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Post by barrataria on Dec 17, 2010 17:26:44 GMT -6
Who was doing the column in the early Dragons? Kask?
I remember EGG talking about getting rules questions on his home phone all the time in the early days... I wonder if any were like this.
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Post by barrataria on Nov 29, 2010 21:36:38 GMT -6
Wow, that's highly cool. Was that intended for game stores at the time, or used for booths?
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Post by barrataria on Nov 29, 2010 11:43:22 GMT -6
Depending on the theme of your campaign, the front pages of gangster era newspapers could be cool. I always loved the newspaper on the back of Trouble Brewing... IIRC there was a lesser version on the back of Mad Mesa for Boot Hill. I once messed around with mastheads/fake papers but never got to anything I liked.
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Post by barrataria on Nov 27, 2010 12:17:35 GMT -6
I like the concept of putting Cthulhu and ganster art together, but only if your campaign does this. No fair peeking I am having thoughts along those very lines. But I was thinking in terms of the Lovecraft period, I don't know much about CoC as a game and didn't know if there was a gaslight-y looking screen they may have had that "hid the ball" with the horror elements. I hadn't thought of B&W as an aesthetic but you both may be changing my mind. I really liked the old GB book and module covers, kind fo a comic-pulp feel to them that I like a lot. And good call on the period ads, maybe I can find something for "near beer"
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Post by barrataria on Nov 26, 2010 10:06:16 GMT -6
I was looking at my GB stuff for a game idea I had, and was wondering what, if anything, folks used for GM screens when they ran GB? I think at the time the only kind of screen I had was for D&D so that's probably what I used.
Was there something for Cthulhu or Mercenaries Spies Private Eyes or anything else with era-appropriate cover art? Or what did folks use when running a game, if anything?
If I ever get a chance to run a game I might invest in one of those screens with transparent sleeves and put in printouts of GB covers (the rulebook, Trouble Brewing, and... hmmm. Death in Spades maybe?)
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Post by barrataria on Nov 17, 2010 10:12:23 GMT -6
As to keeping D&D in print going forward as a parallel system, Gary said that this was in part for international markets/compatibility concerns. I don't remember whether that was from marketing research that said overseas buyers found "Advanced" offputting, or because they felt the hardcovers were too expensive for the market.
My impression is that most of the foreign-language materials were for D&D, and that's why.
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Post by barrataria on Oct 2, 2010 12:02:22 GMT -6
As a side note, if Truce at Bakura is the book I'm thinking of I don't remember liking it much when I read it. Seems like the plot was too obvious or contrived or something like that. (It's been a loooong time.) I just finished it last week; you're not wrong. There really wasn't much mineable info in the book (at least no more than was in the WEG sourcebook). Not a bad read, not unreadable, but not really recommendable.
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Post by barrataria on Sept 28, 2010 14:39:24 GMT -6
Citizens of the Imperium is an awesome supplement to CT as it has 12 new character classes Is there a sourcebook with that name? I think the OP was talking about the CotI message board and not a book. I haven't seen this book, but 12 new character classes sounds pretty nifty. Think I'll swing by e-bay for a peek..... Yes, a book: Supplement 4. These were codified in MegaTraveller... scientist, pirate, hunter, barbarian, rogue, etc.... rounding out the "other" class in OT.
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Post by barrataria on Sept 28, 2010 8:46:34 GMT -6
And Fin thanks for the suggestion about making up my own locations. I'm thinking of a late 30's Cleveland Ohio sandbox setting already. I sketched out a Cleveland-based Lakefront City for a superhero game that I never got around to running... it seemed to mesh pretty nicely, if you are thinking of plunking the GB storefronts map into downtown Cleveland. In my case, I was going to be running a modern game so I just took google maps snapshots and superimposed various new names on them. As to your question of pre-made GB settings, I don't know of any. You might be able to use things from Call of Cthulhu, although those won't have stats. The Marvel Superheroes game from TSR issued maps with the box set and the "New York, New York" supplement that look an awful lot like the GB maps. You'll have to explain, say Avengers Mansion You might stumble on those on ebay or in a used bookstore. I lived in NYC for several years so I'd never use them for that (since virtually nothing is actually from NY), but they'd probably work as a fake city. If and when I ever get to run GB again I will dust off my San Francisco campaign, this time with a much, much more interesting map (big graphic): www.ronhenggeler.com/History/cartoon_map.htmNote the "Mission Rock" pier and schooner near it...
