V is for Vampires vs. Demons

Instead of doing stats today (sorry Vepar!) I thought I'd discuss some of the issues with research.

When doing research for this blogfest and for my game books in general the first thing you notice is that the myths of the world do not organize themselves in nice logical units.

This could not be more pronounced when trying to figure out what the difference is sometimes between a Vampire and a Demon.

Game books and novels that feature both often make pretty clear lines.  This is a vampire and they do X, Y and Z.  This is a demon and they do A, B, and C and sometimes D.  But go to the myths of the world and then you find creatures that do X, A, B and D but never C, Y or Z.

When getting ready for this I was also researching various vampires.  This was almost an A to Z of Vampires (maybe next year).  what some cultures call a vampire another call a ghost and another a witch and another a demon.  Sometimes with the same names.  A lot of creatures from China, Japan and the Philippines are like this.

The Succubus and most of what I call the Lilim are a great examples.  While they are classified as demons they have a lot of vampire like qualities.  In some games a "Succubus" is even just another type of Vampire (World of Darkness and WitchCraft).  Yet in others a Vampire is a type of demon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).

Even is games where the distinctions are really, really clear there can still be a lot of overlap.
The succubus is one good example, but so are the Nabassu. Nabassu, also known as Death-Stealers, are described as demons that are close to undead.  They even look like the true form of the vampires from Lifeforce and the Red Court Vampires from the Dresden Files.

Looking at them it is hard to tell which one is the vampire and which one is the demon.

So the issue for writers putting mythological creatures in their books (novels, stories, games) and that is what sort of creature is this?

Have a look at the Mayan god Camazotz.  His name is roughly translated as "Death Bat".  In a book he could be a god, a demon or a very powerful vampire.  Lilith is another great example. Is she a demon, witch, vampire or just a human.  Of even the Baohban Sith, is she a faerie or a vampire.

Of course the one other option is "All the Above".  Creatures that blur the lines a little are nice to have.


EDITED TO ADD:  Other vampires from today
http://coffintreehill.tumblr.com/
http://r-moran.blogspot.com/2013/04/v-is-for-vampire.html
http://noreecosper.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-z-blog-hop-vampires.html

White Dwarf Wednesday #62

February 1985 brings us Whited Dwarf #62. While most of my White Dwarfs from here on I picked up many years after the fact, this one was part of my early collection.  It might even have been the last one I bought new. Once again we have an awesome Chris Achilleos cover.  I wonder if they bought these in bulk or something. The monster is some sort of goblinoid, demon or yeti. Either way that dude looks like he is about to become Yeti-chow.

Ian Livingstone mentions he is going to Dallas for the Hobby Industry of America's annual show (and even gets off a even-tired-for-1985 joke about J.R.). There is quite a bit of chatter on the white metal miniatures production.

Up first is an article I really enjoyed back in the day.  A Place of Damp and Darkness dealt with the levels under a city.  Given that it was 1985 and my love of all things British I always thought of London.  In my mind "D&D London" was a weird combination of London of 1066, Elizabethan and Victorian London as cobbled together from various sources as Doctor Who and Hammer films.  Not a pretty place, or even a real place, but a fun one.  Goblins lived in the sewers, something that you will see in my adventures to this very day.

Open Box gets Super-sized. hehe. Not is size, but two new Super Hero games.  Golden Heroes by Games Workshop and Marvel Super Heroes from TSR.    I have only heard of Golden Heroes, never played it.  Marcus Rowland loved it and gave it a 10/10 (even though he gave it a 7/10 for Complexity).  He comes back with MSH and introduces the reader to FASERIP and the differences between Feeble and Unearthly.  He gives it a 8/10 but for the life of me I have no idea why OTHER than he doesn't like seem "tm" all over the page. At this point in my life I was moving away from DC and into Marvel, so this was an awesome time for me. I recall how much we had taking our current D&D characters and restating them up as Marvel Characters.

RuneRites in next with some great spells for RuneQuest.   All have a nice Celtic feel to them.

The Dark Usurper is up, Part 2 of the Fighting Fantasy Solo Adventure.

Gary Draabwell gives us En Garde, Parrying rules for AD&D.  My then DM latched on these and never let go.  I don't think a single sword hit I had ever landed after this article.

Ok this one is an odd duck.
An Alien Werewolf in London is a Traveller Adventure set in 1888 London. A Vargr has time-crash-landed in London and you need to go in a get him. It's a very straight forward adventure.  Frankly it would work FANTASTIC for Cubicle 7's Doctor Who game and I even ran it once under Ghosts of Albion..

Eye of Newt and Wing of Bat is up for part 4. This time Swords and other weapons.  The section on "bane swords" was very helpful when we focused on making "Demonbane" a unique holy avenger  for my then AD&D game.

Fiend Factory has some relatives of the Dryad, the O Caber. They seem interesting enough.'

Treasure Chest covers hermits and hags.  In this case they are ways to customize forest encounters with the strange old man/woman of the forest.

Crawling Chaos is a new bi-monthly Call of Cthulhu feature.  This time they cover two new monsters the Bokrug and their servants the Thuun'ha.  I like the idea of new monsters in CoC, but in truth players

Tabletop Heroes covers painting faces. Crash Course has some more Car Wars has a bunch of smaller ideas and articles.

We end with ads.

Ok so a lot for me personally in this issue.  A lot of material that I made use of over the years or later adapted to something else.  Let this be a lesson to you. Don't throw out your old magazines!

U is for Umu, Uttuku

Here are some I worked up for Ghosts of Albion.

