Disclaimer: I helped generate a portion of the material for this text, providing a few derro items and one of the monsters. However, I did buy my print copy of this book. My PDF was provided by... [Read More]
Disclaimer: I contributed a bit of material (Some monsters and one background option) for this book by virtue of working on _Halls of the Mountain King_. I was not otherwise directly involved in its... [Read More]
The first thing that grabs you about the Imperial Gazetteer is the cover. Malcolm McClinton has once again put together a gorgeous image that wraps around to the back. It's fantastic piece of art and... [Read More]
This is not the first Doctor Who RPG. The first one published was a system created by FASA back in the mid 1980s, which used a similar system to their Star Trek RPG. I used to run that game back in... [Read More]
And then PJ pulls a "Lucas" and re-release FotR with the new actor in place of Bilbo?
j/k, I'd like a new actor to play Bilbo, and John Rhys-Davies to play that dwarf that is, iirc, Gimli's relative.
But both actors (Ian Holms and John) aren't getting any younger. Most importantly, I don't think John wants to sign onboard if he has to wear those itchy makeups ever again.
__________________ Anyhoo, just some random thoughts...
My philosophy is "you don't need me to tell you how to play -- I'll just provide some rules and ideas to use and get out of your way." --Monte Cook
This [the 'Matrix' for Sword & Sorcery is the 413th stupidest statement ever uttered by a human being. Please, Lord, spare me more marketing-speak from movie producers.
Agreed.
I was about to make a derogatory comment about the Matrix's peurile so-called philosophizing in comparison to Elric.
Then I remembered that the Elric stories have just as much puerile so-called philosophizing. Yeah, it seemed deep and important when I was 16, but so did a lot of other crap.
So now I've decided that I would far rather see an Elric movie that dispenses with the philosophizing and just features lots of killing and a kewl uber sword.
__________________ Still excited about 4th edition!
'If there steady paycheck in it, Krusk rage against anything you say.' - this post
I was about to make a derogatory comment about the Matrix's peurile so-called philosophizing in comparison to Elric.
Then I remembered that the Elric stories have just as much puerile so-called philosophizing. Yeah, it seemed deep and important when I was 16, but so did a lot of other crap.
So now I've decided that I would far rather see an Elric movie that dispenses with the philosophizing and just features lots of killing and a kewl uber sword.
I almost like the comparison. The love story between the Warchouski siblings' 'author characters' is a big chunk of why i disliked the matrix series. To know going in a Trinity-esqe character is going to perish in the worst way in all of existence brings me great joy. I could even forgive the opening scene having the throne room magically lit in a rave-like manner to try and entertain Elric as long as they do not gloss over his depencence on the drugs. I like the series in writing and concept, but don’t forget Mr. Moorcock wrote Elric as almost a parody of Conan and other fantasy fiction.
Amano has illustrated most of the major fantasy stories by Michael Moorcock which are published in Japan - setting the standard for fantasy illustrations. Mr. Moorcock liked Amano's illustrations so much, he changed the original covers of the English translations to Amano's work.
I think it would actually be a good idea to try to appeal to the female Tokyopop crowd with art and promotions using amano's work.
And to be nitpicky; WotC does not support D&DEDIT: Wow, that was a bizarre typo Dragonlance; it's still dead to them. They have licensed setting co-creator Margaret Weiss' company to produce DL material, but I doubt that there's anything to that other than 1) hey, a license. That's revenue, and 2) soft spot for Margaret Weiss.
Published by Wizards of the Coast, just like Oriental Adventures was intended as the "core setting book" for d20 Legend of the Five Rings.
__________________ Christopher Adams - Sydney, Australia
Religion must remain an outlet for people who say to themselves, "I am not the kind of person I want to be." It must never sink into an assemblage of the self-satisfied.
So now I've decided that I would far rather see an Elric movie that dispenses with the philosophizing and just features lots of killing and a kewl uber sword.
See, NOW you're talking!
