Adventurers live a dangerous and sometimes short life. They are constantly looking for any edge they can fine. Many spend years questing for even the most minor of magics, others though turn to older magic to aid them. For these characters these older, simpler magics provide them with the edge they need.
Many times these minor talismans can be purchased, but more often than not they are nothing more than a gaff or a non-magical variety. Unfortunely these items posses such minor magics that they are difficult to detect with the use of the standard Detect Magic spell.
4-Leaf Clover
These naturally occurring, but rare variety of the common three-leaf clover provide a minor luck bonus.
Once per day it can provide a +1 bonus to any roll the player makes. The player must state this intent before the roll is made. The clover can be used 4 to 7 (1d4+3) times before it becomes inert.
GMs have to decide how rare these are but typically a roll of "00" on a percentile die.
Horse Shoe
If blessed by any priest or cleric (not necessarily by a Bless spell), this item gives the processor a +1 to all rolls (attacks and saves) vs. Fae folk. This includes all sorts of nymphs, pixies, dryads and even elves. It is not effective in the hands of an elf or those with elfish blood.
Rabbit's Foot
A specially prepared left hind foot of a white rabbit killed during a full moon and enchanted by a witch using her Create Talisman power (or feat). This item provides a +1 to anyone one type of roll per day. So in one 24 hour period it can add +1 to an attack, +1 to a save, +1 to damage and so on.
Witches cannot use these items themselves.
Lucky Copper
Adventurers can be a superstitious lot. One of the more common ones is to keep the first copper piece from their first treasure hoard. If they do they gain a +1 to any roll till they gain their next treasure. The +1 can only be used once.
OGL statement Section 15 "Lucky Charms. 2012 Timothy S. Brannan"
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
October Challenge: Ginger Snaps (2000)
Ginger Snaps (2000)
The best thing about cable during Halloween is all of the horror movies you can find. I remember hearing about this one when it was out and then promptly forgot about it. No fault of the movie, just me.
The relationship between emergent female sexual urges and horror/monsters is old ground here at the Other Side. This though is the first time I have tackled the link between it and the werewolf myths. We will see later how this plays out in "Jack and Diane", but tonight we have Ginger.
Ginger and her sister Brigette are the weird girls in school. Obsessed with death, dying and all that fun stuff and ignoring the in crowd when they can. That is till something not-quite a dog bites Ginger.
There is serious Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibe about this flick. Came out right around the same time to be honest, so that is no surprise.
The movie was not was I was suspecting and the ending was a surprise.
I enjoyed it to be honest, I am not a big fan of werewolf movies in general. The leads were great and I am going to look for them in other movies to see if they are as good as this in all flicks.
Tally: Watched 3, New 3
What are you watching?
The relationship between emergent female sexual urges and horror/monsters is old ground here at the Other Side. This though is the first time I have tackled the link between it and the werewolf myths. We will see later how this plays out in "Jack and Diane", but tonight we have Ginger.
Ginger and her sister Brigette are the weird girls in school. Obsessed with death, dying and all that fun stuff and ignoring the in crowd when they can. That is till something not-quite a dog bites Ginger.
There is serious Buffy the Vampire Slayer vibe about this flick. Came out right around the same time to be honest, so that is no surprise.
The movie was not was I was suspecting and the ending was a surprise.
I enjoyed it to be honest, I am not a big fan of werewolf movies in general. The leads were great and I am going to look for them in other movies to see if they are as good as this in all flicks.
Tally: Watched 3, New 3
What are you watching?
White Dwarf Wednesday #34
So let's talk about this October some 30 years ago. What do we know? Well the cover always reminds me of the Hawkmoon RPG cover. Ian Livingstone talks about Game Day '82.
Andy Slack is up first with Droids for Traveller. It is easy to poke holes in Traveller tech; computers that only run one type of program and the like, but for some reason I never liked Droids in Traveller. Maybe it was because they seemed to be too "Star Wars" and Traveller was more "Dune" and "Star Trek" to me. There are lot of different types of functional droids, robots and even an android here. Though there are some obvious ones that are missing; and I don't just mean Galaxina (1980) or Cherry 2000 (1987).
The article takes a lot from Asimov's ideas on robots too. So ingrained are these "Laws" that I never thought to question them, despite the inclusion of a Warbot in the article. Assassin droids were something we all knew about from Star Wars, at least in concept, so there seemed to be a mismatch here to me.
Mike Costello is next with a new feature, Microview, to cover computers.
This first installment, Space Invader, is about how "microcomputers" (we will be using this term for sometime to come) can have an affect on your gaming. Mostly in this brief first issue it is about what he calls GAP or Game Assistance Program. I am sure will hear more on this exciting new world!
