Merry Christmas!

Turkish delight

As I mentioned in my Sunday post I’m currently running a game of GURPS Castle Falkenstein. My players at the moment include a former Union Officer from the United States, A gunslinger/ gambler from the Bear Flag Empire of California, A Finnish soldier of fortune, and a Dwarven engineer from Prussia. Currently they are headed to Spain from Italy via Aeroship to recover an item located in some ruins high up in the Pyrenees.
Of course there is another group of not so nice guys after the same item (heh,heh).
All they know about the other group is that one of their number is described as “a huge Turk”.
On the subject of Turks; I just received a recent EBay purchase here at the office. “The Ottoman Empire” is a GURPS sourcebook for Castle Falkenstein, that deals with the exotic classical Orient Written by Phil Masters, who incidentally is the author of GURPS Castle Falkenstein as well as GURPS Arabian nights. Flipping through this wonderful book whets my imagination of where to send my boys after they are done fetching trinkets in Spain.
Just when my players thought they had all their bases covered by taking language skills in French, Italian, German, and Latin. [Insert maniacal laughter here].

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNET.

GURPS- Age of Adventure

I actually did some gaming on Sunday over at the local game store. From the original group of six that discussed the game, four actually showed up. Not too bad.
We embarked on a Victorian era adventure using GURPS 4th edition rules. I was hella rusty, along with the fact that I was recovering from some kinda bug. But all in all it went off okay. The first game is always a bit slow as we get the back story set up and character introductions out of the way. Everyone said they had a good time but of course they’re gonna say that, I’d say that and then find a way to skip out on the rest of the game. The success of today’s game will be evident the next time we meet. I have some good encounters planned and some honest to gawsh combat. Now I have to go look up train schedules and travel times in 1870’s Spain.

ECCHH

UGH!

Gaming!

It’s been almost a year since my last regular tabletop game closed. Since then I’ve been tweaking for a new one. My buddy Ed ran a really cool Mutants and Masterminds one shot in September, but with the holidays and all we haven’t been able to hook up since. I set up a Tribe account to see if I could recruit some players. I also posted on the D&D Meetup site. I got a few bites so I set up a meet over at the local pizza joint Sunday morning. About half a dozen folks showed up and we started discussing gaming. Everyone looked to be about 30+ years old, so there was a good “Old school vibe” going on. We went over the standard stuff-favorite game systems, rules lawyers, gamer hygiene (or lack thereof), non gaming spouses, etc. we decided on a system to play: GURPS, and on a genre: Victorian age high adventure (Castle Falkenstein, Space 1889, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Ruse, Etc.). GURPS was a system everyone had familiarity with and the genre offered something different than the standard D&D fantasy stuff, yet still offered magic, fantasy races, and high powered rifles.
It’s a new venture-new group-new campaign. My success with gaming groups is pretty good. I’d say in the high 90’s. One of my best experiences came from answering an ad recruiting gamers at a hobby store in Hawaii, as a result I made a ton of friends some of whom I’m still in touch with after all these years. So here’s to success!

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNET

A reading from the book of the universally clueless

I consider myself a bit of a classic rock snob, when stuff comes on the radio I'm usually the guy who asks every one "Whats the name of the song? artist? and album?" and then I sit there smugly as everyone ties themselves up in knots trying to answer. My wife hates when I do that.
And don't you dare sing along with the radio and get the words wrong, I'll nail you to the floor, and mock you incessantly.

so you can imagine how dumb I felt the other morning while listening to Bob Seger's classic tune "Night moves" (From the album of the same name, by the way) when suddenly I caught something that never occurred to me. the opening of the song goes like this...

I was a little too tall
Could've used a few pounds
Tight pants points hardly reknown
She was a black-haired beauty with big dark eyes
And points all her own sitting way up high
Way up firm and high

THAT PART, right there- "And points all her own sitting way up high. Way up firm and high"

her breasts, he was singing about her breasts...teenage breasts to be exact.

I must have heard that song a bazillion times since 1976 and I never made that connection until 30 years later. geez...

Best supporting

Sometimes an ok film becomes memorable not for the script or the star but from the performance of a supporting actor. I suppose that why the academy awards acknowledges such efforts. Two great performances that I always bring up when discussing genre films are; Viggo Mortensen as Lucifer in the movie “The Prophecy” and Bruce Spence’s portrayal as “The Mouth of Sauron” in the extended version of the “Lord of the Rings :The Return of the King”.


