Now and Then, Here and There

Talking about the nihilism present in Dying Earth a while back got me thinking about other post-apocalyptic settings.  Actually, looking through my notes to find a quote from Dying Earth I found a poem that's presented at the start of each episode of a series called "Now and Then, Here and There"

Because ten billion
years' time is
so fragile,
so ephemeral...
it arouses such a
bittersweet,
almost heartbreaking
fondness.

I like to wax poetically when I first describe a setting to my players.  I think the above captures that feeling perfectly.  Of how insignificant civilization is, how in the grand scope of things what we build will never persist, what we exploit will not grow back, what we will have is a world spanning desert.

Now and Then, Here and There takes the standard boy travels into a fantasy world and turns it on its head.  Shu the protagonist is every bit the loveable idealist you're used to, the world however, is quite different.  Shu does not train with an old wise man, he does not exhibit any special powers, he's merely a boy who's been dropped into a hellscape of endless wastes in the middle of a wermacht of heartless soldiers in lockstep, many of them children.  All taking place in a giant doomsday nautilus aptly named Hellywood.

D&D Cinema the 80's

After the recent Netflix price hike announcement I've been much more motivated to work my way through my Netflix queue, both instant and otherwise.  Today I watched both Conan the Destroyer and LadyHawke two D&D-esque films from the 80's.  They fall into a similar piecemeal genre so I felt apt to compare them.  Don't expect anything detailed this is merely a personal opinion of mine.

I was rather disappointed with Conan, it was much more lame than I remember as a youth.  Aside from the Conan-laying-waste-to-minions scenes I found it very difficult to pay attention. Much of the plot and plot reveals were largely forgettable.  LadyHawke on the other hand was actually quite impressive.  Well, when you move past the cheesy special effects, low production values and 80's synth heavy tracks.  Then again Conan's special effects weren't much better, but hey, it was the 80's.

While Conan fits the bill of the Swords and Sorcery genre that D&D draws heavily from, Lady Hawke felt more D&D to me.  Witty thieves, stoic knights on a quest of vengeance in medieval europe with a touch of supernatural provided a much more attractive milieu than mirror wizards and unicorn fish gods.

Also, that double crossbow was kickass.