The Other Side

Kickstart Your Weekend: All About Those Witches!

So new Kickstarters up from the last week or so. All are doing well and certainly don't need my signal boost, but I feel obligated to do so.

MythCraft | A Complete TTRPG Universe and Game System

MythCraft | A Complete TTRPG Universe and Game System

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/quasigrant/mythcraft-rpg?ref=theotherside

MythCraft aims high. It looks great and the team certainly put a lot of love and care into it.  What I am hearing most about it is the detailed character-building rules and options.  Indeed it looks quite fun to be honest and the game is attractive as hell. They are going all out here.

It *might* just be another Fantasy Heartbreaker, but even if it is, it is still detailed enough to have my attention.  There is a Quick Start here, and I am quite excited for them.

There is a lot, and I mean A LOT of material here and there is no way I can do it justice, but check them out and see for your self. 

Can You Play A Witch? Yes! In fact the witch is one of the four classes (out of 11) that they are featuring here.  You can see her on the cover, upper left. 


All the Witches

All the Witches

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/allthewitches/all-the-witches?ref=theotherside

I interviewed the project lead and "head witch" Emmapanada yesterday. Well this one came screaming out the gate and was funded in under 3 hours!  

What else can I add? I love the art and I am really looking forward to seeing this one become a reality.

Can You Play A Witch? Yes! Correction. HELL YES! That's what this game is all about and honestly, I am all here for it.


Shadowdark RPG: Old-School Gaming, Modernized

 Old-School Gaming, Modernized

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/shadowdarkrpg/shadowdark-rpg-old-school-gaming-modernized?ref=theotherside

The current darling of the Old-School crowd. It is fun, I have had the QuickStart since Gary Con last year and played around with it.  The production values here are top notch, so it is certainly a very attractive set.

It is fun yes and has a lot going for it. I think it lives somewhere in between DCC and OSE. Though I do admit I can't really see what this does for me that OSE can't do.  Still, I know this will be fun for the right groups.

Can You Play A Witch? Yes, but you will need to grab her from the Cursed Scroll #1 zine to add her. 

ShadowDark books
ShadowDark witch
ShadowDark warlock
--

Lots of great games out there!

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 17

The hallway continues a bit and then turns to the left, but before that, there is another cell on the right.

Cell 17

The doors are open. Inside this cell are three orcs with swords.  They are searching the cell, but have not found anything, they attack the party.

They have normal amounts of treasure for wandering orcs.

--

The orcs come from a portal on the second level.


Interview with Emmapanada of "All The Witches"

Something special today.  I had the chance to talk to Emma, aka Emmapanada, the lead designer of the RPG "All the Witches" that is Kickstarting today.  What is "All the Witches?"  Well, let us find out!

All the Witches

All the Witches

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/allthewitches/all-the-witches?ref=theotherside

Tim Brannan/The Other Side: It is my pleasure today to be interviewing the team that is currently Kickstaring a new Witch-based RPG, “All The Witches.” Which you can find here, https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/allthewitches/all-the-witches

Today I am talking with Lead Designer Emma for today’s launch. 

Before we get into all the questions, please introduce yourself and tell us all what your role is on this team.

Emma: My name is Emma, also known as Emmapanada! I use they/she pronouns and I’m the Creator, Lead Developer, Lead Game Designer for All the Witches. I’ve been playing TTRPGs for a little over 10 years now, and I started creating systems in September of 2020. I’ve been working on All the Witches since about December 2021, and I’m incredibly excited to have it finally come to Kickstarter!

TB/TOS: What are some of your favorite games? Why?

Emma: Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition has a special place in my heart, because it was the first TTRPG I played long term. My friends and I would play every Saturday in College for 12-14 hours, and it was an absolute blast. Dnd 5e was starting to get playtested when we were playing, so we were way behind the times, but it was a ton of fun. Once I started playing more systems, I really fell in love with Kids on Bikes because sneaking around town hunting for ghosts and cryptids is really fun and stressful, and World of Darkness holds a special place in my heart because it was the first game I played with my partner. 

All the Witches

TB/TOS: That is great, I also rather enjoyed the World of Darkness, as well, and Kids on Bikes is great fun. Tell us a bit about this game and what backers should look forward to when they get it.

