And we're back!

The long blogging hiatus is over.  I've been around,  just not posting here and on the various boards that leech off my time.  I have several projects nearing fruition, including one way overdue project: Hador.
Nothing was ever shelved, I just have quite a bit going on in the daily upkeep here at the Lair, and to be honest, blogging became a bit of a chore. 
But now I'm looking forward to it again and I have a few things to talk about.
So let's get started.

The Planet Algol Blog

"OLD SCHOOL PULP SWORD AND SORCERY ADVENTURE ON A PLANET OF WEIRD SCIENCE FANTASY"

Planet Algol is one of the best campaign blogs out there. The posts are full of information and ideas. I would say more, but I don't really need to. Go check it out.

Here is another cool blog I'll be stealing images from -

Christopher Mills has the coolest blogs. Here is another example: Space 1970

I will be frequently be stealing cool pictures like this...



and this...



from now on.

It really is a web

The internets is a crazy thing. This morning, "She who must be obeyed" was getting ready for work, while I was sitting here looking over the mornings Email. She asked me to look up a certain hair product she was interested in. Of course- I obeyed.

I didn't find what she was looking for, but in my Googling I ran across an article on hair-more precisely beards-even more precisely the history of beards and how they were used in ancient times.

Did you know that Alexander the Great banned beards in his army after he found out that the enemy were grabbing his men by their beards and pulling them off of their mounts? I immediately started thinking of game applications for this (or at the least a blog post). It really is a great article. Give it a read.

I didn't go to bed last night thinking I needed to research beards today, and yet here we are.

I think its funny how searching for one thing on the world wide web can lead you places you've never been (and a few you should never go to -note to self- clean the cache).

Thank God for Al Gore and his wonderful creation.

Man, I'm glad all that is over

Sorry folks, but things here at the Lair have been damn busy. Proms, Awards dinners, Graduations,In-laws staying over, Epidural wearing off, chauffeur and tour guide duty, and more, have left me hardly any time to keep up with my regular pursuits, such as this here Blog. But now 06192009 the dust has settled and hopefully I can get back on track. so hold on and I'll get us caught up....

Evil DM update

Just to let you all know that I have been hard at work on not only the ZeFRS version of Legends of Steel but also on Lost World of Hador. This explains my lack of posting and presence on some of the message boards I usually frequent. I can easily blow half a day just reading blogs and looking at funny pictures.

So if the posting is sparse, it’s because I’m actually trying to be productive.

Legends of Steel is at layout. I heard from James via email this weekend and we went over a couple of design things. It is being worked on and will come out as soon as It possibly can.

Lulu is starting to look like a viable option for those who want a printed copy in their hands (I know I want one at least). So I’m tackling that.

Hador is coming along nicely, Ryan is making good progress on the map, Joffrey is coloring the cover art, and I’m getting all my thoughts onto paper.

I'm trying out Live Writer from Microsoft

This seems pretty cool.

lots of features.

I can also use the many fonts I’ve collected over the years.

Posting Pics seems easy…

It allows me to resize the pictures…

And create a photo album…

View Full Album

I can insert a map…

Hey look! there's my old apartment on Coolidge street in Hawaii. Back in my Bachelor days….Good Times.

Anyway this looks like a nice little tool.

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.

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.

"I hear it makes kids worship the devil"

My time in High School was pretty cool. While I wasn’t captain of the football team or valedictorian I had good times; girlfriends, burger job, class council, Jazz choir, rock concerts, football games, prom, partying, joking and toking. And through it all I was a gamer.

I never thought I was a D&D character, I never worshiped demons, I never had suicidal thoughts, I never looked to a game to solve my typical teenage problems.

But shit like this made being a teenage gamer a lot fucking harder than it had to be.




Thank God my mom was intelligent enough to see through all the hype and hysteria that was fueled by her friends, co-workers, and dumb ass talk show hosts.

Thanks to The Geek Orthodoxy Blog, which brought this to my attention.

