DragonRaid - a Closer Look (Part Two)

The A-Z for April is completed so it is time to resume regular posting.  Continuing from part one of my DragonRaid posts...

DragonRaid: Rulebook 

The next section of the DragonRaid: Rulebook is The Armor of God.  This section mentions that people are instructed to "put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes" (Ephesians 6:11). The special abilities of LightRaider Armor is explained in this section along with the six items that make up the Armor of God.  This is a great way to tie the game to the source material.  It would be worthwhile to adopt something like this for a traditional fantasy campaign where the paladins were clearly based on Christian Knights.

Battling Sin Enchantments is the next section.  Think of these as a curse or affliction that will harm the LightRaider in a spiritual or physical manner until they are overcome.

Combat Procedures is the largest section of this book at ten pages.  There is information on most of the typical combat rules and options as found in the typical fantasy game of this time period.  In addition, there are some advanced combat rules, rules for battling Dragon Slaves, a critical hit chart, and some additional rules for fighting Dragons.  

The remaining four and a half pages contains seven small sections of rules. Rescue  discusses rescuing LightRaiders from Sin Enchantments; why it is not included with the Battling Sin Enchantments section is not clear to me.  Using Wordrunes and Teamrunes serves as a quick rundown on their format and use. Improving A Character explains the method of advancing your character through Maturity Units - think Experience Points - to reach the "glory and perfection of the Overlord of Many Names".  In real world terms, trying to follow the example of Jesus.  Loss of Maturity Units is an explanation of how to lose Maturity Units and the effect of doing so.  Team Action emphasizes that this is a team game rather than a competition.  Role Playing is a brief explanation of the subject.  Improving The Game offers up some suggestions on increasing the fun and enjoyment of the game session.

DragonRaid: LightRaider Handbook

This book is a different size than the other manuals in the box.  This Player's Guide is index-sized, spiral bound, and weighs in at 141 pages!  This small book is split into seven sections plus an index. I will give some details of each section but I have not had time enough to read this book.

Introduction to DragonRaid opens up with a welcome letter from the President of the Dragonraider Academy.  It is assumed your character has graduated after four years of study.  This section ends with a summary of the creation of the game world EdenAgain, the rise of evil in the form of the Dragons, and the original rescue by the OverLord of Many Names.

The Dark Enemy details the origins and game statistics of The Great Red Dragon (Satan).  This section also details the different types of Dark Creatures such as Goblins and Trolls.

The Victims of EdenAgain briefly explains that dragon slaves (sinners) have fallen under the influence of the Dragon and the goal of LightRaiders is not to kill them but to save them.  Some will be rescued and have a change of heart and join the ranks.

The Fellowship of the Light covers several subjects from The OverLord of Many Names, The Sacred Scrolls, WordRunes, Celestial Guardians, and LightRaiders and the TwiceBorn.

The World of Talania is given a brief overview in this section.  Talania is one of the five continents of EdenAgain and is where the Liberated Lands and the Dragon Lands are located.  

WordRunes and TeamRunes details the 60 WordRunes and 20 TeamRunes available for use by LightRaiders in the game.  

Appendices contains two brief sections.  First, a call to discipleship; spreading the Gospel to the those that have not heard it yet.  Second, a Character Journal that provides space to record the further exploits of characters in greater detail.  

An index closes out the book.  

More information will be in the next post.

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I admit that I have not read every word of any of these books but something that stands out to me so far is that I have not found anything denouncing D&D or other games as "tools of Satan".  This is surprising for me because this game was around during the Satanic Panic.  The impression I get so far is that DragonRaid is just being offered up as another alternative product available that happens to combine the roleplaying hobby with Christianity to present a tool for proselytization of others and reinforcing beliefs.  I have heard that DragonRaid was lumped in to the whole mess right along with D&D and other games back then.  I will keep my eyes posted for anything that contradicts my impression as I continue to go through these books.  If anyone can shed some light on this I would definitely be interested in hearing it.

 

Newest Miniatures

I picked up some new miniatures yesterday. These are immediately going into the “waiting to be painted” pile – currently in the middle of packing to move into a new house – but they were good choices. Duke Gerard will most likely serve as a player character; a Fighter or Paladin would be the most likely choices. The other miniature is a Bugbear Warrior. Obviously, the Bugbear will serve as an encounter.

I am moving closer to having miniatures to represent each character class and what seem to be the most often encounters typically used in my games. The next thing to do is to finish painting them. Then I can start acquiring any miniatures that I will need when they come up in later games. I will have a dedicated painting area when I get moved in to the new house so that will make things easier to manage.

I have been painting miniatures for less than a year. I had tried in the past but I had no idea what I was doing. I chalked that up to a learning experience and decided to focus on other aspects of the gaming hobby. This was all in the pre-internet days so the great wealth of knowledge available on youtube and other sites was not available at the time. In 2020 my son became REALLY interested in Warhammer 40K so I went on the internet to find out how much information I could gather before going any further. I didn’t want him to have the same discouraging experience as I had in my youth.

I found numerous pages of tips, tricks, and tutorials available for any skill level. I let him pick out one of the beginner boxes and we were off to the races. I discovered that I enjoy painting and I decided to continue. I have since picked up many Reaper Bones and a good selection of the Wizkids Deep Cuts range of miniatures. I am not a grand master at painting and I don’t care to be. I paint at an adequate level that I am satisfied with so I can use my miniatures for in game purposes to represent characters, encounters, NPCs, etc.; just happy they don’t look like a blob of paint randomly brushed on a figure. Painting is also a great way to unwind and relax in my spare time.  In addition, it helps me grow the hobby by passing on tips and my collection to my son.

