Owl & Weasel Wednesday #21 December 1976

Lets got back 38 years to see what was hot in gaming!
Ok let's look at issue 21 of Owl & Weasel.  First off the zine is looking more and more like the White Dwarf it will become.
The Editorial covers both Games Day (February) and also now a D&D Day (March). A couple of typos are dealt with.

Page 3 covers two new games from "The Little Soldier" in Maryland.  The first is Ringbearer. This is the same company that gave us the Book of Monsters, Book of Demons, and the Book of Sorcery that were later re-released by Gamescience (which you can still find at Gen Con).  OF course there is no record of this particular game any more thanks to lawyers at United Artists (who had the Tolkien rights at the time). Basically this little game was a re-enactment of the plot of LotR.  The game sounds a bit like many of the mini-games of the time; one player (The Dark Lord) vs a group of other players.  The next is "Der Fuhrer" a little "political" war game set in World War II.  It sounds interesting in the sense that the battles are more propaganda and street teams than bullets and bombs.

Page 4 covers some news including a bit about GW being featured in the Times.
The growing D&D Society gets a full page treatment later on.  Well, most of a full page. One thing is obvious from the letters is that D&D is growing, rules are being questioned and O&W is more than happy to oblige.

The last page covers all what GW has to sell (as usual).

The articles tend to be much longer in this issue but the downside to that is the zine is still at 12 pages, so fewer articles.

Given this is the last Christmas issue and Christmas is on the way here too, here is Slade's Merry Christmas Everybody. The song is from '74, but this looks like it is later 70s, maybe 76 or 77.
I am sure they got really tired of having to lip-synch to this every year.

New Spells: Blessings of The Morrígan

Couple new spells I have been playing around with.  I was inspired by reading the overviews of the Artesia comic that Trey is doing over at From the Sorcerer's Skull.  I picked up the first couple of comics and they are good.  They certainly remind me a lot of Celtic myth, but there is more to it than that.   It got me thinking about this article saying that if there were a zombie apocalypse we would not have to worry because nature would wipe out all the zombies.  In particular birds would eat them.

So what is an a party to do then when a group of zombies, who are immune it seems from the fauna of your world, show up and ooops, they don't have a cleric to turn them?  Simple. They make sure their witches and druids have these spells.

Still playing with the damage.  I wanted them to be right around "fireball" strength, but given the higher level and the fact they only effect undead I was fine with the extra 1d12.  Let me know what you think.  Also I am releasing it as "open" under the OGL.  So take it and use it how and where you like including publishing your own stuff.

All material below this point is Open for terms of the OGL.
Section 15: "Blessings of The Morrígan" Copyright 2014 Timothy S. Brannan

Blessings of The Morrígan

Clerics are granted blessings from their deities in dealing with the undead.  Nearly all gods want the dead (whom they are caretakers of) to be at rest. A soul roaming free after death cannot be claimed by any god.  So clerics can turn or destroy undead creatures as their own gods wish.
Other followers of gods and of divine or arcane principles, such as druids and witches, lack this innate power.  Some have learned magic though to mimic it.

Blessings of The Morrígan
Level: Druid 4, Witch 4
Range: Corporeal Undead within sight
Duration: Instantaneous
By the means of this spell the druid or witch sends out a plea to The Morrígan, the great Battle Mother, Crow of War.  Instantly several murders of crows fly out from a spot just above the caster toward  any corporeal (ie Physical) undead the caster can see.  The crows bite and pick at the undead till 1d12 + 1d6 per caster's level is done in total damage.  Damage is divided up among all the undead creatures with weakest getting damaged first. Any creature reduced to 0 HP is dead and stripped clean of all flesh it had renaming.  In the case of skeletons they simply die. Creatures not damaged will be held for 1 extra round while the crows fly about.
This spell will effect skeletons, zombies, ghouls, ghasts, wights, mummies, vampires and liches.  The crows are considered magical.  It has no effect of ghostly or ghost like undead.
This spell has no damaging effects on living creatures, though for the round the spell is cast they are temporarily held (as per a Hold Person spell) and blinded (as per a Light or Darkness spell). Both of these conditions are removed at the end of the current combat round.
Material Components: A feather of a crow found feasting on a corpse after a battle. Only one feather may be used per crow.  The feather disappears after this spell is cast.

Blessings of The Morrígan, Greater
Level: Druid 6, Witch 6
Range: Incorporeal Undead within sight
Duration: Instantaneous
This spell is identical to the 4th level Blessings of The Morrígan spell, save this one will affect Incorporeal undead.  The crows will appears as ghostly crows and only partially in our own reality.
This spell will effect wraiths, spectres, banshees, ghosts, shadows and other ghost like undead.  It has no effect on corporeal or physical undead unless that undead creature also has become incopreal, such as a lich in the Ethereal plane or a vampire that has become incorporeal.

I Don't Like Mondays.

Been really sick over the last week.  I have a lot of work to do at work (day job) and then finishing up my obligations to various editors on various projects.

So here is a musical interlude.


This song is much darker than I recalled.

Though somehow it also seems appropriate for the last few weeks.

Zatannurday: Updates

Lots going on these couple of weeks.


February will be Harley Quinn month at DC Comics.  Here is the Harley inspired cover for Justice League Dark from none other than  Joe Quinones.

In movie news we have two items.

First off the draft of Justice League Dark was turned in.
http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/26/7298213/guillermo-del-toro-has-finished-the-script-for-dc-comics-justice

And, although it's not DC, Benedict Cumberbatch has been cast as Doctor Strange.

Looking forward to both of these.

