Taking a short break from posting.

I hope to be back to posting in a day or two. Too many things to do, not enough time in the day.

Double or Nothing on the D&D movies

The latest update in Dungeons & Dragons movie news gs us a dispute over the movie rights and what appears to be two scripts being developed.

From EN World:

Warner Bros D&D Movie Not Such A Dead Cert

It turns out that that Warner Bros D&D movie reported on earlier in the week isn't quite as clear-cut as it appeared. According to Deadline, Hasbro says it has the rights, and has a project with Universal. "Not so fast, says Hasbro, which claims that it owns the rights to D&D, and that the toymaker company has set up the project at Universal to be developed as a directing vehicle by Chris Morgan, the scribe behind the last five films in The Fast And The Furious franchise (including the upcoming Fast 6) and 47 Ronin."

 

So there's one in the works with Warner Bros., and another in the works with Universal. The one with Warner Bros. has Courtney Solomon attached to it, causing concern we'll see more sub-par stuff like what he has produced so far. The one with Universal sounds like it'll potentially involve high speed chariot chases. I'm not sure we the audience stand much chance for a good film with either of these choices.

At least we can enjoy the back and forth legal comedy while these two groups fight it out to see who gets to produce another crappy film.

Silly Saturday - Pathfinder Battles Miniatures

I am a fan of the Whizkids - Paizo Pathfinder Battles Miniatures. Up till now I have bought every set released as a case. That will change with the Skull and Shackles set. Not because of anything bad, just that I don't see the need for much of what has been revealed yet.

I will admit that the weresharks are cool and if I were running a superhero game set in Kurt Busiak's Astro City they would be perfect for scenarios involving the shark cultists.

I do plan to buy some individual figures from the Skull and Shackles set. There are stirges under a different name, in the set, and a few other interesting figures.

Two that were revealed in the most recent Paizo Blog are unique enough to make the list for purchase not only for their unusual appearance, but for the puns and bad jokes they will obviously elicit from players who see them.

The first is a ship's drunken galley cook with a chicken on his shoulder and a hand extended to display what might be mistaken for his version of kung-fu grip - chicken strangling action.

The second is a spell caster with a monkey familiar and he is also casting a spell, though admittedly he looks more like a homeless junky with a monkey on his back, carrying around an over sized knobby pink sex toy.

Of course I'm being silly about the figures and I applaud Paizo and Whizkids for their willingness to add unique figures to the miniatures line. We, the fans/customers have clamored for sculpts we could us to fill NPC roles that weren't strictly combat and the cook does that nicely. Paizo also said they intend to continue adding in figures when they can to meet that demand.

Convention Calendar for Maryland region.

Current known upcoming conventions include:

Collectors Con - Saturday May 11th (one day)
                             Hilton Garden Inn White Marsh
                             5015 Campbell Boulevard
                             Baltimore, MD 21236

Games And Dice Convention - May 24-26th
                                                    Hilton Garden Inn White Marsh
                                                    5015 Campbell Boulevard
                                                    Baltimore, MD 21236

Balticon - May 24-27
                 Hunt Valley Inn
                 245 Shawan Road
                 Hunt Valley, Maryland 21031

Shore-Leave - August 2-4
                         Hunt Valley Inn
                       245 Shawan Road
                       Hunt Valley, Maryland 21031

TCEP XX: The Most Interesting Con in the World - August 30 - September 2
                                                                                          Hampton Inn & Suites
                                                                                          Washington-Dulles Airport
                                                                                          22700 Holiday Park Drive
                                                                                          Stirling Virginia 20166

Capclave - October 11 - 13
                   Hilton Washington DC North/Gaithersburg,
                   620 Perry Parkway
                   Gaithersburg, Maryland 20877

Philcon - November 8 - 10
                Crown Plaza
                2349 W Marlton Pike
                Cherry Hill, New Jersey 08002

Weekly Game - session 8

We had sold what we could of the loot and now looked for ways to quickly spend it. A search about town revealed a couple of alchemical shops with potions and a shop where a few scrolls could be purchased. We spent almost everything we had made.

Of the several potions there were a few expensive healing elixirs, one of levitation, one of giant strength, one of plant control, and others that I do not remember as I am deeply engrossed in copying spells into my book from the scroll I purchased that contained Magic Missile and Web.

During the time spent with my mind so en rapt, and my fingers stained with ink, my companions decided to go hunting for the missing figurine. They had heard rumors of a large predatory creature, either cat or dog-like, prowling not far from the White Rose tavern beneath which we had looted the figurines. Perhaps the figurine transformed and was seeking a way to rejoin its long dead master. They found it and suffered some grievous wounds in the fight with what they described as a great cat golem of amber, the remaining shards of which they hope to sell.

It looked like this, only 10' long when they fought it.

 

There is certainly more information my companions have to pass on to me, as I know they had initially set out to try and get hired on to locate the missing artifact that the Templar's were missing from the ship wreck.

New D&D Movie in the Works (and Ray Harryhausen passed away)

Here's the latest bit of info (this piece from the news page at EN World):

Warner Bros. to Make a New D&D Movie

Warner Bros has acquired rights to make a Dungeons & Dragons movie. The script, initially called Chainmail (the tabletop wargame upon which D&D was based in the 1970s) was written by David Leslie Johnson (Wrath of the Titans, Red Riding Hood) and is now being rejiggered to take advantage of the newly acquired license. The production team includes Courtney Solomon - who directed the unpopular 2000 D&D movie starring Jeremy Irons.

 

The good news is that a major studio is going to give this a try. The possibly bad news is that Courtney Solomon, the person responsible for the previous train wrecks, is still somehow involved as a producer.

 

If he is only involved on raising funding and not involved in script, plot, casting, directing, or anything else, then maybe we stand a chance of getting a passable film from this effort.

That this information comes to light the day after we lost the best stop-motion special effects artist in movie history, Ray Harryhausen*, could be a sign. A sign of what? Who the heck knows.

* Jason and the Argonauts, some Sinbad movies, Mighty Joe Young, and others.

LOL QUEST in the land of TDAAL - #8 Carousing