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Baba O'Riley

"Baba O'Riley" is a song by the English rock band The Who, written by guitarist and principal songwriter Pete Townshend. It is the opening track to the Who's fifth studio album, Who's Next (1971). In Europe, it was released as a single in October 1971, coupled with "My Wife". Performances of "Baba O'Riley" appear on several Who live albums.

Widely regarded as one of the Who's finest songs and as one of the greatest rock songs of all time, "Baba O'Riley" appears in Time’s "All-Time 100 Songs" list, Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.

Background and composition
Townshend wrote "Baba O'Riley" for his Lifehouse project, a rock opera intended as the followup to the Who's 1969 opera Tommy. In Lifehouse, a Scottish farmer named Ray would have sung the song at the beginning as he gathered his wife Sally and his two children to begin their exodus to London. When Lifehouse was scrapped, eight of the songs were salvaged and recorded for the Who's fifth studio album Who's Next (1971), with "Baba O'Riley" as the lead-off track. The song title refers to two of Townshend's major inspirations at the time: Indian spiritual master Meher Baba and American minimalist composer Terry Riley.

According to Townshend, at the end of the band's gig at the 1969 Isle of Wight Festival, the field was covered in rubbish left by fans, which inspired the line "teenage wasteland". In another interview, Townshend said the song was also inspired by "the absolute desolation of teenagers at Woodstock, where audience members were strung out on acid and 20 people had brain damage. The irony was that some listeners took the song to be a teenage celebration: 'Teenage Wasteland, yes! We're all wasted!

Recording
The repeating set of notes (ostinato) in "Baba O'Riley" that opens and underlies the song was derived from the Lifehouse concept, where Townshend wanted to input the vital signs and personality of Meher Baba into a synthesiser, which would then generate music based on that data. When this idea fell through, Townshend instead recorded a Lowrey Berkshire Deluxe TBO-1 organ using its marimba repeat feature to generate them. This modal approach was inspired by the work of minimalist composer Terry Riley.

The song was derived from a nine-minute demo, which the band reconstructed. "Baba O'Riley" was initially 30 minutes in length, but was edited down to the "high points" of the track for Who's Next. The other parts of the song appeared on the third disc of Townshend's Lifehouse Chronicles as "Baba M1 (O'Riley 1st Movement 1971)" and "Baba M2 (2nd Movement Part 1 1971)". Dave Arbus, whose band East of Eden was recording in the same studio, was invited by Keith Moon to play the violin solo during the outro. In most live performances, this part is played instead by Daltrey on harmonica.

Release
"Baba O'Riley" was released in November 1971 as a single in several European countries. However, in the United Kingdom and the United States, it was released only as part of the album Who's Next. The song became one of the band's most popular songs, as well as a popular staple of AOR radio, and remains on the classic rock radio canon.

Critical reception and legacy

"Baba O'Riley" appears at No. 159 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". The song is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll. The band Pearl Jam regularly plays a cover of the song during concerts, and a readers' poll in Rolling Stone awarded this cover as #8 in their "Greatest Live Cover Songs". In 2012, Paste ranked the song number two on their list of the 20 greatest Who songs, and in 2022, Rolling Stone ranked the song number six on their list of the 50 greatest Who songs. "Baba O'Riley" was used as the theme song for the popular television series CSI: NY (2004–2013); with each CSI series using a Who song as its theme. The song was also used in the One Tree Hill episode "Pictures of You" (season 4, episode 13). The live version of the song from the album Who's Last (1984) plays in the opening segment of the Miami Vice episode "Out Where the Buses Don't Run" (season two, 1985). One of the working titles of That '70s Show (1998–2006) was "Teenage Wasteland", a reference to the repeated lyric in the song. The song was also used in the trailers for the films A Bug's Life (1998), American Beauty (1999), Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), Jobs (2013), The Peanuts Movie (2015), Free Guy (2021) and season 3 of Stranger Things. "Baba O'Riley" was included in the soundtrack for the 1997 film Prefontaine and the 1999 film Summer of Sam. The song was used in the 10th episode of the 2010 Fox show The Good Guys. The song was featured heavily in the 2004 romantic comedy film The Girl Next Door, and was also used in the beginning of, and the end credits of, the 2012 movie Premium Rush. The song has also been used in episode 14 of season one in the TV series House and in episode 10 of season one in the TV series The Newsroom. It was also used in episode one of the UK version of Life on Mars. A remixed version of this song, re-done by Alan Wilkis, appears in the 2012 remake of Need for Speed: Most Wanted, as well as the Family Guy season 13 episode "Quagmire's Mom", the third Robot Chicken: Star Wars special and episode 11 of season one of Superstore. The song is featured in an episode of Joe Pera Talks with You, "Joe Pera Reads You the Church Announcements", in which Pera is unable to contain his excitement after hearing the song for the first time in his life. The song is also sung in the first season Sense8 episode "W. W. N. Double D?" by Riley's dad at the airport.

In October 2001, the Who gave a much lauded performance of the song at the Concert for New York City. Since 2003, "Baba O'Riley" has been played during player introductions for the Los Angeles Lakers during home games at the Staples Center. The song is played before live UFC events during a highlight package showing some of the most famous fights in the mixed martial arts company's history. The song was used for the trailer of the EA Sports UFC 4 game. It is also the official theme song of competitive eater Joey Chestnut.

