The Heretic
Should be playing D&D instead
Yes, that's why I picked them when I went to ask my grandmother why the walkmen sounded possessed.
The state of Post-OSR content
- Thread starter Yora
- Start date
Malrex
So ... slow work day? Every day?
Its grueling and hard, but also fantastic. Approaching mile 500 and in another 200 miles Ill be out of the desert finally and into the Sierras. Im doing videos on youtube, mainly for my family, vid blogging the journey and showing the views, as well as talking a little bout D&D-- Hexcrawl Hiker.
And while I have cell service, everyone should check out Brine Lord Casdidys Tomb. Its PWYW with funds going to fibromylangia research. Had a few KS backers collaborate with me on it and I think they had some cool ideas.
Sorry for derailing thread, back to arguing! Or discussion?
squeen
8, 8, I forget what is for
That's got to be some sort of badge of honor...
...and if I ever told you what I am up to now, then you'd be sure to call me a liar. ;P
(nice hair too, you pulled it off way better than me)
squeen
8, 8, I forget what is for
Malrex
So ... slow work day? Every day?
squeen
8, 8, I forget what is for
I am pretty sure nothing was fake about Sid Vicious or Johnny Rotten --- even if they were a pre-fab, then the studio got more trouble than they bargained for.
Heck, I like the Monkees too---have you ever seen Head?
Beoric
8, 8, I forget what is for
Heh. This reminds me of when a long-haired John "JD" Roberts was one of the hosts of a Canadian late night alternative rock newsmagazine called The NewMusic. That would have been the late 70s and early 80s. I would not have expected him to end up where he did.
The music that comes to mind from back then would be, in no particular order, Boston, Chilliwack, Prism, Trooper, Journey, Supertramp, The Pretenders, Tommy Tutone, Depeche Mode, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Boomtown Rats, The Knack, Duran Duran, OMD, Ah-Ha, Flock of Seagulls, Heart, Blondie, INXS, The Fixx, Berlin, Modern English, Rick Springfield, The Kinks, New Order, The Spoons, Violent Femmes, B-52s, Bronski Beat, Martha and the Muffins, Parachute Club. So many good memories.
The1True
8, 8, I forget what is for
The1True
8, 8, I forget what is for
just snuck that in there, eh
Beoric
8, 8, I forget what is for
Uh, Trooper, Prism, Parachute Club, The Spoons and Martha and the Muffins are also Canadian. If I was just going for Canadiana I would have added Rush, the Power Blues Band, the Cowboy Junkies, the Headpins, the Tragically Hip and probably a few others, but TBH I'm not really into any of those.just snuck that in there, eh
Honourable mention goes to SNFU and Skinny Puppy; I didn't really listen to them, but I did go to one of their concerts at the National in Calgary when I was waaay to young to be drinking at a bar. The National had 80 cent draft and didn't care who they served...
Funny thing, Trooper is still around and they are playing a venue in Calgary this month along with Lee Aaron. Lee Aaron would be added to that list a few years later.
squeen
8, 8, I forget what is for
I do remember that in one of Settembrini's podcasts, 4e was referred to being a bicycle, design by committee, with 3 wheels since someone once reported having fallen off. I don't know enough about 4e to say where that perception came from, but apparently it's out there.
Maybe superhero characters are a "safety net" of sorts?
Maybe superhero characters are a "safety net" of sorts?
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squeen
8, 8, I forget what is for
I knew you'd like that.I'm staying silent on this whole thing since I think the monster truck is fucking awesome
tetramorph
A FreshHell to Contend With
What about a comparison to synthesizers? (Sorry, my other hobby.):
OD&D: Modular
AD&D: Analog poly synth
2e: digital hybrid synth
3e: sampler
4e: Digital Audio Workstation
5e: digital analogue modeler
What would the basic line be? Monophonic analogue? 3e era basic: "keyboard" from Target?
What is nice about the above is that it actually fairly well maps to what was happening at the same time.
OD&D: Modular
AD&D: Analog poly synth
2e: digital hybrid synth
3e: sampler
4e: Digital Audio Workstation
5e: digital analogue modeler
What would the basic line be? Monophonic analogue? 3e era basic: "keyboard" from Target?
