tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-65915302024-03-18T21:07:45.910-07:00GeekeratiMovies, Pop Culture, and GamesChristian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.comBlogger1686125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-68097028677111111892023-10-18T14:10:00.002-07:002023-10-18T14:10:10.239-07:00Geekerati Reviews Erle Stanley Gardner's THE CASE OF THE VELVET CLAWS The PreambleLike many fans of genre fiction, mystery and suspense fiction in particular, I was excited to watch the new Perry Mason series on HBO. I really enjoyed the series and found that for me the episodes could not be released fast enough. In an era where streaming services like Netflix drop entire seasons of shows, having to wait a week to watch the next episode of a show can addChristian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-81344036776804449982023-07-03T11:19:00.004-07:002023-07-03T11:19:22.224-07:00Geekerati Video: Chatting with Alan Bahr About Swords of Meropis and Tabletop Role Playing Games Alan Bahr is publisher and lead designer for Gallant Knight Games and his company recently launched a crowdfunding campaign for a storytelling game called Swords of Meropis. Alan was inspired by Sword & Sandals films like Jason and the Argonauts and wanted to make a game that captured the feel of those classic fantasy tales.In this interview, I chat with Bahr about the inspiration Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-83943905205942524472023-06-28T07:45:00.004-07:002023-06-28T07:45:56.778-07:00Miniature Games I Wish I'd Developed Further: Disney's FrostlandersStarting with Field of Glory in 2008, and continuing with the excellent Bolt Action in 2012 Osprey Publishing has published a number of high quality rules for use with miniatures in a wide variety of genre. This multi-genre approach to miniature wargaming is best highlighted in the series of blue spined paperback digest books (Little Blue Books? LBB) they began publishing in 2012. This series Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-71993326754072374542023-06-12T12:49:00.004-07:002023-06-12T12:50:56.719-07:00A Conversation with Steven Schend about Super Hero Role Playing Games A while back Geoff Engelstein wrote a 2-part series on his GameTek newsletter about game balance. The discussion primarily focused on different types of balance in table top board games, but it inspired me to think about the different types of balance in table top role playing games and how that focus has moved around over the years. I’m in the process of organizing my Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-33136153065627109382023-06-06T14:20:00.002-07:002023-06-06T14:20:41.574-07:00Film Review -- Winchester '73 (1950): Anthony Mann and James Stewart's First Partnership is an Interesting Commentary on Morality A Grittier James Stewart?“Hell, I don’t think the leading newspaper reviewers even go to see most of the Westerns. They send their second string assistants. And their supposed to be very nasty and very funny in their reviews. Well it’s a shame, because it makes it a crime to like a Western.” — John Ford, 1964Winchester ‘73 (1950) marks the first of nine films that James Stewart would make Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-3337772722587367142023-05-30T09:49:00.001-07:002023-05-30T09:49:07.216-07:00Weekly Geekly Rundown for May 25, 2003: Role Playing Games, Comic Books, Film Reviews, and a Classic Film Recommendation On the Independent Fantasy RPG FrontJason Vey has long been a part of the OSR community. He was a part of the OSR community before there was an OSR community, back when it was people making house rules for Original D&D and trying to figure out how to use Chainmail as the combat system. Using Chainmail for combat was my first Substack post because I always attempt to be super topical. Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-70955755599044591412023-05-22T07:40:00.007-07:002023-05-22T07:40:55.871-07:00Weekly Geekly Rundown for May 19, 2023 Analysis as Loose as OSR MechanicsTL;DR — Ben Milton’s math is off, but it doesn’t matter. His game is great and is as compatible as he says.One of the things I really like about original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons is how varied and loose the underlying mechanics are. While the basic mechanic of “roll a die and roll high” tends to rule the day, there is not a fixed algorithm Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-75346029410160383332023-05-12T12:24:00.004-07:002023-05-12T12:24:42.366-07:00Weekly Geekly Rundown for May 12, 2023: Tunnels, Trolls, Movies, HeroQuest, and Martial Arts Mayhem The roleplaying game market doesn’t often get “big news” and when it does it is usually about Dungeon & Dragons, but this week fans of Old School Roleplaying games were given a really big story. Rebellion, the company that owns 2000 AD and which created the Sniper Elite video game, are now the proud owners and publishers of the Tunnels & Trolls roleplaying Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-18105219553828037382023-05-10T13:37:00.008-07:002023-05-10T13:37:54.120-07:00Appendix N? How About Appendix Hammer Films? This Hard to Find Gem is a Pop Culture Geek's Dream Peter Cushing’s Tales of a Monster Hunter (1978)As you might imagine, the Geekerati library is filled with volumes containing tales of Sword & Sorcery, Sword & Planet, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and not a small amount of Horror. One of the books I am proudest to have in the library is the 1978 paperback printing of Peter Cushing's Tales of a Monster Hunter.Cushing Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-58143797378788696782023-04-18T11:24:00.010-07:002023-04-18T11:35:21.988-07:00Geekerati Episode 171: Wandering Planet Toys Discusses Nancy Drew Action Figures Wandering Planet Toys, the manufacturers of The Prisoner action figure line, have a new line of action figures coming to the market focusing on the classic children’s sleuth Nancy Drew. Doc Wyatt and Gavin Hignight’s raised over $210,000 in the Kickstarter campaign for The Prisoner and they are hoping that their Nancy Drew campaign will be at least as successsful.
