Now for something a little different. Pathfinder is great, but it is not the only 3.x-based game out there not named Dungeons & Dragons.  For a while there I did a lot stuff for D20 Modern and I still like to pick up material for it.  Though today I think a 5e-based Modern might be the way to go.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

Witchology 101

PDF. 60 pages, $2.99. 1 page cover, 1 title page, 1 page introduction, 3 pages table of contents. 3 pages Creative Common license, 1 page OGL.  Rest content.

This book is punching way above its weight class, to be honest.   The organization is a bit odd, but nothing I can't navigate. 

We get a Glossary at the start, which I guess works to help people unfamiliar with some of these terms.  An introduction to a Who's Who of magical people and places. This includes the various school of magic as if they were actual schools. Each school gets its Latin motto, its center of studies, and titles. It is a pretty cool idea really.  Spells by school are listed with their appropriate colleges. 

There is a whole implicit setting here that can be used in conjunction with any Modern d20 game that also has magic, say like Urban Arcana. It can also be used with other modern games that are built on a d20 system.  I am not 100% sure, but I bet it would work with Mutants and Masterminds for example.

This is a d20-based rule book so there are some features of that. What am I saying? There are Feats! Quite a few in fact. There are spells, some new, some we have seen before (this is fine).  Also to my pleasure, there are new creatures or some reskinned ones. This is a must I think.

It has a Creative Commons License and the OGL. I am not really sure if you can mix the two.  But that does not detract from my enjoyment of it.

So for just under $3 you get 50 pages of solid content. There is no art to speak of, but that is fine really.

Solid work.

I have to admit, I am a big fan of the "Rule of 2" we use for NIGHT SHIFT.

From the rules:

The rule of 2: this is my name for a sub-system in D&D that has never been precisely codified, but is buried deep in the bones of the game. Any time a situation needs to be adjudicated in D&D for which there is not another system, throw a die, and on a result of 1 or 2, it happens. Listening at a door (and not a thief)? You hear noise on a 1 or 2. Looking to notice a secret door (and not a dwarf or elf)? Roll a d6 and you find it on a 1 or 2. Surprise? 1 or 2. The only thing that changes, for the most part, is the type of die--rangers, for example, use a d8 surprise die--and some character types may adjust the probability (elves noticing a secret door without searching is a 1 on a d6).

A nice simple rule that covers a bunch of situations. 

A couple of PDFs tonight. Both giving me some new feats for the Pathfinder 1st Edition Witch.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

Witch Feats
from Island Of Bees

PDF. 5 pages, PWYW, suggested $1.00. No cover. No OGL.

This one is oddly presented and I had to go back and make sure I had the right file. But once I got into it then yes it is the right PDF.  The cover to the right is not in the file (as a cover) and it jumps right into the content. The art takes up half of every page, so not really 5 pages, but 2.5 pages of content (more like 2). The art is good, very visually striking and I like it (our cover girl here is on page 4 for the Witch Brew), but there is one of what looks like a young girl in a Civil War-era Union uniform with a rat familiar.  It is good and I rather like it, but it looks very out of place, to be honest.

While presented as feats, these are really patron pacts.  So you get these if you take the feat. The text is mostly fluff. The advantage to this is you could use them with Pathfinder 2nd Ed or D&D 5th Ed warlocks too. It's just not what I thought it might be.

Fantastic Feats Volume XXVII - Witches
from Ennead Games

PDF. 5 pages. $1.25. 1 page for cover, 1 page for Preface/Table of Contents, 1 page for the OGL. 2 pages of content.

This file has seven witch feats presented in the traditional manner for the Pathfinder 1st Edition RPG. There are some interesting ones here too. The Stable Spell gives the witch more control over the damage she can do while Unstable Spell adds some randomness. Aura of Menace should be taken by all witches I think!

Certainly some fun ideas here. 

In the past, I would have focused on the adventure, the excitement and the interactivity of it all. Today I would still do that, but I would also focus on the things that mean more to me these days; playing with family and friends.

I'd also point out how it is a great creative effort.  Want to write an 11 backstory for your character? Sure! Go ahead. But keep in mind they might die at any point.  What to do then? New character and new backstory!

