Video Hits Saturday: Sark summons Chuthullu!

This is from an old 1991 HBO movie called 'Cast a Deadly Spell'. It stars Fred Ward (Remo Williams!) as a  gumshoe in 1948 name Phil Lovecraft who is investigating the disappearance of the Necronomicon for David Warner (Sark!). I didn't even know this existed until a few days ago. Its not spectacular, but a damned site better than some Lovecrafting dramatizations   

Advanced Dungeons And Dragons Picture Transfers, 1981

via: Monster Brains Blog

LEGO A-TEAM RC Controlled Van

Let that sink and then bask in the awesome.

RPG Wish List: G.I. Joe!

Movies, Games and Books I wish were available as Roleplaying Games 

Become a real American Hero and battle the terrorist organization of COBRA! 

Even though I am Canadian, this was my favourite toy line as a kid. At its zenith, it far surpassed even my Star Wars collection.

That there isn't already an official game is quite surprising considering that HASBRO currently owns Wizards of the Coast. It would be very easy of them to pump out a quick cash-grab sourcebook for D20 Modern. A 'Battle for Cybertron' quality video-game appears too much to ask for.

In the meantime...

There is a lot of love for this line and it is easy to see why, in addition to the cool gadgets, vehicles and equipment … it has ninjas, which is a word that grabs an eight year old boy's attention like a moth to a bonfire.

Kiddie Crack

The playing group could be a Special Missions team sent out to battle agents of Cobra and other treats to international peace. The fabulously geeky File Card that came with each fig listed a Primary and Secondary Specialty. It provides a great model to build a GI: Joe Player Character.

All he needs is a COMELINESS stat!

If you are not familiar with the series, I recommend starting with either the Marvel Comics run from 1982-1994 (including GI Joe: Special Missions) and the cartoon series that ran from 1983-1986. For a more modern approach, I highly recommend the surprisingly excellent GI JOE: Renegades TV series that ran from 2010-2011.

Single greatest comic I have ever read. I am not kidding.

And for the sake of your own sanity: avoid the movies. There is a Wayans brother involved, that is all I'm saying.

Suggested Supplements:

Order of Battle: Cobra. Order of Battle: G.I. Joe. Mars Industries Catalogue. De-Classified: Secrets of the Arashikage Clan. De-Classified: The PIT. De-Classified: Secrets of Cobra Industries. Operation Cobra Island. Operation Springfield. De-Classified: Oktober Guard.

I could spend all day doing this..

Suggested Systems

My personal preference would be for something fast and easy that handles scaling (person vs. vehicle) well, like WEG D6. The aforementioned D20 Modern is a possibility, as is GURPS (you could pull from a lot of different sourcebooks). Savage Worlds, FATE and FUDGE are also strong contenders.

However, buried somewhere in my files is a half finished TWERPS hack. I'm almost inspired enough to go back and finish it.

Yo Joe!

Video Hits Saturday: Heterosexual Man!

Anyone catch Dave Foley on 'The Middle' this week? He makes a Kids in the Hall joke that jumps up and slaps you across the face. It was awesome. In his honour, I give you 'The Odds' and 'Heterosexual Man'.
Also, watch 'The Middle'.

Star Wars Taxidermy

This speaks for itself, really.

RPG Wish List: Villains By Necessity

Books, Games, Comics, Movies TVshows etc that I wish where available as RPGs.

Villains By Necessity

by Eve Forward

Ever wonder what happened after the series ended?

One hundred years ago, the Victory over the dark forces tipped the balance. The world is now a brighter, happier, kinder place full of peace and love. But the balance has gone too far, and the world is now sliding into the Plane of Light where it will soon vanish in blaze of holy light.

So it is up to an assassin, a thief, a druid, a dark elf and a cursed knight set out on a Quest to save Evil, their own skins, and consequently the world.

This book hard to find, but seriously deserves a comeback. Funny and quick moving, it perfectly reflects the standard fantasy tropes, while turning them completely on their ear. Plus Ms. Forward manages to do it all in the space of one book, though the referenced deeds of the Good Heroes sound like they'd fill a shelf-breaking epic (think Dragonlance and Lodoss War). If your gaming group is clamoring to run an 'Evil Campaign', this would be the place to start. If the group isn't familiar with the book, you can simply lift the plot wholesale.

This is NOT 'The Book of Vile Darkness' or 'Saw: The RPG', where the party runs around slaughtering people willy-nilly. While they don't really like each other much, each of the characters in the book are committed to the quest, albeit for their own reasons. They also quickly realize that they must work together or they will be eliminated or brainwashed by the Forces of Good. Killing and looting would get them noticed fast (but a little light larceny is fine). I think that this would be the toughest part to sell for any gaming group as most players don't really consider what it would be to be 'evil'. Instead some players seem to run evil aligned characters like demented psychos who would make the Joker and Hannibal Lector suggest that maybe they should go lie down for a while.

Just read the book. When the party travels through an enchanted forest they kill the Smurfs, what more could you ask for?

Suggested Supplements

While a Supplement for the world tipped into Light would be fun, Krynn or Mystaria or Middle Earth or your personal homebrew would work just fine. This works best as a stand-alone adventure.  … because Good is dumb.

Suggested Game System

Straight up old school all the way (D&D, Tunnels and Trolls, Rolemaster etc), though whatever game you choose must have an alignment system.  

Giant Squid

Discovery Channel announces pictures of a live Giant Squid .... Awesome.

(via Deep Sea News)

500!

Image Courtesy of Savage Chickens.

500th post. I suppose that should mean something. I didn't really want to be part of the New Year flood of Blog resolutions, but it seems as good a time as any to try to get a little focus.

Limitless

When you pick a specific game or rule-set, you automatically exclude 99% of the people who might be interested in your stuff, but play a different game. Even choosing good old reliable Dungeons and Dragons suddenly throws you into the middle of THE EDITION WARS.

So instead, I'm going to post more stat-free ideas under the banner of Limitless.

RollCore

That being said, I would still like to continue to develop my own set of rules. It's a contradiction, but hey, it's my blog so I'll do what I want.

RPG Wishlist

This is just fun.

Video Hits Saturday

Again, more for my own amusement than anything else.

The Golden Age of Heroes

Not a final title. Coming soon!

Never Say Die

My adventure idea based on the movie, 'The Goonies'. I keep starting this thing, time to finish it!

Fiction

There can be nothing worse than Blogfic, but I still want to develop my own writing. You've been warned.

Focus on the Games I Like

TWERPS, Kobolds Ate My Baby, Paranoia, Talislanta, Ghostbusters, TOON, WEG D6, OSR etc, etc.

Pop Culture

I like books, games, movies and TV so I'm going to write about it more. Just what the internet needs, another jackass spouting off about how much he hated Prometheus … oh wait, I already did that.

Paranoia is the result of simply knowing the truth

"Imagine a world designed by Kafka, Stalin, Orwell, Huxley, Sartre and the Marx Brothers..."

Paranoia is the greatest game I've never actually played.

IO9 has a great article on WHY it is such a memorable experience.