A sidestep tonight, mostly because I need to work up the courage to deal with the last two Superman movies. Though, admittedly, this one is not much better.  

Ok, so Helen Slater is playing Kara Zor-El, Kal-El's cousin, aka Supergirl. She is more or less the unknown here. Speaking of which, where is Superman? Oh, he is on a "peacekeeping mission" to a galaxy several hundred trillion light years away." Ok. Why...oh never mind, it is better than the proposed idea for this movie with a sex scene between Superman and Supergirl. I think I read that in Starlog.

Anyway. Supergirl ends up in Chicago, of all place,s where the Omegahedron, the powersource from Argo City (that she lost) ends up in the hands of two would-be witches played by Faye Dunaway and Brenda Vaccaro, and their sidekick played by Peter Cook. Even Supergirl's mother was played by Mia Farrow. Her mentor is even played by Peter O'Toole.  Helen Slater might have been the biggest unknown here.

Ok. I kind of forgot how bad this movie was. I mean I knew, but damn. Also, did A&W sponsor this? Lots of product placement in this one. It's remarkable how many great actors are in this, yet it's still so bad. 

According to the map Kara is using to look for the Omegahedron, Midvale is just a bit north of Peroria, IL (home of tomorrow night's guest Richard Pryor), and south of Ottawa, IL (near where "Man of Steel" was filmed for the Smallville scenes.  So, an area I'm familiar with. Funny, I don't remember a Midvale there. 

Ok, so I did like the magic aspect of it. Magic and Superman are sometimes an ify mix, but given everything else, it works here. There is even a great example of the "Mirror Image" spell. 

There's little point in going through the plot here, as the story is thin at best. 

The Shadow Demon is kind of cool looking.

Don't get me wrong, Helen Slater was awfully fun as Supergirl. Melissa Benoist is still my favorite Supergirl, but Slater was still fun.

Cameos

Helen Slater will go on to play Kara's Earth mother, Dr. Eliza Danvers, in the Supergirl CW series. Marc McClure plays Jimmy Olsen, but that shouldn't really count. The Supergirl series is a great one for repeat cameos. 

 I mentioned this one last night when I discussed Superman II and its credited director, Richard Lester. This movie is the original vision of the original director, Richard Donner. Watching this along with the Richard Lester cut is a great experience.  

I will not recount the entire movie here, but I would like to focus on some of the key differences. There are still scenes directed by Lester here, Donner did not complete the entire movie, so this is still not 100% Donner's film, but it is close.

 - Maybe one of the big ones is the fact that Brando is back as Jor-El. It seems that some of the "lost" footage for this cut had been part of his estate and was returned to Warner Bros. after his death in 2004. He appears in the Fortress of Solitude to tell us about Zod, Ursa, and Non.

 - The movie doesn't recap the entire first Superman movie, but it does replay some key scenes. 

 - This cut makes it more explicit that the Phantom Zone prison was pulled along with Kal-El's pod. Also it is not some random French H-Bomb that frees Zod, Ursa, and Non, but the missile from the first movie that Superman sends into space. The whole French terrorism scene is gone. 

- Side note. The special effects of the "new" scenes seemed improved. Another side note, there are subtle dialog changes. Generally, I think they are better here. The changes in the "Lester Cut" seem like they were designed to be "funnier," but often without any point. 

- Lois seems smarter here, and the movie is a little less campy. The big reveal of Clark as Superman plays out differently here. Lois is smarter, but the scene is somehow less satisfying. 

 - The first attack of the Kryptonians is cut a bit, almost to the point where it doesn't make as much sense. Or rather, it is not as clear as the Lester cut. They are deadlier here, too, with a higher body count.  

 - The "depowering" scene plays out differently as well. Brando is back for this scene, which makes more sense as well, but a key scene is missing: the one where Lois misplaced the Master Crystal. Turns out it is not needed, since the Master Crystal survived. It also sets up the Brandon Routh "Superman Returns" (also 2006) a lot better. (Except as noted below.)

The battle in Metropolis is the same, mostly. The fight in the Fortress of Solitude is different, briefer, and it makes a lot more sense. All the issues I had with it in the Lester cut are gone. Well, almost, they all still just disappear into Superman's basement.  Ok, in this one, Superman blows up the Fortress. That likely kills them all. 

No "Super kiss" but Superman "rewinds" time again. I guess I shouldn't be irritated by this, I mean this is something the Flash does all the time.  Though I do like Lois and Clark together. It doesn't explain why the guy in the diner ("Rocky") remembered who he was.

Watching this, twice now, I do wish we had had more of Zod and Ursa. They are great villains, really. Non is not that interesting. 

When that European couple starts buying you drinks.

I can't say that the Lester cut is worse; there are places where Lester had the benefit of the Donner scenes to make improvements. Superman "calling out" Zod when he is at the Daily Planet, for example, is better in the Lester cut.  I did miss Lara, Superman's Mom, getting some spotlight. 

Cameos

Again, nothing different here than the Lester cut, at least nothing jumped out at me. Donner is plainly visible smoking a pipe outside the diner again. 

What if the real treasure at the heart of the dungeon wasn’t gold but knowledge no one was meant to possess?

Welcome to Occult D&D! This is a new series dedicated to the strange, the symbolic, and the spiritual side of Dungeons & Dragons. Over the coming weeks/months, we’re going to crack open the dusty grimoires, draw some chalk circles on the floor, and invite a little witchcraft, ritual, and folklore into our tabletop worlds. Well...more than I typically do every day, that is. 

Why? Because there’s a whole dimension of play that D&D brushes up against, but rarely fully explores. One that I also find rather fun.

The Occult Thread in D&D

The earliest versions of Dungeons & Dragons were steeped in fantasy literature, pulp horror, and old-school myth. You had demons and devils in the Monster Manual, magic-users who studied arcane formulae, and clerics calling down divine wrath, but precious little that felt like real occultism.

Not real as in "real-world belief," but real as in resonant; rooted in symbolism, ritual, superstition, and the tension between hidden knowledge and spiritual power. The stuff of witches’ charms, cursed bloodlines, forbidden books, and crossroads bargains.

That’s the sweet spot this series wants to hit.

What You Can Expect from This Series

Each Occult D&D post will focus on one of two things:

1. Bringing Occult Themes to the Table

We’ll explore ways to deepen your game’s tone with elements like:

• Symbolic magic and ritual casting
• Occult monster design
• Haunted locations, cursed items, and secret traditions
• Folkloric mechanics: second sight, lunar phases, witch trials

2. Spotlighting Witchcraft in Your Game

I’ve written a lot about witches over the years, how they work, how they cast, and how they’re more than just “distaff wizards.” I want to integrate them deeper into the game. Taking cues from my "Witches of Appendix N" series on how witches should have been a distinct part of the games we play.  I'll also likely pull in some of the Satanic Panic era notions where D&D was seen as a "gateway to the occult!"

If you've ever wanted your campaign to feel like a midnight séance instead of a tavern brawl, or your dungeon crawl to veer just a little closer to The Witch than The Hobbit, this series is for you.

I am also likely to review various occult-themed RPGs and related products. I'll talk about some of my own books too, but not as a review (that's tacky). 

Let’s Begin...

Next post, we’ll start with a foundational question: What does “occult” even mean in the context of D&D? Is it just another word for “magic,” or something more primal, more forbidden, and more personal?

Let’s peel back the veil and find out. 

Have you used occult themes in your own games? Run a séance in your campaign? Performed a tarot card reading? Designed a cursed grimoire? Used real folklore in your monster design? Tell me about it below, I’d love to hear how the occult has haunted your table.

Drop a comment below, I’d love to hear what haunted your players, and what kind of magic you’ve brought to the table.

Before there was a "Snyderverse," before there was a "Marvel Cinematic Universe," there were the Superman movies.
Superman II (1980) was filmed back to back with Superman (1978) and picks up more or less where the first movie left off.

This movie begins by spending a considerable amount of time revisiting the ground covered in the first movie during the opening credits. 

We get right into it in typical Superman fashion; Lois chasing a story that gets her into trouble, this time some French terrorists with a stolen Hydrogen bomb. 

Superman flies it into space where, even with what was it 27 galaxies, it was near Earth. Maybe it got dragged alone with Kal-El's pod.

Some janky animation when the H-bomb goes off to free Zod, Ursa, and Non.

I have to comment on the Artemis II moon lander. Obvious choice after Apollo, but we won't get a real-world Artemis mission for another few years.

Zod appears to possess some form of telekinesis, and Ursa is remarkably violent.  Zod is just a great villain here, and Terrance Stamp is fantastic, and my love for Sarah Douglas knows no bounds. Interestingly enough, Ursa was almost played by Caroline Munro, a regular of Hammer Films. Instead she took the role of Naomi in the Bond film, The Spy Who Loved Me. I think it all worked out for the best really. 

The third act of this movie is the best, where Superman battles the Kryptonian criminals.

There feels like more silliness in this one. The Superman duplicates (ok in the comics it would have been his robots, or just him moving really fast), and the cellophane "S" symbol is still weird. 

They fight, and Superman tricks them into giving up their powers. Of course, after their powers are taken, what happens to them? They fall into the mists and ... what?

I am disappointed in the "Super kiss." Not just that it was some new weird-ass power Superman never had before, but that he couldn't trust Lois enough to have her keep his secret.  

So I do really enjoy this movie, but I am not immune to it's issues. 

For starters, there was a huge blow-up between Brando and the producers, causing his scenes to be removed. His interactions now fall onto Lara, Kal-El's mother, played by Susannah York. 

The fighting was not limited to Brando. Richard Donner, the director of Superman and the director of this movie had a falling out with the Salkinds. They brought in Richard Lester, who they had worked with before and was a "silent" producer of the first Superman. Donner said that if Lester's name was on it then his wouldn't be and that was that. I am going to cover the Donner cut tomorrow and I'll share thoughts on which is the better version.

Cameos

There are not as many here since it was filmed alongside the first movie. There is an interesting cameo, though, of Director Richard Donner in the scene as de-powered Clark and Lois drive up to the diner. It was one of the scenes he directed that was retained for the Lester-cut of the film. 

