That is what the ad said "Just mail away!" and man, I always wanted one. But for some reason I never actually sent it in. Chalk it up to the distracted priorities of an eight year old.
If you were a comics fan in 1981, you probably saw the massive merchandise blitz for The Legend of the Lone Ranger plastered across the back covers of practically every comic book on the rack. I did not know it at the time, but the movie was a critical and commercial bomb. That did not matter to me. The advertising hit hard, especially for kids.
The toy line that really grabbed my attention was the smaller scale Lone Ranger figures from Gabriel. These were not the old school 13 inch behemoths (those were always a little too bulky for my tastes), but the more manageable, play friendly action figures. You had the full lineup: The Lone Ranger and Silver, Tonto and Scout, Butch Cavendish and Smoke, even historical figures like Buffalo Bill Cody and General George Custer (who was a lieutenant colonel at the time of Little Bighorn).
To this day I wonder how, or if, they crammed all of that into one movie.
I never saw The Legend of the Lone Ranger as a kid (still have not, actually), but the toys were definitely on my radar. The problem? Serious competition. Star Wars was in full swing and I was all in on the Kenner figures. I was just getting into D and D too, poring over my Moldvay Basic Set and trying to figure out hit points. The new 3 3/4 inch G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero line was right around the corner, and that would steal what little toy budget (and attention span) I had left.
Looking back, I wonder if this was the real life early version of Toy Story. Lone Ranger and Tonto, quietly sidelined by Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Relegated to the back of the toy box, never to ride again.
Still, that mail away town? The play sets? That stuff looked cool. Really cool. And while I did not get in on the Lone Ranger craze, it still sticks with me as one of those "almost" moments of childhood. One of the few times something slipped by me in that golden age of toys and pulp inspired adventures.
Watching The Lone Rangerthe other week (yes, that one) reminded me of all this, of a time when the Wild West still had a place in our toy aisles and imaginations, even as the galaxy far, far away was pushing everything else out.
In the end, this is not really about the toys or even the movie. It is about the snapshot of 1981 it conjures. That brief, weird moment in pop culture when cowboys, space wizards, and dungeon crawlers all coexisted in a kid's world.
And if you were eight like I was at the time, that world? It was very cool.
How about you? Do you every see one or actually get the set?
Now that I have your attention, just who doesn't like the Zombie genre? Not many people considering the obsession with the zombies on TV and at the box office (although I'm protesting World War Z).
Now if you don't like them get the hell outta here, Zombies are cool! In RPG land there are a few good choices for zombie horror survival, but for me I'd probably settle on using All Flesh Must be Eaten (fans shorten it to AFMBE) a second choice would be to use Savage Worlds and use the Weird War campaign setting an modify it from there. Savage World rule system would be perfect for zombie adventures using Weird War II rules as I like the feeling of the supplement and they sanded off the rough edges compared to the previous installment. Lastly, there is also the Battlefield Evolution with the Apocalypse Z supplement, but bear in mind that is a tabletop battle miniatures game first and foremost.
Released in 1999 AFMBE is still the standard for Zombie RPGs out there. With a number of supplements the line is well supported. While there are other systems, I think All Flesh Must be Eaten does the best job of capturing the feel of the genre. The rules are not cumbersome (or "crunchy") which might be off putting to some gamers but I like the ability to use in many types of settings from traditional end of the world trope "Rise of the Walking Dead", to voodoo zombie lords "Dawn of the Zombie Lords" to space aliens zombies "They came from beyond", to name but a few. Seriously, if you are a GM and you can't come up with SOMETHING in this genre, it's time to hang up your your GM Screen.
Back to characters three basic types (Norms, Survivors and Inspired) each with their own built in advantages (for the most part). 6 stats on a point system and away you go. Grab some qualities and drawbacks (here is where I think Savage Worlds is better) and you are off. Also in the character creation chapter I especially like the Archetypes section as it gives a good feel of the tone of the design of the system.
Equipment and vehicles are well handled and I also like the sections for different types of zombies (Apocalypse Z does this as well). For a game with only one and really defining monster some variation is needed and with the system presented its simple to do so: take the base profile and add to it for variation. Boom, done.
One thing I did not like (I have the revised edition so I cant speak to the original) is the graphic design. I like the look at feel but a lot of it looks like it was low-res quality scans, making it look bit muddy. Even if they are not, that's how it looked. Shame in an otherwise fine presentation.
In closing I recommend the game. I can't imagine playing All Flesh Must be Eaten for really long periods of time but I can certainly see it for a beer and pretzels type of gaming. Anyone else out there with thoughts on this RPG?
(as a blogger's aside: I want to make sure I keep blogging so be on the lookout for more posts about games that I've been collecting over the last few years as I get back/up to speed with the modern RPG scene. Some Warhammer blogging might be in order as well, stay tuned).
