Even now I expect it to move.

When I think of dragons, I imagine all kinds of great terrible lizards. I’ve imagined djinn a hundred different ways, and hydras, manticores, zombies, and an endless stream of creatures out of myth, fiction, game and pure imagination. More creatures and weird beasties than I could count, and I’ve pictured them any number of ways.

But when I imagine skeletons of the dead rising to take up arms against the living, they all look like they were animated by Ray Harryhausen.

When I was a child, I watched his movies on television every year: The 7^th Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. I could count on them being broadcast annually, and I never missed an opportunity to let them enthrall me. I loved all the weird and wild monsters he brought to life on the screen, from the Cyclops to the minotaun to the giant statue with the Achilles heel, to the little mechanical owl from Clash of the Titans.

But my favorites far and away were the skeletons. They were nimble and expressive and in my childhood mind they were the ultimate thing for any hero to overcome and any villain to raise for an army.

I was already playing D&D by then, and I wanted even my lawful good wizards and clerics to Animate Dead so they could have Ray Harryhausen skeletons fighting beside them in my mind’s eye. I knew even then that those skeletons were supposed to be tool of evil, but the cool factor outweighed any stigma they might have carried. If my wizard could have his own Ray Harryhausen skeletons fighting beside him, then to me that meant he had made it, that he was a powerful wizard, a force to be reckoned with.

That feeling never went away, and though I stopped embracing it as a player (that whole alignment issue), as a Game Master I used those skeletons as a warning sign to my players. Not that I expected them to understand. It was for me, really. Still, if a bad-guy wizard had skeletons fighting for him, they might follow all the D&D rules, but you have been warned. That wizard is a badass. And some of those skeletons might be tougher than you expect.

When I started playing Blood Bowl, same deal. I played all kinds of teams when the mood struck me, but every once in a while I indulged myself and played skeletons so I could picture Ray Harryhausen animating my fantasy football game.

As a writer, I’ve fought hard to keep my love of those skeletons in check. I save them, waiting for just the right story, just the right villain. I haven’t brought them out yet in any stories I’ve written for publication. But they are coming. Oh yes.

And if you’ve watched Ray Harryhausen’s movies, then I know you can picture them. Right down to their expressions.

Rest in Peace, Ray Harryhausen. Thank you for all the wonder you have brought us.

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