Calvin & Hobbes

Getting kids interested in reading can sometimes be difficult. It's a hard sell these days to convince the kids that books and their imagination could be just as stimulating as the latest version of Pokemon for their Nintendo DS. For those of you with young boys, I want to give you a heads up on a discovery I made. Calvin & Hobbes.  You may remember this dynamic duo from a decade or two ago-a precocious 7 year old and his stuffed tiger. 

Calvin & Hobbes were featured in just about every major newspaper (that is, if you can remember newspapers).  Well, it seems that even though the strip's creator never took to the mass merchandising route, he did release a number of books containing color and B&W strip collections. Nowadays you can get these at just about any used book or thrift store for like $2-$3. 

With my own minions I've found that the collections of Calvin & Hobbes strips resonate.  Many of the themes of a little boys life (homework, bullies, parents, little girls, teachers,playing outside) are covered in the pages of the strip. Not to mention Calvin's imaginary adventures as a spaceman, superhero,  or even a dinosaur - there is plenty there to stoke a young imagination. But be prepared for questions regarding complex ideologies and ethical quandaries- because as Calvin discovers and questions the idiosyncrasies of his world, so will your minions. But the thing is while they are doing this they are laughing, and more importantly-reading. 

Dicey Tales - A Pulp Era Supplement for BoL

Well this is the project that has been filling the time I've saved by not posting as much here and on the forums. It's called Dicey Tales- It's a Pulp expansion for the Barbarians of Lemuria Rules Engine by Simon at Beyond Belief Games. This spectacular cover was done by Jason Chalker from The Manly Art Blog (go there, it's cool). I cant think of another pulp gaming cover more reminiscent of the pulps save for the venerable Justice Inc. cover from Hero Games.
The majority of the interior art will be done by another "friend of the Lair" Chris Schieffer.  Here are a couple of proposed sketches he's working on.

Hador is still being finished up and will most likely be released as an adventure setting for Dicey Tales and then for Savage Worlds.  


I'm currently working on the Game Masters section. The Players section of Dicey Tales is being looked over by a crack team of Pulp aficionados and BoL veterans. They have already begun to help me plug holes, remove inconsistencies and correct my grammar.
As with all my projects, you can calender it for a "soon" release date, but I am getting the art together so that means it wont be too far off. 

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.

Lazy Sunday Photo Dump

I have some stuff on EBay

I just took advantage of the "free insertion offer from Ebay this weekend and loaded up some stuff thats been hanging around here for a while. you can see it at the link below.


http://shop.ebay.com/mokmok/m.html?_ipg=&_trksid=p3911.c0.m301


or here:

They listed Ghettopoly differently: maybe because of it's adult content:

Today was another great Goodwill day.

the copy I picked up today for $2.49 looks just like this.
Otis Albert Kline
First Edition, 1929


Planet of Peril
From Amazon
Derring-do on a world of primitive monsters!
When Robert Grandon swapped bodies with a prince of the planet Venus, he was concerned only with the thrill and interest of living on a different world. But the situation he found himself in was hardly that of a leisurely sightseer. Instead, he found himself smack in the center of a whirlwind of intrigue, danger, and desperation.
Planet of Peril is a science-fiction adventure on a world of semi-barbaric nations, ferocious beasts, gigantic reptiles, and maidens in distress!

I also found the second book of the Crusader stories, I've had book one for the longest time. but have been waiting to get this one before I started the series.  Woo Hoo!

 

And finally, I snagged & VHS tapes of MST3K for a buck a piece.

No foolin- Robert Rodriguez has the rights for the remake.

Thanks Chris!

More info here.

Defenders of the Earth and Huck Finn

My buddy Karl just sent me this link and caused me to almost have a Nerdgasm. 
Defenders of the Earth  the complete series. 
Have any of you guys seen this series? 
I'm a big fan of the Phantom, but I must admit I'm not too familiar with this series.  One more thing to buy.


On a related note I scored a DVD with the old TV series "The New Adventures of Huck Finn"
Unless you're a "baby boomer" like me you wont remember it.  Hell I can barely remember it. but I remember wanting to go to the cartoon land they were trapped in. I think I also had my first "fanboy" crush on the girl who played Becky. Oh, and "Injun Joe" (Ted Cassidy) scared me so much I almost spilled my bowl of Quisp while watching it.

The Ultimate BASH!

I discovered BASH (Basic Action Super Heroes) back in 2007. I enjoyed the original version and I love the "new and improved" Ultimate Edition. If your not sure whether BASH is for you, take a look at the free magazines he puts out for his system. The mag is called BAM! You can download it at RPGNow for free.


And look for the Legends of Steel edition of BASH Fantasy coming out later this year.

Lazy Sunday Photo Dump

Another dancing post (but well worth it)

The Dance of the Cucumber!

Here is a blast from the recent past. As the Minions were growing up we had our official "Approved" shows that they were allowed to watch. One of their favorites, became one of mine- Veggietales.

The Misplaced paperback

I've had this book for a very long time (23 years to be exact). I bought it brand new in 1987.  I started to read it but I was distracted by something or other and just never got back to it.  Over the years I've spotted it as I moved, sorted, and re-sorted my books. I added neighbors to it- other books by Turtledove like Agent of Byzantium (which I enjoyed), the Worldwar series (which I enjoyed at first but then became bored with), and Conan of Venarium (which I absolutely hated). 

But I never returned to The Misplaced Legion. Until yesterday. This is a damn good book.  Good enough that I ordered the second book from Paperbackswap today. 

Turtledove's style doesn't fire my blood like Gemmell does but he is a scholar of Byzantine history and can mix his expertise with his prose very well. 

A new game for the Old West

I’m sure that nostalgia is what feeds my love of westerns and my endless quest to find a gaming group that would be willing to start up a western campaign. Of all the genres I’ve played (and I’ve played many) westerns for some reason are the hardest sell. People will play mice with tiny swords before they will be willing to play a western game.  I just don’t get it- and its not like the genre hasn’t been stretched to its limits- there are classic western games, gritty western games, supernatural western games, and every major generic system has a western supplement. 

People must be buying them or folks wouldn’t spend their time writing them. The reason I’m writing about this is that I just picked up a new addition to my western RPG collection- Dave Bezio’s WildWest Cinema RPG from Spectrum Games.  

The game looks to be about “Rules Medium”.  And, as the Cinema in the name implies, geared more to the western TV shows I grew up with, than say GURPS Old West. I’ve always liked the games that Spectrum releases and their production values are top-notch, so my hopes are high for a good read and maybe a few good ideas to mine. 


You can find Wild West Cinema at RPGNow.

Manly Monday - Roll for Initiative!