in that way. There are usually so many greats to choose from that it's difficult for me to narrow it down. At some point I'll post about my favorite movie, The Maltese Falcon, but that list gets scattered after #1.

One that I'm sure of: "Every Breath You Take" is my choice for the Best Pop Song of All Time.

I know, it's a song about a stalker. Sting himself has said that it's "very sinister and ugly". I understand that. However, musically, it's beautiful. The video is elegant in its simplicity.

Having said that, I actually like my runner-up choice better: "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic". The only reason "Every Breath You Take" edges it out is because it was a bigger commercial hit.

As a film buff, I love that it's obviously shot using film. There's speckles and pops, and a film tear at 0:15 seconds into the video:

At the first listen, it's deceptively simple. In the video the band does a silly dance in the recording studio. But when you really listen (headphones, not earbuds), there's a great deal going on in the song -- the layers, the changes. What I mentioned before, about the music telling a story, is found here. It really brings up a host of emotions for me.

I wanted to include the "official" MTV versions of these videos, but their player is very jerky and stops to re-buffer. Here are the links; you may have better luck:

http://www.mtv.com/videos/the-police/18169/every-breath-you-take.jhtml#artist=1143

http://www.mtv.com/videos/the-police/9671/every-little-thing-she-does-is-magic.jhtml#artist=1143

Frank Frazetta, RIP

One of those things that you expect, sooner or later, especially after his recent bouts of illnesses. But when it happens, it's still a shock and a loss.

We saw the news late Monday night that Frank Frazetta had passed away earlier that day from a stroke. He had a history of strokes and had been in poor health the past few years, particularly with the death of his wife Ellie last year.

I'm glad that his children resolved their differences last month -- deciding to work together to promote their father's work and legacy -- after the unpleasantness between them following Ellie's passing.

This isn't meant to be an obit -- there are plenty of official stories out on the 'net, written better that I could do it -- at the Washington Post, Deadline, the LA Times and the New York Times. But I would be remiss if I didn't say a few words about an artist who has had such a profound effect on my own imagination and ideas about art in general.

I can't pinpoint exactly my first encounter with Frazetta's work. I've always been a big fan of fantasy and science fiction, for as long as I can remember. I do have the memory of seeing the Lancer (and later Ace) Conan and Edgar Rice Burroughs paperbacks with Frazetta covers in bookstores, especially the prominent display in the Waldenbooks upstairs at Scottsdale Mall. I also remember seeing samples from, and the ads for, the Ballantine Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta books in Starlog Magazine in the early '80s.

Later, after more time and reading, I learned more about his extent of his work -- not just cover paintings but pencil drawings, ink work, comic book art, movie posters and album covers... on and on.

What I think makes his work so powerful and popular is how dynamic it is, how much is going on in that snapshot of time. In some works, we see the moment before something happens. In others, it's the aftermath. But in all of them, there's the quality and artistry -- visceral, raw energy, in every brushstroke or line of ink. Pure magic.

More DVD News

More recent news:

Sony will release the Blu-ray edition of Jason and the Argonauts, the 1963 epic from stop-motion animation master Ray Harryhausen, on July 6th. Jason is probably his best work, where he's at the top of his game. An interview with Harryhausen by genre director John Landis is included from the DVD, and additionally the Harryhausen Legacy featurette will be on the Blu-ray.

The trailer commentary site Trailers From Hell has released a DVD of their best trailer videos. Speaking of John Landis, he provides commentary on four of the trailers.

Next week, the original Gamera will be released on DVD. This will be the first unedited, subtitled release of the film in the U.S.

The Criterion Collection has a free channel of their films on Hulu.com. They released the first six Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman films on Hulu in February, and last month twelve more were posted, including the rare 14th film, Zatoichi's Pilgrimage, as yet unreleased on DVD.

Hammer DVD and merchandise news

There was much news this past week on the pop culture front. Most of the items I read about deserve their own posts (and I'll increase my posting count that way!).

Two of the really exciting items concern Hammer Studios. Titan Books has already released two new books about the history of the studio, and their merchandise unit has signed a deal to release Hammer-related items including t-shirts, starting later this year.

