Today, Candy Land...Tomorrow, Dungeons and Dragons!

Our older boy is finally old enough to play his first board game! I sensed this might be the case recently and suggested to my wife that we go pick up that classic game of fantasy questing... Candy Land!

True, the "campaign setting" is a bit light for my tastes. Black Licorice is the biggest hazard. (Although let's be honest. That crap is nasty.) And success or failure is based solely on the whim of the deck. But it's a start. And our son is crazy about it.

A few weeks ago in Knights Of The Dinner Table I read a strip involving some "modifications" to the game using combat equipment and other adventuring necessities, but I'm in no hurry to implement them yet. I'm happy to give our son a few more weeks of the pure experience before "spicing things up"...

Oh, and his OTHER new favorite game? Rolling my collection of RPG dice and naming the numbers that come up! (He's surprisingly good with the 20 sider, so maybe we'll move onto percentiles next!)

Geek Pride Day!

Happy Geek Pride Day! My dad just notified me about this holiday this morning. The Wikipedia entry for it gives some details on the history:


Geek Pride Day is an initiative to promote geek culture, celebrated on 25 May. The date was chosen as to commemorate the release of the first Star Wars film on 25 May 1977, but shares the same day as three other similar fan 'holidays' - Towel Day, for fans of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy by Douglas Adams, one possible date of Star Wars Day, and the Glorious 25 May, for fans of Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

The initiative originated in Spain in 2006 as "Orgullo Friki" and spread around the world via the internet.


So get your geek on as never before! Hmm. I wonder if a parade is being organized...

Free "World Building" Tools

This weekend I started doing a little bit of prep work for a paper and pencil fantasy RPG I hope to run in the fall or spring. Yeah, it takes me a while to prepare...

Which is why a couple of tools I found online are so cool! They help cut a ton of time (and potential cost!) out of building a world for your paper and pencil RPG campaign.

The first is a Town Generation Tool. More accurately, a town population tool. Just feed this online tool some info about the town you want to populate. Choose from options including size, military level, setting, alignment, economy, and political type. Then with one click your town is populated with numerous types of characters of appropriate levels, stats and abilities, each with their own name! Populate courtyards, taverns and merchant districts instantly!

Of course populating a town without any kind of physical setting is a bit pointless. So for town maps you can download this City Map Generator, which allows you to instantly create town maps after feeding it some basic information (population, setting, etc).

Free dungeon adventures are pretty easy to find, so these two tools have been an awesome way to help me create a campaign world without spending any money. And yet I still need all those other details to come together in order to have a world that's sufficiently realized for my players when they emerge from their latest dungeon crawl.

Unless you already read novels associated with a fantasy campaign setting (Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, etc.), reading campaign books can be lengthy and boring. (Especially for a guy like me who reads fantasy primarily for the story and characters, not the world they live in.) But the wild world of Wiki's, (and the help of tools like those above) makes it possible to create a campaign world for free without spending time and money on products that give you WAAAY more information than you need.

RPG video game wiki's can be a great source for world-building. Adventure in the world of Dragon Age or see what might happen in Cyrodil between Elder Scrolls 4 and 5! And if you want the world to be your own without putting in all the work, just take the ideas, change the names of places, gods and people and presto! A new(-ish) fantasy world for you and your players!

Dragon Age Wiki

Elder Scrolls Wiki

Forgotten Realms Wiki

The Blank Page

I got nothin'. I just started writing again today. Usually don't talk about my Spirit Blade Productions stuff on this blog, but I'm running into the same issue writing Spirit Blade 3 as I am writing this blog post. The blank page is staring at me, mocking me, whispering things like, "Really? You think THAT'S interesting enough to type?" or... Hmm, actually I couldn't think of anything else interesting that my blank page might say to me.

I couldn't even find a picture of a blank page to go along with the theme of this post. Just a lot of interesting pictures of stuff I don't have anything to comment on.

Attempting this blog post is even tougher than writing Spirit Blade 3. At least there I have an outline I'm working from. Here, I got nothing!

Umm, I spent last night reading my new Swords And Wizardry RPG rulebook. (Nah, see I've already talked enough about Swords and Wizardry and paper and pencil RPGs lately. You don't wanna read more crap about that.)

Skipping the new "Pirates" movie, so no review. (Lost interest in that series halfway through the second flick. Like a harmless amusement park ride where no one was in real danger. Like Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull.)

Hmm. Well crap, guys. I still got nothin'. Have a good one.

The Summer Of Free Archive!

Summer is here and once again it's time for "The Summer Of Free", the annual, summer-long event featured on The Spirit Blade Underground Podcast!

