Willmark's Darkside Blog

Redwall by Brian Jacques

2012-01-30T18:16:00.000-05:00

Redwall
Ahhh I had this book for years after I purchased it for $1.00 at an old book store several years ago, but I didn't read it till last summer. That was a major mistake on my part as the book was a nice easy read. Sometimes I do that after heavy reads. In fact I read it after finishing A Dance with Dragons by GRR Martin. Now that my daughter is reading at an ever increasing rate I think it will be on her radar shortly. I look forward to sharing this with her and it's a nice introduction to fantasy. I can see her reading this quite avidly and enjoying the read. The story is well told and not to violent, (for those not in the know its very cartoonish in that regard).

Redwall was written by the late Brian Jacques and he was quite prolific in the series writing 22 books with another 4-5 around the setting.

Also for those that have no idea the story follows the typical boy (in this case a mouse) who becomes the hero through a voyage of self discovery. But instead of it being Luke Skywalker the mouse Mathias is the hero of the story. And interesting parallels is the ghost of Martin the Warrior who spurs Mathias on in his quest and Obi Wan in Star Wars. The setting instead of the Star Wars universe is that of Redwall Abbey and its environs. The creatures there are mice, rats, badgers and birds all with their unique perspectives.

Right now I'm just starting to crack open Mattimeo. So if you haven't read this series I give it a strong thumbs up and this particular book 4 out of 5 stars.

(One word of note: the series jumps around and look at the links to wiki, if you want to read in chronological order.)

The 4th Edition D&Der, inheriting the 2nd Edition burden

2012-01-23T08:27:00.002-05:00

To be quite honest I really don't care if someone wants to play FATAL ( I sure as Hell don't), 3rd edition D&D, Castles and Crusades, Lamentations of the Flame Princess or something in-between. As I've expressed here and elsewhere on the web. Not my cup of tea to rain on someone else's parade for their gaming fun.

Enter the ass-hattery of the anti-2e crowd. Suffice of to say my opinion of them is as high as a kobold in good standing, which is to say not much. And now that leaves the abuse that's sure to come your way. I only react in this, best defense with these clowns is a good offense.

With that said I feel a strange kinship now with the 4th edition D&D fans now. Around 4 years as a print run for the "current edition/in print version" of D&D is not that long at all, in fact it's shockingly short. Wow, the shortest run of all of them. 4th edition takes the mantle of whipping boy for editions of D&D.

I however am not going to golf clap at the funeral ala grognard style. Your game might not have been my game, but I have a good deal of sympathy for you. My best advice. Go on the offensive. When grognards tell your game sucks, point out the flaws of 1st edition AD&D or which there are many, don't let them fool you. Stuff like initiative, horrible organization of the rules, psionics and the like there is plenty of fodder there.

Am I promoting edition wars? Some might see it as so, but I like to point out that most of us 2e folks are generally live and let live in this, that is until most of us got on line and encounter the rabid neck beards (look at definition #6) then we learned real quick. Want proof? There are folks online who actually believe that Terrible Trouble at Tragidore is representative of 2nd edition module quality.

Meanwhile never laying eyes on the run of Dungeon from issues #18-81, which rank with some of the best modules all time (yes I said it). Modules like Iron Orb of the Druegar, Mud Sorcerers Tomb, and Kingdom of the Ghouls are insanely great.

If you stay the course for your favored edition then by all means do so, and don't let anyone tell you any different. Your game is not my game, but I cannot help feel a kinship, your edition is now going to be the least supported out of all of them:

0e, Basic, 1st and 2nd are more or less interchangeable despite what the grogs think.
3rd had a mountain of material for it during its run and Pathfinder can easily be substituted.
That leaves 4th on its own island...

I say this in the end because it looks like 5th edition is going back to its root (allegedly).

In closing its going to be a lonely road, but if it's your course steer it: "Second star to the right... and straight on until morning."*

(* Yes I know it's from Peter and Wendy.)

5th Edition D&D... in other words we've been down this road before, twice

2012-01-11T21:11:00.003-05:00

Normally I’m the type of guy that will let things play out rather then rush to condemn, but the recent announcement of 5^th Edition over at the Wizards of the Coast website has made me throw that out the window. I’m very much live and let live type of guy, but I also like to point out idiocy whenever it rears its ugly head. All over the web people are talking about the announcement and what it means. The main point I keep coming back to is a new edition of D&D needed? To which I say, no. This isn’t some reactionary knee jerk either. Rather, Wizards has managed to screw up D&D or succumb to edition churn at an ever-alarming rate. Take your pick; in fact it might be both. This is simply the latest example.

"I come in brown AND I "squirt."

Some will say “How can you know that it’s going to be bad before you see it?” Sorry. but I didn’t have to reserve judgment to know that Justin Bieber, the Microsoft Kin, Google Buzz and Wave and Microsoft Zune would be craptastic either. Some things are just born to suck.

First off some history is in order, for those not in the know Wizards of the Coast is NOT the originator of the game. Wizards is a subsidiary of Hasbro that subsumed TSR and thereby acquiring the rights to D&D. The history of D&D is a sordid one stretching back to its roots in the 70’s when the game was first born. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson are credited with jointly creating the game, but a sealed settlement, and both men being deceased means we may never know the details of what actually went down. Enter the Blumes and then later Lorraine Williams (warning link may cause damage to your eyes...) and you have that the main driver of the game never really had control of the creation, or had it for exceedingly short periods of time. 1^st Edition succeeded in spite of efforts of those involved in fighting against Gary (as near as I can and others can figure). TSR went belly up in the 90’s through mismanagement (namely Lorraine Williams promising to show how real companies are run) but I digress and Wizards snatched it up only in turn to be bought by Hasbro. There you have it, game of IP hot potato where the name of the game itself became more important then the content.

And there is one of the main cruxes of why Wizards of the Coast is churning out yet another edition of D&D (for those counting they released 3.0 in 2000, 3.5 shortly thereafter and then the miserable failure that is 4.0 in 2008). The IP is too valuable to ignore and the best way to use it is to create a new edition, there I said it. My suspicion is this churn of yet another edition mantra is for money plain and simple. First off I have no issue per say with this as people have families to support, I get that, but call it like it is. It’s no different then the Iraq War; had Bush Jr said the real reason why we went to war was weapons of mass destruction when in fact it was something else. My own belief is that it was to get rid of Saddam for trying to whack his father and I’d have been fine if he just came out and said it. Wizards of the Coast is in the same boat: call it like it is guys: 4e went out the gates destroying Attila the Hun style everything that D&D was prior, and gleefully I might add. The only problem with these scorched earth tactics is that well, you ravaged the country side and on top of that you had a peasant revolt for good measure, i.e. Pathfinder. As I wrote about last year in my post the Pathfinder rift vs 4e D&D was the biggest shift since the 1^st/2^nd edition shift. The difference being is that the move to 2^nd was a minor tremor compared to the earthquake of your customers jumping ship to a competitor. You created the madness that lead to your own fracture customer base. I covered this previously last year here.

Edition churn is nothing new, D&D never reached self-sustaining numbers even in its hey-day so the only way for publishers to stay afloat is new editions. I’ve talked about this before at www.dragonsfoot.org, the game was a rather wobbly business model to begin with and has repeated itself nearly every iteration of the game. The model in my opinion is not sustainable and requires a reboot every so often to survive.

So now we get to the crux of all of this, 5^th edition D&D that is supposed to be a big tent for all to come in and play. Do they really think we are that dumb? That their attempts at olive branch D&D détente is anything more then a PR move? Had they really been interested in offering a D&D for all editions all along they would have done so. Rather they took the approach of trying to force their customers to a new edition by cutting off the old, reasoning that with no official support we’d come along anyways. Except that didn’t happen. The peasants banded together and formed their own communities, wrote their own materials and said thanks we’ll go it alone. The problem only became a dire one once the money spigot turned off and Wizards was forced to look around for new customers. Prior to the debacle of 4^th they were doing just fine and wrote us off as lost causes. As I wrote last time they had lost the Pathfinder folks, they weren’t coming back and the industry can’t get enough newer players to make up for it. So somewhere in the bowels of Wizards of the Coast someone had a “come to Jesus moment”. Hypothetical Marketing employee: “I know let’s release a new edition that promises old school feel! Even better we’ll market it at all those folks we discarded in 2000, I’m sure they are going to buy up whatever we shovel out.” “Better yet they’ll be so grateful that we are selling something that is remotely targeted at them!" Yeah, good luck with that WoTC.

Its been pointed out how monumentally stupid Wizards of the Coast is being in all this and I have to agree. They shunned gamers who played anything prior to 3^rd and then 4^th and now they need us (read need our $$$$) because they screwed up? Sorry, but I for one am not playing the lonely boyfriend who takes back the girlfriend who dumped him years earlier. If I wasn’t good enough for you then, why should I take you back when you only need me now?!?!? No way. I wanted products from you 12 years ago and you left money on the table don’t be surprised when I don’t buy this edition. It’s much like the record industry execs who became horrified when they realized that P2P was eating their business alive. Well if you had listened to your customers, in this case ALL of your customers you wouldn’t be in the predicament you are now. Or that Wizards is horrified that people play iterations of D&D and haven’t paid them a cent because they play non-WoTC versions. Think of it you dropped some cash on a book in say 1982 and are still using it today! Durable goods conundrum indeed.

Given my background and my interest in computer history there is one recent company that Wizards of the Coast is doing their best imitation of: Quark. The parallels to Quark Xpress losing the desktop publishing wars to Adobe InDesign is eerily similar, For a good read look here: It’s from 2005 and it talks about Vista, but look past that and look at the history of Quark: they made every customer related mistake in the book and invented a few new ones for good measure. Worse was they didn’t realize it till far too late and alienated a ton of people in the process. Sound familiar? Wizards should have read up on this as they followed the same failed strategy to their folly. Basically put Wizards in place of Quark, and Paiza with Pathfinder in place of Adobe and you have the same story in the making, or as I like to say “Same circus, different clowns.”

Next up I keep hearing about big tent D&D. Big tents don’t work because by their nature they are a compromise. Compromises by definition are not going to lead to a unified fan base. Compromise means that no one walks away from the table happy. Some have countered then what is the alternative? I postulate that maybe there isn’t one. The genie is out of the bottle; it came out of the bottle in 1985 and isn’t being stuffed back in anytime soon. There is far to much damage to be repaired, far to much baggage. And on top of this I’m still not convinced a new edition needs to be created.

On the subject of style of play and I keep hearing this it has a retro feel, well no kidding? What else are people going to say, until I see it with my own eyes color me skeptical. Are they going to say that it plays more like WoW then traditional fare? And I add that if we need a D&D version that has old school feel, then pick up a copy of Castles and Crusades. No matter what the d-bags and naysayers like to paint it as, it does have that old school feel. Again is a new edition of D&D needed? Again no. Want retro with new rules here it is again:

I should hasten to add as I’ve stated on www.dragonsfoot.org I have no beef with folks in how they want to get their D&D/role-playing entertainment. Go scratch your gaming itch however you want. Unlike some of the ass-hats in the OSR community (some who are now quietly deleting their flame bait, frothing neck-beard incendiary bombs on various sites) I won’t tell a newer gamer that they are “wrong” for liking what they like or where they get their fun. I’ve had that hurled at me for endorsing 2^nd edition and I’m not passing that on to others. I’m a big proponent of the newer gamers playing what they will look fondly back on years later as their “golden age of gaming”. My game is not their game and the same is true, I’m fine with that. But that leads to overall point? Why even do this? By it’s nature a modular approach is going to mean that if you got everyone to stop playing and move to 5^th edition D&D they are still only going to buy the parts that creates the game in the look and feel of what they are used to, it also limits who is going to by any given add on. Or put another way this is what TSR did with all the campaign settings back in the 90s that lead to its demise. Wizards will put (whether they know it or not) everyone into separate buckets. It was Bill Slavicsek who said "It's raining money outside and you want to catch as much of it as you can. You can either make a really big bucket or waste your time and attention by creating a lot really small buckets -- either way, you're never going to make more rain." In this case Wizards is hoping to get some people who haven’t present money on them ever to do so. Call me foolish but while similar to the 1^st/2^nd edition split this is far worse. Its like they forgot the whole episode of what led to the demise of 2nd edition. At least 1^st/2^nd are nearly compatible. And that is about the only area that Wizards has a shot with me personally: stuff that I could use with my existing 1^st/2^nd edition stuff for adventures as I’m highly unlikely to buy the core rules.Maybe that is their intention but either way it's unlikely that all players will belly up to the same table.


"Still need some help lugging this! Where's Nodwick?

Tangentially related to this is style, look at feel. To me this has never been a major issue as it is to some. I’ll admit I’m not a fan of the manga dragonborn/tiefling goth assassin/warforged over-sized weaponry and armor and more gear then a US Marine on their back (see left) look to the art, but it’s not enough to make me not buy something on that alone. Grogs need to get over the fact that nudity was going to be exercised from the game as were its more violent elements in ANY edition that came after 1^st. 1^st was created during the free-wheeling 70’s… the conservative 80’s was a reactionary phase and thus the more toned down feel. Meaning that the cleanup of 2^nd edition in this regard was a reaction of the times. In short don’t expect it to look like it did in first edition. I must confess that Bill Willingham was my favorite TSR artist back in the day for either first or second edition, but I don’t expect he’s getting hired back anytime soon.

In closing, a version of D&D designed to appeal to all players of all editions is likely going to satisfy none of them. I hear of a modular approach of a core game and then adding the parts you want? What you mean like people have been doing since rpg games began? While I may end up being wrong in this I don’t think that will be the case. And if I’m to shift my opinions on this and open my wallet then WoTC had better be bending over backwards for the treatment we’ve (I’ve) received as a customer since 2000. Until they do I've got this mixed with first edition and WoTC can't do a thing to stop me:

I'm Back and Blogging

2012-01-04T21:38:00.000-05:00

Well the last two years has been a bumpy ride, 2010 was a horrid yearly personally and 2011 was taken up almost entirely with selling my old house and the construction of my new one. Here's a pic of it from about a month ago.

So with that out of the way I hope to have more time blogging about topics in the new year. And this time I mean it! So roll on 2012.

WM

The Night Gwen Stacy Died

2011-10-01T11:59:00.000-04:00

In June 1973 one of the most important comic book arcs of all time came to a shocking conclusion with the death of Gwen Stacy at the hands of the Green Goblin, or perhaps at the hands of Spiderman himself. I was only 4 months old when this happened and would not read the arc until many, many years later while raiding my brother's comic book collection. I didn't really resonate with me at about 8 and it wasn't until I got the Spiderman DVD collection with it in PDF form a few years back and re-read it that it hit home. The second reading was powerful and made a lasting impression. Hurled from one of the towers of the George Washington Bridge and into comic book immortality.

For those not in the know Gwen Stacey was Peter Parker's girlfriend and many contend Peter's true love, not Mary Jane Watson, not Flecia Hardy, not Betty Brant, no it was Gwen. Peter and Gwen met early (The Amazing Spiderman #33) and continued in an on again off again fashion until her death in the story arc "The Night Gwen Stacy died" in ASM #121-122 and its aftermath. The death of Gwen ranks with the Dark Phoenix saga in X-men some 7 years later as one of the greatest story arcs of all time in comics. In short, they just don't make um like they used to. Nothing I've read in the realm of comics would have that much of a cultural impact, even if most people don't know about it. Ins short Ms. Stacy's death in 1973 would set in motion many of the tropes, cliches and over used anti heroes we know today, but more on that later.