What is nice about the above is that it actually fairly well maps to what was happening at the same time.
squeen
8, 8, I forget what is for
OD&D has got to be a Moog (=moduler?).
B/X is a Fisher-Price keyboard.
Meztner Basic is an electronic doorbell.
squeen
8, 8, I forget what is for
Dr. Peter Kreeft (Catholic apologist) speaks about his love of Tolkien in this interview starting at 14:10. I post it here because we've gone back and forth about Bombadil several times, with the majority disliking his inclusion on the LotR.
Kreeft starts speaking about Bombadil at 19:00. Interesting is the interviewers take (siding with the anti-Bombadil crowd) versus Kreeft's---which beautifully articulates my feelings on the matter.
If you care...
"...if they come from the concious mind..." is a major part of what's wrong with much Adventure-writing/fiction in my opinion. The creatively is too predictable and meditative, and as a result feels too tidy and artificial.
Kreeft starts speaking about Bombadil at 19:00. Interesting is the interviewers take (siding with the anti-Bombadil crowd) versus Kreeft's---which beautifully articulates my feelings on the matter.
If you care...
"...if they come from the concious mind..." is a major part of what's wrong with much Adventure-writing/fiction in my opinion. The creatively is too predictable and meditative, and as a result feels too tidy and artificial.
Beoric
8, 8, I forget what is for
I have no issue with Bombadil as a concept, or his existence in Middle-Earth; the Bombadil poems are fine. My issue is with the pointlessness of his appearance in LotR. In fact, I see his as am impediment to good storytelling, because not only does nothing happen - the main characters accomplish nothing, and learn nothing - but he actively removes their agency.
The hobbits get caught by Old Man Willow, are rescued by the Hand of God, and learn and accomplish nothing. The hobbilts get caught by the barrow-wights, are rescued by the Hand of God, and learn and accomplish nothing. IIRC, they don't even find Merry's magic sword on their own, he hands the swords to them, with them having done nothing to earn them. The whole thing has about as much function as "Merry finds a magic sword in a field."
I understand how Bombadil first got there, because as I understand it he was telling these stories to his kids as a serial, and a random episode works fine in that context. So he added a crossover with a old character AND his rogues' gallery, who (as with many poor crossovers and sequels) are up to the exact same tricks they were in the original poem, and defeated by Bombadil in the same way (he may have even had the same dialog). I think the work would have been better if he had the discipline to excise an element that added nothing to the overall work, or publish it as a separate short story, or shove it into an appendix like Arwen's story.
I agree with this assessment. WotC adventures are formulaic, antiseptic, and have a far too 21st century sensibility for what amounts to, at the latest, an early modern or 19th century political, social and technological environment. They exist in a clockwork universe in which every element has a logical explanation which must be explained to the DM, even if the logic is a bit dodgy, and eschews any mystery. The OSR's focus on the mythic underworld is a reaction to this, if nothing else.
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robertsconley
Should be playing D&D instead
I am with the pro-Bombadil crowd, while critics are correct in that aside from the swords Bombadil does nothing to further the narrative of the Ring nor of any of the four hobbits, what it did for me is establish Middle Earth as a place. The character undoubtedly had a lot of encounters and interactions with inhabitants of Middle Earth along the journey most of them were not relevant or even notable. The incident with Bombadil while not relevant was notable as it was one of the few times any of the characters encountered the wonderous side of Middle Earth.
Along with things like Gloin's impression of the Glittering Caves and a handful of other brief incidents that were also irrelevant, I think the importance of these is that they establish part of what the Fellowship was fighting for. Things that would be definitely lost if the Ring wasn't destroyed.
However, if your time or budget is limited then omitting Bombadil from an adaptation is not a big deal in my opinion.
Along with things like Gloin's impression of the Glittering Caves and a handful of other brief incidents that were also irrelevant, I think the importance of these is that they establish part of what the Fellowship was fighting for. Things that would be definitely lost if the Ring wasn't destroyed.
However, if your time or budget is limited then omitting Bombadil from an adaptation is not a big deal in my opinion.