The Return of the RPGBlog

Zachary Houghton had ceased updating his RPGBlog site for a short time, but now he's back with Version 2. Although the old site was mostly news and reviews, the new blog will focus (for now) on his experiences as a newly-elected ENnies judge for the '08 awards.

I've updated the link in the sidebar with the new address.

Gen Con 2007, Part 1

A very brief overview with more later:

The swag bag was good again like last year. An Axis and Allies booster, A World of Warcraft CCG starter, a Star Wars mini, and a sample pack of Tokkens (I want to pronounce that like "Dokken"). When we found out that the GAMA booth was handing out Origins '07 goodie bags, we all picked one up. I got some of the items that the others didn't want, so more Pirates boosters and Cineplexity samples for me!

I didn't bring as much spending cash as I had hoped to, so I limited my purchases. Most often I try to pick up only those things that I can't easily get through a shop. My big purchases included:

• Savage World of Solomon Kane rulebook with T-shirt, GM screen and art prints
• Bawidamann Cosmonaut T-shirt
• 40 Years of Gen Con book
• AT-43 Gen Con exclusive figure
• Robert E. Howard Blbliography from McFarland (out-of-stock but ordered at 30% off)

My brushes with greatness:

• Rode in the hotel elevator with Chris Pramas
• (Almost literally) bumped into Ken Hite in one of the dealer's room aisles
• Got an autograph from Frank Mentzer
• Spoke with artist Wayne Reynolds at the Paizo booth for about 15 minutes. I, and another really nice guy who's a regular on Paizo's board, had his full attention as he talked about where he finds his inspiration -- from English seaside towns to Turkish riveted armor.
• Met and had books signed by noted Robert E. Howard scholars Paul Herman and Dale Rippke.

In another post I'll have some photos I took at the show.

Prepping for Gen Con 40

As I've said before, it's not so much that I have to prepare anything to take to Gen Con -- I'm not playing, running, or setting up a table -- but I like to do the research about new releases, show specials and any freebie swag to be had. I haven't done that as much this year. The time just slipped away and the con rushed up on me too soon. I've seen a few things here and there but I'll have to keep my eyes open for more stuff at the show.

A few random thoughts:

• Green Ronin is announcing a new license on Friday and releasing a ton of new product including a bunch of Freeport items and the retrospective Hobby Games: the 100 Best.
• 200 copies of Pinnacle's Savage World of Solomon Kane will be available.
• 4 seminars are scheduled for Robert E. Howard Day(s), but I've heard little about what else might be planned.
• The Diana Jones Award and the ENnies will be handed out.
• Q-Workshop is releasing a special set of Cthulhu dice.

This year should be bigger than ever as it's the 40th anniversary of the show. Robin Laws wrote the book on the history of Gen Con, so that's something I'd like to pick up at the show (though it should be available in stores, too).

A watched pot never boils

I was offline most of last week for vacation, and since I wasn't watching all the usual news sites, all hell breaks loose:

• Conan comic cancelled at #50, relaunches with issue #1
• Laszlo Kovacs, Ingmar Bergman, Tom Snyder, and Michelangelo Antonioni all passed away.
• Zachary Quinto ("Sylar" on the TV series "Heroes") has been cast as Spock in the new Star Trek movie.
• WizKids announces Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean PocketModel Game.

Savage Sword of Conan reprints!

There's been talk in comics circles for a couple of years now concerning Dark Horse Comics and their possible reprints of the classic Marvel magazine Savage Sword of Conan. It wasn't a secret, but the chatter was all about how it would be done -- straight reprints of the original black-and-white artwork or newly-added color.

Much of this was because of the "remastered" coloring on Dark Horse's Chronicles of Conan, the reprints of the Marvel Conan comic book. Like most things, some fans loved it and some hated it.

Now that the advance solicitation information is out there, it's clear that these will be black-and-white art. No word yet if any of the covers will be reproduced and if so, in color or black-and-white. I don't care so much about the Boris covers, but reprints of the Earl Norem and Neal Adams covers would be appreciated (and the very pulp Tarzan-esque cover for issue 3 by Michael Kaluta). It seems that these volumes will be much like the Marvel Essentials line of reprint trade paperbacks. And since the blurb mentions "Savage Sword Conan stories", I guess we can assume that they do not have the rights to reproduce stories of the other characters that appeared in those pages, most notably Kull and Solomon Kane.

Here is what's known so far. It should appear in the August issue of Previews:

The Savage Sword of Conan

Written by Roy Thomas, art by Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala, Pablo Marcos and others.

In the mid 1970s following the colossal success of Conan the Barbarian, Roy Thomas helped expand the universe of Conan to showcase further stories and the talents of some of the comics industry's best with the equally popular Savage Sword of Conan magazine. Now, for the first time in over thirty years, these primal tales, featuring Robert E. Howard's most popular character, are available in this, the first in a series of massive trade paperbacks, collecting all Savage Sword Conan stories beginning with issue one.

