I talked about this movie back in June. So I added it to my Amazon watchlist. And then I forgot about it. I decided to pull it up for today.
This one can only be described as Previously Watched. I think I might have watched it a few dozen times back when my family got Showtime back when it was new to our town. Not a bad choice though for my first re-watch of the season.
The movie is a pseudo-documentary about the "North American Wildlife Research" group taking a group into British Columbia. It had the same feel of a lot of pseudo-documentaries on various "alternative science" that were popular in the late 70s.
Watching it then, when I was about 10 or so, it seemed like the real deal. Watching it now? Yeah, I am a little embarrassed I was taken in.
The movie is not great, or even good, but it was a good distraction. And for a G-rated movie it has some scares in it. I still remember that howl of the Bigfoots.
It is not a stretch of the imagination at all to consider this movie the "Event Zero" of what became my Valhalla, AK game. Of course, the sasquatch in Valhalla is a bit different than this one.
In a normal NIGHT SHIFT game, the Sasquatch would be more of a threat, like this movie. In my Valhalla, AK game...well the sasquatch was more of a nuisance.
Every night the townspeople of Valhalla would be awoken by the sounds of moose braying in the night followed by the unholy sound of something else. I would play the sasquatch sounds at this point. The old locals of course know this is a sasquatch. So the PCs investigate, expecting to find dead moose. They don't find any at all. Quite the opposite really, they find all these female moose just hanging about this one strange clearing. Turns out that there is a young male sasquatch, a teen really, and has been having sex with the female moose (mooses, moosen, miice?) after the sun goes down. The townsfolk have been hearing his amorous escapades. The adventure resolves when they can lure the sasquatch back to his own people.
A bit silly? Yes. A bit ribald? Sure. But that is exactly the sort of thing I want to happen in Valhalla, AK.
We continue this first full week of October with full witch classes from the DMSGuild.
I grabbed this one because I rather liked the cover. Let's hope the text can live up to my expectations. For those following, I have set up some rules for myself that you can see here.
This PDF is listed as 9 pages, but the revised PDF is actually 13. There is a cover page, but the rest is content. Unlike many of the other products on DMSGuild this one has it's own style of layout. In truth, it is a nice change of pace.
We get all the expected elements for a full class for 5e; level advancement charts, quick builds, as well class and spell information. This witch is a Wisdom caster.
A couple of things stick out. One, this witch needs a special sort of spell focus known as a Staff of Hexes. Without it she can't cast spells. Also this witch has something called "Magicka" points. So a little different than other casters.
The archetypes or subclasses for this witch are called different "Wonders"; ie "Wonder of the Grimoire", "Wonder of the Cauldron", "Wonder of Voodoo", "Curse of the Hag" (not Wonder of the Hag), "Wonder of the Hedge Witch", "Wonder of the White Witch", and "Wonder of Prophecy". While I am not overly fond of the name I do like what they do. I think I would have gone with "Path of the ..." myself.
The archetypes seem well balanced and thought out.
There is a spell list, but no new spells. There is no art, save for the cover.
This is another PWYW item with a suggestion of $2.00.
The layout is crisp and very utilitarian. It doesn't scream "Witch" to me, nor does it feel "D&D." Although it is attractive and very functional.
I certainly would try a couple of these archetypes/subclasses out. Some interesting ideas.
I am sure I had seen this one. But like SO MANY Italian, French and Spanish horror films from the late 60s and early 70s plots, scenes and even whole movies were recycled. I mean this one even has the same music as "The Night She Rose From the Grave" which I am getting too later and is on the same DVD as this movie. Though that could even be because of the disk.
This movie has been known as "Malenka", "Fangs of the Living Dead" and "The Vampire's Niece" with various dates between 1968 and 1969.
Anyway, this one features Anita Ekberg, so that is a good reason to check it out.
The movie starts with a nice creepy, "Dracula's Guest", feel to it. Sylvia Morel (Ekberg) learns she has inherited a fortune, a castle, and a new title. Julián Ugarte plays the Count, Sylvia's uncle, Count Walbrooke. Sylvia becomes the Harker stand-in and Walbrooke is Dracula.
I think I was getting this one confused with the Thirst from 1979. But while the beginnings are similar, they become quite different movies. This movie was the obvious prototype for Satan's Slave (also known as Evil Heritage) in 1976 and many Franco movies like A Virgin Among the Living Dead (1973).
We learn that Sylvia's grandmother was burned at the stake as a witch and she was able to turn her children into vampires.
The basic story cleaves very, very close to the Dracula tale. So nothing really new here.
Until the end, and there is a neat little twist. It really saved the movie for me.
So many of these movies have old cursed families with a suspension of witchcraft and vampirism.
I think what I need, both for NIGHT SHIFT and maybe even my various witch books is a family of witches, in decay, whose members become vampires after death. Not all are powerful vampires, some are little more than ghouls really, but a few. Take notes from the Karnsteins and movies like this.
In some ways the Montblancs in NIGHT SHIFT's "Ordinary World" can cover this. Maybe this is a direction I could take them. The American Montblancs are an old family, but the European Montblancs are ancient and maybe a little more evil. Combine this with my Byleth idea from last week.