Despite getting scathing reviews, I have to get one thing out of the way first: I enjoyed
This post will not be about the story — I’ll leave that to you when you watch the movie. Being that I’m not a child of the 1950s who grew up with the iconic “Hi Ho Silver, away!”, I come from a vastly different viewpoint. I didn’t watch many reruns because by the time I was old enough, the show had been off the air for at least 20 years. I was weaned on gritty revisionist Westerns like Unforgiven, High Plains Drifter, and Pale Rider.
The pacing was just about right and never felt like it was dragging.
Special effects were mostly strong, with only one noticeable instance.
The soundtrack was excellent. Of course no Lone Ranger movie would be complete without the William Tell Overture, which they used skillfully early on and then during the finale.
Clever reason for the naming of Silver.
Shootouts were gripping.
The finale was awesome.
The Bad:
At one point I was going to bring my kids, but the
Captain Dan Reid scene involving Butch Cavendish changed my mind. I read
about it beforehand and decided to keep my young kids away. This partly
explains the demographic issues the movie faced.
The Lone
Ranger as played by Hammer comes across as somewhat “wimpy,” especially
when contrasted with Depp’s Tonto. Hammer is somewhat overshadowed, but I
actually thought his awkwardness was well acted. Some called it wooden
and lacking charisma, that’s personal preference.
I can see where The Lone Ranger ran into problems finding the right audience, but I’m not entirely convinced it was entirely the movie’s fault. Hollywood seems fixated on producing mega-hits to maximize returns on every film. I get the business reality, but it’s myopic. Not every movie can be Avatar. Studios would rather swing for the fences every time instead of taking solid singles and doubles. The question becomes: Is it better to clear $50 million on a movie or lose $150 million? This is made worse by the ever-spiraling cost of film making. It’s getting to the point where only $1 billion returns are considered acceptable.
Another interesting point: The last two times The Lone Ranger has been on the big screen (1981’s The Legend of the Lone Ranger- and this one), critics savaged both. I get that the 1981 version was bad, but this time it felt like many critics decided they hated it before it even came out. I fully expect the "box office bomb” label will stick.
In a way it might end up like Heavens Gate, another Western that did poorly against high production costs but whose director’s cut has been reevaluated more positively over time. Of course its hard to mess up on the true story source material: The Johnson County War yet it happened.
I don’t think Westerns as a genre are “dead,” but they do have an image problem. In a world increasingly wary of anything distinctly American, uniquely American-focused movies have a tougher sell overseas. Hollywood now makes films with a global audience in mind, which is smart for returns, but trying to be everything to everyone rarely works.
In closing, I can think of many movies where I wanted my money back after seeing them in theaters. This wasn’t one of them. I’d give it 3.5 out of 5 stars. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s far from Mars needs Moms.
I know I’ve been away for a bit, but I have been diligently working on my game, Hurled into Eternity.
Over the last few weeks I ran into several snags with it and “went back to the drawing board.” I didn’t revamp the game totally, but I excised the d100 mechanic and brought it to be fully based on a deck of cards. The Judge (GM section) still uses RPG dice for random events, but they are not critical to the game.
Now the game and its core mechanics use what I call the “Wild Card System.” Character values range from 0–10, with Jacks auto fails, Queens 50/50, and Kings auto success. Aces are always successes with extra bonuses. The funny part is I thought it up quite by accident while looking at a suit spread out before me from the deck. Instead of thinking in terms of a score going from 1–13 (13 cards in each suit), I thought about groupings — and thus the Wild Card System was born.
The next step (aside from editing) is some serious play testing before it even gets to the stage of a campaign. I’d like to see how all of the mechanics fit together, everything from character creation to combat.
Once that is completed, I anticipate making the text more friendly (I’m not the world’s best writer, but I try), and from there getting it ready for graphic design. The ultimate goal is to get it to a point where it can be printed via Lulu or other print-on-demand formats, then after a period of time, PDF. I don’t anticipate getting rich from this, but I think selling it for a nominal price will be well worth it. All without a Kickstarter? Outrageous.
In any event, here is the latest: Alpha. (Alpha is a bit of a misnomer as it’s pretty well developed.) My guess is that I’ve probably missed some spots where it still calls for a roll of the dice rather than drawing a card.
The movie Silverado. As noted, it made my list of top ten favorite westerns (favorite, not necessarily the best). Silverado is a wicked fun movie and a throwback to the Westerns of old. I even mentioned it as a guilty pleasure, but it is not. I re-watched it recently and I have to say, in terms of pacing, it is hard to beat.