At both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics, the 120 BPM dance track "The Road Goes on Forever" by the Welsh electronic music producer High Contrast, which samples "Baba O'Riley", is used during the countdown at the start of the proceedings. "Baba O'Riley" was then performed by the Who as their first number during the last musical segment at the closing ceremony, with Roger Daltrey singing a changed lyric of "Don't cry/Just raise your eye/There's more than teenage wasteland". "Baba O'Riley" is also used as the pregame music at Sanford Stadium and is played right before kickoff at every University of Georgia home football game. In addition, the Boston College Marching Band have featured a rendition of the song at football and hockey games. It is also played at halftime of most New England Patriots home games, leading up to the second-half kickoff. It is also the entrance music for the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden for every Rangers home playoff game.

In the course of a debate on Twitter, it was noted that "Best Song Ever" (2013) by One Direction bore a strong resemblance to the basic structure of "Baba O'Riley". Pete Townshend responded to the claims by denying that the Who were pursuing legal action, and stated that he was a fan of One Direction's single and was happy that One Direction appeared to have been influenced by the Who, just as he had been influenced by earlier musicians such as Eddie Cochran.

The Who

 * Roger Daltrey – lead vocals; harmonica (live versions only)
 * Pete Townshend – Lowrey organ, piano, guitars, co-lead vocals
 * John Entwistle – bass guitar
 * Keith Moon – drums

Additional personnel

 * Dave Arbus – violin

title: Baba O'Riley


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Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story

Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story is a 2000 miniseries television film, and the third installment in a series of four films. The film was highly anticipated among fans of Anne of Green Gables, and was the most controversial and heavily criticized of the three film adaptations written and produced by Kevin Sullivan.

The Continuing Story was criticized principally because, unlike the 1985 film Anne of Green Gables and its 1987 sequel, the screenplay is not based on Lucy Maud Montgomery's works, but is instead a completely original World War I story written by Sullivan and Laurie Pearson. Montgomery had in fact written a novel focused on Anne's youngest daughter set in that same period, Rilla of Ingleside, in which Anne is a middle-aged married woman whose three sons are at war in Europe.

The chronology of Sullivan's Anne of Green Gables films is not synchronized with Montgomery's novels, largely because of the spin-off series Road to Avonlea. Over the course of developing original characters and stories for seven seasons of Road to Avonlea, the time frame of Sullivan's fictional world evolved into a 20-year difference from the novels. As a result, Sullivan decided to make the third film an entirely new story that took Anne and Gilbert to the battlefields of World War I instead of their children.

The film was also criticized for introducing a continuity problem. Following Colleen Dewhurst's death in 1991, Marilla Cuthbert's passing was written into Road to Avonlea. At the funeral, Hetty King refers to Gilbert and Anne Blythe, stating they are married. Anne does not appear in the episode because she is sick with scarlet fever which, according to Gilbert, she contracted from one of their children. However, in The Continuing Story, set long after Marilla's death, the two are still engaged and do not have children. The film attempts to resolve the discontinuity by having Gilbert say that they have been engaged so long that people think they got married years ago, and by revealing that Anne had scarlet fever while teaching at an orphanage in Nova Scotia.

Megan Follows reprised the role of Anne Shirley, Jonathan Crombie returned as Gilbert Blythe and several other cast members from the first two films also appear.

Synopsis
Anne Shirley returns to Avonlea after five years of teaching at an orphanage in Nova Scotia while separated from her fiancé, Gilbert Blythe, who was finishing medical school. After catching up with Diana Barry and other old friends, Anne visits Green Gables. She is horrified to find that since Marilla's death (in the third season of Road to Avonlea), the new owners have treated Green Gables so poorly, that it is falling apart. Later, Anne is reunited with Gilbert on the island. However, instead of settling down immediately, Gilbert asks Anne to move to New York since he has been offered a staff position at Bellevue, a prestigious medical institution. Her reluctant agreement comes with the promise of being published and that they will return to Prince Edward Island to raise their family.

In New York, Anne is employed as a junior editor at a small publishing house, where she meets Jack Garrison, a writer and local sensation who becomes interested in Anne. Seeing her potential as a writer, he offers to become the editor for her new manuscript and use his influence to have it published under both their names. He threatens to jump from a window if Anne does not accept his help. When the manuscript is accepted, Anne is outraged to learn that Jack has presented it as entirely his own, and the publisher refuses to give her credit. She breaks off contact with Jack, who reveals he has fallen in love with her. Meanwhile, Gilbert is troubled by his work at Belleview hospital - most of the doctors are more interested in prestige than in saving lives. Disillusioned by life in New York, Anne and Gilbert return to Prince Edward Island.

Upon returning to Avonlea, Gilbert buys Green Gables from Mr. Harrison and they set about restoring the house as they plan their wedding. Anne accidentally starts a fire, slightly damaging the house. However, the couple find the effect of the war in Europe to be much more present; Fred Wright, Diana's husband, eventually enlists in the war as his family life becomes increasingly strained. Increasing pressure results in Gilbert enlisting as medical officer and he convinces Anne to marry him before he leaves. When he is declared missing in action, Anne leaves for Europe as a Red Cross volunteer in hopes of finding him.

