VHS Swords & Sorcery

These days, kids getting into fantasy rpgs have a number of film and TV influences to draw from should our increasingly post-literate world make Appendix N unpalatable. There have even been D&D movies! If we want to stick with quality examples we’ve had the Lord of the Rings films and the D&D-without-the-name Record of Lodoss War, not to mention things like Harry Potter that (while not Medieval) have plenty of magic.

Such was not the case back the eighties. We had to savor what sword and spell films we had, however dubious their merits. Sure, we had several great films from Harryhausen, various Arthurian adaptations, and Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings and Fire and Ice. The quality tended drop off pretty precipitously after the top tier, though, but even those films were invested with extra magic due to their spotty availability on home video.

Some of those fantasy not quite classics that inspired my friends and I back in the day are still rare. I only got one chance to watch Archer: Fugitive from the Empire when it aired in 1981. I’ve been forced to rely only on my dim childhood memories of this sub-Hawk the Slayer “gem” about a young hero with a magic bow who teams up with thief and the daughter of a goddess to seek revenge on an evil wizard. It used to be on youtube (though now its been removed), but I suspect it still lurks out their on the internet in all its made for TV glory.

The Warrior and the Sorceress has David Carradine and plentiful bare breasts going for it--though admittedly only one of those things was uncommon in the post-Conan barbarian invasion. This film makes the provocative proposal that Yojimbo and Fist Full of Dollars would be improved with a four-breasted stripper assassin. I’ll let you judge for yourself whether it makes its case.

Staying in the realm of Boris Vallejo posters and bare breasts (which seems to Argentina, based on where these movies were made) we come to Barbarian Queen. I don’t think it actually provided much gaming inspiration for us, really--and its lack of magic and ancient Rome setting make it technically not a fantasy--but it had other charms that made these deficits easy to overlook in that early gaming era.

It looks like later this month we'll all get the change to revisit these Argentine/American epics in the company of the first two Deathstalker films when Roger Corman's Cult Classics brings them to DVD.

In the Shelving Queue

I’m occasionally accused of having too many books. It is true the number sometimes means shelving requires some planning--sometimes they stack on top of a bookcase until their proper home can be discerned. Here are three awaiting shelving that might have some value as game inspiration:

Yesterday’s Faces Volume 6: Violent Lives is the last of Robert Sampson’s volumes examining the early pulp heroes. Like it usually goes with drugs, the first one was free. My friend Chris gave me Volume 1 as a Christmas gift, after querying Jess Nevins to find a pulp-related tome obscure enough that I probably wouldn’t already have it. After reading the first, I had to order the others--but at least I have someone else to blame. Sampson’s literate prose elevates the material he reviews without ever losing perspective on. This last volume covers the likes of Zorro, Bulldog Drummond, and Khlit the Cossack.

The first of two Comi-Con purchases appearing here is the complete comic adaptation of Robert Lynn Asprin's Another Fine Myth.  Myth Adventures is illustrated by Phil Foglio (whose art is perfect for Asprin’s material). I remember reading some of these original issues back in the day, but it was nice to be able to get it all--and in color--in one place. And for one third price!  Which is probably because you can read it as a webcomic here.

Finally, from Eric Shanower’s table at Comi-Con, I picked up Who’s Who in Oz on an impulse. It’s nicely illustrated by classic Oz illustrators Neill, Kramer, and “Dirk” Gringhuis. It’s slopping over with all the whimsy one expects from Ozian stuff, and really, who doesn’t like whimsy?

Meet at the Morgue

The City Police Department faces a number of magical threats, but it has also managed to turn the arcane to its advantage. It has pioneered the use of forensic thaumaturgy in solving crimes. Perhaps the most essential of these applied magical arts is forensic necromancy.

The unsavory reputation of necromancers led the police to only use them as occasional consultants in the early days. As the obvious utility of the arts became more apparent the department decided to recruit and develop necromantic practitioners.

Forensic necromancers prefer to begin their work at the crime scene. Fresh bodies are easier to work with than ones that have been autopsied or moved to a more sterile location. Speak with the Dead is the most common spell utilized--its often the only spell many practitioners use day to day. Gentle Repose is also useful in preserving bodies for various sorts of evaluation back at the morgue.