There are so many reasons people get into RPGs now and so many different kinds to choose from. Getting people into RPGs may not be the right question. Instead, how do we help people find the right RPG for their needs and wants?

More Pathfinder material tonight.  

Full disclosure, I am friends with the author, Robert W. Thomson. Also, I will be following my rules for this to remain fair.

Witch Options (PFRPG)

PDF. 10 pages, 1 cover, 2.4 pages for OGL. 6.6 pages of content. $2.00

I like Purple Duck Games. They produce a lot of material so it is a good chance there is something out there that you will enjoy.  This book has a lot of different options for the witch class as the title says. 

There is a little bit of everything in this book too.

There are five new hexes. Five new Major hexes and four Grand hexes. Six New Patron Themes. Ten new feats.  I am rather fond of the Triple Moon Tattoo feat to be honest.

Ten new spells, including "Summon Hag."  Four new pieces of equipment.

There is the hagborn template to add to any monster for creatures born to hags.

There is not a lot of any one thing here, but a lot of different things. For $2.00 how could I say no?

So this was posted earlier this week.

So I guess that makes it official. You can get Twilight Fables in 5e AND OSE/OSR flavors.

There are new OSR tiers to choose from. I just updated mine to include both the OSE and 5e versions of the book.

--

Twilight Fables

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1693797308/twilight-fables?ref=theotherside

Really looking forward to this one. It is for 5e and it looks AMAZING.  Rod was the mastermind behind Chromatic Dungeons, so you know the quality is good, but he has upped his game to the next level on this one. In addition to a Print on Demand version, there will be the ubiquitous PDF and Print-friendly PDF, and there will also be an accessible RTF file.  There is also an option for a glossy offset print if the stretch goal is made.

Additionally, you get a zip file containing tokens and markdown files of every creature, as well as dozens of printable images of the monsters. To be used at your table or virtual table. 

The book has a ton of monsters from myth and legend and more to the point the book is already done. That's correct, there might be some minor edits here and there, but the book is done, art is in place, and you will get your digital rewards (PDF, RTF, tokens) as soon as the funding is done.

That's the way to do it honestly.

And NOW an OSR option too!

I guess this is continuing on from Day 3's choice.

Why will they like this game? 

Well for Basic D&D you can get up and running really fast. Character creation is quick, you can be right into the action in under an hour.

I also use D&D Basic to sell people on the game by appealing to their sense of history, I talk about how many others have traveled the same paths they have. I appeal to their nostalgia.  With "Stranger Things" so prominent in the media now this is a good hook.

"So many heroes have walked this path, but so many more are now forgotten. Which one will you be?"

Making my way through various Pathfinder books this one caught my eye a while back. 

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

Into The Breach: The Witch

PDF. 32 pages. 1 cover, 1 title, 1 credits page, 1 table of contents, 1 OGL, for 27 pages of content.  $5.99.

This book has quite a bit of good content. 

There are new archetypes: Bailiwick Hermit, Bog Builder, Bulwark Theurgist, Dweomer Weaver, Foul Temptress, Gluttonous Crone, Marjara Bound, the Scorned Heart, and Voodoo Crafter.

Each archetype has a number of new associated powers. 

There is a new  Base Class related to the witch, the Sèvitè which is the worshiper of a lost creator god. Essentially this is a Voodoo practitioner in Pathfinder terms.  The interesting thing for me is their ability to Syncretize various gods. Very interesting to be sure. 

There are a couple of very interesting Prestige Classes presented as well. The Heathen and The Scarred Shaman. 

Like all good witch books for Pathfinder, this one has a number of Hexes, Major Hexes, and Grand Hexes.  There are also four new Patrons and quite a few new feats.

I rather like it to be honest. Lots of fun options here. The Voodoo-themed elements are nice and I would love to explore more with the syncretism of the gods. 

This one is easy.

If it is the first game for people I don't know well and I am teaching them the game then I usually want to do it at my Favorite Local Game Store, Games Plus in Mount Prospect, IL.  This way if they want to buy the game in question everything they need is right there.  Plus it is a nice neutral environment.

If it is for people I know well then I prefer my game room here at my home.  I always wanted my own game room and now I have one.

I just need to convince my kids they need to clean up when they are done using it.

Halloween is coming...in a couple of months, but you are going to need to be ready and here is something to help with that.

