Stargazer's World » Video

Lazy Friday Video post: “John Carter of Mars – Full Trailer”

Stargazer — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 11:18:53 +0000

Yes, I know this is quite off-topic, but damn, this movie is looking better and better everytime they throw a few new scraps at us. I loved the book and it looks like the movie will be quite epic, too.

Of course they took some artistic liberties and even before I saw the first footage I was pretty sure that Disney wouldn’t let Dejah Thoris run around half-naked as she did in the book.

By the way, is there actually an “official” Barsoom RPG? I am sure the world would make an interesting background for a roleplaying game. And the planetary romance genre is not as overdone as some other genres out there.

Dark Dungeons – The Animated Film

Stargazer — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:31:51 +0000

As a roleplayer you surely know the Jack Chick tract “Dark Dungeons” and if you don’t you definitely need to check it out. It still baffles me that there are people out there who believe in magic and think D&D (and other roleplaying games) can teach you how to cast spells. Heck, if I could mind control people using magic, I wouldn’t probably need a day job but I would rule the world … or at least a small European country. But I digress.

Last year a group called “Boolean Union” created an animated film based on said Chick tract. That may actually be old news to some of you. I don’t actually know what reminded me of the existence of said movie, I think someone mentioned it on Twitter or Google+ the other day. Alas I can’t remember who it was. Nevertheless, the animated film based on the Chick tract is fun to watch even though the animation looks very old school. But hey, it fits the source material.

Enjoy!

Lazy Friday Video post: “Game Geeks #178 RunePunk and Iron Dynasty”

Stargazer — Fri, 14 Oct 2011 10:43:25 +0000

As a follow-up to yesterday’s interview with Sean Preston I want to present to you Kurt Wiegel’s video reviews of Reality Blurs’ games RunePunk and Iron Dynasty.

By the way, Sean, what did you do to Kurt that made him be afraid of you?

Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space Unboxing

Stargazer — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:15:56 +0000

This is my unboxing video of the “Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space” roleplaying game by Cubicle 7.

I hope you enjoy it!

DC Adventures Heroes and Villains Volume 1 Unboxing

Youseph — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 10:00:05 +0000

Links:

GreenRonin Publishing

DC Adventures RPG

Lazy Friday Video Post: Aurora

Stargazer — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 10:00:47 +0000

A couple of days ago Ken Walton, one of the creators of the upcoming “Abney Park’s Airship Pirates”, posted a link to this short movie on rpg.net. It’s a movie about a captain of an airship who tries to save his wife who had been kidnapped by slave traders. Enjoy!

D&D is rubbish! Or is it?

Stargazer — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 07:58:25 +0000

EN World’s Morrus shared three videos created by Nikolas Lloyd three days ago. In these three videos its creator explains why he thinks early D&D was rubbish, why mid-period D&D wasn’t great and why fourth edition D&D is terrible. In my opinion he has a few good points and even if you disagree with him, they are fun to watch.

So, what do you think? Is he right or does he totally miss the point? Discuss!

The One Ring: Beginnings

Stargazer — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 19:41:19 +0000

A couple of days ago I read that Cubicle 7 has released a video on YouTube that shows The One Ring artist Jon Hodgson in conversation with its designer Francesco Nepitello. But it was today that I finally sat down and watch it. If you are interested in learning how the game came to be, you should check it out!

UPDATE: The second part of the video is now live!

Technoir Dice Mechanics

Stargazer — Fri, 24 Jun 2011 09:00:36 +0000

I have no idea how I could have missed this, but Jeremy Keller actually recorded a short video that gives an overview of how the dice mechanics of Technoir work. If you’re interested in this game, you should definitely check the video out.

By the way, the Kickstarter hasn’t reached its next goal of $20,000 yet. This time Jeremy is looking for help. People are asked to contribute their idea what the next additional Player’s Guide should be about. The person who comes up with the idea that gets chosen in the end will be credited in the PDF and has the chance to help Jeremy brainstorming new training programs, objects, etc.!

Too Nerdy

Stargazer — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 07:31:59 +0000

I just stumbled upon this awesomely funny video by CollegeHumor and I just had to share it with you. Enjoy!

And seriously, he doesn’t know who The Doctor is? What kind of a nerd is he?

Follow up Castles & Crusades Unboxing (Now with Moving Pictures!)

Youseph — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 10:00:02 +0000

The above video and this post are a follow up to a post I wrote titled: Castles & Crusades Unboxing. It was particularly about the shipping and the conditions of the Castles & Crusades books when I received them.
I am going to take some time here to clarify my thoughts and opinion on a couple of other issues I had with the Castles & Crusades books that I did not bring up in the video due to time.

