Review: Actual Factual: Dracula - A Compendium of Vampires

Actual Factual: Dracula - A Compendium of Vampires is an unassuming book. The cover is stock art (I am guessing, not sure) and the preview is text with a small amount of art.  That and the $40 price tag (sale price $18) might scare some people off.

That would be a mistake.

Inside are 472 pages of detailed vampire types from all over the world.

In this book we are given a basic overview of vampires (aka the stuff everyone knows) and then we move quickly into the relationship between Vlad the Impaler and Vampires.  I will honestly say that this section, while entertaining seems tacked on.  The book would have been fine without it, but is likely better with it.

Next we get into the heart of this book.  The Compendium of Vampires.
The A to Z section detail vampires from around the world and not only represents the bulk of the book (340+ pages), but also the bulk of the research.

Each entry contains the name of the vampire, pronunciation and translation of the name. Also listed are it's country or area of origin, type of creature (creature, spirit, demon...), how it appears, prefered prey, how often it attacks or feeds, Modus Operandi, abilities, defenses against it and how to kill it.  Not every creature has everything listed, this is not a Monster Manual, but there are enough. In some cases the author has used her own imagination to fill in the blanks.  This is fine really, given that the author is Theresa Bane.
But I guess if you want something purer you can go to her pages of resources.

There is a bibliography, which is almost as interesting to read as the entries themselves.

What follows next really puts this book into a different category of usefulness, the indexes.
First is a more common index of words, names and other things you might want to find in the book.

Next is an index of Abilities.  So if you need a vampire that is Beautiful (as an ability) then you have GREEN OGRESS 124 and SUCCUBUS 274.

There is an index of Appearance.  So "barbed tongue" gives you:
ASWANG MANDURUGO 23
BICHOHINDU 44
GROBNIK 125
KRVOIJAC 164
UPIER 294
WIESZCZY 330 (one of my favorite barbed tongue vampires).

An Index on Creation.  Indexes of How Often it Attacks, How to Find, Origins, Prey, Types, and finally Weaknesses.

Now what would have been a nice touch would be to hyper link all these indexes to the main document.  But I am not complaining.

What the book lacks in art, there are only a few pieces, it makes up for in research and utility.
You can debate on whether or not Creature Y is a vampire or not, but I can't fault the authors for doing all this work.

All in all a great book.  A must have if you are at all a fan of vampires or use them in your games.

Amazing Adventures: Universal Monsters

It is no secret. I love horror movies.

A large part of that is growing up on a steady diet of Universal Studios' classic Monsters.  My dad had a bunch of book about the Golden Age of Cinema.  Most I never bothered with, but the one of the horror stories and monsters.  I wore that sucker out.   When I got older (11 or 12) I bought a used B/W TV that still used tubes.  The thing got so hot you could warm a slice of pizza on it (not really, but it was hot).  This was not a big deal for me since I could watch all my favorite "Monster Movies" when they came on KPLR-TV out of St. Louis.

One of the things I discover later is that almost in every case the stories were updated to the (then) modern times.  Dracula hung out with 1930s fashionistas.  The Wolfman smoked modern cigarettes in his John Talbot guise. Yes Frankenstein seemed set in earlier time, but the sequels were thoroughly modern.

Makes them perfect for Amazing Adventures.

Dracula (1931)
The OD (original Dracula...not counting Orlock) is Bela Lugosi.

Count Dracula

Vampire
NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1
SIZE: Medium
HD: 15d12+10 (100 hp)
MOVE: 40 ft., 60 ft. (fly), 20 ft. (climb)
AC: 22 (cloak of protection)
ATTACKS: Slam (1d6)
SPECIAL: Blood Drain, Children of the Night, Dominate, Create Spawn, Energy Drain, Alternate Form, Gaseous Form, Entourage, Electrical Resistance (half), Spider Climb
SANITY: 1d6/1d8 (Dracula tones down his horror)
SAVES: M, P
INT: Genius
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil
TYPE: Undead
XP: 11050+15 (12400)


Dracula never carries weapons relying on his Dominate and physical strength.

Frankenstein's Monster & The Bride (1931, 1935)

Both the Monster and the Bride (Frankenstein is the name of their creator) are Awakened Golems.


Awakened Flesh Golem
NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1 (typically a unique creature)
SIZE: Medium to Large
HD: 10d10 (55 hp)
MOVE: 20 ft. (Typically these Golems are slow moving)
AC: 20
ATTACKS: 2 Slam (2d8)
SPECIAL: Berserk, Immunity to Magic*
SANITY: 1d6/1d8
SAVES: P
INT: High to Genius
ALIGNMENT: Neutral (Evil)
TYPE: Construct
XP: 900+10 (1450)

An Awakened Flesh Golem possesses self-awareness, usually keen intellect and the self-reflection to abhor what they are.  This tends to make the creatures either tragic or villainous.

While immune to magic Frankenstein's Monster has been shown to be held under the thrall of Dracula from time to time.  Controlling the Monster though takes most of Dracula's attention.

The Mummy (1932)

Imhotep / Ardath-bey

NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1 (unique)
SIZE: Medium
HD: 10d12 (60 hp)
MOVE: 30ft.
AC: 22
ATTACKS: Slam (1d12) or by weapon
SPECIAL: Despair, Darkvision 60ft, Energy Drain, Fire Vulnerability, Magic*
SANITY:  1d8/1d10 (1d4/1d6 while in his "Ardath-bey" persona)
SAVES: P, M
INT: High
ALIGNMENT: Lawful Evil
TYPE: Undead
XP: 60+2 (94)

*Imhotep does not have a mummy rot ability, instead he can drain life energy as if he were a vampire.  Also due to his curse he can not be raised.

The Invisible Man (1933)

The Invisible Man, aka Dr. Jack Griffin is a 5th level Gadgeteer who created a potion of permenant invisibility, but at the cost of his sanity. Dr. Griffin is currently in the 10-15 SAN point range and looses more all the time.

The Wolf-Man (1941)
Even a man who is pure in heart
and says his prayers by night
may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms
and the autumn moon is bright.

Larry Talbot, AKA the Wolf Man

NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1
SIZE: Medium
HD: 4d8 (16 hp)
MOVE: 30 ft., 50 ft. (as wolf-man)
AC: 16
ATTACKS: Bite (2d4)
SPECIAL: Beserke Curse of Lycanthropy, Wolf Empathy, Trip, Alternate Form*, Twilight Vision
SANITY: 1d8/1d10
SAVES: P
INT: Average
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Good as human, chaotic evil in wolf form
TYPE: Humanoid
XP: 120+4 (184)

Larry Talbot's curse of lycanthropy turns him into a human/wolf hybrid creature.  Him mind is gone and all he knows is animalistic desires such as hunger and killing.  While in human form LArry searches for the wolf that infected him hopping to find a cure. 

The Gill-man (The Creature from the Black Lagoon)  (1954)

NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1 (2-4)
SIZE: Medium
HD: 3d8 (12 hp)
MOVE: 30 ft., 60 ft. (swim)
AC: 16
ATTACKS: Weapon (by weapon), Talon (1d4), Bite (1d4)
SPECIAL: Breeding, Darkvision 60 ft., Saltwater Sensitivity, Water Dependent
SANITY: 1d6/1d8
SAVES: P, M
INT: Average
ALIGNMENT: Chaotic Evil
TYPE: Humanoid
XP: 30+3 (66)

Gill-men are the rarer freshwater cousins of the Spawn of Dagon also called Fish men.  Biology though will keep them forever seperate since the Gill Man can no more tolerate salt water than the Fish Men can tolerate Fresh water.  It is suspected that like Fish Men the Gill Man needs human females for breeding purposes.  

Now I want to rewatch all of these!

Don't forget about the Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/676918054/amazing-adventures-rpg

October Movie: Dario Argento's Dracula 3D (2012)

Wow.  Where to start with this one?
Ok for starters I was very excited to be getting a new version of Dracula for the screen. I was cautiously optimistic, Argento is a "name" and there was a chance it could be done right.
Also I had heard it was a homage to the Hammer Horror films of the 50s and 60s.

Well...it is a very pretty movie.  The HD is nice.

It IS a love note to the Hammer Horror. The visuals for that are down.  But that is where it ends really.
Ok what is bad? Well pretty much everything else.
Asia Argento can't act, at all.  Unax Ugalde makes wish for the nuanced and subtle performances of Keanu Reeves as Johnathon Harker. And Rutger Hauer (Van Helsing). Well Rutger has to eat too.
I will give Thomas Kretschmann (Dracula) credit though, he seems like a good actor. Interesting enough he is set to play Van Helsing on the new Dracula TV Series.

Again, we get the whole "immortal beloved" plot line; that is the idea that Mina (sometimes Lucy) is one of Dracula's past lovers. Sometimes it works, but most time I don't buy it.

Damn. I would have loved to have a good new Dracula remake.

Oh. So yeah. Pretty crappy movie really.

ETA: I am watching Jesús Franco's Count Dracula (1970) now.  I'll review that one soon too.

Tally: Watched 7,  New 6

What are you watching?

hosted by Krell Laboratories

October Movie: Daughter of Dracula (1972)

Also known as La fille de Dracula this is one of the movies I bought back in the summer just for this. Plus Halloween would not be complete in my mind without one (or more) Jesús Franco movie.
I picked this one up last year with the intent to watch it for the last Challenge but I ended up traveling for work and I discovered that my work computer did not have the codecs installed to allow me to play DVDs.  Grumble....

So like all of Franco's work from around this time this one has a surreal feel to it. That and a lot of girl on girl vampire action.   No to mention a beach, a nightclub and lots 70s sex. The movie is a Franco play-by-numbers.

There is a subset of the Dracula myths in movies that often deal with his family.  The Subspieces movies touch on this, Dracula's Daughter from 1936 deals with this and many more.  There is also influences of Carmillia here, no surprise, and even some similarities

I liked the movie to be honest. You have to go into a Franco movie with some expectations. I would have liked a slightly different ending, but hey expectations right.

Tally: Watched 5,  New 5

What are you watching?

hosted by Krell Laboratories

Reading Appendix N

The Dungeon Master's Guide Appendix N is well know to many gamers of a certain age.  Maybe too well known really.
In case you are curious, never seen it before, or don't have your DMG handy, here is the list:
Source: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4dnd/Appendix/N

Anderson, Poul. Three Hearts and Three Lions; The High Crusade; The Broken Sword
Bellairs, John. The Face in the Frost
Brackett, Leigh.
Brown, Fredric.
Burroughs, Edgar Rice, Pellucidar series; Mars series; Venus series
Carter, Lin. "World's End" series
de Camp, L. Sprague. Lest Darkness Fall; Fallible Fiend; et al.
de Camp & Pratt. "Harold Shea" series; Carnelian Cube
Derleth, August.
Dunsany, Lord.
Farmer, P. J. "The World of the Tiers" series; et al.
Fox, Gardner. "Kothar" series; "Kyrik" series; et al.
Howard, R. E. "Conan" series
Lanier, Sterling. Hiero’s Journey
Leiber, Fritz. "Fafhrd & Gray Mouser" series; et al.
Lovecraft, H. P.
Merritt, A. Creep, Shadow, Creep; Moon Pool; Dwellers in the Mirage; et al.
Moorcock, Michael. Stormbringer; Stealer of Souls; "Hawkmoon" series (esp. the first three books)
Norton, Andre.
Offutt, Andrew J., editor. Swords Against Darkness III.
Pratt, Fletcher. Blue Star; et al.
St. Clair, Margaret. The Shadow People; Sign of the Labrys
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit; "Ring Trilogy"
Vance, Jack. The Eyes of the Overworld; The Dying Earth; et al.
Weinbaum, Stanley.
Wellman, Manly Wade.
Williamson, Jack.
Zelazny, Roger. Jack of Shadows; "Amber" series; et al.

Certainly a worthy list to be honest.

But it isn't my list.

Yes I read Tolkien during my formative years, followed quickly by Moorcock and Lovecraft. I dabbled in Norton.  But I didn't read any Conan till almost a year ago. I had read "A Princess of Mars" before I played D&D, but nothing more till recently and none of the Pellucidar series till almost two years ago.

I have joked, half seriously, that my Appendix N is mostly Hammer Films, 70's exploitation horror, Led Zeppelin, Twilight Zone and Dark Shadows.

But semi -serious for a moment Appendix N was never supposed to be passed on as Holy Writ and there are some notable omissions.  Here are some things I would add.

Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan:  CARMILLA. Natch.

Lucas, George: STAR WARS.  Star Wars, the first movie, is a D&D adventure writ large.  Star Wars and D&D are so forever linked together in my mind it would be hard to tease them apart in terms of which one colors my perception of the other more.  This one though is a total cheat as a movie and as one of the "newest" item on my list.

Poe, Edgar Allen. Lots.

Robbins, Russell Hope. Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology: This book has been long out of print, and I got mine at a used book store, but it is the indespensible work on witches, the witch craze and demonology. The book takes a very pro-witch point of view as it frankly discusses the murder of women, children and even men in the name of god. Not to be missed, this book has been THE source for most of my writings. Several editions are out there, mine is the 1959 edition. I have seen them on Ebay as well.

Smith, Clark Ashton: Everything.  No seriously.  I discovered CAS after reading about his friendship to Lovecraft.  I found a copy of his unfinshed works in the basement of my university library (no joke).  I was RIVETED.  He spoke to me in ways Lovecraft never dreamed.  In particular I recommend his Averoigne series and his Zothique series.
http://www.eldritchdark.com/

Stoker, Bram: DRACULA;  Need to know what else a cleric can do in your group? Let me introduce Prof. Van Helsing.  I suggest getting the Annotated Dracula by Leonard Wolf.

There are many others.  But these are the ones I keep coming back to.

May Monster Maddness: Dracula

Dracula is an old favorite here at The Other Side.
I have seen just about every movie featuring the Count, read scores of books about him and I was even in the play back in High School.

So it is with some excitement and trepidation that I report on the new series coming to NBC.

The trailer looks interesting and I am glad it is set in the Victorian Era rather than modern times.



The trailer looks good, and it seems to be a retelling of the Dracula novel and/or play.  There is a character named "Browning" in the cast that I am sure is a nod to Todd Browning.

It stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers from The Tudors as Dracula, so that is a good start.
Sure he is a bit young looking, but that is not a big deal.
I see they are going with the "immortal love" angle from recent movies though.  Not fond of that idea BUT it does give Drac a reason not to kill Mina right away and prolong a series.

I would have preferred to see to see this on Showtime or HBO, but hey at least we are getting something right?

