Subject: Summer 1999 D&D Cartoon On-Line Fan Club Newsletter -- FRONT PAGE NEWS!!! Date: Sat, 19 Jun 1999 11:28:43 EDT From: IllyanaAM@aol.com The D&D CARTOON ON-LINE FAN CLUB NEWSLETTER FAN FICTION AWARDS proudly announces THE "ERIC" NOMINEES! "Ahem, hello! Are you listening? It's your old pal, the Cavalier, here to tell you all about the awards named after me! Hope you have plenty of time because this list is more annoying than one of Presto's stupid magic tricks! Well, here goes....." [Unable to display image] Below is the official ballot for the 1999 D&D Cartoon Fan Fiction Awards. The internet link to the first part of each nominated story is listed below its name for your review. Please vote for ONE story in each category only. ONLY ONE VOTE PER PERSON, please. You must also vote for ALL categories. Partial ballots will not be accepted and will not count. E-Mail your choices back to IllyanaAM@aol.com NO LATER than 12 midnight August 20, 1999. Winners will be announced in the Fall 1999 issue. Again, the prize (besides bragging rights!) will be an interview about their winning story in the Fall issue! Thank you and please be sure to vote! *NOTE: There are five nominated stories in category #2 instead of the specified 4 in the rules from last issue. There were just too many stories in this category that people liked! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Voting instructions: Please leave the square in front of the story you would like to vote for in each category. ONLY ONE VOTE PER CATEGORY will be counted. YOUR NAME:________________________________________ YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS:______________________________ 1) Prequel Continuity D&D Cartoon Fiction o The Gathering by Victoria Bishop http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/2599/gatherin.html o A Brief History of the Realm by Michael D. Bugg http://mail.med.upenn.edu/~hickman/history.html (2) Current Continuity D&D Cartoon Fiction: o Lambs Among Wolves by Victoria Bishop http://www.geocities.com/~zakiyah/club/LAW1.html o Curse of the Warduke/City of Silver Fire by Mike Bugg http://www.geocities.com/~zakiyah/club/CW1.html o All's Fair in Love and War by Lesley Hickman http://mail.med.upenn.edu/~hickman/Alls_Fair.html o Breaking the Ties That Bind by Jeanne Kalvar http://www.geocities.com/~zakiyah/club/breaking1.htm o Return of the Dreamer by Rhonda Robinson http://www.geocities.com/~zakiyah/club/ROD1.html (3) Sequel Continuity D&D Cartoon Fan Fiction o Home is Where the Heart Is by Mike Bugg http://mail.med.upenn.edu/~hickman/home_is_where.html o Return to the Realm (10 Years Later) by Patrick Drazen http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/2599/part_one.html (4) Elseworlds Continuity D&D Cartoon Fiction o The Dollmaker by Victoria Bishop http://www.geocities.com/~zakiyah/club/TDM1.html o Time Lost, Time Found by Patrick Drazen http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/2599/time-lost.html o Players, a D&D/X-Files story by Maureen O'Brien http://www.geocities.com/~zakiyah/club/P1.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Poll Results! Here they are -- without the spiffy new analysis pie charts I wanted to include (cranky old rassin ' frassin' Excel!!) As you recall, the question last issue was: how old WERE each of the members of the gang, anyway? Here's what you had to say: Hank was: Looks like we have a winner! Almost half of all the voters thought Hank was 18 (46%). The rest of the votes split straight down the middle, with an equal 27% opting for both 16 and 17. This makes Hank the oldest member of thegroup according to the majority of voters. "Hank was probably 18. This would explain why everyone looked to him for leadership, as the oldest they would naturally defer to him." -- Mike Lalande Eric was: This one must've been a toughie, because there was no clear agreement as to what age Eric was. Looks like according to our voters, Eric was somewhere between 16 and 17, because both options each garnered a 31% vote. The vote split again for second place, with 15 and 18 garnering 19% of the vote each. Everyone seemed to agree that Eric is younger than Hank, however. "Eric was probably 17. A little younger than Hank, would explain his apparent lack of respect for Hank's leadership abilities. He's second-in-command and wants the others to look to him as they do Hank." -- Mike Lalande Diana was: There seemed to be a fair majority of voters who thought Diana was 16 (43%), although like in Eric's case, many other opted for 17 (38%), which combined would probably put her around the same age as Eric, according to our poll. The lower and higher ages skewed much more than Eric's results -- with 13% voting for 15 and 6% voting for 18, it seems that our esteemed poll takers are pretty certain of Diana's age. Sheila was: Sheila's category was the only one with a clear landslide of opinion: a whopping 58% of voters determined that Sheila was 16. 24% voted for 15, with the remainder of the votes split at 6% for 14, 17, and Other (13). Presto was: Like Eric's category, the Presto vote seemed split down the middle. 