Maybe that is how I separate them, the American Montblancs are featured in NIGHT SHIFT but the "European" Montblancs would be featured in my Witch books for Basic-era. I would need to have a map for the run down, but still better than anywhere you have lived, Château Montblanc.
Tonight is the premiere of the FINAL season of Supernatural. I can't believe it.
With the Supernatural RPG out of print, NIGHT SHIFT is the best choice for playing a Supernatural-style game, where the PCs are largely normal people fighting against something far beyond their own power levels.
So this seems like a perfect time to bring back my favorite show that never was, Wayward Sisters!
Note: If Jody is the mom, then Donna is the fun aunt.
Annie Jones
3rd Level Survivor/1st level Sage, Human
Strength: 12 (0)
Dexterity: 12 (0)
Constitution: 15 (+1)
Intelligence: 15 (+1) s
Wisdom: 16 (+2) s
Charisma: 15 (+1) P
HP: 19 (3d4+1d6)
AC: 9
Fate Points: 1d6
Check Bonus (P/S/T): +3/+2/0
Melee bonus: +0 (+1) Ranged bonus: +0 (+1)
Saves: +3 to death saves
Special Abilities: Open locks 35%, Bypass traps 30%, Sleight of Hand 40%, Move Silently 40%, Hide in Shadows 30%, Climb 75%, Danger Sense 50%, Perceptive 50%, Sneak Attack x2, Read Languages 80%, Lore 25% (special bouns +5% for vampire lore)
Skills: Medicine (Int), Science (Int), Notice (Wis), Deceive (Cha)
Languages: English, Spanish
Notes: Use to be "bait" for a vampire family and was a vampire once. Now she is a nurse. Of all the Wayward Sisters Annie/Anne/Alex wants to have a "normal" life the most.
Claire Novak
1st Level Theosophist/3rd Level Survivor, Human
Strength: 12 (0) s
Dexterity: 13 (+1) P
Constitution: 15 (+1) s
Intelligence: 15 (1)
Wisdom: 14 (+1)
Charisma: 14 (+1)
HP: 22 (1d6+3d4)
AC: 8
Fate Points: 1d6
Check Bonus (P/S/T): +3/+2/0 Melee bonus: +0 (+1) Ranged bonus: +0 (+1)
Saves: +3 to all wisdom saves
Special Abilities: See Dead People, Turn Undead, Protection from Undead, Open locks 35%, Bypass traps 30%, Sleight of Hand 40%, Move Silently 40%, Hide in Shadows 30%, Climb 75%, Danger Sense 50%, Perceptive 50%, Sneak Attack x2, Read Languages 80%, Lore 25% (special bouns +5% for angelic lore)
Notes: She Began as a theosophist due to her religious background and her ability to be a perfect angelic vessel for Castiel. Was a werewolf once. She is in love with Kaia. She is the one Wayward Sister that is most like the Winchesters.
Patience Turner
3rd Level Psychic, Human
Strength: 12 (0)
Dexterity: 14 (+1)
Constitution: 14 (+1)
Intelligence: 18 (+3) P
Wisdom: 16 (+2) s
Charisma: 17 (+2) s
Notes: Kaia is a Dream Walker which can be covered by the Psychic class. Her stint in the "Bad Place" gave her a level of Survivor. Kaia is also a former drug user to keep herself from dreaming. She is in love with Claire. #dreamhunter.
Episodes/Adventures would have to be named after rocks songs by women-fronted bands; like Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Halestorm (naturally), The Pretty Reckless, Doro, Garbage, and Lacuna Coil. Taking a page from Supernatural music would have to play an important role. Come to think of it, you could just use my Daughters of Darkness playlist. At 39 songs, that's 3 "seasons" of 13 "episodes" each. I love it when a plan comes together.
This PDF was 17 pages when I first downloaded it. It grew to 29 sometime between then and now. The PDF is full color and sells for $5.00 suggested PWYW.
The cover is fantastic and the artist, Diana Nock, is credited. So far this is very good.
The table of contents is hyperlinked. It looks like some great content inside too. Witches are called the "Acolytes of the First Magic" next to the art of their iconic witch Nathilda Pickingill and her familiar Malefelies. She wears a proper witches hat, carries a proper witches broom (with a dream catcher no less), and her hooded cloak is clasped shut with a triple goddess symbol.
At this point, I feel like I am being flirted with.
There is a full 20 level Witch progression table. A note about Gender. Even the 20th level power is "Grand Old Wytch." I guess "Grand Olde Wytch" was a step too far. This witch is an "Intelligence" caster.
There are rules for Ritual Casting in line with D&D 5's ritual casting. Rules on familiars (with great art) INCLUDING backgrounds for familiars! How great is that?
If Pathfinder witches get Hexes then these witches get Jinxes. Ok, I like that. Magical powers for potions and brooms.
