End-of-Week Art Post (1/28/22): The Legend of Vox Machina

 Anyone going to watch The Legend of Vox Machina? I'm going to check it out. 

Just off the top of my middle-aged brain, but I don't think I've watched a D&D-based cartoon since...well, the old Dungeons & Dragons cartoon from back in the old days (unless I'm forgetting some other animated offering based on the grand old game). I mean, there's HarmonQuest, Disenchantment, and even Adventure Time...but those were perhaps inspired by D&D and fantasy roleplaying in general. Vox Machina is, I suppose, official "sanctioned" by the owners of D&D at the moment, right? 

Anyway, I say we give it a try! Why not, right? 

Vintage Roleplaying Book Porn at the House of Fun

So there's a store called House of Fun in my little South Jersey burg, and it's a collectibles store mostly known for having vintage toys.

I went in there the other day with my son because he's developed an obsession with Aliens and Predators. Specifically, Aliens Versus Predators. Now, I haven't let him watch any Aliens or Predator films yet except for a TV edit of Alien, given how young he is at the moment.

He gained knowledge of Aliens and Predators from a friend who picked up a toy from House of Fun. So, the boy had to get his hands on a similar Alien-type toy using his Christmas cash.

Yeah, boys will be boys, right? I'm just glad he's into a classic creature that his old dad likes, too. The old stuff still has some appeal!

ANYway, as the boy was agonizing over what Alien toy to choose, I wandered around the treasure trove playland of the store.

And I came upon a bookcase:

Yes, indeedy. Suffice to say I plunged into this bookshelf with abandon, going through every item, extending our visit waaay beyond what the boy wanted, unfortunately for him.

Sorry kid, your dad is an inveterate old-head nerd, and finding stuff like this is a wonderland!

Want some more? Take a look: 

I felt like I needed to pick up these 1st Edition AD&D screens...but I didn't...mostly because I think the owner of the store is going to try and sell them at a pretty penny. He seems to go by what they cost on Ebay...and these suckers are pricey! I might go back and ask though, just in case. 

I'm not playing AD&D 1st Edition and not planning to do so any time soon...but when has that ever stopped me?

Never heard of Feudal...it's a game from the 60's, so that's probably why (I'm not from the 60's)

Boot Hill boxed set...contents seemed pretty incomplete.

There was a ton of stuff but I just took some shots of my highlights. There were a lot of D&D modules, MERP modules, and Ravenloft stuff as well.

And there was a copy of the Elfquest RPG, sans box. 

I bought that. 

I've always had a thing for Elfquest. I've always thought that someone should do a Basic D&D conversion of Elfquest. 

Hmmm...

Yes, I'm still insane and a nerd. What else is new? 

Anyway, gotta run for now, but just wanted to share!

Have I mentioned that I love Robotech?

Awww yeah! My childhood self would have crapped himself at this sight!

 

Note: If you can relate to this post, please comment below! I'd love to hear stories of your own Robotech nostalgia!

 

When I was a young teen, there was no Internet, no Netflix, no DVR. Heck, there were no DVD players. I guess there was laser disc. But there were VCRs. However, those things were clunky and not easy to program. And even if you programmed the damn thing, someone else in the house was going to mess things up. Because, you know, you're a kid. People don't respect your right to see your friggin' shows.

 

No, when I was a mere lad, there was none of the futuristic entertainment technology we take for granted today. Therefore, all TV was pretty much "appointment TV." Meaning, you got in front of that tube, or you didn't. And if you didn't, you missed that show you so desperately wanted to see. Too bad, so sad. Here's a tiny violin, playing just for you.

 

I'm about to get all "back in my day" right about now. Seriously, the kids these days (heh, I actually wrote that) don't know what it's like to be at the whim of the TV overlords. Nowadays, TV is all about "on-demand," of course. Now, we are the new rulers of our entertainment destiny.

 

But that's not what I had as a kid. Nope. As a kid, I had to book it home after school to catch the shows I loved.

