October Movie: Mama (2012)

I had to wait till everyone went to bed for this one.  Glad I did cause this is one creepy ass flick.
This was another Must See on my list for this year.

There is no new ground covered here, the fear of loosing a parent or a child too soon is so visceral, so deeply implanted into our DNA that any portrayal is going to touch a nerve.  Maybe more so because I am a parent. This was no exception and it happens to be a very scary movie.

This movie works on all the primal fears. Husband loosing it and killing the family. Mother dead. The Thing in the woods. The girls left alone and of course the fear of inescapable fate.

I am not going to say too much about this one.  Chances are I'll be up in a few hours anyway!
But I also don't want to spoil any of it.  If you have not seen this, please do.

This movie has Guillermo del Toro's name on it, but he acted as Executive Producer.  The director is Andrés Muschietti and I am expecting some big things from him in the future.

Tally: Watched 33,  New 29

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What is Spellcraft & Swordplay?

One of the questions I have been getting a lot this week is "How does Spellcraft & Swordplay play" followed by "What is Spellcraft & Swordplay".

Spellcraft & Swordplay is Jason Vey's old school game based on the Original edition of Dungeons & Dragons.  It is a retro-clone, or more precisely a "near clone".

The feel of S&S is extremely old-school and when I played it with my son when it first came out it reminded me so much of OD&D that I wanted to make it my old-old-school game of choice.
You can read my original review here if you like. But there some things about it that I would like amend.
Just like you can't judge a game by reading it, you get a totally different perspective when you write something for it.  Somethings I now like more than I did then.

Here are some quick tips to help you learn about S&S.
- Saving throws are based abilities. So you can make a Dexterity save to avoid getting hit with something, or a Constitution save to avoid the effects of a poison.  Keep in mind S&S did this YEARS before it became the newest feature of D&D Next.
- The die mechanics are based on a 2d6, not a d20.  Need an 18 to hit something? Better hope you have pluses because you can only roll a natural 12 at best!  This makes everything grittier.  The 2d6 produces a near normal curve (ok a pyramid) so it means you will roll a lot of 7s and almost no 2s (snake eyes) or 12s (box cars).  This by the way was the original mechanic used in D&D, the d20 is the alternate method.

While there some differences S&S is one of those systems that become systemless after a while.  The focus is less on rolling dice and more on adventure and roll playing.  For that reason I find anything written for OD&D, Swords & Wizardry or Basic D&D can be translated and used in a snap.
In fact, as much as I enjoy Swords & Wizardry I find Spellcraft & Swordplay closer to OD&D in terms of game play and feel.

If you want to try out Spellcraft & Swordplay for free, there is a "Basic Set" available and a free character sheet.
If you like that then the Spellcraft & Swordplay rules can be had for cheap.

I even have some character write-ups if you like:
Asa Vajda
Dracula
Elizabeth Bathory (monster stats)
Hex (from Skylanders)
Red Sonja
Sir Gannon and Del The Necromancer
Xena & Gabrielle
Hope you enjoy this game as much as I do.

October Movie Challenge: Weekend round up

Bunch of movies under my belt this weekend.  Though all disappointed me or fell short.

The Witching (1993)
This one gets my vote as the worst movie I have seen this entire challenge.  And I was on a Jean Rollin kick.
Awful.  Going after the acting in this one is a cheap shot...but I am doing it anyway. The actors where not just terrible I have seen better work from High School plays.
The plot such as it is concerns a 300 year old witch locked away in Limbo with demons and her pet demon dog-rat "Scully".  The gate to Limbo opens up in this guy's refrigerator.   Some one really liked Ghostbusters.  It is listed as Comedy/Horror. It's neither.

R.I.P.D. (2013)
Another gate opening and dead things coming back.  This time it's sorta-cooked, but all dead cop played by Ryan Reynolds and even more dead "law man" played by Jeff Bridges.  Cliches all over the place. Kevin Bacon (who should know better).   The only performance I liked was from Mary Louise Parker.
If you have seen Men in Black then you have seen this one.

The Countess (2009)
This on the other hand was a very good film. Julie Delpy wrote, directed, starred and produced this bio-drama about Countess Erzsébet Báthory.  Everything about this movie was good, save for my expectations of it.  There was little to no blood, and no horror save for the psychological kind. The film even makes a credible case that all the stories of the "Blood Countess" were nothing more than rumor and political power plays.  Which could be true.  Or not.  The film still retains the infamous scene where a maid pulls Erzsébet's hair and the Countess strikes her so hard that she is covered in blood.  The countess proceeds to bleed her for her precious virgin blood.
There is no vampirism. No allusions to Dracula. This is a historical piece and frankly a nice change of pace.

Interestingly enough Julie Delpy was 39 when she made this movie.  Delphine Seyrig was also 39 when she played Báthory in Daughters of Darkness (Ingrid Pitt was 34 when she was in Countess Dracula).

I kind of hoped to finish up this weekend, but I feel I need to see a few more, just to make sure I saw enough real horror.

Tally: Watched 32,  New 28

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Lazy Sunday

This is really more of Twitter post than a real blog posting.

Checking out blog posts from around the gaming blogs.

So much cool stuff going on!  Just great fun stuff.

More thoughts later, making more more coffee and reading more.