This is the first time that Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-72725474311910674232023-04-12T09:29:00.005-07:002023-04-12T09:31:08.392-07:00Tabletop Thursday: Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortles
With the pending release of a new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, I thought I’d visit the frenetic foursome’s nearest parallel in old school D&D and present a Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortle class for Moldvay/Cook and BECMI D&D.Role-playing games have a long history of anthropomorphic character options. I’m not sure what the first humanoid animal player character option was, but I’m Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-88694563820466478602022-10-28T13:05:00.006-07:002022-10-28T13:05:57.595-07:00Appendix N May Have Influenced Dungeons & Dragons, but Moldvay Basic Influenced How I Read Fantasy As James Maliszewski-- author of the underappreciated science fiction role playing game Thousand Suns -- has pointed out, the Appendix N that Gary Gygax provided on page 224 of the 1st Edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master's Guide has "now become a widely used shorthand for the literary origins of RPGs." James' site often includes discussions Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-63087093312230136602021-12-14T08:57:00.002-08:002021-12-14T08:57:06.467-08:00Just in Time for Your Holiday Themed Role Playing Games, it's Shadow of the KrampusFour years ago I posted this little adventure for those of you who want to add a little of the Season into your
gaming.
I am a big fan of running seasonal adventures
for my regular gaming group. Though my group hasn't played as regularly
this year as they have in the past, I was inspired by Robert J.
Schwalb's dark fantasy roleplaying game Shadow of the Demon Lord
to write an adventure for Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-26068656234284260242021-12-12T14:51:00.001-08:002021-12-12T22:19:13.039-08:00How Not to Present/Market Your RPG: Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Edition wars have been around for a long time in role playing games and have affected a wide variety of role playing IPs. TSR experienced a major edition war regarding Advanced Dungeons & Dragons* when they released the 2nd edition of the game*. Players complained about the removal of Demons and Devils from the monster manuals and critiqued a number of the rules. At the time, the Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-72341169843850794702021-11-29T14:41:00.006-08:002021-11-29T14:41:36.245-08:00Geekerati Reviews: TOMBPUNK by Outland EntertainmentI've been meaning to write this review for a couple of weeks now, but I've had the most terrible case of writer's block. I know what I think of the game, but being able to write out those thoughts in an organized manner has been a bit of a challenge. I'll attribute it to some recent life changes, none bad or unexpected, that are taking up more cognitive load than I was expecting. That and anxietyChristian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-67168075851139146892021-08-15T14:16:00.001-07:002021-08-15T14:16:31.720-07:00"Like Tears in Rain"? Hakon Soreide Has Recreated Famous Blade Runner Scene Using Only PETSCII Text Tears in Rain by Hakon Soreide
The chase scene between Roy Batty and Rick Deckard is one of the most iconic scenes in Science Fiction filmic history. It transforms what had been a narrative of two predators hunting one another into something more, a narrative of redemption. Roy Batty's actions at the end of the scene, and his monologue, change the dynamic of the entire film. It's a moment Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-10095125347688985982020-08-31T23:33:00.006-07:002020-09-01T11:15:42.658-07:00Geekerati Reviews: For Coin & Blood 2nd Edition by Gallant Knight Games In 2018, Gallant Knight Games published a role playing game entitled For Coin & Blood. The game was designed with the intent of capturing the freeform mechanical feel of first generation fantasy roleplaying games and the narrative tone of Grim Dark fantasy novels and shows. It was a game inspired by Original D&D and the writings of Kate Elliot, Joe Abercrombie, Sarah Monette, Glen Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0Los Angeles, CA, USA34.0522342 -118.2436849-13.886140888669232 171.4438151 81.990609288669233 -47.931184899999991tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-67315345795380262092020-08-05T20:01:00.002-07:002023-08-09T07:48:26.401-07:00Rethinking Dungeons & Dragons: An Alternate "Original D&D" Combat System As you might have noticed, I've been on a bit of a Dungeons & Dragons history and prehistory