Saturday, December 20, 2014

DVR Alert

On Christmas Day, the Sundance Channel is running a marathon consisting of just one movie, The Princess Bride, hosted by Cary Elwes. Mr Elwes is also the author of a book released a couple of months ago, As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride, filled with anecdotes from the making of the movie, its initially tepid response, and its status as a cult phenomenon.

Mr Elwes sat for an interview with a local radio station back in October and talked about the book and the movie, and because of that, I'm probably not going to watch the marathon next week. It's not that Mr Elwes isn't an interesting storyteller, or that I'm not a huge fan of the movie - even if I have misgivings over its influence on the cape-and-sword genre generally - but too much 'inside baseball' can spoil a thing for me.

As long-time annual passholders to Disneyland, my wife frequently suggests taking a behind-the-scenes tour. My answer is always the same: have a wonderful time, and don't tell me anything about it afterword. I don't want to see how the sausage is made; I just want to recharge my inner seven year-old's sense of wonder.

So instead of watching the marathon, I'll pop in my well-worn DVD instead, and scale the Cliffs of Insanity, navigate the Fire Swamp, escape the Pit of Despair, and have fun storming The Castle once more.

Check your local listings for times et al.

Monday, June 16, 2014

Thursday, May 8, 2014

The Queen's Cavaliers Kickstarter Is Live

With my son's baseball team deep in the playoff chase and All Stars just around the corner, I failed to notice that The Queen's Cavaliers Kickstarter is live at last.

Since it's already fully funded, that early backer excitement and mystery is put to bed, unfortunately, but hey, sometimes a sure thing is just what you're looking for.

Given Caoimhe's track record and the way she's approached this project to date, I'll put my own rep on the line and say. unlike so many other crowd-sourced roleplaying game projects, this is a no-risk Kickstarter - you'll get exactly what you back, and in a timely fashion.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Fate and The Princess Bride

There's a thread on Big Purple right now about using Fate to model the duel between Westley and Inigo atop the Cliffs of Insanity.

It makes Fate sound as much fun as doing my taxes.

Ever see something out of the corner of your eye that grabs your attention, but when you look straight at it, it's nothing like what you thought you saw? That's Fate for me. It's a game I really want to like, but whenever I read the rules, or an actual play report, all I hear in my head is gears grinding.