Category: Blog

Yes My Friends, The Fated Day Has Arrived! It’s Time Once Again For The Christmas List!

December 7, 2016

I got a postcard the other day with a kiwi stamp on it. On the back, next to the sketch of the extinct ‘kiwi squid’, was the following request: “Please blog a Christmas wish list!”
I think we know who sent it, so here goes.

Video Game Section

Slap Fight for the Megadrive is pretty high on my list, but – as with most Genesis shooters – is a real dog to find (boxed with manual of course). It’s a mostly forgotten game these days but I always loved it. Bernard may be able to use his contacts to obtain this, but he’ll weep quietly when he sees the price (>$350) so may want to consider this only-slightly-less-expensive alternate:

Taito Nostalgia 2 is a plug-and-play TV game, which includes a remixed Slap Fight amongst its handful of games. This is a 10 year old JP-only release and may be ‘challenging’ to find at a reasonable price 🙂

That’s a Sega Master System, an obsolete 8-bit system I’ve been getting more and more interested in. They’re not too difficult to find, and not prohibitively expensive, but of course they are nothing without games to play. And here’s where things get a bit chancey. Because if he gets me one of these, he’d have to get me some games as well.

These two are a good start. Other good options include Sagaia, Zillion, Master Of Darkness, Phantasie Star etc. Very likely each of these games will cost more than the system!

Speaking of games…

Bernard’s going to need the devil’s luck finding these two TG-16 games (boxed of course), and then open his wallet wide to get them for me…

RPG Section

This AD&D module was published a startling 31 years ago and is a legendary classic. It’s also bloody expensive and rarely complete (the complete boxed set has oodles of maps and handouts in it). I almost bought it myself about 25 years ago but chose not to knowing that in 2016 my brother would get it for me.

This is apparently a mostly stupid expansion to D&D that was put out in 1986 to keep stubborn gamers who hadn’t moved on to AD&D busy. I’ve always been intrigued but it’s bloody hard to find complete. And sticker-shockingly pricey. Thanks Bernard.

With a bit of effort, sacrifice and prayer Bernard should be able to get me one of these AD&D manuals for under a Benjamin. The Conan ones are apparently very short (one is only 12 pages I think) which means the cost/page is sky-high. Good thing Bernard spares no expense!

Toy Section

Gore Magala Girl just came out. As in last week. It would be challenging get it before Xmas to say the least, plus it’s expensive; more than I’ve ever paid for any figure. I’m putting it here mostly to show it off since you can bet I’m buying it the second I get back from Oz. In other words this was originally added as a sincere list item, but like the ZOID from 2014 I’ve now retracted it to buy it for myself 🙂

Computer Section

That’s a Casio FX 890P handheld computer, which (apparently) has several built-in languages. Just the machine for me to write the next (long awaited) Mercenary King game on. I’m putting any generic programmable handheld computer on this list, so Bernard can surprise me!

That’s a RetroPie handheld. It’s a lovely handheld MAME device based around a Raspberry Pi. Now I have conflicting feelings about emulation, especially of consoles, and frankly couldn’t be bothered setting up a Pi or (even less so) downloading MAME roms. But Bernard will do it all for me, because Christmas 🙂

Trading Card Section

Get me this and I promise you’ll get Tron stickers on postcards 🙂

MTG Section

My MTG basic land collection is pretty massive now and almost complete. But I don’t have any of the five stupidly rare and expensive ‘guru’ lands. If Bernards got about $2000+ lying around, he’ll get me these 5 cards for Christmas!

‘There’s only two weeks and this list is insane!’ Section

– Any Gundam kit
– A t-shirt (size L)
– An interesting jigsaw (suitable for framing)
– Any gamebook I don’t own (check the list on your network)
– No metal miniatures 🙂
– Glowworm stamps!

B & L’s Great New Zealand Adventure

December 3, 2016

Recently, as you may know, B and L went to New Zealand. Now they’ve both been a bit mysterious about this trip. Where exactly did they go? What did they see? What did they do?

I haven’t even gotten any postcards!

So I have taken it upon myself here to imagine how the seven-day trip may have played out. I’m pretty good at vacation planning, so I reckon this hypothetical NZ adventure is pretty much exactly what they did. So join me dear readers, as we experience New Zealand through the eyes of B and L….

Day 1: Auckland

They landed in Auckland, and spent mere seconds in the hotel before heading out into the city looking for postcards, souvenirs, postage stamps and the nearest McDonalds to try out the local menu item called the Kiwiburger (which doesn’t contain kiwi flesh). As time permitted during all this scurrying, they also did some touristy things in and around the city (such as bungee jumping from that tower).

Day 2: Te Puke

Got up at the crack of dawn and took a train to Te Puke (about 5 hours), arriving before midday. Spent the afternoon at the Kiwifruit theme park Kiwi 360, being sure to ride the kiwifruit-shaped road train, seeing the kiwi birds and eating lots of kiwifruit. After sunset bribed a local fisherman to ferry them out to Motiti Island to see tuatara by torchlight in the wild. Returned to the mainland and took a late taxi to a hotel in Rotorua (about 1 hour).

Day 3: Rotorua

Visited Tamaki Maori Village and were screamed at by ~~professional actors~~ Maori natives. Ate some kiwifruit. Went to the Polynesian Spa for a mineral soak in the afternoon and spend the evening sketching kiwis on dozens of postcards. Relaxed a bit this day, since things would pick up tomorrow.