Now it’s time to get back to packing….

[A to Z] Z = Zodiac

ZODIAC is one of my all-time favorite movies regardless of how you choose to categorize the film.  I am calling it a "real life horror" for this list because the basic events happened - dramatized and embellished I am sure - but The Zodiac is a real life killer.  From the very first time I watched this film I was enthralled with the story, the details, the acting, and the creepiness in some scenes,  

ZODIAC is not just one of those random murder movies that has been made dozens of times.  There are moments where it creates a dreadful feeling in the viewer.  One such instance is where the cartoonist turned amateur sleuth is following up a phone call conversation by visiting this guy at his house for some evidence.  They go in the basement and while they are down there the little weasel guy he was visiting is turned different lights off and on as they walk around the basement.  You can hear footsteps upstairs from a big heavy person that is creepy if you watch it late at night.

Watch it!

[A to Z] Y = Your Favorite

No trailer and no recollections about any particular movie in this entry.  Just a simple question.

What is your favorite horror movie?

I have several films that are vying for the top spot.  My favorite 80s slasher is Friday the 13th.  My favorite found footage horror is probably Paranormal Activity.  For my all-time favorite - and some people will protest that it is a true crime thriller but I am calling it a "real life horror film" - you will have to read the Z post tomorrow...

[A to Z] X = Xtro

XTRO is on this list for one simple reason.  It is the only horror movie beginning with the letter X that I can remember seeing.  I admit it.  I do not remember much about this movie at all.  I think it is about a human woman that gave birth to a child fathered by an extraterrestrial.  No idea if that is completely accurate.  The only thing I do remember is that we got it from the video store and I believe some of the effects were the sort to gross mothers out.  I have to track down a copy of this after all these years.

[A to Z] W = Worst

 I am not discussing a film for the "W" entry but I am asking a simple question...

What is the WORST horror film you have ever seen?

I will do better than name one film but I will say these are the three worst horror movies I have even seen.  My son and I were on a SHARKNADO kick and we decided to find something similar.  I stumbled across the Shark Attack 3-pack at Wal-Mart for the low, low price of $5.  I thought they looked fun and bought the DVD.  I was about to find out just how very wrong I was just a short time later.

I attempted to watch these movies back to back and I failed.  I fell asleep several times and it took about a week to watch all three.  My son gave up much quicker than I did.  He still has not watched any of these movies completely to this day.  Besides having sharks in each movie, these three movies share some common traits.  The acting is wooden and amateurish at best.  The special effects are not really that special at all.  The stories are all slow and tedious.  The dialogue is pure gibberish.  They are all just AWFUL from start to finish.  There are NO similarities to SHARKNADO and no joke to "be in on" because the joke WILL be on you if you watch these films.  

I will not directly post the trailers here; I will, however, provide links to the trailers below.  Be warned - just watching these trailers may be similar to reading passages from The Necronomicon!!! Be cautious if you choose to tread further and view these trailers below.  YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!!

Sharkenstein trailer

Raiders of the Lost Shark trailer

Shark Exorcist trailer

[A to Z] V = V/H/S

V/H/S was a film I gambled on and I wound up being pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed the stories.  If I recall correctly, I knew nothing about VHS until I saw a preview on another movie I rented from redbox.  Then I rented VHS from redbox on my next visit.  The film has 5 found footage short films bookended by a 6th story.  I found the sequel VHS 2 to be just as good as the original.  The third film, VHS: Viral, was a disappointment to me.  The stories did not hold my attention as well as the previous two films.  A third film, VHS 94, has been announced but I have yet to hear any more information.  I am sure I will give it a shot... 

[A to Z] U = Us

US seems to divide horror fans into the "great" and "meh" camps.  I personally thought it was a great film.  It was not another mindless slasher and the story was unique.  US is an interesting twist on literally facing your inner demons and also touches of broader societal issues.  I have not seen US in some time and I regret now owning it; I will remedy soon.  Simply put, US is an engaging film that not only asks who the enemy is but it also answers it.

[A to Z] T = Trick 'r Treat

TRICK'R TREAT is a horror comedy anthology film from 2007.  The four stories take place on Halloween night.  Each of the stories is a standalone tale with the exception of the appearance of Sam in each tale; showing up when the rules of Halloween are broken.  I enjoyed all of the stories and the bookends included at each end of the film. 

TRICK'R TREAT is a fun movie.  I always include it in every Halloween horror movie marathon that I do every year. There was some talk of a sequel but so far nothing has materialized.  I have not come across any rumors of a sequel lately either.  One one hand, I think that is great because they have not tried to turn this into a franchise by quickly releasing a follow up movie of questionable quality.  On the other hand, I think it is unfortunate that there have been no follow up films.   CREEP and CREEP 2 have shown you can have several films years apart and maintain the quality.  I think TRICK'R TREAT could do the same thing.  If a sequel is never filmed I will still be happy with one very good film.

[A to Z] S = Silent Hill

SILENT HILL is based on the video game franchise bearing the same name.  I have played a bit of the first two but I never completed either one of them.  I remember enjoying this movie and I used it for this challenge for no other reason than it does a great job of adapting the video game to the big screen.  SILENT HILL looks and feels right to me.  I will not try and argue that is perfect; it IS an adaptation after all.  It does, however, do a much better job of adapting the game to the big screen than many other video game movies have done.