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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 23, 2012 20:59:06 GMT -6
I foolishly started to look through my folder of Tolkien audio files, thinking by some stray chance I might have it. Then I really looked at the date and I laughed at myself thinking that a recording could have been made. What are the chances? Is there one? I think I might have some from at the earliest in the later 1950s. I collected the BBC dramatization ones, and of course some unabridged.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 23, 2012 12:14:52 GMT -6
Let me prepare an electronic copy of Tolkien’s essays on Glorfindel in The Peoples of Middle-earth, and send them to whoever wants them. I could possibly do the same for his essays on Orcs from Morgoth’s Ring, but I’m currently kind of tired of that subject. I would enjoy the one on Glorfindel, sounds like you are a true Tolkien scholar!
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 23, 2012 8:10:39 GMT -6
I wish I could remember were I read about this. I seem to remember that yes he did come at the same time as the Istari. I don't know if he came with any certain one of them. I agree with you that I think his battle with a Balrog is what made him chosen.
Didn't Beren and Luthien get to be resurrected and allowed to dwell somewhere in Middle Earth for awhile? But then they didn't interact in the affairs of ME. Hmmm now looking at my guide there are two Berens mentioned, the other was a Steward of Gondor in the TA.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 23, 2012 4:58:12 GMT -6
I'll have to check that out, I don't believe I have read The Peoples of Middle Earth. I still have The Children of Hurin unread on my bookself. I think I saw while looking for other things more on your Balrog in some issue of SpaceGamer or WhiteDwarf.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 22, 2012 21:57:05 GMT -6
lost screenshots
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 22, 2012 17:53:01 GMT -6
The MI powered armor is awesome in this movie.
Doesn't seem to do much good against bugs though. Interesting there aren't any worker bugs like in the book, were warriors are fairly rare. Off the top I think in the original book there were about a hundred workers to each warrior.
I read Heinlein's book a long time ago but found an audio book so been having fun listening. Its 50 worker bugs to every warrior.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 22, 2012 16:28:00 GMT -6
I vaguely remember reading an interview with Christopher Tolkien about the elf lord Glorfindel. In the Silmarillion Glorfindel was an elf of Gondolin, who fell to his death in Cirith Thoronath in combat with a Balrog after the escape from the sack of the city. An elf lord named Glorfindel meets Strider and the hobbits after the attack on Amon Sul (Weathertop) and sends Frodo fleeing on his horse to the ford of Bruinen. Christopher said this was the same elf lord of Gondolin who had been sent back to Middle Earth because his father never used the same name for two people.
I thought this was interesting because I believe he was the only elf reincarnated and allowed to interact again in the affairs of Middle Earth. In my old "A Guide to Middle Earth" its states that Glorfindel also led the elvish host that routed the forces of Angmar at the battle of Fornost in TA 1975.
My old guide on the Olog-hai says this means the troll-people and that they were a race of trolls of southern Mirkwood and northern Mordor, bred by Sauron toward the end of the Third Age. Hmm I wonder if they were bred in the pits of Dol Guldur?
D&D trolls are from Poul Anderson's Three Hearts & Three Lions which is a great novel if you haven't read it.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 22, 2012 10:52:08 GMT -6
I wish there was a simple vassal module to play chess, that would be a nice way to get introduced to using it. I was attempting to play GDW's Fifth Frontier War with someone off the Citizens of the Imperium board and we realized in the setup that the module wasn't really complete. But I was amazed how easy it was to connect through their server and interact through vassal. I might start a Snapshot thread in the Traveller section. I am a little rusty on the rules myself but I think that would be a good module to use to get introduced to playing online. Or maybe something like Ogre/GEV
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 21, 2012 19:39:05 GMT -6
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 21, 2012 18:07:22 GMT -6
The trailer is very video gameish but the whole movie isn't too bad. I am not a big anime fan but since I am on a sci-fi roll I found this looking up powered armor.
Just finished watching the whole movie, its pretty amazing.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 21, 2012 18:04:55 GMT -6
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 21, 2012 13:32:09 GMT -6
Funny I was going to post that maybe I am going down a road I don't really want to. You're right I don't want to develop a new game. I thought it might be easy to mash-up MA and OD&D. I think it is in maybe a cinematic role-playing way. At heart I am more of a wargamer than a roleplayer and therein lay the the seeds of my potential downfall in this.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 21, 2012 11:01:08 GMT -6
I didn't mean to sound so draconian about it. I figured people like you might take offensive to changing the basic stats. Interesting you mentioned wisdom because instead of luck I was thinking of education as in Traveller. Outside the context of D&D it is sort of a strange catch all stat isn't it? The others make more sense. Off the cuff I would think technical prowess would be more class oriented, an engineer would be better with engine drives than a medico, etc.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 20, 2012 22:28:37 GMT -6
Oh I would agree. I think levels are also important. Don't you think people like to be rewarded with something other than gold? I mean its somewhat strange but I think that is what is lacking in MA and GW, experience points and levels, that made them less popular than D&D?