PRINTING

I am not particularly upset that all the Castles & Crusades books are printed in black and white. I just was not expecting that and felt others might like to know this as well. It seems like most modern day produced RPG books are in color. I own several modern day RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, Mutants & Masterminds, DC Adventures, MouseGuard and Dresden Files. They are all in color. I just had the expectation that Castles & Crusades would also be in color.

When I go to used book stores seeking out older RPGs I fully expect them all to cost more and be in black and white. I have paid a pretty penny for some older pre-made adventures. Sometimes you stumble into a used book store or a garage sale that has RPG books for sale very cheap, but that seems to be getting more and more rare.

My comment was not a slam on the art in the books themselves. Just that I expected the books to be in color and for me it was a surprise to find it was all in black and white.

PDF

To me, it seems ridiculous, that in this day an age PDF downloads (or any electronically form for that matter) are not an option (or should I say affordable option?) to those buying books from RPG companies. There seems to be a divide between RPG companies that offer PDF downloads at a reduced price and those who may not even offer them at all. In the case of Castles and Crusades you can get the PDF copies of the books for just a bit under retail cost of the actual books.

I personally am far more likely to invest in a new RPG if I have the option to buy the books and the PDFs of those books at a reduced price. It’s also better for my gaming group because I am far less anal retentive about my RPG books in their hands when they are eating over them and spilling things on the gaming table because I know I have a PDF backup of the game.

For me the reason that I ended up buying Castles and Crusades as the direct result of a couple of friends who said the game is worth it. I believe my friends that this game is going to be great. But if I had just read a couple of good reviews and went over to the Troll Lord Games website and saw the overpriced PDFs I never would have bought the game.

It seems like my experience has been that most companies offering PDF copies of gaming books sell them for between five and ten dollars. To me this is a perfectly acceptable cost to someone who is also buying the books at the same time.

Now one may argue that PDFs are not the best format for gamers to download their books in. This may be the case, but until that perfect format comes around you should still offer the PDFs. Every modern day Operating system can handle them and will for quite some time. Hell, offering any kind of digital option for gamers would be nice. Text, PDF, ePub, just give us something so we don’t have to worry so much about our physical copies!
Just like I said in the video. With all the fuss my original post made regarding Castles and Crusades I am excited to play this game and give it a sold review here on Stargazer’s World.

Lazy Friday Video Post: Roll a D6

Stargazer — Fri, 06 May 2011 10:00:27 +0000

The music video below has been making the rounds on the internet lately and I thought it wouldn’t hurt to share it here, so that my readers who haven’t watched it yet, can do so!

Enjoy!

The Dungeon Master

Stargazer — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 09:06:35 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, fellow blogger Youseph let me know about a new gaming-related short film called “The Dungeon Master”. Here’s the synopsis cited from the original site:

After they discover they were both fantasy geeks as kids, Shane and Cooper decide to spend a night playing Dungeons and Dragons. But they canʼt remember the rules, so they invite a true gamer to help them. When he shows up in a cape, things get awkward very quickly…

According to the director’s statement, the film is mostly based on a true story and contrary to what the trailer makes you believe, the story slowly pushes the identification away from the “cool kids” to the geek in a cape. This is definitely a welcome change to the majority of gaming-related films who make fun of our beloved hobby.

The Dungeon Master Trailer from The Strong Brothers on Vimeo.

Hopefully the full short film will be available on DVD at some point in the future, since I doubt I’ll make it to any of those film festivals where it’s shown.

Lazy Thursday video post

Stargazer — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 10:00:52 +0000

As you all well know the people running this blog just love H.P. Lovecraft’s work. So it’s no surprise that I am very excited about “The Whisperer in Darkness”, a movie that should soon be available on DVD. It was created by the H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society which already brought us the most awesome “Call of Cthulhu” silent movie! Check out the latest trailer below!

By the way, your favorite roleplaying games blog will be on hiatus over the Easter holidays. But we’ll be back on Tuesday with more quality content! So stay tuned.

Lazy Friday Video Post: “Mike Mearls talks about the future of D&D”

Stargazer — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 08:43:16 +0000

Check out what Mike Mearls, who is currently in charge of D&D development, told us about the future of D&D. You probably won’t believe a few of the changes they have in store for us!

What do you think? Will this change what we think about D&D? Do you intend to give 5th Edition a chance? As always all your comments are highly appreciated.