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Post by barrataria on Sept 21, 2010 19:15:38 GMT -6
Looking forward to that... FOR SURE! A great setting choice. Are you surprised they're starting in 1920? I always thought games set a few years later (after the FBI got going and the Bureau of Prohibition had their powers enhanced as you discussed in the GB rulebook) were a little more fun, and balanced for the law enforcers.
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Post by barrataria on Sept 21, 2010 16:55:31 GMT -6
Core to my view of the Jedi is... more as knights-errant, wandering paladins who, as devotees to their religion, are the defenders of truth and justice not by any sort of legal authority (Jedi! Freeze!) but rather vigilantes who mainly operate far from the Core (i.e. on the “frontier”). I like this view of the Jedi, and I think the first movie backs it up somewhat. I recall a scene where Ben (I think) is describing to Luke how Darth Vader hunted down all the Jedi. This, to me, sounds more in line with your view than the prequel version where the Jedi were betrayed and slaughtered by the clone troopers they were leading. Just before Obi-Wan (General Kenobi, mind ) describes that, he goes on with his "not as clumsy as a blaster" speech, including... That doesn't sound like intergalactic traffic cops to me either, but neither do they seem to be wandering gunslingers. I think that faced with an army of Dark Side-bred clones the order would have rallied to help organize the defense of planets, Old Republic aligned or not, since not much "peace and justice" would have been left to guard if the clones and their masters conquered the galaxy.
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Post by barrataria on Sept 21, 2010 15:17:25 GMT -6
When I was designing Star Wars material for West End Games Thank you for posting... and more importantly for the great game you worked on! I suppose it's not on topic for this board, but I'm thinking about these things because I'm going to run a d6 SWRPG game in a couple of weeks. George Lucas obviously had this as his explicit intent, regardless of how it has been glossed in various SW intellectual properties. It certainly seemed like the troopers in the original Star Wars all had the same speaking voice; apparently that wasn't an accident. I can't remember if one of the snowtroopers in ESB spoke; next time I watch that and RotJ I'll listen to see if they had the same "open the blast doors" voice from the original.
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Post by barrataria on Sept 21, 2010 13:48:36 GMT -6
Do you or would you allow yourself or your players to use a computer generated dice roller (laptop or Ipad) in your games ? In a pinch where I've forgotten or lost dice I'd certainly use one to run a game. But since I carry dice everywhere I go, that can't happen anyway (and I know for a fact I'm not the only poster on this board that does so ) I don't have an ideological problem with it at all, although I'd certainly prefer the aesthetics of dice and the rolling thereof. BUT I definitely dislike the distractions of reboots, spotty wireless connections, and all the other possible glitches that would distract players from the game itself, whether from the interruption in play or just trying to help "fix" whatever technology hath wrought on that particular game table.
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Post by barrataria on Sept 21, 2010 8:49:52 GMT -6
All these re-visionings of Star Wars are pretty interesting and liberating and I'm enjoying seeing the grognard versions of what might have been.
After reading the first batch of comics and the novelization of SW, I'm reminded of the mystery of the "Clone Wars". They were always mentioned in passing, usually with reverence and/or respect (not unlike the way folk talked about Serenity Valley in Firefly). But there was never much explanation, just that Jedi fought in the Clone Wars.
