New feature - Flashback Friday

This morning I was looking through my old files for a couple of pieces I had written several years ago. My search brought me back to the old site that "the Lair" was hosted on before I switched to Blogger. It’s kind of funny reading some of those old posts from three or four years ago. I’m thinking of designating Fridays here as a place where I dust off some of the older stuff and post it again. I can stroke my ego AND not have to worry about posting on Fridays, sounds like a “win/win” to me.

So here’s the first,
When the Lair started it was a place for my gaming and action figure interests. Recently the action figure posts have really dried up. My interest in action figures and kit bashing hasn’t dried up but I just don’t have the time or the room to accommodate it right now.
So I thought I would drag out the old photos from the archives, of some of my earliest attempts at kit-bashing fantasy figures. As some of you know kit-bashing figures is a fluid process many of these figures have evolved and changed, some have been improved others have been stripped down and gone back in the bin. Right now I have about eight figures that are on permanent display and only come down for minor touch ups and equipment upgrades.

These are all older bashes from my early days.

Guilty Pleasure: Raven Swordsmistress of Chaos

Why does Chaos need a Swordsmistress? I have no idea. Maybe the folks at Games Workshop know.
Anyway, I read a lot of Sword & Sorcery, and I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes we ain’t talking high-end literature here. Some of this stuff is pure crap. But in my efforts to produce stuff for Broadsword and Legends of Steel, I must suffer for my art.

Raven is a series of S&S books that were published in England in the late seventies and in the US in the mid-eighties. I stumbled across #1, 2 & 5 a few weeks ago. I’m halfway through #1 and I must admit I kinda like it.

Escaped slave girl with a mystical destiny meets a mysterious warrior / sorcerer who recognizes her hidden potential. And with the aid of a sword master and his a band of raiders, train her in the fighting arts so that she can fulfill an unknown prophecy that will change the world…Yadda, Yadda, etc. You know the drill.

The locations are exotic, the action scenes are fun, and there are naughty bits, including a little girl/girl action- kind of like Xena but with some payoff in the end. I enjoyed the supporting characters and paid more attention to the locales than I usually would probably because I’m working on a campaign world for Broadsword right now.

All in all as the genre goes, I was entertained and came a way with a few snippets for use in my own gaming. From what I understand there were only five books, so I think I’ll try and hunt down #3 & 4.

Outside looking in

I’m reading quite a bit about the 4th edition-most of it negative. I suppose because it’s unknown and we generally fear the unknown. One thing I’ve noticed is that the marketing of 4th edition by WOTC doesn’t seem to be very empathetic to the current customer base. It seems almost arrogant. I saw the promotional clip that was played at Gen con. It seemed very condescending to me. It’s like the producers were saying: “listen up geeks- the way you have been playing all these years- well, it was wrong. Prepare to be enlightened.” I also ran across this “clouds in the sky” post by a WOTC employee, where he basically says “this is gonna happen so deal with it.” Well yeah, that may be true but you don’t have to be an arrogant ass about it. He later apologized, but for many the damage was done. Apology accepted, but what you said and the tone it was conveyed in won’t soon be forgotten. In my experience Gamer’s (me included) are many things good and bad, but one thing we most definitely are is sensitive, how else can we embrace a pastime that is pretty much imaginary?

In my opinion, the strategy used by WOTC to market this newest incarnation of D&D is light years away from the strategies used to usher in the 2nd and 3rd editions of the game. I was there for both events. When 2nd edition came along TSR used Dragon magazine to tease us with snippets and glimpses of new mechanics and rules. They promised a game that was different, yet still familiar without alienating their fan-base too much. Of course, back then if you wanted to bitch and whine you had to write a letter, mail it in and hope it got published. The books came out, almost all of us converted, the angry letters to Forum eventually drifted away and we moved on.

Eventually the time came for a 3rd edition. Once again the hue and cry was raised, but this time around we had the internet so the debates, complaints, and praise were heard much louder and felt more intense than in the 2nd edition transition. But still, the company (WOTC by then) took a soft approach and used their marketing skills to gently guide us to the next edition. At this point I sat on the beach with the other 2nd edition die-hards and waved goodbye to many of my friends on the 3rd edition flotilla as it headed out. I had spent too much money and time on 2nd edition to leave. But even then I had no I’ll thoughts for WOTC. They never told me my game was wrong, at least I don’t remember them telling me that.