Cover by Margaret Brundage Of all the authors listed in Appendix N, few loom larger than Robert E. Howard, creator of Conan the Cimmerian and father of sword & sorcery as we know it. Howard’s blend of grim heroism, lost civilizations, black magic, and fierce women has shaped the DNA of Dungeons & Dragons more than most give credit for.

So much so that I need to split his contributions into two posts. There may be three by the time I am done. That is how much of a footprint Howard and Conan left in D&D and other RPGs.

Witches were very much part of Conan's Hyborian world. Witches are mentioned and alluded too, but rarely seen, save for the ones mentioned below. 

So today, for the Witches of Appendix N, let’s journey into the Hyborian Age and meet some of the women who wielded magical power in the world of Conan.

Salome: A Witch Shall Be Born

Howard’s most explicitly witch character is Salome, the titular witch of A Witch Shall Be Born (Weird Tales, 1934). A sorceress and twin sister of the noble Queen Taramis, Salome is the archetype of the evil twin usurper. She commands dark forces, imprisons and tortures her sister, and rules in her place through cruelty and bloodshed.

Salome is described as consorting with demons and sorcerers in her youth, and her magical power is seen in how she influences, manipulates, and brings ruin to a kingdom. She is every inch the pulp sorceress, beautiful, deadly, and corrupted by ancient evil. She was promiscuous where her sister Taramis was chaste, moral, and innocent. In the 1930s, this was akin to evil.

Sarah Douglas (who I'll be talking more about tonight) played the movie version of her, now named Taramis, in Conan the Destroyer. Did all that torture finally break poor Taramis, and she became more like her twin sister? (No, I know the producers didn't want her to be named Salome.)

Salome (and Taramis) have sparked a lot of imaginations, not just the Sarah Douglas movie, but also comics. These two images show the evolving look of Conan from the pulp days to modern comics. 

Honestly, that John Buscema art might be one of the most famous pieces of Conan art ever produced. 

I have even used Salome in my own games, after a fashion, when developing a few of my Witch Queens. 

Tascela: Red Nails

In one of Howard’s best Conan stories, Red Nails (Weird Tales, 1936), we meet Tascela, a woman of ancient Stygian blood, still alive centuries after her time. Like Salome, she is both queen (well...called a "Princess of Tecuhltli") and enchantress. Tascela’s sorcery is tied to life-draining rituals and forbidden rites. She maintains her youth and beauty by absorbing the life force of others, literally sacrificing maidens and children to keep herself young. Valeria is a lot of things, but I never got "maiden" vibes off of her. 

While not explicitly called a witch (except as an exclamation), her power is subtle. She appears regal, composed, but with an air of the perverse and profane. She leers at Valeria throughout the tale. Obviously, in the way a cat does a mouse, but there is a not-so-subtle sexual dimension to it all. Like Salome, Tascela is a witch and morally corrupt. Also, not a very subtle message. 

Tascela’s magic has an Aztec flavor, marked by blood, sacrifice, death, and timeless horror. While "witch" is good, she is more likely some sort of profane necromancer. 

From the unfinished "Red Nails" animation, designs by Jim Stenstrum

Special Mentions

Witches and Wizards: Black Colossus

We meet the wizard Natohk, and "Vampires were abroad that night, witches rode naked on the wind, and werewolves howled across the wilderness."

Zelata and Akivasha: The Hour of the Dragon

Old Zelata admits she is a witch when she first meets King-in-exile Conan.  Unlike many of the other witches, sorceresses, and spellcasters, Zelata actually helps Conan out. She is also helpful in uncovering the Heart of Ahriman. 

Though not called a witch by name, Akivasha, the Stygian princess turned vampire from The Hour of the Dragon (1935–36), is one of the most enduring witch-like figures in Howard’s canon.

Akivasha is undead, beautiful, and incredibly dangerous. Her vampirism is not accidental or cursed; it is the result of necromantic sorcery meant to preserve her youth and power. She resides in the depths of an ancient dungeon and attempts to seduce Conan, not just with charm but with supernatural influence.

“I was a princess in Stygia... more than a thousand years ago... I was beautiful, and I would not fade. So I went into the shadows to cheat age with dark magic. I became... what I am.”

Howard describes her as cold and radiant, her beauty somehow terrible. She evokes the kind of ancient magical evil that remains alluring even as it damns. Or as I always say, "Evil always looks sexy."

An aside. There are lots of Stygian witches here.

Conan's Long Shadow

Without a doubt the Conan stories of Robert E. Howard are fundamental to the foundations of D&D and RPGs in general. Conan is the quintessential adventurer. Penniless one day, rich beyond dreams the next, penniless again. He ranges far and wide, he battles monsters, sorcerers, and entire armies.  He is as much a part of D&D as Gandalf and Bilbo.

It is no shock that there have been so many Conan and Hyborian/Hyperborian RPGs out there. I could talk about them all here, but that is a better topic for my Fantasy Fridays.

Given this, I do find it a little odd that witches were not a more prominent part of D&D. I suppose it has been up to me to fill this gap.

No "Conclusion" today, I have Kull and Solomon Kane to deal with next, and maybe a third post on Howard's contributions to the world of RPGs beyond just witches. 

 I would not call myself the biggest Superman fan in the world, but I am a huge fan.  He was one of the first superheroes I ever knew about, right along with Batman and Wonder Woman, the "holy trinity" of DC Comics. I knew him from the comics, the cartoons, and the very fondly remembered TV series, "The Adventures of Superman" (1952-1958) starring George Reeves, Phyllis Coates, and later Noel Neill. This established something of a tradition where cast members from a previous version of a Superman film or TV adventures would appear in a newer one. Cases in point, George Reeves and Phyllis Coates appeared in Superman and the Mole Men (1951), and Noel Neill, who had previously played Lois in the film serials Superman (1948).  It's something I always look forward to seeing when a new Superman movie is released.

Given that we have a new Superman coming up and the very first from the newly minted DC Studios, I thought a feature would be nice. So I am re-watching all the Superman movies till July 11 when the new one premieres. 

But tonight, I want to discuss the first feature film of Superman's modern era. The epic 1978 Superman: The Motion Picture starring Christopher Reeve, who would define the role so solidly that many even today have trouble thinking of him in anything else or other actors playing Superman. It also gave us performances by Marlon Brando as Jor-El and Gene Hackman as Lex Luthor. Both of whom also had given their Academy Award best acting for these roles. Brando would go on to be such a pain in the asses for the Salkinds (producers) and Donnor (director) that it would become Hollywood mythology and change the course of the second movie. But I am getting ahead of myself.

Superman (1978)

Unless you were alive then, I can't really describe to you what this movie was like. The hype was through the roof. We had just seen Star Wars and Jaws in the theaters, and the "Blockbuster" was something new and something expected every summer now. I remember seeing this in the theatres and then again right before Superman II was released in a Drive-In. "You'll believe a man can fly" was the teaser, and it was very effective. 

Directed by Richard Donner and produced by Ilya and Alexander Salkind, it was the template for all modern superhero movies to follow. And it was big. Full color, special effects, and that sweeping epic score by John Williams. You almost forget how kinda campy the movie is at times. 

The movie is really three movies. The first is Brando at his scene dominating best. Say what you like about him, the man could act. His Jor-El was so deeply embedded into our collective subconsciousness that they were still making fun of it in Mega-Mind for an audience that wasn't alive when it first aired. 

Our second movie is Clark as a kid. I don't think Jeff East gets enough credit for his portrayal of Clark, but I see his Clark in David Corenswet now.

The third movie is Superman, Lois, and Lex.  Gene Hackman is not best Lex Luthor, but he was a great one. And Christopher Reeve. Honestly, what can you say about him? Rare is the actor who could pull off Clark Kent and Superman. He was great here and even better in Superman II. Margot Kidder was also a much better Lois Lane than I really could recall. 

Some of the scenes are hokey. Clark is a little too much of a dork. The whole "flying date" with Superman and Lois' voice over was really corny then, as it still is now. Ned Beatty's Otis was there as comic relief, and neither Ned Beatty's acting nor Otis' history in the comics can make me look past how mismatched he is with Luthor. 

The much-maligned "Superman rewinding the Earth" seemed less hokey now, if (and only if) I pretended he was flying faster than light and going back in time. He just stuck around near the Earth. But it does show something that later movies/TV shows would almost always touch on at some point: An angry Superman is terrifying. 

Cameos

This is an important factor of Superman media. Here Kirk Alyn and Noel Neill, who played Superman and Lois in the movie serial Atom Man vs. Superman, make a cameo as the parents of young Lois Lane. They are the couple and the little girl on the train. Lois sees 17-year-old Clark running at super speed. 

Future Cameos

Marc McClure, who played Jimmy Olsen, would go on to play Dax-Ur, a Kryptonian scientist living on Earth, in the seventh season of Smallville and a security guard who befriends Lois Lane in Zack Snyder's Justice League and as a different police officer in the Snyder cut. 

Up next, two different versions of Superman II. 

 I am still trying out Daggerheart and having a lot of fun with it. I thought I might try to make a new monster. So here is yesterday's "Ghost Light" as a Tier 2 Solo monster.

Ghost Light, Phantom of the Hills
Tier 2 Solo

A flickering orb of luminous energy born of sorrow and storms.

Motives & Tactics: Drift, defend territory, confuse intruders, escape through fog

Stat Block

Difficulty: 15 | Thresholds: 11 / 21 | HP: 8 | Stress: 4

ATK: +3 | Arc Lightning: Close | 2d10+3 magic

Experience: Local Lore +2, Lightning Affinity +2

FEATURES

Luminous Shock (Action)

Make a standard attack against a target within Close range. On a success, deal 2d10+3 magic damage and the target is Dizzied until they make a successful Knowledge or Instinct Roll.

Shockburst (Action, 1/scene)

Spend a Fear to unleash a radiant electrical burst. All targets within Very Close range must make an Agility Reaction Roll (14). On a failure, take 4d6+4 magic damage. On a success, take half damage.

Beckoning Light (Passive)

While the Ghost Light is in the spotlight, all PCs within Far range must make a Presence Reaction Roll (15). On a failure, they are Entranced until they mark 1 Stress or are attacked. Entranced PCs cannot target the Ghost Light or move away from it.

