ThunderCats Ho! Sword of Omens D&D-ized
As a follow-up to Nerdarchists Dave and Ted’s video where they D&D-ized the legendary Sword of Omens from the ThunderCats cartoon, I’ve been tasked with taking a shot at the crunch for this incredibly powerful artifact. You won’t need Sight Beyond Sight to watch that...
Avatars in your Game
I’m not a huge fan of the murder hobo; I don’t know too many people who are. Every so often you have the option to really stick it to the murder hobo by saying the peasant he just killed was the arch priest of the Beggar God. That’s one of my personal favorites. And the next peasant that’s killed is the arch priest of the rival church of the Beggar God. That’s my second favorite.
The art of gaming without gaming! Trials and triumphs of a full-time nerd in a part-time world
There is no disputing that tabletop role-playing games, and Dungeons & Dragons in particular, are more popular than ever before. While still a niche hobby, that niche has grown considerably large, and the perception of it has shifted as well.
The moment when I realized how great a step forward the role-playing game hobby has taken occurred not too long ago. My gaming group musters at a coffee shop, hauling our books, dice, pencils and accouterments to a private room in the back. From 4-10 p.m., our group of middle-aged nerds leave jobs, families and other responsibilities aside to step into a fantastical world of make-believe. During one of our gatherings, I went to get a cup of coffee and the teen-aged girl barista asked me if I was with the group in the back, and if we were playing Dungeons & Dragons. I said yep, I’m the Dungeon Master.
“Super cool,” she said.
The Punisher gets a 2017 release date
Curtis Hoyle
It has been announced that The Punisher Netflix series Season One will premiere sometime this year.
This announcement comes directly from Marvel as they announced four new cast members for the first season.
First Impressions of ‘Underworld: Blood Wars’ movie
If you’re a fan of the Underworld series, you won’t be disappointed. It hasn’t changed at all over the past 14 years, and hasn’t bothered to modernize in any way since its last sequel 5 years ago. For those expecting more, there is a small glimmer of hope Blood Wars may not be a standalone movie. I think it’s a transition into a new direction. It wasn’t a predominant feature of the film, which largely hit all of the exact same notes as the previous installments, including the increase of power levels not too dissimilar to the Resident Evil movies, or Dragon Ball Z. That being said, the introduction of new elements to the world may be the precursor of things to come. I, for one, welcome these changes. I was never a fan of the overboard Goth/Hot Topic aesthetic, nor of the ham-fisted melodrama, but I always enjoyed the premise.
First Impressions of ‘A Monster Calls’ movie
I’ve never read A Monster Calls, but if the traditional ratio of quality from books to movies is any indication, the film has inspired me to pick up the children’s book. For those who never read the book, I won’t spoil it. Having come fresh eyed from the film, I felt the journey was easily the most important
Science fiction, fantasy community not immune to 2016 celebrity deaths
The three lead protagonists of Star Wars, from left to right: Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher), and Han Solo (Harrison Ford). Fisher passed away Dec. 27, 2016, after suffering a stroke. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
2016 has become known to many as something of a tragic year for celebrities and public personalities. The entertainment industry seems to have had more than its share of deaths this past year, with the world suffering losses of the likes of Prince, David Bowie, Muhammad Ali, George Michael and many others.
The Walking Dead: What’s wrong with Season 7?
[caption id="attachment_14485" align="aligncenter" width="1024"] Negan lines up potential victims at the end of Season 6 of AMC's The Walking Dead.[/caption] If you're a fan of The Walking Dead television show and you pay attention to entertainment news, it will come as no surprise the program's ratings...
&#%!@?: D&Dizing Al Swearengen
[caption id="attachment_13352" align="aligncenter" width="600"] Al Swearengen (Ian McShane) stands dead center among many of the characters from the HBO television show Deadwood.[/caption] If you’re not familiar with the Al Swearengen character, then you must not have watched much, if any, of the HBO western drama Deadwood...
Blast from the Past — Dr. Strange TV Movie
Everybody knows Marvel is releasing a Dr. Strange movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch next month, but did you know there was a Dr. Strange movie for television way back in 1978? It’s true. Peter Hooten starred as Dr. Strange, looking more than a little like Gabe Kaplan in the TV show Welcome Back, Kotter. Also, Hooten’s costume was more than a little goofy looking, at one point sporting a giant star and at another showing ancient Egyptian iconography, but it was the 1970s, so what could you expect? Just don’t get me started on that faux silky cape.
