Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone has a safe, warm and joyful Christmas today.

And after you open your gifts...game on!!

Classic Dungeon Trivia 3

Fine fine fine...last weeks trivia took Christopher B a grand total of 20 minutes to guess that the room was from the classic fun house dungeon C2 - The Ghost Tower of Inverness.

I swear this week I'll get you meddling kids and your dog too!!

So here goes...

Movie Review: Tron: Legacy

I had the day off Monday and my wife was slaving away at work, so I figured what better time to ignore my honey-do list and go see a movie!

I've been a huge fan of Tron [1982] since...well....1982. I went to see it with my dad and brother when I was 12 and then played the video game till my eyes bled. I had a vcr copy of the movie that I got off of tv that lasted me until I could buy a VHS copy for myself. And then I bought the DVD as soon as it came out, only to have to buy it AGAIN when the 20th anniversary edition came out (which was worth it btw). So saying that I was looking forward to the sequel is a bit of an understatement. I saw the test footage they shot for comic-con back in 2008 and I've been waiting with baited breath (or was that jalapenos?) ever since.

Classic Dungeon Trivia 2

And the answer is:

Since last weeks Classic Dungeon Trivia was so easy (Grendelwulf guessed it in 33 minutes, and I have a feeling part of that time was spent reading it and making breakfast) I'll have to fine something a little more obscure.

This weeks trivia is from a classic D&D module and I decided to give you a room description rather than a background snippet. Lets see if it'll take more than 33 minutes to figure this one out.

1st part

The corridor ends in a wall lined with five cubicles. Each has a human-shaped indentation in it, surrounded by scroll work and other ancient carvings.

2nd part

The cubicle forces you out onto a 5' x 5' square that glows with a cold white light. The other squares in this 40' x 40' room are gray, blue, green, and yellow. In the center of the far wall is a 10' wide passageway. In front of the opening, straddling two squares, stands an intricately detailed statue of a handsome man, 7' tall, wearing a richly jeweled crown. His left hand is resting on the hilt of a longsword, and his right arm is outstretched, palm down, toward the center of the east wall, as if in greeting — or in warning.

Holiday Gift Guide

I always wanted to do a Holiday Gift Guide, but with my CMD (clinical motivation deficiency), I never got around to it. Please, don't worry about me, I'm taking medication and seeking the help I need.

First up on our list of gifts for the gamer in your life is a little thing that every adventurer should have...

The Bag of Holding

 A sizable carrying bag for all your laptop/ player's handbook/ nacho cheese Doritos needs. And at $49.99 + 300 exps, it's a real bargain.

Christmas Wish List

New this season in Binford's line of Zombie Removal Devices is the RPG M1b Rocket Propelled Chainsaw. Ladies, at a stout 64.5 pounds, this bad boy of cranial devastation is a must have stocking stuffer for the man in your life this Christmas season. Will your man need that new tie when the dead rise from their graves? Does he really have to have another bottle of Hai Karate cologne when the hordes of the undead come knocking? Make the sensible choice, choose Binford.

*subject to availability. Author not associated with Binford Corporation as it is a fictional tool manufacturer from a television show. Check with your doctor before using. Side effects may include: Abdominal pain, agitation, anxiety, constipation, decreased sex drive, diarrhea or loose stools, dizziness, dry mouth, fatigue, gas, headache, decreased appetite, increased sweating, indigestion, insomnia, nausea, nervousness, rash, pain, sleepiness, sore throat, tingling or pins and needles, tremor, vision problems, vomiting, ripping, tearing and death.

Forgotten Artist of Yor - Unknown

This is another poster that lived on my bedroom wall throughout my formative, early D&D career. I picked it up at the mall but I never knew who the artist was. Anyone have an idea who it might be?

I always loved his/her use of rich, deep colors. I'd like to see more of his/her work.

Classic Dungeon Trivia

This picture is not from the module

Thought I would try something a little different. I'll post an excerpt from a classic D&D module, and we'll see if anyone can identify which module it was pulled from. Sometimes it will be from the adventure's background or a description of a memorable room or encounter. I'll stick with published TSR modules so I don't get too obscure. Otherwise, whats the fun?

I don't have any prizes for you other than a chocolate bar, but you'll have to come pick it up from my house cause my wife won't let me cross the street after dark. And now for our first except....