I also think to retain the OD&D flavor you have to stick with the original six stats as a core. I think its easy to want to change or swap them out but then you are no longer working on a OD&D variant.
I am thinking though that some sort of action point system might need to be used based on one or several of the core stats. Modern combat is so much different than medieval. A ten second melee turn in modern combat is a long time you realize when you make a slow count to ten. A lot can happen in ten seconds.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 20, 2012 20:33:01 GMT -6
Hmm since I am somewhat on a science fiction roll I couldn't help but noticed when I browsed through the used bookstore in the basement of our downtown library today one of Andre Norton's novels about the "Solar Queen." "Derelict for Trade" is one of her later novels from the 90s written in partnership with Sherwood Smith. I just started reading for first couple pages and it seems a fun read. I do notice how different the writing style is from Andre Norton's earlier Solar Queen stories from the late 50s early 60s. In her earlier novels I think she has a very clean almost spartan writing style that conveys lots of information without being over verbose. This newer book is a bit more wordy. I really enjoy Norton's incredible creativity, she helps you imagine unlimited variety and wonder. If I was going to run a Sci-Fi campaign her novels would have a great influence on it. A couple of her books on the Solar Queen seem to be free in the public domain. You can find the at Project Gutenberg. These books are also in audio book format that you can find at librivox. I don't know how good the readers are however.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 20, 2012 12:04:11 GMT -6
I can't help but sit back and think of how arbitrary these combat matrix are if compared to say Avalon Hill's Tobruk or Squad Leader. When you get down to the nitty gritty it is all sorta hokey Interesting how Gamma World introduces fatigue and Metamorphosis Alpha has special movement rules in combat but I guess for modern combat you need to really regulate actions in a small segment of time. I think Metagaming's Melee/Wizard does this well for sword melee. I've been looking at Metagaming's StarLeader Assault which also introduces Action Points like GDW's Snapshot. www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/4280/starleader-assaultThere is an interesting session report, shows the combat is fairly complex www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/33677/session-report
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 20, 2012 9:39:15 GMT -6
Yoga/Yoda
I am trying to think of all the things going on in 1977. Ford was still president and the presidential election was on with Jimmy Carter. I think we were still collectively reeling from Vietnam. I guess there must have been a lot of visible Vietnam vets still trying to figure out what they had been through. Maybe there was a big fascination with Asian religion as we tried to purge our Karma. The TV series Kung Fu had just been a big hit a couple years before. Seems like a whole other world compared to today when I think back.
I see less and less of the connection to Star Wars the movie as I watch "The Hidden Fortress." I see it when I read the early draft sketches. Again I think its interesting how adaptable Lucas was with the story.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 20, 2012 2:51:25 GMT -6
Interesting I am a third through "Hidden Fortress" and I think the Star Wars parody "Message from Space" is more like it.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 19, 2012 21:23:18 GMT -6
I wonder if the Gama World matrix better matches the OD&D one So again a 5th level fighter with a laser shooting someone in thin metal or platemail (class 13 weapon to hit class 4 armor) would need a 6 and same fighter with sword (class 3 to hit class 4) a 13. Energy weapons seem a lot deadly.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 19, 2012 20:04:20 GMT -6
This is my musing on the subject since an OD&D space game interests me as well. I've been reading many of Finarvyn's threads especial the Why does a SciFi RPG "need" skills? one. I also poked through the Terminal Space supplement. In a way I could have posted under Finarvyn's skill thread but I wanted to deal directly with combat. I am not thinking this takes place in the Star Wars universe or Traveller's Third Imperium Spinward Marches either etc. Just to get this out of the way, I think for it to be OD&D Space you have to have classes and you have to levels. I think skills should become available matched to levels and classes. Some people are naturally going to be better at somethings than others and experienced people are going to be able to put their experience to greater advantage with a skill than people who aren't.. Ok that is out of the way so lets talk about combat. Lets look at the OD&D combat matrix The red is my addition. I can't help but think of Dr. Holmes comment on Gary's alignment diagram. This intricate chart could just as easily be: M-U | Cleric | Fighter | To Hit Modifier | 1-5 | 1-4 | 1-3 | | 6-10 | 5-8 | 4-6 | +2 | 11-15 | 9-12 | 7-9 | +5 | 16+ | 13-16 | 10-12 | +7 | | 17+ | 13-15 | +9 | | | 16+ | +12* |
* no "to hit" less than 1 I haven't totally thought this out but I figured these modifiers could be added to the Metamorphosis Alpha combat charts. So a 5th level fighter using a laser pistol trying to shoot someone armored in thin metal is going to need a 13 to hit. If the same fighter was using a sword to hit the same target he would need a 12. The two matrix don't match exactly but they seem close.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 19, 2012 12:10:21 GMT -6
Thinking more on the original movie was it released in 1976 or 1977? Some site I have seen list that the movie was released May 25, 1977.