Emma:  Absolutely! All the Witches is an original Tabletop Roleplaying Game with some deck-building mechanics utilizing the standard array of dice except for the D100. In the system, you have 5 attributes that any skill checks made during gameplay will fall under. Those attributes are Power, Agility, Soul, Mind, and Endurance. When you try to make a check, your GM will tell you what attribute they think that check relates to, and then they'll tell you to roll a certain die. In this system, the die you roll determines the difficulty of the check, and you succeed on the check if you roll at or below the corresponding attribute's rank. So if your GM tells you to make a D10 Agility check, and your Agility is rank 4, then you succeed on rolling a 4 or below. As you play the game, your Attributes will rank up, and over time you'll automatically pass certain levels of difficulties for checks because you Attribute rank is higher than the value of the die. 

The deck building comes into play during encounters. Your deck is made up of number cards from either the Minor Arcana of a Tarot Deck, or from a deck of playing cards. At the start of the game, you'll have 5 cards in your deck that numerically equate to each of your Attributes' ranks. When you enter an encounter, you'll draw three cards from your deck and when it's your turn, you'll play a card from your hand. The card you play determines the number of Actions you get in that turn. If you play a 4 of Swords, then you have 4 actions that turn. You can use actions to cast spells, move, interact with objects, attack, or use abilities. As you play the game you'll add more numbered cards to your deck, some special face cards that give you special abilities on your turn, and as you reach certain parts of the game the suits of the cards you play will come into effect. 

Our goal as a team is not to create an entire world in All the Witches. Instead, our plan is to feature 3 regions of the world and flesh them each out with rich detail. Groups that play All the Witches can start off in one of these regions and have entire adventures there, they can go and travel to the other regions to explore, or they can collectively imagine what the rest of this world might look like and build things together to make their stories truly theirs. 

All the Witches

The three regions that All the Witches will feature are:

-Tane: A dense forest region that once thrived with life and beauty. Long ago, some adventurers slew a great spirit that resided in Tane, and its death sent the entire region into a spiral of corruption and Discordance. Not many live there now because the region is extremely toxic and dangerous, but those that do rely heavily on Witches to keep their towns free of corruption, poison, and dangerous creatures. Groups that start here will often find themselves fighting against the very nature around them in order to survive. 

-The Golden Islands: A large chain of islands that house two civilizations that couldn't be more opposite to one another. The United Islands of Sunder are a free people that use magic to sail the seas, explore the unknown, and keep the treasures they find. Darkhammer on the other hand is a society with strict rules that uses magic to strengthen and protect their ships and trading routes. These two come into conflict often, and groups that start here will find themselves fighting people from either civilization in order to survive. 

-Cyllynys: A verdant gem in the northern seas, Cyllynys is a small nation with a big impact on the world at large. Settled long ago by a diverse array of peoples, its earliest history is shrouded in myth and legend; ancient monuments of mysterious origin dot the landscape. The people of Cyllynys have, since their earliest days, put a tremendous value upon knowledge and wisdom, and this led to their development of steam technology. Now, that same technology threatens to take over the traditions and ancient monuments that once meant so much. Groups that start here will face a changing nation, and the tensions that arise because of that change.

We're committed to being a digital-only product with our Kickstarter launch for a number of reasons:

1. We're a small TTRPG project and printing generally takes up about a third of a project's entire budget. In a COVID world where a lot of groups are currently playing digitally, we think that money can be better spent on accessibility resources to help people learn and play our game. We're hoping to build a website to help people with character creation and upkeep, to incorporate links into our PDF that lead to short, professionally produced videos explaining certain portions of the rules for people that struggle learning systems just from reading text, and more.

2. Due to the world wide paper shortage the past few years, a number of TTRPG projects have been delayed, and we think that as a small project we should do what we can to encourage others to seek a paperless route. We hope to show the TTRPG industry what all can be done with your project when you aren't focused on physical prints of your books.

3. Because we're focusing on a digital product, we'll be able to include a lot more to enhance the player experience. With each purchase of All the Witches, we'll be including various music files, portraits for NPCs and Characters, digital maps, and more. 

