Moview Reviews

Hey.

I know I am late on the Movie Reviews.
Count Dracula (1977) is longer than I thought, and slow.
Plus there is something up with my Satanic Rites of Dracula disk, I have now tried to watch it three times on three different DVD players and it keeps crapping out on me.
Just watched Daughters of Satan, awful movie, but too beat to say anything more than that right now.

Superheroes

I am planning on doing a series of posts next on Superhero RPGs, focusing on some new ones I have picked up with some retrospective of some older ones.

I have spoken at length about Mutants & Masterminds, my "go to" Supers game, but I have also talked a bit out Silver Age Sentinels and Smallville.   Games I want to cover are the DC Adventures, Icons, BASH and Villains & Vigilantes 2.1.

Obviously one of the things I like to look in any system are the magic rules.  I like to think that Supers and Horror games are reflections of each other.  They share a lot of the same tropes and even plot designs.  Supers are obviously the "light" world and Horror is the darker reflection.  The core philosophies are are also very different.  I think two quotes sum this up perfectly by two of the "kings" of their respective genres.

"We believe in heroes because, ultimately. we believe in ourselves." -Jack "King" Kirby
"We make up horrors to help us cope with the real ones." - Stephen King

Horror helps us deal with how the world is.  Superheroes help us by showing us what the world could be.

Of course I see this link since I was re-introduced to horror from comics.  "The Tomb of Dracula" took me from Marvel (which took me from DC) into the world of Horror, Occult and all sorts of things that go bump in the night.  It should also be no surprise that my favorite parts of AD&D were the horror-themed elements; the gothic tradition and the weird horror of Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith.  Supers comics even got into the game, alot, and not just Dracula. Read a copy of Dr. Strange, or anything with John Constantine in it; monsters abound.  Twilight is less about vampires than it is about super-powered humans.  So yeah there is a lot crossover.

So as I review these games this is something I want to keep in mind.

Cortex: The Hex Girls

Given yesterday's post, this seemed like the logical choice really.

So I am working out some ideas for a Third Season of the Hex Girls.  No ideas yet, but I thought I would try them out in Cortex after already stating them up in Unisystem, Witch Girls Adventures and Cartoon Action Hour 2.

Still sticking with the same idea here; this is Scooby-Doo in reverse.  The Hex Girls tour all over performing gigs and fighting various supernatural threats.  The monsters are real, but most everyone thinks they are people in masks or special effects and the like.

For a change of pace I used the "Mystic Arts" magic system found in Demon Hunters.  Demon Hunters has a lot in common with Scooby-Doo and would make for a more Scooby-Doo like game than say Supernatural would.  For Willow and Tara I used the magic system out of the Core book.

Thorn

AKA Sally McKnight
Agility: d6
Strength: d6
Vitality: d6
Alertness: d8
Intelligence: d6
Willpower: d10

Life Points: 16
Initiative: d8 + d8
Endurance: d6 + d10
Resistance: d6 + d6
Move: 15
Innate Def: d6
Dodge: d6

Traits
Allure d4
Initiate of the Mystic Arts d2
Talented d6 (Guitar, Singing)

Complications
Idealist d4
Superstitious d2
Insatiable Curiosity d6

Skills
Artistry d6
- Poetry d8
- Writing d10
Craft d6
Discipline d4
Influence d4
Knowledge d6
- Folklore d8
- Occult d10
Performance d6
- Guitar d12 + d6 (Talent)
- Singing d10 + d6 (Talent)
- Stage Magic d8
Tech d2

Mystic Arts: Witchcraft d6
- Alteration d8
- Defensive d8
- Detection d8
- Offensive d8

Not completely different than previous stats, but a good reflection of her say Post Season 1.

Luna

AKA Kim Moss
Agility: d6
Strength: d6
Vitality: d6
Alertness: d8
Intelligence: d8
Willpower: d8

Life Points: 14
Initiative: d8 + d6
Endurance: d6 + d8
Resistance: d6 + d6
Move: 15
Innate Def: d6
Dodge: d6

Traits
Allure d4
Initiate of the Mystic Arts d2
Talented d6 (Keyboards, Bass)

Complications
Idealist d2
Glory Hound d2 (wants the Hex Girls to be a number 1 rock band)
Duty, to the Band d6  (Luna lives for the band)

Skills
Artistry d6
- Poetry d10
- Writing d12
Craft d4
Discipline d6
Influence d4
Knowledge d6
- Music Business d8
- Occult d8
Performance d6
- Bass d10 + d6 (Talent)
- Guitar d10
- Keyboards d10 + d6 (Talent)
Tech d2

Mystic Arts: Witchcraft d6
- Alteration d8
- Defensive d8
- Detection d8

This Luna is still more focused on the band and what they can do with it rather than the mystical powers they all have.  Why does her skin appear darker here than in previous posts?  Easy, she has stopped wearing the "vampire" make-up.  It also looks like they have all dropped the fake fangs her father made.

Dusk

AKA Muffy St. James
Agility: d8
Strength: d6
Vitality: d8
Alertness: d8
Intelligence: d6
Willpower: d6

Life Points: 14
Initiative: d8 + d8
Endurance: d6 + d8
Resistance: d8 + d8
Move: 15
Innate Def: d8
Dodge: d8 + d6

Traits
Allure d2
Initiate of the Mystic Arts d2
Talented d2 (Drums, Guitar)
Wealthy d2

Complications
Crude d4
Glory hound d2
Rebellious d6

Skills
Artistry d6
- Writing d8
Athletics d6
Covert d4
Influence d2
Knowledge d6
- Occult d8
Performance d6
- Drums d10 + d2 (Talent)
- Guitar d10 + d2 (Talent)
- Singing d8
- Survival d2
- Tech d4

Mystic Arts: Witchcraft d6
- Alteration d8
- Defensive d8
- Obscuring d8
- Offensive d10

This Dusk looks older.  I would say here she is more mature now, less of the party girl (although she still has it in her) and has finally come to terms with her rich, yuppie parents.  Her magic is more attack focused that Luna's.

"Crush"

Better known to you and I as Daphne Blake in a Goth Cheerleader outfit. (That phrase will increase my hits for this post by at least 20%!) In the episode "In Fear of the Phantom" she became a Hex Girl so she could draw out the Phantom, but in the process wrote a song about how she feels about Fred.

This magic system is more skill based, so in some respects it shares that with the WitchCraft RPG.  I think it would work fine for a Hex Girls like game, but not for say a Charmed RPG. Might need to look a bit deeper.