Satanic Panic!

I am fascinated with with the Satanic Panic of the early 80s.  Partially because I lived through it but also as someone who isn't religious I found the whole "panic" to be very confusing.
Here is an article that covers part of it.  D&D makes brief cameo.

A Brief History Of "Satanic Panic" In The 1980s

To get an idea of how serious people took this stuff here are a few other posts I made with links to articles and videos.

http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-to-z-of-witches-o.html,  Turmoil in the Toybox videos.
Here is a direct link to the D&D video (starting around 3:30)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWcH7Vd-N_0

http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2014/03/friday-video-satanism-unmasked-dungeons.html
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2010/02/wait-is-it-1982-again-more-anti-d-crap.html

And a few other videos I have watched, but not otherwise shared.


I LOVE that he used my Mystery Science Theater 3000 version of the cover of Dark Dungeons track.  It is too bad that no more of this series was produced.  I also got a kick out some of the picture of old D&D stuff.  He had another series on his older account. https://www.youtube.com/user/Godlesspanther/videos
The first one is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPMtVjg636E (the production values are a bit low).
There is a playlist by another user of all these videos, warning there is a lot of crazy here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPMtVjg636E&list=PL641BF52EF9FA5963

I have to admit my own (at the time) anti-theism influenced my early D&D games.  So lots of undead, demons and (you guessed it) witches.  An immature reaction? Yeah. of course! But I was a teen at the time; by definition, immature.

It has though been fruitful in one respect, I have a ton of material that I wrote back then that I'd love to pull out sometime.

Zatannurday: Zatanna Bishoujo Statue

Once again, I have to give a shout out to my buddy Calvin up at the Cave of Cool for finding this for me.

It is not due out till late September of 2015.  But I am thinking pre-ordering is a good idea.

I noticed there was a Batwoman one as well.  But I can't justify getting two. I can barely justify getting one!  At least there is a good reason for Zatanna to be wearing high-heeled boots; she is a stage performer and this is a costume.  Batwoman should be wearing red combat boots.

Links
http://news.toyark.com/2015/01/15/dc-comics-ztanna-statue-fully-revealed-148340
http://calvinscanadiancaveofcool.blogspot.com/2015/01/kotobukiya-dc-comics-bishoujo-statue.html
http://www.amazon.com/Kotobukiya-DC-020-Zatanna-Comics-Bishoujo/dp/B00SCK4T8E/

Friday Night Videos: Werewolves

This is something I wanted to start the year off with, but for some reason didn't get it set up.

Maybe it is the age I started playing or the time, but there was a strange alchemy that has forever link D&D (and most RPGs) and music together for me.  When I was in Jr. High we would not start playing until we saw at least one Iron Maiden video on the then commercial free MTV.  And in High School it was through D&D that I was introduced to scores of new bands and music that I remain a fan of to this day.

So it is with that in mind that I introduce my newest weekly feature.
Friday Night Videos.  I'll post a couple of videos, maybe around a theme, and talk about how they tied into my games.  I won't just focus on the 80s, though there will be a lot of that, nor will my focus be purely D&D related.

For my first post I want to include a video that I first saw on the show "Friday Night Videos" on NBC back in the day.  Just like the original, I'll have this up on Friday nights at 11:30 PM Central time.

First up is Ozzy Osbourne with the title track from his 1983 album, Bark at the Moon.
Honestly to this day I can write about werewolves and NOT think about this video.  I put this album on repeat when I was working on the monster section of Ghosts of Albion.



My Jr. High DM introduced me to Ozzy and my High School DM introduced me to Rush.
Of course the song has more to do with paranoia (and Paranoia) and a police state, I took it more literally as an enemy within yourself.  From 1984's Grace Under Pressure, "The Enemy Within".



Finally. Really how can we talk about werewolves and not include Warren Zevon's classic.
Excitable Boy was one of those albums that my DM threw at me and told me I had to listen to it before I came back for our next game (we were doing the Slave Lords adventures then).  The album is fantastic and it is almost regrettable that people usually only know "Werewolves of London".  You do get people that know about "Lawyers, Guns and Money", but most don't know what album it is from.   "Lawyers, Guns and Money" of course I used in my Buffy/Angel games.

"Werewolves of London" is honored in my games a number of ways but the most obvious is my vampire run strip club Mayfairs.



So what songs remind you of gaming?  Put in your requests below and I might pick them up on next weeks Friday Night Videos!  (People posting on Friday nights get to move to the front of the request lines).

