Original Roleplaying Concepts
It's Christmas Eve in my part of the world!
While I am not a Christian I do love the secular holiday aspects of Christmas. Getting together with family. Relaxing at the end of the year. Making some great food (homemade pizzas tonight) and yes giving presents.
So let's get this Christmas going with some of my favorite Christmas songs!
Here are some of my all-time favorites.
Been working a lot on NIGHT SHIFT lately so I see everything through this lens. So when one of my friends on Facebook posted this idea, you know I had to run with it.
Not too far-fetched, as the images of Santa and Father Christmas come to us from the legends of Odin wandering the land in disguise, giving gifts to children.
So for NIGHT SHIFT imagine this. It is December 13, but it is also Friday the 13th (the next time this happens is December 2024). A group of kids are back from college and getting ready for Christmas. They all get together and talk about how they all nearly died at Camp Crystal Lake one summer. The memories and the date summon Jason Voorhees to start killing again.
I imagine a sad and angry Santa Claus (I mean if Jason is real, why not Santa).
"I knew those children Freya!" he tells Mrs. Claus. "Billy. Susie. Ann. They were on the Nice List most of the time. They were all good kids!"
Mrs. Claus watched him for a moment, she then reaches into her dress and pulls out a large iron key on a silver chain. Santa stands, takes the offered key. He goes and unlocks a cabinet. Inside is a large golden spear. "Ah, Gungnir old friend. It is time again." He removes his jolly red coat to reveal his muscled frame donned in fine mail.
Mrs. Claus hands him his shield saying "Remind him who you were, Grímnir. Who you are."
He walks out of his workshop in the driving snow (in slow motion no less) as two ravens fly into the scene to fly in front of him.
Santa ClausStrength: 20 (+4) s
Dexterity: 17 (+2)
Constitution: 14 (+1)
Intelligence: 16 (+2)
Wisdom: 18 (+3) P
Charisma: 20 (+4) s
HP: 110 (20d8+20)
AC: 2
Fate Points: 1d10
Check Bonus (P/S/T): +8/+6/+4
Melee bonus: +10 Ranged bonus: +6
Saves: +6 to all
Special Abilities: Increased Ability (Str), Brutal Warrior, Stunning Blow, Killing Blow, Supernatural Attacks, Difficult to Surprise, Improved Initiative, Improved Defense, Survival Skills (13th level), Mental Resistance, Regeneration.
Supernatural Ability: Body Control
For a game I would have the PCs being hunted by Jason and the only one that can save them is Santa. That is of course if they can remind him that he had once been Odin.
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Joe and Becky were running for their lives.
The monster in the hockey mask had killed Gary and it was now after them. Becky was hurt and limping. Joe was trying to hold her up while they ran. Both were terrified. Joe was looking behind and he no longer saw the monster and he didn't notice the limb and he tripped, bringing him and Becky down. They looked up and saw the monster. The monster raised his machete to bring down on the teens. Joe heard a scream that he thought was Becky's, but he soon realized it was his own. Instead of the sound of metal on flesh, the sound was metal on steel.
Joe looked up and saw, to his complete astonishment, he saw.
"Santa?" Joe asked, surprised.
"Ho. Ho. Ho." Santa said, but there was no mirth in it. His spear held back the machete. "Now, foul draugr. Not these children." Santa knocked the undead slasher back with his spear. "Not during MY season!"
Merry Christmas everyone!
Today is the first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and last night I got my PDF copies of the new Hyperborea RPG, formerly Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.
Hyperborea has long been part of my "older, colder" version of D&D. And winter is a great time for it. This new version has a lot going for it and I can't wait to dig into it. There is so much to like here.
It also is a good time to revisit the witch family, The Winters, and my favorite member Tanith.
I detailed Tanith for the 2nd Edition of the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea RPG.
Tanith Winters
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Tanith has been an interesting character so far. In the few games, I have run her she has become surprisingly power-hungry. She seeks to control the Winters family which is going to bring her is direct conflict with Grandmother Winter.
With this new Hyperboria RPG out I am also going to explore her relationship with her god Lunaqqua.
This creature began with a picture posted to the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Facebook group, and I thought it might be fun to stat up. The original posters asked, "in game terms, what is this?"Here is what I posted in response.
It is a "Confessor." It appears in areas of profound sadness. It feeds on the professed guilt of those who sit next to it. You have to confess your worst guilt to it. If you do, it leaves. If you don't or lie to it then it attacks as a specter.It seemed to go over well, so here are some full stats.
What struck me about it was the white "robes" it is wearing, the bench seems to have room for someone else to sit next to it, and it is out in the daylight.
This is an undead creature, but a special one.
CONFESSOR
FREQUENCY: Very Rare
NO. APPEARING: 1
ARMOR CLASS: 3
MOVE: 0" (special)
HIT DICE: 10+10 (55 hp)
% IN LAIR: 100%
TREASURE TYPE: Nil
NO. OF ATTACKS: 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK: 1d10 + Energy Drain
SPECIAL ATTACKS: Compell, Energy Drain
SPECIAL DEFENSES: +1 or better weapon to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE: 25%
INTELLIGENCE: Average
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil (Chaotic Neutral)
SIZE: M (6' tall)
PSIONIC ABILITY: Nil
The confessor is a special undead appearing in places of great sorrow. They are found sitting alone waiting for someone to sit down next to them. Humanoids are compelled to do so unless they make a saving throw vs. spells. If a victim fails the save they sit down next to the confessor. This is all the magic does, what the victim does next is up to them. If they make the save the confessor still will beckon any living humanoid to come to sit next to it.
Once someone sits next to the confessor it will then ask them to confess their deepest guilt. The character then has to confess their worst guilt to it. If they do and are honest, it leaves. If they don't or lie to it then it attacks as a 10 HD undead creature. Its touch does 1d10 hp of damage and drains one energy level as per a specter. They can and do move about in the daylight and are not harmed by it.
They can be turned by a cleric as a Lich. Unless the confessor hears a confession they will return on on the next sunset. Anyone killed by a confessor will remain as a spirit helplessly haunting the area around the confessor; wordlessly screaming out their warnings to others.
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Have to admit, I thought of this.
Not everything I post here is game-related.
Friday Night Videos is a prime example. And in truth, there might not be a Friday Night Videos (or even an MTV as we used to know it) without the pioneering work of Mike Nesmith.
Nesmith, who passed away on December 10 at the age of 78 was one of the members of the fake rock band, The Monkees. LAter he created the show PopClips that was later sold to Time Warner and gave us MTV. This is not a surprise since the Monkees show was essentially a surreal sitcom with music video sensibilities. It played in reruns to kids like me that would grow up into teens with MTV.
Mike Nesmith is the Godfather of Music Videos. Yes, there were music videos before, some WAY before, but he turned them into entertainment for the masses.
So here's Nes and some of my favorite songs he has written.
He also was featured on songs written by others.
His best though, is one he wrote and performed and became something of a signature song.
Weren't they good, they made me happy. Miss yeah Nes.
Been crazy busy at work. That time of year. But one big project is done and I am down to the last few courses in this contact hour audit I have been doing for weeks.
I have been neglecting things here so here is a quick one. I got some art made of a scene crucial to the "War of the Witch Queens" back story. The scene is called "Tea With the Witches" and it takes place in The Simbul's castle in the Forgotten Realms.
I want to send out a hearty thank you to Brian Brinlee for doing such a great job with this. Here are the witches pictured. Left to right (clockwise, never widdershins when dealing with witches):
Sagarassi the Sea Witch (Krynn/Dragonlance), Iggwilv the Witch Queen (Oerth/Greyhawk), The Simbul, Witch Queen of Aglarond (Toril/The Forgotten Realms and where this is taking place), Larina (my OC), Feiya the Pathfinder iconic witch (Golarion/Pathfinder).
They are playing Pentacles, a game played with five people using Tarroka cards.
Hopefully regular posting will resume next week!
It has not been a good week. In addition to Anne Rice and Mike Nesmith, we also lost British Cypriot painter Chris Achilléos. He was 74.Achilléos' book Sirens was one of the first art books I ever bought. I think my brother (who is an artist) still has it. I'd later go on to pick up his Beauty and the Beast and Medusa books.
I loved his art from Heavy Metal (and sometimes White Dwarf) magazine as well as the British covers of the Richard Kirk Raven novels. But it was his art of Taarna of the Heavy Metal movie poster that most people know him.
Links
Taarna
Tanith
Elric Let's not forget his Raven covers for the British publisher Corgi.
Author and world creator Anne Rice died this past weekend at the age of 80.
Rice's writing, whether her books on vampires, witches, mummies, or erotic fairytales, had a huge effect on horror writing, modern media vampires, and not least of all, games.
I recently watched the 2017 "World of Darkness" documentary where Vampire the Masquerade creator talked about how he tried to avoid everything Anne Rice when he was writing, only to watch all the movies and read the books that influenced her.
