CURSE OF THE DRAGON SLAYER Trailer

I stumbled upon this low-budget fantasy movie on Netflix about a week ago.  It reminds me of the fantasy films from the 1980s and it's still better than any of the D&D movies.  I know I have seen it mentioned in my G+ feed a time or two but I have yet to see the trailer shared so I decided to share it.

A Power Rangers Game?

My children have recently discovered the immense collection of Power Rangers television episodes on Netflix.  I remember seeing bits and pieces of this show over the years.  In case you need a refresher, every intro is in the following clip.

My son is really interested when he sees my role playing books and the few miniatures I have.  He is not ready for full blown Pathfinder or anything like that but I did have an idea - maybe there is some game similar to Power Rangers that I could get for him to play.  He has several Power Rangers action figures, some of the Kreo figures, and some Zords also.

I looked for a simple game that would allow him to play in the Power Rangers universe or at the least something similar.  I have had absolutely no luck at all.  I entertained the thought of whipping something together myself but I am not knowledgeable enough when it comes to Power Rangers to do so.  Sure, the basics would be:

1.  Focused on teamwork instead of solo missions.

2.  The team would have a and (Zordon) that would supply a base, etc.

3.  The team would use weapons, combo weapons, zords, and combined zords to fight evil.

4.  The good guys would be opposed by the Big Bad (Rita Repulsa) and it could expand. (Lord Zed)

5.  The Big Bad would have minions. (Whatever those mobs are called)

6.  There would also be a Monster of the Week with special powers and that could grow in size.

Yeah, it is pretty formulaic and it would be easy to emulate.  Quite honestly, I do not want to spend a large amount of time reading about the shows or watching them to whip up something myself.  I am not quite sure I would get the feel right, either.  I would probably make the mistake of trying for a "serious version" because I do think the co re idea is pretty good.  Anyway, it is time to get down to business. 

Does anybody reading this have any information, links, etc. about a free and simple Power Rangers role-playing game or something similar?  I have looked all over the internet and I can not find anything like I have for G.I. Joe (Strike Force Seven iirc), Thundarr the Barbarian, or several others.  It does not have to specifically emulate the Power Rangers specifically as long as it is similar in tone and execution; names can always be changed, etc.  I appreciate any input that anyone has to offer.

redbox instant = thumbs down

I like the redbox and visit the local kiosks quite frequently.  When I heard about their new streaming service, redbox instant, I quickly signed up for the service to check out what they had to offer.  At first glance it sounds like a good deal - for only $7.99 a month you get 4 free rentals at a kiosk plus access to streaming movies - so I added to my roku instead of just using the laptop.  We picked out 4 DVDs from the kiosk and then went home to browse the channel on the roku to discover the rest of the story. 

 

Unlike Crackle, Hulu Plus, and Netflix there is an additional charge - $2 to $5 - for many of the offerings.  Basically, the crap or older stuff is free while the newer stuff costs extra in addition to the monthly charge.  If I want to pay extra then I will go through Amazon Instant video and rent a movie; the cost will be the same or less and the quality of the video will be higher.  Granted, there is crap on all of these streaming services but redbox instant seems to be weighted towards the crap.  At this point in time I must give redbox instant and big thumbs down and I do not recommend it at all.  If anyone has some recommendations for roku channels, I would like to hear about horror or science fiction offerings.   

 

In game related news, I will most likely post the updated list of steampunk role-playing games in a few more days.  I am still gathering some information.  

Competition

I live in Small Town, Oklahoma so we are a tad behind on a few things.  No - before you ask - we are not still fighting "the Indians out there".  No, that comment is not meant to be offensive.  Someone always seems to be under the impression that it is "almost the Wild West" in this part of the nation.  I assure you that is not the case.  We have the same modern conveniences as other places in the United States; from automobiles to computers to shopping malls and even that fancy internet!  So, what is my point you may be wondering.

 

Quite simply, my wife and I have two small children and have elected to live in a smaller town.  There are several reasons - family, schools, college, etc. - but the biggest reason is the option to avoid being in "thug-central" because it "feels safer" in this smaller town.  One of the side effects of that choice is being a little behind in some areas.  For instance, we have high speed internet but we could have much faster internet if we lived in the big city.

 

I had Netflix for quite some time but the internet was just lagging too much in this area.  I cancelled my subscription about 8 months ago.  In the months following my cancellation, the internet has gotten more stable in this area and we received an upgraded router.  I decided to give Netflix another try because I figured if I was out $7.99 due to dissatisfaction then it really was no big deal.  It works great now because the Internet is much faster and I have experience no delays or lagging while we have been burning through seasons of shows that are now available on Netflix.

 

This past weekend I was down with whatever bug was going around the community.  It had went through the rest of the family and it was my turn.  I had a little bit of insomnia after sleeping off and on all day so I went to the living room and decided to fire up the Netflix while I was surfing the Internet in hopes of making myself drowsy. 

