Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check-in!

black and white dartboard

Hello internet people! Welcome to Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check-in! In this post I’ll be going through the progress I made on my movie, book, and ttrpg challenges for the year so far. If you’re doing any of the challenges as well, I’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check in for movies!

Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check-in! Movie challenge
Slick Dungeon’s Movie Challenge. Download your copy by clicking the image!

I watched a few movies this month but only one met a challenge requirement. I was recommended I Saw the TV Glow by a friend. And it was a great recommendation. If you didn’t see my review already, check it out here. But I will say, the best film I watched in January was Hereditary. Great movie if you like horror. I also watched Nosferatu which I thought was fine but not groundbreaking. And I watched We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. To me, that one is not worth your time. It does have a decent performance by Anna Cobb though.

Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check in for Books!

Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check-in! Book challenge
Slick Dungeon’s Book Challenge. Download your copy by clicking the image!

This one is going to be a little bit of a cheat. I read a book of short stories which is not yet released. It is called Four Dark and Stormys and a Hangover by Dan Kaminski. It’s a book of horror novellas but I’m counting it as a book of short stories. My review will come soon so watch for that this month. I think for next month I’ll be reading a fantasy book called Uprooted by Naomi Novik.

Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check in for TTRPGs!

Slick Dungeon’s February Challenge Check-in! TTRPG challenge
Slick Dungeon’s TTRPG Challenge. Download your copy by clicking the image!

In January I read the rule books for a TTRPG called Along the Leyline. I’ll be doing a review of it on this blog later this month. And once I’ve gotten a chance to play it, I’ll do a more comprehensive rules breakdown of the game. There are a lot of similarities between this one and Dungeons & Dragons but I will say the rules for Along the Leyline are more streamlined and easier to follow. There are lots of strengths here and a few spots for improvement but I’ll go into detail more on that in a post later this month.

How is your progress going?

Now that I’ve shared my updates with all of you, I would love to know if any of you have taken these challenges. Watched any movies, read any books, or done any of the TTRPG challenges? Please let me know in the comments!

Challengingly yours,

Slick Dungeon

2025 TTRPG Challenge!

polyhedral dice on wooden surface. Check out the 2025 TTRPG Challenge!
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2025 TTRPG Challenge!

The 2025 TTRPG challenge is a little tricky. Even if you love tabletop role playing games, it’s not always possible to play a game with your friends. Scheduling is a nightmare. Not all of the activities here are playing TTRPGs. But everything is related to them. Just do your best and try to get as many checked off as you can. Get your free copy here or at the image below. And get started on your challenge!

Slick Dungeon’s 2025 TTRPG Challenge!

Here’s how I plan to meet the challenge!

  1. I’m going to play a new system I have been reading called Along the Leyline. It’s a rules lighter form of D&D. I’m excited to give it a shot. I’ll also be reviewing it here.
  2. Check this blog later this year for something I write for a TTRPG. Can’t say what it is yet but I’m excited for it!
  3. I’m going to read the rules for The Walking Dead role playing game.
  4. I’m going to play the Alien role playing game.
  5. I’ll watch a cosmic horror film for this one.
  6. I’m going to read the Pathfinder player manual
  7. I’ll either do Savage Worlds or Pulp Cthulhu or maybe even Achtung Cthulhu for this one.
  8. I can always re-watch E.T. the Extra Terrestrial for this one.
  9. Kobold press has a great monster manual called the Kobold Guide to Monsters. I’ll be reading that.
  10. Call of Cthulhu for this one!
  11. Not sure what kind of handout I will make but once I do, I’ll share it here.
  12. I hear good things about Dungeon Crawl Classics so I’ll go with that one.

I hope you enjoy the challenge! Don’t forget to let me know if you play along and how it goes if you do.

Challengingly yours,

Slick Dungeon

2025 Book Challenge!

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2025 Book Challenge!

The 2025 book challenge is simple. Pick an item on the list. Find a book that matches. If you are reading a book and realize it fits an item, check it off! Download the list right here or from the image below to get started!