But I’m not getting that vibe from this latest marketing campaign, it seems to me that there is a kind of arrogance out there from WOTC and the people that represent them-maybe they’re just young and cocky, sure that the geeky masses will buy the books despite their kicking and screaming (Just like they did the first two times).

In a way, I don’t really care. I most likely wont be buying the 4th ed. Books. Not out of any feelings of righteous indignation, but simply because when I want to play D&D I already have all I need. I love gaming, but I have surpassed the point where gaming and D&D are synonymous. When people talk about playing D&D my mind goes to “The Queen of the Demonweb pits” or the Nehwon section of the Deities and Demigods book. And that’s where it stays, and I’m fine with that. But it is interesting to see all the drama play itself out again.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNet

Sunday morning funnies

Simple to do and funny. what more could you want on a Sunday morning?
Thanks to PMikey for the heads up on these.

Broadsword Expansion update

I just wanted to share with everyone the latest incarnation of my "World of Broadsword" map.
I've been working on the expansion all day. I'm 90% done with the nations and am currently working on the geographical features of the map. Between this and the swashbuckling adventure I'm writing for the Idyll 1PG, my creative juices have really been flowing. anyway, here's the map with new additions and tweaks added on:

1PG explosion

1 page (1PG), my favorite “little engine that could” system has recently been given a shot in the arm thanks to Heyoka Studios. James Stubbs and his team of writers are taking the 1PG license to new heights of success and innovation. They have taken older titles like Star Legion, Daisho, and Sixgun, added new adventures for all three product lines, and (in the case of Star Legion) they have expanded on the rules

When I speak of innovation I’m talking about titles like Idyll- the game of Romantic Fantasy, or Medieval Mysteries- the game that helps you run adventures solving crimes in the Middle Ages.

If you visit Deep7’s 1PG message board you will find the folks there discussing upcoming projects like- new WWII adventures for Battle Force Bravo, A new expansion pack for the 1PG superhero game Hero Force, A campaign expansion of Broadsword featuring adventure in the form of the classic Harryhausen Sinbad movies, just to name a few.

There are lots of boards that talk about games, bitch about games, and pontificate about games. Over at the Deep7 boards the people aren’t just theorizing about games they’re writing them. It’s a cool thing to be a part of right now. Do you have an idea for a genre? Stop by the Deep7 Boards and let’s talk about it.

ARE ALL DMs EVIL?

A guest post from Yax of the "Dungeon Mastering" blog:



I was recently thinking of how sadistic a game master has to be. Lovingly sadistic, of course. I think that it is unique to dungeon masters and that they all have that evil streak in them.

When I plan scenes, events, and encounters for my D&D game I am trying to hurt, mangle, injure, confuse my players' characters. But I want to keep them alive. How paradoxal is that? No other profession - is DMing a profession? - requires the same incompatible set of skills.

If other professions required the same twisted, contradictory approach here's what they would consist of:

Car manufacturer


You need to design a car that will scare the driver to death and will require constant vigilance. Bad break pads, impossibility to go in reverse, maybe a trap-protected glove box! After each car ride the driver has to be afraid, relieved, happy, and the damage to the car needs to be minimal so that the driver is still alive and willing to go back behind the wheel!

Lawyer

Your job is to send your clients to a high-security prison from which it is impossible to escape, then provide your clients with advice and possibly tools that will allow for an action-packed prison break!

Doctor

Let your patient's condition deteriorate to a point where only the most exotic and rare ingredients can save him. Ideally the patient would have a very specific time window to find the medicine.

War general

Your duty is to declare war for dubious reasons and bring nations - including yours - in a state of disarray. If possible do not hire good security so that any enterprising group of young lads can sneak into your headquarters, steal your plans, and use them to defeat you.

Computer programmer

No matter how the technology evolves always develop software that includes bugs and glitches. Wait! Is that a joke or is that reality?

- Yax
yax@dungeonmastering.com
www.dungeonmastering.com

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGnet!

Freedom Force vs. The 3rd Reich

When it comes to video games I am so far behind the curve I don't even try. So if you guys have heard of "Freedom Force Vs.The 3rd Reich", you can tune out now (Go flick on the Wednesday Girl tab or something).