A big addition this year is the launch of The Summer Of Free Archive! This archive will feature what I think are the best of the best free, geeky entertainment options that have been discovered by myself and the Spirit Blade Productions Community.

The archive will continue to grow each summer and be available all year for your fun and amusement. There are already a bunch of great entries from years past and a few new nuggets for this year already! So what are you waiting for? Put away your wallet and go have some free fun!

Fallout New Vegas STILL Filled With Glitches And Bugs!

Last October, when Fallout: New Vegas came out, I already had some games I was playing on my 360. (Fallout 3 still among them.) I also heard about a ton of bugs in the game play. Game crashes, corrupted saves and players having to start games entirely over just hours from the end. So naturally I was in no rush to get a copy.

Fast forward 6 months and I'm itching for a good RPG, I've forgotten most of the New Vegas horror stories and assumed that Bethesda would have cleaned up that whole mess (at least the worst of it) with patches by now. So when I saw a new copy of the game for 20 bucks, I grabbed it and started playing. About 5 hours in, my game saves wouldn't load. After some trial and error involving removing the fourth patch (yes, I said the FOURTH patch) and re-installing the game to my 360, I was able to load my save and keep going. 13 hours in and as of last night no amount of trickery will allow me to load my saves again.

Did some checking online and it appears my problem is very widespread. Why Bethesda isn't dropping all DLC plans (they've got two or three coming out this summer) to fix these bugs yesterday is a mystery to me. Why would we buy DLC for a game we can't even load?

As a side note, I realize that it makes no sense to take jobs from DLC developers to hire more bug fixers when the DLC guys have likely already been contracted, but there's got to be SOMETHING they can drop to fix this faster!

A real shame. Even with some of the weird bugs like floating props and half-buried bad guys, it's been a great gaming experience. But with the game saves problem, it's just a ton of gaming greatness wrapped in a liquid poop tortilla.

Priest (Movie Review)

Based on an imported Japanese comic book, Priest takes place in a distopian future in which humans live in walled away cities built and run by “the church”(a Christian entity with a Catholic vibe) to be protected from the vampires out in the wilderness. The Priests are men and women trained and empowered supernaturally to hunt and kill vampires, although their order has been disbanded for years because the vampires were supposedly wiped out. But when word arrives to one Priest that his niece has been captured by vampires, he acts against direct orders from the church in order to rescue her, making himself a target of both vampires and Priests who remain loyal to the church.

The story is brought to life mainly by Paul Bettany, who plays the title role, Karl Urban, an ex-priest turned vampire, Cam Gigandet, the niece’s boyfriend, Hicks, who initiates the rescue mission, and Maggie Q, another priest who also serves as love interest to Bettany’s character.

Despite having some familiar faces with excellent track records in acting, none of the characters proved compelling to me. The Priests were too stoic and Hicks never seemed to be genuinely distraught over his girlfriend’s predicament. When Bettany’s character made the decision to go against the church, a real opportunity was missed to make that sacrifice mean something to him. As it was, he didn’t seem all that torn over it.

Likewise, none of the characters seem afraid of the vampires. Just determined to destroy them. And since the vampires were obviously CGI creations, a lack of obvious fear in the main cast only acted as a one-two punch against me ever being really concerned or on edge during the movie.

The vampires do have a cool look to them, however. Unlike traditional vampires, these look more like rabid aliens. Their skin is slimy and gray, their fangs are large and they have no eyes. A very cool take on the vampire concept.

The action is also pretty cool, with some over the top Matrix-inspired shots that are fun to watch, even if it feels like we’ve seen them done a little better before.

The visual design is a big part of the movie. A cross between “The Book Of Eli” and “Judge Dredd”. I wouldn’t mind spending more time in this world, and given the ending it seems that’s what producers are hoping will happen.

The movie offers some good opportunities for conversation about organized religion. A main slogan of the church in this movie is “to go against the church is to go against God”, to which Priest replies at one point “then I go against God.” Yet he still clearly holds onto his faith on some level. Later in the movie, Maggie Q’s character tries to comfort and encourage him by saying “our power doesn’t come from the church, it comes from God”.

Today it is very popular to be “spiritual” but be “against organized religion”. Even a number of Christians feel this way. When it comes to the connection between God and organized religion, we tend to fall into one of two extremes. 1. See the organized church as synonymous with God and develop a corrupted view of God as a result. 2. See the organized church as obsolete and resolve to maintain whatever “faith” we have independent of others. (Which also tends to result in a distorted view of God.)

The Biblical view is that the church (meaning the entire group of people in the world who are genuinely Christians) is vital for our growth, despite the fact that it is made up of flawed individuals, and that we should continue to meet together and be “organized” so that we can share our strengths and help each other grow.