Even better, thanks to Synapse Films we'll soon be getting the remainder of the Karnstein Trilogy on DVD.

Fangoria Magazine is reporting that Synapse has picked up the rights to several Hammer titles -- Vampire Circus, Twins of Evil, Hands of the Ripper, and the 13-episode TV series Hammer House of Horror. House will be available in a DVD boxed set, and new high-definition transfers of the films will be released on DVD and possibly Blu-ray.

Twins of Evil completes the Karnstein Trilogy on DVD, with the previous releases of Lust for a Vampire by Anchor Bay, and The Vampire Lovers (print restoration article, possibly NSFW) in MGM's Midnite Movies series. Vampire Circus is a title that has been sought-after for years on DVD, and is considered a "fourth" movie in the Trilogy.

I'll update the R1 Hammer DVD list when actual release dates are officially announced. While we're waiting for that, check out my other Hammer posts and take a look at the site for the terrific fanzine Little Shoppe of Horrors. The articles in LSoH are excellent but the Bruce Timm covers are a great bonus.

More Lulu discount codes

Two more discount codes for Lulu are circulating right now. Use coupon code LULUMAIL305 at checkout and receive $3.99 towards your final shipping cost. This amount is the US mail cost for a single book order. The expiration date listed in the email notice is midnight on May 1st.

The second code is SHOWERS (April showers, May flowers?), which gives you 10% off your total purchase. This one may only be good until April 30th.

See my posting here about book and game suggestions from Lulu.

"So, tell us, Baron..."

"...of the time you crossed the Thames without the assistance of a bridge, ship, boat, or balloon..."

One of the ideas/goals/plans that has been in the back of my mind for a while (in this case, since the first edition of the game was published), has been to get some people together to play The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen.

A group of like-minded, gregarious and lively goobers get together for a grand and hearty meal, then as after-dinner drinks are dispensed, settling in for fun storytelling and challenges in the outrageous tradition of the Baron himself.

To evoke the correct atmosphere, I like to imagine the setting as a fine wood-paneled banquet room, around a heavy wood table, lit by candelabras or oil lamps. Cheers!

Wizards of the Coast embraces their heritage

Many product announcements came out of last week's GAMA Trade Show. The ones that I'm most excited about were from, surprisingly, Wizards of the Coast. Based on some of their products announced for this year I think they're starting to understand the hook of nostalgia and the surging OSR movement.

September sees the release of another D&D 4th ed. starter set, but this one looks like a clone of the iconic '80s "Red Box" Basic Set. If this turns out the way I imagine, I'm all over it.

Castle Ravenloft, a co-op adventure board game, is out for Gen Con. They should have done this long ago.

Gamma World returns in a series of books using the 4e rules. I didn't think I would see that again.

XDM: X-treme Dungeon Mastery

At last year's Gen Con, while wandering the Exhibit Hall, I walked by the Hickmans' booth where XDM was being offered for sale. I had read a little about it, not much, although the impression I had was that it was a book about playing RPGs -- d20/OGL specifically -- in some sort of "extreme" way, with lots of action, stunts, and phat lootz.

Fast forward to last Wednesday, when I was checking the new reviews on rpg.net. One of the day's reviews was this review of XDM, focusing on the rules system. I hadn't thought much about the book or read anything else about it since Gen Con, but I was struck by the tag line for the review: "The best thing to happen to RPGs since the 20 sided die. Seriously." With such a bold statement, I just had to read what it was about.

The book itself does appear to be more about tips and tricks to use with your game. The rules system included, the subject of this particular review, is very simple. The player tells the GM what he or she wants to do, the GM determines a target number based on the difficulty of the action and the character's skill, and the player rolls the dice. It seems to be akin to indie-style rules-light games of high-trust shared narrative control, such as Wushu. The magic system works the same way -- Describe the effect, calculate a target number, and roll.

Seems like a lot of fun, and a style similar to the games our group has been playing lately. I was intrigued by the review, and now I'm curious to read the book itself.

