A Dragonlady Speaks

Cindi Rice, one of the executive producers on the Dragonlance movie, recently spoke with Sci Fi Wire about the flick. Among the interesting things mentioned is this comment on the status of their progress:

Rice said that the Dragons movie is in the final stages of preproduction. "We've already recorded 90 percent of the voices, and we'll be finalizing the animatic [animated storyboard] next month," she said.

So clearly we're looking at recording the voices before working on the final animation. And it sounds like things are humming along nicely. We trolls will be keeping our eyes peeled for more cast revelations and, hopefully soon, examples of character designs. However, if they're only going to have the animatic finished in July, we probably will only just be seeing final designs around Christmas.

Animation vs. Live Action

There’s been some disappointed grumbling on the web about the Dragonlance movie being animated. I can certainly understand why, but I won’t be joining it. There is nothing that prevents an animated film from having as much, if not more, artistic, intellectual, and emotional impact as a live action film. People do tend to separate them in their minds here in the occident, but that’s not universally true. We’ve seen glimpses from Hollywood of animation’s potential in flicks like “The Incredibles” but nothing yet with the power of “Graveyard of the Fireflies” or “Princess Mononoke”. Those two animated films I’ll put up against just about anything live action, and certainly anything coming out of Hollywood in the past thirty years.

The big hurdle will be the assumption that animation is for children, and cannot be used to tell meaningful or deep stories. Getting people to go to the theater to see it will be the challenge, as “it’s a cartoon” wars with “it’s PG-13”. Of course, Peter Jackson had the same issues to overcome. The Lord of the Rings is generally seen as a children’s story here in the US, and fantasy movies are kid’s fare. Before the first movie came out, the children’s meals at Burger King got you a cute little mug with a picture of one of the characters on it that lit at the base, and, even more jarring, a cardboard crown with the ring’s inscription written across it. And yes, after the first movie came out, that sort of nonsense disappeared quickly. But it took the movie to change opinions.

Actually, the Dragonlance story is well crafted for this. It has its slapstick elements, with gully dwarves and kender, and its moments of great spectacle and wonder, in its haunted forests and massive battles. All of these play to traditional animation’s strengths. But the story does not play by traditional American animation’s rules, and anyone still clueless as the movie enters its dénouement will get the lesson hammered home good and hard at Sturm’s funeral.

So I see this as a great opportunity for animation to finally realize its potential in Hollywood. If this film is as great as it can be, it has the potential to change people’s opinions about animation and what its “proper” uses are. And if it does that, who knows? Maybe we’ll finally get to see a full-bore Elfquest movie, too.

Jim Baen has Passed Away

It's a sad day in the troll cave. Jim Baen was an incredibly forward-thinking guy, on the cutting edge of e-publishing, a radical in his way of doing business, and a man whose influence on modern SF simply can't be overstated.

If you haven't checked out the Free Baen eLibrary, you really should. Who else in the publishing business lets you get an entire book as a free sample? I mean, c'mon, reading good fiction is addictive. You'd think more publishers would have hit on the notion of "the first hit is free." Mr. Baen was unique in his understanding of readers and business.

Read his obituary by David Drake here.

Catspaw Update: Blood in the Rain

It looks like Catspaw is being updated with a new page every Wednesday. Today’s update includes a new introductory page. It’s clearly intended to bring readers “up to speed” on the background, but I’m not certain it was necessary. The writing in the comic itself seems more than sufficient, though it does leave you wanting more. That’s rarely a bad thing.

As it is, the new preface seems a bit rough to me. “But her motives are known and unknown, for hidden forces move about her” does not fall trippingly from my mind’s tongue. The physical layout of the text on the page also leads me to suspect it’s poetry, but at 5:00 AM, I’m unable to detect any sort of meter to it.

I know that if I didn’t have broadband, going through all previous existing pages to get to the new ones would be aggravating. With broadband, it’s a mild annoyance.

The new pages look good. Storn continues to deliver the goods, giving us a more realistic portrayal of weapons and bodies than you’ll see in most anime, gaming, and comic art these days. Some of the action has a mild wire-fu feel to it, but nothing that feels out of place beside the heroics of Conan or the acrobatics of the Grey Mouser.

