Favorite dice??? How do you choose that? I have different sets for different needs.

This is the set I use when playing Ravenloft of any other Horror themed D&D-like game. Made up my black and red dice with some Castles & Crusades dice thrown in.

These are my main D&D dice right now.

My Ghosts of Albion Dice.

I got a bunch of Drow Dice at Gen Con and have used at Gen Con when running the GDQ series.

Some of my oldest dice. Used these throughout highschool.

Various witch-themed dice.


Halloween-themed dice!

More old dice to add to my collections.

Some "Holmes-themed" dice, including some Gary Con ones.

A box of character-themed dice with their minis.

Various dice bags from my years of playing.

These though are my best sets. Original TSR-era Dragon Dice from the Basic and Expert sets. These are my "showcase" ones. These are the rules and dice that don't get played. I have plenty of other copies for the table. 

So you see...how can I choose?

Going back to Room #2 the next passage looks similar to the passageway for Room #6 (and #3).  Once entering the room the party sees two succubi.

These "succubi" are in fact two Alu-fiends.

Alu-Fiend Demon

Armor Class: 1 [18]
Hit Dice: 6+6*** (33 hp)
Attacks:  2 claws (1d4+2 x2) or 1 weapon (1d6) +2
THAC0: 13 [+6]
Movement: 120’ (40’)
Saving Throws: D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (6+)
Morale: 10
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 1,250
Number Appearing: 1d2 (1d4) 
Treasure Type: C

The alu-demon is the female demonic offspring of a succubus (or other Lilim) and human. Though part demon, not all alu-demons are inherently chaotic (although good alu-demons are extremely rare). The typical alu-demon has black or brown hair and dark green, brown, or black eyes.

Alu-demons might be sent to the Material Plane to seduce mortals. When on such missions they typically arrange their flowing hair so it hides their horns and also fold their wings against their backs (and tuck them under their robe, shirt, or whatever garment of clothing one happens to be wearing at the time).

Each time an alu-demon hits with its claw attack it gains temporary hit points equal to the damage she inflicts. These temporary hit points disappear in one hour. 

Alu-fiends have the following demonic powers:

• vampiric touch 
• immune to poison
• magic resistance (15%)
• telepathy 100 ft.
• Alu-fiends can cast the following spells: 

• Charm person (3/day)
• Dimension door (1/day)
• ESP (3/day)
• Suggestion (1/day)

There is a 15% chance that these alu-fiends will not attack at all.  They are here to drive victims to their "sisters" in Room 10, behind the closed door ahead.  They will claim they are trapped here due to the magic of the Vampire Queen. This is mostly true. They will claim that if the party can get a scepter from the next room they will be freed and seek their vengeance against the mages of the Vampire Queen (this is a complete lie. They heard this from other demons here).

Recently I read on fred's HM fan blog that Heavy Metal magazine is no more.

I have often said that Heavy Metal (the music, the magazine, and the movie) was/were as much of an influence on my early 80s gaming style as were the likes of Dragon magazine, White Dwarf, and really, far more than most of the Appendix N books.

The news comes to us via Bleeding Cool and Multiversity Comics.

While I have not read HM in a long time, it was part of my D&D experience as much as anything. I even rank Taarna among the celebrated heroes of fantasy, right along with Conan, Elric, Frodo, Fafhrd, and the Gray Mouser.

This is not an age that is kind to the printed word, less kind even to the printed word on paper. I don't hold out any hope that HM will return in a new form any more than I hope that Dragon will.

 I do have a few. There is the whole Werper family with Johan I as the first character I ever created and played for longer than one session. Every version of *D&D gets a new version of Johan as either a Paladin or Cleric. A (mostly) unbroken line of father and son dedicated to fighting evil, particularly the undead.

But I have to say my favorite character has to be my little witch Larina Nix/Larina Nichols.  Johan gets a new version (a son of the previous) in every version of D&D. Larina gets a version for every game I ever play.  I don't play her in every game, but I at least give her a try in the character creation rules.

I also like to get custom art of her and support artists.

I might be a little obsessed. 

 This room has no door, but is difficult to find due to the unnatural darkness.

Once in this room magical light can be seen.  There are treasure chests with coins (4,500 gp worth) and 1d10x10 rings of various shapes and sizes.  Of these 1d4+5 will be magical. 

The magical rings can be determined from the following table; Magical Rings.

There is no other treasures or creatures here.

