My Box for Downloads applet isn't working right so I took it off my page here.
You can still get to all the free downloads here by going to my Downloads page.
http://timbrannan.blogspot.com/p/downloads.html
I like to provide free things when I can and I know some of you are using this feature.
Monday, February 9, 2015
History of the Known World
A couple of great posts came up over the weekend.
Lawrence Schick posted "The “Known World” D&D Setting: A Secret History" over at Black Gate. A nice history of how he and Tom Moldvay came up with the Known World for their own games and then ported it over to D&D Basic/Expert. It is a fascinating read if, like me, you are a fan of the Mystara world.
+James Mishler takes this one further and provides the maps for the Moldvay/Schick known world on his blog, Adventures in Gaming. James also provides a bit more information and some Hexographer files for them as well.
It is interesting how there are so many familiar names and even locations in different places. Like looking at a world you know, but through some sort of distorted lens.
But what is most interesting to me are the new lands. Places and names that are entirely new to me.
Certainly gives me some names and places to help fill in some blanks I have for my own Mystoerth world.
Lawrence Schick posted "The “Known World” D&D Setting: A Secret History" over at Black Gate. A nice history of how he and Tom Moldvay came up with the Known World for their own games and then ported it over to D&D Basic/Expert. It is a fascinating read if, like me, you are a fan of the Mystara world.
+James Mishler takes this one further and provides the maps for the Moldvay/Schick known world on his blog, Adventures in Gaming. James also provides a bit more information and some Hexographer files for them as well.
It is interesting how there are so many familiar names and even locations in different places. Like looking at a world you know, but through some sort of distorted lens.
But what is most interesting to me are the new lands. Places and names that are entirely new to me.
Certainly gives me some names and places to help fill in some blanks I have for my own Mystoerth world.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
Zatannurday: The Fate of Constantine
As of this week (ending 2/7) we still have not heard if the NBC show "Constantine" has been renewed or not.
Next week is the 13th and last episode of the season. So I didn't get my wish to see and John and Zatanna moment on the show.
Another show that came close was Smallville, though they did manage it in the pages of the Smallville comic, Harbinger.
Not only that it also has John and Zee's first meeting in the Smallville universe.
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The story is spread out over 4 issues and has a lot of what makes John and Zee so great together.
It even features the introduction of Rachel Roth, aka Raven to the Smallville universe.
She is the girl that John and Zee rescue from Brother Blood.
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Might be the closest we get.
Friday, February 6, 2015
Friday Night Videos: Long Distance Requests
I am pleased with the reactions I am getting for this feature. I have often joked that my Appendix N consists mostly of 80s music and bad sci-fi movies. I am starting to think I am not the only one!
I want to lead of though with this one.
I finally found a copy of the intro. Really, could anything be more 80s than this? The 8-bit sounding sound effects. The neon. The lone rocker dude against the world...yeah.
So here are some requests I have had since starting this.
Have a request? Send it to me.
Have a long distance dedication for next week, Valentines Day Weekend? Send that too!
Knightsky requested two songs. First up, Chris de Burgh's Don't Pay the Ferryman.
Next is Murray Head's One Night in Bangkok from the concept album Chess.
Murray Head is also the older brother of Anthony Stewart Head.
Rainswept requested Men Without Hats' Safety Dance.
While the video is more Ren Faire than it is D&D, I do have some good memories of this one and playing D&D as well.
Based on this weeks earlier Sol Invictus post, here is a request. Billy Thorpe's "Children of the Sun"
Might be better for a trippy near future space age game. Or a 70s fueled psychic game.
Seventh Son Movie, or as I call it "The Mother Malkin Movie"
New movie out tonight that I have been waiting a while for.
Seventh Son stars Julianne Moore as the witch Mother Malkin.
Oh. I suppose there are other characters in it too. And they are supposed to be the "heroes" or something...but seriously casting Julianne Moore as a witch? She has to be the star of this movie right?
Ok, all kidding aside. Seventh Son is based on the book The Last Apprentice (Revenge of the Witch) by Joseph Delaney. I read it last month for my Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge.