Lazy Friday Video Post: A Night’s Work

Stargazer — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:00:39 +0000

In the ‘90s I played a lot of Shadowrun. It has been one of my favorite games for quite a long time and even though I always struggled with the rules I have a lot of fond memories of that game. Yesterday my friend and fellow RPG blogger Roberto pointed this video out to me:

It’s a promotion video created by now-defunct FASA back in 1990 and has been shown at GenCon that year. I have to admit the depiction of the Matrix at the end of the video isn’t that bad, but the acting in the first part is worse than a lot of fan videos I’ve seen over the years. FASA, what have you been thinking?

Nevertheless this is an interesting piece of gaming history and if you ever played Shadowrun, you should watch this short video. And I think we at least have to thank them for trying. Creating a live-action promo video for a roleplaying game is and has been a bold move and I have to admit it would be cool to see what today’s companies could do with the help of modern technology and enthusiastic fans.

Lazy Friday Video Post: “She don’t like Firefly!”

Stargazer — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 11:00:40 +0000

It has been quite some time since the last “Lazy Friday Video Post”, but I thought I should resurrect this tradition. This week’s video is not really RPG-related but I know that a lot of gamers also like Firefly, so it’s not totally off-topic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-yHSaP0Dyg

By the way, this song is definitely fun to listen to, but I doubt it’s based on a real story. Would you leave your girlfriend because she doesn’t like your favorite TV show? Discuss!

PAX Celebrity Dungeons & Dragons

Youseph — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 10:00:15 +0000

While I was at PAX Prime this year I went and saw the Pax Celebrity Dungeons & Dragons game. I was maybe sitting 5 rows back. The game featured Wizards of the Coast R&D’s Chris Perkins as DM, along with players Jerry Holkins, Scott Kurtz, Mike Krahulik, and Wil Wheaton. If you have been following the D&D podcasts for Acquisitions Incorporated then this is the next game in line. The players sought to bring Wil Wheaton’s Character back from the dead! I have been waiting since I got back to Juneau for Wizards of the Coast to post the video from the game. It’s now finally up for everyone to enjoy. I hope you will. It’s worth your time to watch it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqXqK3ZlqWI

Lazy Friday Video Post: JourneyQuest trailer

Stargazer — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 09:55:36 +0000

Recently my friend CK told me about a new and upcoming fantasy comedy web series by Dead Gentlemen Production: Journey Quest!

Following a group of dysfunctional adventurers on a quest to discover and destroy the mythical Sword of Fighting, JOURNEYQUEST is a comedic adventure through the fantasy world of Fartherall, where intellectual orcs, incompetent wizards, and holy zombies form the living (and not-so-living) backdrop to an epic story of unrequited love, burning passions, and severely reluctant heroism.

And running away. Lots of running away …

The first episode should be coming soon. So stay tuned!

Are we DMs really that weird?

Stargazer — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 11:26:12 +0000

Yesterday, my friend Christian Kennig, sent me the link to this excerpt from the documentary film “The Dungeon Masters”.

Do you think your dice need punishing, too?

For all your Star Wars fans out there …

Stargazer — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 14:15:01 +0000

This video is not really RPG-related but too awesome not to be shared!

Enjoy!

Lazy Friday Video Post: “John Madden: Dungeon Master”

Stargazer — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:00:56 +0000

I am probably not as familiar with the exploits of John Madden as some of my American readers, but I found this video funny nevertheless. Please enjoy!

By the way, have you ever had to deal with a “replacement dungeon master” and things got wrong? If so, please tell us about it in the comments below!

D&D Essentials “Red Box” Unboxing

Stargazer — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 08:43:40 +0000

Youseph got his review copy of the new D&D Red Box today and recorded a short unboxing video. He told me that there will be a review coming soon, so stay tuned! In the meantime, enjoy the video!

I have to admit the box looks like a really good starter set for D&D. As I posted about before, I already preordered the box some time ago to give it a chance. Let’s see how this turns out.

Lazy Sunday Video Post: Dungeon Master Gurls Music Video

Youseph — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 14:50:48 +0000

I found this and I had to share it.

D Total

Stargazer — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 10:00:27 +0000

Inspired by Youseph’s and Bridget’s Gamescience dice reviews, I searched the internet for more information on Gamescience dice. I watched a couple of YouTube videos of Lou Zocchi explaining why his dice are far superior to any other dice, before I stumbled upon this very interesting video about the D Total!

I didn’t get any of those at Gen Con, because they were a bit too expensive for my taste. But the D Total is definitely one of the most impressive dice I’ve ever seen!