Sub-classes are known as Covens (perfect) and there are Covens of the Dark Moon, Full Moon, Half Moon, Crescent Moon, and. There is even a Coven of the Eclipse and a Coven of the Lost Moon. There is even a sidebar about what to do if your moons on your world are different. Ok, now I feel positively flirted with and I am beginning to blush.
There is a very extensive list of Witch Spells from various sources and 12 new spells. There is even guidance on which of these new spells can be used by other classes.
All in all, this is one of the best Witch Class books I have seen on DMSGuild so far. A significant cut above the rest. I would happily play one of these witches.
I am a sucker for a weird Klaus Kinski movie. The trouble with this one was that he really wasn't in it much nor very central to the plot.
We watch the disjointed (and told in weird flashback) events of the life and death and life of Greta. She is dead and mourned by her brother Franz. We later learn that Franz used to abuse and rape Greta till she ran off with a mysterious Dr. von Ravensbrück. Then we jump to a scene where Greta is in a coach accident. Her driver is killed and she is rescued by a young married couple, Walter and Eva. Greta has no memory and is soon living with, and having sex with, Walter and Eva.
Klaus Kinski comes in as their doctor and he sees an amulet on Eva's neck that perplexes him. He goes off to run experiments on corpses. Meanwhile, Gertrude is bothered by Greta and keeps seeing Greta's rapey brother in hallucinations.
Gertrude eventually flees the house but is shot in the face by someone she knows but we never see.
Later Eva finally gets jealous of the sex Walter is having with Greta (she wants her to herself) and seals Greta up in a vault The Cask of Amontillado style. Of and around this time Kinski's Dr. Sturges has revealed that Greta's amulet is a formula for bringing the dead back to life. He succeeds but is killed by someone soon after.
A few weeks later the search for Greta is winding down and Eva and Walter throw a party. At the party, Eva sees Greta and chases her throughout the house. Greta's face is young one moment and a corpse-like visage the next. Greta kills Eva, but no one sees her do it.
Greta goes on to kill Walter, Walter's father who was...wait for it...Dr. von Ravensbrück! We learn then that Greta was pregnant with Dr. von Ravensbrück's child but she died in childbirth. The whole thing was witnessed by Gertrude!
Rapey Franz then brought her back to life, but she kills him. She also kills the butler of the von Ravensbrück's just because she can.
We see Greta in the end. I guess she must be immortal now.
Not a bad flick, but very disjointed. Ewa Aulin as Greta is great to look at, but she isn't much of an actress. Granted my copy is dubbed, so it is harder to tell. Klaus Kinski is his typical weird-ass self.
Woman with amnesia is found, either by the characters or people they know. Turns out she is a reanimated corpse intent on killing everyone that was responsible for her death.
What separates this from say the plot of "The Crow"? Well, in this case, she is killing everyone even remotely associated with her death whether they had an active role or not. So less "The Crow" and more "Dr. Phibes."
If you name your publishing label "Basic Witch Games" you are going to get my attention.
So last night I got a new PDF from a just-as-new company. The PDF is The Muse and the company is Basic Witch Games. Now full disclosure, I knew about this class a while back and gave the author a tiny bit of advice about it and encouraged her to add a bit and publish it.
So ethically I can not provide you all an unbiased review.
Also, the book uses some of my own OGC, so there is another reason.
But I do want to tell you this is a fun class. It's not for every group, but that is true of all classes really, but for the right group this can be a lot of fun.
The Muse is the first in what I hope will be more Basic era content from Basic Witch Games. The class is something of a tempter or even a seducer. I am immediately reminded of the old Houri Class from White Dwarf.
The class itself is 14 level B/X style class. The cover has a nice visual transition from red to blu to cover the red and blue of the beloved Basic and Expert books. In addition to the spells from my witch classes, there are new spells too. There is also a new magic sword.
Basic Witch Games will be coming out with more material and even a Dark Fantasy / Romantic Fantasy setting. So I am looking forward to seeing what they do.
I am, without a doubt, a huge fan of the witches for Dragon Magazine. I have spent hours reading and rereading those articles. I have many witch characters I have made using those rules and spent many, many more hours playing them. So if you say that your class is based on those, you have my attention.
The Witch Class from David Belmonte is a 10 (1 cover, 1 title, 1-page addendum, 7 pages content) page PDF that is Free on DMSGuild. So the price point is already good. It also presents a full witch class.
The pdf is sparce really. There is no art save for the cover art and the artist is not credited.
The witch in this case is a Wisdom spellcaster. (They were Intelligence and Wisdom in Dragon #20).
The powers this witch gets are in line with the witch from Dragon #20. Though the witch in Dragon got a lot more powers, this witch is a little more inline with the D&D 5 rules. There are no subclasses listed even if the obvious choice would have been High and Low Order witches with some different powers.
There are 8 new spells. One of the Spells "Oracle" only works "in obscure woods" whatever that is supposed to mean.
So nice effort, but it falls a little short for me. Though it is tough to argue the price I guess.
I have heard that some people didn't care for this one, but you can't watch it thinking it is a Lovecraft movie. Lovecraft never translates well on screen. Watch this one thinking it is a crazy Nick Cage movie.