Confusion Pulse (Reaction)

When the Ghost Light takes Severe damage, you may spend a Fear to trigger a sudden psychic surge. All targets within Close range must make a Knowledge Reaction Roll (15) or become Confused (disadvantage on next 2 action rolls and unable to move away from the Ghost Light without passing another Presence check).

Born of Storms (Passive)

The Ghost Light is resistant to magic and fire damage, and immune to lightning. It ignores terrain penalties due to storms or fog.

Flickerform (Reaction)

Once per scene, when the Ghost Light would be reduced to 0 HP, it can instead mark 2 Stress to vanish in a crackle of light, reappearing at Far range. PCs lose a Hope unless they succeed on an Instinct Roll (14).

Momentum (Reaction)

When the Ghost Light makes a successful attack against a PC, you gain a Fear.

--

I like it and it is a one-to-one conversion really, maybe not the best way to do a conversion, but I am still getting the hang of this system.

 It's Monstrous Monday again, but more importantly, it is my mom's birthday. Long-time readers will know that my mom was always very supportive of my D&D years, and she was the one who introduced me to horror.  She watched Dark Shadows and told us all the most blood-curdling stories when we were little kids. 

Here is one she loved, and based on some old Appalachian folklore. She told us stories of these things coming into homes and "dancing" around.

Ghost Light
Phantom of the Hills

Frequency: Very Rare
No. Appearing: 1–3
Armor Class: 4
Move: 12", Fly (24")
Hit Dice: 5+5
% in Lair: 5%
Treasure Type: D (found only at rest sites)
No. of Attacks: 1
Damage/Attack: 3d6 electrical
Special Attacks: Shockburst, Confusion Aura
Special Defenses: +1 or better weapon to hit; immune to lightning, fire, charm, sleep, and hold
Magic Resistance: 20%
Intelligence: Low to Average (6–9)
Alignment: Neutral
Size: S (2'–3' diameter sphere of light)
Psionic Ability: Nil
Level/XP Value: V/500 + 6/hp

Description: The Ghost Light is a mysterious, hovering ball of luminous energy, found in remote hills, haunted valleys, and fog-choked hollows. Tales of them span the misty ridges of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Ozarks, and deep forests across the continent. Known by many names, hill lanterns, haint-lights, the watching eyes, they are most common where tragedy, battle, or disappearance has occurred.

A ghost light is softly radiant, its color ranging from blue-white to yellow or even reddish hues. It flickers and pulses with life-like motion, trailing across the air just above the ground, often seen at night but sometimes glimpsed at twilight or during storms. Locals say they are the souls of the lost, trapped between worlds, or elemental forces given wandering thought.

Combat: Though not malevolent by nature, ghost lights are territorial. If followed, disturbed, or attacked, they defend themselves with bursts of raw electrical force. Their touch lashes out in a 30-foot range and causes 3d6 damage (save vs. spells for half).

Once per day, a ghost light may unleash a Shockburst, a radiant electrical discharge in a 10' radius, dealing 5d6 damage (save vs. breath weapon for half). It uses this ability only if severely injured (below 50% hit points) or to escape.

Confusion Aura: Anyone within 30 feet of an active ghost light must save vs. spells or suffer mild confusion (as the confusion spell, but only for 1d4 rounds). Victims may wander off, become dazed, or follow the light against their will. This effect is subtle and described as a “pulling” or “beckoning” sensation.

Ghost lights feed on ambient magical energy, emotional residue, and lingering trauma. They are most active in areas associated with strong sorrow, betrayal, or storm-related deaths. Some say they are formed when a person dies alone in wild country and no proper rites are spoken.

They are neither wholly spirits nor elementals nor 1sae but a strange fusion of all, anomalous phenomena that exhibit traces of intelligence. A ghost light may guide, warn, or even protect travelers if approached with respect. On rare nights, multiple lights dance together like fireflies in some ancient, unknowable rite.

Legends

Old folk claim that if you follow a ghost light, it may lead you to:

• the grave of someone forgotten
• a lost treasure or hidden glen
• your own doom, if your heart is false

Some witches, wise women, and druids seek them out to divine omens or bottle their essence in storm glass lanterns. Others fear them utterly.

--

Happy Birthday, Mom!

 I got both Tales of the Valiant and Daggerheart for my birthday. And now both have Witch classes on the way.

I've already discussed the Tales of the Valiant Witch, which is part of their current Kickstarter. 

There is a great overview of this new witch class from Nerd Immersion. I am more excited about it now than before. Give him a watch.

I like how the Witch powers are basically "Bell, Book, and Candle."

I am really looking forward to it. Sucks I have to wait till 2026 for it. 

Of course, Daggerheart has me covered right now!

Over at The Void, there is a new Witch Class. I also really like this one. I am going to have to give them all a try, of course. It's what I do.  I really like that the Witch and Warlock share the "Dread" domain. Really works well for me.

Since my kid and I spent the night last night playing around with Daggerheart instead of our Forgotten Realms game, I figured I'll convert one of our characters.  So here is Moria Zami. 

I have not typed up a Daggerheart character before. This could be fun.

Moria Zami

Level 1
Class & Subclass: Witch (Hedge)
Ancestry & Heritage: Slyborne Human/Infernis
Pronouns: She/Her

Agility: 0
Strength: 0
Finesse: -1
Instinct*: +2
Presence: +1
Knowledge: +1

Evasion: 10
Armor: 3

HP: 6
Minor Damage: 7 Major Damage: 14

Weapons: Dagger. Finesse, Melee, d8+1 phy

Armor: Leather 6/13 +3

Experience
Not so Innocent (Cult) +2 (knows things that an innocent would not know)
Don't Make me Angry +2 (add when angry after taking damage)

Class Features
Hex
Commune

Spells
Blightning Strike, Level 1 Dread
Umbral Veil,  Level 1 Dread

Moria is a young witch. Her mother is a witch, and her father is some sort of devil (Infernis). She doesn't know this yet. All she knows is that she has some magic, which allowed her to kill a goblin who attacked her, and (and maybe more disturbing) she liked killing it. 

Daggerheart is very flexible, so I am saying that when she uses her "Don't Make me Angry" experience, her Umbral Veil becomes black flames. 

I like this build. She doesn't have her little dog, "Mephisto Fleas," as her familiar. She can choose a familiar like power at level 2, so I'll say she has the dog at first level, but no-one else can see it yet. Maybe he is real, maybe he isn't. We won't know till level 2.

I'll see if my son wants to convert his other Forgotten Realms characters to Daggerheart. He ordered the game, so we will see.  In any case, this has been a good time.

 I was supposed to get this as a Birthday/Father's Day gift, but it was backordered. It finally came in the mail on Monday.

The game is gorgeous. Production values are top-notch.

I can easily see this game replacing D&D 5.5 on many people's game tables. My oldest, after flipping through mine, went and ordered his own copy as well. We may give it a run soon. 

But yeah, I am rather excited for this one!

 Last week I posted about the D&D Rules Cyclopedia, and in it, it had the rulers of Dragons, Diamond, Pearl, and Opal. 

As an aside, I asked. "What if the Dragons were divided like this: Pearl = Chaotic, Opal = Neutral, Diamond =Lawful, Bahamut = Good, Tiamat = Evil?"

Since I already updated and redid Tiâmat for my Left Hand Path book, I thought, why not update the others as well?

I have been working on a Dragon book off and on forever, so I have already figured out various mythological dragons and dragon-like creatures to add. To take inspiration for a Lawful Neutral, Chaotic Neutral and True Neutral rulers of dragons was a matter of going through some material I have already written...and cleaning it up a little. 

So here are the five rulers of Dragon kind, minus Tiâmat. She is already in my book along with Leviathan. 

Note: I consider my Tiâmat to be Chaotic Evil.
Note 2: These dragons are scaled to match my LHP version of Tiâmat.

I'll most certainly redo these over time, like I did with Tiâmat.

Vritraxion

The Star Dragon, Lord of Law

FREQUENCY: Unique (Very Rare)
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: –4
MOVE: 9” / 24” (fly)
HIT DICE: 32 + 256 (400 hp)
% IN LAIR: 80%
TREASURE TYPE: H ×4, I ×3, N, O
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3 or by breath/spell
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2–16 / 2–16 / 6–60
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath weapons, spells, aura of command
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Magic resistance, immune to illusions, charms, hold, or mind-affecting spells
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 75%
INTELLIGENCE: Supra-genius
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Neutral
SIZE: L (75’ long)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

CHANCE OF:
Speaking: 100%
Magic Use: 100%
Sleeping: 1%

Vritraxion is the embodiment of cosmic order, the radiant Star Dragon who codified the pacts that bind dragonkind. His body is a lattice of luminous crystal and stellar fire, and he enforces balance with absolute resolve.

Breath Weapons (3/day each):

• Stellar Disjunction – Cone 8", dispels all magic and slows chaotic creatures for 1 turn
• Law Pulse – 40' radius; chaotic creatures save vs. spell or be banished for 1d6 turns
• Prismatic Flame – Line 10", 90 hp radiant/fire damage, save vs. breath for half

Spells: Casts 3 spells per level (1st–8th); chooses spells related to binding, banishment, light, and planar control.

Aura of Command: All dragons within 240’ must save or be affected as command or geas, lasting 1d4 turns.

Summoning: May summon 2d6 lawful dragons or planar creatures from the planes of Law once per day.

Lóngzihua

The Moon Pearl, Dragon of Chaos and Storms

FREQUENCY: Unique (Very Rare)
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: –2
MOVE: 12” / 30” (fly) / 18” (swim)
HIT DICE: 30 + 240 (375 hp)
% IN LAIR: 70%
TREASURE TYPE: H ×4, I ×3, N, O
NO. OF ATTACKS: 6 (3 bites, 2 claws, 1 tail) or by breath/spell
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 3–18 / 3–18 / 2–16 / 2–16 / 3–24
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath weapons, illusions, spells
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Displacement aura, blur effect
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 65%
INTELLIGENCE: Genius
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Neutral
SIZE: L (70’ long)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

CHANCE OF:
Speaking: 100%
Magic Use: 100%
Sleeping: 10%

Lóngzihua is a brilliant, serpentine dragon whose every movement paints the sky with color and thunder. Her coils shimmer like pearl and stormcloud, and her presence warps fate and form alike.

