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.

Happy Halloween!

I'll have pictures of our costumes tomorrow, but before the end of the day I wanted to post a link to this article about Halloween music at Wired. Good stuff on the list, but there's a great playlist posted in the comments section.

I think I like KC and the Sunshine Band's original version of "I'm Your Boogie Man" more than White Zombie's version. Isn't that strange? The video is terrific, though.

"Librarians" fired over League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Last week, according to ICV2, two library employees were fired for taking a copy of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen off a "hold" for an 11-year old girl. I don't have all the facts, but much can be inferred by some of the comments made on the two news pages linked in the ICV2 article.

It appears that the two were staff members, not librarians. That seems likely, as I can't imagine a professional librarian doing this.

It made me very happy to see so many of the commenters come to the defense of the First Amendment and the role of libraries in protecting it for everyone.

Some of the commenters suggest that the Black Dossier was the title in question, even though it's the first book of the series that's flipped through in the news video.

That leads me to what I'm most upset about with this story: the lack of attention paid to getting things right in news stories. Are these ladies actually librarians (because the general view is that everyone who works in a library is one)? Did they ask? Did they look at what is actually inside the book in question? Note the headline: "Librarians fired over porn." Someone involved needs to learn something about either graphic novels or pornography.

I've had some experience with TV news reporters covering a story, perhaps even being told in detail about something, then seeing the results that are broadcast missing the point completely. This seems to be the case with the majority of stories dealing with subcultures not entirely in the mainstream, like gamers or Trekkies.

If they can't get simple facts correct in these stories, how much stock can be put into others?

"Recent" DVD releases

It's hard to believe that it's been more than two months since my last update. The time has flown by. Between classwork and house work, it's been busy here.

***

They're going to take away my DVD Guru status because for most of this year I haven't been keeping up with the new releases the way I used to. I check with the usual sources every so often and I've seen some surprises (this post has been in draft stage since June...).

At the end of April this year, the 1971 film Johnny Got His Gun was finally released on DVD, another of my Most Wanted discs. I never saw this on TV and didn't know anything about the movie or the novel. My first introduction to it was the surreal and disturbing scenes included in Metallica's video for "One", as Glenn Erickson mentions in the review linked above.

I had always admired Dalton Trumbo for his stand against the Hollywood blacklist and his work on Spartacus. Seeing the fever-dream images from "One" sparked my curiousity, but the lack of a legal release (or even a readily-available bootleg) had kept me from seeing Johnny Got His Gun all these years. I'm glad someone made the decision to approve this release. I'll have to be in the right mood to watch it, though -- it certainly isn't a feel-good movie.

More DVD news soon!

My 2009 ENnie Awards picks

As I mentioned last post, I voted in this year's ENnies. I don't believe the selection was worse than last year, but there weren't as many products that I'm excited about this year. There are a few gems -- The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen, Mouse Guard, Dark Heresy, Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, Starblazer Adventures, and the elephant in the room, D&D 4e.

In my choices, I generally went with the underdog small publishers and avoided the majors. That might include White Wolf, but I've read good things about Hunter: The Vigil. What follows is my semi-informed, obviously biased opinion.

Best Cover Art: Pathfinder #19, because I like Paizo's art in general.

Best Interior Art: Should probably go with Dark Heresy or CthulhuTech, but I chose Mouse Guard instead.

Best Writing: Has to be Baron Munchausen.

Best Production Values: How can I pick? They're all good.

Best Rules: Starblazer Adventures.

Best Monster or Adversary: Witch Hunter: Grand Tome of Adversaries. Love the setting.

Best Setting: Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies, because it's sky-pirates!

Best Supplement: Hunter: The Vigil

Best Accessory: Kobold Quarterly, because I miss Dragon Magazine.

Best Miniatures Product: E-Z Terrain: Cliffs and Mountains. Being able to print out cardboard mountains is hard to beat.

Best Regalia: Planet Stories: Infernal Sorceress, just to give both E. Gary and the Planet Stories series some recognition.

Best Free Product: Swords and Wizardry. Wouldn't it be great for totally old-school retro gaming to win an award?

Best Game: Starblazer Adventures, because Dark Heresy is just a bit too "crunchy".

Product of the Year: Mouse Guard, because it looks great, and it could be a terrific cross-over game and accessible to beginners.

Fan Award for Best Publisher: I had to give special recognition to two publishers in particular. Scratch Factory, for their great freebies (especially the True20 items) and Dino Pirates of Ninja Island; and One Monk Miniatures, for the fantastic paper miniatures.

I doubt that I'll make it to the awards ceremony, but I'll be checking all the post-awards commentary.

2009 ENnies Awards voting ends very soon

The voting window closes this Saturday at midnight. If you're interested in the past year's crop of tabletop RPG products, vote for your favorites. As always, the awards are given out at GenCon in two weeks.

I'll vote tomorrow night after the game, and maybe give my comments on the choices in my next post.

100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About

"Plug and Play? Back in my day we had to get a new driver disk in the mail!"

Via GeekDad over on Wired. The comments are funny, too. There are only two items on the list that I'm not familiar with.

I'm sure many of you can come up with your own lists like this...

Dragon Age Warriors

A couple of additions to something I mentioned here before.

Dragon Warriors is a compilation of rules from an English gamebook series released in the '80s. The Free RPG Day quickstart rules are available from the Mongoose site. Looks like old-fashioned gritty RPG play in the grand British tradition. I'm glad they have the Free RPG Day booklet available in PDF. I almost picked it up that day but for my "one item to a customer" choice I opted for the Hollow Earth Expedition quickstart instead.

Dragon Age is a tabletop RPG designed by Chris Pramas, released by Green Ronin and based on the upcoming videogame from the folks who created Baldur's Gate and Knights of the Old Republic. I have high hopes for the tabletop version. The current plans call for a boxed set release, so it could be a neat and easy entry into the hobby.

I'm disappointed by what I see for the videogame. Since they also did Baldur's Gate, I had hoped this would be another good co-op button-masher RPG that Mrs. Kaiju and I could play together. We've been looking for another one after finishing BG: Dark Alliance and the two Everquest/Norrath games on the PS2. Dragon Age will be a single-player-only third-person RPG.

A quick opinionated note

Davinci's serves what may be the finest pizza I've ever had. Thanks to Kim and Tim for the suggestion!

Busy times

It's hard to believe that it's been over a month since I last posted anything. The time has flown by. We've both been super busy around here, and I've been spending most of my free time on class work. By the time I have a moment to post, I don't even want to look at a computer screen.

I've still kept up ideas for things to post about, so I'll get some of those up soon.

Still waiting to see Star Trek for the second time...

Today is the day

Saw the movie at the first showing this evening. Very much worth the wait. Go see it, I don't believe you'll be disappointed. I'll have more to say about it after the second viewing... which may be this weekend.

RPG setting ideas -- Freeport in space

File this under "Why didn't I think of this before?": Freemoon

This would be especially effective if you set it in our own solar system with Pluto standing in as "Freemoon".