Witches and Bats

These papercraft minis to print and cut out.  You get 6 wicked witches, 4 giant bats and 1 small bat swarm. There is a preview on the DriveThruRPG page.

I do not own a Silhouette/Craftrobo cutter, I just printed them out on a laser printer and made little stands for them.  I use them as part of a village of witches.  My kids have learned that "paper minis" are NPCs that don't interact much while "plastic minis" are main NPCs.  So of course they want to talk to all the paper minis!  At least these ones are interesting. 

One page at $2.95 but that is fine really, I don't think art has to follow the same rules I use for reviewing other materials.

Do I use these with my War of the Witch Queens?  Absolutely. I need a lot of witches to populate the Tredicim (the gathering of Witches) and these are great to fill out the ranks.

I mix them with Ghostly Spirits, Demons, Devils and Imps, Scarecrows and Jack-O-Lanterns (a favorite), Evil Cultists, and Gothic Statues for a full-on Halloween Village feel.

I believe I have shared this story before, but it never hurts to re-share.

For me, it was the Winter of 1979.  It was "quiet reading" time at school and I had already read everything in our school's small library on science and my new fascination, Mythology.  So instead of picking up "D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths" for the 100th time, I borrowed a friend's book that also covered all the same monsters and creatures. 

The book was the AD&D Monster Manual.

The rest is history.  I tried to figure out to play on my own, made up a bunch of stuff, and then finally got a copy of the Holmes Basic book. A poorly Xeroxed copy to be exact. Until I got my hands on the Moldvay Basic set this was how I tried to play D&D.  

 Two different products from two different publishers that aim to do similar things. But combined?  Oh I may have found something rather amazing here.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

100 Witches

PDF. 19 pages. Color cover and pages. Black & white art.  $1.99.

This book has 100 different witches with names and a paragraph for their background.  Need a quick NPC witch? Roll a d100 and you will have one. There are no stat blocks, just the names and backgrounds.  But that is exactly what they adveritse, so we are in great shape really.

10,000 Witches

PDF, 1 page, no art. $1.50.

Another one of Lee's Lists products. This one features two d100 tables, one of names and the other of titles or honorifics.  So a roll of 23 and 85 produces "Isadora the Bald."

What it lacks in length it makes up for in versatility.  You can in fact create 10,000 different witches here. 

--

Now how can I get 1,000,000 witches? Take both products and run your generation methods; a 3d100. The first d100 gives you the name, the second d100 gives you the title honorific, and the last d100 you use to get the backstory.  100x100x100 or 1003 or 1,000,000 witches.

Combine this with a product like Build a Witch and you can create a nearly endless supply of witches.

It's Tuesday and that usually means new releases.  It is also Lughnasadh (well yesterday) and the first of the Pagan harvest festivals.

I thought some "new" releases were in order.  They are not new per se, but they are new bundles.

2022 Pagan Witch Bundle

This combines several "Pagan" witches into one set.  Five books for four different OSR rulesets (Old School Essentials, Labyrinth Lord, Blueholme, and Swords & Wizardry).  Plus the Witch/Warlock Character Folio. 333 pages.

It includes:

• The Craft of the Wise: The Pagan Witch Tradition
• Daughters of Darkness: The Mara Witch for Basic Era Games
• The Children of the Gods: The Classical Witch for Basic Era Games
• The Green Witch for Swords & Wizardry 
• The Witch: Aiséiligh Tradition for Swords & Wizardry
• Witch Character Sheet - Folio

The idea is to take whichever class you want, a Pagan Witch, or a Green Witch, and use the ruleset of your choice. Use all the spells, powers, and monsters from all the books.

And not to let the witches have all the fun, I have a warlock bundle as well.

2022 Warlock Bundle

Five books for four different OSR rulesets (Old School Essentials, Labyrinth Lord, Blueholme, and Swords & Wizardry).  Plus the Witch/Warlock Character Folio. 333 pages.

• The Warlock for Old-School Essentials
• The Warlock for Swords & Wizardry 
• The Winter Witch for Swords & Wizardry 
• Witch Character Sheet - Folio

If you purchased any of these books in the past then DriveThru will apply a discount. 