Slick Dungeon's 2025 Book Challenge!
Slick Dungeon’s 2025 Book Challenge!

Here’s how I plan to meet the challenge!

  1. My favorite book is Lord of the Rings.
  2. For a book assigned in High Schools I will re-read 1984.
  3. For a book with a blue cover – I haven’t decided what book to do here. But one of the ones I read in 2025 is bound to have a blue cover.
  4. I’m in the middle of the Mistborn series. Finding a fantasy book should be easy.
  5. For a non-fiction book I’ll either read a biography (probably about a musician) or something about the comic book industry. I love learning more about both of those.
  6. A book you saw someone reading in a movie – This will be a surprise. I’ll just pick the next book someone reads in a movie I am watching.
  7. For a book of short stories I’m reading You Like it Darker by Stephen King.
  8. For a book with an amazing first line – Technically two lines but The Restaurant at the End of the Universe starts like this – “The story so far: in the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” How great is that?
  9. Most people know the end of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It ends with the perfect line – ‘He was soon borne away by the waves and lost in darkness and distance.’
  10. For a book that is not on a best seller list, I’ll decide the month I read it. To make sure it’s not on a best seller list. There are plenty to choose!
  11. For a book with only a few characters I will read This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone.
  12. I reserve the right to change this one. But I’m planning to read Carrie Fisher’s memoir The Princess Diarist.

Let me know how it goes!

I hope you enjoy the challenge! Don’t forget to let me know if you read along. And how it goes if you do.

Challengingly yours,

Slick Dungeon

2025 Movie Challenge!

woman watching a movie holding a box of popcorn. Enjoy the 2025 movie challenge!
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2025 Movie Challenge!

The 2025 movie challenge is a basic challenge. Watch any move that fits into the requirements on the checklist and then check it off! Download the challenge right here or in the image below.

Here’s how I plan to meet the challenge!

  1. For a movie made more than 10 years ago I’m going to watch a black and white horror film
  2. I need someone to recommend me a movie for the second one. Got any recommendations?
  3. A silent movie – I will probably go with Charlie Chaplin here.
  4. A movie with an alien on the poster – might do Alien for this one!
  5. A guilty pleasure movie – I love horror comedy so probably one of those
  6. The oldest movie on my to be watched list is Scarface (I went by oldest meaning it has been on my list the longest. Feel free to interpret it however you want.)
  7. A movie with no special effects – I’ve been wanting to re-watch Before Sunrise so that’s my pick.
  8. A movie with incredible special effects – it was amazing for the time and I’ll take any excuse to re-watch it so Star Wars is my pick.
  9. A movie from a country you have visited (or always wanted to) – I’ve been lucky enough to visit Japan a couple of times so I will pick a Japanese film but I don’t know which one yet.
  10. A movie with the word yellow in the title – Yellow Submarine
  11. A movie with no romance in it – Not sure what I will pick here but it will likely be in the horror genre.
  12. A movie with all romance – I’ve never seen The Notebook so I’ll give that one a try.

I hope you enjoy the challenge! Don’t forget to let me know if you play along and how it goes if you do.

Challengingly yours,

Slick Dungeon

Challenge Yourself! Books, Movies and RPGs for 2025

black and white dartboard
black and white dartboard
Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com

Hey Everyone, Slick Dungeon here. 2024 had plenty of challenges for most of us, a lot of them not the fun kind. So I decided to bring back my book, movie, and TTRPG challenges. This year I invite you to challenge yourself!

For the next three days come back here to find out what the challenges are and download a copy for yourself.

When I started this blog I used to do a book, movie, and TTRPG challenge every year. That got to be a lot so I took a break but I’m bringing them back. When they are all out you can download not one, not two, but three absolutely free challenge checklists. Whether you love movies, books, tabletop role playing games, or all three, there is something for you.