From the trailers the movie is going to part from the book in a number of ways. From the reviews I have peeked at it looks like it is getting panned. But I am still going to watch it.
Plus it has Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore together again; the first time since the Big Lebowski.
I do have to say that casting Jeff Bridges in the roll of the Spook is spot on. Pretty much exactly who I would have picked too.
So kinda getting panned. Deviates from a good book.
Seventh Son stars Julianne Moore as the witch Mother Malkin.
Ok, all kidding aside. Seventh Son is based on the book The Last Apprentice (Revenge of the Witch) by Joseph Delaney. I read it last month for my Witches & Witchcraft Reading Challenge.
From the trailers the movie is going to part from the book in a number of ways. From the reviews I have peeked at it looks like it is getting panned. But I am still going to watch it.
Plus it has Jeff Bridges and Julianne Moore together again; the first time since the Big Lebowski.
I do have to say that casting Jeff Bridges in the roll of the Spook is spot on. Pretty much exactly who I would have picked too.
So kinda getting panned. Deviates from a good book.
Strange Brew: Art and Updates
Strange Brew is moving along. Not as fast as I would have liked, but it is getting there. Magic items are taking a lot longer than I anticipated.
But I do want to share a new piece of art from Jacob Blackmon.
My iconic Larina in flight.
I really love this one!
But I do want to share a new piece of art from Jacob Blackmon.
My iconic Larina in flight.
I really love this one!
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Ghosts of Albion: Ur-hag
She came to me in a dream.
I could tell by her voice that she was of regal bearing and intelligence, but at first I could not see her. I was looking out over a darkend grey and cold plain. In the far distance I saw mountains; mountains I know I had never beheld before with mortal eyes yet no less real. In the sky above flew beasts, for that was the only world for them. They appeared as mad paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, a mass of flying, winged semi-human creatures. Their appearance was as women, save shamefully unclothed, though it was difficult to see this from the filth that covered them. The smell was worse than any charnel house I could recall; the decay of death, the reek of excrement and the sour odour of unwashed sweaty bodies. Their hair was wild. Their teeth were long, yellowed and many were broken. This is how I knew I was still in the dream. Such details would have escaped me given their distance. In truth, I wanted to be no closer to these hideous creatures. Their eyes burned red like coals of hellfire.
I watched as they flew and they attacked and ate other beasts in sky. They were aware of me and my companion, but made no move towards us.
"What are they?" I asked and I turned to meet my unseen companion. To my shock she appeared as they did, save she was not a filthy degenerate creature, but a woman of regal bearing. She had the same clawed hands, the same large bat-like wings and most horribly the same eyes.
"They are Ur-hags." she had said. "They are my sisters."
- From the Journal of Tamara Swift.
Ur-Hag
The Urhags are found in two basic varieties, the Degenerate and the far less common Noble.
The Degenerate Ur-hag appears to be a hideously ugly humanoid woman. She appears naked, but covered in filth, with long clawed fingers, wild hair and inhumanly long feet and toes. What is the most curious feature of the ur-hag are her large bat-like wings. One is immediately reminded of a harpy; which scholars also claim are an offspring of this creature. The ur-hag does not speak, but only screams and shrieks. The ur-hag can attack with a claw/claw/bite routine which is their most typical attack. They are also surrounded by a horrible stench. Characters within 10' of the Ur-hag must make a Constitution test at at least 2 Success Levels or suffer a -2 on all attacks against the creature.
The ur-hag may also cast spells as a witch with Magic 2. Spells that attack and due damage are preferred over all others.
Ur-hags are immune to all cold-based effects and are immune to cold and cold based spells. Dengerate ur-hags are carnivorous and their preferred source of meat is humanoid flesh. They are able to enter the dreams of people sleeping in their territories; usually within 300 yards. Through this special attack the ur-hag will Charm a sleeping male into breeding with them. Once complete the ur-hag will then wake thee male to kill and eat him. They prefer to wake their victims because they enjoy hear the sounds of their screams. Within 3 months the ur-hag will lay a leathery egg in which a juvenile ur-hag will emerge. The new ur-hag will not expect any care or succor from her mother; in fact the mother is just as likely to eat her offspring as she did her offspring's father.