It is true that the reputation of necromancers is at least partially earned. Long term exposure to negative energies can lead to a sort of cancer of the soul. First, the afflict develop a morbid fascination and seek out every opportunity to be around the dead or dying. Experimentation with illicit necromantic rituals and spells soon follows.  From that point, escalation to various perversions and depraved criminality is regrettably common.

Police necromancers undergo psychological evaluation to watch for any signs of developing deviancy, but this doesn’t stop them from experiencing some prejudice from their fellow officers based on the popular view of their art.

Warlord Wednesday: The Kaash'Ban

Let's re-enter the lost world with another installment of my issue by issue examination of DC Comic's Warlord, the earlier installments of which can be found here...

"The Kaash'Ban"

Warlord (vol. 1) #63 (November 1982)

Written by Mike Grell (Sharon Grell); Penciled by Dan Jurgens; Inked by Mike DeCarlo

Synopsis: Morgan and Rostov ride to Castle Deimos to see if Jennifer’s sorcerous abilities are capable of freeing Rostov from the curse of lycanthropy. Rostov also suggests that she might be able to send him back to the Age of Wizard Kings so that he can be reunited with Mariah. Morgan is noncommittal on that point--he doesn’t want to let Rostov know just yet that Mariah is with Machiste now.

A little distance up trail, Morgan climbs a tree to get his bearings. He can see the spires of Kaambuka where they can sleep in beds, relying on the hospitality of Morgan’s old friend, thief turned king, Ashir. It’s also where he left Shakira.

Just within the palace gates of Kaambuka, people in tents with a veritable menagerie of animals catch Morgan’s eye. And here they find Ashir--drinking.

After Morgan fills Ashir in on their mission, he asks about the people camped out in his courtyard. Ashir tells him they are the Kaash’Ban:

Periodically, they go on a search for youngsters who share the same gift at animal communication. It’s considered a great honor to a parent for the Kaash’Ban to request their child be allowed to join them. They’re going to be demonstrating their abilities soon. Morgan and Rostov are curious.

Morgan asks Ashir how he and Shakira have been getting along. Ashir says she left shortly after Morgan did--he doesn’t realize the black cat in his lap is Shakira. She scratches Morgan but he still doesn’t reveal her.

Later, in the quarters Rostov and Morgan share, Shakira sits in their window in cat form. Morgan tells her to explain herself. Shakira turns into her human form--to Rostov’s surprise. Shakira explains herself by saying she got tired of Ashir’s constant advances--but she stayed...

Morgan introduces Rostov and explains his changeling like herself. Then, I know on the door tells them the Kaash’Ban are about to begin.

A large crowd is gathered, and they’ve brought their various animals. The Kaash’Ban act as translators between the two. Then, they demonstrate their rapport with their own animals.

While all this is going on, they take a special, surreptitious interest in Rostov. After the show, three of the Kaash’Ban converse, wondering if Rostov’s “the one.” They send young Calef to sneak into the palace while most are asleep and investigate. The boy chants softly, waking Rostov alone by talking to the beast within the man. They share what seems to be telepathic communication.

The Kaash’Ban are convinced he is the one they seek. They must go to a place nearby.

Shakira awakens Morgan. She tells him the Kaash’Ban took Rostov—or actually, he seemed to go willing. She saw them moving through the woods outside the city. The two mount up and give chase.

In the forest, Shakira’s cat senses detect the Kaash’Ban before they can see them. They climb into a tree to take a look. They see Rostov standing amidst a ruin; four Kaash’Ban form a circle around him with their hands linked. He’s surrounded by a strange energy.

Suddenly, Rostov is gone, and a strange vista of mountains and monuments can be glimpsed through the simmering portal.

Things to Notice:

• This is Dan Jurgens debut as Warlord's penciller.
• Given that Ashir's a pretty egalitarian king: he hosts the Kaash'Ban in his palace walls, and allows the commoners to come see them there.

Where It Comes From:
The title of this issue (and the name of the people to which it refers) may come from the name of a geographic feature in Saudi Arabia, Jabal Kashbān (jabal means "hill" or "mountain").  Some of the Kaash'Ban seem to have Arabic inspired names.

Besides their Doctor Doolittle-ish ability to talk with animals.  The Kaash'Ban seemed to be sort of a loose, fantasy Romani or similar group of nomadic people.  Rostov explicitly draws this comparison in the story.