Blogging strong there Reis!

The Swag-box has left the Lair!

Many moons ago the Evil DM hosted a contest. Thousands entered but only one person was victorious.
That person was Wulfgar.
In response to several graphic threats to my person from “She who must be obeyed” I finally sent out the “Swag box” O’ Prizes.

He should get the package by Saturday. next time I'll be sure to state :3-6 months for delivery.

Congratulations Wulfgar!

Here is what he won:

A PDF copy of The World of Broadsword.

A copy of Testament the D20 RPG from Green Ronin

A healthy run of Tarzan comics from Marvel and an assortment of the following titles:
The Warlord, Killraven-War of the Worlds, Arak-Son of Thunder, Ironjaw, Starfire (the Sci-Fi rebel chick not the superhero chick), Thongor, and a few others.

2 Red Sonja paperbacks, Demon night and Against the prince of hell

2 Sword & Sorcery paperbacks" The demon in the mirror and The eyes of Sarsis

A paperback of Brak the barbarian vs. the mark of the demons

A hard cover copy of Genghis Khan by Harold Lamb, collector’s library edition 1927

A trade paper back of Shadow Kingdoms by Robert E. Howard wildside press

A DVD set of Flash Gordon the animated series

A GI Joe commemorative key chain navy frogman

Not a bad haul if I do say so myself. And I do.

Blogging

Today over at the Chatty DM’s Blog he writes about the pressures of keeping up the Blog. Finding time to juggle family, career, the hobby and still come up with something worthy and topical to write about every day.

It’s funny, I’ve sort of been feeling the same way.

Now keep in mind I am no where near as prolific a writer as chatty is. I usually supply fluff and news bites where he actually writes articles. His site is often referenced and quoted in the community, where here at the Lair we are referenced mostly on Wednesday when everyone needs to ogle a nice set of hooters- and there ain’t nothing wrong with that. But it got me thinking if I get burned out on Blogging considering the light fare I provide, imagine what guys like Chatty and Jeff (from Jeff’s gameblog) go through.

My posting has been hit and miss lately mostly because of work but also because I’m trying to get a website up and running for my Evil DM Productions venture. The Broadsword expansion will be out by the end of the month and I want to have a little web presence to support it and other projects I’m working on. And truth be told, rather than Blogging, I should be using my time to work on Legends of Steel, Mission: Adventure!, and all the other "projects” I’d like to see come to fruition.

There are only so many free minutes in a day. Chatty wants to hone his skills as writer at a more professional level and I want to get these adventures and games out of my head and onto paper, and sometimes I can’t help but wonder if keeping up a Blog is doing us more harm than good. It siphons off time, puts undue pressure (real or perceived), and the return on the investment is small (mines at a little over $50.00 at the moment). On the plus side the Blog has rewarded me with some great connections and friends, It also gives me a forum to get my thoughts out, and interact with like minded folks. What to do, what to do?

The State of the Lair

Computer
I picked up another 160GB HD today. I also bought a 2GB pocket flash drive, some antivirus software, and spy ware protection. The new drive will hold all my system stuff and the old drive will be for files and such. I have lots of room now, but I’ll soon rectify that!
I’m hoping that “She who must be obeyed” will soon let me take my nuts down off the wall where she stapled them after the crash, but I’m not pushing it.
I’ll be looking into this thing they call “backing up” as well.

Star Frontiers PBEM
One guy left my PBEM, and he was integral to the story, so I’ll have to see how that goes. Between the holidays and the crash I’m sure the guys in my game feel a bit abandoned, hopefully we can salvage something from it.

Broadsword
Before the crash I was puttering along with the Broadsword expansion. The expansion itself is done, but James wanted three scenarios. I was halfway through completing the first when the crash happened. So I have to wrap my head around that again.

Legends of Steel
My work on Legends of Steel continues, the players section is done and the GM part is almost done. One of the artists I hired hasn’t responded to any emails since before Christmas. I paid her for a couple of pieces of art but haven’t seen or heard anything from her.