Each list has 12 challenges. One per month should be doable but if you are an overachiever, feel free to knock these out in 12 days or less. If you do take up any of these challenges let me know how it went. And if you happen to post it on your social media, feel free to tag me so I can follow your progress.

Challenge yourself! The Rules

  1. There are three separate challenges, one for books, one for movies and one for tabletop role playing games. I’ll tell you about each one and give suggestions for how I plan to meet the challenge.
  2. Once I finish a challenge I will check it off and then post about it. This challenge is for you so feel free to post about it or just enjoy it on your own. If you do post somewhere, let’s compare notes!
  3. These can be done in any order. I’m not judging you and there’s no grade here.
  4. If you want to double dip on any of these feel free. I’m not going to do that but it’s your life, do what you want.
  5. This is not a rule but these will be downloadable PDF’s so feel free to download and print them or pass them on to friends, relatives, neighbors, or office mates looking for something to do! Share, share, share!

How can I get these?

Just come back here tomorrow and you’ll see the movie challenge. The next day grab your book challenge. And on 1/5 get your TTRPG challenge. That’s it!

I hope you enjoy the challenges I made. Don’t forget to let me know if you plan to play along and how it goes if you do.

Challengingly yours,

Slick Dungeon

PS. Want to see my challenges from previous years? Check them out here and here.

Slick Dungeon’s 2022 Challenge Check-in!

Hey everyone, Slick Dungeon here. February is a short month but it’s still hard to believe it’s already over. I wanted to do a monthly check-in on how I am doing on the challenges I created for books, movies, and role playing games for this year. If you want to see how I did, this is the post for you! And if you have been doing any of these challenges, I would love to know how it’s going for you. Let me know in the comments!

Reading Challenge

Slick Dungeon’s 2022 Book Challenge! Click the image to download your own copy!

The second challenge on this list is to read a book that is more than 500 pages long. February is a short month so I didn’t quite finish. I’m working on reading The Great Hunt by Robert Jordan but as I have mentioned before on this blog I am a bit of a slow reader. I’ll complete that part of the challenge but I don’t know when. I did, however, read an independently published book. The Winding by Avi Datta was good enough to earn five stars from me and one I would recommend to anyone who likes a good time travel story with a bit of romance in it. It reminded me of The Time Traveler’s Wife. So, while I didn’t check off the second one on the list, I did in fact, check off a box this month.

Movie Challenge

Slick Dungeon’s 2022 Movie Challenge! Click the image to download your own copy!

For the second month in a row I did not end up watching a movie about love but I’m sure I’ll come across one soon. I did watch a movie I had never heard of. It’s called The Madwomen’s Ball and I found out about it from bkgriffinsnest. I’ll be posting my review of it tomorrow so if you are interested in what I thought of it, stay tuned.

Read, Watch, Play CHallenge

Slick Dungeon’s 2022 Read, Watch, Play challenge! Click the image about to download your own copy!

For this one I am still reading Vampire of the Mists which is set in Barovia, a gothic horror setting for Dungeons & Dragons. The next challenge on the list is to watch a movie where the characters play Dungeons & Dragons. I thought about watching E.T. but decided to go with Lloyd the Conqueror. The characters technically LARP but they roll D20’s and there’s enough D&D references in there I think it counts. I’ll be reviewing that one the day after tomorrow so if you want to know my thoughts on it, again stay tuned.

In Conclusion

Well, that’s where I’m at for these challenges so far this year. Have you tried any of them? If so, how’s it going? Also, a reminder, if you complete one of these challenges and post about it on your blog and let me know, I will review anything you would like me to. (Within reason of course). If you want me to review your book or movie or role playing game or one you just really want to know my opinion about, simply put your link to your blog post in the comments, and let me know and I will contact you about reviewing something for you.

If you would like a copy of any of my challenges, feel free to download from the image, or click here for books, movies, and read, watch, play challenges.

If you enjoy my content and want more, sign up for my mailing list below.

Until next time, stay slick out there!

