Star Wars: Bad Foley Edition

Over on his YouTube channel, Hudson Hongo has recently uploaded his "Star Wars: Bad Foley Edition."  Enjoy!

Storm Crow Tavern in Vancouver, B.C.

There is a nerdy little place in Vancouver, B.C. called Storm Crow Tavern that has been open about a year and a half.  Looks like I need to get back to Canada soon.  See more here!

It's got a pretty neat logo

An unassuming entrance

I see Harryhausen represented on their walls

They have a d20 random shots chart

I'm not sure of there are any real fails I see but plenty of crits

Chicken drumsticks wrapped in bacon

CAKE OF THRONES!

It seems a welcoming place

CMG eBay Store 10% Off Sale Ending

Just a heads up that the 10% Off sale going on at the CMG eBay store is coming to an end.  Lots of new listings have gone up in the last few days so see more here!

Sunday Funnies - Full Frontal Nerdity by Aaron Williams

There was a very gamer-oriented Full Frontal Nerdity by Aaron Williams recently. Enjoy and see more here!

Paul Kemp on Midlist Writing

Over on Twitter, then transferred to his blog, Paul Kemp weighed in with a "Twitter Discourse on the Financial Realities of Midlist Writing." Read more here!

Net Neutrality

Leaving aside the politics, for the sake of economics, I think it behooves me to share some information on an issue that is currently reaching a tipping point regarding Net Neutrality.  This is an issue that is sometimes misunderstood but well-defined by Ray Lin, a student at the University of California, Berkeley.  If you are becoming curious regarding this or would like some straightforward information on the subject, please do follow the links provided to help educate yourself more fully.  Thanks for allowing me to depart from my typical gaming-centric blog postings today.  If you wish to get involved, feel free to follow this link to SavetheInternet.com and keep informed.

The Writers Room 2013 -- Game of Thrones

I missed this show last year but since the new season has begun, maybe this will be of interest to some others as well.  From the Sundance Channel, The Writers Room 2013 - Game of Thrones.  Host Jim Rash, who many will recognize from Community, discusses GoT with screenwriters David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.  Enjoy!

Hercules Official Trailer with Dwayne Johnson

I meant to post about this last month but Gary Con was keeping me busy and pics from the con were taking priority for blogging.  Anyway, the new Hercules movie looks like it could be a winner.  Enjoy!

OSWARP - Old School Wargaming and Roleplaying Convention

Looks like DexCon 17 in early July is adding a section to their excellent convention which they are dubbing OSWARP, the Old School Wargaming and Roleplaying Convention.  It'll be a sort of Con-within-a-Con, whereby many Friday and Saturday events at DexCon will carry the OSWARP tag in their programming schedule.  This is a great idea that I hope gets lots of support from Old Schoolers all over but especially on the East Coast.  Honestly, it'd be great if there was an Old School convention or gameday available within driving distance for everybody in the continental USA at least once per month.  It probably could be done.

Anyway, go check out the logistics and if you're going, be sure to setup at least one event.  It's better for a new venture to have too many events, in my opinion, and some tables get combined than to have too few.  At least that way events are prepped and ready rather than a mad scramble for someone to run a game and the players feeling the convention isn't ready for them.  Those of you who want to see this succeed, be prepared to step aside or filter your players to other games in the name of the overall success of the event.  It's the Gentle Gamer Way, my friends.

A couple of heads up type things, too, from others who are involved like +Joseph Bloch:

Make sure you select OSWARP in the "type of game" section in the form when you fill it out. And when you do send in a game proposal, let me know either in the comments here or by email, so I have some idea of what's coming. I'll be doing regular updates as games come in, so as to drum up interest, and have some ideas for stuff at the con that requires I know what's on the horizon. 

And don't forget, when you pre-register for the convention, use the code OSRDX17PX30, and you'll get a $30 discount off a complete membership. To take advantage of this deal, you must sign up for 4 Oswarp-labeled events once the schedule is posted, or two OSWARP events and the OSR Team Dungeon Crawl. (Which, if you're reading this blog, you were probably going to be doing anyway, but just in case...)

So, check things out more thoroughly here!

The Farscape Movie is Officially Happening

It as reported late yesterday on io9.com and around the Internet that "The Farscape Movie is Officially Happening." Read more here!

Sunday Funnies - RPGComic.com

If you are an RPGer and are in need of a chuckle, go check out the funny on RPGComic.com, then bookmark it.  See more here!

Free Sampler of The Knight Who Saved England by Richard Brooks from Osprey Publishing

Osprey Publishing is sharing a free PDF sampler of The Knight Who Saved England by Richard Brooks.  The book is described as -

"In 1217 England was facing her darkest hour, with foreign troops pillaging the country and defeat close at hand. But, at the battle of Lincoln, the seventy-year-old William Marshal led his men to a victory that would secure the future of his nation. Earl of Pembroke, right-hand man to three kings and regent for a fourth, Marshal was one of the most celebrated men in Europe, yet is virtually unknown today, his impact and influence largely forgotten. In this vivid account, Richard Brooks blends colourful contemporary source material with new insights to uncover the tale of this unheralded icon. He traces the rise of Marshal from penniless younger son to renowned knight, national hero and defender of the Magna Carta. What emerges is a fascinating story of a man negotiating the brutal realities of medieval warfare and the conflicting demands of chivalric ideals, and who against the odds defeated the joint French and rebel forces in arguably the most important battle in medieval English history – overshadowing even Agincourt. "

Get the book here and get the sampler here!