Breath Weapons (3/day each):

• Prismatic Mist - Cone 8", causes confusion, mirror image, and color spray effects
• Storm Spiral - Line 10", 10d10 lightning + concussive force (save vs. breath for half)
• Moon Pulse - 40' radius; all within must save or go berserk for 1d6 rounds (chaos effect)

Spells: 2 spells per level (1st–8th), focused on illusion, weather, charm, transformation.

Special: Can polymorph at will, and once per day can reshape terrain within 120’ (as hallucinatory terrain + move earth).

Displacement Aura: 50% miss chance from melee attacks.

She can also cast illusions, mirror image, polymorph self, and feeblemind once per day each. 

Anantanatha

The Opaline Coil, Dragon of Deep Time, and Balance

FREQUENCY: Unique (Very Rare)
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: –3
MOVE: 6” / 21” (fly)
HIT DICE: 31 + 248 (390 hp)
% IN LAIR: 85%
TREASURE TYPE: H ×4, I ×3, N, O
NO. OF ATTACKS: 5 (2 bites, 2 coils, 1 tail) or by breath/spell
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 3–18 / 3–18 / 2–20 / 2–20 / 3–30
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath weapons, dream magic, entropy field
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Time suspension aura, magic resistance
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 70%
INTELLIGENCE: Supra-genius
ALIGNMENT: True Neutral
SIZE: L (80’ long)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

CHANCE OF:
Speaking: 100%
Magic Use: 100%
Sleeping: Never

Anantanatha, the World Coil, slumbers beneath the roots of all reality. His voice echoes in dreams, his coils define time, and his presence ensures the turning of the Great Cycle. He is impartial, inexorable, and eternal.

Breath Weapons (3/day each):

• Entropy Cloud – 40’ radius; creatures age 1d10 years (save negates), magic items must save or be destroyed
• Balancing Breath – Line 12", 10d8 damage to all summoned/extraplanar beings (save for half)
• Chrono Pulse – Cone 8", save or be suspended in time for 1d4 turns (temporal stasis effect)

Spells: 3 spells per level (1st–8th), typically divination, abjuration, or dream magic (e.g. legend lore, astral spell, time stop, foresight)

Special: Aura of Stillness: Spellcasting within 60’ requires a save or is delayed 1 round

Dream Gaze: Once/day, forces target into a dream-vision for 1 turn. Target is incapacitated for the duration while they see visions of their past and possible futures.

May commune with any spirit, even across time.

He may also cast legend lore, commune, astral projection, and dream once per day each.

Bahamūt
The Platinum Dragon, King of Lawful Good Dragons
The Silent Pillar, The World-Serpent of Light

FREQUENCY: Unique (Very Rare)
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: –3
MOVE: 9” / 24” fly / 6” swim
HIT DICE: 30 + 240 (375 hp)
% IN LAIR: 75%
TREASURE TYPE: Special (H ×4, I ×3, R, S, T, V)
NO. OF ATTACKS: 3 or by breath/spell/special
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 2–16 / 2–16 / 6–72
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Breath weapons, divine spells, shapechange, fear aura
SPECIAL DEFENSES: Magic resistance, immunity to evil magic
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 75%
INTELLIGENCE: Supra-genius
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Good
SIZE: L (72’ long)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil

CHANCE OF:
Speaking: 100%
Magic Use: 100%
Sleeping: 1%

Bahamūt is the Platinum Dragon of Heaven, a radiant being of sublime peace and immense power. He dwells in the Citadel Behind the East Wind, said to drift between the Elemental Plane of Air and the Seven Heavens. His vast form gleams like a storm of pearl and silver light; when he breathes, stars flicker and silence falls.

He is the immortal foe of Tiâmat, whom he cast into the Deep in ages past. Though he rarely intervenes directly, his arrival signals the end of great evils and the restoration of cosmic harmony.

Bahamūt may choose between physical attacks, divine spells, or breath weapons each round.

Physical Attacks: 2 foreclaws (2d8+6 each), 1 massive bite (6d12+8), Tail sweep possible if airborne (3d10+6, 180° arc, save or fall prone).

Breath Weapons: (3×/day each), Freezing Wind Cone (8" length, 3" base), 10d8 cold damage, save vs. breath for half.

Celestial Vapor Cloud (40' radius). Save vs. breath or become gaseous (as gaseous form) for 12 turns

Voice of Disintegration (12" line), 10d10 force damage, save for half. Structures suffer full effect.

All saving throws vs Bahamūt’s breath weapons are made at -3.

Special Powers

Fear Aura: All evil creatures within 120' must save vs. spell or flee in panic (as fear).

Shapechange: Can assume the form of any creature or object at will (as shape change).

Summon Allies: Once per day, summons 1d6 gold dragons or 7 celestial canaries (each a disguised ancient gold dragon of max age and HD).

Aura of Grace: Allies within 60' receive +2 on saving throws, protection from evil, and regeneration 1 hp/round.

Spellcasting

May cast any spell (arcane or divine) of levels 1–8

Spells per day: 3 per level

Casts as 20th-level spellcaster

No verbal/somatic/material components required

Most often chooses dispel evil, true seeing, heal, blade barrier, holy word, gate, and wish.

 While my Fantasy Fridays are overtly about featuring fantasy RPGs other than Dungeons & Dragons, I feel a pretty solid case can be made for this as a different game. The truth is that the 1991 edition of the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia is worthy of more love and attention. Well, at least more love and attention by me.

June, after all, has traditionally been my month to celebrate all things Basic-era D&D, and this is a perfect choice. 

Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia (1991)

Edited by Aaron Allston and based on the work of Frank Mentzer, Dave Arneson, and Gary Gygax.

There’s something magical about the Dungeons & Dragons Rules Cyclopedia. It’s not just a book, it’s a time capsule. Released in 1991, this single volume condensed the sprawling BECM,  Basic/Expert/Companion/Master (excluding Immortals, which I'll address later) sets into one massive, 300+ page tome. When the standard was established and continues to be three-volume sets for AD&D/D&D, the Rules Cyclopedia broke the mold, providing everything in one book.

I have already gone on record stating that I didn't pick this up at the time, despite my initial interest in it. I was heavy into AD&D, and as a broke college student, and my drinking spending money was limited. 

One Book to Rule Them All

Sort of. The Rules Cyclopedia was certainly an ambitious project. Take the well-loved BECMI pentalogy and try to rearrange it into a cohesive whole. By this point, we had already had the Original D&D game, which was reorganized into the Holmes Basic game, which was in turn re-edited into the B/X Moldvay/Cook/Marsh books, and then finally those gave rise to the Mentzer BECMI. There was a lot of play and a lot of history here to try to gather together.  The DNA of all of those works is still visible here.

If you are familiar with Basic D&D in its many forms (Basic, B/X, BECMI) you have four basic human classes: Cleric, Fighter, Magic-user, and Thief, and the three demi-human races (races was still used here, so let's stick with that) Dwarf, Elf, and Halfling. Human classes go to an impressive 36 levels. Demi-humans have level limits, but still have ways to improve with experience. There are a LOT of things characters can do in these 36 levels, too. Neutral Clerics can become Druids, Lawful Fighters can become Paladins, and there is more. Magic-users at 36th level get 81 total spell levels. There is a lot more like this. There is also a Mystic class, sorta like the D&D Monk. 

I also still feel that BECMI and the RC have some of the best high-level play advice in D&D. In truth, there is a lot of great "D&D" advice here that is great for any D&D edition, but obviously the best translation is to AD&D 1st ed. Some of this advice does exist in different wording in the DMG. But without all the High Gygaxian. And better organized. 

The trick here is, of course, not how the rules are the same, but how they are different. A great example is how dragons are handled. There are small, large, and huge sizes for starters. Something we would not see in AD&D until 2nd edition. Plus all sorts of Gemstone dragons which include the rulers of Dragons, Diamond, Pearl, and Opal. (An aside. What if the Dragons were divided like this: Pearl = Chaotic, Opal = Neutral, Diamond =Lawful, Bahamut = Good, Tiamat = Evil?)

Lots of fun monsters here and despite the lack of art (or maybe because of) there is a lot of intersting entries. The entry on Monster spellcasters is uniquely BECMI/RC and something I wish I had adapted more back in my AD&D games. 

The D&D planes are covered, similar to the AD&D planes. But only the inner planes are covered. 

Some of the best bits are cover the D&D Game World, Mystara, and the Known World. Here we see a departure from BECMI, where the game world was called Urt and was a living world. The map from the Expert Set is back for the Known World, which we learn on later maps is just a small section of the world. AND the Known World is Hollow, which was a revelation to me when I first read it. I rather love it. 

Appendix 2 covers conversions to and from AD&D, which is rather fun. 

The character sheets are rather plain, to be honest. 

Immortals

I call this one out specifically, because it is one of the main differences between the Basic and Advanced games. In the D&D Rules Cyclopedia, Immortals are discussed, but specific Immortals are rarely mentioned.  Ka, Odin, and Atzanteotl, are mentioned by name and have appeared in other BECMI products over the years.  The conversion notes for D&D to AD&D 2nd Ed in the Cyclopedia gives us this little tidbit:

The Immortals of the D&D system and the deities of the AD&D system should not be converted between the game systems.

They were really set on the whole Immortals ≠ Gods thing. But this works for me since it is possible and even desirable for characters to become immortals. 

The most interesting parts cover the PCs' acquisition of immortality. We would see this again in D&D 4e, though in a different form, the idea is the same. 

Summary

I have not covered this book in detail and certainly not in the detail that it deserves. This is a masterpiece really. 

Larina Nix for D&D Rules Cyclopedia

Larina got her start as a witch in Glantri (the Country) and wanted to move to Glantri City to attend the city's magic school. Of course, this was before I picked up the Glantri Gazetteer. Who knows what I would have done with her had I bought that Gazetteer back then? 

For this I am going to use my "The Witch." While not exactly for the Rule Cyclopedia nor BECMI, but for "Basic-era games" going to level 36. It does work for this and honestly the book was created largely based on Larina as my major play-test character.