Since this is a digital product where everyone will get all the resources that are made, there will only be a few pledge levels on the Kickstarter itself. The main pledge level will be $30, and that will get you the PDF as well as all other digital resources such as musical tracks, character and NPC portraits, maps, stream overlays, stream assets, emotes, and more. There will be a $50 pledge level that's for those that want to support the book a little more, and for those that pledge at that level there will be thank you pages dedicated to them at the back of the book with fun art. Then there will be a $200 pledge level that will get a personalized thank you at the back of the book, and a Character/NPC portrait will be made based on them. 

TB/TOS: What do you all feel makes All The Witches different from games currently on the market? What do you say makes it special? Or, bottom line, why should people want to buy this game?

Emma: On top of having a unique rule system that I think will surprise a lot of people, our commitment to being a wholly digital game gives us the opportunity to do a lot that other games aren’t doing. With the release of our game, we’re also sending backers tools to help enhance their online roleplaying experience including original orchestrations that tables can use in their games, NPC and Character tokens, emotes, stream overlays and assets, and professionally produced videos to help people learn our system who have a hard time learning just by reading. Additionally, since we’re digital, after release we can continue making new content for All the Witches and releasing it for free in content patches to the PDF. I like to think of All the Witches as a living TTRPG, because I have plans to keep updating it after release at no additional cost to those who have already purchased the book. 

TB/TOS: Tell me a bit more about the deck-building mechanic. This is a feature of a few games, but not really a lot.

Emma:  I talked a bit about the deck-building mechanics above, but it’s a really hard system to incorporate into a TTRPG without those mechanics becoming the sole-identity of the rules. I wanted to find a way to have deck building, but also have it be balanced with the rest of the system without stealing the spotlight from the other mechanics. It took me a long time to figure out, but I think I found a really great way to do it, and I’m excited for everyone to see the ways deck building influences the entire system and what it brings to it as a whole. 

TB/TOS: What sorts of games do you see others playing with these rules? In other words, what can players do in this game?

Emma: There are so many different kinds of games that people can play with All the Witches. Groups can use All the Witches to have a magical school simulator where you live as students, recruit new professors to your schools, meet new students, establish new traditions, and more. They can use the system to play an entire campaign centered around the magical sport that we’ve created called Ryndarost. They can follow a traditional story of adventure and fighting monsters that have been brought about due to the corruption in the world. They can even become heroes that ease the corruption in the world through a special mechanic called a Harmonization Ceremony! The goal is to build a system full enough that a group can take it and use it for any kind of story that they’d like to explore about Witches, and I think we’ve got a really amazing team in order to bring that vision together. 

TB/TOS: The art so far in All the Witches looks amazing. What is the diving vision here on the art and how does that influence the game design and vice-versa?

Emma:  That’s incredibly kind of you to say! I think art is one of the most important things for an indie TTRPG, and it absolutely helps bring life to the world. I’m not an artist, but working with artists causes me to think about how things look visually, because they ask me a lot of questions, and that causes me to have to make a lot of stylistic decisions about the system that have an impact on everything. Do Witches use a staff or a wand? What do they look like and what are they made of? Do Witches have to have them in order to cast magic? What benefits does using a staff or wand give to a Witch that they wouldn’t have normally? One simple question often branches off into so much more, which helps our team develop a fuller and more cohesive game. 

Because I’m not an artist, I’ve been working alone for a lot of this pre-Kickstarter process to pull together cool images to help give life to All the Witches. But hiring Nala Wu has been incredibly helpful, and they’re expertise has already proven invaluable. They’re going to start working fully on all the art for All the Witches after the Kickstarter, but they helped me put the cover and the landscape pieces together, and those pieces bring so much life and character to our game that I’m excited to see what we’re able to make together next once we have our funding. 

All the Witches

TB/TOS: Who would you say All the Witches is for?

Emma:  All the Witches is a game made for those who grew up escaping into worlds of fantasy and magic that have felt abandoned by those world’s creators. We are here to give you the tools and resources to explore a world full of magic and adventure with stories built by you and those you love. Escape into a new world of fantasy and magic built by a team of Queer and BIPOC writers and designers.

TB/TOS: What are your future plans for this game?

Emma:  If all goes according to plan and we successfully fund and are able to fully create and release All the Witches, the plan is that I’ll periodically keep updating the game with new content that will be released for free to everyone who owns a copy of the PDF while I continue working on my next two unannounced TTRPG projects. 

TB/TOS: And, for the benefit of my audience, well, and me (!), who are all of your favorite witches or magic-using characters?

