Zatannurday: the Amazing Adventures of Zatara!

I have been spending the week with Amazing Adventures the new Pulp Game from Troll Lords.
The cool thing about the "Pulp Era" is it more or less coincided with the "Golden Age of Comics".  There are a lot of reasons for that which I will leave to others more knowledgeable than me.  There is one thing I do know pretty well that covers both the Pulp and Golden Age of Comics and this blog.
Giovanni "John" Zatara.

Giovanni Zatara is the father of Zatanna Zatara.  I have talked about and stated him up before, but this might be my favorite  version.  It seems to fit rather nicely.  Again, I started with his M&M3 stats as a base line.  I also wanted to make him a CHA based Arcanist since I felt that it worked best, given his career as a stage magician wold have mostly been about illusion.  I also felt the description of a CHA-based Arcanist fit my idea of who Zatara, and Zatanna, are.

Giovanni "John" Zatara

Arcanist (CHA) 12
Human* Male, Lawful Good
hp: 50
MEP: 120
AC: 14 (dex, ring of protection)
Move: 30'

STR: 12 (0)
DEX: 16 (+2)
CON: 10 (0)
INT: 16 (+2)
WIS: 14 (+1)
CHA: 19 (+4)

*Zatara is a member of the Home Magi race. He gains a +1 to CHA and a -1 to CON.
Zatara, as a quirk of his own style of magic, must speak all his spells backwards in order to wrok.

Languages: Italian, English, Latin, Greek (native language is Italian)
Background: Entertainer (Actor) +4,
Traits: Spellgifted (transmutation), Spellgifted (illusion)
Skill: Knowledge (Arcana)

Gear: Top hat, cane (magical focus +2), tux

Spells 9/5/5/4/3/2/1

0: Arcane Mark, Detect Illusion, Detect Magic, Influence, Light, Mage Hand, Message, Prestidigitation, Stun

1: Change Self, Charm Person, Daze, Obscuring Mist, Sleep, Silent Image

2: Alter Self, Blur, Detect Thoughts, Hypnotic Pattern, Misdirection, Pyrotechnics

3: Blink, Clairvoyance/Clairaudience, Hallucinatory Terrain, Major Image, Suggestion

4: Confusion, Dispel Magic, Mirage Arcana

5: Major Creation, True Seeing

6: Mass Suggestion

I am very, very pleased with this.  So pleased in fact that if I ever get a chance to play AA I want to play Zatara.

Links for Amazing Adventures

http://www.trolllord.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=211

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/106153/Amazing-Adventures%21?affiliate_id=10748

Willow and Tara: Amazing Adventures

Amazing Adventures is a fun game.  When I first got my hands on the playtest copy the first thing I noticed (granted I was looking for it) was the Arcanist class.  What I enjoy about it is how flexible it is in concept.  It's not just a wizard, cleric or witch.  It is one class that can do all of that.

So of course I wanted to test it out.  I grabbed my binder of witches and thought about who would be good for a Pulp Age witch.  Or more to the point, which three since I wanted to try this out using the three types of "builds" the Arcanist can use, INT, WIS and CHA based.  My choices really though were made for me.

The great thing about using Willow and Tara is it does give me the chance to try out the INT and WIS based Arcanists.  Also they are characters I know quite well so stating them up usually is only as slow as my familiarity or unfamiliarity with the system.
Plus I have stated them up for d20 before, so I had a base idea of what they needed to look like.  For these builds I used my base Modern d20 and little bit of my Macho Women with Guns d20 one.

The hard part isn't that, but it is deciding on how it is they could be in a Pulp World, 50 years before they were born.  For this I go back to the Uber concept.  Last month I posted the Call of Cthulhu versions of the girls.  In many ways the AA versions are the same as the CoC versions, but these AA versions cleave a little closer to my own Dragon and the Phoenix canon.

I have to admit the idea of a Pulp-ish Willow and Tara came to me from the strangest of places.  I was watching "If These Walls Could Talk 2" and there was an older lesbian couple in the first sequence.  While older in 1961, they could have been the adventuresses of the early Pulp Era.  In the 1920s and early 30s they would have been in their late 20, early 30s.  So why not.
I guess think of these stats as the continuation of the CoC ones from the early 1920s.