I ran across this title months ago over at Kay bee toys. It had this really cool Kirbyesque cover of a guy that looked like "Spirit of 76" punching out a Nazi. Now as big a fan I am of Pulp Games, you know I can always get on board when it comes to punching Nazis, so I picked it up. Unfortunately it sat on my shelf gathering dust until today. I was straightening out the computer desk when Middle Minion Joshua spied it. After some prompting from him and his brother we opened it up and loaded it. Let me tell you folks, this is one cool little game.

You run from one to four Superheroes through a variety of scenarios fighting thugs, Nazis, Commie spies, Axis villains, Space Aliens,and other assorted baddies. You can play various superheroes or create your own (we haven't got to that part yet, since we just started). It's real old school "Four Color" comic book fun. The best part for me is that it's "Kid safe" no blood, hookers, or demonic overtones. It's really a virtual comic book you can play with. the heroes can gain new powers and strengths as you gain experience so there is a nice sense of accomplishment there.
I've heard of "City of Heroes" etc. which probably wipes the street with Freedom Force as far as graphics and doo dads. But for me and the minions it's fun and definitely worth the price (a quick check on Amazon shows it for about five bucks).

More Blogging fun.

Here are a couple of new Blogs on the block. They look interesting. Time will tell if they stay reasonably updated. The posts are well written, so I'll put them on my daily visit list and we'll see how they do. It's harder than it looks guys, that's why I post a lot of pictures.

Drop by and tell them The Evil DM sent you. I'm sure they ll go "Who the hell is that?"

StupidRanger.com

and

Musings of the chatty DM

Best of luck guys!

TSR Minigames

Tonight the oldest minion and I played Revolt on Antares. one of my favorite of the "Old School" TSR Minigames that came out in the 80's. It was a fun game but I forgot how damn small the game boards were. It really takes a decent Dex to keep the pieces from flying all over the place. I have almost all of them I just need Dracula and The Alamo and my TSR Minigame collection will be complete!

Savage Worlds Explorer Edition

Well now I guess we know it can be done. A game company can come up with a complete, high quality version of their core rules for under $10.00

Pinnacle Entertainment has done just that with their Savage Worlds Explorer edition- It’s the size of a graphic novel, full color, high quality, and yes it retails for $9.99. The gaming boards are abuzz with this product. Pinnacle has made an excellent marketing move; I bought two copies and am considering buying a third. I can throw them in my bag have a pick-up game at a convention and when somebody at the table says they don’t have the rules, I have extras. I really hope other companies see the success of pinnacles gamble and follow suit.

So, my new message to the bigger game companies: You want me to fork over $40+ dollars for your new “state of the art” campaign? Well then sell me the rule book with production values that match Savage worlds: Explorer’s Edition, for under 10 bucks, and let me take a look at your core engine. And don’t whine to me about costs, cause now I know you can do it.

The World of Broadsword

As I mentioned the other day, one of the projects I'm working on is an expansion of Broadsword.
The expansion will include:
* Additional advantages & skills
* A Sword & Sorcery campaign setting
* Rules and suggestions for running Sword & Planet Adventures
* A Sword & Planet campaign setting
* Several Sword & Sorcery Scenarios and several Sword & Planet Scenarios

Being a "visual" type person I needed some sort of map to make my way around the proposed "Broadsword World". I thought some of you might like to have a look at it. Like just about everything I do, this is a rough draft subject to change. Those of you who have bought Broadsword might recognize a few of the places on the map as corresponding to the scenarios in the game. And if you haven't bought a copy of Broadsword yet, what the hell are you waiting for?

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNet

Sunday Geekfest

My Geekfest today started with a trip to Wal-Mart where I found three of the five GI Joe adventure team figures. These are the Wal-Mart exclusives that I wrote about a few weeks back- Retro packaging, Kung-Fu grip, fuzzy hair and only $9.99 each!

I also picked up a DVD copy of “The Princess Bride”. I figured the Minions enjoyed ‘Stardust” so much last week they would enjoy this classic as well. I was right.

“She who must be obeyed” and I also shopping for clothes and books- her clothes, my books. We hit one of my favorite used bookstores where I scored a copy of Andre Norton’s Quag Keep.


