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D&D Movie Now In Post-ProductionThe new epic fantasy film that isn't Lord of the Rings, the Dungeons and Dragons movie, has now entered post-production. After almost two years of shooting in and around Prague, filming is finished and all that remains is editing and including the special effects. The latter have been much talked about, with a promise of a host of D&D creatures and a climactic battle featuring almost a hundred, highly "realistic" dragons in full flight. The movie stars Jeremy Irons as an evil arch-mage and Justin Whalin (Jimmy Olsen from Lois and Clark) as the hero, a young thief. He's accompanied by Marlon Wayans (Mo' Money), Bruce Payne (Passenger 57), Richard O'Brien (Rocky Horror) and the amazing Tom Baker as the king of the elves! The movie is directed by and the brain-child of Corey Solomon, a long-time lover of the game. You can read all about him and his movie in this interview on IGN. For all the latest news, check out the official movie-watch site at www.dndmovie.com Mr Johnson Has A Job For YouDynasty Presentations, Inc., makers of the Dark Conspiracy RPG and many other things, are looking for an Office Manager. Applicants should be skilled in bookkeeping and office management. College education a plus, orgnzational skills a must. Work with a larger then life boss and play games a lot. 18k to 24k (depending on experience). The position requires relocation to the Lake Geneva, Wisconsin area. If you feel you are qualified, please send a resume to: Check out DPI on the web here or look at their big new project here. Getting Gamers TogetherZarlaw Publishing, publishers of the print RPG fanzine The Oz Dungeoneer's Newsletter, have a dream. A dream where every gamer in Australia can easily contact any other gamers around the country. So they are putting together an Australasia-wide gamers' directory. Naturally, this can only succeed with a lot of support, so if you want to get connected, surf on over to their site and register now. Brisbane Convention Now BIG WeekendInsiders working on Brisbane's upcoming May convention gave us this report: Brisbane's biggest gaming convention arrives over the Queensland May long weekend (April 29th - May 1st) with a new name and a fresh look. The event is called the Auran BIG Weekend, with BIG standing for Brisbane Indoor Games. Following the successful integration of the Briscon and Maelstrom conventions in 1999, the organisers have decided to give the convention a 'new coat of paint' and launch it as the Auran BIG Weekend at the start of the new millennium. Auran continues to be an enthusiastic supporter of the convention. This local entertainment company are the creators of Dark Reign, the hit PC game, and are currently working on a real time strategy RPG based in the fantasy world of Harn. Greg Lane, Auran's CEO, is an avid gamer himself and envisions the convention becoming the major gaming event of South East Asia. The support that Auran currently provides means that the gamers of Australia pay a low flat fee of $15 registration (no session fees) to play in as many games as you can cram into the weekend. In addition to Auran's support, we have attracted sponsors from all over the world and can offer great prize support and trophies to the tournaments that are on offer. The BIG Weekend is a bit different than other games convention in that the organisers are firmly committed to breaking down 'gaming barriers' that have crept into the convention scene over the past decade. We go out of our way to encourage people to submit all types of games as tournaments and we run competitions as diverse as Monopoly and Go through to Miniatures and Role Playing. This year is no exception. We will be offering over 50 tournaments in the following categories: CCGs: Magic, L5R, Highlander, Mythos, Wyvern, Babylon 5, Star Trek Classics: Scrabble, Chess, Go, Monopoly Miniatures: Warhammer Fantasy, 40K, DBM Ancients, DBR Renaissance, Napoleon's Battles, Clan War, Mordheim, Speed Painting Competition. Strategic Boardgames: Robo-Rally, Battletech, Ra, Settlers of Catan, Civilization, Diplomacy Role Playing: 22 games, including AD&D, Star Wars, Cthulhu, Amber, Warhammer FRP, Deadlands, Chill, Vampire: the Masquerade, Vampire: Dark Ages, Vampire LARP, L5R, Shadowrun and various systemless table-top games and LARPs. Over the past 2 years we have been looking at promoting PC tournaments but circumstances prevented us. This year, however, we have access to a 20 PC network and will be running 5 separate PC tournaments over the weekend. The titles are still being negotiated at this point but they should include popular titles such as Quake, Tribes etc. A special mention should be made of our guest author, Ian Irvine (writer of the "View from the Mirror" fantasy series). Ian will be at the convention on Sunday for a book signing. From emails and calls that the organisers have been getting over the past 2 months, there is a buzz of interest out there about the convention - not only locally, but across Australia. The last 2 years has seen a rise in interstate competitors and this looks likely to dramatically rise in 2000 as a result of all the positive experiences of southern registrants. The venue has been changed to the Griffith University Mt. Gravatt Campus (Messines Ridge Road, Mt. Gravatt) to accommodate our current growth. It is not too far removed from the Moreton TAFE set-up of previous years - a central cafeteria for the Trade Hall and tournaments taking place in surrounding buildings. Feed-back from miniatures players in 1999 indicated a preference for their games to take place in one large hall. We can accommodate this with an indoor basketball court located on campus. Role playing games will have the luxury of individual rooms once more and the LARPs can take full advantage of the University drama theatres. Registration books will be available from February 1st in most major games stores. The web-site at www.bigweekend.com.au will come on-line on the same date.
The cost is $15 registration to play in as many games as you want. There is no additional session fee (a few games have special levies eg. CCG Sealed Deck Games). We invite all Australian gamers to the Auran BIG Weekend . If you have to travel a long way - make a vacation out of it. Ansett are offering great discount travel in the booklet and the public holidays in the weeks running up to the event, make this an ideal opportunity to enjoy a Queensland vacation. Hope to see you there in May! For more information contact: RPG Defamation League RebornDue to some server difficulties, the RPG Anti-Defamation League has changed both its address and its name. Now called The RPG Defence League, it can be found at http://area51.peopleweb.com/rpgdefense/index.html. Anyone looking for information or support about gaming defence should take a look at these pages; a very useful site all round. Dying Earth Comes to LifeBritish insiders have informed us that the much-touted Dying Earth RPG is now about to begin production, and the authors have been named. The writers will be Robin D. Laws (Feng Shui), John Snead (Trinity, Aberrant) and Peter Freeman, a fiction author. The Dying Earth RPG is based on the writings of renowned fantasy author Jack Vance. For more information, check out www.dyingearth.com. ST:TNG RPG APA updates to TLARed Alert Gaming, the well known APA devoted to the ST:TNG RPG, has announced that it will soon be changing its name to Star Trek Gaming. This move is not based on any shift in content and focus, said the editors, but simply because the new name allows for the use of a "way cool" three letter abbreviation or TLA. The editors say their zine will be much cooler once they can refer to it as "STG". While the editors admit that Red Alert Gaming permitted the "kinda funny" acronym "RAG", they believe current trends in the RPG community made changing to a TLA imperative if they were to avoid a "TKO". "Anyone examining the RPG industry knows that TLAs are the ISO, used in company names like PEG, AEG, and TSR and product names like V:TM, M:TG and BNW. Not to mention classics jargon like NPC, MDC, PHB and CCG! And, IMO, they are AOK, BTW" said CEO and ex-CIA VIP, Ted Michaels yesterday. "In fact," he added, "TLAs are TBK!". Michaels then made little quotation marks with his fingers while explaining that "TBK" stood for "the bee's knees". As yet, the date of the change is still TBA, but an ETA will be given ASAP. More News?This isn't enough news for you? Well, try the premiere gaming news site on the web, Gaming Intelligence. GI disappeared last year, but is now back with a vengeance. Find it at http://www.gamingintelligence.com |
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