Umu Demons (Ghosts of Albion)
Motivation: Guard dogs
Critter Type: Demon (Guardian)
Attributes: Strength 4, Dexterity 5, Constitution 4, Intelligence 3,Perception 7, Willpower 4
Ability Scores: Muscle 14, Combat 15, Brains 16
Life Points: 48
Drama Points: 3
Qualities: Hard to Kill 2, Armor Value 2, Acute Senses
Drawbacks: Attractiveness -4, Honorable (Rigid)
Skills: Armed Mayhem 4, Fisticuffs 3

Combat Maneuvers
Name Score Damage Notes
Big Sword 9 25 Slash/stab, can use one-handed
Bite (2) 8 17 Must Grapple first
Punch 8 8 Bash
Kick 6 10 Bash
Dodge 9 - Defense action
Grapple 8 - Resisted by Dodge

Umu Demons (OSR/Basic/S&W/D&D)

Hit Dice: 8
Armor Class: 3 [16]
Attacks: 2 claws (1d6), 3 bites (1d6) (only three heads may attack at a time)
Special: Magic resistance (45%), regenerate (1 hp/round), never sleeps, never surprised
Move: 24'
Save: 10
Alignment: Chaotic Evil (Chaos)
Challenge/XP: 8/900

Lower level demons employed by the Utukku, Umu demons act as guard dogs-a job they are perfectly suited for. Each Umu demon stands 6' to 7' in height. Their skin is covered with a fine dark fur, often black or dark brown. They are very muscular and often dress in ancient Babylonian or Sumerian garb; open toe sandals, papyrus kilts and bare chested. What sets these demons apart are their four heads. The heads most often resemble that of a Doberman, but some have been reported with jackal heads as well. All faces feature prominent snouts with dozens of needle like teeth. Each head faces a different direction, thus the Umu is never surprised. Their senses are as acute of that of a dog's (sharper sight, hearing and smell) only four times over. They are loyal to their demon employers and thus very much in demand by those that have things they want guarded. Each head is independent of the other. So heads can eat, carry on conversations and even sleep separately of the others.

Umu typically kill and eat anyone that comes too close to the thing they are guarding, making no distinction between friend and foe. Only their employer, the demon or witch that bound them are immune to their attacks.

There is also a rumor that there are three-headed varieties that serve the Goddess Hecate.

Utukku, Utukki
These fiends appear to be large satyr like humanoids.  They stand 7’ tall on the hind quarters of a goat, but upper body of man.  Their faces, while human-like have characteristics of both lion and goat.  Their horns are large and goat-like, and their heads are covered in thick wholly fur that resembles a mane.  Their teeth and claws are very sharp.
In areas where these creature roam free frighten villagers often sacrifice their virgin daughters to appease them.  Sometimes the poor unfortunates return to their villages traumatized and  bearing an awful child in their wombs.  These demons are quite powerful and fairly high in the demonic hierarchy. They only begrudgingly take orders from Marilith and Balor.  All others they see as beneath themselves.    Utukku are related to the Umu demons and have completely subjugated them.  The Utukku allow the Umu to be summoned by other demons and human magic users for a task.  An Utukku can summon up to 1-3 Umu demons per day.

Utukku

Hit Dice: 11
Armor Class: 1 [19]
Attacks: 2 claws (1d8), 1 bite (1d8)
Special: Magic resistance (45%), regenerate (2 hp/round), shape change (human), +2 or better weapons to hit.
Move: 24'
Save: 12
Alignment: Chaotic Evil (Chaos)
Challenge/XP: 11/1500

The Umu and the Utukku are both in the service of Tiamat and other Eodemons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utukku

What D&D Character Am I?

Latest internet toy. http://easydamus.com/character.html

I Am A: Neutral Good Human Wizard (6th Level)

Ability Scores:
Strength-13
Dexterity-10
Constitution-13
Intelligence-19
Wisdom-13
Charisma-12

Alignment:
Neutral Good A neutral good character does the best that a good person can do. He is devoted to helping others. He works with kings and magistrates but does not feel beholden to them. Neutral good is the best alignment you can be because it means doing what is good without bias for or against order. However, neutral good can be a dangerous alignment when it advances mediocrity by limiting the actions of the truly capable.

Race:
Humans are the most adaptable of the common races. Short generations and a penchant for migration and conquest have made them physically diverse as well. Humans are often unorthodox in their dress, sporting unusual hairstyles, fanciful clothes, tattoos, and the like.

Class:
Wizards are arcane spellcasters who depend on intensive study to create their magic. To wizards, magic is not a talent but a difficult, rewarding art. When they are prepared for battle, wizards can use their spells to devastating effect. When caught by surprise, they are vulnerable. The wizard's strength is her spells, everything else is secondary. She learns new spells as she experiments and grows in experience, and she can also learn them from other wizards. In addition, over time a wizard learns to manipulate her spells so they go farther, work better, or are improved in some other way. A wizard can call a familiar- a small, magical, animal companion that serves her. With a high Intelligence, wizards are capable of casting very high levels of spells.

Find out What Kind of Dungeons and Dragons Character Would You Be?, courtesy of Easydamus (e-mail)

NG? Ok. I guess I am more socially-aware than I thought. Wizard of course makes total sense. Not sure how they got to 6th level, but that is fine. Human. Sure. I'll take that.

T is for Tharizdun and Tiamat

Yesterday I talked about the Devil as embodied in Satan.  As I mentioned I don't like the idea of using such impossible evils to kill (if it has stats it can be killed).  But near-impossible ones are fine.

I have talked about Tiamat a lot here.  Not just the D&D concept of her, but the ancient myths and what she means in my world.  She is the current "Big bad" in my kids 3rd edition game.  They began as just a small group looking into researching dragons.  In the process they discovered the rise of the old Cult of the Dragon (I am using what appeared in Dragon Magazine before it was went over to the Forgotten Realms) into a new threat.  The feel the only way to stop this evil from taking over the world is go to the source.
The twist I am planning is the artifacts I am having my kids gather up to summon Tiamat are also just what she needs to come into this world to rule it.  I am using ideas from the old Doctor Who serial "The Key of Time" and the Come Endless Darkness book by Gary Gygax (more on that book later).  They have gathered up all the relics they need; and these are true relics, they are the remains of dragons that are now "saints" in Tiamat's evil pantheon.   They are going to summon her using these relics and a few other items. Then there is going to be a big no-holds-barred fight on the Dragon Isles.
There are some parallels here with my last campaign/game "The Dragon and the Phoenix", but this one should be a lot bloodier.
Here are some of my relevant posts on Tiamat

• http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2012/06/tiamat-on-my-mind.html
• http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/11/sohave-you-ever-killed-god.html
• http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2012/03/dragonslayers-epic-epic-of-epicness.html
• http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2013/04/e-is-for-eodemon.html