Of course they must have fought AGAINST the clones, no? The obvious conclusion that I drew was that the Dark Siders (then called Sith but so loaded with EU baggage now) endeavored to twist the Force to create life, namely in the form of endless armies and monsters to use to dominate the galaxy. Dark Side-created clones were capable of monstrous acts, either because the cloning process did not instill any sort of values beyond obedience or because the Dark Side cloning methods involved a certain amount of random mental defect or degradation. Droids might be resented in places, but clones would be loathed and feared, with the science of cloning relegated to deep and dark dungeons in the bowels of the galaxy once the Clone Wars were over.
And what stood against this? The sclerotic Old Republic and its obsolescent navy. Lacking a standing army, small bands of its Jedi Knight protectors rallied local planetary forces in defense efforts. The more populous and advanced planets assembled militia units, but (not unlike Union forces in the Civil War) this organization was haphazard, with units recruited/conscripted from a single planet and ill-equipped with nonstandard weaponry, with these expeditionary units combined willy-nilly as their original strength dwindled. Given the diversity of races in the Republic command would be a nightmare as units from disparate planets are mashed together. But led by the Jedi heroes these ragtag units survive as the Republic begins centralizing military procurement and training and the Army and Navy swell with new conscripts and improved (and very expensive) equipment. Ever-larger dreadnaughts are an example of the new climate, enormously expensive and with gigantic crew complements required.
It's not clear from the book and film that the Republic lost the Clone Wars. Leia's message and Luke's reaction to Obi-Wan's revelation of his military background seem to suggest that the Jedi and Republic won. No one makes or suggests any explicit connection between clones and Stormtroopers.
So it seems the Republic and the Jedi survived the Clone Wars only to be destroyed by corruption and political infighting and Darth Vader, respectively. Perhaps the acceleration of military production and centralization of military command leads to the downfall of the Republic and the rise of the Emperors (yes, plural) as explained in the Journal of the Whills.
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Post by barrataria on Sept 20, 2010 7:54:48 GMT -6
Random thought: Hollywood seems to have no new ideas and the "remake" seems to be the norm nowadays. I wonder if we'll ever get a Star Wars remake.... Shame on you Fin! Uwe Boll presents: Star Wars! starring Justin Bieber as Han Solo, Kim Kardashian as Princess Leia, and Pauly Shore as Obi-Wan Kenobi!
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Post by barrataria on Sept 18, 2010 15:37:52 GMT -6
+eleventy billion I didn't like Davy Jones much as a villain, his ship was too gimmicky, and the whole third movie didn't make much sense. Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley were lucky to get their characters written out for v.4.
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Post by barrataria on Sept 17, 2010 14:35:25 GMT -6
Keep on the Borderlands has been mentioned here a couple of times as a module, but there is quite a bit of explanation/advice/background included in it, particularly design notes (mostly buried in text) and several explicit suggestions/mandates to design things to add on. I have bought many used copies, and virtually all of them have SOMETHING drawn on the blank grid or SOMEONE listed on the blank NPC list at the back And perhaps some enterprising old school grad student can study how many "Cave of the Unknown" modules were designed over the decades by budding DMs
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Post by barrataria on Sept 17, 2010 8:15:40 GMT -6
Now I want to run a game in the world of The Adventures of Luke Skywalker and Splinter of the Mind's Eye! Only question is, should I use the 70's sci-fi RPG Traveller? Or something quick and painless, like Mini-Six (a distilled version of the original Star Wars RPG)? Fun! If you are going to strip it down THAT much, I'd vote for MiniSix in a second. It would be fairly easy to crib things like force powers, if you wanted them, from the WEG books. But with the slate THAT blank, you could just make up whatever you want and their "Imperium in Revolt" pages have all the detail you need.