Unisystem / Ghosts of Albion
Name: Ur-hag (degenerate)
Motivation: cause chaos, despair and feed on mortals
Creature Type: Faerie
Attributes: Str 5, Dex 6, Con 5, Int 4, Per 3, Will 6
Ability Scores: Muscle 16, Combat 19, Brains 14
Life Points: 66
Drama Points: 2
Special Abilities: Attractiveness –5, Increased Life Points, Faerie, Innate Magic
Manoeuvres
Name Score Damage Notes
Bite 21 24 Must grapple first; no defence action
Claw 19 16 Two attacks per Turn
Grapple 21 — Resisted by dodge
Spellcasting 16 Varies By spell
Deflect 16 — Magic defence action; deflects spells 45º
Lesser Sensing 15 — Notice magical effects, nature, or possession
Noble Ur-Hag
The Noble ur-hag is a different creature, though no less evil. Like the degenerate ur-hag, the noble appears to be a winged woman with long taloned hands and feet. Noble ur-hags also have horns growing from their heads that often causes them to be mistaken for some sort succubus or other demonic creature. While not demonic, the noble ur-hag is still quite evil. While the degenerate ur-hag is hideous and covered in filth, the noble ur-hag is regal, attractive and clothed in only the fines wares. Her features are sharp and possibly indicate a relationship to the fae that other, more common hags, share. The noble ur-hag can be harmed by iron in the same fashion that fae are; iron weapons cause +2 damage and +1 to hit.
The noble ur-hags can cast spells as a witch of Magic level 4.
While the degenerate ur-hag is indiscriminate about her choice of mating partners, the noble ur-hag prefers only the finest quality human males. Also noble ur-hags do not always eat the men the lay with. Some preferring to return to the same male time and time again as instinct drives them to reproduce.
Noble Ur-hags use the same stats as do the Degenerate Ur-Hags save they have Attractiveness +1 and Magic 4. The Noble Ur-Hag also has the following magical manoeuvres.
Manoeuvres
Name Score Damage Notes
Spellcasting 17 Varies By spell
Deflect 17 — Magic defence action; deflects spells 45º
Lesser Sensing 16 — Notice magical effects, nature, or possession
Hold 16 — Magic defence action; delays spell
Volley 11 — Magic defence action; returns spell to caster
Dispel 14 — Magic defence action; dispels spell
Additionally the Noble Ur-Hag can choose demonic or fae powers. Many posses Glamour and Grand Glamour. A Noble Ur-Hag is capable of interacting in society, however her mannerisms will seem a bit aloof and more prone to violence than that of mankind. The Degenerate Ur-Hag, even if glamoured by another, cannon interact in even the roughest society.
There is no known spell to summon these creatures and they only live in the shadowy borderlands where Dream, Shadow and Faerie are known to intersect.
I could tell by her voice that she was of regal bearing and intelligence, but at first I could not see her. I was looking out over a darkend grey and cold plain. In the far distance I saw mountains; mountains I know I had never beheld before with mortal eyes yet no less real. In the sky above flew beasts, for that was the only world for them. They appeared as mad paintings of Hieronymus Bosch, a mass of flying, winged semi-human creatures. Their appearance was as women, save shamefully unclothed, though it was difficult to see this from the filth that covered them. The smell was worse than any charnel house I could recall; the decay of death, the reek of excrement and the sour odour of unwashed sweaty bodies. Their hair was wild. Their teeth were long, yellowed and many were broken. This is how I knew I was still in the dream. Such details would have escaped me given their distance. In truth, I wanted to be no closer to these hideous creatures. Their eyes burned red like coals of hellfire.
I watched as they flew and they attacked and ate other beasts in sky. They were aware of me and my companion, but made no move towards us.
"They are Ur-hags." she had said. "They are my sisters."
- From the Journal of Tamara Swift.
Ur-Hag
The Urhags are found in two basic varieties, the Degenerate and the far less common Noble.