Tharizdûn is closer to the classical idea of "The Devil" than Tiamat is.  Though I do recall at one point thinking that Orcus was the son of Tiamat and Tharizdun.  Not keeping that, but I might revisit it one day.
Unlike many of the other creatures, I have posted here Tharizdun was created whole cloth by Gary Gygax and expanded on in later books.  He is the main bad guy in the Gord the Rogue books including Come Endless Darkness (he is on the cover in fact).  In my games, he is god chained at the bottom of Hell and Asmodeus is his jailer still.  Though the millennia of Tharizdun whispering in his ear it is hard to say how much of the original Asmodeus is actually left.
He is hinted at in the T1-4 modules and then bits and pieces in S4 and WG4.  I think it would be very interesting to do the entire GDQ series under AD&D but instead of Lolth being the big bad, make her an unwitting pawn of Tharizidun.  Get the Shard of Pure Evil (from 4th Edition) so he can escape his prison and destroy the world.
Sure it is an awful lot like my Tiamat arc above.  But it works, and the stakes would be much higher.

Can't wait for my kids to fight these two!

S is for Satan

I have talked a lot about demons this month and about Hell prior to this.  The one thing I have not talked much about is the Big D himself, The Devil aka Satan.

Here are two things you likely didn't know about Satan in RPGS and D&D in particular.
First, he usually doesn't appear in them.  In fact, there are no official stats for Satan/Lucifer in D&D in any edition.  Plenty of stats in third party products, but none for the guy himself.
Secondly, I never use Satan in my games.  Not because I don't want too or have any fear of it, simply put there is no way he could ever live up to the expectation of the players.
One lucky roll and all my carefully laid plans become, oh hey we just killed the Source of All Evil.  How many XP do we get?  There is just no way that stats on paper can match up with the expectations of the players.  With a character like Dracula, it is easier.  He can be just as evil, just as much of a threat to the characters, but we know something else about Dracula. It's the same as Smaug, or Voldermort, or Vader or Sauron.  These evils can and were defeated.  Satan is, or at least should be, an unstoppable dreadnaught of evil. He is not the Monster of the Week, he is not even the Big Bad.  He is the Biggest Bad EVER.

Despite the lurid tales from the 80's (check out Asshat Paladin's review of "Playing with Fire") or Pat Robertson's claims, D&D players are not Satanists.  Sure, maybe some are. But no more or no less than say the general population (which is much smaller than people generally think).

Lucifer as Satan has appeared in the pages of Dragon Magazine and in the various Tome of Horrors books.

Satan made his appearance in Dragon #28 from 1979 in the infamous Politics of Hell article.  Here are the stats he had then:

Satan
FREQUENCY Very rare
NO. APPEARING 1
ARMOR CLASS -8
MOVE Whatever desired
HIT DICE 333 hit points
% IN LAIR 5%
TREASURE TYPE H(*2), l(*2), U(*2)
NO. ATTACKS 1
DAMAGE/ATTACK 10-100
SPECIAL ATTACKS +3 or better weapon and purity of heart required to hit
MAGIC RESISTANCE 95%
INTELLIGENCE Godlike
ALIGNMENT Lawful evil
SIZE Variable
PSIONIC ABILITY Special
Attack/Defense Modes Special

and his more recent S&W stats:
(Satan from the Tome of Horrors Complete, Copyright 2011, Necromancer Games, Inc., published and distributed by Frog God Games; Authors Scott Greene.)

Satan

Hit Dice: 25 (150 hp)
Armor Class: -6 [25]
Attack: Rod of Infernus (3d6), bite (2d4 plus poison) or 2 claws (2d8), bite (2d4 plus poison), tail sting 1d8 plus poison)
Saving Throw: 3
Special: Gaze weapons, spells, summon devils, +3 or better weapon to hit, immunity to fire and poison, regeneration (4 hp/round), magic resistance (90%), see in darkness, telepathy 100 ft.
Move: 21/30 (flying)
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge Level/XP: 40/10400

The Pathfinder stats are even more powerful.
EVEN then there is some character out there that could take this guy.  Maybe not many, but they are out there.


Lucifer and Satan have appeared as separate entities in the old Death's Edge Games Inferno games.
Which got me thinking, what if "Satan" isn't a person, but a title.  Not "Satan" but "the Satan", similar to what I did for Demongorgon.  The idea is not really an original one, Piers Anthony covered it in his Incarnations of Immortality series and it was covered well in the Charmed series with their Source of All Evil concept.
So the idea here is take a demon, already powerful, and juice him up on all the power of evil, or Evil, and he becomes the ruler of all demons.  Take a page from Lexx and His Divine Shadow and make it so that the new host of this evil power, the new Satan, has all the memories of all the previous Satans AND the knowledge of the new host.  That is a very dangerous foe.

So lets combine this idea with Dante's Inferno and some from the the D&D game itself.  In D&D there is a god of Evil, Tharizdun (who I'll talk about more tomorrow) that is roughly the same as Lucifer/Satan.
Tharizdun is trapped in a prison where his jailer was Asmodeus.  Asmodeus is now the leader of Hell and Tharisdun is forgotten.  There are a lot of clues to his whereabouts and even Gygax himself featured him in his Gord the Rogue books.  So my solution is to split "Satan" up into a couple of beings.  Part of him is the imprisoned Beast and another part in actually part of AAsmodeus

Another part...well I have not figured that one out yet.

The real question that in a world FULL of demons, devils and all sorts of monsters what purpose does Satan serve? What does he do?

The recent Kelley Armstrong book "Thirteen" finally features Lucifer.  He is very different than what is typically expected.  Two of my favorite versions was Peter Cook's in Bedazzled and Viggo Mortensen in The Prophecy for different reasons.  Maybe I should do that for my next October Movie marathon, only watch movies that feature the Devil/Satan as a character.

I also have something to say about RPGs and their role in the Satanic Panic of the 80s.  But that needs to be for another day.

Stop CISPA

CISPA is bad for the internet, bad for people.
Learn more at https://www.eff.org/cybersecurity-bill-faq

Regular post continues later today.

R is for Raven

Total cheat today. But I am going with Raven. Her name is also Rachel Roth, so that also counts.
 Why is she good to post today? Raven is the daughter of the Demon Trigon. So she is half demon. But she is a good person, or at least she tries to be one.


Raven Detail by *AdamHughes on deviantART


Raven by *timberwolfd3 on deviantART


Evil Raven Laughs at... by =morganagod on deviantART


Raven's bookgasm {tontos como yo 'verse} by ~Asmodeus7891 on deviantART


Raven - Teen Titans by ~Neferet-Cosplay on deviantART


Blackbird by ~HastyKitten on deviantART


Trigon's Heir_colored by ~FezzTheeElite on deviantART


Raven by *RandyGreen on deviantART


Teen Titans-Raven by =autumnwraith on deviantART


Teen Titans Raven Theme by ~hackman2k3 on deviantART


Raven in ten years?? by ~Asukawa on deviantART


Demon's Daughter by ~raymundlee on deviantART


TT-Raven (DC Special) by *Glee-chan on deviantART


Sentinel of Magic by ~Neferet-Cosplay on deviantART

Q is for Quareen

Qareen, or qarīn, are another demon from Islamic literature.  They are kind of an interesting idea.  I think they have some origins of the idea of a personal daemon like the Greeks talked about, but I have no data to support this.

In a game I would treat them much like another demon I created a while back called the Never Was. Though I would give them a much darker edge.

Quareen

These creatures are lesser Jinn also known as Personal Demons.  Occult scholars suspect that everyone has at least one, maybe even several.  Unlike other demons, the Qareen rarely if ever manifest in our world as physical beings.  They influence their host by goading them on to do evil. The Qareen are also unique in that they work with nearly any demon.  If a succubus has targeted a particular mortal in order to steal his soul, his Qareen will aid the succubus in the temptation by suggestion.  The succubus gains the soul on the death of the victim.  It is unknown what the qareen get. They seem motivated by evil for evil’s sake.
If the qareen is made manifest (some rare magical books detail how this can be done) they have the same stats as the person they belong too.  Killing the qareen doesn’t affect the person, save for making them feel “good” and want to do good. Sooner or later another qareen will take over.
A carefully worded remove curse spell can remove a qareen, but they usually return when the character is faced with temptation again.

Game Stats:
The Quareen uses the same stats as whatever person it is attached to. They can't normally attack and do not physically manifest.  Though the days when a Qareen is most active the character must make a Wisdom-based save (or Will or Magic with Wisdom mods) to avoid giving into temptation.

Atari 2600 for Sale

Ok, so I normally don't pass on non-RPG related eBay auctions, but in this case I am sure you will forgive me.

My brother is selling a sealed in the box, brand new Atari 2600 system. Never been used.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/230963964171

He bought it at some sale with a bunch of toys.

Either way this is old school video-gaming at it's best.

New Google+ Comments

Trying out the new comment system that is supposed to link Blogger comments and Google+ comment together.
I know some people like to post here, and others over at Google+.

Instead of doing it here first I figure I'll try it on my other blog.
So pop over there to give it a try.

http://freedomofnonbelief.blogspot.com/

P is for Paimon

Paimon is another demon that was once an Angel.  When he was a Angel he was is in Lucifer's* service and remained there after the Fall.  Paimon is a great king of Hell and he commands 200 legions of demons, a full 25 legions of these demons are his personal retinue of musicians and singers that announce his arrival.  Another 10 are his court, followed by his marshals, generals, and captains. All in his court are scholars of fine learning and repute. These demons are not soldiers and are not expected to go into battle.

Paimon is great scholar in his own right, in fact he may be the greatest mind in the infernal court.  He has no desire for personal power, but he has amassed so much knowledge that no plan gets enacted that he does not know about.  His familiars granted to mages and witches never fail to teach his subjects whatever knowledge they need to know.  All he requires of course his their ever-lasting soul.
While he gives out good familiars he is never summoned himself.  It is said that in order to summon Paimon the would be conjurer first needs to learn his secret language; no small feat.  Then properly summon Paimon in this language and converse with him in it.  Anyone that attempts to summon him will instead get his two chief advisers Beball and Abalam.

Paimon appears as a man with an effeminate or even a woman's face. He ride on a camel that breathes fire.   He is richly dress and always appears kingly.  He carries a rod that he uses to command  or on the rare times that he partakes in combat.
If attacked Paimon sees fighting beneath him and will send his legions in his stead. If he found alone he will summon Beball and Abalam to fight for him.

All other Baalseraph fear him but they also value his sage advice and knowledge. None dare openly plot against him.

Paimon

Alignment: Lawful Evil
Movement: 180'
Armor Class: -2
Hit Points (Hit Dice): 125 hp (24 HD)
Attacks: Rod
Damage: 1d8 +save vs. death on critical hit
Special: +2 or better weapon to hit, immunity to fire, electricity and poison, regeneration (1 hp/round), see in darkness, magic resistance (75%), telepathy 300 ft., knows everything
Save: F24
MORALE: 11
XP: 25,000

Beball and Abalam fight as powerful (full hp) Pit Fiends.  Paimon's mount is a camel, but it possess all the same powers of the Shedim including a fire breath weapon like a red dragon.

*For the record, while I have nothing against adding Lucifer to my games it seem far to Judo-Christian for my tastes.  Especially when I can achieve the same goals using the D&D version of Asmodeus or Tharizdun.

Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day: The Witch

Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day

Today is Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day hosted by Tenkar of his eponymous Tavern.

Nearly 150 blogs are gathered to talk about S&W.  He did the same thing a few months back for Basic Fantasy Role-Playing and it was a huge success.   I am a fairly late comer to the world of S&W, having read it and then dismissed it.  I have recently come back to it and detailed my findings in  review and post. 

I do have to hand it to Frog God Games to have gotten me re-interested in this game with their Complete Rulebook.
If you would like to get some products for this game here's a coupon you can use at the D20PFSRDshop.com, thanks to  John Reyst: SWAD252013

So what should I post about today?  Well really there is only thing I can and should do.  I get a some emails asking me for me for a S&W compatible version of the Witch.  Now to me ALL the retro-clones are largely compatible, but sometimes a ready to go product is also nice.  So for you, the S&W fan, here is the Witch for S&W.

You will still need my book, The Witch: A sourcebook for Basic Edition fantasy games, and a copy of the S&W rules.  But this will get you going. 

I am also including a new Tradition for you to use with ANY version of the Witch you might want to play.

OGL Notice: The following text is considered OPEN under the Open Gaming License. 

Section 15: "The Witch for Swords & Wizardry" and "Amazon Tradition" copyright © 2013 Timothy S. Brannan.

Art is not considered open and copyright is retained by the artist, Toby Gregory and is used here with permission. 

Witch

Prime Attribute: Charisma
Hit Dice: 1d4 per level up to 10th level.  At 11th level, +1 hit point per level.
Armor: Cloth, Padded or Leather only, no shields.
Weapons: A witch may only use a dagger, staff, flaming oil, holy water, net, thrown rock, sling, and whip as weapons.
Special Abilities: Occult Powers; witch spells, ritual spells, herb use.
Race: Elves, Half-elves and Humans may be Witches. Dwarves and Halfings may be NPC Witches.

Witch Experience Table					Spells / Level
Level	XP	Hit Dice (d4)	Saving Throw	Occult Powers	1	2	3	4	5	6	*7	**8
1	0	1d4	15	Power	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2	2,600	2d4	14	Herb Use	2!	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3	5,200	3d4	13		2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-
4	10,400	4d4	12		2	2!	-	-	-	-	-	-
5	20,800	5d4	11		2	2	1	-	-	-	-	-
6	40,000	6d4	10		3	2	2!	-	-	-	-	-
7	80,000	7d4	9	Power	3	2	2	1	-	-	-	-
8	160,000	8d4	8		3	3	2	2!	-	-	-	-
9	320,000	9d4	7		3	3	2	2	1	-	-	-
10	440,000	10d4	6		4	3	3	2	2!	-	-	-
11	560,000	10d4+1	5		4	3	3	2	2	1	-	-
12	680,000	10d4+2	4		4	4	3	3	2	2!	-	-
13	800,000	10d4+3	4	Power	4	4	3	3	2	2	1	-
14	920,000	10d4+4	4		5	4	4	3	3	2	2!	-
15	1,040,000	10d4+5	4		5	4	4	3	3	2	2	1
16	1,160,000	10d4+6	4		5	5	4	4	3	3	2	2!
17	1,280,000	10d4+7	4		5	5	4	4	3	3	2	2
18	1,400,000	10d4+8	4		6	5	5	4	3	3	3	2
19	1,520,000	10d4+9	4	Power	6	5	5	4	4	3	3	2
20	1,640,000	10d4+10	4		6	6	5	5	4	4	3	3
21	+120,000	+1 hp/level	4		6	6	6	5	5	4	3	3

* 7th Level Spells usable only by Witches with CHA of 16 or greater
** 8th Level Spells usable only by Witches with CHA of 17 or greater
! A Witch may take a ritual spell at 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th, 12th, 14th, and 16th levels.

Witch Class Abilities

Saving Throws: The witch gains a +2 bonus to any save verse charm or hold spells.

Spell Casting: The witch owns a book of spells called a “Book of Shadows” this is similar to the books used by magic-users, but each book is unique to each witch.  A Read Magic spell will not enable another witch or magic-user. Witches may cast up to 8th level spells.

Familiar: The witch gains a familiar at 1st level.  This is a supernatural creature that often appears to be a normal animal such as a cat or frog.

Occult Power: At first level and every 6 levels hereafter the witch gains an Occult Power.  These powers vary from Tradition to Tradition.

Ritual Magic: At 2nd level the witch may opt to choose a Ritual Magic spell. These spells have special requirements in terms of components needs and multiple participants. 

Coven: at 13th level a witch may leave her coven to form her own coven. 

New Tradition: Amazon

Witches of the Amazon tradition are one of the most misunderstood witches.  To begin, “Amazon” is a misnomer.  These witches are only remotely related to the legendary female warriors of the same name.  Also these witches are not a group of female warrior-witches, though they opt for fighting professions more often than members of other traditions.

Witches of the Amazon Tradition can only be female; no man may enter this Tradition. This attitude of superiority further extends beyond their own Traditions and covens.  Amazon witches believe that no man should be allowed to be a witch regardless of Tradition.  An Amazon witch will always refer to a male witch as a warlock.

These witches also share an honoring of the Goddess Diana with their warrior cousins. They are associated so much with the Goddess Diana that many call their Tradition The Cult of Diana.  Nonetheless, some small groups of Amazon witches do worship other Goddess, such as Freya, Artemis, Brigit, or even Hecate.

Despite stereotypes, not all Amazon witches are man-haters.   Some are happily married with children. This is not viewed as a problem for these witches as Diana is also viewed as the Patron of children and of women in childbirth. They just believe that men should not be witches.

Humans make up the majority of the witches in the Amazon traditions.  Elves, dwarves and halflings, from a racial standpoint, do not share the Amazon’s philosophy.  Elves in particular gravitate more towards the Faerie tradition.  Dwarves have a special type of Amazon-like tradition that is embodied in the Xothia, the Dwarven witch.

Role: Amazon witches represent, what they believe, to be the righteous anger of the Goddess.  It is believed that these witches may have began as part of the Classical tradition.  When witches began to be hunted and killed, mostly by the priesthoods, the Amazon rose up to fight this oppression.

This tradition overlaps, geographically at least, with areas that are common to Classical traditions and druids.  Thus there have been successful attempts over the years to work for each group’s mutual benefit.  The philosophical differences between the groups have always been the greatest hurdle.

Joining this Tradition: There are no special ability scores required to be an Amazon, although high Strength and Constitution are entirely desirable. The only requirement to becoming an Amazon Witch is the character must be female.

Amazon Witches usually meet in groups, called Meets, during the time of the waxing moon till the full moon.  These meets are very secretive and there is a rumor that any man viewing one will be put to death.
Amazons for the most part are neutral, with some gravitating towards lawful.