In the "Clip and Save" file Lew Pulsipher is back with a Guide to Dungeonmastering, Part 1 Setting up Adventures. There is some great advice here that can be applied to any game, but D&D is assumed. Again, unlike the previous two articles that have dubious quality in today's age (again, no fault of the original authors), this article is just as useful today as it was 30 years ago.
Open Box is next with out independent reviews. First up is Cults of Terror for RuneQuest by Chaosium. Oliver Dickson calls it "essential reading" though he has some issues with some of the content. Mostly due to it not fitting together in the way he likes. It gets a 6/10. Aftermath! from FGU is next. We have been seeing the ads in WD now for a little bit and now we get to learn about this Post-Apoc game. Andy Slack loves it and gives it a solid 10/10. Worlds of Wonder is next and it is a very interesting one. WoW was Chaosium's first entry into the Generic RPG market, or one system for multiple games. We would see this many times over and over. GURPS became the undisputed king of "Generic" systems, but WoW was one of the firsts. Based on the Basic RPG system that powered RuneQuest and Call of Cthulhu you got various "Worlds" to play in. Trevor Graver gives it a 7.10 and marks it down for being only the bare bones. These days that same criticism would be touted as a feature in a Sandbox game.
RuneRites for RuneQuest is next with some monsters. I always liked the monsters for RuneQuest, they seemed so much more strange to me. I worked out conversions based on Call of Cthulhu so I could use them in my D&D games.
After that are some letters and then on to an AD&D adventure from Paul Vernon, Troubles at Embertrees. Designed for 5-8 1st to 2nd level characters. It is a densely packed 4 pages. The adventure itself seems fine. The inclusion of the new monster sets it up above a simple wilderness adventure.
Starbase introduces us to Morality in Traveller (oh nos! Alignment! not quite...) and new race, the Mahwrs, a large, bi-pedial bat like creature.
Fiend Factory gives us our 200th monster since WD #6. These monsters are all undead or something like that; appropriate for October. Morbe are neither undead or alive. They feed on Con points and once they get to 18 they are human again. The Unborn are souls that died in childbirth. The Rusalka is an evil, dead female magic-user, the Wraith Warrior and the Goldfinger, which are like an undead battery.
Treasure Chest has some magic weapons. Of note is the Houri's Dagger, though it does not mention the Houri from issue 13 specifically. We get some Hellfire arrows, demon's knifes and the Druid's Cudgel.
We end the issue with some ads, including an ad for Gangbusters.
A lot of interesting bits in this issue. First it is nice to see that WD can transition ot monthly format without too many hiccups. I did not feel any part of this issue was filler. This issue continues the trends of the previous ones, but doesn't start any, save for the feature on computers. Traveller, D&D and RuneQuest still reign supreme as they have from the early days.
I will note that WD has not raised their price from 75p in a while.
Also the ENTIRE time I was re-reading this and writing this post I was humming "Winds of Change" by Jefferson Starship. I went back and checked, Winds of Change was released October 4, 1982. I must have been listening to that the first time I read this magazine.
Baker Street Justice Society 1899
A very, very cool piece from Paul Hanley.
The Baker Street Justice Society by *PaulHanley on deviantART
Featuring some of my favorite characters from Doctor Who in Victorian times.
This upcoming Christmas we will get another Victorian tale and a new companion, and much to my delight, Vastra and Jenny are back.
Of course I have stated Madame Vastra and Jenny for both Ghosts of Albion and Doctor Who. I really should do some more. Sherlock Holmes is certain on my to do list. Jago and Litefoot might also be a lot of fun to do as well.
Maybe a Doctor Who Victorian Age Source book is in order!
The Baker Street Justice Society by *PaulHanley on deviantART
Featuring some of my favorite characters from Doctor Who in Victorian times.
This upcoming Christmas we will get another Victorian tale and a new companion, and much to my delight, Vastra and Jenny are back.
Of course I have stated Madame Vastra and Jenny for both Ghosts of Albion and Doctor Who. I really should do some more. Sherlock Holmes is certain on my to do list. Jago and Litefoot might also be a lot of fun to do as well.
Maybe a Doctor Who Victorian Age Source book is in order!
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
October Challenge: Sweeney Todd (2007)
Sweeney Todd (2007)
Oh Tim Burton. Sometimes I think you are a mad genius. Other times, well maybe only half that.
Sweeney Todd is horror. Is Victorian and does star Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. So really it has "win" written all over it? Right? Right??? Well yes and no.