Anne's desperate search in the war zone leads to a chance meeting with Jack Garrison, along with his girlfriend, Colette, and their infant son, Dominic. Jack, involved in dangerous espionage activities, leaves suddenly and asks that Anne take Colette and Dominic to London. However, Colette is killed in an explosion, while Anne briefly sees Gilbert as his troop is forced to abandon their field hospital. Anne promises Colette on her last breath to take care of Dominic and find his father. Left to care for Dominic, Anne finds an injured Fred and his arm must be amputated. They leave for London and reside in Jack's apartment until they can return to Canada; in that time, Anne works for a British newspaper office and becomes acquainted with Fergus Keegan, Jack's editor, and Maude Montrose, one of Jack's contemporaries and a fellow spy. When Jack arrives to make arrangements for his family, he learns of Colette's death and asks for Anne to care for Dominic should anything happen to him. Though Anne intends to return to Canada with Fred and Dominic, her connection to Jack as well as a resurfacing chance of finding Gilbert results in taking Dominic with her to France.

Disguised as a nun and befriending entertainers Margaret Bush and Elsie James, Anne struggles to bring Dominic to Kit Garrison, Jack's aunt who has also become involved in war efforts. Reunited again with Jack, Anne travels with him in hopes of finding her husband, Gilbert. As Anne's search continues to be fruitless, Jack attempts to persuade her to return with him to the United States and form a family with him and Dominic; Anne refuses, determined to continue searching for Gilbert in the war zone. When she encounters Margaret and Elsie again, she joins them in entertaining the soldiers; in the crowd, is Gilbert, and Anne is reunited with him at last. Jack arranges for them to leave immediately as the armistice to end the war approaches. However, Keegan's fear of being exposed as a traitor by Jack's group results in Jack being shot on the train; as he dies, he asks that Anne take care of his son. Once the armistice is declared, Anne and Gilbert attempt to find Dominic, but after finding Kit Garrison's château empty, they are forced to return to Canada in hopes of finding the child from home.

After a year of living back in Avonlea, Anne and Gilbert arrive at the local train station to collect Dominic, whom they are adopting as their own. With Gilbert prepared to take over another doctor's medical practice in the village of Glen St. Mary, they decide to leave Green Gables to Diana and Fred in order to start their new life together.

Timeline of events (1915–1919)

 * Summer 1915 – Anne, now 31, returns to Avonlea from teaching at Hopetown Orphanage in Halifax.
 * Fall 1915 – Anne and Gilbert move to New York. Anne begins working at Winfield Publishing where she meets author Jack Garrison. Gilbert is working at Bellevue Hospital.
 * Spring 1917 – Anne and Gilbert return to Avonlea. Gilbert enlists in WWI.
 * Summer 1917 – Anne and Gilbert are married.
 * Early 1918 – All of Anne's letters to Gilbert have been returned to Avonlea.
 * Spring 1918 – Anne goes to Europe in search of Gilbert. Anne runs into Jack Garrison on a train going through Europe and meets Collette and her baby, Dominic.
 * September 1918 – Anne spots Gilbert leaving a field hospital in an ambulance, but before she can speak to him an explosion kills Collette, leaving Anne to care for Dominic.
 * September 1918 – Anne finds Fred injured, but alive.
 * October 1918 – Anne takes a job at a local paper in London.
 * Fall 1919 – Anne and Gilbert adopt Dominic and move to Glen St. Mary, Four Winds, Prince Edward Island, leaving Green Gables to Diana and Fred.

Production
The third Anne film was a completely original concept that brought Anne and the other Avonlea characters (from both the Road to Avonlea television series and the previous two Anne of Green Gables films) into a time period when each character was faced with personal turmoil as a result of World War I. Sullivan's portrayal of Anne and Gilbert in this third film does not coincide chronologically with Montgomery's novels; Rilla of Ingleside portrays Anne's sons going off to fight in World War I while Anne and husband Gilbert witness the War from the home-front of Prince Edward Island. Rilla, their youngest daughter who is the main protagonist, raises someone else's little boy for a few years; he is referred to by the family as "Rilla's war-baby" and he was presumably the inspiration for Dominic in Anne of Green Gables: The Continuing Story.

While The Continuing Story was set in New York (USA), England, France and Germany, it filmed almost entirely in studio or on locations in Montreal and Southern Ontario, including Toronto.

Sequel
In 2008, the centennial of the original novel's publication, Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning was released, showing Anne as an older woman reminiscing on her childhood life before Green Gables. Barbara Hershey replaced Megan Follows as Anne, with Hannah Endicott-Douglas portraying young Anne. No major cast members returned, with the exception of Patricia Hamilton in a small cameo appearance as Rachel at the end.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


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Dragon Dice

Dragon Dice is a collectible dice game originally made by TSR, Inc., and is produced today by SFR, Inc. It is one of only a handful of collectible dice games produced in the early 1990s. The races and monsters in Dragon Dice were created by Lester Smith and include some creatures unique to a fantasy setting and others familiar to the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

The game simulates combat between armies of fantasy races for control of a young world named Esfah. Dragon Dice classifies magical power by element: air, earth, fire, water, and death. Nearly every race in the game is composed of two of these elements. In the original edition, dragons and dragon-related dice (Dragonkin) were all composed of a single element each. However, SFR has since released "hybrid" dragons representing each two-element combination, in addition to white and ivory dragons (where ivory represents no elemental affinity and white represents affinity with all elements).