Emma:  I grew up on Final Fantasy games and RPGs, so Vivi from Final Fantasy IX will always have a special place in my heart on top of Morrigan from Dragon Age: Origins! 

TB: And finally, where can we find you all on the internet?

Emma:  You can find us on Twitter @allthewitches_ to keep updated on everything going on, and you can find my personal account @emmapanada! 

--All the Witches is Kickstarting right now! Check it out.
All the Witches


#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 16

This room is down the hall and to the left.

Room 16

Inside this room is a Lesser Iron Golem. It is like an iron golem in all respects, but only has 4HD and it does 1d8+1 points of damage per hit.

It instructed to attack, the problem was it attacks everyone even its makers. So they left it here. 

There is double treasure type E scattered about the floor of this room. 

Blogging A to Z Theme Reveal: Doctor Who

Once again, I am participating in the April A to Z Blogging Challenge, but this year I wanted to do something a little different than more normal witch or monster-related postings. 

This year is the 60th Anniversary of my favorite sci-fi show of all time, Doctor Who!

Doctor Who 2023 Logo

I thought it would be fun to celebrate all things Doctor Who next month. 

Not 100% sure what I'll talk about, but I know I have plenty to work with.


AtoZChallenge theme reveal 2023 #atozchallenge

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 15

Continuing down the hallway there is another cell on the right (where the ghosts seemed to have been running too).

Room 15

This room also has two more Wraiths. They appear to be two adventurers in the process of looting a corpse. The corpse is now only old bones.

The wraiths will break their loop and attack the characters.

The skeleton has a rusted sword, tattered clothes, and a dagger in its back.  There is a bag with 15 gp in it.



Jonathan M. Thompson Memorial Bundle

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the GoFundMe page for the funeral expenses of Jonathan Thompson. 

Pinnacle Entertainment has now set up a bundle on DriveThruRPG to help aid in more of his family's expenses. 

Jonathan M. Thompson Memorial

Jonathan M. Thompson Memorial [BUNDLE]
(not an affiliate link)

This bundle has close to 150 titles valued at $644.54, all yours for $25.

There is a wide variety here too. Old-school OSR, lots of Savage Worlds, even some Chivalry & Sorcery. Or, in other words, a lot of Jonathan's favorite games.

So please pick this up. Lots of great titles, and the proceeds go to help a grieving family.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 14

Continuing down the hallway, you see two figures leaving the cell on the left.

Ghosts from Cell #14

The figures are two Wraiths and they are leaving the cell, as they have done 1000 times since they died. They are vaguely humanoid. One appears to be a male fighter and the other a female wizard or cleric.

When they spot the PCs they will attack.

There is a small hoard of treasure in Cell #14. Items from previous victims. They used to be adventurers themselves but are now dead. 

Monstrous Monday: Monsters and XP

LilithNot the art I will use for Lilith, but it is cool.

The work continues on my Basic Bestiaries. I spent some time over the weekend working on various Demon Lords, and working on revisions to my stat block that work well for me and any potential readers.  This has lead me to an issue I need to resolve.

One of the goals for all my Basic Bestaries is to provide players of whatever version of the Great Game they are playing (pre-2000) and their clones a useful and complete stat block for their games.  Another goal was to add what I felt were the best options for new school (post-2000) play. Generally speaking this has worked out well enough with a few extra notes added. But I have come to place where things have gotten messy. That is, how should I denote XP gained.

There are minor differences between all the various clones and even in the versions of D&D itself on how XP should be calculated and/or displayed for defeating a monster.

Let's take an example, the Aglæca from a previous Monstrous Mondays.

Here is the stat block.

Aglæca
Large Humanoid

Frequency: Very Rare
Number Appearing: 1 (1)
Alignment: Chaotic [Chaotic Evil]
Movement: 180' (60') [18"]
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Hit Dice: 8d8**+16 (52 hp)
  HD (Large): 8d10**+16 (60 hp)
Attacks: claw, claw, bite
Damage: 1d6+4 x2, 1d8+4
Special: Cause fear, magic required to hit, regenerate 1 hp per round, infravision, sunlight sensitivity. 
Size: Large
Save: Monster 8
Morale: 12 (12)
Treasure Hoard Class: XIX [D] x2
XP: 1,750 (OSE) 1,840 (LL)

Ok, a few things first. Items in RED are AD&D/OSRIC and some Swords & Wizardry add-ons to what would be a Basic D&D stat block. Items in GREEN are "new school" add-ons like ascending AC and the XP values for OSE and Labyrinth Lord.  I also want to point out one other item I have discussed in the past using different die types for size categories.  This is something from D&D 5 (and in the SRD). Not only does it make sense, it also replicates something I was doing in AD&D 1 anyway (though I only used d6, d8, and d10).  It helps solve a lot of issues with hp spread and size. 