Leaving this Tradition: The belief system of the Amazon witch are deeply ingrained into her personality and culture. So most will never leave this Tradition.  Generally, an Amazon who leaves the Tradition will be warmly welcomed into the arms of the Classical or Craft of the Wise Traditions.

Occult Powers:
Minor: 1st Level: Minor Fighting Prowess.  The Amazon witch gains some minor fighting ability and may add one of the following weapons to her skill set; long sword, large axe, long bow or spear.  She may use one of these weapons as she chooses.  She still uses the Magic-User attack tables, but she adds +1 to her “to hit” rolls.  The Amazon witch may also sacrifice one spell per day to give her a bonus to hit and damage equal to that spell level.  This will allow her to overcome the natural resistance that require some creatures to only be hit by magical weapons.

Lesser: 7th Level: Immune to Fear. The Amazon witch becomes so focused in purpose and drive that she becomes immune to the effects of mundane and fear.  She also gains +4 to any checks versus magical induced fear.

Medial: 13th Level: Shape Change. The Amazon witch may shape change as per the Druid ability Wild Shape or Polymorph Self. This may be done once per day at 13th level. The witch may only change shape to a natural animal that is within one size category of her normal size. So a Medium sized witch may only change to a Small, Medium or Large animal.

The number of times the witch may do this per day increases with every other level.  So 2 times per day at 15th, 3 times per day at 17th and 4 times per day at 19th.  The witch may opt to sacrifice one of these times to go outside of her normal range of sizes.  So a 17th level Amazon witch could shift to Huge or Tiny once and her normal sizes the other two (total of 4 shape shifts per day).

Greater: 19th Level: Charge of the Goddess. The Amazon witch at this point is such a force for her Patron that she can summon the Goddess’ own power into herself.  The witch radiates an aura of Fear at 15’ to all her enemies.  She gains a bonus of +3 to all her saves and AC.  She also gains +2 to all offensive attack forms, spells or weapons.  This charge lasts for a number of rounds equal to the witch’s Wisdom or Charisma score, which ever is better.  It may be performed once per day and takes one full action to perform.

Special Restrictions:  Only women may join this tradition.

Equipment:  None required. Amazon witches are more likely to use martial weapons, such as a longbow or spear, than any other Tradition.

The ritual tool of the Amazon witch is the cauldron (representing the Goddess). If adventuring, the witch can or will use a staff, which can double as a weapon.  Both items may also be used for more mundane purposes.

Preferred/Barred Covens: This Tradition is suited mostly to all Amazon covens. Amazon Witches will join covens with other Traditions, but the coven must be exclusively female.

Relationship to the Goddess/Patron: Diana is the protector and guardian of the Amazon witches; they are Her children and heirs to Her world.

Source/Views of Magic: Magic comes from the powers of Creation.  As the bearers of children, only women can be true receptacles of creative forces.  Men can only destroy or pervert this pure and sacred power.

Wealth: Amazon witches start with the amount of wealth allotted to any witch.

Other: Amazon witches generally get along well enough with other traditions, in particular Classical and Craft of the Wise.  The Amazon’s views on male witches usually leads to the Amazon being seen with distrust by the other traditions. Amazon witches do not get along well with clerics of any type, even if they have the same alignment and similar world outlook. They view priests and wizards as patriarchal tyrants.
Amazons will always burn the body of a deceased witch as a proper funeral. It is also common that the coven will burn the witch’s Book of Shadows with the body.

You can download this a PDF file from my Box.com service.

My A to Z post is here: http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2013/04/o-is-for-ordog.html

O is for Ördög

I first saw the word Ördög in the pages of Dracula. It was the Hungarian word for Devil I came to learn.  As is my habit, I wrote the name on my bookmark and went on.  It was not till later that I saw the name again that I starting thinking it would make a good devil-type.

The Ördög is part of the Hungarian folk tradition. They appear much as a satyr or faun; humanoid with the upper torso of a human male and lower portions of a goat.  Their hooves are black and cloven.  Their features are bestial and they have long ram-like horns.  It is sometimes remarked that the best way to know the difference between an Ördög and a Satyr is by the size of  their horns, but this is not always foolproof.
The Ördög also has a long black tail that ends in a blade.  They can't attack with it, but it looks frightening.  Another part of the ördög that is frightening is their overtly large phallus.

The Ördög shares more than surface similarities to the satyr.  Like the satyr, the ördög can be found in rural or wooded areas. Also, the ördög is summoned up most often to partake in the sabbats and rituals of witches.  These devils partake in the infamous orgy-like sabbats of witches, held at midnight.   Children born to the witches after these orgies become ördög themselves if male or witches if female.
One of the more famous (or infamous) Ördög was Caliban, son of Sycorax.

An Ördög can appear as human male, albeit one with thick black hair and black eyes, or as a large fox.

Some occult scholars believe that ördög share the same relationship to hags as satyr's do with nymphs.
Consequently, the offspring of  an ördög and a nymph is a Forlarren.

Since today is Sword & Wizardry Day, here is the ördög in S&W format.

Ördög
Hit Dice: 6
Armor Class: 4 [15]
Attacks: 2 claws (1d6)
Special: Magic resistance (45%), regenerate (1 hp/round), shape change (human, fox)
Move: 18
Save: 11
Alignment: Chaos
Challenge/XP: 7/650

Ördög are among the lowest of the Shedim. They spend quite a bit of time in the prime material plane where they work as messengers for higher level demons.  Much like imps, they can teach witches of the Malefic, Diabolic or Demonic traditions spells.  A witch can learn one new spell per interaction with an Ördög; once per sabbat.  The ördög needs payment for learning this new spell; usually in the form of a sacrifice or sexual congress.
Ördög are wild demons, they attack with their claws like that of animal; often ignoring weapons even when they are handy.


Swords & Wizardry post is later today.

Adventures Dark & Deep is here!

Got home today and look what I found at my door.

My Adventures Dark and Deep hardcover is here.
It is really nice and my hat is off to Joesph Bloch on this one.

Look for a review after a bit.  gotta survive this month first.