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Post by barrataria on Sept 16, 2010 8:22:31 GMT -6
The only reference in the film to the Emperor is Tarkin's remark about the Emperor dissolving the Senate. Of course, at this time the Emperor was conceived as an ineffective politician rather than as a Sith mastermind. (His tongue-in-cheek name was Cos Danuts [cause of the nuts], and he was thought of as similar to Richard Nixon.) I figured you were working from scripts or some other behind-the-scenes source. Those pesky ret-cons started right from the beginnning I'm curious to see what Foster did in "Splinter", although I'm guessing there's not much exposition of Imperial structure. I think the emperor was depicted as a ruthless, manipulating politician, at least in the book, but agree no mention was made of his sith-ness. As I noted in the other thread there is also mention of "emperor S" which is another interesting aspect. Tarkin holding his leash, leads me to consider Vader a bounty hunter of sorts employed by Tarkin. I read and heard that as an insult by Leia both implying Vader is a pet and rubbing his mechanical face in his status as subordinate/thrall/liegeman to the Emperor and Moffs. For whatever actual reason that was (social status? stigma as a former Jedi?)
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Post by barrataria on Sept 15, 2010 10:07:41 GMT -6
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Post by barrataria on Sept 15, 2010 8:37:17 GMT -6
2. Imperial officers regularly tell Vader off. Contrast that to the feared Vader of later films. In the book at least there are several references to their fear and nervousness, especially after he chokes Tagge. Tarkin is not afraid of him, which I find interesting (and I mentioned in Fin's thread about his old ODD/SW game). Tarkin's not part of the military hierarchy, but Vader acknowledges Tarkin's authority. Presumably because Tarkin is the Emperor's direct appointment, but there are a couple of other spots in the book where Vader talks sarcastically/dismissively about the Emperor in front of Tarkin. It's a puzzlement never repeated in the other films- Moff Jerjerrod is totally afraid of him in RotJ, but between script drafts and novels it's hard to tell whether he's really a Moff in the film or just an elevated military commander. 4. Vader isn't really part of the Empire in SW. He is a sort of bounty hunter employed by Tarkin to find the Death Star data tapes. Contrast that with Vader as the Emperor's right-hand man. Where is this from? In the book there are several references to the Emperor "inflicting" Vader on "us" (the military brain trust). FWIW, ESB is my favorite of the films, and I actually prefer the "apology accepted, Captain Needa" as the bodies are dragged off to the yelling and ranting. These days I rationalize the kow-towing to the Emperor in the second two films as part of "Vader's plan" described in SW, which isn't ever expressly detailed but seems to involve replacing the Emperor and training his own dark side apprentices. I think it would have been interesting if Vader's last/dying line had been "Now we can rule the Empire as father and son! Go take command of the Rebel fleet, and we can have peace in the galaxy" rather than "go tell your sister I'm nice".
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Post by barrataria on Sept 14, 2010 12:31:21 GMT -6
The only real loose end to tie-up would be Darth Vader (who is more of a bounty hunter than anything else in the first Star Wars film). I'd have Luke kill him in a light saber duel in Star Wars 2, and that would be the end of that. (No "father Vader" or anything of that sort.) I like a lot of what you outline but that would be a waste of one of the greatest villains of all time (at least before pod racing was invented). That would be like Batman catching the Joker in issue #2 and leaving him behind bars for the rest of the run. It's nice to think of a 12-hour timeframe in which to develop other cool villains, of course, but Vader should be the big finale. I'd keep the whole thing pre-adolescent. We don't need any romance between Leia and Han, or between Luke and Leia. They can all just be adventuring friends. I for one would not miss the smooches. The other day when I found Splinter and the other books I mentioned in my post, I was looking at the cover blurb on an EU novel. I stopped reading at "burning passion". Really
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Post by barrataria on Sept 10, 2010 10:18:14 GMT -6
I breezed through Half Price Books yesterday and managed to find: -the all-in-one of the Lando novels (have never read the 3rd book) - a pre-prequel "Star Wars Illustrated" book - Splinter of the Mind's Eye (never read) - Truce at Bakura (I know, EU but still pre-prequel and I hope to make Bakura important in my campaign) They had the Han Solo 3-in-1 novel but I already have that. And when I got home, in the mail I got the first volume of the Dark Horse "Omnibus" reprint of the SW comics... I only had the first issues (that re-tell the movie) so I'm looking forward to seeing what you all have been raving about I'm not big on gerbs, but I'm taking the august advice of the sages hereabouts...