35% of voters picked both 14 and 15, which would put Presto somewhere in the middle of those two ages. 18% voted that Presto was 13, with 6% each opting for 16 and 17. And, as usual, it looks like I left some characters out! Here are Jeanne Kalvar's guesses as to the ages of some of your other favorites: "Uni was 2, Dungeonmaster was 1000 years old, (and) Venger was 950 years old." Agree? Disagree? Or do you have a new poll to suggest (because I am majorly running out of topics, HELP!) Please send your suggestions and comments under the subject heading POLL to IllyanaAM@aol.com. Speaking of polls, here's this issue's, suggested by Bunny.... "Presto and Eric seemed to have a close bond. They were definately best buds, but...has anyone considered the possibility that they were related -- maybe even cousins?" Whattya think? Let me know at IllyanaAM@aol.com! ************************************************************* D&D Cartoon [Unable to display image] Fan Forum! This is a new section of the fan newsletter that will be devoted to, well, basically everything and anything about you, the fans! So enjoy! Well, it looks like some of you are a lot more amnesiatic about your D&D cartoon growing up experiences than I thought, as I didn't quite get as many responses to this as I had hoped. Well, I guess you can't win them all. Anyway, read on and enjoy your fellow fans' reminiscings, and congratulations to Maryann Robbins, who was our winning contributor chosen at random and now has two D&D cartoon tapes speeding their way through US Mail to her house! And thanks again to ALL our contributors who shared their stories with the newsletter! :) "At the time of the D&D cartoon there was a group of us that met on Saturdays and played from about noon until two or three o'clock in the morning. Each of us would be sure to watch the episode that came on, at 11:00 a.m. here, and would spend the first hour or so of our gaming that day discussing the episode. We would point out what monsters we could recognize, what spells Presto had cast, what magic items were being used by the kids. Then we would place our own characters in the situation that the kids encountered that week. And doing as they do, shedding no blood, attempt to extricate ourselves. We began to appreciate the predicaments the kids were in for brains are much harder to win by than with a sword. For me it's been about 15 or so years since this happened. The memories are very firmly entrenched in my mind and are a very important part of my life. In fact my wife seems to ever so often want to hear my stories of those days and I can't wait for my two kids to get old enough to enjoy the cartoons with me now."-- Bobby Hayes "My D&D Cartoon memories: One thing I remember very clearly would be my friends and I getting together towatch the show each Saturday and then play a game of D&D afterwards. Years later in high school, we'd still be playing D&D and still hoping our characters wouldfind a bow like Hank's, which we called a Bow of Lightning or a Bow of Lasers at various times." -- Laren "Here's a couple of my favorite D&D memories. First of all my sister, Kett, and I taped all of the episode on audio cassettes and would listen to them all the time on long car trips. The best part of these tapes is that they have comments from my sister and me while we watched. Another thing my sister and I did as kids was pretend our basement was the Realm. We drew this big portal on the wall (it's still there but faded). We created little stories and eventually started writing them down." --Maryann Robbins "As far as memory lane, my friends and I were all about 12 or 13 when the series first started, so dressing up and playing in the backyard was not an option. However, at that time my friends and I were pretty heavy into playing the Dungeons and Dragons role-playing game, so naturally we decided to try and create characters that mirrored the characters on the show. Determining their statistics, classes, equipment were easy enough; the hard part was identifying their weapons. Believe it or not, there are no weapons that even closely mirror the weapons found in the show in the entire Dungeons and Dragons library other than the cloak of invisibility. We also tried to identify as many of the monsters and characters who made appearances on the show. Hell, we even tried writing adventures that mirrored some of the episodes using the official D&D rules. Point of interest: had the kids been characters in a D&D game, they wouldn't have survived past their first day. To this day, the cartoon still has an effect on me; I'm currently trying to make a set of action figures for the show's characters by using parts from old superhero figures." -- Mike Lalande "Okay, my personal memories include mostly Monday at recess replaying the previous weeks episodes in a kind of Live-Action RPG format, re-writing it as we went, with 6 of my friends taking part as the gang and me as the Dungeon Master. By the end of the week we'd finished the episode and ready for the next week to start after the next Saturday's episode!" ---- Spud Weber ********************************************************* Here's a bit of April Foolery, inspired by similar approaches to other films and series. I hereby submit a few examples of: "If D&D Had Been Directed By..." The Guys from "South Park"--Bobby would have the same line every week: "Oh my God! They've killed Uni!!" ShadowDemon would sound like Barry White and be quite a bit fatter. And the quality of the animation would be the pits! Orson Welles--the first episode would show the kids back on Earth! Then they'd spend the rest of the time wondering why they were in the Realm, examining it from contradictory points of view and never arriving at an answer. The animation would be gorgeous, with fascinating camera angles, but in black and white. Jackie Chan--Forget plot! Forget characters! The series would be one long fight, and EVERYTHING would be a magic weapon! Roberto Begnini--The older kids spend the entire series trying to convince Bobby that they're really back home. James Cameron--The kids would still be stuck in the Realm; CBS would cancel the series when the budget gets so big it could bail out several Third World countries. You get the idea... Patrick Drazen ********************************************************** Character Profiles (and a dream movie cast vote!) By Bunny Hank,the Ranger: The leader of the group. He seemed to be the oldest; probably about 18. His weapon, the longbow, required the most skill and