H.R. Giger - Biomechanical Genius

It seems like only yesterday that I was celebrating the work of a visionary and here we are again...

Hans Ruedi Giger (1940 - 2014)

H.R. Giger

A legendary Swiss artist who is most famous for creating the monster for the sci-fi horror classic Alien (1979).  However, his art spans a period of almost 45 years and many different mediums.  To really appreciate the breadth of his talent, I heartily recommend you buy one of the Taschen Artbooks which feature his collected works.

Films

He worked on a number of films over the years mostly in creature design applying his signature style of monochromatic airbrushed biomechanical to a variety of costume and set pieces.  

One surprising design was his radical reimagining of the Batmobile for the movie Batman Forever (1995) which would have seen Val Kilmer cruising the streets of Gotham in a nightmarish twiglet.

Batmobile by H.R. Giger

Album Artwork

He worked with many bands creating some pretty iconic album covers,  Most famously depicting Debbie Harry on the cover of the album "Koo Koo" and giving Emmerson, Lake and Palmer's "Brain Salad Surgery" and Industrial edge before Nine Inch Nails were a glint in the milkman's eye.

Notoriously the Dead Kennedy's used his painting Landscape #XX as the inner gatefold image for the album "Frankenchrist" and the ensuing obscenity lawsuit almost bankrupted Jello Biafra's label Alternative Tentacles.  You can see a high res version of this image on the Rolling Stone website.

The action arose at the same time as the infamous PMRC founded by Tipper Gore (The wife of Vice President Al Gore) and Susan Baker (wife of Treasury Secretary James Baker).  The famous "Tipper Stickers", which fearful record execs agreed to add to the album sleeves, had precisely the opposite effect to that intended.  In fact in the 80s you couldn't call yourself a serious musician unless your latest release sported its badge of honour.   

Bubble Babies

My personal favourite Giger artwork is his disturbing Landscape #XVIII one of a series of baby landscapes

Landscape XVIII - H.R. Giger

The Giger Museum

If I ever get to visit Switzerland I will not be visiting the cuckoo clock factory instead I will be soaking up some culture in the Giger Museum in Gruyères.

Zombies!!! - The most fun you can have in a 6" x 9" box

Today we celebrate George A Romero's Birthday with a bit of zombie posting.

My favourite zombie boardgame is Zombies!!!

Zombies!!! (yes the exclamations are part of the title) by Twilight Creations is a very big game for such a tiny box and a tiny price.

Get to the Chopper

The player's objective is to "explore" the town by randomly drawing a then placing a town tile as part of their turn then defeating any zombies which they come into contact with.  When they find the helipad tile they can try to reach it and win the game.

Zombies!!! Boardgame Town Tiles

The stand out component for me are the town tiles which make up the board.  I think it is the frustrated town planner in me.  These geomorphs depict almost every type of building you are likely to encounter in a small town USA and I confess I have used them in many RPGs to quickly generate a town for my players.

As the board is generated the number of zombies increases with each new tile placed generating more and more for you to deal with.

Players also get to use the good and bad event cards throughout which introduces a Player vs Player element to the game.  These cards can really mess with your day or be the key to success and really ramp up the tension.

Fast Frenetic Fun

Gameplay is fast and simple.  Each player turn consists of the same steps:

• Draw and place a tile
• Fight zombies on your space
• Draw event cards
• Move an fight zombies
  
• Roll and Move the zombies 
• Discard event cards
  

If you die at any time you respawn back at the town square so nobody gets ejected from the game because they became zombie lunch.

Expansions Galore

Just like movie franchises, the sign of a popular game is often the number expansions it has.  Zombies is no exception and with 15 editions there is a lot to choose from.  If you want to recreate Dawn of The Dead, then there's Zombies!!! 3 - Mall Walkers.  If you want to explore the sewers then you need  Zombies!!! 6 - Six feet under.  If clowns are your thing then Zombies!!! 7 has you covered.

The Board Game Geek community has also created several house rule expansions to add flavour,  My own particular favourite is the addition of weapon cards which greatly enhance the game with ranged attacks.

Give it a go, you won't be dissapointed... you'll be dead!!! 

A Gift from the Gods

Gifts of the Gods is the theme for this month's RPG Blog Carnival kindly hosted by the Sea of Stars RPG Design Journal.

A Clash of Titans

Whenever I think about divine artifacts I am reminded of Clash of the Titans (1981) where Perseus is gifted:

• A helmet of invisibility - given to him by his father Zeus
• A magic sword - gifted by Aphrodite
  
• A magic shield - given by Hera

This trio of powerful magic items would make most PCs wet themselves, particularly if given to a relatively low level character as in Perseus case.  However, what we must also recognise is that Perseus is a demi-god.  I very much doubt that this sort of largess would be shown to a mere mortal so why should you do the same for your PCs?

