More Rachel and Ivy goodness

Yes. I am big fan of Kim Harrion's Hollows series.  I really enjoy the books and the characters.
In addition to the new books coming out, there are some reissues of the first books coming to the shelves in the UK and the cover art is fantastic.  I like it because you can really see Rachel and Ivy's faces now.

 

Very cool.  Might have to pick these up.
Now if we could only get a TV show that would be great.  Better yet, HBO.

October Challenge: Succubus Hell Bent

I like succubi. But you might all know that by now. [1][2] And I love movies of succubi and Lilith.  So this was one I was really looking forward too.  Man, am striking out everywhere.

Succubus: Hell Bent (2007)

So simple story here.  Stupid rich kid with stupid best friend go on spring break to hook up with some girls. The rich kid, Adam (see what they did there?) meets a really hot woman, Lilith, and they go back to his hotel for sex.  She demands to be on top and then claws him up during sex. Then there is the whole gowing eyes deal.  It was kind of like watching a metal video from the 80s.
Anyway stupid rich boy goes back to LA.  And Lilith tracks him down.  She then goes about screwing him and killing all his friends.
We get a Lamas cameo and even Gary Busey makes a brief appearance as Sentinel  the Demon Hunter for Hire (who should get his own movie where he does nothing but talk to his sword).
Stupid kid finally manages to kill Lilith and then goes to jail for her murder.

I really wanted to like this one.  But the the plot is to weak and the editing was done by a blind guy I think.  There is a certain charm about this flick though.  Natalie Sperl is good as Lilith and plays the role with enough creepy-stalkerness and humor to make you root for her instead of stupid kid.  Plus she is easy on the eyes, which is never a bad thing.
The special effects are not too bad really.  I did like Lilith's demonic form.
Though we all know Lilith is a red head.

Here are a couple of links with longer reviews.  Both are good sites.
http://www.succubus.net/wiki/Succubus_Hell_Bent
http://www.1000misspenthours.com/reviews/reviewsn-z/succubushellbent.htm

Still searching for a really good succubus movie.

Tally 20 movies, 18 new.

Game content:  Gary MOTHEREFFING Busey as a demonhunter for hire?  Hell yes!

Trouble is we get so little of him that it is hard to know what any of his stats should be.  He is older, maybe washed up.  Has connections to the church and has a magical sword named Lucille.

October Challenge: Red Riding Hood

I'll admit it. I am a sucker for dark fairy tales.  I mean fair tales in their original, un-Disney form are pretty freaking dark.  But any time you can bring one of those back and put them on the screen then that is aces in my book.  If you can do it and get Gary Oldman in to be in the cast then even better.

But despite all of that good stuff we get something like Red Riding Hood.

Red Riding Hood (2011)

I was very excited for this one when it came out.  Then all the bad reviews came in and well I truthfully kind of forgot about it. Since a few others were also covering this one for the Challenge I figured I give it a go.
To begin with, RRH is not a bad movie, it is just not a good one either.  Amanda Seyfried is very attractive, but dull in the titular role.  I didn't get the sense that she was ever afraid or actually in love with this guy she was supposed to be in love with.  Or anything really.
Gary Oldman though was at his scene chewing best as the creepy Father Solomon. Honestly the man can play anything.

Of course there is a werwolf in this one; seems to be the thing to do these days, make the "big bad wolf" into a werewolf.  Makes me wonder what they would do with the "Three Little Pigs"?  I know.  A movie about three cops, one played by Harvey Keitel and maybe the other by Omar Epps. That are chasing a perp when the moon rises and now the cops are being chased by the Big Bad Werewolf. Have not worked out how the houses of Straw, Sticks or Bricks work into it yet.  I know!  That is their last names.  Keitel is Lt. Brickson, Epps is Det. Sticks (or something).  Hey. It is not the dumbest thing I have come up with this week. We need a comic relief guy for Straw.  Maybe James Franco.  Anyway.......

So in the movie they actually made in Hollywood. We do get get a hunt, an old witch (maybe) and creepy father/daughter relationship.  Again, there was a lot of potential here. I can't say wasted, just never fully realized.

It could be I was expecting something like Tanith Lee's "Red as Blood", a book that I always thought about when seeing the poster for this movie.

As expected the Tanith Lee story is much better.

Tally: 19 movies, 17 new.

Game Material: In a classic D&D adventure the PCs come a small village on the edge of a "haunted" forest. They are constantly attacked by wolves, till the PCs show up, and then the deaths start.  Will they discover to true wolf before they are burned at the stake.  Afterall it can't be the kind little girl or her old weak grandmother.

Spellcraft and Swordplay in Print

Many of you know I am partnering with Elf Lair Games to publish my two witch books.  "Eldritch Witchery" in fact has been designed to be used with "Spellcraft and Swordplay" in particular.

So I am pleased to announce that the S&S books are now in print.

You can not get Print on Demand copies of this really fun game.  Plus you will ant them anyway so you can use "Eldritch Witchery" with them!

You can read reviews for the core book at Grognardia and RPGNet.

Now if you are new to all of this you might ask, why should I play Spellcraft & Swordplay if I have <>.  Well it is going to depend on your style of course, but here is why I like it and why the core book is sitting on my dinning room table so I can flip through it anytime I want.