 

I am a long time professional wrestling fan so I browsed the wrestling titles available.  I would have preferred something from the old school era but I settled on The Rise & Fall of WCW and NWO: The Revolution because I had some big gaps to fill in on my wrestling history.  I knew a bit about WCW but I mainly watched WWF at the time.  As I watched those programs I was visiting the various role playing forums and blogs I have saved on my favorites list.  

 

As I watched the story of the Monday Night Wars between WWF and WCW unfold I realized that I watched a bit more of WCW than I had previously thought.  I was in the Army at the time so we would hang out, drink beer, and see what was happening on the wrestling shows.  Professional Wrestling was huge at the time and there was wrestling shows on 6 nights a week with Pay-Per-Views on about every 3 weeks when you throw ECW in to the mix.  I recalled that during this time, Eric Bischoff made WCW the #1 wrestling company in the world.  Nitro was clearly leading in the ratings at the time and did so for something like a year or two years.  Fast Forward several years down the line and there is no WCW or ECW left to compete with WWF.  There were many WWF fans that felt everything would have been better off that way all along. 

 

I am sure you are wondering what in the world does all of this have to do with D&D or roleplaying in general?  Quite simply, there are some interesting parallels that can be drawn between the Monday Night Wars and the 4E/Pathfinder split in the fan base.  It all starts by replacing WCW with Paizo Publishing and WWF with Wizards of the Coast.  WCW really started hitting it big when they got an old WWF product - Hulk Hogan - and made him their own by turning him heel and then launching the NWO invasion angle.  Paizo did something very similar by taking D&D 3.5 and creating the Pathfinder system.  If your throw the OSR/retro clone publishers into the mix then you basically have ECW represented also.   

 

I may be grasping at straws with this post but I do have two points to make.  First, all of these competing products in the D&D field eventually makes the whole field stronger.  When WWF had WCW and ECW to compete against for money then it was a much better in ring product.  Sure, there is TNA today but their show is on one right a week and does not go head to head with WWF on Monday Night.  WCW literally took the fight to WWF and it made both of their products better.  Second, a lack of competition basically translates to a lack of a measuring stick to compare product against product.  I read several posts from 4E fans that wished Pathfinder was not available so 4E could rule the D&D field.  I think it would be more interesting to see how D&D Next responds to the shortcomings of 4E to see what is next.  Then maybe we can see what comes from Pathfinder 2 has to offer against 5E?  Honestly, without Pathfinder would Wizards be knee deep in play testing D&D Next or would they have let the edition have a life span that lasted several more years? 

 

Just some food for thought...   

 

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Note: Yes, I am aware that it is now properly WWE but I just refuse to use that label.  I grew up with WWF and it will always be WWF to me.   

(Mobile Post) Netflix + Wii = sad face

I have been a Netflix subscriber for approximately 1 year; streaming service only.  It seems to be the perfect compliment to our local cable service by providing plenty of viewing material for all of the family members.  Plus, for $8 a month the price is definitely right.  Recently, Netflix has been a terrible viewing experience on the Wii.  The selection will start playing and then stops unexpectedly with an error message stating that "there is a problem playing this selection. Please try again later or make another selection.".  Anybody out there have any suggestions?

I'be looked at the FAQ section and it is pretty much barren. All I could do was report a problem.

Service seems fine on mobile phone & laptop.  I want it to work on TV so the kids will have plenty to watch.

I have a large amount of selections in my instant Que - does that matter?

I have no interest in the mail service.

I tried Hulu Plus and it is even worse an the selection is terrible or was when I tried it.

Any suggestions would be highly appreciated. I really like Netflix and would like to keep it but I will probably look into other options if it will only work properly on the laptop or mobile phone.

Sent from my HTC Inspire™ 4G on AT&T

Sliders Is Better Than Doctor Who

I find myself browsing and viewing a lot of the movies and shows on Netflix lately.  I only have the streaming service so I do not know exactly what I am missing out with the mail delivery service but I do know that I am missing at least "some" stuff".  Regardless, one of the things I have really enjoyed is the opportunity to watch all sorts of TV shows including older shows and much more recent shows.  Some of the TV shows that I have at least watched a few minutes to gauge my interest include Dark Shadows (60s original), Burn Notice (seasons 1-4), Night Gallery, Masters of Horror, and many more.  The TV series that I am currently viewing is Sliders.  I saw many of the episodes as they originally aired but there has been enough time lapsed since then that it's all pretty much new to me.  The bad news is that the streaming version is only a partial list of episodes for season one and season two is completely absent; all said there are 72 streaming episodes available for viewing.   

I made it through the shortened season 1 and I am currently two episodes into season 3.  As I am watching this episode a thought crossed my mind - Sliders is better than Doctor Who as the basis of an RPG campaign.  I can hear the Doctor Who fans screaming in anguish right now at the blasphemy of that thought.  Make no mistake, Doctor Who is an awesome series and my favorite show of all time.  On the other hand, when it comes to a role-playing setting Sliders has it beat for several reasons.  Please, put the torches away and hear me out before this blog and I face your wrath.