I enjoyed this movie. It was a lot bloodier than I expected it to be. For some reason I had forgotten there was singing in it, but that is fine. Part of me of course kept thinking of this a Edward Scissor Hands gone really, really wrong.
Depp is great in this. As he is in everything. I loved him in Sleepy Hollow when I watched that last year.
And one can't but help see Bellatrix in HBC during this as well.
My one complaint about this movie was it seemed to be over so fast.
Ah well.
Surprisingly, this is a new one for me.
Tally: Watched 2, New 2
What are you watching?
Sweeney Todd is horror. Is Victorian and does star Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. So really it has "win" written all over it? Right? Right??? Well yes and no.
I enjoyed this movie. It was a lot bloodier than I expected it to be. For some reason I had forgotten there was singing in it, but that is fine. Part of me of course kept thinking of this a Edward Scissor Hands gone really, really wrong.
Depp is great in this. As he is in everything. I loved him in Sleepy Hollow when I watched that last year.
And one can't but help see Bellatrix in HBC during this as well.
My one complaint about this movie was it seemed to be over so fast.
Ah well.
Surprisingly, this is a new one for me.
Tally: Watched 2, New 2
What are you watching?
Faith: The Last Witch
Faith Scott, the Last Witch
Faith is the “Last Witch” of the newest book from Elizabeth Kolodziej’s “The Last Witch” Series. The most recent book Witch Devotions (the 3rd) is out now.
I have read the first book and I enjoyed it. I also have the second, but have not read it all yet, the third one is just now out.
Faith is an interesting character and I enjoyed watching her growth throughout the first book and the bits I have picked up in the next two. She is still young and kind of naïve, but learning more.
So what do we know about Faith? Well she is new to her magic, but comes from a long line of powerful witches, so her power has the potential to be quite powerful. She does have a family spell book, a Book of Shadows in one of my games. But while most of the witches in Faith’s line learned while they are growing up, Faith didn’t have that advantage. She did learn later on from an instructor.
According to the author, Faith resembles an Earth Witch. So she is quite adept at making potions, charms, herb use and healing. She also has a number of elemental based powers; power that help her innate abilities. It was this description of her that got me thinking that Faith would work great as a witch in one of my games (though my games have plenty of witches in them; no ‘last witch’ in sight!) She can use her magic to increase her speed or strength. Not quite at the level of a vampire, but more than a mundane human.
We know Faith can manipulate energies, but I saw that more of an ability rather than a spell. Since she also has other innate powers I was thinking she might be a good fit for “WitchCraft” or even the “Buffy” RPGs.
Faith, like a lot of other types of witches, can live a very long time, maybe even hundreds of years. This is also in line with most of my games.
So here is Faith, The Last Witch in Ghosts of Albion/WitchCraft RPG stats.
Faith Scott (played by Isla Fisher in the game)
Motivation: To learn as much about her power/herself as she can
Attributes: Strength 2 (7 with magic), Dexterity 3 (8 with magic), Constitution 2 (7 with magic), Intelligence 5, Perception 6, Willpower 5
Life Points: 35 (75 with magic)
Drama Points: 15
Qualities & Drawbacks: Adversaries (various) 2, Attractiveness +2, Contacts (Supernatural) 1, Hard to Kill 3, Honorable, Love (Trent), Magic 5, Magic Family, Magical Philosophy Earth/Elementalism (closest game wise), Nerves of Steel, Obligation, Occult Library (Fine), Secret (She's a witch who belongs to a powerful magical family), Supernatural Senses (Basic and the Sight), Telekinesis,
Useful Information
Actions: 1/2 or 2/2
Perception: 1d10 + 11
Lesser Sensing: +16
Endurance Points: 32 (62 with magic)
Essence Points: 25 (using Magic squared)
Speed: 10 (30 with magic)
Skills
Acrobatics 2
Art 1
Computers 1
Crime 1
Doctor 1
Driving 0
Getting Medieval 2
Gun Fu 0
Influence 3
Knowledge 5
Kung Fu/Fisticuffs 2
Languages 1 (English)
Notice 5
Occultism 5 (still learning, but has picked up a lot in the first two books)
Science 1
Sports 1
Maneuvers
The extra pluses are from her Magic boost.
Given her role in the books I debate on whether or not to give her “Chosen One” from Army of Darkness. In the end, I figured that she wasn’t quite up to that level just yet; maybe in the new book.
I have read the first book and I enjoyed it. I also have the second, but have not read it all yet, the third one is just now out.
Faith is an interesting character and I enjoyed watching her growth throughout the first book and the bits I have picked up in the next two. She is still young and kind of naïve, but learning more.