Peter would be haunted by her death even more so then the death of his beloved Uncle Ben. With Uncle Ben it was his inaction that caused his death. With Gwen it was his actions that killed her. Uncle Ben's death happened so fast and in Amazing Fantasy #15 that we never had a chance to really care about him to any degree. He was introduced and by the end of that very first comic he was dead. We knew as a reader that he was important to Peter, but he quickly became a deep background figure rather then one of the cast like Gwen. In short Gwen's death impacted the readership in a way that it was impossible for Uncle Ben's to do.

Now its true that the Goblin hurled her from the top of the bridge, not Spiderman. But it was Spiderman's webbing that snapped her neck. This very point became a bone of contention amongst fans for decades until was revealed in the letters to the Editors that there was no way to save her. Even that didn't quell the uproar. At the time the writers said they were surprised by the response (I'm not buying that one bit) so much so, that the original Clone Saga came about due to reader backlash. This in fact became one of the very first, if not the first (and unfortunately not the last) retro-cons in Spiderman's history. Simply put they had to back peddle and still left the reader with an unsatisfactory ending: Peter and Gwen got to say goodbye, but it was bittersweet. But hey the writers could then clear the way and move Mary Jane to the fore.

The importance of this one act cannot be understated as it is considered by many as the end of the Silver Age of Comics heralding the grittier and some would sat more realistic Bronze Age of comics. I tend to agree with this as never before had a hero failed and failed so spectacularly. In a sense it was controversial then as it is now. Its part of what makes it great: the hero failed. In a sense it is no different then the end of the movie Castaway; we want Chuck to get the girl, but in the end by not going for the Hollywood ending the movie fits better, it feels right its more emotional because of the denial of ones senses of right and wrong. This is the case with Gwen Stacy.

Its also refreshing because in an age of the trench coated, sun-glass wearing at 3 AM hero with major stubble, major attitude problems and a cliched dislike of authority (you know, basically Wolverine) its refreshing to go back to a by-gone age when the hero was actually, you know... likeable. It's laughable that the anti-hero is as much now a cliche as the never fail hero he replaced, but with very few redeeming qualities. But back on point as mentioned: this very incident its what lead to the death of the Silver Age and its attendant likable hero and the start of the much more gritty and realistic Bronze Age. This in turn led to any number of anti-heroes in any number of ant-hero-cliche movies. Many of the directors of these movies have said as much that the Night Gwen Stacy died had a major impact on their writing and directing. Gwen stands as a testament to when the world began to change, at least in comics.

Gwen had and continues to have the the quintessential appeal. The all American girl next door while Mary Jane has always seemed trampy in comparison. Gwen was smart (Chemistry major), a looker (former Beauty Queen of Standard High), fun loving (and who really gained depth in the critical acclaimed (Spiderman Blue Series), Plus Stan wanted her to be "a lady." Stand wrote her and fully intended for her to marry Peter, he said as much. Thus was born the dresses, the boots and the ubiquitous blackhead band. But by dying young and never being brought back (in any meaningful way) other then flashbacks in the comics she is forever frozen in time. Forever as we remember her without being sullied (The god-awful Sins Past was retro-conned shortly after it came out so I discount it fully; I did when I read it ). There never was the chance for her's and Peter's love to ever suffer the trials and tribulations that Mary Jane's did. Sure they had their ups and downs, but nothing like Peter and Mary Jane later. Her and Peter would forever remain green in the minds of the reader. It's also important to note that before Peter and Mary Jane marry it's the thoughts of Gwen that plague him as if seeking her approval.

Now over the years there has been some lame attempts at resurrecting Gwen and in every alternative history or even in the normal continuity she always gets killed off (the original Kenny McCormick perhaps?) But in the main story line/continuity she forever remains dead, forever a dream, an ethereal one. That is part of the legend of it: Peter and Gwen were perfect for each other and because she could never been brought back it adds to the anguish of it. I don't think there ever was a more profound shock then her death, not on Peter or on the reader or the comic book community as a whole. And lets be honest here, the story is told through Peter's eyes and the reader puts himself in the place of Peter.

The thing that I find the most ironic about the whole tale of Gwen Stacy is Mary Jane Watson. It's interesting that in the 80's Marvel finally decided to have Gwen, errr... Mary Jane settle down with Peter by finally saying "Yes" after he asked her numerous times. The ironic thing is that the editors basically turned Mary Jane into Gwen... and one has to wonder if that was the case why not go for the real thing rather then Mary Jane? The reasoning was easy. Prior to morphing Mary Jane into Gwen, Mary Jane was the party girl, not the one you marry, you know the bad girl. But in order to have her believable as marriage material they had to change her. Then there is mash-up that is the first three Spiderman movies, again I ask why make Mary Jane into Gwen? Fortunately things are looking up for the reboot of the Spiderman movies and looky looky, no Mary Jane in sight, but a very capable Emma Stone... playing Gwen Stacy! (Hey guys where is the black head-band! even Straczynski got that one right (acck did I just right that?)

So where does that leave us? Well the comics have morphed so many times into muddled mess that its impossible to tell. With the reboot of the movies they have a golden opportunity to tell a classic tale of love and heart wrenching loss. In the reboot, Emma Stone played Gwen is to be the love interest and they mirror the comics closer they have a chance at cinematic gold, a moment as powerful as Tom Hanks leaving Kelly's house in Castaway. If they tell this story her death at the top of the bridge will have more impact then the half-hearted attempt in Spiderman I.

Do that and you can pick up your Oscars folks.

And as much as we love her, want her back... in sense its not right if its any other way then for her to be dead. If the story line hadn't happened the way it did the whole thing would have been cheapened. If the movies don't go for the same thing and do a rehash of the first movie then what is the point? Somehow Gwen's death wouldn't mean as much, its precisely the ache, the fact that she died that makes the great. The fact that we know she was perfect. Time may go by but the angst, the pain and the beautiful picture that is Gwen Stacy will never subside. As long as comic book geeks are around there will be ones that remember her, count me as one.

Gwen Stacey, all kinds of amazing indeed.

Stoneskin not quite as badass in 2nd Edition or is it?

2011-09-11T15:55:00.001-04:00

Ahhh Stoneskin... I've thought I had this spell down pat over the years then looked at others interpretations of it and thought they were right and then went back to the source and wondered if there is no clear cut definition on the perhaps the most abused spell in 2nd edition AD&D.

I must admit I've played 2nd Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons for years and thought I knew this spell inside and out. But much like the 2nd amendment to the Constitution it's a bit puzzling in its phrasing. There is one pertinent part is unclear or at least hinges on how its interpreted. By this I mean consider the following

Stoneskin
4th level Mage spell (page 163 in the 2nd Edition Players Handbook)
Range: Touch
Componnents: V, S M
Duration: Special
Casting Time: 1
Area of Effect: 1 creature
Saving Throw: None

When this spell is cast, the affected creature gains virtual immunity to any attack by cut, blow, projectile or the like. even a sword of sharpness cannot affect a creature protected by stoneskin, nor can a rock hurled by a giant, a snake's strike, etc. However, magical attacks from such spells as fireball. magic missile, lightning bolt, and so forth have their normal effects. The spell blocks 1d4 attacks, plus one attack per two levels of of experience of the caster has achieved. This limit apples regardless of attack rolls and regardless of whether the attack was physical or magical. For example, a stoneskin spell cast by a 9th-level wizard would protect against five and eight attacks. An attacking griffon would reduce the protection by three each round; four magic missiles would count as four attacks in addition to inflicting their normal damage.

The material components of the spell are granite and diamond dust sprinkled on the recipient's skin.

Now I'm no rules lawyer, but the section that says "This limit apples regardless of attack rolls and regardless of whether the attack was physical or magical."

Now you can interpret it to say: Attack rolls whether the hit or not remove one "skin" from the spell.
Or you could say it doesn't much like where the commas are in the 2nd Amendment its a bit maddening...

So what did Sage Advice have to say about it?
Stoneskin: This spell is subject to considerable abuse by player characters. Multiple stoneskins placed on a single creature are not cumulative. If two or more stoneskin spells are cast on the same creature, roll normally for the number of attacks each spell protects against. If a new spell protects against more attacks than the present spell does, the recipient gets the benefit of the increased protection; otherwise there is no effect. The caster does not necessarily know how many attacks the spell can shield him from.

Stoneskin protects only against blows, cuts, pokes, and slashes directed at the recipient. It does not protect against falls, magical attacks, touch‑delivered special attacks (such as touch‑delivered spells, energy draining, green slime, etc.), or nonmagical attacks that do not involve blows (such as flaming oil, ingested or inhaled poisons, acid, constriction, and suffocation). Stoneskin lasts for 24 hours or until the spell has absorbed its allotment of attacks.

Well this helps, but only a little.

The Greatest Warriors of the Westeros- Those who didn't make the Top 10 List

2011-07-10T09:51:00.000-04:00

I realize that any list put forth is going to be tough and not everyone will agree, but as I stated with my first post in this series about Brynden Tully: that's the fun! There are so many warriors here that I shuffled around my list a number of times before deciding on who I did. So without further delay: warriors #11-20.

#11- Victarion Greyjoy. I actually had him listed in the Top 10, but he didn't survive the final cut-down to 10. He is certainly the most deadly warrior of the Iron Islands. One can easily make the case of Victarion being somewhere between #6 and 10 in the Top Ten. Everytime I've read the series I've gotten the feeling that there are not to many people that would want to cross swords with him. He is surprisingly a thinking warrior and not a hulking brute like The Mountain calm off the battlefield and deadly on it.

#12- Ser Garlan Tyrell- Unfortunately I can't place him higher. He is widely acknowledged as one of the finest swordsmen living in the Seven Kingdoms, but we have nothing more to go on. Even his brother, Loras (in talking to Sansa) admits that Garlan is the better swordsman.

#13- Prince Rhaegar Targaryen- Admittedly I had a hard time with him. Prince Rhaegar was apparently a splendid jouster, but when he took the field against Robert on the Trident it was Robert that prevailed. to me looking at this there is nothing wrong in that combat: Robert in his prime was just that good. Rhaegar represents the unfulfilled promise of many characters in the book (least of all his own) from Cersei, to Lynna Stark to his younger brother Viserys. He is the sum of all of those characters "what might have beens."

#14- The Knight of Flowers- Probably controversial being placed this low, but here's why: if the list was for best jouster and showman then he vaults to the top of the list bar none. But it's not. Loras plays at war and his Grandmother the Queen of Thorns says as much. Despite his bezerk fury at Renly's death Loras can't really be placed higher in my honest opinion. He has flashes of brilliance, but interestingly enough when it comes time to lead in battle he utterly fails a the Siege at Dragonstone.

#15- Qhorin Halfhand- he leads off the "bottle-neck" of northerns on my list. He is probably the best warrior living north of the Neck. Certainly he is the greatest warrior the Black Watch. GRRM loves to parallel characters and stories in the book so it will be interesting to see if Jaime's switch to his opposite hand parallels Qhorin's.

#16- Greatjon Umber- every time I think of Greatjon Umber I get the impression of bezerk fury! At the Red Wedding it takes 8 men to subdue him!

#17- Eddard Stark- Eddard never engages in combat in the series, but he somehow managed to walk out of the Tower of Joy alive one of only two men to do so out of 10 in that epic battle. However, until the details of that fateful encounter are fully known then he's in limbo. He also falls further because GRRM has stated that his brother Brandon was the better warrior.

#18- Brienne of Tarth- well, the warrior maiden is massive and bigger then Jaime, but not quite as large as Ser Gregor. At over 6 feet tall she is worthy of a spot on this list as she has taken out a few bad guys in the series. She does fight Jaime, but then again Jaime wasn't really trying to hurt her either. She almost gets killed out by Biter of all characters... that actually hurts her standing in my opinion.

#19- Jon Snow. Like Robb we get the sense that he is good, but we are never sure just how good, at least not yet... Obviously he has outstanding leadership qualities and if this list were for that alone he would be in the top 10. He leads the Black Watch ably, but he is one of those characters that there is more to come namely in A Dance of Dragons.

#20- Robb Stark. We never get a sense of just how good of a warrior he is with a sword, but it's obvious that he is an outstanding leader on the battlefield, too bad his promise is cut short.

The Greatest Warriors of the Westeros- #1 Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning

2011-07-04T09:47:00.001-04:00

We've made it from #10 down to #1 on the list of Greatest Warriors of the Westeros countdown and only one warrior remains. And that one warrior is only told as recollections via the main characters and interestingly enough by two of the main antagonists. But, as a movie once said, in the end "there can only be one" and that choice is Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning.

The Sword of the Morning is by consensus the greatest knight that ever lived. Its not just one person saying this, its everyone in the whole damn series. The main problem is that as of now we know precious little about him. So how can he be number one? Easy, read on.

#1- Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning
Ser Arthur was a member of the Kingsguard and is widely considered one of the greatest knights of that order. Now that is saying something when you consider some of the men that have worn the white: Gerold Hightower, Duncan the Tall, (read the Dunk and Egg stories for more info), Ser Ryam Redwyne, Ser Serwyn of the Mirror Shield amongst others. When one can mention the Sword of Morning in the same breath as these legendary fighters... you know you are talking about someone special.

Ser Arthur was instrumental in defeating the Kingswood Brotherhood as well as slaying the Smiling Knight. While fighting the Smiling Knight, the same's sword broke. Ever the chivalrous knight Ser Arthur let him get another before recommencing with combat. Jaime Lannister was made a knight at that point and was impressed by Ser Arthur. So is it simple hero worship on Jaime's part? Doubtful. It was Ser Arthur who brought the grievances of the smallfolk to Aerys II during the time of the Kingswood Brotherhood. Because of this he became beloved by the smallfolk and they turned their support away from the brotherhood. Couple this with his actions against the Smiling Knight. Would anyone let The Mountain that Rides get another sword if he broke it? Again, doubtful. In short Ser Arthur was the real deal when it came to living and breathing what a knight should do and be. Martin loves contrast so he uses Ser Arthur a the epitome of knighthood then casts this against the events of the books. With the Kingswood Brotherhood, Ser Arthur gets bonus points for leading men in combat.

Now from here it takes a bit of reading and then deductive reasoning on the part of, well everyone everywhere. Look at the list so far: Is there anyone on the list that Ser Arthur couldn't beat? Ser Arthur is one of those warriors that comes along once every 1,000 years. He is designed to be legend, the fact that he is one in his own time just makes everything add up. There is no one that he is even breaking a sweat against listed so far. think about those that I haven't listed, is there anyone there beating him? No I say!

If for no other reason Ser Arthur Dayne gets the top spot when you consider the words from from none other then the Kingslayer himself when he says this to Ser Loras Tyrell about Ser Arthur in A Feast for Crows:

"I served with Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning, who could have slain the six of you with his left hand while taking a piss with his right".

Now Jaime is no slouch himself when it comes to a blade (He was #3 on this list) and this is pretty high praise from someone who is about as arrogant as they come prior to his sword hand being lopped off. It would be off putting from just Jaime, but once again Eddard Stark saves the day by backing Jaime up when taking about Ser Arthur on a different occasion: "He was the finest knight I've ever seen and he would have killed me if it were not for Howland Reed." Strong stuff and coming from Eddard and it's hardly open to interpretation. Think about who Eddard has seen in his lifetime: Ser Barristan Selmy, Bronze Yohn Royce, Robert Baratheon, Prince Rhegar and many more. Yet Eddard gives him the compliment that he does. A way to honro a foe who id something insanely heroic? A trick of sorts? Highly unlikely as it's Eddard saying this, a man famous throughout the Kingdom for his honor.

