Saturday, March 17, 2012
Thursday, March 15, 2012
GEEKS OF DOOM recommends we take a gander at Hanie Mohd's version of Wonder Woman
I've said this before, but Project: Rooftop is a site that you need to add to your RSS readers. It's consistently one of the best places to check out fan redesigns on popular, and sometimes unpopular, characters from comic books, and Wednesday's installment of Wonder Woman from Hanie Mohd is no different...
75 years ago HP Lovecraft died... but what he created will live on forever... scary huh?
Thanks to LOVECRAFTeZine for reminding me. Here is what they had to say;
H.P. Lovecraft died 75 years ago today. His obituary follows (hat tip to Unspeakable Gibberer). In the comments below, let us know what Lovecraft and his themes mean to you, tell us what Lovecraftian-themed book you've read lately, or just say whatever you would like. For my part, I'd just like to say thanks. Thanks, HPL, for being true to yourself...
Why not stop by LOVECRAFTeZine and leave a comment?
Click here to check out HP PODCRAFT's reading of THE CALL OF CTHULHU
by Fallen Raziel
From my favorite Lovecraft film OUT OF MIND
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
CRACKED PRESENTS: 6 Horrifying Implications of the Harry Potter Universe
We have a feeling that Harry Potter is never going away, in the sense that franchises like Batman and Star Wars never went away (and Star Wars never got its own amusement park). And why not? It's the perfect storm of wonder, charm and innocent, family-friendly adventure that everyone can enjoy. Which is why we love talking about how pants-crappingly terrifying that whole universe is. For instance ...
click here to read the rest. (and I would love to see books set in this part of JK Rowlings' world)
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
A musical interlulde double feature! SING IT Shakespeare's Sister!
I loved the Hell out of this album, I lost my copy of it when I moved to North Carolina and apparently it isn't in iTunes. I gotta track it down.
(Insane News) Italian village declares dying illegal.
Since the start of the month it has been illegal to die in Falciano del Massico, a village of 3,700 people some 50 kilometers (30 miles) from Naples in southern Italy.
Mayor Giulio Cesare Fava issued the tongue-in-cheek decree because the village has no cemetery and it is feuding with a nearby town that has one — creating a logistical problem about what to do with the deceased.
The mayor told newspapers that villagers are content.
"The ordinance has brought happiness," he was quoted Tuesday as saying. "Unfortunately, two elderly citizens disobeyed."
article from the WASHINGTON POST
Monday, March 12, 2012
The Creep On The Borderlands part twelve
Price Breaks and Heartaches
A journal of retail and failed romance
Chapter Nine
The Creep On The Borderlands
part twelve
Some mild shouting from Norm got us back on track, our gravely wounded characters gingerly made their way from the dungeon and made camp for the night. We chose who would get what watch and when. Curtis said, “I hope we don’t get any encounters tonight. If we do we’re finished.”
I couldn’t let that go by without commenting, “It’s too bad we left our NPC cleric to die in a pit trap last session.”
“Oh will you shut it?” Daniel snarled, “If Lovitar had wanted her precious cleric to live she would have gotten him out of there.”
Norm shrugged, “Clerics are the red shirts of the D&D system. Always have been.”
“I don’t think that’s fair.” I said.
“Then why aren’t you playing one?”
“Well… I don’t know…”
“Speaking of clerics…” Norm began, as you continue to make camp you are approached by a cleric of the church of Lovitar. He asks to speak with the party. He has questions.”
Orville’s eyes lit up, “Sure we’ll tell him whatever he wants to know, after the rest of my team gets some cure light wounds.”
“Your team?” Daniel’s voice cracked with indignation, “ I thought though we were Force Whoopass from Greyhawk.”
I said, “Wouldn’t something like that first entail your character telling us his name.”
“You losers don’t deserve to know his name!”
There was nothing our Dungeon Master could do but talk over us, “This new cleric heals your party and then asks you about the cleric you hired a few days ago. Apparently the members of the church are very worried he isn’t going to make it back alive.”
“Uh-oh.” Buddy said.
I turned to Will “Did we even get that cleric’s name before we left him to die?”
Curtis nodded, “It was Derek.”
“Derek the cleric?”
Orville shushed us, “I tell our new friend… what was his name again?”
Norm thought for a moment, “His name is Eric.”
“Eric the cleric??” I said.
Daniel rolled his eyes, “Why even give NPC’s names?”
Orville threw some d4s at us, “I tell Eric that we sent Derek ahead to scout for giant turtle eggs and that he should come along with us if he wants to meet him.”
Buddy gave a thumbs up, “Cool we’ve got a new cleric!”
“Let’s bed down for the night.”
“I’m hungry.” Curtis said, “I thought we were getting pizza.”
Everyone agreed that pizza sounded great, then the argument about toppings began. Daniel was too busy trying to figure something out from his copy of the Dungeon Master’s Guide to participate.
“You know…” Norm thought out loud, “I think I have a copy of Murphy’s Rules that had a random pizza generation table.”
“And wings.” Buddy added, “We need an order or two of wings.”
“Hey Norm.” Daniel put his pencil aside, “Can we do one last thing before our little meal break here?”
“Sure,” The Dungeon Master said.
“I kill Will's character.”
Norm shrugged, “OK roll your dice and lets see what happens.”
It was all over before I could even speak or react, Will’s character went down in a hail of spite and modifiers. “Why?” I asked, “Why did you do that?”
“But...” Will stared at his character sheet, “But he just made second level.”
“Yeah.” Daniel said, “And the experience from killing a second level fighter is just what I needed to get my Ninja to fifth level.”
I was appalled, “You dick.”
“I’m sorry but D&D is a world as cruel and multicultural as our own, if not more so.” Norm explained, “Now Will let me have your character sheet so I can add it to the Binder of Shame.”
“What exactly is a Binder of Shame?” I didn’t really want to know the answer but I had to ask, “And why is it so large?”
“Every D&D game has many binders but each D&D game must have a Binder of Shame and a Binder of Glory.” Norm held up a pair of three ring binders, “The player characters that die heroic deaths are saved forever in the page protectors of the Binder of Glory. The characters that suffer, humiliating, soul-crushing deaths go into the Binder of Shame. It’s a sign of quality DMing to have a Binder of Shame three times the size of your Binder of Glory.”
“Isn’t there…” Will asked, “I mean wouldn’t any of the other player characters have seen or heard something?”
“Hello!” Daniel said, “He’s a ninja- he could bugger you in your sleep and you wouldn’t know it. Now let’s get that pizza. Who wants sausage?”
I paled, “Suddenly I’m not so hungry. Let’s just keep playing.”
*
As you all ready know I had intended to just game once in a while but before I knew it I was stopping by Norm’s house twice a week or more.
Every night at the gaming table I rolled my eyes at their casual racism, suppressed rage and hardcore geekery but I stayed.
And despite the many hours spent in their company I never once thought of them as my friends. They were just people I wasted time with while waiting for people worthy of my company to come along.
Now, many years later, I am a little ashamed to realize that I was the real creep on the borderlands.
The End