I am looking forward to this.  Should be on the air about the same time True Blood takes their season finale.

Enjoy this? Please check out the other monster posts today!

Vampire Blog Hop

Little bit of history here.  Long before I was known as "The witch guy" I was "the Vampire guy".
So it is with a sense of homecoming that I participate in the Precious Monsters Vampire Bloghop.


I still tend to write a lot about vampires here.

My earliest memory of watching a movie had to be Bella Lugosi and Christopher Lee as Dracula.  I can clearly recall being no more than 3 or 4 and thinking anything with red eyes was a "dracula".  This extended as I got older (5) when the Count became my favorite character on Sesame Street.  I am pretty sure I have seen every film adaptation of Dracula there is and I have read the original book a dozen times.

So yeah. I like Vampires.  What made me "stop" liking them?  Vampire: The Masquerade.
Well, that is not fair.  It wasn't the game itself, it was the over exposure of the game and I'll admit, some of the players.  But I have gotten over that.  In fact I really enjoy the 20th Anniversary edition and the translation guide  The truth is that Vampire really changed a lot things in gaming. In recent years I have come back to Vampire (and to vampires in general) and find I am enjoying it so much more.
So let's have a look at some the Vampire games I have enjoyed the most over the years.  This is not all of them, but it is a nice sample of new and old.

Vampire: The Masquerade - Revised Edition
This is it, the original. Well, not the original, original, but the revised version. This game is the go to game for playing an angsty, tortured monster.  Nearly everything known about vampires in myth or fiction is in here somewhere.  Re-reading it today if you had no knowledge of this game you might be tempted to say that this game is full of cliches. But in truth this is the origin of a lot of things that we take for granted.
Truthfully this is a great book to get even if you never plan to play the game.  There are plenty of ideas for Role-playing as well as integrating it with LARPing. There is also a lot of ideas for vampires here.
If you like Anne Rice's vampires, then this is the game for you.
Play if you like: Anne Rice

Victorian Age Vampire
The Victorian Age is best time for vampires in my mind. This the age of Dracula, of Varney the Vampire and tons of great Gothic Literature.  Also it is a time of science vs. religion, the city vs. the rural, the traditional vs. the modern.  This is a perfect mix for a Vampire game. The Vampire game mechanics are well served by this mix; the human vs. monster. In many respects this game is actually superior to it's parent game V:tM.
All the same vampire clans from The Masquerade are here, but changed.  Not as much as the Dark Ages version, but the alterations fit the times well. The vampires here seem to be so much more than their modern counterparts.
Play if you like: Dracula or Varney the Vampire

Vampire: The Requiem
A while back White Wolf rebooted everything.  They redid all their game lines, edited the rules and gave us a new World of Darkness.  On the plus side Vampire the Requiem has much more cleaned up rules.  They were similar to the old rules, but just better in most respects.  The meta-rules or how the vampires are played though felt worse. Not worse really, but off to me.
Basically you can play the same kind of game you did in V:tM, though if you had a favorite clan in the old game it might not be here, or be changed in subtle ways. Still though this is a great game with less overhead than old World of Darkness. If you are choosing between this game and Vampire: The Masquerade then this might be the easier choice, even if it is less "classic" choice.
Play if you like: Modern supernatural

Vampire Translation Guide
So say you like both Vampire games, or you prefer one but like elements from the other.  Well White Wolf came up with this great guide that lets you translate between the two games. At least in a mechanical way you can translate clans from one to the other. I like this product on concept alone. While this book is not the Rosetta Stone between the games, it is a good translation guide. If you are fan of one of the game then this book gives you the chance to double your stuff. For fans of both games this is a good way to open up your world of darkness a bit more. It is lacking on some crunch, but I think I can be OK with that.
I also like this product for what it means. White Wolf is basically saying something new now, the world is yours do with it as you please. No more meta-plot no more rigid distinctions that always come in 5's.
I like the converted characters, but would have also liked to have seen the same character in both systems.

Vampire: The Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition
The 20th Anniversary Edition combines the best of the best of the old Vampire the Masquerade game and strives for completion.  All the clans, all the powers and most of the iconic characters. It is more expensive that any of the other White Wolf Vampire games, but it is also the largest and everything you need for years of playing is right here.  Or more the point, everything from years of playing is right here.  It is easy to pick this up and feel like it is 1990 again.
I think this book is really aimed more at people that played V:TM back in the day and now have a desire to go back to those nights where monsters roamed the city.  There is a lot here for new players though too.  If you have never played a Vampire game then this has everything you need.

Chill Vampires
I have gone on about this book before.  Chill Vampires is the standard to which all vampire related supplements to a horror game must be measured. Any game can produce a bunch of stats, some bad fiction and link them together, Chill: Vampires is a Master's Thesis on combating the undead. Not just notes for the would be vampire slayer (and game masters) but also detailed accounts of the most brazen of the undead. Complete with stats, history, motivations and the notes of previous investigators and SAVE agents.
This book is fantastic for any game but essential for a good Chill game. I would recommend it on the basis of the Dracula and Bathory write-ups alone, but there are more and even stranger and deadlier vampires in these pages.
Play if you like: Supernatural or The Night Stalker

James Mishler is an old name if you been doing this for a while.
He has a personal blog and his game company blog.  He also has a really awesome vampire book that I won a few weeks back.

Vampires of the Olden Lands
The Olden Lands is James' in house campaign the Chronicles of Mhoriedh.  All the books in this series are dual stated with Labyrinth Lord and Castles & Crusades stats.  This appeals to me on a number of levels.  I like that he went through the effort to do this and the nice effect is that between these two sets of stats you can play this under any old school version of D&D you like.   There is also plenty in this book that work with any other game as well.
We start out with some common protections against vampires.  We follow with 8 very different sorts of vampires including living, dead and spirit.  All dual stated.  There is a new race to play, The Dhamphir.  I have seen a lot of "Dhampirs" over the years, but this one is one of the best so far just in terms of simplicity.
All in all a really nice take and these vampires are not like the Dracula-Lestat-Edward clones that can populate so many other games.

Fang & Fury: A Guidebook to Vampires
This is an older book for 3.0 (not 3.5) D&D but there is still a lot of great things here.  This is certainly written from the D&D-fantasy world vampire; so feeding off of dragons and the like, what happens to certain  classes.  There are feats, prestige classes, monsters and gods. There are plenty of spells, magic items, weapons and artifacts.  There is really a lot of good stuff here and if you have vampires in your game then you need this.  If you have any vampire big-bads in your game then this is also a great buy.  Some of the material needs to be updated to 3.5 or Pathfinder, but nothing that is a show stopper that I could see.

Out for Blood

If there was anything you ever wanted to know about vampires or those that hunt them then this is your book. In the 200+ pages there are 18 new prestige classes, new uses for skills, feats, and of course tons of vampires. There are a handful of new spells and campaign ideas for using or hunting vampires in your game.
What I liked best about this book though was the Fist of Light Prestige Class. It was exactly what I was looking for in one of my games and I was happy to see someone else had done all the work for me.
The layout is very clean and clear and easy enough to read onscreen. The art varies, but most it is rather good.

There are a lot more including all the Ravenloft stuff.

And an honorable mention, Buffy the Vampire Slayer Roleplaying Game.  Someone has to kill all those vamps. Or date them. Whatever.

EDITED TO ADD: Forgot my own Vampire Basic Class

Want to know about Vampires?  Check out all the other members of this blog hop!

MONSTROUS MONDAY: My Monster

How is your MONSTROUS MONDAY going so far?

Mine is GREAT!  I love seeing so many cool monsters.  I have not gotten to everyone, but I will.
In fact you can still sign up!  I am sure I am going to spend the next couple of days going to every site and reading what you all posted.  If I am going to run a blog hop and people are going to work to get posts up then you can expect that each and everyone will get my attention.

I wanted to talk about what sort of monsters I like.  I have spent this month posting all sorts of monster stats in preparation of this day.
- Wine Nymphs
- Ruslaka
- The Awakened Golem
- Witch Monsters

I also talk a lot about monsters here as can be seen from my posts tagged Monsters.  Now it is natural to assume that I would want to talk about Witches today. Though honestly I don't see witches as monsters.  Witches are witches.   No in truth my favorite monsters are Vampires.

I have talked more about vampires than pretty much any other monster, maybe even all monsters combined. The vampire is our dark mirror of our times.  He can be plague and pestilence, or smooth killer, or even ersatz super-hero.  While Edward my not look a thing like Dracula or Count Orlock, he does share more than one quality with the likes of Lord Ruthven or Lestat.

My favorite of course is Dracula.  He can be suave, sexy and cool and then in a flash be violent and bloody; a rampaging monster.  He is the best of what is great about vampire literature and film.
I have talked a lot about Dracula and the subject never gets old to me.  Back in the day I had this folder that I had written "Project Dracula" on.  It was one of my first attempts at multi-stating a character for more than one system.  Near the end of the 90s I had worked him out in dozens of systems.

I would later go on to do the same thing for the real life Countess Erzsébet Báthory.  If I have written more about Dracula, Bathory wins in terms of shear number of visits to my site.  She fascinated me and horrified me at the same time.  I could not imagine the scope of her crimes or even how she got away with it all.  I guess in the end she didn't and she got her everlasting youth afterall.

I also spent a lot of time discussing the cheesy horror movie Vampyres. I will not lie, I enjoy the hel lout of this movie.  What I like about it is how the vampire has evolved yet again here to be victim and villain.   Likewise I have felt the same about Carmilla.

Looking around this blog I seem to have stated up more vampires than I have witches.  Oddly enough I have not played all that many games of Vampire. Either the original Vampire the Masquerade or the newer Vampire the Requiem.

If vampires are thing and you also like old-school gaming then might I suggest my free book, The Vampire Class.  You can play a vampire character in Basic Era games and it is 100% free and 100% compatible with my new  book The Witch.

So what about you all?  Do you like vampires? Why or why not? Share your thoughts below!

For me they are the ultimate in Halloween monsters.

I is for the Imperial Age

The Imperial Age from Adamant Entertainment  (who also gave me last year's I for Icons) is a great collection of Victorian Age source books.  Designed to support D20 Modern, they can be used with just about any Victorian RPG.

They are "out of the box" compatible with OGL Gaslight for example and there is even a True20 source book that combines the materails of many of the books listed below.
I have been using them with Ghosts of Albion, mostly the background information and some of the game-specific material.  But I find that stylistically they tend to support games like Victoriana a little bit more.

I bought a lot of these books when they first came out, but "sat" on them while I was promoting Ghosts of Albion.  I didn't want to get distracted.
Now Ghosts is out there doing it's own thing so I can talk more about the Victorian games I really enjoy.

All the Imperial Age books are all well written and features art from the age, either public domain art and paintings as well as some original art.  In all cases the art is very evocative of the time and very well done.
The books are all easy to read, with clean layout and font sizes.  They can be printed with ease without killing your printer cartridge.

The GameMaster's Guidebook to Victorian Adventure (31 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/50046/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

A fantastic guide for running a Victorian Age game.  Plenty of background is given about societies, countries and people of the time.  Quick overviews of  Victorian thoughts on sex, the occult, and other countries  can add plenty of flavor to any game. As well as Alternate-versions of the Victorian setting such as Steam-Punk, Horror, Supers and Alt-Reality.
On the d20 specific side of things, a number of feats are given to be used (but can easily become backgrounds or qualities, depending on what your game needs) and even some advise on converting "Thrilling Tales" Advanced Classes over to Imperial Age.
The advice given is quite good, but the book almost pays for itself in terms of the near complete list of weapons (in d20 format) used.   There is a brief timeline and some references.
If you enjoy Victorian games like I do then this is a great product whether you play The Imperial Age, another d20 product or something else all-together.

Imperial Age Magick (36 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/23630/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

I love Victorian era games and I love games with magic in them.  So this book was a no brainer for me to pick up.  Using the vernacular "magick" this book present magick as seen through the eyes of the Victorian.  There are rules to magick and there is heavy reliance of the lieks of Dee and Crowley.  But that is what makes this book cool.
Magick is presented in three different styles; the common d20 magic, a skill based magick, and a school based magick where there are many different types of magick being used at the same time.  The GM needs to decide how magick works and what level of magick is the game; everything from High (D&D like) Magic to Low or No magic at all.
Plenty of background is given for the various types of magic and the authors really did their homework in terms of reading Dee, Levi and Crowley (among others).
d20-wise there are new feats and new uses for skills.  All easily adaptable.
There is a section on magickal gear which I would have liked to see more of to be honest.
The chapter on "Running a Magickal Campaign" bears special mention since it is above and beyong the Imperial Age normal game, but it also has plenty of ideas for all Victorian RPGS.
There are some very useful Appendices, including a Hermitic Scholar class (why it wasn't in the main text I am not sure).
This book is not the end-all be-all of magick in the Victorian age or games, but it is a solid resource full of great advice, ideas and tips.  My only gripe is there could have been so much more added.  But this is balanced with the cover price I guess.

The Imperial Age: Advanced Class - Alienist (12 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/27944/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

An Alienist is what we would call a psychiatrist today.  But in the terms of the Imperial Age game, he is a psionic parapyschologist.
The archetypical Alienist would be Dr. Seward from Dracula (sans psionic powers) or maybe even Hannibal Lector for an evil one.
This book also deals with the psychologically disturbed and how some of them can manifest wild psionic powers.  So not quite the crazy one sees in Cthulhu by Gaslight, but more so than Masque of the Red Death.
I give this book credit for coming up for something very original.  I think it is more closely tied the to campaign than say some other Advanced Classes like the Monster Hunter, but I can see this working quite well in say a Rippers game.

The Imperial Age: Advanced Class - Monster Hunter (6 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/23185/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

A new advanced class for bumping back the things that go bump in the night.  The monster hunter here is a combination of Van Helsing and Alan Quatermain.
There are some good ideas here, but nothing new or earth shaking.  The class itself is solid and something any d20 character would take a level or two in.
I would have liked to see some monster hunting societies, but I am not complaining for the price.

The Imperial Age: Advanced Class - Scientific Detective (7 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/20900/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

Playing Sherlock Holmes.
Having been re-reading a lot of Holmes lately I find this class spot-on.  If the Monster Hunter class is for fighting monsters, then this class is designed to stop crime.  The two work well together since they cover such different grounds.
There is a new feat and a repeated one from Monster Hunter (Gentry).
Again, great value for the price.

The Imperial Age: Advanced Class - Gentleman Scientist (13 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/58374/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

If the Scientific Detective book allows you make Holmes, and Monster Hunter make (a younger) Van Helsing, then this book allows you to make a Victorian fantasy Tesla.
If you are looking to turn The Imperial Age into a more Steam Punk style game, then you need to start with this book.
Plenty of new feats are included to allow your Victorian Weird Scientist to make their inventions.
Outside of the d20 realm this book is also a great guide for any sort of weird/super science for the Victorian Age.  While specifically that, it is a great start.

The Imperial Age: Anarchism (11 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/51417/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

A little history is helpful here.  Anarchism was a big deal to the Victorians.  Not just in terms of a political movement, but in terms of what it meant.  Society was everything to the Victorians, Anarchy was the opposite of that.
So first off, major kudos for the authors for recognizing this.  It is an edited and thumbnail version, but this is a game book, not a textbook.
While this book is about anarchism, it is also full of things those other misfits of society might need: namely the adventurer.
The book has plot hooks, points of view and what anarchism means in a game world.  So all of this (the first 3/4s of the book) can be used in any game.
The Anarchist Advanced class is pure d20. The new feats are a good, useful bunch that other character might want to take.

The Imperial Age: British India (67 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/51230/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

Most Victorian Age games give a paragraph or two about India, which is too bad really.  Victoria herself was known as the "Empress of India".
A good overview of the British involvement in India is given.  Again, this is not a textbook, but a game book.  There are plenty of places to get more detail, but I think what is here is a great start.
Since so much of the British involvement in India was political and military, overviews of the Government and Military, both in England and India is also given.
I like the authentic maps.
In an interesting addition, several Esoteric Societies are included. Obviously due to their ties with anything "Oriental".
A GM's section on running a campaign in India is presented covering Fantasy, Horror, Occult and Engine based game.
We don't get into any d20 specific information till about 46 pages into the book (almost 3/4ths through the book).
d20 specific info includes a section on creatures (wish there more, but this is good), weapons and feats.
The book ends with a set of reference books and films.
All in all I thought this was a great book for any Victorian-era game.  I would love to see more, but I think the book did what is set out to do.
What I can't get from this book I can get from here: http://books.google.com/books?id=-kAuAAAAYAAJ

The Imperial Age: Engines (67 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/50458/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

Rules and ideas to turn your Imperial Age game into a Steampunk or Gearpunk game.  This book goes beyond what is presented in Gentleman Scientist and presents a new campaign model.
More so than the other books in the Imperial Age line this one has more d20 information.  There is also less "history" than the other books.
Despite all of that, this is a good supplement to add all sorts of things to your game.  If you are a fan of Steampunk/Gearpunk and your current Victorian Game of choice does not support it, then this is a good choice.  If it does then this is a great source for more ideas.

The Imperial Age: Faeries (78 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/55203/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

The Victorians loved faeries.  Even the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle loved them a believed they were real.  This book help you do that for your game as well.
Plenty of faerie races are given along with their d20 stats for playing them as characters.  These will work well in any d20 game regardless of the time period.
A new mechanic is introduced, Traits, but familiar if anyone has played Unisystem or GURPS.  In fact it is because of this that makes this book more easily ported over to games like Ghosts of Albion or Victoriana.
Traits and Drawbacks can be bought to customize characters.
Rules for Fey-Touched characters are also given.
There are some monsters stated, mostly these are fey creature that would not work well as characters.  Plenty of new feats and an advanced classes.
Advice is given on the Faerie lands and how to run games that involve the fey.

This might be my favorite of the Imperial Age books just in terms of material to be used.  The organization of the material is kind of all over the place and the art is not quite a good as the other books, but that didn't matter to me since I was most interested in the words on the page.

The Imperial Age: Fantastical Races (70 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/59412/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

D&D style races in your Imperial Age game.
This book is a nice companion to Faeries in terms of expanding the fantastical elements of your game.  Also with a little bit of work they could also expand it more into horror.
In addition to the expected Dwarf, Elf and halfling, we also get Beastfolk (similar to the ones found in Victoriana and Gaslight), Celestial Blooded, Demon Blooded, Dragon Blooded, and Lizard Folk.
There are plenty of Paragon Classes for each race as well as feats.
Some campaign ideas are presented, but I feel some of them are getting farther and farther away from the Victorian norm.
Though it is a very fun book and has some great ideas.

The Imperial Age: Fisticuffs & Swordplay (25 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/55763/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

Fightclub for Imperial Age.
Information on Fisticuffs, Bartitsu, and swordplay.  Plenty of background and history and bunch of new feats.
Very useful in a game where guns might be rare.

The Imperial Age: Grimoire (75 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/54275/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

This book picks up where Imperial Age Magick left off.
The Imperial Age: Grimoire covers grimoires, or magickal texts.
Included is information on how to find these books, how to read and use them and what must be done to unlock their secrets.
There are some sample grimoires detailed, with their spells and some secret societies.  A lot of information is included here and could easily be adapted to any game.  I am thinking of Cthulhu by Gaslight in particular.
Some new and many old OGC spells are also included.  They are all by design d20, but can be converted.  This makes up a lot of the book, but it is needed.

All in all a great book.

The Imperial Age: Hell Hath No Fury (35 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/54789/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

Hell Hath No Fury is a "Penny Dreadful", an adventure for the Imperial Age Game.  Designed for newer characters (2 to 4 1st level).
The author takes care to let you know that while the Imperial Age can cover a variety of Victorian game types, he had to make some assumptions to have a pre-written adventure work out, so this one is described as Occult Steam.  I like that.
The adventure is presented in Three Acts and moves at a brisk pace.
The mystery reads like a "Penny Dreadful" and has the feel and atmosphere of a Victorian mystery.   I don't want to spoil things, but this is a fun adventure for the first time players.

The Imperial Age: London (82 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/51552/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

A history and overview of the greatest city of the British Empire.  What I liked were the inclusion of the real maps from the time, but improved over how they were presented in the India book.
There is even a brief description of some of the neighborhoods, Gentlemen's Clubs and important sites.  Background on the Peelers is also included.
The book is an overview and doesn't go into great detail in any subject.  Though it is not supposed to be a textbook or a history book, a little more would have been nice.
All in all though it is a fine book.  Perfect for any Victorian game since the d20 content is minimal.


The Imperial Age: Spiritualism (17 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/25602/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

Spiritualism was a big part of the late Victorian age.  Not simply Occult, Spiritualism dealt specifically with the communication with those beyond death.
The first part of this book details this well.  The second part discusses how all of this plays out in the Imperial Age game, including the different sorts of campaign modes one might choose.
We are also given a new Advanced Class, the Medium and plenty of new feats, magic.
Again, most of this book is "system free" so it can be used in any game.  The d20 specific stuff is still quite useful.


The Imperial Age: The Price of Immortality (34 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/58698/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

Another Penny Dreadful for The Imperial Age.
This one takes advantage of the material found in the London book, so having that on hand is helpful.
It is obvious that the author(s) have learned more about adventure design since "Hell Hath No Fury" since this is a more complex plot and a more detailed adventure (despite being the same size).
A very entertaining adventure that plays to "The Imperial Age's" strengths well.

The Imperial Age: Victorian Monstrosities (89 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/50829/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

A monster book with more.  Many of the most frightening creatures we know today have their roots in Victorian literature and history.  Dracula, Carmilla, Jack the Ripper, Half-human mutants, cults.  All can be found in the pages of Victorian origin.
More than just a monster book (though it is that as well), this presents some "history" behind the monster.  I am reminded of some the more detailed Monster Hunter guides I have seen for other games.
There is so much here that it is difficult to quantify it all.  But there is a lot and a lot of it is very, very good.
The stats are all d20, but the backgrounds work for any game.

The Imperial Age: Victorian Occupations (16 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/56646/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

This book has the distinction of being the first Imperial Age book I bought.
These are optional, alternate occupations for d20 Modern characters.  Though the background works for any game.
Not a lot of detailed material, but a lot of material all the same.
If you need a list of professions then this a good place to go.

The Imperial Age: True20 Edition (271 pages with cover and OGL page)
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/63405/Portal-Jumper?affiliate_id=10748

True 20 is a perfect solution for all sorts of Modern d20 based games for me and Imperial Age shows why. The rules are adapted from the Imperial Age supplements for d20, so a lot here has been seen before, but all of it looks new through the lens of True 20.

All the Imperial Age products ooze style and this one is no different. There may be better Victorian Age games out there, but one can't deny that this is a great product and a welcome addition to any Victorian gaming library.

Dracula: Spellcraft & Swordplay

I think it would be awesome to run a total old school dungeon crawl in Castle Dracula.  Not Castle Ravenloft, with it's puzzles and puns.  Castle Dracula.  It would be a blast.
And what better system to do it with than Spellcaft and Swordplay?

Anytime I stat up a character for S&S I have to ask myself the question, could this guy go toe to toe with Conan?  Sort of like what I did with Red Sonja.

Vlad Dracula
Warrior Vampire Lord

AL: E
SZ: M
AC: 4
Move: 90'
HD: 15 (54 hp)
Attacks: 2 claws (short sword), 1 bite OR 1 weapon as a 15th level warrior (8 + 6)
Special: Fly 40', Climb 40', Blood Drain, Animal Empathy (Improved; Rats, bats, wolves), Dominate, Spawn (Blood or Energy drain), Energy Drain (bite), Alternate Form (bat, wolf, incorporeal gas, improved), Resist electricity, Immune mundane weapons, Vulnerable sun, fire, holy water (treat as 2d6 acid), +2 to all Con based saves.
Treasure: 9
XP: 2400
S: 24 D: 18 C: 18 I: 15 W: 15 Ch: 17

This incarnation of Dracula is the Transylvanian warlord with vampire powers to make him far more brutal than he ever was in life.  He will be surrounded by an army completely loyal to him, though only human, not vampire.

As per the Vampire, Dracula is immune to sleep, charm and hold spells. He may summon 10-100 rats (5-20 giant rats), 10-100 bats (3-18 giant bats) or 3-18 wolves (2-8 dire wolves). Dracula may shapechange into a large bat or wolf, but his hit points remain unchanged. Dracula may also regenerate 5 hit points per round as long as he has fed.

Dracula: Lord of the Vampires, Threat Report

Mutants & Masterminds Threat Report #43: Dracula

I really like these M&M Threat Reports.  They are a quick and easy way to add a villain to your game in a second.
What I like about these is they remind me so much of the old Chill supplements and the Con X ones.  Not that I Am saying they are copies, far from it! But rather all three games went to the same well and each came back with something a little different, and each one was very cool for their own game.

So of course I had to get this one on my favorite villain of all time, Dracula.

The vampire lord is presented with stats for M&M3, as well as some plot hooks for adding him to your game.  Included is his "classical" history and personality profile.  His powers are also discussed, which is nice since the new M&M3 book does not have a Vampire Lord like the old 2nd ed book did.

My only complaint about this one.  Dracula in the books was immune to the effects of sunlight.  He should be unique in this regard.

I would have given him the complication Powerless during the day.  It would have added some nice flavor AND been a big surprise to the players. I have used Dracula in every game I have played and the look on player's faces when he walks out into the sunlight and then grabs them by throat is PRICELESS.

I like the Plot Hooks and the "Power in the Blood" is a great idea.  You could use it with Dracula or even some new vampire upstart.

Since M&M3 is the same system as DC Adventures then this is also perfect for that.

Also they should edit the boiler-plate credits and licensee page for this one. Dracula can't be Product Identity.  His history in the M&M universe is, but his "real world" history can't be.

But all in all a great product.

You can see my M&M 2nd Ed version here: http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/05/dracula-mutants-masterminds.html

October Challenge: Dracula's Curse (2002)

Last year I did a big run of Dracula movies, but obviously I missed a few.

Dracula's Curse (2002)

This one was an Italian TV movie.
The story is fairly close to the book with some odd bits.  It takes place in modern times in Budapest.  All the characters are there, but some of the nationalities are switched around, but everyone is recognizable.
The is an odd bit where we see young Dracula before old Dracula and then young Dracula again. Other than that it is again really close to the book.
So close in fact that it makes it difficult judge this one.  The trouble with this one it is a bit boring.  You don't get the same dynamic between Lucy and Mina or even what makes Mina so important to the Dracula story.  In truth too the horror is missing to make this really one of the most, uhm..., anemic Dracula's I have ever seen.  They lost all of the depth and essence of what made Dracula, the book, so special.  Mina and Lucy were both very shallow and lacked anything that made them special.
I did like the Renfield character, interesting twist.
The actors were fine and the actor for Dracula looks like what you would expect from the description in the book and he is not a bad actor either.
The ending is different than the book.

Tally 21 movies, 19 new.

Juxtaposition Blogathon: Mina Harker

For my participation in the Juxtaposition Blogathon at Pussy Goes GRRR I though I would take a look at the various Dracula movies over the years.  But since I had gone over them in detail last year, I figure I'll focus on the heroine of our tale, Mina Murray Harker.

Now to be clear, so we are talking about the same character.  Mina is the character in the novel Dracula that married Johnathon Harker and is bit by Dracula, but does not die.

In many ways Mina is prototypical "Last Girl" of horror films, she could even be considered the first.  While she is still wrapped int he tropes of the female needing saving of the Gothic horror tradition, her growth in Dracula sets her apart.  Mina in the novel is a modern woman.  In the films...well let's have a look.

Nosferatu (1922)
We meet screen-Mina for the first time here, but her name is Ellen.  Mina/Ellen is very much the victim here.  In fact despite having just seen this movie the only scene I can recall with her in it is when Orlock (Dracula) is feeding on her bedroom.   She does hold the old vampire in the sunlight and kills him, but she dies herself.
Now Nosferatu had to deviate quite a bit from the source material in order to get made (and even that was iffy), but Lucy went from a integral part of the story to the roll of the victim, and purely the victim here.

Dracula (1931)
This is famous Bela Lugosi version and this movie is full of Hollywood glam.  Mina and Lucy (Lucy is now brought into picture) are depicted in their Hollywood finest.  Not too bad for a secretary and her idle rich friend.  Again, as with Ellen above, Mina is more victim here.  While this movie is closer to the stage play than the novel we do get to see some of Mina's character.  Now another change here is Mina is the daughter of Dr. Seward, a bit of an odd choice, but one that comes up again (and again, due to the stage play).   As in the book it is Mina that gives our would be vampire hunters the insight they need.  Also interestingly enough this is the genesis of the "Mina loves Dracula" sub-plot that we get in later movies, but is absent in the book entirely.  In the end we end up with Mina back with Johnathon and Lucy dead.