October Movie: The Coven (2002)

So I watched The Craft...er no wait. I watched a crappy little ripoff called The Coven last night.
Like The Craft it has four witches, one good, one bad and one shy and the other scarred.
The good witch is also the new girl and her arrival finishes the coven.

I could go on from there, but the movie was largely derivative, even more so than Little Witches.

Also not The Craft

Even bits taken from Charmed.  But to be fair Charmed was on for 8 years and they did a little bit of everything.

There are some interesting scenes (no not the extended sex scenes), and liked the character of Spence. She was one of the more interesting characters even if she didn't really contribute much to the plot other than to die. Spoilers? yeah not like you were going to watch this one.

The whole Christians vs. Witches thing was more funny than anything.  Imagine every stereotype and it is there somewhere.  So much so I almost have believe that that the writers knew what they were doing.

The special effects, such as they are, are terrible.  I could write it off as a student film and get some enjoyment there, but it was filmed in 3D, so there is some money in this just not in the right places.

The outtakes at the end were funny.

Still though. Bad movie.

Tally: Watched 29,  New 25

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My RPG Person Profile

This was cooked up by +Zak Smith over at his blog Playing D&D With Porn Stars.
It's a pretty cool idea really. I have seen a few others (linked below) so I figure I throw in my 2cents.

I'm currently running (at home):  D&D 3.5 Epic level game and AD&D 1st Ed start up

Tabletop RPGs I'm currently playing (at home) include: See above.

I'm currently running (online): nothing

Tabletop RPGs I'm currently playing (online) include: Pathfinder

I would especially like to play/run: Basic D&D, WitchCraft, Mutants & Masterminds, Monster Hearts, Vampire the Masquerade, any version of Mage, Call of Cthulhu (any ed), Doctor Who Adventures in Time and Space.

...but would also try: Feng Shui, Victoria, Victoriana 3rd Ed.

I live in: The NW Burbs of Chicago

2 or 3 well-known RPG products other people made that I like:  AD&D 1st Ed, WitchCraft, Chill

2 or 3 novels I like: Dracula, Lord of the Rings, most horror

2 or 3 movies I like:  Too many to name.  Most all horror, especially horror from the 70s.

Best place to find me on-line: Everywhere. Facebook, email, my blog Google+

I will read almost anything on tabletop RPGs if it's: Horror or Victorian

I really do not want to hear about: Nothing. I am pretty much open to everything.

I think dead orc babies are ( circle one: funny / problematic / ....well, ok, it's complicated because....): Depends on the game. In D&D they are usually collateral damage, in ShadowRun they are a plot point, in Orkworld they are a campaign about taking their souls back to wherever John Wick thinks Ork souls come from.

Game I'm in are like (link to something): Little guy or Anti-hero taking back the world from the grips of evil.  Plenty of monsters and over the top action, metal music and roots deep in the 80s  Or Trippy weird, gothy magical stuff or Sword & Sorcery with a bit of tongue in cheek humor, also with roots deep in the 80s.

Free RPG Content I made for OSR and Unisystem are available here on my Downloads page.
Also the Ghosts of Albion Quick Start Rules.

You can buy RPG stuff I made at DriveThruRPG, Amazon or at your FLGS

• Liber Bestarius (d20)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG (Cinematic Unisystem)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Slayer's Hanbook (Cinematic Unisystem)
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Magic Box (Cinematic Unisystem)
• Ghosts of Albion (Cinematic Unisystem)
• The Witch (Basic Era OSR)
• Eldritch Witchery (Spellcraft & Swordplay) 
• Dr. Challenger's Guide (Gaslight RPG) Coming Soon
• Darwin's Guide to Creatures (Gaslight RPG) Coming Soon

If you know anything about Dragons it'd help me with a project I'm working on

I talk about RPGs on mostly my blog and Facebook under the name Timothy S. Brannan or Tim Brannan. You  can find me on some forums (RPG.net) and going back to the Usenet under the name Web Warlock.

• My Blog
• Facebook
• Google+
• Twitter
• DeviantArt
• My reviews at DriveThruRPG
• My reviews at RPG.Net
• My RPG Bio at LeGrog (in French)

I've Been Blitzed!

My recent post on the release of Eldritch Witchery is getting Blized by the Blog Blitz Team!

I have participated in all the Blog Blitzes before and it has been a great way to visit new blogs that I might not otherwise know about.  Many thanks to DL Hammons for setting this up.

I plan to visit everyone's blog that leaves a post, so please also leave a link back to your own blogs.

October Movie: Black Sunday (1960)

This is another one has been on my list to see for years.  Love Amazon Prime!

I first learned of this movie from scenes in the Queen video for "Under Pressure" which used a ton of old movie clips.  Some that they didn't have permission to use and had to redo it.

The movie is so iconic I wonder how I was able to go this long without seeing it.  Barbara Steele plays the witch Asa Vajda who is found cavorting with the Devil and in particular a vampire named Javuto.  She is sentenced to death by her own brother.  Before she is burned at the stake she curses her brother's family.  However before she is burned to ash a storm is raised and puts out the fires.  She dies, but is buried in unhallowed ground.

Fast forward to 200 years later and two doctors arrive in the village and find the grave. They remove the coffin lid They proceed to the nearest inn to stay the night.  With the spirit of Asa now free she begins to get revenge on her brother's family which is now a man and his two children, including a daughter that looks just like Asa.