Priest is a cool genre flick (that could have been much more memorable, involving and polished) that also provides some great opportunity to think about the role of “organized religion”.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violence and action, disturbing images and brief strong language.


Quality: 8.5/10

Relevance: 9.0/10



For information about my scoring system, visit- spiritblade.net/reviewscores

Or listen to this review this weekend at- spiritblade.net/podcast

Black Death (Movie Review)

You probably haven't heard of this movie, but there are a few good reasons to check it out.

"Black Death" takes place in England in the 1300's during the Black Plague. Sean Bean plays a knight of the church who has taken up the cause of hunting down the supernatural evil that he believes is the source of the plague. He leads a group of mercenaries and a young monk who plans to secretly rendezvous with the woman he loves. They all reach the suspected source of the evil, a small remote village that has mysteriously remained untouched by the plague. From this point what unfolds is a complex examination of religious fanaticism that for once, in films of this period, is not limited to pointing fingers at the Christians.

The cast is composed of mostly unknowns, though all match the onscreen strength of Sean Bean extremely well. I was pulled in by each of the characters, rarely thinking of them as actors. The sets and costumes have a wonderfully rugged realism to them, supporting the gritty tone that film shoots for.

I would have liked a little more production value in the shooting of the film. One or two helicopter shots would have been nice during travel scenes and the film seemed a bit too "grounded". Shaky cam effects were used a little too often, but not so much that it ever became frustrating. Fight scenes were gripping in their brutality, but the choreography left something to be desired and the "shaky cam" once again proved a distraction more than an aid.

As is the case with many stories in our "post-modern" age, there are no black hats or white hats. The protagonists, even the most pure among them, fall victim to corruption. And the antagonists, though maybe not exactly what the protagonists fear, are still horrifying in their evil. The protagonists have a fear and prejudice aimed at those who are not Christians, claiming allegiance to God while behaving in morally questionable ways. Nothing new about this in the world of movies. However, the antagonists portray themselves as victims of the "big bad intolerant Christian church", claiming to take no pleasure in violence or the pain of others, yet they enact a pre-emptive strike against the protagonists, giving them the choice of torture and death(during which they smile sadistically) or renouncing the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and being set free. (So much for tolerance, huh?)

The parallels to the modern spiritual atmosphere in America are uncanny. On the one hand, there are a number of Christians filled with prejudice and sometimes even hate toward non-Christians, living in contrast to God's commands for us to love others. At the same time, the popular creative community (comedians, musicians, writers, producers etc.) cries out for religious tolerance while they passive aggressively use their work to mock, condemn and show intolerance for those who express disagreement with them.

Although not a big budget operation, this film never looks "direct to video". It's a great movie with some dark and disturbing themes and complex situations that will likely lead to some very worthwhile conversation afterward.

Rated R for strong brutal violence, and some language.

Quality: 9.0/10

Relevance: 9.0/10


For information about my scoring system, visit- spiritblade.net/reviewscores

Or listen to this review this weekend at- spiritblade.net/podcast

New Green Lantern Trailer

Someone tipped me off to the new trailer last week. I've still got a few minor concerns, but on the whole it looks pretty freakin' cool!

Thor (Movie Review)

I’m a huge comic book fan, though I mostly stick to DC characters. Thor is one of the most well-known Marvel Comics characters, and also one of the most powerful. So I was curious from the beginning how they planned to bring him to the big screen.

My exposure to Thor has been intermittent, with the exception of Marvel’s “Ultimate” line of comics, in which I followed Thor along with The Avengers. Unlike other superheroes, who only take inspiration from the gods of ancient myth, Thor is an actual adaptation of Norse mythology into the comic book world. Although never before has that adaptation been cooler or more approachable visually and conceptually.

The premise is that a human-like alien race called The Asgardians live on a distant planet where they wage war with other humanoid races, empowered by amazing technology that by our standards appears to be magic. The Asgardians age very slowly and gave ancient earthlings the impression (intentionally or not) that they were gods.

Now, the arrogant Thor, son of king Odin, has been cast out of Asgard to earth for his reckless actions that threaten Asgard with war. Allegiances become divided among the elite friends and royal family members of the throne, and the conflict plays out, not in court politics, but massive epic fantasy brawls, both on earth and other worlds.

This movie has lots of goodies and subtle nods that comic fans will appreciate, but it’s also very approachable as a fantasy movie for general audiences. Although the costumes make people look a bit like plastic action figures, the action and effects are great and they are held together by a solid story about family, humility and reconciliation.