There was certainly something in the air around then. World of Darkness / Vampire the Masquerade came out in 1991, with development starting in the late 80s (on the way to Gen Con according to the documentary). Back in 1985-86, I read "The Vampire Lestat." I actually read it before I read "Interview with A Vampire" so my opinion of Lestat was a bit higher than my friends that read the books in the proper order. "Lost Boys" came out in 1987. All of this led to some interesting discussions at the game table on the nature of vampires.
Once again I am going back to my original "Red Book" and I pulled the stats on an old favorite, the Children of Darkness, updated to my new Basic Bestiary stat block. Though spoiler alert, you have seen a variation on these with the Children of Twilight.
Vamire, Children of DarknessStr: 22 (+5) Dex: 18 (+3) Con: 16 (+2) Int: 16 (+2) Wis: 13 (+1) Cha: 20 (+4)
Few undead creatures are as powerful as the vampire and none are as successful as hunters as the vampire. The Children of Darkness are among the most powerful of the vampires. The transformation to the undead causes the Children of Darkness to become the perfect predator. Their physical form becomes perfect; imperfections disappear, they become stronger, can see and hear better, and naturally, can smell blood. These vampires only prey on humans and as such only humans become Children of Darkness.
The Children of Darkness share many of the same strengths and weaknesses as the common vampire. They are strong (they have strength scores of 22), undead, immune to mind-affecting spells such as sleep, hold, and charm. They are also immune to having their minds read. However, unlike other types of vampires, they can enter dwellings, holy ground and are not harmed by holy items like symbols of holy water. Additionally, they cannot turn into bats, wolves, or mist. They do not need to rest in coffins, but many do since it is a good guarantee that they will lie undisturbed. Like all vampires, Children of Darkness are damaged by and can be destroyed by sunlight. They take 2d6 hp of damage per round exposed to sunlight. These vampires are turned by Clerics as Liches or Type 12 Undead.
These vampires can attack with their fists causing 1d6+5 points of damage per hit or attack with a weapon with a +5 to damage. Additionally, these vampires can have a special power. These powers can include, Charm, Levitation, Pyrotechnics, Telekinesis, or Telepathy. Typically these vampires gain their first power soon after becoming a vampire and an additional power for every 100 years of age. Children of Darkness over 1,000 years old are believed to be able to fly or even immunity to sunlight.
Magical weapons can harm them and if they are reduced to below 0 hp they do not die, must retreat where they will heal at the rate of 1 hp per day. Damage above this 0 hp threshold is regenerated at the rate of 1 hp per round. Vampires can "heal" hp on an eight-for-one basis for any hp they drain from constitution points (1 con point = 8 hp).
The deadliest attack is their Constitution Drain. Once they latch onto a victim they drain them of blood via a bite. This bite drains the victim of two (2) points of constitution per round, with most humans drained to zero in five rounds. A human drained to below 0 constitution points will die. A drained human will not return as a vampire unless the Child of Darkness also gives them some of their own blood. They can only do this if the human is at 0 points of constitution, no more, no less.
Children of Darkness will band together in small groups for protection. Many will share the same sire or will even be "orphans", Children whose sire has abandoned them. They have a complex set of laws they must abide by which includes not turning children into vampires, (though feeding on them seems to be ok) not creating too many of their own kind (which is difficult to start with), and not killing their own sires. Some even take this as far as not killing others of their kind.
The Children of Darkness see themselves as superior to all other types of vampires. They view other vampires as mutations or aberrations. Their own rules prohibiting them from killing other vampires do not apply to other vampire types. They often refer to all these other types as "Children of the Devil."
Every hundred years or so a Child of Darkness feels the need for a deeper sleep. They will find a secluded location away from the sun where they will sleep for a decade or more. Sometimes very old vampires will fall into this death-like state and forget to awaken.
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About twice as much text as my late 80s version. For this stat block, there is now a "Turned As" listing. This is something I'll introduce in Basic Bestiary II: Undead (currently 220 entries, but only 140 are complete). "Named" undead will get a chance to make a saving throw but I will detail all of that and my alternate rules for Undead Level Drain in the book.
There are few things I love more than Creepy Folk horror and one of those things is creepy Gothic Horror. I was quite pleased to see that Free League Publishing of Sweden was doing a horror Mythic Britain and Ireland, you know it has my attention.
Vaesen RPG – Mythic Britain & Ireland
I picked up Vaesen based on solid recommendations while I was at Gen Con this past year. The game is gorgeous, but I have yet to play it. But this? This looks like it was tailor-made for me.
Once again the art looks amazing and the game itself? Well, I am hooked and already thinking of a game I could run with it.
Check it out and throw them a Krona or two.
Kinda busy with work and other projects this week, so this will be a fast one.
File under, "Gods, Not these Idiots Again?"
So the New, New TSR, also 3SR, or TSR3, or NotTSR by me, have decided in their infinite wisdom to sue Wizards of the Coast.
Yup.
Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro (the makers of Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons) is being sued by TSR (the makers of well...nothing actually).
You can read the filed suit here:
Now that is the text of the suit and details exactly what is being asked of the courts. This is a copyright and trademark dispute.
The copyright one is completely bogus as Wizards owns (and has all the receipts) of the copyright to all of TSR, Inc.'s former copyrights. This has been repeated multiple times by Ryan Dancey, the Wizards of the Coast employee charged with investigating and authorizing the purchase of TSR, Inc. (and the spearhead of the OGL), by Shannon Appelcline the RPG historian who has covered the history of D&D/TSR, and most recently by Benjamin Riggs who writing a book to cover the purchase of TSR, Inc. by Wizards of the Coast.
Reading through this document this is about NotTSR wanting to have free and clear use of the old logos that Wizards had owned but the trademark licenses elapsed. Currently, it looks like the use of the "Man in the Moon" logo has cancelation pending.
Given the language in the NotTSR's IndieGoGo's page (which I am not linking and will get to in a bit) makes the claim that Wizards of the Coast are "bullying" them to give up the logos and maybe even the name. This is what I thought they had done anyway back in July with the whole "WonderFilleD" name.
While the text of the actual suit says one thing, their IndieGoGo page says something else.
The crowdfunding effort on IndieGoGo makes it sound like they are taking on WotC to reclaim D&D and get them to remove the disclaimers on older products (including ones produced and published by WotC themselves).
There is a whole lot of nonsense here to unpack. Where to start?
TSR, Inc. is not New TSR.
There is a lot of conflating of the two (well there were three) TSRs. LaNasa here is trying to make a connection between the TSR that dissolved in the 1990s to the new "company" he created. That conflation is something he has been doing for the last few months. I am wondering if he is actually starting to believe this himself.
IndieGoGo and not GoFundMe
Then there is the issue of IndieGoGo vs. GoFundMe. GFM is the go-to platform for things like this. So why IGG? I think it is because there are few consumer protections against fraud that GFM was specifically designed for. IGG is great, but this is not what it was meant for.
The Suit vs. What the fundraiser page says
The suit covers a trademark dispute. The IGG pages leads you to believe that they are also going after Wizards to get the language on the DirveThruRPG/DMSGuild pages changed.
Keep in mind that NotTSR has no legal leg to stand on here. WotC owns those products lock, stock, and barrel. They can do whatever they want to their own products.
I said it 18 months ago, and I revisited it 6 months ago, but those disclaimers are not coming down. It doesn't matter what the older, tiny subset of fans, many who also claim never to buy the products, want. If anything it increased the sales. Do you honestly think Oriental Adventures was going to go to Mithril seller on its content alone?
NotTSR and LaNasa do not have that sort of power. Not even if their Fundraiser ran at its current levels for the next 10,000 years.
Libel and Slander?
Good thing that this wasn't in the actual suit. This is a perfect example of someone not knowing what the legal terms Libel and Slander actually mean. I would even argue that LaNasa has MADE money since those disclaimers went up. Also, WotC can also show that no harm has been caused to their own livelihood since they went up. This is the weakest of all his claims.
So what is the point of all of this?
Simple. I have talked to a lot of people that are part of the RPG industry and the overwhelming consensus is that is nothing more than a cheap cash grab. It is a grift to get money from the old-school gaming crowd.
LaNasa is promising the return of "old TSR" but not only is Old TSR gone, it is gone forever. The copyrights and IP are held by a multi Billion dollar company (Fortune 500 rank #494). The principles and the creatives are all for the most part dead. The ones that are still alive have nothing but contempt for this cash grab. Don't forget that "good old TSR" was not always so good. Gygax tried to screw Arneson of money he was owed (it was Wizards of the Coast that made Dave Arneson was paid finally, not TSR), it was TSR that fired Gygax from his own company, and it was TSR that threatened to sue anyone that so much as talked about D&D online back in the early 90s. The whole "Make TSR Great Again" is a smokescreen for a blatant cash grab and to hide the fact they still have no products out.
Edited to Add: Here is a brilliant takedown of the complaint by a lawyer who does this stuff all the time.
Been a busy time at work, so just a fast one today.
Some time ago I grabbed something called "Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition" from the web. It has been sitting in my "to be sorted" folder for ages. I was in the process of digging up some other material for a project when I happened upon them. The layout was nice and clean and the covers were nearly print-ready. So I spent some time a few nights ago tweaking it and slapped the whole thing on Lulu.
Here is what I got.
Frankly, I am pretty happy with it.
I went a re-looked up what this game was/is and it turns out it was done by Chris Perkins. The game is a very nice blend of AD&D 1st and 2nd Editions with mechanics from D&D 3rd Edition and inspiration from Castles & Crusades. The overall effect is not unlike D&D 5th Edition, but more of a 1st Edition feel.
The art is all copied from published classic D&D sources, so there is no way this thing is legal to sell. I am sure if cleaned up it could be released under the OGL, but it is so close to Castles & Crusades and D&D 5th edition there is no need to do so save as an entertaining experiment.
Perkins used to have a website for it, http://www.adnd3egame.com/cnc.htm but it is long since gone. There are details about it at RPG Geek and Boardgame Geek. I have no idea where it is hosted anymore. I found a new site for it here: https://scruffygrognard.wordpress.com/2010/02/02/add-3rd-edition/. Note: Perkins is now working on a BX3e.
It is a completely playable game and has a lot of nice features. It reads like a D&D "Greatest hits" album. It is just missing some "kits" or "subclasses" to make it more like 5e.
The question of course is why play this when I have all the other versions of *D&D? Well, the simple answer is that it looks like fun. IT might be neat to play this "what if" version. It is also interesting to see which design choices Perkins went with. Like why 20th century D&D style saving throws and not say 3rd/4th Edition ones or 5th Edition/Castles & Crusades ones? How does the skill system work (feels like a mix of AD&D 1st ed and D&D 3rd ed)? There are Bard and Monk classes, how do they compare to their 1st and 3rd ed counterparts? Plus there is a section on Psionics. So there is a lot to explore here.
Besides the books are damn attractive. The layout like I said is clean and simple, but it appeals to me.
Now that I found his site again I am curious to see if there will be more updates on it. His BX3e project also looks very interesting.
Going back a bit to do some more level setting and based on a conversation I had last week with a friend. He was looking for some stats for Orcus for 2nd Edition AD&D. I have stats for all versions of AD&D/D&D for him, but none for 2nd Ed. I had always felt that Orcus was dead throughout all of 2nd Edition (thanks to The Throne of Bloodstone) but the events of Dead Gods brought him back.
I did have some older AD&D 2nd Ed stats I had created in something I call the "Red Book." The notes are largely cribbed from 1st Edition sources.
To rebuild this I am going to also look to other sources like Swords & Wizardry and Pathfinder.
Orcus, Demon Prince of the Undead
Climate/Terrain: The Abyss
Frequency: Unique
Organization: Solitary
Activity Cycle: Any
Diet: Carnivore
Intelligence: Supra-genius (20)
Treasure: P, S, T, U
Alignment: Chaotic evil
No. Appearing: 1 (Unique)
Armor Class: -6
Movement: 18, Fl 36 (B)
Hit Dice: 25 (130 hp)
THAC0: 7
No. of Attacks: 3 (see below)
Damage/Attack: 1d10+3/1d10+3/2d4 + special
Special Attacks: Fear, spell-like powers, summon and command undead, Wand of Orcus
Special Defenses: +3 or better weapons to hit
Magic Resistance: 85%
Size: L (15' tall)
Morale: Fearless (19-20)
XP Value: 36,000
Orcus is the Prince of the Undead, and it said that he alone created the first undead that walked the worlds.
Orcus is one of the strongest (if not the strongest) and most powerful of all demon lords. He fights a never-ending war against rival demon princes that spans several Abyssal layers. From his great bone palace he commands his troops as they wage war across the smoldering and stinking planes of the Abyss. Orcus spends most of his days in his palace, rarely leaving its confines unless he decides to leads his troops into battle (which has happened on more than one occasion). Most of the time though, he is content to let his generals and commanders lead the battles.
Appearance: Orcus is a grossly fat demon lord, some 15 feet tall. His huge grey body is covered with coarse goatish hair. His head is goat-like, although his horns are similar to those of a ram. His great legs are also goat-like but his arms are humanoid. Vast bat wings sprout from his back, but these are usually tucked out of sight when he is not in flight. His long, snaky tail is tipped his a poisonous head.
Combat: It is probable that this creature is one of the most powerful and strongest of all demons. If he so much as slaps with his open hand the blow causes 1-4 hit points of damage. His terrible fists can deliver blows of 3-13 hit points. If he uses a weapon he strikes with a bonus of +6 to hit and +8 on damage. Additionally, his tail has a virulent poison sting (-4 on all saving throws against its poison), and his tail strikes with a 15 dexterity which does 2-8 hit points each time it hits.
Orcus prefers to fight using his wand. (see below)
Orcus radiates a 60-foot-radius aura of fear (as the spell). A creature in the area must succeed on a saving throw vs. Spell or be affected as though by a fear spell (caster level 30th). A creature that successfully saves cannot be affected again by Orcus’s fear aura for one day.
Orcus can, at will, use any one of the following powers:
Orcus can command or banish undead as a 15th-level cleric, controlling up to 150 HD worth of undead at one time. He casts spells as a 15th level cleric and 12th level magic-user, and can use the following magical abilities at will: animate dead, charm monster, darkness, dispel magic, ESP, fear, feeblemind (1/day), lightning bolt (12 die), speak with dead (as 20th level cleric), symbol (any) and wall of fire.
Additionally, he has an 80% chance of gating in any demon of type I-V (but only a 50% chance of gating a type VI or VI and will never call upon another prince).Orcus furthermore is able to summon the undead, for he is their prince. If random calling is desired by the referee the following is suggested:
Habitat/Society: When not warring against rival demon princes, Orcus likes to travel the planes, particularly the Material Plane. Should a foolish spellcaster open a gate and speak his name, he is more than likely going to hear the call and step through to the Material Plane. What happens to the spellcaster that called him usually depends on the reason for the summons and the power of the spellcaster. Extremely powerful spellcasters are usually slain after a while and turned into undead soldiers or generals in his armies.
He has a following of human worshippers as well; warlocks, death masters, necromancers, and evil priests.Ecology: Orcus controls several levels of the Abyss he claims as his own including the 113th and 333rd layers. When not at war with the forces of good and life he wars with all the other demon princes for control of all the Abyss. Orcus' goal is to see all life extinguished and death reigns supreme.
Wand of Orcus: Mighty Orcus wields a huge black skull-tipped rod that functions as a +3 heavy mace. It slays any living creature it touches if the target fails a saving throw. Orcus can shut this ability off so as to allow his wand to pass into the Material Plane, usually into the hands of one of his servants. Further, the Wand has the following magical powers: 3/day—animate dead, darkness and fear; 2/day—unholy word.
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Might need to tweak it some for my own uses, but this looks like it works well enough. These stats are not perfect by any stretch, but they feel pretty close.
I reject the fan theory that so many have adopted that Orcus was once human. Though this does fit in with the Mystara/BECMI Immortals Set version of Orcus. Though THAT Orcus also has 39 HD and 620 HP.
I prefer my own where he is a remnant of a former god. He has memories of God-like power, but nothing else. After all according to Milton Orcus was in Hell when the Devils first arrived.
In any case, I do see that Orcus became more powerful after the events of Dead Gods. Maybe also explaining why he went from being "immensely fat and covered in grey hair" to the red demon of 21st century D&D.
Links
Ok. "Plays Well With Others" might be stretching it a bit. Almost to the point of ridiculousness to be honest, but I have wanted to compare both Lands of Adventure and Man, Myth & Magic for a while now.
On the surface both games are attempts at presenting historical or at least semi-historical, roleplaying to a Post-AD&D world. Both games present various areas and eras of play to help facilitate that notion of historical roleplaying. LoA with its Culture Packs and MM&M with its adventures and Egyptian add-on.
Both games can best, and fairly, be described as overly complicated and in reality somewhat messy.
Both games have more complicated (than AD&D) character creation but attempt to create characters that are appropriate for their times.
Incidentally, both games also use real tiny d20 percentile dice that are difficult at best for me to read these days.
Thematically MM&M tries for historical accuracy despite having a rogue T-Rex running around as an ersatz dragon. LoA probably does a little better here even though it does include several fantastic beasts and monsters.
LoA gives us two (more were planned) Culture Packs, Ancient Greece and Medival England. They are separated by about 2000 years and characters are not expected to be able to travel to one from the other.
MM&M gives us a bunch of different cultures and the idea of "travel" between them is via Reincarnation. The culture best (and I say that loosely) represented here is Rome circa 40 AD (or sometime around that). Even then it has issues.