But...there is a consequence of this. 

So my issue recently has been one of XP calculation. I want a book that can be used by players of AD&D and Basic D&D, as well as OSE, Labyrinth Lord, Swords & Wizardry, OSRIC, and Basic Fantasy.  The trouble is they don't all line up with XP point calculations.  And more to the point even something like my Aglæca here is a Large creature, so it's hp, and thus it's XP value, will be greater in AD&D and OSRIC than they would by the book.

What should I do about this?

Solution 1: List Them All

I did this above with just OSE and LL above.  It is comprehensive but unwieldy. 

S&W CL: 10 / XP: 1400
OSE: 1750
LL: 1840
BF: 1015
B/X: 1250
OSRIC: 1150
Advanced: 1150

The OSRIC and Advanced could be collapsed into one (and should).  My d10-based hp calculations do make some of these a little different. 

This works, but like I said, it is unwieldy.

Solution 2: The Point Spread

In truth DMs/GMs always tweak their numbers. So why not a point spread?  Something like this:

Min: 1015
Mean: 1365
Median: 1250
Max: 1840

Smaller. And provides a nice spread without going into details for each system (though the calculations are from all the systems).

Of course, when I publish, the B/X and Advanced numbers have to be removed.

I am also considering a median value or even a weighted mean.  And despite my desire to do so, I doubt I'll add anything like a standard deviation.  (ETA: I added the Median)

Solution 3: The Big Table

I could provide a huge table in the end with all the monster and all their XP calcs.

It wouldn't be that difficult since that is already what I have.

XP Tables

It will likely be some combination of "all the above."

Next task. Reorganize the stat-block for easier reading.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 13

Taking the Right-hand turn in the chamber, you move about 20' in, and another cell is on your right.

Room 13

This cell is large and empty save for the glowing light coming from it.

Standing in the light for a full turn will heal 1 hp of damage.  Characters can be healed for a total of 1d6+1 hp in this manner.




#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 12

 Continuing on the hallway opens up to a large semi-circular chamber.  The hallway continues on beyond the chamber and there is another hallway to the right.

Room 12

There are signs here of a recent battle. There is blood on the ground and spent arrows.

There are no bodies and no treasure.



#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 11

Continuing down this hallway, there is another cell on the right.

Cell 11

The door to this cell is open. Inside are three Zombies. Two are visible in the center of the cell, and the other is propped up against the wall and blends in.

The first two will attack per normal, the other will not attack until the characters are within arm's reach (5 ft).  The third zombie is the experiment, it has a bit more intelligence and cunning for an undead corpse and can move faster. It surprises on a roll of 3 or less on a d6 and can attack at any point with its initiative rolls.  It attacks as a 3HD monster and has the respective XP.

The zombies have no treasure.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 10

This cell is around the corner on the right. The cell door on the right is open and inside is a glowing portal. 

Cell 10

Standing in the room is a human woman. She has two crystals in one hand and is furiously writing notes. She speaks to the party very excitedly, but her language is unknown. She ignores whatever the party says to her; she is too excited about whatever it is she writing. 

She is really only interested in this portal. She has no treasure to mention. If she is attacked she jumps through the portal and runs off.

If the characters follow, the portal will close behind. Take the character sheets from the players and hand them their new Castles & Crusades character sheets for the same characters. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 9

You come to a turn in the hallway. It turns to right, but before it does, there is another cell door on your left.  These cell doors are open.

Cell 9

This room is empty. There are signs of a recent battle. A pile of bones that look like they belonged to a couple of dire wolves is here. 

There is no treasure in this room.

--

There is still a group of ahead of the party and they dealt with the skeletal dire wolves.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 3, Room 8

 Continuing down the hall there is another cell on the right.

Cell 8

This cell appears to be used as a storage area.  There are several chests, all are empty except for two.