Willow and Tara in Amazing Adventures
Willow and Tara in the 1930s are just out of college.  They discovered each other from their shared use of magic and now they much adventure across the world search for more arcane secrets, stopping the forces of evil in both human and nonhuman form all while being perused by cultist and Nazis.

Willow Daniel Rosenberg

Gagdeteer 1/ Arcanist(INT) 12
Human Female, Lawful Neutral (Good),
hp: 45
MEP: 114
AC: 12 (locket of protection)/ 15 (when in physical contact with Tara)
Move: 30'

STR: 9 (0)
DEX: 11 (0)
CON: 11 (0)
INT: 18 (+3)
WIS: 16 (+2)
CHA: 17 (+2)

Languages: English, Latin, Hebrew, French* (extra language)
Background: Scientist +4 (+2 initial, improved at 5th, 10th level), Mathematician +2
Traits: Spellgifted (offensive), Reckless
Skill: Knowledge (Arcana)


Spells per Level

9/6/6/5/3/2/1
0: Arcane Mark, Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Ghost Sound, Light, Mage Hand, Message, Open/Close, Prestidigitation
1: Arcane Bolt, Burning Hands, Identify, read Magic, shocking Grasp, Sleep
2: Bullet Proof, Darkness, Enhance Attribute, Invisibility Scare, Shatter
3: Blink, Clairaudience/Clairvoyance, Fly, Lightning Bolt, Magic Circle
4: Confusion, Locate Creature, Scrying,
5: Telekinesis, Telepathic Bond
6: Chain Lightning


Tara Ann Maclay

Arcanist (WIS) 11
Human Female, Lawful Good
hp: 42
MEP: 100
AC: 12 (locket of protection)/ 15 (when in physical contact with Willow)
Move: 30'

STR: 12 (0)
DEX: 9 (0)
CON: 12 (0)
INT: 16 (+2)
WIS: 18 (+3)
CHA: 16 (+2)

Languages: English, Latin, Greek* (picked this one up along the way)
Background: Historian +4 (+2 initial, improved at 5th, 10th level), Artist +2
Traits: Spellgifted (defensive), Polite
Skill: Knowledge (myth and legend)

Spells per Level

9/6/6/5/3/2
0: Blinding Flash, Detect evil, Detect magic, First Aid, Know Direction, Light, Purify Food & Drink, Message, Prestidigitation
1: Animal Friendship, Command, cure Light Wounds, Protection from Evil, Remove Fear, Shield of Faith
2: Aid, Darkness, Delay Poison, Hold Person, Lesser Restoration, Speak with Animals
3: Cure Serious Wounds, Dispel Magic, Magic Circle against Evil, Remove curse, Spiritual Weapon
4: Dismissal, Restoration, Wall of Force
5: Dispel Evil, Scrying

I like how they turned out and am looking forward to trying out some of this flexibility.

Links for Amazing Adventures

http://www.trolllord.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=211
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/106153/Amazing-Adventures%21?affiliate_id=10748

I am all social and stuff

I am looking to expand my social presence some more so I have started using my Twitter account more.
Many times I "tweet" links to this blog, but I also use it to do some simple broadcasts that might be outside of this blog's realm.

If you want to follow me here is the link.
https://twitter.com/timsbrannan

I am now also on Tumblr.  I am not exactly sure what Tumblr does for me that Blogger doesn't, but it seems easier to upload pictures.  So I might be using that to upload various pics.
You can find me at http://timsbrannan.tumblr.com/.

I am still on Google+, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Now I just need something to say!

Run Booster! Run Blue!

Ok. So I got sucked into this contest.

The contest is take this photo of cosplayers Jettie Monday and Katy Mor:

And make them run from something scary.

My photoshop skills are only ok.  But my thoughts went immediately to what would be the scariest thing they could be running from?  Ron Jeremy.  Atomic Ron Jeremy dress as Mario.

How's that for horror!  I should have made his eyes glow.

I should stat him up for Mutant Future to be honest.  12' tall Atomic Ron Jeremy.

No idea if I won the contest or not.

Amazing Adventures: Day of the Worm

Amazing Adventures: Day of the Worm

It was can only be called expert timing, the first adventure for Amazing Adventures comes out the same week I am dedicating a week to playing around with and reviewing AA.  Seriously, I had no idea that they were going to do this and I also had nothing for AA planned for today thanks to work.

From the Core Rules book author, Jason Vey, this adventure is a delightful little romp with everything you would expect in an Pulp Adventure.  Or at least everything I expect; square jawed heroes, Nazis, secret cults, ancient forgotten beings, exotic locales in far away lands (Egypt no less!), a femme fatale, and a mysterious treasure.  Really what more could you want?

The 4 Act Adventure process detailed in the core book is brought to life here with plenty of guideline on how to alter it to suit your's or your player's needs.  It is also a good guide on how to create your own adventures.

14 total pages, 12+2 covers.

What Troll Lords REALLY needs to do is make an Amazing Adventures Box set.  Rule book, this adventure (maybe one more), dice, a map of the world circa 1938 or so and a bunch of character sheets that look like passports.  THAT would be an awesome set.

White Dwarf Wednesday #42

White Dwarf #42 was an elusive one for me.  I didn't buy it when it first came out but once I picked up WD 43 I really wanted it for the Part 1 of the city.  I finally got a copy years later.  So let's go back to that time in June of 1983 when this was on the stands.

Ian Livingstone is up first with the editorial on the changes in WD.  He mentions getting hate mail over the changes, but some were positive.  Most mail concerned the changng of the White Dwarf header title and the silhouetting of the White Dwarf.  Well the editorial page is compromise. The title remains and the white dwarf is broadly silhouetted, but filled in as well.

Marcus Rowland gives us a very interesting article on "Cthulhu Now!"  not the book that would later appear, but ideas and skills for moving CoC to 1980s England.  The art for this article is a classic one for me.  While I didn't see it at the time, when I later picked this up it fit my conceptions of England by-way-of The Young Ones and MTV; a smoking out of work punk rocker about to get grabbed by a tentacled monster.  This article seemed so odd to me.  I had Chill for modern day play CoC was for the 20s!  Still though I loved it.

Graham Staplehurst presents, in what I think is his first WD article, Anti-thieving tech in Traveller.  According to this article we have gone up at least 1-2 Tech Levels (TL) since it was printed!

We get some fiction from Oliver Dickinson, "Shamus Gets a Case".

Open Box is up with some more reviews. Soloquest 3: The Snow King's Bride from Chaosium is reviewed by Oliver Dickinson. It is for RuneQuest and he says he found varied and enjoyable, giving it 8/10.
The Citadel of Chaos & The Forest of Doom Solo RPG reviewed by Marcus L. Rowland is next.  They are "sequels" to Warlock of Firetop Mountain, but I'll admit I am not as familiar with these.  Which is too bad really because Rowland loves them giving them a 9/10 and 10/10 respectively.
Ther Grav-Ball board-game from FASA is then reviewed by Ian Waddelow. He does not like it, saying it delivers so little and gives it a 4/10.  Lastly we have the classic The Morrow Project & an adventure/scenario Liberation at Riverston reviewed by Phil Masters.  Morrow Project was one of those games that locally were played by the "serious RPGers".  I was just a a kid (ok 13-14) and I was "still" playing AD&D.  The REAL role-players were playing Morrow Project and CoC.  CoC I got, this one? Not as much.  Neither did Masters apparently.  He gave them a 5/10 and 6/10 respectively.

Report of the Hugos is up in Critical Mass.

Lewis Pulsipher should be required reading for anyone serious about D&D as a craft.   He is up with Castles in the Air or "Why Dungeons Exist".  It gives us a "natural" rationale for dungeons under castles in a world where humans can fly, teleport and become invisible. He challenges to think about the effects of magic in the world and how it changes things.

Marcus L. Rowland is back in Microview with a BASIC program for Careers in Traveller.  Man I loved these things. I spent hours typing these programs into my TRS-80 Color Computer 2. Course I had to change things since the version of BASIC licensed from Microsoft in the TRS-80 CoCo was different than the Z80 or ZX81 (Zilog 80) BASIC here (and even different from the Z80 BASIC in the regular TRS-80).  But I didn't care.  Computers were the future and knew that then too.

