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Roth Inner circle The 18 5090 Posts |
Concept by Paul Noffsinger and produced by Karl Feret.
The year was 1880. The game seemed innocent enough...until someone got shot. Deadwood The Dark Checkerboard |
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Eddie Garland Inner circle Hells Kitchen, New York City 4207 Posts |
Just imagine the jolt when checkers fly! Whoa!
More than checkers will be jumping. |
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horus1 Special user 645 Posts |
Cool idea! Looks awesome!
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docdazzal Veteran user San Tan Valley, AZ 360 Posts |
Rick...
Great story line...but what does the board do...? Please explain the effect(s)...do the checkers move about...? Fly off the board...? Thanks, Dr. Dan |
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Roth Inner circle The 18 5090 Posts |
There is also a gaffed photo of the deceased, the actual bullet they pulled from the wall of the saloon (gaffed) and a hand written letter of provenance from the gentleman that acquired the board from the Saloon owner.
Nice little "hauntique" starter. |
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Wizard of Oz Inner circle Most people wish I didn't have 5150 Posts |
So I was my fifth grade checker champion. True story. Probably not a big deal to the rest of my elementary school, but a big deal to me.
I was a nerd. Bangs. Pilot framed glasses with quarter-inch thick lenses. Turtle neck shirts. Picked on during recess. The worst time was when I was on a teeter totter...at the top. And the boy at the bottom got off. He thought it would be funny. I slammed down full force onto the hard cement. I still remember the cold vibrations running up my spine. For minutes as teachers surrounded me I couldn't move my legs. I thought I was permanently frozen. Slowly the feeling returned to my toes, and gradually I could move my legs again... And then the checker tournament. It consumed the school for a week each spring. Every classroom held a different set of rounds and non-participating students were free to roam from room-to-room and watch the games. As winners progressed, the amount of rooms were reduced until just one room remained, with one table, two players, and the entire fifth grade class surrounding it. I was in one of the two chairs at that table. I remember my last words during that final game were, "King me." And all the kids around the table yelling and clapping their hands. It was glorious, and looking back now, I only see it in my mind's eye in slow motion with cinematic music echoing in the background. I remember too, seeing in the corner of my eye, the boy who stepped off the teeter totter, and wondering if he realized who was at the top now? Ah, the simplicity and complications of youth. Deadwood. Could be very special I think. Even with the dark backstory, it is really just a simple game, resonating with so many as a childhood endeavor. A comfortable distraction...with little or no risk or circumstance. An unassuming recreation, where simple pieces are moved and exchanged. Nothing at stake. Nothing to fear. But I can see using this prop with my little gradeschool story, but making the ending much darker... My elementary school has now been razed. There was a checker game involving a distraught boy, who was thought to be a bit odd, and teased on the playground. He won a checker tournament, and at the end of the final game he stood up and pointed to another boy standing off in a corner...a boy others witnessed as being a bully. The checker champion pointed at the boy in the corner and just said, softly at first, "king me." And it grew louder. And more powerful..."King me!" "KING ME!" The rest of the story is a blur. Forgotten by most. Burried by others. The boy in the corner...that was not a blur. He died that day. Of natural causes...heart defect. But the school was never the same...haunted some say. Noises heard by the cleaning crew...described as cheers from a certain classroom. And whispers...whispers heard even by students and teachers alike...in the afternoon, at the same time as that final tournament. A simple checker tournament of all things. And the whispers were meaningless to most, but others heard words. Small words. Nonsense words... "King me" "King me" "King me"
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.
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MagiChrisMitch Special user 702 Posts |
Good platform Greg!
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Magical Dimensions Inner circle 5001 Posts |
I think that a sailor would have had this or maybe a soldier. I can also see a patient having this.
Ray |
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Balaram Special user 904 Posts |
Well-written and designed to be read aloud--thanks for this share, Wizard-
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Silvertongue Inner circle One day I will die leaving behind 2426 Posts |
Great story Wiz thanks for sharing!
Taken from a haunted hotel? Poltergeist activity? The imagination runs wild...
For as long as space exists,
And living beings remain in cyclic existence, For that long, may I too remain, to dispel the sufferings of the world. -Shantideva Engaging in the Conduct of a Bodhisattva |
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Godzilla Inner circle Tied & Untied Witches on 5316 Posts |
Wheeewww ...
When I read the title 'Deadwood', glad it was OE and not a condition, Rick !
"If you watch Godzilla backwards, it's about a big ass lizard who helps rebuild a half burnt-down city, then moonwalks back into the ocean"
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paulnoff New user 64 Posts |
I am very excited to be part of this project. It started last fall with a phone call between Rick and I about making a folk art game board.
At first the discussion was about a dust bowl era, homemade version of Hi Ho Cherry O or Shoots and Ladders, something along those lines. After a discussion we had at The East Coast Spirit Sessions in Myrtle Beach (a FANTASTIC convention) we turned the idea into a chess / checker board. This is a real utility prop. It can be used for any kind of story and is a wonderful compliment to several of Rick's other props / routines. It could have been in Jack the Ripper suspect Nathan Kaminsky's cell in Colney H@tch, or a game that Alice Madison played with her friend Ash. A shroud or hand drawn talking board would be an ideal addition. Maybe a scroll that could be laid out on the board. It is after all, as Rick said, a "Dark" checkerboard I am really glad to see some of the ideas popping up in these comments. Rick has an expansion pak with a gaffed photo, bullet and letter of provenance, but I would love to hear any suggestions for additional accessories or expansion packs from you guys. |
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Magical Dimensions Inner circle 5001 Posts |
So, how many checkers will be active?
