Sale at LULU 20% off!

Are you on the fence about picking up a hard copy of either Legends of Steel-Savage Worlds Edition or the Legends of Steel barbarians of Lemuria Edition? Well if you go to LULU and use coupon code: CABIN
you can get 20% off!  


The sale is good through 02/18/2010 so hurry!

The Lovely Bones - Even my wife said "meh" when it was over

What can I say? 
It sucked. 
That about covers it. 
A long movie with a flat ending and no payoff to be found anywhere. A good 75% of the movie reminded me of a Clariten commercial -mountains and clouds turning into butterflies and sunny fields with trees that have leaves that become birds- tons of crap like that. There are a couple of truly creepy parts and a nice suspensful segment, but a whole lot of nothing and an unsatisfying ending ruin any redeeming moments. 
"She who must be obeyed"and I had a rare movie date and unfortunately we pissed it away on this very forgettable bit of celluloid .

England has some Kickass LARP'ers

Even the chubby guys look cool.

Today was a great Goodwill day!

I did the Goodwill thing today and I happened along quite a few treasures.


First off, to add to my vintage TSR collection we have Hunt for Red October. Has anyone played this? any opinion on it? I bought it simply for the fact that it was a TSR product.

I picked up the Dragonstrike game for the same reason. However this one didn't have the VHS cassette in it.  Still for the price it's worth it for the miniatures and fixin's

Now this one made me do a double take when I saw it on the shelves. I was gonna pass but then I noticed it was only .99 cents. Hell for ninety nine cents I figured it was worth it even as a joke present (it was unopened and still in the cellophane). Imagine my surprise when I got it home and read up on the history of this bad boy. In fact, it's listed on Google as selling anywhere from $50-$200 bucks.  Like I said, today was a great Goodwill day.

Then I ran across this set of Battlestar Galactica paperbacks- now I dont read this series myself but I was willing to bet there was a fan boy over at Paperbackswap who would scoop these up, thereby earning me some credits. I was right these were spoken for within 15 minutes of posting them there. The Han Solo book is for me.

Here is a Frankenstein anthology. the deal maker for picking up this big boy is a short story by Karl Edward Wagner is included. Sold!

I had no idea that Hustler Magazine even had a paperback book publishing arm. Of course it's naughty Sci Fi, what other type do you think Hustler would publish?  But hey, for the oddness factor it was worth $1.50

All the rest of these are just great buys!

Another great review for Legends of Steel and a word on Hador

Another great review of Legends of Steel- Savage Worlds Edition can be found at A Paladin in Citadel. While you're there stick around and have a read, the Paladin has some very informative posts. 

Sales for Legends of Steel-Savage Worlds Edition has fallen off a bit, so I'm hoping this review will generate a spike.  Simon and I have been pleasantly surprised at the sales of the hard cover version of Legends of Steel - Barbarians of Lemuria Edition.  We published it on Lulu knowing that the cover price was higher than we would have liked it to be, in fact it was more of a vanity thing on my part, I just wanted a copy of LoS in hardback. But a combination of discount offers from Lulu and overall love of the BoL system brought us much higher than expected sales.  And I honestly have to say it is a very nice volume.

Now to Hador- I was under the impression that I was close to finished with it. I sent it to Simon and a few others to have a look. 

I was wrong. 

I still have a way to go it seems. The overall feeling was positive, but there are parts that need clarification and further cleaning up. So I just wanted to let everyone know that Hador is alive, well, and still being worked on.

  

Lazy Sunday Photo Dump

The Warriors Three are coming to a theater near you!

I'm all fanboy about the Thor movie that is being cast right now. 
Growing up I was never much of a Thor fan.  My Grandfather was (My tastes back then ran to the Avengers and the Defenders-his favorites were Thor, Conan, and any DC War or Horror titles). Because of Granpo there were always Thor comics laying around their house, and every once in a while I'd pick them up. In reading them I came across The Warriors Three -Stalwart heroes of Asgard and boon companions of the Son of Odin!

Fandral the Dashing- the secret love-child of Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Errol Flynn.
Hogun the Grim- the stoic Genghis Khan looking guy with the cool hat and wicked mace.
And Volstagg the Voluminous (is that even a word?)-The bravest,craftiest and most handsome of the trio (just ask him, he'll tell you).

I loved these guys.  I really hope Thor sees the success that Ironman has.
Well, with Kenneth Branagh in the director's chair, my hopes run high.  

Friday Funny!

What are the best Star Wars tales out there?

Here's the deal.
I'm in pre-game planning for a Star Wars mini campaign for my Minions.
I'm using 1st edition Star Wars WEG.  I have the rulebook and the Sourcebook.


I want to start the game the morning after the big "Yub, YuB" party on Endor.


For my first arc I'm going to take a cue from a Marvel SW story I remember from way back-

I loved this story back in the day. But then y'all know I have a fondness the The Magnificent Seven.  Special thank you to Zen Tiger's Superblog for the .cbr download of the Marvel series.

Also, as far as inspiring reference material-
Can any of you guys  guide me to the better offerings of Star Wars literature? As a big Sword & Sorcery geek, I know that there is a lot of Schlock out there waiting for the unwary.  

The only tip I have is that the "Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina" is a nice set of stories. Any others??

Doc Rotwang Strikes Again!

The other day over at Doc Rotwangs blog  He wrote a simple passage about a game I hadn't really thought about in years. 