The Witch's Catalog

I got hit with a bad bout of flu this week. Well Thursday it got worse. So I have been asleep for about 34 of the last 48 hours.  I should be asleep now but I only woke up a few hours ago.

Anyway I saw something today to took me back to my youth.

When I was young, say 6 or maybe 7, I got a book from the Scholastic book club that I loved.

Norman Bridwell's The Witch's Catalog.

Uf you have never seen the the book there are some excerpts of it here and here.
Basically it was a catalog of all sorts of magical things you could get such as shrinking powder, dragons, invisibility suits and a witch's "Weather Balloon" that could change the weather underneath the balloon.

I can't say for certain if anything from this later ended up in a game of mine, but in my pre-D&D days this was the book for me. I do recall reading about "if you are not lucky enough to have a witch living near you".  I remember thinking how cool that would be.  I was 6.

Any way special thanks go out Dr. Theda's Crypt and YargCade Blog for turning up this wonderful childhood memory.

Sleepy Hollow & Katrina Crane

Yesterday I talked a lot about Colonial Gothic and their Sleepy Hollow book. It was a lot of fun but it reminded me that it was not the only Sleepy Hollow book I own.

Last year for Halloween, Barrel Rider Games published their own Sleepy Hollow book.
It also includes the full text of the story.  But like all (or rather now most) of Barrel Rider Games' books this one is for Labyrinth Lord.

The book is 30 pages and contains the complete tale of the Headless Horseman.
Also included are writeups for Ichabod Crane, Katrina, Brom Bones and of course the Headless Horseman.  A new class is introduced, the Scholar (for Ichabod). Rules for flint-lock firearms and some new magic are thrown in for good measure. There are also five adventure hooks for adventures in Sleepy Hollow.
It's all a pretty good deal really.

For just under $3 total you should get both books and have a both characters and maps.

Though neither have much to do with the TV series "Sleepy Hollow" save that all have the same source material.

One of my favorite characters from the show is quite naturally Katrina Crane (nee Van Tassel).  She is a powerful witch sworn to protect the world from evil.  Sounds pretty awesome if you ask me.

Katrina Crane
8th Level Witch Family Tradition
From The Witch

Strength: 11
Dexterity: 14
Constitution: 12
Intelligence: 16
Wisdom: 14
Charisma: 17

Saves
Death Ray or Poison: 11
Magic Wands: 12
Paralysis: 11
Dragon Breath: 14
Rods, Staffs and Spells: 13

To Hit AC 0: 18 / 17 (missile)

Hit Points: 22
Alignment: Lawful
AC: 9

Occult Powers
Familiar: Family Spirit
7th level:  Favored Enemy (Demons)

Spells 
Cantrips: Alarm Ward, Animate Tool, Dancing Lights, Object Reading, Spark
First: Light, Magic Circle Against Evil, Consecration Ritual (Ritual)
Second: Augury,Guard Watch, Mind Obscure, Rite of Remote Seeing
Third: Astral Sense, Scry
Fourth: Analyze Magic, Ethereal Projection

Owl & Weasel Wednesday #20 November 1976

Headed back to November 1976 for today's Owl & Weasel.  Again we are seeing another step up in terms of improvements to layout.  This is looking more and more like a magazine rather than a zine rolled out on mimeograph by a couple of guys.  It still is exactly that; a zine by a couple of guys, but it is getting better looking.  Also there is a jump in price from 15p to 20p.  Inflation is blamed, but honestly it doesn't seem like that much of a jump.

The editorial talks about the price change and teases that TSR is working on a new SciFi game called Metamorphosis Alpha.

The Letters page deals with more D&D Society postings. An interesting letter from a reader who "just bought a calculator" converts 3-18 Int scores to IQ.  I can remember sitting in stats class one day doing something similar; converting 3d6 probabilities to z-scores. Course these days anyone can do that with even the cheapest of spreadsheets or even for free in Google Sheets. His numbers look solid if you forget that that Int is discrete varible and IQ is on a ratio scale.  Another letter on the next page is also a sign of the change.  The late asks O&W to get back to Orthodox Wargames and drop this "fantasy nonsense", blaming the editor's recent trip to America.  Ian replies stating that fantasy games are where all the new action is.  Ladies and Gentlemen, I present for your approval the first Edition War.  Or maybe the first case of Grogardism.

Later we get our cover story and a two page review of "White Bear & Red Moon" complete with nude female angel. Maybe she is supposed to be one of sylphs. Either way something that was common then that you no longer see. The game blends war games and fantasy to an interesting degree.  It takes place on the world of Glorantha, which in time would give us RuneQuest. This is the game that was used to launch Chaosium.  The longer review is notable given the amount of future ink White Dwarf would devote to RuneQuest.

Another section people write in and talk about their D&D games.
Next page has a section of Zine reviews.  Of note is The Dungeoneer, one of my old favorites.  Still looking to complete my collection of those.   Next page over has an index of all the old Strategic Review articles.  Very interesting that a zine (O&W) would devote so much ink to their competitors, SW/The Dragon and The Dungeoneer.  But then again this was a very different time and sharing knowledge was more important.  You see this fall apart later in the 80s when White Dwarf will mention Dragon, but hardly acknowledge Imagine save for when it premiers and ends.  It mirrors the software industry at the time really.  Back then sharing code was important, but became more problematic when people (aka Bill Gates) started making money off of it.  This is not the first parallel between the RPG hobby and the Computer hobby and it is no where near the last.

finally we end with the Games Workshop items for sale section.

In retrospect this is a full RPG issue.  Even the board game White Bear & Red Moon will morph into one of the biggest RPG since D&D.  We have five more issues left before the change is made over to fully RPG content and new magazine format.