Quag Keep is not one Norton’s better known novels, unless you’re a gamer, more specifically a gamer who cut his teeth on AD&D in the 70’s-80’s then you should know what I’m talking about. Few have the module, I suspect fewer still have the book, it was an awesome Geek boy find.

I also managed to plug some holes in my S&S book collection. I found #4 in the “Death Dealer” series- Plague of knives, and #3 in the Carson of Venus series- Escape on Venus. These incidentally bring my S&S paperback collection to 70 books.

I’m also working on a concept for a pulp game tentatively titled Mission: Adventure! That takes place in the cold war 60’s as opposed to the typical 1930’s pulp that everyone else is doing. I’m thinking a little “Jonny Quest”, little “Mack Bolan”, A little “Challengers of the Unknown”. I’m still in the early stages of development but I started collecting some research material to steal…er um…get inspiration from. I often do judge a book by it’s cover and this one looked fun. More reading!

No playing, but a lot of writing

I'm getting some great feedback on the latest write up of Legends of Steel. It looks like my attempts to make the rules more clear and concise have payed off. I'm also getting good comments on the examples of play that I wrote in to illustrate the concepts, they really do seem to add to the feeling of the game. I'm hoping to get a local play test group going. Anyone in the Sacramento area interested??

I'm still working on a Sword & Planet expansion for Broadsword. Rather than an alien world I'm going for a Dimensional shift thing-Bermuda Triangle and such. I'm also working on a Campaign World for Broadsword. I know that the 1PG system is designed for one-shot games and such, I was just thinking that it would be cool to have a uniform S&S world for them to take place on. It would also serve as incentive for me to work on more Broadsword adventures. James over at Heyoka Studios is doing great things with Star Legion, why not do the same with Broadsword?



On that same thought- I mentioned last week That Idyll and Stardust would be an excellent fit. Well today I ran across my copy of "The Mad King" by E.R. Burroughs. This is another type of adventure that would be fun to adapt to Idyll. Swashbuckling fun eh? I'm Brainstorming on that as well.

Friday funny

Payback is a bitch, Dumbass.



And in case Michael tries to skip out, my buddy MG has a couple of Bounty Hunters on call.

“Crush your enemies. See them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.”

My bud, Ed W. (known online as “the Chairman”) and his son Eddie Jr. represented Sacramento this year at GenCon, where Eddy Jr. took FIRST PLACE in the 2007 D&D Miniatures World Championship Tournament!


Along with World-wide gamer bragging rights Eddie gets an exclusive White Dragon trophy, the chance to design his own miniature, and $2,000.00 cash.



He also gets an elite cadre of bodyguard/bathers to attend to him 24 hours a day.

-Ok that part I made up…

CONGRATULATIONS EDDIE! YOU DA MAN!!

Check out Eddie's interview on the Wizard site!

The best damn supplements you’ll ever find for $1.95

The 1PG games are great fun. From the Old west to Hong Kong action movies, they cover just about any genre you could want.
Star Legion is the 1PG that handles science fiction adventures in space. Though intended to be a space opera style game, Star Legion is capable of handling every subgenre of interplanetary adventure from David Drakes “Hammers Slammers” series to Joss Whedon’s “Firefly”.
Heyoka studios has acquired the rights to expand The 1PG universe and are doing so with a vengeance. Earlier this year they came out with “Idyll” the 1PG setting for fantasy romance. And now they have released two expansion products for Star Legion- “Blastoff” and “Ignition”.



Blastoff is loaded with 28 pages of crunch for fans of military science fiction, specifically military ships. There is information on their size, propulsion systems, ordinance and crews. There is also a nice amount of fluff interspersed in the descriptions of the various ships and their classes. For instance, in a section on battleships the point is made that carrier and battle groups seldom ever make port on a planet at the same time for fear of the animosity amongst the personnel while on liberty. And also there is a part where a battleship from a decommissioned class is rumored to have gone rogue, officially it’s listed as “missing in action” but the truth of the matter is still unknown-Hello adventure! I wasn’t sure I would care much for “Blastoff!” since my taste in Science Fiction run mostly to planet-side adventures than to the doings of “The Fleet”, but I’m happy to report that I was able to take away quite a bit from it. The next time my hearty band of smugglers runs across a mysteriously abandoned Valdez class Frigate, I’ll have a healthy amount of information available to pull from.



