Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Life. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Great Pulp game find!

I took a quick trip to the comic shop today. no real reason just burning some time. I picked up a couple of titles and lo and behold I found a game. Now my comic store is usually strictly comics, but every once in a while they pick up a few RPGs in a large comic buy. In this case it was an old classic from yesteryear. Justice Inc.


That was a cool find in itself. But as every true Pulp Gamer knows: when you find a Justice Inc. box you have to look inside for one of the "Holy Grail's" of Gaming -"Lands of Mystery".

Now, "Lands of Mystery" was a supplement for running a "Lost World" pulp setting. It was written by Champions Guru Aaron Allston, and is considered one of the best gaming supplements ever written.

Dare I hope?

Would it be there?

Yer damn skippy it would!



There it was, in all its glory and in pristine condition too!

And all for $7.99

It was a good day.

Saturday, January 01, 2011

Friday, December 31, 2010

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Monday, December 27, 2010

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Flashback post to 11/2008 Once again topical, and still true.



VOTE.

Republican or Democrat- Vote

Times are are a bit tough in the US of A right now, but to put it in perspective:

1. I didn’t go to sleep hungry last night.
2. I didn’t go to sleep outside.
3. I had a choice of what clothes to wear this morning.
4. I hardly broke a sweat today.
5. I didn’t spend a minute in fear.
6. I have access to clean drinking water.
7. I have access to medical care.
8. I have access to the Internet.
9. I can read.
10. I have the right to vote. *

So all in all I cant complain (too much).

*paraphrased from Marc and Angel's blog

Thursday, September 02, 2010

Legends of Steel -BASH Edition. Profile:Risa of the Goban, mercenary archer

Well, the surgery was a success and I'm back at home recuperating thanks to both of you for sending well wishes my way before the surgery. 

Here is the next in a series of Legends of Steel Characters converted to the new BASH Edition. From what I understand its all about editing and layout at this point!

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

DC Adventures - Have I finally found a DC Heroes RPG I understand?

DCHeros
This Thursday I have back surgery scheduled, so what better time to elicit a bit of sympathy from “She who must be obeyed”?  I convinced her that I NEED something to read at the hospital during my overnight stay, and that none of the 350,000 unread books in my personal library would do. So we went to my Friendly Neighborhood Game Store and picked up the brand spankin’ new DC Adventures Hero’s Handbook. 
Huzzah!
Truth be told this isn't the first try at a DC flavored RPG. Back in the late 20th century a company called Mayfair games came out with one. It looked real nice too. I bought it as the manager in the store was unpacking them. I opened it up in the car. I read through it on the way home. I tried to create a character at the dinner table. My buddy and I tried to run the character through a scenario. Later that night I put the game in my closet and never spoke of it again. 
I don't know whether it was the game or me. I never asked, I was too ashamed. I think it had something to do with algebra, I’m not sure. Math was never my strong suit.
I’ve played Mutants & Masterminds before and enjoyed it a lot, so I think I’ll be able to wrap my head around it this time.
Wish me luck.

Saturday, August 28, 2010

A new tradition is born

lord-of-the-rings
We spent the greater part of the day here at the Lair enjoying a marathon geekfest of the Lord of the Rings.  We had some serious “family time” as everyone sat around the living room and revisited Middle Earth amongst  popcorn, soda, and corndogs.
I love these movies. I love that my Minions love these movies.
I think I’m gonna make this a yearly thing.  Can you imagine all of us watching The Lord of The Rings and (by that time I hope) The Hobbit, with our Grandkids?
Yup. New tradition at the Lair-
Lord of The Rings Marathon every year!

So let it be written, so let it be done!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

More choices less choosing



     I've been so busy with Dicey Tales and life in general that I haven't had much time to keep up with whats going on in the gaming industry. Funny thing the "industry" used to be a bunch of companies like TSR, GDW, I.C.E, WOTC, White Wolf and Steve Jackson games. I always imagined these to be regular businesses with an office, a staff, and all the traditional trappings of a small to medium sized business (cubicles, copy machines, water coolers, cure receptionists, etc.). But now it seems that the traditional company is less and less a presence. Oh there are still the Big boys like WOTC and Steve Jackson, but since the creation of PDF software  and the "open license", the playing field has really opened up, and in some ways, been weakened. 