 

One of those shows was Robotech. I loved the hell out of that show as a kid. I discovered the series at a tender young age, somewhere in the mid-80s. Robotech was something "new" back in the day. It was called "Japanimation" at the time, not anime. Wow, that sounds weird now. And maybe racist?

 

Anyway, there were only two times of day that Robotech came on back then. During the week, one channel showed it at 6 AM and 3 PM. Kid-me thought 6 AM was an ungodly time when no decent, sane person should be awake. And, school got out at 3 PM. You see my dilemma?

 

So, that school bell would ring, and I would force my chubby body to run as much as possible across town so that I could catch as much of the show as I could. I remember running through freezing cold, slipping on ice in my haste. I remember running through sweltering heat, until I arrived at home, chest heaving like a bellows and sweat pouring off of me.

 

I usually caught about 20 minutes of the show on a good day. But those were precious moments that made a huge impact on the burgeoning sci-fi fan in me.

 

On those rare serendipitous occasions when I actually got an episode on tape, I watched the hell out of it. Over and over, in awe of the sci-fi action, the giant robots battling, and the soap opera of the relationships between the characters. I mean, the show had a race of space giants that were as entranced as I was by the thought of kissing a girl. How could I not relate? How could I not love this show?

 

As time went on, as things happen, my interests moved on to other shows. I became absorbed with other pastimes, such as roleplaying of course. But my love of Robotech remained, lingering within me, and manifesting in an abiding passion for giant robots and space opera.

 

I even tried, once, to combine my love of roleplaying with Robotech. I bought a couple of the Robotech roleplaying books pumped out by Palladium...but never played the game. One of my big roleplaying regrets.

 

Recently, Robotech has made a resurgence in my mind. And, of course, I turned to the miracles of modern connectivity, and quickly found a certain 20-disc set. I bought it for a song. A gateway to hours upon hours of Robotech goodness that I never could have imagined as a kid!

 

 

I'm about to embark once again on a voyage into a space epic, one that will no doubt take me through time AND space. I give a nod to kid-me, to let him know that it's time to come home and enjoy one of his favorite shows in a way he never could. On his own terms, finally.

 

Come with me, young man. We have places to go, giant robots to pilot, and space ladies to woo!

Update on Dark Dungeons: The Movie

 

I'd totally forgotten about the Dark Dungeons movie that was funded via Kickstarter about a year ago. I posted about it last April.

 

Well, I was tooling around the web for the latest news and info on the RPG world today, and I happily came across something wonderful: there's a slick website for the Dark Dungeons movie! Go check it out right now!

 

I love how this is not billed as a satire, but rather a straight presentation of Jack Chick's infamous tract of the same name. I cannot wait to see this film!

An awesome tidbit from the website: "...despite the lasting popularity of Dark Dungeons the comic, RPGs have continued to grow and grow. RPGs spread like a cancer over the last 30 years and Dark Dungeons the movie shall be like something that cures cancer."

D&D@40: In the News (3/10/14)

A Real Game Changer Turns 40

So, I got Playing at the World from the library...

...you know, that book about the origins of wargames and RPGs? Well, I borrowed it from the Texas A&M University library, to be precise. The funny thing is, I live in South Jersey.

Welcome to the wonderful world of interlibrary loan!

 

Or maybe it's not so wonderful. Because, well, you'd think that they'd give me, oh, at least three weeks (the usual timeframe for checking out a book) to read the thing. Note that the book (correction: TOME!) is over 600 pages of dense, dense text. How dense? Here's a typical two-page spread:

Wow. I really didn't know how, um, scholarly (text book-y?) Playing at the World was going to be. Oh well, I'm going to get through as much as I can before I need to give it back.

 

Oh, right, speaking of giving it back...well, how wonderful is it that my local library system has a delightfully cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all lending policy with regard to interlibrary loan? Meaning that no matter how big or dense a book may be, all you get is two weeks. So, you can get Playing at the World or, let's say, Oh the Thinks you can Think by Dr. Seuss (a personal fave). It doesn't matter that one dwarfs the other. You get two weeks.