Dracula (1958)
The first of the Christopher Lee/Peter Cushing Dracula films for Hammer.  The roll of Mina/Lucy and the other women is reduced even more than the 1931 outing. The focus here is the Dracula/Van Helsing relationship.   This time Harker is engaged to "Lucy" and Holmwood is married to Mina.  Lucy is killed and Mina is now the focus of the count's obsessions. Again, Mina here is a victim, but she is a "preferred victim" now.  We see the attachment of Mina to Dracula that was hinted in the Lugosi version and made more manifest here.  Dracula is not just a predator, he is after our wives!  Mina displays some of the cool intelligence we see in the book, but this character is not really the same woman.

Dracula (1979)
The famous John Badham film with Frank Langella oozed atmosphere and sensuality.  Here "Lucy" is a wholly modern woman.  She has her own opinions on things and is at the heart closer to Mina in the books than the other portrayals.     Here is the fiancee of Harker, but is also the daughter of Dr. Seward.   "Mina" plays the Lucy role and is Van Helsing's daughter.  Odd changes, but again these are due to the stage play (which gave both Lugosi and Langella their careers.)
Lucy in this movie is viewed as Dracula's equal, or at least a partner he would elevate above the others.  Again there is the "love story" between the two that did not exist in the book.
Lucy is less of a victim here in the sense of the victim's role.  She at times is a co-conspirator of Dracula and even in the end when all seems well, Johnathon turns away from her and she watches Dracula's cloak like she expects him to come back to her.

Dracula (1992)
The last on screen outing of Dracula and Mina is movie that was supposed to be the best adaptation of the book.  In many ways FFC's "Bram Stoker's Dracula" does get it right.  Mina is strong, courageous and a modern woman.  This contrasted with the "weaker" Lucy who is still very much part of the past.   This is the closest to the Novel Mina we have gotten.  And yet we still get the "Love Never Dies" story line inserted.   Mina is Dracula's equal here and this is shown in the movie with her delivering the killing blow (as opposed to Johnathon and Holmwwod doing it in the book). In this Mina is less the victim and even less the co-conspirator of Dracula, though she does sometimes forget herself.

In both the 1958 version and this one Mina is burned on the forehead with a holy item.  The ways in which these scenes play out I think is telling in how the director of each movie viewed Mina.  The 58 Hammer film the burn is nearly gratuitous.  A big burned on cross on the actress' face.  In the 92 FFC movie the burn is a partial circle from the host, it looks like a bad blister is all.  In both scenes we get the same message, Mina has been tainted by Dracula's evil, but in one she is disfigured and the other simply marked.

Growth
Mina is a reflection of the Modern Woman in the novel while Lucy is more the reflection of the Woman of the Past.  Mina is the one that finds everything and uses the latest technologies (typewriter and even Seward's phonograph).  I find it interesting that Mina in the novel is more forward thinking and modern than the movies that came after the fact. In fact it would be another 100 years till we ended up with a Mina, in the form of Winona Ryder, that came close to the book.  Sure Kate Nelligan is great and very modern, but she comes up a little short.  Or rather, the director and script do not allow her character to reach it's fullest potential.

Last Girl
Does Mina qualify as the "Last Girl". Yes. In book she is the prototype of the Last Girl, she confronts the evil and lives to tell the tale.  In fact it is Mina that discovers all the connections in the various tales of the other characters.  In the movies, well she survives, most of the times, but she also confronts the evil of Dracula.

Want to read more movie Juxtapostions?  Head on over to Pussy Goes GRRR!

Happy Birthday Christopher Lee

Happy 89th Birthday to Christopher Lee.

I hope I am half as awesome as you are when I am 89.

D&D4 Halloween Previews

Wizards has some previews up for some new Essentials products that have a distinct Halloween flair.

First, the classic Universal monsters, Frankenstein's Monster (Flesh Golem), Dracula (Master Vampire) and the Wolf-man (infected lycanthrope).
http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20101029b

And the new Warlocks, Hexblades are up.  Looks like they might be beefing up their combat a bit.
http://www.wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20101029#71432
People are already talking about them a lot too.
Points of Light, http://daegames.blogspot.com/2010/10/meet-hexblade.html and
RPG.Net, http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=544671
Can't wait to see the full writeup on these since Warlocks are my favorite 4e Class.

Happy Halloween.

October Movie Reviews: Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires

Back to Hammer for this one in the LAST true Dracula films from the House of Hammer.

Though there is not a lot of Dracula in it and no Christopher Lee.

Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (1974)

Dracula is visited by a Chinese monk who needs him to resurrect the Seven Golden Vampires, the most powerful vampires in China.  Dracula initially refuses, but decides he needs to get out of his castle for a bit. We learn here that Dracula can speak Chinese/Mandarin or at least understand it.  This scene featured Dracula rising from his coffin in one motion that we would later see in "Fright Night" and "Bram Stoker's Dracula".   Dracula takes over the body of the monk and heads off to China.

There Prof. Lawrence Van Helsing (unknown if it is the same Lawrence Van Helsing from Dracula AD 1972, but it is safe to assume it is) is lecturing to a Chinese university about vampires.  His son, Leyland is also there.  The other professors scoff at him, but one student takes him seriously.  He is the grandson of the man that killed one of the seven Golden Vampires and want's Van Helsing's help to kill the others.  They travel along with his son, another woman paying for everything, and the seven siblings (6 brothers and 1 sister).  Of course the Chinese siblings are all Kung-Fu masters.

There are lots of kung-fu fights which is as unexpected as it gets in a Hammer film and then there is the final confrontation with the last of the Golden Vampires and Dracula himself.

All in all a very interesting tale.  I like how even Van Helsing was stumped on the differences between West and East vampires.  He even postulates, given China's rich history of the supernatural, that the vampire my have originated there and moved west.
This is a period piece to be sure.  Not the 1804 period from the movies, but rather the mid 70's.  Kung-fu was where the money was.
It was not a great movie, and for the last Dracula film, pretty lacking in the Dracula department.  It features John Forbes-Robertson as Dracula looking exactly like he did in Hammer's "Vampire Lovers" (where he was supposed to be Dracula, sort of), but he is only seen at the beginning and end and he dies like punk.

Enjoyable as a Kung-fu movie with Vampires, but lacking as a Hammer film or a Dracula one.

October Movie Reviews: Count Dracula (1977)

For my October Reviews I am back on Dracula.

Count Dracula (1977, BBC)

I am half-tempted to count this one as two movies.  It does come in two-parts and it was rather long.

Ok let's start with the good.
This is closer to the book than any other movie so far.
There are some differences though.  Minor are Lucy and Mina are sisters here.  Arthur Holmwood and Quincy Morris have been combined to a single character, Quincy Holmwood, but he is still American.  An aside, I love it when English actors do American accents.  Quincy is so stereotypically Texan that it comes off more endearing than comedic or even bad.  The actor is very earnest about his role.

Louis Jourdan is a fantastic Dracula.
Susan Penhaligon as Lucy does remind me quite a bit of Sadie Frost, who played Lucy in the 1992 movie.  One gets the feeling that Francis Ford Coppola watched this movie to get ideas.

Judi Bowker (who would later earn her geek cred playing Andromeda in the original Clash of the Titans) plays a wonderful Mina here.  She has the sweet innocence that one needs in Mina in the early part of the tale.  She was the best Lucy up that time and rivals that of Kate Nelligan in the Hollywood film of 1979.