Dragon Dice was one of the last original games produced by TSR, and an unexpectedly high return of unsold units contributed to the financial crisis that resulted in the sale of TSR to Wizards of the Coast.

Premise
Dragon Dice is set in the fictional world of "Esfah." Esfah was created by the goddess Nature, and the Father of All. These two deities had several children, each of whom represented one of the major elements described by Plato (Fire - Firiel, Earth - Eldurim, Wind - Ailuril, Water - Aguarehl), and one of whom was named "Death." After Nature's children created two races, the Coral Elves (Selumari) and Dwarves (Vagha), Death created its own set of races, the Goblins (Trogs) and Lava Elves (Morehl), bent on causing mischief and discord. Nature and her children became enveloped in a continuing war with Death, each causing the birth of several new races, including the Amazons, Firewalkers, Undead, Feral, Swampstalkers, Frostwings, Scalders, and Treefolk. Players, acting as army Commanders, assemble race units and compete against each other in a battle on selected terrain. Commanders may summon Dragons, representing the cardinal elements, which attack each other and all other creatures. Legendary units, Dragonhunter and Dragonmaster leaders of The Eldarim, each holding the power of one of Esfah's elements, grew within the ebb and flow of the war.

Players then use their dice to represent either the forces of Good or Evil in this setting. For example, you could be anyone from the Coral Elf Commander, leading your army on a path to destroy Death races, driven by that which stole your peaceful existence and attacked Mother Nature, to the Treefolk General, leading a harmonious balanced life in Water and Earth. Or, maybe you just want to light stuff on Fire raging in tumultuous Air tides.

Goal
The goal of a standard game of Dragon Dice is to capture two of any of the terrains being fought over. This is achieved by one player's armies controlling two terrains that have their terrain die turned to the eighth face, as explained below. The game can also be won if a player has the last surviving unit(s) in play. Any number of players can share in this struggle.

Units
Any six-sided die or ten-sided die (see Monsters, below) that belongs to a race is a unit. The color(s) of the dice identify each race and represent the elements that comprise each. The dice come in four sizes, each corresponding to a particular amount of "health" from 1 to 4 points. One side on each unit die has an ID icon, which identifies the unit and generates results equal to the health of the die towards whatever action is being rolled for. The remaining sides have either normal action icons (representing magic, maneuvers, melee, missiles, or saves) or special action icons (SAI) that generate special effects or results. Generally, the more health a unit has, the more icons it will have. Units are also divided by class as well as size, reflecting their specialty. Most races have five classes of unit, plus monsters (or champions for the Eldarim), but while most races share a number of classes (Cavalry, Magic, Melee), some are unique to certain races (Light Magic, Light Melee, Light Missile).

MONSTERS are ten-sided dice that are units and have a single icon on each face which generate 4 points of effect (i.e.: 4 results) with the possible exception of some SAI effects. Monsters are part of a player's army and each one counts as four points of health.

Players build armies of units to a predetermined amount of health. The standard game is 36 points of health, but smaller and even larger games are not uncommon.

There are other six-sided dice that are mono-colored called Dragonkin that are not considered units. There are other ten-sided dice that are mono-colored called artifacts that are a type of magic item. Both are part of the Advanced Rules.

Terrains
TERRAINS are eight-sided and have two colors that indicate of what elements the terrain is composed. For example, a Swampland terrain is green and gold, showing it is made of earth and water. Each face of a terrain dice is numbered and has an icon for missile, melee, or magic. The number and the icon shown indicate how far apart armies at that terrain are. If a Magic icon (starburst) is showing, then the armies are so far apart they can only cast spells. A Missile face (arrow) means they are close enough to shoot at each other, and a Melee icon (sword) means they are close enough for hand-to-hand combat to take place. Each player brings two terrains to the game, one Home terrain and one proposed Frontier terrain. Some races gain benefits such as extra maneuvers or saves if they are at a certain terrain. The goal of the game is to control two such terrains by "turning" them to the 8th face. An army capturing an 8th face also gains double maneuvers and double saves. The eighth face of terrains has one of four special icons: City, Temple, Tower and Standing Stones. Each gives an additional bonus to the army that possesses them.

''EXAMPLES: An army with a Temple is immune to the effects of Death (black) magic and can "bury" dead units to render them unusable for magic. A City allows for the recruiting or promoting of units, a Tower allows for a Missile action to any other terrain, and Standing Stones allow that army to cast magic of that terrain's color, even if the army is not made up of those colors.''

SFR released the "Battlefields" expansion in August 2010, featuring two new terrains: Feylands (green/red) and Wastelands (blue/red). Four new 8th face icons were also introduced that can only be used at the Frontier location: Dragon Lair, Grove, Castle, and Vortex. Minor terrains (smaller eight-sided dice) were re-released as part of this expansion.

