Character: Ahmad ibn Fadlan

[Sword-dancer]

Could I´ve that for my daughter

What I would found interesting were the stats of their priestess and their warchief and of course queen wailiff.

[Markdoc]

Hunh... I always though since he said "ibn" about four or five times when he gave his full name, the Northmen figured that was his name.

Yeah, when I first saw the movie, it was on a plane. The sound wasn't great, so that's what I figured too, but watching the movie again, it certainly sounds like they are saying Iben. The "ibn" sound would not be difficult for scandanavians to make, so I figure it was intentional. It wouldn't be out of place with the other jokes they make about him to also tag him with a girl's name It wouldn't be out of place in scandinavian humor today, actually.

It's reasonable - they clearly had some people familiar with scandinavian languages involved, since the vikings are actually speaking Norwegian at points (although, amusingly they mix old Norwegian and new Norwegian - and probably should have been speaking Swedish anyway).

cheers, Mark

[Susano]

Could I´ve that for my daughter

What I would found interesting were the stats of their priestess and their warchief and of course queen wailiff.

Queen who?

The warchief is easy -- take a competent normal and add in packages from FH as "Barbarian" and "Leader." Actually, MMM might be better, I think it has "Chief" and "Warrior" packages. The priestess is a normal with a basic "Priest(ess)" package and one whopping big Perk: Mother of the Wendol. She also gets Toxicology as a Science and poison-brewing as a PS.

[Sword-dancer]

The daughter of the king of the viking village.

MMM?

[Vondy]

My only complaint is WHERE ARE THE OTHER 12 WARRIORS!!! and Usagi Yojimbo of coarse.

Something Yojimbo fans should be aware of is that the plot for Yojimbo is almost identical to Dashielle Hammett's plot in Red Harvest, which pre-dates it, though Hammett wasn't alive to sue anyone over it when the movie was made, and probably wouldn't have, either. The director of Yojimbo is known to have been a Hammett fan. Yojimbo is the Continental Op with a top-knot and a katana (and some very interesting quirks). I liked all three: Red Harvest, Yojimbo, and HPD. I also kind of liked the 13th warrior. It was enjoyable.

[Vondy]

(Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan created by Michael Crichton, character sheet created by Michael Surbrook)

I like it. Well done.

[Markdoc]

Something Yojimbo fans should be aware of is that the plot for Yojimbo is almost identical to Dashielle Hammett's plot in Red Harvest, which pre-dates it, though Hammett wasn't alive to sue anyone over it when the movie was made, and probably wouldn't have, either. The director of Yojimbo is known to have been a Hammett fan. Yojimbo is the Continental Op with a top-knot and a katana (and some very interesting quirks). I liked all three: Red Harvest, Yojimbo, and HPD. I also kind of liked the 13th warrior. It was enjoyable.

What's HPD?

The line I'm familiar with goes:

Red Harvest -> Yojimbo -> A Fistful of Dollars -> Last Man Standing

cheers, Mark

[Vondy]

What's HPD?

The line I'm familiar with goes:

Red Harvest -> Yojimbo -> A Fistful of Dollars -> Last Man Standing

cheers, Mark

Sorry, I was incorrectly thinking High Plains Drifter for some reason, but a Fistfull of Dollars is the correct answer.

[Susano]

Something Yojimbo fans should be aware of is that the plot for Yojimbo is almost identical to Dashielle Hammett's plot in Red Harvest, which pre-dates it, though Hammett wasn't alive to sue anyone over it when the movie was made, and probably wouldn't have, either. The director of Yojimbo is known to have been a Hammett fan. Yojimbo is the Continental Op with a top-knot and a katana (and some very interesting quirks). I liked all three: Red Harvest, Yojimbo, and HPD. I also kind of liked the 13th warrior. It was enjoyable.

Usagi Yojimbo is something different than Kurosawa's Yojimbo.

Someone on Wikipedia says that Yojimbo isn't exactly like Red Harvest, but not having read RH, I can't say.

[Susano]

What's HPD?

The line I'm familiar with goes:

Red Harvest -> Yojimbo -> A Fistful of Dollars -> Last Man Standing

cheers, Mark

I own all three. LMS is the weakest.

Also, David Drake's The Sharp End is another retelling of RH, via the setting of Hammer's Slammers.

[Susano]

MMM?

Monsters, Minions, and Marauders

[Curufea]

One of the main reasons I liked 13th Warrior was its portrayal of Northman culture. It's very rare to see in films - either fantasy or historical. All most are concerned with is the pillaging of the various coastal villages.

[Killer Shrike]

Actually I did write ups of Ibn, Herger, Bulwyf, Edgtho (the dark ranger guy), and the Irish guy that survived to the end (don't recall his name) as full Player Character write ups, and the other 8 as cohorts gained via the Leadership feat in D&D 3e years ago.

They were all on paper, and if I still have them they are packed away somewhere, but I'd rate them as higher than 75 point characters in HERO terms in any case.

Still, for a 75 point version, looks good.

[Vestnik]

I live in Moscow, and lots of people around here would hotly contest the notion that the Rus were Vikings!

[Vondy]

Usagi Yojimbo is something different than Kurosawa's Yojimbo.

Someone Wikipedia says that Yojimbo isn't exactly like Red Harvest, but not having read RH, I can't say.

I'm aware ones a rabbit samurai and one's a human samurai - that's it - but I didn't make the connection as I'm far more familiar with Yojimbo. As for Red Harvest and Yojimbo, the plots are extremely similiar, though many of the elements that sit on top of the plot are necessarily different based on the culture and period differences in play. In my view, it doesn't have to be exact to be a knockoff, it just has to have an overwhelming number of points of similarity. Fistfull of Dollars wasn't exactly like Yojimbo, either. This isn't a slam on Yojimbo at all. Its a great movie. As it Fistfull of Dollars. It just happens they have a literary parent, which is an excellent book if you like the hardboiled detectives. I don't have a problem with something having pedigree. It would appear even shakespeare lifted a good deal of material. The real key is making it seem fresh.