Sadly I did not see this one when it came out, but I had heard a lot of good (and bad) about it. Well the movie itself did not disappoint. I mean really, Lovecraft, Nick Cage? This has disaster written all over it but it gets pulled together well.
So the movie follows the story rather well. Well, as can be expected.
Our narrator, the unnamed surveyor, becomes Ward Phillips a hydrologist played by Elliot Knight. I have to admit I did enjoy that the narrator, our POV character, is played by a mixed-race, Nigerian-British actor who is very active in gay rights. Lovecraft would be so happy.
Nick Cage is at his Nick Cage best. Super serious when he needs to be, and bat-shit insane with an accent when the movie needs that. He reminded me of his characters in Vampire's Kiss and National Treasure. And let's not forget, Cage has won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe, and Screen Actors Guild Award. He is great as troubled Nathan/Nahum Gardner.
The sons are changed and there is a daughter, Lavinia played by Madeleine Arthur (who has some solid geek cred with credits in "Supernatural", "Legends of Tomorrow", "Tomorrow People", "X-Files", "Magicians", and "Spooksville"). Oh, and Lavinia, who plays a Wiccan, also has a copy of the old 1980 Simon Necronomicon. That made me rather happy to see, to be honest.
And Tommy Chong. Seriously.
Tommy Freaking Chong playing the "crazy man" Ezra/Ammi Pierce.
The hardest thing I think is to capture the horror of Lovecraft on film. I am not sure how many half-failed attempts I have watched over the years. In fact, I think the only good ones have been "From Beyond" and "Re-Animator". Maybe, MAYBE, 1970 The Dunwich Horror with Dean Stockwell.
What I REALLY enjoyed about this was I watched it with my two boys. We all love Lovecraft and we all love Nick Cage movies. So this was a nice treat.
This is supposed to be the first of a shared universe of Lovecraft films, but it did rather poorly in the box office.
What NOT to use here? Might need to grab my 5e Cthulhu Mythos book and give this one a go using the Night Shift game. The characters can play the parts of investigators to the scene. My kids would LOVE that.
So there is a new bit of errata out for D&D5. Nothing new there, in today's Internet age errata is easy to get and often flows out easy enough. For some reason, this latest one has some of the old-school crowd up in arms. Again. Let's see what it is all about.
Kobold Traits (p. 119). In the Ability Score Increase trait, the text has changed to read “Your Dexterity score increases by 2.” The adjustment to Strength has been removed.
Orc Traits (p. 120). In the Ability Score Increase trait, the text has changed to read “Your Strength score increases by 2 and your Constitution score increases by 1.” The adjustment to Intelligence has been removed.
Orc Traits (p. 120). The Menacing trait has been replaced with the following trait:
Primal Intuition. You have proficiency in two of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, and Survival.
Ok. So this is all for characters. Optional characters.
Checking online...oh. For fucks sake.
A message to my fellow 50+-year-old gamers. Lighten the fuck up. Seriously. You all look like a bunch of Chicken Littles, running around screaming about the damn sky is falling.
Wizards of the Coast doesn't care what people who don't buy their product think, to be honest.
The world didn't end when the whole Oriental Adventures debacle happened back in July. Everyone was claiming it was the start of censorship and that Wizards would start taking down or editing older books. Censorship! Censorship! CENSORSHIP!!
These optional rules, in an optional rule book for two races that 99% of you would never allow in the first place in a system you never play has fuck-all to do with you.
In D&D5 there are 15 standard races with 28 sub or variants for a total of 34 choices. None of which have negative ability mods. The only two that did have them were in a supplement and those two are being edited to come into line with the other 34 choices. These are two outliers. They are being brought back into line.
How is this any different than say a new rule in Savage Worlds? Or even in Monopoly?
Yet, people are losing their shit online and looking like a bunch of idiots.
The OSR gets a bad reputation online for the reactions of a few. This is just another example. On one hand, the old-school community will claim not to care or even pay attention to what WotC does with D&D and then turn around and freak out when they release a rule errata that many in the 5e gaming community might just ignore.
This is a 9 page PDF (1 cover, 1 title page, 7 pages of content) and sells for $2.95 straight. So well above the 10 cents per page guide at 42 cents per page. This presents a full witch base class and three subclasses, known as "Wiccan Pathways." Now for myself, I try to avoid using the term "Wicca" in games since it is a recognized religion. Even in the stuff I wrote for the WitchCraft RPG we used "Wicce."
The paths are the Augury Witch (seer), the Fey Witch (combat spellcasting), and the Wyld Witch (healer). So some nice variety.
This witch also gets Hex powers that a little like the Hexes the Pathfinder witch gets or the Occult powers I give my witches.
This witch uses Charisma as their main spell-casting ability.
Some powers sound good, but are not 100% clear on what they really do or how they work. Living Objects for example is described as inanimate objects coming to life. But are they still made from the material they were or are they flesh and blood? Will Dispel Magic turn them back?
This one also properly credits the artists which is good.
I like it, but it left me wanting something more in the end.