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Post by barrataria on Sept 9, 2010 8:07:19 GMT -6
Thanks for that... or should I say how am I ever going to read all THAT stuff? Although I'd sooner do that than read a story about a bounty hunter/pirate/jedi that uses death sticks...
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Post by barrataria on Aug 30, 2010 18:12:31 GMT -6
I just picked up some SSR hardbacks cheap on e-bay. Gonna do me some readin'... Congrats! Some of my favorite stories of all time, courtesy of the Science Fiction Book Club! I really loved the "classic" trilogy above; the more family members started dragging down the plots, the less I liked them. I seem to remember "SSR for President" as one of the better of the later stories.
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Post by barrataria on Aug 29, 2010 11:46:24 GMT -6
Curse all of you for hiding such excellent SW discussion under "General SciFi" And curse me for not reading these forums deeply enough to find it. Anyway, I hope some of you (especially fin) still have interest in this... Others can certainly add to my list if they think of anything.... I will because it gets to the heart of problems with the prequels. I'm messing with a SW campaign again for the first time in a while, hopefully to run a game for a poster in this very thread And re-reading "The Adventures of Luke Skywalker" again for the first time in at least 30 years, if not more. The day I read this thread I got the book out and started thumbing through it. The first addition I have to Fin's list is a big one... namely the Emperor and the Empire. Right off I noticed and remembered references to "Emperor s", and the introduction passage from "Journal of the Whills" [which seems to be best read as the Jedi/rebel perspective on Palpatine, perhaps the delusion/blindness Lucas showed the prequels]. The best description of the Empire starts in the boardroom scene in Ch. 3, just 3 pages worth. First, the Sith Lord (oh, how that term was spookier before it involved giant floating bubbles and Emo Anakin and a Scottish martial arts trainer).... a general complains that Sith Lord Vader is "inflicted on us at the urging of the Emperor". So, the Emperor can order Vader around, as well as the military. That's not news. But Grand Moff Tarkin can too, as he does when Vader is strangling General Tagge ("shook the Dark Lord off" as no one at the table "would have dared to do"). So, it seems that either appointment as a Moff confers nobility on a military commander, or (which seems more apt) Tarkin has some inborn/political status (but no military rank) that makes him superior to both the military commanders AND Vader. I think I'll see this again later on when Leia spits on Vader (!) and expresses no surprise to find Tarkin "holding [his] leash". Nobody in the next two films does this, ever, and there must be other Moffs in the galaxy. And Vader is NOT a "toady" here, as Fin pointed out. He states " with sarcasm" that the Emperor's will shall "be" done. And Lucas writes that if "any of the powerful men seated around the table found this disrespectful tone objectionable", their fear of getting "Tagge'd" by Vader kept them quiet. Tarkin states what WEG would later call his doctrine, that "[e]vents in this region of the galaxy will no longer be determined by fate, by decree, or by any other agency. They will be decided by this station!" And therefore, of course, by Tarkin as commander thereof. Tagge encapsulates the sentiment echoed, more or less, by Han Solo when watching Luke train later in the book, when he mocks Vader's "sad devotion to that ancient mythology" and belittles his efforts to find the rebels or the data "tapes" like a police detective scorning an astrologer brought in to solve a murder case. So in this little scene, which was fun in the movie and contrasts strongly with the later movies' commanders that Vader strangles willy-nilly as he kowtows to the Emperor, you have: - Vader openly dismissive of the Emperor before military and noble/civilian commanders, but still obeying directives from the Emperor and Tarkin (presumably as the Emperor's vassal) -Tarkin, able to stop Vader's killing, presumably because of his noble/special status (but which is apparently not so close to the Emperor as for Vader to fear the Emperor finding out about his open "sarcasm" and "disrespectful tone" to get back to Coruscant). -the Generals, ignorant and dismissive of the Dark Side and subject to the Emperor's will and Vader's powers (except as restrained by Tarkin). -the Imperial "bureaucrats", apparently "Governors" and "potentially traitorous local governors" who, no longer subject to the dissolved senate, will be "kept in line" by fear of the Imperial fleet and the battle station. - all of them as jackals fighting for power and influence in the Galactic Empire/New Order, on the battle station, and in the galaxy. It reminds me of EGG's descriptions of drow. All of this will be upset, I think, by destruction of the battle station, Tarkin, and everyone in the room. I have a lot of thoughts on what that will do in the galaxy (at least MY galaxy far far away) but that's not so much in line with Fin's thoughts. I'll post anything else that I find that's different in an important way.