Mission Adventure
One of the guys looking over LoS is really pushing me to try writing “Mission: Adventure!” with the LoS rules-set rather than the FASERIP (Aka: four-color) system. He makes a good argument, since I have a system engine in place why use a different one? The LoS engine was primarily built around a low tech campaign, all I need to do is develop firearm, and vehicle rules, swap out magic for Psionics, and add some more contemporary skills.

ZeFRS
I’m really intrigued by this idea of using ZeFRS as the engine for an alternate earth campaign world set in the “Dark Ages”. I found a great deal on EBay for a run of Arak comics and found some more at the local comic store for 50% off. Thanks as well to those of you who wrote in with book tips and suggestions.


Gen Con
One of my favorite quotes is: “If you ever want give God a good laugh, tell him your plans”. Gen Con ain’t gonna happen this year.
After the car wreck I was out of work for almost three months. Not only out of work but out of car as well. Add in the holiday expenses and things were getting a little dicey here at the Lair. I’m back at work, and we are slowly climbing our way out of past due notices, but Gen Con is an extravagance that wont be realized this year. The medical bills are still being incurred and they are being paid, but we are a ways away from any talk of settlement, so for now we just tighten the belt and soldier on, as my littlest minion would say: “Suck it up like Conan daddy!”

Computer update

It looks like tomorrow I'll be getting a new HD for the computer. the Windows on my old HD locks up when it boots. My stuff is still there, I just need a new HD to access it. My Aptiva has stepped in to fill the void while my Dell is down. the Aptiva has given good service but she's old, really old. even stripped down to the bare bones, it takes a while to get anywhere. we can check email and pay bills but thats about it. Needless to say things like LoS, the Broadsword Adventure, and my PBEM have taken a major hit. This all just happens to come at the busiest time of the year at work, so even blog posts have to wait to get done on the lunch hour. I hope to be up again by Sunday. but you know what they say: Hope is a lying bitch.

Pulp Thursday!

Lobster Johnson
I almost missed this! I saw the issues in my comic store last week and picked up all but #2. I'm on the hunt for #2 now cause #1 was everything a pulp comic should be.
Huge hairy monsters, Nazis, subterranean hideouts, Chinatown, electro blasters, cannibals, .45's, this story has it all. Get thee to a comic shop before it's too late!


Need a pilot for your Pulp game? Call Jimmie Angel.
A real life Pilot and adventurer (with a name thats 100% Pulp hero). This guy's life would make a great movie.
More about Jimmie here.




Thanks to NJ Harman for the tip on Jimmie.


And lets say your team of adventurers hire Jimmie and you all somehow you find your way to that “Lost Plateau” who better to greet your players than:


Gotta thank Trollsmyth for that one.


You can never have too many pulp blogs:
And here's another good one:



And checking out Christopher's blog will lead you to Planet X



Does this cover just kick ass or what?



And while we are talking comics, lets wrap this week up with a freebie.



I love Tim Truman's art. I loved his Scout and Spider stories in the 80's and I love his work on Conan now.




And that is your Pulp Thursday report!

Does anybody really care?

One of my good buddies in the Blogo-verse is a guy who goes by the handle the "Acrobatic Flea". He runs a very solid geek blog called Heropress.
For various reason he hasn't really been feeling the love out here on the net and has been thinking about folding up shop and dropping the Blog. Now this would be a shame, cause his blog is pretty damn good. He has insightful commentary, well written reviews, and other features that make his Blog one of my daily stops (and he doesn't even need half -naked girls to pad his weekly posts). In response to his post on thinking of quitting I responded:

