Monday, October 29, 2007

Executioner Crazy!

Hi, my names Ronin and I'm an addict. I'm addicted to these damn books. As I stated before I happened into an old friend. Mack Bolan. Used to check these out from the library in the tiny town I'm from. I enjoyed them back in the day, a lot. Well As I told you before I purchased a couple Saturday. Oh, man. I still dig it way to much for my own good. I read one and am 1/3 the way through the other one. So if its worth doing. Its worth going overboard about, right? I just bought four more books. That aught to keep me busy for a while. Remember when I start looking into purchasing an Auto Mag, or Desert Eagle .44. Its time to step in. I need help. :-p

Blood sacrifice.
Guatemalan rebels have discovered a new way to finance a campaign of terror. They are looting rare Mayan artifacts and selling them for millions. The location of the jungle tomb is a secret to all but the rebel army, who's tapped it as its own private war chest.
Mack Bolan's mission is twofold: find the hidden ruins, then stop the pillage by whatever means necessary. But he's up against an army determined to maintain its deadly hold on a lost temple and its riches. Bolan's unerring skill in the hostile jungle makes him a formidable enemy. He's willing to face death for a just cause, but he knows the difference between a soldier's sacrifice and a suicide mission. If the Executioner is going down, he's taking the bad guys with him.


Fury spiral.


The prolonged conflict between the Irish Republican Army and the Protestant Nationals is escalating beyond Ireland's borders. Now America is being lured into the crossfire through a deeply rooted conspiracy designed to force the U.S. government to take its war on terror to the Emerald Isle.


Mack Bolan's mission begins with information retrieval. He must find out who is using terrorist threats to force U.S. intervention in Northern Ireland. Evidence piles high against the Protestant Orange Order, which wants the world to endorse the existence of two Irelands. But when the Executtoner uncovers a plot to launch a dirty bomb on American soil, the true threat- and the real face of the deadly enemy- comes under his lethal and personal attack.



A bloodbath aboard a celebrity-packed yacht leaves the daughter of a high-ranking politician dead. Going undercover as a DEA official, Mack Bolan probes what appears to be a drug deal gone bad. But as kilos of high-grade heroin flood Los Angeles, Bolan's investigation exposes something worse than business as usual for local gangs and dirty politicians.


The trail leads to Jakarta and the Golden Dragon, a drug lord with his hands deep in thepockets of officials- and an agenda that goes beyond white powder and cold hard cash. The Executioner hammers the opposition with a vengeance, savaging the Dragon'sstranglehold on the drug trade ... and enraging a powerful enemy whose mission stops nothing short of full-blown terror.

Critical interception.

Mack Bolan is directed to use any means necessary to defuse a crisis that puts America in the hot seat. Iran's hardliners are pushing an extremist agenda, defying U.N. rulings and amassing an arsenal with bio and nuclear capabilities. They've got stolen U.S. technology and unlimited financial backing by China, who's willing to lend its muscle in exchange for oil. With Russian black market weapons dealers eager to profit from international terror, the Stony Man warrior's multifront mission becomes one of infiltrate and confront, uniting him with Bedouin brothers-in-arms and other unlikely allies across enemy territory in a race to shut down an explosive situation before the deadly fuse is lit ....

Saturday, October 27, 2007

The Executioner

Well reading and thinking about the Mack Bolan books. I did it. I went out and purchased a couple. Man its the asskicking goodness I remembered. These are the ones I got.


Final accounting.

The hunt for a killer on a rampage of revenge in upstate New York leads Mack Bolan to a nest of criminals. A vigilante is targeting local meth-lab gangs doing business with white supremacists. But innocents are dying in the wake of one man's killing spree. That places him squarely in Bolan's gun sights.
Trailing his quarry through chaos and death, Bolan exposes a new and far grimmer scenario- a conspiracy involving local power brokers. The goal is an act of homegrown terror orchestrated by rogue sleeper cells of the Chinese government. There's a fine line between rough justice and cold-blooded murder- something the Executioner understands all too well.


Dangerous allegiance.
When the military career of a top-notch Green Beret is terminated by a raw deal, the soldier turns mercenary to spill blood for profit. Now he's cast his lot with terrorists and organized crime, knowing there's big money working for those fueled by hatred and fanaticism. And if it brings him some payback against the government that betrayed him- all the sweeter.
Mack Bolan not only understands the mind-set of a well-trained soldier, he can play it to his advantage. But he's got less than 24 hours to rattle Vancouver's Triads in hopes of shaking loose their prized American gun for hire- because the mercenary has a suitcase full of death, and the incentive to make sure it reaches its final destination across the U.S. border.

Friday, October 26, 2007

Mack Bolan The Executioner

Well folks meet the character/book that inspired the Punisher. Well no one really says that. But lets look at a couple things. Vietnam vet? Check. Family killed by mobsters? Check. Becomes vigilante bad ass, scourge of the mafia? Check. Any one picking up a pattern here? Their are people that say its the other way around. They are wrong. Dead Wrong. (Ha, Ha! Cheesy I know but roll with me.) The first Executioner (Mack Bolan) book "War against the mafia" was released in 1969. The first appearance of the Punisher was in 1974 (if I remember correctly). Now don't get me wrong I am a huge Punisher fan. But I recently rediscovered Mack Bolan. I remember checking Executioner books out of the public libary. A buddy of mines brother turned me on to them. The Executioner Mack Bolan is the largest series of book printed in english. Theres 349 books printed as of right now. That doesn't include the Able Team, Phoenix Force, and Stony Man books he appears in.
Mack Bolan is pure bad ass. His regular load out is a Beretta 93R, and "Big Thunder" his .44 Automag. Just like the Punisher he kicks seven shades of mobster/terrorist/foreign agent/bad guy ass. If this sort of thing appeals to you. I highly suggest you check them out.

