Zatannurday: More Cosplay

Here are some more Zatanna cosplayers.




A photo by Brian Carter

by Duderama (I believe this is Cosplayer "Gillian", but not for sure).

One by Yumstein featuring both Zee and WW

A recent one posted to Toyriffic, Zee and Harley!

Comicpalooza Zatanna by Nadya Anton
(from Justice League Detroit)

And a couple from a favorite here at the Other Side, Jettie Monday

and few from Deviant Art.



Poker Face by *Leonie-Heartilly on deviantART


Zatanna Zatara, Revisted by ~velvetillusions on deviantART


Party time, tnellecxe! by ~strikes-twice on deviantART


Young Justice Zatanna by ~BlackRein on deviantART


FCD: ZATANNA AND PLASTIC MAN, THE HORROR by ~strikes-twice on deviantART


EVITAERC ELTIT! by ~strikes-twice on deviantART

I think I'll need to run some features on a few of these terrific cosplayers!  I admire their dedication to their hobby/obsessions. Cause I can totally relate.

Mary Pickford Blogathon

Today I am participating in the Mary Pickford blogathon hosted over at Classic Movies.

http://www.aclassicmovieblog.com/2012/04/mary-pickford-blogathon-announcement.html
Please stop by all the bloggers participating and see what they have to say about this Hollywood Legend.

Today I want to talk about the ONLY Mary Pickford movie I have ever seen.  This movie though has had such a profound impact on my gaming and later writing that I would be remiss if I didn't talk about it at least once here.

Sparrows (1926)
I saw this movie back when I was in Junior High School.  One of the great things about growing in my family is we are all movie buffs and we (dad, mom and my brothers and sisters) all have different tastes.  Sparrows is one from my Dad's collection (though I am sure my brother Daniel has seen it too). Now I don't recall if I saw it on tape or on one of those Classic Movie channels back in the early days of cable TV.  But I have very distinct memories of this movie.

First, and this might run me afoul of my blogging cohorts today, I don't like Mary Pickford.  OR rather, I should say I didn't like her in this. What I think was supposed to be a quiet reserve of faith and strength to me became a weak and ineffectual character.   But I am getting ahead of myself.

Sparrows was to me a horror movie.  That is how I was introduced to it, and those were the eyes I viewed it.  It was not though horror as I was expecting.  You can read up on the plot on Wikipedia, I want to talk about what I saw and the effect it had on me.

I guess I like and hate this movie for all the wrong reasons.  Molly (Pickford) was to me weak and spent too much time looking to God to solve her problems when I felt she should have been trying to solve them on her own.  In fact the only time she and the children in the movie are safe is when she gets up and moves them on her own.   I have (maybe because I am an atheist) always been fascinated by the "strong, silent faithful" type. I like it when they succeed, but most often I expect them to fail.   I wanted the kids to escape, but Molly seemed like a poor candidate to help them.

Then there is Mr. Grimes.  Not since the Baron and Baroness Bomburst of Vulgaria in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang had I seen a character more evil in his disregard of children (my mom ran a Day Care, in my mind the most evil thing was to hate or harm a child).  He left a lasting impression to be sure.  So lasting that to this day I have an evil necromancer character who lives in a swap (like Grimes) who hates children.

In my mind the dichotomous battle was set. Old, evil, Grimes versus the young, pure Molly.  And so help me if I didn't like Grimes better.  I really wanted the kids to rise up and just beat the living shit out that guy and his wife.  But they never did, worse, Molly keeps looking up to the sky like she is getting some private communique. Like that is going to help.

I think about this movie fairly often to be honest.  Many things I wrote after I watched it will bubble back up in things I write today.  I still used swamps as my ultimate hideout of evil (but that could also be in part to the Legion of Doom).

Reflecting back now I would like to see this again, if for no other reason than to give this film it's due with more mature eyes and sensibilities.

Though the metaphorical descendants of  Grimes (his own children if you will) will live on in my games for some more years.