1. S&S is like Cinematic D&D.  The action in S&S is supposed to fast.  This is no surprise given that Jason and I both spent a lot of time working on Buffy's Cinematic Unisystem together.  To me S&S has a much more pulpy feel to it than some of the other clones, near clones and nostalgia games.

2. S&S is a great "What If" game.  Not many people know this anymore, but rolling a d20 for combat is "new school" when talking about OD&D.  It was actually the "Alternate Combat Method" and it assumed that gamers would be using the Chainmail 2d6 method.  S&S preserves the combat system of Chainmail.  Now imagine that OD&D continued on it's path and retained the Chainmail roots more.  The next "Basic" game might have looked a lot like this.

3. The underlying system is simple and powerful.  The system running the show for S&S, known as O.R.C.S.,  is a simple one that takes advantage of modern game design sensibilities   In fact it is so flexible that a lot of game ideas I have considered for Unisystem or True20 I am working on moving them over to S&S/O.R.C.S.

So please do you self a favor and pick up a copy or at least try out the free "Basic Game" PDF.

Submissons

Sorry for the quiet this week.  Start of the Fall 2 term around here.

I also sent a bunch of submissions to some publishers to see if they are interested.  Nothing big.
The nice thing is if they don't want them then they are yours for free! Or for the price of reading my blog.

October Challenge: The Naked Witch (1961)

**If you are here looking for Naked Witches then please go here.**

Well, this one was out there...taunting me.

The Naked Witch (1961)

This thing makes Manos look like Citizen Kane.  The first 10 or so minutes is an overview of witchcraft as told by an insane Sunday School teacher.  Then we get a narration about this German area of Texas (Luchenbach, Waylon, Willie and the boys are no where to be seen) and a montage of images that look like they stolen form some tourism board film or a demented version of Sound of Music.

Aside:: This might be the most mind numbing movie I have seen this entire challenge.
Aside2: It is a universal truth.  Being evil makes you hotter.

Now in reviews they tell you the college student digs up the witch and she comes back to life.  Well that doesn't happen till half way through the movie.
So yeah there is a witch and she is naked, sort of, but frankly I would have been better off watching an episode of "Charmed" or "The Secret Circle".  The acting and the script would have been a hell of a lot better that's for sure.
Honestly if you want a story about a witch coming back from the dead and walking around naked the whole time then watch Rob Zombie's American Witch.

My wife nearly banned me from the TV because of this one.

Tally 18 movies, 16 new

October Challenge: Teeth

There are plenty of horrors out there in the land of myth of legend. Some are more popular than others. The Vampire and werewolf obviously take the lion's share of stories, there are others.  Some of these are so unique that when a movie about them comes along I have to check them out.

Teeth (2007)

Teeth is fun little movie.  The premise is simple really.  Dawn is a high school student and a bit naive.  She is a member of a teen abstinence group and is generally afraid of sex.  This is a good thing really since Dawn has an odd "adaptation".  Maybe it has something to do with living near a nuclear power plant her whole life. Dawn has a problem.  She has an extra set of teeth in her vagina. This turns out to be very useful when she is sexually assaulted by a fellow student from her group.
Dawn tries to find out what is wrong with her.  She  goes to see a gynecologist to discover what is wrong.  When he gets a bit improper with her she reacts by biting off four of his fingers.
Distraught, she heads home only to find her mother collapsed on the floor while her brother ignores her cries.
Dawn discovers that the police are looking for the first boy she was with and she decides to turn herself in.
She ends up at another guy's place who liked her.
Distraught and newly loaded with sleeping pills she ends up having sex.  Everything seems to be going fine, she even has sex again, till she discovers that she was part of a bet.  One quick chomp and she leaves.
Her mother died the night before so Dawn returns home to take her revenge on her step-brother.  She goes to his room to have sex with him, something he has wanted for a long time, and she puts the bite on him.
She tosses out the left overs and his dog promptly eats it.
Dawn, hitchhiking is picked up by an old man that tries to make advances at her.  She refuses at first and then gets a grin on her face and turns to the old perv.

The interesting thing about this flick is that is does take an old myth, one not many people may be familiar with, and turns it into a "monster" movie.  Dawn is a sympathetic monster to be sure, but she kills at least one guy and maims three, potentially four, others.  Still though it is hard to blame her for what she does.

Some images from movies are iconic.  Bela Lugosi descending those stairs, Count Orlock standing in the doorway for some of the older ones, Freddie with his razor blade gloves.
The iconic image here though is not what you think it might be.  It is Dawn's home, an idyllic single story ranch with the nuclear power plant cooling towers in the background.

If you get a chance, please check it out.  It is a fun one.

Tally: 17 movies, 15 new.

Game Uses
Well, I can think of dozens really.  But are they good for a game??
For an adult game (or more to the point an older adolescent game) this could be a good "fix" to that One Guy that always is looking to score with whatever female humanoid he sees.
I am tempted though to say this is the way the various Hag races are.  Like Dawn they can control it so the can get what they want (offspring) and then when done they bite off the male's penis (great way to do a lot of HP in damage).
Defiantly hags and not say Succubi since the Hag is supposed to be a perversion of the female ideal.