Another unusual thing about Ser Arthur is that he is the only character in the series having a mighty blade, but one that is wholly unique: it's not Valyrian steel. Now, this could just be an odd coincidence, but GRRM rarely does things for happenstance in the series. Ser Arthur's sword, Dawn is actually made from the metal of a fallen meteor and is featured in the house's coat of arms as a result. Again this may mean nothing, but then again it could be an interesting angle considering the whole "Prince who was promised" prophecy (although the leading candidate is Daenerys. More interesting is the fact that after the Tower of Joy (see below) Ned brings his sword to Ser Arthur's heir. This heir is Edric Dayne, who is wet-nursed along with Jon Snow That's interesting, very interesting.... Why would Eddard bring Jon Snow to a family to be wet-nursed when said family is one that he just killed it's most famous scion? In short you don't, at least not without a reason you don't. Even Eddard is not going to do something like this for no reason. It could be Eddard's famous honor, but I'm doubting that is the reason. In short Ser Arthur's story is not done yet I'm guessing and it is very much tied up in Jon Snow and Eddard.

Another point is that the statement by Ned about Ser Arthur begs the question: What exactly happened in the Tower of Joy in Dorne? We know or are pretty certain that Jon Snow is the son of Lyanna Stark and Prince Rhaegar. Why else would three of the Kingsguard (including its Lord Commander Gerold Hightower) be guarding it and Lyanna while a war for the crown of the Seven Kingdoms was being waged? Either way its apparent that you don't send your best warriors and their commander to the end of the kingdom for no reason. So again just what happened there? One gets the feeling that it wasn't your average sword fight. It could turn out that it's nothing like we expected: Howland Reed poisoned Ser Arthur or any other possible explanations. Apparently it was Eddard that killed Ser Arthur Dayne but to me that seems a bit too tidy. We do know that it was seven against 3. Ten men in the fight and only two walked out alive with neither ever talking about what happened. With the only one being now left alive now: Howland Reed...

So unless some new characters get introduced in the series it's Ser Arthur Dayne that stands as the Greatest Warrior of the Seven Kingdoms. That's right, we know little about him and none of it directly. But from what we do know, we know this: the Sword of the Morning stands head and shoulders above the rest. How is this so? Two of the main characters of the book Jaime and Eddard have the same opinion, that alone is saying something...

Ser Arthur is a mystery with some holes poked through the shroud of his character. He is not a deep, deep history character and his exploits are well known to the Seven Kingdoms, just not to the reader as of yet.

And there it is. I don't expect that people will totally agree with my selections but as I stated, that's the fun. Something like this makes it impossible to ever reach consensus. I wanted to get this done before A Dance of Dragons is out and I made it with 8 days to spare.

My next post will contain my list of warriors #11-20, i.e. those that didn't make the top 10. It was tough to get to 10 so there are some excellent warriors that have nothing to be ashamed about being where they are.

The Greatest Warriors of the Westros- #2, Oberyn Martell- The Red Viper of Dorne

2011-06-26T22:38:00.003-04:00

Yeah! When you look up bad-ass in the dictionary there is Oberyn Martel, the Red Viper of Dorne starring back at you, and kicking your ass from the page at the same time. Prince Oberyn is just that hardcore. If he met up with Chuck Norris... I'm not so sure Chuck would win.

The mercenary, screw everything that walks, kill it all, balls to the wall Red Viper stands head and shoulders above almost everyone else in the books and rightly takes his place as #2 of the Greatest Warriors of the Westeros.

#2- Oberyn Martel, the Red Viper of Dorne
Right before he dies (in perhaps the ultimate combat of the books) who does the Red Viper slay? None other then the Mountain that Rides, that's who. That's right the largest warrior to walk the Seven Kingdoms falls to the Red Viper's spear.

While a Prince (its assumed that he is a knight) he eschews the traditional weaponry of knights: the sword and prefers to fight with a spear. While his climatic opponent uses massive plate armor, he is armored lighty, dancing around the Mountain taunting him, One get the sense that The Red Viper can kill him at any time, but wants to draw it out after the murder of his sister Elia of Drone after the Sack of King's Landing during the culmination of Robert's Rebellion. The epic duel of Oberyn and Gregor is one of the, if not the best duels in the entire series thus far. I'll get to that epic duel later but first...

Before he fought The Mountain that Rides, he was in a duel when he was just 16. Apparently he was found bedding the paramour of Lord Yronwood. Due to his age, a duel to first blood was arranged. Well Oberyn won said duel drawing first blood as proscribed by the rules. Problem was that Lord Yronwood's wound festered and he died from but a scratch. It was rumored that Oberyn poisoned his spear and thus the legend of the Red Viper was borne.

Oberyn Martell's actions also are responsible for the enmity between House Martell and House Tyrell. At a joust Willas Tyrell had his leg managed in a freak accident. Oberyn was blamed. Interestingly enough there is no bad blood between Oberyn and Willas over this incident. Oberyn even sent his maester to tend to Willas.

Adding to his fame is the fact that he served as a mercenary leader, studied at the Citadel and even forged six links to his chain before becoming bored as well as serving in the Free Cities. And it was not "just" in the Free Cities, but the Disputed Lands where warfare is a constant serving with the Second Sons. So he scores extra points in this countdown for being leader of men.

For even more badass: the fact that he has 8 bastard daughters known as the Sand Snakes. Lord Walder Frey might be able to fill an army with his fruits of his loins, but I'd take the Red Viper's progeny any day of the week, twice on Sundays.

This bring us to the fight, and I mean the fight. When Joffrey finally bites the dust in A Storm of Swords everyone except Cersei is rejoicing. I mean really, is there anyone who actually liked the annoying, mini-male version of Cersei? However the King being killed is naturally going to cause some accusations to fly and it's Tyrion who gets blamed. When it becomes apparent that he will not get justice he demands trial by combat and to which Cersei gleefully calls for Ser Gregor Clegane to be her champion. Everyone figures that Tyrion is now dead as who is going to fight the Mountain that Rides, let alone for the Imp? Calmly and cooly Oberyn Martell tells the court that he will stand for Tyrion, not for Tyrion's sake mind you, but for his thirst for revenge on Gregor for what he did to his sister Elia of Dorne. Tyrion's defense merely provides the excuse.

It's readily apparent that like Bronn vs. Ser Vardis in the Vale that Oberyn has sized up his opponent quite well. He knows how to kill him. Also on his side is the fact that unlike everyone else he is not frightened by Ser Gregor's size. Elaria Sand his paramour remarks "You're going to fight that?" to which The Red Viper dryly replies "No, I'm going to kill that." How about that for hardcore? Most knights would be turning in their Ser's or pissing in their armor and The Red Viper is ready to kill the most massive warrior in the Seven Kingdoms and is looking forward to it.

Right off the bat it's apparent what the Red Viper's strategy is: wear down the massive Gregor and taunt him. In this Bronn approves as it's the same basic strategy he used in the Vale. Oberyn jabs and thrusts and most importantly stays out of Ser Gregor's massive reach. Simultaneously he taunts the massive Gregor knowing this will add to his frustration and open him up to a well places strike. Ser Gregor who is not the most patient under the best of circumstances falls for this shouting for him to shut up.

The strategy works as Oberyn continues to strike, eventually wounding Ser Gregor. All the while the taunting continues: "You raped her. You murdered her. You killed her children!" Over and over The Red Viper speaks this (something akin to Inigo Montoya, but I digress) to wring as much vengeance from the fight as possible. You can feel this scene ooze with tension as well as a deep connection to the back story of the Seven kingdoms.

Finally the Red Viper moves in and after a running vault pins the Mountain to the ground with his poisoned spear rammed through the Mountain's gut. And with that the Mountain is defeated as Oberyn reaches for the Mountain's sword to finish him off he continues to taunt him and drops his guard. In coming too close to the dying giant (something he avoided doing all fight) the Mountain is able to grab ahold of him and thrust his hands into Oberyn's eyes and bash his skull with his massive fists shouting "You mean like this and this?!" in reply to the Red Viper's taunting. At such close range the Prince is slain, but the Mountain is now succumbing to the poisons effect; not even a man as massive as Ser Gregor can shake it off.

So while he is slain because of his own zeal and thirst for revenge, ultimately it's Prince Oberyn that triumphs as the poison used causes the Mountain to die a slow, agonizing death in incredible pain. His sister is avenged and his place in the halls of badassery is assured.

Say what you want, but to me the Red Viper of Dorne is as bad ass as they come and one the best characters in the books hands down. It's unfortunate that he only appears in A Feast for Crows and is gone within a few chapters. But, as far as hardcore, kick-ass, warriors go: there is only one ahead of him in the Song of Ice and Fire. Stay tuned.

Also I'd like to point out the excellent work at The Wiki of Ice and Fire, Westeros.org as well as the Tower of the Hand keep up the great work guys!

The Greatest Warriors of the Westros- #3 The Kingslayer

2011-06-25T22:53:00.001-04:00

Every good book series needs a villain right? Well, in the first few books it looks as if Ser Jaime Lannister is just that guy, that is until the end of a Storm of Swords and into A Feast for Crows. From there the reader's view of Jamie changes drastically. With that said its the Kingslayer himself, Jaime Lannister that makes my list as the #3 Greatest Warrior of the Westeros.

#3 -Ser Jaime Lannister, The Kingslayer
The Kingslayer is a tricky character. Like every character Martin writes there is more then meets the eye. Certainly at first glance we see a shallow, cruel man (throwing Bran out the window anyone?) But by book #3, A Storm of Swords we see a much more complex character.

Jaime is in every sense the golden boy, just look at him! He has everything and oh yeah he gets the hottest girl in the kingdom, too bad it's his sister Cersei. See that's where he goes really wrong in the character department, the things he does for love, namely pushing Bran out the window in Winterfell.

First off let start with his nickname: The Kingslayer. He earned this moniker when he slew the Mad King Aerys II during the sack of King's Landing when Aerys tried to destroy the city with the help of wildfire. For this act Jaime thought people would love him for saving the city, but they were in fact recoiled by him. He remarked about this fact saying that he wanted to be Ser Arthur Dayne, but became the Smiling Knight, referring to the previous generation's monster, i.e. the predecessor to Ser Gregor Clegane.

Despite this Jaime is brave, so brave that as a squire for Sumner Crakehall he saved his life when he stopped Big Belly ben, another member of the infamous Kingswood Brotherhood along with the Smiling Knight. It was after this that he was knighted by Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning himself.

Further intrigues involving his sister led him to become a member of the Kingsguard as a means to be able to stay close to his sister as well as void marring Lysa Tully. Knighted by the Lord Commander, Gerold Hightower, Jaime took the white, much to the displeasure of his father Lord Tywin. It's also important to note that at 17, he became the youngest member ever to serve in the Kingsguard.

In combat Jaime is a master with the blade; he can make his sword do whatever he wants it to. His sword abilities make him one of the deadliest warriors in the Seven Kingdoms. He is one of the younger characters to make the list and represents the generation of Ser Loras Tyrell, and his brother Garlan. In the lance he is quite skilled as well having won tourneys that he reflects upon when he becomes Lord Commander.

In battle he is fierce as befits the words of House Lannister: "Hear me roar!" He defeats Ser Edmure Tully at the Goodtooth and then leads his host onwards towards the Riverlands. He is only bested by Robb Stark at the Battle of the Camps through superior numbers in which he is captured. In the process of trying to get to the Young Wolf he slays several men including the Karstarks. from there he is taken prisoner and finally only released by Catelyn Stark. So for that he gets bonus points for not only being a great warrior, but a leader of men as well.

Jaime's only real blindside is his devotion to his sister. Their relationship is so lopsided that he is at a handicap, until their falling out in A Feast for Crows that is. It is also in a Feast for Crows and after his sword hand is cut off that Jaime becomes a different man. Vargo Hoat does this in order to drive a wedge between the Lannisters and Roose Bolton, but this ploy fails. His hand being severed is nothing more then a gambit in the Game of Thrones and achived none of the aims it was intended to convey. Jaime's whole life is wrapped up in how good he is at arms. It's when he can't swing a sword he drops into a depression and only emerges after he saves the life of Brienne of Tarth.

Jaime's reputation is as such that he is able to get Ser Boros Blount (when Jaime can hardly swing a sword on his return to King's Landing) to acquiesce to his commands. Such is his reputation that he is able to humble him with a member of the Kingsguard with words alone, knowing full well that people know of the reputation of the Kingslayer not as he is now.

Still later in a A Feast for Crows, Jaime begins the oft-painful process of sparring with Ilyn Payne in order to learn to swing a sword with his left hand.

Prior to his sword hand being cut off the Kingslayer is one of the deadliest warriors and as such merits his inclusion on this list. It's well earned and only time will tell if Jaime is as good with his left hand as was with his right.

The Greatest Warriors of the Westeros- #4 Ser Barristan Selmy

2011-06-14T17:48:00.004-04:00

The venerable Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, Ser Barristan Selmy makes my list as the #4 Greatest Warrior of the Westeros. Advanced in age for a warrior, but showing no signs of slowing down Ser Barristan certainly lives up to his moniker of "The Bold".

#4-Ser Barristan Selmy
Ser Barristan is revered, nay beloved by the highborn and smallfolk of the Seven kingdoms alike. He is the type of knight that fits the rommance, the ones that Sansa dreams about. At the time of the War of the Five Kings he is the Lord Commander for King Robert Baratheon and had served under the Mad King Aerys, presumably as a knight rather then Lord Commander. I say this because at the time of the Tower of Joy, the Lord Commander was Gerold Hightower. Gerold was actually at the Tower and was slain so it's unclear when Barristan became Lord Commander. He was pardoned by Robert after the Trident, so it's possible that there was a gap between Gerold and Barristan.

After the pardon he serves Robert as Lord Commander until dismissed by Cersei after Robert's death. This has a profound effect of him, denouncing the Baratheon heir (actually Lannister heir when you look at it) and setting out on the road of seeking Daenerys. The best part of his dismissal is his frank appraisal of Joffery and the fact that he takes crap from no one over it. When the pathetic Gold Cloaks of the City Watch of King's Landing (aka "Red Shirts") arrive to arrest him, he dispatches them and disappears until turning up in A Feast for Crows.

Ser Barristan has been a member of the Kingsguard for ages it seems as he joined when he was 23 He earned his nickname by taking part in a joust at the age of 10 when he was still a squire after acruring some armor.

He defeated Prince Rhaegar at the Tourney at Strom's End and even The Hound in another joust so his skill is not to be doubted. And on top of all of this he was knighted at 16. He is most likely a prodigy as a knight by any sense of the definition.

Much like some of the other characters in the book we get a sense of his prowess only through the past. But like other mighty warriors he is seen as outstanding example of knighthood and a great warrior. Slaying Maelys the Monstrous probably doesnt hurt your knight cred either. Barristan is not one of those "deep history" characters but from a generation prior, a generation prior to Robert/Ned's generation. But it's important to note that everyone who talks about his prowess is united in their praise.

The interesting part is that he is not caught in the "crossfire" of having served The Mad King, which was responsible for Robert's Rebellion through his actions. Presumably the Kingsguard do just that: guard the king, not judge him. This is alluded to by Jaime when he talks about slaying Aerys. Perhaps Ser Barristan's fame is beyond reproach.

We do not however get a sense as to what kind of leader of men he is. Being a member of the Kingsguard presumably precludes a lot of this as his primary role is the protection of the king. The fact however that he survived the Trident when many didn't is important to note.

As an aside one gets the sense that Barristan is set in the mold of William Marshal. He is a renowned tourney fighter like Marshal and a warrior par excellence. Given Martin's perchance for "borrowing/being inspired by" history I think this is quite the case. Ser Barristan is a noted jouster and successful having fought in the War of the Ninepenny Kings. Again echoes to William Marshal: successful in war and tourney. Having fought in the Ninepenny War one wonders how familiar he is with Brynden Tully (at #10 on this countdown).

