Keep off the Borderlands

This month, we went full sword & sorcery with Lucio Fulci’s sanguine, stone age fantasy Conquest from 1983. This episode features contributions from: (in order of appearance) Goblin’s henchman (podcast, blog) and the UmberBulk of the Southwest Sofa Crew Darkfluid of The Silver Key (podcast) and Q Joe Richter of Hindsightless (podcast) Jason Connerley of Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast (podcast) Honourable mentions: Excalibur dir. John Boorman, Conan the Barbarian dir. John Milius, Quest for Fire dir. Jean-Jacques Annaud Find the Movie Monday Letterboxd list here https://letterboxd.com/the39thman/list/movie-monday-1/ For November, we are going to complete Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad trilogy, with the first movie in the series,1958’s The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, directed by Nathan Juran. That episode will air on the 30th of November, so please submit your message by the 28th to ensure you can be included in the show. Send submissions to ⁠[email protected]⁠ or look me up on Discord as FreeThrall Also, don’t forget, thanks to my gross miscalculation, you have an entire extra month to nominate the film December. Please submit your choice by 28th of November, when I will announce the winning film. Looking for inspiration? Check out my Movie Monday Potentials list here https://letterboxd.com/the39thman/list/movie-monday-potentials/ “Warning” by Lieren of Updates From the Middle of Nowhere Leave me an audio message via ⁠https://www.speakpipe.com/KeepOffTheBorderlands You can find me in a bunch of other places here ⁠https://freethrall.carrd.co⁠ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit freethrall.substack.com

In this film-focused episode, I begin with feedback from Joe Richter (of Hindsightless podcast) and Jason Connerley (of Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast podcast & blog) for September’s Movie Monday Clue. This is followed by Goblin’s Henchman (podcast) & the Umberbulk of the Southwest Sofa Crew reviewing Hawk the Slayer, which was the film for August 2023. You can hear the original Movie Monday episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0dK54pLyb7Jq4lpVNp1w46?si=h5fB8hL7Rz2Q_vA51qHftQ Then we have a message from Darkfluid (of The Silver Key podcast) and Q covering previous Movie Mondays, including Blade Runner, Masters of the Universe, Jason and the Argonauts, and House 2: The Second Story. Find the Movie Monday Letterboxd list here https://letterboxd.com/the39thman/list/movie-monday-1/ It’s been a while since we’ve had some proper sword & sorcery and, as it’s October, I figured it was time to check out Lucio Fulci’s contribution to the genre, Conquest from 1983. That episode will air on the 26th of October, so submit your message by the 24th please, to ensure you can be included in the show. Send submissions to ⁠[email protected]⁠ or look me up on Discord as FreeThrall Also, don’t forget you can nominate a film for December’s Movie Monday, but please submit your choice by 26th of October, when I will announce the winning film. Looking for inspiration? Check out my Movie Monday Potentials list here https://letterboxd.com/the39thman/list/movie-monday-potentials/ “Warning” by Lieren of Updates From the Middle of Nowhere Leave me an audio message via ⁠https://www.speakpipe.com/KeepOffTheBorderlands You can find me in a bunch of other places here ⁠https://freethrall.carrd.co⁠ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit freethrall.substack.com

In tribute to Tim Curry who we sadly lost last month, this month’s movie was 1985’s board game based comedy mystery Clue, directed by Jonathan Lynn. Starring Tim Curry, Madeline Khan, Eileen Brennan, Christopher Lloyd, Lesley Ann Warren, Michael McKean, and Martin Mull.This episode features contributions from: (in order of appearance) Jason Connerley of Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast (podcast) Joe Richter of Hindsightless (podcast) Goblin’s henchman (podcast, blog) and the UmberBulk of the Southwest Sofa Crew Darkfluid of The Silver Key (podcast) and Q Find the Movie Monday Letterboxd list here https://letterboxd.com/the39thman/list/movie-monday-1/ It’s been a while since we’ve had some proper sword & sorcery and, as it’s October, I figured it was time to check out Lucio Fulci’s contribution to the genre, Conquest from 1983. That episode will air 26th of October, so submit your message by the 24th please, to ensure you can be included in the episode. Send submissions to ⁠[email protected]⁠ or look me up on Discord as FreeThrall “Warning” by Lieren of Updates From the Middle of Nowhere Leave me an audio message via ⁠https://www.speakpipe.com/KeepOffTheBorderlands You can find me in a bunch of other places here ⁠https://freethrall.carrd.co⁠ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit freethrall.substack.com

