Friday, June 23, 2006

Old School M&M


One of the guys over at the TSR games group posted this link to a cool site. Imagine if D&D was written buy some guys who were into classical Greek mythology rather than Steeped in western European influences. You would have Mazes and Minotaurs. I haven’t had the chance to play it yet but it’s a fun read. They even have several downloads of support and adventures, and a Yahoo group for discussion. Oh, and best of all it’s free!

Thursday, June 22, 2006

Catspaw



I’m always on the look out for Sword & Sorcery stuff. I ran across a great little gem over at The Sword & Sorcery site. It’s a graphic tale called “Catspaw”. The story is written by John C. Hocking and illustrated by Storn Cook. The tale is given in serial form and every few days’ new panels are added. Be sure to drop by and check it out!

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Rolling the dice


I just read some sad news; WizKids-the company that came up with the HeroClix and Pirates games is having a hard time of it, and subsequently will be laying folks off. The gaming industry has never been the most secure career path one could take, I admire the folks who try and make a go of making a living doing something they love. For the full story go to the Gaming Report.

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Legends come alive!

Bud light has this cool little program that is able to animate just about any headshot allowing you to create custom greetings, It's called Veepers and it's very addictive. I used it quite a bit last year to voice-animate some of my action figures (yeah, I know "What a nerd"). Anyway,I figured I'd give it a shot with some of the illustrations I have for the Legends of Steel game. so here are some links to a few of the characters inhabiting my Legends of Steel campaign, just click on the name. unfortunately, they only stay up for about 14 days, so enjoy them while you can!

De Silva


Talena


Risa


Anteus

Friday, June 16, 2006

Too damn funny!

Star Trek Cribs - The Director's Cut

Great animation

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Cool Website Alert!


Today I ran across the coolest RPG campaign site I've seen in a long time. It's called The Savage Earth. It's the world's of Thundarr, Conan, The Warlord, and Killraven all combined to make one kickass campaign. The site has original art, maps, character races and cultures. I could spend a day just wandering through and reading all the info (and I will). If your a lover of Sword & Sorcery, Lost Worlds, or just High adventure- this site has to be seen to be believed. What are you waiting for go check it out!

Tuesday, June 13, 2006

World cup update



Despite several attempts by France to surrender before taking the field, it looks like they will still be forced to play Sweden today at noon ET.

Monday, June 12, 2006

Chess


I just made a shocking discovery. I was having a father / son talk with Anthony when I mentioned to him that he needs to try to stay a move or two ahead, like in Chess…He looked at me quizzically and said “But Dad, I don’t know how to play chess”.
The color drained from my face as I realized he was right. I hadn’t taught the boy how to play chess yet. Here he was 14 years old, in many cultures almost a man, and no training whatsoever in the classical game of strategy. After dinner I went to the store and bought a wooden set, just a starter set to get warmed up with, later I’ll get a fancy one for the family. I can’t believe that one almost slipped by me. So attention all dads out there: If you haven’t taught your kids the game of chess use this coming Father’s day as an opportunity to open a whole new world of thinking for your kids. Pick up a chess set and teach your children. Chess develops strategy skills, planning, critical thinking, imagination, and its fun!

Sunday, June 11, 2006

Male bonding


One Sunday every month my local GI Joe collectors group gets together. It’s a group of about 10-15 guys, whose ages range from 35 to “60 something” who collect GI Joes and other action figures. We pick a different guys house each month and go have some lunch and kick back for a few hours. We do a bit of trading, showing off our latest finds and customs, and just hang out and be guys. I spend my workweek surrounded by women and my weekends with my wife and kids, so believe me when I tell you how necessary to get in some male bonding time.

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Molly Hatchet


I’ve been spending much of this morning working on LoS and listening to Molly Hatchet. Man, they bring back some great memories. I hit High school just as they were hitting the charts. A quick look on the Net shows they are still out there Rocking (Tonight they’re playing a festival in Sweden, not too shabby). Sad thing is the original lead singer-Danny Joe Brown passed away last year.

Friday, June 09, 2006

Bring on the bad guys





Continuing with the theme of having something to fill my Blog with, I'm including another draft section dealing with adversaries in my Sword & Sorcery RPG "Legends of Steel"

Who are the bad guys?
Bad guys are generally any human opponents your character encounters in LoS. There are several different levels of Bad guys, each one progressively more difficult to deal with.

Fodder-These guys are the nameless hordes of baddies-generic temple guards, street gangs, a city watch patrol and such. They posses only the most basic of training and they have no real special abilities to speak of. Their main strength comes from their numbers. Just remember, even the mightiest barbarian warrior can be felled by a goober who rolls a critical hit. The “Ignore Chumps” advantage applies to fodder.

Henchmen- These boys are a bit more deadly than the scrubby fodder guys. They might be elite temple guards, the king’s personal bodyguard, or a team of professional bounty hunters. However, the “Ignore Chumps” advantage applies to Henchmen as well.