"Days ago, your group of adventurers joined a desert caravan. Halfway across the desert, a terrible sandstorm struck, separating your party from the rest of the caravan. When the storm died down, you found you were alone. The caravan was nowhere in sight. The desert was unrecognizable, as the dunes had been blown into new patterns. You were lost."

All I want for Christmas...

Can anyone out there call my wife and convince her to buy this for me for Christmas?

Tell her that food is a luxury item that I'm willing to live without and that electricity is over rated anyways.

Short Changed...again

A couple of weeks ago I had an unusual experience in a Pathfinder game...

The DM started off our gaming session by telling us that he should have been giving us more treasure throughout our adventures and he wanted to "reward" us by having the God of Good Fortune and Winning Lotto Tickets grant us extra treasure to bring us up to what we should have for our levels.

His basis for this was on page 399 of the Pathfinder Core Rulebook. Table 12-4: Character Wealth by Level. After reading through the "rules" for this, it's clear that its a guideline for starting character's that are above 1st level so they have equipment that will give them the best chance of survival against encounters of that level.

Maybe I'm amazed...

After 31 years of gaming, how am I still surprised by what players do?

So as an interlude, and a way of play testing my game system, some of the players in my group agreed to let me teach them my system and run them through a small adventure.

Being a little worn out on the fantasy genre, I decided to run a zombie-pocalypse adventure. I knew we had our Pathfinder break coming up a couple of weeks in advance so I had time to really plan something interesting with character back stories and location maps and the works. 

There were 5 players and me: A scientist, a contract killer, an MMA fighter, a traveling biker with a haunted past, and an EMT. None of the character's knew each other and none of the players knew what the game was going to be about so I gave them their backgrounds, all of which led them to a Red Robin near my house, and put them in their own locations in the restaurant.

Forgotten Artist of Yor - Rodney Matthews

This lived on my bedroom wall for years

While doing a lil search of that thing they call the "Internet", I stumbled on someone that I had totally lost all memory of from my youth. Which is weird because I was a huge fan of his work. I had posters of his artwork all over my walls when I was younger but never knew his name until much later in life.

Anyways, I was a bit fan of Rodney Matthews even before I knew his name. His style is very "Alice in Wonderland" meets Erol Otus. A little darkness and evil mixed in with cartoon-ish fantasy give it a very old-school D&D feel, which I love.

World Creation

I've been reading a lot of blogs for a while now and some of you have some fascinating things to say and a lot of really good ideas (that I steal from without remorse). I've noticed quite a few people out there creating, or having created, fairly elaborate gaming worlds for your players. And I have to say I'm impressed with what you've done. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

What goes better with Dire Turkey: stuffing or mashed potatoes?

I think I'll devise a Were-turkey template complete with Tryptophan poison that induces sleep on a failed Fortitude save. And possibly a sonic "gobble gobble" attack that causes fear. I'll have to work on it...

I'm Down with OD&D, Yeah You Know Me!

Another game we played during my long blogging hiatus was some old Moldvay basic set D&D. 

I ran the game, and it was an adventure I've been working on (unsuccessfully I might add) over the last several months, as is evidenced in my other blog that I barely do anything on Adventure Writing And You. So I decided to forget all the crunch-i-fied newer rules and just run it as a nice, simple Basic Set D&D game. The problem is, it's been 30 years since I even touched that system and a few of the players I had are relatively new to the game so they were stymied by the lack of guidelines in the rule book. 

Monthly Poll - Favorite Undead Type

Ok, lets get this out of the way. It's only been a few months since the last poll closed, so lets go ahead and close it out and get on to something fresh and new. But first, the results....

We asked our contestants to name their favorite character from the smash hit cartoon "Dungeons & Dragons". Lets see what they had to say.

Coming in at first place is Eric the Cavalier voiced by everyone's favorite red headed side kick in a 50's sit com, Donny Most with 27% of the votes.

In a 2 way tie for second we have Hank the Ranger voiced by Willie Ames and the evil Venger voiced by the always outstanding Peter Cullen each with 24% of the tallied votes.

In fourth place with 10% is Sheila the Thief, whose skirt was a wee bit short for childrens tv, but I digress. Did she seem a little whiny to anyone else?

Standing proudly in fifth place with 6% is Diana the Acrobat. A much stronger female character than Sheila and, in my opinion, just as strong a leader as Hank...altho, the energy bow is pretty damn cool.

