The David Gemmell Legend Award

If you have been hanging around here at the Lair for any length of time you know how much enjoy the works of David Gemmell. I consider his works as essential reading for anyone who enjoys a rousing tale of heroism, duty and sacrifice. In his honor a new award has been established: The David Gemmell Legend Award.

The DGLA will be presented for the very first time in 2009 for the best Fantasy novel of 2008. The award will be given to a work written in the 'spirit' of the late, great David Gemmell, a true Master of Heroic Fantasy.

Please join me at the DGLA website. They are just getting started and could use the support.

My thanks to The Cimmerian for posting about this.

David left us way too soon. His untimely death was such a blow to me that his last book "Troy: Fall of Kings" sits on my shelf unread. And it will stay there for quite sometime, because once I read it I know there will be no more stories from him, and this way I'll always have one more David Gemmell story to look forward to.

Motivational Monday

Lazy Sunday Photo Dump - Picasa Edition

I'm an admitted Google convert. one of Google's coolest tools is Picasa. Picasa is a photo editor, storage application, photo sharing network and an all around fun place to play around in.

Today's Lazy Sunday Photo Dump consists of some collages I just made with Picasa of a few of my favorite things.

The Burning Earth

One of the cool things that action figure hobbyists do is to take their figures and make a photo story. My online Buddy MG did just that with a bargain store "Knock off" of the Max Steel action figure. Actually it's kinda cool in a 1980' Post-Apocalyptic "B Movie" sort of way. I suggested he take the guy and have him fight some mutants or something. Well he did just that. Then I took the pictures he posted and used my comic book creator software to whip up a Comic book of sorts. it took me about an hour and the result aint half bad for a shot in the dark. Enjoy.

I found just the thing - LibraryThing

Right before the most recent crash I posted on a few of the forums that I was looking for a book/game organizer. The thing is, I have tons of books and games strewn about in different parts of the Lair and all too often I come back from a “book run” only to find that I bought something I already have. One of the suggestions was a place called LibraryThing.

LibraryThing not only organizes your book and game collection it also acts as a social networking site similar to My Space and Facebook. I’m not into networking sites such as Facebook etc. they seem to me intrusive with their silly polls and other time wasters, but this one might be worth it for the networking I can do in a specific are of interest (books).

I like the feel of it so much so that I actually invited many of my online friends who also have a literary bent.

A few months ago I was talking with Howard Jones the editor of Black Gate Magazine and we were discussing the lack of a message board dedicated to Heroic Fiction or Adventure Fiction. There are a couple of Sword & Sorcery boards out there and of course many dedicated to specific characters and authors, but nowhere that one can go to discuss the various works of Mundy, Howard, Burroughs or Lamb all on the same site. LibraryThing might be the place to form such a group.

Anyway, I’m on there and trying slowly but surely to get my books entered and organized. I’m shooting for entering maybe 20 books a day. So stop by sign up, I just checked I actually have a “friend” there now.

My new goal is to be the Tia Tequila of LibraryThing!

Lazy Sunday Photo dump (Stormtrooper edition)

And we're back...

Thanks to my good friend Gabe we are back up and running here at the Lair. The crash we experienced was caused by my stupidity more than anything else. Thankfully all of my data was retrievable. I did have to reformat good old “Drive: C”, but that was more of a hassle than a true catastrophe, and in some ways a good thing. I tend to collect a lot of digital garbage, and a good reformat is kind of like a computer colonic.

Yes, I'm a Dumbass

I downloaded a virus. My computer is locked up. I'm typing this from the childrens section at the local library. my big ass in a little tiny chair, typing on a color coded keyboard that looks like something out of a fischer price catalog.
This sucks.

A public service announcement from The Lair of the Evil DM

This year being an election year, it's important to be aware of our rights and responsibilities as Americans.

The Heritage Foundation , a non-partisan, non-profit research and educational organization, is offering-free of charge- copies of the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution.

They even pick up the shipping.

It's very easy for someone to deprive you of your rights if you are unaware of what they are in the first place.

Take a minute to pass this on, especially to the idiots who send you all those chain letters and Email promises of $100.00 checks from Bill Gates. At least you'll be sending them something useful.

We now return to our regular posting here at The Lair of the Evil DM.

Motivational Monday

Lazy Sunday Photo Dump

Great Gaming Blog Alert!

I've been on a bit of a roll with the gaming and action figure posts (ha! get it "roll", never mind) I'm going to keep it going with a link to a great blog from across the pond. Not that pond, the other pond- Lets cross the warm emerald waters of the Pacific and Visit the "Pearl of the Orient".

Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer is a solid gaming blog worth a good look. Pointyman 2000 our host, posts great articles on Gaming. Check out his recent 6 part series on Villains.

Danger Magnet Magazine Premier Issue

Danger Magnet is a brand new Gaming magazine specifically geared towards Pulp adventure. The offerings are written for the Ubiquity gaming system, the system used for Exile Games “Hollow Earth Expeditions”, but they can be very easily adapted to any pulp style system with very little effort.

First off, I have to say the magazine is beautiful. It sports a wonderful action packed cover full of pulp flavor. The layout is crisp and stylish. I was very impressed by the look of Danger Magnet.

Since this is a PDF product I have to suggest two points to consider in future issues.

#1 Numbered pages. The table of contents has page references but as I printed it up there were no page numbers.
#2 No black backgrounds. Black backgrounds eat up a lot of ink and may keep people from printing it up. Making the magazine as “printer friendly” as possible will insure that your readers print up a copy and use it rather than looking at it once and then leaving it on their hard drive to soon be forgotten.

The feature articles include:

Professor Scrumtumbler’s BEASTiary
A “New Monsters” feature that not only introduces new creatures but also offers hooks for using them in adventures. This issue featured “Tomb Beetles” very similar to the ones that wreaked havoc in the movie “The Mummy” (1992).

The Society Page
This issue was devoted to Howard Carter the archeologist responsible for discovering King Tutankhamen’s tomb. It also gave information on incorporating Professor Carter into the “Hollow Earth” game world. This article also offered hooks or “Seeds” to help get the Professor involved in your campaign. Good stuff.

Next up is an adventure titled “The Thule Death Ray”
This is a nice solid adventure (with handouts) that adds Game master tips for setting mood and describing conditions by the sense. Good tips that even experienced game masters forget from time to time.

The Twelve Talismans of Tali’ Theus
This article introduces a dozen items for use in your adventures, either as rewards, treasures to discover or heirlooms to be passed down in the battle against the forces of evil.

Desolation
This appears to be a licensed product for the Ubiquity system. A bit of D&D meets Gamma World as the survivors of a post apocalyptic fantasy world struggle for survival. This offering is a locale (a cave complex) that can be inserted in a campaign. I would have preferred a write up of desolation itself. Something that would tell me in detail what the game offers and such. While the article was well written, I think it would have better been left for a future issue, after a introduction article to Desolation was done.

Finally we have an article called “Tools of the trade”
“Tools of the trade” goes over, in nice detail, the various accoutrements used by Indian Jones on his various adventures. Very well researched and fun. This is the type of “Meat and Potatoes” article that I love, very useful to any Pulp GM no matter the system being used.

The whole issue comes in at a healthy 35 pages, and was a very enjoyable read with quite a few handy tips and adventure ideas.

This premiere issue is free, though you can donate a few bucks to the cause.

For those of us who enjoy Pulp gaming we have been experiencing a renaissance as of late with great games like Savage Worlds, Spirit of the Century, Hollow Earth Expeditions, Dime Heroes and Two Fisted Tales, just to name a few. But what we haven’t seen is a magazine that addresses the genre in full and with such style as Danger Magnet. I would implore all of you to not only download the free copy but to also pony up a few bucks to insure that this effort continues. The production values of this magazine are excellent and rival any other PDF product out there. $5.00 is a very decent price for the amount of content that you’re getting. So be sure to give Danger Magnet a chance, I’m positive you won’t be disappointed. And be sure to tell them the Evil DM sent ya!

Colonial Pulp Hero - The Black Coat

"The Black Coat is America's first superspy! Set in New York City in the days before the Revolutionary War, The Black Coat fights against the British and forces of the occult to protect the burgeoning nation."

-Black coat website





Check out a free online issue.

Savage Worlds Black Coat campaign anyone? The Solomon Kane rules are out there, It would probably be a nice easy conversion.

There's also Colonial Gothic and Colonial Record (Hell' I just noticed the Colonial record "Bundle" which includes the Coyote trail core rules is only $8.00, now THATS a bargain).

Here is my take on The Black Coat Action Figure...

Legends of Steel Action Figure

Some of you may recognize this great picture that Jeff Hebert created for my Legends of Steel Game. It's a rendition of Risa, a mercenary archer from Sulan and one of the Iconic Characters I'm using in LoS. Below is a rendition I did of her using a variety of pieces from various 1/6th scale action figures.

Motivational Monday

Lazy Sunday Photo Dump

I knew it!

Ever since the first time I saw The Two Towers this image has stayed with me.
I know I had seen it before but I just couldn't place it.




Until now. You think one of the cinematographers on the set used to read Dragon Magazine? Or maybe play Dragonlance?