 

Nevermind how much it must have cost the library to ship Playing at the World to my local branch for pick-up, etc. Right? Two weeks. Makes total sense.

 

Some of you might already be saying "go buy the book you cheap bastard if you want ample time to read it." Sure, sure. Of course I could do that.

 

Or, you know, libraries could start making sense in how they lend books.

 

Enough bitching, I have reading to do...wish me luck.

"Two weeks!"

 

New Book Alert: Of Dice and Men

I was listening to NPR yesterday afternoon, and I heard someone do a short interview with a man named David Ewalt. It seems that Mr. Ewalt has written a book called Of Dice and Men: The Story of Dungeons & Dragons and the People Who Play It.

 

Now, I've been avoiding Playing at the World, a book that has had some buzz on the gaming blogosphere. Why? Well, I have a stupid habit of spurning what is "popular," and it's really dumb of me, I know. But also, another (most likely just as stupid) reason is that by all accounts Playing at the World is not just about RPGs. Wow, that sounded really dumb even as I typed that. Am I wrong? I probably am. Ok, now I want to read BOTH of these books. Damn, I can't believe how narrow-minded I can be sometimes.

 

Alright, now that I've thoroughly embarrassed myself, let's discuss my hopes for Mr. Ewalt's book. I hope that it does true, deep justice to the subject matter. I hope it doesn't stray into mean-spirited lampooning of the hobby, and if it does it's from the perspective/vantage of a gamer. If it is the latter, it will be a charmingly self-depricating prodding of RPG players and the hobby as a whole, in addition to having sections that treat the subject matter seriously.

 

In other words, I hope Mr. Ewalt is really a gamer, and not someone who merely flirted with the hobby at some point and wants to cash in on the "Let's make sublte fun of D&D and roleplayers" thing that never seems to go away. I hope Mr. Ewalt becomes another voice trumpeting the many virtues and values of roleplaying. Above all, I hope that he's written a book that will appeal to non-gamers and give them insight into why so many of us love roleplaying so much.

 

OK, I am definitely going to check this book out, and hold out hope this is going to have meaning for both gamers and non-gamers. Let me know if anyone else out there has heard about this, or if you already have a copy.

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?!

Dark Dungeons: The Movie

This evil DM wants to teach
you how to cast REAL spells!
 

You know about Rule 34, right? If you don't, Rule 34 states: "If  it exists, there's a porn version of it." Well, I think there should  be another rule that states: "If something really stupid exists,  there's a campy film version lampooning it."

 

Enter Dark Dungeons: The Movie!

 

Yes, it was bound to happen, and I'm so glad! Do yourself a favor and watch the creator's Kickstarter video. Great stuff!

Oh, and the higher contribution levels give you some really cool benefits, like the ability to give feedback on the script and even create your own alternate ending!

 

Check out the Kickstarter and consider contributing, and help the roleplaying community bring Jack Chick mockery to the screen!

P.S. Have you ever seen the animated version of Dark Dungeons someone made a couple years ago?

Dragon Age RPG on Wheaton's Tabletop

If you haven't (or even if you have!) seen an episode of Wil Wheaton's Tabletop, take some time to watch his recent Dragon Age RPG game session. The game was run by the DARPG's creator, Chris Pramas, and the players included Chris Hardwick as well as the vampire from Being Human and the comic book store guy from Big Bang Theory.

Here are Part 1 and Part 2 of the game.

It was pretty entertaining, though sometimes it seemed like they could have been less, well, giddy. I mean, I love joking around at the game table, and things should be light-hearted at times, but there's a point where you have to focus on the game with a bit of seriousness. However, this is a web show, so I think there's a case of "observation influencing the observed," and the guys were hamming it up a bit. I thought Pramas seemed somewhat exasperated with the players' antics at times, but again, this is a show and not a regular campaign session.