I’m conflicted on the first panel of page 7. While the pose of our hero’s body does point the eye to the redcloak and our heroine, where the tension of the moment is focused, they are so clearly in the background that I want to focus on him. And our angle makes the hand holding the axe look awkward and denies it the gathering energy surely about to be unleashed in a deadly throw.

But I do love the use of side-by-side columns, one focused on him and the other on her. And the look on her face in the second panel is perfect. I don’t think I’ve ever found a bald woman quite so alluring before. And you know her foe is in for a world of hurt. Will the Philosopher’s Spike reveal its power on the next page? Anticipation mounts!

Transformation!

Poof! And like that, the unofficial Dragonlance Movie Site becomes the official Dragonlance Movie Site:

The film is based on the first book in the Chronicles series, "Dragons of Autumn Twilight". The director is comics and TV animation veteran, Will Meugniot, and the screenplay has been adapted by George Strayton with plenty of involvement from Margaret and Tracy.

There's a lot of information on the web site sure to spark all sorts of commentary, arguments, and the usual internet fandom fun, including the identities of the director, writer, and production companies. A potentially large firestorm may brew around the choice of Kunoichi for some of the conceptual artwork. While the Kunoichi site is dominated by manga-style art, that's no guarantee we'll be getting a "bishie Raistlin."

We trolls will, of course, keep our ears perked for any unofficial news, but rest assured that you can now point your browser to www.dragonlance-movie.com for the true and lively word.

Weis on Dragonlance Movie

Confirmations continue to roll in. Now that Lawless (and Hickman, truth be told) has spilled the beans, Margaret Weis joins the chorus:

Paramount Studios is making Dragons of Autumn Twilight as a full-length, adult, animated movie. I'll let the movie site provide you with details on the director, screen play writer, animation house, and all that.

The really exciting part of this news is that someone at Paramount has the cojones to try to turn this into a multi-movie deal. Instead of trying to cram the entire trilogy into a single movie, they will instead spread it out over three. And if Weis says it's adult, we don't need to worry about the all-singing, all-dancing Disney-fication of the story. I'm curious what "full length" means in this case. 90 minutes? 140 minutes? Oh-God-make-it-stop-my-eyes-are-bleeding-Lord-of-the-Rings 200+ minutes? Ok, that last is exceptionally unlikely.

I'm also dying to know what the look of the thing is. Dragonlance has been blessed in the past with some of the best artists to be stabled at TSR. Larry Elmore, of course, did the covers for the original books. The modules the books were based on featured cover art by Clyde Caldwell. (I forget who did the interior art for both. Someone want to remind me?) Those are tough acts to follow. It will be very interesting to see who Paramount gets to do character designs and animation for this project.

More news here as it becomes available...

GMing Tips from Treasure Tables

There are some blogs on the web that are hoary with the jargon of the gaming intelligentsia. These blogs can be fun to read, but often don’t contain much that is useful on Saturday afternoon when the group is gathered at the table to throw dice and kick in doors.

Treasure Tables is not that sort of site.

Case in point is the new, free PDF of GMing dos and don’ts:

This list is meant to be a quick read, and everything on

it is intended to be as universal as possible. You can apply

this GMing advice in almost any situation, regardless

of your personal GMing style, what RPG you’re

running or whether the game takes place at home, at a

convention or at an in-store demo.

There’s a lot of good stuff in it, even if you’re an old hand, and it’s not a long read. Pick it up.

Dragonlance Movie?

Yes, Virginia, apparently there really is going to be a Dragonlance movie. Tracy Hickman himself has confirmed this.

What do we know so far? Not much. It’s apparently being done by Paramount. Tracy has confirmed that it will be traditional animation with CGI elements. Lucy Lawless is voicing Goldmoon, the barbarian cleric. Beyond that, there’s been so little news leaked out about this that even the denizens of dragonlance-movie.com are unwilling to believe it’s actually happening.

Fear the Boot!

I’ve got a lot of backlog right now I’m sifting through and editing, so my apologies if my posts are not quite as timely as they should be. It seems like this stuff ebbs and flows, and either I can’t find anything to write about, or there’s too much to write about. Right now, I’m faced with an embarrassment of riches.