I’ve seen many cinematic portrayals of the devil, but none as convincing as Viggo’s, he has a seductive, persuasive, yet callous air about him. The Prophecy is about a celestial war amongst the angels that makes its way to earth. Christopher Walken commands the show as the Archangel Gabriel, and it’s a true testament to Viggo’s skill at acting to hold his own against such an intense actor as Walken.



Spence’s Performance lasts a few brief minutes, but it leaves you with a true appreciation of what life in Middle Earth would be like and just who would be running things if Sauron and his boys were in charge.

Evil DM Comics

I was reviewing my software the other day and noticed I haven't done anything with comic book creator in a while. so just to refresh myself with the program I tossed a a couple of pages together using some photos in my files. Nothing really intense just kinda putzing around with it. but doing so reminded me what a fun program it is, especially for an amateur like me. CBC has been updated considerably since the last time I played around with it. The pros may prefer Photoshop etc. for REAL projects. but for me CBC is just fine. Click on the pages for a larger view

Pan's Labyrinth

Pan's Labyrinth

My thanks to Eric for the Head's up!

Motivational Monday

thanks to RPGNET.

Pistol Rig

One of my friends in the Nor Cal GI Joe club made this pistol rig for me. It’s inspired by the one worn by Teresa Moreno, a Spanish guerilla leader in the “Sharpe” BBC television series. Since at the moment I don’t have a female action figure that would do it justice It’s being modeled by one of my favorite figures from the “Power Team” line- Pedro.

My "Lost World" team

I'm currently running a "Lost World" Pulp game on a message board, and I’m throwing together a few kit bashes of some of the characters in the game.

First up Anna.
Anna is the daughter of a Chinese warlord. Schooled in Europe, she later became an aviator skilled in piloting just about any craft of the period. She was the pilot of the airship which brought the team to the lost world.



Dr. Otto Hames
Doc is a brilliant doctor and medical researcher specializing in diseases. He recently lost his family in a car accident and has hit bottom. Hopefully this expedition will bring him back from his despair.




Thomas Kane
Kane is a soldier of fortune. He was recently re commissioned as an officer for the expedition. he is in charge of the squad of Marines who act as security for the team. Kane served in the Great War and also as a "Military advisor" in several South and Central American armies. Recently he was working as a bounty hunter in Texas.



the two I didn't have solo pictures of are in the team picture here . on the left is Professor Armstrong, a world famous geologist and explorer. And on the Far Right is Gunnery Sgt. Acosta a career Marine NCO and the squad leader of the security detachment.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNet.

I got my wife to game (Sort of)

Mrs. Evil DM has never shown the slightest interest in gaming. She’s not opposed to the hobby as several of my Ex-girlfriends were when I was single (which is the most common reason they are EX girlfriends and not my wife). gaming just never interested her. I respect that, but like all gamers who are married to civilians, there is deep down, a part of me that would love nothing better than to have her by my side as we stormed the Darklords Keep or entered the Temple of Ultimate Evil. But after 10 years together I’ve pretty well resolved that it aint gonna happen. Until tonight- for the first time I cracked open a copy of Blackmorn Manor- a board game from a company called Pacesetter. Pacesetter is no longer with us and I have had this game sitting on my shelf for at least 4 years, so it was high time we cracked it open. Blackmorn Manor is a tile based horror game where one player takes on the role of a monster in the manor and the rest of the players are the intrepid explorers out to destroy it. There is combat, magic, and supernatural goings on a plenty. The “board” is made up of tiles that are placed in turn by each player; therefore no game board is the same. All in all it’s a fun game. My son and I sold it to my wife as a board game, which technically it is but there were enough RPG elements in it that we soon had her actually role playing her character- My son played the "Professor Challenger" type character and my wife was “Gina Diamond” professional singer and amateur supernatural sleuth. The minion I selected was a female vampire. After slogging through the rules for the first few minutes we were soon up to speed and chasing each other around the game board. The Professor eventually faced off against the vampire alone and was quickly defeated and turned to the Dark Side. We then proceeded to hunt down Gina who managed to thwart our efforts with skill and remarkable dice rolls-talk about beginners luck. In the end the Vampire absconded with the wooden stake (The item needed to destroy the vampire) and won the game, however Gina survived to the end without being turned into a servant of evil so it was a moral victory for the forces of good at least. The best part is that my wife said NEXT TIME she’ll win now that she knows the rules. There’s gonna be a “Next time”…WOO HOO!!