Blast from the Past: Dungeons & Dragons Animated Series
The first 9 episodes only cost me 99 cents. May you be so lucky, if you choose.
1983 was a big year for me. Over the summer I turned 14, and in the fall I would begin ninth grade, kicking off my high school years as a freshman. But more importantly, it was a big year for my role-playing habits.
TSR’s sci-fi game Star Frontiers had been out for a year and was coming out with new products left and right. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons was riding high with a ton of new modules, including the original Ravenloft module (the maps!), and even the D&D Basic Set was getting a slight reworking with a new boxed set. Then towards the end of the year there hints of something major coming from TSR in 1984, and eventually that would be known as Dragonlance.
So, 1983 had a lot happening in the worlds of D&D. But perhaps the most noticeable, at least for the 13-soon-14-year-old me was the Dungeons & Dragons animated TV series.
Our heroes. Yep, that’s Bobby the Barbarian at center.
Saturday morning cartoons were a huge deal then, and TSR big shot Gary Gygax had pulled off the unthinkable when he traveled to Hollywood and got Marvel Productions (yes, of the comic book Marvel company) and Teoi Animation of Japan involved with this new animated show.
Comic Book University: YouTube for the super hero in all of us
[caption id="" align="alignright" width="326" class="zemanta-img"] The Incredible Hulk #1 (May 1962). Cover art by Jack Kirby and Paul Reinman. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)[/caption] I don’t normally do a shout-out for a solitary YouTube channel, especially one that is fairly new, but the channel called Comic Book University...
Blast from the Past: Godzilla vs. Megalon
Blast from the Past: Godzilla vs. Megalon
My dad put up with a lot from me when I was a kid in the ’70s. It’s not that I was a bad kid, but he was more of a Roy Rogers and Lone Ranger kind of guy while I kept wanting Star Trek and Star Wars toys between dragging him to science fiction and horror movies.
In the summer of 1976, when I turned seven, I made him take me to yet another film I’m sure he did not want to see. We parked downtown and walked the distance to the only local theater that showed foreign films.
I don’t remember what it was that drew me to his movie. Perhaps I had heard of the main character, or maybe I had been mesmerized by the newspaper advertisement artwork which showed two giant monsters battling it out atop the World Trade Center towers (a scene which is nowhere to be found in the movie).
I’m talking about the epic Godzilla vs. Megalon, originally released in Japan in 1973 though it didn’t make it to the U.S. until 1976.
This is not everyone’s favorite Godzilla movie. In fact, it tends to be one of the lower rated of the big guy’s series of films, but for the seven-year-old me, it was simply awesome. See, this was my first Godzilla experience, and I would be something of a fan for the rest of my life.
And what wasn’t to like? First off, you’ve got the big guy himself, Godzilla, leading a monster-packed story with the likes of Gigan, a beaked and hooked horror; Jet Jaguar, a robot who can perform martial arts and change size (and looking vaguely like a later generation’s Power Rangers); and the other star of the title, Megalon, a giant bug-like monster with a star-shaped spike sticking out of its head and some kind of earth-digging drills in place of hands or claws. Even Anguirus makes an appearance, a somewhat rare site, with his dinosaur-like body with armored plates and spikes sticking out everywhere, along with Rodan, a flying, dragon-like beast.
Blast from the Past: Big Trouble in Little China
[caption id="attachment_11850" align="aligncenter" width="656"] Jack Burton, center, has plenty of pals backing him up as he prepares to face down the evils of Lo Pan. And remember, if they're not back by dawn, call the president.[/caption] This month 30 years ago, a movie decades ahead of...
Blast from the Past — Transformers: The Movie
With the live action Transformers movies of the last decade it can be easy for some fans to forget the franchise was originally a cartoon series back in the 1980s, a series based upon a line of toys produced by Hasbro. Also, some fans might be too young to know about the old cartoons, and they might have missed the spectacle that was Transformers: The Movie from 1986.