Clash of the Titans (1981) - Release The Kraken

A Pawn of the Gods

The Gods play games from their lofty home of Olympus.  In the movie Zeus is bound to honour the laws of Olympus which means he must allow Andromeda to be sacrificed to the Kraken but he does not have to play the game fairly.  We mere mortals cannot fathom the machinations of Gods, but we do know that Perseus is his pawn in that game.

When contemplating granting a PCs a gift of the Gods, it should definitely come with strings attached.  A great evil must be defeated, a quest achieved which benefits the Gods in some way.  It could even be a wager between two Gods.  Whose champion will be first to succeed the trials and rescue the maiden?

Have a warlock in your party?  Well in order to receive their power they need to have made a compact with an eldritch power.  The PC is a manifestation of that power and must obey the whims of their master.  Power does not come without consequence so exercise some consequence now and then.  

These could all be great epic story arcs in themselves and would certainly add flavour to any mythical campaign.

Single use Deus Ex Machina

Another way to resolve the dilemma of giving PCs uber powerful magic items and turning them into OP Murder Hobos is to make them single use.  It is not unusual for an item to be crafted with a sole purpose in mind and once that purpose is achieved it is destroyed or loses its magical properties.    

The Gift of Information

Information can often be the most powerful weapon of all and having a God visit you in your dreams or answer your prayers with knowledge can be a blessing.  When faced with insurmountable odds or an impenetrable fortress, the knowledge of a secret entrance to the big bad guy's inner sanctum would be just as effective as hiding inside a wooden horse.

Blessings and Curses

Having a God backing your cause can be a real boost.  In fact why not give your PCs temporary stat increases or something visible to others like a glowing aura, a halo or give them perfect hair.  If your game is set in a quasi medieval world where everything is caked in a layer of grime, make your blessed PCs stand out from the crowd by mud literally not sticking to them.

"By The Gods..." is a popular invocation among PCs.  How about you actually give PCs the power of minor curse.  Alternatively, you could bestow the power of curse reflection upon your characters which could lead to some interesting interactions with local NPCs.   

By the Power of the Pantheon

Of course playing with Divine Items requires you to have at least one God or better still a Pantheon as part of your setting.  If your games are set in one of the many published settings like Forgotten Realms you have a cavalcade of Gods to choose from.

Otherwise treat this as an opportunity for some world building with your pious PCs.  If like me you are a fan of Terry Pratchett, you may have read Small Gods, a satire upon religion and politics.  The power of the Gods is directly related to the size of their congregation. In the book Om is a once powerful God stuck in the body of a small turtle and the novice acolyte Brutha is his one and only true believer.  What better personal mission for the party's Cleric than to spread the word of their God and convert believers as they move from town to town.

Plot and Personal Quests Breeds Engagement

I have always been a firm believer in incorporating elements of PC backgrounds into my plots to give every player around the table a real tangible reason to be engaged in the story.  If players include a deity in that background then why not use it.  Your players will feel rewarded when part of the background that they have created becomes a central motif to the weeks play. 

How Do you Deal with Divine Gifts in your Game?  

I don't have all the answers (that would be omniscience) and to the point of writing these blogs is to share ideas.  If you have any cool examples of how you gifted a player a divine artifact then please leave a comment in the box below.

Geeks and Gamers Social Media Calendar

My day job is a digital marketing manager and one of the critical elements of this is social media.  

Knowing what and when to post is a massive help when you are trying to create content and reach new audiences.  This principle is no different when running a gaming blog so here's my Geeks & Gamers Social Media Calendar. 

January 

2nd January - Science Fiction Day - Isaac Asimov's birthday is the perfect day to celebrate all things Sci-Fi.  Have a game of Robo Rally probably the most anarchic robotic fun you can have this side of the Foundation.

12th January - HAL Day - On this day in 1997 the murderous computer HAL 2000 was born.  Interesting fact: take the letters of IBM and shift them down one character and you have HAL.

17th January - Star Trek Day - The Enterprise has the designation USS1701 which makes this the perfect date to celebrate going boldy.

29th - International Puzzle Day - celebrating all things puzzle such as jigsaws, logic puzzles, riddles, mazes, dexterity puzzles, and the sorts of things Chris Ramsay spends thousands of dollars on.