Challengingly yours,

Slick Dungeon

Slick Dungeon’s 2022 Challenge Check-in!

Hey everyone, Slick Dungeon here. Can you believe January is over tomorrow? Time flies right? Well, I just wanted to do a monthly check-in on how I am doing on the challenges I created for books, movies, and role playing games for this year. If you want to see how I did, this is the post for you! And if you have been doing any of these challenges, I would love to know how it’s going for you. Let me know in the comments!

Reading Challenge

Slick Dungeon’s 2022 Book Challenge! Click the image to download your own copy!

The first challenge on this list is to reread the first book you remember reading. Well, for me that book was The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss. I didn’t do a review of it on this blog because, well, it’s a kid’s book that doesn’t really need a review and most people know exactly what it is. I will say though, re-reading it brought back fond memories of how proud I felt when I could read the whole thing with no help from anyone else. It’s the first book that really ignited the love of words in me and it’s what I still hope to experience any time I read a new book. For this challenge the first bullet is complete!

Movie Challenge

Slick Dungeon’s 2022 Movie Challenge! Click the image to download your own copy!

For this challenge, I actually ended up doing the second bullet first. I watched a movie about an issue I care about, namely climate change, when I watched Don’t Look Up on Netflix. I would say this is an allegory about climate change but it’s actually more of a direct comparison and it’s downright frightening how close to reality this film feels, including the political landscape, social media, and disaster denialism. If you haven’t read my review for it, check it out here! I haven’t yet decided what movie to do for a movie about love but if anyone has a good suggestion, let me know in the comments below.

Read, Watch, Play CHallenge

Slick Dungeon’s 2022 Read, Watch, Play challenge! Click the image about to download your own copy!

For this one, I have started, but did not finish reading a book that is set in the same setting as a tabletop game. I’m reading through a book set in my favorite Dungeons & Dragons setting, Ravenloft. In the past I have read I, Strahd which is about the most famous vampire in Barovia, Strahd Von Zarovich. I wanted to read another book which ties in with that and I’ve begun the excellent (so far) Vampire of the Mists. Once I finish it, I will post a review on this blog and let you all know what I think of it. For this one, consider it in progress but not checked off. I should have it done well before the end of February though so watch out for my review. If you have any recommendations for great books set in the same setting as a tabletop game, let me know in the comments below!

In Conclusion

Well, that’s where I’m at for these challenges so far this year. Have you tried any of them? If so, how’s it going? Also, a reminder, if you complete one of these challenges and post about it on your blog and let me know, I will review anything you would like me to. (Within reason of course). If you want me to review your book or movie or role playing game or one you just really want to know my opinion about, simply put your link to your blog post in the comments, and let me know and I will contact you about reviewing something for you.

If you would like a copy of any of my challenges, feel free to download from the image, or click here for books, movies, and read, watch, play challenges.

If you enjoy my content and want more, sign up for my mailing list below.

Until next time, stay slick out there!

Challengingly yours,

Slick Dungeon

Challenge Yourself! Books, Movies and RPGs for 2022

Hey Everyone, Slick Dungeon here. 2021 was a year full of challenges for most of us. Instead of the kind that life throws in our way I thought we could have some fun with challenges I made myself. Rather than the challenge of just muddling through life, let’s have a book, movie, and tabletop RPG challenge!

(This post contains affiliate links. If you purchase anything through them I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you.)

This is the second year I have thrown down challenges but I would love to know what you all think of them so please let me know and also, feel free to play along all year. Each list has 12 challenges so one per month should be doable but if you are an overachiever, feel free to knock these out in 12 days or less. If you do take up the challenge let me know how it went. And if you happen to post it onto your blog, let me know, so that I can link to your challenge on my blog.

Below are the rules as far as I am going to follow them. You don’t have to follow the same way I do but these are the rules I set for myself. They are the same rules I followed last year.