Dragons
DRAGONS are twelve-sided and of a single (or two mixed) color(s). Each face has the image of a dragon part that will show what action the dragon takes when rolled against an army. Dragons must be summoned to a terrain through the use of magic. Players do not control dragons they summon, so bringing one into play can be risky since the possibility exists that it may attack the very player that summoned it. One dragon is brought to the game for every 24 health of units in play. Thus, in a 48 health game players would bring two dragons. SFR has released ten 2-colored HYBRID DRAGONS, 5 Ivory/color hybrid dragons, and a white dragon in both wyrm and drake forms. With the advent of these hybrid dragons, the total number of dragons is 44; 5 each of elemental wyrms and drakes, 10 each of hybrid wyrms and drakes, one each of ivory wyrm and drake, and one each of white wyrm and drake.

Expansions Introduced by SFR
2009: "Acolytes of the Eldarim": This fully expanded race now includes 1-health commons, 2-health uncommons, and 3-health rares, along with new racial abilities and spells. Like the DragonHunters and DragonMasters, these dice are monochromatic, and available in black, blue, gold, green, or red. (Upon closer inspection, the dice themselves are a combination of ivory and the main color, which distinguishes themselves from Dragonkin.)

2009: "Dragonkin Expansion" re-releases the Dragonkin, which are 6-sided one-color units that can be summoned to a terrain and fight with the army there. Dragonkin come in 1-health commons, 2-health uncommons, 3-health rares, and 4-health Dragonkin Champions. Dragonkin will not fight against a dragon of the same color. For every full three points of other units a player brings to a game, he is allowed (but not required), to bring one point of dragonkin. Dragonkin are part of the Advanced Rules and start in the Summoning Pool.

2010: "Battlefields" includes two new basic terrains types, the Feylands (Fire and Water) and the Wastelands (Fire and Air). The terrains printed in white ink have the same four 8th Face types (City, Standing Stones, Temple, Tower) and are a part of the basic game. Also released as a part of this expansion are minor terrain versions of these new terrains (as well as Coastlands, Flatlands, Highlands, Swamplands). These minor terrains represent lesser objectives that may give your army a needed boost if you're willing to take a risk. Minor terrains are part of the Advanced Rules.

The Battlefields expansion also contains special terrains printed in gold ink with new 8th Faces: the Dragon's Lair, Grove, Castle, and Vortex. These special gold-printed terrains can only be placed at the Frontier. They can never be home terrains, so there will only be a maximum of one special terrain in play during a game. Otherwise, special terrains act just like normal terrains, except than their icon progression is set by the eighth face icon, not by their elemental colors.

2011: "DragonCrusader and DragonZealots" are Eldarim Champions (along with DragonLords / DragonMasters and DragonSlayers/DragonHunters) and have the ability to control dragons. Each DragonCrusader or DragonZealot that rolls its SFR logo allows the acting player to control one dragon. The dragon may be held motionless (i.e.: it is not rolled) and the army can attack it normally. Or the dragon may be made part of the attack against other dragons.

The Races
Each of the races of Dragon Dice has unique icons representing the basic action types - for instance Missile is a bow for Coral Elves, a slingshot for Goblins, and a flintlock pistol for Lava Elves. Each race also has access to different special icons on their rare or monster units. Beginning with Firewalkers, each later race also had unique spells using their magic color that only they could cast.

 * Coral Elves (blue and green) are peaceable sea-dwelling elves who travel in flying "coral ships".
 * Dwarves (red and gold) are stalwart warriors with horned helmets, two-headed axes and shields.
 * Goblins (gold and black) are disgusting, ravenous creatures who ride wolves or leopards and cast curses.
 * Lava Elves (red and black) are fierce death-mages who wield pistols and rapiers.
 * Amazons (ivory with purple icons), the game's only humans, cast magic based on the terrain they are stationed at. (Per Chuck Pint, President of SFR, Amazons are WHITE units, NOT IVORY) (Per the rulebook, "Amazons are ivory, which signifies that they are not inherently any specific aspect...")
 * Firewalkers (blue and red) are warriors from the sun who flew to Esfah to join its battles for sport.
 * Undead (black and ivory with green icons), the reanimated dead, can use only death magic.
 * Ferals (gold and blue) are various races of humanoid beasts or birds who fight with stone knives.
 * Swamp Stalkers (green and black) are hideous snake-people who mutate other races into themselves.
 * Frostwings (black and blue) are furry flying creatures with an affinity for ice. (As the last TSR-published "kicker" pack, Frostwings were underprinted and have become atypically rare.)
 * Scalders (red and green), the only "kicker" produced by Wizards of the Coast before the game's production ceased, are twisted, malicious faeries and can harm those who attack them.
 * Treefolk (gold and green) were printed by SFR after they acquired the abandoned licence. As they use the last unique combination of the game's five colors, additional multi-colour races are unlikely.
 * Eldarim are the original race of Esfah, and are represented by single colour promo dice called Champions, worth four health each. In 2009, SFR released a new expansion called "Acolytes of Eldarim," single colour units of one to three health who have given up their racial heritage to learn from the Eldarim Champions. This "kicker" includes a new class of unit, the Shield Bearer.