February 

4th February - George A Romero's birthday - celebrate the life of the man who brought zombies to life in Night of the Living Dead with some zombie related memes.  Watch Warm Bodies one of my favourite zombie films and a great love story.

5th February - H.R. Giger's birthday - Without Giger's unique artwork the Alien franchise would probably be just a footnote in pop culture.  His first published collection of work Necronomicon was given to Ridley Scott before filming on Alien began.  He hired him and the rest is cinematic history.

H R Giger Space Jockey

8th February - Jules Verne's birthday - The grandfather of Science Fiction and master story teller was born on this day in 1828.  Who would have guessed that we would stilll be mining his work some 193 years later.

9th February - Frank Frazetta's birthday - The maestro of mucled men and scantily clad warrior women was born today in 1928.  His art pretty much sold a gazillion Conan paperback books and his collaboration with Ralph Bakshi on the cartoon Fire & Ice (1983) is the stuff of legends.

March

4th March - Gamesmasters Appreciation Day - Show some love for your gamesmaster and send them a nice meme.  They put in an awful lot of work behind the scenes so you can have a great adventure.  Want to become a Gamesmaster? Read some of my Gamesmastery articles.  

6th March - Dude Day - Put on your cardigan, don your sunglasses and raise a glass of White Russian to The Big Lebowski.

The Dude raises a glass of White Russian in The Big Lebowski

17th March - William Gibson's Birthday - The father of Cyberpunk was born on this day in 1948 and he is still churning out great stories which capture the zeitgeist of humanity dealing with an every changing digital landscape.

25th March - Tolkien Reading Day - The grandfather of Fantasy literature.  JRR Tolkien literally wrote the rule book on epic fantasy storytelling.  "You shall not pass" until you have commemorated his work.

April

2nd April - Hans Christian Andersen's Birthday - Born in 1805, Danish author Andersen wrote many of the fairy tales that are ingrained in our cultural heritage.

5th April - First Contact Day - The date that Ephraim Cochrane successfully achieved Warp 1 in the Phoenix and humanity was visited by the Vulcans. 

28th April - Superhero Day - What is more heroic than supporting your community and protecting the lives of innocents?

May 

4th May - International Star Wars Day - Surely everyone knows this one. Show your appreciation for the Galaxy far, far away and May the 4th be with you.

5th May - Revenge of the 5th - Because one day is just never enough to celebrate Star Wars.

25th May - Towel Day - Douglas Adam's The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy says that a towel is "about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have".  Aside from its purely practical uses, a towel has immense psychological benefits for the user.  A hitchiker should always know where his towel is. This is also Geek Pride Day so what better way to celebrate both by sharing a photo of you and your towel.

June

1st June - International Table Top Day - The one day on which everyone should dig out a boardgame and enjoy the simple pleasures of gaming with friends and family.

18th June - Clark Kent's Birthday - Celebrate Superman's alter ego and the archetypal everyman.

29th June - Ray Harryhausen't Birthday - The master of stop motion animation was born on this day.  Celebrate the man who brought mythical monster tales to life on the silver screen such as Jason & The Argonauts, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad and Clash of The Titans

July 

2nd July - UFO Day - I know they don't exist, but they are a Sci-Fi staple from The Invaders to The X-Files the world would be a much duller place if we didn't have UFO Conspiracies

4th July - Independence Day - Is a double holiday when we can celebrate the day a rag tag band of survivors banded together to defeat an alien invasion and raise a glass to yours truly as this is also my birthday. 

27th July - Gary Gygax Day - Gary Gygax was born on this day in 1938 and alongside Dave Arnesson created the phenomena which is Dungeons & Dragons and spearheaded the popularity of Role Playing Games.  RPGs have been part of my life since I first discovered them aged 7 so I for one will be toasting Gary and the many years of joy his creation has brought to me over the years.

August 

19th August - Judgement Day - The day that Skynet becomes self aware and humanity is brought to its knees by our new robot overlords in The Terminator (1984).  This is also the birthday of Star Trek creator Gene Rodenberry so there's another thing you can celebrate.

20th August -Lovecraft Day - Celebrate the master of Eldritch Horror born on this day in 1890.  H.P. Lovecraft had a tragically short life but managed to change the face of literature with his many works.

September

8th September - International Literacy Day - Reading is a life skill that unlocks worlds of possibilities.  Read something, anything. Philip K Dick, Terry Pratchett, Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, William Gibson, Peter F Hamilton and Raymond E Feist all come highly recommended.