Return to Dolmvay

So on a whim (and to celebrate the fact I sold like 6 print copies of the Witch in December) I spent some of my hard earned freelancer money on +Pete Spahn's  hardcover of the Guidebook to the City of Dolmvay (Special Edition).

Sorry for the blur on the spine.  But I wanted to show that this is a thick book.

What I have said in my earlier review of the PDF version still applies here.
The font size is larger than I expected. This is both good and bad. Good for my Grognard eyes but a smaller book might have been nice too.  In the end, I think it is a good thing.

The book will look great on my "OSR" shelf.  It will help build up that shared world idea I have.

So what makes this the "Special Edition"? Well it includes the adventure "Oak Grove Whispers" adventure for 1st to 3rd level characters.  The pdf of this adventure lists at $4.95, so to including this in the special edition is a real treat.

The book really nice to be honest.  A nice hefty tome at 261 pages. If you want to see what it looks like, grab the PDF, it is Pay What You Want.

Still want to make a Witch Cover for it.  Now that I have the Oak Grove adventure I have some better ideas.

Gog and Magog for Advanced Era Games

Don't you love it when you are doing a bit of research on a couple of different things and suddenly you read one thing and all these disparate threads come together as a nice whole?  Jung used to call it Synchronicity.  I say that if you bury your head in something for long enough your research numbed brain will see connections everywhere.  In either case this is some thing that clicked for me the other day.

I was doing research on the the original Balor/Type VI demons in 1st Ed AD&D and how there are only six of them.  The DMG lists them as Balor (their leader and the largest), Errtu, Ndulu, Ter-Soth, Alzoll, and Wendonai.  Wendonai.  Doesn't exactly fill you with fear does it.  Since I am using the OGC Balor as the basis of my own Baalor in my games I wanted to expand them a bit.  So these names are purely off limits (save for Balor).

That tied in with all the myths I have been reading (well, since forever) of Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales (er Walesland?).  There was a Balor there too.  Only he was a giant with one eye on his forehead and another on the back of his head. I was reading about all these giants when I came across Gogmagog.

I had been familiar with Gog and Magog and Gogmagog because of an off-hand reference on Doctor Who years and years before.  I had scribbled down that Gog and Magog were akin to Ogres, but divine.  I choose ogres because of something the Doctor said "Gog, Magog and Ogre",  pronounced 'O-gree'.  In the book of Revelations Gog and Magog were the ultimate enemies of God's people.  Though to be fair Gog and Magog hopscotch all over the Bible and one is never really sure if they are individuals, peoples, or lands.  Gog and Magog also appear in the Qur'an as a monster (the monster of Gog and Magog) or again as a land.

Recently I reread the Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien.  The chief of the Balrogs was a being known as Gothmog.  I knew I was on to something.  Obviously Tolkien, a professor of English literature and languages (especially Old English) knew of Gogmagog. In some early versions of Tolkien's work Gothmog is even described as a "son of Melkor and the ogress Fuithluin",  Later a "Gothmog" was also the orc in charge of Mordor's army in the Return of the King.  Obviously named after the Balrog (and less confusing than Glorfindel of Rivendell vs. Glorfindel of Gondolin).

All of this though has given me some ideas.

Here they are using OSRIC and  LL Advanced  Edition Companion.  All text below is considered Open for use under the OGL.

Section 15: OSRIC Chapter V copyright 2007-08 by Stuart Marshall, Chris Hopkins, James Boney, Robert Ross, Jeremy Goehring, Mike Davison, Daniel Proctor, B. Scot Hoover, Chris Cain, Bill Silvey, Floyd Canaday, Vincent Frugé and Matthew James Stanham.
Advanced Edition Companion, Copyright 2009-2010, Daniel Proctor. Author Daniel Proctor.
Adventures Dark and Deep^TM Bestiary, Copyright 2011-2013 BRW Games, LLC.
Gog and Magog for Advanced Era Games, Copyright 2015 Timothy S. Brannan.

Gog and Magog
Class F Standard Order (true) Demons
Frequency:  Very Rare (Unique Demons)
No. Encountered:  2
Size: Large, 13' (Gog), 13' 5" (Magog)
Move: 60 ft; 150 ft flying (AA:III)
Armor Class:  -3 (Gog) / -4 (Magog)
Hit Dice*: 10d8+10 (Gog), 10d8+21 (Magog)
Attacks: 1 bite or by special attack
Damage: 1d12+4
Special Attacks: Flaming great sword (2d8) (Gog) or Flaming great axe (2d8) (Magog) + 3d6 fire
Special Defenses: +2 or better magic weapon to hit
Magic Resistance: 75%
Lair Probability: 0%
Intelligence: High
Alignment: Chaotic evil
Level/XP: 9/3,750 + 13/hp**

