yes it's slow going at work right now. I saw one of the worst book to movie ever.
John Carpenter's Vampires base very, very loosely on John Steakley's Vampire$.
I always thought this book would make a rocken SR story line.
anyone else have any?
Best
Hagarzen
Full Version: Book to movie....why!
Straight action games can be fun, yes. Maybe replace vampires with shedim, though.
okay what is a shedim??
It is not your standard SR story, but Robert Heinlein had one about this school who's graduation exercise was to send the kids through a gate to another planet where they had to survive for a few weeks, but they end up stranded there for years. Add magic from SR, change the setting to a Metaplanes Quest, and you've got a story. Best line would be that it is a group initiatory quest that somehow went wrong with the questors on a very primitive plane and they must survive until the quest ends. Since canon says quests can seem to last for years but only take a few hours of real time, that takes care of the time issue.
In response to Hagarzen's question about Shedim. This is a short and off the top of my head response, so there are probably a lot of accuracy gaps. Heh.
The shedim are introduced in the Wake of the Comet book, and also described in the Threats 2 book. They're spirits (entities, what have you) from the astral planes that inhabit dead vessels (bodies). Then they move on to do whatever their diabolical schemes are, such as increasing their numbers, draining folks of their lives, causing strife, etc...
They're introduced as one of two types, the mindless ones (and you get the good old george romero types as they come alive in the morgues, cemetaries, museum displays), the other type are the intelligent ones that take the recently deceased (such as murder victims, accident victims, mages who are currently away astrally so their body is there for the taking), and they start up a 'normal' life.
The shedim are introduced in the Wake of the Comet book, and also described in the Threats 2 book. They're spirits (entities, what have you) from the astral planes that inhabit dead vessels (bodies). Then they move on to do whatever their diabolical schemes are, such as increasing their numbers, draining folks of their lives, causing strife, etc...
They're introduced as one of two types, the mindless ones (and you get the good old george romero types as they come alive in the morgues, cemetaries, museum displays), the other type are the intelligent ones that take the recently deceased (such as murder victims, accident victims, mages who are currently away astrally so their body is there for the taking), and they start up a 'normal' life.
And yes, that was a god awful vampire movie.
Not very many good vampire movies. Interview with the Vampire and Bram Stoker's Dracula are the only two recent (meaning post 1990) ones I can think of that were any good.
On the subject of storylines and metaplanes, I once sent a strongly religious mage on an metaplane quest to a plane that strongly resembled Heaven. They got caught up in the War and the initiate essentially had to make the choice between faith (or, more correctly, following Divine orders) and their own morality.
I wasn't trying to poke fun at religion or anything, and it turned out to be one of my more successful sessions.
On the subject of storylines and metaplanes, I once sent a strongly religious mage on an metaplane quest to a plane that strongly resembled Heaven. They got caught up in the War and the initiate essentially had to make the choice between faith (or, more correctly, following Divine orders) and their own morality.
I wasn't trying to poke fun at religion or anything, and it turned out to be one of my more successful sessions.
John Carpenter's Vampires may have been bad, but there's something worse: John Carpenter's Prince of Darkness.
I liked Prince of Darkness. (I think) wasn't that the one with satan in a jar in the basement?
Prince of Darkness was excellent for its release date. The effects were minimal but generally effective, if dated now. I particularly like the scientist who goes outside the church, falls under the sway of darkness, and falls apart into a pile of beetles.
The basic idea that Satan was an evil, extradimensional space alien (John Bigboote) and Jesus was a good extradimensional space alien (klaatu barada nicto!) who captured Satan in a containment system that is slowly, ever so slowly, falling apart and that the Catholic church is desperately trying to understand and maintain is genius.
The basic idea that Satan was an evil, extradimensional space alien (John Bigboote) and Jesus was a good extradimensional space alien (klaatu barada nicto!) who captured Satan in a containment system that is slowly, ever so slowly, falling apart and that the Catholic church is desperately trying to understand and maintain is genius.
John Steakly wrote another book a long time ago called 'Armor' that was fantastic. It has a sort of 'Starship Troopers' (Book not movie) meme to it, but instead of focussing on political theory, its about the psychological effects of nigh endless fighting on a man.
Extremely well written! I had it recommended to me by my CO when I was in the Marines, and Im on my 6th copy of it cause I keep giving them away to freinds.
Extremely well written! I had it recommended to me by my CO when I was in the Marines, and Im on my 6th copy of it cause I keep giving them away to freinds.
| QUOTE (kigmatzomat) |
| Prince of Darkness was excellent for its release date. The effects were minimal but generally effective, if dated now. I particularly like the scientist who goes outside the church, falls under the sway of darkness, and falls apart into a pile of beetles. The basic idea that Satan was an evil, extradimensional space alien (John Bigboote) and Jesus was a good extradimensional space alien (klaatu barada nicto!) who captured Satan in a containment system that is slowly, ever so slowly, falling apart and that the Catholic church is desperately trying to understand and maintain is genius. |
Prince of Darkness is still the creepiest movie I've ever seen, simply because of the weird scratchy video tape panning around the church that was interspersed.
It still gives me chills.
Dusk till Dawn is a pretty good vampire movie. And I'm a big fan of Underworld, if you're interested in seeing the WoD on screen.
I enjoyed John Carpenter's Vampires.
I'm not saying it was good, just that it was fun.