For 1960 it is a fairly violent movie. And like I mentioned there are few very iconic scenes that I have seen in later movies.  Heck, the entire music video (not movie) of "Lords of Salem" and even to an extent "The American Witch" by Rob Zombie are homages to this movie.  I am kicking myself for not seeing this one sooner.

I like the idea of the witch coming back every 100 years.  We saw something similar in the Robert E. Howard tale "A Witch Shall be Born".

Here is Asa Vajda as an Eldritch Witchery witch.

Asa Vajda, 10th Level Witch (Demonic)
Strength: 9
Dexterity: 11
Constitution: 13
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 16
Charisma: 18

Hit Points:  25
Alignment: Evil
AC: 6 (talisman of protection)

Occult Powers
Familiar: Imp
7th level: Witches Curse

Spells 
First: Black Flames, Bewitch I, Direct Gaze, Shattering the Hourglass, Sleep
Second: Burning Gaze, Discord, Fever, Youthful
Third: Bestow Curse, Cause Fear, Life Bond, Toad Mind
Fourth: Mind over Body, Withering Touch
Fifth: Control Weather

Tally: Watched 28,  New 24

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Spellcraft & Swordplay Character Sheet

Need a character sheet for your new witch character?

Here you go!
Spellcraft & Swordplay Character Sheet

Eldritch Witchery: Hex from Skylanders

It is no secret that I am a fan of the game Skylanders.  I even got caught up in all of the hype about collecting the figures and everything.  I am embarrassed (a little) to discuss the lengths I went too to get some of these figures.  There were other parents right there next to me, so I figured I was in good company.

Well just when we all though the madness was dying down, Activision released the new Skylanders Swapforce.  New game, new figures, and your old figures still work on it.  Here we go again.

I don’t think it is a stretch to  guess that my favorite character in the game is Hex, the dark elf witch of the “undead” element.  So given there is another new Skylanders game AND Eldritch Witchery is out I thought I would stat her up once again.

Here she is as an Eldritch Witchery warlock.

Hex, 13th Level warlock (Fraternity of Bones)

Strength: 10
Dexterity: 9
Constitution: 10
Intelligence: 18
Wisdom: 13
Charisma: 12

Hit Points:  30
Alignment: Unaligned Neutral
AC: 6 (talisman of protection)

Occult Powers
Familiar: Floating Skull (Spirit)
7th level: Necromantic Spell use, Hex can use Necromancer Spells
13th level: Summon Spirit (summons a skull spirit, 9HD Ghost)

Spells 
First: Black Flames, Detect Spirits, Fey Sight, Ghostly Slashing, Minor Fighting Prowess, Sleep, Spirit Dart
Second: Agony, Death Armor, Discord, Ghost Touch, Levitate, Phantasmal Spirit
Third: Astral Sense, Cause Fear, Fly, Ghost Ward, Lesser Strengthening Rite, Speak with Dead
Fourth: Dance Macabre, Phantom Lacerations, Spiritual Dagger, Tears of the Banshee
Fifth: Death Curse, Dreadful Bloodletting, Teleport
Sixth: Death Blade, Wall of Bones

Originally posted here: http://elflairgames.blogspot.com/2012/10/witches-hex-from-skylanders.html
This one takes advantage of new rules written since then.

Other stats:

• 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons (witch class)
• Pathfinder (witch class)
• Basic Era, The Witch (witch class)
• Adventures Dark & Deep (witch/necromancer)

October Movie: The Asphyx (1973)

This one has been on my list to see for years. With the Redemption Blu-Ray out now (they really should be paying me at this point!) I finally got to see it.

Worth the wait!

Great Victorian setting and like any good Victorian tale it mixes science with the supernatural.  In fact see if you can spot the portrait of Mary Shelly.
The story deals with a scientist that finds a way to photograph the moment of death.  On his plates he sees a shadow and believes he has captured the soul leaving the body.  On a happenstance he is filming his son and wife to be with his new moving pictures camera. His son loose control of his boat and dies.  On developing the film he sees the dark smudge rushing towards his son, not away.
Some experiments with a man being publicly executed our scientist, Hugo Cunningham, concludes he has found the fabled Asphyx or spirit of death.  Each living thing has it's own Asphyx so Cunningham devises a way to capture an asphyx and thus render someone immortal.  The try it on a Guinea Pig and it works.  Later Cunningham tries it on himself it works as well.

I don't want to give away more than that to be honest. The movie is a touch slow to get going, but you can tell it must have scared the crap out of people in the theatres back then.

I am glad I finally got to see this one.

Tally: Watched 27,  New 23

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White Dwarf Wednesday #84

December 1986 issue of White Dwarf seems a little smaller that I thought it was supposed to be.
That is is explained by the new editor Mike Brunton.  The 8 new pages are being held till later and Paul Cockburn seems to be out.
The cover art by the way can best be described as Lovecraft's Night Before Christmas.  "Sanity Clause" by Ian Miller.  Cute.