Ah. Irilian. I LOVED Irilian.  Daniel Collerton gives us a complete AD&D city in multiple parts.  I searched for this issue for ever just for this article.  I still get all stupid sentimental about it.  I even started what would be my first house rule book, the Urban Survival Guide because of the fun I had with this.  I really should xerox these pages and put them in a binder to use in my new AD&D game.

Up next are more letters discussing (if I can use that word) the content of the last couple of issues.

Fiend Factory is back. This time is the last of the non-human Gods.  We the Gods of Norkers, Ogrillons, Pebble Gnomes, Shadow Goblins, Skulks, Svirfneblin, Trolls and Xvarts.  Like the last batch I might re-use these as demons or devils.  Just because that seems to work for me.

RuneRites covers Horses for RuneQuest. More detail on various breeds than I would ever need.

Treasure Chest has some new Spells for AD&D.

We end with some ads.

Again a solid issue made golden for me thanks to me thinking it had so much more and searching for it for a while.  But not to understate it at all, the first part of Irilian was and still is the main source of worth for me in this issue.

Day of the Triffids

One of my favorite movies is the 1962 Day of the Triffids, based on the book of the same name.

More so than zombies Triffids are the worse mass-enemy you can face.  Sure they are slow, but unlike zombies they are intelligent and totally alien.  They are walking killer plants.  The book and movie differ, but one of the things I remember the most is the sound the Triffids made as they moved.  Scared the hell out of me.

No reason why I should suffer alone.

I am going to keep the extra-terrestrial origin since that makes them seem more, excuse to turn of phase, alien.  It also gives us a reason to find these things on Earth in any age or other planets.

General Description
A Triffid is a plant creature that stands roughly 7ft to 8ft tall (2.2 to 2.5 meters).  The base of the creature has three large roots  that it can pull up and use to for locomotion. Moving two legs forward followed by the other. They don't move quickly, but consistently.  The base is crowned with a long thin body (the "trunk") with the flowering "head".  The flowering part can eject a long 10ft/3meter tendril that injects a deadly poison into the victim.  The triffid then consumes the poisoned animal.  If that animal happens to be a human, then so be it.
The triffid also has small appendages near it's root base where the trunk portion grows.  It beats these in a constant droning clicking.  It generally believed that these are used as echolocation  communication or the attracting of mates.
Triffids are not susceptible to blood loss (no blood). Fire and extreme cold do double damage. Water based attacks or ones the replicate sunlight or UV radiation cause the triffid to regenerate loss health due to damage. Triffids take normal damage from electricity. Triffids are immune to sleep, charm, and hold magics or psionics. They can't become undead nor be raised from the dead.  Triffids can be killed with salt water since they are plants.
Unless burned or soaked in salt water a triffid will regenerate all lost health even if seemingly dead (0 hp).

Triffids reproduce via spores in the air which land on other triffids.  They produce a large white seed pod.  On Earth the seed pod is infertile 95% of the time. On their own home worlds the seeds are only 50% infertile.

Stats for some of my new favorite games.

Triffids (Amazing Adventures, Castles & Crusades)
NO. ENCOUNTERED: 2-12 (2d6) small groups,  300-1800 (3d6x100) worldwide
SIZE: Medium
HD: 3d8 (13)
MOVE: 20 ft.
AC: 11
ATTACKS: Slam (1d8) or stinger (1d4/poison)
SPECIAL: Blend, Darkvision 60 ft., Feed, Regeneration 3/6, Slow, Twilight Vision,
SANITY: 1d6/1d8
SAVES: P
INT: Low-Average
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
TYPE: Plant
XP: 30+3


Regeneration: Triffids regenerate 3 hp per round under normal circumstances even if reduced to below 0.  The regenerate 6 hp per round if they have access to water or sunlight (or uv).

Triffids (Starships & Spacemen, Mutant Future, Labyrinth Lord, The Witch)
Encountered: 2-12 (2d6) small groups,  300-1800 (3d6x100) worldwide
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 180' (60')
Intelligence: Low-Average
Psionic Potential: none
Hits: 3d8
Armor: 8
Combat Skill/Save: I3
Save: L3
Attacks: Slam (1d8) or stinger (1d4/poison)
Damage: 1d8/1d4 Poison
Morale: 12
Hoard Class: None
XP: 35