As much as I ended up enjoying “Blastoff” I was absolutely blown away by “Ignition” sixteen pages of new character classes, expanded abilities, rules on subjects as diverse as planetary survival and alien impregnation. I don’t care who you are or where you are from; if you’re a gamer your mouth always waters at the idea of expanded rules for a system you enjoy. And there is a lot to enjoy here for $1.95-and not just for Star Legion- these rules are applicable to just about any other 1PG product. Add to all of that five Star Legion ready to run scenarios. Now where else are you gonna get more bang for your buck? Both can be found at RPGNow.

Motivational Monday

Thanks to RPGNet

Romance & Adventure at the Sunday Matinee

“She who must be obeyed” and I took the minions to the movies today. We ignored their pathetic bleating cries of “Underdog movie! Underdog movie!” and took them to see something worthy of the $45 plus dollars I was about to spend. We went to see Stardust. We were enchanted, we were amused, we saw Michelle Pfeiffer looking sexy as ever and Robert De Niro in a red feather boa. I took away a few ideas for gaming (flying ships that catch lightning, what a cool idea) the minions even got scared, but in a cool “Story book thrills and chills" way, not in a “Seeing the Exorcist by yourself when your 7years old" way.

It was a nice way to spend a Sunday afternoon, and as we left the theater the minions were so busy talking about Stardust, they didn’t even notice the Underdog poster in the lobby.



By the way Idyll would be the PERFECT system to use to further the adventures in the land of Stormhold.

Cleaning out the image file

Friday funny

Blogs

One of my little online peeves is finding a good Blog on a subject I enjoy reading about and then find out the guy posts once every three months. Now y’all know I ain’t perfect, my Blogging is spotty but at least I try to post 2 or 3 times a week, hell I even do catch up posts when I find myself getting too far behind.

The following are a few of my daily “go to” Blogs. They consistently post new entries with interesting content. Now these aren’t really the big mega Blogs that get 1000 hits a day. I’m talking smaller more personal Blogs with a daily readership in the hundreds, but the quality of the posts is definitely there.

Heropress
Tim’s Blog has really taken off. He has a great mix of gaming and geek media. He gives reminisces, reviews and a bunch of Dr. Who stuff (I don’t really care for the Dr. Who stuff, but I waddle through it to get to the rest).

Jeff’s gameblog
Jeff’s place is familiar territory to many gamers on the net. He’s an old school soul when it comes to his gaming choices. And his posts reflect that.

A nerd’s country journal
Another Jeff. Jeff H. of Heromachine fame went out and bought a farm in Texas. From there he writes about the trials and tribulations of country life. He sprinkles it with geeky goodness to keep me interested. He sometimes goes all political on me and then there is the occasional "I’m an atheist" post. But he’s not one of those over the top fundamentalist atheists, at least he’s not when he’s Blogging. He’s a nice normal God fearing atheist. Jeff’s Blog is a welcome change of pace from all the gaming drama and action figure angst that fills my day.

Hank's Journal
On the other end of the spectrum we have Hank. Hank is a pulp fan so naturally he’s a kindred spirit. Hanks also a Chaplain in the Salvation Army. He doesn’t do much preaching on his Blog though, he mostly keeps it focused on pulp gaming and anything genre related.

Pith helmet
The Pith Helmet Blog has great color and style. When you see it you’ll know what I mean. It’s like opening a pulp magazine. Lots of interesting snippets. Occasional political rants, but nothing too extreme. I always find something fun there.

Dungeon Mastering
This is the “new kid” on my daily Blog route. I found it quite by accident. It was a link ad on my Gmail account. It’s fun, informative and light. It’s a solid 3.5 D&D site but the links and advice are applicable to gaming life in general. Good stuff!

Do yourself a favor and give these guys a visit. drop a comment, we love comments. Blogging isn't rocket science but finding cool stuff to write about daily can be a chore sometimes.

Legends of Steel characters (Draft)

Below are some draft pages from my Legends of Steel game. The write ups still need some work I just wanted to get something out there to prove that LoS is still being worked on. You gotta love that line art from Mister Heromachine himself- Jeff Hebert!Click to see them bigger.