I feel comfortable with where Ser Barristan is here: beloved by the high and low in the Seven Kingdoms and with the prowess to back it up, even at the age of 57. He is one of the finest blades of the realm and fitting that he appears at #4.

Greatest Warriors of the Westeros- #5 Sandor Clegane

2011-06-06T20:31:00.000-04:00

I'm now up to #5 on the list of Greatest Warriors of the Westeros and its getting tougher and tougher to rank them as I go. It's with some trepidation that I place this next warrior at #5. But, when you consider who is on the list at spots from #1-4 you'll see why Sandor Clegane is here.

The Hound, or simply Dog as Joffrey refers to him is Sandor Clegane. Sandor is the younger brother of the Mountain that Rides. Has there ever been a family with such cool nicknames? The problem is that the Cleganes are far from a happy family. Sandor was burned horrifically by his older brother Gregor for playing with a unused toy of Gregor's. The result was that Sandor's face was burned, lost an ear and has no hair on the section of scalp where he was burned. With his innocence shattered Sandor grew to despise knights (which he has previously idolized) and harbor a great rage for his brother.

#5-Sandor Clegane
As warrior the Hound is one of the finest fighters in the Seven Kingdoms. His fearsome size and abilities make him a intimidating foe. He has no real fear other then fire, which given the circumstances of his childhood are understandable. Despite this he does distinguish himself at the Battle of Blackwater during the War of Five Kings.

Sandor as noted has a contempt for knights and it is rather amusing that he is apponted to the Kingsguard without being one. He simply refuses to become a knight as his goals in life surround one thing: slaying his brother Gregor.

At the Battle of the Blackwater he fights valiantly and cuts through Renly's host. we also have reports of his prowess before and after but would have been a tad bit to young to have fought in Robert's Rebellion.

Other reports of his prowess are that he killed his first man at 12 and was able to slay Beric Dondarrion in single comabt after the assault on King's Landing. In short, crossing swords with Sandor is a risky proposition for an opponent and one that is likely to be fatal.

For all of his gruff exterior and claim of dislike of the hypocrisy of knights (as he sees it) he does have some curious "soft spots". First off as member of the Kingsguard he is often called on to guard Sansa when she is betrothed to Joffrey. While the other members of the Kingsguard obey Joffrey and hit her without question, the Hound doesn't. He deflects and shields her from his wrath. After the Battle of Blackwater he comes to Sansa in her room and could have had his way with her, but he doesn't. For all his mocking attitudes towards her the show of affection is there. Perhaps he sees her as he once was.

Secondly. Sandor saves the life of the Knight of Flowers during the tourney at King's Landing. Now whether he does this because of desire to get to grips with Gregor we might never know, but its clear that he didn't have to act. No one else did.

Another act revolving around Sansa is the riot that happens in A Clash of Kings. When Joffrey incites the mob to the noble party bolts for the Red Keep. Confusion reigns and several members of the party are dragged off to be killed or in the case of Lollys raped. Sansa is missing initially as is the Hound. Keep in mind that its unarmed smallfolk but where Ser Preston Greenfield, Ser Aron Santagar and others are slain, its the Hound comes through saving Sansa's life or at least from being violated.

He is tough as well. After taking some wounds that became infected he was able to cross some distances before his fate became unknown in A Storm of Swords. It's important to note that he was fighting three men at the same time, no small feat for anyone.

Sandor is implied to lead forces at the Battle of Black Water and he at least survived so that is saying something, but we do not get any other indication of his abilities at leading a force. In this list I'm giving extra points for excellence in leading men in battle so he gets middling marks here. Rather its his downright impressive warrior skills that make up for it.

In closing Sandor is one of the best warriors of his generation and the only thing that is missing is for him to slay Gregor. But given Gregor's demise when he crosses paths with the Red Viper of Dorne... Well "Frankengregor" is always a possibility. He is also despite his claims a warrior with something of a conscience. Make no mistake he has his flaws like everyone else (killing Mycah for instance), but there is more then meets the eye when one considers the Hound.

I feel comfortable placing him here as he is in some mighty company and technically he is probably the greatest warrior in the series who is not a knight.

Greatest Warriors of the Westeros- #6 Syrio Forel

2011-06-05T10:13:00.005-04:00

Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water... Sorry, but I've been busy resurfacing the floor in my living roof, the roofers have been putting a new roof on and on top of all this I've been sick. To paraphrase Austin Powers "I mean honestly, who gets a cold in June?!?"

Anyways, I'm back and its time for pick #6 of the Greatest Warriors of the Westeros countdown. This time we turn to a rather mysterious figure: "Syrio Forel". I put that in parenthesis because does anyone believe that is his real name? No figure in all of the Song and Ice and Fire thus far has inspired perhaps as much speculation as Syrio Forel. To say that the First Sword of Bravos is a widely loved character would be a gross understatement.

#6-Syrio Forel
Syrio is hired to be a tutor of sorts for Arya. The mysterious swordsman from across the Narrow Sea is an enigma right from the start. In a land full of warriors encased in plate armor and proficient in the lance and sword, Syrio uses a light-fencing blade. It's never really explained in full why she is not lumped with Sansa doing girly things. There is some discussion in A Game of Thrones and it is established that she is the opposite of her older sister, but Ned seems to give her a great deal of latitude once they reach King's Landing. Even with being a Tom Boy it seems unlikely that the 2^nd daughter of a important noble would be allowed to be anything other then a future bride to seal an alliance with another noble house in the Seven Kingdoms.

The First Sword of Braavos takes the young Arya under his wing and begins to train her. Train her to be an assassin basically that is. There is commentary of his prowess but at no time does the reader get the sense that he is what he appears to be.

One point to the negative for Syrio is that presumably he is not a leader in battle. However if he is indeed associated with the Faceless Men of Bravos then leading might take on a whole new meaning.

Maybe it’s a Boba Fett thing, but the fans seem to earnest like the character, prompting Martin to reply (paraphrasing here: "Why can't people accept he's dead? He's not invincible". Now that Martin has gone on record with saying this, I’m inclined to believe otherwise. Oftentimes Martin will seemingly change is mind when he gets annoyed with his fans... time will tell. Of course like the a fore mentioned bounty hunter in Star Wars, perhaps it’s the obscure, quasi anti-hero thing rearing its head. Syrio was after all facing down a group of Lannister guard as well as Ser Meryn Trant of the Kingsguard. Seems rather unnecessary to include him to a great degree, to instill initial training in Arya if he was going to be killed so “easily”. Ser Meryn Trant while a member of the Kingsguard is not mentioned as being a warrior par excellence so one wonders if more...

Even if he was killed in the overthrow of Ned Stark in Kings Landing then that raises the question of just who is Arya's teacher in Braavos? I'm thinking and so are a lot of folks that it's Syrio. We all could be wrong as it would not be unlike Martin to change his mind but at same time he seems to be the most likely candidate, him or Jaqen H'ghar.

So there you go the "Dancing Master" *ahem*, *ahem* (cough*Ninja*cough) makes our list at #6. We really don’t get a sense of his fighting prowess per say but much like someone else who makes the list somewhere between 1-5 it’s the “off screen” implication of being a great fighter that makes all the difference.

(Also I'd be remiss if I didn't point out the awesome character portraits by Amok, this guy rocks and you can find his stuff here: http://en.amokanet.ru/)

Greatest Warriors of the Westeros- #7 Gregor Clegane

2011-05-29T09:11:00.007-04:00

Wait, what's this I hear you say? The Mountain that Rides is at #7 of the countdown of the greatest warriors of the Westeros? Preposterous, how can this be?

Well I'm glad you asked because when looked at from just the surface how could anyone beat out the Mountain? Well, if nothing else the Red Viper of Dorne might have some thoughts on the matter.

#7-Gregor Clegane
For those not in the know the Mountain that Rides, aka Gregor Clegane is a massive, imposing man standing 7 feet tall and weighing in at 300 lbs. He's nasty, ill tempered and utterly ruthless; he's the type of ruthless that gives ruthless a bad name. Want an example? He raped Elia of Dorne after bashing her infant son against a wall. Further he burned his brother Sandor's face for simply playing with a unused toy of his. Further? It's rumored that he killed multiple members of his own family.

Encased in black armor and swinging a massive great sword there are few foes that can stand before him. And therein is his principal weapon: fear. His opponents know they are going to lose prior to fighting him. It's interesting to see just who is not intimidated by Gregor, namely Oberlyn Martell, the Red Viper or Dorne who casually remarks to his lover prior to fighting him "No, I'm going to kill that."

So when you strip away his advantages you are left with, reputedly the strongest man in the Westeros, a expert warrior, but also a lumbering one. The fact that the Red Viper uses to his advantage in slaying the Mountain.

Gregor should be noted that it's said he is without fear and also filled with nothing but rage. He is also so vengeful that he tries to kill the Knight if Flowers at the Tourney of the Hand in Kings Landing in A Game of Thrones for besting him in the joust. Only the intervention of his brother the Hound prevents this.

The Mountain also scores higher on the list as he has shown battlefield prowess in raiding the Riverlands and the Trident in A Clash of Kings during the War of Five Kings. The fact that it borders on extreme brigandage not withstanding. It could be argued he is only a tactician as the strategy comes from above, namely Tywin Lannister.

The Mountain serves a role in the books: that of a monster. His purpose is to be a unlikeable, un-killable machine devoid of and positive emotion. Even Twylin Lannister realizes that even noble lords have "need of a monster."

So there he is, the monster of the Westeros, The Mountain that Rides is #7 on the count down. Amazing stuff as the competition from here on out is getting tough to decide on.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Greatest Warriors of the Westeros- #8 Bronn

2011-05-23T07:20:00.008-04:00

At #8 of the count down of the Ten Greatest Warriors of the Westeros we go from Robert Baratheon, the King at #9, to perhaps one of the most base-born characters in the books: Bronn. Before I get into it I know there is a huge faction who thinks he is the greatest warriors ever in the books. I don't agree with this, see below for why. I think some of the appeal is the ant-hero vibe that is so prevalent today. Great, he's an anti-hero, doesn't mean he's "better". And as we go to through the list I don't think Bronn could win with the likes of #1-5, but more on them later.

#8-Bronn
The lean, mean, two-fisted warrior of the Westeros makes the list, cool. When we first meet him its during a Caetlyn chapter in A Game of Throne, when she hauls the Imp to the Aerie of the Vale. Being the smart sort Tyrion demands trial by combat and Bronn steps up against Ser Vardis Egen which he easily slays winning Tyrion's freedom. Getting their he helped repel an assault of the Mountain Men as well.

Bronn is certainly not the strongest warrior and perhaps not even the quickest warrior in the books. What Bronn probably is: one of the, if not the smartest warriors in the books. Bronn above all else survives and he does this by knowing when and how to fight, but even more importantly when not to fight. Only he and the Red Viper are not intimidated by the Mountain that Rides (at least as far as we the readers know) and tells Tyrion how he could be defeated. It's also telling that he declines to champion Tyrion (a second time in fact) this time around against likes of Gregor rather then an over-matched Ser Vardis Egen; that's where the Red Viper steps in. Not that he's afraid mind you, it's there is nothing in it for him. That is probably Bronn's biggest strength: he fights for nothing, if nothing can be gained.

It's important to note that he is not above tricks and dirty ones at that. As a sellsword he is agile and fights with less armor then most. Sometimes he fights with two weapons so we can be pretty sure of his skill. Above all he is practical, formality means nothing to him. In that sense he's the exact opposite of The Knight of Flowers.

Bronn so far has not really beaten anyone that could be called dangerous. Dangerous in the sense that he is really going to have a hard time dispatching them. Bronn is too smart for that; one could say however that he only fights foes he is sure that he can beat as well as if there is something in it for him.

Bronn is brave, but his survival instinct makes him a curious case. The interesting thing is that fact that he fought well at the Battle Blackwater. Clearly he could have slipped away, but there he was leading sorties along with the Hound.

Again, in closing: I personally have nothing against Bronn. Bronn is probably not the best warrior in the Westeros (hey he made the list), but he is probably #1 or 2 when it comes to smarts as a warrior. He has a critical eye to see the weakness of his foe and capitalize on them. That's why he is here, against some of the later that will appear on this list his smarts would probably not save him.

The Greatest Warriors of the Westeros- #9 Robert Baratheon

2011-05-22T11:40:00.006-04:00

Continuing from the last post it's time to list another warrior on the Top Ten countdown of the Greatest Warriors of the Westeros in the Song of Ice and Fire. At #9 is: Robert Baratheon: King, drunkard and warrior. Lets get something straight beforehand, it's obvious that Robert Baratheon is King Henry VIII of England turned up to 11, ok, with that out of the way onto Robert.

#9-Robert Baratheon
While other knights use sword and lance, Robert uses a hammer to absolutely smash his foes into submission. Presumably he's trained in the others, but he really doesn't need it. Want proof? Ask Rhegar on The Trident where Robert wrests the crown from the Targaryens if he's any good as a warrior. While others might shirk from danger, he tackles it head on to the point of rash foolishness.

Living up to his family's words "Ours is the Fury" is just part of his character; he's as tempestuous as they come as the Lord of Storm's End. Probably fitting that he should wed Cersei Lannister who is as volatile as he. Anyone who can stand up to that, uh woman... is pretty damn tough.

The series of books that Martin writes all hinge on The War of the Usurper or Robert's Rebellion as it is also known as. It's the focal point of before and after. It is the fact that many of the lords rise up in rebellion against the mad King Aerys after the mad king murders many of the leading noble lords and their sons (including Ned's father and brother Brandon) that sets the stage for the events of the current time line culminating with Robert slaying Prince Rhaegar on the Trident.

The fact that Robert is past his prime by the time of A Game of Thrones is doubly sad as we see him as the hollow shell of what he once was and greatly unhappy for it. For him, striving for the crown was more of challenge and more rewarding. Actually governing bores him to he tells Ned that "that damned chair will rub your ass raw". Of all of the warriors in the book Robert has probably fallen the farthest from what he once was. When he fought Prince Rhaegar he crushed his chest and armor; smashing the very ornamentation off of the Prince's armor as well. And by all accounts Prince Rhaegar was a stout warrior. By the time of A Game of Thrones instead, we get a worn and spent Robert.

Just like every character is Martin's pantheon Robert is flawed: His is a drunk and above all a womanizer sleeping with any women around so it seems. His bastards are numerous, his appetites legendary, but its clear that Robert was never cut out to be King. His character is such that he would have been better served drinking, fighting and wenching his way to oblivion across the Narrow Sea. He even laments this to Eddard. That was he first, best destiny, sadly it was not the story fate would have in store for him. It's Robert's death in A Game of Thrones that leads to the War of the Five Kings.

Robert makes the list at #9 as a powerful warrior in his prime and for being such a catalyst to the overall story. Robert was relentless, his power faded to the shell that we see him in before his untimely death.

The Greatest Warriors of the Westeros- #10 The Blackfish

2011-05-20T23:03:00.011-04:00

Starting off, if you didn't know: I'm a huge fan of GRR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire (or ASOIAF as us fans call it.

Within the pages of the four books, soon to be five, there are awesome combats depicted and amazing, cunning and downright devious warriors.

So with this in mind I'm going to count down the 10 Best Warriors of A Song of Ice and Fire starting with #10. For criteria I selected only warriors from the time-frame of Robert's Rebellion going forward on the current timeline (generally speaking). I did this to avoid the comparisons to the "Great Knights" of lore in the deep history of the Westeros. Too much about them is Ipso-Facto as to how great, manly or fierce warriors they were. It's too tough to reliably and accurately gauge their prowess.

