Monster High

I blog about horror, monsters, vampires, witches and stuff like that.  I enjoy webcomics like Eerie Cuties, Magick Chicks, School Bites and Shadow Girls.  One of my favorite games is Witch Girls Adventures.

So it should be no surprise really that I know about the Monster High Dolls from Mattel.  No, I don't own any of them (they don't have any witches from what I can tell) but I do get emails about them from readers letting me know about them.

But that is not why I am talking about them today.

I was reading this post from OUR VALUED CUSTOMERS about a father that wouldn't buy his daughter a Usagi Yojimbo doll.  Being a parent myself I have spent a lot of time in the toy stores (really that is my honest reason!) and I have seen a lot of parents do some really dumb things and say some really stupid shit about toys their kids wanted to buy.

Though there is one that will always stick in my mind. I was at Target one day this last month or so.  I forgot what it was I getting, but I was walking past the cash registers and there was this little boy, no more than 3 or 4 really.  In his hand was one of these Monster Dolls.  The look on his face as he looked down at his new doll and hugged it was priceless.  He was so in love with his little monster girl.  The mother, as any parent who has ever been in a Target, looked tired but she was obviously getting the toy for the little guy.

It really made me smile to see this little guy so happy and it made me feel good that this mother wasn't bowing to the pressure of buying a "Girl's Toy" for a little boy.  

More reviews

A few reviews sitting in my queue.Find this at DriveThruRPG.

Fantasy Heroines Set
I love these paper minis from Arion games and this package is no different. I bunch of little paper people for your game. There are heroines of every class type here and the "cheese cake" factor is minimal (the paladin for example is in head to toe armor). Some mounted and some tri-folded versions as well.

There is only one thing missing from this package are full sized (or even half sized) page versions of the characters to print out and use with a character sheet. That would make these perfect in my mind.
4 of 5 Stars

Greek Woman
Two hi-res pieces of art (the same, one in b/w, the other in sepia) to be used with any project personal or comerical.
A very good piece.
5 of 5 Stars

Doctor Who: Aliens and Creatures
An excellent source of new things to run away from!
Actually this is a great product, full of all sorts of monsters, aliens and other creatures primarily from the new version of Doctor Who (but some old favorites are still there).

There is also an adventure book with two ready to go adventures using these new creatures; and plenty of ideas of how to use the others.
Some printing will be required for the cards, but that is minimal.

The same level of art, design and layout given to the core game is here, making it one of the more attractive games out these days. Perfect for the Doctor Who gamer and the Doctor Who fan alike.
5 of 5 Stars

Eden Studios Presents: Volume 3
While it doesn't come out as often as I would like, each issue of ESP is worth the wait. In particular here are Jason Vey's conversions of WitchCraft Gifted to be used in the Cinematic lines like Buffy or Ghosts of Albion.

More Cinematic Unisystem spells for Buffy/Angel (and Ghosts of Albion or Army of Darkness).

If you play Unisystem games then this is a great resource for you.
5 of 5 Stars

Book of Races
This book is filled full of new and interesting races, many of which are not your typical fantasy fare. While not all are great there are some gems and I appreciate the overall effort. There are races, new feats and paragon paths for 4e (not Essentials, but easily updated).

The art does tend to be all over the place and some of it is not great. But for half price and the chance to do something very different than the typical elf-dwarf-halfling trifeca, this is a good choice.
4 of 5 Stars

F-211 Copperhead
This is actually pretty awesome and one of the best things about PDFs. For one price (and lot of printer ink) I can have a fleet of little paper spaceships.
The design is very cool, brings to mind both the Vipers of BSG and the X-Wings of Star Wars, so that is a plus.
My suggestion is to take your time and let the paper dry before gluing. I smudged my first one.
5 of 5 Stars

Enjoy!

This is why I enjoy reading blogs

James at GROGNARDIA has posted a bit on his thoughts on White Plume Mountain. As many of you know I am currently running my kids through WPM as part of their Dragonslayers campaign.