 We live in an unprecedented time of access to media. For example, when I was a kid if I wanted to watch a Godzilla movie I had to wait for the various "creature feature" shows that would be on my local Channel 8, 11, or 12 on the weekends and then hope that one of them would be showing Godzilla.  As I got older my options progressively grew to cable channels, VHS, DVD, and then BluRay. Now I have streaming choices. Tubi was (and is) always good for horror, but now Pluto has stepped into the ring with their 24-hour Godzilla channel and Godzilla movies on demand. Subtitled, not dubbed, for the most part.

As expected, I have been watching it all the time. I am reminded there are some really, really bad ones here (Son of Godzilla comes to mind) but also some I really enjoy.  One of those was 1995's Godzilla vs. Destoroyah. Yeah, I have it on DVD, but catching it one night was a nice treat.

It also made me want to come back to my idea of giant, Kaiju-like demons for my games.

A collection of DIY Demons

Destroyah is about the same size as the official D&D (4th Edition) Orcus, though Destroyah was only about 10 bucks. Given the 1" = 5' scale, a 6½" Destroyah comes out to about 32.5'.  With horn, 35'.

It makes for a very scary demon to be honest.

D&D Demons with your humble 5'9" blogger to scale.

I have done these Gargantua demons before for both Spellcraft & Swordplay and D&D 5.  I should also do them for my hybrid Basic/Advanced "Basic Bestiary" stat block.

Gargantua
Gargantuan Fiend (Demon, Calabim)

Frequency: Very Rare
Number Appearing: 1 (1-4)
Alignment: Chaotic [Chaotic Evil]
Movement: 240' (80') [24"]
   Fly: 300' (100') [30']
   Swim: 300' (100') [30']
Armor Class: -7 [26]
Hit Dice: 30d8+180******** (315 hp)
 Gargantuan: 22d20+44******** (495 hp)
To Hit AC 0: 4 (+15)
Attacks: 2 claws, 1 bite, 1 tail, 1 breath weapon (typical) Damage: 4d8 x2, 4d12, 2d12, as per dragons
Special: Alternate forms, breath weapon, fear aura 120', immune to mind-affecting magics, magic resistance 75%, vulnerable to holy weapons.Save: Monster 30
Morale: 12 (12)
Treasure Hoard Class: None
XP: 38,750 (OSE) 38,750 (LL)

Str: 25 (+6) Dex: 10 (+0) Con: 25 (+6) Int: 6 (-1) Wis: 7 (-1) Cha: 2 (-4)

These horrors are destruction incarnate. These demons stand 40 to 50 feet tall.  Each one is unique, but all have characteristics in common.  They are typically humanoid in shape but could be covered in scales, leathery skin, fur, chitin, or any combination of these. Some gargantuas even have alternate forms they can transform into. This includes the sprouting of wings or even juvenile or ultimate forms. In one recorded case, a gargantua was able to divide into dozens of smaller forms of 1 HD each and then reform later as the larger, composite creature. 

Their intellect is far below that of animals, and they exist only to destroy.  Powerful Balor or even Arch Fiends can control them, but it is challenging for them to do.  Mostly they are sent somewhere where everything must be destroyed or eaten.  Gargantua will even fight and kill other demons.  

All gargantua have massive claw and bite attacks.  Any critical hit roll on a bite indicates the victim has been swallowed whole.  Every gargantuan also has a breath weapon attack like that of a dragon. Typically fire, but lighting and wind are also typical. They do damage equal to the number of hp they have remaining, save vs. Breath Weapon for half.

Human wizards have been known to try to summon these creatures, but the destruction they cause usually outweighs any perceived benefits they may offer.  The spells to do so are carefully guarded.

Some scholars theorize these creatures are the remains of the ancient Titans like the Jötunar or even Die Hüne. But most believe these creatures began as normal animals infused with the evil essences of demons and their homes in the vast Abyss. 

 Oh, now that is an interesting question.

It is a tossup, really.

Victoria and Baker Street are two very historically accurate Victorian-era RPGs. No steampunk, no gothic horror, no supernatural. Straight-up exploration of one of the more fascinating ages (in my mind) in history.  I love my Steampunk. I LOVE my Gothic Horror and Supernatural. But that loves comes from a solid grounding in the age, and these game both managed to give me what I love and be very clever about it.

Likewise, I love the tales of King Arthur and an age of a Mythic Britan.

While less grounded in actual history, these books both capture their subject matter well. Pendragon and Chivalry & Sorcery are great fun, and I just don't get to play them enough. 

