Immersing myself in barbarism --

[Howard Whitehouse]

The title says it all ---
 
Well, no, I haven't taken to wearing fur undies, or exposing my flabby white body to the chilly air of early spring. Nor do I take time to brood darkly, and I've found that addressing Lori as 'wench!' works out very badly for me.  ::
 
But, in the process of working on "Chainmail Bikini", I have :
 
a) watched both Conan movies for the first time in many years. I had great fun. There's a deliberate infusion of cheesiness to them - especially the more youth-oriented 'Conan the Destroyer' - which I liked, and found more in sympathy with what I hope to do with CB than the much more sombre, elemental Conan of the REH originals. While I think that "Beyond the Black River' is objectively far better than the films, the whole 'lamentashuns of zer vimmen' / 'lizard on a stick!' approach works better for a social, entertaining game.
 
b) finished 'Brak the Barbarian', John Jakes' 1968 compilation of tales. I enjoyed these more than I had any right to, since they are clearly Conan knock-offs of a fairly straightforward kind. Indeed, because Jakes had absorbed Conan directly, there's an element of  'the straight dope' about them - basic S&S essentials.
 
c) begun the first anthology of Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser stories. This is the first three books of the series, although (and I don't know all the details) many of the stories came out at different times (from 1940 to the 70s), and Fritz Leiber compiled them in a sequence of events rather in the same way that DeCamp and Carter tried to do with the Conan tales. Leiber was a gifted writer with a sense of humour, although sometimes he seems a little too taken with his own cleverness. I'd read probably half the stories before. He is very good at many things, but I am presently impressed by the sequences in which magical forces afflict and limit the main characters (who are too tough for 95% of mortal foes to deal with), sometimes rendering them either completely immobile, or delusional. I'd have to think about how that could feature in the game.
 
I still prefer my X-Acto to a broadsword --- H

[revford]

You should add the Scorpion King to those movies, it's in the same D&D mindset as Conan The Destroyer.  All good fun.

[Rhoderic]

Another movie to watch - and it kinda comes out of left field, because it's an anime - is Amon Saga. Classic, pulpy S&S is not something you see in anime regularly (or at all really, aside from in this singular case), but Amon Saga does fit the template perfectly.

That said, it's rather old (20+ years) which shows in the animations, and I'm not vouching for any English voice-over.

[PeteMurray]

At Cold Wars, Illumisar and I got into a long-winded discussion about Libertarianism, REH, and the pulps. Poor Deathwing was bored to death by the fact that we were choosing to have this conversation right around bedtime in the hotel room. If I ever want to go back for a Ph.D. in English, I'm going to explore that in my thesis.

Interestingly enough, a week later someone raised similar points with Illumisar, completely independently of our conversation. I felt vindicated.

I'm not sure how I ever feel about Fafhrd and Grey Mouser. I read the books, think "this is crap!" then six weeks passes and I think "they're not so bad." Then I read them again and they revert to crap. I have no idea why this is the case. I feel the same way about the Matrix, too.

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

The new Pathfinder  film is out toward the end of April. Though not actually set in Hyboria, it looks like a Conan movie to me.

[Howard Whitehouse]

Pete, the thing that I find about the Fritz Leiber series is that, while it's SOOO much cleverer than your basic 'big barbarian slays his way out of trouble, again' stuff, the author has an annoying air of superiority about his prose.

'This is a clever part. You'll have to be smart to get it. Then you'll know how smart I am'.

It's one of the forms of geek humour.

[Prof.Witchheimer]

The new Pathfinder  film is out toward the end of April. Though not actually set in Hyboria, it looks like a Conan movie to me.

just watched the trailer, wow! must-see!

http://www.pathfinderthemovie.com/

[Lowtardog]

You must watch Red Sonya too

[Westfalia Chris]

You must watch Red Sonya too

Uhhhhh... *drools* :love: Yes. And try to ignore that obnoxious kid.

[Operator5]

The new Pathfinder  film is out toward the end of April. Though not actually set in Hyboria, it looks like a Conan movie to me.

just watched the trailer, wow! must-see!

http://www.pathfinderthemovie.com/

Just checked it out as well. Definitely has the right feel! I'll have to try and get out to see that one.

[zbyshko]

The new Pathfinder  film is out toward the end of April. Though not actually set in Hyboria, it looks like a Conan movie to me.

just watched the trailer, wow! must-see!

http://www.pathfinderthemovie.com/

OH Dear!!  well at least we're in the "fantasy" section here - my wife has bent my ears for hours telling me about this film!    it has her insensed!  but then she lived on a fjord in a Viking-age camp with folks trying to rebuild a norse settlement for re-enactors.

on the surface, i think it's a great adventure yarn and a thrilling story.  but why would raiders of any ilk - historical or not, Viking or not - bring a small child on a raid?  i'll assume for now he was a (over-used plot device) stow-away. :freak:

and the costuming?  i'm all for artistic license, but this is artistic licentiousness!  :roll:  The 13th Warrior was more palatable than this in regard to costuming!

and the horns!!!  what the @$$ is with the horns? :x  if you wanted a Frank Frazetta film, scribble a fantasy, but using the Native American and Norse references grounds it is a historical context that...

oH never mind, i'll watch it, probably thoroughly enjoy it and rave to others about it afterwards because there was a pumping soundtrack and liters of blood flowing.  :cry: