Starting off the Halloween October Horror Movie Challenge with a brand new one.  

I watched this for the Monster Movie Fun Time Go podcast. You can hear it all here. 

So I am not sure whether to consider this as part of the challenge or not. I am going to count it as a "Previously Watched" for today.

The premise is simple. Jamie Foxx plays Bud Jablonski, a divorced father who works as a pool cleaner. In truth, he is a vampire hunter who had worked for The Union. He kills vampires and sells the teeth on the black market to Troy played by the always fantastic Peter Stormare.

Now I have this sort of love/hate relationship with Jamie Foxx. Typically he is playing the exact same character in every movie he is in. This is not really that big of a deal. I mean it worked for Bruce Willis. Here is playing that same character. But I do have to remind myself this is the same guy that played Ray Charles and was amazing.  So here, he is good.

So the only way Bud is going to get all the money he needs for bills and his daughter's braces is to rejoin The Union that kicked him out. He gets the help of his friend, and vampire hunting legend, "Big" John Elliott, played in scene chewing wonder by Snoop Dogg. 

They let him rejoin and he is saddled with desk jockey Seth played by Dave Franco.  

Turns out the vampire Bud kills in the opener was the daughter of this higher-up vampire in LA, Audrey San Fernando played by Karla Souza.  We know Audrey is not at the top of the Vampire hierarchy (seriously has White Wolf completely saturated all Vampire mythology these days??) but she is striking out on her own to control as much of LA as she can.

The title comes from the shift Bud is assigned to; the safer, and less profitable, Day Shift.

The vampires here were all played by Cirque du Soleil acrobats and contortionists who were out of work due to the pandemic. The result is some really fun fights with the vampires as they bend, flip, and generally look inhuman.  We also learn there are different vampire clans (there you go again) and finding a nest full of vampires from different clans is something that concerns our heroes.

The movie is fun, but not great. It has all the tropes of horror but none of the scares. It leaves a lot of room for sequels.

In a scene that pays homage to Lost Boys, Snoop's Big John says "That's what I love about LA. All the damn Vampires!" 

"Welcome to the motherfucking Night Shift!" - Bud Jablonski

This movie is tailor-made for a NIGHT SHIFT game. Freelance vampire hunters working for a mysterious organization is the stuff of great roleplaying games. Exploring the vampire hierarchy and even the history of the Union would be fun.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2022
Viewed: 1
First Time Views: 0* (but it was new to me just last month)

It is four decades since the armies of the Zahjik Khaliphate stood before the walls of Drakenheim. It was a turning point for the Cimbrian Empire. The Burgher Wars which broke the power of the emperor and nobility, and saw the rise of the both the merchant classes and the city-states were forgotten in the face of the invasion from the east across the steppes. Emperor Maximillian III rallied the empire and together with the High Prelate of the Sigurdian Church, in command of a retinue of Siguardian templar-monks, broke the siege and drove out the invading forces. In the decades since, the city-states have retained their sense of independence, but maintained stronger ties of fealty to the emperor; the Sigurdian Church has cemented its place as the dominant faith in the empire; the nobility, their power greatly weakened by the Burgher Wars, have strengthened their ties with the merchants; and the peasantry has continued to toil, whether on the land itself or in the towns, either for the merchants or the nobility. The Cimbrian Empire has also undergone a new renaissance in terms of the arts and sciences. Despite having driven out the armies of the Zahjik Khaliphate and remained at peace for some four decades, the Cimbrian Empire is not entirely safe. Crime is rife, especially in the city-states. Dark cults hide across all strata of society, their members worshipping all manner of demons and malevolent beings, whilst sorcerers practice dark magic in secret—and both sorcerers and cultists are the targets of the empire’s witchfinders. The restless dead haunt the ancient ruins to found in the mountains and deep forests which separate the city states, and that is when the forests are not infested by ape-like beastmen or by bestial mutants transformed by corrupting magic, both intent on murder—or worse. There are rumours too of monsters out of legend still being found in dark places, and of the Zahjik Khaliphate once again preparing to invade, and of the Elves, the masters of the land before the rise of men and the founding of the Cimbrian Empire, manipulating those in power and working to restore their control once again.
This is the setting for Streets of Peril: Fantasy Roleplay, published by Broken Blade Publishing. It is a grimdark roleplaying game set in an empire of Germanic city states, which humanocentric, combines elements of science and magic, and sees a few desperate men and women prepared to step up and if not be heroes, then at least do their best to protect the empire, for even if they succeed, their efforts will rarely be recognised. Streets of Peril: Fantasy Roleplay includes complete rules, numerous character options, mixes firearms and magic and fencing, a bestiary, campaign options, and a starting scenario.

A Player Character in Streets of Peril: Fantasy Roleplay is defined by six attributes—Might, Toughness, Agility, Willpower, Intelligence, and Fate—rated between one and four, a Lineage, and a Class. A Player Character will also have three ambitions, one of which he will have in common with the other Player Characters. These will reward the Player Character with Experience Points as he works towards fulfilling them and encourages the player to roleplay and look for opportunities to work toward their completion. The Lineages each provide two special traits and can be divided between the Cimbrian and the non-Cimbrian. The Burgher, Commoner, Highborn are Cimbrian, whilst the non-Cimbrian are Brythonian (from the Brythonian Isles to the north), Changeling, Smolyani (travellers noted for their luck), Valentino (from Valenti, the dominant city-state of the former Tiberean Empire to the south), and Zahjik (from the Zahjik Khaliphate). There are eight Classes in Streets of Peril: Fantasy Roleplay, each of which provides several Class traits, skill and equipment proficiencies, and starting equipment. Each also has several Subclasses, for example, the Brute has Berserker, Brawler, Folk Hero, and Thug, each of which has its own Special Trait. The Classes are Brute, Cultist, Duellist, Engineer, Magister, Man-at-Arms, Scoundrel, and Wayfarer. Of these, the Cultist includes Priests and Templars rather than members of a demonic or other cult; Duellists study at Schools of Fencing and the Engineer actually does not have Subclasses; and the Magister includes the Alchemist, Necromancer, Seer, and Wizard.

To create a Player Character, a player assigns one attribute at Rank 4, two each at Rank 3 and Rank 2, and one at Rank 1. He selects a Lineage, chooses a name, decides on three Ambitions, selects a Class, and then one Class Trait. If selecting a Class like the Engineer or the Magister, the player also selects Inventions or spells as appropriate. The process is quick and simple.

Name: Otto Vogel
Lineage: Commoner (Cimerian)
Class: Brute Subclass: Thug
Ambitions: Humiliate Hans Hiegel, Keep the neighbourhood safe, Do right by his old mum
Might 4 Toughness 3 Agility 2
Willpower 3 Intelligence 1 Fate 2
Traits: Labourer, Rugged, Crushing Blows, Ignore Pain, Mighty Blows, Rogue
Skill Proficiencies: Athletics 1, Fighting 2, Grit 3, Intimidate 2
Equipment Proficiencies: Light, Medium, & Heavy Armour, Common & Heavy Melee Weapons, Throwing Ranged Weapons
Equipment: Club, gambeson, bottle of spirits, dice, seven pennies

Mechanically, Streets of Peril: Fantasy Roleplay employs a dice pool system using just six-sided dice, although dice of three different colours. This is white, red, and black, but other colours can be substituted. Rolls of four or more are counted as successes, but that is only on the white dice. On the red dice, rolls of three or more are counted as successes, and rolls of two or more are counted as successes on the black dice. All of the dice explode on rolls of six or more. Modifiers—bonuses and penalties—adjust the number of dice in the pool, with a Player Character’s Fate attribute providing a number of luck points a player can spend each session to provide a bonus of two dice. The dice are rolled against Difficulty Values which range from one for routine to four for impossible. Various items and traits upgrade the white dice to red or black dice, whilst others downgrade the red and the black back down to white. The outcome of opposed rolls is determined by the number of successes rolled. In general, dice pools are formed from the appropriate attribute value for an attribute check or the combination of the attribute and skill for a skill check.

Combat consists of opposed rolls, typically the attacker’s Fighting skill or Ranged skill against the defender’s Defence skill. The number of the successes rolled determines the number of bonus damage dice rolled in addition to that of the weapon. Successes rolled on the damage dice rolled inflict Grit damage. The combat rules cover most situations, including shooting in melee, dual wielding, grappling, and more. The weapons include bombs like grenades and choking gas bombs, and firearms such as the blunderbuss, harquebus, musket, and pistol. Weapons can have special traits, as can armour.

Although there are rules for a Critical Failure, there are no rules for a Critical Success. In general, if a player rolls enough Successes, his character succeeds at the action, but that is that. Combat is the exception, since Successes increase the number of Damage Dice rolled, but in other situations the excess Success have no effect. However, one feature missing from Streets of Peril: Fantasy Roleplay found in similar roleplaying games is that of a critical hits table.

Magic is divided into white magic and black magic. White magic is acceptable to most of society in the Cimerian Empire, with divine magic being the rarest forms of white magic, whilst back magic is the province of necromancers, cultists, demon worshippers, and the like. With arcane magic, there is the chance of backlash and aetheric manifestations. This occurs when ones are rolled on a skill roll for a Magic check, and might be tremors shaking the earth, the temperature suddenly changing, a swarm of locusts blacking out the sky, and so on. Casters of arcane magic directly manipulate aetheric energy and need their hands free, so cannot wear armour and must have their hands free. Miracles, or divine magic, also uses the Magic check to see if the caster is successful. However, casters of miracles can wear armour and do not suffer from aetheric manifestations, but they call upon the deity they worship, and potentially invoke said deity’s wrath or mercy. What this means is that the Difficulty Value of the Magic check increases for each spell cast over the course of each day. If a subsequent Magic check is failed, then the caster loses the ability to cast miracles for the day. This makes arcane magic much freer and miracles much more of a resource to hold in reserve.

Streets of Peril: Fantasy Roleplay includes a list of miracles and spells, as a well as a list of apothecary’s ingredients and potions, the latter useful for the Alchemist Subclass. For the Engineer Class there is a list of Inventions, such as Bounding Boots, Electric Cloak, Targeting System, or Wrist Rocket. Magical items are intended to be rare and difficult to find, but numerous examples are included. For example, Ghost mail has been enchanted to be silent; Zahjik Janissaries carry a single, one-use Black Arrow which is enchanted to slay enemy champions and powerful monsters, and can do great damage and pierce armour; Witch Bottles protect the owner from curses; Hag’s Fingers enable the spell Wither to be cast once per encounter; and more. The bestiary includes beasts like the Bogtopus and werewolf, the Deep One-like Drowners, Fey such as the Banshee and the Spriggan, Formorians, and more.
A broad overview of the Cimerian Empire is given, including its geography, law and order, crime, attitudes to duelling, religions, and more, there is a good discussion about campaign types. These include having the Player Characters as house retainers, ship’s crews, members of the town watch, witch finder’s assistants, and more. This is combined with themes, whether that is horror, politics, mystery, trade, or others. The advice for the Game Master is short, but to the point—keep it grim and keep it gritty, and whilst there are plenty of monsters in the bestiary, to keep their appearances rare to ensure that the horror when they do appear is maintained. Rounding out Streets of Peril: Fantasy Roleplay is a ready-to-play scenario, ‘Finkelstein’s Laboratory’. It is a short affair which plays upon Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus and has the Player Characters hired by a noble to collect some property and possessions from the laboratory of a medical doctor whose work he was researching. It is a short affair, one that the players could very well complete in the same session as they create their characters and should provide them with a feel for the setting and the roleplaying game’s mechanics.

Physically, Streets of Peril: Fantasy Roleplay is presented in black and white with red used here and there. It does need a slight edit in places, but the artwork is decent and the book well written.

Ultimately, it is difficult to avoid comparisons between Streets of Peril: Fantasy Roleplay and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay. Both are set in an empire of Germanic city-states, both have a dominant faith whilst allowing the worship of the Old Gods, both have a grimdark tone, and so on.

However, Streets of Peril: Fantasy Roleplay is a humanocentric roleplaying game and the other race, the Elves, are mistrusted and feared. The setting is not beset by the forces of Chaos. The Classes for the Player Characters are kept simple and streamlined and there is no great progression along varying career paths, which means that progression wise, the roleplaying game is quite limited in scope; and the mechanics are designed to be easier, faster, and more abstract than simulationist.

Streets of Peril: Fantasy Roleplay offers grimdark fantasy roleplaying, even grim and perilous roleplaying, but with lighter, faster mechanics. It is a solid entry in the grimdark fantasy subgenre and if a gaming group is looking for a lighter alternative to those available in the hobby, then it might be just what they need.

Welcome to the Valley takes you into ‘The Valley Out of Time’. Written for use with both the Dungeon Crawl Classics RolePlaying Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic, ‘The Valley Out of Time’ is a ‘Lost Worlds’ style setting a la X1 The Isle of Dread, and films such as The Land that Time Forgot, The Lost World, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, One Million years, B.C., and others, plus the artwork of Frank Frazetta. Combining dinosaurs, Neanderthals, and a closed environment, it is intended to be dropped into a campaign with relative ease and would work in both a fantasy campaign or a post-apocalyptic campaign. It could even work as a bridge between the two, with two different entries into ‘The Valley Out of Time’, one from a fantasy campaign and one from a post-apocalyptic campaign.

The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley, however, is short. Published by Skeeter Green Productions, it is the first part of a series of fanzine-sized scenarios and just an introduction, and by the end of it, the Judge is definitely going to want to know more about its setting of the Timeless Valley and where the rest of The Valley Out of Time series will take her campaign. The problem is that although The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley provides ideas on how to get the Player Characters into the setting—and why, but not necessarily and not definitively how to keep them there. However, it has a strong sense of atmosphere, sweltering and sweaty, and it will provide a session or so’s worth of play. The adventure which is included along with the introduction is designed to be played by four to six Player Characters of First and Second Level.

It opens with a list of hooks and motivations to get the Player Characters into the Timeless Valley, whether that is to search for a rare item or McGuffin, ending up in the valley via random gate or teleport, simple discovery of the vale between two mountain chains, or a previously closed off valley suddenly being opened by gods or the like, for reasons which will become clear. Regardless of the reasons, the adventure has the Player Characters make their way into the valley and struggle through the dense undergrowth and under the thick canopy, suffering from the sweaty heat and the attentions of the local insect life, ultimately to find themselves lost. Then they encounter the first signs of life, a tribe of massive bipedal humanoids going about their business. Tall and hairy, these are Urmanoids, who have the level of development equal to that of the Neanderthals. The Player Characters are free to engage with them in any way they see fit and several options are given for the Urmanoids’ reaction to how the Player Characters act—docile, sneaky, or bold and/or violent. Ideally, if the Player Characters opt for the former options, the Urmanoids will attempt to communicate with them. This sets up some challenging roleplay because the Urmanoids are unable to speak, so the players and their characters will have to find another way.

Once the Player Characters and the Urmanoids have begun to communicate, the camp comes under attack, not once, but twice. First by a giant lizard and then by a pack of Dinychus attracted by the first attack. Helping to defend the Urmanoids cements the relationship between them and the Player Characters, and this should be compounded after a further attack on the way to the Urmanoids’ next camp. This is where the adventure, such as it is, comes to a close.

Supporting the adventure in The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley and ‘The Valley Out of Time’ setting is a trio of appendices. The first, ‘Appendix A: New Monsters’ gives full write-ups for the various monsters and creatures which appear in the adventure, including the Urmanoids and Dinychus. The second, ‘Appendix B: Appendix N Monsters for use in the Timeless Valley’ lists some of the creatures in both the Dungeon Crawl Classics RolePlaying Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic that could be sued in the setting of the Timeless Valley. The list is not exhaustive and a whole lot more can likely be found in the ‘Dinosaur Crawl Classics’ article in the Goodman Games Gen Con 2017 Program Book. (In addition, The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley could be used as a way into the setting of ‘Dinosaur Crawl Classics’, or even be used as a dinosaur disaster film scenario using ‘1970’s Earth Characters for DCC’ from Goodman Games Gen Con 2016 Program Book.)
The third, ‘Appendix C: The Timeless Valley’ further discusses some ideas as to how the Player Characters might be motivated to enter the Timeless Valley and potentially keep them there, such as searching for resources which can be exported back home, looking for cities paved for gold, looking for a lost mentor, and so on. These, however, are suggestions that the Judge can add rather than The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley give any through the setting itself. The appendix also details the other aspect apart from the dinosaurs where The Valley Out of Time is different, and that is ‘Ultrascience’. This is a mixture of magic and technological, which combines and replaces those elements from Dungeon Crawl Classics RolePlaying Game and Mutant Crawl Classics Roleplaying Game – Triumph & Technology Won by Mutants & Magic. The Timeless Valley is a low magic, low technology environment, which often reduces the effects of technology, sometimes limiting the access of Clerics to their deity and Shaman to their A.I. Patron, Elves and Wizards definitely need to keep their spellbooks with them, and the denizens of the Timeless Valley are resistant to the effects of ‘Ultrascience’.

Physically, The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley is well presented, although the artwork does vary in quality. The Valley Out of Time: Welcome to the Valley presents an intriguing set-up, but it does not intrigue beyond that—and that is because of its almost ‘Partwork’-like structure. The Judge and her players will simply have to wait for the next issue to hopefully receive that.

It is the first of October! It is the month of Halloween finally.  I am going to start this auspicious night with a treat from last year, Appendix N's Octhorrorfest, and some more.  For this month I am going to focus largely on D&D in general and material for my War of the Witch Queens in particular.

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

Octhorrorfest!

PDF. 50 pages. Color covers. Black & white interior art.

This book is designed for Old-School Essentials, so that is already a plus in my mind.

It is filled with some wonderful art that is both creepy and evocative. 

We begin with an introduction from author R.J. Thompson about Halloween, and all the things that make Halloween great.  

There is a bit on Samhain (with correct pronunciation) and All Hallows with ideas of how to add them to your game. This includes what classes can do and the effects on magic. 

There are new classes and since this is OSE there are race-as-classes.  The classes include The Jack-o-Kin racial class and race for Advanced OSE. A jack-o-lantern race is a really interesting idea. Maybe not one I would play myself, but I am sure I would use it as an NPC race.

The next class is the Witch. Ah. Now we are talking. The class is a Wisdom-based spellcaster. They are fairly close to the Cleric class. There are a lot of interesting features to this class like healing, cure poison, and my favorite the Dying Curse. 

There is also a Witch Hunter class. A fighter type that also can turn undead and detect evil.  Essentially like a less devout paladin.

Magic of Hallows covers the spells for the witch. There are some ones that are familiar from OSE or SRD sources and four new spells.  This section also covers Ritual Spell Casting which is adapted from the old d20 Relics & Rituals converted to OSE. It is rather good to be honest.  There are 11 "new" spells. They are familiar spells but re-presented as ritual spells.

There is a section on Curing Vampirism, Demons and Exorcism.  Another section on Turning the creatures of the Outer Dark (like Undead Turning). 

Up next, around page 40, we get some movie monsters. 

Since this Appendix N Entertainment, we get an Appendix N with new readings, music, and film. 

In its 50 pages we get a lot of fun material. Well worth the price.

Lost Classes: The Arnesonian Classes

PDF. 30 pages. Black & white covers and interior art.

This one is not really a "Halloween" issue, but given I am doing Octhorrorfest I figure I would add this one is as well. Plus, it is for Old-School Essentials so that is reason enough.

Plus I think today is the last day of Dave Arneson week, so there is that.

This book covers what is called the Arnesonian Classes. This includes the Merchant and the Sage, as standard classes.  We also get the Beastfolk. This includes Chimpanzee Folk and Duck Folk.  We get both Basic race-as-class versions and Advanced races.

I have to admit I want to make a Chimpanzee Sage. I think that would be rather fun.

This little book is a great addition to OSE.

Both books are great fun.

For those unfamiliar with Dallas, the State Fair of Texas starts today in Fair Park, which means that traffic anywhere near downtown is going to be nearly impossible to traverse. We’re also coming up on the tenth anniversary of our … Continue reading →

Cyberpunk RED Data Pack is a supplement for Cyberpunk RED, the fourth edition of the classic Cyberpunk roleplaying game. It provides a number of tools that the Game Master can use to support her Cyberpunk RED game, including scenarios, lists, maps and character sheets. These are useful in a number of different ways, the least of which is probably the pad of character sheets. The character sheets are done in landscape rather than in portrait and in a mix of red and black. They are clear and easy to use. The twelve maps are full colour, double-sided, and marked in one-inch squares. The majority of them are road sections and connect link up easily. There are plain desert sections too, as well as a helicopter or aerodyne landing pad atop a building and an underground carpark—the latter which Game Masters and players alike will probably recognise from playing through Cyberpunk 2077. However, there are no internal locations mapped, which restricts their use. Perhaps Cyberpunk RED Data Pack 2.0 will address that? Fortunately, they are compatible with the Cyberpunk RED Battle Maps from Loke Battlemats and that range does include some internal buildings.

The meat of Cyberpunk RED Data Pack consists of a thirty-six-page booklet, which can be divided into two sections. The first consists of six Screamsheets, the single-sheet newspapers which can be purchased from kiosks on the streets of Night City and contain the most up to date news, printed at the moment of purchase. In game terms, they consist of a one-sheet which contains several news stories that can be handed to the players to provide them with information about what is going on in Night City, some of which form the background to the scenario which is effectively on the back of the Screamsheet. So effectively, one side for the players and their Edgerunners, and one side for the Game Master. For example, the first Screamsheet has stories about Night City PD reporting a rise in missing persons cases, a Militech executive being sacked for ethics violations, Night City hiring labourers for the city’s continued reconstruction, a rise in gang activity, and a hit on the Forlorn Hope, the signature Solo bar, by the Bozos, the clown gang. On the other side is ‘Hilaria 2045’. This is a scenario outline, in which the Edgerunners are hired to protect a block from an annual and very violent celebration held by the Bozos, Night City’s ultraviolent clown gang. This is in effect a big sprawling combat as the Bozo gang members ride into the neighbourhood in ice cream vans and will definitely be easier to run and manage with maps and counters.

The other Screamsheet scenarios continue with ‘The Digital Divas Burn It Down’ and its sequel, ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’. In the former, the Edgerunners investigate a rash of arson attacks linked to an up-and-coming local band, whilst in the latter, they follow up a death that occurred at one of the concerts for the band. ‘Cargo Race’ sends the Edgerunners into the Badlands in search of a downed Delta and the cargo it was smuggling. It leads to a standoff between several interested parties. ‘Snuff’ is another investigation, this time into someone selling bad Braindances and giving other ‘legitimate’ sellers a bad name… The sixth scenario is the longest in the Cyberpunk RED Data Pack. ‘ThrillKill’ drops the Edgerunners into the middle of a new craze, a competition for territory between gangs in which points are scored for killing particular types of individuals. The Edgerunners are hired to shut the competition down and this requires them to identify the next victims and prevent them from being killed, which means tracking the gangs involved. This is this the most mobile of the half dozen scenarios and the Edgerunners will definitely need the Drive skill. Of course, there are other stories on the front of the Screamsheets which are not given the scenario treatment and so there is potential there for the Game Master to develop them into something playable for her campaign.

Rounding out Cyberpunk RED Data Pack is ‘20 Things in Night City’. This consists of five separate lists: ‘20 Freelancers of Night City’, ‘20 Night Spots in Night City’, ‘20 People in the Night City Subway’, ‘20 Safehouses in Night City’, and ‘20 Vendors at Mister K’s Market’. These are an excellent set of tables of thumbnail descriptions for each of the categories and they can either be rolled on or an entry be selected by the Game Master to provide an element which she can add to her campaign. This can be done as their broader subject comes up in play, or the Game Master could consult the tables ahead of time, possibly even for inspiration. Overall, these tables are ready to add detail and flavour to a Game Master’s Night City.

Physically, Cyberpunk RED Data Pack is decently done. The booklet is sturdy, the maps colourful if not necessarily as varied as they could be, and the character sheets serviceable.

Cyberpunk RED Data Pack provides solid support for Cyberpunk RED. Whilst the maps and the character sheets are serviceable, the Screamsheets and the quintet of ‘20 Things in Night City’ tables really help support a Game Master’s campaign. The ‘20 Things in Night City’ quintet is rife with inspiration and ideas and flavour, and the Screamsheets are a varied selection of scenarios and set-ups. They can easily be dropped into a Night City-set campaign or run as the occasional scenario. Hopefully, Cyberpunk RED Data Pack will provide as equally good support for Cyberpunk RED.

Under normal conditions, Sarracenia pitcher plants bloom once: in spring. Many carnivorous and protocarnivorous plants can bear flowers at different times through the year, and frail triggerplants are so profligate that the trick is to get them to stop blooming. … Continue reading →

Today is the last day of September and that means tomorrow is the first day of Halloween, er...October.

And you know what that means here! Yes, the start of the October Horror Movie Challenge!

I have been doing the October Horror Movie Challenge for years now.  I am not doing anything wildly different than in previous years, and I am largely following the rules as set out by Krell Laboratories.

You have 31 days, October 1st to October 31st, to watch 31 Horror movies. At least 20 of these need to be first-time views.  

I am largely going themeless this year. I have a few I want to hit, a few brand new ones, and a few leftovers from last year.  If I have a theme so far it is "movies that have a pentagram on the cover."

I have learned over the years that if there is a movie you want to watch and it is on a streaming service you need to watch it right away.   So yeah, I have a lot of "witch" movies. 

Again I am hoping to have content for NIGHT SHIFT, my Monstrous Mondays, and more. 

If you want to join me here is a banner image to use.

Let the Spooky Season begin!

Relic of the Lost Kingdom is an adventure for Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition. Published by Fumble Folks, it is designed as a ‘Starter Adventure for New Game Masters’ as well as four to five new Player Characters of First and Second Level. The set-up is simple, the plot direct, and the background manages to be detailed enough to support the plot, but sufficiently generic that the Dungeon Master could easily drop it into or adapt it to her own campaign world. The setting is an alpine valley, once part of a great realm—the Lost Kingdom of the title, now dotted by farms, small villages, and the occasional town, but still important as a trade route through to neighbouring kingdoms. At the foot of the mountains stands a monastery dedicated to the Goddess of Grain. For the past few weeks, the undead have poured out of nearby crypts where the dead from the battles between the barbarians and the Lost Kingdom were buried centuries ago, and on successive nights, attacked the monastery in an attempt to break in. The Player Characters are hired to travel to the crypt, there to replace a stolen artefact, and so help to repel the undead, if not put them to rest.

Relic of the Lost Kingdom begins in the town with the Player Characters either seeing the notice for the job or hearing it announced by town crier—a nice touch given that not every Player Character is literate—and then being interviewed by the Elven priest, Rhys, at the monastery. He is direct in what he asks the Player Characters, including telling them not to trick him by running off with the artefact or dumping it in the river. If they decide to trick him, it is outside the scope of the adventure, but otherwise, this pushes the players and their characters to follow the scenario’s plot. In any other scenario this might be seen as the designers pushing the players and their characters down a railroad, but the point of Relic of the Lost Kingdom is to introduce the Dungeon Master to running Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition and to do so in a direct and uncomplicated fashion. Another nice touch is that the adventure introduces the idea of there being other adventurers in the world, as they were the ones responsible for having opened the crypt and removed the artefact in the first place—although Rhys does not blame them for that. Rhys can also have Lilith Mosswater, a Halfling Cleric, to accompany them, and she will be the main NPC who the Dungeon Master will portray in the adventure. She is there if the Player Characters do not have a Cleric or Paladin amongst their number.

After an encounter in the Veridian Woods, the Player Characters arrive at the crypt. The crypt itself is linear and involves a mix of exploration and combat. There are two combat encounters which will be quite challenging for the Player Characters, the final one in particular. Both can be avoided though—one by not following a particular route through the crypt and the other through interaction. However, that interaction relies upon a Player Character being able to speak a particular language, otherwise, a fight ensues. Perhaps an alternative here would have been to give Lilith Mosswater that language just in case the Player Characters do not have it.

Physically, Relic of the Lost Kingdom is in general, well presented and well written. It is lightly illustrated in mostly silhouettes and the cartography is simple and clear. It does need an edit in places, for example, the adventure cannot decide whether it is an abbey, monastery, or temple, which is being assaulted by the undead, or indeed a tomb or crypt where the undead can be found.

Relic of the Lost Kingdom can be run in a four-hour session and so at a convention as well. It is easy to use, it is easy to adapt to a campaign world, and it is easy for the experienced Dungeon Master to develop as necessary. Unfortunately, Relic of the Lost Kingdom is not quite as helpful as it could be for the new Dungeon Master. For example, it lacks the stats for Lilith Mosswater. Not only could she be a replacement Player Character, but she could also be a useful source of information for the Player Characters. Now she is in places in the adventure, but arguably not enough. The advice for the Dungeon Master in terms of staging each encounter or room and reacting to the players and their characters could also have been a bit stronger in places too. Of course, an experienced Dungeon Master will be able to run Relic of the Lost Kingdom with a minimum of preparation and effort.

Relic of the Lost Kingdom is a simple, direct adventure. It is suitable to be run by the neophyte Dungeon Master as intended. However, it does need a little more development in places and consequently requires a little more preparation time for the new Dungeon Master than it necessarily should have done.

Keeping with the OSR books tonight.  This one is a bit special.  First, it is produced by Basic Witch Games which is just a great name.  Secondly, the game is produced by a couple of friends of mine, Miranda Hunt and her wife Caitlin Hliwa doing the art. Thirdly I contributed a few spells for this book.

So...that makes reviewing this a little more difficult. So in addition to following my rules I am also going to be especially careful here.  I am not going to review the spells for example.

BaF - The Muse

PDF. 8 pages. Color cover. Black & white internal art.

BaF is short for "Basic as Fuck" a philosophy and a game design ethic. These classes (of which the Muse is the first) are designed for B/X D&D or OSE. 

This class, the Muse, is a magic-using class that alters emotions and enchants their companions. This is a Charisma base class and it cast spells in a similar manner to the witch classes. 

The XP charts follow the same format as Old School Essentials. The muse is similar in advancement to the Cleric and Magic-users. The Muse casts spells up to the 5th level. 

While I don't feel it would be right to review the spells there is a good number here and many that are original.  

There is also a new magic weapon featured.

The class is really fun and I can see a lot of uses for it as a great support character (like the Cleric) and some magic firepower (like the Magic-user).

Now for something a little different.

Reposted from The Official Night Shift: VSW MEAD!

From Jason Vey creator and co-author of NIGHT SHIFT:

Twilight Queen, the official mead of Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars


I am pleased to announce the release party for the official Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars mead: Twilight Queen on October 8! This release makes us the first ever tabletop role  playing game company to have our own official mead!
Even better, the mead connects with the game, as the favorite drink of Maeve Antinea, the woman who calls the shots, and the Twilight Queen herself, served in Club Khalsa, the most popular nightclub/watering hole in the City.

This mead, a collaboration with Apis Mead & Winery in Carnegie, PA, is a buckwheat mead with black cherries, vanilla, allspice, and cinnamon. The release party will be at Apis on Saturday, October 8, from 2:00 PM until whenever. We will have gaming events and giveaways, and both the mead and the game will be on sale! Our friends from Drawbridge Games will be on site as well!

I should also mention here that this is not just me slapping my company name on something. I'm a mead maker and have been for about 15 years. I collaborated closely with Dave from Apis on every aspect of this, from the initial flavor profile to the level of spice and flavoring in it, adjusting, tweaking, and the entire process of brewing the beverage. This is very much an Elf Lair creation as much as it is an Apis Mead, and after several rounds of tasting and tweaking, I am absolutely confident in saying IT IS A WINNER.

Please save the date and stop down! And if you can't make it, Apis can ship to any state that is allowed, through Vinoshipper!

You can find more information about Apis at their website here:

https://www.apismead.com/

Tim here now.

I don't do a lot of drinking anymore, save for coffee (I did enough in college for myself, my kids, you, your kids...) but this is fun.

Will it help the sales of NIGHT SHIFT? No, and I would be surprised if it did, but that is not the point is it. This is a fun thing to have and I'll happily pick up a few bottles.

Can you say your RPG has its own mead? No.

NOW, what would be totally on-brand for me? A "From the Editor's Cup" Weirdly World News coffee roast. Dark, imposing, and each cup is the LD50 of caffeine for a grown adult!

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Reviewing Twilight Fables the other day has put me more into the mood for more OSR material. So Given I am spending my 100 Days of Halloween talking about witches, lets go with some other OSR witch material.

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

Jeremy Reaban has published a good number of OSR Classes.  While they say OSR on the cover they do have advancement tables for "Original," "First Edition," and "Basic/Expert" editions.  So they are really quite flexible.  I do note that the "Basic/Expert" table does go to level 20, so great for Labyrinth Lord and Basic Fantasy, but you will need to cut off at 14th level for Old School Essentials. Keep in mind these classes all predate OSE in publication.

All his classes, and indeed all his publications, are Pay What You Want.  I like that. Given he is buying art for all of these at least pay him a couple of bucks.

Here are his classes that I think work well with the witch concept. 

PC13 - The OSR Witch

PDF. 15 pages. Color cover.

Covers the basics of the class including requirements, alignment, and all the other expected details.  There is a section on the special abilities of the class, in this case abilities all witches get.  Each witch also gets a "Focus" or what I have called a "Tradition" but could be read as archetype or even sub-class.  These include Black Witch, Fire Witch, Frost Witch, Light Witch, Mind Witch, Storm Witch, Wander Witch, Water Witch, White Witch, Weather Witch, and Wood Witch for a total of 11 (two more would have been great). Each gets some powers and a selection of spells unique to that Focus.

This is followed by the advancement tables. Witches get bonus spells for high Charisma. And the selection of spell common to all witches.  

There are 9 NPC witches of various levels and alignments. 

There are some design notes that talk about the lack of an official witch class and how most of the OSR ones are all done by "one guy" (no idea who that could be). 

We end with the OGL statement.

All in all a really fun class. If this one works for you then by all means go with it.  There are a lot of great ideas here. 

PC11 - The OSR Warlock

PDF. 14 pages. Black & White cover.

This is the "new" warlock from Reaban. I'll get to the "old" one in a bit.

Essentially this is a conversion of the 5.1 SRD warlock and I am totally happy with that.  You get a Pact boon and a bunch of Eldritch Invocations.

Listed are various Patrons the warlock can take. We get the Fiend, the Great Nature Spirit (this one is new), Faerie Queen (or King), the Great Old One, Elemental Prince, and the Celestial. Each gives the warlock powers and a collection of spells. 

This is followed by the advancement tables (with level titles!). Warlocks get bonus damage on their Eldritch Blast for high Charisma. And the selection of spells common to all warlocks.  

There are 7 NPC warlocks and some design notes. The design notes in particular discuss why this is the second Warlock Reaban has done and how the old warlock is now the Kineticist.

PC1 - The OSR Kineticist

PDF. 8 pages. Color cover.

This was the first OSR class done by Reaban and was originally called The Warlock. This class is a bit different. It is like a sorcerer in that has innate magic, but this is not due to bloodline. It has some blasty-like warlock powers, and some others making the class fairly unique. 

There are the advancement tables (with level titles!). Kineticist get bonus damage on their Arcane Bolts for high Charisma.

It is a new idea and I really like it. This one is so early that there are no NPCs. 

PC2 - The OSR Exorcist

PDF. 6 pages. Black & White cover.

Ah. Now here is a class that is not all that witchy, but one that is likely to come up in any game where there are a lot of witches and demons.  I have also played around with an exorcist class in the past and this one works so well for me I really don't think I need to do one now. 

Exorcists are a bit warrior, bit cleric. 

There are the advancement tables (with level titles!) but no NPCs yet in this one.

The class does exactly what is should do and does it well.

PC3 - The OSR Witch Hunter

PDF. 7 pages. Color cover.

Can't have witches and not expect a few witch hunters. Like many of the "witch hunter" classes you can find this one is not limited to hunting witches alone but any supernatural evil. Like the Exorcist this one is a combination of fighter and cleric, though more leaning on the fighter side (they are considered a sub-class of the fighter).  They get a number of abilities to allow it to hunt down their prey and vanquish them.  

The witch hunter also gets a Bard-like Lore ability and the ability to read magic. They can even turn undead at 3rd level. 

There are the advancement tables (with level titles) for First Edition, Original Edition, Basic/Expert Edition, and Cyclopedic Edition (to 36th level).

PC8 - The OSR Amazon Warrior

PDF. 9 pages. Color cover.

This might be stretching my "witch" idea, but I did do a book, the Cult of Diana: The Amazon Witch, and I like to use this book with that one.

This one gives us the Amazon Warrior class. It is a fighter, but with a more athletic bend to it. The have to have minimum scores of 15 in Strength, Dexerity, AND Constitution.  The Amazon Warrior can't use magic items unless that magic item is a weapon and provided to them by a god. 

There are the advancement tables (with level titles) for First Edition, Original Edition, Basic/Expert Edition, and Cyclopedic Edition (to 36th level).

There are 10 NPCs including a Red Martian (nice!), Zenia, and "Crimson Sonia" who is 25th level. 

There is also a section on the daughters of the gods and how they can generate ability scores. There are also role-playing notes on the children of gods.

All in all a really fun additional class.

PC10 - The OSR Beguiler

PDF. 15 pages. Color cover.

A related class, this one has also been called the houri, the courtesan, the temptress, or the hetaera. It is a Charisma based class that uses charms. She is also a poisoner along with her other skills, so in many ways she is closer in nature to the thief or assassin. 

There are the advancement tables (with level titles) for First Edition, Original Edition, and Basic/Expert Edition. 

This one also has some new magic items. There are 19 NPCs. 

PC17 - The OSR Enchantress

PDF. 15 pages. Color cover.

This class is another spellcasting class, this time ismanipulates the emotions of others.  This class is a magic-user sub-class. 

There are the advancement tables (with level titles) for First Edition, Original Edition, and Basic/Expert Edition. There is also spell advancement to the 7th level.

The best part of this class, at least for me, are the new spells. There 33 in total. Some come from the d20 SRD, but that is fine. They work great here.

There are only 2 new NPCs here.

And finally there are two new Witch Focuses for the Witch Class; a Desire Witch and a Dream Witch.

Works great for me to be honest.

--

Lots of great classes here and I didn't even review them all.

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Back in August, I reviewed the Echelon Reference Series: Witch Spells which covers every witch spell for Pathfinder.  It is a great series that represents a near Sisyphean effort to track all these spells. An effort that is only apparent once you dig into it.  Tonight I thought I might go for their collection of witch class material.  Basically, everything for the witch but the spells.

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

Echelon Reference Series: Witch (3pp+PRD)

Again this one comes as two PDFs. One for Pathfinder and one for Pathfinder and all other Third Party material.  The author points out that these are "living" documents as the material will be updated periodically.

Presently the Pathfinder book is 78 pages and the Pathfinder + 3PP book is 196 pages.

Both books follow the same format.  

About the Echelon Reference Series

This give you an overview of not just these two books but the series as a whole. Explains the differences between the PRD (Pathfinder SRD) and PRD+3PP (Pathfinder SRD plus Third Party Publishers) and the multiple versions of various books. 

This section also covers the issue of duplicate names; that is when one publisher calls something "X" and another publisher calls something "X" as well but they do different things.  Also some things may have different names but do remarkably similar things.  In both cases everything is here.

Classes and Archetypes

Covers the basic witch class and the published (and Open) archtypes. The PRD covers just material that is open from Paizo and can be found (for the most part) in the Pathfinder SRD.  The PRD+3PP covers the same but also all of the Open 3PP material.

Class Features

For the witch, this covers all her Patrons and all the various Hexes she can take. This might be one of the more useful chapters in the book. 

Other Options

Here we get favored class options, feats specifically for witches, and spell casting options. No spells since those are covered in multiple other Echelon books.

NPCs

What it says on the tin. The PRD has five and the PRD+3PP has the same five plus five more

Appendices

Not much here yet save for the Index and the OGL.

There is no art, nor is art required. This is a massive data dump designed for people that want only the crunch and none of the fluff.

This does not replace the products it gets its OGC from. The "source" products may have in-world examples or other materials that situate all of this to give proper perspective. This is the RAW OGC as is.  For me? I use Section 15 of the OGL statement here as a shopping list.  I use the original books/sources as my inspiration, but I sue this as my quick reference.

Looking forward to seeing what else is added! 

Oh good another Mail Call Tuesday!  They say great things come in small packages, so let's see what these small packages have for me today?

Up first I finally decided to do myself in Mini form from HeroForge.  So here is DM Tim in 25 mm scale. Complete with a laptop, a stack of books, and my always-present giant ass mug of coffee.  The only detail missing is the pencil behind my right ear.

I didn't care for their sneakers options so I am wearing my Gen X-mandated Doc Martens with yellow laces. 

Might need to use this as "The Editor" in my Weirdly World News games.

I also grabbed my next to last 21st Century miniature reprint of the AD&D 1st Edition hardcovers.  And this one is from the personal collection of Heidi Gygax.

Now I am just a Dungeoneers Survival Guide away from completing my set of the mini AD&D hardcover books.  Though I doubt it will have the pedigree of my Dragonlance book.

We are getting much closer to Halloween now! It is cooler here in Chicago and I am ready for the seasons to change.  Here at the Other Side, I am kicking up the witch topics hitting on products I have had for a while but have not reviewed or talked about.

Tonight is a good case in point.  I have had this particular product in both the OGL and Pathfinder versions for years. I have not found a group that it would work well for, however.  There is a lot of material here that I can use in my witch worlds.  But, well. Let me get into the products and you decide.

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

Sisters of Rapture

OGL (d20 3.5) and Pathfinder versions. 

PDFs, both 72 pages of content (76 and 74 total respectively). Color covers and interior art.

For Mature Readers. Let's approach this one upfront. The art featured on the cover is a rather tame example of the art that can be found inside. Point blank, there is a lot of nudity here and lot of sexual situations. The entire idea of the Sisters of Rapture is a class of semi-divine spellcasters centered around love and sacred sex. If this is not your thing then best to back out now.  Again I have struggled with how to use some of these concepts in my games. 

We know that history has had temple prostitutes, sacred sex, and many pagan rituals involving fertility. There are historical examples to fit this book more so than say the martial arts monk side by side with a horse-riding paladin in a quasi-European Medieval setting.  

Plus, and I want to be truthful here, there is a lot a great and well-written material here that begs to be used. So let's get to it.  Also, why am I doing these along with witches?

Unless mentioned the OGL and Pathfinder sections are largely similar. They are not 100% the same, more like 90% but both deal with their source game where they need too.

Introduction

Here we are introduced to the central concept of this book. That of the power of love. We learn of the Sisters of Rapture, a "close-knit organization of warrior-priestesses, dedicated to preserving and protecting the ideals of the various goddesses of love, beauty, sex, passion and other related concepts."  

In terms of RPG applications the author (and artist) T. Catt, points to the various artists of fantasy art.

Chapter One: Love's Blessed

Here we are introduced to the Sisters of Rapture base class, also known as the Rapturous. They are a bit of a fighter, a bit of divine spellcaster, and maybe some rogue added in. They are dedicated to the various goddess of love.  Their raison d'être is to spread pleasure and love around their worlds. 

Here we also get our first look at the art of T. Catt; mostly nude women. Now I just finished watching HBO's hits Rome and Game of Thrones, so this fits that aesthetic, but like I said it is not going to be for everyone.

In terms of 3.x OGL/Pathfinder classes, they have somewhat medium combat abilities, good Fort and Will saves, with low Reflex saves. They can cast spells up to the 9th level, same as all full casters. They also get a power every other level. Their spells are known as "Carnal Domain" Divine spells. They get d8 HD and can only be women of any species.

There is a limit on the number of spells they know like sorcerers. Their powers largely focus on and around their sex and sexuality. There are several "kiss" powers for example. I actually rather like the Kiss powers, I have used something similar and lets be honest history is repleat with various sorts of powerful or significant kisses. 

Depending on the Goddess they follow they can gain different powers. So Aphrodite grants her Rapturous different powers than Freya.  Freya in particular grants her Rapturous a "Righteous Rage" ability to Rage like a barbarian of half her level. 

What does this sound like? Yeah. Witches and their patrons. 

Chapter Two: Love's Chosen

This covers the various Prestige Classes. I mentioned before that I like Prestige Classes, I always have. These classes work well with this base class. Though I will point out that other classes should be able to qualify for these to be within the spirit of the d20 rules; these don't really do that.

The Inamorare is something like a muse. They get some Bard-like abilities (mostly inspiration) and of the five levels they advance in spell casting in three of them.  The Patron Mother takes on the role of training the next generation by taking on a Rapturous apprentice. In this respect, she more similar to a cleric. The Spellswinger (and I admit I like that name) swings both ways, Divine and Arcane magic. NOW this Prestige Class does require that character be able to cast Rapturous and Arcane spells.Yes, they are all about sex magic. My favorite though might be the Stormsister. These Rapturous are the strong arm of the Sisters and they punish anyone that harms women or stops love. 

The Pathfinder version also includes various archetypes for the base class. These include the Abbess (closer to her Goddess and church), Divine Virgin (celebrates the pure divine love and refrain from sex), and the Sacred Prostitute (think of the Epic of Gilgamesh), 

Chapter Three: Love's Method

This covers skills and feats.  For skills there is Knowledge (Carnal). I can't help but wonder if the author was familiar with the old AD&D Netbook Book of Unlawful Carnal Knowledge. No, don't go dig it up, it's not worth it. There is also Perform (Sexual Techniques) and various Professions.

Feats are an interesting lot and could have a lot of interesting applications.  Blown Kiss, for example,  allows the Rapturous to "blow a kiss" or deliver a touch spell/power attack at range. 

The Pathfinder also covers various traits.

The next portion of this chapter covers the Carnal Domain Spells. There are only nine, but since the publication of this book there have been plenty of others that would work.

There are some magic items. The Rings of Faithfulness are certainly interesting. 

Chapter Four: Love's Divinity

This chapter covers the various goddess of love, beauty, and sex. These include the expected Aphrodite/Venus, Isis, and Freya. Others are briefly mentioned. Shout outs to my favorites Astarte and Brigit. Additionally, we are presented with a "new" Goddess, Parvati. 

The Pathfinder version is largely the same but I think a mention of the Goddess of Love Shelyn and her lovers Desna and Sarenrae should be in order here. I feel that their combined faiths would be perfect for the Sisters of Rapture. (I know these goddesses are not "open" in terms of the OGL so they could not be included in this book).

Chapter Five: Love's Order

This details the society and church organization of the Sisters of Rapture.  This includes the religious practices of the Sisters and the roles they are play within the church organizations. 

Chapter Six Love's Relations

It seems odd to call these creatures monsters, but they are creatures/people that are associated with or related too the Sisters of Rapture. There are the Theliel, the Archons (Angels) of Passion. The Beloved, undead victims of the Succubus. The Congress of the Wolf, an all-male group in opposition to the Sisters. We just call them the Patriarchy.  There is Lileetha the Queen of the Succubi. The Half-Nymph and Huldra. The Pleasure Ooze looks like a woman but is really an ooze that wants to eat you.  As does the Venus Mantrap. 

I will say this for Pathfinder. The "Evolved" monster stat block makes it a lot easier to read than the base D&D 3.x one.

Appendix 1: Who's Who

This covers various Raprurous NPCs. Theophania Leandros the current Overmother, Althea Acarides a half-nymph Sister of  Aphrodite, Saereid an elven Sister of Freya, Ninythys a human Sister of Isis, and Kamala Siddah a humanSister of Parvati.

Appendix 2: Modern Rapturous (OGL)

Here the books differ quite a bit. The OGL version covers the Modern d20 book and how the Sisters of Rapture exist in the modern age. 

The OGL book ends with one of the most attractive-looking character sheets I have ever seen. 

Appendix 2: The Nefer-Sefet (Pathfinder)

This is a special sect of Isis-worshiping Sisters of Rapture that attach themselves to an Arcane spell caster and bolster their powers. Essentially they are a living Meta-magic battery for these arcane spell casters. 

Both the required OGL pages.

So. What to make of all of this.

Well, there is a  lot of great mechanics here. The class is solid and even if you toned down the sexual aspect of it there is a lot her that is good to play.  You have to ask though what is here that a cleric could not do or even should be able to do. This is a divine spellcaster. There are some powers, but I think a cleric could cover similar ground.  I guess at some level the differences are the same between a cleric and this class and a wizard and a witch. 

I also can't but help but admire the complete level of detail the creator has gone in on this. While others might scratching their head about where to use this class you know that T. Catt has thought about all of these things and more. It's obvious from the level of detail here.

Among other things, the half-nymph is a great idea, the various feats have some wonderful uses, and the creature section has some surprise hits.

For me there is a lot here that could be used with my various witches. I have reviewed Swine Witches and Worm Witches already in the last week. I have Green, Winter, Pagan, Hedge, evil and more witches in my own catalog, a sex(y) witch is not too far from any of those. Hell. Some of the material here would have worked just fine in my Pumpkin Spice Witch book. 

I guess each Game Master has to decide on their own how to best use this sort of book. 

 

Taking a break from Pathfinder for a bit on this first Monstrous Monday of Fall 2022 to do something a little darker.  There is a chill in the air here in Chicago. I have a flannel shirt on and my mood ever shifts more and more to Halloween.  A Halloween bestiary would be nice and thankfully Izegrim Creations has just the thing I need.

Twilight Fables

I swear the Kickstarter for this had just ended and I got my DriveThruRPG notification that the hardcovers were available. 

So for this I Monstrous Monday, I want to talk about both the 5e and OSR versions of this book, the Print on Demand and PDF versions, plus all the other material that makes up this line. 

Overview

Both books are huge volumes at 336 pages (5e) and 326 pages (OSR) each. The covers are full color as is all the interior art.  And the art is fantastic.  

Both books have a solid 5e aesthetic to them; colorful art and backgrounds, text describing the creature and its place in the environment/land/myths, and followed by a stat block.

The 5e book features a standard-looking 5e stat block, the OSR one is largely a modified Basic-era stat block. It includes everything you would expect along with descending and ascending AC, an entry for THAC0, and XP. The art for both books is the same.  There is a good reason for this, the OSR version was added on a little bit later in the Kickstarter.  The 5e version, with art, was done before the kickstart began (minus some edits I am told) so adding on the OSR version was a matter of adding the new stat blocks.  One nitpick there are listings for "DCs" in the OSR version for magic item creation (more on that later). I would have preferred something that felt a little more pre-2000.

Now in most situations, I would fear translation errors, but the author Roderic Waibel had already developed that very successful Chromatic Dungeons RPG (reviewed here) which is solid OSR.  So I know he knows OSR.  My only gripe is kinda wanted the OSR stat blocks to look as nice as the 5e ones!  But that is only a gripe for people that own both.

Like many of Waibel's publications we get nice sidebar discussions from the intelligent and rather civilized Gnoll "Fleabag." It is a very nice touch (I have done something similar with my 'From the Journal of Larina Nix') and it gives these (and his other books) character. 

Regardless of which one you get (get both!) you are in for a treat.

I grabbed both and will be using the OSR version in my Old-School Essentials game. My oldest grabbed the 5e version and is using it in his weekly 5e game. So far he says it is great and he loves all the different sorts of monsters it offers.

The Fables

The name of the book is Twilight Fables.  So you can expect that these are monsters from various myths, legends, and tales. And you would be 100% correct. Waibel has done his reading and there are a lot of great creatures here.  Even ones that might be familiar get new life and feel "new."  

For example, I mentioned one of my favorites, the Basajaun who appears in three different monster books. 

Each one is a little different and yet each one 'feels' right. Perfect for DMs that want a familiar, yet different creature.

The creatures largely come from the myths, legends, and folklore of Europe. This is also what is advertised and leads to the logical assumption of Twilight Fables of other lands for future volumes. One for Africa, one for Asia, one for the Americas, all are possible.

In addition to the monsters, there are various legendary NPCs like Baba Yaga, Beowulf, Cailleach Beira, Cú Chulainn, Guy of Warwick, King Arthur, Little Red Riding Hood, Merlin, Morgan Le Fay, Robin Hood, Scáthach, Queen Úna of Faerie, and Väinämöinen. So yeah. Lots.

There is a section on Mythological Treasures and Magic items. This includes some rules on how to make magic items as well. It is a very nice value add.  You saw this sort of thing with the old Mayfair "Fantastic Treasures" and something you see Troll Lord Games do with their Monster and Treasure books.

Both books also have rules for new character species (wanna play a Pech? You can!) and for 5e there are class options such as Warlock patrons and cleric domains.

There is even a small adventure (20 pages) to introduce these new monsters. 

The Monsters

All that is gravy.  The real meat here are the monsters.

In both cases, the monsters take up full pages. This includes the background and descriptions, the stat blocks, and whatever else is involved with this particular creature such as "Lore & Rumors", any special treasures, habitat, behaviors, and more.  In some cases, the material bleeds over to another entry, but not so much as to be an issue. 

There are, by my count, nearly 220 monsters here ranging in HD from 1-1 to 30+ (OSR) and CR 1/8 to 30 (5e).  So plenty of creatures to challenge any level of characters.

I have to say these are great books and well worth grabbing for your games, 5e or OSR, or both.  There is a lot of material here and plenty to keep many groups engaged for some time.

Extras

When you get the digital copy from DriveThruRPG you also get a bunch of tokens that can be printed and used in f2f table games or digitally online. It is another value add this game offers. There is also an RTF version of the book, a printer-friendly/no background version, and maps for the included adventure.

If you love monsters like I do then this is a must-buy.

Between October 2003 and October 2013, Chaosium, Inc. published a series of books for Call of Cthulhu under the Miskatonic University Library Association brand. Whether a sourcebook, scenario, anthology, or campaign, each was a showcase for their authors—amateur rather than professional, but fans of Call of Cthulhu nonetheless—to put forward their ideas and share with others. The programme was notable for having launched the writing careers of several authors, but for every Cthulhu Invictus, The Pastores, Primal State, Ripples from Carcosa, and Halloween Horror, there was Five Go Mad in Egypt, Return of the Ripper, Rise of the Dead, Rise of the Dead II: The Raid, and more...

The Miskatonic University Library Association brand is no more, alas, but what we have in its stead is the Miskatonic Repository, based on the same format as the DM’s Guild for Dungeons & Dragons. It is thus, “...a new way for creators to publish and distribute their own original Call of Cthulhu content including scenarios, settings, spells and more…” To support the endeavours of their creators, Chaosium has provided templates and art packs, both free to use, so that the resulting releases can look and feel as professional as possible. To support the efforts of these contributors, Miskatonic Monday is an occasional series of reviews which will in turn examine an item drawn from the depths of the Miskatonic Repository.

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Name: Fork in the RoadPublisher: Chaosium, Inc.
Author: Riley Kruger

Setting: Jazz Age USAProduct: Scenario
What You Get: Fourteen page, 6.91 MB Full Colour PDF
Elevator Pitch: Devil at the Crossroads meets the MythosPlot Hook: Jobbing musicians forced to make a choice
Plot Support: One NPC, one Mythos monsters, and five pre-generated InvestigatorsProduction Values: Plain.
Pros# Short thematic scenario# Excellent artwork
Cons# Short thematic scenario# Linear scenario# Tortuous imposition of the Mythos# Needs a slight edit# Underwhelming ‘Investigator’ agency# Tortuously difficult to envision and portray the scenario’s central gamut
Conclusion# Short thematic scenario imposes the Mythos on the ‘Investigators’ in a linear, difficul to grasp, gamut.# Tortuous affair terrorises the ‘Investigators’ and leaves them with little agency.