So what do we know about Faith? Well she is new to her magic, but comes from a long line of powerful witches, so her power has the potential to be quite powerful. She does have a family spell book, a Book of Shadows in one of my games. But while most of the witches in Faith’s line learned while they are growing up, Faith didn’t have that advantage. She did learn later on from an instructor.
According to the author, Faith resembles an Earth Witch. So she is quite adept at making potions, charms, herb use and healing. She also has a number of elemental based powers; power that help her innate abilities. It was this description of her that got me thinking that Faith would work great as a witch in one of my games (though my games have plenty of witches in them; no ‘last witch’ in sight!) She can use her magic to increase her speed or strength. Not quite at the level of a vampire, but more than a mundane human.
We know Faith can manipulate energies, but I saw that more of an ability rather than a spell. Since she also has other innate powers I was thinking she might be a good fit for “WitchCraft” or even the “Buffy” RPGs.
Faith, like a lot of other types of witches, can live a very long time, maybe even hundreds of years. This is also in line with most of my games.
So here is Faith, The Last Witch in Ghosts of Albion/WitchCraft RPG stats.
Motivation: To learn as much about her power/herself as she can
Attributes: Strength 2 (7 with magic), Dexterity 3 (8 with magic), Constitution 2 (7 with magic), Intelligence 5, Perception 6, Willpower 5
Life Points: 35 (75 with magic)
Drama Points: 15
Qualities & Drawbacks: Adversaries (various) 2, Attractiveness +2, Contacts (Supernatural) 1, Hard to Kill 3, Honorable, Love (Trent), Magic 5, Magic Family, Magical Philosophy Earth/Elementalism (closest game wise), Nerves of Steel, Obligation, Occult Library (Fine), Secret (She's a witch who belongs to a powerful magical family), Supernatural Senses (Basic and the Sight), Telekinesis,
Useful Information
Actions: 1/2 or 2/2
Perception: 1d10 + 11
Lesser Sensing: +16
Endurance Points: 32 (62 with magic)
Essence Points: 25 (using Magic squared)
Speed: 10 (30 with magic)
Skills
Acrobatics 2
Art 1
Computers 1
Crime 1
Doctor 1
Driving 0
Getting Medieval 2
Gun Fu 0
Influence 3
Knowledge 5
Kung Fu/Fisticuffs 2
Languages 1 (English)
Notice 5
Occultism 5 (still learning, but has picked up a lot in the first two books)
Science 1
Sports 1
Maneuvers
| Name | Score | Damage | Notes |
| Punch | +5 or +10 | 4 or 14 | Bash |
| Kick | +3 or +13 | 8 or 18 | Bash |
| Dodge | +2 or +7 | - | Block |
| Grapple | +4 or +9 | - | Blocked by Dodge |
| Magic | +15 | Special | Varies by Spell |
| - Deflect | +15 | - | Deflects magic |
The extra pluses are from her Magic boost.
Given her role in the books I debate on whether or not to give her “Chosen One” from Army of Darkness. In the end, I figured that she wasn’t quite up to that level just yet; maybe in the new book.
Monster Monday round up, part 2
I think I will wait till Tuesday next week to do the monster round up. Plenty more were posted since my post yesterday.
- Vicious Stickmen, http://gothridgemanor.blogspot.com/2012/10/monster-monday-vicious-stickmen.html
- Hit Adjacent Ally gives us two, Banshee Raiders of the Red Moon and Clockwork Devils of Taltun, http://hitadjacentally.blogspot.com/2012/10/monstrous-monday-late-post-2-new.html
- Noose Golem and Gun Droid, http://mutantsmagic.blogspot.com/2012/10/new-monsters-noose-golem-gundroid.html
- Shadopeople for Everway, http://everwayan.blogspot.com/2012/10/monstrous-monday-shadow-people.html
- Alien Aspects (for FATE), http://fatesf.blogspot.com/2012/10/monstrous-mondays-alien-aspects.html
- Dreams in the Lich House, The Faceless, http://dreamsinthelichhouse.blogspot.com/2012/10/monstrous-monday-faceless.html
- Dwarven Stronghold, Eye Imp, http://thedwarvenstronghold.blogspot.com/2012/10/monstrous-monday-eye-imp.html
- The Erare - The Gutter Deaths, http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/2012/10/monster-monday-erare-gutter-deaths.html
- Yoggidam, http://hereticwerks.blogspot.com/2012/10/yoggidam.html
- Web Witch, http://mutantsmagic.blogspot.com/2012/10/new-labyrinth-lord-monster-web-witch.html
So 17 18 19 22! total entries for the first unofficial Monster Monday! Not too bad really!
Can't wait to see what everyone is doing next week.
Can't wait to see what everyone is doing next week.
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