The Stuff that Dreams are made of ...

 So, when I got back into gaming in the 2000's I found out about GaryCon and my Wife said "GO, have fun" SO I went.. 

I loaded up my truck, made a plan and went... I brought stuff to have signed and put together a plan for who I wanted to meet and get autographs from... 

This started it all... 

This is the first print I got from Larry, it is in my Living room.  

This is the best one I have, a limited-edition Print signed by ELMORE

In keeping with the theme

Frank Mentzer

Yes, Elmore is one of my favorites, I have spent a good amount of time talking with him over drinks and at gatherings. he has signed many things for me

Another Frank Mentzer

I recently had the opportunity to meet Boris Vallejo... that was AMAZING

 

      

Some of my Books that are signed By Jeff Easley

Signed by:  Ernie Elise and Heide Gygax                                       

     

Steve Jackson

Yes, he signed the banner

Jason Buhlman

Merle Rasmussen(Creator of TS) and Elmore (Top Secret SI)

James Ward - I have had many things signed by Mr. Ward over the years... I have played in several games.  

Charles Urbach.. I own many prints by him and Mousepads and gaming pads.. One of my favorites

Craig Martelle - I finally got to play in this game before I read the book (Book was written and published during GaryCon 2018)

               

       

MARGARET WEIS

I Adore Margaret, the Dragonlance novels were great. When I got a chance to play in a game with her, I begged and pleaded to be in it..  Then I went and got spots in the game every year with her

So, I won this by getting voted the best player in a game... 

Margaret donated this as a prize and signed the back of it.. of course that meant I could not open it to paint so I had to buy another one that year

Sadly, Joey the thug passed 

 

Joey the Thug was Margaret's beloved dog, one of a trio.. I loved all the Joey stories she shared over the years

I have many other novels signed by her. and will get a couple more signed in the next few months

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ART & ARCANA

I highly recommend this if you go to a convention where many of the creators go

Larry Elmore

Joe Manganiello

Elise Gygax

Larry Elmore/ Margaret Weis

Jeff Easley
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Let's talk about Fantasy / Science Fiction Movies

There are so many bad and decent Fantasy / Sci Fi movies out I thought I would take this page to bring up a number of movies that influenced the way I Dungeon Master and play role playing games.

There are many influences taken from these movies even the worst movies give something of value to us creative types. 

I grew up just as Cable TV and Movie channels were starting up, also when the first VCR and Video stores were coming out. the early 80's  brought so much change to entertainment. 


The purpose here not to review to films, but to reintroduce people to movies I adore


The granddaddy of all movies when I was growing up was The Sword and the Sorcerer

Everyone had a character named Talon and everyone wanted swords like that. The crazy part is the sorcerer is Bull from Night Court and Lee Horsley was Talon... 

The movie is not horrible and it does play the genre well. 

Next is Excalibur, the notable is how Nicol Williamson played Merlin, both scary and playful 


The soundtrack and story was top notch, You could not ask for more. Carmina Burana was the score for film

The Battle Scene

The Shiny Armour, the swords and the personal battle really were cool

Clash of the Titans, the Original, not the remake

Featuring the special effects of Ray Harryhausen and the guy from LA Law, this was exciting.. Basically any film with Burgess Meredith was pretty cool (he was great in Rocky also) 

This was a DM's dream movie

Beastmaster, Marc Singer and Tanya Roberts

 
Cheesy film with some interesting concepts and who can forget the first time you all saw Tanya Roberts emerging from the water.... 









Lord of the Rings Trilogy

This is the Movie that was amazing to watch, even with the liberties in the script.  Orc and Goblins, Orcs and Goblins...









The Hobbit

Ok, so Peter Jackson stretched out the book to 3 movies and added a lot of filler to the movie. Also the barrel scene was pretty laughable 

Still, it was a good film. I found it to be very entertaining













Star Wars

The Original trilogy in the Original Theatrical presentations....

Before the mucked over with CGI and Bullshit

This inspired so much and never has a middle film been so dark before the silliness of the Ewoks



The Last Star Fighter

I have loved this movie since I saw it, it was revolutionary as all the Star Fighter flight and Battle sequences were computer animations

Catherine Mary Stewart

The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the Eighth Dimension

This is what every adventure is all about, an eclectic group of people striving to overcome odds and aliens... the movie captures the spirit of and role playing party

Treasure of the Four Crowns

We had a local theater the was withing walking distance and on Fridays my gang would go to the movies. The 3 D craze was full swing so we went to many of them at that place.

This is one of the adventure movies that is little known, cheezy and cool. This inspired many adventures and we were all charging gems when our Magic users were high enough level...  Check this out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9Pm1oaKDZY






I did a Poll and here is the top of the results, I will update this from time to time... but here are the main influences on Gamers. 



Excalibur 88.89%

Lord of the Rings trilogy 77.78%

Monty Python Holy Grail 77.78%

Clash of the titans 77.78%

beast master 77.78%

Conan the Barbarian (the original, not the remake) 77.78%

Princess Bride 66.67%

Dragonslayer 66.67%

Dark Crystal 66.67%

Conan the Destroyer 66.67%

hobbit 66.67%

Reign of Fire 55.56%

Hawk the Slayer 55.56%

Add additional Movie 55.56%

Pirates of the Caribbean movies 55.56%

1982 Conan the Barbarian 55.56%

Legend 55.56%

Robin Hood (pick any, from 1930's to present), 55.56%


Highlander 55.56%