Recent content by Dark Arcarnist

I wonder if later James Bond actors regret not contributing to Dragon? "The Grey Prince" by Jack Vance is a great little story - basically everything by Vance was great. "Revenge of the Horseclans" was definitely one of the best of that series, which was pretty uneven. Robert Adams wrote great...

I thought that an open fire underground turning blue indicated the presence of firedamp (and that, therefore, your last birthday was definitely your LAST birthday).

I broadly agree with your every point, except a return to the 576CY timeline. Let the past plotlines stay in the past (adding "new" stuff to the 576CY period will just set off much wailing & gnashing of teeth amongst the grognards, anyway). I think advancing the timeline to 601CY for a new...

If you haven't seen the movie Ravenous yet, I thoroughly recommend it. This write up brought it immediately to mind. 19th century US troopers on the frontier, starvation leads to cannibalism, the cannibal grows in strength..... it also has some f**king funny moments, too. Stars Guy Pierce...

Two more suggestions (lucky you) - 1) the Cirein-croin, a mighty sea monster that I can't find a physical description for, but is said to feast on seven whales (I thought that meant seven heads but maybe it refers to its comfortable level of repletion...?), and 2) Allan Quatermain, H. Rider...

Well, this one took me down a wiki-wormhole! First stop was Ragnhild the Mighty (might not be a real person, couldn't find out why she was "Mighty"), which took me to Gorm the Old (father of Harald Bluetooth & "old" because he lived into his gasp 60's), thence onto Harthacnut and the awesomely...

Speaking of paladins, is the Persian hero Rostam on your list?

It doesn't really matter but the Hussites used sheets of dense planking hung over the side of the wagon facing the enemy ( a sort of Medieval applique armour ) rather than steel plate - they were predominantly peasant force after all & didn't really have those sorts of resources, whereas wood...

I double-checked your list, so I'm pretty sure this hasn't been suggested yet - Timur the Lame! An absolute monster in human form, on par with Genghis Khan & Alexander the Great for both military brilliance & the scale of his conquests but he surpassed both for sheer savagery &...

After LotR & GoT, my expectations for production values are high....so hopefully that costume will look awesome in context, rather than how it looks in the cold light of day, next to the PA's car. That said, Hugh Grants' expression suggests rue was on the lunch menu.

I don't know about a society of evil halflings but I could see an evil society of halflings. I've always seen the halflings/hobbits as representing a very insular, self-satisfied, middle class lifestyle, and those types of people can/have done some awful things to protect their way of life. Most...

I'm not sure how the shortsword (the xiphos was roughly half a metre long) and the spear (the dory was between 2-3 metres in length) both have a reach of 5ft?

I'll apologise right here if I repeated anything someone else might've posted already, I haven't read the whole thread.

Just spit-balling here....how about the setting is a world-sized, magic powered robot where organic life is very much treated like an infestation? Mechanical immune systems wandering through cavernous work spaces. Areas of radiation, oceans of coolant/ lubricant/ water, deserts of metal filings...

I agree with you about "The Drawing of the Dark", I've still got it sitting on my bookshelves - a lesser effort, perhaps, but one that was showing the subtle touch Powers has for creating a real sense of "place" in his stories. A 16th century, central European riff on the Arthurian mythos with...