The opening scene of Emmett fighting off some desperadoes who were looking to bushwhack him while he was sleeping is all kinds of awesome. It then spreads out to the majestic scenery of the American West.
Did I mention this happens in the first five minutes of the movie?
From there we quickly meet the second protagonist, Paden, left for dead in the desert. From there it is a quick job picking up his brother Jake (played by Kevin Costner) and almost at the same time meeting Mal (played by Danny Glover). So within the first 20 minutes or so, we have all four main characters together.
One of the great things this movie does is give a sense of background very quickly for each of the protagonists. It is a bit clichéd, sure, but in each case it serves the movie well. Remember, Silverado is about quick action and keeping the momentum going throughout.
Before they even make it to Silverado, Paden and Emmett encounter Paden’s former trail friend Cobb and his unsavory henchmen, including Tyree. This introduces the running joke of “Where’s the dog?” This is of course preceded by a great gunfight with Paden in his underclothes.
Lawrence Kasdan also does a good job handling the racism of the Old West with Mal’s character, particularly in the bar fight in Turley. It is difficult to do in today’s political climate, but it is handled well, even with the subtle implications from Sheriff Langston when he runs Mal out of town.
A side track to recover a stolen money box from some wagon train eventually results in the four reaching Silverado. There Paden finds Stella at the Midnight Star saloon, meeting Cobb, who reveals himself as the town sheriff shortly thereafter.
The events in the middle section start the buildup to the finale, but are not without tension or deaths. Mal’s father is killed, Emmett’s nephew is kidnapped, and Emmett is nearly killed by the vicious Tyree. At no time does it feel forced as it jumps from scene to scene, with Jake getting into it with Tyree and Mal and Slick arguing over Mal’s sister.
Events come to a head with the kidnapping of Jake and Emmett’s nephew and McKendrick burning down their sister’s house.
I cannot say it enough: the movie is a whirlwind, with each scene having something to it. One area that lacks somewhat is the usual Western romance. Apparently it was part of the movie and we see snippets of it from the interactions of Paden, Emmett, and Hannah. The problem was that during editing they had to cut something from the various subplots. Because of that, the only thing that seems disjointed is those scenes, as the full story is not there.
In the end the final showdown is great as each of the protagonists guns down his own personal foe: Emmett killing McKendrick, Mal taking out Slick, Jake taking out two bad guys simultaneously (one being Tyree), and finally a high noon showdown with Paden getting the drop on Cobb.
The film ends with a toast in the Midnight Star, which Stella now runs on her own, for the brothers as they head to California. As Emmett and Paden exchange goodbyes, Emmett remarks that Paden will make a farmer yet, to which Paden grins and says “I’ve got a job” as he slowly pulls back his coat, revealing the sheriff’s star of the town of Silverado.
The scenery is great and the town feels very realistic. The filmmakers did an ingenious thing by simply filming it from different angles during shooting to represent different towns as needed. Shot in New Mexico, it is obviously the right climate and locale for the film.
Since critics give out stars, this gets 4.5 out of 5 from me. For a Western there are very few that are better in terms of pure action. Sure, some are legendary like Searchers or Once upon a Time in the West, but Silverado is a fun movie any way you slice it. It is PG-13 as the level of violence is up there, but no worse than the revisionist Westerns of the 1970s.
How does this apply to RPGs?
If you are playing your favorite Western system (Deadlands, Boot Hill, Western City, or whatever), modeling even a portion of your campaign on Silverado will give you a great game. Right from the beginning there is a rise in tension, setups galore for later payoffs, and reasons to care about the heroes (and wrongs for them to right). If one were using the default city and area in Boot Hill (Promise City and its environs), it would work extremely well.
Think about it: recovering loot, vengeance, stampedes, gunfights, shootouts, swearing, tension, whiskey, bar fights, hangings (almost), gambling, backstabbing, the cavalry making an appearance (not in the usual clichéd way) — you name it. The only thing missing is some stagecoach or locomotive fight scenes. In fact, my own game Hurled into Eternity would be a great way to recreate the Old West! (Plug, plug.) Speaking of which, I am gearing up to add some changes to the way combat works to make it a bit more survivable and it should be up soon.
Seems that people like it around these parts when I write up Top 10 lists (or at least they generate lots of commentary cyber-fights)... So with that in mind I am going to list my Top 10 favorite D&D/AD&D modules of all time. As that suggests that means I am leaving out any editions later than 2nd.
And unlike what some have presented on Dragonsfoot, no I do not consider a module as only those that were "stand alone products, not anything that appeared in a magazine!"
To me, that is entirely arbitrary and a module/adventure in terms of nomenclature is interchangeable. Module =adventure, adventure= module.
The next Boot Hill module up for review is BH3: Bullets and Ballots. This should come as no surprise if you've been reading the blog. And you have been reading, right?