There are a lot of great choices out there, but I am still rather partial to the 1981 Moldvay Basic Set.  Starts you out simple and lets you build as you go on.  While the Mentzer Red Box Basic for the BECMI line gets a lot of kudos (and got the sales to be sure) I am still more in the camp of Moldvay.

I suppose it follows then that Old-School Essentials is also a good choice as is Basic Fantasy.

 

Been spending some time with various Pathfinder supplements. Tonight I want to look over the Knotty Works book Advancing the Class.

As always I will be following my rules for these reviews.

Advancing with Class: The Witch

PDF. 27 pages. 1 cover, title page, back cover, 1 ad, 2 pages of ogl. 22 pages of content.

This book has a bunch of new material for the Pathfinder 1st Ed. Witch class.

There are five new Patron themes (with patron spells listed); Arcane Patron, Courtly Fey Patron, Nature Fey Patron, Summer Patron, and Whimsy Patron.

There are 54 new hexes in four categories along with the general, major and grand hexes.

The 17 new feats are interesting since I do like to play with the idea that witches are almost a different type of human.  So there are lot of "blood" nature feats.

The witch Archetypes give you different roleplaying ideas, with some mechanical advantages. We have the Eldritch Witch, Fey Touched Witch, Harrowed Harlequin, Madness Matriarch, Mystic Astrologer, Occult Scholar, and Shadow Mistress. 

There are also three NPC witches using them material above.

There are certainly some great ideas here and some archetypes I'd love to try out.   

The layout is ok. The font is very readable, but the blue boarder seems unnecessary.  The art is a bit of a mixed bag.  But for just under $3.50 it's a good deal.

It is the year 2000. We don't have flying cars, but I have a brand new baby, and Wizards of the Coast, the brand new owners of Dungeons &  Dragons are putting out their new 3rd Edition material.  The Monster Manual was the last of the three core rule books.

For today I am going to consider the 3.0 and the 3.5 versions of the Monster Manuals.  I am also considering the Print and PDF versions from DriveThruRPG.

Monster Manual 3rd Edition

3.0 220 pages. 3.5 324 pages. 425 monsters.

More so than the AD&D 2nd Edition Monstrous Compendiums or Manual this book felt like the Monster Manual of old.

It was the start of the new millennium (almost) and we all survived Y2K.  I had been moving away from D&D for some time by this point and this was the edition that brought me back.  I do sometimes still get the urge to play 3.x and this book is one of those reasons.

The art budget for D&D (no more "Advanced") was heavily increased. Art that would have been chosen for cover art for products in the 1990s now joins several more just like for interior art. Every monster in illustrated in full color now and the book itself is a work of art.

Inside are all the favorites and many new ones to boot.  Demons and Devils are back AS Demons and Devils, although they also retain their bowdlerized names of Tanar'ri and Baatezu respectively. This works out to Wizards of the Coast's advantage since now those names can be considered Product Identity under the newly formed OGL. Sure other publishers can, and do (and boy do they!), talk about demons, but Tanar'i are off-limits.

What is special about this book, and 3.x in general, is now monsters are built using the same rules as characters. They have the same abilities, a great wyrm blue dragon has a strength of 39, and built like characters are with the same skills and the new feat system.  So that same ancient blue dragon can have a fly-by attack feat.  I can't say everything is perfect, but it is certainly better than the catch as catch can abilities of AD&D where a Will-O-the-wisp can has ridiculous stats. 

The implication is here is that some monsters could even be characters. For a crazy example take the Skum (p.229). It has 2d8+2 HD. At the bottom of the stat block is a "Level Adjustment" of +3. Skum start out at 3rd level but still 0 XP. Once they gain enough to get to 4th level they can advance. Usually, there is a preferred class listed, but almost everything can advance as a fighter. 

Creatures also get a different hit die based on their type. Faeries get a d6 while undead gets a d12. Type is very important here. 

There are also templates which is a great idea. Have a 14th-level fighter who is changed into a vampire? Well in older forms of D&D he would have gone down to the HD of a vampire.  In 3.x he is now 14th level (yeah level drain is gone, more or less) and you add vampire abilities on top. It was something hinted at with Ravenloft, now it is part of the rules.

I mentioned the art, it is great though there are some changes between the 3.0 and 3.5 versions.