Gog and Magog are two unique demons of the same sort of Balor.  While they are larger and more aggressive than their kin, their natures preclude them from ruling large numbers of lower demons as their brethren might.   Gog and Magog are described as "brothers" and this has never been proven by any occult scholar.  They share a physical similarity to each other.  Gog is large, predominantly red in color with black hair and beard. He wields a large flaming sword in battle.  Magog is larger, predominantly black in color with red hair and beard.  He wields a large flaming great axe.  Either causes an extra 3d6 points of fire damage per hit.
Gog and Magog can also use the following powers at will: detect invisibility, detect magic, dispel magic, fear (as the wand), pyrotechnics, read languages, read magic, suggestion, telekinesis (600 lbs.), and symbol (despair, fear, sleep, and stunning).   A +2 or better magical weapon to hit.
Unlike other demons, Gog and Magog cannot gate in lesser true demons.  Instead they may summon 2d6 demonic Ogres each.  These creatures appear as normal ogres save that their skin is red and they are immune to fire, poison, sleep and charm spells.  They also need a +1 or better magical weapon to hit.  Demonic ogres always have the maximum hitpoints for ogres.
Much like other demons, these two will bicker and fight and even plot against each other.  However when confronted with a common foe the will work together to defeat them.  They are completely loyal only to each other. They are often found in each other's company.
They are most often found on the Material Plane, the summoning ritual for one will also summon the other and only rarely in the Abyss.
They are violent, aggressive and constantly angry.  Neither is much for planning, but when pressed they are good strategists and have been used as generals by stronger Demon Lords and Princes.  They have even been known to serve the Baalseraph Ahriman, also known as Angra Mainyu.  A common tactic among the Demon Lords that engage their services are to choose a location and let the brothers go.

*Many "Advanced Era Games" use a d8 for monster HD. I prefer to use a d10 myself.
** Adjust according to your preferred system.

Monster Guides over at The Power Score

The Power Score, a great blog that could use some more attention has been doing some great D&D monster guides.

In these Sean has been taking various monsters and looking at their growth and changes across as many editions of D&D he can as well as supplementary products.

So far he has covered:

• Pit Fiends
• Tiamat
• the Succubus
• the Githyanki

Plenty of art and comparisons between the editions.
The thing I like is he treating the editions as evolving understanding of the monsters.

So pop over and check these out. A leave a comment or two. That's the neighborly thing to do really.

Owl & Weasel Wednesday #25 April 1977

Here we are, at the end of all things.  Err. Not really. It is April, 1977 and this is the last issue of Owl & Weasel.  I missed noting last issue's price increase to 20p.  It could have just been for the double sized issue, but the increase remains here.  Maybe it is the special Silver Jubilee price.

Our editorial details the end of Owl & Weasel and the start of White Dwarf.  Well at least overtly. It is loaded with a bunch faked melodrama that frankly I would have been happier not reading.  I am going to chalk it up to actual emotion and the separation of an entire ocean and nearly 38 years.

The index for the Article Competition is up and on page 3.  Ian Livingstone spends some time talking about them and mentioning that they will be looking for more material like this for White Dwarf.

Page 5 covers various news items. One item mentions the Dungoneer magazine.  That is one I would like to cover sometime too, but I am missing some issues and the ones I am missing tend to be quite expensive on eBay when they show up.

Page 6 is the "Big Reveal" of the White Dwarf contents and cover.  Of course at they only have an artist mock up and it doesn't look like how the magazine will later look. But that is ok.  They talk about what they will be doing; D&D articles, society news, letters and "The Other World" a section on non-SF/F gaming.  That never really happened. They also talk about what they are looking for in terms of contributions.

Pages 7 and 8 cover D&D Society news including more names and addresses.

Next up we actually have some content. There is a review of FGU's Gladiators game. It is a board game, with no board or pieces. Seems a bit odd to me.

Next up is a reader contribution on what makes an interesting dungeon.  The advice is solid, if a bit dated.  Make sure it is interesting, has some traps, some new monsters...that sort of thing.  It is 1977, benefit of the doubt here.  The next page is another reader contribution. This time about how to store counters for games.  No Container Stores or Ikea's yet in England of 1977 I am guessing.

We end the issue with the Games Workshop price lists.

Wow. What a run.  I have a few more things in mind for White Dwarf Wednesday; mostly book keeping sort of things.  But I Really hope you have enjoyed all of this.  125 issues of both White Dwarf and Owl & Weasel.  It's been a great deal of fun.