kick of late. My past two posts have discussed articles from the old British Miniature Soldier Society's Bulletin and the Society of Ancients Slingshot Magazine and how those relate to the early development of D&D. I'll be returning to that series of pre-D&D influences in the British gaming Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-87974621925070750022020-07-23T13:39:00.004-07:002023-08-09T07:49:16.590-07:00When Discussing Early RPGs and Wargames, Let's Not Forget the British Scene Part 2: Did Tony Bath Influence the Famous Appendix N?B.M.S.S. 6,7, and 8 (1956) from Author's Private CollectionThis is the second in a series of posts about the British Wargaming Scene's influence on D&D. The first entry in the series can be read here.We've long known that Tony Bath's rules for medieval combat influenced the creation of Chainmail, and thus D&D. Tony Bath was one of the most influential members of the growing British Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-19364805215957342312020-06-20T16:10:00.003-07:002020-08-02T17:02:59.373-07:00When Discussing Early RPGs and Wargames, Let's Not Forget the British Scene Part 1Issues 6 and 7 of the 1956 British Model Soldier Society BulletinThis is the first in a series of posts discussing the British Wargaming Scene and D&D. The second post can be read here.The recently released Secret of Blackmoor documentary provides a lot of information about how the modern role playing game developed and how important the Minnesota Wargaming scene was in the creation of Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-62460470936394648722020-04-28T14:39:00.000-07:002020-04-28T15:00:41.460-07:00SENTRY FORCE #0 Provides an Entertaining Glimpse at Tiny Supers' "Gallantverse"
Gallant Knight Games ran the Kickstarter campaign for their Tiny d6 based super hero role playing game Tiny Supers in July/August 2018. I've chatted about Tiny Supers on the Geekerati Podcast, but haven't done a full review of the game. The tl;dr version is that the system has quickly become one of my top 10 super hero rpgs ever. It's easy to learn and very flexible. I loved the system so much Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-85671367792579833282020-04-03T17:43:00.000-07:002020-04-03T17:47:23.134-07:00A New Edition of H.G. Wells' Classic LITTLE WARS is on the Way from Peter Dennis' Paperboys Line of BooksPeter Dennis is republishing H.G. Well's seminal LITTLE WARS rules as a part of his "Paperboys" line of game books. Like other books in the series, this includes pages and pages of wonderful illustrations meant to be copied and cut out to make armies of paper men. I own most of the books in the series, but have only done a little bit of construction using his English Civil War book. It's a Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-3255718310521603422020-01-22T11:02:00.001-08:002023-08-09T07:57:52.723-07:00Hither Came Conan to Role Playing Games Part 1 (OD&D)
Fantasy Background Retrieved from WallpaperPlay and Cartoony Conan Image by Todd Pickens
The fiction of Robert E. Howard (who was born on this day in 1906), and the stories of Conan in particular, were among the stories that inspired the creation of the earliest editions Dungeons & Dragons role playing game. The game has developed along lines that moved it away from its early Sword & Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-66422572853775271692019-12-27T13:15:00.001-08:002019-12-27T13:39:52.143-08:00[From the Archives] Episode 24: An Interview with Jeff Mariotte and a Discussion of Vampires and Other Things that Prefer the Night
On October 15, 2007, Jeff Mariotte visited our show for a short 15-minute interview that helped us kick off a conversation about Vampire movies and television shows, as well as other nasty things that go bump in the night. Jeff Mariotte is a former editor-in-chief at IDW Comics and the co-author of two published 30 Days of Night media tie-in novels. In this interview, Jeff discusses his Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6591530.post-74036418398707158962019-12-18T15:42:00.003-08:002023-08-09T07:59:06.702-07:00It's Time for Shadow of the Krampus -- A Holiday Themed Shadow of the Demon Lord AdventureTwo years ago I posted this little adventure for those of you who want to add a little of the Season into your
gaming.
I am a big fan of running seasonal adventures
for my regular gaming group. Though my group hasn't played as regularly
this year as they have in the past, I was inspired by Robert J.
Schwalb's dark fantasy roleplaying game Shadow of the Demon Lord
to write an adventure for Christian Lindkehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12381310217234123318noreply@blogger.com0