The bad. Though it is not really that bad.

The effects are Doctor Who-in-the-70's quality, but this should not be a surprise given it was in the 70s on BBC.  Missing Holmwood is not that big of an issue.  When you are doing this on stage fewer actors are better, but as we would later see in the FFC Dracula (1992) that it can be done.


It suffers from some of the same issues as the book.  Long and drawn out in places.

All in all a great movie, tribute to the BBC.  I am glad I finally got a chance to watch it.

Dracula: Ghosts of Albion

Something I have always wanted to do is bring Dracula into Ghosts of Albion.  I could imagine a plot similar to Dracula's Guest, only with the Cast.  The cast come to castle Dracula and meet up with the Count, in his old form from the the beginning of the book.  I'd like some sort of mystery.  Maybe a murder, but the Count wants to find out who did it just as much as the Cast.  I'd like to pit the Count against the cast, but not in a physical or combative way; I need him "alive" at the end of the tale.
I'd use the maps from Castle Ravenloft, since they are supposed to be like Dracula's castle anyway.

But the issue is, and has been, I can't quite come up with something interesting enough for the Cast to do with Dracula.  I figure if I am pulling out the big gun here, it needs to be nothing short of awesome.

If I come up with something you all will be the firsts to know.

Count Dracula of Transylvania

Name: Count Dracula
Motivation: To leave Transylvania and see new lands
Creature Type: Vampire, Protector

Attributes: Strength 9, Dexterity 6, Constitution 7, Intelligence 5, Perception 5, Willpower 7
Life Points: 98
Drama Points: 10

Qualities
Acute Senses
Age 4
Animal Communication (limited to bats, rats and wolves)
Charisma
Cloak of Beasts (bat, rat, and wolf)
Control Weather
Hard to Kill 8
Hypnosis 3
Nerves of Steel 2
Magic 4
Mesmerize
Protector of Transylvania
Resources 7
Scale Walls
Soldier, Officer (Retired)
Status, Noble
Sunlight Immunity (limited, unable to change form or use his magical powers except at noon)
Vampire

Drawbacks
Adversary (monster hunters, rival vampires, some gypsies, people with the last name Van Helsing) 8
Anti-Social Impulses (violent)
Archaic 1
Attractive -1  (remember, this is Old Dracula with the bad breath, very thin, hairy palms, and long mustache)
Covetous (Lechery, 2)
Cruel 3 (deranged)
Home Soil
Honorable 1
Love, Tragic (sure, why not.  He believes so at least)
Natural Barrier (running water)
Obsession (leaving Transylvania) 2
Obsession (find a bride) 1
Secret 3 (many)

Skills
Armed Mayhem 7
Art 2
Athletics 6
Crime 5
Doctor 1
Drive/Ride 5 (Coaches)
Engineering 2
Fisticuffs 6
Influence 5
Knowledge 8 (he has done nothing for the last few centuries but read)
Languages 9 (he speaks many languages including English with no noticeable accent)
Marksmanship 3
Notice 10
Occultism 9
Science 4

Combat Maneuvers
Name Score Damage
Punch 12 18 Bash
Break neck 16 36 Special
Sword 13 36 Slash/stab

Bite (vampire)14 22 Must Grapple first; no defense action
Dodge 13 -- Defense action
Grapple 15 -- Resisted by Dodge

Bat 20 -- +8 to hiding
Bite (bat) 14 8 Slash/stab

Wolf 20 -- Double movement; +3 to Crime at night
Bite (wolf) 14 15 Slash/stab
Claws (wolf) 14 15 Slash/stab

Magic 20 Varies By spell
Deflect 20 90° spell deflection (Innate Magic)
Hold 19 Holds spell in place for SL rounds
Dispel 17 Cancels Spell
Volley 14 Returns spell to originator

This is Dracula in 1839. He has not left Transylvania in years and is now planning his moving to England. Of course there are the Protectors of Albion yet to deal with.

Think the old man that greats Harker in the beginning of the book; Old, not very attractive, but charismatic. Here is also the Protector of Transylvania. Though you might want to rule that in your games he looses the benefit of those powers when he leaves his lands.

October Movie Reviews: Dracula 1992

For my October Reviews I am continuing my Dracula reviews.

Dracula (1992)
Also know as "Bram Stoker's Dracula".
Depending on your point of view this is either the best cinematic Dracula, or the worst. But before that lets take the movie at face value.

What I like the most of about this one is it is beyond a doubt one of the better cinematic adaptations of Stoker's book.  All the characters are here, including the oft missed Quincey Morris and Arthur Holmwood.  There are tons of little details that I love.  Dracula's shadow in the early scenes at Castle Dracula are great and invoke the classic Nosferatu.  The newspapers, Draucla's map of London, even a sandwich board advertising the Lyceum Theater are nice touches.  The sets are masterful, this may be the best Castle Dracula since Lugosi.  Of course watch for Dracula's shadow in his castle.  Nosferatu anyone?  The three brides, always hinted at, are revealed in their full gory glory here.  This might also be one of the first film roles for Monica Bellucci. The use of real Romanian is a nice treat, even if it isn't perfect (it's modern Romanian through out, even when medieval Romanian should have been used).

Though the movie is not without some serious problems.  The whole Mina and Dracula love affair thing is just another example of the Dracula/Vampire fetish. And don't get me started on the whole absinthe scene.  As much as I like Wynnona Ryder I felt her Mina was very flat.  Yes, and there is Keeanu Reeves as Harker, but I like Reeves and didn't mind this, though I kept thinking he was going to say "No way Van Helsing!" ala Ted.  Sadie Frost was a bit overtly sexual as Lucy, but I preferred her performance over that of Jan Francis' portrayal of the similar character in the 1979 film.

We have a little joke among my friends, if you can't figure out an actor to play a roll, get Gary Oldman, he can do anything.  He is convincing as Dracula, both old and young, the suave seducer and terrible monster.  But sometimes here he is a bit over the top.

This movie, more so than even the Jack Palance one, makes the connection between Dracula, the vampire, and Dracula aka Vlad the Impaler more explicit.  It also bridges that important gap of how one man became the monster.  At the time of the movie I liked that, but after just re-watching I am less convinced.  Oh it still is a good bit of storytelling, but it is another factor of the whole Dracula loves Mina sub-plot that gets on my nerves.

In terms of the other characters, well they are all there. Arthur Holmwood, Quincy Morris, Dr. Seward are all great in their respective points in the story played very well by Cary Elwes, Bill Campbell and Richard E. Grant respectively.  Anthony Hopkins plays a much crazier Van Helsing than those before him.  Taking that "we are all God's madmen" line a little too literal I think. Hopkins is great of course, he is Sir-Anthony-fucking-Hopkins after all, but some things about his portrayal bugged me.  The whole "the foe I have been searching for all my life" thing bugged me too.  Was this a metaphorical foe as in "all evil" or "Dracula" in particular?  I got the impression that they meant Dracula himself.

I do have this copy of the script that is full of production notes, stills from the movie, images from the various Dracula publications over the years and Victorian era photos/pictures.   It is sitting in-between my copy of Ghosts of Albion and Victoriana on my "Horror RPG" shelf.

The next full outing of Dracula will have to do better than this one in order to be remembered. And we are about due for one.