Neither system is one I want to cozy up with for long periods of time. Not to mention there are plenty of other games that do historical roleplaying better, Pendragon and Chivalry & Sorcery are two that come to mind right away and there are others. The idea of historical role-playing though is still an appealing one.
What is a Game Master to do?
The Fantastic Journey
Back in the late 70s there was a short-lived TV series, The Fantastic Journey, about a group of people that were traveling to different lands throughout time and space. It hit all the social and occult themes of the 1970s. A man from the future with psychic powers, the daughter of an Atlantean and an extraterrestrial, a scientist from the 60s (Roddy McDowall), a young African American doctor, and a super-smart teenager (Ike Eisenmann, fresh from Witch Mountain). The show didn't last long, but it imprinted deeply on my psyche.
It had similarities to the show Time Tunnel that came before it and Voyagers! and Quantum Leap that came after. Though, unlike those shows that tried to pay a little lip service to time travel science, TFJ was pure fantasy. There was magic and even a sorcerer and a werewolf. I have often wondered how I could make a game that mimics this and fulfill the promises made by MM&M and LoA.
I could take a page from Herbie Brennan's other game Timeship for ideas. But honestly, that is just trading an easy solution for more problems.
I like the idea of a group of characters, unstuck in time, traveling to different periods. Whether the characters themselves are doing it or they are reincarnations, I go back and forth on. Part of me likes the idea of the idea reincarnation since that sets them in situ with the proper time and knowledge. OR maybe their consciousness is traveling and inhabiting new bodies ala Quantum Leap. I would need a big bad of course. Someone travelling through time, or maybe someone (or multiple someones) that are immortal and trying to do something to humanity. Destroy it? No, that is too easy. I am going to say advance them in the past so they are more powerful and deadly in the future for some nefarious means. I might take a page from the Doctor Who episode/serial City of Death.
Part of me wants to do this and each time the character travel in time use the system that best represents it. So Pendragon, LoA, MM&M, even WitchHunt. But that is, to put it mildly, insane.
I would use a simple system, likely NIGHT SHIFT to be honest. Survivors would work the best with the odd sage, psychic, and veteran. Then adapting D&D-like games is easier. Each time the character travels they can pick up some odd skills or the like.
Again, I hate to fall into another sunk cost fallacy here but I like to think I owe it to myself to have the game that I wish these games were.
It is the first of the month, so that means a new character. I went through the effort of creating a new character for Man, Myth & Magic. Well, I say "new" because it is a new character for this game, but it is someone I have used a lot in the past.The Game: Man, Myth & Magic
I spent the day reviewing Man, Myth & Magic and it was rather fun. But not a game I am likely to play. So in these cases I use the game to help inform characters that I might be using in other games. In this case I am doing the human, still living version of a character that has so far only appeared in my games as a ghost.
The Character: Queen Boudica
Fans of the Ghosts of Albion RPG will recognize this name. Boudica is the Queen of the Iceni Celts living in western Briton at the time of the Roman occupation. So the time period is really perfect. I set this at 61 CE. If I am going to play a game in Roman Briton then I want to join the Queen as she burns down Londinium.
Boudica, or Boadicea, was a central figure in the Ghosts of Albion animations on the BBC and in the books by Christopher Golden and Amber Benson. She became one of my personal favorite characters in the RPG as well. While she is great fun as a ghost, getting the chance to play her as a still living and breathing human is too much of a temptation to pass up.
I am going to include a scan of the sheet with page numbers appended to it. This was one of the bigger (but by no means unique) issues with this game. You have to flip all over the place to get the information you need to create a character, let alone to play.
Note: Windows updated and now can't find my scanner. So here is an image from my phone.
For Boudica here I did not include any spells, though I could have. I didn't find any that fit well with the concept of her in this game. Plus she is technically not a spell caster here.
In any case, she is a fascinating character and I could stat her up in several systems and not grow tired of her.
Long live the Queen.
I am going to be spending some quality time with the classic game Man, Myth & Magic by Herbert "Herbie" Brennan and J. Stephen Peek and published originally byYaquinto Publications in 1982, and now published (in PDF and single softcover formats) by Precis Intermedia. I was always kind of fascinated by this game. The name of course grabbed me for two reasons. There was the whole "Myth and Magic" side to it all which in 1982 was a big draw for me. Also, there was the magazine and encyclopedia series also called Man, Myth & Magic that dealt with all sorts of occult-related topics.
I read reviews for it in Dragon Magazine (#80) and White Dwarf (#41) and was actually quite curious about it. The reviews really ripped into the game and I needed to know if it was as bad as they made it sound. Sadly I never found a copy near me and a mail-order of $19.00 + tax and shipping and handling made it a little more out of reach when it was new.
But I was always drawn to historical games. I felt if I could play or run a game and learn something about history at the same time then it was time well spent really. A few I have enjoyed quite a lot, mostly Victorian-era ones, and others I ripped online so much I promised I wasn't going to rip on them anymore.
Man, Myth, & Magic sadly belongs to the camp of a historical mishmash, that is to say, it is about as historically accurate as an episode of Xena: Warrior Princess. Don't get me wrong, I love me some Xena and it is very entertaining in the right frame of mind. The same is true for this game. Great, in the right frame of mind. In fact, I think that now, living in a post-Xena world, there is a place for this game that did not exist in 1982.
For this review, I am going to consider my original boxed set from 1982 (now minus the dice) and the newer PDF versions found on DriveThruRPG published by Precis Intermedia. In both cases, the material is the same minus some of the extras that came in the boxed set like the dice and a pad of character sheets.
Man, Myth, & Magic was published in a boxed set of three books (same covers), with a pad of character sheets, some maps, and dice. The PDF combines the three books into one 132 page volume. The original boxed set retailed for $19.00 in 1982 ($55 in today's buying power) and the PDFs sell for $7.95 today. The books feature color covers and black & white interiors.
Book 1
Book 1 is 24 pages and covers the "Basic Game" and the game most like the one as originally conceived of by Herbie Brennan. In this game, the players play gladiators in the time of the Roman Emperors. Which one? That is up to a random dice roll unless of course, the players want something different.
It's an interesting idea, but...well there are some problems here. According to the back of the box, it is the Summer of 41 CE. Cool. But Caligula was assassinated in January of 41 CE. Tiberius ruled 14 to 37 CE and Nero was Emperor from 54 to 68 CE. The only Emperor in the Summer of 41 was Claudius. Adding dates in parentheses would have been a nice touch. Let's not even get into the fact that Cleopatra VII, the last of the Egyptian Pharaohs, had died back in 30 BCE, 71 years before the events of this game, but that looks like her on the cover. I'll talk more about this later. In theory you can tun this game from 4000 BCE to 500 (or 1000) CE.
You begin with your Roman Gladiator and your two percentile d20s and roll up your characteristics. The characteristics in the Basic Game are Strength, Speed, Skill (not used just yet), Endurance, Intelligence, and Courage. The scores range from 1 to 100. You add all these up for your Life Points (so 5 to 500), you fall unconscious at 20 or below and dead at 0 or below.
The Basic rules take your gladiator from start to a bit of combat and adventure with the maxim that the best way to learn is to do. This is a tactic that the rest of the game uses. At the end of this, your character is ready for new adventures.
The neat bit, and one I want to revisit, is the idea of reincarnation. That is if your character dies they can be reincarnated.
Book 2
Book 2 covers the "Advanced Game" and includes 40 pages. Here we learn more about skills, the Power score, and the different Nationalities (10) and Classes associated with each (2-5 each). All are completely random and no real attempt is made to explain why say an Egyptian Sorcerer, a Gaulish Barbarian, a Roman Gladiator, and a Hibernian Leprechaun would all be part of the same adventuring party. Ok. That's not entirely true, but the explanation takes some digging.
Up first is determining your Nationality. Again a random roll gives you African, Briton, Egyptian, Gaul, Greek, Hebrew, Hibernian, Visigoth, Roman, and Oriental. Each at 10% chance. Within each nationality, there are character classes. Regardless of how many there is an equal chance for any given class. Most nationalities have a sort of "fighter" like class and all have merchant. There are two classes open to women characters only, Wisewoman (African) and Sybil (Greek). Details are given for all the classes, 20 in total, but not a lot of information. In most cases only a paragraph here and some more details later on. This brings up a persistent issue, the rules are a bit scattered everywhere throughout the book.
Additionally, there are two "Special Categories" of players (not characters) of "Orator" and "Sage" or essentially a storyteller and a record keeper. Much in the same way Basic D&D has a "Caller." Not much else is mentioned about these roles however.
This character is considered to be your first incarnation. Anytime your character dies, you can then reincarnate. This allows you to change your nationality, class, and gender and retain a little bit of the Skill from a previous incarnation. It is an interesting idea, I am not 100% certain though that it works. Knowing gamers I see a situation where players would play a character only to get them to die for a chance at a better character next time.