One of those riches is a podcast entitled “Fear the Boot”. Now, I haven’t really delved deeply into the world of gaming podcasts, so I’ve only sampled a handful. So far, “Fear the Boot” is my favorite. The guys involved have great radio voices, they’re not afraid to sound a bit silly, and they’re clearly having a good time. They remind me a lot of morning radio hosts, mingling a light sprinkling of their personal lives with discussion of issues that are interesting to them in an almost random order. They’re not driven by the headlines, but rather by their own internal barometers of what’s interesting to them right now.

What I find most fascinating is how disconnected these guys are with the online gaming world. They’re not plugged into RPGnet or EN World. They don’t all seem to know names like Monte Cook, Burning Wheel, or Todd Lockwood. They’re very “mainstream” gamers who know what they like, and don’t like, and represent a divergence of views. Granted, they are all seasoned gamers. While repeatedly invoking the usual assurances that there is no such thing as bad fun, they clearly prefer standard roleplaying tropes as defined by D&D, Shadowrun, GURPS and the like. They also have a strong preference for character-driven games, complex plots, and storytelling at the gaming table. Don’t expect to hear detailed analysis of GNS theory. Do expect to hear how you can create dynamic characters who evolve in ways beyond simply gaining levels and magical weapons. The episodes are variable in length, though they seem to be settling into about an hour in length. They usually review a gaming product and give a tip on some aspect of the hobby. They follow that up by posting downloadable gaming aids related to those tips on their web site. New podcasts are produced weekly and posted on Mondays. Check ‘em out.

Getting Permission

There’s a very interesting article in the current issue of The Escapist, an electronic magazine dedicated to computer gaming. It’s “Asexuality Actually” by John Walker, and it’s about the barriers that stand between girls and playing computer games. And no, he doesn’t discuss the sexist nature of the industry, the art, or any of the old excuses. Instead, he cites an actual scientific study (gosh, imagine that) on the topic:

Without the boys to push them out the way, and once the Schott and Thomas explained the [GameBoy Advance SPs] weren't some sort of makeup case (no, really), the girls mostly recognized Mario onscreen, but would predominantly declare, "Oh, I can't do these things."

Prompted to continue, Schott and Thomas found that after a few minutes, they couldn't get the girls to stop playing. This transition led the researchers to conclude that there was some sort of "permission" barrier between girls and gaming.

No, he’s not saying that sexist art or themes in games might not turn some girls off playing. (Though it doesn’t appear to have stopped them from reading romance novels in voracious numbers.) What he is saying is that it doesn’t matter how girl-friendly the games are, how hard they work to overturn stereotypes and gender biases, or how many women were involved in the development of the game. If girls won’t even take the time to look at the game in the first place because that’s something they think they can’t, or won’t, or shouldn’t do, they’ll never know what they’re missing.

Bringing this to the realm of pen-and-paper gaming, we’re clearly faced with the same issue. It doesn’t matter how girl-friendly a game like Blue Rose is, with its low level of book keeping, telepathic animals, exceptional mechanics, and romantic fantasy trappings. If girls have already decided that they can’t play RPGs, they won’t even give them a chance. I’m half convinced part of Vampire: the Masquerade’s success is due to the fact that “real” roleplayers, those AD&D and GURPS grognards, screamed about how horrible it was. “See,” White Wolf could say. “This isn’t like those ugly, old RPGs. This is something different.” And so it was, as thousands of Anne Rice fans invaded the hobby. Things have never been the same since.

So what does this mean? It means, dear reader, that the industry is incapable of bringing a significant number of women into this hobby of ours. Predisposed to ignoring RPGs, no amount of advertising or producing female-friendly games or hiring women designers and artists is going to breach the wall the separates women from the hobby. We’re right back where we began: the best way to bring people, of either gender, into RPGs is to invite them to play with us. Sitting down at the table and filling in a character sheet remains the best introduction. The reason more women don’t play RPGs and the hobby as an industry is in decline is because you are not inviting them to play.

So what are you doing sitting here surfing the internet for? Start a game already!

SJ Games Stakeholder Report

Steve Jackson has published his yearly stakeholder report for SJ Games. He briefly touches on the roleplaying and gaming industry as a whole. Obviously, the focus is on his company, but it’s about as close as you can probably get to a candid look inside the business that is games today.