Included in this volume are tales by Roy Thomas, featuring the breathtaking art of such legends as Barry Windsor-Smith, John Buscema, Alfredo Alcala, Jim Starlin, Al Milgrom, Pablo Marcos, Walter Simonson, and more.

Also included in this tome are Conan's few appearances in the title Savage Tales -- for the complete Conan collection!

* Reprinting Savage Sword of Conan for the first time since its original publication. This is the first volume in the series.

* Launching Dark Horse's black-and-white Dark Horse Presents omnibus format. 500+ pages for the value price of $17.95!!!

542 pages, black and white, $17.95, in stores on Dec. 19.

I in ur computur...

...stealin' ur Internetz.

Here's an article from Time Magazine about the "lolcats" phenomenon. As my brother-in-law says, they're about a year too late.

Dragon Dynasty DVDs

It wasn't so long ago -- just about three or four years, in fact -- that Bob and Harvey Weinstein were despised, hated even, by the Hong Kong action/kung fu movie fan community. When they were still with Miramax and Disney, they purchased the rights to many classic and new HK action movies and either released shoddy versions to the screen or DVD, or they sat on them and withheld them from the market. Fans were livid and put together petitions and letter campaigns. I failed to keep up with the latest news in that realm so I lost track of what was happening on that front.

Fast forward to 2006: The Weinsteins, having left Miramax the previous year to form their own company, set up a label called Dragon Dynasty to release some of their HK films. They appear to have a deal with Shaw Brothers because Dragon Dynasty is offering several Shaw classics. Most of the DD line are Fortune Star releases, including a couple of Jackie Chan's best movies. Others titles include the Chow Yun-Fat classic Hard Boiled and all three Infernal Affairs films.

So far I've picked up two of the four available Shaw Brothers titles, My Young Auntie and The One-Armed Swordsman (which hasn't been released on legal home video in this country until now). Those are acknowledged classics but the other two Shaws are huge: The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (aka Shaolin Master Killer) and King Boxer (aka Five Fingers of Death)! I need to do some checking of reviews and so forth, but these look fairly complete. If so, it's very good to have these finally available on DVD in wide release.

In a later post I'll cover the Shaw Brothers films being released by Image Entertainment in Region 1, and then maybe as complete a listing as I can make of all the R1/R3 Shaw discs.

Trek Remastered -- earlier episodes and "The Omega Glory"

"No – no! Only the eyes of a chief may see the E Plebmnista!"
"This was not written for chiefs."
- Yang Scholar and Kirk

I missed "Spock's Brain" on its initial showing a few weeks back and it wasn't shown in the normal rerun slot the next week. I'll have to wait for the DVD.

However, I did catch "Plato's Stepchildren". I know this is one of the least-favorite for many fans, but to me it is underrated. Maybe nothing happens except the humiliation of the crew, but as I've said before, even bad Original Series Trek is better than nothing. There's still some good points in that script even if the execution is flawed.

This weekend's episode, in time for Independence Day, is "The Omega Glory". You might remember this as the Cold War analogy with the Yangs and the Kohms, and Kirk reminding them that the words apply to all people. I brought the videotape of "Omega..." in to my high school U.S. History class during our unit on the Constitution -- major geek check, there.

...and we're back!

Wow. Has it really been three weeks since the last post? Oops. I've been very distracted lately. More real posting starting tomorrow.

The replacement driver

This sounds like it's either the premise of a Hong Kong or Korean action movie, or a Cyberpunk RPG scenario:

Cityscape: Seoul: Taking the wheel for a drunken stranger

"Speed is money in this business," said Hur, 43, who received 15,000 won, or $16, for driving his customer to his destination.

"You want to get as many orders as possible before dawn breaks," he said, after making the drive of 20 kilometers, or 12 miles. "I sleep in the day, work at night, six days a week."

Hur is a "replacement driver" who makes his living by delivering inebriated people and their cars home. There are tens of thousands of them operating in this hard-drinking metropolis of 10 million people. They go to work when Seoul streets blossom with neon signs and thoroughfares fill up with streams of cars returning home. They end their shifts well after the last neon lights blink out in the early morning mist curling up from the Han River.

Trek Remastered -- catching up

I haven't posted anything about recent Trek episodes in quite some time. Here's a list of them:

• "Errand of Mercy" - 05/12 - The Organians impose peace between the Federation and the Klingon Empire.
• "Patterns of Force" - 05/19 - The Nazi episode.
• "Shore Leave" - 05/26 - Be careful what you think of...it comes to life.
• "Bread and Circuses" - 06/02 - The Roman Empire episode.

It's interesting that the "costume" episodes were all bunched together: "A Piece of the Action", the Chicago gangster ep, was on the last weekend of April.

I was pleasantly surprised by a couple of these shows. I forgot how good they are. "Errand..." and "Patterns..." have some good Kirk and Spock dialogue, and "Bread..." has great Spock and McCoy scenes that highlight their grudging friendship. And regardless of how preposterous the setup may be, "Patterns..." and "Bread..." are great stories.