Tied for sixth place with a meager 3% each we have Presto the Magician and Bobby the Barbarian

And dead last with 0.0% of the voting registered are Uni (not surprising) and in a huge upset, Dungeon Master! While a little annoying and with a receding hairline that made it hard for children to relate to, I was surprised that no one voted for our enigmatic patron.

Well, there you have it. Now get out there and start voting for this months selections: Favorite Undead!

My Thoughts on Vampire (no, not the sparkly ones)

During my long absence from the blog-o-sphere, I had my first real opportunity to play Vampire the Masquerade. 

I say first REAL chance because I played once before back in the early 90's but the GM was, how you say...inexperienced. We had a pretty consistent group when I was younger and we usually shuffled DM/GM duties between 3 people (myself included) that way everyone got a chance to play and no one felt they HAD to DM. Anyways, one of the regular "players" found a new game called Vampire that had just come out and he was a huge fan of the genre to begin with. Well, we were all pretty well entrenched in D&D and didn't have time or the inclination to learn a new system so he kindly bought the book and learned the system so he could try running it. 

Return to the Temple of the Elemental Blogger

I'm Back...in case anyone noticed that I was gone to begin with. 

Quite a few changes in the real-life have caused a serious decline in my hobby life. Nothing serious of course, just life getting in the way of fun. But I'm back now and I'm gonna try to post a little more regularly. (As if once in 4 months in regular)

So I've been playing a lot of Pathfinder lately. And by "a lot", I mean once a week when I can make it. And I'm noticing things that I'm not really crazy about. 

Before I rant a little, let me preface by saying that the guys over at Paizo have done a really good job of picking up the ball that WOTC dropped when they went to 4th edition. Don't get me started on 4th Ed, that's another post all together. 

I like that they cleaned up a lot of the mess that was 3rd and 3.5 (rd?) edition and really ran with the ideas. They've come out with some good supplements like the  Advanced Players Guide and the Game Mastery Guide to expand on their already hernia-inducing core rule book. They have interesting new classes and they game itself flows fairly well...for a while.

And now begins the rant(ish) section...

Happy Birthday Gary

Just a quick post in my unforeseen hiatus...

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday to Mr. Gygax

Flashback Thursday - Ator 2: The Blade Master

Ator 2 - The Blade Master

Yes, there was a sequel made to the horrible Ator.
Yes, Miles O'Keefe is back as Ator.
and Yes, I've seen it 34 times.

This is the plot synopsis straight from IMDb:

In this sequel, the Fighting Eagle returns. This time he must save a former mentor from the evil Zor. Ator battles cavemen, invisible swordsmen, and barbarians with his new sidekick Thong to finally have the ultimate showdown with Zor

Yes, his sidekick is named Thong and No, the Thong song is not about him.

IMDb rating: 1.8

Character Creation

Character creation has always been a point of minor contention amongst gamers.

"What method do you use?" has always been one of the first questions out of players mouths when getting together with a new group. So I ask you, what method do YOU use?

Monthly Poll - Favorite Dungeons & Dragons Cartoon Character

Ok, that's it for the monthly poll of June. And here are the results...

#1 with 18% is Black Dragons, one of my personal favorites

#2 we have a tie at 13% between Red Dragons and Blue Dragons

#3 with 12% is Silver Dragons, our top good aligned dragon

#4 at 10% is White Dragons, my other personal favorite

#5 with 7% is the Chromatic Dragon. This was a surprise finish for me, I expected it to come in much higher.

#6 is another tie with 6% is Green Dragons and Gold Dragons

#7 is Copper Dragons with 4%

#8 our final tie at 3% we have Brass and Bronze Dragons

and surprisingly last with only 1 vote was the king of all good dragons, the Platinum dragon

Thanks for all the votes, make sure you vote again this month as we determine who our favorite cartoon character was from the popular 80's Dungeons and Dragons cartoon.

Gaming Ads of Yor - Villains and Vigilantes

I'm a BIG super hero buff. I like reading comics (in that new-fangled PDF format you darn kids are always lookin' at) and I liked role playing them. Of course, the only one I ever really played was Marvel Super Heroes. Not exactly the best representation of a super hero game available.