Well reading the comments I see that there is another add-on for this called Outside the Mountain. Which has another legacy weapon, Frostrazor (don't like that name though).
It doesn't add a lot to what I already have, it's list Dragotha as a Black Dragon Dracolich rather than the Red Dragon Dracolich as everywhere else, but it is still fun to have.

I suppose one day I could run "Return to White Plume Mountain" but I think that when the Dragonslayers are done here then the old volcano will fade back into the mists and the local will not speak of the horrors of the mountain, but of the brave adventurers that conquered it.

Now if work would just let up I can get back to finishing this with my boys.

Evil!

Because Good is dumb.

From Bruce Timm via  Movie Meatloaf.

Review: Vornheim

Notice: I am not taking down this post because I feel it is more important to leave it up, but also update everyone on what is happeing now as February 11, 2019. Please see this newer post first. http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2019/02/i-am-going-to-talk-about-zak-today-and.html

Vornheim the Complete City kit is a massively huge city setting so strange, exotic and new that your players might not ever want to leave. Designed by artist Zak Smith/Zak Sabbath (of "I Hit it With My Axe" and "D&D With Porn Stars" fame) and playtested in his rather unique blend of oldschool D&D and 3rd edition with his equally unique group it is not too much to state that you have not seen a city like this before.

Vornheim reads like a city designed by M.C. Escher and H.P. Lovercraft on a bender. Streets bend and twist on each other and I swear so do the inhabitants. This comes I feel from Zak being a artist first and a game designer second. Compared to other city books there is a lot that this book doesn't do and lot of other things it does.

What doesn't it do. Well for starters no where is it defined where this city is. It could be anywhere, from anywhere. Secondly do not expect a lot of details. The author has very specifically left a lot to the designs of the individual DMs out there. So while some people are mentioned (I rather likes the three witches) there are a lot of details left to you.

What does it do. It is a framework and notes of a great city. There is a fantastic set of superstitions listed and there are NPCs, monsters. Stats are given in a simplified version of the d20 rules, favoring an old-school bent, but there are plenty of conversion notes for every edition of the Worlds Oldest FRPG.

There are tables after tables of things that can happen in the city beyond just random monsters, but also legal issues, things you might find, people you could encounter. The place is huge.

The layout is simple and dense. There is a lot of text in the 70+ pages and the whole thing has this real cool retro vibe to it. Almost like it had been published in the 70's (was Zak even alive then?) and it works great.
The art is Zak's own and it has it's own surreal weird style that really sets the stage for this place. The city map itself is massive and reminds me of an old medieval tapestry. Yes, that does appear to be Mandy Morbid on the cover too.

Visit the Immortal Zoo of Ping Feng, or the Library of Zorlac or just "crawl" across the city.
Vornheim the City is not for the faint of heart and Vornheim the book is not for the DM that is afraid of a little prep time (though with the tables you can be using it in minutes) or bringing his/her own ideas to the table.

I have to admit I am rather impressed.

5 out of 5 stars.

Tale of the tape...er Story of the Stats

Going over my visit stats for April.  Looks like the A to Z blogging deal did pay off.
In general my visits were much higher for April compared to previous months.

Maybe I am just getting better at writing.

All things witchy

Started on the most recent Rachel Morgan book today, Pale Demon.  Just a bit into it and Rachel is already in a mess not of her choosing.  So it was with witches on the mind that All Things Urban Fantasy posted their top 10 favorite witches, http://allthingsurbanfantasy.blogspot.com/2011/05/top-10-list-mk-hobsons-favorite-witches.html.

Oddly enough I only agree with some of them.   I liked Howl (of Howl's Moving Castle), Endora (Bewitched) and Angelique (Dark Shadows) but the rest were only ok. Well, Maleficent and Baba Yaga are cool.

Have a lot of work to do tonight, so this is a brief one.