Wait...didn't I watch this one last night? Well, you would think so just comparing the posters.
Also known as "Sex of the Witch" this one came out a year after Byleth did. Though in fairness BOTH movies do have a scene that the cover could represent.
An old wine merchant is dying so he curses his family, in particular his greedy grand-children.
One by one people start to die.
The plot, minus the sex and witchcraft, could have been a thriller or even a comedy. There are some parallels to some murder mysteries like Clue and Knives Out. In the sense that people keep dying and there are a bunch squabbling children trying to get Daddy's wealth.
There is lots of sex and nudity and it is pretty much the ultimate evolution of the Italian Giallo, Eurosleaze flick. It was only missing a deformed henchman in my mind. Though there is a creepy dude in black.
I will admit that I am now likely to use "fondling the goldfish" as a sexual euphemism after watching this movie. The said scene is about 40 mins into my copy.
It is notable that Camille Keaton of "I Spit On Your Grave" fame appears in this one as well as one of the nieces, Anna. she gets clawed by the previously mentioned creepy dude.
The movie's biggest crime though is that it is a slog and actually kind of dull.
Maybe a Byleth + Il Sesso Della Strega supercut is needed. In fact, I know just how to do it.
The rich brother writes his sister out of his will because she was a witch and seduced him when they were younger. Now their illegitimate daughter is back. She is also a witch (more powerful since her blood is "concentrated") and begins to kill off all her half-siblings (they think she is "just" a cousin) so she can have all the inheritance for herself.
Since she is a diabolic witch her patron is Byleth, the Demon Prince of Incest.
While Byleth, or Beleth, has a history this version is closer to the D&D/Pathfinder demon Socothbenoth.
Now, this would obviously be a more R or even NC-17 rated game.
To borrow a Scooby-doo trope one of the characters is a distant relative to the brother's wife (so no weird blood relations here).
Like Old-School D&D was a pioneer of gaming, Run-DMC was a pioneer of old-school rap and hip hop. Many hip-hop groups cite Run-DMC as their primary influence and for many of us Run-DMC was out first exposure to the wider world of rap and hip-hop. Could there have been a Public Enemy without Run-DMC? Wu-Tang Clan? NWA? Snoop-Dogg? Outkast? Salt-n-Peppa, De La Soul? Cypress Hill? US3? Digable Planets? TLC? (damn, I still love TLC).
We owe it all to Run-DMC.
Silly? Yeah, a little. But my love of Run-DMC is pure and true. And yeah I know all the words to these songs.
But making a claim, any claim, about the OSR is pointless. While there are trends, there are no main drivers here. No one setting policy or dictating terms save for collective memory of a time when you could turn on your radio and hear "It's Tricky."
Consequently, the claim that OSR is conservative only track because the OSR is as has been often pointed out, full of old fucks.
I am pretty far left and get more liberal and more left and more blue with each passing year.
I shouldn't need to say this, but here it is.
Like THAC0 BLOG and The Elf Game, I don't just reject Nazis and White Supremacists, I utterly reject them and condemn them, and they are not welcome in any part of the games I play, write or enjoy. They can take their orange shitgibbon Trump with them.
Zombie Witch Medium Undead (Corporeal) Frequency: Very Rare Number Appearing: 2d4 (2d4) Alignment: Chaotic [Chaotic Evil] Movement: 90' (30') [9"] Armor Class: 5 [14] Hit Dice: 4d8+4** (22 hp) Attacks: 2 claws + 1 bite, Cause Fear Damage: 1d6, 1d6, 1d4 Special: Only harmed by silver, magic. Cause Fear 1x per day as per spell. Curse. Size: Medium Save: Witch 4 Morale: 12 (12) Treasure Hoard Class: None; see below XP: 100
When a powerful lord or lady dies they are often interred with fine weapons, treasures, and other grave goods that will support them in the after-life. But these lords also know that these good are desired by the less pious and greedy. So the lords will often arrange for a coven of witches to be sacrificed in a dark ritual and buried with the grave goods. The witches do not volunteer for this task, they are captured and sacrificed after the lords' death. It is believed that the anger of the witches will transcend death and the tomb will be protected.
This is true and the undead witch, now a mindless zombie will attack anything living that enters the tomb. Appearances may differ, but they are all undead witches in various states of decay or mummification.
Often lower level witches are used (under 6th level) and the only remains of their magic is a cause fear ability they can use as a group 1x per day. They then attack as fast-moving zombies (normal initiative). They will fight until they are destroyed. If the last zombie witch is destroyed and there are still combatants alive they will lay their final curse. Anyone taking goods away from the tomb must save vs. death or be afflicted with a rotting disease that drops their HP by 1d6 per day until death. Healing magics, potions, or other means will not stop the spread of the curse. Only a remove curse or similar magic can stop this curse. Then the victim can be healed.
If destroyed, zombie witches will reform by the next new moon. Only a cleric casting bless or a witch casting hallow or remove curse on the tomb will stop their return.
Zombie witches are turned as wights or 4HD undead.