I have to say that my interest in Dragon Age RPG has been piqued again. Is anyone out there playing this RPG, and if so, what are your impressions of it?

On a related note, I decided to pick up the Midgard campaign setting recently, because I'm a sucker for published settings. Coincidentally, the setting book has rules for the AGE System. Hmm...

I watched John Carter...

...and I didn't think it was that bad. Certainly not as bad as it's been made out to be.

 

I haven't read A Princess of Mars in ages, so I can't attest to how faithful the film was to the source material. But hey, isn't it possible that some folks, having seen it, might have been drawn to read the original tales? If so, I'd consider the film a success.

 

And you could do worse than Lynn Collins as Dejah Thoris.

 

All of this had made me eager once again for Warriors of the Red Planet!

So God Made a Gamer

Have you seen this yet? I had to laugh and smile when I watched it.

Enjoy.

Could it be...D&D and SATAN?!

Check out the following, I got a chuckle outta this:

12 Nutty Dungeons & Dragons Media Mentions From the 1980s

OK, I suppose the title of this blog post is sorta inaccurate, because not all of the "nutty" news stories included are about D&D and Satan. But a good number of them do involve that taint of "D&D is bad" mentality that was rife in the 80's. However, there doesn't seem to be a mention of Jack Chick anywhere, so that at least is refreshing.

I think my favorite is the story where the guys gave up tossing around 45 RPM records in favor of playing D&D. Good move, fellas.

P.S. Did anyone out there reading this have a Judah the Christian Soldier action figure?

Yes, this is my post about the Mayan calendar and December 21st, 2012

Party like it's 4 ahau 3 kankin!

 

I'm definitely not trying to brag about this (that would be really lame), but I remember a time when I was one of only a handful of people in my personal world who knew (or cared) about the whole "Mayan calendar-2012 apocalypse" thing. 

 

As a much younger man in the late 1990's, I first heard about the "end of the Mayan calendar in 2012" theory and the potential for a related apocalypse. Some close friends and I were watching a History Channel documentary, no doubt. At least, I think that's the case...I can't remember the details of the show, really. What I do remember is a dramatic moment where the narrator's voice became very ominous, and we were shown the grinding wheels of the Mayan calendar spinning rapidly. Then POW! It came to a sudden halt on a date that, we were told, corresponded with December 21st, 2012 on the Gregorian calendar.

 

This was the first time I'd ever heard of the supposed "end" of the Mayan calendar. Up until that point, I'd had a mild interest in Native American/Mesoamerican cultures. But that show really ramped up my fascination with Mesoamerican history in particular. Since then I've enjoyed reading about those cultures, in what was no doubt a way for me to fulfill my childhood dreams of getting into anthropology and/or archaeology (the first movie I can remember seeing in theaters was Raiders of the Lost Ark, if that tells you anything).

 

Anyway, time (of course) marched on and on. I finished college, got into the working world (hooray), got married, had kids...all that American dream stuff. I also lost my connection to roleplaying for a time, unfortunately.

 

Flash forward to today, and I'm sitting here feeling quite underwhelmed by the fact that the long-awaited date is only a few days away. And that makes me somewhat sad. I'm sorta puzzled by this underwhelmed feeling. Perhaps it stems from a notion that nothing spectacular is going to happen on Friday.

Over the years, I've witnessed the obscure notion put forth in that late 90's documentary grow exponentially into the "doomsday craze" it is today. I've watched countless other documentaries discuss the topic and posit theories ranging from apocalypse to some transformative event in human evolution/consciousness.

 

I never believed for a second that the world would end on 12/21/12. Yes, I've been one of those who entertained the thought, irrational or not, that the world would experience some mystical rebirth into...well, a time of greater harmony. Yes, yes, a bunch of hippy-dippy, New Age garbage, right? But a man can dream. If anything, I've enjoyed injecting that more positive possibility into the doomsday talk that usually comes up.