I'm not saying it was good, just that it was fun.
| QUOTE |
| And I'm a big fan of Underworld, if you're interested in seeing the WoD on screen. |
Ugh, don't say that. Underworld may have borrowed heavily from the WOD, but it is so far removed. If you want the feel of the WOD, yeah, see the FIRST Underworld (IMHO the 2nd one was little more than a vampire splatterfest with only one scene worth watching). But as to WOD society and politics and such, you're out of luck.
| QUOTE (cristomeyers) | ||
Ugh, don't say that. Underworld may have borrowed heavily from the WOD, but it is so far removed. If you want the feel of the WOD, yeah, see the FIRST Underworld (IMHO the 2nd one was little more than a vampire splatterfest with only one scene worth watching). But as to WOD society and politics and such, you're out of luck. |
It had factions, sybaritic vampires that were more interested in their arcane political games that anything in the world outside, clear Generations, and even a number of references to Clans and Princes. I'm willing to call it WoD. But yes, only the first one.
Hell, they call Michael an abomination at one point, after they realized he was a werewolf bitten by a vampire.
Selene is a Brujah. Craven is a Ventrue. The blonde wanna-be queen is a Toreador.
It all falls in to place.
| QUOTE (HullBreach) |
| John Steakly wrote another book a long time ago called 'Armor' that was fantastic. It has a sort of 'Starship Troopers' (Book not movie) meme to it, but instead of focussing on political theory, its about the psychological effects of nigh endless fighting on a man. |
Yeah, Felix was great. I forgot that he wrote both Armor and and Vampire$.
If you liked Armor, read John Ringo's Legacy of the Alldenata series. (Hymn before Battle, Gust Front, Dance with the Devil, and Hell's Faire) I'm not quite as fond of the follow-on novels, Cally's War was flat IMO and Watch on the Rhine was good but lacking something, but they are still decent stuff. Full on power armor combat, with a completely justified reason for mixing it up quasi-infantry fashion rather than air-campaigns.
If you visit John Steakly's website, you'll see a sneak peek at his sequel to Armor, just a couple of pages he wrote.
Another series to read in a similar vein is Old Man's War and Ghost Brigade.
Another series to read in a similar vein is Old Man's War and Ghost Brigade.
Give me Starship Troopers any day.
'Course, right now Robert Jordan's latest (and last) is at the top of my "must have" list.
'Course, right now Robert Jordan's latest (and last) is at the top of my "must have" list.
as long as it's the book "Starship Troopers" not the crappy movie
Starship Troopers (the novel) was great. The political theory was very interesting, too. Armor was OK. Another one I liked was the Dirigent Mercenry Corps series by Rick Shelley. It is an infantry series in the future. That could be translated into one of the bigger merc outfits in SR, just add magical healing in place of the nanobots everyone had in their system. Have to add cyberware too. It would make an interesting movie series building from a cadet officer tagging along with a squad to regimental commander.
Team Yankee and 38 North Yankee are also good, the first being war in Western Europe against the Russians and the second in Korea against the North Koreans. Both have good descriptions of mixed unit and infantry combat. Gotta love the included maps that make the battlefield clear in your mind.
Team Yankee and 38 North Yankee are also good, the first being war in Western Europe against the Russians and the second in Korea against the North Koreans. Both have good descriptions of mixed unit and infantry combat. Gotta love the included maps that make the battlefield clear in your mind.
| QUOTE |
| as long as it's the book "Starship Troopers" not the crappy movie |
You know me better than that. The movie (both of them) was tripe.
Might have to look into Dirigent, sounds interesting enough and it's either that or read Bourne Ultimatum again.
| QUOTE (cristomeyers) | ||
You know me better than that. The movie (both of them) was tripe. Might have to look into Dirigent, sounds interesting enough and it's either that or read Bourne Ultimatum again. |
I'll tell you a little about the Dirigent series. It is in the future where humanity is spreading through the stars. Though there are three major factions, large armies are rare because most of the colonies are too small to maintain more than a constabulary force. That is where the mercenary companies come in. The story follows a man who left Earth because he wanted to be a soldier, but they was going to be forced to be a policeman of sorts, really a headcracker that kept the masses in line. So he goes to Dirigent become a mercenary soldier. He is accepted, goes through basic and because of his training on Earth is made an officer cadet. They stay cadets until they prove themselves in combat.
Its not a bad series, but I have differences of opinion with the author. Mostly little things like unit organization, the short range of rocket launchers and things like that. Still, that doesn't distract from the story.
| QUOTE |
| Its not a bad series, but I have differences of opinion with the author. Mostly little things like unit organization, the short range of rocket launchers and things like that. Still, that doesn't distract from the story. |
Considering I know next to nothing about any of that anyway, I don't think it'll be a problem
Thanks, I'll definitly look it up.Blades on the other hand....
The best part in Starship Troopers were those propagandistic news snippets.
Starship Troopers the book, rocked.
Armor, Rocked.
The Engine is God and Jack Crowe is his prophet
Armor, Rocked.
The Engine is God and Jack Crowe is his prophet
Wow. I wonder what I did wrong when I've had games end up like Syriana (admittedly borrowing more liberally from the source material) and never once like anything mentioned here.
Nothing wrong with Syriana as source material. Though, I do remember a while ago when some of us mentioned how Syriana would be good material for a game, someone said they were offended that we thought that it would be use for a game. Go figure.
This is a "lo-fi" version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.