Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

I still think that this film should be watched and notes taken by anybody who wants to GM in the style of Dave Arneson.

HAR! Ain't it the truth!

You know, ("you" more referring in plural to our Gentle Readers rather than Chirine,) I've said before that people really underestimate the effect of "Hollywood costume dramas" on D&D and its two main originators. And I'm not talking about the modern "guts and gore pseudohistorical dramas," I mean the old classics. And there are a TON of them. There are more versions of "The Three Musketeers" than I can count. Not only are there multiple versions of "Richard III," but the story was rebranded as "The Tower of London." Besides "Henry IV," there is also Orson Welles' "The Chimes of Midnight." Errol Flynn's "Robin Hood" was Gary's model for D&D combat and why hit points work the way they do, as I've said many times before. Don't forget "The Vikings" with Ernest Borgnine as Ragnar, "Black Shield of Falworth" where Tony Curtis does NOT, in fact, say "Yonda lies da castle of my fadda," "The Long Ships," "The Warlord," the excellent "El Cid", "The Warriors,"... and I'm not even getting into all the Sinbad movies and the great classic "Jason and the Argonauts" with Peter Ustinov as Zeus!

Oh, and a personal favorite... Alexander Nevsky, which I just received as a birthday gift from my dear friend David! In the Korean version... so I could use the English subtitles to teach myself execrable Russian, and then use the Koren subtitles to teach myself abominable Korean...

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

HAR! Ain't it the truth!

You know, ("you" more referring in plural to our Gentle Readers rather than Chirine,) I've said before that people really underestimate the effect of "Hollywood costume dramas" on D&D and its two main originators. And I'm not talking about the modern "guts and gore pseudohistorical dramas," I mean the old classics. And there are a TON of them. There are more versions of "The Three Musketeers" than I can count. Not only are there multiple versions of "Richard III," but the story was rebranded as "The Tower of London." Besides "Henry IV," there is also Orson Welles' "The Chimes of Midnight." Errol Flynn's "Robin Hood" was Gary's model for D&D combat and why hit points work the way they do, as I've said many times before. Don't forget "The Vikings" with Ernest Borgnine as Ragnar, "Black Shield of Falworth" where Tony Curtis does NOT, in fact, say "Yonda lies da castle of my fadda," "The Long Ships," "The Warlord," the excellent "El Cid", "The Warriors,"... and I'm not even getting into all the Sinbad movies and the great classic "Jason and the Argonauts" with Peter Ustinov as Zeus!

Oh, and a personal favorite... Alexander Nevsky, which I just received as a birthday gift from my dear friend David! In the Korean version... so I could use the English subtitles to teach myself execrable Russian, and then use the Koren subtitles to teach myself abominable Korean...

All fantastically inspirational films. Although some what later than the ones you mentioned Lion in Winter ( one of my all time favourites), Polanski's Macbeth, and The Name of the Rose are also great to draw from. I based a "Matriarch" of the Ito clan on Hepburn's Eleanor. Also did Name of the Rose, set in a Pechani keep/shrine of Nyesst on the Frontier of the Ssu lands, with a Pariah Gods twist to it. Really worked out well. Kind of like Chirine's Casablanca inspired adventure nobody got it until near the climax of the scenario when the main NPC, Villa'am of Bashakkarruvilla monk of Quoth, and one time heretic, put on his "hoops of glass" to read a scroll in Sunuz. The lights went on all at once and the players started bombarding my DM Screens with BBQ chips and pretzels, in total disgust and embarrassment.

Shemek

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

I still think that this film should be watched and notes taken by anybody who wants to GM in the style of Dave Arneson.

And for that matter, TCM Classic movies is supposedly broadcasting the Burton-Taylor "Cleopatra" at 7:00 pm Eastern this coming Sunday. I'd like to suggest giving this a look, as it was one of Phil's "guilty pleasures", as he put it. Pack a lunch; it's over 230 minutes long, but the battle scene in Alexandria, the sea battle at Actium, and the costumes are all worth it. The cast works very hard at chewing the scenery, in what was an agonizingly long shoot due to the lack of a finished shooting script; Hume Cronyn (who I met at the theater I was working at, back in the day) told me that he threw himself off of Cleoptara's golden barge at the end of the scene where he was trying to get Mark Anthony to board the thing - it was his last contracted scene, and he was so giddy at being done with the filming he went over the side when the director yelled cut and swam to shore hollering "I'm free! I'm free!". Costume and all.

