Chris Shadowens's page

My wife and I saw Sin City this afternoon at the Cinerama in downtown Seattle. Got there at just the right time as the line to get in went clear down to the end of the block (don't these people have jobs?! Waitaminnit...we're both off today...) I'd never read any of the Sin City stories but I've been a fan of Miller's since his Dark Night days as well as his Ronin story (which I'd love to see done on the big screen...that or Mike Saenz's Shatter.) I'm also a huge Robert Rodriguez fan despite his push for digital cinematography (and those who know me are already crying "HYPOCRIT!!!" since I've nothing good to say about the digitalization of the Star Wars series.) Robert is all about the gonzo movie shoot but he's got it all down so well that everything works at the rapid-fire pace he shoots movies at.

That all being said, I loved this movie. The noir feeling was perfected both visually and in the gravelly internal narratives by the various leading characters. The 3 different story lines, separate but inexplicably linked by both the underbelly of Basin City as well as the paths these unique characters invariably cross.

Yes, it was definitely a comic book story but I don't think that I missed out on anything by never reading any of them. I will say that if one didn't like comic-to-film adaptations then this is a definite steer-clear film.

But, as I'm all for comic book movies (even the really bad ones), I highly enjoyed Sin City and highly recommend it.

- Chris Shadowens

I recently picked this issue up at the local "Barney Knob" and while I've only read through to the end of the "Enter the Far Realm" article I thought it was great! I've been wanting to run an Eberron campaign focusing on Xoriat and this is a perfect link for me. I was also going to incorporate the Sanity rules from the Unearthed Arcana (or Call of Cthulhu d20, I think the mechanics are a little different, been a while since I read through CoC d20.) I also thought I'd include some monsters from Cthulhu d20 as creatures that got left behind when Xoriat was closed off. I was also looking to eventually work in Malhavoc's Chaositech stuff, creating an even more chaotic source of evil for the PCs to fight off or lose their minds to. I'll have to try to find Gates of Firestorm Peak as well as some of the other titles mentioned in one of the article's sidebars.

Now, time to brew some coffee and read about the Umbragen!

- Chris Shadowens

I'll admit it, the full-page spector art caught my eye in this month's issue (Dungeon #121) but I kept reading because the thought of being able to play D&D online (and not that infernal MMORPG that I keep avoiding reading about at all costs) with friends sounded great.

Checking out the fledgling website the one thing I didn't care for was the subscription-based payments. I'd assumed it was a downloadable program, one-time-payment sort of thing. Not so (though I think there's something about one-shot games or something, I skimmed a little on the payment page.) Granted, $54/year isn't too high-priced I suppose ($42/year if one subscribes with the early bird special) but is it going to be worth it?

Which leads me to the question: has anyone used this yet? I imagine it's only the playtesters at this point, any of them willing to share any experiences (or are you even allowed to talk about anything yet? Damned non-disclosure contracts!)?

And while I'm at it, is there anything already existing out there that does this sort of thing? It's not always easy for me to meet for games (hell, I haven't gamed for months now...so yea, it's a little difficult to hit the gaming table) so something like this could be great tool. I was going to finally shell out the $$$ for Neverwinter Nights Platinum so I could game that way with a few people (though NWN2 is supposed to be in development) but have yet to do so (something about fearing the scripting language that seems to be needed...I never went past BASIC back in my Commodore 64 days.)

- Chris Shadowens

I dunno... Downer reminds me a bit of Wormy. The story wasn't always easy to follow, but the world is pretty interesting. I think an RPG based in Downer's setting would be pretty interesting.

That's exactly what keeps me reading Downer. I didn't catch the story from the beginning so I knew coming into it that I'd only understand so much. I've read it consistantly for a few months now and I still don't get all of it but I don't worry too much about that now. I like the artwork, especially in heavily populated locations (like the tavern from a few issues back) where you get that "Cantina" feeling what with all the different Underdark races mingling. That's what I liked about Wormy back in the day. I didn't read a whole lot of Wormy (it was on its way out as I was just starting to be a regular Dragon reader) but I thought the locations they'd visit were rich and intrestingly detailed. I've an issue (the mag's in storage right now so I don't remember the #) where some characters are bringing a giant fish into a harbor to sell. The docks, the monsters, the nearby shops...all came back to me years later when I was attempting to flesh out Waterdeep's Skullport.

Ultimately, for those that see Downer (and Wil Save, which I think is alright as it is) as a space waster, it's only 2 or 3 pages of an entire magazine that has at least a little something for everyone. None of us will ever be 100% pleased 100% of the time. Let's just take what we *can* use from Dragon & Dungeon and get back to the gaming table, the dice are getting cold.

- Chris Shadowens

After rereading my copy of "Dark Dungeons" from Chick Publications I find it just as frightening now as I did 15 years ago when I found the little comic pamphlet on top of a urinal in a bathroom at the shopping center I used to work at (Kukui Grove Center, Kauai, HI...in case anyone knows the place.) How is it that there are still people in the world with the close-mindedness to think that D&D is devilry wrapped in filth? How is it that we still hear so many stories from kids who's parents disapprove of the content and make them dump their books (though Zootcat claims he's doing it of his own accord there's still obviously the disapproving vibe in his house that has to be of some influence...might want to keep your D&D books out of site lest they too come under scrutiny.)

A salacious cover? Hardly. For one, it's a painting of a medusa, not a photo of some overstuffed Maxim model. And the cover text about serving a demon prince? If one took this magazine as canon for real life like, say, a cover blurb in a workout magazine on how to build better abs or a women's magazine exclaiming they've the ultimate secret for intimately pleasing men then, yes, there could be some acceptable flack from people out there. With Dragon and other fanasy publications, this couldn't be further from the case. It's *fantasy* and moreover, it's for a *game*.

And when did gamers become such stuffy parents? How many parental gamers now handed their Monster Manuals over to their book-banning parents? I'm sure there were a few but I'm also sure that didn't stop them from gaming if for no other reason than to defiantly stick it to their stuffy parents. I remember getting grounded at one point for getting a bad report card. My mom hid my D&D boxed sets (Basic & Expert back then) until I brought my grades up but that didn't stop me from playing. In fact, I'm sure I was playing even more just to stick it to my mom for hiding my books. That's what kids do, have we all forgotten that in our rise to adulthood?

But I've digressed (the hour's late and my coffee's worn off.) Dragon's not pornography, it's not evil...it's a collection of the fantastical for use in a game built on the fantastical. And as a parental myself (a 5-year-old daughter and one due in July) my D&D books will stay on the lower living room bookshelves and my Dragons and Dungeons will probably be on the coffee table near my reading chair. And if my daughter wants to look at any of them, I'll gladly hand her the books (she already knows where my dice are.)

- CHRiSTo

My birthday was yesterday, and the cake my wife had put together for me was . . . well . . . It was awesome.

To paraphrase, it looks pretty sweet. It looks awesome. That cake, it's... it's incredible.

- CHRiSTo