The Lair of the Evil DM: Pulp

Showing posts with label Pulp. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Great Pulp game find!

I took a quick trip to the comic shop today. no real reason just burning some time. I picked up a couple of titles and lo and behold I found a game. Now my comic store is usually strictly comics, but every once in a while they pick up a few RPGs in a large comic buy. In this case it was an old classic from yesteryear. Justice Inc.

That was a cool find in itself. But as every true Pulp Gamer knows: when you find a Justice Inc. box you have to look inside for one of the "Holy Grail's" of Gaming -"Lands of Mystery".

Now, "Lands of Mystery" was a supplement for running a "Lost World" pulp setting. It was written by Champions Guru Aaron Allston, and is considered one of the best gaming supplements ever written.

Dare I hope?

Would it be there?

Yer damn skippy it would!

There it was, in all its glory and in pristine condition too!

And all for $7.99

It was a good day.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

I thought I found a "lost" Holloway print

This is actually from "Friend of the Lair" Jason Chalker's collection. But the style is definitely reminiscent of Jim Holloway.
I love it! I want more.

This and more from Jason Chalker can be found here.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword #1

As discriminating and thrifty as I try to be in my comics purchases I keep running into titles that have me reaching for my wallet just about every week lately.
Robert E. Howard's Savage Sword is just such a title.

Dark Horse has gathered some great material that has so far rarely been seen in the world of Sword & Sorcery comics. We are all well familiar with Conan, Kull and most recently Solomon Kane, but Dark Horse is taking the unprecedented step in printing tales of some of Howard's other, lesser-known adventurers. Dark Agnes (the original template for Red Sonja), the Pict King Bran Mak Morn, and of course one of my personal favorites Francis Xavier Gordon also known as "El Borak".

Each appears in serialized form and shares the book with a tale of the one and only Conan.

If you're a Sword & Sorcery junkie like myself, you really cant pass on this.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Dicey Tales status report

I’m currently at work on the last part of the manuscript a South Seas adventure titled “The Perils of Bonaga Bay”, after that it’s off to layout.

The first issue will include the basic guidelines to create a pulp era character using the Barbarians of Lemuria rules. It will also contain two adventures.

“The Horror in Jade”, written by Pat Dixon, is a supernatural adventure tale that takes place in San Francisco.

“The Perils of Bonaga Bay” is a straight forward adventure tale that takes place in the South Pacific.

I currently plan to have DT#1 ready for purchase at RPGNow by the end of February.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

"Sword Woman" available next Tuesday 01/25/2011

Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures

From the Amazon website:

The immortal legacy of Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Cimmerian, continues with this latest compendium of Howard’s fiction and poetry. These adventures, set in medieval-era Europe and the Near East, are among the most gripping Howard ever wrote, full of pageantry, romance, and battle scenes worthy of Tolstoy himself. Most of all, they feature some of Howard’s most unusual and memorable characters, including Cormac FitzGeoffrey, a half-Irish, half-Norman man of war who follows Richard the Lion-hearted to twelfth-century Palestine—or, as it was known to the Crusaders, Outremer; Diego de Guzman, a Spaniard who visits Cairo in the guise of a Muslim on a mission of revenge; and the legendary sword woman Dark Agnès, who, faced with an arranged marriage to a brutal husband in sixteenth-century France, cuts the ceremony short with a dagger thrust and flees to forge a new identity on the battlefield.

Lavishly illustrated by award-winning artist John Watkiss and featuring miscellanea, informative essays, and a fascinating introduction by acclaimed historical author Scott Oden, Sword Woman and Other Historical Adventures is a must-have for every fan of Robert E. Howard, who, in a career spanning just twelve years, won a place in the pantheon of great American writers.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Lair Update

I figured we are about due for an update from the Lair…

Both Barbarians of Lemuria ZeFRS edition and BASH Ultimate edition are out of my hands and with the layout folk. Chris at Basic Action Games will be handling the release of the BASH Ultimate edition and I’ll be handling ZeFRS. Both are in the home stretch folks…

I’m going to try something different with Dicey Tales. I’ll be releasing it as a periodical. The first issue will deal with the first part of a pulp era expansion for Barbarians of Lemuria. The second issue will include the raining parts of the pulp expansion. The third issue will revisit Erisa with new material for Legends of Steel.

After that, I will probably try to keep the content pulp-centric –and my definition of pulp is as wide as the genre, so there will be opportunities for material for everything from Sword & Sorcery, Sword & planet, and westerns, to the supernatural and 60’s techno-adventures.

Here is a sample of some more art appearing I Dicey Tales. The character art is from Chris Schieffer, the firearms are by Chris Harper.

As a side note, Chris Harper soon plans to release a set of pulp era firearm stock art. If anyone has a suggestion for a particular weapon please let him know in the comments section.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Not too bad. I wish I'd thought of it.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Tales of the Gold Monkey DVD set- FINALLY!!

After many years of waiting, the DVD gods have finally released Tales of the Gold Monkey on DVD here in the US!

I can finally retire my old home made pirated DVD copies I got off of Napster years ago.

They served me well but the DVD set is a thousand times better.

Although, all is not Champagne and Starlets with this DVD set. There are no Subtitles or a Closed Caption option. I don't really NEED them, but they are nice to have, especially when you're trying to watch the show with a house full of screaming Minions running around.

My other minor gripe is that the sound quality is not the finest. I guess I shouldn't complain too much seeing as I've spent the last two decades waiting for this to come out.

All in all I'm a happy Geek. Now if we could just get Thundarr the Barbarian and The High Chaparral on DVD I'd truly be at peace.

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Hard Boiled Adventure tiles

I ran across these pulp styled adventure tiles the other day at RPGNOW.
They are a great resource for any Pulp game. Of course they could be easily used for just about any modern/supers/horror setting as well but they're gonna be used for Pulp (specifically Dicey Tales) here at the Lair!
I bought Craven Manor and The Docks set. The dock set printed up beautifully. they look like they come straight out of an old Robert Mitchum movie like Macau.

The PDF's are layered for complete customization. they also include a nice set of crates and cars and furnishings. Both of these tile sets are packed with value and as your going through them your mind will just start coming up with adventures to use them with on the spot. Did I mention that the manor set has a hidden laboratory and cells for prisoners? well it does!
I have plans for both of these set and for the Rumored "Airfield" set that is supposed to see release soon- till then check out what this line has to offer.
Two thumbs up from The Evil DM!

Thursday, July 15, 2010

It's Pulptastic here at the Lair lately

We have been in full on Pulp mode here at the Lair. I've been working on Dicey Tales, and reading A. Merritt's Seven Footprints to Satan.

The Minions have been watching the Tailspin DVD collection (Costco has it for $8.99) , and we are all awaiting our Amazon order of the Tales of the Gold Monkey DVD set.

I also ordered a cool looking book called The Rook. It isn't The Rook from the old Warren magazines, but it looks interesting just the same.
Ron Fortier recommended it, so thats good enough for me.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Dicey Tales Update - with new finished art!

The work on Dicey Tales is going great. I've gotten some very useful feedback from my group of "Peer Editors". They have taken me to task on a number of things and hopefully helped me dodge some bullets when this is released. Below are a pair of final illustrations from Chris for the interior of the book.

Thursday, July 01, 2010

Dicey Tales - A Pulp Era Supplement for BoL

Well this is the project that has been filling the time I've saved by not posting as much here and on the forums. It's called Dicey Tales- It's a Pulp expansion for the Barbarians of Lemuria Rules Engine by Simon at Beyond Belief Games. This spectacular cover was done by Jason Chalker from The Manly Art Blog (go there, it's cool). I cant think of another pulp gaming cover more reminiscent of the pulps save for the venerable Justice Inc. cover from Hero Games.
The majority of the interior art will be done by another "friend of the Lair" Chris Schieffer. Here are a couple of proposed sketches he's working on.

Hador is still being finished up and will most likely be released as an adventure setting for Dicey Tales and then for Savage Worlds.

I'm currently working on the Game Masters section. The Players section of Dicey Tales is being looked over by a crack team of Pulp aficionados and BoL veterans. They have already begun to help me plug holes, remove inconsistencies and correct my grammar.
As with all my projects, you can calender it for a "soon" release date, but I am getting the art together so that means it wont be too far off.

