They Might Be Giants!

My kids are going to be going through the Classic G series modules here soon (I am hoping to do it by Gen Con) in our 5th Edition Game.  I have a great memories of this adventure and I really looking forward to it to be honest.

Yesterday Tenkar posted a link to the wonderful "Extended" series of the Giants adventures by R.C. Pinnell, aka +Thork Hammer.

I have had a copy of G4, Sanctum of the Stone Giant Lord.  I liked this one because it was short and it included Stone Giants, something I always felt was missing from the original.  I knew about some of the others (G5 and G6), but only recently discovered the others (G7 to 9).

Well thanks to Thork, Tenkar and +Vincent Florio I now have all of them.

All together the adventure is over 100 pages.  This is a bit more than I wanted to be honest.  The Giants are tied up pretty close to the Drow of the next series. So for me the Giants are just the pawns of the Drow.  The Stone and Mountain giants I can see.  Maybe even the Cloud, if they are more on the evil side.  I have not read all the adventures yet, but maybe the Cloud Giant queen has something to do with the Sun being blocked out in my adventure.

My feeling on these is that would work best as pure Giant themed series of adventures divorced from the GDQ series.  That being said, I am very, very sure there is something here that is perfect for my game. So for me it is worth printing this all out.  Given what I am planning I am a touch disappointed I don't have the 4th Ed D&D adventure, Revenge of the Giants.

The really nice thing about running these classics so many years later is all the material out there to support them.  For a while there WotC was publishing maps for the Giants series (among others).

I might need to print these all out and get them into a binder or something.

Links

• The Original Against The Giants, G123
• G4-9, at DriveThru (not free)
• G4-9, offered for free on Google Drive
• Map a Week from Wizards of the Coast
• Against the Giants -- May 2006
• Against the Giants -- July 2006
• Crumbling Hall of the Frost Giant Jarl

So lots of great stuff out there.

Conan and Roll-under systems

There is a new Conan game coming out.
http://www.modiphius.com/conan.html

While I am sure it will look great and have a lot of things going for it there are a couple of things that bug me off the start.

First I like my systems anymore to be simple. I like rules that "get out of the way" and let me play like I want.  Presently the only rules-heavy system I play is D&D and that is only because I have absorbed the rules to the level of abstraction.

Secondly I don't care for "roll under" mechanics either.  The new Conan is a 2d20, roll under system.  Generally speaking roll under games require lesser rolls to be considered better than higher ones.  There is an counter-intuitiveness to this.
Yes there are some great games out there that are roll under such as BESM 2r and anything using the Chaosim Basic Role-Playing (Call of Cthulhu, Runequest).
And there are some games where you need to roll high but still keep in under the targeted number.

I am just not a fan of those.

If I want to play a "Conan" game then I want something that has the right feel to it. Like Original D&D or better yet, something like Spellcraft & Swordplay.  Simple mechanics (2d6 roll over). It is both grim and cinematic at the same time.

What are your thoughts on Roll Under games?

Box for Downloads

My Box for Downloads applet isn't working right so I took it off my page here.

You can still get to all the free downloads here by going to my Downloads page.
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/p/downloads.html

I like to provide free things when I can and I know some of you are using this feature.

History of the Known World

A couple of great posts came up over the weekend.

Lawrence Schick posted "The “Known World” D&D Setting: A Secret History" over at Black Gate.  A nice history of how he and Tom Moldvay came up with the Known World for their own games and then ported it over to D&D Basic/Expert.  It is a fascinating read if, like me, you are a fan of the Mystara world.

+James Mishler takes this one further and provides the maps for the Moldvay/Schick known world on his blog, Adventures in Gaming.  James also provides a bit more information and some Hexographer files for them as well.

It is interesting how there are so many familiar names and even locations in different places. Like looking at a world you know, but through some sort of distorted lens.

But what is most interesting to me are the new lands.  Places and names that are entirely new to me.
Certainly gives me some names and places to help fill in some blanks I have for my own Mystoerth world.

Zatannurday: The Fate of Constantine

Zatanna's sometimes love interest John Constantine's fate is still up in the air.

As of this week (ending 2/7) we still have not heard if the NBC show "Constantine" has been renewed or not.

Next week is the 13th and last episode of the season.  So I didn't get my wish to see and John and Zatanna moment on the show.

Another show that came close was Smallville, though they did manage it in the pages of the Smallville comic, Harbinger.

Not only that it also has John and Zee's first meeting in the Smallville universe.

Not exactly the same as the Justice League Dark meeting.

The story is spread out over 4 issues and has a lot of what makes John and Zee so great together.

It even features the introduction of Rachel Roth, aka Raven to the Smallville universe.
She is the girl that John and Zee rescue from Brother Blood.

So Zatanna, Constantine and Raven?  All in one comic at the same time?  Sounds great to me!

Might be the closest we get.

Friday Night Videos: Long Distance Requests

Kind of mixing my 80s music mediums here.

I am pleased with the reactions I am getting for this feature.  I have often joked that my Appendix N consists mostly of 80s music and bad sci-fi movies.  I am starting to think I am not the only one!

I want to lead of though with this one.
I finally found a copy of the intro.  Really, could anything be more 80s than this?  The 8-bit sounding sound effects. The neon. The lone rocker dude against the world...yeah.


So here are some requests I have had since starting this.
Have a request?  Send it to me.
Have a long distance dedication for next week, Valentines Day Weekend?  Send that too!

Knightsky requested two songs. First up, Chris de Burgh's Don't Pay the Ferryman.




Next is Murray Head's One Night in Bangkok from the concept album Chess.



Murray Head is also the older brother of Anthony Stewart Head.

Rainswept requested Men Without Hats' Safety Dance.
While the video is more Ren Faire than it is D&D, I do have some good memories of this one and playing D&D as well.





Based on this weeks earlier Sol Invictus post, here is a request. Billy Thorpe's "Children of the Sun"


Might be better for a trippy near future space age game.  Or a 70s fueled psychic game.

Seventh Son Movie, or as I call it "The Mother Malkin Movie"

New movie out tonight that I have been waiting a while for.

 Seventh Son stars Julianne Moore as the witch Mother Malkin.

Oh. I suppose there are other characters in it too. And they are supposed to be the "heroes" or something...but seriously casting Julianne Moore as a witch? She has to be the star of this movie right?

Ok, all kidding aside.  Seventh Son is based on the book The Last Apprentice (Revenge of the Witch) by Joseph Delaney.  I read it last month for my Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge.

From the trailers the movie is going to part from the book in a number of ways.  From the reviews I have peeked at it looks like it is getting panned.  But I am still going to watch it.

Plus it has Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore together again; the first time since the Big Lebowski.
I do have to say that casting Jeff Bridges in the roll of the Spook is spot on.  Pretty much exactly who I would have picked too.

So kinda getting panned. Deviates from a good book.