Hobbit Trailer

Yep, the trailer is out. This is the best Christmas present I could get. If you havent already seen it, you can find it here.

-Havard

[Inspiration] Nomad: The Warrior (2005)

Just watched the movie Nomad: The Warrior (2005), a historical epic type movie set in 18th Century Kazakhstan. While the acting and screenplay does have room for improvement, the movie had some pretty interesting action scenes and the story was not too bad.

I think the movie can provide some good inspiration for the Peshwah. Although I see them closer to Scythians or perhaps middle eastern horseman cultures, the movie portrays a horseman culture as good as any with unusually shaped swords, strange rituals and brutality that would exist among any nomadic tribe.

I particularly enjoyed the part of the movie where the hero is taken into captivity and forced to go through a series of trials in order to win his freedom. This is something I could be tempted to copy and paste into my Blackmoor campaign, where the PCs are currently travelling through Peshwah lands looking for King Uther's heir.

-Havard

Individualizing dwarves

Alright, they have already been all over the blogosphere and forums, but I wanted to have the dwarves on my blog as well. Is that too selfish? While some have expressed worries about the length of beards or that these dwarves somehow don't look right, I actually like that Jackson is individualizing the dwarves. It may even be good for the hobby that these films are challenging our often stereotyped views of demihumans. How many battle axe wielding Gimli copies have not appeared in your D&D games? How many Elven archers?


Kili and Fili

Oin and Gloin

Nori, Ori and Dori

Bofur, Bombur and Bifur




One of the things done to differentiate the dwarves seems to have been the emphasis on the difference between noble born dwarves and those bred in the west:

"While most of the Company of Thorin Oakensheild is related to the royal and noble line of Durin, Bofur, his brother Bombur and their cousin Bifur most definitely are … not. Born and bred in the West, descendants of coal miners and iron workers, they have joined the Quest for the Lonely Mountain partly to seek their fortune and partly because they were told the beer was free."

 Back to Blackmoor.



-Havard

Mermaids: Not what they used to be!

Just watched Pirates of the Caribbean: on Stranger Tides the other day. One of my favorite things in the film were the Mermaids. Not just for the obvious eye candy, but the movie really turned them into creatures to be feared and respected.

It made me think about the underwater races of Blackmoor. From Supplement II to the Voyage of Captain Castagere's Blossom in Module DA4, Underwater or Sea Based Adventures have always been a part of the Blackmoor Setting. Blackmoor is home to many Sea Monsters. Perhaps Mermaids should claim their rightful place among them?

-Havard

Strangler of Blackmoor Castle

With the original title, "Der Würger von Schloß Blackmoor", this movie was released in 1963 and was filmed in Germany and directed by Harald Reinl. IMDB has the following description of the plot:

"A strangler is loose on a British estate, and he not only strangles his victims but brands an "M" onto their foreheads before he decapitates them."

Has anyone seen this movie? I doubt that Dave Arneson drew any inspiration from this movie, but you never know! Also, the DA modules includes the NPC Skandros the Strangler. Could he have been based on the character from the movie?





-Havard

Inception (2010), Dreams and Blackmoor

I was watching the movie Inception (2010) the other day and really liked it. Not only did I like the action scenes, but I was fascinated by the concept of shared dreaming and delving deeper into someone's subconcious. Rob S Conley wrote a small review of the movie here.

Dragonsfoot poster Kveldulf made the following suggestions of how to adapt some of these ideas to D&D

On a side note, lots of ideas in there for both planar travel (transfer the film's idea of how things work in dream states to, say, astral travel and what happens when the silver cord is damaged or cut) and psionic combat (dreamer's subconscious projections taking on outside dreamers who intrude, and a few other ideas). 

In the Last Fantasy Campaign, we have been venturing through the Dreamscape lately as well. The characters have been visiting King Uther's subconcious in search of a way to prevent the destruction of Blackmoor and a way to get back at the Egg of Coot. I like how our DM, Rafael used this as a way to incorporate some of the more bizarre elements from Dave Arneson's original Blackmoor Campaign. We have now seemingly at last escaped the Dreamscape, so now we shall see what the real world might bring us of dangers...


Illustration: Gustave Doré's illustrations from Edgar Allan Poe's The Raven.









-Havard

Outlander (2008)

I finally got around to watching this film. The reason why I waited so long before watching it was mostly that I expected it to suck. A guy from a space ship crashes in Norway in the Viking Age? Can this concept produce a high quality movie? Of course not. Then again, it is cheesy, and I do love cheese. And to be honest, the movie was a lot better than expected. What does this have to do with Blackmoor? Look at it! This is exactly what the Blackmoor movie should be like! As my friend Rafael once put it, the story of Blackmoor is at its core the story of fantasy world where a space ship crashes. Although Outlander doesn't have elves or dwarves, it comes fairly close.

One thing that drew me to this movie is that it is set in Norway. Being Norwegian, I am a sucker for any reference to my country in International Media, however bad it might be. Secondly, I love the idea of Viking movies, even though most of the ones actually made arent all that good.

Outlander does a pretty good job of potraying the Vikings, even though there's no sign of the produces actually being interested in exploring the deeper tradtitions and customs of the norsemen. Still, the Viking village looks fairly historically correct. The film makes one mistake, that I believe many Blackmoor campaigns also risk making. If you are going to introduce a sci fi element into all of this, make damn sure you use it! So they have access to a, granted submerged, spaceship. What do they do with it? Forge the metal into better swords! Whatever happened to those laser rifles? Were they ruined by water? What kind of crappy sci fi world is that? How awesome would it not have been to see the entire band of Vikings, armed with laser rifles, going up against the Dragon-like aliens? Cheesy as heck, but once you have Vikings and a Space Ship, there is no way around that. Might as well take it all the way, eh?

I think this is one reason why the science fantasy elements in many Blackmoor campaigns are left alone, and wisely so. If you introduce, then you should be prepared to have them leave a mark on the campaign, rather than just have the space ship be a kind of side trek. David Ritchie made a good decision in this respect. He postulated that the discovery of the FSS Beagle would eventually completely change the face of Blackmoor. This is one of the most interesting themes of the setting in my opinion.

Back to the movie Outlander, I found it quite enjoyable. It has an interesting story and throws in alot of elements that dont usually mash well, but still manages to pull it off. And flaws aside, it is probably the best Hollywood portrayal of my ancestors since Kirk Douglas' The Vikings (1958).






-Havard