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The Main Event is an alumni of Dickinson College and The University of Miami Law School. He writes dungeon mastering advice in his Pain of Campaigning series. Now a practicing attorney in Maryland specializing in Wills, Trusts, and Estates, The Main Event is an aspiring author and always looking for new clients or avenues of publication. Email him or follow him on Twitter.
The Amazing Graysons: Baby Nightwing?
In honor of our Inquisition:
It looks like the CW doesn’t want to leave a void when comic book inspired Smallville finally ends…
But, really though, I wonder how interesting a bunch of circus performer will be? Surely we won’t have Dick flying around a trapeze for 8 whole seasons? The actor would age past his origin as Robin…
Review: "Mistborn"
Background: When Robert Jordan died I was surprised to hear the decision regarding finishing up his final novel, Memories of Light, was made so quickly. It fell to Brandon Sanderson, a young writer I had never heard of. Fast-forward a year or so later, and after stumbling upon his insightful blog, I took up reading his books. His first novel, Elantris, was a nice little piece of one and done fantasy, but not groundbreaking. His follow up, Mistborn is the first of a trilogy that thunders onto the fantasy landscape with such refreshing force that its echoes are likely being felt by readers and authors everywhere. [Read the rest of this article]
Green Lantern Next Mega Franchise?
- In brightest day, in blackest night,
- No evil shall escape my sight
- Let those who worship evil’s might,
- Beware my power…Green Lantern’s light!
So, an epic superhero space movie that draws out the Sinestro/Hal Jordan relationship and seeds the beginnings of Guy Gardner?? Seriously, Green Lantern is perhaps the best established comic franchise yet to be exploited by the movie industry. It has the potential to be a Star Wars esq hit with the right creative team.
Hold Your Breath Wheel of Time Fans
Universal Pictures has acquired film rights to the late Robert Jordan’s bestselling “The Wheel of Time” novel series in a seven-figure deal.
Now, I may have some complaints about the series, but it sure does do a lot of things right. I liked the idea of a mini series more, but maybe a movie done right will chop out all the extraneous bits and tangents. Good luck keeping the franchise alive for about a dozen movies!
Pain of Campaigning VI: Give Your Villains Some Panache!
Well, it had to happen. The Main Event has begun to plan his first 4E game (and speak in third person!) So now, with a campaign fresh on the brain, I’ll continue my last villains article and talk about how to make your villain(s), regardless of type, formidable, awesome and dastardly.
They Have a Plan: Make sure your main villains are every bit as logical as your heroes. As much as Prince Lotor from Voltron made me chuckle, his ‘evil for the sake of evil’ bit always struck me as strange. Sure, it is evil to bring about the death of all sentient life, but maybe Mr. Villain thinks he can fix life and make it better, or that it would result in less suffering and he has a logical way of doing that. Keep in mind, logic in this context can include magic and other zaniness.
Trademark: Give your villain some tick, some symbol, some catchphrase, some thing that announces his presence. Make the PCs’ blood boil when they realize a seemingly tangential side quest was in actuality a clever ruse by the villain or that was actually part of his master plan. [Read the rest of this article]
Pain of Campaigning V: Suitable Villains
So, let’s see, you have pre-planned your campaign, started it out with a bang, managed to balance a bunch of squabbling players interests in the game and even dared to put politics into it. Sounds like a great game, huh? Job’s over?
Wrong.
A recurring villain is one of the simplest ways to increase the excitement of a game and give it lasting consequences. There’s a lot of thought that can go into choosing a proper villain and this article is going to focus on that: making a villain that works for your PCs. In the future, I will discuss dos and don’ts for making the villain you selected into a formidable, challenging adversary without burning the PCs out. First thing, however, is selecting what kind of villain to use. [Read the rest of this article]
Raimi's First Rule
Terry Goodkind’s book series turned television show finds its leads.
Marvel Movieverse!
Can Marvel keep a high quality line and connected universe up and running? (Hint: Use Paul Dini’s animated DCU [Diniverse] as a solid model!)
Review: Iron Man
General: Iron Man is a faithful fun-filled adaptation of one the most flawed heroes in comicdom. Tony Stark is a womanizing, irresponsible, hard-partying, smug son of a bitch, but he’s super-cool. His ascendancy into superherodom doesn’t necessarily change that, it just gives him a sense of obligations and duty. His origins remain true in spirit, but updated to a more modern context.
Plot: Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the wunderkind industrialist inventor arms dealer that keeps America safe with the help of his dedicated personal assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). He and his military liaison Jim Rhodes (Terrance Howard) head to Afghanistan for an arms test. During that foray, his assumptions about his arms and their role in America’s defense are sorely tested. Tony then vows to make a difference, with the help of his own genius and Stark technology. Along the way, his dubiously moral business partner Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) seemingly works to balance Tony’s newfound conscience and the Stark bottom line.
[Read the rest of this article]
Jeez, Just Wait 'til you Get to Liberty City…
Obviously, Joe and Hill-rod are correct about video games!
