The Magic: the Gathering website has just posted six amusing relics of the past: TV commercials for their card game, from 1997 and 1998. I remember the first time I saw one of these, all of nine years old--I felt legitimized, somehow!
The first two are pretty stupid, but the last four are actually quite funny. Good on them.
Ever wondered if you could find all the letters of the alphabet embedded in Magic: the Gathering card art? Well, too late—someone's already done it. But you can certainly enjoy the results—some are pretty subtle and impressive. My favourite is "R".
How many of the cards do you/have you owned? I clock in at... four. Sigh.
Hello, and welcome to a new weekly feature—Mountains of Madness Monday, in which I'll be examining the famous H.P. Lovecraft novella from every possible angle and in every possible medium!
Just kidding. This is a one-time thing—but since I'm planning to shell out a good eighty bucks for Beyond the Mountains of Madness, the Call of Cthulhu campaign set in the dire arctic, I thought I'd share with you some of the various resources I've come across over the last little while, all pertaining to the original novella—At the Mountains of Madness. Because if these things are on your mind, it's unhealthy (yet kind) not to share the unthinkable horrors with everyone else, right?
The original, for those of you who don't know, is a classic of the horror/sci-fi genre and what many consider (including me) to be Lovecraft's very best work (along with The Colour Out Of Space). The story details a doomed expedition to the Antarctic in the early 1930s, in which after a stupendous paleontological discovery and a series of ghastly incidents the true history of humanity becomes horribly revealed and a previously incomprehensible story of our universe is slowly uncovered, leading to another horrific danger that is very much in the present. (Sorry about all the vague terms, but they're Lovecraftian. Plus it's so rare that his stories aren't spoiled to bits I don't want to help the process along.) The story can be read here(and it's an excellent read). It can also be bought, of course—my favourite version is the definitive stand-alone edition with an introduction by China Miéville (of Perdido Street Station and The Scar fame).
For details about the sequel to the novella that just happened to take the form of a truly epic Call of Cthulhu campaign, as well as information about MoM-related visual, audio, video, apparel and other inspirations, continue after the jump!
Okay, so it's like you've waited nine months and the baby's finally here—but it's one of those beat-up, smoosh-face brand ugly babies. But all the parts work and it's still what you've been waiting almost a year for so, of course, you take it home and you still love it and all... but you just know it's going to have one tough road to hoe.
Yeah. That's kind of the deal with the Dragonlance movie. The trailer's up on YouTube now... and the signs are not good. That’s pretty much all I’m going to say… except for that that’s one ugly baby.
Turns out that the camera-savvy gamers who won the first annual D&D Fan Film Contest didn’t do so by any fluke. Riley Swift and Jennifer Stratford are two of the minds behind the fabulously campy Dungeon Majesty website.
Dungeon Majesty follows the live-action video adventures of a party of femme fatales and their insidious DM. Through their shows, LaTiza the sorcerer, Mistika the cleric/necromancer, Shakuntala the half-elf druid, and Devastina the barbarian battle monsters, sling spells, and loot dungeons across (given the names on their character sheets) a version of the Forgotten Realms. It even looks like MTV2 has commissioned a few clips from them. Not bad for one lucky DM and his group.
Although it’s not in character, you can check out the call-in episode of Dungeon Mastery right below. They do a pretty nice job of explaining who they are and what they do with the first caller. For the real action and more about the show, check out the Dungeon Majesty website here.
Remember the days when Dungeons & Dragons had actual commercials on television? Yeah, me either. But here it is, a semi-sinister 30 second spot featuring the entire sophomore debate team taking on a red dragon. I’m still trying to decide what my favorite part is, that they actually call it “the most phenomenal game ever created,” or that the girl in pig-tails seems to be the beardy old wizard.