I should add that I'm also taking into account tactics on the battlefield as consideration. It's one thing to be great with a weapon individually or even with a unit. It's entirely another thing to be able to lead in tactics and strategies. Some few possess all of them. It's not the sole, overriding factor, but it does matter.

Bear in mind I don't think everyone will agree with my choices, but you'll have the opportunity to make your case here on the blog. So without further delay it's time to kick things off with warrior #10 on the list.

#10- Brynden Tully, "The Blackfish"

It seems that all of the cool warriors of Westeros have great nick-names and Brynden Tully is no different. Gaining his nickname for defying his family (namely is older brother Hoster Tully) he garners the name "Blackfish". Brynden takes this supposed insult and adopts the black fish as his personal emblem. Eventually "The Blackfish" leaves the Riverlands of his home and eventually by the time we first meet him in A Game of Thrones he is in the service of the Vale.

Brynden makes the list not just for his list of exploits in the book, but for perhaps one reason alone: When the forces of the Lannisters have Riverun under siege its the Blackfish that is guarding the place as his brother Lord Holster is dying in bed.

In A Feast for Crows, Jaime Lannister of whom I'm sure I'll write more about later rides to parley. The Blackfish rides out and coolly meets him and is largely unimpressed with the Kingslayer. Jaime engages in a fair bit of banter and all the while the Blackfish sits there and sizes up the Kingslayer with barely a concern. That right there puts you in the realm of bad-ass. The Kingslayer who is one of the finest swords in the realm and your not concerned in the slightest? And on top of that he inspired Jaime to be a knight in the first place after fighting in the War of the Ninepenny Kings. The Blackfish is even willing to let his nephew Edmure die by hanging thus calling the Lannisters bluff. In short the Blackfish doesn't bend a knee to anyone.

We do not get any scenes of the Blackfish in battle (at least not yet- here's to hoping that it happens in A Dance of Dragons), but everyone who talks about him all comes to the same conclusion that he is one of the better knights and warriors in the Seven Kingdoms. His actions speak loudly and people know of him in the same breath as Ser Barristan Selmy.

And if that were not enough he stubbornly refuses to give up the war even after Robb is killed at the Red Wedding. He still is ready to go to war and not bend even after there is no need to. If you looked up uncompromising in any dictionary there would be his face. When Riverrun is surrendered he swims out through the Water Gate rather then give up!

The Blackfish ranks at #10 and is perhaps the best well-rounded of any of the characters in the books, certainly the knights.

Icebiter Games Publications is now on Facebook

2011-05-15T11:26:00.001-04:00

I'll still update the blog here as this is more my musings on things but Facebook has a tremendous amount of reach. So with that in mind you can now find information (its still pretty basic right now) on Facebook at: Icebiter Games Publciations

Help me get to 25-30 likes as this will really help the cause!

Willmark

The Dawn of Icebiter Games- Module W2 Assualt of the Hill Giant Raiders

2011-05-03T18:02:00.000-04:00

I think I've mentioned it a few times on various websites, but I've been ever so slowly expanding my written modules for 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons modules. The ultimate goal of this is to get a number together for sale and make them available for print-on-demand at Lulu.

Eventually I think I might include some 1st edition ones as well but well have to see where this takes me first. One idea for 1st edition I've been mulling over is a Tiamat inspired adventure. Plus as time and creatively allows I'm re-writing the Planar Webs of Lolth (in place of Queen of the Demon Web Pits). The Tiamat one could be sprawling and like the redo of the Webs is planar. Maybe I should key them as modules OP2, and OP3; after all I don't think there were any that I remember of after OP1...

As of right now I've got my first one W2- Assault of the Hill Giant Raiders well underway, but at the rate I'm going it still could be a while. The reason it's W2 and not W1 is that W1 is mammoth and is taking forever to write, what I need to do is focus and finish on something. W2 is the closest to being done as I ran in my 2nd Edition AD&D game a few months back. I'm at the point where the layout is largely ready and its finally down to art being needed. And therein lies the tough part: As I've said at www.purpleworm.org I'm willing to meet an artist(s) in terms of "talking turkey", but the costs I've heard so far are way up there. Bear in mind this is a old school hobby individual (me), not a major or even mid level publisher we are talking about. At a hypothetical budget of say $200 for art I've got to sell 28-30 @ a price of $7-10 each to break even on the costs of the art alone. I'd like to hear whose interested before I proceed further.

So I'd keep an eye out for Icebiter Games in the future, but just don't hold your breath for things being quick unless I see a high level of demand that is.

WM

The Heirs to Old School AD&D?

2011-02-25T20:38:00.001-05:00

Buckle up this one could get bumpy. I was thinking on the way to work the other day about succession and the natural order of things as it pertains to the editions of Dungeons and Dragons. By this I mean who are the heirs to the older version of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons? Just where does this cut off?

Before this can be answered consider the players of Basic or 1^st Edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. Largely these consist of players that are now in the 40’s and 50’s and the group that actually created these versions might be a bit older. In some cases some of them are no longer with us (Gary Gygax and Dave Arnseon come to mind). As time goes by there are less and less players that experienced these older versions of the game when these were the game that was actually shipping. Looking at it even in its last form 2^nd edition AD&D is now 11 years old. Since then a lot has changed in the RPG industry and in just that relatively short timeframe.

Because of this the pool of people who were actually there at the dawn of the modern RPG age is ever smaller. And as each year passes, grows smaller still. Those older gamers that experienced RPGs without many/any preconceived notions are a likewise shrinking base. As I noted in my previous post about the “war” between 4^th Edition AD&D and Pathfinder it’s near impossible to not be influenced either as a player or designer by modern RPGs. This is a natural thing to when you think about it as computer RPGs were in turn inspired by pen and paper RPGs. This started in the early 80s with games like Adventure on the Atari 2600 and have kept advancing. (Of course this begs the question of what is a RPG in the computer sense these days, as console gaming is where the major advancements are, but that’s something else entirely.) Some of the old school gamers were playing when the Altair was a “modern” computer!

Being 38 now, I experienced AD&D differently then the older school of gamers and had some notions of RPGs on the computer while learning about AD&D. Right from the very start of the modern PC age, computers like the Apple II had games that were RPG like. The difference between then and now is that concepts were there, but the execution compared to today was light years apart. Also being that I started late in terms of the older gamer group (I was 8 in 1981 when I got the Moldvay Basic set for Christmas) I fit into a gap: certainly not an old-schooler, but on the leading edge of those that grew up in the middle of the later wave of 1^st edition AD&D products like the much maligned Unearthed Arcana, Wilderness Survival Guide, were part and parcel of our forays into 1^st Edition AD&D. So with perspective I can remember playing Basic, Advanced and switching to 2^nd edition all when they were new, or at least the current version of the game and in the case of 1^st it alays existed in a form outside of the Core Books. My notions will seem old school to anyone who grew up with games post 3^rd edition D&D and downright radical to the purist, sort of like “middle child syndrome”.

So with this said is it possible that the 2^nd Edition players like myself will be the last heirs to original origins of the game? Its entirely possible as we represent the last generation of gamers before the “Great Schism”, i.e the release of 3^rd Edition D&D, which makes the 1^st/2^nd edition split look like a squabble over nomenclature (in reality it’s just that). As time moves on there is going to be even less gamers like myself as if you look at it 2^nd edition had about a 11 year run as the current edition of the game from 1989-2000. There are some gamers that their first introduction was through 2^nd Edition and had never even played or seen anything early. It’s entirely possible that they never saw or played the Rules Cyclopedia, Mentzer’s B/E/C/M/I or Holmes or Moldvay for that matter. That’s also to say nothing about the influences that shaped the early generation of gamers (see below).

So when you take a step back and look at it the “Hybrid Players” like myself are truly the last roots to the older school movement. I know that will not sit well with some folsk and 1^st editon purists will say that they are. I disagree. Like it or not that later wave was the last that grew up playing 1^st edition AD&D. We were the last ones to grow up with Basic, 1^st and what is diversely called 1.5. We mixed these versions and never thought anything wrong with doing so; I know I never saw a problem with it, neither did my gaming group at the time. Sure there will be some players that will continue with 1^st edition to the very end that never played anything but either Basic or 1^st Edition, but those players are probably not even in the majority anymore. If I had to guess as there is no hard facts on this the bulk of “Old School” is probably these “Hybrid Players” those that were exposed to many different version of the game. I remain unconvinced that there are massive numbers of 1^st or even 2^nd edition players for that matter, at least those that are active today. Back in the day? Sure. Now? Not really.

So that brings me back to the basic premise and title to this post: Who are the heirs to old school? In a sense anyone who played or at least only plays something prior to 2000 could be considered old school. But even then the differention gets tricky: for instance on occasion my group plays d20 Star Wars, which is another beast entirely. I’m sure I’m not alone in this. So I’m not entirely sure that which edition of the game solely defines Old School or not. Surely age will have something to do with it, as I doubt someone could be called “Old School” if are as of today 8 years old ,and just started playing 1^st Edition AD&D. Surely source materials and inspiration will have something to do with it. Some will argue that its the OSR (Old School Renaissance that has taken up the mantle).

But then again this gets even trickier: My first reads were books like the Sword of Shanara, the Hobbit rather then the Old Schoolers: Jack Vance's Dying Earth, Conan, Flash Gordon and the pulp stuff. Likewise art: I was exposed to different art along the way and again far different from what inspired the older generation.

Again this all goes back, where the point really gets made is the year 2000 with the dawn of 3^rd Edition. As much as those that don’t like 2^nd Edition don’t want to admit it, 2^nd Edition really is the last of Old School. But much like anything even the later run added more that was like 3^rd Edition the Player Options series comes to mind (not that I nor my group ever used it, then or now). So in a way 2^nd Edition mirrored late 1^st Edition with additions to the game that some people didn’t use.

So as I look back at this post I’m not sure I have any clearer of answer then when I started. The only thing I think we can agree on is that the real demarcation line isn’t 1989 when 2^nd Edition launched it is 2000 with the start of 3^rd Edition. The rest of it all tends to be a lot of static. And also looking at it the heirs to the old school movement are going to fall to us “Hybrid Players”, those like me. Those that were actually there for the early editions of the game that while not the original players, were close. Being younger also means that these players (just through the cruelties of aging) are going to likely be here longer. When us ”Hybrid Players” have passed then the link to the older games are likewise going to be gone.

It’s an interesting position when one takes a step back and looks at it. All anyone can do is look at an event with their own biases and filters and that’s what I’ve done here. There is surely some overlap in each of the epochs I glossed over, but the fact remains that those that were on the tail end of 1^st edition will be the last link to the old games and the wild and wholly 80’s of RPGs.

Dogs of War Online is back in action!

2011-02-20T19:49:00.000-05:00

For those that may not know I was largely absent from my website for the Dogs of War this was in no small part due to some of the issues that I went through last year. Suffice of to say 2010 was no the best of years under any circumstances but 2011 is starting off much better.
So with that out of the way I've dusted off the site, cleared out a ton of spambots and installed a few new bits of behind the scenes code to help it from getting so infested with spam registrants.

Last October released M4cR1II3n and crew his awesome take on the 8th edition rules for the 8th Edition Dogs of War rules. So if you are looking for a great rule set for the Dogs of War going forward look no further.

In related news I'm actually starting to formulate a strategy for my own Dogs of War force. What I'm actually going to assemble is a Warband of Nippon for my Dogs of War army! I've been a big fan of the Nippon forces since back in the 3rd Edition Warhammer days and always liked the look of them. Plus Iv'e never really seen a good assembled force or really many at all. Its always been a shame that GW never released an actual army for them. But no matter, between the old range being available (somewhat) on eBay and these guys Curteys Miniatures I think I'm going to be OK for the kind of force I want to assemble.

While the GW range was/is nice for Dogs of War its never really held my interest. Plus add to the fact that in order to get them now its either crazy prices off of the GW UK website or crazy prices off of eBay. Not willing to do either really. As I mentioned thats where these Mounted Samurai from Curtey's come into play: 12 metal minis for $47? yes please, GW should take note.

So with all that as I noted above I'm formulating a plan as most of my Warhammer stuff is packed up in anticipation for a move to a new house. So what I'm doing is seeking out all of the parts that I'm looking for before I start my force. This will be a novel idea for me as I usally acquire minis as I'm painting. Starting off I'm going with the Nippon Rocket Crew from Games Workshop back in the 3rd edition days. and thanks to a few chaps over on Chaos Dwarfs Online I think I'm set with that part. I will be getting the Rocket Launcher and 3 out of the 4 crewmen which is fine with me. Fine because when I run these guys as Dogs of War I plan on using it as a "Count As" Halfling Hot Pot, when used as a "Count As" Empire force I'll use it as a undersized Hellstrom Rocket Battery.

My buddy Baggronor also has informed me that he has some 3rd Edition Games Workshop Ninjas as well. After all, even renegade warband of Nippon Mercs is going to have some ninjas squirreled away inside of it.

Other ideas include: a mounted Giesha for a wizard along the lines of the PC game Shogun: Total War; a band of mercenary dwarfs, a converted unit or from (Curtey's line) of crossbowmen from Cathay. I don't see the Nipponese Samurai or their retainers using crossbows but a mercenary force? Sure in the right hands. This opens up possibilities of a renamed Marksmen or Miglirano renamed as well. Other ideas are a giant, but not as a Eastern giant per say, rather painted up like normal. The reason for this is I want to tie into the Old World as well. This as yet unnamed force has been fighting all over the continent and is made up of various parts. At its core is the Nippon forces yes, but other elements as well. It will be wirds painting the giant in such a manner will make him appear unusual because his supporting troops will look so different.

That's it for now. Drop me a line if you have a read on any of the old 3rd edition Oriental line from Games Workshop.

WM

The Word of Hashut #11 is finally out

2011-02-14T19:57:00.003-05:00

Release of Issue #11 of the Word of Hashut

Well it was another overly long production cycle, but Issue #11 of the Word of Hashut is finally out: Word of Hashut #11 As I note in my editorial inside the issue the Word of Hashut will be undergoing a diet in the future in order to manage to get it out on time. In short it’s about time or more precisely the lack there-of.

So for those that aren’t regulars of Chaos Dwarfs Online here’s the heads up that the latest issue is now indeed out.

I will point out however that issue #12 is slated for release in late March, but with going on vacation I don’t that is going to be likely. So its probably up to the Summer issue in June to get back on track but with moving (hopefully) you know the drill...

4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons vs. Pathfinder and why history is repeating itself

2011-02-12T20:57:00.000-05:00

VS.

Taking a break from Warhammer for the moment I thought I'd delve into the schism that is now brewing in new school D&D, but from an outsiders perspective. You see I say outsider, because I'm not on either "side", mainly because in this fight no one is on "mine", nor do I have much vested interest in who wins.

Damn Cool cover if you ask me!

The reason why I don't really care who "wins" is that the impact of either game means relatively nothing to me as I don't play either game. Pathfinder is the logical extension of D&D 3.0/3.5 once Wizards of the Coast went in a alternative direction with 4th Dungeons & Dragons. Pathfinder took the cast offs who weren't going to 4th edition and provided them extended 3.0/3.5 (more or less, debating it is largely semantics). The fact that Paizo Publishing could do so via the OGL is nothing if not ironic. By all accounts Pathfinder is doing well and taking it to Wizards of the Coast in terms of sales. For many of us long time gamers, Dungeons & Dragons ceased being relevant to us with the release of 3rd edition, for some older folks it was 2nd edition. In my case I bought the Core Books for 3rd edition, played a bit and found it "meh". Then 3.5 got released right after that. It felt like a video game on paper as time goes by it became like World of Warcraft more and more.

