Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Owl & Weasel Wednesday #13 February 1976

Owl & Weasel Wednesday #13 comes to us from February 1976. In a nice coming together of my hobby and that of my younger brother.  The 1976 National Scrabble Championship is mentioned with instructions of how to enter.  My brother is a huge Scrabble geek so he might find this one interesting.

Over on the Editorial page they celebrate 1 year of the Owl & Weasel.  They mention a few of the places you can now get O&W and call out one hobby store that doesn't carry them.   They also talk about NOT wanting to go bi-monthly (as White Dwarf will do in the future) asking for more letters and submissions.   "SF/F" (Sci-Fi/Fantasy) games are the big rage now.  They will continue to use this term well into their White Dwarf days till eventually being replaced by the more common RPG.

Page 3 gives us a review of Cartel the American Stock Market Game.  I remember this game and I think I have seen it at previous game auctions.  Other games discussed are Top Rat and Rail Way Rivals.

The British International Toy Fair in Brighton is covered.  I looked for games that a.) might have survived to today and b.) any indication of the coming RPG and Video game booms.  But really nothing.

Page 10 features a great little "coupon" for The D&D Society.  Send in your name, address and whether or not you have designed your own dungeons to the O&W and they will send you 10 character sheets! That's a bargain at any price.

Page 11 gives us a handy index to games covered and what issues they appeared in.  Dungeons and Dragons is covered in issues 5 through 12.


Back cover has items for sale including a Games Workshop sweatshirt.  Either Medium or Large and the the prince is only £3.25.

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

October Movie Challenge: Mario Salieri's Dracula (1994)

Ok. Not sure whether this one should count or not.  Not really scary enough to be horror, not sexy enough to be porn. The version I have is under an hour, softcore and edited rather poorly.  Given the cast and what I can find on the internet there is a hardcore version as well.

I should point out that this movie pretty much takes all it's cues from the Francis Ford Coppola Dracula inducing copying the title font for "Dracula".

The plot deals with the fall of Vlad the Impaler and his transformation to Dracula.  It even gets to England of the 1880s.  But beyond that it doesn't make much sense either has a horror movie or as an erotic one.  There are vampires running about but we don't really see much of Dracula.  Also is Ron Jeremy supposed to be something like Jack the Ripper? No idea.

Pity really.
Ok, not really, I went in with pretty low expectations and it still managed not to hit even those.

Thankfully I have some better ones coming up.

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Tally so far:  8 Total Watched / 7 New

What do you find scary?
October Horror Movie Challenge hosted by Krell Laboratories.


Review: Calidar, In Stranger Skies

Calidar, In Stranger Skies is the latest gaming product from former TSR writer Bruce Heard.

If you have been on the internet or follow any of the news surrounding Kickstarter or Mystara then you should have certainly heard about Bruce and Calidar.

If not here are two brief introductions:
http://bruce-heard.blogspot.com/p/a-word-about-calidar.html
http://bruce-heard.blogspot.com/p/where-can-i-get-calidar.html

Calidar is exactly what I expected it to be.  Thankfully I expected it to be awesome. It is a real treat reading this.  In a sea of "grim dark" settings Calidar brings back magic, fantasy and adventure to "D&D" and any game you care to use it with.

But that is getting ahead myself.

This book is designed for Pathfinder, at least is says so on the cover, but please do not let that stop you from using this with any other "D&D"-like game/system you own or play. In the majority of the book is system neutral.  The book is even a fair amount setting neutral, which might sound odd about a setting book, but you could put The Great Caldera on any world's polar region and then drop that world into the Calidar Universe with only a little work.  But that would get rid a lot of great stuff...

The first 40 or so pages set the stage of what is possible with this game with some game-related fiction. Now normally I dislike game fiction and tend to ignore it.  But this one deserves a read since this is different than what you might be used to doing.  A large part of the sense of wonder for this new universe is setup here.