Again we have 4 pages of Open Box.  Of note to me: the Children of the Atom for Marvel Super Heroes and the Advanced set is up.  This is about the time I was getting out of Marvel, both the game and the comic.  I still have some of the books and might revisit it one day.  I said that a WDWs back, but I haven't got around to it yet so I am not thinking I will any time soon.   Likewise DC Heroes, a game I wanted to like but never got into, has The King of Crime and Internity Inc.  Pete Tamblyn reviews all four books and enjoys them.  Graeme Davis doesn't care for the new Immortals module for D&D, Immortal Storm.  I can't say I disagree with him.  Though my experience with it comes much later and through the eyes of nostalgia.

Simon Nicholson has an interesting article on how to get messages across to or from player characters (and players) to other parts of the world in "Don't Call Us".  We tend to forget that the instant communication that we enjoy today is not the way it has been for the vast majority of human civilization.  I remember going to Epcot once at Disney World and going on their World of Tomorrow ride or something.  They showed us a world where communication was instant. My son, who must have been 6 or 7 at the time told me "Dad, we can do all this stuff now."  One of the things I think Ebberon does well that other campaign settings don't is show how magic is used in place of technology.  Communication is just another facet of that.

Shadow Magic is an adventure for AD&D for 8th to 9th level characters by Carl Sargent. It features some dragons in a domestic fight and some of the newer demons from MMII.  It is short and can work well as one of those "on the road" sort of adventures.

There is a trivia game made up to look like a Miskatonic U exam booklet.  Cute.

Wolves of the Sea is a bit more ambitious. It covers sea going adventure for role-playing games. Again there must have been something in the aether then since there seemed to be a lot of sea going adventures in magazines and the few groups I knew.  It is an interesting read and adaptable to most Fantasy RPGS.

A Paranoia Adventure. These all look the same to me.

Couple pages of letters...
Finally in Fracas we get the results of the Reader's Poll.
Gobildegook and Thrud are the most popular, 2020 Vision is the least.  I had the exact opposite opinion.
Best Cover was 79, the one I disliked.
Most people replying approve of the choice to do away with the departments.  If you recall I lamented that.
Most people liked Multisystem scenarios/adventures.  At least we agree!

I question my biases on continuing reading WD at this point!

I have to admit this issue seemed rushed.  Like they had a bunch of odds and ends at the end of the year and needed to use them.

October Movie: Little Witches (1996)

Another one on my list of movies to see.

I think I expected this one to be a little bit like The Craft. Yeah...not so much.
It is fairly derivative of other movies I have seen.  Though one is tempted to compare this to the TV version of Buffy, it did come out before Buffy hit the airwaves.
School girls, underground temple, ancient evil cult.  Though there are a couple of highlights.
First it is the acting debut of Clea Duvall.  Zelda Rubinstein is in it.  Sheeri Rappaport is not bad in it. And it was only filmed in two weeks.

There is a kernel of a good movie here, buried under cliches and mediocre acting, again Clea Duvall and Sheeri Rappaport are the exception here.   The demon at the end was neat, kinda like a poor man's Demogorgon.

Not much I could find in this to extract for a game that I haven't seen elsewhere.  Even though, a good take on this kind of story would be nice.  Though it would make for a rather thin plot for a Hellcats and Hockeysticks.

I was hoping for something more to be honest.

(not Fairuza Balk)

Tally: Watched 26,  New 22

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October Movie: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013)

Of course I had to see this one.

Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters is a problematic movie.  For starters it really can't make up it's mind on what kind of movie it wants to be. Horror, action, comedy, camp.  It has it all, but unlike say Army of Darkness the mix here isn't quite right.

Hansel & Gretel are brother and sister like the Grimm Fairy tale, but they are now all grown up and hunting witches.  The seem to be immune to powers of witches, but not the power of candy.  Hansel is diabetic.

The film mixes a historical setting (never quite sure when it is supposed to be taking place) and modern sensibilities. The guns seem bigger for the time for example.

The story though itself is kind of neat.  A gathering of witches of various types is cool.  Two former victims immune to witch magic has a TON of potential.  Even mixing a couple of good witches and troll for good measure is nice.  So all the elements are there, but they never quite jell for me.  Though I won't lie, I had a lot of fun with this one.

Tally: Watched 25,  New 21

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The Art of Eldritch Witchery

One of the things that I love about working on RPG books is looking for art.  Sure there are other aspects I enjoy, but once I am done I love looking for art. It's like a treasure hunt for me.  But for Eldritch Witchery I knew EXACTLY what I wanted before I began.

Back when I was younger and wrote what would become by first ever witch I loved books on witchcraft, demonology and the occult.  I still do in fact. I love all the great artwork from these books, whether medieval woodcuts, drawings on pamphlets denouncing witchcraft on up to the art of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.

One of the more influential books on my writing was Rossell Hope Robbins's "Encyclopedia of Witchcraft of Demonology".

For me it was not just a great book of ideas for my class in particular and D&D in general, it was also a manual of style.

It features fantastic works of art that I just knew I wanted to include in a book of my own.
Since Eldritch Witchery is my ode to Original D&D, I didn't want to include anything really new.

I also enjoyed adding art about fairy tale witches; an equally important aspect of my witch as the mytho-historical one.

While some of these (or similar ones) appeared in The Witch, for Eldritch Witchery I wanted just these sort of images.

I hope you enjoy this art as much as I do.  For me it really is like picking up a copy of The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology or even a copy of Eldritch Wizardry.