There is a fun chart on inheritance that would be fun to port over to other games. Related there are our ubiquitous tables of equipment.
Some of the other secondary "Optional" characteristics are also detailed. These include Agility, Charm, Dexterity, Drinking, and so on. These are really more akin to "skills." The trouble is that some of these you have to roll higher, some you have to roll lower and others you don't roll at all. There is no rhyme or reason here.
Combat rules follow and they remind me a bit of Runequest. Nothing really special really. Strength points over 50 can add to your damage, Skill points over 50 can add to your "To hit" chance. Combat, like all the rolls here, start with a basic 50% chance to hit. The Basic game just has you roll. The Advanced game has you make called shots. Classes with Combat as their "Prime Ability" can improve their ability to hit even more. All classes can spend Power to also increase their to-hit bonus; 10 points of Power to increase your chance by 1%. Interestingly armor does not stop you from being hit, it does reduce damage taken.
The goal of the game though is the accumulation of Power. Power advances your character and can overcome that 50% failure rate. Power also is the, well, power behind Magic.
The last third or so of the book covers all sorts of additional rules. Some seem tossed in, to be honest. Poisons are covered as are spells.
Magic, as expected, is given some special attention, though not as much as I was expecting. Magic is assumed to be real and work, at least part of the time. Magic is described as "Coincidence," a spell is uttered and something happens whether it caused it or not. "Science," Damascus steel is given an example. The superior technology was seen as magic. "Psychic Phenomena" which not really an explanation at all, likewise "Trance State" and as "Lost Knowledge." Though no explanation is really given as to how magic works.
Book 3
The adventures take up Book 3 and is 64 pages. This book is for the Lore Master (Game Master) only and is also one of the weaker parts of the game. The Adventures, while interesting, are a bit of a railroad. In order to succeed the players have to hit all the parts in order and then move on to the next adventure.
The adventures include the following:
These adventures are a prelude to the published adventures. There are some neat ideas here, but the adventures lack something for me. Actually, it lacks a lot of things for me, but I could make some changes to make them work.
There are some encounter tables, but they only cover the areas that the adventures are detailed here. I also have to note there are no monsters here. Just humans.
One of the bigger criticisms of this game at the time was the then $19.00 price tag, about $55 in today's buying power. Now $20 for a boxed set of three books, character sheets, and dice sounds like a steal. With the PDF at just $7.95 it is at a price I think should attract anyone that might have been interested in this game.
The art is in black & white, which is expected and welcome, but there is not a lot of it and some of it is repeated throughout the books.
Man, Myth, & Magic at times feels like two different games, or rather two different ideas merged into one game. I feel that the classic Roman Gladiator/Basic Game was Herbie Brennan's idea and the worldwide game of various nations and types or the Advanced Game was Steve Peek's. Given that Brennan started working on a game called "Arena" which was a Gladitorial RPG.
About Reincarnation
Reincarnation is quite a big deal in this game. This is not a huge surprise given Herbert Brennan's publication history. His book "The Reincarnation Workbook: A Complete Course in Recalling Past Lives" could work as a guide for this game. Personally, I would like to use the reincarnation idea to help smooth out some of the issues with different times. So adventurers from Cleopatra VII's Egypt, can then deal with Tiberius, and then help in Boudicea's raid on Londinium. Something similar to the Old Soul quality in Unisystem.
Somehow using the idea of the Distant Memory which, like Old Soul, allows the characters to draw on past life knowledge and skill. That is easy to do in Unisystem, not so easy to do in D&D like games with very rigidly defined classes. Maybe taking a level in another class might do it.
I am sure there is more in the expansion, The Egyptian Campaign, but I don't have access to that set right now.
There is an interesting game here but I think the concept of it is greater than the rules as presented actually allow. It never quite lives up to what the box claims. Nor is it the abomination that earlier reviews made it out to be. I think most reviewers balked at the price tag and the fact that the game did not offer anything new; at least not anything that meant going through the rather clunky rules.
It is most certainly not a historically accurate game. Historically inspired to be sure, but not by any means accurate.
The bottom line is that the game really isn't good, in fact, it is rather bad in many respects. That is not to say that someone won't find this game interesting or fun. I just think that there are far, far better games out there.
Should you buy it?
I would say the PDF at just under $8 makes it worthwhile for the very, very curious. I have my boxed set and I am happy with it, but my expectations were low and my curiosity was really high.
The game itself is only worth about 2 stars. My curiosity about it and my desire to have pushed it closer to 4 stars. In the end, I am going to give 3 stars since I don't want to unduly affect Precis Intermedia games' overall rating. But don't grab this unless you are really curious (which is a good reason) or want to see how not to design a game.
Links
I have talked about Tiamat since the earliest days of this blog. No surprise really given my love of mythology and my oldest son's obsession with dragons. It really is a natural fit for me. I was working on this post a lot over my Thanksgiving break and I went back and forth on a lot of different ideas. But circumstances came together and I finally decided, last night, what to post.
My oldest started Descent into Avernus this weekend for his 5e group. We thought that a nice early Christmas present would be the new Gargantuan Tiamat miniature.
The Tiamat "mini." Feiya and Larina for scale.This thing is, well, gargantuan!
Up till now, we had been using the Aspect of Tiamat, the D&D Icon of the Realms Tiamat, and the Mage Knight Apocalypse Dragon (more on that guy in a bit). The Queen of Dragons enters a lot into our games.
This also got me thinking about how I handle dragons in my Old-School games. In particular how I want to handle them in my Basic Bestiary. Over the years here I have experimented with various ways to present dragons so they are a constant challenge to any party regardless of size or levels. There have been some really good innovations over the years starting with the dragons in AD&D 2nd Ed and into 21st Century forms of D&D. I want to capture the best of the best design principles and also allow them to fit into the design I have already been using with my own monster stats.
I am not really 100% there yet.
But I am at a point where I can present unique dragons like Tiamat (or Tiâmat as I am presenting her). I still have a few issues to work out, but since I want to get my money's worth out of that figure here she is.
TiâmatStr: 30 (+7) Dex: 10 (+0) Con: 32 (+8) Int: 28 (+7) Wis: 24 (+5) Cha: 22 (+5)
Tiâmat is the mother of all dragons, good and evil. She was destroyed by her grandson Marduk and was cast out. Formerly a god she now represents the primordial chaos of the deep sea or even the infinite abyss. For this reason, she is often seen with the heads of all the major evil dragons, Black (Acid), Blue (Electric), Green (Poison), Red (Fire), and White (Cold). Fittingly, the mother of dragons makes her home in the depths of the Abyss in a layer known as Têhom, or the "deep". She is also considered to be the mother, or at least the Grandmother, of all evil and chaotic monsters.
Tiâmat can attack with all five heads per round. Each head can bite, use their respective breath weapons, or use spells. The bite attacks do 3d6+7 hp of damage each, but the individual heads cannot attack the same Medium-sized or smaller victim at the same time. A Large or larger-sized target can be attacked by two heads at the same time. Tiâmat can attack up to five (5) separate targets this way. Each head can also use their respective breath weapons doing 10d8 (45 hp) up to three times per day. She will typically attack with her breath weapons first, to overwhelm and awe her opponents and then resort to spells and bite attacks. Tiâmat believes that opponents need to be dealt with in the quickest, most deadliest, of ways.
Her aura of dragon fear is such that all, even true dragons, have to make a saving throw vs. magic or fall under the effects of a Cause Fear spell. This will affect all creatures regardless of HD/level. Each head can additionally cast a Magic-user/Wizard spell per round in lieu of a physical attack. The white head can cast 2 first-level spells and 1 second-level spell. The black head can cast 2 second-level and 1 third-level. The green head can cast 2 third-level and 1 fourth. The blue head can cast 3 fourth, 2 fifth, and 1 sixth-level. Finally, the red head can cast 3 sixth, 2 seventh, and 1 eighth-level spell. Tiâmat chooses her spells at the start of her day. She typically opts for spells of control, damage, and ones that can summon support. She does not need somatic or material components for her spells, they come naturally to her.
Due to her size, Tiâmat cannot make claw attacks while on the ground. She can attack with her foreclaws when she is flying or swimming. She is immune to charm, hold, mind-affecting magic, and sleep effects. She is additionally immune to all sorts of poison. She takes half damage from acid, cold, and fire. She also has 75% magic resistance.
As the Queen and Mother of Dragons Tiâmat she is served by five consorts. These are dragons of largest size and greatest age of their respective dragon types, White, Black, Green, Blue, and Red. Each one is utterly loyal to Tiâmat, failure to be anything but this will result in their immediate death and their skins put on display. Tiâmat can summon 2d6+1 evil dragons of any type once per day.
