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Peter Jackson really likes Hobbit-holes
It would appear that Peter Jackson really is quite fond of Hobbit-holes ('Smials').Also: here are the most metal deaths of Middle-earth. A decent list, but shouldn't the death of the Witch-King of...
View ArticleLovecraft on the 6 Star Wars films
Because, um, well … why not?This is perhaps the best description of one of the worst scenes from the worst of the films ('The Phantom Menace'):A Terrible Speed In a strange place where insects speak...
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Short Interview with Sandy Petersen
It happened three months ago, but here is a brief interview with Call of Cthulhu creator Sandy Petersen entitled (amusingly) "Call of Cthulhu Was The First Role-Playing Game To Drive People Insane."...
View ArticlePhysics and Dungeons and Dragons
This is quite good: "Nobel Prize Winner Peter Higgs Regrets Fielding Your Physics-Based Dungeons and Dragons Questions".A sample:STUDENT ONE:If my half-elf wizard fell off a castle parapet high enough...
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Who is the Greatest Wizard of Literature?
[Gandalf by Frazetta]Who is the greatest wizard of literature?A brief exploration of this important question can be found here.Sadly, there is no discussion of Elric. He probably could kick the...
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Praise for the Warlord Chronicles
[Mont St. Michel is Ynys Trebes in the first novel, the capital of Benoic within Armorica.]A significant influence on the recently published RuneQuest 6 campaign book, Mythic Britain, is the Warlord...
View ArticleMore changes at Chaosium
A surprising announcement today at Gen Con concerning Chaosium:GEN CON, Indianapolis - Greg Stafford, founder of the iconic game company Chaosium, used the "Future of Chaosium" seminar at Gen Con today...
View ArticleDesign Mechanism's statement on the future of RuneQuest
We now have an 'official statement' on the future of RuneQuest:The recent news that Moon Design Publications’ management team (Rick Meints, Jeff Richard, Neil Robinson and Michael O’Brien) would be...
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A new Dungeons and Dragons movie? Uh oh...
[How can the 2000 film ever be topped?]Make a saving roll versus aesthetic outrage. Apparently there is a new Dungeons and Dragons film in the works: The upcoming Warner Bros motion picture will be...
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Six-packs of Ancient Greece
Ever wonder why the cuirasses of those ancient hoplites had such well-sculpted muscles? Well here is the answer.
View ArticleThe future of RuneQuest and the Call of Cthulhu
The dramatic recent developments at Chaosium, and its new relationship with the Design Mechanism, generated a fair amount of discussion on a number of RPG discussion boards (e.g., RPGnet, BRP Central,...
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New Tolkien novel
For someone who has been under the sod for more than four decades, J.R.R. Tolkien certainly is quite prolific. He has a new novel out: The Story of Kullervo!I have yet to read The Children of Húrin....
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A Year of Great Gaming Comes to an End
[Spinoza with his huge d20 in Amsterdam]I spent the 2014-2015 academic year (roughly, September 2014 to August 2015) on sabbatical in Toronto. Amazingly, I managed to get some research and writing...
View ArticleThe Dungeons and Dragons film that never was
I was playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons on almost a daily basis during the early 1980s. I read every issue of Dragon magazine in those days (which I loyally purchased every month from a hobby shop...
View Article"Frodo, Don't Wear the Ring!"
This song from the excellent Flight of the Conchords is quite entertaining...
View ArticleEldritch Apartment for Rent
If you will be spending some time in Providence, and you are a fan of the Cthulhu Mythos, you now can rent Lovecraft's old apartment...Perhaps it should be advertised on "Cool Airbnb"?
View ArticleEdward Snowden solves the Fermi Paradox?
Over a year ago I briefly mentioned the ‘Fermi Paradox’ in a post. It seems that Edward Snowden has a solution! Namely: alien civilizations share a universal need to keep their communications secure....
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The Epic of Gilgamesh: Expanded Edition
After only 4000 years, the Epic of Gilgamesh is being updated.
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The Future of Chaosium, Basic Roleplaying, RuneQuest, and the Call of Cthulhu
There have been many changes happening within the Basic Roleplaying ('d100') world, specifically, with Chaosium and the Design Mechanism. (Some of the ownership changes already have been mentioned in...
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Happy Halloween 2015
Here are 10 haunted sites from across the world to give you some chills this eldritch evening.(This picture above is "Head of a skeleton with a burning cigarette" by Vincent van Gogh.)
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