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Friday 12 October 2018

Jackanory for gamers



It's strange to find yourself a fan of something that's based on your own work, but I'm completely addicted to Guy Sclanders' gripping weekly playthroughs of Fabled Lands.

It's not just self-indulgence; the bits I enjoy most are Guy's unexpected characterizations (Sean Connery as Estragon the wizard, for instance) and his hilarious asides. Every show has several laugh-out-loud moments, which is more than you can say for a lot of TV comedy these days.

If you haven't yet had the pleasure, start from the beginning and be prepared to lose a few evenings to unbridled fun. Some of the episodes can be hard to find on YouTube, so here are the links:
And these bonus episodes, which were originally run live with the audience making the decisions (and, not always so successfully, rolling the dice...)

And how about that interactive adventure sheet by Michiel Helvensteijn, incorporating Anton Natarov's nifty online dice-rolling app?

6 comments:

  1. Dave, I hope you have a cameo in each episode a la Stan Lee ; )

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    1. You know, John, I think I do. Eg I noticed that the crazed hermit in this week's episode was called Damor -- from one of Jamie's books, of course.

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  2. Thank you for bringing this to our attention, I am really enjoying watching these.

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    1. I was amazed that so many people complained about the digital dice. Watching them roll on screen feels much more engaging than just hearing what Guy rolled -- or having him pick from a list of numbers in the chat pane. But then, there were that lot who smashed knitting machines...

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    2. Some people don't think digital dice are random enough. For this however it works very well.

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    3. They're certainly more random than most physical dice. I have some that tend to roll high because the low-numbered sides are significantly heavier, having fewer pips cut out of them. Advantage digital.

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