Tiâmat's home plane is known as Têhom, or the "deep." Here there are seven distinct areas that represent the preferred habitat of each of the five evil dragon types. Each one is governed over by her consorts. The sixth area is an ocean, so deep and so dark that no bottom has even been seen. Tiâmat makes her home here along with sea dragons of all sorts. It is rumored that the great dragon Leviathan also resides here. The seventh and last area is an island that Tiâmat often visits. Here her treasure horde can be found. This land is populated only by undead dragons.
Tiâmat as a Patron
Dragon Tradition Witches and Draconic Pact Warlocks take Tiâmat as their patron. Chaos mages also look to the Mother of Monsters as their patron, inspiration, and even Goddess. All dragons, good and evil, regard her as their mother or the first of their kind but only evil dragons and dragon-kin worship her.
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Notes
I like this stat block quite a lot. I can look at it though and tell I still need to define my demons and dragons both a little better. There are ideas I want to express that I am currently not doing.
She is a Gargantuan creature. So because of that, I am going to be using my alternate HP calculations. A gargantuan creature uses a d20 for HP determination, not the standard d8. Even with this she is at 30 HD so in standard games she ends up with 375 hp. In my games that is boosted to 555 hp.
A bit on that HD. Yeah, she has 30 HD. She is big and bad and is not a monster you find on level 20 of some random dungeon. This flows from the level setting I was doing in One Man's God. Tiamat is not just on the top of the scale, she should be the top. A former Goddess now cast into the Abyss, that means two things for me. One she is powerful and two she should be a demon of some sort. She is obviously something more. I have her listed as "Gargantuan Dragon (Evil)" but she would certainly also be an Outsider or even a Fiend possibly. She could even be an Eodemon.
Alignment. I have been playing Tiamat as "Chaotic Evil" since I first started reading Chaos Theory back in the 90s. It always made far more sense to me. Plus she never really fit into the hierarchy of Hell as far as I was concerned. I do borrow a page from Paradise Lost and say she was there when the Devils fell. But that was only one of her lairs in the cosmos.
What about that Apocalypse Dragon? Well, I still want to get my money's worth out of him. So he has been redubbed as Leviathan. Fitting, given the history my games have had with him. I will need to revisit my stats for him though.
Tiâmat and LeviathanLinks
Links to other Tiamat postings here on the Other Side.
It is late Tuesday night (now early Wednesday morning) and I just finished binge-watching Masters of the Universe: Revelation with my wife. Now I only consider myself a causal MotU fan, but it really should come as no shock or surprise that my two favorite characters were Teela (because who doesn't like a highly capable redhead) and Evil-Lyn (because...well I am sure you have met me by now). So after hearing all the whiny-ass man babies online bitching and moaning that Kevin Smith had "destroyed their childhood" I knew right away one thing. I was going to love it. And I did.
If Part 1 was "The Teela Show" then Part 2 was that and "The Evil-Lyn" show.
Though I am happy to also report that my other favorite character, Duncan the Man-at-Arms, also fared well.
My enjoyment of Evil-Lyn in particular and the MotU, in general, come not from watching the show back in the 80s all that much, but instead from one episode. The Witch and the Warrior, written by none other than Paul Dini himself. In an interesting twist, Paul Dini created the character Harley Quinn and Kevin Smith the executive producer of Masters of the Universe: Revelation named his own daughter Harley Quinn Smith.
Watching this was a fun romp through nostalgia land and there were more than a few tongue-in-cheek references. Also having Lena Headly as Evil-Lyn, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Teela and Liam Cunningham as Duncan was great. And Mark Hamil chewing up the scenery as Skeletor? That's just the icing on a great cake.
We get more background on Teela, and the payoff the original series promised. We get some more background on Evil-Lyn which is also great, but I think it is different than in other versions of this franchise. No matter really, I know even less about those.
Personally, I am thrilled we got a kick-ass Teela and Evil-Lyn. I always felt that He-Man himself was the least interesting character in the franchise, though this one made me feel a little different about that.
I like where it ended for all the characters involved. But especially for Evil-Lyn.
No new season has been announced, but I like what I am seeing here to be honest.
Once again it is Happy Wolfenoot Everyone!
What, you don't know about Wolfenoot, the holiday to celebrate all that is cool about the wolf and dogs? Well get yourself over to Wolfenoot.com to find out more then come back here. Even DriveThruRPG is in on the fun this year with their Wolfenoot sale.
So the last Wolfenoot I did the lycanthropic Wolf-Witch, this year I am also looking to a book I read for inspiration. Back in High School, I had to take English from this teacher I was looking forward to having but quickly came to despise. He was such an arrogant asshole and treated his students like shit. Very much of the type to belittle students for mistakes. Anyway, the books he has us read were ones that had been on the curriculum for gods know how long. I hated them all and nothing connected with me. So being a pretty fast reader I would do the assigned reading in the class ad then read something else. We had this book of short stories and it seemed to me that he would pick the most boring, moronic stories for reading and leave the others alone. One story I found that I actually rather enjoyed was Emma-Lindsay Squier's "The Soul of Caliban."
I knew Caliban from Shakespeare's Tempest because of Kalibos in the "Clash of the Titans" movie. The story focused on an ugly dog, which I imagined looked like Cujo, living somewhere in Canada. He belonged to man who began to treat him poorly after he got married. The story went on from there, but the important part was at the end. The man came back to his home to see his new baby gone and Caliban limping and covered in blood. The man reacts and kills Caliban only to discover the dead wolf and the baby pulled away to safety. The last scene is of Caliban in Heaven being treated by St. Peter (not St. Bernard) saying, (something like) "Mon Dieu Caliban, comme tu es devenu beau !" or "my God Caliban, how beautiful you have grown!" I thought it was a good story. Certainly written for a Freshman English class to discuss issues like "do dogs have souls?" and so on.
Fast forward to 1989 and the movie "All Dogs Go to Heaven" is out. I never saw it, but from the title, I thought it might have been the same story. It wasn't, but that is fine.
Fast forward again to more recent times and we now get the "All Dogs Go to Sto'Vo'Kor" meme. Ok, ok I get it. No need to beat over the head with it anymore.
So for this year's Wolfenoot, I give you the Glory Hounds. You will excuse me if I also want to slip a little more of The Bard into my games.
Glory Hounds
Str: 15 (+1) Dex: 16 (+2) Con: 18 (+3) Int: 12 (+0) Wis: 13 (+1) Cha: 16 (+2)
Glory Hounds are the souls of mortal dogs and wolves who died from an ultimate act of bravery and self-sacrifice. They ascended to the Heavens and were given forms that matched their brave deeds. All glory hounds appear as majestic, proud versions of their type of canine. Their head is noble and their visage is one of calm serenity. That is until they sense evil. They appear to become fierce and frightening, causing fear (as per the spell) to all around them (10' radius).
Glory hounds exist for one purpose, to destroy evil. They are sent to the mortal planes to hunt down and destroy all evil influences they can, saving a special hatred for demons and those that abuse children. A glory hound will unerringly seek out evildoers and attempt to destroy them. The ancient pacts made by Angels do not apply to glory hounds so they are free to roam the mortal realms as they see fit. Because the pacts between creatures of the upper planes and creatures of the lower planes do not apply to glory hounds they also can not be summoned. Often glory hounds will be in the company of other angels, typically like a hunting party. Woe to any evil creature hunted by a dirae with a pack of glory hounds at her sides.
The glory hound attacks with their bite using pack tactics to the best of their abilities. They also can bark 3 times per day. This bark is a loud sonic wave of damage that sounds like a thunder crack. It will do 5d6 points of damage (save vs. petrification for half) to all in a 120' long (60' wide at the end) cone from the glory hound. They cause fear against all chaotic (evil) creatures at all times, and can once per day increase this power to all creatures.
Glory hounds can only be hit by magical weapons. They take half damage from magical fire and no damage from mundane or non-magical fire. They are immune to charm, hold and sleep magic or other mind-affecting magic. They take full damage from lightning and cold. A slain glory hound will discorporate and return to the Heavens. It will be seven years before that particular glory hound will be powerful enough to return to the mortal realms.
Glory hounds are the natural enemies of hell hounds and vargr. Attacking these creatures on sight. Unless accompanied by another angel they will abandon their current mission to fight with hell hounds and vargr.
Glory hounds will not attack Lawful (good) or Neutral creatures unless attacked. If Chaotic (evil) creatures are not acting in a way that is overtly evil then they will be ignored as well.
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Don't forget to howl at the moon tonight!
Last night was the premiere of Star Trek Discovery Season 4. Not only that we also had a new episode of the Kid-focused (but adult enjoyed) Star Trek Prodigy. Two new Trek episodes from different series on the same day. That has not happened since Voyager and DS9 were on the air in 1999.Both episodes had a similar plot element, though dealt with in very different ways. On Discovery they are recovering from "The Burn" which destroyed all dilithium in use a little over a hundred years ago. The new Federation president (who looks like she might have some Cardassian DNA) mentioned that there were ongoing Warp Drive developments. She mentioned a new version of Discovery's Spore Drive and that a new Pathway drive had been developed and placed into the new Voyager.