Favorite Music Friday: "Come Dancing"

This is a special Sunday edition of "Favorite Music Friday." I had planned to spotlight this song eventually, but I was reminded of it last night.

"Come Dancing" is among my favorite songs of the 80s, and my favorite song by The Kinks.

Even though there is a touch of sad nostalgia in it, which could be read as a corresponding "loss of innocence", I don't see it as sad and melancholy. Overall there's a feeling of optimism in the song; looking back at past good times, but also a celebration of those days and the present, from the organ notes at the beginning to the brass section that cranks up near the end. I love the sound of an organ and brass instruments in rock songs.

Being a fan of all things British, too, I love this look at a slice of post-war life in England. The song takes on added meaning when you find out that there was a ballroom dancing competition show on the BBC named "Come Dancing" -- I didn't know until now.

When Mrs. Kaiju and I were at Borders yesterday, I flipped though an new book by the Onion A/V Club titled Inventory, a book of pop-culture lists. I was pleased to see that they recognized "Come Dancing" in their list of "Songs That Work As Short Stories". This will be a topic I come back to, but I love songs that tell a story, whether that's literally through the lyrics, or sonically when the actual music takes you on a journey.

Conan The Destroyer: A Re-Appraisal

(One of those draft posts I've been meaning to publish for months...)

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

Behind my GM screen

After the Freeport game last week, I cleaned up the table a bit and took some photos of my area. I was inspired by this great post on Gnome Stew from two weeks ago, and I thought I would take some time to point out how I set up my own gaming tools. I fell into the routine of setting up this way after the first few sessions. It helps me feel prepared by having everything in its place.

Going from left to right:

• The big stack of sourcebooks (more on that later).
• A small dry-erase board. Useful for quick maps, sketches, or combat stats.
• The stack of initiative cards.
• My hand-drawn map of the Southern Ocean (nice quality version coming soon...).
• A folder with my NPC name/place lists, fan-produced True20 cheat sheets and panels for the Narrator's Screen of Doom.
• A clock.
• A pile for the players: printed copies of the rulebook and various Companions, player cheat sheets, and the Pocket Player's Guide.
• My planning notebook: a graph-paper-lined legal pad where I write all of the prep for upcoming sessions. You would also find my version of the triad sheet for the session in here.
• A fistful of d20s.
• My session notebook: a yellow lined legal pad where I record the events of the current session. I also record combat information and any other during-the-session notes here.

On the table proper is my Chessex mat, minis-scale ship plans, scratch pads and pencils. Not seen in this picture is my MP3 player and portable speaker, both strapped under the table, randomly shuffling pirate-themed soundtrack music.

You'll notice that, despite the title of this post, there isn't a GM screen on the table. I've been running screenless for some time -- possibly since the zombie/Cthulhu game in 2000? -- after seeing how it has worked for Edige. I've found that, for me, a screen creates an artificial psychological barrier between me and the other players. I love the idea of a screen, and I like having all the necessary charts in one easy-to-use place. I don't want to create the illusion of secrecy, or the impression of GM tyranny that a screen implied in the days of D&D Past. If I use one now, it would be off to one side and not directly in front of me.

The big stack of Freeport sourcebooks... not including Broadsides! and Corsair.

Odd uses for the Trek Original Series font

Typography is an important component of written communication, yet sometimes underrated by the public at large. The content of the message is paramount, of course, but the right font can add so much.

Conversely, a poor choice of font can disrupt the intention of the message, either conveying an impression other than intended or worse, laughter and ridicule -- the over-use and misuse of Comic Sans, for example.

Some fonts are iconic. These fonts are so tied to their original or most well-known use that if one of these typefaces is used for another purpose, the effect is jarring. We wonder why it is being used for this purpose, why did someone choose this font and not another.

For me (and I'd assume many others), the typeface used for the titles of the original Star Trek TV show fit in that iconic category. The oblique tilt, the swoop of certain parts of letters, and the futuristic vibe are very strong. There doesn't appear to have been a name given to it at the time, and it wasn't seen elsewhere until years later when an official licensed font pack for PCs was released. Numerous share/freeware imitations have also appeared.