Eldritch Witchery is available now at DriveThruRPG!

October Movie: Les deux orphelines vampires (1997)

You would think I had nothing left to say about Jean Rollin or he would have nothing left to say about vampires.
You would be wrong on both counts!

Les deux orphelines vampires or The Two Orphan Vampires surprised me on a number of levels.

For starters it was much newer that I thought it was.  It was also bigger budget, though not by much.  It also gave us another twist on the vampire story.
In this one two girls, Henriette and Louise, are blind orphans living in a Catholic orphanage.  But these girls have a secret, they are only blind during the day.  But at night they can see and they hunt for food.

The girls seem to recall past lives, of being in New York and other places, and they are the same; blind vampires.

They get adopted. They meet what we suppose is a werewolf woman and later another, but different sort of vampire.  The girls imply, but never really confirm, that they are Aztec Goddess that remember great blood sacrifice.

I like the link to the Aztecs and being blind during the day, really neat touch.

Rollin regular Brigette Lahaie makes a cameo appearance which is cool.
All in all I rather liked this one.

Tally: Watched 24,  New 20

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Eldritch Witchery is LIVE!

Eldritch Witchery is now live!

Here is the official press release:

ELF LAIR GAMES PRESS RELEASE 10/21/2013

Elf Lair Games is pleased to announce that our long-awaited second sourcebook for Spellcraft & Swordplay, entitled Eldritch Witchery, is now available for purchase as an ebook! The print edition will follow soon.

A Return to the New Class of Old School!

Witches & Warlocks.
Monsters, demons and devils. What horrors await you in dark caves and passages forgotten by mortal-kind? What eldritch secrets await in the dark? Will they be yours to claim or will you be claimed by them?

Eldritch Witchery takes you back to the roots of fantasy role playing, back to a time when witches cast mighty spells and demons were new to the lands. Inside this book you will find:

- Two new elite paths, the Witch and the Warlock
- Hundreds of new spells
- New monsters, such as the vile Hags
- Demons, including the vile Calabim, the rageful Shedim, the seductive Lilim, and the Baalseraph, the rulers of the Nine Hells, amongst others.
- New magic items and treasure
- Complete guidelines for running witch-centric adventures or incorporating these spellcasters into your existing game
- And more!

Everything you need to add witches, warlocks, and demons to your Spellcraft & Swordplay game is here...what are you waiting for? Eldritch Witchery awaits...

Due to the nature and content of this book, as well as to some of the artwork involved, we are marking it as an adult product. User discretion is advised.

Get your eBook/PDF copy now.  Print book on the way.

October Movie: Requiem pour un Vampire (1971)

Still on my Jean Rollin kick.  I have one more after this.  Requiem pour un Vampire or
Requiem for a Vampire is an interesting flick.  It features Marie-Pierre Castel without her sister as a thief that hides out in an old castle with her accomplice  Mireille Dargent.  Her they discover a bunch of degenerate men, a couple of vampire women and an old vampire.
The vampires try to bring them into their vampire cult saying that the old vampire is the last true vampire and he is changing the women.
Lots of scenes of near pornographic content makes this one of the more hard core of Rollin's movies I have seen so far (though I do know there are others that cross that line).

The idea of the last vampire in interesting and I'll give Rollin credit, he goes down this vampire road many times, but it is always a little different each time.

Again, not a particularly scary movie but it does have a cool art-house vibe to it.

Tally: Watched 23,  New 19

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October Movie: Lèvres de Sang (1975)

Lèvres de Sang or Lips of Blood is another Jean Rollin Vampire movie.  Like his previous works this one features a lot vampires, lots of nudity, the Castel twins and like La Vampire Nue, a story that doesn't get interesting till the end.

The story focuses on Frédéric. He is at a party for a photographer and notices a castle in one of the photos. He flashes back to a time when he was 12 and was lost. He found this castle and a girl, Jennifer, helped him.   He complains to his mother that he can't remember anything from his childhood since his father died.
He seeks out the photographer (ie more excuses for Rollin to film young women nude. Mind you, I approve) and she says she can't tell him the castle, but if he comes to the aquarium she will tell him.
Meanwhile four mostly naked female vampires are roving about town and killing people.

Frédéric goes at the Aquarium, which turns out to be a movie theater; (bad translation maybe?) We do get a nice little 1975 version of the Easter Egg.

He sees what he thinks is Jennifer but he doesn't catch her.  Later he finds out she isn't Jennifer, only pretending to be (she is later killed by the vampires).  He is then chased by a man with a gun (whom the vampire girls kill), he finds the dead photographer and is even put into a psych ward by his own mother.  The Castel Twins (Vampires, nach) kill the psychiatrist and Frédéric gets away.  During all this time he sees visions of the real Jennifer.

We find out that Jennifer is a vampire and the other four are her vampire minions.   Frédéric's mother and father tried to kill them but only managed to seal them up. Fred's father is killed by Jennifer.

For what ever reason the villagers are now not afraid of the vampires and hunt down and kill the four girls.  Frédéric is the one that must kill Jennifer.  They throw the bodies in a fire and Frédéric tosses in Jennifer's head.   We soon discover the the head was from a statue and Jennifer is still in her coffin.  Many scenes of Jennifer telling Frédéric that they belong to each other now which I guess must be done while both of them are standing on a beach naked.