Lieutenants- Lieutenants are the top trusted henchmen of your characters major foe. They are quite formidable in their own right in some cases they may be equal in skill to your character. They will posses the best equipment available.

Specialists- These guys are the “wildcards” they are often outside of the bad guys hierarchy, they are brought in to take care of a specific problem (and that problem is usually your character). Specialists are usually Blade masters, Sorcerers, Assassins, Etc. they are exceptional in their specific field and are usually equipped with the finest weapons and equipment including specially made customized gear.


Leaders- When it’s all said and done and we have reached the climax of the adventure, the Leader is the foe that must ultimately be vanquished. Normally the leader is the most dangerous of all the baddies. They posses the skills and resources to equip themselves with the best, in many cases this means weapons and items of magical power. They may also have contingency plans to employ should any encounter threaten them (they didn’t get to be leader by not being prepared). Don’t hesitate to allow your supreme baddie the chance for a quick getaway if it’s in any way feasible, so that he may continue to thwart your players in future adventures. On the other hand, don’t rob your players of their victory by having the supreme leader get away just because the Players have ruined your intricate scenario. Remember no adventure survives first contact with the player characters.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

“You killed my father: Prepare to die.” Motives…


I'm working on a section on character motivation for the LoS game. here's a draft of what I have so far...

Why does your character do what he does? Why doesn’t he just settle down and work as a clerk in a dry goods store (hey, it’s honest work)? Why does he feel the need to explore ruins and kill strangers? What motivates the adventurer?

When creating your character be sure to give some thought to their motivation. The following are some classic examples used in countless tales.


Vengeance –
o Bandits raided you village and killed everyone while you were away hunting. Now you are hunting them down, one by one.
o The local lord lusted after your girlfriend, she spurned his sweaty advances and in a fit of rage he killed her.
o The ______clan has been your clan’s sworn enemy for years. At a meeting meant to end the feud your clan was ambushed. Somehow you survived. Now it’s payback time.

To win or win back a kingdom-
• You were prophesized to one day wear a crown and tread a despot beneath your sandaled feet.
• Your father was many things, a good general wasn’t one of them. He lost the battle, the war, and his kingdom. You pledged to him on his deathbed to return from exile and reclaim your rightful place as king.

Soldier of fortune-
• You live by your sword. It’s all you’ve ever known. Going from one job to another. Sometimes you believe what your fighting for, other times you just want enough to keep you in wine and whores till a better job comes along.

Kings agent-
• You are a patriot and loyal subject of your liege. You serve at his beck and call, and from time to time he has need of your special skills.

Freedom fighter-
• Your land has been overrun by an usurper and it has fallen to you and your comrades to free the people from the invader!

Remove a curse-
• The love of your life has been cursed by an unknown evil. She rests now, safe, but incurable. You have vowed to find a cure, lift the curse, or die trying.

Protect the child-
• It was written in the holy texts that a child of light shall be born, a child to bring peace to the age of man. It is your duty to protect this child from the evils of the world until she is ready to fulfill the prophecies

Get home-
• You haven’t seen you wife in five long years, your sons are becoming men without you, but now the wars are over and all you want to do now is get home. It’s going to be a long journey, we best get started.

Bored on the farm-
• Your father is a farmer, his father was a farmer, and your brothers are farmers. Your uncle, “the rebel” of the family is a baker. You have GOT to get out of this town.


Hero out of time-
• You are from another time or another world. You may be desperately trying to find a way back home or you might feel that your knowledge and skills will be enough to carve out a kingdom amongst these primitives.

Monday, June 05, 2006

Friday, June 02, 2006

Kingdom of Heaven revisited


Back in April I posted that Kingdom of Heaven will be re-released as an expanded directors cut with tons of additional footage. I saw it the other day, and believe me it’s like watching a whole other movie. So much was explained and made clear, there were whole story arcs that were abandoned by the studio that Ridley Scott felt were necessary to the story (and they were) the story is richer for all the added material. Just to give you a glimpse: I just couldn’t get my head around the fact that this village blacksmith could arrive in Jerusalem and suddenly know how to build trebuchets and fight off a siege. Well in the extended version we find out that Balian the blacksmith is not only an accomplished smith but also a veteran soldier who served as an engineer and sapper. That little nugget of info took like 5 seconds to convey but was left out of the theatrical version- talk about missing important plot points! If you are a fan of epic motion pictures you really owe it to yourself to see the extended cut of this movie. It’s a definite must have!

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Free GI Spy



GI Spy was a comic I really hoped would take off. Unfortunately it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. But I did find a copy of the one and only issue available as a free PDF download. Go to the bottom of the page and look for the download link (it’s small but it’s there. Give it a look-over- it was a fun premise and there are definitely ideas to be mined for a cool pulp RPG campaign.