Gaming (Modiphius): “The Archdruid is dead!

Now is the time to reclaim the world for civilisation.

Akharon is a world scarred by a magical druidic war and overflowing with monsters. Much has been lost, waiting to be reclaimed by those bold enough to set foot outside of civilisation’s last bastion, Stronghold. It is a world besieged by malevolent forces who channel the planet’s own dark magic and direct strange otherworldly creatures with malicious intent. It is a world where death and mystery wait around every corner, behind every tree, and in every rocky crag.”

Books (Amazon): “Come back to those mist-shrouded days of yesteryear when the land shook under the tread of barbarians, wizards and monsters! Join such legends as Lin Carter’s legendary Thongor in a new tale of mighty deeds and fearless swords. Thrill to new characters who take up the bloody axe ofwar and adventure like Charles R. Rutledge’s ageless Kharrn and Adrian Cole’s Elak of Atlantis while discovering new characters destined to carve their names in bloody history. None can stand before them for they are THE MIGHTY WARRIORS!”

Pulps (Rough Edges): “Another fine, colorful Rudolph Belarski cover on this issue of ARGOSY, one of my favorite pulps. This issue features an installment of the serial “Seven Footprints to Satan” by A. Merritt (reprinted from its original appearance in ARGOSY ALL-STORY WEEKLY in 1927), plus a South Seas novella by Allan Vaughan Elston and stories by Garnett Radcliffe, Walter C. Brown, and more serials by Walter Ripperger and Howard Rigsby. I’d love to have a complete run of ARGOSY from the Twenties and Thirties. So many great serials . . .”

Cinema (Reactionary Times): “If the Gamma Boss is lucky, he’s moved on before this happens. Which conveniently brings us to Lucasfilms.

American Graffiti was a pretty big hit in it’s day.  In fact it kicked off the fifties nostalgia craze that lead from Happy Days on through to Back to the Future.  If you have ever seen it, it isn’t hard to figure you which characters are the avatars for the kid George Lucas was and the one he wanted to be.

When Lucas made Star Wars, you saw the same thing.  George clearly dreamed of being Han Solo but then he’d wake up and find he was Luke Skywalker.”

Gaming (Walker’s Retreat): “If you’ve only played a recent D&D edition (including Pathfinder)then you’re missing out on an older and richer realm of tabletop RPGs, and Canada’s best expatriate cut a video to talk about it. Sure, he shamelessly promotes his own material, but that’s not unexpected- he didn’t get to where he is by passively waiting for senpai to notice him. He also talks about other people’s stuff, and as you’re likely unaware that this stuff exists then you’ll benefit from watching the video- and then looking up what he talks about at Amazon.”

Gaming (Niche Gamer): “Niche Gamer: I’m here with storied Japanese developer Yoshiro Kimura. Could you give us a bit about your background, the games you’ve worked on, and why you jumped ship and went indie?

Yoshiro Kimura: [laughter] I can easily explain. I spent a lot of time in the Japanese video game industry, over 25 years ago. My first job was working for Square. I was working on a game called Romancing SaGa 2, but I wasn’t happy working there.

I noticed I can’t make my own game there so I said goodbye to Square. After that I really traveled the world a lot. I came back to Japan, worked for a game developer. After this happened, I go up, I go down. Some times I did make my own project, like Chulip or Moon.”

Gaming (Table Top Gaming News): “It’s Saturday and I’m finally playing in our second session of a D&D campaign that had its first one over a month ago. Tom Petty was right, the waiting is the hardest part. Anyway, while I pretend that I’m a magical music-man, you can read about all the games that people wanted to talk extra about.

This week we have: Fate of the Elder Gods, Posthuman Saga, Alien Artifacts: Discovery, Warfighter, Karuba, GKR Heavy Hitters, Vampires vs Unicorns: Floor Wars, Skyward, Dispatch: On the Run, Darwin’s Choice, and Villagers.”

Pulps (Literature Devil): Most people see the pulp genre as a charming storytelling method better left in the past or played for irony. Some might laughover the simplicity of its elements. Others might wave it off as useless hack garbage. To be fair, in the age of pulp serials, there was a massive wave of content. In a way, it was more about quantity than quality; and to anyone who’s ever hunted through an archive of fanfiction, it’s no secret that ninety-nine percent of product is going to be worthless crap. The thing is, pulp really started booming during the great depression. The internet hadn’t been invented yet. Television wasn’t invented until 1927, and even then, wouldn’t be available to the working class for a while. If they could find a job, men had to work hard for very little money to feed starving children. Pulp novels provided a much-needed escape at a reasonable price. There was a huge variety of works ready to satisfy anyone’s taste. It was a greatly needed trend for a harsh and desperate time. Writers have hence moved on to appease an audience with a more “sophisticated” pallet. But, here’s the thing…I think it’s time for a comeback.

Publishing (Altus Press): “Altus Press is pleased to release several new pulp collections in time for the Windy City Pulp & Paper Convention: we’ll have a limited number of copies there, but not to worry: you can order them directly from www.altuspress.com too. The releases are highlighted by the lost Spider novel, Slaughter, Incorporated, sourced directly from the original manuscript for the first time. Slaughter, Incorporated also includes a never-before published Red Finger story by Author Leo Zagat.

We’ve also released another installment of the relaunched Black Mask Magazine, this time headlined by five all-new hardboiled detective stories, along with several vintage pulp classics. And it’s adorned by a never-before published vintage Black Mask cover by James Lunnon.

Books (Haffner Press): “Now that Captain Future (aka Dr. Curtis Newton) and the Futuremen (Grag the robot; Otho the Android; and Simon Wright, the Living Brain) have traveled not only through time but to another universe in the final story of Volume Three (See “Planets in Peril”), what other dangers will our heroes encounter? Well, THE FACE OF THE DEEP sees the Futuremen stranded outside the Solar System on a volcanic planetoid in the company of a shipload of condemned criminals. Up next is WORLDS TO COME (written by Joseph Samachson) where Curt and his crew speed to the rescue of the Sagittarian system—ready to battle in mortal combat with nightmare enemies from another dimension.”