Fair Warning WITH Music Video

Ah, I see I struck SOMEONE's nerve with my last post, mentioning pathetic individuals who mess with people's internet spaces. Right, then: admittedly, my PC has been acting up during the last month or so but that was entirely due to some Trojan Viruses, which got taken care of. Indeed, I am not the most knowledgeable person when it comes to computer programming but I scarcely think I would delete all the pictures from the previous post, not only without becoming aware of it but also leaving the picture-borders behind. Ergo: either Blogger in some way malfunctioned (unless they suddenly decided that snowy pictures are offensive in some way and took action) OR, some idiot with a surplus of time bothered to hack the blog and mess around with the pictures.



Now pay close attention, for this is important: if the deletion of the pictures was something that happened, in any plausible way, accidentally, well, crap does happen and nothing to it. If, however, some cock-brained idiot thought it was a way to have a fun afternoon, there are two scenarios. Either you are someone we have never met in actual life or on the net or whatever, in which case, well, we (probably) cannot track you down, so stay in your hole and wank off (which seems your predilection) OR you are someone we DO know and you decided to strike at us in this manner. No bitching or yelling or anything else: Ergo Proxy is too busy with the Army right now, so I will take it upon myself to find you and "educate" you. I am not an unduly aggressive individual but seriously, do not fuck with me - I tend to fuck in retaliation.

An apology to our readers, who will inevitably read this warning and is, of course, NOT directed at them. Hope you enjoy the video,

Speedgrapher

Literary Section - News I: Lone Wolf is Back...!

...and better then ever! A few years back, I was thrilled to see that Mongoose Publishing (who produces the Conan D20 series) had obtained the rights to Joe Dever's Lone Wolf and made it into a full-fledged RPG with D20 rules. OK, I was skeptical at the beginning, since I do not really like D&D Editions 3 and 3.5 (and will probably hate the 4th Edition, due in 2008) or the whole open license thing (which, granted, gave opporunity for a few good things to be published - mainy by Mongoose and AEG, as well as the Eberron Campaign) but also brought to the surface a real sea of turd and cheap-ass rip-offs. HOWEVER, the Lone Wolf RPG pays only token attention to the new editions of D&D and forges a new system, more true to the tradition of the feel of the original Lone Wolf gamebooks.

Cover Artwork from Mongoose's Lone Wolf RPG.

Now, scavenging for various books through the alleys and underbellies of this pipeline network called "internet", I came across this spirit-raising fact: the gamebooks are coming back out from Mongoose, revised, expanded AND - for the real aficionados - in hardback! The one thing distressing me is "with new artwork". I LOVED Gary Chalk's and Brian Williams's illustrations but I will not judge before I see. Although I also loved the original covers (especially in the Magnakai and Grandmaster series), the new covers are also really, really good.

The Original Edition of Volume 1.
(Red Fox)

The Edition that came over to
Greece from Italy.

Another version of Volume 1.
(Beaver)

The new, Collector's Edition.
(Mongoose)

You can order the books either throught the usual sources (Amazon etc. although they were unavailable in the Book Depository) or wait for them to hit the shelves. However, you can also order them from Mongoose Publishing directly, especially the collector's editions AND there is an offer I find tempting there, though a bit hard on my pocket at first look.

ergoproxy and I were very fond of these books back in the day (although the Greek translations were not THAT good) and we even attempted to convert some of the creatures there for the 2nd Edition AD&D. I still have those papers...

Anyway, this is obviously NOT today's regular update (which will appear later in the day) but I just HAD to mention this developpment, honoring our youth. Yes, the picture was posted in the Literary Section during the small hours today and I apologise for that (was supposed to be on the weekend) but, as I said, I keep odd hours and for me the day does not change until I wake up, heh.

...and this is my personal favorite
from the Red Fox Edition,
Volume 08 - The Jungle of
Horrors!

See you later,
Speedgrapher

Dungeon Cinema

Yes, I know this is hardly news but I really cannot stay silent about it, now that the movie will be premiering in Greece on the 29th. When I thought I saw a trailer on satellite TV, I was near certain I thought wrong. A quick trip to the internet kindled my hopes… and doubts. I have been an enthusiast of the Dungeon Siege series for nearly three years (I have played DS and DSII as well as Broken World numerous times, in order to collect all the special items and item sets and try out different races and am now trying out various mods, that had come out when it was all hype); that said, seeing Jason Statham from the Transporter and Crank movies, in the role of “The Farmer”, I was flabbergasted: first, he is a damn good actor and second, well, the game series got you used to seeing the female redhead in the lead role (even if Tristan Dragonfist the Dwarf ended up being played the most and as my personal favorite, but I digress). John Rhys-Davies (Indiana Jones’s large friend Sallah in Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade and Gimli, son of Gloin in the Lord of the Ring Movies) was a special treat in the role of Merick (who, in DS is a wizard you meet and get as a party character in the Alpine Caverns), as was Burt Reynolds (the tough Inspector Logan from Hostage Hotel) in the role of King Konreid.

The much marketed Farmer Girl turned hero, from Dungeon Siege.

However, my anticipation turned to doubt and controlled resentment, as I saw the name of Uwe Boll, filling the director space. It seems he is on a roll, producing movies based on popular video-games, like Alone in the Dark and Bloodrayne. I do not know about AiD, but Bloodrayne seriously sucked: it was probably one of the worst bits of direction and acting I have ever seen, which puts me in quandary concerning this movie. I LOVE Dungeon Siege and there is a VERY decent cast involved; but will it deliver? The story is loosely based on DS and a multiplayer-only expansion called “Yesterhaven”, where you can take your characters to the Utraean Peninsula, wherein is located Crystwind Hall. I am not really sure how Ehb and the Peninsula are connected but the Krug incursion in DS was the plan of the mysterious Seck, who forced these simple, a bit barbaric people to become their shock troops. In this case, a wizard named Gallian is behind it all.

Kingdom of Ehb.

The Utraean Paeninsula and Crystwind Hall.

You can find and download larger versions here.

The Krug are not very well made and only passably resemble those in the game or the character designs (see below). However, this should probably not matter much, since they are sort of the DS Orcs.

Krug Concept Sketch.

I WILL go and watch the movie but retain my reservations as to the result, all the while praying for Dungeon Siege III. In closing, here is another trailer of the movie.

Speedgrapher