***BEGIN RANT****
Gee whiz. In my humble opinion, these people need help.
I’m not being anti Christian here. In fact, I am a practicing Christian—and an ordained Deacon in the Presybterian Church. But these people are giving Christianity a bad name.
I’ve been playing “adventure games”—RPGs, board wargames and miniatures—since 1971, and in that time, I have NEVER run across anything even vaguely Satanic. Sure, D&D has wizards and spells, but its NOT REAL. (Really).
Now, that’s not to say that there aren’t gamers out there who are wiccans, satanists, athiests and what have you. I know more than a few. One of them also is a dentist. But does that mean that getting dental work is satanistic (Stop smiling. I know what you’re thinking. I, too, can’t think of dentists without thinking of “Little Shop of Horrors.”)? Are we going to see a comic condemning dentistry? The guy that cuts my hair is gay. Am I in danger of becoming gay? Should I, in the fashion of Sampson, not get it cut anymore?
I think that these people have strayed about as far from the spirit of Jesus’ teachings as you can go.
Back in the heady days of first edition D&D, there were a lot of small companies publishing books that essentially were nothing more than lists of names, treasures, monsters, etc. During a game, you used these lists to randomly generate filler for your adventures.
The Seventh Sanctum is essentially a computerized version of these old random generator books. There are random generators here for just about anything you can imagine: pirate ship names, character names for a variety of settings, superhero powers,, equipment lists, dark rituals, several evil sounding name generators, a magical girls, a martial arts move generator, and more!
Steve Jackson Games—whose most notable miniature wargaming efforts are Ogre and CarWars—maintains a news site called the Daily Illuminator with frequent updates about gaming in general and Steve Jackson games in particular. I’m also a fan of their GURPS role playing system, so I enjoy visiting here.
I suspect that many of my readers -- like me -- "wasted" their teenage years playing Dungeons and Dragons. But it turns out that it wasn't a waste. The D&Ders of the late 1970s and 1980s now are driving much of mainstream culture. In the Boston Globe, Peter Berbegal has written an op-ed about this. A sample:
Dungeons and Dragons was a not a way out of the mainstream, as some
parents feared and other kids suspected, but a way back into the realm
of story-telling. This was what my friends and I were doing: creating
narratives to make sense of feeling socially marginal. We were writing
stories, grand in scope, with heroes, villains, and the entire zoology
of mythical creatures.
With Halloween approaching, I've just realized that there is a real lack of horror miniatures posts here. If you have, or know of a site with meterial for horror gaming, please send a note to the Editor, and I'll post it on the site.
I marvel at the photos people offer on their websites. My painted figures are usually just as good -- if not better -- but under the gamers, they just don't look right. Here is some advice on photographing figures.
Advancing Hordes sent me a contest notification.
Advancing Hordes' Review Contest
They need product reviews! So they're having a contest: Write a product review on the Advancing Hordes Dice & Miniatures website between now and November 15th, and you'll be entered in a draw to win a $25.00 USD Gift Certificate! NO PURCHASE NECESSARY!
Here's How it works:
• Go to http://www.advancinghordes.com
• Go to the product page of the specific item you want to write about
• Click on the "Write a review" link in the Review box (right column)
• Write about your experience and opinions regarding the product (you may be prompted to login or create a new account)
• Once your review is done, you'll be entered in the draw.
Each review you write will get you another entry in the draw. The reviews must be at least two sentences long to qualify. No purchase necessary, but you must have an AdvancingHordes.com account (free) and know about the item you're reviewing! It does not matter where you bought the product, or how you came to know about it.
After the contest closes, a roll of the dice will choose the winning review, and its writer will receive a $25 USD AdvancingHordes.com Gift Certificate redeemable on any in-stock items.
Advancing Hordes reserves the right to edit any reviews for length and appropriate language. AdvancingHordes.com does not sell, lend or give away any of your personal information. We ship Worldwide.
Note: Each review you write displays your Username and not your real name (unless it's the same).
Good Luck!
I don't normally do this sort of post, but I was moved by the sentiment. Apparently, seminal D&D and Tekumel artist David Sutherland is in ill health and is selling off portions of his collection to pay bills and leave a little something extra for his family. The items are currently on sale at Ebay. I enjoyed his artwork very much as a young man.
Miniature Wargaming is part of the "adventure games" hobby, which includes r ole p laying and board games. Wargamers recreate battles on the tabletop with toy soldiers, like a more complicated game of chess. Models range in height from 6mm to 28mm tall, with 15mm and 25mm being the most popular. There also is a growing interest in toy soldiers and military models, such as the 1/32 and 1/35 scale plastic soldiers from Conte, and Marx.
The most popular miniature wargames are fantasy and science fiction based, such as Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, Warmachine and The Lord of the Rings. World War II games such as Flames of War and Axis and Allies are new favorites. Other favorite historical periods include Napoleonics, the American Civil War, and ancients, such as Romans or Greeks. Other gamers enjoy miniature naval wargames, recreating battles like Trafalgar, Jutland and the Coral Sea.
Hobbyists research historical periods and paint their tiny soldiers in accurate uniforms. Others develop "historically realistic" rules sets or build scale battlefield terrain using model railroad techniques.
For pictures, visit the gallery.
Some of the bigger hobby companies are Games Workshop, which produces Warhammer, Wargames Foundry and Old Glory Miniatures. Wizards of the Coast produces several lines of pre-painted miniatures games, such as the Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons miniatures games, and a historical game with pre-painted miniatures: The new Axis and Allies game. Wizkids produces a fantasy collectable miniatures game, such as the Mage Knight and Heroclick fantasy games, the science fiction games MechWarrior and Rocketmen, as well as the quasi-historical Pirates of the Spanish Main.