TSR's "The Lost World"

Yesterday I was thinking about my next post in the Sword of Skartaris game and “Lost World” gaming in general, when I came upon an idea that makes perfect sense. First take the Hollow World Campaign supplement for the D&D Mystara setting, and then take characters from the Masque of the Red Death Campaign supplement for the Ravenloft setting. Combine them and you have a pretty sweet Victorian era Lost worlds campaign!
Man I wish I would have had this particular epiphany back when I had a regular gaming group. I always wanted to play a Pulp game but I could never talk my players into it. They were hard core D&D geeks, but I think I could have sold them on this idea. I get my pulp fix and they get to keep the same game engine and rules they were comfortable with.

While on the Subject of gaming I found this site that has some tools worthy of a look-
RPtools. There's a dice roller,a mapping program and an icon creator. The updates look to be frequent and regular and the forums seem to be active.

Gunfightin' Rules

1. Bring a gun. Preferably, bring at least two guns. Bring all of your friends who have guns.

2. Anything worth shooting is worth shooting twice. Ammo is cheap. Life is expensive.

3. Only hits count. The only thing worse than a miss is a slow miss.

4. If your shooting stance is good, you're probably not moving fast enough nor using cover correctly.

5. Move away from your attacker. Distance is your friend. (Lateral and diagonal movement are preferred.)

6. If you can choose what to bring to a gunfight, bring a long gun and a friend with a long gun.

7. In ten years nobody will remember the details of caliber, stance, or tactics. They will only remember who lived.

8. If you are not shooting, you should be communicating, reloading, and running.

9. Accuracy is relative: most combat shooting standards will be more dependent on "pucker factor" than the inherent accuracy of the gun.

10. Someday someone may kill you with your own gun, but they should have to beat you to death with it because it is empty.

11. Always cheat; always win. The only unfair fight is the one you lose.

12. Have a plan.

13. Have a back-up plan, because the first one won't work.

14. Use cover or concealment as much as possible.

15. Flank your adversary when possible. Protect yours.

16. Don't drop your guard.

17. Always tactical load and threat scan 360 degrees.

18. Watch their hands. Hands kill. In God we trust. Everyone else, keep your hands where I can see them.

19. Decide to be aggressive ENOUGH, quickly ENOUGH.

20. The faster you finish the fight, the less shot you will get.

21. Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet.

22. Be courteous to everyone, friendly to no one.

23. Your number one option for personal security is a lifelong commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.

24. Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with a "4."

Motivational Monday

thanks to RPGNET

Keeping busy

First off, in case you haven’t noticed the Lair has had a few cosmetic upgrades. We are now publishing in Blogger Beta which allows us to have a post subject header in the sidebar- so now If you want to see all the posts on this Blog regarding action figures just go to the sidebar and click on action figures. And Blogger will pull all the action figure posts and show them on a separate page. I also got rid of the “Starry background” gif and the dungeon movie and replaced it with a collage of images from past Blog entries. I also updated the links.
Please let me know what you think of the changes.

I’ve been very busy the last few days working on a variety of RPG projects.

The Legends of Steel players section is done-complete-finito! I’m working on the Game masters section now and then it should be ready for play testing, editing and layout.

For Broadsword, I’m writing three of the six adventure scenarios that will be released with the game. I want to get this done by Dec 1st so that we can roll the game out by the 15th.

I’ve also been working on my FASERIP Pulp expansion. This is where I take the rules engine from the Marvel Super Heroes RPG (commonly known in the RPG world as the FASERIP system) and adapt it to a Pulp Era setting. I’ve added a great deal of content and made some cosmetic changes to the font and graphics I’m using.
I also found a logo creation program and came up with this-

From K-Fed to Kmart

I don't follow the pop stuff too closely but you have to live on Mars in order to have missed the Britney Spears / Kevin Freeloader break-up news. Somebody seriously needs to slap that kid. He had This....



THIS!!!



and he pissed it away. What the hell was he thinking? She's Rich, Hot, Blonde,Dresses like a cheerleader...




and she obviously plays D&D


















Wave bye-bye chuckles,the parties over.

Do I really have to read another Comic book Blog?

You do if it's this one.

My buddy Jeff H. turned me on to it.