The other part that seals it for me is the very idea of "character build" with the word "optimal" often in there. Sorry, but any pen and paper game that uses those phrases is either going to attract MMORPG / WoW players or its going to emulate that paradigm, whether by design or accident. Its too difficult and near impossible these days to untangle the concepts of a video game and the pen and paper games of today. 3.0/3.5 started it, and 4.0 finished it off. Those that dismiss it out of hand are a tad hyper defensive about it. Now this is not to say that you couldn't do this in older editions of the game, but that wasn't the focus. All too often characters are planned out with an eye to you guessed it: a specific build. When you take a step back from it and look at it, if 3.0-4.0 D&D didn't set out to emulate computer RPGs and MMORPGs it did anyways. I don't think that's an accident either. I've yet to see a compelling argument that 4th edition isn't World of Warcraft. And oh yeah your characters end up looking something like this:


I think he/she needs a few more pieces of equipment there...

In short later editions are about the "build", and the predetermined structure he will follow to achieve that path. In todays role-playing it has become about what you can "build" rather then what you play or act out. Sure there are some that will also role-play but it seems that takes a back seat. To me that's a shame.

Now, lest anyone think I'm a stubborn "old school gamer", hardly. I've played up to 3.0 and 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons and quite like d20 Star Wars, much more so then the old d6 version of the game from West End Games. I have no axe to grind against WoW or anything like it, Hell if I had more time in my life I'd probably be playing a ton of it. I don't hang out at the Knights and Knaves Alehouse and disagree with many on Dragonsfoot. I'm also of the mind set that if you want to play an edition of the game then do so, play what system you want. I truly believe that, unfortunately not everyone else does. And with that said its important to note that history is repeating itself with the Dungeons & Dragons vs. Pathfinder split: its basically the rift from 1st edition to 2nd edition AD&D of the late 80's early 90s magnified. For those not in the know Gary Gygax left TSR in 1985 after Lorraine Williams assumed control and wrested the company from Gary. Now there is no 2nd edition player that I know of that would take her over Gary (I wont go into details on her here, but Gary's account can be found all over the web). The problem for us 2nd Edition players is the fact that she was in control of Dungeons & Dragons when 2nd Edition got released. Sort of being judged by the company you keep rather then your own merits. Again I would have preferred Gary's 2nd edition game as was alluded to in Dragon Magazine before his ouster, but alas that was not to be; not that I dislike what we got instead from Zeb Cook. To cut a long story short as it been hashed out and beaten to death many times: the fan base fractured and split setting the stage for edition adherents much akin to religion. Some could argue that this happened even before this, that's not the point. The rift was the biggest that the game had seen thus far and there it was. Basically what happened was over politics rather then differences in the editions; because when you look at it there is not much difference between 1st and 2nd Edition D&D.

The point of all of this is that the Dungeons & Dragons vs. Pathfinder split is basically the same story as it was in 1989: "same circus, different clowns" as I like to say. I wonder that if as a line of pen and paper games Dungeons & Dragons is reaching its end of its rope. Certainly its past its apex. Now the Old School Renaissance would have you believe that the older games and their retro clones are gaining momentum, in a small sense: maybe. By "small" I mean that its never going to be mass market again, the older systems that is, nor the retro clones. And add to that the overall market has been shrinking since it's heyday in the 80's. That's not expanding that's just diving up into ever smaller less in common sects if you will. Instead of unity it's an ever fracturing base that gets smaller and smaller as each edition goes by, especially as advances in computer/console games continue to apply further outside pressure. 4th edition shares a lot from 2nd in the sense that its shaping up to be another demarcation line in the sand.

I'm also tempted to say that Pathfinder is going to win this. I think when you look at it, really look at it without bias it's apparent that Piazo has the momentum. Wizards has the "name" of D&D but no momentum. As more time goes by Pathfinder is gathering more steam, more momentum. The investment path of Pathfinder is such that people can use a lot of the existing material from 3.0 onwards. When Wizards releases 5th edition Dungeons and Dragons I have a sneaking suspicion that its going to be nothing like 4th creating further problems for their dwindling fan base. Because the fans are going to be repurchasing their books. Makes the "repurchasing" books from 1st looks like small potatoes in comparison.

Its interesting to not that the very concept of "Edition Wars"is largely a Dungeons and Dragons thing. Take Warhammer for instance, sure there are people that aren't happy with 8th edition Warhammer by by and large the community moves to new editions. Dungeons and Dragon? Not so much.

Bait and Switch for old schoolers????

In closing the game used to be about what TSR/Wizards/Hasbro did, they were the "800 lb gorilla" in the room, now they seem to be screwing up like QuarkXPress in the early 00's. Question is will Pathfinder take its place like InDesign did to Quark? Tnen you add the mess that is essentials? How is this thing making things easier? That's right it isn't.

So once again its "1989, my thoughts were short my hair was long..." oh wait this isn't a Kid Rock song. Rather we appear to be at a once every 20-year event in the industry where the D&D market fragments. And unlike 20 years ago the rift is going to be, far, far bigger. Last time it was about Gary getting ousted, this time its going to be (already is) about two companies going at it and its fans seem to be drawing sides. At least 20 years ago the two editions were still close enough that they required only minimal rework. I've often maintained that 2nd Edition AD&D was really 1.5 in the sense that it just cleaned up 1st; nothing too radical was released, that wasn't until 3rd that the game really changed.

As a (somewhat) interested observer I'll be watching to see how it unfolds. I say somewhat because neither makes a product I'm looking to buy. I'm not alone either and it will be interesting to see what Wizards does, because I have a feeling they are going start having less and less customers, this year might be the tipping point. And if they have a 5th edition that diverges even further from the 3.5 break point its going to get ugly for wizards.

WM

Nasty Skulkers = Sneaky Gits?

2011-02-11T21:19:00.000-05:00

Nasty Skulkers ? Pretty cool name and nice new minis for the Orc and Goblin range, right? Well, yes and no. Yes to the cool new mini part, no to this being good for Chaos Dwarf players. Orc and goblin players should be embarrassed as they now have even more choices for their hordes. us Dawi Zharr are still on the outside looking in. Normally the closest thing we have to an army book is the Orc and Goblin one because we have a number of units in there that we are able to use. So it is natural for us Chaos Dwarf players to take a peak and see what we can use. Enter the nasty Skulkers. Goblins who attack the flanks, backstab and retreat, sound like a certain Dawi Zharr unit by any chance?

Look at Nasty Skulkers and its obvious for us that Sneaky Gits come to mind and therein lies the problem. The reason why this is an issue is the fact that the two are so closely aligned in look and feel, that I wonder if it is a legitimate question that the did the Orcs and Goblins get one of our cooler units? Its legitamate to ask as we haven’t had a list in years so why wouldn’t GW pillage their own works for “new” ideas? The answer is there is nothing to stop them from doing so.

Now from the financial side, no matter how cool the minis are there is no way you are going assemble a Sneaky Git unit from these guys; its just not going to happen from the cost perspective. For a unit of Sneaky Gits you’d need 20 minimum and that means by at least 7 packs of these guys and $15 for 3: $105 for a unit, not very cost effective no mater the look of the minis; I like the look of them, but not that much.

In any event its another nice option for us Chaos Dwarf players and perhaps those that are not confident in their converting/green stuff skills. If the Chaos Dwarfs do get remade I wonder on the cross-over potential otherwise. I’d say low due to the fact that GW has been keeping armies as separate entities since 6^th edition and I don’t see this changing.

Gamesday 2011????

2011-01-31T20:59:00.001-05:00

So Gamesday 2011 is in Chicago this year and so far I am undecided as to whether or not I will be going. Last year at Baltimore was to be blunt: disappointing to say the least when clearly GW was holding back. What do I mean by this? To put it bluntly they held back EVERYTHING on the Warhammer side of the house and instructed no one to talk about the upcoming information for Warhammer Forge. There were plenty of rumors going around the net and clearly the GW staffers were in the know were clearly choosing their words very carefully. Sorry guys, GW is not Apple, the secrecy game works for them, you guys? Not so much. It was nice to spend time with my friends and the like and it was cool to get some games of Warhammer in (which is an all to infrequent thing these days for me), but if this was their attempt, I’d almost rather they didn’t, at all. That may sound harsh but I like the new game, its refreshing, its weeded out a lot of the math-hammer, “your missed that charge by 1/16” of an inch” whiney a-holes. All that said, Gamesday needs to be better.

Sorry, but another halfhearted attempt again doesn’t make me feel better considering time and distance to travel. Traveling to Chicago is not that much further for me as I can cut through lower Ontario Canada to shave off some considerable time and distance; so its probably a 9 hour drive as opposed to 7 to Baltimore from where I live in Rochester NY. So it’s not the distance that concerns me, but rather it’s the effort. I ask you GW why should I expend this time and effort for what has become a lack-luster event in general? I like the fact that its later this year (July 30^th). I also look forward to see some of my friends in the Mid-West, but it’s largely a wasted effort on the Warhammer side of the house if GW does it half-assed again. GW should note for me its not the money either, its rather the time and effort.

So as I stand here in late January, early February it’s a unsettled and uncertain thing: I want to go, I want GW to show me something there that will make it worth my time and effort, but sadly I have this sneaking feeling that if there are any big announcements, they will save it for Gamesday UK in the Fall and leave Gamesday US as a half-hearted attempt again. Note: that’s not that I know of any because usually when I post these things my inbox gets flooded, ;)

As to how this could be better (as I a firm believer rather then complaining offer up constructive criticism) is this: Rather then instructing everyone to talk about nothing or with half speak, how about some open dialogue. I fail to see what GW gains by being so closed. I’m sorry the consumer is getting smarter and from where I live not everyone is jumping on the latest army anymore; people aren't that free with their money anymore, even the “kids”. So if the fear is that “If we tell you, you’ll just wait until that army comes out…” Guess what GW? I’ve been doing that for years, I have money I will give you for the product that I want. Apparently you don’t want that money, so here I wait.

How about you? What are your thoughts regarding attendance at the closest Gamesday to you this year?

Warhammer Forge?

2011-01-24T20:34:00.000-05:00

OK guys on the other side of the pond... what in the name of Hashut is going on here? Last Gamesday UK the fickle chaos gods finally answered every loyal Dawi Zharr player out there, you know the ones that have been dreaming of Chaos Dwarfs since 4th-5th edition. Well, for those that missed it the world of Chaos Dwarfs was rocked by this: Loki's GamesDay Pics And since that time Forgeworld has only done this: Link to Not Much

In other words no much has changed on their website except rearrange their already existing Warhammer stuff.

So c'mon Chaps. At this rate my youngest child will have gone through three different editions of the game before they get something Chaos Dwarf related out the door.

Oh and one more thing: STEAM Power for daemonic engines? STEAM POWER? This looks cool, it is a great model, running on Steam Power? Not so much.

I dont know about you fellow Dawi Zharr but as soon as I get my grubby mitts on this bad boy I'm making it daemonic powered like the Hell Cannnon.

In the meantime a quick update on Word of Hashut #11: This issue is taking me far longer then I would like, but I am slowly making progress. I can't promise a time but I am getting there.

Till the next update.

WM

The end of the Patriots "Dynasty?"

2011-01-18T17:22:00.002-05:00

With the loss of the New England Patriots to the Jets on Sunday, the Super Bowl that was already ordained to be their bright right from on high... oops that part didn't go so well did it. Looky, looky, see what happens when you assume? The Jets came out were hungrier and wanted it more. One wonders if this "dynasty" ended years ago and someone forgot to tell them.

For those not in the know a little bit of history and as a Oakland Raiders fan I'll freely admit there is no way I'm going to be unbiased.

On January 19, 2002 the Raiders got robbed of a win with the infamous "Tuck Rule Game" where it was ruled that Tom Brady did not fumble. From that point then went on to win the super bowl behind the kicking of Adam Vinateri who would later kick another winner against the Carolina Panthers. Later they would win against the Eagles in 2007 (more on that later).

So this year after ripping off 8 straight wins the media was falling all over themselves to declare the Patriots the champs before the playoffs began...

And after listening to how Tom Brady was the All-Universe Quarterback this year, it got a bit much; the New England fans got to the point of intolerable. They are now almost as bad as Detroit Red Wings fans. The interesting thing is that I don't think I disliked the Patriots half as much as their smug fans. But after hearing some interesting things about the organization from someone with first hand knowledge one has to wonder if the Emperor truly had no clothes.

Since "Spygate" was discovers a few years back it is interesting to see that the Patriots have gone 5-5 since in the playoffs since their last Super Bowl win in 2007. Also makes one take a look at their prior to Super bowls. Sorry, but take away Adam Vinateri and a they have exactly one Super Bowl win. If Donovan NcNabb isn't gassed in the last "win" it becomes a loss.

Best ever Quarterback to ever play in the NFL is Tom Brady? Sorry, but as of right now there is one best ever QB and here he is, and I'm not even a San Francisco 49ers fan:

And add to the fact that Joe Cool never lost a Super Bowl... Tom Brady currently stands at 3-1. He might very well win another one. Fact of the matter is: Joe Cool won every time he was there. Brady took a 18-0 team to the Super Bowl... and lost. Also in Joe Cool's arsenal the time he needed a TD (not FGs) to win as in Super Bowl 25. Tom Brady is not the best QB ever he's good, top 10, maybe even top 5. But when the chips are down in the playoffs? Joe Montana delivered.

(For those wondering the next several posts coming up are Warhammer related).

Part II- Dark Elves, Dark Elves, everyhwere I look?

2011-01-15T23:09:00.000-05:00

Part II
In a previous post I talked about my personal road and involvement in playing Dark Elves in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. I've played one dark elf in 1st edition (around 1986/7) and one in 2nd edition (1997/200) since 1982; not a bad track record. My one for 1st edition coincided with me purchasing Unearthed Arcana with my own cash which was a huge moment for me. Interestingly enough both coincided with two of the best campaigns I ever played in.

In 1989 the gaming world changed with the introduction of a character by RA Salvatore called Drizzt Do'Urden and since then grognards the world over have labeled this event along with Lorraine Williams as the worst things ever to happen to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (I think it was 3rd and 4th edition that was the worst but that's just me). I fully agree with the Lorraine Williams part, the second, not so much and here's why.

Look at what changed, I mean what really changed. TSR hit a gold mine with what was morphing into a major character that rivaled Spiderman was to Marvel Comics. Think about this at one point in the late 80's there were 4 Spiderman titles in a month, four! Was he overexposed? Most assuredly, but more to the point Marvel was smart they were using their most well know property to gain more sales. Smart companies do this and if I was in the same boat I'd probably do the very same thing. So with that realization it was all Drizzt Do'Urdern all the time everywhere in the Realms. If this was say for a character from Greyhawk I don't think there would be this much gnashing of teeth this many decades later. Gord anyone?

In a way I don't think anyone can fault TSR for having him appear so much, in this sense Drizzt is no different then Marvel using Spiderman as their poster boy and the parallels are somewhat similar as to why they were so popular:

Loners (by and large)
Both misunderstood by the "public at large".
Both intrinsically good, despite those they protect not understanding them

By and large this probably describes large numbers of teenage boys who probably formed the largest readership of the character. I dont look down on anyone who might make their teenage years easier, one knows they are hard enough as it is.

So with all that said what makes Drizzt whiny and not Peter? I really don't think either are personally but maybe that's me. I think much like Ravenloft, Dragonlance's D1-15 and Drizzt its a case of people's impression of them that means "this is so" rather then what it might actually be. Look through Dragonlance, som think its rail-roady, sure it is to a point but thats what happens when you mirror a series of books and vice-versa. Peter could be pretty darn whiny, especially in the early days, rarely does Drizzt mask slip, it may have later as I stopped reading the series after Siege of Darkness.

