Roguelikes are some of the earliest computer games. They're a form of old-school High Geek that I'd heard about for the longest time but never played. You are an adventurer in a randomly-generated dungeon. You need to get to the lowest level and kill the boss. It's turn-based. You level up. You have attributes and hit points and an inventory. They've still got a very enthusiastic following that made them sound appealing except, well, they look like this.
So I never figured I'd be able to read the glyphs. I have no idea what's actually going on in the screen there. The games are complex and full of easter eggs, which is very old-school High Geek. They're also unforgiving with a very steep learning curve, which is also very old-school High Geek. So I always wanted to play it and be one of the cool geeks, but not enough to actually devote the time to figure it out.
So I was pleasantly surprised by Dungeons of Dredmor. It's got graphics. It's got random dungeons full of random stuff that may or may not prove helpful. You can see screenshots here. Note the character sheet with six primary attributes and eighteen secondary attributes. It's complex. You'll get a lot further if you pay attention to them. But you can get away with taking a large sword and hitting things with it, at least on easy mode.
Anyhow, I've spent a while playing it and I've enjoyed it. If you missed the bundle last year, it's available for $5.
Who's your favorite vampire?
| Alucard | 204 (38%) |
| Barnabas Collins | 33 (6%) |
| Bill Compton | 6 (1%) |
| Blade | 61 (11%) |
| Count Strahd | 7 (1%) |
| Duckula | 46 (9%) |
| Grandpa Munster | 85 (16%) |
| Hsien-Ko | 30 (6%) |
| Miyu | 41 (8%) |
| Vampire Darkwing | 27 (5%) |
We'll catch up on the older polls as things go along, but for now, part two of the vampire poll. Alucard is the clear winner here. In Castlevania, at least, he's the half-vampire son of Dracula. That makes him a Dhampyr according to some traditions. I think that Alucard should be considerd an Eripmav, but that seems to be the minority opinion.
Bill Compton is from True Blood, which was adapted from the Sookie Stackhouse books - I figured that he was the symbol of the modern resurgence of vampires and would've done better than 1%. He even lost to Count Strahd, who was a major part of the Ravenloft setting in D&D.
Barnabas Collins was the lead in Dark Shadows, which I'm led to believe was a soap opera with monsters. They're making a movie based on it, and if it got fewer votes than Hsien-Ko (a hopping vampire, from Darkstalkers) that may be a bad sign.
In retrospect, Duckula and Vampire Darkwing may have split the comedic vampire duck vote.
Vampire Princess Miyu is a manga and anime. I've got a few of the comics but haven't gotten around to reading them. I've had them since, well, back when they printed manga in comic books instead of just collections.
Secondly, poll results! Who's your favorite vampire?
| Dracula | 165 (26%) |
| Count von Count | 60 (10%) |
| Marceline the Vampire Queen | 65 (10%) |
| Angel and/or Spike | 82 (13%) |
| Lestat | 49 (8%) |
| Mordney Present | 2 (0%) |
| Count Chocula | 37 (6%) |
| Edward Cullen | 4 (1%) |
| Sally von Humpeding | 21 (3%) |
| Bunnicula | 146 (23%) |
How can you tell we do furry comics? Well, Bunnicula got second-place in our vampire poll. That's a better showing than I had anticipated. I really liked those books when I was in elementary school, and I have no intention of revisiting for fear it won't be as good as I remember it being.
Speaking of which, I'm surprised Sally von Humpeding (of the Discworld series; she shows up in the more recent City Watch books) got as many votes as she did; I figured she'd have even less name recognition. I considered putting Otto Chriek (the photographer in The Truth) in instead, but I honestly didn't care for him.
Count von Count is The Count from Sesame Street. Marceline is from Adventure Time. Angel and/or Spike are from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, depending on which Angel and Spike you voted for). Lestat is from Interview with the Vampire (and I can't for the life of me remember if he was the one they interviewed or what the other vampire's name was). Bunnicula is from the Bunnicula series of books. Dracula is from everything; I declare that it's Dracula from Castlevania because dude, Castlevania. Edward Cullen is from Twilight. I don't think I need to explain Count Chocula. And Mordney Present is, I think, too complicated for me to properly explain.
Anyhow, we've got
[Round 2]You wake up in Sherup. You are a...
| Dog | 148 (35%) |
| Hedgehog | 119 (28%) |
| Panda | 154 (36%) |
| Slug | 5 (1%) |
Also, we have a poll! Vampires! Because it's more than just a cool name. Vote for your favorite vampire. Or at least for the vampire you like most from among the choices offered. When I look at lists of vampires, two things pop out at me. Firstly, most of them are named Dracula. So he's on there. Is that a vote for the Dracula from Castlevania or the one from Young Dracula or the one that Abbot and Costello met? Whichever one you like most. Secondly, there are a whole lot of vampires who I haven't heard of. I'm sadly out of date when it comes to vampires.
So if your favorite vampire isn't on there, let me know. If I get enough suggestions, maybe we'll do another vampire poll.
[Round 1]You wake up in Sherup. You are a...
| Cat | 179 (40%) |
| Koala | 36 (8%) |
| Mouse | 41 (9%) |
| Fox | 194 (43%) |
I got a sketch from James Silvani, who drew the recent Darkwing Duck comic books. They were amazing and I kept meaning to write about them here. I didn't get a chance before the series ended. After 18 issues. I need to update this thing more often.
Anyhow, I got a sketch of Uncle Scrooge and Bowling Ball Scrooge.
Why Scrooge, if I liked the job he did on Darkwing so much?
Because he drew the Ducktales crossover.
Let me take that a step back. For a variety of historical reasons, Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck comics are HUGE in Europe. They're fairly popular in South America. In the US, you need to special order them.
Accordingly, most of the artists*, at least over the last 50 years, are overseas and there's not much call for them to do the American con circuit. So this looked like my only chance to get a sketch from someone who's drawn Scrooge in an official capacity.
Why Bowling Ball Scrooge?
Crisis on Infinite Darkwings. The Evil Plan was: go to alternate dimensions. Kidnap and brainwash that dimensions Darkwing. Turn all the kidnapped brainwashed Darkwings loose. Chaos ensues.
The script originally called for something like eight altenate Darkwings. James Silvani added more than 60. That kind of detail is one of the reasons why I liked the series. They got stranger and stranger until....
Bowling Ball Darkwing. Either you think it's hilarious or you don't. There is nothing further I can say on the matter. And since there's a whole dimension of them, Bowling Ball Scrooge.
*: One notable exception is Don Rosa. Last I heard, he retired from comics. Two days after WonderCon, I found out that he was appearing at Emerald City Comic-Con. I didn't drop everything and go to Seattle, but I did price it out. I'm not sure if he did sketches.