 

So anyway, here I find myself on the cusp of the event itself. It feels strange that the date is almost here. I guess, for me, this is one of those moments when you step back and go "whoa, where did all the time go?" You know, one of those stereotypical things that occurs to old(er) folks.

 

Of course, I know that the Mayan calendar in its entirety is not going to "end." Rather, it's the end of a roughly 400-year period called a "baktun." The 13th baktun is coming to an end, and the 14th baktun is going to begin. The date on the Mayan calendar is 4 ahau 3 kankin. Simple as that. 

 

So, how am I going to celebrate? At the very least, I plan on dancing around intermittently during the day on Friday and singing "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 4 ahau 3 kankin!" to the tune of Prince's "1999." And I'm going to let myself hope, for one more time, that something mystical will happen and humanity will transcend our numerous long-standing psychic afflictions such as hate, greed, etc. 

 

Either that, or our alien overlords will finally return.

The Walking Duh!

I love the Walking Dead television show. The comic books...well, they're OK.

Look, I think the comic is pretty good. I know a lot of people worship the comic. But there's some things that bug me about it. I'll try to articulate my feelings but it's sort of hard to put my finger on how to describe exactly how I feel. I know this is just my opinion, but I need to vent (I guess you could consider this a pseudo-review/critique of the entire series thus far).

I know that I should be backing up my statements with some concrete excerpts/examples from the comic, but I don't have the time to do so at the moment. I would really like to do a follow-up post where I give some examples. I guess I really wanted to write this and see if anyone else feels like I do. My only issue is that I don't own any of the comics or trade paperbacks. I've been borrowing the trades from my local library system, and they're always in big demand, so it's hard to have them around for long in order to reference for something like this.

That being said, here goes:

1) The characters seem to jump to these extremes that are totally...well, they seem almost bipolar. They'll find a new place to live and immediately say "this is it, this is where we can set up a life! Our struggle is over!" And I mean someone literally says that out loud, which is a no-no in good writing. There's a lot of moments where I'm like "show me, don't tell me." I mean, they come over a hill and see a town down below, and someone just starts assuming right away that they've found the promised land. Hey, here's an idea: have a character say the place is "paradise" AFTER they've lived there for a while. I know, what I've just described has happened, but there are instances where they're jumping to huge conclusions. These people instantaneously go from being cautious survivors to extreme optimists. This can be summed up in one sentence: "Nobody talks like that!"

Look, I know these people are supposed to be living through the end of the world, and yeah that would make people behave pretty irrationally and have big mood swings. Would they have moments where they would jump to conclusions and have flights of fancy because they desperately need hope? Yes. But there are a lot of times when the comic comes on strong with the notion that, despite the adversity, Rick's group is pretty focused and most of them have the ability to think rationally. So these moments of naivety are really jarring.

2) There are these pretty unrealistic moments where characters, mostly Rick, go off on these monologues about the situation of the survivors. It's really off-putting. I mean, he just starts holding forth on this really deep stuff for long stretches, and I'm left thinking "wow, this sounds like something someone would prepare for addressing a crowd at a town gathering, and not something that one would come up with whole cloth right after killing a bunch of zombies." I'll say it again: "Nobody talks like that!"

3) Then there's moments when they meet new people and tell these new people "we don't trust you" without an explanation. I would be like "listen, a few months back we got attacked by some maniac called the Governor who almost killed all of us." Give these newcomers concrete, detailed examples of what you've actually been through. Don't just tell someone you don't trust someone and not tell them why. Rick and the gang keep meeting people who've been lucky enough to be relatively sheltered from the undead hordes. Rick's people have come to the conclusion (rightly so) that they're more battle hardened than many of the people they meet. It would be a good idea to discuss this fact with new people they meet, so that they don't just seem like maniacs with no motivation other than being a paranoid gang. "Hey, if we seem like we're nuts, here's why." That would solve a lot of first contact problems for all involved, I think. Rick and the gang are looking for some humanity and some remnants of civilization, but when they meet other living people they lose all capacity to communicate clearly.

