The Hobbit: Battle Of Five Armies

Stoked about the appearance of the Ringwraiths and the Necromancer in this film.

The Hobbit Movie Production Video 6

Find it right here.

Tastes Like Chicken

Cold chicken, that is. This is a still photo from a recent article about The Hobbit Movie. You can find the reference at TheOneRing.net.

Hobbit Movie: Production Video Number 5

So, are we getting excited yet?

Alien: Intruder And Xenophobe

Between the release of Chevski's Thousand Suns and Ridley Scott's Prometheus trailer, 2012 is shaping up to be the year of the science fiction old school renaissance.

Ridley Scott is directing Prometheus, and directed the original Alien movie. H.R. Giger gave us the look of the Alien antagonist, the Xenomorph. The above Giger image inspired Alien's Xenomorph.

That antagonist later makes its appearance in all sorts of unauthorized spin-offs.

The first of those two is the Xenomorph's appearance in a Task Force microgame from 1980, entitled Intruder.

Intruder was designed by Dennis Sustare, known for having designed the much beloved Bunnies and Burrows RPG and Dwarfstar's engaging, if somewhat arcane, Star Smuggler microgame.

Intruder is set in the near future, on the Deep Space Station Prometheus, orbiting the star Sigma Draconis.

An exploratory team brings back an alien life form, and is directed to keep the creature alive for study. When the creature escapes from the lab, this directive proves to be a deadly mistake.

If the premise sounds familiar, it may be because it is. That is the same premise that informs the first two Aliens movies.

The second unauthorized spin-off is a Bally Midway Arcade game from 1987, entitled Xenophobe. Xenophobe is obviously inspired by the Alien movie franchise, as the goal of the game is to rid various ships, bases and planets of alien infestations.



The game allows you to play one of nine different characters. Among them: Dr. Kwack, sporting a duck head; Mr. Brace, with a Quasimoto face; Col. Truth, the spock-eared; Mr. Fogg, crazy scientist hair and a Geordie visor; Dr. Udderbay and Col. Poupon, two female chaaracters; Mr. Eeez, with a green bug head; Mr. Zordiz, the James T. Kirk of the game; and Col. Shickn, with white hair and an eye-patch. The characters wear yellow, blue and red tunics, Some also wear black slacks, given the characters a look reminiscent of early Star Trek attire.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Conan The Barbarian In Space

Or am I telling you something you already know?

My favorite lines from the trailer ...

Girl: Are you going to stop the monsters now?

Riddick: I am the monster.

Salem's Lot: Horror Adventure Inspiration

As a young lad, I watched "I, Claudius", Salem's Lot, and Night Stalker and found them equally terrifying. My older siblings stayed up late to watch I, Claudius and Night Stalker, and I would often sneak out of bed to watch those TV shows with them, despite being far too young for the adult content.

Several years later, the Salem's Lot mini-series was broadcast on television. Even though I was many years older, I found the final episode, featuring the grisly death of Dr. Norton, the vampire horde in the basement, and the reunion with Susan, quite frightening.

All three of the above shows would make good fodder for horror-themed adventures, but I consider Salem's Lot to be particularly inspirational, since i've always wanted to DM a long-running, all-cleric, vampire-hunter themed horror campaign.

As far as role-playing adventures go, i'm not familiar with any really good horror adventures. That may simply be because my purchases have favoured traditional fantasy fare.

I'm tempted to buy Salem's Lot, and mine it for adventure ideas.

Clubbed To Death

Because i'm certain i've awakened from this dream many times before, and because I find this video clip unsettling, in a vaguely Clark Ashton Smith / 12 Monkeys / They Live! way. Time is the killer, according to the poster in the background.



And something a little more upbeat, The Shamen, from the 90's. This video remix incorporates clips from some of my favorite movies.

Sword And Sorcery Movies

While I don't believe it's exhaustive, a relatively comprehensive list of Sword and Sorcery movies can be found at Jesse Acosta's Sword and Sorcery Guide website. In addition to his listing, he also provides an overall rating (out of four stars) as well as sub-ratings for how much "sword" and how much "sorcery" are in each of those movies. Here is a list of what Jesse Acosta considers to be the three and four-star Sword and Sorcery movies, along with his ratings.

**** 13th Warrior

**** Army Of Darkness

**** Beastmaster

**** Conan The Barbarian

**** Dragonslayer

**** Jason And The Argonauts (Harryhausen)

**** Lord Of The Rings (Peter Jackson version)

**** The Hobbit (Rankin+Bass version)

*** Black Cauldron

*** Clash Of The Titans (Harryhausen)

*** Conan The Destroyer

*** Dark Crystal

*** Excalibur

*** Highlander

*** Labyrinth

*** Ladyhawke

*** Princess Bride

*** Red Sonya (Schwarzenegger version)

*** Sword and the Sorcerer

*** Willow

I could quibble about his ratings, or the fact that Highlander is included while Sword In The Stone, Heavy Metal, Fire And Ice and Sleeping Beauty are excluded, but it is a good start if you are looking for Sword and Sorcery movies nevertheless. Of the 20 movies listed, I have not seen four of them, a deficiency I intend to correct.

I would have a difficult time chosing my favorite from among these movies, but if pressed, might pick 13th Warrior. Lord Of The Rings is a close second.

How many have you seen? How many do you own? And what's your favorite?