Also thinking of the fascination of "The Force" and "Jedi" I just don't find it all that mystifying anymore. Don't get me wrong I was probably about 13 when the movie came out, a perfect age to see the movie and be absorbed by it. Were we all looking for an alternative to organized religion? Did Scientology get its roots from this?? Its weird to look back on.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 19, 2012 11:28:11 GMT -6
Oh this is the thread that I was thinking about Finarvyn. Doing some research I came across a fun youtube video someone had made. DamWars youtu.be/_NMfBKrdErYI didn't realize how close the attack run was to the movie "The Dam Busters". I guess even though he didn't have the whole story in his head from the beginning you have to admire how he was able to take from so many movies and stitch them together. I just downloaded Akira Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress" for my Sunday matinee.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 18, 2012 13:41:21 GMT -6
Wasn't there another thread about Star Wars and what a hack Lucas was? I remember reading one of the first scripts somewhere and it was amazing how twisted it became before being shot into a movie. I vaguely remember, I think the twins were clearly totally separate from Luke and Lea. Luke somewhat had Obi Wan Kenobi's role and the Tusken raiders sounded like an Imperial military unit or were outright agents of the Empire etc. What is perhaps more interesting is that Lucas commissioned "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" and then did nothing with it. Maybe Lucas didn't want to pay royalties to Foster if he had made it into a movie? Ah to be the fly on the wall I do remember a DM running a Star Wars campaign using AD&D, I don't think I was very appreciated since I reacted to every situation like Ernie the Barbarian.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 14, 2012 11:07:58 GMT -6
Room B in the ruins of Zenopus' tower full size www.lexweb.us/dnd/room_b.jpgYeah once you expand these rooms to 5' grid they seem a lot bigger.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 14, 2012 7:05:14 GMT -6
Temple of Evil Chaos! Full size www.lexweb.us/dnd/evilchaostemple.jpgI was trying to make a curtain behind the idol but it looks more like streaks of blood perhaps. Floor plan of the temple of Evil Chaos in the Caves of Chaos. I changed the room furnishings since there was this cool demon idol that looks similar to the one on the AD&D players manual. And I thought it much more entertaining to throw victims into a bottomless pit than just sacrificing them. However I didn't want the demon god to feel shorted so there is a altar in the corner.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 13, 2012 23:15:03 GMT -6
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 12, 2012 8:52:09 GMT -6
Found some fun old Games Workshop dungeon tiles from 1979. These were sheets of dungeon tiles that you cut out to form a miniature playing mat but since I have them digitally I am cutting and pasting the tiles and putting them into a pbem program. Here a party descends into the tower ruins of Zenopus here is a full scale picture www.lexweb.us/dnd/partydescends.jpgHad some program memory problems but changed to XP compatibility mode and seems to have solved the problem. Ooops and my stairs are backwards. I am only using a couple of the tiles, there is a lot of them.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 10, 2012 20:18:37 GMT -6
Regarding initiative and turn sequence in DD, it is pretty much as written up in my Alternative Combat System post, which is as per the 3LBBs + FAQ + a couple of points that carry over from Chainmail. Oh I am glad I saw this.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 9, 2012 21:21:53 GMT -6
I think Melee/Wizard is heavily influenced by OD&D. Its a reaction to players wanting more and those players working for a company whose boss demanded clarity and profits. I think Howard Thompson of Metagaming is a fascinating personage in that boom era of gaming.
I think if you word count instead of page count you will find the metagaming rules as verbose as the OD&D ones, except for monster listings and treasure. Well and the spells are also more brief, etc.
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Post by Otto Harkaman on Aug 9, 2012 20:23:22 GMT -6
Bed knobs and broom sticks. I confess
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