I've heard a lot of good things about Villains and Vigilantes and I have quite of few of the PDFs, now I just have to find someone to play with and my super hero fantasies can continue.

Flashback Thursday - Willow

Willow

This one came out late in the 80's and, to my recollection, is the only "fantasy" movie that Ron Howard has done so far.

I liked this movie. It was fun and adventurous and the characters were likable enough. The plot is a little hammy, and you can sorta see whats coming next a mile away, but it's still fun to see it when it arrives. This was done long before Peter Jackson's team really brought forced perspective to the forefront so you get to see all of your favorite "little people" actors: Billy Barty, Warwick Davis among other.

Val Kilmer stars as Mad Martigan, the reluctant anti-hero and, soon to be wife, Joanne Whalley plays Sorsha, the villainess with a heart of gold...well, sorta. A particular fan favorite were Kevin Pollak and Rick Overton as two brownies (or pixies or whatever they were) along for the ride.

The biggest surprise however is the writer: George Lucas. Who knew he could write something that wasn't Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark related. Maybe he should try do that again!

All in all, I would recommend this movie, especially to anyone with younger children. Just not TOO young as there may be some scenes too scary for them.

IMDb Rating - 7.1

Dice Bias?

I knew I wasn't a crappy role player! It's not my fault that my thief can't kill anything, it's the dice's fault!

Most Six-Sided Dice Biased by 75%

Gaming Ads of Yor - Star Frontiers

Now this is a game I DID get to play.

Star Frontiers was like a poor mans Star Wars in that it didn't have the notoriety and publicity that Lucas' films did. This was always like a little brother to D&D and I don't think that many people had the pleasure of playing it, but it was a fun game. This was one of the few games when I wouldn't play a human. I usually played a Yazarian (basically a space monkey with flaps for wings). They just seemed cool. I liked the concept of the Dralasite, but they reminded me of Gloop and Gleep from the Herculoids.

Flashback Thursday - Quest of the Delta Knights

Here's a little known film (and if you've seen it, you'll understand why) that was spoofed on the ever popular MST3K...Quest of the Delta Knights!

I stumbled on this movie on late night TV years ago and noticed something that made me do a little research on IMDb. I noticed that in certain scenes, early in the movie, when they are showing the town, it was filmed at the Renaissance Faire in Northern California at Black Pointe Forest. Of course, the faire has since moved locations several times since this was made, but with as often as I went there, I definitely recognized it.

Anyways, anyone from the bay area that frequented the Ren Faire in the 80's will probably spot some familiar turf. Other than that little piece of trivia, there is absolutely no reason to sit though this two hour abomination. It is a horribly B-grade movie that nearly makes Sci Fi original movie look passable. The only person I recognized in the whole thing was David Warner, who you may remember as SARK from Tron or a thousand other roles he's played over the years. He's never really been known for blockbuster success, but I can only imagine he too this role because he had gambling debts he had to pay off.

In summary, only watch this if Comcast shuts off your cable and this is the only movie available.

IMDb Rating - 2.2

Gaming Ads of Your - Daredevils

This looked like a fun game to me. Sort of like Call of Cthulu (minus the insanity) meets Indiana Jones. I always liked the old black and white adventure movies that would play way later than I was supposed to be awake. There is something more adventurous about the 1930's when firearms were a little more rudimentary, travel was an adventure in itself and there were no cell phones to call for help. And there was always plenty of Nazi's to beat up on.

Never had the pleasure of playing this game, but the genre definitely appeals to me.

How Many Attributes are TOO Many Attributes

I was reading a post from JB over at B/X BLACKRAZOR about character attributes and how many are too many in his opinion. While I agree with him in principal that too many attribute can become cumbersome and tedious, I find myself designing a game system that has 10 attributes.

Flashback Thursday - Labyrinth

Labyrinth - 1986

Let me preface this post by saying I have never seen this movie while I was completely conscious. Every time I watch it, I'm half asleep and I wind up going in and out of consciousness while the movie plays.

Now, having said that...being semi-conscious is the only way to watch this movie. And I mean that in the best possible way. Watching muppets and David Bowie in a giant maze while in a semi-dream state makes for the best hallucinations this side of dropping acid. You're never really sure whats going on or what the hell those damn muppets are saying, but it doesn't really matter.

The scenes that I have seen while coherent were pretty entertaining and looked like a fun movie. It's definitely geared towards kids, but can be fun for the whole family.