Up next is the Calidar Universe.  Oh where was this book 25 years ago!  Immediately I am taken back in time to my aborted attempts to bridge Traveller and D&D.  This book does it and does it so well.   The "Solar" system of this universe is the Soltan Ephemeris. Nice!   Mine was Sol Invictus.  Not a surprise really. I loved Bruce's work back in the day and I am certain we drew on similar sources.  But alas that is as far as I got and Bruce kept on going at, well, light speed.  Other planets are detailed such as Draconia (wonder who live there?), Lao-Kwei (a Mars-like planet), Canis Major (no relation to the Constellation) home of the Dog Headed people,  Felix Major (Cat heads of course) and Ghüle, a Pluto like dungeon planet of alien creatures and gods (ie mostly Orcs).  Calidar also has three moons where humans, elves and dwarve comes from respectively.  There is also an Asteroid Belt (The Fringe).

In addition to the normal races we have the aforementioned Dog-folk and Cat-folk and the Starfolk.  Starfolk are a catch-all race of aliens from other galaxies.  Little is know about them.  There are also the Fellfolk, or the natives of Calidar (aka Halflings).

Some Gods are also presented and I am sure there will be more.  Gods are manifestations of the souls of the heavenly bodies.   Interestingly enough there is an "American Gods"-like version of Odin. Here he is native to Calidar, brought by a group of Vikings stranded here. I like it.

Next Chapter deals with the World of Calidar itself. Various lands and countries around the Great Caldera.   Several countries are covered in a familiar Gazetteer style.  There is also a great historical timeline that helps set the stage for this world.

One land is covered in detail, the Kingdom of Meryath.  I can't help to feel there is a bit of "Glantri" in the roots here.  Nothing specific, just a feel.  Though I have to smile that name of the main island is the same as my current hometown ("Palatine").  Also detailed are the various NPCs you are likely to encounter; both heroes and villains. I do like that no race in particular is designated as a "heroic" or a "villainous" one. With the exception maybe of the orcs.  There is certainly a swashbuckling, high seas feel to these NPCs.
Guilds are detailed, and are likely to be more important in future works; books and adventures.  Finally we end the chapter with the largest city in the Kingdom, Glorathon.

Creatures of Calidar deal some of the unique creatures we can find here.  Mostly this is background text, no stats.

System Conversion covers the Pathfinder rules stats for both the characters and the new creatures.

Skyships of Calidar cover the ships of various sizes more moving about the universe.

The PDF has a few nice features.  The Maps are all index via bookmarks as is all the art.

Let's talk about the maps and art.
Thorfinn Tait is one of the main people behind the maps and cartography of this book. Thorf has been one of the big names in maps for sometime now. He has done a ton of work of the maps of Mystara, which is certainly how he and Bruce Heard know of each other.  The maps are a work of art and I love how planets and other objects are listed in "days of travel" on hexes instead of miles.  A nice little change that means a lot really. Great from a DM's perspective and easier to adjudicate from a narrative standpoint.

The art is also fantastic.  A nice cross between the style of Planescape, Spelljammer and 7th Sea.  Which, if you think about it, also describes this book pretty well too.

Calidar, In Stranger Skies is an awesome product.  It grabs you and makes you want to play in this world.  I am not sure what the plans are, but certainly I can see an OSR version getting produced or even a D&D 5.   But if not you could do it on your own with just a little effort (less if you know Pathfinder really well).

If you liked Spelljammer, the Known Earth Gazetteer series or the Voyages of the Princes Ark, then this is a must have. Really.

Personally I can't think of a single reason NOT to buy this.

I hope to post more about this in the future.
I have a strong desire to write something about a coven of witches that operate in Meryath.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Christmas? Really Brannan?

I know I am neck deep into Halloween and Thanksgiving has not even happened yet, but I am thinking about Christmas.

Yeah. Christmas.

Every year I try to get something together to send to the troops overseas.

I am no where near as patriotic as I used to be when I was young, but these kids are fighting for us. Or at least they are fighting for something.   I want to let them know that we are not forgetting about them.

I want to get some bags of ready to go game kits.  So a set of rules (I am leaning towards Basic Fantasy), so character sheets, some dice and my Basic Witch book (because I can).