The Degenerate Ur-hag appears to be a hideously ugly humanoid woman. She appears naked, but covered in filth, with long clawed fingers, wild hair and inhumanly long feet and toes. What is the most curious feature of the ur-hag are her large bat-like wings. One is immediately reminded of a harpy; which scholars also claim are an offspring of this creature. The ur-hag does not speak, but only screams and shrieks. The ur-hag can attack with a claw/claw/bite routine which is their most typical attack. They are also surrounded by a horrible stench. Characters within 10' of the Ur-hag must make a Constitution test at at least 2 Success Levels or suffer a -2 on all attacks against the creature.
The ur-hag may also cast spells as a witch with Magic 2. Spells that attack and due damage are preferred over all others.
Ur-hags are immune to all cold-based effects and are immune to cold and cold based spells. Dengerate ur-hags are carnivorous and their preferred source of meat is humanoid flesh. They are able to enter the dreams of people sleeping in their territories; usually within 300 yards. Through this special attack the ur-hag will Charm a sleeping male into breeding with them. Once complete the ur-hag will then wake thee male to kill and eat him. They prefer to wake their victims because they enjoy hear the sounds of their screams. Within 3 months the ur-hag will lay a leathery egg in which a juvenile ur-hag will emerge. The new ur-hag will not expect any care or succor from her mother; in fact the mother is just as likely to eat her offspring as she did her offspring's father.
Unisystem / Ghosts of Albion
Name: Ur-hag (degenerate)
Motivation: cause chaos, despair and feed on mortals
Creature Type: Faerie
Attributes: Str 5, Dex 6, Con 5, Int 4, Per 3, Will 6
Ability Scores: Muscle 16, Combat 19, Brains 14
Life Points: 66
Drama Points: 2
Special Abilities: Attractiveness –5, Increased Life Points, Faerie, Innate Magic
Manoeuvres
Name Score Damage Notes
Bite 21 24 Must grapple first; no defence action
Claw 19 16 Two attacks per Turn
Grapple 21 — Resisted by dodge
Spellcasting 16 Varies By spell
Deflect 16 — Magic defence action; deflects spells 45º
Lesser Sensing 15 — Notice magical effects, nature, or possession
The Noble ur-hag is a different creature, though no less evil. Like the degenerate ur-hag, the noble appears to be a winged woman with long taloned hands and feet. Noble ur-hags also have horns growing from their heads that often causes them to be mistaken for some sort succubus or other demonic creature. While not demonic, the noble ur-hag is still quite evil. While the degenerate ur-hag is hideous and covered in filth, the noble ur-hag is regal, attractive and clothed in only the fines wares. Her features are sharp and possibly indicate a relationship to the fae that other, more common hags, share. The noble ur-hag can be harmed by iron in the same fashion that fae are; iron weapons cause +2 damage and +1 to hit.
The noble ur-hags can cast spells as a witch of Magic level 4.
While the degenerate ur-hag is indiscriminate about her choice of mating partners, the noble ur-hag prefers only the finest quality human males. Also noble ur-hags do not always eat the men the lay with. Some preferring to return to the same male time and time again as instinct drives them to reproduce.
Noble Ur-hags use the same stats as do the Degenerate Ur-Hags save they have Attractiveness +1 and Magic 4. The Noble Ur-Hag also has the following magical manoeuvres.
Manoeuvres
Name Score Damage Notes
Spellcasting 17 Varies By spell
Deflect 17 — Magic defence action; deflects spells 45º
Lesser Sensing 16 — Notice magical effects, nature, or possession
Hold 16 — Magic defence action; delays spell
Volley 11 — Magic defence action; returns spell to caster
Dispel 14 — Magic defence action; dispels spell
Additionally the Noble Ur-Hag can choose demonic or fae powers. Many posses Glamour and Grand Glamour. A Noble Ur-Hag is capable of interacting in society, however her mannerisms will seem a bit aloof and more prone to violence than that of mankind. The Degenerate Ur-Hag, even if glamoured by another, cannon interact in even the roughest society.
There is no known spell to summon these creatures and they only live in the shadowy borderlands where Dream, Shadow and Faerie are known to intersect.
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