IMDb Rating - 7.3

Gaming Ads of Yor - Fantasy Paths

These lovely accessories were offered to the gaming world in the early 80's and I can't believe they didn't sell like hot cakes (However well hot cakes sell). Considering how many similar accessories there are on the market now, I would have imagined they would have been quite popular, but I never met anyone that used them or owned them.

Perhaps it was the nature of the game (1st edition AD&D) that didn't require these types of tool. Back then, all you needed was graph paper and imagination in equal parts. With then new systems, you are nearly required to use some sort of 1" scale mapping system, of which this is one. There are a ton of companies that seemingly took a note from these little beauties and are making some good quality products.

SkeletonKey Games 

Dunjinni Mapping Software

0One Games

A further curiosity is the manufacturer's location: Pleasant Hill, Ca is within a few miles of me and I never knew they existed until about 30 minutes ago when I really looked at this ad.

I'm a cheap ass...

I couldn't see buying actual miniatures, so I made these little bad boys instead. I used the Fiery Dragon token packs and bought some 1"x1" and 2"x2" acrylic squares from Litko. Two pieces of acrylic, a picture and a bit of super glue gel and you have instant token with the added benefit that you can write on them with erasable markers for status effects.

I put a little skull & crossbones on the back so I can flip them over when they die.

The smaller (1"x1") one ran about 30-40 cents each, the larger (2"x2") cost about 50-60 cents each. This starts to pay off when you get to the more unique and larger creatures as some of the huge miniatures can be rather expensive.

Granted, you don't get the 3 dimensional effect of actual minis, but like I said, I'm a cheap ass.

The Further Adventures of Captain America

Just to continue with the Captain America theme for a few minutes...

I dredged these up as hilarious examples of how a Captain America can go horribly wrong.

First is Captain America from 1979...God bless Reb Brown

Next we have a, what I assume, made for TV movie starring Matt Salinger in the red, white and blue

Comic Book Movie News

A little off "gaming" topic...

The new Captain America costume was unveiled the other day, or at least a concept drawing, and I have to say I think I like it. It would be REALLY easy to make ol' Cap look pretty ridiculous (I'm looking at you Reb Brown!) on screen, but I think this may actually look pretty good. Not sure it looks right for WWII, maybe a little too "futuristic", but maybe this is his modern day costume. I've always been a big comic book fan and Cap it in the top ten of my favorites, so I'm looking forward to a good movie, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed just in case.

Now Thor on the other hand...

Flashback Thurday - Ladyhawke

Ladyhawke - 1985

Rutger Hauer (one of the coolest names ever) stars in the this mid 80's fantasy action flick with, of all people, Matthew Broderick.

Captain Navarre (Hauer) and Isabeau (Michelle Pfeiffer) have been cursed by a jealous high priest to live separate lives forever. During the day she would transform into a hawk, a Ladyhawke to be exact, and at night he would transform into a black wolf. Always together but always apart.

This was a good story and the cast is surprisingly good as well. The costumes leave a little to be desired, but all in all it's an enjoyable movie.

IMDb Rating - 6.8

My First Convention

So after 31 years of gaming, I finally went to my very first Gaming Convention.

Kublacon was held this weekend at the Hyatt in Burlingame, California and a couple of my friends were going and invited me along with them. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I had thoughts of a hotel-sized Magic the Gathering tournament complete with the scent of the great unwashed masses. Luckily my image was unfounded. The hotel had a nice open feel to it and there were tables set up everywhere to house board games, RPG, dealers and events for the kiddies. 

Monthly Poll - Favorite Dragon Type

Sort of an odd-ball poll this time. I was browsing my old Monster Manuals and noticed a disturbing trend of letting cats-walking-across-keyboards name monsters. So I wanted to see what people thought was the weirdest, and now I know.

With a dominating 60%, you, the people, have chosen Ixitxachitl as your weirdest monster name

2nd place belongs to Neo-Otyugh with 15%

3rd place with 9% is the beloved Vargouille

Tied for 4th with 6% are the Aurumvorax and Galeb Duhr

and in 5th we have Sahuagin with a mere 3%

Apparently everyone thought Couatl, Tarrasque and Thri-Kreen were normal enough to not warrant a vote, or Ixitxachitlwas just so weird it couldn't be passed up.