Of course in the movie good triumphs over evil, but not because good was smarter/better but because evil was dumb.  I can't help but think how this movie would have been handled by Jonathan Demme and if Grimes had been more like Hannibal Lector.  Grimes was "Jr. High evil" not "world evil" to paraphrase Kim Possible (who also makes Molly look bad).  There is a movie for you.  "Sparrows 2000", the bad guy is a Lecter/Buffalo Bill like evil and the hero is a fiery red-head Kim Possible type.   Nah.  It looses a lot in the translation.  As much as Sparrows fails to measure up by my jaded standards today,  it was quite effective when it came out and when I first saw it.

So to the movie I remember I do owe a creative debt.

White Dwarf Wednesday #18

It's April/May 1980.  Bon Scott has been replaced with Brian Johnson in AC/DC, Ronnie James Dio is in for Ozzy in Black Sabbath and a photo of the USS Enterprise has replaced fantasy art on the cover of White Dwarf #18.

This is issue is full of big news.  First off, though in the form of an ad, we see that TSR Hobbies has arrived and is open for business in the UK.  They open their doors on March 31, 1980.  Don Turnbull will be in charge.

The next full page ad is one for Tunnels & Trolls.  Like so much else in this OSR world this ad could run right now and still work.

Ian Livingstone asks "Why do people like playing role-playing games?"  It is interesting because now we are getting more "RPGs" and less "SF/F Games".  American influence I am thinking.

Next up we get a fairly detailed minatures game for Star Trek the Motion Picture. No idea if they got the permission to do this or not, but it is a pretty detailed game (4 pages).  You do need the minis to play, but those were new from Citadel Miniatures,  so easy to get.  The game assumes you are using these, but they also state others can be used.

We have some reviews in Open Box.  A psychic battle game based on the Darkover novels (9/10).  Swordquest from the new Task Force Games gets a 6/10. Dra'k'ne Station from Judges Guild for Traveller gets 8/10.

Albie Foire gives us a very detailed (6 pages, 3 new monsters) mini-adventure for D&D, The Halls of Tizun Thane.  Oddly enough this lists 3-6 players with 6-12 characters.  This is the only adventure I have seen where the assumption is people will be playing more than one character.

Treasure chest gives us some very useful tables on weather conditions by season.  As well as some random NPC generators.

Fiend Factory gives us four also-ran monsters; Mandrake People, Hounds of Kerenos, Phung, and the Couerl.  All have Monstermark ratings and all come from various Sf/F novels.
We also get the top 10 and bottom 5 FF monsters as chosen by the readers.



Top 10
1. Necrophidius
2. Russian Doll Monster
3. Svart
4. Needleman
5. Hook Horror
6. Githyanki
7. Imps
8. Volt
9. Urchin
10. Dahdi

Bottom 5
1. Nas Nas (the worst)
2. Dahdi (both lists)
3. Withra
4. Stinwicodech
5. Pebble Gnome

The Magic Brush is back with mini painting tips.

Finally 6 pages of classifieds and ads.  Ending with a new ad for TSR's Top Secret game.

The type seems denser and the quality of the work seems better than the last couple of issues and I think we are entering another growth period for WD.  Looking forward to the rest of 1980.



BTW here is that T&T ad.  Still works today.

Amazing Adventures

As you know I have recently been turned on to the fantastic Castles & Crusades game by my son.
It is really cool and it really does feel like 1st Ed AD&D.

But does it feel like Gangbusters?

Well my friend Jason Vey aims to find out with his new game out from Troll Lords called Amazing Adventures.
http://www.trolllord.com/cnc/aa_preorder.html

Here is the sales blurb:

Amazing Adventures

Siege Engine Game for the Pulp Era
Product Type/Format & Price: Softcover; 176 pages; $24.99
Written By: Jason Vey
Ordering Info: TLG 7601, ISBN: 978-1-936822-02-7

"Pulp: Hard-boiled detectives, fedora-wearing action heroes, and steampunk gadgeteers rocketing to battle with their jet packs against bloodthirsty Thule cultists of the Third Reich." 