I tell ya man, The Jeff's are happenin', we post the best chick pix and we know where all the "Cool Blogs" are.

Here's a sample from the "Longbox"...




Now go check it out. And tell him The Evil DM sent ya.
(He'll probably say, "Who?")

Finally an Action Figure post

Here’s the ad.




Here’s the link

Now move yer ass!

It ends tomorrow!

Motivational Monday

Thanks to rpgnet.

Taking it to the streets

I’m a big fan of street level superheroes. Guys like Union Jack, Dr. Midnight, Iron Fist, Wildcat, etc. So I’ve been really pleased with the titles that have been coming out lately.
JSA Classified, Moon Knight, The Black Panther, Union Jack, and the re-launch of Heroes for Hire. In the last few issues of Black Panther, prior to his wedding with Storm, T’Challa was hanging out with Blade, Luke Cage and The Falcon- we had the makings of a cool ethnic team there for a bit, I would love to see that premise taken further. Coming up is a re-launch of Iron Fist and a special Dr. Midnight limited series in JSA Classified. All this street level coolness almost makes up for the travesty that was the Warlord series earlier this year…almost.

Sci-Fi sale

Amazon has a pretty decent Science Fiction DVD sale going on. For those of you looking to fill a hole in your library it may be worth a look.

If you’re not watching Heroes, you should be.

In my opinion this is about the best show on network TV at the moment. It’s well written, the characters are engaging, visually its crisp, and at the end of each episode you are left satisfied but still hooked and wanting more, unlike “Lost” which just fucks with your head, teases you and then leaves you there hanging for five weeks.

The official website is well supported with clips, interviews, games, blogs, and all kinds of geeky goodness to help you catch up to speed. They even have their own comic...um excuse me. Graphic Novel, thank you very much...

Just one word today...

VOTE

Motivational Monday

Free gaming magazines!

Heads up gamers! Mongoose games has released over a dozen issues of their Signs & Portents Magazine as free PDF downloads. Lots of great articles usable for a wide variety of genres. What a bargain!

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNET.

The heady days of Geekdom gone by...

And still another pulp post...

One of the things I do in my PBP games is give each character a sort of “Mini-adventure before the actual game starts. Nothing fancy just an encounter so that the player and I can get a handle on the character. It can also help to establish a little background outside of the usual dry character background write ups. The scene below is from a “Lost Worlds” Pulp game I’m currently running, It’s a series of back and forth posts edited together. This is an encounter set several days before the actual adventure begins. The character is globe-trotting Geologist / Adventurer- Archibald “Archie” Armstrong.

Honolulu, Hawaii-1936

Three days till the ship leaves for San Francisco. Three days in paradise. Beats the hell out of West Virginia. Archie thought to himself.

Sitting back in his rattan chair enjoying some Filipino egg rolls that Lita had called “Lumpia”- good stuff, At the moment life was good... Archie sat up as Lita returned to his table with a tray holding a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.
“Did you miss me?” she said with a twinkle in her eye.
Lita was Filipino / Hawaiian with golden skin, long, silky black hair, and a body that would put Venus De Milo to shame.
“You know,” she said as she nuzzled close to him and proceeded to pour the drinks, “I don’t get off for another two hours. But if you want to pay my “bar fine” we could go to Waikiki, my cousin plays in the band at the Royal Hawaiian hotel. It’s a real high-class place.”

Archie’s attention turns from the beauty at his side to the bar where a group of Merchant sailors are loudly announcing their arrival. One of the larger sailors turns as he lifts a mug of beer, and spies Archie’s table.
“Lita baby!” he exclaims. “C’mere and give me some luvvin baby doll!”
“Just ignore him honey.” Lita says as she takes a swig of her drink.
“Hey, HEY!” the sailor exclaims. “What the hell? Are you ignoring me?”
Another sailor attempts to restrain him, “C’mon Nick, lets get a drink.”
“Naw” Nick says, pushing his friend away. “I ain’t letting no damn Chink Bargirl, give me the blow off.”
The sailor stalks over to Archie’s table. “Who do you think you are huh? You two-bit floozy, playing it up all innocent for this Mook?” he says as he points to Archie.