It is great to do a historically accurate RPG as Victoria and Baker Street show, but Pendragon and C&S also demonstrate why historical accuracy sometimes needs to take a backseat (or passenger seat) to a good game.

Moving on in this area, the party comes to a wider chamber. 

Lurking in the shadows is a true horror.  A skeletal horror, covered in blood with glowing red eyes.

It appears undead, but it is a Babu Demon. 

Babau Demon

These 7’ tall demons have ebony flesh that clings closely to their skeleton, appearing almost like a leathery corpse. They have a single curving horn that emerges from the back of their heads. 

Armor Class: -3 [22]
Hit Dice: 7+7 (45 hp)
Attacks:  2 claws (1d4+3 x2), 1 horn (1d6+3) or 1 weapon +3
THAC0: 12 [+7]
Movement: 150’ (50’)
Saving Throws: D8 W9 P10 B10 S12 (7)
Morale: 8
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 2,050
Number Appearing: 1d3 
Treasure Type: C

Babau demons prefer to attack with weapons from a distance when possible and have STR 19 which grants bonuses to attacks and damage with some weapons.

• Glowing Eyes: Any creature within 20’ that looks into a babau’s glowing red eyes must succeed in a saving throw versus spells or be affected as if from a ray of enfeeblement. 
• Slimy Skin: A slimy red jelly coats the babe’s skin when in combat, reducing damage by 50% from cutting and stabbing weapons.
• Thief Skills: These demons have the abilities of a thief of 9th level. 
• Weapon Damage: Babau suffers damage from ordinary weapons and +2 damage from weapons of iron.
• Spell-Like Abilities: The babau can use the following at will.
• darkness 10’ radius
• dispel magic
• fear (as the wand of fear, by touch)
• fly
• levitate
• polymorph self
• heat metal.
• Gate Demon: a babau may gate (25% probability of success) another babau demon.

 My favorite game I never get to play? Easy.

C. J. Carella's WitchCraft.

I love everything about this game and I never ever get to play it.  I think the last time was at Gen con maybe 10-12 years ago.

It was my inspiration behind Ghosts of Albion and NIGHT SHIFT. Neither of those games would have been made if it had not been for WitchCraft.

I can't even adequately put into words what this game means to me. Only the AD&D Monster Manual comes close.

 Going back to Room #2 the next passage looks similar to the passageway for Room #3.

 The tunnel is largely empty.  

 Not sure if this means "This Year" or "Ever." Let's go with Ever.

The Oldest game I have played is Original Dungeons and Dragons.

I spent a summer after my freshman year at college playing in an OD&D campaign. It was an eye-opening experience to say the least!

 Passageway 4 ends in a locked door. The lock can be picked or forced open with a combined strength of 24.

Inside this small oval shape room, the party finds a collection of treasure.

The lamps (six total) glow with an arcane light (via a continual light spell).

There are all sorts of small chests here (10+1d6) each containing gems (5d8 x 100 gp worth), a decanter of endless water, a spell book with random spells (1d10 1st level, 1d8 2nd level, 1d6 3rd level, 1d4 4th level, and 1 5th level). Despite it's obvious age it appears to be magically preserved.*

*If a player reads a spell from this spell book as if it were a scroll, it will destroy the whole book.

There is a dagger +2, +3 to lycanthropes.

A shield +2, +3 vs. missile fire. 

A scroll of teleportation (with detailed descriptions of the 1st level). 

As well as 1d4+3 random other magic items. 

Three of the small chests act as large bags of holding. A person could carry one each.

There is a jeweled crown (cursed, after possessing it for one year the wearer thinks they are a king and demand to be treated as such). 

And a gilded, jeweled dagger. It is sharp but not magical. It is worth 1,000 gp.

Otherwise the room is a dead end.

--

Game Masters should reward XP value equal to 1/2 of the GP value of treasure found. 

 I wasn't going to promote any Kickstarters for a bit after a month of doing nothing but Wasted Lands, but this one came up and I couldn't say no.

The Beast & Snow #1 - NSFW Queer Fairytale Romance

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/comicuno/beastsnow1?ref=theotherside

Revision fairy tales? Vampires? Strong female leads? Kat Calamia and Phil Falco? Dorilys Giacchetto cover? Liana Kangas cover? Stjepan Sejic cover?!

Sign me up! No need, I did that myself.