2013 Global Game Industry Survey

The results from the 2013 Global Game Industry Survey conducted by Yehuda Berlinger of Purple Pawn are in and published in PDF form here!

Two Notable Gamers and Shadowfax have Died

We've recently lost two gamer podcasters.

One was Steven Tinner, a fellow well known on the EN World message boards for the last decade and more recently had a podcast called Critical Glitch.  More details can be found here.

Derek Rex is someone of whom I had lost track, having gamed with him briefly in the 80s.  Such was our hobby before the Internet that we met gamers, we all moved around, and keeping track of friends we met from time to time wasn't always easy.  It's odd that I was recently thinking about him and those days.  Then I just discovered this week that he had passed and had still been very active in the gaming scene.  More details on him can be found here.

Both of the above were roughly my age, which can be a bit disconcerting, but it does reinforce that we should make the most of our time while we can whether that means gaming, family, friends, or some mix of all of those and more.

Finally, it is worth also noting that the beautiful horse who played Shadowfax in the LotR franchise has died.  Read about it here.

NTRPGCON 2014 Event Registration is Underway

If you've been waiting for the event registration to begin for the North Texas RPG Con 2014, which takes place in June, then you will no longer have to wait.  See more details here!

WotC New 1E/2E RPGNow Releases and More

Four re-issued Dungeons & Dragons titles have been added overnight to the RPGNow servers by WotC and two titles were added by Creative Mountain Games. They include I11 Needle (1e), GA2 Swamplight (2e), From the Ashes (2e), RM4: House of Strahd (2e), as well as the Toeffrun Creation Myth - An RPG Pantheon and Potent Portals (Both with ERA 3.XE stats but useful for any system from CMG).

The Creation Myth is a pantheon of deities and their origins which can be used with any Medieval Fantasy setting, utilizing it as a primary religious doctrine or for a place a GM has yet to flesh out. Potent Portals contains over one hundred portals and related items (doors, archways, trapdoors, locks, windows, shutters, curtains, etc.) enhanced with magic to offer many unique challenges in your game.

See more on the CMG offerings here and here!

Art Director Position at Monte Cook Games

There is an Art Director position available at Monte Cook Games for a talented qualified person who can live anywhere they damned well please. See more here!

Sunday Funnies - The Onion on Archaeology

The Onion had a humorous take back in 2002 on a "Archaeologist Tired Of Unearthing Unspeakable Ancient Evils." Read more here!

Jen Page, Dice Assassin

Over on the Iron GM YouTube channel is a brief video showing how Jen Page makes her move on an unsuspecting GM.  Enjoy!

Sixty-Five Foot Dragon For Sale - Cardiff, Wales

The title says it all, someone in Cardiff, Wales, is selling their sixty-five foot dragon and it eats garden gnomes, or maybe that's not part of the article.  See more here!

The Dangers of Daggermore Kickstarter

There is a special Kickstarter heading into the homestretch that every gamer should check out.  It's called "The Dangers of Daggermore, a Fantasy RPG film" and it looks like a very cool project.  See more here!

Daniel W. Cisek Recalls Gary Con VI Plus Pacesetter Sale

Over on his wonderful orcsamongus blog, Daniel W. Cisek looks back on Gary Con VI with great fondness.  See more here!

But before you head off, you'll also want to take advantage of the post-Gary Con VI sale at Bill Barsh's Pacesetter Games.  The sale is in the free shipping on all domestic orders (using the "gc6" code) or $4 off shipping internationally.  Check that out here!

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Available Today

For those of you who have been waiting for the DVD or Bluray release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, it is available today.  See more here!

TableTop Season 3 IndieGoGo Project

Season Three of Wil Wheaton's TableTop gaming show is being funded through IndieGoGo.  So, if you want to see more of this fun gaming show, Go, Go, and support the show here!

Sunday Funnies - Honest Trailers Game of Thrones

There is a new Honest Trailer from the Screen Junkies YouTube channel sending up Game of Thrones.  Warning: Some spoilers, lewdness, mocking of lewdness, violence, mocking of violence etc.  Enjoy!

International TableTop Day 2014

Today is International TableTop Day 2014 so find a way to get in some gaming, on a TableTop, and Internationally, if possible.  Have fun!

Failed Sci-Fi and Fantasy TV Pilots

I stumbled across a very funny video highlighting some "Sci-Fi / Fantasy TV Pilots - that never made it to series." Enjoy!

Paul S. Kemp's Birthday!

Hey, it's Paul S. Kemp's birthday so let's surprise him by putting his book, The Hammer and the Blade, up a few notches on Amazon.  And if you have already read it, then be sure to rate it and dash off a little review.  Pick it up here!

Post- Gary Con VI Gaming

Rather pull another late night with our usual RPG session, we opted to relax with a bit of dice gaming and boardgaming instead (starting earlier and ending earlier than normal).  Though we finished up with a game of Liar's Dice and squeezed in two games of San Juan in between, we started with a game of Can't Stop, a fun little dice game that puts a player's demise in their own hands.  It was nice getting in one more game with Luca before he headed back to Italy (might not be back for a couple years).  In attendance, Tom Wham, Luca Ilario Carbonini, Norman Mason, Benoist Poire (via Skype), myself, and Ernie Gygax. It was at Ernie's place so we had to let him play.

Concinnity Convention Saturday, April 5th, 2014

If you are in the Milwaukee, WI, area this Saturday, April 5th, you might want to check out Concinnity Convention which is being held on the MSOE campus.  See more here and check out their Facebook page here.