Over on Prodigy, which shares the Voyager connection, we learn that the USS Protostar is more than just a neat name. Its warp drive is not just powered by an anti-matter reactor, it has in its heart an actual protostar.
There is a constant level of warp drive development going on in Star Trek. But the Spore Drive has proven difficult to get right or recreate, Trans Warp was a failure, and slipstream conduits are difficult to navigate.
All of this and one other bit of information I recently unearthed sets the stage very nicely for what is going on in BlackStar.
Let me restate something I said back in 2019.
We don't see many Ambassador class ships in the TNG time-frame, why? I am going to say there was a design flaw that was later discovered after Starfleet Corp of Engineers went over why the Ent-C was destroyed. There is a flaw in the nacelle arrangement that was missed in the R&D phase and only seen in practice. This lead to newer warp nacelle configuration that gave us the Galaxy and Nebula class ships. Despite living in the 24th century, human Starfleet personnel can still be somewhat superstitious and the Ambassador class gained the status of a "cursed ship".We have 21 (or 22) decomed Ambassador ships over in the "junk yards" of Neptune Station. A prototype (the Mystic) was b
uilt at the Klatuu Nebula Yards by the Theremins. A desire by Starfleet to work on new types of warp drive, BUT all available engineers are working on the super-sexy new Galaxy-class project over a Utopia Planitia on Mars. This is why CDRE Taggert gets them. No one else wants them. But why are they here? I said due to a flaw in the nacelle arrangement. I said this because I replaced the warp nacelles on my model. But is there more?
Enter my "I have too much work to do, but instead I am watching Star Trek Starship videos on YouTube" moment earlier this week.
Enter TriAngulum Audio Studios on YouTube. They have a series called "Truth or Beta" that discusses Star Trek "Alpha" content (for Memory Alpha, or cannon material named for the Memory Alpha planetoid that is the Federation Library and the first stop for the USS Protector) vs. "Beta" (for Memory Beta, non-cannon material that appears in books). This series collects various bits of Alpha lore and select bits of Beta lore to make for a fuller picture of what is going on.
Here is their series on what went wrong with the Ambassador class ship.
The premise is basically the same. After the destruction of the Enterprise-C, the Ambassador class was given a top to bottom inspection. Where I claimed it was the warp nacelles, here it is an issue with the new warp core and other systems with the older duotronic computers. If you look at the Enterprise-C computer screens you can see they look more like the ones from the Enterprise-A and B eras. Whereas newer Ambassador class ships have the isolinear computers and the LCARS OS.
That works for me too. In any case it explains why we never saw a lot of the Ambassador class ships in the TNG Era despite the class having had an Enterprise among its numbers. It also explains why I can have a couple of dozen just sitting out by Neptune waiting to be used for something else.
Now I just need to get my reviews up of Star Trek 2d20 and Achtung! Cthulhu 2d20 from Modiphius up.
Let's partake in a thought experiment. I am going to take the Gods as written from The Deities & Demigods and take them on a little trip.This thought experiment, or Gedankenexperiment, as Einstien was fond of saying, was designed to cover a thought I had going back to my first reading of Norse Myths. That thought was what if the Norse Gods and Greek Gods were the same groups of gods represented in different parts of the world?
Roman-Norse Pantheon
Imagine if you will some Roman Pagans, say circa 300-500 CE. While Christianity is becoming the official religion of the Empire, not everyone is taking up the Christian Gods. There is still a mix of Pagan Roman gods, Greek Gods, local gods and spirits, house gods, and more. The further you are from Rome (and later also Constantinople) the more likely you are to still hold on to your local gods.
Now, far to the North, there are the Nordic-Germanic tribes. They are the "barbarians" of Roman lore, they want Rome's treasures, its power. But most of these people just want to find new lands to grow food on. While the Viking raids to England and Ireland are so stamped into our collective subconscious (and for many of us, our DNA) there were other forrays into other lands. Some we know went South. But the bulk of these did not happen till 800s CE when most of Europe was firmly Christianized. We do know that the Romans had interactions with the Norse and made connections between their respective sets of Gods. Romans were rather practical when came to religion.
We also know that the Norse, when confronted with Christianity adopted a uniquely Viking view of Jesus, recasting him as a great and powerful chieftain or king.
So let's imagine a time. Sometime after 300 CE but maybe before 900 CE. The Northmen are not all Viking raiders and the Romans are not all Christian. I joke that there is a time when this would be all true, likely for about 6 hours on a Thursday in June 634 CE, but go with me on this trip anyway. We have a group of Roman pagans moving north, a group of Northmen heading south. They both drift west a bit and end up in the Black Forest region of Southern Germany. Here they meet and instead of going to war, they build a community. Here their beliefs find common ground and since both groups are polytheists, they accept each other's Gods. Soon. The gods, like the people, become one.
First conceit: Since they did not go to war when first meeting their war gods on both sides will seem more "reasonable" than their antecedents.
Now keep in mind that at this time there were versions of the "Norse" gods in these Germanic areas. We know that Wotan and Woden would change and become Odin of the Norse. So bringing these gods "back down" is almost an unnecessary step. They were already here in a different form. Bu this allows me to focus on the names they have in the D&DG. Plus if I need to "smooth things out" I can use the Germanic versions.
Second conceit: While here this group of pagans will speak a version of Old German. Both groups picked it up "along the way."
While I want to focus on the names in the Deities and Demigods, I am going to allow myself to step outside of that to make for a better pantheon. Of course, life, especially when it comes to the Gods and syncretism, is never so ordered. But as we have seen with the D&D pantheons in the past, such order is often implied or imposed.
Some of this flows from some reading I was doing around the same time I discovered D&D. I had found this book of world myths. It had the familiar Greek, but it also introduced me to the Norse myths for the first time. This book also had the tale of Beowulf in the back. I began to think there was a continuity between these three separate, but not entirely separate really, groups of tales.
I should also note that these gods have similarities to each other not just because they were all invented by people that had similar experiences, but they all draw their inspiration from the same roots of an earlier Proto Indo-European pantheon of gods. I am not trying to recreate these PIE gods here, but I will lean heavily on that research to inform my choices. For this reason I am also including Celtic gods in this mix for now BUT I am not explaining that connection just yet. Though we do know that the Celtic Hallstatt culture and was in this area at this time and this grew out of the La Tène culture from earlier. Likely though the gods were not using the names in D&DG. I am so everyone here knows what I am talking about. I do like that there are three mythoi involved here.
Who's In Charge?
Let's start with who is the leader of this combined pantheon. We know from historical records that it was Thor, or more to the point, Thunor or Donar, and not Odin, that was the chief god of the Germanic peoples. Odin/Wotan would come along much later (8th to 9th centuries). This is good since already there was a lot of conflating of Thor/Thunor with Zeus/Jupiter. Thursday for example is both Thor's day and sacred to Jupiter. From this notion, we can move on in thought experiments to make other associations.
Now I am fully aware I am taking a historical god to make a precedent for game gods. This would be academic dishonestly since I have made no claim, nor provided support why it is ok for me to do this. Save for one. This is not an academic treatise. I am building something for a game, and for AD&D 1st Edition as it appears in the Deities & Demigods in particular. The Thor/Thunor/Jupiter connection is only the pin I am hanging everything else on.
The Gods
I am going to use the abbreviated "stat block" I used in One Man's God Special: Syncretism Part 2 when I described the pantheon of Greco-Egyptian Gods. Also considering that I am having this all happen somewhere in Germany I am going to give these gods German names. They are modern German names to be sure, I am not going to try to deconstruct 7th Century German when I have enough trouble remembering how to speak 20th (yes I know what I said) Century German.
While they have gods they are syncretized from they take on their own personalities. Thor could be a bit slow at times but was never cruel (unless you were a giant) and Zeus could be a loving father, but a terrible husband with a mean streak and a temper.
Unser Vater
Greater God
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Worshipper Alignment: Any Good (all)
Domains: Thunder, Lightning, Sky (including storms and rains), Warriors
Symbol: A Thunderbolt
Greek/Roman: Zeus/Jupiter
Norse: Thor, with a dash of Odin
Celtic: The Dagda
PIE: Dyēws
Unser Vater, "our father," is the chieftain of the gods. He rules because he is strong and powerful. He keeps Der Hüne at bay and protects those who pay him homage. He tries to be good and just but he has a temper that can rage out of control. He can usually be calmed by his wife Herde Oberin.
Other Gods follow.