A lot of pdfs on DMSGuild are named "The Witch" and I guess I am not really any better on DriveThruRPG, so to distinguish them I am going to include the author's name in the titles.
This is an eleven-page PDF (8 pages of content, 1 cover, 1 title, 1 legal) that sells for $1.33 on DMSGuild (PWYW, suggested). So just a little over that 10 cents per page rule of thumb.
This product covers an entire witch base class.
These witches are very tied in with Hags and have the first witches as human women that have broken free from their transformation into hags.
The main ability of these witches is Intelligence.
The subclasses for this witch are Haglore Scholar, Athame Witch, and Rune Witch. They have a lot of flavor, to be honest, and would be fun to try out.
No new spells, but the spell lists are rather extensive covering the Player's Handbook and many of the other sourcebooks.
The art is minimal, but at least there are credits to the artists.
All in all there are some fun options here and I'd give them a try
This is another one from last year. The Blu-Ray was not available till November, so here we are. This is another one of those notorious movies of the 70s Euro-sleaze horror. One I had been looking for a while mostly because I never thought I'd find it.
Byleth: The Demon of Incest is a little Italian gem that features murders, gratuitous nudity and enough brother/sister incest for an episode of Game of Thrones.
Let's get right to the point. It's not good. It is slow and the lead Mark Damon as Duke Lionello is not great.
The movie revolves around Duke Lionello, his sister Barbara and Barbara's new husband Giordano. This is a problem of course since Lionello and Barbara have been having an incestuous affair. An affair that Lionello is loathed to give up.
The movie does make use of the demon Beleth, which is expected. At one point Barbara asks her brother, Lionello, if he still has his white horse. They later talk about "Byleth" on his white horse.
Of course, you are never sure if Lionello is possessed by Byleth or just crazy. I like to think possessed because that is what I do here.
The Severin Blu-Ray version is really good. There are some color issues from the original negative, but otherwise, it looks great. Too bad the movie could not live up to the hype.
This was a fun one. It reminds me a bit of "The Mephisto Waltz" and a little bit of the "Music of Erich Zahn", only in reverse.
Rose Fisher (Freya Tingley) is a world-class violinist and she learns that her estranged father, and brilliant strange composer, Richard Marlowe (Rutger Hauer) is dead.
She inherits his home and all his belongings including a very strange violin sonata. Her agent Simon Abkarian(Charles Vernais) investigates and learns that the sonata was part of a work linking it to a cult of Satan worshipers in France and it appears to have been written just for Rose.
The movie is more of a thriller, but there is the summoning of the antichrist and the ghosts of the children sacrificed by Marlow in the process of composing his masterpiece sonata.
The movie was rather good. Frey Tingley is great as Rose and I wanted more Rutger Hauer.
The end was a nice little twist so I enjoyed that.
I am a sucker for any story that mixes music with magic.
Frankly, I would lift this plot wholesale to use as a NIGHT SHIFT adventure. Investigate the scary mansion of a composer that commits suicide. Horrible tapes found in the basement. All sorts of great things here. Though stopping it would require an active antagonist.
This might be the most "1976" movie I have seen in a long time. Lots of drugs, naked hot tubbing, and a busted up Volkswagen Karmann Ghia.
The main character, our "Witch", Molly is fairly insane. She tries to repress the abuse she suffered at the hands of her father while lusting after all these different men.
She also seems to be killing men but not remembering it.
Molly is not just deranged, she is also very simple like she is still stuck somehow back at being a child.
Molly keeps spiraling deeper into madness and the police are quickly on to her.
In some of her flashbacks, it's hard to tell what was real and what is only her delusional state. So she either killed a few men or a lot of them.
What I don't get is how in the hell did she get up and kill people with all those drugs and alcohol in her system.
IMDB said this movie had witchcraft in it, but not really.
There is horror here, but not of the conventional sort.
Not every supernatural occurrence is a bad one as I have tried to show in Ordinary World. Some times the supernatural occurrence is not even really supernatural. In the case of this movie, there is a supposed "witch" but really it is just a mentally disturbed woman that kills men. A ruse like this only works once to be honest so use it sparingly. Too much and you turn your "Supernatural Horror" into "Scooby-Doo."
It's Friday! It's October! Let's start some Friday Night Videos!
Since I am also doing my October Horror Movie Marathon posts I am writing these posts early to autopost.
So let's get started.
Tonight I have the music of my favorite all-girl, eco-goth band of witches, the Hex Girls! Not just the songs from their Scooby-Doo episodes but some clever coplayers and cover bands.
Well. One of the words in the title is a lie, but one is spot on.
Also known as "El Vampiro De La Autopista" this is a movie that never really knows what it wants to do. Both titles tell us this is a Vampire film, but it is often treated (right up to the end in fact) as a mundane murder mystery. They make a big deal of the murders happening every 28 years, but the ending does nothing to explain that.
Not to spoil it, but the movie is kind of dull, the police detective pins the murders on an escaped mental patient. One we don't even hear about till the very end. This is despite the fact that the murders have an obvious supernatural element to them. How obvious? Well, the killer is invisible.
Now under other circumstances, this might be interesting, but here it is just cheesy.