White Dwarf Wednesday #61

It's Wednesday...er Tuesday!  And that means it's time White Dwarf.
Ok, with the A to Z posts and the S&W Appreciation Day it is going to be a busy day of posting tomorrow.
Today. Not so much.  So instead of giving you WDW late, I figure early is better.  So let's begin.

White Dwarf Magazine #61 is our first issue of 1985.  The first thing we should notice int he increase in price to 95p or $3.00 here in the US. Well that and the cool cover, which is again a Chris Achilleos one, but I think it must be an older one. Ian Livingstone has some bits about things coming up in future WDs, but no mention of the price increase.

Oliver MacDonald is up first on more alchemy for RuneQuest.   I devoured all sorts of articles like this; I always wanted more out of the magic I was doing in AD&D and games like RQ seemed to have all those things.  Or at least that was my perception at the time.

Open Box is a BIG one for me personally. Let's dive in.
First up is the review of the LONG awaited Companion Rules for the D&D Basic game.  I discussed my own history with the Companion Rules before, but long story short I had already gone the route of AD&D (and other games) by this time.  To me, this Companion Set was too little, too late.  Megan C. Robertson (whom I also consider a friend and have worked together a number of times) gives it only a 7/10.  At the time I would have given it lower, but today it would have fared better.  So I can't disagree with her logic.
Next is TimeMaster from Pacesetter.  Man I really, really wanted this game back then.  I was (and still am) a HUGE Doctor Who fan and at the time this seemed like my best bet for getting a Doctor Who game going.
I never got to play TimeMaster though I do own it today. Steve Norledge gives it and it's associated adventure both 7/10.   Also reviewed is a game I never get tired of talking about, Chill. Also from Pacesetter, Chill was MY horror  game.  Not as in "I wrote it" but as in I loved it.  Angus M. McLellan gives it 7/10 and the adventure Village of Twilight a 6/10.  I would have given it more myself.
Witch Hunt is an odd little game and it is next.  I also owned this game. While playing it and Chill I came up with a number of things that would later become part of my games today.  Certainly my Witch book has some DNA from these two games. Jon Sutherland only gives it a 5/10.  Actually that is reasonable since re-playability was low in my opinion and the rules were not great.
Lastly we have Indian Jones.  A lot has been said about this game.  Andrian Knowles gives it a 7/10 and that is very generous.

A bit on Critical Mass.  Dave Langford reviews Job: A Comedy of Justice by Robert A. Heinlein. I read Job at about this time as well and really, really enjoyed it.  It might very well be one of my favorite RAH books along with Friday.  I have never seen this cover for it before.

Part 3 of Eye of Newt is back.  Great ideas that didn't see an official counterpart till 15 years later.  Mix it with the Alchemy article for some good magic-based fun.

Andy Slack has some Traveller ideas on how to motivate characters (other than just money).

Beyond the Shadow of a Dream is next. It is an adventure for Basic D&D or Fighting Fantasy, though it is not a programmed adventure.  Kudos for WD for trying something new.  There is a defiant influence of Traveller of Call of Cthulhu here in this adventure design.

Letters talking about how boring the letters page is.

A programmed Fighting Fantasy adventure is next. Four pages and 104 entries.

The last part of Superhero games by Simon Burley.  In particular he looks at various other world for Supers games like high fantasy and sci-fi.  I have seen similar treatments in various Supers books out now, but it is still interesting to read this system-free point of view.

Fiend Factory continues with AD&D stats (thought we would be going to CoC or RQ stats as well).  Al sorts of weird bugs.  Perfect if you were running Q1 at the time (and we were).

RuneRites has some treasures, including the Ray Harryhausen inspired Fang Warriors.
Treasure Chest has an adventure contest.  They provided the map you provide the scenario.
Tabletop Heroes gets shoved to the back of the magazine. Must be all those letters they got.

Rumors: A new West End Star Trek Game. Mayfair gets Sanctuary. More Marvel Superhero books coming out.

Followed by ads and small ads.

A good issue. 1985 starts out big for WD and it will get bigger.
Issue 62 has one of my favorite adventures and soon we will see the end of an era.

N is for Nergal

Nergal comes to us from Mesopotamian mythology, the same that gives us Pazuzu, Tiamat and Lilith (after a fashion).  He is an old god of the noon day sun, war, pestilence, disease and the planet Mars.  It could be said that he even symbolizes the worst aspects of the god that would later go on to become Ares/Mars.
Like most old gods he was later demonized by Christian authors.  He even appears in the Hebrew and Christian bibles as one of the few named demons (2 Kings, 17:30).
Christians would equate him with the Devil.  Earlier Zoroastrianism would connect him with the Angra Mainyu, or their evil spirit.

In many of the myths/stories of Nergal he is the lord of underworld, but not the sole lord.  It is a task he shares with his lover Ereshkigal, or as I like to call her, the world's first Goth chick. Depending on the story Nergal either rapes Ereshkigal, she tricks him into staying in the underworld or they have a loving relationship.  All could be true.

In various games Nergal usually gets demoted. In AD&D 1st ed and D&D 3rd ed he gets only a mention as being one of the Rabble of Devilkin.  Again this is unfortunate since it lacks a lot of what Nergal interesting.  He gets a much better writeup in the 1st Ed Deities & Demigods and his girl friend is central to many adventures and games.  I used her in my Army of Darkness/D&D mash up and again in my current 1st ed game with my kids.

Nergal

Alignment: Neutral Evil
Movement: 120'
Armor Class: -3
Hit Points (Hit Dice): 110 hp (19 HD)
Attacks: Rod (x2)
Damage: 1d8/1d8 +save vs. death on critical hit
Special: +1 or better weapon to hit, command undead, immunity to fire, electricity and poison, regeneration (1 hp/round), see in darkness, magic resistance (55%), telepathy 150 ft.
Save: F19
MORALE: 11
XP: 13,000


Nergal is the Lord of the Underworld.  While his origin is more closely aligned to the Baalseraph, he is closer in nature to a Demondand or Shedim.  He is a demon that had been a god, but was killed and returned.  He shares this quality with a number of other demon lords including Orcus.
He appears as a tall, older man with thick black hair and beard.  He stands 7' tall, but can appear taller.He wears clothing fitting a king of his time (ancient Babylon) and carries a long rod that he uses in combat.
Like most kings he prefers to stay out of combat himself.  Instead he can summon up to 4 dead enemies from a person's past to fight on his behalf.
He can also command any undead as if he were a 19th level evil cleric.
When angered his countenance changes to that of a lion with a long black mane and skin pocked as if with disease.
Nergal prefers to stay out mortal affairs except in times of war.  Other powerful demon lords (typically Shedim and Baalseraph) employ him as a general or war marshall for their wars against each other.
While Nergal has lost much of his former power he still considers himself a god and not a demon.

