Author: Christopher Lee

Wizard World Philly 2014: Cosplay Edition

/ Christopher Lee / 4 Comments

nb wwp banner CosplayWe didn’t make it to the show for the whole shebang this year, but at least we caught the last day.

Not a lot of Cosplayers were in attendance on Sunday, but there weren’t a lot of attendees period either, which was actually kind of nice. We could walk, talk and breathe without getting tired. It was really nice to be able to stretch out and enjoy a big con for once without the constant bumping and shoving that usually ensues. We met a few awesome people, saw a lot of great art, bought a few good collectables, and managed to snap a few of the cosplayers that were around…which I present to you now:  Continue reading →

Steve Jackson’s “SORCERY! Part 2: Khare Cityport of Traps” Review

/ Christopher Lee / Leave a comment

Nerd base sorcery review banner

Man I loved those Choose Your Own Adventure books. They were like the gateway drug into Role Playing Games. When you’re the weird loner kid in grade-school, you haven’t quite gotten the confidence yet to bond with the other weird loner kids. So what did you do? You found other RPGs to play yourself, like the Lone Wolf books (still some of my favorites) and of course, Steve Jackson’s (the OG SJ, co-founder of Games Workshop and Lionhead Studios) SORCERY! series.

These days, most of these books are rather hard to find. The few out there who have decent copies are hesitant to part with them at any price. Who could blame them? These were better than solitaire!

Now, thanks to Steve Jackson himself, and Inkle Studios, we can relive the original SORCERY!  series on Android and iOS devices!!

185px-Steve2Says Jackson:
The Sorcery! gamebook series was an epic project which took up a significant portion of my life between 1983-1985. I have always wanted it to be brought up to date with 21st Century technology. But only with the right developer. In entrusting Sorcery! digital future to inkle I am confident they will not only be able to convert the original adventure faithfully to digital formats but also that they will take it beyond the original into new realms. Those who have seen their re-working of the Frankenstein story will know what I mean. This is not just a straight translation of the original books to iOS. This will be a brand new Sorcery! experience.

Continue reading →

Hawk The Slayer: The Best or Worst D&D Film Ever Made?

/ Christopher Lee / 2 Comments

Hawk Banner 2

Yes, I’m well aware that Hawk the Slayer is NOT in fact, a Dungeons & Dragons movie. However, it IS more like actual D&D (at the time at least) than that weird movie we did get. A Wayans? Really?  Anyway, this isn’t about that movie where we all secretly hoped we’d get to see a topless Thora Birch riding a dragon. No. This is about something far, far….better?

coverHawk the Slayer is one of those odd little films that managed to catch your eye while you were perusing the genre racks at your local video rental store (when they were still around). It had an epic-looking poster that looked more like the popular “Choose Your Own Adventure” style books. You were just drawn to it. I was drawn to it. But then, I was a young, impressionable lad at the time, and just learning the ways of the world. Thankfully, the heyday of Sword & Sandal films was just getting into swing and I had a legion of warriors with magic and sharpened steel to lead me. Hawk, however, was just the door man, a “gateway drug” type of movie….clean enough for kids, dirty enough to give them urges towards long hair, leather pants, and Manowar records.

Originally shown on TV in the UK, Hawk the Slayer was picked up for a limited theatrical distribution in 1980. At that time, yes, movies like this were shown theatrically, it was the end of the “good ol’ days” when just about anything could get a theatrical release. A short while later it would end up on VHS and into my grubby little mitts.
I was completely enamored. Here was everything I wanted to see: Continue reading →

I Believe In “Bee And Puppycat”

/ Christopher Lee / 5 Comments

(This is a guest article by artist, animator, Brooklynite, and general miscreant, Sarah Miskoff. Sarah’s work has been featured here on Nerd-Base previously, including this cute Halloween piece here.)

If you enjoy Animation and you aren’t that in the loop then this story is for you.

b n pcThis past summer, specifically July 11th 2013, a short animation was released on the Frederator Youtube channel, called Bee and Puppycat. Frederator is the animation studio that has provided us with great animations like Continue reading →