That's all I can muster right now. Again, I think the comic is a cool exploration of what happens when the dead rise and the world as we know it ends, and it most definitely has the ability to have a much wider scope than the TV show ever could. But there are definite moments when I'm reading the books that I'm kicked out of my immersion in the story.

P.S. I think the fact that the show's "reality" has diverged significantly from the comic book's reality is a huge plus. It gives us some "alternate universe" possibilities when it comes to the characters.

Regarding All Things Martian

I've been meaning to get into some sword and planet stuff for a while now, long before word of the upcoming John Carter movie hit the streets.

(And why can't they call the movie John Carter of Mars?! Just calling it John Carter seems really stupid.)

I was in the Barnes and Noble near my work today, and as I was heading back to work I spotted a really awesome-looking John Carter of Mars collection sitting in the bargain book area. Here's the cover:

Awesome, right?! I flipped through this thing and it is full of incredible illustrations, just a beautiful book! I am definitely going to go back and get it ASAP. It's good for me that the thing is a bargain book, but it makes me sad to see a big stack of beautifully-crafted classic collections going unsold. Maybe the movie will fuel some interested in the John Carter stories. If you can find this thing, take a look and tell me if you don't think it's sweet.

Note: I already have a Science Fiction Book Club collection of the books, but it don't look nothin' like the one pictured above!

On a related note, has anyone else heard of Warriors of the Red Planet? It's an RPG that seems to have been quietly under development for some time now. This also looks pretty darn cool! (UPDATE: I just figured out that Al of Beyond the Black Gate is the mind behind Warriors of the Red Planet! Duh, me!)

Oh, about the movie: what I've seen of the previews looks encouraging, and I'm holding out hope that it will be good.

That's all for now, earthlings!

Another reason why Daffy is the best Looney Tune

Come on, admit it. We all know Daffy is the best. He's the perfect foil for Bugs Bunny, and the far more interesting character. If you needed another reason why he dominates, check out the following. Simply awesome.

Thanks Daffy (and the powers-that-be behind this great bit of animation) for the mainstream nod to our little hobby. Yeah, I'm claiming this video for roleplaying. You got a problem with that?

Let's Dance!

If you're like me, and probably millions of other addicts, tomorrow is something of a religious holiday. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you're not one of the lost souls who have been waiting in purgatory for a certain novel.

Yes, I'm talking about A Dance with Dragons.

It hits the US tomorrow. I pre-ordered mine months ago, of course. Mine is coming direct to my door. But tomorrow, I will stop by the Barnes & Noble near my work and see if I can't find a copy to thumb through during lunch. Just to see what I can expect when the tome gets to me.

So, is it safe to assume that the RPG blogosphere has more than its share of Song of Ice and Fire fans? If you're out there, please chime in and share your personal tale of obsession. What does the series mean to you? What is your favorite or least favorite book in the series? What did you think of the HBO series? And perhaps the most important question: are you or have you ever been involved in a campaign based in the world of Westeros?

For me, this series has been a huge part of my life for years now. It's been at times both a love affair and a bit of frustration. I'm not one of those who thought A Feast for Crows was far inferior to the first three novels. But at the same time, I can tell you that there were times that books 2 through 4 felt a lot like the author was almost too in love with his creation. I'm holding out hope that Martin will carry this series through to the end in a manner that delivers on the promise of the books. I await the fifth book with an open mind, and I am trying to temper my expectations. The HBO series did a decent job, but it's hard when you know how much detail had to be left out. And as for gaming in Westeros, so far I've only played the Fantasy Flight board game. But you can be sure that I've contemplated roleplaying in Martin's creation.

Anyway, I look forward to hearing from you crazy kids out there!

And for those of you who actually came here for the Bacon, here you go:

This T is for Jeff Rients

I think it's safe to assume that Jeff Rients of Jeff's Gameblog is obsessed with Mr. T. So Jeff, here's a little treasure I found on a street sign near my work in Southern New Jersey:

Mr. T is indeed everywhere!