I think the problem that exists for the old time gamers is the fact that it changed the idea of Dark Elves very much from what Gary Gygax imagined them in the Fiend Folio and D1-3 the Drow Series D1-3 (the companion to the Giant Series G1-3). The problem I have with that is that what was Gary imagining from exactly? Traditionally Dark Elves were a Norse idea and I don't see a lot of direct influence there. If one looks at the literary sources of say Tolkein, his Dark Elves are those that never beheld the light of the Trees, again something very different again. I like Gary's imagining in D3 as opposed to say the City of Menzoberranzan boxed set (circa 1992). Newer school players are probably bound to like the later. Doesnt mean that either is wrong but in over two decades of gaming archetypes are bound to change. Whether they want to admit it I'm guessing that the people consuming the media and games have changed as well.

Another problem I see with this over-arcing theme of Dark Elves is that once someone played in or read G1-3, and D1-3 the cat was largely out of the bag anyways. Its not like you can stuff that particular genie back in the bottle again. Then the issue was compounded with the explosion of Salvatore's writing and the Forgotten Realms shifting to the default campaign setting for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. I think this also speaks to a larger problem as well: the politics of TSR, the ouster of Gary and the fact that second edition was starting to become more and more of a reality to the older generation of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons gamers.This lead to a massive schism that still reverberates today which I wont delve into here.

Expounding on this further then brings to nature of the character Drizzt. Many of the old guard simply label him as a munchkin character that is over the top and breaks the rules of the game. That may be so, but if anything he fits better rules-wise in 1st edition, and after all 1st edition allowed for the playing of dark elves as characters by none other then Gary... It's important to note that while I'm a big fan of Greyhawk in terms of a campaign setting (with all its clunky weirdness that goes hand in hand with it) its not like the World of Greyhawk is not without its munchkin characters either: Again, Gord anyone? So when you throw all of this together a rather combustible mix is starting to brew.

So why might that be? I think Drizzt also came about a certain time (the late 80's/early 90's) that were much different then the 70's and what the gamers then grew up with in terms of reading. Keep in mind reading being the primary mode for the transmission of these ideas or by mail ;) In some cases the older generation of gamers and wargamers grew up with the likes of Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and and such. Harryhausen's movies were also likely to be big in their formative years. For the newer gamers and the ones that straddled that line (like me) we were exposed to a wide variety of things and to us our first introduction to say Conan was through a movie rather then the books. I guess what I'm trying to say here is that the character-type is different then the player. The player identifies with the character, but is the character type tainted by the player type? I wonder if some of the "good" drow syndrome was related to the "Worf syndrome"; surely there had to be some Klingons that weren't rat bastards? right? (Don't look at me I liked the Romulans better).

If the argument that the character of Drizzt attracts a certain type of player, then I would agree with that and that is where the problem lies. Looking over multiple forums that cater to mutiple editions this is the sense I get. It would seem that many old-schoolers are continually beset with new school players wanting to play drow rangers dual wielding scimitars. I doubt that's the case for everyone, but lets go with it for a moment. If that's the case then I count myself lucky as I've never had to deal with that in my group. While this maybe is indeed a problem, I can certainly understand why someone would want that escape. We play this game as a means of escape if only for a little while. What many younger players might want is an escape for any number of reasons where they are victims of their surroundings per say or things that are terrible in their regular everyday lives. Its easy to sit back in disparage kids for wanting to play out some fantasies of not being the victim and the butt kicker, to give it out rather then have to take it. I see nothing wrong with that. Some will counter with: "What about the 40-year guys doing this?" Well is that a problem with the character/stereo-type they want to play, or that type of player? I'd say the later.

So how does one reconcile the imagery of Dark Elves in this day in age? I'm not sure you can. Because its reached such a level in the gaming community especially the Dungeons and Dragons community that its a touch-point for certain factions. I'm not going to worry about Dungeons and Dragons 3.0, 3.5 or 4 because they represent such a departure for what many consider Advanced Dungeons and Dragons that its largely irrelevant to the people that would be playing the older editions of the game. As I noted on www.dragonsfoot.org the first order of business to reclaim the Dark Elves (if that is indeed your aim) is at once the easiest and toughest: no Dark Elf PCs. This might cause and uproar in your group depending on the players, but then you don't have to worry about the "Drizzt Syndrome" of certain types of players wanting to play him. 2nd point: return them to being monsters of an unknown quality rather then known the world over; think about it in this sense:

In the Forgotten Realms- Dark Elves are evil, wicked and downright sadistic. All over the realms people know they are evil, have heard of them etc. But how is this so for such a "rare" race? Seems like plenty of the common folk have plenty of advanced knowledge of deep underground races. Unless this is of course because they raid so often?
In the World of Greyhawk Dark Elves are evil, wicked and downright sadistic. People know they are evil, but yet at the same time barely know of them... How can either of these be?

In a pseudo medieval setting most people are going to have a extremely limited knowledge of really ancient legends. Dark Elves fall in that category. They are going to be worried about farming, winters and "real" monsters like goblins, orcs, hobgoblins and ogres; the ones that they do know of and probably have seen with their own eyes. So how would most folk hate and fear them if that are that rare?

The answer is that the imagery of Dark Elves is so muddled in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons that you have to separate out just what the are. Or at least separate player expectation. The DM needs to make a decisions of how are they presented in his world. Are they mysterious and unknown? If so it stands the reason that most people would have no idea what they are if they saw one and certainly would have no idea of them being the "bogey-man" race that they are presented as. The Forgotten Realms is more guilty of this then Greyhawk per say. In Greyhawk the dark elves are largely unknown and I think the less a DM allows them the better off things will be.

Another benefit of making them unknown is that it eliminates one of the main role-playing reasons why someone might want to play a certain drow ranger clone: if people aren't going to automatically want to kill them on sight it negates the tragic hero angle right off the bat. If the default meme of the last 20 years is gone, what incentive is for this players to play the same thing they read about? There isn't and there is the beauty of it: they can then be free to play their dark elf as something else, not what they read in a book.

Dark Elves do not have to be a touch point like they have been prior, they can be more of what they used to be. It merely takes more effort then it used to.

With all that said I'm looking forward to writing my first dark elf inspired adventure and for 1st edition Advanced Dungeon and Dragons rules no less. It will be a replacement for Q1- Queen of the Demonweb Pits ,its very much in need of a better ending and hopefully I can deliver. Oh and looky here's Loth ;)

In closing for my own part I'm fairly neutral in this as I grow older, having played two dark elf characters since 1982 hardly makes me an fan-boy for them as in both cases it was what my inner muse whispered at the time. I guess playing Warhammer also effected how I viewed dark elves as well as the imagery there is a whole 'nother discussion in and of itself.

Oh and one last thing from D3 by none other then Gary Gygax: "In the right hand cage there is a Dark elf fighter/magic-user of 4th/4th (HP: 24, no armor, 12 strength, 18 intelligence, 9 wisdom, 18 dexterity, 15 constitution, 13 charisma) placed into captivity yesterday and paralyzed by the spider demoness. He is Nilonim, a dissident Drow captured in Erelhei-Cinlu where he led a band of rebels attempting to overthrow noble rule. He is of neutral alignment with a slight tendency towards good deeds." Interesting stuff, were the seeds for the explosion of good Drow contained within? I'm not saying Gary intended anything by this, but it had to have been in there for some reason.

WM

Some improvements to the Blog!

2011-01-14T19:50:00.001-05:00

As you can see I've added some improvements to the blog in order to make it easier on the eye strain. Reversed type is ok, but for long periods of time its a bit taxing.

Also never fear I have a bunch of posts in the pileline for the blog in various states of completion, just trying to get things organized.

Its also important to note that the blog is still going to cover Warhammer stuff but is also expanding to cover gaming in general and other nerd topics, maybe sports too.

Willmark

A1- Slave Pits of the Undercity Review

2011-01-01T20:41:00.002-05:00

I know I said I'd do Part II of my Dark Elf thread, but I picked up a bit of a curve ball over at www.dragonsfoot.org with noticing that in the reviews section that the seminal A1-4 series was not fully reviewed and had some weird edits early in the thread. So with that in mind I figured I start at square one.

So with that in mind I tackled A1 http://www.dragonsfoot.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=47084

I mainly play 2nd Edition AD&D but I have this in mind for using in an a upcoming Castle and Crusades campaign that I'm working on in a "on again/off again fashion: as time allows

Note that this is not about the super module Scourge of the Slavelords: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scourge_of_the_Slave_Lords but rather each module individually.

So with this in mind if you are so inclined take a peak over there and tell me what you think.

(For those wondering I know the title of the blog is for Chaos Dwarfs; well I've been on a bit of a break so think of the blog evolving more towards a general gaming blog).

WM

Of Dark Elves, TSR and the road to 2nd Edition PT. 1

2010-12-31T14:07:00.002-05:00

On Dark Elves and their history of the game
(Before I get rolling on this I should present the fact that I read the first books when the came out that featured Dark Elves by RA Salvatore in 1988 with the first of the Crystal Shard; however as you will see my experience fortunately predates this work by a few years).

Willmark's history on Dark Elves in AD&D... Part 1

Before I get into the particulars of the role-playing genre and dark elves in general I think I should point out a few things. Unlike most people that started playing the game I was not a geek or nerd, I suspect that some had the same path as me, but not too many. I played sports (football even from the time I was 7-8), had lots of girlfriends even from an early age. So suffice to say I was not the lonely "prototypical nerd" staying in my basement playing D&D to the exclusion of all else. In fact some of my girlfriends in high school were downright hot! (what the hell they were doing with me is another post for another time ;) I might be a geek now, but I digress. So for at least me it blows the angst geek stereotype that wants to play dark elves right out of the water.

Now, with all this said I have terrible secret: I have played drow characters! Harsh. Fan-boy, I know? Hardly. However, I have been only two I've played in my gaming life of 30 years and both were fun for different reasons.

My first experience with dark elves started with the first AD&D book I bought myself, the much maligned Unearthed Arcana. Contained within the tome that is really a collection of Gary Gygax's home campaign notes to a large degree were expanded rules for demi-human races: including Dark Elves. Funny when I look at it now, the deep gnomes may have even more munchkin rules then the dark elves! The Druegar and the Dark Elves are about neck and neck in my honest opinion.

Playing in one of of our last 1st edition D&D campaigns in High School before we switched to 2nd I decided to play a dark elf fighter/magic user wielding a spetum and shield to mean effect and casting many a fireball and lightning bolt that crossed his path. This was late 1986/early 1987. I still have his character sheet and looking through his notes finished at around levels 7/9 for about 2 years of play. His name Relendor Silkenweb. The main memories I have of playing him was that he was very much a mercenary and approached most obstacles with that mindset.

My second dark elf was from the 90's and was created in early 1997 for a 2e campaign. Previous the DM tried to get us to play Basic via the Rules Cyclopedia. For one reason of another the group stopped playing and reformed a few weeks later. I played a elf figher with a morbid curiously towards death. With that short lived character called Cormac I came up with the idea of my second dark elf character named Yonel Var-Empyr a dark elf elven knight using a kit from Elves of the Evermeet. Now how I got to this was a bit weird so bear with me. At the time I was re-reading all of the Elric books and being easy reads I plowed through them all. I had even more time to re-read them a third time when I broke my leg in 13 places in March of that year. it was from this thirds read that I would later form up his back-story.

With all that said the character gained a ton of back history and it melded to the history of the game the DM presented, it was quite organic. He eventually became a leader of outcast elves, mainly surface elves at that. The interesting thing is that at either time with either character I cant say I was influenced by the Dark Elf sagas of Drizzt Do-Urden. Shocking I know? In the first case I looked up some drow names from D3- Decent into the Depths of the Earth and jumbled something around or dropped some letters. In the second case more Elric influence. Can't quite remember how I came up with the second name.

So what does this have to do with dark elves per say I hear you say? Nothing, and everything. As a player that came in a latter wave to D&D and 1st AD&D via the Moldvay boxed set I got for Christmas in 1982, I have a different perspective of TSR and its events relating to dark elves, and the road the led to second edition. I mention these because to many the two are the same thing: dark elves and 2nd edition.

Switching gears a bit: Being 12 in 1985 I only had a vague impression or understanding that Gary Gygax had left TSR and no idea as to all the reasons till many years later. So with this in mind my friends and I had about 2 years of AD&D under our belts and much of that was figuring out what to do with it and coming up with some munchkin characters that make anything RA Salvatore could come up with look tame in comparison.

We noodled around with both Basic and AD&D and blended them together as I'm sure a lot of people did. I quit that group and joined another group which is where I played my first dark elf listed above. From there I played with some excellent guys who are still my friends to this day, yes even including the 2nd edition games.

Now cross this with my DMing. In my current gaming group either one other DM and I take the DMing chores. In the times I DMed I think I've used the dark elves as protagonists exactly once as a minor story arc revolving around a human PC cleric. When its all said and done my favorite under dark race and one that I often use in my AD&D games is the Derro, another creature that first appeared in 1st edition AD&D...

So thus you have my perspective as a DM (I rarely use them) and in playing since 1982 I've played exactly 2 dark elves. Thus the stage is set for my discussion of Drizzt, Dark Elves and 2nd edition AD&D.

So this closes out Part I. I'll be starting on Part II soon. That next one is going to really get into the meat if you will, mirroring my analysis of the rise of 2nd Edition and the hated cliche of the Dark Elf character, what the archetype means and how it mirrored TSR.

Hey, Hey! Trying to catch up, brief update for now.

2010-12-27T20:21:00.000-05:00

Also on my current Reading list
Now that the holidays are done and the Word of Hashut is underway I thought I'd take a moment out to talk about my latest readings. As noted to the side as it says I'm reading Glen Cook's The Black Company. However my erstwhile friend Simrion just provided me with book 6 of the Camloud Chronicles (or in Canada, A Dream of Eagles) By Jack Whyte / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/jack_whyte

This is a great series that I can't say enough about, I have recommended it to a few of my friends and work colleges and thus far no one has disliked it. Without spilling the beans too much it is set in the time of the historical Arthur and gives plausible reasons as to why and how the legends have come down to us the way they have. I say historical arthur by then again that is truly up for debate anyways. I wont spoil it by saying anything further just pick up the series.

Currently I'm on Book 6 The Sorcerer Part 2: Metamorphosis which is 6 out of 9.

Again, highly recommended.

Hey long time away!

2010-10-24T09:44:00.000-04:00

Just a few updates about me:

Right now Issue #10 of the Word of Hashut is being proofed by the editorial folks so hopefully this week I will have it out; a week late I now but what can you do.

Additionally Right now I'm reading a few new books for the latest one check my "What I'm reading". (Just realized I need to update that more often...)

Also a cool website I found out about:

Wakoopa http://social.wakoopa.com/ Wakoopa is sorta like the Facebook of technology, definately a nerd thing. I've just started to play around with it and hope to uncover more about. Unfortunately Paul Thurott of WinSupersite (in)fame(y) uses it. Ahh well hopefully I won't hold that against him.

WM

2010-09-09T09:03:00.000-04:00

Sorry gang but its been a while with health issues and all and hopefully i find out some good news later today from my doctor.

I’ve also updated what I’m currently reading. if you hav not read the Jack Whyte series called either the Dream of Eagles or the Camloud Chronicles (depends on where you live) then I highly recommend doing so;; great read and a great telling of a classic tale, perhaps the classic tale.

On to other stuff: I see that the next issue of the Bellower is out from Ogre Stronghold so its time for me to download and review it.