In fact, there are some monsters not illustrated in the 3.0 version that do get illustrations in the 3.5.

It is really a great resource.  My one complaint is that the one monster per page layout is gone.  This does conserve space and makes the book smaller, I just had gotten used to the format with 2nd Ed.  4th Ed would bring it back.

I have very fond memories of this book. My oldest son as a small child would spend hours flipping through it, just like I had done with the original Monster Manual. 

I should also point out that because of this book and the Open Gaming License I was able to get my first ever professional RPG writing gig working on Eden Studios' Liber Bestarius.

Often, very often, the NPCs I will put into a game or adventure will be drawn from either someone I know or a previous character of mine.  St. Johan Werper in the Guidebook to the Duchy of Valnwall Special Edition is/was my first ever D&D character. Nearly every non-player character in my Night Worlds "Generation HEX" and "Ordinary World" in NIGHT SHIFT were characters in my long-running Chill/Buffy/Ghosts of Albion games.  The Editor in "Weirdly World News" in the Night Companion was based on the director for the play "The Front Page" I was in several lifetimes ago. 

But who is  Admiral Celeste Vorcolio of Six of Cups?

The folk hero of Garnet in Aldis, in the World of Aldea, is not based on any real person nor character of my past.

Since I was modeling the City of Garnet after my childhood memories of Alton, Illinois I took it a step further and thought about the stories I was reading then. While the Tall Tales of Paul Bunyan or Pecos Bill wouldn't really be appropriate for what I wanted, there was another one.  I remembered reading, the stories of a giant sailor named Stormalong. 

After reading mythology, I followed up with the American equivalent, the Tall Tale. While I liked the tales of Pecos Bill and Paul Bunyan it was A. B. Stormalong that would actually feel like an adventure.  Pecos Bill was essentially a drunk cowboy soon to be upstaged in his antics by his younger, dumb brother "Florida Man." Paul Bunyan was a giant, but all he ever did was cut down trees. Stormalong, well he fought the Kraken! The idea that he boarded a ship and signed his name "Stormalong, A.B.," which would go on to mean "able-bodied sailor," stuck with me decades later.

I knew I wanted an admiral in the Aldean Navy.  I knew I wanted Garnet to be the heart of that Navy. So someone from Garnet needed to be the one that made the Navy into what it is today. 

I started with the idea of Stormalong, someone young and ready for adventure, jumping onto a ship and doing whatever they needed to do to be on that ship and rise up through the ranks.  The idea jelled for me when I thought about Star Trek The Next Generation.  Gene Rodenberry had described the characters of Picard, Riker, and Wesley Crusher as all being different parts of Horatio Hornblower.  Though originally "Wesley Crusher" was going to be "Leslie Crusher." Which gave me the idea of instead of Horatio Hornblower, why not Honor Harrington? 

If her adult form was Honor, then who was she as a (very) precocious child?  I mean, like annoyingly precocious. I saw her jumping on the ship and announcing to the crew that she was "Vorcolio, A.B. the greatest sailor in the world! And you will all be taking orders from me soon!"  Who from my readings would fit this mold? Easy. Pipi Longstalking.  Very soon a picture began to emerge.

Celeste, at age 12 runs away from home and jumps onto a ship to be a sailor. The laws at the time said she had to be 16 to join up, but she lied (her first lesson) to get on board.  She quickly proved that while she was a lot of talk, she was also willing to work hard. She took any and every job on the ship no matter how menial or difficult. She would whistle to herself and tell the crew that she wanted to know how to do everything on a ship so she could be a good captain.  When it was discovered that she lied about her age they were already too far out at sea.  The punishment for this was 10 lashes (it was a while back) she admitted she had lied and submitted herself to her punishment. All her other crewmates moved by her work and her willingness to stick to the rules, offered themselves up instead. In the end, the Captian agreed to not give her the lashes until a later date, but she had to learn the job of every crewman on the ship and be able to do it as good as they could.  She remained on that ship for years and when the time came to give her her punishment the Captain instead made her his first officer claiming that would be punishment enough.

She would later go on to have adventures of her own, find her Rhy-fen companion Jarry the Dolphin,  enroll in the Naval Academy where she would butt heads against other officers, fight giant sea monsters and pirates, battle with other Navies, and generally lived her life on the deck of on ship or another.