Sadly some interesting ideas lost in this Spanish "Hammer-envy" movie.
Well. The best thing to do with this one really is to have a serial killer in your games. Everyone thinks it is a vampire, but it really just a human psychopath. This works well in Ordinary World if all the characters are supernatural and they are worried that one of their own is going to get them exposed.
The Dead Milkmen are releasing a D&D adventure about a "Bitchin Chimera." Do I really need to tell you more than that? No idea if Tony Orlando and Dawn, Beelze-bubba, Mojo Nixon, or a Punk Rock Girl will appear.
Ok, first and foremost this Kickstarter will not benefit any of the current racist owners of the Judges Guild. This collects some of the best material of the early days of JG and all written by Jennell Jaquays. Some very, very solid stuff here, and Goodman Games puts out a solid product.
and finally one more look at this one now that it has made it's funding goal.
Today I have three products again that work well with each other, but this time they are not by the same author.
These products all deal with the area of the Forgotten Realms known as "The Unapproachable East" and Rashemen in particular. This is of course one of the strengths of doing a product for the DMSGuild as opposed to doing it via the OGL; the ability to access Wizard's IP to use.
While that is certainly attractive in some cases, I much prefer to use the OGL. But if these authors had then we not have these products.
This one is huge and has ten authors. The pdf and hardcover book fills it's 144 pages with full-color art and details on all sorts of details on the Great Dale section of the Unapproachable East. This book actually rivals such books from WotC like The Sword Coast guide and the Icewind Dale. This book covers the people of the lands with new classes (sub-classes), new backgrounds, new feats as well as new spells and magic items. The lands are covered with geography, history, factions, friends, and foes. There are guides for playing in the lands as well. The author's introduction sets the stage for the book AND I think it also a good selling point for why people would want to use the DMSGuild rules over the OGL.
In the case of this book it works well. I also appreciate that authors not only took the time to properly credit the artists, the obtained commissions for some art as well. This more than justifies the $19.95 price tag for the PDF. It is also one of the few DMSGuild books I would want as a hardcover too. If I played in the Realms more. If I ever get a Realms 5e going then this will be on my list for getting the hardcover version.
While the Witches of Rashemen are mentioned, there is no "Witch" class. Plenty of Warlock and Wizard sub-classes though.
This is a modest PDF that punches above its weight class. It gives us 13 pages of 5e style spells that are conversions of earlier spells from the Unapproacble East area. A few I recognized from Unapproachable East (3.5) and from Spellbound (2e). No art, but 39 spells that were not part of the D&D 5 corpus at the time the PDF was made. All of that for just a PWYW of $0.50. Not to bad really.
Again, no Witch class in this one. But plenty of spells.
Ah! Now here is what I have been wanting. You can't write about witches in D&D as long as I have and not come across the Wychlaran Witch, the Witches of Rashemen. It was one of the reasons I finally put down my Greyhawk books to see what this "young upstart" of the Forgotten Realms was about.
This PDF is modest, only 8 pages, written by Bryan Williams. It covers the Wychlaran Witch class as a full class. It covers the class and all the class features, but it is missing the advancement tables and spells per level. It looks and reads like it should be akin to a sub-class of the Sorcerer, and that works to a degree, still I would have liked to see the table. There is a section on new equipment, which is good, and 13 new spells. I supposed the advantage to this particular PDF is if you have a Witch class you like you can use this in conjunction with it to create a more witch-y Wychlaran. So that is a bonus in it's favor.
Also the PDF is PWYW with a listed price of $0, but I say use my guideline of ¢10 per page and give the author ¢80 (or ¢60 for the actual content). For less than...well just about everything, you can have a class and some new spells.
As typical, I start with some of the left-overs from last-year. This one was high on my list due to some chatter online. I guess the deal is that it was supposed to have been a Doctor Strange movie with Jeffery Combs playing the Strange role. Here he is now Anton Mordrid, and it suits him better I think. Brian Thompson is in this as well, playing, what else, the bad guy.
The effects are a little cheesy, but that is to be expected, this was low budget even 1992 standards. It was fun to see some old-school stop-action effects.
The horror is roughly on par with the Doctor Strange comics. All the elements are there, but you are never really expected to be afraid.
Combs and Thompson make for great adversaries, it is a shame we have not seen them in something else together. Both look so damn young in this. But I guess this movie is nearly 30 years old.
The "I'll see ya again I promise," leads me to believe that there was going to be more, but sadly we never got it.
Doctor Mordrid's world is so adaptable to Night Shift that one wonders why I never watched it before this! He is in all respects a version of Doctor Strange, but there is more to it than that. Mordrid, for example, seems to be much older than Strange having waited 150 years for the return of Kabal.
Anton Mordrid, Ph.D.