Gameplay
Before the start of the game, units are divided into three separate armies, Home, Horde and Campaign. Each starting army must have at least one die, but no more than half the total health of the entire army (but this restriction only applies to the starting set-up and no longer applies after the game begins). The Home army defends a player's Home terrain, the Horde army is placed at an opponent's Home terrain, and the Campaign army is placed at the Frontier. Before the start of the game, players roll their Horde armies, and the player with the most maneuver points may choose the Frontier terrain, or to go first.

On a player's turn, one is allowed two marches, or actions, with their armies. What action they may take depends on what icon is showing on the terrain face. However, a single army may not take two marches in the same turn.

''EXAMPLE: A player has pulled all of their units into a single army at one terrain. On their turn they get only one march with that army.''

Maneuver
Before taking an action with their army, a player may choose to attempt to move the terrain face up or down. They announce this, and if unopposed, change the terrain. If an opponent at the same terrain wishes to oppose the move, then both players roll their army, counting maneuver and ID icons for the total number of points rolled. If the acting player's total is equal to or exceeds the opposing player's total, then they win and may turn the terrain die one face up or down.

''EXAMPLE: The terrain is a Coastland at 5, a missile face, and the player has a mostly melee army. By rolling to maneuver, and generating more maneuver and ID icons than any declared opponents, the acting player may turn it to 6, a melee face, which allows them to skirmish or charge their opponent.''

Magic
If the terrain face is a Magic icon, a player may attempt to cast magic and roll their army, counting magic icons and IDs. Those dice on which an ID is rolled may double their magic total if they match at least one color of the terrain. After tallying points, the acting player may cast spells to help their own armies or hinder an opponent's. Spells are assorted by color, and have varying effects such as inflicting damage, adding protection, or even summoning a dragon.

Missile
While at a terrain with a Missile face, the acting player can choose to shoot at an army at the same terrain or at the frontier. The army is rolled and all missile and ID icons are counted for the total number of hits. The targeted army is rolled for saves, and if enough saves are not generated, units are removed from the army and sent to the Dead Unit Area (DUA). The targeted player does not get to roll a return shot.

''EXAMPLE: the acting player rolls 5 missile icons and 2 IDs for 7 hits. The targeted player rolls only 4 saves, so would send a total of 3 health of units to the DUA.''

Melee
At a terrain with a melee (sword) icon showing, the acting player can choose to engage their opponent in a skirmish. The army is rolled, and all melee and ID icons are counted for the total number of hits on the targeted army. That army is then rolled for saves (like in a missile attack), and if enough saves are not rolled, the appropriate number of units are sent to the DUA. The targeted army then rolls for a counter-attack against the acting player's army, who must then save against the attack or send units to the DUA as well.

''EXAMPLE: The acting player declares a skirmish and rolls his army. He rolls 4 melee hits and an ID icon on a two health unit, for a total of six melee hits. The opposing army rolls for saves and generates four saves. That army would immediately lose two health worth of units. After choosing what unit(s) to remove, the opposing army now reciprocates by rolling for melee hits, and the original acting army makes a save roll.''

In the earliest editions of the game, the acting player may choose to engage in a charge attack. In a charge, the attacking army is rolled and all melee, maneuver, and ID icons are counted as hits (icons such as trample, which count as either maneuver or melee, in this context will count for both and are therefore worth double). The defending army is rolled at the same time, with saves tallied to block opposing hits and melee hits tallied to inflict damage on the attacking army, which cannot roll saves of its own.

''EXAMPLE: The acting player declares a charge and rolls his army. She rolls 5 melee hits, 2 maneuvers, and 3 trample icons. Simultaneously, the defender rolls 6 saves, 3 melee hits, and 3 trample. The acting player tallies 5 melee + 2 maneuver + 6 trample (3 melee PLUS 3 maneuver, as the trample counts for both) for a total of 13 hits. The defender saves against 6 of these hits, taking 7 damage, AND hits back against the charging army for 6 damage (3 melee hits + 3 trample - the maneuver aspect of trample does not count as hits for non-charging armies). Ultimately, the acting army will remove 6 health of units to the DUA, and the defending army will remove 7.''

In the revised editions of the game, charge and skirmish options disappeared in favor of rules clarity and for the sake of cohesive game play. In the modern version of the game, Melee actions follow the above mentioned "skirmish" rule and "charging" disappeared in favor of advanced racial abilities.

Reinforce and reserves
When a player has taken both marches, they may withdraw any number of units from terrains into the Reserves area. These units may then be sent to any terrain at the end of the player's next turn during the Reinforcement phase, but before others are withdrawn into the Reserves. Units in the Reserves may take a march, but they may not maneuver a terrain and are limited to attempting friendly magic (they cannot target an opposing army or affect a terrain). The one exception to this is Amazons, which may take a missile action to their Home terrain or the Frontier while in reserves.

Special Action Icons
Some units and monsters have SAIs (Special Action Icons). For example, a CANTRIP icon allows for up to 4 points of magic during any action other than maneuvers that can be used immediately. A BULLSEYE icon rolled during a missile action targets an individual unit that must for saves before the targeted army does. The SMITE icon inflicts up to 4 hits on a target army, who cannot save against them and must remove that many health from the army before rolling for saves.