Links
http://www.gatewaystobabylon.com/gods/lords/undernergal.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nergal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ereshkigal
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nergal_(Dungeons_%26_Dragons)
http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Nergal_(deity)
http://zyntara.com/VisualAstrologyNewsletters/van_April2006/VAN_april2006.htm

M is also for Migraine, MRIs, May, Mars and Majus

So what's on my mind lately?  Well. Have a look for yourself.

Yeah that's my brain stuff.  I have had migraines my entire life, recently though (two weeks in fact) they have been turned up to 12.   So we are trying to figure out what is causing them.
My posting will be sporadic   It's hard to think with a constant pain in your head.  Harder when I am taking the drugs to dull the pain.

But that is a cool picture though.   I still remember enough of my psych to id all major parts.  Good news is that my doctor does not expect to see anything "devastating" in his words. But who knows.  The pain sucks.

Anyway...other things are going on.

I am SO woefully behind in reviews that I am going to spend a lot of time in May catching up.

I'd also love to detail a Mars/Barsoom game using OD&D or S&W.  That would be awesome really.
Something like this, Warriors of Mars.

Don't forget that the Majus Kickstarter is still going on.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1895361773/majus-a-magic-noir-pacesetter-game

M is for Mammon

Mammon, also know as the "Lord of this World" or "Lord of Greed" in my games made his AD&D debut in "From the Sorcerer's Scroll: New Denizens of Devildom," in Dragon #75 from 1983.  He later was featured in the Monster Manual 2.  Though the Mammon he is based on is actually a much more interesting character. He appeared in the Milton's Paradise Lost, Edmund Spenser's The Faërie Queene, the New Testament and has roots in earlier myths as well.  There is a lot of debate about the roots of his name, but it is almost always connected to money and/or greed.

He is almost always depicted a large, fat devil with red skin, bald head.   I most respects his appearance is supposed to represent the over-indulgence that greed and avarice can lead too. Compare if you will the AD&D version and the DC Comics version I posted on Saturday.

Not really all that different.

In my games Mammon is the lord of Greed and one of the Baalseraph.  Not all characters have to be complex and Mammon is a good example.  He fell because he wanted more. He was greedy and that lead to his downfall.

It is believed that he is akin to the Roman god Pluto who also protected the riches of the world.  This in a way makes him kin to Dispater (another AD&D Devil) who also has his roots in Pluto/Hades.  So in my games I would make Mammon and Dispater bitter rivals. Each trying to out-do the other in opulence and overt expressions of wealth and greed.  Mammon would be the physically more powerful devil, but Dispater may have more influence.

It is not a stretch to think of Mammon a bit like Jabba the Hutt. In fact that may have been the idea on his new form in the 3rd and 4th edition materials.  Another good example is Kingpin from Marvel Comics.
Mammon is the archetype of the fat, bloated crime boss surrounded by loyal henchmen, women (in this case Succubi) and wave upon waves of goons.

Mammon

Alignment: Lawful Evil
Movement: 90'/180' (flight)
Armor Class: -2
Hit Points (Hit Dice): 140 hp (22 HD)
Attacks: sword (x2)
Damage: 1d10/1d10 +flame
Special: +2 or better weapon to hit, immunity to fire, electricity and poison, regeneration (2 hp/round), see in darkness, magic resistance (75%), telepathy 250 ft.
Save: F22
MORALE: 10
XP: 17,500

When a mortal makes a deal with a demonic entity for riches, it is most often Mammon at the root of it all.   His "standard contract" is wealth and power for a set number of years. Afterwards the contracted party forfeits his soul to the Baalseraph lord and all the riches return to him.  There are plenty of tales where the summoner, knowing his time is running out, attempts to trick or fool the devil into letting him out or granting him more time.  Mammon is very cunning and usually gets his way.
He rarely if ever enters into combat himself. He has a retinue of lesser Baalseraph, Pit fiends and other demons to aid him.  If he must enter into combat he is perfectly capable of defending himself.

Sunday Updates

Here we go another weekly round up of stuff I find interesting.

New Kickstarter for Atlantis the Second Age
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1269000670/atlantis-the-second-age-rpg
Not sure how it is different from this product yet.

Orphic Vellum Books
I love old books. Orphic Vellum is an online book store that specializes in odd books on all sorts of topics from spiritualism, witchcraft, myth and psychology.  So my kind of place and it is run by Oddities own Wednesday Mourning.
http://wednesdaymourning.com/zencart/

DriveThruRPG Map Tiles & Terrain Print Program
DriveThru is teaming up with publishers Fat Dragon Games and Drama Scape to print high quality map tiles and terrain you can use a dry-erase marker on.
You can see a video and some photos here: http://youtu.be/BQdgyJSydUQ

Dungeon: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/images/site_resources/photo%201.JPG
Medieval Ship: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/images/site_resources/photo%202.JPG


To kick off the launch of these tiles and terrain, they are offering two very special introductory low prices.
Fat Dragon Games' E-Z TILES: Medieval Ship is only $2.99!
DramaScape's Power Room and Computer Room is only $5.99!
All of the tiles and maps can be seen here: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/index.php?filters=0_2210_0_44294_0&affiliate_id=10748

Swords & Wizardry Appreciation Day
Tenkar is doing a Sword & Wizardry Appreciation Day on April 17, 2013 and it keeps getting bigger and bigger.
http://www.tenkarstavern.com/2013/04/spes-magna-games-is-adding-to-swords.html

Big Give-a-way
I am keeping the details on this one a little close to the chest right now.  But I am planning something big in May or June and want to give away some prizes to readers.  Keep watching this space for some more details!
It will be big though!