Thursday, April 01, 2010

No foolin- Robert Rodriguez has the rights for the remake.

Thanks Chris!

More info here.

Tuesday, March 09, 2010

I need more hours in my day.

This looks awesome!
Especially for Pulp or Horror gaming.You can see it all here at RPGNow.

For those that have the time to invest, lots of possibilities...

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Name the new pulp game contest.

My draft for BoL-Pulp was just given the "green light". Now I need to find a better name than "BoL-Pulp".

So help me find a name for BoL-Pulp and win a hard-copy of it when it comes out. Send me your entries. contest ends when I find a name I like.

Witness my frustration while trying out names...

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

BoL/Pulp

Simon at BBG has the first draft of what I hope will be a set of rules to expand BoL into the realm of Pulp. I felt that by releasing The Lost World of Hador without a definitive set of BoL pulp rules would be like putting the cart before the horse. Once I get the rules into a shape thats ready for release I'll move to the next step which will be writing a few adventures and other setting flavored material (like finding a snappier title than BoL/Pulp).

Monday, January 04, 2010

Manly Monday - Charles Bronson in "Hard Times"

Hard times.

A great movie with a great cast. Depression era drifter falls in with a small time Con Man and travels the Bare-Knuckles circuit in the South.

You guys know how much I like Pulp era fiction and gaming. My go to pulp author is Robert E. Howard. Besides Conan, Kull, and Solomon Kane, Howard wrote his fair share of "Boxing tales" in the pulps. This is one movie I'm sure he would have enjoyed.

From a guy's perspective this movie has it all. If you're into Pulps and/or Pulp era gaming this movie should be required viewing.

I would love to play in a gritty campaign based off of these characters- The slick Con Man, The failed hop-headed Doctor, and the steel-eyed fighter with a code of honor.

In Hard Times, Strother Martin plays one of my personal favorite Pulp gaming archetypes. A failed medical school graduate, addicted to heroin. making his way as a unlicensed doctor for people who need a doctor that doesn't ask any questions.

Here's one of the fights from the movie. Bronson's character facing off against a local Bruiser played by veteran tough guy Robert Tessier (Who was the real deal -Korean War hero awarded the Silver Star).

Hard Times

Thursday, December 17, 2009

Perry Rhodan-Who knew??

Perry Rhodan.

I found volumes 1-22 at Goodwill the other day at $1.00 a piece.

I'll be honest, I always passed these by while hunting around the Sci-Fi section during my used book hunts. But for some reason these sung out to me to be rescued.

These particular books I found are in wonderful condition-they've been lovingly cared for, up until the moment someone tossed them in donation bin at Goodwill.

But fear not- they have found a home.

I suppose all these years I must have just been ignorant, because as I sit here and look at these wonderfully evocative Space pulp covers, I think- "Why the hell hasn't anyone done a pulp style RPG treatment of these books?"

Or have they? If so please enlighten me.

they just about scream Star Frontiers campaign! I mean just look at some of these...

I'm reading through the first one right now. I'll be honest, it's a bit stilted in parts. But I'm attributing that to the translation from German to English. They are in no way bad though, especially since I'm reading them with my "Pulp Gamer" glasses on.

In any event I've committed myself to reading at least the first four or five, and then we'll see what happens. Don't be surprised if some of these Perry Rhodan creatures and aliens make thier way into Hador in some fashion or other.

****Edit***
Hey I just found a German site that offers a free PDF of their Perry Rhodan RPG. I think it's a rules lite PDF, and its all in German. But its still cool to look at.

Saturday, December 12, 2009

The Planet Algol Blog

"OLD SCHOOL PULP SWORD AND SORCERY ADVENTURE ON A PLANET OF WEIRD SCIENCE FANTASY"

Planet Algol is one of the best campaign blogs out there. The posts are full of information and ideas. I would say more, but I don't really need to. Go check it out.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Issue #12 of Paperback Fanatic is out!

In this age of the internets there are few publications I buy regularly, Paperback Fanatic is one of those exceptions. Every issue is packed full of information for the paperback collector. The latest issue is out. Go have a look.

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