Chest #1: has a Small Bag of Holding inside. The bag itself is empty.

Chest #2: Is actually a Mimic and it is starving.

The mimic itself has no treasure.

Not Yet a Mail Call Tuesday: ReAction D&D Figures

 Well...not exactly a Mail Call Tuesday today. Though it will be sometime in June/July.  But I had to mention these.

ReAction, the company that makes action figures for various properties in the style of the old Kenner Star Wars figures (3.75" scale), has a new series coming out.

Wave 1 of their Dungeons & Dragons line has some very familiar faces.

Wave 1 ReFlection D&D Figures

There is the Sorceress (D&D Moldvay Basic), the Efreeti (DMG), and the Githyanki (Fiend Folio) in the first wave for preorder now.

Damn it. Just when I was in a good place NOT to give WotC any money out of protest for the OGL shenanigans. 

Anyway. As someone who really went hardcore with D&D with the Moldvay Basic (my first proper D&D) and writes so much about witches, I am morally obligated to buy the Sorceress.  I owe it to that 11-year-old I once was. Besides, she is certainly popular.

Sorceress CardSorceress

The other figures also look great.

EfreetiGithyanki

The Efreeti also has another advantage. At 3.75", that translates to 18.75' in D&D 3/4/5 scale.  So I could use it as the Efreeti Pasha. It would have a certain level of "street cred" to use the same figure as the front of the DMG for it.  Everyone in my current gaming groups knows all about 1st Ed AD&D, so to them, pulling this guy would have the same effect as pulling out Tiamat or Orcus.

All three of these figures have also, in one form or another, have had premium statues made of them. The Efreeti and the Githyanki from Wizkids and the Sorceress, in her modern guise of Seoni, from Dynamite. These figures are a lot cheaper.

You should be able to preorder these anywhere.

I am getting mine from Super7, which has better shipping. But I have seen them at Entertainment Earth as well. They will likely be on Amazon soon.  Of course you could order them from your FLGS or FLCS.

These are not the same scale as the new D&D Cartoon figures, but they are close to last year's NECA Skyla and Kelek figures. Come back around in June/July, and we will see.

Sympathy for the Succubus, Part 4: In Search of the Sutherland Succubus

I have stumbled on some new information so I have decided to combine an older feature, Sympathy for the Succubus, with a newer one, In Search of, for something new.  In particular, my search for the roots of the succubus in D&D. 

You can see my first three parts here:

Today I want to explore one of the "urban legends" of the early days of D&D. The David Sutherland III succubus art from the AD&D 1st Ed Monster Manual.

Let's start with what everyone knows or thinks they know. 

Two 1977 publicationsTwo 1977 Publications. What do they have in common?

Oh, Sheila!

Sheila MullenShelia MullenSheila Mullen was the Playboy Playmate of the month for May 1977.  Certainly, the time period was right. The Monster Manual was published in December 1977. There are even a few pictures that *could be* right. The one to your right is a cropped version of the biggest contender. 

This notion has been taken up by many modern writers, bloggers, and chroniclers, myself included.  

Likely the source of all of this is the Blog of Holding. Which only claims that the "body of one of these original succubi was copied from a Playboy centerfold."  Sheila Mullen was a centerfold for 1977, making her the likeliest of choices.

Except that is *mostly* wrong.

Sweet as Honey

The date of 1977 is right, but the month was October. And it wasn't a centerfold.

I apologize for not remembering who it was that first clued me in on this idea, but it sent me down a rabbit hole of searching. 

This issue is rather famous for having an interview with Barbara Streisand. I posted the cover above. The centerfold/Playmate is Kristine Winder, who sadly passed in 2011 at 55 from breast cancer. But neither she nor Sheila Mullen lived on in the pages of the Monster Manual. 

No, that honor belongs to Honey Wells.

Miss Wells was featured in the "Ladies of Joy" pictorial by John Bowers, with photography by Robert Scott Hooper. It featured women in "the world's oldest profession." 

As you can see here with the Sutherland Succubus, her photo is a good match.

Honey WellsHoney Wells and the Succubus. Covered for your protection as much as mine

We don't know much about Miss Wells here. Save for what she tells us.