20th Level Warlock
Str 12 (+0) Dex 10 (+0) Con 17 (+2) Int 18 (+3)* Wis 18 (+3)** Cha 15 (+1)**
XP: 4,000,000
Hit Dice: 11d4+18 (20) Hit Points: 66 AC: 7
Attack Bonus: +6
Check Bonus: +8*/+6**/+4
Armor: Magic cloak
Saves: +7 vs. spells and magical effects
Fate Points: 10
Class Abilities: Arcana 150% (knowledge about magic, rituals, cults, and spellcasting), Spellcasting 150% (160% if he has his Amulet of Kronos).
Other Special Abilities: Arcane Bond (Amulet of Kronos, adds +10% to spellcasting), Blaster, Enhanced Senses, Telekinesis
Both products feature the same cover art with some color variation.
The Hedgewitch PDF is a PWYW with a suggestion of $1.00 for 9 pages. Covens is $0.50 for 4 pages.
It looks like the math here is about ¢10 a page. Let's see if that holds up across the DMSGuild titles.
Both come in standard format and printer-friendly format.
The Hedgewitch is true to its name and presents a Hedgewitch class. She gets spell levels up to level 5 only. The class has a nice variety of features and powers and all have a really nice witchy feel to them.
The "sub-classes" or archetypes of the hedgewitch are "covens" which is exactly what I would do and would expect since "Traditions" were taken by the Wizards class. There is a nic variety here.
The layout and art look really nice. I think some of it is public domain art and photos. At least they look a little familiar.
There are no "new" spells, but it does use spells that were new at the time of publication.
Covens for the Hedgewitch is similar in terms of art, layout, and options. This pdf offers another four covens to use with the Hedgewitch.
So a couple of thoughts.
These easily could have been combined into one product, but I think I see the rationale for keeping them separate. Either way it is fine.
The layout and art is really nice, the creator spent some time on this and it shows. This was released four years ago and I thought the creator would have done more, but I only see six total titles in the DMSGuild. The inclusion of printer-friendly versions is a very nice touch.
I would try this class out. I think there are some good ideas here.
ETA: The Hedge witch class was taken down since I wrote this review.
October is here! I am not sure about you, but my thoughts have turned to Halloween. Ok, that’s not true. I was thinking about Halloween back in August. But since most everyone else is now thinking about Halloween I thought it might be nice to delve into reviews.
My kids have been wanting me to create a 5e Witch class ever since 5e came out. I have not done it because, well, I think I can get out of the warlock and druid and some deft multiclassing the witch character I want. Presently I am playing a wizard who also has the magical scholar background that is working out well. I am also playing multiclass warlock/paladin to cover a “Green Knight” and Warlock that has been picking up various feats from sorcerer, wizard, and bard to get a more witchy feel. But since I play so rarely (I am always the DM) it is hard for me to get out of these characters what I want. Plus I feel the need to playtest everything.
So with Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything on the near horizon, I have turned to the DMSGuild for ideas.
There are so many witch classes on the DMSGuild I figure I would try a few. And I have. And my experiences...well...let’s just say they have been all over the place.
Now, I am planning to review these witch classes and witch related materials. BUT I want to set some ground rules for myself.
The Rules
I normally feel a little bad when reviewing someone else’s witch class. Not to be too blunt, but there is just no way they have been writing about this as long as I have. So I can’t knock them down for missing something that is obvious to me, but maybe not to someone else.
Also, I have to remember that these publications, by their very nature, are amateur. I can’t expect high levels of layout, art, or design in most of these. Yes, there is some absolutely stunning pdfs there in terms of production values and art. But most of these are not going to be at that level; most of the books there are not at that level period.
In truth, art is going to be a big issue since a lot of the PDFs I have grabbed seem to have a lot of “borrowed” art. I’ll mention art issues as they come up.
The price point also seems to be an issue. A lot of these products are priced much higher than similar-sized ones on DriveThruRPG. Like the art, I’ll talk about the price if it is a big issue for the item. My mental comparison on price here is going to be about ¢10 per page.
I want to give each product a fair shot, given that I know that many of these could be the first effort of the author/designers.
Some products I’ll be reviewing here are quite small. Others are linked to other products. Some others still are naturally paired with other products. In any case, I have bought and downloaded enough to cover the entire month.
I am going to leave this page like this with the rules and what I am doing so I can link back to it with each review.
With each class/pdf I am going to be looking for the following:
Is it a playable class?
What new things does it offer?
How “Witchy” is it?
Are there any new powers, feats, or spells?
My goal is to find something to recommend for each product and no to unfairly compare it to other, more polished witch products.
I might also make a distinction between a "witch" and a "Witch" or class that can act like a witch vs a class named Witch. This is a distinction that might only matter to me, but hey, this is my blog.
I am getting ready for my annual October Horror Movie Challenge!
This year lacks a real theme save for "movies I have had laying around forever and I need to watch them or sell back the DVDs" and "movies I have been meaning to watch forever".
I am going to lean heavily on my preferred time of the late-60s to mid-70s. And I have more than a few Italian horror films.
I have about 110 movies here. Some I have already seen so won't do those. There are also more than a few overlaps. I'll try to hit more than one per day, but often that is not really doable. I'll also hit more over the weekends.
I am going to also try to include as much NIGHT SHIFT content as I can.
Let's see where I end up at the end of the next month!