"Larina" by Jeff DeeLarina Nix
36th Level Witch, Classical Tradition
Human Female

Strength: 10 (+0)
Intelligence: 18 (+3)
Wisdom: 18 (+3)
Dexterity: 12 (+0)
Constitution: 12 (+0)
Charisma: 18 (+3) * (+15% XP)

Death Ray or Poison: 2
Magic Wands: 2
Paralysis or Turn to Stone: 2
Dragon Breath: 2
Rod, Staff, or Spell: 2

THAC0: 6
Movement: 120 (40)

Occult Powers
1st level: Familiar ("Cotton Ball" Flying Cat)
Herb Use
7th level: Temporary Magic
13th level: Permanent Magic
19th level: Witch's Blessing
25th level: Ability Bonus
31st level: Timeless Body

Spells
Cantrips: Black Flame, Chill, Dancing Lights, Inflict Minor Wounds, Object Reading, Quick Sleeping
First Level: Bewitch I, Black Fire, Burning Hands, Charm Person, Endure Elements, Fey Sight,  Glamour, Read Languages, Concentration (Ritual)
Second Level: Alter Self, Candle of the Wise, Enhance Familiar, Ghost Touch, Hold Person, Produce Flame, Scare, Suggestion, Calling the Quarters (Ritual)
Third Level: Bestow Curse, Bewitch III, Clairvoyance, Danse Macabre, Dispel Magic, Fly, Scry, Tongues, Imbue Witch Ball (Ritual)
Fourth Level: Analyze Magic, Arcane Eye, Divination, Ethereal Projection, Intangible Cloak of Shadows, Mirror Talk, Phantom Lacerations, Spiritual Dagger, Drawing the Moon (Ritual)
Fifth Level: Bewitch V, Blade Dance, Death Curse, Dream, Endless Sleep, Eternal Charm Person, Hold Person, Primal Scream, Telekinesis
Sixth Level: Anti-magic Shell, Death Blade, Eye Bite, Find the Path, Greater Scry, Mass Agony, Mirror Walk, True Seeing, Legend Lore (Ritual)
Seventh Level: Ball of Sunshine, Breath of the Goddess, Death Aura, Etherealness, Greater Arcane Eye, Insanity, Wave of Mutilation, Widdershins Dance, Vision (Ritual)
Eighth Level: Astral Projection, Bewitch VIII, Damming Stare, Discern Location, Mystic Barrier, Prophesy, Wail of the Banshee, Descent of the Goddess (Ritual), Protection of the Goddess (Ritual)

Immortal Sphere: Energy

This is a good build. This is Larina right before her ascension to Immortality. If I review Wrath of the Immortals, then that is where I will go next.

Who Should Play This Game?

Honestly, anyone who has ever played AD&D or played any version of D&D after this should give this a try. The rules are different enough to be a new experience and familiar enough to make it easy to get into. The Race-as-Class will feel odd to most other veterans of D&D, but it is such an important piece of D&D history that everyone should try out. 

The newer Print on Demand version is reasonably priced and easier to read than the previous versions, but it makes for a great choice for people who do not want to pay eBay prices for it. 

Links

The Known World

Print on Demand Review

 Quick one today, and fairly off topic for the week. But I spent some time this week on my newest kitbash, the Starship Mercy.

The parts are left overs from all sorts of different franchises, Star Trek, Star Wars, Galaxy Quest. I might even work in some Battlestar Galactica when I am done. 

I have to 3D print some items to smooth it out and I am going to use hot air gun (used to peel dry paint) to melt some of the pieces so they fit better. Writing this before I do that, in case I burn my fingers again. Sucker gets hot.
ETA: Worked a little too well, and I melted part of the lower hull. But I think I can fix it.

In the end it will look like a late 23rd-century (2295) predecessor to the Olympic Class medical ship. I am calling it an Asclepius Class Emergency Medical ship. I'd LOVE to have an EMH, but this is way too early for that. 

Tested the LEDs today; the wires are a bit short, so I'll have to adjust that. I want the lights to stay on even when the sphere section is detached. I am thinking of installing a removable battery assembly. I'll need to look up the voltage requirements. I have them from when I did the Protector. ETA: Found it, 12v.

The idea is that it can be left on a planet to act as an emergency hospital. I'll get it all stated up.

But I need to finish the thing first.

 I am working on a new witch project. Shocking, I know. But this one is largely more of an experiment of sorts. It's a big one—or at least I am making it a big one. I have no idea when it will be released, but I have some plans for it that I'm pretty excited about. I should really refer to it as a project and not a book, I feel this will grow into something akin to my recent The Left Hand Path - The Diabolic & Demonic Witchcraft Traditions project that also spawned The Witch Finder, Monstrous Maleficarum #4 - Lilith & the Lilim, and Myths & Monsters Vol. 3 - Lilith & Lilim; a whole series of related releases. 

As per my usual practice, I always go back to my research notes to ensure that I haven't missed anything or overlooked something that I really wanted to do but didn't fit in with the other books. When it comes to my research notes, I'm a bit of a packrat. I lost materials on failed floppies, dying hard drives, and just plain dumb luck, so I keep multiple copies of everything. Trust me, cheap storage has been the biggest quality of life improvement in my research since I first bought a computer for myself (in 1985) or got a library card (1977). 

As it turns out, 1985 keeps coming up for me. Part of my research involves re-reading, this time with a little more critical scrutiny, the first edition of Unearthed Arcana. I have re-read that, digging through this huge pile of notes and handwritten materials about games I played in 1985 (some of which will be headed into this new project). There are lots of forgotten treasures here. 

Memory is a funny thing.

I am a psychologist by training. My Master's Thesis was on memory, and my Ph.D. dissertation was on information processing systems. Pardon me while I turn introspective for a moment here, but it is jarring to see something you know you did or had some sort of effect on you, and you don't recall it. A lot of these notes are doing that to me now. 

Case in point. 

In another 1985 flashback, I stumbled on something I am not entirely sure how to quantify. Let me see if you, my loyal readers, have the same reaction that my oldest just had a few seconds ago. Who does this "Masters of the Universe" character remind you of? Not the Sorceress, her younger reflection. 

Red hair. Wrist guards. Magical powers. Wears a lot of purple. Blue eyes. Yeah, that looks like a younger version of my witch Larina. 

Needless to say, I was a bit stunned by this. I had totally forgotten about this episode, "Origin of the Sorceress," until I saw the picture, and then it all came back. I mean, the timing is right. This episode aired on September 23, 1985. I rolled up Larina in July 1986. 

Now, I wasn't a huge fan of Masters of the Universe, but my younger brother was, and I *know* I saw this episode. After seeing this image, I remembered it. I even borrowed the evil wizard Morgoth from this and combined him with the DC evil wizard Modru as a villain in my own games. "Morgru" can still be found in my notes.

There is no way this didn't influence me. Additionally, the Sorceress was the only character on the show, besides Evil-Lyn , that I liked. Yeah, I have a type. 

I didn’t create Larina so much as channel her. Looking back now, it’s like she stepped fully formed out of 1985, the red hair, the bracers, the purple, the attitude. Maybe she’s not of that year, but certainly from it. Keeping in mind that by this point, I had already worn out a copy of "The Wild Heart."

Teela Na or Larina? Lari Na?

Honestly, looking at this image is just so odd for me, jarring even. I feel neuron activation going on, but it's getting lost in the translation of the last four decades, like trying to remember where you got a scar. The evidence is there, but the details are fuzzy.

The episode was written by J. Michael Straczynski, the same as Babylon 5. It's not a great episode, but it was a cartoon for kids and an extended toy commercial at that. I remembered the Sorceress as having more power, but that says a lot more about me than it does about my clarity of memory.

What else was going on in 1985?

Keep in mind I didn't choose this date out of the blue. Ok, a little, but there was a lot going on in 1985 that I consider peak for my AD&D 1st Edition experiences.

Movies & TV

"Legend" hit the big screens with one of the best devil make-up effects to date; Tim Curry's Darkness. Not to mention Meg Mucklebones, who was very much like the Jenny Greenteeth that my mom used to scare all of us with when we were younger. 

"Return to Oz" was not a great movie, but it gave us Fairuza Balk as Dorothy and the recently departed Jean Marsh as Madame Mombi, one of the scariest witches in film. Marsh would later go on to give me, ok, us, Queen Bavmorda in Willow, and Morgaine/Morgan Le Fey in Doctor Who (one of three characters she played in Doctor Who over the decades). Ten years later, Fairuza Balk would enter witch royalty as Nancy Downs in "The Craft" and later open her own pagan-themed online store. With a small stop along the way as Mildred Hubble in "The Worst Witch." 

On TV "The Midnight Hour" ran. Not a great horror movie by any stretch, but damn... Shari Belafonte? Yeah, that was a good reason to tune in. I remember the soundtrack being pretty good. I think I should re-watch it. 

"The Third Eye" was on TV, I sorta remember it, but while I know it filtered into my consciousness, it didn't quite have the same impact as the young Teela Na from Masters of the Universe. 

If 1986 gave me Larina, my enduring witch, then 1985 set the stage. A stage already filled with adventures from Ravenloft, to exploring the multi-versal strangeness of Killian's Towers (that...is for another day) and more. My notes have entries for Healers, Necromancers, and Sun Priests. Now I can also add more notes on Riddle Masters and Star Adepts. It was a time great productivity. 

This project should feel like it could have sat on the shelf alongside Unearthed Arcana and other AD&D books circa 1985-6. I think I owe that to myself. 

 Not really a "Mail Call" Tuesday, but rather a "Birthday and Father's Day Call!"

Look. I am at an age where I don't really want much. Some time with my wife and kids is really what I want. So my oldest, on his day off as a professional chef, spent his day cooking for me. He smoked salmon and red snapper for me. Fried cod, walleye, and catfish with chips, and he baked me a strawberry pie with strawberries from my wife's garden.

I also got some new game books!

Tales of the Valiant, I have talked about already. The Unexplained is an older Fudge game of the Supernatural and one of the few modern horror games I don't own a physical copy of. I am going to do some more with it later this year when I shift my focus from Fantasy RPGs to Urban Fantasy RPGs. 

My wife ordered Daggerheart for me as well, but since it is sold out everywhere I have to wait.

Here are all the other goodies I was treated to.