Armstrong stood up, positioning himself between Lita and the bellicose sailor, he did so while maintaining enough distance that he wouldn't be sucker punched in the process.
Archie had been down this road before, many times and in many countries.. But at least this time he actually had the luxury of understanding the language of the goon in front of him.
"That's "Mr. Mook" to you swabbie, ya better put dat finger away if you wanna keep it!! I gots ten damn good reasons why youse should apologize to the lady and go sit down with your buddies"

Archie then gave the merchant seaman his "steely eyed glare". Unblinking and without emotion, most men would wither under Armstrong's intense stare. Those who encountered it called it the “dead face". More often then not this would settle a fracas before it would happen. If that wasn't the case even though he appeared relaxed, Archie was ready for the "Oh so familiar” pugilistic dance.

The whole bar went quiet except the sound of the angry sailor's breathing.

Nick meets Archie’s stare.
No one will ever accuse Nick of being the sharpest tool in the shed, but the sailor knows a bruiser when he sees one. Nicks a bully and a loudmouth and when he looks into Archie’s eyes he sees neither.
Looking down at Lita who is sitting at the table, Nick mumbles an apology and backs off.
“That was close” Lita says as she daintily closes the butterfly knife she was holding under the table and secures it in her garter. “I need this job.”
Looking at Archie again “So what do you say Guapo? Wanna go buy a girl a steak?”

Archie silently remains standing as he watches Nick humbly go sit back down at the table of merchant seaman.
There is a sigh of relief from the bartender and the rest of the bar resumes it's usual drunken jovial hub-bub.

Armstrong nod's at the fellow who tried to restrain Nick, the sailor raises his mug of beer as a salute in return. Archie turn's and grins down at Lita.
"Ya want's steak does ya baby!?.. I just can't say no to those honey brown eyes of yours darlin'..So let's blow this Popsicle stand and you take me to this fancy hotel you wuz talking about and, Archie winks. "We can watch your cousin play his ukulele"

Giggling, Lita lithfully rises and the bar looks on in envy as Archie hands the Mama-san a twenty and escorts Lita out of the bar into the warm Hawaiian night.

An incessant knock finally rouses Archie from his pillow. Running his fingers through his hair, his eyes slowly adjust to the daylight streaming from his Hotel window. Taking a deep breath he stands and locates his skivvies. Sliding them on, he glances at the beautiful naked form of Lita as she lay sleeping.
*more knocking...*
Archie mumbles something incoherent as he covers Lita's lower half with the bed sheet and heads for the door.

Distractedly scratching his rear, Archie grumpily stomps towards the banging door while muttering to himself. " Rassin' Frassin'...*grumble*...don't ya know a fella needs his beauty sleep..."

In one very swift action Archie hurls the door open.

"What part of DO NO DISTURB do you not understand!!!!?” He bellows.

In the hallway are two serious looking men in grey suits. Suits, in Hawaii.
G-Men.
Suit #1 speaks first “Mr. Armstrong.” A statement rather than a question. “I'm Mister Smith and this is Mister Jones.” Smith deftly presents his credentials-they’re legit (Archie also notices that “Smith” has a heater in a shoulder rig, which means “Jones” is probably packing as well).
Smith continues “We’re with the War Department and we’ve been sent to escort you to Hickam Airfield where a plane is waiting for you. Your presence is requested in Washington at the highest level.”
Mr. Jones finally breaks his silence. “We’ll wait out here Sir, while you get ready and uh…say yer goodbyes.”

Archie quickly soaked in the situation and grinned at the stern proper clean-cut men.
"Sure fella's..I guess I'm back in the saddle huh? See ya PDQ!!!" He whispered as he quietly closed the door.


Armstrong silently dressed and quickly packed his valise; his years living abroad meant he knew how to travel light and just pack the essentials. His mind raced as to what could be so important that two of J. Edger's finest would be escorting a mug like him to the big ol' Washington DC? And by plane no less. This was something big..

He strode over to the sultry sleeping form on the bed..
"What was her name again?" he wondered? He felt a little sad, so many ports, so many open arms but the connection always fleeting. At the very least a gentleman remembers the name of his dalliance.

"Lita!...right...Wow..Wotta gal!" he thought to himself while trying to remember the previous night.

He gently nudged her shoulder, as she was beginning to awake Archie spoke in a low voice.
"Lita baby, sorry honey but I gotta go, I just got word I have to go work for my uncle. Next time I am on the island I'll look you up"
Archie turned and walked towards the door to leave, grinning while thinking about the world famous Hawaiian hospitality.