maturity. He probably had archery experience from before. Tall, buff, blonde & blue-eyed, he was supposed to be the dashing one of the group. Unfortunately,when it came to romance, he was as clueless as "Seinfeld's" "Putty"! He had a fatherly -type relationship with the rest of the group, making them sometimes forget that he was just a kid, too. Diana,the Acrobat: She seemed to be Hank's second in command; probably about 17. Smart and athletic, she seemed Olympic-bound (if she ever got out of The Realm). Out of all the "young ones", she spoke the most of her home-life. We know that she had a brother, and that her father was an astronomer. Her weapon, an extendable javelin, was probably because she was a gymnast back home. Eric,the Cavelier: Eric was definately a spoiled rich-kid. But, his sarcasm hid a lot of venerability and insecurity. I'd say he was about 17. His weapon, the shield, made him the protector of the group. Soon after the series started, he developed a sense of maturity and tried to be a little more sensitive. He (as were all the others) was willing to give his life for any of them (whether he was willing to admit it or not!). He was definitely best buds with Presto, but I think they may have been cousins also (just an idea). Presto,the Magician: Presto was probably 16. I'm pretty sure his name was short for Preston (b/c it fits perfectly). He was, hands down, my absolute favorite! He was kind of klutzy, and I think he was supposed to be considered a bit nerdish. But, he was not! He actually was cute. He was into magic back home,which made his magic hat the appropriate weapon for him. It was the most unpredictible of all the weapons, but it usually turned out all right; he just needed some self-confidence. Sheila,the Thief: Out of the teens, Sheila seemed the youngest; I'd say about 15. She was a motherly sort of person, which made sense b/c she seemed to take primary care of her little brother, of whom she was fiercely protective. She was afraid of being alone, which made her weapon, the cloak of invisibility, an ironic one. Her cloak also allowed her to understand other languages, and to teleport. She also seemed the most emotional of the group, which may be partly why she seemed younger...but she also looked younger. Bobby,the Barbarian: He was Sheila's 9-year-old baby-brother. He didn't go in for the "gushy stuff", like Sheila, but he also had the attitude that nobody messed with his sister. His weapon suited him perfectly; it was powerful but with no real need for focus or direction, and he was young and hot-tempered. He loved the whole gang, and was especially close with his pet Unicorn, Uni. Uni,the Unicorn: Uni was a bit like Lassie, in my opinion. She sort of talked, and acted kind of like a dog; sensing trouble & occasionally saving the day. She was Bobby's special pet, though she felt close with the rest as well. Summary of Characters: They were all close friends, and would lay their lives down for each other.Their weapons seemed to be an extention of, or tell something about some part of their personalities. Bobby, being the youngest, was adopted as everyone's kid brother. Uni, although a pet, was actually an important part of the team. My Dream Cast for a "Dungeons & Dragons Movie: Hank:Brad Pitt Diana:Stacy Dash Eric:Billy Warlock Presto:Brendan Fraser Shelia:Kate Winslet Bobby:Cameron Finley ***************************************************** Net Treasures For those of you who can't get enough fan fiction (even the vast amount we give you here in the newsletter!), here's your quarterly cheat sheet of some more great D&D cartoon fan fiction on the web! >From the prolific Patrick Drazen, a great new series of stories that tie up all the loose ends left in the series. Check out the newer installments of "Six Young Ones", which chronicles exactly what happened as soon as the kids first got the Realm, at http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/2599/99-3.html and the April installment -- from the end of "Traitor", where good ol' DM told the kids that there was a way home in the Land of Blue Fire -- at http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/2599/99-4.html *************************************************** Late-Breaking D&D Movie News! Well, even though it has nothing to do with the cartoon (sigh), here's the main cast members for the upcoming D&D movie, from an article in Daily Variety, just in case ya wanted to know: Justin Whalin (lead) Zoe McLellan (female lead) Thora Birch Kristen Wilson Marlon Wayans Other than Marlon Wayans and Thora Birch (wasn't she Harrison Ford's daughter in Patriot Games?), I have no idea who these people are or what this movie is going to be about. ********************************* ALSO, if you're wondering where Victoria Bishop's latest installment of The Dollmaker is, it's going to be slightly delayed. Stay tuned for a newsletter update e-mail later this summer for the next installment! CREDITS: Thank you again to ZAKIYAH for posting the newsletter and fanfic on her wonderful webpage each three months! And to our wonderful Director of Memebrship, VICTORIA BISHOP, who has been such a tremendous help since Day One and without whose help this newsletter would never get done or sent out!!! And a thank you also to KIM BREMNER for being such a great fanfic sounding board and editor! And a great big THANK YOU to everyone who posted D&D art on their webpages (especially Dr. Faust and Lesley Hickman) that I'm using to enhance this issue of the newsletter -- I think it makes it a little more fun to have a few pics interspersed with all that text, dontcha think? And last but certainly not least, to all of the wonderful, talented, marvelous contributors, without whose hard work and wonderful efforts this newsletter would be a boring monologue that no one would want to read! :)