Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Shellendrak Manor

This just in from the “Too Damn Cool” department-
Here is a new multi genre cardstock model from the guys at Worldworks.
It looks awesome! I want it. I want it yesterday! Just $20.00 (and probably about three cartridges of printer ink). Imagine the “oohs” and “awes” as you whip this baby out at your next pulp or horror game. I’m gonna buy it. I just wish I could get someone to build it for me.






Monday, February 26, 2007

Motivational Monday



Thanks to RPGNET.

Friday, February 23, 2007

LoS Update



The long road to a final published version of Legends of Steel has gotten a bit shorter. I recently submitted a PDF copy of my first draft to about a dozen friends for a preliminary review. The feedback has been very positive. And a few revisions have taken place. I began a discussion forum for the “LoS Review Team” and we have had several lively discussions on what exactly defines the Sword & Sorcery genre and the spell casters place in Legends of Steel. I belong to several game discussion forums, and while they are amusing, I don’t take too much away from them. This forum is a bit different for me as the whole purpose of it is to improve my game and get it ready for eventual release. I’m really thankful to my team for all the assistance and advice they have given me. Some of the suggestions will be implemented some not, but all of the advice is appreciated and seriously considered.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

A Lost World Railroad?

A Lost World railroad you say?
this guy did it.
look at the pictures. Does this Rock on Ice or what?
the whole temple was done in styrofoam.
Damn I wish this guy was my neighbor.
There are plenty more pics. Go here.





Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Zombies in the 'Nam

My buddy Andy over at Joehobbypics just turned me on to this cool youtube video. It's one of the best action figure movies I've seen. It's extremely violent, so if you have little ones, scoot them out of the room before you watch.

Monday, February 19, 2007

Saturday, February 17, 2007

Anthony's Dungeon

I had this slideroll show up for a while then I took it down when I created the new logo. Here is my son Anthony's take on a dungeon (much more stylish than my first attempt at a dungeon).

Thursday, February 15, 2007

New Heroscape figures!

Woo Hoo! It looks like there are some new figures out for the Heroscape line.

More Kyrie warriors are always good. Air superiority plays havoc on the enemy. and the archers are a nice compliment to the Samurai warriors from previous sets.


Orcs and ghosts? C'mon, even if you don't play Heroscape these figures are worth having for any other type of gaming. Here again these pole-arm wielding Orcs are a nice addition to the earlier Orc swordsmen and archers.

Zombies! A box of Zombies! Need I say more?


And of course as with every wave a wicked set of leaders...hey wait a minute..Is that a Dwarf?


Aiya! Sure looks like a Dwarf to me. Is this guy a foreshadowing of the next wave?!

Coincidentally, I'm currently running a GURPS game. and we have discovered that the Heroscape tiles make excellent terrain tiles for GURPS. GURPS as some of you may know, bases their movement on hexes. So does Heroscape- one more reason to buy this great game.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Finally a decent Conan

Well it's not a 1/6 scale action figure (that would too damn much to ask for I guess)but this Marvel Legends scale figure is the best one I've seen yet. Looks like it will hit the shelves in August.



It may not be my favorite scale but it beats the hell out of the McFarlane Toys Conan, which was a non-articulated piece of crap. Pete rose makes a terrible Conan.

Monday, February 12, 2007

Motivational Monday


Thanks to rpgnet.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Kings of the Sun


Yesterday I wrote about my efforts to create a barbaric Sword& Sorcery campaign world for use with Legends of Steel. Today I began to immerse myself once again into the genre to try and glean a few new ideas. The other day I read a review of another RPG system, the reviewer stated to the effect that one of the weaknesses of the game was that it was too generic, too “Vanilla” the campaign world was a typical middle-ages western European fantasy world. I hope to steer clear of that. I’m trying for worlds more akin to those of Wagner (Kane), Gemmell (Druss), and Silke (Gath). I ran across a great “sword and sandal” movie today called Kings of the Sun. Actually it’s more of a “war club and sandal” epic. George Chakiris of West Side Story fame stars as a exiled Mayan king who settles on the coast of North America (Carolina maybe) and licks his wounds before he returns to reclaim his throne. In the meantime he makes the acquaintance of Black Eagle the chief of a generic American Indian tribe played by Yul Brynner. So Mayans meet Indians in Pre Columbian America and adventure ensues. Not Ben-Hur by any stretch of the imagination but a cool popcorn movie just the same and I pulled away a few ideas for the new LoS Erisa.

Friday, February 09, 2007

Erisa-World Building


Since I’m awaiting feedback from my LoS draft review team, I started some serious work on the world book for Legends of Steel. I decided to use portions of my own AD&D world of Erisa. However, Erisa will need to go under a major revamp. The main reason is that I want the world to have a Sword & Sorcery feel rather than a Fantasy feel. Even without Elves, Erisa has a distinct high fantasy feel to it. Dwarven holds, Arthurian style kingdoms, Halfling villages, Etc. I need to get rid of all of that and concentrate on a grittier, more barbaric world. I need to erase alignment from my thinking when it comes to nations and peoples. I need to forget about Demi-Humans and start thinking about the various types of peoples that would populate Erisa. So far I have that Erisa is a very old world that is making its way out of a particularly destructive, apocalyptic past there are ancient ruins from pre cataclysmic times. There are two major empires that exist; the Akkar and the Sulan. The Sulanese are a trading empire on the rise, and the Akkarians are an imperialistic military empire on the way down. In between are vast areas of untamed wilderness and a varying collection of city-states, small kingdoms, tribal nations trying to survive amongst these two giants.

Thursday, February 08, 2007

Legend


If you’re a regular visitor here at the Lair then chances are we have similar tastes. Hoping that’s the case I have to urge you to read Legend by David Gemmell. If you enjoy heroic fiction, Sword and Sorcery, or just a great adventure story- Legend is a must read. With Legend and his subsequent works David Gemmell has taken heroic fiction and set the bar so high that I doubt we will ever see his equal soon. His tales are of honorable people, broken people, troubled souls and fallen heroes, who search for meaning and redemption in an unforgiving world. He made these stories work so well that you are swept away in the first ten pages. David passed away this last year. I’m saddened at his passing, I’m saddened by his family’s loss, I’m saddened I never had the chance to meet him, and tell him how inspired I was by his work. But I can take comfort in his works, in the joy that his books will bring me for the rest of my life, and I can champion his work to every one I know who would appreciate it.
Read “Legend”, chances are you will become a fan as well.

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

What happened to the dolls?

I haven't done much posting in regards to action figures or any of the Kit bashes I work on. the reason for that is my camera quit working a couple of weeks ago and getting a new one isn't on the top ten list of purchases at the moment. However My wife has noted my sad expression as we pass the digital camera section at Target, and it looks like we may get one soon.
In the meantime- Check this out. Thanks MG.


Monday, February 05, 2007

Saturday, February 03, 2007

LoS Update


On Friday I sent several draft copies of Legends of Steel out to a few friends who agreed to look it over and give me their thoughts and opinions. Once I hear back from them I'll let you all know how it went.