He didn't post too much about it, actually it was just more of a reminiscence than anything, but it got me thinking  (which he often does, despite his sparse posting). The Star Wars game would be a nice introduction to Space Opera gaming for the Minions.  They play Basic D&D, but we haven't strayed into the space lanes yet.  
I was watching George Lucas on the Daily Show where he was saying that despite the protestations of the Old Guard, todays batch of Star Wars geeks have their own favorite characters, and they ain't Han, Luke, or Chewy. 
Kids actually like Jar-Jar Binks (which I know for a fact to be true, having tiny minions of my own).
My Minions know the Clone Wars on TV they could care less for Obi-Wan and Princess Lea. 




So I'm gonna dust off my copy of the 1st edition rules ( I have the rulebook and the Star Wars source book). And see what other sources I can find out there. 
I hear the 2nd edition -Revised and Expanded edition is the one to have, but for now I'm gonna keep it simple for both me and my guys. 
I know as well that WOTC has a version out there, but my goal is cost containment and ease of play for the little ones.


But I will put a call out to any of you guys who have any first edition material your not using (modules etc.) if you want to toss them my way I'll pay postage. I promise they will go to a good cause (Warping young minds).

Manly Monday - Charles Bronson in "Hard Times"

Hard times.


A great movie with a great cast. Depression era drifter  falls in with a small time Con Man and travels the Bare-Knuckles circuit in the South. 


You guys know how much I like Pulp era fiction and gaming. My go to pulp author is Robert E. Howard. Besides Conan, Kull, and Solomon Kane, Howard wrote his fair share of "Boxing tales" in the pulps. This is one movie I'm sure he would have enjoyed. 


From a guy's perspective this movie has it all. If you're into Pulps and/or Pulp era gaming this movie should be required viewing.  


I would love to play in a gritty campaign based off of these characters- The slick Con Man, The failed hop-headed Doctor, and the steel-eyed fighter with a code of honor.


In Hard Times, Strother Martin plays one of my personal favorite Pulp gaming archetypes.  A failed medical school graduate, addicted to heroin. making his way as a unlicensed doctor for people who need a doctor that doesn't ask any questions.


Here's one of the fights from the movie. Bronson's character facing off against a local Bruiser played by veteran tough guy Robert Tessier (Who was the real deal -Korean War hero awarded the Silver Star).





Hard Times

Lazy Sunday Photodump

I found a New Years resolution I can stick with

I'm not good at all with resolutions. I can't even give up pizza for Lent.

But this I can do...

"Under no circumstances will I ever purchase anything offered to me as the result of an unsolicited e-mail message. Nor will I forward chain letters, petitions, mass mailings, or virus warnings to large numbers of others. This is my contribution to the survival of the online community."

That was known as the Boulder Pledge by Roger Ebert.

This one I can stick with. You're all welcome to join me.

Paperback Swap - It works!

A few weeks ago I heard about this service. It's all on the honor system. You post all your old paperbacks at this online site and you can trade them straight across with other folks who have paperbacks to swap. I've been using it for the last few weeks and so far it has worked like a charm! I cant recommend it enough.  it kind of works like this:

I have an extra copy of Conan the Conquerer. 

I post it on the paperbackswap database.

someone, somewhere who is looking for a copy of Conan the Conquerer sends me a request for it through the paperback swap database.

I send him the book (I pay Postage). 

I then get a "Credit" to use when I see a book on thier database that I want.

I see that someone has "King Kull" up on the database. I use my credit to order it. it is sent to me (sender always pays postage).

Give PaperBackSwap a try. and if you do try it tell them "Boojiesdad" is your referrer, I get credits for spreading the word.

Click here

Hero Lab for Pathfinder – Two thumbs up!

I’ve been a fan  of character generator programs since I booted up my first PC. I love the crispness of a nicely formatted character sheet with all the nerdy goodies like a Character portrait, a character journal, a full inventory of equipment- all that stuff.


My absolute favorite was the AD&D 2nd Edition Core rules set. Core rules was wonderful. It was an editable character generator, A map maker, and had all the core books for AD&D available for instant access. It wasn't perfect but it was as near to perfect as one could find (and I still haven't found it equal).


But Hero lab comes close.


Hero lab was my Christmas present to myself this year.  I’m soon going to be playing in a Pathfinder campaign, and to be honest with you, I really hate number crunching. I love the fleshing out and development of a character, but I hate the math. So I invested $29.99 and picked up Hero lab for Pathfinder. And I can report that I’m very satisfied.  I have been playing around with it the last few days and I absolutely love it.


Not only is it a breeze to get up and running, but it guides you through character generation so smoothly you're done in no time at all. And it is customizable to official Pathfinder adventure books. This software has features I haven't even begun to crack yet, I’m just having a great time making characters. 


You know Legends of Steel for ZeFRS is coming out soon- this would be a really nice tool for that one day. 


As soon as I can budget it in I’ll be getting the add-on for Mutants and Masterminds and Savage Worlds!

In the meantime I did up a pair of my Legends of Steel characters as a quick example. here is Anteus the gladiator and his girlfriend Risa  the archer, done for Pathfinder.

So the bottom Line- Hero Lab for Pathfinder gets Two Thumbs Up from the Evil DM. If you pick up a copy, tell them I sent you.

Manly Monday- The Rat Patrol -Brought to you by Camel Cigarettes.

Rat Patrol. I used to live for re-runs of this show. It ran right after "The FBI (a Quinn-Martin production)."





I loved that cool theme and the jeeps jumping over the dunes. 
Once again, a six-year old Evil DM could be found on the living room floor strewn with Aifix soldiers- re-creating battles that never were. 

The Rat Patrol wasn't real. But these guys were-   

Is that a shot of a group of Badass Nazi Killers or what?