This weekend: "Spock's Brain".

30 years of Star Wars

Update: I changed the title of this post because Dr. Rotwang used it first. I should have know I wasn't that clever...

Last Friday was the 3oth anniversary of the release of Star Wars. It's difficult to describe just how ground-breaking the film was and how inspiring it continues to be for legions of fans around the world. Maybe I'll write about it later, because I was there from the very beginning to see it all. Hard to believe there are people watching the new trilogy who weren't even alive when Jedi was released...

Here are a few links to stories about the anniversary and the phenomonon:

Star Wars Rewired: Interviews, Galleries and More http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/news/2007/05/lucas

Thirty years later, 'Star Wars' force still being felt
http://www.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/05/23/star.wars.30/index.html

How Star Wars Changed Everything
http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1625074_1625073,00.html

The Science of Star Wars
http://www.forbes.com/2007/05/24/star-wars-science-tech-cx_mh_0524magic.html

(Since this one is from Forbes Magazine, it's a bit more conservative on the prospects of Star Wars Science, especially on lightsabers. Hey, guys, it's a movie...relax. Anyway, you can read more than you ever wanted to know about lightsabers at Wikipedia.)

Star Wars Celebration IV
http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/10656.html

RPG setting ideas -- Dungeon Crawl Classics

Time for another installment of "RPG settings I'm thinking about". The one I mentioned previously was the updated Freeport setting. Most of my thoughts about these things are tinted by a heavy dose of gaming nostalgia, and this installment finds me still in the throes of it.

Goodman Games started producing their Dungeon Crawl Classics modules shortly after the release of D&D 3.0. The main appeal of the line is nostalgia -- 1st Edition-style adventures, blue ink maps and new art by artists whose work appeared in the original D&D modules.

This is their first attempt at a DCC campaign, and also the first DCC boxed set. Look at the cover and the intent is obvious. It's a clear homage to the "Red Box" Basic Set and other TSR boxed sets from that era. Doesn't that just say "gaming goodness" to you? Good times...

DCC adventures are designed for D&D3.x/d20, but I think this one calls for a return to the '80s Basic Rules -- at least in spirit.

Stephen King's 24 Greatest Rock Songs Ever

Stephen King writes a column for Entertainment Weekly in which he gives his opinion on all things media-related -- movies, books, TV, music, whatever. In this article/photo gallery, King counts down the best rock songs of all time.

I can't fault him on some of his choices. I'd rate "In-a-Gadda-da-Vida" higher, and "Ain't No Fun (Waiting Round to be a Millionaire)" is a solid choice for the obligatory AC/DC list entry. As much as I like Elvis, I'm not sure a list like this needs three of his songs, squeezing out many other worthy entries. Where's "Turn Up the Radio"?

King qualifies his list by mentioning his criteria at the beginning. By including purely "rock" songs only, many of the songs I'd include would be disqualified for being in a different category, such as the "power ballad".

Oh, and of course see the comments on the list.

First shots of Reaper plastic minis

Jeff's Gameblog has some photos of prototypes for Reaper's pre-painted non-collectable minis due later this summer. These were taken at the recent ReaperCon event. Click on the photo and then view the full-size image for a closer look. The orcs and skeletons are passable but the larger monsters are pretty good!

A shake of the gods

I like fast food milkshakes in general, especially McDonald's Arctic Orange, but Arby's orange cream shake is my new mistress. That's a tasty beverage!

Pirates of the Spanish Main: The RPG

I flipped through a copy of this game on Friday. Nice hefty hardcover, full color, glossy...very very nice. It's based on the WizKids ship minis game. I'll pick it up sometime. If the design of this book is any indication, Pinnacle's Solomon Kane RPG will be very sharp, too. At least I hope so.

Trek Remastered -- "Errand of Mercy"

I missed it yesterday, so screenshots like this will have to suffice until the rerun next week.

Flash! Ah-ahhh!!

Universal is, at last, releasing a Region 1 DVD of the fan-favorite movie Flash Gordon on August 7th. The cover art by Alex Ross is really great, but it turns out that the extras appearing on the European release will not be on the US version...that's a shame.

Trek Remastered -- "Tomorrow is Yesterday" in review

The Enterprise over 20th century Nebraska.

I discovered something this past weekend. Trek Remastered has been pre-empted in its usual timeslot on the local Fox station because of baseball. I hadn't bothered to check the listings for a different slot. Well, I did this weekend, and I found out that it was moved up to 2pm. Luckily I read that in time for me to check out this week's regularly scheduled episode, "Tomorrow is Yesterday".

This is the ep where the Enterprise finds itself trapped in 1968 and they bring aboard the fighter pilot who is sent to intercept it. Fine work again by CBS Digital on the Enterprise in the lower atmosphere, and the timewarp slingshot around the sun. The aerial shot over Nebraska and Earth as seen from orbit are both real NASA photos used as backgrounds.

This Saturday: "Errand of Mercy". Bring on the Klingons!