I don't know how she died.  I don't know when she started a family. I am inclined to say that in her later years she adopted a child and raised them as her own. I think that like many sailors, before and after, her only true love was the sea. 

There are no character stats for Celeste. When you get to Garnet she will have been dead a hundred years, unless you believe the talk of old sailors and they say she is still on the deck of her ship, The Stormalong, sailing the clouds of the storms.  If you listen close you can hear her shouting orders to her crew and laughing at the thunder and lightning.

Green Ronin currently is taking pre-orders for print of Six of Cups.  Order now and get $5 off AND for just $5 more (so retail price) you also get the PDF right now!  That is a hell of a deal.

https://greenroninstore.com/collections/blue-rose/products/blue-rose-six-of-cups

I have been waiting a bit to share this one with you all.  I have an adventure in the newest Blue Rose RPG book, Six of Cups!

Yes, that is my name at the bottom. 

I am quite excited about this really. There are a lot of great adventures here from a lot of great authors/designers.  Working with Green Ronin was a joy really. I am honored to have been able to contribute even just a small part to the World of Aldea.

My adventure, appropriately named "Witching Weather" deals with the birth of five children all of who have some sort of magical power and the forces of darkness that are closing in around them.

In addition to the adventure, I was given the privilege to add a bit more detail to the City of Garnet. 

I have seen the world of Blue Rose described as "fantasy Seatle" which may or may not be true, but Garnet as I have written it is "Fantasy Alton, IL."  Alton is a blue-collar riverside town with some great history, some unexpectedly good restaurants, and the shadow of the Piasa Bird everywhere you go.  Vyon Bloodwing, one of the adversaries of the adventure, is my homage to the Piasa Bird.  

So grab this book. It has my adventure in it and a bunch of other great adventures and guides to lesser-traveled places in Aldea.  When you are walking along the "Riverwalk" or "Restaurant Row" in Garnet please don't forget to raise your drink, be it a hearty stout or an equally strong tea, to both the Sovereign and the famous Admiral Celeste Vorcolio. Both the pride and joy of Garnet.  

It has not only been a while (nearly a year) since I last talked about the Basic Bestiary, it has been a while since I have actually worked on it.  That is too bad really because while I have been sitting on my thumbs and doing whatever the hell else I have been doing others (at least three I can think of) have gotten their monster books out or into Kickstarter. And there is a lot of overlap in monsters here.  

Frankly, I could not be happier!

I love monster books. I have said this here a thousand times. And more monster books are always welcome. I'll spend some time with these other books later this week.

But I still want to get my own book out.

I am NOT going to do a Kickstarter for it. Nothing against it, but I don't want want to go there yet. So that means the art will be what I can buy when I can buy it with money from my other books. So that means it will be a bit longer.

I also believe that my monster book will be a value add to all the other monster books out there.  There are a lot of great monsters and monster books out there. Mine will be influenced by what I have read and played over the last decades. 

Also, instead of saying mine is "Labyrinth Lord" or "Swords & Wizardry" compatible or even the very popular "Old-School Essentials" compatible, I am sticking with my own "Basic-Era Compatible."  That might end up costing me some sales or promotions, but my stat block here is not something that is pure for any one system. In truth, I could very well put "Advanced-Era Compatible" on these books as well since I am designing the stat block to cover both systems, even if the style esthetic is going to be Basic-era.  I talked a bit about this in my "Detailing a 'Universal' Stat-block" post and that is where I want to go today.  All based on the question "how many miles per hour is that?"

Movement

One of the things that always tripped me up moving from Holmes Basic to Moldvay Basic and then to AD&D was movement rates.  Let's go back to my universal stat block breakdown and look at the movement rates for the Orc.

Holmes: 90 feet
Moldvay: 120' (40')
Mentzer/BECMI/RC: 120' (40')
AD&D 1st ed: 9"
AD&D 2nd ed: 9 (12)
D&D 3: 30 feet (6 squares)
D&D 4: 6 (8 while charging)
D&D 5: 30 feet

These speeds all are "per round" though what a round is can differ.  Holmes' speed is more in line with AD&D. D&D 3 to 5 are all the same despite different notation.