Crackpot Demonology

The Pandemonicon is a treatise on demonology widely known in the City. All extant copies of the work are amateur printings; the original copies were reproduced from a typed and hand-notated manuscript via jellygraph (hectograph)--in fact, the original gel, imbued with a malign (and murderous) life of its own, has been encountered in the City. The work’s author is given as “Secundus Rune,” but that appears to be a pen name of Alpert Sturne, an unemployed bug powder junkie.

Sturne’s work would be easy to dismiss, if it weren’t for the lengths certain powers go to obtain a copy. Wealthy infernalists have been known to pay handsomely for copies; Hell Syndicate bosses have killed for them. The Unknown have urged their destruction.

The Pandemonicon contains demons not mentioned in older works. Scholars are divided as to whether these new forms are merely different interpretations of older beings or if they represent evolution in the abyssal chaos. A couple of the demons described by Sturne are given as example, exactly in the way he describes them in the text:

Lepidopterist: These are of the Collectors. Defined things are a novelty to them. Pin souls to cards and arrange them by taxonomies of suffering. The pretty colors! You shall know them by their glowing red eyes in featureless faces and their wings like rainbows in oil slicks that beat and stutter like pictures in a flip book. Careful of their pins.

Misericordians: Sometimes they make you think they are succubuses and sometimes angels but they are neither. They look like that pin-up nurse I saw in that gas station calendar, but they don’t have her smile. No faces. Only scars. Only scar tissue. There are small scars too if you get close but you don’t want to get that close. They assisant a certain surgeon who it is not good to look upon. They know secrets of the flesh, how it can be twist and remade, but you have to be careful and avoid their mersy [sic] to learn them.

All the entries are number, though they are presented seemingly at random. The lowest is “1” and the highest “616.” The text has some illustrations which seem to have been cut or traced from older texts, sometimes with crude revisions by the author.

Apes on the Rise

Rise of the Planet of the Apes is, of course, a prequel (or a prequel to a reboot) of Planet of the Apes. It ignores (or perhaps replaces is a better word--there are a lot of sly references) the history of the end of the world of man and the rise of the--well, you know--given in Conquest and Battle for the Planet of the Apes. Anyone who knows me (and maybe anybody who reads this blog) knows I’m a fan of the original film series, so prequels or reboots of it attract my interest. The Burton remake had good ape effects, a similar sly humor to the original, and a soundtrack by Elfman that had some nice elements of homage to Goldsmith’s brilliant, experimental score for the first film. Unfortunately, beyond that, there wasn’t much to like. It wasn’t horrible; it was just flat.

Rise is not that. While on the surface it's a different sort of story than the original Planet of the Apes, it’s events parallel the first film's in interesting ways. Heston’s Taylor was a man trapped in a world not his own; so is the genetically enhanced Caesar of this film. His response--sometimes horrified, sometimes pissed off--is pretty much the same.

Caesar shares the spotlight with scientist Will Rodman played by James Franco. Franco is a more convincing stoner than researcher, but he’s competent enough. The apes are the real stars, after all.

And those CGI primates are great. There are some scenes where you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between them and the real thing. When they rampage though, they’re not as violent as real chimps--likely both a plot concession to ensure sympathy and a practical calculation to secure a PG-13 rating. Still, it’s cool to see the apes engage in a little guerilla (heh) warfare against the law, culminating in a battle on the Gold Gate Bridge.

Rise replaces the nuclear spectre of the Cold War with the modern bêtes noires of genetic engineering and global pandemics. Just like in the original film series, the protagonists are pretty much responsible for the destruction of the world, yet they remain sympathetic. That’s no mean feat.

So if you like the ape films, or like movies sympathetic to animals over cruel humans, or just like a good near-future sci-fi yarn, check Rise of the Planet of the Apes out.

If only they'd found a way to work in apes with coonskin hats. Maybe in the sequel?

Catching Up on a Friday

If (unlike Bingo here) you want some rpg related readings for your Friday, I've got a few suggestions:

Over at Fame & Fortune, Satyre offers a free pdf of his always interesting taverns--these having the added twist of being cave-based.

R.W. Chandler reaches into the Black Hole Diaries and produces a cool, steampunkian pocket rpg--Gaslite.

In the realm of four-color adventure, I did a guest post for Jim at the Flashback Universe--part 1 of the untold history of the Fantastic Four from a perspective within the Marvel Universe.  It might be inspirational for some supers games.