Unlike the first two modules, BH3 is almost a mini-campaign in a single booklet, though nowhere near the scope of BH4- Burned Brush Wells or BH5: Range War! It takes the players on a very different ride than either of its predecessors and explores a subject that few RPG adventures have ever attempted. Rather than hunting for treasure or tracking down outlaws, the players become involved in a local election and can potentially influence its outcome. I'm hard pressed to think of another RPG module, especially one from the early 1980s, that centered on electoral politics.
Written by David James Ritchie, the module expands on material from the Boot Hill boxed set by returning to Promise City and greatly enlarging the map and descriptions of the town. The events take place shortly after those in Tombstone, Arizona, following the famous Battle of the
OK Corral. At 32 pages, BH3 is a standard TSR module, yet it manages to pack in a surprising amount of material. With the expanded treatment of Promise City, the Game Master is given a well-developed home base should the players decide to settle there.
The Story
The premise is that Promise City is every bit as lawless as Cochise County, Arizona, during the height of the cattle wars. Familiar historical figures, including Johnny Behan, Billy Breakenridge, Ike Clanton, and "Buckskin" Frank Leslie, are mentioned throughout the setting. In total, the module details roughly 300 NPCs, giving Promise City one of the largest casts of characters found in any Boot Hill product.
The central conflict revolves around the struggle between the Law and Order faction, representing the town's respectable citizens, and the Cowboys, who have no intention of surrendering their influence. With elections approaching, both sides are determined to win by whatever means necessary. The offices up for grabs include mayor, city council, and town marshal, making the stakes considerably higher than a simple local dispute.
The campaign unfolds over a twelve-week period, providing the players with plenty to do. They can run for office themselves or throw their support behind one of the competing factions. Public opinion shifts from week to week based on campaign events, speeches, newspaper editorials, rumors, financial contributions, and, naturally, the occasional murder. After all, this is the Old West.
The mechanics supporting the election are surprisingly robust. Players can funnel money into campaigns, spread rumors, publish broadsheets, and deliver speeches in an effort to sway public sentiment. The Civic Association, representing the current administration, can also use its influence to hinder the Cowboys' efforts. Should the violence spiral out of control and too many candidates wind up dead, the Governor may eventually dispatch the Arizona Rangers or even call in the U.S. Army to restore order. It is a clever way of showing that there are consequences if the town descends into outright chaos.
When election day finally arrives, the outcome depends entirely on how events unfolded over the previous twelve weeks. There is no predetermined winner, and that is perhaps the module's greatest strength. Different groups can experience entirely different results each time they play.
Like the earlier Boot Hill modules, the final pages include several short scenarios that can either be inserted into the campaign or played independently. I particularly enjoyed the obvious nods to classic Western films with titles such as Hang
'em High and Once Upon a Time in the West.
That is certainly one way to win an election...
The Art
The artwork is something of a mixed bag. Some pieces are excellent, while others leave me scratching my head. More than the previous modules, BH3 indulges in TSR's habit of inserting inside jokes throughout the book. I enjoy a good bit of irreverent humor as much as anyone, but here it sometimes feels excessive.
One example is "Zebadiah Cook" on page 16. The illustration appears to be by Jim Holloway. Normally I enjoy Holloway's slightly exaggerated, humorous style, even in Dungeons & Dragons, but for whatever reason it does not quite fit the tone of this module.
The front cover continues the hand-tooled leather motif of the earlier Boot Hill adventures, but the characters themselves were apparently modeled after TSR
staffersJim Roslof, Jeff Easley, Jim Holloway, and Larry Elmore (they look like Brian Blume and Gary Gygax in the middle and left to me). I have no objection to inside jokes, yet this cover simply does not resonate with me. In fact, I like the module in spite of the cover rather than because of it. It is almost the opposite of N2: The Forest Oracle, where I love the cover but find the adventure itself rather disappointing (to say the very least). The back cover, featuring Mongo Bailey, likewise aims for humor but never quite lands for me.
Much like BH1 and BH2, BH3 demonstrates just how experimental the Boot Hill line really was. The more of these modules I read, the more convinced I become that the series lacked a consistent direction. Either there was no one steering the line with a long-term vision, or support arrived only sporadically as TSR found time and resources to devote to it. Given that the company's creative energy was increasingly focused on Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, I suspect it was probably a combination of both.
Despite my criticisms, I genuinely like BH3. It does require a group willing to embrace politics, intrigue, and social maneuvering rather than constant gunfights, but that change of pace is part of its appeal. Not every Boot Hill adventure needs to end in a shootout at high noon, and Bullets and Ballots proves the game could successfully explore other aspects of life in the Old West.
Solid 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Let me know your thoughts on this rather unusual module.