How Does This Work? The Rules

  1. There are three separate challenges, one for books, one for movies and one for books, movies and RPGs lumped together. I will tell you a little more about each one and give some potential suggestions for what I think I will do to complete the checkboxes.
  2. Once I finish a challenge I plan to check it off and then post about it on my blog. If you just want to do this for fun and not post on your blog, that is totally cool. If you do post on your blog, let’s compare notes!
  3. These can be done in any order. Feel free to skip to the bottom, go to the middle or meticulously hit each one as they are listed.
  4. I am not in the camp of double dipping so I will not be doing that. (Although there may be time constraints and I reserve the right to change my mind!) If you want to, you won’t get any judgement from me.
  5. If you complete any one of my challenges and post about it on your blog, I will let you choose any one thing in that list’s category for me to review (within reason). For example if you complete my movie challenge and you want me to review The Emoji Movie, I will do it. If you complete my book challenge and want me to read and review a book that you published, I will do it. If you complete my Read-Watch-Play challenge and you want me to play an RPG that you think is really cool, I will play and then review it. Side note: I won’t review anything that I think is too extreme and I have ultimate veto power over what I post on my blog but otherwise, you can tell me what to review.
  6. This is not a rule but these are all downloadable PDF’s so feel free to download and print them or pass them on to friends, relatives, neighbors or office mates looking for something to do! Share, share, share!

Challenge 1: Book Challenge

The book challenge should be pretty straightforward. Pick one of the challenges and find a book that matches. Or if you are reading a book and realize that it fits in one of these categories, check it off once you have finished the book!

Some examples of what I plan to do are as follows. The first book I remember reading is Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss. That should be a pretty quick read. I am reading Revival by Stephen King and that one is definitely more than 500 pages long. I’m not sure what I will do for the rest yet but you get the idea.

Slick Dungeon’s 2022 Book Challenge!

Challenge 2: Movie Challenge

This one should also be pretty straightforward. Watch a movie that matches the category and check off the box once you have finished watching. I watch a lot of movies so for this one I might just watch first and then see if it fits the category after, although I do have some ideas for some of these. For a Horror Comedy I might go back to the Toxic Avenger series. The first movie I remember seeing in a theater was The Great Muppet Caper where the muppets try to steal the “baseball diamond”. I’ve had an intense love for film, and puns, not to mention muppets, ever since. I will likely watch The Godfather II for a sequel that is better than the original but I have a couple other ideas in mind for that one as well. Remember, you get to decide if the movie you are watching fits into your category so you do you.

Challenge 3: Read-Watch-Play Challenge

Out of all my challenges, this is the one that I will most likely do in order. It’s pretty easy to find books and movies to fit these categories but I realize that not everyone is familiar with good Tabletop RPG choices so I am going to tell you the ones I plan on doing and even provide you with helpful links if you need a suggestion. (These are affiliate links and if you do buy anything there it helps this blog out immensely at no extra cost to you. No pressure though, never buy anything from a website that you don’t want)

For the first role playing game I remember playing, it is of course Dungeons & Dragons and you can get started on it for free using the basic rules.

For a Tabletop RPG I have never played before I have three that I am thinking about. I may end up playing them all but we’ll see. If you have played any of these, let me know what you think. The first one I am considering is Cyberpunk Red. While the video game release was a mess, I’ve always thought Cyberpunk made more sense as a tabletop game anyway. I wanted to play this last year but I never quite got around to it. The second I am considering is Traveller. This is a space role playing game and it has been around forever but I have not yet played it. I’m curious how it would compare to something like the several Star Wars, Star Trek and Alien role playing games since this one is not set in a licensed movie or television world. The third one I am considering is The One Ring, the TTRPG based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. For as much inspiration as other role playing games take from those books, it has not been often that LOTR has gotten involved in tabletop gaming with the actual franchise. I’m very curious how it compares to the sword and sorcery heavy Dungeons & Dragons.