In my Basic Bestiary I note it like this:

Movement: 120' (40') [12"]  

With "AD&D" notation in the brackets. Note that my orcs then look faster. Rounds in Basic are 10 seconds and rounds in AD&D/D&D3-5 are all 6 seconds.  This means that my 120' movement rate orc in Basic has a different "Real-time" speed in AD&D.  My converted orc moves at 12" and not the 9" listed.  Is this a problem?  Actually, no. I don't feel that it is.

According to the Labyrinth Lord RPG book, 120' is the exploring speed per turn and 40' is the combat speed per round and 120' is the full running speed per round. So my question. How fast is this in MPH?

120' per round is 120 feet per 10 seconds or 720 per minute or 43,200 per hour or 8.18 repeating.  I opt to make the miles an easier 5400* feet to get 8 miles per hour.  So an orc can run full-on at 8 miles per hour. 
(*5400 is divisible by 2 and 3 so it gives me better numbers to work with.)

This brings up an interesting notion.  How fast can a particular monster move?

I looked at my entry for Archangel and see they fly at 360', which translates into 24 MPH. Not very fast from our point of view, but fast when compared to a mundane horse.  Maybe they have a Haste at-will spell and can fly at 48 MPH?  If it is a "Greater Haste" say at x3 then 72 MPH feels a little more respectable. Fantasy creatures don't always translate well into the real world.

Ideas like this have been helping drive my design philosophy.  When working on a monster I often ask "how do they relate to the PCs?" or "what sort of situations will this monster be in with the PCs?" since the Player Characters are the focus of all adventures.  Now I do also ask "How does this monster relate to Normal Humans?" and this has shifted my view on many creatures, in particular the undead.  There are consequences to both of these.

On the PC-centric side, we get the Succubus/Whispering Demon issue I mentioned a while back when I covered the BECMI Immortal Rules.  To quote:

A Succubus in AD&D is a 6+6 HD creature (average hp 33), her physical attacks are not great, but her kiss drains 2 life energy levels. In BECMI a Whispering Demon has 15* HD and 70 hp! Oh and her AC is -6.

A 6 HD creature is more than enough of a challenge for normal humans, it is also a pretty good (and scary) challenge for low-level characters. But a 15 HD succubus? That is a challenge for many!  But I do notice that in nearly every movie or tale about a succubus the demon is defeated in the end.

6 HD is what you get when you aim for Normal Humans.  15 HD is what you get when you aim for PCs.

The Basic Bestiaries will take on the point of view of Normal Humans for the most part. So my succubi (I have a couple) will be more along the lines of 6 HD.  My Archangels however will likely be flying at 72 MPH.

You all know I am a huge music fan AND I am a huge fan of Netflix's Stranger Things.

So in celebration of Season 4 here are some songs great for fighting monsters.

These would be the songs on my playlist 1986 that is for sure. Where would I have been on a Friday in July in 1986? Playing AD&D of course!

We need to start with the biggest comeback hit ever. Kate Bush's (who was already a D&D meme) Running up That Hill.

Seriously, could not have happened to a better person.

I grew up in the 80s. I played AD&D. I listened to metal. So I relate to Eddie Munson. I KNEW Eddie Munson, or at least people that had aspects of him.  I thought his "and that is why we play." line about D&D was going to be his signature line.  

No.

His "Chrissy. This is for you." got me where I live.  If "Running Up That Hill" was the song for Part 1, then "Master of Puppets" owns Part 2.

To quote Dustin, "Dude. Most. Metal. Ever!"

Another song from the time, Journey's Seperate Ways, got a spooky sounding remix.  

This isn't a song about two people drifting apart as much as it is now a song about our heroes all fighting their own personal battles.

It is really difficult to express how much "classic rock" was part of the 80s, especially in middle America. I mean think about what was popular vs. to what you were listening too.  For me 1986 was a combination of The Police (who had promised us new songs in 86), Dire Straits, Peter Gabriel, to Beastie Boys, Run DMC, as well as Pink Floyd, The Who, and Joe Walsh. So seeing a couple of classic rock songs make the series feels right.

Now we have to wait nearly two years until the next and final season. The ending credits left us with none other than the transcendent Siouxsie Sioux and The Banshees' "Spellbound."