Letting Your Players do the Heavy Lifting

Peter Sears at “The World Famous Crank Report” has posted on the topic of letting the players resolve the plots in your game:

Some days later i had a talk with Chris Stopper about this very game while we were working in the lab. He mentioned to me that it reminded him of something he and "Evil" Joe Lamothe had talked about regarding PC's.

He said. "Once players get to a certain level, you really don't have to leave them an out. All you have to do is make the scenario tight and close up the obvious holes in the plot. Most of the time, the players will come up with a better way to resolve it."

This is a cool idea and i like it a lot. It takes a certain amount of GM confidence to relax and allow things to unfold in their own way and at their own pace.

As the Blogfather says, read the whole thing.

I’ve been gaming this way for years, and it almost feels like cheating. My players, when they put their heads together, are more than twice as smart as I am. So I toss the biggest, meanest, ugliest knot I can at them and then let them worry about untangling it. And they always seem to find an elegant solution that does more for them than just win the day. It’s rare when they don’t also make a powerful ally or acquire access to some new resource in the process. It helps if you have proactive players who are interested in your setting and eager to jump into the action. If you have such players, treat them like adults. You don’t need to hold their hands or cushion them from falls. They’ll jump right into the thick of things, grinning through the mud and the blood and the pain, eager for more and kicking up more plots and consequences than you can shake a d20 at.

True Sorcery and True Class at Green Ronin

There’s been quite a discussion over at EN World’s forums about Green Ronin’s new True Sorcery book. I’ll admit, I was one of those who didn’t read closely enough to realize that it is a book for d20 gaming, and not specifically for the True20 system. Not that much conversion appears to be necessary. However, it’s quite clear that the system described in True Sorcery doesn’t fit the same style as True20. For instance, one of the beauties of True20 is the low level of book keeping required. True Sorcery’s system, however, is pretty math intensive with a new set of magic points that need to be tracked. For that extra effort, you get a very flexible sorcery system that transforms spell slingers from mobile artillery into subtle strategists and puzzle-solvers.

There’s also been some discussion about errors in the original PDF release. The sharp eyes of EN World readers have really given the book a good going-through, Army of Davids style. While this is great for Green Ronin, I’m a little disappointed this conversation took place at EN World and not in the Green Ronin forums.

Green Ronin is very clever about their releases. By making the PDF available before the print run is finalized, they get the benefit of reader feedback to improve the product before it’s shipped to stores. Other companies apparently feel it’s better to push out the hard copy first, afraid that they’ll lose money to customers who will choose the cheaper PDF to the pricier dead tree copy. Green Ronin, on the other hand, apparently believes the benefits of an additional round of editing are worth whatever the loss in hard copy sales would be. Assuming there even is one. (More on that thought later.)

Proving that they are, in fact, a very classy company, Green Ronin has just released the updated PDF of True Sorcery on their web page, including many of the corrections mentioned on the EN World forums. If you’ve already purchased a copy of the PDF, the update is free for you. How’s that for customer service?

I'm Still Here

My apologies for not having updated in a while. Life has been busy, and I've fallen a bit behind in keeping up with the world of cool things going on.

Among those, Håkan Ackegård has updated his “Grigbertz” gallery with a new sketch. It’s a piece of playful bondage and nudity, but like most of the stuff there, it’s not work safe. Here’s the link. If that sort of thing offends you, I suggest you go to his fantasy art gallery to enjoy his improved red dingbat.

Social Contracts at Treasure Tables

Mr. Ralya has a guest-post by Chris Chinn of "Deep in the Game" on social contracts:

I knew Chris would be able to make this topic very accessible without talking down to anyone, and he delivered in spades. If you’ve seen the term “social contract” on various RPG sites (including TT) and not been sure quite what it’s all about, look no further.

Be sure to check out Mr. Chinn's blog as well, where he's posted the winners of his D&D "gamehacks" contest.

Catspaw Comic

There’s a new comic on the web. Writer John C. Hocking and RPGnet favorite Storn A. Cook are collaborating on a swords and sorcery piece entitled Catspaw. The two are clearly still finding their voice. The panels seem to leap from one to the next without a strong feeling of continuity, and Hocking’s writing feels a bit constrained by the medium of sequential art. But both are proven talents, and they’re off to a good start. Hocking’s already given us a brief taste of what the world is like. Cook’s attention to the little details and his willingness to create characters who don’t conform to current ideals of beauty draw you into the world. I get the same sort of “what’s behind that corner” feeling as I do from stuff by Wendy Pini and Alan Lee.