(I posted the entirety of a pamphlet that Walden Books put out to celebrate the 100 book in the series. You may have to click on the pics, possibly even save them to you computer so that you can zoom in to read it better. Its a fun little short story. Give it a read. Especially if the Executioner sounds interesting to you.)














Thursday, October 25, 2007

Porco Rosso

Porco Rosso is rated #2 in Anime Insiders top fifty anime. This surprised me. I had seen it at the store before. But never really thought much of it. I just though it was another goofy/dumb anime. Well I've been reading up on it after reading AI's blurb on it. It sounds pretty interesting. I think I'm going to have to check it out. I would recommend you folks check it out. Please it you have seen it. Leave a comment. I'm interested in learning more about it.



Jin-Roh The Wolf Brigade


Recently I recieved a Anime Insider magazine. From my friend Bungee. He had aquired it at the recent retailers summit. This is a magazine that I dont typically read. Not that theirs anything wrong with it. Its just not on my list so to speak. Well this issue had their top 50 anime of all time. They listed Jin-Roh The Wolf Brigade as #7 in their poll. It is definitely a top ten anime movie. I havent seen it in my prefered anime movie store. Nor have I looked for it online. I really should once I get some money saved. I'm posting a couple links that I think will explain it better than I. Link .1, Link .2
Its a really great movie. I cant recommend it enough.




So many games, so little time


Twilight 2000. This is a game I more or less stumbled across a little less than a year ago. Its a game I was interested in, back in my youth. But a friends brother had convinced me it was a crap game. Oh man he was wrong. Sure its crunchy as hell. But everything was back then. I would have totally dug it back then. Probably would have play the hell out of if it. Heck if I had time I would play it now. If I had thew time or players interested. I would definitely use the timeline from the old books. I would consider it to now be an alternate future. I bought the PDF off drivethru rpg. If I remember correctly. As I said it was a while ago. I was just taking a look at it recently. Which is what prompted this post. Far Future Enterprises has reprinted the 1st edition. Which is very cool. I may have to get a hard copy sometime in the future. A company called 93 games studio has gotten the rights to Twilight 2000, and is coming out with a 3rd edition. Its supposed to be title Twilight 2013. I guess its a complete rewrite. New history moving away from the superpower conflict of the cold war. Sounds interesting. I will definitely have to check it out.
[edit] Found a PDF of some fluff text for the new 2013 game on 93 games studio site. LINK.





Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Golgo 13


Well I've been thinking a lot about a crime game again. This being brought about by Mean Streets. I finally had Kinkos print my PDF's. Which turned out fantastic. Quality is top notch. There was a minor problem with one. But Kinkos fixed no problem. Anyways this has gotten me thinking of a crime game. I've been talking with my roommate. He doesn't seem to want to run a Sam Spade style detective game. But more of a mobster/criminal game. Well I've been really into watching "Brotherhood" on show time. Its about these brothers one a politician and the other a Irish mobster. I been very good. I just got into it recently but I think I going to have to buy the first season on DVD so I can catch up. This and movies like the Departed have been influencing my thinking. So I would really like to run it set in Boston. But truthfully I don't know much about Boston. Just the little tidbits here and there on the Internet and what not. But Mean Streets has a source book all about New York. As that's where its primarily set. So I though why not just move all this into Hells Kitchen. I seems like a good fit. I think a noir style heist. Something like The Usual Suspects, Goodfellas (Especially the Lufthansa Heist part, which is something that really happened.), Reservoir Dogs, Asphalt Jungle, or The Way of the Gun (Its a kidnap movie but it has a lot or noir elements). Anyways your probably wondering what the hell does any of this have to do with Golgo 13? Well like I said. I've been thinking about a criminal game. So the thought of a hit man came to me. Then Golgo 13 hit my brain like .44 magnum. For those of you not familiar with Golgo 13. Its a manga that's been around for ever. (I believe it is one of the longest running mangas in Japan.) Its been done as anime a couple times, a live action movie (Starring Sonny Chiba!) and as a video game. (The old NES, thanks right kids. Not game cube, not super NES. The original baby!) Hes sauve, yet dark hitman. Considered to be one of the best. His signature is that he uses a tuned M-16. Golgo 13 has this whole 70's/80's thing going on. That is just bad ass. Please don't take my word for it check it out in video. Watch "Golgo 13: The Professional". If I were to run this sort of game. The question becomes what system to use. I guess I could use Mean Streets XPG system. Just strip the setting from it. But maybe use one of the new systems I've found. Both Haven City of Violence from LPJDesign, and Dog Town from Cold Blooded Games would fit the bill. I've had Haven for a while, and I just discovered Dog Town (which is free now by the way). But I don't have any experience with them. They both have that dirty, gritty crime movie feel. They both have very crunchy systems. That's not a bad thing. I would just have to go over the material enough. to not have reference the books a bunch. In all reality it would probably just as easy to use GURPS. I very familiar with the rules already. So it would be a smooth transition. The core of the system is simple too. The complexity comes in when you add a bunch of the optional stuff. So basically I would have to salt to taste. Not a big deal.