This month, lets hear what your favorite dragon type is.

This Ain't Good...

Looks like "The Hobbit" movie is in big trouble. I've been waiting for something, ANYTHING to come of this since it was announced a couple of years ago, but nothing has materialized. When they signed director Guillermo Del Toro I was very interested to see what he would do with it, but still nothing came about. Now, as tired as I am of waiting Mr. Del Toro is apparently even more tired of waiting than I am and has quit the production.

Apparently MGM is in a huge financial hole ($3.7 billion) and can't get things going until its solved, so this is very bad news for anyone hoping to see Smaug grace our movie screens anytime in the near future.

Gaming Ads of Yor - Gaming Organizers

Another fantastic looking product that I never got. These looked great; a fantasy binder, game grids, pouches, dividers and a map making template!

I would have been the envy of my high school library with this under my arm. All the nerds would want to be me. The football team would carry me around on their shoulders, the cheerleaders would swoon as I danced down the hallway like Spiderman 3, the principal would announce a special rainy day schedule in my honor and I would have been named Prom King all because of my Dungeons & Dragons binder loaded with accessories.

Alas, I never got the binder, or the dividers or grids or pouches, I didn't even get the damn template. I was never the envy of nerds, the football team took turns giving me wedgies, the cheerleaders would swoon but it was because I forgot to shower that day, the principal had me escorted off campus because he didn't know I was a student and I rented Prom Night instead of actually going to mine.

If I only had the binder...

WTF?

I'm really not sure what to make of this. Do I think it's creepy and sad, or do I wish I could do that too??

Flashback Thurday - Red Sonja

Red Sonja - 1985

Oh my...what can be said here.

Starring Brigitte Nielsen as the title character with a red mullet that was put all of Georgia to shame. It was like a hair helmet!

Also starring Arnold Schwartzenegger as NOT Conan. Sure they changed his name to Kalidor, but we all know who he was supposed to be. Just because you couldn't get the rights to the name, don't try to pull the wool over our eyes.

And as the bad guy(girl) was Sandahl Bergman as NOT Valeria. You can see the desperate attempt to make this a "Conan" movie but with none of the budget or writing talent. They tried as hard as they could to remind everyone that it was related to Conan by using the two stars of the Conan movie.

They should have skipped Ernie Reyes Jr and cast Gerry Lopez (Subotai) as Prince Tarn and gone for the trifecta.

This was NOT Conan and it was NOT a good movie. But like usual, I watch it everytime it comes on tv. But I did surprise myself by not buying the dvd.

IMDb Rating = 4.3

Gaming Ads of Yor - The Minature Case

From Gryphon Games comes...The Miniature Case!

Sure, there are a ton of options now-a-days for carrying your miniatures in, but back in the days this seemed like the premiere way of getting your mini's from point A to point B. Look at the craftsmanship in this black & white, cartoon drawing! That's quality you don't see everyday. I always wanted one of these, but there was no way my parents were gonna spring for a $75 shoebox with hinges. In fact, that's exactly what I DID get...a shoebox with duct tape hinges.

If only they were still around, I might actually buy one of these bad boys.

Flashback Thurday - Legend

Legend - 1985

Fresh off a string of successes, Tom Cruise stars in this fantastical tale of good and evil, of unicorns and goblins. If you can get past seeing ol' Tom in a scale mail mini dress, you're in for a really good movie.

Directed by Ridley Scott, one of my personal favorites, this seems to have everything going for it. It has a sorta dreamy quality to it and it stars Tim Curry as EVIL!!! I defy anyone to identify who it is if they don't already know.

I'm a little surprised Tom didn't try to convert Evil to Scientology.

IMDb Rating = 6.1

Another Legend Lost

We lost another legend on Sunday May 16th.

Ronnie James Dio passed away from stomach cancer at 7:45am.

While I know not everyone will know who Dio is and some may not care, I'm a huge fan of that little ball of awesomeness. I've been a metal head since my highschool days and his music was a big influence on me. I was a metal guitarist for many years and his music was always something I could look to for inspiration and a good injection of metal energy.