They climb into Jennifer's coffin and let the tide take them out to sea where they will live on an island and feed on rich sailors.

I thought the bit where Jennifer was trapped but projecting her astral self out to lead Fred to her was kind of cool.

Special shout out to Fascination: The Jean Rollin Experience for providing me a list of "must see" for this year.

Tally: Watched 22,  New 18

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Review: Adventures Dark & Deep The Darker Paths

Nearing the end of my delve into Adventures Dark and Deep so here are two older products. In fact I picked them up about a two years ago and reviewed them then.

These two classes appeared under the subtitle "Darker Paths" and they are two favorite classes of mine.

Darker Paths 1: The Necromancer
The Necromancer is the first in a set of alternate classes for the Adventures Dark and Deep RPG.
The Necromancer is one of the more popular "alternate classes" developed for any fantasy RPG.  Almost always an alternate class and never a core one, the necromancer is the ultimate foe in many games or the ultimate PC in others.  But as long as horror and undead are popular in game, then the necromancer is right there with them.
Darker Paths 1: The Necromancer packs a lot of  punch in a small book. At only 24 pages, we get a new class, a "new" race and 75 new spells.  No small feat really. The material is for the Adventures Dark and Deep game, but it certainly can be used with any retro-clone, near-clone or any other game that emulate AD&D 1st ed or Basic D&D.  The art is mixed, but very evocative of the era.  Some new pieces and some public domain works (and it looks like the editor did his research too).
If you like Necromancers and play an older edition of the game, whether an honest older edition or a newer clone, then this is a good choice.

Darker Paths 2: The Witch
I am always a bit hesitant to review other peoples work on witch-related classes since I have products of my own out there. I fear of being too critical or too lax, each to out weigh the other.  In the end I think I just need to review the product as is.  Like DP1: The Necromancer this product is for the "Adventures Dark and Deep" RPG, OR any other near-clone of AD&D.  Also like the first Darker Path book this presents the witch as an evil character class; not the Earth loving priestess of old faiths or even the spiritual seeking witches of modern tales.  This must be recalled when reading the rest of this book.  These witches are more Baba Yaga and not Circe for example.  There is the obligatory disclaimer on Contemporary Witches and how this game is not that. (As an aside, as someone that has written these myself this one does seem more of a disclaimer of "don't email me" rather than a "I am not trying to offend", but that could just be me. EDITED: I did get an email clarification on this and the author was very much in the "I am not trying to offend, but these are different things" camp, which is cool by me.)
Witches in this game are all evil and their main ability is Wisdom.  Their Charisma must start high, but it degrades as the witch rises in level.  Interesting.  I am not sure I like that since it seems here that Charisma is used as an "Appearance" proxy and not as a "Force of Personality" one.  It would make it hard to make a character like Circe, who was evil, attractive and had a lot of force of personality, as a witch in these rules. That is fine, she would have to be something else, but I do want to point it out.
Witches advance to 13th level; so reminiscent of the druid.  She has a nice variety of spells to choose from (more on this) and there are rules for her brewing potions and poisons.   Like other witches of folklore, this witch can also have multiple familiars.  A nice touch in my mind.
The spells are the real gem of this book.  Nearly 50 new spells there are a lot of classics here.  There are spells on Candle Magic (and done differently than my own) and nearly every base is covered (curses, storm summoning, afflicting others).

Like with DP1, the art is a mix of new and public domain art, but all of it is appropriate to the feel of the book.  In the end this is a very good evil witch class.

One thing that is nice about these classes is  they are sub-classes of the Mage and Cleric respectively.  So you multi-class them.  Well...it's not in the rules per se but you should be able to.   Of course I have teh perfect test character for this.  My latest acquisition, Light Core Hex!

Hex
CE Female Dark Elf
Witch 5 / Necromancer 5

Abilities
STR: 10
INT: 15
WIS: 18
DEX: 9
CON: 10
CHA: 13

Saving Throws
Paralyzation, Poison, Death: 9
Petrification, Polymorph: 12
Rod, Staff, Wand: 11
Breath Weapon: 15
Spells: 12

Special Abilities (class)
Magic bonus: +6 to magical saves
Spell casting
Create Magic Items
Affect Undead
Bell, Book & Candle
Brew Poison
Call Familiar
Limited to 13th level in Witch
Charisma degradation

Special Abilities (race)
Infravision 120'
Speed 150'
Bonus Spells
Sunlight Vulnerability

HP: 13
AC: 6 (Bracers)

Experience: 38,050 (19,025 each)

Spells
Witch
Blue Flame, Ghostly Hands, Witch's Mark, Blight Field, Fascinate, Magic Broom, Fear, Hand of Glory, Spit Poison

Necromancer
Chattering Skull, Death Mask, Detect Bones, Ectenic Blast, Eyes of the Dead, Animate Dead

Bonus (race)
Faerie Fire, Dancing Lights, Darkness 5' radius, Detect Magic, Know Alignment, Levitation, Clairvoyance, Detect Lie, Suggestion, Dispel Magic

Bonus (wisdom)
Detect Good, Ears of a Bat, Charm Monster, Misfortune, Magic Missile, Sleep

That's a lot of magic!

I have done Skylander's Hex before for other systems:

• 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons (witch class)
• Pathfinder (witch class)
• Spellcraft & Swordplay (warlock class)
• Basic Era, The Witch (witch class)

This one is by far one of the more powerful!  To get an idea of the rule differences between the systems, have a look at all these versions.

So +Joseph Bloch, if I ever play Adventures Dark & Deep with you at a convention can I use this character?!

Review: Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary

If you ever only buy ONE product from BRW and the Adventures Dark & Deep line then make sure it is this one.

I love monster books. I have said so many, many times. But I also hold them to a high standard.  While I Will gladly buy any monster book, few get my high praise.  Adventures Dark and Deep Bestiary is one of those few.

Let be honest up front.  We have seen most if not all the monsters somewhere else before.
Most are in the SRD or from other Open sources. The new ones are great, but they are ideas we have seen.

And none of that matters.  This is still a great book.
At 457 pages (pdf) it is a beast. Monsters are alphabetically listed by areas you would find them in.  So Wilderness and Dungeon is by far the bulk of them, but there are also Waterborne (fitting in with the rules) and "Outsiders" or monsters from the other planes.  But I am getting ahead of myself.

The book begins with two monster spell casters, the Shaman and the Witch Doctor.  Shades of similar classes from the BECMI RC to be sure. But they work here great and frankly I know someone will want to use these rules to play a Shaman one day.  Heck I once tried a Wemic Shaman in early 2e days myself.  Maybe I'll see if I can do that here.  The classes are not detailed and they don't need to be. The do what they need to do.

The Monster descriptions are a bit like those found in OSRIC though there are some interesting additions.
Each Monster has a Morale, like that found in Basic and 2nd ed, though it is not score but an adjustment.  Attacks are listed in the stat block, though they are the attack types. This is most similar to "Special Attacks" in other rules.  Also wholly new are "Weaknesses" which is an interesting idea and one I think other OSR publishers should adopt.  Each monster then gets a couple of paragraphs of text.  Many are illustrated thanks to the highly successful kickstarter for this (more on that later).  The illustrations are great too as you can see here and here.

All the monsters have General, Combat and Appearance sections in their write-ups.

Unlike 2e (and 4e) monsters are not confined to one-page entries.  Some have paragraphs, others just a few lines.  This is good since I think we would have something like 1000+ pages.  I think I read there are 1100 monsters in this book. Maybe 900.  Anyway it's a lot.  I spot checked a few monsters I thought might not be there, but sure enough they were.  Ok so the ones that are Closed via the OGL are not here, but I was not expecting those.  There are some alternates and stand ins if you really, really need them though.

The book sections are:
Wilderness and Dungeon, aka Most of the Monsters
Underwater and Waterborne, larger than expected, but not surprised given the material in the core books.
Prehistoric Monsters, always nice to have; Dinosaurs and Ice Age mammals.
Extra Planar Monsters, your Outsiders.

Appendix A details creating your own monsters.
Appendix B has something I didn't even realize was missing till I started reading the stats; a basic psionic system for psychic strikes.
Appendix C covers random creatures from the Lower Planes.  This is the first "Gygaxian" touch I have noticed in this book.  Reminds me of a really old Dragon magazine article from years ago..
Appendix D is magic resistance table
and Appendix E covers the abilities of Gods.

All of this in a PDF for just under $15.

I have mentioned before that Joe gets his work done and gets it done fast. Well this is not only no exception but it is the new benchmark.  Joe ended his kickstarter and then got printed books out to people 6 months early.  Let that sink in for a moment.  In a hobby where we tolerate (although not quietly) Kickstarters with delays of 18 months, Joe and BRW are out there, turning out product and getting it to people early.
You should buy a copy of this book on that principle alone.

So should you get this book?

If you like monsters then yes.  If you need monsters for your oldschool game then yes.  If you want to support Joe and the Adventures Dark & Deep system then yes. If you want to reward good Kickstarter behavior then absolutely yes.

Lots of good reasons to get in my book.  It is also the best book in his line. Kudos to +Joseph Bloch .

October Movie: La Vampire Nue (1969)

An odd French movie.  Men is weird masks hunt down a nearly naked girl and shoot her.
We see another girl kill herself in front of the supposed dead girl who now gets up to drink her blood.

This movie has all the trappings of a horror film but I thin it might actually be more Sci-Fi.  The girl is believed to be a vampire (the "Nude Vampire" of the title) and is kept a prisoner by these scientists (the men in masks) who experiment on her and feed her blood from a suicide cult.

The lead scientist's son discovers all of this and falls in love with the girl.

For me the movie did not get interesting till the very end.  Turns out the girl, the son and some others (including Jean Rollin staples the Castel twins) are mutants and represent the next stage of human evolution.  They are immortal and time travelers it seems.   I liked the bit about the older couple sitting out in front welcoming Georges (the son), it was like they had seen this same exchange 1,000 of times.  Maybe the exact same exchange.

So as a vampire movie it was weak and I was ready to write it off.  It was slow, but the end redeemed it and made it far more enjoyable.

Tally: Watched 21,  New 17

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Review: Adventures Dark and Deep Game Masters Toolkit

One of the greatest books ever produced for any game is the 1st Edition Dungeon Master's Guide.  One of the most disappointing books ever made was the 2nd Edition Dungeon Master's Guide.