Player Characters

One of the goals of a role-playing campaign based off of a TV show would be the ability to emulate the setup of the main protagonists from that series.  I believe Doctor Who presents a problem with that because the Time Lord character (Doctor Who or otherwise) will typically outshine all other characters.  The humans will be overshadowed by either one of the other players or by an NPC; unless, of course, all players are a Time Lord.  That changes the entire setup from the TV show.  In contrast, Sliders has four human characters in the party.  Sure, some are smarter, more athletic, look better, etc. but they are all human.  My point is that one character may get the spotlight in certain situations but will not maintain the spotlight in the same fashion as The Doctor would.

The Setting

At first glance it would seem that Doctor Who has the advantage when it comes to the setting.  I mean, the entirety of time and space would be your playground in a Doctor Who game.  That would also be one big hassle for the GM.  Every time the TARDIS landed somewhere else then a new planet, space station, alien race, alien animals, etc. would have to be detailed.  Again, Sliders has the advantage when it comes to role-playing.  The setting is Earth - actually parallel Earths - so the setting is basically constant all of the time.  Of course, there are details different on each Earth so only a little work has to be done to get a "new setting" for the next slide.

Adventure Ideas & Canon

Doctor Who has many years of show history - 30+ years of the original and nearing 10 on the new series - that serve to give many details for the players to absorb and use.  There have been numerous visits to Gallifrey, Skaro, etc. and the players need to be aware of much of that information if they want to remain canonically relevant without invalidating of that history.  Stepping on canon will bother some (many?) players and there is a lot of canon to Doctor Who. Sliders was on for less than 10 seasons; a decent run but not enough to develop so much canon to hinder adventure ideas for gaming.  In fact, many of the episodes end or start with the Sliders about to leave a world for the next one.  The viewer only gets to see a few moments of that world before the slide so there is an opportunity for adventure ideas right there.  Another source of adventure ideas is real world history - what if the Nazis won World War II, or what if the U.S. moon mission was a disaster and the space program shut down, or what if the cold war between the U.S. and Russia was still going on?  There are numerous ideas that can be generated by flipping through an encyclopedia, almanac, or even cruising Wikipedia.

Those are just 3 of the reasons why Sliders is better than Doctor Who for a role-playing campaign.  I would list more but I can hear the crowd approaching.  I see the flames of their torches through my window shades.  Maybe I can slide out of here before they make it through the door?

 

Insomnia Induced Rambling

My original plan was to do a post about the professions and guild system in Perilous Journeys today but that has changed after a bout of insomnia AND my 5 year old absolutely not sleeping steady at all last night.  I am posting some gaming related thoughts instead; some will relate to this blog and some will be related to just gaming in general. 

D&D Online: During my insomnia I noticed that the client for D&D Online had finished downloading.  I had wanted to try it so I did the final install and got the game up and running.  It isn't completely terrible BUT the only reason I tried it is because it is free to play now.  Don't be fooled, though, because only SOME of the options (this includes basic choices such as races or classes) are free and others have to be paid for.  I wasted a few hours on it but I would rather be playing real D&D or something like Diablo, Ultima, etc.   

The new Conan film: I saw it recently thanks to the redbox.  I enjoy the Howard stories the best but do realize that some of the pastiche work is worthwhile.  Although the film was nowhere close to authentic Howard I actually enjoyed it as a general fantasy movie. 

Netflix: I have been watching the hell out of some Netflix during the Christmas holiday this year.  I have seen some damn good stuff like The Beast and the True Grit remake.  I have also caught up on some stuff I missed in the original airing like Twin Peaks.  Finally, I have also seen quite a bit of crap to go along with it. 

Dungeon Crawl name change: I have some assorted notes on my blog about the Dungeon Crawl board game that I wanted to design at one point.  I pretty much figured the name was taken but I looked it up on board game geek and it definitely is in use by another product offering a similar play experience.  If I were to continue with the design then I need a new name and that seems to be my dilemna.  Many good names are already taken - Dungeon Crawl and Dungeon Delve (4E book) are just two examples.  I am not always good with naming stuff so this could wind up being a real challenge for me.

Gamer ADD:  I fully admit that I have a problem with taking on too many projects when it comes to gaming.  I don't think it's a bad thing and it seems to be pretty common.  I am just going to try and focus a little more on the completion of several that are important to me. 

Reading: I have surged in my reading lately; probably due to the fact that my employer took two and a half weeks down at Christmas/New Years.  The last book I read in 2011 was Christopher Paolini's Inheritance.  I know he has his fair share of haters out there, but I did enjoy it and thought the ending fit the story.  The first book I will finish reading in 2012 will be Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings.  I have tremendously enjoyed it and will pick up more books by Sanderson in the future.  Anybody following this blog have any recommendations for Sanderson's other works?

Enough rambling for now.  Maybe I will get to take a nap soon?