     I was at a store called Gamescape in San Francisco this weekend. Gamescape has been a Mecca for bay area gamers for more than 30 years. It's still every bit a wonderland that it has always been for me, but i couldn't seem to part with any of my money to buy a hardcopy of a game. they were just too damn expensive. and the reason they were so expensive is the same reason textbooks are so expensive- the print runs are so small that the cost of printing them is driven up. I saw the new supers game Icons there. the price tag was like 30 dollars. I winced, and set it back on the shelf. Back in the day I would have picked it up in a heartbeat, but these days I start thinking about all the other choices I have, the more affordable choices I have, and all the other supers games I have sitting at home on my hard drive. 


     All those thoughts gave me the freedom to say no. but it also helped contribute to the problem in the first place. 


No sale = a smaller print run next time = a higher price per copy. 


None of that had anything to do with the Icons game itself (although my experience with products from Adamant have been hit and miss), but the fact that Icons was an unknown entity to me helped make my decision to not buy it, a lot easier.  
I did pick up a copy of Thrilling Hero Adventures that I found in the bargain bin for $5.00
Thrilling Hero Adventures is a collection of Pulp adventures that were all previously released as PDF downloads, which are all sitting on my hard drive- go figure.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Spamalot!


We saw Spamalot Last night. It was a regional production, so no Tim Curry or David Hyde Pierce, but it was a great show none the less.  Gary Beach was King Arthur, and he did an excellent job.


If you ever get a chance to see a professional theater company perform Spamalot, do it. 
I promise you wont regret it. Not only will the wife get a night out, watching Spamalot gives you a +3 to your Geek Cred.

Monday, July 12, 2010

The Russians are coming (well actually, they left already).



The whole Russian spy thing got me thinking.
So here is my rough pitch-ripped from the headlines:


There is this typical american family. husband, wife and daughter. The Daughter is 19 and  is named Ann, though her family calls her Anna.


One day a man arrives. his name is Nick and he's an old friend of Ann's father from college. 


Nick is charming and handsome. Ann's father is nervous. Ann's mother appears very happy.


eventually Ann observes her mother and nick talking, they think they are alone and suddenly her mother and nick kiss.


At dinner Ann sneaks into the guest room and quickly go through nicks suitcase where she finds a hidden compartment with a gun, passport and a whole wad of cash.


not sure what to do she turns to her grandparent and tells them what happened. the grandparents become concerned.  but tell her to forget about it and let them talk to their daughter.


the next day Ann returns from class early and finds hears her grandfather arguing with Nick in the cellar . they begin to yell and her grandfather says something to nick in a foreign language. Nick snaps out his hand and stabs the grandfather in the throat. Ann screams. she runs upstairs just as her parents and grandmother arrive.
chased by nick Ann runs into her fathers arms, all is chaos everyone is yelling. and suddenly Nick strikes Ann and knocks her out.


when she comes to she is in her bed  her grandmother is in the room with her and she can hear everyone talking downstairs in a foreign language.


The adults are all Russian spies. The Grandparents are from the old Soviet era, placed during the height of the Cold War and the parents placed in the U.S. in the 90's.  They had all but thought they were deactivated. Especially the grandparents. Nicholas is a current Russian agent sent on an assassination mission in the U.S.
the family is supposed to serve him as a "Safe House".


The Mother still considers herself an active agent, and in fact was a lover of the assassin many years ago.
The father and grandfather have basically tried to put the whole spy thing behind them.
The Grandmother is an old school communist and still serves.


So. Will Anna escape? and if she does who will she tell? Who will believe her?
Everything she knew about her family was a intricately crafted lie. 


So there's my pitch. If any of you Hollywood types are interested, drop me a line.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

lending books

To many people books are just paper and ink, but to a book-lover they are much more. Here are a few things I've learned about lending books.