The logic for this was good.  All the information that all players need should be in the Player's Handbook.  The rest goes into the DMG.  The result should be a larger Player's Book than a Game Master's book. That is what we got for 2nd ed.  Somehow it didn't quite work as well.

Adventures Dark & Deep follows the same logic but gain a different result.
The Adventures Dark and Deep Game Masters Toolkit is the book that BRW and Joseph Bloch didn't have to do a Kickstarter for.   The statement that Joe put out at the time was Kickstarters are for projects he needed to finish the funding for.  The Game Masters Toolkit did not need it.

The GMTK is smaller than the Player's Book at 174 pages.  Not as small as the 2nd ed DMG, but the comparison is there.  The GMTK also includes some information from A Curious Volume of Forgotten Lore but it also has a lot more.

The GMTK also follows an example from 2nd ed and it largely mirrors the layout and placement of sections form the Players Book.  Something that the 1st ed DMG could have done better.
We start with a discussion on "alternate" races like the Dark Elf or Deep Gnome.
Various NPC types are discussed including class distribution and some non-classes like noble and hirelings.
There are tables to generate personalities and physical traits for random NPCs, as well as alignment and possessions.

We get into the Game Environment that is a hold over from A Curious Volume.
Swimming, Underwater travel and Flying are also discussed along with various terrains and hazards.  A little bit down we have a section on ships that is greatly expanded.  Again, could have used this when I was wrapping up my 1st Ed AD&D game.
The feel of these is similar to the classic DMG, but better organized.

Social Encounters come from A Curious Volume, but having them here in context with the other rules is much nicer.

Treasure types are discussed and magic item distribution.

The most interesting bits to me are coming up.   To me this shows the influence of the 3e DMG or just a natural progression.  Bloch covers not just the campaign world, the campaign mythos as well.  So whether you like playing in a Classical world, a Lost Golden Age, Underground or even in a Lovecraftian-inspired world is up to you. You are given the tools to build what you need, but not the worlds themselves (this is Feature, not a Bug!).

Religion and Gods are covered next.  Various reasons to have a god or a patron deity are covered and what sorts of powers they all have.  The list of powers and abilities is more 1st Ed than 2nd Ed.  I will also admit I don't know much off the top of my head about what Gygax said about gods and religions.  I know he said some things.  On a personal note I had conversations with  Mr. Gygax himself on the topic of religion and I know he was no great fan despite his own history.
Bloch though moves on and gives us a sample Pantheon to use in our game, the Norse gods.  Again from personal knowledge I know that Joseph Bloch is a fan of the Norse mythology and gods, so this is a good fit really.   Though I do wonder at the utility of listing the XP for permanently slaying Odin (1,022,000 XP btw).

The Planes of Existence is up next and it is cut from the Gygaxian cloth.  Wholly compatible to what we have seen in 1st and 2nd ed, there are some nice twists.  I like the art depicting the planes in relationship to each other.

Next we get into a section on Designing Adventures.  Covered are Dungeons, Wilderness and Urban.  The section is not long, but very useful.

Magic Items are next.  Personally I would have liked the charts for the Magic Items and the descriptions to all be in one place.  This takes up quite a bit of the book at 70 pages.

Appendix A is last and it collects and reprints all the useful tables.
Correction: Appendix A is a whole new set of random tables.  Sorry for the oversight on that!

With the GMTK you can really see the utility of Adventures Dark & Deep over a reference guide like OSRIC.  Not a slight at OSRIC at all, but this book has a slight edge in just by being a seperate Game Masters book.

To me the advantages of this book, all this information is one place, is better than say OSRIC or Labyrinth Lord + what is missing.

That being said, there are still some things I would have done differently. Most involve the placement of various section. Others I know are "locked" into the Gygazian visions or at least how Joseph Bloch interprets them. For me, I think I would have expanded the sections on adventuring in Dungeons, Wilderness and Urban settings more.  I would have expanded the section on how to create magic items and even changed somethings.  But that is me.

All in all this is a good addition to the game line.  I felt less of the Gygax connection here. Hard to say if that is me not knowing what he said on these subjects OR these are things that need to be here logically to make the rest of the game work.  In any case I am happy with what I got.

Coming Soon! Eldritch Witchery

Files have been sent off to the publisher and very, very soon Eldritch Witchery will be up on DriveThruRPG/RPGNow for sale.

Eldritch Witchery is my "love letter" to OD&D.

Designed for Spellcraft & Swordplay it could be used with just about any old-school game you like.  The older the better.

In its 206 pages you will find rules for witches, warlocks, new traditions (for witches) and new lodges (for warlocks).  Plus rules for all sorts of demons like the Calabim, the Shedim, Lilim and the Baalseraph.

Makes a good companion to The Witch, though there is some overlap.

The cover art is by Isra2007.

October Movie: Feast of Satan (1971)

Feast of Satan or Las amantes del diablo.  Not a lot of feasting or Satan really in this one.
The story starts out interestingly enough, a woman comes to search for her younger sister.  There is a lot of talking, some time on the boat and an appropriately creepy bad guy in Dr. Nescue.

The nugget I am taking away from this is the idea that there is a female version of Satan; Sheba.
I think I would have enjoyed this more if it were more about say Lilith. But I can't be too choosy I guess.

Tally: Watched 20,  New 16

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