For a sci-fi role playing game I plan to play Stars Without Number: Revised Edition. It’s a game about humans returning to the skies after their empire has fallen. I played it a little bit last year and had a blast so I’m ready to go back!

For a one page Tabletop RPG I plan to play Crash Pandas. The reason I want to play it? I’m just going to let the description here speak for itself: “You’re a bunch of raccoons, all trying to drive the same souped-up sports car, desperate to make a name for yourselves on the cut-throat LA street-racing circuit. But: why?” Yeah, who wouldn’t want to play that?? Seriously.

I hope you enjoy the challenges I have come up with. Don’t forget to let me know if you plan to play along and how it goes if you do.

If you enjoy the content I make please give a like and a follow on my wordpress blog site!

Challengingly yours,

Slick Dungeon

Slick Dungeon’s 2021 Recap

Happy New Year everyone! It’s me, Slick Dungeon, and I thought it would be nice to do a little recap of things that happened on my blog last year. I’ll give you a little glimpse into what is coming for next year as well.

2021 was an interesting year no matter how you look at it. A lot happened in the world and a lot happened right here on this blog. I made some plans, wrote some articles, completed some goals and left others unfinished. Let’s take a look at some of the significant things that happened on this blog last year shall we?

In terms of numbers I wrote 104 posts this year. There were 77 comments made by myself and other amazing bloggers and readers of the site. There were 875 likes, 3,781 visitors and a total of 5,766 views. So close to 6K! Oh well, maybe this year!

My top post by far was this one about the Top 5 Horror Tabletop Role Playing Games. I stand by my selection here and this helped October to be my best month for views with 1,124.

I gave away some free stuff. There were over 30 downloads of my 2021 Read-Watch-Play challenge and my 2021 Book Challenge. There were over 50 downloads of my 2021 Movie Challenge. And for those of you wondering, yes I will be publishing challenges for 2022 as well so I hope some of you will follow along with me on these. Keep watching this blog in the coming days for more on that. I was able to meet my 2021 movie challenge for myself. The books and read-watch-play were a bit out of reach for me last year but I’m going to really make the effort this year to make it through all of my challenges.

But the real hot ticket for downloads was my 10 Golden Rules of Dungeon Mastering for kids with over 300 downloads. I hope someone out there found them useful and was able to get a kid into role playing with some of that advice. It’s a fantastic hobby that has lead to a lifetime of fun for me and my son.

As far as content goes, I continued to review lots of books and movies. For books I did a lot of reviews for Reedsy.com which I think is a fantastic website and a great way to find excellent independent authors. Two of my favorite books from that site this year were from the Ravenstones Saga which I started reviewing in 2020 with Eirwen and Fridis. These books happen to be about talking animals but they are genuinely complex and interesting. There is as much political intrigue here as any fantasy series I can think of and I am really hoping that author C.S. Watts is able to complete the next entry soon.

I also really enjoyed the sequel to Gunmetal Gods by Zamil Akhtar. Conquerer’s Blood is a sequel but with all new characters and a new point of view. It’s an impressive follow up to the first book and I even got to do an interview with the author himself. He was very thoughtful in his responses and it was a fantastic experience.

As far as movies go, I reviewed all of the Evil Dead movies and otherwise watched a wide variety of things. I still need to finish watching the Saw movies but I did see the first two for the first time this year. I promise I won’t only review horror movies in 2022 but it’s a genre I enjoy a lot so there will be plenty of those to come.

I started a series of posts about the Marvel 616 universe. I am going to review every issue that I can, one by one, in order. I’ve made nearly 20 posts in the series and I have not come even close to starting to scratch the surface of the surface so there will be plenty more where that came from. I love the Marvel comics not just for the big name heroes like Spider-Man, The Hulk, and The Fantastic Four. I also love the weird stuff like Mole Man, Typeface, and Paste-pot Pete (who I still think has the most epic and fantastic super villain name of all time.) I have no idea how far I will get in this experiment but it’s a great excuse to read and reflect on comic books.