Honey Wells

So there is no real way to research Miss Wells here. I doubt that is even her real name. Not to mention that this is a 45-year-old article, so much could have happened since then. If alive, she would be in her mid to late 60s now.

Which is too bad. I wonder if she ever knew that her pictorial inspired this art and that art was held in such fond memories of an entire generation of gamers.

Now I will concede that the succubus pic is likely inspired by Honey Wells and Sheila Mullen. The hands and hair fit a similar pose on Miss Mullen (pictured above), and the overall pose is Miss Wells.

Sadly David Sutherland passed away in 2005, so I can't approach him and confirm. Indeed, it was also more than 45 years ago, and any memory is likely blurred. 

Though it is comforting that Sutherland, Wells, and yes, Mullen have a bit of D&D Immortality to call their own. 

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 2, Room 23

 This cell looks like it is the same size as the others, but it begins to shift and change.

Will-o-the-wisp

This effect is an illusion and a very powerful one. This illusion makes the room look larger on the inside than it is. Additionally, there is an effect that will confuse anyone inside.  The room's illusion is not related to the creature inside and a save vs. Magic will reveal the room for what it is. 

The inhabitant of this room takes advantage of this illusion.  Inside this room is a Will-o-the-wisp.

AC 3 [17], HD 5+1 (22 hp), Att 1, life drain, THAC0 15 [+4], MV 90’ (30’), SV D11 W11 P12 B13 S15, ML 12, AL Chaotic, XP 575, NA 1 (1d4), TT see below.

This is not the Will-o-the-Wisp normally encountered. This is an undead creature. While it has high HD it is a single creature and has low hp. It can be turned by a cleric as a 5HD creature.  The creature can only be hit by magic.  Its low AC is due to its size, its erratic movement, and its magical protection.

The wisp leads characters into this room and uses the illusion to keep victims confused and scared. It then feeds on the life energies of those trapped. It can't drain the victims directly and has to wait till they start to die of other causes.

The Wisp does not collect treasure, but there is a lot material left from former victims. The only way to find it though is make the save vs. spells to stop the illusions.

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I am reworking Will-O-the-Wisps for my Basic Bestiary. This is a rough draft.

#Dungeon23 Tomb of the Vampire Queen, Level 2, Room 22

 This cell is locked and the door feels stuck.  A combined strength of 28 is needed to force it open.

Room 22

This room has a large blue portal that leads to a different dungeon. Someone has been using this as a storage room. There is a treasure chest with 5,000 gp inside! There are two large Bags of Holding. Many mundane swords, daggers, longbows, arrows, and shields.  There is also food that seems to be fine (it is) but none of it is recognizable. It tastes weird but is perfectly healthy to eat.

If DMs wish they could have the inhabitants of this realm making a deposit. They are closely related to lizardmen.  They are not expecting to fight and have a morale of 6.

Not a Mail Call Tuesday (But Just as Good!)

I was recently at my FLGS, and I decided to pick up some old friends.

AD&D 1st Ed

Like many gamers my age, I started with a wide variety of D&D books. A Basic book here, an OD&D book here, and an AD&D book here. In my case, I started with a lot of D&D Basic (B/X) books. I picked up my AD&D books later on.  So my first AD&D books were Deities & Demigods and the Fiend Folio. I only later grabbed the PHB, DMG, and MM and when I did, they were "newer" Easley/Orange spine covers.  I wanted mine to be different from my then DMs. 

Also, like many gamers my age, I lost them in one of the many, many moves during my university days. This was sad, but I had my 2nd Ed books so I could still at least play.

When I got to a point where I could settle down and get them back, I bought back the original covers. But I always missed the "Trinity" of the orange spine ones.  Well, I decided it was well past time to fix that.

The Holy Trinity x3

I now have the original covers, picked up around 2000 or so. The WotC reprints. And now the Orange Spine ones.

All are in really good condition. I have others, like my softcover Monster Manual and Players Handbook from England and my first-printing PHB and DMG. But those are all safely tucked away from light

Big 3 and Little 3

And I had the mini versions of these covers, so that was one of the reasons I was not rushing to get new copies of these. But I figured I really should get them.

They were not cheap, much more expensive than when I re-bought the original covers in the early 2000s, but honestly, they are really worth it to me.

I have to say, it does put me in the mood for some AD&D 1st Ed! I think I even have some goldenrod character sheets around here as well.

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