Winning the game
A player wins by maneuvering two terrains to the 8th face, or through attrition by removing all of an opponent's pieces from the game.

Publication history
In 1993, Wizards of the Coast started a revolution in the games industry with the release of the first collectible card game (CCG), Magic: The Gathering. TSR quickly entered the CCG market in 1994 with Spellfire. The following year, TSR released the collectible dice game Dragon Dice as a part of TSR's 20th anniversary. Game historian Shannon Appelcline noted in his 2014 book Designers & Dragons that Dragon Dice (1995) was at the time "a more innovative approach to the collectible industry" compared to collectible card games such as Spellfire with its collectible dice, each having unique faces that provided different powers.

The first sets of Dragon Dice sold well at games stores, and TSR produced several expansion sets, ultimately creating a total of eight races and several promotional dice for the game. However, interest in Dragon Dice was waning. Appelcline related that by 1996, TSR was struggling financially and the company increased its involvement in the book trade in an attempt to pay off loans and handle its debt, which included "sending massive reorders of Dragon Dice into book stores and increasing hardcover publication from two books a year to twelve. Both of these expansions flopped and because bookstore sales are ultimately returnable, TSR was the one left holding the bag. As 1996 ended Random House informed TSR that they would be returning about a third of TSR's products – several million dollars' worth." TSR ended up with trailer-truckloads full of Dragon Dice being stored in their warehouse. These financial issues quickly led to TSR being bought by Wizards of the Coast (WotC) in 1997.

Shortly after the purchase, WotC released a Dragon Dice "kicker" for a ninth race. This would be WotC's only addition to the Dragon Dice game.

In 2000, on the verge of disposing of a large number of unsold dice into landfill, WotC sold the rights to the game to SFR, Inc. By 2020, SFR had produced five more races — bringing the total to 14 — and completed several sets of promotional dice.

Dragon Dice fiction
Two short works of fiction accompanied gaming accessories, Tome of the Tarvanehl and Heart of Stone and Flame. The Dice Commander's Manual also included short snippets of fiction as flavor text.

Several full-length paperback novels were written to promote the game:
 * In 1996, TSR published Cast of Fate by Allen Varney, a 310-page book that contained a new ivory Dragonslayer die in a hole cut through the pages of the book in the bottom right corner with all text arranged to accommodate the hole.
 * TSR planned to publish Army of the Dead by Edo Van Belkom in 1997. It was also supposed to contain a unique die. With the sale of TSR to WotC and WotC's lack of interest in Dragon Dice, publication was shelved indefinitely. WotC eventually returned the rights to Van Belkom at his request, and the book was published in 2003 without a special die by Prime Books.
 * A third novel, Time of the Champions by Ed Stark, was advertised by TSR before its demise but was never published.
 * Chill Wind by Joseph Joiner was released in 2011, but Joiner passed away prior to releasing a sequel.
 * In 2020, SFR partnered with TreeShaker Books to revitalize the literary universe. Cast of Fate was revised and rereleased; this new edition included Tome of the Tarvanehl and Heart of Stone and Flame. It also included Thunderfist and the Dragon which is a prequel to Chill Wind and which utilized flavor text written by Joseph Joiner that had been inserted in the version 3 rules booklet and which was expanded upon by Christopher D. Schmitz to complete the novella.
 * In 2020, Treeshaker Books released Rise and Fall of the Obsidian Grotto, and Ashes of Ailushurai, both by Christopher D. Schmitz.
 * In 2021, Treeshaker Books released Rise of the Champions by Christopher D. Schmitz and re-released Army of the Dead with Schmitz having revised Van Belkom's original edition and adding roughly 30% new content; Thunderfist and the Dragon was released as a free digital download, and Chill Wind's sequel was released. Eye of the Storm was a cowritten novel by Christopher D. Schmitz and Sherif Guirgas. Tales of the First Age was also released in 2021, which collected the TreeShaker Books editions of Rise and Fall of the Obsidian Grotto, Army of the Dead, and Cast of Fate.
 * In 2022 Secrets of the Shadowlands by Christopher D. Schmitz was released; also released was the second omnibus, The Cyrean Songs which collected Chill Wind, Eye of the Storm, and Secrets of the Shadowlands. It also included Thunderfist and the Dragon as a bonus.

Videogame
A computerized version, Dragon Dice, was published in 1997 by Interplay.

Reception
Arcane published reviews of several editions of Dragon Dice over several issues. In Issue 1, Steve Faragher rated the original game an excellent 9 out of 10, saying, " this really is a superb game. The strategies available are virtually limitless and, in common with other great games, it's hard to imagine two conflicts ever being the same." In Issue 5, Faragher rated the Monsters & Amazons expansion set a disappointing 6 out of 10, commenting, ""So, interesting new dice but frankly not enough of them." In Issue 7, Chris Baylis rated the Firewalkers expansion set an above-average 8 out of 10, calling them "much better balanced, in terms of dice variation as well as distribution, than the Amazons, particularly for a single-colour army." In Issue 11, Baylis rated the Dragon Dice Battle Box an average 7 out of 10, calling it well designed, but noting "The only problems are the random assortment of dice - a fixed selection would have made things more playable - and the fact that the full rules refer to a couple of things that aren't actually in the box, which can be annoying."

