End-of-Week Elmore (5/24/13)

Greetings, folks. I know, I know, it seems that all I've been doing of late is posting these End-of-Week things. I apologize profusely for my lack of blogging fecundity (not that I've ever been all that fecund).

 

Like the handsome fellow in the illo above, I hope to return from the "dead" soon, when it comes to roleplaying and blogging. Getting acclimated to the new job is taking up most of my time these days. So, I've been missing game nights as well as posting my Elmore-worshipping blog filler.

 

Please believe me when I say that I want to turn things around ASAP!

 

With regard to the blog, I've been looking back over things and I realized that I haven't done a lot of product reviews on this blog. I would really like to do some of those, especially for products that haven't been reviewed to death already (such as the OOP D&D stuff or the more high-profile OSR stuff). For example, I'd really like to give a detailed review of what is probably a hidden gem at the moment: Beyond the Wall and Other Adventures by Flatland Games. Do yourself a favor and google that, when you get a moment. I'd also like to review some fiction and maybe some film (again, perhaps the more obscure offerings).

 

As for roleplaying itself, I think I'm almost ready to sit back down in the GM's chair (I really, really miss it). Once that happens, I would definitely like to start blogging about what happens at my sessions, both in terms of play reports as well as thoughts that occur to me pertaining to the GMing craft.

 

That's all for now, good people! I hope you have a relaxing Memorial Day weekend!

End-of-Week Trek (5/17/13)

I always liked the version of Star Trek that was in my head more than what they have shown on the big and small screens. My preferred Trek is more like The Original Series or the current J.J. Abrams films, as well as the Enterprise series with Scott Bakula and friends (if I had to put them in order of preference, I would go with Enterprise, J.J. Abrams' version, then TOS).

Yeah, those versions are most similar to what I personally want to see when it comes to Star Trek: a more wild and woolly crew and a universe to match. The other versions of the series could be a bit too...sanitary?

Anyway, I'm going with some friends to see Star Trek Into Darkness on Sunday, and I'm looking forward to it. I enjoyed the first film, but didn't think it was spectacular. But again, I liked it because it fits my personal preference for Trek flavor: grittier and a bit less cerebral. I'm hoping that, since the first movie is under our belts and the "get to meet the crew" phase is over, we can move on to more interesting and solid storytelling.

 

And of course, in true Anthony fashion, my returned interest in Star Trek has come with a renewed urge to ROLEPLAY Star Trek! What else is new for Gamer ADD Boy?! I fear that the talented Mr. Dan Proctor has something to do with this current desire on my part, thanks to Goblinoid Games' Starships & Spacemen RPG. But I'm trying to fight this distraction like Kirk fighting the gorn, "judo" chopping and all.

P.S. Sorry for lack of posting of late. The switch to a new job has been sucking up my time.

End-of-Week Harryhausen! (5/10/13)

Today my end-of-week post is dedicated to the late Ray Harryhausen, at the suggestion of R.J. at Gamers & Grognards. So, in honor of Ray on this impromptu Appreciation Day for him, here goes:

 

Probably not long before I got into D&D, I saw those cool movies that were staples of Saturday afternoon TV. You know the ones I'm talking about. They starred such mythic figures as Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, Perseus, and others. They featured fantastic voyages, heroes roguish or virtuous, vile villains, sword fights, hammy acting, and...the monsters! Oh, the monsters!

 

 

When you're a kid, you don't care about the names of the people that appear on the screen at the beginning of films. You want the adventure to start, and the monsters to come forth! So I didn't know who Ray Harryhausen was as a kid on those long-ago, dream-like Saturday afternoons, that magical time when there's nothing to do but let loose your imagination, and once the movie is over you're going to run out of your house and play until dinnertime.

 

 

I didn't know who Ray was, but I worshipped his work. I also didn't know that I would someday be sitting around a table pretending to fight the skeletons, dragons, animated statues, and the other creatures he brought to life. But when the time did come for me to face down those terrors, just like the heroes on TV, I knew that I'd come home, so to speak. I'd found my hobby!

 

You know, these days everybody's trying to use CGI to make film monsters look more and more real. BUT, to me, the "fake-ness" (for lack of a better term) and "jerky-ness" of the stop-motion creatures Ray created only added to their fantastical nature. I'm not sure if that's just the imagination of the kid I was when I saw his stuff for the first time, filling in the "warts" that come with stop-motion.

 

But the very "limitations" of the special effects actually created a wonderful strangeness and, at least for me, helped with suspension of disbelief. These were mythological creatures, and they looked/moved like it. The nature of the medium lent an air of the magical to the monsters.

 

Well, Ray, I just want to say thanks for being one of the inspirations behind my love for the fantastic! Rest in peace, rest well, and thanks again for the magic.

 

P.S. Does anyone else find it strange that his last big film was Clash of the Titans in '81?!

Enough with the Anti-Paladins, already!

This guy's called a "blackguard"...that's better than "anti-paladin."

 

I wanted to share a thought for the day:

 

I never understood the need for the "anti" in "anti-paladin." I know that, traditionally in the real world, the term paladin was used to describe those considered virtuous or holy warriors, such as Charlemagne's Paladins. But, ask the Saracens if the Paladins were holy; you'd get a different opinion!

 

Anyway, the Merriam-Webster definitions for paladin are: 1) a trusted military leader and 2) a leading champion of a cause. That second definition supports my point here: it doesn't say "champion of a GOOD cause." A paladin is a champion of a belief, cause, religion, whatever. So, even if that religion is evil, they are still just a paladin!

 

Ugh, in my long-gone Second Edition AD&D days, there was a guy who always, ALWAYS played a drow anti-paladin. Blech. As it turns out, that meant he was pretty much a douche, both IN and OUT of the game.

Let me leave you with a parting thought: do you call a cleric of an evil religion an "anti-cleric"?!
 

So, what do you all think?

End-of-Week Elmore (5/3/13)

Ah, that looks like a portal to an abyss (or rather THE Abyss, if we're talking Dragonlance...and the above indeed depicts Dalamar and Kitiara of Dragonlance fame). I would be loathe to step through that gate!

 

BUT, in a couple weeks I will be stepping through the "portal" of a new job, and I couldn't be more excited! So, I suppose I'll be walking through a gate to ESCAPE an abyss...not that my current job is that bad, though! ;-) However, the new job should hopefully be a much better environment/culture in which to work...fingers crossed and all that. I'll find out soon enough!