The issue can be downloaded from here:
http://www.ogrestronghold.com/forum/index.php?topic=17070.0

At a quick glance I like the cover (I knew what it was however due to the Ad exchanges amongst the current ezines in production). Looks like it will be a good read.

Also on the horizon I’m hoping to start reviews of some of the fan made modules for 1st and 2nd edition AD&D. We’ll see how that goes.

First 2nd Edition Module done!

2010-07-25T22:41:00.000-04:00

Despite tons of tribulations in my life right now I managed to somehow get my first module for 2nd Edition AD&D done: W2-Assault on the Hill Giant Raiders to a playable form. (Its called W2 because module W1 is taking far longer to write then I would like).

This came about from my players getting some fairly high level characters and wanting to challenge them with giants but not wanting to resort to G1-3 Against the Giants by Gary Gygax. While I love G1-3 I wanted to opt for something different. Thus this first stab.

Look for more to come as I write them.

Willmark

Gold and Glory #4

2010-06-13T13:34:00.000-04:00

Once again I go insane by actually designing and laying out not one ezine, but two. In this case I'm talking about Gold and glory #4 rather then the Word of Hashut. As soon as I finished it I had to immediately start working on Word of Hashut #9 which is now very, very late as a result. It was fun and it was nice to do something different.

This time around I tried out a few new things in terms of layout and I brought me back to the Winter of last year when I did Gold and Glory #1 (February 2010).

One thing is for sure there is no way I can do tow so I'm sure that the Gold and Glory crew will be looking to hire some folks to work on it.

Also a nice touch is TwilightCo's cover for this issue, his second in a row.

Issue #4 can be found here, so enjoy:
http://dogsofwaronline.com/forum/showthread.php?tid=973&pid=13727#pid13727

WM

Gold and Glory #4... is done!

2010-05-25T19:48:00.002-04:00

Exclusive news here! I have finished the layout for Gold and Glory #4, the ezine of http://dogsofwaronline.com/

In the coming week I hope to have this one out by Friday next week as I'm getting well into Word of Hashut #9. That will be a blog post for a later point and is going to be a great one.

Good to see just who is reading/following this blog. ;)

Jamarcus Russell Thank the Sith Gods he's gone!

2010-05-21T20:25:00.013-04:00

I'm going to take the opportunity to thank the Sith Lords for finally cutting the worst, and I mean worst quarterback ever to disgrace himself in football. The Oakland Raiders and us the long suffering Nation can finally move on from this complete and utter craptastic "QB". Really, now the debate about who was worse: Ryan Leaf or JaMarcus can begin. For a comparison see below.

I was against this tool when the Raiders drafted him in 2007 and so was Lane Kiffin, not that I was a huge fan of his either They could have drafted anyone , but no they had to take him #1 in the draft.

In retrospect this "QB" set the franchise back years by his in consistent "play". Fortunately the Crypt Keeper (Al Davis) finally wised up and cut ties with him admitting the mistake.

One of the more amazing things is what he got paid 39 million dollars to win 7 games... to put it into perspective: http://espn.go.com/espn/thelife/salary/index?athleteId=5142920

How depressing is that?

Then from the USA Today
"That works out to $110,169.49 per completion. If Peyton Manning were paid at the same rate, he'd have earned $466 million by now. And Brett Favre would have topped $670 million."

Even more amazing for JaMarcus Russell, he "earned" $110,000 per completion, 2 million per TD pass, 5 million per win... if that doesn't suck I dont know what does.

JaMarcus Russel 2007-2009
Games: 31 / QB Rating: 65.2/ Comp: 354 Att 680/ %52.1 Yds 4083 TD 18 INT 23 Record 7-18

Ryan Leaf 1998-2001
Games: 25 / QB Rating: 65.2/ Comp: 317 Att 655/ %48.4 Yds 3666 TD 14 INT 36 Record 4-17

So let the debate begin and there have been some truly horrendous QBs to "grace" the NFL over the last 20 years: Akili Smith, Tim Couch, Todd Marinovich, Andre Ware, Rex Grossman, Dan McGwire, Kelly Stouffer, Danny Wuerffel, Jim Druckenmiller, and Heath Shuler to name but a few (Cade McNown, Rick Mirer and Joey Harrington) are question marks to me in a lot of respects.

And there are even more when you look at the NFL over the last say 40 years, but at the top of the scrap heap? Ryan Leaf and JaMarcus Russell with JR being #1 in my mind.

The Bellower Issue 2

2010-05-10T19:30:00.012-04:00

The Big flabby, guts over at Ogre Stronghold are back at it again, and this time with the latest release of the Bellower,. The Bellower being the the ezine of the excellent Ogre Stronghold website. As one would imagine (but for the benefit of those not in the know) this is for the game of Warhammer, specifically the Ogre faction of the Warhammer World. The Ogre Kingdoms site can be accessed at: (www.ogrestronghold.com)

In much the same way the production delays seem to plague the Word of Hashut the Bellower got out a bit later then last time, not that I know anything about that...

For layout it is in the horizontal (landscape) format again and that is fine. To me personally its immaterial as my laptop is often hooked up to a large monitor for reading or I read them on my home desktop and a 24” screen…

There are no real noticeable production glitches and being the geek that I am I noticed that the ezine was created in Scribus which is open source; that would be my choice if I did not use InDesign on Gold and Glory and The Word of Hashut so kudos there. Why would anyone check this you ask? Because if you create these things you winder what someone else is using that’s why. Scribus is freely available from here: http://www.scribus.net

 First off the good things that I liked or noticed as I read through it
Great job on the cover. A good looking cover is a necessity for ezines in this day and age. In a world of increasing ezines its harder to stand out unless there is a good cover, this one fulfills those requirements. The cover also ties in nicely to the content inside. It shows that the Bellower Staff is looking at theme rather then a random picture on the cover that has only marginally meaning to the contents.

I enjoyed the focus on the Trapper. It’s always nice to see articles that challenge the status quo of thinking for a particular army, whether it’s from the theoretical or a necessity. All too often many Warhammer players cant get out of their rut. I think those that don’t play “Point and Click armies” are able to do this better and such is the case here. Also the Trapper article was well laid out and an easy read. A few more graphics and/or pictures might have helped it “breathe” a bit more as the last page of the article felt a bit cramped in terms of its space.

I also really liked the recap of Animosity IV, this is a great example of a short, concise article that gets to the salient points quickly and is an easy read. Great job here Mercules.

The Saber step-by-step guide: It was well laid out and and clear about what steps you were doing. In short a great guide for a newbie to follow. A few bigger pictures showing the painted goods might have gone a long way here.

I like the look of the ezine with varying shades of gray; it breaks up the pages nicely. With that said see my comments below about improvements. Also the flip side of prolonged usage of white text on dark backgrounds is eyestrain. This issue has a lot of reversed type. The flip is to beware of too dark of a background with black type as it can blend.(Of course this blog is black and white but I keep the posts short(ist).

Things to work on
The next step for the Bellower Team is to step up their game and to attempt an ezine in full color. The (largely) black and white layout/theme is well executed and looks great, its also fun to do once in a while but for the sake of variation its good to add more color. This is more difficult to accomplish but worth it to give it a try. This is more of a style thing, not that anything is wrong.

I noticed a few typos here and there; nothing too major and I know how tough it can be to catch them all.

Careful use of the text wrapping tools! I know for a fact how tricky this one can be. The fact that the software can easily wrap text is great. The downside is that it can produce tight text to an object or even weird separations or gaps of the text. When finished its always a good idea to have someone else look at it who has a fresh set of eyes: after looking at it for months you tend to fill stuff in mentally, I know I do.

From the layout perspective the Painting Competition article was a bit unfocused. What I mean is that it was not always clear looking at it what won what placing in the competition. I know I did a double take a few times here and there. Once I looked it over again I can see where the idea was going but it seemed a bit disjointed.

The back cover is a minor point but an important one. The back cover sets the tone for the next issue and also gives a sneak peak as to what’s coming next. Now how this goes its likely that someone was supposed to do it then “something came up” forcing Randroid to scramble, not that I would know anything like that.

If you are looking for a great read that focuses on the flabby mercs of the Warhammer World then these are your lads and this is your mag. There is nothing bad about the issue at all and overall I'd feel comfortable giving it a 4 out 5 rating, easily. All in all a fine effort from the group here and all around its nice to see an improvement from Issue 1. Congratulations on the good work and keep it up.

Willmark

Writing and Producing 2e Modules for sale, eventually.

2010-04-25T10:06:00.006-04:00

2nd Edition Adventure in the works, eventually.

For those of you not in the know I also play 2nd Edition ADD. I'm not a big fan of either 3rd or 4th edition and would play it if I had to, but fortunately I don't ;)

Right now I'm DMing once a week and have been working on a high level adventure on and off for a while. Considering the success of the Word of Hashut I'm pretty confident I can produce a good layout. I'm thinking about writing a module and possibly selling it at Lulu. I am in the process of putting together a high level adventure based on a few ideas that I have had for some time now. Cool thing there is a homage to both the remake and original Clash of the Titans in it.

I dont expect this will happen soon, but I do think that once I finish up Gold and Glory #4 I will have a bit more time.

So as time goes by I'll update here with more bits and pieces.

(PS: Wow first time I made more then 2 blog posts in a month!)

Warhammer 8th edition and the fate of Chaos Dwarfs?

2010-04-22T11:44:00.004-04:00

Warhammer 8th edition
As the entire world is now talking about this I might as well post about it too ;)

But rather then hash out all the rumors that have already been gone over ad naseum I wonder what the fate of Chaos Dwarfs will be in 8th. As we know they were inserted into the back of the 7th edition books with the notation of no current rule book or some such. Then through the entire run of 7th, and 6th for that matter, nothing.

The question then becomes will GW remove them this time around? If they are in its probably a good sign that they will continue, if not, who knows what that means but its probably not anything good.

Like any business GW has to make money. They normally do not do anything and teh past results of Chaos Dwarfs are hardly encouraging in that regard. Lets just how that the efforts of www.chaos-dwarfs.com has made them reconsider. I think that they have a far bigger fan base then creating another army out of left field like they did for Ogre Kingdoms.

I'd be hard pressed to name another faction of Warhammer that has more fan support then Chaos Dwarfs. Oh that's right there isnt one!

If they are not included I'm not sure I want to throw in the towel but by the same token the last chaos dwarf book was... 1993. Some people have never even seen the cover of White Dwarf Presents: Chaos Dwarfs! In fact some who are playing Warhammer right now have never even seen them on the table top, some probably weren't even born yet. Man I now feel old.

Word of Hashut #8

2010-04-11T10:09:00.011-04:00

Word of Hashut #8 Finally done!
This is not a review of my own work, but more of a post to say yep its out and I'm glad its done because now its onto Gold and Glory #4 for Dogs of War Online. *

Word of Hashut #8 was a milestone for many ways. For one it is now equal in terms of issues to the Citizen Levy for the High Elves (http://www.ulthuan.net/forum/portal.php) and puts us on par with the Skavenblight Gazette.

Its important to note that for me this is not just about the length of the content or how many issues, truly and simply its about giving something back to the Warhammer community and to keep the dream of Chaos Dwarfs alive.

Its also important that now we are closing in on Issue #9 and 2 years of doing the ezine as well as our 10th issue right after, all fine achievements, but we are not resting on our laurels. we are looking for new ways to make it even better.

Many across the web think we (I) are dreaming about the return of Chaos Dwarfs to Warhammer. To which I say: "What's wrong with dreaming?" To paraphrase from the movie Miracle " I find the term Dream Teams ironic, because now that we have dream teams, we seldom get to dream".

I don't know about you but a little dreaming coupled with some hard work isn't a bad thing.

* www.dogsofwaronline.com

Review of the Invocation #4

2010-03-28T11:47:00.008-04:00

Its the end of a three month span so we all know what that means, a number of ezines will soon be making their way to the internet. The first out of the gate is the Invocation from Carpe Noctrum and can be found here:

http://vampirecounts.net/invocation.php

Once again the guys led by Disciple of Nagash have done a good job for the undead fans of the Warhammer world.

Likes
First off I liked the step-by-step painting guide for undead beasts: pictures were clear and color was/is good on the photos.

Next up is the comic/graphic novel: I'm liking it. The style of the story fits well as does the storyline and action. The artistic style also has an appeal to it (to me at least) that evokes the right feelings. I especially liked the final panel.

Battle Report: Knowing how much of a pain these art to organize, photograph and write I have to give props just for getting one in! For those not in the know these are not necessarily the most fun thing to do for an ezine. It follows and reads well so you can clearly see what is going on.

Now to some of the criticisms
Each time the Invocation has been out each issue has felt long and this one is no exception at 149 pages. Simply put reading it tends to feel like a chore in spots. No ezine is immune to this and I for one am looking to cut down the Word of Hashut so its not as unwieldy.

The use of white text on a illustrated background with no stroke to the characters. This is not a problem in and of itself but make for difficult reading when it is a issue of this length. Again, in and of itself not an issue, but coupled with page length it becomes more noticeable.

A minor quibble for typesetting: Either make a headline bold or underline, but not both at the same time. ;)

In short the criticisms are minor and correctable for the future but it looks like the DoN and the gang did another fine job. I plan on re-reading it again more in depth and will add any further comments to this blog post.

WM

Word of Hashut... and Orcs and Goblins???

2010-03-13T10:22:00.004-05:00

Word of Hashut Update
Well I'm not sure if I am going to make it with the deadline being the 28th of March, but what else is new huh?

One really good factor is almost anything in terms of contents is in and I am working on getting it organized.

So stay tuned for the next few weeks and we will see what transpires.

Next up... Orcs and Goblins?
By now everyone now knows it looks like Orcs and Goblins are next up on the release schedule: http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?aId=9000010a

To me this a bit unusual as it was not the next army I was expecting to see come out after Beastmen. This will prove interesting and I wonder what might be coming next after this bit of a curve ball.

Of course does this mean a new book and army fully?

Word of Hashut Deadline

2010-02-25T15:01:00.001-05:00

As always with a few days left to go to deadline means the scramble is on. After the deadline passes it's what I call a one month sprint to the finish. Meaning almost all of March will consist of me working on nothing warhammer related except Issue #8.

In terms of exclusive scoops (just to see whose actually reading this ;) how about this teaser: we will be revisting an old article from White Dwarf that is sure to have broad appeal to not only chaos dwarf fans.

But that's all I'll say for now :)

WM

Chaos Dwarfs Online

2010-02-09T14:45:00.003-05:00

As the longtime members know today was the worst day in terms of site "performance" in quite some time.

In case you missed as I noted on www.chaos-dwarfs.com I am now looking into alternatives for site hosting and getting a migration plan together.

For those that follow the site/are members hang in there everyone.

WM

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Look out for the New Minotaurs!

2010-01-29T13:27:00.002-05:00

I'm not one of those doom and gloom folks that think that every new army that comes out is "broken".

I will point out however those new rules for Minotaurs in the Beastmen book are sick: S5; additional hand weapon or great weapon, boodgreed. Now I haven't faced off against them in years but wow.

Make you check out this months WD and see what they did to a unit of Grail Knights...

WM

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Defintion of insanity is this blog

2010-01-28T19:50:00.003-05:00

Well as if I do not have enough to do I figured I'd actually use my blog space that I created nearly 2 years ago. This blog will mainly focus on the comings and goings of my websites that I'm either a Admin or Co Admin for: www.chaos-dwarfs.com and www.dogsofwaronline.com; plus my work on the Word of Hashut ezine. Gold and Glory the ezine of Dogs of War Online may figure into here as well.

So be sure to stop back as I get this up and running.

Also some non-Warhammer related items my appear here from time to time.

WM