The Duellists and White Zombie now on Blu-Ray
Bonus Savage Worlds content follows...
To my shame, I must admit that I have never seen "The Duellists," Ridley Scott's premiere feature film based on a Joseph Conrad story of the same name. Not only is it a movie revolving around swordfights, it's a movie about swordfights in the Napoleonic Wars (AKA the Regency Era). I no longer have any excuse, as the film has just been re-released on Blu-ray. If you're not as convinced as I am that this is a must buy, check out this review from Black Gate -- "Adventure on Film: The Duellists" -- or check out the original trailer.
I have, on the other hand, seen the classic Bela Lugosi film "White Zombie."
I'm not fond of the George Romero "Living Dead" cannibal corpses, but I love the spooky enslaved dead of classic Voodoo legend. There's nothing that creeps me out more than the idea of losing one's will, and this classic film from 1932 plays right into that. Don't just take my word for it, check out awesome neo-pulp artist Francesco Francavilla's capsule review. I also think I can detect its influence in "Guede-Je-Rouge," one of the adventures included in the Flashing Blades supplement Flashing Blades: High Seas. "White Zombie" is also newly out on Blu-ray.
BONUS SAVAGE WORLDS CONTENT
Count Up/Count Down
One thing I've found in running sword duels in Savage Worlds is that the standard "count down" initiative system gives a lot of the ability to control the fight to the character with worse initiative. What I've started doing is "count up/count down;" the character/player with lower initiative declares his action, the player with higher initiative declares hers, and then play proceeds from high to low. This means that if the character with worse initiative declares he is doing Full Defense, the character with better initiative can declare a Wild Attack to counter it. I've always gotten the impression that fencing is more about anticipating and countering your opponent's maneuvers than it is about simply being faster, and count up/count down for initiative definitely skews combat that direction.
To my shame, I must admit that I have never seen "The Duellists," Ridley Scott's premiere feature film based on a Joseph Conrad story of the same name. Not only is it a movie revolving around swordfights, it's a movie about swordfights in the Napoleonic Wars (AKA the Regency Era). I no longer have any excuse, as the film has just been re-released on Blu-ray. If you're not as convinced as I am that this is a must buy, check out this review from Black Gate -- "Adventure on Film: The Duellists" -- or check out the original trailer.
I have, on the other hand, seen the classic Bela Lugosi film "White Zombie."
 |
| "White Zombie" by Francesco Francavilla |
BONUS SAVAGE WORLDS CONTENT
Count Up/Count Down
One thing I've found in running sword duels in Savage Worlds is that the standard "count down" initiative system gives a lot of the ability to control the fight to the character with worse initiative. What I've started doing is "count up/count down;" the character/player with lower initiative declares his action, the player with higher initiative declares hers, and then play proceeds from high to low. This means that if the character with worse initiative declares he is doing Full Defense, the character with better initiative can declare a Wild Attack to counter it. I've always gotten the impression that fencing is more about anticipating and countering your opponent's maneuvers than it is about simply being faster, and count up/count down for initiative definitely skews combat that direction.
No, you of all people have no excuse for not owning The Duellists!
ReplyDeleteToo damned true and soon to be corrected.
Delete