Supplimentary Materials

Recently I purchased "The Book of Battle" and "The Book of Armies" for my Pendragon library.  I like them, as a read, and plan to implement them soon.  These are no where near a necessity for the average GM, but I like the flavor they add to the game.  I'm not sure how in depth I'll be going with the current game, but I'm definately going to use them the next time around for the Uther, Anarchy and Boy King battles.

Now I'm Ready

I recently saw Captain America: The First Avenger, so I’m now ready for The Avengers.  I have to say, I thought it was another great movie and what they changed from the origin in the comics just made the story stronger.  Beware, there be spoilers ahead (although, since the movie’s a year old, I’m probably the only one they would have been spoilers for).

One of the best changes that they made, IMHO, was to have Steve Rogers be friends with James “Bucky” Barnes before anything happens with Project Rebirth.  It allows for the audience to feel that there is a real connection there rather than have them thrown together later.  It also made more sense to me, being a product of the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries, that Cap’s best friend would be another soldier that he grew up with rather than a teenage “mascot” that happened to be hanging around an army base.  The role reversal is a nice touch as well, with Bucky going from protector to protected. 

I also was impressed with the way they got Cap into a costume.  If you think of the other movies that were a prelude to The Avengers, not one really wears a costume.  Iron Man has his armor, but that’s how he gets his powers.  Thor is in an Asgardian outfit, but that’s just how they dress.  The Hulk … do I really need to go into this?  But Cap needed a costume, which has nothing to do with his powers.  Well, most people in the 1940’s who just had the one and only super soldier created wouldn’t have said “let’s put him in a bright blue costume and send him out to get shot at.”  Nope, they would have done just what they did in the movie, tried to send him to a protected lab for study and, failing that, used him to sell war bonds.  And what sells war bonds better than a hero in a flag-inspired costume with a patriotic name?

Something else that impressed me no end was the casting.  Tommy Lee Jones chews just as much scenery as Anthony Hopkins did in Thor, and he gets all the best one liners in the film.

And what is a hero without a good villain?  Hugo Weaving as The Red Skull was wonderful.  Not over the top, but you could tell he had more than a few screws loose.  The use of "O, Fortuna" during the one scene was a brilliant use of music for those that know the translation.  (Hint: It's not a song about sunshine and rainbows.)

I guess the best way to sum it up was that it took me until about two thirds of the way through the movie to realize that there was no title sequence.  That's how engrossing the film was.

Adventures Dark and Deep Kickstarter

Adventures Dark and Deep™ Kickstarter Now Live!

I know most of my traffic comes from Greyhawk Grognard, but I wanted to post this for those of you that don't already know about this.  Having playtested these rules I cam assure you that the project is well worth supporting.

A Week Off

Too much going on in RL right now, so I will be taking this week off from both blogs.

Drawing a Blank

Yes, dear readers, I am sorry to say that Real Life has sapped all the geekiness from my thoughts of late.  Such is the way of things.  I'll go read some comics, play some video games and, hopefully, finish editing a short video for a friend very soon.  See ya next week.

Oh, Hell Yeah

'Nuff Said

Reality Show Give Gaming Ideas

Yeah, you read that right.  The History Channel, oops, sorry, I mean History (I will never get why shortening the name makes it better) recently started running the show Full Metal Jousting, which I think is just awesome.  In fact, one of the off-hand comments from a competitor was that they would like to turn this into a sport, much like Bull Riding (of which I am also a fan).  If they do, I am so there.  But that’s no why you wanted to read this post.  No, this is about how I will be incorporating the scoring system they use into my Pendragon game for tournaments.  The score is as follow:

Strike to the Grand Guard (the shield bolted to the armor) = 1 point

Broken Lance = 5 points

Knocking your opponent off his horse = 10 points

Hitting the helmet of your opponent = -5 points

This is scored per pass, with the maximum points possible being 10 (they don’t add), and each joust has a set number of passes.  The first episode ended with a joust of 8 passes, but I think that’s a little too much.  So, I will be going with the following rules for Pendragon Tournaments.  Please feel free to use these in your own games.

All jousts will consist of 4 passes and will be scored as follows:

Strike to opponents shield (meaning that both sides succeed in their Lance rolls) = 1 point

Broken Lance (standard Pendragon Rules apply) = 5 points

Knocking your opponent off his horse (Knockdown) = 10 points

Hitting the helmet of your opponent (Fumble) = -5 points

The highest total points after the four passes will be the winner.  Should there be no winner after four passes (a tie), additional passes shall occur until a winner is decided.  Should a competitor need to retire, for whatever reason, they forfeit the match.

Obviously, this is intended for tournaments only, where you have score keepers & spectators, but it can be used in any non-combat situations, such as at crossroads or bridges.  I think that this makes for a much fairer adjudication, rather than the “one and done” way jousting is presented in the rules.  I’ll post an update on just how this works out when we get into that situation.  If anyone decides to use these rules, please let me know how it works for you.