Search Results for: oriental adventures
You may have noticed some new bloggers debuting here in the past couple of weeks… and there are so many getting on board, you may have missed one! Here they are: Jon Mollison: Welcome to the Tabletop Officer Training Corps, Recruit Scott Cole: Jakub Różalski’s 1920’s Eastern European Mechs Kevyn Winkless: Mind The Gap: Forgotten History of Science Fiction […]
Jon Peterson at Playing at the World has posted Bruce Sterling’s homebrew samurai class from 1978. It’s quite good, actually. The restrictions of the Samurai Code will force the player character to commit seppuku if he’s wounded and retreats without returning a wound to his opponent. The class’s special abilities are doled out in a similar […]
RETROSPECTIVE: The Jewel in the Skull by Michael Moorcock
Monday , 29, June 2015 Appendix N 22 CommentsFantasy did in fact exist before the advent of the watered down Tolkien pastiche. To someone that didn’t grow up with older books, they’re almost impossible to imagine. So it was for me when I first heard that Michael Moorcock was, in effect, the Anti-Tolkien¹. I mean… how could such a thing even be when for all […]
Sensor Sweep: Silver Warriors, Dinosaurs, Scanners, Barbarian: Ultimate Warrior
Monday , 17, April 2023 Sensor Sweep 1 CommentConan (Essential Malady): Conan is a hired mercenary working for the rogue prince Xathomidas to overthrow King Strabonus of Koth. These two characters are only mentioned as background to the narrative and Conan is mainly taking orders from General Scythis; usually through his captain Danix, who is charge of the mercenaries. Dixon sets this all […]
Sensor Sweep: Celt Mercenaries, Michael Moorcock, Monkey Island
Monday , 10, October 2022 Sensor Sweep 1 CommentHistory (Ancient Origins): Celtic warriors were one of the most important supports of Mediterranean armies. However, it is a little known fact that apart from their role in the Byzantium, these powerful warriors also had a strong connection with ancient Egypt. Firearms (Spec Ops Magazine): Browning Hi-Power is a single-action, semi-automatic pistol designed by the […]
In the 1990s, it seemed a new book on pulp art or lavishly illustrated books on the pulp magazines came out every year. Lee Server’s Danger is My Business was a great introduction to various pulp magazine genres with lots of color reproductions of pulp magazine covers. Robert E. Howard in the Pulps Vol. One […]
(What follows is a repost from April 2017, updated to include the chinoiserie explosion of the past three years.) Readers familiar with the Pulp Revolution have certainly by now heard that with the death of the pulps, many genres fell out of favor. Hero pulps, sword and sorcery, and planetary romance have all declined from […]
Sensor Sweep: C. S. Lewis, Dennis Wheatley, Strange Detective, Convention De-platforming
Monday , 3, December 2018 Sensor Sweep 1 CommentFiction (Adventures Fantastic): Tolkien was the subject of yesterday’s post. He was a member of the famed group of writers known as the Inklings. Another Inkling was Tolkien’s close friend C. S. Lewis, who was born this day, November 29, in the year 1898. In light of yesterday’s post, I thought the above quote was […]
Sensor Sweep: Dungeon Fantasy, Infinity War, Saber & Blood, Halo for Hire
Monday , 23, April 2018 Sensor Sweep 1 CommentRPG (Walker’s Retreat): “Geek Gab Game Night is irregular these days, but worth it when it happens. It happened today, and Dorrinal hosts both Douglas Cole and Sean Punch (“Dr. Kromm”) to talk about their new hotness: Sean Punch, also known as Dr. Kromm, works for Steve Jackson Games. He joins us along with our […]
Tales From the Magician’s Skull #1
Sunday , 8, April 2018 Just Released, Publications, Short Fiction 2 CommentsFour weeks back, I received the first issue Tales From the Magician’s Skull directly from editor Howard A. Jones. This is a brand new magazine published by Goodman Games. Howard has this to say about the genesis of the magazine: “Strange but true: this project didn’t begin life as a magazine, and I didn’t plan […]
The release last month of the latest Star Wars has generated ranging opinions. I have not seen the movie nor the other two Disney movies. I have lost interest in seeing new movies and pulled the plug on cable last year. I have been watching reruns of Battlestar Galactica on MeTV Saturday nights. I watched […]
Sensor Sweep: Maal Dweb, Beastmaster, Federation & Empire, and John Carter RPG
Monday , 15, January 2018 Sensor Sweep 4 CommentsWriters (DMR Books): “This date marks the one hundred twenty-fifth anniversary of the birth of Clark Ashton Smith. Readers of this site should require no introduction, as Smith was one of the “big three” writers for Weird Tales, along with Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. It only seems appropriate that we should honor this […]