Day 4: Waitomo

Took a train to Waitomo (about 3 hours) to visit the famous glowworm caves. Found the little buggers dazzling, and make special note to spare no effort in finding and sending brother the full set of glow-in-the-dark glowworm stamps that had been recently issued. After lunch wandered aimlessly through the forest looking for kakapo, and during the late afternoon siesta sketched worms on postcards and grazed on kiwifruit in the hotel. After dinner (kiwifruit pasta) spent time in souvenir shops supporting the local greenstone-carving industry. Had an early night, since things would pick up tomorrow.

Day 5: Tasman Glacier

Woke at 1 am and boarded a chartered helicopter to fly them to Tasman Glacier park on the south island. It cost a small fortune and was terrifying, but was well worth it since the boat trip through the glacial lake in arctic temperatures – or rather the brush with hypothermia due to insufficient warm-weather clothing – made them feel more alive than they had in years. Sadly the kiwifruit supply B was by now carrying in his backpack froze, but as he leisurely sketched frozen vistas on postcards while on the overnight train to Te Anau (about 12 hours) he knew it had all been worthwhile.

Day 6: Te Anau

Visited the other famous glow worm cave, all the way down the southern tip of the south island. They were as dazzled by these little buggers as they had been up north, although perhaps the crisp weather made this experience a little more memorable. Triumphantly found a glow-in-the-dark glowworm postcard in the souvenir store, and later on that day as he sketched glow-worms and wrote my address on the back in glow-in-the-dark ink after applying the full set of glow-in-the-dark stamps he knew that the pinnacle of their trip had been reached. Dinner was steak with kiwifruit jelly washed down with a light kiwifruit juice cocktail. Had an early night since tomorrow would be taxing.

Day 7: Middle Earth

Took a 3 am flight to Auckland (2 hours) and immediately hopped into a rental car and drove 4 hours to Mt Ngauruhoe – aka Mt Doom – since who would go to New Zealand and not visit Mordor? Both of them took turns videoing each other scrambling up the loose shale hills and almost fatally falling before sprinting back to the car and speeding off to Matamata, or as everyone knows it: Hobbiton (about 2.5 hours). Here they rented costumes and spent the afternoon running around as a lady Hobbit and as Gandalf the wizard (watch for a video on youtube soon) before once again driving back to Auckland for some last minute greenstone-carving shopping and then the final mad dash to the airport to catch the flight home.

As I said I haven’t received any souvenirs and/or postcards yet. But I know they’re coming, and they’ll be great. When I get the glow-in-the-dark one covered in glowworms, you can expect to see it right here on the blog 😉

Thanks Mr Dever

December 1, 2016

Most of you probably haven’t heard of Joe Dever, even though he was an author of over 50 books that sold more than 10 million copies combined in many languages. As the owner of more than 50 of his books (in several imprints), it was sad to hear that he passed away the other day at the age of 60.

Starting in 1984 Joe Dever was the creator and sole author of the Lone Wolf series of gamebooks that continued for 29 installments and spun off into other gamebook series, novels, computer games, audio books, role-playing games and even a phone-based adventure game. It’s still going strong (more or less) with iOS games, reprints of the books and even a new installment which was released a few months ago. Lone Wolf was every bit as important as the Fighting Fantasy series, and is as much-loved today by it’s legions of fans.

As a 12-year old already caught up in gamebook mania via the Fighting Fantasy series, I ate up the Lone Wolf books when they were first released. Unlike the FF books, they were all set in the same world and told a continuing narrative where you played the same character through each book. You could even use your old character sheet, which was remarkable in those days! The world of Lone Wolf, inhabited by the jedi-like Kai Lords (and more powerful Magnakai) and the evil Daaklords was exotic and dangerous and fascinating and illustrated by the wonderful art of Gary Chalk.

In those days I had no way of knowing when (or if!) a new book in the series would ever come out so it was a real treat when I went to the bookstore and found the latest one. I must have played through at least ten in the series before I grew out of them (as a youth at least). As an adult, when I fell back into gamebooks about a decade ago, it wasn’t long before I’d acquired most of the low-number Lone Wolf books. My collection grew to include a mishmash of USA, UK and Australian imprints and would soon expand to include Dever’s other gamebooks (Combat Command, Grey Star and the Mad-Max Freeway Warrior) as well as Long Wolf novels and the (long sought-after by myself) The Magnamund Companion Lone Wolf Atlas. All of these are now important parts of my collection.

And yet to this day even in my expansive and encyclopedic gamebook collection there are a few books that remain elusive. And many of them are from the Lone Wolf series. I have books 1 through 20 (in some cases, multiple versions of each) and then book 25. This leaves 9 books out there to be one day found, with evocative titles like The Hunger Of Sejanoz and Vampirium. These books had small print runs, are quite rare, and very expensive (hundreds of dollars for some). One day I may own them.

I’ve read every Dever book I own and enjoyed them all. The gamebooks in particular are among the best written, and the quality of the Lone Wolf novels was a great surprise (since my expectations were influenced by the for-kids FF novels). The Lone Wolf books though are the keystones of his legacy, and I’m just one of millions that have enjoyed them now for over thirty years. Apparently Mr Dever was still writing new installments up until he fell ill. Even though those books will never be read, I believe the many works he left behind will keep readers entertained for many years to come.

Robot Claw