For whatever reason, in the past year I've seen many examples of the Original Series font popping up, particularly in the publishing world. I'm not sure why. I don't believe it has to do with the new movie; perhaps there's a feeling among graphic designers that it no longer holds that iconic status with new media consumers.

Here are a few examples. They just don't seem right to me.

Kobold Quarterly #10 PDF for free!

I just saw the posting at RPGBlog2 about this great deal -- download a free copy of Kobold Quarterly #10 in PDF format for free until January 31st.

I haven't looked at any copies of KQ yet, although I've wanted to pick one up since it started publication. I miss Dragon Magazine, believing that a major print magazine focused on RPGs is important. Between this copy and the free issue #11 as part of the Gamers Helping Haiti bundle, I'll have good samples to try.

Happy Birthday, Bob Howard!

Today marks the 104th anniversary of the birth of ol' Two-Gun, and it's customary to raise a toast to his shade and read a favorite story. Mrs. Kaiju has a performance with the band this evening, but when we get back I'll curl up with a book and drift off to slumberland (not The Dreamlands) with the roar of battle ringing in my imagination.

 

http://www.rehupa.com/?p=1320

 

http://www.thecimmerian.com/?p=10541

 

 

Gamers Helping Haiti

I've had to stop watching the coverage because of the sheer scale of it. It seems very daunting for someone so far away to do something to help.

DrivethruRPG/RPGnow has set up links for $5 and $10 donations, but the $20 donation bundle offer is just incredible. Partnering with many of the small-press publishers that sell through the site, DTRPG is offering $1,400 in PDF ebooks with a $20 donation. They email a coupon code that allows a customer to then load all of the listed items into a shopping cart for free.

The titles in this free offer are not the dregs of the site, by any means: BASH! Basic Action Super Heroes, Copper Dragon: Basic Dungeons 1, Castlemourn Campaign Setting, Chronica Feudalis, Dragonshire: City Interiors and City Ruins, Damnation Decade, Hollow Earth Expedition Earth Drill, Kobold Quarterly 11, Mars: Savage Worlds Edition, Roma Imperious, Squirrel Attack! Operation: Get Mr. Jones’ Nuts, Thrilling Tales (2nd ed., Savage Worlds), 3:16, Trail of Cthulhu Player’s Guide, Serenity, several items from WorldWorksGames... absolutely incredible. The donations go to Doctors Without Borders. Thanks to Blink for pointing this out today.

A great deconstruction of The Phantom Menace

If you haven't watched this already, take a look at this seven-part, 70 minute video review and breakdown of The Phantom Menace. Despite the crazy voice-over and the crude humor (some parts NSFW), there are some genuinely insightful bits of commentary and critique in this video series.

Before watching this, I had my own (mixed) feelings about Episode I. I enjoyed it in the theater, but I found disappointment on subsequent viewings, although it's not as bad as Attack of the Clones. I liked the opening scene with Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon on the Trade Federation ship, the sneaking into the Palace on Naboo, and I enjoyed the pod race scene. After years of waiting for another Star Wars movie, I really wanted to see a film which showed the Jedi at the height of their power, what Obi-Wan called "a more civilized age" in the original film. I wasn't sure if that's the movie that we got.

This video critique nails most of the obvious points, but it also made me rethink some of the scenes and plot issues that I had previously glossed over. It's worth the hour of your time to view these videos. The filmmaker also has video reviews for some the the Next Generation movies and it appears that he's started a series on Attack of the Clones. Watch these and think about what could have been...

First post of the New Year

It only took twelve days, but here's the first posting of the New Year.

I had big hopes for the Christmas vacation: getting things done around the house, reading, watching DVDs, catching up on reading blog and forum posts I missed, posting here more... but other plans happened, especially with the new kitten. It seems that whenever one has free time, other commitments expand to fill up that time.