If I want to send these out for Christmas then I guess I need to start organizing and getting everything together to send.

Anyone else out there interested in something like this?  I am sure with some organization we could get some nice things sent out.



October Movie Challenge: Alucard (2008)

Well...I can say this for this low-budget film.  It makes a valiant attempt to retell Dracula in a modern setting.
It also kept much of the original novel and tropes.  There are some interesting tibbits here too. The use of old fashion phones and typewriters was interesting. In fact the old 90s laptop Harker uses on his trip looked more dated than Mina's typewriter.

All the characters are here. Moreso than any other version of Dracula I have seen; yes even Bram Stoker's Dracula. There are some scenes that obviously influences by that movie, but nothing that also could not be derived from the book.  I do like that they cast an Indiana actor as Holmwood.

The acting is not great, but I did notice that many of actors appeared together in other films from the same company.  The editing is also a little off and the special effects are weak at best.

Interestingly enough while we only get glimpses of various female nudity we are "treated" to a full frontal of Dracula/Alucard.  The cover of the video it just one of the vampire brides.

I will admit. I thought the fight scene at the end was amusing. It wasn't supposed to be though.

At 2 hours and 36 mins the movie really drags on.  Yes the book is long, but I think they could have tightened it up a bit.

If at all possible avoid the song at the end.

A for effort, but a solid C- for execution.

Of course now I wonder why vampires only use permutations of their own name. Dracula = Alucard/a, Carmilla, Mircalla, and so on.  I used to say it was vanity, but maybe there is something more to it. Something to think about.
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Tally so far:  7 Total Watched / 6 New

What do you find scary?
October Horror Movie Challenge hosted by Krell Laboratories.


Sunday, October 5, 2014

October Movie Challenge: Alucarda (1978)

Alucarda is described as being one of the bloodiest movies ever.  Well...maybe for 1978 sure.  It has its fair share of blood, nudity and screaming.

The story is kind of like Carmilla, but not. It's kinda alluding to Dracula, but doesn't. And it kinda has vampires, but doesn't.  The movie is almost a lot of things, but never quite it's own thing.

Alucarda, and their pronunciation of it makes her name sound unique and interesting, is an orphan who may be the daughter of Lucy Westerna.  She begins a fascination with another orphan Justine (certainly a nod to de Sade I am sure).  They spend their time at the Catholic run orphanage running around in the woods.  Soon they meet up with a band of unsavory gypsies and everything goes to hell.  Quite literally.
Next up is a trippy scene of nudity, blood and implied satanic marriage. Oh and a satanic orgy.

The movie had a lot of potential but it never quite lived up to it.


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Tally so far:  6 Total Watched / 5 New

What do you find scary?
October Horror Movie Challenge hosted by Krell Laboratories.


Saturday, October 4, 2014

October Movie Challenge: Female Vampire / Erotikill (1973)

Another Jess Franco / Lina Romay collaboration, although this is actually their first one.  In this she plays Countess Irina Karlstien (I think it was supposed to be Karnstien, of Carmilla fame) as a mute vampire that can only survive if she kills her lovers at the moment of orgasm.

The unedited "Female Vampire" version is more or less porn.  The edited "Erotikill" emphasized the horror elements.

Through out the movie Lina wanders around naked jumping from victim.
The characters seem to take magic and vampires as a given.  The medical examiner after an autopsy claims the victim was killed by a vampire and hardly anyone blinks an eye about it.  Maybe vampires were more common in Madeira then and I just don't remember it.

The most interesting thing about this movie are the number of different versions out there.  The version I have is 104 minutes. I have heard there is a 110 minute version as well but I have no idea what they cut from this one.

Erotikill had more blood than Female Vampire; which is to say it has some scenes of bloody mouths.  In the behind the scenes piece Franco wanted to be ambiguous about whether it was blood, semen or other fluids.  I guess the censors felt blood was less offensive.
Erotikill is only 70 minutes.



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Tally so far:  5 Total Watched / 4 New (I am only counting these as 1 movie total)

What do you find scary?
October Horror Movie Challenge hosted by Krell Laboratories.