Awards
At the 1996 Origins Awards, Dragon Dice won for "Best Fantasy or Science-Fiction Board Game of 1995."

Reviews

 * Backstab #2 (Swamp Stalkers)
 * Backstab #5
 * Rollespilsmagasinet Fønix (Danish) (Issue 11 - Dec/Jan 1995)
 * InQuest, Issue 7, November 1995

title: Dragon Dice


text:
Kristina Söderbaum

Beata Margareta Kristina Söderbaum (5 September 1912 – 12 February 2001) was a Swedish-born German film actress, producer, and photographer. She performed in Nazi-era films made by a German state-controlled production company.

Early life
Söderbaum was born in Stockholm, Sweden; her father, Professor Henrik Gustaf Söderbaum (1862–1933), was the permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

After both her parents died shortly after one another, Söderbaum moved to Berlin and enrolled in a theatre school.

Nazi era
Beginning in 1935, Söderbaum starred in a number of films with director Veit Harlan, whom she married in 1939. Harlan and Söderbaum made ten films together for the then state-controlled film production company UFA until 1945.

According to film historian Antje Ascheid, Söderbaum is frequently identified as "most singularly representative of the Nazi ideal, as the quintessential Nazi star". As a beautiful Swedish blonde, Söderbaum had the baby-doll looks that epitomized the model Aryan woman. In fact, she had already played the role of the innocent Aryan in a number of feature films and was well known to German audiences. Her youth and beauty made her a symbol of health and purity and thus an exemplary specimen of the Nazi ideal of womanhood.

In a number of her films, she had been imperiled by the threat of rassenschande ("racial pollution"). Two such roles were Dorothea Sturm, the doomed heroine of the antisemitic historical melodrama Jud Süß, who commits suicide by drowning after being raped by the villain, and Anna in Die goldene Stadt, a Sudeten German whose desire for the city (in defiance of blood and soil) and whose seduction by a Czech result in her drowning suicide. As a result of her watery fate in these two films, as well as a similar end in her debut in Harlan's 1938 film Jugend, she was given the mock honorary title Reichswasserleiche ("Drowned Corpse of the Reich").

Other roles included Elske in The Journey to Tilsit, the wholesome German wife whose husband betrays her with a Polish woman, but finally returns, repentant; Elisabeth in Immensee, who marries a rich landowner to forget her unrequited love, and in the end decides to remain faithful even after she is widowed and her lover returns; Aels in Opfergang, a woman who dies after her love affair; Luise Treskow in The Great King, a miller's daughter who encourages Frederick the Great; and Maria in Kolberg, a peasant girl who loyally supports the resistance to Napoleon and is the only survivor of her family.

Postwar
In the first few years after the war, Söderbaum was often heckled off the stage and even had rotten vegetables thrown at her. In subsequent years, she frequently expressed regret for her roles in anti-Semitic films.

After her husband was again permitted to direct films, Söderbaum played leading roles in a number of his films. These included Blue Hour (1952), The Prisoner of the Maharaja (1953), Betrayal of Germany (1954), and I Will Carry You on My Hands (1958). Their last joint project was a 1963 theater production of August Strindberg's A Dream Play in Aachen.

After Harlan's death in 1964, Söderbaum became a noted fashion photographer. In 1974, she took a role in Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's film Karl May. In 1983, she published her memoirs under the title Nichts bleibt immer so ("Nothing Stays That Way Forever"). In her later years, Söderbaum faded into obscurity but still took roles in three movies and the television series The Bergdoktor. Her last film was with Hugh Grant in the thriller Night Train to Venice in 1994. She died in 2001 in a nursing home in Hitzacker, Lower Saxony, Germany.

Filmography

 * The Song to Her (1934) as Guest at Rondo
 * Uncle Bräsig (1936) as Minning
 * Youth (1938 film) (1938) as Ännchen
 * Covered Tracks (1938) as Séraphine Lawrence
 * The Immortal Heart (1939) as Ev Henlein
 * The Journey to Tilsit (1939) as Elske Settegast
 * Jud Süß (1940) as Dorothea Sturm
 * The Great King (1942) as Luise Treskow
 * The Golden City (1942) as Anna Jobst
 * Immensee (1943) as Elisabeth Uhl
 * Opfergang (1944) as Aels Flodéen
 * Kolberg (1945) as Maria Werner
 * Immortal Beloved (1951) as Katharina von Hollstein
 * Hanna Amon (1951) as Hanna Amon
 * The Blue Hour (1953) as Angelika
 * Stars Over Colombo (1953) as Yrida
 * The Prisoner of the Maharaja (1954) as Yrida
 * Verrat an Deutschland (1955) as Katharina von Weber
 * Two Hearts in May (1958) as Annemie Müller
 * I'll Carry You in My Arms (1958) as Ines Thormälen

 * That Woman (1966 film) (1966) as Visitor at the Six Days of Berlin (scenes deleted)
 * Karl May (1974) as Emma May
 * Let's Go Crazy (1988) as Comtessa
 * Das bleibt das kommt nie wieder (1992)
 * Der Bergdoktor (1993, TV Series) as Frau Landmann
 * Night Train to Venice (1993) as Euphemia (final film role)

title: Kristina Söderbaum