That's when all Hell broke loose. The back window shattered, there was a distinct "ZING!" sound, and the front window followed suit. Kate let out a yelp and jerked the wheel, sending us into a fishtail. I grabbed the door frame and held on for dear life while drawing my Colt 1911. I looked over my shoulder, and sure enough there was that pink Model T. I couldn't see if Frenchie was behind the wheel; too much sun glare off the windows. But two goons leaned out. At first I assumed they just had pistols. I leaned out the window to draw a bead, and that's when the one goon opened up with a bloody fire-spewing hand-cannon.


I ducked back into the car. "Great," I muttered. "Just my luck. The SOB's got a Tommy Gun."


Kate snorted. "Look at the bright side. He can't aim very well on full auto."


"That's a bright side?"

Another long burst of fire went wild into the air. Tires squealed as cars bootlegged around us, and the screams of bystanders rang out.

Kate jerked the wheel left, down a narrow alley, just as I pulled up to lean out again. I nearly toppled head-first out the window into a wall. My fedora flew off my head.
This was definitely turning into a bad day.

"Geez, Doll, watch it!" I said, and squeezed off a couple shots as the goon with the Thompson tried to reload. He ducked back into the car while his buddy returned fire.

Welcome to two-fisted adventure with the SIEGE engine!

Amazing Adventures, the newest core game powered by Troll Lord Games' celebrated SIEGE engine, allows you to create any type of pulp adventure hero you want, and customize them as you like! Be it arcane scholars, mentalists, tomb-raiding archaeologists, Asian martial arts masters, or gangsters and G-Men, this game has you covered. And best of all, if you're a fan of Castles & Crusades, you can pick this game up and get playing in a matter of minutes! Inside this book you'll find:

• Eight brand new character classes: Arcanist, Gadgeteer, Gumshoe, Hooligan, Mentalist, Pugilist, Raider, and Socialite
• Character customization options: Generic Class Abilities, Traits, Backgrounds, Fate Points, Pulp Costumes, Sanity rules, and more!
• A streamlined presentation of the SIEGE engine, which uses a single Challenge Base
• Rules for vehicular combat
• Guidelines on how to run a pulp game
• A complete Monster section with all kinds of pulp beasties from giant apes to Lovecraftian horrors
• A complete starting adventure for 4-6 new pulp heroes
• And tons more!

I think I am really going to enjoy this game.  It is in pre-order now (I happen to know for a fact the game is done) and there are some sweet pre-order incentives.

I also understand that it is 95% to 100% compatible with the C&C books you own right now.  So all those monster books I bought can now roam the streets of New York OR a pulp-inspired Greyhawk.  "The dame was from Urnst. My daddy always said never trust a dame from Urnst. But I don't have to trust her, just work for her." 

So please check it out and pre-order.
http://www.trolllord.com/cnc/aa_preorder.html

White Dwarf Wednesday...

Will be a touch delayed.

Have a bunch of things at work I need to do first and the long weekend threw me off.

Mary Pickford this Friday

This Friday I am participating in the Mary Pickford blogathon hosted over at Classic Movies.

http://www.aclassicmovieblog.com/2012/04/mary-pickford-blogathon-announcement.html
Please stop by all the bloggers participating and see what they have to say about this Hollywood Legend.

Now you might wonder what a silent screen star has to do with RPGs or Horror.  Well come back on Friday to find out how at least one of her films had a deep impact on a vast majority of my work.

Willow and Tara Digital Comics

I don't read the Buffy comics. No desire really, and the world I had created with the RPG was far more interesting to me anyway. 

But when Amber Benson and Christopher Golden team up to write a Willow & Tara based comic, well how can I possibly say no?

This month Dark Horse re-released the two (well three, two stories in three books) Willow & Tara comics.  Wanna Blessed Be and Wilderness. 

You can get them here:

Willow & Tara: Wanna Blessed Be

Willow & Tara: Wilderness

I enjoyed the heck out these and went ahead and bought them again in digital format.

I ran a Ghosts of Albion adventure loosely based on these, it seemed appropriate.  The adventure still needs some work, but I do like it.  And it has a pedigree. 

So here they are.  Thought you might like to check them out.

Now if someone would make a comic of the Dragon and the Phoenix I'd be thrilled to death!