Why don't movie producer/marketing flacks ever speak THAT language? Wouldn't you just DIE if the director came out and said, "Look, it's not complicated. It's some pale pretty uber-Goth with red eyes who moans about his fate while killing everything he cares about with the most wikked kewl sword you ever saw. There's hot chicks in baroque armour, torture, dragons, world-shattering sorcery and some of the most hardcore swordfights you're ever going to see. It's rated R cause there's blood and sex all over it, and it totally ROCKS. Go and see it."
Wasn't there talk of a movie based on Karl Edward Wagner's Kane stories? I seem to recall hearing that it was going to be approached like a horror film, rather than a straight fantasy flick.
As for Elric, the whole saga would be a massive undertaking. But looking at the CNN article, there's a pretty succinctly stated plot arc:
"The novels follow Elric on a series of adventures, in which he is betrayed by his cousin, sent into exile and attempts to come to terms with his own humanity."
An Elric film could easily be a revenge tale, ending with the destruction of Immryr. Sure, it'd be pretty simplified, but I think it would be a good, reasonably palatable to Hollywood, film.
I seem to recall hearing that it was going to be approached like a horror film, rather than a straight fantasy flick.
Thats actually a good idea, while the Elric series reads like a fantasy story and would be called such by most of us, one of the literary genre’s conventions for fantasy is that the protagonist wins in the end. As such someone making a movie pitch would be in there rights to use horror, rather than fantasy to classify the tale’s genre.
An Elric film could easily be a revenge tale, ending with the destruction of Immryr.
That's exactly how I'd do it. Elric leaves kingdom to Yrkoon, acquires Stormbringer (with Yrkoon getting Mournblade at the same time), discovers Cymoril's death, big fight, everyone dies, Elric slouches off into the wasteland.
Why yes, yes you can. And I would definitely see that movie.
But I fear the movie we will get will take itself waaaaaaaaay too seriously. That it will try to capture the New Age philosophizing of Moorcock, or make some sort of after school special point about loneliness and humanity, or something like that.
The only things the Elric movie needs to succeed are:
(1) an albino (paging Paul Bettany?)
(2) a big-ass black runesword
Everything else is fluff, and too much fluff will distract from the movie's focus.
__________________ Still excited about 4th edition!
'If there steady paycheck in it, Krusk rage against anything you say.' - this post
Elric leaves kingdom to Yrkoon, acquires Stormbringer (with Yrkoon getting Mournblade at the same time), discovers Cymoril's death, big fight, everyone dies, Elric slouches off into the wasteland.
Alternatively, Elric has already acquired Stormbringer (or does so in the first 15 minutes of the movie), and then we use the plot from the book "Stormbringer". It's much more a straight epic fantasy plot than the other stories, which are more moody and episodic. Plus, "Stormbringer" has the cool apocolyptic ending.
__________________ Still excited about 4th edition!
'If there steady paycheck in it, Krusk rage against anything you say.' - this post
I just want to see Elric standing on a mound of hundreds of dead bodies.
__________________ Brain: Come Pinky! We must prepare for tomorrow night.
Pinky: Why? What are we going to do tomorrow night?
Brain: The same thing we do every night....TRY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD!
Somehow I think Vin Diesel is a shoo-in for Elric, because John Travolta and Nick Cage are too old. If they make Samuel L Jackson Elric though, I wouldn't be surprised.
"What?"
"Forsooth, say 'What' again! C'mon, say 'What' again! I dare ya, I double dare ya !@#$%, say 'What' one more !@#$% time!"
Runes of Elric's mighty evil blade pulse. Cue Rave music.
Later on:
"Now THAT is some tasty soul."
"You know what they call souls in Tanelorn?"
Anyone here think that Elric would be perfect as an anime? It's tragic themes and apocalyptic leanings are just the sort of stuff the Japanese eat up. Plus, as someone mentioned, Moorcock loves Yoshitaka Amano's illustrations of Elric, so at least we already have a character designer at hand.
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