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Post by barrataria on Aug 27, 2010 8:37:38 GMT -6
Yeah, something else is going on here--the budget line is an excuse and a poor one at that. BSG did movie-level FX every d**n week, and any schlub with a half decent laptop and a bittorrent program can do lightsaber, starship, and blaster FX these days. "it's too expensive" makes no sense for several reasons, including (1) anyone with $1 billion+ who owns gigantic swathes of Marin County can probably afford it; (2) action figures and lunchboxes and McDonalds tie ins would pay for all manner of expensive things; (3) what Falconer said above; (4) the Florida Marlins make money, despite the decades of poverty-pleading and player-selling; and (5) Serenity/Firefly. I concur with the general sentiment about the non-movie productions; after the "Tales of the Bounty Hunters" and that silly Jedi Academy trilogy I gave up on the by-the-pound SW fiction. And MAN have they been cranking out the schlock. I can't even read Wookipedia entries on some of these EU characters, I just can't focus on the 5 or 6 resurrections of the Emperor or which Solo child became Darth Crapula. It would be nice to think that a direct production from him might trim off some of that, but I suppose an Ep IV show wouldn't do much to the post-Endor EU.
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Post by barrataria on Dec 14, 2009 15:32:11 GMT -6
I have the game CD and it is one of my prized possessions, worth the .50c the box set (not just the CD) cost at the thrift store a few years back.
It really must be heard to be believed. Is the music any good?
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Post by barrataria on Nov 26, 2009 13:10:57 GMT -6
Rick, if you still come around, I'm curious about the preceding post.
How or why did things change from Chicago to Lakefront City? Were there some kind of copyright issues, or (like Boot Hill, I guess) did it just give everyone creative freedom without a need for extensive historical research (which must have been done anyway given the detail involved).
LC is a great setting; I'd use it for a superhero game if I ever got around to running one (my GB games have always been set in San Francisco).
Thanks!
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Post by barrataria on Oct 8, 2009 8:03:36 GMT -6
Has TSR/WotC/Hasbro EVER successfully licensed the name or leveraged it? I can think of the cartoon. And that's it, with that deal struck by EGG in the brief period he had power in TSR in the mid-80s.
I was thinking this very thing yesterday, as I watched the DVD version of the execrable "Dungeons and Dragons" movie. As I watched I wondered what would have happened if that film had looked or succeeded anything like the LOTR films.
I think the whole computer vs. PnP issue is interesting but may not matter to the extent that the considerable goodwill of the trade name has never been extended into any other kind of media. On the one hand, I'm glad that the various promotions have never really transitioned into the public conscious ("Official Dungeons & Dragons Beholder-Os! Now with 75% more sugar!"). On the other hand, a Keep on the Borderlands movie might have been pretty interesting.
But unless I'm really forgetting something, it's never been leveraged into other media well so I dunno that we should be too surprised by the CRPG flops.
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