Ok so this looks like a lot of fun and I am getting a strong "Carmilla" and "Vampyres" vibe from this. 

The art looks great and the story should be great from what little bit I can gather here.  They are just missing a witch from being perfect! (I am nothing if not consistent.)

And if you think I am NOT doing versions of these characters for my home game using my Monster Mash rules then you don't know me or this blog very well. 

They have met their funding and unlocked their first stretch goal. Looks like they might need more stretch goals at this rate!

But seriously, this looks like a lot of fun and I hope there are a lot of issues in this series. 

 Not counting collections (I'll detail that later) the most recent game I have bought was bought FOR me and not BY me.  That would be my Spanish Language D&D 5e books.

I got these as Birthday presents back in June because I am learning Spanish now. They are actually a lot of fun and have been a great challenge.  I am looking for other RPGs in Spanish too.

 Continuing on in this passageway the party encounters a long corridor. 

This corridor is lit with an eerie eldritch light. The floor is made up of tiles.

The corridor is 50ft long, and every five feet there is a pressure plate on the floor that fires a magic missile at the party. 1d6 hp of damage, it will always hit one character at random.

A thief can find the traps (the pressure plate), but the trap itself is magical and needs a dispel magic to stop. The dispel magic only works for 1 of the 10 traps in this area.

Doing so will result in 50 xp.

 I had to think about this one, but my first RPG purchase of 2023 had to be my Deluxe Edition of The Dark Eye.

There is a lot about this game I really love and want to do more with. I still might get around to doing some more too.

• Review: The Dark Eye
• Review: The Dark Eye - Witch's Dance
• Character Creation Challenge: The Dark Eye

The first four tunnels are on the left, and they are all lined up next to each other.  The fifth tunnel is on the right and at an angle away from the others.

The farthest tunnel opening on the left leads to a short but wide tunnel. The walls are smooth, as is the floor, but it is obviously carved out of the rock.  Within this tunnel, the party encounters a group of four small demons.

DRETCH

These creatures are fat, with long, spindly arms and legs.  They have rudimentary human heads, with slobbering jaws and folds of fat.  Dretch demons have some weak demonic powers.  

Armor Class: 2 [17]
Hit Dice: 4 (18 hp)
Attacks:  2 claws (1d4), 1 bite (1d6)
THAC0: 16 [+3]
Movement: 120’ (40’)
Saving Throws: D10 W11 P12 B13 S14 (4)
Morale: 6
Alignment: Chaotic
XP: 225
Number Appearing: 1d4+1 
Treasure Type: J, K, L, M

• Low intelligence: Dretch demons are not intelligent and act accordingly.
• Demonic Powers: Dretch demons have some minor demonic powers. Each usable once per day.

• stinking cloud once per day
• teleport
• cause darkness (10ft diameter)
• summon 1d4 giant rats

 Yeah...I am obsessed. Mail call today, and it was full of some great witch books.

Up first, another witch-centric RPG I backed on Kickstarter, Last Sabbath.

Last Sabbath RPG Art, bookmark and pin

The game looks phenomenal, and I want to try it out really soon.

And one I have been waiting 20+ years for.

Ashley Poston has a novel out about 17-year-old Tara, one of my all-time favorite witches. 

This is her pre-Sunnydale days, and I can't wait to jump into this.  And because I had a credit lying around, I picked it up on Audible as well.

While I am sure the narrator will be great, it would have been nice to get Amber Benson to do it.

--

So yeah I *know* I am obsessed, and I know I catch some grief for it online, but you know what? 

I don't actually care.

This is my little corner of the Internet, and I get to do what I love here. And if that gets me 10 fans or 10,000*, then fantastic! Plenty of other sites out there that leave me scratching my head asking "who would even find that fun??" but hey, their sites, their rules. 

To quote Steve Martin, "The most amazing thing to me is, I get paid for doing this!"

(*It is less than 10,000, but a lot more than 10!)

 Another one that has been on my mine a bit lately.

My first Gamemaster was myself really. We all kind of taught ourselves how to play back then and I didn't have older brothers or friends that played.  But that changed when I got to Jr. High.

My first real DM was Jon Cook and we played this hybrid version of Basic (B/X) D&D and 1st Edition Advanced D&D. 

In a lot of ways I guess I am still chasing that high.

 Beyond the doors is a large cave system. The cave is huge and while fires can be seen down many of the tunnels (larger tunnels than the ones on the level above), this level is cooler.

There are five tunnels leading out of this chamber.