Subj : Re: This echo
To   : Kay Shapero
From : Scott Adams
Date : Fri Aug 30 2002 08:52 pm

 -=> Quoting Kay Shapero to Scott Adams <=-


 KS>> The latter -  "Green Mansions", "The Lost World" and so forth.   
 
 SA>         Not familiar with green mansion...hmmm...

 KS> It's a novel _Green Mansions_ by W.H. Hudson, written in 1904.  The
 KS> protagonist goes to Venezuela (iirc), meets and falls in love with
 KS> Rima the last survivor of a bird-like human race living in the jungle.

        Ahhh..sounds like a book someone in the '30s did but i
        can't recall the title.  How did the author explain
        the origin of this race?

        
 KS> 
 
 SA>         The lost World tv series has been on a couple years now
 SA>         I see.  Never saw more than a few minutes of it.

 KS> I've never seen it myself.  I meant the novel _The Lost World_ by Sir
 KS> Arthur Conan Doyle, in which Professor Challenger leads an expedition
 KS> to the top of a huge mesa in South America and discovers it to be
 KS> inhabited by dinosaurs and things.  Greg Bear recently wrote a sequel
 KS> in which, years later, dinosaur circuses have gone through boom to
 KS> bust and the owner of the last decides to return such of his
 KS> collection who can be expected to survive the trip to the wild,
 KS> through political and natural hazards.  Did a decent job of it.

        Heh.  Not heard of that sequel there was a sequel in it
        for a book and TV movie.  I always liked that genre myself.
        I see ABC is doing a dino series this fall.

 SA>         So how if your doing dinos and such did you come
 SA>         up with stats?

 KS> I don't know if dinosaurs will get involved or not - what I'm after is
 KS> the atmosphere of the early 1900s pulp novels, where you might find
 KS> just about *anything* over the next ridge or up the next mesa.  (Or
 KS> floating high in the air or hidden under the sea or....)  I also plan
 KS> on pulling out a lot of supernatural critters including a domovoi
 KS> (Russian house spirit), maybe some selkies amongst the sea lions.  A
 KS> bit of comic book style as well, given that Doc Strange is the
 KS> inspiration for one of the characters.

        Sounds interesting.  There are plenty of rpgs out there
        set in that genre.  From Boot Hill, Gangbusters and
        gang/gi men style sets.  I know theres at least 5-6
        of them out there.  


 KS> Nothing new about that - my last major pulp campaign allowed folks to
 KS> invent their own characters or use existing pulp (or other period)
 KS> fiction ones, so at one point we had a hard boiled detective (Cameron,
 KS> Nicolai's "Bogey  clone"), Doc Savage (and the Brain Trust), The
 KS> Spirit, a handful of Borribles, a psychic, and (briefly) Lord Peter
 KS> Wimsey involved in the same trilogy of adventures.    
 KS> (What I called the "What I did on my vacation" sequence.

        hehe..reminds me of the call of cthulu rpg universe.
                                
 KS> First there was the trip out, complete with giant demon rat in the
 KS> bilges, and Denny Colt (The Spirit) getting his exercise dodging a
 KS> wouldbe girlfriend.

        hehe..so sounds like you insert comedy alot...

 KS> Then there was the Law Enforcement convention in London notable for
 KS> such things as Doc Savage's retrieval of a kitten from a tree, an
 KS> encounter with a werewolf, and the rescue of a kidnapped child (who
 KS> later turned out to be Anastasia.  Yes, THAT one.)

        Go from a kat to a werewolf...nice ..

 KS> Finally there was the fishing trip up north to a small Scotts town
 KS> with peculiar goings on lifted mostly out of a Dorothy Sayers short
 KS> story, and the incidental opening of a faery mound closed by cold iron
 KS> which enabled the last elf outside to get back in.

        A nice paradox.

 KS> The trip back was uneventful - I figured the characters were tired
 KS> enough. )

        ahh...shucks no train robbery ?

 KS> I just wish the lantern hadn't gone out when Cameron ran into the
 KS> demon rat.  It was huge, and invisible save for glowing red eyes, but
 KS> since the lights were out anyway, he couldn't even TELL.  Sigh... so
 KS> much for special effects. 

        'heh...why always red...I like growing green and yellow eyes
        myself :)  or my favorite purple eyes...


.... Is there a reason for this, or should I snap your hands off now?
--- Fringe BBS
 * Origin: EWOG II - RPG HQ - Best in Area!  904-733-1721 (1:112/91)

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