The cast did a good, though not fantastic job engaging me. Chris Hemsworth is a great Thor, though he lacked that extra bit of charisma that would have sold his arrogance more strongly. Natalie Portman is a fine leading lady, with brief moments of charm that almost lift her character out of “token love interest” status. Anthony Hopkins comes across surprisingly strong as Odin, despite his advancing years.

A major part of the story involves Thor losing his powers for about 40 minutes of the movie. Personally, I hate superhero stories that take away the hero's powers for a significant length of time. I read comics and watch superhero flicks so that I can see those amazing powers in action! But every superhero on screen has a common weakness: Budget. And I can only assume that played a major role in crafting this plot from day one.

Having said that, this story is carried well by its “non-super” elements, even during those 40 minutes of impotence. (And not everyone loses their powers, so there's still great action and visual effects to be had throughout the movie.) The rift between father and son and the rivalry between brothers serves well as the motivating conflict, and I genuinely cared about whether or not Thor and Odin would be able to repair their relationship.

Along with these great themes, there are a few other tidbits that might be worth talking about. The suggestion that God or “gods” might be aliens with advanced technology has been around for awhile. This movie doesn't seem interested in making that claim universal to all religions, but the concept still present and may trigger some pondering. Odin also keeps a dark truth from one of his sons out of a desire to “protect him”. But burying the truth does more harm than good in the end. (A wise principle to remember.)

Still, anything worth pondering or discussing from this movie will likely need to be pulled out with some effort. The central conflict (humility/reconciliation) is a good one, but isn't expressed with any complexity that requires deeper though after the credits roll.

This is a great genre flick with heart that will likely excite comics fans in big ways and treat general audiences to a creative and cool fantasy adventure!

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence.

Quality: 9.0/10

Relevance: 7.0/10


For information about my scoring system, visit- spiritblade.net/reviewscores

Or listen to this review this weekend at- spiritblade.net/podcast

The "Quest" For A "Lite" RPG

In my search for a fast-paced "lite" version of fantasy role-playing, I came across two options that are both appealing.

The first is OSRIC, which stands for "Old School Reference and Index Compilation". The open Gaming License makes it possible for this rule set to exist and be published as a new product, even though it's essentially a re-print of the original edition rules of Dungeons and Dragons.

OSRIC is available as a free pdf download, or for purchase in a few different print versions. (color, bw, hardcover, softcover) The appeal for this system is that it doesn't have a lot of the clunky rules that were added to D&D in the second and third editions, and there are a TON of support materials (monsters, modules, campaign settings etc.) to go along with these rules, many of which are free online. The downside is that the art is a bit crappy (surprising what a difference this makes!) and the rules STILL have more detail than I want to use.

The second option is "Swords And Wizardry", another D&D clone also available as a free pdf download. These rules clone D&D BEFORE it became "Advanced Dungeons And Dragons". So they are really stripped down and fast-paced, just like I like to play. The art is also better, although I'm having trouble finding this one in a printed version, which I'd like to have if I'm going to actually play this game. (Printing it on my computer would be WAAY too expensive.)

At this point I'm considering buying a softcover B&W version of OSRIC and using the free PDF of Swords and Wizardry to notate which rules are essential and which could be optional for the kind of game I want to run. But I'm going to give it some more thought and see if a better option doesn't present itself, first.

Dreaming Of Dungeons

Now that I've started to go back and read through my back issues of Knights Of The Dinner Table, I am predictably getting the itch again for some old school, paper and pencil role-playing.

I spent some time yesterday looking online at various RPG systems. I'm still diggin' on HeroClix, so I don't feel a need to revisit the DC Heroes RPG, which I've run in gaming groups for years. Instead, I've got a craving for dark, visceral fantasy. Sword and sorcery and all the goodies that come with it.

The problem is that the king of fantasy RPGs, Dungeons and Dragons, is way overburdened with rules that slow things down and require WAAY to much prep time for my busy life. I've got a rules system I like for fantasy role-playing, called "Eldritch". I bought it at GenCon Indy 2008, and although I've only run two games with it, I like the system a lot. The problem with Eldritch is that is doesn't have the support materials I'd really like to have in terms of monster manuals (it has one, but with less than 20 monsters) and adventure modules.

So my options from here seem to be:

1. Learn how to convert material from D&D 4th Edition to Eldritch, which will cost lots of time and money.

2. Find rules for D&D 4th Edition "Lite". (Yes, even the rules for 4th edition are too cumbersome for my time budgeting and too detailed for my small brain.)

3. Find a completely different fantasy RPG system with rules that keep combat fast and simple and that is supported by a monster manual and plenty of pre-generated adventures to use.

Too bad I don't have a 4th option, or I could use 1d4 to decide my fate. Anybody have any thoughts on what route I should go or recommendations of games or resources to help me?