I also continued my series Kids Kill Monsters where I give advice on how to play Dungeons & Dragons with kids. I haven’t forgotten the series and more will be coming this year as far as that series goes. We still have a long way to go so if you have kids, I hope you’ll check these out and get your kids role playing. It’s an activity that is super beneficial for children and seriously fun for both kids and adults.

This year I found what I think is my favorite Dungeons & Dragons product of all time and it’s not even made by the makers of Dungeons & Dragons. It’s a magazine reminiscent of the Dragon magazine of the 1980’s and 90’s where a lot of us used to pick up advice, tricks, tips and adventures. The magazine I am talking about is of course Arcadia by MCDM. The best thing about this magazine is that there are a host of writers, artists, and contributors so the content stays fresh and is highly inventive. No matter what kind of Dungeon Master you are, there is something for you in each of these issues. And the art is mind-blowingly good. I don’t think I can oversell the artwork here so even if you don’t like a single word in the magazine, I promise you, there is at least one picture you will love. I’ll be reviewing more issues in the future. I even ran one of the one-shot adventures from the first issue and it was fantastic because my players were young enough not to see the twist coming and had to get really creative to deal with the situation. It was a ton of fun. I may do a blog entry all about that at some point as well.

I also wrote a short short story of my own this year which was then featured in Flashbang Volume II on DriveThruFiction. I really had fun with this and in 2022 I am planning on publishing some more things. I will announce all of it here and if you are interested, let you know how you can get your hands on your very own copies. If everything goes according to plan (ha!) there will be lots of goodies coming in the next 12 months.

The whole year was great on this blog. I mostly write this for myself as an outlet for some fun but I love to see that there are actually people who take the time to read and respond to what I write. If you are one of those people, thank you so, so, so much. I know there are a million other things you could be doing so again thank you. Also know that if I have ever liked or linked to your content it is because I really enjoy your blogs. It was a good year here in the dungeon in 2021 and I can’t wait to see what 2022 has in store for us all.

Gratefully yours,

Slick Dungeon

(Note: this post contains affiliate links. If you purchase something through this post I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you)

Movie Review – Beasts of No Nation

Beasts of No Nation

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Hello out there internet! I hope you are having a great New Year’s Eve, unless you are reading this somewhere that has already reached the new year in which case, Happy New Year! Well, I did it, I finished my own movie challenge for the year. My final challenge was to watch a movie that helps you see the world with a different perspective. For this part of the challenge I watched the gripping film Beasts of No Nation. There will be some mild spoilers below so fair warning for that.

Beasts of No Nation tells the story of Agu, a young boy who is thrown into a war far outside of his control. It starts with him doing things typical of a young boy. He plays games with his friends, doesn’t really enjoy school, plays pranks on his brother and is overall a good kid. He might be a bit mischievous but he doesn’t do anything terrible. The film escalates quickly as government soldiers come and kill a bunch of people in his town. Pretty soon Agu is separated from his family, his older brother and father are killed and he ends up wandering in the jungle.

Agu is then recruited into a sort of guerrilla army made up of mostly child soldiers. Idris Elba plays the Commandant of these rebel forces. He expects these child soldiers to kill anyone he deems an enemy and brutally kills people himself. Agu obviously doesn’t have much choice but to join up. Things continue to get terrible through the rest of the film for Agu and his fellow child soldiers.

Idris Elba, as usual puts in an incredible performance but the stand out star has to be Abraham Atta who plays Agu with a touching and personal performance that is outstanding. We’re with Agu from start to finish in this film and you simply can’t look away.

The film is gripping, heartbreaking, terrifying, and yet somehow hopeful. The movie helped me see the world with a different perspective. It’s not like I didn’t know about child soldiers being a huge problem in war torn countries but this film personalizes it in a way that I think only film can. It’s this kind of film that makes us remember why we have a need to tell stories. The fact that it is a fictional story doesn’t take away any of the truth of it.

Sincerely yours,

Slick Dungeon