Perfect homemade strawberry pie.
Homemade strawberry pie!
Fish and chips!
Fries (and later steak fries) in my dad's old fish pan
Fried Cod and Walleye
Smoked Scottish and Atlantic Salmon
Smoked Red Snapper

That huge frying pan had belonged to my dad, and it is at least 60 years old. He gave it to my oldest because I named him after my dad, and Liam LOVES fish. I sent my dad pictures over the weekend, and he said he had found a worthy successor for it. It is large enough for an entire gallon of oil. It is cast iron and weighs a ton. 

Having grown up with my dad frying fish in that pan and now my son doing the same, really was the best part of my father's day. 

 I have put my massive War of the Witch Queens on pause for a little bit to focus on my 1st Edition Forgotten Realms game. It is fine, since I am using it to build up some of the myths and legends that War of the Witch Queens will rely on. While my current War of the Witch Queens uses Old School Essentials, I have been enjoying it a lot, but...I am running into some issues. Well. Issues of my own creation.

Limitation #1: Level Caps and Limits

Limits on levels. I love OSE, but one of its selling points/strengths is its limiting issue for me. Sure, 14 levels is a lot, but I am running into ideas that I want to run for characters of 15+ level. 17th level comes up a lot for me. This is also one of the reasons why I dropped Hyperborea early on for this reason too. 

This campaign isn’t just a dungeon crawl or hex-crawl, it's a mythic saga that spans worlds, timelines, and divine destinies. Characters in this game aren't just heroes; they are on the path to becoming legends, saints, or even immortals. And I keep finding myself writing material that expects 15th level and beyond. More and more often, 17th-level content crops up in my outlines. That’s not a comfortable fit for OSE without some heavy modification.

Not to mention level limits on any demi-human species. Of course Hyperborea had not demi-humans at all. 

Limitation #2: Multi-Classing

I love OSE. But one place it really falls down is Multi-classing. Yes, there are some rules, but the elegance of the system is lost when you try to do it. It's not my strongest reason, but it is a reason all the same. 

Limitation #3: Multiversal Storytelling

I want to explore various worlds and settings. OSE can do this, it can even do it well, but I want to go a little beyond the norm. 

OSE can absolutely be used to tell stories that span worlds. In fact, it does it better than many modern systems, since its rules are modular and light. But for War of the Witch Queens, I want to go beyond the norm. I’m not just talking about visiting the elemental planes or spending a session in Ravenloft. I’m talking about fully developed worlds with unique metaphysics, rules of magic, and mythic gravity, all of them linked by a larger cosmological mystery, the Witch Queens, their empowered thrones, and the shadow of The One Who Remains.

OSE can be made to do this. But I need a system that does this out of the box.

Solution: Wasted Lands

When I was participating in the 2025 Character Creation Challenge, I was reminded of how flexible Wasted Lands/O.G.R.E.S. really is.  

Wasted Lands is mythic fantasy turned up to eleven. It was designed for heroes who become gods, for magics that shape and warp reality itself, and for worlds so ancient they crumble under the weight of memory. The core assumption of Wasted Lands is that the characters matter in a way that changes the cosmos, which aligns exactly with my vision for War of the Witch Queens.

Why Wasted Lands Works for War of the Witch Queens

No Arbitrary Level Caps

Characters in Wasted Lands are meant to grow in power until they ascend to the ranks of the divine. There’s no artificial ceiling to limit storytelling or advancement. If I want characters to bind a dying god to a black star, I don’t need to “homebrew” Epic Levels; I just use the Divine/Heroic Touchstone system as written.

Built-In Mythic Scope

Wasted Lands expects multiversal and mythological play. Characters can literally change the nature of reality. That’s not just compatible with War of the Witch Queens; that’s the point of the entire campaign.

Flexible Mechanics for Multiple Worlds

O.G.R.E.S. is modular, allowing me to shift between gritty sword-and-sorcery realism, dreamlike metaphysics, or high-magic cosmic horror as needed. That’s ideal when a single session might take place in ancient Atlantis, the post-apocalyptic future, or a faerie world frozen in regret.

Ties to Night Shift and Thirteen Parsecs

Since Wasted Lands is cross-compatible with Night Shift (another system I use for witchy, modern supernatural tales), I can link stories and characters across eras and genres. My witches don’t just belong in this kind of cosmology; they thrive in it.

While the Wasted Lands mythology will certainly be in play here, I may or may not set any of these adventures in the time of The Dreaming Age or even the Earth of the Dreaming Age. I'll use this more as my Rosetta Stone to translate between all the various games I'll be using.

So What Happens Next?

While I’m still using my Forgotten Realms game to build some of the core myths behind War of the Witch Queens, I’ll be shifting the main campaign engine to Wasted Lands going forward. I may still post some OSE conversions or support for it, especially early-level material, but to experience War of the Witch Queens the way I envision it, it will live and breathe in the mythic realms of the Wasted Lands.

This also gives me an instant hook into my multiversal threat, The One Who Remains. I will already be featuring this threat in my Forgotten Realms game, and absolutely for War of the Witch Queen.  

The Witch Queens of the Wasted Lands

One of my conceits of the War of the Witch Queens was to "adopt" all sorts of witches from various games, settings, and the like, and bring them into this campaign. Given the Sword & Sorcery roots of Wasted Lands, I wanted to grab some witches from various S&S games. Some of these are familiar to you all here since I have already mentioned them in conjunction with War of the Witch Queens before: Methyn Sarr, Miriam, and newcomer, Tamsin Shalles. I will feature their native games tomorrow. 

Each of these characters is found on different worlds in vastly different times. But the wonderful thing about Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age is that versions of these characters can exist at the same time and place. Wasted Lands, Barbarians of Lemuria, Hyperborea, and Sword & Sorcery Codex all share enough of the same DNA to be cousins. I will say this: anyone playing one of these games can get a lot out of playing, or at least owning and reading, the other three.

I am also going with a pure D&D feel to these, so humans are humans and not the proto-humans of the Dreaming Age. I have already done Wasted Lands stats for Larina, Aradia, Darlessa, Kersy the Sea Witch, Skylla, Tanith Winters, and for two of Grenda's Forgotten Realms witches, Rhiannon and Briana Highstar. And of course, the current Big Bad of the War of the Witch Queens, Kelek the Cruel.

Note: The sorcerer of Wasted Lands is mechanically the same as NIGHT SHIFT's witch. But I am going to call them witches here. Also, since I am moving away from Hyperborea and OSE for this, I can go beyond their level limits of 12 and 14, respectively. 

Each also has a homeland in the Wasted Lands that is the closest analogue to their lands in their original games.

Methyn Sarr, Witch Queen of the Fire Coast
From Barbarians of Lemuria

I have mentioned Methyn Sarr here before; she is a great character and one of my favorite things about Barbarians of Lemuria. 

Methyn Sarr
Class: Sorceress (Witch) / Necromancer
Level: 10 / 5
Species: Human
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Cult
Homeland: Lemuria (West coast)

Abilities
Strength: 10 (0) 
Agility: 12 (0) 
Toughness: 10 (0) 
Intelligence: 17 (+2) N
Wits: 16 (+2) N
Persona: 18 (+3) A

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: 4 (Battle Harness)
Vitality: 55
Degeneracy: 11
Corruption: 2 (Eyes turned yellow, Aura of discomfort)

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +7/+4/+3
Melee Bonus: +3 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Spell Attack: +5
Saves: +3 to Spells and Magical effects (Sorcerer)

Sorcerer Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers: Beguile Person, Enhanced Senses, Succubus, Psychic Power: Pyrokinesis 

Necromancer Abilities
Channel the Dead (43%), See Dead People, Summon the Dead (65%), Command Spirits, Protection from Spirits, Death Knell, Suggestion (Spirits), Protection from Undead, Taste the Grave

Sorceress Spells
First Level: Arcane Darts, Command, Drain Vitality, Mystical Senses
Second Level: Defile, Eternal Flame, Invoke Fear, Subtle Influence
Third Level: Concussive Blast, Dark Lightning, Globe of Darkness
Fourth Level: Beguile Monster, Kiss of the Succubus, Protection against the Deeper Dark
Fifth Level: Dominate Other, Shadow Armor

Heroic/Divine Touchstones 
1st Level: Unique Mode of Defense (Battle Harness) 
2nd Level: Additional Vitality Points
3rd Level: Charm Creatures
4th Level: Magical Recovery
5th Level: Great Power (Fire)

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic, Evil

Gear
Blood Dagger of Zaggath (adds +1d6 damage due to dripping fire blood), Battle Harness, crown

I gave her levels of Necromancer in this version to replicate her levels of "Druid of Zaggarth" from Barbarians of Lemuria. I figure she gets a Heroic/Divine Touchstone every 3 character levels. 

Miriam, Witch-Queen of Yithorium
From Hyperborea

Miriam is the name I have given to the Witch-Queen of Yithorium from the Hyperborea RPG. Though she is seriously viewed through the lens of Greyhawk. She is rather great, and I love using her. I have also decided that her loyal Cowan is a mighty warrior (10th level) named Zavoda. 

Miriam, Witch-Queen of Yithorium
Class: Sorceress (Witch)
Level: 15
Species: Human
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Scholar
Homeland: Hyperborea (Near the Blood Sea)

Abilities
Strength: 12 (0) 
Agility: 12 (0) 
Toughness: 13 (+1) 
Intelligence: 18 (+3) A
Wits: 16 (+2) N
Persona: 18 (+3) N

Fate Points: 1d12
Defense Value: 9
Vitality: 68
Degeneracy: 6
Corruption: 1 (Aura of discomfort)

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +7/+4/+3
Melee Bonus: +3 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +3 (base)
Spell Attack: +8
Saves: +4 to Spells and Magical effects (Sorcerer).

Sorcerer Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers (5): Astral Projection, Succubus, Psychic Power: ESP, Beguile, Shadow Walking

Sorceress Spells
First Level: Beast Speech, Command, Chill Ray, Night Vision, Drain Vitality
Second Level: Invoke Fear, Animal Summoning, Subtle Influence, Defile, See Invisible
Third Level: Dark Lightning, Curse, Clairvoyance, Globe of Darkness
Fourth Level: Black Tentacles, Protection against the Deeper Dark, Forbearance of Dimensional Travel, Kiss of the Succubus
Fifth Level: Banishment, Create Soul Vessel, Dominate Other, Shadow Armor
Sixth Level: Destroy Undead, Shadow Duplicate, Uluation of the Deeper Dark
Seventh Level: Wave of Mutilation, Widdershins Dance
Eighth Level: Gaze of the Abyss

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Sense the Presence of the Deeper Dark
2nd Level: Luck Benefit
3rd Level: Spirit Guide
4th Level: Magical Recovery
5th Level: Glamour

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic, Evil, Deeper Dark

Gear
Leather Armor, dagger, crown

Miriam has evolved some since I first stated her up. She has been moving to a witch of the Old Ones for some time now. In the Wasted Lands she would likely be that witch trying to bring the Old Ones back. 