First off NEVER lend a book to a friend. 
If you really want them to read something you think they would enjoy, just buy them the damn book or give them your copy. Lending a book and not having it returned puts a real strain on a friendship. 


Treat books correctly, especially if it belongs to someone else.  I get a lot of my books at the local Goodwill stores, and I cringe when I see the way the clerks throw books into huge bins as they clear space for new titles. 


If a friend lends you a book, try to read at least one or two chapters, even if it doesn't interest you in the least, do it for your friendship. Then you can honestly return it and say you tried to get into it but it just wasn't working for you, your friend will most likely understand and will appreciate the fact that you at least made the effort. 


If you do lend a book to a friend don't get all "Butthurt" (as my son would say), if they don't like it. Not everyone can sit and giggle maniacally through the Flashman series. Anyway its their loss.


And because I always like to put pictures in my posts, here are some books I recently scored on Paperbackswap-


















Friday, December 25, 2009

It was a Merry day!



It was a wonderfully peaceful Christmas. 
The Minions all received Nintendo DS Lites and a bag O' games to share. So once they were firmly in the grip of the tiny vidscreens, "She who must be obeyed" and I went off to see "Sherlock Holmes."  The movie was long, but enjoyable. I will be buying the DVD though since I'm sure I missed much of the dialogue, "The King's English" is a difficult language to follow.



My gaming coup of the day was a copy of the Pathfinder Core book. 
My eldest Minion and my wife braved the odoriferous challenges of the local game store's clientèle, true love wins again! 


Tuesday, November 10, 2009

"Go look it up"


Tonight one of the minions approached me with a geography question. I knew the answer of course, but in that time honored tradition started by my mother, my answer to him was "Go look it up".
"How" was his reply.
"In the Atlas" I answered.
"Whats an Atlas?" He asked.
So with a loud "Harrumph!" I got up and went over to the bookshelves, only to find out that we didn't have an Atlas.
So I started looking around at what other reference material we were missing.

Long story short, my next trip to the Goodwill I came back with a 3 volume set of student handbooks, an Atlas, a 2008 Almanac, a Thesaurus, a couple of books on world history, a book on how things work, and a copy of The Power of Myth (I couldn't resist).

"She who must be obeyed" asked why not just let them use the internet?
I told her there would be time enough for that in all the other facets of their education. The minions need to have the basic research skill of cracking open a book.
She agreed.

So for now, I have to relocate a few volumes from my DelRey Robert E. Howard collection and maybe box up the extra Pellucidar hardbacks, so that the boys can have a decent reference shelf. But I doubt Burroughs and Howard would mind.

Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Its a long, long way from home


My recovery from the two surgeries in September continues. I have physical therapy several times a week and follow-up visits with my doctor. Some days are better than others in dealing with the pain. I still can’t sit for longer than 20 minutes at a time, which really isn’t conducive to being a writer. Fortunately, with the notebook I am able to change positions and write while lying down. According to my physician and therapists the recovery is going well, especially since I am doing it without pain meds. I decided against using medication after the withdrawal symptoms that I went through from the Morphine in the hospital.

My activity is really limited because, from what I understand, now that the artificial disc is in place I have to allow bone to grow over it naturally, which creates the “Fusion” part of the procedure. If that is compromised in any way, then all of this will be for nothing and I’ll probably be in even worse shape, so it’s a long road to recovery.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Paperback search

As you guys know I'm a bit of a pulp-fiction paperback fanatic. I'm having a helluva time closing up a couple of gaps in my collection.

Here are a couple of titles causing me grief.

I have the first three of the Falcon series but #4 is eluding me.





I'm also looking for any of the Wolfs head series. I have a battered and torn copy of #3 but If I should run across a better one I'll take it.



I've checked all the regular places E-bay, Amazon, several used book finding engines. But either its a no-go or they are too damned expensive. I collect to read not to put them in little plastic bags, so spending $25.00 for a used book is not gonna happen.

So if any of you guys have a an extra copy of any of these that you would be willing to let go for a decent price (like under $10.00) let me know.