Ray |
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Roth Inner circle The 18 5090 Posts |
Quote:
On May 4, 2015, Magical Dimensions wrote: One black and one red gaffed checkers. There will be a gaffed photo of the victim and a gaffed bullet too. Ray what kind of shroud could be used to temporarily "re-purpose" the board into something more ominous It is a "Dark checkerboard" |
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Magical Dimensions Inner circle 5001 Posts |
Quote:
On May 4, 2015, Roth wrote: Funny that you said that.... I was thinking about the same thing. I have a couple ideas, but it all depends on the theme that the user will use. I will get back to you after I done some more thinking. Rick, what is the size of the board once open. Ray |
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Roth Inner circle The 18 5090 Posts |
The board is 14 x 14 inches
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Roth Inner circle The 18 5090 Posts |
Last note needed from me and then all the info needed will be on the webpage.
We decided that other than the two "G" checkers we are going to include a gaffed photo of the victim, bullet and "hand written" aged letter of provenance from the "buyer" of the board in 1880. Thanks! |
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cocomax Loyal user North Fork, CA 289 Posts |
It is a mistake to think that life is some grand chess match of two competing forces of good and evil guiding our fates for some lofty goal. I fear it is more a sort of dreadful endless game of checkers where we are mindlessly driven forward by unseen forces to meet our demise by the hands of others. The red blood of life is born of and feed by the dead, only to live a brief time before being claimed by the black again, like the vast army of blasted black dead trees covering the hills around us. Once in a while you will meet a man of exceptional power, a king among men that lays waste to the men around him taking everything for his own. You will find many such men in Deadwood. But beware of such men, because like a king in checkers there is something joined with him, something riding his very soul, guiding him from another dimension. His mind is not his own, he has given control of his person to that hideous power that dwells in these black hills in exchange for a abhorrent advantage that will last but a season, before the board is cleared and a new game starts a fresh.
Wilbert Carter Dead Wood 1869 When traveling north through the muddy streets of old Deadwood before the big fire of 1879 you would find the Buckhorn Saloon right next to the Odd Fellows hall. October 17th 1871 seemed like a normal late afternoon at the Buckhorn. Tom Vining was at the back poker table dealing cards to the usual group of gold miners, including Randy Nelson, who everyone said was a nice guy, except when he was drinking, problem was he was always drinking. His drink of choice a Buckhorn special known as Hell Fire whisky, a nasty rock gut cut with gun powder, ammonia and cyan pepper. Near the front window James Tex and Wilbert Carter were playing a friendly game of checkers. Wilbert seemed lost in his thoughts thinking of his sweetheart Kate who would be arriving in a week's time by stage. Wilbert's was comforted that is brother Erik would be escorting Kate safely to Deadwood, but was starting to have second thoughts about settling down in such a wild town as Deadwood, there must be somewhere safer. He kept a picture of Kate in his checkers box. Wilbert peered out the window which was covered in a thin grey dust, or was it ash. At last Wilbert spoke, "Why Deadwood? What caused all the trees to be so sickly and stunted, why do so many trees die so young and just stand there playing strange tricks in the light of the setting sun? That faint odor clings to this town, what is that odor? Something just is not right, there is a fearsome ancient evil here." Wilbert made his next move, jumping two of James black pieces. "YOU'RE A CHEATING", Howled Randy over at the poker table. Randy started to reach for the money on the table when Tom warned, "Don't you dare touch the money or I will shoot you!" Shots rang out, seven shots in all. The poker players ended up missing one another, but sadly one of the bullets ended up hitting Wilbert in the neck, sending his head crashing into the checker board with a sickening thud. Randy was never charged with murder, the shooting was declared an accident. Randy was never the same. He complained about strange odors and hideous black auras around the old tree stumps on the hill. He was last seen walking barefoot through the snow headed out of town babbling some nonsense no one could understand. James gathered up the checkerboard and a few of Wilbert's belonging to give to Kate, but Kate never came. Eric never showed up ether. James spent the rest of his life wondering what happened to Kate and Eric. The last Kate's family hear from Kate was a letter from Cheyenne mailed on Oct 15th, all seemed well and they were suppose to catch the stage to Deadwood the next day. They never did. James played a few games with that old checkerboard at the Odd Fellows hall, but strange things would happen. Uttering the simple phrase "King Me" would cause a ominous sinking feeling in the pit of one's belly. Sometimes checkers would fly off the board. That strange odor that clung to that board would grow stronger and peculiar things would happen. Some nights James could hear banging coming from the old box. Many years later James sold the eerie checker board to a collector of the weird for a hansom sum of money. Loving cared for all these years and passing through many hands the old checker board still has that strange odor and evokes an odd feeling of dread in anyone that dare bother it. So, how about a friendly game of checkers? |
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fregis New user 62 Posts |
Looks very nice indeed.
Very tempting, but I waited 9 month for a flashpot 5 months for Pandora (still waiting) and 6 months for the SM deluxe case (still waiting). I know this is not mass produced, and it's top quality, but I would love to get one e-mail. So again, I love your work. |
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Autumn Morning Star Grammar Hostess Today, I corrected grammar in 1378 Posts |
Fregis, talk to Rick. I bet something just got lost in the shuffle on Pandora. It looks like Pandora is in stock from the flyer I received today.
Rick is a great guy and his products are absolutely top quality. I have a few of his wonderful pieces and am absolutely trembling with anticipation for Deadwood!!! As for my wonderful spooky collection from Rick, my newest is The Relic. I almost made my hubby faint with that one when I was first showing him. Really freaked him out! I never go anywhere without my Relic, because you never know where the need for the paranormal will arise! Now I feel like a game of checkers. Anyone want to play?
Wonder is very necessary in life. When we're little kids, we're filled with wonder for the world - it's fascinating and miraculous. A lot of people lose that. They become cynical and jaded, especially in modern day society. Magic renews that wonder.
Doug Henning |
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