Tamsin Shalles
From Sword & Sorcery Codex

Tamsin is a new one for me. I have been playing around with the Sword & Sorcery Codex (see tomorrow), and it is a great system and has a lot to offer in terms of feel and style. It can do about 80% of what I want. She is not as powerful as the other two, not yet anyway. 

Tamsin Shalles
Class: Sorceress (Witch) / Renegade
Level: 5 / 2
Species: Human
Alignment: Dark Evil
Background: Barbarian
Homeland: Fennokarelia

Abilities
Strength: 11 (0) 
Agility: 13 (+1) N
Toughness: 13 (+1) 
Intelligence: 16 (+2) N
Wits: 14 (+1) 
Persona: 16 (+2) A

Fate Points: 1d8
Defense Value: 8
Vitality: 30
Degeneracy: 2
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+2/+1
Melee Bonus: +2 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +2 (base)
Spell Attack: +x
Saves: +2 to Spells and Magical effects (Sorcerer).

Sorcerer Abilities
Arcana, Arcane Powers (2): Beguile Person, Succubus

Renegade Abilities
Improved Defense, Ranged Combat, Stealth Skills, Climbing, Danger Sense (1-2), Perception, Vital Strike x2

Stealth Skills
Open Locks: 25%
Bypass Traps: 20%
Sleight of Hand: 30%
Sneak: 30%

Sorceress Spells
First Level: Summon Familiar (Imp), Mystical Senses, Armor of Earth
Second Level: Vampiric Augmentation, Eternal Flame
Third Level: Oily Cloud of the Deeper Dark

Heroic/Divine Touchstones
1st Level: Psychic Power: Glamour
2nd Level: Additional use of Beguile

Heroic (Divine) Archetype: Magic, Summoning

Gear
Dagger

She isn't quite there yet, but her specialty will be demon summoning and control. Right now, she relies on her charms (natural and supernatural) along with her renegade skills to cheat and con her way through most situations. 

I gave each of them the Beguile and Succubus powers to cover the levels of "Temptress" both Tamsin and Methyn have, and I assume Miriam would have. Beguile to well...beguile, and succubus to cause the up close damage.

These women are all evil and up to no good and I can't help but love them all. If they could put aside their mutual hate, they could team up and be a force to be reckoned with.

I kinda want a mini-series of War of the Witch Queens now to just cover these three and their drama. They are not responsible for the death of the High Witch Queen, but they are all vying for her throne. 

Doing these reminds me how much fun Wasted Lands really is. 

 In today's Witches of Appendix N, I want to dive into an author I have not read since my early college days. Back in 1987, I stumbled on a rare (for me at the time) treasure, a used bookstore! I began to hunt down all the books I had wanted to read that my home library did not have. I had not yet discovered that my new university library was the most extensive open-shelf library in the state of Illinois. So armed with my handwritten Appendix N list, and some others, I went on my first adventure. 

I found a Thongor book by Lin Carter and another one edited by him, Flashing Swords #4. I paid something like $2 for both. I read the Thongor book and I wasn't exactly impressed. Ok sure it was pulpy fun, but I think after nearly a decade of hype, I expected more. I don't know what happened to that book, but Flashing Swords #4 I kept and still have. It featured an introduction by Carter, which I found more interesting than his prose, as well as stories by Jack Vance, Poul Anderson, Katherine Kurtz, and Michael Moorcock.

The experience soured me on Carter for a long time. Which is too bad, really, because I was always a fan of Lemuria and tales about it. 

I recently decided to revisit Lin Carter and Lemuria (among other places) to see if his worlds feature any witches. I knew he had evil wizards galore, but I could remember any witches per se.

I am not going to focus on all his works; there is too much, and some of it falls outside of the "Appendix N" definition. So, for me, this means no sci-fi and only fantasy published before 1977. With one notable exception. Well...that and the cover above. But that is the only Lin Carter book I still have. 

Thongor and Lemurian Magic

When we turn to Lin Carter’s Thongor of Lemuria novels, we find a world absolutely steeped in magic, though, interestingly, witches themselves are mostly absent.

The lost continent of Lemuria is filled with sorcerers, necromancers, and cults devoted to dark gods. We have cities like Zaar, ruled by black magicians; the Priests of Yamath, calling upon the Dark Gods with forbidden rites; and the ancient Dragon Kings, reptilian overlords who wield both sorcery and advanced science. There are even the evil druids of Lemuria. Black Druids who try to emulate the Dragon Kings, Yellow Druids, the magician-priests who worship Yamath, and the Red Druids, magician-priests of the God, Slidith.

What’s striking, however, is that named witches or sorceresses are virtually nonexistent in Carter’s original Thongor novels. While plenty of pulp sorcerers fill the landscape, female magic-users are conspicuously rare. The closest we get comes much later, in Thongor and the Witch-Queen of Lemuria by Robert M. Price, written after Carter’s death. My notable exception.

Most of the wizards and other magic-users are evil. One exception is Sharajsha the Great. A mighty wizard of Lemuria and a friend of Thongor. His exploits with Thongor could be where I got the idea for my own "Starsword." 

In short, Lemuria is rich in dark sorcery, but witches, as we think of them, never truly walk its jungles and haunted cities.

Gondwane and Magic

When we move from Lemuria to the last continent of Gondwane, Lin Carter’s World's End series, we enter a far richer landscape for magic and witchcraft. The Thongor books were light on witches, but Gondwane is filled with decadent magicians, ancient traditions, and powerful sorcerers.

In The Enchantress of World's End (1975), we meet Zelmarine, Queen of Red Magic. While Carter never calls her a witch outright, she fully embodies the pulp sorceress archetype: beautiful, dangerous, and wielding real magical power. Zelmarine easily fits the "witch-equivalent" role I’ve seen in many other Appendix N works.

Zelmarine is not just a sorceress; she is also a temptress. So fairly typical of the genre. I do find her interesting in the sense that she is entirely red, skin, hair, eyes, teeth, the lot. She would make for a great witch. But, sadly, that is about all she has to offer us. Like many of Carter's characters, she is not much more than this. 

Gondwane itself teems with magicians, enchanters, and warlocks, far more than Thongor’s Lemuria ever did. Even some that are not 100% evil in nature, our Red Enchantress here. Carter blends elements of Jack Vance’s Dying Earth and Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique with his own brand of pulp world-building, creating a setting where elaborate magical schools and rivalries dominate a decaying world.

It's also worth noting that Carter introduces The Illusionist of Narelon, in The Warrior of World's End (1974), one book earlier. The Illusionist's presence may have contributed to Gygax's inclusion of the Illusionist class in the AD&D Player’s Handbook. At the very least, he reflects the kind of specialist magician that AD&D codifies soon after. Illusion magic was rarely featured in the pulps before this.

The Warrior of World's End (1974) also gave us the Vorpal Blade's use in an Appendix N source, obviously from its previous introduction in  Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky. This is not the only thing Carter borrows from Carroll. Some of the names of lands and people seem to come right out of same font of nonsense words as does Jabberwocky. 

The Gondwane books are light and never seem to take themselves very seriously. The characters are less characters and more caricatures. Plus, after a bit, I grew tired of the exceptionally silly names. But hey, kudos to Carter for making his end-of-time world sound alien. 

I *can* see a lot of what is in these books making its way into AD&D and other writings. It could be the recency effect in his reading and writing. 

A good example is Deirdre, the cavalier of "Artifact of Evil," is more or less a grown-up version of Xarda, the "knightrix" of Jemmerdy. Deirdre is likely Gygax's homage to Xarda, either consciously or not. Or maybe both are homages to Red Sonja.

According the experts, Hoi and Jeff at the Appendix N Book Club, Lin Carter was a friend of Gygax's and it is very, very likely there was a lot of cross-pollination between his tales and D&D. 

Conclusion

Revisiting Lin Carter has been a mixed bag, a blend of nostalgia and reevaluation. While I came in search of witches, I found instead a patchwork of pulp sorcery, weird magic, and the unmistakable fingerprints of an author who, despite his flaws, helped shape the genre that shaped my youth. There may not be witches by name in Lemuria or Gondwane, not in the way I hoped, but Carter’s worlds still crackle with the kind of raw, chaotic magic that feels just a few pages away from something I’d drop into a campaign. In the end, it’s not always about what’s printed on the page; sometimes it’s about what might have been, or what could still be, with a little creative license.

 Quick one today. I am not what I consider to be a FunkoPop collector. I have a couple I really like, mostly little witches and Red Sonja. But I saw this new one out and decided to treat myself to an early birthday present.

She looks great next my Funko Pop Larina.

And they share the shelf with my books on witchcraft and demonology appropriately enough.

Like I said, I am not a huge collector, but I think one of The Simbul might be fun.

 Today marks the 95 anniversary of the birth of American author Lin Carter.  I didn't plan it this way, but I have been going back and rereading some of Carter's work, especially his entries in Gygax's Appendix N. So today I want to revisit a favorite bad guy of mine, the Ophidians or Snake Men/Serpent Men, and recast them as "The Serpent Men of Lemuria." 

I am not trying to cling to one particular idea here. This is a pastiche of many sources. Lin Carter, Robert E. Howard, Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and others. 

This recasting is not designed to be incompatible with my previous post on Ophidians, but rather an enhancement to it. 