Surprisingly, his music and lyrics quite often touched on D&D-type influences from early band names (The Electric Elves, The Elves and then just Elf) to song titles and lyrical content with music videos to match:

Holy Diver

Mystery

I never had the opportunity to meet the man, but he had a profound effect on my life and he will be sorely missed. Everyone has their own musical tastes and opinions, but to me, Ronnie James Dio will always be the quintessential heavy metal voice. I defy anyone to listen to his music and not be at least a little pumped up by the end of the song

Bi-Weekly Poll - Strangest Creature Name

A lot of votes this time for Favorite Post-Apocalyptic Scenario. Lets see who won...

With an impressive 34% most of you are hoping for a good old-fashioned Zombie Apocalypse to ravage the world and turn us all into gun-toting, hot rod driving, zombie vigilantes. Seems oddly appropriate being Zombie Awareness Month and all.

In 2nd place was Nuclear Holocaust with 27%. Here's to you Nuclear Irradiated Insects

3rd place belongs to Natural Global Disaster at 11%

4th place with 9% is a nice Dimensional Rift

tied for 5th with 6% was Vampire Overlords and Machine Uprising. I think we could have had a clear winner with Cyborg Vampire Overlords.

6th place belongs solely to Alien Invasion and 4%

and dead last with 0.0% is Conventional World War. So much for bullets and bombs. Clearly we need something other-worldly to shoot at once the world comes crashing down.

This Bi-Weekly Poll I wanted to revisit some of our long lost friends,:the slightly unused and highly un-pronounceable creatures with the Strangest Names

Gaming Ads of Yor - Aftermath!

Delving into the depths of Dragon Magazine, I was able to pull some of the ancient scriptures from the rune encrusted pages.

First up is an ad for one of my favorite genres...Aftermath!

Like our previous entry, DUNGEON!, this has a title that is yelling at you to buy it, and so I did!

While the concept is great, and the level of realism are second to nine, Aftermath! suffered from OVER-Realism. You literally needed an engineering degree, which I failed to have at age 12, to understand all of the rules. Hell, there was a two page flow chart just to run combat! Although it had it's short comings, it was still a hoot to try to play just for the post-apocalyptic factor.

Here we see a typical wasteland warrior that is certainly NOT Mad Max, as that would be copyright infringement. Looking at it again, doesn't his head kinda look like Sting from Dune?

Flashback Thurday - Mazes and Monsters

Tom Hanks kills a Gorabill (?)

I couldn't actually find a trailer for this made for tv movie, staring Tom Hanks, so I posted a couple of my favorite Mazes and Monsters scenes. The first we find Pardue (Tom Hanks) wandering through Pequad Caverns in search of adventure when suddenly he is set upon by the evil Gorabill. This is the first time we see Robbie Wheeling separate himself from reality before his short trip to Coo Coo Town.

In the second scene, Robbie had BECOME Pardue and followed the little voices in his head to The Two Towers, or as we in the really real world call it, The World Trade Center. He thinks that if he jumps off the tower he can find his long lost brother. In a touching, heartfelt performance that would certainly ensure his meteoric rise to stardom, we watch as Tom Hanks plies his trade and jerks the tears right out of our D&D loving heads.

IMDb Rating = An Astounding 4.2

late again...

Like usual, I'm a day late and a dollar short, but I just found out that Frank Frazetta passed away yesterday. Just wanted to post a couple of influential pictures from his extensive work. Still boggles my mind that there are people in the world that can create things like this...

Gaming Ads of Yor - Dungeon!

Ah yes, DUNGEON!

The board game with a title that seems like its yelling at you.

I remember saving my allowance for weeks so I could afford to buy this magical treasure in an oblong box. I spent many a day playing this game with friends from the neighborhood. Strange, I could get them to play this, but not D&D itself.

As we can see from the photograph, its good, clean fun for the whole family. Even though it looks like their living room is actually just a decorated alleyway outside a pizza joint. Is that a lawn chair that little Jimmy is sitting on? Well, I guess at least he got his family to play with him. Mine wouldn't play with me...I feel so neglected.

is this what dysfunctional feels like?

Zombie Survival Training

Here are a few Zombie Survival Simulators to help you all "Get to da choppa" alive and un-biten.

The Last Stand

The Last Stand 2

Endless Zombie Rampage

Zombie Bite Calculator

To further raise Zombie Awareness this month, I would like to feature another Small Quiz you can take to determine just how long it would take before you became infected from a zombie bite. Take a minute to see how long you would last before your friends and loved ones would have to put you down.

My personal score was 1hr 20min