There’s a whole host of stuff mentioned in this episode. First, there’s some Movie Monday feedback from Jason Connerley, then I speak a little bit about the possibility of recreating Kane Parson’s Backrooms (2026) at the gaming table. Here’s Bob World Builder talking about it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBPaGuWnNmg Ben Stiller's Severance, my new favourite thing. A few things I picked up recently from Beyond Cataclysm; Donn Stroud’s Ruination Pilgrimage bundle and Eely Moon’s The Fangwitch’s Falls. Here’s the Quinns Quest review of Jeremy Strandberg’s Stonetop https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wH5-uQj4uOA Here’s Cody Barr’s Zones, perfect for solo play. Find tips for playing solo at Legends & Dice Cafe https://youtu.be/K0tT1ZKlPJU?is=ZM_A301Gk6psNdvN Ishirō Honda's Matango recommended by Roy Vieira as inspiration for TerrorFormed https://free-thrall.itch.io/terrorformed You can here The Good Friends of Jackson Elias discussing it here https://open.spotify.com/episode/2UxRstQ6aPeUu8ySe4Uxsu?si=VB0CSTulSKKlElAtIXfo8w&utm_source=copy-link Here's a better picture than the one I took of Jon Hodgson's Cold City/Hot War 2nd edition slipcase from Handiwork Games. Honourable mentions: Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu, Andy Goodman's Grizzly Peaks Radio, Goblin Archive's Liminal Horror, Pawel Kicman's Corp Borg, Chris Lowery's Mörk Org, William Hope Hodgson's The House on the Borderland. Find the Movie Monday Letterboxd list here https://letterboxd.com/the39thman/list/movie-monday-1/ In honour of the legend that is Tim Curry, who sadly passed on last month, I’ve chosen the comedy mystery Clue from 1985, directed by Johnathan Lynn. That episode will air on the 28th of September, so please submit your message by the 26th to ensure you can be included in the episode. Send submissions to ⁠[email protected]⁠ or look me up on Discord as FreeThrall “Warning” by Lieren of Updates From the Middle of Nowhere Leave me an audio message via ⁠https://www.speakpipe.com/KeepOffTheBorderlands You can find me in a bunch of other places here ⁠https://freethrall.carrd.co⁠ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit freethrall.substack.com

This month’s Movie Monday was a little out of left field: 1987’s House II: The Second Story, directed by Ethan Wiley. This episode features contributions from: (in order of appearance) Jason Connerley of Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast (podcast) Joe Richter of Hindsightless (podcast) Goblin’s henchman (podcast, blog) and the UmberBulk of the Southwest Sofa Crew Honourable mention: Safer Fantasy Crafting (podcast) In Praise of Shadows: House: Anatomy of a Franchise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=His-f25qcmQ Find the Movie Monday Letterboxd list here https://letterboxd.com/the39thman/list/movie-monday-1/ In honour of the legend that is Tim Curry, who sadly passed on 25th, I’ve chosen the comedy mystery Clue from 1985, directed by Johnathan Lynn. That episode will air 28th of September, so submit your message by the 26th please, to ensure you can be included in the episode. Send submissions to ⁠[email protected]⁠ or look me up on Discord as FreeThrall “Warning” by Lieren of Updates From the Middle of Nowhere Leave me an audio message via ⁠https://www.speakpipe.com/KeepOffTheBorderlands You can find me in a bunch of other places here ⁠https://freethrall.carrd.co⁠ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit freethrall.substack.com