Hüne Vater
Lesser (Intermediate) God
Alignment: Chaotic Evil
Worshipper Alignment: Any evil
Domains: Creation, destruction
Symbol: Fire
Greek/Roman: Chronos/Saturn
Norse: Surtr
PIE: Archdemon
Hüne Vater is the father of the current generation of the Gods. He killed his father and we in turn defeated by his own son. He is the leader of Die Hüne. Before his defeat he cursed the gods and all humankind with death. In Proto-Indo-European myths, he is the Archdemon. He sits imprisoned in exile.
Großvater & Großmutter
Lesser God
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral (Evil)
Worshipper Alignment: Any
Domains: Father of Die Hüne (the Titans/Jötunn), Chaos
Symbol: The night sky
Greek/Roman: Caelus/Uranus
Norse: Ymir
Others: Tiamat
Großvater/Großmutter is the name given to the quasi-anthropomorphic manifestation of the father/mother of the Die Hüne (the Titans/Jötunn). He was destroyed by his son Vater Hüne to make the night sky.
Herde Oberin
Greater Goddess
Alignment: Lawful Good
Worshipper Alignment: Any good
Domains: Home, hearth, women, childbirth
Symbol: Distaff
Greek/Roman: Hera/Juno, Hestia
Norse: Frigg
PIE: Diwōnā
Herde Oberin is the wife of Unser Vater and one of a trinity of Goddess. She represents the Mother aspect of the trinity and is the protector of home and hearth and the family. She is responsible for all things that happen within the home. Unser Vater may be the chieftain of the gods, but in the home her word is law.
Mutter Natur
Greater Goddess
Alignment: Neutral
Worshipper Alignment: All
Domains: Nature, the wild
Symbol: Tree or a sheath of grain
Greek/Roman: Demeter/Ceres
Norse: Frigg with bits of Odin
Celtic: Danu
PIE: Dhéǵhōm
Mutter Natur is the mother goddess of all of nature. She is sister to Vater Hüne and aunt (and maybe mother) to Unser Vater. She is an old Goddess who provides and destroys at her own times of choosing. Newer religions believe they control or tame her, but the people of the forest know better.
Note: I am undecided on whether or not Herde Oberin and Mutter Natur are not aspects of the same goddess. Often times you see gods and goddesses getting reduced as the pantheons age. BUT also you see gods and goddesses splitting off. In this case, I am keeping them separate for now.
Ôstara (Geliebte)
Lesser (Intermediate) Goddess
Alignment: Neutral Good
Worshipper Alignment: All
Domains: Spring, Rebirth, the Dawn
Symbol: Half-risen sun or an Egg
Greek/Roman: Persephone/Proserpina with aspects of Dionysus / Bacchus
Norse: Ēostre and bits of Baldur.
Celtic: Brigit and Ceridwen
PIE: Hausos
Ôstara is the daughter of Mutter Natur and one that has retained her old name. She is the goddess of the Spring, the Dawn, and rebirth. Her title is "Geliebte" which means "beloved." Persephone/Proserpina and Baldur are both loved by the gods and their "deaths" greatly affect all involved.
Liebhaberin
Lesser (Intermediate) Goddess
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Worshipper Alignment: Any good, lovers
Domains: Love, sex, sexuality, conception
Symbol: hand mirror or fire
Greek/Roman: Aphrodite/Venus
Norse: Freya
Celtic: Brigit and Áine
Liebhaberin is the forever young patroness of love and sex. She serves as the Maiden in the trinity of Goddesses. She is the spring maiden that stirs the blood and brings the world back to life. She is the patroness of nymphs and dryads.
Note: Again, I am unsure whether or not Ôstara and Liebhaberin are just different aspects of the same goddess.
Helga
Lesser (Intermediate) Goddess
Alignment: Neutral
Worshipper Alignment: Any, witches
Domains: Death, magic, underworld
Symbol: woman's face in a hood
Greek/Roman: Hecate, Hades
Norse: Hel, Frau Holt, Heiðr
Others: Isis
Celtic: The Triple Goddess* (reconstruction)
Helga is the Witch Goddess, the Ghost Queen, and the Crone of the trinity. She knows all secrets since they are whispered to her by the dead. Thus she knows all the secrets of magic.
Hüter
Lesser (Intermediate) God
Alignment: Neutral
Worshipper Alignment: None
Domains: Death
Symbol: Skull
Greek/Roman: Hades/Pluto, Hermes/Mercury
Norse: Njord, Odin
Celtic: Arawn
Others: Osiris
Hüter is the dispassionate lord of the dead. He is neither good nor is he evil. His role is to make sure the dead stay dead. Therefore undead are blasphemous to him. He controls the underground realm and thus all riches that come from the ground are his.
Betrüger
Lesser (Intermediate) God
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Worshipper Alignment: Any
Domains: Trickery
Symbol: Fox
Greek/Roman: Hermes/Mercury
Norse: Loki/Hermod
Others: Reynard the Fox (though this is about 900 years too early for Reynard)
Betrüger is the trickster of the gods. He often appears in the form of a talking fox. His jokes can be somewhat dangerous, but he is rarely cruel.
Kriegskönig
Lesser (Intermediate) God
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Worshipper Alignment: Any, warriors
Domains: War, Battle
Symbol: Sword
Greek/Roman: Ares/Mars
Norse: Tyr/Vidar
Celtic: Nuada
Kriegskönig, the War Lord, is the general of Unser Vater's armies. He commands legions to fight against Der Hüne. He lives for war and when he is not involved in a war he is looking to create new wars.
Note: Because my two sets of travelers did not immediately go to war with each other when they met this tempers the way the ward god is looked at. He is not a warmongering asshole like Ares nor even the god of justice that is Tyr. War is unfortunately a reality of life and one that must be respected or it quickly gets out of hand.
Jäger
Lesser (Intermediate) God
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Worshipper Alignment: Any, hunters
Domains: the sun, hunting, poetry
Symbol: Sun
Greek/Roman: Apollo
Norse: Freyr/Bragi/Uller
Celtic: Nuada
PIE: Sehaul
Jägerin
Lesser (Intermediate) God
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Worshipper Alignment: Any, women, hunters
Domains: Hunting, women, gathering Die Kriegerin
Symbol: Cresent Moon
Greek/Roman: Artemis/Diana and bits of Athena/Minerva
Norse: Freya / Skaði
Celtic: The Morrigan
PIE: Mehanot
Jäger and Jägerin are the twin god and goddess of the sun and moon respectively. They are also the god and goddess of the hunt since hunting in this area is important. They are based on both sets of twins Apollo and Artemis/Diana from the Greco-Roman and Freyr and Freya from the Norse. If there were elves in German at this time then they are the gods of them as well.
When needed Jägerin can don the armor of war and gather Die Kriegerin, the Goddesses of war (much like the Valkeries). When the moon eclipses the sun it is said that Jägerin has put up her shield to protect her and her brother in battle.
Others include,
Schmied (Hephaestus/Vulcan and Wayland and Goibhnie) the God of Smiths. I really should give him more detail.
Vater Meeren (Poseidon/Neptune and Njord, Ægir, and Rán and Manannan Mac Lir) the God of the Sea (lesser importance here).
Verwildert (Pan/Faunus and Freyr/Óðr/Vættir and Péhausōn) the God of Wild Nature and protector of wild places (greater importance now).
Magni Stärke (Heracles and Magni) and Muthi (Iphicles and Modi) are the twin demi-gods of Strength and Courage respectively. Bits of Romulus and Remus and Hengist and Horsa are also here.
Siege (Nike/Victory and Sigyn) and Glücke (Tyche/Fortuna and Hamingja) are the twin lesser goddesses of Victory and Luck respectively.
Fata Norne (The Fates and The Norns) are the three Fates. Even the gods have to answer to the Fates.
Die Hüne are the Titans and the Giants of both myths. Primordial beings of great power that the gods defeated but still trouble them. In this myth, the Gods fought Die Hüne and brought order out of chaos. These are not just giants and titans, these creatures are the demons of this mythology.
Jäger and Jägerin are twins. Magni and Muthi are twin brothers. Nike and Tyche are twin sisters. These sets are all examples of the Divine Twins we see in many, many myths. Something I like to include in many of the myths I create.
I like it. It combines a lot of things that I have scattered notes on here and there. This also explains why this one has taken me a few months to write (it was Part 1 of this series at one point). I have notes dating back to the late 80s on a wholly new pantheon I was creating. This is not that pantheon, but it is a good approximation to what I wanted there. It's not the same, but it fits in the same sized hole.Right now it is a little too "clean" and ordered. There is no drama with these gods. Granted this is the same as what you could read in the Deities & Demigods, but we know the stories are much messier.
I might need to come back to this one sometime. It would work well in my games to be honest and I even have some ideas on how to incorporate the ideas of Sol Invictus into this to set up one of my favorite themes, the battles of Monotheism vs Pagan Polytheism.
If I write more and can come up with a stat block I like I might release it under Creative Commons or the OGL so others can add to it. I hope to do more than just randomly recreate the PIE gods with new names.