Look for weekly updates on this one. Both Mr. Hocking and Mr. Cook are professionals and appear to be treating this project with the same ethic that they would bring to a commissioned job.

The Wicker Man Trailer

So I’m watching the trailer for that remake of the old 70’s film The Wicker Man and I’m wondering what the heck is going on here. Nicholas Cage is a cop, but not a “king’s man” and instead of being self-righteous and bossy, he’s broken and despondent. A sister of Silent Hill’s disappearing waif is scattered throughout the trailer. There’s all sorts of bizarre mystical happenings like people crawling with bees and not one hint of naked cuties dancing through bucolic meadows. Beyond the search for a missing girl named Rowan in a bed-and-breakfast coastal community, I’m not sure I’m seeing how the new movie is supposed to be based on the earlier one.

Even more interesting (or, potentially, disturbing, depending on your allegiance to the original) is the intimation that the Summer islanders are not born-again pagans of the ancient, human sacrificing sort, but are instead devil worshippers. I enjoyed the way the original movie brought you into the head-space of ancient, pre-Christian Europeans with their rather liberal views on sex and death, and a strong connection with the activities of animals and the cycles of the natural world. The stark contrast between their laid back embrace of Dionysian nature and the policeman’s strict adherence to a rigid Christianity was central to the theme and style of the original. Somehow, I can’t imagine Cage’s character being anything like Howie from that film.

In the trailer, quick flashes to old woodcuts of cavorting demons and such imply something more akin to 17^th century witchcraft is at work in this story. This is only heightened by seeing what I must assume is Lady Summerville in a large, canopied bed of ivory colored sheets, while her voiceover declares in triumphant tones, “The wicker man is coming!” Well! Certainly brings to mind stories of cackling witches having relations, as it were, with Old Scratch, doesn’t it? I wonder if we’ll get to see Mr. Cage go mano-a-mano with a flaming CGI demon that wasn't quite good enough to play the balrog. Yes, and by smiting said demon, Nick Cage will get to save the spooky, disappearing little girl as well, I’ll bet. Hugs and smiles all around!

Monday's Outsider

Arioch's been so regular about his updates lately I'm starting to feel a little guilty about about what I said earlier. Page 48 is up for your viewing pleasure.

Glossary of GMing Terms

Martin Ralya over at Treasure Tables is putting together a glossary of GMing terms. It’s bleeding into a nice glossary for RPGing, of course, but his focus is clearly on things GMs do and use. Be sure to take a peek and let him know what you think.

You are there! Monte on Ptolus’ Chapter VI

Monte’s still pushing what’s neat and cool about Ptolus on his webpage. Can’t blame him in the least. It looks like some neat stuff, and he’s got to be concerned about his ability to move books. Printing that monster can’t have been cheap.

And while I’m not sold on my need for the book (I’m not playing 3^rd edition D&D these days, and I almost always run my own settings), I adore that Monte has taken a whole chapter to describe the sights, sounds, smells, textures, and tastes of the setting:

But in Part VI, it's all about feel and flavor. This section is filled with concrete details about daily life for a typical Ptolus resident as well as an adventurer. The first two chapters in this part are "On Being a Resident" and "On Being a Delver." In order to really get the point across, I wrote both of these chapters in second person. The resident chapter has sections like "Where You Live," "What You Eat," and "What You Wear."

Folks, I just eat this stuff up. I love creating adventures where showing up at Dame Movane’s home with star asters means that, not only does she tell you Lord Prill is illegitimate, but she also presents you with a bottle of Old Gravmey Tawny Port, 452 B.E., which just happens to be Duke Olba’s favorite after dinner indulgence. And 452 was an excellent year…

I hope other designers notice the little extras that Monte is putting into this book. The exceptional cross-referencing, the attention to detail, the numerous adventure hooks all indicate that Ptolus is an exceptional product. Of course, we won’t really know until the book gets out and players who didn’t design the setting actually try to run it. Amazing detail is a double-edged tool. Either DMs will be able to create incredibly evocative and textured games, or they’ll drown in the minutiae. We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed for Monte.