Lots of stuff worth quoting; Phil's problem was that he held the Romans personally responsible for Egypt's decline.

And my favorite story from the shooting of this film comes from the little boy who played Caesarion: He was sitting next to Ms. Taylor during the big entry into Rome scene, when she asked him how he was doing (she was always very kind to him, he said.) He told her he was fine, and she whisper "That's good, because Auntie Elizabeth is about to barf!"...

All of those Hollywood historical epics really had a big impact on me as a child. I really loved El Cid(Sophia Lauren❤️), The Fall of the Roman Empire(SL again), Cleopatra, Land of the Pharoahs, The Egyptian among others. I would also lay on the floor in my home paging through my families World Book encyclopedias(precurser to surfing the web) reading about ancient times enjoying the illustrations. Making my parents order those Time Life books about history that used to b advertised in the TV Guide. Great times!!! I guess my love of those things drew me to Tekumel like a moth to the flame(may Vhimula's flame burn ever bright!!!).

Oh my do I need to see those movies. It has been awhile...

H:0)

PS I post without reading the whole thread and I get to The Glorious General's post...I'm sloooow...

Had a bit of fun today at work. I was on a job site checking some installations when an old English woman came up to me and of the senior techs, who happens to be a member of my "Old Group", a member of the current Friday Night Game, and on of my best and oldest friends, and asks us in a loud and demanding voice: " What are you doing? What are you fellows looking at?" I told her, with a straight face, we're checking the veracity of the interfogulator, to which my friend piped in without missing a beat "Ya, it looks the polarity of the phase modulator is off spec, but we forgot to bring the hydro-spanners." She looked at us and said: "Oh, I see. That doesn't sound too bad. Carry on then." Now what I can't figure out is who was taking the piss out of whom? Also, what the hell was she doing on a major construction site?

Shemek.

Originally Posted by Hrugga

I really need to travel!!! Sounds awesome!!! I'm sure your games would be most entertaining!!!

H:0)

Mighty Hrugga of the Epics, if you ever make it Pechano let me know. My villa is about half a tsan outside of Teshkoa and I can be found in the archery yard most days. I have a stuffed Black Ssu that makes a wonderful target, although I have to admit that he's getting long in the tooth and a bit tatty. I'll have to replace him soon with a new one. Now unless I'm mistaken I think Lord Chirine mentioned that there were also Green and Brown Ssu. I'll have to get me one. The gates are always open for friends. If you give me enough notice I'll have the local priest of Vihar come over. He's a nice enough fellow and makes great beverages with alcohol, which I believe he calls mixed drinks. After a few of these he becomes the life of the party. Keeps me in stitches he does.

Shemek.

Originally Posted by Gronan of Simmerya

It's very sweet that she was kind to him. And that is a GREAT quip.

"Boom! Zing! Tantantaraa! BLURRCH!"

He got the part because his dad was one of the art directors, and he had a website where he told some wonderful stories about his very short career in films. He said that, despite being the Big Name Star, Ms. Taylor was always very kind and concerned about not only him but any of the kids on the set.

Do we dare show the panel from "Asterix and Cleoptara"?

I've really enjoyed everyone's comments on all those wonderful films! They, along with more then a few books, were the 'cultural background' for us when we were gaming back in Ye Olden Days. We'd all seen these same movies, read a lot of the same books, and so we 'knew' how to be adventurers and heros - and heroines! - when the game got started. I've always wanted to do a sort of 'film festival' with all these movies for people; I have a lot of them in my collection, and big screens are available. So's a popcorn machine, too...

Let me add one more, that I highly doubt that anyone besides me has seen - the very rare and very elusive "The Adventures of Hajji Baba". It's possibly the best 'player-character movie' I have ever seen, as it provides a great guide to how to outsmart the bad guys and stay alive under unfortunate circumstances.

The downside is that it's very hard to find, but is very occasionally shown on Turner Classic Movies.

Wonderful stuff, people! Keep it coming!

Not sure if this has been asked before, but I was just wondering if there are any specific gestures or movements associated with greetings or as physical signs of deference/respect such as bowing or handshakes etc.

Shemek.