Recent OSR sightings at my FLGS and other musings

Here in the Twin Cities, the OSR is alive and well--if not a little slow to get to my FLGS, Source Comics and Games. Here's a few finds over the last few weeks. Saw this one today:

Core rules baby!

This is the first time Swords and Wizardry has made it to the Source (I'm pretty sure anyway, I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a while). There have been a few Labyrinth Lord products for sale (like the time I saw a few copies of the Advanced Edition Companion), and they are always snapped up in a week--and for some reason never reordered again. While some of the crew at the Source are hip to the OSR, most staff seem to be down on the "clones". This isn't surprising considering the store is a 4E selling machine:

You should see the dice!

That's just a sign--not a box! And yes, it's an extremely cool sign, but still. 4E of course has tons of events to support it like the weekly D&D Encounters, the Annual D&D Day, and it looks as though they're starting up a D&D Essentials event (not sure if that's regular or not--but they were asking for DMs to sign up).

A few weeks ago I was pleasantly surprised to see this pop up for sale:

Has anyone played Sorcery and Super Science yet? I'd be interested to know. That's gone too now. Expeditious Retreat seems to show up on shelves more often, but again, the same products never appear twice. I'm beginning to think the store isn't keen on smaller, indy publishers.

In the last five years, the Source has held a handful of indy comic creator events--but never one for game publishers. There's several local game houses in the area--some smaller like Atlas Games, some larger like Fantasy Flight. But there's not been an event to celebrate or promote the start-up or even local game scene. Part of the reason for this might be that FF has opened it's own store a mere 3 miles/8-minute drive away, and the Source still sells a lot of FF inventory. To be honest, I don't know the reason.

Well it is good to see that the OSR is represented, and heartening to know that when products are sold, they disappear quickly. But it would be nice to see a them be treated with a little more staying power to help enhance their impact.

Brave Halfling Sale on Whitebox S&W 5-Player Set

Click to view larger photo

Thought I'd spread the word that John Adams over at Brave Halfling Publishing is having a sale on a special version of the Whitebox set.  This "Referee set" for Swords and Wizardry is like an instant game out of the box for up to FIVE gamers to get started!

The following excerpted text relays the details:

Each Set Includes:

• A 6″ x 9″ Game Box (With a new sticker on the bottom of the box – see picture)
• A complete Set of Rule Booklets for the Referee and enough extra Character & Spells Booklets for four more players! That’s 5 Character, 3 Spell, 1 Monster and 1 Treasures Booklets in all!  These booklets contain the new WhiteBox logo that will be on booklets from now on (but are not on any of the previous rule booklets – see picture)
• A copy of Jimm Johnson’s Adventure, “The Vile Worm of the Eldritch Oak” (with a card stock cover)
• A digest-sized copy of Matt Finch’s, “Quick Primer for Old-School Gaming”
• A pad of 25 digest-sized character sheets
• A pad of 25 digest-sized graph paper sheets
• Set of polyhedral dice
• And a pencil

This is a limited run--so if you're looking to recruit players (or finally convert your buddies to a retro-clone) this is the time to do it!

Doctor Spektor Anthology in October, Mighty Samson in September

I'm not super familiar with this guy, but there's quite a buzz going on over at Grognardia about pop culture influences on the cleric class. Then I was over at Dark Horse comics rifling though the upcoming releases for Flash Gordon and saw their upcoming Doctor Spektor hardcover and it seemed like fate! Spektor will be out before Halloween in time to repel the forces of evil. Here's the cover and details:

• Release date: October 13, 2010
• Full color
• 200 pages
• Hard cover
• 7" x 10" 

I saw this earlier when I discovered Flash Gordon comics from the 40s-60s are getting their own special hardcover archive. Science-fantasy fans might also go ga-ga over another anthology for Mighty Samson (set in the future?). Here's that cover and info:

• Release date: September 22, 2010
• Full color
• 216 pages
• Hardcover
• 7" x 10"

Looks like we're going broke before Christmas this year!

Thor Movie is Going "Kirby"

I was initially concerned when I heard about Thor. I really hoped they'd be able to pull it off. A terrible TV appearance by Thor in an old Bill Bixby made-for-TV hulk movie had him running around in some ratty tunic with furry shoulder pads.

That's not Thor. Not the Marvel one, anyway. The Thor I wanted to see was Jack Kirby's squarish, shiny-metal armor and squarish-chinned "superman" with a sword--er, hammer. I wanted to see plate-armored gods and sizzling "magic" emanating from what could be some sort of high-alien technology. We just can't be sure....

Asgard was clearly depicted by Kirby as having a strong Sci-Fi influence. It was all nuts-and-bolts, but it worked. And it was all powered by "Kirby Krackle".

And rainbows, apparently--but we bought it, because IT'S IN SPACE!

So, when the film was rumored to be taking shape, I was hoping for a little Kirby influence on the designs. If Marvel was going to truly tell their Thor, it had to have JK's stamp. Ladies and Gentlemen, Jack Kirby would be proud:

I don't think it was at all easy to bring the King's art into the "real world," so I give high marks to Branagh and his crew for deftly walking a very fine line. I'm not even the slightest bit worried about the eyepatch on Odin, or the lack of helmets (hey, you wouldn't wear a heavy helmet indoors either!).

We'll see what the movie has in store, but I'm taking this bit of art direction as a good sign that Kirby's hand is guiding Mjolnir.

Read more at the LA Times.

"Creature" blogs are a Monster-lover's delight!

If you're looking for the next beastie to stat or just want some visual inspiration to jump start your brain, then you need to check out these two blogs.

Creature Spot, cops to being "the spot for creature art, artists, and fans" and boy is it ever! There's dozens of artists (illustrators, sculptors, and more) who post their latest and greatest. Check out a few choice selections:

Here's a piece by Weta Workshop designer Greg Broadmore who illustrates one of my favorite books.

Emily Fiegenschuh is one of my favorite newer artitsts. She's got a real whimsical style and does a great job giving her creatures a heaping of character. 

I first learned of her work on A Practical Guide to Monsters, a really wonderfully illustrated introduction to D&D creatures for youngsters. She's done art for several books in the series.

Oh, and Eli--this one by Brynn Methany's for you!

Next up is RPG Creatures, which...okay, self explanatory. The site is home to illustrator Nicholas Cloister, who posts on Creature Spot, but he's got plenty of his own creepy crawlies to keep his dungeon--er, site, stocked. On his blog, he's even provided stats, so you can stock your own personal dungeons too!

Man, those are some beautiful beasties! Wonderfully moody presentation too. I tried to make sure the artists names were credited in the files names. (Please respect their work and play nice. ;)

DO swing by and check out these two incredible blogs and show them some love!