So, now it's back into a new semester and other real-life commitments, but I think it will be good. I don't make New Year's resolutions; however, I have a few hopes for this year: reading more books, watching more movies, posting to the blog more often (and I have several draft posts yet to publish), playing more games, and in general having more fun.

Lulu Coupon Codes for the Holidays

Two coupon codes for your print-on-demand needs this season:

HOHOHO 20% off (good until Dec. 31st)

HUMBUG 10% off (I'm not sure when this one expires)

If there is something you've wanted from Lulu, here are great incentives to order. I found the first code on The Cimmerian, where they list several available pulp- and weird-fiction items including Dan Clore's The Unspeakable and Others, The Selected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, and Dennis McHaney's Robert E. Howard, World's Greatest Pulpster.

Those aren't North Pole elves.

In the gaming realm, take a look at Fight On! Magazine, Swords & Wizardry and Knockspell Magazine, Spellcraft & Swordplay, and Labyrinth Lord or Mutant Future.

The Warner DVD Archive

Another bit of DVD release news that I've neglected to mention is the Warner Archive. In order to get older, lesser-known catalog titles out on DVD, Warner is releasing on-demand discs in waves. This started in March.

There have been issues with the quality of some transfers -- in some cases, using older video masters rather than a new cleaned-up transfer. Also, the price ($14-19.99) can be a bit steep for a burned disc when compared to recent prices for factory-pressed DVD releases.

Those problems aside, there have been some gems released so far, and plenty more to come. The initial wave has a few titles I had been waiting for: Captain Nemo and the Underwater City, Captain Sindbad starring Guy Williams, and ... Doc Savage! Most of the Archive discs are movie-only, but Doc Savage has the theatrical trailer and, from what I've read, the feature print is in decent shape.

A recent wave of Archive releases included two TV pilots/movies produced by Gene Roddenberry in the early '70s -- Genesis II and Planet Earth. When Genesis II wasn't purchased by CBS, GR went back and reworked it into what became Planet Earth. Video clips and quick background here, disc reviews and production history found here. I remember seeing both of these on TV a couple of times in the early eighties, probably on WFLD-32.

If you decide to purchase any of the Warner Archive titles, take a look at this forum posting for a 20%-off coupon code and news of a contest.

There's some talk about Sony/MGM and Fox starting their own disc-on-demand services for their back catalog. I'd welcome that; there are plenty of great titles owned by each and deserving of a release. Maybe that would be a viable way for MGM to continue the fantastic Midnite Movies line.

This is a fantastic album, man...turn it up!

Here is a special "Favorite Music Friday" post, Sunday Night Edition. Last night after SNL, I watched a Time-Life infomercial for their new '70s soul music collection. TL has put out some great collections in recent years. I bought Mrs. Kaiju their "Sounds of the Eighties" set a few years ago, and I have my eye on the Classic Soft Rock set (I have weakness for '70s soft rock...Shhh, don't tell anyone).

The infomercial last night had clips from groups such as The Chi-Lites and The Stylistics. It sparked a memory of another music compilation from years ago. Anyone who watched late-night TV in the mid-eighties should remember this. I remembered the tag line since we used it very often back then, but I had forgotten the album title. But with a little Google-Fu, I found it:



And as long as we're going back to the days of TV-offer-only compilation albums, I have to include this for Edige:



There's a shorter version here with the track list. This one has the production company's lead-in.

I need to look through my dozens of off-air recorded VHS tapes. I'm sure I have some gems like these that should be posted on the interwebs for posterity...and laughs.

Player-generated premises

Another posting that's been in the back of my mind for a while... two weeks ago, Robin Laws posted on his Livejournal about player-generated premises that he's using in his house 4e game. These are plot hooks for each character but the interesting part for me was the way they should be written: in the style of a TV Guide episode listing. These find their way into the game in a random order during play.

When I read the posting, it also reminded me of the pulp novel titles and cover blurbs that are written as part of character creation in Spirit of the Century, including the writing of stories for other PCs.

I'm all for ideas that make RPGs seem more like a cinematic experience. That's one of my preferred styles. I also like sharing the story creation with the rest of the group. This is a great idea that I'd like to try someday.