19th September - International Pirate Day - Your chance to share pirate related memes shout "Avast Ye Landlubbers" and celebrate this Pastafarian Holyday because all pirates are divine beings.  What better way to celebrate than to play one of the many pirate themed boardgames you can find on boardgamegeek.  rAmen.   

21st September - Batman Day - Why? Because "I'm Batman!".

October

1st October - Dave Arneson's Birthday - Celebrating the other half of the team that brought us Dungeons and Dragons.  Read an RPG Book in Public and let everyone know that you are an RPG fan.

13th October - World Zombie Day - Go for a slow walk in search of brains.

21st October - Carrie Fisher's Birthday - Everyone's princess was born on this day in 1956.

November 

17th November - Life Day - Immortalised in the terrible Star Wars Holiday Special (1978), Wookie Life Day is yet another opportunity to get your Star Wars geek on and pretend that your local woodland is the wookie homeworld Kashyk.

23rd November - TARDIS Day - The first episode of Dr Who (An Unearthly Child) aired at 5:15 on Saturday the 23rd November 1954.  One of the longest running TV franchises in history everyone has their Doctor (mine's Tom Baker) so show your love for timey wimey wobbly walls sci-fi fun.

The Doctor explains how easy it would be to exterminate the Dalek race

25th November - Gazpatcho Soup Day - Fans of Red Dwarf will know exactly what I mean.  Celebrate with a bowl of tomato soup served piping hot naturally.

December 

16th December - Arthur C Clarke's Birthday - A prolific sci-fi writer, futurist and the inventor of geostationary orbits which made global satellite communications possible.  You probably wouldn't be reading this without his contribution.

24th December - Christmas Eve - The night before christmas is of course an amazing Tim Burton movie but it is also the day that John McClane single handedly defeated Hans Gruber and his gang of Terrorists. Yipee Kay Yay Motherlover.

28th December - Stan Lee's Birthday - Probably the greatest thing to ever happen to Superhero comic books.

Miniature Milestone - Over 100 Reaper Bones Painted

 A long overdue post to mark the milestone of passing 100 painted Reaper Bones miniatures.

100 Reaper Bones Miniatures Painted

Bones Progress

Reaper Bones: 245 - Painted: 109

Related Posts

• Reaper Bones #1: The Marathon Begins - Where I paint a dozen Giant Rats.
• Reaper Bones #2: Kobolds, Are They Dogs or Dragons? - Where I paint a dozen kobolds.
• Reaper Bones #3: A Carcase of Skeletons - Where I paint a half dozen skeletons.
• Reaper Bones #4: A Shuffle of Zombies - Where I paint five zombies.
• Reaper Bones #5: Introducing Shaina Coppervein, Dwarven Orc Hunter - First PC mini.
• Reaper Bones #6: Mimic, Treasure Chest and How I re-base my Bones - Where I paint furniture.
• Reaper Bones #7: Fire Elemental Meets Novelty Lamp - Where I hack a mini with LEDs.
• Reaper Bones #8: Flaming Sphere LED Tealight Hack - Another mini LED lighting project.
• Reaper Bones #9: Elliwyn Heatherlark, Gnome Bard - Another PC mini.
• Reaper Bones #10: Horace "Action" Jackson - A Baddass disco dancing Motherfucker.
• Reaper Bones #11: Pirate Captain Thorin Stoneheart - A Swashbuckling Philanthropist.
• Reaper Bones #12: Monstrous Menagerie - Clay Golem, Eye Beast, Griffon, Owlbear, Marsh Troll.
• Reaper Bones #13: Giants - Male Storm Giant and Female Cloud Giant.
• Reaper Bones #14: More Monsters! -Ape-X, Female Demon, Two Golems, Oxidation Beast.
• Reaper Bones #15 - The Road Warrior - Mad Max - 50 bones painted at last.
• Reaper Bones #16 - A Patrol of Orcs - 5 orcs out hunting your party.
• Reaper Bones #17- Personalities - Player Characters, NPCs or a villain or two.
• Reaper Bones #18 - Furniture
• Reaper Bones #19 - Townsfolk - 4 resident NPCs
• Reaper Bones #20 - Devil Women - A couple of Hellborn beauties.
• Reaper Bones #21 - Nova Corp & IMEF Soldiers - 15 Sci-Fi Badasses in heavy armour
• Reaper Bones #22 - A Flurry of Familiars - 11 teeny tiny magical friends
• Reaper Bones #23 - Vermin - Beetles, Scorpions and Spiders
• Reaper Bones #24 - Kyra, Iconic Cleric - An Arabian Holy Woman 
• Reaper Bones #25 - Ghostly Summons - aka A Watery mistake