"As official reader #2 I want to let you know I'm here just about every day. And believe me I know how frustrating it is to see a bunch of people visit and only one or two post a comment. But I find my blog as my way to log all the crazy stuff I see and think about. I use it as a repository for stuff I run across and don't want to forget. Your blog has turned me on to movies, games, and other websites I would have never known about otherwise.
I hang out at Midnights Lair because YOUR BLOG turned me on to it. so screw the world mate.
Blog for me and the other guys who appreciate it. Hell I got big numbers of visitors on my blog, but most of them just show up for the girlie picks.
They swipe em from me(The same way I swiped em from someone else) without so much as a "Thank you" and move on to the next shiny blog.
You think if my blog disappears tomorrow any of those guys would care? Hell no.
Like you, I have a few loyal readers, a small band of brothers that follow my blog cause we have stuff in common. Thats who I do it for. I blog for me, you and a handful of other guys who actually care about what I've been up to and what I think. I hope you keep it up buddy, but if you decide to close shop your always welcome at the Lair.
Jeff"


Is that how I really feel?
yeah, I guess it is.
I think blogging is more than just a little narcissistic. I mean, sure you tell yourself it's a way to post your thoughts and such, but it's also about that little charge you get when people actually respond to what you have written.
I love comments.
Do I get a lot of them?
No.
But then again I don't leave comments at every blog I visit every day either.

Have I made some friends as a result of the blog? Yup, I sure have.
I hope the Acrobatic Flea keeps on churning out Heropress. But if he doesn't thats okay too. Because of our blogs I know him, he knows me. and we're mates. So it's all good.

What the hell??

I have no idea what the hell happened, but today my computer wont work. I'm writing this from the future-tomorrow at work. I turned it on and get to the part where windows loads and then it freezes. I'm thinking virus.

Damn all porn!

anyway, hell of a way to start the New Year. posts will be light until I figure out what the hell is going on. I can still access from work, but this is open enrollment for all my districts, so it's kinda "crunch time" around here.

I'll post as I can.

Sunday funny

Pulp Thursday

Pulp Thursday is a bit sparse this week. But what we lack in quantity is more than made up for in quality.

“Yours in a white wine sauce!” is just an amazing resource of articles, tips, links and general information. It’s geared towards the Victorian era but many of the applications meld into the pulp genre quite nicely. The list of links will keep you occupied for days. And his lost world / dino hunting sections are a godsend. A tip of the hat to the referrer at the Exile Game studio forum for the heads up on this Simply excellent blog.



My thanks to Hank of "Cleireac's Journal" for giving us the skinny on the old time radio serial:
“The Voyage of the Scarlet Queen” a great adventure to listen to as I drone my way through the workday.




Episode #4 is up for your enjoyment!

And that is your Pulp Thursday report!

Thursday Pulp

The big news for me this week is that I hooked up with a gaming group! Not only are we going to start a regular campaign, it’s gonna be a PULP campaign! Top Secret: SI / Agent 13. Life is good.

So in celebration, here are a few of the newer offerings in the world of Pulp Gaming-


THRILLING TALES: The Golden Idol of Sikral $5.00
I'm usually a bit leery of Adamant's offerings, but this appears to be a reprint of a Hero games product. I enjoy the stuff put out for Pulp Hero.


Pulp Hero: The Golden Idol of Sikral $3.00 (Same adventure-lower price)





Boomtown Planet - Saturday Edition
I never heard of this game until today. if I hadn't spent my gaming allowance on stuff for the Top Secret game, I might have picked this up. I probably still will, just not this week.


BASH! Sci-Fi Edition
Not really Pulp Per se- But I really like the BASH line of games. And anyone can build a retro Flash Gordonesque campaign using these rules. This is another purchase that's gonna have to wait. At $15.00 BASH is starting to get a little pricey for a PDF offering (no pdf should cost more than $15.00).

Fantastic Worlds: Pulp Action in the Far Reaches of Space
I don't play miniatures games, but if I did- this would be the one. It looks way fun!



Bumbles Pounce
The Cimmerian has posted this amusing tale of that great polar explorer / prospector Yukon Cornelius!
Enjoy!



And that's your Pulp Thursday report!