Serpent Men of Lemuria (Ophidians)

Frequency: Rare
No. Appearing: 2–20 (nobles 1–4; lesser 2–100; emissaries 1–10; abominations 1–8)
Armor Class: Varies (see below)
Move: 12" (Swim 12")
Hit Dice: Varies (see below)
% in Lair: 60%
Treasure Type: Varies (see below)
No. of Attacks: Varies
Damage/Attack: Varies
Special Attacks: Poison, charm, constriction, magic
Special Defenses: See below
Magic Resistance: Standard
Intelligence: High to Genius
Alignment: Lawful Evil
Size: M to L (5' to 15' long)
Psionic Ability: Nil
Attack/Defense Modes: Nil 

The Serpent Men of Lemuria are the degenerate remnants of an ancient pre-human empire that once ruled the world from their black ziggurats of Lemuria. Worshippers of forgotten serpent gods, they are a deeply hierarchical species whose society is divided into castes: Nobles, Emissaries, Lessers, Abominations, and the rare Progenitors.

The Serpent Men dwell in lost cities, endless deserts, and jungle-cloaked ruins where the bones of their former empire still stand. Their society is steeped in sorcery, cruelty, and ancient blood magic.

Lesser Serpent Men (Rank & File)

Armor Class: 4
Hit Dice: 3+1
No. of Attacks: 2 (weapons) or 1 (bite)
Damage/Attack: Weapon (usually scimitars 1d8) or bite 1d6 + poison
Special Attacks: Poison (save vs poison or die in 1d4+2 rounds)
Special Defenses: Immune to snake venom
Treasure Type: Q×10 (minor trophies, jewelry)

Description: The Lesser caste are the numerous warrior-slaves of the Serpent Men, with humanoid torsos and snake-like lower bodies. They wield cruel curved blades and favor ambush tactics. Though not highly intelligent individually, they are cunning pack hunters.

Noble Serpent Men (Ruling Caste)

Armor Class: 2
Hit Dice: 9+3
No. of Attacks: 1 (weapon or bite)
Damage/Attack: Weapon (1d8) or bite 1d6 + poison
Special Attacks: Poison (save vs poison or die in 1d4+2 rounds); Command lesser castes
Special Defenses: Immune to snake venom; immune to petrification (basilisks, medusae)
Treasure Type: H, S (temple hoards)

Description: The Nobles rule through bloodline purity, cruelty, and mastery of ancient secrets. With humanoid heads covered in fine scales, they resemble blasphemous parodies of men. Their venom is deadlier than the Lesser caste, and their minds sharp with sorcerous knowledge of the old gods.

Emissary Serpent Men (Sorcerer-Priests)
Armor Class: 5
Hit Dice: 6+2
No. of Attacks: 1 weapon or spell
Damage/Attack: Weapon (usually dagger 1d4+1) or by spell
Special Attacks: Charm (victims save at −1); spells as 5th-level Illusionist
Special Defenses: Immune to snake venom; partially resistant to charm (save at +1 vs charm attempts)
Treasure Type: O, R (spell components, magical items, rare scrolls)

Description: Emissaries are the sorcerer-priests of the Ophidians, acting as the voice of the nobles to the outside world. Though appearing nearly human, they bear forked tongues, scaled skin, and slitted eyes. Their spells manipulate the minds of humans, making them ideal infiltrators and agents.

Abomination Serpent Men (Spawn of Forbidden Unions)

Armor Class: 3
Hit Dice: 10+2
No. of Attacks: 2 slams and bite
Damage/Attack: 1d6+3 / 1d6+3 (slams), bite 1d6+3 + poison
Special Attacks: Constriction (if both slam attacks hit same target); poison bite (save vs poison or die in 1d4+1 rounds)
Special Defenses: Immune to snake venom; berserk rage grants +2 to hit when wounded
Treasure Type: None

Description: The Abominations are cursed progeny — bloated masses of serpentine horror, many-limbed or many-headed, each uniquely malformed. Used as shock troops, they know only hatred for all life. The nobles use them as living engines of slaughter.

Progenitor Serpent Men (Ancient Mage-Priests)

Armor Class: 6
Hit Dice: 9
No. of Attacks: 1 weapon or spell
Damage/Attack: By weapon or spell
Special Attacks: Cast as 5th-level Magic-User and 4th-level Cleric
Special Defenses: Immune to snake venom; difficult to detect (treat as continuous nondetection spell)
Treasure Type: Q, S, U (ancient relics, rare spellbooks, forbidden lore)

Description: The Progenitors are the oldest of the Serpent Men, their bodies concealed by illusory human skins. They are few, paranoid, and driven by a desire for immortality. Most nobles seek to destroy them out of fear.

Ecology and Religion

The Serpent Men worship ancient pre-human serpent deities, long forgotten by man. Whether these are true gods or eldritch cosmic entities is unknown. In their black ziggurats, sacrifices are made to these dark powers, feeding the Ophidian sorceries that sustain their dwindling bloodlines.

The Cult of The One Who Remains

In the lost jungles and steaming lowlands of ancient Lemuria, where black ziggurats rise like broken teeth through the mists, the Ophidian Serpent Men whisper prayers to a god few mortals dare name. The humans who know of it call it The One Who Remains; the Serpent Men call it Ssath Ur-Raa, He Who Waits Beyond All Coils.

To the Serpent Men, all things, kingdoms, races, even the gods themselves, are as molted skins, discarded and forgotten. After all, they watched the Old Ones rise into power and then fall into their deep cosmic slumbers. Only the great cosmic serpent at the center of all existence endures. They believe that when the final sun gutters out and the last star grows cold, The One Who Remains will still exist, coiled at the center of the void, the last and eternal devourer. It is not death, but endless, unbroken continuation. Not life, but consumption without end.

Within their ancient temples, deep beneath the crumbling ziggurats of Lemuria, the Serpent Men enact terrible rites in its honor. Victims are dragged screaming into stone chambers and placed upon altars of obsidian and jade. There, their lifeblood is spilled, seeping into channels cut into the floor, flowing in great spirals that mimic the infinite coils of their god. Blood is both offering and currency, traded for visions, power, and the brief illusion of immortality.

The priesthood of The One Who Remains is layered like the coils of their god. At its center sits the High Oracle of the Last Coil, always one of the ancient Progenitors, older than memory and rumored to have gazed directly into the eyes of the Sleeper Beneath the Last Coil. Around the Oracle gather the Lords of the Black Coil, drawn from the most ancient noble bloodlines. It is they who oversee the Abomination-Births, deliberately breeding the most monstrous of their kind as offerings and as weapons in their ceaseless wars. Beneath them are the Coilspeakers, the Emissaries who master the ancient arts of dream-sorcery and illusion. With whispered words and flickering gestures, they cloud the minds of men and bend them to the will of their Ophidian masters.

Even among the Lesser caste, faith in The One Who Remains is absolute, though their understanding is crude. They serve as the laborers, the warriors, and the butchers of the faith. For every sacrifice, for every abomination birthed, for every rival enslaved or destroyed, the Serpent Men believe themselves one coil closer to their god’s embrace.

Yet it is not merely blood and flesh they offer. The Coilspeakers enter trances where they seek visions from the outer reaches of the world, glimpsing patterns spiraling into infinite madness. Those few who return speak of collapsing worlds, of unraveling realities, and of other realms where The One Who Remains reaches through fractured dimensions to consume entire existences. Whether these are prophetic glimpses or delusions born of their own degeneracy, none can say.

To the Ophidians, all is a spiral, the twisting of bloodlines, the coiling of bodies in ritual embrace, the spiraling glyphs carved into the temple stones. And at the center of every spiral is The One Who Remains.

Even now, as the last of their ancient cities crumble, and humanity rises beyond the jungles they once ruled, the Ophidians believe that all victories of man are but passing skins. In the end, when all is uncoiled and the world breathes its final breath, only their god shall remain.

--

I have been hanging on to The One Who Remains for many years now. Trying to find good ways to sneak it into various writings. He made his first appearance in my Buffy RPG adventure "The Dark Druid" and he is the "something else" I mentioned in Fear Dorich's stats. 

Who, or what, is The One Who Remains? That is a much more complicated question and deserves a careful answer. In the future. 

 Had to switch my Friday posts here, was going to do this one next week and have a Fantasy Friday for today, but fell down a rabbit hole and ended buying three more games to talk about. That's fine I have Kickstarters today that seem to be speaking to me directly.

Up first, Tales of the Valiant.

Player's Guide 2: New Power for 5E and TOV Players

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/deepmagic/players-guide-2-new-power-for-5e-and-tov-players?ref=theotherside

Tales of the Valiant is Kobold Press' 5e-compatible RPG sans the OGL. I don't play a lot of 5e these days, but I do keep my eye out. And this one grabbed me. I already detailed Tales of the Valiant in previous Fantasy Fridays.

You can easily see why if you download their preview. 

Yup. That's right, a 5e-compatible Witch class. Now I have played a lot of 5e witches thanks to DMsGuild and other sites. Some are great, some less so. But this one looks like a lot of fun, really. Honestly, I don't really care what else the book has, that is enough for me. There are three new classes here and sub-classes for all the base classes. That's 16 classes total for ToV. There is a witch and a warlock. 

Vanguards are featured in the preview and remind me of Pathfinder 2's champions or even the Cavalier of old. Yes, I already have a character in mind to make for this. In fact, he is perfect since it was Kobold Press' Shadow Fey book that made me want to make the character in the first place. With this book I could actually do Scáthaithe, Larina, and their daughter Taryn all in the same system for a change. In my Fantasy Friday coverage of ToV I mentioned that there were no good options to do Larina with. That changes with this.

The Kickstarter is funded, so they don't need my help at all. But there are a lot of good add-ons and stretch goals. I think I am going to get the fancy-looking limited edition cover. I am a slut of a book with a ribbon.

Sadly, it won't be out till January of 2026. 

I have the Tales of the Valiant books in PDF. I'll need to get those in hardcovers, too, now. 

I already featured this one, but I want to do it again. 

Frightshow Classics LIVES!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/frightshowclassics/frightshow-classics-lives?ref=theotherside

This Kickstarter will feature a lot of art from the late Jim Holloway. They have been working with Jim's family to get this art out there in remembrance of him and the game he did so many illustrations for, 1st Edition Chill.

This round also features an adventure adapting the famous gothic story "Carmilla" for use with this system.

What system is that? Good of you to ask! The adventures are overtly for Chill first Edition. The Pacesetter version. BUT these adventures can be played on their own with no extra rule book since everything you need is included in the adventure itself. You can even move them over to your system of choice.

I wrote a couple for this line, The Golem and The Nightmare.

I even provided a video tribute featuring my favorite Jim Holloway art.